“Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”—Jude 3
Vol. I. No. 4 Los Angeles, Cal., December, 1906 Subscription Free
Many are asking how the work in Azusa Mission started and who was the founder. The Lord was the founder and He is the Projector of this movement. A band of humble people in Los Angeles had been praying for a year or more for more power with God for the salvation of lost and suffering humanity. They did not know just what they needed, but one thing they knew, people were not getting saved and healed as they desired to see. They continued to hold cottage prayer meetings for several months.
Then they felt led of the Lord to call Bro. Seymour from Houston, Texas to Los Angeles, the saints in Los Angeles sending his fare. It was as truly a call from God as when He sent His holy angel to tell Cornelius to send for Peter. He came and told them about the baptism with the Spirit, and that every afternoon at three o'clock they would pray for the enduement of power. He told them he did not have the Pentecost but was seeking it and wanted all the saints to pray with him till all received their Pentecost. Some believed they had it, and others believed they did not have it because the signs were not following. Hardly anyone was getting saved.
There was a great deal of opposition, but they continued to fast and pray for the baptism with the Holy Spirit, till on April 9th the fire of God fell in a cottage on Bonnie Brae. Pentecost was poured out upon workers and saints. Three days after that, Bro. Seymour received his Pentecost. Two who had been working with him in Houston came to Los Angeles just before Pentecost fell. They came filled with the Holy Ghost and power. One of them had received her personal Pentecost, Sister Lucy Farrow, and said the Lord had sent her to join us in holding up this precious truth. She came with love and power, holding up the blood of Jesus Christ in all His fullness.
And the fire has been falling ever since. Hundreds of souls have received salvation and healing. We can truly say that the revival is still going on. The Lord God is in Los Angeles in different missions and churches in mighty power, in spite of opposition. This revival has spread through the towns about Los Angeles and through the state and all over the United States in different places, and across the ocean. The blood of Jesus Christ prevails against every force and power of the enemy. Glory to God.
Some are asking if Dr. Chas. F. Parham is the leader of this movement. We can answer no, he is not the leader of this movement of Azusa Mission. We thought of having him to be our leader and so stated in our paper, before waiting on the Lord. We can be rather hasty, especially when we are very young in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are just like a baby—full of love-and were willing to accept anyone that had the baptism with the Holy Spirit as our leader. But the Lord commenced settling us down, and we saw that the Lord should be our leader. So we honor Jesus as the great Shepherd of the sheep. He is our model.
The Lord adds here daily such as should be saved, and plants them in the body to suit Himself, and all work together in harmony under the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no pope, Dowieism, or Sanfordism, but we are all little children knowing only Jesus and Him crucified. This work is carried on by the people of Los Angeles that God has united by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Bro. Seymour is simply a humble pastor of the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made him overseer, according to Acts 20.28, "Take heed therefore, unto yourself and to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer, to feed the church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood." And as missionary workers and teachers go out from this place, they have the same privilege of being pastors over the people the Lord puts them over by the Holy Spirit, and of feeding them with the pure Word of God. Each mission will be united in harmony, having its own pastor simply that the Holy Ghost shall appoint.
We believe in old time repentance, old time conversion, old time sanctification, healing of our bodies and the baptism with the Holy Ghost. We believe that God made Adam in His own image, according to Gen. 5: 1; Ps. 8: 4; and Matt. 19: 4. We do not believe in any eighth day creation, as some have taught, and we do not believe in the annihilation of the wicked.
We stand on Bible truth without compromise. We recognize every man that honors the blood of Jesus Christ to be our brother, regardless of denomination, creed, or doctrine. But we are not willing to accept any errors, it matters not how charming and sweet they may seem to be. If they do not tally with the Word of God, we reject them.
This is the year of jubilee when God is sending the latter rain, and the refreshing times have come. He has raised up a nation in seven months’ time that will preach Jesus and Him crucified in all His fullness, in spite of what it costs.
“The long, long night is passed,
The morning breaks at last.”
It seems that God is sweeping things. He is running right over the devil here—not paying any attention to him – saving, sanctifying, and baptizing souls, bringing them out of darkness into the marvelous light of the Son of God. Hallelujah! Glory to God!
A band of spirit filled boys went down to Anaheim, a town near Los Angeles. They testified what God had done for them and it made the people hungry. The second night the altar was full. In two nights, eight were sanctified, six converted and five received the baptism. One night at about one o’clock in the morning, the Holy Ghost spoke words in Spanish through one of the young men, and a girl who was seeking her Pentecost understood that language and joyfully interpreted it, “Keep awake, do not sleep, and I will come to thy house.” This same girl in about an hour and a-half received the baptism with the Holy Ghost. The work among the children was very touching. The power of God fell the second night as at the house of Cornelius. Little children had their hands up shouting. The first to get the baptism was a little boy of ten years. He began clapping his hands and singing, “Jesus Savior, pilot me” in an unknown tongue in clear distinct words, also “Nearer my God to thee.” Four in the same family inside of twenty minutes got the baptism with the Holy Ghost. It was heaven there. The work is going on and other little children are being filled with the spirit.
The band of young men that the Lord is using there and in Whittier are all in one accord and keep in the unity of the Spirit. They do not preach big sermons, but simply testify and sing and pray in the spirit. Their names are Henry Prentiss, Curtis Nichols, Orly Nichols, Tom Anderson, Wm. Millson and Isaac Berg. One night recently, seven were slain under the power of God and several received their Pentecost. Many of the people in Anaheim understand German and the workers were permitted to speak and pray in that language. Some words spoken by the Spirit in German were, “God is in our midst.”
Workers went to Ft. Worth, Tex., and preached the Gospel and Pentecost has fallen there. Mrs. C. A. Roll of 1005 Edwards Street, Ft. Worth, writes “Three of us women began to tarry and pray the last of August. About three weeks from that time, Pentecost fell on our street. Since that time, nine have received their Pentecost. The Lord is pouring His Spirit on us. We are feeling the need of a man filled with the Holy Ghost to preach. How my heart burns within me since the Holy Spirit abides. I thank God that Pentecost has come to Ft. Worth. I just marvel at myself, by nature a timid, shrinking woman, but thank God, I am relieved of all that. We praise God for speaking to Sister Hagg and telling her to come over and help us. Then Bro. and Sister Kent came and were such a blessing to us. Two have received their Pentecost in the last few days. Others are seeking.
Greetings in our Lord to all the dear saints. I reached this place finding a warm welcome from Bro. and Sister York. Had our first meeting that afternoon with a room full. The meeting continued both day and night. About thirty received the message gladly and searches the scriptures daily, and began to cry mightily to God for their Pentecost. After six days waiting, the fire began to fall. Now I have been here eight days and three souls have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, speaking in new tongues. One young man spoke in several tongues, six or seven have received the anointing and twenty-five seeking earnestly. Victory through the Blood. Hallelujah to my God. The Pentecost has come to Benton Harbor and several ministers and mission workers are among the seekers. Glory to God. He saves me and lets His power fill me. He wonderfully supplies my needs. The battle was hot here for a time, but God gave the victory. I expect to meet you when Jesus calls us up. Elsie L. Robinson
The Lord has been working in a marvelous way in Seattle, Wash., where Bro. and Sister Junk and Sister Lulu Miller went as workers from Los Angeles. The devil has been opposing but he always misses the mark and advertises the meetings. Five window lights were broken and one shot through, and the papers call them, “holy rollers,” but the last reports are that some eight have been saved, ten sanctified and six received the Pentecost and are speaking in tongues. Also in a suburb town of Ballard four have received their Pentecost.
Bro. Junk writes the following incident of how God used the writing in an
unknown tongue:
“The Lord sent in a young Hebrew and he got soundly converted the other
night. He sobbed and cried until you could have heard him a block. His cry
was for the blood to cover him. O for old time repentance. When I pulled out
my Testament to read him some Scripture, his eyes fell upon some writing I
had done while under the power of God in Oakland. When he saw it, he pronounced
it Hebrew. The hardest work we had to do was to convince him that I had not
studied the language, but when this was clear, he trembled from head to foot
and said he truly believed the Messiah was come. Oh glory. These signs are
to them that believe not. He took my writing to a Hebrew scholar. It is Isaiah
55 commencing with the second verse, Ps 46:3, the Lord’s prayer, and
Rom. 3:26. They told him not to believe me, for without studying Hebrew, it
would be impossible to write it, for it was perfect. Praise God for He does
only perfect work.
Thos Junk, 1517 7th Ave, Seattle, Wash.
Bro. G.W. Evans, who has just come from Woodland, California, reports a Pentecostal revival in that place. Thirty-two have been baptized with the Holy Ghost, thirty-one sanctified, and twenty saved. Seventeen members out of the Baptist Church are filled with the Holy Ghost including the superintendent of the Sunday School and his wife. The Sunday School superintendent of the Methodist Church is also baptized with the Holy Ghost, and the difficulty now on hand is the need of a larger building to accommodate the crowds. Fourteen were healed at one meeting. God's word is made so clear and plain that the crowds are pressing in spiritual hunger for the living truth. Sisters Sophie and Reece from Oakland, whom God has been using, are at present in charge.
A man that had been possessed with a mad demon and had been in the asylum was delivered. The Lord cast out this demon, clothed him in his right mind and completed the work, baptizing him with the Holy Ghost. Another remarkable case was where a party was under sentence of court, which decision was suspended and the defendant saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost and became a good citizen.
We are praising God for victory in San Diego. Bro. Love and I came down here last Thursday to see if the Lord was preparing to take out a people for Himself in this city by the sea. On arriving in the city, we were not long in finding my old friend and brother, Geo. Reilly, who was earnestly tarrying for the Pentecost. We appointed a meeting at his house the same night and he was gloriously baptized with the Holy Ghost and spoke with tongues. We met again the next evening and two more received their Pentecost with Bible evidence. Hallelujah! The Lord had already laid it upon Bro. Reilly to open up a mission on this line. He had secured the building and we had it ready for service by Saturday night. The people came out and nearly filled the seating capacity and we had a most wonderful meeting. Some were justified and sanctified and blessedly anointed. Interest is increasing. Some falling under the power of the Holy Ghost and mighty conviction of the people. We believe the Lord wants Azusa Street Mission duplicated in this city. We expect to stay here till the Lord says, "Flee ye to another." He has showed us that He has much people in this city. Hallelujah! Pray for us and San Diego —F.E. Hill.
They are having a real old time Pentecostal revival in San Jose, California. The devil is stirred and doing his best to put out the fire, but they just ignore him and shout the victory. The altars are crowded day and night. Twelve have received their Pentecost and are speaking in tongues. Devils are being cast out and the sick healed. All glory to God. Some come to the altar and the Holy Ghost shows them they are backslidden in heart so they repent and do their first works over. Soon they get to the place where the Holy Ghost falls upon them and they rise to their feet speaking in a clear language as the Spirit gives utterance. Some of the Salvation Army people in that city are receiving the Pentecost. Bro. Harmon Clifford has returned from working in Oakland and San Jose and brings good news of a mighty work of God.
Bro. H. M. Turney who came from Alaska to get his Pentecost in Los Angeles, is being used of the Lord in San Jose. His last report, dated November 26 is, “Yesterday was a high day in Zion. The meeting opened at 10 A.M. and was still running at one o’clock this morning. Altars are crowded at every service. Many are slain under the mighty power of God. Several received their Pentecost yesterday. One woman was instantly healed of rheumatism. Several have been saved. Many backsliders reclaimed and sanctified.
God has done a wonderful work in Portsmouth, Va. It is reported that about 150 have received the Pentecost. The whole country about there is stirred by the power of God. The Lord sent Sister Lucy Farrow there from Los Angeles and has been using her to preach this gospel. She feels a call from God to go to Monrovia, Liberia, Africa, and wants some one to come and help carry on the work. She says, “Give all the saints love from me. Tell them I have many children here too. They do not want me to leave, but you all know when the Lord says go, I must go. I move as the Lord says move. No time to visit only for the Lord. I go night and day in rain and sunshine. There is no time to stop. Jesus is coming soon. Pray for me and the work here.”
It pleased God by His Almighty power to send us Sister Lucy Farrow to bring us the light as we had not seen it. The power of God has fallen upon us. I praise Him for being a witness in Jerusalem, Samaria, Judea, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. I praise Him for the power in the sign He gave me of speaking in tongues and interpreting the same and singing in tongues. I praise God for the healing power. He has healed me from my head to my feet.
--- Georgetta Jeffries, Portsmouth, Va.
We are unable to tell of the great glory and power that came upon the meetings, Sunday, November 11. With astonishment and great conviction the people witnessed the great power of another Pentecost in several speaking in tongues, and some singing songs in different languages with an unction and glory that is past human language to describe.
Waves of thrilling glory pass over me as I reflect on what God is doing in this place. A spirit of divine love prevails among the workers, and those who are baptized with the Holy Ghost take hold of the office work. Appeals for help are pouring in from every quarter, and it takes about five persons to answer the correspondence. God is raising up the workers.
People are coming and making their confessions and giving up all, to get ready for the coming of Jesus. Never in the history of this work has there been so much confession and restitution.—Apostolic Light.
It is every believer's birthright to be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Two bands of Apostolic Faith workers have been arrested in Whittier, but it has only increased the interest and deepened the work.
An anointed handkerchief was sent to Elizabeth Smith, Brunswick, Ga., and as soon as she opened the letter she was instantly healed.
We have heard the funeral of the Gospel preached, the power of nobody unto nothing, now we are preaching the power of God unto salvation.
One came here that had been suffering for years in body, and was healed by the power of God while in the meeting without even asking for prayers.
A young lady was contemplating suicide came to the meeting and was saved, then sanctified and baptized with the Holy Ghost. She is very happy in the Lord.
When the conditions are just right, the Lord is just as responsible for the healing of our body as of our souls. The reason so many are sick, is because they trust in the arm of flesh instead of God.
A brother testified, “Last week I came in a backslider and half drunk and the Lord forgave my backsliding right in my seat, and a few days afterward, He sanctified me and baptized me with the Holy Ghost.
The gift of tongues is the glory of God flooding your soul and the spirit taking possession. You will never know what it means to be clay in the hands of the Potter until you receive the Pentecostal baptism.
Pentecost has fallen in Long Beach, Cal. Souls are slain under the power of God and meetings cannot close. A number have received the baptism with the Holy Ghost. The Lord is using Bro. E. McCauley to push the work there.
It was God's eternal purpose that Jesus should be born in a humble place. No place is too humble for Jesus to dwell in. He poured out His Spirit in the humblest meeting place in Los Angeles, that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Interpreted message spoken in tongues: "Open your heart and receive the Spirit. I will give good gifts to My children. Blessed are they that trust Me. O drink of the living waters. Believe in Me. O believe in Me, and ye shall find everything ye ask for.
This meeting has been a melting time. The people are all melted together by the power of the blood and the Holy Ghost. They are made one lump, one bread, all one body in Christ Jesus. There is no Jew or Gentile, bond or free, in the Azusa street Mission.
Bro. A. Sulger, a Danish young man from Chicago, has received his Pentecost and is filled and saturated with the melting power of God. He expects to be on his way east soon, and, as the Lord opens the way, will go to Denmark where the Lord is calling him to preach the Gospel. His father is a Lutheran preacher.
Bro. Tom Hezmalhalch has returned for a short time to Los Angeles from Chicago, Colorado Springs, Denver, and other places where the Lord has been using him and reports a wonderful work of God in those places and that many souls are being saved, healed and baptized with the Holy Ghost with signs following.
“Jesus is coming again soon. Do not reject His voice. Don’t reject Him, don’t reject Him. He was nailed on the cross for you.” The above is the interpretation of a message in unknown language given by one who came a sinner and is now filled with the Holy Ghost speaking and preaching in new tongues.
A brother writes that he received the baptism with the Holy Ghost on a Santa Fe train running forty miles an hour and ten more after him received the same gift. They were all waiting for the promise of the father. He is no respecter of persons or places. To tarry at Jerusalem is to wait at Jesus’ feet wherever you are in His will.
Companies of Christians in many places are waiting on God, and tarrying for the baptism with the Holy Ghost. The most spiritual people in this land and across the ocean, and missionaries in foreign lands are writing that they are seeking the Pentecost. This is a significant fact. It means that the Lord is preparing His people for His soon coming.
On Thanksgiving Day a baptismal service was held at the Pentecostal Mission on Maple and Eight street where there is a baptistery. Twenty-four were baptized by immersion. The spirit of God was upon the people. The candidates for baptism were filled with the spirit and shouted and praised God as they came out of the water
Sister Hagg is now back in Los Angeles from Ft. Worth, Tex., rejoicing in the Holy Ghost and continually witnessing to the Pentecost, which she received last May. She says, “Not a single doubt about this being of God. I know I was sanctified before, and I know this is separate from sanctification. He fills me with His glory. Since I have received the baptism with the Holy Ghost, I have understood God better and His truth has opened up to me as never before. It enables me to stand in every place. I have sweet fellowship with my Lord in all trials and tests. The Lord gave me the interpretation of some words I was speaking in the unknown tongue and the interpretation was, “My soul cannot tell it.”
The Lord has been working in Chattanooga, Tenn., where a band of Africa missionaries stopped on their way. Souls have been saved, a number have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and received the Bible evidence. Brother and Sister Hutchins and Sister McKinney have now gone on to New York. Their destination is Monrovia, Liberia, Africa.
A little girl who knows the Lord as her healer, was suffering from fever. After different ones had prayed for her, she said, "Now maybe the Lord wants me to pray, so she said, "Dear Jesus, you have heard all these people's prayers, now heal me for Jesus sake." Then she lay down and went to sleep. God heals many times in answer to children's prayers.
The devil says he has no lake of fire, though sinners, skeptics, and ungodly preachers all are trying to find consolation in the doctrine of no hell, annihilation, and universalism. But God says in Rev. 20:14 that there is a lake of fire. Jesus warned us of hell. Hades in Greek and Gehenna in Hebrew mean "lake of fire." What can we do but believe the Word?
We can truly say that Pentecost has come, for all the signs are following. God is pouring out His Spirit upon His sons and daughters and giving dreams and visions, speaking in tongues. A woman who had been an invalid for 18 years is walking and shouting and praising God. The blind have received their sight. Missionaries are going out without purse or scrip. Everything is pointing toward the coming of the Lord.
The great Shekina glory is still resting upon us as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, where hundreds and thousands of souls have come and been blest through the mighty power of our blessed Lord. Hungry and thirsty souls are coming from hundreds and thousands of miles to get their personal Pentecost, and receiving and taking the glad tidings back home to hungry and thirsty souls that are waiting their arrival.
People from thousands of miles have been coming to Los Angeles to get into the rivers of salvation. John saw a river proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb, and on either side of that river was the tree of life. We can get the fruit on either side of the river, but we have to swim to get it. If you want this great blessing, you must launch out by faith into the river. It is a very sweet thing to be where the rivers are flowing.
It is so blessed to be sanctified, cleansed, crucified, nailed to the cross of Christ. Old things have passed away, the old man is crucified, slain, and Jesus Christ is enthroned in the heart and crowned within. He sits upon the throne of our heart, reigning as a king, swaying His scepter of righteousness and true holiness, and keeping the heart clean and pure from sin. Then you are just ready to receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire.
The Lord Jesus said, when He had one foot in the cloud going back to heaven, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power.” They did not go away from Jerusalem until they received the enduement of power. And on the day of Pentecost, they were all in one accord and all were filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke with new tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. God taught the church a lesson on that day what the baptism with the Holy Ghost was and what would prepare them to be a witness to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Newspapers in Salem, Oregon are publishing columns about the Pentecostal meetings. While they deride, they tell enough truth to draw any hungry soul. They say of Sister Wiley that her face “shines like new money,” that her face is transfigured, so to speak, and that “she could not put that on.” They say that the tongues spoken by the preacher “really sounded like Oriental dialect; it certainly seems impossible for anyone, however adept he may be, to imitate a language in that way.” They say that “well authenticated cases of remarkable cures from disease are recorded.”
Bro. and Sister Eric Hollingsworth, who have received their Pentecost and are on the way to Sweden to carry the Gospel write from Oakland, “God is working here in Oakland also. As a rule, one and sometimes two souls a day are receiving their Pentecost and signs following. We are going to continue on our trip east and to Sweden Monday. I hope you will pray for us. We are going to a poor country and at a hard time of the year and we will find strong opposition in preaching this wonderful Gospel. I feel just like stepping into the lion’s den, but Daniel’s God is my God.”
“Jesus has brought me into His banqueting chamber. Oh, I am feasting upon the delicious wine of the kingdom. Hallelujah!”
The above is the interpretation of a testimony given by a sister from Washington, who received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in Los Angeles and speaks several unknown languages. A brother who understands Marathi, a language of India, identified this language and interpreted. Many have spoken in the languages of India, China, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the islands of the sea, as well as the learned languages of Greek, Latin, etc. The Holy Ghost speaks any language He chooses.
In Denver, Colorado, in Bro. Fink’s home, a woman was brought in that was hurt in falling from a wagon. She had been a cripple for thirty-two years and unable to walk. Her toes were drawn up under her feet and could not be straightened. She was unsaved. The next morning, as she was sitting in the front room alone, a little six year old girl who has received the baptism and speaks with tongues, walked in and put her hands on the woman and said, “Jesus wants to heal you, the Spirit has sent me to put my hands on you.” Instantly those toes on the woman’s feet straightened and she arose and walked.
The Lord showed us before starting this paper that it was to be free. We were not to tax the people or put ourselves in debt to the people and in bondage, by selling it a year ahead. It was to be a Holy Ghost paper and it was to be free indeed. No subscription price. No begging for money in it or through it. It costs a cent a copy to send it anywhere in the world, and the Lord can afford that. We pay book postage on the rolls, because we cannot enter it as second-class matter in the mails.
We have no advertisements -- nothing to advertise but this wonderful salvation that is free to all. The writers and workers in the office live by faith outside of what comes for the paper, and we publish no names of editors. All work for the honor and glory of God. This we believe will be a real protection to the paper to keep it pure, for unless one is filled with the love of God, they do not covet to work without honor or money.
We get out the paper when the means comes in and not before. No debt will be formed. The Lord can stop it at any time He chooses. We will not be getting letters saying, "My paper did not come on time," because it is the Lord's paper. He supplies the means.
We are so glad to be able, through offerings sent in, to send this paper to thousands of hungry souls. Many cannot afford to subscribe for a paper, and even 25 cents is a real tax on some poor widow or Christian worker. So we do not make any charge. We preach and publish this Gospel freely. "Freely ye have received, freely give."
We praise the Lord for enabling us to publish and send out 5,000 of No. 1; 10,000 of No. 2; 30,000 of No. 3; and 30,000 again of this issue. Some have received their Pentecost through reading the paper, and we send out every one with a prayer.
Through Jesus, we are entitled to health and sanctification of soul and body. Bro. Paul said to the church, Thess. 5:23. "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord." That prayer is being prayed by the Holy Ghost for us today. Jesus prayed that the Father would keep us from evil, which means sickness and all the works of the devil. All sickness is the work of Satan, and we have just as much right to look to Jesus for the health of these bodies as for the saving and sanctifying of our souls.
The sacrifice on Calvary was a two fold sacrifice. When we receive the atonement in all its fullness, we have health and salvation to the uttermost. The prophet said, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.” He gave His blood for the salvation of our souls and He gave a perfect body for these imperfect bodies of ours.
It is by the stripes of Jesus that we are healed. There was never a whip lash put on Jesus' back till Pilate scourged Him before the judgment bar. The marks that were made on that perfect body of our Savior, the blood that ran down in Pilate's judgment hall from His stripes, reach our infirmities and cleanse us from all sickness and disease and make us every whit whole.
The Passover lamb was a type of Christ. We find that the Lord commanded the children of Israel, when they were about to come out of Egypt to take a lamb without blemish and kill it and sprinkle the blood at the doors of their houses and eat the body of the lamb in their houses. The blood stood for salvation to save them from the destroyer. So the blood of Jesus saves us from sin, for Satan is not able to make his way through the blood. Now they were to eat the body of the lamb in their very own homes that they might have strength and health that night to go out of Egypt. And out of three million that went out of Egypt, there was not one sick. This was a real type of the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ for soul and body.
We find the Jews afterward kept the Passover. They looked back to their deliverance and commemorated it every year by eating the lamb's body, the type of our Christ. The body of the lamb pointed to Christ's body broken for us. So we look back to Calvary, to our Savior who hung and died and gave a perfect body for us.
O remember Calvary. He said at the Passover supper, just before He was crucified, "Take, eat, this is my body." What for? For health. And He gave them the cup and said, "This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins." So every time we partake of the Lord's supper, we do it in remembrance of this two-fold salvation for body and soul.
Many are sickly and fall asleep because they do not discern the Lord's body. They will take a doctor before Jesus. They put a doctor between them and the atonement. Yet they will say, "Lord, Lord," and do not the things that He says: "Is any afflicted, let him pray. Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Jas. 5:13, 15. The doctor gives you poison and you die because you dishonor the atonement. You are sickly, you fall asleep. You come to the Lord's table and yet you do not believe in full salvation for soul and body. You take the cup and eat the bread, and yet deny the body of the Lord for health and salvation. So you are sick because you do not discern the body of the Lord Jesus.
"Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." Jon. 6:53. Dear beloved, this means that we must honor the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ in all its fullness, as David said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases." Let us take the Lamb's body, through faith in our Lord for salvation and healing of these bodies, as we honor His blood for saving and sanctifying our soul and spirit. Amen.
Do you long to be full of joy and free,
To be strong in God and his glory see,
Then obey His word and you shall be,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
"Ye shall be baptized," Jesus said,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Tarry then until with the power endued,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Yes I'll be baptized with His power,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
'Tis the gift I see, Father's promise to me,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Will you consecrate to Him now your all,
Let Him have his way while to Him you call,
As in faith you wait the power will fall,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
"This is that" which fell at Pentecost,
To prepare the church to redeem the lost,
We must then be filled at any cost,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
'Tis the gift of God to the sanctified,
He will comfort, lead and will be our guide,
And will dwell in us, coming to abide,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Will you gladly fall at the Saviour's feet,
Give your doubtings o'er, and be made complete,
There to dwell in peace, and communion sweet,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
You can sing God's praise now, and by and by,
Ye shall speak with tongues, and shall prophesy,
In the power of God ye shall testify,
Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
The first thing in order to receive this precious and wonderful baptism is to have a clear knowledge of justification by faith, according to Rom. 5:1, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that all our sins, guilt and pollution are washed away. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. We have eternal life in our souls and the Spirit witnesses with our Spirit that we are the children of God.
Now since we are justified by faith, we have access, through the precious blood, to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice for sanctification, which is the second work of grace that cleanses us from inbred sin, inbred disobedience and rebellion. The old man is crucified, the body of sin destroyed. Rom. 6:6, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. We are made holy by the blood of Jesus, for we have a witness by the Holy Ghost, Heb. 10:14, 15, "For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us."
But yet this is not the baptism with the Holy Ghost. Many people have taken the promise of the Father to be sanctification, but if we carefully read our Bibles and our references in our Bibles, we will find that sanctification and the baptism with the Holy Spirit are altogether different. We are sanctified through the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost is a witness. Jesus died for us—not the Holy Ghost. Praise our God. They were not to tarry in Jerusalem till He should pour out His blood upon them, but tarry for the promise of the Father. John truly baptized with water, but the Lord Jesus was coming to baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. Jesus said, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence," and "ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."
The baptism with the Holy Ghost is not a work of grace but a gift of power. Sanctification is the second and last work of grace, but the baptism with the Holy Ghost is a gift of power. It is a free gift without repentance. No consecration to be made in receiving the Holy Spirit. Consecration is all made in sanctification. The Lord Jesus is dwelling within, and you have an unction from the Holy One which teaches you all things. The baptism with the Holy Ghost makes you a witness unto the uttermost parts of the earth. It gives you power to speak in the languages of the nations. So everyone that is really sanctified with a clean heart, and seeks the baptism with the Holy Ghost according to the 2nd chapter of Acts, receives the witness of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. You may not receive the gift of tongues when you receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost, but you receive the witness of tongues, that is to say—you will speak in tongues when you are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
In seeking the baptism with the Holy Spirit do not ask the Lord for tongues. Just pray the Lord to give you the baptism with the Holy Ghost as He gave his disciples, according to the second chapter of Acts, and wait before Him till the Lord verifies His promise in your precious soul.
It is one thing to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and it is another thing to be baptized with the Holy Ghost. It is one thing to fill a glass with water, and another thing to baptize it with water, that is to hide it out of sight. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb but not baptized. The Holy Ghost had been in the world all the time. "Holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." He was with Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Enoch and many other men of God, but He was not poured out upon all flesh till the day of Pentecost.
"Wherefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore, unto Him without the gate bearing His reproach. Dear loved ones, in order to get sanctification, we have to go without the gate. We must leave the beautiful city, the precious temples, fame, honor, position, and go out of the gate. There we will find Jesus, the despised one, hanging between two thieves. It is so sweet to live this sanctified life. Very few people have sanctification in its fullness, which means crucification to self according to Gal. 5:24-25, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Hallelujah.
A Pentecostal revival has commenced in the Altamont Bible Institute of South Carolina and one girl received the gift of tongues.
You cannot get this salvation unless you repent and confess your sins. There are so many that cannot get this salvation because they will not make restitution, and God cannot enter into any heart that will hide its sins. "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." You must have Godly sorrow for sins if you want Jesus Christ to come into your heart. You cannot get the blood of Jesus Christ applied to a heart without repentance. God commands men everywhere to repent. Men have robbed, cheated and stolen and yet they do not want to make restitution. They come from time to time to get salvation and God will not hear them. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." God will never hear a man until he repents.
God heard the man that came and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner," and he went away justified. God pardoned because he repented. When you come to God, you must have the foundation of repentance. Confess your sins and He is faithful and just to forgive you. But He will not accept anybody that will cloak their sin. Be honest with your own heart today and get the devil exposed and accept Christ.
We read in Ex. 25:8, 9, that God spoke to Moses and said, "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them, according to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."
Dear loved ones, the Lord Jesus is the true tabernacle that God pitched and not man. The tabernacle in the wilderness was made after the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle which God showed Moses in the holy mount. We now have the true pattern which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
We first come to the court of the tabernacle where we find the brazen altar, where whole burn offerings are made. When we first came, we were dead in trespasses and sins and could make no offering for we had no life in our souls. But we found Jesus as a sacrifice upon that altar. He pardons us of our sins and plants the new birth in our souls. We are justified and saved and our names written in the Lamb's book of life.
Then we go on to the Holy Place to consecrate ourselves. There we find the believer's altar which is the golden altar. We sanctify ourselves and consecrate ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, and we find the precious blood in the Holy Place that sanctifies and cleanses us from all sin, crucifies the old man, the body of sin and carnality, and makes us holy. We had to have eternal life in our souls in order to consecrate ourselves. Here we feed upon Christ, for the bread in the Holy Palace typifies the bread of life. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Here also is the golden candlestick that sheds its light continually day and night, supplied by the holy oil. We are now the sons and daughters of God and entitled to the earnest of our inheritance, which is the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Then we enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus. There is the ark of the covenant overshadowed by the wings of the cherubim, and over the ark the great Shekina glory, a pillar of fire by night and of cloud by day which represents the baptism with the Holy Spirit. There is no altar in the Holy of Holies for our consecration is all made in the Holy Place when we are sanctified. But we find the ark of the covenant covered with pure gold and within Aaron's rod that budded, which stands for justification in Christ Jesus, also the pot of hidden manna which Moses took and hid in the ark, which represents sanctification; and the tables of stone on which God wrote Himself in the mount, which stands for the baptism with the Holy Ghost, for when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit we are sealed in the forehead until His coming.
Here the great Shekina glory rests upon us day and night, and we are filled and thrilled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The incense is going up continually from our souls. In the Holy Place, the oil was renewed from day to day, but when we get the baptism with the Holy Ghost it oils us up continually, from the throne of God. In the Holy Place we had the streams of salvation but in the Holy of Holies, we have the rivers, for Jesus said, "Out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, and this spoke He of the Spirit for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
There are two works of grace plainly shown in the tabernacle by the two altars—the brazen altar and the golden altar, the Holy of Holies, is the gift of power upon the sanctified, cleansed life. Glory to our God. The ark of the covenant represents our Lord Jesus Christ and in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In the Lord Jesus, we receive all of these gifts and graces. We must build according to the divine plan.
By reading the Bible carefully, you can see that the disciples were saved and sanctified men, and had received the unction of the Holy Spirit, before the day of Pentecost.
Jesus said in John 15:3, before He was crucified, "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." And in John 17:15-17, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." Jesus is the word and the truth, so they were sanctified through the truth that very night that He prayed for them.
He told Peter that Satan desired to sift him as wheat, but He had prayed the Father for him that his faith fail not. So Satan could not go beyond the Lord's prayer. "And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." This did not mean that Peter was not converted, but Jesus knew the great temptation that Peter was to be confronted with, and He meant when he should have been delivered, to strengthen the brethren.
Peter did deny the Lord Jesus, but as soon as he denied him, he went out and wept bitterly, and God pardoned him. So when our Lord Jesus rose, He told the angel to tell the disciples to meet Him in Galilee, "and Peter." When Peter heard that, he was very happy to know that the Lord had taken him back.
We find in John 20:21, 22, Jesus said to the disciples, "Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted, and whosesoever sins ye retain, the are retained." This was the power the Lord Jesus gave the disciples before they received their personal Pentecost.
We find by a careful study of the Word, that they had all eight of the nine gifts of the Spirit before Pentecost, except the gift of tongues. They had the gifts of healing, discernment, wisdom, prophesy, etc. The gift of tongues was reserved for the day of Pentecost to be a sign and evidence of the baptism with the Holy Ghost.
The disciples were filled with the unction of the Holy Spirit, the anointing, before the day of Pentecost when Jesus breathed on them. This sustained them till they were endued with power from on high.
So in the first chapter of Acts, Jesus taught His disciples to wait for the promise of the Father. This was not to wait for sanctification. His blood had been spilt on Calvary's cross. He was not going to send His blood to cleanse them from carnality but His Spirit to endue them with power. They went up to Jerusalem praising and blessing God with great joy. They all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. They had perfect faith and perfect obedience to Jesus' command and no divisions among them. They were not on their knees but sitting when the Holy Ghost fell upon them, simply waiting for the gift of power.
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance."
Then Peter arose and said to the multitude that came running together, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." He did not say God would cleanse their hearts by His blood from carnality, but pour out His Spirit. Amen. That is what He is doing in Los Angeles, pouring out His Spirit upon sanctified souls and the same signs are following.
God has told us in His precious word that we should know a tree by its fruit. Wherever we find the real, we find the counterfeit also. But praise God for the real. We find in the time of Peter, when men and women were receiving the power of the Holy Ghost, the counterfeit appeared in Ananias and Sapphira. But God's power was mightier than all the forces of hell, so their sin found them out. Be careful, dear loved ones, for your sin will surely find you out. "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
In our meetings, we have had people to come and claim that they had received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, but when they were put to the test by the Holy Spirit, they were found wanting. So they got down and got saved and sanctified and baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues by the Holy Spirit. And again people have imitated the gift of tongues, but how quickly the Holy Spirit would reveal to every one of the true children that had the Pentecostal baptism, and put a heavy rebuke upon the counterfeit, in tongues, until the counterfeits were silenced and condemned. God's promises are true and sure.
People are trying to imitate the work of the Holy Ghost these days, just as they did when the Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh in Ex. 7:8, and gave him a miracle or sign to show before Pharaoh, that when Aaron should cast his rod before Pharaoh, it should become a serpent. So when Pharaoh saw that Aaron's rod had become a serpent, he called for his wise men and the counterfeit sorcerers and magicians of Egypt. They also did in like manner with their enchantments, for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. So the power of the Holy Ghost in God's people today condemns and swallows up the counterfeit. It digs up and exposes all the power of Satan—Christian Science, Theosophy, and Spiritualism—all are uncovered before the Son of God. Glory to God.
Spiritualists have come to our meetings and had the demons cast out of them and have been saved and sanctified. Christian Scientists have come to the meetings and had the Christian Science demons cast out of them and have accepted the blood. Every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.
People have come to this place full of demons and God has cast them out, and they have gone out crying with loud voices. Then when all the demons were cast out, they got saved, sanctified, and baptized with the Holy Ghost, clothed in their right minds and filled with glory and power.
Dear loved ones; it is not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." These were Jesus’ departing words. May you tarry until you receive your personal Pentecost. Amen.
-W.J. Seymour.
Jesus said in Mark 16:17, 18, "These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." He told them to, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." What did this mean? It meant to preach healing, preach casting out of devils, preach that these signs shall follow them that believe, preach all the doctrine of Jesus. If they had preached only a part of the Gospel, would the signs have followed? These signs shall follow them that believe—not them that doubt or believe a part but those that are simple enough and honest enough to believe every word of Jesus. We must believe it all, for if only a part is true, or if anything is changed in His commission of the Gospel to the world, it would not be a perfect Gospel. So a return to the full Gospel brings a return of the signs following them that believe.
Mother Wheaton, who has visited and worked for souls in the prisons of the United States and Europe, has been with us in Los Angeles tarrying for her Pentecost, also Bro. A.S. Worrell, editor of the Gospel Witness, and translator of the New Testament.
In Acts 2:4, we have the Bible standard and sample of what Pentecost is. It was the first Pentecost that ever came to the world. "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." So this is the Bible standard till Jesus comes.
Then we have another example of Pentecost when Peter preached the first sermon to a Gentile congregation at the house of Cornelius. It was like the first Pentecost. "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God." Acts. 10:44-46.
Again we have the account of Pentecost being poured out at Ephesus and again it was like the first Pentecost. "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied." Acts 19:6.
In all three cases of the outpouring of Pentecost above mentioned the same evidence was manifest, the speaking in tongues. The Holy Ghost gave us these three incidents, of companies that received the Holy Ghost all at once, and besides this we know that the Apostle Paul had the gift and that others in the Corinthian church had the gift.
Now the question is asked why did not all in the Corinthian church speak with tongues?
Paul in the 12th of First Corinthians, was setting the church in order, that there should be no schism in the body of Christ. Here is a brother who is justified and there is a brother who is sanctified. Now neither of them speak in tongues. In our body here, we have some justified who have just been saved. The next thing we do is to teach him he needs a clean heart, to be sanctified in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He goes on and gets that. Then we show him he needs his Pentecostal baptism and speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. When he receives his Pentecost, he will speak in tongues.
So concerning prophesying, Paul says, "Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues." We can have all the nine gifts as well as the nine fruits of the Spirit, for in Christ Jesus, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Paul is simply teaching the church to be in unity and not to be confused because all have not the same gifts. We are not confused because one has his Pentecost and another has not been sanctified. We do not say that we do not need the justified or the sanctified brother simply because he does not speak with tongues or does not prophesy; but we realize that it takes the justified, the sanctified and the Pentecost brother all to make up the body of Christ. You may have the gift of wisdom, healing, prophesy, etc. But when you get the Pentecost, the Lord God will speak through you in tongues.
"He that prophesieth is greater than he that speaks with tongues, except he interpret." So the brother that prophesies is no greater than the brother that speaks in tongues, if the brother interprets as he speaks. We have a good many here that interpret as they speak and it is edifying to the body of Christ. You can have all the gifts if you will only ask the Lord for them.
In the 14th of 1Corinthians, Paul is setting us in order that have the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the speaking in tongues, that we should not get puffed up and think because one is justified or sanctified and does not speak with tongues he has not as much religion as we have. People in getting into deep spiritual things, and into the hidden mysteries of God, have to keep very humble at the feet of the Lord Jesus, for these precious gifts can easily puff us up, if we do not keep under the blood.
Paul is speaking to people that had been carried away with dumb idols, but now the Holy Spirit was being poured out upon them, and it was so sweet to their souls that they almost commenced worshipping the gift instead of the Giver. Instead of magnifying the blood, they were all after the gifts. The Lord wants us to seek the Giver and the Blesser instead of the gift and the blessing.
So we can truly say that we believe that everyone that receives their personal Pentecost has a witness in speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance, as the 120 received on the day of Pentecost. That was a lesson to the church and a sample to the church what the baptism with the Holy Spirit means to prepare us to be witnesses unto all the world. Glory to our God. Amen.
When we receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit, we may sing in tongues, because the Lord drops down sweet anthems from the paradise of God, electrifying every heart. Many times we do not need these song books of earth, but the Lord simply touches us by His mighty Spirit and we have no need of organs or pianos, for the Holy Ghost plays the piano in all our hearts, and then gives the interpretation of the song and sings it in the English language. It is so sweet. It is heaven below.
Can a man have salvation and yet his body be afflicted, which is the work of demons? Yes, we may have salvation and yet disease of the body for, “Though our outward man parish, the inward man is renewed day by day.” Job said when Satan had afflicted his body, “I know that my redeemer liveth. * * * And though after my skin worms shall destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Job 19:26, 27. So though demons were in his flesh, he had Christ within his soul. The demons had afflicted his body with sickness, but yet his soul was free from sin. But did he send for a doctor? No, his trust was in his God, and God delivered him and gave him twice as much as he had before. God has always been the healer of His people, for He says, “I am the Lord, thy God that healeth thee.”
Having therefore these promises dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. What would Christ’s body look like if a mass of cancer and sickness? On the cross, He carried our griefs and bore our sickness. We have healing for our bodies as well as salvation for our souls in the atonement of Jesus. So when we receive this light, it is our duty to seek for healing of our bodies.
A message was sent us from a people in New England states who received the Pentecost before we did. As Bro. A.J. Rawson an evangelist of 15 Eliott St, Swampscott, Mass., received one of the Apostolic Faith papers and was reading it to his wife who is also an evangelist and has the gift of tongues, she broke out in tongues and interpreted. Her husband wrote the interpretation in English, and sent it to us, and we feel it is of God for His people. The message is as follows:
"This work is of God that you are reading of. Let no one put their hand on it. Let all press in and have their part. God has many richer blessings for His faithful children. Seek Him earnestly and pray for His gifts which are a witness of the Spirit."
They also write, "We are with you in the Spirit in this last work of God. We are rejoiced to hear of those having the gifts of the Spirit according to 1 Cor.12. There have been a few of God's children in New England, in Pennsylvania and Virginia who have believed for years that all these gifts were for the church, and they have been nicknamed the "Gift People." They have had all the gifts including tongues, but it seems but a few drops preceding the rain and now the work seems to fulfill the "latter rain." There are a goodly number of people here in the east ready to fellowship this work. We believe it is a token of the soon coming of the Lord. Amen."
The Lord also has some Pentecostal saints in Minnesota whom we have just heard of and we rejoice to hear from these witnesses.
Grace and peace unto you be multiplied. A copy of the Apostolic Faith has been sent to us, and we were much blest when we read and saw that God baptized His children with the Holy Ghost exactly the same way as He has done here. It is two years ago since God began to baptize His children in this place and some are talking with tongues, some have the gift of prophecy, etc. Others fall under the power of God and He shows them wonderful things that all seem to come unto these words, 'Get ready, I am coming soon.' Glory to God. But it is few that believe it is from God. The world's people and church members and preachers say it is of the devil, so we are well separated from the world, and soon we will be separated forever and be together with Jesus and His holy people."
--A. O. Morken, Rte. 4, Audubon, Minn.
"I am in sympathy with your work, am baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, and have received the gift of some as yet unknown tongue or tongues. It first came two years ago, and is proving more distinct and real. Believe God is preparing me for some special work in some part of His vineyard."—John Loney.
God has been working thus in different parts of the world pouring out His Spirit upon others with signs following even as on us in Los Angeles. We realize that we are in the time of the "latter rain" preceding His coming.
I was born at Louisville, Ky., on May 17, 1850. My parents were Irish Catholics so of course I was brought up in that faith. I followed the occupation of a drummer for 17 years, representing different houses during that time. The first day of March, 1891 found me on the dock at Cleveland, Ohio, friendless, homeless, Godless, a confirmed drunkard without hope. I went into the Floating Bethel and there heard that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the lost. I was the black sheep of a family of ten children. I was lost in the mountains of sin, but, thank God, that day I heard the Shepherd's voice calling for me. I dropped on my knees, an ungodly drummer, and arose to my feet a new creature in Christ Jesus, and immediately began telling the story of God's grace; and I have been at it ever since and expect to stick to it until Jesus comes.
The 30th day of Oct. 1897, I was wholly sanctified through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. And yet there was at times a great hungering in my soul for something, I scarcely knew what. I would plead the promise of Jesus in Acts 1:8, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Yet I stuck to the teaching that when we were sanctified, we were baptized with the Holy Ghost. Still that hunger and feeling of lack of power was always with me.
About three years ago, God began to talk to me and show me there was more for me. I would fast and pray and examine myself by the word of God to see if I was wholly sanctified. The Holy Spirit would witness that my heart was clean. Hallelujah. And yet that longing in my soul. While in Alaska last summer, I would arise at two o'clock in the morning, go away alone in the mountains and spend hours in prayer for the power of God to come on me in greater measure. I would get wonderfully blest, but would be back at it again the next morning, praying for God to give me the dynamite from heaven.
Thank God, I have received Him. Two months ago, a paper was given me, telling of the wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Los Angeles. Just as soon as I could, I packed my grip and left Alaska for Los Angeles, arriving there Oct. 5th. The night following found me at the altar seeking the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire. (Matt. 2:11.) Praise God, before I left the altar I received my Pentecost and the gift of tongues, and am speaking in many different languages. I am soon expecting to start around the world preaching full salvation as I go, trusting my heavenly Father to supply all my needs. I am saved, sanctified, healed, and baptized with the Holy Ghost. Glory to God.
-H.M. Turney, San Jose, Cal., Gen. Del.
About two months ago, I began to read in the Way of Faith the reports of the meetings in Azusa Mission, Los Angeles. I had been preaching holiness for nine years, but my soul began to hunger and thirst for the fullness of God. The Spirit led me more and more to seek my Pentecost. After praying and weeping before God for many days, He put it into my heart to go to Los Angeles to seek the baptism with the Holy Ghost. My wife prayed and wept with me till we both got the witness that it was the will of God for me to go.
The devil fought me and laid the hand of affliction on my wife, and I felt it almost impossible for me to come. The night I left home, wife and I prayed and wept before the Lord and God gave the victory, and we both consented on our knees that if we died we would be in the order of the Lord and that God would take us home. I immediately rose and took my valise in hand, went to the depot, and started for Los Angeles. Glory to God. I was six days on the road, was fasting and praying to the Lord continually. As soon as I reached Azusa Mission, a new crucifiction began in my life and I had to die to many things, but God gave me the victory.
The first altar call I went forward in earnest for my Pentecost. I struggled from Sunday till Thursday. While seeking in an upstairs room in the Mission, the Lord opened up the windows of heaven and the light of God began to flow over me in such power as never before. I then went into the room where the service was held, and while Sister Lum was reading of how the Holy Ghost was falling in other places, before I knew it, I began to speak in tongues and praise God. A brother interpreted some of the words to be, "I love God with all my soul." He filled me with His Spirit and love, and I am now feasting and drinking at the fountain continually and speak as the Spirit gives utterance, both in my own language and in the unknown language. I find that all has to be surrendered to God, our own language and all, and He speaks through us English, German, Greek or any other tongue in His own will and way.
The Lord also healed my body. I had been afflicted with rheumatism for years, and at a healing service held here, I was anointed and prayed for and was immediately healed of rheumatism and catarrh, and have a sound body and clothed in my right mind.
-G.B. Cashwell, Dunn, N.C.
When I first attended these Apostolic Faith meetings, I was very much puzzled because I tried to understand it with my head only, and was in doubt as to its being of God. But at the same time, the desire in my heart which had been there for years for something beyond sanctification, became more intense and gave me no rest till I inquired further into the teaching. The Spirit opened my eyes and understanding and helped me to see that this was the very thing for which I had been hungering. So when my own understanding and my notions got out of the way, God in His mercy baptized me with the Holy Ghost on the 15th of last September. No one had their hands on me at the time. I was meeting God alone and the Holy Ghost fell on me like balls of fire, and went through me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. The Spirit flooded my whole being and enlarged my heart till I was afraid the vessel might not hold the glory and power that seemed to rush into me like water poured out. Before I realized it, the Spirit got hold of my tongue and used it for the glory of God in speaking in an unknown tongue.
In regard to the languages given here, I can testify that they are real languages, because I have interpreted not less than five messages given by different persons, spoken in languages of British, India, which languages I know personally, having lived in India.
GEO. E. BERG, 1350 Channing St., Los Angeles.
Bro. T.B. Barratt, 150 Fifth avenue, N. Y. City, who is an M.E. minister in charge of mission work in Norway and Sweden and came to this country to prepare to establish a line of missions in his country, and who is the editor of a Norwegian paper “Byposten,” has heard of the outpouring of Pentecost, sought and obtained his personal Pentecost. He writes as follows:
"Dear Friends in Los Angeles: -Glory to God! Tongues of fire have descended and His wondrous power has been displayed. The fire fell on the 7th of October. Since then I have been seeking the full Bible evidence, the gift of tongues. Have prayed up to twelve hours a day. It's over a month since the fire fell the first time, and often since then the Lord has been filling, filling, filling the vessel. O Glory! I have felt the strange workings at my jaws and tongue several times, and at last I was able to claim that these signs were God's answer to me, that the gift was for me, and that I had it already, and that it would soon work by the power of God.
"The Lord was going to make this a public testimony of His power. I was not therefore to have it in my little room but among friends. It was at a meeting in a little hall. The power was very great. We could not close and I determined to stay, God helping, till the victory was won. What a scene we had. Some were seeking sanctification and others the baptism with fire, and I the gift of tongues or any other the Lord saw fit to send me.
"Sister Maud Williams who got the blessing in Ontario, Canada and has the gift of tongues, laid her hands on my head and after that I had no more strength in me, although I am physically very strong now. I lay on the floor by the platform in a reclining position. At about half past twelve I asked a brother there and Sister Leatherman to lay their hands on my head again. And just then she says she saw a crown of fire and cloven tongues over my head. The brother saw a supernatural light.
"Immediately I was filled with light and such a power that I began to shout as loud as I could in a foreign language. Between that and four o'clock in the morning, I must have spoken seven or eight languages, to judge from the various sounds and forms of speech used. I stood erect at times preaching in one foreign tongue after another, and I know from the strength of my voice that 10,000 might easily have heard all I said. Nine persons remained till three o'clock and are witnesses of the whole scene. The most wonderful moment though was when I burst into a beautiful baritone solo, using one of the most pure and delightful languages I have ever heard. The tune and words were entirely new to me, and the rhythm and cadence of the verses and chorus seemed to be perfect. I sang several times later on. Some of the languages spoken produced a nasal sound and some a deep guttural sound. Oh it was wonderful. Glory! Hallelujah!
"That night will never be forgotten by any who were there. Now and then after a slight pause, the words would rush forth like a cataract. At times I had seasons of prayer in the Spirit when all New York, the United States, Norway, all Scandinavia and Europe, my loved ones and friends lay like an intense burden on my soul. Oh what power was given in prayer. My whole being was at times as if it were on fire inside, and then I would quiet down into sweet songs in a foreign language. Oh what praises to God arose from my soul for His mercy. I felt strong as a lion and know now where David and Samson got their strength from. Today I have been speaking and singing in tongues wherever I have been. Glory to God. Go on praying."
Our hearts are full of joy and the Holy Ghost. Wife is very happy and sings and prays and talks to God all the day long, sometimes in tongues for hours while about her work. God is doing wonders here. Father and Mother Shipley have received their Pentecost. While at service yesterday, father sang, prayed and preached for over an hour in tongues. The power was on him mightily and hunger and wonder on the people. Some of those who have received their Pentecost are now receiving other new tongues, myself including. Remarkable singing came upon me one Sunday night in far greater power than when I was in Los Angeles.
Sister Margie Downing has been healed of a cancer which had eaten her femur bone entirely in two and four physicians pronounced her incurable and that she might die at any time. They said her entire abdominal parts were a mass of cancer. The hole eaten by the cancer was deep enough to hold a quart of water. This hole, eaten by the cancer, is nearly filled up with new flesh and healed over. God is confounding the people.
People from a distance are here seeking the Pentecost. Prominent officials and state officers attend regularly, also many university students and professors. The country about here is stirred. People in Portland and preachers are beginning to pray that this movement may not come to Portland. I predict that it will strike there with terrific force. O pray, pray for us mightily. The great battle is now on. I send you clippings to let you know how the devil is advertising the meetings. The country is ripe for the harvest. All the Lord's, M.L. Ryan, Salem, Ore.
I came from Frisco to Los Angeles five days after the earthquake and heard about these Pentecostal people. I visited their meetings and looked on rather critically. At first I opposed and openly fought them and said it was the devil. The result was I backslid altogether and had to go back and ask forgiveness and do my first works over again, even down to having the devils cast out of me. Afterward I received pardon and the cleansing blood again through fasting and prayer and much study of the word. Eight weeks ago, I received the baptism with the Holy Ghost and spoke with new tongues.
Four days after I received the baptism, while in secret prayer at my bedside, I was led of the Spirit to pray in an unknown language for nearly all the world. When I got through the Spirit led me to go down and see a sister and her husband, Bro. and Sister Turner, a blessedly sanctified man and wife. I obeyed and found them both sitting out in their back yard, and as I came in they all commenced to praise the Lord with weeping and crying, as I was speaking in an unknown tongue. The Lord then led me to lay hands on them both and on a young sister that was there visiting them (Acts. 19:6) and all three of them spoke in new tongues and glorified God.
I then got on the car to attend our Bible school up at Azusa St. Mission. I got off close to our mission and saw two colored police officers with whom I was slightly acquainted, and felt led to speak to them of what the Lord had done for my soul. I commenced speaking in an unknown language and they said I was crazy and carried me to the station. While waiting for the patrol wagon at the corner, I was enabled to preach to quite a crowd of people. I also preached up at the police headquarters in both English and in unknown language. They put me in among the prisoners. I continued to preach and they quickly took me out of there and carried me into the emergency hospital and kept me in there all night. I preached a good part of the night to them and they listened very attentively. Before morning, they were all my friends. One of the attendants interpreted one of the languages that I spoke as the Kru language, a tribe in Africa that he was acquainted with.
Of course a charge of insanity was filed against me by the officers the day before, and I had to be taken before the superior court judge for commitment until the board of insanity sat for the following day upon my case. So my trial was set for the following day. I was then taken to the County Hospital over night and had a blessed time with the Lord in my cell there. The superintendent came in and had quite a talk with me and assured me that he saw nothing crazy about me and that I need not have any fears about being released. At my trial the next morning, the Lord permitted me to speak in the Italian language and one of the judges understood it, and I was discharged without having to call a single witness, though there were a number in the court that wanted to testify in my behalf.
A few days after my trial I felt the Lord wanted me to go down to Whittier, one of the little suburban towns near Los Angeles where some of our people had already started a meeting with considerable persecution. The band had just been arrested for praying in their own home charged with making an unusual noise and disturbing the peace of the neighborhood. One of our brothers was given thirty days in jail for this offense. I and five other brothers have continued the meeting ever since, in the face of many threats.
A couple of weeks ago, they arrested us for disturbing the peace while holding a street meeting. We praised the Lord and the marshal and his deputies put their hands over our mouths and choked us quite severely without avail. One brother was handcuffed. We had trial by jury and took no counsel but the Lord. We pled the case and the Lord was with us. The court was full of people. During the trial, we all broke out in the unknown language and made quite a commotion in the court. We were then threatened by the court at the suggestion of the city attorney, to fine or imprisonment for contempt of court, if we attempted it again. The trial went on, and the attorney made his plea, and we made answer in the name of the Lord. The court and jury were moved to tears. The city attorney then got up and spoke evil of us, saying that we had those tongues all fixed up to suit ourselves and that we all knew just when to break out, calling the attention of the court to the fact of how quiet we had all kept since we were threatened by the court for contempt, as evidence that we were afraid to do it again. He had scarcely got the words out of his mouth before the Lord gave him a heavy rebuke in unknown tongues. He was so confounded and confused that he could say no more and sat down. The jury went out and stayed from 3 p.m. to 11:30 and disagreed and were discharged. Another trial was set for November 23rd, by the city attorney. Since that time, he has lost his position. Another judge has been elected. The case was dropped.
We are continuing to hold meetings and the Lord is blessing, saving, sanctifying and baptizing with the Holy Ghost giving new tongues. -A Worker.
Some people drove 500 miles by wagon to Los Angeles to seek the Pentecost.
Letters to workers and foreign missionaries will be forwarded on to them from the Apostolic Faith office, also we will send on any offerings for workers or missionaries.
Dear loved ones, if you are seeking your personal Pentecost, do not get discouraged, but pray until you are filled to the uttermost. For the Lord Jesus says, "Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Do not stop because you do not receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit the first time you pray, but continue until you are filled. The Lord Jesus told His disciples to "tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." He did not say how long they were to tarry, but He did say, "until ye be endued." Many are willing to tarry just so long, and then give up and fail to receive their Pentecost that would measure up with the Bible.
A sister in Pueblo, Colorado who has the gift of tongues was on her way to the mission when she met a man and invited him to the mission. He said, "What is the use of speaking in tongues, when you do not know what you are saying?" Immediately she began speaking in a tongue she had never spoken in before. The man turned white, and seeing a street car coming, he left her and caught the car, endangering himself by so doing. They learned afterward that the Holy Ghost was telling him in a language which he understood, the wicked life he was living and crimes he had committed. So he found out one use of the gift of tongues. Several incidents of this kind have come to our knowledge.
If we ask our Father for bread, He will not give us a stone; if we ask Him for a fish, He will not give us a serpent; if we ask for an egg, He will not give us a scorpion. We would not treat our children that way, and how much more will our Father in heaven give good things to them that ask Him. Never let the hosts of hell make you believe that while you live under the blood, honoring the blood, and pleading through the blood for blessings from the throne, that God will let Satan get through the blood and put a serpent into you. There is no way for Satan to make his way through the blood. "And they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." The devil cannot act through you and talk through you, if you are God's child and baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Many endorse Jesus, they fancy Him, but they cannot believe His doctrine. To them Jesus says, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say?" He has gone to prepare a place for us and He is coming again to receive us unto Himself, that where He is there we may be also. But the only way to meet Him and be with Him is to believe His doctrine. We that are not sanctified, if we hear the truth and reject it, will not be able to be with Him and reign with Him.
Sister Hutchins wrote from New York on the way to Monrovia, Liberia, Africa. The Lord used us to His glory in Chattanooga. He set that town on fire. Praise His name. The dear ones did not want to see us leave, but the will of God must be done. The last meeting we had with the people was beside the train that brought us away. Under the shed there was where the Lord used me last in that city. He sang and preached through me and some confessed their sins and asked, what shall I do to be saved? Some promised to live a better life. O glory to Jesus. While on the train, we preached the Word and some received it with joy. We hope to set sail for Africa soon. Pray that God may use us on the boat to the salvation of souls. Love to all the dear saints."
A passage of scripture that has been spoken in many unknown tongues and interpreted is that beautiful text, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Also the following texts were interpreted messages, "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."
Sister Ida Ritchie of 1147 Sheridan Road, Chicago, has received her Pentecost. She writes, "I shall never forget that night. I was about two hours receiving words in different languages and songs in the Spirit. O what a great joy it is to me to know that I can go with the language and songs and the love of God to the dying, famishing heathen. How I treasure the privileges and gifts. O how precious to be born in this age."
Bro. G.W. Batman writes from New York City, "We have been having great meetings in the little mission here. Many souls have received the baptism and talk in tongues. To my surprise, Stephen Merritt requested me to speak last Sunday forenoon in his large tabernacle, and the Lord helped me in a wonderful way, and some souls were seeking the baptism. Praise God. I am stronger in the Lord since we came here than in Los Angeles. We expect a few more wonderful days before we sail for Monrovia, Liberia, Africa Dec. 8. That will be our future address."
A late report from Bro. Junk of Seattle, Wash., says, "We have been greatly blest here. About 24 or 26 souls have been baptized, among them are about eight children from seven to fourteen years of age. The devil is raging terribly."
We are so glad to hear that dear Sister Shipley, Bro. Ryan's mother in Salem Ore., has received the Pentecost. Last Sunday she received many languages, one of them being that of the Kalamath Indians, and sang in some of the Indian chanting songs. She also gave prophesies and messages to the people and interpreted. People are stirred and amazed at the miracles God is doing. A preacher who has been on the investigating order, heard a sister from Washington speak in Hindustani, which he was enough acquainted with to understand some of the words and it convinced him of the genuineness of the work.
Bro. F.M. Cook writes that he had a call to Africa three years ago, so in obedience to the Lord he went to New York and there unexpectedly he found some of the Los Angeles saints and Sister Farrow and Bro. Batman laid their hands upon him and he received his Pentecost and spoke in an African dialect. So now he is one of the Apostolic Faith band for the West coast of Africa.
Bro. O. Adams of Monrovia, Cal., reports from 782 Queen Street, Toronto, Canada, that a number there are seeking the Pentecostal baptism, and one sister has been baptized with the Holy Ghost and to her great surprise began speaking in tongues.
Friends that appreciate this paper and want it sent regularly, may send in their address to the Apostolic Faith, 312 Azusa street, Los Angeles, Cal., and the paper will be sent free as long as the Lord permits. Please write names and addresses very plainly. Notify us of change of address. We will send a roll of samples to those who are interested in distributing them to hungry souls.
Let us praise God for this wonderful day of grace. Jesus said to Nathanael, "Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these." We are going to see greater things. O let us trust Him and yield to Him. Let us wait very earnestly upon Him. Take time to wait on God and pray. If we all keep low down at the feet of Jesus and give Him all the honor and glory, all the power and signs of Pentecost will be restored.
It is a blessed place at the feet of Jesus, looking up into the Master's face. Mary found her place at His feet. She did not seek to touch His head or His shoulders, but was content with a place at His feet looking up into His face. And it pleased Jesus, and He said, "Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her." Our highest place is low at His feet.
Sister M.E. Judy writes from Columbus, Ohio, that they have a tarrying meeting there and others in different towns are tarrying with them in Spirit. She says, "Last Sunday a burden of prayer came upon the people in our humble little church in such power that our minister had no opportunity to preach, just said a few words on, "This is that" and closed.
Bro. A.H. Post, who has charge of the work in Pasadena is being much used of God. The Lord has been working with them in great power there. Bro. Post comes into the meetings in Los Angeles and encourages us with his messages from the throne and with the unction and divine love with which God fills Him. This is a little message that the Spirit spoke through him and interpreted, "Our blessed Lord is in our midst. Hallelujah! He is anointing His dear ones to go forth to the ends of the earth with the old time Gospel to set men free and give them power to do His holy will. Our Christ is just at the very gates ready to pour forth His grace and power. Go ye forth into all the world and preach this Gospel."
Sister Mary Perkins, who works in the Apostolic Faith office says, "When I first came from San Jose here last May, I heard of these meetings and came down to see. I had not been in the house an hour before I knew God's Spirit was here, and I commenced seeking the baptism with the Holy Ghost. And, glory to God, He came and completely deluged my soul and body, until I hardly knew whether I was in the body or out. And as the Holy Ghost came upon me, I saw Jesus sitting upon a cloud looking at me and at the congregation, and He said He was coming soon. My tongue commenced to move, and I spoke in an unknown tongue as the Spirit gave utterance. In prayer I often speak in a foreign tongue and at home or in meeting, I often am moved to speak in tongues. Bless God! Glory! -Mrs. Mary P. Perkins.
If you are not healed, the fault is either in you or in Jesus Christ. Which is it? Be honest with yourself and get the fault out of the way. Get rid of the cause. There is nothing can stop my healing but myself. God is not a moment behind in doing His work.
Bro. G.B. Cashwell who came from North Carolina for his Pentecost, has returned on his way rejoicing to carry the good news of the Pentecost to the hungry souls there. He had faith in God that the money would be provided for his fare to return, and the Lord provided it and he trusted the Lord for a suit of clothes and the Lord gave him a suit. So the trip was one of faith and the Lord made it a great blessing.
A little girl in Whittier lately received her Pentecost while the people in the room were silently praying and she began to sing in an unknown tongue, "Where He leads me, I will follow." Then she was filled with great joy and said her name was written in heaven and she was sealed unto the day of redemption.
Sister Lucy Farrow wrote from New York that she had started for Africa. About two hundred souls had been saved in Portsmouth and most of them were speaking in tongues. She sends love to the saints and asks your prayers.
We are receiving letters from all over the world, requesting prayers that they might receive their Pentecost and also healing. And almost every day we are getting returns that prayer has been heard. Handkerchiefs are sent in letters to be anointed and blest for healing, and we do so, and bless God, He hears and answers prayer. One instance comes to our mind now of a little baby about a year old, who was very sick with a high fever. The parents sent a handkerchief to be prayed over. It was blest and sent back, and when it was laid on the child's face, almost immediately the fever left her, and in a half hour she was playing around and well. Praise our Christ for His matchless power.
Every child is born with inherited sin in its heart like a little plant. When a sinner comes to Christ and gets saved, the fruits of sin are cut off and the fruits of the Spirit appear. But the stump of the sin plant is still there and will give us trouble. The best thing to do is to get the old stump out. Then we have a pure heart like Adam before he went into sin. Then we can pray for the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which is a gift from God.
Workers are constantly going out trusting God alone for their support. A Band of six missionaries left for Africa. They are Bro. and Sister S.J. Mead, Bro. and Sister Robert Shideler, and Bro. and Sister G.W. Batman. Address them at Longs Temperance Hotel, Liverpool, England, Lime St. They are going to two points in Africa. God bless them and make them a great blessing. We must keep them on our hearts in prayer for they are our brothers and sisters.
Some who have left for home fields are H.M. Turney for San Jose; J.G. Wilkin, for points north; Bro. G. Zigler, Swanton, Ohio; F.E. Hill, J.C. Mackey, Bro. and Sister Lopez for San Diego; Ivy Campbell, T.W. Sargent, and Bro. and Sister W.H. Miller for points in Ohio; and Bro. and Sister Eric Hollingsworth en route to Sweden. The Lord is sending revivals everywhere that workers have gone that are baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Many more are being fitted up and called for the field, for the fields are white ready for the harvest.
Bro. and Sister G.W. Batman who last wrote from New York on their way to Monrovia, Liberia, Africa, are tried and true workers and have the enduement of power from on high and the fitness of the gift of tongues. Their faith was severely tested as to their fare. A brother who paid the most of their fare was praying the night before they left that the Lord would give him some revelation. So that night the Lord showed him a lamb that was tied and told him to loose it and as he did so, a great Shekina glory shone in the room. The Lord showed him later that it meant the missionaries he was to be the means of sending on their way. They started with faith in God though they were taking their three little children and their destination is called the "white man's graveyard." They did not have more than their fare to New York. They have the gift of healing and we believe God will wonderfully use them among those darkened souls.
I was converted nine years ago, and got a know-so salvation—no guess work about it. I repented of my sins and forsook them, accepting the Lord as my Savior. Praise God. A few years later, I fasted and prayed for about three days and during that time I put off the old man Adam in the form of inbred sin and God came in and destroyed the devil's workshop by casting his tools on the outside. Praise God I got a real evidence that I was sanctified and the Blood applied. After that, I received the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire and now I feel the presence of the Holy Ghost, not only in my heart but in my lungs, my hands, my arms and all through my body and at times I am shaken like a locomotive steamed up and prepared for a long journey. O it is blessed to let the Lord have His way with you. I also speak in six foreign tongues given me at God's command. God has called me to Africa as a missionary, and told me to go to Monrovia, Liberia. He showed me the town which is on the west coast. I described the town and country to Bro. Mead, a missionary that had been there and he said it was a perfect description. Saints, pray much. Fast and pray.
At the age of fourteen, the Lord saved me from my sins. Last April He sanctified my soul, took all inbred sin out and gave me a clean heart fit for the Lord's use. Hallelujah! But still I hungered for more, so when the Pentecost came to Los Angeles, I found that was just what I wanted. But I was working every day and could not be at the meeting much. One day the Lord told me to stop everything and go to the meeting. I said, Lord, I have three small children and no way to support them. He said, I will supply your needs. Glory to God, He has supplied all our needs. We have never needed for anything and have never asked anybody but the blessed Lord for a penny. Three years ago last April, the Lord gave us the call to Africa. At first I thought I would stay and let my husband go, but He said, "No, you must go too." I thought He wanted us to go right away, but when he saw I was willing to spend my life in Africa for precious souls, He revealed to us that He would tell us when to go. And three months after we received our baptism, He said, "Now go to Africa." O glory to God, I am so glad I got to the place where the blessed Lord's will is my will."
Bro. Otto Braulin of 2112 Fourth Ave., Minneapolis, Minn., writes that he has received his Pentecost through reading the paper and personal correspondence. He speaks in two unknown tongues. He says, "I laid the paper to one side, went aside into a room and asked God if I was really and truly cleansed by the Word, and I got the mighty answer of God through my whole being that I was. Am I cleansed by the blood? I got the same mighty powerful witness. Then I said to my Father, I have not the baptism with the Holy Ghost because I have not the gift of tongues, the evidence of Pentecost, and the power began to work so peculiarly and forcibly as never before. That very night I got the evidence, as the Holy Ghost gave utterance in two unknown tongues. I could distinguish the difference between the two. Since then the power becomes stronger and the Spirit speaks plainer and more mightily. The power of God streams through my whole body, (I suppose the healing power.) I have fallen on the floor through the mighty power coming upon me. I was in a mission last Sunday and in the afternoon the Spirit came on me and the Spirit fell on the clean souls. They said showers of power came upon them and they were set free. In the evening the leaders set themselves against the speaking in tongues because I cannot interpret, but the power was so mighty upon me they could see it was not man's but God's."
Pueblo, Colorado is a city of many nationalities. In the steel works alone that employs 500 men, seventeen languages are spoken. There are Greeks, Chinese, Japanese and many others. This is a wonderful field. The Lord had opened up a mission there when the Pentecostal Gospel came. The woman in charge of the mission went right to seeking and received the baptism and before she got off her knees, was speaking in Chinese. One day when she was speaking, the Spirit began to speak another language through her. Nobody understood till they saw some uneasiness manifested in the back of the room where some Japanese were sitting. They began to wring their hands and cry and bury their face in their hands. Someone went to them and they said, "Talk my tongue. Tell me all about my God how He died for the Japanese." They had never heard anything like that before.
The great revival still continues, and wonderful manifestations of the power of God are surely among these nations. An article in the Herald of Light says: “It was a grand and inspiring sight to see these people marching in parties to the Assembly, and along the way would halt and have prayer and praise meetings, and their conversations were continually about the wonderful works of God. The assembly is held in a small village called Mairang, and many thousands of people have come up to this assembly, and God has shown himself in power and blessings. Many other portions of India are being awakened by true spirit. The glorious and awful scenes portrayed are only the fulfillment of prophecy, and doubtless the outgrowth of years of toil and prayers.
In another station in India, in a service in a mission, about two hundred were under conviction for sin, and crying for mercy, and the meeting continued for six hours. A report from another locality says that men, women and children were heard at daybreak singing hymns which the missionaries had been trying for months to teach them. The Holy Ghost was working mightily, and soon there was an outburst of prayer and praise of new-born souls. Men, women and children called on the Lord day and night, and there was no cessation of the meetings."
Those who receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues and backslide from this state may retain the speaking in tongues for a while after divine love is gone, but gradually this gift also will melt away. A very little harshness or a critical suspicious statement about a brother will grieve the tender, sensitive Spirit. A careful and constant guard must be made, lest the flesh arise and destroy the fragrance and sweetness of this Spirit walk. Preachers often go too far and try to emphasize in fleshly vehemence a good point made by the Spirit. All such conduct will receive a gentle rebuke of the Spirit, and if heartily repented of, will soon be overcome, and result in greater confirmation of God's power in the life. -Apostolic Light.
We are asked if the Pentecostal people here eat pork?
We are a free people. We are not under the law. We are just as free as the air we breathe for salvation is not in meat and drink and clothing, but it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses from all sin. It is not meat, drink, and dress, it is living under the blood.
Jesus has given us authority to eat and drink anything that we desire, without hurting us. Before Jesus came, there were certain meats we could not eat such at catfish, rabbits, pork, and other meats. If we study the Old Testament, we will see many things that we were not allowed to eat. But since the Lord Jesus came, He has let down the sheet of four corners, and we see the four-footed beasts and creeping things of the earth, and a voice comes to us, "Rise, slay and eat." But we said, “Not so Lord, for nothing common or unclean have we ever put into our mouth." But He says, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."
Now this means not only that we should not call any man common or unclean, but we find that through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are permitted to eat swine's flesh if we like it and it is good for us, but anything that will hurt these bodies or make us sick, we ought not to eat. For we should be temperate in all things, in eating, drinking and wearing clothes. These bodies are the Lord's and we do not want to destroy them by meat and drink. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy."
In 1 Tim. 4:4-6, Paul was instructing the people about meats and drinks. He says, "For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine."
"Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat." If eating pork brings condemnation upon you for eating it, do not eat it, for the Lord is the one that puts it upon you. But if the Lord does not condemn another for eating it, do not condemn him, because he eats in faith, and the meat is not able to destroy him if he eats in faith.
We had a perfect Savior. Never was any guile in His mouth. Never was carnality in Him. You know under the Old Testament, the lamb for a sin offering was to be without spot and blemish. This was a real type of our blessed Jesus that was to come. Praise God, He has come and there was no carnality at all in Him. He was a Lamb without blemish, holy, harmless, undefiled, the great sacrifice that God gave to take away the sin of the world.
Many people today are teaching that Christ had self and carnality in Him. No, the character of the Lamb of God, our Redeemer, was sinless. Because if His precious blood had not flowed from a Lamb without blemish and without spot, but had carnality and corruption from self, from the manger to the cross, then it is only the blood of a martyr, and its atoning merits are void. If there is any point in the Gospel which is fundamentally absolute, it is the purity of the person of Jesus Christ, God's Son. He has power to take away our sins and save us to the uttermost, for our blessed Lord said, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." Matt.1: 21
It cost our Savior His life on Calvary to cleanse us from sin. Thank God, He is risen again. He never would have risen if there had been any carnality in Him. He would have been no Savior. Praise God, He is a Savior to the uttermost. The angelic host sang on Bethlehem's plain, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."
I have been holding cottage meetings in San Francisco. God has been working in a wonderful way in the little house, so few could get in. Last Saturday we had a blessed time. Two advent preachers were there and fought the work bitterly. The meeting went on in mighty power and the Lord gave me a message from heaven, and they were convinced the work was of God. Praise God for it. There is a great field there, but I feel I must go on to Salem.
I know now what it is to travel in soul for this Gospel. God has called every baptized believer to a noble high calling and given us a trust. If we are unfaithful, we shall surely die. O God, keep us true.
Mildred composed a piece of music and sat down to play it yesterday. It took my soul almost out of this land, while she played it, and the power came on Sister Reece and she began to sing words, O so sweet and in such harmony with the music. How God flooded our souls as she sang. She could not remember them, but yesterday afternoon the power came on her again and she wrote them down. O you could hardly stay here, when they sing and play that piece. It's from the Paradise of God. If nothing else had happened but this, it ought to convince people.
A brother who has been seeking his Pentecost asked prayers for his healing. He was threatened with pneumonia. I laid hands on him and he was healed and received his Pentecost at the same time, and his children are coming to the Lord. His daughter was very sick and he prayed and she was healed. The power came on him in his office to pray for her. The people, he said, looked at him so strangely. O glory to our God.
People are begging for workers to carry this Gospel to them. The calls are many. Pray for me, my dear loved ones in Los Angeles.
I was in San Francisco last night, and such a meeting we had. I never saw such sweet unity of the Spirit—testimony, healing, singing in the Holy Ghost, praying for the sick, and some receiving their Pentecost at the same time, and no confusion. O it was glorious and surely the Holy Ghost led the meeting. As I read the text or lesson about bridling the tongue, a dear brother that has been a power in mission work, healing the sick and preaching, said, "Pray for me now that my tongue may be bridled." The power came for prayer, I laid hands on him and he was baptized and spoke in such a clear language. Another preacher was baptized soon after. O God is working mightily!
A man was completely healed of rupture of nine years' standing, last night. O how can we praise Him enough? A sister the first time in the meeting was healed and anointed went home and got her Pentecost the same night. God is working where He has a chance. O for closer walk with Him. I don't know when I shall get home, but where Jesus is 'tis heaven. O how my full heart does praise Him.
-Florence Crawford.
Sister Florence Crawford is now in Oakland expecting soon to go on to Salem. The Lord called her back to Los Angeles for a short time and all the saints were refreshed to see her. The Lord gave her a very sweet object lesson on the fruits of the Spirit. She says, "One night as I was weary in body, I asked the Lord to give me sleep, and He gave me a vision. He took me over some beautiful hills and down by a river running clear as crystal, and there was a tree standing by that river with the loveliest fruit on it I ever saw-great red apples. There were many apples hanging on the tree and all bore names that were so plain I could read them. They were love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, etc. These are the fruits of the Spirit. If we have the Spirit of Christ, these apples are hanging on our tree. We are known by our fruits and it is the Father's will that we should bring forth much fruit, and that our fruit should remain. Dear ones, let us cease professing so much and examine ourselves to see if this fruit is on our tree."
The messages spoken in tongues in Azusa Mission, as far as have been interpreted, have always been spiritual and according to the Word, Scripture passages, praises to God, exaltation of Christ, warning, etc. Never anything of a foolish or irreverent character, and often of a highly exalted and intensely practical import and tremendous meaning, especially for the individual for whom the message was intended.
While Bro. S.J. Mead was with us in Los Angeles who is now on his way to Africa where he has labored for 20 years and where he is able to speak native languages, he was a witness to the gift of tongues being spoken in African dialects of which the persons had no knowledge. A colored lady spoke at length in tongues as the Spirit was pleased to use her. And immediately after she had spoken, Bro. Mead arose and interpreted the message given by the girl, giving the name of the tribe in Africa to which the language belonged and then repeated the same message in the same tongue.
"And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. Acts. 2:19.
E. Taylor is a conductor on the sleeping cars on the Southern Pacific Railway in California. He is a member of the Household of God in Oakland, Cal., having been born of the Spirit and sanctified. His wife and daughter have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues.
He says, "While on the train between Mojave and Barstow, on the night of Oct. 4th, about 11 p.m., the moon shining very brightly and no cloud in sight, and no wind, I was sitting by the car window looking out, when my eye fell on the moon which was as clear as I ever saw it. Right across the face of the moon was a large cross, as plain as my hand before me. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, and saw it as before. I then raised both windows, put my head out and saw not only the cross but a man on the cross with arms extended, and the lower part of the cross dripping with fresh blood, very red. I then called for the porter, a colored man and an unbeliever, and asked him to look at the moon and tell me what he saw. He replied, describing the cross with a man on it and the blood dripping from it and asked, "What are them things flying about with wings?"
Bro. Taylor looked out again, and the air between him and the moon was filled with moving objects in the distance, like a multitude of butterflies. The porter inquired, "What does this mean?" and opened a window for a lady from Chicago, who gazed in astonishment and described the same objects. Then they heard singing surpassing anything they had ever heard on earth, which could be distinctly heard above the rumbling of the train.
This scene lasted for nearly an hour, these three persons watching and describing what they saw and heard. Bro. Taylor says he broke out in a profuse perspiration, until his clothing was wet. He became so filled with joy that he wanted to shout aloud, but refrained as the car was filled with sleeping passengers.
In the course of nearly an hour, the scene gradually faded away. The lower part of the cross was the last of the scene, but the singing continued for some time longer.
This same brother, who had never seen a vision before, was retiring for the night in a hotel. After having prayed, he was sitting on his bed when he saw the floor open at his feet, revealing a lake like molten lead, with living creatures plunging and moving in it, and men continually falling in. Above his head, seemingly up in the air, there seemed to be something like a very large bird cage, full of people, and as he gazed he saw occasionally a person ascending from the earth and joining the company.—The Household of God.
Edna Slingerland, a child of eleven years living in Portland, Oregon has been in communion with Jesus for three years, and her parents write that she has had many visions given her. Saturday evening, Nov. 24th after an hour spent in reading the Bible and talking to Jesus, the Lord gave her this vision. She saw a great dark ball, black as could be, and as it rolled slowly, a large grey surface came in sight, and the words came to her, "Pacific Ocean." As it rolled on, she saw a large bright spot, bright as an electric light, and the words "Los Angeles" came. Then in the brightness of it, Jesus' face showed and a throng of angels dancing and rejoicing. Then scattered over the black ball, she saw here and there, a very small bright spot and in each of them, the face of Jesus showed only partly. The parents who live at 178 E. 48th St., are in harmony with the Pentecostal work and believe God was showing through their little girl that He is in the work in Los Angeles.
The sin against the Holy Ghost cannot be forgiven. For the Lord Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation because they said He hath an unclean spirit. Mark 3:28-30.
People that have a real knowledge of the Holy Ghost in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and then go and say this work is of the devil, and people are speaking in tongues by the devil, after they have the knowledge of the truth, such people are in danger of sinning against the Holy Ghost.
"Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven." Luke 12:10.
When men sin against the Father, they are forgiven, when they sin against the Son, they are forgiven, but when they sin against God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, they have sinned against them all, so there is no more forgiveness. There is no fourth person to do any interceding for them. People can harden their hearts till God will leave them as He did Ephraim of old.
The devil may tell people that they have sinned against the Holy Ghost when they have not sinned willfully. They have not sinned against the Holy Ghost unless they have willfully denied the blood of Jesus Christ and trampled it under their feet, "for if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins," Heb 10.26. Some have been ensnared by the enemy and have lost the Pentecost and lost sanctification and lost justification, and it has brought sadness, and they can repent because they did not do it willfully. They were overpowered by the enemy, and not understanding, they yielded to it. They may be tempted to despair because the devil may tell them that they have sinned against the Holy Ghost, but the Bible says, "If we sin willfully." So we have not committed the unpardonable sin, if we have not sinned willfully. We still have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
But it is a very dangerous thing for us to go back after we have received light. Paul warned the Hebrew church, those that had come to Christ and had a real knowledge of the Spirit and then were turning back to the old sacrifices and fought against the Spirit of God. He says, "It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame." Heb. 6:4-6
After we have been made a gazing stock for Christ and took part in the reproaches and afflictions of Christ, and after we have tasted of the heavenly gift and are made partakers of the Holy Ghost, we cannot afford to go back. But if we really deny the power of God and turn back into the world, there is no possible way for us to get back. "He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" Heb.10:28, 29
I am praising God for His healing power and the gift of the Holy Ghost. I wrote you a few weeks ago requesting your prayers for the healing of my body from two large abscesses in the hips and back. God immediately answered and I began to recover, and am at present here at Bro. Ryan's, having received the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues and chanting. Hallelujah. E.S. Hanson, Salem, Ore.
We do not have to try to convince the people that this work is of God. Just preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified and God will take care of convincing the people.
Jesus is coming, coming soon,
Coming to earth again,
And all who have their hearts prepared,
Will gladly meet Him then.
Behold the Lord now soon will come,
The hour ye do not know,
And you, if found then unprepared,
With Jesus will not go.
He knows each heart, and seeks each heart
For His coming to prepare,
For some day it will be too late
To seek those joys to share.
All those that seek me I will bless
From heaven cries the Lord,
All those that seek with all their hearts,
And hearken to this word.
For there is no respect with God
Of person or estate,
The mercy, grace and love of God
For all men is so great.
"Awake," He cries, "Get ready now,"
For me makes urgent quest;
"Come unto me; come unto me,
And I will give you rest."
And with the Holy Ghost and fire,
I will baptize you all
And all who seek with diligence,
That on my name shall call.
All must their hearts make ready now
With Him to have a home,
The Savior sweet, so wonderful
For He so soon will come.
"O watch, be ready if I come
At midnight, morn, or noon,
O be ye ready when I come,"
O He will come so soon.
The above poem written by David Kilbeun 53 Howard St., Akron Ohio was composed from reading the interpretation of a message given by sister Lillian Keyes of Los Angeles. It was spoken and sung in an African dialect which was understood and corroborated by our dear Sister Mead now on her way back to Africa.
The work here is progressing gloriously, although the opposition is deep and bitter. Two days ago in the preliminary service in the prayer tower, the "upper room," Sister Ryan received her personal Pentecost. She spoke in tongues for nearly three quarters of an hour without intermission. It was the most astonishing case we have had yet in this city. Everyone that saw it was amazed and strengthened in their faith. She spoke in at least seven languages. Glory to Jesus.
The whole city and country round about are being shaken. There are those here from Portland, The Dalles, and from near Astoria seeking their Pentecost. Sister Glassco among the rest. Myself and wife have received our Pentecost and speak in tongues. --B. H. Irwin
A band of missionaries from Los Angeles expected to sail for Africa on Dec. 8th. They write that Pentecost has surely fallen in New York in a mission there. A number have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and are speaking in new tongues. One man that was a backslider and was paralyzed on one side was helped to the altar and was soon down under the power, and in about thirty minutes he was reclaimed, sanctified, baptized with the Holy Ghost, healed, speaking in tongues, and leaping and praising God. So amid the shouting, weeping and singing, the work went on till the morning hours.
Bro. Barratt, the Norwegian brother who received his Pentecost expected to sail for Norway, leaving New York on the same ship with the Africa missionaries. Bro. Mead says of him, "He is like Brother Paul, gifted in arts, books, etc., a leader of the people, and has been a power for good for many years. And now with his full Pentecost, he is so sweet and gentle, I know you would all love him. We must pray for him as he goes to his home in Norway to open up the work there. With all His gentleness, he speaks at times with a voice of thunder the convincing truths of the Master."
The other sisters are all well and greatly used of the Lord. Bro. and Sister Batman's fare was all made up. The people gladly gave their offerings and quickly made up what was needed. Sister Shideler has received her Pentecost. We all rejoice with her.
The missionaries sail on the "Campania." Will stop in Liverpool and may have an opportunity to work for the Lord there.
Address S.J. Mead, Longs Temperance Hotel, Lime St., Liverpool, Eng.
Jesus is coming! yes, coming for me!
Jesus is coming! His glory I'll see;
The clouds are His chariots,
The angels His guard;
Jesus is coming! how plain in His word.
Jesus is coming! O glory divine!
Jesus is coming! the Lord who is mine;
Yes, coming in triumph
With shout and with song;
Jesus is coming! the time is not long.
Jesus is coming! He's not far away!
Jesus is coming! we'll care not to stay;
The clouds as our chariots,
The angels our guard;
Jesus is coming! this truth is His word.
Jesus is coming! the just shall then rise,
Jesus, whose coming we'll greet in the skies
And the world shall then miss us,
With Jesus we've gone,
Forever to sing hosanna's glad song.
Jesus is coming! yes, all shall then know;
Jesus whose coming has conquered our foe,
In victory we'll meet Him;
In triumph we'll rise!
Jesus has come! we'll shout in the skies.
Jesus is coming! O saints, do rejoice!
Jesus is coming! so lift up your voice;
The clouds are His chariots,
The angels His guard;
Sing of His coming and tell of His word.
-T. Hezmalhalch.