The False Gift Of Tongues
Carl
requirement for salvation today. There are those who believe and teach that
speaking in tongues is the main (and sometimes required) sign of salvation
tongue. Unfortunately neither is Biblically correct. It is debatable whether
speaking in tongues is even in existance today. There are many TV
"preachers" (mostly the name-it-and-claim-it bunch as well as charismatics)
who speak in what they consider "tongues" however since none of their
speaking in tongues fit the Biblical descriptions, guidelines, and
requirements, it is nothing more than inane babblings. The following sermon
is the third in a series of three Ray Stedman presented concerning the topic
of tongues. He examines what speaking in tongues actually is (or as some
will argue, was) in accordance to the Scriptures as well as the false
tongues being used today. For my Christian brethren pondering this topic, I
urge you to not only read these sermons but save them for future reference
purposes. The series is very informative and enlightening as well as an
exhortation to avoid the plethora of false tongues being spoken today.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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THE FALSE GIFT OF TONGUES
by Ray C. Stedman
Many of us, I suppose, have had some experience with what is called "fool's
gold." You may have picked up a rock that had this shiny substance in it and
thought you had found gold. Then you learned that it was fool's gold, a
substance called iron sulphite which looks very much like gold and has
deceived many into thinking they have found the real thing. But though it
looks like gold, and is distributed among the rocks like gold, it does not
pass the tests of true gold. If it is put to more than a superficial test
one soon discovers that.
Perhaps all of us, at one time or another, have seen a counterfeit bill. The
danger of a counterfeit bill lies in its close resemblance to the genuine.
Counterfeit money that is badly printed doesn't stay in circulation very
long, but if it is accurately printed it can sometimes cause considerable
damage to our economic system. The test of a counterfeit bill is simply to
compare it with a genuine bill. This is always the test of falsehood. It is
impossible to know without a genuine, for otherwise you have no basis for
comparison or standard of measurement. Failure to see this is one of the
reasons why there is so much confusion today on the subject of glossolalia,
the matter of speaking in tongues. We have taken time to discover the
characteristics of the genuine gift of tongues in order that we might
compare what we hear, and evaluate it as true or false.
There is a widespread manifestation of the phenomenon of glossolalia today
and it is essential that we discover whether it is true or false, whether it
is genuinely of the Spirit of God, or comes from another source and is a
counterfeit gift. The only way that we can possibly know this is to lay it
alongside that which is unquestionably true. This is why our previous study
examined the true gift of tongues and commented on every reference in the
New Testament to tongues, because if you have anywhere the genuine
manifestation of tongues it will be Scripture. Therefore, anything that
claims to be tongues today but is not like that presented in Scripture is
patently false, no matter how sincerely it is offered or how helpful it may
appear to be in the life of the individual who professes it. If you will
take that statement seriously and carefully review it, I doubt if you can
disagree with it. It must serve as the basis for measurement on this issue
of tongues. They must be like what we discover in the Scriptures.
Now let's review the true gift of tongues that we may lay it alongside what
we are seeing today:
First, the true gift of tongues is a normal language, spoken somewhere on
earth, but not learned by the linguistic processes by which we ordinarily
learn languages; yet it is clearly understandable by anyone who would happen
to speak that language. It is not some unknown tongue in the sense that it
is different from any language spoken on earth. It is spoken somewhere on
earth, if it is the true gift of tongues. This rules out all gibberish,
stammering, stuttering, or repetitious sounds. And, right at this point,
much of what passes for tongues today fails.
I have attended scores of meetings where so-called tongues have been in
evidence and very frequently it is an ecstatic, almost hysterical repetition
of syllables over and over again. Sometimes it is the same syllable repeated
endlessly in a continual jabbering. This is clearly not the Biblical gift of
tongues. A meaningless jumble of incoherent syllables is not the true gift
of tongues, for the Biblical gift of tongues is a gift of languages, known
languages. Now, I recognize, to someone who is not acquainted with a
language, it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between gibberish
and language. But no known language consists of the same syllable repeated
over and over. And there is no question, if we take the Bible for what it
says, that the Biblical gift was a language.
The second aspect of the true gift was that even if it were a known
language, it must consist of praise and thanksgiving to God. It is addressed
to God and not to man, for Paul specifically says, "He that speaks in a
tongue speaks not to man but to God," {cf, 1 Cor 14:2}. There are never any
tongues in Scripture except this. Tongues are never used for preaching, or
exhortation, or prediction in the Scriptures. It is invariably praise and
thanksgiving to God.
Here again the present manifestation is seen to be largely false, for
wherever an interpretation is given it is usually some exhortation addressed
to those present. Those of you who heard the recent television broadcast on
the subject of glossolalia saw the program introduced by what was evidently
a film of a meeting where they were allegedly speaking in tongues. I
listened very carefully to that manifestation and to the supposed
interpretation which followed, and the interpretation was an exhortation to
the people present to receive the gift of speaking in tongues and a
description of the blessing that would be theirs if they did. I knew when I
heard the interpretation that this was not the true gift of tongues for the
true gift is never addressed to man; it is addressed to God, and God does
not exhort himself to speak in tongues. The true gift of tongues is praise
and thanksgiving for the marvelous works of God, addressed to God. Every
manifestation of tongues in the Bible in which the characteristic of it is
given to us is always of this type.
The third mark of the true gift is that it must be publicly exercised as a
sign to unbelievers, for again Paul specifically says that tongues are not a
sign for believers but for unbelievers. On the day of Pentecost this is
exactly the purpose they fulfilled. Though they were addressed to God, they
arrested the attention of the unbelievers who were present in the public
place, and became a sign to them. I believe it took place in the temple
courts. The crowd regarded it as highly unusual, and a proof that God was at
work.
It is most remarkable that there is not a single instance or hint in the New
Testament of any private use of tongues. Every occurrence is in a public
place or open meeting. We are hearing today that the primary use of tongues
is for private prayer. On the TV program previously mentioned, such a
statement was made, and if that is true, then it immediately stamps as
counterfeit the manifestation of tongues in our day. All the gifts of the
Spirit, we are told (including tongues), were given for the common good. You
will find that statement in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians in the
12th chapter. None is to be exercised privately. In fact, if you go through
the gifts of the Spirit that are listed there, you can see that their very
nature requires they be exercised in some public fashion and are not to be
used privately. Therefore, when I hear someone say that he prays privately
in tongues, though he may be perfectly sincere and believe he is receiving a
wonderful blessing from the Holy Spirit, I know from the Scriptures that he
is not receiving the true gift of tongues, for the true gift of tongues was
never intended to be privately exercised. Let him who wishes to argue that
point produce a single instance from Scripture of such private use of the
gift of tongues. Scripture must be the test.
The fourth mark of the true gift of tongues is that it is not to be used in
a church meeting unless it is translated, either by natural means, or the
exercise of the gift of interpretation. Even then, it must be a language
spoken somewhere on earth and an expression of thanksgiving to God. Tongues
is never a medium by which the Spirit of God delivers a message to the
church. It is always an expression of praise to God through a human voice
box in a language spoken somewhere on earth as a foregleam of the day when
the effects of evil in the human race will be done away and all men will
understand one another again. That was the clear purpose of the gift of
tongues.
Now when it is used in church, no more than two or three are to speak in
tongues, and each speaking is to be translated. Otherwise no one is to speak
in tongues. If there is no translator present, or no one with the gift of
interpretation, there must be no tongues. This implies that anyone speaking
in tongues should find out first if there is someone present who can
translate, before the gift is exercised. If this control were put into
practice in present day manifestations of tongues it would quickly eliminate
the false from the true.
A fifth qualification of the true gift is that women are not permitted to
exercise the gift of tongues in the church. Paul says so specifically.
As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the
churches, [it is in the context of the discussion on tongues] for they are
not permitted to speak, but they should be subordinate, as even the law
says. {1 Cor 14:33b-34}.
And he also says in this connection, interestingly enough, that
if any one thinks that he [or she] is a prophet or spiritual, he should
acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. {1 Cor
14:37 RSV}
That is, this isn't just old crotchety Paul talking, that old bachelor who
never understood women anyway! No, this is an inspired apostle speaking
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and writing the mind of the Lord.
This is a prohibition that greatly needs to be observed. It is significant
that a majority of tongues speakers today are women.
Someone asked me if it was not possible for women to be among the group that
spoke on the day of Pentecost. Yes, it is possible. That was not in the
church, that was not a meeting of the church gathering together in the Lord,
worshipping God. That was a public manifestation and, in that, it would be
permissible for women to exercise the gift, but in the church Paul says
"No." It is shameful, he says. This is the only limitation I know that
prohibits women from speaking or exercising any gift in the church. They are
allowed to prophesy, i.e., to speak, to talk, to exhort to edification and
comfort. Women are not limited in this respect, but, in the matter of the
exercise of tongues, they are definitely restrained in the church.
The sixth and last distinction of the true gift is that the gift of tongues
is distributed by the sovereign choice of the Spirit and is definitely not
intended for everyone. "Do all speak in tongues?" Paul says, {1 Cor 12:30b
RSV}. And the implied answer is "No," for the manifestation of the Spirit is
given by the Spirit, as he wills. It is the choice of the Spirit as to who
speaks in tongues and who does not.
This immediately gives the lie to all claims of tongues as the unique sign
of the presence of the Holy Spirit, or that those who have not spoken in
tongues have not been baptized or filled by the Spirit. We hear this so much
today and there is much unscriptural confusion on this matter. We are being
told that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an act subsequent to salvation
and that it is accompanied by the sign of the speaking in tongues, but none
of this is substantiated in the least degree by the Scriptures. That is an
erroneous idea that has no support whatsoever in the text.
In the first place, the baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at
conversion, unquestionably so. It is that which adds us to the body of
Christ, as Paul says in First Corinthians 12:13, and if we are not a part of
the body of Christ, we are not Christian. "He that has not the Spirit of God
is none of his," {cf, Rom 8:9b KJV}. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not
accompanied by any signs at all. It is an unexperienced reality by which the
believer's life is made one with the life and being of Jesus Christ. There
is no feeling attached to it, or sense of it happening at all. But it
happens nevertheless. It is the impartation of the life of Christ to the
believer.
Now the filling of the Spirit is quite another matter, and on occasion this
matter of tongues is connected in the Scripture with the filling of the
Spirit. But isn't it remarkable that there is never any statement that says
that tongues is a sign of the filling of the Spirit? On one or two occasions
when people were filled by the Spirit, they also spoke in tongues, but the
two are not synonymous, nor do they always occur together. We read, for
instance, that John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit from his mother's
womb, but he never spoke in tongues. And it is recorded of him that he did
no miracles. There was nothing spectacularly supernatural, if you please.
Yet here was a man who, by the statement of Scripture, was filled with the
Spirit from his mother's womb. The Lord Jesus was also filled with the
Spirit all the days of his ministry, but there is no record that he ever
spoke in tongues. This simply has nothing to do with the filling of the
Spirit. If it does occur at that time it is a coincidental joining together
of the gift of the Spirit with the filling of the Spirit, but the two are
not the same.
Now I think that it is obvious, as we have gone through this, step by step,
comparing of the true gift with the false, laying the present day
manifestation alongside of the true, that most, if not all, of the
manifestation today is counterfeit! It bears little or no resemblance to the
Biblical pattern, and this must be the ground of our testing.
Immediately when I say that, the question comes to your mind, "Then where
does this counterfeit originate? It seems to be such a blessing to people.
They seem to get so much out of it. If it doesn't originate with the Spirit,
where does it come from?" Before I attempt an answer, let me say, first,
that to call a manifestation of tongues counterfeit by no means impugns the
sincerity or earnestness of the one who claims to have this gift. He is
doubtless quite honest and well intentioned in what he claims. But that
doesn't change the fact that he can be, and probably is, deceived on this
matter, led astray by his own sense of dedication, by his own desire to have
all that God wants him to have. He is tricked by the flesh into a false
thing. Perhaps it is his own deep desire and sense of dedication which has
taken away his normal caution and allowed him to become so gullible that he
is led into this experience.
Such a thing is not limited only to the matter of tongues. You remember how
Peter swore that he would never forsake the Lord and said to Him, "If you
can count on any man, Lord, it is I. Others may forsake you but I never
will." And he took him aside and began to rebuke him because he was talking
about a cross, a crucifixion. Peter said to him, "Lord, be it far from thee.
This must not happen to you. Spare yourself, Lord. This is no way for you to
talk" {cf, Matt 16:22 KJV}. Peter was perfectly sincere, perfectly honest.
He was entirely desirous of doing the right thing and he thought he was
doing the right thing. Yet Jesus said that he was being led of Satan. "Get
thee behind me Satan. Thou art an offense unto me for thou savourest not the
things of God but of men," {Matt 16:23 KJV}. So it is quite possible for
Christians to be sincerely mistaken, to be honestly confused, and end up,
therefore, sincerely carnal and fleshly. This is true in many other areas
besides tongues. These are the wiles of the devil. How he loves to trap us,
trick us, deceive us, delude us and let us think we are getting something
especially good. He is the one who, when we ask for bread, gives us a stone,
or, when we ask for fish, he gives us a snake disguised as a fish. The Lord
will not do that for he has clearly outlined in his word what we are to ask
for. But the enemy leads us to ask beyond the Word.
Now where does this counterfeit come from? Let me say that the word "carnal"
is the best explanation of the origin of the false manifestation of tongues.
Incidentally, this is the word that Paul uses to the Corinthians. "You are
carnal," he says {cf, 1 Cor 3:3 KJV}. They had all the gifts but they were
carnal, fleshly people. They were exercising these gifts in such a way as to
misuse them and abuse them and even unconsciously to imitate them in the
false and carnal fashion. When we say that a thing is carnal we mean that it
originates from our Adamic nature, our fleshly minds, i.e., our human
nature. In other words, this counterfeit gift of tongues is a purely
psychological phenomenon originating from a powerful subconscious desire to
possess what seems to be a highly desirable symbol of divine favor. That
strong subconscious desire is what does the trick and manifests itself in
this false gift of tongues.
I think this is demonstrably true in that the manifestation of tongues, such
as you hear widely demonstrated today, is also found among the cults. The
Mormons frequently speak in tongues, and it is found in other religions such
as Islam, for instance. Even among those with no particular religious
convictions, we sometimes find this phenomenon, this jargon which is called
tongues. Obviously, such occurrences are either carnally inspired or the
direct activity of demonic powers.
When the false gift occurs in a church, it invariably becomes a religious
status symbol and the power of suggestion soon spreads it abroad throughout
the church. When it appears to be a mark of special divine favor, some
esoteric experience to which only a privileged few can attain, then it soon
creates a very deep subconscious desire for the manifestation of this in
other individuals' lives. When that desire becomes strong enough, as it
certainly does when there is a group that accepts this as a mark of the Holy
Spirit and therefore calms all fears about it, then such desire, burning
deep in the heart, bypasses the conscious control of speech in the brain and
the subconscious mind takes over the tongue and produces whatever is
expected or strongly desired. Psychologists have described this as occurring
with people who have no strong religious convictions at all. It is a known
psychological phenomenon.
It is an honest experience. I don't imply by this that anyone who
experiences this means to deceive. He doesn't. He is quite deceived himself
and what he does is done honestly, but nevertheless it is not of the Spirit.
That is the point. It is not the true, Biblical gift. Because this is a
psychological phenomenon, some people by constitutional make-up are simply
unable to respond and this creates a very unhappy situation. There are some
wonderful, born again Christians, earnestly desirous of having everything
that God wants them to have, wanting to go on with God, who are deceived
into thinking that this is a mark of divine favor. They struggle to receive
this gift but never get it, and eventually fall into despair. From this
there come those terrible divisions that so frequently mark the appearance
of tongues phenomenon in the churches today.
I once heard a psychiatrist discuss this. He pointed out that this is a very
severe danger and could easily give rise to suicide out of a sense of
despair in not being able to rise to the level of accomplishment that others
had.
Now this is not the way of faith. This is not the way of the Spirit. The
Bible declares that the weakest believer in Jesus Christ has everything that
the strongest saint ever had. You are complete in Christ! In Jesus Christ
dwells "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" {cf, Col 2:9 KJV}, and "you
are complete in him" {cf, Col 2:10 KJV}, no exceptions. Therefore, it is
possible for any believer by simply believing what God says, and acting on
all that Christ is, to enter into the fullness that God has for him. This is
true of any other saint in any other age. It does not depend on tarrying or
waiting and pleading or some psychological make-up which either allows or
does not allow the manifestation of such a gift.
In closing, let me speak briefly about some of the results of this false
gift. I have already mentioned one:
It is highly divisive. Invariably, where the counterfeit manifestation of
tongues appears, the first result is that the church is split right down the
middle. People begin to take sides. Those who are psychologically able to
enter into the experience become victims of a feeling of superiority. This
becomes very evident in the way they talk and act (though they may disguise
this or try to subdue the manifestation of it). Those who cannot enter into
this experience become resentful, or at least suspicious, and schisms and
divisions arise.
A man told me not long ago of a church up in the mountains in which tongues
made its appearance and the church was split in a terrible way. One woman
had a heart attack as a result of these manifestations. This is a very
emotional and divisive thing. I have seen whole denominations torn asunder
by this type of manifestation.
Furthermore, it is diversionary. By that I mean that it is a trick of the
enemy to distract our attention from the true work of God the Spirit, which
is the exaltation of Jesus Christ, and get people off on a side track
talking about gifts. They are so concerned with the gifts they forget the
Giver and forget the outreach of the gospel and the need of hungry hearts
around them. Even though very specious claims are made by the tongues people
that this experience results in a greater interest of unsaved people, I have
noticed that the interest is always focused on tongues, not upon the Lord,
nor upon the gospel. This is a diversionary tactic to get us involved in
some secondary thing rather than the primary, the exaltation of Jesus
Christ.
These two things being true (it is divisive and diversionary), therefore, it
also follows that it is devilish. I don't mean that tongues is a
manifestation of demon possession. In some religions it may be that. I don't
think that is the normal explanation of what we see manifest today. But it
is a manifestation of carnal barrenness, which is ultimately of the devil.
The Apostle James puts the two wisdoms side by side. He says, "There is that
wisdom that comes from above which is peaceable, gentle, easy to be
entreated, [i.e. easy to live with, reasonable] and there is that which is
from below which is fleshly, sensual, devilish!" {cf, Jas 3:15-17 KJV}.
There are only two sources. It is one or the other. Anything that arises out
of the carnal mind, the flesh, the human, Adamic, fallen nature is devilish.
It oftentimes has enough novelty about it to capture the imagination of
people and fascinate them, even help them in some temporary fashion, but, if
somewhere along the line they are not delivered by the Scriptures, or by
some helpful counsel on this, eventually, following down this avenue, they
run into a blind alley and end up in the wilderness of defeat and
barrenness. I have seen it happen many, many times.
Now I don't mean to imply by this that everyone who speaks in tongues will
be totally defeated in his life. The Spirit of God is ready to correct the
manifestations of carnality in our life. He often is able to keep the
manifestation of this thing to such a minimum area that only part of the
life is affected by it. But if it is false it is not of God, and if it is
not of God it is of the enemy. If it is of the enemy then its effect is
bound to be blinding, defeating, deadening, and, ultimately, it will bring
disaster. Therefore, we must be very careful that everything we see we test
according to the Spirit of God.
It is the glory of the Spirit to uplift the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The mark of the Spirit-filled church is not a church that talks about the
Spirit, it is a church that talks about Christ. The mark of the
Spirit-filled person is not a person who is concerned and talking
continually about the Spirit, but it is a person who is concerned and
talking continually about the glory of Jesus Christ. This is the work of the
Spirit in our lives.
The true gift of tongues enhances that. There is no divisiveness that
follows. It has a power to draw people together. I am speaking now out of
what I read in Scripture, for, as far as I have any recollection or
knowledge or ability to judge, I have never myself seen even one
manifestation of tongues that I would call the true gift of tongues. I
certainly would not take the position that it is impossible for the Holy
Spirit to give this gift again today, but I am very certain that if he does,
it will be right along the lines and in the pattern outlined and given in
the Scriptures. This is the way the Spirit always acts. I am very confident,
therefore, that as we test the present-day manifestation we will know, if we
are ready to accept the Biblical pattern, whether the thing is true or
false.
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