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  • Adventures in God. by John G Lake.

  • John Graham Lake was a man of prayer and commitment. To better understand the quality of his life,

  • you will want to read his consecration to God at the close of this book. At the Lake

  • Healing Rooms in Spokane, Washington, 100,000 healings were recorded in five years. Dr.

  • Ruthlidge of Washington, D C, called Spokane the healthiest city in the world as a result

  • of Lake's Healing Rooms. John G Lake was born March 18, 1870, at St.

  • Mary's, Ontario, Canada. While he was still a child, his parents moved to the United States.

  • At the age of 21, he became a Methodist minister, but later chose to start a newspaper instead

  • of accepting a church ministry. After his marriage, Lake's wife entered into

  • a prolonged serious illness, but was miraculously delivered under the ministry of John Alexander

  • Dowie in April 1898. This experience forever altered the direction of John G Lake's life

  • and ministry. All that he accomplished as a result of his

  • intense regard for the Word of God stands as an example to all Christians of what is

  • possible for any person who will believe and act on the Scriptures.

  • Adventures in God.

  • I found God as a boy, so for 50 years, I have been walking in the light of God understanding

  • fellowship with Him and listening to His Voice. I want to call to your attention some of the

  • things the Christian enjoys that others miss. A dear man received an injury that caused

  • his death in a motor accident not far from Beaverton, the day after this man was killed,

  • I was visiting some friends in Beaverton and they told me of his Injury. After our visit,

  • my wife and I were driving into the city. As we were coming up one of the highway a

  • Voice said, "Pull onto the left of the road and stop."

  • Don't you know that Voice, Christian heart? That Voice is so common that I never even

  • spoke of it to my wife. The left side is the wrong side of the road,

  • and you are breaking the traffic law to be there. But I have listened to that Voice so

  • many years that I have learned in most cases to obey it. Jesus said, "My sheep know my

  • voice." (John 10:27.) (The thought I am trying to bring to you,

  • dear friends, is the value of knowing the Lord and what communion with God means. Salvation

  • is not just something God gives you that is going to bless you after you die; it is having

  • the presence of the Lord now. God has promised to the Christian the guidance and direction

  • of the Holy Spirit.) I pulled onto the left hand side of the road,

  • ran the wheels of my car close into the ditch, and stopped. Immediately, I heard the grinding

  • of a great truck coming around the curve. I had not seen it before. Instead of coming

  • normally, it was coming down the driver's left hand side of the road at a 45 degree

  • angle. The truck had gone out of control and was covering the whole road!

  • If I had been on my side of the road, it would have sideswiped me and pushed me over the

  • bank. A 100 foot drop down! But I was on the other

  • side when the great thing swept past me. The truck went 50 to 100 feet beyond me, struck

  • a rough spot in the road, and straightened itself. The driver got the truck under control

  • and went on. Dear friends, men in the Word of God were guided by the Voice of God. God

  • talked to them. This is the inner thing of real Christian experience, the reason men

  • seek by the grace of God to enter into the real heart of God into the real soul of Jesus

  • Christ into the place where He lives within you where His Voice speaks in your heart.

  • I was sitting one day in the home of the DeValeras in Krugersdorp, South Africa, when a man arrived

  • who had traveled all over the country. He had been following me from place to place,

  • trying to catch up with me. He suffered a sunstroke which had affected his mind and

  • he also had developed a large cancer. He came into the house and proved to be a

  • friend of the family. In a little while a six year old child who had been sitting near

  • me went across the room, climbed on the man's knees, put her hands on the cancer on his

  • face, and prayed. I saw the cancer wither. In half an hour, the thing had disappeared.

  • The wound was still there, but in a few days it was healed. After the child had laid her

  • hands on top of his head, he arose, saying, "Oh! The fire that has been in my brain has

  • gone out," and his mind was normal. Power belongs unto God. Psalms 62 Verse 11. The

  • simplest soul can touch God and live in the very presence of God and in His power.

  • It is almost sadness to my soul that men should be astonished and surprised at an ordinary,

  • tangible evidence of the power of God. A woman came into the Healing Rooms once with

  • a tumor larger than a full grown unborn child. Her physicians had been fooled, believing

  • it to be a child until nature's period had passed. Then they decided it must be something

  • else. She came to the Healing Rooms and I interviewed her. She said, "Mr. Lake, I have

  • the opinion of several physicians. They are all different, but each has said, 'It is possible

  • it may be a child.' But now the time has passed, and they do not know what to say." I put my

  • hand upon her for a moment, and I said, "Madame, it is not a child; it is a tumor." She sat

  • down and wept. Her nurse was with her. Her soul was troubled and she did not receive

  • healing. She came back on another afternoon for prayer and returned the next day wearing

  • her corsets. She said, "I came down to show you that I am perfectly normal. When I retired

  • last night at 10 o'clock, there was no evidence that anything had taken place, beyond that

  • I felt comfortable and the choking was gone. But when I awoke this morning, I was my normal

  • size." I asked, "Did it disappear in the form of fluid?"

  • She said, "There was not an outward sign of any character." Beloved, what happened to

  • it? It dematerialized. The tumor dissolved. What is a miracle? It is the tangible evidence

  • of the supreme control of the Spirit of God over every character and form of materiality.

  • Beloved, the power of such an event, such an act and sign, shows you and me that through

  • living, positive, actual contact with the Spirit of God, all things are possible. Blessed

  • be His Name! I was in a meeting in Los Angeles on one occasion.

  • An old black man was conducting the services'. He had the funniest vocabulary. But I want

  • to tell you, there were doctors, lawyers, and professors listening to marvelous things

  • coming from his lips. It was not what he said in words; it was what

  • he said from his spirit to my heart that showed me he had more of God in his life than any

  • man I had ever met up to that time. It was God in him who was attracting people. One

  • man insisted on getting up and talking every little while. Some people have a mania for

  • talking. The old black brother endured it for a long

  • time. Finally, the fellow got up again, and the old man stuck his finger out and said,

  • "In the Name of Jesus Christ, sit down!" The man did not sit down. He fell down. And his

  • friends carried him out. That is only one of the living facts of what Christianity is:

  • the divine power of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, filling a man's soul and body, flashing

  • through his nature like holy flame, accomplishing the will of God.

  • There is a baptism that belongs to Jesus. It is in His supreme control. No angel or

  • man can bestow it. It comes from Him alone. He it is which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

  • John 1 Verse 33. So the individual who wants the Holy Spirit must come into definite, conscious

  • contact with Jesus Christ Himself. Bless God! Almost a year before I went to Africa, as

  • I was praying one night, I was overshadowed by the Spirit of the Lord. The Lord showed

  • me various places in which I would labor for five years and, by the illumination that would

  • appear in the heavens, I knew the extent of the work in each place. The last of these

  • places I saw was South Africa. That night as I knelt on the floor, I was suddenly present

  • at a church in Johannesburg, South Africa, Where an acquaintance of mine was pastor.

  • I walked in the door of the church, walked the entire length of the church to the front

  • and into a little vestry. I looked around the place and took note of everything; the

  • furniture, the room, and all about it. All of this occurred as I prayed in my hometown

  • near Chicago. In less than a year, I was in that church and pastor of it. God did the

  • whole thing. I had nothing to do with it. God having shown with the illumination the

  • marvelous extent and character of the work He was going to do all over the land, I had

  • faith to believe that the thing God showed me would come to pass, mid I have lived to

  • see it through. One evening in my own tabernacle, a young girl about 16 to 18 years of age by

  • the name of Hilda suddenly became overpowered by the Spirit of God.

  • She arose and stood on the platform beside me. I recognized at once that the Lord had

  • given the girl a message, so I simply stopped preaching and waited while the Spirit of God

  • came upon her. She began to chant in some language I did not know, and then made gestures

  • like those a Mohammedan priest would make when chanting prayers. In the back of the

  • house I observed a young East Indian, whom I knew. He became enraptured and commenced

  • to walk gradually up the aisle. No one disturbed him, and he proceeded up the aisle until he

  • had reached the front. Then he stood looking into the girl's face with intense amazement.

  • When her message had ceased, I said to him, "What is it?" He answered, " Oh, she speaks

  • my language!" I said, "What does she say?" He came up on the platform beside me and gave

  • the gist of her message. "She tells me that salvation comes from God. In order to save

  • men, Jesus Christ, Who was God, became man. She says one man cannot save another; that

  • Mohammed was a man like other men, not a power to save a man from his sins. But Jesus was

  • God, and He had power to impart His Spirit to me and make me like God. While I was preaching

  • in a church in South Africa, an American lady whose son resided in the state of Iowa, was

  • present in a week night service. Before the service began, she called me into

  • the vestry and said she had just received a letter from her daughter in law. It stated

  • that the woman's son, It college professor, appeared to be tubercular. He was compelled

  • to give up his teaching position and was in a condition of great weakness. As I conversed

  • with the mother, I observed that she, too, believed her son to be tubercular and that,

  • unless healing came to him quickly, he would die. I returned to the Audience Room; and

  • as we were about to pray, I stepped to the end of the platform and asked the mother to

  • hand me the letter. Taking it in my hands, I knelt to pray, inviting all present to join

  • me in faith in God for the man's deliverance. My spirit seemed to ascend in God, and I lost

  • all consciousness of my environment. Suddenly, I found myself standing in that young man's

  • home in Iowa, nearly 10,000 miles from Johannesburg. The man sat by a hard coal heater with a little

  • boy about two years old on his lap. I observed him critically and said to myself, your face

  • is hard and shows no evidence of soul development or spiritual life, yet your affection for

  • your son is a redeeming quality. His wife sat on the opposite side of the table, reading

  • a magazine. Observing her, I remarked to myself, When he got you, he got a Tartar! While standing

  • behind the man's chair, I laid my hands on his head, silently praying for God to impart

  • to him His healing virtue and make the man well that he might bless the world and that

  • his mother's heart might be comforted. There was no knowledge of my return. In a moment

  • I was aware that I was kneeling on the Church platform. I had been uttering audible prayer

  • and the Spirit of God was resting deeply upon the people.

  • Some six weeks later, word was received that the young man was quite well. His recovery

  • had begun on the exact date that prayer was offered for him in our church 10,000 miles

  • away. I was absent from the city of Spokane for

  • a time and, when I returned, Mrs. Lake was not at home. It was just time to leave for

  • my afternoon service when someone came in and said, "Your secretary, Mrs. Graham, is

  • in the throes of death. Your wife is with her."

  • Immediately I hurried to the place. One of my ministers' wives met me at the door and

  • said, "You are too late; she is gone." As I stepped inside, the minister was coming

  • out of the room. He said, "She has not breathed for a long time." But looking on that woman,

  • I thought of how God Almighty had raised her out of death three years before; how He had

  • miraculously given her back her womb, ovaries, and tubes which had been removed in operations;

  • how she had married and conceived a child. As these thoughts arose, my heart flamed!

  • I took that woman up off the pillow and called op God for the lightnings of heaven to blast

  • the power of death and deliver her. I commanded her to come back and stay. She came back after

  • having not breathed for 23 minutes! We have not yet learned to keep in living

  • touch with the powers of God. Once in a while our souls rise, and we see the flame of God

  • accomplish this wonder and that. But, beloved, Jesus Christ lived in the presence of God

  • every hour of the day and night. Never a word proceeded from the mouth of Jesus Christ,

  • but that which was God's Word. He said, The words that I speak unto you, they ore spirit,

  • and they are life John 6 Verse 63. When you and I are lost in the Son of God

  • and the fires of Jesus burn in our hearts, as they did in his, our words will be the

  • words of Spirit and of life. There will be no death in them. Beloved, we are on the way.

  • Having formal acknowledgement as a student of science, it was my privilege to attend

  • clinics, which I frequently did. At one time I submitted myself to a series

  • of experiments. It was not sufficient to know that God healed; I had to know how God healed.

  • I visited one of the great experimental institutions and submitted myself for a series of experiments.

  • First, an instrument was attached to my head. This instrument had an indicator that would

  • register the vibrations of the brain. I began to repeat things like the 23rd Psalm

  • to soothe the mind and reduce its vibrations to the lowest point. Then I repeated the 31st

  • Psalm, the 35th chapter of Isaiah, the 91st Psalm, and Paul's address before Agrippa.

  • After this, I went into secular literature and recited Tennyson's "Charge of the Light

  • Brigade" and finally Poe's "The Raven" as I prayed in my heart that at the psychological

  • moment, God would anoint my soul in the Holy Spirit.

  • My difficulty was that while reciting, I could not keep the Spirit from coming upon me. When

  • I finished with "The Raven," those in charge of the experiment said, "You are a phenomenon.

  • You have a wider mental range than any human being we have ever seen."

  • In reality, this was not so. It was because the Spirit of God kept coming upon me to such

  • degree that I could feel the moving of the Spirit within me.

  • I prayed in my heart, "Lord God, if You will only let the Spirit of God come like the lightnings

  • of God upon my soul for two seconds, I know something is going to happen that these men

  • have never seen before. As I recited the last lines of the poem, suddenly

  • The Spirit of God struck me in a burst of praise and tongues. The indicator on that

  • instrument bounded to the limit and I haven't the least idea how much further it would have

  • gone if it had been possible. The professors said, "We have never seen anything

  • like it!" I replied, "Gentlemen, it is the Holy Ghost."

  • In the second experiment, a powerful X-ray machine with microscopic attachments was connected

  • to my head. The purpose was to see, if possible, what the action of the brain cells was.

  • I proceeded just as in the former experiment. First, I repeated Scriptures that were soothing

  • those calculated to reduce the action of the cortex coils to their lowest possible register.

  • Then I went to Scriptures which conveyed better and richer things until I reached the first

  • chapter of John. As I began to recite this, the fires of God began to burn in my heart.

  • Suddenly, the Spirit of God came upon me as before, and the man who was behind me touched

  • me. It was a signal to me to keep that poise of soul until one after another could look

  • through the instrument. Finally, when I let go, the Spirit subsided.

  • The professors said, "Why, man, we cannot understand this, but the cortex cells expanded

  • amazingly." I said to them, "Gentlemen, I want you to

  • see one more thing. Go down in your hospital and bring back a man who has inflammation

  • in the bone. Take your instrument and attach it to' his leg. Leave enough space to get

  • my hand on his leg. You can attach it to both sides."

  • When the instrument was ready, I put my hand on the man's shin and prayed like Mother Etter'

  • prays: no strange prayer, but the cry of my heart to God.

  • I said, "God, kill the devilish disease by Your power. Let the Spirit move in him; let

  • it live in him." Then I asked, "Gentlemen, what is taking place?

  • They replied, "Every cell is responding." It is so simple: The life of God comes back

  • into n part that is afflicted; immediately the blood flows; the closed, congested cells

  • respond; and the work is done! That is God's divine science.

  • Oh, beloved, when you pray, something is happening in you! It is not a myth; it is the action

  • of god. The Almighty God, by the Spirit, comes into

  • your soul, takes possession of your brain and manifests Himself in the cortex cells

  • of your brain. When you wish and will, either consciously or unconsciously, the fire of

  • God, the power of God, that life of God, that nature of God, is transmitted from the cortex

  • cells of your brain and throbs through your nerves down through your person, into every

  • cell of your being into every cell of your brain, your blood, your flesh, and your bone,

  • into every square inch of your skin, until you are alive with God!

  • That is divine healing. One day I sat talking to Father Seymour in

  • Los Angeles. I told him about the following incident in the life of Elias Letwaba, one

  • of our native preachers in South Africa: I went to his house one day in the country,

  • and his wife said, "He is not home. A little baby is hurt, and he is praying for it."

  • So I went over to the native hut, got down on my knees, and crawled inside. I saw Letwaba

  • kneeling in a corner by the child. I said, "Letwaba, it is me. What is the matter with

  • the child?" He told me the mother had been carrying it

  • on her back in a blanket as natives carry their children, and it fell out. He said,

  • "I think it hurt its neck." I examined the baby and saw that its neck

  • was broken. It would turn from side to side like the neck of a doll. "Why, Letwaba, the

  • baby's neck is broken!" I did not have faith for a broken neck, but

  • poor old Letwaba did not know the difference. I saw that he did not understand. He discerned

  • the spirit of doubt in my soul, and I said to myself, I am not going to interfere with

  • his faith. He will just feel the doubt generated by all the old traditional things I have learned,

  • so I will go outside. I went to another hut and kept on praying.

  • I lay own at 1 a.m. At 3 o'clock Letwaba came in.

  • I said, "Well, Letwaba, how about the baby?" He looked at me, so lovingly and sweetly,

  • and said, "Why, brother, the baby is all well. Jesus do heal the baby."

  • I said, "The baby is well! Letwaba, take me to the baby at once."

  • So we went to the baby. I took the little black thing on my arm and came out of the

  • hut praying: "Lord, take every cursed thing out of my soul that keeps me from believing

  • the Lord Jesus Christ." As I related the incident to Mr. Seymour,

  • he shouted, "Praise God, brother! That is not healing It is life!"

  • In my assembly in Spokane, there was a dear little woman who had been blind for nine years.

  • She had received very little teaching along the line of faith in God.

  • As she sat at home one day with her six children, she discovered that her dirty brute of a husband

  • had abandoned her and the children, leaving them to starve. (A debased human being is

  • capable of things that no beast will do, for a beast will care for its own.)

  • You can imagine the effect this had on her little heart. She was crushed, broken, bruised,

  • and bleeding. They were all sitting together on the front

  • porch of their home. She gathered her children around her and began to pray.

  • Suddenly one of them got up and said, "Oh, Mama! There is a man coming up the path and

  • he looks like Jesus! And oh, Mama, there is blood on His hands and blood on His feet!"

  • The children were frightened and ran around the house.

  • After a while the biggest child looked around the corner and said, "Why, Mama, He is laying

  • His hands on your eyes!" And just then, her eyes were opened.

  • That is divine power... Some years ago there was a farmer in Indiana,

  • w1io used to be a friend of mine. His son, while in South America had contracted a dreadful

  • case of typhoid fever. Because he had no proper nursing, he developed a great fever sore ten

  • inches in diameter. His whole abdomen became grown up with proud flesh, one layer on top

  • of another until there were five layers. A nurse had to lift up these layers and wash

  • them with an antiseptic to keep out the maggots. When he exposed his abdomen to me to pray

  • for him, I was shocked. I had never seen anything like it before. As I began to pray for him,

  • I spread my fingers wide and put my hand right on that cursed growth of proud flesh. I prayed

  • God in the name of Jesus Christ to blast the curse of hell and burn it up by the power

  • of God. After praying, I took the train back to Chicago.

  • The next day I received a telegram saying, "Lake, the most unusual thing has happened.

  • An hour after you left, the whole print of your hand was burned into that growth a quarter

  • of an inch deep." You talk about the voltage from Heaven and

  • the power of God! Why there is lightning in the soul of Jesus! The lightnings of Jesus

  • heal men by their flash! Sin dissolves and disease flees when the power

  • of God approaches! And yet we are quibbling and wondering if

  • Jesus Christ is big enough to meet our needs. Take the bars down!

  • Let God come into your life. In the name of Jesus, your heart will not

  • be satisfied with an empty Pentecost. But your soul will claim the light of God and

  • the lightnings of Jesus to flood your life! One day, as a young man, I needed healing

  • from Heaven, but there was nobody to pray for me. I was not even a Christian in the

  • best sense of being a Christian. I was a member of the Methodist church and had seen God heal

  • one dear soul who was very dear to me. As I sat alone, I said, "Lord, I am finished

  • with the doctor and the devil. I am finished with the world and the flesh. From today forward,

  • I lean on the arm of God." Right then and there, I committed myself to

  • God and God Almighty accepted my consecration to Him although there was no sign of healing.

  • The disease that almost killed me and had stuck on my life for nearly nine years was

  • gone! It was chronic constipation. I would take three ounces of castor oil at a single

  • dose three times a week. The place of strength and the place of victory

  • is the place of consecration to God. That victory will come when a man grits his teeth

  • and says, "I go with God this way." There is no man alive who can define the operations

  • of faith in a man's heart. But one thing we can be sure of: When we cut ourselves off

  • from every other help, we have never found the Lord Jesus Christ to fail. If there are

  • any failures, they are ours, not God's. Edward Lion was a native man who, until a

  • few years ago, didn't even wear clothes. He was illiterate and knew nothing whatever of

  • our conception of scholarship. But God anointed that man with the faith of

  • God and a measure of the Holy Ghost so intense that on one occasion when a multitude of sick

  • folk had been brought into a valley, the power of God came upon him and he went upon the

  • mountainside, stretched out his hands over the sick below, and poured out his heart to

  • God. In a minute, hundreds were healed! Healing

  • power fell upon them. There is no such instance recorded in the

  • New Testament. Jesus promised that the Last Days would be marked by greater works than

  • He Himself had wrought. In 19 12 I was pastor of the Apostolic tabernacle,

  • Johannesburg, South Africa. One of the cardinal teachings of our organization was the ministry

  • of healing through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The sick were brought from

  • all parts of the land; and thousands were healed through the prayer of faith and the

  • Laying on of hands of those who believed. Our church was then enjoying a great period

  • of spiritual blessing and power. Various remarkable manifestations of the Spirit commonly occurred.

  • At a Sunday morning service, before public prayer was offered, a member of the congregation

  • arose and requested that those present join in prayer on behalf of his cousin in Wales

  • (7,000 miles across the sea from Johannesburg), that she might be healed. He stated that the

  • woman was violently insane and an inmate of an asylum in Wales. I knelt on the platform

  • to pray; and an unusual degree of the spirit of prayer came upon my soul, causing me to

  • pray with fervor and power. The spirit of prayer fell upon the audience at the same

  • time. The people ordinarily sat in their seats and

  • bowed their heads while prayer was being offered, but on this occasion 100 or more in different

  • parts of the house knelt to pray with me. I was uttering the audible prayer; they were

  • praying in silence. A great consciousness of the presence of God

  • took possession of me. My spirit rose in a great consciousness of spiritual dominion,

  • and I felt for the, moment as if I were anointed by the Spirit of God to, cast out demons.

  • My inner, or spiritual, eyes opened. I could see, in the spirit and observed that there

  • was a shaft of seeming light, accompanied by moving power, coming from many of those

  • who were praying in the audience. As the prayer continued, these shafts of light

  • from those who were praying increased in number. each of them reached my own soul, bringing

  • an increasing impulse of spiritual power until I seemed well nigh overcome by it.

  • While this was going on, I was uttering the words of prayer with great force and conscious

  • spiritual power. Suddenly, I seemed out of the body and, to

  • my surprise, observed that I was rapidly passing over the city of Kimberley, 300 miles from

  • Johannesburg. I was next conscious of the city of Cape Town on the seacoast, a thousand

  • miles away. My next consciousness was of the Island of St. Helena, where napoleon had been

  • banished; then the Cape Verde lighthouse on the coast of Spain.

  • By this time it seemed as if I were passing rough the atmosphere observing everything,

  • but moving with great lightning like rapidity. I remember the passage along the coast of

  • France, across the Bay of Biscay, into the hills of Wales. I had never been in Wales.

  • It was new country to me; and as I passed swiftly over its hills, I said to myself,

  • These are like the hills of Wyoming along the North Dakota border.

  • Suddenly, a village appeared. It was nestled in a deep valley among the hills. Next I saw

  • a public building that I recognized instinctively as the asylum.

  • On the door I observed an old fashioned 16th Century knocker. Its workmanship attracted

  • my attention and this thought flashed through my spirit: That undoubtedly was made by one

  • of the old smiths who manufactured armor. I was inside the institution without waiting

  • for the doors to open and present at the side of a cot on which lay a woman. Her wrists

  • and ankles were strapped to the sides of the cot. Another strap had been passed over her

  • legs above the knees, and a second across her breasts. These were to hold her down.

  • She was wagging her head and muttering incoherently. I laid my hands upon her head and, with great

  • intensity, commanded in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that the demon spirit

  • possessing her be cast out and that she be healed by the power of God. In a moment or

  • two, I observed a change coming over her countenance. It softened and a look of intelligence appeared.

  • Then her eyes opened, and she smiled up in my face. I knew she was healed. I had no consciousness

  • whatever of my return to South Africa. Instantly, I was aware that I was still kneeling in prayer,

  • and I was conscious of all the surrounding environment of my church and the service.

  • Three weeks passed. Then my friend who had presented the prayer request for his cousin

  • came to me with a letter from one of his relatives, stating that an unusual thing had occurred.

  • Their cousin, who had been confined for seven years in the asylum in Wales, had suddenly

  • become well. They had no explanation to offer. The doctors said it was one of those unaccountable

  • things that sometimes occur. She was perfectly well and had returned home

  • to her friends. After returning from Africa some years ago,

  • I spent some time visiting my brother and my sister. As we sat together one day, my

  • sister said, "John, I have some neighbors here who are elderly German people and they

  • are having a very hard time. "First, the old man died; then one of the

  • sisters died. This thing happened, and that thing happened. Finally, the son, who is a

  • shipbuilder, fell and was carried to the hospital. Now gangrene has set in; they say his leg

  • has to be amputated. "The old mother, a rheumatic cripple, has

  • been sitting in a wheelchair for two and a half years and cannot move."

  • My brother and I had been having a discussion over this very thing. Jim, a splendid fellow,

  • a professor and well educated, said, "Jack, don't you think these things are all psychological?"

  • "Not much," I said. Jim said, "I think it is. Don't you think

  • healing is a demonstration of the power of mind over matter?"

  • I said, "No. If that were all it is, you could give just as good a demonstration as I could."

  • After a while, our sister said, "I have been across the street and have made arrangements

  • for you to go and pray for these people." I said, "All right. Jim, come along."

  • When we arrived, I asked the old lady, "Mother, how long have you been in this wheelchair?"

  • She replied, "Two and a half years. It is awful hard. Not just hard sitting here all

  • the time, but I suffer night and day, with no moment of relaxation from my acute suffering

  • for all this time." As I listened to her, the flame of God came

  • into my soul. I said, "You rheumatic devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, I will blot you

  • out, if it is the last thing I ever do in the world!" Laying hands on her I looked to

  • Heaven and called on God to cast that devil out and set her free.

  • Then I said to her, "Mother, in the name of Jesus Christ, get out of your chair and walk!"

  • And she arose and walked! My brother said, ','My, it beats the devil."

  • I replied, "That's the intention!" We went into another room to see the son whose

  • leg was to be amputated. I sat for a few minutes and told him of the power of God. I said,

  • "We have come to you with a message of Jesus Christ, and we have not just come with the

  • message, but with the power of God." And laying my hands on the limb I said, "In

  • the name of the living God, they shall never amputate this limb!"

  • The leg was healed. After about six months, I again stopped at

  • my sister's home. The young lady from across the street called and said, "You must come

  • across and see my mother and brother. They are so well."

  • When I called, I found the old lady was very happy. I asked about her son. She said, "Oh,

  • Jake, he is not at home. Why, he is so well that he went down to the saloon and danced

  • all night!" I waited to see Jake and tried to tell him

  • something about the living God that he had felt in his body and who wanted to take possession

  • of his soul and reveal the nature of Jesus Christ in him.

  • Five years passed. When I again stopped at my sister's home, she said, "Do you remember

  • the people you prayed for across the road? Here is Jake now, coming from work."

  • We sat on the porch and talked. I said, "Well, Jake, how is it?"

  • "Oh," he said, "I do not understand it all, but something has been going on. It is in

  • me. First, I could not go to the dance. Next, I could not drink beer; then my tobacco did

  • not taste good; and then a joy came into my heart. I found it was Jesus."

  • This man had been born of God his nature brought into union with God by the Holy Spirit. Blessed

  • be His precious Name! A few days after my arrival in Johannesburg,

  • the superintendent of one of the great missionary societies said, "Our native pastor, who has

  • the church a few doors from your home, must leave for six weeks. Will you occupy the pulpit

  • of the native Church until you are ready to undertake your own work?"

  • This was God's first door. I instantly accepted! On Sunday afternoon I preached to a congregation

  • of 500 Zulus through a proficient interpreter, a woman missionary who had lived among the

  • Zulus for 30 years. As the meeting progressed, a spiritual condition

  • developed almost similar to the dread silence the deep stillness that permeates the atmosphere

  • preceding a cyclone. This condition in the Spirit climaxed suddenly

  • as, by a single impulse, the native audience burst into prayer. Everyone prayed, saints

  • and sinners alike, but no one came to the altar. No invitation was given.

  • God had come in overwhelming conviction for sin, and we were impressed that it was not

  • the mind of God to begin to reap until God Himself thrust in the sickle.

  • I feel, out of life's experience as a Holy Ghost preacher, that great damage is done

  • by not waiting for a real ripeness of the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul of an

  • audience. So frequently, an invitation is given and pressure is put on the audience

  • to bring souls to the altar before God's ripeness of Conviction unto repentance is complete.

  • At the close of the meeting my interpreter said, "In all my missionary experience, I

  • have never before seen such a spirit of prayer on a native audience."

  • The next meeting took place at 7 o'clock that evening. A quiet stillness pervaded the meeting.

  • God was searching hearts. I preached on repentance: real repentance,

  • hundred fold repentance, Holy Ghost repentance, heaven's metanoia, the completeness of separation

  • from the world, its sin and its spirit, like Jesus separated Himself unto all righteousness

  • at the River Jordan. (Matthew 3 Verse 13-15.) Suddenly, a man arose in the back of the audience

  • and started for the altar. When he was about ten feet away from the altar, the Spirit of

  • the Lord struck him and he fell flat on his face.

  • Another man arose and walked calmly and steadily to the front. When he came to where the first

  • man had fallen, the Spirit of the Lord struck him and he fell on top of No. 1!

  • One after another, they began to come forward. Each one in turn fell at the same spot until

  • fifteen men were piled, one on top of another. It was a hot, sultry night. I was troubled

  • because on the very bottom of the pile was a little man lying on his face. The next man

  • lay on top of him, pressing the first man's face into the floor, and I was afraid he would

  • smother. I had never witnessed such a situation before.

  • I had seen many wonderful manifestations of God, but none like this.

  • Soon my human sympathy for the little fellow on the bottom of the pile overcame me. I stooped

  • down and tried to pull two or three of these men off him; but they were so piled up, one

  • on top of another, that it seemed impossible to reach him.

  • The Spirit of the Lord spoke within my soul and said, "If God has slain these, can you

  • not trust Him to keep them from smothering?" I replied, "Excuse me, Lord," and returned

  • to my seat on the platform. My interpreter was greatly disturbed. She

  • said, "Dr. Lake, what will you do now?" I replied, "The Lord is doing this. We will

  • just wait and see what the Holy Ghost does and learn how He does it. Remember, sister,

  • He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel (Psalms 103 Verse

  • 7). We have seen His acts strange ones. Perhaps we can now learn His ways." We sat quietly.

  • In about fifteen minutes one of the prostrate men began to confess his sin at the top of

  • his voice. It was a wholehearted soul confession of such evident thoroughness! After a short

  • time, he arose with the light of God in his face and returned to his seat.

  • By that time another man was confessing, and then another and another, until the whole

  • fifteen men had poured out their souls to God and returned to their seats.

  • I indicated to the interpreter that I wanted the first man brought to me (the little fellow

  • for whom I had been distressed) so I could question him.

  • He was a Zulu native who worked for a Dutch family. They had given him a Dutch name, Willum.

  • I said, "Willum, tell me: What took place while you lay on the floor?"

  • He said to me in Dutch, "Oh, boss, (This was the manner in which the native always addressed

  • a white man) while I lay on the floor, Jesus come to me, and Jesus say, 'Willum, I take

  • all your sins away.' And Jesus go away. Then Jesus come again. And Jesus put His hand upon

  • my heart, moved it up and down, and say, 'Willum, I make your heart all white.' "

  • Willum looked into my face. He was all glorified with the light of Heaven until his face was

  • like the face of an angel. He said, "My heart all white! My heart all white!"

  • He and his friend remained in the church and sang all night. At 6 o'clock the next morning,

  • they both went to their work. On Wednesday night, my wife and I sat on the

  • platform together. Willum and his friend came early and sat on the front seat.

  • Mrs. Lake asked, "John, who is the boy sitting on the front seat?"

  • I replied, "This is the boy with whom I was so impressed Sunday night." "John, Jesus told

  • me just now if I would lay my hands on that boy, He would baptize him with the Holy Ghost."

  • "Then go to him at once." She laid her hands on him. In three minutes

  • he was filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues, glorifying God, and prophesying.

  • Close to a South African city in which I was ministering, there were hills with outcroppings

  • of rocks like a series of cliffs, one above another. I would go up into these hills to

  • be alone and rest. One day I observed a lady bringing a young

  • child and setting him on one of the shelves above a small cliff. She left the child some

  • food and water. It seemed a dangerous thing to do, since the child might fall and hurt

  • himself. However, I observed that the child was crippled and could not move around.

  • After his mother left, I went over to him, laid my hands on him, and prayed. Immediately

  • the child bounded off down the hill to catch his mother.

  • Not caring to meet anyone, I moved around the hill out of sight.

  • One day a woman came to the Healing Rooms in the old Rookery Building in Spokane. She

  • could not raise her arm. She said she had an open sore on her side and could get no

  • help from physicians. She added that she had no faith in doctors, in man, in God, or in

  • Jesus Christ but asked if I could help her. I prayed for her three times with no results.

  • After the third time I said to God, "God, her soul is closed. Open her soul that she

  • might receive." The next morning as she was putting up her

  • hair, she suddenly discovered that she was using the bad arm and had it raised up to

  • her head. She felt her side, and the open sore was gone.

  • Immediately, she telephoned to tell us about it.

  • I said, "Sister, come down here. There are people waiting to hear your testimony."

  • How much faith does God require of the person who comes and asks?

  • A closing sentence of an interpretation of tongues given in June, 1910, in Somerset,

  • East Cape Colony, South Africa: "Christ is at once the spotless descent of

  • God into man, and the sinless ascent of man into God, and the Holy Spirit is the Agent

  • by whom this is accomplished." A holy mind cannot repeat a vile thing, nor

  • be the creator of a vile suggestion. It is an unholy mind that is capable of such an

  • act. I say with Paul, Mark such a person Romans 16 Verse 17. He may talk, but he does not

  • know God. He does not comprehend the power of salvation, nor is he the possessor of the

  • Holy Spirit.

  • How the Lord Sent Me to South Africa.

  • I planned to go to Africa as a boy. I looked forward to it through my young manhood.

  • Shortly after my baptism in the Holy Spirit, a working of the Spirit commenced in me that

  • seemed to have for its purpose the revelation of the nature of Jesus Christ to me and in

  • me. Through this guardianship and remolding of

  • the spirit, a great tenderness for mankind was awakened in my soul. I saw mankind through

  • new eyes. They seemed to me as wandering in the midst of confusion, having strayed far,

  • groping and wandering hither and thither. They had no definite aim and did not seem

  • to understand what the difficulty was, or how to return to God.

  • The desire to proclaim the message of Christ and to demonstrate His power to save and bless

  • grew in my soul, until my life was swayed by this overwhelming passion.

  • However, my heart was divided. I could not follow successfully the ordinary pursuits

  • of life and business. When a man came into my office, though I knew that twenty or thirty

  • minutes of concentration on the business at hand would possibly net me thousands of dollars,

  • I could not discuss business with him. By a new power of discernment I could see

  • his soul and understand his inner life and motives. I recognized him as one of these

  • wandering sheep and longed with an overwhelming desire to help him find God and find himself.

  • This division in my soul between business interests and the desire to help men find

  • God became intense. In many instances what should have been a successful business interview

  • and the closing of a great business transaction ended in a prayer meeting. I would invite

  • the individual to kneel with me while I poured out my heart to God on his behalf.

  • I determined to discuss the matter with the president of my company and frankly told him

  • the condition of soul I found myself in and its cause.

  • He kindly replied: "You have worked hard, Lake. You need a change. Take a vacation for

  • three months. If you want to preach, preach. But at the end of the three months, $50,000

  • a year will look like a lot of money to you, and you will have little desire to sacrifice

  • it for dreams of religious possibilities." I thanked him, accepted an invitation to join

  • a brother in evangelistic work, and left the office, never to return.

  • During those three months I preached every day to large congregations, saw a multitude

  • of people saved from their sins and healed of their diseases, and hundreds of them baptized

  • in the Holy Ghost. At the end of the three months, I said to God: "I am through forever

  • with everything in life but the proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

  • I disposed of my estate, distributed my funds in it manner I believed to be for the best

  • interests of the Kingdom of God, made myself wholly dependent upon God for the support

  • of myself and family, and abandoned myself to the preaching of Jesus.

  • While ministering in a city in northern Illinois, the chore boy at the hotel where we were staying

  • asked for help in sawing down a large tree. I volunteered to assist him. As we sawed the

  • tree, the "spirit of the Lord spoke within my spirit clearly and distinctly: "Go to Indianapolis.

  • Prepare for a winter campaign. Get a large hall. In the spring you will go to Africa."

  • It all came to pass. It is power. Power is manifest in many ways. There is the power

  • of faith which draws to you what seems impossible. I returned to the hotel and told my wife of

  • the incident. She said: "I knew several days ago that your work here was done, for as I

  • prayed the Spirit said to me, 'Your husband is going on.' "

  • I went to Indianapolis and the Lord directed in a marvelous way. In a few days I had secured

  • a large hall and began conducting services, as He had directed.

  • One day during the following February (after I had been preaching some time), my preaching

  • partner said to me, "John, how much will it cost to take our party to Johannesburg, South

  • Africa?" I replied, "Two thousand dollars.

  • "Well, if we are going to Africa in the spring, it is time that you and I were praying for

  • the money." "Tom, I have been praying for the money ever

  • since New Year's. I have not heard from the Lord or from anyone else concerning it.

  • "Never mind. Let's pray again.” We went to Tom's room and knelt down by his

  • bed in prayer. After some time he slapped me on the back,

  • saying, "Don't pray anymore, John. Jesus told me just now that He would send us that two

  • thousand dollars, and it would be here in four days."

  • Four days later Tom returned from the post office and threw out upon the table four $500

  • drafts, saying, "John, there is the answer. Jesus has sent it. We are going to Africa."

  • The gift of money had been sent to Tom by a friend with a letter. The letter read, "I

  • was standing in the bank at Monrovia, California, and something said to me, 'Send Tom Hezmalhaltz

  • two thousand dollars.' It is yours, Tom, for whatever purpose God has shown you."

  • I never knew who wrote the letter, as he desired that no one else know.

  • We went straight out and purchased the tickets for the entire party to travel from Indianapolis,

  • Indiana, to Johannesburg, South Africa. There were twelve of us my family of eight and four

  • others. We had our tickets to Africa, but there would

  • be many other expenses en route. I had only $1.50 in hand.

  • As our train pulled out of the station at Indianapolis, a young man who had worked as

  • my secretary ran alongside the train and threw a two dollar bill through the window. That

  • gave us a total of $3.50. A young lady, who had been one of our workers,

  • was traveling with us as far as Detroit, Michigan. I needed $10 to buy her a ticket to northern

  • Michigan. As we rode along, I said to my wife, "Jen,

  • when we reach Detroit, I will need $10 for Winnie's railway ticket; but I have no money."

  • So we bowed our heads and prayed. We always followed this practice concerning

  • our needs. We never told anyone what our needs were, but we always told the Lord.

  • When we arrived in Detroit, my brother and married sister were there to meet us and with

  • them was my younger brother, Jim. As I stepped off the train, Jim took me by

  • the arm and walked across the station with me. Then he said, "Jack, I hope you won't

  • be mad, but I would like to give you this, " and he pulled out of his wallet a ten dollar

  • bill and slipped it into my vest pocket. I thanked him, turned about, and went to purchase

  • Winnie's ticket. I still had $3.50. We purchased some canned

  • beans and other edibles which we used on the train a route to St. Johns, New Brunswick.

  • When we finally arrived at the ship for Liverpool, I had $1.25 left. On board I gave 50 cents

  • to the table steward and 50 cents to the bedroom steward. When we reached England, I still

  • had 25 cents. We remained five days in Liverpool at the

  • expense of the transportation company, waiting for the second ship.

  • One day Mrs. Lake said to me, "What about our Laundry?”

  • I replied, "Send it down. I have no money, but perhaps the Lord will meet us before we

  • need to get it." Being very busy, I forgot about it entirely.

  • On the last night of our stay in Liverpool, just after I had retired about midnight, my

  • wife said, How about the laundry?" I replied, "I'm sorry, but I forgot it."

  • "Just like a man! Now I'll tell you about it. I knew you didn't have any money, neither

  • did I. So I prayed about it. After praying, I felt that I should go down to the laundry

  • and inquire what the amount of the bill was. It was $1.65. As I was returning to the hotel,

  • I passed a gentleman on the street. He said, 'Pardon me, but I feel I should give you this.'

  • He handed me a number of coins. I returned to the laundry, counted it out to the laundry

  • man, and found it was just the amount of the bill."

  • We rejoiced in this little evidence of God's presence with us.

  • The next morning we left by train for London and that evening boarded our ship for South

  • Africa. At that time, I had an English shilling. When

  • our ship stopped at Madeira, one of the Canary Islands, I purchased a shilling's worth of

  • fruit for the children and the last penny was gone.

  • Through my knowledge of the immigration laws of South Africa, I knew that before we would

  • be permitted to land, I must show the immigration inspector that I possessed at least $125.

  • We prayed earnestly over this matter. About the time we reached the Equator, a rest came

  • into my soul concerning it, and I could pray no more.

  • About eight or ten days later we arrived in Cape Town harbor, and our ship anchored. The

  • immigration inspector came on board and the passengers lined up at the purser's office

  • to present their money and receive their tickets to land.

  • My wife said, "What are you going to do?" "I am going to line up with the rest. We have

  • obeyed God this far. It is now up to the Lord." As I stood in line, awaiting my chance to

  • explain our dilemma, a fellow passenger suddenly tapped me upon the shoulder and indicated

  • that I step out of the line and walk over to the ship's rail to speak with him. He asked

  • me some questions, then he drew from his pocket a traveler's checkbook. He handed me two money

  • orders totaling 42 pounds sterling, or $200. He said, "I feel led to give this to help

  • your work." Johannesburg is 1000 miles inland from Cape

  • Town. Throughout the voyage we earnestly prayed about the subject of a home. As faith missionaries,

  • we had neither a Board nor friends behind us to furnish money. We were dependent upon

  • God. Many times during the trip to Johannesburg, we bowed our heads and reminded God that when

  • we arrived there we would need a home. Upon our arrival, as we stepped ashore, observed

  • a little woman bustling up, whom I instantly recognized to be an American. She stepped

  • up to Tom and said, "You are a American missionary party?" He replied, "Yes."

  • "How many are there in your party?" 'Four."

  • "No," she said, "you are not the family. Is there any other?" He said, "Yes. Mr. Lake."

  • Turning to me, she said, "How many are in your, family?" I answered, "My wife, myself,

  • and seven children only." "Oh," she said, "you are the family."

  • "What is it, madam?" "While in prayer last night, God told me to

  • meet, this boat, and there would be upon it an American missionary with a family of nine,

  • consisting of two adults and seven children, and that I was to give them a home."

  • At 3 o'clock that same afternoon, we were in a furnished cottage in Johannesburg. God

  • had provided the home for us. Our beloved benefactor was an American missionary,

  • Mrs. C. L. Good enough. She remained our beloved friend and fellow worker in the Lord.

  • And that is how we got to Africa.

  • How I Came To Devote My Life to the Ministry of Healing.

  • No one can understand the tremendous hold the revelation of Jesus as a present day Healer

  • took on my life, and what it meant to me, unless they first understand my environment.

  • I was one of 16 children. Our parents were strong, vigorous, healthy people. My mother

  • died at the age of 75, and my father, still lives at the time of this writing', and is

  • 77. Before my knowledge and experience of the

  • Lord as our Healer, we buried eight members of the family. A strange train of sicknesses,

  • resulting in death, had followed the family. For 32 years some member of our family was

  • an invalid. During this long period, our home was never without the shadow of sickness.

  • , As I think back over my boyhood and young

  • manhood, there comes to mind remembrances like a nightmare: sickness, doctors, nurses,

  • hospitals, hearses, funerals, graveyards, and tombstones; a sorrowing household; a brokenhearted

  • mother and grief stricken father, struggling to forget the sorrows of the past, in order

  • to assist the living members of the family who needed their love and care.

  • When Christ was revealed to us as our Healer, my brother who had been an invalid for 22

  • years, upon whom my Father had spent a fortune for unavailing medical assistance was dying.

  • He bled incessantly from his kidneys and was kept alive through the assimilation of blood

  • creating foods which produced blood almost as fast as it flowed from his person. I have

  • never known any man to suffer so extremely and for so long as he did.

  • A sister, 34 years of age, was then dying with five cancers in her left breast. Before

  • being turned away to die, she had been operated on five times at a large hospital in Detroit,

  • Michigan, by a German surgeon of repute. After the operations, four other "heads" developed,

  • making five cancers in all. Another sister lay dying of an issue of blood.

  • Day by day, her lifeblood flowed away until she was in the very throes of death.

  • In my own life and circumstances, there were similar conditions. I had married and established

  • my own home; but very soon after marriage, the same train of conditions that had followed

  • my father's family seemed to appear in mine. My wife became an invalid from heart disease

  • and tuberculosis. She would lose her heart action and lapse into unconsciousness. Sometimes

  • I would find her lying unconscious on the floor or in her bed, having been suddenly

  • stricken. Stronger and stronger stimulants became necessary

  • to revive her heart until we were using nitroglycerine tablets in a final, heroic effort to stimulate

  • the action of her heart. After these heart spells, she would remain

  • in a semi paralytic state for weeks, the result of over stimulation, the physicians said.

  • But suddenly, in the midst of the deepest darkness, when baffled physicians stood back

  • and acknowledged their inability to help, when the cloud of darkness and death was again

  • hovering over the family the message of one godly minister, great enough and true enough

  • to God to proclaim the whole truth of God, brought the light of God to our souls!

  • We took our dying brother to a Healing Home in Chicago, where prayer was offered for him

  • with the laying on of hands. He received an instant healing and arose from his deathbed

  • a well man. He walked four miles, returned home, and took a partnership in our father's

  • business. Great joy and a marvelous hope sprang up in

  • our hearts! A real manifestation of the healing power of God was before us. We quickly arranged

  • to take our sister who suffered from cancers, to the same Healing Home. We had to take her

  • there on a stretcher. As we carried her into the healing meeting, she was speaking within

  • her soul, Others may be healed because they are so good,

  • but I fear healing is not for me. It seemed more than her soul could grasp.

  • But after listening from her cot to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God on healing

  • through Jesus Christ, hope sprang up in her soul. She was prayed for and hands were laid

  • on her. As the prayer of faith arose to God, the power of God descended upon her, thrilling

  • her being. Her pain instantly vanished! The swelling disappeared gradually. The large

  • core cancer turned black and in a few days fell out. The smaller ones disappeared. The

  • mutilated breast began to regrow, and it became a perfect breast again.

  • How our hearts thrilled! Words alone cannot tell this story! A new faith sprang up within

  • us. If God could heal our dying brother and our dying sister, causing cancers to disappear,

  • He could heal anything or anybody! Then our sister with the issue of blood began

  • to look to God for her healing. She and her husband were devout Christians; and although

  • they prayed, their prayers seemed unanswered for a time. Then one night I received a telephone

  • call and was told that if I wished to see her in this life, I must come to her bedside

  • at once. Upon arriving, I found that death was already

  • upon her. She had passed in unconsciousness. Her body was cold. No pulse was discernable.

  • Our parents knelt, weeping, beside her bed, and her husband knelt at the foot of the bed

  • in sorrow. Her baby lay in his crib. A great cry to God, such as had never before

  • come from my soul, went up to God. She must not die! I would not have it! Had not Christ

  • died for her? Had not God's healing power been manifested for the others, and should

  • she not likewise be healed? No words of mine can convey to another soul

  • the cry that was in my heart and the flame of hatred for death and sickness that the

  • Spirit of God had stirred within me. The very wrath of God seemed to possess my soul!

  • After telephoning and telegraphing some believing friends for assistance in prayer, we called

  • on God. I rebuked the power of death in the name of Jesus Christ. In less than an hour,

  • we rejoiced to see the evidence of returning life. My sister was thoroughly healed! Five

  • days later she came to my father's home and joined the family for Christmas dinner.

  • My wife, who had been slowly dying for years, suffering untold agonies,

  • was the last of the four to receive God's healing touch. But, oh, before God's power

  • came upon her, I realized as never before the character of consecration God was asking,

  • and what a Christian should give to God. Day by day, death silently stole over her.

  • Then the final hours came. A brother minister who was present walked over and stood at her

  • bedside. Then returning to me with tears in his eyes, he said, "Be reconciled to let your

  • wife die." I thought of my babies. I thought of her whom

  • I loved as my own soul, and a flame burned in my heart. I felt as if God had been insulted

  • by such a suggestion! Yet I had many things to learn.

  • In the midst of my soul storm, I returned home, picked up my Bible from the mantelpiece,

  • and threw it on the table. If ever God caused a man's Bible to open to a message his soul

  • needed, surely He did it then for me. The Book opened at the l0th chapter of Acts,

  • and my eyes fell on the 38th verse, which read, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with

  • the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed

  • of the DEVIL; for God was with him. Like a flash from the blue, these words pierced

  • my heart: Oppressed of the devil! So, God was not the author of sickness! And the people

  • whom Jesus healed had not been made sick by God!

  • Hastily taking a reference to another portion of the Word, I read the words of Jesus in

  • Luke 13 16. Ought not this woman . . . whom SATAN HATH B0UND, lo, these eighteen years,

  • be loosed from this bond? Once again Jesus attributed sickness to the devil.

  • What a faith sprang up in my heart! What a flame of knowledge concerning the Word of

  • God and the ministry of Jesus went over my soul! I saw as never before why Jesus healed

  • the sick: He was doing the will of His Father; and in doing His father's will, He was destroying

  • the works of the devil. Hebrews 2 Verse 14. I said in my soul, this work of the devil

  • this destruction of my wife's life in the name of Jesus Christ shall cease, for Christ

  • died and Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.

  • We decided on 9:30 a.m. as the time when prayer would be offered for my wife's recovery, Again,

  • I telephoned and telegraphed friends to join me in prayer.

  • At 9:30 1 knelt at her deathbed and called on the living God. The power of God came upon

  • her, thrilling her from head to feet. Her paralysis left, her heart became normal, her

  • cough ceased, her breathing became regular, and her temperature became normal. The power

  • of God was flowing, through her, seemingly as blood flows through veins,

  • As I prayed, I heard a sound from her lips not the sound of weakness as before, but a

  • strong, clear voice. She cried out, "Praise God, I am healed! With that, she caught hold

  • of the bed clothing, threw it back, and in a moment was standing on the floor.

  • What a day! Will I ever forget it? The power of God thrilled our souls, and the joy of

  • God possessed,' our hearts because of her recovery.

  • The news spread throughout the city, the state, and the nation. Newspapers discussed it and

  • our home became a center of inquiry. People traveled great distances to see and talk with

  • her. She was flooded with letters. A new light dawned in our souls. The church

  • had diligently taught us that the days of miracles had passed; and believing this, eight

  • members of the family had been permitted to die. But, now, with the light of truth flashing

  • in our hearts, we saw that as a lie, no doubt invented by the devil and diligently heralded

  • as truth by the church, thus robbing mankind of its rightful inheritance through the blood

  • of Jesus. People came to our home, saying, "Since God

  • l1as healed you, surely He will heal us. Pray for us." We were forced into it. God answered,

  • and many were healed. Many years have passed since then, but no

  • day has gone by in which God has not answered prayer. I have devoted my life, day and night,

  • to this ministry; awl people have been healed not by ones and I twos, nor by hundreds, or

  • even by thousands, but by tens of thousands. In due time, God called me to South Africa,

  • where I witnessed a manifestation of the healing power of God such as the world perhaps has

  • not seen since the days of the apostles. Christian men were baptized in the Holy Ghost,

  • went forth in the mighty power of God, proclaiming the name of Jesus and laying hands on the

  • sick. And the sick were healed! Sinners, witnessing these evidences of the power of God, cried

  • out in gladness and gave themselves to the service of God. Like it was in the days of

  • Jesus: There was great joy in that city and that nation Acts 8 Verse 8.

  • Finally, God brought me to Spokane, where we have ministered to hundreds of sick persons

  • each week, the city is filled with the praises of God More because of the blessed manifestations

  • of God's Adventures in God healing power everywhere. People have come from as far as 5,000 miles

  • away for healing. Some have written letters. Others have telegraphed. Some have cabled

  • from halfway round the world, asking for prayer, and God has graciously answered.

  • Ministers and churches throughout the land have seen that, although the church has taught

  • that the days of miracles only belonged to the times of the apostles, that statement

  • was a falsehood. They have seen that the healing power of God is as available to the honest

  • soul today as it was in the days of Christ on the earth. The gifts and callings of God

  • are without repentance, and Jesus is the Healer still.

  • More Adventures in God.

  • During my ministry in South Africa, I came across a bachelor who hated everything that

  • was Christian. He had a reputation for cussing preachers off his place.

  • One day I realized that he had not been seen for it while, so I decided to pay him a visit.

  • Immediately, I was warned as to what kind of a reception I could expect. I went anyway.

  • Upon entering his home, I observed that he was it very sick man. Before he could say

  • a thing, I tossed my hat down, prayed that God would heal him, and Left.

  • A few days later he came to church. He was a changed man!

  • The Christian, the child of God, the Christ man who has committed his body as well as

  • his spirit and soul to God, ought not to not be a subject for healing. He ought to be a

  • subject of continuous, abiding health, because he is filled with the life of God.

  • Jesus Christ is at once the law and life of God.

  • When I lived in Africa, one of our departments was the native work. I bless God for the marvels

  • He let me witness among the native people. I believe we had a privilege never accorded

  • any other white man in modern times. In Basutoland, on Christmas Eve, 19 12, the

  • Lord's Supper was administered to 75 healed lepers. They had been healed under the ministry

  • of a black fellow whose sole raiment when we first knew him was a goatskin apron.

  • It was a beautiful thing to sit with a man under whose ministry 75 lepers had been healed!

  • Some were without noses others without fingers, or toes, or ears.

  • But I am going to tell you another leper story. Until about seven weeks ago, a man by the

  • name of Young was quarantined in the State of Nebraska. Correspondence with him was made

  • possible through a senator, another leper. Reared as a Roman Catholic, Young believed

  • in the power of faith. God told him He was going to move in behalf of this deliverance.

  • Officers of the institution discovered that he had been sending and receiving letters,

  • contrary to instructions. When confronted, Young said, "Yes, I have

  • been corresponding with people who pray the prayer of faith that I shall not die like

  • a dog or pig." The officers asked to see the letters. In

  • a few days they came back to him and said, "If you think you can get healed, we will

  • turn you loose on your pledge that you will go directly to Spokane to these people who

  • heal." So he started for Spokane with their pledge

  • to furnish him 'With the necessary funds. The day before I left Spokane, I sat down

  • with that man and he dictated the story of his healing by the power of God. He joined

  • his wife and children in Key West. My Lord is not dead! But I'll tell you, dear

  • hearts, we have been satisfied to live in Christ in our babyhood, to perpetuate our

  • babyhood, and to go on shouting like a lot of babies, instead of entering into the secrets

  • of the heart of Jesus Christ by the grace of God and claiming from Heaven the divine

  • flames of God upon our souls. When that takes place, then we shall stand

  • amazed at the action of God in our own and others' lives.

  • A Mrs. McDonald was brought to the Healing Rooms so emaciated by tuberculosis that she

  • weighed only 70 pounds. Her condition improved so rapidly that she put on flesh at the rate

  • of one pound per day. She attended our Divine Healing Meeting and

  • gave public testimony to her healing. An hour later she called us on the telephone,

  • exclaiming, "I am so happy I just had to tell somebody. I have walked all the way home,

  • kindled the fire in two stoves, and am preparing supper. A thing I have not been able to do

  • for over a year." A 12 year old boy suffering from tuberculosis

  • of the spine, so extreme that he was compelled to wear a steel jacket both day and night,

  • was brought to the healing Rooms a few days for prayer.

  • In less than ten days, his condition was so improved that he discarded the jacket entirely.

  • His shoulders had straightened; the vertebrae remained fixed; and the boy returned to his

  • home at Rosalia, praising God that He had proven in our own city in March 19 19, that

  • Jesus Christ is still the Healer. At Cookhouse, Cape Colony, there were ten

  • brothers by the name of Watson. Men who had been saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost.

  • As I was conducting a meeting at the home of one of them, the Spirit fell upon the youngest

  • of the family. He arose and we observed that he was giving the arrangements for a drama.

  • He was perfectly under the power of the Spirit. He had no consciousness in the natural of

  • what was taking place. All at once, the Spirit fell upon another

  • of the brothers, then another and another until all ten became actors in the same drama.

  • We sat there amazed for hours, observing a perfect five act drama. A presentation of

  • God's dealings with the race of man throughout the history of the world.

  • I left that night with the awe of God on my soul so deep that, for weeks afterwards, I

  • felt as if I wanted to walk very softly. The life of the Christian without the indwelling

  • power of the Spirit in the heart is a weariness to the flesh. It is an obedience to commandments

  • and an endeavor to walk according to a pattern which you have not power to follow.

  • But, bless God, the Christian life that is lived by, the impulse of the Spirit of Christ

  • within your soul becomes a joy, a power, and a glory.

  • When preaching at Bloom fawn tain, Orange Free State, a man by the name of Johnson,

  • an epileptic for twelve years, attended the meetings. He had been suffering 12 to 15 seizures

  • a day. After the service, a group of us were in an

  • attitude of prayer and communion with God preparatory to going out for an open air meeting.

  • Someone turned and asked this young man if he would like to be a Christian. He said,

  • "Well, I guess not. I would do the same things tomorrow I have done today if I were."

  • Like a flash out of the blue, the Spirit of God fell upon him and he fell prostrate upon

  • the floor, remaining there until 10 o'clock the next morning.

  • Before morning, that fellow who had been having about 15 seizures a day was not only saved,

  • but also healed. He went forth at 10 o'clock, baptized in the Holy Ghost.

  • One day our minister at Bloom fawn tain was going out to conduct a meeting for Basuto

  • natives. He could not speak enough Basuto to preach to them, so it was necessary for

  • him to have an interpreter. Johnson was with him.

  • The interpreter did not arrive. But when time came for the meeting to begin, the power of

  • God came upon Johnson. To the amazement of all, he stood and spoke forth the Word to

  • those native people in the purest Basuto! One evening as I was preaching, the Spirit

  • of the Lord descended upon a man in the front row, a minister from London, England.

  • He remained in a sitting posture, but began rising from the chair. Gradually, he came

  • down on the chair; then gradually, he began to rise again, somewhat higher. This was repeated

  • three times. Was it a reversal of the law of gravitation?

  • I think not. My own conception is that his soul became

  • so united with the Spirit of God that the attractive power of God was so intense it

  • drew him up. One day I stood at the railway station in

  • Logansport, Indiana, waiting for my train and observing a group of Italian men, apparently

  • laborers, sitting on a bench. They were going somewhere to work.

  • As I walked up and down the platform, I said, "Oh, God, how much I would like to be able

  • to talk to these men about the living Christ and His power to save! "

  • The Spirit said, "You can." I stepped over to them; and as I preached,

  • I observed myself beginning to speak in some foreign language.

  • I addressed one of the group, and he instantly answered me in Italian. I asked where he was

  • from, and he replied, "Naples." For fifteen minutes God let me tell the truths

  • of Christ and the power of God to that group of laborers in Italian, a language of which

  • I had no knowledge. That was a little flash, a gleam but one day,

  • bless God, there will come from Heaven a shower that will so anoint the souls of men that

  • they will speak in every language man speaks by the power of God.

  • And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;

  • and then shall the end come Matthew 24 Verse 14.

  • While I was in Africa, the Church of England sent a three man delegation to Johannesburg

  • for a year to report back to England concerning our work in South Africa.

  • The result was a great conference of Church of England preachers was called and I was

  • asked to preach at the conference. It resulted in the establishment of healing

  • societies in the Church of England. We were blessed recently in this country with

  • one of their "healers," Mr. Hicks, who held meetings in the various Episcopal churches

  • all around the land. I have just come from Portland, where the

  • streets were filled for ten blocks around the church with automobiles carrying the sick

  • to his meetings. Mr. Clark Mitchell was in a logging accident

  • ten years ago in which his left side was severely injured the knee and left shoulder were crushed.

  • For ten years he experienced great suffering. His knee developed a tumor so large that it

  • filled his pant leg. He told me there were occasions when he was

  • able to walk perhaps a single block, but with great suffering. Other periods he was compelled

  • to be confined to his home and his chair. One day as I was hurrying down Pacific Avenue

  • on the way to my meeting at the Free Methodist Church, I passed Mr. Mitchell's home and his

  • daughter, waved to me. She had seen me coming and said to her father,

  • "I see Mr. Lake, and I am going to call him in."

  • Mr. Mitchell replied, "No, don't do it. I don't take any stock in that kind of stuff."

  • Though I knew nothing of these circumstances, I would have paid no attention if I had. I

  • am Scotch. When I entered their home, I said, "Mr. Mitchell,

  • I have no time to talk to you." I threw off my overcoat and hat, and knelt

  • to pray. He indicated it was his knee, so I laid my hands on his knee and began to pray.

  • As I did, I was conscious that he was healed. I said, "Mr. Mitchell, stick out your leg."

  • He did. "Get up and walk." He did. As he walked, he kept saying, "I don't understand. I don't

  • understand." He came back and sat down, still saying, "I don't understand. What is it you

  • do not understand, brother?" "Why, I cannot understand God's healing me.

  • I am not a Christian." I said, "Is it possible you have not yet given your heart to God?"

  • He said, "It is." "Then, brother, in the name of the Lord, let us do it now."

  • So he, his dear daughter, and another lady, knelt with me and all three yielded their

  • hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. As he sat in his chair, I told him of the

  • healing of another man and how the bones would grind in his hip.

  • Mr. Mitchell said, "That is like my shoulder." This is when I first learned he had a bad

  • shoulder, so I called his daughter again, and we prayed for his shoulder.

  • Then I said, "Put up your arm, brother." When he raised his arm, I asked him if it

  • was perfectly free. He replied, "Perfectly free."

  • By 8:30 p.m. the tumor that had been on his knee for ten years had totally disappeared.

  • The next morning, he went to the printing office, presented himself to the editor, and

  • said, "Mr. Scott, I am the man the Lord has healed." And the newspaper editor wrote up

  • a statement about the man's healing. The same day he spaded his entire garden.

  • The day after, he went to work for a plasterer where he continued work. The day of miracles

  • had not passed as of this incident. March, 19 22, in Forest Grove, Oregon.

  • Dominion.

  • Now I want to teach you something of the inner things of healing that people are not aware

  • of. There is a conscious dominion Jesus Christ gives to the Christian soul. It was that thing

  • in the soul of Peter when he met the lame man at the Beautiful Gate.

  • Instead of praying for the man's healing, Peter said, In the name of Jesus Christ of

  • Nazareth rise up and walk. Acts 3 Verse 6. No prayer about it; no intercession.

  • Peter exercised the dominion that was in his soul. The divine flash of the power of God

  • went forth from his soul, and the man instantly arose and went with them into the Temple walking

  • and leaping, and praising God. Verse 8. Sometimes those who minister to the sick are

  • aware of what takes place, although the individual himself is unaware of any healing. There is

  • a dominion in the soul of the real man of God who is in touch with Heaven. When the

  • real thing takes place when a person is saved or healed from disease we know what it is.

  • We pray until we are satisfied in our souls that the work is complete.

  • In the same building that we had our Healing Rooms, there was an X-ray laboratory. The

  • technicians wanted to see what it was all about, so they asked to take X-rays, at no

  • charge to us of some of our prospects for healing. It was a unique opportunity.

  • Among those we sent to them was a man with tuberculosis. Each time after he was ministered

  • to in prayer, they would take an X-ray. We could see the progress of the healing. Each

  • picture showed less and less of the disease until there was no more evidence of it. He

  • was completely well. We always prayed for a person until we were

  • satisfied that the healing was complete. There was no dependence on the arm of man (flesh).

  • Mr. W A Fay suffered from cancer of the stomach. He has been ministered too perhaps thirty

  • times. For the first ten days there was no evidence

  • of healing whatever or a subsiding of his suffering. After that, there was a gradual

  • subsiding; then color began to return to his face, and he began to put on flesh.

  • Now he can eat anything and everything, and as much of it as he can get!

  • And that is not all, beloved. He found the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ while the process

  • was going on, and he says that is the big part of it.

  • I guess the Lord knows how to open doors in people's hearts. A good many Christians overlook

  • the fact that Jesus Christ made the ministry of healing just as broad as He could make

  • it. Luke 10 Verse 8-9. To the Seventy, He said....

  • into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you ... heal the sick that are therein. And

  • then what did He tell them to do? ... Say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh

  • unto you. I once lived near a man who was sick unto

  • death. Some went to him and told him he had to be baptized, or he would die and go to

  • hell. I have always said that was a form of coercion,

  • and Jesus Christ never used it. He was too much of a gentleman. He never took advantage

  • of a man when he was down to grind his soul and try to influence him to be a Christian.

  • If the man was sick, Jesus went and healed him by the power of God. Then, when that man

  • was healed, the natural response of his loving soul led him to Christ.

  • I wonder, have you ever paid attention to the different occasions in reading the Scriptures

  • when the Voice of God is mentioned? You know, the thing that makes the Bible the

  • Bible is the fact that somebody had an interview with God! Somebody heard from Heaven before

  • there was any Bible. Then the conversation or the incident was recorded, and these became

  • the Word of God. Now, the Word of God is indestructible, because

  • it was a real Voice, a real experience. God really did or said something, and the record

  • of it is true. It is very simple to prove the inspiration

  • of the Bible. Every child is taught to "prove" whether or not his sum in mathematics is correct.

  • If you have doubts, questions, and fears concerning the Bible and its inspiration, we know that

  • if one soul ever heard from Heaven, another soul may.

  • If one soul ever had an interview with God, another soul may.

  • If any man ever knew his sins were forgiven at any period, another man may know his sins

  • are forgiven now. If a man or woman ever was healed by the power

  • of God, then men and women can be healed again. The only thing necessary is to return again

  • in soul experience to that same place of intimacy where the first individual met God.

  • That is the way you prove the Word of God. That is the reason Christians love the Word

  • of God. That is the reason the Word of God becomes

  • the thing men live by, the thing men will die for. The Word of God becomes a present,

  • living reality to them not just a theory. In my church in South Africa we published

  • a paper in 10,000 lots. We would have the printers send them to the church, and we would

  • lay them out on the front platform in packages of 100 and 200. At the evening service I would

  • call certain people from the congregation (that I knew to be in contact with the living

  • God) to come and kneel around the packages and lay their hands on them.

  • We asked God to not only bless the reading matter in the paper that the message of Christ

  • should come through the words printed on the paper, but that the paper' itself become filled

  • with the Spirit of God, just as the handkerchiefs became filled with the power of God. (Acts

  • 19 Verse 12.) I could show you thousands of letters from

  • people in all parts of the world, telling me that the Spirit of God came upon them when

  • they received our paper. Not only were they healed, but the joy of God came into their

  • hearts and many were saved. One woman wrote from South America: "I received

  • your paper. When I took it into my hands, my body began to vibrate so, I could hardly

  • sit on the chair. I did not understand it. I laid the paper down, and after a while took

  • it up again. As soon as I had it in my hands, I shook again. The third time I picked up

  • the paper, the Spirit of God came upon me so powerfully, I was baptized in the Holy

  • Ghost." Beloved, do you see that this message and

  • this quality of the Spirit contains the thing that confuses all the philosophers and all

  • the practice of philosophy in the world? It shows the clearest distinction, which characterizes

  • the real religion of Jesus Christ. It is distinct from all other religions and all other ministries.

  • The ministry of Christianity is the ministry of the Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that

  • inhabits the words, that speaks to the spirit of another and reveals Christ in and through

  • him. Miss K. is a woman I term a victim of surgery

  • operated on 26 times, then left to die. She was an invalid for 13 years, and was visited

  • and ministered to by different physicians for 6 years.

  • (I know you will pardon me if I speak with great plainness. I must in order to let you

  • know what God has done in this woman's life.) In one operation, an incision was made connecting

  • the rectum and the vagina. That wound refused to heal. Three times the wound was sewn up,

  • but to no avail. Also, she was thought to be tubercular, and no doubt she was.

  • One day this dear soul called Brother West wood to minister to her. We commenced to pray

  • the prayer of faith on her behalf, and right away the wounds on her body began to heal

  • until all the outer wounds were healed. If you were close enough to her, you could see

  • scars all down her throat and neck where some of these 26 operations had been performed.

  • Now I want you to see the power of God: When she discovered that the rectal incision had

  • not healed, it became a matter of special prayer. Soon her bowels ceased to operate;

  • she had no movement for 28 days. Think of it! If such a thing occurs in your life for

  • three or four days, you think you are going to die.

  • Note the purpose of God: During those 28 days when there was no movement whatever, the wound

  • healed up. Miss K. went to the south side of town to

  • do some dressmaking; but while working, she became unconscious due to the gas pressing

  • upon her heart and lungs. A physician was called. In his examination,

  • he discovered that the incision was perfectly healed; but during the long time that the

  • lower end of the rectum had not been used, it had adhesed. Now according to the doctor,

  • she could never have a movement of the bowels until she was operated on.

  • They were about to carry Miss K. off to the hospital when she became conscious and said,

  • "No more operations for me, even if I die. I have committed my body, my soul, and my

  • spirit to God!" So they took her home.

  • She came down to the Tabernacle to drill the children for their Christmas entertainment.

  • On her way home, she fainted on the street and was carried to the emergency hospital.

  • They examined her there and corroborated the statement of the other physician.

  • They were in the act of taking her to St. Luke's when she became conscious and said,

  • "No, sir! No more operations for me, even if I die."

  • When they asked her what she wanted to do, she told them she was coming to my home. That

  • was on Saturday, November 27th. On Sunday afternoon, November 28th, she was

  • sitting in the audience. As prayer was being offered, she said it seemed as though a hand

  • was laid upon her body (abdomen) and another hand on her head. Then a Voice said, "You

  • are healed." She left the Audience Room and became perfectly

  • normal, and has remained a normal woman ever since.

  • Beloved, people who oppose this ministry and do not understand it will say, "That is all

  • right. We know God does do such things as that on special occasions, but they are special

  • cases. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. He prayed three times that it might be healed, and the

  • Lord said, 'Paul, My grace is sufficient for you'. 2 Corinthians 12 9, and he was not healed."

  • Who said so? Who gave you the interpretation? Did you hear the Voice of God, or are you

  • repeating the old fable that has come down through theology for 100 years?

  • Do you not see, beloved, just one of the many tricks the old theological dodgers use to

  • get away from the responsibility of praying the prayer of faith that saves the sick?

  • My, the Church has had a time trying to dodge this issue of healing! They come up with Paul's

  • thorn in the flesh. Paul said, "I wrote this large letter with

  • my own hand" (Galations 6 Verse 11), and they interpret that to read that he had bad eyes.

  • Who said so? On another occasion, the people said they

  • loved Paul so much they would pluck out their eyes for him. I believe they would have cut

  • off their leg or their right arm, too, if it would have done him any good, but none

  • of these things argue for a moment that there was anything wrong with his leg, his arm,

  • or his eyes. Paul prayed three times. The first two times

  • he was not conscious of the answer. He prayed again, bless God, and this time God met his

  • faith and said to him, "Paul, My grace is sufficient for you."

  • Apply it, Paul. Dive in, Paul, and take all you want of the grace of God. It will fix

  • your thorn in the flesh and everything else that is troubling you.

  • We went to Lourdes, France, in the company of a group of Church of England people who

  • had been appointed as a committee to visit all the institutions of repute along the healing

  • lines in Europe. We visited a Catholic institution where healing

  • is obtained by the waters of Lourdes. They maintain a board of 200 physicians whose business

  • it is to examine all candidates and report on them.

  • We also visited the greatest hypnotic institution for healing in the world while at Lourdes.

  • This institution sent its representatives to demonstrate their method before the Catholic

  • board of 200 physicians. Hearing of our committee, they invited us to come before this body and

  • demonstrate healing along our lines. I agreed to take part, if I were given the

  • final demonstration. The committee selected five candidates. People who had been pronounced

  • absolutely incurable. The hypnotists tried their several methods

  • without success. I then had the five candidates placed in chairs

  • in a row upon the platform, in view of this large audience of physicians and scientists.

  • I then prayed over each of them separately and at the same time laid my hands upon them.

  • Three were instantly healed, a fourth recovered in a few days, and one died.

  • In 19 01, I joined the Dowie Institution and moved to Zion City, Illinois, with the objective

  • of becoming a student and teacher of divine healing.

  • I was made manager of Dowie's Building Department. During that year we handled business amounting

  • to $1.2 million, or $100,000 per month. We issued 1,200 building contracts.

  • This was the year John Alexander Dowie made his trip from Zion City to New York City,

  • taking 3,000 people with him in ten trains. We had a road choir of 1,200 selected voices

  • and a road processional of 100 church officers. Dowie rented Madison Square Garden, which

  • holds 20,000 people. The New York City Police said some nights they turned away as many

  • as 100,000 people. The streets were congested for four blocks away.

  • In 19 04, when Dowie's financial affairs were entangled, I left Zion City practically broke,

  • my holdings in the Dowie property having become depreciated at his death.

  • One Saturday night in South Africa, the church was packed. All available standing room was

  • occupied as men stood shoulder to shoulder. The majority of them were men from the Tattersall

  • Racing Club. Most were Jews. They included horsemen of all classes: bookies, jockeys,

  • stablemen, racetrack gamblers, etc. I was preaching on the power of God and, in

  • a strong spirit, was endeavoring to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today,

  • and forever; that His power is as great as it ever was; and that the only qualification

  • for touching God for anything is faith in Him. The audience was greatly moved.

  • At this point, I observed a gentleman and two ladies trying to squeeze through the people

  • who were standing in the aisles. I asked the crowd to separate, if possible, to permit

  • the ladies to come through and I tried to arrange seating space for them on the steps

  • of the platform. As they approached, I observed that one of

  • the ladies held her arms perfectly stiff. She did not move them at all. By instinct,

  • I knew at once that she was a rheumatic cripple. When she got to the platform, I asked, "What

  • is the reason you do not move your arms?" She said, "My shoulders are set from rheumatics."

  • I said, "How long have they been like this?" She replied, "Ten years."

  • I inquired if she had been treated by physicians. She replied, "I have been discharged from

  • three hospitals as incurable." "What hospitals?" She answered, "Kimberley, Johannesburg, and

  • Pretoria. Then addressing the gentleman who accompanied

  • her, I asked, "Do you know this lady?" He said, "Yes, she is my sister in law."

  • I said, "Do you know her story to be correct?" "Absolutely," he said.

  • I asked her what she had come for. She replied, "In the hope that the Lord would

  • heal me." I inquired, "Do you wish me to pray for you

  • for healing?" "Yes," she said. Addressing the noisy crowd in the aisles and

  • around the doors, I said, "You men never saw Jesus heal a person in your life. You do not

  • know anything about this matter. You have never witnessed an exhibition of the power

  • of God, and therefore you should be considerate enough to keep still, confess your ignorance

  • of such matters, and learn. "This is what I want: Select two men from

  • your group, and let them come and see for themselves if this woman's arms are stiff,

  • as she states." I waited for them to make their selection.

  • Finally, they put forward two men. One was a barber, a very intelligent gentleman. I

  • learned afterwards he was an American. They examined the lady's arms critically and

  • found them to be as she had said quite immovable. I asked the men, "Have you finished your examination?

  • Are you satisfied her condition is as stated?" They said, "We are."

  • "Then stand back, for I am going to pray that the Lord will heal this woman." Placing my

  • hands on her shoulders, I commanded in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that

  • this rheumatic devil that bound the woman be cast out. In Christ's name I commanded

  • it to go, rebuking it with all the energy of my soul.

  • The power of God flashed through me like a burning fire until perspiration burst from

  • the woman's face. Then, taking her by the hands, I said, "In

  • the name of Jesus Christ, put your arms up!" The right arm went up.

  • Then I said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, put the other arm up, too." She instantly

  • obeyed. Her arms had become free! As I moved her arms, making the shoulders

  • rotate, I heard a grinding sound in the joints. I said to the two men from the audience, "You

  • have never heard a dry joint in your life. Come put your ear to this woman's back while

  • I make her arms move." As they did, I moved her arms, and the shoulder joints ground,

  • because the oil had not yet returned to them. In the woman's delight at being healed, she

  • threw up her hands, praised God, and started for the door. The crowd parted for her, and

  • she disappeared. I did not see her again for some months.

  • John G Lake's Consecration Statement as A Christian.

  • I, this day, consecrate my entire life to glorify my Heavenly Father by my obedience

  • to the principles of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. All my effort

  • from now on will be directed in an effort to demonstrate the righteousness of God in

  • whatsoever I may be engaged... Principle 1.

  • All the things earthly that I possess shall not be considered my own, but belonging to

  • my Heavenly Father, and shall be held in trust by me to be used and directed by the wisdom

  • of the Spirit of God, as the law of love of men as Christ loved them may dictate.

  • If at any time God should raise up men wiser than myself, I will gladly commit my all to

  • their use and turn over all my possessions to them for distribution.

  • If at any time in my life I should be engaged in any earthly business and should employ

  • men to aid me in conducting it, I shall reward them justly and equally, comparing their own

  • energy expended with My own after adding a sufficient amount to my own to cover all risk

  • that may be involved in the operation of my business.

  • I shall consider my employees my equals with rights to the blessings of nature and life

  • equal to my own. I shall not strive to elevate myself to a position of comfort above the

  • rest of my employees and shall direct all my efforts to bring all mankind to an equal

  • plane, where all enjoy the comforts of life and fellowship together.

  • Principle 2. I shall not cease to cry to God and implore

  • Him to deliver mankind from the effects of sin so long as sin lasts, but shall cooperate

  • with God in the redemption of mankind. I will have seasons of prayer and fasting

  • in behalf of mankind, weeping and bewailing their lost condition and imploring God to

  • grant them repentance unto life as the Spirit of God may lead me.

  • Principle 3. I shall live my life in meekness, never defending

  • my own personal rights, but shall leave all judgment To God who judges righteously and

  • rewards all according to their works. I shall not render evil for evil or railing for railing,

  • but shall bless all and do good to enemies in return for evil. By God's grace I shall

  • keep all hardness and harshness out of my life and actions, but shall be gentle and

  • unassuming, not professing above what God has imparted to me, nor lifting myself above

  • my brethren. Principle 4.

  • I shall consider righteous acts as more necessary to life and happiness than food and drink,

  • and not let myself be bribed or coerced into any unrighteous action for any earthly consideration.

  • Principle 5. By God's grace I will always be merciful,

  • forgiving those who have transgressed against me and endeavoring to correct the ills of

  • humanity instead of merely punishing them for their sins.

  • Principle 6. I shall not harbor any impure thoughts in

  • my mind, but shall endeavor to make my every act uplifting.

  • I shall regard my procreative organs sacred and holy and never use them for any purpose

  • other than that which God created them for. I shall regard the home as sacred and always

  • guard my actions in the presence of the opposite sex, so as not to cause a man and his wife

  • to break their vows to one another. I shall be chaste with the opposite sex who are married,

  • considering them as sisters. I shall be careful not to cause them undue pain by playing on

  • their affections. Principle 7.

  • I will always strive to be a peacemaker. First, by being peaceful myself and avoiding all

  • unfruitful contentions, and treating all with justice and regarding their rights and their

  • free agency, never trying to force any to my point of view.

  • If I should offend anyone knowingly, I shall immediately apologize.

  • I will not scatter evil reports about any person and so try to defame their character,

  • or repeat things that I am not certain of being true.

  • I will strive to remove the curse of strife among brethren by acting as a peacemaker.

  • Principle 8. I shall not become discouraged when I am persecuted

  • on account of the righteousness mentioned above nor murmur on account of any suffering

  • I undergo, but shall gladly give my life rather than depart from this high standard of life,

  • rejoicing because I know I have a great reward in Heaven.

  • I shall strive to make the above principles the ideal of all the world and give my life

  • and energy to see mankind get the power from God to practice the same.

  • by John G Lake. The End.

Adventures in God. by John G Lake.

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約翰-G-雷克的《上帝歷險記》,有聲書。 (Adventures in God by John G. Lake, AudioBook)

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