This lesson is just piggy-backing on another already posted on the same topic.


Speaking in Tongues


I would like to offer the following observations as far as speaking in tongues. This is just a little history to the Pentecostal movement. I find it very interesting, the timing of ‘speaking in tongues’ and the birth of the Church of God in Christ. Please read to the end. The last section sheds a little light on past cultures and "Speaking in Tongues".


"THE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST"

The Church of God in Christ (C.O.G.I.C.) is considered to be a member of the great Protestant body though it did not directly evolve from the European or English Reformation but had its origin within the General Association to the Baptist Church.

Elder Charles Harrison Mason, who later became the founder and organizer of the Church of God in Christ, was born September 8,1866, on the Prior Farm near Memphis, Tennessee.

A Young C.H. Mason

Elder Mason was converted in November, 1878, and baptized by his brother, I.S. Nelson, a Baptist Preacher.

He then experienced sanctification through the word of God and preached his first sermon in "Holiness" from II Timothy 2:1-3: "Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."

On November 1, 1893, Elder Mason matriculated into the Arkansas Baptist College, but withdrew after three months because of his dissatisfaction with the methods of teaching and the presentation of the Bible message.

In 1895, Bishop Mason met Elder C.P. Jones of Jackson, Mississippi; Elder J.E. Jeter, of Little Rock, Arkansas; and Elder W.S. Pleasant of Hazlehurst, Mississippi.

Jointly, these militant gospel preachers conducted a revival in 1896, in Jackson, Mississippi, which had far-reaching affects on the city. (Notice...no speaking in tongues!)

The turning point in Elder Mason's life came in March, 1907, when he journeyed to Los Angeles, California, to attend a great Pentecostal revival with Elder D.J. Young and Elder J.A. Jeter.

Now this is where is starts to get interesting. As you continue to read you will notice something that happened to the founding father of the C.O.G.I.C. that had NEVER happened before; enter the Azuza Street Revival!!! At this point we will look at what happened at this great revival in California.


Outbreak of Glossolalia, 1901 to 1906

The modern Christian practice of glossolalia is often said to have originated around the beginning of the twentieth century in the United States.

The city of Topeka, Kansas is often cited as the center of the Pentecostal movement and the resurgence of glossolalia in the Church. Charles Fox Parham, a holiness preacher and founder of Bethel Bible College in 1900, is given the credit to being the one who influenced modern Pentecostalism.

During what has been called a sermon by Parham, a bold student named Agnes Ozman asked him for prayer and the laying on of hands to specifically ask God to fill her with the Holy Spirit. This was the night of New Year's Eve, 1900. She became the first of many students to experience glossolalia, coincidentally in the first hours of the twentieth century.

Word of the outpouring of the Spirit spread to other Holiness congregations. Parham wrote, studied, traveled, preached, and taught about glossolalia for the next few years. Parham and others who believed in or manifested tongues were persecuted from both inside and outside of the church. In 1905, he opened a Bible school in Houston. It was there that William J. Seymour became indoctrinated. It is notable that Seymour did not speak in tongues while in Houston.

When Seymour was invited to speak in Los Angeles about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in February 1906, he accepted. His first speaking engagement was met with dispute, primarily because he preached about "tongues" being a primary indication of the baptism of the Spirit, yet he did not himself speak in tongues.

It was not until April that his preaching and teaching about glossolalia paid dividends, first to a man named Edward Lee, and later to Seymour. Similar to the experience of Parham in 1901, Seymour's students received the ability to speak in tongues a few days before he did.

By May 1906, indeed only one month after the Great San Francisco Earthquake which was seen as an "act of God", Seymour was leading a major movement of the Spirit known as the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles.

The following are excerpts from Elder Mason's personal testimony regarding his receiving the Holy Ghost.

"The first day in the meeting I sat to myself, away from those that went with me. I began to thank God in my heart for all things, for when I heard some speak in tongues, I knew it was right though I did not understand it. Nevertheless, it was sweet to me.”

“I also thank God for Elder Seymour who came and preached a wonderful sermon. His words were sweet and powerful and it seems that I hear them now while writing. When he closed his sermon, he said 'All of those that want to be sanctified or baptized with the Holy Ghost, go to the upper room; and all those that want to be justified, come to the altar.'“

“I said that is the place for me, for it may be that I am not converted and if not, God knows it and can convert me..."
"Glory!"

"The second night of prayer I saw a vision. I saw myself standing alone and had a dry roll of paper in my mouth trying to swallow it. Looking up towards the heavens, there appeared a man at my side. I turned my eyes at once, then I awoke and the interpretation came.”

“God had me swallowing the whole book and if I did not turn my eyes to anyone but God and Him only, He would baptize me. I said yes to Him, and at once in the morning when I arose, I could hear a voice in me saying, " I see..."


"I got a place at the altar and began to thank God. After that, I said Lord if I could only baptize myself, I would do so; for I wanted the baptism so bad I did not know what to do. I said, Lord, You will have to do the work for me; so I turned it over into His hands."

"Then, I began to ask for the baptism of the Holy Ghost according to Acts 2:41, which readeth thus: 'Then they that gladly received His word were baptized,' Then I saw that I had a right to be glad and not sad."

"The enemy said to me, there may be something wrong with you. Then a voice spoke to me saying, if there is anything wrong with you, Christ will find it and take it away and marry you...Someone said, 'Let us sing.' I arose and the first song that came to me was 'He brought me out of the Miry Clay.'

“The Spirit came upon the saints and upon me...Then I gave up for the Lord to have His way within me. So there came a wave of Glory into me and all of my being was filled with the Glory of the Lord.”

“So when He had gotten me straight on my feet, there came a light which enveloped my entire being above the brightness of the sun. When I opened my mouth to say Glory, a flame touched my tongue which ran down me. My language changed and no word could I speak in my own tongue. Oh! I was filled with the Glory of the Lord. My soul was then satisfied."


People from many denominations and races gathered daily to see and hear, to preach and pray, to sing and shout, and to speak in new tongues. Newspapers, clearly biased against the movement, reported the happenings as a wild and weird group of mostly "colored" people acting as if they were pretty disturbed, exhibiting behavior unheard of in most Protestant churches of the time: intense shouting, vigorous jerking, dancing, passing out, crying, howling, emotional outbursts, and speaking gibberish.

Many religious leaders in Los Angeles and other places were quick to disparage the goings on at Azusa Street, informing their flocks that the new Pentecostal movement was (at worst) sensational, Satanic, Spiritualism, and (at best) too overly focused on the Holy Spirit instead of Jesus Christ.


Witnesses at the Azusa Street Revival wrote of seeing fire resting on the heads of participants, miraculous healings in the meetings, and incidents of speaking in tongues being understood by native speakers of the language.


This new Pentecostal experience which Elder Mason found for himself, for he began to proclaim to others upon his return home to Memphis, Tennessee as a New Testament doctrine. A division, subsequently, became evident within the ranks of Elder Mason's contemporaries when Elder J. A. Jeter, the General Overseer, Elder C. P. Jones, and others regarded the new Holy Ghost experience of speaking in tongues as a delusion. Being unable to resolve their difference in the New Testament doctrine.

It is in the last paragraph above I hope the readers paid very close attention to. Elder Mason returned home and presented what happened to him as DOCTRINE!!!!! And in the end it was rejected by others because their actions could not be validated by scriptures.

But where are we to get ALL of our doctrine?

2 Tim. 3:[16] All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

I must ask, are any of the following actions...."...disturbed, exhibiting behavior unheard of...: intense shouting, vigorous jerking, dancing, passing out, crying, howling, emotional outbursts, and speaking gibberish....", ever mentioned as acts of the Holy Spirit? If so, please direct me to the book, chapter and verse so I can read it for myself.

Now let’s look and see what happened when the Holy Spirit was given to those in Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks:

Acts 2
[4] And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So these men were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues. Now let’s see it these ‘tongues’ were understandable.

[5] And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
[6] Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

So all there were able to understand what was being said.

[7] And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
[8] And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

So God’s words were able to be understood, by everyone there. Notice there was no mention of violent movements or out breaks, no running, no confusion, no passing out, no vigorous uncontrollable jerking, just men speaking in different, understandable, languages .

Paul gives us further instructions for the conduct of the church, 1 Corth. 14:[27] If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

[28] But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

[33] For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

You can not find one place in the bible where someone COULD NOT understand or edification did NOT take place when others were speaking in tongues .

I would like to offer this last bit of information. Please note how far back this practice goes.



Other religions

Aside from Christians, other religious groups also have been observed to practice some form of theopneustic glossolalia. It is perhaps most commonly in Paganism, Shamanism, and other mediumistic religious practices.

Glossolalia was exhibited by the renowned ancient Oracle of Delphi, whereby a priestess of the god Apollo (called the Pythia) speaks in unintelligible utterances, supposedly through the spirit of Apollo in her.

Certain Gnostic magical texts from the Roman period have written on them unintelligible syllables such as "t t t t n n n n d d d d d..." etc. It is conjectured that these may be transliterations of the sorts of sounds made during glossolalia.

The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians also features a hymn of (mostly) unintelligible syllables which is thought to be an early example of Christian glossolalia.

I made this lesson to; 1. Bring to light the start of the present day ‘speaking in tongues’ verses what was observed in the bible; 2. Show that today’s practice of speaking in tongues started around the same time as the Pentecostal movement, and; 3. Show just how far back the practice began and what religions participated.


So where does your doctrine come from?

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Thank you Elder !!!!!!!!
All of you know that what happens in most churches, known as 'speaking in tongues', is nothing more than a bunch of gibberish and does not come CLOSE to what was happening in the bible.

EACH AND EVERY TIME someone spoke in tongues in the bible SOMEBODY understood them. They were speaking a KNOWN language. I was raised in the C.O.G.I.C and NOT ONE TIME in over 20 years did someone say something that someone else understood.....NOT ONCE!!

Didn't the great Paul say to have someone to interpret?

I'm curious.....did Jesus Christ EVER speak in tongues? After all, the brother above said,

"A Spirit baptism without tongues is a non biblical concept; the Bible does not discuss this possibility. We should always expect speaking in tongues when someone receives the baptism of the Holy Ghost."

Now let's read what happened to Jesus:

Luke 3
[22] And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

So did He? Strange how it NEVER says so in the Holy scriptures!

Have fun playing your speaking in tongue games!


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I have to say Thank you again Elder,

and to the poster just because YOU were brought up in a church and never saw interpretation, does not make tongues wrong, I was brought up in COGIC as well and I've seen interpretions go forth and I have interpreted.
REALLY? And what was the language that was spoken? And when did this interpretation take place? I bet it was in church! And I also bet there was music being played! And the tongues started right around the same time the tempo of the music picked up? Or towards the end of a firery message! Almost ALWAYS more than one or two at a time.

Strange how todays 'speaking in tongues' seems to mostly happen during church service, and accompanied with music. Not at the gym, the mall, the gas station, out at dinner, the grocery store, while getting the oil changed, during a picnic.......etc!

Todays speaking in tongues seem pretty predictable.....nothing like the events that happened in the bible.




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Nooooooooooo, thats what I mean, maybe your church needed teaching, the one I was brought up in, when tongues came forth, the musicians were silenced. God was speaking! and if more than three were up, Pastor would sit them all down.

I admonish you to not speak against that which you do not understand. Simply state "you do not understand" and then STUDY to show thyself approved a workman not to be ashame
Again I ask, "What was the language that was interpreted?" Because in EACH AND EVERY CASE tongues was spoken in the bible it was ALWAYS a language that could be understood by someone. In otherwords the tongues that were being spoken was a KNOWN language and the interpreter was intertrpeting it into another KNOWN language!

So what KNOWN language other than English have you been schooled in?



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Hey, what about the unknown tongue?

1 Corinthians 14:2 KJV
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
The scriptures says if that happens then so should the following;

1 Corth.14
[5] I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

So if the church is not edified speaking in tongues is worthless.

The "unknown tongues" in this case is simply a "known" language that nobody that is present speaks. For instance, if everyone in a church ONLY spoke English, and someone that ONLY speaks Greek came to speak....NOBODY in the church would understand the message.

So who understands what is being said? ONLY GOD!

[13] Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.

Here we see that "unknown tongues" CAN be interpreted.

Paul gives us an example in the following verse;

[16] Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?

How can you say Amen to something if you do NOT know what it is that is being said?

[17] For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.

So what you are saying may be great, but if there is no interpreter, who understands?

So what is the bottom line? Let's read;

[26] How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, everyone of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

LET ALL THINGS BE DONE UNTO EDIFYING!!!!!




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EW,

Unknown tongues to the ancients were worldy tongues that they were unfamiliar with. We, too often, try to interpret Yehwah's word in our modern times, and we forgot the ancients mindset. The unknown tongue isn't some estatic tongue from a different world. Its a wordly tongue that was not known to Hebrews.
Well now James, glad to be back from vacation, what about the tongues of angels


1Cr 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,.....

and to Eccl, the only other language I've been schooled in is Spanish, however on the occasions that I've interpreted it was the tongue of angels, for God gave me the message to the body.
Evan,

The interesting thing to note is that we have absolutely no clue as to how the tongues of angels sound like. Its a high assumption to believe that angel tongues sound like,"Ahhhsdsskjskshsisjhsjh." Its only an assumption. But, we do not know.
Thank you we do not know, but I've heard them, and I say that sincerely

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