Monday, November 17, 2025

It is the 17th of November 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very happy Monday- I recorded this after the Trojans won (hooray!) but before the Rams… I hope it ended nicely and we all woke up happy this morning.

Back to the mailbag, as is our custom on a Monday, and I got a great question from Robbie in Bloomington, Illinois- lotsa Bloomingtons… you’re in something like Central Illinois, but that’s hard to gauge because Illinois has borders like they were drawn by a toddler. It’s the home of State Farm! I won’t hold that against you, Robbie- they’re my insurers and uh… I’ll keep it to myself.

Home of Old Hoss Radbourn- the old pitcher resurrected as a Twitter wit, and also home to both Adlai Stephenson’s.

So, Robbie had a question about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and especially the doctrine of “cessationism”. It’s a great question with a million different paths leading out and in.

So first, what do we (or they?) mean by this? Put simply, “cessationism” is the belief that with the end of the age of the Apostles, various gifts of the spirit, like tongues, but defining which is its own game, have ceased to function in the church.

It’s fair- many Christians will look at the miraculous events described in Acts and the like and then look at their church and wonder why it doesn’t look the same.  

And oftentimes, you’ll get theologians coming up with names for things like “cessationism” when they are making an argument, and believe that perhaps those looking for, or trying to replicate the signs and wonders of the early church might be making a category mistake.

There is no uniform systematic teaching on cessationism- looking up that specific term will take you, most likely, to the Reformed and modern charismatics. But let me suggest four times when the debate (is the age of a certain kind of miracle over?) came to the forefront.

In the early church, the 100s, there was a group called the Monatists. Well, we call them that after their leader, “Montanus,” but they called themselves “New Prophecy” and taught that they were the continuation of the Apostles and could prove it by means of, among other things, their signs and wonders. Origen, the Church Father, wrote against them and against their claims, saying that the apostolic age was over. While he doesn’t say miracles and signs and wonders don’t exist, they don’t have the weight they did before the Canon of Scripture was set by the church. We had it, not individual miracles, to confirm something as apostolic.

Some Reformers would get closer to a full cessationist view in light of the wild stories coming out of the Medieval Catholic Church, but also those they called “the enthusiasts,” who were like cousin reformers who put more authority on experience and the guiding of the Holy Spirit. Many of the Reformation era- Lutheran, Reformed, etc, confessions side-stepped the issue instead claiming that authority was in the Word of God and in the approved Sacraments.

The issue raised its head again in the Second Great Awakening, with some in the Restorationist movement claiming that this revival and restoration of the church also came with new apostolic revelation. Jonathan Edwards would combat that- no enemy of revival and the new working of the Holy Spirit, he would ground his arguments in the sufficiency of Scripture.  

And then, into the 20th century, with the birth of Pentecostalism, we get the church trying to draw boundaries again- especially in light of the development of doctrines that claimed a Baptism in the holy Spirit, separate from Water Baptism, and attested to by speaking in tongues, was necessary for salvation. This was not the mainline Pentecostal teaching (if there’s even a claim for such a thing) but from the 1960s and 70s on there has been more talk of “cessationism” with some hardliners as always- but the majority of the church- if I could make such a broad statement is open, but often cautious about how to integrate personal experience and authority. Others have noted that the explosion of signs and wonders in the past century or so they are most prevalent in places that mirror the early church- the church expanding into parts of Africa and Asia.  

Robbie- questions about authority and personal experience- not to mention what God does and how he does it today- these are questions to keep digging into- in Scripture and Church history. You can send me your questions at danv@1517.org.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and the turn from Ephesians 4 into Ephesians 5:

 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 17th of November 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose fragrance might be defined as oaky with a hint of coffee grounds and the dust of old books; he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who was told by his kids and wife that I am to smell like Voyage by Nautica- apparently it’s what I’m supposed to smell like- I’m Dan van Voorhis

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.