Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
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By the fall of 1949, the Allens began to hear stories about miraculous healing meetings that were taking place. The evangelists conducting the meetings weren’t necessarily outstanding preachers. In fact, many preachers were more eloquent in their sermon delivery than these evangelists, but when these healing evangelists prayed for the sick, miracles happened so quickly, no one could count them. The Allens refused to believe half of the stories they were told, but their curiosity was certainly aroused.
One day, a friend gave Allen a copy of the publication The Voice of Healing. After reading it, Allen said, “As I read its pages, I laughed in ridicule. Fanatics, I thought, as I closed the magazine and laid it away in my study.” Some of his church members came from these tent meetings with glowing reports, but Allen discounted them and felt they were drifting into fanaticism!
Personally, I don’t believe that was his true heart in the matter. He might have spoken those words, but I believe he was incredibly stirred inside, because he knew this was his own call being manifested before his very eyes.
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However, it is possible to become so backslidden in one’s calling that the things one once held as precious and attainable are now a distant memory? Not long after this, some minister friends persuaded Allen to go to Dallas and attend an Oral Roberts tent revival. Along the way, he remembered the experience he had with God in his prayer closet many years ago, recalling the thirteen things that stood in his way of walking into the miraculous. Being out of his spiritual office and trying instead to be a pastor had caused him to shelve the vision God had given him.
As he approached Dallas, he became more and more aware that there he would witness the very thing God had called him to do. “But I had never paid the price for God’s miracle-working power in my life,” he added.
He was captivated by the tent meeting and by the power of God being displayed through Roberts, feeling as though he was living in the book of Acts. Miracle after miracle took place as he watched, but it wasn’t fanaticism; it was God’s miracle-working power.
As he sat watching the prayer line, he again heard the voice of God say, “My son, eleven years ago you sought My face.... Eleven years ago I called you into the same ministry.... But you failed to pay the price and to make the consecration. Therefore, you have failed to do this thing which I have called you to do.” With tears streaming down his face, Allen lifted his hands and cried out, “Lord, I’ll do it!”
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GOING, GOING, GONE!Two Sundays later, he resigned from his pastorate. He would have left the first Sunday after his return, but his wife asked him to wait and make sure he was doing the right thing.
Immediately, pastors from all over the nation called for his services as an evangelist, and in less than a month, a new pastor occupied the pulpit!
They moved all their possessions into a house trailer, and in less than three months after his “breakdown,” A. A. Allen was on the revival trail!
Allen began studying the list of thirteen requirements the Lord had given him eleven years earlier. He couldn’t believe all the time that had been lost. Eleven years! As he studied the list, he noticed that numbers twelve and thirteen had not been accomplished in his life, but that every other item had been marked through. Finally, with great determination, he was able to mark through the last two. After that, noticeable miracles began to take place through his ministry!
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In May of 1950, Allen sent his first report to The Voice of Healing magazine, the result of a great campaign in Oakland, California. Of the meeting, he wrote, “Many say this is the greatest revival in the history of Oakland.... Night after night, the waves of Divine Glory so sweep over the congregation that many testify of being healed while sitting in their seats.”
In 1951, Allen made a great leap. He decided to purchase a tent and advertise himself as a “healing” revivalist. He heard of a tent for sale, equipped with lighting, seats, a platform, and a public address system, all for $8,500!
But he had only $1,500, so he called the minister and made the offer of $1,500 as a down payment. The owner told him that another preacher had just called and offered the full price, but he would pray about the matter and call him the next day.
The next day, when Allen called the man, he wasn’t surprised to learn that the owner had decided to give the tent to him with a $1,500 down payment. The rest was to be paid in $100 payments, as Allen could afford, so the tent was his! On July 4, 1951, the A. A. Allen Revival Tent went up for its first campaign, in Yakima, Washington!
- God’s Generals ( A.A ALLEN )
