Hi Sierra,

Quote:
The Unknown tongues Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 14, was man speaking to God, not God giving a direct message to man..


Were the words of prayer inspired by God throughout scripture or is only some of the words we find in scripture inspired?

2Ti 3:16 Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.

When the Bible was being prepared, before the Bible was completed, from time to time God would give additional revelation. He had the written Word, which was complete to that point in time, whenever this was. And then there was additional revelation. And this additional revelation
could come in the form of a prayer from God to God
as we see all thru the Psalms for our instruction, it could be in the form of a prophecy of some kind, where God is foretelling future events, as was the case with the apostle John on the island of Patmos. He received the visions that now have become the Book of Revelation. Or it could be in the form of exhortation, as for example, when God would speak through one of the prophets, to exhort the people or warn them of impending doom if they did not change their ways, or whatever. But in any case it was additional divine truth that was added to the Word of God.

Now at the time that I Corinthians was being written, that is, when the apostle Paul was writing this letter to the church at Corinth, the Bible consisted of the Old Testament. That was the written Word of God, what we call the Old Testament. There was no New Testament. And in fact, God was still
completing the New Testament. God was still giving revelation to this one or that one. And additionally, He was breaking the silence in individual cases, bringing messages directly to them.
We find this, for example, when He brought a message to Elizabeth, to tell her of John the Baptist, or to Zechariah, his father, or when the angel spoke to Joseph concerning the fact that Mary was with child of the Holy Spirit.

And there were various other times that God the Holy Spirit spoke in this way. And that's because they did not have the whole Word of God. And whatever they did receive, they could add that to the written Word that they already had, and so they would have a more complete revelation. They would take, for example, the letter that the apostle Paul wrote, and they would begin to recognize that this
was the Word of God, and that it could be added to what had already been written in the Old Testament. And so they would have a more complete revelation.

Well, that was all fine, until God came to the last of His divine revelation. He came to Revelation 22:18, and then God declared, "If anyone adds to the words of this book...." Now that had been going on before, and it was legitimate, that they would add whatever they received from God to the words
that had already been written. But now God is saying, "If anyone adds to the words of this book [and there's only one book that's in view and that's the Bible; it's one cohesive whole] I will add to him the plagues written herein." In other words, effectively God is saying, "My revelation is completed.
There's nothing more that you are to look for. If you want to know divine truth. read the Bible. I've given you the whole revelation." And by the same token, He also warned in the next verse, "If anyone takes away from the words of this book. I will take away his share in the Tree of Life." In
other words, make sure that you believe that the whole Bible is the Word of God.

Therefore, the next year, after Revelation was penned, if some individual received information in a vision or in a voice or a dream, and thought that it was of God, they could know it was not of God, because there was nothing more to add. And so when various individuals came on the scene with
their visions (and this has been going on to some degree all through the New Testament period), and they were convinced that it was of God, you could know that it can't be of God because we're not to add to the Word of God.

We're living in a day when a great many people, all over the world, are claiming that God is speaking to them, through visions and dreams, voices or tongues. And invariably, you'll find that if people are interested in tongues, they're also interested in visions and voices and dreams, because
it's all of the same kind. It is all based on the premise that God is still speaking today.

And so actually, if you were going to allow that this is happening, that God is speaking today, what we really should do then is go back in history and find every statement that anyone had ever received in the form of a vision or a tongue, that had been interpreted, or whatever, and we could write all this down and gradually have a more and more complete revelation of God. And of course by now the Bible would be several hundred thousand volumes thick, if every one of these things had been written down.

But the fact is, God said no, we're not to add to the words of this book. And so this kind of activity that's going on we know cannot be of God. Now it may be hallucinatory. You know, you want this badly enough and you're convinced that this has to be. And so our minds are very tricky, and so we
can engage in self-hypnotism or in self-deception of some kind. And so we will have an activity of this kind. Or it could be of Satan. Satan could be accommodating us. You know, when we are seeking for something that is not God's will, and we ask for it long enough, then we're leaving ourselves wide open to allow Satan to accommodate us with this. Whatever it is, it is not of God.