Rather than answer the original clips point by point, I am going to provide a series of post with the teaching on tongues as I received it, taught it, and practiced it for now 41 years.
First, my wife, before she died wrote a book of miracles in her life. It is here;
http://www.kenbehrens.com/Miracles.pdf
Page3-4 contains her experience and her teaching on tongues:
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All That Tongues Jazz
(1 Corinthians 14:5)
“I don’t know about all that tongues jazz, Lord, but just give ‘em to her!” my very concerned and
sincere Pentecostal friend, Mark, prayed for me after a music rehearsal at my place one summer
evening in the mid-70s.
His prayer was the outcome of an interesting debate we’d just had on whether or not a person was
really saved if he or she didn’t have the gift of tongues.
I knew I had been saved for the past 2 1⁄2 years, but I didn’t have tongues yet. Mark’s theology
stated that if I was really saved, I’d have the “evidence of speaking in tongues.” I’d put a crimp in his
theology because he knew that my life had drastically changed and I acted saved and Baptized in the
Spirit.
We bid good evening. I put my young son to bed and started praying out loud, in my usual fashion
before I retired.
I had said, “Praise You, Jesus!” a few times when, all of a sudden, I felt the weirdest power coming
from my stomach area. Then I felt power all around me in the room.
Just like Scripture says, “from out of your belly shall flow living water”(John 7:38), a churning,
surging force of spiritual water rose up from my spirit. To my utter amazement, at the same time, a
bunch of very foreign sounds started flowing out of my mouth. The words poured out with great force
and I was, of course, afraid.
“If this is from You, Lord, don’t let me block it. Please take away the fear.” I prayed in my mind.
The words continued to flow out of my mouth late into the night. I heard myself praying
paragraphs and paragraphs in distinctly different languages. I didn’t understand a word I was saying,
but I knew it was of God. I felt excited and peaceful all at once. I’d finally gotten the gift of tongues!
I don’t know when I finally fell asleep.
After all the beautiful words I’d heard myself saying the night before, I awoke with the ability to
speak only one word, “Pit-tee-key-tee.” Believe me, this sounded very comical. Don’t ever tell me
God doesn’t have a sense of humor!
I went around for about two weeks with only this one word, much to the amusement of my tongue-
speaking friends. They told me that if I continued to use that one word, the tongues would develop
and grow. I persevered.
After a few months, my prayer language did develop into different dialects for different occasions.
When I prayed for certain people and situations, I noticed the language would change. I still think this
is a very cool aspect of tongues.
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When I had first gotten saved and was devouring every book I could find on the Christian life, I
came across a few books that mentioned the gift of tongues and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
None of these books, however, had given any instructions on how to get tongues. It had never
occurred to me that I had to actually open my mouth and say something in order for the tongues to
come out.
After I’d read my first book on the subject, I’d sit cross-legged on the floor of our little upstairs
den, pray with raised hands and ask the Lord to please give me the gift of tongues. Then I’d get real
quiet and serious, brace myself and cringe a little, as if waiting for God to drop tongues like a ton of
bricks out of heaven onto my head. After repeating this “technique” several times without any results,
I’d given up.
Until Mark and I had our little debate a couple of years later, I’d never heard that I needed to open
my mouth and pray out loud in order for the tongues to manifest.
I have always loved the gift of tongues. I especially like singing in tongues. Some of my more
religious and serious friends would think me very sacrilegious when I’d sing in tongues to the tunes of
familiar TV commercials. But, remembering the Pit-tee-key-tee Era, I figured God didn’t mind.
I am very grateful for my prayer language for three reasons: It has snuffed out the desire to sin
during times of strong temptation; it enables me to pray with God’s heart when I don’t know how to
pray for situations; and it has been like a spiritual umbilical cord, tying my will to God’s when I’d
rather go my own way instead of obeying Him, or when it feels like He is far away.
The gift of tongues has always been my assurance in dark times that God is always so much closer
than I think.
Personally, I don’t believe that a person has to receive tongues to prove that he or she has been
Baptized in the Holy Spirit. I also do not consider those who speak in tongues as being “better” or
closer to the Lord than those who don’t have tongues. I do, however, believe that God loves to give
this prayer language to anyone who has truly made Him their Savior and Lord and who asks Him for
it.
