Dear Susie:

Dave Armstrong is a good apologist for the Faith. He has many very good articles. This article on Tongues is not one of his best, but that aside, I agree with much of what he says in the article.

In the article Dave proposes that Biblical Evidence shows that there is such a thing as a "private prayer language". I am not convinced of that and Dave "proofs" of this are equally unconvincing.

I do not, however, make a big deal about this; it doesn't really matter whether there exists "private prayer language". This is because of the following facts:

1) The Charism Gifts by definition of St. Paul must build-up the Church. Private tongues builds up the person and thus if private prayer language does exist it is not one of the charism gifts and is not to be publicly practiced.

2) Since "tongues" is the easiest of all phenomena for Satan to counterfeit, anyone who speaks any kind of tongues needs to have those tongue testing to be sure they come from God.

3) The practice of tongues whenever in a group are to be done in an orderly manner, one-at-a-time, and only 2-3 offering the tongues during that meeting, again according to St. Paul.

4) The practice of tongues, unless one is by themselves, is to be interpreted so all can understand otherwise the person is not to speak in tongues according to St. Paul.

5) Tongues is the LEAST of all gifts and charisms, thus the over-interest and even ambition to speak in tongues is improper. St. Paul says we are to seek the better gifts.

For a general discussion of the Charismatic Movement as a whole click here.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary