By Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980)
I. TONGUES AT PENTECOST
I
read a few verses from Acts, chapter 2, as I begin a series of messages on
speaking in tongues. In reading what the Bible has to say about speaking in
tongues, my aim is, first of all, to get people concerned about the one main
thing, that is, the power of the Holy Spirit to win souls, and to keep
people from being led off into some cult and false doctrine and get a
substitute instead of the real thing. I know I can help you if you will
listen to what the Bible says.
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues [literally other languages], as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Juduea, and Cappadocla, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylla, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed .... " (Acts 2:1-12).
What Was the Meaning of Pentecost? Power to Win Souls!
Now this is the one great essential Bible passage that deals with speaking in tongues at Pentecost. Here they spoke in tongues. What does it mean? The Scripture says, "Every man heard them speak in his own language." So we are talking about literal languages but given miraculously as a gift of God in a time of need. Here is the principal Bible passage on talking in tongues; this is the great example in the Bible, and we must keep in mind what God had in mind and learn what the Bible really says and not what some man implies about it.
Now, note the main intent. What are we talking about? The day of Pentecost when they had three thousand people saved. And what were they told to look forward to? In Luke 24:46-49, Jesus said to them that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem .... And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."
Now, what are they waiting for? They are to preach the Gospel but they are to tarry for an enduement of power from on High. Not a word is said about the languages because everybody who preaches must preach in some language, but what language it is is not essential except that people hear and understand. So the Lord didn't say anything about what language; but the great essential is they are to preach the Gospel and they are to have an enduement of power from on High.
What does Pentecost mean? It means the coming of an enduement of power, the power of the Holy Spirit on people so they can witness for Jesus.
Again, in Acts 1:8 the Lord told them, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." What are they to expect at Pentecost? The Holy Ghost is to come on them and they are to receive power to witness for Jesus at Jerusalem and then in all Judaea and in Samaria and to the uttermost part of the world. It is a time of power of God coming to win souls.
I turn to Acts, chapter 2, and verse 41, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Oh, what a wonderful thing!
When I was a fifteen-year-old boy I discovered this in the Bible. I was saved and I wanted to win souls and while I was reading this came to me -- I probably had read it before, but, oh, how it struck me -- that here we pray for revival, we are so glad when one or two or a dozen are saved, but they had three thousand people saved in one day! I thought then, and I think now, that is the next thing to Heaven, that is marvelous, that is a wonderful thing! Isn't it a foolish and silly and sinful thing for anybody to talk about Pentecost and think about Pentecost and not be interested in what God was interested in? And the one main thing He told them He intended was to get people saved, and it turned out they did have three thousand people saved. And you are not interested in that! No, I fear you are interested in the origin of the church. You are interested in talking in tongues. Or you are interested in sanctification. You ought to be ashamed. If you ever get burdened about what God is burdened about, and if you talk about what God is talking about, then you will see the point here. Tongues were an incidental convenience, a miraculous one but an incidental convenience to the matter of preaching the Gospel and getting people saved. So the Bible plainly says here. They got three thousand people saved.
In I Corinthians 14:22, in correcting a heresy about tongues and rebuking them of heresy over at Corinth Paul said that this matter of tongues is a sign to the unbelievers. Here people came from sixteen different nationalities, whose names I read you, and here at Pentecost they heard the Gospel in their own language in which they were born. That was a sign to them of the power of God and they listened and thousands of them -- three thousand that day -- were saved.
Note the main intent of what happened at Pentecost was to get people saved. That leads me to say there is a sinful dishonesty to approach this Bible in any other way except in thinking about what God is thinking about and wanting what God wants and getting the main point that God makes the main point. The main point here is they were waiting. What for? For power. They tarried in that Upper Room and prayed ten days. What for? For an enduement of power. What are they going to do with it? They are going to preach the Gospel. And the Day of Pentecost came; they were endued with power, they did preach the Gospel to everybody there in various languages, and they had three thousand people saved. It is wicked to pick out a few little things and make some cult of your own and something on which you can brag: "Oh, we've got it and other folks haven't." And you think you are better than the soul winners. You think you are better than the mightiest men of God who carry on His work and get multitudes saved, because you jabber in a tongue that doesn't mean anything to anybody. You call that what they had at Pentecost! That is wicked and dishonest. An honest approach here must see that what happened was that God, in lovingkindness, gave them the power to talk to people in their own language and they were converted; and that was a wonderful thing.
Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., used to say, "If it doesn't have any sense to it, God isn't in it." God does things for a sensible reason, and for a very clear reason here -- He wanted them to win souls and He used sensible things.
The Tongues at Pentecost Were Literal Languages
Now, what happened here at Pentecost? First, there were literal languages. They were astonished because every man heard in his own tongue in which he was born. They heard the wonderful works of God. Because it was spoken in their own language they heard the Gospel, and so it was literal languages. It was not some so-called "heavenly language," it was not some so-called "unknown tongue." Now it is true that to people of another language a certain language may be unknown, but it was not in any sense a language unknown to men everywhere. No. They were regular languages, regularly spoken by other people and given here in order that people might preach the Gospel and witness with power. I say they were regular languages. So this idea that talking in tongues is some ecstatic falling into a kind of a trance and you feeling light as a feather and hearing angels wings flapping, and you saying something, you don't know what, is false. Nothing like that is taught in the Bible. That is the invention of men, and it is not the Bible doctrine of the power of the Holy Spirit or of the Bible gift of tongues.
I will preach to you later about the gifts of the Spirit, and this is one of the gifts but the least of the gifts of the Spirit. But they had at Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Notice another thing. God had a reason here. Here these people heard the Gospel.
Lord, why did You let somebody talk in the Latin language of those people from Rome? So they could hear the Gospel. Why did You have some people talk in the language of the people from the island of Crete? So they could get converted. Why did You have some talk in Arabic? Because some people were there from Arabia and Mesopotamia who needed the Gospel. Therefore they were talking in "tongues" so people could get saved.
God had a purpose and the whole purpose of Christ's coming into the world, and the preaching of the Gospel, and churches, and people called to preach, and missionaries, is to get the Gospel out to sinners and to keep people out of Hell. And that was the aim God had here. So He had plainly said, and now God had a reason to let them talk in the language so these people could be saved. Jews out of every nation under Heaven there that day heard the Gospel.
Incidental Miracles at Pentecost Not Promised, Not Repeated
Notice also that at Pentecost there are several incidental miracles. I say incidental because they were not the main thing.
First, there was a cyclonic wind. There came a great rushing, mighty wind from Heaven. That is not natural. It could be a wind that was natural, but this one was not. This one was from God, and it was miraculous, but it was incidental. It was not promised ahead of time. It had no special meaning except to attract attention, we suppose. It was a miracle, but it was an incidental miracle.
Then there were tongues like as of fire and visible that sat on the people. Again that was not promised. Again the Lord didn't tell the people to wait for that. Again there is no special significance except that it attracted attention to the power of God on these people. God didn't command it for us. He didn't promise it to anybody else, just as He didn't promise the matter of tongues to anybody else and didn't command anybody else to talk in tongues. But here were some incidental miracles.
A man asked me, "Brother Rice, have you been filled with the Holy Ghost?"
I said, "Yes, thank God, if you mean an enduement of power from on High such as Jesus promised; if you mean the blessed Spirit of God came on me and helps me to win souls (as yesterday I saw seven or eight come to Christ) -- if you mean that, thank God, yes."
"No, I mean did you get it just like at Pentecost?"
I said, "Yes, if you mean the main thing, I did."
"Oh," he said, "but did you talk in tongues like they did there?"
I said, "No, there wasn't any need for me to talk in different kinds of languages. I have been able to talk to people in the English language. Where I go they understand English."
"Oh," he said, "then you didn't have it like it happened at Pentecost. I think you ought to have it just like it happened at Pentecost."
"Well," I asked, "all right, did you get the power of the Holy Ghost just like at Pentecost?"
"Yes, Sir, I did."
"All right, was there a cyclonic wind that filled all the house and everybody heard it in town?"
And he said, "No."
Then I said, "You didn't have it like it happened at Pentecost. Were there visible tongues like fire that appeared to the people and they sat on them and they saw them -- tongues like fire?"
And he said, "Well, no, I guess not."
I said, "Don't ever go around bragging that you got the incidental part just like at Pentecost, for you didn't. You didn't get any one of those three miracles that happened at Pentecost. Did you talk in the language of somebody present who couldn't understand you in English? Did you get power to talk to him in his own language in which he was born?"
"No."
You see, there is no use pretending. If you are talking abetit the incidental by-products that happened here, then you didn't get that, and God didn't tell us we should have that.
In Acts 4:31 here the same people were filled with the Holy Spirit and the Scripture says that "when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake the word of God with boldness." There the place was shaken; there it was an earthquake. Again it was a miracle, but it was incidental and it is not commanded for us and it didn't always happen when people were filled with the Holy Spirit. Nobody need pretend that you can manufacture something or that God will fit all the little details just to please some fancy of yours. The plain, simple truth is there was s reason for these things then and if God ever has a reason for it, He will do it again. But He didn't promise it and it is not commanded and we are not to seek that and it probably won't ever happen just like that again!
There Is No Command in the Bible to Seek to "Speak in Tongues"
Well, notice another thing. There is not a single command in the Bible to talk in tongues.
You say, "But over in I Corinthians 14 Paul said, 'I would that ye all spake with tongues.' " Yes, "I would you all could talk in several languages like I do." He did not talk there about a miracle, he didn't talk about the gift of tongues. What Paul rebuked there was not a gift of tongues; he was rebuking ordinary languages used in services where people did not understand them.
No, there is not a single command in the Bible to talk in tongues. Not only that, but there is not even a promise in the Bible that certain people will talk in tongues. There is not even a hint in the Bible anywhere that if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the initial evidence is speaking in tongues. In the first place, you don't need any evidence. If you are filled with the Spirit of God to win souls, and win souls, that is its own evidence. Why should I need some evidence of the power of God when I see a multitude of people saved?
No, the Bible doesn't talk about the "initial evidence." That is a man-made doctrine. That is a philosophy of a cult, made up by some, to claim themselves a little better than others, and that is not Bible doctrine. There is not one command in the Bible to speak in tongues or to seek to talk in tongues. That is not what God is talking about. The command is that we should have the fullness of the Spirit to witness for Jesus. And that is what I want.
Now, it is true that tongues is a miraculous gift, a gift of the Spirit, and I will go into that more in detail later. But I want you to think about this: it is a miracle and miracles are rather rare. On this matter of talking in tongues, here is the one case in the Bible where they spake with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance -- at Pentecost. They "began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Now, we have two other cases where people spoke in their languages. One is Acts, chapter 10. Cornelius and his household talked in other languages. And we have the case in Acts 19 where some people in Ephesus talked in various languages, but the Bible doesn't say, "...as the Spirit gave utterance," and it doesn't say it is a miracle, and neither does it say it was a gift of tongues. So I have no right to suppose it, and to add it in. But if these three cases in the Bible were all the miraculous gift, that still is not very many. There are many, many times that people are filled with the Holy Ghost, but if there were only three cases when they talked in tongues, at least it still shows what I am saying: miracles are not an everyday occurrence.
You say, "Don't you think God can work miracles today?" Yes He can, and I believe He does; but I don't think anybody goes around having a miracle before breakfast. It is not just a plaything of someone who wants to put on a show to prove he is better than someone else. The Lord didn't tell anybody to go ahead and let some snake bite him so he could get miraculously healed. I have seen some amazing, miraculous healings, but I say they only happen occasionally.
When Jesus went back, in Luke, chapter 4, to Galilee in Nazareth, where He was brought up, Jesus expressed their thought: "Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country." But Jesus reminded them that "many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias ... But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow." And He reminded them: "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4:25-27).
So there are not many miracles. Miracles are special, unusual, infrequent. So there are not many cases of talking in tongues. This was a miracle and there was only a special occasion for it at Pentecost.
II. THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
I spoke last Sunday on Acts, chapter 2, which is the one great definitive case in the New Testament about speaking in tongues. There we learn that according to the Bible many people heard Christian people speak in their own language in which they were born. They said, 'Aren't these all Galileans? How is it we hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God?' That is, God gave, for a particular reason, Christians at Pentecost power to speak in the language of people who were there -- Jews out of every nation under Heaven. They heard the Gospel and the wonderful plan of salvation because it was given to some to understand and to speak in these languages.
The word "tongues" in the Bible simply means languages. Now, in I Corinthians, chapter 12, I call your attention to the first eleven verses. I want to talk to you about the gifts of the Spirit. The blessed Holy Spirit gives certain gifts to Christian people for Christian work and service.
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant .... Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations; but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another th# interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will " -- I Cor. 12:1, 4-11.
Yes God May Give the Gifts of the Spirit Today, as He Chooses, Just as in Bible Times
Note that the blessed Holy Spirit gives certain gifts to people for the Lord's service. Do I believe we can have the power of the Holy Spirit just as in Bible times? I certainly do. Nobody had all these gifts in Bible times and, of course, nobody can have all these gifts now in modern times. But, as far as I know, the New Testament churches were set up the same way, and the Bible teaching was the same, and the practices were the same as we ought to have now.
Yes, I believe in the fullness of the Spirit, an enduement of power from on High. I believe in the gifts of the Spirit as God gives them.
Now, here are some lessons, as you see in verses 8 through 10. What are these gifts of the Spirit in verses 8 through 10? To one, the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge; to another, faith; to another, gifts of healing; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues; and to another, interpretation of tongues -- all these nine different gifts of the Spirit are mentioned here. Now, what are these gifts for and what about them?
Well, first of all, as far as I know these gifts are still available today. I do not mean available in the sense that you can ask for whatever you want about these gifts. The Bible never does teach that one can decide for himself what gifts to have. The Spirit divides "to every man severally as he will."
It is true that the Scripture says, "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." I take it that that must mean that some of these works of the Holy Spirit can be the property of every Christian but that one cannot necessarily decide for himself, except that all should seek to prophesy.
We are expressly taught to seek to prophesy. That means speak for God, witness for God, in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8 we are told, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me .... " That part we are taught to seek. We are supposed to "covet earnestly the best gifts," but we are never taught to covet the gift of tongues.
Now, are these gifts for today? They probably are. You would have to remember that they are not very often manifested even in the New Testament times. There is only one clear-cut case of talking in tongues in the Bible and that is in Acts, chapter 2. There are two other cases where languages are mentioned, but the Bible doesn't say a gift of languages, and maybe it was and maybe it was not. No one has authority to say it was the miraculous gift of tongues since the Bible doesn't say so. In the tenth chapter of Acts, in Cornelius' case, and in the nineteenth chapter of Acts, that of a number of Christians at Ephesus, they talked in foreign languages. So let us just say that it was not very often that people had some of these gifts in Bible times.
No One Ever Had All the Gifts of the Spirit
In his notes, Dr. Scofield says that every "believer is given a spiritual enablement and capacity for specific service. No believer is destitute of such gift (vs. 7,11,27), but in their distribution the Spirit acts in free sovereignty (v. 11). There is no room for self-choosing, and Christian service is simply the ministry of such gift as the individual may have received."
I am saying that the gifts are diverse and as God Himself decides to give. And the only gift of these named that we are particularly urged to seek for is the gift of prophecy, that is, to be filled with the Spirit to witness for Jesus and so to win souls. That we are told to seek for. The others we are told are divided severally as God wants them given.
Take the gift of healing. Do you suppose that many people these days have gifts of healing? Do you think many people ought to have the gift of healing? It was never so in Bible times. It is true that Peter and John at the Temple, recorded in the third chapter of Acts, had power to heal a man here, and other people brought the sick so the shadow of Peter might fall upon them and they were healed, but that was not an everyday business with all the Christians. It was not a usual matter then; it is not a usual matter now
I have had the joy of praying for some people who were wonderfully healed in answer to prayer. And in one case, the healing was clearly so miraculous. A dear woman who had had T.B. for years was about to die. God healed her, and in two weeks she was doing her own housework. I have kept in touch with her for thirty years and she has had no touch of that recurring disease. I know that was a miracle of God, but I don't claim that ought to be an everyday business. If I am in need of God's particular help, some miraculous healing, I would ask Him for it. He has wonderfully healed others.
There was the case of my daughter Grace with diphtheria; and my father who was about to die was wonderfully raised up in answer to prayer. But that is not an ordinary thing. And if I could name only six or eight such cases in a fifty years ministry, you need not expect that everybody would have such a gift ALL the time. I don't know of anybody who does. Now and then there is somebody whom God particularly uses and gives the gift of healing. It is not often. It is not for everybody.
Do you think everybody ought to go out and work miracles? Well, if they did work miracles, would they work them every day? It was not so in Bible times. John the Baptist never did work a miracle. And we don't know that many of the other good men did. We don't know that Timothy ever did, nor Titus, nor even Barnabas. We know that Paul did in a few cases, and even in Paul's case, it was not often.
So I am saying that in Bible times these gifts were not seen every day and they are rarely seen today.
Dr. Scofield says on this matter (and I think I differ with him), of speaking in tongues, "Tongues and the sign gifts are to cease, and meantime must be used with restraint, and only if an interpreter be present."
He in my opinion has the wrong idea about it. It is true that they are not very often now and they were not very often in Bible times. In truth, why should they be? Why should I, when everybody around me understands English, pray to talk in some language that couldn't do anybody any good? That wouldn't be like at Pentecost. As Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., used to say, "If it hasn't got any sense to it, God isn't in it." If there is not a good reason for it, God wouldn't do it. The one main thing God has in mind is to save poor sinners and get the Gospel to them. If that would glorify God, well and good, but in many cases, talking to a man in a language he can understand does a lot more good than saying something he cannot understand.
Why Not Seek God's Power as He Commands, Instead of Tongues He Never Commands?
These are gifts, but they are not for all the time and not for everybody. They are as God Himself divides "to every man severally as he will," the Scripture expressly says. Now, why can't you be content with that?
Note now this matter of tongues as a gift here. Not everybody has it. In this twelfth chapter we read in verses 29 to 31: "Are all apostles?" The obvious answer is no. "Are all prophets?" No. "Are all teachers?" No. "Are all workers of miracles?" What would you say? And "have all the gifts of healing?" What would you say? "Do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?" Evidently, then, it is never intended that everybody should talk in tongues. There is no command to do it. Nobody is taught to seek to talk in tongues, and it is never given as a sign of anything in the Bible. Men make up a reason for it but God didn't.
Now good Christian people want the best God has. I'll tell you what you ought to do. Get a burden to win souls and have the enduement of the power of God on you to win souls. That is the fullness of blessing. That is the richest of all the Christian experiences. To have the power of God to witness for Him and win souls is the thing we are plainly told to covet. "Covet earnestly the best gifts."
Then the Lord says that Christian love is more important. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" or Christian love and Christian affection. The Scripture says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels -- if I talk in all kinds of languages and don't have love, it doesn't profit anything." So, tongues is never given a place of importance in the Bible. We are never taught to seek to talk in tongues. It is never said in the Bible that it is to be a sign of the power of God or a sign of anything else especially. In the case at Pentecost, for example, they talked to people in their own language in which they were born. In I Corinthtans 14 it is a sign to unbelievers. Sure, they heard the Gospel and they were amazed and so they were saved. But as far as it being a sign that a Christian is filled with the Spirit -- nothing like that is said in the Bible.
Every Christian Can Have Soul-Winning Power
Let us see further. Christians then should seek to witness, and that is the main thing. It is much better than talking in tongues. In this fourteenth chapter of I Corinthtans, we are to "follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." Desire rather to speak in the power of the Holy Spirit, "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries."
Notice that we are not now talking about the heresy of tongues at Corinth. They did have a heresy. They talked in natural languages, different languages, but they made a show, using them in public. I will go into that further on. But the Lord is saying to never mind about tongues but seek especially that you may witness and prophesy and that you may speak in the power of God and that you speak so you can be heard. That is the best thing.
Now, these gifts rarely occur, so why don't you seek to have the power of God to witness for Jesus and win souls? God knows I need wisdom. With forty-five or fifty workers here in the office, with broadcasts on many stations, with THE SWORD OF THE LORD and its 150,000 weekly circulation, and with many, many engagements -- how I need wisdom and knowledge from God! And I have a right to ask it. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." I need God's Holy Spirit to help me, but I don't need something so as to put on a show and claim I have something everybody doesn't have, that I am better than you are, or that I have the Holy Ghost and I prove it with a jabber in some tongue nobody can understand and which does nobody any good. That is not God's plan.
Let us seek then to be filled with the Spirit, to have the power of God and do His blessed, blessed work. That is what He wants us to do. Now, remember, there are certain commands. One of them is to seek and "covet earnestly the best gifts." You can pray for wisdom and you can pray for the power of the Holy Spirit, and that would be what you ought to do. God will help you, then, to have the power He wants you to have.
Dear friends, remember this: We have a plain command in Ephesians 5:18, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." That is a command of God -- "Be filled with the Spirit." We need the fullness of God upon us. The Lord said in Luke 24, "Tarry ... until ye be endued with power from on high." In Acts 1:8 the Lord Jesus put it in these words: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." That is the plan of God. Let us seek that.
III. BAD USE OF NATURAL LANGUAGES AT CORINTH
There are many good people who are misled on this matter of speaking with tongues. They are very eager people. Often they are good Christians in the sense that they want all God has, and they want to please God. They are spiritually-minded, good people, but often they are rather ignorant of the Bible and that makes them a prey to people who come along with false doctrine and a good deal of emotion .and exhortation, with not much Bible teaching. But I want to show you what the Bible teaches.
Let us say it very clearly again, I believe in the enduement of power from on High. Most all evangelists, and certainly all those who are greatly used of God in soul winning, believe that one must have an enduement of power from God in order to do the blessed work of soul winning. I advise everybody, all the time to listen to the command of God to "be filled with the Spirit," to seek the enduement of power from on High. But on the matter of talking in tongues, a lot of people get the shell and not the main thing; a lot of people get the outward form they seek but they don't get any power. And so it gets to be an artificial substitute for what God is talking about -- the mighty power of God to win souls.
I remind you also that the one definitive case about talking in tongues in the Bible is in Acts, chapter 2. And there, devout men out of every nation under Heaven, Jews, came at this feast of Pentecost to Jerusalem. These people heard the Gospel in their own tongue in which they were born. God gave others power to preach to them and to hear them and tell them the plan of salvation. And so three thousand people were saved.
Now, it is a foolish thing to talk about Pentecost and not talk about what God is talking about. God was concerned about three thousand people being saved. That is what the whole thing is about, and that is what you ought to rejoice about, and that is what you ought to try to copy. They had the power of God to win souls. It is true, there was an incidental gift. I say incidental because it was a temporary matter. Here was an emergency, here were some people they wanted to preach to and they couldn't talk their languages, so God gave the miraculous power to talk in those languages in which other people had been born, and to give the Gospel to them in their languages. That is the case at Pentecost.
And I showed you there are nine certain gifts of the Spirit, and that God gives those "severally as he will," and not by your choice. We are taught to "covet earnestly the best gifts," and so we are taught to pray for a special enduement of power to prophesy or to witness in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are taught, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." That is good, but nobody is ever encouraged to seek to talk in tongues or to seek a gift of tongues. It is not commanded, it is not even advised. It is a separate matter not often given in Bible times and certainly not often given now. Why? Because there is no occasion for it. It is not often that one meets somebody whose language you cannot understand and who cannot understand you. It is very rarely that one would need to ask God to give you a language so you can talk to a foreigner about Christ. So the gift of tongues was never very important, never often used in the Bible, and certainly not often used now. Oh, there is a.lot of fraud and good people get hysterical; but what people seek today is not the same gift of tongues people had in the Bible, unless it is for the same kind of work that they had at the time of Pentecost.
Now Consider the Heresy of Foreign Languages at Corinth
Now let us seek to have not just some thing to make a big show and claim we have something others haven't. Let us seek to have the power of God, seek to witness for Him and win souls. And let us learn from th# Bible how to do it.
First Corinthians, chapter 14 is a strange chapter, strange bocause it goes into the whole matter of a tongues heresy they had at Corinth. You say, "Was that a heresy?" Yes. You say, "Didn't they talk in tongues?" They talked in different natural languages. It is very clear in this Scripture. Now they have to be given some restraint and some rules about it, in I Corinthians 14.
Had it been of God, you wouldn't have to have any restraint. Nowhere in the Bible does God say to people, "I have given you the power to work miracles but take it easy. Don't do it so often." The Bible never says, "You who have a gift of healing, don't two of you heal people at the same time."
But God does say that about the kind of tongues they had here in this chapter. Why? Because there were natural tongues being misused, trying to copy after the gift of tongues. So there is restraint and rebuke for what they were doing at Corinth. Now, why would you seek to have what they had at. Corinth when the Bible says what they had was wrong, and God is rebuking them for it?
Let us read now the first twelve verses of I Corinthians 14:
"Follow after charity [Christian love], and desire spiritual gifts, but rather than ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue [unknown is not in the original, so here it is in italics] speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries."
Suppose somebody is talking in French and he can talk mysteries. He understands it, but I don't. Then, talking in French in a meeting where nobody understands. French is the thing he is rebuking here. He is speaking "mysteries."
"But he that prophesieth [that is, witnesses in the power of the Spirit] speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that seaketh in an unknown tongue [again unknown is not in the original Greek here, so he that speaks in a foreign language] edifieth himself...."
That is, the person enjoys testifying in French, for example, but nobody else can enjoy it because people don't know what he is saying. He speaks in a language they cannot understand.
". . but he that prophesieth edifieth the church."
That is, one who speaks in the power of God in an ordinary language edifies others, and one can't do that talking in a foreign language to people. Now, it is obvious to see that he is putting a certain restraint on what they did and correcting some faults they had at Corinth. Now, does God ever give a miracle and then rebuke somebody for using it? I don't think so. Then it is not a miraculous gift they are talking about here. But read on:
"I would that ye all spake with tongues [I would like it if you all talked several languages], but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he in terpret .... "
That is, if you are going to talk in a foreign language no one understands, you do no good, so it is better to be filled with the Spirit and witness for God in the language people can understand.
"...that the church may receive edifying. Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues [speaking in foreign languages], what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? [If I don't say something you can understand, he says, why talk?] And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?"
A child may pound on a piano, but you should play a tune. Just so, when you go to talk, it ought to have meaning.
"For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"
Do Not Use Words People Cannot Understand in Services
When I was in the army there was a certain call for morning reveille, a, certain mess call, a certain call for retreat, a certain call for taps at night. Those had to sound a certain way. If you give a strange set of sounds that has no melody or doesn't have any set form, that wouldn't do any good. That is how it is when one talks a foreign language to people who can't understand him. Now read verse 9:
"So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world [all kinds of foreign langnages], and none of them is without signification. Every one of them has meaning. This is not talking [about some heavenly jabber but about the various languages, and they all have meaning.]
"Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church." -- I Cor. 14:1-12.
What is that? Seek to say things in a language that can be understood, one which will bless people, the Scripture says here. So what they had at Corinth was a kind of a tongues heresy that needed to be rebuked. You say, "This is the unknown tongue." Notice throughout this chapter the word unknown is in italics which means the translators want us to understand it is not in the Greek form. You might not know Latin and that would be unknown to you, but the word "unknown" is not in the original here. It might be that if somebody talked in French, it would be unknown to you. That is what the translators were thinking about. But the word "unknown" is not in these Scriptures. This is not about "unknown" tongues except natural languages that are unknown to somebody. They were foreign languages. That is what the word means everywhere. God doesn't say they had a gift of tongues; He doesn't say miraculous tongues in this case. He is correcting the way they used foreign languages in that church at Corinth.
Now, you say, "They were foreign languages?" Yes. Why otherwise the rebuke? Why would he say then, "I would rather you speak five words people can understand than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue"? Why would he say that if they did not need correction? Now, remember this, God never gives a miracle and then rebukes it. If God had given a miraculous gift of tongues and God's Holy Spirit gave them tongues, then God wouldn't be rebuking it. At Corinth, then, they had a heresy -- using natural languages in the services. They thought that made them superior to their "unlearned" brethren.
Were these then talking natural languages? Yes. I want you to notice one word, "unlearned." It is mentioned several times. Verse 6 says,
"Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?"
Words ought to mean something, even to the unlearned. And notice "unlearned" in verses 16, 23 and 24. Let us read verse 16:
"Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?"
Notice the word "unlearned." We are talking about a spiritual gift here that was going on at Corinth. We are talking about their using languages that unlearned, uneducated people could not understand. "Unlearned" comes up again in verses 23 and 24. Here he says:
"If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues [all speak with foreign languages; it doesn't say a miraculous gift of tongues], and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? [They will say that you are crazy]"
You say, "But I know Koine Greek in which Paul writes his letters. Over here at Corinth maybe we talk another language," or "Maybe we know they have learned Latin because the Roman soldiers are here." But common people don't know it. Then the Scripture says here that if somebody comes in who is unlearned, uneducated, who hasn't learned that language, won't he say you are crazy? And there is some reason for that. See verse 24 again:
"But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not [one unlearned] · · ." you can witness to him in the power of the Spirit and he will understand it.
"Unlearned" -- why does he use it? He is not talking about unspiritual but about people who haven't learned these various languages they are using at Corinth.
God's Restriction on Languages Used in Christian Services
Now, what are you going to do about it? Well, he puts certain restrictions on it. He says if you are going to have them talking in foreign languages, have somebody interpret, and have somebody do it one at a time, and not more than two or three in a service.
I was in a revival campaign in Oklahoma. One night we had a blessed time. Some Indians were there from various tribes. One day a man was there and he said, "I have a friend here from the Kaw Indian tribe. He has been saved and would like to testify about what God has done for him, but he can't speak English. Can he speak in his?"
I said, "If you will interpret what he says, he may. Otherwise there is no use in him testifying. He would enjoy telling it to edify himself, but he wouldn't do anybody else any good unless somebody interpret."
So here the Lord is saying about these people at Corinth, "If you are going to have a foreign language that nobody can understand, you can't take any part. But tell them they must have somebody tell us what they say when they witness, and it has to be intelligent, and only one at a time, and only two or three in a service because you mustn't make a great deal about talking in foreign languages."
You see, then, it is all right for people of different languages and different cultural levels to come together in the church and do the work of God, but remember, all is supposed to make sense. Things must be done "decently and in order." And if you play the piano, it is supposed to have a tune, not just a sound. If you talk, it is supposed to have clear meaning. Paul says, "I would rather speak five words that can be understood than ten thousand words that cannot be understood."
Now, I want you to notice some restrictions that God puts here on this. First of all, there is a clear restriction on this. The fact that God puts restrictions on what they were doing at Corinth shows us that what they were doing was wrong. When God rebukes what they were doing, it shows it is not miraculous, not God-given. God never gave a miracle and then rebuked somebody for the way he used it. God never gives somebody a miraculous gift and then be angry with the way they use it. No, miraculous gifts don't need rebuking, don't need a restraint put on them; but they did in the use of natural languages over in Corinth.
Note then, on other gifts of the Spirit, did God ever say, "Here are two people working miracles. You are working too many miracles. You will have to slow it down"? Or did He say, "Here, two of you are working miracles at the same time. You mustn't do that"? Or did He say, "There are two of you here with the gift of healings and everybody is confused about it"? No rebuke on that. Why? It is a miracle. If God gives a miracle, it doesn't need any rebuke. It is done right or God wouldn't put His power on it.
And so what they had at Corinth was not done in the power of God. It was ordinary foreign languages, putting on a show in church, and so it is rebuked here.
Notice some other things where there were some misunderstanding about here. Somebody says, "But Paul said, 'I speak with more tongues than you all.'" That is verse 18. "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all." Don't put in it what God didn't put in it. Paul didn't say, "I have a gift of tongues more than ye all." He said, "I am better educated. I know more languages." Paul is writing this in the Koine Greek; his own native language was Aramaic. He also could understand Hebrew and he spoke in Hebrew sometimes and he sometimes probably spoke in Latin. So Paul said, "In addition to my own native tongue I preach in Koine Greek everywhere I go. I do that more than all of you, but I don't do it for a show." And neither should you.
IV. FALSE DOCTRINES AND CLAIMS OF TONGUES PEOPLE
Now I come to bring the last message on the tongues movement -- the movement that teaches speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of the fullness of the Spirit or the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
First, let me say that many, many people of the tongues movement are good Christian people. They believe the Bible, they love the Lord. Many of them lead good Christian lives, and I have many friends among them.
One time during a citywide campaign in Springfield, Missouri, I not only spoke as a guest in the publishing house of the Assemblies of God, but one night twenty-six Assembly of God preachers were on the platform in that great four-pole tent.
I love people who love the Lord. In many a revival campaign people who believe in talking in tongues have been active in the campaign. I was with Dr. Flowers in the National Association of Evangelicals in those old days, before it went more or less New Evangelical. Dr. Flowers was the secretary of that movement.
So I am saying kind things about people I love and who are good people. I am not running down people, but I am talking about the tongues movement as such and the teachings that are involved in it.
I think I ought to say also that I have read the best books on this subject by the principal teachers themselves of the Pentecostal movement. I am thoroughly familiar with their teaching and I answer it fairly and honestly.
Let me say also, I believe in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I believe in a definite enduement of power that one ought to seek and have for the work of the Lord in winning souls. Not only have I earnestly sought before God again and again and again for such power of God, but I am certain in my mind that unworthy as I am, God has seen fit to put upon me the power of the Holy Spirit so that some tens of thousands of people have been saved under my frail, human ministry. So I say thank God for people who believe in the fullness of the Spirit.
And I think that the tongues heresy is wrong and does harm and that it some way blocks people, turning them away from the main truth of the fullness of the Spirit which God wants us all to have. I believe that the gifts of the Spirit are for today, that is, as much as they ever were and as much as God gives to each one severally as He will. He doesn't give all those gifts to everybody and they are not manifest in every community. For instance, how long has it been since you saw somebody with a gift of miracles? If there is an occasion for it, God gives such gifts as He chooses, and He taught us to pray for the power of the Spirit to prophesy, and we may do that.
The Tongues Heresy Goes With Any Kind of Doctrine
Now then, who is it who talks in tongues? Who is it in what you call the charismatic meeting, who talks in tongues? Not only Pentecostal, including Assemblies of God and Pentecostal Holiness people and the Apostolic churches and two branches of the Church of God, but a good many in other denominations do, too, talk in tongues. But it generally is the Pentecostal people.
I had a letter about talking in tongues the other day from a Baptist. They say Roman Catholics even now are taking part, not only having tongues meetings but coming to meet with others to talk and pray about the girl of tongues and teaching people to talk in tongues.
I was in a hotel in Denver the other day and there were three nondescript hippies with Levis on, and wearing tennis shoes, and they were more or less unwashed, with clothes unironed. They had long beards and hair. I happened to be waiting for a telephone, and one of these hippies said, "I got baptized with the Holy Ghost the other day." So a fellow who speaks in tongues can be a hippie or a Catholic. Even some of the Moslems, Mohammedans, have sometimes spoken in tongues, along with the Pentecostal people and some other denominations.
Isn't it surprising that one can believe in confessing his sins to a priest to get forgiveness and can believe there is a purgatory and one needs enough masses to get him out of it, and pray to Mary, yet with that kind of doctrine still talk in tongues? There is something wrong with any man's doctrinal position who thinks you can pray to Mary and confess to a priest and have masses for the souls in purgatory and then think you are following the Bible when you talk in tongues. One is not following the Bible in any of that.
Now, then, what are some of the bad things that go with the tongues movement? Well, there are good people, many sincere, earnest, good people -- but what is wrong?
First of all, there is often a great deal of false doctrine connected with it. These people say, "Oh, we want all God has," but they are generally not good Bible students. They are not as particular as they ought to be about Bible teaching. So it is very customary for people in the tongues movement to believe and teach boldly that it is God's will to heal every sickness of everybody. Now that is not taught in the Bible. Paul did not get relief from his thorn in the flesh. Paul said, 'Timothy, take a little wine (or grape juice) for thine often infirmities, thy weak stomach.' Paul said, "Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick."
So it is not always God's will to heal the sick. A good proof of that is that good Christians die all the time. That is a false doctrine that usually goes along with those who believe in tongues. It is a false doctrine, just like this matter of a Catholic who speaks in tongues.
God bless Catholic people, but you can't say that the Bible teaches the priest can forgive sins, or that the Bible teaches you should pray to Mary. The same people who take that kind of teaching, take the doctrine of tongues. That means they are not very particular about the Bible doctrine. Let us say that however sincere they are, they are not well taught and they are not well grounded in the Scripture.
The Arrogant Conceit of Tongues People, Boasting They Are Better Christians Than Those Who Win More Souls!
And another thing wrong with these good people who talk in tongues is, they sometimes are rather arrogant and claim they are better than other Christians, that they have "more of God." Other people, they say, are not willing to wait on God; other people are afraid of criticism. That is a rather shocking idea but again and again, not only in letters to me but in their magazines and in their books, is their constant claim that you cannot be filled with the Spirit of God until you talk in tongues, that talking in tongues is the initial evidence, and you are not baptized with the Spirit (the term they use generally) or filled with the Spirit, and you are really only a second-rate Christian, if you do not talk in tongues.
Isn't it strange that a man who doesn't win souls to Christ but talks in tongues, would think that he has something better than D. L. Moody had, who won a million souls to God? Isn't that strange?
I was in big services in Toronto, in the Avenue Road Church. There was a great crowd. Some seventeen hundred packed the building to the door, with chairs in the aisles. When I preached we had, I think, fifteen adults saved, and these went with many tears to a room for further instruction. As I stepped out of the pulpit for a moment while the building filled up again with a good many others for a second service, a man came up to me and said, "Dr. Rice, have you been baptized with the Holy Ghost?"
"Well," I said, "if you mean an enduement of power from on High, yes. In my poor, unworthy way, I thank God I have prayed and God has given some power, with amazing results, to win souls. I don't claim any credit. I have to say that is the power of God."
"Oh," he said, "I didn't mean that. I mean did you talk in tongues?"
I said, "If you didn't mean that, what did you say that for?"
"But," he said, "Brother Rice, if you talk ... if you just turn loose and you don't know what you are saying but you just feel good and as light as a feather ... it is so wonderful!"
I said, "I talked in the English tongue tonight. It seemed like everybody could understand me."
"Yes," he said, "I know, but you don't know how much joy you would get if you would just cut loose and talk in tongues."
I said, "Well, if enough people come down the aisle and take Christ as Saviour and claim Christ and set out to live for Him, that will be joy enough for me." I said, "Now, let me ask you a question. Did you ever win a soul?"
"Well, I have witnessed to them."
"I know, but did you ever win a soul?"
"Well, I have prayed for them, all right."
I said, "Quit dodging. Did you ever take your Bible and show somebody he is a sinner, show him how to trust Jesus and get him to ask God for forgiveness and claim it and set out to live for Him? Have you ever won a soul?"
He said, "I guess I never did."
Now, isn't that strange that he would think he was a better Christian than I? He had never won one soul to Christ and God knows I have not won as many as I ought to and not nearly as many as some others, but I have seen thousands of people come to Christ. Oh, how many! I mean drunkards and infidels and heathen of various kinds. Isn't that a strange, arrogant spirit that is not of God when somebody thinks of himself more highly than he ought to think because he talks in tongues? That means those people think Gipsy Smith and R. A. Torrey and Charles G. Finney and Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. and Billy Sunday, the great soul winners, were not as good Christians as they are, who talk in tongues. That is a silly and, I think, a sinful attitude. That is one great thing wrong with the tongues movement.
Easily Misled Tongues People Regularly Make False Claims
Now, here is another thing. I am sad to say it, but since tongues people are often ignorant and not very well educated and are not very intellectual, they often claim in print, as in the Full Gospel businessmen's magazine, that D. L. Moody talked in tongues, that Charles G. Finney talked in tongues, and so did R. A. Torrey. They did nothing of the kind.
I have just read how R. A. Torrey learned this blessed truth about the Spirit and how he could hardly preach about anything else. What he learned about the Holy Spirit was not about how he should talk in tongues, for he never did that. On D. L. Moody, I have twelve or fifteen books -- I have everything written about him that I can get my hands on; I have his own life story by his son and that by his sonin-law, Pitts; and I know Moody not only did not talk in tongues, but he didn't believe in it. Neither did Billy Sunday. I knew Billy Sunday. Neither did Gipsy Smith. Neither did Charles G. Finney.
There is something wrong with a man's system of truth when he is careless in making statements like that to try to bolster a doctrine that isn't found in the Bible. That is one thing wrong with the tongues movement.
Here is another thing: It is rather sad that women take a very prominent part in leadership in Pentecostal movements, when the Bible is very clear: "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." And, "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church" (I Cor. 14:34,35).
And yet, here in this matter, it is part of a heresy -- I don't mean that unkindly -- yet Christian people are taking part in a heresy. When people let themselves go and excuse it and cover it up and twist it a little on one matter, then they will be a little wrong on something else, too. For there is a moral guilt in heresy and it leads to further wrong. So there are some things wrong with the tongues movement.
The Basic Teaching That to Be Filled With the Spirit One Must Speak in Tongues Is False
Now, then, here is a basic falsehood back of the tongues movement. That is the teaching that speaking in tongues is the evidence and especially the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost or the fullness of the Spirit. Now they use the term "baptism of the Spirit." I don't use that term so often because it has been misused. I like more the term "filled with the Spirit." But they say that speaking in tongues is the evidence. Now there are two things wrong about that.
First, that is not what the Bible teaches anywhere. I have read the best writings of these Pentecostal brethren from England and America, I have their books in my library, I have read their magazines. They frankly admit the Bible doesn't say that anywhere; but they think it infers that! No, the Bible doesn't say that, neither does it infer it, unless you are leoking for it. The Bible does not anywhere say that Christians ought to talk in tongues and that that would be a sign of the fullness of the Spirit. No, sir, that is not Bible doctrine.
Here is another thing. In the Bible we have case after case where people were filled with the Spirit. And in not a single case is tongues given as the evidence.
For instance, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. Not ever a mention of talking in tongues. In Luke, chapter 1, Elisabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells what she said and she did it in the language that Mary, who was with her, understood. It is not what is called talking in tongues, but she was filled with the Holy Ghost.
In the same chapter, Luke 1, verse 67, Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and the Bible tells us what he said.
The Bible tells us how Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit in Luke 3:21-23. When He was filled with the Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us what He said. This is the first time Jesus was filled with the Spirit, yet He didn't talk in tongues.
Why wouldn't you be satisfied to have what Jesus had when the Holy Spirit came on Him, and now He is endued with power to witness and speak? Why wouldn't you be satisfied to have what Jesus had instead of something else? You can brag, "I've got it and the Baptists don't, and the Presbyterians don't have it, and the Methodists don't have it. I've got it and I am it!" You ought to be ashamed! No, most Bible characters never spoke in tongues when filled with the Spirit.
We have the case in Acts 9:17 of how Paul was converted and how right after that he was immediately filled with the Holy Ghost. Not a word is said about his talking in tongues. You see, people made that up. The Bible doesn't bear it out. There are no cases in the Bible where they did. There is the one case at Pentecost and there was a reason for it then, but it is not named there as an evidence of the fullness of the Spirit.
In Acts, chapter 8, the apostles, Peter and John, came down to Samaria. Here were a group of converts and the apostles laid their hands upon them and prayed and they received the Holy Ghost. Nothing is said about them talking in tongues. Then why do you want to say it when the Bible doesn't?
The Bible doesn't bear you out. There is not any evidence that when Christian people were filled with the Holy Spirit in the Bible, they talked in tongues as an evidence of that. They did not except in the case at Pentecost where there was a special reason for it.
Now, more than that. I am an evangelist. I am not only an evangelist, I am a promoter of evangelism. I have kept this thing before God and the people all these years. And I know the great soul winners. Now, let me tell you frankly, the best soul winners did not talk in tongues, not Spurgeon, not Wesley, not Moody, not Torrey, not J. Wilbur Chapman, not Gipsy Smith, not Billy Sunday and not Bob Jones, Sr.
So the tongues business is a false doctrine that good people, but usually ignorant, take up because they are misled.
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