Religious ecstasy (Kundilini) was found in the mystery religions and some of the characteristics of Gnosticism were already present in the general religious attitudes in the first century A.D. The Church, especially in Corinth, was a hub of pagan perversity and abounded in unscriptural and immoral practices.
Unlike the tongues in the Greek mystery religions, which were caused by the Kundilini experience, the tongues of the Upper Room in Acts 2 were different. The believers in the Upper Room were speaking in foreign languages, not unintelligible gibberish. The other accounts in Acts are not explicit as to form, but seem to follow the form of tongues given at Pentecost, especially since Peter, after hearing Cornelius speak in tongues, states that his experience was the same as the apostles' experience at Pentecost (Acts 11:15-16).
The Upper Room Today
The specific instances of tongues in the New Testament set the gift apart from the tongues of the Greek religious cults, since the cults are known to speak exclusively gibberish, not foreign languages. Many of the biblical scholars state that Early Church Christianity did not borrow practices from the mystery religions, yet pagans did enter into the congregations of the Early Church. The pagan religions may have easily provided the kind of impetus for spiritual experience found in the Corinthian church. It would not be surprising that some of the Corinthians carried these pagan ideas into the church at Corinth, especially the practice of glossolalia (speaking gibberish).
Paul wrote that the ability to "speak with the tongues of men and of angels" without love is no better than his being "a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Cor. 13:1). This may be an allusion to the use of these instruments in the mystery cults. These instruments were used to produce the ecstatic condition that provided the emotional intoxication needed to experience spiritual ecstasy. This is especially true in Dionysianism. Failure to evidence love in the expression of the gifts would be as meaningless as their former pagan rites.
Ecstatic religion by its very nature is self-oriented, not Christ oriented. Pagans were totally concerned about their own personal experience, an attitude also prevalent among Corinthian Christians,[1]and many in today's Charismatic churches.
Some of the Biblical tongues may have come in the form of a Spirit-inspired unintelligible utterance. They would be classed as a heavenly language, as directed by the Holy Spirit. [2] The utterance could be interpreted by the hearers as a known language, as such as occurred at Pentecost. But Paul did instruct that tongues, be it heavenly or foreign languages, would cease.
The Reappearance of Tongues
After the New Testament age, one of the first accounts of tongue-speaking comes from a movement of under the leadership of Montanus, circa 156. Montanism was an early church heresy initiated by a “new revelation.” He and his followers believed and claimed they were possessed by the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit does not possess people, since that is not the way the Spirit works. It is likely some other spirit was involved here.
This group called themselves The New Prophecy, but church writers referred to them as 'The Phyrgian Heresy.' Another practice that the Church opposed was its use of ecstatic, semiconscious states in its religious practices. This is similar to the ‘falling out’ experienced by those ‘slain in the Spirit’ today.[2] Montanism also denied the deity of Christ.
From the third century onwards, with the decline of Montanist influence and the persistent reluctance of the Church Fathers, tongues were no longer regarded as a common practice. Most of the references to tongues concerned why the phenomenon, which occurred in biblical times, was no longer happening. [3] Over the ages, there was some discussion of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, but it was a special apostolic dispensation for evangelizing, and no more. I suspect that the tongues that were in Montanism was the time frame when the Kundilini experience re-entered the Church. I could not find references to back my claim, but the the Greek mystery religions and Christian Gnostics had been already practicing it for years, just as the Gnostics still practice Kundalini today.
Conclusion
As the days grow closer to the return of the Lord, I believe that the emphasis on gifts and spiritual experiences will increase. The future revivals planned by the New Apostolic Reformation prophets and apostles, and those who believe in Dominion Theology, will continue to open doors to counterfeit spirits, and masquerade as the Holy Spirit. What Paul feared for the Corinthians will come to pass again today:
