Question:
Praise Gospel Hawker, am a born-again Christian and I have a spiritual challenge. All my friends are equipped with the gift of tongues; when they pray and sometimes preach, they speak in unknown tongues. When I ask them what they were saying they say; they don’t know, it was the Holy Spirit that had overtaken them and they were speaking heavenly languages. Pastor, how Biblical is this? And do I have a spiritual problem myself?
Response:
Let me begin by answering the last question: No, you don’t have a spiritual problem. You and your Pentecostal buddies both struggle with bible study.
It is true, dear Pentecostals, that the Holy Spirit bestows spiritual gifts on the church, among them the gift of languages. It is also true, though, that the Holy Spirit—who is actually God—is constantly about the business of revealing himself to us, beginning with what we already know and teaching us what we don’t. Therefore, when it comes to speaking in tongues, God only works with known languages.
God cannot utilize angelic language if he wants to speak to us Banyarwanda. In fact, a Muganda speaker requires a translator or interpreter when speaking to us Banyarwanda (1 Corinthians 14:13).
If a Muganda in a Banyarwanda audience insists on speaking Luganda without translating or providing interpretation, that Muganda is communicating to God rather than to us. And everything he says is mysterious to us.
According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:2, “For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God; for he utters mysteries in the Spirit, and no one understands him.” When you ask them about it, they claim that it was an experience of being anointed by the Holy Spirit. I have attended church when people have broken into a nonsensical speech pattern during that time of prayer. This sort of experience is not supported by the Bible.
The Bible makes no mention of God taking control of our life and disabling our ability to reason or turn off fundamental skills like language and communication. In other words, rather than possessing us, God inspires us. We vibrate, speak in other tongues, and make all kinds of charismatic movements because demons have taken possession of us and taken our ability to think captive. Therefore, you should be certain of either of the following two things the next time you see that in your local church: Either a demon is in command, or it’s a staged act designed to persuade people that the Holy Spirit is at work in your church.
The Bible demonstrates that while the Holy Spirit is capable of bestowing upon us the gift of tongues, they must be languages that are widely spoken (There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning; 1Corithians 14:10). We shouldn’t presume that a God who is omniscient (knows all) needs to be spoken to in a particular language in order to be heard during prayer.
We cannot presume that a heavenly language may adequately describe our worldly issues. In the sense that God and his people must conceal things from the devil in coded language in order to prevent him (the devil) from sabotaging it, anyone who claims that the Holy Spirit endows us with heavenly languages blasphemes God. a situation that places the Devil in charge of our interactions with God.
None of the angels from heaven assigned to help humans on earth spoke in unusual tongues. Daniel was visited by angels who talked with him in a language he was familiar with. There are several examples, like the angel who talked to Joseph and Mary in a language they both understood.
Friends, the languages mentioned in the Bible by tribe and society are widely used today. All instances of speaking in a language other than one’s own involved a member of a different tribe doing so for mutual conversation and education. There was no RABA. SHINDAKASHIIII, KARABANDASHA, YOGOBOROBA BABABABABA.
When you read Acts 2, you will see that the disciples, who were Palestine Jews and did not speak any other languages, talked and taught in the various dialects of every tribe present at Pentecost. Acts 2:6–8 says that foreigners heard the gospel in their own native tongues (i.e., language). That day, they genuinely had the experience of HEARING IN TONGUES.
There were sixteen distinct nations present on the Day of Pentecost, according to Acts 2:9–11. Each man heard the gospel in the language he was born speaking, according to Acts 2:8..
How does this compare to the current Charismatic speaking in tongues, which, whether a person is praying or not, makes NO SENSE TO ANYONE?
We read in Acts 2:8-11, “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.” Therefore, neither the Apostles nor any of the New Testament saints ever spoke in some obscure form of Heavenly gibberish; instead, they each used their own language.
The term “speaking in tongues” is often misunderstood, somewhat of a misnomer. When the Bible mentions “speaking in tongues,” it is referring to hearing in tongues.
Acts 10:46 refers to the Gentile converts speaking with “tongues,” which is the same Greek word used in Acts 2:4. (“glossa,” meaning, “the language or dialect used by a particular people distinct from that of other nations.”). It was a KNOWN earthly language. The same Greek word is used by the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 14:18, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all.” However, Paul had the GIFT of tongues.
Look at the tongues Apostle Paul was gifted by: As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; I beg you, let me speak to the people.” And when he had given him leave, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying: (Acts 21:37-40). Paul was fluent in different languages.
The ability to learn multiple languages is a talent that many individuals possess today; this is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s power. Many persons who are surrounded by multilingual people pass away without ever learning or even speaking those languages. Even those who have attended school often struggle to speak English, but those who have never attended school can do it with ease.
This brings me to the Pentecostal myth that anyone can speak in tongues and that doing so is a proof of sincere faith and conversion. Like other gifts, speaking in tongues is not for everyone.
Look at what the Bible says: to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to other various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:10, 28).
Therefore, you shouldn’t question your salvation or your faith because you aren’t babbling or speaking in tongues like everyone else around you. The ability to speak in tongues is not a sign of being saved or having the Holy Spirit.
Apostle Paul spoke both studied languages and those he never went to school to learn. The miracle of Acts 2 is that the disciples who were Palestine Jews (without exposure) preached in languages they have never learned. This is what the Bible teaches about speaking in tongues.
What we see in some Pentecostal churches today is a resurrection of historical pagan worship exercises. Prof. Walter J Veith in his book; The History of Tongues writes: “Ecstatic language was a common form of worship in pagan temples. It was well established in ancient Byblos (1100BC). Plato (429-347BC) mentions it as a phenomenon in his time. He (Plato) tells us that a person under divine possession received utterances and visions that the receiver did not understand”.
In his book, the Charismatic movement Dr. John R. Rice writes: “Some Christians talk in tongues. So do some Mormons, some devil-possessed spiritists, and heathen witch doctors in Africa and Asia. Ages ago many heathen religions talked in tongues. It is not of itself necessarily Of God” So the gift of tongues by the Holy Spirit is a legitimate foreign existing language (1Corithians 14:21).
You cannot credit the Holy Spirit to the creation of words that are incoherent and correspond to any dialect that is currently used in world anthropology. If you or your church engages in that behavior, it is demonic possession rather than a spiritual gift.
God bless you, I invoke Truth, Reason, and Faith in Jesus’ name
Am Pr. I.T.WHITE
The Gospel Hawker
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