Love Sets You Free

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

This is two separate testimonies that was recorded and printed by the Azusa Street Mission, In Los Angeles, California, in their newsletter in November of1906.

The First One

A sister who had been healed and baptized with the Holy Ghost related the following vision, "Two days ago the power of God came over me and He said. 'whatsoever ye asked in my name believing, ye shall receive.' I said 'give wisdom to speak to the people,' immediately I was in a great hall with tables spread all about, And the Lord was the waiter, and I saw His beautiful, smiling face.

He spoke to me and said, 'I have called my friends and they did not come, therefore go out and ask everyone you find to come to the wedding.' as I looked around to see something beautiful, The scene changed and I was in a hospital and saw poor creatures dying, looking like skeletons. I thought my call was to the hospital and telephone to know when it was open for visitors, but the Lord revealed to me that it meant all those who are sick in their souls."

The Second One

"He took me into his banqueting house, And the banner over me was love." A brother says the Lord gave him a vision of the banqueting house. He passed under the great arches. Each one had a name upon it. The first was love, then there was joy, peace, And among the others he saw, "Independence." He asked what that meant. The answer was, "Is it not wonderful to be free?" Dear saints, this is one of the sweetest arches in the banqueting house. This bondage to love sets me perfectly free.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

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A Pillow Full Of Feathers

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

This is a story I received from Sister Dana Klein. It is an old story and the author is unknown.

A Pillow Full of Feathers: I have had preachers share this as their own when I shared in pulpits. It is not my work either, I found it here and read it around thirty years ago but here is the article I recently found:


In a small town somewhere in Eastern Europe lived a nice man with a nasty problem: he talked too much about other people. He could not help himself. Whenever he heard a story about somebody he knew, and sometimes about somebody he did not know, he just had to tell it to his friends. Since he was in business, he heard quite a lot of rumors and stories. He loved the attention he got, and was delighted when they laughed because of the way he told his “anecdotes,” which he sometimes embellished with little details he invented to make them funnier and juicier. Other than that, he was really a pleasant, goodhearted man.

He kind of knew it was wrong, but . . . it was too tempting, and in any case, most of what he told had really happened, didn’t it? Many of his stories were just innocent and entertaining, weren’t they?

One day he found out something really weird (but true) about another businessman in town. Of course he felt compelled to share what he knew with his colleagues, who told it to their friends, who told it to people they knew, who told it to their wives, who spoke with their friends and their neighbors. It went around town, till the unhappy businessman who was the main character in the story heard it. He ran to the rabbi of the town, and wailed and complained that he was ruined! Nobody would like to deal with him after this. His good name and his reputation were gone with the wind.

Now this rabbi knew his customers, so to speak, and he decided to summon the man who loved to tell stories. If he was not the one who started them, he might at least know who did.

When the nice man with the nasty problem heard from the rabbi how devastated his colleague was, he felt truly sorry. He honestly had not considered it such a big deal to tell this story, because it was true; the rabbi could check it out if he wanted. The rabbi sighed.

“True, not true, that really makes no difference! You just cannot tell stories about people. This is all lashon hara, slander, and it’s like murder—you kill a person’s reputation.” He said a lot more, and the man who started the rumor now felt really bad and sorry. “What can I do to make it undone?” he sobbed. “I will do anything you say!”

The rabbi looked at him. “Do you have any feather pillows in your house?” “Rabbi, I am not poor; I have a whole bunch of them. But what do you want me to do, sell them?”

“No, just bring me one.”

The man was mystified, but he returned a bit later to the rabbi’s study with a nice fluffy pillow under his arm. The rabbi opened the window and handed him a knife. “Cut it open!”

“But Rabbi, here in your study? It will make a mess!”

“Do as I say!”

And the man cut the pillow. A cloud of feathers came out. They landed on the chairs and on the bookcase, on the clock, on the cat which jumped after them. They floated over the table and into the teacups, on the rabbi and on the man with the knife, and a lot of them flew out of the window in a big swirling, whirling trail.

The rabbi waited ten minutes. Then he ordered the man: “Now bring me back all the feathers, and stuff them back in your pillow. All of them, mind you. Not one may be missing!”

The man stared at the rabbi in disbelief. “That is impossible, Rabbi. The ones here is the room I might get, most of them, but the ones that flew out of the window are gone. Rabbi, I can’t do that, you know it!”

“Yes,” said the rabbi and nodded gravely, “that is how it is: once a rumor, a gossipy story, a ‘secret,’ leaves your mouth, you do not know where it ends up. It flies on the wings of the wind, and you can never get it back!”

He ordered the man to deeply apologize to the person about whom he had spread the rumor; that is difficult and painful, but it was the least he could do. He ordered him to apologize to the people to whom he had told the story, making them accomplices in the nasty lashon hara game, and he ordered him to diligently study the laws concerning lashon hara every day for a year, and then come back to him.

That is what the man did. And not only did he study about lashon hara, he talked about the importance of guarding your tongue to all his friends and colleagues. And in the end he became a nice man who overcame a nasty problem.

By Shoshannah Brombacher

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

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Pentecost In Denver

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

This was a testimony of Thomas Hezmalhalch, and sent to William Seymour, in Los Angeles, California, at the Azusa Street Mission. He published this in his newsletter and November of 1906.

What I received on that memorial Sunday night in Los Angeles has never left me for one moment and last night in particular at the meeting, did the Holy Ghost magnify the simple Gospel of our Lord and demonstration and power, until about twenty-five crowded the altar and got definite experiences of justification, sanctification, baptism with the Holy Ghost, in healing. 

One dear old man, who because of his back, could not straighten up nor stoop down without severe pain, was instantly healed, got up and showed the people how the dear Lord had healed him. He stood as straight as a young man, stooped down, And touch the floor with his hands without a bit of pain. Then he knelt down and said, "I want the baptism with the Holy Ghost," And Glory to God, he got it, and there was great joy.

Dear Brother Seymour, God surely sent me here. These dear, hungry people, when they learned I came from the meeting at Los Angeles, received me with open arms. They gave me the evening, And during the meeting, They embraced me in our joy in the Lord knew no bounds. One dear brother from Los Angeles picked me up and held me as if I were a child. This is but the beginning of a work here such as we knew in Los Angeles. This people have been praying that God would send someone to teach them and give them light and wisdom,  And they believe God has answered their prayers, hence their great joy. I feel the need of your prayers. I never saw in all my travels a people so hungry for the truth.

Dear brother G. F. Fink, The brother in charge, was coming to Los Angeles to Azusa Street to learn and get a better understanding of the baptism with the Holy Ghost. While I was talking to the people last night, He arose and embraced me crying, I love you, I love you, my brother. Surely God has sent you to us; And the people wept for joy, and shouted praises unto God. These people here were sent on fire by the Holy Ghost through Brother Johnson and the two sisters who passed through here, And it is marvelous how the Holy Ghost has led them.  You little know how the people have been praying for you and the meetings in Los Angeles in the midst of their own struggles. Give my love in Jesus to all the saints.

Signed, Thomas Hezmalhalch

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

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This Same Jesus (My version)

 

This Same Jesus!

Prayer and salutation.  Lord Jesus, I humble myself in prayer to you this evening. I ask that my humble message today is your words. I ask that your message is kindly received in the hearts of the listeners in this church. I want to express my gratefulness to you Lord, for the opportunity that you have given me to preach your glorious words. Let a blessing flow to the hearers this evening, so that they can be blessed, and be a blessing to others. I pray for the continued blessing of all of your saints in the beautiful nation of Pakistan, and the entire region. I pray that your grace will flow throughout the land, and that the hearts of Pakistan will be opened to the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the beautiful salvation that has been offered to us. Even though we are all sinners, you have kindly provided a way out of our sinful nature.  Give us the strength and courage to share this wonderful Gospel throughout the nation of Pakistan, and to all the earth!  We love you and give you praise and honor, amen.

In Revelation 3:11. The verse says, “I come soon. hold on to what you have, that no one will take your crown.” Also, in Revelation 22:12, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.  Jesus said that He is coming soon! Jesus is coming soon! These Two times in the book of Revelation, Jesus said that He is coming soon!  Isn’t that exciting!  He said that He is coming for you and me! If we are to look at the End Times, we have to look at the book of Mathew, chapter 24, for this is the Full Mention of this subject.  Jesus only tells His disciple about it because they asked Him.  The Bible says, you have not, because you asked not.  Brothers and sisters, Ask! Ask Him! Ask Him for everything!

Like I just said, the Full Mention of the End of Times is in Chapter 24, of the Book of Matthew. Entire books have been written on just this one chapter of the Bible. But I will just give you a fast message on it. But for us Christians, its just a warning, because we will be taken away before it is all finished.

Matthew 24:1-2. The Temple destroyed. Here Jesus mentions the destruction of the Temple to build up the curiosity of the Apostles. Some of the Apostles were bragging to Jesus about the splendor of the Temple, and how beautiful it was to them.  Being country boys from Galilee, I’m sure it was indeed very beautiful.  Jesus informed them that the Temple would soon be destroyed!  It worked; this created a great curiosity in the Apostles!

24:3-14. The Signs of the End of the Age. verse 3 the Apostles will ask for more information about the End of Times. It says: “And as Jesus was sitting on the Mt. of Olives, his disciples came to him privately, saying, tell us, when these things will be? and what is the sign of your coming and the end of the world?”  The Apostles were here asking Jesus for a sign.  

They asked for a sign.  Jesus here gives them several signs! Here He gives the first one. Verse 4 says, Jesus answered and said to them, “Beware, let no man deceive you.

            Why? Well, verse 5 tells us. “For many will come in my name and will say that ‘I am the Christ.’ And many they will deceive.”  Currently there are just a few claiming to be Christ, there is one in Siberia, he has about 10,000 followers, one in Japan, one in Brazil, and from what I hear, one in Israel itself.  From the warnings of Jesus, there are more coming in the near future! And they will gather much more followers!

Verse 6 says, and you will hear of wars and rumor of wars. Is this not the case today? Do we not hear of rumors of wars around the world! The Chinese invasion of Taiwan?  The Russians threatening of the Ukrainians? The Chinese and the Indians? And of course, the never ending Indian and Pakistani conflicts?  In the Aramaic it says, revolutions and rumors of wars. A revolution is an internal political war. How many political revolutions does the human race suffer these last decades? Even we Americans are having political problems!  But what did Jesus have to say about it? “See that you are not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

Verse 9 say, “Then will they deliver you up to be afflicted, and will kill you: and you will be hated of all nations for my names sake.” This is going on right as I speak! Christians around the world are being persecuted for the name of Jesus.  This is beginning to go on even in America now!

The olive tree is a miracle tree that produces a miracle fruit.  I’m not saying it’s a Godly miracle, but it produces the olive. You can use eat an olive, many people around the world cook with them, especially as a seasoning.  People put them on salads.  Many Americans eat them.  I don’t, I don’t like them at all! But I can dip my bread into it, it will make your bread soft and more enjoyable to eat. But many people eat them. I have heard that olive oil is good with raw fish. I don’t know, I like my food cooked. It is very good sprinkled on cheese. The olive is considered one of the best skin moisturizers. Throughout the Bible days, many of the people would rub the olive oil in the skin to protect it from the sun. Men and women would put it in their hair to make it shiny, and easy for brushing. Men can use it for shaving.

But, in order to get olive oil out of the olive, you must press on it very hard.  You have to push the oil out of it. It will not come out on its own.  You have to force it out before you can use it! Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. In these last days, God needs His Spirit filled people to be out and about in this world. God has to push on us a little to get us out and active and witnessing to others about Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross.  He needs to press us a little to get us out of our comfort zone, to grow in the Spirit, to be bold, so that we can proclaim the good news of the Gospel.

            I am speaking to you today, because God is pressing upon me, and pushing me. I was happy being saved by Grace, and just being in church. But God pushed me to Bible school. Then God pressed on me even more, and had me teaching Bible school. Now, God is pressing me more, by having me speaking to my wonderful brothers in Pakistan. How is the Lord pressing you? Because you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God will be pressing His oil out of you as well!  Be sensitive to the Spirit, be open to His calling. Be active in witnessing to others around you. God wants all Pakistanis to go to heaven to be with Him for eternity, and He will use you to get that done!

Verse 12 says, “And because the growth of sin, the love of many will go cold.” We live in a sinful world today, this we can all agree about. In different parts of the world the sins may change. The sins of America may be different then the sins of Pakistan, but sin is sin! Sin is growing all across the world!  Every time I read the news, it’s all about some sinful behavior! But let it not affect us brethren. Continue to love your fellow man. Even though sinful people surround us, let us continue to share the love of Jesus with the people around us. Let us to continue to share the salvation of our Lord with others, so that their souls can be saved.  We love others when we reach out to them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The love of Christ is true love for our neighbors and countrymen!

            24:15-28 The Abomination of Desolation. The Apostles asked for a sign, here Jesus gives them another one. The Jews will build their third Temple in Jerusalem.  When they do, here is another sign, the anti-Christ will sit in the Temple and declare himself as God! At this stage of the Last Days, I believe that God has called His Church to heaven. These signs will be for the people left behind. Our God has always been a God of second chances!  We see that throughout the Bible. Even Jesus coming to die on the cross was a second chance for all of humanity. God is even supplying signs for all those people left behind to see what is coming and providing time for repentance of their sins.  We serve a wonderful God!

            24:29-31 The coming of the Son of Man. Jesus Christ repeatedly referred to Himself as the “Son of Man.” Jesus did not invent this title, He got it from somewhere. The Son of Man can be found in a vision that the prophet Daniel had in Daniel 7:9-14. It’s a vision where God approves of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, and because of His work of salvation on the cross, He is given dominion over the earth.  In these verses, Jesus returns with His saints, to judge the earth.  We Christians today, will judge the earth with Jesus Christ! We can also read more about this in Revelations chapter 19.

            Revelation 19:7. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him Glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. Then the angel said to me, write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb! And he added, these are the true and great words of God.” What a blessing it will be for us to be at the great marriage supper of the Lamb!  Saints from the past and from around the world will all be there. I will enjoy being there with you, my Pakistani brothers.

            Afterwards, we will all judge the earth with Jesus Christ. Verse 14 says, “The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” This world may persecute us, torment us, and fight against our Gospel of hope. But, in the end we will follow our Lord back to this earth and judge the sinners living here. Our God is a God of second chances, but soon the time will be up, and the final judgement will be on hand.  I thank my God that I will help in the judgement, and not be the one judged!

            There is an old saying in the theater business, “when the author enters the stage, the play is over.”  When Jesus Christ enters the world stage, man’s play will be over. Because Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith.

Now, Jesus doubles back in time to speak about Israel, to give us a time frame.

            24:32-35 The lesson of the fig tree. The Apostles wanted a sign, here is another sign. Anytime a fig tree is mentioned in Scripture, it is always symbolic of Israel. Israel won its independence in 1948.  That is when the fig tree started to bud out. When the fig tree produces figs, meaning, Israel will have a Christian revival, and come to Jesus, that is when Jesus will return! Today, there is a strong Christian movement going on in Israel as I speak. There are many Christian movements in Israel now. One move that I will just briefly mention is called “One for Israel.”  It is an exciting movement of Messianic Jews, and they are bringing Arabs and Jews together in Israel in the belief and worship of Jesus Christ, not only as the Jewish Messiah, but as the Messiah of the world! When these movements ripen, the figs will be on the fig tree!

            36-51 No one knows the Day or Hour. The Apostles wanted a sign, here is another sign. This is very important. I have personally heard several preachers give a date when Jesus will return.  Listen very carefully, we do not know when! I personally believe that the rapture will happen between verses 14 and 15. But, again, let me repeat this, no one knows of the day or the hour. We can see the signs that it is close, which it is, but we do not know when.  But when He comes, He will come with a shout!

RAPTURE: That brings us to the rapture. Let’s look at our coming rapture!

            1 Thess. 4:16-17. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout…” are my brothers in Pakistan listening for the shout! “…with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.: then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so, will we ever be with the Lord.”  Why is the Apostle Paul telling us this? The next verse lets us know. He says, “Comfort one another with these words.”  Brothers and sisters, what a glorious hope we have in our Savior! All of the saints of the past, our loved ones whom have passed away and us still alive will all join the Lord, and we will all be together again in Glory!

            1 Cor 15:52. About 7 years later the Apostle Paul would mention the rapture again. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…”  That is fast!  Our rapture will happen very fast! “…at the last trump: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.”

I still remember of an event years ago. I was sitting in a traffic jam here in America.  There are probably no traffic jams in Pakistan. But in America, we have them. I was sitting there stopped on the road. When everything went completely white! And almost immediately I heard a load bang.  After a few minutes, I could see again. I looked over out the car window, and about 15 meters was a round smoldering circle in the grass where the lightning struck! The Lord protected me that day. But that is how fast the rapture will happen! Two will be working in the fields, one will be taken, one left behind. Two will be making bread, one will be taken, one left behind! It will happen as fast as lightning!

Once we will be raptured up to heaven, and after the marriage supper of the Lamb, we will be made ready to judge the earth with Christ. In the Book of Revelation 19:7-8 it says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb is come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people. Psalms 132:9 “May your priests be clothed with your righteousness, may your faithful people sing for joy.” Christians today are the priest of God. Do you have your spiritual fine linen on!    

            Acts 1:9-11. “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.”

This Same Jesus!

            This same Jesus that was taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven!

            This same Jesus is coming back again to sit in the Kingdom of His Father!

            This same Jesus that wore the crown of thorns and was lifted up between Heaven and earth!

            This same Jesus that hung over there on Calvary, and now sits on the right hand of God!

            This same Jesus that has mercy on the poor!

            This same Jesus that heals the broken-hearted!

            This same Jesus that gives comfort to the fatherless!

            This same Jesus that rose again on the third day!

            This same Jesus that sacrificed Himself to make our salvation possible!

This same Jesus, This same Jesus, This same Jesus!

Honor The Holy Ghost

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

This is a message written by Anna Hall, an American missionary to Israel, and sent to the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles, California, and published in their newsletter, in 1906.

Let me warn you, dear ones, has a mother in Israel, Don't try to prune one another, Jesus says: "I am the vine and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that there's not fruit, He purgeth it." Let Him do the pruning and purging. If you see a brother or sister doing anything you do not approve of, instead of blazing it abroad, get down on your knees and say: "My Father, I honor you to bring them out of this fault."

Multitudes and great bodies of Christians have gone to the wall for that very same thing. They tried to prune one another, try to make others believe just as they believe and think just as they thought. If this movement stands for anything, It stands for unity of mind.

It was raised up to answer the prayer of Jesus: "That they might be one, as thou Father art in me and I in thee." What is the matter with the world today? Here is a little selfish sect and they're a denomination by itself. They do not love one another as God would have them.

 

Let us honor every bit of God there is in one another. Let us honor the Holy Ghost to teach men to get them out of their error. Dear ones, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Watch that something does not come in to grieve the Holy Spirit. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

Signed, Mrs. Anna Hall. American missionary to Israel.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

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Spanish Receive The Pentecost

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

This is a testimony by a Spanish speaking husband and wife, that was given by William J. Seymour, in his newsletter from the Azusa Street Mission in 1906.

There are a good many Spanish-speaking people in Los Angeles. The Lord has been giving the language, And now a Spanish preacher, with his wife, are preaching the Gospel and open-air meetings on the plaza have received their Pentecost. They are very happy, when God is using them. The following is their testimony from Los Angeles, California, on September 14th 1906.

We testify to the power of the Holy Spirit and forgiveness, sanctification, And the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire. We give thanks to God for this wonderful gift which we have received from Him, recording to the promise. Thanks be to God for the spirit which brought us to the Azusa Street Mission, The Apostolic Faith, old time religion, I and my wife, on the 29th of last May. 

I came for sanctification, and thank God also for the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire which I received on the 5th of June, 1906. We cannot express the gratitude and Thanksgiving which we feel moment by moment for what He has done for us, so we want to be used for the salvation and healing of both soul and body. I am a witness of his wonderful promise and marvelous miracles by the Holy Ghost, By faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you all.

Signed,  Abundio L. Lopez and Wife, Rosa de Lopez.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

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The Way Into The Holiest

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

This was written by William J. Seymour, in his newsletter for the Azusa Street Mission in 1906, in Los Angeles, California.

A sinner comes to the Lord all wrapped up in sin and darkness.  He cannot make any consecration because he is dead.  The life has to be put into us before we can present any life to the Lord.  He must get justified by faith.  There is a Lamb without spot and blemish slaying before God for him, And when he repents toward God for his sins, The Lord has mercy on him for Christ's sake, It puts eternal life in his soul, pardoning him of his sins, washing away his guilty pollution, and he stands before God justified as if he had never sinned.

Then there remains that old original sin in him for which he is not responsible till he has the light.  He hears that "Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate," And he comes to be sanctified. There is Jesus, The Lamb without blemish, on the altar. Jesus takes that soul that has eternal life in it and presents it to God for thorough purging and cleansing from all original and Adamic sin. And Jesus, The Son of God, cleanses him from all sin, And he is made every whit whole, sanctified and holy.

Now he is on the altar ready for the fire of God to fall, which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It is a free gift upon the sanctified, cleansed heart.  The fire remains there continually burning in the holiness of God. Why?  Because he is sanctified and holy and on the altar continually.  He stays there and the great shekina of Glory is continually burning and filling with heavenly light.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

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