Teaching To Speak In Tongues

[Sherri]

What I think is interesting on this thread is that it started out by saying this teaching to speak in tongues was in mostly Charismatic churches. Every example that I saw following that was in Oneness Pentecostal churches, not Charismatic! I've never seen this happen in any meetings that I've been in outside of UPC.

We call people to the front who want to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then Eddie calmly explains it (no music being played). He tells them to repent, if they have not and then to raise their hands in surrender and ask the Holy Spirit to baptize them. Then we lay hands on them and MANY of them immediately begin speaking in a heavenly language. If we have any music playing at all at this point, it is soft and not hyped. We teach our people praying with them to just pray in tongues around them, not to speak to them in English. It's too confusing to try to listen to everyone and what they're telling you and still try to pray. I think we made it WAY too hard the way we were raised. We just tell these people that God wants to fill them and they believe it and they receive it.

On the other point, sometimes on Wed. nights, which are much more "Pentecostal" than Sundays, if we are all praying together in an intercessory mode, Eddie will ask everyone who prays in tongues to do so together. Those that don't just pray in English. It is very powerful and we have seen God do amazing things during those prayer times. Some are filled with the Holy Ghost right then, because they are surrounded by that anointing. It is very natural to speak in tongues anytime I want/need to, but that is not something that I knew I could do until after I left UPC. We were never taught that. It is totally natural for me to move from English to tongues, because I walk in the Spirit. It's not something that has to be worked up.