Growing up in a Baptist home, speaking in tongues wasn't something that happened often. We rarely had a congregational applause after a special song, much less someone running repeatedly down the isles, waving their "hankies" around, shaking their entire bodies and screaming, what sounded to me at the time, baby language.
After leaving the Baptist church I had attended my entire life thus far, my family decided to attend a pentecostal church near our house. After the culture shock wore off, I had quickly identified and noted the pro's and con's of and the differences between the Baptist and the Pentecostal culture. The baptist congregation, as a whole, through their actions anyways, seemed to have gotten the silent game mixed with the Joy of "worshiping the Lord." I don't know how, but they still haven't really figured out the confusion between the two and they still correlate with each other. In contrast, the pentecostal congregation seems to confuse worship with a roadie for a death metal band. It's nice to have people look at you, so close to the band and all; and, listening to the same songs over and over again for months before another one is played, but you always have the popular song, played by demand, that really gets em goin.
That being said, I can recall my first experience with speaking in tongues and would like to tell you my story...
It all started at a Pentecostal Church Camp... I was in my first year of high school when I attended a pentecostal church camp for the first time. During the day, like any camp, we had our fun activities, sports, competitive games, snack stands, pool time etc... But during the night, that's when the magic happened. It was a great start to the week. I Had a great, intimate time of worship, and even learned a new song, and learned that same song again every day after that. However, I began to notice something. During one of three alter calls that normally took place during the message, I noticed that a group of leaders and other students began going to each individual person at the alter and began praying for them. But not only were they praying, they were pushing, waiving, shaking them until they fell to the ground. It was like watching Benny Hinn live. Anyhow, I knew it was only a matter of time before they did the same thing to me. Not knowing what was going on or why it was happening, because I grew up in a different background, I was nervous to worship. After a few days I began to forget about it and went up to pray. Before I knew it, they had pulled one over on me. I was being slapped in the forehead with oil, spit on, yelled at, and shook repeatedly before I knew what was happening. While I was in an almost panic situation, I had remembered that each student that was prayed for spoke in some weird language; and, when they did, the rest would stop bothering them and would go off to the next person. So, with some quick thinking, I began shouting out the only thing I knew that I knew no one would understand. I slowly started speaking Ugandan. I got louder and louder until I was screaming it; only to find that they were now just shaking me harder and caking my face with oil and spit. Then I did the only thing I knew to do, fall on the ground. I fell on the ground and acted like I was passed out. While still a little afraid of what had just happened, I decided to stay in that position until things died down. Turns out I was in that position for almost an hour and ended up falling asleep shortly after.
And the next night, the same thing happened.
I hope I have painted a funny picture in your mind with this story. This story is true and it makes me laugh every time I think about it. However, it is also a constant reminder of something we all do. We tend to see how others react and what others do and follow in their footsteps. Without even thinking, listening or consulting God, we see the crowd and follow the crowd. We do this because we want the experience of a worship service rather than a true encounter with Christ.
We all do dumb things without thinking them through.. So I challenge you; quit living someone Else's relationship with God and take the time to develop and build a personal relationship with him. Just because a large number believers respond one way, doesn't mean it's the smartest road to take..
Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. "
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment