Technically it was twelve years ago, but I will get to that in a moment.
Here’s something I didn’t know about myself ten years ago: I think in objections.
Not in a debate-bro way. More like — when I hear someone say something that I believe is wrong, my brain doesn’t just flag “that’s wrong.” It starts cataloging why they believe it, where the argument breaks down, and what would actually need to be true for their position to hold.
I do this almost involuntarily. It’s probably a little annoying at dinner parties, if I went to dinner parties.
I didn’t have language for any of this in late 2013/early 2014 when I originally self-published this book, and still not in 2016 when I Destiny Image Publishers released my book Nine Lies People Believe About Speaking in Tongues. I just knew that the conversations I kept having — online, in person, in my email inbox — were all circling the same handful of bad arguments. And that those arguments weren’t going away on their own.
So I decided to take them apart one by one.
What I Was Actually Trying to Do
The book isn’t a devotional. It’s not a you-need-this-gift pep talk. It’s not trying to make you feel guilty for the theological tradition you grew up in.
What it is, is a systematic look at the most common things people say and believe about speaking in tongues — and an honest examination of whether those things hold up. Things like:
- “Tongues are not for today.” (Then why does the New Testament spend so much time on them?)
- “If you don’t speak in tongues, you’re not saved.” (This one’s wrong too, and it’s done real damage.)
- “You can’t speak in tongues at will — you have to wait for the Spirit to move.” (There’s a misunderstanding about the nature of the gift buried in this one.)
- “Tongues are just the least of the gifts anyway.” (This is actually one of the top Google searches that still lands people on my blog. Ten years later.)
Each of those deserves a careful answer. Not a dismissal, not a sermon — just a genuine, let’s-look-at-what-the-text-actually-says kind of answer. That’s what I was going for.
Why I Finally Finished It
The book sat in draft form for months. Every time I tried to make a theological point properly I felt like I’d have to write a seminary chapter to do it justice, which wasn’t what I wanted. I kept stalling.
What broke the logjam was John MacArthur’s Strange Fire conference in 2013 — a broad attack on the charismatic movement that leaned heavily on the same misconceptions I’d already been planning to address. I’m not going to relitigate that whole controversy here, but it lit a fire under me (pun at least partially intended) to stop procrastinating and get the thing finished.
I published the first version on April 3, 2014 — exactly two weeks after my daughter was born. That’s a whole other story involving a Peruvian hospital, a doctor I strongly suspect was more motivated by his billing rate than my wife’s wellbeing, and me pretending not to speak Spanish while emptying every ATM I could find near that hospital.
What I’d Change, What I Wouldn’t
Honestly? Not that much.
My writing has gotten tighter over the years, and I can see the seams in a few places. I’ve since learned a few revelation nuggets that upon learning them thought “Oh! if I had only known that years ago, I would have included that in the book!” There are a few other questions and tidbits I’ve been asked by readers that I might tackle in a re-release or updated edition if I ever do one.
But the core of it — the patient, premise-by-premise examination of the objections people actually have, rather than the objections it’s easier to answer — I’d write that same book again. The misconceptions I addressed in 2015 are still circulating today. They show up in my DMs. They show up in comments on things I post. Sometimes people tag me or my book on social media when arguing about glossolalia.
Why I’m Posting About This Now
The same guy who got me my publishing contract with Destiny Image messaged me earlier to ask me if I knew the the Kindle version is free right now, and I figured it was worth mentioning. I have no idea how long the publisher is doing this, but probably a few days. By the time you read this the deal is probably finished.
But also — it’s been nearly ten years (give or take a month) since this version of the book came out, and I’m a different version of myself than the guy who wrote it. There’s something interesting about looking back at work you did before you fully understood what you were doing. The theological instincts were right. The structure was right. I just didn’t know yet that “here’s why that objection doesn’t hold up” was how my brain naturally operates, not just something I was doing for the book.
If you’ve been carrying questions about this subject — or carrying objections you inherited from somewhere and never really examined — this is a decent place to start. It’s a few hours of reading, and it’s free.
Get it on Audible here. Read more articles about speaking in tongues.
