Articles
"How to Speak in Tongues"
"How to Speak in Tongues"
By Mike Thomas
If you do a search online for speaking in tongues, you'll eventually come across websites that teach people how to perform it. Dr. Ken Matteo says, "In one of the worst cases I've seen, in Va. Beach, one group was offering a series of five lessons at $80 each to teach a person how to speak in tongues" (scionofzion.com). He also lists on that page a quote from J. E. Stiles who gives steps to take in helping a new convert speak in tongues. Consider some of these:
3. Tell him that when hands are laid upon him he will receive the Holy Spirit.
4. Tell the candidate he is to expect the Spirit to move on his vocal cords, but that he must cooperate with the experience as well.
5. Tell him to throw away all fear that this experience might be false.
6. Tell him to open his mouth wide and breathe as deeply as possible, at the same time telling himself that he is receiving the Spirit now (The Gift Of The Spirit, 104).
While this might be amusing to us, we must be concerned with the fact that many religious groups claim to have the miraculous power to speak in unknown tongues. Oddly enough, if the Spirit is speaking through these people, He is not only leading them in many different directions, He is teaching them beliefs that violate the word of God. An example is the Pentecostal Church (Holiness, Church of God) which has a faction called the Oneness Pentecostals (Assemblies of God) because they deny the Trinity of the Godhead. If God is leading both groups in tongue speaking, as they claim, why are they receiving conflicting messages? Is there more than one Spirit (Eph. 4:4)?
Here are a few things to keep in mind when someone claims to have the power to speak in tongues:
Tongues Were Legitimate Languages
Anyone can say "yaba daba doo" and claim it is a message from God, but the miracle of tongue speaking is the ability to fluently speak a known language of the world without having learned it. Where's the miracle in people rolling on the floor while shouting out gibberish? Babies do it every day! But when Peter and the other apostles of Acts 2 spoke in tongues, they were communicating in the known languages of those gathered "from every nation under heaven" (v 5). It is evident the apostles were able to speak to the foreigners present "because everyone heard them speak in his own language" (v 6). The author then lists the nations that were present (vv 9-11). Notice, "tongues of angels" and gibberish are not listed.
Tongues Could Be Controlled
God instructed the first Christians in how to use the gift of speaking in tongues (1Cor. 14:22-28). They were to each take turns speaking, one at a time (v 27), and only if an interpreter was present. If no one had the power to translate the message, then the tongue speaker was to remain silent and speak to himself and God (v 28). Speaking out of turn or saying things out loud that people could not understand were not permitted-even though God was the One sending them the tongue. This was of no value to the listener and only made the tongue speaker appear to be out of his mind (v 23). The tongues were given to persuade unbelievers, not entertain or "edify" other Christians (v 22). And since people must understand what is being said to benefit from it (v 6), there is no value in blathering out loud things we are making up as we go.
Tongues Were Temporary
The apostle Paul not only taught the first Christians how to use their miraculous gifts, he warned them of the temporal nature of each (1Cor. 13:8-11). The gifts were given to reveal the word of God, but once the complete will of God was given and recorded, the gifts would then be removed. This is why Paul said the tongues "will cease" (v 8) and "be done away" with (v 10) once "that which is perfect" had come. Those who claim to receive modern-day revelations from God are false prophets because the complete will of God is in the Bible (2Peter 1:2; 2Thes. 2:15; Eph. 3:3-5). To say we still need the miraculous gifts is to say the Bible is incomplete and lacking, which is ironic since those who claim to speak in tongues reference the Bible as evidence that God is working through them. "The Spirit did it for first the Christians and He's doing it for us." But they can't have it both ways. Either the Bible is the perfect will of God or it is not. If it is that which is perfect, then the gifts have been done away with-as scaffolding that is removed once a building is finished. If the Bible is not the entire word of God, and God is still revealing His will, then the tongue speakers are foolish to reference it for authority in religion since it is an imperfect book. Tongues must stand or fall on their own, separate and apart from the Bible.
Having said that, I declare that God has told me to tell people to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for salvation!
"What proof do you have that God has said this" you ask? That's easy. He has lead me to say, "oofodkfjoid whoustmdfoidf," which when translated means: "He who believes and eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich shall be saved, he who does not believe will be condemned." Not good enough you say? Well, what proof do you have God has not told me this? How can you know for certain it is not the will of God to eat sandwiches for salvation? The only way is through the Bible. By comparing man's teachings to the word of God, which we must do (1John 4:1), we can know what is of God and what is not. Anyone who contradicts this is to be ignored and rejected, no matter who they are (Gal. 1:8-9). For this reason, we can know it is false to eat sandwiches for salvation since the Bible teaches, "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16).
Peter said many false teachers would be among God's people (2Peter 2:1). Those who claim to speak in tongues are definitely among this group. They have traded in a "thus says the Lord" for "obmodjkdadkf dlkj orijgost" and are blindly practicing error. May God grant them time to come to "repentance so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2Tim. 2:26).
A Moment’s Wisdom
--If we are serious enough about being a Christian, then fasting, prayers, and alms will take care of themselves. --Carl W. Parsons
--Live in such a way that when it is time for you to die, the only thing you have left to do is close your eyes. --Bob Lindsey
--Where the rubber meets the road, you not only get traction, you also get friction. --Kent Heaton
--A man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!” “However,” replied the universe, “The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation.” --Stephen Crane
--Some people try to inherit heaven by making earth a hell. --Paul Earnhart
--Be compassionate, be patient; if you live long enough, you will be once a man, but twice a child. --James Cope
--The secular world thinks God is dead. The religious world thinks the devil is dead. Both are mistaken.
--A successful person leaves his footprints deep in the sands of time, not on the backs of others he passed along the way.
--A man’s thoughts dye his mind. --Marcus Aurelius
--The thief on the cross had more faith that the disciples. The disciples thought it was all over. The thief asked Jesus about His kingdom.
--Jesus didn’t send men to build large, strong churches; He sent them to make disciples. Evangelism will make large churches; edification will make strong churches; but, both will be accomplished one person at a time.
--Brethren have failed to turn churches, magazines, and colleges back to the old paths, because they are trying to save the organization and not the souls in it. --prb
Upcoming Sermons
3/10/24 AM - The Person of the Holy Spirit (Requested); PM - Unwittingly Entertaining Angels
3/17/24 AM - Guest Speaker: Doug Sanders - Joseph; PM - Guest Speaker: Larry Winn - Stumbling Blocks to the Faith: “Me”
3/24/24 AM - Guest Speaker: Haden Black - “Self”; PM - Guest Speaker: Elijah Dean
3/31/24 AM - “I Cannot Give” (Requested); PM - The Grace of Giving (Requested)
