Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the Moravian Church

Note:  The following is a brief article, which still needs to be researched more.  As we look at celebration of our religious heritage as Moravians, it pays to look at what happened among the early Moravians and even Moravians today as a result of Moravian Pentecost of 1727.

In the Church, do you believe that the miraculous gifts are still in use today?  There are "Cessationists" that assert that the "sign gifts" such as prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues ceased with the apostles and the finishing of the canon of Scripture. The understanding here according to another author is that "the gifts in the early Christian Church only served as launching pads for the spreading of the Gospel; as affirmations of God's revelation and now in the 21st century all that is needed is God's Word".  Great Bible teachers like John W. MacArthur hold this view.

While I believe that the Word of God is all we need (II Timothy 3:16-17), that is not the entire story.  God still breaks into our history and shows his favor based upon our faith and need in accordance with His Will. Throughout my ministry in Anchorage, Alaska, I have seen and believe that the miraculous gifts are still taking place today. The spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 in the life of the Church are still vital, because "Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever".  According to a friend of mine, Bishop Michael Grant, a friend of the Anchorage Moravian Church, says, "The Lord still confirms His Word with signs following the preaching of His Word!  Signs are for the unbeliever, but they bless us believer's too!  It is encouraging to see God do those things which are impossible for man!"

Several months ago, I finished a book on Holy Spirit Manifestations "down through the ages", since the time of the 1st century Christian Church. After the Apostle John died, it appears that the Book of Acts type experiences were still alive throughout the world. Throughout the centuries, praise God, there have been documented cases upon documented cases of many miracles and even the raising of the dead recounted!

The very well researched book which recounts miracles down through the ages as well as a section on the supernatural work of God among the Moravians is entitled "Miracles & Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Church" by Jeff Doles. This book published in 2008 was by Walking Barefoot Ministries, P.O. Box 1062, Seffner, FL 33583. There is a website for the contemporary manifestations of the Holy Spirit at their website at www.Holy SpiritMiracles.com.

The book by Jeff Doles, says that the Moravian Church, also known as the United Brethren or Bohemian Brethren experienced renewal in the 18th Century.  His writing is very interesting and I will share briefly a glimpse into this renewal as a result of Moravian Pentecost in Herrnhut, Germany:

1. They believed where there is faith that visions and dreams, the gift of miracles and other extraordinary gifts are on the contrary proved, both by facts and scripture. They took care to discern the true from the false,

2. There are occasionally observed Apostolic graces, miracles, gifts of seers, etc. They are received, in a child-like spirit",

3. "We saw therein the finger and the wonderful works of God; and were in some measure, baptized with the Spirit of our fathers, beneath their cloud. Their Spirit returned upon us, and there were wrought in these days, amongst the Brethren, signs and miracles: and great grace was amongst us, and in all the district".

Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf, a towering intellectual with the best Seminary education of his days writes the following, which is telling about life in the early Moravian Church: "To believe against hope is the root of the gift of miracles: and I owe this testimony to our beloved Church, that Apostolic powers are there manifested. We have had undeniable proofs thereof in the unequivocal discovery of things, persons, and circumstances, which could not, humanly, have been discovered: --- in the healing of maladies in themselves incurable, such as cancers, consumptions when the patient was in the agonies of death, etc., all by means of prayer, or of a single word. We have seen hypocrites publicaly unmasked, without any thing that was the occasion externally; visible signs, both of condemnation and also of recovery, in men who had offended with respect to the church; -- we have seen wild beasts stopped, at the moment of their attack, by the word of the Lord, without any external aid, and without having themselves received any hurt: -- we have seen matters, which no man could think of seeing brought to an issue, cleared up in a few moments: --- others lost, after having been gained with the greatest ease, and that because we had not properly taken the mind of the Lord, and because he took no pleasure in them, etc."

Another thing, which I like about Zinzendorf's speaking about miracles: "he did not wish the Brethren and Sisters to make too much noise about these matters, and regard them as extraordinary; but when for example, a brother was cured of any disease, even one of the worst kind, by a single word or by some prayer, he viewed this as a very simple matter; calling to mind, even, that saying of Scripture, that 'signs were not for those who believe, but for those who believe not.'"

In my spirit, I am feeling that as we move forward in faith and in the life of our Churches within the United Alaska Moravian Ministry, a Moravian Group recognized by the Moravian Unity, as part of our religious heritage, we will see more and more of God's manifestations of Holy Ghost power in the life of believers as the Spirit of God pours out before Christ comes back again.

All for the glory of God! Amen.