The goal is to achieve harmony with the natural surroundings. In the first Centuries CE, it meant the ability of a person to communicate in a foreign language that they had never learned. At the present time, it refers to a person who suddenly, in a state of religious ecstasy, starts speaking sounds that sound like language but do not represent any known tongue. The manifestation of glossolilia is an expected development in all Pentecostal believers and is a sign of the grace of God. It is also a common practice among charismatic Christians.
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It originated in what is now the Middle East and Greece during pre-Christian times. The movement has been composed of many groups with differing beliefs. Salvation comes through knowledge and liberation from the material, earthly world to attain a higher level of spirituality. Many Gnostic sects were the victims of genocide by the Christian Church. The movement lives on today and is growing in numbers.