TwIsTeD ToNgUeS or Speaking in Tongues?

Over the years I have been in Pentecostal and Evangelical churches that have had a humongous emphasis on speaking in tongues.  You'll hear them say, "Pray in the spirit" or "The spirit intercedes when you don't know what to pray for?" using  Romans 8:26 as reference:

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  

They have told me that I should desire to speak in tongues and offer to pray for me.  However, what I read in scriptures is that our desire should be to prophesy not speak in tongues.

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1

What is speaking in tongues?

It is speaking in any of the world's 6500 languages without being taught.  Some have said that when the high priest went into the Most Holy Place to atone for the sins of the people there was a special language between him and God so that the devil wouldn't understand. Often when it is a gift there is another person present with a gift of interpretation that can understand what is being said.  I have heard testimonies of someone being lost in foreign countries unable to speak the language but momentarily speaking in the language getting them back to safety.  I heard another testimony of an unbeliever overhearing someone speaking in his rare native tongue with a message from the Lord, and coming to the knowledge of the Lord through that experience.

There is a group of Christians, particularly but not limited to Pentecostals, with the belief that speaking in tongues is essential to salvation.  The basis being Acts 2:1-4.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Many believers start arguing that speaking in tongues is a gift that is not imparted to all of us, but those who believe speaking in the spirit is essential for salvation are not referring to the gift.  They are referring to a different type of tongue.  The different kinds of tongues spoken of in the bible is the gift of tongues, singing in tongues of angels (1 Corinthians 13), and tongues for prayer (1 Corinthians 14:2). 

How Pentecostalism started

Let me give you the historical background of how praying in tongues began as Pastor John MacArthur explains in his book Strange Fire:

It was the dawn of the 20th century, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 1901. A group of Bible school students had come together hours earlier for a New Year's Eve prayer service.  But even though it was long past midnight, they were still there--earnestly seeking to experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.  All of them desperately hoped for something amazing.  Over the previous weeks, the students had been intently studying portions of the book of Acts.  They were particularly interested in what the apostolic record taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit-an experience that, in keeping with their Wesleyan Holiness background, they believed took place subsequent to conversion.  Their study eventually centered on the miraculous phenomenon of speaking in tongues, which the students concluded was the true sign of Spirit baptism.  They observed how the apostles had spoken in tongues on the day of Pentecost, as well as Cornelius in Acts 10 and John the Baptist's former disciples in Acts 19.  And they wondered: if tongues-speaking was a sign of the Spirit's presence in apostolic times, maybe the same was still true at the outset of the twentieth century.  By the time they gathered for a prayer service on NYE they had all arrived at the same two conclusions--namely, speaking in tongues was the sign of the Spirit baptism, and the gift of tongues was still available to them to experience.  So with heartfelt determination, they pleaded with God to be baptized by His Spirit.  Their teacher, a Methodist Holiness minister named Charles Fox Parham, had encouraged them along these lines.  And now they were eager to experience the Spirit's power firsthand.   Sometime in those early morning hours, something extraordinary happened.  One of the students, a young woman named Agnes Ozman, asked her teacher to lay hands on her and pray that she would receive the Holy Spirit.  She began speaking in the Chinese language and was unable to speak English for 3 days.  When she tried to write in English to tell of her experiences she wrote in Chinese.  After that, at revival meetings, more than 20 different languages were reported being spoken by fellow students and this is the beginning of the Pentecostal movement.

What Is A Response to the Holy Spirit

When we look at scriptures, speaking in tongues is not the only response to the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:4-11: 

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.   There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.  Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy,to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

These Pentecostals argue that if you don't immediately speak tongues upon salvation it is because it is a progressive experience between repentance, baptism, and finalized by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by tongues.  It is an inference made by a small minority.  When there is too much meaning to a particular scripture it is called hyper literalism.  Reading into something that is not there.   You can search the scriptures, but you won't find one verse that says, "One must speak in tongues to be saved" or "Tongues is essential to salvation."  The only requirement is found in the core verse of the bible John 3:16, "For God so loved the World He gave His One and Only Son, that he who believes will not perish but have eternal life."  It doesn't say, "For God so loved the world He gave His One and Only Son, that he who believes, then speaks in tongues, then gets baptized will not perish but have eternal life!"  Revelations 22 does, however, say that anyone who adds to the Word will receive plagues and he who takes away will not receive the tree of life.

A study on speaking in tongues.

There have been tape recordings done on the technical term for speaking in tongues, glossolalia.  They always turn out to be strings of syllables, made up of sounds taken from among all those that the speaker knows, put together more haphazardly but which nevertheless emerge as word-like rhythm and melody.  It is indeed like a language in some ways, but linguists have found they are not a language. (Tongues of Men and Angels, William Samarin).

Charismatics have argued that it is a gift of receiving your own spirit language.  Each is unique to the person.  As one pastor instructs, "When you ask for the Holy Spirit, you may have a syllable bubbling up, or rolling around in your head.  If you will speak it in faith, it will be as if you open a dam, and the language will come forth. (Drawing Near, John Bevere)

Speaking in tongues as a demonic spirit

On the flip side again, the devil is able to mimic and counterfeit things of the spirit. Hinduism for years has had the practice with the Kundalini spirit-a releasing of a cosmic energy, that happens when a serpent untwists itself in you. In the occult, kundalini has been a common practice for over 1,000 years, but in Asian religions, its history has goes back to 4,000 year. They have the concept that this phenomenon is to release “the power of the serpent” that resides in every person. The physical experience is exactly the same in tongues and kundalini. When the power of the serpent comes out, frequently the person makes involuntary sounds and their bodies begin to make movements out of their control (as is slain in the spirit). (The Stormy Search for Self, Cristiana y Stanislov Grof)

In Conclusion

I don't disagree that speaking in tongues exist.  There are some serious praying, God-fearing, bible beating Christians that can not speak in tongues.  Then there are proclaimed Christians that are living in sin, not bearing fruits, that claim to speak in tongues.  Personally most of the time when I hear people speaking tongues around me it sounds like a lot of baa ba ba baa ba and rolling of the 'r's.  It all sounds the same.  I speak 3 languages and am around many more.  There is a distinct difference between hearing languages and someone speaking in tongues.  I do believe there are many Christians that truly believe they are speaking in tongues that are not. The only person that knows is the omniscient Lord.  He is the only one who knows who is speaking in tongues.  He is the one that will make the judgment call as to whether it is necessary for salvation.  I do believe that our salvation is being worked out until the day we go home.  Speaking in tongues alone is no guarantee of salvation just as a person who doesn't speak in tongues.  The one true indicator is those who have repented and are bearing fruit as a result of their transformation.

Should Christians celebrate Halloween or is it Hell-o-Ween?

Halloween has been my favorite holiday. I love dressing up and doing elaborate makeup. I have won many costume contests due to my creativity. I rationalized in my mind that if it isn't a witch, ghost, devil, or anything evil then it must be ok........well I did dress up as the Dark Knight joker nurse once.  Beggar's Night

is the perfect opportunity for witnessing, right? Besides kids dress up year-round as princesses and superheroes for play. People in dramas wear costumes. How could Halloween be any different? 

According to a CBN News Facebook Poll, 87% of believers feel that Christians should not celebrate Halloween, while 13% believe it's okay. But in the US those statistics are almost swapped.  23% of believers don't celebrate Halloween leaving only 72% that do. ONe-quarter of all candy sold in the US if for Halloween. Is there something Americans don't know? 

Let me start by explaining the reason for the costumes, pumpkins, and bonfires. Then explain what is going on in the spiritual realms yet today.

In ancient times there was an ancient festival that translated Satan called Sal'win. There was the belief that the transition between the DEATH of summer and the BIRTH of winter was the harvest season in which ravenous spirits came out. They practiced sorcery, witchcraft, and all kinds of manner of evil. During the reign of Pope Gregory III he changed it from the ancient festival to the modern-day, Halloween. The Catholic church has had a history of coming in and taking over the traditions of occultic practices and mixing it with Christianity to make it something more acceptable. What fellowship does darkness have with light? Back around the time of Pope Gregory IX the Vatican began teaching that the Holy Mass is literal eating and drinking of flesh and blood of Christ. The priests had the power to turn the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, which is a magic occult black magic act.

The Celtics believed these spirits were roaming the earth looking for someone to torment. To appease Satan they wanted the attention of the spirits for their sorcery and magic. They made animal and human sacrifices. They would take the bones and have a bone fire, which we now call bonfire, as a sacrifice to Satan asking for prosperity and his blessing in the year to come. One of the things they did to hide from the spirits was to dress up in costumes to blend in with the demons or animals. They believed when these spirits were roaming the earth they were ravenously hungry. Inorder to not get eaten they laid out in front of their houses treats for them to feast on. They believed if they didn't leave a proper offering they would play tricks to torment them. That is where we get "Trick or Treat." One of the things they'd do was chop the heads off of people and take the bloody head, decorate them and place them around their houses. They weren't pumpkins back then they were human heads. Carving pumpkins making a face out of them is how we got jack o' lanterns.

At this point you might be saying but I am not celebrating or practicing what the ancient druids did. You might be calling it a genetic fallacy, which is history and origins irrelevant to today's current meaning and practices.

Before jumping to any conclusions let's look at the spiritual realm of this today. The invisible spiritual realm is still very much active today. There are powers, principalities and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms that are warring against us. As Christians, we are called to put on the full armor of God. (Ephesians 6:11-12)

Many believers believe that they can not have demons or demonic oppression. This is a spiritual ignorance that I once fell prey too. I have a family member who is a witch and told me with permission he could cast a spell on me for good luck. I said, "You can cast a spell on me, but it won't work because I am a child of the Most High." This couldn't be further from the truth. 

"Demons" are mentioned 69 times in the New Testament. Jesus continuously did 3 things: 1)preached 2) healed and 3)cast of demons. (Matthew 8:16; Matthew 9:4, 33; Matthew 10:8; Matthew 12:24, 27-28; Mark 1:34, 39; Mark 3:22; Mark 7:26; Mark 16:9,17; Luke 11:15, 18-20; Luke 13:32) To prove that demons still exist all we have to do is look to the future on Judgment Day: On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ (Matthew 7:22) It's a matter of whether you think these people saying, "Lord, Lord" are those of biblical times or represent men across all ages.

It's true that believers can't be possessed, because no demons can reside where the Holy Spirit resides.  Let me explain how it is possible to be oppressed by using Don Dickerman's analogy in When Pigs Move In: 

Evil spirits can get in the temple just like evil thoughts and sinful actions--by choices we make and gates we open. Do you recall the Old Testament Tabernacle? It had three parts: an outer courtyard, the holy place, and the holy of holies. The holy place was twice as large as the holy of holies. The tabernacle is a picture of our being. The courtyard represents our flesh, the holy place represents our soul, and the holy of holies represents our spirits. The holy of holies is where the Spirit of God dwells. This is important in understanding how the temple is defiled. Where does the Spirit of God dwell in the believer? In our spirit! Not in our soul and flesh; that is the part of us that we can yield to God or to disobedience. Our soul is made up of our mind, will, and emotions. Our flesh is that which can be seen, touched, and felt. It has substance. The spirit has no substance; it is intangible. It is our spirit that is born again, and it is in our spirit that the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence. The spirit has been born again, and the soul and flesh are "being saved" as we yield ourselves and conform to the image of Christ.  It is the soul and the flesh that can be inhabited by demon powers. It is the soul where the spiritual battle takes place, and often it manifests in the flesh.

In Old Testament times there was a curtain between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The only person allowed behind that curtain was the high priest in which they tied a rope on in case he died while they went back there. That high priest went in to atone for the sins and give animal sacrifices for the people who didn't have direct access to the Most High; however when Christ died on the cross that curtain tore giving us direct access. This is why the Catholic church still uses the practice of confession. (Hebrews 9:2-8)

Over the past year, I have seen former Satanist John Ramirez go viral on the internet. He was ranked as a high priest Satanists in NYC. He says,

"Halloween is the devil's holiday. The devil loves when you celebrate Halloween because you are intertwining darkness with light." Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. (Ephesians 5:11) He goes on to say, "All of that candy and costumes in the stores have had prayers of evil prayed over them. By celebrating Halloween if you are married then you are letting evil into your marriage, children, home, finances over practicing this holiday one day of the year. People are putting pumpkins at their doors which opens their door to the same demons that run the river which is called Oshun, a spirit of witchcraft. Celebrating it brings a curse to your family 4 to 5 generations down. We have churches that have trunk or treats and Harvest festivals. It's no substitute for Halloween. You are bringing a curse to your church when you do that. You are bringing the curse on the children in your church. One of the biggest demonic disillusion that the devil brings is to change costume, put on an outfit, paint your face, change your identity. I don't care if you put on a mermaid, Casper the friendly ghost, or an angel. Jesus created Adam and Eve to be perfect and when the devil got in the garden, convinced them and confused their mind then he changed their identity. When you put on a costume you are changing your identity in who you are in Christ, and open yourself to the most demonic attack ever. If you are celebrating Harvest then you are celebrating Halloween. The church becomes entertainment and an amusement park so that the world will come back. You don't need to entertain anyone. You bring them and Jesus Christ will do the rest. How you going to celebrate and call yourself blessed. It's like being married and sleeping with a prostitute but say you love your wife. The biggest witchcraft I used to do was on Halloween to kill, steal, and destroy."

I have heard John tell multiple stories of his time as a Satanist. Ramirez's book, Armed and Dangerous, he talks about how the number 21 means "snake." He used to cast 21-day prayers over people, and 21 days later they would be dead. His Satanic power was so powerful that he had his landlord afraid to come to his door. For 9 months, he received free rent before moving out. For Halloween, he said he started devising evil plans a week out. The holiday proves to be demon-possessed as evidenced by the 17% increase in crime.

The spirit you are opening your door is a witchcraft spirit. The spirit of witchcraft includes sorcery, divination, intimidation, control, manipulation, false religions, fortune-telling, new age, ESP, astrology, hypnosis, Eastern religions, masonry, telepathy, palmistry, drugs, black magic, white magic, tea leaf reading, etc. If the enemy can get control of your mind then they can cause confusion, mental breakdown, mania, fantasy, evil thinking, migraines, mental pain, and negative thinking. (Fasting for Breakthrough and Deliverance, John Eckhardt)

Once that spirit gets into your home it can affect your finances, marriage, and safety of your children. You are opening the door to your child being molested, trafficked, abused, bullied, and raped in the future. Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children." There are strong soul ties with this demon that requires prayer, fasting, and strong spiritual warfare. (Matthew 17:21) I can't emphasize enough how much power comes from not telling or hinting to a single soul that you are fasting. In biblical times they kept it so anonymous that they carried on as if they were eating by washing their faces and putting anointing oil on their heads. This was a practice done before eating a meal. (Matthew 6:17-18)

Through this witchcraft spirit, I myself had been exposed to a stalker for 7 years of my life. Legal action was involved but it didn't work. It was a scary situation.  One day the Lord made me question a verse in Matthew 12, which opened a humongous door to learning about spiritual warfare.   After 5 months of prayer and fasting, the stalking finally stopped. This stuff is real folks.

It is knowledge that empowers us and lack of it causes us to fail and perish. This may be the first time you have been opened up to this. Over the years I have had many many foreign friends who didn't celebrate Halloween. In fact, I once did a study of the origins of Halloween but was not convinced until I dug deeper than I had previously dug. I now know at least 5 people who have stopped celebrating Halloween in the past year.  I've had 3 or 4 unrelated friends send me YouTube links to John Ramirez. If you are still sitting on the fence look him up. His testimonies are so compelling.

John Ramirez Testimony

https://youtu.be/I11L71PD3Lw