Hey Andy, are people who supposedly speak in tongues demonically possessed?
Hi, in some cases, some people may be demonically possessed — that is always a possibility — but I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them either THINK they’re speaking in tongues, or are just faking it so they appear to be, since some denominations require speaking in tongues as proof of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The thing is, Paul talked about the gift of tongues, not as proof of having the Holy Spirit, but as ONE OF THE MANY Spiritual gifts given to believers, and even gives guidelines for how to practice it.
Notice, many of the churches today that insist that one must speak in tongues will actually have moments where everybody’s walking or bouncing around making sounds that make no sense to those around them – like the prophets in the time of King Saul (the prophets were all prophesying, and when he accidentally passed through them, he fell off his horse and began prophesying with them long enough for David to escape – the people looking on and witnessing it thought Saul was either a prophet, or mad).
Paul explains that there are 2 types of gifts of tongues: 1) The kind where you speak the language of those listening so that they might be blessed by your message, and 2) The type where nobody understands it.
- If you’re speaking in another language, then according to Paul, if there’s not a translator present, then you should basically (and literally) shut the heck up, for it only brings glory to yourself and confuses all who are present. And if anybody’s visiting and sees people walking around talking in unrecognizable languages, people will think they’re all crazy and leave. So If there’s not an interpreter present, shut up. If there is, then take turns with others speaking in tongues so that there’s order and all may be heard.
- If you’re speaking “the language of the angels”, then you’re speaking a language that nobody understands. Therefore, Paul says that such people should remain silent when in public, and only speak in that language when they’re praying in private.
So if you really are speaking in tongues, and the Bible tells us that such is still an active Spiritual gift, then they should keep to these rules. But do today’s tongue-promoting churches follow these guidelines for using the gift of tongues? No, usually not. And are demons all about disorderly conduct? Yes they are. So like I said, it is possible that some (or many) of the people who speak in tongues may be possessed by demons, for whatever they can do to disrupt the worship of Christ, they’ll do. But like I also said, it is also possible that some are just faking it because they think they have to speak in tongues as proof that they have the Holy Spirit, or to not be cast out from the congregation.
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