Paul Christensen
Well-Known Member
- Mar 2, 2020
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I will say it again. I don't care about what people in Charismatic churches do. I believe what the Holy Spirit says in 1 Corinthians 14 about the advisable and appropriate use of the gift. If people ignore what the Holy Spirit taught the Corinthians, and misuse the gift, that is absolutely no concern of mine. I know beyond doubt that when I pray in tongues I am doing it the way the Holy Spirit has clearly taught in 1 Corinthians 14. I don't go running around speaking gibberish. I get into the holy place with God and I express my heart to him with the Spirit in the language that the Holy Spirit gives to me, and I pray also with my understanding when I have the words in English to express to Him. I see my gift is a holy gift of God to enhance my personal prayer and I don't allow anyone to interfere with that, because the Holy Spirit through God's Word supercedes the authority of any man's opinion - especially about spiritual gifts where men have absolutely no practical experience.Right, when I see people in these churches running around, flopping on the ground like buffoons speaking gibberish, I just roll my eyes. There is nothing about it that is edifying, and for all we know they could be blaspheming God. It is NOT a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and if anything its a set up for the second beast that speaks "dragon", his own magic gibberish.
Also the Holy Spirit has proved to me without a doubt that my language is genuine on two occasions in the very church I was a member, where tongues were spoken where the speak knew only English, and a NZ Maori lady heard her language spoken where God spoke encouraging things to her; and a visitor from Ghana heard the praises of God spoken in his own village dialect. Both people who spoke in tongues had no idea that they were speaking these languages. They were speaking in what you describe as "gibberish", but obviously the Holy Spirit didn't think so.
Also I have a personal friend who was a child in a Pentecostal church in Kenya in the 1950s. He saw bushmen who had never seen a white person before, coming into his church, getting saved, and started speaking in tongues - not gibberish, but praising God in clear, Oxford English! My friend has a very strict Reformed theology and belongs to a very conservative Reformed Presbyterian church, so he is not likely to lie or be mistaken about it.
If God hasn't given you the gift, then take care not to insult the Holy Spirit by saying that the gifts He gives to others is just "gibberish".