REASON #

17 REASONS WHY I LEFT THE TONGUES MOVEMENT

By Alfred H. Pohl

202 - 33401 Mayfair Ave., Abbotsford, B.C. V2S 6Z2 Canada
Box 856, Three Hills, Alberta T0M 2A0 Canada

CONTENTS

Reason # 1--Sincere convictions regarding their doctrines, emphases, and practices
Reason #2--An unsound biblical basis for their doctrine of the Holy Spirit
Reason #3--An over-emphasis of one gift of the Holy Spirit
Reason #4--An under-emphasis of other doctrines, particularly the cross-work of Christ
Reason #5--Their "experience" orientation
Reason #6--The undermining of the personality of the Holy Spirit
Reason #7--Spiritual pride and disunity produced by their doctrine
Reason #8--The teaching that tongues speaking is a sign of spirituality or even of salvation
Reason #9--Sign-seeking instead of faith
Reason #10--Questionable activities practiced and condoned
Reason #11--The fear of questioning the so-called activities of the Holy Spirit
Reason #12--The view that the Corinthian church was a model church
Reason #13--The danger of claiming extra-biblical revelation
Reason #14--The excesses and deceptive practices condoned in divine healing campaigns
Reason #15--The tendency to blind, unquestioning devotion to popular leaders
Reason #16--The possibility that the Charismatic Movement will be instrumental in producing the prophesied world ecumenical church of the last days
Reason #17--Their distortion of the true Spirit-filled life
Charismatics: Whither Bound?
Helpful Books on the Charismatic Movement

REASON # 7

SPIRITUAL PRIDE AND DISUNITY PRODUCED BY THEIR DOCTRINE

By the very nature of their doctrine of the Holy Spirit the door is opened to the possibility of spiritual pride entering in, and for the tongues speaker to think of himself as being spiritually superior to the brother who has not had a similar experience. Though this feeling is generally not openly expressed it is there, nevertheless. I have observed this many times, both in my years in the Movement and also since I left. In case someone might think this to be an unfair appraisal, let me quote from a tract that I have before me right now, written by a well-known Pentecostal minister, R.E. McAlister, and published by the Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, Mo. It is Evangel Tract No. 251.

"It is admitted by Bible students the world over that speaking with tongues as the Spirit gives utterance is a sign. Suppose we ask the question, `Of what is it a sign?’ The answer is found in God’s own Word, for we find the sign accompanied the reception of the Holy Spirit when God standardized New Testament Christian experience. It follows logically, then, that only those who have spoken in tongues can lay claim to a normal New Testament experience. All others, regardless of what they profess or claim, ARE BELOW PAR." (Capitalization mine)

So with the teaching of a second blessing with tongues-speaking evidence comes this inevitable thought: "All others are below par." "I have arrived." "I am on a higher plane." "I am more spiritual."

This reminds me of the same attitude that was so prevalent in the Corinthian church and which Paul deplored. Just recently my attention was drawn to a phrase that Paul used several times in his first letter to the Corinthians. You can find it in chapter five, verse two. The phrase is "ye are puffed up." Six times these words appear in this epistle. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible informs us that the words "puffed up" mean "inflated." Inflated!

What a description of the spiritual condition of the Corinthian Church!

Yes, they had the gifts of the Spirit, and especially the gift of tongues, in operation in their church. They thought themselves to be "spiritual," but were blind to the fact that "spiritual" people are not "proud." They were "puffed up," "inflated," spiritually proud, but from God’s viewpoint, they are called "carnal" four times in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4. Why? Because of their spiritual ignorance (1 Cor. 12:1)--their misunderstanding and abuse of the gift of tongues particularly.

That this feeling of superiority and spiritual pride still exists I discovered not long ago. After a Sunday evening service in which I was speaking in a series of messages on the Holy Spirit, a man approached me.

He shoved the button in his coat lapel up to my face and asked if I knew what it was. I didn’t answer immediately because I had taken my glasses off and couldn’t focus my eyes on that button so close to my face. I tried backing up to get it into focus but he kept following me. Before I could read it he said something like this, "You don’t know anything about it! If you did you would have recognized it right away." Then he tapped me on the shoulder, as he stood his full height, and looked down at me and said, "Well, I’ve got more than you have!" With that he turned and strode out of the church. Incidentally, the button he was wearing was that of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Association.

Not only does their doctrine and emphasis produce spiritual pride in some, but it also opens the door to disunity and division. A natural result of this tongues experience, teaching, and emphasis is to produce two groups in the church—the "haves" and the "have-nots." Perhaps we can call it "Christian class consciousness"?

No, it might not be obvious on the surface, but the problem is there. One Christian separates himself from another because he thinks that his "experience" has put him on a higher plane than the "have-not" brother. Or it may be a whole group that will separate themselves from fellow believers or one church from another church. The attitude that "we have more than you have" seems to be the underlying and basic reason for these unhappy separations and divisions. This is not simply a fundamentalist-Charismatic division, but occurs, surprisingly, too often among the Tongues people themselves. Was this not a problem in Corinth, as well. There were divisions and cliques in their church, too (See 1 Corinthians 3:1-4). All this, Paul informs us, is not a sign of spirituality but of carnality, as we read in 1 Corinthians 3:3:

"For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?"