Confusionism — Continuationism’s Evil Twin

For a short time in history, there was a trope in TV shows and novels of the “evil twin”. How it works is that someone is committing some sort of crime or causing trouble in some way, and people would get angry at the perfectly innocent person who looks just like the person who did the deed. This poor soul would often have no idea they even had a twin until the bad stuff started happening. But now they’re getting all the blame for a string of misbehavior that they never committed.

This line of story became so cliche that a new storyline branched off of it to become its own trope. In this one, the seemingly innocent person is really guilty of the crimes, but is blaming everything on their “evil twin”. This too had a good run, but both of these cliches have been largely — and thankfully — abandoned. But occasionally, it makes a return, especially in debates on the consequences of a theology.

Defining our Terms

For just over 100 years, since the Azusa street revival, there has been an ongoing debate about the work of the Holy Spirit today. On one side you have what are called “cessationists” who believe that the miraculous signs and wonders of the New Testament have mostly ceased. And especially, that people are no longer particularly gifted to exercise certain signs and wonders. On the other side, you have the people called “continuationists” who believe that all the signs and wonders of the New Testament continue today. They particularly emphasize something called “speaking in Tongues” and “prophecy”, and they also believe some people have a gift for performing miraculous healings.

It should be noted that both sides believe the Holy Spirit is still active and working today in many powerful ways. In this way, all Bible-believing Christians agree that the Holy Spirit’s power continues to be exhibited in very real ways. But the two sides disagree on how the Holy Spirit works today.

The Same Yesterday Today and Forever?

Oftentimes in the discussion about the Holy Spirit, the cessationist will bring up Hebrews 13:8 to support their position that God continues to do the same thing now as he did in the New Testament.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8 ESV)

And while we certainly affirm that God does not change, the way God relates to man and reveals himself to man certainly does change. Where God once required daily sacrifices in a physical temple or tabernacle, now Christ has made the once-for-all sacrifice and our worship is spread throughout the world. Where once God required his people to gather in Jerusalem for three yearly feasts, now God requires us to gather for worship each Lord’s Day. Where God once required circumcision as the sign of entrance to the visible congregation, now God requires baptism. And where God once gifted Apostles and Prophets to give direct revelation which was confirmed with signs and wonders, now we have the Bible.

But the cessationists have another problem. While they demand that God, being the same yesterday, today, and forever not change the methods he used during the time the New Testament was being written, DO insist that those methods have changed. Where the gift of speaking in tongues in Acts 2 was a miraculous sign of everyone present hearing the word of God in their own language, they now insist that the gift of tongues is a meaningless babble that cannot be understood by anyone in attendance. Where prophets were once held to the standard of 100% correctness or be stoned, they now insist that we must weigh the words of a prophet to determine if they got it right this time or not. And prophets, they insist, must hone their craft so they get it right more of the time. This change is quite a large one from the gifts in the Bible and should be difficult for those who champion the “yesterday, today, and forever” mantra as their standard.

Introducing the Evil Twin

Here’s an interesting fact about most churches and people who subscribe to continuationism: they tend to rely less and less on the Bible as time goes on. Seeking some personal word from the Lord on a regular basis leads to books like Jesus calling being a best-seller in “Christian” literature. Believing in faith-healers leads to Benny Hinn making millions of dollars, and folks whose child has been diagnosed with cancer spending everything to chase down one of these faith-healers in hopes of a healing. Believing in the modern practice called “speaking in tongues” leads to church services being interrupted by speakers claiming to speak for God giving words that may or may not actually be from God.

Confusion is the name of the evil twin. Every time you point out the excesses and problems continuationism causes, the continuationist blames the evil twin. Sure, Benny Hinn is creating confusion, but I and my church aren’t practicing that. Sure there are excesses and abuses, but THOSE aren’t what we’re talking about. Confusion is the evil twin. Continuationism isn’t to blame, they’re the innocent victim here that just LOOKS LIKE confusion.

But do we have a real case of an evil twin here, or just the real perpetrator claiming there is an evil twin as a scapegoat? What happens when you get a word from one of your definitely-not-the-bad-kind of continuationists? The prophet tells you, “I’ve had a word from God for you. You need to quit your job and go be a missionary.” Now, you’ve subscribed to the idea that prophecy has changed and so maybe this “prophet” got it wrong. So you weigh their words, should you listen or not? Should you quit your job? Is God calling you to be a missionary and you’ve just received confirmation of that from someone speaking for God? Or is this “prophet” mistaken? You weren’t thinking of quitting your job 10 minutes ago, but now you’re not sure what to do or think. You know what you are now? Confused.

Scooby Doo and the Case of the Evil Twin

At the end of every episode of Scooby Doo they would rip the mask off the ghost/monster and discover it was the seemingly innocent person they had known all along. And when you rip the mask off the continuationist movement, you find the face of confusion. Sure, it’s not as bad as most of the stuff you see on TBN, but it’s confusing nonetheless. And this is particularly sad when you consider that the greatest part of 1 Corinthians 12–14 on the so-called spiritual gifts is about ENDING confusion, rather than promoting more of it for centuries to come.

And it’s all so unnecessary. God has already given us a perfect, infallible source for hearing directly from him. We “cessationists” do not at all believe that God no longer speaks directly to people. We believe, affirm, and zealously pursue hearing God speak to us personally. But the Holy Spirit has given us the perfect Word of God for our lives in the Bible. And those who have the Spirit of God can and do hear God speak to them through the pages of his written word. Seek it. Pray for it. Earnestly desire to hear God speak to you through his word.

Oh, and if you’re wondering whether to quit your job and be a missionary…you should probably also consult the elders of your church. The God-given way to get counsel on such matters as we are directed in the Bible.