The Bible and Life

Apostolic Church History Podcast

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Faith Activates The Power

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

FAITH ACTIVATES THE POWER!

Let me give you an illustration along this line. In March 1971, I was preaching in Tyler, Texas, in the grand ballroom of the old Carlton Hotel. After ministering one night and sending folks to the prayer room to be saved, we invited the sick to come forward to be prayed for.

Google commons

When I called for folks to get in the healing line, I noticed a lady sitting right in the front, in the first couple of rows. But this woman couldn’t get up. Her husband was trying without much success to help her get up.

Finally, one of the ushers helped, and the two men together got her to her feet. She had a cane in one hand, and with her husband holding her by one arm and the usher holding her by the other arm, she slowly made her way into the healing line.

The people were lined up straight across the room, and I went down the line, laying hands upon them. Well, when I laid hands on her, it was just like I had laid hands on a doorknob — there was no receptivity on her part whatsoever.

I went on down the line, laying hands on folks and praying. I didn’t have time to stop and preach her a sermon. I knew that in her case, it was a matter of her not having faith. You see, faith receives when you pray, you believe you receive! The Bible says that then — after you believe you receive — you shall have whatever it is you were desiring (Mark 11:24).

Google commons

Believing is receiving. Receiving is believing. If there is no receiving, then there’s been no believing. If there’s no believing, then there is no receiving. It’s just that simple — so simple, we stumble over the simplicity of it.

I finished the healing line in that meeting in Tyler and went back to the platform to get my Bible, my notebook, and my watch. This crippled woman was still standing there with her husband by her side to hold her up. With great effort and with her husband’s help, she moved a little closer to me and said, “Brother Hagin, I want you to lay hands on me again.”

I remembered when I laid hands on her a few moments before, there was just no response. So I said, “Well, I’ve already laid hands on you,” and then I tried to encourage her to believe. You see, she had a part to play in receiving her healing.

Then she said to me, “This is the very first time I’ve ever been in one of these kinds of meetings. I’m Presbyterian, and I’ve never been to a meeting like this. But I’ll tell you why I came.

“I have arthritis,” she explained. “That’s the reason I couldn’t get up out of my seat. That’s why my body is so stiff.”

Google commons

She continued: “But I saw one of my neighbors walking down the street this afternoon. She was just about as bad off with arthritis as I am maybe worse. I knew she couldn’t walk, yet there she was walking down the street perfectly, with nobody helping her!

“I sent my husband to go get her so I could talk to her. I thought she’d gotten hold of some new medicine somewhere or found some doctor who was an expert with arthritis. “I asked her about it, and she said, ‘No, I was just down there at the grand ballroom of the Carlton Hotel last night. And a minister laid his hands on me, and the Lord healed me instantly. I fell on the floor, and when I got up, the arthritis was gone.’

“When she told me that,” this woman continued, “I said to my husband, ‘Well, you just get me down there; we’ll have that minister lay hands on me too.’ “That’s why I came tonight. I came here to try you out to see what you could do.”

I said, “Well, you found out what I could do, didn’t you?” “Yes,” she said, “nothing.” You see, so many times that’s the case. Folks just want to see what the minister can do instead of believing God for themselves and believing in His power.

Google commons

Then this woman said to me: “In this meeting, I heard you say that the Lord appeared to you.”

“Well,” I said, “He did appear to me. I’d be lying if I said He didn’t.”

She said, “I heard you say that He laid the finger of His right hand in the palm of each one of your hands.”

I said, “He sure did. A fellow would go to hell for lying just as quick as he would for stealing. And I’d be lying if I said Jesus didn’t lay the finger of His right hand in the palm of each one of my hands.”

She continued: “I heard you say that Jesus told you to tell us that if we’d believe that and receive it, then that same anointing would flow from your hands into our bodies and drive out the sickness and disease.”

I answered, “I said that, all right. Jesus told me to say it. If I said He didn’t, I’d be lying about it.”

“Well,” she said, “I’ll tell you, I’m ready to believe it. Just put your hand on me.”

Google commons

I could see that she was ready. I could see her earnestness, so I just reached out toward her, and, really, I barely touched her. I barely brushed her forehead with my hand, and I was conscious of the anointing just rushing into her. You see, she pulled it out of me, and it just rushed into her.

Then she fell backward onto the floor and lay there for a little bit. When she made an effort to get up, her husband and another lady nearby helped her. When she got up, her husband tried to hand her that cane. She pulled away from it and said, “Can’t you see I don’t need that?” Her body was just as limber and free as mine was — all the arthritis had disappeared! Every bit of it was gone, glory to God! Well now, what activated that power or anointing? Faith did. Faith activates the power!

Now I was anointed with that healing power the first time I laid hands on the woman. In fact, although I didn’t tell her, the anointing on me was stronger when I laid hands on her the first time than it was the second time when she finally received.

Well, why didn’t that anointing heal her the first time? Because she came to the meeting to see what I could do — to try me out. But when she put her faith in God and His power, and she acted upon her faith, she received her healing. Why? Because faith activates the power!

Remember Jesus said to the woman with the issue of blood, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.” Her faith in God and His power is what activated the anointing on her behalf to drive out her disease and heal her.

- Kenneth E Hagin ( The Healing Anointing)

Google commons

Apostolic Church History

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

I'd Like To Try This Thing

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

JUST BELIEVE

At a meeting I was holding, the Lord was working and many were being healed. A man saw what was taking place and remarked, “I’d like to try this thing.” He came up for prayer and told me that his body was broken in two places. I laid my hands on him in the name of the Lord, and said to him, “Now, you believe God.”

Google commons

The next night he was at meeting and he got up like a lion. He said, “I want to tell you people that this man here is deceiving you. He laid his hands on me last night for rupture in two places, but I’m not a bit better.” I stopped him and said, “You are healed, your trouble is that you won’t believe it.”

He was at meeting the next night and when there was opportunity for testimony this man arose. He said, “I’m a mason by trade. Today I was working with a labourer and he had to put a big stone in place. I helped him and did not feel any pain. I said to myself, `How have I done it?’ I went away to a place where I could strip, and found that I was healed.”

I told the people, “Last night this man was against the Word of God, but now he believes it. It is true that these signs shall follow them that believe, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. And all through the power that is in the name of Christ.” It is the Spirit who has come to reveal the Word of God, and to make it spirit and life to us.

- Smith Wigglesworth ( Ever Increase Faith )

Google commons

Apostolic Church History

Friday, July 24, 2026

They Had God

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Peter and John were helpless, were illiterate, they had no college education. They had been with Jesus. To them had come a wonderful revelation of the power of the name of Jesus. They had handed out the bread and fish after Jesus had multiplied them. They had sat at the table with Him and John had often gazed into His face.

Google commons

Peter had often to be rebuked, but Jesus manifested His love to Peter through it all. Yea, He loved Peter, the wayward one. O, He’s a wonderful lover! I have been wayward, I have been stubborn, I had an unmanageable temper at one time, but how patient He has been. I am here to tell you that there is power in Jesus and in His wondrous name to transform anyone, to heal anyone.

If you will see Him as God’s Lamb, as God’s beloved Son who had laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, if only you will see that Jesus paid the whole price for our redemption that we might be free, you can enter into your purchased inheritance of salvation, of life and of power.

Poor Peter, and poor John!

They had no money!

No education!

But they had faith, they had the power of the Holy Ghost, they had God.

You can have God even though you have nothing else.

Even though you have lost your character you can have God.

Even though you have lost your reputation you can have God.

I have seen the worst men saved by the power of God.

- Smith Wigglesworth ( Ever Increase Faith )

Roberts Liardon

Google commons

Apostolic Church History Podcast

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

John Wesley's Devine Healing

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

This is from John Wesley's Journal.

Google creative commons

DIVINE HEALING

John Wesley also recorded that he was miraculously healed on more than one occasion. In one such instance, he was so sick he couldn’t even raise his head.

He wrote:

Friday, 8.—I found myself much out of order. However, I made shift to preach in the evening; but on Saturday my bodily strength quite failed so that for several hours I could scarcely lift up my head. Sunday, 10. I was obliged to lie down most part of the day, being easy only in that posture. Yet in the evening my weakness was suspended while I was calling sinners to repentance. But at our love-feast which followed, beside the pain in my back and head and the fever which still continued upon me, just as I began to pray I was seized with such a cough that I could hardly speak. At the same time came strongly into my mind, “These signs shall follow them that believe” [Mark 16:17]. I called on Jesus aloud to “increase my faith” and to “confirm the word of his grace.” While I was speaking my pain vanished away; the fever left me; my bodily strength returned; and for many weeks I felt neither weakness nor pain. “Unto thee, O Lord, do I give thanks.”

Google creative commons

Of another occasion, he wrote,

When Mr. Shepherd and I left Smeton, my horse was so exceedingly lame that I was afraid I must have lain by too. We could not discern what it was that was amiss; and yet he would scarcely set his foot to the ground. By riding thus seven miles, I was thoroughly tired, and my headache more than it had done for some months. (What I here aver is the naked fact: let every man account for it as he sees good.) I then thought, “Cannot God heal either man or beast, by any means, or without any?” Immediately my weariness and headache ceased, and my horse’s lameness in the same instant. Nor did he halt any more either that day or the next.

The Wesley brother sometimes covered sixty miles a day in order to get to a prearranged destination on time. They traveled tirelessly, meeting the people wherever they were, learning about their needs and how best they could help them spiritually, mentally, and physically.

Roberts Liardon

God’s Generals ( The Revivalists )

Google creative commons

Friday, April 4, 2025

The Gift Of Faith

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

THIS IS HOW THE GIFT OF FAITH IS MANIFESTED.

You see an object and you know that your own faith is nothing in the case. The other day I was in San Francisco. I sat on a car and saw a boy in great agony on the street. I said, "Let me get out." I rushed to where the boy was. He was in agony through cramping of the stomach. I put my hands on his stomach and prayed in the name of Jesus. The boy jumped, and stared at me with astonishment. He found himself instantly free.

The gift of faith dared in the face of everything. It is as we are in the Spirit that the Spirit of God will operate this gift anywhere and at any time. When the Spirit of God is operating this gift within a man, He causes him to know what God is going to do. When the man with the withered hand was in the synagogue, Jesus got all the people to look to see what would happen.

The gift of faith always knows the results. He said to the man, "Stretch forth thine hand." His word had creative force. He was not living on the line of speculation. He spoke and something happened. He spake at the beginning and the world came into being. He speaks today and these things have to come to pass. He is the Son of God and came to bring us into sonship. He was the first fruit of the resurrection and He calls us to be first fruits, to be the same kind of fruit like to Himself.

There is an important point here. You cannot have the gifts by mere human desire. The Spirit of God distributes them severally as He will. God cannot trust some with the gift, but some who have a lowly, broken, contrite heart He can trust.

One day I was in a meeting where there were a lot of doctors and eminent men, and many ministers. It was at a convention, and the power of God fell on the meeting. One

humble little girl that waited at the table opened her being to the Lord and was immediately filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in tongues. All these big men stretched their

necks and looked up to see what was happening and were saying, "Who is it?" Then they learned it was "the servant!" Nobody received but "the servant!"

These things are hidden and kept back from the wise and prudent, but the little children, the lowly ones, are the ones that receive. We cannot have faith if we have honor one of another. A man who is going on with God won't accept honor from his fellow beings. God honors the man of a broken, contrite spirit.

HOW SHALL I GET THERE? So many people want to do great things, and to be seen doing them, but the one that God will use is the one that is willing to be hidden. My Lord Jesus never said He could do things, but He did them. When the funeral procession was coming up from Nain with the widow's son carried upon the bier, He made them lay it down. He spoke the word, "Arise!" and gave the son back to the widow. He had compassion for her. And you and I will never do anything except on the line of compassion. We shall never be able to remove the cancer until we are immersed so deeply into the power of the Holy Ghost that the compassion of Christ is moving through us.

~ Smith Wigglesworth ( Ever Increasing Faith )

William James Roop

Friday, March 14, 2025

Intercessory Prayer

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article from a book call God's Generals (Healing Evangelist).

Traveling in China in 1934 was fraught with danger. Lester’s life was almost lost on more than one occasion. One time, after drinking water that had not been boiled long enough, he became deathly ill with dysentery and fever. As his conditioned worsened, he began to hemorrhage from his intestines, racked with pain and an ever-rising fever. Lester wasn’t a complainer, though, so Howard Carter had no idea how ill he really was.

The next morning, when the caravan began to move, with Lester’s mule last in line, the hours of diarrhea and lack of food made Lester faint, and he fell off of his mule. Crawling to a bush, he fastened the mule’s rope and then passed into unconsciousness. No one in his party was aware of what had happened. He was left on the road in China to die.

Hours later, Lester woke up alone but was astonished to discover that he was completely well! His fever was gone; his strength was returning. God had healed him as he had slept. Lester remained in that spot until someone from his caravan returned and found him. He then continued on in the journey, rejoicing in God’s faithfulness.

A few years later, while preaching in Mobile, Alabama, Lester discovered what had really happened in the heavenlies that day. The pastor of the church in Mobile, who was also a longtime friend, and his wife shared a strange story. They had been warned by the Holy Spirit one evening that Lester was dying somewhere on the other side of the world. They had fallen on their knees, crying out to the Lord, “Save him. Save him. Don’t let him die.”Later that evening, when Lester checked his diary, he discovered that their prayers on his behalf had been offered at the exact time he had been struggling for his life. He shared this with his friends, and God’s faithfulness once again brought them to their knees in thanksgiving!

- God’s Generals' ( Healing Evangelist ).

Saturday, April 6, 2024

A Man Of Reckless Faith

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article by an unknown author about the evangelist Jack Coe.

"THE MAN OF RECKLESS FAITH”

I went before the judge and he asked me if I was guilty of disturbing the peace. I replied, "Whose peace?"

Well,' he replied, '..you folks clap your hands and shout, and other such things as that' 'Judge, is it not true that people at the ball game make a lot of noise, and do I not hear them yell, shout, and clap their hands also?'

"He answered, "Well, their hand clapping doesn't seem to

bother anyone, but when you folks do it, people just can't sleep.

"I asked, Judge, do you want to know what the difference is? He

answered, Yes, i'd like to know:

The difference is that the Holy Ghost

is in our shout, and it bothers the

neighbors, keeping them awake..and it

causes the beer joints to close their

doors."

Jack Coe was a large, domineering man with a tactless sense of humor in the healing tent. And he was a loving, compassionate father figure to the orphans in his children's home. As one of the main leaders in the Voice of Healing revival, Coe was either greatly loved, or greatly despised. He was raised without a father, so he learned as an adult to make God his Father.

As a result, he had no problem putting men- no matter how high their denominational title-in their place, that is, if they tried to override the voice of God. The revivalists' dynamic personality left little room for a lukewarm response!

Coe was considered a radical evangelist because he, along with others, was doing much to combat racial prejudice in the Church. At a time when society was calling for segregation, Coe strongly encouraged all races and cultures of the community to participate in his meetings.

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Friday, December 22, 2023

The Real Great Commission

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is the real great commission.

Jesus made a very bold statement that many Christians today do not believe. But there’s truly no other way around it… and it has to do with an essential piece of salvation. It has everything to do with salvation. It has to do with faith, baptism, and obedience.

Google commons

Look carefully at the structure of this verse… this is the Great Commission as recorded by the disciple Mark. This is what Jesus said…

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16

I hope you see the imperative in Jesus’ words… he tied salvation inseparably to both belief and baptism. He implies that if a person does not believe, nothing else will save him. But if he does believe, he will be baptized to be saved.

Some believe that “belief” in Jesus causes a person to be saved (John 3:16). Some even go so far as to say that belief combined with confessing with your mouth saves you (Romans 10:10). Both of those statements are important parts of salvation, but they are not all of salvation. And an honest examination of scripture proves this out.

Google commons

Mark 16:16 is just as much part of the salvation package as the other verses referenced.

So, either these verses are in contradiction to one another, or they are in perfect harmony.

Notice that in Acts 2 when the first gospel message was preached by Peter, the gathered crowd asked with directness in response to that preaching, “men and brothers, what shall we do?” in verse 37.

Peter’s response was emphatic. He didn’t even reference belief or confession, because it was obvious that they believed what he just preached and it was implied. If that were all that were necessary, surely he would have just congratulated them for their salvation. But he didn’t, did he?

What did he do? He gave them further instruction in the next verse and said, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Google commons

There’s just no biblical way around this. We either take all of scripture together, or we take none of it. We cannot choose the scriptures that agree with our philosophies and neglect the ones that don’t. True belief is accomplished by obedience, or that faith is dead (James 2:26).

An honest view of this encounter would never arrive at telling someone that belief alone would save them. Or that raising one’s hand in a church service, or reciting “the sinner’s prayer”, or merely inviting Jesus into one’s heart would save them.

Peter was very clear in his response to their question…

Repent.

Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Google commons

Peter would only say this if it were true, and it was true. Not only did Jesus say it in Mark 16:16, but he also said it to Nicodemus in John 3:5. Being born of water (this is undeniably speaking of water baptism) and born of Spirit (also undeniably speaking of Spirit baptism) were inseparably connected to salvation or, as Jesus put it “seeing/entering the kingdom of God”. Jesus emphatically stated that without being born again of water and Spirit, a person “cannot” enter heaven, let alone see it.

Why? Why didn’t Jesus just say “believe and confess”? Because belief alone is not enough. James put it like this, “You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that—and tremble with fear. But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless?” (James 2:19-20)

One might ask, “I thought we are saved by grace, through faith?”

Excellent, and true! Notice those words, “by” and “through”. “By” implies that salvation is predicated on, and offered only by and because of, the existence of the grace of God. In other words, there is no salvation outside of God’s extended grace.

Google commons

And then “through” declares that salvation is obtained within an active, obedient expression of our belief in Him, not merely a passive belief. The actual Greek definition is, “a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act”. Paul said it is “through faith”, not “by faith”. “Through” denotes a channel, or process, or activity. What is that process or activity? It’s what Jesus previously demanded. It’s what Peter preached. It’s what Paul experienced. It’s what new disciples in the book of Acts obeyed.

In Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19 they believed. They were baptized in the name of the Lord. They were filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Every time.

Must we believe? Yes, it’s essential.

Must we repent? Yes, it’s essential.

Must we confess Jesus with our mouth? Yes, it’s essential.

Must we be baptized under water in the name of Jesus? Yes, it’s essential.

Must we receive the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in other tongues? Yes, it’s essential.

Google commons

It’s also essential that we regularly repent and confess our sins (1 John 1:9), live holy unto the Lord as He transforms us (Hebrews 12:14, Roman’s 12:1-2), and continue in the faith (John 9:62).

Salvation is a free gift offered by grace, through faith.

It’s easily obtained, but comes with an exchange of our life for His.

There’s no other way… and that’s okay, because this way is available to all without reserve.

It begins by believing, but doesn’t end there.

Google commons

One might ask, “but isn’t salvation ‘not of works’?” Yes! Notice this… forgiveness is not a work of ours, it’s a work of God. Spirit infilling is not a work of ours, it’s a work of His. We’re not working to obtain salvation when we believe.. or when we confess… or when we repent… or when we’re baptized… or when we’re filled with the Holy Spirit. All the work is His! We are merely surrendering through obedience, and the work of salvation is enacted by Him alone, by His grace!

When you honestly ask the question, “what must I do?” and then honestly obey the scriptural answer through faith-filled action, you will indeed be saved.

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Acres of Diamonds

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

From the book, "Acres of diamonds."

Google commons

In the year 1843, a man was born who was to have a profound effect upon millions of people. His name was Russell Herman Conwell. He became a lawyer, then a newspaper editor, and finally a minister. It was during his church career that an incident occurred that was to change his life and the lives of countless others.

One day a group of young people came to Dr. Conwell at his church and asked him if he’d be willing to instruct them in college courses; they all wanted a college education but lacked the money to pay for it. He told them to let him think about it and come back in a few days.

After they left, an idea began to form in Dr. Conwell’s mind. He asked himself, "Why couldn’t there be a college for poor but deserving young people?" And before very long the idea consumed him. Why not, indeed. It was a project worthy of 100% dedication, complete commitment.

And almost single-handedly, Dr. Conwell raised several million dollars, with which he founded Temple University, today one of the country’s leading schools.

Google commons

He raised the money by giving more than 6000 lectures all over the country, and in each one of them he told a story which he called "Acres of Diamonds." It was true story which had affected him very deeply and had the same effect on his audiences. The money he needed to build the college came pouring in.

The story was of an African farmer who heard tales of other farmers who had made millions discovering diamond mines. These tales so excited the farmer that he could hardly wait to sell his farm and go prospecting for diamonds himself. So he sold the farm and spent the rest of his life wandering the African continent searching unsuccessfully for the gleaming gems which brought such high prices in the markets of the world. Finally, the story goes, worn out and in a fit of despondency he threw himself into a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch – or farm in this case – the man who had bought his farm happened to be crossing the small stream on the property when suddenly there was a bright flash of blue and red light from the stream bottom. He bent down, picked up the stone – it was a good-sized stone – and, admiring it, later he put it on his fireplace mantle as an interesting curiosity.

Google commons

Several weeks later a visitor picked up the stone, looked closely at it, hefted it in his hand, and nearly fainted. He asked the farmer if he knew what he’d found. When the farmer said no, that he thought it was a piece of crystal, the visitor told him he had found one of the largest diamonds ever discovered.

Well, the farmer had trouble believing that. He told the man that his creek was full of such stones, not as large perhaps as the one on the mantle but, well, they were sprinkled generously throughout the creek bottom.

Needless to say, the farm that the first farmer had sold so that he might find a diamond mine turned out to be the most productive diamond mine on the entire African continent.

The first farmer had owned, free and clear, acres of diamonds, but had sold them for practically nothing in order to look for them elsewhere.

Google commons

Well, the moral is clear. If the first farmer had only taken the time to study and prepare himself to learn what diamonds looked like in their rough state and, since he already owned a piece of the African continent, to thoroughly explore the property he had before looking elsewhere all of his wildest dreams would have come true.

Now the thing about this story that so profoundly affected Dr. Conwell and subsequently millions of others, was the idea that each of us is at this moment standing in the middle of his or her own acres of diamonds.

If we only had the wisdom and patience to intelligently and effectively explore the work in which we are now engaged, to explore ourselves, we’d usually find the riches we seek, whether they be financial or intangible or both.

Before we go running off to what we think are greener pastures, let’s make sure that our own is not just as green or perhaps even greener. It’s been said that if the other guy’s pasture appears to be greener than ours, it’s quite possible that it’s getting better care. Besides, while we’re looking at other pastures, other people are looking at ours.

The book "Acres of Diamonds" can be read online PDF

Roop-Crappell Ministries