The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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God said His name is "I am," not "I was"! God said that He is the God who is and always
will be.
When the Jews sarcastically questioned Jesus whether he considered Himself to be "greater
than Abraham" Jesus replied:
". . . before Abraham was born, I am! (Jn. 8:58).
Not only is God the Father immutable (unchangeable), but so is God the Son. The writer of
the book of Hebrews put it:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb. 13:8).
The following are a few other references that speak of God's immutability:
"But You remain forever, and Your years will never end" (Ps. 102:27).
"I the Lord do not change" (Mal 3:6).
". . . the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change, like shifting shadows."
(Jas. 1:17; see also I Kgs. 8:56; Isa. 14:24; II Cor. 1:20)
To argue that the day of miracles is past is to fly in the face of God's name. Just as His name
has never changed so His nature and character have not changed. Since His name is still "Yahwehrapha"
we have no reason to deny that He is "the Lord who heals."
To teach that some gifts have ceased (supernatural gifts) and others have not (natural gifts) is
to go further than Scripture allows. The Bible tells us how to regulate and exercise these gifts and
how to test their validity. Not until Jesus comes again are we to expect their cessation.
Worldview
Our Western worldview, I believe, has also had a tremendous impact on our understanding of
theology. It has blinded us to the supernatural, the miraculous, the spirit world.
Our world view is a set of assumptions about the world around us that affects, even controls,
our thinking about any situation or subject. A person's worldview is more caught than taught. It
begins as soon as we are born into this world. We pick it up from the family and society in which
we live.