Speaking in Tongues A Warning - Isa 28 - Isaiah 28 - 1 Corinthians 14

Won't they say that you are mad? God declared: "I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

We cannot judge the validity of any religious practice. However, we can try to understand Scripture which is so easily perverted to the destruction of people.

See more details on Isaiah 28 and the Charismatic Plague.

See our Speaking in Tongues Index

Tongues are DIALECTS: No one spoke in gibberish in the Bible except those called the MAD WOMEN.

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E-MAIL: I find the belief that only 12 Apostles and the few that they alone laid hands on again not falling in line with a prophecy of the Spirit Isaiah 28:11

I need to repeat that I cannot get into personal experiences. There is no way for me to get into tongue speakers minds. Therefore, our goal is to look at the scriptures used to prove that speaking in tongues is the will of God.

I am not a tongue speaker and therefore not a prophet. Remember that all that I said in my original article was that:

No man is ever recorded to have spoken in tongues except in the presence of and/or by contact with an apostle. I don't know, and won't speculate, what might have been. The Spirit of Christ apparently didn't think differently or He would have faithfully recorded the event.

No women is ever said to have spoken in tongues in the inspired record - any time, any place. The "just out of paganism" women in Corinth might have been an exception but if so, Paul said: "Stop it."

Before looking at Isaiah 28, note that God always equates loud speaking, singing and instruments to the voice of God sending strong delusions to those who do not love the quiet, simple Truth. The case of Saul being sent a spirit of prophesying is a good example.

Paul spoke of Isaiah 28 to warn the Corinthians that speaking in the mocking gibberish of a foreign language was proof that their tongues were signs to unbelievers. The unbelievers, in Paul's mind, would see the sign that the Corinthians were mad or insane because they were not speaking a true language and they were not speaking revealed truth. No outsider will ever be impressed by people speaking in tongues. If I speak German to a group which only understands English I am showing contempt and saying, I don't want you to know what Jesus said!

In the following quotation, remember that Israel "fired" God and demanded a king like the nations so that they could worship like the nations. As a result of the first rejection of faith and grace at Mount Sinai with musical worship, God gave them the Law of Moses and animal sacrifices with the worship performed for them to keep them away from the symbolic presence of God inside the tabernacle. Jeremiah said that God didn't originally command sacrifices because they are "fines" for breaking the law and not to make people righteous. Therefore, God could say that He hated sacrifices and even Jerusalem:

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. Isaiah 66:2

He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dogs neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swines blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol.

Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. Isaiah 66:3

I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. Isaiah 66:4

P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses Book Three

And as he spoke, lo, Pentheus drove the seer:

but all his words, prophetic, were fulfilled,

and confirmation followed in his steps.--

 

Bacchus at once appears, and all the fields

resound with shouts of everybody there.--

men, brides and matrons, and a howling rout--

nobles and commons and the most refined--

a motley multitude--resistless borne

to join those rites of Bacchus, there begun.

 

Then Pentheus cries; "What madness, O ye brave

descendants of the Dragon! Sons of Mars!

What frenzy has confounded you? Can sounds

of clanging brass prevail; and pipes and horns,

and magical delusions, drunkenness,

and yelling women, and obscene displays,

and hollow drums, overcome you, whom the sword,

nor troops of war, nor trumpet could affright?

"How shall I wonder at these ancient men,

who, crossing boundless seas from distant Tyre,

hither transferred their exiled Household Gods,

and founded a new Tyre; but now are shorn,

and even as captives would be led away

without appeal to Mars? And, O young men,

of active prime whose vigor equals mine!

Cast down your ivy scepters; take up arms;

put on your helmets; strip your brows of leaves;

be mindful of the mighty stock you are,

and let your souls be animated with

the spirit of that dauntless dragon, which,

unaided, slew so many, and at last

died to defend his fountain and his lake.--

so ye may conquer in the hope of fame.

Animal sacrifices at Jerusalem with loud noise to force people to fall on their face was instituted by David who was too fearful to return to Gibeon to meet with God as the place He designated. While God promised to hear from heaven those prayers directed toward the temple from outside of the temple, this was not His choice of a place and He hated Jerusalem.

When the people saw making sacrifices with loud instrumental music as a sign or claim of their own personal righteousness, it was God sending them strong delusions for refusing to listen to His Word.

Those who love the Words of God and tremble at their presence will always be hated and cast out because people cannot tolerate the Word. To silence that Word, music has always been the sign and cause. Loud singing or shouting or preaching is a sign to unbelievers that God is punishing you for rejecting Him and His revealed Word: For instance, Isaiah continued:

Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: "Your brothers who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, 'Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy!' Yet they will be put to shame. Isaiah 66:5NIV

A voice of noise (pomp) from the city, a voice (singing) from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies. . Isaiah 66:6

This loud rejoicing (outlawed in Numbers 10:7) has always been God's sign that He was pouring out His wrath to delude truth haters. When Israel "rose up to play" --

And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. Exodus 32:17

And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them that sing do I hear. Exodus 32:18

Moses understood this loud singing with instruments (inherent in the word play) to be an audible sign of pagan idolatry. He did not have to see the ritual drama or see the dancing.

We repeat that God said:

I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. Isaiah 66:4

The delusion which God sends on people is a form out outlawed "praise" which is like "whistling in a cemetary" and is exciting because it is destructive:

'Alal (h5953) aw-lal'; a prim. root; to effect thoroughly; spec. to glean, (also fig.); by impl. (in a bad sense) to overdo, i. e. maltreat, be saucy to, pain, impose (also lit.): - abuse, affect, child, defile, do, glean, mock, practise, throughly, work (wonderfully).

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets. Jeremiah 6:9

Bacar (h1219) baw-tsar'; a prim. root; to clip off; spec. (as denom. from 1210) to gather grapes; also to be isolated (i. e. inaccessible by height or fortification): - cut off, (de-) fenced, fortify, grape gatherer, mighty things, restrain, strong, wall (up), withhold.

When David ignored the Word and could not find God and feared for his life, he fell into charismatic prophesying defined by the word halal. An almost-identical word carries the same message of a delusion sent from God for rejecting His word:

Chalal (h2490) khaw-lal'; a prim. root [comp. 2470]; prop. to bore, i. e. (by impl.) to wound, to dissolve; fig. to profane (a person, place or thing), to break (one's word), to begin (as if by an "opening wedge"); denom. (from 2485) to play (the flute): - begin (* men began), defile, * break, defile, * eat (as common things), * first, * gather the grape thereof, * take inheritance, pipe, player on instruments, pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute, slay (slain), sorrow, stain, wound.

When you hear the noise of singing with instruments coming from the modern "temples" you can take it as a sign that God is pouring out His wrath upon unbelievers. The noise is actually God's voice bringing on delusions. The singers and pipe players are polluting you and pruning your vines to take your inheritance. It is not the deluded preacher or jubilator, however. God is using the manipulator or Musical Worship Facilitator to take away your inheritance which you already owned through obedience to God's Word.

Musical Worship and New, bubbling, exhilarating Wine from a new wineskin are actually supernatural signs that God is pouring out His Spirit of wrath:

The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: Revelation 14:10

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Revelation 18:3

And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Revelation 18:22

This is not Rome but the condition of every church which follows the wineskin and commerce theme to entice others into their web of destructive music, dance and out-of-mind conduct to reject the Words and freedom from rituals Christ died to deliver.

Paul called speaking in tongues a sign and understood that:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 2 Thessalonians 2:9

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2:10

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion (itenerant deceiver, lying tramp), that they should believe a lie: 2 Thessalonians 2:11

Plane (g4106) plan'-ay; fem. of 4108 (as abstr.); obj. fraudulence; subj. a straying from orthodoxy or piety: - deceit, to deceive, delusion, error.

Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. Ju. 11

Planos (g4108) plan'-os; of uncert. affin.; roving (as a tramp), i.e. (by impl.) an impostor or misleader: - deceiver, seducing.

For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 2Jn.1:7

Planetes (g4107) plan-ay'-tace; from 4108; a rover ("planet"), i.e. (fig.) an erratic teacher: - wandering.

Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Ju. 13

Tacitus, The Annals, BOOK II: A.D. I6-I9

XXVII. About the same time Libo Drusus, of the family of Scribonii, was accused of revolutionary schemes. I will explain, somewhat minutely, the beginning, progress, and end of this affair, since then first were originated those practices which for so many years have eaten into the heart of the State. Firmius Catus, a senator, an intimate friend of Libo's, prompted the young man, who was thoughtless and an easy prey to delusions, to resort to astrologers' promises, magical rites, and interpreters of dreams, dwelling ostentatiously on his great-grandfather Pompeius, his aunt Scribonia, who had formerly been wife of Augustus, his imperial cousins, his [p. 68] house crowded with ancestral busts, and urging him to extravagance and debt, himself the companion of his profligacy and desperate embarrassments, thereby to entangle him in all the more proofs of guilt.

Israel had really been lost at the foot of Mount Sinai with their musical, charismatic worship of Apis if they would not repent. Before going into the land, Moses warned against glossolalia although the word is translated as divination or soothsaying. That is, they were trying to get an illegal messsage dirctly from God because they didn't like what He had already delivered to them:

When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. Deuteronomy 18:9

There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Deuteronomy 18:10

The MAD looking speakers in tongues in Corinth are defined by the word:

manteia , Ep. mant-eiê , Ion. mant-êïê , hê, ( [manteuomai] ) prophetic power, power of divination,

2. conjecture,

II. oracle, prophecy, divine.

2. oracular, i.e. obscure, expression, Id.Cra.384a.

Plato Cratylus [384a] and am exerting myself to find out what in the world he means, he does not explain himself at all; he meets me with dissimulation, claiming to have some special knowledge of his own about it which would, if he chose to speak it out clearly, make me agree entirely with him. Now if you could interpret Cratylus's oracular speech, I should like to hear you; or rather, I should like still better to hear, if you please, what you yourself think about the correctness of names.

If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 1 Cor 14:23

Mainomai (g3105) mah'ee-nom-ahee; mid. from a prim. mao , (to long for; through the idea of insensate craving); to rave as a "maniac": - be beside self (mad)

manteuomai [mantis] [Dep.]

I. to divine, prophesy, presage, Hom., etc.; c. acc. cogn., manteia m. Aesch.

hêdonê [hêdomai]

1. delight, enjoyment, pleasure, Lat. voluptas, Hdt., etc.; hêdonêi hêssasthai, charizesthai to give way to pleasure, Thuc., Plat., etc.:--often with Prepositions in adv. sense, pros or kath' hêdonên legein to speak so as to please another, Hdt., attic; kath' hêdonên kluein, akouein Soph., Dem.; kath' hêdonên or pros hêd. esti moi Aesch.; ho men esti pros hêd. that which is agreeable, Dem.; en hêdonêi esti tini it is a pleasure or delight to another, Hdt., et

The most primitive form of charisma occurs in shamanism. This is the religion of the small tribal unit and the witch doctor. The shaman-- "one who is excited, moved, raised" (Lindholm 1990, 158)--becomes master of the "techniques of ecstasy" (Eliade 1964). Typically he (or she, for among the !Kung fully 1 0 percent of women become shamans; Lindholm 1990, 163) is identified early as one with a "shadowed heart." The shaman is not psychotic but is disturbed in some way--the "disease of God," as the Koreans put it (La Barre 1980, 58)--showing peculiar behaviors from birth and experiencing spirit possession, trance, and epileptic seizures while a youth.

Speaking in tongues gives pleaure. That is why is is always connected to sexual favors and homosexuality. The goal is to PLEASURE those whose affirmation the speaker needs to be complete.

Prophetic Charisma

"It was not the speaking in tongues that brought the great feelings of euphoria that these people do experience. Rather it was the submission to the authority of the leader and to the sense of acceptance that followed this submission. The follower felt at peace because he had abandoned himself to the control of somebody else in the major and ultimate issues of his mental and emotional and spiritual experience." (Kildahl, p. 51).

The modern charismatic movement could not function without a charismatic leader who can through anticipation and mind-altering devices cause someone to begin the tongue speaking "exercises." Kildahl says,

"It is not uncommon for linguists to be able to tell which prominent itinerant glossolalist has introduced a congregation to tongue-speaking. Relatively few men and women travel the tongue-speaking circuit. The glossolalic styles of Bennett, Bredesen, Christenson, du Plessis, Mjorud, and Stone are distinctive enough to be identifiable by observant linguists." ( Kildahl, John P., The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues, Harper and Row, 1972, p. 53).

"Another group phenomenon which evidenced itself among glossolalists was a tendency toward histrionic display. It is true that the group usually took on the character of the leader. When the leader was exhibitionistic, so, too, were the followers. Where the leader tended to be quiet and reserved, the groups developed that quality of meeting...While we were conducting our study we witnessed tongue-speakers entranced by visions, exorcising demons, foretelling world events, and attempting bizarre methods of spiritual healing." (Kildahl, p. 71).

And when they "fall out of love" or lose the approval of their cult leader they QUIT SPEAKING IN TONGUS.

2. generally, to divine, presage, augur, forbode, surmise, of any presentiment, Plat., etc.; c. gen., manteusomestha tandros hôs olôlotos Aesch.

3. of animals, to get scent of a thing, Theocr.

II. to consult an oracle, seek divinations, Hdt., attic; tauta kai m. this is the question I ask the oracle, Eur.

III. aor1 and perf. pass. in pass. sense, emanteuthê an oracle was given, Hdt.; ta memanteumena the words of the oracles, id=Hdt.

An enchanter is:

Nachash (h5172) naw-khash'; a prim. root; prop. to hiss, i. e. whisper a (magic) spell; gen. to prognosticate: - * certainly, divine, enchanter, (use) * enchantment, learn by experience, * indeed, diligently observe.

Nachash (h5175) naw-khawsh'; from 5172; a snake (from its hiss): - serpent.

Moses continued to warn that those speaking strange tongues would consipire against them. This could describe Assyria, Babylon or your "pastor" who "locates" on your already threshed field and eats up all of your increase. This is exactly the demands of evil men who demand that you tithe and who oppress and grind you into bits to force you to speak in tongues. Scholars note that people easily fall into speaking in tongues because this validates you with the pastor whom you are in bondage to. When you "fall out of love" with the imposter you will cease speaking in tongues.

In reciting all of the curses for not trusting God by trusting His ability to speak through His Words, Moses warned that:

All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. Deuteronomy 28:42

The stranger (came in as a guest and took roots and uses hostility or fear) that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. Deuteronomy 28:43

The locust can be an insect with six many legs or only two:

C^elacal ((h6767) tsel-aw-tsal'; from 6749 redupl.; a clatter, i. e. (abstr.) whirring (of wings); (concr.) a cricket; also a harpoon (as rattling), a cymbal (as clanging): - cymbal, locust, shadowing, spear. (ears rddening with shame, chatter with fear)

Paul spoke of these "locusts" by writing:

THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass (hollow echo chamber) , or a tinkling (vociferating) cymbal (billow, burst, topple like a hound dog). 1 Corinthians 13:1

Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: Deuteronomy 28:45

And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Deuteronomy 28:46

Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness (appreciation for what He has already don and revealed), and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Deuteronomy 28:47

The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; Deuteronomy 28:49

A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: Deuteronomy 28:50

And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. Deuteronomy 28:51

This still happens when babblers just confuse a group in order to forcefully take its tithe and more.

The tongues in Deuteronomy 18 are quite identical to nachash and therefore their speaking in tongues was a form of divination or whispering a magical spell pretending that they were speaking for God. Their tongues were:

Lashown (h3956) law-shone'; from 3960 (to slander); the tongue (of man or anmals), used lit. (as the instrument of licking, eating, of speech), and fig. (speech, an ingot, a fork of flame, a cove or water): - / babbler, bay, / evil speaker, language, talker, tongue, wedge

Lachash (h3907) law-khash'; a prim. root; to whisper; by impl. to mumble a spell (as a magician): - charmer, whisper (together).

It is not just the "speakers in tongues" which are condemned but anyone who peaks what everyone already knows: Isocrates Antidosis 83 states that:

"while those who occupy themselves with oratory, seeing that most subjects have been seized upon and used by others before them, are in the opposite case;

for if they repeat the same things which have been said in the past,

they will be regarded as shameless babblers,

and if they seek for what is new, they will have great difficulty in finding it. That is why I stated that, while both are entitled to your praise, they are the more entitled to it who are able to execute the harder task.

One of the worst sins is to minimize God and His Word by pretending that He still needs me to "prophesy" with song and instrument to "lead you into the presence of God" or to deliver my inspired song, sermon or dance. Speaking in tongues was always recognized as a pagan or pretend form of prophesying claiming that God is delivering some new inspired message through me in a language which you cannot understand. Pretty shifty, eh what?

Satan effectively "licked out the ears" of Eve to purge her of God's Word. Afterward, she had the gift of cunning knowledge by eating the forbidden fruit. Knowing comes from:

Yada (h3045) yaw-dah'; a prim. root; to know (prop. to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, fig., lit., euphem. and infer. (including observation, care, recognition; ... cunning, declare, be diligent, cause to discern, discover, endued with, familiar friend, prognosticator, etc.

This word is often used to warn Israel of being defeated by people they "do not know." Trying to pry open God's secrets is the evil Satan tempted mankind into.

Satan's change agent, Judas, was still at it but he would not triumph over Jesus with his musical instruments as a sign of his divination with pipes as Satan's agent. Psalm 41 also notes that:

All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt. Psalm 41:7

Lachash (h3907) law-khash'; a prim. root; to whisper; by impl. to mumble a spell (as a magician): - charmer, whisper (together).

Psalm 58 defined these people as:

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Psalms 58:3

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Psalms 58:4

Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Psalms 58:5

The poison of the serpent was heat, anger, being furious, indignation, rage, wrath.

Charmers are:

Chabar (h2266) khaw-bar'; a prim. root; to join (lit. or fig.); spec. (by means of spells) to fascinate: - charm (-er), be compact, couple (together), have fellowship with, heap up, join (self, together), league.

This also defines the "Serpent" in the New Testament: any effort to facinate through the sense of feel, sight and sound is the work of the serpent who is Satan.

Our resource notes that:

"Three Greek roots can be used to describe the phenomenon: "mantia" (manteia) which is the most commonly used for describing glossolalia

Paul understood this when he warned Corinth against speaking in tongues. Notice that if any had the gift of tongues not ALL would. You would need only one interpreter of these foreign dialects.

If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 1 Corinthians 14:23

Mainomai (mainomai) (g3105) mah'ee-nom-ahee; (to long for; through the idea of insensate craving); to rave as a "maniac": - be beside self (mad)

Look again at the warning of Moses:

There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Deuteronomy 18:10

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Revelation 21:8

pharmakeia (g5331) far-mak-i'-ah; from 5332; medication ("pharmacy"), i.e. (by extens.) magic (lit. or fig.): - sorcery, witchcraft.

pharmakeus (g5332) far-mak-yoos'; from pharmakon , (a drug, i.e. spell- giving potion); a druggist ("pharmacist") or poisoner, i.e. (by extens.) a magician: - sorcerer

Now, take a look at Isaiah 28:

WOE to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine Isaiah 28:1

Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. Isaiah 28:2

The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: Isaiah 28:3

And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. Isaiah 28:4

In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, Isaiah 28:5

1. And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment,

2. and for strength (mastery) to them that turn back the battle to the gate. Isaiah 28:6

But they also have erred (become enraptured) through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. Isaiah 28:7

For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Isaiah 28:8

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. Isaiah 28:9

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Isaiah 28:10

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. Isaiah 28:11

Laeg (h3934) law-ayg'; from 3932; a buffoon; also a foreigner: - mocker, stammering.

For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. Isaiah 30:15

With hypocritical (polluted) mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth Psa 35:16

Or: Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, Isaiah 28:11NIV

Or: Nay, but by men of strange lips and with an alien tongue the LORD will speak to this people, Isaiah 28:11RSV

Or: But they won't listen; the only language they can understand is punishment! So God will punish them by sending against them foreigners who speak strange gibberish! Only then will they listen to him! Isaiah 28:11LIV

To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. Isaiah 28:12

Before we get lost let's take a look at Paul's use of this prophetic event. Remember that in Isaiah, when you hear people speaking unknown tongues it means that the enemy is at your city gate. If you will not believe the revealed Word then God will let you hear unknown tongues:

In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people;

and yet for all that they will not hear me, saith the Lord. 1 Corinthians 14:21

Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but

to them that believe not:

The Assyrian unknown tongues was not to edify themselves or to instruct the Jerusalem unbelievers; it was a sign of their defeat.

Prophesying, like all Bible words, is used in several ways. Prophesying among the Greek pagans was getting "high" on music, dance or gas from a crack in the rocks so that you spoke in gibberish and sold it as the voice of the gods. Why, even the goats, like Baalam's ass, could prophesy.

To those who have the prophetically revealed Words of the Apostles, teaching or reading it was another form of prophesying. That is, it was not speaking in tongues or predicting the future but it was teaching the already-revealed message.

but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. 1 Corinthians 14:22

If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 1 Corinthians 14:23

While there is no evidence that anyone in Corinth was a prophet, Paul insisted that if they believed that God was moving them to make a statement another prophet should judge whether what they said was the truth or just the common speaking in tongues.

Glossa or unlearned languages were never spoken by unbelievers but believers. Therefore, speaking in languages could communicate but glossolalia or charismatic speech would make you look exactly like your pagan counterpart.

Now, back to Isaiah 28

But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. Isaiah 28:13

This stammering lips was proof that the foreigners had taken control of the people in Jerusalem. This same pattern is repeated in Second Chronicles:

And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 2 Chronicles 36:15

But they mocked (imitating a foreigner. i.e., speaking unknown tongues) the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath (hot displeasure) of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. 2 Chronicles 36:16

Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. 2 Chronicles 36:17 ( A Chaldoean as if so descended; also an astrologer as if proverbial of that people.)

Diodorus Historical Library 15.50.3

During their term of office, after the Lacedaemonians had held the supremacy in Greece for almost five hundred years, a divine portent foretold the loss of their empire; for there was seen in the heavens during the course of many nights a great blazing torch which was named from its shape a "flaming beam," and a little later, to the surprise of all, the Spartans were defeated in a great battle and irretrievably lost their supremacy

Some of the students of nature ascribed the origin of the torch to natural causes, voicing the opinion that such apparitions occur of necessity at appointed times, and that in these matters the Chaldeans in Babylon and the other astrologers succeed in making accurate prophecies. These men, they say, are not surprised when such a phenomenon occurs, but rather if it does not, since each particular constellation has its own peculiar cycle and they complete these cycles through age-long movements in appointed courses. At any rate this torch had such brilliancy, they report, and its light such strength that it cast shadows on the earth similar to those cast by the moon.

Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Isaiah 28:14

Luwc (h3887) to make mouths at, i. e. to scoff; hence (from the effort to pronounce a foreign language) to interpret

Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Isaiah 28:15

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste (never be dismayed) . Isaiah 28:16

Chuwsh (h2363) koosh; a prim. root; to hurry; fig. to be eager with excitement or enjoyment: - (make) haste (-n), ready.

That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it Isaiah 5:19

Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. Isaiah 28:17

And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand;

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. Isaiah 28:18

The Jews rejected the simple words of God through the prophets (through the Spirit of Christ 1 Peter 1:11) and substituted the charismatic language of music used for divination. Job 21; Amos 5, 6, 8; Isaiah 5 and Ezekiel 33 show that the people were engaged in the unknown tongues of music obscured by instruments as a way to drown out the voice of God speaking "baby talk" to them. As a result, God sent the Assyrians speaking "unknown tongues" as a sign of their unbelief and as a sign that the tongue speakers were defeating the Words of God.

Christ through Paul connects the church problems to the destruction of Judah by the Assyrian (Babylonia or Chaldee systems of worship).

Because God is not the author of confusion (14:33) speaking in tongues was not authored by Him. The goal of this pagan intrusion was to keep the simple message of God from being heard.

Because the message of God did not originate with the Corinthian tongue-speakers Paul warns of the common pagan practice of getting a message from God by falling into madness. His language is identical to that of the pagan priestesses who "prophesied" under the influence of a gas from a chasm or deep place in the earth.

Isaiah 28 has the Assyrians trying to fool the few Jews in Jerusalem by carrying on their taunts in "Judean." It would be better, the defenders of the wall said, if they just spoke Assyrian (unknown tongues) and the people would not be demorialized. However, they would not hear the warning because they had already lost the love for the Words of God. Therefore, God said through Isaiah:

Let's back up and look again:

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Isaiah 28:10

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. Isaiah 28:11

To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. Isaiah 28:12

Stammering is:

Laeg (h3934) law-ayg'; from 3932; a buffoon; also a foreigner: - mocker, stammering.

When people speaking unknown tongues are trying to break down your walls this is the final supernatural sign that you have rejected the Word. If you join in with the tongue speaking Assyrians then you will be captured, have a fish-hook put into your nose and led away into captivity where they will force you to bow to the giant phallic symbols or pillars or free-standing columns when the music is played. You cannot get away because the enemy has stolen your only property! He has pruned your vines to make his new wine.

If someone gets up in church and stammers they are trying to fool you and certainly have no interest in getting up and "prophesying" by reading a chapter of the Spirit-delivered Word.

The Psalmist, often prophetic, used this same word:

But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not: Psalm 35:15

With hypocritical (soiled actors) mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. Psalm 35:16

Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. Psalm 35:17

Laeg (g3934) law-ayg'; from 3932; a buffoon; also a foreigner: - mocker, stammering.

Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. 2 Chron 36:14

And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 2 Chron 36:15

But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. 2 Chron 36:16

Again, the word from which this "speaking in tongues" is derived is:

L^eag (h3932) law-ag'; a prim. root; to deride; by impl. (as if imitating a foreigner) to speak unintelligibly: - have in derision, laugh (to scorn), mock on, stammering.

When the Israelites rose up in musical idolatry or play the word was:

Cachaq (h6711) tsaw-khak'; a prim. root; to laugh outright (in merriment or scorn); by impl. to sport: - laugh, mock, play, make sport.

When David rose up to play the word is:

Sachaq (h7832) saw-khak'; a prim. root; to laugh (in pleasure or detraction); by impl. to play: - deride, have in derision, laugh, make merry, mock (-er), play, rejoice, (laugh to) scorn, be in (make) sport.

When Samson was forced to play these two words are used interchangeably.

BEHOLD, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. Isa 32:1

And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of wIsa 32:2 ater in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. Isa 32:3

The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers (illeg) shall be ready to speak plainly. Is.32:4

The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. Isaiah 33:8

Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. Isa 33:17

Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? Isa 33:18

Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. Isa 33:19

Christ came to lead the lambs beside still waters and to give them rest. The burden the people were under was "spiritual anxiety created by religious ceremony." However, when Paul would speak his five words in church, most church attenders do not, will not, perhaps cannot hear the Words of God.

Isaiah 29 uses images parallel to Isaiah 28. He begins:

WOE to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Isaiah 29:1

Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. Isaiah 29:2

And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. Isaiah 29:3

And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Isaiah 29:4

When Jerusalem rejected the Word of God He punished them by forcing them to speak in the various tongues of men and even animals. This was turning them over to the pagan practices of trying to force a message from God from a crack in the rocks or a hole in the ground over which they had stretched a drum head.

The familiar spirit is from the Hebrew:

Owb (h178) obe; from the same as 1 (appar. through the idea of prattling a father's name); prop. a mumble, i. e. a water-skin (from its hollow sound); hence a necromancer (ventriloquist, as from a jar): - bottle, familiar spirit.

This is identical to the nebel usually made from animals "which died of themselves" and were therefore polluted. It has the identical meaning of Paul's "sounding brass" in 1 Corinthians 13 where he warned against speaking in tongues.

By peeping and murmuring into the hollow wineskin the witch of Endor was practicing ventriloquism which she then interpreted as the voice of the dead. She was as much surprised as Saul when Samuel spoke.

The contest was always the same: seek direct knowledge from God through cheeping, muttering or speaking in tongues in the manner of the pagans or trust God and His Word:

And when they shall say unto you, Seek (worship or inquire from) unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards (conjurers) that peep (chirp like a bird), and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? Isaiah 8:19

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8:20

Whisper is:

Caphaph (h6850) tsaw-faf'; a prim. root; to coo or chirp (as a bird): - chatter, peep, whisper.

In language similar to Joel's promise that God would pour out His spirit of judgment and truth upon Jerusalem and all of those who promoted their false worship:

Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Isaiah 29:5

Or "Suddenly, in an instant."

Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. Isaiah 29:6

And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. Isaiah 29:7

It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion. Isaiah 29:8

A million Jews would die when God poured out His spirit of judgment upon them as a primary enemy of the people. Many of them died by fire and many by hunger so severe that a mother would fight over the body of her dead child.

The "spirit" God poured out would be like the spirit He poured out upon Saul to turn him into a madman and destroy his kingship:

Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. Isaiah 29:9

For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. Isaiah 29:10

This would not be either a holy or unholy spirit as a "person" of the Godhead. Rather, the spirits resting upon Jesus would be the spirits or mental dispositions of knowledge (Isaiah 11:1-4). The spirit poured out upon Jerusalem many times was the spirit of a deep sleep so that they could not understand the parable-nature of Jesus' teachings. Pour here is:

Nacak (h5258) naw-sak'; a prim. root; to pour out, espec. a libation, or to cast (metal); by anal. to anoint a king: - cover, melt, offer, (cause to) pour (out), set (up).

The pouring Joel promised was:

Shaphak (h8210) shaw-fak'; a prim. root; to spill forth (blood, a libation, liquid metal; or even a solid, i. e. to mound up); also (fig.) to expend (life, soul, complaint, money, etc.); intens. to sprawl out: - cast (up), gush out, pour (out), shed (-der, out), slip.

Remember the contest: familiar spirits or the revealed Words of God. Those who had the spirit poured out upon them to put them to sleep or make them "drunk in the spirit" was to make understanding the Words of Christ impossible:

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: Isaiah 29:11

And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Isaiah 29:12

The people in first century Jerusalem were involved in very charismatic, musical worship festivals but cared nothing for the words of God. They were trying to "move into the presence of God with their own words and songs."

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips (language, prating, vain speech) do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Isaiah 29:13

Paul understood that the 'wise' men in Corinth were just fools loving to be fooled. None of them could be the counselor of God's Spirit because that Spirit was revealed only in the Mind of Christ (1 Cor 2)

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Isaiah 29:14

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Isaiah 29:15

Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potters clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Isaiah 29:16

However, after the Jewish clergy and many others had been made blind and deaf and left to their own words:

Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? Isaiah 29:17

And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. Isaiah 29:18

The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 29:19

For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: Isaiah 29:20

The Jewish clergy had loaded the people down with "anxiety from religious ceremony" but Christ came to put these terrible ones out of business. They were powerful, tyrannical, violent and were oppressing the people. Isaiah wrote:

For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted (lay down, rejoice, weep, turn around in circles) thee;

and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Isaiah 47:10

Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief (noisey and perverse) shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off (be cleansed from): and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. Isaiah 47:11

As a result, God warned that He would literally "baptize them with fire"-

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude (common sort) of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Isaiah 47:12

Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Isaiah 47:13

Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Isaiah 47:14

The scorners or mockers of Isaiah 29:20 were:

Luwc (h3887) loots; a prim root; prop. to make mouths at, i. e. to scoff; hence (from the effort to pronounce a foreign language) to interpret, or (gen.) intercede: - ambassador, have in derision, interpreter, make a mock, mocker, scorner, scornful), teacher.

Remember that Moses warned: There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Deuteronomy 18:10

And that the literal warning in the Septuagint (LXX, Jesus did read this one):

"mantevomenos" (manteuomeno): "he who practices glossolalia"

"mantian klidonizomenos" (manteian klhdonizomeno): "he who interprets glossolalia

By showing the Corinthians that what they were doing would make them seem mad or insane, Paul's prescription for the use of the true gift of foreign languages should have shamed them into giving up the pagan ritual. While Paul defined true spiritual gifts there is no evidence that any Corinthian had the mose elemental spiritual discernment.

The classical writers and church Fathers warn against pagan practices in the church assembly and note that while Christians were trying to call Christian "spirits" to their aid, demonic spirits often stole in and led the tongue speaker astray. God through Isaiah warned of this:

That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. Isaiah 29:21

They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine. Isaiah 29:24

WOE to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of Jeremiah t, that they may add sin to sin: Isaiah 30:1

Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lords hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Jeremiah 51:7

Jeremiah 51:37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.

They shall roar (rumble) together like lions: they shall yell as lions whelps. Jeremiah 51:38

In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice (jump and shout for joy), and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 51:39

Isaiah 33

Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. Isaiah 33:10

Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. Isaiah 33:11

Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. Isaiah 33:17

Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? Isaiah 33:18

Not this: Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. Isaiah 33:19

But This: Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. Isaiah 33:20

Paul declared that speaking in tongues as a way to gain prophetic knowledge or speaking in tongues as they had in their paganism will cease when the Gospel it taught.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 1 Corinthians 1:19

Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer (sophist) of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 1 Corinthians 1:20

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching (proclaiming the gospel to the lost as a herald) to save them that believe. 1 Corinthians 1:21

Why did God choose the simple teaching or proclaiming of the gospel to the lost as a way to bring people to christ rather than having the preacher camp out in the local congregation and try to fool it by marvelous acts, displays or programs? It was because:

Not this: For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after (higher) wisdom: 1 Corinthians 1:22

In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people;

and yet for all that they will not hear me, saith the Lord. 1 Corinthians 14:21

Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but

to them that believe not:

But This: But we preach (herald) Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 1 Corinthians 1:23

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:24

Jeremiah repeats the story Paul used as a sign that when people refuse to honor God by seeking another message from Him, he sends people speaking strange, unknown tongues to bring them into grave judgment. By punishing them with these "strange" people perhaps a few of them will be wise enough to see that when you wake up in a "Babylonian" prison with the jailers mocking you by speaking what you cannot understand you may perhaps repent and run back to "Zion" and God's Word as fast as you can:

O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Jeremiah 5:3

Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. Jeremiah 5:4

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Jeremiah 5:5

Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. Jeremiah 5:15

Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. Jeremiah 5:16

And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. Jeremiah 5:17

Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you. Jeremiah 5:18

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them,

Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Jeremiah 5:19

When strangers are imported "from across the seas" to instruct you in something God has already given you free of Charge (Isaiah 55:1f) you can bet that you have become so ignorant of the word that God has sent experts in to eat your bread and deprive your children of their physical and spiritual inheritance.

The Presbyterian, R. L. Dabney, wrote:

2nd. I find a still more serious objection to instrumental music in churches, when I connect the doctrine of God's word concerning worship with the facts of human psychology.

Worship must be an act of personal homage to God, or it is a hypocrisy and offense. The rule is that we must "glorify God in our bodies and spirits, which are his." The whole human person, with all its faculties, appropriately takes part in this worship; for they are all redeemed by him and consecrated to him. Hence our voices should, at suitable times, accompany our minds and hearts.

Again, all true worship is rational. The truth intelligently known and intelligibly uttered is the only instrument and language of true worship. Hence all social public worship must be didactic.

The apostle has settled this beyond possible dispute in 1st Corinthians. Speaking in an unknown tongue, when there is not one to interpret, he declares can have no possible religious use, except to be a testimony (preaching in a language) for converting pagan unbelievers.

If none such are present, Paul expressly orders the speaker in unknown tongues to be silent in the congregations; and this although the speaker could correctly claim the afflatus of the Holy Ghost.

This strict prohibition Paul grounds on the fact that such a tongue, even though a miraculous charism, was not an articulate vehicle of sanctifying truth. And, as though he designed to clinch the application of this rule upon these very instruments of music, he selects them as the illustration of what he means. I beg the reader to examine 1 Corinthians 14:7-9. Click Here for more.

If we can "speak the language" of warfare with a trumpet then we should exercise this gift and instruct warriors during battle. They don't need secondary interpreters.

If we use this same gift and blow trumpets when the church assembles Paul insists that we are speaking in an unknown tongue. If you don't want to insult the people then just speak or teach your message with words which everyone understands and don't be outrageous and try to speakin in the "language" of dance or trumpet or the panic of warfare.

If you don't have the supernatural gift of "speaking" with a trumpet but instead speak "trumpet gibberish" (Jazz is becomming popular in the sexual language of Voodoo) then you will lead the army into sure defeat. Don't try it in church.

To disobey Paul's common sense will have you, like the Jewish clergy, branded with the term "musical children." Not pretty to have the Incarnate God of the universe dismiss you as a foolish child who cannot sit down, shut up and listen to Him individually through His Word.

Cassandra (naked) in Aeschylus' Agamemnon is instructive of the pagan practice of hiding their words in riddles. Like the presumptious women of Corinth proclaimed:

"And now, no more shall my prophecy peer forth from behind a veil like a new-wedded bride; but it will rush upon me clear as a fresh wind blowing against the sun's uprising so as to dash against its rays, like a wave, a woe far mightier than mine.

"No more by riddles will I instruct you. And bear me witness, as, running close behind, I scent the track of crimes done long ago.

"For from this roof never departs a choir chanting in unison, but singing no harmonious tune; for it tells not of good. And so, gorged on human blood, so as to be the more emboldened, a revel-rout of kindred Furies haunts the house, hard to be drive away.

"Lodged within its halls they chant their chant, the primal sin; and, each in turn, they spurn with loathing a brother's bed, for they bitterly spurn the one who defiled it. Have I missed the mark, or, like a true archer, do I strike my quarry?

Or am I prophet of lies, a door-to-door babbler? Bear witness upon your oath that I know the deeds of sin, ancient in story, of this house."

Much of the post-civil war religion was strongly influenced by black religion which was built upon the basis of lack of power shared by the originators of charismatic religion in this century. This includes music which merged country music with black spirituals and a dash of voodoo in song and worship rituals. This simply says that most primitive religions exhibit noisy music to stimulate "prophesying" or speaking in tongues to affirm the worshipper. For instance

We will follow this shortly with some of the writings which describe the pagan forms of women prophesying with uncovered heads and musical instruments and "gas" from the "deeps" of the earth to make them hallucinate and then interpret it as a prophecy which even guided the nation.

Ken Sublett

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