One of the most dangerous developments of the present charismatic movement is the trend to recognize any person as a bona-fide Christian on the basis of his experience with tongues. Some consider this phenomenon to be an essential mark of a Christian. A person’s doctrine is of little concern, the only thing they want to know is if ‘you can speak in an unknown tongue”!!
Interesting, but not much noticed, is that when our Lord first mentioned such dramatic proofs of His Message, He used these gifts as a proof that the user was a believer OR THEY WOULD NEVER HAVE USED THEM!! “These signs shall follow them that BELIEVE (emphasis mine). If we can read, we know this says something we should listen to! The apostles had been commissioned to “preach the gospel to every creature”. Mark 16:16 What is NOT mentioned is how they were to attend this commission. They, the apostles, were known as “unlearned and ignorant men”, YET, they were to take the New Covenant of Jesus Christ to ALL the world. Let me remind you, there were plenty of smart men in this old world at that time!! How would the Lord Jesus have fared IF the purveyors of His Covenant were confronted with mistakes in their dates, places, and events?? One of the valid proofs that Joseph Smith (the originator of the Mormon lies and religion) is a false prophet is that he wrote that Jesus was born in Jerusalem!!, not Bethlehem!! What if the language they spoke was SO grammatically incorrect, so out of agreement in voice, tense, mood, etc, that any person hearing them would be insulted by the verbage, not the message?? Would the God of all Eternity have sent unlearned and ignorant men to defend His Only Begotten Son?? One of the purposes of inspiration was that God would NOT trust any man to defend His Only Begotten Son to this world by any other THAN HIMSELF!! “Great is the mystery of godliness: God (Christ) was manifest in the flesh, justified (defended) by the Spirit (this is inspiration), seen of angels (these angels were/are the apostles, the messengers of the Good News), preached unto the Gentiles (let me introduce you to the apostle Paul), and received up in glory (read Daniel 7:13, Psalms 24:7-8, Acts 2:28-30, Hebrews chapter 1, and Philippians 2:8-11).” 1 Timothy 3:15, Acts 2:22-32. Peter would later state, by inspiration, “ “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God?” Acts 11:17 Paul would later by the Spirit write: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery…..God hath revealed this unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth the deep things of God…Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might KNOW the things that are freely given to us of God….for the natural (any man who knew by a natural means such as study or hearing) man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God”. 1 Corinthians 2:7-14 “Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man should be found faithful…..For I know NOTHING by myself…., I bring to light the counsels of the heart.” 1 Corinthians 4:2-5 You want to do one better?? Try speaking in an unknown tongue, knowing nothing of it, understanding none of it, and if asked a question in that language, how would you answer?? It would be not secret that Christ would have His apostle speak in other, unknown tongues; it was prophesied!! “In the law it is written, ‘With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people” 1 Corinthians 14:21, Isaiah 28:11 What good were tongues unless they profited? We would be as barbarians, a foreigner, not understanding his language!! 1Corinthians 14:6-11.
