Experiences shared
by readers, where speaking in tongues
have been recognised as a language of mankind.
20 November 2008: Contributed by Bonnie, USA
I was just blessed “yesterday” with speaking in tongues. Being that it was so new to me I questioned “is it real”. Today while praying in tongues the word “Shalama” kept coming out of my mouth over and over again. I thought JUST LIKE YOU I will Google it……sure enough I found out the same as you. God is so real and this gift is REAL this is not a coincidence. I found this site on Google Books. And then I found your site. Which confirms to me that I am blessed with this wonderful gift and I AM at PEACE, finally. Shalama to you, Bonnie.
30 July 2005: Contributed by Anthony Wilkinson, USA
I obviously do not know you but I recently read your essay on the web titled, "Tongues of Angles?". At the end, you request that if anyone has had an experience where someone they knew spoke in a different language that is present in the world today to send you an email. I would like to let you know that the exact scenario you have asked for occurred in my church a little more than two years ago. Being a Pentecostal, I am still somewhat skeptical of the display of tongues in Pentecostal churches. Based on my finite (and most assuredly limited) understanding, tongues seem to be something that Paul encourages believers to use more in private than in the church. I believe Paul taught that tongues are more used to edify oneself in prayer than used to excite and intensify during a public worship service.
That being said, I cannot deny what happened in our church. A man that I have known for 28 years, was my high school basketball coach and that I know has a very limited education spoke in tongues in our service. The unbelievable part of it is that their was a lady at our church from India who recognized his speaking and after he was finished, informed the church of what he was saying. My memory is a little foggy on the exact passage of scripture, however, I do remember that he was quoting from Psalms. I can assure you that this guy has no clue about the Indian language but beyond that, he was using a specific dialect from this ladies home region. Anyway, I just thought I would let you know about this since you asked. I trust you are a believer in Christ and if so, I wish you nothing but the best in your relationship with Jesus Christ.
God Bless, Anthony Wilkinson
28 March 2005: Contributed by Myself (Alan Marshall)
As a young man I attended various Pentecostal meetings in search of an experience of the Holy Spirit. At one meeting I remember hearing the word "shalama". Three months later, and 300 miles away, I attended another meeting where I heard this word used again. Now at the time I did not make too much of this. Without wanting to offend anyone who might read this, I confess that I thought "shalama" sounded like the kind of made-up word that one might naturally utter.
Thirty-three years later, while working on this web page, It occurred to me that in the 21st century, Google might shed some light. So I typed in "shalama" and was astonished by what I found. In Aramaic, the language which Jesus spoke, "shalama" means "peace". (It is related to the Hebrew "shalom").
Perhaps these tongues were genuine afterall. Certainly it has given me food for thought.
5 November 2004: Received from Allen Hall, CA, USA
Alan, A couple of stories about my wife you might enjoy.
Two different times my wife has been detected speaking in a Hebrew dialect as she prayed in Tongues. One time she had left a prayer meeting and while heading for home she noticed a woman waiting for a bus. Since they would be going the same direction she asked the woman if she wanted a ride. She was going to Mass in a Catholic church and would appreciate the ride instead of waiting for the bus. There had been some articles in the paper about the Charismatic movement where people were experiencing Glossolalia (a theological term for Speaking in Tongues). She had read about it but had never been around anyone who had shared the experience. My wife told her she had experienced it and asked if she could pray for the woman. She said she would like that. They pulled over for the prayer time and as my wife prayed she shifted into Tongues. The woman got excited. She said she was from New York and an editor. Hebrew was common among her circle of friends. She said my wife was speaking in a very formal Hebrew. The lady missed Mass in her excitement over the experience. As they parted she told my wife she was going to look into the Charismatic movement.
Another time we were returning from a trip. The commuter plane from San Francisco to Modesto was over booked. They offered to pay for a rental car if a group of us wanted to get home with out waiting for the next flight. We chose the rental car. While traveling with strangers my wife struck up a religious conversation in the back seat. This lead to prayer and again my wife shifted in to Tongues. The lady said my wife spoke in a Hebrew dialect and was quite surprised. We had no further contact with the people and don¹t know if they pursued their spiritual life. We hope they did.
14 October 2004: Received from Allen Hall, CA, USA
While living in San Jose CA we had an Italian family living close by as neighbors. They had only been in the states a few years. Their broken English and their struggles with American customs made them an interesting family. Our Pentecostal background had given us much exposure to the prayer of Speaking in Tongues. The Charismatic activities, where Pentecostals and other Liturgical groups were coming together, was a new thing We became an oddity to them because of Priests and Nuns and other Catholic groups coming to our home. One morning the Italian lady called and asked if my wife could come over. My wife dropped her busy activities and went. She had an inward nudge to go. There seemed to be a spiritual hunger in the Italian lady. My wife joined her and her mother with some of the usual small talk and the offer for some food and drink. You do not go into an Italian home without the offer for food and drink! After a few minutes my wife suggested they stand, hold hands, and pray. As they prayed my wife had an inward nudge to pray in Tongues. She wondered if she might pray in Italian. When they finished the prayer the Italian lady and her mother were in tears. My wife asked, Did I pray in Italian? They said she had prayed in Latin and said the same words the Priest says in Mass. With their limited English and my wife's limited knowledge of the Mass, they could not explain what was said.
11 October 2004: Received from Allen Hall, CA, USA
I will start out with my story. If you want more of our stories let me know. Our friends had a cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains and we would often join them for devotions. One evening while setting in front of the fireplace on an old couch that was fitting to an old cabin we were praying, singing, and worshiping. It was common for any of the group to pray in tongues. We had all experienced tongues and there was no need for interpretation since there were no strangers in the group and we all knew it was some form of prayer, praise, or devotion. I prayed in tongues. A lady with a joyful laughter said, I used to live in Canada where French was commonly spoken. As you prayed in tongues you were using a French word meaning "very much". I dont speak French but I know a few words. Her husband, using a gift of interpretation, (not translation he spoke no French) gave us the whole prayer. Included in the prayer was the expression, "Lord, I love you very much". Unlike the Day of Pentecost where tongues left them amazed, confused, and confounded, the experience left us with a joyful praise to God.
2 August 2004: Received from Paul Christensen, New Zealand
Hi. At present, I am a 57 year old Presbyterian elder, worshiping at St Aidan's church in Conifer Grove, Auckland, New Zealand. I was first converted to Christ at the age of 19 at an Assembly of God church in Lower Hutt, near Wellington, New Zealand. I spent 12 years in various Pentecostal churches. I received the gift of tongues about a month after I was converted. It would take a long time to relate the things the Lord has taught me about the gift of tongues and the other spiritual gifts. I had the honour of sitting under the ministry of an old. wise Christian pastor for a number of years. He taught me many things about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This was in the 1970s. If you want to read more about my view on tongues, read my exposition on 1Corinthians14 on my website, uk.geocities.com/oscarr90 Now, I will relate two experiences where the gift of tongues were understood the Christian Centre in Palmerston North, New Zealand, circa 1976.
The first happened to a friend of mine who was in a prayer meeting. The practice was that everyone in the prayer meeting prayed in tongues in between prayers in English. They practiced praying in the spirit and in the understanding also. My friend was sitting beside a visiting brother from Ghana, Africa. The Ghanaian brother was named Bahdu. Bahdu became very excited at one part of the meeting. He stopped the prayer meeting, turned to my friend Terry, and said "You were speaking in my dialect! And this is what you were speaking." He then gave a direct translation of what my friend said. The words were full of praise to God for the wonderful works He was doing.
The second happened to me. I was in an ordinary Sunday service. At the altar call, when the congregation was asked to pray for people at the front of the church, we prayed quietly in tongues. After we stopped, a Maori lady who was sitting near to me approached me and said that I had prayed in the Maori language, and God used it to give a personal message of encouragement to her. My friend Terry had never learned a foreign language, let alone Bahdu's own village dialect, and I had no knowledge of Maori language at that time. I trust that this is a help to you.
My Reply:
Paul, I am grateful for time you have taken to share these examples of foreign language tongues. They seem genuine to me, and if it is all right with you, I would like to include them on my "Tongues Forum" page. Over the next 18 months, I am hoping to expand the essay into a book. There will be a chapter on these kind of experiences. Could I also include what you have shared there? The testimony from Bahdu in particular is an encouragement to me. Over the past year, through my www.jesusisreal.org site, I have become involved in raising funds to supply English language bibles to ministries in Ghana who have requested them. Among these evangelists is Janet Addo who works in a camp of 47,000 refugees. To date she has won 3000 of them to Christ! Another pastor, Samson Opoku, has won 800 souls in the Muslim north. Meanwhile, the Bible Society of NSW is translating the scriptures into 10 languages and dialects spoken by Ghanan tribes. God certainly has a heart for Ghana (and all unsaved peoples), and I believe Bahdu's testimony confirms this. It is great that you have provided free web access to your scripture expositions. I will read through your piece on 1 Corinthians 14 carefully.
1 September 2003: Received from Leentje Adams
There is no doubt in my mind that God still desires to bring people to the knowledge of Himself through tongues - otherwise He would not have given me this particular insight. I also know for a fact that most tongues are an earthly language. I have heard two testimonies within my own church regarding this fact.
One is a dutchman who heard a fellow English speaking member speak in Dutch (the member did not know Dutch) and the Dutchman heard God speak to him in is own mother tongue and he was changed within. He said the message was 'strictly for him' and 'no interpretation was required'... He immediately stood up and began to speak in a strange tongue (foreign to himself). Now, this congregation, like most I would ascertain, usually uses prophesiers to 'interpret' - yet obviously they do not understand the language either... What I found interesting was that the Dutchman said that no interpreter was required! He was obviously the interpreter! through knowledge... yet, he did not enlighten the congregation as to what was said, and no interpreter (or prophesier) stood to tell them... how bizzare is that? The bible states that tongues MUST BE INTERPRETED. or else be silent...
Second, my own pastor who thought he had a 'heavenly tongue' (as opposed to an earthly foreign language) has a couple utterings that he himself confesses that he uses a lot (over and over)... apparently he uttered one of these phrases beside a bus driver one day who actually interpreted the language as being his mother tongue! - some obscure country in Africa I believe and the interpretation was something along the lines of Praise God the Almighty... It really shocked them both!
If you really think about it what language do angels speak anyway? When they encounter human beings they speak our language as far as I know...
18 August 2003: Received from a Lutheran pastor
I am a pastor. One day a woman in my congregation began to speak in tongues during the devotional part of our service. A young man who had been (the boy friend of one of the young girls in my church) coming freguently, but had not recieved Christ as Savior and Lord personally began to cry. We are a small group, and this young man never said anything or showed emotion before in service. He just wept, and said, motioning to the woman who was speaking in tongues, she's tallking about Jesus, and praising him, I hear her! Well of course we all assumed she was praising God of which Jesus was a part, but he kept insisting that he heard her words and understood them. That was several years ago. The young man and his girlfriend now live together (not married) and have for at least 3 years. Neither of them ever go to church. I often wonder...what effect that incident had on his life. Surely it was supernatural. He must know that God is real, because he spoke directly to him!
11 August 2003: Received from Rev.Philip Nowland
I thought that you might be interested
in looking at the following URL:
http://www.aog.org.uk/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EpyppEpppFgXLHgJQS
31 May 2003: Received from James Holsomback
This is a memory that remains with me from my childhood. Although this is second-hand information, it is still interesting. I grew up in an Assembly of God Church. The preacher there told a story of his friend who was a missionary to Africa. While there, after receiving the gospel, one of the natives began praising the Lord. To the missionary's surprise, the African man was unknowingly reciting Genesis in English, which, consequently, he didn't know. Like I said friend of a friend story ; however, the preacher was such a man that I am assured that he related the story just as he had received it so that negates one level of indirection. I am now a member of the Church of Christ and have been since I was 17, but memories such as the one above, periodically cause me to question miraculously happenings and I end up at websites such as yours. I guess that I am on the other side of the coin from you.
My Reply:
Thanks for your story. Yes, it is indirect, but it is believable because it is the kind of incident that could be straight out of the bible. I will put it up on the site at the next update in July.
Received from Chris Muluk, London, UK
I dropped by your site and saw the article on tongues. Some years ago my wife had a friend who heard a young man speaking in tongues at church. He was quite uneducated, and didn't naturally speak any foreign languages. When she got closer to him she realised that he was speaking spanish. He was saying "I love you Jesus" over and over in spanish. Can't substantiate it. Have lost touch with the friend. Thought you might be interested. It's a common language, and the story is probably easy to dismiss, but you never know......
Received from Garth Grenache, Australia
I know someone whose church put out a CD on which was a song and a lady sang in tongues. The CD was marketed worldwide, and the language identified by members of a small tribe somewhere. I'll speak to my friend -maybe I can get an article on it for you.