There is a another false doctrine closely tied to the practice of unintelligible speaking. It is the practice of praying in tongues in what is called a “prayer language” or an “angelic language.” Some people practice this publicly and some teach it is a “private prayer language.” When people pray in this way, they are speaking words and making sounds which mean nothing to themselves or to the hearers.

Again, truth is not measured by someone’s experience but by the Word of God. When this practice is examined by scripture, it reveals that it is a concocted doctrine of man, not of God—for it is not scriptural.Read more

It was not until modern times that Christians began looking to the scripture to justify ecstatic, unintelligible speaking. It was never introduced by Christ but was already in practice among the heathen. This pagan practice in churches today is emotion at best and a false spirit at worst. Ecstatic utterances are mistakenly seen as something godly and spiritual. Incoherent speaking and praying did not take place in the early morning church and it is not in God’s church today.

Much confusion and false teaching comes from misapplying 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul addressed almost exclusively the practice of speaking in tongues. The main confusion comes not from the Word but from man. On the day of Pentecost, God established what the gift of tongues is and should be. The word glossa (foreign language), which was used in Acts 2, is once again the word that is used in 1 Corinthians 14. With Pentecost as the pattern, it is not difficult to understand Paul’s teaching to the church at Corinth.Read more