“Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”—Jude 3
Vol. I. No. 9 Los Angeles, Cal., June to September, 1907 Subscription Free
One of the mightiest revivals that Portland ever knew has taken place in that city. The devil raged, shots were fired, some were arrested and brought up before the judges, but the Lord worked on and healed all manner of diseases that were brought, baptized and saved many precious souls.
In June a campmeeting was opened up there, where 100 souls were baptized with the Holy Ghost. Ministers were brought into the work. The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Portland came into the work in a body. God is working there in mighty power today.
One poor soul that had spent five years strapped to her bed in an insane asylum was healed. Her brother, hearing of the wonderful work wrought through this people went and got her and brought her to the Mission, and God wonderfully healed and saved and sanctified her. Her brother testified that he did not believe in God and was an infidel. Now he is saved and has gone back to live with his wife he had left. This Gospel surely is building up homes.
A lady was instantly healed of lesion of the muscles which the doctors have been working on for eleven years. The saints are leaving off their glasses and their eyes are being instantly healed. An old lady well on to seventy years old had her eyes completely restored while listening to a brother preaching.
When the plague in Portland was taking the children off at a fearful rate, the Lord healed all the Pentecostal flock as soon as it put in its appearance. Not one of them lost one of their family. The people were told to read the 91st Psalm, stand on the Word, and keep under the Blood, and fear nothing.
The Portland campmeeting opened at Twelfth and Division streets with 1000 people in attendance, sometimes hundreds could not get in. They had all things common at the camp, and such love and unity exists. The poor saint could have a tent as well as the rich one and all were free to eat at the tables. No collections taken, and yet the needs were abundantly supplied.
The work is spreading. Some came from Dallas and received their baptism and went back and set that town on fire and started a campmeeting there.
Sixty-seven were baptized in water one day. People brought their dear ones from the asylum and God healed them. Three from the asylum testified daily of the healing power of God.
A sanctified Nazarene preacher came to the meeting and got her baptism. Three preachers got through one day. The altars are packed.
A sister writing from there said, "O I wish you could hear these Holy Ghost people testify. No straps on anyone. The Holy Ghost works here. Saints filled so they can hardly talk jump up quickly, say a few words and sit down. Such a humble people, such love and unity I never saw.
—Address, Pentecostal Meeting, Twelfth and Division streets, Portland, Ore.
God is doing a mighty work in Zion City among those heart-broken and crushed people. First they started meetings in the Edina Hospice, now a faith home called "The Haven". Then they had the large auditorium in the college and now have the large tabernacle.
One morning in the upper room of "The Haven," the Holy Ghost fell, as they were praying for Him to come and manifest Himself. First one began to drop and then another until the floor was covered. The first to speak in unknown tongues was a young man who spoke in Chinese, Italian, and Zulu, which were identified. Then it was not long till the flood of joy began and all over the room they were praising and glorifying God in different tongues. Some were justified and sanctified. About twenty came through speaking in tongues.
God is using the children, young men and young women, in a marvelous manner. It is the most wonderful demonstration of the power of God upon human hearts. Denounce it as they will, when they see these little children under the power of the Holy Spirit, preaching, singing and speaking in different languages (which are many times identified by foreigners) they will in our meetings confess that their fighting has come to an end, and say that they have never seen anything after this manner.
Brother Seymour when he was in Zion City wrote, "People here receive the baptism in their pews while the service is going on and sometimes scores of them receive it. It is the sweetest thing you want to see. It reminds me of old Azusa ten months ago. The people that receive the baptism seem so happy, they remind me of our people at home. There are little children from six years and on up who have the baptism with the Holy Ghost, just as we have it in Los Angeles. Praise our God. This is another Azusa. It would do you good to hear these people speak under the power of the Holy Ghost. Some of them converse in tongues. Brother Tom has never lost the spirit of the Azusa. He is still fired up the same as ever. Everywhere I have traveled among our baptized souls, they seem to have such joy and freedom in the Holy Ghost."
—Address "The Haven," Zion City, Ill.
One Sunday the power of God came upon us in the morning meeting and in the evening the Pentecost began to fall, and by 11:30 the next morning six had received Pentecost, "For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God." It was like some scenes in Azusa, all around lay the slain, Methodists, Baptists, and Lutherans. Young people arose with shining faces speaking in the power of the Holy Ghost in unknown tongues. Two elderly sisters also spoke in tongues, magnifying God. We have the happiest band of baptized people you ever saw. Young ladies that were so timid, now clap their hands and shout Glory, all the time.
Another night when the meeting lasted till five o'clock in the morning, one young man, a Methodist, came through about one a.m. and spoke in tongues for two hours, giving some of the most blessed messages and interpreting: the burden was, "Jesus is coming soon, get ready to meet Him."
One little girl received her baptism and spoke beautifully in tongues, and then spoke to some unconverted young men in tongues and interpreted, which was a plea for them to give their hearts to Jesus now as He was soon coming and they would be lost. The men were visibly affected by the message.
Three baptismal services were held (up to June 19th) at a suburban lake, and 24 were buried in the likeness of His death.
Most of those who received the baptism in the Spirit are prostrated on the floor. Some received it while sitting in a chair or standing on their feet. Some have received it at home. Those who are prostrated, many of them tell of having a vision of heaven or of Jesus the Lord or otherwise of having come into a full and far deeper sense of God than ever thought of before. A brother coming out from under the power where he had received revelations said, "The hand of God is certainly on this work, and those who scoff and oppose it are likely to have the Lord's hand put on them in a terrible way."
The papers published many false reports, and they were threatened with arrest and to have the meetings stopped on the charge of disturbing the peace; but Bro. Pendleton announced that the meetings would continue for they must obey God. If they went to jail, they would have meetings there.
Some get to God in every meeting. They obtained a large hall that will seat four or five hundred, where a permanent mission will be established.
For more than a year here some of the saints tarried before God for an outpouring of His Spirit upon all flesh, and especially for a revival of the Bible standard in Winnipeg. God has heard prayers and is repeating Pentecost. Praise His name.
The Holy Ghost first fell in a cottage meeting and three received their Pentecost with Bible evidence. An aged saint came in from Poplar Point, a small town about 40 miles distant, and the second afternoon he got his Pentecost and says he feels a lot younger. He and others went back and had tarrying meetings, and since then about twenty have received Pentecost at that place.
At the Pentecost Mission, while a brother was speaking from Acts 10:40-46, "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word," as he was speaking, the Holy Ghost fell on two sisters. One started speaking right off in tongues, and another who had come about 100 miles to attend the meeting, fell under the power for a time and began to sing in tongues. It was heavenly. Souls are being saved, believers sanctified and baptized with the Holy Ghost while sitting in their seats.
Baptismal services took place on the banks of the River Assimboine at this place 23 persons receiving baptism by immersion. It was a sacred occasion. The Holy Ghost witnessed through the speaking in tongues of those who were baptized.
Some wonderful cases of healing have occurred the past few weeks. A lady of some 60 years of age who had been a cripple from inflammatory rheumatism for ten years or more, was brought in an invalid chair accompanied by her two daughters. She was prayed for, and during the service was noticed to stretch forth her ailing limbs, which up to this time had been of little use to her. She then rose from her chair under the power of the Holy Ghost. O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful works to the children of men.
Home & Foreign Mission, 159 Alexander St., Winnipeg, Man., Can.
How wonderful it is that today in different parts of India, Russia, Norway, Sweden, England, Canada, Africa and America, God's saints are enjoying the latter rain and are being satisfied. Persecution is arising everywhere, but this is only a mark of the Lord's work, and makes us more sure we shall reign with Him whose sufferings we are privileged to share. Bless His name! The Lord is coming—our precious King is coming soon. "Even so come Lord Jesus." Hallelujah.
In Stockholm, Sweden, many souls are filled with the Holy Ghost and have the Bible evidence. The tidal wave is sweeping on, on to victory. Hundreds of souls are at the feet of Jesus.
"The work of the Lord is spreading. In Gottenberg, the second city of Sweden, the Lord has set many of His people free, filling them with the Spirit of Christ. Some are speaking with new tongues. I have Bro. Eric Hollingsworth and his wife here with me now in this city, and hope we shall have a house like Azusa Mission.
"The church in Skofde is growing. I think there are about 40 now who are baptized with the Holy Ghost and speaking and singing in new tongues there. Hallelujah! In a meeting at Skofde there were seven young folks who were singing in tongues together. It was a heavenly song, as Bro. Eric told me.
"In many other cities and towns God is working mightily. One place is on an island between Sweden and Russia, and God is pouring out His Spirit. To God be all the praise."—Andrew G. Johnson, Bramaregarden, Hisingstad, Gottenberg, Sweden.
[Since the last report, two Spirit-filled sisters, Sister Anderson and Sister Jacobson, have gone to help in the work in Sweden.]
"Three have received the baptism with Bible evidence here. When we hear the Holy Ghost speaking and singing through these dear ones, it is so solemn and yet so heavenly and deepens one's hunger. "—J.H. 14 Ackerman Road, Brixton, London, S.W.
From another part of London where there has been a tarrying meeting, word comes that two have received the Pentecost, and other hungry souls seeking.
A sister in England who has received the Holy Ghost testifies:
“When all had retired that night, past twelve o'clock, and I was left alone, praise and adoration filled my soul (for the words kept ringing in my ear that had been spoken from, "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.") The joy was flowing—after months of inexpressible yearnings, and waiting upon God. That night I seemed to lie in His almighty arms like a weary little child. The last cord that bound me to earth was broken and that was a little anxiety concerning my home and dear ones. I gave them up to Him, and just rested absolutely in Him.
"While praising Him I had a vision of Jesus upon the cross. It was dark, He extended His arms to me and said, "Come to Me." Oh! the unutterable love and compassion in His voice. I obeyed, and groaned in the spirit, seeming to suffer with Him. Then the darkness fled, and I was raised with Him in glory. I involuntarily threw up my arms to praise Him and suddenly they seemed to be charged with electricity, and a power came upon me and I praised Him in another tongue. He immediately gave the interpretation which was "Glory to Jesus—the bleeding Lamb." The next morning the Holy Ghost came in mighty power, causing me to laugh as I had never done in my life (being very matter of fact and unemotional), and speaking in four or five languages sometimes giving the interpretation. For one and a half hours this continued. I was quite powerless. The glory of God filled my soul, and sometimes the deepest anguish of heart at the cross. What I felt and realized of the sorrow and love of Jesus was beyond all expression, finding vent only in another "tongue." Glory to His Name!
"The same evening I went to another meeting in connection with the foregoing special services, and the Spirit came upon me again causing me to speak in three or four languages with the interpretation."
—From a tract published in England by Bro. A.A. Body,
All Saints' Vicarage, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, England.
There are at least five or six hundred witnesses in India today, "earnestly contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints."
Some of the choicest spirits of India have been baptized with the Holy Ghost. It is wonderful to hear one of these tell how for nine years she had hunted meetings where she could receive the Holy Ghost, and how she has found Him whom her soul so long has craved. She and her friend are missionaries from Colombo, Ceylon. One of them has been clearly healed of a disease of several years standing.
Four witnesses have gone to Darjeeling India.
A prominent missionary who has been baptized with the Holy Ghost and has received wonderful power has thrown open the doors of her beautiful mission home and today is preaching the word with power.
The missionaries are searching the Word. They find this movement is prophesied as the forerunner of Jesus, and the precious souls are so glad to receive the power; but in India Bible teachers who know the Word are not jumping at every new doctrine but are weighing everything by the Word and are being convinced of the truth.
The Lord gave one missionary a vision of the Holy Ghost as a chest of jewels, and she saw the Savior open the chest, and with a look of great love and satisfaction, unroll gift after gift from the chest. It has not occurred to many the joy that must fill the heart of the dear Lord, when He sees that His gifts are being appreciated.
The Lord also gave Sister Garr a vision of Himself one night, while in Calcutta, and His hands were filled with golden crowns ready to place on heads. And the same evening, He gave her the message, "Let no man take thy crown." A missionary arose and said that on that day God had spoken those words to her, and she did not know what it meant.
Reaching the missionaries is laying the axe at the root of the tree, for they know all the customs of India and also the languages. The only way the nations can be reached is by getting the missionaries baptized with the Holy Ghost. Missionaries are receiving and praising God for letting them hear this Gospel and receive this great outpouring of the Spirit.
In a school of 1,500 native girls and 200 boys, besides European and native teachers, the head of the school has been tarrying and the Comforter has come to her and also to her daughter, a number of her teachers, and 300 native girls. Hallelujah! At Dhond, a school of boys, numbers have been saved, some are speaking in tongues.
In Calcutta, one Missionary who was baptized in the meeting, went back to her high school and in a short time forty-five precious native girls were baptized in the Spirit. Then the matron of a Rescue Home received her Pentecost and shortly the dear girls who had been redeemed from such lives of sin, were learning how to glorify Jesus and the Holy Ghost was given. Missionaries who have gone down to their stations, write of the abiding Comforter and rivers of living water are flowing.
False reports have been circulated of the work in India. Do not believe them.
—Address Bro. and Sister A.G. Garr, Bethany, Slave Island, Colombo, Ceylon, India.
When Jesus comes, He is going to reveal to us, all the hidden love that He had for us all through the ages.
If your testimony is backed up by the Blood of Christ in your heart, there is power in it.
God stands today to save every sinner, to sanctify every believer, and to baptize every sanctified believer with the Holy Ghost.
We are measuring everything by the Word, every experience must measure up with the Bible. Some say that is going too far, but if we have lived too close to the Word, we will settle that with the Lord when we meet Him in the air.
Some people build their houses on the sand, not on the experience of the Blood in their hearts. They say they have not got the witness, but are just going by faith. Well, everyone that is born of God has the witness in himself. 1 John 5:10
When we preach a sinless life, some people say we are too strict. They say we will not get many to heaven that way. But beloved, God cannot save contrary to His Word. All salvation contrary to the Word is not saving salvation.
The baptism with the Holy Ghost is the seal of the living God in your forehead. God wants you to wear this seal, and not the badges of men and devils. He does not want you to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, but come out from among the creeds and doctrines of men and devils. Our ignorance in the past God winked at, but that time is past. He is seeking for a clean people, a people that have not defiled their garments. The priests that bore the holy vessels had to be clean, so now those that bear the messages of the Lord must be clean and holy.
John the Baptist lost his head because he preached against divorces. There are a few people today that are willing to lose their heads for preaching against divorces. This Apostolic Faith stands for one wife and one husband. Our God is going to have a clean people, a people that will stand for the whole counsel of God. Praise God for a people that are willing to stand for the Gospel and die for it if need be.
Please write your address very plainly.
This is a free paper, a faith paper. Settle with the Lord.
Notify us of any change of your address.
Instead of sending in a list of names, why not send for a roll of papers, as many as you need, and send them out yourself? This will save work and expense at the main office. We need your help, dear ones.
This is the campmeeting number of the Apostolic Faith, a double paper for the four months. We hope to send out more of the papers and oftener, the Lord willing. May God make it a blessing to every reader.
Some ask how to send money to help the work. Money orders can be made payable to the Apostolic Faith, or you can send United States stamps. We cannot use foreign stamps. Some have sent bills. The Lord takes care of the money for His work. None has been lost.
You may find enclosed in your paper a slip. If you want your paper continued please fill it out with your name and address and send it to the Apostolic Faith. The reason we do this is because our mailing list is so large that we want to get it set up in print, and we do not want to print any names who do not really care for the paper.
The Lord wants us to keep that fresh anointing, that sweet anointing that we had when the Holy Ghost first fell upon us.
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It is one thing to receive the baptism and another thing to keep the anointing. When workers go out with the real anointing, there are not places large enough to hold the people. God wants a people to go out and preach this Gospel, that will stand for it. "These signs shall follow them that believe," and if they do not follow, we do not represent this Gospel. It is a blessed thing to be able to stand as a witness to this Gospel.
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The Lord wants everything that is done in a meeting to be done in the anointing of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost comes into your body for service. He anoints His ministers afresh for every service. Every song and every testimony should be given under the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Some have learned how to preach but it is a good thing for you if you cannot speak without the anointing of the Holy Ghost. You can get down on your knees and ask the Lord to use you or set you aside, which ever He wills, and to put the anointing on you for service if He wants you to give a message. Pretty soon you will feel the power going all over you. All you need to do is to yield to the will of God.
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Tongues are one of the signs that go with every baptized person, but it is not the real evidence of the baptism in the every day life. Your life must measure with the fruits of the Spirit. If you get angry, or speak evil, or backbite, I care not how many tongues you may have, you have not the baptism with the Holy Spirit. You have lost your salvation. You need the Blood in your soul.
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Don't ever think because you have been sanctified and the old man crucified that there is no danger of him getting up. He will get up if you do not live in the Word and let the Blood flow. But if you remain in the Word, you will remain on the cross. O beloved, let us remain on the cross.
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It means something to consecrate, but it means more to keep consecrated, morning, noon, and night, to say, "Here am I, Lord, send me." Sometimes when His voice comes, Do this or that, we think it is imagination; but if we will just ask God, "Is that You?" He will witness by the Blood that He is speaking. It is by obedience that we have power with God and increase in power.
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Many may start in this salvation, and yet if they do not watch and keep under the Blood, they will lose the Spirit of Jesus, which is divine love, and have only gifts which will be as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, and sooner or later these will be taken away. If you want to live in the Spirit, live in the fruits of the Spirit every day.
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"He anointeth my head with oil, my cup runneth over." The oil of the Holy Ghost is poured upon our heads, and when we get filled, it will run over, that we may help others. If our cup is but full, it will simply be a benediction to ourselves; but when the oil of the Holy Ghost overflows, it will saturate and thrill and fill with the power of God other souls.
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The time has come when we must separate ourselves from this old world. Everything must be second to Jesus. Your treasure is in heaven. You are walking down here and trying to win souls, to pass the time away till Jesus comes.
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Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." You who are baptized with the Holy Ghost, this commission is written over your heads, and will not be taken down till the angel stands with one foot on the land and one on the sea and declares that time shall no longer be.
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O beloved, our reigning time has not come yet. We are to be with the Babe from the manger to the throne. Our reigning time will come when Jesus comes in great power from the throne. Until then we are to be beaten, to be spit upon, and mocked. We are to be like His son.
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It means so much to keep the anointing upon our souls so that we do not wither away, after we get this baptism. There is a tendency for the enemy to come in and tell you that you are giving away to this and that demonstration too much. God wants us to let the Holy Ghost have right of way with us. I love the liberty of the Holy Ghost, I love to see Him have right of way. When we received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the power came down in such a mighty way, and after a time people began to consider and got us to taking thought. But what are we that will put straps and bands on the Holy Ghost, when the Lord comes and finds and thrills us with the Holy Ghost? Just because it is not our power shall we quench it and hold it down? Let us be free in the Holy Ghost and let Him have right of way.
In the 23rd chapter of Leviticus and 16th of Deuteronomy, and all through the Old Testament we read of the feasts that God appointed to be kept in the worship to Him. There were four feasts, the Passover Feast, Feast of First Fruits, Feast of Pentecost (or Feast of Weeks), and Feast of Tabernacles. They all typify what we get through the cross now, justification, sanctification, the baptism with the Holy Ghost and then a continual feast. Together they typify a complete redemption.
The Passover Feast is the very type of justification through the Blood of Jesus our Paschal Lamb. The night when they ate the Passover in Egypt was the type of a sinner coming out of darkness, through the Blood of Jesus. Hallelujah! The body of the Paschal Lamb is the type of the body of Christ, which is meat for us and bread for us, and the sprinkled blood represents salvation, as He said on that last Passover night when He was betrayed, "Take eat, this is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me." He also gave them the cup saying, "This is the new testament in My Blood, which is shed for you." Luke 22:20. If we accept the Word of God and accept Christ's body for healing, we shall be healed, Bless His holy name!
So the Passover represents justification and sanctification. There is a feast in every believer that has accepted the Blood of Jesus Christ. It is the first feast in his soul. When a man gets justified, the Lord puts a new song in his mouth, even praises to our God that he is saved and has peace with God through the Blood of Jesus.
This is the very type of consecrating our lives, after we are justified, to be sanctified. "When ye come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvests unto the priests. And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord." Lev. 23:10, 11. Praise our God! Jesus Christ is our high priest. He sanctifies and cleanses us from all sin through His Blood. Bless His holy name!
"And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor; and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." Lev. 23:12, 14. This is the very type of a fully sanctified life. We should not live off the experience and blessings of justification, but we should hasten to God as soon as we are justified and consecrate our whole soul to God as a sacrifice, and receive the sanctifying grace.
The 15th verse foreshadows the 50 days from the Cross to Pentecost. "And ye shall count unto you, from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall ye complete; even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." This makes seven weeks or 49 days that you have enjoyed the sweet sanctified life through the Blood; and on the 50th day which represents the new Sabbath, our Lord's Day, comes the Pentecost, which we now receive under the new testament, the baptism with the Holy Ghost.
The Feast of Pentecost is the very type of the baptism with the Holy Ghost. The word Pentecost signifies 50 days. The first Pentecost the Jews had was at Mount Sinai 50 days after the Feast of Passover. The baptism with the Holy Ghost also fell on Pentecost just fifty days after Jesus was offered on the cross, to the very hour. The regular time of offering the lamb of sacrifice was nine o'clock, and that was the hour that Jesus was crucified, the "third hour of the day." And the baptism of the Spirit fell on the same hour, 50 days later, for in the second chapter of Acts, we read that Peter said to the multitude, "These are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." The Pentecost fell on the Lord's day, the first day of the week or Sunday. It has been kept by God's people ever since. So Pentecost really means a feast, praise God, we have Pentecost in our souls today.
The feast of Pentecost came at the time of the wheat harvest and ripening of the summer fruits. They were commanded to leave some of the wheat and fruits in the fields, not to glean it. So when we get the baptism with the Holy Ghost, we have overflowing love, we have rivers of salvation. Praise our God.
This is the feast of the full harvest. "When ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days; on the first day shall be a Sabbath and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." Lev. 23:39, 40. In this you see a type of baptized Holy Ghost people filled with divine love, and under the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, praising God and giving Him the glory. Hallelujah! This feast of Tabernacles is a type of a continual feast with Jesus. It typifies the coming and reigning of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, when He shall spread the tabernacle and feed us.
These types and shadows represent what we are now receiving in reality. Bless His name. May we all seek all that God has for us.
One Sunday evening, the Lord impressed me not to go to meeting but to stay at home. We all went into the parlor and knelt down to pray, wife and I, and our three little children and one of the neighbor's girls about 10 years old.
After wife and I prayed, the children commenced praying. The little boy of 13 was last to pray. While he was praying, the two little girls commenced crying out and such agony before God. It was about seven o'clock in the evening, and kept on till about nine. They were lying on their backs, sometimes praying and sometimes crying out.
Then Agnes said, "O papa, I saw such a beautiful light come down from heaven. It shines so much brighter than the gas light." Glory! Hallelujah! Then she commenced speaking in tongues. It sounded like the French language. Then the other little girl commenced crying out. Agnes went and put her arms around her neck and said, "O Huldah, I see there is light for you too." Then Huldah commenced speaking in tongues. Then they came and threw themselves in my lap and talked in tongues for an hour. Then they sang a song in tongues, both sang the same words and the same tune in perfect harmony.
Then the little boy began to get hungry, and we went down and prayed for him and about 12 o'clock he got his Pentecost.
The children were saved before that, and the two girls had been praying together that day. Agnes used to have a very sharp temper but is different now. Shortly after that, all three were baptized with water. Little Clara, the baby, six years old, is praying for her Pentecost.
Ever since that night, when we get down to pray, nearly always the little ones begin to speak in tongues. The following Sunday evening, we left the children alone, and when we returned and came to the barn we heard such a noise in the house, and my wife wondered if the children were crying. We found all three of the children were talking in tongues.
M.B. Froseth, 938 E. 33rd St., Los Angeles.
A little girl eight years old who was reclaimed and sanctified at the children's tabernacle in the campmeeting was left at home one morning to take care of the little children, while her mother went to the meeting. She was a good girl with the children, and the Lord gave them a wonderful meeting at home. Rebecca who was seeking the baptism with the Holy Ghost, her cousin who had been saved that morning in family worship and the little sister, all had a little meeting. They sang, prayed and testified and then had an altar call. Little Mary was saved, and while praying with her Vivian was sanctified. After they closed the meeting, Rebecca sat on the lounge sewing and got up to start a fire, when the power of God came on her. She says, I fell on my knees so suddenly that it surprised me. I said, "O Father, baptize me with the Holy Ghost and fire, and give me the witness that I am baptized." In a few minutes she began to sing in an unknown language. Then the Lord impressed her to go and lay hands on her cousin, and she fell under the power and lay for some time and came out from under the power singing in an unknown language. When the mother came home, Rebecca ran and told her the good news, and she said she had been praying for the Lord to take care of the children, and indeed He had.
Some people doubt the miracle of speaking in tongues. They read it in the Bible but do not believe in miracles now-a-days. There was a woman on the campground that doubted the miracle of speaking in tongues. She understood Russian and Polish, and the Lord gave her a message in her native tongue, which no one else understood.
A boy arose to testify and when his turn came, and he opened his mouth, he could not speak English, but the Spirit began to speak in an unknown language. The woman heard both Russian and Polish and was thoroughly convinced. He spoke about ten minutes giving the account of Jesus walking among the golden candlesticks with the seven stars in His right hand and also the first eight verses of the 3rd of Revelation where Jesus was exhorting the church that had a name to live and was dead, to repent. The boy seemed to be preaching and exhorting in great power. Part of the message was, "Jesus is coming very soon."
The young man's name is Ralph Groenick of Hermon, Cal., and the woman's address is Sister Rosenthal, corner 24th and Hoover streets, Los Angeles.
When we receive Christ as our sanctifier, He comes in and we have the abiding anointing in our souls continually. When a man is sanctified, there is no doubt as to his sanctification, for he has the witness within. Christ abides, He sits enthroned. You are in the Word of God and you get a real witness from the throne of God that Christ is within. When you call your Beloved, He answers and says, Here I am.
I remember after I was converted, I said, How is this? My Beloved comes to me and visits me, but He does not abide. I knew I was a Christian but I did not have the real abiding anointing. When I would get with Christians and sing one or two hymns, my Beloved would come and visit me; but when I left, it seemed He would go. I said to Him, "I would like for you to come and stay, not just some and fill me and afterwards take Your flight." But when I got my Beloved sanctified in me, then when I would call upon Him, He would come and make my soul laugh. You do not have to ask someone about it. If you have not received the abiding anointing, you have a counterfeit sanctification. As long as you live in the Word of God He will always be present. We must continue to obey Him, for there is no way for Christ to abide in us, if we do not obey Him.
The Blood of Jesus is the only cure for doubt and fears. It takes sanctification to deliver from doubts and fears. We always find that people who are not sanctified are more or less troubled with doubts. But when they get sanctified they are filled with such love to God, that they are like little babes, they believe every word of Jesus.
Now Jesus had been with the disciples three and a half years, and had told them all about the kingdom, and yet the doubts and fears came upon them. But in Luke 24:31, we read, "And their eyes were opened and they knew Him." This was after the resurrection. Their spiritual eyes were opened to know Jesus. Our eyes must by opened to see our inheritance. No one can get the baptism till Christ anoints his eyes and opens up his understanding that he might understand the Scriptures. In the 45th verse we read, "Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures." Then they received the living Word into their hearts and their hearts burned within them, as He unfolded the Scriptures to them.
Sanctification is a cure for unbelief, doubts and fears. Jesus got all His disciples cured before He went back to glory. What do you call that but sanctification? His Blood had been spilt for their sanctification. He had suffered without the gate to sanctify them. We can see Jesus taught the doctrine of sanctification before He was crucified, for He had prayed that they might be sanctified in the 17th of John. He stayed with them on earth forty days, opened their understanding, opened their eyes and cleansed them of doubts.
The last one to be cured of doubts was Thomas. They were trying to preach the resurrection to Thomas, but he said, "No, I will not believe it until I put my hand into His side and my finger into the prints of the nails." Satan was trying to rob and fool Thomas out of the glorious truth of the resurrection. Jesus knew all about it. He called Thomas and said to him, (Don't you see how Jesus hates infidelity and unbelief) "Reach hither thy finger and behold My hands and, reach hither thy hand and behold My side, and be not faithless but believing." Jesus wants us to walk by faith and believe every word that proceedeth out of His mouth.
We believe that the disciples were sanctified and ready for the baptism with the Holy Ghost. They had obedience and faith in their hearts, and were continually praising and blessing God in the temple, until the Pentecost fell, Acts 2. If we will all get a clearly sanctified experience as they had, we will have no trouble in receiving the baptism.
It is the office work of the Holy Spirit to preside over the entire work of God on earth. —John 10:3 Jesus was our Bishop, while on earth, but now He has sent the Holy Ghost, Amen, to take His place, not men. —John 14:16; 15:26; 16:7-14. Praise His holy name!
The Holy Ghost is to infuse with divine power, and to invest with heavenly authority. No religious assembly is legal without His presence and His transaction. We should recognize Him as the Teacher of teachers.
The reason why there are so many of God's people without divine power today without experimental salvation, wrought out in their hearts by the Blood, by the power of the blessed Holy Spirit, is because they have not accepted Him as their Teacher, as their Leader, as their Comforter. Jesus said in His precious Word that if He went away He would send us another Comforter. The need of men and women today in their lives, is a Comforter, Praise our God! We have received this blessed Comforter, and it is heaven in our souls. We can sing with all our hearts:
"What matter where on earth we dwell,
On mountain top, or in the dell,
In cottage or a mansion fair,
Where Jesus is, 'tis heaven there."
Bless His holy name! May God help every one of His Blood bought children to receive this blessed Comforter. Glory to His name! Hallelujah! Hosannah to His omnipotent name! Oh, He is reigning in my soul! Hallelujah! I just feel like the song which says:
"Oh, spread the tidings round
Wherever man is found,
Wherever human hearts
And human woes abound,
Let every Christian tongue
Proclaim the joyful sound,
The Comforter has come!
Many people today think we need new churches, (that is to say church buildings,) stone structures, brick structures, modern improvements, new choirs, trained singers right from the conservatories, paying from seven to fifteen hundred dollars a year for singing, fine pews, fine chandeliers, everything that could attract the human heart to win souls to the meeting house is used in this twentieth century. We find that they have reached the climax, but all of that has failed to bring divine power and salvation to precious souls. Sinners have gone to the meeting house, heard a nice, fine, eloquent oration on Jesus, or on some particular church, or on some noted man. The people have been made glad to go because they have seen great wealth, they have seen people in the very latest styles, in different costumes, and loaded down with jewelry, decorated from head to foot with diamonds, gold and silver. The music in the church has been sweet, and it is found that a good many of the church people seem to be full of love, but there has always been a lack of power. We wonder why sinners are not being converted, and why it is that the church is always making improvements, and failing to do the work that Christ called her to do. It is because men have taken the place of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
The church had the right idea that we need bishops and elders, but they must be given authority by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and their qualifications for these offices must be the enduement of the power of the Holy Ghost. Jesus, after choosing His disciples, said, in John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father, in my name, He may give it you.” Praise our God! The Lord Jesus ordained His disciples with His own blessed hands, before going back to glory, but He put the credentials in their hearts on the day of Pentecost, when they were baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Hallelujah! This was the authority that made them His witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth, for without the blessed Holy Spirit, in all of His fullness, we are not able to witness unto the uttermost parts of the earth. We must be coworkers with Him, partakers of the Holy Ghost. Then, when He is in us, in all of His fullness, He will manifest Himself. Signs and miracles will follow. This is the office work of the Holy Spirit in the churches. Amen.
I pray God that all Christ's people and ministers everywhere will please stop by the headquarters, the Jerusalem before God, for their credentials. Then they are entitled to receive credentials from the visible church. But the main credential is to be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Instead of new preachers from the theological schools and academies, the same old preachers, baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, the same old deacons, the same old plain church buildings will do. When the Holy Ghost comes in He will cleanse out dead forms and ceremonies, and will give life and power to His ministers and preachers, in the same old church buildings. But without the Holy Ghost they are simply tombstones.
We must always recognize that a meeting house is simply a place, where Christ's people gather to worship, and not the church. The church is planted in our hearts, through the Blood of Jesus Christ, for Christ said in Matthew 16:16, "Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." We see, if these meeting houses and such buildings were really churches of Christ, the storms, cyclones, and fire could not harm them; but we see them blown down by storms and burned down. But, through the precious Blood of Christ, this church that He plants in our souls will stand throughout eternity.
The first thing in every assembly is to see that He, the Holy Ghost, is installed as the chairman. The reason why we have so many dried up missions and churches today, is because they have not the Holy Ghost as the chairman. They have some man in His place. Man is all right in his place, that is when he is filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, for it is not man that does the work, but the Holy Ghost from the glory land, sent by Jesus to work through this tabernacle of clay. Wherever you find the Holy Ghost as the chairman in any assembly, you will find a fruitful assembly, you will find children being born unto God.
Just as it takes a father and a mother to bring forth children of this natural life, so it takes the Word and the Spirit to bring forth children of the spiritual birth. There must be a father and there must be a mother. God chooses human instruments to preach the Word unto the people, and the Holy Ghost gives birth to everyone who receives the Word of Christ, which means the new birth. Praise our God. Where a Holy Ghost man preaches the Word of God, the Lord will bring forth sons and daughters unto his administration.
Jesus Christ is the archbishop of these assemblies, and He must be recognized. Also we must recognize the Holy Spirit in all of His office work. He takes the members into the church, which is the body of Christ. Through repentance to God, and faith in Jesus, they become the members of the church of Christ. And they remain members as long as they live free from sin. When they commence sinning, the Holy Ghost, the chairman and bishop, the presiding elder, turns them out, and they know when they are turned out of this church. They don't have to go and ask their pastor or their preacher, for they feel within their own soul that the glory has left them—the joy, the peace, the rest and comfort. Then when they feel the lack in their souls, if they will confess their sins, God, the Holy Ghost, will accept them back into the church.
Oh, thank God for this holy way. I am so glad that sham battles are over. Men and women must live straight, holy, pure lives, free from sin, or else they have no part with Christ Jesus. When men and women are filled with the Holy Ghost, everywhere they go, living waters will flow. The Lord promised that out of our innermost being living rivers of water should flow. This is the Holy Ghost. Amen! The mighty Pison, the Gihon, the Hiddekel, the Euphrates of our soul will flow, representing the rivers of salvation. Amen! W.J.S.
"I feel led by the Holy Spirit to testify to the glory of God what He has done for me and my wife. The Lord has wonderfully healed me from catarrh of nine years standing. Glory! glory! glory! Glory be to my dear Redeemer's name! Soon as I received the handkerchief, or as soon as I opened the letter, such power went through my whole being as I have never felt before, and I praise Him, I feel the healing balm just now go through soul and body. Glory to King Jesus, the great Physician of soul and body. A few weeks before this, my wife was very sick, as near death as I have ever seen a human being. Her ears were getting cold and strength gone so that she could only whisper, but glory to God for His mercy and love, we got some of the saints to pray for her, and He wonderfully came and healed her. About a year ago, God for Christ's sake saved and sanctified her, and revealed to her not to trust in the arm of flesh. So she pitched her medicine out once for all and took Jesus for her only Doctor. He is surely the only one that can help us under all circumstances”. —E.W. Johnson, Stockholm, Sask, Canada.
"The Lord graciously gave me the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire on April 29th, and there have 35 received their Pentecost at Readan, Wash., where I was. One dear sister was healed of curvature of the spine in answer to our prayers in half an hour after receiving her baptism, and her back straightened like a piece of rubber Praise to our God. She has been called to go to India.” —Mary Law, Rte 8, Spokane, Wash.
"A few of us here believe in this "faith once delivered unto the saints" and some are speaking in tongues. One sister sang beautiful songs with such marvelous power, beauty and sweetness, and oh how blest we were. Fifteen dear young men were saved, also several others. I wish to tell of a miracle which God did on my dear mother, healing her of a growth or pressing of the bones on the brain, caused by a bad fall on a sharp rock. She had suffered two years, and last summer was fast becoming insane from the pressure on her brain. I told her one night we would pray for her at the church where we met. We were only two, a brother and myself, and we claimed the promise, "Where two of you are agreed." Praise God, my mother was healed sitting at home in a chair asleep. She said that she sprang up in alarm, wondering why her head felt so light and good. Then she remembered we were praying for her, and realized that she was healed, and thank God she is well and happy today.” —Eben Lind, Moline, Ill.
"I can testify to this world that there is power in the Blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse from all sin and all dread diseases. Two days before I received your letter, I was made well and my shoulder went up into its place. All I can say is, Praise the Lord for ever and ever." —John Waterson, Knowlesville.
Dear Beloved in Christ Jesus:
The Lord Jesus has said in His precious Word, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Matt. 5:6. God's promises are true and sure. We can rest upon His promises. He says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matt. 5:8. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5: 3.
The Lord Jesus is always ready to fill the hungry, thirsty soul, for He said in His precious Word, "He that believeth on Me as the scripture hath said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spoke He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" John 7: 38, 39. But, praise God, He is given to us today.
All we have to do it to obey the first chapter of Acts, and wait for the promise of the Father upon our souls. The Lord Jesus said in His precious Word. "Behold I send the promise of My Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24, 49.) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. * * * “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:5, 8. They tarried until they received the mighty power of the baptism with the Holy Spirit upon their souls. Then God put the credentials in their hearts, and put the ring of authority on their finger, and sealed them in the forehead with the Father's name, and wrote on their heart the name of the New Jerusalem, and put in their hand the stone with the name written that no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever. Let us stand upon His promises. They are sure, they will not break.
The Lord Jesus says, "Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19. Dear loved one, the Lord Jesus when He rose from the dead said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Matt. 28:19) 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." Mark 16:16-18. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Praise His dear name, for He is just the same today.
The first thing in order to receive this precious and wonderful baptism with the Holy Spirit, we want to have a clear knowledge of justification by faith according to the Bible. Rom. 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," faith that all our actual sins may be washed away. Actual sin means committed sin.
And then the second step is to have a real knowledge of sanctification, which frees us from original sin—the sin that we were born with, which we inherited from our father Adam. We were not responsible for that sin until we received light, for we could not repent of a sin that we did not commit. When we came to the Lord as a sinner, we repented to God of our actual sins, and God for Christ's sake pardoned us and washed our sin and pollution away, and planted eternal life in our souls. Afterwards we saw in the Word of God, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1Thess. 4:3, also John 17:15-19. We consecrated ourselves to God, and the Lord Jesus sanctified our souls, and made us every whit clean.
Then after we were clearly sanctified, we prayed to God for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. So He sent the Holy Spirit to our hearts and filled us with His blessed Spirit, and He gave us the Bible evidence, according to the 2nd chapter of Acts verses 1 to 4, speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.
Praise our God; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Receive Him just now and He will fill you. Amen. Don't get discouraged but pray until you are filled, for the Lord says, "Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Don't stop because you do not receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost at the first, but continue until you are filled. The Lord Jesus told His disciples to tarry until they were endued with power from on high. Many people today are willing to tarry just so long, and then they give up and fail to receive their personal Pentecost that would measure with the Bible. The Lord Jesus says, "Ye shall be filled." He says that to the person that hungers and thirsts after righteousness and He says they are blessed. So if there is a hunger and thirst in our souls for righteousness, we are blest of Him. Praise His dear name!
Yours in Christ, W.J.S.
In our previous articles upon the above subject, we defined the definite conclusions at which we had arrived; and now after six months further study, we have little to change as to our opinion of the movement. Last January we said we were satisfied that God had visited His people and that many were greatly blessed while others seemed puffed up and injured by their experience. We also stated that the Gospel Tabernacle as a church had set aside one evening of each week to pray especially that we might receive all that God was willing to bestow; and also that we might be delivered from all the deceptions of Satan, and the workings of the flesh.
The result so far has been most satisfactory. God has met us and answered our prayers. On the 12th of June at the close of our regular mid-week prayer meeting, nine of us tarried for a special season of waiting upon God. We had not proceeded far when one of our number (our class leader, a man of undoubted reliability and Christian experience), was praying with unusual earnestness amounting to intense supplication, when suddenly the Spirit seemed to fall upon us "as at the beginning;" for several were strongly convulsed, while the brother referred to began to speak in "unknown tongues" and "magnify God" with a loud voice. This altogether new experience made a deep impression on all present, as it could not possibly be attributed to hysteria or any hypnotic influence. So great was the downpour of the Spirit that this strong man paced the floor glorifying God for fully an hour. By this time the sense of God's presence was so great that another of our church officers said that he believed it was God's will to bestow upon him a like enduement. This brought us once more to our knees, where we had not long remained when the Spirit again fell upon us, and this brother likewise burst into intense supplication, and a little later began to speak "in tongues" and glorify God, as the first brother had done. This so impressed us that we began to think that it was the will of God to visit the entire company. None of the others, however, were visited at this time and at three o'clock in the morning we left the church. Again the following Friday evening as a company kneeled at the altar the Spirit fell upon one of our sisters; and again the following Sunday evening, upon one of the elders of the church. In each instance the recipient had the same experience as the first two. These things have made such an impression upon our people that the church has been greatly quickened. Those who speak in tongues seem to live in another world. The experience they have entered into corresponds exactly with that which is described in the 10th chapter of the Acts. The tongues they speak in do not seem to be intended as a means of communication between themselves and others, as on the Day of Pentecost, but corresponds more closely with that described in the 14th of 1 Corinthians, 2nd verse, and seems to be a means of communication between the soul and God. They do not speak in tongues in the assembly, but when in prayer; they become intense in their supplication; they are apt to break out in the unknown tongue, which is invariably followed by ascriptions of praise and adoration which are well nigh unutterable. The writer has about concluded that it is the "new tongues" spoken of in Mark xvi. 17 as one of the signs which are to follow them that believe, rather than the "gift of tongues" which all evidently did not possess. We feel our spirits hushed into silence before God, at this wonderful manifestation of His presence in our midst. We have announced no extra meetings in the church, but every night prostrate forms may be seen waiting in silence before Him who baptizes with the Holy Ghost. There is no shadow of doubt left in our minds as to the Scripturalness of the experience, and we feel sure that no honest heart could find anything to criticize.
There are other cases at other points in our Chicago work equally satisfactory, and it is this more than any other thing that has influenced us in the selection of the Free Methodist Camp Grounds, as the place for our next annual meeting. —The Christian Missionary Alliance.
Of the 500 disciples that heard Jesus say, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem," how many tarried? Just 120. O it is not all that are going to obey the voice of Jesus. We know that Mary Magdalene was there and Mary the mother of Jesus, and they received the power along with the men. Glory to Jesus. God says, "In the latter days, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh" —not only upon the servants but on the handmaidens also. So we women have a part in this Gospel. Hallelujah to my God! He is the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
"O, I feel the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ drawing nigh. Hallelujah! Glory to His name! I am so glad that the Lord is holding the winds until the angel has sealed all of the saints of the living God in their foreheads, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The midnight cry will soon be made, when the morning and the night shall come. It will be morning in our souls, to those that are waiting for His coming; but the awful black night of tribulation as the black night of Egypt will come upon all the world. May God help all of His precious waiting bride to be watching, waiting until our Lord shall come.
"Oh, I am so thankful that I can work for my Christ and my God. The time is short when our blessed Jesus shall return to this earth, and snatch away His waiting bride. After six thousand years of toil and labor, we are going to have one thousand years of rest with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Glory to His holy name!" —Bro. Seymour, 312 Azusa St., Los Angeles.
"I can't forget how, kneeling at the dear old board in Azusa street, I promised God I would go where He wanted me to go and stay where He wanted me to stay, and be what He wanted me to be. I meant every word of it and God has taken me at my Word. How His glory is flooding my soul. O how I worship His precious name! I have to stop and wonder how God can bless the Word through me. To think He has saved me when all my family were infidels and everything that would drive me from God. No one can ever know how I feel for the way God has dealt with me. O how I love Jesus. It thrills my very being to think of the Blood. It has done so much for me. I am filled with wonder, love, and praise that God would permit me to see the workings of His mighty power in these last days. O to think we have lived to see the return of the apostolic power and to see the gifts restored back to the church. I find we cannot compromise with anything or anybody. O we must stand for all the light we have received, and having done all to stand. —Florence Crawford.
"This is, without doubt, God's last call to His people just previous to the coming of our blessed Redeemer and Master. O, how our hearts long to see Him! How we rejoice at the hope, each day bringing to us a deeper experience and a brighter assurance that we, ourselves, shall never see the grave! His approach is so nigh at hand, one almost thinks they can hear the songs of the angels who are to accompany Him in His coming. Without a shadow of a doubt, we are living in the latter days and that "Latter Rain" is being poured upon us; yet we are but beneath its droppings; the full shower has not yet arrived." —Bro. Tom Hezmalhalch, "The Haven" Zion City, Ill.
When the Comforter first came my heart was so overflowing with the joy, I had not time to prove the reality, the blessed reality of the experience received in dear old Azusa Street Mission, but as persecution arose in India I have proved day by day, hour by hour that He abides and reveals Jesus to my soul in wonderful ways.
How conscious have I been of His presence giving "songs of deliverance" and speaking through me to my own comfort and delight. Praise Him. There are several hundred natives baptized with the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues today in India. I want to add, that the blessed Comforter does indeed reveal the perfect life of the Savior, not alone in the oil of joy, ("Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows"), but the other side of this precious life, ("The man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.") And we can say we have not longed for the joy side alone, but to "suffer with Him that we might reign with Him." He longs for a bride who shares both His suffering and joy. I want to enter into His own heart and feel as He felt, letting His joy be my joy, His sorrow my sorrow. He has put groanings into my heart which cannot be uttered over a lost world and those who do not understand His workings in the earth at this time. How I praise Him for a love for my enemies that is not natural but divine. Hallelujah.
We long to see all power restored that the heathen can no more say to the missionaries: "Where is their God." Joel 2:17. "The Lord will be jealous for His land and pity His people."
Our hearts are knit with the dear Saints at Azusa street and we think with love of all. How often I think of the times the Spirit sang through Sister Crawford and me:
"Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life's tempestuous sea."
That testified to my own heart that much would arise for which the Spirit was preparing me. He abides, the blessed Comforter. —Mrs. Lillian Garr, Bethany, Slave Island, Colombo, Ceylon.
"I am not going to Africa for name or fame, but for the saving of precious
souls that Jesus gave His life for, that they should enjoy this blessed salvation
as we. Glory to His name. How I worship my Savior. Can say from the very depths
of my heart that this world with all its attractions has no charms for me.
It is Jesus and Him only."
—Rosa Harmon, 351 W. 40th St., New York City, en-route to Africa.
"We had a wonderful campmeeting in Fairmont Minn. I put myself on record as a seeker from the beginning. As I kept humbling myself before Him day after day His power and love began going all through me. At one meeting a number were singing the heavenly chorus and I found my heart in tune with it. Hallelujah, so that I was able to take part. I had not then spoken any in unknown tongues but was still pressing up for the baptism in the Holy Ghost.
A night or two after that, I sang again with a number of others, and soon after the tent was filled with God and my heart was filled with holy laughter. Then suddenly several peculiar moves took place around my jaw bones, and from away within, without my having any part in it, I spoke words that I was not accountable for. With this there was great, inexpressible joy in my soul, so much that I was unable to keep still.
One girl of about 18 years from Sioux City sang several verses in a South African dialect, words which were so near like the Zulu dialect that some were familiar to me. Sister Ladd from Des Moines spoke several sentences in the Arabic which I could understand, though the Arabic in Morocco is different from the pure Arabic spoken in Palestine." —Fred Weiss, Thurman, Ia., returned Africa Missionary.
Miss Eula Wilson, a girl of fifteen in Wichita, Kans. had been given up to die by the doctors. She seemed to die and was laid out for burial. Hours afterward she suddenly raised up and said, "O Mamma I have been in heaven and Jesus has healed me and told me to eat, drink, and walk." She was completely healed and has not been sick at all since.
She says she was taken to heaven in a cloud accompanied by two angels and her brother who had died two years before. Heaven, she said, was sparkling with indescribable beauty and glory. She met Jesus, who bade her enter through the gate of pearl, saying, "Peace, peace." He led her and her brother to a most beautiful stream of water sparkling like myriads of diamonds. She was not able to see across the stream nor to the heights of the city. She saw an innumerable company, a large proportion of whom were infants and little children, and recognized many relatives but was disappointed at not seeing some who had died as it was supposed in the triumphs of the Christian faith.
She says, "Everybody looked so beautiful and natural, except a glorious and heavenly light in their eyes and on their faces. They were all dressed alike wearing white robes, without any yoke and with loose flowing sleeves and were all barefooted, with a halo of glory encircling their heads. There was no earth, but all was pure gold, yet much more beautiful than our gold, and seeming transparent." The light of heaven was glorious and came from the throne of God. Near the stream of water were leafless trees, yet filled with luscious fruit having neither pit nor peeling, but beautiful like the surroundings. When plucked off, it immediately grew again. The people drank of the stream and ate of the fruit, but Jesus told Eula not to eat or drink but to return to earth again, warn the people of their sins, and tell them of this beautiful place and that He was coming soon, for them to be ready.
She did not want to come back, fearing that she would have to endure the same suffering, but Jesus said to her, "I will heal you so that you will not have to suffer any more, and I will give you strength." In fulfillment of this promise, she has been able to speak to large audiences and is gaining in strength every day. The physicians cannot account for it. She had been sick for seven months and had had a long death struggle. The doctors agree that she was totally blind in one eye which was sunken and turned backward in the socket, but she is now perfectly restored, including her eyesight. This account is given by the "Nazarene Messenger," having been carefully compiled from witnesses and press reports which all establish the evidence. This is simply another witness to us that the Lord is showing signs and wonders in these last days, as a loud call to His people to prepare for His coming.
In Assam and India, trembling under the power of conviction, loud crying in prayer, the pouring forth to God in loud confession the sins of a lifetime, sudden falling on the ground, writhing, being twisted and violently thrown down when an unclean spirit had been cast out as the person has cried for deliverance, have been frequent scenes. Joy unspeakable filling faces with glory, has been manifested by singing, clapping the hands, shouting praises, dancing, and losing strength as under an "exceeding weight of glory." Intercessory prayer, which has been a marked feature of this revival, is so intense that often the person becomes unconscious of all others, is swayed back and forth, or trembles violently, so that one taking hold of him is also shaken. Some become unconscious and fall, and the visage of many under intense soul travail become uncomely, and like that of Daniel is turned into corruption. Deep waters run smooth except where they run over a river-bed like the Niagara. Then the roar of the mighty waters is heard from afar. Many of the babbling brooks at the time of their conviction and conversion have in the last few months become swift running streams of power for holy living, and service in soul—saving.
We do not need to worry over these manifestations, nor seek to suppress them. IT IS FRUIT IN THE LIFE AND SERVICE THAT WE WANT TO SEE. These manifestations do not hinder fruit-bearing but we have seen over and over again during the past fifteen months, that where Christian workers have suppressed these manifestations, the Holy Spirit has been grieved, the work has stopped, and no fruit of holy lives has resulted. Who are we to dictate to an all-wise God as to how He shall work in anyone? When the Spirit is poured out upon anyone in strong conviction, why should we tell them that it is wrong to cry? Because among idolaters the devil imitates the trembling caused by the Holy Spirit when He comes in so as to overpower the physical, why should we say that the person has worked it up or is possessed by an evil spirit? The writer testifies that she has in the silence of the midnight hour, alone in her room without a sound in the house, been shaken from her innermost being, until her whole body was convulsed, and filled with joy and consciousness that the Holy Spirit had taken possession of every part of her being. No one had greater prejudice against religious excitement than she, but every time she put her hands upon the work at Mukti to suppress joy or strong conviction, or reproved persons being strongly wrought upon in prayer, the work of revival stopped, and she had to confess her fault before it went on again. We have learned that God's ways are past finding out, as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth. —From published report of the Mission at Mukti, Kedgaon, India.
When the flood came, the ark rose on the bosom of the water. In this is a beautiful type of the coming of Jesus. Just as when the flood arose, the people of God were lifted by the ark toward the sky, so when Jesus Christ, who is our Ark, shall appear, we shall also appear with Him in glory. Then as the ark came back and rested on Mt. Ararat, so when the Lord Jesus comes back, we shall stand with Him on Mt. Olivet. Christ comes and gets His saints before the great tribulation, which corresponds with the flood. And the Word says that as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. (Matt. 24:37.) We see the same conditions now that prevailed then, so we know the time draws near.
O it is so easy to follow the Spirit of God if you have been born of the Spirit, it is so easy to manifest the Spirit if the Spirit of God is within you. It is impossible for both good and impure water to both come from the same spring, and just as surely as the Blood of Jesus Christ has been applied to the soul, you will not only know it but your neighbors will know it and the men that are working in the shop with you will know it. It means so much to have the Blood of Jesus Christ applied to your soul. Dead forms and ceremonies are done away and every sin must be washed away by the Blood of Jesus. It is not tomorrow in sin and today out of sin, but if the Blood of Jesus Christ has atoned for you it has atoned for you once for all.
Jesus wants a clean people, a sanctified people, a holy people, washed through His own precious Blood. Hallelujah! We read in Eph. 5 that beautiful sermon that Paul preached on sanctification and purity of the bride of Christ, "Christ so loved the church that he gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Glory, glory, glory to our God! Hallelujah! O it is so sweet to live this sanctified experience, living in the presence of Christ and His Blood flowing, washing and putting away our sins every moment of our lives. Jesus is our model. We should be ideal men and women of this blessed and precious truth. Glory to God! The sweetest thing in this world is to have Jesus in our hearts and the Blood flowing in every part of our souls.
The blessed Holy Ghost is receiving the same treatment as given the Son. How much is written of Him. How many talk of His indwelling. It reminds us of the "Incarnation." No doubt all Jewish women longed to be the mother of the Messiah; but how few, when the actual fact was faced, would have paid the price. So with Him, the Third Person in the Trinity, the cost is so great, and yet, praise my King, hungry, waiting hearts are receiving Him and proving that all that was said of Him is true.
Satan is making his last dreadful fight; for he knows his time is short. He would deceive the very elect if it were possible but thank God, it is not possible.
God requires the prayers of all His precious Holy Ghost people for the spread of the Gospel in this land and all over the world. Those of us who cannot go must write letters and send papers and tracts that the precious souls may get this Gospel.
[The original page also contained a song sheet with words and music of a copyrighted song “Jesus is Coming” by Thos. Hezmalhalch].