The modern tongues movement is fake

Deception in the church

I know that I am going to get a lot of people offside here and yet others are going to cheer.  My intention here is not to be deliberately contentious or to judge but to humbly inform of what I think the Bible is saying after 30 or so years of studying this subject.  The spiritual gift of tongues is an enticing and exciting gift but also deceptive.  Deception in the church is what we must expose if we are going to survive and thrive in the end days and finally make it.

So yes, I believe that the modern-day’s tongue movement is a counterfeit to the real deal which ceased in AD 70.  The modern-day tongues movement has been around for less than 200 years having broken out in 1830 with Margaret McDonald, a well-known heretical Bible teacher who made many false predictions about the end times.  By the way, the false pre-trib rapture theory started at this time also with one of McDonald’s visions and then later taken up by John Darby of Plymouth Brethren origins.  But the point is that the church has done without these two false Biblical doctrines for most of the church age (2000 years).  Tongues is a modern-day, last days counterfeit movement.

The gift of tongues was a sign for unbelieving Jews

So what was the original gift of tongues because it certainly was a New Testament gift for the first forty years of the church age from AD 30 to 70?  The Bible is quite clear as to its purpose as it actually states its purpose in 1 Cor. 14:22:  Paul says, “Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.”  Specifically the original 1st century gift of tongues was a sign for unbelieving Jews.  The context in verse 21 via a quote from an obscure passage in Isaiah 28:11-12 demands that Paul was speaking about the Jews.  The actual sign to Israel long before, hundreds of years previously was that there would be a time where they would hear strange tongues being spoken.  When they saw and heard this unusual sign they would know that the destruction of Jerusalem was near because if you read the context of later verses in the next chapter, it reads that Ariel (meaning lion of God–a symbolic name for Jerusalem) would be completely and utterly destroyed.¹  That was fulfilled by the Roman Army in AD 70.  So essentially after that time period, the gift of tongues was no longer necessary.  It had fulfilled its mandate and it would cease.  And it’s quite amazing because that is actually what Paul says that tongues will cease in and of itself.²  The Greek grammar seems to suggest that the verb “pausontai” which Paul used to refer to its termination means “to cease of its own accord”.  It is in the middle voice form of the verb to “cease.”  The middle voice indicates that it ceases of its own, rather than being caused to cease by some external thing that replaces it.

It’s all about the destruction of the temple

So here are two separate places in the Bible that tell us the purpose of tongues and how they would finish.  Tongues were a sign to unbelieving Israel of the impending destruction of Jerusalem because Israel’s leaders rejected their Messiah.  Jesus made this very clear when He wept for Jerusalem upon entering the city for the last time.³  Forty years later Israel’s leaders, the Sanhedrin, and the priesthood were disbanded because the Romans had laid the temple precinct bare and had completely destroyed Jerusalem.  The so-called Temple Mount (pictured above) that we now see was really Fort Antonia, the Roman garrison which housed the legion (6000 troops).  The real temple was actually located some 600 yards to the south in the old city of David and no longer exists.  How do we know that?  Because Hezekiah’s tunnel which supplied a freshwater source to the temple via the Gihon Spring is located in the old city 600 m or so to the south and it is absolute solid proof because you can’t fake a tunnel.

The partial gifts were done away with when the “perfect” came

It’s also important to note that the partial gifts of knowledge and prophecy would be done away with when the “perfect” comes.⁴  What is the “perfect”?  The perfect is none other than the completion of the New Testament Scriptures, the last book having been written by the Apostle John in AD 96.  It stands to reason that there would be no purpose for knowledge and prophecy after the New Testament was complete because everything that needs to be said until the coming of the final Two Witnesses has been said and has been written.  Be very careful of the deception that arises from people and so-called modern-day prophets and prophetesses like Margaret McDonald when they say they have a new revelation from God.  We have everything that we need to make an intelligent and faith-based decision for Christ on what we read and is written in the Book.

Conclusion

In conclusion, what Israel heard on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and for the next forty years via the Gentile church such as the Corinthians was a sign of impending doom for Jerusalem.  When Jerusalem met its end in AD 70 there was no more need for the gift of tongues and the gift simply petered out.  So what do we see now?  I believe that we are seeing a fake and counterfeit movement designed by the devil to mislead Christians feeding that penchant for the fantastical and the desire for us all to hear something new from God.  The challenge for us in these end days is to focus on what we do know and to put it into practice.  One day there will be new prophecies but we have to wait a few more years yet until we hear from the final two men who arise just before Christ returns.