The miraculous gifts of tongues – speaking in tongues

You probably suspected it, but the Internet is not limited to English.

There are Hispanic search engines, German search engines, Asian search engines, etc. There is a Japanese Google, a German Yahoo, AOL in Spanish, and MSN in Chinese.

Computers help break down and overcome language barriers, but such technology did not exist when Christianity began. This is why God gave the miraculous gift of “tongues” (the ability to speak in known languages). Giving people the ability to speak in languages they had never studied allowed the gospel to more rapidly spread throughout the ancient world.

Notice how the gift of tongues was directly associated with evangelism (Mk. 16:17-20): “And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.”

Tongues, like the ability to handle snakes without harm, were a sign to “confirm the word.” Since the word has now been confirmed (we know it as the New Testament), the gift of tongues and the other abilities listed by Jesus are gone.

Find the truth about God and become a New Testament Christian. Find out more about New Testament Christianity by running some Internet searches for “church of Christ” and “churches of Christ.” You may also want to visit http://www.abiblecommentary.com for Bible study information.

Remember, in order to be saved and enjoy all God’s blessings (not the least of which is salvation), a person must have faith (Jn. 8:24), be willing to repent (Lk. 13:3), and after confessing Christ as Lord, the final step is water baptism (Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 12:13; 1 Pet. 3:20-21). Proper baptism in water puts a person “into Christ” (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3) and results in the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).

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