Value speaking in tongues – all the things of God should be highly treasured. God himself designed this ability, and it is one way by which a believer can build up himself with spiritual power to preach the word, heal the sick, and cast out demons. As he prays in the spirit, God ministers to him psychological healing and resolution, creativity, and intellectual clarity and insight. He becomes better prepared to receive visions and dreams and prophecies, things that Joel and Peter said we ought to expect from the Holy Spirit.

As Paul said, those who consider themselves spiritual ought to agree with what he wrote in his letter to the Corinthians. Some people wish to think that Paul only installed restrictions in the operations of the powers of the Spirit, but he said many other things such as, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you,” “I wish that all of you would speak in tongues,” and “He who speaks in tongues builds up himself.” Of course he exalts prophecy and other manifestations of the Spirit in that context, but he builds these things upon the assumption that speaking in tongues is excellent, beneficial, respectable, and powerful.

If some people do not think this way, it is because they are unbelieving and unspiritual. It is ironic that those who claim to be the most zealous in defending the faith are also some of the same people who are most zealous in encouraging suspicion and even derision against God. The entire body of Christ should see these people for what they really are — false scholars, false apologists, and counterfeit teachers who appease the itching ears of unbelief. They are driven by the spirit of the antichrist. It is undeniable that some of them have committed the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. God will never forgive them.

If a person seems zealous for some of God’s word, and if by exploiting this appearance of faithfulness he manages to undermine other teachings in God’s word, then he is an excellent servant of Satan. This describes most of the prominent teachers in the church, and the people love to have it this way. The most non-threatening and seeker-friendly message is a message of unbelief, tradition, sickness, poverty, defeat, and suffering. Most people are not itching to hear about faith and power, healing and prosperity, success and miracles, but they love a message of unbelief and suffering, because it validates their experience, without demanding any faith, any action, or any change from them.