Azusa Street Testimonies (Part 4)

 

Healed From Sickness

A sister who has had hemorrhages of the lungs for years was brought very low lately, having seven hard hemorrhages one after another. She was nearing the river and heard her name called three times by a heavenly messenger, but she answered that she did not feel she could say she had fought a good fight and kept the faith. Then the drawing to the other shore ceased. The saints prayed for her, and she arose, and dressed, being perfectly healed. She went to the table and ate her dinner and afterwards played and sang several hymns. She has received the baptism with the Holy Spirit and God has raised her up to preach the whole Gospel.

From Alaska

Bro. H. M. Turney, an evangelist who was in Alaska when he heard of the outpouring of God's Spirit in California, struck out immediately for Los Angeles, and he has received the baptism with the Holy Spirit and gift of tongues. About five minutes before he received the Holy Spirit, while kneeling at the altar, he whispered to Bro. Oyler that the devil was tempting him that the speaking in tongues was not for him. Bro. Oyler replied, "The devil is a liar from the beginning." And immediately the Holy Spirit fell on our brother and he spoke with tongues. Since then he says the Lord waked him up at night speaking and singing in tongues, as He has so many others. A brother from Redlands, seventy-nine years old, came for Divine healing. He was deaf and used ear trumpets. The Lord opened his ears immediately. Then as he arose to go, a brother asked him," "Where are you glasses?" He looked around and said with astonishment, "Why, I can see as well as I ever did." He had had poor eyesight. The Lord also healed him of rheumatism at the same time. "With his stripes we are healed."

Bro. G.A. Cook Receives The Holy Spirit

God has told His children to be witnesses, and the most convincing evidence is testimony of personal knowledge. To endeavor to help those who are sending in letters of inquiry to the Apostolic Faith office, asking how they may receive the Holy Spirit, the writer will state a little of his personal experience in obtaining this pearl of great price, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I dropped into the meetings on Azusa Street some time in April, having heard that some people were speaking in tongues, as they did on the day of Pentecost. Although I had been trying to preach Pentecost for five years, the speaking in tongues was as strange to me as though it had never been mentioned in God's word. At first the meeting seemed a very tame affair to me, as I had been along the line of much fleshly demonstration and noise.

As I was indoctrinated in the second blessing being the baptism with the Holy Spirit, I branded the teaching as heretical, not going to the meetings for some time. In the meantime, Pentecost came to the place, and many began to speak in tongues. I now began to attend regularly. In fact, I could not stay away. My heart began to break up, and soon I was going from one person to another, asking them to forgive me for harsh words and criticism. God so melted my heart that I would cry at my work or riding on a streetcar. How the dear Lord began to teach me that what I needed was His loving, tender Spirit, and that power with God meant deep humility in our dealings with our fellow creatures. I now began to go to the altar and earnestly seek for the Lord to have His way with me. Soon the power of God began to work with me. The Holy Spirit showed me that I must be clay in the Potter's hands, an empty vessel before the Lord. I laid aside all doctrine, all pre-conceived ideas and teachings and became absolutely empty. The Holy Spirit now settled down on me, and I could feel the power going through me like electric needles. The Spirit taught me that I must not resist the power but give way and become limp as a piece of cloth. When I did this, I fell under the power, and God began to mold me and teach me what it meant to be really surrendered to Him. 

I was laid out under the power five times before Pentecost really came. Each time I would come out from under the power, I would feel so sweet and clean, as though I had been run through a washing machine. I now had come to the place where I was completely submitted to the whole will of God. I had been seeking about five weeks, and on a Saturday morning I awoke and stretched my arms toward heaven and asked God to fill me with the Holy Spirit. My arms began to tremble, and soon I was shaken violently by a great power, and it seemed as though a large pipe was fitted over my neck, my head apparently being off. I was now filled with the Holy Spirit. Words cannot describe the power I felt. The nearest description that could be given would be the action of a pump under terrific pressure, filling me with oil. I could feel the filling in my toes and all parts of my body which seemed to me to swell until I thought I would burst. 

I do not know how long this continued but it seemed to me a long time. The pressure was now removed and my soul and spirit seemed to leave the body and float in the air just above. My body seemed hard and metallic like iron. This was undoubtedly the baptism into the death of Christ. It was now time for me to arise and go to work, so I got up without speaking in tongues. I believe I would have spoken in tongues then, if I had remained in the hands of the Lord long enough. About thirty hours afterwards, while sitting in the meeting on Azusa Street, I felt my throat and tongue begin to move, without any effort on my part. Soon I began to stutter and then out came a distinct language which I could hardly restrain. I talked and laughed with joy far into the night. Praise His name for such a wonderful experience of power and love and joy. G.A. Cook.

In Him
Tyrone

The Glory Cloud Of God's Presence!

 

The glory cloud of God's presence is one of many physical manifestations of God that can be invisible and visible to men. The cloud can be present and felt by people but not seen by them, it can also be seen and felt by people. Although many will become irritated, even angry, by God's presence and want to get away from it, especially when His presence emanates from His people, but many will be drawn near and experience a very real and very alive, Almighty God!

 During the Azusa street revival in 1906 through 1908, many eyewitness accounts tell of the cloud that physically manifested in the building and did not leave until years later. One story in particular from the revival talks about how fire descended and ascended from the roof of the building and the neighbors surrounding the building would call the fire department because they thought the building was on fire!

Excerpts Taken From, "They Told Us Their Stories" (The Youth Of Azusa Street) By Tommy Welchel

Some of the greatest miracles were when the flames were above the building. Bones that were cracked and broken were totally healed. Of course, any discussion about Azusa turned to the Shekinah Glory. When I asked about her experience with the Presence of God‘s Glory, Sister Carney‘s face would light up. She described it as being a part of heaven. To her, it was like breathing pure oxygen, and to her wonderment, it was always present. When I asked her to describe the Shekinah Glory Fire reported by many, she told her story.

She recalled the fire department coming because of a call that the building was on fire. When they arrived, they didn‘t smell any smoke or see any evidence of fire. She didn‘t run out with the firemen. She remembered that it was Seymour, Bosworth, Lake, Smith, and Sines that ran out. Sister Carney did go out one time to see the flames for herself. Remember, the fire department had been called on several different occasions, as passers-by would report seeing flames leaping up from the roof of the building. Finally, Sister Carney asked John Lake why the fire department kept coming and looking for the fire. He explained that the fire was coming down from heaven into the building and fire was going up from the building and meeting the fire coming down. Fascinated, Sister Carney went out, walked about a half a block and saw the awesome sight for herself. To her, this divine connection of fire coming down from heaven and going up to heaven was just further evidence of God‘s mighty Presence in that place. Sister Carney noted that although the Shekinah Glory was present all the time within the building, this divine connection wasn‘t an everyday occurrence. Whenever this connection was present, the power of God was even more intense within the meeting.

 I asked Brother Anderson to describe what the Shekinah Glory was like, and he again brightened up as he came to the edge of his rocker. Anderson told me that the Shekinah Glory was hard to explain because it could only be described, but not understood. At times he would come into the building, and there would be kind of a glow. There were times that God would start moving and working, and a smoke-like substance would begin to glow even brighter. People could walk through it, and sometimes it would sort of roll. You couldn‘t take a fan and blow it out, nor was it something you could pick up. Brother Anderson confessed that he tried because it looked so tangible. He remembered that at times the mist would get so thick that it would fill the whole building. Anderson also noted that at times even Seymour was fascinated with the heavy mist that filled the room. In fact, there were times that Seymour would take his feet and kind of play with the thick Shekinah Glory.

Brother Anderson was awed by the Glory and finally described it as a part of heaven coming down. You could walk in it, sit down in it, run your hands through it, and breathe it into your lungs, but you could not capture it. I pressed Brother Anderson to tell me about the fire. Although he was not one of the first to go out and witness the event, he told me that he had seen it. He said it looked like flames about fifty feet in the air coming down and was also going up out of the roof to meet, merge, and go on through the flame coming down. Young Anderson would just stand there with his mouth open. He didn‘t know how to explain it, but it was real. He told me that the burning bush described by Moses now made sense. 

One event, confirmed by others, that Anderson noted was that whenever the people worshipped by singing in tongues, the power was greater. Every time this happened the anointing fell on the service. Anderson was absolutely awed by the Shekinah Glory. One of the favorite songs sung by the Saints gathered at Pisgah is intricately linked with their encounter with God‘s Glory. The song that they sang with great enthusiasm was appropriately entitled, Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul.

There is no other hope for mankind, God MUST come down to save to His people, those who look for and long for His appearing. Jesus said, "Unless those days are shortened, no flesh would be saved." Do you understand what this means? It means that human beings left to themselves would completely destroy each other and the human race would become extinct! Just like the dinosaurs! 

I pray that you will get in the arc when the call goes out! This gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in ALL the world and then the end will come.

Abiding In His Love,

Tyrone

Have You EXPERIENCED God?

 

It's one thing to TALK ABOUT God, and an entirely different thing to EXPERIENCE God! Moses was such a one who was blessed and honored to have experienced the presence, power, and glory of The  Most High God. 

Prepare us Lord and make us ready to experience you, and not just talk about you, or watch movies about your great works. But to actually experience the supernatural manifestations and power of Almighty God in THIS generation! In Jesus Name I pray!

Tyrone