FOREWORD
"AND
THEY SHALL SPEAK WITH NEW TONGUES?"
The
primary purpose of this book is to provide authentic information on the current
escalation and increasing visibility of the claims of modern day, so-called
“Pentecostalism.”
The format of the presentation of this information, a religious debate,
is more potent than the author’s theorizing about some subject matters in
religion that are of deep interest to many peoples of the world, and especially
those of the Christian persuasion.
The Bible, God’s textbook for humanity, is replete with the existence
of the Godhead and the workings of the Holy Spirit.
And while every Christian must be “under the influence” of God’s
Holy Spirit, it is vitally important for everyone to understand from the
“sword of the Spirit,” the written word of God, just how he works today,
because much misinformation and many false doctrines are being spread about this
manifestation of the Godhood.
The
Holy Spirit is not the “silent partner” in the Godhead, as some Christians
seem to think. He is as alive and active today as the two other manifestations
of God: the Father and the Son. Yet, his indwelling in the Christian today is
not necessarily reflected by the degree of emotionalism exhibited by an
individual. The true evidence of his indwelling is reflected by the “fruit of
the Spirit,” as recorded in Galatians 5:22-25. Evidence of his indwelling in a
person is not that of “speaking in tongues”; for all Christians even in the
first century church did not have “the gift of tongues” (1 Corinthians
12:29-31). Yet all Christians in the first century church, as today, were given
the “gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38-39; 5:32 Romans 5:5).
The
activity of “speaking in tongues,” as recorded in the Bible, is greatly
misunderstood today, and as a result many false doctrines about it are espoused.
Much of this misunderstanding is because of the translational error of
the King James Version of the Bible that has popularized the term “unknown
tongue,” which is a misnomer, and not in the original Greek in which the New
Testament was written.
An astute student of the Bible knows this, however, because the term,
“unknown tongue,” is italicized in the King James Version of the Bible,
which denotes that the words were not in the original language, but were
inserted by the translators.
Too, “unknown tongue” is a contradiction in term and illogical.
If a tongue were “unknown,” how could it be understood by “every
man in his own tongue” (Acts 2:8), or be “interpreted” by another (I
Corinthians 14:27-28)?
The fact is that “tongues” in the Bible had reference to languages
that some Christians could speak or understand without having studied or learned
them formally.
The miracle of tongue speaking in the Bible was sometimes in the speaking
(active), or sometimes in the hearing (passive); and sometimes in both (Acts
2:5-8).
For example, on Pentecost the apostles spoke, simultaneously, in the
language of every Jew there from “every nation under heaven,” and needed no
one to interpret; but for the understanding of the tongue speaking in the church
at Corinth, it was imperative that there be an interpreter.
The time-element of this particular “gift of the Spirit,” however,
was limited, according to the teaching of the Bible; was called a “childish
thing,” because of its necessity in the infant church of the first century;
and was to be “done away” with at a point in time in the maturity of the
church (I Corinthians 13:8-12).
And
while the following debate was held in 1992, the subject matter of it is not
“dated”; because the confusion about “Pentecostalism,” “Holy Ghost
Baptism,” “Speaking in Tongues,” and “Miraculous Healing” will abound
as long as the world stands.
And the contrast of truth and error, as will be seen in your reading this
book, is so graphic and compelling that even the non-Christian can understand
the difference.
The
Question mark (?) in the title of this book is intentional. The punctuation
following this term in Mark 16:17 in most translations of the Bible is that of a
semicolon, and denotes that it is a statement.
And Mark, in recording it, could make that statement because he knew that
he was speaking hyperbolically.
But some modern “Pentecostals” do not understand this, as
demonstrated by Elder Michael J. Garrett in this debate. His gross
misunderstanding of Mark 16:17-18 is glaringly seen at the end of the debate
when he actually tries to “heal” a lady before the audience. His attempt to
do this was, really, a sad commentary on his understanding of the scriptures, as
well as on the claims of all “Pentecostals” today, many of whom are
“televangelists,” using the mass media to deceive.
Read this book thoughtfully, with your Bible nearby. And I am hopeful that you will be enlightened in your understanding of the workings of the Holy Spirit, and that you may use this information to help “stop the mouths” of those who, today, are making those false claims about HIM.
[Back
to Dr. Evans Books]
[HOME]