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August 22, 2019

Cessationism and the Charismata -- Part Two -- The Gift of Tongues

By Anthony Wade

Closing the discussion on the abuses of the gifts in the church today. Examining tongues.

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Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. -- Romans 8:26 (ESV)

For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. -- 1Corinthians 14:2 (ESV)

This is the second in a two-part series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I am often asked if I am a cessationist because I speak against the abuses of the gifts within the charismatic church today. My answer is no. Cessationism is simply not supported by the canon of scripture, which I explained in the first part of this series. In that devotional I also went through the first seven gifts listed in 1Corinthians 12. I tried to explain what I see the bible says about these gifts versus how the church today is abusing the gifts. Some are easy to spot such as the fake faith healers and miracle pimps who rely on cheating and untruths to dupe you into following them. Another abused area that is easy to spot is prophecy, which has devolved into clairvoyance and parlor tricks in these end times. Other gifts such as faith and words of knowledge and wisdom may not be as obvious, but we addressed every one of them except the final two -- tongues and interpreting tongues. I saved these two because they would be more controversial than the others and part one had already ran long. So where do we begin? How about at the start?

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. -- Acts 2:5-6 (ESV)

These verses are of course from Pentecost, where Pentecostals get their name. While Charismatics love to focus on the tongues of fire portion, this context reveals what tongues were actually meant to be. There were devout men from every nation under heaven that day and all of them heard the apostles speak to them in their native language. No one was saying, "Shaka Baba!" There is simply no question that tongues originally were foreign languages. Up through the turn of the 20th century there were always reports of missionaries being able to speak to the indigenous people through the gift of foreign language tongues. As a spiritual gift, foreign languages makes sense.

Somewhere around the turn of the 20th century however, tongues started morphing into what we see today. An unintelligible utterance that brings no glory to God and is part of the Charismatic "look at me" spirit. This gives me no pleasure to say beloved as I was saved in a radical charismatic church. I learned the new tongues and was trained that this was a heavenly language of prayer. The more I read the bible however, the more I could not find any biblical justification for that stance. What is usually used to defend the gibberish tongue is the first key verse for today. The problem with that is this verse is not dealing with corporate worship. It is clearly dealing with prayer. When we travail in prayer we can find ourselves at the end of who we are, with nothing left to say before our infinite creator and that is when He will intercede for us through the Holy Spirit. I know this has happened to me. When you really stop to consider God. and not this dime store knock-off we see throughout Christianity, you can begin to understand. I do not want a buddy Jesus. I do not need a wing man. I need a Savior. Someone who can stand next to me on the day of judgment and extend me the mercy I do not deserve. If you really stop to consider that, do not be surprised if you rapidly approach the end of you. At that end, you find Him. Private prayer language is just that -- private. Some in their zeal to throw out the false tongues of today are quick to dismiss the private prayer language as well and that does not square with this key verse.

I want to be clear though. I am not advocating for the present public practice of tongues to merely be shifted into the privacy of our prayer life. The Holy Spirit interceding with groanings too deep for words indicates there should not be any words! Intelligible or otherwise. When Heidi Baker screams "Shaka Baba" we must admit that she is trying to say words but that the words she is saying do not exist. The lack of language eliminates them as the gift of tongues and the attempt to form words eliminates it as a prayer language. So, what is it? Let me tell you a story that might help us understand. Since I was saved in a Charismatic church, being slain in the spirit was simply an accepted doctrine. I always resisted it until one night, after the death of someone close to me, I went down in a heap at a local prayer service and I felt God minister to me. Fast forward several years and my bible reading led me to the conclusion that being slain in the spirit is not biblically supported. Hmm"now there's a conundrum. I have my own personal experience on the one hand and the surety of scripture on the other. What to do? I decided I must discard my personal experience in favor of the immutable word of God. I recognized that I was very emotional that night and I still believe God ministered to me but I was not slain by the Holy Spirit. I couldn't have been because the bible does not support such an encounter. Now apply this same rationale to tongues. I understand we all have had the experience of modern tongue speaking if we spent any time in the Charismatic Church but the bible demands we let go of our false beliefs and experiences beloved. The Charismatic Church is very good at passing off emotional experiences as spiritual ones. Think of a typical service! It is all designed to gin up emotions and demands an emotional response! The countdown nonsense to start service. The smoke machines and disco lighting. The unsubstantiated testimonies used as sermon illustrations. The manipulative piano playing during any altar call. A true move of the spirit however cannot violate God's word!

In my old church there were a small handful of people who understood this. They knew that if they had a word of prophecy from God that they did not need to babble before it. This word was always biblically consistent and not new revelation on top of scripture. Remember the bible is the final revealed will of God. He did not forget something that He now is imparting to us through some random itinerant self-proclaimed prophet. Prophecy, as all of the gifts, draw attention to God. He gets all of the glory. Walk into your average Charismatic Church however and what do you get? Worship songs that are about self instead of God. I am a friend of God? Better make sure of that. During this self-worship there is inevitably a dance team in fluorescent clothing screaming look at me! Then the flaggers come out screaming no! Look at me! Then the person saying the opening prayer lapses between English and babble because he wants everyone to look at him and see how deeply spiritual he is. Without an interpreter I might add which completely violates scripture. The offering is not about Calvary and what Christ has done for us. No, it is about a quid pro-quo. Give me your money and I will bless your socks off -- again about you. The purpose driven church teaches pastors to preach to the carnal needs of the congregation so the sermon is about us as well. Maybe in the middle of this someone will start shouting gibberish because it is time to look at him or her. Once again, no interpreter forcing the speaker to interpret her own word if at all. It is always very generic and benevolent. Something that generates amens, which are akin to Facebook likes for a Pentecostal. So, the modern version of tongues is a perfect fit for the showy spirit that permeates the church services we create. This brings us to another common defense for unintelligible tongues, which is our second key verse listed above. Surely uttering mysteries infers that the tongue is unknown! Ehh, not quite when you consider the entire context:

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 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. -- 1Corinthians 14:1-5 (ESV)

Paul has spent a fair amount of time writing to the Corinthians about pursuing prophecy -- not tongues. Paul is making a clear delineation between these two gifts. Prophecy is for the people. It edifies the people. It uplifts the people. It provides encouragement and consolation to the people. The prophecy speaker edifies and builds the church but the tongue speaker only edifies and builds up himself. Think about that in relation to how tongues is practiced at your charismatic church. The "interpretation" that usually follows, if there is one, sounds a lot like the prophetic word described here. It is edifying in nature to the people and the church. As pointed out earlier in my own church, there was a few who understood this and simply prophesied instead of babbling first. Most however engaged in the inane babble, followed by a self-interpretation that is prophecy, not tongues.

The other consideration here is Paul is admonishing the Corinthians to stop speaking in tongues if there is no interpreter! Now, if the gift of tongues was really meant to be gibberish, how could one know if there would be an interpreter? He simply wouldn't. If tongues were foreign languages however, one would know if there existed an interpreter in the church that day to prove the tongue was reliable and provided by God. Without the existence of that interpreter in service, the tongues being spoken are mysteries to everyone in attendance. That is what Paul is speaking about in Verse 2, not some mysterious new language that no one understands. Unfortunately, this is what modern tongues has devolved into:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn7KwXsLTSU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6aAWOMrsg

The first clip highlights the absolute silliness and narcissism of modern tongues as well as the level of self-deception we sink to. Tongue speaking in the Charismatic church is considered a spiritual badge of honor and people wield it as such. This preacher though convinced himself that the Holy Spirit wanted him to say, "Pookie-Poo" over and over again as some form of heavenly language. The second clip is the more modern Heidi "Shaka-Baba" Baker who essentially is demon possessed when she starts her fake tongues rant. While we are on this, Baker engages in something that many preachers do today. This lapsing into tongues and back into English with seemingly no rhyme or reason and certainly no interpretation. The bible is very clear. Without an interpreter we are to stay silent.

Beloved, I understand this is a touchy subject because this is simply how we were raised and taught. Sound doctrine requires us to test ourselves however and to test all spirits. It should not be discouraging to discover we have been taught wrong. Freedom from what is false should always be a moment of great joy for we once we were blind but now we see. When I realized that being slain in the spirit and talking gibberish for tongues were not biblical those areas were returned to God, where they belonged. I no longer had to pursue the gifts of proof of my super-spirituality or feel less than for not having the same experience. The bible says that the Holy Spirit decides what gifts go to whom and when. How liberating is that! I have watched people try to teach people how to speak in gibberish tongues and that is nothing short of blasphemous! Schools of the fake supernatural such as Bethel are simply lying when they claim they can teach you how to prophesy, let alone speak in their false tongues.

As hard as this may be, take it and consider. The next time in church watch how tongues is used. Is it a performance for the speaker to draw attention away from Christ and onto themselves? Was there an interpreter? Were they forced to interpret themselves? Was the interpreted word directed to God or to the church? If you know of unsaved folks there watch their reaction. Is this bringing any glory to God? Any at all? Who was being exalted during the tongues? Was everyone focused on God or the speaker? These are serious questions beloved. the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for show. They are not designed to draw attention away from God. I understand why many have wandered away into cessationism. They see the same abuses I see in the church but they choose to throw out the baby with the charismatic bathwater. That is equally unbiblical. God would never go to the detailed lengths He did regarding the order of church services and the gifts if they were only meant for the Apostolic Age, which only had 40 years left at the time of the writing. We are so bound by the experience of the apostate church in this country we cannot see what might be outside of our shores. It is any wonder that the Holy Spirit is not moving in a church that has fallen away from God? Look into the underground church in China or the oppressed church in the Middle East and that picture might be entirely different. God is still active beloved and His spirit still moves. He still heals. He still delivers. Do not chase false charismata to bring glory to yourself. Step into the glorious light that shines only to exalt Jesus.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- August 22, 2019



Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

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