If you haven’t notice already, praying in tongues is a hot and personal issue for some. You would think that I was forbidding the act prayer itself! The fact of prayer is essential and not being questioned by me, but only the means of prayer -- using jibberish talk and identifying it with the Holy Spirit.
Now let me again, remind you of this very crucial fact: There are no examples of anyone in the Bible, especially in the New Testament praying in tongues. Speaking in tongues which God supernaturally gives as a gift to certain people of His choosing that proclaim the mighty works of God in a foreign language they do not know is a legitimate gift and practice. But praying in tongues which is merely a natural (not supernatural) way of learning the art of gibberish talk, that is incoherent of meaning and understanding is nowhere to be seen in the Bible. Yet, it is a highly prized practice in the church.
A very important issue that I have with praying in tongues is how the mind must become disengaged or simply turned off. The mouth speaks vocal jibberish and the mind is not able to comprehend what is being spoken of.
Jesus gave a very important lesson about loving God in Matthew 22:37-38: Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.’”
Loving God is the key act of supreme worship of Him. If loving God is going to be done properly, it must involve, the heart, soul (spirit) and mind.” One cannot love God properly with 90 percent of his heart, five percent of his soul and 5 percent of his mind. We must strive to love God with “all” (one hundred percent) of our heart, soul and mind. Notice how Jesus places a lot of emphasis on the word “all” by mentioning it three times, each time with heart, soul and mind. Jesus wanted us to understand the role of how important all three have in loving God.
However, when a person prays in tongues and it is said that his or her spirit prays, but the mind is “unfruitful,” (1 Cor. 14:14) in that it has no understanding what is being said, you cannot possible say you are loving God the way Jesus described in Matthew 22. Jesus said to love God with “all” your heart, soul and mind. The mind cannot possibly be loving God while it is inactive. Yet, tongue prayers believe that to do so is to pray to God at their zenith, build themselves up, and in some imaginary way they are drawn closer to the almighty. How can this be when the first and foremost commandment that Jesus described is not being practiced?
Think about it.
End of Part 4
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