In this passage Christ tells the disciples what they are to do and what signs would accompany the believers after His departure :
And he said unto them, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. 16 He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieves shall be condemned. 17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.I ask, upon what authority does anyone remove the tongues from the text?
If one removes tongues one must necessarily also remove the rest.
(ALT) they will take up serpents, and if they drink anything poisonous, it shall not harm them; they will lay hands on infirm [or, sickly] [people] and they will be well."
(BBE) They will take up snakes, and if there is poison in their drink, it will do them no evil; they will put their hands on those who are ill, and they will get well. "
1. If we are to remove tongues we must also remove casting out demons, lifting up snakes to bear them away (greek: airo - Thayer), laying on of hands etc. One has no choice since they are all there together.
What Xtian today will say that there are no more devils or that we are no longer to cast them out?
Paul was bitten by a serpent without harm. How many stories are there about missionaries being poisoned without harm? Healings? There are literally 10's of 1000's of testimonies from all over the world in all history giving witness to a divine healing.
This means that to remove this one "sign" you must remove all and in effect make the whole text useless and "make void the doctrine of God through traditions"!
2. Martin Luther spoke in tongues, as did a long list of other history changing preachers!
If tongues is "of the devil" then the whole protestant movement (lutheran, baptiste, you-name-it) was founded by a man with a devil !?! Or, decieved by the devil !? And this man changed the whole course of history for the better !?!
Does one really need to go through all the names and examples ?
