Can demonic spirit gave utterance to speak in tongues?

Full Question:

I recently received the anointing of the Holy Spirit in a meeting and on that day I received some utterance in my mouth to speak in tongues. But I was not baptized yet. So when I shared it with an evangelist which I know and when I told him that I was not baptized. Then he told me about the tongues which occur by the utterance of the demonic spirit. From that day onwards I started to doubt the tongues which I got. Is it true that, demonic spirit can give us utterance to speak in tongues? Can you help me to realize the fact behind this and to discern the tongues which is coming in my mouth?

Answer:

This is a quite meaningful question and it is not only you, but many persons already shared this question to know and to confirm that the tongues they are speaking is of Holy Spirit. I also found that it is very important to help people to get out from this type of confusions from the initial stage.

Gift of tongues is a special gift from Holy Spirit which we can see only in the New Testament. In this New Testament, no were in the gospels, acts or epistles we can't see any people speaking in tongues by the utterance of demonic spirit and no were anyone is mentioning about such a kind of tongues. But still some of you may have seen or heard people speaking certain things in native language or so by the utterance of demonic spirit.

Yes, there are such incidents where there is utterance given by demonic spirit and this is biblical too. These utterance can be of two types. One and most important one is demons speak with much clarity and in the native language by giving utterance to the possessed person. We can see that in bible people with demonic possession shouted, "you are Jesus Christ, son of the most high" (Matthew 8:29, Mark 5:7, Mark 3:7-12 and so on) many times throughout the bible, Demons revealing their name and necessary things on asking them Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him (Luke 8:30), speaking things like "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you? "(Acts 19:15) and so on. This is something that happen as a result of the utterance given by the demon to the possessed person. But people know very well that this is not the tongues and it is easy to discern it.

The second one is that what people misunderstand as demonic tongues usually, for it is slightly similar to tongues. Actually these are groaning made by the demonic spirit. It is very easy to recognize this because all such groaning are not clear. It usually happens when demons feel it difficult to stay in the possessed person's body due to the presence of God. We can see many similar things happened in the New Testament when Jesus Christ came to cast demons out. At that time, due to the power of God and anointing in Jesus, there was a special presence of God spreading around him. When demonic possessed persons are brought to Jesus Christ, they may feel it intolerable to stay in that presence and they started groaning and to make all such noises. These noises are not tongues of demons as people misunderstand. This type of tongues only last for a few moments and will not come into mouth always.

Then the most important point is, even if the demon can gave good and clear utterance like speaking in tongues or by these groaning noises and all, there is nothing to worry about. When we speak in the tongues of Holy Spirit, we speak mysteries and we are speaking to God which will give us spiritual edification. This doesn't ever means that if there is a demonic tongues and when we speak in such tongues, we are speaking to Satan, which will result in demonic edification. It is even foolish to think like that and there are no biblical explanation of such a demonic giving tongue.

Some people again misinterpret that this type of tongues is visible usually in people who used to start speaking in tongues before the water baptism. According to their doctrine, there is no way to receive tongues of Holy Spirit before baptism. But I do not agree with this kind of teaching because it is possible to receive tongues and even to prophecy without taking the water baptism. In the book of Acts 10:44-47 we can clearly see that people receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues too before they get baptized. "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days." So there is no point in such a interpretation which says it not possible to speak in tongues before water baptism.

I am so sad to think about the occurrence of such misunderstanding in the church and really worried about the people who used to spread such kind of false doctrines to the members of church, which will deviate from their faith. Usually there are many people around us with not much knowledge in the word of God and they like to make others believe that they knew something seriously. To make such a honor in front of them, they invent many false doctrines like this and share it without confirming it with the word of God and proper knowledge about the point. The main consequences of such doctrines are it will damage the faith of many people and deviate the from the basis of word of God.

In your case, you told me that you shared you are a new believer to that evangelist. If he is a good and God guided man, he should of course only promote and encourage you to speak in tongues more and more by telling you about its advantage. People receiving Holy Spirit is like a small baby without much maturity and knowledge about the word of God and Jesus. Any false doctrines can make them doubt many spiritual things around them and even it can make them doubt the pearls given by God. If you can please stay away from all such kind of people.

Trust in God and what He has given you. Speak it out and keep on growing. There is nothing you need to be worried. God is with you and He will take care of you. May God bless you greatly with this answer and to grow in Him more and more and to remove all misunderstandings.