Baptism with the Holy Spirit

3. Are there any Christians who speak in tongues but actually are not baptized with the Holy Spirit?

Yes, there are, and they are even very numerous. Many pastors as well as many sheep are not baptized with the Holy Spirit at all, even though they seem to have been baptized for they speak with other tongues, which actually are not true tongues for these people have never experienced the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

These people were able to counterfeit the baptism with the Holy Spirit because tongues are the outward sign attesting the baptism with the Holy Spirit, thus to them it was sufficient to invent some words, that is to say, to utter some vowels and some syllables, to give the impression to many that they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. In many cases, this took place because of the power of suggestion of some preachers who, by using expressions like ‘Begin to speak a word, then speak another word, and you will see that little by little you will learn to speak with other tongues!’, or ‘Say ‘Alleluia, Alleluia’, or, ‘Worship the Lord, surrender yourself to the Lord and you will see that you will begin to speak with other tongues’ or again ‘Speak with tongues, speak with tongues’, or ‘You need to release the Holy Spirit, you have to let Him out. Just begin to offer Him sounds, just offer Him sounds, like a little child. Don’t pay any attention to how you feel or how you sound. Just do it!’ persuaded them into uttering some words which looked like the speaking with other tongues produced by a true baptism with the Holy Spirit.

However, just as in the natural field sooner or later a counterfeit product will be discovered, so in the spiritual field sooner or later a counterfeit baptism with the Holy Spirit will show itself for what it is. How will it prove to be false? Believers will discern it is a false baptism with the Holy Spirit by the following evidences. First of all, those who speak those words have not received power from on high, which was promised by the Lord to His disciples, as He said: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8), thus since they lack power it is impossible to believe that they have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Secondly, those who speak those strange words do not experience any edification inwardly, for a true speaking in other tongues edifies the believer who speaks in tongues, for the apostle Paul says that “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself” (1 Corinthians 14:4). And thirdly, they do not speak those words because the Spirit gives them utterance or because the Spirit prompts them to speak those words, but because they try hard to speak those words, that is to say, because their speaking ‘with other tongues’ is not a spontaneous phenomenon produced by the Holy Spirit but a complicated phenomenon produced by their craftiness and ability.

Obviously, those who give the impression to be baptized with the Holy Spirit deceive themselves as well as the others. In my opinion, however, they cause the greatest damage to themselves for they wilfully deprive themselves of the power of God as well as of this glorious and useful spiritual phenomenon, which is speaking with other tongues that follows the true baptism with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, to come out of this diabolical deceit, they must stop speaking those meaningless expressions and begin to earnestly desire the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Since I know that very often a counterfeit baptism with the Holy Spirit is caused by the impatience of believers, I say to those believers who have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit: ‘Have faith in God, wait patiently and confidently for the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. You must understand that when He baptizes you, you will not invent anything, for you will begin to speak with other tongues as the Spirit will give you utterance’.

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