Has GRN been secretly promoting Glossolalia, the gift of speaking in tongues, since it started?

I think such a headline would be worthy of modern media. I thought it would be fun to write an article as though it were written by the sensationalist media of this day and age. Global Recordings Network (GRN),  is of course a highly reputable well established mission established in 1939. Its services are now used by other missions all over the world. But I tried to imagine just what an article would be like about GRN if it were written by the sensational media and the following is the result. I hope you enjoy it.

Controversial Organisation Speaking in Tongues To The World

The roomers are that Acts chapter 2 is at play here in whole new ways. Constantly facing significant opposition to their particular stand, they still persist. Despite this opposition, this speaking in tongues still manages to fly under the radar of many.

Indeed sometimes they go to considerable effort to keep it that way. Don’t be misled however, staying under the radar does not mean that they do not promote their brand of Glossolalia.

Oh no! Starting out under the guise of Gospel Recordings, one frail woman joyfully used her particular gift of persuasion, to find the most ingenious method of winning converts to the cause.

Worse, when this woman found the right tools, she had the audacity to rejoice over subjecting others to this message, all for the cause of what she dared to call freedom.

Then when the name Gospel Recordings became too hot, they change the name to Language Recordings. Then again to Global Recordings Network (GRN). Supposedly for political reasons and using a flimsy excuse of “it avoids confusion” this deceptively simple means of getting converts persisted.

They even try to disguise what they are doing by avoiding the word tounges. Instead, they say they are recording Languages.

But I know better. The secret is out and not even the new name of GRN will stop them from being known. I can restrain myself no longer.

Gifts of The Spirit

What am I talking about? They can call it whatever they like but I call it for what it is.

GRN promotes the very least of the gifts of the spirit.

They promote Speaking in Tongues!

Not the run of the mill generic brand babble either. These people have the front to promote the sort of speaking in tongues that were expounded in Acts Chapter 2. When everybody heard their own language.

But they go even further. They promote speaking in tongues of every language and I mean every language. From the most obscure to the most popular.

Not just French, German, Spanish etc. GRN promote the speaking of languages, the names of which most people have never heard. Over 6000 of them in fact. But not just languages, they even use people’s dialects.

This is diabolical! We all know how susceptible people are when they hear something in their own language and dialects.

It’s true!

Don’t just believe me. You can listen to them for yourself. Yes, that’s right, recordings of this phenomenon are made available for everyone to download. All thousands of them and the number is ever-increasing.

Book of Acts and Speaking in Tongues

They say that they use translators and scripts. But there is no denying that it is a gift of the spirit when they hear it. After all, the first record of using other languages to promote the good news of Jesus was in the book of Acts.

What is the book of acts called?

It is called Acts of the Holy Spirit. So no matter what technology is used to promote the good news, if it is following in the footsteps of the Acts of the Holy Spirit it must be a gift of the Spirit.

Is that not so?

Well, you wouldn’t expect it to be called anything else, would you?

Can you imagine the dangers involved if people get their hands on the story of Jesus in every language?

It might just turn the world upside down.

Be wary everyone, the GRN form of speaking in tongues is on the move.

What is the secret of multiplying your Gospel preaching? Preaching the good news and revolutionising your ministry to all nations?

It’s obvious isn’t it; or is it? GRN recordings do have the ability to make multiple preachers out of one. One person can distribute the recordings to many people. Every time a person listens to that recording it’s like that one person is right there preaching. Even though they are off somewhere else.

In this way, one person gets to multiply the Gospel message. It can be heard in many different places. In many different languages and dialects. More or less at the same time.

But there is more to this multiplication than that and I only realised it when I started to read an old GRN book called “A Mans Hand” by Sanna Barlow Rossi.

The People Themselves Can Tell The Message

He said “…to get these recordings out … that they will have “wax preachers” to repeat in their own language the story of how sin entered the worlds, how Christ came, how He died for our sins, how He rose again. The records will say the same words again and again until the people themselves can tell the message they have learned.”

Of course, the wax refers to the records that were used to distribute the recordings in those days, before cassettes and way before MP3s. They were vinal but were often referred to as wax. Possibly because that is the way recordings were originally made, onto wax cylinders.

Of course, it is commonplace to have the gospel recorded in many different formats and in multiple languages. But the message in those formats is still limited to a relatively few main world languages. Despite the far-reaching nature of the internet,

With well in excess of 6000 (yes 6000 that is not a typo) the reach of GRN is far more extensive than just about any other database and because people can download the message or get it given to them on the hardware available the people can listen to the message in potentially even their own dialect, over and over again until they have it memorised and can do the telling (preaching) themselves.

In the end, it is people that will do the preaching. If we get them the message in the first place.

I’m sure I don’t know but there is no debating that everybody will listen to some of the most boring things in the world if they are put into story form. And they are just downright reverting if the subject matter is, in itself interesting.

What is it that attracts us To A Good Story or Yarn?

I wrote an article about story some time ago saying that they were the first form of mass entertainment. The art form still holds its power today.

Throughout history, it has been THE form of communication for some of our most famous people. The vast majority of the bible is primarily in story format. It certainly was the preferred method of communication of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Surprisingly, even though they almost certainly have unintentionally used the format in their work down through the generations, it is only in modern times that the power of a good yarn has been acknowledged by missionary organizations around the world. In fact, there is a new website dedicated to teaching people how to tell the gospel in story form.

Art As a Way of Telling Yarns

Next time you feel like criticizing the older church denominations, such as the Orthodox and the Catholic for their ornate art in and around their churches, check yourself. Because in a society of literate people, it is all too easy to miss the fact that mass literacy is a very modern occurrence. Even today, only one-third of the world’s population read. Most of the art in older churches tells a story. It was and still is in some cases, the best way available to get the word about.

A number of years ago I was intensely interested in marketing. So I did a number of courses on it. What caught my attention very quickly, was the emphasis that almost every marketer put on telling a story. Even those who didn’t use the term clearly described it.

Clearly, a story is truly the widow to the sole and if you want to communicate anything; health messages, new products, the Gospel, your best way of doing it is through a story.

I think that it is safe to say that story is never going away. If we are interested in effectively communicating the Gospel we must learn how to tell stories. There are plenty of storytelling tools to help do that but why not start with learning how to tell your own story?