We are assured by those who have experienced this "glossalalia" that it is for every believer, but is that what the Bible teaches?
Shortly after being born again, I was told by a couple of my friends who are members of a Pentecostal church that I was not saved because I had not experienced the "baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues."
I have to tell you that as a new Christian who was ignorant of Scriptural teachings, I was very concerned. Was it true? Was I still lost and headed for hell because I had never "spoken in tongues?"
I have personally witnessed what tongues speakers call "speaking in tongues" in the meetings I've attended with Pentecostals and Charismatics. Not once have I observed them using "tongues" according to the directions given for their proper use in the Church by the apostle Paul. I wonder why? God gave His Church specific directions for the use of the gift of tongues in Church meetings but it appears the Penetcostals and Charismatics have yet to read, understand, and obey these parts of Scripture.
Pentecostals and Charismatics affirm that their "speaking in unknown tongues" has to be the work of the Holy Spirit because it is such a wonderful spiritual "experience" or "feeling." One Pentecostal preacher said that he had been given a "special revelation" regarding tongues. Even though his belief and use of tongues conflicted with the teachings of the Bible, he felt his "special revelation" gave him a special interpretation of Scripture that gave God's Word a different meaning than what it actually says.
Every non-chirstian cult lists experiences, feelings, and special revelations as proof that their teachings are the true teachings of God and that they are the "true Church" even though they teach and believe things that contradict the Bible.
If we let "special revelations, personal experiences, and personal feelings" be our guide to interpreting Scripture --- and if God did not close the canon of Scripture with the book of Revelation --- and if we can't trust the teachings of the Bible as written --- then God has left us without a way to know the way or the truth. We are forever adrift on the ocean of uncertainty.
Thank God and praise His holy name --- He gave us the Bible. We can search the Scriptures daily to see if what we are taught is true. Because of God's revelation (the Bible) we are not at the mercy of false teachers, preachers, and prophets --- blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
Personal experience, personal feelings, and "special, extra-biblical revelations" are subtle, dangerous, shifts from the objective (without personal bias) Word of God as our inerrant and infallible guide to our faith and practices, to the subjective (with personal bias), shifting sands of experience, feeling, and special revelation of fallible and finite men and women.
The Bible is the foundation and source of all Christian beliefs. It is the inerrant standard by which all beliefs and teachings are scrutinized and evaluated. It is the infallible guide for what we do in our Church meetings and in our daily lives. The Bible is objective because it is the Word of God from first to last, and, it is unchanging. It is a solid rock and foundation for our beliefs. Personal experiences, personal feelings, and special revelations are shifting sands that vary from person to person. What is your faith based on? The solid rock of God's word, or, the shifting sands of men's teachings?
Tongues speaker's use their personal experiences, feelings, and/or special revelations to interpret Scriptures that deal with the subject of tongues rather than let the Word of God be their infallible guide. This is interpreting the Bible backwards.
We are to study the Scriptures with more than a superficial reading. To understand them the way God intended them to be understood, we need to do a thorough exegesis which takes into consideration grammatical, historical, and cultural factors. Not only must we consider these three things, we must understand a verse by its context (what is written before and after a verse is vital to understanding its meaning), and by the analogy of faith (the whole teaching of the Bible, on any subject, must harmonize with our "interpretation" of a passage).
Instead of using our feelings or experiences as our guide to interpreting the Scriptures, Christians are to let God's Word be the standard by which we examine the validity of our beliefs and practices --- which includes all aspects of our worship, including speaking in tongues, getting slain in the spirit, holy laughing, barking like a dog, and growling like lions. These practices have been accepted by most of the people in the Pentecostal movement. Their belief in "extra biblical revelation" has opened the door to just about everything imaginable being done in the meetings of those who identify themselves as Pentecostals or Charismatics.
People who "speak in tongues" are considered to be Christians by most Pentecostals and Charismatics regardless of their doctrinal positions on God, Jesus, the Bible, creation, sin, the fall, salvation, Jesus bodily resurrection, etc., etc. The Pentecostals and Charismatics often feel they have a closer spiritual bond to tongues speaking groups that deny the Deity of Jesus, the Trinity, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ, than non-tongues speakers who believe and teach all of these vital Biblical doctrines.
We are warned time and time again to watch out for false teachers and prophets who will arise in great numbers in the last days before Christ's return, and who will perform "signs, miracles and wonders." Satan himself appears as an angel of light. He will produce counterfeit signs, miracles and wonders to deceive those who refuse to love the truth of God's word. We're warned in Scripture of a great apostasy in the last days. We're warned that in the last days people will gather around themselves a great number of teachers who will say what their itching ears want to hear.
Well, it is abundantly clear by the great number of false teachers inside and outside the Church that we are in the last days.
God will judge more harshly the preachers and teachers who led people astray from His Word. His justice will prevail for He warns us that many who "prophesied in His name, and cast out demons and performed miracles," would hear Him say to them on Judgment Day, "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, for I never knew you."
How about you? Are you preaching and teaching the Word of God? Are you telling others what it really says? Or are you merely repeating man-made false teachings?
Have you really searched the Scriptures to see if what you are teaching is true? Have you studied the Scriptures so that you are rightly dividing them, or, is the "light" in you "darkness?"
Most of what I've heard on radio from Pentecostals and Charismatics, and t.v., and the pulpits of Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations and groups is not Biblical. And the problem of false teaching becomes even worse because their listerners are not searching the Scriptures to see if what they've been taught is true, which is not surprising because the false teachers and preachers tell them not to use their minds. This is unbiblical but people uncritically accept it.
I urge you to search the Scriptures daily to see if what you're being taught is true. And please, don't just take my word for it, check it out for yourself!
