Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
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HOW BIBLE VERSES MATCH HEBREW YEARS IN ASTONISHING PROPHETIC COUNTDOWN
BY ADAM ELIYAHU BERKOWITZ
There are 304,805 letters in the Torah, 79,847 words, and 5,845 verses.
A numeric method of matching Bible verses to Hebrew years has led a prominent rabbi in Jerusalem to the discovery that there is a direct correlation between the two which could pinpoint the deadline for the messiah.
Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher, Dean of Students at the Diaspora Yeshiva and a noted lecturer, recently revealed an amazing method of prophecy that can be accessed by simply reading the Bible. Rabbi Sprecher stated that according to Kabbalah, Jewish esoteric learning, every year has a corresponding verse in the Torah. According to Rabbi Sprecher, all that is required to find the verse that describes a particular year, whether it is in the past or the future, is to count verses from the beginning of Genesis until the number of verses equals the Hebrew calendar year.
Rabbi Sprecher explained that this is one of the reasons scribes who write Torah scrolls are called ‘Soferim’, which literally means ‘counters’. Handwriting the sacred scrolls, Torah scribes count the letters and the spaces. With remarkable precision, Rabbi Sprecher noted that there are 304,805 letters in the Torah, 79,847 words, and 5,845 verses. He believes that the year correlating to the final verse in the Bible will signal the End-of-Days, quite literally.
“What that means is that the Moshiach (messiah) must come by the year 5845 since that is the year we run out of verses,” he explained. “All we have to do is hang on for another 68 years.”
The rabbi gave an incredible example of how this system works. World War II began in 1939, which was the Hebrew year 5699. The corresponding 5,699th verse in the Torah is disturbingly appropriate.
And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein…Deuteronomy 29:22
Rabbi Sprecher warned that the verses do not always reveal the entire truth. He explained that six years later, after World War II ended in 1945, people tried to understand the horrors they had just experienced. The war-torn world searched for the reasons behind the war and the Holocaust.
The secret things belong unto Hashem our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:28
“The Holocaust was too great, too enormous, for man to understand and ascribe a reason,” the rabbi explained.
The rabbi jumped ahead to 1948, the year Israel became a state. The Hebrew year was 5708 and the verse is fitting indeed.
That then Hashem thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither Hashem thy God hath scattered thee. Deuteronomy 30:3
In 1950, Israel was inundated with massive immigration. Over 150,000 Jews made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) in 24 months, the most intensive period ever of Jews returning to their homeland. The verse clearly reflects this.
And Hashem thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. Deuteronomy 30:5
Another powerful example is the verse that correlates to 1968, the year after Israel’s miraculous victory in the Six Day War. The verse corresponding to the year 5727 describes the aftereffects of the Six Day War in 1967, the reality Israel was presented that year.
Hashem thy God, He will go over before thee; He will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them Deuteronomy 31:3
The verse describing this year, [JUN 13, 2017 ] 5777, is ominous indeed, written in language that does not bode well.
For a fire is kindled in My nostril, and burneth unto the depths of the nether-world, and devoureth the earth with her produce, and setteth ablaze the foundations of the mountains. Deuteronomy 32:22
This may describe the moment, in April, when for the first time the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear explosive device on Islamic State (ISIS) troops entrenched in tunnels dug into a mountain in Afghanistan. The Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the Mother-of-All-Bombs, succeeded in “setting ablaze the foundation of the mountain”, killing all ISIS personnel.
Skeptics of Rabbi Sprecher’s method of understanding the Bible need only wait a little more time. Whether or not the technique is accurate will become clear on September 30, 2084, when the verses run out.
Here's an interesting lecture on this very topic.
Kabbalah: Can It Predict the Future? (Ft. Rabbi Benjamin Blech)
aka
The Door, Potter's House & Victory Chapel, La Puerta, The Fire,
Desert Fire, Bay Fire, Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Churches
The church's financial structure is set up in a pyramid structure, with each church sending 5% of its offering back to its Mother church and another 5% back to the head church in Prescott.
“You
don't learn by having faith. You learn by questioning, by
challenging, by re-examining everything you've ever believed.
And
yet, all this is a matter of faith
—the
faith that there is a truth to be found.
It
is another paradox: To truly question, you must truly have faith."
Rabbi
Tzvi Freeman
"CFM is the only really true church"
There's nothing new about Wayman Mitchell's use of hellfire and eternal damnation to place fear into the hearts of his followers. The church has been doing this for 1696 years (325CE). Mitchell has simply focused and elaborated on the tool the church used to keep the coffers full
Remember, 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Paul is not talking about “scripture” being the Book of Catholicism aka The New Testament, IT HAD NOT BEEN WRITTEN YET. He's talking about the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible what the church calls “the Old Testament”, written in Hebrew and not one word of it has changed since given from Sinai 3300+ years ago. [lookup: Accuracy of Torah Text @ aish]
Nowhere does the NT claim to be the Word of God! Quoting the New Testament is not quoting scripture ~ The Word of God.
Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Unless God is a liar? Heaven forbid!
"Bear in mind, the Jewish Scriptures were written in Hebrew, not in seventeenth-century King James English. What has made Christian believers so vulnerable to Bible tampering is that almost none of them can read or understand the Hebrew Bible in its original language. Virtually no Christian child in the world is taught the Hebrew language as part of a formal Christian education. As you and countless other Christians earnestly study the Authorized Version of the Bible, there is a blinding yet prevailing assumption that what you are reading is Heaven-breathed. Tragically, virtually every Christian in the world reads the translation of men rather than the Word of God. On the other hand, every Jewish child in the world who is enrolled in a Jewish school is taught to read and write Hebrew long before he or she even heard the name of Wayman Mitchell. [actually Luther....but, you know...Waymanite's?!]
Unbeknownst to you and parishioners worldwide, the King James Version and numerous other Christian Bible translations were meticulously shaped and painstakingly retrofitted in order to produce a message that would sustain and advance Church theology and exegesis. This aggressive rewriting of biblical texts has had a devastating impact on Christians throughout the world who unhesitatingly embrace these corrupt translations. As a result, Christians earnestly wonder why the Jews, who are the bearers and protectors of the divine oracles of God, have not willingly accepted Jesus as their messiah.
What evangelicals fail to understand, however, is that the passionate resistance of the Jew to the teachings of Christianity has little to do with the Church’s bad manners. Rather, it is the direct result of the Church’s contrived and therefore implausible message. This stunning conclusion, however, is impossible for Christians to accept without bringing injury to their own faith and worldview." [1]
When your Bible has the word, 'Verison' in it, just how accurate can it be? THINK!!!
Hellfire and damnation comes from Greek Mythology with a taste of Zoroastrianism. Totally, totally UNBIBLICAL to instill FEAR. Fear is a powerful weapon and the threat of "losing my salvation".
Remember, Saul of Tarsus? Tarsus, home port for the Cult of Mythra (Mithraism) When Constantine the Great formed his new religion in 325CE he mixed all the empire's pagan religions together to create his “Universal Religion” ie. The Church is Catholic (meaning "universal") Mithraism, Hinduism, Egyptian Sun god worship. Wayman drew on this fear tool like a Pharaoh!
Lookup: Hell…it is not what the KJV tells you it is
by David John Husband @ WordPress acquiescere9
Search the roots of your faith, not just Wayman's version, but the Catholic roots of Christianity as well!
You can enter into a deep, joyful, and fulfilling relationship with the One Creator of heaven and earth without having anyone else involved in that relationship aside from the two of you: God and yourself.
Don’t let anyone tell you that your Creator is “unapproachable”. You don’t need anyone to stand between you and Him. He is close to all who call upon Him in truth (Psalm 145:18). – Rabbi Eli Cohen
Read Deuteronomy 24:16
The Bible is clear, and it is consistent: one person cannot die for the sins of another. In other words, the sins committed by one person cannot be wiped out by the punishment given to another. In Exodus 32:30-35, Moses asks Gd to punish him for the sin committed by the people in regards to the Golden Calf. Gd tells Moses that the person who committed the sin is the one who must receive the punishment. Then, in Deuteronomy 24:16, Gd simply states this as a basic principle, ‘Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.’ This concept is repeated in the Prophets, in Ezekiel 18: ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die… the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.’ The prophet Jeremiah looks to the day when the mistaken belief that one man’s death atones for another man’s sins shall no longer be held by anyone: in Jeremiah 31:29-30, the prophet says: ‘In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.’ [2]
May you, no matter what your faith, be found written in The Book of Life!
The
Potter's House Christian Fellowship holds Pentecostal beliefs with a
strong emphasis on evangelism, church
planting,
and discipleship. Doctrines
include salvation
by faith,
the infallibility
of the bible, faith
healing,
and the second
coming of
Jesus Christ.
An
intense program of evangelism is promoted with regular outreach
events scheduled including, but not limited to, street
evangelism,
music concerts, movie nights, and revival
meetings,
with the intention of converting people
and increasing church membership.
A
major goal of the church is the establishment of new churches,
commonly referred to as church planting. This is achieved through the
in-house training of pastors who are then sent to start a new church.
Local congregations, both new and established, have no say over who
leads the church. Pastors in the Potter's House do not receive any
formal theological training as this is considered a waste of time and
bible college is believed to cause those wanting to become pastors to
lose their passion for the church. Instead, the church uses a process
called discipleship, a type of on-the-job training where men wanting
to become ministers are mentored by their pastor for three years
before starting their own church. These new pastors then go on to
repeat the process by training their own disciples to start new
churches. Women
in the church are not encouraged to pursue careers as the church
believes their place is in the home supporting their husbands.
Faith
healing is another belief held by the church, which holds faith
healing meetings and invites the public to attend. According to
Kenneth Whelan, people can be healed if they forgive all sins
committed against them and become Christians. Meetings generally
consist of singing, a request for donations, a sermon, and an altar
call, which is a request for people to come to the front and repent.
After this, people are called to the front to be prayed for healing.
The
church believes that participating in sin can result in physical
problems. Homosexuality can cause deafness and idol worship can cause
problems with eyesight.
Financial
support for the church comes from the collection of tithes from
its members (donating 10% of a member's gross income) and each church
in turn also pays a tithe. Financial offerings over and above the
tithe are also encouraged. According to an investigation by
Chris Hayes, the church financial structure is set up in a pyramid
structure, with each church sending 5% of its offering back to its
Mother church and another 5% back to the head church in Prescott.
The
Potter's House has received much criticism throughout its existence
and has been labeled by many as a cult. Major areas of criticism
include the level of control exerted over its members, the intense
level of commitment required, and the shunning and mistreatment of
those who have left the church.
Controlling
behavior
Lee
Stubbs, a former fellowship pastor, stated that the church uses a
subtle form of conditioning. "It's not some maniacal thing of
someone demanding blood, but the leaders have very persuasive power
over people. There was a system of things in place that directed our
lives." While
new members are given love and attention to make them want to stay in
the church, many former pastors and members have stated that
church techniques are designed to keep those in the congregation
submissive, employing fear tactics, public ridicule, and shunning to
ensure compliance. Members are told not to question the pastor's
leadership and those who do so are considered rebellious. According
to Stubbs, loyalty to the pastor is equated to loyalty to God. While
the church has stated numerous times publicly that people are free to
leave if they choose, former members have stated that pastors create
a fear that if they do leave, they will be out of the will of God,
their lives will fall apart, and they will go to hell. In one
case, the parents of a former member were killed in a car accident
shortly after she left the church. The church blamed the deaths on
the ex-member for leaving.
Level of commitment
The
church requires an intense level of commitment from its members and
uses psychological and emotional pressure to enforce that commitment.
Stubbs stated that commitment to the church is constantly reinforced
with phrases such as, "Every time the doors are open, you need
to be here. You need to stay on fire for God. You need to be
involved. You need to be committed. You need to be loyal." Members
will spend up to seven nights a week at church in their commitment to
the fellowship and have reported getting in trouble for leaving
services early.
Shunning and
mistreatment
According
to numerous former pastors and members, anyone leaving the church is
considered to be a rebel and a backslider. Current members are told
not to have anything to do with them and they will often be condemned
from the pulpit. This can include not just the shunning of
friends but the turning of family members against each other. In
cases where interaction does occur, former members have reported
receiving harassing letters and phone calls and being slandered
through rumors. In one case, church leaders were instructed to
publicly renounce a pastor who had left the group. Former
members have consistently reported that time in the church has led to
traumatic experiences both to individuals and to families. A
therapist described the symptoms of one couple who had left the
church as similar to those who suffer from post-traumatic
stress disorder. A
court prevented a man from taking his 5-year-old daughter to the
church after she was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of being
traumatized by the pastor. The pastor had dressed up as the devil
and placed the girl's hands into a bucket of fake blood with a cow's
heart in it and yelled at her that she would never get her hand out.
The pastor did not deny the event and stated that it was good to have
some fear in your life. Others stated the church had robbed them
of self-esteem and independence, and left them feeling spiritually
shattered, while others said their involvement with the church led to
divorce.
Lack of pastoral
training
Former
pastors of the church have noted that not only do pastors have little
experience when they are sent out but because the church does not
send men to bible school, they are also poorly equipped in
understanding the bible which leads to indoctrination in Potter's
House methodology rather than having a bible-based background.
Cult
The
intensity of involvement and indoctrination by the church has led to
many former members labeling the group a cult. The church has
been accused of brainwashing its members resulting in the blind
following church beliefs and the division of families. Any doubts
or questioning of the church is attributed to lying spirits and the
voice of the devil, and is considered akin to doubting God.
Tale
of an Aussie who escaped from the clutches of Yankee Imperialist
religion.
It
was not until I left that I began to realise the depth of control
mechanisms exercised over the people. In fact I remember praying when
I was still in the fellowship and asking God what it was that was
troubling me so. All I could hear in reply in my spirit at that time
was the word "CONTROL." One of my friends whom also left
the "Regime" or the "Firm", (as we now call it),
calls it "the sound of cracking whips." There is much more
detail that I could write but I feel I have said enough.
There
are many sincere, dedicated folk in Potters. I have no axe to grind
with any of them. They are simply the fruit of a movement bound in
religious legalism, elitism, authoritarian leadership and
isolationism. If
you are reading this article and you are still in the movement I
suggest you look closely at what is going on around you. In writing
this I have not exaggerated the details. Talk to some folk outside.
You are not the only "REAL" Christians! Read More
https://www.culteducation.com/group/896-christian-fellowship-churches/5733-no-longer-a-redneck.html
This picture was taken at the Alabama Ladies retreat. Sis Patty Twyman took down her hair to summon the power of the angels over the prayer requests. Many prayers were answered.
A
couple sit anxiously in the ER, where their only child is being
frantically attended to. As they fall to their knees in desperate
prayer, the husband pulls out what he believes to be his biggest
bargaining chip with God:
“Heal
our child, Lord. Work a miracle. My wife, this child’s mother,
has never
cut her hair.”
If
you’re not a current or former member of the United Pentecostal
Church International or other Apostolic organization, this may sound
crazy. But not only is it a prayer that is actually prayed, it’s a
concept that’s regularly preached over the pulpits. Women should
not cut their hair. Having uncut hair is a sign of submission to God,
and gives them “power.”
This
concept is tied together with a whole litany of “holiness
standards” that women have to meet in order to be considered saved,
and members in good standing in these churches. Things like:
Not
wearing pants, or “that which pertaineth to a man”
Not
wearing makeup
Not
wearing jewelry, other than (in some churches) a watch, and wedding
or class ring, and sometimes brooches on clothing.
*"Well, again historically speaking, if you study Judaism you will find that it is part of their belief that a man fails his wife if he does not provide her with jewelry and cosmetics to make herself look attractive for her husband."
Dressing
modestly – no cleavage, no clothing too tight, no exposing too
much skin. This of course makes it the woman’s fault when a man
has lustful thoughts, and by extension when and if he acts upon
those thoughts in an inappropriate way.
All
of the above are supposed to be outward signs of her inner submission
to God and the (male) authority figures in her life.
(Father, Pastor, Husband.) And in a society that primarily judges
women based upon appearance, this has a profound – even if subtle
at times – psychological effect.
So
how do these churches sell women on this concept? How do they
convince us (especially thosewho
are converts, and who haven’t been indoctrinated with the concept
their whole lives) toforego
self-expression on
this level?
Well,
I’m glad you asked.
Holy Magic
Hair, Batman!
Our
old friend Rev Lee Stoneking has a rather famous sermon on this
topic. Many have named it, “Holy Magic Hair.” I’ve embedded the
full video in this post so you can see everything in
context if you so desire.
The
most important thing here is that women will “miss out on the
promises of God” if they get this teaching about hair wrong. Notice
that he doesn’t say women who get this wrong will be punished per
se… but you will miss
out on the good things you could get for being obedient.
This
is a very slick psychological trick. We’re not beating you up with
condemnation… we just don’t want you to miss out on something
special. It’s a well known fact of human psychology that we will do
more to avoid missing out on or losing something than we will ever do
to obtain a benefit.
He
gets a little convoluted, repeating the “expanded” interpretation
of the Greek over and over. But notice where he’s going with this:
you women have power
and authority,
granted to you by a higher court, by your uncut hair. Further –
and we’ll delve into this a bit more below – this doesn’t
just apply to you, but affects
your whole community.
I
swear this makes me think of the snake in the Garden of Eden. “Do
this. It will make you wise. It will give you power.”
Right?
So,
women. When you DO obey God and keep those scissors away from your
hair, you have power and authority. Your community has freedom. You
can do something a man can’t do! You can hinder
revival, block a move of God, and quite possibly condemn your
neighbors to Hell for all eternity when they don’t come to God all
because YOU TRIMMED YOUR SPLIT ENDS!!
Of
course, you do not have “power” of your own. It is the
gift of this “higher court” – an outside entity – and it can
be revoked at any time if you’re in any way rebellious or
disobedient.
This
is some seriously high level brainwashing. You are not to cut your
hair, not even trim it. But doing so doesn’t make you a
second-class citizen (neither does not being allowed to wear pants,
makeup or jewelry, or have the final say in decisions made concerning
your family, or the fact that you’re not supposed to hold
leadership positions… ) to the contrary, this makes
you special.MORE
powerful. It
certainly makes you better than (more holy than) those
run-of-the-mill women out there who get to chop off their glory and
dress like harlots, painting their faces like Tammy Faye Bakker.
See
how that works?
The
contempt! The disgust dripping from Stoneking here… clearly he’s
talking about some serious perversion. And of course, while he
doesn’t come out and say it, what he means is clear when he uses
the code word, “Lifestyle.” And just in case you weren’t
shaking in your skirt, he mentions Roman Caesars.
So
yes, it’s clear: If you’re secretly trimming your hair, or
wearing some kind of subtle makeup that may not be obviously noticed…
you may be subtle, but your son and his children will be bold. Not
only will they not “live for God” they’ll very likely be
perverts of some kind. So yeah, if you want your precious little boy
to grow up and decide to be gay, just keep trimming those ends.
Stoneking really admits the crux of the issue:
Short
hair is the symbol of a woman’s freedom. And we just can’t have
that.
On that note, I’m going to move on from Rev. Stoneking, although I do
suggest if you’re bored and want to hear some craziness, go-ahead
and watch the whole sermon. He gets into the “holy magic” part
where women’s uncut hair is good for some awesome party tricks in
the second half.
Is Not Cutting
Your Hair Really Subjugation?
So
this is a legitimate question. Lots of women enjoy wearing their hair
long – does that mean they’re subjugating themselves? No, of
course not. One, because SHE CHOOSES to wear her hair long. And two,
she’s still allowed to take care of said hair by trimming the ends.
Let
me give you some personal experience. It had been over a decade
between trims for me – so yeah, I had some moments during my 20
years that I did the sneaky trim the ends thing Stoneking talks about
above. (No gay sons, tho. Despite having been exposed to gay friends
of mine, both are straight males. I guess it just hasn’t come back
to bite me yet lol). But as I was starting to make my way out of the
UPC, I started trimming again.
And
I will never forget what happened when I first took a pair of
scissors and cut off a few inches of scraggly, frizzy, messed up
split ends from my hair. It looked as though I’d gone out and
invested in some kind of expensive conditioning treatment. My whole
hair was shinier, bouncier – it looked 100 times healthier.
Of
course, that was nothing compared to my first trip to the salon when
I actually got a good professional cut and color. Talk about life-changing!
Subjugation On
A Deep, Psychological Level
I
don’t know if men can fully understand this. But as I mentioned
above, we live in a society that judges women based upon our
appearance. This causes an awful lot of women’s self esteem – for
better or for worse – to be tied up in how we look. And that is
reinforced day in and day out by our society. Not saying any of that
is right or wrong, just that it IS.
Now,
take a woman and forbid her to trim her hair. For a while, it may
look really nice and she may be happy that she’s finally having the
long hair she’s always dreamed of. Because yeah, all of us have
wanted that gorgeous flowing mane at some point or another. But then
it keeps growing. And the ends start to frizzle and fray, and it
stops looking healthy.
Meanwhile,
tell this woman she is forbidden to wear makeup of any kind. She
can’t cover up age spots or dark circles under her eyes. She can’t
do anything to maximize good features or minimize bad ones. People
may tell her (as they told me) she looks under the weather. I can
tell you from experience, going without makeup makes you feel exposed
if you’ve never done it before. More vulnerable. It can be subtle…
then again sometimes not. One thing I never felt when I stopped
wearing makeup was “free.”
At
the same time our woman will have removed all jewelry except for
maybe a wedding ring. This is another
area of self expression she can no longer participate in. The
message is that she is not
to be adorned in
any way. She is to be meek, quiet and modest:
“Whose
adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair,
and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it
be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible,even
the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God
of great price.” — 1 Peter 3:3-4, KJV
And
don’t forget, she must cover up her nasty, sinful flesh because it
will be HER FAULT if a man in her vicinity sees some cleavage or the
outline of a rear end and had lustful thoughts.
All
of this has a profound psychological impact on a woman and her self
esteem. There’s no way it can’t. She’s not free, she’s not in
control, she’s not capable and strong. She’s the “weaker
vessel” that must be “honored” with all of these restrictions.
But she silences that feeling, telling herself instead that she’s
got power (not her OWN power, but power gifted to her by another
Being, and that Being may decide at ANY TIME to revoke this “power”
if she messes up). She’s been placed on a pedestal because of her
specialness and submission.
And
all the while she doesn’t realize she’s locked herself into a
cage.
"A woman’s long hairsymbolizes that she submitsto God’s plan and to the familyleadership of her husband. It is her glory. It is a sign to the angels of her commitment to God andher powerwith God. It is a covering so that she can pray and prophesy publicly without being ashamed. Similarly, a man’s short hair symbolizes that he submits to God’s plan and accepts the family leadership position. For both married and unmarried, this symbol indicates obedience to God’s will."~ David K. Bernard's symposium paper regarding hair doctrine
The material explanation arrived at by a number of studies is that glossolalia is "learned behavior".What is taught is the ability to produce language-like speech. This is only a partial explanation, but it is a part that has withstood much testing. It is possible to train novices to produce glossolalic speech. One experiment with 60 undergraduates found that 20% succeeded after merely listening to a 60-second sample, and 70% succeeded after training:
Our findings that glossolalia can be easily learned through direct instruction, along with demonstrations that tongue speakers can initiate and terminate glossolalia upon request and can exhibit glossolalia in the absence of any indexes of trance support the hypothesis that glossolalia utterances are goal-directed actions rather than involuntary happenings.
The admittedly fraudulent preacher Marjoe Gortner described in a 1977 interview how people learn glossolalia in a highly emotional religious setting.
"Tongues is something you learn," he emphasized. "It is a releasing that you teach yourself. You are told by your peers, the church, and the Bible – if you accept it literally – that the Holy Ghost speaks in another tongue; you become convinced that it is the ultimate expression of the spirit flowing through you. The first time maybe you'll just go dut-dut-dut-dut, and that's about all that will get out. Then you'll hear other people and next night you may go dut-dut-dut-UM-dut-DEET-dut-dut, and it gets a little better. The next thing you know, it's ela-hando-satelay-eek-condele-mosandrey-aseya ... and it's a new language you've got down."
That glossolalia can be learned is also seen in the traces left behind by teachers. An investigation by the Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn showed that the influence of a particular leader can shape a group's glossolalia: where certain prominent glossolalists had visited, whole groups of glossolalists would speak in his style of speech.
Kavan found that most New Zealand Pentecostals and Charismatics did not experience trance except during the baptism of the spirit. However, meditators in a yoga-based purification group experienced frequent intense trances, of which glossolalia was an occasional manifestation. Kavan suggested that there are two types of glossolalia – spontaneous and context-dependent – and the former is more likely to occur in groups that are radical, experiential and charismatically led.
Tongues Pentecostals, members of the Assemblies of God churches, and some other charismatics usually place great emphasis on spiritual "gifts and manifestations, claiming that there is a special post-salvation gift/experience called the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" or "Second Blessing", in which the Holy Spirit, in all His fullness, is poured out on the believer and that the initial evidence of this "Second Blessing" is speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. When someone is "overcome by the Spirit" they often begin speaking gibberish, wave their arms, or even fall writhing on the floor. Apparently the speaker is said to be possessed by the Holy Spirit with the person himself having no control over his own tongue, which is is usually taken as absolute proof that one has been baptized in the Spirit, a highly prized spiritual goal. But if, as shown, tongues were a known language in the New Testament and there is absolutely no evidence to show that it was some form of ecstatic speech, and Paul instructed that everything was to be done decently and in order, where does the the unintelligible gibberish, jerking, twitching, falling on the floor etc. all come from? Is it even possible that the devil has substituted the true gift of tongues with a knock-off version? Has the allure of receiving some form of deeper spiritual experience deceived countless millions into accepting this counterfeit?-
When you
realize what you've been taught the Bible says is not what the Bible
says.
2
Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness:
Paul
is not talking about “scripture” being the Book of Catholicism
aka The New Testament, IT HAD NOT BEEN WRITTEN YET. He's talking
about the Tanakh (Tanach)
the
Hebrew Bible what the church calls “the Old Testament”, written
in Herbrew, not one word of it has changed since given from Sinai
3300+ years ago. [lookup: Accuracy of Torah Text @ aish]
Acts
17:11 Now
the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in
Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and
examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Examined
the Scriptures? Bear in mind – The
New Testament HAD
NOT BEEN WRITTEN YET.
The Scriptures being examined was the Hebrew Bible, The Tanakh
(Tanach)
The
word “Torah” is derived from two Hebrew words:
“Hora'ah”
(teaching).
“Orah,”
(light).
Torah is the Hebrew word that means "instruction".
The Lord your God is testing you
If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testingyou to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. Deuteronomy 13
A word from a former Pastor
As
a former church pastor and former messianic teacher, I offer to
Christians a few observations and advice. First, you've been taught
to view the world through the lens of your religion and to reject
out-of-hand anything that conflicts or calls into question the
Christian faith. You must find a way to undo this indoctrinated
approach and seek truth for truth's sake.
Learn
the original language of the Hebrew Scriptures, at least well enough
to look up words and cross-reference. Start with Genesis and work
your way through giving no thought to the things you've been taught
in the church, and without trying to "find Jesus" in the
words. Before you dismiss that thought, consider this: Before the
days of your book, this is how the Scriptures were studied.
Also,
there are plenty of Jewish websites dedicated to answering
Christianity's teachings, and rabbis who will answer your questions
(when asked respectfully, with a sincere desire for knowledge, not
the desire to argue). There are videos on YouTube as well. Rabbi
Tovia Singer has many videos that are presented to Christians in a
spirit of love in a respectful and humble manner. There is also Rabbi
Michael Skobac and Jews for Judaism. His teachings are more for Jews,
so the presentation is a little different from that of Rabbi Singer's
but every bit as thorough. Both will provide you with a great
starting point of learning the Hebrew Scriptures from a Jewish
perspective.
I
know that all seems a bit counter-intuitive given your ideology of a
"great commission," but it beats trying to tell Jews how
they should interpret their Scriptures which they had for thousands
of years before yours were ever conceived. If you have no interest in
knowing how "the other side" thinks, then I recommend you
stick to friends and groups who share your views.
I
wish you well. Enjoy your learning! ~Kalev Ben Noach
Gutman Locks answers fundamental questions about Judaism for Pastor Joel Kramer.
