Many long for the true Pentecost experience that the early disciples had. Rightfully so, for we should. But many long so much that they are receptive to a counterfeit experience, which is part of the “strong delusion” sent out in these latter days. But is their “speaking in tongues” the same experience that the early apostles had?
Now I know that this may deeply offend many sincere believers who have been swept away in the tide of glossolalia inundating the globe. How can it be wrong if so many are doing it, some would ask. “Few there be to find this way of truth,” Christ said. So beware of what the “many” are doing.
Studying It Out with an Open Mind
Putting aside pre-conceived ideas and traditions, we must go to the scriptures and see what they say in plain English about the subject. He will reveal His truth to the thirsty and sincere and will pour out His Spirit to them (Isaiah 44: 3).
In Acts 2, the early apostles did not utter syllables that no one could understand. No! They spoke in other actual languages. In fact, the feast goers present in Jerusalem from “every nation under heaven…heard them speak in his own language” (2: 4-6). These were “devout men,” who were amazed that the Galilean fishermen were speaking in their language. To emphasize this fact, fifteen different specific languages are listed (v. 9-11).
Filled with the Spirit
So what happened exactly? Peter explained that this is what the prophet Joel foresaw. “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and daughters shall prophesy” (v. 17).
The apostles were not just longing anymore to have an experience with God. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and God was speaking through them. They were vehicles of His words to those without. God was speaking miraculously, expressing His truth through them in another language! That is a miracle because Christ’s disciples could not have spoken any of those languages, for they had never even heard them spoken.
A Practical Miracle
The disciples on the day of Pentecost were not in their own little worship world. Nor were they exulting in a unintelligible form of religious ecstasy. God was using them to speak to others in their own language. It was a practical miracle performed by God through His servants. God needed to convey His truth–through those who knew it–to others who did not speak the same languages as His servants.
So God literally took over their tongues and miraculously spoke through Peter, James, and John and the others.
One of the “Gifts of the Spirit”
This ability to speak in another person’s language is one of the “gifts of the Spirit” outlined in I Corinthians 12: 10. “Divers kinds of tongues” are different kinds of languages. Tongues are languages.
And I must be honest. I do speak English and Spanish. But I have never been taken over by the Holy Spirit and had my mouth speak other foreign languages to people. Wow. That would be something. Other gifts of the Spirit I have been blessed to have received (or rather, to have been a channel of that gift): “word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith”–but not different languages flowing by His Spirit through my mouth.
But someday God will use this gift again. Someday His sons and daughters will be sent to foreign lands, and He will need to speak to the people there. And God will speak through His surrendered servants and will pour out through them comforting words about His soon coming kingdom. And He will comfort them with words in their own language. Kenneth Wayne Hancock
Immortality Road 
Well-written post. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, slamdunk, for visiting and for your comment. Wayneman
While I have not recieved this certain gift,I have heard others that have and I believe.I think you can tell between what is a “rehersed” one that one says over and over.. to one that is not.I was sitting in a Church of God once and the placed got really quite and an older lady talked a message in tongues and when she was done,an interpreter told what she said, I believe these gifts are still here today…
Thanks, Deb, for the comment. God bless. Wayneman
I was raised with your opinion. Here is my little story: I was trapped by only offering King James Prayers never complaining, never pouring out my sorrow even though God was well aware of my condition. One night my eyes were opened to the fact that King David did a lot of complaining to God, so for the first time in my life, I cried out to God from my very inmost parts. To my surprise, I started to pray in tongues–mind you ,this did NOT fit with my theology at all! So after this night of tongues I did not allow ‘tongues’ to pass from my lips…even though when asking God about them he gave me Proverbs 16:1. It took me 3 years of digging myself out of self condemnation and the lies of the church about tongues. After 3 years I asked God to prove to me that my tongues were of Him. I spoke in perfect German, a language that I was familiar with but did not ever speak due to my family relations. Other languages often sound like gibberish to people unfamiliar with the language. Addressing this issue only divides the church. During a mission trip when a Swedish man was healed he began to cry out, “Praise God” etc. We found out later that he knew no English and was speaking in tongues. There is always issues of flesh in the church from fake tongues to crabby Sunday School Teachers. Leave it alone, why deny people the opportunity to edify themselves? God Bless you,
this is really a good subject which the church of today must consider always
Sir,
Thank you for the information you make available, it is very helpful in my life.
I tend to get in a lot of trouble with churches and NEVER intend or plan on doing so. Because of that I tend to stay away to not offend people and that too offends people… ug.
I was thrown out out a church for the very subject you are speaking of on “tongues” I have been told I have a massive dose of “discernment”…. It’s like I know FATHER GOD’s words or thoughts at times and I can pick it up easily sometimes. I have always known them and no one taught me. I have never even questioned if there is a GOD, ever, and I’m not from a “religious” family by any means. My question is how can HE love someone like me? and why?
I hear stuff inside. When in doubt I can always find what HE places in me Scripture (in context and not some fraction verse crap). However at times things are put in me that aren’t FULLY disclosed in Scripture and I have a problem because I use Scripture as my compass. I know not everything is in Scripture and Scripture states that fact. However this is where someone like me can get in a heap of trouble, so I struggle. Something in me fights to keep me confused and in trouble, my own family dislikes that I don’t conform to their “traditions.” I hate pagan feasts… I need to hush on that, i get in trouble there also. (My guess is I’m a real thorn in satins butt so he makes things pretty tough for me here in his playground prison).
I could scare some people deeply with what has happened in my life. When a person tries to escape this life, yet it wasn’t FATHER GOD’S plan, things happen that normal people most likely won’t get to see. I KNOW all about running from FATHER GOD! I make Jonah look like a Saint! I guess that makes me a freak and a failure, but I’m not angry with FATHER GOD, never have have been. It brought me closer than ever to FATHER GOD, but seems to have made the dark side really angry and in that I stay in a turmoil of confusion. I guess for now they lost a good meal.
As for the tongue thing. I knew those people in the church were faking it, yet it had a glimpse of being real? Many of them are (were) my close friends and they tried to make me go along with it. A man tried to “Slay me in the spirit” while people were flopping around like fish out of water and running and screaming. It not only freaked me out IT OFFENDED me on a level I can’t even describe. It was like a raging fire ignited in me and I had to get out of there. Inside I truly wanted that place to burn and it scares me to ever think like that. AND NO I WOULD NEVER PHYSICALLY DO THAT!
I tolerated all of it for a while longer it till I couldn’t take it anymore and I blew up in church (which I NEVER do, I’m one of the shyest people in the world). For my actions I was tossed out! They said I have been cut from the “true vine.” They even spread it around that I worship the “doctrine of demons.” I live in a very small community in a very rural area so it kind of “marked” me I guess. I have a public sector job and I can feel the hate some of these people have toward me, and some say they feel sorry for me that I can’t understand.
I told them their church would fall. I had no idea why I said it and I even felt odd saying it. It did, it’s a nearly new empty shell that disintegrated from the inside out. Oh it’s shiny and still standing, but desolate, as they clammer to rebuild their cult once more. So instead of the doctrine of demons, I guess they see me as satan himself…. never seeing a rebuke from above, not from me in anyway. I could care less, I see them for what they are – empty meat suits heaping full of all they can grasp of this world USING a church as a social status symbol. Yes, I’m kind of cold but it helps keep me from burning up.
They told me I would be going to hell for refusing GOD…It was a “god” just one of thousands of golden calves people have built for themselves, but It wasn’t FATHER GOD, but those words still hurt and I think about them a lot. I hurt for them, and pray for them but also pray I’m not some hell bound idiot at the same time. I live a bit of a tortured life and it’s not easy by any means. FATHER GOD gives me stuff I have no place to put yet and it’s not satan, because it’s stuff that is very much against satan’s agenda. It’s like I live in the wrong time period. I don’t fit in, I know it, others know it and it only gets more messed up as I go. I need some answers. They will come when the time is right.
I do understand that those people are as fake as the day is long and they are to self absorbed to ever see the FACTS where they are crossing a line my KING drew in the sand long ago. My heart aches for them as they proclaim what is theirs and theirs alone. They claim to be a beacon to the lost. I see them as a gathered feast for the buzzards… Why would I think that? It’s awful.
My only doctrine is the teachings of JESUS CHRIST and they side step those teachings because it would show them to be as false as they really are in many aspects.
There is ONE OMNIPOTENT TRUTH that “could” bring the world or the church together in UNITY. It’s hidden right out in plain sight! The only doctrine there is IS THE DOCTRINE of THE KING of ETERNITY (the teachings of JESUS CHRIST). It’s so simple yet it is refused EVEN IN CHURCHES and everything will be destroyed because of it.
Im a nobody and I have understood FATHER GOD maybe since before I was ever even born. This is why I struggle so hard here, there is no need for the chaos. I see it as pointless because I LOVE my KING and I want to live under HIS rules and they aren’t even ALLOWED on this planet! Not even in CHURCH! Yes I want to EXPLODE at times, but it’s pointless.
I see a time when this crap we are living, is no more and I want to go there NOW and I can’t. I’m stuck here in this “half hell” that will become hell on earth. I just wanna shuck this flawed messed up meat suit and go HOME. I hate it here. We are killing the planet and setting up a situation that destroys life on a planet. I’m not good with that. We are the world enders… what a prize. I think that makes us maybe the unruliest of all humans to have ever existed. We should so proud, and it seems many are.
It seems there are things that have to be done and I know some of it but a bunch of it is a mess and a blur. I live daily with a burden that is not mine and it’s a lot to handle. It’s there for a reason, I just haven’t been shown why just yet.
Thank you Sir for giving me information and a place to vent!
PAX DEI
Shay
Shay, thanks for your comments and venting. It does get very challenging, fighting the devil here on this earth, in our very neighborhoods, in our church houses. That is why I do not go to the church houses. It is such a disappointment to hear the preachers teaching the same watered down pabulum they taught fifty years ago. You are so right about the denominations. All we can say, especially about those in the pews is, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” And Shay, they don’t. But there is one thing that you must take in to your thinking. The insane spiritual climate that you describe in your venting is foreordained by God. I know that sounds incongruous about our righteous King, but it is all happening as part of His plan–to form and shape His pre-destined sons of the living God. For we, the chosen ones, the elect, must suffer like our example suffered, being rejected of men and criticized and ostracized by our communities and church organizations. I went through that, but for the last 25 years have chosen to keep a low profile in my present community, being wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. For I know that a prophet or man of God does have honor, but not in his own country and community. “For a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country.”
There is a time and place for everything. We should not cast our pearls before swine, for they will turn and rend us, Christ said. You have chosen thus far to fight them, and the struggle is taking its toll on you. I do know how you feel. But it may be time for you to withdraw from the constant frustration, and come away and enter the pastures of peace, where you can feed on His vision for this world which will bring peace. Feed on His Spirit which yields the fruit of “love, joy, peace.” And know one more thing. You are not alone. God is calling out a body of people, a cadre who will administer the precepts of His new government that will fill the whole earth. Our job right now is to come away and rest a while and study His word to prepare ourselves to help the exiled King when He returns. That entails knowing what His eternal purpose is and how He will carry it out. You need to read my book “The Unveiling of the Sons of God” found here https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/ebook-the-unveiling-of-the-sons-of-god/ May our Father continue to bless you, Kenneth Wayne Hancock
I understand what you are saying about the gifts of the Spirit. However, the Holy Spirit is a necessity, it is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, The Son (Jesus) and the Holy Ghost and these three are one. John 7:38-39 Jesus speaks about having his Spirit, 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified .) So, if we believe on Him (Jesus) as the scripture has said then, we are expected to be filled with the Holy Spirit, with evidence of speaking in tongues!
1 Corinthians 14:2 – For he that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth [him]; howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. There are different operations of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. One of them is for praying, we don’t know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession on our behalf. There is a time when we are speaking to God and not to man. I do understand that you are talking about the gift of tongues as in divers tongues for unlearned languages. Everyone does not have the spiritual gift of divers tongues. God has placed us in the body as it pleases Him. However, the evidence that you have the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. The Holy Spirit, He is a necessity and not an option. Jesus said if you have not my Spirit, we are none of His. We have to try every spirit whether it’s good or bad. We have to have the Spirit of discernment, discerning both good and evil. We have to use all the scriptures when it comes to speaking about tongues. There are the gift of tongues and there are different operations of speaking in tongues, whether it is for personal edification, prayer, and worship.
Thank You
Thank you, Holly, for your viewpoint and comment. kwh
ALL the Signs of the Apostles were a very great exception to prove the Fact
that Jesus is risen from the dead,
Jesus was not allowed to show this Fact of his resurrection openly to the World so he had to give the Apostles this Job,where they received special Gifts of the Holy Ghost solely to show once and forever that Jesus rose from the dead.
because Faith is Hope that is not seen,
Faith is believing without seeing visible Proof.
And Jesus spoke exclusively to the Apostles in Mark 16 saying theses Signs will confirm the “Word” of the Apostles and this Word was this Jesus who was crucified is risen from the dead
and Jesus could NOT show himself openly after he rose from the dead as You either believe the Testimony of the Apostles that Jesus who was dead is risen from the dead or you damn yourself by not believing this Truth.
The Apostles did Miracles when Jesus was alive
then Jesus died and the Miracles stopped
and the Fact that that later the Apostles started doing Miracles again is undeniable Proof that Jesus is risen from the dead otherwise the Miracles would have stopped permanently.
and the Apostles and those who believed their testimony did Miracles and some prophesied in foreign languages to prove also non Jews can receive Forgiveness from this jewish Jesus.
Sometimes someone had the foreign language as Mothertongue For example a man who could not speak greek prophesied in greek and a greek person could interpret the message as it was his Mothertongue,sometimes the language remained “unknown” meaning noone happened to be present with the Language as Mothertongue to interpret and Paul said one should pray God sends someone who knows the language to interpret or you will “speak into the air”
This subject is seldom addressed and I am so thankful to see you have explained very well that “The Gibberish” some are claiming to speak and say it is from God is a counterfeit language God never sent! God who is a loving God would not separate His people by having them speak as a barbarian in which others could not understand His message.
Many Blessings My Friend.
Reblogged this on Precious Sheep Of Renown.
Much more than for interpretation is the gift of man’s spirit praying by the Spirit in tongues. Silently or vocally praying in tongues in a solitary setting, the holy heart of our Father and the omniscient mind of Christ, as supernatural intercession for others, and also as personal edification, which by extension actually assists others, excellently extols the one triune God.
1 Cor. 14 teaches that in a public setting, interpretation is required or else refrain.
At 1 Cor. 14, verses that point for me most poignantly, regarding this marvellous manifestation, are as follows (in the AMPC):
1 Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]; and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts)
2 For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding].
4 He who speaks in a [strange] tongue edifies and improves himself
5 Now I wish that you might all speak in [unknown] tongues
14 For if I pray in an [unknown] tongue, my spirit [by the]Holy Spirit within me] prays
15 Then what am I to do? I will pray with my spirit [by the Holy Spirit that is within me], but I will also pray [intelligently] with my mind and understanding; I will sing with my spirit [by the Holy Spirit that is within me], but I will sing [intelligently] with my mind and understanding also
17 To be sure, you may give thanks well (nobly)
18 I thank God that I speak in [strange] tongues (languages) more than any of you or all of you put together
One’s spirit praying while being exercised by the Spirit, the gift described in 1 Corinthians 12 has a significant and substantial advantage because the mind, with all its biases and misunderstandings, is allowed to step aside and make way for the infallible direction of Christ Jesus. This means that when we pray in this way, we are supernaturally enabled to better align ourselves with God’s personality, intentionality, emotionality, supernality, and eternality for ourselves and for those we are interceding. The mind, with all of its preconceptions, misconceptions and limited knowledge, as well-meaning as same may be, gets entirely out of the fallible way of The Way infallible Christ Jesus.
Thanks kindly for your prayerfully prevailing consideration.
Thank you for your comment. I see what you are saying; it is the interpretation that many pentecostals and charismatics propose. I never question someone else’s experiences with God. I do offer the following as a kind rebuttal, however.
I noticed that you did not address the theme of my article: That the languages spoken in Acts 2 were real languages in the earth (v. 7-11). In I Cor. 14:2-4, the word “unknown” was added by the translators of the KJV. There is no “unknown tongue” in the word of God. There is no “unknown language.” “Tongue” is simply a language. The disciples through the gift of languages by the Holy Spirit were praising God in different world languages. That is a miracle. They knew that they were praising God.
The answer becomes a bit clearer in the following scenario. Someone has the gift of the Spirit of speaking foreign languages. Let’s say that the language turns out to be Polish, unknown to the speaker. He is praying in the Spirit in Polish; he understands that he is praising God, but the words themselves are unintelligible to him—but not to the Poles. Also, if another “gift of the Spirit” is employed—the interpretation of languages.
Praying with this gift operating, knowing of the miraculous nature of this experience, is a special rare gift that is edifying. It is what happened at Pentecost, not what is happening in many churches today. I appreciate the desire for the gift, but most are getting ahead of their skis and are trapped in emotionalism.
kwh
Excerpt: How can it be wrong if so many are doing it, some would ask. “Few there be to find this way of truth,” Christ said.
Conversely, the vast majority of Christians are not speaking in tongues, so how can it be right not to do it as per the main and plain teaching of 1 Cor. 12? Yes, “Few there be to find this way of truth,” Christ said.
Grace to you and peace be multiplied from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.