How do I convince a Pentecostal of the truth about miracles?

Question:

When you get time would you look over these responses I saw from a Oneness Pentecostal in a discussion with a brother over miracles? I completely agree that miracles ceased, and that which is perfect is referring to the word of God, but the Pentecostal Oneness member brings up some stuff I have never heard before.

The Oneness Pentecostal said the 120 were Holy Spirit baptized because there were at least 16 dialects on Pentecost day. The Pentecostal also said Philip walked in the same power and he was not an apostle, and he said that it says they all received the Holy Spirit. He said there was no Canon of scripture when Paul wrote Romans and said Jesus is that which is perfect, and we will see face to face, not face to a scroll.

(I’m assuming he is saying face to face as in we will see Jesus face to face.)

He also said Jesus had to leave so the Holy Spirit would come (John 16), and when Jesus returns, the Holy Spirit will not live in believers at that time.

He says this will happen in the Millenial Reign and in the Millennial Reign, Jesus will rule and reign in person instead of simply in us. When Jesus returns, the New Covenant will be complete.

The brother responded with, When He returns to take the Church, even hope and faith will be gone. But read the last verse of 1Corinthians 13 last verse where Paul says Hope, Faith, and Love will continue, but the greatest of them is Love because it will continue forever.

Then, the Pentecostal Oneness said, There's no scripture for what you just said - if that was indeed true then none of the Jewish people would be saved in a pre-trib scenario (and I am post-trib). Faith and hope are constant themes in the whole of scripture. Without faith and hope, there will be no love.

He told the brother that he speaks in tongues, so the brother asked him what language? The Oneness Pentecostal said Which language did they speak in Acts 8, 10, or 19? What about Acts 4?

During the convo, the Pentecostal asked How is the Spirit working through a canon that wasn't yet complete? How about the fact that all of Paul's epistles except II Timothy were written during Acts? How about the fact Paul quoted Epimenides and Aratus, and not scripture, in Acts 17? Was that by the Word or inspiration?

The brother told him when Paul wrote to Corinth, the Holy Spirit was still in operation directly guiding them and revealing the words through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and when all truth was completely put together these gifts stopped, but the Pentecostal said then why is the Spirit needed to lead us into all truth? Why was the canon you now have not available until the 1500s at the earliest? How can we say the gifts weren't needed when the church descended into Mary worship by the 400s? How can we say the gifts weren't needed during the 1000+ years of the Dark Ages when normal people had no access to scripture due to papal decree? The cessationist argument about the completion of the canon of scripture holds no water due to these, and many other, factors.

This other Pentecostal jumped in and they both basically said people who deny miracles are unbelievers.

Answer:

How many received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost?

How did Philip receive the Holy Spirit?

What is the perfect and the "face to face" in I Corinthians 13?

First, Paul was talking about the perfect coming in the future. The fact that the New Testament was not complete at the time of Paul's writing is exactly the point.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit had to be the same because Jesus had to leave before the Holy Spirit came

The reasoning is false because the Holy Spirit was present when Jesus was here on earth (Luke 3:22). What Jesus said was, "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning" (John 15:26-27). Notice that Jesus is sending the Spirit, thus, the two cannot be the same.

Is Jesus currently reigning?

Is the Bible incomplete?

Faith, Hope, and Love

What language is used when speaking in tongues?

Here we have a contradiction because earlier he admitted that there were multiple languages being spoken when the apostles were baptized by the Spirit in Acts 2.

Were all of Paul's letters written during the time period covered by Acts?

Actually, Acts ends during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, I Timothy, II Timothy, and Titus were all written during that imprisonment and afterward.

Didn't Paul quote uninspired men?

Paul once quoted an uninspired source to make a point with an audience who would not be easily swayed by the Scriptures. "For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring'" (Acts 17:28). The poets' statements did not establish the truth, but they did show that the concept was not alien to their thoughts.

Paul even used the words of a Cretan prophet against the people of Crete. "One of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth" (Titus 1:13-14). Though the statement came from an uninspired source, the source did not make it any less true -- harsh though it was.

Who was led into all the truth?

It was the apostles who were promised to be led into all the truth. We learn the truth through their writings. That truth has not changed.

Response:

Thank you for this. I have shared this with the brother.

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