We’re dealing with the babbling, nonsense tongues which are commonly labeled as the “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit” in Pentecostal/Charismatic/Word of Faith circles.  I have other studies dealing with this in more detail, especially a study on 1 Corinthians chapters 12 to 14 and a compilation refuting Pentecostal/Charismatic/Word of Faith concepts.  Here we will quickly deal with why the nonsense tongues are not of God and are rather a delusion which brings people into a false sense of spirituality, bondage to foolishness, and even a false basis for thinking that they are in God’s grace.

1. The tongues that the Apostles spoke in at Pentecost were languages of men on earth- which could be verified as such by natural speakers of the languages.

Acts 2:1-11: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.  Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.  And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?  Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia (Asia Minor), Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes (that is, gentile converts to Judaism), Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”

2. The unintelligible tongues could not be the language of heaven like the Pentecostal/Charismatic/Word of Faith people claim- because the Bible says that tongues will cease.

1 Corinthians 13:8: “Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”

If Biblical tongues were a heavenly, angelic language then they would not cease- even in eternity.  This proves further that Biblical tongues are the languages of men on earth.  And though we’re not going to get into 1 Corinthians chapter 14 in detail here, the verses there which seem to say otherwise are a reference to someone in a congregation who speaks a different language than everyone else in the congregation praying, speaking, or singing out loud in his own language.  In that case the speaker is edified, but the rest of the congregation is not edified because they don’t speak his language. That is one potential instance where the genuine spiritual gift of tongues would have a place if God were to give a person such a gift.  This is proven well by the summary of spiritual gifts, and their relation to charity/love, which the Apostle Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 14:12.  That brings us to #3.

3. The unintelligible tongues do not edify the church.  

1 Corinthians 14:12 says: “Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.”

There is no such thing as a genuine Christian spiritual gift which is only for the edification of the one who receives it.  The unintelligible, nonsense tongues do not edify the church.  They do not edify anyone, including the speaker, since no one, not even the speaker, understands them.  

4. God is not the author of confusion.

1 Corinthians 14:33: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

We’ve seen that every instance of the gift of tongues from God being exercised in the Bible involved the speaking of a language on earth which could be verified as such by those who spoke that language naturally.  Likewise, the gift of interpreting tongues, if God were to give a person such a gift, would involve translating a language of earth into another language of earth- all of which could be verified by natural speakers of the same languages.

Anyone of course could claim they can interpret the nonsense tongues- yet the interpretation of the nonsense tongues could not be verified.  That only creates confusion.  It could not logically do anything but cause confusion.  God is not the author of confusion.

5.  Pagans have been known to speak in nonsense tongues from ancient times.

Therefore, it should be evident that speech can be labeled as having divine origin that in reality stems from human contriving, human conditioning, or possibly even demonic influence.  Hypnotists and fake faith healers (who have admitted themselves to have been fakes) have induced people to speak in nonsense tongues at their meetings (like Marjoe- we have a message on lessons from the documentary called Marjoe; this documentary can be found online too).  Many people who speak in the nonsense tongues get induced to do so by human means at church, at church camp, through some other human teaching, or through simply imitating others who are doing so.  That is why children and parrots can be taught to speak in these nonsense tongues.  It is blasphemous to attribute to God’s Spirit something which is sensual and can be induced by parroting, hypnosis, and/or demon-possession. The inducement of these tongues in an individual under a Christian label gives them the impression that they have been truly born-again by a living faith in Jesus Christ when that is simply not necessarily the case.  Even if the one who acquires these nonsense tongues has already been born again through exercising a living faith in Christ, these nonsensical tongues are a subversive experience which causes one to trust that they are abiding in Christ and continuing on the right track because they are doing this.  This also causes the Christian to become experience oriented and hinders them from actually seeking the Lord and becoming anchored in Christ through conscious prayer and the application of the guidance of the Word of God in their practical decisions.  The emphasis of this experience in relation to Christianity can be strong enough to practically preach a false gospel-and false gospels damn those who preach them as well as those who believe them- whether they had been authentically born again in Christ before or not (Galatians 1:6-9, 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, etc). 

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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