Italian pentecostalism's understanding of glossolalia

Abstract

Italian pentecostalism believes that the signs and wonders attested to in the book of Acts are to be repeated during the last days, the eschatological age that will introduce the second coming of Christ. Their continuationism stands in contrast to the cessationism found in the majority of Protestant traditions that believe that miracles had ceased after the death of the last apostle or at the end of the apostolic age with its establishment of churches across the oikoumene (Maldonado, 2014:216; Wagner, 1999:11; Boulton, 2001:10; Wigglesworth, 2005:57; Rinaldi, 2008:201,227- 228,267-269,272-274, 280; Bonnke, 2008:26,28-29). A fundamental characteristic of the Spirit is to be always present and active,1 as during the creation of the universe he “moved upon the face of the waters”, manifesting the presence of God waiting to be at work (Ge, 1:2; Grudem, 2015:155; Bevere, 2016:17). The same Spirit “dwells” in every Christian believer, who represents God’s new creation (Moltmann, 1994:17,87,122). The research discusses the practice and teaching about the charismata in Italian Pentecostal churches in a critical manner in relation to their continuationism, to contrast it to cessationism, in order to evaluate these arguments in terms of what the New Testament teaches about charismata and their continuation in the church.