AoG Losing "Tongues"

[houston]

Originally Posted by navygoat1998

Why would that scare you?

I haven't been in a service like that in a few years. I do like how people asked and received. No one shook them or yelled in their ears.

[Servetus]

Originally Posted by navygoat1998

It doesn't seem like most of what passes as speaking in tongues now has any relation to tongues (as languages) in the book of Acts. I'm skeptical about whether speaking in tongues as we know it is biblical at all. I also see no scriptural support for when pastors start "speaking in tongues" into the mic when they are not giving a message in tongues and when another is not interpreting. I'm also skeptical about people being told to "open their mouths to let the Spirit out". I personally don't see Biblical justification for most of the "spiritual" activity in pentecostalism.

[houston]

Did he say "let the spirit out?" Wow. I couldn't make out what he was saying.

[Jason B]

In the video the pastor says "open your mouth and release it, let it out right now". I'm not sure if that refers to the Spirit or the sound of tongues.

[Abiding Now]

Originally Posted by Servetus

It doesn't seem like most of what passes as speaking in tongues now has any relation to tongues (as languages) in the book of Acts. I'm skeptical about whether speaking in tongues as we know it is biblical at all. I also see no scriptural support for when pastors start "speaking in tongues" into the mic when they are not giving a message in tongues and when another is not interpreting. I'm also skeptical about people being told to "open their mouths to let the Spirit out". I personally don't see Biblical justification for most of the "spiritual" activity in pentecostalism.

Could you expound on the bolded? Thanks.

[peter83]

Originally Posted by n david

Wait a minute...one can't simply receive the Holy Ghost like that...there's no loud shoutin music playing!

Seriously, that is AWESOME! I love that there's no music playing at all, just people praying and receiving the Holy Ghost.

Yes ,me too!

[ixoye_val69]

Does a person receive the Holy Spirit by asking or by being baptised? Or is this something that people have differing opinions about?

[Jacob's Ladder]

Originally Posted by navygoat1998

Not all are! Our church!

AHHHH....It doesn't matter....Your church is trinitarian anyway..........You're already lost

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Jacob's Ladder

AHHHH....It doesn't matter....Your church is trinitarian anyway..........You're already lost

All Trinitarians just repeat this album from the seventies and call it tongues.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Abiding Now

Assemblies of God Surge, But Speaking in Tongues Slumps

Churches continue to grow and diversify at enviable rate. But is distinctive teaching being lost amid outreach efforts?

One of America's largest Pentecostal denominations may be losing one of its defining characteristics—even as it continues to grow and diversify at an enviable rate.

As Assemblies of God (AG) leaders meet this week in Orlando for their biennial conference, recently released statistics paint a healthy portrait.

The AG's U.S. division grew more than twice as fast as the American population in 2012 (1.8 percent vs. 0.7 percent), gaining almost 54,000 adherents to now number nearly 3.1 million worshipers at more than 12,700 churches (up 127 from 2011). (Worldwide, the AG gained nearly 1 million adherents in 2012 to surpass 66 million.)

It is also increasingly diverse: Today, only 59% of U.S. adherents are white.

Such growth makes the AG increasingly distinct from other major Americans denominations—including the Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and United Methodist Church—that continue to face steady declines.

But the AG is becoming less distinct in another way: more and more adherents seem to be "holding their tongues."

CT previously reported how AG leaders have asked whether the denomination's distinctive teaching on speaking in tongues is being lost amid outreach efforts. AG churches believe "the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues is the promise of the Father to every Christian who desires the experience."

However, while water baptisms rose by 3.9% to a near-record high of more than 131,700 last year, spirit baptisms decreased 2.9% to less than 82,000—the lowest total since 1995.

The number of spirit baptisms has gradually fallen since peaking in 1997 at 101,700. (Water baptisms have always outnumbered spirit baptisms since the AG first released statistics in 1979.)

CT regularly reports on the Assemblies of God, including the denomination's alternative to the Boy Scouts, recent debate over Wycliffe Bible Translators' "Son of God" translation policies, and all you need to know about the AG.


http://www.christianitytoday.com/gle...tml?paging=off

This happens in a lot of "Once Were Pentecostal" churches.

They want to appeal to a larger market.