A New Twist on Tongues
by James P. Needham
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 18, 31 March 1992
I never cease to be amazed at the clever ruses hatched up by false teachers in their ungodly efforts to tickle the ears of the public and make merchandise of human souls (II Timothy 4:3; II Peter 2:3). When I think I have heard it all, someone comes up with something, as we say, that’s "off the wall."
Recently, I heard a TV preacher defending "unknown tongues" as "a secret language between God and man that the devil can’t understand." He said the devil can understand all languages except "unknown tongues," so when one prays in an unknown tongue, the devil can’t hinder his prayer because he can’t understand what one is praying for! If he prays in a common language, the devil can interrupt his prayer and keep God from hearing it!
He suggested that his audience had never heard of such a thing, but he went on to say, "All the things you’ve never heard would make several worlds!" In view of the inventive genius of false teachers, I guess this has some truth to it. Did you ever hear anything so ridiculous in your whole life?
Let’s have a look at this "off-the-wall" and unscriptural foolishness.
In the first place, there is neither jot nor tittle of scripture in all of God’s word to support it. "Unknown tongues" was one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, limited to the first century, for the purpose of breaking down language barriers in the initial spreading of the gospel to all nations. Acts 2 is a good example; the apostles were understood in perhaps sixteen different languages. Everywhere they went, they could speak in the local dialect without difficulty, which facilitated the carrying out of the Great Commission to preach the gospel to every creature. Paul said this had been done within 40 years following the giving of the Great Commission (Colossians 1:23). Without the miraculous ability to speak every language in the world, this would have been impossible.
Paul prophesied the cessation of such a gift (and all other miraculous gifts) in I Corinthians 13:8-10:
"Love never faileth: but whether {there be} prophecies, shall be done away; {there be} tongues, they shall cease; whether {there be} knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away."
"That which was perfect" had reference to the completed written revelation, which occurred about 100 AD. James affirmed that revelation was perfect or complete (James 1:25), and Jude said the faith had been "once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). When the perfect revelation was written down, the "perfect" had come.
In the second place, "unknown tongues" were languages unknown to persons who had not learned them. They certainly were not unknown to God, and the man doesn’t live who can prove by the Bible that they were unknown to Satan. Acts 2:8 says: "And how hear we, every man in our own language where we were born?" (ASV).
In the third place, what kind of concept does this false teacher have of God? Does he think that if God wants to hear and answer a prayer, the devil could prevent Him from doing so? That makes the devil stronger than God! The devil and all the imps of hell can’t prevent God from hearing a prayer offered according to His law, and he who thinks otherwise needs to re-examine his view of the Almighty God. The devil can hinder our prayers, but only by our own voluntary acquiescence to his ungodly purposes. Without our voluntarily doing his bidding, the devil has not the power to touch us. People will go all the way around Joshua’s barn to evade the truth when it would be much easier to read, believe, and obey the Bible. People tend to be like the ancient Athenians, as Luke described them:
"Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing" (Acts 17:21).
When the television preacher made this "profound" remark, the audience applauded for some time, and he looked like the cat that ate the canary; he really thought he had done something great!
If something’s new and novel, whether in religion or elsewhere, some people will take it "hook, line, and sinker." If it's a down-to-earth, straightforward truth, they often will scorn it. It is sad, but true, that people often will exchange the truth for a lie and think they have done something great.
