Having said that, I am greatly troubled by what SOME Pentecostal and Charismatic churches teach - that the only evidence one is saved is speaking in tongues. That is most definitely not biblical.
In some extreme circles (the UnitedPentecostalChurch, for example) speaking in tongues is considered the crucial evidence of having the indwelling Holy Spirit, and therefore the salvation of believers who do not speak in tongues is called into question.
Well put.
I hope there aren’t really any churches teaching that. Please understand that there is a distinction between being saved and being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Praying in tongues is evidence of the latter.
>Having said that, I am greatly troubled by what SOME Pentecostal and Charismatic churches teach - that the only evidence one is saved is speaking in tongues. That is most definitely not biblical.<
As a teenager, me and my friends went to a church like that. There was so much pressure put on us about praying in tongues that we used to just start babbling to get everyone off our backs.
I thought there was something terrible wrong with me and I was going to hell for sure because I couldn’t pray in tongues.
**Having said that, I am greatly troubled by what SOME Pentecostal and Charismatic churches teach - that the only evidence one is saved is speaking in tongues. That is most definitely not biblical.**
Suit yourself. I spent 28 yrs as a Calvinist, wondering at times, “Is this it? Is this all there is, just some conviction, some warm feelings now and then? The Mormans have that.”
I wanted what the original church experienced, and there are several cases in Acts of tongues accompanying the infilling of the Holy Ghost: Acts 2:4 (Jews), 10:44-46 (Gentiles); 19:6 (certain disciples in Ephesus); and the Samaritans in 8:17, where the scene was so astonishing to Simon the sorceror that he offered money to Peter and John to be able to give that power to others. I don’t think he was moved to that desire just because some people repeated a sinner’s prayer and ‘accepted the Lord as their personal savior’.
Are there souls carnally ‘speaking in tongues’? Yes, and a spiritually strong pastor knows how to handle such people, instructing them privately on the seriousness of the deception.
My wife spoke in tongues for a few minutes over 29 yrs ago, and hasn’t since. Speaking in tongues was an experience that has happened very little to me since the first time almost as long ago. It’s something you never forget.