Quote:
Originally Posted by Apostolic1ness
Is this rare (lets just say in america) because it would necessitate an individual coming to church that would not be able to understand the gospel message in English and would need to be told of the gospel in their respective language? Or do you think the Parthians, Galileans, etc could understand the native language of the disciples but needed this miracle to inspire faith?
|
The crowd that gathered had no problem understanding Peter's sermon. Considering they were "men of Judea" ie Jews, it is likely Peter preached to them in Hebrew (Aramaic?) or maybe even in Greek (since most everyone knew Greek to begin with anyway). The tongues weren't for the purpose of preaching (we see this because the disciples were speaking in tongues before any visitors showed up so who were they "preaching" to?).
Genuine xenolalia, where a person speaks a known foreign language they haven't learned, I would say is very rare. But I do know of at least one case where it definitely happened, along with a series of other miraculous events that all worked together to bring the true Gospel to non-English speaking believers who have ever since been moving deeper into the truth. All as a direct result of a brother praying in tongues that was heard as a foreign language by others, convincing them that God wanted them to listen to what that brother had to say about the Gospel.
When I originally said "such meetings are getting rare" I meant that this type of experience as described in
Acts 2 with not only the speakers but the hearers also is a type of experience, among others, that is likely only to happen in a genuinely Pentecostal meeting (where all sorts of "inexplicable" things seem to happen), and that such meetings seem to be getting more and more rare.
The kinds of meetings I was exposed to in my early walk with God blow away most meetings I've been to in the last say 15 years or so, generally speaking. I'm talking meetings where people literally could not remain standing, but HAD to bow down in worship. Meetings where you could literally see clouds and smoke and light that no video recorder could possibly record. Meetings where sinners literally ran out the doors at breakneck speeds because they were terrified of the presence of God. Meetings where 12 year old kids were prophesying things they couldn't possibly know, freaking the visitors out completely, and causing people to en masse seek the face of God without any prodding needed. Meetings where there were no sermon notes, no scheduled songs, nobody had any idea when the meeting would end, because it was just one long huge non-stop move of God. Meetings midweek that lasted until or past midnight. Meetings where real healings took place. Where your mail was read by some kid next to you that you never met before who got "overwhelmed" and starts testifying in the Spirit. Meetings where people are being baptised left and right and reporting visions and all sorts of such as they go to the water. Meetings where you can literally FEEL the awesome presence of God out on the street before you even make it to the door. And not just you, but everyone else, too, including people who suddenly balk at going in because they are scared to death because "I've never felt anything like this before, and church hasn't even started!"
THOSE kinds of meetings seem to be getting rare these days. At least from what I have seen.