Why I Left The Tongues Movement - By Alfred H. Pohl

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REASON # 5

THEIR "EXPERIENCE" ORIENTATION

To many in the Tongues Movement experience has become all-important, crowding Scriptural teaching into second place. Experience has become the criterion of truth. It is dangerous to build doctrine on experience. The Bible, not our experiences, is the final ground of authority.

I well remember an illustration that was used in my day in the Tongues Movement. A fundamentalist pastor had heard that a colored boy in his congregation was attending Pentecostal meetings. He took the boy aside to warn him about getting some counterfeit experience. But before he could finish his warning the young lad cleverly replied, "Too late, Pastor, me got it!" Now this answer, supposedly making and proving a point and also good for some laughter and Amens, really can be very misleading. It does not prove that the "experience" is genuine. Secondly, the experience can very easily be misinterpreted and wrongly labeled with a Bible name.

We could ask, "Is this experience really the `filling' that the Bible speaks about?" Commenting on this, Dr. John F. Walvoord said: "The final test (of any experience) must always be what the Scriptures actually teach" (John Walvoord, The Holy Spirit, Dunham Publishing Company, 1958, used by permission of Zondervan Publishing Company).

There are experiences, experiences, and experiences. People hear voices, see visions, have dreams, have contacts with non-human beings, fall prostrate on the floor, see lights, and on and on. If we are to believe and accept every one of these as genuine and from God, and build doctrine on them, where would we be? But how then can we know the truth? There is only one way, and that is by testing everything with the straight edge of the ruler of Scripture, not with experience. The error that is often made is to have the "experience" and then try to fit it into the Scriptures and find a "label" for it.

We must also be very sure that we know what the Scriptures actually teach; otherwise, we can still fit our experiences into the Scriptures, put a Bible label on them, and go on unwittingly attributing our experiences to the work of the Holy Spirit. That this has and is being done, no one can honestly deny.

Some time ago I read of some Brazilian Christians who claimed to have received messages from God that they were to drown their children because of the terrible future they would face if they grew up into this troubled world. The deceived parents murdered their own offspring! Now I'm sure that they were sincere and convinced that the voices they had heard were from God. But they were sincerely wrong because their action was contrary to the teaching of God's Word, the Scriptures. Remember, an experience does not prove its own genuineness! Also, never bend the Scriptures to accommodate your experiences!

An evangelist spent several hours discussing and examining the basic teaching of the Charismatic Movement in the light of the Scriptures with a Charismatic lady, only to hear her say, "Oh, but my experience!" He then asked her, "Will you take the Scriptures or your experience?" But there was no clear response from her.

When one places experience on an equal footing with Scripture, a grave error is committed. Experience alone can be very deceiving. Notice Christ's warning in Matthew 7:22-23:

"Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."

Here the Lord speaks of miraculous experiences being produced by non- Christians. They had been deceived into believing, by their experiences, that they were instruments of the Lord's power when they actually were workers of iniquity. And notice also, these were using the Lord's name in all of this. Beware of deception, particularly that which is done even using the name of Jesus!

Dr. John F. Walvoord in his book entitled The Holy Spirit writes as follows:

"The final test must always be what the Scriptures actually teach. Experience may serve as a partial test of the conclusions, but in itself the Bible must be taken as the final authority. Experience ever possesses two fatal grounds for error: 1) a misapprehension of the experience itself in its content and divine origin; 2) a faulty conclusion as to the doctrinal meaning of the experience. Hence, on the one hand, an experience supposedly of divine origin may be purely psychological, or worse, a deceiving device of Satan himself. On the other hand, a genuine experience may be misunderstood and mislabeled."

Too often the tongues-experience seeker is almost forced to speak in strange sounds, and when he does, that experience is then interpreted for him by some Charismatic and labeled as the "baptism." But is it? Do we take the scriptural teaching for our guide or the words of a man or woman? Dr. Walvoord states:

"We are ever prone to interpret Scripture through experience, instead of interpreting experience through Scripture. The factor of human experience is very close to some aspects of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, but experience may not be normal, and if normal may not be properly interpreted. Much harm has come through arbitrary doctrines established in the last analysis on experience rather than revelation" (John Walvoord, The Holy Spirit, Grand Rapids: Zondervan).

Because "experience" is so much emphasized, there is great danger that some seek for the "experience" instead of the Holy Spirit Himself. In other words, the "gift" becomes more important than the Giver. I am greatly concerned about an expression that I heard very often: "Have you got it, brother?" What is meant by that word "it"? Could "it" refer merely to the experience? I'm afraid that is the meaning to many Tongues people today. It seems to me that the tongues-speaking experience has become a status symbol. It gives them spiritual prestige and makes them "acceptable" to their Charismatic fellows.

Another error, I believe, is the teaching that all the experiences recorded in Scripture should be the normal experience of Christians today. One man, referring to tongues speaking, endeavored to prove that this experience was for every Christian today because "it's in the Bible." Need we remind ourselves that circumcision is also in the Bible, in the New Testament, even in the Book of Acts. Does that mean that all Christians should be circumcised today? What about the "cloven tongues like as of fire" that "sat upon each of them" at Pentecost and the "sound ... as of a rushing mighty wind"? Are we to seek these experiences today because "they are in the Bible"? We would do well to take heed to the words of one Bible teacher, F.D. Taylor, Sr., who has summarized this question in these words: "All experiences in the Bible were given for instruction, but they were not all given for duplication" (F.D. Taylor, Sr., Should I Speak in Tongues?, Scarborough, Ontario: Everyday Publications, used by permission).

Let us never forget the importance of the teachings of Scripture. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable [for what?] for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That [that what?] the man of God may be perfect [complete , mature, accomplishing God's purpose], throughly furnished unto all good works." It is the Scripture, primarily, and not experiences that can "thoroughly furnish " or equip us for effective living and service for Christ.

It was Peter who, with James and John, witnessed Christ's transfiguration on the mount (Matt. 17:1-9). What an outstanding experience this must have been for him. In his second epistle, chapter one, and verses 15-18 Peter refers to this experience. But now notice what he says In the verses immediately following (19-21). We read in part: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place ..." Was Peter building his theology or doctrine on that wonderful experience or did he have something "more sure"?

Yes, he did [have something more sure]. It was the Word of God that was given through "holy men of God" who "spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (verse 21).

In effect, Peter is saying here, "I have something more trustworthy, `more sure' than that mountaintop experience; it is the revealed Word of God spoken by the prophets in the Scriptures." The "more sure" Word of Scripture is the best and final authority, not experience.

A lady who was very much taken up with Charismatic experiences was trying to convince me recently that these were all so wonderful and genuine. I kept referring to the Scriptures and tried to show her that we must be guided by the doctrine of the Scriptures, not by our interpretation of our experiences, and that the Bible is the final authority of truth. After a while she became very much annoyed and said, "Doctrine! Doctrine! I am sick and tired of that word!" Unfortunately, she was putting experience above the Word of God. It is just this attitude and failure to recognize the Scriptures as the supreme and final authority that leads to confusion and often, spiritual shipwreck. Let's build on the solid rock of the Word of God, not on the sinking sand of human experiences and man's interpretation of them!

In closing this section, let me quote a paragraph from a Christian paper called Listening:

"Let it be remembered that you cannot trust religious experiences. The first awareness of the Lord, the ecstasy of worship, the physical act of water baptism, the second, third, and hundredth blessing, are all what has happened IN you. Get your confidence on what has happened FOR you. The luster of your experience fades and shines according to your health, you circumstances, your frame of mind. But what the Saviour did for you when He died on the cross, what He is doing now for you living on the throne, and all that is yours in Him never changes because it depends on Him, not on you" (Listening, a Christian magazine, Master's House, Box 5055, London, Ontario).

Reason #6--The undermining of the personality of the Holy Spirit