Originally posted by Brian30721:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />3. Answer what foreign languages do you speak in when you speak in tongues. Either your interpreter can tell you, or if you interpret yourself, you can tell me. Otherwise what you have is of the devil. It is not of God. Read carefully what tongues is all about in these three chapters 1Cor.12-14.
This really, really concerns me. Here's why:
A few years ago, I asked God to baptize me in His Holy Spirit, to fill me with His Holy Spirit, to give me more of Him. And I asked Him to give me the ability to speak in other tongues as evidence that I had been filled with the Holy Spirit, because I saw so many instances of this happening in the Bible, and I wanted it too.</font>[/QUOTE]There is a difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Every believer is baptized of the Holy Spirit into the family of God at the time of salvation. Every believer's experience is different to the extent that some may feel an experience of great joy and inner peace, while some may have almost no outward emotional experience at all. Emotions don't count. Faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ does. Emotions are just something extra that God gives.
Well, I expected this "new" language to just come flying out of my mouth, whenever God wanted it to. But after several months, it never happened. I thought "Oh well, I guess speaking in tongues is a gift of the Spirit that not everyone gets".
Your first expectation was based on the false teaching promulgated by the Charismatic movement. The gift of tongues has ceased, and it is not a result of being saved. You rightly concluded after some time that it is not something everyone gets--in fact no gets it today. What they do get is an emotional high. (the Charismatics)
Then one night, I happened to be watching TBN or some other Christian station, and Jesse Duplantis happened to be preaching. I heard him say "So many of you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and have never gotten the evidence. It's because you're expecting this new language to start coming out of your mouth without you doing anything." "But", he said, "It's YOUR vocal cords. It's YOUR air. It's YOUR voice. YOU'VE got to speak what God has placed in you". (This may not have been his exact words, but it was close to this.)
TBN is a bad station to watch, in view of the fact that it promotes so much false doctrine.
"You have been baptized and never got the evidence." What kind of garbage is that? We teach our children the very popular song:
"Jesus loves, this I know, For the Bible tells me so."
There is so much truth in that song.
What is the evidence of my salvation? How do I know that I am saved? How do I know that I have been baptized into the family of God--because--
the Bible tells me so! NOT, because I have spoken in tongues or had any other emotional experience.
So, that night, I knelt by my bed to pray as I always do. When I finished praying, I said "Lord, I thank you for baptizing me in your Holy Spirit, and I thank you for giving me the evidence of speaking in other tongues".
God had already baptized you into his family when you had trusted him as your Saviour. The evidence of that is in the promises of the Word of God. Speaking in tongues was something you wanted--a carnal desire, and so you began to do it. God did not give it to you. You gave it to yourself.
Then, I just started quietly speaking whatever sounds came to my mind. Yes, they were just sounds, probably not "words".
My point is made above. You gave it to yourself. This is not a gift of the Holy Spirit. Look at what you said.
"I just started quietly speaking..." That's not the Holy Spirit; it is you.
But after I had been doing this for about 15 seconds, all of a sudden I started speaking another language. What language is it? I haven't a clue.
Why you know it is not Biblical:
1. You don't know what language it was--it was gibberish. True tongues always has a translater, and if not the tongues-speaker is given the gift of interpretation himself. You didn't know what you were speaking. Here comes the possibility where you could have been praising Satan without knowing it.
2. Biblical tongues always takes place in the context of a local church in the form of a message or preaching. It is for the edification of the church, never in the form of prayer. It is not a selfish gift for one person. It (like every gift) was given for the edification of the whole church?
Question: Was the gift of healing given just to heal oneself, or given for the healing of all the church? I hope the answer is obvious. Tongues was given for the edification of the whole church. It is a person-gift--a selfish gift.
But now, whenever I want to, I can pray in this other language. When I've prayed all I know to pray for, I pray in my prayer language that God has given me.
There is nowhere in the Bible where we have evidence that tongues is for prayer. That is unbiblical. It is always for the edification for the whole church. It is always for an entire congregation. It is always in a real foreign language to be interpreted by someone else. There is no such thing as a special prayer language.
I've never prayed in this other language in the presence of others.
Then what you do is not Biblical, and it is fruitless.
Since I've received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I have felt closer to God than ever before. I have a burning desire to witness to others like I never had before. I have a desire to read God's word like I never had before (I simply cannot go a day without reading and studying the Bible). I have a desire to serve the Lord like I never had before.
Why an emotional experience would make you a better witness, I don't know. Perhaps in your heart you have simply determined to be that better witness in spite of your experience. All the better to you.
We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, which is far different than baptized with the Spirit into the family of God. It is also different than any second blessing that the Charismatics speak of. The command of being filled with the Holy Spirit is given in Eph.5:
Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
A person submits himself to the power of alcohol to the extent that the alcohol has power over him. A person needs to submit himself to the Holy Spirit to the extent that the Holy Spirit has power over him. It has nothing to do with tongues. Check Acts 4:31, how they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the Word of God with boldness. It is for the purpose of witnessing. To be filled with the Holy Spirit, one must be willing to submit themselves to the Holy Spirit, to be obedient to Him, completely in all things. It is not a matter of emotions or experiences; it is a matter of obedience to God's Word, and a willingness to sacrifice in order to obey.
But, you say that if I don't know what language it is that I am praying in, then it must be of the devil.
It can lead to the devil. Most often the source is ones own self. As I pointed out--you gave yourself the gift. You wanted it, so you began to speak in nonsense syllables. It wasn't anytning God or anyone else gave you. You did it. It was all of self.
Why must it be in Spanish, or French, or Italian, or some other language that we would easily recognize? How many languages have there ever been in this world (including "dead" languages)? Doesn't God know each and every one of them?
Because that is what the word "tongue" means in the Greek, "language." The two words are used interchangeably in Acts 2. "How hear we every man in our own "language" (tongue)? You have heard, no doubt, of the expression "mother tongue." What is yours? The word, tongue, means "language." Aside from the organ in your mouth, that is all it ever meant. It never had the meaning of gibberish--which people speak in today and call it speaking in tongues. It always meant languages.
And if this experience is "of the devil", it sure is a funny thing that I've got more of a desire to lead others to Christ and more of a desire to study God's word and more of a desire to hear God's word preached than ever before.
As mentioned:
1. The experience you had is probably simply a result of an emotional experience that you or self wanted to have, and therefore had it--not necessarily that the devil gave it to you. My warning is that it could lead to demonic activity because it leaves the mind open to such activity, especially since you don't know what you are saying.
2. God uses people in spite of their short comings. If you have a determination to serve God, then God bless you. Go out and serve him.
And yes, a couple of times God has given me the interpretation of what I just prayed in this other language, and it has been so awesome. It was always filled with praises to Him in words that I never would have thought to use myself. But, unfortunately, God didn't precede the interpretation with "By the way, Brian, the language you are speaking in is Aramaic".
Then how do you know if that interpretation is correct? Or if it is just the subconscious thoughts of your mind surfacing. You don't know.
Anyway, I would be really cautious about saying that speaking in tongues is of the devil.
I would really be cautious about engaging in an activity that is clearly anti-Biblical.
DHK
