Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A strange., subtle power fell upon Los Angeles in 1906. People trembled
or shook without understanding why. Some broke into tears for no
apparent reason and experienced feelings of awe and repentance.
We
Jlmsa
Street
byA.C.
Valdez, Sr.
A. C. VALDEZ, SR.
An evangelist for more than 70 years, Dr. Valdez has spread the Good
News in all parts of the world. He founded the Pentecostal movement
in Australia in the mid-1920's. He still preaches internationally and is a
frequent guest on television programs such as "The 700 Club" and
"The PTL Club."
James F. Scheer, collaborator, has co-authored six Christian books,
including TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN (with William Lasky); NEED A
MIRACLE? (with Harald Bredesen) and EISENHOWER DECLASSIFIED
(with Virgil Pinkley).
by A. C. Valdez, Sr.
with James F. Scheer
Gift Publications
m
Costa Mesa, California 92626
Scriptures quoted are from the King James Version. Quotations from
Pauline Parham in Chapter Three are from an interview with Harald
Bredesen on Charisma, a Christian Broadcasting Network television program.
FOREWORD
Fire on Azusa Street is more than an exciting, true story about the
greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit in historyan event which
points to awesome things to come. It is also the autobiography of
a truly remarkable man: A. C. Valdez, Sr.
After his experience with this book, Kent Garborg, president of
Successful Living, a company which distributes Christian books
on three continents, said, "I had the feeling I was reading about a
giant of a man."
Yes, A. C. Valdez, Sr., is a gianta spiritual giant, a strong
man anointed by the Spirit of God.
I met him in Downey, California when I was fourteen. I loved
his holiness preaching. He was one of the greatest holiness
preachers I have ever heard.
In his packed tent meetings, I was spellbound under his powerful messages. So was everyone else. Nobody moved. They were
in as much awe as I was. He was not just a large, commanding
man with a voice of authority. He wasand isa beautiful,
pure, clear channel for the Holy Spirit.
When he was a boy, he was introduced by his mother to the fire
and enchantment of Azusa Streetto the mission there in a
former stable. It was an unforgettable experience, just as was his
renewal in Christ through another dear friend of mine, Isaac Gay,
as they picked oranges together in a Tustin, California grove.
My parents and I never missed his Southern California tent
meetings. As a matter of fact, I often drove him to the United Tent
Company or Downey Brothers to arrange for tents and then
helped him put them up.
After we had finished work one night, he said,
"Demos, do you like Spanish food?"
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Chapter 1
ing if she would ever use English again. Then the other languagj
stopped, and she said:
"Son, I have had a most glorious experience! I have just beea
baptized in the Holy Ghost and have been given the gift cj
tongues!"
I was puzzled and tried to understand her.
"These are blessed times, son," she continued. "The Holj
Ghost is here on earthlike at the Pentecost. Thank God we arl
alive to see fulfillment of promises of the Bible!"
I knew that the Holy Ghost was the third member of the Hoi]
Trinity, but not much more. She went on:
"Actually, the prophecy of the Holy Ghost's coming was gives
more than 800 years before Jesus was born. The Bible in Joel 2:2|
tells us:
" 'And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out mj
Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shaj
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young mei
shall see visions . . .' "
She flipped the well-worn pages of her black leather-coverec
Holy Bible to Matthew 3:11 where it told about John the Baptist n
the wilderness and how he announced to the world:
"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he tha
cometh after me 0esus) is mightier than I, whose shoes I am no
worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost ani
with fire."
Quickly she paged to Acts 1 and told me how Jesus, forty day
after He was resurrected, commanded His apostles to stay ii
Jerusalem and wait for the promise of God:
"For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptizei
with the Holy Ghost . . ." She skipped on to Acts 1:8:
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is com
upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalerr
and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of
the earth."
And a page farther on, in Acts 2, she read:
'And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all
with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the
house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Now I was eager to see what was happening on Azusa Street!
On the next night she invited me along. As we came within a
block of a two-story, white-painted wooden building, I felt a
"pulling sensation." I couldn't have turned away if I wanted to.
Inside, the place looked like a big, plain barn. Most of the
seatsrough planks on wooden nail kegswere taken. There
were as many black people as white. I couldn't understand why
metal mailboxes were nailed to walls.
As we moved toward an open spot on a rear bench, I suddenly
felt a chill. How could that be? It wasn't cold at all. Then the hair
on my arms, legs and head began to stand on end. It felt as if I
were surrounded by God. I was trembling. So was mother and
everybody else.
On the platform, a black manmother said it was Pastor W. J.
Seymoursat behind two wooden boxes, one on top of the
other. They were his pulpit. Now and then he would raise his
head and sit erectly, his large lips moving in silent prayer. He was
a plain man with a short beard and a glass eye. He didn't seem
like a leader to me, but when I saw what was going on, I knew he
didn't have to be.
Something unusual was happening. In most churches, kids
would be running up and down aisles or twisting and turning in
And she plunged out into the aisle and began to dance, her
open palms reaching toward heaven. "Thank you, Father. I can
see. I can see!"
Before the night was over, another blind person could see, the
deaf could hear and the crippled could walk.
It was so exciting!
That was my first night of many in over three years at 321 Azusa
Street.
Chapter 2
10
music would fill the hall, and we would break into tears.
Suddenly the crowd seemed to forget how to sing in English.
Out of their mouths would come new languages and lovely har- i
mony that no human beings could have learned.
On the ground floor, where services seemed never to end, the
metal mailboxes, the Azusa Street Mission's "collection plates,"
were always filled with coins and paper money.
Never did Charles Seymour or any other preacher behind the
shoe-box pulpit ask for money. They had faith. All preachers had
to do was preach. Anybody who had been blessed by the service ]
gave generously.
Hardly ever did the Azusa Street Mission advertise in news-J
papers about its services. People heard about them through word j
of mouth. In the same way that my mother and I felt a strong pullj
toward the mission, so did others.
Many who came said that they knew nothing about Azusa
Street and the Holy Spirit meetings until they had visions of the I
mission and were instructed to go there. Others were moved by
an invisible force to attend.
Some who attended Azusa Street at the start had little under-]
standing of what was happening, and feared the unknown.
They had not even been taught by their pastors about being
born again. Many had read in their Bibles in John 3:3 what Jesus
had told Nicodemus: " . . . except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God." But they had not given it much
thought.
Most had not learned about being baptized in the Holy Ghost
and the gift or gifts that come with this experience.
Old-line churches frowned on the Azusa Street Mission's Bible
teachings, "so-called miracles," and "noisy meetings." Their
members who came just once to Azusa Street services and were j
found out, were often asked to leave their congregations.
11
Some churches tried hard to get the City of Los Angeles to close
down the Azusa Street Mission, but they failed. Individuals, too,
worked to break up meetings. Fifty years later, while at a Golden
jubilee meeting of original Azusa Street members at Angelus
Temple in Los Angeles, I heard a dramatic story about such an
effort from two would-be saboteurs.
When they were three blocks from the mission, their jaws
locked so that they couldn't talk over their plan of action. They
became panicky, because now they were sure that a supernatural
power had done this to them.
Try as they might to turn back, some force kept them walking
straight to the mission, where they tiptoed inside to a bench and
sat down. Waves of glory swept over the place, and these men
who knew nothing about being born again, felt drawn to talk to
Jesus.
In their mute reverence, God began to speak to their hearts,
and they longed to cry out, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner."
But then God opened their mouths, and they began praising and
glorifying Him for the wonderful thing He had done!
They invited Jesus into their hearts, were converted and filled
with the Holy Spirit. That night the men who had planned to
wreck the meeting left the Mission in joy such as they had never
before known.
Not only did people try to break up meetings, they sometimes
tried to beat up individuals who left their churches for the Azusa
Street Mission. I remember well what happened to my dear
friend, Owen "Irish" Lee, a Catholic who had been a bartender
and street-fighter in Ireland and New York City. He had lived by
the Old Testament's "an eye for an eye" before being born again
and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Once he had knocked out a Santa Monica police chief who had
tried to arrest him and, on another occasion, had battered four
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Chapter 3
14
15
asked the students to find what the Bible said was the evidence of
baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The students later responded unanimously. "Speaking in
tongues as the Spirit gives utterance."
On New Year's eve of 1900, forty students and seventy visitors
gathered in the top room to pray and seek the Lord. Parham, who
had been away on a speaking engagement, came in and gasped in
surprise. Illuminated only by coal oil lamps, the room was
brighter than if lit by today's powerful electric lights. Tongues of
fire danced above the heads of students!
A young missionary named Agnes Ozman asked Parham to lay
hands on her so that she could receive the Holy Spirit.
"I can't do that," responded Parham. "I haven't received the
baptism in the Holy Spirit myself."
"Please," she pleaded, "Do it in the Name of the Lord."
With resignation, he laid hands on her and asked God to baptize her in the Holy Ghost. Suddenly, a halo of light formed
around her head, and a stream of exotic words poured out of her
mouth.
For three days, Agnes Ozman spoke nothing but Chinese!
Parham was overjoyed. What he knew in faith, had proved to be
true. Now he would ask for the Holy Spirit baptism for himself.
Alone, behind the Bethel House organ, he sank to his knees and,
according to his daughter-in-law, Pauline Parham, prayed:
"God, let the husbandmen first be partakers of the fruits."
Almost instantly, he began speaking in a tongue foreign to him.
Inspired, all the students prayed for this baptism, and most of them
were soon speaking in languages which they had never before
known or studied.
Strange happenings in Stone's Folly attracted newspaper reporters from all over the state, as well as government interpreters
a
nd college language professors.
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17
He and his workers held small tent meetings, and finally a revival
in a huge tent, packed nightly by people from all over the nation.
Hundreds were saved, filled with the Holy Spirit and healed.
Parham's internal glow of gratitude to God showed in his eyes,
actions and words. Night after night, he saw that God was not
only baptizing in the Holy Spirit but doing everything that He did
when Jesus walked the earth. Everywhere that Parham and his
followers traveled, wonderful miracles happened.
Many persons whom he met urged him to organize and head a
national Holy Spirit movement, but Charles E Parham could not
see himself in a leader's role. Organizing was not for him.
Through the Holy Spirit, he was a lighter of fires in men, who
would carry the fire to various places.
Pauline Parham says that hundreds of thousands attended his
succession of 1903 meetings. During one revival which continued
night and day for months, 1,900 received the baptism in the Holy
Spirit.
Similar responses to Parham occurred during 1904 and 1905 as
crowds gathered in cities, small towns or just wide places in the
road. In a hamlet called Orchard, Texas he held an Easter Sunday
rally which Pauline Parham will never forget:
"A group of people who had come from Alvin, Texas had to
leave after the afternoon service. Many had not received the Holy
Spirit. On the way back by train, the Holy Spirit fell. Many, including the engineer, were suddenly baptized with the Holy
Spirit, and began singing and worshipping God in the Spirit," she
says.
Upon arrival in Houston, Texas, Parham had no idea that his
work there would lead to a world-wide Holy Spirit revival. He
started a Bible School like that at Stone's Folly in a huge, old
rented building at Fifth and Rusk.
One day W. J. Seymour, a soft-spoken, blind-in-one-eye, black
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Spirit?
Seymour sensed the changed atmosphere, but he didn't expect
the treatment he got when arriving at the church for the afternoon
service.
The door was bolted shut.
Neither he nor his message was welcome, but that was not the
end of W. J. Seymour's ministerial career.
Relatives of Neeley Terry, Richard and Ruth Asberry, persuaded
Seymour to shake the Nazarene Church dust from his feet and
hold services in their home at 216 Bonnie Brae Street, near
present-day Angelus Temple.
On the night of April 9, an eight-year-old black boy was the
first of seven persons to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit in
the Asberry living room. And, ironically, while still others received this spiritual gift, the leader of the flock, W. J. Seymour,
had not.
Several nights later, according to Morton Asberry, son of
Richard and Ruth Asberry, who was there, "Brother Seymour fell
under the power of the Holy Ghost like he was dead and spoke in
an unknown language."
News of miraculous happenings at the modest, wood-frame
house at 216 Bonnie Brae, drew interracial crowds too large for
safety, and the floor caved in. Newspaper stories brought even
greater throngs there. Then the front porch was used as a pulpit,
and hundreds on the lawn overflowed onto the sidewalk and
street.
This led Seymour and his elders to seek a larger place. They
found one not far away at 321 Azusa Street, a boxy, two-story,
wooden building which, except for a tall Gothic window on the
front of the second floor, looked like the general store in many a
small, western town.
The inside looked hopelessdebris-cluttered, cob-webbed and
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Chapter 4
22
California in 1782 in a house next to the San Buenaventura Mission, built by Father Serra in that year. His was the first name in I
the church's baptismal records.
Families didn't move around much in those days. In the same
house, my grandfather, Jose Crescendo, grandfather Ramon and
my father, Jose Dejesus were born. Today when you visit the old j
San Buenaventura Missionand you shouldyou will see the
small, green Valdez Park, which is the spot where my great;
grandparents, grandparents and father lived.
Before my father died, he told about the spiritual dimension]
of his father and about the Franciscan style Catholicism that he ]
followed:
"My father was filled with the Spirit, and many times I found!
him in the barn on his knees, praying and shaking from head to;
foot and speaking in tongues." He continued: "The Franciscan
Order, named after St. Francis of Assisi, a priest filled with the
Spirit and possessed of all the gifts of the Spirit, including speak- \
ing in tongues, was the example my priest followed."
This remarkable testimony from my father verified to me that]
speaking in tongues and gifts of the Spirit went back more than
150 years in our family. For this reason, in particular when 1906
and the great move at Azusa hit like a mighty earthquake, our
hearts and minds were open to it and we were able to share in this^
great "sound from heaven."
At the age of twenty, in 1868, my father decided to leave Ven-I
tura for Los Angeles. He embraced his parents for a final goodbye, sadly saying, "I may never see you again. The little village of
Los Angeles is way on the other side of those mountains."
He mounted his horse and crossed the rugged mountain trails]
toward Los Angeles, which was indeed little: an old mission, aj
small square park, adobe homes, dirt roads and plenty of dust in
the dry summers. That was when transportation was by horse-
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drinking.
And then, when I was least expecting it, a turning point came
in my life.
Chapter 5
Adventure In An
Orange Grove
32
33
That night at home when I told my parents, they prayed for me.
Zacchaeus, in the Bible had gotten in touch with God in a sycamore tree. It had happened to me in an orange tree. What I discovered was that it doesn't matter what kind of tree we're up. It
can be a Catholic tree, a Methodist tree, a Baptist tree, a Presbyterian tree, or even an atheist tree.
All anybody has to do is open his heart to Jesusto the Holy
Ghost conviction. All anybody needs is a leaning toward God and
an acceptance that He provided, in the death and resurrection of
His son Jesus, a deliverance from sin and a place in heaven. Something has to happen. It can come in many different ways, but it
has to happen.
I thank God for Isaac Gay. He might never have come into my
life if it hadn't been for the practical Christianity that grew out of
the great, Azusa Street Holy Spirit outpouring.
In those days Pentecostalists usually lived by Romans 5:5:
". . . the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us."
Without self-consciousness, whole churches turned out at
street meetings to give their testimonies to passersby, to sing and
pray. Individuals preached in parks on their lunch hour or passed
out tracts while shopping. The revival Spirit was like a mighty,
bright cloud over Los Angeles, a holy influence which brought
people at desks in offices or operating lathes and milling
machines in industrial plants to a saving knowledge of Christ.
Later they were drawn to Azusa Street or Seventh and Los Angeles Streets and then baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Throughout southern California many women went from
house to house, looking for people who needed help of any kind.
When they found a sick mother, they moved in, did her washing,
housework, and looked after the children until she was on her
feet again.
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35
could not read. But he held the Bible with both his pale, trembling
hands. Even if he could not read it, he had God's Word with him.
Other concerned individuals visited too, and gave him a Holy
Bible, so he piled the Bibles out of sight against the wall, next to
his bed. Finally, they began to show up above bed-level.
Gazing wistfully at them one day, he remembered what the sisters had said about being healed through the Word of God. That
gave him an idea. It seemed silly, but why not try? If he couldn't
read, he could place the Word of God next to him.
Isaac Gay covered his legs, stomach and chest with Bibles, put
one on his head, held one in each hand, and prayed:
"Lord, if You can give me this wonderful peace through Your
Word, You can heal me through Your Word."
Suddenly the glory of God came upon him like a bright cloud,
and the Bibles flew away from him in all directions.
No doctor had to tell him. Isaac Gay knew that he was completely healed. When I met him, he was in robust health. It was a
deep loss to me when he went to another job and out of my life.
Occasionally I heard stories about him. So convicted with the
Holy Spirit and overflowing with the love of the Lord, he often
preached on street corners in Eureka, California. I was told by
men who worked across the bay in shipyards that during foggy
nights, they could hear Isaac Gay preaching and singing God's
praise. He preached the gospel for more than fifty years after doctors had given him up on the verge of death, and hundreds were
introduced to Christ by him.
Right after my spiritual rededication in the orange tree, I began
studying the Bible from cover to cover and, without realizing it,
became self-righteous in the Lord. One day I tried to preach the
salvation of Jesus to a Jewish youth of my age, who didn't want to
listen.
He said he knew about God, and that was enough for him. I
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3g
no fireworks.
Chapter 6
On The Fence
40
On The Fence
41
thing- The pay wasn't much, but it was necessary. Then a still,
small voice said, "Goand go fast," and I obeyed.
A few hours later, an explosion devastated the Times Building
and rocked downtown Los Angeles. A bomb planted by labor
leaders blew up much of the building and set fire to the rest.
Everyone in my department was burned to death.
I praised God many times for saving my life, thinking of the
91st Psalm: "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I
deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my
name."
Without a doubt, I was under the shadow of the Almighty, not
only for protection but also for assurance that I would receive
guidance and Bible wisdom from anointed ministers. First, it had
been W. J. Seymour at Azusa Street, then Pastor W. H. Durham
and his assistant, Harry Van Loon.
It was a sad time for us all when Pastor Durham, in Chicago to
hold special meetings, contracted a severe chest cold, which developed into pneumonia and caused his death. However, Pastor
Van Loon, inspired by the Holy Spirit, held anointed meetings
and taught me muchin services and in personwhich ignited
an eternal fire in me for the ministry.
By this time, Holy Ghost-filled men and women directly or indirectly related to Azusa Street or Seventh and Los Angeles
streets began doing unique things. One of them, R. J. Scott, a
well-known, anointed business man, had a dazzling vision for
something even more unique: a colossal tent meeting to accommodate 5,000 persons, some from every continent.
In 1913, he made it a reality in the Arroyo Seco, where the
Pasadena Highway entered Los Angeles.
The main tent was the most gigantic I had ever seen. Nearby
w
as a smaller tent to hold meetings for children. All of us lived in
Tent City, laid out in streets with names like "Praise Street". My
42
parents and I lived on the corner of Praise and Glory streets, jusf
one block from Hallelujah Avenue, the address of the main tent. I
Far more impressive than the tents was the calibre of the major;
evangelist, Mrs. M. B. Woodworth Etter, a woman who was ir|
such bad healthdeathly pale and weakthat she sometime^
had to be carried up onto the crude, unfinished, pine platform.1
There was nothing sickly, pale, or weak about her ministering.
Once her equally ill husband joined her, she raised her small
hands and the power of the Holy Spirit electrified us all.
A series of healing miracles thrilled the entire audience. I wa>
seated next to a man suffering from ankylosisa condition in
which bones that were supposed to be separate had becoml
cemented firmly togetherlike parts of a single bone.
As Sister Woodworth Etter prayed, I saw a glow light up thl
man's face. I shall never forget how his white flesh seemed to
vibrate as his bones moved and came loose from the axis vertebra
down to his feet.
How awesome was this demonstration of God's healing power!
It was equally awe-inspiring and breathtaking to see the marvell
ous works of the Holy Spirit among the children and youths whq
conducted their own services.
Hundreds were saved. Many, sitting on wooden folding chair!
or kneeling at the crude, wooden altar, received the baptism in
the Holy Spirit. It was marvelous how God blessed them. I res
called the quotation from Joel 2:28-29: " . . . your old men shal
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upol
the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I poll
out my spirit."
And, as promised in the Bible, these children spoke in tongue!
interpreted, had visions, prophesied, and even saw miracle!
These were indeed great days!
After much street-corner preaching, personal work and corl
On The Fence
43
ducting services in jails, I became an ordained minister in the latter part of 1916, with ordination in a Long Beach mission. I took
a job as night engineer for the Southern California Ice and
Cold Storage Company in San Bernardino to allow myself time to
preach by day. Soon God let me know in no uncertain terms that I
was to be a minister, and only a minister.
Early one morning, the Holy Spirit swelled inside of me, so that
I could hardly stand it. To divert my mind, I checked the engine
room and took temperatures in the brine tanks. Knowing that the
front door was locked and no one would come up by way of an
outside wooden ladder to a window near the brine tanks, I
climbed upon the condensers to pray.
I felt miserable, and cries and loud groaning of the Holy Spirit
came out of my mouth. I could do nothing to stop it. I don't know
how long it went on. Then, around two A.M., as I was again
taking brine tank temperatures, I was startled.
Two men were crawling through the window.
"Are you the night engineer?" one of them asked.
"Yes. Is something wrong?"
"We don't know," replied the man.
"What do you mean?" Now I was concerned.
"Earlier this evening, we passed this place and heard outcries
and groaning, as if somebody was being beaten or burned. I told
my friend here that we'd better not get involved. Maybe somebody was getting killed.
"So we went home. My friend and I tried to sleep, but it was
impossible. We just kept hearing those cries and groans. I went to
my friend's house and said, 'Why don't we go back to the Southern California Ice and Cold Storage Company and find out what
this is all about?' He agreed, so here we are."
How could I possibly explain it to someone who didn't know
the Holy Spirit?
44
"I could tell you, but I doubt whether you will understand it."
"Why don't you try?" persisted the man.
"All right," I replied. "The Lord God Almighty has called me :
into the ministry, and I have more or less resisted, because I
wanted to be sure I was doing the right thing. I felt so troubled
and tortured in resisting God's urging that it was like a living
death.
"I climbed on top of the condensers where I thought nobody
would hear me, prayed and poured my heart out to God."
Deeply curious, they studied my face as I talked on:
"You may not understand this, but that is exactly what hap-j
pened."
They glanced at one another, then appraised me for an instant, I
apparently accepting what I had said, muttered, "Thank you very
much," and clambered down the ladder.
That was a critical event in my life. I stopped dragging my feetl
and plunged full-time in the ministry, taking no thought for
tomorrow.
Chapter 7
46
47
wife when she had our first child. The next morning Alfred
Clarence Valdez, Jr. was born, and I pleaded for release.
Headlines of the Santa Ana paper read, "Stork Flying Over
Valdez Home. Valdez released for event."
During my son's ministry, he laughingly used to tell congregations, "You think my dad is okay, but I would have you know that
my first order of business when I came into this world was to get
him out of jail!"
It surely was.
During the trial, the power of God came down in a most wonderful way. There was singing in the Spirit in the courtroomreal
heavenly anthems that puzzled the judge and everybody else.
He called the court to order, but he couldn't silence the voices of
angels. He knew something unexplainable was happening. Our
first witness on the stand was a Dutch Evangelist, not long from
Holland. He thought he was being given a chance to preach, so,
in broken gutteral English, he said:
"Beloved, if you will open your Bibles . . ."
The judge was stunned, but not for long. Angrily, he cried, "Sit
down."
Eventually the case was dismissed.
Sometimes, in the early days of Pentecostalism, it was hard to
believe that the Constitution of the United States guarantees freedom of religion.
The most violent persecution for those filled with the Holy
Spirit came between 1906 and 1916. Many of us were thrown into
jail. Others were horsewhipped, clubbed, or stoned and seriously
injured, or even killed.
Around 1916 when Pentecostal churches became more prevalent, persecution began to be less violent. Serious persecution of
the post-Azusa days will never leave my memory.
One Holy Spirit-filled minister persisted in street preaching
48
until a gang of hoodlums clubbed his body black and blue and he
collapsed. When he finally returned to consciousness, those
standing above him, bludgeons ready, shouted
"If you can carry your suitcases, walk out of town. Promisef
never to come back, and we won't beat you anymore."
The minister struggled to his feet, aching in every part of his j
body, and lifted his suitcases. Each step to the city limit was
agony, but, as he told me many years later:
"Walking out of town saved my life. It kept my blood circulat-f
tag/'
He never stopped preaching what was burning in his heart. I
I shall never forget my dear friend Brother Green (that is the!
only name I ever knew him by). He was horsewhipped almost to
unconsciousness.
"When that whip sliced into my back, the pain was terrible, but!
I learned a lesson," he explained to me. "I looked up, kept my
mind on Jesus, and there was no more pain. I was spared. All I
could feel was that something was touching my back."
The persecution to two of three Holy Ghost-filled Catholic!
priests was unbelievable. Both were killed. One was pursued and
caught between Long Beach and Los Angeles, stripped naked,
and slashed with boat oars until his body looked like chopped
liver. His stomach was ruptured in many places. Rushed to the
hospital on the crest of Alpine Street in Los Angeles, he died before medical attention could be administered.
The second priest went to South America as a missionary. As h$
preached of receiving Christ, being born again and of the baptism
in the Holy Ghost, he was seized by fanatical pagans who called
themselves Christians, and nailed to a rough wooden cross,
where he bled to death.
Before I lost track of him, the third priest had left the churcll
and became a minister of an Assembly of God Church in Santa
49
Ana, California.
Unfortunately, all the opposition to us Pentecostals, our doctrine and spiritual practices was not from ill-educated hoodlums.
Much of it came from ministers of established churches, reluctant
to accept that anyone of that day could have been baptized in the
Holy Spirit.
Sometimes they went too far and the consequences were grisly
and grim.
They reminded me of Matthew 12:31-32:
" . . . All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto
men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. . . . Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son
of man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against
the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world,
neither in the world to come."
Many years ago, when I was holding meetings in Duluth, Minnesota, a Presbyterian minister shared an experience he had had
in North Dakota:
"I attended a meeting of an evangelist who surprised me by
talking against the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Not considering what
the Bible says about themincluding speaking in tongueshe
announced that they were of the devil and that those who spoke
in tongues were possessed of the devil."
The Presbyterian minister was so shocked that he approached
the evangelist after the service.
"Brother, do you realize that you blasphemed against the Holy
Spirit tonight and that you could be paralyzed for doing it?"
A peculiar look came into the evangelist's eyes, and he did not
answer. But that was the last sermon he ever preached against the
Holy Spirit. Next morning, he was totally paralyzed.
My friend, Pastor Harry Van Loon, once told me of a similar case
that occurred in New York City.
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Chapter 8
54
ill and seemingly hopeless. One night he fell up against our Sag
Bernardino mission door, which flung open. And there, lying on
the floor, reeking of whiskey, was this large, once fine-looking
.man, hemorrhaging from his stomach.
When I reached him, he glanced up, hopelessness in his bloodshot, blue eyes. As more blood oozed from his mouth, he gasped,
What pity I felt for him!
"Oh, parson. Do something for me!"
Now the hemorrhaging stopped; he coughed, soon caught his
breath and explained himself:
"Before my mother died, she prayed for me. While she wa|
dying, she took me by the hand, looked into my eyes and said,
'Son, I had hoped that, by this time, you would have given youl
heart to Jesus. Your mother would then have had the joy of seeing
you a born again Christian. It seems I won't have that pleasure
But, son, before I go, do me a favor. Put forth the effort to be I
Christian and meet me in heaven. I'll be watching for you througf
the eastern gate.' "
"I said, 'Yes, mother.' Parson, what else could I say? But I con>
fess to you, I haven't tried."
The creases in the forehead of his ruddy face deepened in grave
concern.
"A few hours ago, I came away from the doctor's office. Tri
lining of my stomach is goneeaten out with alcohol. The doc?
tor advised me: 'Lovegreen, there's nothing I can do for yol
now. Take my advice. Go right on drinking, because you won|
live long anyway. And if you're drunk, you won't know the
difference.' "
Lovegreen's watery eyes begged me as much as his voice:
"Parson, can't you do something for me?"
"Yes, if you'll promise to do something for me."
"What's that?"
55
Again he gasped for air, and blood oozed from his mouth.
"Come into the mission. Promise that you won't leave until we
pray through to God. Then you'll have complete deliverance from
alcohol, and I also promise that Jesus will heal your body and
make you whole."
As the pain eased for an instant, he looked up at me with a
flicker of hope.
"That's the least I can do."
I have dealt with many alcoholics, and their promises are often
worthless. So I was still skeptical. Lovegreen slowly, painfully
rose to his feet and followed me to the altar. In this mission, we
had home-made, awkward-looking, heavy benches eighteen feet
long. They served me well that night, because my wife, mother
and I piled many of these benches against the back door.
Then we fell upon our knees and prayed. The spiritual battle
was on. I don't know how many times Lovegreen collapsed on
the floor, but the devil spoke to me in no uncertain terms.
"Valdez, if you keep this man locked up in here, and he dies,
you will be held for manslaughter."
That sent fear racing through me. Unfortunately, what he had
said was true. And I felt a terrible temptation to yield. But it
wasn't the voice of God. God doesn't speak that way. The Lord
says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest." So I turned and said
"Satan, get behind me in the Name of Jesus," and the Spirit of
the Lord rebuked the devil.
That was just the beginning of the story. It was a night of struggle, and Lovegreen started screaming in an unearthly way. "Get
those snakes off me!" he begged. He was having terrifying
nightmares of delirium tremens. He thrashed and worked his
hands to untangle snakes winding around his neck. "Oh, my
God," he cried. "Those witches and demons!"
56
We continued to pray with faith, through the night and into the
early morning. At six o'clock, we were hoarse and exhausted but
still holding on to God in his behalf.
By this time, he was beginning to flail his arms and crying out: I
"Let me go! Open the door! Let me go!"
But I spoke sharply to him.
"You promised to stay until deliverance comes."
A few minutes later, when my mother, wife and I were praying,
the glory of God came down like a skyful of light, filling the room.
All of us looked up at the same time. A bright shaft of light ioM
cused on Lovegreen's face, and he shouted, "I'm saved, I'm
saved, I'm saved."
Not only was he gloriously born of the Spirit of God, he was
also healed in body. His stomach was so well he was able to eat a
large beef steak. He no longer wanted alcohol.
An urge to be with his wife had gnawed at him off and on for
thirty years and was part of the reason for his alcoholism. They
had been divorced and, in a generation, had not communicated
with one another. Like him, she had never remarried.
On one morning, she felt a powerful desire to travel to Los Arm
geles. She didn't know why. Although a Christian, she did not
realize that God was leading her. Her train stopped at San Bernardino, and a strange urge made her take a layover in that city.
The railroad station was then at least three-quarters of a mile
from the heart of town, so she drifted down on the lefthand side
of the street, looking for a hotel.
At that very instant, Lovegreen felt a strong desire to go for a I
walk, and he started down the same side of the street.
The woman coming toward him looked familiar. He blinked his
clear blue eyes. The woman saw him and squinted to make sure.
The man coming toward her looked so familiar.
Suddenly they were face to face for the first time in thirty years J
57
Chapter 9
It seemed that the Holy Spirit was pulling people to pieces and
putting them together in better form, as with Lovegreen.
Many things that happened soon after in my northern California crusades were equally exciting and soul-satisfying. I shall
never forget the miraculous events in Eureka and then Willow
Creek in the Humboldt Mountains.
I had no intention of visiting that area, but a strong feeling persisted that that was where God wanted me to go. Whenever I
found the peace of God ruling in my heart and obeyed His voice,
my meetings were a success.
Eureka didn't seem the ideal place for meetingsat least as
external signs showed. When the lumberjacks came to town every
Saturday night, the Devil took over, but, after all, God had sent
us out to preach the gospel to sinners, not just to good people.
Those who were sick needed the physician. Until we could find a
building, we preached on street corners.
About the only thing available was a two-story building a block
away from where we held our street meetings. At one time it was
called "The Popular Saloon," a barroom downstairs and living
quarters upstairs. It hardly seemed appropriate for the Lord's
work, but we cleaned up the place and moved upstairs.
To bring in the people, I used to say, "If you want a good drink,
60
come over to The Popular Saloon." Then I would give them scrip,
ture such as, "In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus;
stood up and said, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me a n l
drink/ "
The Popular Saloon would fill up, and we had the pleasure Q|
seeing scores of human derelicts way down in the depths regenerated and baptized in the Holy Ghost and fire.
I remember one case in particular. A man named Wassam at
one time had owned a beautiful music storepianos, organs,
other instruments and sheet musicbut he became an alcoholic/
lost his store, and, in desperation, went into the mountains to
work in lumber camps.
Every Saturday night in the city he spent most of his paycheck
on whiskey But the Holy Spirit gave Wassam some vision, despite almost blind drunkenness. As I preached, he would lurch ir|
the doors and stagger up to the front and sit weaving on the
bench.
Sometimes he would fall off three or four times. I would pick
him up and return to the pulpit. It did not bother me. After all, we
were there to save soulsto talk to sinners, not saints.
Frequently Wassam and other drunken men, unable to control
themselves, would vomit on the floor. The women in our part)
without the slightest irritation, would bring a bucket of water and]
mop it all up while the meeting continued.
It takes the love of God to lift you above things like that, and!
believe me, they were filled with the love of God. Many meetings
were interrupted by Mr. Wassam and other drunken men. This
annoyed many earnest churchgoers, who did not have Holy
Ghost-inspired patience.
One night Mr. Wassam staggered to the front bench. By this
time, those who attended meetings avoided his area. They ha|
had their fill of his throwing up and the sickening sight and soul
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63
64
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is not her, because Aunt Fanny Lack can't walk without canes and
can hardly see."
Fanny began to clap hands and dance in the Spirit.
"Praise the Lord," she sang. "Jesus saved me and filled me with
the Holy Ghost, and I feel like a young girl again."
Aunt Fanny Lack lived on to work with us and others in that
area for another twenty yearsa walking miracle who served as
an example to bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
While God was working in a wonderful way in our meetings,
the Devil was working to undermine His accomplishments. All
sorts of wild and unfounded rumors were spread by word of
mouth and newspapers about outlandish things that were supposedly happening at our services.
The Humboldt Times referred to me as a "Holy Roller Apostle"
holding services at Willow Creek. One news story said that I had
prayed for a man with a short limb, which began to grow before
the people's eyes. Instead of stopping at the right point, it supposedly kept growing, so that I had to pray for the good leg to
grow out as long as the other.
The most outrageous story was that I prayed for a man with a
wooden leg and hair began to grow out of it. Even these distortions and untruthsSatanic exaggerations to discredit us
combined to help us . . . "all things work together for good to
them that love the Lord."
People by the hundreds swarmed to our remote location in the
mountains. Despite the terrifying scream of mountain lions,
young people would run the mountain trails even in the dark of
night to attend our meetings.
I asked one group how they got the courage to come, and was
told, "We feel secure in the hands of Jesus."
Skeptics came out in numbers, not to be saved, but just out of
curiosity. "We're here to see what's happening. This should be a
66
good show."
I prayed that the Holy Spirit would give the kind of show that
would turn hardened skeptics into firm believers. In the audience, I saw a highly respected local physician, a Dr. Fountain,
among the curious newcomers.
Just as we were holding a baptismal service, the Spirit of the
Lord came down upon us, and the people began to sing a
heavenly anthem. It was the kind of singing that is not of the
material world: harmony of bass, alto and soprano voices in the
Spirit.
Its melodic beauty seemed to penetrate the congregation. The
near saintly expressions of most of the audience told me that they,
too, were breathless and overwhelmed.
At the close of the singing, I heard one of the critics ask Dr.
Fountain, "What do you think of this?"
A serious expression on his face, Dr. Fountain replied, "This i|
the most beautiful thing I have ever listened to. There's so much
disharmony in the worldso much discordthat to hear had
mony like this is absolutely wonderful."
That ended the questions and most of the skepticism. The Holy
Spirit had won another battle over the forces of Satan, but therf
were still more struggles to come.
Chapter 10
Strange Goings-on
in Chico
" . . . a little child shall lead them," the Bible says. (Isaiah 11:6).
And so it was with us.
As I drove our black, 1917 Chevrolet touring car out of Humboldt County south toward Los Angelesour fellow workers followed in a Republic trucka little child led us to spend time in a
city where we had no intentions of stopping. He also led us into a
strange and wonderful adventure in the Spirit.
That little child, a baby just beginning to talk, was my first-born
boy, Alfred, lying on his blanket between Lottie and me. For some
reason, Alfred suddenly began crying. Lottie hurriedly checked to
see if a diaper pin was sticking him, but that wasn't the problem.
His whole body convulsed and his face flushed, as, between sobs,
he repeatedly cried out, "Chico, Momma. Chico, Daddy."
This was no ordinary crying spell. I knew that the power of
God had descended upon him and was coming upon us. Trembling violentlyas was my wifeI had to pull the car to the
roadside.
Our workers quickly stopped behind us and ran over, questioning looks on their faces. They found me praying. I gestured toward the sobbing Alfred. Desperately he kept calling out, "Chico,
Chico, Chico!"
All of us adults were aware that we were nearing the city of
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69
I did.
Workers in the match factory were shaking with Holy Spirit
conviction, which had settled upon much of the Chico area. Our
work was clear to us: we had been led here to bring citizens to a
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
By means of distributed handbills, we attracted many people to
nightly revival services which I conducted from a crude, wooden
platform of a Pentecostal church.
From the very start, meetings were anointed, and many people
received Christ and were slain in the Spirit. Despite my joy, I was
apprehensive. For sure, the agitators who had threatened our first
street meeting would return.
What I feared came upon me. In the center of the congregation,
they and eleven or twelve others rose, shouting and cursing. One
of them, who resembled a black bear in a dark suit and turtle-neck
sweater, shook his giant fists toward the platform and shouted:
"I'll roll you Holy Rollers out of town!"
Now the sweet spirit of the meeting was destroyed. I tried to
preach, but they hooted, cursed me and made obscene gestures.
Something had to be done. I closed my eyes and quietly prayed,
"Oh, God, silence them."
He didfor a few minutes. I made an altar call, and a number
of individuals came forward and others got up to follow them.
Then the ringleader of the agitators raced forward, jumped upon
the altar and bellowed:
"You come up here, and we'll drag you out of here feet first."
Men and women, nearing the altar, tears of conviction rolling
down their cheeks, heard the threat and hesitated. Some of them
fearfully made for the exit.
But the Spirit of the Lord descended upon them. They were
filled with the Holy Ghost, saved, and slain in the Spirit, collapslr
>g to the floor. What a job we all had leading them home. Some
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Chapter 11
Leadership Without
Leaders
74
75
76
77
78
can see what God did through His children in the great
outpouringthis great charismatic outpouring which began at
the turn of the century with Parham and rocked the earth from
Los Angeles. These ministers and events seemed so much like
those of the very first church.
The greatest glories of these ministries rose when men died to
the flesh and were born again in Spirit through Jesus and, in their
new lives, were filled with the Holy Ghost. Only then could God
use them to disseminate His message fully and properly by the
Spirit and in the Spirit.
Chapter 12
Church On Fire
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Church On Fire
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Church On Fire
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Church On Fire
85
Only those who live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and are
filled with the Spirit take the time. But in the Azusa days, even on
nights when there was no official service, people gathered there
just to be holyto listen to the voice of God.
Following this, one and then another confessed his faults and
they prayed for one another. And, indeed, they were healed.
There is no better way to get healed than being near to Jesus.
What humility I saw, what tenderness, what weeping before God!
In His tender mercy, God gives us all an opportunity to examine
ourselves without making it necessary for someone else to call
attention to our mistakes, failures, faults and sins of commission
or omission. That opportunity seems to me the highest order of
church disciplineor self-discipline, as I call it.
And, of course, the Holy Spirit plays a major part in church
discipline. The fifth chapter of Galatians teaches us to "live in the
Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and keep filled with the Spirit."
Those who practice self-examination are not going to make it
necessary for the Holy Spirit to rebuke them and burn up the
chaff in their lives. They are going to discover their sins and work
to eliminate them. They will have the divine capacity and humility to look up and say, "God, I'm sorry. Forgive me in Jesus'
name."
By living in the Spirit, we learn of our own free will to say "no"
to the Devil and "yes" to God.
During and after Azusa Street, we had much instruction on
another subject of church disciplinebrother trespassing against
brother. We would read Matthew 18:15-18:
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell
him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee,
thou has gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take
with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect
86
to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.
Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven."
This was the Azusa Street way of dealing with stubborn, selfrighteous persons who justified their position, rather than humbling themselves.
I know of many places where church discipline is not practiced,
and the first thing you know a negative element builds up, so
there is no end of trouble. Division, strife and every evil work can
follow. Fortunately, God has given us a provision for dealing with
this element.
If members fail to establish order and discipline, the pastor
must take over. If he doesn't, then God's people suffer because
they cannot enjoy God's blessing in an atmosphere of love and
serenity. The church must be clean and provide an environment
of holiness if souls are to be saved and if we want God to visit us
with a rich anointing of the Holy Spirit.
We must strive for an atmosphere that will exalt Jesus and
honor the blessed Holy Spirit, where we can rejoice in the Lord
and be glad, an atmosphere that stimulates faith. If this does not
exist in our own church, it is time for introspection and selfexamination to find out if we are in the faith. If we are not, thank
God we can correct our course. God's tender and infinite mercy
will do for us the exceeding abundant above what we ask or even
think, according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
And, speaking of atmosphere, one of the sharpest criticisms of
the early 20th Century Pentecostal church was against its "super-abundant emotionalism." I still smart a little in remembering
how outsiders used to jeer and call us "Holy Rollers." This was
because some of us shook, shouted, rolled on the floor or danced
Church On Fire
87
in the Spirit.
people from the established churches disapproved of the emotional side of Azusa Street, because they knew as much about the
power of the Spirit as they know about electricity. But those who
are not scientists are not concerned about the mysteries of electricity so long as they can use it in practical ways.
Only in religious matters are people troubled when they come
to a mystery. Why? Many have said to me, "Brother Valdez, I can
see the truth of such experiences in the Bible, but I cannot reconcile God to be in all of this emotion such as shaking, shouting and
dancing."
Of course, we do not believe that the shaking, shouting or
dancing is God, but, rather, the spontaneous effect of the power
of God.
This emotion is not held back, because the individuals involved
enjoy it. Yet we also believe there is a time for all things and that
no meeting should come to confusion. It is written, "For God is
not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the
saints." (I Corinthians 14:33).
If such emotion comes from sound gospel preaching, gospel
hymns, or the power of God, I say, yield to it.
Much has been said about us being extremely emotional
peopleno doubt because many of us praise the Lord with unbridled enthusiasm. What the critics don't know is that a big portion of Pentecostal congregations is, by nature, very quiet. As a
matter of fact, many individuals feared that if they received the
baptism they might make too much noise or go into some other
extreme physical manifestation.
However, when the Lord filled them with the Spirit, they enjoyed the experience so much that they changed their minds
about emotionalism.
I remember one little, sedate ladyvery refined, cultured and
88
Church On Fire
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90
with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the
house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4).
Emotional expression is a part of the experience.
This sort of conduct seemed extreme to Los Angeles city officials and they did their best to gather evidence that emotionalism"fanaticism," they called itwas harmful to good
health and should be stopped. We never could be sure that city
representatives were not in the congregation.
One night during the Azusa times, I attended a meeting in a
big, empty garage on South Main Street. Dr. Alfred Goodrich
Garr, one of the greatest preachers I have ever heard, and his
wonderful, blond-haired wife, were conducting the services before a large audience. And the power of God came down in a
miraculous way.
Many people were moved to dance and clap hands in the aisles,
among them an extremely overweight man. This continued for an
hour. I could imagine that his heart was poundingthat he was
in danger of having a heart attack.
Finally, the corpulent man gently collapsed on the sawdustcovered floor. I began fearing for the worst. Sure enough, a
physician from the health department was there. He received
permission from Garr to examine the man.
Many of us crowded around. The doctor took a pulse reading
and listened to his heart beat. Then he shook his head from side
to side in incredulity.
"After an hour's heavy exertion, his heartbeat is normal and so
is his pulse, which reads seventy-two."
Puzzled, he glanced up at us.
Church On Fire
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Chapter 13
Simple Faith,
Incredible Results
94
"Now listen, I've been praying and waiting for you," mother
replied. "What did the Lord tell you?"
"All right. I heard a voice saying, 'Take Susie Valdez fifteen
cents.' "
She handed the money to mother, who said:
"Thank you, Honey," and squeezed her gnarled, brown-spotted hand. "That's exactly what I prayed for."
The elderly sister seemed puzzled.
"I needed fifteen cents more for carfare to Rialto. You obeyed
the Lord, and God will bless you for it."
That our infinitesimal problems are not too small for an infinite
God was proved again by what happened to "Mother Jones."
It seems Mother Jones had wormstomato worms ravaging
the green tomato plants next to her modest house. There were too
many to pick off, and she was perplexed. How could she prevent
them from destroying tomatoes she badly needed for eating and
canning?
Then came the perfect answer and perfect faith to go with it.
She stared at the plants and said firmly:
"Worms, you've got no business here. I'm a Christian. Get out
of here. Now Mrs. Smith who lives down the road is not a Christian. If you have to go somewhere, go there. I command you, in
the name of Jesus, to leave!"
Mother Jones marched into her house without looking back.
Later when she came out to water, she casually looked at the tomato plants.
Every worm was gone. Mother Jones didn't bother to check
Mrs. Smith's tomato vines. She was delighted that God had
worked a marvelous little miracle for her.
An even more remarkable mini miracle happened to a Modesto,
California, widow whose orchard was threatened by an invasion
of army worms. The newspapers were full of stories about a pesti-
95
lence like that in the Bible. Any area through which they passed
would be stripped bare.
Early one morning, I received an excited phone call from her.
"Brother Valdez, hundreds of thousands of army worms are
coming in such waves that you can't even see the ground."
I felt a pang of heartsickness, but before I could comment, she
continued:
"You know how good the Lord has been to me?"
"I do."
"Well, before the army worms arrived at our place, I got on my
knees and talked to the Lord, just like I am to you. 'Lord, You said
if I obeyed your commandments, paid my tithes and lived for
You, You would rebuke the devourer and the pestilence. Lord,
you know that when my husband gave me this orchard, I dedicated it to You for the poor. I'm expecting you to stop these army
worms before they reach this place.' " She stopped for breath:
"Brother Valdez, I could tell you what's happening, but I want
you to rush right out here to see for yourself."
My curiosity got me. As soon as I arrived, she took me to her
back property line, where I saw something almost unbelievable.
Waves of army worms moved to her property line and then did an
about-face, as if responding to the command of a superior officer.
We hurried to the other sides of her property, where the same
thing was happening. Within my line of sight, trees in adjoining
orchards had been completely stripped.
A thrill of praise for the Lord went through me. He answers
prayer according to His Word!
There was great faith in the Spirit-filled church of Modesto. In
those early days, many Christians in Stanislaus County stood on
God's word and reaped amazing results.
I remember well when hoof and mouth disease spread to the
San Joaquin Valley. Beautiful, sleek, pure-bred cows were shot by
96
the dozens when just one cow in the herd was infected. Dairymen
dug deep trenches and then bulldozed the cows into them,
spread lime and then dirt over them.
Prayers of dairymen in Stanislaus County went up, and not oi\e
cow of God's little children in that county was touched by the
terrible hoof and mouth disease scourge. That county was spared,
because God took care of His people who lived by the Word and
had simple faith.
I shall never forget another remarkable incident in the grapegrowing land around Modesto.
One of the most frightening things for growers of grapes is the
plague of mildew. This is something to witnessflies and bees
swarming in and around the vines.
It came to Modesto. One of the elders of the church, Brother
Fred Radley, approached me after service and said, "Brother Valdez, God is doing a wonderful thing for me. I want you to visit
my vineyard with the family and have dinner."
We accepted. From the house, it was impossible to see where
Brother Radley's vineyard ended and the adjoining ones started.
As far as the eyes could see, there were grape vines, because
neighboring rows were exactly in line with Radley's.
He took me to the boundary of his property, and never in my
lifelhave I seen more beautiful, luscious grapes, all covered with
that film that almighty God uses to protect them. Not one bunch
was touched by the mildew, but just a foot away in the rows that
belonged to his neighbors, the grapes were infected with mildew.
Bees and flies boiled around them.
I wanted to fall on my knees right in that vineyard to thank and
praise the Lord for a miracle. God knew exactly where the bound'
ary lines were on all sides, because, while surrounding vines
were infected, Brother Radley's grapes were completely free from
mildew.
97
Now I had seen more evidence that God protects those who
obey His Word and believe in Him. He still rebukes the pestilence
and any plague that would come nigh us.
I love to speak of these things, because they are typical of the
simplicity and faith of God's people during and after Azusa
Street.
On numerous visits to the Hoopa Reservation, where the
people also trusted God, I observed that the Indians asked and
received help from the Lord in circumstances beyond their control. Never did they fail to give Him the glory and praise.
One day an Indian friend stopped me and pulled back his shirt
sleeve to display an arm that was angry red, swollen almost twice
its normal size.
"What's the matter, brother?" I asked.
"A screwtick, Brother Val. A screwtick has gone right up the
arm into my shoulder. He's been there for a couple weeks. I want
you to pray I know Jesus can make him come out."
I closed my eyes and offered a simple prayer. No sooner had I
opened my eyes when I knew it was happening. The arm seemed
to be throbbing. Something strange was taking place. The screwtick seemed to be unscrewing itself from the shoulder and arm.
Then, suddenly, out it came!
As the Indian brother watched this miracle, he wasn't the least
surprised.
"I knew God would do it!" he said.
It would have been impossible to explain in physical terms how
a screwtick that had been lodged in this man's shoulder for
weeks, came out within minutes. I can't explain how God protected Brother Radley's grapes, or the cattle of Stanislaus County,
or how He made the legions of army worms do an about-face.
Possibly there was a little flame of invisible fire on borders of
Brother Radley's vineyard, Stanislaus County and the Modesto
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orchard. I don't know, because the ways of God are unfathomable. But He supplies the know-how and does it. All we have to
do is pray and have faith. "Only believe the Scripture," He says,
"and you shall see the glory of God."
Like God's miracles of protection, His miracles of healing during and after Azusa Street days were numerous. The Holy Spirit's
power was so great that few, if any, divine healing services, so
popular today, were held.
People were healed en masse during our regular evangelistic
meetings. The blind would receive their sight and deaf ears
opened. Those at the services would rise and cry out in delight to
the Lord.
There were no special prayers for people with anything from
migraine headaches to cancer. I shall never forget one incredible
healing of blindness. It almost strains the ability to believe. The
healing was not instantaneous. It was gradual. You know that the
Bible teaches gradual healing, too.
"Some were healed as they went their way," the Scripture says.
"Some began to mend from that hour."
I knew a man called "Blind Martin." There were only flat places
where his eyes should have been. He had been examined at Johns
Hopkins University by the best specialists in the United States.
These men said there was no way he would ever see.
Blind Martin was married to a lovely lady who took the best
care of him. As he and his wife attended services and heard of
miracles happening all around them, their faith increased.
One night during a service, I witnessed something that thrills
me to this daythe unfathomable, unexplainable working of the
Lord. Blind Martin stood up. He didn't know why.
A redness first appeared on the flat places where eyes should
have been. These areas began to puff out and swell. Then something unreal happened. Eyes the size of a chicken's were begin
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ning to form.
Little by little, they expanded to normal size.
Oh, Lord, I can see!" shouted Martin.
Tears of gratitude began to flow from Martin's new eyes.
I could only marvel at the Lord's work.
Martin's eyes were not the only ones that were moist!
No less spectacular than physical healings were miracles of casting out demons. During Azusa Street days and for 10 years afterward, I witnessed dozens of deliveries from demon possession.
Occasionally individuals who were filled with the devil would
come to disrupt meetings.
That was the signal for God's people to start praying. And what
response from prayer! Sometimes you could feel the evil spirits
like a cold wind flying out of a body. Other times, you would hear
them come out screaming.
The Italian people in those days were wonderfully blessed in
praying for the demon-possessedespecially the fiercely resistant evil spirits. These Italian brothers and sisters believed unswervingly in what Jesus said: "This kind cometh not out but by
prayer and fasting."
How persistent they were with fasting and non-stop praying
for two or three days. They wore out the demons. One of the
most exciting exorcising of demons took place early in the 20th
century in an area of Chicago where a giant circus had just moved
in. Italian Christians gathered to pray for a man driven to the
brink of insanity due to demon possession.
Praying went on night and day until, finally, the demon cried
ut, "Let me alone. I'll come out, but let me alone. Let me rest."
That was the last thing to do when the evil spirit was becoming
tired and weak, so they prayed even more fervently.
"Satan, we bind you," they called out repeatedly. "In the name
f Jesus Christ come out now."
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When this demon obeyed it was with a roar that could be heard
for a mile. People rushed into the streets, thinking that a lion had
escaped from the circus.
I shall never forget a suspenseful battle with a demon by Dr.
F. E. Yoakum, founder of the Pisgah Home. This big, remarkable
man of faith had been given many gifts of the Holy Spirittongues, healing, miracles, and the ability to cast out demons.
Walls of several rooms of Pisgah Home were lined with wheel
chairs, canes, crutches, casts, and various mechanical devices for
the handicapped who had been delivered through his ministry.
One day an excited phone call interrupted his meditating in the
Lord. He was asked to drop everything and race to a house where
a man was demon-possessed and dangerous.
He responded immediately. No sooner had he stepped inside
the door when the man rushed toward him, murder in his eyes
and a huge, gleaming butcher knife in his right fist. Before Dr.
Yoakum could pray, the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon him.
The man thrust the knife toward his heart, and Dr. Yoakum
grabbed his wrist and cried out:
"Father, in the Name of Jesus, I bind this devil hand and foot,
and I command him to come out of this man in the Name of
Jesus."
The man's grip loosened, and the knife clattered to the polished
wood floor. When the devil rushed out of this man, the house
shook and paintings on the wall spun around. The place looked
as if a hurricane had whirled through it, but this mail was wonderfully delivered, converted to Jesus Christ, and later filled with
the Holy Ghost.
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Now I was being introduced, and I quickly asked Jesus for help.
A simple idea occurred to me. I talked about how God had sent
Sister Molly Ayres, of Australia, to my door, confirming exactly
what the Lord had said to me earlier about going to Australia.
A ripple of applause raced across the banquet hall, as they rejoiced with me, and my host asked:
"Brother Valdez, you're not going to leave New Zealand without holding meetings, are you?"
I hesitated a moment.
"I don't know. I haven't consulted with the Lord about it." Actually, we had no plans to stay. We had just enough money to
reach Australia. "I'm going to pray and see what the Lord has to
say about it."
My host insisted, "Brother Valdez, you cannot leave here without holding some meetings." Enthusiastically, the whole group
backed him with loud handclapping.
Well, we stayed, but not for just a few meetings. During our six
months in New Zealand we held meetings in various places,
mainly in a huge, domed auditorium. An unforgettable revival
broke out. It was so tremendous that we had to have a tarrying
meeting in the Masonic Temple, separate from the auditorium.
The auditorium was packed, including many denominational
church people who were excited about the baptism in the Holy
Spirit. That night, in the middle of my preaching, I heard the roof
cracka terrifying noise as if the dome were splitting in two.
Fearfully, I raised my eyes toward the dome. They never got that
faror needed tofor the dome was all right.
Awesome things were happening in the balcony. In wholesale
numbers, people were being slain in the Spirit, slumping in their
seats, leaning against one another and talking in tongues. More
than 500 received the baptism in the Holy Spirit during that
meeting.
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God. People up in the balcony were slain in the Holy Spirit, some
falling against one another, some forward, and others slipping to
the floor between seat rows.
The same thing started on the first floor. This was a most magnificent display of the Holy Spirit's power. At the close of the
service, Lady Carrington came forward, introduced herself and
enthusiastically told me about the healing of her condition.
"The Lord healed me," she said in joy, "but I want to tell you
the spectacular way in which it happened. When people began
to fall everywhere, something took me by the chin and lifted
my chin up." She demonstrated just how it had been done, then
continued:
"As I looked up, I saw a whirling ball of fire, about twenty-four
inches in diameter, come straight down. Before I could move, it
hit me on top of the head. Fire raced down through my backbone.
I knew I was healed. My tongue began to move rapidly in my
mouth, and out came a strange, unknown language. Best of all,
Jesus came into my heart."
She asked me what that language was all about.
"Lady Carrington," I replied. "God not only healed you and
gave you salvation, He also baptized you in the Holy Ghost and
fire."
But Lady Carrington was not the only one who experienced a
dramatic healing. All over the auditorium, people were jumping
and leaping in the aisles and screaming, "I am healed. I am
healed."
After the meeting, Dr. MacColl sheepishly came up to me, his
face ruddy with embarrassment.
"I must apologize to you, Brother Valdez," he said. He pointed
at a man going through vigorous gymnastics. "That is one of my
patients. He is healedno doubt about it. What he is doing now,
he couldn't possibly do in his previous physical condition."
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care or medicine. Our one and only Physician, who was in us and
around us, always cured us. He was out of this world!
So far as finances were concerned, we rarely took thought
about tomorrow, because the Great Physician was also our Treasurer, and He took care of our budget and budgeting. Even during the depression of the 1930's, He always gave us good housing
and plenty of nourishing food.
Our Treasurer was also our Protector and Comforter in the trials
of daily living. He always anticipated our needs, because He
knows the end from the beginning.
So many times He delivered the solution to a problem before we
realized there had been one. I shall never forget how much I
needed help for tent meetings. And who should rally to assist me
in putting up my tent but the Pentecostal Isaac Shakarian family
and their mission, the Armenian Church, which rallied around
me as if it were their own project.
God presented Isaac to me at the Azusa Street Mission, when
he was fourteen and I was ten. Despite our age difference, we
became close friends. I loved and enjoyed this Christian brother
right up to his departure to be with the Lord. I am still fascinated
with the story Isaac told me about how the Shakarians happened
to discover the Azusa Street Mission.
New from Armenia and unemployed, Isaac's father and his
father's brother-in-law, Magardich Mushegan, eagerly seeking a
job in the numerous livery stables on San Pedro Street near Azusa
Street, heard a familiar sound over the whinnying of horses:
people praising the Lord in tongues. It was surely of God, because they had no idea that any church in the nation worshipped
God as their Armenian church did.
A quarter of a century passed, and Isaac's son, Demos, later to
become founder of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship
International, was my right hand man. Then a high school
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"Wait a minute, Sister," I said. "You are 87 years old, and you
ask me to pray for your father?"
She smiled, "Yes, here he comes!"
Sure enough, an elderly gentleman with a shock of thick,
coarse, white hair and deep wrinkles, strode briskly toward us. I
was surprised at his erect posture and youthful steps.
"Sister, you are 87. Tell me, how old is your father?"
"Brother Valdez, he is 126."
I learned that this man had been filled with the Holy Spirit long
before Azusa Street and he had been serving God for all these
years. As he joined us, I reached my hand out to him and said:
"God bless you, my brother. I understand you are discouraged."
He nodded, "Yes, Brother Valdez, for the first time in my life."
That was some kind of recordone discouragement in thirteen
decades! "Tell me about it."
"Well," he said. "I've always taken care of the flower and vegetable garden around the house. I love to do that sort of work, but
now my children won't let me do anything. They think I'm helpless and bought me a big easy chair in the front room and want
me to sit there all day long like a Buddha. So I am deeply discouraged. Brother Valdez, why doesn't the Lord take me home?"
I thought for an instant. "I know why. You are a permanent
fixture, and you are going to stay around here as long as God
wants you to. God has a purpose in letting you livea purpose
that you or I may not know. So don't be discouraged. God will
bless you and give you peace, as He said He would."
It didn't occur to me until after our conversation, but this man
certainly served as an example to show others how long a person
in the Spirit can live in good health. What an encouragement to
those in their seventies or eighties. They're just kids with big
things ahead!
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God blessed him in a wonderful way for he had a great love foicongregation members of all agesparticularly senior citizens.
They knew it, and how they loved him! It was a terrible blow
when God, who is sovereign, took my son, after 37 years in the
ministry, because I had always hoped that, someday, he would
take the torch from me. The torch is still in my hand.
Many times I was guest preacher at Milwaukee Evangelistic
Temple. As I looked out over the large congregation, I noted one
particular face. The face and its sweet expression belonged to a
grey-haired lady named Evelyn, who always sat directly beneath
the pulpit, raptly attentive to Bible teachings.
There was such strong compatibility between us that, in 1968,
we were married. Today Evelyn is my associate in an evangelical
program which still involves my preaching all over the world. My
activities in the Lord have slowed down a trifle in recent years,
but I will not relinquish them entirely until I receive final orders
from Supreme Headquarters.
During my seven decades in the ministry, I have seen many
astounding miracles. No miracle is small. All are great, but two of
the miracles that are most fantastic and soul-satisfying to me are
being involved in a person's coming to Christ, and in seeing how
the Holy Spirit transforms and beautifies the faces of temples
which He enters.
Nothing can possibly be more glorious than the way the Holy
Spirit shines from eyes and radiates from loving faces. A pure,
sweet temple of the Holy Spiritsomething made in Heaven to
be enjoyed on earthnever fails to warm me with happiness.
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on them.
Although it is not always necessary to tarry to receive this baptism, we can't run ahead of God either. We must accept His timing. Don't forget that King Saul of Israel lost his kingdom because
he got ahead of the Lord.
Remember that he had strict orders to wait until the arrival of
Samuel, the priest and prophet of God. Samuel was then supposed to make a sacrifice and offering to the Lord. But the people
were frightened. The breath of the Philistines was hot on their
necks. The temptation was great, Saul yielded and offered up a
burnt offering and sacrifice.
Just as he had finished, Samuel appeared and reprimanded
him:
"You've disobeyed the commandment of the Lord. Therefore,
the Lord is taking away from you the kingdom and giving it to a
man after His own heart."
Well, individuals who try to outrace the Lord will not necessarily lose their chance for baptism in the Holy Spirit, but they will
have done nothing to enhance it. The Holy Spirit baptism is not a
right. It is a gift based on God's grace, rather than our merit,
although we cannot leave the whole job to God.
Some present-day teachers, without even asking if students
are baptized in the Holy Spirit, instruct them in how to speak in
tongues.
This violates God's order of things as described in the Scripture. "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to,
speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
First, the Holy Spirit baptism occurs, then tonguesnot the
other way around.
I am frightened by the practice of some men of letters in theology who are teaching speaking in tongues, while leap-frogging
over qualifications and requirements of the Holy Spirit to have
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this gift.
It is impossible for those who have not been born again, who
haven't passed from death to life, who haven't been translated
out of the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light and
been baptized in the Holy Spirit, to speak in tongues, provided as
a gift of God. Note carefully that expression, "provided as a gift of
God."
Certainly it is possible to speak in tongues with sponsorship
other than the Holy Spirit's. Satan, the great imitator, can counterfeit "tongues" andat the same timeinvade those who
practice the counterfeit gift with his demons.
It is also possible to delude students into thinking that they
have been baptized in the Holy Spirit when they are merely using
mind, tongue, breath and vocal chords and saying whatever
comes into their minds.
Those responsible for misleading the untutored are also depriving them of Holy Spirit power and protection so desperately
needed in these last days. The Scripture says, " . . . kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in
the last times."
The slowest route to baptism in the Holy Spirit is often the fastest: the basics of readying ourselves as God wishes. Remember
how the Lord withheld the baptism in the Holy Spirit from me for
three months due to my argumentativeness with the Jewish
youth?
We must take the time to cleanse our temple, to ask forgiveness
for our sins, to become holy, and to bring a broken spirit before
the Lord. The Holy Spirit will not come into an unclean temple.
Sinless perfection cannot live within sinful imperfection.
Under the Old Testament economy, we know that God dwelt in
the temple and spoke to the priest in this temple as he went before God asking forgiveness for the sins of Israel for another year.
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in the Holy Spirit. Nor can any outsider. Only the Holy Spirit
knows. And He comes in His own time and in His own manner.
Pockets of darkness may remain in the temple: concealed sin
habits or unrecognized sins.
How can we break the steel grip of concealed sin habits? By
turning to Jesus with a contrite heart and placing the burden on
Him in faith.
How can we become aware of unrecognized sins?
By holding up the Bible's negative and positive mirrors to ourselves. I do it by asking myself these questions:
"Do you ever put your will above God's? Do you ever resist
God's commandments? Are you ever rebelliousno matter how
subtly? Do you falter in your love for God when problems are the
heaviest? Are you envious, proud, hateful, slanderous, unforgiving, bitter in spirit? Do you bear false witness, lie or cheat? Are
you ever hypocritical, malicious, ill-tempered? Do you ever entertain adulterous thoughts?"
Then I try the positive mirror, asking:
"Do you pray to learn the will of God and then follow it? Are
you always loving to God, your neighbor and strangers? Are you
peaceful, joyous, long-suffering, strong in faith, meek, gentle and
good? Are you always aware of the ten commandments and
God's golden rule in your conduct of life?"
Unfortunately, deterrents to Holy Spirit baptism come not only
from inside the temple, but also the outside. Though increasing
numbers of church members sense that the Holy Spirit baptism is
for today and for them, they fear ostracism by their pastor and
fellow congregation members.
The Bible promises us the "latter rain," the falling of the Holy
Spirit as in Azusa Street days. These are times when people
should think for themselves. The Scripture says, " . . . work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling." If millionaires were
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as careless in their business as the Christian world is with salvation and baptism in the Holy Spirit, they would soon become
paupers.
The Bible promises baptism in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist
said, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentence: but he
that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and
with fire." (Matt. 3:11).
The same information comes in Mark 1:8, and, again, in Luke
3:16. John says, "And I knew Him not: but he that sent me to
baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou
shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same
is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." (John 1:33).
And in the Old Testament, the power of the Holy Spirit is cited
again and again.
Those who believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is no longer
available to man either do not know Bible history or are ignoring
it. This greatest force ever known is the EXECUTIVE of the
Godhead, the articulator of the Godhead.
Genesis 1:2 says, ". . . and the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters." No one can go back farther than the beginning. The work of the Holy Spirit starts with the creation.
The Holy Spirit has always been available and will be as long as
there is an earth. The Old Testament often refers to the move of
the Holy Spirit in prophets, priests and kings, the giving of gifts
to special onesno different than in the present dispensation:
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by
name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the Son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in
understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver,
and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving
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gether, will soon be united in the true church, the Bride of Christ.
But while the Holy Spirit is working wonderful, constructive
deeds, Satan will be feverishly working awful, destructive deeds
to make Christians waver in their faith, and to shatter the morale
and hope of the unsaved so that they will stay in his domain,
instead of turning to their only hope: Jesus.
Satan's major weapon against Christians will be persecution,
which Jesus predicted would be a sign of His second coming:
" . . . cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be
saved " (Matt. 10:22-23).
Some are going to experience what Jesus did, for as He said,
"For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are
written may be fulfilled " (Luke 21:22) "And except those days
should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the
elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24:22). Beyond a
doubt the electGod's people will be on earth then. Despite
trials, God's people will triumph.
Many are afraid to hear of these things or refuse to believe
them, because they seem negative. Today, if you don't just repeat
"love, love, love" and stick to everything positive, people won't
listen. You have to sound like a politician working with his constituency. But Jesus spoke these things, and nobody then called it
negative preaching.
Bible teaching is honest in saying, " . . . God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John
3:16). That is positive preaching.
When the Scripture says, "Men's hearts will fail them for fear of
those things that are coming upon the earth," (Luke 21:26) it is not
talking about God"s peopleonly about sinners.
Have we who are God's people anything to fear? Of course not.
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quence: hellfire and brimstone. Even in this life people who don't
live for Jesus have to pay the price, for the Scripture says "For he
that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he
that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
The Bible is the criterion. Let us take Bible truths to the world. If
we do that, our hands will be clean, and on the day of judgment
we won't be ashamed, because we have given out the Word of
God that makes all men free.
If God gave us such strong Holy Spirit power under conditions
existing during Azusa days, we can look forward to something
even more tremendous and earthshaking. That is why Satan is
working so hard to sidetrack God's people and those who haven't
come to God through Jesus. The Bible was never more important
than in these times, for Satan has his counterfeit sermons, distractions, distortions that, to some, appear to be the real Word.
Satan will be working overtime with all power, signs and wonders, with all deceitfulness and unrighteousness. Jesus warned us
to be on guard. One of the first signs before His coming will be all
sorts of satanic deceptions.
"Take heed lest any man deceive you."
God's Word, prayerfully read, should be our guidepost. About
the second coming of Jesus, I challenge God's ministers and all of
God's little children to take Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, as
the truth on the subject. The disciples went to the top authority,
Jesus Himself, and asked, "When are You coming back?"
What Jesus answered is the true answer, not what some book
writers tell us. There are five different schools of thought about
when Jesus will return. Why depend upon books written by men,
when you have available a book written by the hand of God,
which offers the best authority?
Jesus warned us of deception, because He is God and knows
the end from the very beginning. He knows there will be grave
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danger of being taken in. Our best policy is to stay with the Bible,
the framework that the carpenter from Nazareth nailed together
for us in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. If what men's books
say or what they tell us doesn't fit in that framework, it is not
worth considering.
God's Word just the way it is written is the truth, and I am
saying that as one who belongs to a church that wasn't given the
right to think about and interpret the ScriptureI didn't have the
divine capacity. Only the pastor had that. It was frightening when
God opened my eyes to see how far astray we had gone by following that sort of direction.
In the Valdez household, we made up our minds that regardless of who was preaching, that person had to produce chapter
and verse to be accepted. What a blessing that, while listening to
the pastor, we could follow what he was reading with our own
Bibles and then listen attentively to his sermon. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we could get a clear revelation of the truth.
Living in, walking with and keeping filled with the Spirit make us
qualified to read and interpret the Word, and the Word of God has
no private interpretation.
Nothing but the Bible should be a criterion on any particular
subject in the Bible, because it is not only the Word, it is the last
word. And it will make us free in these last days, when signs that
Jesus predicted will be revealed.
I want to know that I am in His divine favor. These are not
times for risk-taking. I want to know I am born again, that I have
had a real baptism in the Holy Spirit and am blessed with the
sweet anointing of the Holy Spirit. I want you to know this, too.
That is why I have gone carefully back to the first chapter of
Genesis and through the Old Testament to help you realize the
prominence and importance of the great office held by the Holy
Spirit. Within yielded and clean vessels, the Holy Spirit becomes
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only those who remain a decision away from receiving Christ who
have something to fear.
I only hope that God lets me live to see those glorious times, for
this will be the revival of revivals that will definitely cleave the
Church (God's domain) from the world (Satan's domain). And the
Lord will take that church, clothed in pure, white linen, which is
the holiness of saints, and make it His bride.
Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. With holiness, any
man can. No human imagination can predict the ecstasy, the joy
beyond joy or the beauty beyond beauty, that the Lord plans for
us. Persecution, wars, natural disasters that are to come upon
earth won't shake my faith, because the Bible tells me that they
won't.
In the not too distant future, the second coming of Christ will
be upon us. I am looking up with expectancy. My chin wants to
stay up all the time, because I already know of my redemption.
Jesus will appear, resplendent, in the air above the earth, and
humdrum worldly activities will suddenly halt.
Paul has said that the dead in Christ will rise first and then we,
in Christ, who are alive shall be caught up to meet Jesus in the air.
And don't forget how it is stated in the Bible. He is not coming to
meet us. We are going to meet Him. Then we are going somewhere with Him. If you believe the Bible, you know that place is
the Mount of Olives. And that mountain is going to split right in
half, and a beautiful river is going to flow through Jerusalem. So
shall we ever be with the Lord!