Originally Posted by Dr. Vaughn

Grasshopper... I must tell you how refreshing it is to meet someone who is at least willing to listen.. thanks

First of all,, I have been speaking in tongues since my childhood... although I do not believe it is the INITIAL EVIDENCE.. we can argue about that later...... I definitly believe in its operation and am glad to say, I practice it daily in prayer.....

With that said,, you and I see the local gathering of believers on the first day of the week with two seperate glasses. Wheras you see it as a time of worship and praise and celebration.... I understand it to be strictly for the "perfecting, maturing and teaching of saints" and therefore there is no purpose for tongues in the local service.... because in those scheduled meetings tongues could distract a visitor who might be there to hear the gospel..... they will think we are mad.... our church demands that should someone speak in tongues,, they are more than welcome to but they bear the heavy responsibilty of obeying Pauls teachings and if there is no one there interpret they must do as Paul instructed them "pray that THEY MIGHT interpet"... and because of this have burden of scripture you can be assured if you hear someone speaking in tongues in our meetings.. there is NO DOUBT that person knowing the heavy burden they bear.. has indeed heard from God and this message will happen as it is given"

I will give you an example......about 4 weeks ago right after we had sang a few songs together as a corporate body....... we were just standing in the presence of God and a sister began to speak in tongues..... I asked God for the interpretation and it would not come... about 5 minutes passed and the church was silent as we KNOW according to scripture... we MUST have an interpretation........ and this sister had never interpreted before but I saw her sincerity as she was praying for God to give her the interpretation...

and finally, the message came forth.... I don't know all the words but it was along this line...... bear in mind,,, we have been trying to sell our current church building in a very bad real estate market" the message said "stand still, do not hurry, do not be anxious, do not try to make things happen before the time... for I the Lord will cause this property to be sold in my time, once you let go of your agendas then you will see my hand at work.... and you shall see this as soon as you release this burden to me"

of course thats not word for word.. but it is the gist...... to make a long story short,, last week a Phillipino church walked in and paid us almost twice the market value... no questions asked.. it is SOLD.......

You see,, that message had a purpose,, that sister was under a burden of scripture and it caused perfect order... no visitor thought we were mad,, it was in perfect order

but when you walk in a church service and you have people running the isles like children... screaming and shouting in convulsions.. heads jerking, necks almost being broken in ecstatic euphoria... everybody speaking in tongues at once..... it is the very thing God is not the author of Chaos

and sadly most of the time it is a pure display of flesh