Opal W. Eubanks joined the Mississippi Highway Patrol during the race riots of 1964. A large, broad-shouldered white man, he relished the opportunity to strike fear in the hearts of African-Americans who were in trouble with the law. By his own admission, he was a foul-mouthed sinner who liked “rough stuff.”
A radical conversion to Christ in the early 1970s altered the course of Eubanks’ life, and his hardened heart became tender toward African-Americans in his rural community. He and his wife, Thelma, ultimately pioneered an Assemblies of God congregation consisting mostly of African-Americans, which they pastored for 21 years. He shared his story in the Feb. 8, 1976, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Eubanks’ conversion occurred in the midst of deep personal suffering. His 20-year-old daughter had recently been killed in an automobile accident, and he had been experiencing excruciating back pain. He realized that he was far from God, and his father-in-law, a Pentecostal preacher, encouraged him to seek the Lord and repent of his sins.
Eubanks began attending an Assemblies of God church, where he accepted Christ, was healed of his back pain, and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He was a new man, and everyone could see the difference.
After being filled with the Holy Spirit, he started witnessing to people. His Bible became his constant companion in his patrol car, and he never grew tired of sharing how the Lord changed his heart and life.
One night, at a roadblock on Interstate 59, he stopped two African-American men who had beer in their car. He had to charge them with illegal possession of liquor, as it was a dry county. He also witnessed to them about the Lord, telling them that “liquor was a tool of the devil.”
One of the men, Joe Pickens, came to see Eubanks several days later. He tearfully confessed that his life was messed up and accepted Christ. Before long, Pickens and his four daughters all had made definite decisions to follow the Lord and had experienced Spirit baptism.
News of the conversions spread through the largely African-American rural community of Bay Springs, Mississippi, where racial segregation still held sway. Patrolman Eubanks had been known for his tough ways, and people took note when he began ministering Christ’s love to African-Americans as brothers in Christ.
In 1974, Eubanks started holding a Bible study, which developed into a thriving congregation. In the first two years, about 45 people accepted Christ under Eubanks’ ministry. The congregation, Bay Springs Assembly of God, was organized in 1975. The Sunday School superintendent was a redeemed bootlegger.
At the time, it was unheard of in that community for a white man to pioneer or pastor a church of African-Americans. Eubanks realized that he was breaking cultural mores. However, he insisted that God’s values must trump cultural values: “If a man is a child of God, then he’s your brother. I don’t care what color he is, you have a duty to witness to him.” Eubanks recounted “grumbling and opposition to the church,” but noted that it was “nothing that God couldn’t handle.”
Eubanks served as pastor of Bay Springs Assembly of God until 1996. Sammy Amos, an African-American, followed Eubanks and is now in his 27th year as pastor. Amos echoes Eubanks’ vision for the church: “We only care about souls, we don’t judge people according to their color.”
Amos noted that Bay Springs Assembly of God continues to be an interracial lighthouse in the rural community, where most churches are still segregated. The congregation includes black and white members and is known for its outreach and deliverance ministries. The largely African American church started by a white highway patrolman continues to demonstrate to the world that God can indeed change hardened hearts.
Read the entire article by O.W. Eubanks, “Highway Patrolman Pastors New Black Church in Mississippi,” on pages 8-9 of the Feb. 8, 1976, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “The New Bedroom Evangelism,” by C.M. Ward
• “Don Argue Named Vice President of A/G Graduate School”
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
The year was 1934, and a rising tide of anti-Semitism seemed to be sweeping the Western world. Adolf Hitler had recently ascended to power in Germany and strident voices in America were blaming Jews for the Great Depression.
Responding to this anti-Semitism, Pentecostal Evangel Associate Editor Charles E. Robinson wrote an article “as a solemn warning to all Christians” to avoid playing any role in the persecution of the Jews. In his article, “A Lawyer Examines Evidence,” Robinson invoked his professional training to demonstrate that a widely disseminated book purporting to be a secret Jewish manual for world domination was, in fact, a hoax.
The book in question, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, was an early 20th-century example of what might be called “fake news” today. Written to inflame public opinion against Jews, millions of people — including Christians — fell for its false claims that a Jewish conspiracy was responsible for global economic and political turmoil.
Many people began targeting Jewish people for persecution, making them the scapegoats for social unrest. “The Jews are in for a bad time,” Robinson predicted. “That they will suffer every unspeakable villainy that godless men can devise is no doubt true.”
Charles E. Robinson (1867-1954) had stature in Christian and professional circles. He began preaching in the Methodist church at age 17, graduated from law school, and practiced law with his father in Kansas City before entering the full-time ministry. He was ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1922 and quickly rose to prominence as a district leader in Arkansas. From 1925 until 1947 he served as an associate editor of the Pentecostal Evangel. He authored approximately 20 books, which were published by Gospel Publishing House, Zondervan, and various British publishers, among others.
Robinson was not alone in his sensitivity to the plight of persecuted Jews. Another associate editor of the Pentecostal Evangel, Myer Pearlman, was a British-born Jew who had accepted Christ and who became a prominent Assemblies of God theologian. Stanley Frodsham, the editor, was also from Britain and regularly alerted readers to the difficulties faced by Jews across Europe.
What can we learn from the response of Assemblies of God leaders who spoke out against populist anger directed toward Jews in the 1930s? They warned readers to carefully judge stories that seemed designed to vilify others. In this case, people who disliked Jews conspired to fabricate a story that was historically unfounded. “Fake news” stories about conspiracies may, ironically, be a conspiracy to engender hostility against alleged conspirators.
Sadly, Robinson’s prediction that the Jews would “suffer every unspeakable villainy that godless men can devise” came true with the Holocaust (1939-1945). However, future calamities might be avoided if more people were to follow Robinson’s admonition and carefully examine the evidence before accepting supposed news as truth.
Read the entire article by Charles E. Robinson, “A Lawyer Examines Evidence,” on page 3 of the Jan. 27, 1934, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: www.iFPHC.org
Gustav Kinderman (1892-1979) was a trans-Atlantic Pentecostal pioneer. He was ordained in 1931 by the German Branch of the Assemblies of God (the organization for German-speaking ministers in the United States). In the 1930s, he served as the secretary-treasurer for the Russian and Eastern European Mission (REEM), a Pentecostal missions organization that was affiliated with the Assemblies of God. He was also a teacher and interpreter for the first Pentecostal Bible school in Eastern Europe, the Danzig Bible Institute.
Kinderman witnessed firsthand the intense faith and great challenges faced by Eastern European Pentecostals. He regularly shared stories of these Eastern European pioneer Pentecostals with American audiences. Kinderman helped facilitate the deepening of relationships between American and Eastern European Pentecostals during an era when political and economic tensions often prevented much contact between people from these nations.
Danzig Bible Institute was created in 1930 to train ministerial students from 12 Eastern European nations to provide leadership in the region’s growing Pentecostal movement. Danzig was chosen as the location for the school because the independent city-state enjoyed relative freedom under the Treaty of Versailles. Neighboring countries — including Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union — were experiencing political turmoil and a lack of religious freedom. However, as tensions mounted in the region, the school was forced to close in 1938 after only eight years of existence.
Kinderman and his family returned to the United States and, in late 1939, he shared reports at Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri, about the developing situation in Poland, Germany, and Russia. His address was reprinted in the Jan. 20, 1940, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Kinderman told of one trip to visit churches, arriving on the train at 2 a.m. He was greeted at the station by the young people of the church singing. Upon arriving at the meeting place at 3 a.m. he tried to sleep before the meeting but was interrupted by the door to his room opening and shutting. Even though it was 5 a.m. the believers were so anxious to hear the message that they kept coming in to see if the preacher was awake so the service could begin. They held the first service from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., the second from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and third from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
When the service was out early in the morning, Kinderman caught the train to the next place he was to preach the gospel message. Upon arriving there, he noted a lady who looked familiar. He asked where they had met. She replied that he had seen her the day before at the meetings. He asked how she had gotten there so quickly. She replied, “I walked.” It was about 50 miles, and she had walked all night and through the next day to hear the gospel message preached again. Why? Because, Kinderman noted, there is “a desire in their hearts to know our Lord and Savior.”
Kinderman remarked that he could preach all day and, when there was a break, people would bring their Bibles and point to passages asking, “What does this mean?” They had great hunger to know the truth of the gospel.
In spite of this great hunger for God, Kinderman reported the “present war and the seizure of Poland has brought about a condition which lays upon our hearts a burden of prayer … we don’t know what has happened now to these dear saints.” He reported that they had not received “a single letter from any in Poland who are under the Russian government.” Kinderman’s pastoral heart can be heard when he reported, “it is cold over there and we know not their circumstances.”
The information Kinderman was able to gather was not encouraging. One student was arrested and forced to walk three days to a camp with nothing to eat except the grass on the side of the road. When the student grew faint, he was stamped to death. Another report came that the sister who served as the school cook had been brutally murdered along with her parents. Another student was murdered when he came to the defense of his wife, who was beaten by Polish soldiers. The woman’s father and brother were also killed when they came to her aid.
Kinderman remarked, “these conditions should cause us to be quick to obey the Lord’s command” to go into all the world and preach the gospel “and to pray for those who obey such a call … We are glad we worked in Poland while the door was open.” He expressed confidence that the students “will not stop preaching … because Christ has done so much for them.”
Kinderman ended his article with a plea to the American congregation: “Jesus did not come just that we might be saved and settle down to a life of ease and pleasure. He came that all men everywhere might be … saved, and that the work of the devil might be destroyed. Let us bear our share of the work and earnestly pray for our brothers and sisters in Eastern Europe.”
Read Gustav Kinderman’s full report, “The Pentecostal Work in Eastern Europe Today,” on page 6 of the Jan. 20, 1940, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Building A Christ-Honoring Sunday School,” by Marcus Grable
• “Character Unrestrained,” by R.D.E. Smith
• “Lessons in the School of Prayer in South Central Africa,” by A.W. Bailey
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: www.iFPHC.org
Alva Walker (1895-1982) and Louise Jeter Walker (1913-1998) were born in different countries and ministered on different continents; yet God brought them together to form a team that would raise a family, plant churches, lead Bible schools, and write curriculum that impacted millions around the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Alva Walker committed his life to Christ in a small church in Vancouver, Canada, in 1914. In 1917, he joined the medical corps of the Canadian army and soon found himself in the trenches of France where he led many wounded soldiers to faith in Christ as he treated them for injuries. After his release from the army, he attended a Pentecostal conference in Bradford, England, staying in the home of Smith Wigglesworth. During this conference he met a missionary to the Congo and committed his life to serve God in Africa. In 1924, he and his new wife, Mary, left New York for the heart of Africa.
Meanwhile, Louise Jeter was growing up in Arkansas with three ambitions for life: to be a missionary, to be a teacher, and to be an aunt to her sibling’s children. After high school, she attended Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College, where she studied Spanish, and then Southwestern Bible School (now Southwestern Assemblies of God University) where she received academic instruction and practical experience in vocational ministry. In 1933, she set sail for Peru to assist in pastoring the first Pentecostal church in the capital of Lima. She traveled to remote villages by mule to conduct services, distributing the Spanish children’s paper she published, Chosen Jewels, along with writing and translating papers for the discipleship of the many who were coming to Christ.
In 1938, tragedy struck in the Belgian Congo when Mary Walker died from blackwater fever, leaving Alva a widower with four children ages 6 to 14. Alva and the children returned to the United States in 1939 where Noel Perkin, director of AG Foreign Missions, arranged for Alva and Louise to speak at the same missions convention in Minneapolis. While Louise had not expressed any interest in marrying up to this point, she was impressed that Alva washed the dishes after the missionary dinner and thought, Well, this one is house-broken! She began to think that he might make a nice brother-in-law and determined to invite him to her family Christmas celebration and introduce him to her sister. However, despite the 18-year difference in their ages, Alva seemed to have more interest in Louise and began corresponding with her.
After just a few months, Louise received a letter from Alva saying, “the missions department has decided to assign some of the Congo missionaries to other fields. You are a very effective speaker, and as I’ve listened to your presentations on the need for workers in Peru, my heart has been touched. Could I go along with you and carry your suitcases?” Louise was surprised and spent much time in prayer. She loved children but had never considered any role other than “aunt.” Marrying Alva would make her an immediate mother to four children who had just experienced the traumatic loss of their mother and who would now be facing a move to an entirely new country with a new language.
After a considerable time of patient waiting on Alva’s part, he received a tentative response: “Yes, if it is the Lord’s will.” Through a series of events, God soon confirmed to them that they had His blessing. In 1940, Louise received not only her ordination with the Assemblies of God but also became Mrs. Alva Walker and the mother of four children.
After 16 years serving together in Peru, the Walkers were transferred to assist in the Bible school work in Cuba where they served until the Communist revolution forced Christian missionaries to leave in late 1960. They continued their ministry by writing Spanish curriculum and assisting with opening several Bible schools throughout Latin America. In 1968, Louise’s skill as a writer led to an invitation from George Flattery to join him in Brussels, Belgium, to write courses for the newly established International Correspondence Institute (ICI, now Global University).
When Alva was 82 years old, the Walkers returned to the United States, where Louise continued to write for ICI. Alva passed away in 1982, having completed 54 years in missionary service and 42 years of marriage to Louise. Louise served the Assemblies of God for 16 more years, publishing more than 20 books, most of them in Spanish, and countless articles and lessons. Along with her writing for ICI, her works were distributed in 164 nations in 91 languages. At her death at age 81, it was said that she was likely the most prolific missionary writer in the Assemblies of God.
Read the announcement of the Walkers’ return to Cuba in “Missionary News Notes” on page 11 of the Jan. 10, 1960, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: www.iFPHC.org
John Eric Booth-Clibborn, a 29-year-old Assemblies of God missionary, laid down his life in the French West African colony of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) on July 8, 1924. He died from dysentery and malaria only two weeks after he, his pregnant wife Lucile, and their young daughter arrived on the mission field.
Eric’s death came as a shock, not only to his family, but also to their friends and supporters around the world. Eric’s family was well known in evangelical and Pentecostal circles. He was the grandson of Salvation Army founder William Booth and the son of Pentecostal author and evangelist Arthur Booth-Clibborn. Articles in the Pentecostal Evangel and other periodicals mourned his passing.
A remarkable testimony of faith emerged from Eric’s tragic death. His widow, Lucile, wrote an account of their lives and short ministry, titled “Obedient unto Death.” Former General Superintendent George O. Wood called Lucile’s story, published in the Jan. 2, 1926, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, “one of the most gripping accounts of faith in the history of this Movement.”
The young widow dealt with her grief by replaying in her mind every moment she had with Eric. Lucile recalled that she and Eric gathered with fellow believers just prior to their departure for Africa. Together, they prayed and sang a tune composed by Eric’s mother, Catherine Booth-Clibborn. The words of that song prefigured Eric’s impending sacrifice:
“At Thy feet I fall Yield Thee up my all To suffer, live or die For my Lord crucified.”
Lucile’s article recounted in great detail their voyage and ministry together in Africa. She also described gut-wrenching moments at Eric’s funeral. Her emotional wounds remain palpable: “Then after a word of prayer, the top was put on the coffin and the nails hammered in. You can imagine the pain that shot through my heart at each pound of the hammer.” Reflecting on her pain, Lucile wrote that she did not regret going to Africa, “even though it tore from me the beloved of my heart.”
Lucile courageously viewed her loss through faith-filled eyes, seeing Eric’s death as an opportunity for God to be glorified. She wrote: “I realize that present missionary success is greatly due to the army of martyrs who have laid down their lives on the field for the perishing souls they loved so much … It has been said that a lonely grave in faraway lands has sometimes made a more lasting impression on the lives and hearts of the natives than a lifetime of effort; that a simple wooden cross over a mound of earth has spoken more eloquently than a multitude of words.”
The Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso remembers John Eric Booth-Clibborn as a hero of the faith who gave his life to follow God’s call. Today, the Assemblies of God is the largest Protestant fellowship in Burkina Faso, with over 5,200 churches and preaching points serving over 1.1 million believers.
Read Lucile Booth-Clibborn’s article, “Obedient unto Death,” on pages 12 -14 and 20 of the Jan. 2, 1926, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel. Also featured in this issue:
• “A Passion for Christ and for Souls,” by George Hadden
• “How Pentecost Came to Barquisimeto,” by G. F. Bender
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: www.iFPHC.org
It was 1970 and one of the most significant cultural transformations in American history was underway. The news reported on widespread youthful rebellion, and sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll seemed to be the currency of the era. In the midst of this cultural chaos, David Wilkerson delivered a prophetic message at the World Pentecostal Conference, predicting that a “Jesus Revolution” would sweep the nation and pleading for Christians to show patience and love to the younger generation.
David Wilkerson (1931-2011) is probably best remembered for his autobiographical book, The Cross and the Switchblade, published in 1963, which later became a best-selling movie of the same name in 1970.
Wilkerson started in ministry pastoring Assemblies of God congregations in rural Pennsylvania, but in 1958 he moved to New York City to work on the street among teenage gang members and socially marginalized people. His ministry with gangs was featured in Life Magazine, and one of his converts from that period is AG evangelist Nicky Cruz, who had been a leader of a New York City gang, the Mau Maus.
In 1959, Wilkerson founded Teen Age Evangelism which later became Teen Challenge, and which now has expanded to become Global Teen Challenge. Wilkerson wrote books and tracts on popular topics including pop culture, witchcraft, suicide, drugs, alcohol, and end-time prophecy. Two of his best sellers are The Vision and Racing Toward Judgment.
Wilkerson’s captivating message at the World Pentecostal Conference is reproduced below:
If We Lose This Generation …
There has never been a generation as deeply in trouble as ours. It is corrupted by drugs, crazed by sex, plagued by rebellion and violence. But we will not lose this generation because of any of these things!
The rebels and the radicals will never capture this generation. Black and white rebels will curse God, spit on the flag, defy all authority, ridicule righteousness, stockpile weapons, kill and destroy.
But they will never capture the masses of youth.
Young people now are seeing through the revolution movements. Their leaders are consuming one another with hatred. Their leaders are writing books and making TV appearances and becoming rich capitalists! Less than two percent of our youth are involved with rebels. No, we will not lose this generation to the revolutionaries.
We will not lose this generation to pornography or sex. Certainly the floodgates of smut and pornography are open. Movies are dirty. Books are filthy. The country is baptized in nudity and permissive sex.
But it is backfiring! The pendulum is beginning to swing back to old-fashioned virtues. Dirty movies are going broke. Kids prefer to get involved in something that is going to count, to discuss issues, to get back to nature and truth. We will not lose this generation to sex and smut.
We will not lose this generation to drugs. Drug addiction is growing among suburban youth and younger children. But in the cities — in Haight Ashbury, in Greenwich Village, where hippies set the trends — drug use is going out of style. Marijuana is getting boring. LSD has dropped in price and is going out. Heroin addicts are getting desperate and crying out for deliverance. Teenagers are organizing “righteousness revolutions” and cleaning up their schools.
I am sick and tired of all the cries of hopelessness and despair. All kids are not potheads. Not all college kids are acid freaks. They are not all “coming apart.”
No, we will not lose this generation in the ghetto, or in the dirty theaters, or on campus.
If we lose this generation, it will be lost in the hearts of God’s people! In the pulpits! By saints and servants of God who were blind and deaf to the needs and cries of this generation. That is where we will lose this generation!
What we need to reach this generation is a new concept of patience and pity.
This generation can be doomed and damned by our unforgiving, impatient spirit locked in the hearts of parents, ministers, and Christian workers. I believe the most dangerous backlash in the country today is in God’s house, in sanctified hearts.
Some young people today burn and loot. They take over college campuses with loaded shotguns. They defy the government. They riot. They curse parents. They speak evil of dignitaries. They spit on the flag. They boast about drugs and sex. They dress wild.
And it makes our blood boil. Our patriotic spirit is offended. Our sense of decency is wounded. Fear and anger overwhelm us. And all too often we wind up with our hands around the throats of young people!
With righteous indignation we demand justice; we fight back with demands for conformity. Suddenly we are no longer capable of Holy Ghost love. Pentecostal fire is replaced by the fire of indignation. Our love turns to bitterness. We thunder hellfire from our pulpits; our witnessing becomes warning.
And hope turns to despair.
How much the situation is like a parable Jesus told:
“Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him, and forgave him the debt” (Matthew 18:23-27).
That story hits at the very heart of the problem in the world today: we have forgotten how patient our God really is!
Have we forgotten how much God has forgiven us? Some of us were reprobates and drunkards. We were guilty before God of every sin imaginable: gossip, hate, adultery, covetousness, stealing, dishonesty, gambling, addiction to cigarettes!
We can all identify with this bankrupt man — about to lose his family, home, everything. Only a miracle of pity could save him.
So the poor man cried out: “Lord, have patience with me. Give me more time. I’m in a crisis right now. I’ll pay you, but now I need your understanding, pity, and patience.”
Even a child can understand the application. We have been saved by the God of patience. “We then that are strong enough ought to bear the infirmities of the weak … For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:1,4).
But having received God’s pity and patience, we refuse to demonstrate it to this generation. How much we are like the servant. The story continues:
“But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence, and he laid his hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what the owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt” (Matthew 18:28-30).
What a wretched man!
I say to myself, “How could he do such a thing? He was forgiven so much — and he is so unforgiving! Look at him with his hands on the threat of a poor, bankrupt person — demanding payment right now!”
But then I hang my head in shame. Because I am that man.
I am that man — demanding that all my converts walk like angels while I still struggle with deep battles.
I am that man — demanding that young people conform to my dress standards, demanding they pay their debt to society.
I am that man — more concerned about their hair and beards, about their getting a job, about their politics. And I demand they pay up now!
How can we honestly evangelize rebels if we call them Communists and hopeless criminals?
How can we reach drug addicts if we have no pity or patience? If we say, “They brought it on themselves”?
How can we honestly reach millions of runaways, hippies, devil worshipers — if we see nothing but their clothes, their long hair, their big talk — and spend all our time preaching against them?
Could it be that we have become blind to what young people are trying to tell us? Could it be that 400,000 kids at Woodstock Music Festival were sitting in the mud as if to say, “We are all bankrupt; we have nothing left. We are in crises; we are down and out. Please have patience.”
Could it be that thousands of drug-crazed young people are crying out to us: “We are empty, bankrupt. We’ve lost our resources. We’ve wasted our substance. We have nothing to offer. Diagnose us. Threaten us. Warn us. Choke us. But it won’t do any good! We have nothing left. Please just be patient. Try to pity, to understand.”
Could it be that thousands of unwashed hippies and runaways are saying: “We couldn’t meet the schedule. We’ve given up. We are dirty, low, helpless. Have pity! We don’t know how to pay up! We are lost. Please be patient!”
God help this generation if His people cannot soon demonstrate pity and patience to them! Blacks will hate whites. Children will hate parents. The entire generation will turn against the church. And worst of all, we will lose our Christian youth, who want honesty. They will say, “If this is love — if this is all there is to it — we don’t want it!”
Some of us have been so busy preaching John 3:16 that we had forgotten Matthew 18:33. John 3:16 tells of God’s patience and forgiveness to man. Matthew 18:33 tells of our patience and pity to our generation.
What did the Lord say to the unforgiving servant? “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst [besought] me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?” (Matthew 18:32, 33).
This is today’s most relevant message! It shakes me to the deep of my soul. God is saying, “I have forgiven you so much; I’ve had such compassion on you. Shouldn’t you be patient with them? Have you no pity?”
Hear Christ’s conclusion to the story: “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:35).
I wanted to lecture a dirty hippie boy about his filthiness. But he told me, “I’m homeless.” Or how about the heroin addict who started on drugs when he was 6? We must be patient!
What is needed to reach this generation is a new concept of what young people are really seeking.
Young people are weary of sex, tired of drugs, disillusioned with rebels, sick of organized religion, suspicious of philosophy. They are seeking something.
They are the same kind of seekers referred to in John 12:20, 21: “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: the same came therefore to Philip … and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.”
Ministers of God, listen … please understand. Young people are longing to see Jesus. Why are some of us reaching thousands of young people? Because we are giving them nothing but Jesus!
Young people are not interested in our fancy church buildings. They would rather see the money go to missions. They are not concerned about the intricate denominational setup. They can see right through the pompous church leaders who preach nothing but social action.
They are sick of preachers who pretend to be politicians. They are sick of ritual and ceremony.
They want to hear about Jesus. Is He real? Does He still answer prayer? Can He break my habits? Can He give me peace?
They’re telling us: “We’ve heard a lot of talk about Him, but now we want to see Him, to talk to Him, to get personally involved!”
There is a Jesus Revolution now on — a veritable army of Jesus people!
Hippies, runaways, addicts are turning to Christ by the multitudes. And they all have a code message: “I belong to the Jesus people.”
Young people have seen all the confusion, all the complications of a complex age. They are turning to a single, simple solution — Jesus!
God forgive us for being removed from the simplicity of the gospel. Let us say with Paul: “I am determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Drugs have opened the minds of young people to deep and mystical experiences. This generation will never again be satisfied with shallow religious experiences. Thousands of them do go into trances through meditation. They talk about deep religious experiences with LSD. Some have gone into witchcraft, devil worship. But they are not satisfied.
There are now many thousands of hungry, seeking teenagers and students wanting a deeper religious experience. They want reality. That experience — that reality — is the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The Jesus revolution is sponsored by the Holy Ghost! When He comes, the revolution begins. Addicts kick the habit and start preaching Jesus. Blacks and whites join hands and praise God. Rebels lay down their weapons and preach peace. Children are reunited with their parents. Prodigal sons return home. Prostitutes become ladies and good mothers. Gang leaders prophesy.
But it is going to take some patience and pity and forgiveness by God’s people to reach this generation of youth. We ‘re going to have to practice what we have been preaching.
Read David Wilkerson’s sermon, “If We Lose This Generation…,” on pages 6-8 of the Dec. 27, 1970, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Pentecost—the Power for Missions,” by A.M. Cakau
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
Assemblies of God missionary Ernest Paul Lindholm (1907-1940) committed his life in service to God with a passion for African people. He died in the jungle just one year after arriving in the Belgian Congo. When asked the question on his missionary application in 1937, “Do you realize that certain privations and sacrifices are involved in a missionary career and do you seek appointment with the full knowledge of such possibilities and a readiness to meet them with persistent courage for Christ’s sake?” The young man, along with his fiancé, Grace Wallace, answered, “Yes.”
When Ernest and Grace set sail for the Congo in October of 1939, he was a proud husband of less than five months. Joining them on their journey were five other newly appointed missionaries: three singles — Angeline Pierce and Jay Tucker (who later married), and Gail Winters; and one couple — Ragnar and Alice Udd. Their plans had been to go to language school in Belgium, but the outbreak of World War II made that impossible, and so they traveled directly to their appointed station, taking a boat up the Nile River and settling in the Belgian Congo village of Nobe.
Ernest, a young minister with the New England district, was described as “a rare example of complete dedication to God.” He was originally appointed to serve in the Gold Coast of Africa with another single missionary, but the other missionary was unable to fulfill his commitment and so Ernest was reappointed to the Congo. By that time, he had married Grace Wallace, who also had committed her life to serve in Africa before their marriage, and she was very early in their first pregnancy when they arrived in the Congo on her birthday, Nov. 26, 1939. Their son, Stephen Paul, was born in May of 1940.
Most of their initial time was spent in establishing initial friendships, becoming familiar with the language, and opening up a construction site. Due to the outbreak of war, support checks were often delayed in arrival, so Ernest negotiated with Congolese construction workers to provide meat in exchange for labor, even though he was not overly interested in African big game hunting.
On the one-year anniversary of their arrival, Ernest awoke early in the morning with the goal in mind of finding a buffalo to pay his workers and surprise his wife with the special treat of meat for her birthday. He left before she awoke, gathered a few Congolese friends, and went to find one of the buffalo that often approached their camp.
Grace began preparing breakfast for his return when two women came running up the road and told them that an animal had killed “Bwana” (the Swahili word for “Master”). Many Congolese rushed out to help the young man they had grown to love in the past year, but found that he had been gored by a wounded African Cape Buffalo, one of the most dangerous animals on the continent. The Dec. 21, 1940, Pentecostal Evangel published news about his death in an article titled, “Young Missionary Called to His Reward.”
When fellow missionary Gladys Taylor confirmed to Grace that her husband was dead, one of the first things she said was, “Do you think they will send me home?” Grace had felt a call to service in Africa before she was married and was concerned that the Assemblies of God would not allow a young single woman with a 6-month-old son to remain in the jungles of Africa. When Gladys Taylor wrote to Noel Perkin, the director of the missions department, regarding Ernest’s death and the desire of Grace to stay, she stated, “Mrs. Lindholm speaks well in Bagala and has a very sweet spiritual ministry.” She described Grace as having a ministry very “broken” before the Lord and “I am sure it will be more so now after this great sorrow. Such a ministry is greatly needed here.”
Grace and Stephen were allowed to stay in the Congo until she returned home for furlough in 1945. While at home, she studied practical nursing at the Salvation Army Hospital in New York. This proved to be invaluable as a need was presented in 1948 for a leper home in the Congo. Grace later wrote of this opportunity, “I left the sphere of self-reliance and entered the realm of utter dependence on the Lord. We had no money, no equipment, no land . . . to begin our work.” By 1954, Grace was providing for more than 300 lepers under her constant treatment.
Grace stayed in the Congo for 22 years after her husband’s death. She retired to New York and on March 29, 1993, her son Stephen stopped by her house to bring her the newspaper and found her unresponsive. She died that afternoon from a massive heart attack.
As Gladys Taylor remarked to Noel Perkin that the ministry of broken people was much needed in the Belgian Congo, Grace Lindholm fit that description. Although her 1939 missionary interviewer remarked, “No one has pointed out any weakness in her,” it was her brokenness that God used to minister to broken people. As she said to many who urged her to return to the States after her husband’s death, “God’s grace is sufficient.”
Read the report on Ernest Lindholm’s death on page 8 of the Dec. 21, 1940, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Salvation, Separation, Satisfaction” by E.S. Williams
• “Some Hindrances to Healing,” by Carrie Judd Montgomery
• “Pentecost in Central America,” by Melvin Hodges
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: www.iFPHC.org
British Pentecostal leader and theologian Percy Brewster, in a 1973 Pentecostal Evangel article, identified nine trends facing Pentecostals. While some of these trends were the natural result of the movement’s growth and maturation, others he ascertained as “extremely dangerous” or even Satanic in origin.
When Brewster wrote the article, there were only about 20 to 30 million Pentecostals worldwide. Over the past 50 years, that number has burgeoned to between 350 million and 700 million, depending upon how one defines Pentecostal. Today, Pentecostals would do well to heed Brewster’s advice to carefully reflect about the nine trends, which continue in many Pentecostal circles.
The first trend identified by Brewster is that Pentecostals have become “too sensitive to public opinion.” He encouraged believers to be more like early 20th century Pentecostals, who seemed “immune to criticism.” Rather than adapting to the world’s values, he asserted that Pentecostals should make the Bible their “blueprint for living,” seeking to please God in all they do.
The second trend is that some “accept the heritage of the past without a corresponding personal dedication.” This includes people who were reared in Pentecostal churches and who identify with the Pentecostal tradition, but whose spiritual life is far from where it should be. They have a form of godliness, but not the substance.
The third trend is a weakening in the area of evangelism. Brewster warned that a church which places a low priority on evangelism is committing “spiritual suicide.”
The fourth trend is to spend large amounts of money to build extravagant churches, rather than investing the money in evangelism and missions.
The fifth trend is the tendency to get caught up in the busyness of church work and committees, while neglecting the needs of spiritually hungry souls. Brewster encouraged readers to prioritize evangelism and discipleship.
The sixth trend, according to Brewster, “is an unhealthy move to segregate the young and the old.” In many churches, he witnessed that “the young people are taking over, and sometimes 90 percent of the church energy is expended on the young.” He refuted this as unbiblical, noting that “the older people need the zeal and energy of the young, and the young need the balance of the older people’s wisdom and maturity.”
The seventh trend is an overemphasis on demon power. Brewster cautioned against attributing every problem to demons, which gives undue recognition to the devil, who is “already a defeated foe.”
The eighth trend, and one of the most serious in Brewster’s estimation, is the tendency to tolerate and excuse sin. Pentecostals must clearly and resolutely proclaim truth, rather than shifting their opinions to accommodate human weakness.
The ninth trend, which Brewster also identified as very dangerous, is to think that education can be a substitute for the call of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
How should Pentecostals react to these trends? According to Brewster, theology trumps sociology — Pentecostals should continue to proclaim biblical truth regardless of trends. However, he encouraged them to “contend for the faith without being contentious.”
When Brewster wrote the article in 1973, the charismatic movement was gaining strength in mainline Protestant and Catholic churches. This context helped shape many of the trends that Brewster identified. Many of the new charismatics either stayed in their old denominations or challenged traditional holiness standards if they joined Pentecostal churches. Instead of retreating or compromising in the face of these challenging trends, Brewster encouraged Pentecostals to continue to evangelize at home and abroad, and to fellowship with all who “recognized the Lordship of Jesus Christ” and who sought the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Read Percy Brewster’s article, “A Look at the Worldwide Pentecostal Movement,” on pages 9 to 11 of the Dec.16, 1973, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: www.iFPHC.org
Robert Edward McAlister (1880-1953) is considered by many to be the father of Canadian Pentecostalism. He was a charter member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) and served as its General Secretary from its inception in 1919 through 1932. He oversaw the creation of The Pentecostal Testimony (now Testimony/Enrich) in 1920 and served as its editor until 1937.
Born to adherents of the Scottish Presbyterian Holiness movement in Ontario, McAlister experienced a personal conversion at the age of 21. Feeling a call to ministry, he enrolled in God’s Bible School (Cincinnati, Ohio), founded by leading Methodist Holiness minister Martin Wells Knapp. Although illness caused him to leave the school after only one year, he became an evangelist with the Holiness Movement Church, a small Canadian denomination that emphasized the importance of “entire sanctification.”
While preaching in western Canada, McAlister heard about a revival taking place in Los Angeles at the Azusa Street Mission. He arrived at the meetings on Dec. 11, 1906, and experienced his personal Pentecost. Within weeks, he was conducting meetings in Ontario and western Canada, teaching about the baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanied by tongues.
In 1913, McAlister was invited by R.J. Scott to be a speaker, along with Maria Woodworth-Etter, at the Worldwide Apostolic Faith Camp Meeting at the Arroyo Seco campground in Los Angeles in an effort to unite Pentecostal groups. At the end of his sermon, he mentioned an observation that the apostles baptized “in the name of Jesus,” rather than using the Trinitarian formula of “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” While McAlister always embraced Trinitarian doctrine, interestingly, it was this brief observation at the camp meeting that helped to the spark the Oneness Pentecostal movement, which rejected traditional Trinitarian formulations.
Although he lacked much formal theological education, McAlister was respected as a pastor, evangelist, publisher, author, administrator, and preacher over his 50 years of Pentecostal ministry. At that time, any preacher who did not make full use of the entire platform during a vigorous sermon was looked upon with some suspicion, yet McAlister rarely moved about in his presentation. His strength was not in delivery but in content. PAOC historian Gordon Atter said of him, “He never went into the pulpit but what he was completely prepared … when he was through, you would remember that sermon, and his altar calls were tremendous.”
McAlister addressed the 1941 General Council Assemblies of God, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His sermon was printed in the Dec. 6, 1941, issue of The Pentecostal Evangel.
Robert C. Cunningham, in his Oct. 4, 1941, summary of the General Council meetings described the service: “Once again our hearts were thrilled at the music in the opening part of the service. Loren Fox placed ‘The Holy City’ on the organ and it so stirred the heart of R.E. McAlister of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who was the evening speaker, that before the message he gave a wonderful description of heaven. The message which followed on ‘The Threefold Ministry of Christ’ was much anointed and will not soon be forgotten by the large numbers attending that service.”
After his retirement in 1937, McAlister was succeeded by A.G. Ward (father of Revivaltime speaker C.M. Ward) as the new secretary-treasurer of the PAOC and editor of The Pentecostal Testimony. He remained an in-demand speaker and many pastors continued to consult his God-given wisdom in their own ministries until his death in 1953.
Read the full sermon, “The Threefold Ministry of Christ,” on page 1 of the Dec. 6, 1941, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Praying for Worldwide Revival,” by Stanley H. Frodsham
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: www.iFPHC.org
James Philip Hogan (1915-2002) was deeply committed to fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit. He brought leadership to the world missions efforts of the Assemblies of God that generated explosive growth through strategic planning coupled with Pentecostal dependence on the Spirit. His initiative and influence over 30 years as World Missions director led to growth from 788 missionaries in 69 nations to more than 1,500 missionaries in 120 countries and a cohesive relationship between national churches.
Born on a small ranch in Colorado in 1915, Hogan knew hard work from childhood. Coming of age during the Great Depression and entering adulthood during a time of world war gave him a perspective that valued ingenuity and sharpened a sense of responsibility when facing seemingly impossible tasks.
When two traveling evangelists, Bessie Bell and Eva Edith Morton, brought Pentecostal teaching to the part of Colorado where the Hogan family lived in 1920, they quickly responded to the message and soon a small group were meeting in their home. At the age of 7, Philip surrendered his life to Christ and at age 9 was filled with the Holy Spirit. In 1933 the family moved to Springfield, Missouri, where Hogan attended Central Bible Institute (CBI, now Evangel University).
While at CBI, Hogan pastored a small church in Republic, Missouri, and became acquainted with Virginia Lewis. Virginia felt a call to missions from her youth and Hogan feared that her call would take her away from him. Showing a persistence that would mark his entire life, he proposed marriage and the two were wed in 1937.
After pastorates in Missouri and Ohio, the couple moved to River Rouge, Michigan, and in 1944 hosted a missions convention with Leonard Bolton of China and Willis Long of India. After one of the services a kind woman in the congregation sensed that her pastor’s wife needed to spend time at the altar and offered to take the Hogan children to the nursery. Weeping with the burden for souls that had been hers for many years, Virginia felt the Lord say, “This (China) is the place.” She replied that God would have to call her husband to missions work as she could not.
Meanwhile, Hogan spent late hours talking to Bolton and found himself stirred toward the need of the nations of the world, as well. He began going to the Detroit Public Library and reading every book he could find on China. He also attended a Chinese mission in downtown Detroit on Sunday afternoons. In 1945, on a Christmas visit to their families in Springfield, J. Philip and Virginia Hogan met with Noel Perkin to see how they might be able to help in missions efforts. After a 30-minute meeting, they found themselves tentatively appointed to China. Returning home, they resigned their church and began taking classes in Mandarin at the University of California, Berkeley. In February 1947, they sailed for China.
Their arrival in China coincided with the beginning of the Communist Revolution. They worked tirelessly to support the church, orphanage, and Bible school that was started by Christian Missionary Alliance worker, Nettie Nichols, but by 1948 threats against Chinese Christians who worked with Western missionaries were such that the Hogans felt that their presence caused danger. Encouraging the church workers to rely fully on Chinese leadership and to trust the Holy Spirit, they moved to Taiwan and began a small work there. Within a year, the situation in Taiwan worsened to the point that the U.S. Consul advised all Americans to leave the island. Hogan sent Virginia and the children back to the United States and stayed for another six months to train and prepare his young church to be self-supporting. When he left, there were 70 committed Christians in the church.
Upon returning to the States, he found that there were many churches that wanted to hear about the “Bamboo Curtain” that was descending across the East. For six months, he traveled tirelessly promoting missions to Assemblies of God churches. His anointed eloquence in expressing the need of world missions made him a much sought after speaker at missions conventions and District Councils. Seeing his potential, Noel Perkin invited Hogan to become the World Missions promotional director in 1952.
Hogan immediately identified three needs: the many countries without a Pentecostal missionary, the necessity of more men and women to serve in these countries, and the thousands of Assemblies of God churches who were not involved in supporting world missions.
At the 1959 General Council, Hogan presented a three-prong approach to world missions, named “Global Conquest.” At this same council, Noel Perkin retired as World Missions director after serving faithfully for 32 years. At only 43, and with only three years of service on the field, the Assemblies of God voted in Hogan as his replacement.
One of Hogan’s first initiatives was to target large population areas with mass evangelism. Seoul, Korea, was chosen as the pilot effort. In 1962, evangelist Sam Todd conducted a tent crusade and many Koreans accepted Christ as Savior. A young Korean Bible school student, Paul Yonggi Cho, was chosen to lead the new church. After the success of the Korean effort, “Good News Crusades” were then held in other large cities around the world.
In 1966, Hogan commissioned missionary George Flattery to develop a curriculum to train pastors worldwide who could not attend a formal Bible school. With Hogan’s unwavering support, Flattery founded International Correspondence Institute (now Global University).
Under Hogan’s leadership, the Center for Ministry to Muslims, International Media Ministries, and HealthCare Ministries of the Assemblies of God were also formed, along with theological seminaries in West Africa, the Philippines, and Belgium. At the end of the 1980s, Hogan’s vision for a “Decade of Harvest” led to the formation of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship to coordinate the efforts of national churches for world evangelism.
Hogan retired as World Missions director in 1989, after serving for 30 years in the position. He continued to serve as chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship until 1992 when he passed the baton to the young Korean Bible school student he met so many years before, David (Paul) Yonggi Cho. As much as any Pentecostal leader, he exemplified a life that sought to balance strategic planning with a conviction of the necessity of following the leadership of the Holy Spirit. J. Philip Hogan passed away in 2002 at the age of 86 still believing that “we will advance on our knees or we will not advance at all.”
Read J. Philip Hogan’s “Call to Action” column on page 8 of the Nov. 27, 1960, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Back from Siberia,” by Ruth Demetrus
• “Stairway to the Stars,” by Charlotte Schumitsch
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: www.iFPHC.org
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 