Intro

[musterion]

I agree most tongues today are nonsense but occasionally it is the real thing. Paul actually recognised this:

1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Notice he also includes prophecy and knowledge. And Paul goes further:

1 Corinthians 14
20Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21In the Law it is written:

“With other tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,
says the Lord.”

22Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

26What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.

Also, prophecy is currently being fulfilled everyday, just look at Israel for example and how it is becoming the most powerful nation on earth just as prophesied:

Luke 21
29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

The fig tree is Israel of course and the other trees are the other nations, the summer is referring the Jesus' return and the harvest of the souls of mankind.

Isaiah 66:8
Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.

In 1949 Israel finally became an independent nation again after the Israeli War for Independence that lasted from 15 May 1948 to 20 July 1949. The war lasted nine months the same time a woman is in labour

Jesus also prophsised:

Matthew 24:34
Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

In Psalms we read that a generation can last eighty years:

Psalm 90:10
Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Eighty years from 1949 AD will be 2029 which is about 2000 years from when Jesus won the victory on the cross, and also who said:

Luke 13:32
And he said unto them, “Go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected”.

Just as Hosea said:

Hosea 6:2
After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.

And Peter said:

2 Peter 3:8
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the LORD a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day

And Moses said:

Psalm 90:4
A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

There are many other allusions throughout the Bible to the 7000 year time line that reflects the seven days of creation and Jesus' millennial reign.

How does one tell true tongues from false?

 

[patrick jane]

I hear tongues too and there is also knowledge that is increasing every day.

You hear tongues or you can interpret them?

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

You hear tongues or you can interpret them?

I have heared but never interpreted and I can't talk in tongues either but scripturally they are still in operation and will remain so until all things are restored, which includes the lifting of the confusion God caused at the tower of Babel. Eventually we will all speak the same tongue on the new Earth and Heaven.

 

[musterion]

I have heared but never interpreted and I can't talk in tongues either but scripturally they are still in operation and will remain so until all things are restored, which includes the lifting of the confusion God caused at the tower of Babel. Eventually we will all speak the same tongue on the new Earth and Heaven.

How does someone today tell true tongues from false?

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

How does someone today tell true tongues from false?

When someone speaks in another language (not known to the speaker) and it is understood by someone else.

 

[musterion]

When someone speaks in another language (not known to the speaker) and it is understood by someone else.

Do you have video evidence of this ever happening?

 

[glorydaz]

Do you have video evidence of this ever happening?

I saw it happen one day at a women's Bible Study I attended. A gal got up and spoke in "tongues" and then she interpreted it herself. When she started saying, "I worship you....yada yada" I almost laughed. To her credit, she did correct herself, and said, "I got carried away...".

 

[Tambora]

When someone speaks in another language (not known to the speaker) and it is understood by someone else.

Understood by someone, or understood by everyone?

I ask because at Pentecost everyone heard what was being said, not just in their own language, but in their own dialect.

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

Do you have video evidence of this ever happening?

No and I doubt it could be proven that way as you would still need to trust everyone was telling the truth. However I have heard testimonials of if it happening and that it was genuine but ultimately if you are after proof then you would need to see it happen with people you trust are being genuine.

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

Understood by someone, or understood by everyone?

I ask because at Pentecost everyone heard what was being said, not just in their own language, but in their own dialect.

Understood by one or more people.

Not sure what you mean by dialect, Acts only says; 'because each one heard their own language being spoken' and 'each of us hears them in our native language'. It then lists each language which are distinct languages rather than dialects that are forms of a distinct language.

Act 2
3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tonguesa as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,b 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

 

[musterion]

No and I doubt it could be proven that way as you would still need to trust everyone was telling the truth. However I have heard testimonials of if it happening and that it was genuine but ultimately if you are after proof then you would need to see it happen with people you trust are being genuine.

That is a lie. There was no need for trust at Pentecost. The sign gift authenticated itself. The evidence was so overwhelming that all unbelievers knew what they were hearing.

Provide a similar example from today.