If, as I believe, the gift of tongues was used to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah, to make God’s wonderful works understandable, what can be said of that function today? Do tongues glorify God? Do they, as then, declare God’s mighty works in a way that is understood by the hearer? I don’t doubt that sometimes people speak in tongues, I just doubt that most of what I have heard that was called ’speaking in tongues’ was the genuine article.

If the doctrine is confusing, as I believe it is, maybe a revision to the declaration of faith is in order.

Peter had just told them to repent, be baptized, and then they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I wonder if the 3000 spoke in tongues that day? It’s a pity that Scripture does not tell us, it certainly would settle the argument for us one way or the other.

My thought has been that Spirit-baptism evidenced by tongues was the normal pattern among the first generation Christians. Someone claiming to be Spirit-baptized without speaking in tongues would have been the exception in that day. The reason Luke didn’t mention speaking in tongues every time he mentioned Spirit-baptism is because his initial audience (pun intended) of readers would have automatically understood by their experience that tongues accompanied Spirit-baptism.

Today we have the opposite problem. People speaking in tongues when they are baptized in the Spirit are the exception, and we have more people claiming to be Spirit-baptized without speaking in tongues. Yesterday I looked up some archived statistics from the Assemblies of God for the year 2006. In that year there were over 400,000 converts recorded in the movement, but of those 400,000 conversions only 800 Spirit-baptisms were reported. It’s also interesting that the attendance and membership for each year didn’t increase with equal value to the conversions.

“Tithes” or any kind of financial support is often viewed as a means to an ends. Lord, here is my money, now what will you give me for my investment. The prosperity gospel has run rampant here and now they are exporting this distorted trash to Africa. Lord help us.

What seems to be missing, in my opinion, is a metanarrative. A comprehensive picture of the story of God and creation. Scripture is taught in fragmented snippets of timeless truths taught by a Jesus who really didn’t seem to accomplish much except to bring the world a higher ethic but who never really addressed the problem of evil or how to conquer it.

American Christianity seems to be devoid of the cross. Just this morning, someone stated that whenever I spoke of Jesus and the cross, the felt lost!

Anyway, I thought your article was excellent and thought provoking. Bless you brother.

Thanks for being a leader that will voice what so many on the margins are feeling.

I think many are saying if the evidence is not present, then neither is the fullness of the Spirit. Those who cannot produce the “evidence” are not allowed to become minsters in the denomination, nor elders/leaders and in many churches they can’t even become members. While these folks may possess other gifts and/or fruit of the Spirit, if they cannot “prove” it, then are not permitted to teach. preach, lead, administrate and at times even publicly intercede for others.

I would be happy for the COG to clarify that point to be more in line with what you are saying. I think many prefer the black and white, “either you got it or you don’t”.

Larger city + larger numbers = more influence.

My thoughts are that we should be both reptilian and mammalian.
We should have a permissive posture towards people who want to plant. Yet, we should invest most heavily in the upstream cultural centers, not only in America, but in the world.

Ministry in the cities is more expensive. But, they also hold the greatest potential to influence the downstream cultures. Financially resource and serve as a mentor most readily to those environments and with the most situations.

When we give birth to those mammalian ecclesiastical ankle-biters, they will have a church planting DNA, grow up, and birth more mammals…and reptiles, which makes no sense according to all we know about reproduction. But, in this case, the DNA quality is reproduction.

Really, I’ve often wondered about those complaining psalms, and its true, many are speaking prophetically of Christ. And some aren’t. Those that aren’t, I look at as God’s reminder to us that we aren’t first to go through stuff, and we can know that if these who went before us made it through, so can we.