The Spirit of truth

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit    (John 3:8).

In these last days, God is leading His people by His Spirit, back into the truth that can unite all believers, in preparation for the return of the Lord. Jesus promised:

“when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).

If you love Me keep My commandments

The Spirit of God is given to those who obey the commandments of Christ, and God (Acts 5:32;  1 John 3:22; 5:2; Revelation 12:17; 14:12; Matthew 7:21;  1 Corinthians 7:19).

After Jesus instructed His disciples in the washing of feet, and the remembrance of His death, He said to them:

If you love me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth . . . If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come and make our home with him” (John 14:15-17,23).

We must also obey the teachings of the Apostles.

The Apostle John wrote: “We are of God. He who knows God knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6).

In order to receive the Spirit of truth, we must obey the commandments of God, the commandments of Christ, and the teachings of the Apostles.

The Power of the Holy Spirit

If you knew the gift (dorea) of God, and Who it is Who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water (John 4:10).

The Book of Acts tells that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power (Acts 10:38). This power was promised by Jesus to His disciples, “you will receive power then the Holy Spirit has come upon you”(Acts 1:8). The meaning of this Greek word power, δύναμις, is not authority, but ability or strength. Daniel prophesied that this “sanctuary of strength,” would be “desecrated” by the work of the Antichrist, (Daniel 11;31) “the place of His sanctuary was cast down” (Daniel 8:11). 

The Evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit

The first external evidence that a Church has received the Holy Spirit, is of course, the truth that is preached. As Jesus mentioned, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. But the Bible does give another sign that was observed by the Apostles, and that was the tongue emitting sound.

Illustration of the apostles receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Acts of the Apostles
Illustration of the apostles receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Acts of the Apostles

Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19 are the three passages in the Bible that describes what happened when believers received the Holy Spirit. The account in Acts 8 does not discuss any signs.

In Acts 2:4, we read that they began to speak with “other tongues” λαλεῖν ἑτέραις γλώσσαις, heteros glossa. Here, they were speaking other languages, languages that other people could understand, as confirmed in verse 8, “how is it that we each hear them in our language.” In fact, it is possible that the disciples did not speak each of these languages at once, but rather “each (could) hear them in (their) own language.”

In Acts 10:46, we read that the Gentiles were “speaking tongues,” λαλούντων γλώσσαις, laleo glossa after receiving the Holy Spirit.

The expression laleo glossa is the composition of two words, “glossa”— tongue—and “laleo”—emit sound, as in thunder, echo, or to utter sound.1 It is not found in Greek literature. It is not a Greek expression for “speaking with languages,” and may theoretically refer to either the emitting of the sound of “a tongue,” to make “a language,” or it may simply refer to the emitting of sound from the tongue.

Let us read this passage carefully:

“And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came to Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues (laleo glossa) and magnify God.”

To which Peter replied in verse 47:

“Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we?”

There is no indication here that the Gentiles were speaking “other languages,” heteros glossa.  These were foreigners whom the disciples had never met before. For them to be speaking in “other languages” would not be a sign to the Jews, that the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit. What they heard was “sounds from their tongues,” laleo glossa, which Paul will describe.

In Acts 19:6, we find that those who received the Holy Spirit were “speaking both τε tongues and prophesying” ἐλάλουν τε γλώσσαις καὶ ἐπροφήτευον. Here again, we find the expression “laleo glossa” and there is no indication that anyone was speaking in any known foreign language.

The Apostle Paul’s explanation of Laleo Glossa

This combination of Greek words, “laleo glossa,” is not only recorded in the Book of Acts, but also once in 1 Corinthians 12; and at least eight times in Corinthians 14.

In 1 Corinthians 14, we get the best understanding of it. Here, Paul told us that many Corinthians had sounds coming from their tongues that were not understandable.

In verse 9, Paul said, “unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken.”

In 1 Corinthians 12:30, Paul said that not “all speak with tongues,” referring back to vs. 10, a gift of “different kinds of tongues.” While all believers experienced the “tongue emitting sound” when the Holy Spirit was received, not all could speak in different languages. In 1 Corinthians 14:14-15, Paul described laleo glossa, as “praying in the spirit,” which was something they all could do, as we see in Jude 1:20.

In Corinthians 14:28, Paul instructed them to “keep silent,” unless they are able to interpret. He tells them that they should pray only to themselves and to God (1 Corinthians 14:28, 34). The meaning of “keep silent” is not that they cannot pray in a tongue but that they should not instruct the congregation with tongues; see also verse 34, where he forbids women from speaking. Of course, women can speak, but they do should not address the congregation.

In verses 7-9, Paul compared the tongue to a harp that makes a sound. The same analogy of the tongue as a harp was used by the Apostle John in Revelation 14:2, and 15:2, where he described the end time sanctified Church, “like the sound of harpists playing on their harps (their tongues).”  But those in the kingdom of the beast, “gnawed their tongues” (Revelation 16:10).

The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Twentieth Century

Revelation 8:4-5 prophesied that fire poured out from the altar as a result of the prayers of the saints, would begin seven trumpets.

Ezekiel prophesied that when the Temple was built according to God’s measurements, “the Glory of the LORD filled the temple” (Ezekiel 43:5).

These measurements were completed in 1917, with the final instruction, “you must be baptized with baptism of Jesus.” That is head faced down.

The Holy Spirit poured out was in great comfort. It caused the tongue to emit sound as it enters, just as it did in the book of Acts. Today, this same Spirit is shared by nearly two million believers, the vast majority of whom are in China, but also in 58 countries throughout the world (Ezekiel 47:1-8).

With 100 years of history, the testimony of the Holy Spirit is now remarkable, consistent, and proven. Consistently, over this 100-year period, we find, for example, believers that began neglecting this true baptism have lost the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And this has been well documented in the United States, India, and China. In China alone, more than 50,000 believers, who were forced into state-controlled churches, have regained the comforting power of the Holy Spirit through rebaptism.

These believers know the truth by the Spirit they have received, just as the Apostle John wrote:

“As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him” (1 John 2:27).

A Different spirit

Many believers, in almost every denomination, “speak with tongues” by moving their mouths in the development of a prayer language. And this is much different than “the tongue emitting sound.”

Moving one’s mouth in a type of prayer language is an experience that is not unique to the Christian religion.

Beginning in the 1830s, believers of one sect began praying like this. And these believers followed the doctrine of an “angel from heaven,” (Galatians 1:8) as Satan took advantage of the confusion among churches in the search for the truth. Many, like the believers of this church, after praying “in tongues,” by moving the mouth, simply stop because they don’t see the point in it.

There are some who “pray in tongues” only by moving the mouth, and have no comforting movement of the body. They believe they have received a spiritual language, and also testify to living water when they pray.

But, when these same believers receive the Spirit of truth, as evidenced by the tongue emitting sound, they always testify the comfort of God is now greater. Most, who previously prayed “in tongues,” by moving the mouth, simply have the testimony, “this is the real thing.” The power and comfort of the Spirit they receive becomes God’s testimony that they are now following the true gospel.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

“if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 11:4)

And so God still separates the true gospel for us by the Holy Spirit.


  1. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh, 1896, Fourth Edition, p. 368.