New Kidonthblogg asked:
- Excellent article and discusson. For former pentecostals/charismatics, what was it like when you spoke in tongues? Did you fake it and can you or do you do it now? (Is it an authentic gift in any way?)How did it benefit you or did it benefit you? Nightline found no authentic healing in the Lakeland Revival. Do you know of any authentic healing?
I'm glad you asked, Newkidonthblogg. Do I believe that Charismatics and Pentecostals are "faking" it? That question could apply to just about everything they do and believe, including signs, wonders and miracles. That depends on how you define "faking" it. The short answer is I do not believe they are faking it. They are sincerely doing something but they are sincerely wrong.
Now, the obvious assumption is that this is something that is totally supernatural. But is it? No. And why do I say that? It is for the simple reason that Charismatics and Pentecostals have a "synergistic" theology of the gifts, miracles, tongues, prophesy, etc. In other words, the emphasis is not on God coming upon a person and literally taking control so that you're out of control of what is going on. No, it is a "cooperation" with the Spirit of God in their view. In other words, if you just "believe" it then "act" then the result is "supernatural" in their theology.
So for example, if you are believing God for a healing, you just claim it and then pray and then ACT as if you DID get the miracle. They call this "expecting" God to move. So it is a way of setting up people to be submissive to whatever the evangelist says. So to speak in tongues you simply "believe" you are going to speak in tongues and then you act on it by faith. It is similar to a child playing and pretending to speak in a foreign language. We've all done that at times as young children.
Pentecostals believe there are two basic "biblical" forms of tongues: 1. Xenolalia (speaking in a known human language that you personally don't know) 2. Glossolalia (speaking in unknown tongues of angels which are not a known human language).
In Acts 2 what happened was xenolalia since the miracle was that the apostles spoke in human languages they did not know themselves but those native speakers who did understand heard them praising God in their own language.
In 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 1 Corinthians 13:1 the "prayer language" is obviously an unknown language since what Paul refers to is known only to angels and is a "mystery" spoken to God. 1 Corinthians 14 is meant to correct the abuse of such super-spirituality rather than to endorse it as most Pentecostal and Charismatic scholars spin it.
An ecstatic experience is then closely akin to hypnotism. The authority figure plants a suggestion in front of a crowd. Like in the emperor's new clothes, no one is willing to go against the emperor's suggestion that he is wearing clothes when he is really naked. It's the same principle at work. The evangelist claims a miracle and it is so whether or not it is so or not. This principle applies to healings, miracles, tongues, interpretations of tongues, et. al.
In other words, all of these manifestations are simply people by "faith" trying to reproduce the miracles in the Bible. Unfortunately, most are not miracles at all but simply cheap imitations. Psychologically manipulating people into agreeing with a false claim does not make the miracle claim authentic or genuine. That can only be determined by documented results, which are few and far between.
Did I ever speak in tongues by faith? Yes I did. And I did as I was taught to do by others. And was it real languages? No. It was gibberish. Glossolalia and not xenolalia. If Charismatics and Pentecostals are honest they will admit that they are simply speaking gibberish by faith--nothing more and nothing less. In other words, no one wants to admit they have been duped by double-talk. It would be anathema for anyone to admit they doubt or to go against the authority figure in the pulpit. So to question the miracles or the tongues or even the prosperity preaching is to become an outcast and shunned by the "believers" in the Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. Peer pressure is a big factor here. I think it is similar to brainwashing. I also compare it to spiritual abuse or even to tactics used by cults. This is why the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is so successful. It is militant and it uses extreme forms of mental coercion and enforced submission to the ruling authorities. It's very similar to what you see in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.
Unfortunately, Pentecostals base their doctrine of the initial physical evidence of tongues as the sign of being baptized by the Holy Spirit on the day of pentecost in Acts 2. But that is not glossalalia but xenolalia. So just based on that, the sign of tongues is not reproducing Acts 2:1-11 at all! They are by and large speaking in gibberish, not xenolalia or foreign human languages.
There have been stories of folks having received this gift of xenolalia but there are no documented and verifiable incidents. Mostly what you will get is anecdotal stories.
Can I speak in gibberish now? Of course. Do I do it? No. I do not believe that tongues speaking today is authentic or genuine. It is mainly something done by "faith" by those duped into placing the emphasis in the wrong place.
I hope this helps. I think I will post this on the main blog.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Charlie
Now, the obvious assumption is that this is something that is totally supernatural. But is it? No. And why do I say that? It is for the simple reason that Charismatics and Pentecostals have a "synergistic" theology of the gifts, miracles, tongues, prophesy, etc. In other words, the emphasis is not on God coming upon a person and literally taking control so that you're out of control of what is going on. No, it is a "cooperation" with the Spirit of God in their view. In other words, if you just "believe" it then "act" then the result is "supernatural" in their theology.
So for example, if you are believing God for a healing, you just claim it and then pray and then ACT as if you DID get the miracle. They call this "expecting" God to move. So it is a way of setting up people to be submissive to whatever the evangelist says. So to speak in tongues you simply "believe" you are going to speak in tongues and then you act on it by faith. It is similar to a child playing and pretending to speak in a foreign language. We've all done that at times as young children.
Pentecostals believe there are two basic "biblical" forms of tongues: 1. Xenolalia (speaking in a known human language that you personally don't know) 2. Glossolalia (speaking in unknown tongues of angels which are not a known human language).
In Acts 2 what happened was xenolalia since the miracle was that the apostles spoke in human languages they did not know themselves but those native speakers who did understand heard them praising God in their own language.
In 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 1 Corinthians 13:1 the "prayer language" is obviously an unknown language since what Paul refers to is known only to angels and is a "mystery" spoken to God. 1 Corinthians 14 is meant to correct the abuse of such super-spirituality rather than to endorse it as most Pentecostal and Charismatic scholars spin it.
An ecstatic experience is then closely akin to hypnotism. The authority figure plants a suggestion in front of a crowd. Like in the emperor's new clothes, no one is willing to go against the emperor's suggestion that he is wearing clothes when he is really naked. It's the same principle at work. The evangelist claims a miracle and it is so whether or not it is so or not. This principle applies to healings, miracles, tongues, interpretations of tongues, et. al.
In other words, all of these manifestations are simply people by "faith" trying to reproduce the miracles in the Bible. Unfortunately, most are not miracles at all but simply cheap imitations. Psychologically manipulating people into agreeing with a false claim does not make the miracle claim authentic or genuine. That can only be determined by documented results, which are few and far between.
Did I ever speak in tongues by faith? Yes I did. And I did as I was taught to do by others. And was it real languages? No. It was gibberish. Glossolalia and not xenolalia. If Charismatics and Pentecostals are honest they will admit that they are simply speaking gibberish by faith--nothing more and nothing less. In other words, no one wants to admit they have been duped by double-talk. It would be anathema for anyone to admit they doubt or to go against the authority figure in the pulpit. So to question the miracles or the tongues or even the prosperity preaching is to become an outcast and shunned by the "believers" in the Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. Peer pressure is a big factor here. I think it is similar to brainwashing. I also compare it to spiritual abuse or even to tactics used by cults. This is why the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is so successful. It is militant and it uses extreme forms of mental coercion and enforced submission to the ruling authorities. It's very similar to what you see in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.
Unfortunately, Pentecostals base their doctrine of the initial physical evidence of tongues as the sign of being baptized by the Holy Spirit on the day of pentecost in Acts 2. But that is not glossalalia but xenolalia. So just based on that, the sign of tongues is not reproducing Acts 2:1-11 at all! They are by and large speaking in gibberish, not xenolalia or foreign human languages.
There have been stories of folks having received this gift of xenolalia but there are no documented and verifiable incidents. Mostly what you will get is anecdotal stories.
Can I speak in gibberish now? Of course. Do I do it? No. I do not believe that tongues speaking today is authentic or genuine. It is mainly something done by "faith" by those duped into placing the emphasis in the wrong place.
I hope this helps. I think I will post this on the main blog.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Charlie
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.
Thanks for this thoughtful and insightful response.
ReplyDeleteI still have Pentecostal friends. However, they are not open to discuss any of this since they would be renouncing their faith to even consider the idea that they might have been manipulated.
ReplyDeleteI have to tiptoe when I'm around them so as to avoid arguing. I can only pray that God will open their eyes. Some of them are even caught up in the Benny Hinn, Fred Price and Kenneth Copeland heresies.
In Christ,
Charlie
I forgot to say that in my experience Pentecostals get no more results in healing than any other Christian who prays. Someone who joins the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement will soon discover that everyone else is "claiming" to receive miracles and healings. But as you dig deeper and ask questions you soon learn that they are not getting any better results than you are.
ReplyDeleteIt's a case of the emperor's new clothes, as I said.
In Christ,
Charlie
Charlie,
ReplyDeleteI like reading this post as it seems to have helped me to understand the charismatic movement a little better. I am currently attending southeastern university and I wanted an easier answer to give all those pentecostals since some seem to be questioning why I am not a continuationist.
Matt U
Umve,
ReplyDeleteThey love to quote 1 Corinthians 13:
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:8-10 ESV)
In their view the "perfect" is the return of Christ. So the gifts of the Spirit continue until Christ returns. But that is a very questionable interpretation of 1 Cor. 13.
And even if that interpretation could be proved--and it cannot--it would not indicate that what Pentecostals/Charismatics practice today is really the same thing that happened in the New Testament or apostolic period.
Sincerely in Christ,
Charlie