How do I know if I am being deceived?

[bamagirl]

A person in my church spoke in tongues last night and I just didn't feel the power of God when she spoke....I have heard many people speak in tongues and I have felt the awesome power of God while they spoke in tongues, but I have also heard people speak in tongues that I have not felt the presence of God....Just your thoughts if this could possibly be a deceiver? I know Satan can speak in tongues too...Just your thoughts on this please...Thanks

 

[Andrew]

I dont think we can go by feelings, but what is the annointing within 'saying'.

The best way is to be sensitive to the Spirit's 'check n balance' in you. He will guide you into all truth.

The only prob with this is that you first gotta know the difference betw the Spirit's guidance in you, and your own emotions or personal bias.

I'm still learning. My Pastor calls it "a peace" or lack of it in your Spirit. Notice that just b4 Jesus talked abt the annointing withing guiding us into truth, he spoke abt the Peace he leaves with us and for us not to let our hearts be troubled.

We are to remain in that peace. So if you hear something that doesn't gel with the peace in your spirit, something isnt quite right. that goes for the man you are dating, the job you want to get, the house someone is trying to sell to you, a stranger you are talking to, etc ,etc.

Dont just go by what is said and seen, learn to hear what your spirit is saying. are there alram bells going off, or is there peace.

anyway, women are supp to be better at this. they are somehow more intuitive and sensitive. the can pick up things in their spirit better than the men.

guys dont you think so *LOL

 

[TwistrAndy]

I felt that way too, except it wasn't with "speaking tongues". I visited this one church with my mom, cause it was the only way to get her to go so I went. Well, people started coming up, and they would be slain in the spirit, well when they got up they didn't act as if anything had happened, and people falling out was the only thing that happened. I didn't feel the power behind those things. I mean at my church when people fall out they have to be helped up, and even then they can't walk right cause they have the power on them, and people fallin out isn't the only thing that happens, some run, dance, hop pews, etc. BUT... I also, will not judge what happened there, cause that is not my place, I just didn't have a good feeling about it all.

 

[CoCoChiCa33]

Same here, only with the gift of "wisdom." we have this girl at our church that is always trying to speak into our lives what she thinks, not what God thinks. I mean, we could be praying to not sin at school, and she'll come up and be like "your dad will stop drinking, dont worry!" i mean, sometimes it is of God, and its awesome, cuz she is the most used by God teen that i know. But sometimes she tries too hard and gets carried away i guess. Just be sure and not let yourself be affected by that. the Holy Spirit will give you that same feeling that you felt, maybe even a sense of being unsettled... Just pray about it!

 

[plum]

Perhaps it's not our place to speak on whether something is fake or not? How can we know unless God tells it?

And let's rememeber that God is not a cookie cutter God. He doesn't always work how we expect him to. He doesn't always come to us in the same ways. He doesn't always come with feelings either... Listen to the Holy Spirit in your life and pray for discernment. I suppose that's all we can do, right? Like defensive driving. We can also act defensively in those settings.

Question... what's the Biblical basis for the fact that Satan can speak in tongues?

 

[rooster]

A person in my church spoke in tongues last night and I just didn't feel the power of God when she spoke....I have heard many people speak in tongues and I have felt the awesome power of God while they spoke in tongues, but I have also heard people speak in tongues that I have not felt the presence of God....Just your thoughts if this could possibly be a deceiver? I know Satan can speak in tongues too...Just your thoughts on this please...Thanks

The fruits.
Never judge a person by just appearance or feeling ( but also do not disregard it)
First fruit of the spirit is love, also where the spirit leads, it will always glorify God. It would bring attention to God, not the person

 

[ischus]

A person in my church spoke in tongues last night and I just didn't feel the power of God when she spoke....I have heard many people speak in tongues and I have felt the awesome power of God while they spoke in tongues, but I have also heard people speak in tongues that I have not felt the presence of God....Just your thoughts if this could possibly be a deceiver? I know Satan can speak in tongues too...Just your thoughts on this please...Thanks

What did she say? Was the message biblical?

 

[SUNSTONE]

Its the same as hearing the message from the preacher.

1. It may not be for you. If the preacher speaks on salvation, you may have heard it 50 times before, so its not going to have that "awe" type feeling that it once did.

2. God forbid, but perhaps the message isn't in the word of God. Not that he is a false teacher all together, or that he even realizes it is not biblical, but it is done out of ignorance.

So how does this relate to tongues in church?

1. It may not be for you, there are alot of people in church. The columbine massacre done by one of the kids, had such a message given to him the same week he did the murders.It was a prophecy just for him, but everyone else is hearing "God knows what you are going to do. And you think you will just die, but you won't, you will go to hell."
That message was for him, and him only.

2. Paul says if there is no translation, they are to keep silent. So maybe they felt an excitement from God, and they thought it might have been God telling them to speak in tongues, but God meant to just give a spiritual hug.

 

[Suffolk Sean]

Hey Bamagirl,

This is not an indictment on your spirituality but perhaps the issue was your receptibility at that time. I have felt plenty of times that what I heard was not of God, however the Pastor followed up with how on the money what happened was be it prophesy, tounges, etc.
Keep an open mind about one thing, we serve a Big God, and he can handle his own.

 

[MadeInOz]

Maybe this is just me, but perhaps some churches are so... starved perhaps of it that they are prepared to recieve and celebrate any possible instance of a sign of a spiritual gift.

Personally, I know that when there was a recent visit to my local (lutheran) church by a powerful speaker by the name of Gemechis Desta Buba, it really challenged the opinions of a lot of people who were very stuck in their ways. People who had previously not seen the validity of some things had their minds opened when they experienced it for themselves.

Hmmmmm.

I basically agree with a lot of what sunstone said.