Charismatic gifts such as prophecies and tongues

[Jedi4Yahweh]

5 hours ago, Space_Karen said:

When the Apostles traveled to spread the gospel.

Sometimes they didn't speak the native language and couldn't communicate.

The gift of tongues helped them to assimilate and communicate foreign languages at a superhuman rate so they could preach in places they weren't native to.

Gifts and abilities in the bible usually serve a legitimate purpose. There is a reason God gives people certain talents. 

It wasn't just the apostles speaking in tongues it was also people they preached that received the gift of speaking in tongues.

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues - Act 10:44-46 KJV

And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as [he did] unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? - Act 11:15-17 KJV

[Marilyn C]

9 hours ago, Not of the World said:

I know what prophecies are and I have a vague understanding of speaking in tongues, but I have NO IDEA if those things are legimately happening in our modern era.  I like to persuse Tik Tok for content on Christianity and cooking (great stuff!) and I've seen a LOT of people prophecizing about things to come and I'll check out a few of their videos to see if they pass the muster but in EVERY case I have blocked them because I have discerned that they can prophecize about as well as I can forecast the winning Powerball numbers (which is ZERO).  

Speaking in tongues is both weird and fascinating to me and I have no other opinion on it except that it's very strange to me and my instinct is to AVOID it.  

Thoughts?  

Hi Not of the World,

I received the gift of speaking in tongues (in worship) when I was at a young people`s camp in the hills of New Zealand. I speak in tongues everyday to build up my spirit. (1 Cor. 14: 4) And that is over 55 years ago.

I was raised in a fellowship that had regular prophecies, that are nothing like what you hear on the internet. I refer to a speaking forth of the Lord, expounding upon His word, and not the future reading that is present today. (Rev. 19: 10)

Someone prophesying edifies the people, while the ministry of a Prophet has a wider scope to the Body of Christ.  ((1 Cor. 14: 4, Eph. 4: 11) I have many prophecies by believers and then also by recognised prophets, as my grandmother had kept them from great gathering.   

I have posted one on another thread. I`ll go and get the link.

Marilyn.

[Marilyn C]

THE HIGHER LIFE

 

There is a  high life, saith the Lord, a life that is lived above the small things & the selfish things of this terrestrial plane, & it is My will for those who are elect according to the foreknowledge of your God, to live the high life. When you are doing so all your turnings in life will have an upward direction; all your movements in life will have a Godward tendency, & My purpose concerning you will thus be fulfilled.

 

To the chosen was granted the experience that brought them to a high mountain apart. There they knew a turning from the activities of the plain. An experience of severance from all that tied them to that lower strata of activity. They turned at the behest of the Master, they turned towards the heights & in the heights there was a turning, albeit, a turning that was not of their own doing; because there are powers in the heights, saith the Lord, there are powers that are divine, powers that overrule, that govern, that control. So they were caused to turn from that which was estimable, from a revelation of the greatness of your God in the presence of two of old who had been mightily used in bygone days; but they were led to turn that they may see no man save Jesus only; & this is the hallmark of the higher life, My people, that the Christ is filling the whole of your vision, & He is indeed, pre-eminent in all things. I would lead you there.

 

It is because I am desiring to bring you to such a place that I go backward today again to say, “Turn,” for your natural disposition would lead you toward your fellows. Your individual tendency would be to turn towards company, to turn towards your life, & to turn towards activity, & turn towards the fulfilment of ambition, & to turn towards the fulfilling of your own abilities & potentialities, but I, the Lord, say turn, turn, turn, towards Me that in all things that Christ  may have the pre-eminence.

 

I do not want you to be bound to Me by such a flimsy thing as the knowledge that I answer prayer, for although that is a great thing in your estimation, yet I would bring you to a place where, though I slay you, yet will you trust Me. I would bring you to a place where although you gather nothing for yourself from the experience, nevertheless, you are prepared that I shall have the pre-eminence & I would cause you to remember that to those who were given a revelation of My glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, that to those there was reserved the manifestation of the Cross, a Cross in the experience of the pre-eminent Christ, & later a Cross in their own experience, physically & spiritually. Very often I am leading you into the heights & you are failing to understand the mystery of My movements within your heart, because you remember times when your prayers were always answered. You can remember days & months & years when it was a joy to come before Me with request because your request was so often granted; but those days for many have gone & you are in an experience where you walk in the dark, & walk alone, & there is not the same amount of answered prayer.

 

But, oh, My people, there is a high life, there is a high life that moves My people in an expression of prayer, that brings to bear upon them answers that are veiled in the will of God: & to the lower line of thought no answer has been given; but those who walk with Me & live alone with Me are able to receive to themselves answers of a higher type & a loftier degree, for I, the Lord, am drawing them into an inner circle of elective activity that My purposes may be fulfilled.

 

Oh, My people, these are vital days in the fulfilment of My will; these are days, saith the Lord, days, days that are alive with the imminence of the Coming Christ. These are days that are pregnant with possibilities of the fulfilment of age-long purposes, saith the Lord. And I would gather to Myself a people who will indeed live the high life, who will live in the present of the Divine, who will live under submission & subjection to the pre-eminent Christ & allow Me to gather them together in a liberty that will allow Me to be active among them in spiritual activity; active in the fulfilment of My will; active in the reaching out of Divine purpose, saith the Lord.

 

There is so much that I have yet to do before the age can be fully brought to a termination. There is a need, (yet I speak in mystery) there is a need, yea, that I shall fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ, & there is because of this need, a reaching out to gather together a body, by the which, in the ministry of elective suffering, I shall be able to fulfil My will in this respect, saith the Lord. There is a need that I shall establish within a body of people an affinity so deep, so magnetic, so alive that at the coming of Christ there shall be a spontaneous upward move, & they that are alive & remain shall be caught up to be forever with the Lord.

 

Have you thought of that which shall bring about such a tremendous upset of the laws of nature & allow men & women to rise above all laws that are natural, & meet their Lord in the air? I tell you, My people, it shall be wrought by a principle of Divine affinity, that is so, so, so very alive, & so very powerful that nothing in heaven nor in hell, nor in earth, will be able to keep My people on the earth when Christ shall come to the clouds, saith the Lord.

 

And, oh! there is a need that I shall be able to establish that affinity in My people – such a love, such a desire that I shall be pre-eminent, such an ambition to follow every leading that I shall give, such a continuous turning, turning, turning in everyday of life & in every aspect of life, & such a rising up into a high life where in fellowship with Myself I can minister to you & implant within you an affinity for such as I have for you. If I draw you will you run after Me? If I draw you apart, will you run after Me?  If I draw you into the uttermost seclusion, will you run after Me? If I draw you, on the other hand, into the thick of battle where the danger is, will you run after Me? If I draw you away from everything that you count worthwhile, will you run after Me? If I draw you away from your preparations for your life & career, will you run after Me?

 

Oh, My people, turn, turn, turn your eyes; turn your hearts; turn your feet & follow Me & I will lead you into the heights & I will cause you to live the high life. There will be times when you must descend to the valley. There will be times when My will for you shall take you from the heights, but it is never My will that the heights shall be taken from you.  I would lift you to such an altitude in My will that I may fill you with the expansiveness of My presence; that I might fill you with the length, & breadth & height & depth of the knowledge of My love that will keep you high in the spirit so that as you come to the plain & descend to the valley, you can bring to it the freshness & the vigour & the touch of the heights, saith the Lord.

 

It is My will that here on earth there shall be a revelation of the heavenlies. It is My will that there shall be a manifestation of the variegated aspects of life as it is experienced in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.  And you are a people who have been called with such a calling & given such a purpose to fulfil in order that this shall be done. I call you to turn to Me, saith the Lord God of Hosts.

 

 

(This prophecy was given by J.A. Tate, Prophet, 9.11.47 in the Apostolic Church, Melbourne Australia.)

[AnOrangeCat]

9 hours ago, Not of the World said:

Speaking in tongues is both weird and fascinating to me and I have no other opinion on it except that it's very strange to me and my instinct is to AVOID it.  

Thoughts?  

I grew up attending that sort of church. I definitely believe in these things, but we should probably view them with a critical eye. Within Pentecostal churches there can be a sort of pressure to do these things, which can combine with ego, showmanship, and the enthusiasm of the moment. If you check out I Corinthians 14:26 and onward Paul speaks on tongues and prophecy and how they should be carried out so as to avoid disorder in church, saying that if no one can interpret that they should stay quiet and keep it between them and God. Similarly he encouraged carefully considering prophecies, likely well aware of things like the factors I mentioned and the potential for these things to derail a church service.

[Ray12614]

6 hours ago, AnOrangeCat said:

I grew up attending that sort of church. I definitely believe in these things, but we should probably view them with a critical eye. Within Pentecostal churches there can be a sort of pressure to do these things, which can combine with ego, showmanship, and the enthusiasm of the moment. If you check out I Corinthians 14:26 and onward Paul speaks on tongues and prophecy and how they should be carried out so as to avoid disorder in church, saying that if no one can interpret that they should stay quiet and keep it between them and God. Similarly he encouraged carefully considering prophecies, likely well aware of things like the factors I mentioned and the potential for these things to derail a church service.

I can agree with some of the posts regarding this topic, however . . . in full disclosure . . . I am a charismatic . . . meaning that I have received the baptism in the HG and speak with tongues, and have been doing so for 40 years. Most of the time, this happens in my private prayer and fellowship time with the Lord, and it has absolutely opened the door to revelation in my own life affairs, decisions that I make, studying of the Bible, praying for people and more. They are sweet times with the Lord and precious to me. Sometimes in prayer I run out of my 'understanding' as to what I should be praying for, and switch to tongues, then back to English in a back and forth manner. Some times when I have been ready to say 'Amen' and quit I unexpectedly feel the unction to pray in tongues, and people come to mind while I am speaking on tongues, and I usually follow it up with praying for them in English (with understanding). Some times later in church, those same people have given testimonies of how God delivered them from an  variety of things during the times I have been praying and the Holy Spirit told me to pray for them. Most times, I never know what is going on in their lives, and frankly it is none of my business. I just trust the Holy Spirit to meet their needs whatever they are.

Regarding tongues given in a church service . . . these are not the personal praying in tongues as I just talked about. Those tongues are spoken loudly so all can hear to the congregation, and there is always an 'order' to them, the leadership of the church allowing that to happen. Those 'ordered' tongues must always interpreted (notice I did not say translated), and if there is no one who has the gift of interpretation of tongues present, then those tongues must not be given. If an tongue is given, and there is nobody who has the gift of interpretation of tongues, then the leadership must be mature enough to handle it in a loving / correcting way that will not hurt the member who gave the tongue, and guide the worship service back on track . . . so to speak . . . for edification of the congregation. Once in a church service I attended as an young man, There was an tongue given to the church body, and the pastor gave the interpretation, and the summary of the interpretation was that somebody in the congregation was in adultery and that they needed to repent immediately or their family would be damaged beyond fixing. It went further in giving details about where and when the occurrence happened, and then after an awkward time of silence, an man started crying and come forward to repent and confess his sin. Nobody had a clue that this was going on because from all outward appearances he was a godly believer. BUT, he publicly repented and got his life right with God and left forgiven and free. Of course the pastor followed up helping restore this man and his wife with counseling etc.

The real interesting thing that happened, was unknown to us we had some visitors who were traveling through the area headed for a Baptist church they were connected with in another state. They were missionaries to Portugal and back in the states to raise money for their next period of time in that country. They not only stumbled unknowingly into an charismatic church by accident (LOL), but, were shaken to the core. They talked with the pastor asking him if he knew how to speak Portuguese. The pastor said No, why? They said that the member who gave the tongue spoke in perfect Portuguese, and that while the interpretation was not 'word for word' that it was essentially accurate and completely interpreted the message of that Portuguese tongue.  

Regarding prophesy, I do have some insights regarding that gift, but, this is the longest reply I have ever done on Worthy, and frankly, most have stopped reading already, especially when they disagree with what I am saying . . . and that's ok, I am secure in the Lord and the scriptural validation of my experiences.  LOL 

Maybe this might help somebody . . . hope so . . . Grace and Peace . . . Ray . . . 

 

 

 

[Not of the World]

7 minutes ago, Ray12614 said:

...most have stopped reading already...

Not at all!  I was fixated to your revelations and would love to hear more!  Thank you for sharing and God bless you!

[com7fy8]

"But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men." (1 Corinthians 14:3)

"As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (1 Peter 4:10)

So, I see through these scriptures, how prophesy is not only for telling the future or telling secret present things. But prophesy is a gift which ministers God's own grace.

Grace includes how God in us changes our character to become like the character of Jesus. And I would say that edification means being built up > so we mature in how Jesus is and loves while pleasing our Father.

So, this is still needed.

Edited October 24, 2022 by com7fy8

[Starise]

I came from a background very negative towards speaking in tongues. I once thought my aunts who did it were just a little bit nuts.

Maybe it was helpful for me to come to this subject with apprehension. Otherwise I might have accepted things I should not have accepted. This has allowed me to then hopefully see it more objectively.

Let's look at the obvious to begin with- It's an easy card to pull for fake preachers. Just blabber some stuff convincingly and a certain percentage of people will believe you have that gift and have been especially touched by God. Especially in churches that elevate the importance of the gift and hang far more on it than should ever be hung. Not just fake preachers, but those who have been encouraged by laity to "get that gift" They had better come up with the beans or else. TBH this is what makes the whole thing look like a very small rose in a very large stink pile to anyone who doesn't have the gift. There IS a rose in there, but it is often difficult to find amidst all of the stink.

I don't doubt some people have the 'gift'. Neither do I think it should be a main objective of any believer. If you have it, you'll know it and you should have the wisdom to know when and where to use it I would think. Most tools God gives have a purpose. These gifts are not to be strutted like peacock feathers for display. It reminds me of the school days when we bought a few martial arts magazines and then went around telling people we knew karate.....yeah right. I knew a guy who hit himself in the face with a set of lum chucks, but I digress, this is supposed to be a serious discussion.

I have at least one theory on why there is a gift of tongues. The overt answers are apparent- So people from other languages can understand you. I will just add that coming from my apprehensive side, the devil probably knows how to speak in tongues with the best of them. I think the gift has to  ACCOMPLISH something for the Lord....anyways back to the theory I have. The Lord used parables to confound those He blinded to the truth, maybe it's also coded prayer language to thwart the wiles and attempts of the enemy? If the enemy can't understand it they probably can't attack it. 

I was praying recently and it was as if my thoughts were going far to fast for the language. IOW what I wanted to say could be said in tongues much better than stringing it out in English. Or maybe I was just mumbling to the Lord from my heart. Only He knows. I knew I was saying something and I knew He understood it, however I can't be sure there was any sort of real structure to it. Is there a holy mumbling category?

Edited October 24, 2022 by Starise

[com7fy8]

I have been in churches where ones would speak not in English, then there would be an interpretation . . . by pastors in a couple of places, and by a woman elsewhere who interpreted what she had said.

One time she said, "Flow with Him." And for me this was good. To me, this means God wants us to always be intimate and sharing with Jesus, flowing with how He guides us at every moment in His peace and "rest for your souls" (in Matthew 11:28-30).

For two years I was in Italy, and I learned some national Italian and heard a few dialects. Then I was working in a nursing home in Massachusettas. I was talking with a woman from Italy who did not know English. So, I said some things in Italian, but she just moved her head around. Then I felt my head turn into a perfectly pleasant and pure state and, I spoke some words which sounded like they could be an Italian dialect, but I did not recognize any regular Italian words in what I was saying, but they seemed perfectly spoken. 

Then the woman asked,"How you speak Italian?"

Another day, I met a woman who said she was the woman's daughter, and that her mother was from a place on the other side of Italy from where I had been. And her mother spoke only the local dialect and did not understand national Italian which I had tried to use with her.

[Not of the World]

6 minutes ago, Starise said:

I came from a background very negative towards speaking in tongues. I once thought my aunts who did it were just a little bit nuts.

How could you not?  I'm like you.  There are so many LIES in the world that I prefer much assume that everything is a lie until I know that it's not.