OPPOSITION helped the REVIVAL!
Posted by: revival4 <revival4@...>
From: f g berry <fredberry@juno.com>
The REVIVAL that made WORLD HISTORY
William J. Seymour, a Holiness minister from Houston, Texas was
invited here to Los Angeles to lead a Holiness Mission on Santa Fe
Street. Upon his arrival he began teaching that speaking in tongues
invariably accompanies the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Julia
Hutchinson, the owner of the mission, objected to this teaching and
ordered Seymour and his supporters to leave. Hutchinson then
padlocked the doors and refused to allow them reentry. God placed
on Richard and Ruth Asberry's hearts (a Black couple and prior
owner of the house) to open their doors. They did, and the meeting
resumed. Seymour and his small band of believers began to fast
and pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
On April 9, 1906 IT HAPPENED! The group had gathered again with
one accord, touching and agreeing, concentrating on scriptures in the
book of Acts. No one at this small gathering had clergy credentials
nor did anyone have an official pulpit. Each person did have the
faith and determination to tarry for the Holy Ghost. Suddenly, all
resistance departed and the Holy Ghost came with a force
incomprehensible to the human mind. Several members were slain
instantly and baptized with the Holy Ghost, and began speaking in
unknown tongues. God anointed Jennie Moore (who later married
William Seymour) with the gift to play the piano for the first time
and to sing in unknown tongues. Another convert was given the
gifts of prophecy and the interpretation of tongues. Their shouts
were so loud that they attracted the neighbors and a crowd congregated.
As God's Almighty Power began to quake the people out of their
chairs and off their feet under the power of the Holy Spirit, a
prophecy came forth of great destruction which was soon to come
to the land. The saints began pleading with sinners to repent for
their ways of sin and choose to walk with God. Less then ten days
after that warning, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake occurred.
The Spiritual quake and the geological quake occurred only a few
days apart. People are no longer shaking from that localized quake
in San Francisco but the quake that was felt in the little house is
still being felt around the world by those who repent of their sins to
walk with God.
The following day, the word began to spread all over the city that
people were being baptized with the Holy Spirit as on the day of
Pentecost. In a matter of days rapid and enormous growth reached
such a peak that the gatherings were forced to move from the inside
of this house to the outside front yard. The porch served as the
platform, and the yard and dirt road were used for sitting and kneeling.
The wooden porch collapsed due to the weight of people crowding on
it. Seymour, directed by God, located an old two story frame
abandoned building on Azusa Street which was owned and once
occupied by First AME Church which had vacated the building in
1903. Seymour secured that structure and the believers moved there.
Several very ardent newspaper reporters from the Los Angeles news
media described the building as a tumble-down shack. Reporters
began to flood the news media with voluminous derogatory stories
about the group's activities. One journalist wrote: "a new sect of
fanatics is breaking loose, they make weird babbling sounds ...they
never dismiss church."
Another reports read: "Disgraceful intermingling of the races,
they cry and make howling noises all day and into the night. They
run, jump, shake all over, shout to the top of their voice, spin around
in circles, fall out on the sawdust blanketed floor jerking, kicking and
rolling all over it. Some of them pass out and do not move for hours
as though they were dead. These people appear to be mad, mentally
deranged or under a spell. They claim to be filled with the spirit.
They have a one eyed, illiterate, Negro as their preacher who stays
on his knees much of the time with his head hidden between wooden
milk crates. He doesn't talk very much but at times he can be heard
shouting Repent," and he's supposed to be running the thing... They
repeatedly sing the same song, 'The Comforter Has Come.'"
The reporters' descriptions attracted world wide attention, in fact,
their reports served as the impetus that promoted the growth of
the meeting.
The news continued to spread like wild fire and for three and a half
years the revival persisted. Multitudes came from across this nation
and many parts of the world to witness and experience the miraculous
movement of God. They also came from all walks of life: the rich, the
poor, the educated and UN-educated. There was no race issue for
the blood of Jesus had washed away the color line.
They came seeking the fullness of God's promises by the hundreds.
Some came as candidates for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Countless others came to receive healing of their infirmities. The
bedridden leaped from their beds claiming their healing. The crippled
stood up from wheel chairs; those needing support of crutches and
walking canes threw them down and began to walk without any aid
or assistance. The sightless screamed, "I can see!" The dumb
began to speak in unknown tongues and the deaf became listening
witnesses to all of the beautiful sounds. Hundreds were saved as
conviction gripped their souls.
As a result of this Holy Ghost outpouring, the Pentecostal movement
gripped the world. This was the start of several prominent Full Gospel
organizations and they in turn gave birth to various groups. Millions of
souls have received the gift of tongues and interpretations since that
great revival.
We discovered that both revival sites have inexplicable facets
surrounding them which are reflected in the addresses. The house
number, 216 North Bonnie Brae, has the same number as recorded
in the book of Acts 2:16 which reads "THIS IS THAT WHICH WAS
SPOKEN BY THE PROPHET JOEL"... The facts are that every
state, city, town, and hamlet from A to Z here in the U. S .A. was
touched by the 1906 Holy Ghost Revival.
-Fred Berry,
Los Angeles.