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any further updates? Is *Mr* geer still with us? You know. It can't be a great existence when one has others waiting to cross one's name off of some kind of list.. I only have one or two individuals that fit that description. i.e. crossing my name off of a list.. I can't even imagine to begin to think what it is like if one has hundreds, if not thousands eagerly waiting my demise.. what a freaking sad end for a human being..

I believe you are telling the truth about your own experience Raf, and I respect that. You might be a little hasty in extrapolating from your own experience to that of everyone else. I've known too many people who have had experiences with tongues who never had anything to do with the Way International to think it was something invented by Wierwille, or even by Parham. It was associated with meetings during the Great Awakening of the 1700s where the preachers didn't even teach anything like Wierwille did in PFAL. I don't think the Pythoness at Delphi was speaking in tongues. She spoke undersandable Greek words in sequences that didn't seem to make sense. There is a strong possability that she spoke under the influence of psychotropic gases in the cave. It's instructive to compare and contrast the accounts Luke gives in Acts with what Paul wrote in I Corinthians. Luke never says in Acts that Paul or the Corinthians ever spoke in tongues, but what Paul wrote indicates that they did. What does that tell us? Something was going on. It wasn't what Wierwille taught. It wasn't what was going on at the Brownsville revival. But something WAS going on. What was it? I don't know, but I'm doing my best to think it through. There have been times in my life when I've found out I was lied to, had relied on those lies, and spread those lies myself. I don't blame you one bit for taking the stand you have taken, and I think it is part of the healing process you're still going through, as are we all. Love, Steve

As a kid I used to love speaking in my "foreign language." I didn't know what it was, but it was nice, and I used to like singing in it too. It was a game to me...but it came after an understanding and decision, as a child, that Jesus loved me and I loved Jesus. And that was decades before encountering TWI. There are many times when I have talked with people and, without knowing anything of their situations, have said something that they've said was "just what they needed to hear." Is that a WoK, a word of prophecy, what? I don't know, I only know that as my heart is to help and serve others, I believe God can give me words that others need - to encourage, to strengthen, to help. I agree with Steve's thoughts on this. Don't know if any of what TWI taught is correct. As it was so performance-based (works), especially in the Intermediate class, it was probably all stuff and nonsense. I know that if I did anything like that (SIT and interpretation) in any church I've been to since TWI (not that there are many of those) I would get, at the very least, some raised eyebrows. At the church I've been attending, they are open to people with a "word" about current situations, a Bible verse to share, or a "picture" that seems to relate to something that the church is considering. The "picture" is usually "interpreted" or explained by the person "seeing" the "picture." And sometimes, there is a quiet bit at the end of some songs where people spontaneously start singing softly in tongues. The noise so made actually sounds quite pleasant but I find it quite freaky - guess that is something from TWI that I still need to deal with. While they're happy with the same person "interpreting" a "picture," if it came to interpreting tongues, they would definitely expect an "interpreter" (different person) to be present rather than delivery by the same person. But then again, perhaps that's as far as that church's understanding goes... God always has more that he wants us to know.

I believe that SIT is real, but not what it is described as in either Pentecostalism or TWI. I believe that SIT is always thanksgiving (giving proper credit) to God. I believe there were lots of times when people made up their interpretations. I tried not to do that myself, but I can't guarantee that I was always successful. There were a few times while in TWI where people "fell on their faces" after I had interpreted. It strikes me that God could have used the opportunity to deliver a prophecy, even if it wasn't an "interpretation" of what I had just spoken in an unknown tongue. I am presently taking an advanced class on interpreting koine Greek, and I can testify that the things taught in the intermediate class about ANY kind of interpretation were a load of road apples. I have fairly frequently spoken "with prophetic voice", as some people who were never involved with TWI or Pentecostalism have told me, but it was never in a set situation, like a twig meeting or class. It has always been one-on-one when I have felt moved to say something about the situation a friend seemed to be in. I believe, if we fill our hearts with attitudes (through habitual thought) that are conducive to the flow of the love of God, then God can speak specific words into our hearts that communicate His love to our hearers, as our mouths speak out of the overflow of our hearts. Pentecost was the celebration of the first fruit of the wheat harvest, when people gave back to God of that which He had given them. The people who believed on the day of Pentecost were the first fruit of the wheat harvest. When they were speaking in tongues, speaking by the Spirit of God, they were offering back to God of that which He had given them, the gift of holy Spirit. The tongues as of flame demonstrated that their offering was acceptable to God. I'm writing my masters thesis on this (in a non-Pentecostal seminary). Love, Steve