{"id":6164,"date":"2026-04-12T15:25:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/gibberish-in-the-pew-rick-burgess-confronts-the-tongues-controversy-in-pentecostal-churches\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T15:25:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:25:48","slug":"gibberish-in-the-pew-rick-burgess-confronts-the-tongues-controversy-in-pentecostal-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/gibberish-in-the-pew-rick-burgess-confronts-the-tongues-controversy-in-pentecostal-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gibberish\u2019 in the pew? Rick Burgess confronts the tongues controversy in Pentecostal churches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On a recent episode of \u201cStrange Encounters\u201d \u2014 a podcast on spiritual warfare \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.blazetv.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">BlazeTV<\/a> host Rick Burgess received a message from a listener who was disturbed by what he had been seeing in the Pentecostal church.<\/p>\n<p>He wrote, \u201cThe Pentecostals seem to me to be mocking the Holy Spirit by running around the church speaking in gibberish, knocking people down, etc. Is this some sort of demonic type of behavior that is not honoring the Spirit of the Lord or just confused people who have twisted Scripture and clearly don&#8217;t seem to follow it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rick addresses the controversial issue of speaking in tongues by first pointing out different denominations\u2019 preferences for one specific part of the Holy Trinity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube\"> <span class=\"rm-shortcode\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"85325164d8dd0e2423c35f6ae93a6004\" style=\"display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"w6I3YC2lxns\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Are \u201cAliens\u201d Actually Demons? A Biblical Warning About End Times Deception | Ep 34\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w6I3YC2lxns?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cConservative Presbyterians, you see a more stoic, reverent representation and a lot \u2014 a lot \u2014 a lot of talk about the Father. \u2026 If you were to go to a traditional, say, Baptist church, you&#8217;re going to hear a lot about the Son,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then you get into the charismatics \u2026 your Pentecostals, your Church of God, and it&#8217;s almost like the Holy Spirit is their favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The issue of speaking in tongues, Rick explains, begins with \u201c[taking] God as he is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should be worshipping God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Rick points out that speaking in tongues is often treated by denominations that embrace it as something that makes them \u201csuperior\u201d to other Christians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome go even further to say that to speak in tongues is to prove that you are truly redeemed. Scripture would not agree with that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>So what does Scripture say about speaking in tongues?<\/p>\n<p>Rick refers to the apostle Paul\u2019s advice in 1 Corinthians 14:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><em>Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.<\/em><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rick unpacks Paul\u2019s teaching: \u201cIs speaking in tongues real? Yeah, it is. Is it some gift that \u2026 is beneficial to the church? Not really.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it&#8217;s just a bunch of gibberish with no one to interpret and you&#8217;re making a scene in the church and drawing attention to yourself and it has no benefit to the rest of the church, then Paul doesn&#8217;t seem to think much of it at all,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n<p>However, Rick is conflicted about whether or not speaking in uninterpreted tongues in church is overtly demonic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t really know the answer to that. It feels to me that any time that we are singing praise songs that have bad theology, preaching messages that are not biblically sound, and, I guess I would say, and speaking in tongues in a way that is in conflict with Scripture, I think at the heart of all that is demonic activity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause let me tell you, [demons] would love to come inside the church if they have been invited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To hear more, watch the episode above.<\/p>\n<h2>Want more from Rick Burgess?<\/h2>\n<p>To enjoy more bold talk and big laughs, <a href=\"https:\/\/get.blazetv.com\/rickburgess\/?utm_source=theblaze&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=article_shortcode&amp;utm_term=rick-burgess\" target=\"_blank\">subscribe to BlazeTV<\/a> \u2014 the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a recent episode of \u201cStrange Encounters\u201d \u2014 a podcast on spiritual warfare \u2014 BlazeTV host Rick Burgess received a message from a listener who was disturbed by what he had been seeing in the Pentecostal church. He wrote, \u201cThe Pentecostals seem to me to be mocking the Holy Spirit by running around the church [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conservative-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservative-politics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}