Cessationism

In Christian theology, Cessationism is the view that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues, prophetic utterances and faith healing, ceased being practiced early in Christian Church history. Cessationists generally believe that the miraculous gifts were provided only for the foundation of the Christian Church, during the time between the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, c. 33 AD, as described in the 2nd Chapter of Acts), and the fulfillment of God's purposes in history, usually identified as either the completion of the last book of the New Testament (Book of Revelation), or the death of John the Apostle, the last of the Twelve Apostles.

The counterpart to Cessationaism is Continuationism, which teaches that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit have remained available for use by the church ever since Pentecost. Disputes over Cessationism versus Continuationism have since led to denominational schisms within the Church.