I just narrated a book that challenges 100 years of cessationist theology

Published 23 days ago • 1 min read

Stevie Wonder

Author, Writing Coach

If you've spent any time in charismatic or Pentecostal circles, you've probably run into cessationism — the idea that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ended with the last of the apostles.

Maybe you've had to argue against it.

Maybe you've never quite had the tools to do it well.

Jon Mark Ruthven's On the Cessation of the Charismata is the book that gives you those tools — and it's one I've had on my digital shelf for over twenty years.

I first came across it in the early 2000s when I was living in Pensacola and writing a paper on speaking in tongues. I sourced it again when I wrote Nine Lies People Believe About Speaking in Tongues in 2016.

So when the opportunity came up to narrate the official audiobook version, I didn't have to think twice.

Ruthven doesn't just push back on cessationism. He dismantles the historical, philosophical, and biblical scaffolding it rests on, piece by piece.

His main target is B.B. Warfield's Counterfeit Miracles, which has shaped cessationist thinking for nearly a century.

The argument is that cessationism isn't actually a biblical position — it's a theological tradition dressed up to look like one.

You can find the audiobook on Audible here: https://tinyurl.com/cessation-charismata

Enjoy!

— Steve

P.S. It's a theology title, so it's NOT a light listen — but if this topic matters to you, you'll be glad you got through it.

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