speaking in tongues

One of my friends at church lent me a book about Smith Wigglesworth 1859 – 1947 who was a British evangelist important in the early history of Pentecostalism. He inspires me because he was so humble and yet achieved amazing things, especially in his healing ministry. His sessions were sometimes controversial.
The Holy Spirit was central to his life. He spoke in tongues.

I have only ever heard 4 people speak in tongues in my life to date. I have been a bit fearful about it to be honest. The notion to me is a bit hocus pocus and I have always been a bit fearful that if it happened to me I would be afraid it was a bad spirit rather than a good one.

However, all of the people I have heard speak in tongues are the most humble people with great integrity and it was never done in an environment to draw attention to themselves. When I heard it I never felt frightened. It was peaceful and comforting.

The first was a young woman I knew at church when I was in my mid teens. It was the first time I accepted God in my life and this lady prayed over me later that day. She looked and sang like Karen Carpenter. She owned a huge house in Harrogate, had a dog called Ezekiel and her boyfriend had died in a car accident and she still had the toggles of his duffle coat covered with blood. Amazing I remember those details vividly. I wonder where she is now.

The other three are men. One is the pastor of the church and the others two friends of faith. I only heard the pastor because I was sat next to him at prayer group. The other two are close friends. I know they will tell me the truth so I asked them two questions.

Do you understand what you are saying? No they don’t, but some people have the gift for interpreting tongues and one of my friends was able to do it once.
Can you stop? Yes. You can stop whenever you want to.

I found that very reassuring.