TONGUES

Pentecostal churches turn away from practice of speaking in tongues

In this Sunday, Aug. 18, 2013 photo, Pastor Ken Walters leads a Pentecostal service at The Three Crosses Church in Chatsworth area of Los Angeles. The 40-member church is among others nationwide that is reducing or cutting out speaking in tongues in an attempt to be more mainstream, a shift that unsettled some parishioners who say the practice is at the heart of the movement. (Associated Press )

By The Associated Press
on September 02, 2013 at 9:43 AM, updated September 02, 2013 at 9:50 AM

By SARAH PARVINI
LOS ANGELES — At Three Crosses Church, Pastor Ken Walters urges his parishioners to join him in song and scripture. The charismatic 58-year-old extends his arms skyward and belts out melodies praising God.
While the small Assemblies of God congregation goes through all the traditional trappings of a Pentecostal service, there is one notable absence: speaking in tongues, a defining trait of the faith.
The 40-member church is among many nationwide that are reducing or cutting out speaking in tongues as they become more popular and move to the mainstream. It's a shift that has unsettled some more traditional Pentecostals who say the practice is at the heart of a movement that evolved out of an interracial revival and remains a spontaneous way for the poor and dispossessed to have a direct line to God.
They question the wisdom of placing less emphasis on a tenet that has defined Pentecostalism for more than a century.
"It's different now," Walters said. "People don't like to stand out if they don't have to."
As the religion becomes more widely accepted, Walters said, there has been a tendency for large Pentecostal churches to downplay the differences between Pentecostalism and other well-known Christian denominations.
The Assemblies of God, one of the nation's largest Pentecostal denominations with 3 million members, has 66 million members worldwide. Assemblies officials worried about the decline in messages in tongues — or spirit baptism — at a general council meeting this month. The practice decreased by about 3 percent to fewer than 82,000, the lowest total since 1995, according to statistics released by the Assemblies of God.
"This is a long-developing phenomenon," said Harvey Cox, an expert in Pentecostalism and professor of religion at the Harvard Divinity School. "They don't want what appears to be objectionable to stick out or be viewed with suspicion."
Meanwhile, newer strands of Pentecostalism — often with roots in other countries like Nigeria and El Salvador — continue to emphasize the practice in church as well as in personal prayer, Cox said.
While all Pentecostals accept speaking in tongues as a "gift of the Holy Spirit," these smaller, niche congregations aren't afraid to embrace the practice and don't care whether it scares some away, he said.
Pentecostalism represents one of the fastest-growing segments of global Christianity. At least a quarter of the world's 2 billion Christians are members of the Pentecostal faith or related charismatic movements, according to the Pew Research Center.
For the first decade, the movement was mainly comprised of poor white and African-American worshippers. Influenced by the spiritual renewal of the Azusa Street Revival — a Pentecostal revival meeting that took place in Los Angeles in 1906 — the Assemblies grew with interracial services that included speaking in tongues, prophecy and faith healing.
Occasionally, parishioners were "slain in the Spirit," falling to the floor following an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

This is a long-developing phenomenon.

Pentecostals believe speaking in tongues may be an unlearned human language— as the Bible claims happened on the Day of Pentecost — or it may be the language of angels. Studies show that words spoken when delivering messages in tongues lack the components and patterns of a true language.
At his service in a small chapel in the West Valley Christian Center, Walters steps aside after reading scripture and introduces a guest: Nick Farone, a pastor who runs a Christian center in Louisiana.
A member of the Pentecostal Church Of God — a denomination with about 500,000 members — Farone uses his time on stage to preach returning to the basics of the faith. Parishioners in the pews nod their heads in agreement, swaying back and forth.
"Praise Jesus," a woman says, her eyes closed and head bowed.
Farone said many Pentecostal pastors are failing to stress the importance of messages in tongues in their teachings.
The emotional and spiritual connection of speaking in tongues, the visceral experience, is what appeals to those in need during a time of economic and social instability, and is arguably the heart of the Pentecostal movement, he said.
After the service, Farone placed his right hand on his forehead and began to speak again. This time, the words were impossible to understand, streaming out in a long, rambling string of sound. He had just spoken in tongues, he said later.
"This is our power," he added, acknowledging he was unsure of what he had just said. "We shouldn't be ashamed."
The success of smaller congregations in Latin America and Africa is linked to their openness to the supernatural experience, Farone said. Poor parishioners feel they can contribute to the congregation by interpreting the word of God, despite living in hardship.
"You can't preach wealth in these places," he said. "Smaller churches have bigger hearts."
Adrian Tigmo has been attending service at Three Crosses for more than 20 years. The 64-year-old said he believes messages in tongues have declined because people outside the faith have been critical of the practice.
While he prays in tongues during worship, he does so quietly and to himself — not aloud for the congregation to hear.
For him, the resurgence of speaking in tongues in church depends on people leading by example. He said, "People can't just give up."

THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT http://wp.me/P2M7AJ-4v

http://ipost.christianpost.com/news/i-dont-agree-with-john-macarthur-i-speak-in-tongues-12283/

HOLY SPIRIT GIFTS http://www.freeworldfilmworks.com/gifts.pdf

JESUS CHRIST THE SAME  http://wp.me/p2M7AJ-Xf

ENJOY THE VICTORY http://wp.me/p2M7AJ-Zg

MEN OF INTEGRITY http://wp.me/p2M7AJ-12p
Words Move Faith

There is power in your words. Probably more power than you could possibly imagine. All through the Word of God, words were used to create, control, and destroy.

When Jesus heard that Lazarus was dead, He went to the tomb and spoke these words: "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43). When Jesus said those words, Lazarus came out of the grave.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus went to get something to eat off of a fig tree. After walking over to it, He found nothing on it but leaves, so Jesus spoke to the fig tree and said, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again" (Mark 11:14).

The next day as Jesus and His disciples passed by, they saw that the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away" (v. 21). Then Jesus answered and made a very dramatic statement pertaining to the words of your mouth. He said, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says" (Mark 11:22,23).

How much plainer could Jesus have made it? We must speak to the mountain, just like He spoke to the fig tree and just like He spoke to Lazarus.

In John 18, we have one of the most overlooked miracles in the Bible. Jesus was in a garden with His disciples. Jesus had met them in this particular garden several times. They knew it well, including Judas, who was heading toward the garden with a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. They had lanterns, torches, and weapons. They were there to arrest Jesus.

Jesus knew exactly what was going on so He walked forward to the soldiers and said, "Whom are you seeking?" The soldiers answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." Then Jesus said, "I am He." (John 18:5-8). Actually, He was saying, "I AM." (See Ex. 3:14.) Now, when Jesus said "I am He," the officers of the court, the Pharisees, and the detachment of soldiers all fell backward to the ground. (John 18:6.) The power of the words of Jesus was more than their physical bodies could handle. According to the Bible, when Jesus spoke, they could not remain standing. They fell under the power of God. They had no choice.

Don't kid yourself. There is power in the spoken word. Words, your words, can produce life and they can cause death.

Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." This verse means that your words can produce life or death. Your words are the tool that you use to move your faith. When you speak positive words of faith, it moves God to perform His Word in your life. When you speak worry, doubt, and unbelief, then faith is not present and God only responds to faith.

When you have a mountain in your life that you need moved, get into the Word of God and find out what He says about your mountain. Read the Word and meditate on it. Then speak the Word to your mountain. Believe that what you have spoken will come to pass and then watch your mountain be cast into the sea.