As I have written before, if you are not on Facebook you are missing out on all of the fun. It has been an exciting study of "tongues" and the baptism of Christ with the Holy Spirit. There is only ONE (Ephesians 4:5), and we all get it who are in Christ. No one is left out; furthermore, John 3:34 states that we ALL have the Holy Spirit "without measure", so no Christian has Him more than the next regenerated Christian. We all have Him "without measure." In 1 Corinthians there are "tongues" (plural) and "tongue" (singular). The singular meant gibberish, and the plural meant "language," basically. The gibberish has never been of God, and it had even crept into the church in Corinth. In the occult, many people speak in "a tongue", meaning sensual gibberish, which does absolutely nothing to glorify Jesus. There is no place for such gibberish in the life of a Christian, because we are called to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and MIND and pray as Jesus taught us to pray in coherent communication with our Father in Heaven.
In connection with what has previously been set forth, how convincing, how final is this latest proof that the non sign gifts, and not the sign gifts, accompany the continuation and unfolding of the purposes of God in the present dispensation! All of the proofs are by no means inferential. Some say that the fact of the “sign gifts” having been given to the Church is prima facie evidence that they are still there, though dormant, for lack of faith. This argument falls to the ground at once by a study of chapters 12, 13 and 14 of I Corinthians. The apostles were a gift to the Church (I Corinthians 12:28) , but they soon passed away. The New Testament prophet was a gift to the Church (I Corinthians 12:28) for the definite purpose of giving divinely inspired messages to the Church until the written Word was completed. At the very time these prophets were given to the Church, it was stated that their prophesies would fail (I Corinthians 13:8) They accomplished their purpose and soon failed. Not one of them is incorporated as such in the written Word. In that connection it was also stated “whether there be tongues, they shall cease” (I Corinthians 13:8). The “knowledge” that was given as a special gift to some in the Church (I Corinthians 12:8) for the short period of time until the written Word should be completed, vanished away (I Corinthians 13:8) soon after the canon of Scripture was completed. ~Tongues, Signs and Visions, A.E. Bishop, Copyright 1920
