Speaking
In Tongues...
Tongues: Speaking in unknown
tongues is one of the most controversial topics
in the Christian faith.
Be careful! Many or most
preachers and evangelists who preach and teach
about "tongues" are misled. Some are knowingly
trying to mislead others while some have been
seduced by Satan and believe what they teach,
while some may be genuine. I don't know of any
who are genuine but that doesn't mean there
aren't some who truly have a gift... as I said...
I don't know any.... never have. I do know some
who have admitted they were fakers. Any person
who fakes a gift of the Spirit is the enemy of
Christ and will surely go to hell because the lie
may be responsible for causing others to miss the
Kingdom. Hell will be bursting at the seams if
these people don't confess and repent of the
trickery. They know who they are and they are
playing with eternity. Especially those who teach
that if you don't speak in tongues you are not
"saved." Pray that they wake up,
confess it to those they have misled and repent.
Souls are at stake. If someone reads this that
truly has the gift, then I know you are concerned
for the fakers too.
According to the Apostle
Paul; not all Spirit-filled Christians spoke in
tongues. Therefore, just because I do not speak
in tongues does not mean that some folks do not
have a gift of tongues.
Don't confuse the original
gift of "tongues" mentioned in Acts 2,
with the "tongue" that has been made
popular by today's church. it is not the same
type of tongue that is described in Acts, Chapter
2.
It is good to understand the
true
gift of "tongues." I hope this factual
explanation makes it clear. It's a little long
but worth the time.
We know it as "The Day
Of Pentecost" (Read
chapter 2 of Acts beginning with Acts 2:1 thru
verse 13).
Fifty days after Jesus was resurrected and
ascended to HIS Father, Jesus sent the Holy
Spirit that empowered HIS disciples to receive
the gifts of the Spirit. Miracles that would
enable miraculous signs be demonstrated by the
disciples and the converts to HIS early church as
a sign from above to show they were genuine
believers and anointed by God.
The First And Original
"Tongue" From The Holy Spirit:
Jesus' disciples preached the gospel in languages
they had not learned. The people who gathered
were from various countries and spoke different
languages... these foreigners heard the message
in their own language. They were amazed and this
miracle helped many believe. It was a gift of
that day and in itself was a convincing miracle
and caused many to believe the message of the
gospel. This gift from the Holy Spirit, which was
sent by Jesus, allowed ALL of the people present,
who were to be anointed by God, to hear and
understand in their own language. This original
gift of tongues was not the same type of
"tongue" that today's tongue-speaking
churches lay claim to and practice.
I do not know if the
following story is a fact but I heard of one
account where this happened as recently as the
1980's. A Christian friend told me about an
english speaking girl who heard the gospel, which
was preached by a Mexican pastor who did not
speak english. The Mexican preacher, preached in
his native language but the english speaking girl
heard it in english and as a result, accepted
Jesus as her saviour at that meeting.
Acts, chapter 2: Peter,
among other disciples, preached to the people in
a language he did not know. The scriptures refer
to that as "new tongues" in the KJV, or
"new languages" in modern translations
and today is commonly referred to as
"tongues." This first happened on the
day of "Pentecost," which was the day
the Holy Spirit showed up after Jesus ascended to
HIS Father in Heaven. Onlookers that did not hear
the message in their language thought Peter and
his "brothers" were drunk. The message
was not intended for those who did not
"hear" it or understand it. They were
simply not chosen by God to receive the message
from God. The people who did not understand the
message were simply not chosen by God... Possibly
they would be chosen but not that day. Perhaps
they were not ready to hear and understand the
gospel, or possibly
they would never be ready?
The "tongue" that
is so commonly practiced today is nothing like
the "tongue" that I just described in
the preceding paragraphs. The tongue today that
is so widely claimed is an unknown utterance that
is not understood. The person who is speaking
does not even know what is said. It is said that
there is occasionally an interpreter who can
interpret. I have never seen an interpreter,
interpret a message. I have witnessed people
speaking in a "gibberish" that sounds
like a few syllables that are repeated over and
over again. The people who speak this unknown
sound say it is a communication between them and
God in a heavenly language. I have very little
comment on this. It appears to me that the people
I have seen practice this chant, believe it. I
just wonder who they are speaking to and what
they are saying?? They don't know! That would
trouble me! If I were compelled to speak in an
unknown chant and I was not sure to whom I was
speaking and what I was speaking, I would be
afraid of that "gift."
One of my readers told me
about her experience: I heard of one woman who
was being taught by her pastor to speak in
tongues... he kept telling her to repeatedly say
the preacher's name. Now that is strange! I would
believe that would indicate that he was trying to
teach her something but not of God. You decide,
but I would not participate in anything like
that... REPEATING THE PREACHER'S NAME? That is
counterfeit! You don't "teach" a person
to receive a gift from God. Sounds like a lesson
from hell to me. Don't walk away from these
teachers... RUN.
If God sends a gift as
evidence then it would be very wrong to try to
teach someone the "gift." That would be
rather deceitful to teach someone to sound
as though they had a genuine gift from God when a
person taught them to make the sounds.
The Biblical Tongue That
Resembles Today's Tongue: One of the scriptures
that could be perceived as today's tongue can be
found in Acts 19:6. And when Paul had laid his
hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and
they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
In that scripture, there was
no "teaching" of the gift!
As for the scripture in Acts
19; It is not clear if this tongue was another
intelligible language that someone heard in their
own tongue or an unknown uttering. I cannot
comment as there is no evidence either way.
MY EXPERIENCE: I do speak to
my Father in Heaven, in plain English, when
engaged in normal prayer. I know when I am
"in the Spirit" ... I know to whom I'm
speaking ... I know what I am saying ... and I
feel an extreme warmth and love and most times I
cry. I cannot control the emotion of respect and
love that I feel for my Father God. If I have a
prayer partner with me, it benefits them too. I
don't see that sharing of emotion and warmth in
the people I have seen speaking in this strange
utterance. In other words; my discernment and
God-given intuition tells me it is not what they
think. I think they are led by something but I
question "who" or "what" that
is. In short; I receive a tremendous blessing
when praying in my common language, sharing the
anointed experience in a common language with
others who can feel the same and understand the
prayer. Perhaps some folks don't know how to
pray? Jesus never mentioned the need for a
"language of angels." Paul birthed some
new thoughts... I'll say that... However, I find
the teachings of Jesus to be adequate and his
instructions on prayer very rewarding.
The problem is this; I know
some people who I respect and believe. A few of
these people claim it is for real. Therefore, I
believe there may be some true cases. That is as
far as I can go. I believe it to be mostly abused
and a lie, with some exceptions. For the most
part, the mishandling and fakers associated with
this practice have been very destructive and
divisive for the true Christian faith and
especially destructive for those who may possess
the true gift.
Because this gift is so
misunderstood and abused by many who lay claim to
the gift, it is important to understand the
dangers. Too many cults take advantage of this
gift of the Spirit and people are talked into
learning to speak in tongues so they can receive
power, etc. This can be very dangerous! If God
intends for you to have a gift, you will just
naturally possess it, you don't learn it. Don't
try to imitate it because if you fake it, it can
open the door to many evils.... Very dangerous!
Here are a few points to
help determine if a church or person is of the
Holy Spirit or counterfeit.
Point 1:
Paul taught that we should test the spirit to be
sure it is true. According to the OT, The penalty
for a false prophet was death. If a person
prophesied and it did not come to pass, he was
stoned to death. This kept the church clear of
false prophets. After Jesus sent the Holy Spirit,
the test for a person who said they had received
the Holy Spirit of God, was that they could speak
in a new language, handle poisonous snakes, drink
poison, heal the sick and cast out demons. Not
only was this a true sign but the fact that the
person would have all five gifts would keep
counterfeits from taking advantage of the church.
If a person had only one of the gifts it proved
nothing as a few of the gifts could be faked.
They had to possess all five. When Jesus
commissioned HIS disciples to preach the gospel
HE promised that five gifts
would be given those people who heard the gospel
and believed. I repeat; five
gifts, not just one. Mark
16:15
And then he told them, “Go into all the
world and preach the Good News to everyone. 16
Anyone who believes and is baptized will be
saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be
condemned. 17
These miraculous signs will accompany those who
believe: They will cast
out demons in my
name, and they will speak
in new languages 18
They will be able to handle
snakes with safety,
and if they drink
anything poisonous,
it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place
their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
I usually ask the
person who claims to have this gift of tongues if
they have the other four gifts. This
"litmus" test will tell you if they
have the gift of tongues that is recorded in
scripture, as a "sign" or
"evidence" of the Holy Spirit. Anything
else could be counterfeit. Not necessarily
counterfeit but I would be wary.
Then along came the
"utterance."
Jesus was very clear, HE
said that if you believed you would receive all
five gifts (that I have discussed). The
Difference: Paul spoke of tongues as simply being
a singular gift that some
believers possessed. Jesus never said that.
According to Jesus the believer would receive all
five gifts. HE did not say that some would
receive the gift of "a strange,
unintelligible utterance" and others would
not receive any special gift as a sign. As far as
I see it was unique to Paul's doctrine. Not
Jesus'. Jesus' doctrine was perfect. Paul's
doctrine was uncertain and not totally correct as
he even believed that Jesus was coming back in
his day. Paul's doctrine was against marriage and
was not favorable towards women having a place in
the church. Paul was flawed as are all mere
mortals. Jesus was very clear, HE said that if
you believed you would receive all five gifts
(that I have discussed).
This opened the door to
confusion as many people either had this gift or
thought they had the gift or wanted others to
think they had the gift. We can read in
Corinthians that tongues caused confusion and
dissension in that day as well as today. Because
it is the same today as it was then, the churches
who place emphasis on this gift today show the
same divisive problems the church at Corinth
experienced. Nothing has changed. It would be a
good idea to practice the tongues issue today as
Paul demanded in his day. It has separated the
Christian church as much as any single issue. I
point to Peter's warning in 2 Peter 3:16, where
he warned that there would be those who twisted
Paul's letters to accommodate their interests.
This "utterance"
was not a tongue like that "new
language" that Jesus sent on the day of
Pentecost.
Jesus did not speak of a
singular gift of speaking a "language of
angels."
Point 2: In
a congregation or "assembly," Paul
required that an interpreter be there to
interpret the message. If an interpreter was not
present, then he asked the person to sit down or
stop. It is my thought that the reason for Paul
requiring this may be because without
interpretation they would not know what was being
said or even if it was from an evil spirit. Did
Paul want to be sure that the people of the
church were not being tricked or misled? Based on
the way church matters had been handled in the
past, I think so. There are those who would take
advantage of people... such as a person(s) who
speaks in tongues and interprets his own message,
saying that a message is from God when it was for
his own glory and from hell.
My thought: I want to know
who I am addressing and what I am saying. I
believe that is why Paul made this a requirement.
It appears that people
allowed themselves to be bitten by snakes to
prove they had received the gift:
1 Corinthians 9
Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of
them did and then died from snakebites. This
may have been another reason Paul required an
interpreter; to keep people from getting snake
bit or die from drinking poison as they might
have tried to prove their anointing by putting
their hand in a snake pit or actually drink
poison, to try to prove they have the gift. There
was some reason Paul created that rule for
them... when the signs were first given there was
no mention of an interpreter... only that they
could safely handle snakes and drink poison, etc.
Today, they are not required to possess all five
gifts nor is an interpreter usually required to
allow the practice. Preachers commonly break out
into a brief chant and then back to their sermon
in English. What's that all about?? How do I know
they didn't summon a demon? Where's the
interpreter? I read about wayward preachers every
day... Preachers and priests who rape, lie,
cheat, etc... how do I know? They don't even know
with whom they are speaking. Or do they? Jesus
warns that wolves will come as sheep.
(paraphrased as usual) Pay attention to Jesus! As
I say these things, I am not worried with
offending a true man-of-God because they feel the
same as I do.
1 Corinthians 12:10 tells us
that some would be gifted in the "discerning
of spirits." Paul wanted these gifted people
to hear the unknown chant... to keep impostors
from delivering messages from the wrong spirit...
1 Corinthians 12: 10To
another the working of miracles; to another
prophecy; to another discerning
of spirits;
to another divers kinds of tongues; to another
the interpretation of tongues:
Pardon me but I want to know
who's being summoned in my worship session. If
it's not the true God and Father of Jesus, I'm
out of there. I hate to think that my child (or
myself) is sitting in the midst of
tongues-talkers calling up demons in an unknown
language. OH YES! Satan is very deceitful and
trickster! Don't think he won't use every trick
and talented pitchman and purveyor of God's word
to send you straight to hell.
Stay with the teaching of
the bible: If there is no interpreter, sit down
and be quiet! Please don't gather around me and
put your hands all over me! I don't know who you
are, what you are conjuring up or where your
hands have been. So, keep it the way the
scriptures instruct. The tongue-talker doesn't
know either! No hard feelings, please... Just let
me worship in a language I know. If Father God
wants me to talk to HIM in another language HE
will send that gift to me.
I know a very fine preacher
who advocates tongues but in a private, personal
manner, not public. Makes sense to me! It only
gratifies the tongue talker anyway, so, why make
it public? Sit down and shut up, please.
Point 3: I
am wary when a person argues that anybody who
speaks in these "tongues" are of the
Holy Spirit. As far as I know, a true,
Spiritually-gifted person knows that there are
counterfeits in everything. The Spirit-led person
will agree that the spirit should be tested. If a
person becomes furious and argumentative that any
person would question them should send up a red
flag. A Spirit-filled Christian insists upon
testing of the spirit.
Back to business...
Remember, I repeat myself for
good reason! I want you to
be clear on this topic.
The "tongue" that was witnessed on the
day of Pentecost is not the type of
"tongues" that I am addressing on this
page. I don't know of a person who claims that
gift like the one at "Pentecost." That
is the gift that Jesus' disciples possessed...
and those who were converted by them in that
day. There may be some
people who can cast out demons, handle snakes,
drink poison, heal the sick and speak in new
languages but I don't know of
any... NOT ONE PERSON WHO
HAS ALL FIVE GIFTS.
This page concerns the type
of "tongue" that requires an
interpreter. The uttering of sounds like a few
words or syllables repeated over and over. (They
say that this is the language of angels) I hope
they are not lying! Hell will be bursting at the
seams if even a small percentage of these folks
are lying. I see and hear preachers interrupt
their own sermon as they break into a round of
"yammering" and after a
"flash" outburst they return to their
sermon, while the congregation applauds. It
bothers me! I treat the things of God with a
great deal of respect and I fear for those who
don't.
| NOTE:
I can't say it enough... if a person has
the true gift; may God bless them and I
wish them the best God has for them. I am
addressing those who are tricked, fooled,
misled and are unknowingly practicing a
counterfeit gift. |
Back to business....
It is not the purpose of
this page to discredit a person who has the true
gift of tongues or even a church that has many
members who have this gift. It's the
"counterfeits" that the Lord's people
have a problem with. There are several
denominations, that are (obviously) centered on
this as being the foremost issue in their
doctrine. Some of the pastors in these
denominations teach that you must "speak in
tongues" to prove that you are of the Holy
Spirit. I know this from a personal experience! I
hope they are genuine! Because hell is a real
place!
My First Personal Encounter
With Tongues...
In 1980, I was a devout believer and loved the
Lord, Jesus Christ! I had seen and been granted
many miracles and there was no doubt about my
relationship with God. My mother, however, had
become deeply involved in a tongues based church
and they had convinced her that if a person did
not speak in tongues, they were not of the Holy
Spirit. My mother kept insisting that I was not
'saved' because I did not speak in an unknown
tongue. At that time there were many other
stressful issues causing me to doubt the wisdom
of other Christians which I had consulted about
other issues. This tongues issue was the final
straw! I became so disenchanted and had lost so
much confidence in the Christian doctrine(s) that
I made a decision. I decided that "the
church" was infiltrated with hypocrites and
crazy people. My mother helped drive me to the
point that I walked away from living the
Christian doctrine. I 'backslid' and lived in
pure hell for a decade. I knew and loved God but
the fellowship was not to be had. Every person
was fanatical and hell-bent on their own brand of
doctrine.
If this "brand" of
doctrine can cause me to fall away from the Lord,
I am sure there are other folks out there
suffering. I know there is some self righteous
person reading this that is thinking that I had
not experienced the "begotten" moment
of visitation and acceptance by the Holy Spirit
of Jesus or I could not have backslid... You are
wrong!
I could have used the term
"saved" or "born again"
experience rather than the "begotten
moment." I did not write that because these
terms are used improperly. That is covered on
another page. Well... I had been genuinely
infused with the Spirit of Christ. I cover that
experience on my "Born Again" page. To
use the popular term; "I was born
again." In fact I was "Born of
God" not born again. I will explain the
difference later. There is so much to correct and
I have to start somewhere so I'll write about the
tongues issue here.
I am not the type of teacher
that gives you a verse here and there to prove my
point because I believe you must read the entire
book which deals with an issue. There are those
who pick one line here and there and base an
entire doctrine on one verse. Watch out for
those.
Read Paul's letters to the
Corinthians in it's entirety! You will see that
the Apostle Paul was scolding the church at
Corinth for their immature handling of the
tongues issue. Paul plainly explains that
speaking in tongues is a minor gift and should
not be misused. He was being as kind as possible
while trying to correct the improper handling of
tongues. He repeated his point over and over,
that the gift of tongues was the lesser of the
gifts of the Spirit and few of the congregation
had this ability. He told them that there were
more useful gifts he would rather have than the
gift of tongues. Knowing this, today, there are
churches that insist you are not of the Holy
Spirit if you do not make utterances in an
unknown gibberish. That is not scriptural and is
not correct to teach such things.. According to
Paul's instructions; "if there is no one
present to interpret, then you sit down."
I have several friends who
profess to be Christian, who tell me, they speak
in tongues. They report that they pray in a
strange sounding utterance that addresses God
direct from the Holy Spirit, in a heavenly
language. I have one very well educated (in the
doctrine) friend who says there are several types
of tongues.
There is the 1st example
where tongues is actually another language that
the speaker has never learned but is able to
speak when empowered by the Holy Spirit. She
further tells me that according to her
experiences she has witnessed and has the ability
to pray in an unknown utterance AND she tells me
there is (also) a false tongue from Satan.
Satan tricks seekers of
Christ in many ways and this is another way. Be
careful! It is a strong deceptive spirit. Most
people who claim the gift of tongues wanted it
for the power that was promised them... they were
looking for power and not trusting in Christ.
Remember, it is not the same gift of tongues that
occurred on the day of Pentecost. That was a true
gift of speaking in a language they had not
learned. It was a miracle, a sign for the
unbelievers. I believe there were miracles
available to those disciples that Jesus
commissioned to establish HIS early church of
believers. Some will say they are no longer
assigned to today's followers. I say that God can
and will do whatever HE chooses and no laws or
opinions of "man" have any bearing on
the gifts and talents HE assigns. I have seen
many miracles! I won't make a statement other
than... "God, Jesus and
the Holy Spirit are powerful and exchanges of
miracles abound for the believer or any person
our Lord sends them to."
I do not deny any of them! I am concerned about a
doctrine that is centered around a gift... and
trying to teach people to attain that gift.
That's up to God to endow
people with a gift, not a denomination or a brand
of doctrine.
My Fear For Them: They have
no idea to whom they are speaking! It could even
be Satan. Jesus taught us that "we do not
know what our needs are!" HE teaches us to
ask that our Father's will be done, not our
will... When you or a group participate in a
"tarry" meeting and are trying to
impose your will and not the will of God you are
asking for trouble. Remember, many of these
people chant and practice for hours to gain the
ability. They seek an ability/gift that is of
their desire... A human desire for self
gratification and power. If God wanted you to
have HIS gift HE would give it to you and you
would not have to work and try and practice. I AM
NOT SPEAKING AGAINST THE TRUE GIFT. I am simply
saying I have never seen any person who possessed
the true gift, only this strange distraction.
Those who have the true and
genuine gift will appreciate this page. It may
offend some who have been misled but that is a
small price to pay for eternity. Think about this
page before you "snap" in anger. It has
been my experience that once a person has been
convinced that they have the ability to utter in
a non intelligible language... well... those
people are pretty well lost to reason. They have
no idea what they are saying in their noises or
to whom they are speaking it but they are lost in
it forever. That would scare the dickens out of
me! I want to know to whom I am speaking and what
I am speaking. I've seen too much concerning
demon possession! It is nothing to play with.
AND... YES... Satan is very deceptive.
Back to business...
I am repeating... stay with
me...
The best argument these
folks have is found in Mark, Chapter 16....
15And
then he told them, "Go into all the world
and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.
16Anyone
who believes and is baptized will be saved. But
anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17These
signs will accompany those who believe: They will
cast out demons in my name, and they will speak
new languages. 18They
will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if
they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt
them. They will be able to place their hands on
the sick and heal them."
Based on the literal
translation of the above scripture, one could
ask, do all who
speak in tongues also heal the sick, handle
snakes, cast out demons and drink poison? I think
not. The scripture states that all who believe
would be able to do all those things... The
people I know who say they have this gift still
go to the doctor and if they were snake bit they
would run to the emergency room. I don't know of
any of them that can heal the sick by "the
laying on of hands." I doubt that any of
them would accidentally drink poison and not head
right for the emergency room! We are either
talking about a denomination brand of hypocrisy
or they really know they have no power.
Well, was the writer talking
about the converted Christians of
that time? I don't know.
Sometimes we have to be careful about taking
EVERY verse in the bible as a stand-alone fact...
Translation from Hebrew, Greek or Latin, Time,
Culture and other factors can make a person
understand that we have to read and understand
the entire gospel. Not just a few scriptures here
and there.
I am led to believe; that
particular gift was common in that first
generation of discipleship. It must be very rare
today. I do not believe I know of any person who
truly has the gift. I have known several people
who believe they have it. I see no fruit of the
gift from any of them. I don't know for sure,
therefore, I usually don't speak against it. I am
simply saying it is not to be a condition to show
your kinship to God.
Since I don't speak in
tongues, I can only pray for wisdom on this topic
and listen to those who say they are gifted in
this area. My point is this; I may not know any
but some may have this ability but it is not a
requirement to be Kingdom bound.
I will not discredit the
true gift of tongues but it has NO PLACE being
required to show evidence of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, if a church,
pastor, friend or relative tells you that you
must speak in tongues to be acceptable for their
congregation ... GET OUT OF THERE!! AND... do not
allow anyone to try to teach you to speak in
tongues. You either have the gift or you don't.
If you don't have the gift and fake it or lie
about it you are in sin. You are a counterfeit. Fair
game for Satan. I can tell
you that I know of people who have admitted that
they faked tongues to be accepted by the members
of the church. I once had a woman try to teach me
to speak in tongues. It made me sick to witness
the act. She was trying to teach me to be a phony
speaker of tongues. That kind of deceit should
not be welcomed or encouraged in any church or
assembly.
It is not a requirement to
speak in tongues and is a lie from hell to teach
that.
No hard feelings but let us
teach truth, total truth.
 Here
is a very interesting letter from a reader who
speaks in tongues.
John responded. You can read the rebuttal and
reasons the reader believes he speaks in tongues
from God.
Hold
The Phone! Update! Today's date is Sunday,
5-8-11. This morning I was watching the TV
preachers and I saw Baptist Preacher, Ron
Phillips, alongside Pentecost Evangelist, Perry
Stone together and Phillips is a
"tongues" advocate now and he is
preaching tongues as gospel! The Baptists are
going for the tongues doctrine! WOW! I know some
folks that would roll over in their graves if
they could see this day!
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