Among the series of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center Book issues
Recently issued: “The Gift of Speaking in Tongues” book
By:
His Grace Bishop Bishoy of Damietta, Kafr al Sehikh and the Head of St. Demiana’s Monastery in Al Barari, the Director of the Institute of Coptic Studies in Anba Rewis, Abbasiya
A script of a sermon given by His Grace Bishop Bishoy on 13th of September 1995 in Al Barari, then on 22nd of February 2014 at the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center.
Lord Christ warned us from following weird phenomena. The apostles also warned us saying, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 John 4: 1), St. Paul warned that Antichrist would come according to the working of Satan, with all power of lying wonders (Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:9). Thus, not every supernatural miracle is from God. Miracles alone are not enough.
Where is the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints?! Where is the apostolic tradition? Where is the Church which extended across all these generations? It is the Church about which Lord Christ said that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. He also told the apostles: “but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15: 16)
Where had the Church been before Pentecostalism movement appeared in the sixteenth century?
Was the Holy Spirit absent from the Church over all these centuries?! Where is the Church, the bride of Christ, if the speakers in tongues are the ones who gave her its value, thought they had no existence all through these centuries? Was the Church without the Holy Spirit before their appearance?! All witnesses assert that the Church is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3: 15), established on the foundation of the apostles and prophets; “having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2: 20)
