It also communicates a focus on the expectation that divine action would be experienced in the individual and corporate life of the modern Christian church, and a further insistence that followers actively seek the "gifts of the Spirit".
[3] The origin of the phrase in the Old Testament is in Exodus 7:3, which describes God's actions to free the Israelites from being enslaved in Ancient Egypt.
[4] Critical responses were made by various writers including: J. Woodhouse,[5] K. L. Sarles,[6] K. M. Bond,[7] and D. H. Shepherd,[8] Later in the 1990s, the discussion was taken up by R. E. Jackson (addressing skeptics),[9] and D.
[15][16] Cessationists believe that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing ceased with the Apostolic Age, leading to a cessationism versus continuationism debate.
[citation needed] It is not the way most churches practice evangelism currently, which relies on an intellectual argument with the hope of salvation through logic and structured rituals.