The Significance of Our
Study
Realizing the significance of this, we
find that the charismatic tongues suddenly take on a new and frightening
dimension. Biblical prophecy suggests that in order to arrive at a unity
of faiths in the closing days of history, the adversary must provide a
common denominator that will serve as a spiritual adhesive.
The charismatic movement has now
supplied that "adhesive" through its "tongues."
"I believe the charismatic renewal
has spread so rapidly in the Church these past six years because it is
God's work," editorialized Patty Gallagher, a Catholic charismatic
convert, hopefully. "He [God] desires to reveal himself to his
people," she continued, "as he spoke to us during the June
conference in prophecy, 'What you see before your eyes is just the
beginning.’" —New Covenant, op. cit., p. 3.
We are now indeed witnessing the
awakening of the three unclean spirits of Revelation 16, and the
position of the minute hand of the prophetic time clock of eternity is
no longer a mystery.
But it is not just our conclusions and
judgments based on the aforementioned evidence that have brought us to
this point. The supernatural master of the charismatics himself
has proudly supplied us with even more devastating indications that
"something" ungodly has gained control of the movement.
While attending a study conference on
the charismatic movement, I became acutely aware of this.
Speaking of his experiences with
college students who had become charismatics, a young minister I
conversed with enumerated the various phenomena that accompany the
tongues. Drawing on his many counseling sessions with an impressive
number of glossolalists, he submitted a list of seven accompanying
phenomena, every one of which was a major revelation in itself.
Those who join the charismatic movement
and become spiritually committed to its operation depend, in various
degrees of involvement, on one or more of the eight following
manifestations:
- Prophecy: their leader or
other members of the group speaking to them "for God" in
an authoritative way.
- Clairvoyance: the
supernatural ability to foreknow events.
- Clairaudiance: hearing voices
giving supernatural revelations.
- Gift of Tongues: the ability
to speak in untranslatable words.
- Laying on of Hands: the
supernatural ability to transmit "power" and the
"Holy Spirit" to new converts, often accompanied by an
experience resembling an electric shock.
- Healing: the ability to
perform spirit(ualistic) healing of the sick.
- Visions: the reception of
supernatural guidance or information in dreams.
- Trance: a withdrawal from
reality during which state contact with the supernatural is made.
The revealing thing about these points
is not their number or their order, but their significance in this
modern movement.
For they can be regarded as the
"fruits of the spirit"—of the master spirit guiding the
charismatic movement and its gift of tongues.
They're not new.
They were revealed before. And not so
long ago either!
Just ask the spiritualists, and they
will gladly tell you where and when. For it was exactly 59 years ago, in
1914, that the Nationalist Spiritualist Association of Churches adopted
a list of definitions for the manifestations of spirit power.
The fifth paragraph is the one we are
interested in, and it should be of interest to the charismatics.
It reads as follows: "The
Phenomena of Spiritualism consist of Prophecy, Clairvoyance,
Clairaudiance, Gift of Tongues, Laying on of Hands, Healing, Visions,
Trance, Apports, Levitation, Raps, Automatic and Independent
Writings and Paintings, Voice, Materialization, Photography, Psychometry
and other manifestations proving the continuity of life as demonstrated
through the Physical and Spiritual senses and faculties of man."—Spiritualist
Manual, page 37.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? It is
interesting that the spiritualists have listed their phenomena in order
of importance, and that the gifts occupying the most important place in
their churches are also those that unify the charismatic movement.
Yet, some people still ask the
questions, Are the tongues godly? Are they God's gift to the church?
Aren't we still to wait for the "fruits of the Spirit"?
To the committed Christian there is
only one possible answer. An emphatic NO is the only responsible
reaction, for the indications that the manifestations of the charismatic
movement of today are a new revelation of spiritualism, this time,
however, cloaked in a disguise of godliness,
are too real to be ignored.
The identification of the charismatic
movement is no longer a problem. The spiritualist movement has
identified it for us.
But this does not mean the end of the
tongues.
This devil's counterfeit fulfills a
definite role in prophecy, and there is indeed a reason for the
introduction of the false tongues in these closing days of mankind.
Commented Ellen G. White: "It is
with an earnest longing that I look forward to the time when the events
of the day of Pentecost shall be repeated with even greater power than
on that occasion. John says, 'I saw another angel come down from heaven,
having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.' Then,
as at the Pentecostal season, the people will hear the truth spoken to
them, every man in his own tongue. God can breathe new life into every
soul that sincerely desires to serve him, and can touch the lips with a
live coal from off the altar, and cause them to become eloquent with his
praise. Thousands of voices will be imbued with the power to speak forth
the wonderful truths of God's word. The stammering tongue will be
unloosed, and the timid will be made strong to bear courageous testimony
to the truth."—Review and Herald, July 20, 1886.
Anticipating God's special gift of this
"second Pentecost" to His church, the devil has moved in with
force, introducing his counterfeit as a Godly manifestation.
History stands ready to repeat itself—but
the result will be such that it can never be forgotten.
Rene Noorbergen |