The Gift of Tongues
The second spiritual endowment we look for in the churches of today is the gift of tongues. At first sight this seems very much in evidence. In almost every place we find certain religious bodies who have a great deal to say about spiritual gifts, and especially the gift of tongues. They make the latter a sign to show whether or not a person is baptized with the Holy Spirit. But their so-called “tongues” have a very spotted history. One of the first strong manifestations in America of that gift was among the Mormons back in the first half of the nineteenth century. Shortly after this, about 1855 and onward, the spiritualists began to make claims to the gift of tongues. But those tongues were a meaningless gibberish of strange sounds like the so-called “tongues” of people now generally called Pentecostals. I feel free to affirm that according to the Word of God this gift of tongues which has been so generally spoken of by Mormons, spiritualists, and others is in no sense the gift of tongues mentioned in the Bible. It is closely related to certain fanatical manifestations, the so called charism so common here and there in church history. The word tongues as found in the books of Acts or First Corinthians means language; that is, spoken words that stand for definite ideas. The Bible term tongues never refers to mere guttural sounds which have no sense or meaning, and the people who give way to this gibberish in their exciting religious services certainly do not possess the gift of tongues spoken of in the Scriptures. Sometimes the sounds called “tongues” come after hours of secret practice.FSG 19.1
Some have minimized this Pentecostal movement as small and noisy and unworthy of our notice. But today these groups number over one and a half million members in the United States. It is officially stated that in Canada they are reckoned among the ten largest denominations; whereas overseas they continue to increase so that in some countries, such as Chile, for instance, they are among the strongest Protestant bodies. They are not organized as one church; in fact, America alone has some fifty sections of them.FSG 20.1
In 1851 the Seventh-day Adventist Church, led, as we believe, in this matter by the messenger of the Lord, turned from that spurious gift of tongues. Of this we read:FSG 20.2
“Some of these persons have exercises which they call gifts, and say that the Lord has placed them in the church. They have an unmeaning gibberish which they call the unknown tongue, which is unknown not only by man, but by the Lord and all Heaven. Such gifts are manufactured by men and women, aided by the great deceiver. Fanaticism, false excitement, false talking in tongues, and noisy exercises, have been considered gifts which God has placed in the church. Some have been deceived here. The fruits of all this have not been good. ‘Ye shall know them by their fruits.’ Fanaticism and noise have been considered special evidences of faith. Some are not satisfied with a meeting unless they have a powerful and happy time. They work for this, and get up an excitement of feeling. But the influence of such meetings is not beneficial.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:412.FSG 20.3
“Some of these have much to say upon the gifts, and are often especially exercised. They give themselves up to wild, excitable, feelings, and make unintelligible sounds which they call the gift of tongues, and a certain class seem to be charmed with these strange manifestations. A strange spirit rules with this class, which would bear down and run over any one who would reprove them. God’s Spirit is not in the work and does not attend such workmen.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:414.FSG 20.4
“Some rejoice and exult that they have the gifts which others have not. May God deliver His people from such gifts. What do these gifts do for them? Are they, through the exercise of these gifts, brought into the unity of the faith? And do they convince the unbeliever that God is with them of a truth? When these discordant ones, holding their differing views, come together and there is considerable excitement and the unknown tongue, they let their light so shine that unbelievers would say, These people are not sane; they are carried away with a false excitement, and we know that they do not have the truth. Such stand directly in the way of sinners.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:419.FSG 21.1
Hundreds of earnest believers in many lands will testify from personal knowledge that the foregoing is an exact and true statement. Of one of these wild meetings in her early life Mrs. White wrote:FSG 21.2
“There was much excitement, with noise and confusion. One could not tell what was piped or what was harped. Some appeared to be in vision, and fell to the floor. Others were jumping, dancing, and shouting. They declared that as their flesh was purified, they were ready for translation. This they repeated again and again. I bore my testimony in the name of the Lord, placing His rebuke upon these manifestations.”—The General Conference Bulletin, April 23, 1901, page 420.FSG 21.3
In thus rejecting this speaking with tongues we are not presuming to judge those who claim this gift.FSG 21.4