Prophetic gift and Speaking in Tongues?? A personal Question!

I thought you might be interested to read a small comment i did in response to a  request from a sister who was just echoing the Jehovah Witness troubling  view points. I did that 2 years ago.
I would like to know how would you have answered those questions if you were the one answering them.

I'm kind of curious about your personal theologies, mine is pretty known by now.

Have a nice day in Jesus' name.
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I. Prophetic Gift

question: *what's the use of the prophetic gift if God can speak to us through the bible?as it is written in Hebr11 that God will speak to us through the bible.

Answer: Before i say why the prophetic gift is important, let me first address the seemingly serious objection. If you read Hebrew 11, you will find no where, where it said that God speak through the Bible and even if by some miracle it was the case, this wouldn't mean that God speak ONLY through the bible. And the belief that God would stop speaking when the bible would be complete is not in itself a biblical belief. It's a prejudicial concept against the supernatural and the miraculous in modern time.

So coming into the why the prophetic gift or ministry should exist. For that we should turn either on the epistle of Romans 12:6 or 1Corinthians 12:28 ; 14:3. This last one - 1 Cor14:3 shows why prophecy is important. It is used by God to comfort others.

So when are we supposed to use this medium of edification or comfort? Some have suggested that it will be until the bible comes/ appears in the church history scene because of the verse in 1Cor13:9-10 that says that prophesy (which is done in part) will be done away when that which is perfect is come. But if you read it, you will see that no where in that section do Paul says that the perfect that is coming will be a book let alone the bible. That which is perfect was just stated and left unexplained. So people have been giving themselves unto speculation of what that could have mean. So some Christians came along with that explanation. Jehovah Witness did not come with that view, that view predated the Watch Tower enterprises (The Jehovah Witness Organization).

See the verse below:

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

However there is another verse that give the time frame from prophets to work in the midst of the Church of Jesus Christ. The Answer is found in Ephesians4:11-13;

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

According to this clear scriptures, Jesus gave some to be Prophets among other ministry gifts in verse 11, and the scripture gives the reason why Jesus did it - verse 12: "FOR THE PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS" and the scripture (Bible) finishes by giving the time of execution of the gift in verse 13, he (Paul) says it will be operational "UNTIL we (the saints) ALL (not some of us) come to the unity of the faith, and that we become perfect man and that we become like Christ in stature." So the easy and obvious question is this: have we reached the full stature of Christ? Have we (saints/Christians) all reached the unity of faith and do we understand or know Jesus, the Son of God in a unified way?

The obvious answers is NO! That we have rivalry and dispute of doctrines and fight with our regular personal sins and failures shows that we have not reached them yet. And according to these verses, if we are still lacking any of the criteria mentioned above in verse 13, that means we still need the gift or the ministry of prophets among other ministries quoted in verse 11 to help us reach 'maturity'.

This is exactly why according to the bible, we still need prophets who prophesy among us. We still need it because we have not yet reach the divine ideal of verse 13. Notice well, that verse 13 is introduce with the word "UNTIL", this conjunction is also a measure of time. Until we have reached the unity of faith and the perfect stature of Christ - we have no reason nor right to believe or assume that prophecy and other gifts have ceased.

* why does God only speak to certain people and we know God considering everyone equal?

First, it is a mistaken assumption that God consider everybody equal in term of capacity. No! God, certe, loves everybody as seen in John3:16 or that he loves all disciples the same way he loves Jesus as seen in John17 but the bible does not teach us that he regards us as equals in capacity or functions/Callings. Jesus tells the parable of the talents in Matthiew 25 where he makes the point clear that people were given talents according to their capacity. And with relation to gifts, it is clear that from Roman 12, it is said that people should use their gift according to the level of their faith, presupposing that people have different level of faith. Or in 1Cor12 where it is shown that God does not give to everybody the same gifts. And even Ephesians4 shows that he gave some to be Apostles, some Evangelists, some Prophets and so on. It is God's prerogative to give to whoever He wants the gift that he wants. At least we know that much from the Bible in the New testament.

So why some and not all? simple! That's the way God did it in the first century among the apostles and the multitude of disciples and this is how he does that even today. Nothing magic about that!

II. Speaking in Tongues

*Why do we speak in tongues?

The answer is also found straight in the bible in 1 Corinthians14:4. Speaking in tongues was and is still used for personal edification.

4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

* why would we address ourselves to God in languages that we don't understand either?

Again the bible tell us why. In 1 Cor14:2,14, it shows that in that prayerful state we are uttering mysterious things, so it is normal that we do not understand them, according to the bible. And according to the same bible, when people do pray in tongues although their intellect is sterile in the sense they do not know what they are saying, their spirit is praying and some unknown form of edification is happening to the one speaking in tongues. God wanted it this way, that is why we accept it this way too!

See the two verses below:

2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.


14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

And by saying that those tongues where only human tongues is a possible mistake or in the least it is saying more than the bible allow us to say. True, it may happen that those unknown tongues are known tongues spoken by existing culture like at the day of Pentecosts (Acts 2). However in 1 Cor13:1; the apostle Paul seems to suggest that those languages that people use to speak in devotion to God might/could possibly be from two different sources: 1. Human Tongues and 2. Angelic Tongues.

So it is hence normal that at time those mysterious and unknown tongues may sounds as a possible existing human language or at other time their sounding may be far from what we know in our repertories of spoken languages or tongues in human cultures. Maybe they are angelic or spiritual/mystical as Paul tried to indicate it to us.

See the verse below:

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

So the advise of Paul is as valid in this century as it was in the first century: 1Cor 14:39;  "Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues."