Most Christians today think the present-day church of Gentile “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:2) began with Pentecost which was marked with the ‘Gifts of the Holy Spirit,’ which was manifested with “signs and sonders.” Paul tells us “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:” 1 Cor. 1:22.

Most today do not know why the miraculous “signs and wonders” were demonstrated during Acts. Acts was the continuation of the Gospel of Luke and the promise of the kingdom to come to Israel on earth if the nation would repent. Nothing had changed from Luke except the fulfillment of some promises that had been made to the Nation Israel long before. The Acts 2 out-pouring of the Holy Spirit upon those believers of Israel brought miraculous spiritual gifts. Those miraculous were to gifts to confirm the message of the ‘Kingdom at Hand’ being then offered IF Israel as a Nation (by its leaders) would believe and receive it by then taking John the Baptist’s water baptism of repentance. Of course we know Israel never did repent and so the hope of the kingdom to come on earth is still in abeyance.

These miraculous gifts of the Acts period were a necessary feature in the Pentecostal Jewish church during the period covered by the Acts. The Acts 2 Pentecost event cannot be thought of as the beginning of the present-day dispensation of the church of the Gentile “body of Christ” that Paul reveals to us only AFTER the Acts period ends with the total fall of Israel.

We can say that the appeal to the Old Scriptures is a characteristic of the period covering Acts 1-28. And we can say with equal assurance that “the hope of Israel” which is seen in the first chapter of Acts persists unto the last chapter of the Acts. We have but to turn to the last chapter, Acts 28:1-9, to see that the gifts specified in Mark 16:17-18 (i.e., serpent bites, drink poison) and which were an abundant possession of the church in Corinth, are a characteristic of the whole Acts period. The Pentecostal gift on the day of Pentecost was first seen by the gift of tongues, which was the enabling of untaught men to speak the Word of God in a tongue (a known language) in which their hearers were born to. It was coupled the gift of prophesying, meaning “speaking forth” the truth of God by inspiration of the Holy Spirit as seen in Acts 2:1-11,17-18 (this is not ‘foretelling’ as so many think).

Unspecified but “many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” according to Acts 2:43, and the gift of miraculous healing is manifest in the healing of the lame man, as recorded in Acts 3. Even the religious rulers of the people of Israel, who were violently antagonistic to the apostles, confessed “Indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest... we cannot deny it” (cf. Acts 4:16).

The apostles then, after being threatened by the council and let go, prayed “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy word, by stretching forth Thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy holy child Jesus” (Acts 4:29,30).

That prayer was followed with a special visitation of the Holy Spirit, as noted in (Acts 4:31). Peter not only had the gift of healing, he caused both Ananias and Sapphira to be stricken with death for lying, which dread miracle was followed once again by “signs and wonders” by the hands of the apostles (Acts 5:1-13).

And so the story unfolds. Stephen “full of faith and power, did great wonders miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8); Philip likewise did miracles which included the casting out of unclean spirits, and the healing of those taken with palsy and who were lame (Acts 8:5-7, and the gift of the Holy Ghost was conferred upon believers by the laying on of the hands of the apostles. A man named Aeneas, who had kept his bed for eight years sick of the palsy, was healed by Peter. He also raised to life a woman named Dorcas, who had died and had been laid out in her chamber (Acts 9:32-41).

I think enough has been brought forward here to prove beyond doubt that the early church from Pentecost onwards in Acts was mightily endowed with supernatural gifts. So, we might ask; Has any reader of this article spoken a foreign language without learning or effort? Has any reader healed a man lame from his birth? Has anv reader stricken a man with immediate death? Has any reader raised either a man or a woman from the dead?

If not, can any believer honestly before God believe that there has not been a break in the dispensational character of God’s dealings since the day of Pentecost?

Mark in his gospel said these spiritual gifts “SHALL follow them that believe” (Mark 16:17), Therefore, anyone claiming to belong to the Pentecostal church, and does not have these gifts, then he HAS NO EVIDENCE that he is a believer at all! We shouldn’t speak of spiritual gifts general terms, they were specifically miraculous and named, Jesus said;

“In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues: They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” (Mark 16:17-18) Have you seen any of this lately? No!

Yes, “these signs” DID follow them During Acts, but they do NOT follow anyone today! There can be but one of two reasons for their absence today, either; 1) The church has lost the power by reason of poverty of faith, or 2) a New Dispensation Has Come In, in which Miraculous Gifts Have No Place.

Seeing that Paul’s teaching of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians is on the highest spiritual plane discoverable in the Scriptures, we should note that the Apostle Paul himself sent a remedy prescription of “wine for thy stomach’s sake” to Timothy’s for his “often infirmities” (1Tim. 5:23). Timothy was a man of faith and son in the faith to Paul. So the charge of poverty of faith can’t be maintained. It must be that the dispensation did change with Acts 28:28.