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

2020, The Year Of Great Revival?

How long will the Lord delay the Latter Rain? The time is ripe for a great outpouring of God's Spirit one last time before Jesus returns. With another shooting of innocent parishioners inside a building of worship in Fort Worth, Texas. There is no safe place any more except under the shelter of the Most High God.

So I'm joining my voice with the cries of the prayer warriors in the prayer closets and with the last days prophets and apostles of God. Praying for the Lord to pour out His Spirit again on all flesh and send out His apostles and prophets to preach the Everlasting Gospel across the world! The Lord said to me "I Will Save A Great Multitude"

When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush on Mount Sinai it was in response to 400 years of slavery and the prayers of His people had come up to Him and He came down to deliver His people!

Exodus 3:7-10

And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

When God came down in the tent of meeting during the time of Moses, the glory cloud of God's presence was so thick that Moses could not enter in because of the cloud!

Exodus 40:34-38

"Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys."

There are many eyewitness testimonies of the glory cloud of God's presence or the Shekinah Glory during the Azusa street revival in 1906-1915.

Quotes from Brother Tommy Welchel: "They Told Me Their Stories"

I would meekly change the subject and ask her to describe what the Shekinah Glory was like. She would get such joy in her eyes as she told me how much she loved to be in the centre of the mist-like cloud. She was so little, she would sit down in it—when it was thick, the mist was about up to her neck. Like a kid, she would have fun and play in the mist. She would often lie down, breathing in the mist. She would tell how she could feel the energy of it and described that it was like being put into an oxygen tent. When Brother Seymour was there, and they would sing in the Spirit, Sister Lucille told me that the Shekinah Glory would just rise and fill the whole room, and you could breathe so much better—as if the room were filled with pure oxygen.

"There were times the Shekinah Glory was only a foot high, and he would lie down in it to breathe God‘s Glory. He often stressed that the greater the Shekinah Glory, the greater the power. He would note that the flames were there when God, through Seymour, performed the miracles where a leg re-grew and another where an arm re-grew. Garcia was there when the arm grew out. He said, ―Brother Tommy, he didn‘t have a ball joint in his shoulder, it had been ripped out of there. I was close enough to be looking right at the shoulder and all of a sudden I saw the bones start to come out and then flesh started coming around them. His arm just shot out in just what seemed mere seconds as I watched.‖ For Garcia, it seemed like he was watching in slow motion as he was awed at what God was doing. Brother Garcia was the first to tell me of Seymour‘s prophesy that in about 100 years there would be a return of the Shekinah Glory and a revival that would surpass the Works of God at Azusa.* When we talked in the Sixties, Garcia realized that the prophesy was still forty years away from being fulfilled, but still longed for God to accelerate His plans and allow the Shekinah Glory to fall again in his lifetime. I loved to hear about the cloud or mist that filled Azusa signifying the Presence of God."

Azusa Street Revival: They Told Me Their Stories

Bring the rain Lord! Pour out your Spirit once more and fill the temples with the glory cloud of your presence!

In Jesus Name!

Tyrone

God's Glory!

Colossians 1:24-27

"I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

A day is coming when the world will see the visible manifestation of God's glory in the face of His people and they will know that HE IS THE LORD!

A day is coming when the glory of God's presence will be seen and felt in the midst of the assembly and they will know that HE IS THE LORD!

During the Azusa street revival in California, many testified that the Shekinah Glory of God's presence was so thick that little children could play hide and go seek in it. It was like a thick mist, a cloud that could be seen and felt by all, many would come in and lie on the ground and breathe it in.

Moses went up Mount Sinai to talk with God and receive the ten commandments, and when he came down his face was shining with God's glory!

Exodus 34:29-30

"Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him."

Jesus gave the first disciples the glory that the Father had given Him and they were able to walk as Jesus walked, carrying the glory of God!

John 17:22-23

"And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."

Isaiah 60:1-3

"Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising."

In Jesus,

Tyrone