Search — Theology Explorer

Bill Johnson Kris Vallotton salvation

Mike's charitable assessment: he believes Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton are probably saved, and that real miracles and healings do come from the movement

Mike establishes a baseline of charitable Christian evaluation before critique

Bill Johnson spiritual gifts prophecy

How Bill Johnson started the prophetic in Weaverville: asking people around a table 'what do you think Jesus would say?' then declaring they had just prophesied

Mike plays a direct video clip of Johnson explaining his methodology for launching the prophetic ministry

spiritual gifts Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry social engineering

Bethel's prophetic training exercise: pair off, give a 'word of knowledge' about your partner, then celebrate whether right or wrong — the goal is creating a risk-taking culture, not accurate prophecy

Mike plays a video of a Bethel training session to show how prophetic culture is manufactured

Bethel Church spiritual gifts social engineering

Bethel's prophetic culture is social engineering — a formula developed through experimentation and exported to other churches worldwide

Mike's meta-level analysis of what Bethel is doing with prophecy

Bethel Church spiritual gifts revival

Closing exhortation: don't pull back from healing, prophecy, or the Spirit because of Bethel's errors — the hunger of their movement reveals a real need the church should meet genuinely

Mike's closing remarks

Abraham Joseph Smith 1835

Joseph Smith claims divine gifts as seer and translator; acquires Egyptian mummies and papyrus scrolls in Kirtland, Ohio

Historical background of the Book of Abraham

Abraham Joseph Smith Book of Abraham

LDS Church president's diary corroborates that Smith translated Abraham's own handwriting using the Urim and Thummim

Secondary LDS historical witness to Smith's translation claims

Joseph Smith Book of Abraham Brigham Young University

LDS professor at BYU commented that the rediscovery of the papyri was 'a far more' significant test of LDS claims

Internal LDS academic recognition of the significance of the papyri rediscovery

translation comparison Joseph Smith testability of religious claims

Unlike the Book of Mormon (golden plates taken away), the Book of Abraham papyri CAN be tested — this is unique

The Book of Abraham as a uniquely testable LDS truth claim

Mormonism prophetic authority false prophet

Central apologetic argument: if Smith lied about one thing as a prophet, he is a false prophet — and the evidence proves he lied

The logical conclusion of the Book of Abraham argument

Mike Winger spiritual gifts apologetics

Upcoming video topic: exposing false teaching within charismatic Christianity — abuse of the spiritual gifts framework

Preview of future content on charismatic abuse

Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

King Follett Sermon quote: Joseph Smith mocks orthodox scholars for teaching creation ex nihilo, claiming special knowledge via the Holy Ghost.

Direct quotation from the King Follett Sermon on creation, where Smith attacks the ex nihilo doctrine and claims superior knowledge.

Joseph Smith King Follett Sermon creation ex nihilo

Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Mormon phrase: 'saved by grace after all that we do' — contrasted with Ephesians 2:8-9's 'by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works.'

Mike highlights the definitive Mormon phrase that encapsulates their works-based soteriology, directly contrasting it with the key Pauline text.

Ephesians 2:8-9 Ephesians 2:8-9 sola gratia Mormon soteriology

Ephesians 2:8-9 Ephesians 2:8-9 sola fide grace

Protestant position: salvation by grace through faith apart from works — Ephesians 2:8-9

Setting up the Protestant side of the debate

Romans 4:4-5 justification by faith sola fide grace

Romans 4:4-5 — wages vs. gift; faith counted as righteousness to the one who does not work but believes

Additional Pauline argument against Catholic soteriology

1 Corinthians 13:2 Paul saving faith 1 Corinthians 13:2

Q&A: 1 Corinthians 13:2 — 'if I have all faith but no love I am nothing' — is this faith + love = salvation?

Viewer question about 1 Corinthians 13 and whether it implies faith plus love for salvation

1 Corinthians 13 saving faith love charismatic gifts

Distinction between saving faith and faith for miracles — 1 Corinthians 13 is about the latter

Type distinction within the concept of faith

Mike Winger idea 2018-09-05

Modern prophecy is not equivalent to Scripture: not all prophecy becomes canonical; personal/local words from God are not universal obligations on the whole church.

Viewer question about whether modern-day prophecy is as authoritative as Scripture.

revelation spiritual gifts prophecy revelation

Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

Soteriology enters: Sye argues if a person contributes anything to their salvation (including the choice of faith), salvation becomes a work; leads into the faith-as-a-gift debate

Sye introduces Calvinist soteriology as the foundation for the apologetic difference

Romans 8 Ephesians 2:8-9 Romans 8 Ephesians 2:8-9 Calvinism

Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

Winger holds that faith is not a work (the Bible says so), but is a choice to trust; Sye argues the Bible's statement that faith is not a work does not resolve the logical problem if faith is something you do

Core soteriological exchange

Ephesians 2:8-9 Romans 4 Ephesians 2:8-9 faith Romans 4

Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

Hebrews 2:3-4 — salvation was 'confirmed to us by those who heard him, God also bearing witness with signs and wonders' — miracles as confirming witness to the gospel

Winger's Hebrews 2 argument for miracles as apologetic confirmation

Hebrews 2:3-4 signs and wonders miracles as evidence Hebrews 2:3-4

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-17

Symbolism is assigned by the person, not inherent to the object — trees have no intrinsic spiritual meaning

Responding to the question about what a tree symbolizes

Christmas trees Liberty of conscience Symbolism

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-19

Vatican II text: Lumen Gentium chapter 16 — what it actually says about Jewish people, Muslims, and the unevangelized

Mike goes to the primary source Barron cited to evaluate his claim that Vatican II is 'very clear'

conscience Vatican II Lumen Gentium

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-19

Ephesians 2:8-9 — saved by grace through faith, not of works; personal story of Catholic friend Tony

Mike illustrates grace alone with a personal anecdote

Ephesians 2:8-9 Ephesians 2:8-9 sola gratia sola fide

Mike Winger idea 2019-01-16

Hebrews 2:3-4 — signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit as confirmation of the gospel message

Mike's final direct positive scriptural argument that Christianity is evidence-based.

Hebrews 2:3-4 evidence-based faith Hebrews 2:3-4 eyewitness testimony

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-07

Heresy accusations between Christians: two extremes to avoid

Q&A question about how to handle accusations of heresy between Christian brothers.

secondary issues false teaching gospel

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-07

Face-to-face with God as the referent of "the perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13

Mike elaborates on why "the perfect" refers to the eternal state, using the internal logic of 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12 spiritual gifts eschatology cessationism

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

Tongues in the New Testament: multiple types — tongues with interpretation (public) and tongues without interpretation (private).

Tanya Baltzer asks about tongues — actual languages vs. unknown languages.

1 Corinthians 14 Acts 2 (Pentecost) 1 Corinthians 13:1 1 Corinthians 14 Tongues Acts 2 (Pentecost)

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

Personal testimony: Mike first encountered charismatic practices as a teenager and was confused; discovered 1 Corinthians 14 had rules for tongues much later.

Mike shares his personal experience with charismatic churches.

1 Corinthians 14 1 Corinthians 14 Tongues Continuationism

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Advice to a 15-year-old aspiring pastor: character comes before ministry; study the pastoral epistles

Q&A: Isaiah Jones (age 15) asks for advice on becoming a pastor

1 Timothy Titus 2 Timothy 1 Timothy Titus pastoral qualifications

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-30

'Those who receive' in Romans 5:17 conditions justification on reception; Romans 10:13 confirms call-response salvation

Winger highlights the word 'receive' in Romans 5:17 as the hinge that prevents universal atonement from collapsing into universalism.

Romans 5:17 Romans 10:13 faith free will application of atonement

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-13

Romans 3:21-24: The law leads to Christ — righteousness through faith for all who believe

The law's positive function: pointing to Christ

Romans 3:21-24 justification by faith grace righteousness of God

1 Corinthians 13:10-12 cessationism continuationism spiritual gifts

1 Corinthians 13:10-12 is the primary cessationist proof-text in the cessationism vs. continuationism debate.

Introduction to the episode. Winger frames the central question: does 1 Cor 13:10-12 teach that tongues, prophecy, and knowledge ceased after the apostolic era?

cessationism continuationism spiritual gifts

Cessationism defined: miraculous gifts belonged to the apostolic era only, served a unique founding purpose, and ceased before the canon closed.

Winger reads a definition from Theapedia. He contrasts it with continuationism, which holds the gifts are normative and available today.

1 Corinthians 12-14 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 1 Corinthians 12-14 prophecy word of knowledge

1 Corinthians 13:8-13 in context: the love passage is embedded within 1 Cor 12-14, a sustained section on spiritual gifts.

Winger reads the passage aloud (1 Cor 13:8-13) and establishes its literary context before presenting cessationist interpretations.

1 Corinthians 13:10 James 1:23-25 cessationism canon of Scripture to teleion

Cessationist Interpretation 1: "the perfect" (to teleion) = the completed Bible, supported by a mirror/perfect-law parallel in James 1:23-25.

First of two cessationist readings. Proponents cite the shared vocabulary of "mirror" and "perfect" (teleios) between 1 Cor 13 and James 1 to argue the perfect thing is Scripture.

1 Corinthians 13:12 James 1:4 James 1:17 cessationism face to face with God 1 Corinthians 13:12

Rebuttal of Interpretation 1: teleios is a broad word with many non-Scripture referents, and the mirror image in James functions differently than in 1 Cor 13.

Winger raises two problems with equating "the perfect" with the completed Bible.

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 cessationism canon of Scripture to teleion

Cessationist Interpretation 2 (Masters Seminary): prophecy and knowledge = inscripturated revelation; massive time gap between vv. 11 and 12; "the perfect" = the church brought to maturity by the Bible.

Summary of the three key concepts in the Masters Seminary article that underpin its cessationist reading of 1 Cor 13.

Acts 21:9 Acts 11 Acts 21:9 cessationism prophecy

Rebuttal: the inscripturation claim for prophecy and knowledge is unsubstantiated; New Testament prophets generally did not produce Scripture.

First major exegetical objection to the Masters Seminary argument. Winger demonstrates that NT prophets were not primarily Scripture-writers.

1 Corinthians 13:8 spiritual gifts prophecy word of knowledge

Verse-by-verse: v. 8 — love never ends; three gifts (prophecy, knowledge, tongues) will pass away; the context is clearly the spiritual gifts of 1 Cor 12-14.

Winger begins his own positive verse-by-verse treatment of 1 Cor 13:8-13.

1 Corinthians 13:9-10 apostolic authority prophecy inscripturation

Verse-by-verse: vv. 9-10 — Paul includes himself in "we know in part," undermining the inscripturation reading; even apostolic knowledge is partial, not completable by writing.

Key exegetical point: the first-person plural "we" in v. 9 includes Paul and the other apostles, not just ordinary charismatics.

1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians 13:11 cessationism 1 Corinthians 15 eschatology

Verse-by-verse: v. 11 — the child/adult analogy illustrates that the gifts are a temporary measure, but the maturity in view is eschatological glorification (1 Cor 15), not canonical completion.

Winger grants that v. 11 sounds like it could support the church-maturity cessationist view, but locates its referent in resurrection/glorification.

1 Corinthians 15 cessationism 1 Corinthians 15 eschatology

1 Corinthians 15 confirms: "the perfect" is the resurrection state — imperishable bodies, the last trumpet, being changed — not the completion of the Bible.

Winger appeals to 1 Cor 15 (same letter, shortly after ch. 13) as the definitive referent for "when the perfect comes."

1 Corinthians 13:13 spiritual gifts love 1 Corinthians 13:13

Main point of 1 Cor 13: love, not gifts, is the permanent priority; pursuit of love must exceed pursuit of spiritual gifts.

Winger concludes the exegesis by restating Paul's actual primary argument.

apostolic office cessationism continuationism

Winger's own position: open but not normative — he agrees with cessationists on apostleship and a likely reduction of healing gifts, but rejects full cessationism.

Having refuted the cessationist use of 1 Cor 13, Winger clarifies his own nuanced view to avoid being read as a rampant charismatic.

Matthew 18 Matthew 18 Bethel Church Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry

Critique of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry: prophetic activation exercises using Uno cards reduce prophecy to social engineering and fabrication.

Winger pivots to critique hyper-charismatic practice, using Bethel's published school curriculum as a concrete example.

1 Corinthians 12-14 1 Corinthians 12-14 cessationism continuationism

The cure for hyper-charismatic abuse is not cessationism but the biblical regulative norms already given in 1 Cor 12-14 for how gifts function in the church.

Winger resists the reactionary move of becoming cessationist in response to charismatic excess.

continuationism spiritual gifts prophecy

Personal testimony: Winger reports a small number of personal experiences he believes were genuine prophetic insights that subsequently proved true.

Winger offers experiential (not dogmatic) support for remaining open to the gifts.

1 Corinthians 14 Romans 8 1 Corinthians 13:1 1 Corinthians 14 Romans 8 spiritual gifts

Q&A: Tongues in 1 Cor 14 are actual languages; tongues always requires genuine linguistic communication; "groaning" in Romans 8 is distinct from the gift of tongues.

Response to viewer question about whether 1 Cor 14 tongues are languages or ecstatic utterances.