Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Edward Irving, Morning Star of Renewal

body of the Church. He was a forerunner not only of the Catholic Apos tolic Church in a direct sense, but of the entire Pentecostal phenomenon of the 20th century. The things he said and did, his emphases and concerns, largely rejected in his own day, have become commonplace in the Pente costal and neo-Pentecostal movements of our time.17

Six Insights from the Catholic Apostolic Church

1. Christian churches should maintain a New Testament outlook, expecting a miraculous dimension in the congregational meetings. Irv ing was convinced that the Holy Spirit manifestations described in the Bible are rightly claimed by the contemporary Church. He saw no rea son, so far as God is concerned, to believe in their cessation. A church that refuses to declare a Bible truth and contend for it will not possess it! If a congregation does not believe a spiritual resource is for them, they will not seek it. Every church body must face the issue of whether the charismatic phenomena of the New Testament are for today. Writes Gordon Strachan: "[Irving] said that he could not see why the baptized Church should not still receive the complete gift of the Holy Spirit 'as it had been received by Jesus Christ when he ascended into glory and which was poured out upon his Church on the day of Pentecost' and why this gift should not still be in operation in the church 'in all the ways recorded in the book of Acts and the apostolic letters'. He could find no text in Scripture to the contrary." 18 2. Patience and wise leadership are required during times ofspiritual transition, requiring the full cooperation of the leadership and people. It is sad when church leaders, both locally and denominationally, cannot or will not sit down and discuss in a trusting manner the scriptural life of God's people. The Head of the Church is still Jesus, but church leaders often take to themselves undue authority, making decisions from their minds instead of from prayer-filled hearts. The Church of Scotland need not have lost a praying church and one of her most ardent sons. Irving himself obviously needed wise counsel to handle the strange new developments in his church; his leaders failed him when he needed them most. Larry Christenson's advice is good for then and for now: "Church officials must recognize their own measure of responsibility for some of the unwholesome developments of the charis matic movement, for they have in too many cases abdicated responsible and caring leadership. " 19 The media of that day, similar to our own, jumped at the opportunity to discredit the work of a man of God, and in a sense pushed the Church 271 •