Erroneous Teachings on Praying in Tongues

Praying in tongues is a topic that has created much confusion in the church. Many churches have their own teachings, but these teachings are without basis in the 《Bible》. For example, some say that if you seek the Holy Spirit, evil spirits will come; or that your praying in tongues may be from evil spirits. Another is: you must be especially careful when you hear others speak in tongues, to discern whether it is from the Holy Spirit or from evil spirits.

The 《Bible》 never talks about these things. They do not talk about what the 《Bible》 talks about, but they talk about what the 《Bible》 does not talk about. Isn't this a serious problem? So where is the basis for these problems they talk about? There is no basis. Therefore, I want to share with everyone one by one the whole matter of our praying in tongues.

Basic Principles for Reading the 《Bible》

There is a basic principle for reading the 《Bible》, or rather a basic principle for listening to sermons, which is that we must know that we should do well what is spoken in the 《Bible》, and be especially careful about what is not spoken in the 《Bible》. You need to know whether what people are talking about is in the 《Bible》 or not. Nowadays, electronic versions of the 《Bible》 are very easy to use. Even if you are not familiar with the 《Bible》, it is easy to find verses about tongues.

So there is a basic principle to these issues, which is that Paul would not be wrong, and Jesus would not be wrong. If something is very, very critical, Paul would definitely talk about it, and Jesus would definitely talk about it. If Jesus forgot, Paul would not forget, understand? So I think these issues are very important, and we must have a common foundation. Never think that Paul forgot to say this, and that a certain pastor said it better. This is too dangerous!

Remember who wrote the 《Bible》. The 《Bible》 was written by those who followed Jesus. Although Paul did not follow Jesus, he saw Jesus with his own eyes on the road to Damascus. Who is Paul? Paul is the one who established the church and clearly wrote the entire logical system of establishing the church in the 《Bible》, so do not think that he made a mistake.

Some people speak particularly absurdly: Oh, the church in Corinth established by Paul had the most problems... as if the person speaking had established a church better than the one Paul established. I think this is an absurd statement. The church in Corinth did have many problems, but we need to see if it turned around. It did.

Precisely because the church in Corinth had many problems, we have 《1 Corinthians》 and 《2 Corinthians》 to read today. We are all thankful to God! Therefore, Paul taught:

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (《Romans》 8:28)

We must begin to understand these things. I have never found the basis for these erroneous teachings in the 《Bible》. On the contrary, I have found bases contrary to these erroneous teachings.

Correct Teachings on Praying in Tongues

I will take everyone to see what the 《Bible》 actually says. If you have a 《Bible》 in your hand, let's look at 《Luke》 chapter 11 together:

Then He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (《Luke》 11:5-13)

Let's talk about the theme of this passage. What is Jesus saying? Jesus said in verse 13: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! But some people say: You must never ask for the Holy Spirit, or evil spirits will come. You must be especially careful...

But what is Jesus saying in this sentence? This sentence is talking about a very important concept. Our Lord Jesus is very good. What does our Lord Jesus say? He says that in the future some people will talk nonsense, and in the future some people will say: If you seek the Holy Spirit, evil spirits will come... What kind of talk is this? Can't God be in control? Isn't our God the God who created the universe? If our God is the God who created the universe, you say: Father, give me the Holy Spirit! And then an evil spirit comes. Don't you find this a very troubling teaching?

Remember, the Lord Jesus said:

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (《Luke》 11:11-13)

The Lord Jesus could not have said this sentence any clearer. Therefore, today we brothers and sisters should boldly ask for the Holy Spirit, because if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, will our heavenly Father not give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? The Holy Spirit is the best gift the Heavenly Father gives us!

It is the Spirit Who Gives Life

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. (《John》 6:63)

If the Holy Spirit lives in us, we gain life, so what kind of corruption do these erroneous teachings bring to people. You must have this confidence: Know that if you ask the Heavenly Father for the Holy Spirit, no evil spirit will ever come!

Then some pastors say again: You are wrong, so-and-so asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and then screamed and rolled on the ground, and then the evil spirit came. Oh my God, these people are simply talking nonsense! Do you know what happened? Because the eyes of their spirit are blind, and they do not know what happened.

In fact, that person was occupied by an evil spirit, so when he began to call on the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit began to descend on him, and the evil spirit created many strange things for him. He may say some screaming words, and it may indeed be the ghost inside him is saying it, but what does it matter? You continue to ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and the ghost will be cast out! Why don't you know that our God wants to set us free?

Because this person is not free, God wants to release him, and releasing him is a battle. If you give him a confidence: You continue to pray, and this evil spirit will be completely driven out of you! Isn't that good? So, brothers and sisters, I tell you, many people carry evil spirits on their bodies, and they will react when they call for the Holy Spirit to be filled, but don't worry! Because that is a releasing process of the Holy Spirit being filled.

In those past days, I saw many strange symptoms manifested during healing and deliverance: slithering on the ground, rolling back and forth, drawing circles on the ground... many. There are also two pieces of evidence in the 《Bible》: The first is the 《Gospel of Luke》, which was written by Luke. Luke heard it from the people at that time.

The second is when the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost in the 《Acts of the Apostles》, those people were already like maniacs. Why were they manic there? It was not that they were manic as soon as the Holy Spirit descended, but that they were fervently praying there: Holy Spirit, come and fill me! Hallelujah! When the Holy Spirit descended, everyone was staggering like drunk, praying loudly, and the whole place seemed to be shaken. Many people came to watch, and then Peter gave a sermon full of the Holy Spirit.

So brothers and sisters, we need to change this concept. Later, Peter had a very deep impression of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you know why he had such a deep impression of being filled with the Holy Spirit? Because he had denied the Lord three times before, and he was very painful. He didn't want to deny the Lord in his heart, but what he said was denial of the Lord. His personality was split. Without the Holy Spirit descending, he had no power.

Without power, people will be very tired. What they think in their heart is not what they say in their mouth. It is really painful! So Peter went everywhere and asked people: Have you believed in the Lord? Have you been baptized? Have you received the Holy Spirit? So don't think that our church today is doing it right. I tell you, the 《Bible》 is not wrong, Peter is not wrong, Paul is not wrong, but many of us are wrong today.

Three Steps to Believing in the Lord

In 《Acts》 chapter 8, the Samaritans believed in the Lord, and then Peter and John went to Samaria, and seeing that they all believed in the Lord, they asked: Have you received the Holy Spirit? I ask you, how many steps does a person need to go through to believe in the Lord today? It takes three steps:

First, confess and repent; second, accept Jesus Christ as Lord and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ; third, receive the Holy Spirit. So what the 《Bible》 reveals is three steps. But today many people only do one, confess and repent; two, accept Jesus Christ and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and that's it. But it's not over. If that's how you believe in the Lord, you must be a weak Christian, just like Peter before he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

We brothers and sisters need to start changing our concept and continue to restore the teachings in the 《Bible》. Don't think that Peter is the only one teaching this way. Later, John also taught this way, and later Paul, the apostle who believed in the Lord, also taught this way. In 《Acts》 chapter 19, it is written that Paul asked them:

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? (《Acts》 19:2)

Then they directly received the Holy Spirit. So receiving the Holy Spirit is completely different from automatically having the Holy Spirit in you after accepting Jesus Christ. The two cannot be confused. It is a very wrong teaching for many people to confuse them. It's a very wrong teaching.

So brothers and sisters, if you are still confused, I encourage you to start walking out of this confusion. Don't listen to what those people say. Their teachings do not conform to the 《Bible》. If you want to believe, where do you believe? If there is no 《Bible》 basis, brothers and sisters must reject it.

Peter, John, and Paul will not make mistakes. Many of us are making mistakes today. We must restore the teachings of the 《Bible》 itself. Later, in the whole matter of praying in tongues, I ask you, at the time of the first descent of the Holy Spirit, which was in 《Acts》 chapter 2, did anyone translate tongues? No. If there was no need to translate tongues at that time, it means that their praying in tongues did not actually need to be translated.

But some people say: You must translate when you pray in tongues. They are quoting out of context. When we look at the 《Bible》, Paul could not apply this teaching to the time when Peter first received the filling of the Holy Spirit. When Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, those people spoke in other languages, and everyone was praying in tongues there, and no one translated tongues.

Later, Paul's speaking in tongues was because someone in the church stood up and spoke in tongues, and then someone translated, just like preaching on the pulpit now. It has nothing to do with this prayer in tongues! That is to say, today we must return to the《Bible》to teach. Let's look back at《1 Corinthians》:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. (《1 Corinthians》14:14)

Remember: Praying in tongues has no effect on the understanding, and praying with understanding has little effect on the spirit.

What then shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, and I will also sing with my understanding. (《1 Corinthians》14:15)

Let's not talk about anything else. If a person does not pray in tongues today, I ask you, is that in accordance with the《Bible》? It does not comply with this verse. This verse tells us that we must have both prayer in tongues and prayer with understanding. You cannot say that I only want prayer in tongues and do not want prayer with understanding, nor can you say that I only want prayer with understanding and do not want prayer in tongues. You cannot do that. The entire《Bible》must say that I must have both prayer in tongues and prayer with understanding. Both spirituality and understanding are essential.

We must not only gain power in the spirit, but also be filled with the knowledge of God's grace in the understanding. This is the most fundamental logical system of the entire Christian faith. It's not about saying: I don't want this, I don't want that. If I don't want any of that, I just want this... No way! If I give you an aircraft engine, and you ride on the engine to fly, can you fly? You will only be martyred with the engine. But if an aircraft has no engine, but has wings and a cabin, the aircraft cannot fly either. That is to say, the whole thing must be a complete system.

The Christian Faith Must Be a Complete System

The Christian faith must be a complete system. If it is a complete system, what kind of effect will it have? That is, this faith is the power of God! Some people say: Be careful, don't pursue spiritual gifts... Such words are abominable! They directly violate the teachings of the《Bible》. Let me go through《1 Corinthians》14 with everyone again.

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. (《1 Corinthians》14:1)

See that? It is eagerly desire, not just ordinary pursuit, but to earnestly desire!

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries in the Spirit. (《1 Corinthians》14:2)

Brothers and sisters, do you understand? Who do you speak to when you pray in tongues? You speak to God. If praying in tongues is speaking to God, and no one can understand it, then what does it matter? If speaking to God is not important, then you are really in trouble.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not think that spiritual gifts are big or small. I don't want the small ones, I want the big ones. If you don't want the small ones, you won't get the big ones either. If you are not faithful in small things, you cannot be faithful in big things. If you cannot do small things well, you cannot do big things well either. This is obvious. If you don't even have small gifts, then big gifts are out of the question.

But everyone who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but everyone who prophesies edifies the church. (《1 Corinthians》14:4)

Paul never said that you don't need to pray in tongues. Speaking in tongues edifies oneself. If you cannot edify yourself, then isn't it a joke to say that you are edifying others?

I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified. (《1 Corinthians》14:5)

Paul said I wish you all spoke in tongues! This is Paul's letter to a church that speaks in tongues. If Paul came among us today, what would he say to the church today? He would say: You must speak in tongues!

Moreover, we must not take this sentence out of context and interpret it out of context. Because the church needs prophecy, if I have to explain tongues while preaching, but I pray in tongues for an hour, that won't do. If there is no teaching or preaching in the church, isn't that ridiculous? But if a person goes on stage to preach, but he speaks in tongues there, isn't that going to be criticized? That's very dangerous. That is to say, prophecy does have its very important principles, and it is also very important.

Everyone needs to understand here that in those days, when praying in tongues, everyone prayed together. For example, the 120 disciples in the upper room of Mark, everyone was praying together in their own tongues. Some spoke Egyptian, some spoke Greek, and some spoke in other languages. Were they all praying together? So can you pray in tongues? Yes!

If the event of praying in tongues during Pentecost, the first coming of the Holy Spirit, can already illustrate the essence of the problem! This place says that if you want to interpret, it refers to the situation where everyone is sitting in a circle, and one person stands up and says a few words in tongues, and then another person stands up and interprets. This is called a prophet speaking in tongues, and the gift of translating tongues edifies the church. I have seen this situation, but I rarely explore this aspect in our church.

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. (《1 Corinthians》14:18)

If a person never speaks in tongues, does not pray in tongues, and then says in the church that there is no need to pray in tongues, this is very dangerous. Therefore, brothers and sisters, start to return to the《Bible》.

The Benefits of Praying in Tongues

What are the benefits of praying in tongues? Let me explain to you: Because Paul prays in tongues more than everyone else, his ability to serve is particularly strong! Let me share my personal vision: When I started full-time service to establish a church in 2011, I prayed in tongues for a long time. In 2012, the power of the Holy Spirit was greatly manifested, and many diseases were healed through prayer. Where did that start? It started from when I began to imitate Paul.

Then I said, since Paul prayed this way, then I will pray this way. It's that simple, isn't it! I prayed in tongues for a long time. To this day, our church still has such a habit, everyone prays in tongues together for a long time. Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must understand that praying in tongues is very important!

Let's take a look:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (《1 Corinthians》1:18)

Many people think that this power is a moral change. Everyone must know that this power is not a moral ability.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power. (《1 Corinthians》2:4)

What does that mean? He used the demonstration of the Spirit's power, that is, he used miracles and wonders to prove the word he preached. This sentence is the original words in the《Bible》. How did Jesus prove that He is the Son of God? He proved Himself to be the Son of God with the power of the Holy Spirit. Of course, some people will say: In the last days, some people will use miracles to tempt people. But brothers and sisters, don't be fooled by such words. If a person believes in the Lord, and there is no demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit to prove this God, isn't that strange? This itself does not conform to the《Bible》.

so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. (《1 Corinthians》2:5)

Do you understand? Our faith cannot rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. This is obvious! Therefore, brothers and sisters, we must begin to restore the essence of the entire Christian faith, that is, God is a God of power, and the gospel we believe is a powerful gospel! This is what it says:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (《Romans》1:16)

This gospel is the power of God, to save everyone who believes. Today, Jesus has set a very good example for us. What is the power of God? It is that those who are oppressed by demons are set free. Therefore, brothers and sisters, if a person who is oppressed by demons comes to you, and the gospel you believe cannot set him free, don't think that the gospel you believe is the power of God. This is a very misleading logical system.

That is to say, the ability that God manifests among us is only a drop in the ocean. If you want to ask me where to go next? Next, we will continue to pursue, so that God's power and God's glory will continue to be manifested among us!

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, (《Luke》4:18)

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (《Matthew》16:17-18)

It must be like this! That is to say, the work of the church is to overcome the power of Hades, so diseases will be healed. Then the Lord said again:

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:19)

Look how well this is said! Because this is the basic work of the church!

Therefore, all those who are oppressed by evil spirits, you come to the church, you will definitely be released! why? Because God is going to do such things! Why have many people lost such ability? A powerless gospel cannot cause any harm to the kingdom of the devil, and the devil does not feel disturbed by it. But a church with God's power like ours, the devil will do everything it can to attack and do some things to bring these churches down.

But thank God! God has not let our church fall, because we have the keys to the kingdom of heaven in our hands.

Conclusion

So this praying in tongues is closely related to the power of the Holy Spirit, because the Lord Jesus said:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”(《Acts》1:8)

Witness what? Witness the power of God! Therefore, Paul said, let your faith not be based on human wisdom, but on the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, our faith must be restored to the teachings of the《Bible》. We will see the captives released and the oppressed set free. Among us, if you have spiritual control, I tell you, harden your heart and you must be healed, you must be released, it is impossible not to be released. When you are released, you will definitely live out the beautiful new life that God created in you!

Amen!
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