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12 April 2006

 

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Spiritual Gifts - Part 12

Charles E. Wigg

 

I once attended a Gideon’s retreat in Bombay, and there I was the guest speaker. As I was not a member of the local ‘Camp’, I did not stay for the business part of the meeting. I was taken back to the flat where I was staying, (at Santa Cruz), by a Mallayali brother in His car. Once we started on the journey, he resorted to a little flattery, and he told me that I was a very powerful speaker. I must have said something in the message that indicated that I did not agree with the Pentecostal error. He considered that I should at least ‘give it a try’. I assured him that I had been truly saved for more than fifty years, and that I had never once spoken in tongues, so I did not think that I would be playing with that particular error at this late stage. Further I asked him as to which Assembly Paul wrote to in order to correct them on this particular matter, and as to what kind of Assembly it was. He replied that he did not know, and assured me that he was not a Bible student. I assured him that he did not have to be such a student to answer that question, and that my grandchildren would be able to correctly answer such a question. I then drew his attention to the state of that Assembly, and to the fact that it was only to such an Assembly that Paul wrote, so as to correct them. (Not to encourage them, in their ‘speaking in tongues’). I have been told by Pentecostal people that unless you have ‘spoken in tongues’, you have not received the Holy Spirit, and as a consequence if you have not received the Holy Spirit, then you are not saved. If this is true, then I have never ‘spoken in tongues’, and thus I have not, (according to people thus mis-led), I am not saved. In this very chapter the Apostle Paul asks the question, “Do all speak in tongues?”, and the answer surely is “No”.

 

We have pointed out that the ‘tongue’ referred to here is a language, and as I have been going to India for thirty years, and have travelled widely in that country, I have been exposed to many different languages, but as a public speaker I have always spoken in the English tongue only. I have found a great desire on the part of so many to be able to speak in English, because if they have this language, it will enable them to go abroad, and thus to obtain employment in other countries. Some receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that enables them to speak in other tongues. Others though they struggle for years in the attempt to learn another tongue, fail to do so. Some though they may learn English at the educational level, yet they are not able to translate the message of God, accurately, or with liberty. On one occasion, I was in a Marathi speaking are, and my translator was a University professor, and his specialty was English; he was unsaved but was the only person available to translate, but he was not able to translate the message suitably, in spite of his superior education. This clearly shows that it is only the gift of the Holy Spirit that can enable a person to translate the message of God from one language to another.

 

To be able to convey the message of God in another language other than the tongue in which you were born and raised, is indeed the gift of God. I freely and gladly confess that I do not have that gift. However I have to confess that there have been occasions when a translator was not available, and I have spoken in English, yet though the person to whom I was speaking knew no English, yet they have understood what I have said.

 

For example when leaving Cairo on my last visit, and travelling to the international Airport in a car belonging to a brother. The man driving the car was the natural brother of the owner. The man driving the car was a very good translator, but his brother (who was sitting beside him), confessed that his English was very poor, so poor that he could not carry on a normal conversation (in English). Yet he confessed that for some strange reason he had understood 80% of what I had said during the meetings that he attended. He said that he received 80% from me, and 20% from the translator. I do not have the gift of tongues as claimed by others, but I share the above information for what it is worth with my readers.

 

It has been proved many times that what is claimed (by some), to be the gift of the translation of tongues is totally false. It has been proved many times, that what the translator has said has all been made up, and bears no relationship to what the speaker has said, and as mentioned earlier, it has been known for the so called-speaker in tongues to utter blasphemy in a foreign language, but the translator just uses his imagination in translating, so that what is said by the speaker is translated to be some positive message. Sometimes the brother who translates for me will make a mistake, and make use of the wrong word. Someone in the congregation will then either correct him, or give the correct word. In proof of this I will cite the following.

 

On one occasion I was speaking in a Hindi speaking area, and my translator was a Tamillian. I was speaking on the subject of “The rest of God”, (Hebrews 4: 3-5), and my translator was using the word ‘Shanthi’. But I said to him “nay it is not shanthi, that means ‘Peace’ and the two thoughts are different”. He objected saying that they meant the same, but someone from the congregation interjected , saying nay it is ‘Vishram’, and then another volunteered the word, ‘Aram’, which means ‘heavenly rest’ whereas the word Vishram means the rest of faith. Though the members of the congregation would not be able themselves to translate the message they knew when the translator had made a mistake, and were able to produce the right word. But in the practice of so-called ‘speaking in tongues’, and the translation of tongues, neither the speaker, or the translator knows what is being said, but all at the very best is only guess work, but it could be something much worse.

 

Finally we are told that all of these gifts are distributed and used by the One Spirit, He will not surrender His sovereignty, nor will he give His gifts simply to satisfy the covetous nature of the flesh, or to glorify man, or to make a person rich. Though we are exhorted to “desire earnestly the best gifts”, our motives in expressing these desires must be pure. It must be our desire to glorify Christ in the use of those gifts each day. It should be pointed out, that though Paul preached the Gospel in many languages to Barbarian and educated people also, from Jerusalem to Spain, and as far north as present day Albania), yet not once do we read of him ever using a translator to interpret his messages into the local tongue. It is little wonder then that he could say, “I speak in tongues more than you all”. (1Corinthians 14:18). May God bless each one of you, and richly endow you with the choicest gifts of His Holy Spirit!

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[Reproduced by permission of the author] 

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