Bible clear on speaking in tongues

“GOD does not need your esoteric, arcane, abstruse language to hear or understand you,” said Pastor Isaac Mashinya. Of course God does not need or use mysterious language.

SPEAKING and preaching in Shona on the popular radio programme for all and sundry to hear, The Bible Speaks, on Diamond FM Radio recently, Pastor Mashinya said speaking in tongues does not refer to incomprehensible jargon or out-of-this-world nonsense spoken in a corner by an individual or bishop in church, a prophet or prophetess claiming to be communicating to God or the angels.

“God does not need some strange syllables or cryptic words seemingly meant to reach out to a higher order or some heavenly realm,” said Pastor Isaac Mashinya.

Come to think of it too. God understands Shona, Zezuru, Ndau, Ndebele, English, Greek, Hebrew, Mandarin, Croatian or Czechslovak . . . all languages spoken in every ‘‘corner’’ of the Planet.

God does not call for some rararara ritaritarita . . . shakaminda, does He? — or some such nonsense to engage His people on some special heavenly or Godly frequency or spiritual wave length.

God can be instantly connected on any frequency so long as the language used there is real, sensible, known language . . . not some esoteric verbal or sound commotion unknown to anyone.

Of course we see a lot of this in these churchy churches today.

Many of these self-made false prophets and prophetesses do rigmarole and rumble in ‘‘tongues’’ . . . threatening Satan with fire . . . claiming they are talking to angels or God.

When your prophets speak in this what they call tongues, whom are they speaking to? To angels? To saints? To God? Does God have a favourite language?

These were some of the critical questions Seventh Adventist Pastor Mashinya struggled to answer in his radio presentation on the programme The Bible Speaks recently. And he did it perfectly well.

He laboured to be succinct and understood. Anybody who wanted to hear and accept the truth which can only come from the Bible did.

“Speaking in tongues does not refer to communicating to or with angels,” said the man of God. “Not even talking to God.

“When Jesus promised his disciples upon his ascent to Heaven, he knew they were, like him, Jewish. He realised that their mission was not going to circulate around Jews but to take the Word to the end of the earth . . . referring to other nations, hence they would experience communication challenges. So he (Jesus) wanted to enhance their language . . . to enable them to reach out to other nations whose language was not Hebrew,” Pastor Mashinya added, quoting the Bible chapter and verse.

He reminded listeners of the radio programme that God was talking to Ezekiel about evangelism here, ‘‘. . . go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.

For you are not sent to people of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I sent you to such, they would listen to you . . .’’ (Ezekiel 3 vs4, 5, 6)

And in the New Testament in his last words to his disciples before ascending to Heaven, ‘‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1 verse 8),’’ Jesus was also here talking about evangelism . . . spreading the message of salvation.

He knew they would have a communication problem,” said Pastor Mashinya.

So to ease or break this language barrier with the heavenly power invested in him, he instructed, “You will speak in tongues,”. . . meaning other known languages spoken by other nationalities.

Acts 2 vs 1 to 4: “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

This did not mean esoteric language . . . nonsense vocabulary and sounds. It meant ability to speak in Ndau for example, Venda, Spanish or Swahili, German or Luwo which prior to this occasion, they could not speak. But the important point here is that those who spoke these languages would hear them and understand them.

Tongues must be heard by the people who speak the particular languages. Kushaminda and tobororo shika mashika is not speaking in tongues. This has nothing to do with God or angels. It has everything to do with that other one. We all know who.

‘‘The correct meaning of tongues ‘ndimi’ refers to languages . . . real languages understood by mankind . . . not strange, incomprehensible utterances understood by one person or individual,” the good Pastor emphasised.

“God is ever and always worried, concerned about language. He does not bring Greek amongst English or Shona people . . . to a congregation of people who speak and understand the same language.

Whenever that happens in your church, then you know that is not God speaking,” Pastor Mashinya reiterated on radio and made MM, the programme anchor, chuckle quite a lot, chortle and snigger, when he said, “God wants to be heard.

How can He rarararara tobororororo tobororo to His people in incomprehensible sounds and phrases?

The moment you don’t hear or understand someone in your church, trouble has started.”

“Tongues do not assist communication between man and God,” he added.

“It doesn’t facilitate conversation between man and angels!

The tongues-idea God and Jesus invested in his disciples before he went up to heaven was meant to facilitate communication between man and man . . . munhu kumunhu.” Musazonyeperwa vave kuti tiri kutaura naMwari kana ngirozi. Do not listen to them when they say they are speaking to God or His angels.

“The Bible continued to speak in Matthew 10 vs 5 and 6, “These twelve, Jesus sent out, instructing them — ‘‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel . . . ”

This meant to the people who would understand them . . . other Hebrews . . . people who knew and spoke a common language.

This was before the power of speaking in tongues was delivered upon them. When it came (the power to speak in tongues) it was meant to ease the challenge of being not heard or understood on evangelism beyond the Jewish nation.

“So brothers and sisters,” said Pastor Mashinya, “don’t allow voices to interrupt you in or at church with incomprehensible so-called tongues. The moment you don’t understand it . . . and no one does except the speaker; except the rattler or bubbler, then you know Satan is speaking, not God.”

Pastor Mashinya concluded by giving a very sad but interesting example, “I have seen friends, relatives, companions walking along to church joking and talking . . . speaking in a common language.

The moment prayer at church begins; each one surreptitiously gets into a corner.

The tongues have started. They begin to shakaminda and tobororo tobororo and speak to ‘‘God’’ and ‘‘angels’’.

And these tongues are supposed to be spoken TO PEOPLE . . . munhu kumunhu!

But no one understands another now. Isn’t that strange or interesting?” he asked.

“Inga mabva kumba muchitaura wani? Muchinzwanana.” In the studio I was continuing to chortle and enjoy every bit of this amazing truth. So obviously did many listening to the programme. Church on radio . . . on Thursday night! Why not?

The Bible Speaks indeed, and speaks only the truth in the Bible as God wanted it. Tune in to Diamond FM radio every Thursday between 9 and 9:30pm.

You will not regret you did. The speakers, preachers and teachers are awesome . . .in every sense.

Do not miss next week’s Manica Post. Pastor Mashinya will be at it again . . . from Radio to The Manica Post . . . allowing the Bible to speak and answer the following questions, What is a Prophet of God . . . and what is prophecy?

Are the noisy false prophets and prophetesses not also the same notorious ‘‘tongueists’’ misguiding and misleading people? Watch the space!