Category Archives: Charismatic Movement

A “Private Prayer Language” – Is It Biblical?

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Article by Justin Peters – original source: https://www.forthegospel.org/read/is-having-a-private-prayer-language-biblical?

“For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.” — 1 Cor. 14:2 (Legacy Standard Bible)

One of the most often employed and most convincing arguments marshaled for the charismatic position of a “private prayer language” is 1 Corinthians 14:2. The Apostle Paul says that one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, supporting the charismatic belief that the gift of tongues is a private prayer language. The fact that “no one understands” seems to support that this language is not a human language at all but rather a heavenly, angelic one.


Are all “tongues” the same gift?
For this position to hold, it must first be assumed that the gift of tongues in Acts 2 is fundamentally different than the gift of tongues described in 1 Corinthians 12-14. There is complete agreement between charismatics and cessationists that the gift of tongues in Acts 2 involves known human languages. Those languages, 16 of them, are conveniently listed in the text. The argument that the gift of tongues listed in 1 Corinthians does not refer to known human languages is a hard sell, however, given that Luke wrote Acts five years after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. If the gift in 1 Corinthians was fundamentally different from the gift in Acts, why would Luke, a traveling companion of Paul’s, use the same word for tongues as Paul (glossolalia) and ascribe to the gift the same source (the Holy Spirit) as Paul? It stretches credulity that Luke would not make such a fundamental difference known. The reason he did not is that it is the same gift.


Who is Paul referring to?
So, if the person speaking in a tongue is speaking in a known human language, why would “no one understand”? The “no one” does not refer to all people throughout the world, but only to those in the local Corinthian assembly. No one in the church of Corinth would understand what was being spoken because the message would be in a known language but one unknown to them. This person “speaks to God” because only God understands what is being spoken (He does, after all, know all human languages). This is precisely why Paul stresses the necessity of an interpreter. Paul says that if there is no one to interpret, “let him keep silent” (1 Cor. 12:28). An interpreter, or translator, must translate so that the church can be edified.


What is the purpose of spiritual gifts?
Remember that the purpose of the spiritual gifts is for the edification of the church (1 Cor. 12:7), not for our own private use! We cannot carve out an exception for the gift of tongues and say, ‘This one I’m using for myself.’ That defeats the entire purpose for which the Holy Spirit gives His gifts. There is no record anywhere in scripture of anyone speaking to God in anything but a known human language. We should hasten to point out that this includes the angels and Jesus Himself! So when you pray, pray like the Apostles and Jesus prayed — in a language you actually understand.

Clouds Without Water Seminar

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Jude: 12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. (NASB)

Justin Peters:

Session 1 – History of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement: An Overview

Session 2 – The Doctrine of Positive Confession
Session 3 – Hearing from Heaven
Session 4 – Mangled Manifestations
Session 5 – The Hurt of Healing
Q&A Session 1
Q&A Session 2

Crazy Charismatic Services – What Is The Draw?

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This question comes from someone who was formerly involved in charismatic services but is asking about why they draw so many people:

Question: Pastor, what do you think is the draw (aside from ability to “control/manipulate”) to the craziness that is seen in “Holy Spirit” services. I honestly never felt the “power” or the laughing thing… I only spoke in tongues as mimicry. I’m not sure what the lure is to the crazy antics I saw and wondered if it’s just like a mob mentality/wanting to belong.

Answer: I think the lure can indeed be a mob mentality as you describe it and this can explain much of what is taking place in those kind of services. I think too, a motivation can also be wanting to have a genuine experience of God (which by itself is a good thing) but never questioning what is happening. I know that was true in my own life when I was involved in them. I wanted God, as I do now, but looking back, I never asked enough questions. When we fail to ask ourselves, “where can I find this activity in the Bible?” we become vulnerable to deception.

“… test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” – 1 Thess 5:21,22

Scripture itself (the words inspired by the Holy Spirit) tells us to test everything. “Everything” is an all inclusive term. God Himself tells us to test everything. NOT doing that means grieving the Holy Spirit who told us to do so.

The means of testing is not a feeling we might have or an experience that occurred. The word of God is “more sure” and more trustworthy than any possible human experience (2 Peter 1:16-21). The means of testing is the Scripture (see Isaiah 8:19, 20; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17). The Bible is the Holy Spirit’s book. Therefore we all need to know our Bibles and employ a biblical filter always.

Lets read another passage in Acts 17. There, “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed…” (v. 10-12)

It is right and noble to check everything taught by the means of “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so.” If something passes the Scripture test, we should hold fast to it. If not, we should throw it out. The Holy Spirit (through the Scripture) tells us to do exactly that.

I will go further and say, Scripture tells us that the fruit of the Spirit in a person’s life (and by extension, the life of the church) is not chaos, confusion and an inability to control ourselves like drunken men and women. No, the fruit of the Spirit, amongst other characteristics, is self control (see Galatians 5). Let that truth sink in for a moment. Someone FULL of the Holy Spirit is someone operating in love, someone under control, someone kind, someone gentle, etc. – not someone who acts like a mad man.

A misinterpretation of Scripture means that verses such as “in His presence is fullness of joy” are made to become a basis for out of control (the opposite of self control), wild, erratic behavior. But Scripture says otherwise.

These familiar words are still God’s words. Let us hear them again: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22, 23)

Verses like “these are not drunk as you suppose” (Acts 2:15) are wrongly interpreted to mean that those who were filled with the Spirit acted as if drunk and out of control (an assumption in charismatic circles). But that is not a true interpretation of the biblical text. It is something falsely assumed and read into the text.

The Bible, rightly read and rightly interpreted is the safeguard against deception. Deceived people, deceive people. When there is no interest in true interpretation of the Bible, all that remains are false foundations and therefore false experiences.

Statements like “do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit” are made to mean that being filled with the Spirit is a lot like being drunk – but again, that is not only not something taught by the text but in fact, the exact opposite of what the text says… The verse is a command that says, “don’t be drunk with wine – but (instead in total contrast) be filled with the Spirit.”

Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit…”

Amen to that! Amen and amen! That being established, what would this look like should we indeed be filled with the Spirit?

Thankfully, we don’t have to guess. The very next verse, a continuation of the sentence, explains:

19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Not being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit means exactly what the Bible says it means and leads to Scripture being cited, songs being sung to the Lord, the giving of thanks and submitting to one another. You will notice, there is not even a hint of crazy, out of control activity. I would say, the exact opposite is the case.

When people are not interested in true interpretation and true doctrine, there you have a people NOT filled with the Spirit. That is because, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and reverence for the biblical text is a fruit of true Holy Spirit inspired activity. It is indeed sad that there seems to be no interest whatsoever in looking at the texts usually cited to see if the things claimed are so.

The Holy Spirit gives people a desire to know and rightly interpret the inspired words of the Bible. When misinterpretation of biblical texts become the basis for experience, and taught as such, everything is built on a faulty foundation. While claiming to be a “move of the Holy Spirit” the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with such a thing. And it is the book the Holy Spirit inspired, the Bible, that tells us this.

That Time When 30 French Charismatics Visited Ligonier

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A quote from the ancient church, usually attributed to Augustine: “In essentials UNITY, in non-essentials LIBERTY, in all things CHARITY.”

In the teaching below entitled, “One, Holy, Catholic & Apostolic Church” from Ligonier Ministries (at the 11 minute mark), Dr. R. C. Sproul recounts a story illustrating the fact that Christian unity must be based on the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, or else only a shallow, superficial (and unbiblical) unity can exist.

Transcript:

“Back in Ligonier many years ago, I had a request for 30 Frenchmen to come and visit us who were part of the charismatic movement in France. And they wanted to come to Ligonier to our study center, and bear witness to what God the Holy Spirit had accomplished in their midst. And they came in and they were filled with enthusiasm, bubbling over with joy and they were singing ‘We are one in the Spirit.’ And they gave testimony of how the Holy Spirit had given them a unity that had transcended all of their historic differences over doctrine. There were Roman Catholics there and Baptists there and people from all different kinds of backgrounds from France.

And I said, ‘Well, that’s amazing.’ And I said, ‘How have you been able to reconcile your differences over justification? Is it by faith alone or isn’t it by faith alone?’ And I started asking some of these critical theological questions to these dear people, and within ten minutes, they were at each other’s throat. [laughter]

They were singing ‘We are one in the Spirit’ until we started talking about the content of the Christian faith. They had one Lord, they had one Spirit, but they didn’t have one faith. And they said, ‘Well, that’s why we don’t like doctrine because doctrine divides.’

When did it ever not divide? When did the truth not ever divide? And these people say, ‘We have to do away with doctrine.’ If you want to do away with doctrine, you better burn your New Testaments because the New Testament is one doctrine after another which is the revelation of the truth of God. And if you want to have a superficial unity that is ultimately meaningless, get rid of your doctrine.

In one sense, I’m glad that Christians argue so much over doctrine. Because at least the people who are arguing about doctrine understand that it is of eternal significance, what we believe. And where we differ in doctrine, we should be going to the mat, and looking for that unity of the one faith that has been delivered to us in the pages of the New Testament. But let us not forget also that there exists a real and profound and important unity that all of the differences that we have in denominations, and in the trappings of our polity, and our doctrines at this point and that – that all of these differences cannot overcome.”

Was that You Lord?

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I was delighted to see that this resource has been made where Pastor Jim Osman (of Kootenai Community Church) is interviewed regarding his new book “God doesn’t whisper.” The interview focuses on the common thought that Christians are hearing the voice of God as a regular occurrence or at least, it should be common. Along the way, the following themes are addressed:

1) Do we need to hear from God outside Scripture.

2) Should we expect to hear from God outside of Scripture.

3) Must we learn to hear from God outside of Scripture?

Then Jim addresses some of the most common arguments for hearing the voice of God and then explains how to make decisions as a Christian without hearing the voice of God.

Here is the link:

God Doesn’t Whisper with Jim Osman