Speaking in tongues by Christians first occurred during Pentecost. Luke records the account in the book of Acts. Fifty days after Christ's crucifixion, a group of believers were gathered in Jerusalem at a room near the temple. Jesus had "commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, Many Jews that had traveled far were also there to celebrate the traditional festival of Pentecost. It is with this backdrop that Luke records what happened.
There seems to be three divisions in the use of tongues, First, a private prayer language that is not interpreted; second, a language that is interpreted this defines proper usage in the Christian congregation, and third, missionary context that is, it appears in the context of evangelism where people in the New Testament are presenting the gospel. The images, appearing in the current issue of the journal Psychiatry Research, Neuroimaging, pinpoint the most active areas of the brain. The images are the first of their kind taken during this spoken religious practice, which has roots in the Old and New Testaments and in Pentecostal churches established in the early 1900s. The women in the study were healthy, active churchgoers.
Although the phenomenon of tongues plays a large role in the lives of many tens of millions of conservative Christians, little attention has been paid to it by the scientific community. It is also essentially ignored or looked upon with suspicion by many other Christians. I shared this with Ken and other members of the Fellowship and it seemed a normal part of Christian experience to them, so they prayed with me and laid hands on me. At that moment, and without fanfare, I just knew and accepted that I had received God's Holy Spirit in a charismatic sense in my heart. I didn't suddenly see a vision or speak in tongues or anything. It was simply an acceptance in faith in my heart.
The following spring I found myself walking in the hills above Kilmartin, with the Hebrides sparkling over the waters to the west, and the day so full of beauty and life - and I was filled with a longing and readiness for yet more of God's presence in my life. I remembered the words in Romans about "all creation waiting on tiptoe for the sons and daughters to come into their own" and my heart said, Yes, this is right and there is so much beauty and grace in God and all his creation - even me. By this time I was aware of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the way God wanted, longed, to come upon us if we wanted Him, and fill us in a way which would bring us yet more alive in the life of His wonderful Holy Spirit.
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