Bible Answers to Questions - Bible Studies in The Christian Library

Question:

Question

Answer:

every time i pray its in tongue.even when iam a sleep my husband says. i speak. and dreams of what is to come.

Normally when I receive statements and questions, I will correct any grammatical errors that I notice. I realize that many people write quickly and don't take the time to proofread what they have written. However, I left the above statement as it was originally written to make a significant point.

No question is made, but the writer claims she speaks in a tongue. I could make the same claim. All of my prayers are done in American English with a mid-western accent. As mentioned in "What is an unknown tongue?," the miraculous gift known as tongue speaking was the ability to speak in another language with no prior training. It impressed people because they could hear someone speak in their native language. "Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?" " (Acts 2:7-8). What people call tongue speaking today is merely gibberish. Since the writer doesn't claim a particular language, I must conclude that it too is mere babbling that conveys no information.

Second, the writer claims to dream of the future, but again no evidence is displayed. In the days of the prophets, Moses gave the children of Israel a simple test to determine if a self-proclaimed prophet was legitimately from God. "And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' - when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:21-22). Here is how you can know a true prophetess: what she speaks concerning the future always comes true. Not sometimes; not most of the time; but it always is true. Oh, and you can't claim as evidence things that have already happened. I know of no self-proclaimed prophet who can pass this test today.

In fact, I know this writer is not inspired of God. How? God has perfect command of all the languages of the world. A prophet does not speak in his own words. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (I Corinthians 2:12-13). How is it that this self-proclaimed prophetess managed to write with such poor grammar? The only way is to admit that she is not speaking the words of God.

Finally, I know this woman is not of God because she contradicts what God has already stated. "Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away" (I Corinthians 13:8-10). Has the perfect come? James said it had, "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:25). Jude said that this perfect law was delivered, not many times, but once. "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). The message of God has been completely delivered. There is no continuing revelation.

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