In his own words, Chuck Smith's French tongues story

But on Sunday evening we were meeting in the clubhouse in East Bluff. I cannot remember if it was ’68 or ’69, but we were meeting on Pentecost Sunday. And at that time there was probably 45 to 50 of us on Sunday evenings. And we were able to have a much more informal Bible study. I just sat with them and we just shared the Scriptures. We were going through the Bible, even then, but it was in a very informal way. And at the end of the study, because there was just a very small group of us, I said, “You know this is Pentecost Sunday, the Sunday that we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church.”

And we had a lady in our fellowship whose name was Lynn, who had a remarkable gift of tongues. Whenever she spoke in tongues, she spoke in French. And so, I said, “You know, let us just worship the Lord. And Lynn, just exercise your gift that God has given to you of speaking in tongues because it is just us here and it is Pentecost Sunday. We will have sort of a memorial since this is Pentecost Sunday.”

So Lynn began to speak in tongues (speaking in French), and I can understand enough of French that I knew that she was giving thanks to God for a beautiful song. Now because I could intellectually understand some of the French words, I did not make any endeavor to exercise my gift of interpretation. I was afraid of trying to interpret when, naturally, I knew some of the words. I had sort of the gist of what she was saying naturally, and I was afraid of some kind of a natural or supernatural hang-up. I might get out into nah-nah land and not come back between the two. So I did not make any endeavor to interpret.

However, my wife began to interpret. And it was very beautiful as she was thanking God for the beautiful new song that He had put in her heart, which was her love song to Him. And she spoke of the joy and the blessing of singing of her love for Him. Of course it was rather significant because she had been singing in nightclubs and did have a beautiful voice. And so it was quite significant that she was rejoicing in a new song that God had given to her, a song of praise and love unto Him.

We closed the meeting and we had a fellow who was going with this girl in Palm Springs and she was having some problems and he brought her down that night so that I could counsel with her after the service. So as we sat down to counsel, she said, “Before we start talking about the things that I need to talk to you about,” she said, “I am curious as to what was going on here tonight at the end. The woman who spoke to the group in French and the other woman who translated for the group.” And I said, “Would you believe that neither of those women know French?” She said, “No, I would not.” And I said, “Well, it is true.” I said, “Neither of them know French.”

And I took her to the Scriptures and I showed her the gift of speaking in tongues and the gift of interpretation. And I said, “What you saw was what Paul is talking about here in Corinthians, where one speaks in an unknown tongue and another interprets.” She said, “Well I lived for five years in Paris.” She said, “She was speaking the most beautiful French.” She said, “She was using an aristocratic pronunciation.” She said, “It was not just the common French. She had an aristocratic pronunciation.” I said, “Well, what would you expect from the Lord.” And she said, “The other lady translated it perfectly.” I said, “Well, I know that she does not know French. That is my wife!” She said, “Well, before we go any further, I have to receive the Lord.” And so we had the joy of leading her to the Lord as the result of that experience of seeing the genuine exercise of the gift. And here is one of those cases where tongues did become a sign to an unbeliever, as she saw the gift of tongues and the interpretation.[1]