Sunday, May 24, 2009

Glossolalia Gone Bad

Commentor Prophetic Observer linked to this halarious video in the last comment thread. I thought it was so telling that I had to post it as an article. The first minister you see is Rodney Howard-Browne. He starts testifying and then breaks into a round of glossolalia. Then the other minister on stage, who is none other than Kenneth Copeland, joins in on the glossolafest. Then to my amasement, They actually start to argue in their made up "heavenly language". You can't make this stuff up.



I have a few questions that probably can't be answered about this.

  1. Do the evangelists actually believe that they are conversing in a heavenly language?

  2. Does the audience actually buy it that they are conversing in a heavenly language?

  3. Is there anyone in the audience that was as offended by that display as I?

  4. Was it a joke?

  5. How do I tell if it's a joke?


This clip comes from the video The Blind and The Dead by Texe Marrs. Texe Marrs is a fundamentalist who claims that the charismatic movement is of the devil.

9 comments:

fuuuuck said...

Scary, isn't it, what the human mind is sometimes capable of? I suspect these people probably believe it is actually the spirit of god.

To me, it sounds slightly less foolish than the phrase "I believe god created the heavens and the earth" in a political debate. At least the fake language is happening in a whole building full of crazies.

Robert Madewell said...

The last two churches I attended regularly were pentacostal type churches. Both practised glossolalia, but I have never ever seen it carried to that extreme. However, in both churches, I was encouraged (pressured) to "speak in tongues". When I did, it always felt fake to me. Like I was doing it because someone wanted me to.

I actually refuse to call it the gift of tongues. It is not a gift. Anyone can do it and it's not tongues (a language). It's random syllables. Glossolalia does not deserve to be called "The Gift of Tongues".

My problem with the evangelists in this video is that if I couldn't convince myself that glossolalia was a spiritual experience, how could they not know it's fake too? Do I just have a higher standard of what I'll call supernatural?

Surely, with an audience of a thousand or so in the studio, didn't someone say, "Hey! That looks totally fake. You guys are making a total mockery of your own beliefs!"?

The Prophetic Observer said...

Robert,

I think one of the commenters said it best:

Interpretation? Sure. One fraud is saying to the other, "I can out gibberish you right here on stage. Watch me! Meanwhile, the gullible fools in the audience will soon be reaching for their wallets and checkbooks. Praise the Lord!!!"

Doubting Foo said...

Wow, that's funny stuff. I wonder if there are any videos of people dropping F-bombs while speaking in tongues?

sailor1031 said...

obviously they worked it out ahead of time and could hardly keep from laughing at the joke. Maybe next they should try Klingon - now that's hard!
Well that's show-business for ya.

Maine Skeptic said...

"Do the evangelists actually believe that they are conversing in a heavenly language?"

Without getting inside their minds, it's impossible to say, but the audience is intended to think so.

"Does the audience actually buy it that they are conversing in a heavenly language?"

Yes, or they wouldn't be laughing.

"Is there anyone in the audience that was as offended by that display as I?"

Only if they thought these guys were pretending, because that would amount to blaspheming the holy spirit, the unpardonable sin.

"Was it a joke?"

No.

"How do I tell if it's a joke?"

I don't really think a believer in tongues would joke by pretending a spiritual gift. The kind of joking you'd expect from these guys, if they were mocking an unbeliever, would be to use inside terms that mean something different to them than they do to the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

As a God-loving honest-to-goodness, bible-believing, nothing more, nothing less Christian, YES! I am absolutely as offended, if not more!

This is ridiculous. Even Paul told the Corinthian church that the time for such things is over. This is nothing more than ridiculous gibberish, and does not glorify God in any way.

You are correct that this is not a "tongue" of any kind, as it's not a language at all. This is two heretics embarrassing Christianity as a whole, and making a mockery of ministry in general. How stupid.

Anonymous said...

If you refer to Scripture, the gift of tongues in always a known language that is understandable by somebody in the audience and goes hand in hand with the gift of interpretation. What they are doing is demonic under the influence of none other than his majesty the devil.

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