{"id":15155,"date":"2026-03-10T11:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/breaking-down-the-mystery-of-speaking-in-tongues\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T05:58:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:58:55","slug":"breaking-down-the-mystery-of-speaking-in-tongues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/angels-and-miracles\/miracles\/gods-grace\/breaking-down-the-mystery-of-speaking-in-tongues\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Down the Mystery of Speaking in Tongues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The controversial practice of speaking in tongues\u2014glossolalia\u2014is a puzzle to me. Not just that I don\u2019t do it. But I also wonder how on earth others do. My preferred way of praying is to sit silently on the New York subway in the morning, my eyes closed.<\/p>\n

I remember walking by a storefront church once with a friend and hearing what sounded like cacophony. \u201cThey\u2019re praying in tongues,\u201d my friend told me. Really? <\/p>\n

I can accept talking in tongues in its historical context. Back in the first century, the disciples gathered in Jerusalem after Jesus\u2019 resurrection and the Holy Spirit descended on them\u2014veritable \u201cflames of fire.\u201d The apostles began to speak in different tongues, languages they had no knowledge of. More importantly, they were heard<\/em> in the languages they spoke. <\/p>\n

The great poet W.H. Auden once observed that what happened at Pentecost was more a gift of hearing than of speaking. That settled it for me. Under the right circumstances, believers could call on heavenly power to communicate. But what I heard coming out of that storefront church? That was something else. Ecstatic utterances, people raising their hands, eyes closed. Fervent requests voiced in what frankly sounded like utter gibberish. I was tempted to react more like some of the bystanders did that first Pentecost\u2014they figured the disciples were drunk. The Holy Spirit? More like liquid spirits! <\/p>\n

And yet, the phenomenon is well-documented and has persisted since the early days of the church. In America, its widespread practice dates back to the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906. The Holy Spirit descended, miracles occurred and Pentecostalism began its worldwide spread. Still, I never really knew anyone who actually spoke in tongues. It just seemed so outlandish. Imagine my surprise, then, when in the offices of Guideposts<\/em>, my first boss and much beloved editor Van Varner said, \u201cYou know John speaks in tongues.\u201d John? John Sherrill? John and his wife, Elizabeth \u2013 Tibby, as she\u2019s known \u2013 were hallowed editors at Guideposts<\/em>. The journalistic talent behind such classics as David Wilkerson\u2019s The Cross and the Switchblade<\/em> and Corrie Ten Boom<\/a>\u2019s The Hiding Place<\/em>.<\/p>\n

John was a World War II veteran and a wise, gregarious, generous man. He and Tibby met in college in Switzerland after the war. For years, he and Tibby had been members in the famously staid Episcopal Church, the same faith tradition my wife and I followed. I considered them dear colleagues and friends. But speaking in tongues? John? I labeled it as a quirk of his and paid it no more attention. Until recently. A year ago, John died at the age of 94. I attended his funeral. Much was said about his passion for prayer<\/a> but nothing about\u2026praying in tongues. As if it was some kind of family secret.<\/p>\n

Then, a few months after the funeral, I was at work and noticed a book of John\u2019s sitting on my shelf, They Speak in Other Tongues<\/em>. A best-seller since its release in 1964. But I had never opened it. The one book of John\u2019s I\u2019d never read. Maybe the topic embarrassed me. Maybe I was just resistant. But, then, I\u2019ve learned that resistance can be a sign that I\u2019m avoiding something that needs my attention\u2014now<\/em>. With some trepidation, I turned to the book. John certainly did his research. He presented case after case of eyewitness accounts. Like the scholar of ancient Arabic who recognized someone speaking an esoteric language. A language she knew well but the speaker had no knowledge of. Or a Jewish man<\/a> at a religious service.<\/p>\n

He looked over his shoulder to see who was praying for him in Hebrew, only to find an Irishman who had never spoken a word of Hebrew in his life. These are instances of what some scholars call xenoglossy. John also made recordings of people speaking in unknown tongues and asked a few linguists to listen to them. The experts didn\u2019t recognize any specific language. But, at the same time, they could tell a recording of Tibby pretending to talk in tongues was a fake, mere gibberish. (So much for my dismissal of talking in tongues as gibberish!)<\/p>\n

John even invited a woman who had the gift of tongues to come to his office at Guideposts<\/em>. She asked if he had any special concerns. He mentioned how Tibby had been fretting over a story she was writing, near tears, the deadline looming. The woman placed her hands on John\u2019s head and prayed for Tibby, first in English and then in tongues. John didn\u2019t understand a word of it. But, as the woman spoke, he claimed he felt a wave of warmth pass from her hands into his head and swiftly down through his arms and chest. Later at home, he asked Tibby, innocently enough, how the manuscript was going. Done, she said with relief. She\u2019d just mailed it in. The story seemed to write itself. <\/p>\n

And then John had his own personal experience over 50 years ago in an Atlantic City hotel, at a religious convention he\u2019d attended to investigate the phenomenon. A small group of ministers and social workers had gathered in one of the guest rooms to speak about their needs and concerns. Someone suggested they pray. John bowed his head. He listened to the voices around him and heard them dissolve into tongues. In all other instances he\u2019d been the reporter, looking in from the outside. But now his defenses came down. A man\u2019s voice said, \u201cI believe John wants the baptism in the Spirit.\u201d And then the group formed a circle around him. \u201cNow the tongues swelled to a crescendo,\u201d John recalled in his book. \u201cI opened my mouth, wondering if I too could join in, but nothing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sensed that he needed to look up. More than that, he needed to lift his hands and cry out. It was just the sort of gesture he\u2019d always rejected as showy, but now felt compelled to do. He raised his hands and heard himself say, \u201cPraise the Lord.\u201d Soon he too was talking and praying in tongues. As he would on occasion for the rest of his life. The key to his turnaround\u2014this is what really hit me\u2014was that he acknowledged that journalistic objectivity could only take you so far. Only when John lifted his head and raised his hands heavenward did he experience something new and powerful. I closed John\u2019s book. I\u2019d heard him once say that praying in tongues was a way to say what was sometimes beyond words. And now I understood.<\/p>\n

That loosening up, getting in touch, being \u201ca fool for Christ.\u201d Or, to quote Paul again, \u201cWe don\u2019t know what we should pray but the Spirit itself prays for us with unexpressed groans.\u201d I still don\u2019t pray in tongues. But I am certainly more understanding of the phenomenon. What I am sure about prayer is that there are times when we don\u2019t know what words to say\u2014what we could possibly ask for, what we could possibly want. What a gift to have the prayer provided in words beyond understanding, knowing that they are heard by the One who understands all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The controversial practice of speaking in tongues\u2014glossolalia\u2014is a puzzle to me. Not just that I don\u2019t do it. But I also wonder how on earth others do. My preferred way of praying is to sit silently on the New York subway in the morning, my eyes closed. I remember walking by a storefront church once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[15,151,28],"ppma_author":[476],"class_list":["post-15155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gods-grace","tag-faith","tag-mysterious-ways","tag-spiritual"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBreaking Down the Mystery of Speaking in Tongues - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking Down the Mystery of Speaking in Tongues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The controversial practice of speaking in tongues\u2014glossolalia\u2014is a puzzle to me. 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