Must Believers Speak in Tongues after baptism?

Pentecostal and charismatic denominations are inordinately fixated on the gift of speaking in tongues. Those immature believers  have become so exercised by the tongues of fire on the apostles' heads and their speaking in different languages that they miss the much greater miracle of three-thousand people coming to faith in the Messiah.

So, must newly-baptized people always "manifest" the gift of speaking in tongues? I find only one mention in Scripture which says they did. Acts 19:6 (KJV), after some believers were baptized, relates, "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied."

But Acts 10:42 shows that some spoke in tongues before they were baptized. That incident certainly contradicts the Pentecostal notion of tongues always "manifesting" in the baptismal tank.

The word "tongues" actually means languages. Acts 2:7-11 (BBE) shows that these were actual languages which the apostles spoke. "And they were full of wonder and said, 'Are not all these men Galilaeans? And how is it that every one of us is hearing their words in the language which was ours from our birth? Men of Parthia, Media, and Elam, and those living in Mesopotamia, in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, In Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and those who have come from Rome, Jews by birth and others who have become Jews, Men of Crete and Arabia, to all of us they are talking in our different languages, of the great works of God.'"

Since it's painfully obvious that nobody today speaks in human languages which they had never learned, Pentecostals claim that the jabbering they do is an angelic language. They get this notion from 1 Corinthians 13:1 (KJV) which says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."

Paul was using hyperbole to show that deeds without godly love are worthless. And why would angels need different tongues, a.k.a. languages, in the first place? We have our own variety due to the tower of Babel but they never had that happen in heaven.

I could write so much more on this subject but I'll save that for my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Performing signs and wonders doesn't prove one's salvation. Most folks just can't understand that we are only saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone.

WHAT FAITH IS

The word "faith" certainly has a number of connotations. Some people use it as a synonym for a religion or sect of one. Others use it to mean acceptance of unprovable ideas. For true students of Scripture, it has a much deeper meaning.

Lately, a group of charismatic ministers have arbitrarily added a new definition to the biblical doctrine of faith. In their view, faith is a force that Christians can use to cause things to happen, either positively or negatively, to themselves.

They further teach that words are containers of this force. In their distorted view, a Christian 0can become free from the "curse' of poverty by speaking to a wallet and positively confessing that it be filled with money. Similarly, they believe that any disease can be cured by speaking faith-filled words to it.

Forty years ago, I was a member of an aberrant house church. Its minister taught that Christians with enough faith had the power to speak forth healing over people on whom they laid their hands. The leader often quoted James 1:6 (KJV) which says "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed".

Whenever the members laid hands on me and prayed in tongues, as well as rebuking the demon of poor sight in English, nothing happened. Though I seemed to see better after one prayer session, my vision remained as bad as it always was.

To make matters worse, the elders commanded me not to wear my eye glasses lest I lose my healing. Later, out of habit, I put them on and felt extremely depressed at my supposedly weak faith. I've lost track of how many times these Ernest-but-misguided people performed this ritual without any improvement in my vision.

I became so fed up with this cycle of failure, as I believed it was, that I turned my back on God for nine years. Eventually, I realized God wasn't at fault. It was those deluded folks who were to blame for teaching me blasphemous theology and then condemning me for lacking faith. I learned that God is sovereign and what he allows to happen is part of his good plan.

It didn't seem good to me that I was stuck with limited vision but I now see his wisdom in not healing me. God isn't a genie in a bottle or an intergalactic Santa Clause but a loving heavenly Father who gives us what will make us holy.

Because so many well-meaning believers struggle with the charismatic notion of faith, I wrote How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. I show how hard I tried to live up to the wrong standard and how I eventually learned the truth. This marvelous testimony of God's providential guidance is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers.