A Heavenly Pilgrim's Sanctification: 2024

Today, I thought I would make a post explaining why I hold to a cessation position of tongues, prophecy and healing in relationship to the sign gifts.

First of all I still believe God heals today and miracles happen in relation to prayer still today. However, when it comes to healing I do not believe there is any particular people with a monopoly on healing. That individual people have a "sign gift" of healing. Anyone that gets really healed by someone claiming such a gift are getting healed in response to prayer to God. The "sign gift," however stopped or ceased a long time ago.

All the sign gifts existed for one reason and one reason only that was to authenticate that Jesus Christ was The Messiah and God The Son. They existed because there was not yet what Paul calls the perfect in Corinthians (1 Corinthians 13:10) which we now have The Written Words of God as available in the Scriptures.

They also were for demonstrating to the Jews and Gentiles Jesus was The Messiah. It is made clear that tongues were for a sign to unbelievers and particularly the Jewish people. They were also real languages people speaking actual languages they never learned they just were given by The Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

The people hearing them specifically asked how they spoke in their languages. Meaning the languages were those belonging to the people groups around them. They were not ecstatic utterances as modern day tongues are. (Acts 2)

As for prophecy: as in the Lord says to me blank type. That is not prophecy as talked about in the Bible. Which means the fulfillment of things actually written in the Scriptures for the future. There is no such thing as prophecy as in New words from the Lord. The Bible is The Word of God and has a clear warning in Revelation you are not to add to this book. Something which direct revelations from God would do.

This means I am a cessationist when it comes to Apostles, Prophets and "sign gifts." Whch means that our way of learning God's Will is by being steeped in The Word of God and that means constantly being in The Bible. God speaks in the Written Word and only the Written Word or by bringing to mind that Written Word. Which you than get context by going back to the Written Word.

Recently my Brother In Christ Nathan wrote and published an amazing article on his Substack explaining the importance of Male Christian Community. He makes excellent points about the need for men to have male community around them of fellow believers. Of specific note was his concentration on the Role of men in God's Plan for the Church Age. I was really drawn to his idea that men strive on building; having things to make and a mission.

I think the need to realize that Christianity is not a lone wolf and individualistic worldview is important in the direction towards local Biblical communities. Men are the builders and the leaders in God's Creation Role order. Thus Godly men should be at the forefront in taking action to build and instill Biblical values in their communities; be it the Assembly/Church, or broader communities. We need to be working on being Godly men and fitting the Role God Ordains for us.

If the men let themselves be chaotic and disorderly so will go the community we belong to. As the leaders in the Assembly/Church and broader community. We have a responsibility as men to be the stewards of The Earth God planned us to be. We will not do it perfectly because we are all sinners in need of a savior, but, as we emulate Christ more and more that will spread to those in our charge as Christian men. One the of the major causes of issues we face now on everything from depression to the LGBT epidemic is men not taking their role in society as a Male seriously. Fatherless is a major cause of degeneracy and abominable lifestyles.

Men failing their responsibility to protect and provide for their families and limping refusing to stand in the gap between their families and The World system is one of the things that has helped cause the breakdown in society and our communities. This does not mean being mean or brash or anything. Biblical Masculinity is all about emulating Christ the Ultimate Man more and more. We need to undo the Egalitarianism that has ruined so much and that will not happen until men step up and take the lead.

Without male communities men cannot learn and actualize (not in the New Age sense) their true nature as Biblical men. As Males we have Biblical Headship and that means we have the responsibility to literally take care of this Creation. Men need to be able to take their rightful place in God's Creation Order in order to be truly fulfilled. We need Godly male role models to know how to do this properly people that will always point us back to Christ the Lord as our role model as a man.

We need to have our men building our resilience and passing on Biblical Truths to the younger generations. This is best done by having men have their communities to flourish and thrive in a Godly way. Men will also be those that will be required to help build Christian alternatives to the humanism and Satanism around us. Whether it is leading Biblical Educational Institutions or going from Statist Central Banking to local mutual aid organizations for help funding new projects and localities. This does not make me a postmillennial in anyway though.

I am a Biblical Dispensational; I believe in all 7 traditional dispensations and I believe we will be Raptured prior to God's outpouring His Wrath on the Earth prior to a literal 1000 year Millennium Kingdom. However, until the Church Age is over we are pilgrims on The Earth and pilgrims still need to take care of their hearth they call a temporary home. I do not think Christians will be in Majority control of the Nations prior to Christ's return as my postmillennial brother does. It is our duty, however, as men to take care of the Earth while we are waiting to be Raptured.

This means that men need to be at the forefront of preaching Biblical Truth to their neighbors and the members of their community that are not yet saved. Spreading The Gospel is THE MAIN thing that will help bring about everything else. Without spreading the Biblical Gospel around home and the world there will be no changes at all. In this Church Age we are to spread the Gospel and not to setup a Christian Nation this is something where Nathan and I might disagree. I see possibilities of local Christian Communities built from the retrieval of Biblical Masculinity. Further feminism and feminization of the Church, however will need to be fought head on for this to work.