Are Tongues Necessary?

Are Tongues Necessary for Salvation?

By Irvin Baxter

Question: Barbara from Ohio called in to ask Irvin if speaking in tongues is the evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost and is speaking in tongues necessary for salvation.

 

Answer:  Let’s look at what the Bible says, it says that there are three steps to being born again, the death, burial and resurrection. Jesus also said you must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. We accept the death of Christ when we repent; then we are buried in Christ in baptism; then we receive the resurrection power of the Holy Ghost. The Bible says if the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you it will also quicken your mortal body and raise it up in that last day speaking of the time of the rapture. 

 

So the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is required to be raptured on the second coming of Jesus Christ. Many people ask can you receive the Holy Ghost without speaking in tongues? We have four accounts in the Book of Acts of people receiving the Holy Ghost ( Acts 2, 8, 10 and 19). And in the 2nd chapter the Bible says that the Holy Ghost fell upon all of them and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The Bible says when they were baptized they all received the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues.