A CLARIFICATION/ REMINDER: When I write or speak about God’s Church I am not referring to the Catholic/Protestant Religious System known world-wide as “Christianity” with its hundreds of denominations, gods, saviors, doctrines, etc. whose official population is 2.4 billion. Those are the Satan-empowered, man-directed counterfeit cults designed to appeal to a wide range of theologies a list of whose beliefs and customs are found on the home page of this website.

God’s church is a singular, Law-keeping group comprised of a few thousand believers globally and remains virtually unknown amidst the world’s church system. As Jesus said, we are IN the world but not OF the world. We are the tiny “mustard seed” sized group as described by Jesus in Mark 4:30,31. Recall that Jesus spoke to, healed, delivered, fed, etc. “great multitudes” of people. Yet, in the end only 120 true believers stood by Him. Only a tiny percentage of His followers proved to be true disciples. The vast majority were disciples in name only. Such is the case today in which almost two and a half billion claim to love Him but only a few thousand actually prove their love by obeying Him. These are they whom Jesus described as the mustard plant that has grown into a tree in which birds nest (vs 32). We all know what birds do to trees. Her doctrines are like bird droppings.

My commission from God is to tell the church masses God’s Truth and to teach those who want to hear it and obey it. Now back to the subject–Speaking in unknown tongues.

Paul, being the ultra-learned apostle that he was, wrote and spoke in ways that are, as noted in a previous series, “hard to be understood.” Being led by the Holy Spirit, I will explain what he wrote on the subject in a language we can all understand. Instead of going verse-by-verse I will present my message in a general sense, using both the Holy Scriptures and my personal experiences–both good and bad–relative to the subject. I will not change Paul’s writing, but will try to make them more understandable.

Perhaps the largest church service ever to take place featured speaking in tongues as thousands of attendees from “every nation under the sun,” each knowing only his own language, flocked to where people who knew only one language were speaking in the languages of all of those men who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover-Pentecost season. What happened on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. was a phenomenon that has never been duplicated in terms of the size of the congregation and the unity of those in attendance. Recall that, following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the form of various languages, thousands were baptized, having come to believe in the One they had seen put to death. Before delving into the subject we will define our terms:

To “SPEAK IN TONGUES” means to speak in a language unknown to the speaker. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, as is the “INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES.” Neither the speaker nor the interpreter know the language they are speaking and interpreting into their known language.

To PROPHESY means to bring forth an inspired message in the form of encouragement, general information or a warning of things to come. A PROPHET is one who utters such words in the language that is known and understood by those who hear it.

As Paul says, it is more profitable for those in attendance to hear prophecy than to hear a message in tongues, UNLESS SOMEONE INTERPRETS THE MESSAGE, in which cast it equals the effect of a prophetic message in that the entire congregation benefits from both types of messages. If there is no one in attendance who can interpret, then the tongues speaker is to speak it to himself. I have done this on occasion during a church service. I often pray in tongues when I want to pour out my heart to God but feel inadequate to do so.

One of the problems with speaking in tongues is that so many congregations do not follow the rules that the Lord, through Paul, has provided. I have been in a number of congregations–none of them Biblically-defined as churches–in which numerous people were speaking in tongues at the same time. This is forbidden by God because no one is able to interpret what is being uttered by many people. If you will bear with me I will share such an incident. I, a white man, was visiting in a black church when everyone began speaking in tongues as a young woman came forward for prayer and fell to the floor in front of the alter. Several women knelt around her. It was a chaotic scene which I knew was not of God who is “not the Author of confusion” (First Corinthians 14:33). However, as a visitor, I was not going to interfere. Or so I thought.

As several ladies knelt around the young woman, all praying over her along with the congregation, God said to me: “Take charge of that situation.” Place yourself in my shoes: a while man in a totally black church being told “TAKE CHARGE” OF THE CHAOS THAT HAD TAKEN OVER THE MEETING. But when God says move, I move. As I was walking toward the mass of confusion He told me that the woman was a lesbian who liked white girls. Wondering what was going to happen, I did what God told me to do and brought the confusion to an end. This took place only because I was the only one being moved and empowered by the Holy Spirit. When things like that take place, I later ask, “Why me, Lord,” knowing that I am the least worthy for such a blessing. Scripture tells us that God chooses His servants before they are born.

The problem with the tongues issue is that people read what they want to read in the Holy Scriptures and ignore the rest. The “rest” is what I call God’s “fine print.” What people want to read are what I call God’s “headlines.” My ministry is to point out His “fine print” to “headline” hunters who do not want to hear them. It goes without saying that I am not popular within the church community, which is what Jesus said would be the case. He and His disciples were martyred for speaking God’s “fine print.” I feel that I am in good company. Read about the “Tongues Controversy” using the key word Tongues. Also, STUDY the 14th chapter of First Corinthians with an open heart, paying close attention to the “fine print.” Do not be like those who read only the headlines. As the Apostle Peter says, they are “unlearned and unstable men who twist God’s Words to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:16).

The key factors that I want you to embrace are that: 1) speaking in tongues is of the Lord. 2) In a group setting, tongues must be interpreted. 3) Only one person at a time should speak. 4) Tongues followed by interpretation is the same as prophesying in that the entire congregation is edified.

Relative to the tongues issue, this is not something you need to be concerned about. You need to seek the will of God and obey what He tells you in His written Word and through the words of those whom He has ordained to speak and write His Words. The tongues situation will take care of itself. L.J.

The Society-Church Connection/ My Brother’s Keeper/ Christian?/ Abraham’s Seed/ Would God Do That?/ The Seeker/ First Love/ Messages To The Churches–Rev. 3/ Strong Delusion/ The Power Of False Religion/ American Idolatry On Display/ Kingdom Now/ Changings Shoes/ Halloween/ Bad Things–Good People/ The End of the End/ Duality/ Joy Versus Pleasure/ Dead Men Walking/ The Debt/ The Lie/