Should There Be Evidence of the Infilling of the Holy Spirit by Speaking in Tongues

How can we know anything about anything

To try to explain truth to him who loves it not is but to give him more plentiful material for misinterpretation. George Macdonald

Do we have to make a choice between science and the Bible?

NO!

That is NOT where the problem is, but that is what everyone seems to want to talk about.

Take science as an example. How can we know anything about the created material world around us?

How can we know anything from what we can see using natural sciences?

We all see the same things in the material world, but we don't come to the same answers.

Why is that?

How can we know anything about the Bible and what it teaches? Every person believes different things about the Bible and how it should be read.

Why is that?

Same scientific facts. Different answers.

Same Bible. Different answers.

Why is that?

The true question is this: How do we come to our answers that we get from what we can see through science or what we can read in the Bible?

How do we think about what we see using science or what we read in the Bible?

How do we analyze what we have seen and read?

How do we interpret what we have seen and read?

We use logic, but logic always has a foundation. Jesus talked about building on the Rock. That Rock is Jesus Christ. He is the true foundation. There are also the false foundations of the ungodly.

An example might help.

Question: Why do you believe in evolution?

Answer: Because my science teacher told me that evolution is scientific fact.

Question: Why do you believe your science teacher?

Answer: because he agrees with the textbook he assigned us to read.

Now, we have asked, "Why?" twice.

If we continued to ask, "Why?" we would come down to the foundation of this person's thoughts.

When we get down to the foundations, there are no more questions that can be answered. So where to the foundations come from?

There are three possibilities.

things that we make up, pulled from the air
demonic lies
divine revelation

Question: Why do you believe in creation?

Answer: Because God revealed this to me. He spoke to me through the Bible and gave me His faith so that I could believe Him.

See how quickly we got to the foundation. This is a belief that has a foundation that is solid and that cannot be moved.

In reality, the things that we make up, that are pulled from the air, are actually from demons and all the lies of demons spring from the prince of demons, Satan. So these are one and the same.

Divine revelation comes from the Almighty, Creator, God, Jesus Christ. So there are only two choices, but how do we know there are only two choices? Because God has revealed this truth to us.

The question then is how do we tell the difference between the revelation that comes from God and the lies of Satan?

The answer is that everyone who sincerely wants to do the will of God will know.

Jesus said, "If you really want to obey God, you will know if what I teach comes from God or from me"

The rejection of the revelation that comes from God is not an intellectual problem. It is a moral problem.

Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened." *

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Matthew 7:7-11 *

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can set the truth before someone, but you can't make anyone believe those things that they don't want to submit to. They have to want to obey God.

How frequently it is brought to our attention that nothing good can be done if the will is wrong! Reason alone fails to justify itself. Richard M. Weaver

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32)

"If we are not prepared to buy the truth at the cost of our own humbling we shall not receive it"

Lies appear to have no price upon them. They seem cheap and they abound everywhere. But for the truth there is always an obvious price to pay.

"[God] has set a day when He will judge all the world's people with fairness. And He has chosen the man Jesus to do the judging for Him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death" (Acts 17:31).

"There is a judge for the one who rejects Me [Jesus] and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day" (John 12:48)

That also stands for every person who speaks the utterances of Jesus. When we hear them, we hear Jesus Christ, and we either accept or reject. Every person who follows Jesus Christ is commanded to only speak His utterances and not their own.

"When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God" (1 John 3:19)

Ravi Zacharias did two open forums in a university. On the second night, one man told him that he had brought two Atheists in the night before who said that the arguments presented were so strong that they could not contend with them, but they were going to remain Atheists because that is what they prefer to be true.

In another case of just listening to an unbeliever and drawing out his reasoning, the unbeliever finally came to his foundations.

They turned out to be assumptions that were pulled from the air. When asked why he believed his basic assumption, the unbeliever looked startled and blurted out, "I guess I'm making the whole thing up." It was quite a revelation to him since he hadn't even known that he had any assumptions. However, he decided to remain an Atheist because he didn't want God to rule over him.

Question:

I understand that we receive the Holy Spirit when we believe. I also understand that the Holy Spirit helps us do what God wants us to do; but in studying Acts, I am still not clear on speaking in tongues. I know that I am filled with the Holy Spirit because of the wonderful things God is doing in my life and through my life; but should there be evidence of speaking in tongues in my life? I open my mouth and speak sounds, I can do that, but I'm not actually moved to do it. I understand that it is speaking to God in an unknown tongue which edifies me and gives Him glory. Is this gift maybe a gift I'm not ready for? I've talked to God about it in the past, but haven't really gotten an answer, yet.

Answer:

The difference between having the Holy Spirit on you and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is symbolized in the difference between being sprinkled with water and being baptized (immersed) in water. The Holy Spirit will have an effect on any Christian even before that Christian ever speaks in tongues.

Tongues are not given for the sake of evidence. The Bible is clear that tongues are given to build ourselves up in the Spirit. They are a gift that we need so that we can build ourselves up, just as the Bible is a gift to build ourselves up. We can neglect speaking in tongues. We can neglect reading the Bible. We can neglect prophecy in the local assembly. We can neglect attending the local assembly. Neglecting to follow the leading of the Spirit of God will start a downward spiral.

I was raised in a denomination that does not believe in speaking in tongues, prophecy, the gifts of the Spirit, apostles, etc. The denomination preaches from the Bible and is really acceptable as far as most of the doctrine that they believe, but the organization got stuck a few hundred years ago. One day, the pastor was preaching from the Bible about the Holy Spirit. He just said what the Bible said. I kept thinking about that. I was riding in my car about Wednesday of the next week thinking about this, and I thought, "Wouldn't that be wonderful!" Wham! That's when the Holy Spirit filled me. I was a Christian before that and not walking in sin at all, but now everything changed. The Bible made sense in a way that it never had. I could not get enough of it. I knew nothing about speaking in tongues.

At a certain point, I heard about speaking in tongues. I didn't know how to receive this, though. One day, I just thought that I would relax my mind and maybe be able to speak in tongues. An evil spirit took advantage of me there. I thought, "Lord, if this is you, you seem to be being very rough." It was as though my mind were being shaken by a dog. I broke free and didn't bother with this for a long time.

God led me to a church that was in submission to those apostles who were established during the move of the Spirit of 1948 going forward. When I got there, I knew I was home. I didn't speak in tongues, though. One day, a presbytery came to town. A presbytery is a group of traveling elders (apostles) who have been set for the purpose of setting people into their ministries. They impart gifts through prophecy and the laying on of hands. They laid hands on my wife and me. It was amazing the power of the Holy Ghost. My wife was not really convinced in her mind about all of this and thought that they must have some kind of shock device in their hands. Well, it was power for sure, but not like an electric shock. You could feel it--there is no mistaking it. They prophesied over us and imparted gifts and told us details about how God would guide our ministries during our lives.

Then, one of the brethren told me to speak in tongues. I was waiting for the Holy Spirit to open my mouth and make me speak in tongues. The brother sensed this in the Spirit, and he said, "Brother, the Holy Spirit won't make you speak in tongues. Just start and He will be there." I opened my mouth, and He filled my mouth with many things that I couldn't understand. I could not understand what I was saying, but I felt so clean and I felt the love of God flowing out from me toward every person. I knew that it was from God.

Since that day, I don't know how I could have survived many of the heartaches that I have had without this wonderful gift. Sometimes, it seems that God just starts it without my entering in at all. Mostly, God prompts me to speak in tongues, I obey, and the Holy Spirit does it through me.

There are many examples of fake tongues out there. Tongues can be counterfeited by the human mind and also by evil spirits.

In the examples in the Bible, the first time tongues were given to the Jews, they were given by God's sovereign act. The first time they were given to the gentiles, they were given by God's sovereign act. After that, they were given by the laying on of hands. There is safety in the laying on of hands, providing the person who is laying hands on you is walking in the right Spirit. If the person is in rebellion, however, they will impart their spirit to you. You need to be certain of the person you allow to lay hands on you. It is better with a presbytery.

When hands are laid on, every person does not speak in tongues right away. Some receive this gift sometime later. That doesn't mean that they have not received the baptism until they speak in tongues. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is by the laying on of hands.

Should There Be Evidence of the Infilling of the Holy Spirit by Speaking in Tongues

How can we know anything about anything

Question:

Answer:

Contact Form