Bridging Faith and Relationships, Misconceptions About Speaking in Tongues, Role of the Holy Spirit, Faithful Fellowship, Language of Prayer, and MORE!
Join Bob George as he revisits engaging conversations from his classic radio show, tackling real-life questions with practical Biblical insights. This episode delves into the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit post-Pentecost, addressing misconceptions about speaking in tongues and the true essence of being filled with the Spirit.
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Today we are pleased to present a special radio show featuring call-in listeners from Bob’s original people-to-people daily radio program that was on the air for over 30 years, offering real answers for real-life problems as he addresses common questions as well as the tough issues of today, directing callers to the centrality of Christ in you, your only hope of glory. We want to remind our listeners that Bob George Ministries needs your financial support to continue to have Classic Christianity Radio on the air. Please visit BobGeorge.net to find out how you can help support us financially. Let’s now join Bob as he presents practical biblical insights as he helps people experience a life of faith, hope, and love in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re going to go to Jesus in Corpus Christi, Texas, listening on KCTA. You’re on the air, brother.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, Brother Bob. Here I am again at six. Yeah. But listen, in our church, it’s taught that on the day of Pentecost, when they receive the Holy Spirit, is that a different infilling of the Holy Spirit compared to what Peter preached in Acts 2.38, that there you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost? Is that too different?
SPEAKER 02 :
On the day of Pentecost was where… the Holy Spirit of God was introduced to all believers, and that was the day in which the Spirit of God came to indwell believers permanently. Prior to that time, the Holy Spirit would come upon people for divine service, but then would leave them. But the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit could not have taken place until the cross was of Christ Jesus, because the departure of the Holy Spirit would be spiritual death. And in order to ensure that you had eternal life, you had to deal eternally with the cause of spiritual death, which was sin. And so on the day of Pentecost, when it talks about, and again, I don’t know why people keep just camping on these things, All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. Now, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? We talked about that in the afternoon. It means to be controlled by the love of God. Why would these people stand up and proclaim in front of people Peter, as an example, who a number of days earlier, all of them were in hiding like cowardly people, huddled together in total fear of the Jewish people. And after accepting the Holy Spirit of God and receiving the Spirit of God, stood up boldly and said, you’re the one who killed the king of king and the Lord of lords. Where did that boldness come from? Where did that love come from? Because the most loving thing that you and I can do is to tell a person who’s lost how to be saved. There’s no other demonstration of love, Jesus, more great than to be able to tell a person who’s gone, lost, how to be saved. It’s the most loving thing you’ll ever do to a person if you really believe that if you are not saved, you’re going to live in eternal damnation. And so they were filled with love, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. Now, any place in the Bible where you say filled with the Spirit, it means to be filled with the love of God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
As it was told to us in Ephesians, in Ephesians 2. So to be controlled, to be filled means to be controlled by God. And whatever you are living in dependency upon brings about the control upon you. If you are living in dependency upon drugs, drugs will control you. Why? Because of your dependency upon them to do so. That’s why they call it drug dependency. And so when you are controlled by the Spirit of God, it’s because you are depending upon the Spirit of God to control you. You’re yielding to the Spirit of God instead of letting the flesh control you. And you’re being controlled by love.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, the question is, Acts 2.38, the gift of the Holy Ghost, is that the prayer language that he gave us?
SPEAKER 02 :
No. That’s what I’m asking. The Holy Spirit is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The manifestation of tongues is a manifestation of… of the Holy Spirit being given to the people and giving them the ability, the gift, to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. You see, it was as if people would just get off of this babbling of speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is not babbling. Speaking in tongues is a known language, and how in the world, with what you see going on today, and that’s why Paul admonished people in Corinthians, what you see going on today, how could anyone in their right mind claim that is a language understandable by anybody? And as I said before, why would you need to be speaking in a language that no one understood when you all speak English?
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s stupid.
SPEAKER 03 :
I agree with that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Just absolutely stupid. But that’s exactly what people are doing today because they want to think that they’ve got something that others don’t have, and they’re more spiritual. They’re really filled. They call themselves spirit-filled Christians. Well, I look at Corinthians. When it says, if I can speak in the tongues of men and angels, don’t have love, I’m a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. How did you call yourself a spirit-filled noisy gong?
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 02 :
And so this was given to the early church. The gospel had to get out. How in the world were… When the gospel was given to Jews speaking in Aramaic or in Hebrew, how is that going to get out to the Greek community and to Germany and to Japan or any place else unless… Somebody understood those languages, and so that gift was given for evangelistic purposes. And all through the book of Acts is that manifestation. Why? In order to get the gospel out to people that did not understand the language.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, but it was the same Holy Spirit then. It wasn’t like a part of the Holy Spirit, Acts chapter 38. I don’t know if you understand the question.
SPEAKER 02 :
The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is in tongues. The Holy Spirit is in teaching. The Holy Spirit is in any of the gifts of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, so it’s the same one.
SPEAKER 02 :
The gift of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, there’s only one Spirit. There’s only one God, one Spirit, yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
They’re trying to teach that there were two different things, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and then this one over here was for the prayer language, a gift.
SPEAKER 02 :
There is no prayer language. Why would God need a prayer language?
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t know. I’m just asking you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Again, I’m just saying what they’re teaching is absolutely ridiculous. Why would God need a prayer language when he isn’t listening to what you’re saying anyway? He’s listening to your heart.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, they’re talking about when you speak in mysteries that you don’t understand what you’re saying.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s a mystery not to God. It’s a mystery to man because they don’t know what you’re talking about.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s why it says you may be talking to God, but you’re not talking to man. It’s being used as an equivalent of man pleasuring himself instead of doing what he ought to be doing in marriage. And that’s all that is. It is just for self-gratification. But it has nothing at all to do with being pleasurable to God. Because God isn’t looking for what we’re doing. God is looking for what Jesus did. And when we’re putting the emphasis on what I’m doing instead of what he’s doing, the emphasis is in the wrong place. So you’re in a place there, I’m telling you, that is teaching an awful lot of error and will keep a person totally confused because it’s all geared toward emotionalism.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
Emotionalism isn’t going to sustain you in time of need and in time of trial and tribulation. Emotionalism isn’t going to sustain you in that.
SPEAKER 03 :
So you don’t need tongues to go to heaven?
SPEAKER 02 :
If you do, I’m not going to be there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, so again, if people think you have to speak in tongues to be spiritual, don’t listen to our broadcast. You’d be listening to somebody that doesn’t even know the Lord.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I like to get all angles, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER 07 :
you’re a blessing well thanks thanks asus thank you all right brother good to talk to you we’re going to go to british columbia listening on carrie linda you’re on the air oh hello thanks for taking my call you’re welcome i called and i haven’t actually listened to your ministry before but anyway i guess god has a way of placing people in certain uh places and times and this is one of them um I’m in a situation where I’ve attended some churches. I sort of feel like a floating spirit. But anyway, I’m a seeker, and I’m having a really hard time, like with Valentine’s recently just being the other day. I’d really like to meet somebody special in a relationship context. It’s just really difficult sometimes. for me to meet men that are Christians. And I’m just wondering, like, how I should… When I meet somebody and we spend time together and get to know one another a little bit, the issue for me of my faith comes up, and usually that turns that person away. They have a preconceived notion of what it means to be a Christian. And so I’m wondering how I can… bridge the gap because it seems like going to church hasn’t really helped me meet any members of the opposite sex. So it’s my day-to-day realm and then talking about having the issue of faith arise is something that becomes a bridge, or rather a wall, not a bridge. I’m just wondering if you have any feedback.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Linda, yeah, I’m a little confused in regard to your original comments that you were a seeker, because if you’re a seeker, you haven’t found yet, and then coming back and saying that you’re just a seeker in regard to looking for a church home.
SPEAKER 04 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, well, that’s better, because I have difficulty with that. So you are in Christ Jesus, and you know him as your Lord and Savior. Well, Linda, the main thing that you have there is not to become unequally yoked one with another. And so, there again, you can meet people in all walks of life. But I have to look at those things that if you’re strong in the fact, just what obviously you are, strong in the fact that you are a born-again believer… then if you’re running into people who aren’t interested in that, why, you’re lucky that they go their own way and you go your own way. I can’t tell you how to find Christians. There are numerous people in British Columbia that we know. that we could get you in contact with, that you could plug into some home Bible studies that are being done. Yeah, and that type of thing. And who knows what can take place from there. But I think your main… I think your main thing, Linda, is just what it says. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and I will add all things to you. And that is to not set a goal of trying to meet other Christians, but set your goal of getting to know the one man that you do want to get to know, and that’s Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 02 :
And concentrate on that and watch God open up the doors for you.
SPEAKER 07 :
I guess for me, too, like what you touched on is… is finding a fellowship in terms of a church home.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, we can put you in contact with our director up there in British Columbia. Sure. Are you in the Vancouver area?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, I am.
SPEAKER 02 :
Uh-huh, yeah. And terrific people. Yes, and we can put you in contact with some people there that I think can help, you know, get into a home Bible study. They’ve got a number of Bible studies in the area.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
And just see what happens from there. That’ll help meet a need. When God’s ready to introduce you to the right guy, I think you’ll know that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Like my agenda isn’t just to meet somebody, but to find a real environment of fellowship.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 07 :
And God willing, the rest will unfold, you know, in His own grace and time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, we appreciate your interest in that, Linda. And again, I’ve just seen it so many times. If a person will just relax on that other and really seek first, as it said, the kingdom of God and His righteousness… And let him add to you. It saves us a lot of time and a lot of heartaches if we let him do the adding.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, yeah. Well, we’ll be more than happy to put you on hold and let our off-air counselor give you the names of some people and vice versa. Okay. And we’ll just let you make those contacts and see what happens.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Well, thank you very much, and God bless.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re sure welcome, Linda, and we’ll go ahead and put you on hold. God bless you, Linda. Thank you. Bye-bye now.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
Plainfield in Indiana, listening on WBRI. Sheila, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, Bob. I’m glad to hear from you and I’ve been watching and listening to your program for about a year now and i’ve learned so much about grace and truth that me and my husband left our church but now we’re kind of like being shunned by some family members that do attend and our grandchildren go there and i don’t have the right answers for them and i need to know how to approach them why we don’t go to their church anymore
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Sheila, I think the best way to approach anything is just in sheer unadulterated honesty. And you had to have a reason for wanting to leave the church. And whatever that reason is, is what I would communicate to them. And that you just, I have no idea what they were teaching or what it was that kind of tipped your… Oh, uh-huh. Well, again, to me, what I would do with that is I just don’t agree with this form of teaching at all. First of all, it’s legalistic. First of all, it’s not true. Right. You know, Sheila, when I look at life and I see things, I ask myself the question, Does anyone ever think something through? Let me give you an example of that. Prayer is the language of the heart. Prayer is not a language of the tongue. Prayer is a language of the heart. God looks on the heart and man looks on the outside. And so you’ve got natural, which is man, and you’ve got spiritual, which is God. God does not care. First of all, I don’t think he’s ever hear a word that any of us are saying. He doesn’t need to hear our words to know what we’re thinking. It says that no man knows what another man is thinking except the spirit that lives within him. And that means that I could be thinking something and communicating something totally different. In the same way, no one knows what God is thinking except his spirit. That would be a dilemma for us if God did not give us his spirit so that we can know and comprehend those things that he’s freely given us, which is what the scripture says. Now, so God is looking on our heart. Now, we’re all hung up on whether we’re speaking in German or English or Japanese or angel or tongue. How important would that be if we didn’t have a tongue?
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s what I was thinking.
SPEAKER 02 :
How important would that be if we suddenly, as my mother had, was like Parkinson’s disease and couldn’t speak at all? How important would that be? How important would that be if you were born what we used to call in the church I went to, the silent friend? You were born what we called deaf and dumb. You couldn’t hear and you couldn’t speak. How important would what language are you talking in be? Just think that through. How important would it be for people then to say, let’s pause for a moment and have a moment of silent prayer. If God needs us babbling in some kind of a language for him to hear us. All of that would be nonsense. I would stand up and say, this is nonsense, teacher. You’ve got to be talking for God to hear to you. Let’s not have this silent prayer stuff that we hear. I want noise. I want some verbiage, wouldn’t we? We don’t do that because we don’t think. We do not use our minds. And that’s what the Scripture says. Grow up. Quit acting like babies and these things. And so we get all hung up on… And God isn’t even listening to our verbiage. As I said, prayer is a language of the heart.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you can pray to him in your mind constantly.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. And that’s when it says prayer without ceasing. I would hate to think that someone’s babbling all day long. I agree. You’re talking to him in your heart, and he’s listening to your heart. He knows us too well. to know that I cannot listen to your words because, you see, we’re not honest with our words. We go to church and someone says, how are you doing? We say, oh, great, and our guts are hanging out.
SPEAKER 04 :
You got it.
SPEAKER 02 :
See, so he’s too smart to listen to our words. He knows our hearts, and what is coming out of the heart is a total reflection of what’s going on inside of a man. And we’re all hung up on marvelous prayers that people just, oh, they get so enthralled, especially if you have an accent. They just love to listen to people. And all of these things, instead of realizing, hold on a minute, God is looking at our hearts.
SPEAKER 05 :
That was what happened to me and my husband while we were there. You know, you’re told when to do this, when to do this, how to do this, and tithe, you know.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 05 :
And in your heart. It was screaming in us, this isn’t right. This don’t feel right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. Well, that’s your answer as to why you’re not going anymore. Right. And as grandparents or whatever children, or those are your children in there, I would say, kids, I would tell you that you’re on a pathway that ultimately is going to lead you to destruction because you’re going to come into a situation of being totally wiped out by what you’re believing because it ain’t going to work for you. Right. But… You can go where you want to, and we will too. Let’s not have hard feelings with each other. We just don’t like the teaching anymore.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. I thank you so much. You really clarified it for me. It’s what I was thinking, but sometimes when you hear it, you know if you was on the right path.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I understand. Well, thank you for your call, Sheila, and you call again.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
God bless you.
SPEAKER 05 :
God bless you. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re going to go to Madison, Wisconsin, listening on WEMP. Sharon, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes. Hello, Bob.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hi, Sharon.
SPEAKER 06 :
I’m so glad I got a hold of you because I… I can’t get the station except when I’m on the road. And I happen to be on the road today, and I always tune in. And my question is one that concerns one of the beliefs of the Catholic religion. And I was raised a Catholic, but I am a born-again Christian. And one of the things that has always thrown up to me is the fact that we were told to confess our sins in the passage that says, When Jesus said, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. And I cannot believe that in that passage, because I know that we don’t have to keep confessing our sins, especially after just listening to what you said to the previous caller. I know that in my heart. But what is that passage really referring to, and what is the context in which it is given?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, well, it’s a good question, Sharon. And it’s one that, of course, has been… absolutely perverted in understanding by people who teach what you’re talking about. You’re talking, again, of the Lord’s meeting with his disciples and asking a question, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And some say it’s John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Well, what about you, he asked, who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter said, you’re the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, Simon bar Jonah. And what is interesting on that is this was where he was going to change his name. He said, And for this was not revealed to you by man. Well, I want to tell you something. What we know in the Bible is not revealed by man. It has to be revealed by the Spirit. And that’s what it says, that the Spirit has to reveal the meaning of it to them. And so this was just one of the first incidences of this occurring, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are blessed. peter and and that word is petra and it means a stone and it doesn’t mean a rock it means you are a stone and upon this rock now what’s the rock he’s talking about that christ is the son of god i will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it and now when he says i will give you he’s talking about all of them that’s a plural you i will give you all the keys we’d say in texas y’all I will give you the keys of the kingdom and whatever you bind on earth. And here’s where translation comes in. And again, you will see that if you see down as a cross reference, that what it says has been bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth has been loosed in heaven. The reason that I can bind it, it’s been bound in heaven. And that’s why you have the privilege as a child of God today, and so do I, of going into the face of anybody and saying, sir, I want to tell you something. Your sins have been forgiven. Why? That’s been bound in heaven by God.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, I understand. Now that makes a total difference.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, well, you see, and again, it’s such, I say, why don’t people translate this properly? Because in the footnote I see in the NIV, they’ve got a translator, will be, and then a footnote saying have been. Well, have been is how it’s translated, not will be. And the tense in the Greek language that the New Testament was written in, it is has been, have been bound in heaven. What has been loosed? It’s been loosed in heaven. The same passage is true over in, let me see if I can find that. Well, I’ve lost it. But at any rate, there’s a parallel passage to that. Let me see here. Well, I’ve lost it for now. I thought I had it there, but I’ve lost it. But at any rate, keep reading on, and you’ll see, as you read through the Scripture, you’ll see another example of that. And that’s in, let me see, I think you said John 20. I think it is, yeah. Hold on just a minute. Let me point that out to you. Yeah, again, in John 20, 23, if you forgive his sins, they are forgiven. If you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven. Well, why? Well, because they’re not forgiven in heaven. What’s the only sin that’s not forgiven in heaven? Unbelief. Unbelief, absolutely. So you can tell anybody on the face of the earth that I have the authority by God to tell them that their sins are forgiven. Why? Because that’s been bound in heaven. And this isn’t some way of naming a pope or anything like this. As a matter of fact, down in verse 23 of the Matthew, he says, get behind me, Satan. And he’s talking to Peter. You’re a stumbling block to me and you don’t have the mind, the things of God, but the things of men. So in one case, he’s saying that God didn’t reveal this to you and then turns around and says, you’ve got, you don’t have the mind of the things of God, but the things of men. So. You know, we’ve made something out of something that God never intended to, and then messing up the interpretation, why then we think that a priest or someone else has the ability to forgive sin. No one has the ability to forgive sin, but I do have the authority to tell people that their sins are forgiven. I don’t have the authority to forgive them, not God. But I sure have the authority to tell them they are forgiven.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes. Well, thank you so much, Bob. I truly, truly wish I could get your radio station. If there’s any way you can get up there, I’ll be listening. Because I live in Portage, Wisconsin right now. And the problem is that my husband has decided to become a very strong Catholic. And so he, you know, a lot of what he is professing to believe I know is not true. You know what?
SPEAKER 02 :
And again… You’ve got to get him into the Bible. If he’ll just go into the Bible, he’s going to find out that what he’s taught is not in the Scripture.
SPEAKER 06 :
I know. Unfortunately, he believes that the Bible is open to anybody’s interpretation, and so he has to trust it.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s contrary to the Bible.
SPEAKER 06 :
I know.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. Sharon, we have to go off the air. You call again, okay?
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you so much, Bob. God bless you for all you’ve done. Thank you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
