It's true that although you will find all the other seven gifts of
the Spirit manifested in the earthly ministry of Jesus, you won'tfind tongues and interpretation operating in His ministry. You
also won't find speaking with other tongues or interpretation of
tongues in demonstration in the Old Testament (although you
will find this gift prophesied about in Isaiah 28:11-12). These two
gifts of the Spirit are distinctive of this Holy Spirit Dispensation,
or age, which began with the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on
the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2.
Jesus mentioned this new gift that God would give to His
people under the New Covenant. In Mark 16:17-18, Jesus
declared that five supernatural signs are to follow believers, and
one of them is that "... they shall speak with new tongues" (v. 17).
Some folks endeavor to explain that verse away by saying, "Well,
that just means you used to curse and tell vulgar jokes before you were
saved, but now you don't do that anymore. Or you used to lie, but now
you don't lie anymore." It's true that you shouldn't be doing those
things, especially once you're a child of God, but that is not what this
scripture is talking about.
All five of these signs listed in Mark 16:17-18 are supernatural.
Believers shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover—
supernaturally. They will cast out devils—by the supernatural power of
God. If they drink any deadly thing or take up a serpent, it will not
harm them—because of God's supernatural protection.
Now, of course, that doesn't mean you can handle deadly serpents
just to prove something. But you can be supernaturally protected like
Paul was when he accidentally picked up a deadly viper along with an
armful of wood on the island of Melita (Acts 28:3-5). The serpent bit
Paul on the hand, but he just shook it off into the fire, and the poison
had no effect on him.
If four of these five signs mentioned in Mark 16 are supernatural,
does it make sense that God would add one more sign and make it
natural? No! Besides, Jesus did not say, "A few believers will speak with
other tongues." He clearly implied that all believers should do so.
Why is it, then, that most believers do not speak with other tongues?
I'm sure we could find a number of reasons why this is true. Sometimes the reason is pertinent to the individual. In other words, some people
have their own personal reasons for not speaking in tongues.
However, I'm also sure of the number-one reason: There has
been very little sound, logical, and scriptural teaching as to the
scope and the value of speaking with tongues. As a result, many
folks are not cognizant of this gift that God has made available
to them. They just don't realize the value of speaking in
tongues—because if they did, they would all want to do it!
Objection #2: 'Tongues are of the devil.'
When I was just a young boy preacher, I would fellowship
with the Pentecostals because they believed in divine healing. I
had been healed and raised up from a deathbed by the power of
God, and it strengthened my faith in healing to fellowship with
others of like-precious faith. As a result, my denominational
colleagues were deeply concerned about me, and they would
warn me about "those Pentecostal people." They spoke in all
sincerity and honesty, but with minds befuddled with
unscriptural theological concepts.
I remember in particular the words of one Bible teacher, a
graduate of a denominational seminary. He said to me, "I admit
that almost everything those Full Gospel people teach and
preach is fundamental and right. And I'll also admit that they
live better lives than we do in our church. But that speaking in
tongues is of the devil!"
I didn't answer this man right then, but I thought to myself,
How in the world can people get something from the devil that makes
them better? I thought it was always the other way around! Isn't it the
devil that tries to make people do bad things and the Holy Ghost who
helps them to do right?
That unscriptural thinking reminds me about something that
happened to a fellow from east Texas who was wild before he got saved
in his early thirties. As a boy, he had attended a denominational church,
although he had never gotten saved. But once he hit his teenage years,
the young man went wild and began to frequent bars every night.
Any sin you want to mention, this man did it in his younger years,
from drinking and cussing to brawling and fighting. In fact, there were
some nights when he'd whip everyone who challenged him and clear out the bar! They'd have to call in two or three squad cars to come and
take him to jail. This young man was tough!
Years later, some Full Gospel people started witnessing to this man,
and he got saved, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and spoke with other
tongues. The church he'd attended as a child just left him alone during
the more than 20 years he'd been so wild. The pastor hadn't bothered to
visit him even once. But all of a sudden, the pastor who had ignored
him for all those years came to visit the man with deep
concern—because he'd "gotten something from the devil."
It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic!
That man told me personally what happened during the pastor's
visit. He said, "I let the pastor talk for a while, but when he said, 'That
speaking in tongues is of the devil,' I stopped him and said, 'Wait a
minute, Pastor. I know that tongues isn't of the devil, because I had
everything the devil could give me when I was a sinner. If tongues
were of the devil, I would have had it long ago! But I didn't receive this
gift until I turned my back on the devil and got saved and filled with
the Holy Ghost!'"
No matter how much the pastor tried, he couldn't talk that
man out of speaking in tongues. The man knew he had received
that gift from God.
As for me, the moment I was filled with the Holy Ghost and
began speaking with other tongues, I went looking for that Bible
teacher who had told me that tongues were of the devil. In times
past, he would always bring up the subject, but this time I
brought it up because I wanted to get something over to him.
Once again, the Bible teacher warned me about "those
Pentecostal folks." Again he told me, "That speaking with
tongues is of the devil!"
I replied, "Now wait a minute—stop right there. You say that
speaking with tongues is of the devil?"
"That's right!"
"Well," I said, "if tongues is of the devil, then so is our entire
denomination!"
The man's eyes got as big as saucers. He looked like he'd seen
a ghost! Finally he sputtered, "What are you talking about?"
I said, "You know I've been filled with the Holy Ghost and
speak with other tongues. Well, the same Holy Spirit I got
acquainted with in our denomination, the same Spirit who
recreated my spirit and witnessed to my spirit that I am a child
of God—that's the same Holy Spirit who gave me utterance in
other tongues down at the Full Gospel church when I was filled
with the Spirit!
"The Pentecostals don't have a different Holy Spirit than we
have. He isn't twins or triplets or quadruplets or quintuplets.
There is only one Holy Ghost! It's identically the same Spirit—
just a different dimension."
"Oh no, no!" he protested. "That isn't right." I said, "You're a Bible
scholar, aren't you?" "Oh yes, I'm a seminary graduate and have taught
the Bible for 25 years."
"So let me ask you something," I said. "Have you ever spoken with
other tongues?"
"No, of course not," the man said.
"Then how do you know what Spirit is behind it?" I asked. "You say
you know the Bible. Then you must know the proverb that says a man
who answers a matter before he hears it is a fool [Prov. 18:13].
According to that proverb, you're being foolish right now!
"I'm the only one qualified to speak on the subject of tongues in this
conversation," I continued. "You're not qualified to comment unless
you've spoken with tongues. If you had, you could tell me what Spirit
gave you that utterance. But I can tell you right now that it's the same
Holy Ghost. I didn't receive any strange or new spirit. He is identically
the same Spirit I had all the time. When I got filled with the Spirit, I just
experienced a greater measure of the Holy Ghost. So if speaking with
tongues is of the devil, our entire denomination is of the devil!"
My words shocked this Bible teacher so much that he opened his
mouth a time or two but couldn't think of anything to say!
Of course, that denomination is not of the devil, and neither is
speaking with tongues! It's all of the Holy Ghost. Speaking in tongues
just opens you up to a deeper dimension of the same Spirit. You can go
deeper in God if you want to!
Your Father Will
Give You What You
Ask For
Now, here's something I want to get over to you along this
line: If you're a child of God and ask to receive the infilling of the Holy
