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do spiritual gifts exsess today? are there different kinds of tongues? God language,and different languages from different nations? how do i become a christain? please responded..........
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[m273p15c]

Here are my answers to your questions:

• "do spiritual gifts exsess today?" - Yes and No.
  
  Yes, the Lord, through the Spirit, has bestowed many types of gifts upon the church. Some are miraculous; other gifts are not miraculous:
  
  

  Paul by the Holy Spirit wrote:

  For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:4-8)

  
  So, yes whenever some Christian teaches, gives of himself, leads, or shows mercy, then he is exercising spiritual gifts from the Lord. However, these gifts ultimately come from the faith-building Word of God, which both directs us how to do these things and offers hope of a reward. Here is another passages that speaks of all Christians enjoying some spiritual gift, even though they are not miraculous:
  
  

  Paul, again by inspiration, wrote:

  But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men." ... And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; (Ephesians 4:7-13[b/])

  
  This passage clearly shows that we have all been given some spiritual gifts. However, it may not be in the form that we might initially want. We may want miraculous power or revelation, but this passage speaks of spiritual gifts received indirectly through the teaching provided by apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Ultimately, we all benefit from the Bible, which is the recording of their inspired teaching ([b]Ephesians 3:3-5; I Corinthians 2:12-16). In this way, we all have tremendous spiritual gifts: salvation, revelation of God's will, and the tools required to benefit ourselves and others.
  
  In another way, the answer is also "No". Miraculous gifts are no longer available to be exercised by men. People cannot perform miracles today. The time and purpose of such miracles has passed. They were only intended to reveal and confirm God's Word in the first century, immediately following Christ's death and the establishment of the kingdom. Here are a few passages that prove this:
  
  
  1. I Corinthians 13:8-13 - Spiritual gifts produced "partial knowledge" of God's will. When God's will was completely revealed ("that which is perfect has come"), then the partial revelations ("prophecies ... tongues ... etc") were done away. Think of it has a scaffolding for constructing a building. The scaffolding is required during construction, but once construction is complete, the scaffolding is taken down. Paul compared it to being a child and putting away childhood toys, once you become an adult. Miraculous gifts are the toys of spiritual children, not spiritual adults. They will never produce the deep faith for which God longs. Much more could be said here...
     
     
  2. Acts 8:12-19 - Spiritual gifts could generally be received only by apostles, who would "lay hands" on a person. However, all the apostles died in the first century, and there are no more apostles. Therefore, there is no way to receive the power to perform miraculous gifts any more. Consequently, miracles essentially died when the last apostle died during the close of the first century.
     
     (The two exceptions are the apostles, the first Jewish converts who were baptized in the Holy Spirit by Jesus - Acts 1:4-8; 2:1-4; and Cornelius household, the first Gentile converts who were also baptized in the Holy Spirit by Jesus - Acts 10:44-48; 11:15-18. Holy Spirit baptism was limited to those 2 occasions. Why? Please consider that the Bible teaches only ONE baptism by the writing of Ephesians 4:4-6. Water baptism in the name of Jesus is the only baptism universally practiced in the book of Acts and commend by the Lord - Mark 16:15-16; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:37-38; 10:44-48; 22:16; etc.)
     
     
  3. Hebrews 2:3-4; Mark 16:20; John 5:31-40; 10:37-38; 14:10-11; 20:30-31 - Miracles were intended to confirm the origin of the speaker's message. This included the miracle of tongue-speaking (I Corinthians 14:21-25). In general, miracles proved that Jesus was from heaven, and it proved that the message of the apostles and prophets was from heaven. Once that was proved, miracles' mission was completed; therefore, their occurrence ceased.

Therefore, miraculous gifts, including speaking in foreign languages (or "tongues") has ceased. It ceased long ago, during the close of the first century.

Related passages and thoughts are available here:

• http://forums.insearchoftruth.org/post-988.html#988
  
• http://forums.insearchoftruth.org/post-989.html#989
  
• http://forums.insearchoftruth.org/post-1249.html#1249
  
• http://forums.insearchoftruth.org/post-1066.html#1066

"are there different kinds of tongues? God language,and different languages from different nations?" - Yes and No. Yes, many kinds of languages exist: English, Arabic, French, Hindi, etc. However, these languages can only be learned through patient study. Instantaneous learning of a language (for example, Acts 2:1-8) is a miraculous spiritual gift that ended in the first century (see above, I Corinthians 13:8-13). Furthermore, the Biblical account of this gift always involved speaking in the tongue of another nation, foreign to the speaker, but always native to the listener (Acts 2:5-12; I Corinthians 14:22-23). In other words, tongues were never to be used where the listener could not understand (I Corinthians 14:6-19). This required that it be their native tongue, for the unbeliever, or there had to be a translator available, for the believer (I Corinthians 14:26-30).

Consequently, "angelic tongues" or "God tongues" were never used, since nobody would understand them. Furthermore, I am unaware of any record in Scripture of these languages being used by men. Admittedly, Paul imagines that one might could speak in the "tongues of angels", but he never did it, just like he never "moved a mountain", although it was conceivable at the extreme. He merely used these as examples of extreme spiritual power, which would be useless without love, despite all their power (I Corinthians 13:1-3). He used hyperbole to emphasize the importance of love. Such miracles were not intended to be a common pattern; otherwise, their prevalence would have robbed his point of using extremes! So, yes, "God language" and "angel language" exist, but no, people never did speak it.

"how do i become a christain?" - One becomes a Christian by following Christ and obeying Him. Strictly speaking, one must first be converted to Christ and His Way, before he could be Scripturally considered a Christian. This involves the following:

1. Hearing the gospel, which is the message of Christ, including His death, resurrection, and ascension (Romans 1:16; 10:14-18)
   
2. Believe the gospel message (John 3:16; Romans 10:14-18)
   
3. Repent of your sins and follow Jesus (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 2:38; 17:30)
   
4. Confess your sins; seek forgiveness (Romans 10:8-10; Acts 2:36-37)
   
5. Be baptized in water, in the name of Jesus, for the remission of sins (Acts 2:37-38; Matthew 28:19-20; I Peter 3:21; Romans 6:1-6)

This starts the Christian walk, but it by no means completes it. Faithfulness, diligence, and spiritual growth are required (II Peter 1:5-11; Hebrews 5:12-14; Revelation 2:10).

Many more passages are available here: http://www.insearchoftruth.org/articles/salvation.html

I am sorry that it took me so long to answer, but hopefully this will prove to be spiritually profitable to you.

Invariably, you will have some questions regarding these passages or their use. If that is the case, please let me know. I would be thrilled to discuss the further to you. Let me know how I can be a spiritual help to you.

May God bless us with open hearts.