13 making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Mark 7:13 NKJV
We've been in a study examining the lies religious tradition has taught us. Concepts taught so often and with such conviction that it almost seems blasphemous to dare question them. Ideas that have built up strongholds in our minds.
So far we've exposed the lies that say God is the author of sickness and disease. That God is the creator of disasters. That God is ordaining evil in your life to bring about good. That God is for your poverty and to live in insufficiency.
Today, it seems good to build upon the foundation we laid in our last post. Coupled with the religious lie that claims there is no such experience as the Baptism in the Spirit, it is the lie that says speaking with tongues today is of the devil. The idea that those who speak with tongues today are somehow deceived and under the influence of demons.
This insidious lie has its roots in the lie that all the Gifts of the Spirit somehow ceased when the last Apostle died. We have exposed this lie in an entire study here. When you believe the lie that God took His Gifts back from the Church you will be open to religious traditional concepts born in the imagination of unbelieving religious men.
The only source for absolute truth for the Church is God's Word. God revealed His plans and purposes for the Body of Christ in the Good Book. If we just read the Word in context, free from religious tradition we'd see more triumphant victory in the Church as a whole.
So using God's Word, we cannot find any place where speaking with tongues is attributed to anything but the Holy Ghost.
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Acts 10:44-46 NKJV
So the Spirit came upon these new believers. They spoke with tongues magnifying God. So a spiritual utterance that magnifies God is somehow today of the devil? This is the height of religious traditional arrogant unbelief.
I heard an encounter a great minister had with a religious tradition-bound believer. He was in a coffee shop and he saw the traditional guy reading a bible and he simply asked what he was studying and then the minister directed the conversation into telling him of the great things happening at his church. He spoke of an older woman who was healed of deafness. No response. He spoke of revival, in that many were saved and getting stirred for the things of God.
The fellow mentions that in the last times seducing spirits would arise. The minister went on to speak of how families were being restored and all those impacted were going out winning the lost. Again the fellow mentions seducing spirits in the last days. Finally, the minister bluntly asked him are you insinuating that people being healed, getting saved and reading the Word more and more, families being restored and made whole, and people being reached with the saving power of Christ is of the devil? The religious fellow affirmed firmly yes. This minister holding his peace just told the fellow plainly, your devil and his power of deception is greater than your Jesus and His power.
This is sad but so true in many quarters of the Body of Christ. Deception, the power of the enemy seems so great and the power of Jesus is impotent and weak. When tradition regulates the power of God only until the last Apostle died and the Bible was written, any power manifest in the Church must be of the enemy or charlatans seeking to fleece the flock of their finances.
With the badge of skepticism and the exalted place of "honor" unbelief has in most churches it is a wonder God can do anything in their midst. God in His love and great mercy still moves as the Church allows. So then is the supernatural prayer language, tongues, then somehow of the devil today? Of course not!
As we've seen, speaking with Tongues magnifies God. In Acts 2 we see both heavenly Tongues and earthly Tongues manifest. The people testify they heard them proclaiming the wonderful works of God. The devil won't cause anyone to proclaim God's goodness.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14 that tongues are a prayer language, that our spirit is praying. Our spirit man, not some demon. The enemy is not causing God's people to pray. Traditional religion has some of the most outlandish claims. For final proof let's revisit Jesus' words.
We see Jesus speak of receiving the Spirit in Luke 11. Note what He said. If you ask for bread, a good father wouldn't give you a stone. In other words, if you ask of God for something, you won't get a curse. So, asking for the Spirit and the accompanying prayer language you won't get a demon. We've addressed the great benefits of Tongues in previous studies, here and here.
God is a Good God. He is a supernatural God. He is a God of power and might. His power hasn't waned or weakened. His power and Gifts haven't become impotent or ceased. His power is for the hungry, those who desire what He desires. To see a hurting and hopeless World find hope, healing, and wholeness in Christ, by and through His Spirit.
In summation, all of God's Gifts of power and ministry are still active and in effect today. No, God's Gifts today are not the work of demons in action. Relinquish fear and anxiety and receive all God has for you. Jesus promised when you ask God for His Spirit you will receive. No fear of demons and the work of the enemy. Staying with the Word in context, rightly dividing the New Covenant and Old, will shield any believer from any form of deception and error. God is the triumphant victor and we partake of this victory, greater is He that is in us than he that in this world.
image by J F from Pixabay
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