The Truth about Tongues and
Spiritual Gifts
Here is where
many Pentecostals become outraged with me, yet none can
provide one solid conclusive piece of evidence to dispute
what I am about to say:
Friend, it
matters very little how long you’ve laid claim to the
“gift” of the Holy Ghost. You had better stop
right now and examine the tongues you
are speaking in to see if they ARE REALLY THE TONGUES
SPOKEN OF IN THE BIBLE.
Throughout the
book of Acts we see several passages dealing with tongues
(or with speaking in tongues) and they describe tongues
very clearly. Unfortunately, the tongues of the
bible are often not the same gibberish you hear today.
Now before you get angry, remember this: You
CAN be deceived even if you DO claim to have the
Holy Ghost. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 14:12 "There
is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death."
The passages
in the book of Acts that deal with tongues are: Acts
chapter 2, Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 19. There
are other passages in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14.
Before I go any
further let me say that there are WAY TOO MANY
Pentecostals today who believe “tongues” are the FINAL
evidence of having the Holy Ghost. That, my friend
is not true. The bible itself does not promote that
and it is not to be held as any evidence at all that
someone is filled with the Holy Ghost. Satanists speak in
tongues. What will you say if and when you hear
that? Tongues are the INITIAL evidence.
That is what the Word of God teaches and I’ll challenge
you to dispute that if you will. If
you wish to argue that point, then please provide the
Book, Chapter and Verse that states otherwise.
I’m sure that
most of you who have been Pentecostal for any length of
time have heard such things coming from the pulpits as:
“If you’re filled
with the Holy Ghost, you should be speaking in tongues
right now.”
This is usually
followed by a coaxing or an encouragement to open your
mouth and “start speaking in tongues right now”.
You’ve also seen
those who come down to an old fashioned altar who really
are seeking the Lord, begin to stammer and stutter during
their prayers. It is usually at this point that
somebody will begin to tell them “that’s it!”,
“you’ve got it” (referring of course to the Holy Ghost).
This is pure
baloney. A quivering
lip is no more a sign of the infilling of the Holy Ghost
than a milk sign is that there is a cow inside. NO
ONE has to tell anyone else when they receive the Holy
Ghost. No One! If they aren’t sure, then
they don’t have the Holy Ghost and your telling them
they do is only going to cause confusion and it will
ultimately destroy them. If and when they turn their
back on God because of this, it is YOU, my friend
who will answer to God Almighty on the day of judgment
for their soul! Is that a laughing matter to
you? Is it a light matter? God help you
if it is.
Proverbs 18:19
"A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong
city: and their contentions are like the bars of a
castle."
Let me get back
to the “speak now” thing. If you don’t heed anything
else I say, I will warn you very sternly to heed this:
IF you think
you can turn your ‘speaking in tongues’ on and off
according to YOUR WILL, friend, you are deceived and you
DO NOT have the Holy Ghost. Oh, I believe you
have SOMETHING, but there is nothing HOLY about it.
You are a fake and a deceiver and very likely have a
lying spirit versus the Holy Spirit. You cannot
provide one single scripture that allows YOU to control
YOUR particular brand of “speaking in tongues”. Not
One.
In fact, if you
begin to just "speak" in tongues because you remember what
it sounded like, you are dead wrong. Let me put it
this way: If you were to mimic everything I said
while I was speaking to you, I would consider it very
disrespectful. If you mimic and mock what the Spirit
of God has spoken through you, it is considered
Blasphemous. You need to be VERY VERY Careful that
you are NOT mocking God.
The bible is very
clear on this matter: Speaking in tongues is AS THE
SPIRIT gives utterance. Don’t try to say that you
are “so in tune with the Holy Spirit” that you can just
speak anytime you want to. That is not true and
there is NO scripture to support it. You cannot
command the Spirit of God “at your will”.
There is one
thing the Pentecostal Church of today needs to get right:
Tongues are the LEAST of all gifts. It is better for
you to covet to PROPHESY. Those aren't my words, my
dear ones.
It is not my
intention in this particular study to get into the
descriptions of the gifts and their operation. It is
my intention, though to call a church to repentance over
the deception that is being allowed to flourish. For
a study on the gifts and exposing the abuses of them
please see the page entitled
Exposing False Gifts. In that
study, every gift is covered and is explained in detail.
I DO believe
in the Gifts of God. I just believe there has been too
much deception in their occurrences.
Allow me to
present some examples that I have seen personally.
I know
that you have seen these atrocities if you've been
anywhere around Pentecostal or Charismatic Churches:
There are those
who will jerk their bodies, swing their arms, double over,
etc. then break into speaking some nanananababababa
gibberish and will instantly open their eyes to see who is
watching.
If someone
happens to be staring straight at them, they’ll break back
into their little routine. THAT is deception and
is NOT of God. It is time to call things for
what they are.
Then how about
the ones that come up for prayer then as the minister and
other elders lay hands upon them, they look back just
before falling? Do you know why they have to do
this? Because they are FAKES and they are trying to
deceive you into thinking that they are somehow more
spiritual than you. It is deception.
I can say that in
our church, people DO fall from time to time.
I do not EVER allow a
“catcher” to stand behind someone and I make sure
everywhere I go that the entire church is well aware of
this. If you fall
back onto a carpet padded concrete floor, you had better
KNOW that it is God who is moving upon you, otherwise you
will be going to the hospital. Sue if you will, but
I will be glad to go to court to expose you for the
deceiver you are.
There is
testimony after testimony, however that “someone” caught
me and laid me down. I have NEVER seen an injury to
anyone who is overwhelmed by the power of God and I don’t
expect to ever see one.
I will not support deception or
deceivers by placing a “catcher” behind them!
There are yet the
ones who will shout, praise and speak in their (ahem)
"prayer language” all during the music, but the very
instant the music stops, so does everything else.
Yeah..sure...whatever. You can believe those
deceivers if you wish. The
Spirit of God is NOT SUBJECT to whether music is playing
or not.
I was at a recent
Youth Camp in which the young people were allowed to run
(supposedly in the “spirit”....I believe it was SOME
spirit, but not a HOLY ONE). Get mad at me if you
will but someone has to speak the truth about the lying
chaos that has entered the church in the name of
"spirituality".
This continued
for quite some time and I witnessed many of these young
people pushing people, running into and nearly over
people, tripping over chairs, knocking a table over in one
instance, etc. Godly? I think not. Good
order and discipline? I think not. Lack of
Proper Teaching, Instruction, Guidance and Understanding
of the Holy Things of God? Absolutely.
Do I fault the
young people? Not in the least. I fault the
propagators of this deceptive behavior and those who will
not lift a finger to correct, in love, the offenders.
I know many of
you are probably thinking very ill of me by now and that’s
ok. The truth of this matter is that we ALL need to
examine whether these things are of God.
If they are of
God, why then do many of them violate the scriptures?
If they are not of God, why do you support them and even
encourage them?
If you are
ignoring these types of things and looking the other way,
then YOU are propagating a lie and encouraging those who
do these things to continue. It would do you well to
read Romans 1:32.
There are many,
many other examples of abuses, but I think these will
suffice for now.
Let me briefly
touch on Tongues again before we move on. Again, you
may read the study entitled
Exposing False Gifts for more information on
this.
You have no
right and no biblical precedent to tell someone “if you’re
not speaking in tongues, you’re going to hell”.
I’ve heard Saints say “I’ve known So and So for X number
of years and I’ve NEVER heard them speak in tongues”.
My question for you is “So”? Just because you have never
heard them, does that mean they haven't Does it mean
that YOU "must" hear them in order to believe they are
filled with the Spirit of God? I personally have
never seen many of you read your bible, conduct personal
prayer time, pray with your families, pray over your
children or testify under the anointing of God, but I
don't necessarily doubt that you do. It is by your
FRUIT that I can see your life.
I read that
though Paul spoke in tongues on a regular basis, it was
apparently a rare thing to hear him speak in tongues in
church. 1 Corinthians 14:18-19.
I read in the
word that speaking in tongues is the
INITIAL evidence
of receiving the Holy Ghost. Additionally, it would
do you well to read and understand 1 Corinthians 12:27-30.
One more issue before I cease speaking about this matter:
Don’t ever fall for the “just say ____
