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One key thing we must understand is that the Holy Spirit can inspire your spirit to pray or inspire your mind to pray also. If this is not true, then, Paul wasted his time praying with his mind because his prayers were not said in the Holy Spirit.
It also means that all the prayers pastors pray using human language which people understand are not prayers prayed in the Holy Spirit because they pray with their minds.
This is where the erroneous teaching under discussion is exposed. A pastor may be highly anointed with influential international ministry and yet may give wrongful teachings.
Inappropriate explanation of Scriptures happens all the time. After all, no man of God knows it all. This is why today’s Christians must learn from the Berea Christians who searched the Scriptures themselves to see if the things Paul taught them were accurate (Acts 17:11).
So praying in the Holy Spirit is not necessarily praying in tongues but praying under the INSPIRATION of the Spirit of God.
Actually, many Christians often speak in tongues in the flesh just as they do when using human language. In fact, a lot of the tongue speaking that goes on in most churches these days are mere self-made noisy babbles.
Many church people in Ghana and elsewhere create their own tongues and speak them just like what actors and actresses do in movies. This is the problem in the church today.
Have you not seen or heard actors and actresses speaking in tongues while shooting movies? Do not be deceived into thinking that the tongues they speak are genuine.
They simply act it. Remember that most of them are not born again Christians in the first place. This is exactly the situation in many churches in Ghana today.
Unfortunately, most church leaders think their church members are speaking in Holy Spirit-inspired tongues. They think that they are preparing believers to inherit the Kingdom of God.
But thousands of so-called Christians will be disappointed on the last day at the Judgment Seat of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only will our Saviour reject the fake believers but He will actually give an order for them to be thrown into the abyss to suffer everlasting torment.
There are certain things we must watch about tongue speaking to avoid deception in the church. If a person speaks in tongues but lives a sinful life, then, his tongue speaking is questionable.
What I am saying is that he who thunders in tongues must also glitter in holiness. A person who is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks in tongues must also manifest the fruit of the same Holy Spirit in his life.
If you pray in tongues you must also manifest love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control for people to see.
If you pray in tongues but you are unfaithful in the things of God or you find it difficult to forgive those who wrong you, then, you are a hypocrite or spiritually immature.
When Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, spoke in tongues in Acts Chapter Two, but failed to be faithful to God in Acts Chapter Five concerning payment of money to the church, they died.
By James Quansah
Pastor, End-Time Christ’s Commissioners
Executive Director, Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre
