VIII. [Questions and Answers]

1. I was told that under the influence of the Holy Spirit I could pray in tongues without any awareness. Could I speak in tongues intentionally at my will?

: One could speak in tongues without any self-awareness. Some could pray in tongues, being aided by their faith. Others were told to pray in tongues, and they then were able to do that. Then there are others who spoke in tongues, being literally guided by other human beings. As some believers have been healed by their faith in God, some people spoke in tongues on their own faith. The most preferred way is to be guided by the power of the Spirit and pray in tongues to God alone; if not able to do so, it is more beneficial to pray in tongues than not to pray, even if being helped by others.

2. A spirit-possessed person was freed from the evil spirit, and then he was praying alone at night and spoke in tongues. The concern is, while praying, he has been constantly attacked by the devil. Should he continuously pray in tongues?

: Praying in tongues is the most effective way to fight off the devil. Even if he is a novice believer, since speaking in tongues is signs of believers, he should continue to pray in tongues. While I was serving at a church in Chung Joo in Korea, I often went to a nearby mountain and prayed. There was a spirit-possessed person in that village. I have once heard that the evil spirit possessed man hated my praying in tongues. Thus, the person in reference should keep praying in tongues instead of stopping his prayer.

2. I have heard that there is the devil’s prayer in tongues. Is that true?

: There could be the devil’s prayer in tongues, but the believers are inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit, not by the devil. Thus, it is a possible notion that we could be influenced by the devil, though it may be a remote chance. You should not, however, worry about this. When praying through the spirit of the devil, you will feel the ever-increasing fear and a certain weight pressing you down. Moreover, praying through the Holy Spirit is different from praying under the influence of the devil. Tongues in the spirit of the devil will force you to keep praying, so you don’t have any control when to stop the prayer. On the other hand, praying in the Holy Spirit has a control and in order, so you can stop at your will. The same rationale can be applied to an insane person speaking incessantly without ceasing. When being controlled by the devil, not only that he feels anxious without any reason, but also he struggles continuously without having any control over what he does. To help such a person, the believers with the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues should keep praying for him in tongues. This will help him awake spiritually and can deliver him from the grip of the devil. People with prior experience of being attacked and controlled by the devil will readily receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In conclusion, praying in tongues under the control of the devil is true, but you should not too much concerned by that.

4. Does the devil exist and carry out his activities?

: The devil can definitely mimic. He pretty much can imitate all activities such as healing the sick, anointing, and revelation, etc. The practitioner in superstition and the monk can pray in tongues. The concern is whether they pray in tongues under the influence of the Holy Spirit or of the devil. As we sing hymns and applaud at times while speaking in tongues, the practitioners in superstition do the same thing while chanting in an unknown tongue. The question we would need to ask is which spirit controlling us at such moments. The importance is not whether or not people could speak in tongues. The devil can definitely imitate the acts of God.

5. What is the difference between interpretation of tongues and prophecy?

: Interpretation of tongues is to understand as prayers are being offered in tongues, but prophecy, like that of speaking in tongues, guides a person to continuously prophesy in Korean. (*Please refer to the related topic in previous pages.)

6. Through my interpretation of tongues, I could tell that I have received the spiritual gift from God. Besides this gift above, is it possible for me to receive seven spiritual gifts?

: Besides seven gifts, there is a main gift we receive from God. When the evil spirit goes away through the spiritual gift, then even twelve gifts can appear. When the devil leaves by a certain gift, all the symptoms brought about by the evil spirit will disappear, as well. These are twelve gifts. This is further to say that all twelve spiritual gifts can appear in one’s life. (Refer to the theology of the spiritual gift.)

7. I hear that, when we are in too deep of sorrow, the Holy Spirit intervenes on our behalf. When does such a case appear?

: There are people the Holy Spirit intervenes with a deep sigh and prays on their behalf. While interpreting the prayers in tongues, I often shed tears. When they rejoice, I rejoice together with them, interpreting their prayers in tongues. It happens in such a way, because we are under the work of the same spirit, inspiring and touching us.

8. Are all the prophecies accurate?

: Observing the prophets prophesying in the era of the Old Testament, all of their prophecies were in part. Since they are all in part, you would have to put them together to make sense out of their prayers. Just listening to one prayer, you cannot really tell whether or not they are accurate. Today prophecy works in the same way. The response to the prophecies given to us should not rely totally on one person. As we listen to various people giving prophecies, by compiling all these prophecies and viewing them together, we could see the whole picture. Prophecy shows at various levels, depending on the depth of prophets’ faith. All prophecies are in part. (*Refer to the topic in this work.)

9. When we speak in tongues, I hear that we will also be able to interpret tongues by receiving the spiritual inspiration. How then do we receive the spiritual inspiration?

: The longer we pray in tongues, we will eventually be able to interpret tongues. As if the responses to our prayers finally come to us, we receive this sudden spiritual inspiration, and they get all connected as if they are all in one sentence. This is the phenomenon occurring in interpreting the prayers in tongues. Until it comes to us as a whole, if we just keep praying in tongues, though initially it is only in part, gradually they all begin to come to us as a whole sentence. This is the interpretation of tongues.

10. I witnessed an epileptic having a seizure on a street, letting out strange and undecipherable noise. Was this sort of a noise caused by an evil spirit?

: While leading a revival meeting in Texas in the United States, I have heard about a student who practiced yoga. Through yoga, he was able to gather his energy at certain spots on his body, even relieving his stress by relaxing his muscles. Through yoga, he was even able to control his emotional and spiritual state of mind. One day his pastor came and prayed for him. While praying together, the student heard the “bang” sound and felt the gush of wind going out of his lower part of belly. After that experience, no matter how hard he tried to concentrate and gather his energy through yoga, he could not do any of the things he had experienced prior to that incident. The devil and the evil spirit went out of his body. Since the human body is a small container holding the soul inside, whether the spirit of the devil comes into us, or the spirit of the human being enters us, they all appear in a spiritual form. Whether the spiritual phenomenon comes from God or from the devil, since it stems from a spirit, you cannot realistically determine their source, solely depending on the phenomenon.

11. Two people initially prayed together, and then one person began to speak in tongues. Sitting and praying next to him, he got scared and left the place to go home. Why does this kind of phenomenon happen?

: While praying in church, when one suddenly began to have scary feelings and then had fearful thoughts, he was being attacked by the devil at the moment. That is the reason for people suddenly becoming mad. W hen a person with little faith goes to a mountain place to pray alone and suddenly acts like a mad man, he is usually taken over by the spirit of the devil.

I have once heard of another incidence. Several friends were praying together, and then one person suddenly appeared to be being pinned down, then laid down on the floor unconsciously. People called for an urgent prayer meeting, calling all pastors with spiritual powers and deacons. They all came together and prayed about an hour, speaking in tongues. The person in subject awoke up suddenly. He then said that, while he was praying hard, he suddenly felt something pressing him down. He then felt keep going down and down. At a certain point, he turned around and found himself arising. While coming up, he then heard people praising God’s name through hymns. This hymn singing woke him up from his dreamlike experience.

When you pray at a mountain place or doing the overnight prayer, you should not do this alone. Even you are together with other people praying at a mountain, you should not keep yourself isolated from the rest of the group. You should be at a distance where you can observe each other. While praying aloud, when a person suddenly stops praying, that indicates a danger. When a person is weighed down by a spirit, this is what happens, even without a moment’s notice.

At a revival meeting, at times when a revival speaker shouts towards the crowd, “Receive the Fire,” some receives even an evil spirit, speaking in tongues through an evil spirit. In our normal setting, when a person is weighed down more heavily by the spirit of this world rather than by the Spirit of God, the spirit of the world emerges more strongly, causing him to act out in a devilish way. On the other hand, when a person knows his spiritual state and thus always has himself washed clean spiritually, he will be immune to the attacks from the devil.

Always be mindful of the spirit of the world. When you begin to be more conscious of other people, it comes from the spirit of men. When you think more of yourself, that indicates the spirit of the world. The people being attacked by the devil tend to strongly think of themselves in such ways as “I will receive the fire from heaven and become an evangelist” and “Though I failed in business, I will receive much grace and have my name be known to many people.” In another words, when we put more strength on ourselves instead of others, through that arrogant mind the devil comes into our lives. The humanly selfish and lustful prayers invite the devil into our lives.

12. People with strong and mature faith, can they pray alone?

: Surely, they can.

13. Someone told me that I could pray with my eyes open, but when you pray at a mountain site with your eyes open, will my prayers still be heard by the Lord?

: Even if you pray with your eyes open, your prayers will still be heard. When we close our eyes, we try to cut off the spirit coming from the outside. When fear comes to us, we would have to fight off fear by keeping our eyes open. .

Inside my mind, there is the power being aware of myself. When our minds are opened towards God, choosing the Lord, the spirit of God enters us. When the devil attacks me, the devilish spirit throws me into the whirlwind of fear. In such a state, I cannot choose God. Thus, when the devil tries to attack us, we should keep our eyes open wide and speak out aloud to the evil spirit, “In the name of Jesus I command you Satan to leave me! Be away from me, Satan! By speaking in a loud tone of voice, we should regain our self-consciousness.

When people are weighed down by the devil, they lose their self-consciousness and are placed under the control of the devilish spirit. People with insanity lose all their self-consciousness by continuously worrying and being feared, gradually submitting themselves to come under the control of the devil. When we emphasize our self-consciousness before God, the devil retrieves, and we ourselves become the spiritual channel of God. When we let ourselves die before God, we become humble; yet, when we stand strong before the world, we become righteous. Before worries and concerns, we should strongly claim ourselves. Facing the wicked, we should stand strong and then push forward through the strength of righteousness, and before God we should keep emptying ourselves. This is the essence of the believers’ life.

14. While being sleepy, if we pray in tongues in an unconscious state,

does the devil come into play?

: When we lay down our conscious state of mind at God’s feet, we are wired to speak in tongues. When we do not put our conscious state of mind in God and still experience a strange phenomenon of speaking in tongues, we do not know whether we are under the guidance of God’s spirit or under the spirit of the devil, causing us to say nonsensical things. Thus, unless we claim our views, whatever and whichever spirits passing by us, that spirit can come into us.

15. When the pastor prays for the sick or for those possessed by an evil spirit, as the spiritual power is used and goes out of his body, will it be that much more strenuous on the pastor?

: When the spiritual power goes out of our body, this does not mean that the Holy Spirit leaves us. When we pray for those who are ill, through our self-consciousness, if we strongly keep ourselves open for the work of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit works within us. However, since we would have to spend off our energy, the power of our self-consciousness loses its strength. Yet, the Holy Spirit does not lose any of his strength.

The spirit of God can be compared to a well. The more we draw out water , the more the fresh water springs up. Unless emptying water in a well, it will be a rotten water. The same principle applies to our souls. No matter how small and insignificant the spiritual gifts may be in the beginning, the more we try to use them, the stronger the spiritual power will emerge.

Concluding Remarks

The spiritual world is endless without its limit and mysterious. The wonders of God are beyond the human reason and cannot be defined rationally. Nevertheless, God uses men. This is what we call in part (partiality) of the human knowledge.

What I have written down so far is only in part of what God has helped me to understand. I expect and pray that other people will emerge in the future, revealing the fuller knowledge of the wholeness, which will nourish the spiritual world more abundantly. Through the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, truth will be materialized.