Speaking in tongues is the first and the initial evidence that a person has received a biblical baptism in the Holy Ghost. If you are not speaking in tongues as a Christian, it means you are not yet biblically baptised in the Holy Ghost. Christianity is not a mental religion, though we apply our minds; it is, first of all, an encounter of the Divine.
Everywhere the baptism of the Holy Spirit was received in the Bible (check all the passages today), something followed it, and it was speaking in tongues.
It was the first sign people observed that drew their attention to the disciples that something had happened to them, even though other signs do follow.
In Acts 8, some people in Samaria had been saved and Peter and John prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. After you get saved as a Christian, the next thing you must do is to receive the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Some people are more concerned with the one that comes first, water baptism or baptism in the Holy Ghost. As far as the apostles were concerned, it was more important for people to get baptised in the Holy Ghost than to be baptised in water.
No matter how many times you claim to have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, if you do not speak in tongues, there is no biblical basis to conclude that you got the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Being baptised in the Holy Ghost was so important to the Apostles of old that whenever they finished ministering, they immediately led their converts to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
NOTE: If you are born again and you desire the baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, please send us an email via lifeoasis@hotmail.com so you can be adequately ministered to. Don’t cut yourself off this divine provision of God. God bless you!
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Ezekiel 7:1-9:11, Hebrews 5:1-14, Psalm 105:1-15, Proverbs 26:28