Tongues. . . For you?

Good Morning.

"What is the deal with tongues?" is a question I have been asked a number of times; perhaps as a way of describing the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues, I will tell you about my exposure and experience with this gift. When I was 11 years old, my friend invited me to go to church with her at the First Assembly of God. I loved the upbeat feeling when we sang hymns; why, people even clapped their hands! Believe me, it was quite a departure from the Baptist church to which I was accustomed. It was the first place I ever heard someone speak in tongues--(not the kind that were a manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, when they were given the ability to speak foreign languages they had no way of knowing--xenoglossia)--glossolalia, speaking in undecipherable verbal utterances. We would be praying, (and these folks were vocal!) and someone within the congregation would speak out loudly and spontaneously in what sounded like gibberish to me. We would keep our heads bowed, and within a few minutes, someone within the congregation would speak out the interpretation for all to hear--sometimes it was the same person. It was orderly. When I studied a little on my own, this fell right in line with Scripture written by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14, particularly verses 26-28--tongues verbalized aloud in a church service must be followed by an interpretation. The purpose of a message in tongues is to encourage and build up the body of Christ. Now--one time, I distinctly remember a lady who spoke in tongues, and then interpreted it herself, saying 'you shall not tell the women of the church they are not to wear pants on the platform'--see, she sang in the choir, and was ticked she couldn't wear pants under her choir robe--had to be a dress. The pastor calmly and respectfully stood up and said, "Ma'am, you are out of order, and I'm going to ask you to take your seat now." And, she did. Why? Hers was not a message consistent with Scripture, but was rather a self-promoting bit not in accordance with how God does things. I shall never forget it. I played the organ on Sunday nights when services went long as people lined the altars seeking and praising God. I loved it.

But it was also in those days that I went to camp for the first time--Missionette camp up in Chico, California. During a church service, we were all 'prayed over' to 'receive the Holy Spirit'. I remember a woman came up to me and said, 'I'm going to pray for you, Honey, that you get the gift--you just start out by saying these words. . .'(and she told me some syllables I was supposed to repeat quickly). I was 12, but I thought, "C'mon, lady, God doesn't work like that. If He wants me to speak in tongues there will be no need to prime the pump!" Years went by and I grew up, and was going to college in San Francisco, and found myself at Bethel Temple, another Assembly of God church. It was in a midweek Bible study that I was told, in front of a group, that if I didn't speak in tongues, I was not all God intended me to be. If you know me at all, this didn't set well--this guy was saying my walk with God was inferior to his because he spoke in tongues, and I didn't. Mind you, I was seeking and serving God, and if He wanted me to speak in tongues, I was certainly open to it. But so far...He hadn't, and I didn't. In recent years, I've had women approach me, and tell me I really needed the 'baptism of the Spirit' (which to them meant speaking in tongues), in order to minister most effectively. They wanted to pray for me and with me that I would 'get it'. They did, and I was very open and ready, but I didn't.

So, what happened? Am I a loser? And, why do some Christian churches today believe in speaking in tongues, and others just do not? Simply put. . . some Christians have a cessationist doctrine, and some are continuationists. Cessationism is the view that the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as tongues, prophecy and healing, ceased being practiced early on in Church history. (The word charismatic comes from charisma - Greek "kharisma," meaning "gift.") Cessationists usually believe the miraculous gifts were given only for the foundation of the Church, during the time between the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, c. AD 33 (seeActs 2) and the fulfillment of God's purposes in history, usually identified as either the completion of the last book of the New Testament or the death of the last Apostle--and that they are no longer valid for today. Continuationists believe that all of the Spiritual gifts are still given and practiced today.

Pentecostalism is a religious movement within Christianity, that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, a Greek term describing the Jewish Feast of Weeks, which we talked about earlier this week. For Christians, this event commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, as we have seen in Acts chapter two. Pentecostals tend to see their movement as reflecting the same kind of spiritual power, worship styles and teachings that were found in the early church. The beginning of the widespread Pentecostal movement in the United States is generally considered to have begun with Seymour's Azusa Street Revival in 1906. (Los Angeles) The Azuza revival drew many people from around the world. The Los Angeles Press gave close attention to this revival, which helped fuel its growth. International visitors and Pentecostal missionaries would eventually bring these teachings to other nations, so that practically all classic Pentecostal denominations today trace their historical roots to the Azusa Street Revival.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Christians from mainline churches in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world began to accept the Pentecostal idea that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is available for Christians today, even if they did not accept other tenets of formal Pentecostalism. "Charismatic" movements began to grow in mainline denominations. Charismatic Episcopalians, Lutherans, Catholics, and Methodists emerged, and other charismatic churches started, such as the Vineyard. Hopefully, this explanation will help you see what Pentecostals and Charismatics believe, and why others believe differently.
In short, some churches believe the gifts of the Spirit such as tongues, healing, and prophecy have ceased; others believe they are still for the church today. Instead of the gift of tongues being unifying and edifying, unfortunately, people have let it divide them.
So, please, let us seek all that God has for us as individual, spirit-filled God-seekers, without giving ourselves to dissension over His gifts. . . can you see how heartbreaking it must be for Him, to see His children fighting over his good gifts?
Offer grace today,
Christine (DiGiacomo) espressocd@cox.net or join the "Morning Briefings" group to discuss with others on Facebook.
Wikipedia was a great source for some of the data of this piece.