Leslie Abbott - Speaking In Tongues and Other Charismatic Gifts

Speaking In Tongues
a nd Other
Charismatic Gifts

A BIBLICAL EXAMINATION
OF THE
MIR A CULOUS GIFTS

By Leslie Abbott

2012 Leslie Abbott

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Every effort has been made to ensure no copyrighted material has been used without giving proper credit in footnotes and Bibliography. The author regrets any oversights that may have occurred and would be happy to rectify them in future printings of the book.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

To my wife Melody who has helped me immensely in editing this book and was bold enough to ask some very important questions, helping me to further clarify what I was trying to communicate.

To my first-born so n Michael (23) who witnessed me going through many difficult times in my life while on my own spiritual journey, one which is never finished. In addition, Michael has sacrificed valuable time with his dad while I was busy writing and editing this book over several years.

To my middle child Matthew (15) who also sacrificed his time from fishing and hunting while I felt so committed to this project.

To my darling daughter Kathryn whose smile always cheers me up and keeps me going when things seem to be tough.

I would also like to thank Bible College teachers that taught and modeled to me the pursuit for truth. Hermeneutics and Expository teaching has given me insight into how to interpret scripture within its proper context. It has dramatically changed my life and helped me sort out many confusing doctrines of the past. It has also stimulated my mind and given me license to explore other subjects of interest to which I am eternally grateful.

Preface

Myriads of books are now filling our bookstore shelves and one could only wonder as to why one would want to add yet another book, especially one concerning the miraculous gifts . For many years I struggled with the idea but then I concluded that I, like Jeremiah, must speak up at least through the written page.

Some books concerning the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit have been written from the traditional conservative viewpoint, and many from the Charismatic or Pentecostal viewpoint, each of them taking a position for or against speaking tongues.

Very few books have been written from anyone who has re-examined their beliefs which eventually led to a personal abandonment of Pentecostalism and its practices.

It has been my discovery that a few Pentecostals have made some minor changes regarding their beliefs but they still maintained the basic essentials of the faith, put in a good word for Pentecostals in their books, and then strived for a balance between Conservative Evangelicals and Pentecostals. This has given way to a new rise in the Charismatic arena which is considered to be a middle-ground approach.

A brief look at our society today will reveal an unhealthy pre-occupation with the spirit realm and the supernatural. For Christians that is also true, but spelled Spirit realm and the Supernatural, attributing miraculous events and other strange phenomena to Almighty God.

Our generation is on a quest for power and experiences. While the New Age movement may be seeking power from within oneself or through mind altering drugs or even the occult, Christians are seeking power and experiences through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as tongues, laying on of hands, falling or being slain in the Spirit, healing and other miracles.

Altar calls, slaying in the Spirit, healings, speaking in tongues, and other unusual experiences are attributed to God .

With the passing of time the spiritual high becomes low, and the spiritual walk may become weakened until the next time the Spirit is moving.

Experience can be easily manipulated by flesh and Satan. Christians must safeguard themselves from seeking emotional experiences that are contrary to Gods Word. Yes, even Christians are hungering for power and experience. They may be getting tired of playing Church or simply being religious. They want something new and exciting to be happening in their lives. They want help dealing with life's problems.

Rather than turn to Christ for a deeper relationship with Him, they have been convinced that the reason they lack power is because they do not have the baptism in the Holy Spirit usually evidenced by speaking in tongues (Charismatics believe some will and some will not receive this tongues experience). To receive this promised Spirit baptism will give them the power to be an effective witness for Christ, live a holy life, and have a deeper relationship with Christ , all neatly wrapped up in one beautiful package. Then they will be on fire for God. That is, as long as the Spirit is moving.

The focus of this book is to biblically examine the basic beliefs of both the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements . Because the two are so similar, I will simply combine the two words to read Charismatic/Pentecostal except where a subject may not be applied to both .

My desire is to stimulate a healthy regard for Scripture leading to a life in Christ that reflects doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22-25).

Much of the deception amongst Christians today is self-induced. Many people do not read or study their Bibles. Those who have been caught up in a belief system may have not studied their Bible contextually.

Those who do study Scripture are most often seeking to confirm their cherished beliefs , rather than examining Scripture in its correct context.

The purpose of this book is to stimulate an inquiring mind in regards to the current miraculous gifts movement to emphasize what scripture really says because the truth will set you free, and ultimately bring healing.

The Bible chosen for our discussion is the 1611 Authorized King James Version. My preference is the New International Version which is much easier to understand and which requires much less research to understand the passages.

However, my reasons for using the KJV are simply:

it is still a favorite version amongst many Christian groups,

the 1611 Elizabethan style of English lends itself to misinterpretation because we read and speak differently in our culture today.

When we read the KJV Bible few of us take the time to look up the words and their meanings; we transfer meanings onto them which were not intended by the author; or we ignore words and phrases that we do not understand and move on. This does a great injustice to God's Holy Word.

I have taken great pains to prevent any skipping from one Bible passage to another until the full meaning of the text being discussed has first been discovered. Then other verses may be used that give clear support to this interpretation. Many times you will find the words more about that later in brackets because, while the subject may be of great importance, I do not want to cloud over the message that is being portrayed by the author of the Bible passage currently being discussed.

In later chapters I will deal with some topical issues but only after the familiar texts used in Charismatic/Pentecostal circles have been covered.

Along with the Bible, I will take into consideration my previous Pentecostal/Charismatic background and experiences; eye witness accounts; and most of all, any helpful historical, cultural, and contextual background of the text being examined that might help us understand it better.

While my aim is to be true to God's Word as it is written, I also intend to be as simple as possible because it is the babes in Christ who are the ones most easily deceived and lured into groups which claim to be practicing things based on the Word of God. Therefore, very few references will be made to the Greek unless it adds clarity.