What if your Pastor did this????

What if you walked into church this next Sunday and you looked across the audience and saw your Pastor setting on the front pew with a wood box on his head??  What would you do?? ummm would you leave or have a seat right behind him to see what was up? I for one, would have a seat and listen and watch. Especially if I had confidence in the man with a box on his head. 

Your Pastor

By now I have your attention, I am speaking of the Azusa Street Revival.  Rev. W. J. Seymour was a very interesting person and I have  loved to read about the revival that took place in California in 1906.  Spiritual tremors were beginning to be felt before Seymour arrived in the city. Indeed, it seems the city’s entire Christian populace was eagerly awaiting the outpouring of the Spirit, like water coming to the boil. Seymour spent much time here in private prayer and fasting, becoming known as a man of unusual prayerfulness. Thereafter Seymour invited his host and hostess to share in his prayer times. Much to the consternation of Mrs. Hutchins, other Santa Fe members began to feel a spiritual compulsion to attend these prayer meetings. Lee invited Seymour to minister in a small home Bible study and prayer meeting in the home of Richard and Ruth Asberry at 214, North Bonnie Brae Street. He agreed to this and continued to do until mid-April 1906. The meetings grew so large that they had to find a large building to meet in. They found that building on the infamous Azusa Street. 

They began to meet at 10am every day and sometimes the services would go into the night. 

There were no hymn books nor musical instruments, and no collections were taken. A sign on the wall over a free-will offering box declared, “Settle with the Lord.” No teachings or ministries were prepared; everything was left to the spontaneity of the Spirit. The pulpit was composed of two large wooden “shoe boxes.” Elder Seymour would usually sit behind these, deep in prayer with his head buried inside the top box. The preaching was simple and direct and covered themes taught in many other holiness missions: salvation by a personal acceptance of Jesus as Saviour sanctification by renunciation of sin and turning from worldliness, abandonment of rigid traditions and the legalisms of man-made religion, the baptism of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues, divine healing. Often personal testimonies were given or were read from correspondence from those elsewhere. “Divine love was wonderfully manifest in the meetings. They would not even allow an unkind word said against their opposers or the churches.  The message was ‘the love of God.’ It was a sort of ‘first love’ of the early church returned. The ‘baptism,’ as we received it in the beginning, did not allow us to think, speak or hear evil of any man. The Spirit was very sensitive, tender as a dove.”

“Scores of personal and eyewitness accounts attest that many who came to ridicule the meetings were knocked to the floor where they seemed to wrestle with unseen opponents, sometimes for hours. These people generally arose convicted of sin and seeking God. One foreign-born reporter had been assigned by his paper to record the “circus-like” atmosphere in a comic-relief fashion. He attended a night-time meeting, sitting far in the back. In the midst of the meeting a young woman began to testify about how God had baptized her with the Holy Spirit when she suddenly broke into tongues. After the meeting the reporter sought her out and asked her where she had learned the language of his native country. She answered that she didn’t have any idea what she had said, and that she spoke only English. He then related to her that she had given an entirely accurate account of his sinful life, all in the language of his native tongue . Awesome!!!!

Story from one of the young girls that attended:

Sister Carney Azusa Age: 17 (newspaper reporter interview)

 When the woman entered the meeting room, she was holding a

bloody bandage to the side of her head. Sister Carney noticed she appeared to be in

tremendous pain and went over to minister to her. While waiting for Seymour to come

down and the meeting to begin, Sister Carney asked her what had happened, and the

lady told her about the fight she had with the woman that she found cheating with her husband. She told her that she didn't have the ear with her, and Sister 

Carney reached over and kind of pulled the bandage off to see the wound that basically

looked like a bloody, raw piece of meat. Without hesitation, she began to pray for the

woman. After praying for her, the lady said that the pain was gone so Sister Carney

looked at her wound again, and to her astonishment, right before her very eyes, a brand

new ear began to grow out. Sister Carney sat there with her mouth open and simply

exclaimed, ―Oh my God!‖ This wasn't the first miracle that Sister Carney witnessed, but

it was the first one she witnessed as a result of God working through her own prayers.

According to Sister Carney, many people were there in wheelchairs and cots brought in from the hospitals around the area. Often, before Seymour would come downstairs or even when

he was sitting with the box on his head, Sister Carney and others would go to the sick

and crippled and pray for them, and they would get their healing. She and the others

would go to those in wheelchairs, pull up the footrests, pray for them, and then watch

them walk off, pushing their empty wheelchairs. One of these wheelchair healings stayed with Sister Carney in a special way. One man had heavy braces on his legs and had not walked in years. She recalls that the wheelchair he was in had wheels made of wood. She prayed for him, and he was miraculously healed. His name was Brother Aubrey, and he was pastor of a big church in Los Angeles. Sister Carney explained that miracles

abounded at Azusa. People with bones twisted were restored. You could hear bones

popping and see arms and legs growing out right before your eyes.  Miracles performed by God through faithful saints attending the meetings to the difference in miracles when

Brother Seymour was preaching. Sister Carney explained that when Brother Seymour

would come down, there were even greater miracles. Seymour never had a set pattern,

rather he would come down and put the box over his head and then later would take the

box off when directed by God, get up and do what God told him to do. Sometimes, he

would go to a certain section of wheelchairs or to a certain section of cots—the cots

were for people who had been carried in from the hospital. She explained that to her

astonishment, Seymour would point at them and say, ―Everyone on the cots or

wheelchairs, you‘re healed in the Name of Jesus.‖ Everyone on the cots or in 

wheelchairs would get up and walk around fully healed of whatever malady they suffered

from Some of the greatest miracles were when the flames were above the building.

Bones that were cracked and broken were totally healed. When Seymour came down to the meeting, he would sit down and put a box on his head. At first it startled Sister Carney. Sometimes he would sit with the box over his head for ten minutes and sometimes it would be an hour or more. Although the practice seemed ridiculous, Sister Carney realized that he was obeying God, no matter how silly or ridiculous it appeared. That apparent act of humble obedience led to mighty power when he removed the box. This box and act of humility were critical to the power God displayed through Brother Seymour. When Brother Smith asked Sister Carney what caused the miracles and Azusa to stop, she replied, ―It stopped when Brother Seymour stopped putting that box over his head. When he quit coming down and putting the box on his head, it started dying. The discussion about Azusa turned to the Shekinah Glory. When I asked about her experience with the Presence of God‘s Spirit, Sister Carney‘s face would light up. She described it as being a part of heaven. To her, it was like breathing pure oxygen, and to her wonderment, it was always present. When I asked her to describe the Shekinah Glory Fire reported by many, she told her story. She recalled the fire department coming because of a call that the building was on fire. When they arrived, they didn‘t smell any smoke or see any evidence of fire. She didn‘t run out with the firemen. She remembered that it was Seymour, Bosworth, Lake, Smith, and Sines that ran out.

Sister Carney did go out one time to see the flames for herself. Remember, the fire

department had been called on several different occasions, as passers-by would report

seeing flames leaping up from the roof of the building. Finally, Sister Carney asked John

Lake why the fire department kept coming and looking for the fire. He explained that

the fire was coming down from heaven into the building and fire was going up from the

building and meeting the fire coming down. Fascinated, Sister Carney went out, walked

about a half a block and saw the awesome sight for herself. To her, this divine

connection of fire coming down from heaven and going up to heaven was just further

evidence of God‘s mighty Presence in that place. Sister Carney noted that although the

Shekinah Glory was present all the time within the building, this divine connection

wasn‘t an everyday occurrence. Whenever this connection was present, the power of

God was even more intense within the meeting. 

 Here are just a few testimonies that took place during those days of revival! 

THE APOSTOLIC FAITH News Paper

Azusa Street Testimonies

VOL. 1, NO. 3

The Lord is saving drunkards and taking the appetite for liquor and tobacco completely away.

Reports come from Denver that forty souls have received the

Pentecost and are speaking in tongues.

A young man saved from the morphine habit has no more

desire for the stuff and gave up his instruments.

Four workers from Texas, Brother and Sister Oyler and Brother and Sister Quinton have arrived in Los Angeles lately. God has been using them in Whittier.

Brother Tom Qualis from Fresno said, “I came 300 miles to this meeting and I feel heaven in my soul. It seems to me I am getting some of the crumbs that fall from Father’s table. I feel the presence of God here.”

“Cartoons in the newspapers were my first introduction to this meeting,” said a brother, “and I said, this is what I have been praying for years. I was warned by leaders that it was of the devil, but I came and got a touch of heaven in my soul.”

The blind man who was saved and had his sight restored was

saved because of hearing a few praying in tongues in a cottage meeting. He was a sinner; a very profane man, and was convicted because of tongues. Praise God for His marvelous works to the children of men.

Here is a personal letter that Rev. Seymour wrote about receiving the Holy Spirit.

 LETTER TO ONE SEEKING THE HOLY GHOST

Dear Beloved in Christ Jesus:

The Lord Jesus has said in His precious Word, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”Matt. 5, 6. God’s promises are true and sure. We can rest upon His promises. He says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matt. 5, 8. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5, 3. The Lord Jesus is always ready to fill the hungry, thirsty soul, for He said in His precious Word, “He that believeth on Me as the scripture hath said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.

(But this spoke He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” John 7. 38, 39. But, praise God, He is given to us today.

All we have to do is to obey the first chapter of Acts, and wait for the promise of the Father upon our souls. The Lord Jesus said in His precious Word, “Behold I send the promise of My Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24, 49.) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts

I. 5, 8. They tarried until they received the mighty power of the baptism with the Holy Spirit upon their souls. Then God put the credentials in their hearts, and put the ring of authority on their finger, and sealed them in the forehead with the Father’s name, and wrote on their heart the name of the New Jerusalem, and put in their hand the stone with

the name written that no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever. Let us stand upon His promises. They are sure, they will not break.

The Lord Jesus says, “Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10, 19. Dear loved one, the Lord Jesus when He rose from the dead, said “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Matt. 28. 19) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any

deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” Mark 16: 16-18. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Praise His dear name, for He is just the same today.

The first thing in order to receive this precious and wonderful baptism with the Holy Spirit, we want to have a clear knowledge of justification by faith according to the Bible. Rom. 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” faith that all our actual sins may be washed away. Actual sin means committed sin. And then the second step is to have a real knowledge of sanctification, which frees us from original sin—the sin that we were born with, which we inherited from our father Adam. We were not responsible for that sin until we received light, for we could not repent of a sin that we

did not commit. When we came to the Lord as a sinner, we repented to God of our actual sins, and God for Christ’s sake pardoned us and washed our sin and pollution away, and planted eternal life in our souls.

Afterwards we saw in the Word of God, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” I Thess. 4:3, also John 17:15-19. We consecrated ourselves to God, and the Lord Jesus sanctified our souls, and made us clean.

Then after we were clearly sanctified, we prayed to God for the baptism With the Holy Spirit. So He sent the Holy Spirit to our hearts and filled us with His blessed Spirit, and He gave us the Bible evidence, according to the 2nd chapter of Acts verses 1 to 4, speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. Praise our God, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Receive Him  now and He will fill you. Amen. Don’t get discouraged but pray until you are filled, for the Lord says, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” Don’t stop because you do not receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost at the first, but continue until you are filled. The

Lord Jesus told His disciples to tarry until they were endued with power from on high. Many people today are willing to tarry just so long, and then they give up and fail to receive their personal Pentecost that would measure with the Bible. The Lord Jesus says, “Ye shall be filled.” He says that to the person that hungers and thirsts after righteousness and He

says they are blessed. So if there is a hunger and thirst in our souls for righteousness, we are blessed of Him. Praise His dear name!

Yours in Christ,

—W. J. Seymour

After reading all I could find about this meeting, I began to pray to the Lord to raise up men that will not allow the politics of the church and the unGodly influence of men to sway the move of the spirit. We need a revival on this planet that will shake it to its core. As an intercessor, I pray this year will be a deep move, where the Glory will dwell within our churches.  

Love in Christ, 

Heather Dunn