[drstevej]

***EACH TIME, an old man or old woman who had been standing next to her in the circle would ask her where she had learned the old, formal, eloquent version of their language. ***

Assuming this account is true (and I don't dispute it) this sounds more like the biblical gift than much of the ecstatic speech around today.

[Quix]

I still prefer to consider the FRUIT as the Bible instructs us to do.

The authentic has persistently in my life experience and in countless other's lives and relationshiops--brought RESURRECTION LIFE; HEALING; A MUCH CLOSER WALK WITH GOD; HOLY SPIRIT COMFORT IN GREAT TRAUMA; DIRECTION IN THE MIDST OF CONFUSION ETC. ETC. ETC.

I can't imagine satan producing such a long, long, long list of very edifying, very Scriptural, God-relationship-enhancing fruit.

[zadok]

"Assuming this account is true (and I don't dispute it) this sounds more like the biblical gift than much of the ecstatic speech around today."

I agree. The gift of tongues as illustrated in Acts chapter 2 is not babble, but rather a language that each hearer hears in his own language and dialect.