Is speaking in tongues a gift for today or has it ceased? Are tongues from the Holy Spirit or manufactured jibber jabber? Below is my journey to find out the answer to those questions.
Let me start this off with a true story to give you my background in tongues:
While in college, I attended a Greek Pentecostal church for a couple months. After a few visits my curiosity began to get the best of me over what was being said during the non English parts of the worship/prayer time. I needed to know what these Greeks were saying! At one service I asked a Greek man standing next to me what the people were saying and to my surprise he said, “I don’t know“. That’s when I found out these people were “speaking in tongues”. Nobody in the room understood what was being said and those speaking it were saying the same phrase over and over. I found it strange and illogical.
It gets worse…
At one service two men came in off of the street who had never been to this church before. At the end of service the pastor had an altar call and one of the men came forward to accept Jesus as his savior. The pastor placed his hand on the man’s head and began praying while “speaking in tongues”. The pastor said, “if you truly believe you will speak in tongues!“. Then, the pastor held the microphone up to the man’s mouth and kept telling him, “let it out!”. The look on the man’s face was one of confusion and anxiety as he stood there with hooping and hollering going on all around him. After several intense minutes of this the man walked out of the church and took his friend with him.
I sat there watching this whole event thinking, “this can’t be happening!” I felt terrible for the man and was angry at the pastor for doing what he did. I feared the man wouldn’t step foot into another church after an experience like that! It was a Penteholocaust! I believe the man’s faith was replaced with uncertainty and confusion.
Of course, God is greater than any man’s error, but that event left a bad taste in my mouth.
For years I’ve associated everyone who speaks in tongues with the type in that Greek Pentecostal church. I thought everyone speaking in tongues had been infected with a meme.
Meme: an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by non genetic means, especially imitation.
However, in recent years I’ve had a slight change of heart because I wanted anything that would draw me closer to God and make me a more effective witness. If the gift of tongues exists today, I want it!
Starting around three years ago, I began praying to receive the gift of tongues (along with every other gift listed in the bible). I had people pray for me to receive it. I had people lay hands on me. I asked God numerous times for the gift, yet I still didn’t speak in tongues.
I remained skeptical.
Then, one day a friend who is very similar in mindset and theology said she received the gift! I was floored because I trusted her and knew she wasn’t lying or faking it like the others might be. Because of my friend’s tongues testimony I gained a renewed perspective on the gift and became intrigued by its reality.
What is speaking in tongues anyway?
1. Speaking an actual language that one hasn’t learned. This is what happened at Pentecost in Acts 2:1-13 when the Holy Spirit filled the people in the upper room, so they were able to speak in other languages. There is always a purpose behind this and it’s to proclaim God.
2. Speaking an angelic language. This is for speaking to God and not to men as stated in 1 Corinthians 14:2. If one does this around other people there should be an interpretation, otherwise it’s unfruitful for building up the church body. 1 Corinthians 14 explains that there should be order and not confusion while this gift is being exercised.
Do all Christians speak in tongues?
No, according to 1 Corinthians 12:10,30. Similarly, all Christians don’t prophecy, teach, pastor, heal, or work miracles.
I wish the pastor from the above story had studied 1 Corinthians before putting the microphone up to that man’s mouth while persuading him to speak in tongues. Unfortunately, I’ve heard many other accounts of Christians feeling persuaded and pressured to speak in tongues by certain church members. No wonder people fake it.
My hope is that the meme type of tongues will cease, so that the true gift won’t be thought of as an absurdity. To this date I have yet to speak in tongues, but I still desire to and will continue my quest.
I’d love to hear your story! Let me know about your tongues experience or lack thereof.
And stay tuned for part two: Charismania & the Penteholocaust – Feelings and Experiences Edition
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