A SUMMATION OF THE TONGUES MOVEMENT Pastor Art Watkins of Coden Bible Church (Coden, Alabama) July 22, 2011 After reading their books and listening to their sermons I have found that most of what the charismatics teach about the gift of tongues is false. I have also found that most heresy and false doctrines taught about the gift of tongues can be cleared up in a matter of minutes with the scriptures for any fair minded, honest Bible believer. A fair minded Bible believer is one who does not interpret the Bible by his feelings or emotions, but who interprets his feelings and emotions by the Bible. He is one who believes and abides by the Scriptures even when the scriptures prove his doctrines are wrong. ----(a) According to their teaching and books, charismatics say that without the baptism of the Spirit and speaking in tongues a Christian does not have full consecration or power for service and that his Christian life is incomplete and their ministries lacking. In other words, you are a second class powerless Christian without the baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues. If this were true, why did such spiritual giants as Luther, Wesley, the King James Bible translators, Whitfield, Moody, Spurgeon, Edwards, Bunyan, Carry, Taylor, Billy Sunday, Barnes, Clark, and 1000's of others accomplish so much for the Lord without the gift of tongues? Not a one of these men spoke in tongues and most of them even opposed the tongues movement. What about John the Baptist? He never worked one miracle in his ministry much less spoke in tongues. How did he get so much done without it? What about those God did not give the gift to? Every Christian is baptized by the Spirit according to 1 Cor. 12:13 but God did not give everyone the gift of tongues according to 1 Cor. 12:27-30. ----(b) Charismatics teach that speaking in tongues is a necessary requirement for leaders and teachers in the New Testament. If that were so, why are tongues missing from the list of requirements for the office of Pastor and Bishop in 1 Timothy 3 which is the highest office in the Church? ----(c) Charismatics teach that speaking in tongues is the initial evidence of the Holy Ghost. They say you don't have the Holy Ghost if you do not speak in tongues. If that is true, why didn't God give the gift of tongues to every man and why did he forbid women from speaking in tongues in 1 Cor. 14:34? In the Book of Acts, speaking in tongues did not always follow the filling of the Holy Ghost. Many times in the book of Acts when people were filled with the Holy Ghost they did not speak in tongues. See Acts 4:8, 31, 6:3, 5, 7:55, 9:17, 11:24, 13:9, 52. The real genuine evidence that a person has received the Holy Spirit is the fruits of the Spirit in his life. See Gal. 5:22 ----(d) Charismatics teach that tongues are a special gift given for personal edification and prayer. But the Bible says that God gave the spiritual gifts to edify the whole church, not just one person in the church. See Eph. 4:11-12. Also the gift of tongues was given in Acts 2 for the purpose of evangelizing the Jews out of every nation who were assembled together in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:8) It was not some personal gift to pamper the ego of a few select saints. It was a public gift given to convince sinners to believe and be saved. When men spoke in tongues in the Bible sinners were saved. ----(e) In the Charismatic movement speaking in Tongues is looked upon as the ultimate sign of spirituality. But, in the Bible, the Corinthians who were the most carnal, sinful and corrupt Christians spoke in tongues more than anyone. How can it be considered a sign of spirituality when carnal Christians spoke in tongues? ----(f) Charismatics teach that a person must strive, agonize, fast, pray and sacrifice to speak in tongues. But, in the Bible tongues was a spiritual gift, given freely without works. ----(g) Charismatics teach that tongues are a sign to believers but in the Bible they were a sign to unbelievers. See 1 Cor. 14:22. The unbelievers were clearly defined as unbelieving Jews. On the three occasions when men spoke in tongues Jews were always present. See Acts 2:5, 10:45, 19:1-7. ----(h) Charismatics teach that if we forbid any one from speaking in tongues we quench the Spirit. In the Bible men are forbidden to speak in tongues without an interpreter and women are forbidden to speak at all. ----(I) Charismatics teach that tongues are heavenly languages that no one but God understands. In the Bible tongues were foreign languages understood and interpreted by all men. See Acts 2:6-11. ----(j) Most of the people who speak in tongues in the charismatic movement are women. In the Bible women are told not to speak in tongues. ----(k) Charismatics violate all the restrictions God placed upon tongues and yet say they are honoring God. But God said that those who violate the restrictions he placed upon tongues break the commandments of God. See 1 Cor. 14:37. Lehman Strauss wrote; Our present generation is witnessing the growing menace of satanic activity in the realm of the miraculous. Where the Devil does not succeed in taking the Bible from us, he works hard at taking us from the Bible. And he succeeds in getting Christians to focus their attention on the claims of men and women to some supernatural experience and in so doing those seekers after the experiences of others have neither time nor interest in searching the Scriptures for God's truth. Years back after showing a woman in Chattanooga in the scriptures that God forbade women from speaking in tongues she said to me; I don't care what the Bible says, I know what I experienced. (Faith In His Blood . Org Comment: Make no mistake about it, when the Apostles spoke in Tongues, THEY DID NOT SPEAK IN MINDLESS GIBBERISH AND UNINTELLIGENT BABBLING. They spoke in foreign languages, understood by men out of every nation under heaven. Every nationality present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost heard the gospel preached in their own language. Pastor Art Watkins made this comment in an earlier post.)