Speaking in Tongues

[javajo]

I love it... Benny Who?

I think what got me is the part in Acts where Peter preaches to the house of Cornelius and they all began speaking in tongues spontaneously which I've heard testimony to that affect from a few people saying it happened to them when the believed for the first time someones witness of Christ. What was the need of tongues at Cornelius house besides being a gift of the Holy Spirit by faith?

I think that for my part gifts of the Spirit have replaced the need to focus prophecy through one person in that Christ works in the body instead of picking out an Elijah or a Moses to lead. The body of Christ to me has become a greater focus showing Gods love by group actions and therefore reducing the need for focused leadership and exalted positions. As Moses told Joshua after Joshua complained that some elders were prophesying "I would that ye were all prophets!"

I thank God sometimes that I no longer want to rule the world or become the next great revivalist or to be that end times prophet. Those fantasies at one time had me tripping all over the place thinking that God was trying to force me into being a great leader by deep revelations.

Now I'm just a Civil Shephard... a forum name I picked so I'd remember to be civil and allow the Shepherd of my soul to keep me thus. Now I'm a poet not a prophet and even my tongues sound poetic and I when I do sing in a field to myself in tongues I get poetic interpretations that simmer me down or enlighten me as I commune with my God in the Spirit. It's been awhile since I've done that though... I'll be honest and say that I'm not 100% on the gift of tongues. So I don't preach it or advise it... I just share sometimes that it's what I do... sometimes.

Sort of like this forum... I do this sometimes to get my life back on track and jump to that next real life operation the Holy Spirit of I AM in my life. I don't know what that is yet... the babel in my life might need to be replaced by a better babble if you'll pardon the pun.

Cool enough. If it helps you out, then babble on, my brother, babble on. But may I recommend, keep reading. I feel personally that it is important to try not to disengage the mind in meditation, but to meditate with the mind on God's Word. Like Psalms 37, which has some wonderful promises of God, one could pick out some verse(s) or the whole chapter and meditate, think and pray over it--without the noise and effort and dare I say, distraction of practicing 'tongues'.

 

[Commoner]

You know... I doubted tongues as until the day I got an interpretation for a tongue in a Pentecostal Church and another lady gave the interpretation and it was the exact same as I'd heard in my mind.

Of course it couldn't have been that the person's meaningless babbling sounded like something and you both picked up on that?

Do you also believe that, if you play certain records backwards, you can hear the voice of Satan and/or other supernatural entities?

 

[wordmagnifiedabovenames]

I've found 3 kinds of tongues in the Bible.
The words spoken may be from an earthly language (but unknown to the speaker.) or they may be a heavenly (angelic) language (1 Cor 13)

1.) The Evidence of believing in Jesus. (Mark 16:17, Acts 10:46) This is generally couple with the Holy Ghost being on people (Acts 2:8 and Acts 19:6.) Some say this is evidence of being "baptized in the spirit" or "born of the spirit" (born again.) Some people don't like this interpretation because they believe that they are born again but have not spoken in tongues.

2.) Personal "prayer language" etc. Used to edify one's self, for prayer (talking to God,) (1 Cor 14.) The whole chapter describes the differences between speaking in tongues for oneself and speaking with an interpretation to follow (as well as why prophecy is a good thing.) This personal prayer language is often said have type 1 as a pre-requisite, (people have to be born of/baptised in the spirit to be able to speak in tongues.)

3.) The spiritual gift of speaking a message in tongues (1 Cor 12) for the benefit of unbelievers. Luke 11 says that God will not withhold the gift of the Spirit from anyone who asks for it. If the getting the gift of the Holy Spirit (by asking for it, as suggested in Luke 11) enables a person to then exercise the gifts of the Spirit (eg. prophecy, receiving a message in tongues, having a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom etc,) then it's entirely possible that a non-Christian could be using a gift of prophecy to accurately "fortune tell." That's why there's the "discernment of spirits" gift (and another 6 tests I've found so far to check if a prophet is legit.)
Still, "ye shall know them by their fruits." Gifts are no evidence of holiness. I've known people who could "prophecy up a storm," perform miracles and speak incredibly accurate words of wisdom for people, but they later admitted that at the time they were doing this, behind closed doors they were not really walking with God.

On a rather amusing side note, Balaam's donkey (who according to the Hebrew language used, was female) received a message from God in her non-native tongue (she spoke in human tongue (we'd assume Hebrew.) She told Balaam to go a different way to that which he was going. Here is an example of a female's ministry overriding male's ministry.

Some say there is a fourth kind of tongues ("groaning in the spirit," Jesus did it in John 11,) but personally I think that's another instance of type 2, if it qualifies at all.

A lot of confusion (and division in the church) comes about because the different types of tongues and their purposes get confused. It's similar to prophecy. There's the OT style of prophecy, the motivational gift of prophecy (Romans,) the ministry/ascension gift of prophecy (Ephesians) and the spiritual gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians.) Each of them are similar in some ways but unique in others. It's important to understand what each one is, who can/should use it, why, how etc.

 

[Civil Shephard]

Of course it couldn't have been that the person's meaningless babbling sounded like something and you both picked up on that?

Do you also believe that, if you play certain records backwards, you can hear the voice of Satan and/or other supernatural entities?

Well I do remember a man on a Christian show playing a praise and worship song backwards that went from something like Hallelujah to Praise the Lamb of God. I don't know about the entities as much as motivation. I think discernment comes easily sometimes and harder other times so I try not to listen to too much worldly music Though last night I thoroughly enjoyed watching a show about Susan Boyle. I enjoy a certain amount of popularity for my singing voice in churches here and there.

Anywho... I'm secure that the experience I described was a valid experience with relationship to God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I sight it as a faith inspiring moment and have always shared it as such. It's a flesh versus spirit thing to me... if the motive is the spirit of Gods salvation and to the credit of Gods Love rather than the glory of self then I've found no blemish in it forwards or backwards.

 

[Commoner]

Anywho... I'm secure that the experience I described was a valid experience with relationship to God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I sight it as a faith inspiring moment and have always shared it as such. It's a flesh versus spirit thing to me... if the motive is the spirit of Gods salvation and to the credit of Gods Love rather than the glory of self then I've found no blemish in it forwards or backwards.

So...no?

 

[Civil Shephard]

So...no?

LOL! Yes... that's quite a no... for that single experience mind you... I had no real personal relationship with either of the ladies at the time besides hello and goodbye and God bless you sort of thing. So there was nothing to pick up on between us that would have put the exact same interpretation in our minds. So again I rest assured that the lesson I gleaned from that experience was from God. The lesson that the gifts are limited and yet good for building up the body in love.

 

[Commoner]

LOL! Yes... that's quite a no... for that single experience mind you... I had no real personal relationship with either of the ladies at the time besides hello and goodbye and God bless you sort of thing. So there was nothing to pick up on between us that would have put the exact same interpretation in our minds. So again I rest assured that the lesson I gleaned from that experience was from God. The lesson that the gifts are limited and yet good for building up the body in love.

Yeah, there's no actual "Paul is dead" when you play the Beatles' record backwards, yet total strangers miraculously hear it the same way. OMG!!!

 

[Katzpur]

So, I am curious to hear everyones ideas on the phenomenon of speaking in tongues.

I believe in the gift of tongues, but I definitely don't believe that it is what it's commonly believed to be. A "tongue" is just another word for "language." I believe that it is possible for God to enable an English-speaking person who knows no Spanish, for instance, to communicate in Spanish to a Spanish-speaking person who knows no English. This is what I believe the true gift of tongues is. I believe it happens, but very infrequently, and always with the purpose of sharing something God wants to be communicated. I don't believe that mumbling words that have no meaning to anyone else is speaking in tongues. Furthermore, God certainly doesn't need to hear us speak a foreign language to know what's in our hearts.

 

[Commoner]

I don't believe that mumbling words that have no meaning to anyone else is speaking in tongues.

Thank God for small miracles!

 

[Flux]

i think facepalm sums it up

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Thank God for small miracles!

And in a sense, according to Acts 2 vs6-11, speaking in tongues [foreign language] was a small miracle because the purpose of speaking in a foreign language was to spread the gospel message faster. Each, according to Acts, immediately understood the message in their own 'mother tongue' so they could return home already knowing and understanding what they were taught in their own language or mother tongue.

That gift of being able to speak a foreign language without lessons came to an end with the end of first-century Christianity.
-1st Cor 14vs27,28; 13v8

 

[Twilight Hue]

I tried Pentecostal for about 6 years or so and had spoken in tongues, as well as getting slain in the spirit where I was on the floor crying and such. It was actually a good experience involving memorization by way of my recollection although still a little bit embarrassed by the manner I was "duped" so to speak. It was nevertheless enlightening. The bummers first started however when I discovered the many multiple "interpretations" derived from the gibberish of which in each description there were no relations and similarities to be made in comparisons, and the inability for just about anyone to determine what was the right interpretation or the wrong one was just plain confusing and in most cases ended in a "vote" so to speak of which showed and demonstrated an utter lack of any divine influence involving the practice of speaking in tongues, not to mention this had being another hit on me affecting my personal belief in Christianity itself.

 

[Katzpur]

That gift of being able to speak a foreign language without lessons came to an end with the end of first-century Christianity.
-1st Cor 14vs27,28; 13v8

I don't agree. I believe that Christ's Church is the same today as it was anciently. God doesn't change and is still capable of performing miracles.

 

[Nadia Faiazova]

Hi! Bible does indicate how long the ‘gift of tongues’ would be a part of Christian experience. According to the record, this gift and the other gifts of the spirit were always conveyed to persons by the laying on of hands of the apostles of Jesus Christ or in their presence. (Acts 2:4, 14,*17; 10:44-46; 19:6; see also Acts 8:14-18.) Thus, after their death and when the individuals who in that way had received the gifts died, the miraculous gifts resulting from the operation of God’s spirit must have come to their end. Such a view agrees with the purpose of those gifts as stated at Hebrews 2:2-4.

 

[Jacksnyte]

I don't agree. I believe that Christ's Church is the same today as it was anciently. God doesn't change and is still capable of performing miracles.

One of the Catholic church's criteria for calling certain instances a case of possession is the subject suddenly having the ability to speak in a language previously unknown to them. Often a dead language like Latin.

 

[Jacksnyte]

I tried Pentecostal for about 6 years or so and had spoken in tongues, as well as getting slain in the spirit where I was on the floor crying and such. It was actually a good experience involving memorization by way of my recollection although still a little bit embarrassed by the manner I was "duped" so to speak. It was nevertheless enlightening. The bummers first started however when I discovered the many multiple "interpretations" derived from the gibberish of which in each description there were no relations and similarities to be made in comparisons, and the inability for just about anyone to determine what was the right interpretation or the wrong one was just plain confusing and in most cases ended in a "vote" so to speak of which showed and demonstrated an utter lack of any divine influence involving the practice of speaking in tongues, not to mention this had being another hit on me affecting my personal belief in Christianity itself.

I seem to remember a verse regarding someone not being the author of confusion...

 

[Katzpur]

One of the Catholic church's criteria for calling certain instances a case of possession is the subject suddenly having the ability to speak in a language previously unknown to them. Often a dead language like Latin.

That may be, but to me that wouldn't qualify as a miracle. Miracles have as their purpose the producing of a postive or worthwhile result.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

That may be, but to me that wouldn't qualify as a miracle. Miracles have as their purpose the producing of a postive or worthwhile result.

Isn't this the time for 'spiritual' healing and 'spiritual' growth?

During Jesus millennial reign over earth the 'physical' will become a reality.
-Rev 22v2

 

[outhouse]

Strangely, when people who speak in tongues babble away, they generally make just as much sense when they use actual words.

I find this true as well

all i can think for talking in tongues is double face palm lets throw in three for beezlebub to

 

[Revoltingest]

I always liked it when Jackie Gleason spoke in tongues....
"Hamana hamana hamana"