FOR THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS NOW, THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS BEEN MOVING IN A VERY SPECIAL WAY AMONG OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. NOT ALTOGETHER AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE; AND NOT JUST AT FAITH ASSEMBLY: OTHER ASSEMBLIES ARE WITNESSING THIS SAME THING. WE HAVE RECEIVED SIMILAR REPORTS FROM GEORGIA, ALABAMA, BLOOMINGTON IN., KNIFLEY KY., NORWAY, CANADA AND SOUTH AFRICA; AND I AM SURE I HAVE NOT NAMED THEM ALL; BUT THIS WILL GIVE YOU SOME IDEA OF WHAT IS TAKING PLACE IN THIS HOUR OF TIME. IT HAS CAUSED MANY OF US TO GO BACK AND READ THE BOOKS WRITTEN CONCERNING THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THIS CENTURY: ESPECIALLY THE AZUSA STREET BOOK. THE MOVE OF THE SPIRIT IS SOMEWHAT AS IT WAS BACK THEN WITH ONE TREMENDOUS EXCEPTION: THESE WHO ARE RECEIVING THESE EXPERIENCES IN THE ASSEMBLIES WE ARE MENTIONING, ARE ALREADY RESTORED BACK TO THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST AS TAUGHT AND PREACHED BY THE FIRST APOSTLES OF CHRIST. ON THE OTHER HAND, THOSE WHO RECEIVED SUCH EXPERIENCES IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THIS CENTURY WERE ALL TRINITARIANS: BAPTIZING CONVERTS IN THE TITLES OF MATTHEW 28:19, INSTEAD OF THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS TAUGHT BY THE APOSTLES OF CHRIST. THEREFORE BECAUSE OF THESE DEVELOPMENTS I FEEL THAT WE SHOULD DEAL WITH THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF IT FOR A FEW SERVICES AND PRINT OUR REMARKS IN THE CONTENDER FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE MANY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WHO DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE WRITTEN RECORDS OF WHAT HAS TAKEN PLACE IN THE PAST. WE WILL TRY TO COVER THE FULL SCOPE OF WHAT IS TAKING PLACE; AND THEREFORE TRY TO HELP THOSE WHO ARE NOT SO FAMILIAR WITH HOW TO LOOK AT THESE THINGS, NOR WHAT PLACE TO GIVE TO THEM. I HAVE TO CONFESS THAT I AM LEARNING SOME THINGS MYSELF: AS I SEARCH THE WORD OF GOD FOR ANSWERS TO MY OWN QUESTIONS. THE MAIN THING IS THAT WE ALL DETERMINE IN OUR OWN HEART’S TO BE SENSITIVE TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND NOT ALLOW HUMAN FEELINGS AND TRADITIONAL IDEAS TO INTERFERE WITH WHAT GOD IS DOING. THOSE WHO ARE RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THIS WAY ARE JUST BABES IN CHRIST AND WILL NEED PROPER GUIDANCE TO LEARN HOW TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES AS TIME GOES ON. GOD DOES NOT GIVE ANYONE SUCH AN EXPERIENCE FOR THE PURPOSE OF THROWING THEM OUT OF CONTROL: FOR THE TRUTH IS, AS WE LEARN TO FOLLOW THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT WE HAVE INSIDE OF US WE WILL FIND THAT HE IS THERE TO GIVE US THE ABILITY TO STAY IN CONTROL OF OUR LIVES. FIRST AND FOREMOST, HE IS A TEACHER THAT JESUS SAID WOULD LEAD US INTO ALL TRUTH. THAT IN ITSELF IS WONDERFUL; BUT BEYOND THAT, HE IS THERE TO ENABLE US TO PUT SATAN TO FLIGHT WHEN HE COMES AROUND WITH HIS LIES AND ACCUSATIONS. WE WILL NOT BEAT UP ON THE DEVIL AS SOME HAVE REMARKED; BUT WE DO HAVE ONE DWELLING IN US THAT IS GREATER THAN HE; THEREFORE WE HAVE EVERYTHING WE NEED TO OVERCOME ALL OF HIS ATTACKS. AS THE APOSTLE PAUL TAUGHT, WE JUST NEED TO RECKON UNTO OURSELVES THAT WHICH WAS PURCHASED FOR US AT CALVARY. HAVING LAID THIS LITTLE FOUNDATION, LET US NOW GO INTO WHAT WE FEEL LED TO SAY CONCERNING WHAT GOD IS MANIFESTING IN OUR ASSEMBLIES MAINLY AMONG OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. GLORY TO HIS NAME.

INFORMATION FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

In the letters I get from overseas, people will say, Will you send me the history on such and such; and I wish I could; but since this is not possible I want to try to do the next best thing. I cannot send you these histories simply because most of the ones I have are out of print and not even available any more. They are old. They have just been given to me through the years: I have never had to go out and buy any of them. Therefore in this message we are starting on now, we are going to print it and include as much history as possible. We will compile it and print it: taking as many issues as we feel we need to, in order to give you whatever information we have. If it takes two or three publications, then that is what we will do. I can see there is a time factor we are living in right now, that we need to know where we are in time in respects to things in the Bible. This is the hour for true saints of God to be concerned about this very thing. What I have here is a history all the way from Azusa Street up into the 1980’s when the book was printed. Over here I have material that was faxed over to me by Bro. Govender in South Africa, from two different magazines. It gives a report of what is going on in Toronto Canada and London England, as well as in various other groups of people around the world. There is this move of the Spirit with all the manifestations you see listed up here on our chart. It concerns something that is going on out here in the Charismatic realm. I read in here also, writings from different writers within this Charismatic realm, that some are actually looking upon it with misgivings. They are in doubt as to whether this really is a true move of God, or what is it? When I read these things yesterday, I thought to myself, THAT IS THE DELUSION PAUL SAID GOD WOULD SEND, THAT THEY WOULD BELIEVE A LIE AND BE DAMNED. I am going to stay right here in this portion for now; but there is more. Over here in Bro. William Branham‘s book, where back in 1960 he preached the church ages, I think it is on page 285, he said the Ecumenical Council would be a means for God binding the tares in bundles and getting them ready for the fire. There is really no need of me putting this in here in advance of what we are going to preach on today; but we do have everything we need to make all of this fit into the Bible. One of the most beautiful parables that describe this is Matthew 25: the five wise and five foolish virgins. Let us turn to that and read it.

PARABLE OF WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS

We are giving this message the title, “From Azusa Street Until Now.” It is all laid out right here in this parable in the 25th chapter of Matthew. It has taken this number of years for it all to come about the way we are seeing it now. Keep in mind, a parable is not always something illustrating every detail. A parable is something that gives you a profile of a condition and then time will come when the people who live in the period that it is being applied to will see how the parable is being applied in its real meaning. It is strange that the church world cannot seem to find their way through these things. Well let us go ahead and read the parable: because we want to put it in the beginning of this message. It is very apparent that the Laodicean Age had its beginning, starting at the dawn of the 20th century. Now that we are living at the beginning of 1995, we can begin to see that this Laodicean age has a proximity time factor relative to one hundred years. When Jesus had been speaking of things in Matthew 24, which would come to pass right here at the end time, He used the word then, as He went into what we are going to read now. Everyone ought to know the word then, is a future tense word, so do not read Matthew 25, the five wise and five foolish virgins and think that is a picture of all of Christendom from its beginning until now. It is not. It is all hinged on this word then. If I was to say to you today, Next week we are going to start on a trip to New York, would you be expecting to leave here this week? No you would not. That is just an example. Then is not a word that you relate in the past tense or the present tense in this setting. It is a future tense word, describing how the Lord Jesus has directed His people. He had been talking about the end of this age in chapter 24; and then He said what we are going to read in chapter 25, concerning the wise and foolish virgins. He said, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven,” which naturally is related to the period of time that did start with the birth of the Church and has been going on all through time since then. The kingdom of heaven is not something that starts in the future: it has already been going on for almost 2,000 years: because it is related to the dispensation of Grace. That is what we are approaching the end of: the dispensation of grace. “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.” When? At the end of this age. Now saints, there is no way you can take the number ten and divide it up and figure that this is just how many people there are on earth that are going to be saved. Jesus did not use the number ten, to show you how few there are that will be genuine believers here at the end. It is just a figure He used, in order to make it simple. “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. (This is an overall picture of how we are to view the kingdom of heaven once it comes into the Laodicean Age time factor. That age began with an outpouring of the Spirit of God. Jesus was looking all the way over to that time; and as the age would have this outpouring to set it in motion, yet within that age of time the people who are in that hour of time were going to fall into these two categories as they progressively move forward through the Laodicean Age.) And at midnight (Midnight is middle way between sunset and sunrise. Here, it lets us know something definitely took place.) there was a cry made.” This cry was what God did in this age by sending a messenger. The church world does not realize it. They read what Paul says in Thessalonians where he wrote, For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. They read it; but they do not know how to interpret it. They will interpret it many different ways; but it does not give those people any insight on how they can see themselves approaching the coming of Christ. THE SHOUT PAUL SPEAKS OF THERE IN THESSALONIANS IS NONE OTHER THAN THE CRY THAT APPEARS HERE IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR OF THE PARABLE OF THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS, when the kingdom of heaven will be likened to this condition. “Then all those virgins arose.” This lets us know the cry or the shout did create a vibration down through the church circles. There was definitely a revival began to break out, a time of people starting to trim their revelation, their understanding in the word. “Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise. Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.” Just keep in mind, a parable does not give you a complete picture of every detail. Certain things are mentioned and it is all in the natural realm; but you have to look at it in the time that the parable is hanging over the people it is speaking to. You have to realize also, that these actual words will never be uttered by anyone. You have to see the condition that begins to develop as the answer to the meaning of these words. If such conversation were to go on between the two elements of people, you would definitely see a division. This should establish in your mind a fixed picture.

Once the shout or cry is made, that begins to wake up the age that corresponds to this parable; and there is definitely going to be set in motion a separating factor. There is no way you can get have a ministry that can minister to both elements. There is not only division, you begin to see one group go one direction and the other group going another direction. None of this is even preached in your Charismatic churches: simply because they are deceived into believing they have all the bride of Christ needs to make themselves ready for His coming. They are a people, a great mass of people going in a direction that cannot possibly lead to perfection. Let us continue. “But the wise answered, saying, Not so.” While these words are never actually spoken, the effect will be as if they had been: That is what we need to understand. There is no way you can change the course. You cannot change the picture. It is ordained of God to go that way. You just as well keep your mouth shut, get in the bunch you are supposed to be in, mind your own business and leave the rest up to God. If God has already seen certain individuals as foolish virgins, there is no way to alter that. He is able to see the end result of everything in His entire plan for the ages; and the truth is, He saw it all even before He ever began to create anything. “But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you. (Now the wise virgins, the true bride saints, do say, while it is not in verbal words: but in motivation of conduct and attitude, We cannot help you.) but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.” The wise are actually saying, we cannot minister to you the baptism of the Holy Ghost, (which is what they need first) because if we were to minister the baptism of the Holy Ghost to you, it would have to be on the same basis we have it and you would have the same revelation we have. We could not help but give you the fullness of it; and if you had that, you would no longer be a foolish virgin, so to speak. You will have to go out there in the market place, to those who specialize in such things; an get whatever measure of the Spirit of God that is available to you. Think of the evangelists that began to pull to the left when Bro. William Branham, the messenger, began to pull to the right. This very parable does truly establish the fact that there is a place, or that there is a directional journey for the foolish to go on. They can receive everything they need to be foolish virgins; but there is no possible way for them to receive everything the bride saints have: otherwise they would no longer be foolish virgins. Saints: I want you to understand that all of these foolish virgins, in the end, do have eternal life. They are not being told by the wise, Go out there to those that are make-believers and get what they have. No. That is not the true picture. What they receive is not a fake measure of the Spirit of God: It is genuine; but not the same measure the bride receives: because it is never allowed to lead them into all truth. It just goes to show, there has been a division come about. The division produces two different directions of how people are motivated: as they travel this road of life. Therefore while the one group, the foolish, go to the market place to get what they are looking for, the bride moves into a revelation that will lead them to perfection and the door to that revelation is closed to those who try to understand it later on. Where is the market place? It is in the church world of modern day religion and evangelism: where you have make believers and foolish virgins all following the same trend: enjoying the anointing of the Spirit of God without being concerned about the doctrines that are leading the bride to full stature in Christ. “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him (into a revelation that will make them ready to go to the marriage supper) to the marriage: and the door was shut.” (The door to that revelation is shut to the foolish virgins. Some will ask, Why would it be worded like that? Because those very words also are understood by revelation. To the natural mind, it sounds like the bride has already gone to the marriage supper when the foolish finally receive that measure of the Spirit which is allotted to them. No saints, they have been receiving it right along; but they just stayed out there in the charismatic realm of religion enjoying their experience, speaking in tongues, dancing, shouting and much more; but they have no time to sit down and submit themselves to the teachings of the doctrine of Christ. That element they are following will always avoid doctrines: saying, “Doctrines divide; but love conquers all; so let us just love Jesus, and love one another and everything will be all right.” That is the attitude most of them have. Looking back to the 1950’s and seeing the deliverance move coming up out of the years of 1947, 1948, 1949 and then on into the 1950’s, those evangelists were a different breed than what you see out there today. That deliverance move had an element of evangelists with their trucks and tents journeying across the highways of America that you do not see any more. On the side of the truck you would see the name, and then the size of their tent, three or five pole, or whatever. Through that element of the 1950’s from New York to the West Coast, back and forth from the borders of Canada to the south, they went with those large tents, preaching. Then all of a sudden something happened. Tent after tent was taken home, either sold or stored, never to be put out again. One by one these evangelists began to sit down and figure out what they would do next. Radio programs, TV programs, and whatever; and soon, here came the high class, high tech marketing of religion. It has been that way ever since. Evangelists on the TV programs, over and over you will hear them say, “God has given me a vision to reach the lost for Him: Will you help us by sending this, that and so forth. Send your gift and help us reach another million.” They are all moving in the same circle: marketing religion; and their supporters send millions of dollars to them every year. That is the market place. That is where the foolish virgins were to go, to those who sell, and buy for themselves. A lot of us got our start out there: The big difference is, what we received from the Lord out there eventually led us to truth. “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came.” Well in the natural it would sound like Jesus came at that time. No, in the physical person He did not come, but He did come in a revelation of Himself through the scriptures; and those who were ready went into that revelation with Him. That is what the denominational church world does not see. HE CAME IN A DIVINE REVELATION THROUGH HIS WORD, AND BEGAN TO ACQUAINT HIMSELF TO AN ELECT ELEMENT OF PEOPLE THAT HAD EYES TO SEE AND EARS TO HEAR, BECAUSE THEY WERE THE WISE THAT WERE LOOKING FOR THIS REVELATION. This lets you know, you have to look for Him first in His word, before you can ever expect to see Him in person: because you will only see Him in person when you go in the rapture. Seeing Him first in His word that is made alive and quickened to you after you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, is what makes you ready to see Him in person. This is exactly how the Bride Church makes herself ready while in this earthly journey: just simply by clothing herself with the true revelation of the word of God. Therefore the door you go through is not a doorway into heaven: it is a doorway of revelation into the fullness of His word. While the true revelation of the word of God is being closed more and more to the church world in general, it is being opened to the wise, the elect of God which is in Christ Jesus. “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in (Went in where? Into a revelation.) with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut. (The door was not the door to heaven, it becomes the door of revelation.) Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.” There is no doubt in my mind, that through recent years we have began to see just a little bit of how this thing of the foolish coming to the wise can begin to have an effect. The brother that came here from Costa Rica, (You all remember when he was here, a fellow by the name of Morellis. When he finally got here, the first thing he did was give his testimony of how God had showed him He would take him to the States. He told him to get ready: he would meet a man that would give him new wine. When he finally arrived in the States, he meet some other people in Denver Colorado which said to him, We know the man you need to see. When he finally came here and told his testimony, he was so enthused. The sad part of it is, when he went back, he went back through Denver; and somehow or other deep inside him, he was wanting to meet an element of people by which he could continue coming to the States at various times and travel from church to church, strictly like a circuit rider, and collect sums of money, which he was doing through the apostolic line of people. All of this began to let me know the man only wanted this new wine so he could go back to Costa Rica and produce a following that caters to the old Charismatic realm of belief which he had seen when Jimmy Swaggart was down there.

There is no way you are going to take the revelation of the new wine and put it in that old framework. God will not allow it. He came here twice; but it did not work out the way he evidently wanted it to: for I no longer hear anything from him. Then there was the man that came from Guatemala. He was coming to the states so very troubled because of what he saw going on in the various groups of the message. When he came here and spent some days with us, we talked with him at length. He said, I have never seen a group of people like this. But when we paid his way to come here in the 1993 summer convention, I could see then, that he had lost that vigorous picture of the revelation he seemed to have a few months earlier, when he had come to see things for himself. When he dropped out of sight, I do not hear from him anymore either. My point is, if God ever speaks to you and God is out to lead you all the way into this revelation, He is not going to cause you to be derailed. He is going to deal with you in a way that when He is done with you, you are going to be sitting somewhere hungering for whatever else He has for you. You are going to be rejoicing in the Lord and looking for fellowship with others who have the same revelation. Saints I am not saying these things to condemn anyone: but rather to give a little illustration of how this parable of the wise and foolish virgins really works in its scriptural application. No one said to anyone, We cannot give you what you want: we tried the best we could to give it to them; but in the end it was just not received. Oh they hear something is going on. They want it; but somehow or other when they get where it is, and they begin to have it explained to them, there is just enough doubt to keep them from receiving the whole thing. There is a little fear of unbelief that what they are hearing could not be right. Therefore when you see that the foolish do begin to come, we will say, In the representation they are supposed to in order to climax this parable in its end time application, by that time there is no way, even if you sit up all night explaining it to them, that they could ever completely receive the true revelation of this WORD: Because from within this very setting, the Spirit of the Lord actually creates the condition wherein the Lord Himself says, “I know you not.” He does not say, Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. He just says, “I know you not.” It means He does not know them to be a part of His Bride. By that time, He has already brought His Bride in. He has made Himself known to her by divine revelation. That is the way the people understand the Lord; and the next state they are looking for is to see Him in the rapture. I will read verse 12, now: so you can have the actual wording of the whole verse. “But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.”

HOW GOD HAS DEALT WITH THE CHURCH IN THE LAST CENTURIES

We are beginning the message with this kind of background because we need to be brought up to date on how God has led the true Church coming out of the DARK AGES, all the way to where she is today. Luther, Calvin and Knox had dealt with faith: The just shall live by faith and so forth; but none of them had touched the Bible doctrine of sanctification. The sixth Church Age was fast coming to a close as the church world approached the 20th century. We know, according to the histories, that John Wesley was the messenger to that age. He come on the scene in 1700 and something. His teaching produced a restored doctrine of the Bible, sanctification. Up until this time the doctrine of sanctification had not been touched by the reformers. Luther, Calvin, Knox, all dealt mainly with faith; and then with the doctrines of predestination and eternal security. Those two doctrines, which were the next two doctrines of the Bible to be restored, the Charismatic church world will have nothing at all to do with either one of them. They were the next two doctrines to be restored to the Church after Luther was the instrument God used to restore faith as the way to come to God: rather than through a Catholic priest. Predestination and eternal security are two doctrines of the Bible that just seem to cause Pentecostal people especially, to try to climb a wall. That is the reason they have so many of the same people coming to the altar for salvation every time they have Revival emphasis on their meetings. They are lost, then saved, then lost again and saved again and so on: simply because they refuse to accept these two doctrines of the Bible. Naturally we understand that God is not perfecting the bride of Christ out there in those systems of religion; but there was a time when God used them when they were moving in all the revelation they had available to them. It is different now: They have all chosen their course and God has moved on and left them there going through their little rituals of what they call, Doing something for God. Most of what they are doing for God anymore is bundling tares. Nevertheless let me get back to our main thought. As we come through time and reach the hour of John Wesley, you begin to hear of the doctrine of sanctification: because John Wesley got hold of the scripture that says, (Hebrews 12:14) “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” In other words, The life of a Christian person, as they live in this world, has to take on the character and image of something set apart, something that is holy and clean. Through the 6th Church Age, which was called the Philadelphian Age, found in the 3rd chapter of Revelation, sanctification and holiness was the main theme. This was known as the age of brotherly love. in the age of time when John Wesley’s teachings were receiving preeminence, coming on toward the dawning of the 20th century, you not only had the Wesleyan Church being formed, but later, as other generations came along, there seemed to be a cooling off; and as a result of this cooling off, some of those who were still very fervent in their belief in the holiness teachings of John Wesley, began to pick up the torch and re-light the flame; and out of that came a movement we call The Church of God. Later on, here came another branch called, The Nazarene Church. Through this period of time, especially in England, came the well known evangelists such as Charles Spurgeon and Charles Finney, and Dwight L. Moody. They had their evangelists that really shook society. They basically preached a salvation message in their hour of time. Coming on closer to the closing of the Philadelphia Age, we had two other movements known as The Quakers, and The Shakers. The Shaker movement, which established a place in Kentucky, was a shot off of the Quaker movement. Speaking in tongues was also evident in those movements. I say that because we have so many preachers today, in the Baptists and Methodists churches who are ever so ready to condemn any group where there is speaking in tongues evident. They have their own theology as they read the Bible; and they want to condemn anything outside of what they see. They stand ready to condemn anything of the moving of the Spirit of God because they think it all stopped with the age of the apostles. They do not even try to keep up to date where the move of the Holy Spirit has gone to. This is what makes it hard for young people that would come out and get a taste of it, to go home and treasure it: Dad and Mom find out about it, then they want to jump on them as though they are getting mixed up in a cult. If they cannot trace their route back through Pentecost, then they need not try to tell me they can trace it back to John the Baptist. YOU HAVE TO COME THROUGH THE UPPER ROOM TO GET FROM THERE TO HERE. When you take that attitude toward the things God is doing, you have put yourself in a closet, sealed the door, and yet expect that this is the route God is taking also. You are wrong. He has left you there to die. You have a theory, Yes a theory, and think the rest of the world is going to hell if they do not subscribe to it. It is very evident that the church world has thousands of people claiming to be Such and Such, and will be until they die; and the sad part is, Because they refuse to move on with God, most of them are going to split hell wide open. People who are too stubborn and ignorant to admit to certain things in the Bible cannot possibly be accepted by a God who is the author of the book. Let me say this at this time, Any farmer knows that whatever seed you plant, if you put it in the ground and give it the right attention and care, there is a law that will cause it to do what? What does the law of nature tell you it will do? IT WILL REPRODUCE ITSELF, will it not? There has never been a farmer yet that planted corn and got wheat. Well that is why you find in the gospel of Mark the parable I am going to read to you. (Mark 4:26-29) “And He (Jesus) said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; (27) And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. (28) For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, (That speaks of the stalk growth.) then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. (29) But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” What does that parable tell us? Does such a man expect to reap a crop that will be exact reproductions of that seed he puts in the ground? You can be assured that he does. Anything short of true reproduction is unacceptable. Any simple Christian preacher that would study his Bible and a little bit of history, ought to see from that parable that the Lord was telling them the Church will be planted on the day of Pentecost. Time will come about that it will die off from its original identity. But the Holy Ghost, which is the life of it, remains alive. He will watch over the seed that has been planted. In the process of time, within the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God will take on growth. That brings it through the Reformation, which the church world today does not want to recognize as being important. It was definitely important because it produced all the blades which are now old dead denominations. You look at a corn stalk. In September, the bottom blades begin to turn yellow first. Death is setting in. As that death comes up the stalk, what does it do? All the stored nutrients of plant food is pushed up the stalk right into the ear. That is the only part of the whole thing where you will find any life by that time. That is what makes all those kernels swell and get full. It pulls all the moisture up and puts it in there. Then when you are up here where the ear is, by that time the blades are all dead. If there are any corn stalks left standing out there now in December, they are as dead as they can be; but the corn (which is a reproduction of what was planted) is in the crib. It goes to show that is the law of nature, it reproduces itself. You Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, you ought to realize that God is going to have a Church in the end time, that is not only going to have the Holy Ghost with these manifestations, she is going to have the Holy Ghost reveal to her the word of God; and she is going to walk with the Lord exactly like the early Church did. THE CHURCH WE SEE IN THE BOOK OF ACTS IS GOING TO REPRODUCE ITSELF. GOD WILL ACCEPT NOTHING LESS THAN AN EXACT REPRODUCTION OF THE FIRST AGE CHURCH WHEN IT COMES TO TAKING A BRIDE FOR HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. Therefore as the Age of Philadelphia was coming to a close, it is very apparent God was getting ready to change the order of events. Because when we come to the hour of about 1898, according to the records here, there was a man by the name of Charles Parham. In 1898 he felt impressed to build a school through which he would teach divine healing. He got this old building in an old place called Stone’s Folly on the outskirts of Topeka, Kansas. That was the date the record says he set this school up. He was a man that was definitely being moved and used of God to begin laying the stepping stones of what eventually broke out at Azusa St. He had about forty students. On the night of January 1, 1901, all attention became drawn to an eighteen year old girl. They had all been fasting and praying and seeking the will of God through the study of various scriptures. She began to speak in tongues. With this experience Charles Parham and his students began to make a thorough study of the Bible, especially the book of Acts. They were the ones that began to realize there was a definite move of God and that this speaking in tongues was an experience that belonged to the Church. To them it appeared just like it was in the upper room. I will cut out a lot of what is in the story so it will not require so much editing to get the main points in print. These students one by one, began to receive this same experience. By the time we come to the year 1905, word had already reached the states that in the Welsh Isles there has already been a revival taking place. It started about 1904 and it ran at its peak, on into the year 1905. That news began to reach the states. Frank Bartleman who was born and raised in the east, enters the picture. Slowly in his Christian experience in evangelizing (He was also a reporter and a writer.) he was making his way westward, not realizing that somewhere in the far west God has something for him to do. The point now is, by the year 1905, Charles Parham with a group of his people, had began to do a lot of evangelistic work. You young people sitting here, you went with Bro. Bud to Georgia and many of you went to Bro. Warren’s when Bro. Allen was down there. You probably do not realize the importance of a witness like that. That is exactly the way the Pentecostal tongue talking message was spread, in the early days of this century. Those various preachers took with them many of the people that had experienced this move of the Spirit. By doing that, everywhere they went, it became evident to the people they ministered to that such an experience was available to all who would receive it. According to the records, Charles Parham traveled from Missouri all the way into Texas spreading this message all over the Midwest; and he acquired facilities in Houston Texas and set up a school there, in 1905. It was not long until the black preacher by the name of William Seymour, a Nazarene, came into the picture. He heard about Bro. Parham; and started attending his school. Soon he began to hear some of those that came to Parham’s meetings speak in tongues and he became all caught up in it. He became so enthused by hearing this, and by realizing that this was that same thing that happened on the day of Pentecost, he began to seek God for the experience himself. Then coming into the year 1906, he had received an invitation to come to Los Angeles California to a church pastored by a woman preacher. Her name was Nelly Terry. (I am going to bring these names into the message as we go along: For if I fail to, when this is printed, I will get a lot of letters and calls asking, Could you send me this, could you send me that; and I am just not able to do that. We are just going to put enough history in as we go along, so as you are reading the message you will be reading that portion of the history that makes this a picture for you. We cannot send boxes of history books and such like; but if we can put it in a simple message to you, then you will have enough history to prove to you that we are not just grabbing this out of the air.) It was in this church that Bro. Seymour, a Nazarene church, preached on this experience of receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the manifestation of speaking in tongues the very first night he preached in Los Angeles. The woman pastor of the church rose up and said she would have nothing to do with such fanaticism in the congregation. The next day Bro. Seymore found the church building locked; and the records show that there was a number of the people that pulled out of that congregation after that. On another street, a certain man opened up facilities for the meetings; and there, is where Bro. Seymour began to preach. According to the history, as the news about the Welsh revival began to infiltrate to the states, different preachers who were at that time not affiliated in any way with any of the Pentecostal realm of people, that began to inquire about the experience. Some were Baptists, some were Holiness, some were from the Church of God; and also from the Methodists. Some of them began writing to a man in the Welsh Isles: His name was Evan Roberts. He began to communicate with these various people, both on the east coast as well as with California on the west coast. This information of the type of revival it was, and the power of God, how it worked among them, and some of the sensational experiences the people had were made known and this stimulated into action an element of people within these various church circles. They began to pray that God would come on the scene here in the states doing the same thing. By this time Frank Bartleman was in the west, in California; and he also began to communicate with Bro. Evan Roberts. As time passed, he too came right to the same area where Bro. Seymour was preaching. At that time there was a church, the First Baptist Church of Los Angeles, which was pastored by a man by the name of Frank Smale. (In the history book it gives his name as Joseph Smale; but in Frank Bartleman’s book his name is called Frank Smale.) There was also a Methodist Church in Pasadena. Both of those churches became interested in a revival that was to be, we will say, Like the Welsh revival. Well here was Bro. Seymour: He was on a street called Bonnie Brae St.; and he was preaching on the front steps and porches of the people’s houses along that street. It says in this book the streets were full of people. Hundreds stood and listened to him preach this experience. Already those people that had experienced this move of the Spirit were heard by others, praying in tongues as well as singing in other languages. The Newspapers began to publish what a terrible thing had come to Los Angeles: like it was something inspired of the devil. That always happens; but as Frank Bartleman said in his book, The more it was criticized, the more curious people became. They only gave us free advertisement. I have to say this also, No doubt, up the road in front of us somewhere, as we walk with God, and an element of people begin to hear what has been taking place, you are going to see the same thing happen here. The world in general does not want anything like this going on. My point is, We are not the same kind of people that these articles were written about. We have a foundation of truth to go along with our experience. These people had no Biblical foundation of belief to rest their experience on. In fact, some preachers in this book have admitted that they have just about stopped preaching. All they want to do is come, sing, pray, and all of a sudden the people are falling on the floor, having all these kinds of sensations. When you read it, you can see that they had no Bible doctrine to keep them on a true course. No saints, I will not speak evil of the sensations. I will not speak evil of the Spirit of God: because when He does this He is doing exactly what He said He would. You know this, in the 13th chapter of Matthew, Jesus brings in the last parable, that would be when the great separation would take place. He says God would send forth His angels and gather out of His kingdom all things that offend. Therefore God has every right, by a move of His Spirit to take certain portions of Himself and manifest that to elements of people in every place, Simply because He knows there are a lot that do not want any revelation. He just gives them what excites them and they think they have the right thing to be the bride of Christ; but the truth is, they only have a little fore taste. What they have just serves to bind Catholics and Protestants together into such a bond of fellowship they become completely blinded to reality in God. They really think they have the very thing that is going to take us to heaven. They do not realize that they do not even know where they are in the Bible. Nevertheless what is going on out there is not of the devil. What is of the devil, is the part that keeps people going on believing everything is all right when they have no understanding of the plan and purpose of God. That is the devil part. He has literally stripped them of every spiritual thing they could possibly have to even believe the word of God with. Therefore they just receive this anointing; and as long as the blessings are poured all over them they want nothing else. They are completely thrilled and satisfied with what they are receiving. There is a group not too far from here, that vindicate my words. A few nights earlier, when some of us were down here at a restaurant after the church service, there were two elderly sisters that got up and came over to stand behind us and asked, Where is the certain sister they described? They began to describe how she fixes her hair; and we knew the sister they were talking about. We told them she had been sick and could not be with us; and they remarked of seeing us come into the restaurant at other times and so forth. Then they said to us, We got out late tonight: because we had one sister that fell out in the Spirit, on the floor. She got up once and we thought we were going to be dismissed; but she fell out again and lay there for another hour. Those two ladies were both wearing pants and very thrilled with what they had been experiencing lately. They said to us, Our crowds have really increased since our pastor said we could wear pants. Then we asked them, Where do you go? New Albany Church of God, they replied. That is the large building up on the corner. I thought to myself, Yes, the Charismatic experiences are coming down the road right to them. It will slay them on the floor; but it does not matter whether they are wearing shorts, pants, ear rings, or a log chain around their necks or what. There is no revelation whatsoever in those scriptures they all use. They just simply speak of the experiences the early Church had: They do not teach anyone how to walk with God once the experiences have passed. Let me get back to the part we were dealing with. As this revival really breaks on Bonnie Bray St. the crowds began to come, and they continually increased. It was not long until Frank Bartleman came into the picture. He heard about what was going on and he joined in. He was in the picture when the move of God began to be experienced over at the Baptist Church that was pastored by Frank Smale. They had been praying for the same kind of revival. Also in Pasadena, in this certain Methodist Church, where they were praying for the same kind of revival. As time moved on, all those people from the two churches, as well as the many others that were from the various communities around about, the Nazarene and such as were becoming involved in this move of the Spirit there on Bonnie Bray St., finally realized they had to have a building. That is when they come to the place called Azusa St. They found this old building that had originally been a Methodist Church, years ago. The building had been turned into a livery stable. Then later on a lumber company used it to store lumber. At the time they were able to acquire this building, it was in a very run down condition; but they got it all cleaned out and cleaned up to where they could use it. They took boards and blocks and fixed seats for the people to sit on. Bro. Seymour, with his crowd, moved into that place. It tells about one particular occasion when they were entering the Passover season: It was April, 1906. The Spirit moved in such a manner they shouted and praised God for three days and nights; and the fire began to fall. As it did, from then on through the rest of 1906, 1907, and 1908 and into 1909, the recorded record declares that it lasted like that for three and one half years. As you read in the books about all these manifestations we have been preaching and talking about, just remember, That is not a picture of just one group of people. It started with the local groups, the one in the Smale Baptist Church, the one in the Pasadena Methodist Church, as well as the other local people that came; but after awhile, when this became known and began to spread, Frank Bartleman began to write articles about it and sent them to eastern papers and well as other papers that began to inquire about it. It was not long until it was known all over the world. It says in these articles, that pilgrims came from the ends of the earth, from India, Africa, Europe, Canada and so forth. Some sacrificed their whole life’s earnings just to get there and get this experience. Out of that revival at Azusa Street. came men that when they felt it was necessary, they began to go to the ends of the earth. They went to South Africa, they went to Europe, they crossed the ocean to the Scandinavian countries and preached about experience. That brings it up to a point where I want to say this, I now understand why the Baptist preacher at Lillehammer, Norway, when we were there that first year, (1972) meant. This Baptist preacher, (I do not remember his name. Bro. Strommen knows who I am talking about.) told me one day, that back in the early 1930’s, (He told what year it was.) while pastoring a mission in a certain city, that on one particular day approaching the winter season, (They lived in the apartment above where they held the church service.) at a certain time of the evening, he went down to build a fire in the wood stove as he was in the habit of doing: so it would have time to warm up before service time. He built the fire, and while waiting for the fire to build up so he knew it would heat the room, and so he could damper it down before going back upstairs he thought, While I am waiting for the fire to warm up, I will go to the front pew and kneel down and pray. He said, “The thought came to me, Lord, they say there are so many promises in your book. I did this, I just put my Bible on top of my head and said, Lord, would you just bless me with one of them.” About that time something hit him and he just passed out. Here he is laying flat on his back. He said, “I do not know how long I lay there; but when I began to come to my senses I was talking in another language. He said, I lay there talking in this other language for some time: For how long, I do not know. But the thought came to me, I must go back upstairs or my wife will think something is wrong.” He got up and started up the stair steps; and as he opened the door his little two year old daughter was standing there. The minute he opened the door his little girl looked at him, Mommy, come here, see Daddy. He heard his wife say, “That is alright honey: Daddy has been with Jesus.” When his wife said that, the little girl just flung herself into his arms and said, Daddy, take me to Jesus too. So with his little girl in his arms he headed back down the stairs. By the time he reached the bottom step his little two year old girl was speaking in another language. He said, “It started a move of the Spirit; and that move stayed with us for;” and he told the period of time. One other night they were all praying in this mission place. They were all kneeling at their pews when all of a sudden someone said, “The ceiling is on fire! ” It was a manifestation of the power of God. He said, “When that fire fell from the ceiling it looked like everyone present just passed out on the floor, speaking in tongues.” In the record here, it tells about it: When it went through the Scandinavian countries, there were many strange, phenomenal experiences. When you look in here, these denominational preachers who have sat back in the woods, or in the closet like a dried up hickory nut, never received anything. They say, I have always been a Methodist; and I will die a Methodist. I will have to say at this time, Hell is going to get a lot of them. They do not know a bit more about what God is doing right now than they know about the moon. I would venture to say they know more about the moon than they do about the God they claim to serve. He is restoring His church back to its original image and there is no way they can stop it. I feel sorry for young people brought up in Methodist and Baptist homes today, by parents and church leaders who will not open up to God. They actually look upon these children as if they would be better off out there running with the dope gangs, than they are associating with those in the Holy Ghost gang, so to speak. I have to say the judgment in this hour, on this type of society, is going to be terrible. As we go on with this, I want to remind you that the central figures of that hour when these individuals received these experiences we are talking about were Frank Bartleman, Bro. Seymour, Bro. Smale and a few others. At this time, I will not bring the others into this message. However according to this record, as the move began to now take place in Azusa St. sometimes the Spirit would fall and they would lay prostrate, stacked up like cord wood. Many would come out speaking in another language. Other times there were other ways the spirit would move. They would dance, sing shout for hours on end. They would have three services a day, morning, afternoon, and again at night. This went on for three and one half years. As it did, the record of the hundreds of people that came to this spot, received this experience, and went to their various places in the world to proclaim the reality of it, are too many to record. God just sovereignly moved upon them, gave them their experience and let then go tell about it. From reading these records you would have to say, It is very evident that at the hour of Azusa St., looking at the category of people, Methodists, Baptists, Nazarene, Church of God, and various other holiness, independent missions, and even a few Catholics scattered here and there, that they all received this experience. However when you read the record, both here, and here, you have to realize that there was no foundational teaching that could bring this experience to the rest of the scriptures and give it a solid foundation to build upon. Therefore before very long, these same people began to pull certain things that would cater to their particular denominational doctrine. All of this should tell people it was not yet time for God’s church to be set in order. It was a move of the Spirit for the sole purpose of giving back to the church world a chance to see the supernatural in operation; and a chance for some to receive such an experience. After a period of time, it plainly tells you right in this history, that there were five missions started. There were about five in the early months of this: Then they broke out and started other missions. It gives the addresses. They were keeping the same experience: but pulling away because of certain doctrinal differences. Basically it was all over sanctification. Up to the twentieth century the main message was sanctification; and among those that held to sanctification, there were two lines of belief about it. Sanctification, to some, was instantaneous. Others believed it had to be a progressive work of the Spirit. The analysis on both sides though, was that it is definitely a second work of grace. They were not yet ready for the third work of grace. When those differences began to come into prominence, Charles Parham, who was very much like a theologian, wrote a thesis showing that this experience is the third work of grace. Then when they began to pick this up and show it as the third work of grace, that is when certain groups began to pull away and start their own missions. As this happened, some of the Baptists that received this experience just continued right on in their own denominational churches. We can see this move was destined to be a light to the denominational world in that hour. God was giving back the access, or the opportunity to receive this experience; but as the years came on, both to Charles Parham, as well as Frank Bartleman, it tells of one particular man that seeing what the Lord was doing, began to praise the name of Jesus. This began to cause him to wonder, Oh to praise the name of Jesus and see so many wonderful things happening. He began to search his Bible and found that every case in the book of Acts, where anyone was baptized, it was all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He started preaching it like that; and that is when a great shaking took place among the people who had received this experience. Over the months that followed, coming to 1908, 1912, 1916, there was a great division among them. Out came the Assemblies of God. They became the great defenders of this Pentecostal experience with what they referred to as the initial evidence of speaking in tongues. However to them, all of those people that took water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and preached one God, were out of the pit: To them it was all brought about by the devil. That is why the Assemblies of God began to organize and become so strong. They established in their articles of faith that they believed in the second work of grace, sanctification; but that there is a third work of grace which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues. They wanted nothing to do with the baptism in the name of Jesus though. As for the evidence of the Holy Ghost being that of speaking in tongues, I have seen F.F. Bosworth in the short years he was alive after we came to know Bro. William Branham; but I did not know that Bosworth did not believe in that evidence teaching. F.F. Bosworth belonged to the Assemblies of God; but he challenged some people to a debate about it. According to this record, it took place in Canada. He felt like other things of the Spirit were just as much a sign of the presence of the Holy Ghost as that of speaking in tongues. Nevertheless the record shows that he lost the debate and the Assemblies of God barred him from being able to minister, or pastor, or evangelize anywhere in the Assemblies of God circle. For that reason, he more or less became an independent evangelist and his ministry overlapped the period when Bro. William Branham was on the scene. All these things go to show that this move came basically without a definite revelation. It was basically to give people access to an experience, a taste of the supernatural, more or less to acquaint them with what the Church had at Pentecost. Then when the time did come that He had to test them with the revelation of proper water baptism, which actually is in the scriptures as plain as the nose on your face, they could not see it. That is the sad part of it all. Right here in the pages of these papers I am holding, it tells what is going on in Singapore, London England, South Africa, St. Louis, Missouri, various places in Canada and in the United States; but like those of the early years of this century, most of them are receiving this anointing without any revelation to know anything about the plan and purpose of God. They talk of going to heaven as if that is the only thing ahead for the Church. Going to heaven is just part of the picture: The true bride Church is coming right back here to earth with Jesus: to rule and reign with Him for a thousand years. They (the true Church) know they are not going to heaven to just float around on a cloud throughout all eternity. The word of God has a plan laid out for all who will be leaving here when the rapture takes place; and the rest of those who spend so much time talking about going to heaven, will not be going anywhere except into the great tribulation period: which will be a period of time when they will have the opportunity to die for whatever measure of faith they do have in the Lord Jesus Christ. You would be surprised at the comments some of these preachers are making, that endorse this move of the Spirit that is going on among them. It is obvious that they have no revelation whatsoever. In fact, one preacher has already stated that because of this moving of the Spirit, he has just about reached the place where, as he put it, I lay the Bible aside on preaching. I thought to myself, That is not what the apostles of Christ Jesus did. Had the apostles done that two thousand years ago, we would not have a Bible in print that we could read. I have to say, The whole thing would have perished in about two hundred years: if it had been treated by the apostles of Christ the way so-called preachers of our day treat it. When the Spirit was given to the early Church, it lifted up the people and put a revelation in them; and they received an understanding of the plan of God. That caused the New Testament to become a written record. Every doctrine was written in that hour. Out here we find, in what is supposed to be the church as far as the world in general knows, that they lay all Bible doctrine aside for the sake of unity, saying, We don’t need doctrine: We just need to love one another and love Jesus. All we need for that, is this wonderful move of the Spirit.

A TRUE MOVE OF THE SPIRIT

Having given you this much background, I want to try and show you that the Azusa St. revival was a true move of the Spirit of God. It was God’s way of giving the church world the same access to the supernatural that others had before them. He used Martin Luther in his day. I was just reading awhile ago, Martin Luther in his hour, (1520) spoke in tongues, and even prophesied and predicted many things that were to take place in his hour. That is why, in his hour, they called him a prophet. Yet we still need to realize that he brought with him a trinity form of baptism. Nevertheless God did use him to restore the teaching of faith in God, bypassing the old church system. Along with that came Calvin and Knox. Then came Wesley. Finally, at the turning of the century, at the beginning of what we know as the Laodicean Age, God sent this Holy Ghost blessing to give denominational people an opportunity to receive something that could change their lives. Down through the years, the Baptist systems, not every individual Baptist person, but the systems, also the Methodist system, and all denominational organizations, set up their headquarters, set up their articles of faith, and they opposed any mention of a move of the Spirit of God in this way. They said it was of the devil. That does not necessarily make the individual people evil: It is the system governing them, that is evil: because their doctrine is antichrist. They refuse to let God do anything else to open their eyes. There were many of those same people that did get their eyes opened though; and God dealt with them as individual’s. They were the ones that came to this experience; and then followed God. By the 1930’s, this move of the Spirit was going around the world. By the time WW2 was coming to an end, God was definitely going to do something within the Laodicean Age; because by that time we were just about half way through it. We are living in the second half, going towards the terminating point. That is one reason why church leaders of the world in general do not see that it would even be necessary for God to send a messenger to the age. That is why I have said, If they cannot see that God would send a messenger, and if they cannot see that six seals in the book of Revelation have already been revealed, then it going to be impossible for them to understand the Godhead. Therefore regardless of how much they may dance, shout, speak in tongues and fall out on the floor for hours at a time, if what they get does not do for them what Jesus spoke of in John 16, (where He said that Comforter would teach you all things) you will still be left standing here when the bride Church goes to glory. When a move comes along that makes them think this is the same thing that happened at Pentecost, (and I assure you that to some it is) if it fails to produce the same results, you just have to realize that foolish virgins will not, because they can not, receive the same revelation in the same measure the bride has it.