Number one, as we’ve already looked, tongues are not unique to Christianity. They’re not unique to Christianity. So the fact that pagans can speak in tongues and do it just as convincingly as any professing Charismatic Christian is proof positive that just because someone is speaking in tongues, it’s not necessarily an indication that that person is getting that ability from God. Pagans do it too. So not at all an indication of God’s hand on that person.
Tongues can be practiced in an ignorant, ungodly way. This is what was going on in the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth was an absolute mess. And they had this rampant abuse of the spiritual gifts. They were abusing the gifts in every imaginable way, in an unimaginable morality going on in that church and Paul was writing to correct this. Paul was writing to correct this. Tongues can be practiced in an ungodly way, it can be done in such a way that it brings attention to the person speaking in tongues, rather than glorifying Christ, rather than edifying the church. That’s what was going on in the church at Corinth.
Also, if it’s done in public in corporate worship, an interpreter must always be present and he must always interpret. And so if you’re in a church and there’s a group of people speaking in tongues all at once, and no one is interpreting, that’s well outside of biblical parameters. That’s not of God. Paul says it must be done by two or at the most three, each in turn and one must always interpret. And if that’s not what’s going on, then that is outside of biblical parameters, it is not of God. And, of course, we argue that that gift has ceased anyway, no longer in operation.
Spiritual Shipwreck of the Word-Faith Movement (Justin Peters)
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