₦airaland Forum

IMPARTATION OF GLORY & VIRTUE

I remember one day I was holding an open-air meeting. My uncle came to that meeting and said, "Aunt Mary would like to see Smith before she dies." I went to see her and she was assuredly dying. I said, "Lord, can't you do something?" All I did was this, to stretch out my hands and lay them on her. It seemed as though there was an immediate impartation of the glory and virtue of the Lord. Aunt Mary cried, "It is going all over my body."

And that day she was made perfectly whole. One day I was preaching and a man brought a boy who was done up in bandages. The boy was in irons and it was impossible for him to walk and it was difficult for them to get him to the platform. They passed him over about six seats. The power of the Lord was present to heal and it entered right into the child as I placed my hands on him. The child cried, "Daddy, it is going all over me." They stripped the boy and found nothing imperfect in him.

The Lord would have us to be walking epistles of His word. Jesus is the Word and is the power in us, and it is His desire to work in and through us His own good pleasure. We must believe that He is in us. There are boundless possibilities for us if we dare to act in God and dare to believe that the wonderful virtue of our living Christ shall be made manifest through us as we lay our hands on the sick in His name. (Smith Wigglesworth)

STUBBORN FAITH

One day I was having a meeting in Bury, in Lancashire, England. A young woman was present who came from a place called Ramsbottom, to be healed of goitre. Before she came, she said, "I am going to be healed of this goitre, mother." After one meeting she came forward and was prayed for. The next meeting she got up and testified that she had been wonderfully healed, and she said, "I shall be so happy to go and tell mother that I have been wonderfully healed." She went to her home and testified how wonderfully she had been healed, and the next year when we were having the convention she came again. To the natural view it looked as though the goitre was just as big as ever; but that young woman was believing God and she was soon on her feet giving her testimony, and saying, "I was here last year and the Lord wonderfully healed me. I want to tell you that this has been the best year of my life." She seemed to be greatly blessed in that meeting and she went home to testify more strongly than ever that the Lord had healed her. She believed God.

The third year she was at the meeting again, and some people who looked at her said, "How big that goitre has become." But when the time came for testimony she was up on her feet and testified. "Two years ago the Lord graciously healed me of goitre. Oh I had a most wonderful healing. It is grand to be healed by the power of God."

That day someone remonstrated with her and said, "People will think there is something the matter with you. Why don't you look in the glass? You will see that your goitre is bigger than ever."That good woman went to the Lord about it and said, "Lord, you so wonderfully healed me two years ago. Won't you show all the people that you healed me?" She went to sleep peacefully that night still believing God and when she came down the next day there was not a trace or a mark of that goitre.

God's word is from everlasting to everlasting. His word cannot fail. God's word is true and when we rest in the fact of its truth what mighty results we can get. Faith never looks in the glass. Faith has a glass into which it can look. It is the glass of the perfect law of liberty.
(Smith Wigglesworth)

CONCERNING VISIONS AND ANGELS

In 1963, my office occupied only the den of my little frame home in Garland, Texas. It wasn't really much of an office at that. Some men in another city contacted me. They said, "If you will move your office to this city, we will set up an office for you. We will buy all the office equipment, hire the secretaries, and pay their salaries. You won't have to pay anything. Let's get some of your material published."

Another man, who was an electronic technician, said, "Brother Hagin, if you will let me, I will make tapes of all your sermons. It won't cost you a thing. I will furnish all the materials free of charge." Those offers sounded good. You would think God must be in them. But about that time I was praying with a certain group. We were having special times of ministering to the Lord. It was the kind of atmosphere Acts 13:1 and 2 speaks of—an atmosphere where God will move. I was sitting on the platform beside a chair, praying, when suddenly Jesus stood right in front of me. I had my eyes shut. It was a spiritual vision. I did not fall into a trance. Standing right behind Jesus, about two feet to His right and three feet behind Him, was a large angel. I had seen angels before—but never one that big. He must have been 8 feet tall or more.

Jesus talked to me about some things. (And everything He said came to pass.) Occasionally, while He talked, I would glance at that angel. When I did, the angel would open his mouth and start to say something. When I looked back to Jesus, he would not say anything. After Jesus finished His conversation with me, I asked, "Who is that fellow? What does he represent?" Jesus said, "That's your angel." I said, "My angel?" "Yes," He said, "your angel. You read in the scriptures that I said concerning the little children that their angel is ever before My Father's face. You don't lose your angel just because you grow up." (Isn't that comforting! I have that big fellow following me around. Praise the Lord!) I said, "What does he want?" Jesus said, "He has a message for you." Then I got so letter-of-the-Word conscious I could have missed the Spirit. I said, "You are talking to me; why don't You give me the message? Why do I have to listen to an angel? Besides that, the Word of God says as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. I have the Holy Ghost. Why couldn't the Holy Ghost talk to me?"

Jesus had mercy on me, and patience with me. He said, "Did you ever read in My Word where the angel of the Lord told Philip to go down to the way of Gaza? Wasn't that direction? Wasn't that guidance? Didn't My angel appear to Cornelius, and he wasn't even a born-again man? Didn't the angel tell him what to do?" He gave me several more New Testament examples. Finally, I said, "That's enough. I will listen."

Then I looked up to this big fellow and said, "What is it?" He started this way, "I am sent from the Presence of Almighty God to tell you not to let these men (and he called their names) set up an office for you. They have an ulterior motive. They will control your ministry because they will have put in all the money." Then he called the name of the man who was the radio and electronic technician and said, "Don't let him have any of your tapes. He has an ulterior motive. If he gets them into his hands, he will control them. I am sent from the Presence of Almighty God to tell you that.

"Then I am sent from the Presence of Almighty God to tell you this: The money will come so that you can set up your own office, have your own books, have your own tapes. You will be the head of it, the sole boss, because I am going to tell you what to do, and not some man. Within four months, after everything is paid and cleared out, you will have enough money to get you headed this direction. For I have sent My angels out to cause the money to come." When that time came, I had $4,000 which was enough to do what the Lord had told me to do. That was the
beginning of this ministry. I could tell more, but this is enough to illustrate that these things do happen. But let me emphasize this—although God does lead us through visions and other supernatural manifestations, I would encourage you NOT to seek a vision. You could get beyond the Word where the devil can deceive you. We often prefer to have a more direct word of guidance, but we don't always have it. So
don't try to manufacture it, if it is not there. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that anyone was seeking a vision when one came. Visions just happened without anyone in the Bible seeking them. But educate and train and develop your human spirit so that inward witness becomes more and more real to you. Then, if God sees fit for supernatural visitations and manifestations, just thank God for them. Know that the angels of God are with you. Your angel is with you whether you ever see him or not. (Kenneth E. Hagin)

THE OVERWHELMING POWER OF THE LORD JESUS

I received several letters and telegrams about a certain case, but when I arrived I was told I was too late. I said, "That cannot be. God has never sent me too late anywhere." God showed me when I went that something different from anything I had seen previously would happen. The people I went to see were all strangers. I was introduced to a young man who lay helpless, and for whom there was no hope. The doctor had been to see him that morning and had declared that he would not live through the day.

He lay with his face to the wall, and when I spoke to him he whispered, "I cannot turn over." His mother said that they had had to lift him out of bed on sheets for weeks, and that he was so weak and helpless that he had to stay in one position. The young man said, "My heart is very weak." I assured him, "God is the strength of the heart and thy portion forever. If you will believe God, it shall be so today."

Our Christ is risen. He is a living Christ who indwells us. We must not have this truth merely as a theory; Christ must be risen in us by the power of the Spirit. The power that raised Him from the dead must animate us, and as this glorious resurrection power surges through your being, you will be freed from all your weaknesses and you will become strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. There is a resurrection power that God wants you to have and to have it today. Why not? Receive your portion here and now.

I said to these people, "I believe your son will rise today." They only laughed. People do not expect to see signs and wonders today as the disciples saw them of old. Has God changed? Or has our faith waned so that we are not expecting the greater works that Jesus promised? We must not harp on any minor key. Our message must rise to concert pitch, and there must be nothing left out of it that is in the Book.

It was wintertime, and I said to the parents, "Will you get the boy's suit and bring it here?" They would not listen to the request, for they were expecting the boy to die. But I had gone to that place believing God. In Romans 4:17, we read of Abraham, "(I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." God help us to understand this. It is time people knew how to shout in faith as they contemplate the eternal power of our God to whom it is nothing to quicken and raise the dead. I come across some who would be giants in the power of God but they have no shout of faith. I find everywhere people who go down even when they are praying simply because they are just breathing sentences without uttering speech, and you cannot get victory that way. You must learn to take the victory and shout in the face of the devil. "It is done!" There is no man who can doubt if he learns to shout.

When we know how to shout properly, things will be different, and tremendous things will happen. In Acts 4 verse 24 we read, "They lifted up their voice with one accord." It surely must have been a loud prayer. We must know that God means us to have life. If there is anything in the world that has life in it, it is this Pentecostal revival we are in. I believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the speaking of tongues, and I believe that every man who is baptized in the Holy Ghost will speak in other tongues as the Spirit gives him utterance. I believe in the Holy Ghost. And if you are filled with the Spirit you will be superabounding in life--living waters will flow from you.

At last I persuaded the parents to bring the boy's clothes and lay them on the bed. From the natural viewpoint, the young man lay dying. I spoke to the afflicted one, "God has revealed to me that, as I lay my hands upon you, the place will be filled with the Holy Ghost, the bed will be shaken, you will be shaken and thrown out of bed by the power of the Holy Ghost, you will dress yourself and be strong." I said this to him in faith. I laid hands on him in the name of Jesus and instantly the power of God fell and filled the place. I felt helpless and fell flat on the floor. I knew nothing except that a short while after the place was shaken; I heard the young man walking over me and saying, "For Thy glory, Lord! For Thy glory, Lord!"

He dressed himself and cried, "God has healed me." The father fell, the mother fell, and another who was present fell also. God manifested His power that day in saving the whole household and healing the young man. It is the power of the risen Christ we need. That young man is today preaching the gospel. (Smith Wigglesworth)

A FOOLISH VIRGIN

…‘’I understand how you feel," remarked another man I recognized as one I considered one of the greatest Christian leaders of all time.
"Paul the apostle said near the end of his life that he was the least of the saints. Then just before his death he even called himself 'the greatest of sinners.' Had he not learned that in his life on earth he, too, would have been in jeopardy of being one of the least of the saints in heaven. Because he learned it on earth he is now one of those closest to the Lord, and will be one of the highest in rank for all of eternity."

Seeing this man in the company of "The foolish virgins" was the greatest surprise I had yet. "I cannot believe that you, too, are one of the foolish who SLEPT AWAY THEIR LIVES ON EARTH. Why are you here?"

"I am here because I made one of the most grave mistakes you can make as one entrusted with the glorious gospel of our Savior. Just as the apostle Paul progressed from not considering himself inferior to the greatest apostles, to being the greatest of sinners, I took the opposite course. I started out knowing that I had been one the greatest of sinners who had found grace, but ended up thinking that I was one of the greatest apostles. It was because of my great pride, not insecurity like our friend here, that I began to attack everyone who did not see everything just the way I did.

Those who followed me I stripped of their own callings, and even their personalities, pressuring them to all become just like me. No one around me could be themselves. No one dared to question me because I would crush them into powder; I thought that by making others smaller I made myself larger. I thought that I was supposed to be the Holy Spirit to everyone. From the outside my ministry looked like a smooth running machine where everyone was in unity and there was perfect order, but it was the order of a concentration camp. I took the Lord's own children and made them automatons in my own image instead of His. In the end I was not even serving the Lord, but the idol I had built to myself. By the end of my life I was actually an enemy of the true gospel, at least in practice, even if my teachings and writings seemed impeccably biblical."

"If that is true, that you became an enemy of the gospel, how is it that you are still here?" I questioned.

"By the grace of God, I did trust in the cross for my own salvation, even though I actually kept other men from it, leading them to myself rather than to Him. The Lord remains faithful to us even when we are unfaithful. It was also by His grace that the Lord took me from the earth sooner than He would have, just so those who were under me could find Him and come to know Him."

I could not have been more stunned to think that this was true of this particular man. History had given us a very different picture of him. Reading what was going on in my heart, he continued:

"God does have a different set of history books than those on the earth. You have had a glimpse of this, but you do not yet know how different they are. Earthly histories will pass away, but the books that are kept here will last forever. IF YOU CAN REJOICE IN WHAT HEAVEN IS RECORDING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE BLESSED INDEED. Men see through a glass darkly, so their histories will always be clouded, and sometimes completely wrong. Very few, even very few Christians, have the true gift of discernment. Without this gift it is impossible to accurately discern truth in those of the present or the past. Even with this gift it is difficult. Until you have been here, and been stripped, you will judge others through distorted prejudices, either positive or negative. That is why we were warned not to judge before the time. Until we have been here we just cannot really know what is in the heart of others, whether they are performing good or evil deeds. There have been good motives in even the worst of men, and evil motives in even the best of them. Only here can men be judged by both their deeds and their motives."

"When I return to earth, will I be able to discern history accurately because I have been here?"

"You are here because you prayed for the Lord to judge you severely, to correct you ruthlessly, so that you could serve Him more perfectly. This was one of the most wise requests you ever made. The wise judge themselves lest they be judged. The even wiser ask for the judgments of the Lord, because they realize that they cannot even judge themselves very well. Having come here you will leave with far more wisdom and discernment, but on earth you will always see through a glass darkly to at least some degree. Your experience here will help you to know men better, but only when you are fully here can you know them fully. When you leave here you will be more impressed by how little you know men rather than by how well you know them. This is just as true in relation to the histories of men. I have been allowed to talk with you because I have in a sense discipled you through my writings, and to know the truth about me will help you greatly," the great Reformer concluded. (Rick Joyner)

JESUS TOLD ME TO BE CAREFUL WITH MONEY

…Jesus told me to kneel down before Him. When I did, He laid His hand upon my head, saying that He had called me and had given me a special anointing to minister TO the sick.

He went on to instruct me that when I would pray and lay hands on the sick, I was to lay one hand on each side of the body. If I felt the fire jump from hand to hand, an evil spirit or demon was present in that body causing affliction. I should call him out in Jesus' Name, and the demon or demons would have to go.

If the fire, or the anointing, in my hands did not jump from hand to hand, it was a case needing healing only. I should pray for the person in Jesus' Name, and if he would believe and accept it, the anointing would leave my hands and go into that person's body, driving out the disease and bringing healing. When the fire or anointing left my hands and went into the person's body, I would know he was healed.

I fell at Jesus' feet and pleaded, "Lord, don't send me. Send somebody else, Lord. Please don't send me. Just give me a little church to pastor somewhere. I would rather not go, Lord. I have heard so much criticism of those who pray for the sick. I just want a commonplace ministry."

Jesus rebuked me, saying, "I’ll go with you and stand by your side as you pray for the sick, and many times you will see Me. Occasionally I will open the eyes of someone in the audience and they will say, 'Why, I saw Jesus standing by that man as he prayed for the sick.' "

Jesus went on to ask who had called me: He or the people?
"Well, You did, Lord."
'Don't Fear People'
He explained that I should fear Him and not people, because even though people may criticize me, they are not my judge. I will stand before His judgment seat one day to give an account to Him for what I have done with this ministry, whether I have used it rightly or wrongly.

"All right, Lord," I said. "I'll go if You'll go with me. I'll do my best and be as faithful as I know how to be." Then there swelled up within my heart a love such as I had never known for those who criticize this type of ministry. I said, "Lord, I'll pray for them, for they don't know, or they wouldn't say the things they do. Lord, I've said similar things, but I didn't realize or see as I do now, and neither do they. Forgive them, Lord."

Then He said, "Go thy way, my son; fulfill thy ministry and be thou faithful, for the time is short." As I walked away from the throne of God, Jesus told me, "Be sure to give Me all the praise and glory for all that is done, AND BE CAREFUL ABOUT MONEY. MANY OF MY SERVANTS WHOM I HAVE ANOINTED FOR THIS TYPE OF MINISTRY HAVE BECOME MONEY-MINDED AND HAVE LOST THE ANOINTING AND MINISTRY I GAVE THEM.

"There are many who would pay much to be delivered. Many parents in the world have children whose little bodies are twisted, and they would give thousands of dollars for their healing. Many of them shall be delivered as you lay your hands on them, but you must not accept a charge for your ministry. Accept offerings as you have been doing. You must go your way. Be faithful, for the time is short Jesus then journeyed with me back to the earth, and I realized that I still lay on my face on the floor. He talked with me there a moment and then disappeared.

My hands burned for three days just like I had a coal of fire in each of them. Now when I wait upon the Lord in prayer and fasting, the same anointing comes upon me again. I thank God I have seen polio-stricken children delivered and made well and straight, some of them walking immediately and others being healed gradually. I have thought about this vision many times. Now, more than three decades later, I am convinced we are nearer the end of time than ever before. We read in Second Peter 3:8 that " .. .one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. "Therefore, these years since the vision would be a very small fraction of time in God's sight. (Kenneth E. Hagin)

YOU CAN CHANGE LIVES FROM WHERE YOU ARE

A woman came to me in the city of Liverpool and said, "I would like you to help me. I wish you would join with me in prayer. My husband is a drunkard and every night comes into the home under the influence of drink. Won't you join me in prayer for him?" I said to the woman, "Have you a handkerchief?" She took out a handkerchief and I prayed over it and told her to lay it on the pillow of the drunken man. He came home that night and laid his head on the pillow in which this handkerchief was tucked.

He laid his head on more than the pillow that night. He laid his head on the promise of God. In Mark 11:24, we read, "What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them."

The next morning the man got up and called at the first saloon that he had to pass on his way to work and ordered some beer. He tasted it and said to the bartender, "You have put some poison in this beer." He could not drink it, and went on to the next saloon and ordered some more beer. He tasted it and said to the man behind the counter, "You put some poison in this beer, I believe you folks have agreed to poison me." The bartender was indignant at being thus charged. The man said, "I will go somewhere else."

He went to another saloon and the same thing happened as in the two previous saloons. He made such a fuss that they turned him out. After he came out from work he went to another saloon to get some beer, and again he thought he had been poisoned and he made so much disturbance that he was thrown out. He went to his home and told his wife what had happened and said, "It seems as though all the fellows have agreed to poison me." His wife said to him, "Can't you see the hand of the Lord in this, that He is making you dislike the stuff that has been your ruin?" This word brought conviction to the man's heart and he came to the meeting and got saved. The Lord still has power to set the captives free.


When I was in Australia a lady came to me who was much troubled about her son who was so lazy. I prayed over a handkerchief, which was placed on the boy's pillow. He slept that night on the handkerchief and the next morning he got up and went out and secured a position and went to work. Oh, praise the Lord, you can't shut God out, but if you will only believe He will shut the devil out. (Smith Wigglesworth)

SUDDENLY I SAW JESUS STANDING ABOUT THREE FEET IN FRONT OF ME

It was nearly five years later, 1957, when the Lord appeared to me again in my fourth vision of Him. My wife and I had just returned to our home in Garland, Texas, after spending 15 months in meetings in California. We then held a meeting for our home Full Gospel church in Garland. It was during the third week of this meeting that I had another supernatural visitation from the Lord.

At the close of my message one night, a spirit of intercession descended upon the congregation and we all gathered around the altar to pray. We prayed for quite some time. After a while I got off my knees and sat on the steps to the platform. I was sitting there with my eyes open, singing in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance, when suddenly I saw Jesus standing about three feet in front of me. He said, "I have come to answer your prayer."

I knew exactly what He was talking about. I had been praying for some time for my wife, who had a goiter. It was growing larger and larger until now she was having choking spells. From the time we were first married I had sensed in my spirit that Oretha would die at an early age, and I thought that perhaps this time was approaching. I prayed the rest of the night about this and said to the Lord, "I have obeyed You and have done your will. I have left my church and my family and have been in the evangelistic field for many years. My wife has stayed at home and has been faithful to raise our children. I am still a young man (at that time I was in my 30s), and we have been married for many years. Please let me keep my wife."

In the vision the Lord said to me, "I have come to answer that prayer. Tell your wife to be operated on, for she will live and not die. Although I didn't mention it to my wife, I had felt all along that if she were operated on she would die. She later told me that she had known for several years that she would die when she was operated on for this goiter.

But the Lord said to me, "She will live and not die. It was divine destiny that she should die, but I have heard your prayers and have come to answer them. She shall live’’. Then Jesus said something that absolutely melted me, and I have never been able to forget it. It blessed and helped me then, and it still blesses me.

He said, "I did this, son, just because you asked Me to. You don't know how I long to do for my children if they would only ask Me and believe Me. Many times they beg and cry and pray, but they don't believe. And I can-not answer their prayers unless they have faith, because I cannot violate My Word. But how often I long to help them if only they would let Me by taking Me at My Word and bringing Me their problems, trusting Me to undertake for them."

Again He said, "Tell your wife to be operated on, for she will live and not die." With those words He disappeared. Even though the doctors were greatly concerned about my wife's condition, Oretha and I had great joy through it all because we knew the outcome in advance. (Kenneth E. Hagin)

‘’…I HAVE SEEN JESUS OFTEN..’’ (SMITH WIGGLESWORTH)

I went one time to a meeting. I was very, very sick, and I got worse and worse. I knew the perfect will of God was for me to humble myself and ask the elders to pray for me. I put it off and the meeting finished.

I went home without being anointed and prayed with, and everyone in the house caught the thing I was suffering with. My boys did not know anything else but to trust the Lord as the family Physician, and my youngest boy, George, cried out from the attic, "Dadda, come." I cried, "I cannot come. The whole thing is from me. I shall have to repent and ask the Lord to forgive me." I made up my mind to humble myself before the whole church. Then I rushed to the attic and laid my hands on my boy in the name of Jesus. I placed my hands on his head and the pain left and went lower down; he cried again, "Put your hands
still lower." At last the pain went right down to the feet and as I placed my hand on the feet he was completely delivered. Some evil power had evidently gotten hold and as I laid my hands on the different parts of the body it left. (We have to see the difference between anointing the sick and casting out demons."

God will always be gracious when we humble ourselves before Him and come to a place of brokenness of spirit. I was at a place one time ministering to a sick woman, and she said, "I'm very sick. I become all right for an hour, and then I have another attack." I saw that it was an evil power that was attacking her, and I learned something in that hour that I had never learned before. As I moved my hand down her body in the name of the Lord that evil power seemed to move just ahead of my hands and as I moved them down further and further the evil power went right out of her body and never returned.

I was in Havre in France and the power of God was being mightily manifested. A Greek named Felix attended the meeting and became very zealous for God. He was very anxious to get all the Catholics he could to the meeting in order that they should see that God was graciously visiting France. He found a certain bedridden woman who was fixed in a certain position and could not move, and he told her about the Lord healing at the meetings and that he would get me to come if she wished. She said, "My husband is a Catholic and he would never allow anyone who was not a Catholic to see me."

She asked her husband to allow me to come and told him what Felix had told her about the power of God working in our midst. He said, "I will have no Protestant enter my house." She said, "You know the doctors cannot help me, and the priests cannot help, won't you let this man of God pray for me?" He finally consented and I went to the house. The simplicity of this woman and her child-like faith were beautiful to see. I showed her my oil bottle and said to her, "Here is oil. It is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. When that comes upon you, the Holy Ghost will begin to work, and the Lord will raise you up."

And God did something the moment the oil fell upon her. I looked toward the window and I saw Jesus. (I have seen Him often. There is no painting that is a bit like Him: no artist can ever depict the beauty of my lovely Lord.) The woman felt the power of God in her body and cried, "I'm free, my hands are free, my shoulders are free, and oh, I see Jesus! I'm free! I'm free! The vision vanished and the woman sat up in bed. Her legs were still bound, and I said to her, "I'll put my hands over your legs and you will be free entirely." And as I put my hands on those legs covered with bedclothes, I looked and saw the Lord again. She saw Him too and cried, "He's there again. I'm free! I'm free!" She rose from her bed and walked round the room praising God, and we were all in tears as we saw His wonderful works. The Lord shall raise them up when conditions are met. (Smith Wigglesworth)

A MADMAN IN A PRAYER MEETING?

I was one time asked to go to Weston-super-mare, a seaside resort in the West of England. I learned from a telegram that a man has lost his reason and had become a raving maniac, and they wanted me to go to pray for him. I arrived at the place, and the wife said to me, "Will you sleep with my husband?" I agreed, and in the middle of the night an evil power laid hold of him. It was awful. I put my hand on his head and his hair was like a lot of sticks. God gave deliverance--a temporary deliverance. At 6 o'clock the next morning, I felt that it was necessary that I should get out of the house for a short time.

The man saw me going and cried out, "If you leave me, there is no hope." But I felt that I had to go. As I went out I saw a woman with a Salvation Army bonnet on and I knew that she was going to their 7 o'clock prayer meeting. I said to the Captain who was in charge of the meeting, when I saw he was about to give a hymn, "Captain, don't sing. Let's get to prayer." He agreed, and I prayed my heart out, and then I grabbed my hat and rushed out of the hall. They all thought they had a madman in their prayer meeting that morning.

I saw the man I had spent the night with, rushing down toward the sea, without a particle of clothing on, about to drown himself. I cried, "In the name of Jesus, come out of him!" The man fell full length on the ground and that evil power went out of him never to return. His wife came rushing after him, and the husband was restored to her in a perfect mental condition.

There are evil powers, but Jesus is greater than all evil powers. There are tremendous diseases, but Jesus is healer. There is no case too hard for Him. The Lion of Judah shall break every chain. He came to relieve the oppressed and to set the captive free. He came to bring redemption, to make us as perfect as man was before the fall.
(Smith Wigglesworth)

ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH

When I was a young man I always loved the fellowship of old men, and was always careful to hear what they had to say. I had a friend, an old Baptist minister who was a wonderful preacher. I spent much of my time with him. One day he came to me and said, "My wife is dying." I said, "Brother Clark, why don't you believe God? God can raise her up if you will only believe Him." He asked me to come to his house, and I looked for someone to go with me.

I went to a certain rich man who was very zealous for God, and spent much money in opening up rescue missions, and I asked him to go with me. He said, "Never you mind me. You go yourself, but I don't take to this kind of business." Then I thought of a man who could pray by the hour. When he was on his knees he could go round the world three times and come out at the same place. I asked him to go with me and said to him, "You'll have a real chance this time. Keep at it, and quit when you're through."

(Some go on after they are through.) Brother Nichols, for that was his name, went with me and started praying. He asked the Lord to comfort the husband in his great bereavement and prayed for the orphans and a lot more on this line. I cried, "O my God, stop this man." But there was no stopping him and he went on praying and there was not a particle of faith in anything he uttered. He did stop at last, and I said, "Brother Clark, it's now your turn to pray. He started, "Lord, answer the prayer of my brother and comfort me in this great bereavement and sorrow. Prepare me to face this great trial." I cried out, "My God, stop this man." The whole atmosphere was being charged with unbelief.

I had a glass bottle full of oil and I went up to the woman and poured the whole lot on her in the name of Jesus. Suddenly Jesus appeared, standing at the foot of the bed. He smiled and vanished. The woman stood up, perfectly healed, and she is a strong woman today.

We have a big God. We have a wonderful Jesus. We have a glorious Comforter. God's canopy is over you and will cover you at all times, preserving you from evil. Under His wings shalt thou trust. The Word of God is living and powerful and in its treasures you will find eternal life. If you dare trust this wonderful Lord, this Lord of life, you will find in Him everything you need. (Smith Wigglesworth)

Debeloved87: Beautiful...but something hit me now and that is...we shouldnt let anything come between we and the work of God or God but what of our work...if we dont work how are we going to have money that we can use to propagate the gospel..and some peoples work can take them almost a whole day and some half a day, so is the work not coming in between, then what can be done?

We are not all called to be Apostle, Prophet, Pastor etc. But we are all called to fellowship with the Lord Jesus. Thank God for speaking in tongues. this is something you can do on the GO!. Paul said he spoke in tongues more than Peter, James and John. The more you pray in tongues at work, while driving, every where etc, the more the Holy Spirit will direct you clearly on what to do . this is the secret of Christianity. if you've not received the Holy Spirit, seek Him and get filled. Once filled, pray in tongues consistently under your breath. I do this in the most secret way that you wouldnt know i'm praying. the more you do this, the clearer you hear the Spirit and you will know to do what God requires of you.

PUT YOUR FAITH TO WORK: STAND YOUR GROUND

Let me tell you a story to show how He (God) will undertake for the most extreme case.
One day I had been visiting the sick, and was with a friend of mine, an architect, when I saw a young man from his office coming down the road in a car, and holding in his hand a telegram. It contained a very urgent request that we go immediately to pray for a man who was dying. We went off in an auto as fast as possible and in about an hour and a half reached a large house in the country where the man who was dying resided. There were two staircases in that house, and it was extremely convenient, for the doctors could go up and down one, and my friend and I could go up and down the other, and so we had no occasion to meet.

I found on arrival that it was a case of this sort. The man's body had been broken, he was ruptured, and his bowels had been punctured in two places. The discharge from the bowels had formed abscesses, and blood poisoning had set in. The man's face had turned green. Two doctors were in attendance, but they saw that the case was beyond their power. They had telegraphed to London for a great specialist, and, when we arrived, they were at the railway station waiting his arrival.

The man was very near death and could not speak. I said to his wife, "If you desire, we will anoint and pray for him." She said, "That is why I sent for you." I anointed him in the name of the Lord and asked the Lord to raise him up. Apparently there was no change. (God often hides what He does. From day to day we find that God is doing wonderful things, and we receive reports of healings that have taken place that we heard nothing about at the time of our meetings. Only last night a woman came into the meeting suffering terribly. Her whole arm was filled with poison, and her blood was so poisoned that it was certain to bring her to her death. We rebuked the thing, and she was here this morning and told us that she was without pain and had slept all night, a thing she had not done for two months. To God be all the praise. You will find He will do this kind of thing all along.)

As soon as we anointed and prayed for this brother we went down the back staircase and the three doctors came up the front staircase. As we arrived downstairs, I said to my friend who had come with me, "Friend let me have hold of your hands." We held each other's hands, and I said to him, "Look into my face and let us agree together, according to Matthew 18:19, that this man shall be brought out of this death." We laid the whole matter before God, and said, "Father, we believe."

Then the conflict began. The wife came down to us and said, "The doctors have got all their instruments out and they are about to operate." I cried, "What? Look here, he's your husband, and I tell you this, if those men operate on him, he will die. Go back and tell them you cannot allow it." She went back to the doctors and said, "Give me ten minutes." They said, "We can't afford to, the man is dying and it is your husband's only chance."

She said, "I want ten minutes, and you don't touch his body until I have had them." They went downstairs by one staircase and we went up by the other. I said to the woman, "This man is your husband, and he cannot speak for himself. It is now the time for you to put your whole trust in God and prove Him wholly true. You can save him from a thousand doctors. You must stand with God and for God in this critical hour." After that, we came down and the doctors went up. The wife faced those three doctors and said, "You shan't touch this man's body. He is my husband. I am sure that if you operate on him he will die, but he will live if you don't touch him."

Suddenly the man in bed spoke. "God has done it," he said. They rolled back the bedclothes and the doctors examined him, and the abscesses were cut clear away. The nurse cleaned the place where they had been. The doctors could see the bowels still open and they said to the wife, "We know that you have great faith, and we can see that a miracle has taken place. But you must let us unite these broken parts and put in silver tubes, and we know that your husband will be all right after that, and it need not interfere with your faith at all." She said to them, "God has done the first thing and He can do the rest. No man shall touch him now." And God healed the whole thing. And that man is well and strong today. I can give his name and address to any who want it.
Do you ask by what power this was done? I would answer in the words of Peter, "His name, through faith in His name,made this man strong." The anointing was done in the name of the Lord. And it is written, "The LORD shall raise him up." And He provides the double cure; even if sin has been the cause of the sickness, His Word declares, "If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven." (Smith Wigglesworth)

THE THIRD HEAVEN
PLACEBO The Rude Awakening

My escort told me to stand to one side of the Gates and present my case. He assured me that God would hear and answer my request. As I stood before the Gates, the sense of joy, happiness, and contentment radiated out from Heaven. I could feel the warmth it produced and as I stood there to plead my case. I could feel the awesome power of God. No being could possibly appear before Him, even separated by a gate as I was, without experiencing this awesome power, might and majesty. At first I had a sense of fear, sort of guilty feeling that is always produced in me when I believe I have imposed on others. In my mind’s eye I could just visualize a busy God who was annoyed with me for taking Him away from important things. Then, just as suddenly as this feeling came, it passed. I then found strength or boldness in my belief that I had served my God faithfully for many years. To me, I was convinced that this request of mine would be a snap!

Boldly I came before the throne and started out by reminding God what a great life of love, worship, and sacrifice I had lived for Him. I told Him of all the works I had done reminding Him that I was now in trouble and only He could help by granting me an extension on my physical life.

God was totally silent while I spoke. When I had completed my request, I heard the real, audible voice of God as He answered me. The voice I heard was not like the sweet voice that satan had used to trick me before in the valley. You could put together the noise of all the storms, volcanoes, tornadoes, and hurricanes and they could in no way imitate what I heard. The sound of His voice was in no way like the sweet voice I talked about earlier. The sound of His voice came down on me from over the Gates even before the words hit me. The tone of His anger knocked me on my face as God proceeded to tell me just what kind of life I had really lived. He told me what He really thought of me and even other people who lived as I did. He pointed out that my faith was DEAD, that my works were NOT ACCEPTABLE, and that I had labored in VAIN. He told me that it was an abomination for me to live such a life and then dare call it a life of worship. Furthermore, He said to those who do it, they are in danger of experiencing His everlasting wrath. As God dealt with me, He displayed His wrath to me. Notice, it was not His everlasting wrath. He did say there are some who will experience His everlasting wrath.

I could not believe He was talking to me in this manner! I had served Him for years! I thought I had lived a life pleasing to Him! As He was enumerating my wrongs, I was sure He had me confused with someone else. There was no strength left in me to even move, let alone protest, yet I was panicking within myself. No way He could be talking about me! All of these years I thought I was doing those works for God! Now He was telling me that what I did, I did for myself. Even as I preached and testified about the saving grace of Jesus Christ, I was doing that only for myself in order that my conscience might be soothed. In essence, my first love and first works were for myself. After MY needs and wants were met or satisfied, in order to soothe my conscience I would set out to do the Lord’s work. This made my priorities out of order and unacceptable.

Actually, I had become my own false God. He makes it plain in His teachings that He is a jealous God and will have no other gods before Him; flesh, stone, blood, or whatever. He will have no other gods before Him. God told me that He did not accept this kind of worship in the day of the Pharisees and He certainly was not about to accept it now in this the Laodicean Church Age. He put it to me as plain as words and actions could make it. In order for our works to be acceptable, we must work according to His command in Matthew 6:33 which empathically states, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these other things shall be added to you.” As God told me about my true motives, the verse of scripture in Matthew 16:24-26 and Luke 14:26-33 became so clear to me. In Matthew 16 it states, “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after me, let him DENY himself and take up his cross, and follow me, for whosoever shall save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” In Luke 14 beginning with verse 26 it is stated, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and HIS OWN life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” In verse 23 of this same chapter Jesus makes the following statement which is the cornerstone of the two portions of scripture previously stated: “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not ALL that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”

Only now as I was here before Him being chastised did those two portions of scripture become crystal clear to me as to their true meaning. As God told me about my TRUE MOTIVES, I could see plainly for the first time how MY WORKS were DEAD. Because God was displaying His wrath toward me, I could not stand nor could I speak. No strength was left within me as I was nothing more than a wet rag lying there writhing in agony. It indeed, was fortunate for me that this was not God’s everlasting wrath, only temporary wrath. However, at this time I did not know this was only temporary.

It needs to be stated that at no time while God was chastising me did He say I was not saved nor did He say that my name was not in the Lamb’s Book of Life. He never mentioned salvation to me at all but only spoke about the works produced through my life. He told me the type of life I lived was an unacceptable life for a true Christian. As He spoke to me of my dead works, he indicated that there are some people who are not saved but think they are. These people will experience His everlasting wrath. He also made it plain to me that there are others of His children who will find themselves in my present condition on Judgment Day. This revealed to me the true meaning of 1 Corinthians 3:15 which states, “If any man’s works shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” There are no words that can describe the pain I endured as God’s wrath was upon me for this life of so–called service. The agony was beyond the scope of the imagination and the remorse that I felt produced a very heavy burden similar to a physical weight pinning me down or an enormous stone crushing me. Growing weaker and weaker, my mind was frantically racing in an effort to grasp what the Lord was telling me while recalling each actual incident. God leaves no room for error and that includes whatever is in our minds.

The surprise was so overwhelming in its magnitude that it rendered me senseless. My strength left me immediately, just as though I had been hit by a bolt of lightning. Even if God would have ceased and allowed me to speak on word of protest, I would not have been able to do so. I had absolutely no strength whatsoever to utter anything. In my mind I was constantly DENYING the wrong in my life while acknowledging the fact that I had committed them. My conscience was asleep but my mind was NOT.

Slowly, it all began to be absorbed by me. Remember how the Bible tells us to have no other gods before us? I had thought that the Most High God was the only God of my life, but I was not fulfilling that part of scripture which tells us that if we allow anything to come between us and the Lord, (whatever it may be) it becomes our “God.” I realized that each day of my life was devoted only to MYSELF! My whole life I was preoccupied with MY needs FIRST and THEN I was concerned with what the Lord wanted. The money to help the church, the poor, or anything else was secondary because I was my OWN “god.” Naturally, the devil was contented with allowing me to remain in that condition because as long as I was in that condition, I was of no use to the Lord and His kingdom.

I allowed this to occur because I was really indifferent to the things of the Lord. It was too uncomfortable to change and I was convinced I could remain as I was without having to really DO anything (such as following the Lord’s commandment about DENYING myself and picking up my cross daily to follow HIM.) For this reason, my life was wasted and amounted to absolutely nothing in the Lord’s eyes. I hope that you understand what it is that I am saying because it is the whole point of this chapter. The fact is we must prove we are really Christians by first examining our motives behind each deed in our lives, and then repenting and recommitting ourselves to follow the Lord daily. When we decide to serve Him FIRST, this decision must be followed by ACTION or it will be as useless as if we did not decide to do so in the first place.(Pittman Howard)

THE SECOND HEAVEN (II)
PLACEBO 3 The Way Home

When the angels decided that I had seen enough of the demons at work in this physical world, I was taken back into the Second Heaven just by passing through the dividing, dimension wall. Once back inside the Second Heaven, my escort guided me in the direction of the Third Heaven and I was happy at last. After all, this was where I had wanted to go all the time. Even at this stage, my physical life was still my primary concern. Suddenly we came to a most beautiful place. I know that I’ve already reported how terrible that the Second Heaven was, so you can imagine how surprising it was to find anything beautiful over there. God would not allow me to retain the memory of why this place was so beautiful. I do remember that it was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. This place looked like a tunnel, a roadway, a valley or some sort of highway. It had a most brilliant light all its own and was completely surrounded with an invisible shield. I knew that the invisible shield was the protection of the Holy Spirit.

Walking in this tunnel, or along that roadway, or valley, or whatever, was what appeared to be human beings. I asked my escort who they were. He told me, “They are saints going home.” These were the departed spirits of Christians who had died on Earth and they were going home. Each of these saints was accompanied by at least one guardian angel and some had a whole host of angels with them. I wondered why some saints were accompanied by only one angel and others had many. I was watching as the saints passed through the way that all saints must take to go home.

Here it was, the passageway from Earth to the Third Heaven. I found that only “authorized” spirits were allowed in that tunnel. No demon was permitted there. When my escort had finished explaining to me about the homeward trip of the saints. I started into the tunnel. The angel stopped me and told me that we had to travel alongside the tunnel and not inside of it. I traveled, therefore parallel with but outside the tunnel where the saints were. While we were traveling alongside the tunnel, we did not move at the “speed of thought.” Instead, we traveled as if floating on a cloud. In other words, there was no cloud but the mode of traveling felt as if I were floating on a cloud.

I could see the saints at all times moving along inside the tunnel. They were in the form and shape of humans, yet I could not detect any race, age, or sex. They were all clothed alike with the garments appearing to be made up of two pieces. There was a blouse or shirt and a pair of slacks. The color of the garments was a pastel, baby blue with one of the garment pieces being a shade lighter than the other piece. The blue was so light that it was almost white. I realize that these saints I was viewing had not yet received their glorified body because that must wait until the first resurrection.

At first I was disappointed that I was not permitted to travel in the tunnel with the saints, but the disappointment was eased when I was told that we were going to the same place they were going. After all, I knew that if my physical life was going to be extended, I would have to appear before God. Even now, my physical life was still the uppermost thing to me. As we traveled along, I noticed all around me that the demons were beginning to drop behind. The Gates came into view and the closer we got to those Gates, the farther behind fell the demons. When we arrived before the Gates there were no demons in view. Although the Gates of the Third Heaven opened out into the Second Heaven, no demon could come close. Instead of allowing me to enter, the angel stationed me before the Gates, slightly to one side. He instructed me to stay there and watch as the saints were permitted to enter into Heaven. As the saints were allowed into Heaven, I noticed a strange thing. They were permitted to enter only one at a time. No two were permitted to enter those Gates at the same time. I wondered about this but it was never explained to me. I’ve studied about this often since I have returned and now I think I know why. I believe this is a tribute or a salute to the individual. After all, that individual made the choice with his own sovereign will. Remember, it had been pointed out to me specifically that we, as images of the Living God, possess a sovereign will through which we have the right to choose our own destiny.

As the saints were being admitted, I was wondering why I was not being allowed to do what I came to do. I was so impatient to get my request before God that I missed the whole point of what I saw. This point was so important that the Holy Spirit told me Himself. I watched the fifty saints enter Heaven, but the point I missed was the time frame involved. It was explained to me that at the same time those fifty saints died on Earth, 1,950 other humans also died; or only 50 out of 2000 made it into Heaven. That other 1,950 were not there. Where were they? That was only 2 ½ percent going to Heaven! Ninety seven point five percent did not make it! Is that representative of the entire world today? If so, 97 ½ percent of the population of this world today is not ready to meet God. The sad part, my friend, is that it is exactly representative of this Laodicean Church Age in which we live today. We are now in the time when the great majority of church goers are only “mouth–professors” and not “heart–possessors.” At the outset, I stated that I would not try to convince anyone of anything I said. However, I would like to offer as evidence the parable of the sower as told by Jesus in the thirteenth chapter of the book of Matthew. If you read this chapter closely, you will notice that three out of every four people who heard the gospel preached, turned it down. That is seventy–five percent anyway you look at it. I am talking about three out of every four people who bothered to hear the gospel, turned it down! The sad part about this is the overwhelming majority of the people that did turn the gospel down, do not know that they have turned it down! They have bought a lie of satan and have been deceived. They have been led to believe something that is not the truth and they been fooled by satan into rejecting the gospel! Place the seventy–five percent who turned down the gospel with those in the world who made no pretense of hearing the truth and you have the overwhelming ninety seven and one-half percent of the population today! As I contemplate this fact. I now understand the Lord’s disgust with the Laodicean–type Church.

I also clearly understand the verses of scripture in Matthew 7:22-23 that describes how many people will stand before the Throne at the Judgment pleading. “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy Name? And in thy Name cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?” only to have the Lord say to them, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity…” (Pittman Howard)

LETS GO BACK TO THE OLD-SCHOOL FAITH

I went to a certain place one day and the Lord said, "This is for My glory." A young man had been sick for a long time confined to his bed in an utterly hopeless condition. He was fed only with a spoon, and was never dressed. The weather was damp, and so I said to the people of the house, "I wish you would put the young man's clothes by the fire to air." At first they would not take any notice of my request, but because I was persistent, they at last got out his clothes, and, when they were aired, I took them into his room.

The Lord said to me, "You will have nothing to do with this;" and I just lay out prostrate on the floor. The Lord showed me that He was going to shake the place with His glory. The very bed shook. I laid my hands on the young man in the name of Jesus, and the power fell in such a way that I fell on my face to the floor. In about a quarter of an hour the young man got up and walked up and down praising God. He dressed himself and then went out to the room where his father and mother were. He said, "God has healed me." Both the father and mother fell prostate to the floor as the power of God surged through that room. There was a woman in that house who had been in an asylum for lunacy, and her condition was so bad that they were about to take her back. But the power of God healed her, too. The power of God is just the same today as of old. Men need to be taken back to the old paths, to the old-time faith, to believe God's Word and every "Thus saith the Lord" therein.

The Spirit of the Lord is moving in these days. God is coming forth. If you want to be in the rising tide, you must accept all God has said. (Smith Wigglesworth)

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POOR DOCTOR!

I was in Long Beach, California one day, and with a friend, was passing a hotel. He told me of a doctor there who had a diseased leg; that he had been suffering from it for six years, and could not get out. We went up to his room and found four doctors there. I said, "Well, doctor, I see you have plenty on, I'll call again another day." I was passing at another time, and the Holy Spirit said, "Go join thyself to him." Poor doctor! He surely was in a bad condition. He said, "I have been like this for six years, and nothing human can help me." I said, "You need God Almighty." People are trying to patch up their lives; but you cannot do anything without God. I talked to him for a while about the Lord, and then prayed for him. I cried, "Come out of him, in the name of Jesus." The doctor cried, "It's all gone!"

At that meeting there was an old man helping his son to the altar. He said, "He has fits--many every day." Then there was a woman with a cancer. Oh, what sin has done! We read that, when God brought forth His people from Egypt, "there was not one feeble person among their tribes" (Ps. 105:37). No disease!

All healed by the power of God! I believe that God wants a people like that today. I prayed for the sister who had the cancer and she said, "I know I'm free and that God has delivered me." Then they brought the boy with the fits, and I commanded the evil spirits to leave, in the name of Jesus. Then I prayed for the doctor. At the next night's meeting the house was full. I called out, "Now, doctor, what about the diabetes?" He said, "It has gone." Then I said to the old man, "What about your son?" He said, "He hasn't had any fits since." We have a God who answers prayer. (Smith Wigglesworth)

bizmahn: Thanks dear beloved for featuring charles Finney & Smith Wigglesworth.I read some of your thread & its a good work you are doing.Please continue to feature these ambassadors of high & holy sin hating christian standards.It should provoke people to worthy emulation of godly character.God reward your efforts.

Thanks. We need to regain that strong sense of Right Living. Anointing without Living Right had led many astray. A strong hatred for sin is needed in our day. Thanks

THE SECOND HEAVEN (PLACEBO)

What happens next is so incredible that some people find it hard to believe. May I say at the outset that I know the difference between dreams, visions, and a real experience. May I also point out that if you do not believe in (the existence of ) satan and demons as being real, individual beings, then you do yourself and the Kingdom of God a great disservice. It stands to reason that you cannot understand or even withstand an enemy if you do not believe he is real.

At the moment I resisted satan, he fled from me. The angels were there and they took my spirit from my body. These angels were present all the time that satan tempted me although I did not know it because I was still in the flesh. The angels did not attempt to help me until I had resisted satan with my own will. The only help I had was the supernatural revelation from the Holy Spirit that the voice I was hearing belonged to satan and not to God. Whether or not to obey that voice was my choice. When the angels lifted my spirit from my body, they carried me immediately to the Second Heaven. We did not have to leave that hospital room in order to enter the Second Heaven. We entered there in that same room where my body was, just by passing through a dimension wall. It is a wall which flesh cannot pass through, only spirit. For you the reader, to understand what was happening, you must understand the separation of the spirit from the flesh. To know how this works, we must know how we, ourselves, are made. The Bible states that we, as humans beings are made in the image of God. To understand this, we must know what God is. The Bible states three immutable things about God: 1st God is Spirit, 2nd God is invisible and 3rd God is immortal. If we are made in His image, then we are spirit, we are invisible, and we are immortal. Therefore, when we look into a mirror we do not see our real selves. We see only the body, or earthen vessel, in which we live. Since we are all made in the image of God, we would all be mirror images of one another without our earthly, physical bodies.

Therefore, we were given a soul to separate us from one another to make us an individual. The animals in this world also have a soul. The only difference between their souls and ours is that our soul belongs to the spirit. Their souls belongs to the body. When their body perishes, their soul perish with it. When our body perishes, the soul remains with the spirit. When the spirit was lifted from my body, my soul came with it. I suppose the simplest way to identify the soul would be to say that it is one’s personality. The entire time I was away from my body I remained an individual, that is, I retained my own personality. I retained all my faculties. In fact, they were greatly enhanced.

As we moved through that dimension wall into the Second Heaven, I found myself in an entirely different world, far different from anything I had ever imagined. This world was a place occupied by spirit beings as vast in number as the sands of the seashore. These beings were demons [devils], or fallen angels, and were in thousands of different shapes and forms. Even those in similar shapes and forms were contrasted by diverse coloring. Many of the demons were in human shapes or forms and many were in forms similar to animals familiar to our present world. Others were in shapes and forms too hideous to imagine. Some of the forms were so morbid and revolting that I was almost to the point of nausea.

When I first arrived in the Second Heaven, I knew immediately in what direction I must go to reach the Third Heaven where God was. I don’t know how I knew that, but I did. I also knew that if I was going to get my prayer answered, I was going to have to appear before God the Father in the Third Heaven. I was aware that I was traveling in that spirit world under the protection of the Holy Spirit, and that the angels who were escorting me were also moving about under the protection of the Holy Spirit. It might seem strange to you, the reader, that the angels needed the protection of the Holy Spirit, but remember where we were, the Second Heaven. The Second Heaven is the place where satan presently has his throne located. satan is not yet in Hell although Hell is to be his final destiny. All the spirits in that world were aware of our presence and were aware of the Holy Spirit’s protection over us. To give you an idea as to why that protection was necessary, let me give a Bible reference to the power of satan as demonstrated in the Second Heaven. The tenth chapter of the book of Daniel tells about God sending one of His angels to deliver a message to Daniel. Because of the importance of that message, satan did not want it delivered. In order for the angel sent from God in the Third Heaven to reach Daniel, he had to pass through the Second Heaven. satan sent one of his princes, or one of his archangels, to stop the angel. The angel had to fight and could not get through alone so he had to call for reinforcements. God had to send one of His princes, or the archangel, to help the messenger and even this took twenty–one days. After the angel delivered the message, he reminded Daniel that he, the angel, would have to fight his way back through the Second Heaven.

As we moved about there in that world, I was greatly disappointed that my escort did not take me in the direction of the Third Heaven where God was. Instead, we moved in the opposite direction. As we moved from place to place in that world, I learned many things about demons. I did things differently in the spirit realm than what we do here in the physical world. For instance, we do not communicate with our mouths and ears, but rather, we communicated with our minds. It was like projecting our words on thought waves and receiving the answer the same way. Although I could still think to myself without projecting, I discovered that this really did not benefit me because the angels could read my mind. I could hear different sounds in that world, but I did not hear with my ears. I heard with my mind, but I was still able to “hear” those sounds. When we traveled, we traveled mostly at what I call the “speed of thought.” When we traveled at the “speed of thought,” there was no sensation of movement. The angel would say where we were going and we were there. There were other times when we did not travel in that manner, and I was very much aware of movement while traveling.

One of those times when I was aware of movement was when they brought me back into the physical world and allowed me to see the demons working here. We moved about here somewhat like floating on a cloud. Still, I had the sensation of movement. Make no mistake about demons for they are very real. The Bible makes more statements about demons than it does about angels and it points out in Luke 10:18 that demons are evil. Mark 5:8-9 indicates how numerous they are and Matthew 10:1 shows that they are unclean. Matthew 12:21-30 states that they are under the command of satan and Matthew 8:29 shows that they can possess humans.
In the demon world, there is a division of power much like a military structured chain command with rank and order. Certain demons carry the title of prince, which is always the demon in charge of a principality. A principality is a territory, an area, a place or a group that may range in size from as large as a nation to as small as a person. When satan assigns a prince a task, the prince is given the authority to act in the name of satan and use whatever means necessary or available to him to accomplish his task.

When we started the tour of the Second Heaven, the angels began by showing me the different types of demons. Each demon was revealed to me in a form that indicated his area of expertise, and I soon discovered that there is no such thing as a “general practitioner” in all the demon world. They have only one area of expertise which they do very well. (HOWARD PITTMAN)

ENDUEMENT OF POWER (Charles Finney)

Soon after I was licensed to preach I went into a region of country where I was an entire stranger. I went there at the request of a Female Missionary Society, located in Oneida County, New York. Early in May, I think, I visited the town of Antwerp, in the northern part of Jefferson County. I stopped at the village hotel, and there learned that there were no religious meetings held in that town at the time. They had a brick meeting-house, but it was locked up.

By personal efforts I got a few people to assemble in the parlor of a Christian lady in the place, and preached to them on the evening after my arrival. As I passed round the village I was shocked with the horrible profanity that I heard among the men wherever I went. I obtained leave to preach in the school-house on the next Sabbath; but before the Sabbath arrived I was much discouraged, and almost terrified, in view of the state of society which I witnessed. On Saturday the Lord applied with power to my heart the following words, addressed by the Lord Jesus to Paul (Acts 18:9, 10): "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city." This completely subdued my fears; but my heart was loaded with agony for the people. On Sunday morning I arose early, and retired to a grove not far from the village to pour out my heart before God for a blessing on the labors of the day. I could not express the agony of my soul in words, but struggled with much groaning, and, I believe, with many tears, for an hour or two, without getting relief. I returned to my room in the hotel; but almost immediately came back to the grove. This I did thrice. The last time I got complete relief, just as it was time to go to meeting. I went to the school house, and found it filled to its utmost capacity. I took out my little pocket Bible, and read for my text: "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I exhibited the love of God as contrasted with the manner in which He was treated by those for whom He gave up His Son.

I charged home their profanity upon them; and, as I recognized among my hearers several whose profanity I had particularly noticed, in the fullness of my heart and the gushing of my tears I pointed to them, and said, "I heard these men call upon God to damn their fellows." The Word took powerful effect. Nobody seemed offended, but almost everybody greatly melted. At the close of the service the amiable landlord, Mr. Copeland, rose and said that he would open the meeting house in the afternoon. He did so. The meeting house was full, and, as in the morning, the Word took powerful effect. Thus a powerful revival commenced in the village, which soon after spread in every direction. I think it was on the second Sabbath after this, when I came out of the pulpit in the afternoon, an aged man approached, and said to me: "Can you not come and preach in our neighborhood? We have never had any religious meetings there." I inquired the direction and the distance, and appointed to preach there the next afternoon, Monday, at five o'clock, in their school-house. I had preached three times in the village, and attended two prayer meetings on the Lord's Day; and on Monday I went on foot to fulfill this appointment. The weather was very warm that day, and before I arrived there I felt almost too faint to walk, and greatly discouraged in my mind. I sat down in the shade by the wayside, and felt as if I was too faint to reach there; and if I did, too much discouraged to open my mouth to the people.

When I arrived I found the house full, and immediately commenced the service by reading a hymn. They attempted to sing, but the horrible discord agonized me beyond expression. I leaned forward, put my elbows upon my knees and my hands over my ears, and shook my head withal, to shut out the discord, which even then I could barely endure. As soon as they had ceased to sing I cast myself down upon my knees, almost in a state of desperation. The Lord opened the windows of heaven upon me, and gave me great enlargement and power in prayer. Up to this moment I had no idea what text I should use on the occasion. As I rose from my knees the Lord gave me this: "Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city." I told the people, as nearly as I could recollect, where they would find it, and went on to tell them of the destruction of Sodom. I gave them an outline of the history of Abraham and Lot, and their relations to each other; of
Abraham's praying for Sodom, and of Lot, as the only pious man that was found in the city.

While I was doing this I was struck with the fact that the people looked exceedingly angry about me. Many countenances appeared very threatening, and some of the men near me looked as if they were about to strike me. This I could not understand, as I was only giving them, with great liberty of spirit, some interesting sketches of Bible history. As soon as I had completed the historical sketch I turned upon them, and said that I had understood they had never had any religious meetings in that neighborhood; and, applying that fact, I thrust at them with the sword of the Spirit with all my might. From this moment the solemnity increased with great rapidity. In a few moments there seemed to fall upon the congregation an instantaneous shock. I cannot describe the sensation that I felt, nor that which was apparent in the congregation; but the word seemed literally to cut like a sword. The power from on high came down upon them in such a torrent that they fell from their seats in every direction. In less than a minute nearly the whole congregation were either down on their knees, or on their faces, or in some position prostrate before God.

Everyone was crying or groaning for mercy upon his own soul. They paid no further attention to me or to my preaching. I tried to get their attention; but I could not. I observed the aged man who had invited me there as still retaining his seat near the center of the house. He was staring around him with a look of unutterable astonishment. Pointing to him, I cried at the top of my voice, "Can't you pray?" He knelt down and roared out a short prayer, about as loud as he could holler, but they paid no attention to him. After looking round for a few moments, I knelt down and put my hand on the head of a young man who was kneeling at my feet, and engaged in prayer for mercy on his soul. I got his attention, and preached Jesus in his ear. In a few moments he seized Jesus by faith, and then broke out in prayer for those around him. I then turned to another in the same way, and with the same result; and then another, and another, till I know not how many had laid hold of Christ and were full of prayer for others.

After continuing in this way till nearly sunset I was obliged to commit the meeting to the charge of the old gentleman who had invited me, and go to fulfill an appointment in another place for the evening. In the afternoon of the next day I was sent for to go down to this place, as they had not been able to break up the meeting. They had been obliged to leave the school-house, to give place to the school; but had removed to a private house near by, where I found a number of persons still too anxious and too much loaded down with conviction to go to their homes. These were soon subdued by the Word of God, and I believe all obtained a hope before they went home. Observe, I was a total stranger in that place, had never seen or heard of it, until as I have related. But here, at my second visit, I learned that the place was called Sodom, by reason of its wickedness; and the old man who invited me was called Lot, because he was the only professor of religion in the place. After this manner the revival broke out in this neighborhood. I have not been in that neighborhood for many years; but in 1856, I think, while laboring in Syracuse, New York, I was introduced to a minister of Christ from St. Lawrence County by the name of Cross. He said to me, "Mr. Finney, you don't know me; but do you remember preaching in a place called Sodom?" I said, "I shall never forget it." He replied, "I was then a young man, and was converted at that meeting." He is still living, a pastor in one of the churches in that county, and is the father of the principal of our preparatory department. Those who have lived in that region can testify of the permanent results of that blessed revival. I can only give in words a feeble description of that wonderful manifestation of power from on high attending the preaching of the Word. (Charles G. Finney)

REPENTANCE & FORGIVENESS

I have seen the worst men saved by the power of God. I was one day preaching about the name of Jesus and there was a man leaning against a lamp-post, listening. It took a lamp-post to enable him to keep on his feet. We had finished our open-air meeting, and the man was still leaning against the post. I asked him, "Are you sick?" He showed me his hand and I saw beneath his coat, he had a silver handled dagger. He told me that he was on his way to kill his unfaithful wife, but that he had heard me speaking about the power of the name of Jesus and could not get away. He said that he felt just helpless. I said, "Get you down." And there on the square, with people passing up and down, he got saved.

I took him to my home and put on him a new suit. I saw that there was something in that man that God could use. He said to me the next morning, "God has revealed Jesus to me; I see that all has been laid upon Jesus." I lent him some money, and he soon got together a wonderful little home. His faithless wife was living with another man, but he invited her back to the home that he had prepared for her. She came: and, where enmity and hatred had been before, the whole situation was transformed by love. God made that man a minister wherever he went. There is power in the name of Jesus everywhere. God can save to the uttermost. (Smith Wigglesworth)

CONFESSIONS ON HEALTH AND HEALING

Acts 5:16
16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Hebrews 7:25
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Acts 13:38-39
38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Romans 8:11
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

2 Corinthians 4:10-11
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Deuteronomy 11:21
21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

Deuteronomy 7:15
15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you.

Mark 16:17-18
17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Isaiah 40:31
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 34:19
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Jeremiah 30:17
17 For I will restore health to you,
and your wounds I will heal,
declares the Lord,
because they have called you an outcast:
‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’

Isaiah 53:4-5
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.

Jeremiah 33:6
6 Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.

Matthew 18:19
19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

Mark 11:24
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Isaiah 58:8
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Psalm 41:3
3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness you restore him to full health.

1 Peter 2:24
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Romans 8:32
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Psalm 34:10
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalm 34:10
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalm 103:3
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,

Isaiah 53:4
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.

Psalm 119:93
93 I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.

John 8:36
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Romans 8:2
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

2 Corinthians 2:14
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

1 John 3:8
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

3 John 1:2
2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

Isaiah 40:29
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Jeremiah 30:17
17 For I will restore health to you,
and your wounds I will heal,
declares the Lord,
because they have called you an outcast:
‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’

Matthew 8:17
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Romans 8:26
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Isaiah 40:31
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Matthew 15:13
13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

Romans 8:11
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Proverbs 3:7-8
7 Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.

Proverbs 4:20-22
20 My son, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to all their flesh.

Psalm 91:3
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.

Psalm 42:11
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

2 Timothy 1:7
7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Psalm 107:20
20 He sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from their destruction.

Jeremiah 33:6
6 Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.

2 Thessalonians 3:3
3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

Psalm 46:1
46:1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 55:22
22 Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

Psalm 25:20
20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

none

Isaiah 50:7
7 But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

Jeremiah 17:14
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for you are my praise.

Psalm 119:107
107 I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O Lord, according to your word!

Psalm 121:2
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 119:50
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.

Isaiah 57:19
19 creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord,
“and I will heal him.

Psalm 116:10
10 I believed, even when I spoke,
“I am greatly afflicted”;

Isaiah 43:2
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.

Exodus 15:26
26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

Deuteronomy 7:15
15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.

Deuteronomy 7:14
14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock.

James 5:16
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

THIS IS WHAT I BAPTIZED YOU FOR

After I had received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost (and I know that I received; for the Lord gave me the Spirit in just the same way as He gave Him to the disciples at Jerusalem), I sought the mind of the Lord as to why I was baptized. One day I came home from work and went into the house and my wife asked me, 'Which way did you come in?" I told her that I had come in at the back door. She said, "There is a woman upstairs and she has brought an old man of eighty to be prayed for. He is raving up there and a great crowd is outside the front door, ringing the door-bell and wanting to know what is going on in the house."

The Lord quietly whispered, "This is what I baptized you for." I carefully opened the door of the room where the man was, desiring to be obedient to what my Lord would say to me. The man was crying and shouting in distress, "I am lost! I am lost! I have committed the unpardonable sin. I am lost! I am lost!" My wife said, "Dad, what shall we do?" The Spirit of the Lord moved me to cry out, "Come out, thou lying spirit." In a moment the evil spirit went, and the Lord said to me, "This is what I baptized you for."

There is a place where God, through the power of the Holy Ghost, reigns supreme in our lives. The Spirit reveals, unfolds, takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, and prepares us to be more than a match for satanic forces. (Smith Wigglesworth)

ATTEMPTED ARREST FOR HEALING WITHOUT LISENCE

When I was in Switzerland the Lord was graciously working and healing many of the people. I was staying with Brother Reuss of Goldiwil and two policemen were sent to arrest me. The charge was that I was healing the people without a license. Mr. Reuss said to them, "I am sorry that he is not here just now. He is holding a meeting about two miles away, but before you arrest him let me show you something."

Brother Reuss took these two policemen down to one of the lower parts of that district, to a house with which they were familiar, for they had often gone to that place to arrest a certain woman, who was repeatedly put in prison because of continually being engaged in drunken brawls. He took them to this woman and said to them, "This is one of the many cases of blessing that have come through the ministry of the man you have come to arrest. This woman came to our meeting in a drunken condition. Her body was broken, for she was ruptured in two places. While she was drunk, the evangelist laid his hands on her and asked God to heal her and deliver her." The woman joined in, "Yes, and God saved me, and I have not tasted a drop of liquor since." The policemen had a warrant for my arrest, but they said with disgust, "Let the doctors do this kind of thing." They turned and went away and that was the last we heard of them.

We have a Jesus that heals the broken-hearted, who lets the captives go free, who saves the very worst. Dare you, dare you, spurn this glorious Gospel of God for spirit, soul and body? Dare you spurn this grace? (Smith Wigglesworth)

MY TIME IN HEAVEN By Don Piper
When I died, I didn’t flow through a
long, dark tunnel. I had no sense of
fading away or of coming back. I never
felt my body being transported into the
light. I heard no voices calling to me
or anything else. Simultaneous with my
last recollection of seeing the bridge and
the rain, a light enveloped me, with a
brilliance beyond earthly comprehension
or description. Only that.
In my next moment of awareness, I
was standing in heaven.

Joy pulsated through me as I looked
around, and at that moment I became
aware of a large crowd of people. They
stood in front of a brilliant, ornate gate.
I have no idea how far away they were;
such things as distance didn’t matter.
As the crowd rushed toward me, I
didn’t see Jesus, but I did see people I
had known. As they surged toward me,
I knew instantly that all of them had
died during my lifetime. Their presence
seemed absolutely natural.
They rushed toward me, and every
person was smiling, shouting, and praising
God. Although no one said so, intuitively
I knew they were my celestial
welcoming committee. It was as if they
had all gathered just outside heaven’s
gate, waiting for me.
The first person I recognized was Joe
Kulbeth, my grandfather. He looked
exactly as I remembered him, with his
shock of white hair and what I called a
big banana nose. He stopped momentarily
and stood in front of me. A grin
covered his face. I may have called his
name, but I’m not sure.
“Donnie!” (That’s what my grandfather
always called me.) His eyes lit up,
and he held out his arms as he took
the last steps toward me. He embraced
me, holding me tightly. He was once
again the robust, strong grandfather I
had remembered as a child.
I’d been with him when he suffered
a heart attack at home and had ridden
with him in the ambulance. I had been
standing just outside the emergency room
at the hospital when the doctor walked
out and faced me. He shook his head
and said softly, “We did everything we
could.”
My grandfather released me, and
as I stared into his face, an ecstatic
bliss overwhelmed me. I didn’t think
about his heart attack or his death,
because I couldn’t get past the joy of
our reunion. How either of us reached
heaven seemed irrelevant.
I have no idea why my grandfather
was the first person I saw. Perhaps it
had something to do with my being
there when he died. He wasn’t one of
the great spiritual guides of my life,
although he certainly influenced me
positively in that way.
After being hugged by my grandfather,
I don’t remember who was second or
third. The crowd surrounded me. Some
hugged me and a few kissed my cheek,
while others pumped my hand. Never
had I felt more loved.
One person in that greeting committee
was Mike Wood, my childhood friend.
Mike was special because he invited me
to Sunday school and was influential in
my becoming a Christian. Mike was the
most devoted young Christian I knew.
He was also a popular kid and had lettered
four years in football, basketball,
and track and field, an amazing feat.
He also became a hero to me, because
he lived the Christian lifestyle he often
talked about. After high school, Mike
received a full scholarship to Louisiana
State University. When he was nineteen,
Mike was killed in a car wreck. It broke
my heart when I heard about his death,
and it took me a long time to get over
it. His death was the biggest shock and
most painful experience I’d had up to
that time in my life.
When I attended his funeral, I wondered
if I would ever stop crying. I couldn’t
understand why God had taken such a
dedicated disciple. Through the years
since then, I had never been able to
forget the pain and sense of loss. Not
that I thought of him all the time, but
when I did, sadness came over me.
Now I saw Mike in heaven. As he
slipped his arm around my shoulder,
my pain and grief vanished. Never had
I seen Mike smile so brightly. I still
didn’t know why, but the joyousness
of the place wiped away any questions.
Everything felt blissful. Perfect.
More and more people reached for
me and called me by name. I felt overwhelmed
by the number of people who
had come to welcome me to heaven.
There were so many of them, and I had
never imagined anyone being as happy
as they all were. Their faces radiated a
serenity I had never seen on earth. All
were full of life and expressed radiant
joy.
Time had no meaning. However, for
clarity, I’ll relate this experience in terms
that refer to time.
I saw my great-grandfather, heard his
voice, and felt his embrace as he told me
how excited he was that I had come to
join them. I saw Barry Wilson, who had
been my classmate in high school but
later drowned in a lake. Barry hugged
me, and his smile radiated a happiness
I didn’t know was possible. He and everyone
that followed praised God and
told me how excited they were to see
me and to welcome me to heaven and
to the fellowship they enjoyed.
Just then, I spotted two teachers who
had loved me and often talked to me
about Jesus Christ. As I walked among
them, I became aware of the wide variety
of ages—old and young and every
age in-between. Many of them hadn’t
known each other on earth, but each had
influenced my life in some way. Even
though they hadn’t met on earth, they
seemed to know each other now.

JESUS IS SIMPLY THE SAME TODAY AS HE WAS YESTERDAY

A number of years ago I met Brother D. W. Kerr and he gave me a letter of introduction to a brother in Zion City named Cook. I took his letter to Brother Cook, and he said, "God has sent you here." He gave me the addresses of six people and asked me to go and pray for them and meet him again at 12 o'clock. I got back at about 12:30 and he told me about a young man who was to be married the following Monday. His sweetheart was in Zion City dying of appendicitis. I went to the house and found that the physician had just been there and had pronounced that there was no hope. The mother was nearly distracted and was pulling her hair, and saying, "Is there no deliverance!" I said to her, "Woman, believe God and your daughter will be healed and be up and dressed in fifteen minutes." But the mother went on screaming.

They took me into the bedroom, and I prayed for the girl and commanded the evil spirit to depart in the name of Jesus. She cried, "I am healed." I said to her, "Do you want me to believe that you are healed? If you are healed, get up." She said, "You get out of the room and I'll get up." In less than ten minutes the doctor came in. He wanted to know what had happened. She said, "A man came in and prayed for me, and I'm healed." The doctor pressed his finger right in the place that had been so sore, and the girl neither moaned nor cried. He said, "This is God." It made no difference whether he acknowledged it or not, I knew that God had worked. Our God is real in saving and healing power today.

Our Jesus is just the same, yesterday, and today, and forever. He saves and heals today just as of old, and He wants to be your Saviour and your Healer. Oh, if you would only believe God! What would happen? (Smith Wigglesworth)

YOU CAN HAVE THE POWER TO FREE THE CAPTIVES

At one time I was so bound that no human power could help me. My wife was looking for me to pass away. There was no help. At that time I had just had a faint glimpse of Jesus as the Healer. For six months I had been suffering from appendicitis, occasionally getting temporary relief. I went to the mission of which I was pastor, but I was brought to the floor in awful agony, and they brought me home to my bed. All night I was praying, pleading for deliverance, but none came. My wife was sure it was my home call and sent for a physician. He said that there was no possible chance for me -- my body was too weak. Having had the appendicitis for six months, my whole system was drained, and, because of that, he thought that it was too late for an operation.

He left my wife in a state of broken-heartedness. After he left, there came to our door a young man and an old lady. I knew that she was a woman of real prayer. They came upstairs to my room. This young man jumped on the bed and commanded the evil spirit to come out of me. He shouted, "Come out, you devil; I command you to come out in the name of Jesus!" There was no chance for an argument, or for me to tell him that I would never believe that there was a devil inside of me. The thing had to go in the name of Jesus, and it went, and I was instantly healed.

I arose and dressed and went downstairs. I was still in the plumbing business, and I asked my wife, "Is there any work in? I am all right now, and I am going to work." I found there was a certain job to be done and I picked up my tools and went off to do it. Just after I left, the doctor came in, put his plug hat down in the hall, and walked up to the bedroom. But the invalid was not there.

"Where is Mr. Wigglesworth? he asked. "O, doctor, he's gone out to work," said my wife. "You'll never see him alive again," said the doctor; "they'll bring him back a corpse."
Well, I'm the corpse. Since that time, in many parts of the world, the Lord has given me the privilege of praying for people with appendicitis; and I have seen a great many people up and dressed within a quarter of an hour from the time I prayed for them. We have a living Christ who is willing to meet people on every line. (Smith Wigglesworth)

POWER FROM ON HIGH (By Charles Finney)

The POWER of God is a mysterious fact often manifested in a most surprising manner. Sometimes a single sentence, a word, a gesture, or even a look, will convey this power in an overcoming manner. To the honor of God alone I will say a little of my own experience in this matter. I was powerfully converted on the morning of the 10th of October. In the evening of the same day, and on the morning of the following day, I received overwhelming baptisms of the Holy Ghost, that went through me, as it seemed to me, body and soul.

I immediately found myself endued with such power from on high that a few words dropped here and there to individuals were the means of their immediate conversion. My words seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in the souls of men. They cut like a sword. They broke the heart like a hammer. Multitudes can attest to this. Oftentimes a word dropped, without my remembering it, would fasten conviction, and often result in almost immediate conversion. Sometimes I would find myself, in a great measure, empty of this power. I would go out and visit, and find that I made no saving impression. I would exhort and pray, with the same result. I would then set apart a day for private fasting and prayer, fearing that this power had departed from me, and would inquire anxiously after the reason of this apparent emptiness. After humbling myself, and crying out for help, the power would return upon me with all its freshness. This has been the experience of my life.

I could fill a volume with the history of my own experience and observation with respect to this power from on high. It is a fact of consciousness and of observation, but a great mystery. I have said that sometimes a look has in it the power of God. I have often witnessed this. Let the following fact illustrate it. I once preached, for the first time, in a manufacturing village. The next morning I went into a manufacturing establishment to view its operations. As I passed into the weaving department I beheld a great company of young women, some of whom, I observed, were looking at me, and then at each other, in a manner that indicated a trifling spirit, and that they knew me. I, however, knew none of them. As I approached nearer to those who had recognized me they seemed to increase in their manifestations of lightness of mind. Their levity made a peculiar impression upon me; I felt it to my very heart. I stopped short and looked at them, I know not how, as my whole mind was absorbed with the sense of their guilt and danger. As I settled my countenance upon them I observed that one of them became very much agitated. A thread broke. She attempted to mend it; but her hands trembled in such a manner that she could not do it. I immediately observed that the sensation was spreading, and had become universal among that class of triflers. I looked steadily at them until one after another gave up and paid no more attention to their looms. They fell on their knees, and the influence spread throughout the whole room. I had not spoken a word; and the noise of the looms would have prevented my being heard if I had. In a few minutes all work was abandoned, and tears and lamentations filled the room.

At this moment the owner of the factory, who was himself an unconverted man, came in, accompanied, I believe, by the superintendent, who was a professed Christian. When the owner saw the state of things he said to the superintendent, "Stop the mill." What he saw seemed to pierce him to the heart. "It is more important," he hurriedly remarked, "that these souls should be saved than that this mill should run."
As soon as the noise of the machinery had ceased, the owner inquired: "What shall we do? We must have a place to meet, where we can receive instruction." The superintendent replied: "The muleroom will do." The mules were run up out of the way, and all of the hands were notified and assembled in that room. We had a marvelous meeting. I prayed with them, and gave them such instructions as at the time they could bear. The word was with power. Many expressed hope that day; and within a few days, as I was informed, nearly every hand in that great establishment, together with the owner, had hope in Christ.

This power is a great marvel. I have many times seen people unable to endure the word. The most simple and ordinary statements would cut men off from their seats like a sword, would take away their bodily strength, and render them almost as helpless as dead men. Several times it has been true in my experience that I could not raise my voice, or say anything in prayer or exhortation except in the mildest manner, without wholly overcoming those that were present. This was not because I was preaching terror to the people; but the sweetest sounds of the gospel would overcome them. This power seems sometimes to pervade the atmosphere of one who is highly charged with it. Many times great numbers of persons in a community will be clothed with this power, when the very atmosphere of the whole place seems to be charged with the life of God. Strangers coming into it, and passing through the place, will be instantly smitten with conviction of sin, and in many instances converted to Christ. When Christians humble themselves, and consecrate their all afresh to Christ, and ask for this power, they will often receive such a baptism that they will be instrumental in converting more souls in one day than in all their lifetime before. While Christians remain humble enough to retain this power the work of conversion will go on, till whole communities and regions of country are converted to Christ. (Charles Finney)

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

Mtt5:43-48, ‘’You have heard that it had been said, Thou shall LOVE your neighbour, and HATE your ENEMIES. But I (Jesus) say to you, LOVE your ENEMIES, BLESS them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and PRAY for them which despitefully use you and persecute you…….’’

ROM12:19-21, ‘’…If your enemy hunger, feed him; if your enemy thirst, give him drink…(19) do not avenge yourselves…’’

These are the days you see people praying out of Scripture. Please be careful because we are in the LAST DAYS. I see some praying their boss, colleagues, family members etc to die that they may progress. What evil? What wickedness? The New Testament teachings is clear about this matter. Let’s follow Jesus and Paul on this matter.

There’s so much wrong practices nowadays. If we’ll stick to the Word despite what contrary word we hear, we will save our own soul and be more effective in the service of God. Wishing the death of your enemies is not Christ-like at all.

We were once an enemy of God, He did not destroy us. We have all wrong some people at one point or the other. If they prayed we died and God answered such DUMB prayers, we would have perished. Thank God He’s not like that. Those who call themselves my enemy, may God be more merciful to them and grant that they get saved in the Name of the Lord Jesus. They can’t hurt me according to the Bible.

I’ve noticed that those who pray such wicked prayers are never free from enemies. This is because it’s unscriptural. Devil enjoys such prayers. Let’s follow Jesus and Paul. Let’s learn the LOVE-WALK. Love covers multitudes of sin. There are many Scripture quotations on this, but I decided to quote just these duo. There’s not a single place in the New Testament where we are told to pray against our enemies. Love Rules!

UNBELIEF HINDERS FAITH CRITICALLY

I realize that God can never bless us on the lines of being hard-hearted, critical or unforgiving. This will hinder faith quicker than anything. I remember being at a meeting where there were some people tarrying for the Baptism - seeking for cleansing, for the moment a person is cleansed the Spirit will fall.

There was one man with eyes red from weeping bitterly. He said to me, "I shall have to leave. It is no good my staying without I change things. I have written a letter to my brother-in-law, and filled it with hard words, and this thing must first be straightened out." He went home and told his wife, "I'm going to write a letter to your brother and ask him to forgive me for writing to him the way I did." "You fool!" she said. "Never mind," he replied, "this is between God and me, and it has got to be cleared away." He wrote the letter and came again, and straightway God filled him with the Spirit. I believe there are a great many people who would be healed, but they are harbouring things in their hearts that are as a blight. Let these things go. Forgive, and the Lord will forgive you. There are many good people, people that mean well, but they have no power to do anything for God. There is just some little thing that came in their hearts years ago, and their faith has been paralysed ever since. Bring everything to the light. God will sweep it all away if you will let Him. Let the precious blood of Christ cleanse from all sin. If you will but believe, God will meet you and bring into your lives the sunshine of His love. (Smith Wigglesworth)

REACH OUT TO GOD IN SIMPLE FAITH

We have a wonderful God, a God whose ways are past finding out, and whose grace and power are limitless. I was in Belfast one day and saw one of the brethren of the assembly. He said to me, "Wigglesworth, I am troubled. I have had a good deal of sorrow during the past five months. I had a woman in my assembly who could always pray the blessing of heaven down onour meetings. She is an old woman, but her presence is always an inspiration. But five months ago she fell and broke her thigh. The doctors put her into a plaster cast, and after five months they broke the cast. But the bones were not properly set and so she fell and broke the thigh again." He took me to her house, and there was a woman lying in a bed on the right hand side of the room. I said to her, "Well, what about it now?" She said, "They have sent me home incurable. The doctors say that I am so old that my bones won't knit. There is no nutriment in my bones and they could never do anything for me and they say I shall have to lie in bed for the rest of my life." I said to her, "Can you believe God?" She replied, "Yes, ever since I heard that you had come to Belfast my faith has been quickened. If you will pray, I will believe. I know there is no power on earth that can make the bones of my thigh knit, but I know there is nothing impossible with God." I said, "Do you
believe He will meet you now?" She answered, "I do."

It is grand to see people believe God. God knew all about this leg and that it was broken in two places. I said to the woman, "When I pray, something will happen." Her husband was sitting there; he had been in his chair for four years and could not walk a step. He called out, "I don't believe. I won't believe. You will never get me to believe." I said, "All right," and laid my hands on his wife in the name of the Lord Jesus. The moment hands were laid upon her the power of God went right through her and she cried out, "I'm healed." I said, "I'm not going to assist you to rise.

God will do it all." She rose and walked up and down the room, praising God. The old man was amazed, at what had happened to his
wife, and he cried out, "Make me walk, make me walk." I said to him, "You old sinner, repent." He cried out, "Lord, You know I never meant what I said. You know I believe." I don't think he meant what he said; anyhow the Lord was full of compassion. If He marked our sins, where would any of us be? If we will meet the conditions, God will always meet us. If we believe, all things are possible. I laid my hands on him and the power went right through the old man's body; and those legs, for the first time in four years, received power to carry his body, and he walked up and down and in and out. He said, "O what great things God has done for us tonight!" "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Desire toward God, and you will have desires from God; and He will meet you on the line of those desires when you reach out in simple faith. (Smith Wigglesworth)

THE MIGHTY HOLY SPIRIT

You will always find that in the moment of need the Holy Spirit is a comforter. When my dear wife was lying dead, the doctors could do nothing. They said to me, “She’s gone; we cannot help you.” My heart was so moved that I said, “Oh God, I cannot spare her!” I went up to her and said, “Oh, come back, come back, and speak to me! Come back, come back!” The Spirit of the Lord moved, and she came back and smiled again. But then the Holy Ghost said to me, “She’s mine. Her work is done. She is mine.”

Oh, that comforting word! No one else could have spoken it. The Comforter came. From that moment my dear wife passed out. And in this day the Comforter has a word for every bereaved one. Christ further said, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14:26

I spoke to two young men in a meeting one day. They were preachers. They had received their degrees. I said to them, “Young men, what about it?”
“Oh,” they said, “we do not believe in receiving the Holy Ghost in the same way as you people do.”
I said to them, “You are dressed up like preachers, and it is a pity having to have the dress without the presence.”
“Well, we do not believe it the way you do,” they said.
“But look,” I said, “the apostles believed it that way. Wouldn’t you
like to be like the apostles? You have read how they received at the beginning, haven’t you?”
Always remember this, that the baptism will always be as at the beginning. It has not changed. If you want a real baptism, expect it just the same way as they had it at the beginning.

These preachers asked, “What had they at the beginning?”
I quoted from the tenth chapter of Acts where it says, ...on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God....
Acts 10:45,46
The Jews knew that these Gentiles had the same kind of experience as they themselves had at the beginning on the day of Pentecost. The experience has not changed, it is still the same as at the beginning. When these two young men realized that Peter and John and the rest of the disciples had received the mighty enduement at the beginning, and that it was for them, they walked up to the front where folk were tarrying. They were finely dressed, but in about half an hour they looked different. They had been prostrated. I had not caused them to do it. But they had been so lost and so controlled by the power of God, and were so filled with the glory of God, they just rolled over, and their fine clothes were soiled—but their faces were radiant. What caused the change? They had received what the 124 received at the beginning.

These young preachers had been ordained by men. Now they received an ordination that was better. The Lord had ordained them that they should go and bring forth much fruit. The person who receives this ordination goes forth with fresh feet—his feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; he goes forth with a fresh voice—it speaks as the Spirit gives utterance; he goes forth with a fresh mind—a mind illuminated by the power of God; he goes forth with a fresh vision, and sees all things new. (Smith Wigglesworth)