Wonderful and fearful words from the past...
The truth must be told. Azusa began to fail the Lord also, early in her history. God showed me one day that they were going to organize, though not a word had been said in my hearing about it. The Spirit revealed it to me. He had me get up and warn them against making a party spirit of the Pentecostal work. The baptized saints were to remain one body, even as they had been called, and to be free as His Spirit was free, not entangled again in a yoke of (ecclesiastical) bondage. The New Testament Church saints had already arrested their further progress in this way. God wanted a revival company, a channel through whom He could evangelize the world, blessing all people and believers. He could naturally not accomplish this with sectarian party. That spirit has been the curse and death of every revival body sooner or later. History repeats itself in this matter.
Sure enough the very next day after I dropped this warning in the meeting I found a sign outside Azusa reading Apostolic Faith Mission. The Lord said: That is what I told you. They had done it. Surely a party spirit cannot be Pentecostal. There can be no divisions in a true Pentecost. To formulate a separate body is but to advertise our failure, as a people of God. It proves to the world that we cannot get along together, rather than causing them to believe in our salvation. That they may all be one; that the world may believe. - John 17:21. And from that time the trouble and division began. It was no longer a free Spirit for all as it had been. The work had become one more rival party and body, along with the other churches and sects of the city. No wonder the opposition steadily increased from the churches. We had been called to bless and serve the whole body of Christ, everywhere. Christ is one, and His body can be but one. To divide it is but to destroy it, as with the natural body. In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, - I Cor. 12:13. The church is an organism not a human organization.
They later tried to pull the work on the whole coast into this organization, but miserably failed. The work had spread as far as Portland and Seattle, under Sister Crawford. Gods people must be free from hierarchism. They are blood-bought, and not their own. An earlier work in Texas, later tried to gather in the Pentecostal missions on the Pacific Coast, and Los Angeles, but also failed. Why should they claim authority over us? We had prayed down our own revival. The revival in California was unique and separate as to origin. It came from Heaven, even Brother Seymour not receiving the baptism until many others had entered in here. He did not arrive in Los Angeles until the eleventh hour. The great battle from the beginning, both in Los Angeles and elsewhere, has been the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, between Ishmael and Isaac.
Sunday, August 12, we opened up at Eighth and Maple streets. The Spirit was mightily manifest from the very first meeting. He was given complete control. The atmosphere was terrible for sinners and backsliders. One had to get right in order to remain at Eighth and Maple. Fearfulness truly surprised the hypocrites. For some days we could do little but lay before the Lord in prayer. Sister Hopkinson was a great help to me in the beginning,
The atmosphere was almost too sacred and holy to attempt to minister in. Like the priests in the Tabernacle of old we could not minister for the glory. We had terrible battles with fleshly professors and deceivers also. But God gave victory. The Spirit was much grieved by contentious spirits. The atmosphere at Eighth and Maple was for a time even deeper than at Azusa. God came so wonderfully near us the very atmosphere of Heaven seemed to surround us. Such a divine weight of glory was upon us we could only lie on our faces. For a long time we could hardly remain seated even. All would be on their faces on the floor, sometimes during the whole service, I was seldom able to keep from lying full length on the floor on my face. There was a little raise of about a foot, for a platform, when we moved into the church, On this I generally lay, while God ran the meetings.
They were His meetings. Every night the power of God was powerfully with us. It was glorious. The Lord seemed almost visible. He was so real. We had the greatest trouble with strange preachers, who wanted to preach. Of all the people they seemed to have the least sense. They did not know enough to keep still before Him. They liked to hear themselves. |