real tongues / fake tongues ..can we really make that judgment call

From experience - the demon of false tongues sounds garbled and indistinct. Beyond that I would say that one would need discernment to really tell the difference.

DaveW-Ohev said:

From experience - the demon of false tongues sounds garbled and indistinct. Beyond that I would say that one would need discernment to really tell the difference.

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And that is the reason God gives the gift of discerning of spirits to safeguard the exercise of the other gifts. Wherever there is the genuine spiritual gifts the evil one has counterfeits but those with the gift of discernment can distinguish.

Good chapter on 'Discerning of spirits' in David Petts book 'Body Builders - Gifts to Make God's People Grow'.

If I were to walk into a prayer meeting where most people were speaking in maybe Swahili or even an Eastern Asian language where they were pretending to praise God in the Spirit, if someone piped up that they were praising God in tongues, I seriously doubt if I could tell if they were or not.

If someone was rambling in some form of demonic ecstatic gibberish, then this would undoubtedly make it easy to realise that they were under some form of demonic control as they would have to be in a near catatonic state.

If someone were simply repeating a few syllables over and over where they were sincere in their belief that they were speaking in tongues, I would be inclined to say that they were not but as quitebloke said, there may be those times where our rational senses may fail to help us where we will need someone who has demonstrated an ability to operate within the area of Spiritual discernment.

Alithis said:

might i make a suggestion to enhance the participation ... feel free to share ..your own present understanding on things -i assure you though it may(or may not) be challenged ,put it out there any way ..

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Thankyou 'Alithis'. I have done that earlier. God bless!

Alithis said:

the gift of discernment is far more required when a very decent looking preacher is preaching.. very great sounding stuff but is .."off kilter in your heart as the Holy Spirit is warning you ..he sounds good but he/she is not speaking the truth ..he/she is leading astray .

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Actually I believe that is NOT the 1 Cor 12 charismatic gift of Discerning of Spirits. (which is given only to a few) Rather it is the type of discernment that every believer should grow in:

Heb 5.12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

DaveW-Ohev said:

Actually I believe that is NOT the 1 Cor 12 charismatic gift of Discerning of Spirits. (which is given only to a few) Rather it is the type of discernment that every believer should grow in:

Heb 5.12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

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I would say that there is a difference between choosing to "train our senses" which takes time to where (1Cor 12:7) "each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good".

The Operation of discernment of Spirit's is something that is given by the Holy Spirit so that we can discern and understand certain spiritual activity that our normal senses cannot understand. As this activity of the Holy Spirit enables us to understand what we could not normally fathom, then there must be a distinction between the two, where one is natural discernment and the other is Spiritual discernment.

If you refer to Acts 2:1-4 you will recognise where the speaking of tongues came from
"When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
The first time I heard my Pastor speak in tongues I was freaked out. I had just joined the church and had no idea what was going on but I learnt and now I understand and can feel the Spirit when someone is talking in tongues

Don't think we can make that call unless Yahweh tells you.

which call is that tturt? I am curious to hear your views

What is Word of Faith movement? Is it a new fad?

I'm not sure. There is a forum for that though

I'm referring to the topic - whether a believer is speaking real or fake tongues.

I've gone by appearances before and was totally wrong. That's the reason I took a look at discernment and discerning of spirits. Think many believers think we have discernment but it's not the same as discerning of spirits. Noticed "But the manifestation of the Spirit..." for all the spiritual gifts listed (I Cor 12:7-10), that information has to come directly from Yahweh or it's just our thoughts and opinions.

posted: "...now I understand and can feel the Spirit when someone is talking in tongues." I understand that and have found that to be true many times but know there are others who do not agree.

Biblicist2 said:

If I were to walk into a prayer meeting where most people were speaking in maybe Swahili or even an Eastern Asian language where they were pretending to praise God in the Spirit, if someone piped up that they were praising God in tongues, I seriously doubt if I could tell if they were or not.

If someone was rambling in some form of demonic ecstatic gibberish, then this would undoubtedly make it easy to realise that they were under some form of demonic control as they would have to be in a near catatonic state.

If someone were simply repeating a few syllables over and over where they were sincere in their belief that they were speaking in tongues, I would be inclined to say that they were not but as quitebloke said, there may be those times where our rational senses may fail to help us where we will need someone who has demonstrated an ability to operate within the area of Spiritual discernment.

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I'd be interested to have your thinking about the following:

I know that when a Christian who doesn't believe that the tongues we're reading about on this thread are genuine, he often gets something like this in reply--

"That's one kind of tongues-speaking. There's also tongues that aren't supposed to be revelatory but, rather, are a prayer language or else are an "angelic language," so no interpretation is needed or possible and the language is not meant to be understood by anyone."

Albion said:

I'd be interested to have your thinking about the following:

I know that when a Christian who doesn't believe that the tongues we're reading about on this thread are genuine, he often gets something like this in reply--

"That's one kind of tongues-speaking. There's also tongues that aren't supposed to be revelatory but, rather, are a prayer language or else are an "angelic language," so no interpretation is needed or possible and the language is not meant to be understood by anyone."

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Even though I suspect that the majority of Pentecostals would still hold to the formula tongues + interpretation = prophecy, where someone provides a tongue and another provides an interpretation of the tongue where the two are supposed to be prophetic word from the Spirit to the congregation, this is no more than an incorrect application of tongues as any word given in a tongues is always directed by the Holy Spirit to the Father and never to man – without exception!

This poorly thought out practice, which is something that we Pentecostals (and charismatics) should hang our heads in shame over, is an absolute travesty as there is not a hint of support for this strange practice within the Scriptures; sadly, I used to believe the silly formula tongues + interpretation = prophecy as well, which is something that I am not proud of.

Here’s where we have the view that there are two (and for some three) types of tongues, where the first is a prayer language and the second is revelatory as with the aforementioned formula. In the first decade of the 20th century some Pentecostals (such as Parham and Seymour) believed in a third application of tongues where the Holy Spirit could be used to evangelise unreached people groups but thankfully this misnomer was quickly discarded.

So there is categorically only one form of tongues which is a prayer language where the Holy Spirit will always (without exception) direct his words of intercession or praise to the Father.