Tongues, the spirit of prophecy, healing miracles, and dreams and visions are all real. Read the Bible it’s all in there. .
I don't know many, if any really, Christians who would disagree with that. That the Bible mentions these things, and describes them, and that these things happened and were of the Holy Spirit certainly isn't in doubt.
The real question, really, is whether the sorts of things claimed and done in some modern groups is the same thing which is mentioned in the Bible.
For example, there isn't a question of whether or not glossolalia (tongues) happened in the Bible. Because it obviously did. But is what is called "tongues" in certain modern groups the same tongues that happened in the Bible.
This isn't even a debate about Cessationism vs Continualism. For example, I'm not a Cessationist. Most traditional Christians aren't. But, simultaneously, we don't accept that the observed phenomenon of "speaking in tongues" in certain modern groups is the same thing as the phenomenon recorded in the Bible. Namely this: The charism of glossolalia was one of many different kinds of charisms--gifts--which were exercised through the Church, by the power of the Spirit; but this was not a special prayer language between the speaker and God, but was real human language. It's what we see described in the Acts of the Apostles on Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Church resulted in those gathered to speak the languages of the various Jewish pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem. They heard their own languages spoken. That was the miracle, that these (mostly) Galilean Jews were speaking the languages and dialects of diverse peoples. Which is also why, as described by St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, that in the context of the Liturgy if someone speaks in a tongue there is no benefit unless it is interpreted so as to be understood by the gathered Faithful.
Further, the Apostle goes on to explain that this charism of tongues is not a sign for the believing, but the unbelieving. He quotes the Prophet Isaiah who writes,
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For by people of strange lips and with a foreign language the LORD will speak to this people, to whom He said: 'This is a place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.' But they would not listen." - Isaiah 28:11-12
The "sign" of tongues was a sign of judgment against those who did not believe. A sign of a stubborn people who will not hear, will not listen, to what God has said and done even though He has caused this to happen in their midst. In a sense, then, a sign of judgment against unbelieving Israel.
For this reason the Apostle instead argues that prophecy--preaching and proclamation--is greater. To boldly proclaim God's word, understood by all hearers, benefits and does more good than the speaking in tongues. The way in which this gift was, has been, and continues to be exercised through the Church is by the pastor, who as the minister of God's Word and Sacraments exercises the office of the Keys for the good of the people. Every time a pastor delivers a sermon or homily, this is the gift of prophecy being exercised in its proper, good, and apostolic way.
Even still, I believe there have been many ways the Church has exercised its prophetic mission in the world, there have been many prophets throughout the history of the Church. For example, when St. Ambrose spoke against Emperor Theodosius after the massacre of Thessalonika, this was a prophetic act. In our own recent history, we had men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who spoke boldly against the evil of the Nazis and the apostasy of the Reichskirche. In the 1960's Martin Luther King Jr boldly proclaimed truth to power on the issue of civil rights for black Americans.
This bold preaching of truth to power, the proclamation of God's word, in truth, cutting asunder as a two-edged blade, that's the prophetic in action.
So, again, it's not that things are mentioned in the Bible--that is something we all agree on. The issue comes down to whether or not certain things we see today are in line with what Scripture teaches, and with what Christ's Church has historically confessed--because that biblical and apostolic confession is essential.
-CryptoLutheran
