Before everyone starts suggesting, why don't we all go in depth into the Bible?
A. The Dominance of Love
1. DISCUSSED
The Bible teaches that love is the very essence of God because it says that "God is love" (1 Jn. 4:8b). The Bible also teaches that the highest expression of love is the Lord Jesus Christ, who "having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end [lit. `unto perfection']" (Jn. 13:1b). Jesus was the perfect example of one who loves. The kind of love that the Bible talks about is a love that "passeth knowledge" (Eph. 3:19). Only by the Holy Spirit can we comprehend its "breadth, and length, and depth, and height" (Eph. 3:1
. This same love of God "is shed abroad in our hearts" (Rom. 5:5).
Love, then, is very dominant in Scripture. It is the nature of God expressed in Christ, and beyond human understanding. Yet, it is poured through believers. What a tremendous truth that is!
2. DEFINED
Love is not a feeling or an emotion. Love is a spirit of self- sacrifice. It is a willingness to do what is needed by somebody else--even if it means sacrificing something we need or possess.
3. DISPLAYED
Love is to be such a dominating characteristic in the life of a Christian--such a way of life--that a Christian should be able to be recognized by virtue of his love. In John 13:35, that's essentially what Jesus said: "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." This is reiterated in 1 John. For example: "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light..." (2:9-10a). In other words, Christians are people who love their brothers. In 1 John 3:16 it says, "By this perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." And in 1 John 3:18 John says, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth."
Our lives, then, are to be characterized by love. It is vital to every believer.
B. The Departure from Love
First Corinthians 13 is an overwhelming chapter discussing the reality of love. I wish I could just teach this chapter about love straight through from beginning to end, and do nothing but celebrate the greatness of love. You say, "Why don't you do that?" Well, because I get stuck at the word "tongues" (Gk. glossa) in verse 8. And the reason I get stuck at that point is the fact that this is an issue today. So, I have to talk about it. If I had lived a hundred years ago, I would have been able to preach straight through the thirteenth chapter without a hitch. In my discussion of verse 8, I would have simply said, "The word `tongues' refers to a spiritual gift that was present in the Apostolic Age but is no longer around. So, let's just go on." I can't say that today, however, because there's something going on that we have to talk about. It would be nice if we could just talk about love and leave it at that. But I believe we have to depart from the main subject of the chapter to deal with the issue of speaking in tongues before we can continue our discussion of love.
C. The Demonstration of Love
The world doesn't understand love, so it's important that we live out God's love in our relationships with them. But it is also important that they see the love we have for one another. This has many applications, one of which is the attitude that we have when we discuss an issue like speaking in tongues. We must maintain a spirit of love.
When the world says, "I love you," what they are saying is, "I love myself, and what I want is you." The world's love is a selfish love. Alan Redpath tells a story about a girl who was totally despondent. She called up her pastor and said, "Oh, what am I going to do? There's a man who loves me so much that he says he'll shoot himself if I don't marry him." The pastor replied, "Don't do anything. Let him shoot himself! Such a threat is not love, it's pure selfishness." That's right, isn't it? That man wasn't saying, "I love you," he was saying, "I love myself; therefore, I need you."
The world doesn't understand love, so we have to demonstrate it to them. And it's not as simple as just loving the world; we must also show the world that we love each other even when we disagree. Christians must love one another! We must realize that those who are involved in the Charismatic movement, for the most part, are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We must also keep the perspective that love is what's eternal--gifts are going to pass away. All of that, however, doesn't mean that we are to avoid the issue of speaking in tongues. We have to do what Paul says in Ephesians 4:15 by "speaking the truth in love." And that's exactly what I intend to do!
Review
I. THE PROMINENCE OF LOVE (vv. 1-3)
II. THE PERFECTIONS OF LOVE (vv. 4-7)
III. THE PERMANENCE OF LOVE (vv. 8-12)
A. Gifts Are Temporary--Love Is Eternal (v. 8; see pp. xx-xx)
"Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away [lit. `be rendered inoperative']; whether there be tongues, they shall cease [lit. `stop by themselves']; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away [lit. `be rendered inoperative']."
In verse 8 the verb katargeo is used to describe what happens to both prophecy and knowledge. Used in its passive form, it means that knowledge and prophecy will be rendered inoperative. In other words, something is going to act upon those two gifts to cause them to cease. Now, the verb used to describe what is going to happen to the gift of tongues is a totally different verb-- pauo--which means "to stop." And not only is it a different verb, it's in a different voice--the middle voice. The middle voice in the Greek is reflexive, indicating that the subject is acting upon itself. It also indicates intense action on the part of the subject. In other words, tongues will stop by themselves. According to 1 Corinthians 13:9-10, knowledge and prophecy are said to be stopped by "that which is perfect." Notice that tongues are not mentioned in those verses. Why not? Because nothing stops tongues--they stop by themselves before "that which is perfect is come."
In our last lesson I departed from the outline of 1 Corinthians 13 to take a closer look at the gift of tongues. Let's continue that discussion:
AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE MODERN TONGUES MOVEMENT
(continued)
I. AN EVALUATION OF THE CESSATION OF TONGUES
A. The Reasons Why Tongues Ceased in the Apostolic Age (see pp. xx- xx)
In our last lesson we discussed the fact that the legitimate gift of tongues has indeed ceased. I gave you six reasons why this is true; however, these six reasons can be summarized into two major points: 1. The purpose for the gift of tongues came to an end; and 2. History records that the gift of tongues ceased.
B. The Responses of Those Who Say Tongues Are for Today
It is interesting to see how our Charismatic brothers and sisters respond to the evidence that the gift of tongues has ceased. They usually respond in one of two ways. Some of them claim that...
1. TONGUES NEVER CEASED
There are some Charismatics who point to people like Montanus, Mother Ann Lee, and some of the others who spoke in tongues since the first century (see pp. xx-xx), and claim that these people were their forerunners. In doing that, however, they're putting themselves in a heretical tradition and saying, "Our movement has been a part of the heresy of the church for years." I'm not sure that's what they want to say.
The only other alternative for the Charismatics, which is what most of them believe, is to admit that tongues ceased but then...
2. TONGUES STARTED UP AGAIN
Most Charismatics believe that tongues did cease in the first century, but that they are starting up again. Why? Well, they say that because we are now in the last days, God is giving us the last-day outpouring of His Spirit. That's the most reasonable view that they will present. Unfortunately, that's the same view that the heretic Montanus held during the middle of the second century. When he was asked why the gift of tongues suddenly started up with him after having ceased many years before, he said, "It's been restored now because these are the last days. The Kingdom of God will be established at any moment with its headquarters in my hometown." Well, in a similar way, we're asking the Charismatics where the gift of tongues has been for the last nineteen hundred years and their reply is, "It's been restored because we are in the last days."
Now, if you ask the Charismatics what scripture they use to back up this last-day phenomenon of speaking in tongues, they will invariably go to Joel 2:28-29. Let's look at it.
II. AN EXAMINATION OF THE CHARISMATIC MISINTERPRETATION OF JOEL 2:28-29
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and, also, upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit."
A. The Context
The Charismatics say that we are now experiencing the last-day outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Now there are several problems with that. First of all, this passage must be looked at in its prophetic context. According to verse 31, the context is "the great and the terrible day of the LORD." In other words, the general context is the Second Coming of Christ. Joel 2, then, is dealing with an end-time prophecy. Let's look at more of the specifics of this chapter:
1. THE SETTING UP OF THE KINGDOM (v. 20)
In verse 20 the Lord says, "But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate...." In what period of time is Israel confronted by a northern army? Well, during the Great Tribulation, Israel will be under the siege of a great northern power (Dan. 11:40), but this northern army will be defeated when Christ comes in the great victory of Armageddon. Now, what happens immediately after Armageddon? Christ judges the nations and sets up His Kingdom. So the northern army is defeated in verse 20; then verse 21 introduces the Kingdom.
2. THE SPECIFIC ELEMENTS OF THE KINGDOM (vv. 21-27)
The land of Israel will be under a terrible siege which will result in unbelievable bloodshed. In fact, Revelation 14:20 says that the blood from the Battle of Armageddon will be as deep as a horse's bridle for a length of two hundred miles. Beginning in Joel 2:21, the Kingdom is introduced: "Fear not, O land. Be glad and rejoice; for the LORD will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength." In other words, "You may not have anything to eat for a little while, but something dramatic is going to happen--the pastures of the wilderness are going to spring, and there's going to be a proliferation of crops and growth" (cf. Isa. 30:23-24; 35:1- 2,6-7). Marvelous things are going to happen in the Kingdom when the Lord puts the land back together.
Continuing on in verse 23: "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD, your God; for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month." Now people make a big deal out of the significance of "the former rain and the latter rain," but it simply refers to the autumn rains and the spring rains which secured the crops in the land of Israel. In other words, there is going to be so much rain when the Kingdom begins that everything is going to experience incredible growth. God's going to dump a normal season of rain all in the first month of the Kingdom to make everything grow--so much so that "the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer worm, My great army which I sent among you" (vv. 24-25). In other words, all the crops that were lost during the Tribulation will be proliferating in the Restoration.
Verses 26-27 then say, "And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD, your God, who hath dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD, your God, and none else; and My people shall never be ashamed." When will the Lord be in the midst of Israel? When Christ sits on His throne in the city of David and reigns during the millennial Kingdom.
You see, the context of Joel 2 is the great millennial Kingdom, when the Jews are in their land, when the crops begin to grow, when the desert blossoms like a rose, when it rains in the first month as it would rain in a whole year of rain, when everything grows without the threat of pestilence or plague, and when everybody worships and praises God. That has never happened in the history of Israel, has it? No! It's referring to the Kingdom.
3. THE SPIRIT'S WORK IN THE KINGDOM (vv. 28-29)
Now look at verses 28-29: "And it shall come to pass afterward [after the Kingdom has begun], that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and, also, upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit."
4. THE SIGNS PRECEDING THE KINGDOM (vv. 30-31)
To further clarify when "those days" of verses 28-29 occur, verses 30-31 tell us, "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." In other words, all of these signs will follow the great judgment, and then the Kingdom will be set up.
You don't have to be a Hebrew scholar to see what Joel 2:28-29 is talking about. All you need to know is whether or not the word "afterward" in verse 28 means "afterward." Well, it does! So the Spirit is poured out after the army of the north has been defeated, after the day of the Lord with all the signs and wonders has occurred, and after the Kingdom has been set up. After all of that has happened, then God will pour out His Spirit.
B. The Comparative Passages
1. EZEKIEL 36:24-27
Referring to what will happen in the Kingdom, Ezekiel quotes God as saying, "For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep Mine ordinances, and do them."
Can "the former rain and the latter rain" of Joel 2:23 be taken metaphorically?
There is absolutely no basis for believing that Joel 2 has anything to do with the present scene. Some people say that "the former rain" refers to Pentecost and the speaking in tongues that occurred at that time, and that "the latter rain" refers to the speaking in tongues that is occurring now. Well, first of all, the rain in Joel 2:23 is nothing more than plain water. It certainly isn't speaking in tongues.
Now, if there is a metaphor in that verse at all, the metaphor is this: the former rain could be referring to David's kingdom and the latter rain is the Messiah's Kingdom. That would be the only possible picture that Joel could be making. In other words, "David's kingdom was nice, but it had its problems. The Messiah's Kingdom, however, is going to be far superior." There could be a possible metaphor there, but it certainly has nothing to do with Pentecost and what occurred in 1901. The context of the passage is clearly in the millennial Kingdom.
Can the current Charismatic movement be supported biblically?
There is nothing in Scripture to support the current Charismatic movement. Nothing in the Bible substantiates the notion that God would do now what He did in the Apostolic Age in reference to the gift of languages. People who want to claim that this is the age of the outpouring of the Spirit are wrong. This is not the age of the outpouring of the Spirit. The only thing the Bible says about that particular time is in reference to Israel; and God's Spirit hasn't been outpoured on Israel yet. Right now, there's only a remnant. The outpouring of the Spirit referred to in Joel 2:28-29 will not occur until the Tribulation is over, until the Second Coming is over, and until Jesus sets up His Kingdom and reigns in Jerusalem. And when the Spirit is poured out, He will be poured out on all flesh.
Furthermore, did you know that Joel 2:28-29 doesn't say anything about anybody speaking in tongues? It does talk about prophecy, dreams, and visions--but it does not talk about tongues. Why? Because when tongues ceased, they ceased permanently! That's the meaning of the Greek word for "cease" (pauo) in 1 Corinthians 13:8. The gift of tongues has ceased--never to return.
2. ACTS 2:16-21
People always ask, "If Joel 2 isn't referring to the gift of tongues, why does Peter quote it on the Day of Pentecost?" There is much confusion on this point, so let's look at it:
a. The Announcement
In Acts 2, Peter stands up after the occasion of Pentecost and the speaking in tongues, and says, "But this is that which was spoken through the prophet, Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy..." (vv. 16-17a). "You see," say the Charismatics, "it says right there that Peter identified what happened at Pentecost as the outpouring of the Spirit discussed in Joel." Well, look at verses 19-20. Did the following events occur on the Day of Pentecost? "And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come." Did all of that happen? Of course not! It's future. Peter's quoting Joel, who is talking about the coming of the Kingdom.
b. The Application
You say, "Why in the world does Peter quote something about the Kingdom on the Day of Pentecost?" I believe that Peter was simply telling the people that the power they had just seen displayed was a preliminary glimpse of the kind of power that the Spirit would release over all flesh in the Kingdom. What the crowd in Jerusalem saw happen to a handful of 120 people, was a sign to them of what God's Spirit would someday do on a worldwide basis. In other words, it was a glimpse of the Kingdom. The writer of Hebrews alludes to this when he refers to the tasting of "the powers of the age to come" (Heb. 6:5). The Jews who were present at Pentecost got a little taste of the kind of power that will be released in the Kingdom when Christ comes during the great and terrible day of the Lord.
One of the great biblical scholars of the nineteenth century was George N.H. Peters. He wrote this: "The Baptism of Pentecost is a pledge of fulfillment in the future, evidencing what the Holy Ghost will yet perform in the coming age" (The Theocratic Kingdom [Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1972], p. 66). German theologian Helmut Thielicke holds that same view. He considers the miracles of the first century as "the lightning of the Kingdom of God on the horizon" (Man in God's World [New York: Harper and Row, 1963], p. 112). He's right. Those first-century miracles were the lightning flashes which were to draw attention beyond the horizon to the coming millennial Kingdom. That's exactly what happened at Pentecost. It was not the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. That is yet to be fulfilled in the Kingdom.
Summarizing what we've just seen, Joel 2:28-29 can't be used as a basis for saying that the gift of tongues has started up again for the following reasons: Joel did not say that tongues would accompany the outpouring of the Spirit; and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost was not the outpouring that Joel prophesied about. Joel's prophecy was in reference to the millennial Kingdom. What happened at Pentecost was simply a glimpse of the power that would occur in the Kingdom.
The whole point of Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 13:8 is that tongues will stop. There's nothing in the Bible that supports the belief that tongues will return in the Church Age. You can search all over the Bible, but you will not find the gift of tongues starting up again. People say, "Well, what about Luke 11:13 where Jesus says He'll `give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him'? We're asking for the Spirit and for tongues and He's giving them to us." Let me just say that people may be asking for the gift of tongues, but if God isn't giving that gift in this particular age, those people may be getting something that isn't from God!
III. AN EXPLANATION OF THE CURRENT TONGUES PHENOMENON
You say, "All right, John, if I accept the fact that the gift of tongues has ceased, and what's going on today isn't scriptural, what is going on? How do you explain all the people who are apparently speaking in tongues?" Well, let me give you some suggested answers:
A. Some Realistic Possibilities
1. IT MAY BE SATANIC OR DEMONIC
Every false religion in the world was spawned from the same individual--Satan. The Old Testament says that "all the gods of the nations are idols [lit. `demons']" (Ps. 96:5a). There's demonic influence behind every false religious system. So whenever tongues occur in a false religion, it's highly possible that its basic source is Satan or demons.
Joseph Dillow, in his helpful book entitled Speaking in Tongues, has compiled the following data, complete with references: "The Encyclopaedia Brittanica cites many instances of tongues speaking in pagan cults....D. C. Graham tells of a girl in the Szechwan province of China who was possessed by demons and `began to utter words incoherently.' Edward Langston says that in East Africa many persons possessed by demons speak fluently in Swahili or English, although under normal circumstances they do not understand either language. Junod reports that among the Thonga people of Africa, when a demon is being exorcised the person sings a curative song which he himself composes. Usually the songs are in the Zulu tongue. Even if the person does not know this language it is claimed that he will be able to use it `by a kind of miracle of tongues.' As far back as Vergil (70-19 B.C.) there are references to the tongues speaking of the Sibylline priestess on the Isle of Delos. This is described in his Aeneid. Today, ecstatic speech is found among the Mohammedans, and the Eskimos of Greenland. Non-Christian alchemists of the middle ages were reported to have spoken in tongues. This caused them to be popularly feared as men skilled in sorcery. The Bwiti cult among the Fang people of the Gabon Republic has been observed speaking in tongues. The parapsychology laboratory of the University of Virginia Medical School reports incidents of occult speaking in tongues. A Turkish actress claims she learns the `language of Jakosta' from a black man she sees in her dreams. Joseph Smith, the founder of the non-Christian sect of Mormonism, taught his followers to speak in tongues in the following manner, `Arise upon your feet, speak or make some sound, continue to make sounds of some kind, and the Lord will make a tongue or language of it' " (Speaking in Tongues [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975], pp. 172-173).
So, you see, there are all kinds of possibilities for Satan and his demons to introduce this phenomenon of speaking in tongues. Just to say that the existence of speaking in tongues validates the practice as being from God is foolish--as foolish as saying that the existence of a religion proves it's of God.
A second explanation of the phenomenon of tongues is that...
2. IT IS LEARNED BEHAVIOR
For the most part, speaking in tongues is not a supernatural experience, nor is it miraculous. It is simply something that a person just learns how to do. I personally believe that this is the most common explanation for what is happening in the Charismatic movement today. People are just "learning" how to speak in tongues. One of the reasons I say that, is the amazing similarity in the terms that I have heard used by tongues speakers all over the country. They all speak the same thing in the same way. In fact, I've heard the same things spoken so many times, that I could repeat those words and "speak in tongues" myself. I could...but I won't. The claim, though, that is constantly made by Charismatics is that every Christian is supposed to receive his own private prayer language.
John Kildahl, in his book The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), says that speaking in tongues is definitely a learned behavior. Commissioned by the American Lutheran Church and the National Institute of Mental Health to do a long-range study on the phenomenon of tongues, John Kildahl (a clinical psychologist) and Paul Qualben (a psychiatrist) concluded that the vast majority of tongues speaking was simply learned behavior. People learn how to speak in tongues because they are told that it is the right thing to do.
a. The Deliberate Inducement of Tongues
I went to a Children of God meeting one night, to help persuade someone to get out from under their influences and to see what was going on there for myself. As I was sitting in the lobby, I was able to listen to someone as he tried to teach a new convert to speak in tongues. In a most laborious way, he tried to induce this poor guy to receive the gift of tongues. And even though he tried to give him all the steps and procedures to speak in tongues, the novice couldn't figure out what to do.
On another occasion, I was watching a Charismatic talk show on television. When the person being interviewed confessed to having spiritual problems, the interviewer said, "Have you spoken in tongues and used your prayer language every day?" "Well, no, I haven't," the person admitted. "That's your problem, then," replied the interviewer. "You have to do that every day. And it doesn't matter how it starts; because once you get it started, the Holy Spirit will keep it going." When I heard that, I thought to myself, "If the Holy Spirit wanted them to speak in tongues so much, why doesn't He start it going Himself? I'm sure He can handle it!" It just doesn't make sense. Furthermore, do you see how intimidating it would be if someone said to you, "Your spiritual problems stem from the fact that you aren't speaking in tongues"?
b. The Disillusioning Potential of Tongues
When speaking in tongues is a learned behavior and strongly induced by pressure from somebody else, it is a potential for great disillusionment. Why? Because once the experience comes, people eventually realize that it is nothing more than learned behavior. They also realize that it isn't supernatural or effective to do what is said that it will do. People end up having the same problems in their life whether or not they speak in tongues, so they become disillusioned. According to Kildahl and Qualben, the more sincere a person is when he starts to speak in tongues, the more disillusioned he could become.
Kildahl and Qualben also point out that peer pressure and the desire to belong cause a strong sense of identification and attachment to a certain leader or group. However, when people lose confidence in either the group or the leader, these people cease speaking in tongues.
Another realistic explanation for the phenomenon of modern tongues is that...
3. IT CAN BE PSYCHOLOGICAL
Some of the more bizarre cases of tongues speaking might have a psychological explanation. For example:
a. Motor Automatism
Have you ever watched a newscast that showed young teenage girls at a rock concert screaming over some freaky musician? In the heat of the excitement, emotion, fervor, and loud noise, people sometimes lose voluntary control of their vocal chords and their muscles. And sometimes they even fall to the ground and start flopping around. Why? Because the brain has tremendous control over the body--including speech. Psychologically, then, tongues can be explained as motor automatism, which is clinically described as "radical inward detachment from one's conscious surroundings."
Motor automatism is a disassociation of nearly all voluntary muscles from conscious control. Some call it ecstasy, which is described as "a pleasurable state of intense emotion linked with an altered state of consciousness." We've all experienced moments when we feel a little detached, woozy, and a little faint. Well, with the right kind of driving, pounding emotion, coupled with the kind of rhythmical music that is often associated with Charismatic gatherings, a person could easily lose conscious control and be driven to speak in tongues.
Another psychological explanation is in the area of...
b. Hypnosis
Psychologically, tongues can also be explained by group hypnosis, individual hypnosis, or self-hypnosis. Kildahl and Qualben made the statement that "hypnotizability constitutes the sine qua non of the glossolalia experience" (The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues [New York: Harper and Row, 1972], p. 54). They also concluded that people who fall into tongues are usually people who are hypnotizable. Did you know that not everybody is hypnotizable? I'm not. People have tried to hypnotize me, but they can't do it. Probably because I'm too fact oriented, or too strong in my own mind. But according to Kildahl and Qualben, people who are submissive, suggestible, and dependent on a leader, are the people who fall into tongues. What happens when people's desire to belong is strong enough, they become more submissive to the power of suggestion. Then when the emotion gets hot and the pressure becomes great, tongues result.
Now, we can't go around trying to determine the specific reason
for each person's tongues experience. The only reason I'm mentioning these things is to show you that there are many explanations for speaking in tongues other than the explanation that it's of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we know it's not of the Holy Spirit because the Bible says that the gift of tongues has ceased.
Dr. E. Mansell Pattison, a member of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies and an instructor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, made the following observation: "The product of our analysis is the demonstration of the very natural mechanisms that produce glossolalia. As a psychological phenomenon, glossolalia is easy to produce and readily understandable. I can add my own observations from clinical experiences with neurological and psychiatric patients. In certain types of brain disorders resulting from strokes, brain tumors, etc., the patient is left with disruptions in his automatic physical speech circuit patterns. If we study these `aphasic' patients we can observe the same decomposition of speech that occurs in glossolalia.
"Similar decomposition of speech occurs in schizophrenic thought and speech patterns, which are structurally the same as glossolalia. This data can be understood to demonstrate that the same stereotypes of speech will result whenever conscious, willful control of speech is interfered with, whether by injury to the brain, by psychosis, or by passive renunciation of willful control." To enter into the state of "passive renunciation of willful control" is essentially what is said to those who want to speak in tongues. People are told to release themselves, to give up the control of their voice, to just say words and let them flow without thinking about what's being said. Dr. Pattison continues, "This corroborates our previous assessment that glossolalia is a stereotyped pattern of unconsciously controlled vocal behavior which appears under specific emotional conditions" ("Speaking in Tongues and About Tongues," Christian Standard [Feb. 15, 1964], p. 2).
Dr. Pattison's conclusion, then, is that glossolalia (tongues) can occur wherever conscious, willful control of the brain is interfered with--which could either be psychological or physiological.
You say, "But John, why are people speaking in tongues? Why is it happening?" Well, let's look at...
B. Some Reasons for its Popularity
1. SPIRITUAL HUNGER
Basically I think that the popularity of tongues comes from a deep spiritual hunger. People are told that speaking in tongues is a great spiritual experience, and that if they haven't done it they haven't arrived spiritually. Well, since they haven't been properly taught, they feel they need this experience.
2. SPIRITUAL EXPRESSION
People are seeking for some way to express themselves spiritually because many of them have been attending church for years without any real involvement.
3. INSTANT SPIRITUALITY
Within the Charismatic movement, speaking in tongues is considered to be a manifestation of spirituality or holiness, so it attracts those who desire that external recognition.
4. A REACTION TO SOCIETY
Another reason for the popularity of tongues is that it is a reaction to our secularized, mechanized, academic, cold, indifferent society. Speaking in tongues gives a person the feeling that he's involved in something supernatural, rather than academic and explicable in terms of reason.
5. THE NEED FOR ACCEPTANCE AND SECURITY
The need to belong, to be accepted, and to be secure, drives people into movements where they can be a part of the "in" group--where they can be among the ones who "have it." That can be very satisfying. In fact, it's a form of self- actualization to be able to say, "I am a Charismatic." It makes many people feel that they are something, belong to something, and have something that others don't have.
IV. AN EXHORTATION TO BE CHARACTERIZED BY LOVE
First Corinthians 13:8 tells us that tongues have ceased, but the point of the chapter is that love is eternal. We must never forget that! In discussing this whole issue of tongues, all I'm trying to do is teach what the Word of God says. I don't have an axe to grind with Charismatics--some of my friends are in that movement. In fact, I thank God for Pentecostal and Charismatic people who believe in the authority of the Word of God. I believe they ought to study it a little more carefully, but I thank God they believe it and hold it up as authoritative. I also thank God that they believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, His sacrificial death, His physical resurrection, salvation by faith and not works, the need to live a life of obedience, and proclaiming their faith. I thank God for all of those things. I'm sorry we can't agree on this one issue, but they're still my brothers and sisters in Christ and I'm commanded to love them. Remember, love is eternal and the gifts are just temporary.
I fear that people are going to try and shove this particular series on tongues down the throats of all their Charismatic friends. That's the last thing I want people to do! If you know somebody who is involved in this movement, the best thing to do is to constantly and fervently show them love, so that they will disassociate love from tongues. That's important to do because they're under the false impression that Christians don't really know how to love until they've had the experience of speaking in tongues. I've heard Charismatics say, "Oh, I never really loved until I had this experience. I've never felt so good or had such joy." Well, if you show them that you have love, joy, and happiness, they may begin to see that those things aren't connected to tongues. Then, when the day comes that they ask you why you don't speak in tongues, you will have earned the right to show them why.
It grieves my heart that there's a rift in the church over this issue. And I don't think there's any point in jamming a bunch of my tapes in the gap--because that will just make it harder to reach them. What we need to do is to love Charismatic people with all our hearts and to be available to answer their questions when they ask. We also need to be sensitive for the right moment to come when we can share the truth with them in love. Remember, it's important that we love. It's the whole message of 1 Corinthians 13.
Is it unloving to criticize the Charismatic movement?
I am constantly being accused of being unloving because of my stand against speaking in tongues. But what is the definition of love? Is it unloving to speak the truth? Is it unloving to teach the Word of God? I love God and His Word more than I love anything else, so I'm going to proclaim His Word with boldness--even if it seems that I'm being unloving to people in the process. The Bible clearly says that we are to be "speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15a)--and that's exactly what I'm doing.
Now I know that I'm not always right. But I don't stand alone in what I teach about tongues. There are many, many scholars far more competent than I am, who stand on the same ground. I'm confident that the Word of God teaches that the gift of tongues has ceased. And because I believe that this is the truth, the most loving thing that I can do is to teach it. You see, when people know the truth, they're able to live it out and be in the place of God's blessing.
People say, "John, you shouldn't get into those controversial subjects. When there's an issue like that in the text you should just go by it and not deal with it." Well, that's the worst thing I could do! Should I ignore God's Word? Am I doing anyone a favor by not telling them the truth? Of course not! If I'm in error, I pray that someone will show me where I'm wrong. But I believe that what I've said is the truth of the Word of God, so I have to deal with it as such. And I hope that you sense that I'm giving it in love
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