Speaking in Tongues –An Unscripturaland Potentially DangerousPractice

by Jeremy James

This paper strives to give an objective analysis of the Pentecostal/Charismatic practiceofspeaking in tongues. I had no doctrinal position in the matter beforecarrying outthis review. However, my findings were so disturbing that I felt it was necessary toshare them with my fellow Christians, as well as ‘seekers’ who may be attendingChristian meetings where ‘tongues’ are spoken.Atthe outset I should acknowledgethat, fromthe various sources I have examined,speaking in tongues is a very sensitive issue among Christians. Practitioners greatlyresent any criticism of the practice, while many non-practitioners regard it as harmful.It is certainly a topic which gives rise to highly polarised views. This in itself wouldsuggest that all parties should familiarise themselves, as much as possible, with thescripturalbasis for the practice and think the issue through very carefully. The reasonfor this ought tobe obvious –if speaking in tongues is scriptural, then it ought to be astandard part of Christian worship; however, if it is not scriptural, then it is potentiallyharmful to anyone who indulges in it and should be abandoned.

Background

FirstlyI should saya little about myown background. I was a Roman Catholic for 19years and a very active participant in the New Age movement for 33 years when, in2008, I came to Christ. One thing that struck me as I got to know other Christians wasthe extent to which Christianity todayis infected with New Age beliefs and concepts.It turns out that manyofthe lies I left behind are actually being adopted by Christiansand incorporated into their spiritual lives.While the branch of the New Age movement in which I was involved did not includespeaking in tongues, I was struck by the incredibly close similarity between Christian‘tongues’ and various Shamanic and pagan religious practices where rhythmicchanting and trance vocalisation are employed. There was also a disturbing parallel between the ‘spirit filled’ state of a Christian tongue-speaker, who didn’t understandwhat he was saying, and the ‘spirit filled’ state of a trance medium.Furthermore, frommy exposure to the New Age over 33 years, I also knew that thesupernatural realm is buzzing with entities which are constantly on the look out for some way to attach themselves to humans. Once they get attached, they feed off their hosts like invisible parasites, causing emotional,psychological and many other problems. Some of these entities (or ‘demons’) are more pernicious than others, so if one is unfortunate enough to tangle with one of the more dangerous kind, the adverseeffects can be very unsettling and could persist for years, perhaps even a lifetime.

A Baptist Minister Speaks Out

In the course of my research I came across a very revealing article by an AustralianBaptist Minister who, from long experience, saw fit to make the following arrestingobservations:Among the great delusions that are spreading today, there is none moresubtleor more dangerous than modern-day tongues. It has been myexperience over many years to observe that out of the masses of peoplecoming under the influence of the tongues phenomena, very fewescape without serious emotional and spiritual damage to themselvesand their families...I and others have been testing tongues in Australia for some years. Infact, there are men personally known to me who have been testingthemfor over 20 years and none of us has ever yet found a genuinegift of Biblical Tongues. When the spirit using the tongue iscommanded to identify itself, in 95% of cases, a demon answers...Theother 5% have prove[d] to be psychosomatic.[Bryce Hartin,

Today’s Tongues

, 1987, Third Edition 1993]If Pastor Hartin is correct, then this chilling assessment of the ‘tongues’ phenomenonought to be of great concern to all Bible-believing Christians.

The Spiritual Purpose of Tongues

In order to understand what tongues are, we need to know what purposetheyservedin God’s plan of Redemption. While the phenomenon itself occurs only in the NewTestament, there is actuallya very significant reference to it in the Old Testament:For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. (Isaiah 28:11) [KJV]

Young’s Literal Translation

is even more revealing:For by scorned lip, and by another tongue, Doth He speak unto this people. (Isaiah 28:11)This prophetic passage refers to the gospel, the message of the Messiah, which “this people”(the Jews) will refuse to hear, even when it is revealed to them in “another tongue” (foreign language). This refusal is confirmed by Isaiah in the next verse:To whomhe said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the wearyto rest; and this is the refreshing: yet theywould not hear. (Isaiah28:12)This is actually an astonishing prophecy whose significance has often beenoverlooked. For example, John Walvoord’s

Every Prophecy of the Bible

does notidentify it. And yet it specifically says that a time would comewhen the Jews wouldhear the “refreshing” word of the Messiah, spoken to them in a foreign language, andtheywould reject it.

We should now ask ‘Why would the L

ORD

want to preach the words of the Messiahto the Jews in a foreign language?’The answer holds the whole key to the gift of tongues.Let’s look at the historical circumstances in which the Jewish nation evolved. Theywere a people set apart. Their God, Yahweh, was utterly different from the god of anyother people. All foreigners,without exception, were pagans, heathen idolators wholived under a curse. They did not have the God of the Jews. The unfoundedassumption they were making, however, was that foreigners would

never

have (or beaccepted by) the God of the Jews.This attitude, which permeated the whole of traditional rabbinical thinking and theJewish community atlarge, is demonstrated in the most remarkable way in the storyofthe prophet Jonah. The L

ORD

called him to warn a pagan nation –the people of Ninevah –ofan impending calamity. Unless they repented of their ways, their citywould be destroyed. Jonah was extremely unhappywiththis directive and tried toavoid carrying it out. To him it was simply unthinkable that the God of Israel shouldtake anyinterest whatever in the welfare of a pagan people.Even after the L

ORD

dragged him to Ninevah, where he delivered his message, he satoutside the city, waiting daily for its destruction –a prospect he relished. And when itdidn’t happen, he was very angry!This mayseem like an unusually hard attitude to us today, but it highlighted theexclusive ownership which the Jewish people felt theyexercised over Yahweh. Hewas

their

God, and theirs alone.This turned out to be a major problem when the Apostles began to preach the Gospelto the Jews. Naturally, virtually all of the initial members of the early Church wereJews. But theycarried withthemexactly the same attitude that had been fiercely held by the children of Israel for centuries. In their view, the Church should remainexclusively Jewish. The idea that gentiles –pagans, foreigners –should be allowed to join was repellant to many of them. Even the Apostles struggled with this and, as theBook of Acts reveals, they may have confined the Church to the circumcised (theJews) had not Paul of Tarsus come along and convinced them that Christ died for thewhole world, and not just the Jews.Paul mighthave made no progress if, when he presented his case,the early Christians(all of whom were Jews) had not alreadyobserved something which had astoundedthem, namely speaking in tongues –the very sign which Isaiah had prophesied.Theyhad witnessed the Holy Spirit speaking the Word of God in the language of pagans.This could only mean that God was inviting gentilesinto His fold.Atthis stage of our analysis we need to get down to specifics and see where exactlytongues were used in the New Testament and what conditions, if any, needed to befulfilled before they could be used.