by Winnie Andrews.

	Written in February, 1922. Published in Confidence, April-June, 1922.

To Rev. A.A. Boddy,
All Saints’ Vicarage, Sunderland, England.

Our dear Brother Wigglesworth arrived in Melbourne last Thursday, February 16th, and he had a meeting that night, when many came to hear his blessed message, and—glory to God!—many dear sick ones were delivered in answer to the prayer of faith. Some of those who attended the meeting had come many hundreds of miles for the purpose, and were addressed by the evangelist from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Ye are my witnesses.” [Is 43.10]

Continued…

Labels: 1922, Confidence

by Smith Wigglesworth.

	Or “The ‘Go Ye’ of the Holy Ghost.” Preached in Chicago, October 29, 1922. Originally published in the Latter Rain Evangel, November, 1922.

Let me read to you from the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. [Ac 1] The word of God is wonderful and I believe that God wants to fill us with his word. He wants us to be so filled with it that no matter where we are, the word will be lived out in us. The word is power, the word is life, the word of God is faith, the word is Jesus and the word of God is everlasting life to him that believeth. “He that [hath] my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” [Jn 5.24] And we need to be careful in reading the word; I believe it is too precious to rush over; we have need to “rightly [divide] the word of truth.” [2Ti 2.15] I want to speak to you tonight of the power given by God. Oh the power of the Holy Ghost! the power that quickens, the revealing power, the travailing power! The power that lives and moves! the power that brings about exactly what Jesus said, “When you receive… ye shall have power.” [Ac 1.8, para.] I love to think that Jesus wanted all his people to have power, that he wanted all men to be overcomers. It is the joy God brings within a human life that transforms it by his word and brings it into the place where it knows it is above all, and brings to naught the things that are, because God is in the word. Nothing but this power will do it. Power over sin, power over sickness, power over the devil, power over all the powers of the devil! I know that Jesus revealed by his word these truths—“after that ye shall have power.” [Ac 1.8, para.] I think there is nothing more beautiful to look at than to look at the Jordan in our experiences. The moment that Jesus was baptized in the Holy Ghost there was a manifestation that never appeared in the world before or since. Right there by the Jordan was the Son of God, directly on the Son was the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove, and in the heavens above was the voice of God. [Lk 3.22] It is beautiful to think of how the Trinity is interested in humanity.

Continued…

Labels: 1922, Latter Rain Evangel

Subtitled, “The ministry of Bro. Wigglesworth and his future movements.”
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, September 16, 1922.

A number of letters have come to this office asking if Bro. Smith Wlgglesworth can hold meetings at different assemblies. He is waiting on the Lord about these calls and is praying about his future movements. He writes us that he expects to hold meetings in San Jose and Oakland, Cal., during the latter part of September and the early part of October, and he hopes that he will be able to start a campaign in Springfield, Mo., on October 15th. We hope to insert fuller announcement concerning this last meeting in the next Evangel.

A correspondent. Mrs. F.E. Braithwaite, sends us a large number of testimonies of healing from Australia, where Bro. Wigglesworth has lately been ministering.

Kathleen Gay, 107 Browe St., North Fitzroy, testifies, “I feel I must express my deep gratitude for blessing received. Only those who have been in the furnace of affliction can realize the joy of deliverance. It seems even now too wonderful after 14 years of anguish, sleeplessness, and spiritual depression caused by the bondage of the adversary that these are things of the past. As you say, consumption is of the devil and only the Lion of Judah could have delivered me from this scourge which has made my body a mass of corruption. Now I am free. Hallelujah!”

Mrs. J. Simcock, of Horshom, Victoria, writes, “I was prayed for in Melbourne and the evil spirit commanded to come out. I had a polypous growth in my nose. It had been there 18 years. When I came home from Melbourne the growth all broke up and came away, for which I praise God. I had also a pain under my left breast which had troubled me 12 years. I think it was leakage of the heart, as sorrow had caused it in the first place. At times I used to vomit blood. I have deliverance from that also. All praise to our wonder-working Jesus.”

Catherine Rutherford, of 32 Emerald St., Collingwood, writes, “I have had liver complaint all my life. When quite a young girl I was treated by the best doctors, but it always returned. At times I was unable to turn over in bed without help. The last 12 months my kidneys were bad and my legs swollen with much cramp. I had varicose veins with lumps larger than an egg. Now, glory to God, all has gone—disappeared as soon as hands were laid on me in the name of Jesus.”

L.M. Buchanan writes of the meetings held in Sydney:

“A woman who was to have undergone an operation yesterday went to the doctor, who said that there was neither misplacement nor inflammation. When she told him the reason he said that she would soon be worse. Another who was to have undergone several operations because the work could not be done in one, testifies that she was free, and that the Lord had lengthened her leg two inches and that instead of limping she is now walking perfectly. Another mother brought her little boy who had fits all day long. He was prayed for at the meeting and after the evangelist had gone he had a fit worse than before. The unbelievers’ sarcasm was to be heard all over the building. Two days later the mother returned to say that the child had not had another fit. A little girl aged five years old, who had been stone deaf three years, received her healing at once. The healings have been too numerous to mention and the preaching of the Word was wonderful.”

At the meeting at Geelong, one testified, “I had a withered hand for 14 years. When Mr. Wigglesworth was here a month ago it was cured.”

At Parkes a quarter of the population tried to get into the theater. The preaching was wonderful and also the healings. A little girl, deaf for six years, ear drums burst and bleeding, was instantly healed. Her brother, blind in one eye, received his sight immediately [after] he was prayed for. The daily papers say that no meetings on a religious line equal to these had ever been experienced in Parkes.

A teacher at Bunibank Methodist Sunday School testifies to healing of rheumatoid arthritis. “A doctor examined me in the beginning of December, 1911. and told me I would need new joints to walk. He said he would defy anyone to cure me, and although I improved in health I dld not walk better. On April 4th I went to be prayed with, and believed God would heal me. As hands were placed on my head in the name of Jesus, I felt the power of God go right through me. After the meeting I walked down three flights of stairs without a stick for the first time for sixteen years, and I have no use for a stick since. I have always tried to impress upon the juniors the power of prayer, but I had not realized I would have to demonstrate it in my own life. After testifying in the Sunday School, I asked all who were Christians or who would became so to stand. Every teacher and every scholar stood, and so we sang the Doxology. Men of the world have told me ‘It has set them thinking.’ There is no evidence now that I had ever rheumatoid arthritis. Praise God!”

Bro. Wigglesworth writes of his meeting in Wellington, New Zealand. “The New Zealand visit as been the best I have had on the lines of moving a city toward holiness and godly fear. Thirty of the principal men pleaded with me that I would stay longer. There has been a harvest of souls and over 2,000 were prayed for for healing. About 2,000 came down to the quay, singing and testifying and I spoke to them. A dally paper quotes the following healings, saying that any one can secure the names and addresses at the Dominion offices.”

A dairyman had for 3 years suffered with chronic gastritis and paralysis of both legs from the hips downward and could only drag along with crutches. He testifies, “On June 4th I attended the Town Hall. I was anointed, hands were laid upon me, and Mr. Wigglesworth told me to walk. I handed him my crutches and walked home. For 14 years I have had a cyst on the back of my neck. It increased in size to the size of an egg. The next morning I found it had completely disappeared.”

A lady testifies, “Over 3 years ago varicose veins in my legs broke. I was twice in hospital, but when I used the legs the veins burst open. The last time they were cut and an ulcer formed. I had to walk with a stick and could only limp. I went to the Town Hall. I had faith that Jesus would heal me. The pain ceased and I was able to leave my stick and walk to the car. My leg is sound and the ulcer is daily healing. I am now able to wash and do my housework.”

Another Wellington lady says that her son (age 11) 6 years ago broke his arm. It was badly set and he could not bend it properly. It was massaged for 12 months without any benefit. It is healed. Also her daughter, who suffered from adenoids, was healed.

A lady from Ngaio, aged 20, has suffered from double curvature of the spine from infancy. She could not walk until 4 years of age and could only rise from the floor by pulling herself up with both hands. One leg was 3 inches shorter and less in circumference. She went to many hospitals and was sent home incurable. She states, “As soon as hands were laid upon me I was healed, my spine was straightened; in a few days my leg lengthened, and my hip, which was diseased, was healed.”

The following testimonies appeared in the “Good News” of Melbourne:

For many years I suffered from bronchitis and asthma. I had pains in my chest and was very short of breath. I went to the meetings at the Olympia and Mr. Wigglesworth laid hands on me, and rebuked the evil spirit. I felt the power of God go right through me. I was immediately healed, and have not had a pain since. I was on Feb. 4th, 1922, dressing my little girls when Thelma, aged 4, fell. I picked her up and found her bleeding at the mouth. The scissors were in her hand, and she ran the point through her lips. Her mouth began to swell, and I said. “Dear Jesus, don’t let her go any further.” I hurried to the Good News Hall and the secretary carried her to Mr. Wigglesworth, who was at breakfast. In a few minutes the lady brought her hack, with her mouth closed, and perfectly healed. The child told me that the gentleman had laid his hands on her lips and prayed, and that Jesus had made her better —J.M. Henderson.

 

I was born with a weak, crooked ankle. I was anointed at the Olympia and it was immediately straightened and made strong. I had to wear a specially formed boot and straps, these are no use to me now, I have bought ordinary boots. Medical men had attended me and could do nothing. —Lily Ward.

Labels: 1922, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in Confidence, July-September 1922.

He writes: “God is doing wonders. We have the meetings in a picture house, and crowds are being saved night by night. This morning a girl 16 years old, who had been stone deaf eight years was instantiy healed, and similar mercies are going on all the time. I spent Easter in Melbourne, and enclose a few testimonies from those helped there.

“I began in Sydney on April 30th. I am well, but need a rest, and (D.V.) I shall have one week on the sea (to New Zealand), and three weeks to America.”

Later at Sydney. “This has been a great week of soul saving. Crowds are being stirred up. Ministers and preachers, many have begun a new life. The presence of God has been mighty.”

May 24th. “God is keeping me on fire. Hundreds are catching the flame. Several young men have left all, and have struck out on new lines. There has been much opposition and controversy, but I have left hundreds saved and healed in Sydney. Australia has been moved. A man and his wife and another brother who have caught the fire are traveling with me to New Zealand. My first mission is at Wellington, then Christchurch, then three weeks on the sea to Beulah Heights, near Oakland (Mr. Montgomery). Then to San Francisco, and on, as the Lord leads.”

 

Some Testimonies from Australians.

107 Rowe Street,
North Fitzroy.

I feel I must express my deep gratitude for blessing received. Only those who have been in the furnace of affliction can reallze the joy of deliverance. It seems too wonderful. After fourteen years of anguish, sleeplessness, and spiritual depression, caused by the bondage of the adversary, these are things of the pasts. As Bro. Wigglesworth says, consumption Is of the devil, and only the Lion of Judah could have delivered me from this dread scourge, which had made my body a mass of corruption. Hallelujah!

KATHLEEN GAY.

Baille Street,
Horsham, Victoria.

I was prayed for in Me!bourne, and the evil spirit was commanded to come out. I had a polypous growth in my nose. It had been there eighteen years. When I came home from Melbourne the growth all broke up and came away, for which I praise God. I had also a pain under my left breast which had troubled me twelve years. I think it was leakage of the heart, as sorrow had caused it in the first place. At times I used to vomit blood. I have deliverance from that also. All praise to our wonder-working Jesus!

MRS. T. SINCOCK.

32, Emerald Street,
Collingwood.

I have had liver complaint all my life. When quite a girl I was treated by the best doctors, but it always returned, and at times I was unable to turn in bed without help. The last twelve months my kidneys were bad, and my legs swollen much with cramp. I had also varicose veins, with lumps larger than an egg. Now, glory to God, all has gone—disappeared—as soon as hands were laid upon me in the name of Jesus. I am hungering and thirsting after the Baptism. Please pray for me!

CATHERINE RUTHERFORD.

Bro. Wigglesworth concludes his letter with an earnest appeal for our prayers. “Pray! pray! pray! that God may be glorified in all.”

Labels: 1922, Confidence

By Anna Lewini, of Stoke Newington, London. Subtitled, “Divine healing in Scandinavia, etc.” Published in Confidence, April-June 1922.

“That, which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you.” 1 John 1:3.

The Writer (whose personal testimony was in the last issue of “Confidence”) had the privilege for three months last year to be in the center of Mr. Smith Wigglesworth’s meetings in both Sweden and Denmark. It was a time of visitation from on high: I dare to say that hundreds of people received Jesus as their Savior, thousands were healed from all kinds of diseases, also thousands of believers awoke to a new life, and many, many received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost as on the day of Pentecost. For all this we give glory to Jesus. Here are a few examples of miracles my eyes have seen.

I will begin with the first meeting I attended. It was in Orebro (Sweden) where at that time there was held a Pentecostal Convention. I came to seek help myself, being worn out with long unbroken service in the Lord’s work. I had not heard of Mr. Wigglesworth before, but I knew that Pastor Barratt, my spiritual father, was there. The next day there was a meeting for healing. After the preaching service I went forward into the other hall and I was surprised to find in a few minutes a crowd following. The hall was full with a queue of hundreds of men and women patiently waiting for a touch of God through His servant, and, glory to God, we we were not disappointed. As hands were laid upon me, the power of God went through me in a mighty way. I was immediately well.

It was wonderful to notice, as the ministry continued, the effect upon the people as the power of the Lord came over them. Some lifted their hands, crying, “I am healed! I am healed!” Some fell on the the platform overpowered by the power of the Spirit, having to be helped down. Others walked away as in a dream; others as drunk with new wine, lost to everything but God; but all had faces as transfigured with the glory of the Lord and magnifying Jesus. A young biind girl, as she was ministered to, cried out, “Oh, how many windows there are in this hall!” ‘During the three weeks the meetings continued the great chapel was crowded daily, multitudes being healed and many saved. The testimony meetings were wonderful. One said, “I was deaf, they prayed, and Jesus heaied me.” Another, “I had consumption, and I am free,” and so on.

At Skofde. In the smaiier hall, set apart for those seeking the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, I shall never forget the sight, how the people with eyes closed and hearts uplifted to God waited. Did the Holy Spirit fall upon them? Of course He did. Here also many were healed. At another place there was a young man whose body was spoiled because of sin, but the Lord is merciful with sinners. He was anointed, and when hands were laid on, the power of God went mightily over him. He said, “I am healed,” but being broken down, he cried as a little child confessing his sin; at the same moment the Lord saved him. Glory to God! He went into the large hall and testified to salvation and healing.

Stockholm. Here long queues waited for hours to get in. The hall held 1,800 people. At nearly every meeting crowds were unable to enter the building, but they waited on often hours and hours for the chance, if any left the building, to step into the place. Here a man with two crutches, his whole body shaking with palsy, is lifted on to the platform. (Behind him five or six hundred more are waiting for help.) This man is anointed and hands laid upon him in the Name of Jesus. He is still shaking. Then he drops one crutch, and after a short time the other one. His body is still shaking, but he takes the first step out in faith! Will it be? He lifts oue foot and then the other, walks round the platform. The onlookers rejoice with him. Now he walks around the auditorium. Hallelujah!

During this meeting a woman began to shout and shout. The preacher told her to be quiet, but instead she jumped up on a chair, flourishing her arms about, and crying, “I am healed! I am healed! I had cancer in my mouth, and I was unsaved; but during the meeting, as I listened to the word of God, the Lord has saved me and healed me of cancer in my mouth.” She shouts again, “I am saved! I am saved! I am healed of cancer!” She was quite beside herself. The people laughed and cried together.

Here was another woman unable to walk, sitting on a chair as she was ministered to. Her experience was the same as hundreds of the others. She rose up, looking around, wondering if after all it was a dream. Suddenly she laughed and said, “My leg is healed.” Afterwards she said, “I am not saved,” and streams of tears ran down her face. They prayed for her, and later she left the meeting healed and saved and full of joy. We have a wonderful Savior; glory to His Holy Name!

Miracles in Norway. Out of many, many, I quote two taken from Pastor Barratt’s paper, “Korsets Seir” (the Victory of the Cross). A man and his son came in a taxi to a meeting. Both had crutches. The father had been in bed two years and was unable to put his leg to the ground. He was ministered to. He dropped both crutches, walking and praising God. When the son saw this he cried out, “Help me too,” and after a little while father and son, without crutches and without taxi, walked away from the hall together. That word again is manifested; the same Jesus, the wonder-working Jesus is just the same today.

Now Copenhagen, my homeland! During three weeks thousands daily attended the meetings. Each morning, two or three hundred were ministered to for healing. Each evening the platform was surrounded. Again and again, as each throng retired another company came forward seeking salvation. Here many were baptized in the Holy Ghost. The testimony meetings were wonderful.

Now I will close with a vision a brother had who attended these meetings. He was lost in intercession for the hundreds of sick waiting to be ministered to for healing. He saw an opening from the platform, where the sick were, right into the glory. He saw wonderful beings in the form of men resting who, with interest, looked on. Again he looked at the platform and saw a heavenly Being clothed in white, who all the time was more active than any other in helping the sick, and when He touched them the effect was wonderful. Bent forms were made straight, their eyes shone, they began to glorify and praise the Lord. A Voice said: “Healings are the smallest of all gifts; it is but a drop in the bucket in view of what God has in store for His children. Ye shall do greater works than these.”

I pray that the Lord may be magnified by this attestation to signs, wonders, and mighty deeds, and that there may be a multiplication in every land that shall redound to the glory of God.

Labels: 1922, Confidence

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, October 28, 1922.

Recently the office of the Missionary Treasurer was visited by an evangelist of international note, a man who has been especially honored of God in praying for the sick. Real miracles of healing have followed him wherever he has gone. We had not talked with him long until we discovered the secret of his power.

This man of God is not reaching out after things for himself, but he has put God first in everything. The work of the Lord is the chief concern of his life. He is tremendouslv concerned that the Gospel be given to as many as possible before the Lord comes. He stated to us, “I am not concerned about myself, for the Lord will take care of me. But I will not consent to hold a campaign unless I am given the privilege of taking a missionary offering. God has given me a ministry of faith and I must use it for the glory of God.”

Some evangelists seem to think that missions and evangelism do not go well together. They seem to feel that unless every effort is made to raise money for the expenses of the meeting that they will not be met and the campaign will be a financial failure. But here is an evangelist who has proven that when Missions are put to the front, God takes care of the running expenses of the campaign and his own needs as well. It has been a real inspiration to meet such a man.

The evangelist referred to is Smith Wigglesworth, who is just now opening a campaign in the Convention Hall, in cooperation with the Assembly of God at Springfield, Mo.

Labels: 1922, Pentecostal Evangel

Subtitled, “The applause of the world vs. the approval of God.”
Preached at the Stone Church communion service, November 5, 1922
Published in the Latter Rain Evangel, June 1923.

This is a very blessed time for us to gather together in remembrance of the Lord. I want to remind you of this fact, that this is the only service we render to the Lord. All other services we attend are for us to get blessing from the Lord, but Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of Me.” We have gathered together to commemorate that wonderful death, victory, and triumph, and the looking forward to the “glorious hope,” and I want you, if it is possible at all, to get rid of your religion. It has been “religion” at all times that has slain and destroyed that which was good. When Satan entered into Judas, the only people that the devil could speak to thru Judas were the priests, sad as it is to say it. They conspired to get him to betray Jesus, and the devil took money from these priests to put Jesus to death. Now it is a very serious thing, for we must clearly understand whether we are of the right spirit or not, for no man can be of the Spirit of Christ and persecute another; no man can have the true spirit of Jesus and slay his brother, and no man can follow the Lord Jesus and have enmity in his heart. You cannot have Jesus and have bitterness and hatred, and persecute the believer.

It is possible for us, if we are not careful, to have within us an evil spirit of unbelief, and even in our best state it is possible for us to have enmity unless we are perfectly dead and let the life of the Lord lead us. You remember Jesus wanted to pass thru a certain place as He was going to Jerusalem, because He would not stop and preach to them concerning the kingdom, they refused to allow Him to go thru their section of the country. And the disciples which were with Jesus said to Him, “Shall we call down fire from heaven upon them as Elijah did?” But Jesus turned and said, “Ye know not what spirit ye are of.” There they were, following Jesus and with Him all the time, but Jesus rebuked that spirit. I pray God that we may get this out of this service, that our knowledge of Jesus is pure love, and pure love to Jesus is death to self on all lines, body, soul and spirit. I believe if we are in the will of God, we will be perfectly directed at all times, and if we would know anything about the mighty works of Christ, we shall have to follow what Jesus said. Whatever He said came to pass.

Many things happened in the lives of the apostles to show His power over all flesh. In regard to paying tribute, Jesus said to Peter, “We are free, we can enter into the city without paying tribute; nevertheless, we will pay.” I like that thought, that Jesus was so righteous on all lines. It helps me a great deal. Then Jesus told Peter to do a very hard thing. He said, “Take that hook and cast it into the sea. Draw out a fish and take from its gills a piece of silver for thee and Me.” This was one of the hardest things Peter had to do. He had been fishing all his life, but never had he taken silver out of a fish’s mouth. There were thousands and millions of fish in the sea, but one fish had to have a piece of silver in it. He went down to the sea as any natural man would, speculating and thinking, “How can it be?” But how could it not be, if Jesus said it would be? Then the perplexity would arise, “But how many fish there are, and which fish has the money?” Brother, if God speaks, it will be as He says.

What you need is to know the mind of God and the Word of God, and you will be so free you will never find a frown on your face, nor a tear in your eye. The more you know of the mightiness of revelation, the more does everything in the way of fearfulness pass away. To know God, is to be in the place of triumph. To know God is to be in the place of rest. To know God is to be in the place of victory. No doubt many things were in Peter’s mind that day, but thank God there was one fish, and he obeyed. Sometimes to obey in blindness brings the victory. Sometimes when perplexities arise in your mind, obedience means God working out the problem. Peter cast the hook into the sea, and it would have been amazing if you could have seen the disturbance the other fish made to move out of the way, all excepting the right one. Just one among the millions of fish God wanted. God may put his hand upon you in the midst of millions of people, but if He speaks to you, that thing that He says will be appointed.

On this occasion, Jesus said to Peter and the rest, that when they went out into the city they would see a man bearing a pitcher of water, and they should follow him. It was not customary in the East for men to carry anything on their heads. The women always did the carrying, but this had to be a man, and he had to have a pitcher. One day there was a man preaching and he said it was quite all right for Jesus to go and arrange, for a colt to be tied there, and another preacher said it was quite easy to feed all those thousands of people, because the loaves in those days were so tremendously big, but he didn’t tell them it was a little boy that had the five loaves. Unbelief can be very blind, but faith can see thru a stone-wall. Faith when it is moved by the power of God can laugh when trouble is on.

They said to the man with the pitcher, “Where is the guest chamber?” “How strange it is that you should ask,” he replied, “I have been preparing that, wondering who wanted it.” It is marvelous when God is leading how perfectly everything works into the plan. He was arranging everything. You think He cannot do that today for you? People who have been in perplexities for days and days, He knows how to deliver out of trouble; He knows how to be with you in the dark hour. He can make all things work together for good to them that love God. He has a way of arranging His plan, and when God comes in, you always know it was a day you lived in God. Oh to live in God! There is a vast difference between living in God and living in speculation and hope. There is something better than hope; something better than speculation. “They that know their God shall be strong and do exploits,” and God would have us to know Him.

“And when the hour was come, He sat down and the twelve apostles with Him.” “When the hour was come”—that was the most wonderful hour. There never was an hour, never will be an hour like that hour. What hour was it? It was an hour of the passing of creation under the blood. It was an hour of destruction of demon power. It was an hour appointed of life coming out of death. It was an hour when all that ever lived came under a glorious covering of the blood. It was an hour when all the world was coming into emancipation by the blood. It was an hour in the world’s history when it emerged from dark chaos, a wonderful hour! Praise God for that hour! Was it a dark hour? It was a dark hour for Him, but a wonderful light dawned for us. It was tremendously dark for the Son of Man, but praise God He came thru it.

There are some things in the Scriptures which move me greatly. I am glad that Paul was a man. I am glad that Jesus was a Man. I am glad that Daniel was a man, and I am also glad that John was a man. You ask Why? Because I see that whatever God has done for other men, He can do for me. And I find God has done such wonderful things for other men that I am always on the expectation that these things are possible for me. Think about this. It is a wonderful thought to me. Jesus said in that trying hour—hear it a moment: “I have a desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Desire? What could be His desire? His desire because of the salvation of the world. His desire because of dethronement of the powers of Satan. His desire because He knew he was going to conquer everything and make every man free that ever lived. It was a great desire, but what lay between it? Just between that and the cross lay Gethsemane! Some people say that Jesus died on the cross. It is perfectly true, but is that the only place? Jesus died in Gethsemane. That was the tragic moment! That was the place where He paid the debt. It was in Gethsemane, and Gethsemane was between Him and the cross. He had a desire to eat this Passover and knew Gethsemane was between Him and the cross.

I want you to think about Gethsemane. There alone, and with the tremendous weight, the awful effect of all sin and disease upon that body, He cries out, “If it be possible, let it pass.” Oh could it be! He could only save when He was man, but here like a giant refreshed and coming out of a great chaos of darkness He comes forth: “To this end I came.” It was His purpose to die for the world. Oh brother, will it ever be said to pass thru your lips or your mind for a moment that you will not have a desire to serve Christ like that? Can you deign, under any circumstances to take your cross fully, to be in the place of any ridicule, any surrender, anything for the Man who said He desired to eat the Passover with His disciples, knowing what it meant? It can only come out of the depths of love we have for Him that we can say this morning, “Lord Jesus, I will follow.” Oh brother there is something very wonderful in the decision in your heart! God knows the heart. You do not always have to be on the house-top to shout to indicate the condition of your heart. He knows your inward heart. You say, “I would be ashamed not to be willing to suffer for a Man who desired to suffer to save me.” “With desire,” He says.

I know what it is to have the kingdom of heaven within you. He said that even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist, meaning those who are under the blood, those who have seen the Lord by faith, those who know by redemption they are made sons of God. I say to you, He will never taste again until we are there with Him. The kingdom will never be complete—it could not be—until we are all there at that great Supper of the Lamb where there will be millions and trillions of redeemed, which no man can number. We shall be there when that Supper is taking place. I like to think of that.

I hope you will take one step into definite lines with God and believe it. It is an act of faith God wants to bring you into; a perfecting of that love that cannot fail to avail. It is a fact that He has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, and that He gives eternal life to them that believe. The Lord, the Omnipotent God, it is He that knoweth the end from the beginning, and has arranged by the blood of the Lamb to cover the guilty and make intercession for all believers. Oh it is a wonderful inheritance of faith to find shelter under the blood of Jesus!

I want you to see that He says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” He took the cup, He took the bread, and He gave thanks. The very attitude of giving thanks for His shed blood, giving thanks for His broken body, overwhelms the heart. To think that my Lord could give thanks for His shed blood! To think that my Lord could give thanks for His broken body! Only Divinity can reveal this sublime act unto the heart! The natural man cannot receive it, but the spiritual man, the man who has been created anew by faith in Christ, he is open to it. The man who believes God comes in is inborn with the eternal seed of truth and righteousness and faith, and from the moment he sees the truth on the lines of faith he is made a new creation. The flesh ceases, the spiritual man begins. One passes off, the other passes on, until a man is in the existence of God. I say the Lord brings a child of faith into a place of rest, causes him to sit with Him in heavenly places, gives him a language in the Spirit and makes him know he belongs no longer to the law of creation.

You see this bread which represents His broken body? The Lord knew He could not bring us any nearer to His broken body. Our bodies are made of bread. The body of Jesus was made of that bread, and He knew He could bring us no nearer. He took the natural elements and said, “This bread represents my broken body.” Now will it ever become that body of Christ? No, never. You cannot make it so. It is foolishness to believe it, but I take it as an emblem and when I eat it, the natural leads me into the supernatural, and instantly I begin to feed on the supernatural by faith, One leads me into the other.

Jesus said, “Take eat, this is my body.” I have a real knowledge of Christ thru this emblem. May we take from the table of the riches of His promises. The riches of heaven are before us. Fear not, only believe, for God has opened the treasures of His Holy Word.

(Communion service)

As they were all gathered together, He looked on them and said right into their ears, “There is one of you which will betray Me.” Jesus knew who would betray Him. He had known it for many, many months. They whispered to one another, “Who is it?” None of them had real confidence that it would not be he. That is the serious part about it; they had so little confidence in their ability to face the opposition that was before them, and they had no confidence it would not be one of them. Jesus knew. He had been talking to Judas many times, rebuking him, and telling him that his course would surely bring him to a bad end. He never had told any of His disciples, not even John who leaned on His breast. Now if that same spirit was in any church, it would purify the church. But I fear sometimes Satan gets the advantage and things are told before they are true. I believe God wants to so sanctify us, so separate us, that we will have that perfection of love that will not speak ill of a brother, that will not, slander a brother whether it is true or not.

There was strife among them who should be the greatest, but He said, “He that is chief let him be as he that doth serve,” and then he, the Master said, “I am among you as one that serveth.” He, the noblest, the purest, He was the servant of all! Exercising lordship over another is not of God. We must learn in our hearts that fellowship, true righteousness, loving one another and preferring one another must come into the church. Pentecost must outreach everything that ever has been, and we know it will if we are willing. But it cannot be if we will not. We can never he filled with the Holy Ghost so long as there is any human, craving desire for our own will. Selfishness must be destroyed. Jesus was perfect, the end of everything, and God will bring us all there. It is giving that pays; it is helping that pays; it is loving that pays; it is putting yourself out of the way for another that pays. “I am among you as one that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto Me.” I believe there is a day coming greater than anything any of us have any conception of. This is the testing road. This is the place where your whole body has to be covered with the wings of God that your nakedness shall not be seen. This is the thing that God is getting you ready for, the most wonderful thing your heart can conceive. How can you get into it? First of all, “Ye have continued with me in my temptations.” He had been in trials, He had been in temptation. There is not one of us that is tempted beyond what He was. If a young man can be so pure that he cannot be tempted, he will never be fit to be made a judge, but God intends us to be so purified during these evil days that He can make us judges in the world to come. If we can be tried, if we can be tempted on any line, Jesus said, “Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptation.” Have faith and God will keep you pure in the temptation. How shall we reach it? In Matt. 19:28, Jesus said, “Ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” “Follow in regeneration”—every day is a regeneration; every day is a day of advancement; every day is a place of choice. Every day you find yourself in need of fresh consecration. If you are in a place to yield God moves you in the place of regeneration.

For years and years God has been making me appear to hundreds and thousands of people as a fool. I remember the day when He saved me and when He called me out. If there is a thing God wants to do today He wants to be as real to you and me as He was to Abraham. After I was saved I joined myself up to a very lively lot of people who were full of a revival spirit, and it was marvelous how God blest. And then there came a lukewarmness and indifference, and God said to me as clearly as anything, “Come out.” I obeyed and came out. The people said, “We cannot understand you. We need you now and you are leaving us.” The Plymouth Brethren at that time were in a Conference. The Word of God was with them in power, the love of God was with them unveiled. Baptism by immersion was revealed to me, and when my friends saw me go into the water they said I was altogether wrong. But God had called me and I obeyed. The day came when I saw that the Brethren had dropped down to the letter, all letter, dry and barren.

At that time the Salvation Army was filled with love, filled with power, filled with zeal; every place a revival, and I joined up with them. For about six years the glory of God was there, and then the Lord said again, “Come out,” and I am glad I came. It dropped right into a social movement and God has no place for a social movement. We are saved by regeneration and the man who is going on with God has no time for social reforms.

God moved on, and at that time there were many people who were receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost without signs. Those days were “days of heaven on earth.” God unfolded the truth, showed the way of sanctification by the power of the blood of Christ, and I saw in that the great inflow of the life of God. I thank God for that, but God came along again and said, “Come out.” I obeyed God and went with what they called the “tongues” folks; they got the credit for having further light. I saw God advancing every movement I made, and I can see even in this Pentecostal work, except we see there is a real death, God will say to us, “Come out.” Unless Pentecost wakes up to shake herself free from all worldly things and comes into a place of the divine-likeness with God, we will hear the voice of God, “Come out” and He will have something far better than this. I ask every one of you, will you hear the voice of God and come out? You ask, “What do you mean?” Every one of you knows without exception, there is no word for Pentecost, only being on fire. If you are not on fire you are not in the place of regeneration. It is only the fire of God that burns up the entanglements of the world.

When we came into this new work God spoke to us by the Spirit and we knew we had to reach the place of absolute yieldedness and cleansing, so that there would be nothing left. We were swept and garnished. Brother, that was only the beginning, and if you have not made tremendous progress in that holy zeal and power and compassion of God, we can truly say you have backslidden in heart. The backslider in heart is dead. He is not having the open vision. The backslider in heart is not seeing the Word of God more fresh every day. You can put it down that a man is a backslider in heart if he is not hated by the world. If you have the applause of the world you are not having the approval of God. I do not know whether you will receive it or not but my heart burns with this message, “changing in the regeneration” for in this changing you will get a place in the kingdom to come where you shall be in authority; that place which God has prepared for us, that place which is beyond all human conception. We can catch a glimpse of that glory, when we see how John worshipped the angel, and the angel said to him, “See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, of thy brethren the prophets.” This angel is showing John the wonders of the glorious kingdom and in his glorified state, John thought he was the Lord. I wonder if we dare believe for it.

Let me close with these words: As sure as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall have the image of the heavenly. It means to us that everything of an earthly type has to cease, for the heavenly type is so wonderful in all its purity. God, full of love, full of purity, full of power! No power only on the lines of purity! No open door into heaven only on the lines of the conscience void of sin between man and God, the heavens open only where the Spirit of the Lord is so leading, so that flesh has no power, but we will live in the Spirit. God bless you and prepare you for greater days.

Labels: 1922, 1923, Latter Rain Evangel

Subtitled, “Beware of deceiving voices.”
At the Union Pentecostal Meeting, Chicago, Nov. 3, 1922.
Published in the Latter Rain Evangel, December 1922.

I want to speak to you this morning on the subject of the Gifts. These are days when all the saints need to be furnished with the graces and the gifts of the Spirit and we must keep in mind that it is impossible to find the gifts of the Spirit made manifest without the graces; they always work harmoniously and the person filled with the power of the Spirit will find that the one will help the other to strengthen the person in the needy hour.

We need a clear knowledge of the Word of God; we cannot put too much emphasis on that. Then I want to say also that God demands of every believer who has been baptized in the Holy Spirit that he should have some “acts” and if you do not have them you had better get face to face with God and demand from Him your acts. When I was baptized in the Holy Ghost I received from God an utterance as all people do when they receive the Baptism; it was not an earthly language, but heavenly, and I was satisfied that God had granted unto me the Comforter, the Holy Ghost. But for nine months after that I never spoke in tongues and then God gave to me the gift of tongues. I cannot say that I was very anxious or very hungry in asking for this as I was longing more that I might speak as the Spirit gave utterance but God knew what I needed to be able to help others along this line.

The next evening after I had received the gift of tongues, I was walking down the road, loaded with bundles and God came upon me mightily and tongues began to come forth in terrific force. I walked down the road without stopping, but soon I began to realize that this had no intelligence in it for me and neither was it a profit to anyone else. There were some men working in a garden near by and as soon as they heard this peculiar noise they stuck their heads through the fence to find out where it was coming from. Right then I said to God, “I will not leave till You give me the interpretation. You have poured forth a language, now You must interpret,” and suddenly God gave the interpretation and that message has been fulfilled to the very letter over and over again. Since that time I have always claimed the right to have the interpretation. I believe God wants us to be definite and I don’t want you to run away with any wrong impression; if you come out on anything else but a definite side then God has not spoken. I am not here to make children but men and women of you, men and women after the mind of God; in spirit we must be children but in understanding we must be men and women. So if God says to us that we must understand spiritual gifts you put your name right under that “must” and apply it as your very own. I believe as long as you dwell in the Spirit it is impossible for you ever to become twisted. You never heard of a Roman Catholic being filled with the Spirit as long as he was a Roman Catholic;* the same is true of a Russellite,* or a man who believes in New Theology.* Scripture is clearly against it for it says that no man can call Jesus, Lord except by the Holy Ghost and every man who has the Holy Ghost believes all the Bible. The man who is filled with the Holy Ghost is filled with that which gave the Bible; he is filled with the very matter of the Bible for the Word is Christ and the Holy Ghost has come to manifest Christ.

You will always find that all the blessings and all the manifestations of the power, of God which you receive, come always on the line of faith; every saved person is saved by faith and saving faith is not something which you can take down and then hang up again. The saving faith of God is a permanent thing which God gave and which will remain with you. It is a gift and because of that I know that everyone in this place can choose that gift but you have to come into that blessing under the shadow of the blood and claim your rights in the Scriptures. I want to say, however, that no man can come to God and claim His blessings if he knows that God can put His finger on any sin in his life. God never will hear sinners and if you expect any blessings don’t come to Him with sin in your life. When a man repents God is gracious and full of mercy and forgives all sin and that man can begin from that moment with the knowledge that God has removed the past from him.

There are two points in this 12th chapter of Corinthians which have helped me more than anything else and I am sure they will help you; one is this—Paul prayed for a keen conscience and also that he might not have his conscience seared. Do you know that a keen conscience is the greatest blessing anyone can have? A keen conscience is one which is easily disturbed, one which is easily broken and brought to repentance before God, one which will not permit you to sleep until everything is made right with your brother; a keen conscience is the place where God reigns supreme as a Refiner of fire.

What is a seared conscience? It is a conscience which once was keen but the person got out of the will of God and failed to repent after committing a sin. God could not come in before that sin was undone and the person went on sinning until he got to the place where he thought he had a right to sin. This is the most horrible place to be in. I pray that God will keep us in the place where we may hear His voice and heed it.

I want you to notice that I am trying to show you, by the grace of God, that if you keep in the fulness of the Spirit you will have such a revelation of the Word of God in your life that it will save you and keep you from stumbling. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth him.” And, “The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.” He shall hide thee in the secret place, in the cleft of the rock, and in the time of adversity He shall raise up a standard against the enemy. It is the Lord who reigns supreme over His household whose House ye are, His establishment, and ye shall not be moved. This means that God establishes His Kingdom in you and in me. Oh how we need to be filled with the joy of the Lord which is our strength and to have a fresh inflow of His life and love!

A man who is filled with the Spirit must have three things flowing through him; the ministration, operation and manifestation of the Spirit. It is to your detriment if you have not these three working in your life. If you are to keep your path all clear and bright you must remain steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. We must abound in hope, rejoice in tribulation and then God will make straight paths for our feet. The man who has faith is never ruffled; he does not run off as if he had been shot but he is always resting, knowing that God is over all. We must understand these principles because faith is God. Faith is the knowledge of God. Faith is that which lays hold, which will not let go. Faith is inwrought God, faith is God inwrought; faith is that which brings heaven on earth and lives in it.

The word which God would bring before us this morning is found in the 10th verse of the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians: “To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.” The first we have to deal with is the discerning of spirits. Perhaps this is the most necessary thing in this present day. In connection with this we must speak on the different kinds of voices for so many people are disturbed by voices. They have an idea that it is the voice of God but begin to find themselves in difficulty as a result of obeying that voice. We are told in the 4th chapter of the Epistle of John that we must be able to discern the spirits. “Beloved, believe not every spirit but try the spirits, whether they are of God.” So God would have us know the difference between false prophecy and the spiritual, divinely appointed prophecy.

There are voices of all descriptions. I have for some time had to deal with people along this line. If ever you find a person under the power of the evil one you will find that that spirit will never acknowledge that Jesus came in the flesh; so if you want to test any spirit you can tell by that, because often the voice will come right out and say, “No, Jesus did not come in the flesh,” and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus came in the flesh is not of God. In the 4th chapter of Luke we see how Jesus dispelled the power of Satan. If you test a false spirit by the inward presence it will disturb the peace of God and you will know it is of Satan. Make that thing worship the Christ within and the devil will flee. No person need be captured at any time with an evil thought, because we are to understand the wiles of the devil. Many people are disturbed with thoughts, evil thoughts which usually come early in the morning, but if these are tested the person will always find that they will deny that Jesus came in the flesh. Perhaps some will ask, “Is not that a gift of the Spirit to discern the spirits?” Yes, it is a gift, but I want to say right here that if you are living in the fulness of the Spirit you will have this gift at any moment when needed. It will not be an abiding gift, just a gift for the needy moment. Every one of you without exception will find that as you go on and on with God you will have to be in the Spirit of God or you will be a failure. It is not possible to love the present evil world and have the Holy Ghost within; you cannot love carnality and have the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Ghost comes in, every evil power will be dispelled till your whole body is free from sin and death. Oh you need to be filled with the Holy Ghost to be ready at any moment for Satan’s power!

I want to show you how terribly deceiving these voices can be. One time when I was ministering in a certain place, two young ladies came into the room about five o’clock in the afternoon and instantly we perceived that something had taken place. One of them had on white kid gloves which were spotted with blood. The excitement of these two ladies was such that one could see there was no peace abiding within. If ever you get out of the will of God and Satan comes in you will find there is no rest. I have learned that if anything disturbs my peace it is always Satanic. Neither one of these girls was willing to tell us what had happened. Now that is another way to test voices; God never reveals anything that you cannot tell on the housetop; everything God says to you, you can preach out and if you feel you dare not tell what you have heard this voice telling you, you may be sure it is evil. I know people pride themselves that God speaks to them differently from everyone else; if ever you get to that place you are on the wrong track, you are going one notch downward. It is the false pride of the devil. Some people seem to believe that the devil comes around only with horns and a long tail, big ears and big eyes. Don’t you believe it; the devil was turned out of heaven because of his pride and you must never forget that he is called the “angel of light.” He has never lost that pride. And to you ministers I would say that whenever a person comes to you and says, “I never heard a man preach like you,” you can make sure that is the voice of the devil every time.

These two girls were working in a telegraph station and Satan came as an angel of light to one saying, “If you will obey me, I will make you the biggest and the best preacher in the world.” Now God never speaks that way. The girl became so excited about this and was sure it was the voice of God. She asked off from work for an hour and she became more excited as the voice repeated those words over and over; she got so worked up that she dug her nails into her flesh until the blood came. Then the voice further said to her, “You go to the station at 7:30 and, a train will come in. Buy two tickets. Don’t tell anyone what I have said except your sister. You will find a train leaving for Glasgow at 7:32. When you have purchased the two tickets you will have six pence over.” Sure enough after she had the two tickets she had the six pence left. “Oh,” you say, “that surely was the Lord speaking to her.” Then another part of the message came true for the train came in exactly at 7:32. She was to find in one of the coaches a gentleman sitting with his back to the engine and this man was to have all the money that the girl wanted and was to have it deposited in a certain bank. It needed only brains to think it out, but the people who get to that place do not use their brains and will not let anyone else think for them. They say, “Don’t you try to stop me for no one can stop me. You do not need to talk to me, you have not had the Lord speak to you.” This is a dangerous place. These two girls went up and down the coach, the full length of the railway train and failed to find anyone fitting that description. Someone said she had better come down for the next train, so they stayed there until nine o’clock. Then the voice said to her, “Now that I have found you will obey me, I will make you the best and biggest missionary in the world.” You have no idea what it took to get those two girls out of that awful delusion, but God prevailed and both are now on the mission field doing good work. Never be unwilling to take advice for God has other people who know His voice and you must be willing to learn.

While ministering in another place I had a letter from York, England, saying that they had about fourteen people who were seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They were asking me to come and give them a few addresses on this important subject. So I went and upon arriving I heard the best news anyone could wish to hear. The people said, “We have had one of the finest men to join us that you have ever seen; he is a fine teacher. We will just wait and see if he receives the Baptism and then we are thinking of keeping him here as pastor.” That was all very good. The preaching went on and God manifested Himself; the power of God came down and people began seeking. About 10:30 that night we saw this promising young man laid out under the power of God. The saints could hardly keep quiet, they rejoiced so over God’s dealings. They would say, “Now we have him; when he receives his baptism we will have the best man,” and they were so jubilant. Everything went well and then about 11:30 the power of God slew him and divine utterance came forth and we were all so glad and had a good time praising God. When he was getting ready to go home the saints came around and said, “Oh, we are so glad you got through! you certainly are the best teacher.” And then one woman went up to him and said, “I shouldn’t wonder if you were not the second John the Baptist.” That night, while on his way home, the devil came to this young man and said, “I shouldn’t wonder if you were the second John the Baptist.” But he was able to throw it off and would have nothing to do with the voice. But listen, in the middle of the night the devil awakened him, “You are John the Baptist. Arise.” He was unable to shake that off and the next day he went up and down the street shouting, “I am John the Baptist.” Who spoiled him? The saints. Who was to blame for his downfall? Those people who should have had more sense. Never tell a preacher how wonderful he is. He knows he is nothing if he is in the right place, and don’t you try to make him something. If you do you will get out of the will of the Lord and get him out, too. Is there deliverance for these people? Oh, how we need to distinguish the voice of God from that of Satan. We need to know that God the Holy Ghost has a better plan for us than that. I have met such wrecks. I came across one of the finest men in the ministry, such a good teacher who had been blessed to all the assemblies. It makes me weep now to think of it. You couldn’t teach him anything and if you spoke to him he would tell you that God had not spoken to you as to him, adding, “Don’t you know that God has made me a prophet?” You couldn’t move him.

The important point is, How can we tell the difference between the voice of Satan and the voice of God? It is very simple. If you don’t aspire to be something you will never get into that dangerous place; it is when your own heart desires it that the devil can switch you there. Never desire to be anything, for in the true Christian’s life no man wants to be anything but desires Christ to be his all and in all; it is to live only for the glory of God, to be filled with the power of God, to be kept at all times in that place where you know you are nothing and can do nothing but for the grace of God. If you ever think you are anything of importance consider Jesus and if you consider Jesus you will find there is no room for exaltation, only brokenness of heart and contriteness of spirit. The Kingdom of God is brought forth in righteousness and truth. What is truth? Truth says that Jesus is the Way; truth says that Jesus is the ideal for us, and we must be like Him; no man who truly follows Jesus and reads the words in Philippians can say any more about himself. Jesus who was the Son of God made Himself of no reputation, took on Himself the form of a servant and humbled Himself even to the death of the cross.

Discerning of Spirits. How much we need it! Sometimes I have been shut in for weeks with demon-possessed men and in the middle of the night-watches these evil spirits have jumped upon me but in the midst of it I have held my ground for God and prayed the man right into perfect deliverance. I am especially reminded of one man. I was shut in for weeks with him and every time an evil spirit was cast out of him it leaped on me. The last one to be cast but laid hold of me so that I had to deliver myself first before I could deliver any one else. In this case the evil spirits used to come out of this man and bind me so that I had to stand still. I couldn’t move and the man who was possessed would stand and look at me. As I commanded the evil spirit to leave I would be free again. That man today is perfectly delivered and preaching the Gospel. It took someone who would lay hold of God and not let go until the work was completed. I have learned many things by experience, and if I can make you see this morning that you never will be anything I will be able to get something done here. Anything that is not done for the glory of God is not worth having; God sees in secret and will reward openly; we will have to have secret power with God; we will have to meet God face to face in the closet and then we can come out strong for Him.

Labels: 1922, Latter Rain Evangel

An address given in Melbourne, Australia.
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 27, 1922.
Reprinted September 16, 1973.
Ever Increasing Faith, chapter 12. (Published 1924.)

There is much controversy today as regards the genuineness of this Pentecostal work, but there is nothing so convincing as the fact that over fifteen years ago a revival on Holy Ghost lines began and has never ceased. You will find that in every clime throughout the world God has poured out His Spirit in a remarkable way in a line parallel with the glorious revival that inaugurated the church of the first century. People who could not understand what God was doing when He kept them concentrated in prayer, wondered as these days were being brought about by the Holy Ghost, and found themselves in exactly the same place and entering into an identical experience as the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.

Our Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "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." God promised through the prophet Joel, "I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.... Upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit." As there is a widespread misconception concerning this receiving of the Holy Spirit, I believe the Lord would have us examine the scriptures on this subject.

You know, beloved, it had to be something on the line of solid facts to move me. I was as certain as possible that I had received the Holy Ghost, and was absolutely rigid in this conviction. When this Pentecostal outpouring began in England I went to Sunderland and met with the people who had assembled for the purpose of receiving the Holy Ghost. I was continuously in those meetings causing disturbances until the people wished I had never come. They said that I was disturbing the whole conditions. But I was hungry and thirsty for God, and had gone to Sunderland because I heard that God was pouring out His Spirit in a new way. I heard that God had now visited His people, had manifested His power and that people were speaking in tongues as on the day of Pentecost.

When I got to this place I said, "I can not understand this meeting. I have left a meeting in Bradford all on fire for God. The fire fell last night and we were all laid out under the power of God. I have come here for tongues, and I don't hear them—I don't hear anything."

"Oh!" they said, "when you get baptized with the Holy Ghost you will speak in tongues."

"Oh, is that it?" said I, "when the presence of God came upon me, my tongue was loosened, and really I felt as I went in the open air to preach that I had a new tongue."

"Ah no," they said, "that is not it."

"What is it, then?" I asked.

They said, "When you get baptized in the Holy Ghost—"

"I am baptized," I interjected, "and there is no one here who can persuade me that I am not baptized." So I was up against them and they were up against me.

I remember a man getting up and saying, "You know, brothers and sisters, I was here three weeks and then the Lord baptized me with the Holy Ghost and I began to speak with other tongues."

I said, "Let us hear it. That's what I'm here for." But he would not talk in tongues.

I was doing what others are doing today, confusing the 12th of 1 Corinthians with the 2nd of Acts. These two chapters deal with different things, one with the gifts of the Spirit, and the other with the baptism of the Spirit with the accompanying sign. I did not understand this and so I said to the man, "Let's hear you speak in tongues." But he could not. He had not received the "gift" of tongues, but the Baptism.

As the days passed I became more and more hungry. I had opposed the meetings so much, but the Lord was gracious, and I shall ever remember that last day—the day I was to leave. God was with me so much that last night. They were to have a meeting and I went, but I could not rest. I went to the Vicarage, and there in the library I said to Mrs. Boddy, "I can not rest any longer, I must have these tongues."

She replied, "Brother Wigglesworth, it is not the tongues you need but the Baptism. If you will allow God to baptize you, the other will be all right."

"My dear sister, I know I am baptized," I said. "You know that I have to leave here at 4 o'clock; please lay hands on me that I may receive the tongues."

She rose up and laid her hands on me and the fire fell. I said, "The fire's falling." Then came a persistent knock at the door, and she had to go out. That was the best thing that could have happened, for I was ALONE WITH GOD. Then He gave me a revelation. Oh it was wonderful! He showed me an empty cross and Jesus glorified. I do thank God that the cross is empty, that Christ is no more on the cross. It was there that He bore the curse, for it is written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." He became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, and now, there He is in the glory. Then I saw that God had purified me. It seemed that God gave me a new vision, and I saw a perfect being within me with mouth open saying, "Clean, Clean! Clean!" When I began to repeat it I found myself speaking in other tongues. The joy was so great that when I came to utter it my tongue failed, and I began to worship God in other tongues as the Spirit gave me utterance.

It was all as beautiful and peaceful as when Jesus said, "Peace, be still!" and the tranquility of that moment and the joy surpassed anything I had ever known up to that moment. But, Hallelujah! these days have grown with greater, mightier, more wonderful divine manifestations and power. That was but the beginning. There is no end to this kind of beginning. You will never get an end to the Holy Ghost till you are landed in the glory—till you are right in the presence of God for ever. And even then we shall ever be conscious of His presence.

What had I received? I had received the Bible evidence. This Bible evidence is wonderful to me. I knew I had received the very evidence of the Spirit's incoming that the Apostles received on the day of Pentecost. I knew that everything I had had up to that time was in the nature of an anointing bringing me in line with God in preparation, but now I knew I had the Biblical Baptism in the Spirit. It had the backing of the Scriptures. You are always right when you nave the backing of the Scriptures and you are never right if you have not a foundation for your testimony in the Word of God.

For many years I have thrown out a challenge to any person who can prove to me that he has the Baptism without speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance—to prove it by the Word that he has been baptized in the Holy Ghost without the Bible evidence, but so far no one has accepted the challenge. I only say this because so many were like I was, they have a rigid idea that they have received the Baptism without the Bible evidence. The Lord Jesus wants those who preach the Word to have the Word in evidence. Don't be misled by anything else. Have a Bible proof for all you have, and then you will be in a place where no man can move you.

I was so full of joy that I wired home to say that I had received the Holy Ghost. As soon as I got home, my boy came running up to me and said, "Father; have you received the Holy Ghost?"

I said, "Yes, my boy."

He said, "Let's hear you speak in tongues."

But I could not. Why? I had received the Baptism in the Spirit with the speaking in tongues as the Bible evidence according to Acts 2.4, and had not received the gift of Tongues according to 1 Corinthians 12. I had received the Giver of all gifts. At some time later when I was helping some souls to seek and receive the Baptism of the Spirit, God gave me the gift of Tongues so that I could speak at any time. I could speak, but will not—no never! I must allow the Holy Ghost to use the gift. It should be so, so that we shall only have divine utterances by the Spirit. I would be very sorry to use a gift, but the Giver has all power to use the whole nine gifts.

I want to take you to the Scriptures to prove my position. There are business men here, and they know that in cases of law, where there are two clear witnesses they could win a case before any judge in Australia. On the clear evidence of two witnesses any judge will give a verdict. What has God given us? Three clear witnesses on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit—more than are necessary in law courts.

The first is in Acts 2.4, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Here we have the original pattern. And God gave to Peter an eternal word that couples this experience with the promise that went before. "This is that." And God wants you to have that—nothing less than that. He wants you to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit according to this original Pentecostal pattern.

In Acts 10 we have another witness. Peter is in the house of Cornelius. Cornelius had had a vision of an holy angel and had sent for Peter.

A person said to me one day, "You don't admit that I am filled and baptized with the Holy Ghost. Why, I was ten days and ten nights on my back before the Lord and He was flooding my soul with joy."

I said, "Praise the Lord, sister, that was only the beginning. The disciples were tarrying that time, and they were still, and the mighty power of God fell upon them then and the Bible tells what happened when the power fell."

And that is just what happened in the house of Cornelius. The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. "And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost." What convinced these prejudiced Jews that the Holy Ghost had come? "For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God." There was no other way for them to know. This evidence could not be contradicted. It is the Bible evidence.

If some people in this district had an angel come and talk to them as Cornelius had, they would say that they knew they were baptized. Do not be fooled by anything. Be sure that what you receive is according to the Word of God.

We have heard two witnesses, and that is sufficient to satisfy the world. But God goes one better. Let us look at Acts 19:6, "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied." These Ephesians received the identical Bible evidence as the Apostles at the beginning and they prophesied in addition. Three times the Scriptures show us this evidence of the Baptism in the Spirit. I do not magnify tongues. No, by God's grace, I magnify the Giver of tongues. And I magnify above all Him whom the Holy Ghost has come to reveal to us, the Lord Jesus Christ. He it is who sends the Holy Spirit and I magnify Him because He makes no difference between us and those at the beginning.

But what are the tongues for? Look at the 2nd verse of 1 Corinthians 14 and you will see a very blessed truth. O Hallelujah! Have you been there, beloved? I tell you, God wants to take you there. "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue, speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries." It goes on to say, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself."

Enter into the promises of God. It is your inheritance. You will do more in one year if you are really filled with the Holy Ghost than you could do in fifty years apart from him. I pray that you may he so filled with Him that it will not be possible for you to move without a revival of some kind resulting.

Labels: 1922, 1973, Ever Increasing Faith, Pentecostal Evangel

An address given in Springfield, Mo.
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, November 25, 1922.
Ever Increasing Faith, chapter 10. (Published 1924.)

Read 2 Corinthians 3.

We are told that we are to leave the first principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and the doctrine of baptisms and the other first principles (Hebrews 6). What would you think of a builder who was everlastingly pulling down his house and putting in fresh foundations? Never look back if you want the power of God in your life. You will find out that in the measure you have allowed yourself to look back you have missed that which God had for you.

The Holy Ghost shows us that we must never look back to the law of sin and death from which we have been delivered. God has brought us into a new order of things, a life of love and liberty in Christ Jesus that is beyond all human comprehension. Many are brought into this new life through the power of the Spirit of God, and then, like the Galatians, who ran well at the beginning, they try to perfect themselves on the lines of legalism. They go back from the life in the Spirit to a life on natural lines. God is not pleased with this, for He has no place for the man who has lost the vision. The only thing to do is to repent. Don't try to cover up anything. If you have been tripped up on any line, confess it out, and then look to God to bring you to a place of stability of faith where your whole walk will be in the Spirit.

We all ought to have a clear conviction that salvation is of the Lord. It is more than a human order of things. If the enemy can move you from a place of faith, he can get you outside the plan of God. The moment a man falls into sin, divine life ceases to grow, and his life becomes one of helplessness. But this is not God's thought for any of His children. Read the third chapter of John's first epistle and take your place as a son of God. Take the place of knowing that you are a son of God, and remember that, as your hope is set in Christ it should have a purifying effect on your life. The Holy Spirit says, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." There is life and power in the seed of the Word that is implanted within. God is in that "cannot," and there is more power in that word of His than in any human objections. God's thought for every one of us is that we shall reign in life by Jesus Christ. You must come to see how wonderful you are in God and how helpless you are in yourself.

God declared Himself more mighty than every opposing power when He cast out the powers of darkness from heaven. I want you to know that the same power that cast Satan out of heaven dwells in every man that is born of God. If you would but realize this, you would reign in life. When you see people laid out under an evil power, when you see the powers of evil manifesting themselves, always put the question, "Did Jesus come in the flesh?" I have never seen an evil power answer in the affirmative. When you know you have an evil spirit to deal with you have power to cast it out. Believe it and act on it, for "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" (1 John 4.4). God means you to be in a place of overcoming, and has put a force within you whereby you may defeat the devil.

Temptations will come to all. If you are not worth tempting you are not worth powder and shot. Job said: "When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." In every temptation that comes, the Lord lets you be tempted up to the very hilt, but will never allow you to be defeated if you walk in obedience; for right in the midst of the temptation He will always "make a way of escape."

[At this point in the service someone (possibly Wigglesworth) spoke in prophetic tongues. The interpretation was: "God comes forth and with His power sweeps away the refuge of lies and all the powers of darkness, and causes you always to triumph in Christ Jesus. The Lord loveth His saints and covers them with His almighty wings."]

May God help us to see it. We cannot be to the praise of His glory until we are ready for trials, and are able to triumph in them. We can not get away from the fact that sin came in by nature, but God comes into our nature and puts it into the place of death, that the Spirit of God may come into the temple in all His power and liberty, that right here in this present evil world Satan may be dethroned by the believer.

Satan is always endeavoring to bring the saints of God into disrepute, bringing against them railing accusations, but the Holy Ghost never comes with condemnation. He always reveals the blood of Christ. He always brings us help. The Lord Jesus referred to Him as the Comforter who would come. He is always on hand to help in the seasons of trial and test. The Holy Ghost is the lifting power of the church of Christ. And Paul tells us that we "are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ... written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." The Holy Ghost begins in the heart, right in the depths of human affections. He brings into the heart the riches of the revelation of Christ, implanting a purity and holiness there, so that out of its depths, praises well up continually.

The Holy Ghost will make us epistles of Christ, ever telling out that Jesus our Lord is our Redeemer and God has never put away that revelation. And because of the perfect atonement of that slain Lamb, there is salvation, healing and deliverance for all. Some people think that they have only to be cleansed once, but as we walk in the light the blood of Jesus Christ is ever cleansing.

The very life of Christ has been put within us, and is moving within us—a perfect life. May the Lord help us to see the power of this life. The years of a man's life are threescore years and ten, and so in the natural order of things, my life will be finished in seven years, but I have begun a new life that will never end. "From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." This is the life I have come into, and there is no end to this life. In me is working a power that is stronger than every power; Christ, the power of God, formed within me. I can see why we need to be clothed upon from above, for the life within me is a thousand times bigger than I am outside. There must be a tremendous expansion. I see, and cannot help seeing, that this thing cannot be understood on natural lines; no natural reason can comprehend the divine plan.

"We are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." If you go back, you miss the plan. We leave the old order of things. We can never have confidence in the flesh, we cannot touch that. We are in a new order, a spiritual order. It is a new life of absolute faith in the sufficiency of our God in everything that pertains to our salvation.

You could never come into this place and be a Seventh-day Adventist.* The law has no place in you. You are set free from everything. At the same time, like Paul, you are "bound in the Spirit" so that you would not do anything to grieve the Lord.

Paul further tells us that He has made us "able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." It is one thing to read this, and another to have the revelation of it and to see the spiritual force of it. Any man can live in the letter and become dry and wordy, limited in knowledge of spiritual verities, and spend his time everlastingly in splitting hairs; but as soon as he touches the realm of the Spirit, all the dryness goes, all the spirit of criticism leaves. There can be no divisions in a life in the Spirit. The Spirit of God brings such pliability and such love! There is no love like the love in the Spirit. It is a pure, a holy, a divine love that is shed in our hearts by the Spirit. It loves to serve and to honor the Lord.

I can never estimate what the Baptism of the Holy Ghost has been to me these past fifteen years. It seems that every year has had three years packed into it, so that I have had forty-five years of happy service since 1907. And it is getting better all the time. It is a luxury to be filled with the Spirit, and at the same time it is a divine command for us, not to be filled with wine wherein is excess, but to be filled with the Spirit. No Pentecostal person ought to get out of bed without being lost in the Spirit and speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. No one should come into the door of an assembly without speaking in tongues or having a psalm, or a note of praise. We emphasize that at the incoming of the Spirit He should so fill us that the last member in the body is yielded to Him, and that no one is baptized in the Spirit without speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance; and I maintain that, with a constant filling, you will speak in tongues morning, noon and night. As you live in the Spirit, when you walk down the steps of the house where you live, the devil will have to go before you. You will be more than a conqueror over the devil.

I see everything a failure except that which is done in the Spirit. But as you live in the Spirit, you move, act, eat. drink, and do everything to the glory of God. Our message is always this, "Be filled with the Spirit." This is God's place for you, and it is as far above the natural life as the heavens are above the earth. Yield yourselves for God to fill.

Moses had a tremendous trial with the people. They were always in trouble. But as he went up into the mount, and God unfolded to him the ten commandments, the glory fell. He rejoiced to bring those two tables of stone down from the mount, and his very countenance shone with the glory. He was bringing to Israel that which, if obeyed, would bring life.

I think of my Lord coming from heaven. I think all heaven was moved by the sight. The law of the letter was brought by Moses and it was made glorious, but all its glory was dimmed before the excelling glory which Jesus brought to us in the Spirit of life. The glory of Sinai paled before the glory of Pentecost. Those tables of stone with their, "Thou shalt not, thou shalt not," are done away; for they never brought life to anyone, and the Lord has brought in a new covenant, putting His law in our minds and writing it in our hearts, this new law of the Spirit of life. As the Holy Ghost comes in, He fills us with such love and liberty, and we shout for joy these words of this 11th verse, "Done away! Done away!" Henceforth there is a new cry in our hearts, "I delight to do Thy Will, O God." He taketh away the first, the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, that He might establish the second, this ministration of righteousness, this life in the Spirit.

You ask, "Does a man who is filled with the Spirit cease to keep the commandments?" I simply repeat what the Spirit of God has told us here, that this ministration of death, written and engraven in stones (and you know that the ten commandments were written on stones), is "DONE AWAY." The man who becomes a living epistle of Christ, written with the Spirit of the living God, has ceased to be an adulterer, or a murderer or a covetous man; the will of God is his delight. I love to do the will of God, there is no irksomeness to it, it is no trial to pray, no trouble to read the Word of God, it is not a hard thing to go to the place of worship. With the psalmist you say. "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord."

How does this new life work out? The thing works out because God works in you to will and to do of His own good pleasure (Philippians 2.13). There is a great difference between a pump and a spring. The law is a pump, the Baptism is a spring. The old pump gets out of order, the parts perish, and the well runs dry. The letter killeth. But the spring is ever bubbling up and there is a ceaseless flow direct from the Throne of God. There is life.

It is written of Christ, ""Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness." And in this new life in the Spirit, in this new covenant life, you love the things that are right and pure and holy, and shudder at all things that are wrong. Jesus was able to say, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me," and the moment we are filled with the Spirit of God we are brought into like wonderful condition, and, as we continue to be filled with the Spirit, the enemy cannot have an inch of territory in us.

Do you not believe that you can be so filled with the Spirit that a man who is not living right can be judged and convicted by your presence? As we go on in the life of the Spirit, it will be said of us, "in whose eyes a vile person will be contemned" (Psalm 15.4). Jesus lived there and moved in this realm, and His life was a constant reproof to the wickedness around. But He was the Son of God, you say. God, through Him, has brought us into the place of sonship, and I believe that if He has a chance with the material, the Holy Ghost can make something of us, and bring us to the same place.

I don't want to boast. If I glory in anything it is only in the Lord who has been so gracious to me. But I remember one time stepping out of a railroad carriage to wash my hands. I had a season of prayer, and the Lord just filled me to overflowing with His love. I was going to a convention in Ireland, and I could not get there fast enough. As I returned, I believe that the Spirit of the Lord was so heavily upon me that my face must have shone. (No man can tell himself when the Spirit transforms his very countenance.) There were two clerical men sitting together, and as I got into the carriage again, one of them cried out, "You convince me of sin." Within three minutes every one in the carriage was crying to God for salvation. This thing has happened many times in my life. It is this ministration of the Spirit that Paul speaks of, this filling of the Spirit, that will make your life effective, so that even the people in the stores where you trade will want to leave your presence because they are brought under conviction.

We must move from everything of the letter. All that we do must be done under the anointing of the Spirit. The trouble has been that we as Pentecostal people have been living in the letter. Believe what the Holy Spirit says through Paul—that all this ministration of condemnation that has hindered your liberty in Christ is done away. The law is DONE AWAY! As far as you are concerned, all that old order of things is forever done away, and the Spirit of God has brought in a new life of purity and love. The Holy Ghost takes it for granted that you are finished with all the things of the old life when you become a new creation in Christ. In the life in the Spirit, the old allurements have lost their power. The devil will meet you at every turn, but the Spirit of God will always lift up a standard against him.

O, if God had His way, we would be like torches, purifying the very atmosphere wherever we go, moving back the forces of wickedness.

[Again, prophetic tongues. The interpretation was: "The Lord is that Spirit. He moves in your heart. He shows you that the power within you is mightier than all the powers of darkness."]

Done away! What do I mean? Will you be disloyal? You will be more than loyal. Will you grumble when you are treated badly? No, you will turn the other cheek. This is what you will always do when God lives in you. Leave yourselves in God's hands. Enter into rest. "He that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His" (Hebrews 4). O this is a lovely rest! The whole life is a Sabbath. This is the only life that can glorify God. It is a life of joy, and every day is a day of heaven on earth.

There is a continued transformation in this life. Beholding the Lord and His glory, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord. There is a continued unveiling, a constant revelation, a repeated clothing upon from above. I want you to promise God never to look back, never to go back to that which the Spirit has said is "done away." I made this promise to the Lord that I would never allow myself to doubt His Word.

There is one thing about a baby, it takes all that comes to it. A prudent man lets his reason cheat him out of God's best. But a baby takes all that its mother brings, and tries to swallow the bottle and all. The baby can't walk. but the mother carries it, the baby cannot dress itself, but the mother dresses it. The baby can't even talk. So in the life of the Spirit, God undertakes to do what we cannot do. We are carried along by Him, He clothes us, and He gives us atterance. Would that we all had the simplicity of the babes.

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*The Adventists that Wigglesworth was familiar with tended to be very legalistic.

Labels: 1922, Ever Increasing Faith, Pentecostal Evangel