A Historical Record of
Speaking in Tongues (Glossolalia)
TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION
(3)
CHAPTER 1 FIRST CENTURY GLOSSOLALIA (5)
Jesus’ Teaching on
Glossolalia
The Prophet Isaiah’s
Teaching on Glossolalia
Glossolalia in the Book of
Acts
CHAPTER 2 SECOND CENTURY
GLOSSOLALIA (11)
107 AD,
Catholic Bishop Ignatius Against Oneness
Pentecostals
150 AD, The Catholic
Apologist Justin Martyr on Glossolalia
150 AD, Justin Martyr
Against Oneness Pentecostals
156 AD, Montanus, the First
Protestant, on Glossolalia
180 AD, Catholic Bishop
Irenaeus on Glossolalia
180 AD, Irenaeus Against
Oneness Pentecostals
190 AD, The
Montanist Protestant Tertullian on Glossolalia
190 AD, The Oneness
Montanist Pentecostals and Glossolalia
CHAPTER 3 THIRD CENTURY GLOSSOLALIA
(20)
200 AD,
Clement of Alexandria: Glossolalia Branded as Heresy by Catholic Bishops
220 AD,
Origen: Glossolalia Had Ceased in Most Catholic Churches
220 AD, The
Pagan Philosopher Celsus’ Testimony:
The Glossolalia
of the Oneness Pentecostals in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon
225 AD, Hippolytus Against Noetus, A Oneness Pentecostal
Preacher
255 AD, Novatian on
Glossolalia
CHAPTER 4 FOURTH CENTURY
GLOSSOLALIA (22)
325
AD, The Nicene Council Against Oneness
Pentecostals
350 AD,
Catholic Bishop Hilary of Poitiers on Glossolalia
370 AD,
Catholic Bishop Ambrose on Glossolalia
381
AD, The Ecumenical Council of Constantinople Against Oneness Pentecostals
390 AD,
Catholic Patriarch John Chrysostom: Glossolalia Had Ceased in Catholicism
395 AD, Catholic Bishop
Augustine: Glossolalia Had Ceased in Catholicism
395 AD, Catholic Bishop
Jerome: Glossolalia Ceased in Catholicism,
But Reveals the Oneness
Pentecostals Still Practiced It
CHAPTER 5 FIFTH THROUGH THE NINTH CENTURY
GLOSSOLALIA (26)
404
AD, Pope Innocent I Against Oneness Pentecostals
451
AD, Pope Leo I Against Oneness Pentecostals
557
AD, Catholic Emperor Justinian I: Persecution and Revival of Oneness
Pentecostals
649
AD, The Lateran Council Against Oneness Pentecostals
675
AD, The Eleventh Council of Toledo Against Oneness Pentecostals
700-799AD,
Bede the ‘Venerable’ on Glossolalia and Gifts of the Spirit
800-899
AD, Oneness Anabaptist Bernhard Rothmann,
and
the Glossolalia of Oneness Pentecostals Throughout Europe
CHAPTER 6 TENTH THROUGH THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY GLOSSOLAIA (27)
900-1514 AD,
Persecution of Oneness Anabaptist
Pentecostals in Spain
1150-1500 AD,
The Waldenses On Glossolalia
1215 AD, The Fourth
Catholic Lateran Council Against Oneness Pentecostals
1248 AD,
Ursinus: Glossolalia and Oneness Pentecostals
1250-1299 AD,
The Catholic Mendicant Friars
1341 AD, Pope
Benedict XII Condemned the Catholic Armenian Churches for Converting to Oneness
1399-1409 AD,
Catholic Monk Vincent Ferrer on Glossolalia and the Gifts of the Spirit
1441 AD, The
Testimony of Pope Eugenius IV Against the Oneness Jacobites
1520 AD, The
German Zwickau Prophets and Glossolalia
1525 AD,
Anabaptists Bernhard Rothmann and Jan van Leyden Glossolalia and Oneness
Pentecostals
1529 AD,
Andreas Carlstadt and Erasmus on Glossolalia
1537 AD, Anabaptist Menno Simons and
Glossolalia
1553 AD,
Calvin’s Persecution of Oneness Anabaptist Michael Servetus
1557-1685 AD,
The French Huguenots and Glossolalia
CHAPTER 7 SEVENTEENTH THROUGH THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY GLOSSOLAIA (32)
1647 AD,
George Fox and the Early Quakers: Glossolalia and Oneness Pentecostals
1660 AD, The
Oneness Quaker William Penn: Glossolalia and Oneness Pentecostals
1695 AD, Oneness
Pentecostals in England
1701 AD, The
Camisards or Cevennol Prophets of France and Glossolalia
1727 AD,
Oneness Tongue Talking Montanists in England
1727 AD, The
Moravian Brethren and Glossolalia
1730 AD, The
Catholic French Jansenists Movement and Glossolalia
1738 AD, John
Wesley and the Glossolalia of the Early Methodists
1738 AD, George Whitefield and
Glossolalia
1762-1828 AD,
Oneness Tongue-Talking Convulsionist in France
1774 AD, The
Shakers Movement and Glossolalia
1800-1801 AD, The
Glossolalia of the Kentucky, Cane Ridge, and Georgia Revivals
1809 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal Elias Smith and Glossolalia
1810-1887 AD,
The Revivals of Oneness Congregational Pastors
1831 AD, The
Glossolalia of Edward Irving’s English Revival
1851, AD, The
Revival in Cornwall England
1850-1875 AD,
The Revivals of Charles Grandison Finney
1875 AD, The
Glossolalia of the Revivals of Dwight L. Moody
1889 AD, The
Glossolalia of the Oslo, Norway Revival
1900 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal Charles Parham and Glossolalia
1906-1909 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal William Seymour and the Great Three-Year Tongue Talking
Revival of Azusa Street
1908 AD, India
Revival
1915 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal Russian Revivals of Andrew Urshan
1917 AD, The
Revival of the True Jesus Church of China
1962 AD,
Catholic Charismatic Revival
1965 AD,
Protestant Revival
1979-2004 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal Revival Movement: Grew to One Hundred Organizations
BIBLIOGRAPHY (42)
ENDNOTES (46)
Copyright May 30, 1996 by Harry A. Peyton under the
title of “The Doctrines Of Christ.”
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INTERPRETING THE BIBLE, which was used by early Christian Prophets and Apostles
of the Bible.
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INTRODUCTION
This book is
a brief history of glossolalia throughout the centuries. It is designed to give
my readers a basic understanding of the great history of speaking in tongues in
Modalist Monarchian Churches, Catholic Churches, and Protestant Churches
throughout the centuries. Since most people have a basic knowledge of the Catholic
and Protestant denominations, no explanation of who they are is needed. Now the
Modalist Monarchians is probably a term most are not familiar with. Today these
people would be called the “Oneness Believers,” or as some prefer, “One God,
Jesus Name Believers,” or “Apostolic Pentecostals.” Now that we have identified
all the major religious groups, who have received the glorious experience of
glossolalia, let us proceed.
Lets define
the term “glossolalia” for those who are not familiar with it. The Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99 under the heading of “Glossolalia” stated: (Greek glossa,’tongue’;
lalein,’to speak’), [a] religious term for the ancient and modern practice of speaking
in a state of ecstasy…. Two New Testament authors, Paul and Luke, indicate
that speaking in tongues was a notable part of early Christian
church life. The descent of the Holy Spirit at the festival of Pentecost that
followed the first Easter marked the first exercise of this gift of speech (see
Acts 2:1-42) in the church…. The consistent element in the New Testament
references to glossolalia is the belief that the Holy Spirit causes Christians
to speak in tongues…. Speaking in tongues is thus considered a manifestation of
one's being under the direction of the Spirit rather than of one’s own rational
faculty.
Thus, glossolalia is speaking in a modern or ancient
language, which is known somewhere in the world, but it is unknown to the
speakers, for they were not taught those languages (Acts 2:6-11),
but they spoke as the Holy Ghost of Christ anointed each one to speak, by
giving them the words to speak! In other words, the language each individual
speaks in does not come from their mind, but the Holy Spirit anoints
their human spirit to speak. It is the Holy Spirit anointing their spirit to
converse with its creator. It is not the soul of man that is
communicating with God in a language that it has been taught, but it is their human
spirit that is pouring out its heart to God in prayer or worship (1Co 14:14).
As one who has been praying, worshipping, and singing in
tongues through the Holy Ghost for 34 years, and as one who is sometimes used
to give a message or interpret a message in the church (1Co 14:2, 4, 15, 27-28),
I can say without any hesitation or doubt, this is one of the greatest and most
glorious experiences I have even had with my God and Savior. I have always been
amazed and awed by the reality of God’s beautiful and exciting presence in my
life, in which I am so thankful! No one deserves to receive this great and holy
gift, but our sweet Lord gives it to the undeserving, who truly believes
and repents of all his or her sins.
Now,
according to the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ opened up the New Covenant
on the Day of Pentecost by pouring out the great, wondrous, and holy gift of
His Spirit on approximately 3,120 souls (Acts 2:1-4,
41). Professor Phillip Schaff in his History
of the Christian Church, spoke of this when he wrote: The ascension of Christ to heaven was followed ten days afterwards by the
descent of the Holy Spirit upon earth and the birth of the Christian Church….
The communication of the Holy Spirit was not confined to the Twelve. It
extended to the brethren of the Lord, the mother of Jesus, the pious women who
had attended his ministry, and the whole brotherhood of a hundred and twenty
souls who were assembled in the that chamber. They were ‘all’ filled with the
Spirit, and all spoke with tongues. [1]
Speaking of glossolalia that took place on the Day of Pentecost, A
New Standard Bible Dictionary made
this interesting statement: The
Church of Christ, as it appears in the NT, is essentially Spirit-anointed and
conscious of a heightened religious experience, a new quality of life,
communicated through Jesus; and all this goes back to an initial experience of
Spirit-baptism through faith in the Name (1 Co 1:21 f.). From the
opening of the Apostolic Age, however, the Spirit-baptism of Jesus the
Christ (cf. Jn 7:39, 16:7), a sensible [or rational or conscious] experience and one recognizable by outward signs (e.g. rapt
utterance, glossolalia, Ac 2:4, 10:46, 19:6), was associated with water-baptism
(Ac 2:38).... [The] Spirit-baptism was the ‘seal’ of Divine
acceptance. [2]
According to
the Encyclopaedia Britannica speaking in tongues: Appeared as a sign of the Holy Spirit,
which marked the character of the earliest Christians.... The account in Acts
(2:38; 8:14‑17; 10:44‑48; 11:15; 19:1‑7) indicates that in
the beginning of the Christian Church the phenomenon reappeared whenever
conversion and commitment to Christianity occurred. In time the Church began to
expect and very nearly demand its manifestation to verify the possession of the
Holy Spirit. [3]
After this
initial outpouring of God’s spirit, we can see in the Book of the Acts, the
Holy Ghost being poured out on a multitude of hungry hearts from 30-96 AD. After this
period of time, the only records that survived the fires of Roman Catholicism
are Catholic records. So, we only have a sporadic record of God’s Spirit and
His gifts operating in any church after the first century. John Sherrill, in
his book entitled They Speak In Other Tongues, reveals that glossolalia
or: Tongues continued to play a part in Christian
experience down through the centuries. [4]
CHAPTER
1
FIRST
CENTURY GLOSSOLALIA
The only
secular history we have of glossolalia, in the first century, is from writers
who lived in the post apostolic period and beyond. These writers, such as the
so-called Ante Nicene Father, wrote commentaries on the scriptures, describing
to us some of the events that took place in the first century. Therefore, to
obtain an accurate understanding of the history of glossolalia in the first
century, let us briefly examine the scriptures that apply to this great
subject.
What did Jesus mean that everyone who believes
the gospel and is baptized would have signs following them, and what did He
mean by the term “new tongues?” Doctors M’Clintock And Strong, in their work the
Cyclopedia of Biblical Theological and
Ecclesiastical Literature, declare did the “new tongues” Jesus spoke about referred to “glossolalia.” They wrote: In Mk. 16:17, we have a more definite term
employed: ‘They shall speak with new tongues.
It can hardly be questioned that the obvious meaning of the
promise is that the disciples should speak in new languages, which they
had not learned as other men learn them.... It was to be a ‘sign.’
It was not to belong to a chosen few only the apostles and evangelists. It was
to ‘follow them that believed’ to be among
the fruits of the living, intense faith which raised men above the common level
of their lives, and brought them within the Kingdom of God. [5]
Jesus Teaching on Glossolalia to Nicodemus: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water
and the Spirit [Pneuma], he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
The wind [Pneuma] blows [pneo] where it wishes, and you hear the sound [phone] of it, but cannot tell where it comes
from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit [Pneuma]” (Jn 3:5, 8). Since modern day Bible
commentators do not associate glossolalia with verse 8, I believe it would be
in order to give a brief exegesis and history, of how this verse has been
translated from the Greek language.
According to the rules for Greek grammar, verse 8 should have been translated as: “The Spirit
breathes hard as it will, and you head the voice of It,” or “The Spirit breathes hard as it will, and you head
the language of It.” If one translates
this verse this way, one can quickly perceive that the supernatural voice of
the Spirit, that will be heard speaking through the one who has received it, is
referring to “glossolalia” or “unknown
tongues.”
In the Greek this verse is written this way: “to. pneu/ma [Pneuma] o[pou qe,lei pnei/ [pneo] kai. th.n fwnh.n [phone] auvtou/ avkou,eij avll ouvk oi=daj
po,qen e;rcetai kai. pou/ u`pa,gei\ ou[twj evsti.n pa/j o` gegennhme,noj evk
tou/ pneu,matoj [Pneuma].”
The Greek word “pneuma” is used 385 times in the NT and the Kings James translated it 381
times as spirit or as spirits or Ghost, referring to the
Holy Ghost, 1 time as: spiritual, spiritually, life, and wind. My dear readers,
our dear Lord and the great apostle John, who wrote down His infallible words,
definitely knew the difference between the Greek word pneuma and anemos. The
Greek word for “wind” is “anemos” not “pneuma.” Anemos is used 22 times in the NT and it always means wind. It is translated
15 times as wind and 7 times as winds. If John wanted his readers to believe
that he was speaking of the wind in this verse, he would have wrote “anemos” there instead
of “pneuma,” just as he did in Jn
6:18, Rev 6:13 and 7:1.
Greek Lexicons Definition of Greek Words Used in Verse
Eight: According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
of the Bible, Dr. James Strong, the Greek words: “pneuma” primarily
means: spirit, figuratively it could mean: wind; “pneo” primarily means: a hard breath, figuratively
it means: blow; and “phone,” primarily means: voice or language, figuratively it means: sound. [6]
The Greek word “Anemos” is use 31
times in the NT and is always translates
as “wind.” It is used 5 times with the verb pneo in the NT, and it was
always translated as the “wind
blows,” but when “pneo” is used with “Pneuma” it should be
translated as the “Spirit breathes.” Phone is used 141
times and is translated 131 times as voice, 8 times as sound and 2
times as noise. In the NT, phone is use many times to refer to God’s voice. In First Corinthians 14:11, “phone,” from the context of this scripture, obviously an “unknown tongue or language.” The New King James translated this verse
this way: “if I do not know the meaning of the language [phone], I shall be a
foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me.”
Archbishop Trench, in his Synonyms
of the New Testament, declared that “phone” is: distinguished from psophos, in that it is the cry
of a living creature. [7]
German professor Dr. Walter Bauer, in his Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature revealed
that “phone” is used in numerous places in Biblical and non-biblical Greek to mean:
“language.” Dr. Bauer speaking of “phone,” as it is used in the Greek Septuagint, revealed that it is used in Genesis 11:1; Deut 28:49; 2Macc 7:8, 21, 27;
4Macc 12:7 to mean: “language.” He also wrote that phone is used in the writings of Josephus,
Aeschylus, Herodian Grammaticus, and Diogenes Laertius to mean: “language;” and “phone” is used with “Glossa” in the Papyri
Graecae Magicae to refer to the same thing. [8]
English Bible Versions’ Translation Of John 3:8: Morris’ Literal Translation of the Bible: “The Spirit [Pneuma] breathes where He
desires, and the voice [phone also means language] of Him you hear, but you know not where He comes, and
where He goes, so is everyone having received birth from the Spirit [Pneuma]” (also see The Interlinear Bible by J. P. Green). Dr. Young's Literal Translation of the Bible: “The Spirit where He willeth doth
blow, and His voice thou dost hear….” The Emphasized Bible, by Joseph Bryant Rotherham: “The Spirit where it pleaseth doth breathe,
and the sound therefore thou hearest….”
The Rheims Bible of AD 1582: “The Spirit breatheth
where He will: and thou hearest His voice….” M. R. Vincent in his Word Studies
in the New Testament speaking of this verse stated: some hold by the translation Spirit, as Wycliffe,
‘The Spirit breatheth where it will.’ [9]
John Wycliffe was a 14th century English reformer and theologian,
who was the first to initiated a translation of Bible into English; he is also
considered a forerunner of Protestant Reformation.
The Latin Vulgate, edited by Bishop Richard Challoner: “The Spirit
breatheth where he will; and thou hearest His voice, but thou
knowest not whence he cometh, and whither he goeth: so is every one that is
born of the Spirit.” [10]
The
old Latin Jerome Bible of the fourth
century and all the Latin translations there after it also translated this
verse this way. These Latin Bibles were used throughout Europe for many
centuries.
Ancient Catholic Priests’ Translation Of Verse Eight: In the volumes of the Ante
Nicene Fathers, we can read the translations of these
Catholic priests. Origen (AD
220) wrote: The Holy Spirit, who alone searches the deep things of God, reveals God
to whom he will: ‘For the Spirit bloweth where He
listeth.’ [11] Cyprian (AD
252) wrote to Donatus in which he stated: The agency of the ‘Spirit breathed’ from heaven, a second birth had restored me to a new man. [12]
A Treatise on Re-Baptism (AD 255), which was written
by an anonymous writer, whom I firmly believe was Bishop Stephen of Rome,
stated: The Spirit breathes where He will, and thou hearest His voice…. The Spirit indeed continues today invisible to
men, as the Lord says ‘The Spirit breathes
where He will and thou knowest not whence He cometh, or where He goeth.’ [13] Cyril, the
Archbishop of Jerusalem (AD 380) in his Discourse on the Holy Ghost wrote: For even Nicodemus was ignorant of the coming of the Spirit, and to him
it was said, ‘The Spirit breatheth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice.’ [14]
A
Bible Commentary’s Translation of Verse Eight: The
People’s New Testament Commentary made the following comment on this verse:
Most commentators have held that this means: ‘As the
wind moves mysteriously, so does the Spirit, and it breathes upon whom it will,
effecting the inward change called the birth of the Spirit arbitrarily.’ This view I believe due to a wrong
translation, sanctioned, not by Greek, but by current theology…. Let
it be noted that: (1) exactly the same Greek term ‘pneuma’ is rendered ‘wind’
and ‘Spirit’ in this verse. It is a violation of all law [of
grammar] that the same word should experience so radical a change of meaning in
the same sentence. (2) That the word ‘pneuma’ is not translated ‘wind’
elsewhere, although it occurs scores of times in the New Testament, but is always
rendered ‘Spirit.’
(3) Another word in the Greek, ‘anemos’ is usually used to represent
‘wind.’ (4) The erroneous idea creates a confusion of figures. It makes
Christ to say: ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth; so is every one born of the
Spirit.’ It affirms of him who is born just what is affirmed of the wind, a
thing the Savior never did. These facts are sufficient to show that the
rendering ‘wind’ is wrong. All we have to do is to translate ‘pneuma’
here, as is done in the latter part of the verse and elsewhere in the New
Testament. The verse then reads: ‘The Spirit
(‘pneuma’) breathes where it pleases and thou hearest the voice
thereof, but canst not tell whence it comes nor whither it goes. So is every
one born of the Spirit’ (‘pneuma’). The meaning is: The Spirit
breathes where it wills and you recognize its manifestation
by its voice.
A
Greek Lexicon’s Translation of Verse Eight: The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. R. Nicolli, confirmed the above
comments when it stated: In the
new birth the Spirit moves and works unseen.... ‘The
Spirit breatheth where he will,' as in the margin of the
Revised Version.... In favor of the other rendering [meaning KJV & other English versions] it may be urged that there is nothing to
warn us that we are now to understand that by pneuma wind is meant. It
occurs about 370 times in the New Testament and never means wind.... The
Vulgate renders ‘Spiritus....’ The Spirit makes Himself audible
in articulate and intelligible sounds. The breathing of the Spirit
is like man’s breath, not mere air, but articulated and significant
voice. [15]
The Bible revealed that Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled on the day
of Pentecost when God began to pour out his Spirit on all flesh.
The
Prophet Isaiah’s Teaching on Glossolalia
Jesus’ teaching on tongues was also the fulfillment of Isaiah's
prophecy. Isaiah boldly proclaimed: “For with stammering lips and another tongue
[or language] He [God] will speak to this people. To whom He said, ‘this is the rest
with which You may cause the weary to rest,’ and ‘this is the refreshing,’
yet they would not hear” (Isa
28:11-12). The word “this” is referring
to “another language!” Therefore, through the medium of foreign languages God will give His
children rest and refreshing. Now, how could speaking in foreign languages give
God’s people rest and refresh in their spirits?
Let us allow the apostle Paul to answer this question for us. For any
good reference Bible will refer the reader to First Corinthians 14:21, which declared: “In the law it is written: ‘With men of other tongues and other lips
will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that they will not hear Me,’
says the LORD.” Since Paul quoted from the Book
of Isaiah to confirm his teaching on unknown tongues, this is absolute
positive proof that Isaiah was referring to unknown languages, which is spoken
by means of the Spirit of God. Paul applied Isaiah’s prophecy to a believer’s
prayer and worship of God. Therefore, it could not be referring to the Assyrian
language, which some commentators suggest. Whose teachings are we going to
believe, the apostle Paul who was inspired and anointed by God, or the
philosophical babbling of men?
Tertullian in AD 200 interpreted Isaiah’s teaching to mean glossolalia or the unknown
languages. Tertullian speaking of Paul wrote: He
mentions the fact that ‘it is written in the law,’
that the Creator would speak with ‘other
tongues and other lips’ whilst confirming
indeed the gift of tongues by such a mention. [16]
Glossolalia in the Book of Acts
The Day of Pentecost: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were
all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire,
and one sat upon each of them. And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance [meaning the words to speak]. And there were dwelling in
Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound
occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard
them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and
marveled, saying to one another, ‘Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
And how is it that we hear,
each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and
Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors
from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs -- we hear them speaking
in our own tongues the wonderful works of God’ ” (Acts 2:1-11).
Doctors John M’Clintock and James Strong made this very interesting
comment on these verses: We
notice incidentally that parallels have been sought in Israelitish history. For
example, there had been, it was said, tongues of fire on the original Pentecost, (Schneckenburger, Beitrage, p 8, referring to Buxtorf, De Synog. and Philo, De Decal.).… It deserves notice that
there are analogies in Jewish belief, every word that went forth from the mouth
of God on Sinai was said to have been divided into seventy languages of the
sons of men (Wettstein, on Acts 2), and the bath‑kol, the echo of the
voice of God, was heard by every man in his own tongue (Schneckenburger, Beitrage). [17]
Can anyone deny the striking parallel between the giving of the Old
Covenant with that of the New? In the Old, God is writing His law on tables of
stone (Ex 31:18). In the New, God is writing His law in the hearts and minds of men (Heb 10:15‑16). In the Old, God came down and
dwelt on the top of Mt. Sinai. In the New, God came down and dwelt in men. The
old and new covenants were both established on the Day of Pentecost. In both
covenants tongues of fire actually appeared as an initial sign and seal of the
covenant. In both covenants God spoke in many languages and men actually heard
Him speak in their own language.
Catholic
bishop Irenaeus (AD 180) speaking of
God pouring out His Spirit on the Day of Pentecost wrote: This Spirit did David ask for the human race, saying, ‘And establish me
with Thine all-governing Spirit. Who also, as Luke says, descended at the day
of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord’s ascension, having power to
admit all nations to the entrance of life, and to the opening of
the New Covenant. From whence also, with one accord in all languages,
they uttered praise to God, the Spirit bringing distant tribes to unity,
and offering to the Father the first-fruits of all nations. [18]
The Bible unequivocally and unmistakably revealed that both Jesus’ and
Isaiah’s prophesy was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when the apostles and
disciples: “began to speak [laleo] with other tongues [glossa] as the Spirit gave them the utterance” (Acts 2:4). The Greek word “glossa” which Dr. Strong defines a: the tongue, by implication a language. The word ‘speak’
is the Greek verb “laleo” which means: to
talk that is utter words. [19]
When the two are place together we have the familiar word “glossolalia,” which means: to speak in tongue or to speak in languages.
Can anyone deny that the apostles and the 120 disciples mention in Acts
1:13-15, spoke in foreign languages on the Day of Pentecost, when they were
born of God’s Comforter or received God’s rest and refreshing, just as the Lord
Jesus and the prophet Isaiah said they would? The Word of God confirmed that
they spoke in foreign languages for in Acts 2: 6-8, the Bible says the that
each man had heard one of the apostles or disciples: “speak in his own
language [dialektos].” Therefore, the Greek word
‘glossa’ used in verse 4 and ‘dialektos’ used in verses 6 & 8 are without a
doubt interchangeable and have exactly the same meaning.
This phenomenon
was truly a miracle from God, because they had not learned these languages by
normal educative processes. In fact, they had no earthly idea of what they were
telling the Lord in worship that day. In verses 9-11, the Bible informed us
that the disciples praised God in more than 15 different
languages. In verses 17-18, the Bible also informed us that some of the
disciples who praised God in foreign languages that day were women (also
see - Acts 1:14).
Glossolalia and Cornelius and His Household: “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy
Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision
who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of
the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard
them speak with tongues and magnify [praise] God.
Then Peter answered, ‘Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be
baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have’ ” (Acts 10:44-47)?
Dr. Schaff speaking about Cornelius’ and his household receiving the
glossolalia experience declared that speaking in tongues became a: frequently phenomenon in the apostolic churches. He went on to say: The
Pentecostal glossolalia [on the
Day of Pentecost] was
the same as that in household of Cornelius in Caesarea after his
conversion, which may be called a gentile Pentecost, as that of the
twelve disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus, …and as that in the
Christian congregation at Corinth. [20]
When
Cornelius and those in his household received the Spirit, the infallible Word
of God declared that they worship God in foreign languages as the Holy Spirit
gave them the words to speak. It went on to declare that the Jewish Christians
that came with Peter knew these gentiles had received the Holy Ghost, because: “They heard them speak in tongues [glossa] and
magnify [megaluno] God.”
The word “magnify” is the Greek adjective “megaluno” which according to Dr. Strong means: to make or declare great. [21]
Cornelius and his household worshipped God in tongues, just as Mary’s soul
worshipped or “magnify [megaluno] the Lord” (Lk 1:46). Nowhere in the
context of these scriptures can any preacher find Cornelius and those in his
household preaching the Gospel in foreign languages to Peter, or to the Jewish
believers that came with him, or to anyone else. The Bible explicitly declared
they were praising God, just like Mary the mother of Jesus, the apostles and
the disciples did on the day of Pentecost.
When Peter went back to Jerusalem, he had to defend himself before the
apostles and elders as to why he went to a gentile's house. Did he not tell
them that God had sent him there to preach salvation to them; and that God had
given them the very same Comforter, with the very same evidence of
speaking in different languages? Peter said it this way: “As I began to speak
the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning.... Forasmuch then as God
gave them the like [isos] gift as He did us….
What was I, that I could withstand God” (Acts 11:15, 17, KJV)?
This last statement leaves no doubt that the glossolalia of Acts
chapters ten and eleven is the same in nature as that of Acts chapter two. For
Luke not only uses the Greek word “glossa,” but also the Greek word “isos,” to describe their
glossolalia experience. According to Dr. Strong “isos” means: similar in amount or kind - equal. [22] Thus, God
had given the gentiles and Jews the same gift with the very same manifestation.
In Acts 2:39, the apostle Peter declared that the “gift of the Holy Spirit” was for all generations.
Glossolalia and the Believers of Ephesus: “Paul having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.
And finding some disciples he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when
you believed?’ So they said to him, ‘We have not so much as heard whether there
is a Holy Spirit….’ And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came
upon them, and they spoke with tongues [glossa] and prophesied” (Acts 19:1-2, 6).
Let my readers take note that Luke uses the same Greek word “glossa,” to describe the
Ephesians glossolalia experience; he does not distinguish between the “glossa” used here and the
“glossa” used in chapters two and ten of the Book of Acts. Therefore, we must
believe that it is the same “glossa” that the apostles, the disciples, Cornelius and his household, and the
Ephesians received. We must believe that the Ephesians spoke in foreign
languages as the Spirit of God gave them the words to speak.
Glossolalia and the Believers of Samaria: The
Bible emphatically declared that these people believed the gospel Philip
preached when they saw the “miracles,”
the “healings,” and the “unclean spirits
cast out of many” who were possessed with them (Acts 8:
6-7). It also declared that the people were filled with “great joy” in that city (vs 8). Even though God did
many great things for this people, none of them had received the Holy Ghost at
that time (vss 15-17). The Samaritans received the Spirit about 14 or more
days later, when Peter and John came up from Jerusalem to pray for them (vss 14 –15).
The Bible revealed that God gave the Samaritans a very definite
external sign of the manifestation of Spirit, when they received it. For, the
Bible says: “And when Simon saw that through laying on of the
apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give
me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy
Ghost” (vss 18-19). It is very obvious from the
context of these verses that God's Holy Spirit manifested itself in such a way
that Simon the sorcerer “saw” or “knew” or “perceived” without a doubt
that these people were born of it. For Simon offered the apostles money to buy
the gift of bestowing the Holy Spirit.
Now tell me preacher, what did this sorcerer see or hear that let him
know that these people had received God's rest and refreshing? If Simon did not
hear his friends and neighbors speaking in tongues, then please tell me what it
was that he saw? Notice, this greedy, power mad sorcerer who: “had bewitched them
[the people of Samaria] with sorceries;” and he did not offer to buy the great gifts of healing and miracles
that Philip had, but only the gift of imparting the Holy Spirit (vs 11).
It is very obvious from the context of these scriptures that this
sorcerer wanted this power for self-exultation. In other words, this evil man
must have been thoroughly convinced in his mind of the genuineness of the gift
of the Holy Spirit, or he would have never offered to buy this gift. Since the
Scripture teaches: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be
established,” we therefore must indubitably
and unquestionably conclude that this outer manifestation of the Spirit that
Simon saw had to be glossolalia. This was the very same way the Holy Spirit
manifested itself on the day of Pentecost, at the house of Cornelius, on the
Ephesians, and all others.
If my readers have any doubt that the Samaritans spoke in tongues when
they received their glossolalia experience from God, permit Bishop Augustine (c. 395) settle the
question for you. Augustine wrote: Tidings were
brought to the disciples who were at Jerusalem, and they came to Samaria, in
order that they who had been baptized, might… receive the Holy Ghost. And so it
was; they came and laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
For the Holy Ghost was at that time given in such sort [or in such a way], that He even visibly
showed Himself to have been given. For they who received Him spake
with the tongues of all nations. It
is apparent that Augustan’s belief about the Samaritans receiving the Holy
Ghost, with the evidence of speaking in tongues, was a belief that was handed
down to him from his predecessors in the ministry.
CHAPTER
2
SECOND
CENTURY GLOSSOLALIA
107 AD, The Testimony of Ignatius
Against Oneness Pentecostals: Ignatius, also
known as Theophilus, became one of the
bishops in the one God, Apostolic Church in Antioch in AD 69, when he was 38
years old. Because of his invention of the Monarchial Bishop
doctrine, that is, one bishop not several bishops should rule God’s Church,
which in the Bible is known as part of the Nicolaitan doctrine (Rev 2:6, 15), and his Semi-Arian godhead doctrine of Philo, that
is, the doctrine of two-unequal-gods, he was branded as a heretic by God’s
children.
The apostle
Paul warned God’s children to beware of bishops like Ignatius, when he prophesied
and told God’s bishops: “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves
will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men
will rise up, speaking perverse things [doctrines], to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29-30). The apostle Peter, like Paul, warned God’s bishops against the heresy of
the monarchial bishop doctrine, when he wrote: “Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your
care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing,
as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not
lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”
(1Pe 5:2-3, NIV).
Peter spoke of the Semi-Arian godhead heresy of these heretics this way: “There will be false
teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies,
even denying the sovereign Lord [the supreme Deity of Christ] who bought them, bringing swift
destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the
way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit
you with stories they have made up” (2Pe 2-3, NIV). The apostle John (c. 90) spoke of the
departure of these heretics from God’s Church when he wrote: “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist
is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the
last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us;
for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made
manifest, that none of them were of us” (1Jn 2:18-19).
Who were
these heretics that departed from the oneness Pentecostal Church? They were Ignatius (AD 90), Clement of Rome (AD 90), and other of
that ilk. Therefore, somewhere around AD 90, these bishops and their deceived followers, and other bishops of
other cities, apostatized and departed from God’s oneness Pentecostal Church.
As a result, they came together and formed the first ministerial organization in
history; they called it the Catholic Church. The main Catholic Nicolaitan
heretics of the second and third centuries are Justin Martyr (AD 150), Tertullian (AD 180), Clemens of
Alexandria (AD
200), Origen (AD 220), Hippolytus (AD 225), and Cyprian (AD 255). All of these
heretics loved the writings of the Greek philosophers, especially Plato, and
the allegoric method of interpreting the scriptures that was used by Philo.
Harvard University professor Harry A. Wolfson, in his book The
Philosophy of the Church Fathers, boldly declared the Semi-Arian heresy
that all the above heretical Catholics taught. He affirmed that these Catholic
Ante Nicene Priests did not: Believe in a
preexistent Trinity.... Before His [Jesus’] birth
there were only two preexistent beings, God and the Holy Spirit, the
latter identified with the preexistent Christ, and, if the term Logos
is used, it is identified with the Holy Spirit. He continued by saying, like: Philo, the [Catholic
Ante Nicene] Fathers
attributed to the Logos… two stages of existence prior to the creation of the
world, which according to Philo was the internal and
external Logos, who was known as the Holy Spirit. [23]
If my dear
readers would like to read a book on the Nicolaitan doctrine, I would suggest
my book: “The Heresy of the Nicolaitans,” which is given without charge
on my website: DoctrinesOfChrist.com. My book: “A Prophetic History of God’s
Apostolic Pentecostal Church” also exposes this heresy. If they would like
to know more about the early Catholic Semi-Arian godhead doctrine of
two-unequal gods, I would suggest my books entitled: “A History of Oneness
Throughout the Centuries,” and “The Mysteries of the Godhead Revealed.”
Let us examine Ignatius’ attacks
against God’s people. This Nicolaitan heretic, in his Epistle to the
Trallians (107), bitterly complained to his Catholic followers that oneness Apostolic
Churches taught: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but the same person. [24]
In this epistle he also denied the supreme Deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He wrote: Jesus Himself: is not God
over all, and the Father, but His Son. [25]
In his Epistle to the Antiochians, he again wrote against the
Monotheistic Pentecostal Churches. He told his followers to: Reject every Jewish and Gentile error, and neither introduce a
multiplicity of gods, nor yet deny Christ under the pretense of [maintaining] the unity of God.
[26]
These oneness Pentecostals believed in, sought after, and were greatly
used in the Gifts of the Spirit, especially glossolalia. Dr. Wolfson commenting on Justin’s reproof of God’s
churches wrote: At the beginning of
the age [referring to AD 107] of the apologist there appeared in Christianity a conception of the
Trinity which later crystallized into the [so-called] heresies of Praxeas, Noetus, and Sabellius. [27]
History very
clearly reveals that the Apostolic Pentecostal Churches were in the vast
majority in the Roman Empire for the first fourth centuries. Catholic professor
Cardinal John Newman, in his work entitled Essays
And Sketches, confirmed this truth when he boldly declared: Praxeas, Noetus, and Sabellius, in the third century protested against
the Catholic or Athanasian doctrine of the Holy Trinity.... We read... their
doctrine prevailed among the common people, then and at an earlier
date, to a very great extent, and the true faith [which he claims is Catholicism] was hardly
[scarcely] preached in
the churches. [28] Therefore according to this Catholic
Cardinal, the oneness tongue-talking Pentecostal Churches did exist in the
first through the third centuries.
150 AD, Catholic Apologist Justin Martyr on Glossolalia: Justin, who
started the first Catholic school of theology at Rome, where he wrote his
Dialogue to Trypho the Jew. Justin speaking of the gifts of the Spirit
in this dialogue wrote: For the prophetical gifts
remain with us, even to the present time. And hence you ought to
understand that [the gifts] formerly among your nation have been transferred to us. Justin
continued his discourse by saying: Now, it is
possible to see amongst us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit
of God. [29]
Justin
reveals that the gifts of the Spirit were not only in the Church in his day,
but he connected the gifts of the Spirit with the ascension of Christ.
He told Trypho: knowing that daily some [of you Jews] are becoming
disciples in the name of Christ, and quitting are also receiving gifts, each as
he is worthy, illumined through the name of this Christ. For one receives the spirit
of understanding, another of counsel, another of strength, another of healing,
another of foreknowledge, another of teaching, and another of the fear of God.”
To this Trypho said to me, “I wish you knew that you are beside yourself,
talking these sentiments.” And I said to him, “Listen, O friend, for I am not
mad or beside myself; but it was prophesied that, after the ascent of Christ
to heaven, He would deliver us from error and give us gifts. The
words are these: ‘He ascended up on high; He led captivity captive; He gave
gifts to men.’ [30]
Justin no
where in his writings ever mentions that he, or the Monarchian Bishop, or
presbyters, or even the deacons of his church have any of the gifts of the
Spirit. At time God was using Catholic laity in the gift of tongues and
prophecy to reprove the Catholic ministry for their Nicolaitan and other false
doctrines.
150 AD, Justin Martyr Against Oneness Pentecostals: Justin
Martyr had God’s Apostolic Tongue-Talking Churches and wrote against them. Doctors M’Clintock and Strong speaking of
Justin’s attacks on these Pentecostals stated: Modalist Monarchianism is generally supposed to have
originated about the end of the second century. It seems to us, however, that
this [so-called] heresy may be traced to the very earliest
times of Christianity. Justin Martyr expressly denounces it,
and his notice guides us to its source, for he finds the heresy to exist both
among the [Christian] Jews and [Gentile]
Christians. He condemns the [Christian] Jews for thinking that, when God was said to
have appeared to the patriarchs, it was God the Father who appeared. [31] Therefore, Justin Martyr also confessed that God’s Pentecostals
churches definitely existed in the first and second centuries.
156 AD, Montanus, the First Protestant, on Glossolalia: Montanus was a second-century Catholic ascetic, who
considered himself to be a prophet. He, like Luther, tried to reform
Catholicism, but later gave up after being excommunicated in AD 177. It was at this
time, he started his own denomination. Therefore, in a real sense, he was the
first Protestant Reformer. He believed in and taught the Semi-Arian doctrine of
the godhead, that all Catholic Bishops taught at this time. According to “The Charismatic Movement” by Michael P. Hamilton, Montanism was a: reaction to the structural hardening of main-line [supposedly Catholic] Christianity. [32]
Montanus had two helpers Maximilla and Priscilla, whom
were considered as prophetesses. These two
women were very instrumental in the spread of Montanism. Harnack,
Zahn, Duchesne, and others historians believe this sect arose around AD 156 or 157, using the writings of Epiphanius (Hær., 48, 1) as their proof. Jesse
Hurlbut, in his history entitled, The Story of the
Christian Church, declared that the Montanists: were Puritans… [who] believed in the priesthood of all believers…. [They] held to prophetic gifts
as the privilege of disciples. [33]
Montanists were first known as the Phrygians, then as Montanists, Pepuzians in
the eastern part of the Roman Empire, and in the west as Cataphrygians.
Montanus, like the oneness preachers of His day, taught two
great truths, “glossolalia” and the “universal
priesthood of all believers.” He believed in the
right and responsibility of all believers to be God’s priests or priesthood.
This last doctrine made him very unpopular with Catholic Nicolaitan Bishops;
for they taught only a certain few could be priests or hold the priesthood.
Since Catholic history is all we know of church history, all we know of this
man is written by his enemies, therefore, they no doubt slandered his character
and those of his followers, just as they did to the Apostolic Pentecostal
Preachers.
Eusebius, a Catholic Bishop and one of the early
Catholic Church historians, wrote against Montanus in no doubt very exaggerated
terms; that is, he claimed that Montanus, Maximilla, and Priscilla claimed to
be the Lord Jesus Christ, and sometimes the Holy Spirit. This is nothing but
foolishness. For anyone who knows anything about the spirit of prophecy or the
interpreting of tongues, knows when God speaks through any of His children, in
either of these gifts, He always speaks in the first person and not the
third person! This does not mean the child of God, who is speaking, claims to
be God, but only a mere tool that God is using to speak through. Who would dare
say that the donkey, God spoke through to Balaam, claimed to be God because God
spoke through it.
Therefore, when we read Eusebius, or any ancient
Catholic priest’s writing, who wrote against their enemies, we should bear in
mind he is speaking from a heart that is full of bias and hate. With this in
mind, let us read what Eusebius wrote about Montanus and his two helpers.
Eusebius stated: There is said to be a
certain village called Ardabau in that part of Mysia, which borders upon
Phrygia. There first, they say, when Gratus was proconsul of Asia, a recent convert,
Montanus by name, through his unquenchable desire for leadership, gave the
adversary opportunity against him. And he became beside himself, and being
suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble
and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner….
He stirred up besides two
women, and filled them with the false spirit, so that they talked wildly
and unreasonably and strangely, like the person already mentioned…. And the
arrogant spirit taught them to revile the entire universal Church
[meaning priesthood] under heaven,
because the spirit of false prophecy received neither honor from it nor
entrance into it…. These persons were expelled from the Church
and debarred from communion…. Since, therefore, they called us slayers of
the prophets. [34]
The Catholic
record of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is not very good. In Justin’s day the
gifts of the Spirit in most Catholic Churches had just about
disappeared. Reverend Marvin M. Arnold, in his great work the History of
the Christian Church, quoted Thomas O’ Dea as saying: By the time Justin wrote his Apology in AD 150 in which he described
the Eucharistic service of the Catholic Church, free expression of emotion
characteristic of earlier meetings, such as ‘prophesying, speaking with tongues,
and interpretation of tongues’ had disappeared. [35]
Because
Catholic Bishops believed in and taught Ignatius’ Nicolaitan Monarchial Bishop
doctrine and the priesthood of only certain believers, they did everything they
could to stop any movement of the Spirit of God in their services. They did not
want anyone standing up and saying: “Thus saith
the Lord,” and thereby defy their absolute authority over the
church, as Montanus and his followers had done. After all, when Ignatius or any
other Catholic Bishop claimed that their authority over the Church is the same
as God’s authority over the Church, they certainly did not want God or anyone
God was using to contradict anything they said or taught.
Therefore,
these Catholic Bishop were afraid of the Gifts of the Spirit. So, what did they
do to stop it? The first thing they did was to forbid it by claiming it was of
the devil! The second thing they did was to take away the liberty and joy of
spontaneous emotional worship, and replaced it with the ritual and ceremony of
the Mass! They obviously realized that the Gifts of the Spirit usually moved on
the people, when they were pouring out their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ in
love in verbal worship!
180 AD, Catholic Bishop Irenaeus on Glossolalia: There are two
basic truths that we can learn from the writings of Irenaeus: First, he claimed
that the gifts of the Spirit were still in operation in his church in Lyons,
and in some of the other Catholic Churches in France around this time.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit of God was evidently being quenched in most of the
Catholic Churches around the world. Second, Irenaeus believed that glossolalia
and other gifts of the Spirit would continue until the resurrection took place.
So with this in mind, let examine Irenaeus’ writings.
Irenaeus, like Justin
Martyr, connected the ascension of Christ with Jesus imparting the gifts of the
Spirit to the Church. He wrote: For the Lord, through means of suffering,
“ascending into the lofty place, led captivity captive, gave gifts to men,” and
conferred on those that believe in Him the power ‘to tread upon serpents and
scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy.’ [36]
Irenaeus was
a disciple of Polycarp. In his book entitled “Against Heresies” he spoke
of the gifts of the Spirit this way: Those who are
in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform [miracles], so as to promote the
welfare of other men, according to the gift which each one has received
from Him. For some do certainly and truly drive out devils, so that
those who have thus been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe [in Christ], and join themselves to the
Church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come: they see
visions, and utter prophetic expressions. Others still, heal the
sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole. Yea, moreover,
as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained
among us for many years…. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ even now confers
benefits [upon men], and cures thoroughly and effectively all who
anywhere believe on Him. [37]
Is it not sad that this Catholic Bishop speaks as an observer and not as a
participator!
Eusebius, in the fourth century, interpreted Irenaeus writings when he wrote: He shows that manifestations of divine and miraculous power continued
to his time in some of the churches…. And in another place the same
author [Irenaeus] writes: ‘As also we hear that many
brethren in the Church possess prophetic gifts, and speak,
through the Spirit, with all kinds of tongues, and bring to light
the secret things of men for their good, and declare the mysteries of God.’ So
much in regard to the fact that various gifts remained among those who were
worthy even until that time. [38]
Irenaeus believed that speaking in tongues and the
gifts of the Spirit would continue in the Church until the resurrection. He
declared that the apostle Paul taught that the perfect man was one who was
filled with the Holy Spirit of God, and one who kept the Holy Spirit until the
end, and preserved his spirit, soul, and body blameless, until the resurrection
when he will see God. Irenaeus said it this way: And Paul declared: ‘Not that I have already
attained, or that I am justified, or already have been made perfect.’
‘For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect
has come, the things which are in part shall be done away. As,
therefore, when that which is perfect is come, we shall not see
another Father, but Him whom we now desire to see for ‘blessed are the
pure in heart: for they shall see God. [39]
To truly understand how the apostle Paul relates the
perfect to tongues and the gifts of the Spirit, lets examine the entire
passage. Paul declared: “Prophecies they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether
there is knowledge, it will vanish
away” (Phi 3:12). According to the apostle, when
will the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge cease? He says: “When that which is
perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away”
(1Co 13:8-10). Therefore, since Irenaeus
correctly relates the perfect to the resurrection, the gifts of the Spirit will
be will the Church at least until the resurrection.
In another book Irenaeus continues his teaching on the
resurrection by writing: Now God shall be glorified
in His handiwork [meaning man’s physical body], fitting it so as to be conformable to, and modeled after, His own
Son. For by the hands of the Father, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit,
man, and not [merely] a part of man, was made in the likeness of God. Now the soul and the
spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly not the man; for
the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit
of the Father, and the admixture
of that fleshly nature which was molded after the image of God.
For this reason does the
apostle [Paul] declare, ‘We speak wisdom among them that
are perfect,’ terming those persons ‘perfect’ who have received
the Spirit of God, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all
languages, as he used Himself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear
many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who
through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages….
And for this cause does the
apostle, explaining himself, make it clear that the saved man is a complete man
as well as a spiritual man; saying thus in the first Epistle to the
Thessalonians, ‘Now the God of peace sanctify you perfect (perfectos); and may your
spirit, and soul, and body be preserved whole without complaint to the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what was his object in praying that these
three — that is, soul, body, and spirit — might be preserved to the coming of
the Lord, unless he was aware of the [future] reintegration and union of the three, and [that they should be heirs of] one and the
same salvation? For this cause also he declares that those are ‘the perfect’
who present unto the Lord the three [component
parts] without offense [in the resurrection]. Those, then, are the perfect
who have had the Spirit of God remaining in them, and have preserved
their souls and bodies blameless, holding fast the faith of God, that is, that
faith which is [directed] towards God, and maintaining righteous dealings with respect to their
neighbors. [40]
180 AD, Irenaeus Against Oneness Pentecostals: Irenaeus writing against God’s
Apostolic Tongue-Talking Churches and also Satan’s Gnostic Churches in France
wrote: But
there are some who say… that Jesus was the Son, but that Christ was the
Father and the Father of Christ. [41]
German protestant Professor
Adolph Harnack, in his History of Dogma,
confessed that the oneness tongue talking churches were throughout the Roman
Empire. He wrote: The
real dangerous opponent of the Logos Christology in the period between AD 180
and 300 was not Adoptianism, but the doctrine which saw the Deity Himself
incarnate in Christ, and conceived Christ to be God in a human body,
the Father becoming flesh. [42]
God’s oneness Pentecostal churches, not only existed during this period of
time, but also in the first century, as I have already shown.
190 AD, Oneness Montanist Pentecostals and Glossolalia: Speaking in
tongues and the gifts of the Spirit were always identifying characteristics in
all the centuries of the Apostolic Montanists and other one God Jesus’ name
Pentecostal’s movements. In the Encyclopedia
of Religion and Ethics, Dr.
James Hastings wrote:
the Montanists first attracted attention [to themselves] by speaking in tongues. [43]
Because of
the great spirit of evangelism of God’s people at this time, most of the
believers in Christ, who were called Montanists, became one God Jesus’ Name
believers. Hastings declared: By the end of the 2nd
century there were two parties of Montanists, who took different sides in the [Modalist] Monarchian controversy. [44]
According to history, the two-god Montanists split from the main body around AD 190, when they became oneness Pentecostals. Tertullian
was the leader of this small group. In the Dictionary
of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, and Schools of Religious Though, John Blunt spoke of this by saying: The author of Praedestinatus infers that the Tertullianists had...
separated themselves from the main body of Montanists. [45]
The
Catholic Encyclopedia also speaking of this split revealed that the most of
the main body of Montanist went with Aeschines and some with Alogi and others
with different ones. It stated: A number of
Montanists led by Aeschines became Modalists [oneness Pentecostals]....
The Alogi [Montanists] have sometimes been classed with the [oneness or
Modalists] Monarchians. It also
revealed that there were a number of Catholics who wrote against them such as: An anonymous bishop of Asia Minor, who composed an influential
three-volume work on the subject c. 192-193… Apollonius c. 197, and others. [46]
Asterius Urbanus (AD 230) speaking against Tertullian’s Montanists followers, who
like Tertullian believed in the doctrine of two-unequal-gods, asked them
why they no longer had the gifts of the Spirit in their churches.
Urbanus then declared, like Irenaeus, that God’s true church would always have
the gifts of the Spirit in it until the final advent, meaning the resurrection.
Let us read what Urbanus wrote: For the apostle deems that the gift of prophecy should abide
in all
the Church up to the time of the final
advent. But they [Tertullian’s group of Montanists] will not be able to show the gift to be in
their possession even at the present time, which is the fourteenth year
only from the death of Maximilla. [47]
History reveals that sometime after Tertullian died,
his Semi-Arian Montanists followers lost the gifts of the Spirit and rejoined the
Semi-Arian Catholic Church. Blunt spoke of
this by saying: Augustine relates that in
his time the remnant of the Tertullianists in Cartage returned to
the Catholic Church. [48]
These Montanists, like their brethren the Catholics,
had the Spirit of God in their Churches, but when they would not follow the
leading of the Spirit and come out of their Nicolaitan Monarchical bishop
doctrine, which also denied the priesthood of all believers, and their
Semi-Arian godhead doctrine, God departed from them.
Now, all one
God, Jesus’ Name, Tongue-Talking believers strongly denounced the Catholic
Nicolaitan concept of the ministry and their Semi-Arian doctrine of the
godhead. In fact, Hastings says they: used scathing words about the [Catholic] ecclesiastical rulers, and stigmatized them as slayers of the prophets. He went on
to say the oneness Pentecostal Montanists: Put forth
treatises in which the arguments of their opponents were answered.... The early
Montanists were prolific writers.
200 AD, The Montanist
Protestant Tertullian on Glossolalia: Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus,
better known as Tertullian, was the son of
a Roman centurion. He was born in Carthage, and in adulthood he trained for a
career in law. It was in Rome that he practiced his profession. It was there
that this pagan was converted Catholicism around AD 190. He returned to
Carthage around AD 197 and became a presbyter of the church. About AD 200 or before, he
aligned himself with Montanism, a sect that encouraged prophesying and espoused
a rigorous form of asceticism. The Montanists, increasingly in conflict with
church authorities, were finally declared heretical.
The most
renowned follower of Montanus was without a doubt Tertullian of Carthage,
Africa. He converted from Catholicism to Montanism shortly before AD
190. Tertullian defended the validity and
existence of the gifts of the Spirit when he wrote against the Gnostic Marcion
around AD 200. He wrote: the Creator promised the gift of His Spirit
in the latter days; and… Christ has in these last days appeared as the
dispenser of spiritual gifts…. Now hear how he declared
that by Christ Himself, when returned to heaven, these spiritual gifts
were to be sent: ‘He ascended up on high,’ that is, into heaven; ‘He led captivity captive,’ meaning death or slavery
of man; ‘He gave gifts to the sons of men,’
that is, the gratuities, which we call charismata. Christ has in these
last days appeared as the dispenser of spiritual gifts (as the apostle
says.
After Tertullian, like Irenaeus and Justin Martyr,
rightly interpreted the teaching of Ephesian
4:8, that is, God: “led captivity captive,” not by
taking dead souls in Hades to heaven, but by setting men free from the
bondage and slavery of sin, by giving them the gift of the Holy
Spirit, he then wrote: Now [this] was absolutely fulfilled
that promise of the Spirit, which was given by the word of Joel….
Since, then, the Creator promised the gift of His Spirit in the
latter days; and since Christ has in these last days appeared as the dispenser
of spiritual gifts… it evidently follows in connection with this
prediction of the last days, that this gift of the Spirit belongs to Him
[Jesus], who is the
Christ of the predictors [meaning the prophets]…. [Therefore,] when he [the apostle Paul] mentions the fact that ‘it is written in
the law [1Co 14:21],’ how that the Creator would speak with other tongues
and other lips [Isa 28:11], whilst confirming indeed the gift of tongues by such a
mention….
Let Marcion then exhibit, as
gifts of his God, some prophets, such as have not spoken
by human sense, but with the Spirit of God, such as have both predicted
things to come, and have made manifest the secrets of the heart; let him
produce a psalm, a vision, a prayer — only let it be by the Spirit, in
an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture, whenever an interpretation
of tongues has occurred to him. Let him show to me also, that any woman
of boastful tongue in his community has ever prophesied from amongst
those specially holy sisters of his. Now all these signs (of spiritual
gifts) are forthcoming from my side without any difficulty. [49]
Even though
Tertullian defended the gifts of the Spirit, there is no mention that he ever
spoke in tongues or was used in any of the gifts of the Spirit. In fact,
according to A History of Christian
Thought by Otto Heick, Tertullian
defended himself by saying: The prophet does not need to
speak in ecstasy. [50]
Tertullian did believe a prophet could chant. There is no comparison between
chanting some word or phrase in the flesh, such as the Buddhist do, and being
used of God in the gifts of the Spirit!
Tertullian Against Praxeas,
A Oneness Pentecostal Preacher: Tertullian complained that Praxeas and
other Jesus’ Name Pentecostal movements vastly out numbered the Catholic
Churches and his little band of Semi-Arian Montanist Churches. He did not like
God’s oneness people calling him a heretic because he and the Montanist
Churches he headed, and the Roman Catholic Churches, believed in and worshipped
two-unequal-gods, or in other words, they followed the teaching of the Jewish
apostate Philo Judaeus (AD 45).
As a result, Tertullian wrote against God’s Apostolic Churches. In his
writing against the godhead doctrine of Praxeas and other Pentecostal
Preachers, he openly confessed that the one God, Jesus’ Name Churches were in
the vast majority in the first and second centuries. He wrote: The older [so-called]
heretics much more before Praxeas, a pretender of yesterday… [who preaches] this heresy, which supposes itself to possess the pure truth, in
thinking that one cannot believe in the one only God in any other way than by
saying that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the very selfsame
person…. The simple, indeed, I will not call them unwise and unlearned, who
always constitute the majority of believers, are…
constantly throwing out against us that we are preachers of two gods and three
gods, while they take to themselves pre-eminently the credit of being
worshippers of the one God. [51]
Let my readers make a mental note of this truth, Tertullian clearly
stated beyond all argumentation that the One God, Jesus Name people were in
existence long before Praxeas began to preach against him and the heretics of
that day in AD 190. Tertullian also openly admitted that God’s people constituted the
majority of Christians in his day. Doctor James
Hastings declared that the one God, Jesus’ Name Churches were in every
part of the Roman Empire.
According to Hastings, Tertullian sums up his case against the Latin
and Greek oneness Pentecostal Churches by saying: The Latins take pains to pronounce monarchia, [and] the Greeks refuse to understand aeconomia... For extolling the
monarchia at the expense of the aeconomia, they contend for the identity
of Father, Son, and Spirit. [52]
CHAPTER
3
THIRD
CENTURY GLOSSOLALIA
200 AD, Clement of Alexandria: Glossolalia Branded as Heresy by
Catholic Bishops: Many Catholic bishops of that day, and
before that time, were terrified of the gifts of the Spirit, and claimed only
heretics speak in tongues. As a result of this teaching, and other false
doctrines of Catholicism, the Spirit of God left them. So, natural they branded
all Jesus’ name Pentecostal people as heretics. According to Blunt, Clement claimed that the Catholic: Fathers gave it [speaking in tongues] as the mark of the false prophets that they spoke
in an ecstasy. [53]
This blasphemous doctrine of the ancient Catholic Bishops is one of the
reasons why the Gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased in Catholicism!
Dr.
Guignebert speaking of this wrote: there was a lessening of the authority of the inspired
persons…. The gifts which the Spirit had been
scattering at will upon a large or smaller number of the brethren do not
disappear completely. [54]
Dr. Harnack in his work entitled, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity,
spoke of the Catholic Nicolaitan Bishops ruling their churches as god stated: As early as the second century the [Bishops of the
Catholic] Church had conquered
the people.... By the opening of the third century [AD 200], no layman ventured any
longer to call ecclesiastics, ‘brethren….’ After the close of the second
century [the Monarchical] bishops were the teachers, high priest, and judges of the church.
Ignatius already had compared their position in the individual church to
that of God in the church collective. [55]
The
Nicolaitan practice that was started by Ignatius of Antioch in the Catholic
Church the second century came to be an accepted doctrine of Catholicism in the
third century. The Word of God emphatically declares that God and His Apostolic
Pentecostal Church hated “the doctrine of the Nicolaitans” (Rev 2:6, 15). Etymologically,
the word “Nicolaitans” is derived
from two Greek words, which are “nikos” and “laos.” “Nikos” basically
means: a conquest or to conquer or to utterly vanquish, and “laos” means: people or laity. [56]
The main reason why God and His Pentecostal Church hated this doctrine of Satan
is: it took away God’s children’s priesthood ministry of preaching and teaching
in the church, and gave it to a paid hireling bishop, and those he ordains to
the ministry!
Dr. C. C.
Gosey, in his book Clear Vision Bible Studies, declared that the
Nicolaitans were heretics in God’s Apostolic Pentecostal Church, who apostatize
and formed the Catholic Church. He wrote: We have the
name and order, which instigated the Apostolic Succession, fostered in the
ritual of the Roman Catholic Church…. Paul’s wolves of Acts 20 were the
Nicolaitans of Revelation 2:6. [57]
The Bible and Church History, leaves no room for doubt, that the Nicolaitans
were pastors and preachers, who apostatized from God’s Church in the first
century, and set up a special order of priesthood that became known as the
Roman Catholic Church.
Reverend
Clarence Larkin in his Dispensational Truth or God’s Plan and Purpose in the
Ages says: The Nicolaitans were not a
sect, but a party in the [true Apostolic] Church who were trying to established a ‘priestly order.’ Probably
trying to model the Church after the Old Testament order of Priest, Levites,
and common people.... The object was to established a ‘Holy Order of Men,’ and
place them over the laity, which was foreign to the New Testament plan. [58]
What Larkin is saying is that these Nicolaitans were trying to establish a
special paid priesthood order of bishops and ministers, who were to become the
mediators between God and His Church. There is a world of difference between
the biblical office of bishops and ministers and this Catholic order!
Arnold gave
us some interesting insights into the Nicolaitan doctrine. He declared: DeHaan saw Nicolaitanism-Balaamism as a racket formed in the
hierarchical clergy [bishops]…. It was the extreme, expansive division between the clergy and the
laity, two factors in the universal-ecclesiastical orders. Nor were Nicolaitans
confined only to Ephesus or Pergamos! Characteristically schismatics, they
undermined true, Judaic-Christian theology that stemmed from the Upper Room of
Jerusalem, Acts two. A big facet of it was the dogmatic distinction between the
Catholic clergy and the laity. [59]
220 AD, Origen: Glossolalia Had Ceased in Most Catholic
Churches: The New
Catholic Encyclopedia, names several Catholic Bishops who condemned
Montanism and the gifts of the Spirit, which were working in them. Two of these
Bishops were Clement of Alexandria and Origen. [60]
According to Origen, the gifts of the spirit in the Catholic Church had just
about disappeared. Blunt revealed that Origen: Notes that the
prophetic power had all but ceased, that only some traces
of it were in his time to be seen. [61]
The gifts of the Spirit were still very much alive in God’s Jesus’ Name
Churches in Origen’s day.
220 AD, The Pagan Philosopher
Celsus’ Testimony: The Glossolalia of Oneness Pentecostals in Palestine, Syria,
and Lebanon: Origen
mentioned in His writings that the pagan philosopher Celsus knew of many
Christians, who lived in Palestine and Phoenicia (Syria and Lebanon), who spoke in tongues. Since Origen
declared that glossolalia had ceased in the majority of the Catholic
Churches at this time, and Clement declared that Catholic Bishops
proclaimed that glossolalia was a: mark of the false prophets, Celsus, therefore, must be referring to
the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which were abundantly working in the one God
Jesus’ Name Pentecostal Christians of that day. Therefore, Origen in hearing
this report was definitely interested in receiving an account of these
miraculous events from Celsus.
Origen preserving Celsus’
discourse wrote: Celsus promises to give an
account of the manner in which prophecies are delivered in Phoenicia
and Palestine, speaking as though it were a matter with which he
had a full and personal acquaintance, let us see what he has to
say on the subject…. ‘There are many,’ he says, ‘who, although of no
name, with the greatest facility [ability] and on the slightest occasion… [prophesied as
God’s Spirit spoke through them saying], ‘I am God; I am the Son of God; or, I am the
Divine Spirit; I have come because the world is perishing, and you, O men, are
perishing for your iniquities. But I wish to save you, and you shall see Me
returning again with heavenly power.
Blessed
is he who now does Me homage [that
is, believes in and serve Me]. On
all the rest I will send down eternal fire, both on cities and on countries….
Those who are faithful to me I will preserve eternally.’ Then he goes on to say: ‘To these promises are added strange, fanatical,
and quite unintelligible words, of which no rational person can find the
meaning. [62]
This is a perfect example of what I said in my discourse on Montanus, about
God’s speaking through His children in the first person, in the gifts of
prophecy or interpretation of tongues.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia speaking about
the one God tongue-talking Pentecostals of that day stated: Modalist Monarchianism identified the Father, Son, and
Spirit so completely, that they were thought of only as different aspects or
different moments in the life of the one Divine Person, called now Father, now
Son, now Spirit, as His several activities came successively into view, almost
succeeded in establishing itself in the 3rd century as the doctrine
of the church at large. [63]
225 AD, Hippolytus Against
Noetus, A Oneness Pentecostal Preacher: Catholic Bishop
Hippolytus confessed that God’s Apostolic Pentecostal Churches vastly
outnumbered the Catholic Churches in his day. He also confessed that some, if
not many, of the Catholic Churches were converted to the One God, Jesus Name
message; he even confessed that several Bishops or Popes of Rome believed and
taught that Christ was the God the Father manifested in flesh.
After Catholic Pope Callistus was converted to oneness, Hippolytus said
he taught: There
is one Father and God, namely, the Creator…. In substance He is one
Spirit. For Spirit, as the Deity,’ he says, ‘is not any being
different from the Logos, or the Logos from the Deity;’ therefore this one
person, according to Callistus, is divided nominally [meaning in name only], but substantially not so [referring to God’s substance]…. All [Catholic]
consented to his hypocrisy, we [two-god
Catholics]
however did not do so and [they] called us worshippers of two gods…. This
Callistus became a martyr at the period when Fuscianus was Prefect of Rome. [64]
Let my dear readers take note, the true believers greatly out numbered
Hippolytus and his small band of Catholic followers. Not only this, but this
proves that their were in the Roman Empire two opposing churches, God’s
Modalistic Monarchian Pentecostal Church and the two-god Catholic Church. God’s
People did not accuse Catholic Hippolytus of believing in three gods but two
gods.
255 AD, Novatian on Glossolalia: This Catholic
Bishop was a rival Bishop of Rome with Bishop Cornelius. They both claimed to
be the so-called “Pope of Rome.” They both had
their followers and both claimed the other to be a heretic. Novatian mentioned
the gift of tongues in his writings. Novatian spoke of the Holy Spirit and the
gifts He placed in the Church. He definitely believed that the Holy Ghost dwelt
entirely in Christ. He also believed that every church should have the
gifts of the Spirit operating in them; even though he never mentions
that he received it, or if the gifts of the Spirit were working in their
churches in his day.
Now as stated above, several of the Catholic Bishops during this
century wrote about the gifts of the Spirit, but it appears they had no
personal knowledge of them. Novatian
speaking of the gifts from a biblical perspective wrote: This is He [meaning the Holy Ghost], who places prophets in the Church, instructs teachers, directs tongues,
gives powers and healings, does wonderful works, often
discrimination of spirits, affords powers of government, suggests counsels, and
orders and arranges whatever other gifts there are of charismata….
The source of the entire Holy Spirit remaining in Christ, so that
from Him might be drawn streams of gifts and works, while the Holy Spirit
dwelt affluently in Christ. [65]
CHAPTER
4
FOURTH
CENTURY GLOSSOLALIA
325 AD, The Nicene Council
Against Oneness Pentecostals:
According Thomas Weisser in his great work
entitled, Jesus’ Name Baptism Through The Centuries, quoted from Robert Robinson’s
book, Ecclesiastical Researches, in which he made the following
statement about the Nicene Council. Robinson declared: All the classes, who did not hold the doctrine of
a Trinity of persons in God, whether called Aretemonites, Paulianists, Arians, Monarchians,
Patripassians, Sabellians, or by any other name, [whom] administered baptism in the name of Christ, with a single immersion, these were the people whom the council of Nice required to be
rebaptized. [66]
Blunt
revealed that many Catholic writers during that time branded the tongue-talking
Montanists as one God Jesus’ Name Christians. He says: Socrates (I, 23), Sozomenus (ii, 18)... attribute Sabellianism
to them. [67]
350 AD, Catholic Bishop Hilary
of Poitiers on Glossolalia: Hilary of France also wrote
of the gifts of the Spirit. He, like others, acknowledged that God ordained
them to be in the Church. Even though He did not claim to have a personal
experience or a firsthand knowledge of God’s great and holy gifts. The Catholic
Church at this time was lamenting that the gifts of the Spirit were no more in
their churches; and therefore taught them hoping that God would restore them to
Catholicism. They taught that they should be the normal Christian experience.
Hilary wrote: God hath set same in the Church, first apostles, in whom is the word of
wisdom; secondly prophets, in whom is the gift of knowledge thirdly teachers,
in whom is the doctrine of faith; next mighty works, among which are the
healing of diseases, the power to help, governments by the prophets, and gifts
of either speaking or interpreting divers kinds of tongues.
Clearly these are the Church’s agents of ministry and work
of whom the body of Christ consists; and God has ordained them. [68]
370 AD,
Catholic Bishop Ambrose on Glossolalia: This Catholic man was the bishop of Milan. He, like Hilary, taught
about the gifts of the Spirit, but had no personal knowledge of them. Ambrose
declared: You
see the Father and Christ also set teachers in the Churches; and as the Father
gives the gift of healings, so, too, does the Son give; as the
Father gives the gift of tongues, so, too, has the Son also
granted it. He declares that God ordained speaking in tongues.
Ambrose then spoke of the great commission that Christ gave the
apostles. He quotes Mark 16:16-18, from the Greek Manuscript he had in his day,
thereby confirming this passage as being part of the Bible. He wrote: Go ye into all the world,
and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He that shall believe and be baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs
shall follow them that believe. In My Name shall they cast out devils, they
shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if
they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands
on the sick, and they shall recover. [69]
381 AD, The Ecumenical Council of Constantinople Against Oneness
Pentecostals: Montanists were not only used in the gifts of the
Spirit, but also baptized in Jesus’ Name. Schaff speaking of this council said
they: Rejected the baptism of the Eunomians, ‘who baptize with only one
immersion,’ the Sabellians, ‘who teach the Son-Father,’ the Montanists
- probably because they did not at that time use the [so-called] orthodox [Trinitarian] baptismal formula. [70]
390 AD, Catholic Patriarch John Chrysostom: Glossolalia Had
Ceased in Catholicism: This Catholic Priest moaned the fact that the
gifts of the Spirit were no long in operation in the Catholic Church. It was
nothing more than a memory. He evidently accepted the literal interpretation of
Acts 2:1-4 that the Holy Ghost was given with the
Biblical evidence of speaking in tongues.
In his
exposition of 1 Corinthians 12:1-7, he
declared: ‘Now
concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant….’
This whole
passage is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation [referring to the
Gifts of the Spirit], being such as
then used to occur but now
no longer take place. And why do they not happen now? Why look now, the cause too of the obscurity hath
produced us again another question: namely,
why did they then happen, and now do so no more?
This however let us defer to another time, but for the
present let us state what things were occurring then. Well: what did happen
then? Whoever was baptized he straightway spake with
tongues…. They at once
on their baptism received the Spirit, yet the Spirit they saw not, for it is
invisible; therefore God’s grace bestowed some sensible
proof of that energy.
And one straightway spake in the Persian, another in the Roman, another in the
Indian, another in some other such tongue: and this made manifest to them that were without that it
is the Spirit in the very person speaking. Wherefore also he so
calls it, saying, ‘But to each one
the manifestation of the Spirit is given to profit withal. Chrysostom commenting on verse 7 said that Paul: called: The gifts ‘a manifestation of the
Spirit.’ For
as the Apostles themselves had received this sign first, so also the faithful went on receiving it, I mean, the gift of tongues. [71]
395 AD, Catholic
Bishop Augustine: Glossolalia Had Ceased in Catholicism: Catholic Bishop Augustine of Hippo, clearly declared that
the gifts of the Spirit did not exist in the Catholic Church any longer.
Because the power of God or the gifts of Spirit had not been manifested in
Catholic Churches for such a long period of time, Augustine believed it was
only for the early church, but in other writings he declares that they will
last until the resurrection.
Augustine in his Homilies on the First Epistle of John, like Chrysostom, accepted the literal sense of Acts 2:1-4, 10:44-48, and 19:1-5, as the fulfillment of Isa 28:9-12. He believed: “speaking in tongues was the evidence of being born
again, for those who were in the early Church.” He believed that this sign was done away in the Catholic Church.
Therefore, he told his people that the fruit of the Spirit, especially love is
now the evidence of being born of the Spirit.
Augustine proclaimed: In the
earliest times, ‘the Holy Ghost fell upon them that believed: and they spake with tongues,’
which they had not learned, ‘as the Spirit
gave them utterance.’ These were signs adapted to the time…. That
thing was done for a betokening, and it passed away. In the laying on
of hands now, that persons may receive the Holy Ghost, do we look that
they should speak with tongues…? If then the witness of the presence of
the Holy Ghost be not now given through these miracles, by what is it
given, by what does one get to know that he has received the Holy Ghost? Let
him question his own heart. If he love his brother the Spirit of God dwelleth
in him. [72] It is very obvious that Augustin anticipated a negative reply to his
question!
Augustine writing against
the Donatist, on baptism wrote: We are right in
understanding that the Holy Spirit may be said not to be received except
in the Catholic Church. For the Holy Spirit is not only given by the laying on
of hands amid the testimony of temporal sensible miracles [meaning speaking in tongues], as He was given in former days to be the credentials of a
rudimentary faith, and for the extension of the first beginnings of the
Church. For who expects in these days that those on whom hands are laid
that they may receive the Holy Spirit should forthwith begin to speak with
tongues? [73]
Augustine, writing against Faustus the Manichaean, without realizing it declared that tongues could
not be done away with, for the resurrection has not come.
Commenting on 1Co 13:8-13 he wrote: We show, too, that in the words, ‘when that which is perfect is
come,’ Paul spoke of the perfection in the enjoyment of eternal
life. For in the same place he says: ‘Now we see
through a glass darkly, but then face to face.’ You cannot reasonably
maintain that we see God face to face here. Therefore that which is perfect
has not come to you. It is thus clear what the apostle thought on this
subject. This perfection will not come to the saints till the
accomplishment of what John speaks of: ‘Now we are
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that
when it shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is
[1Jn 3:2].’ Then we
shall be led into all truth by the Holy Spirit, of which we have
now received the pledge. [74]
Augustine, in his commentary of the Gospel Of John, speaking of 1Co 13:8-13, again
without realizing it, declared that speaking in tongues would not ceased until
the resurrection, when saints are clothed with immortal bodies. Augustine
wrote: The apostle says, ‘But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is
in part shall be done away.’ For in the same place he adds: ‘Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as also I
am known; and now through a glass in a riddle, but then face to face….’
Not only the redemption of our body, whereof the Apostle Paul
speaketh, but also the salvation of our souls…. Accordingly, while we are
waiting for the immortality of the flesh and salvation of our souls in
the future. [75]
AD 395,
Catholic Bishop Jerome: Glossolalia Ceased in Catholicism, But Reveals the
Oneness Montanists Still Practice It: According to the New Catholic
Encyclopedia: Jerome in describing Montanism
lists the errors already mentioned and says that members of the sect were
infected with Sabellianism. [76]
This Catholic Bishop wrote a letter to Marcella against the One God Montanists
in his day. Evidentially these Pentecostals still believed in glossolalia and
were trying to convert Marcella to the truth. She obviously became confused and
sadly wrote to Jerome for advice. Jerome
indicated in his letter to her that speaking in tongues, like that which took
place at Pentecost and there after, should not be expected to recur.
Jerome
wrote: As regards the passages
brought together from the gospel of John with which a certain votary [referring to the oneness Pentecostal devotees] of Montanus has assailed you, passages in which our Savior
promises that He will go to the Father, and that He will send the Paraclete….
The Holy Spirit came down, and the tongues of the believers were cloven,
so that each spoke every language….
If, then, the apostle Peter, upon whom the Lord has founded the Church, has
expressly said that the prophecy and promise of the Lord were then and there
fulfilled, how can we claim another fulfillment for ourselves…. In the first
place we differ from the Montanists regarding the rule of faith. We distinguish
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three persons, but unite them as
one substance. They, on the other hand, following the doctrine
of Sabellius, force the Trinity into the narrow limits of a single
personality. [77]
This last
statement of Jerome is not true, for oneness believers teach that there is only
one person in the godhead, who is Jesus Christ. Jesus has two separate
and distinct natures. He is all God and He is all man, therefore, in His nature
as man, He has a human personality, and in His nature as God, He has a Divine
personality. In other words: “God
was in Christ” (1Co 5:19), or the “Father in Me [Christ]” (Jn 14:10-11). “God
is a Spirit” Being (Jn 4:24); and His human personality referred to “God’s Soul” (Mt 26:38, Lev 26:11, 30). Oneness people do not confuse Jesus’
two natures as Trinitarians do. They do not believe that Jesus is part man and
part God with one personality.
By now my
dear readers, you should know why the Spirit of God departed from Catholicism. The
Nicolaitan Monarchian Bishop, who was the one and only divine interpreter of
God’s will and Word, over each local Catholic Church did not want the laity in
his church, who had the Spirit of God in them, standing up and say, “Thus says the Spirit of the Lord.” No one was going to tell him God’s
will; so he drove the Spirit of God out.
CHAPTER
5
FIFTH
THROUGH THE NINTH CENTURY GLOSSOLALIA
404 AD, Pope Innocent I Against Oneness Pentecostals: By this
time, God’s Pentecostal Churches were no strangers to Catholic persecutions.
Because Catholic Popes could not stop the revivals God’s sent to His
Pentecostal people, they always responded with physical, economical, social
persecution. According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia: The importance of the sect [Montanism] during the early centuries may be judge by the attention it
received from ancient [Catholic] Christian writers.... The energetic opposition of Pope Innocent 1
(401-417) and the laws of the Emperor Honorius 1 against [the so-called] heresy (Feb. 22, 407). [78]
451 AD, Pope Leo I Against Oneness Pentecostals: According
to history this Catholic Pope took his turn at persecuting God’s Tongue-Talking
People. They were the one God Jesus’ Name Priscillians. These were the people
who broke away from some of the doctrines of Priscillian and became Modalist
Monarchians. According to Harnack, the Priscillians and Sabellians are classed together... [by] Leo 1. [79]
Schaff says: In the fourth
and fifth centuries, the [Catholic] Fathers used the term Sabellianism in a general sense
for various forms of Monarchianism, all of which, however, tended in the
one direction, viz., toward the denial of any personal distinction in the godhead,
and hence the identification of Father and Son. [80]
557 AD, Catholic Emperor Justinian I: Persecution and Revival of
Oneness Pentecostals: This Emperor brutally persecuted God’s
tongue-talking Montanist churches. Justinian did his best to stop: all
preaching of oneness, rebaptism movements that baptized in Jesus’ Name,
speaking in tongues and the prophesying of God’s people. This demonic Emperor
created the Justinian Code, which demanded the death penalty for all who
believed and taught these doctrines.
According to
the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Roman Emperor Justinian I at this time passed:
Severe anti-Montanist legislation. He
murdered many thousands of God’s holy, innocent, harmless children. But there
was no way they could stop the move of God’s Spirit, for as this same
encyclopedia stated: Montanism was a
manifestation of a recurring phenomenon meaning speaking in tongues through
God’s Holy Spirit. It continued by saying, Montanism: Spread rapidly and widely through the East and West. [81]
Hastings speaking of
these persecutions said they: Survived the stringent
edicts of various emperors. [82]
There is no way the gates of Catholic hell will ever prevail against God’s
Church. God will never leave Himself without a witness.
649 AD, The Lateran Council Against Oneness Pentecostals: Hastings revealed that the One God Jesus’ Name
Modalist Monarchians doctrines continued to exist throughout the centuries. He
declared that Catholic Popes and Catholic Councils were always condemning them.
He says this: Can be seen by the frequent
condemnations of them in the shape of Sabellianism.... The same comprehensive
condemnation was repeated in the Lateran Council of 649, (canon 18). [83]
675 AD, The Eleventh Council of Toledo Against Oneness
Pentecostals: These Catholic bishops took their turn at condemning
God’s holy, living and anointed Church. According to The Church Teaches,
this council cursed all of God’s people who deny the Trinity doctrine.
Who taught: The Son is not the same
person as Father, nor the Father the same person as the Son, nor is either the
Father or Son the same person as the Holy Spirit. [84]
Dr. F. C.
Conybeare, in his Hibbert Journal, speaking of the Celtic Catholic
Churches baptizing in the one God formula of the Lord Jesus Christ
wrote: The popes of the seventh
century” excommunicated the entire
Celtic Church for it adhesion to the old use of invoking the one
name. The Celtic Churches consisted of Indo-Europeans
mainly from France, but also includes Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. It
is evident that the One God, Jesus Name, Pentecostals, who were in those
countries, converted many of the Celtic Catholics to the truth.
700-735 AD, Bede the ‘Venerable’ on Glossolalia and Gifts of the
Spirit: According to Arnold,
this Anglo‑Saxon scholar, historian, and theologian: found Celtic and Saxony cultures abounding in manifestations
of tongues and gifts of the Spirit in the eight century. [85]
Bede’s
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum contains many references to experiences
of healing. [86] God’s
Oneness Celtic Pentecostal Churches, as I said before, consisted of those in
the countries of France, Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland; the Saxony
Churches were those that were located in East Germany!
800-899 AD, Oneness Anabaptist Bernhard Rothmann and the Glossolalia of Oneness Pentecostals Throughout Europe: Arnold declared that
this preacher and historian in his historical research found one God Jesus’
Name Churches to be: Throughout Europe in the
ninth century. It had Spirit infilling, the tongues, and miracles that was
typical of Pentecostal revivals. [87]
CHAPTER
6
TENTH
THROUGH THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY GLOSSOLAIA
900-1514 AD,
Persecution of Oneness Anabaptist Pentecostals
in Spain: Weisser
speaking of Robinson’s book History Of Baptism wrote: Robinson’s fourth period covered: eight hundred
years or from 714-1514 AD. Weisser
then mentions Oneness Movements in Spain: deemed
heretical by the Catholics… were called in general Anabaptists.
Weisser
speaking of the persecution of oneness Churches, during this time, revealed
that some of God’s children apostatized and joined Catholicism. Weisser quoting
Robinson, who declared: In a council held at Lerida,
in the archbishopric of Tarragon, it was decreed… that such as came from Antitrinitarians,
who had been baptized in the name of Christ, should be
rebaptized. [88]
1150-1500 AD,
The Waldenses on Glossolalia: S. C.
McClain, a One God Jesus’ Name historian in his work the Student's Handbook
of Facts in Church History, revealed: The Waldenses… believing in a Spirit‑filled life,
spoke in tongues…. They were branded as heretics by the Roman Church
and… were put to death, the decree came from the Pope that they should be
destroyed. [89]
The Waldenses were a Christian sect that arose in southern France. Peter Waldo
founded them in the second
half of the 12th century.
Waldo’s followers were first known as the “Pauperes” or “poor men of Lyon.”
They were itinerant or traveling preachers under a vow of poverty. They beliefs
have been erroneously associated with the Albigenses. It is hard to tell what
these Christians believed. Their simple Bible-based preaching proved to be very
popular, which help them to spread through Europe. In AD 1487, Pope Innocent
VIII organized a crusade against them in France. Many Waldenses took refuge in Switzerland
and Germany, merging gradually with the Bohemian Brethren.
1198-1698 AD, Catholic Pope Innocent III Formed the Demonic
Inquisition for the Extermination of Oneness Pentecostal Churches: This
heartless, cruel, inhuman Catholic institution, which was sardonically called
the Holy Office, brutally tortured and burned alive millions of innocent, God
fearing and Christ loving men, women and children. It did this contemptuously
in the name of Christ for 500 years. Of all the Catholic Inquisitions, the
Spanish Inquisition was the worst. Satan’s Son Pope Innocent III and every
Catholic Pope after him gladly encourage and gave their divine blessings to the
Inquisitors who were doing their Satanic god’s will. In fact it was the
Inquisition that gave the Pope power over the kings of Europe. This is the main
reason why these demonic popes, during this time, promoted and supported it.
1215 AD, The Fourth Catholic Lateran Council Against Oneness
Pentecostals: Blunt wrote: Antitrinitarianism then appears to be, not the genuine product
of the Reformation, but the offspring of a school [of belief] which had existed in
the Church for centuries before the Reformation was dreamt of.... The
Antitrinitarian principle in early times expended itself in producing the Sabellian…
heresies of Gilbert de la Porree, and Joachim, abbot of Flora, which were met
in the fourth Lateran Council AD 1215. [90]
Obviously these Catholics priests were converted to the apostolic Jesus’ Name
message, and as usual, the Catholic Councils of their day cursed them for it.
1248 AD, Ursinus: Glossolalia and Oneness Pentecostals: According to Arnold,
Ursinus was a Catholic clergyman and a very learned scholar, who received the
Holy Spirit and was converted to oneness: His doctrine
was monotheism, Christ's baptism, infilling of the Spirit, and speaking in
tongues. [91]
1250-1299 AD,
The Catholic Mendicant Friars: The Encyclopaedia
Britannica revealed: Glossolalia occurred among the mendicant friars of the 13th century. [92]
The Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia
99, under the heading of “Mendicant Friars,”
revealed that they were: members of
religious orders in the Roman Catholic church, who take a vow of poverty by
which they renounce all personal and communal property. They live chiefly by
charity. After overcoming the initial opposition of the established clergy, the
chief societies were authorized in the 13th century. In the early fifteenth
century, the
observantist movement within the mendicant orders tried to encourage its
members, and the hierarchy of Catholicism, to return to a more austere life.
1341 AD, Pope Benedict XII Condemned the Catholic Armenian
Churches for Converting to Oneness: Blunt
declared that the Catholic Councils were still condemning Sabellianism in the fourteenth century. He said a charge of the heresy was brought against a
portion of the Armenian Church by [Pope] Benedict XII, see Raynald (Contin. of
Baron.) AD 1341. [93]
Some or many of the Armenian Churches during this time evidently converted to
oneness.
1399-1409 AD, Catholic Monk Vincent Ferrer on Glossolalia and
the Gifts of the Spirit: This
renowned monk, teacher,
missionary, and historian toured through Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland,
Italy, Hungary, Greece, and other peoples during this period of ten years. Arnold declared: he found effusions of Pentecostal phenomena - tongues, miracles,
healing. [94]
This missionary: was especially famous for his prophetic
gift and for the many miracles of healing, which accompanied his evangelistic
ministry. So great was his reputation that in the Netherlands an hour was set
apart. [95]
1441 AD, The Testimony of Pope Eugenius IV Against the Oneness
Jacobites: Hastings informs us
that Pope Eugenius IV found it
necessary to remind the Jacobites, in his decree dated 4th Feb. 1441 that the
Church ‘condemns Sabellius for confusing the Persons and for thus
altogether doing away with the real distinction between them. [96]
1500-1800 AD, The Anabaptists: The name “Anabaptists” refers to “anyone who
baptizes again;” it refers to
their practice of adult baptism only, and reject infant baptism. Large groups
of Anabaptist existed centuries before the Reformation was even dreamed of, as
I have already shown in this book, but many historians sadly choose to ignore
them because they MANY of them were ONENESS Pentecostal Christians. As a
result, they only speak of those who existed during the Reformation.
The Reformation Anabaptists basically lived in Germany, the
Netherlands, and Switzerland. They advocated nonviolence and greatly opposed
state churches. Therefore, they opposed Protestant and Catholic Church
organizations. MANY of them rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and were
Modalist Monarchians, who declared the Lord Jesus Christ to be the one and only
supreme God. Some Anabaptists wished to establish communal Christian
communities, which would practice human equality, especially with respect to
social, political, and economic rights and privileges. They opposed
participation in civil government and the taking of oaths.
1520 AD, The Zwickau Prophets and Glossolalia: Their revivals in Germany were fluent in tongue talking: Martin
Luther (1483-1546) did not have direct contact with the more unusual gifts of
the Spirit catalogued by Paul in I Corinthians 12, notably glossolalia,
interpretation thereof, and healing…. He was also familiar with the Zwickau
Prophets, who derived something of their charisma from the Hussite
tradition. Luther believed that… Christianity no longer required the
confirmation of such signs. [97]
1525 AD, Anabaptists Bernhard Rothmann and Jan van Leyden:
Glossolalia and Oneness Pentecostals: Arnold spoke of these men as a Jesus’
Name Anabaptists. He says: The great preachers,
writers, scholars - Bernhard Rothmann and Jan van Leyden - burst into the
medieval theistic scene…. They were monotheistic and pious partakers of the
Holy Ghost, and knew Pentecostal glossolalia. [98]
The Anabaptist Churches throughout Europe were filled with those who
spoke in tongues, baptized in Jesus Name, and were very zealous to worship God
in Spirit and truth. According to Hamilton: The Anabaptists emphasized the
restoration of apostolic patterns of worship and lifestyle, the importance of a
conversion experience, baptism of believers only, baptism by immersion, total
separation of church and state, the power to overcome sin after conversion, and
the need to live a holy life. [99]
These early Anabaptists worshiped God very demonstratively. According to A
History of Civilization by Crane Brinton, their worship was: very excited and enthusiastic, in fact very
similar to what is know in America as holy rolling. They would shout and dance and always sang hymns with great fervor. [100]
1529 AD, Andreas Carlstadt and Erasmus on Glossolalia: Arnold mentioned that Andreas Karlstadt, a professor
of theology at the university of Basel, and the well know Greek scholar
Erasmus, had a lengthy scriptural discussion with Luther on restoring the
doctrines of the Biblical New Birth and the full and supreme Deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They tried to persuade: Luther to
inject monotheistic Christian Pentecostalism into his Lutheranism! They
pleaded, ‘Restore the pattern and even the constitution of
the Primitive Church…. Luther accused Carlstadt of misunderstanding
the expression ‘speaking with tongues....’ Almost at that moment the
Christ of our New Testament let a Holy Ghost reviving spectacular break out at
Zollikon, with speaking with tongues, miracles, and the
whole Pentecostal allotment, right under his nose! He was also knowledgeable of
the Zwickau Prophets. [101]
Karlstadt was a German religious reformer, who adopted
doctrines later espoused by Martin Luther. He became associated with Luther in AD 1517, but he later
championed doctrines that brought him into direct conflict with Luther’s
theology. He was banished and later persecuted and in AD 1529 had to flee to
Switzerland, where he was warmly received by the Swiss religious reformer
Huldreich Zwingli and became professor of theology at the University of Basel.
Desiderius Erasmus was a Dutch Catholic Priest, who was a
theologian, writer, and Greek scholar. Erasmus
was ordained a priest in AD 1492 and studied Greek at the University of Paris. In AD 1499, Erasmus moved
from city to city working as a tutor and lecturer and constantly writing and
searching out ancient manuscripts. In AD
1503, he wrote, The Manuell of the
Cristen Knyght, and in AD 1509, he wrote the famous satire, The Praise of Folie.
Now, both of these works advocate a return to simple Christian
ethics.
In AD 1516, he completed his greatest word, a Greek New Testament,
which was based on recently discovered manuscripts. He added to it critical
notes on various verses. He also completed a new Latin translation, which was a
more accurate version than the Latin Vulgate of that day. Because these works
greatly influenced religious reformers of his time, Erasmus is sometimes called
the father of the Reformation. In AD
1518, he composed a work entitled Colloquia,
which was an exposed the evils and errors of the Catholic Church authorities.
This naturally made him vulnerable to the accusation that he was a Lutheran, a
charge he fervently denied.
Luther and
his followers set up a Lutheran Inquisition to exterminate God’s holy and
innocent Children. Professor Roland H. Bainton in his great work Hunted
Heretic stated: The dissemination [spreading] of Anabaptism was so
broad that both Catholics and Lutherans feared the established churches
would be displaced.... At the Diet of Speyer in 1529 both
Catholics and Lutherans agreed to subject them to the death penalty
throughout the Holy Roman Empire.... They did not burn Catholics, but they
drowned [Trinitarian] Anabaptist and they beheaded and burned Anti-Trinitarians
[Anabaptist] whose beliefs
were repugnant to most Protestants as well as to Catholics. [102]
Why would Catholics
and Lutherans, who hated each other as heretics, join together and form a union
to burn God’s Children? It is evident they were not only scared of God’s people
evangelistic revival spirit, but they must have hated them more then they hated
each other. I challenge anyone to show me anywhere in history, in any age,
where God’s Apostolic Pentecostal Church ever persecuted or killed anyone for
their religious beliefs.
According to
professor Earle Cairns, in his Christianity Through the Centuries: The Anabaptist in Germany faced extinction… from the state…. The
Emperor ordered the bishop of Munster to drive out Rothmann and his followers,
who were… proposing to sell property to aid the poor. Cairns
continued by saying that the Anabaptist denied: the ideas of
Luther and Zwingli. [103]
John Calvin, like Luther, believed that speaking in tongues was done
away with, even though he knew of many large group of people who spoke in
tongues and received the gifts of the Spirit. Hamilton wrote that Calvin said: It was not
at all strange that God had chosen to remove glossolalic utterances from
the church rather than permitting them ‘to be vitiated with further abuse. [104]
1537 AD, Anabaptist Menno Simons and Glossolalia: Anabaptist groups continued to arise in Europe under
different names. Many of these groups taught that
speaking in tongues was the evidence of being born of the Spirit. One such group was known as the Mennonites, who was led by
the Dutch reformer Menno Simons. The man was a very
prominent Protestant Anabaptist of his time. According to Hamilton, he wrote about speaking
in tongues as if it were expected evidence of receiving the Holy
Ghost…. [He] was
evidently familiar with speaking in tongues on a scale sufficiently general to
be able to write in his Treatise on Christian Baptism: ‘Although Peter
was previously informed by a heavenly vision that he might go to the Gentiles
and teach them the Gospel…. You are plainly taught that Peter commanded that
those only should be baptized who had received the Holy Ghost,
who spoke with tongues and glorified God. [105]
1553 AD, Calvin’s Persecution of Oneness Anabaptist Michael
Servetus: The Encyclopedia
Americana speaking of the Calvin’s Inquisition says: Calvin introduced inquisitorial procedures into Geneva… [in] 1541. There were many
victims, the most notable being Michael Servetus, who was burned in 1553. [106]
Miguel Servetus was no doubt the greatest one God, Jesus’ Name, Anabaptist
preacher in the sixteenth century. This man was a Reformer, Theologian, Author,
and an outstanding Medical Doctor. He was in his theology a Modalist
Monarchian. Moyer speaking about him as a Medical Scientist says that he was the real discoverer of the pulmonary circulation of the blood. [107]
1557-1685 AD,
The French Huguenots and Glossolalia: Vinson Synan in his work entitled, Aspects
Of Pentecostal-Charismatic Origins, stated that the phenomenon of speaking in tongues occurred among the Huguenots of France during this period. [108]
Hamilton speaking of the glossolalia of the Huguenots wrote: A group of
Huguenots (French Protestants), mostly peasants, who resisted the attempts of
Louis XIV's government to convert them to Roman Catholicism. Many were
imprisoned, tortured, and martyred. Observers reported tongues,
uneducated peasants and young children prophesying in pure, elegant
French, enthusiastic, demonstrative worship,
and people ‘seized by the Spirit. [109]
CHAPTER
7
SEVENTEENTH
THROUGH THE TWENTIETH CENTURY GLOSSOLAIA
1647 AD, George Fox And The Early Quakers: Glossolalia And Oneness
Pentecostals: The
Encarta Encyclopedia Online Deluxe speaking of the early Quakers stated:
Originally, the Friends were the
followers of George Fox, an English lay preacher who, about 1647, began to
preach the doctrine of ‘Christ within;’ this concept later developed as the
idea of the ‘inner light…. Many doctrines of the Society of Friends were taken
from those of earlier religious groups, particularly those of the Anabaptists
and Independents, who believed in lay
leadership, independent congregations,
and complete separation of church and state…. They rejected a formal creed,
worshiped on the basis of silence, and regarded every participant
as a potential vessel [meaning preacher or teacher] for the word of God, instead of relying upon a special, paid clergy set apart from the rest. [110]
Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99 gives us a brief history of the persecutions George Fox went through to
fulfilled the call of God on his life: In 1649 Fox was imprisoned at Nottingham for interrupting and
rebuking a minister…. A year later, he was jailed at Derby on a trumped-up
charge of blasphemy…. Fox was jailed again in 1653, in 1656, and from 1664 to
1666. His movement, however, despite continued persecution, grew
in size and strength, notably in northwestern England. In 1666, although
weakened by hardship and the effects of imprisonment, Fox began to devote most
of his time to the organization of the Quakers as a church…. Fox embarked on a
missionary journey to North America and the West Indies in 1671; on his return
to England in 1673 he was again imprisoned, this time for two years. In 1677
and 1684, despite poor health, he traveled to Germany and Holland, preaching
his doctrines wherever possible (article entitled, Fox, George).
The early Quakers believed in and emphasized receiving a spiritual
experience from God by waited on the moving of the Spirit in their services.
The Quakers received their name because they literally “quaked” under
the power of the Spirit. Drs. M’Clintock and Strong revealed that the revivals
of: the disciples of George Fox… have in like
manner, been fruitful in ecstatic phenomena. [111]
Richard Baer in his book Perspectives on the New
Pentecostalism spoke of the supernatural experience of glossolalia tongues
that was commonly practiced in early Quakerism. He wrote: Striking
parallels exist between Quaker silent worship and the practice of glossolalia.
At its best Quaker silent worship involves a kind of letting go, a lack of
strain or effortful attention, a willingness to ‘flow’ with the leading
of the Spirit and with the larger movement of the entire meeting…. As in
the case of glossolalia, the process of speaking out of the silence and
of listening in the silence involves a resting of the analytical mind, a refusal
to let deliberative, objective thinking dominate the meeting. [112]
Hamilton speaking of the worship of the early Quakers and Ranters
wrote: The Ranters appealed to an inward Christ, denying the
external authority of creeds and clerics in much the same way as did the
Quakers. Both Ranters and early Quaker worship contained an emotional
element, as both consciously endeavored to follow the promptings of the Spirit
as he directed from within. Early accounts of meetings of both groups contain many
references to ‘the Power of the Lord’ which ‘uttered through them’ or ‘wrought
mightily’ upon them, compelling them to weep, sing, or speak….
The Lord's power’ was frequently ‘so mighty upon’ George Fox that he ‘could not
hold, but was made to cry out. [113]
According to
Robert Wallace, in his Antitrinitarian Biography, the early Quakers:
did not believe in the Athanasian doctrine of the
Trinity…. Penn and the early Quakers,
professed to acknowledge Christ, in what they called ‘his double appearance,’
or, as they more commonly expressed it, ‘in the flesh,’ and ‘in the Spirit, He
was ‘God over all. He went on to say that they held: the doctrine of Sabellius but expressed it: in the peculiar phraseology of Quakerism. [114]
The early Quakers were originally an oneness group
of believers, but because of great persecution from the English government many
became Trinitarians.
1660 AD, The Oneness Quaker William Penn: Glossolalia and
Oneness Pentecostals: One of the
greatest oneness Anabaptist Pentecostal of the seventeenth century was William
Penn. Penn became a Quakers around the middle of the seventeenth century.
Wallace says: Penn attacked the notion of
three persons in one God, and came out at last with a species of Sabellianism. Penn was
one of the most fearless and outspoken preachers of his day.
In AD 1668, Penn wrote a book entitled The Sandy Foundation
Shaken. Throughout his book he
denounced the Trinity. Pen wrote: If there be
three distinct and separate persons… there must be three distinct substances,
and consequently three distinct gods. As a result of his book denouncing the
Trinity, he was thrown into prison in the Tower of London. In prison Penn
defended his book by declaring, I do not believe
Christ to be the eternal Son of God... I expressed nothing that divested Christ
of His Divinity.... I deny a Trinity of separate persons in the godhead…. Does
thou in good earnest think they [Catholicism] were one in judgment with Sabellius, who only rejected the
imaginary personality of those times; who at the same instant owned and confessed
to the Eternity and godhead of Christ Jesus our Lord. It is manifest, then that
though I may deny the Trinity of separate persons in one godhead, yet I do not
consequentially deny the Deity of Jesus Christ.
During his imprisonment in AD
1669 he wrote two book: No Cross,
No Crown, Primitive Christianity, and Innocency with Her Open
Eyes. In AD 1671 Penn was sent to Newgate prison for six months. There he
wrote four treatises, one was entitled, The Great Cause of Liberty of
Conscience. Penn’s father, an admiral in the Navy, sent on of his friends
visited his son in prison, where upon Penn told him: Thou mayest tell my father, who I know will ask thee, these words; that
my prison shall be my grave, before I will budge a jot; for I owe my conscience
to no mortal man; I have no need to fear. God will make amends for all.
1695 AD,
Oneness Pentecostals in England: Wallace also mention a “Collection of Tracts” that
appeared in England at this time, which were entitled “A Discourse
Concerning The Nominal And Real Trinitarians.” Its object was to show that
there was: a clear line of demarcation
between these two classes…. The Nominalists, who are properly the Church, since
they form the large majority of it members.” After this, says Wallace, the author
of the tracts explained: in a separate section, the
doctrine of the ancient Nominalists, or the Noetians and Sabellians;
and, after a brief recapitulation, proceeds, in the five following sections, to
substantiate the charge of Tritheism against the Realists. [115]
1701 AD, The
Camisards or Cevennol Prophets of France and Glossolalia: This French
Huguenots movement had a significant glossolalia movement. This was a peasant
Christian group in southern France. These people claimed that the Holy Spirit directly inspired them. Hamilton reported
some amazing tongue talking event that took place among this group. He wrote: Another
strange phenomenon which occurred quite frequently among the
Camisards was the sudden ability of infants who could not yet speak to
deliver discourses in perfect, fluent French. In 1701, for
example, a child about fourteen months old ‘which had never of itself spoken a
Word, nor could it go alone,’ in a loud, childish voice began exhorting ‘to the
Works of Repentance. [116]
1727 AD, Oneness Tongue Talking Montanists in England: Some of the one God Montanists survived through the
centuries. Arnold says: the Apostolic doctrine of the
Jesus’ Name Montanists was found to exist in Britain in
1727. [117]
According to Weisser, Robinson claimed that many Christians in England in his
day believed and practiced baptism in Jesus’ name. Robinson wrote: Many Christians taking it for granted, that the apostles thoroughly
understood the words of the Lord Jesus [in Mt. 28:19], and supposing the form of words of local and temporary use,
administer baptism in the name of Christ, and think themselves justified by the
book of the Acts of the Apostles. [118]
1727 AD, The Moravian Brethren and Glossolalia: Another group that was
fluent in tongue speaking was the Hussite or the Unity of Brethren, better
known as the Moravian Brethren. This group was the
followers of the great fifteenth century martyr John Hus, who was burned at the
stake by Catholic Church. According to Hamilton, Their emotionally
expressive worship, particularly after the remarkable revival of 1727, was
marked by fervent prayer and much singing, and their religious
zeal was channeled into ambitious missionary enterprises. Outsiders were
apt to be puzzled by their simple confidence in God…. Although speaking
in tongues was not endorsed by the Moravian leadership, it occurred sporadically
in their gatherings. [119]
1730 AD, The
Catholic French Jansenists Movement and Glossolalia: This was a
Catholic reform movement in France. Hamilton speaking of them wrote: Twenty years
after the dispersion of the Camisards in 1710, glossolalia appeared in
the Jansenist community. Between 1730 and 1733, prophetic utterances became increasingly
frequent among them. Some reportedly spoke in an unknown tongue and understood any language
in which they were addressed. Much of the glossolalia was, however,
not understood. [120]
1738 AD, John Wesley and the Glossolalia of the Early
Methodists: In AD 1735 Wesley went to Georgia as an Anglican
missionary. On the ship to Savannah he met some Spirit-Filled German Moravians,
whose simple evangelical piety greatly impressed him. The three years in the
United States he had close contact with them. He then returned to England in a
very depressed state because of his failure in his evangelistic efforts in
America.
In England he sought out the Moravians there; while
attending one of their meetings in London, on May 24, 1738, he experienced a religious
awakening. Now history does not say that this religious awakening he had,
that gave him great power with God, was speaking in tongues, but one thing
history cannot deny, is his doctrine of the “Second
Blessing” does promote “speaking in tongues.”
From that time on, Wesley had great revivals.
Now,
according to Walter Hollenweger, in his book entitled The Pentecostal,
the Methodist and other Holiness Churches defined: Sanctification as something that is: distinct in time and content from conversion; also called ‘Baptism
of the Spirit’ or ‘second blessing.’ [121]
The Encyclopaedia Britannica revealed that the doctrine of the: Second Blessing that John Wesley preached played a great part in the:
Methodist revivals of the 18th and 19th centuries. [122]
It went on to say that many of the Trinitarian Pentecostal of today, still
believe Wesley’s teaching that the: Second
blessing experience is certified by an outward
sign, the ecstatic manifestation of speaking in tongues. [123]
Hamilton speaking of this doctrine wrote: His emphasis
on a second crisis experience subsequent to conversion was only one of
many innovations which shaped the context out of which organized Pentecostalism
later emerged. Little attention has been directed to his attitude toward glossolalia,
however. His opinion on the gift of tongues was undoubtedly influenced
by what he knew of the operation of that gift in his world, as well as by his
reading of Scripture…. His attention was specifically drawn to speaking
in tongues by the publication in 1748 of Conyers Middleton's A Free
Inquiry and by the increasing activity of the French Prophets in England. [124]
Wesley defended the existence of tongue talking in Church History. In The
Works Of John Wesley we read: When a certain Dr. Middleton wrote that
the gift of tongues was absent from later church history, Wesley replied
that (1) many ancient writings are no longer extant, (2) many Christians wrote
no books, (3) the ante-Nicene fathers do not say tongues ceased with the
apostles, and (4) just because tongues was not specifically recorded does not
mean it was not practiced…. Many may have spoken with new tongues, of whom this
is not recorded. [125]
1738 AD, George Whitefield and Glossolalia: Speaking in tongues were a common occurrence in the
American revivals of the eighteenth century. Whitefield
was a British evangelist and organizer of the Calvinistic Methodists. He, like
Wesley, played a part in bringing in the Great Awakening in American.
M’Clintock and Strong speaking of this wrote: Revivals under
Wesley and Whitefield, those of a later date in Sweden, America, and Ireland,
have in like manner, been fruitful in ecstatic phenomena. [126]
According to Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99, under the heading of “Whitefield,
George:” In 1736 Whitefield was ordained deacon in the Church of
England, and two years later followed the Wesley brothers to Savannah, Georgia,
as a missionary. Shortly thereafter, Whitefield returned to England and
was ordained a priest. Because of his unconventional manner of preaching
and conducting services, many Church of England pulpits were closed to him; he
therefore began to preach in the open air and attracted vast crowds by his
eloquence. In 1739 he returned to America and participated with the American
Congregational clergyman Jonathan Edwards in inaugurating the revival movement
that later became known as the Great Awakening.
1762-1828 AD, Oneness Tongue-Talking Convulsionist in France: Arnold speaking of them and their great revival in
France wrote: They had the Jesus Name baptism,
tongues, the Holy Spirit, power, boldness, and ‘miracles upon miracles,’ which
appeared ‘thaumaturgy,’ meaning effusion of miracles. The historian Gregoire
wrote about the French government being so upset that Parliament, in 1762,
forbid working of miracles on some French grounds.... It lasted until the date
of 1828, where the records indicate the shaking Convulsionist revival began to
wan. [127]
1774 AD, The
Shakers Movement and Glossolalia: Ann Lee
Stanley started this group. It was a celibate communal religious sect, which
started in England and then moved to the United States: Speaking
in tongues was an important part of Shaker worship, with roots
in the Quaker and Camisard traditions…. They were more formally styled
the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming. Mother Ann Lee
migrated from England to America in 1774, and in 1776 convened her few
followers into a community near Watervliet, New York. The central emphasis of
Shaker teaching was millennial. [128]
Nineteenth Century Glossolalia: Synan, in
his book entitled The Holiness Pentecostal Movement in the United States,
revealed that the 19th century saw many great revivals where God
poured out His Spirit with the biblical evidence of speaking in tongues. Synan speaking of the Second Great Awakening that came to
American wrote: In many cases tongues speaking went unreported
because observers did not recognize it or its significance and did not
distinguish it from other physical phenomena…. One historian said, ‘Throughout
the nineteenth century speaking in unknown tongues occurred occasionally
in the revivals and camp meetings that dotted the countryside.
Perhaps the phenomenon was considered just another of the many evidences that
one had been saved or sanctified…. These meetings were conducted by Methodists,
Baptists, some Presbyterians, and later the Holiness movement. With such a
strong emphasis on repentance and free demonstrative worship, it
is not surprising that many people received the Holy Spirit and spoke
in tongues. [129]
1800-1801 AD, The Glossolalia of the Kentucky, Cane Ridge, and
Georgia Revivals: Kentucky
Revival: Richard M’Nemar in his book
entitled, The Kentucky Revival, speaking of these revivals wrote: In the United States, the first several
years of the nineteenth century were years of revival. In the frontier areas,
the Second Great Awakening was accompanied by unusual demonstrations of
religious fervor in increasingly informal services of worship. Shouting,
singing, and exhorting, interspersed with laughing, jerking…
became characteristic of camp meetings. Some contemporary observers and
chroniclers recognized a depth behind these superficial expressions, which
later historical analyses often fail to convey. Such ‘supernatural and extraordinary
gifts of the Spirit’ accompanied the revival in Kentucky that a
restitution of the ‘apostolic faith’ was believed to have occurred.
Cane Ridge Revival (1801): Writing of
the Cane Ridge meeting of 1801 a year later, Aeneas McCallister claimed that
‘the like wonders have not been seen, except the Kentucky Revival last summer,
since the Apostle's days. I suppose the exercises of our congregation this last
winter, surpassed anything ever seen or heard of…. Stimulated by the revival
spirit, people appropriated for their own experiences ‘the full and perfect
accomplishment’ of Joel's prophecy. [130]
Synan
speaking of the Cane Ridge revival wrote: Scenes similar
to Cane‑Ridge were seen in England... in Massachusetts... in New York
City, Boston, and Richmond. [131] University of Georgia Revival:
Synan speaking of this revival stated: A great revival swept the University of
Georgia in 1800-1801, and the students ‘shouted and talked in unknown
tongues. [132]
1809 AD, Oneness Pentecostal Elias Smith and Glossolalia: This man
was a clergyman, as well as the author and editor of the first religious
newspaper in the United States. This newspaper was called the Herald Of The
Gospel. This man of God denounced the doctrine of the Trinity and rejected
Calvin’s predestination teachings. Smith reported on various religious meetings
that took place in New England. In June of 1809 AD, Smith reported in his
newspaper that three hundred people lived in Portsmouth, NH. According to
Weisser, Smith wrote in his newspaper: It was not
possible for me to describe this glorious scene. Those who communed, had named
the name of Christ; had been baptized in His name; were blest with a
comfortable evidence of being born again; were united in love; and each in a
good degree were determined to press towards the mark. [133]
1810-1887 AD, The Revivals of Oneness Congregational Pastors: According
to professor Levi Paine in his book entitled, A Critical History Of The
Evolution Of Trinitarianism, many of the New England Congregational pastors
were Sabellians in their godhead belief. He attacks and labels them as
Antitrinitarians. He names ministers who were not only well known in their day
but our day as well. Some of these men played a great part in the Great Awaking Revival of the nineteenth century. Men such
as Dr. Nathaniel Emmons, Professor Moses Stuart, Dr. Henry Ward Beecher, Dr.
Lyman Abbott, Dr. A. H. Bradford, Dr. Joseph Cook, and German professor
Friedrich Schleiermacher. [134]
1831 AD, The
Glossolalia of Edward Irving’s English Revival: Synan continued by saying: A startling feature of nineteenth century British revivalism... was the
appearance of glossolalia, or speaking with other tongues at Edward Irving's services in London England. He also declared: Irving saw many of his parishioners, including a Member of Parliament
named Henry Drummond, display this evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost. [135]
Edwin Irving
started as Presbyterian Minister in Scotland in the earlier part of the 19th
century. But as he studied the scriptures, especially the Book of Acts, he was
and the church of his day was missing out on the fullness of God’s blessings
and power. Therefore he started teaching his congregation that the Book of Acts
experience was an experience that all should received today. As a result, he
was excommunicated from the Presbyterian Church. He moved to England and after
a time started a Church in London's Regent Square.
On March 28th
of 1830, a Miss Mary Campbell believed God’s Holy Word and therefore received
the Holy Ghost and began to speak in tongues and also
was divinely healed. Irving was
a strong believer in Christ’ immanent return to the earth. Hamilton wrote: The notoriety which inevitably accompanied the rapid transformation
and relocation of a fashionable London congregation as a ‘fanatical’ sect did
not prevent the extension of Irving’s influence beyond the confines of Great
Britain. In the United States and continental Europe, convinced Irvingites made
contacts with small but interested Christian groups of various affiliations. [136]
As usually the devil uses unenlightened and uninspired men to attack
those who have anything to do with the Power of God. Satan always uses
ministers, who do not have the Spirit, to teach about the Gifts of the Spirit
and deceive others by telling them it has ceased or God did away with them.
Therefore, Irving was greatly attacked for his stand on the Gifts of the
Spirit.
The well-known oneness Congregational preacher, Horace Bushnell came to
Irving’s defense. Hamilton spoke of Bushnell’s defense of Irving this way: Reports of
speaking in tongues naturally resulted in some attempts at objective discussion
of the gift among those who had no firsthand knowledge of it in main-line Protestantism….
Horace Bushnell's ‘Natural and the Supernatural’ included a defense of the
credibility of Edward Irving's experiences. Against those who charged that the
reported spiritual gifts were ‘mere hallucinations…. He reported, however, that
that gift and the gift of interpretation had appeared at a gathering
of New England Christians concerned with their need of sanctification.
He also recounted several recent healings in the vicinity. [137]
1851, AD, The Revival in Cornwall England: Hamilton speaking of this revival wrote: At
mid-century the waning of the revival moods in the ‘Atlantic community’ was
suddenly quickened beyond expectations by a new series of spiritual
awakenings, this time first in Cornwall, England (1851), then spreading
through the United States, then to Wales, Ireland, and other parts of England
beyond Cornwall…. Fervent prayer, spontaneous shouts of praise,
exuberant singing, and joyful testimonies were evidences of
transforming spiritual experiences. The Holy Spirit came ‘with wondrous power,’
one observer of the Irish awakening reported…. Healings often
accompanied experiences of salvation.” [138]
1851-1875 AD, The Revivals of Charles Grandison Finney: In the United States, this pre-Civil War revival was
largely a lay movement. During the first half of the century, the phenomenal
spread of Methodism had introduced into American revivalism a strong emphasis
on an experience of sanctification. Wesley's teaching on the availability of a
‘second’ definite ‘work of grace…. The quest for holiness
was not confined to Arminian Methodist ranks. From his position at Oberlin
College, Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875), Presbyterian - turned - Congregationalist,
with his colleague Asa Mahan, expounded a related version of perfectionist
doctrine. [139]
1875 AD, The
Glossolalia of the Revivals of Dwight L. Moody: Synan,
quoting R. Boyd, D.D., an intimate friend of Moody, wrote: Another instance of glossolalia in London occurred in 1875, when Dwight
L. Moody preached in a service the Young Men's Christian Association,
leaving many of them there speaking with tongues’ and ‘prophesying. [140] Hamilton speaking of Moody’s revivals wrote: Since early this century, an unprecedented Holy Ghost revival has been
occurring such that today many millions of people world-wide speak
in tongues…. The revivalist Dwight L. Moody had a remarkable Spirit
baptism and often urged upon participants in his Northfield
Conferences their need for a similar outpouring…. He frequently
requested his associate and successor, Reuben A. Torrey, to preach his sermon
on the baptism with the Holy Ghost. [141]
1889 AD, The
Glossolalia of the Oslo, Norway Revival: Frank Ewart, a one God, Jesus’ Name
preacher and historian, in his Book entitle The Phenomenon Of Pentecost,
wrote about a great outpouring of the Holy Ghost that took place in this
revival. He wrote: countless Norwegians were filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues. [142]
1900 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal Charles Parham and Glossolalia: Oneness
historian Fred Foster in his history entitled, Their Story: 20th Century
Pentecostals, revealed that Parham taught baptism in Jesus’ Name and
speaking in tongues. [143]
Synan speaking about God pouring out His Spirit in the United States said: America had also experienced an outbreak of the tongues
phenomenon…. The person responsible for introducing this practice as a formally
stated doctrine was the Reverend Charles Fox Parham of Kansas. Parham, a former
Methodist minister, who ‘adopted an anti-denominational view,’ started Bethel
Bible School in October of 1900. This school was located near Topeka, Kansas.
He had 40 students, 12 of which were ministers.
On Dec. 31, 1900, Parham and his students conducted a watch night
service. Synan says: In this service, a student
named Agnes N. Ozman requested Parham to lay his hands on her head and pray for
her to be baptized with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in
tongues. It was after midnight and the first day of the twentieth century when
Miss Ozman began ‘speaking in the Chinese
language’ while a ‘halo seemed to surround her head and face.
Following this experience, Ozman was unable to speak in English for three days,
and when she tried to communicate by writing, she invariably wrote in Chinese
characters.... After Ozman experienced tongues, the rest of the students sought
and received the same experience….
The students, Americans all, spoke in twenty-one known languages…. It
was Parham who first singled out glossolalia as the only evidence
of one’s having received the baptism with the Holy Ghost, and who taught that
it should be a part of normal Christian worship rather than a curious
by-product of religious enthusiasm. Parham opened another Bible school in
Houston Texas. In a short time many of his student received the Holy Ghost. The
Houston Chronicle reported that Houstonians were “witnessing ‘miracles’ as
student ‘speak in all tongues known to man.’ Some claim that twenty Chinese
dialects were spoken, while other were able to ‘command the classics of a Homer
or talk the jargon of the lowest savage of the African jungle. [144]
1904 AD, The
Welsh Revival: Synan declared: Tongues were also prevalent in the Welsh revival. He went on
to say: The Yorkshire Post reported
that at the height of the revival under [Evan] Roberts, young men and women who knew nothing of Old Welsh
would in their ecstasy speak in that tongue.... The story of how
the twenty-six year old Roberts had led the sensational revival [in Wales]... swept over the holiness
movement with a compelling force. [145]
1906-1909 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal William Seymour and the Great Three-Year Tongue Talking
Revival of Azusa Street: The anointed black preacher William
Seymour, who received the Holy Ghost at Parham’s Bible School, went to Los
Angels to start a church for the Lord. He, like Parham, taught Jesus’ Name
Baptism and speaking in tongues as the evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost.
God gave him a great revival. Every night God poured out His Spirit on hungry
hearts. Hollenger speaking of this revival wrote: One of Parham’s pupils the Negro preacher W. J. Seymour, was invited to
Los Angeles.... Seymour hired an old Methodist church at 312 Azusa Street.... [He] preached on Acts 2:4:
‘Anyone who does not speak in tongues is not baptized with
the Holy Spirit....’ For three years without interruption prayer meetings took
place here with speaking in tongues, singing in tongues and prophecy. [146]
Synan
believed that the powerful effect of the Azusa Street Revival was due to the
strong Biblical doctrinal preaching that: tongues were the initial sign of receiving the Holy Ghost.” He says, “It was precisely this settlement,
that tongues were the only initial evidence of the reception of the Holy
Spirit that gave Pentecostalism its greatest impetus…. Pentecostalism thus
succeeded in ‘doing what the Holiness Movement could not do’ in that it offered
the believer a ‘repeatable and unmistakable motor expression which, in effect,
guaranteed his possession of the Spirit. In addition to solving the problem of
the evidence of the baptism, the attaching of tongues to the Holy
Ghost baptism had a strong scriptural base in the New Testament, a fact which
easily convinced many holiness people, practically all of whom interpreted the
Bible literally. [147]
Synan
described the Azusa Revival this way: As the Azusa
revival continued, hundreds and later thousands of both the curious and the
serious began to flock to the mission. Every day trains unloaded numbers of
visitors who came from all over the continent. News accounts of the meeting
spread over the nation in both the secular and the religious press.... A
visitor to Azusa Street during the three years that the revival
continued would have met scenes that beggared description. Men and women would shout,
weep, dance, fall into trances, speak and sing in tongues,
and interpret the messages into English. In true Quaker fashion, anyone [of the saints] who felt moved by the
Spirit would preach or sing. [148]
Many
Trinitarian ministers, who started Trinitarian organizations, received the Holy
Spirit in this Oneness Pentecostal Azusa Street Revival! Synan speaking of the
Azusa Street revival wrote: Hundreds of preachers from around the continent traveled to Los Angeles
to see for themselves what was taking place. Most of them were convinced of the
genuineness of the teachings, and practices that they saw, receiving their own
Pentecost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues
before returning to their churches. Many who came were destined to found entire
denominations of Pentecostal believers. [149]
Synan
reported that G. B. Cashwell: During his first service in
the mission, a young Negro man walked over to him and placed his hands on his
head, praying for him to be ‘baptized with the Holy Ghost.’ This caused ‘chills
to go down my spine,’ Cashwell later reported. At first deeply prejudiced
against Negroes, he saw his prejudice fading as interest in speaking
with other tongues began to overwhelm him. After a few services he ‘lost
his pride’ and asked Seymour and several Negro boys to lay hands on his head in
order for him to be ‘filled.’ In a short time he received the Pentecostal
experience and began to speak with other tongues.
Synan went
on to say that Cashwell was: destined to become the
‘Apostle of Pentecost to the South.’ Cashwell went home to Dunn, North
Carolina, where he rented an old, three-storied building. On December 31, 1906,
the meeting began which was to result in the conversion of most of the holiness
movement in the Southeast to the Pentecostal view.... Thousands of
people jammed the old warehouse to see and hear firsthand about the ‘tongues
movement.’ Practically the entire ministerium of the Pentecostal
Holiness and the Fire-Baptized Holiness Churches attended, most of them going
to the altar and receiving the Pentecostal experience that Cashwell
preached.
1908 AD, India
Revival: Synan also declared: Even in India
an outbreak of tongues was reported in 1908 that had all the characteristics of
the Azusa meeting. Under the direction of one Pandita Ramabai, the inmates of a
girl’s orphanage spoke and prayed in English, Greek, Hebrew, and Sanskrit. [150]
1915 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal Russian Revival of Andrew Urshan: In his
autobiography entitled, The Life of Andrew Bar David Urshan, this man of
God revealed that he received the revelation of Jesus’ name baptism in 1910, and from that time on began to baptize all of his
converts that way. [151]
In 1915 Urshan preached a great Pentecostal
revival in Russia. According to Urshan, God had given some of his converts the
revelation of Jesus’ name baptism before he even came to Russia. This revival
marked the beginning of a great Jesus’ name Pentecostal movement, which is
still alive in Russia today.
1917 AD, The
Revival of the True Jesus Church of China: God in His
mercy began to give open the hearts of hungry Chinese people to the truth of
the New Birth. This miracle began with people simply reading the Bible and
praying that God would reveal the truth to them. As a result God revealed to
them: Jesus Christ is God the Father in creation,
the Son in salvation, and the Holy Spirit living in the believer in
regeneration. God also reveal to them: Baptism by single immersion in the precious and holy name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, as well as to the biblical doctrine of speaking in tongues as the
initial evidence of being born of the Holy Spirit. In fact, when they received these great truths from God, they did not
know at that time that anyone else in the world believed that way! In the same
year, these Chinese Christians started a great movement in China, which they
called the True Jesus Church. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia,
this movement exists in Communist China and Taiwan even today. [152]
1962 AD,
Catholic Charismatic Revival: At the Second Vatican Council (AD 1962-65), the two Catholic Popes who
presided over it, promoted speaking in tongues as a something that
should be sought after in their churches, according to Synan. This was the
beginning of the Catholic charismatic movement. In 1974, over 30,000 Catholic Pentecostals
gather at Notre Dame to celebrate the eight-year of their movement. [153]
1965 AD,
Protestant Revival: According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica: In modern times glossolalia has been found chiefly among Holiness and
Pentecostal groups.... In the 1960s by an upsurge of the phenomenon among some
members of the more established churches, such as Episcopal, Presbyterian, and
Lutheran. [154]
1979-2004 AD,
Oneness Pentecostal Revival Movement Grew To One Hundred Organizations: A great one
God, Jesus’ name revival began in America in the year of 1913 in which many ministers and saints received the above
revelations. From that time to now, the one God, Jesus' name movement in the
United States has been growing by leaps. According to Arnold in: 1979, the World of Apostolic
Christian Fellowship, found over fifty-three Oneness Christian organizations on
earth.... The United Pentecostal Church is no longer the largest, Dr. Wong
stated in 1965 that Taiwan had 120 assemblies alone, and as of 1979, the True
Jesus Church of China numbers around eight million. [155]
It has now
been reported that there are 100 different one God, Jesus’ Name, Apostolic
Pentecostal organizations in the world today. The Encyclopaedia Britannica
stated that speaking in tongues Recurred in Christian revivals
in every age. [156]
Yes, friend, the sweet, precious gift of the Holy Ghost is for you. Millions of
hungry, honest believers have received it. God in his great love for you, wants
you to receive it today, if you are willing to believe and obey the truth; for
the God said: “To
day if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Heb 3:7-8). God also
said, for “Now
is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation” (2Co 6:2).
The author believes that the preceding
references are more than enough evidence to prove that God’s Apostolic Jesus
Name, Tongue Talking Pentecostal Church was not only the original Church that
was started by the apostles on the Day of Pentecostal, but also that it never
cease to exist in any century. Surely the gates of hell, never has and never
will prevail against it!
Books Written by the Author and Given Away on His Website:
A Biblical, Medical, and Psychological Account of the
Sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ
The Heresy of the Nicolaitans
Biblical Creationism vs Pantheistic Theories of Evolution
(Nature Worship)
A Prophetic History of God’s Apostolic Pentecostal Church (The Seven
Prophetic Periods of the Church Age)
The Mysteries of Prophecy Revealed
What Do You Mean I Must Be Born Again?
Preacher, What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?
A Historical Record of Speaking in Tongues
The Mysteries of the Godhead Revealed
A History of Oneness Throughout the Centuries (Baptism in Jesus’ Name,
the Godhead in Christ)
What Happens to Man’s Spirit, Soul and Body Immediately
after Death?
What Is Lost Man’s Eternal Destiny? (Immediate Annihilation, Eternal
Torment, Torment for a Time
and Then Universal Salvation, or Torment for a Time and Then
Annihilation)
The Mysteries of the Spirit and Soul of Man Revealed
(What Are They? Does Each Nature of Man Have Mind, Will,
and Emotions?)
Holiness: God’s Beauty College
What Is God’s Rest for the Believer: the Sabbath Day or
God’s Sabbath Spirit
How to Study the Bible
A Calendar of Biblical and Historical Dates and Events
Beginning with the Creation of Adam
The Heresies of the Pharisaical Jewish Ebionites
William Marion Branham: His Life, Teachings, and Demonic
Spirit-Guide
Nutrition and Nutritional Charts
Law vs Grace or Works vs Faith
Water Baptism: the Essentiality, the Mode, and the Formula
Glossolalia: Ten Steps of Faith to Receiving the Baptism
of the Holy Ghost
Glossolalia and the New Birth
Benefits of Salvation and the False Doctrines that Hinder
It
Eternal Life vs Eternal Death
Christ’s Loving Servant,