Now here a topic that you don’t often hear about. In many of the holiness, pentecostal and baptist churches, speaking in tongues was (and still is) common practice for as long as I’ve been attending worship services. I remember how puzzling it was to hear someone speak in another language in the church. When I was growing up, I never really understood the reason why believers would seem to lose control when it came to speaking in tongues.
In many of today’s churches, those that speak in tongues, don’t quite understand it either, or at least it seems. Believers that do speak in tongues act as if its something uncontrollable, you cant stop when “it” starts and it can happen to you at any time. Wow, imaging that, your at work, attending a business meeting and BAM! the Holy Ghost decides that He wants to speak to you in another language!I would always wonder, why can’t the Spirit of God speak to me in the same way when He called my unto salvation? I know that Gods thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are not my ways, but church folk can take things too far and Gods people begin to look like we are not playing with a full deck.
Why would you need to speak in tongues, in the presence of other believers to believers? Unless the other believers speak Cantonese and you only know English and those present need to hear the Gospel (Acts 2:5-15). If God has a message, why does it not come through His Word, through the prophet or evangelist? The tongue speaking usually comes at the climax of a church service, usually when the guest preacher is speaking and says something profound (that no one understands) and BAM! The spirit hits Sister Gurdy (fictitious name to protect the guilty) and she immediately starts speaking in tongues, she looses her hat and dentures as she runs wildly down the isle, runs into a pew and lands on the floor.
Meanwhile, everyone is in awe thinking that God is really using this sister, the preacher stops preaching and the guest start leaving. After the commotion ceases and Sister Gurdy regains her hat, dentures and composure, she takes her seat, the preacher says amen, there is no interpretation and the preacher picks up where he was interrupted.
Sometimes we have to take a step back and laugh at the really senseless things we do. Why not? The watching world is laughing and I’m sure God wonders why we do the things we do when we have His written word to guide us. Paul spells out the proper and improper use of tongues in the church, but what does Paul know? I guess we figure this is a new era.
Here are some references on the matter:
Acts 2 / Mark 16:17 / 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 / 1 Corinthians 12:28-30
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