Gift of Tongues has Ceased? Says Who?

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I just finished reading Costi Hinn's testimony about discovering the real Gospel of Jesus Christ and how he shunned the prosperity gospel afterward. He found something wrong about his uncle's excessive lifestyle (which he also enjoyed for a time) as a minister of the gospel and repented of it, embracing in turn the cross of Jesus. I call this the "crossic" life.

I have long questioned the prosperity gospel (how religious ministers define it), although the bible teaches prosperity without a doubt. God wants us all to prosper. But the prosperity God has in mind is very different from the one they worship in church today. God's prosperity has nothing to do with the money value system.

I also do not believe in mega churches though they seem so effective today. Effective does not always equal God's will. A lot of things in the world today are effective---like GMO and illicit drugs and corruption and sex outside marriage---but they aren't God's will. Smoking cigarettes is effective to a lot of people.

And then the article on Costi Hinn talked about how the gift of tongues had ceased. Yeah? Since when? But I understand---most people disgruntled about church and abused ministries often also begin to denounce the things of God they do not understand---like tongues. Or, they begin to see God's supernatural things as the world sees them, saying the gift of tongues is nothing but speaking the languages on earth.

I don't know why tongues often get the brunt of the blame when church people fight about doctrines and bolt from their denominations to form new ones. They almost always develop an idea or doctrine antagonistic to tongues. Why the seeming distaste for tongues?

First off, who said tongues have ceased? They often misquote this:

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. [1 Cor.13.8]

They say this verse put an end to tongues. If so, then this verse has also put an end to knowledge, because it's included in the context. But fact is, the verb "will" in the passage tells us it will happen in some future, but there is no exact date. No one but God knows when. It will, but we don't know when. And since we all still operate in knowledge, it goes without saying that tongues also still operate.

The day knowledge stops is also the day tongues will stop. So with prophecy. Now, let's examine the next verse:

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 

See? It says what disappears is the knowing, prophesying or speaking in tongues "in part," not the gifts themselves. Today we do these things partially. But when "completeness" or "the perfect" comes, their partial nature will disappear. Because everything will be complete or perfect. And that time is now fast approaching. God is about to restore everything. We'll see everything face to face. Knowledge, prophesying and tongues will be complete. I believe the spiritual things of God last forever.

No more partial.

But then man's religion sees this erroneously and concludes these gifts will stop, and has in fact stopped. Sometimes, when people see abusive ministers speaking in tongues, they conclude that anyone speaking in tongues is abusive. They think it was all because of the gift. So they ban the gift or declare it null and void. I admit, the gifts are so prone to abuse and corruption. Because of their power, anyone wielding them without a pure heart will use them for his own welfare. But it's wrong to punish the gift as well.

It is good to realize the wrongs of the modern church and endeavor to go back to the Scriptures, to God's powerful and living WORD. But the proper way is to eliminate the wrong, NOT to eliminate portions of Scripture. Carnal man has the tendency to blame parts of Scriptures and get rid of them when they sense error and abuse, instead of eliminating human religion and everything they have invented in church. 

Some churches found serious fault in eternal security, for instance, and believe salvation can be lost. So they also veer away from bible verses that support eternal security or eternal life. You'd hardly hear them talk about these verses. If you do, they'd think you've become a heretic. 

And there are churches who found serious fault in holiness and never talk about it, to the extent that they veer away from bible verses supporting it. They cannot and will not believe you can live a holy life. They maintain holiness is not necessary because anyway we are made sure of salvation through God's grace.

Genuine revival is realizing that all Scripture is God breathed and "is" profitable (not "was" profitable) for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Every Word of God is God breathed and profitable for all eternity and nothing is to be declared null. You magnify the WORD more and eliminate everything invented by man in church. 

There are even worthless teachers who say the Old Testament and the law are obsolete because of the gospel. We are not under the law anymore but the bible says we must uphold the law. Paul, the staunch teacher of salvation by grace through faith, said it:

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. [Rom.3.31]

I don't know why many today still don't get these things. They tend to delete from the bible to maintain their traditions, rather than trash all their traditions and focus more on God's Word. They honor God with their lips but their hearts are far away from him.

As long as you can read about tongues in the bible, it is operational. As long as angels exist, they will use angelic tongues. The fun is, you can join them talk  in their realms through the gift of tongues the Spirit of God gave you.

Present MOVE: Seeing the UNSEEN in real time.