THE PERFECT HAS COME: 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 and the End o the Miraculous Gifts in AD 70

Michael Sullivan grew up immersed in charismatic circles—attending Calvary Chapel schools, “afterglow” services, Vineyard seminars, and even an Assemblies of God college—expecting to witness the miraculous gifts of the Spirit in action. Instead, he encountered repeated disappointment: vague “words of knowledge,” uninterpreted gibberish presented as tongues, failed healings, and prophetic predictions that never materialized. Even trusted cessationist voices like John MacArthur could not provide a clear, exegetically satisfying answer to continuationist arguments on the decisive passage: 1 Corinthians 13:8–12.Decades of honest searching, combined with in-depth study of New Testament eschatology, led to a breakthrough: Paul’s entire letter to the Corinthians is saturated with first-century imminence. The miraculous gifts were covenantal signposts—confirming the gospel, judging unbelieving Israel, and sustaining the church through its 40-year wilderness transition (AD 30–70)—until Christ’s Parousia in judgment on apostate Jerusalem. When the temple fell, the old covenant vanished, “that which is perfect” arrived, and the partial gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge ceased forever.This tightly reasoned, Scripture-saturated work engages leading continuationists (Michael Brown, Sam Storms, Wayne Grudem, Gordon Fee) and cessationists (John MacArthur, Sam Waldron, James White) head-on, exposing shared futurist assumptions while demonstrating the AD 70 telos that resolves the debate. It documents early 20th-century charismatic missionary failures and modern prophetic wreckage—yet its heart is celebration: Jesus has already come, the old has passed away, the mature new-covenant age has dawned, and love—never-ending—abides as the greatest.Endorsed by Don K. Preston: “One of the most tightly reasoned, logically compelling, exegetically driven cases for the cessationist view available today!”Endorsed by Rick Welch: “Forces every reader to take Scripture seriously and rethink old assumptions… gives profound insight into the time you are living in right here and right now—an era in which ‘that which is perfect’ has already come.”A must-read for charismatics seeking honest answers, cessationists desiring stronger exegesis, and every believer ready to embrace the breathtaking reality of the consummated kingdom. Read more