Must I Speak in Tongues…
… too be saved and go to God’s heaven forever and ever?
… too be born again?
This rambling writing stems from a gospel(?) tract that insists those who do not speak in tongues are not saved.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
I recently read a tract in which the author says most clearly this: every one must speak in tongues in order to be born again. I make the following note:
The phrase “born again” is used three times in the Bible, THREE. It is not found at all in the book of Acts where the record of Holy Ghost and tongues of fire at Pentecost is found. The word salvation is found FORTY FIVE times in FORTY THREE verses in the New Testament. The word saved is found FIFTY SEVEN times in the New Testament. The word save is found ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO times in ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN verses in the New Testament.
I do not mean to diminish the meaning of the words “born again.” Jesus said them to Nicodemus, and Peter wrote them to the dispersed church. Yet the doctrine of being saved, of salvation which Jesus wrought on the cross and which God gives to men and women, that salvation is certainly magnified. How then can we be saved? How then can we be born again?
After the Holy Ghost fell, after the 120 spoke in tongues, after Peter preached that very notable 1st message of the church age, the people responded:
Act 2:37 KJV Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
To this Peter replied: “Wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
I sincerely hope you have read your Bible well enough to know this is NOT what Peter said to this large gathering of persons. He DID say this:
Act 2:38-40 KJV (38) Then Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (39) For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (40) And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.”
Note: He did not say you will speak in tongues. He did say you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. What is THE gift of the Holy Ghost? I think it may be more than one thing. It may be the Holy Ghost Himself, It may be Power, and it may be salvation. Tongues is another class of gift. Are there not more than a few gifts in that class the Holy Ghost gives? Yes there are, and two significant lists of them are found in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. So why did Peter not say “one of the gifts of the Holy Ghost?” I submit two possibilities:
1. Peter referred to the same power that Jesus promised the apostles in Acts 1:8
2. He referred to the salvation of their souls which the Holy Ghost brought to the 120 on Pentecost.
But it is likely Peter spoke of the gospel truth. By their baptism in Jesus name their sins were remitted, forgiven by the Blood of Jesus. That saved them. They believed in the name of Jesus Christ and were baptized. They received the gift of eternal life.
Consider:
Mark 16:15-18 KJVR And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Jesus did say new tongues would follow them that believed. That is (1) sign. But He also said other signs would also follow them: (2) They shall take up serpents; and if (3) they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; (4) they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
1 Corinthians 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
It is pretty well accepted that not every one heals by the power of God, and it is pretty well accepted that not all interpret the unknown prophetic tongues. How can we categorically insist with mind bending rigidity that all the saved speak in tongues and if not, they are not saved?
I believe with all my heart that God is very precise. What He does He does with Holy and perfect purpose and will. Revelation 4:11. But He seems not to give any one man, or any one part of the church at any time the total insight into His Holy Doings.
A very wonderful Bible teacher named Bob has noted the following about baptism and tongues. In the book of Acts some were baptized before they received tongues. The apostles were, and they also received power over demons before they received tongues. Others, as in the house of Cornelius, received tongues and the Holy Spirit as Peter preached the gospel and were afterward baptized in water. Other disciples spoke in tongues after they were baptized in water (see Acts 19: 1 onward). In Acts Ch. 8:14-17 Samarians received the word of God and were baptized in the Holy Spirit but we don’t know if they spoke in tongues or were baptized in water! Later in the same chapter, Philip baptized in water the Ethiopian eunuch by he went away rejoicing but we are never told that the eunuch spoke in tongues. There is a popular case made for saying that everyone who is baptized in the Holy Spirit will speak in tongues. But is it an air tight case? In my humble(?) opinion, not at all.
This same Bible teacher makes this excellent point. If God did things the same way every time we would become insufferable know it alls. There is a lot of that going around in the church because we make sure to do it the same every Sunday. And all while God continues to do things in mysterious ways: differently. I will admit that on occasion, less now than in days past, I am offended in Him. We simply are sometimes offended by God who does the unexpected, or does the usual in an unexpected way.
When I began to follow Jesus in 1976 I received half of the revelation that Peter received: that Jesus was the Son of God. I could not at that time have told you what Messiah (Christ) meant. I was not raised in the church. I had read the Bible exactly (to my recollection) twice in my twenty seven years. In neither case had I understood what I read. But in 1976 in addition to my many other sins, I became a thief, I was stealing from my employer. My mother had taught me one thing well, stealing is wrong and honesty is the best policy. Suddenly one day at work it hit me and I knew I was hell bound. That was what moved me to seek out the one man I knew who told me who Jesus was. Several years before He told me I needed Jesus. Wise fool that I was I asked him who Jesus was, was He Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic or what? He looked me dead in the eye and said, “Dave, Jesus is the King of Israel.”
When I received the “half” revelation I was immediately anointed in oil by a church elder. The next day I was asked if I received Jesus as Lord and Savior. I said yes. The Savior part I understood from need as I knew I was hellbound. Jesus as the Lord part was not clear then as now. I was quickly given a Bible to read. Now the thing that makes me think that I was saved at that point was this: I wanted to obey God. In fact I think I was looking from a very early age for some one whom I could really trust enough to obey. (It is an understatement to say that most people in my life had failed to communicate anything trust worthy. That is in part due to trauma received by my parents volatile verbal fights and my dad’s general railings and cruel and undeserved deprecations toward me.) In 1976 I wanted to obey God. The first time I read : “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?” I got my shoulder length hippie hair cut the next day.
I soon inquired about baptism and was water baptized, though not for almost 60 days. That day, before I was baptized in water in the Names of God, I was led in a sort of baptismal pledge. I answered half a dozen questions and I remain to this day struck by the fact that I comprehended them and answered them satisfactorily!
After the water, I had read enough Bible to know something about the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. I asked for that too! An elder and some brothers laid hands on me and prayed. When they ended the prayer, the elder (T.) began to speak. Immediately one of the brothers (R.) said “wait, be quiet.” And the most amazing thing happened which brings tears to my eyes as I write. I could see a line, a horizontal line moving inside my body. When I first saw it it was just near my waist. It was as if my body was a somewhat transparent vessel. Below the line it was a pale blue like water. Above the line there was only my normal body. The Holy Spirit was filling me up, not immersing me! I asked for baptism but it was as if God said “No. I’m going to do this a little differently with Dave.” That line rose until it passed my eyes and I saw it no more. Then I think the brother (R.) noted that something had been completed. Elder (T.) then asked “Are you still thirsty?” A voice not my own spoke affirmatively: “Still Thirsty!” And I was still thirsty. I was a complete baby in Christ. I was no educated seminarian who knew the Bible, not even a good church man like my friend B. who got save in his thirties knowing many scriptures by heart. I was 27, had been a tobacco, drug using, alcoholic, pervert, pornography using fornicator for in some cases 17 years! I honestly believe I was oppressed by the spirit of depression since I was 5 years old!
I needed expert help. Would you have been the expert to help me? To pray for me, to fast for me, to minister to me the power of God? One error of my walk with Jesus was not understanding that everything begins, continues and ends with God. That is to say man in and of himself has no authoritative answer. Man may mean well and do very well, but God alone is good. I spent many years looking to man for help which God alone could give, and did not tune my ears to the Spirit who was wooing me to a full surrender and abandonment of my own ways and man’s ways. I surrendered to the doctrines of man many times and was disappointed when I failed to prosper.
But it was and is God who is the expert I needed then and need and have now. And I believe God did the same thing, yet He saved me a little differently because He wanted to do it different. My life has not been “A, B, C and poof : speak in tongues, wham: saved.” But it is important to say it right here: Jesus bloody death and powerful resurrection and His own righteousness are the grace God gave me when I put my very desperate trust in Him. That is how I got saved. He saved me. I just believed He did, and believed that HE DID what He did for me when He did it FOR ME!
I did not immediately speak in tongues. But God sometimes spoke through me. Not many times. Were they words of wisdom, of knowledge or prophecy? I didn’t even know, but I sensed very strongly that it was always not my thought I was speaking. And no one objected or noted anything about this at all. This took place in 1976, 77 in a very young and immature “charismatic” congregation, and I was the youngest and most immature or so I thought.
A few days later I asked the same elder (T.) to pray for me that I be able to speak in tongues. I was surprised when he almost angrily suggested I pray for brother C. I must have caught him at a bad moment. So I went off and sat to pray for brother C. All I could pray and all I even knew how to pray was “Lord, bless Brother C.” God saved the most uninformed and ignorant person, me. I had not yet even learned how to pray. Which reminds me…
With all my heart I believe tongues are a gift very useful to the babes in the Messiah, the untaught and untrained.
Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
1Co 14:4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
I believe the teaching and instruction which the Jews had received in the Ten Commandments and the 613 rules are taught today by the Holy Spirit, and that tongues can be an essential part of that process. I think we would be astounded to know what answered prayers the Holy Spirit prayed through our own voices. I think it must be the “effect” of tongues to guide us onward to the holiness and perfection God commands. It may be the very most essential thing in this regard for some, even many, for sanctification. It may have brought much of this writing forth. Many God saves need to be edified in ways the church cannot even fathom let alone accomplish. But the rigidity and pride about preferred methods combined with the wildness of some tongue talkers may keep timid souls from the gift.
I pray if this writing is rigid or proud or wild that it never reach another soul, in Jesus Name, Amen.
Around 1987, 11 years later, I was a backslider. I had been a backslider for nearly 6 years. I was much the same as before, but not drinking every day, and very rarely doing drugs. I think what happened that winter may have been the answer to the prayers of some dear friends. I was going to bed late one night, and my windows were completely blacked out so I could sleep to noon, my job required this. I turned out the lights and got into bed. The very dark room became darker. It was a spiritual darkness. And the thought came, and I said loudly: “Don’t I have a mustard seed (of faith)? I HAVE a mustard seed!” I turned over and was sound asleep in what seemed 10 seconds.
I awoke the next morning but quite differently than ever before or since. It happened this way. I was instantly awake and completely alert. In the next instant by the power of God I leaped straight up off the bed about three feet and cried out joyfully: “Abba!”
My head touched what I believe to be God, His Spirit, His Presence or His heavenly place. It touched something visible, something akin perhaps to the brightness of Jesus garments on the Mount of Transfiguration. And I fell straight back to the bed.
I believe the Father responded to my declaration of faith only hours earlier. Within a few months I was seeking out a church.
But before that something else remarkable happened. I decided very spontaneously one morning to receive the gift of tongues. Something in me had not been satisfied about tongues. There was no one to pray for me in that moment of spontaneity, so I knelt down at my bedside, folder my hands on the bed, and said aloud: “Lord, I’m not going to speak another word in English!” I then opened my mouth and began to say the word “Lord” again! The L and about ½ of the O came out and I cut it off. I realized I was headed toward English. I then laughed and began to speak in tongues fluidly, and have spoken in tongues many times since. (Later on I read a wonderful book on tongues by Charles and Francis Hunter.)
Now I do not recommend anyone imitate the “method” by which I came to speak in tongues. It seems a bit messy, especially when one thinks of 6 years of backsliding.
1 Corinthians 2:16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
Paul wrote “we” have the mind of Christ.” He did not write: “I” “have the mind of Christ.” That is unthinkable. We all know some of Christ’s mind if we know Him. To know all the thoughts of Christ would make us His equal and that none of us can know. I think it would destroy us, we would drop dead from the glory of it, a glory we likely never ever can or will contain. Paul by the Spirit of God wrote many true things he learned from Christ. But he also at one point wrote:
1 Corinthians 7:40b … according to my judgment––and I think I also have the Spirit of God.
And:
1 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
Acts 1:4-8 NKJV ~ 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Notice that Jesus said the Holy Ghost would come upon them and that they would receive power. That power expressed itself in tongues, but what kind of tongues were they?
Acts 2:1-12 NKJV 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 "Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 "Cretans and Arabs––we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?"
The tongues they spoke with were tongues meant for an audience of foreigners. These foreign tongued persons heard there own languages. Whether any of the 120 understood what they were saying is not the point in my humble(?) opinion. These were (also?) PROPHETIC tongues. And there is every indication that they were entirely human tongues as opposed to angelic tongues AND they were understood by many of the unsaved men and women present. Now can we say all this with absolute certainty? No, we, or at least I, cannot, and I thank God I cannot, for it allows God to be God of the entire Day of Pentecost and every day since!
I do not subcribe to the view that it is necessary to speak in tongues at all in order that God save a man or woman. Notwithstanding, I do speak in tongues, but have not spoken prophetic tongues (yet?). Consider:
1 Corinthians 12:4-9 NKJV ~ 4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
“...But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
Here, “He” is the Holy Spirit. He divides and distributes the gifts severally as He will. Some say this means we each get at least one gift, and I agree with that. We all get POWER. See Acts 1:8 again. Some say we ALL get more than one gift, and I’m inclined to disagree with that but think most do get more than one. And some say we all get tongues. I don’t believe that. Why? Because then the liberty of God to not give tongues to a person is taken away from Him. Could God give power of the Holy Ghost to a man or woman by making them a healer, or a prophet, or a discerner of spirits without also having him/her speak in tongues. I think so. Why could He not? WHY WOULD He not?
I think it is dangerous to teach that all must speak in tongues to be saved. That seems to me to take salvation out of the hands and away from the Lord and Spirit of Holiness and put it into the hands of only those who believe that view. I am I not saved because YOU say so? O that all would better and more often hear God’s voice. Any time we teach we need to be very wise and very innocent. Any time God teaches He IS ENTIRELY wise and innocent.
Now you who require tongues for salvation are probably Arminian in your theology. I am not a Calvinist, but I do believe that God knows the end from the beginning. He knows me at all times. He planned me in eternity past when He planned all things. He knows His sheep and they know Him. When we think salvation to be faith plus something we are correct, it is faith plus grace. Others say it is faith plus repentance. I agree repentance is essential too. In fact I am coming to the place where I see salvation is by grace through faith… and then it is plus a very great number of things as the scripture says “all things are yours.” That is a statement of my faith, and I don’t require you to bow down to me for believing it. Wouldn’t save ya!
Consider this quote:
“Calvinism emphasized divine sovereignty and free grace; Arminianism emphasized human responsibility. The one restricts the saving grace to the elect; the other extends it to all men on the condition of faith. Both are right in what they assert; both are wrong in what they deny. If one important truth is pressed to the exclusion of another truth of equal importance, it becomes an error, and loses its hold upon the conscience. The Bible gives us a theology which is more human than Calvinism and more divine that Arminianism, and more Christian than either of them.” Phillip Schaff
The point in citing this quote is this: If speak in tongues, is it by God’s sovereignty or of my human will that I do so?
I think anyone who desires the gift of tongues ought to pray and even tarry for it. But I do not think we ought to require others to speak in tongues. If God requires it that would be one thing, but He has not spoken to me that He requires everyone to speak in tongues to qualify for salvation. Consider:
Colossians 1:12-14 NKJV giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
“…who has qualified us”.
The KJV translates “made us meet”. If there were ever a place to add “only those who speak in tongues by the Holy Ghost are qualified to be saved” this is it. Why? Because some make tongues a qualifier for salvation. It is difficult to determine a matter by silence, by what is left unsaid, but to me this silence seems very powerful. How powerful? It is powerful to say we are made meet, we are qualified because of Him in whom we have redemption through His Blood, (which powerfully guarantees) the forgiveness of (our many) sins, as “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
Now Jesus is the divine Son of God, and the Holy Ghost is the divine Spirit of God, the Father is just plain our DIVINE and AWESOME GOD if you ask me. (I can’t get too theological, my seminary training did not provide for that.) So we cannot separate the Holy Spirit from our salvation. It may be that no one may need to refuse speaking in tongues by the same (and only) Holy Spirit in their journey to heaven. But the question is not this, the question is can I get to heaven if I don’t now or ever speak in tongues by the same Holy Spirit.
I believe with all my heart, and I do speak in tongues, that if you never speak in tongues you can get to heaven, and many who can even stand to read this far will likely get to heaven, for your interest in these things and the scriptures of God must be great.
Remember Jesus promised the disciples the visitation of the Holy Ghost not many days hence and He promised them power. That is all He said. I cannot put the requirement of tongues on any man. If God requires it, so be it. Yet I don’t think God will rule people out of His Kingdom for not speaking in tongues. He will rule them out for unbelief in Jesus.
Is this not so: That if we will trust Jesus we will have Him, and if we have Him we will have His Father? Isn’t that how the “good thief” got saved?
Luke 23:40-43 NKJV ~ 40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 "And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." 43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
God excludes men from salvation for unbelief. In my humble(?) opinion unbelief in Jesus and God today is to resist the Holy Spirit. If a man never comes to faith in God and the Messiah, he leaves this earth committing the sin of resisting the Holy Spirit all his life! Is this not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? This is another idea I don’t require any to believe, but I will say it makes sense to me from what I have learned. I leave it as a question, even in my own heart and mind.
I simply believe that we separate ourselves from each other and sometimes from God’s whole favor when we preach the word with a private interpretation. Do I think differently than others about the Bible and what the Holy Spirit teaches? Yes. But I trust Him to teach me daily and bring my life to the fruition He has planned. I have found by decades long and painful examination of the doctrines of men that the Holy Spirit is 100% reliable, and MEN ARE NOT. Not even those who are sent by God. Otherwise a “Pope” could be infallible. But Jesus said of the Holy Ghost:
John 16:13-15 NKJV ~ 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
And:
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
And:
John 15:26-27 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (27) And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
If men would seek Jesus, and read His words, they should come to see that God rules from above. It is the grace of God by which all men breathe.
Act 17:26-28 KJVR And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; (27) That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (28) For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Can tongues actually become a work? In a way I think they can. When ever man puts up a barrier, or a requirement to salvation, a test that must be passed or a law that must be obeyed, has He not taken salvation out of the hands of the God who gives grace and put it into the hands of someone paying a wage and someone working for a wage? Wages are paid to those who work for them. Yet one work we CAN do which pleases God: believe the One whom the Father sent to us: His Son Jesus.
John 6:26-29 KJV Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. (27) Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. (28) Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? (29) Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
I almost want to paraphrase verse 29 as this: “Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘This is how to work in a way God approves, give all the energy of your faith in God to the One He has sent.’” Jesus could have added “I Am he.” In fact he does in John 6:35, and powerfully in Ch. 8:58, and in numerous other places in John’s gospel (* see a partial list at the end below).
This amazing passage in an amazing chapter shows what Jesus and Father and Holy Spirit desire of men regarding work. And He calls it the work of God as they have called it. Jesus desires they “believe on him whom he hath sent.” That is, believe Jesus! The question may then be asked, “Where did I get my faith from?” And I seems quite so that faith is a gift as well, we receive it from God, and from the hearing of His word. Romans 12:3; Romans 10:17. Yet faith is a gift which works? It works by opening the door to God’s grace which opens the door of Salvation. Salvation is the beginning of God’s grace, of His giving good things from above. Ephesians 2:8, 9. It seems clear that some whom God would give faith to refuse it. That is sad.
I think it may well be that one must be born again to be able to receive the Holy Spirit’s power and then speak in tongues if God so deems necessary.
Now Jesus goes on in this Chapter 6 of John’s gospel to say to them IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE many things of which they said: “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” (verse 60). He goes further on and says “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (verse 63). Jesus did not speak to them in tongues. He spoke to them words they could understand in their OWN LANGUAGE yet the words He spoke: many did not, could not or would not understand them. They were spiritual words. “The words that I speak to you are SPIRIT…” He spoke them, and in my humble(?) opinion men and women can and do speak spiritual words amongst those who understand that human language, the Tower of Babel notwithstanding! Otherwise what does this scripture mean? Who will listen to a sermon of non-Spiritual words?
1 Peter 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
And herein lies the rub, for sin not only caused the languages to be confused at that Tower, but it previously alienated us from God, and from each other, even from our own selves! My favorite bumper sticker for several years says this: “Don’t believe everything you think.” Not everything… that I think… agrees with God, I do not have the mind of Christ in every single thought I think. The challenge, and it is a JOYOUS challenge, is to perfect my thinking in, by and through the Spirit of God and then send that perfection into my heart and out to the church and the world through my soul and strength. Until heaven this must operate:
2 Corinthians 10:2-6 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. (3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (6) And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
I failed almost every moral, ethical, social, and legal test God and man gave me! I was driven to desperation and to a Government (USA/MD) disability before I began to VIGOROUSLY believe God, the Bible and specifically the Holy Spirit to teach me to know Him, and Jesus, and Father. Then I began to understand some of what the Bible teaches about Jesus, God and mankind. I must say this almost by admission: I became desperate enough to seek and receive tongues before I got desperate enough to become study diligently. That I got tongues helped edified me to begin to believe and study VIGOROUSLY.
Tongues are a wonderful gift and greatly enhance both private prayer and public prophecy. If you declare that the Holy Spirit no longer gives gifts you ARE mistaken. The gifts are real. But they do not seem to find much opportunity where faith is absent and the Holy Spirit is lied about.
Tongues really do edify, build us and encourage the speaker of them in private prayer. When they are interpreted in congregations they edify the whole assembly. I believe they have lasting effects as they are private prayers that God answers and are praises which He inhabits. Interperted prophetically in the congregations they can give God’s Light to many at once. They are more than functional, they are uplifting and refreshing. I believe they are life saving, and have been many times. Undoubtedly the Holy Spirit has saved people from death by their own or others prayers in tongues.
I advocate tongues. But more importantly Paul and the Holy Spirit advocated for speaking in tongues.
If there were a cautionary note it is this: Many saved Christians (my humble[?] opinion) do not speak in tongues. They have believed God and the Bible, and they have believed on the Name of Jesus. They might one day speak in tongues, but they are alienated by the pedantic pressure of some churches and preachers who require tongues as THE imprimatur (sign) and often THE ONLY imprimatur (sign) of salvation in Jesus the Messiah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Jesus’ own people, The Jews, looked for a sign. As a Christian I am a little wary of Christians who seek a signs.
1 Corinthians 14:22 NKJV Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers…
Well THAT is clear, and it is helpful, for the question arises: Why are so many believers looking for the sign of tongues from other believers? The sign of tongues is for unbelievers! Why are YOU looking for it, if you are? We can be fruit inspectors and heresy hunters, but we better be right about those we judge, for we will be judged by the same measure! If we want a sign which will get attention we might ought to tarry for the gift of miracles which Holy Spirit gives much more freely today in Africa. The blind see, the deaf hear, and the dead are often raised back to life today in Africa. Perhaps we altogether too satisfied with tongues? And too satisfied with the attention we accord each other regarding personally taught and denominationally received doctrines. We ought to accord so much more the Holy Spirit than man’s words. Let me say I do not give God all the attention He deserves. I must remember the Word: Redeem the time. Too much time slips away in my idleness and foolishness.
Matthew 7:1-2 NKJV ~ 1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
John 7:24 NKJV ~ "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."
Matthew 12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 "The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
If you need a sign to verify any ones salvation how secure can you be in your own? Do you awake each day and speak in tongues just to make sure you are saved? That is a bit blunt, but really… ?
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
If Jesus Christ is in you, you are in the faith. That faith, (Romans 12:3: Hebrews 11:6) is certainly what saves you… but by the grace of God.
Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV ~ 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We are his workmanship.
My fear is that there are many walking the earth today believing because THEY laid hands of John Doe last night he will go to hell if he dies today, WHY? …because John did not gurgle some thing they didn’t understand. That might be true, but my friend I don’t believe it would be because John didn’t “receive.” It may be that the one laying on hands did not or was unable to preach the message that would have awakened the conscience of John Doe!
1 Corinthians 14:23-25 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? (24) But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: (25) And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
Lets see how this reads in a very late English version, The Message.
1 Corinthians 14:23-25 from THE MESSAGE ~ 23 If you come together as a congregation and some unbelieving outsiders walk in on you as you’re all praying in tongues, unintelligible to each other and to them, won’t they assume you’ve taken leave of your senses and get out of there as fast as they can? 24 But if some unbelieving outsiders walk in on a service where people are speaking out God’s truth, the plain words will bring them up against the truth 25 and probe their hearts. Before you know it, they’re going to be on their faces before God, recognizing that God is among you.
I am so afraid that it is TRUE that those who teach tongues necessary for salvation have it backwards! It must be we should to tarry more and fast and pray that we become prophets and interpreters. Didn’t Paul say:
1 Corinthians 14:1-5 KJVR Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. (2) For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. (3) But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. (4) He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. (5) I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh, with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
What John Doe heard this:
“Jesus saved sinners of whom I may be the greatest that ever lived. He saved me and He can save you. I want to tell you that His death covered your sins and He will forgive and forget all those sins because of the payment He made by taking your death sentence on the cross. There the ransom for you who were hijacked by satan and the sin of Adam, and learned how to sin on your own steam, there on the cross Jesus who never sinned was “made sin for you.” He is asking you to believe that you can give him all your sins all your life and He will give you all His righteousness today, every day and forever. He is asking you to trust Him, Jesus. Countless millions of people have believed in Jesus both before and after He went to the cross. Will you believe Him now and trust God His Father to pour out from heaven every blessing, every good thing you will ever need and countless blessings you have not known that you do need? He wants to give everlasting life to you and will: if you trust Jesus when you ask God through Him that He forgive you and bless you with all you need to get to His heaven forever and forevermore.”
Job 8:7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
That verse has been my testimony. I want to say shame on you who BEGIN with “Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, you must be speak in tongues.”
Blunt, I know.
Zechariah 4:6 So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
Zechariah 4:10 For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the LORD, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth."
Elijah heard the sound of the abundance of rain. Seven times he sent his servant to look, and on the seventh time what did he see? Rain? No. A thunderhead? No. He saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand. “So he [Elijah] said [to the servant], "Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’" See 1 Kings 18:41-45.
He didn’t need more than that small cloud to see abundant rain. God doesn’t need to see more than the faintest mist is a man’s or woman’s eyes to see the torrent of tears of genuine repentance that will not change because of the fire of saving faith in their heart.
1 Chronicles 16:9a,b NKJV ~ “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”
That small beginning of faith and repentance are the substance of saving grace through that faith. The quickest way to quench the Spirit which gives it is to tell the man or woman now you must do more, as in “you must now or eventually speak in tongues or we can’t ever believe you’re saved.” But this is what people tell new believers. There are unsaved never gonna be saved people who see this done and laugh at the church because of it (and other things). I can imagine that there are “preachers” even some posing as pastors and evangelists in pulpits who are twice dead wolves or even secretly satan worshippers and push this doctrine along. Why? Because they understand law and the works of law, and grace which is a free gift (and cannot worked for it cannot be earned) they understand these things better than their congregations. Some keep their people under doctrines of Mary, some under the doctrine of cessation, some under the doctrine of tithes and offerings, some under the doctrine of fashionable clothes, some under the doctrine of prosperity... and some under the false taught absolute necessity of speaking in tongues. By what ever means one uses to control his/her club members it does not go over well with Jesus. If we make it an unbendable law that only the tongue speakers can be saved and are persuasive, we will end with a club of tongue speakers. What more that club may become I do not know. My opinion. True? Too severe?
I’m not concerned with what you think of me. I stand with Paul. Or do I seek to please men?
Galatians 1:8-12 NKJV ~ 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Who hath bewitched YOU who require speaking of the Spirit, or is it the speaking of the man, in unknown tongues? When we put up OUR OWN requirements for salvation, what can gentle Jesus, and gentle Holy Ghost do?
Micah 6:8 He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Luk 7:31-35 NKJV ~ 31 And the Lord said, "To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 "They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not weep.’ 33 "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 "But wisdom is justified by all her children."
1 Corinthians 4:6 NKJV ~ Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.
Have you (have I) gone beyond what is written?
Having touched on Apollos by name, note that he is mentioned numerous times in the New Testament, described well in Acts Ch.18, but we simply do not know if he ever spoke in tongues. Word for word the chapter says: “…when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” I am sure that some people think that means they laid hands on Him and He received the Holy Spirit and tongues. But we simply do not know anything about this, nor do we know if Aquilla and Priscilla ever spoke in tongues. We know what God has preserved in the Bible for us to know.
Could it be that there are more important things to know about these men and this woman, and about other Biblical figures, about you, or about me, than whether or not any of us speak in tongues? Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, Job, David, the Bible’s Prophets: did all or any of them speak in tongues? I can’t answer, can you? But it will be for me the shock of a lifetime if any of them are not in heaven.
I don’t want to minimize the awesome Holy Spirit or the validity of tongues for this day. If I were able to lay hands on people and the Holy Spirit would then baptize them with tongues of fire I would do it. I pray now: Lord, Let it come to pass. In Jesus Name and faith of God I pray. Amen. Yet today in my city and nation we need five words from God in English. We need prophets, and wherever they are from we need to hear and honor them.
1 Corinthians 14: 24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: 25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
Nonetheless, we wouldn’t be harmed by some tongue speaking.
Salvation may be said to be the most important “Doctrine” of God, of Jesus and of the Bible to mankind, to me and to YOU. In the teaching of salvation do we not encounter every other doctrine of God? You may also say that teaching who Jesus is and what He did is the most important Doctrine. His English name “Jesus” is “Salvation” for His Hebrew name Yeshua means salvation. The Hebrew word in Isaiah 12:2, the word salvation in both usages, is “yeshû‛âh”, as it is in not a few other verses.
Isaiah 12:2 NKJV “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’”
“yeshû‛âh”
John 1:12 NKJV But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
He gave this right to them, it was His will. It does not say He will ONLY give them that right after they speak in tongues. The right He gives them is the authority to become children of God. In the King James it says “He gave them the power to become the children of God.” But this is not “tongues power.” New Testament Greek it is the exousia right not the dunamis power of Acts 1:8. I find this very interesting and which I knew if there is more to know about exousia rights. Nonetheless the authority to become God’s children is given to them on the simple condition that they believe on His Name, that they have faith in His Name, that they trust His Name. And for belief, faith and trust there is but one New Testament Greek root word: pistis.
So if you meet someone who believes in the Name of Jesus, somewhat as the good thief may have, consider that he or she actually does have by that gift of faith in Jesus Name the very real authority to become a child of God!
1 John 2:23b …he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
If you think them unfortunate to have never spoken in tongues think about this next verse, and be VIGOROUS to look at it in the context of the Chapter.
1 Corinthians 12:23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty.
Now back to the cautionary note:
Saved Christians who have not or not yet received the Holy Spirit according to your (or my) expectations are also alienated by the wildness of some worship services which seem to them more like circuses or insane asylums than service to Jehovah (No, I’m not with the Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower Society). Let me cite an example that troubled me greatly.
I was at a meeting one evening with a Spirit filled congregation. I was having great struggles in my personal life and was not receiving the ministry (my fault, not theirs). So reluctantly I slipped out side and was alone with the Lord. Perhaps 15 minutes passed and I went back in. The meeting had become what Paul might call indecent and out of order. But what really got me was what I saw in the middle of the aisle to the altar. A man I knew personally, a man in his forties, this man was lying stretched out over top of a young girl of perhaps 10-14 years of age. They were face to face and bosom to bosom. He was speaking loudly in tongues. She was crying, beside herself, in anguish and undoubtedly completely misunderstanding even the well intended goal of this man. She was trying to escape. He was not letting her up. Now there are several things that might offend any one of us. One was that he was a he and she was a she. Another is that he in was middle aged while she was likely in middle school. Third of course is the position they were in. Fourth, he was not letting her up, he was controlling her. And there was a fifth complicating factor, he is Caucasian and she is African American. That problem amongst people who look different still exists today and this happened almost 15 years ago. And lastly, I am almost sure they had never even met before. He was a recognized evangelist in a prominent Christian association but did not live in the town we were in that evening.
This man really wanted her to speak in tongues. I am almost sure she did not. I went back out side. Later I went back into the meeting to find the man who drove me to the meeting. He was the one who had lain atop this girl! That’s right. I knew this man a bit more than many there that evening. I remember asking why, and remember him saying he was trying to get her baptized in the Holy Spirit. Translation : “to speak in tongues so you are sure to go to heaven?” I truly think she was not baptized in the Holy Spirit that night and I do wish I had seen it all for that reason alone. Even if she were baptized in the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues, which I doubt because of her resistance to the whole circumstance, I would never recommend this method as one to be repeated. Likely this story will get out now and someone will say “oh, those Holy Rollers are nasty too.” This man wasn’t being nasty, but he was taking a “liberty” in the Lord (if it was in the Lord) which I think was just foolish.
Friends, we need a whole lot less trying in some places and a whole lot more believing, and on more than just receiving tongues. In my humble opinion, when we are trying we may well be experimenting, and that may well be striving. I’m not altogether against trial and error, but God is against error and doesn’t like to be tried, except in some instances He has invited us to test him.
Can it be that some justify and measure their ministry by how many they cause to speak in tongues? Isn’t it God, God the Holy Ghost who ministers, who gives the gift of tongues? Again I want to lay on hands and see the gifts imparted from the Holy Ghost in me, and not tongues only but so that God get the glory and others get the gift. Perhaps we think Peter and Paul did this every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. I don’t think it was so. Can we give God back His Sovereignty please? I say this to the frozen chosen as well as to the holy rollers. And I say it to myself via Galatians 5:24.
Moses struck the rock twice and was excluded from Canaan for disobeying God’s spoken command. The children of Israel were disobedient to God’s spoken and written commands over and over again before Joshua led them into Canaan. But Moses will surely be saved as will Joshua and many of those disobedient children.
But where does it say I would be in violation of any Old or New Testament command if I never spoke in tongues? To kill another person with malice aforethought is what we call 1st degree murder. It is never right to commit 1st degree murder. Never. Yet even murderers are forgiven their sins and go to heaven.
There is one logical position which devolves out of this question. If it is true that never ever speaking in tongues means I have never ever been born again, and that if I do speak in tongues I have been born again, then this conclusion seems to flow through: To never speak in tongues is to commit an unforgivable sin. All my other sins can be forgiven by Jesus cross. If not speaking in tongues bars me from heaven it must be an unforgivable sin.
Are YOU who teach that not speaking in tongues means one is not born again: are you really sure that you want to maintain that teaching? It is not a doctrine that can be proved by Scripture. However strong a case as there is for it, there is an equally strong teaching against it. Leave aside cessationist teaching, it is not right either.
In my very humblest opinion we are saved by faith in Jesus the Messiah, who out of His endless mercy and grace, powerfully exchanged His righteousness for our many sins. We must believe Him to receive this, for He is what He does: Jesus IS Salvation. If we receive Him we receive His Name: “Yeshua” “Salvation” we will be saved will keep on living by the same faith which granted us the grace of our Salvation and granted many other good and grace filled things as well. We will become children OF God. Some will say this is not an opinion but a fact. I agree with them.
The gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:8: in my opinion it is POWER) and the gifts flowing from the gisf of the POWER of the Holy Ghost do not come by working. (Even tarrying can become a work.) They come as all good and perfect gifts from Father above, as gifts which we receive in accordance with the measure of faith we are given and our exercise of that faith. God coerces no one, but to be sure He is pleased well by those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6 KJV But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 THE MESSAGE It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
The word “seek” or phrase “diligently seek” is the Greek word ekzēteō and means to search out, that is, (figuratively) investigate, crave, demand, (by Hebraism) worship: - en- (re-) quire, seek after (carefully, diligently).
Romans 12:3 NKJV For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
People think having been saved that their life will be effortless; that we just have faith and go to heaven one day. Now it is true if they are a child of the Living God they will “go to heaven, for there is no other place for them to go.” The teacher, Bob who I heard say this points up well that heaven is the secured destiny for all the Father gives to Jesus. See John 6:37 to 40. Yet we have (1) adversary satan, (2) the world which lures us toward to sin and then applauds when they join them in sinning, and (3) an unsaved nature which says to God: “I don’t want to do what You say is right, even though I know it is right.” These are the things which cannot keep us from salvation, but can wreak havoc as we try to live well according to God’s ways in this earth.
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.
This remind us of :
Joh 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
God remove our sins imputes (grants) Jesus own righteousness. We are justified.
Rom 5:8-10 KJVR But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (10) For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Jesus LIVES!!! The Holy Spirit LIVES! And they really live in the souls of all those the Father gives to Jesus. What I learned is this: that the real and passionate desire of God is that as a man or woman enters the Way, the straight gate, the door of the sheep: Jesus, they then walk with Him toward the Father, to discover themselves sons and daughters of the Father. They walk toward intimacy with He who is our true Father, our Abba, our only source of life. God Is love! Jesus saves us and walks with us on the narrow road to the Father. And Jesus teaches us to stand abiding in His word, abiding in Him, the Vine. There we dwell with Jesus as fruit. Some as the apostles were branches. The Father who trims and prunes the branches is the gardener. He owns the whole garden. He will harvest our souls unto His world without end by the Power of that world without end.
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.
Have faith but know that to receive more and much of the reward of knowing Him intimately you will need to diligently seek, search out, investigate, crave, demand, and (by Hebraism) worship: - enquire, require, seek after Him carefully, and diligently.
Doing this diligence I began to see that God and Jesus keep all their promises. And their Truth does set me free from sin, from the condemnation, the wages and the accusation of sin. I truly have the GIFT of God given TO ME, fellowship with God in everlasting life. Both the craven fear of God who seemed unknowable, and my reluctance to exert myself for this God who scared me, these fears fell off me like a brick from a scaffold. It was the hearing the word of God which brought faith to me and faith kept bringing me back to the hearing and the investigative study of the word of God.
Hebrews 11:6 KJV But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Therefore, it IS possible to please God with faith and to be rewarded for the diligent investigative study of God the Word, and the word of God the Bible.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Therefore if I have any shame in my soul it must mean I am not working in the God approved way. I am disfunctioning. Is it sin? Likely yes. Faith, diligent zealous living faith will bring me to God who will lighten my darkness… even if it means I am totally wrong about what I write about tongues here! Pride will keep me trusting myself, humility will bring me repentance where it is needed.
This measure of faith is also spoken of in the other (lesser known) list of the gifts of the Holy Ghost in Romans Ch. 12, the whole chapter following:
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. 17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. 20 Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
It is a way of life described in verses 4 to 21, it is the way of Jesus who is Life.
Notice that the gifts also include what some call “service” gifts as opposed to the “power” and “word” gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12. I think there are obvious distinctions in each gift, but I think they are all POWER gifts in both chapters, that is it take the power (and the presence) of the Holy Spirit in, or at the least on the person giving his or her gift. The question becomes who gives them. God the Holy Ghost does, and it must be true that Father and Son approve what He does. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say those who do not speak in tongues are not saved, or that those who never do speak in tongues are damned. Do I, do YOU does any want to instruct Him as to these rules for salvation? God does the GIVING. We do the receiving, if we do it. Having said that, tongues are a gift very valuable to the believer; they edify our very lives in these bodies, these clay pots.
1 Corinthians 12:4a He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself…
So back to my friend’s method of baptizing the young girl: God works in mysterious ways, yet I think this is not a case of God working. I think it is a case of a man who does speak in tongues thinking he could lie atop a person, as Elijah lay atop a dead boy, and God would cause them to speak in tongues. The boy was dead. And he was brought back to life. The girl was not even dead. At her age it is doubtful she had reached the age of accountability! I wonder how she thinks and feels about things and persons today? She would be about 25 to 30 years old now. I think God will be very kind and gentle with her after what she endured “in the name of” God, the Holy Spirit and in the name of tongues. Perhaps somewhere it has happened just so. Perhaps not. Perhaps some readers are not offended by this. Whatever offense I took I forgive. But can we see how some (even many?) things done under the color of God’s name do not always achieve the purpose of God? I think there must be many men and women who do not speak in tongues because of four reasons.
1. They have been repelled by the foolishness of those who do.
2. They have been told by others that no one can speak in tongues by the Holy Spirit today, or worse that those who do are inspired by satan.
3. They have not been invited to a congregation which allows for the gift to be expressed at the altar of ministry,
4. they have never been taught that tongues are from God, for today, are edifying and are the real prayers of the Holy Spirit flowing through their own voice boxes.
God loves you too much to deny you to heaven for not speaking in tongues for any of these reasons, again this: my humble(?) opinion. But He will deny those without faith, those who do not trust Him.
So while I am 100% in agreement with what God and the Bible say about tongues, I am not in agreement with those who say it is the only proof of salvation. Nor do I agree at all with those who say the gifts of the Holy Spirit do not operate in earth today. The Holy Spirit is simply in my humble(?) opinion very reluctant to do the mighty works with His gifts where there is great unbelief. But He has not changed; He is still generous beyond our fathoming it. I have certainly found the times when my faith was at a low ebb, at it has been very low at times, that the Holy Spirit seems far away. At those times I speak in tongues much less. I wish I spoke in tongues much more. But yet as Paul I pray that I could “speak just five words,” in English to edify English speaking Christians.
1 Corinthians 14:19-21 NKJV ~ 19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. 21 In the law it is written: "With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me," says the Lord.
For all the speaking in tongues we may or may not do, some will just never hear the Lord and be saved.
Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 10:17. Look these up and see if it is speaking in tongues which saved you or can save anyone.
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Matthew 10:22
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* I AM
• Jesus is the I Am of Exodus Ch. 3. !
• John 4:26 KJV Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. See also in the gospel of John alone:
• John 5:43; 6:35; 7:29; 8:12; 8:18; 8:23; 8:28; 8:58; 9:5; 10:7; 10:10; 10:11; 10:36; 11:25; 12:46; 13:13, John 13:19; 14:6; 14:11; 15:1; 17:16; 18:5&6
John 13:19 I find this verse wonderful. Jesus HIMSELF prophecies to them so they may know He is I AM.
