Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. Now, brothers if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. -- 1Corinthians 14: 5-12 (ESV)
First of all, the fact that Paul desires them all to speak in tongues indicates that he knows they all will not. This further demonstrates the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in deciding who receives what gifts. Secondly, is Paul establishing a hierarchy of tongues? Is he establishing a "lifestyle" of tongues? No! Just the opposite! He is saying to desire the better gifts. The ones that speak from the mind and the Spirit so that people may be built up! The implication here is clear. Coming to brethren with tongues devoid of revelation, knowledge, prophecy or teaching is of no benefit. What we see across the land today is people speaking into the air. It is a narcissistic, look at me spirit that edifies no one. Note also here the re-emphasis on tongues as foreign known languages and not gibberish. Paul fully acknowledges the eagerness to desire the manifestations of the Spirit, the same as we see today, but he is establishing a lifestyle of seeking gifts that impart to others. That edify others. That build the church. Laskey continues:
"But I let them know they are on the right track and need to continue in it, because it is about to grow." -- Jared Laskey
He is referring to people who come to him frustrated that they find themselves repeating the same indiscernible snippets over and over again when they "speak in tongues." The reason why of course is that these imperceptible fragments of speech do not mean anything. They do not mean anything on this plane of existence or spiritually. This is because they did not originate from the Spirit of God but rather from the depths of our wicked hearts. From our desire to be seen. From our desire to appear spiritual. We saw all the other super-spirituals in our church wrapped in Jewish prayer cloths slain all over the sanctuary shouting out what we were told is a heavenly language and coveted it in our hearts. We didn't just want to speak it or pray it -- we wanted to sing it! I saw one time someone write in tongues. That is how absurd this has all become. Laskey here tells the deceived Christian to keep on deceiving themselves. Keep "practicing" and "developing" what the Bible does not say to practice or develop. If it is the prayer language then you must meet the prerequisites and then it will be groanings more than babble. If it is the gift, it should be foreign languages and the lifestyle we should seek is found in desiring the other gifts that serve others and not just ourselves. That fits with the rest of the theme of Jesus' teachings and the Gospel, no? Jared Laskey would conclude:
"We should also sing in tongues in our times alone with God. First Corinthians 14:15 says, 'I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding.' This is a key to developing our spiritual language and in learning how to interpret them as we pray and sing in this gift. -- Jared Laskey
No Jared. You cannot rip verse 15 out of context and then misinterpret it like this. We do not have a spiritual language that can be developed like a second foreign language. Hooked on spiritual phonics will not help us. I understand why he is so deceived. There are schools popping up every day to teach the gifts, including tongues. There are false teachers who tell people to just say whatever rolls onto their tongue no matter how silly it might sound. People like Jared Laskey would then tell you to practice it. How Biblically absurd. The result is we have generations of people in churches today who fancy themselves as deeply spiritual but they actually are extremely carnal. They become desensitized actually to what the difference is between the spiritual and the emotional. When that happens you have a church that is ripe picking for the enemy. You have believers that find themselves farther away from God than they realize. That is how churches fall for such blatantly evil things such as holy laughter and the false signs and lying wonders. For the clairvoyance that passes for prophecy these days. For gem stones, gold dust, angel feathers and glory clouds. For one nonsensical, unbiblical absurdity after another embraced in the name of the Holy Spirit but derived from the depths of our wickedly deceitful hearts. Babbling, unintelligible tongues may seem harmless but any manifestation that we attribute to God that is not actually from Him only serves to drive us further away from Him.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 4, 2017
