-What about 'speaking
or praying in tongues'?
"Tongues".as
described in Acts 2:1-17 and 19:1-7
means 'languages', as the original Greek along with the context
of the scripture has it. Note as we go through it, how there is no hard
fast all time rule for all individuals, but things occurred differently
as God obviously wanted at various times throughout history regarding the
operation of His nature of love, the Holy Spirit's working in people:.Hebrews
11:1.
Emmanuel
said, in His particular instruction to the 11 disciples when He appeared
to them after His resurrection, that tongues would be a sign coming from
those who believed as the disciples, who then went into all the world.(Gentiles
now to be reached).to
preach the
gospel:.Mark
16:14-18. Emmanuel didn't speak in tongues.
Tongues then were a special
gift for a specific purpose at that time:.Acts
2:6; 1Corinthians 14:5,6.
It was called the gift of tongues, but the specialness was both in the
interpretation and in the hearing not the speaking:.Acts
2:7,8-13. They were a sign of God's presence for unbelievers:.1Corinthians
14:22. Tongues were a special gift that enabled them to give good news
of amazing recent happenings of spiritual significance to those who normally
would have been unable to make
sense of Paul's mother tongue: Acts
10:46. Overall, Paul didn't think there was
much value in this gift that those in the Corinthian church back then were
using:.1Corinthians
14:3-18. They were using it as more as a show of individual spirituality;
"See, I'm more religious than you are." The old immature.hackneyed
'my dad is better than your dad' attitude.
Later, the Apostle Paul spoke
a lot in tongues, but privately:.1Corinthians
14:4,18,19. This was all before the New Testament was canonized.
Paul later said to move away.(Hebrews
6:1).from
a lot of the foundational principles.(2John
1:9).once
they had served their use:.Acts
10:46,47; Hebrews 5:12-14
to 6:1,2.
Prior
to the time of Acts 2 and the giving of the Holy Spirit to all who believe,
Emmanuel's disciples received the Holy Spirit from Emmanuel:.John
20:22.
David
had the Holy Spirit back in the Old Testament:.Psalms
51:11. Further back, Moses:.Isaiah
63:11. All these believed God, had a personal relationship with Him,
yet no mention of tongues regarding them. Today tongues are unnecessary,
considering their original purpose, yet still can be part of an intimate
relationship with God.
On this Day of Pentecost
back then, this particular receiving of the Holy Spirit made possible a
special gift:.Acts
2:3,4. The Spirit enabled those in Corinth who were listening to the
Galilaeans speaking to this mixed languages group, to understand them by
enabling hearing in their various native tongues. A visible Holy Spirit
manifestation.(1Corinthians
12:7-11).of
cloven.(divided,
split).tongues
occurred. Each person of whatever language they may be of plainly heard
the message.
The original Greek word in
verse 4 for 'utterance' means 'enunciate plainly'. What was spoken was
heard and understood in any language common to the various people's languages
who were all gathered there for this event:.Acts
2:5.
The Spirit did not speak
through
them. The Spirit enabled the particular phenomenon of being able to hear
the speakers in one's own language:.Acts
2:8. The Holy Spirit from God enabled
what was spoken to be
known in languages common to those present. Those speaking in tongues then
had a desire for all to comprehend
them:.1Corinthians
14:32.
The Spirit is the essence
of God and can be used according to what inherent
and developed abilities we each individually have:.Philippians
1:19. The Holy Spirit is not a possessive overtaking of one's abilities
as what may be done by what we call a demon spirit.
Notice it says in Acts 2:4 that it was
they
who
spake in tongues. One opens his mouth and speaks and the words can be inspired
from God by means of the Holy Spirit according to an individual's desire
to get a message across:.Mark
13:11; Hebrews 3:7; 2Peter
1:21.
Christians
back then received the Holy Spirit at first
on the Day of Pentecost.(means
'count fifty').
Many Christians have believed
that by 'speaking in tongues', here meaning a 'language' that even they
have not learned nor comprehended, that this is a special way to communicate
with God that is precious. The character danger is not whether or not one
speaks in tongues, but that many of those that do speak in tongues or prophesy,
feel they have the cream of the truth while others have only the skimmed
milk:.1Corinthians
1:12-14.
However,
God looks on the heart no matter
what language one may speak in, tongues or a
language of comprehension. Why not communicate with God with a language
one is familiar with so that one knows what he is saying to God?
On
the other hand, the 'tongues' may be the language we once used in communication
with Creator-God and the angels
before we
were put into the physical; a 'language' of the Spirit as it were,
a 'language' of the Spirit united with our
spirit, perhaps a 'language' of that which conveys
the heart's feelings to others in the Godly realm
in a profound
manner - telepathy.
Many today speaking in tongues
comment that they feel exhilarated
and built up and renewed, but tongues were not to magnify the self, but
God:.Acts
10:46. Belief in many things can have the same effect of building up
and renewal. Positive thinking books, tapes, courses, etc. do similarly.
The tongues sign at that
time was to show all that God was indeed calling the Gentiles
and would encourage their acceptance.
Many then having been brought
up with the history of the Old Testament would have probably recalled that
any nation that was not God's physical nation back then, were not to be
engaged in fellowship if they wanted to stay apart from Israel and
carry on their own sometimes horrendous
practices:.Deuteronomy
7:1-4. So appalling
were their practices, God wanted these bloodlines of Satan destroyed:.1Samuel
15:18.
And if those back then who
were not
fully of the satanic blood of Cain.(was
some hope for them), wanted to be a
part of Israel? Well then, great!.Exodus
12:47-49; 20:10; 22:21;23:12;
Leviticus
19:10,34; Deuteronly 25:5.
These were called the Gentiles.
There are big
differences in the New Testament.
