speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

Today I went out with another brother on two house calls to pray for folks.

At the second home we prayed for an elderly lady. She is 88 years old and originally came from Quito, Ecuador. She has lived in Mexico City and Tulsa, OK prior to coming to the Cincinnati area. She told us that she received the Holy Ghost Baptism 40 years ago in Mexico City and when she received she praised Jesus in English. She did not know the language so it was speaking with tongues/languages to her. She has since learned to speak English but did not know it at that time.

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

I have read that happened quite a bit back in the early 1900's, back when the revivals were going strong. Some of the books talk about that.

I also read about that happening some over in Russia from an old man that his family came out before the purges of the 1920's.

Would love to see it more often.

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

I remember reading about "Mission Tongues" from what I read some people would get a burden to go to a specific area and they would go to the area and pray to God that they the Holy Ghost would allow them to know the language by the time they got to that area. (Hope it makes sense, its hard to explain in writing)

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

This is from pages 98 and 99 of The Life and Ministry of Billy and Shirley Cole copyrighted 2007

"We saw some that, when they received the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues, spoke in English perfectly, even though they did not know a word of English! Some of these were jungle people that had never been to any school even a day in their lives, even little children and teenagers. I remember what one little girl in particular said when she spoke in English as she received the Holy Ghost. Her native tongue was Laotian. She did not even know the Thai language, let alone English. She had never been to school a day in her life, but when she got the Holy Ghost she said, 'This is so wonderful. I am so happy. I magnify the name of Jesus.' Brother Oscar Vouga, missions director, was there and witnessed that miracle."

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

I wonder what language I'm speaking in when I speak in tongues???

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

I heard someone one day speaking in a language that had a definate native american sound to it. It was a definate language. They spoke in tongues for quite a long time, maybe over an hour. It was very interesting.

I heard about a man that took a tape recorder into a Pentecostal service and recorded people getting the Holy Ghost. He then would go into a public place and turn it on and listen to it, waiting for people to ask what he was listening to and then witness to them.

One day, so the story goes, a man came up, asked where he had recorded the tape, then told him that what they were hearing was his native language, and then told him what they were saying. The person was praising and thanking God over and over in that language.

I am thinking that this story was in a Pentecostal missions magazine, but I am not for sure.

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

If it was a "Tulsa" dialect of English it doesn't really count. "Cincinnati" is a bit closer to the king's English and may qualify, though being "Midwest" I doubt that most trained linguists would allow for this to actually be "miraculous."

Now, if there was anyone around who spoke a genuine form of the English tongue and not one of its Midwestern dialects - AND they actually understood what was being spoken in that Midwestern form of English - then you would have a true miracle worthy of reporting.

Anything spoken from the region of Spindletop, Texas east through Louisiana doesn't really qualify as "language" - tongues or otherwise.

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

Brother Stoneking has a message where he talks about some sort of PHD Professor conducting studies about speaking with tongues. If I remember correctly according to him the linguistic specialist have conducted analysis and that they said that when people speak in tongues they are speaking in definite languages. The message is "I must tell it" i heard it a while back on goodpreaching.com, it was pretty interesting.

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

It would be interesting to find out one day what language we speak. I remember growing up and never understanding why it said in Acts 2 "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind" to me tongues never sounded like a mighty rushing wind, like I was taught in Sunday school. However, many years later at the age of 14 when I got the Holy Ghost I remember my Pastor telling me to open my mouth and speak in the heavenly language ( I was at the altar praying and when he said it I thought in my mind IDK how to speak in a heavenly language) I hesitated and he said it again "open up your mouth". After I finally opened up my mouth I heard that heavenly sound. I couldn't believe it was coming from my mouth and as the spirit continued to move through me I thought to myself there it is! It does sound like a mighty rushing wind.

Re: speaking with "tongues/languages"
 

Over the years I've heard and read a lot of stories about people understanding what someone was saying as he spoke with tongues. Some of those were second and third hand or worse and I'm sure there are a lot of "urban legends" among us when it comes to speaking with tongues. But, we do hear of some that are more realistic or credible than others. In the book, They Speak With Other Tongues, the author investigated some of those stories and concluded that some were factual. Also, people came in to an office were recorded as they prayed and/or spoke with tongues. I don't know where my copy of that book is but if I find it I might be able to give some of the incidents.

Jack Hayford tells in his book, The Beauty of Spiritual Language, about a time he was on an airplane and felt like the Spirit impressed him to speak in tongues to the person sitting next to him. He resisted throughout the flight and then at the last moment did so in a hesitant and apologetic manner. The person was of American Indian descent and recognized what he said to be a prayer in an old Kiowa dialect.

In the book, Experiencing the Spirit by Robert Heidler, Baptist pastor and Dallas Theological Seminary graduate, tells about ministering in Moscow and the pastor offered a prayer in English during the service. Robert Heidler was surprised because he thought the pastor did not speak English. Afterward the pastor's fiance told him that the pastor did not speak or understand English but English was his prayer language. She said she always knew what was on his heart because when he prayed in tongues he prayed in English and she could understand him.