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| With the invasion of the modern church by charismatic pastors and televangeists preaching false doctrines relating to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I thought it might be beneficial to the church to write a book addressing one of these doctrines. Speaking in Tongues. |
| The reason being is that the gift of tongues as found in the Bible in no way resembles what is being preached by the wolves in sheeps clothing today. And their doctrine is a very dangerous one indeed. |
| So I just released a new book entitled "What the Bible Says about Speaking in Tongues - The Holy Spirit vs. Deceiving Spirits." |
| Below is an excerpt from the book specifically dealing with some of the history behind unBiblical tongue speaking. |
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| Chapter 10 - History of Tongues & Their Misuse |
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| We have seen from our study that the Corinthian church was perverting the true use of Tongues. This was probably due in part with being influenced by their culture and growing up exposed to the Greek soothsayers and diviners that had a long history in Greece. |
| These diviners claimed that by cutting up various parts of a liver they could get some special revelation which they called oracles. And they commonly would fall into a trance and speak in ecstatic utterances which were not discernable. |
| The philosopher Plato, in one of his writings we call "The Dialogues of Plato," wrote the following; |
| "They are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of them." |
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| Another one of Plato's dialogue, this time to a man called Timaeus, mentions that those who practiced divination were speaking forth dark sayings that they could not understand. Plato writes; |
| "And herein is a proof that God has given the art of divination not to the wisdom, but to the foolishness of man. No man, when in his wits, attains prophetic truth and inspiration; but when he receives the inspired word, either his intelligence is enthralled in sleep, or he is demented by some distemper or possession. And how can he understand what he has said, whether in a dream or when he was awake, by the prophetic and inspired nature, or would determine by reason the meaning of the apparitions which he has seen, and what indications they afford to this man or that, of past, present or future good and evil, must first recover his wits. But, while he continues demented, he cannot judge the visions which he sees or the words which he utters; the ancient saying is very true, that ‘only a man who has his wits can act or judge about himself and his own affairs.’ And for this reason it is customary to appoint interpreters to be judges of the true inspiration. Some persons call them prophets; they are quite unaware that they are only the expositors of dark sayings and visions . . . " |
| So this is the type of tongue speaking that the Corinthians were familiar with in their Greek culture. Unfortunately, it appears they began to bring the practice of speaking in ecstatic utterances into their church. So Paul had to correct the Corinthians for their practices. |
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| The problem today is, if you hold the view that tongues are foreign languages, and like Paul you speak out against the unbiblical style of tongues being presented in the Charismatic churches of this generation, you will be attacked by them as being the same sort of people who were saying the apostles were drunk when they began speaking in tongues. And they will say that you aren't born again. |
| That's really pathetic, because when it comes right down to it, if they can't base their viewpoint from any reasonable reading of Scripture, that makes them just like any other cult. You can point out the proper Scriptural teaching on tongues to them, line by line verse by verse, but they stick their fingers in their ears and refuse to listen. |
| As we mentioned earlier in chapter 7 of this book on first Corinthians 13, sometime after the second century church the Biblical gift of tongues seems to have ceased. Although there were documented cases of false tongues being exposed throughout history that mirror some of the happenings in the tongue speaking churches of today. |
| One such case is recorded by the fourth century church historian Eusebius. He mentions a case of a man called Montanus, who was accused by the church of being a heretic because of his use of ecstatic tongues and gibberish. The sad part about this account was that even though many in the church realized these tongues were not of God, others in the church were lead astray by them. |
| Eusebius writes in his work, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapters 14-18: |
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| 14:1 "The enemy of God's Church, who is emphatically a hater of good and a lover of evil, and leaves untried no manner of craft against men, was again active in causing strange heresies to spring up against the Church. For some persons, like venomous reptiles, crawled over Asia and Phrygia, boasting that Montanus was the Paraclete (The Comforter. In other words the Holy Spirit) . . . 16:6 Their recent heresy which has separated them from the Church arose on the following account: There is said to be a certain village called Ardabau in that part of Mysia, which borders upon Phrygia. There first, they say, when Gratus was proconsul of Asia, a recent convert, Montanus by name, through his unquenchable desire for leadership, gave the adversary opportunity against him. And he became beside himself, and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the constant custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning. |
| 16:8 Some of those who heard his spurious utterances at that time were indignant, and they rebuked him as one that was possessed, and that was under the control of a demon, and was led by a deceitful spirit, and was distracting the multitude; and they forbade him to talk, remembering the distinction drawn by the Lord and his warning to guard watchfully against the coming of false prophets. (Matthew 7:15) But others imagining themselves possessed of the Holy Spirit and of a prophetic gift, were elated and not a little puffed up; and forgetting the distinction of the Lord, they challenged the mad and insidious and seducing spirit, and were cheated and deceived by him. In consequence of this, he could no longer be held in check, so as to keep silent. |
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| 16:9 Thus by artifice, or rather by such a system of wicked craft, the devil, devising destruction for the disobedient, and being unworthily honored by them, secretly excited and inflamed their understandings which had already become estranged from the true faith. And he also stirred up two women, and filled them with the false spirit, so that they talked wildly and unreasonably and strangely, like the person already mentioned. And the spirit pronounced them blessed as they rejoiced and gloried in him, and puffed them up by the magnitude of his promises. But sometimes he rebuked them openly in a wise and faithful manner, that he might seem to be a reprover. But those of the Phrygians that were deceived were few in number. And the arrogant spirit taught them to revile the entire universal Church under heaven, because the spirit of false prophecy received neither honor from it nor entrance into it. |
| 16:10 For the faithful in Asia met often in many places throughout Asia to consider this matter, and examined the novel utterances and pronounced them profane, and rejected the heresy, and thus these persons were expelled from the Church and debarred from communion. |
| 16:12 therefore, they called us slayers of the prophets because we did not receive their loquacious prophets, who, they say, are those that the Lord promised to send to the people. |
| 16:22 When those called to martyrdom from the Church for the truth of the faith have met with any of the so-called martyrs of the Phrygian heresy, they have separated from them, and died without any fellowship with them, because they did not wish to give their assent to the spirit of Montanus and the women. |
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| Eusebius then mentions a few other men who had begun proclaiming these false tongues as well. |
| 17:1 In this work Eusebius mentions a writer, Miltiades, stating that he also wrote a certain book against the above-mentioned heresy. After quoting some of their words, he adds: "Having found these things in a certain work of theirs in opposition to the work of the brother Alcibiades, in which he shows that a prophet ought not to speak in ecstasy, I made an abridgment. A little further on in the same work he gives a list of those who prophesied under the new covenant, among whom he enumerates a certain Ammia and Quadratus, saying: But the false prophet falls into an ecstasy, in which he is without shame or fear. Beginning with purposed ignorance, he passes on, as has been stated, to involuntary madness of soul. |
| Eusebius clearly states that this was not normal behavior in following the way tongues were practiced as being handed down by the early church. In other words, this was a perversion of the gift of tongues. These tongues were gibberish, not foreign languages. |
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| Tongues and the Prosperity Gospel. |
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| Eusebius then continues a further portrait of the tongue speaking heretic Montanus as being in it for the money. |
| 18:1 As the so-called Phrygian heresy was still flourishing in Phrygia in his time, Apollonius also, an ecclesiastical writer, undertook its refutation, and wrote a special work against it, correcting in detail the false prophecies current among them and reproving the life of the founders of the heresy. But hear his own words respecting Montanus: |
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| "His actions and his teaching show who this new teacher is. This is he who taught the dissolution of marriage; who made laws for fasting; who named Pepuza and Tymion, small towns in Phrygia, Jerusalem, wishing to gather people to them from all directions; who appointed collectors of money; who contrived the receiving of gifts under the name of offerings; who provided salaries for those who preached his doctrine, that its teaching might prevail through gluttony . . . Afterwards he says: Does not all Scripture seem to you to forbid a prophet to receive gifts and money? When therefore I see the prophetess receiving gold and silver and costly garments, how can I avoid reproving her? . . . So also Themiso, who was clothed with plausible covetousness, could not endure the sign of confession, but threw aside bonds for an abundance of possessions . . . For we will show that those whom they call prophets and martyrs gather their gain not only from rich men, but also from the poor, and orphans, and widows." . . . But it is necessary that all the fruits of a prophet should be examined. Tell me, does a prophet dye his hair? Does a prophet stain his eyelids? Does a prophet delight in adornment? Does a prophet play with tables and dice? Does a prophet lend on usury?" |
| After reading this passage from Eusebius, notice how many similarities between the false tongue speaking churches of that day and that of the TBN promoting tongue speaking churches of today. |
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| History of Tongues 1800's |
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| Getting closer to our modern time period, the next big heretical cult that used tongues arrived on the scene during the 1800's with the rise of the Mormonism. Below are a few quotes from Emma Hale Smith, the wife of the Mormon cult leader Joseph Smith, who had this to say about the tongues that were occurring in their worship. |
| “When Joseph asked Brigham Young to pray, Brigham spoke in tongues, using strange sounds and unfamiliar words. The others looked at Joseph in some perplexity, for this type of spiritual phenomenon was not common to them. It was Joseph’s first experience with the puzzling speech and he called it ‘pure Adamic’ and stated that it was ‘of God.’ |
| “Speaking in tongues spread through the Pennsylvania branches of the church first, then it occurred in Mendon, New York. Brigham Young brought it to Kirtland. The practice became a part of the Saints’ worship, particularly among women, until well into the next century.” |
| Notice that they made strange sounds, like the ecstatic utterance practiced in the Charismatic churches of today. And to try and legitimatize the speaking in this strange speech, Joseph Smith came up with the explanation that this was the original language of Adam. |
| The next quote shows who was really behind these tongues. |
| “Frederick G. Williams rose and stated that an angel entered through the window and took a place between himself and Father Smith and remained there during the meeting. The congregation shouted, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb,’ three times, sealing it each time with ‘Amen! Amen! Amen!’ Brigham Young spoke in tongues; David W. Patten interpreted, and at four o’clock in the afternoon the dedication was over.” |
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| Now these statements are quite troubling. First of all that an angel (spirit being) had entered the room and then Brigham Young began speaking in tongues. We know this couldn't have been a holy angel or the Holy Spirit, since neither would be sent by God to endorse a religion that so perverts the identity of Jesus Christ. But a fallen angel would indeed endorse a religion that teaches that Jesus was the brother of Satan. So this was a deceiving spirit that entered the room, and when it did, they spoke in tongues. The question is, Is this the reason there are so many tongue speakers amongst the Charismatic churches of today? |
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| History of Tongues 1900's |
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| In the early twentieth century, an article appeared in the "Los Angeles Daily Times" on Wednesday morning April 18, 1906. The newspaper's headline read: "Weird Babel of Tongues - New Sect of Fanatics Is Breaking Loose, Wild Scene on Azuza Street Last night, Gurgle of Wordless talk by a Sister." |
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| The article continues: "Breathing strange utterances and mouthing a creed which it would seem no sane mortal could understand, the newest religious sect has started in Los Angeles. Meetings are held in a tumble-down shack on Azuza street near San Pedro Street, and the devotees of the strange doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories and work themselves into a state of mad excitement in their peculiar zeal. |
| Colored people and a sprinkling of whites compose the congregation, and night is made hideous by the howlings of the worshipers, who spend hours swaying back and forth in a nerve-racking attitude of prayer and supplication. They claim to have "the gift of tongues," and to be able to comprehend the babel. |
| Such a startling claim has never yet been made by any company of fanatics, even in Los Angeles, the home of almost numberless creeds. Sacred tenants, reverently mentioned by an orthodox believer, are dealt with in a familiar, if not irreverent manner by the latest of the religionists. |
| An old colored exhorter, blind in one eye, is the major demo of the company. With his stony optic eye fixed on some luckless unbeliever, the old man shouts his defiance and challenges an answer. Anathemas (cursings) are heaped upon him who shall dare gainsay the utterances of the preacher. |
| Clasped in his big fist the colored brother holds a miniature Bible from which he reads at intervals one or two words, never more. After an hour spent on exhortation, the brethren present are invited to join in "a meeting of prayer, song and testimony." Then it is that pandemonium breaks loose and the bounds of reason are passed by those who are "filled with the spirit," whatever that may be. |
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| "You-oo-oo gou-loo-loo, come under the bloo-oo-oo boo-loo," shouts an old colored "Mammy," in a frenzy of religious zeal. Swinging her arms wildly about her, she continues with the strangest barrage ever uttered. Few of her words are intelligible, and for the most part her testimony contains the most outrageous jumble of syllables, which are listened to in awe by the company. |
| One of the wildest of the meetings was held last night, and the highest pitch of excitement was reached by the gathering, which continued in "worship" until nearly midnight. The old exhorter urged the "sisters" to let the "tongues come forth" and the women gave themselves over to a riot of religious fervor. As a result a buxom dame was overcome with excitement and almost fainted. |
| Undismayed by the fearful attitude of the colored worshiper, another black woman jumped to the floor and began a wild gesticulation, which ended in a gurgle of wordless prayers which was nothing less then shocking. |
| "She's is speaking in unknown tongues," announced the leader, in an awed whisper; "keep on sister." The sister continued until it was necessary to assist her to a seat because of her bodily fatigue. |
| Among the believer's is a man who claims to be a Jewish Rabbi. He says his name is Gold, and claims to have held positions on some of the largest synagogues in the United States. He told the mostly last night crowd that he is well known to the Jewish people of Los Angelos and San Francisco, and referred to prominent local citizens by name. Gold claims to have been miraculously healed and is a convert of the new sect. |
| Another speaker had a vision in which he saw the people of Los Angeles flocking in a mighty stream to perdition. He prophesied awful destruction to this city unless its citizens are brought to a belief in the tenants of the new faith. |
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| Here is a list of a few observations of this event that eventually would lead to the Pentecostal movement. |
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| 1) They were not speaking in a foreign language as the Bible indicates they should be. But in gibberish "Blah Blah." Oh, I apologize, my bad. They were speaking in "Bloo Loo." |
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| 2) In the account the women are commanded to bring forth tongues, yet the Bible's gift comes about when God sovereignly chooses without any command given by any of the apostles. |
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| 3) The preacher would only read one or two words from the Bible. Well, at least he had a Bible, many of the Charismatic preachers I see today aren't even carrying one, they just wing it off the top of their heads while preaching. |
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| 4) The preacher wouldn't tolerate anyone who questioned his utterances. That's very typical of Pentecostal type preachers, or any cult leader for that matter. Even if their doctrine is pathetic, if you question tongues they will tell the others you are blaspheming the Holy Ghost. |
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| 5) How come only the women are speaking in tongues. I thought 1 Timothy 2:11-12 states; "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, she is to be silent in the congregation." |
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| 6) A false prophetic message concerning the destruction of Los Angeles was given. As to the best of my knowledge, Los Angeles is still around, even though the majority of citizens of that city haven't turned to the new sect of the Pentecostal movement. I do find it interesting though that the TBN network is just around 30 miles away from where the original Pentecostal movement was birthed. |
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| What the Lord says about the Lying Tongue Preachers |
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| "Behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their tongues and say, 'He says.' |
| "Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," says the LORD, "and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says the LORD. Jeremiah 23:31-32 (NKJV) |
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| Download the full book as a printable pdf, epub or mobi format for your smart phone, tablet or computer |
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| Sources: |
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| CHAPTER #10: HISTORY OF TONGUES & THEIR MISUSE |
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| King and Newell, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, p. 46 & p. 56 Quotes from Emma Smith regarding tongues being spoken by Brigham Young and endorsed by Joseph Smith. |
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| Los Angeles Daily Times Headline from Wednesday Morning April 18, 1906 reads - Weird Babel of Tongues - New Sect of Fanatics Is Breaking Loose, Wild Scene on Azuza Street Last night, Gurgle of Wordless talk by a Sister. |
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| Plato, Dialogues, vol. 3 - Republic, Timaeus, Critias [1892], 387 B.C. - TIMAEUS |
| Edition used: The Dialogues of Plato translated into English with Analysis and Introductions by B. Jowett, M.A. in Five Volumes. 3rd edition revised and corrected (Oxford University Press, 1892). Author: Plato, Translator: Benjamin Jowett, Part of: The Dialogues of Plato, in 5 vols (Jowett ed.) |
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| Apology - Plato, Dialogues, vol. 2 - Meno, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Gorgias, Appendix I - Lesser, Hippias, Alcibiades I, Menexenus, Appendix II - Alcibiades II, Eryxias [1892], Edition used: The Dialogues of Plato translated into English with Analysis and Introductions by B. Jowett, M.A. in Five Volumes. 3rd edition revised and corrected (Oxford University Press, 1892). Author: Plato, Translator: Benjamin Jowett, Part of: The Dialogues of Plato, in 5 vols (Jowett ed.) |
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