Why speak in tongues? Surely there must be valid, scriptural reasons, or God would not have instituted this as the “sign” of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, nor established it as one of the “gifts of the Spirit” which He set in the church (Acts 2:4; I Corinthians 12:28). In view of this, I have written this book primarily for the purpose of helping those Christians who have settled any doctrinal questions or doubts they may have had about the possibility of receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit today with its evidence of speaking in tongues, and who have already received the charismatic experience. For the sake of those who may not be thoroughly grounded in the Scriptures in regard to this question, the final chapter sets forth the basic scriptural instruction for those who wish to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is clearly promised the believer in the Word of God, but one cannot receive this blessing until he has gotten over his doubts and fears, or any doctrinal problems concerning the validity of this experience for today. All God’s promises are appropriated by faith. To remove doubts, as well as any unscriptural ideas about the question, we recommend a study of God’s Word on this matter. This is how the writer received this experience, and has been privileged to pray for countless hundreds of other Christians who also received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking supernaturally in new tongues.
There is considerable confusion today among Christians over the question of the baptism in the Spirit and speaking in tongues. They have been misled and mistaught about this matter for so long that they really do not know what to believe. Satan has created such a fear in the hearts of many people concerning the baptism in the Spirit that the very mention of the subject is enough to frighten them into open resistance. Moreover, even when some Christians come to see the validity of the baptism in the Spirit for today and desire the experience, because they think that there may be some stigma associated with speaking in tongues, often they will ask: “Can I receive the baptism in the Spirit without tongues? I have no particular need for speaking in tongues.” Sometimes they will ask: “What is the good of speaking in tongues?”
A Lutheran confided to me one day: “I came to the conviction that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was valid for today, and I greatly desired this blessing; but when I asked the Lord to baptize me in His Spirit, I prayed, ‘Lord, I would like to have the baptism in the Spirit, but I would like to receive it without tongues. After all, I don’t want to offend any of my Lutheran friends.’ I had no sooner prayed this when the Holy Spirit asked me, ‘Do you think that you are more of a gentleman than I am?’”
This settled the matter of speaking in tongues for him. He repented of his assumption that the presence of the Holy Spirit in him, anointing him to praise God supernaturally, could be anything but one of the most blessed experiences of the Christian life. We too shall just leave the matter there, trusting that the Holy Spirit’s reply to him will also settle the matter for other sincere Christians. To believe that God would ever give us an experience except that which is sacred and holy, or to think that the manifestation of His Presence in us would not glorify Him, is, of course, out of the question.
The purpose of this book, however, is not to discuss the validity of this experience (which is set forth in my books on Faith and Deeper Life in the Spirit), but our desire is
● to help the thousands of Christians who have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit to understand more clearly why they should continue to speak in tongues regularly after their initial experience, and
● to help others overcome certain hindrances in those instances where they experience a lack of freedom regarding prayer in the Spirit.