The Bible and Life

ARRESTED 100 TIMES WITHIN A YEAR

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

John Alexander Dowie

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE opened several large rooming houses called "Healing Homes." Here, the sick who had come for healing could find shelter and rest between the services held at Zion Tabernacle. Once there, they were able to receive constant ministry from the Word until their faith mounted to the place of complete manifestation. But the newspapers, mainly the Chicago Dispatch, were merciless, calling the homes "Lunatic Asylums" and continued to print every lie imaginable.

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Because of these healing homes, Dowie's enemies thought they had found a vulnerable spot. So early in 1895, they arrested him on the charge of "practicing medicine without a license." Obviously untrue, Dowie would have been the last person to allow medicine into his homes He hired a brilliant attorney, but he only kept Dowie advised of the legal matters.

So Dowie chose to represent himself in court because no one else could articulate his call as accurately as himself. Dowie's superior intellect was not enough to overrule the evil jurisdiction of the court. Despite his profound arguments, the court fined him. But they never dreamed he would take the case to a higher court, costing much more money than the fines they had issued!

When he did, the higher court denounced the evil of the lower court, and reversed the decision.

The city hoped Dowie would get discouraged if they continued to arrest and fine him. So before the year was over, he had been arrested one hundred times. Although severely persecuted, he was never discouraged.

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Persecution brought out great resiliency in his character. He actually thrived on his persecutors' affliction and interrogation. Evil will always try to persecute the power of God. But Dowie was super-naturally secure and anchored in bis godly authority. The supernatural never bows to the natural.

- GOD’S GENERALS ( “The Healing Apostle" )

Roberts Liardon

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Apostolic Church History Podcast

Friday, February 20, 2026

The Mighty River

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Romans 8:26

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For our praying to be effective, we've got to connect with that subterranean area of our being where a mighty river of God's Spirit is flowing.

For when the tongue speaks by virtue of the mind's instruction only, it's speaking by our intellect, which is a reasoning tool. Our mind is argumentative, constantly reasoning, and it often becomes entangled in an argument with itself.

If we're not careful, we'll begin to operate from the mental realm only, and it will submerge our spirits and dominate us and we'll be Christians who operate from the mouth out, from the chin up, from the neck up. We'll never connect with that powerful subterranean area of our spirits where the rivers of living water are flowing!

The mighty river of God's Spirit is in our tears, our moanes, our dreams and visions.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Lake's Mistake

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

LAKE'S MISTAKE

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In his later years, John G. Lake enjoyed a wonderful balance of the supernatural and natural. But his understanding came at a very heavy price. The price was his family!

Lake's children from his first marriage suffered greatly because of his constant absence. Even when he was present in a room, he would drift away in meditation, being constantly mindful of the ministry and the Lord. Because of this, his children felt greatly neglected!

Remember, it was these same children who saw their mother starve and work to death in Africa. As a result, each of them had developed very hardened attitudes, and they left home very early, between the ages of fifteen and sixteen, to live in Canada. As they grew into adulthood, their lives were characterized by hardened bitterness. However, two of his sons commented while on their deathbeds, "I wish dad were here to pray for me."

Lake grieved over his lack of attention given the children. And he would later write in a letter that the many miracles wrought at his hands were personally unfulfilling and not worth the loss of his family.

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But Lake learned from his experiences, and finally found the key to being a good husband, involved father, and powerful minister. His children borne by Florence had a different attitude toward him. They remembered him as a man who loved to laugh and enjoy his friends. In his later years, Lake was not "so heavenly minded that he was of no earthly good."

He didn't keep his head in the clouds, and people no longer fell into silence when entering his presence because he would lovingly interact with them. Lake had finally learned to enjoy the natural and the supernatural to the fullest extent. The atmosphere in his home was no longer rigid and stiff! He loved to have fun at the dinner table when the family was together. His hearty laugh could be heard echoing down the halls. And he enjoyed symphonic and opera music, so every Sunday evening, he would listen to his favorite radio programs.

Lake also enjoyed a wonderful sense of humor. He loved to read Will Roger's

newspaper column, and would later be thought of himself as "a great entertainer:" He liked to keep the atmosphere around him light with laughter.

GOD'S GENERALS

Roberts Liardon

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Apostolic Church History Podcast

Friday, February 13, 2026

Can You Believe In God?

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

WE HAVE A WONDERFUL GOD, A GOD WHOSE WAYS ARE PAST FINDING OUT, AND WHOSE GRACE AND POWER ARE LIMITLESS.

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I was in Belfast one day and saw one of the brethren of the assembly. He said to me, "Wigglesworth, I am troubled. I have had a good deal of sorrow during the past five months. I had a woman in my assembly who could always pray the blessing of heaven down on our meetings. She is an old woman, but her presence is always an inspiration. But five months ago she fell and broke her thigh. The doctors put her into a plaster cast, and after five months they broke the cast. But the bones were not properly set and so she fell and broke the thigh again."

He took me to her house, and there was a woman lying in a bed on the right hand side of the room. I said to her, "Well, what about it now?" She said, "They have sent me home

incurable. The doctors say that I am so old that my bones won't knit. There is no nutriment in my bones and they could never do anything for me and they say I shall have to lie in bed for the rest of my life."

I said to her, "Can you believe God?" She replied, "Yes, ever since I heard that you had

come to Belfast my faith has been quickened. If you will pray, I will believe. I know there is no power on earth that can make the bones of my thigh knit, but I know there is nothing impossible with God." I said, "Do you believe He will meet you now?" She answered, "I do."

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It is grand to see people believe God. God knew all about this leg and that it was broken in two places. I said to the woman, "When I pray, something will happen." Her husband was sitting there; he had been in his chair for four years and could not walk a step. He called out, "I don't believe. I won't believe. You will never get me to believe."

I said, "All right," and laid my hands on his wife in the name of the Lord Jesus. The moment hands were laid upon her the power of God went right through her and she cried out, "I'm healed." I said, "I'm not going to assist you to rise. God will do it all." She rose and walked up and down the room, praising God!

The old man was amazed at what had happened to his wife, and he cried out, "Make me walk, make me walk." I said to him, "You old sinner, repent." He cried out, "Lord, You know I never meant what I said. You know I believe." I don't think he meant what he said; anyhow the Lord was full of compassion. If He marked our sins, where would any of us be? If we will meet the conditions, God will always meet us.

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If we believe, all things are possible. I laid my hands on him and the power went right through the old man's body; and those legs, for the first time in four years, received power to carry his body, and he walked up and down and in and out. He said, "O what great things God has done for us tonight!"

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Desire toward God, and you will have desires from God; and He will meet you on the line of those desires when you reach out in simple faith.

- Smith Wigglesworth ( Ever Increasing Faith )

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Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Regimenter

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

REGIMENTER.

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Dr. Price was a "regimenter." For example, when you came to his tent to receive healing, you had to hear at least three sermons, indicating the three sermons you had heard on the prayer card. He would not permit anyone to be prayed for until they had heard him preach at least three times.

At first I did not understand why he did this, but later I realized he was building faith inside of them for healing. He preached at least two hours every service. He handed out cards and each person who wanted to be healed was given a number. Before he got up to speak, he had created a healing line. He would say, for example, tonight we will take numbers 216 to 275. That may not sound like many out of a crowd of ten thousand. However, in addition to the healings of the people with prayer cards, many people in his audiences received healing without hands being laid on them.

He did not just lay hands on people, he got them healed. He would stay with them until the healing came through. It might take an hour for him to pray for just a few people because he prayed in depth for deliverance. People were set free by the mighty power of God.

- Dr. Lester Sumrall ( The Pioneers Of Faith)

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Apostolic Church History Podcast

Friday, February 6, 2026

Hollywood Preaching

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

When complaints came from team members or ministry supporters about the “Hollywood” use of television to spread the gospel, Oral reminded each critic, “We have to go where the people are, because they are not coming where we are.”

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It was much like the apostle Paul describing how he preached to different audiences: "And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." (1 Corinthians 9:20–22).

In Athens, when a group of philosophers brought Paul to the Areopagus and invited him to speak, instead of referencing the unknown Old Testament, he referenced all the idols they had built to various gods. Specifically, he said, “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you” (Acts 17:23). Paul was not afraid to use the contemporary culture around him in order to share the gospel.

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Oral Roberts wrote to his supporters in Abundant Life about his unchanging principles of walking with Jesus Christ—principles of truth that would never change in his heart or ministry. However, he reminded them that the methods to reach people for Christ are different from the principles. Over and over, he proclaimed, “I am married to the principles; I am not married to the methods.” Oral moved forward with his new television plans, continually looking for the best ways to reach people for Jesus.

- God’s Generals ( The Healing Evangelists )

Oral Roberts

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