PRAYING IN TONGUES? THEIR PERSPECTIVE!

I like to think of myself as fair.  Great harm was done to me emotionally and Spiritually by the United Pentacostal Church and honestly, if I had not had a rock solid foundation and knew the truth of the Gospel (the death/burial/resurrection = salvation), I'm quite sure I would have walked away from God.  Let me be clear, the Holy Spirit has brought me to my knees but it was gentle.  I wasn't thrown, pushed down, I didn't laugh hysterically, bark/howl, convulse or run around the church in a fit of ecstatic frenzy.  I KNEW I was going to my knees so down I went except once and I prayed a very powerful power for healing of my sister's cancer and was exhausted and wrung out.  I was walking around and then put on one of my favorite songs and started dancing, felt the Spirit overcome me and well, I tripped over my own two feet.  Amazing, it didn't hurt, not a bit.   The fruit of the Spirit includes gentleness so would the Holy Spirit throw people down, put them in hysterical fits of laughter and to me, it seems irreverent and mocking God.  God is holy and righteous and Jesus Christ never knocked anyone to the ground.   I just cannot wrap my head around that the gentle Holy Spirit who appears as a dove when Jesus was baptized would ever not be gentle.  I cannot image that God is asking people to bark or howl for Him in church.  The church is to be done in order and God is not the author of confusion but of peace.

I believe Paul is quite clear that not all speak in tongues.  Read both books to the Church of Corinth.  It's all about the misuse and abuse of Spiritual gifts.  There are rules we much obey IF we speak in tongues.  There MUST be an interpreter present or you are to keep silent.  Speaking in tongues was a sign to the Jews as prophecy foretold, occurred once on the Day of Pentacost and Paul says that tongues will cease.  It was a sign to the Jews and a way (the only way back then) to share the Gospel.  Now, I truly believe if God wants to give someone this gift, He can and will.  But we don't serve an arbitrary God.  There would be need.  Speaking in an unknown prayer language, which is not upheld by the Word of God, it edifies only you and the gifts wee for edification of the Body of Christ.  I can speak in tongues if I want but it's not of God.  Now, this is weird, I started learning ASL (American Sign Language) and would make up signs until I learned the right way and more often than not, my made-up signs were almost identical to the real way to sign.  I find myself praying and using ASL.  Why couldn't that be a KNOWN language today?  If God can resurrect my body should I be eaten by a shark, I imagine He can do anything.  I also have a discerning spirit and I went to a UPC mega-church (NEVER AGAIN) and I can tell you know, the vast majority of tongues wasn't real.  It was confusing, scary and it took me 2 years to get my husband to go to another church.  He was raised Episcopalian and this threw him so out of whack that he thought all churches had come to that.  He is still not comfortable attending church.  There's more to it than that though so please pray for him.  He seems caught between two worlds.

So maybe some do have the gift of tongues and I've been told there's a difference in speaking in tongues and having the GIFT of tongues.  I also can't find any Biblical verses that even hint at a "secret prayer language" and as for me, I like knowing what I say to Jesus Christ.  BTW, that is NOT what quenching the Holy Spirit means.  Besides, how can you be taught a gift?

I listen to pastors who believe in this and as long as they don't push it on me as proof of anything, that's fine.  I did say a few words in tongues once and I knew what I said.  I just knew.  I knew I stumbled over my tongue.  Come to find out they were actually from the Hebrew language, not an unknown one.  I've prayed for the gift IF it's given and to date, I don't have it except ASL.  I made a covenant with God that when I made certain movements, it meant this.  Not many but we both know what I'm saying.

Some say it's demonic.  I have to admit that I do feel that from certain tongue speakers.  They are very cruel and mean.  They put me down and tell me they are so much more mature than I and at a higher Spiritual place.  Yet they can't tell me what the serpent on the stick was for, why it was made and what it meant.  They only know the Bible from the perspective of Acts and any verse that upholds their teaching.  I don't see the connection but I had fun learning Jonah, understanding the 4 horsemen and what they mean is awesome.  I love listening to Jesus Christ's words.  The Bible is my love and lifeline to Him.

If you do believe you speak in tongues, stop being cruel.  Don't tell others their Christian loved ones who've died will go to hell for not doing it.  Also, for everyone's safety, stop putting your hands on people in large or small groups without their permission.   I was abused and I don't like being touched by strangers.  Someone will get hurt one day.  I also noticed so much elder abuse in this church I've considered calling Adult Services to get them help.  You said you wouldn't give them a DVD so they could listen without misery because "the Holy Spirit wasn't there."  Are you KIDDING ME?  He abides in us so where I am, so is the Holy Spirit.  No, it's about money.  Not in church, can't tithe.

For fairness, here's someone to teach you how to have a secret prayer language.  You decide what is right and wrong, not by my opinion but what does the Word of God have to say about it?  HINt:  Read the books to the Church in Corinth.  God bless you all.

SID ROTH TEACHES YOU HOW TO LEARN THE GIFT OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES!  WOW!

God bless us all and please, LEARN TO DISCERN!