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About the Book
"The Pursuit of Purpose" by Myles Munroe explores the importance of discovering and living out one's purpose in life. Munroe emphasizes that everyone has a unique calling and that fulfilling this purpose leads to a life of fulfillment, happiness, and impact. The book offers practical advice and guidance on how to identify and pursue one's purpose, ultimately leading to a more meaningful and successful life.
Charles Parham
Birth and Childhood
Charles Parham was born on June 4, 1873 in Muscatine, Iowa, to William and Ann Maria Parham. As an infant he became infected with a virus that permanently stunted his growth. âAt six months of age I was taken with a fever that left me an invalid. For five years I suffered with dreadful spasms, and an enlargement of my head, until my fore head became unusually large.â
The family moved south to Cheney, Kansas where they lived as American pioneers and where his mother died when he was only seven years old. At her deathbed he vowed to meet her in heaven.
He became very ill when he was five and by the time he was nine he had contracted rheumatic fever â a condition that affected him for his entire life. Though unconverted he recollects his earliest call to the ministry, â âŚthough unconverted I realized as Samuel did that God had laid His hand on me, and for many years endured the feeling of Paul, âWoe is me, if I preach not the gospel.ââ He began to prepare himself for the ministry by while reading the only appropriate literature he could find â a history book and a Bible.
At thirteen he was converted in a meeting held by a Brother Lippard of the Congregational Church, though he had only ever heard two preachers before. No notable events occurred thereafter but he faithfully served as a Sunday school teacher and church worker. When fifteen years old he held his first public meetings, which were followed by marked results.
At age sixteen he enrolled at Southwest Kansas College with a view to enter the ministry but he struggled with the course and became discouraged by the secular view of disgust towards the Christian ministry and the poverty that seemed to be the lot of ministers. He began contemplating a more acceptable and rewarding profession and began to backslide.
His spiritual condition threw him into turmoil. âFor months I suffered the torments of hell and the flames of rheumatic fever, given up by physicians and friends.â His rebellion was cut short when a physician visited him pronounced Parham near death. âThe next morning, there came to me so forcibly all those wonderful lessons of how Jesus healed; why could he not do the same today? All through the months I had lain there suffering, the words kept ringing in my ears, âWill you preach? WILL YOU PREACH?â
I had steadfastly refused to do so, if I had to depend upon merchandising for my support. But on the morning when the physician said I would last but a few days, I cried out to the Lord, that if He would let me go somewhere, someplace, where I would not have to take collections or beg for a living that I preach if He would turn me loose.â He cried out to the Lord for healing and suddenly âevery joint in my body loosened and every organ in my body was healed.â Only his ankles remained weak.
Following his recovery, he returned to college and prayed continually for healing in his ankles. When asked to hold an evangelistic meeting at Christmastime he renewed his promise to God, and vowed to quit college to enter the ministry if God would heal his ankles. â Then one night, while praying under a tree âŚâŚâŚ
God instantly sent the virtue of healing like a mighty electric current through my body and my ankles were made whole, like the man at the Beautiful Gate in the Temple.â Henceforth he would never deny the healing power of the Gospel.
Early Ministry
Parham held his first evangelistic meeting at the age of eighteen, in the Pleasant Valley School House, near Tonganoxie, Kansas. He was a stranger to the country community when he asked permission to hold meetings at their school. He went up on a hillside, stretched his hand out over the valley and prayed that the entire community might be taken for God.
There was little response at first amongst a congregation that was predominantly nominal Friends Church folk. Nevertheless, there were soon many conversions.
The Thistlewaite family, who were amongst the only Christians locally, attended this meeting and wrote of it to their daughter, Sarah, who was in Kansas City attending school. When she returned home, the meeting had closed, but the community arranged for Parham to come back the next Sunday.
At the meeting, the sophisticated Sarah Thistlewaite was challenged by Parhamâs comparison between so-called Christians who attend fashionable churches and go through the motions of a moral life and those who embrace a real consecration and experience the sanctifying power of the blood of Christ. Preaching without notes, as was his custom, from 1 Cor 2:1-5 Parhamâs words spoke directly to Sarahâs heart. She realised she was following Jesus from afar off, and made the decision to consecrate her life totally to the Lord.
After a total of nineteen revival services at the schoolhouse Parham, at nineteen years of age, was called to fill the pulpit of the deceased Dr. Davis, who founded Baker University. For two years he laboured at Eudora, Kansas, also providing Sunday afternoon pulpit ministry at the M. E. Church at Linwood, Kansas. During this time Miss Thistlewaite and her family regularly visited and she began to cultivate her friendship with Charles.
God so blessed the work here that Parham was earmarked for denominational promotion, but his heart convictions of non-sectarianism become stronger.
âFinding the confines of a pastorate, and feeling the narrowness of sectarian churchism, I was often in conflict with the higher authorities, which eventually resulted in open rupture; and I left denominationalism forever, though suffering bitter persecution at the hands of the church who seemed determined if possible my soul should never find rest in the world or in the world to come. Oh, the narrowness of many who call themselves the Lordâs own!â
When Parham resigned, he was housed by Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle of Lawrence, Kansas, friends who welcomed him as their own son. They gave him a room where he could wait on God without disturbance. He enjoyed times of deep communion with God in this place and felt the Lord was calling him to the undenominational evangelistic field. He held meetings in halls, schoolhouses, tabernacles, churches and a real revival spirit was manifested in these services.
Charles Parhamâs Marriage
It was during this time that he wrote to Sarah Thistlewaite and proposed marriage. He warned Sarah that his life was totally dedicated to the Lord and that he could not promise a home or worldly comforts, but he would be happy for her to trust God for their future. They were married six months later, on December 31, 1896, in her grandfatherâs home and began their ministry together.
They had many meeting in a variety of places, which were greatly blessed by the Lord. In September 1897 their first son, Claude, was born, but soon after Charles collapsed while preaching and was diagnosed with serious heart disease. At the same time baby Claude became ill and each patient grew progressively weaker.
One day Parham was called to pray for a sick man and while praying the words, âPhysician, heal thyself,â came to his mind. He recognised it as the voice of God and began praying for himself, not the man. The power of God touched his body and made him completely well, immediately. He returned home with a fresh commitment to healing prayer, threw away all medicines, gave up all doctors and believed God for Claudeâs healing. He was soon completely well and began to grow.
At a friendâs graveside Parham made a vow that ââLive or dieâ I will preach this gospel of healing.â On moving to Ottawa, Kansas, the Parhamâs opened their home and a continual stream of sick and needy people found healing through the Great Physician.
Parham was called to speak on healing at Topeka, Kansas and while he was away torrential rain caused devastating floods around their home in Ottawa. When the weather subsided Parham called his family to Topeka. On November 29,1898 on Thanksgiving Day, a new baby called Esther Marie entered the world.
Topeka: Bethel Divine Healing Home
In 1898 Parham opened his divine healing home in Topeka, which he and Sarah named âBethel.â The purpose was to provide âhome-like comforts for those who were seeking healing.â
The ground floor housed a chapel, a public reading room and a printing office. The second floor had fourteen rooms with large windows, which were always filled with fresh flowers, adding to the peace and cheer of the home. The third floor was an attic which doubled as a bedroom when all others were full. Each day the Word of God was taught and prayer was offered individually whenever it was necessary.
Bethel also offered special studies for ministers and evangelists which prepared and trained them for Gospel work. The Parhams also found Christian homes for orphans, and work for the unemployed.
Parhamâs newsletter, The Apostolic Faith, published bi-weekly, had a subscription price initially. But Parham quickly changed this by referring readers to read Isaiah 55:1, then give accordingly. The Lord wonderfully provided. Each edition published wonderful testimonies of healing and many of the sermons that were taught at Bethel.
As well as conversions and powerful healings the Parhams experienced miraculous provision of finances on a number of occasions. Another son, named Charles, was born in March 1900. Soon after a parsonage was provided for the growing family.
Ever hungry for truth
Mr. Parham wrote: âDeciding to know more fully the latest truths restored by later day movements, I left my work in charge of two Holiness preachers and visited various movements, such as Dowieâs work who was then in Chicago, the Eye-Opener work of the same city; Maloneâs work in Cleveland; Dr. Simpsonâs work in Nyack, New York; Sandfordâs âHoly Ghost and Usâ work at Shiloah, Maine and many others.
I returned home, fully convinced that while many had obtained real experience in sanctification and the anointing that abideth, there still remained a great outpouring of power for the Christians who were to close this age.â
It was during this twelve-week trip that Parham heard much about the âLatter Rainâ outpouring of the Holy Spirit, reinforcing his conviction that Christâs premillennial return would occur after an unprecedented world-wide revival. Isolated reports of xenolalic tongues amongst missionaries helped him begin the formulation of his doctrine of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts and end time revival.
The Bible School at Topeka
Because of the outstanding success at Bethel, many began to encourage Parham to open a Bible School. âI went to my room to fast and pray, to be alone with God that I might know His will for my future workâŚ.. By a series of wonderful miracles we were able to secure what was then known as âStoneâs Folly, a great mansion patterned after an English castle, one mile west of Washburn College in Topeka.â
The builder had wrongly budgeted the building costs and ran out of money before the structure could be completed in the style planned. Nevertheless it was a magnificent building. The beautiful, carved staircases and finished woodwork of cedar of Lebanon, spotted pine, cherry wood, and birds-eye maple ended on the third floor with plain wood and common paint below.
The outside was finished in red brick and white stone with winding stairs that went up to an observatory on the front of the highest part of the building. There was a cupola at the rear with two domes built on either side and in one of these was housed the âPrayer Tower.â Volunteers from among the students took their turn of three hours watch, day and night.
When the building was dedicated, a godly man called Captain Tuttle looked out from this Prayer Tower and saw in a vision above the building âvast lake of fresh water about to overflow, containing enough to satisfy every thirsty soul.â This was later seen as the promise of Pentecostal Baptism that would soon come.
The Bible school welcomed all ministers and Christians who were willing to forsake all, sell what they had, give it away and enter the school for study and prayer. It was to be a faith venture, each trusting God for their personal provision. There were no charges for board or tuition; the poor were fed, the sick were housed and fed, and each day of each month God provided for their every needs.
First Wave of the Holy Spirit
In December of 1900 examinations were held on the subjects of repentance, conversion, consecration, sanctification, healing, and the soon coming of the Lord. But there was the problem of the book of Acts. Parham had always felt that missionaries to foreign lands needed to preach in the native language.
Having heard so much about this subject during his recent travels Parham set the forty students an assignment to determine the Biblical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and report on their findings in three days, while he was away in Kansas City. He returned on the morning preceding the watch night service 1900-1901.
Parham was astonished when the students reported their findings that, while there were different things that occurred when the Pentecostal blessing fell, the indisputable proof on each occasion was that they spoke in other tongues.
About seventy-five people (probably locals) gathered with the forty students for the watch night service and there was an intense power of the Lord present.
It was here that a student, Agnes Ozman, (later LaBerge) asked that hands might be laid upon her to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She believed she was called to the mission field and wanted to be equipped accordingly. At first Parham refused, as he himself never had the experience. Nevertheless, she persisted and Parham laid his hands upon her head.
âI had scarcely repeated three dozen sentences when a glory fell upon her, a halo seemed to surround her head and face, and she began speaking in the Chinese language, and was unable to speak English for three days. When she tried to write in English⌠she wrote in Chinese, copies of which we still have in newspapers printed at that timeâ
Ozmanâs later testimony claimed that she had already received a few of these words while in the Prayer Tower but when Parham laid hands on her, she was completely overwhelmed with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
Tongues of Fire
After this incredible deluge of the Holy Spirit, the students moved their beds from the upper dormitory on the upper floor and waited on God for two nights and three days, as an entire body.
On the night of January 3rd 1901, Parham preached at a Free Methodist Church in Topeka, telling them what had happened and that he expected the entire school to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. On returning to the school with one of the students they heard the most wonderful sounds coming from the prayer room.
âThe room was filled with a sheen of white light above the brightness of the lamps.â There were twelve denominational ministers who had received the Holy Spirit baptism and were speaking in other tongues. Some were gently trembling under the power of the glory that had filled them. Sister Stanley, an elderly lady, came to Parham, and shared that she saw âtongues of fireâ sitting above their heads just moments before his arrival.
âMy heart was melted in gratitude to God for my eyes had seenâŚ.. I fell to my knees behind a table unnoticed by those on whom the power of Pentecost had fallen to pour out my heart to God in thanksgivingâ
Then he asked God for the same blessing, and when he did, Parham distinctly heard Godâs calling to declare âthis mighty truth to the world. And if I was willing to stand for it, with all the persecutions, hardships, trials, slander, scandal that it would entailed, He would give me the blessing.â It was then that Charles Parham himself was filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke in other tongues. âRight then and there came a slight twist in my throat, a glory fell over me and I began to worship God in a Swedish tongue, which later changed to other languages and continued so until the morningâ
Within a few days about half the student body had received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues.
Soon the news of what God was doing had Stoneâs Folly besieged by newspaper reporters, language professors, foreigners and government interpreters and they gave the work the most crucial test. They had to agree that Stoneâs Follyâs students were speaking in the languages of the world, with the proper accent and intonation. The newspapers broadcast the headlines âPentecost! Pentecost!â Newsboys shouted, âRead about the Pentecost!â
On January 21, 1901, Parham preached the first sermon dedicated to the sole experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues at the Academy of music in Kansas City.
Apostle of the Spirit
Parham lost no time in publicizing these events. He went throughout the country, preaching the truths of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with wonderful results, conversions, healings, deliverances and baptisms in the Holy Spirit.
Then, tragedy struck the Parham household once more. Their youngest child, Charles, died on March 16, 1901, just a year old. The family was broken-hearted, even more so when they were criticised and persecuted for contributing to Charlesâ death by believing in divine healing and neglecting their childâs health. But, despite these trials Parham continued in an even greater fervency preaching his new message of the Spirit.
To add to the challenge, later that year Stoneâs Folly was unexpectedly sold to be used as a pleasure resort. Parham, as a result of a dream, warned the new buyers if they used the building which God had honoured with his presence, for secular reasons, it would be destroyed by fire. A prophetic warning, which later that year came to pass. The building was totally destroyed by a fire.
With no premises the school was forced to close and the Parhams moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Here he penned his first fully Pentecostal book, âA Voice Crying in the Wilderness.â It was filled with sermons on salvation, healing, and sanctification. Many ministers throughout the world studied and taught from it.
Parham began to hold meetings around the country and hundreds of people, from every denomination, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with tongues, and many experienced divine healing. One Kansas newspaper wrote: âWhatever may be said about him, he has attracted more attention to religion than any other religious worker in years.â
There seems to have been a period of inactivity for a time through 1902, possibly due to increasing negative publicity and dwindling support. Another factor was that another son, Philip Arlington, was born to the Parhams in June 2nd 1902. But another wave of revival was about to crash on the shores of their lives
The Second Wave of Revival
In the autumn of 1903, the Parhams moved to Galena, Kansas, and began meeting in a supporterâs home. Large crowds caused them to erect a large tent which, though it seated two thousand people, was still too small to accommodate the crowds. The blind, lame, deaf and all manner of diseases were marvellously healed and great numbers saved. As winter approached a building was located, but even then, the doors had to be left open during services to include the crowds outside.
The message of Pentecostal baptism with tongues, combined with divine healing, produced a surge of faith and miracles, rapidly drawing massive support for Parham and the Apostolic Faith movement.
The St. Louis Globe reported 500 converts, 250 baptised in water and âBlindness and Cancer Cured By Religion.â The Joplin Herald and the Cincinnati Inquirer reported equally unbiased, objective stories of astounding miracles, stating, âMany.. came to scoff but remained to pray.â
On March 16, 1904, Wilfred Charles was born to the Parhams. A month later, the family moved Baxter Springs, Kansas and continued to hold similar revival meetings around the state.
Late that year successful ministry was conducted at Joplin, Missouri, and the same mighty power of God was manifested. Blind eyes were opened, the sick were healed and many testified of conversion and sanctification by the Spirit. Many more received the Spirit according to Acts 2:4.
The meetings continued four weeks and then moved to a building for many more weeks with revival scenes continuing. So great was the strain that Parham was taken sick with exhaustion and, though near death at one point, he was miraculously raised up through the prayer of faith.
On March 21st 1905, Parham travelled to Orchard, Texas, in response to popular requests from some who had been blessed at Kansas meetings. When ministering in Orchard, there was such a great outpouring of the Spirit, that the entire community was transformed.
The Houston Base
From Orchard Parham left to lay siege to Houston, Texas, with twenty-five dedicated workers. It was July 10th 1905. âNon-denominationalâ meetings were held at Bryan Hall, anyone who wanted to experience more of the power of God was welcomed. Parhamâs interest in the Holy land became a feature in his meetings and the press made much of this and generally wrote favourably of all the healings and miracles that occurred.
After the meetings, Parham and his group held large parades, marching down the streets of Houston in their Holy Land garments. These parades attracted many to the evening services. Extraordinary miracles and Holy Ghost scenes were witnessed by thousands in these meetings.
During these months a string of Apostolic Faith churches were planted in the developing suburbs of Houston, despite growing hostility and personal attacks.
Undaunted by the persecution, Parham moved on to Galveston in October 1905, holding another powerful campaign. Soon after the family moved to Houston, believing that the Holy Spirit was leading them to locate their headquarters and a new Bible school in that city. As at Topeka, the school was financed by freewill offerings. No tuition was charged and each student had to exercise faith for his or her own support. The school opened in December 1905 and each course was ten weeks in duration.
âThis was not a âTheological seminaryâ but a place where the great essential truths of God were taught in the most practical manner to reach the sinner, the careless Christian, the backslider and all in need of the gospel message.â
It was here that Parham first met William J. Seymour, a black Holiness evangelist. The âJim Crowâ laws forbad blacks and whites from mixing, and attending school together was prohibited. But Seymourâs humility and deep interest in studying the Word so persuaded Parham that he decided to offer Seymour a place in the school.
Seymour subsequently carried the new Pentecostal message back to Los Angeles, where through the Azusa Street revival, he carried on the torch, winning many thousands of Pentecostal converts from the U.S. and various parts of the world. (Seymourâs story is recounted in the separate article on Azusa Street History)
The Call to Zion City
The Houston school was only ever designed to be a short-term venture and by mid-summer 1905 the family were on the move again, this time back to Kansas. On June 1, 1906, Robert (their last child) was born and Parham continued his itinerant ministry spreading the Pentecostal message mainly around Houston and Baxter Springs. Anna Hall, a young student evangelist who had been greatly used in the ministry at Orchard, requested leave of absence to help Seymour with the growing work in Los Angeles. He agreed and helped raise the travel costs.
Parham was at the height of his popularity and enjoyed between 8-10,000 followers at this time. He was in great demand. The work was growing apace everywhere, not least of all in Los Angeles, to which he sent five more workers. Sensing the growing momentum of the work at Azusa Street, Seymour wrote to Parham requesting help. He planned to hire a larger building to give full exposure to Parhamâs anointed ministry and believed that it would âshake the city once moreâ with a spiritual âearthquake.â
Seymour also needed help with handling spurious manifestations that were increasing in the meetings. He wrote âurgent letters appealing for help, as spiritualistic manifestations, hypnotic forces and fleshly contortionsâŚ. had broken loose in the meetings.
He wanted Mr. Parham to come quickly and help him discern between that which was real and that which was false.â Unfortunately, Parham failed to perceive the potential of the Los Angeles outpouring and continued his efforts in the mid-west, which was the main centre of his âApostolic Faithâ movement. The Azusa Street spiritual earthquake happened without him.
Organisational Efforts
The Apostolic Faith, revived the previous year, became thoroughly Pentecostal in outlook and theology and Parham began an attempt to link the scattered missions and churches. Adopting the name âProjectorâ he formulated the assemblies into a loose-knit federation of assemblies â quite a change in style and completely different from his initial abhorrence of organised religion and denominationalism.
He also encouraged âAssembly meetings,â weekly meetings of twenty or thirty workers for prayer, sharing and discussion, each with its own designated leader or pastor. Soon he announced the ordination of elders in each major town and the appointment of three state directors. Parham was clearly making efforts to ensure the movementâs continuance and progress. Consequently Seymour and the Azusa Street Mission were somewhat neglected and formed their own âBoard of Twelveâ to oversee the burgeoning local work.
Labouring at Zion
It was at a camp meeting in Baxter Springs, Kansas, that Parham felt led by God to hold a rally in Zion City, Illinois, despite William Seymourâs continual letters appealing for help, particularly because of the unhealthy manifestations occurring in the meetings.
When he arrived in Zion, he found the community in great turmoil. Kansas newspapers had run detailed accounts of Dowieâs alleged irregularities, including polygamy and misappropriation of funds. To add to his problems Dowie, still suffering the effects a stroke, was engaged in a leadership contest with Wilbur Glen Voliva.
In late July, Dowie was declared bankrupt and a September election was expected to install Voliva as their new overseer. It became a city full of confusion and unrest as thousands had invested their future and their finances in Dowie. But Parham saw this as a wonderful opportunity to bring the baptism of the Holy Spirit to Zion. His visit was designed to involve Zionâs 7,500 residents in the Apostolic Faithâs end-time vision.
When Parham first arrived in Zion, it was impossible to obtain a building for the meetings. He secured a private room at the Elijah Hospice (hotel) for initial meeting and soon the place was overcrowded. Soon Parham began cottage meetings in many of the best homes of the city. One of these homes belonged to the great healing evangelist and author, F. F. Bosworth.
Every night five different meetings were held in five different homes, which lasted from 7:00 p.m. till midnight. When his workers arrived, he would preach from meeting to meeting, driving rapidly to each venue. âHundreds of backsliders were reclaimed, marvellous healings took place and Pentecost fell profusely.â
But persecution was hovering on the horizon. Secular newspapers gave Parham excellent coverage, praising his meetings, intimating that he was taking ground from Voliva. Consequently, Voliva sought to curb Parhamâs influence but when he was refused an audience with the emerging leader, he began to rally supporters to stifle Parhamâs ministry. Volivaâs public, verbal attacks followed, claiming Parham was âfull of the devilâ and with a volley of other unkind comments threw down the gauntlet at the feet of his challenger.
It was at this point that Parham began to preach a distinctively Pentecostal message including that of speaking with other tongues, at Zion. On October the 17th twenty-four people âreceivedâ and by soon fifty were known to have experienced the Holy Spirits power with tongues. Parham considered these the first fruits of the entire city â but the press viewed things differently.
They were not impressed. Criticism and ridicule followed and Parham slowly lost his credibility in the city.
Finally, to Azusa Street
In October of 1906, Parham felt released from Zion and hurried to Los Angeles to answer Seymourâs repeated request for help. He was shocked at what he found. ââŚâŚ. to my utter surprise and astonishment I found conditions even worse that I had anticipatedâŚâŚ I saw manifestations of the flesh, spiritualistic controls, people practicing hypnotism at the alter over people seeking the baptism; though many were receiving the real Baptism of the Holy Spirit.â
As Seymourâs âspiritual fatherâ in these things Parham felt responsible for what was happening and spoke out against them. He held two or three services at Azusa, but was unable to convince Seymour to exercise more control. Then, ironically, Seymour had the door to the mission padlocked to prohibit Parhamâs couldnât entry.
Instead of leaving town, Parham rented the W.C.T.U. (Womenâs Christian Temperance Union) building on Broadway and Temple Streets and held alternative meetings. There was great blessing and many who had previously attended the Azusa Street meetings experienced deliverance from evil spirits.
Parham believed Seymour was possessed with a spirit of leadership and spiritual pride. He wrote in his newsletter, âThose who have had experience of fanaticism know that there goes with it an unteachable spirit and spiritual pride which makes those under the influences of these false spirits feel exalted and think that they have a greater experience than any one else, and do not need instruction or advice.â
Nevertheless, the die was cast and Parham had lost his control the Los Angeles work. His discouragement may have been the cause of his resignation as Projector of the Apostolic Faith Movement during this time. In January 1907 he reported in the Apostolic Faith published in Zion City, that he âwas called a pope, a Dowie, etc., and everywhere looked upon as a leader or a would-be leader and proselyter.â
These designations have always been an abomination to me and since God has given almost universal light to the world on Pentecost there is no further need of my holding the official leadership of the Apostolic Faith MovementâŚâŚâ
He pledged his ongoing support of any who cared to receive it and pledged his commitment to continue his personal ministry until Pentecost was known throughout the nations, but wisely realised that the Movementâs mission was over.
Back to Zion City
Parham returned to Zion from Los Angeles in December of 1906, where his 2000-seater tent meetings were well attended and greatly blessed. On New Yearâs Eve, he preached for two hours on the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The revival created such excitement that several preachers approached Parham to become the pastor of this new church. But Parham resisted the very thought and said it was not a thought that came from God. He believed there were had enough churches in the nation already.
His entire ministry life had been influenced by his convictions that church organisation, denominations and human leadership were violations of the Spiritâs desire. Many before him had opted for a leadership position and popularity with the world, but rapidly lost their power. He felt that if his message was from God, then the people would support it without an organization.
Losing ground in Zion City Parham and a handful of followers hit the road again, this time on a three-month evangelistic tour in Canada, New England and back down to Kansas and Missouri.
The Scandal
After a Parham preached a powerful sermon in Missouri, the unknown Mrs. Parham was approached by a lady who stated that âMr. Parham must have come back to God.â She was questioned on this remark and proceeded to reveal how Mr. Parham had left his wife and children under such sad circumstances. Mrs. Parham protested that this was most certainly untrue and when asked how she was so sure, revealed herself as Mrs. Parham! But this was nothing compared to the greatest public scandal of his life.
Rumours of immorality began circulating as early as January 1907. Local papers suggested that Parhams three-month preaching trip was precipitated by mystery men, probably detectives who sought to arrest him. Unhealthy rumours spread throughout the movement and by summertime he was officially âdisfellowshipped.â In July 1907, Parham was preaching in a former Zion mission located in San Antonio when a story reported in the San Antonio Light made national news. Its headline read:
âEvangelist Is Arrested. C. F. Parham, Who Has Been Prominent in Meeting Here, Taken Into Custody.â
The report said Parham, about 40 and J.J. Jourdan, 22, had been charged with committing âan unnatural offenceâ (sodomy), a felony under Texas statute 524. Faithful friends provided $1,000 bail and Parham was released, announcing to his followers that he had been framed by his Zion City opponent, Wilbur Voliva.
At the time of his arrest Parham was preaching at the San Antonio mission which was pastored by Lemuel C. Hall, a former disciple of Dowie. The church had once belonged to Zion, but left the Zion association and joined Parhamâs Apostolic Faith Movement.
Parham pledged to clear his name and refused suggestions to leave town to avoid prosecution. Subsequently, on July 24th the case was dismissed, âthe prosecuting attorney declaring that there was absolutely no evidence which merited legal recognition.â Parhamâs name disappeared from the headlines of secular newspapers as quickly as it appeared.
There is now overwhelming evidence that no formal indictment was ever filed. There is no record of the incident at the Bexar County Courthouse, as the San Antonio Police Department routinely disposed of such forms in instances of case dismissal.
Nevertheless, the religious newspapers took advantage of their âjuicy morsels.â Scandal was always a good seller. The reports were full of rumours and innuendo. These damaging reports included an alleged eyewitness account of Parhamâs improprieties and included a written confession, none of which were ever substantiated.
The first such attack came on July 26th from the Zion Herald, the official newspaper of Wilbur Volivaâs church in Zion City and the Burning Bush followed suit. . They both carried alleged quotes from the San Antonio Light, which sounded convincing but when researched it was found the articles were pure fabrication.
Even if Voliva was not guilty of creating such a fantastic story, he did his utmost to exploit the situation. There is considerable evidence that the source of the fabrications were his Zion, Herald, not the unbiased secular paper. Voliva was known to have spread rumours about others in Parhamâs camp. One he called âa self-confessed dirty old kisser,â another he labelled âa self-confessed adulterer.â
Though there was not widespread, national reporting on the alleged incident, the Christian grapevine carried the stories far and wide. The inevitable result was that Parhamâs dream of ushering in a new era of the Spirit was dashed to pieces. The toll it took on Parham, the man, was immense and the change it brought to his ministry was equally obvious to his hearers. He became harsh and critical of other Pentecostals.
Parham continued to effectively evangelise throughout the nation and retained several thousand faithful followers working from his base in Baxter Springs for the next twenty years, but he was never able to recover from the stigma that had attached itself to his ministry.
In his honour we must note that he never diminished in his zeal for the gospel and he continued to reap a harvest of souls wherever he ministered. Occasionally he would draw crowds of several thousands but by the 1920âs there were others stars in the religious firmament, many of them direct products of his unique and pioneering ministry.
The End of a Great Life
Despite increasing weariness Parham conducted a successful two-week camp meeting in Baxter Springs in 1928. Towards the end of the event he confessed to a brother that he felt that his work was almost done. After a few more meetings in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico before returning to Kansas.
He was strained and contracted a severe cold and during a meeting in Wichita declared, âNow donât be surprised if I slip away, and go almost anytime, there seems such a thin veil between.â He wrote a letter saying âI am living on the edge of the Glory Land these days and itâs all so real on the other side of the curtain that I feel mightily tempted to cross over.â
Christmas 1929 was spent with his family, and after the New Year he was booked to preach and show his Holy Land slides in Temple, Texas. Despite failing health he was determined to go and left on January 2nd with two other brothers. On the night Saturday 6th January he collapsed during a meeting while showing his Holy Land slides. Mrs Parham and several of the family arrived at Temple and decided to cancel his itinerary and take Charles home to Kansas by train.
The family gathered and there were some touching scenes around his bed. The most rewarding to Parham was when his son Robert told him he had consecrated himself to the work of the Lord. Wilfred was already involved in the evangelistic ministry. During his last hours he quoted many times, âPeace, peace, like a river.
That is what I have been thinking all day.â During the night, he sang part of the chorus, âPower in the Blood,â then asked his family to finish the song for him. When they had finished, he asked them to, âSing it again.â
On the afternoon of the next day, on January 29, 1929, Charles Fox Parham went to be with the Lord, aged 56 years and he received his âWell done, good and faithful servantâ from the Lord he loved.
Over twenty-five hundred people attended his funeral at the Baxter Theatre. It took over an hour for the great crowd to pass the open casket for their last view of this gift of God to His church. A choir of fifty occupied the stage, along with a number of ministers from different parts of the nation.
Over his casket people who had been healed and blessed under his ministry wept with appreciation. Offerings were sent from all over the United States to help purchase a monument. The family chose a granite pulpit with an open Bible on the top on which was carved âJohn 15:13,â which was his last sermon text, âGreater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.â
The Truly Faithful
It is estimated that Charles Parhamâs ministry contributed to over two million conversions, directly or indirectly. His congregations often exceeded seven thousand people and he left a string of vibrant churches that embraced Pentecostal doctrines and practices.
In addition he fathered three sons, all of whom entered the ministry and were faithful to God, taking up the baton their father had passed to them. But his greatest legacy was as the âfather of the Pentecostal movement.â No other person did more than him to proclaim the truth of speaking in tongues as the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
His passion for souls, zeal for missions, and his eschatological hopes helped frame early Pentecostal beliefs and behaviour. He managed to marry a prevailing holiness theology with a fresh, dynamic and accessible ministry of the Holy Spirit, which included divine healing and spiritual gifts.
Charles Fox Parham will forever be one of the bright lights in Godâs hall of fame, characterised by a dogged determination and relentless pursuit of Godâs best and for Godâs glory. Despite personal sickness and physical weakness, continual persecution and unjustified accusation this servant of God was faithful to the heavenly vision and did his part in serving the purpose of God in his generation. May we be as faithful, expectant, hard-working and single-minded.
Bibliography: James R. Goff art. Charles F. Parham, The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 2002; James R. Goff , Fields White Unto Harvest: Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism 1988.
Tony Cauchi
the lake of fire
"For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." Luke 12:2-5 Never were words ever spoken more solemn, more terrible, and arresting than these words of the Lord Jesus Christ as He warns His hearers against the danger of being cast into an eternal Hell. And coming from the lips of the gentle, loving, kind and compassionate Jesus, they fall upon our ears with terrific emphasis. Hardest of Messages In this and several messages to follow, we propose to talk on the subject of the "Bible Hell." As we prepared these massages, we were torn between two violent emotions. As we thought on the subject of our future destinies, our hearts warmed with the thought that the saved would spend eternity in Heaven, and we thrilled at the glorious revelation of the Scriptures concerning the future abode of the saved. But when we studied and contemplated the awful revelation of Scripture concerning the eternal abode of the lost and the damned, and studied the subject of a Bible Hell, we were shocked with fear and trembling at the revealing Word of God concerning this place called "Hell" in the Scriptures. It is also called "The Lake of Fire," and the "Perdition" of the unsaved, and the place of "Outer Darkness." I must frankly acknowledge that it was only after severe heart struggle that I finally persuaded myself, and concluded that I must preach on this subject at this time. I do wish that I could believe that there is no Hell for the wicked. I wish that I did not need ever to preach on this terrible subject. I would give almost anything if I could preach only on the love of God continuously and never have to mention the wrath of God upon the sinner. I must honestly confess that I have tried to find excuses for not having to preach on this subject at all. No Choice But the preacher of the Gospel has no choice in these matters. He is under constraint to preach the full counsel of God, and everything the Word contains. The dire warning of Ezekiel 3:17 and 18 kept ringing, ringing in my ears, and finally persuaded me: "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; BUT HIS BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE AT THINE HAND." Ezekiel 3:17-18 That was enough for me, and I promised God that very moment that by His grace I would warn the wicked with all of my might and power, and keep my hands clean of the blood of my fellow men. The reason then for preaching on the subject of hell may be given under four heads: 1. It is the clear revelation of Scripture. 2. It is commanded that we warn men against it. 3. The modern pulpit is almost completely silent on the subject and that necessitates someone raising his voice about this matter. 4. Hell is a moral necessity in a moral universe. First of all then, the Bible clearly teaches a place called by various names, where the wicked and the unrepentant and the Christ-rejecting will spend eternity. It has been called the Lake of Fire, the Second Death, the Place of Outer Darkness, the Place prepared for the Devil and his angels, and many other highly descriptive names, all summed up in the one word, Hell. The word itself occurs some fifty-three times in our English King James version of the Scriptures; thirty-two times it occurs in the Old Testament, and twenty-one times it is found in the New Testament. However, the word rendered "hell" in our English Bible is a translation of at least three different Hebrew words. The word, whenever it occurs in the Old Testament, without exception is always "sheol," and never refers to "hell" at all, but instead to the temporary abode of the souls of the dead in the center of the earth until the Resurrection of Jesus. Of the twenty-one times the word "hell" occurs in our English Bible in the New Testament, it is the translation of the word "hades " at least ten times. Hades, mentioned ten times is the Greek word for the Hebrew "sheol," and both of them refer to the same place of the lost dead in the heart of the earth. In the ten instances then of the twenty-one occurrences of the word "hell " in the New Testament, it means not the eternal abode of the lost, or the Lake of Fire, but the temporary abode of the wicked in sheol-hades until they will finally be cast into the Lake of Fire at the end of the ages. In Revelation 20:14 we read: "And death and hell (hades) were cast into the lake of fire..." Rev. 20:14 The souls of the lost are in hades now. At the end of the Kingdom Age they will be bodily resurrected in the second resurrection, and then cast body and soul into the Lake of Fire. Be sure, therefore, first of all to distinguish between sheol-hades, the temporary abode of the lost, and Hell, which is the eternal abode of those who now already are in sheol-hades. While on this aspect of the subject, there is one other word in the Bible also translated "hell." It occurs only once in the Scriptures, and is found in II Peter 2:4 where we read: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." II Peter 2:4 Here is God's revelation concerning some of the fallen angels who were cast down to "hell," but again we must remind you that the word translated "hell" is a mistranslation of the original. The word in the Greek is "tartaroo," and refers not to the Lake of Fire, but to a special place prepared for a certain group of fallen angels until finally they, too, with Satan, their leader, will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10). In the balance of the instances where the word "hell" occurs, it is a translation of quite another word, the Greek word, "gehenna." Let me repeat, the word "hell" occurs fifty-three times in your King James version. In twenty-one instances in the New Testament it is not "gehenna," but should have been translated "hades" and not "hell." In one instance (II Peter 2:4) it again is a mistranslation of the word, "tartaroo," and does not refer to the Lake of Fire. Jesus Uses It Ten Times In the remaining eleven instances where the word, "hell" occurs in the Bible, it is a translation of the Greek word, "gehenna," and refers to the eternal abode of the lost in the Lake of Fire. And now here comes one of the most amazing, arresting things of all. In ten out of these eleven times where the word occurs in the New Testament, it falls from the lips of the gentle Jesus, and only once by any other, James in James 3:6. I emphasize this tremendous factâten of the eleven occurrences in which the word, "gehenna" (hell) is used in the Bible, it is uttered by the loving, gentle, compassionate, kind and sympathetic Lord Jesus Christ who came to save people from Hell. Twice it is used by Christ in His Sermon on the Mount. Again we emphasize this fact, because modern theology would do away with the fact of a literal Hell. We are told over and over again that God is so loving, so kind, so long-suffering, so tender, that He would never even think of sending His creatures into a literal Hell. We are told, therefore, not to preach on judgment and sin and condemnation and on the Lake of Fire, for this is a medieval, pagan doctrine, a hangover from the dark ages, and pagan polytheism. We are told, "preach the Beatitudes, preach the Golden Rule, preach the Sermon on the Mount. We are admonished to preach on these subjects. Yes, indeed, we should preach the Sermon on the Mount, but if we do, we will have to preach on the subject of Hell, for the first two times that the word "hell" is ever used in the New Testament, it is used by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in no other place but in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:22 and Matthew 5:29). Hell Is a Fact Beloved, hell is a dreadful fact. We may rebel against it, we may try to do away with it. I, too, wish I could believe that there is no eternal Hell, but to do so I must throw away my Bible, make Jesus a mistaken scarecrow, violate every rule of moral justice in the universe, and give up my faith in a God who is holy, just and righteous. If there is no eternal doom to be saved from, then the coming of a Saviour was unnecessary, His death a miscarriage of justice on the part of God, and the Bible becomes a book of scary, bogie-man pessimism. If there is no Hell, then every Gospel preacher who warns sinners to flee from the wrath to come is a despicable, repulsive, calamity howler, and ought to be silenced immediately and forever. But if God and the Bible are right, and therefore there is a Hell, then by the very same token, the preacher who does not lift up his voice and cry and warn sinners to flee from the wrath to come, becomes a pitiable, unfaithful traitor to his fellow men, and disobedient to God and to His Word. If you think that these statements are drastic, please, please let me quote again, before closing, the passage I gave you at the beginning of this message. First, Luke 12:4: "And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." Luke 12:4-5 Or will you listen to this. Jesus is again speaking in Matthew 10:28: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28 Oh, my friend, either these words of our Lord Jesus Christ are true or they are not true at all. It is one or the other. It cannot be anything else. If they are not true, then of course, the Lord Jesus Christ was mistaken, and we might just as well throw our entire Bible away. But these words are the truth, they are God's Word. It is what Jesus Himself said, and this being so, what else can I do as the messenger of God than to cry out, Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, Flee from the wrath to come, before it is too late. I have no other alternative, as the words of Ezekiel ring again in my heart: "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." Ezekiel 3:18 Oh, may God help me to keep my hands clean of the blood of my fellow men. In our coming messages, the Lord willing, we shall speak on where Hell is, what it is, how long it will last, and other matters clearly revealed in the Bible. But before we close this message, I must tell you how you may escape this awful fate in the Lake of Fire. God says He is not willing that any should perish, and He has made a way of escape through His Son, Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ the Son of God who died on the Cross and rose again from the grave to save you from eternal doom. His Word clearly says: "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13 Oh, call on Him now. Cry to Him in faith to save you. Receive Him now and believe His Word: "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37 Chapter Two "And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 22:12-13 Jesus and the Bible teach beyond all controversy and beyond every shadow of doubt that there is both a Heaven for the saved and a Hell for the lost. Personally, I would ten times rather preach on heaven than on the subject of hell. I wish that I could believe that there is no eternal hell for the lost; but to do so, I would have to reject the Bible, refuse to believe Jesus, and violate every single principle of moral justice in the universe. This truth of the eternal perdition of the lost is the whole background of Calvary, for if there is no doom and judgment from which to be saved, there is neither point nor reason for the suffering and the death of a Saviour, for the very depth of His agony and his suffering speaks to us of the awfulness of the judgment from which He came to save us. We are, therefore, commanded to preach not only heaven for believers, but eternal doom for the wicked, much as we tremble at and shrink from preaching on the subject of a Bible Hell. It is simply impossible for the faithful preacher to relieve himself of this imperative responsibility, so definitely laid down in the Word of God. Silence of the Pulpits I have felt the necessity of preaching on this subject emphatically for a long, long time. We gave four reasons for this in our previous message: 1. The Bible clearly teaches the fact of a Bible Hell. 2. We are definitely commanded to warn men to flee from the wrath to come. 3. There is a deathly silence on this subject in many pulpits, and therefore, necessitates our emphasis on this truth again. 4. Hell is a moral necessity in a moral universe. We take up therefore now our third compelling reason, the inescapable reason for teaching this very unpopular and painful subject which we are dealing with at present. The idea of punishment forever and ever is in itself so very unpleasant a thought that the subject of Hell is seldom heard in the average pulpit in the land today, and never heard at all in many, many churches. You can hear the word "hell" used far more frequently on the street, on the train, in the business offices, than from the pulpits. Profane men use it in cursing, far oftener than many preachers use it in their pulpits. It is avoided on every hand, in the very place where it should be spoken the most. Satan's Trick It is a clever trick of Satan, our adversary, to take away the fear of God and the fear of hell from the hearts of men. Glibly we are told, "Don't preach judgment, don't scare people with caricatures of an angry God. Tell us about the love of God, His goodness, the dignity of man, and the universal fatherhood of God." But, my friend, that does not change the Word of God nor does it change the facts before us. Hell may have lost its terrors, but it hasn't lost any of its reality. It is still a Scriptural fact revealed in the Bible. A friend, a radio listener, wrote me some time ago and said, "I am surprised that a man of your training with a college, university and seminary background, could still believe in that old, antiquated, moth-eaten, disproved apparition of the age of superstition and paganism, a literal Hell. No modem scholar believes that at all any more." Well, so then I am not a scholar, if this is true. But suppose that no intelligent scholar believes anymore in eternal punishment. What does that prove? It still does not change God's Word one iota. Of course, it just isn't true that all scholarship has discarded belief in a literal Hell. There are still thousands of the greatest scholarly men in the world who do believe it, and have been saved from it through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But even though all the wise men and all the theologians and all the scholars in the world should reject itâso what? It would still be true. I don't suppose there was a single scholar in Noah's day who believed a word that Noah was preaching concerning a flood which was imminent. But it came just the same. Not only does the Bible record it, but even geology bears testimony to this fact. There were no scholars in Lot's day who believed the coming judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, but it came just the same and they perished in it. The scholars of Jesus' day paid but scant attention to our Lord when He warned of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the judgment of God upon the nation of Israel, but it came just the same. Ah, yes, my friend, "Let God be true and every man a liar" (Romans 3:4). Satan surely delivered a master-stroke when he convinced man that hell was not real, but just a figment of the imagination, and an outmoded fancy. Few there are, therefore, who today still believe in a Bible Hell. Men use the word so glibly, whereas if they only realized what the Bible says about it, they would tremble at the word. Today we hear on every hand and read in our magazines all sorts of joking about this awful place, and it is made the butt of many a gag and a joke to entertain the poor, blind souls who themselves face this awful doom. Key to Revival If we are to have a revival of soul winning, it will come only when we return without compromise or apology to the preaching of the awfulness and the filthiness of sin, the holiness of God, and the certainty of a Bible Hell. Read the history of revivals throughout the ages and you will find that in every instance it came as a result, and was accompanied by, the preaching not only of the love of God, but the wrath of God upon sinners. We read a lot about the "key to revival"; but I declare that the real key is a return to good old-fashioned Methodist preaching of the holiness of God, His hatred for sin, and a revival of some good fire and brimstone preaching for sinners. I believe the Bible, I believe every bit of it. I believe what it says about the love of God, about His mercy, His grace, His patience, His long suffering. I believe what it says about Heaven. But I also believe that God is holy, perfect, just, righteous, and will in no wise clear the guilty but will insist that every disobedience and transgression receive its just recompense of reward. And since I am bound to believe this, if I am to be consistent, I would be a despicable hypocrite if I did not warn men about it. Bible Is Clear Let me quote for you just a few passages, verbatim, taken from God's own Holy Word. If you believe the Bible you will be convinced; if you do not believe the Bible, of course, then we have no common ground to start with, and we have no more to say to you at all. You become then, like a ship without a rudder, a sailor without a compass. In II Thessalonians 1:8 we read, as Paul is speaking here under inspiration, that the Lord is coming: "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." II Thessalonians 1:8-9 And the Apostle John in Revelation tells us: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Revelation 21:8 Or listen to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as He describes the destiny of the wicked in Matthew 25: "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matthew 25:41, 46 It is hardly necessary, I am sure, to quote additional passages to show what the Bible says about the future destiny of the wicked. I am not trying to convince you that there is a Hell, not at all; I am merely trying to show you what the Bible says clearly concerning this place. Then if you reject it, you are not rejecting my word, but God's own holy, infallible Word. If you differ with me, that is not serious, for I too may be wrong, but if you differ with the teaching of the Word of God, you do it only at the peril and the expense of your own immortal soul. If you don't believe it, you will have to take it up with Him, who is the Author, the One who wrote this Book, and not with me. All that I can do and am trying to do is to tell you what God says, and then the decision must, of course, be up to you. Must Be a Hell We have time before we close this message on the subject, "The Lake of Fire" to say a word about the absolute moral necessity of future retribution. Again and again we hear the argument, "I can't imagine a loving God sending His creatures to an eternal place of suffering. I can't believe that a loving God would allow His creatures to suffer in a literal Hell." Well, my friend, that doesn't happen to be the point at all. Your sentiments, after all, have nothing to do with it. It is entirely a question, as far as I am concerned, of what God has to say, not what I think or what any other man thinks. I do declare, that was the argument the Devil gave to Eve. God had said to Eve. "The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The Devil placed doubt in the mind of Mother Eve, and said, "ye shall not surely die." It was his opinion against the opinion of God, and I repeat again, that I do wish that I did not have to believe in the eternal Lake of Fire. But in addition to the clear teaching of the Word of God and the holiness of God, my common sense and my reason demands that there must be a place of retribution. The fact of Hell rests upon the very foundation of a moral universe. Do away with the punishment of evildoers, and the whole moral fabric and integrity of society breaks down completely. Basis of Government The basis of all good government is justice. Evildoers must be punished. We have laws to punish the thief, the murderer, the liar, the robber, the traitor, the rebel. No one denies that this is just and right. Every jail and prison in the world is a monument to the necessity of a moral government and the justice of punishing the criminal. What a world this would be if there were no laws to govern, and no penalty for the criminal and the transgressor? We even inflict the death penalty as the punishment for certain crimes and no one questions the right of the government to do so. Why then object to the right of a sovereign God of Heaven and earth to punish His rebelling subjects and creatures. Deny this, and I repeat, the whole moral fabric of the universe immediately breaks down. This world is so full of inequalities, there must be a reckoning some day. If death ends all, and there is no retribution for evil, how then do we explain the despots who lived in luxury here below, oppressing their fellow men, murdering, pillaging, subjecting others to their atrocities. Think of the Hamans, the Neros, and the Hitlers whose hands are stained with the blood of thousands and millions of innocents. Did death end all for these men? Is there no punishment for such? Then my faith in the moral integrity of the God of the universe must go by the board entirely. Ah, no, my friend, a God of love who would let sin go unpunished would be no God at all. He would do less than even human justice demands. How explain all the suffering and the death and tears, heartache and sorrow, disease and pain and separation in the world! How explain war, which slays millions and the pestilences which kill millions more, and famines with its countless millions! If God is a God of love only, will you explain to me why He permits these things to happen? If God is a God of love only and will not let His creatures suffer, then please tell me why these things are in the world today with an Omnipotent, Loving God ruling over all. But again we would close on a more hopeful and glorious note. There is a remedy, thank God. There is salvation, there is hope. If God had made no way of escape, how hopeless all would be. But listen, listen, my friend. It is still also true that: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 Your hope, my friend, lies in receiving God's offer of salvation, not in rebelling against His justice, or denying His right to punish the wicked. Why not settle this whole business right now by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ and then, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..." Romans 8:1 Why not believe God's Word, admit your sin, confess and repent, and receive Jesus Christ as your own Saviour for eternity, and be saved from your sin and the wrath to come. God help you to do it. Why take a chance, why gamble with eternity? Suppose you are right, and there is no Bible Hell, then I who do believe in it, still am losing nothing. But suppose you are wrong then you have everything to lose. I who believe the Word then have everything to gainâand nothing to lose. But you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by rejecting God's remedy of salvation. Believe, Believe, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be SAVED. Chapter Three "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Revelation 19:20 In this terrible, awesome verse we have the record of the first occupants ever to be thrown into Hell. These two men, the beast and the false prophet, are the first individuals ever to be cast into the Lake of Fire. Hell today is completely empty, totally devoid of all occupants. The lost are in Hades according to the Word of God. The fallen angels are in the special place called tartarus in 2nd Peter 2:4. After the tribulation period and at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory to this earth, these two men, the beast and the false prophet, will be cast into this place called the Lake of Fire. Here they remain for a period of one thousand years, and then a millennium later they are joined by their master, Satan and the Devil. We have the record of this casting of Satan into Hell in Revelation 20:7: "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. ...and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Revelation 20:7, 9, 10 Not Annihilation This is an important passage which must not be overlooked. For one thousand years these two men, the beast and the false prophet, are in the Lake of Fire, but they are not destroyed. After one thousand years when Satan joins them we read definitely, "And the Devil was cast into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet ARE." After a thousand years they are still there, alive. We cannot therefore teach that Hell is annihilation. It is not in any sense a burning out of existence. The Lost So far then, we have two groups in the Lake of Fire. At the beginning of the thousand years the beast and the false prophet are cast into hell. One thousand years later Satan is also cast into the same place with them, and then soon to be joined by all his wicked followers, the unsaved and the lost. In the last verse of this same chapter we read: "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15 Origin of the Lake of Fire While the Bible has a great deal to say concerning the subject of Hell, there are some things which our Lord has not seen fit to reveal to us at this time, and on which the Bible is either silent or only gives the faintest suggestions. We do not know, for instance, when Hell was created, nor where it is located. As to its origin, we can safely say, however, that it was not a part of God's original creative act. In Genesis 1:1 we have the account of the original creation. Before the first verse of Genesis 1:1 there was nothing, of course, except God. God all alone in that perfect holy, family love-life of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this beginningless life of the great eternal "I Am," God planned a creation to be called into being at a time that He Himself in sovereign wisdom should choose. In the plan of this original creation described in Genesis 1:1, Hell was not included. That must have been a subsequent provision. In Genesis 1:1 we read, for instance: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1 Now will you please notice very carefully that this was the beginning of the creationânot the beginning of the existence of God. In John 1:1 we are distinctly told that in the beginning when God created the universe, "the heavens and the earth," He already was. The Creator is un-created. And so John tells us: "In the beginning WAS the Word, and the Word WAS with God, and the Word WAS God." John 1:1 The verb translated "was" is a Greek verb used only of the existence of God. It denotes existence without reference to any beginning at all. In the following verse in John 1 we read this concerning the creation: "All things were made by him; and without him WAS not any thing made that WAS made." John 1:3 In this verse again the verb "was" occurs three times, twice as "was" and once as "were"; but in this instance it is quite another word which denotes existence from a beginning. It literally means to "become." What a wonderful evidence of divine inspiration. When John uses a verb with reference to God, he uses the word "was" which means to exist without any beginning, but immediately when he begins to speak about the creation, he changes the word and uses another which means "to become" or to "exist from a beginning." In the beginning, then, God created the heavens and the earth. The word in your Bible is heaven (singular) but in the Hebrew text it is plural, "heavens." The word is "shamayim" the ending IM, being the plural ending, just as the letter "s" denotes plurality in our English language. The reference is, of course, to more than one heaven. The Bible distinguishes at least three heavens, the lower heaven (auronos); the middle heaven (mesoranios), and the upper heaven (eporanios). The lower is the atmospheric heaven of air and of clouds and of vapor enveloping the earth. The mid-heaven is the planetary, astronomical starry heaven, and beyond this, is the third or the upper heaven, also called in Scripture, "the heaven of heavens." But No Hell When God created the heavens and the earth, it included at least the two lower of these heavens, and we believe the atmospheric heaven and the planetary heaven were created at this time, and possibly the third heaven. Remember the word is in the plural, "shamayim," the heavens. But strange, and yet not so strange, there is no mention of Hell in this original creation. The Bible does not say: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and hell." No, Hell is significantly omitted. Of course, God being omniscient knew that sin would come, and a Hell would become necessary later on, but before sin entered, there was no Hell prepared by God, Hell was a later provision. When Was It Prepared? The question then arises, "When did God prepare this Lake of Fire?" To this we cannot give a positive, definite answer, but it must have been after the fall of the angels. From the book of Job we learn that the angels (called morning stars) were present at the original creation of the earth. There is much evidence that the original earth, millions upon millions of years ago, was the habitation of these created angels. And then Lucifer, the archangel, and the leader of the angelic hosts, rebelled against Almighty God with a host of lesser angelic beings, and as a result was cast both out of the earth, and out of heaven, and banished to the upper atmosphere. Some wicked angels are in the place called "tartarus" today (2 Peter 2:4). Now because of the sin of these fallen angels, together with Satan, God prepared a place to which they will be consigned in everlasting damnation, to be tormented day and night forever and ever. This is plain from a statement of our blessed Lord Himself, when He says in Matthew 25:41 of the judgment of the wicked in the words we quoted before: "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS." Matthew 25:41 What a tremendous solemn revelation! The fires of everlasting Hell were never meant for mankind. They were never meant for you, my poor sinner friend. It was prepared for the Devil and his angels. God never made man for Hell, nor did He make Hell for man. If man goes there, it will be only because he chooses to do so by refusing to receive God's wonderful gift of love and salvation. You will never be able to blame God for sending you into the everlasting fires. Only Two Masters There are only two destinies then, Heaven and Hell. There are only two masters, Christ and the Devil. And you, my friend, as well as I, can serve only one of these. It must be one or the other, Jesus said: "No man can serve two masters." And if you serve Christ here below, it is wholly just and fitting and right that you should spend eternity in bliss in Heaven with the One whom you loved and served here below. But if you choose to serve the Devil, and refuse to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, let me ask you honestly and sincerely, isn't it right and just and proper, consistent and wholly fitting that you should spend eternity with your master, whom you have chosen to serve, even the Devil, in the place of torment prepared for the Devil and his angels? It is your own choice, my friend. You can blame no one else. Certainly there can be no argument here. When this place of torment was prepared we, of course, do not know; but we do know that it was made necessary by sin, and particularly the sin of the angels, and prepared as the place of eternal punishment for the Devil, his angels, and all who choose to follow him, rather than be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, my precious friend, as we contemplate these thoughts, why not take Jesus Christ as your Saviour? How awful to be the companion of the Devil throughout eternity in the place of outer darkness. Hell never was meant for you and God does not want you to go there. If you do, it will be your own fault in refusing to receive God's offer of Heaven and salvation. If you end up in the place of eternal doom, it will be over the very body of the Crucified Son of God, so why not receive Him now? Where is Hell? We have just time for one more question concerning the Bible Hell, and then in our next and last message on this dread subject we shall discuss the questions: Who is there now? Who will still go there in the future? What will be the conditions there? And how long will it last? But now, "Where is the Lake of Fire?" Again the Bible gives no definite answer. It may be some blazing star a million light years removed from this earth. It may be some burned out, ruined planet. We just don't know. One or two things we do know, however. It is complete separation from God, the God of light. He says, "Depart from me, ye wicked, into the place prepared for the Devil and his angels." And it is called the place of outer darkness. Outer Darkness But it is not only darkness, but it is called "outer darkness." We may translate it as "Uttermost darkness." A place so far removed from God and probably from the universe as we see it today, that not a single ray of light will ever penetrate. To grope in Stygian darkness without one ray of hope, banished from God forever, in the place of which Jesus says: "...there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 24:51 Why do I say these things? Why do I preach on Hell? Why do I remind you of this, and repeat all these very unpleasant things? Listen, my friend, it's because I love you more than you will ever realize, and I want you to be saved. God loves you and He wants you to be saved. It will be a tremendous relief when I have finished these messages, I assure you. I have preached under tremendous pressure and a heavy burden for lost men and women. But God is my witness, I could not do anything else. If a doctor knew you had a terrible disease, but also knew an absolute remedy, he would be a devil if he didn't warn you and suggest the remedy. If I knew a bridge was out down the track, and I didn't try to flag down the train. I would be a murderer. If I saw your house on fire, and you were asleep in the house, and I did not try to awaken you, what kind of a brute would I be? Well, my friend, what would you think of me, a preacher of the Gospel called to warn men and women of the coming judgment, if I did not warn you. If I for fear of being unpopular or of being criticized should fail to cry out to you, "Flee from the wrath to come," there are no words to describe my despicable condition. And so here is the remedy. Right where you are you can be saved from sin, and judgment, and the fear of Hell forever. Here it is: Simply acknowledge that you are a sinner, believe God's Word, and then accept His promise of salvation. With your head bowed now will you say: "Lord Jesus, I, a poor, lost sinner, the best I know how, now trust thee to save me. I accept thee as my Lord, I believe thou didst die for me and rise again to save me for eternity." My friend, that is all you need to do. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Chapter Four "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Rev. 20:10 "And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:14-15 In these awesome words, the Holy Spirit, through John, tells us of the final end and destiny of the Devil, and all his followers who have rejected God's wonderful salvation. We make no apologies for this revelation. We merely tell you what the Word of God has to say. If you have any objections, you can take them up with the Author of this Book, the One who wrote it. The Bible therefore teaches that there is an eternal Heaven for the saved, and an eternal Hell for the lost. Every single branch of Christendom has believed in the doctrine of final retribution and it is embodied in all the creeds of all the great branches of Christendom from the very beginning. Very true, today it is not being preached in many, many churches, but if you will investigate, you will find that it is still written in their creeds, whether its ministers preach their creeds or not. But our belief in a literal Hell is not based on church dogmas, religious creeds, human opinions, or the sentiments of men, but upon the infallible Word of God. My feelings and my sentiments too rebel against the idea of a literal, eternal Hell, but I am compelled to believe it because my own judgment convinces me and God says it. If it is not true, then there is no moral justice in the universe, but if it is true, I must, I must warn you to seek refuge in Jesus Christ. It is a Place In a former message, we told you the Bible does not locate Hell. We do not know where it is, except that it is in outer space and in outer darkness. However, while we do not know the exact location, we do know it is a literal place. Jesus said that "body and soul" would be cast into hell. Two literal men, the beast and the false prophet, enter it in Revelation 19, and a literal Devil joins them in Revelation 20. Origin of the Name The word "hell" in the original is "gehenna." There is no word for "hell" found in the New Testament, although the word "sheol" is so translated in the King James English version, but is corrected in the revised version. The word "hell" occurs only eleven times, and of these eleven times Jesus uses the word ten times. The word, "gehenna" itself comes from two Hebrew words, "gay" meaning "a gorge" and the word "Hinnom"; and the two words together mean "the gorge or valley of Hinnom." It was the place where the wicked king of Israel, Manasseh, sacrificed his children in the fire (2 Chron. 33:6). It was called "the Valley of Hinnom." Gehenna, then, is the Greek form of the Valley of Hinnom. It was a place of fire and death and sorrow. Later on, the word "gehenna" was applied to the gorge or the valley outside the city of Jerusalem, where the refuse and the garbage and the offal of the sacrifices were cast to be burned. It corresponds to our version of the city dump, with its vermin and smoldering fires; hence, Jesus' description of it as a place "where the worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched." Jesus' Picture This place of burning outside of the city of Jerusalem our Lord Jesus Christ uses as a figure to describe the place of the lost in the Lake of Fire, called by Him, "gehenna" and "hell." The Valley of Hinnom was a literal place, and Gehenna is a literal place. You may insist that this is only a figure, but that again, my friend, cannot alter the fact. If the description of burning, and a Lake of Fire is a figure, then how much more awful the reality itself must be than the figure is itself! Who is There? There is no one in Hell today. Satan is not there, for he will not be cast into Gehenna until after his final rebellion in Revelation 20. Today, we are told he, "as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" 1 Peter 5:8 The fallen angels who kept not their first estate are not there, for 2nd Peter 2:4 tells us they are reserved unto judgment in the place called tartarus. The lost are not there, for they are today in sheol-hades, in the center of the earth, and will not be cast into the Lake of Fire until after the judgment of the great white throne (Revelation 20). Hell today then, is empty. Its first occupants as we told you before, will be the beast and the false prophet (Revelation 19:20), to be followed a thousand years later by Satan (Revelation 20:10) and then to be joined by all the lost at the end of the world (Revelation 20:15). The Duration And now we take up the matter on which there is a great difference of opinion. All who believe the Bible, believe in the existence of some kind of a hell. But all are not agreed as to its character and duration. How long will the Lake of Fire last, and how long will the lost be there? There are some who teach that the wicked will be utterly consumed and annihilated in Hell, and burned up into ashes. Still others teach that they will be delivered after a longer or shorter period of time, and therefore, Hell is a sort of a purgatory, more than a place of actual punishment. We believe that the Bible is quite clear on the matter, however. Much as we shrink in fear, and recoil at the idea of eternal punishment, we have no choice but to tell you what God says and the Bible teaches, and then it will make no difference what anyone else may have to say. The wicked are said to be cast into Hell forever and forever. Now the word, "ever," is "aion" in the Greek and means "an age." An age is an indefinite period of time. The expression, "forever and ever," then, means "the ages of the ages," or "indefinite periods of indefinite periods of time." This was the Greek's way of expressing eternity, everlasting or eternal. We seldom weary you with Greek or Hebrew words, but this matter is so vital, so important, that we are going to ask your indulgence just this once. Then go to your concordance or your Greek lexicon, or better still, go to your own pastor, and ask him about it. Here it is. The expression, "forever and ever" is a translation of the Greek phrase "tous aionas ton aionon." Now this expression, "Tous Aionas Ton Aionon,'' translated "forever and ever" in the Bible is used exactly thirteen times in the last book of the Bible alone. Now follow this carefully. This expression translated "forever and ever" occurring thirteen times in Revelation alone is used: 1. Nine times for the existence of God; that is, nine times God is said to live or reign "forever and ever," and the expression is "Tous Aionas Ton Aionon." 2. One time it is used for the eternal existence of the saints in Heaven. 3. Once it is used for the eternal torment of the Devil in Hell. 4. In the other two times the same identical expression is used for the duration of the suffering of the lost in eternal torment. Do you see what is involved in this, my friend, when we teach that when the Bible says "forever and ever," it means FOREVER AND EVER? It is a serious error to say that "forever and ever," is not eternal. If the Bible says that the wicked are cast into the Lake of Fire forever and ever, it must mean just that. If it does not mean "eternal," then it cannot mean that God is eternal, that Jesus is eternal, that the saints will be in Heaven eternally. For the same identical phrase is used to designate all of them. If it means "forever," therefore, in one place it must by every rule of logic mean "forever'' in every other place. Degrees in Gehenna Before we close this series, however, there is one more thing that we want to make clear. While Hell is described in the Bible as a place of torment and suffering, not all the occupants in the Lake of Fire will, by any means suffer in the same degree. To some, Hell will be a little heaven compared with what it will be for others. God's judgment will be according to justice and righteousness, for "his mercy endureth forever." It will be absolutely fair and just. Nowhere is this more clearly taught than in Revelation 20. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS." Rev. 20:11-12 Now I would have you notice particularly those words: ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS. This same thing is repeated again in verse 13. This judgment therefore, is according to their works. It is to determine the DEGREE of their punishment. The destiny of the lost was settled forever when they died. That was determined by their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation does not depend upon works, but on faith alone. But here at the final judgment these lost, whose eternal abode in Hell was already determined and settled by their rejection of Christ, are now to be judged as to the degree of their punishment, determined by the light which they have rejected, the opportunities they have enjoyed, and the works that they have done. It will be infinitely more tolerable in the day of judgment for the pagan who never heard the Gospel at all than for you who have heard and rejected the invitation of the grace of God over and over again. I repeat, therefore, that Hell will be heaven for some who have never had the opportunities which others have had, compared to those of you who have lived in Christian lands, heard the Gospel over and over again, and then rejected it. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said: "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more" Luke 12:48 Again our Lord said in Matthew 11:21 to 24: "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." Matthew 11:21-24 From this it is perfectly clear that added light and added opportunity will make for added responsibility. And so we repeat, that not all will suffer alike in the Lake of Fire. It will depend upon the opportunity which has been rejected. If one is to be lost, therefore, in the end, then it would be far better that such an one had never heard the Gospel, far better would it be to die in pagan ignorance and heathen darkness, than to be lost in the land of light and opportunity after hearing the Gospel, and the pleading of the Spirit of God. If you are going to be lost, my friend, it would be infinitely better if you had never heard the message of salvation, if you had never heard this broadcast, yea, it would be better for you if you had never been born. The very fact that you have again once more heard the warning in these broadcasts increases your responsibility, and leaves you without any excuse. Now this concludes our series on this difficult subject, "The Bible Hell." I personally feel a deep sense of relief as I conclude this series. Never have I dreaded a subject as I have this one; never before have I felt the opposition of Satan as much as I have during these messages which I have given. Never have I been more severely tempted to pass by this difficult subject and to speak on something else. But I also feel not only a sense of relief that the job is done, but a sense of relief because I have been faithful in warning you. If any of you awaken bye and bye in the place of outer darkness, you will never be able to rise up against me and say, "that preacher knew about this place, he knew I was going to go here, but yet for fear of being called an old fogy, for fear of being unpopular, he failed to warn me." No, my friends, my hands are clean of your blood. Why not flee to Jesus now? Why not accept Him before it is forever too late? Bow your head, acknowledge your sin, call on Him to save you, and then believe His promise: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13 Won't you come to Him now? God help you. From The Lake of Fire. Four Radio Sermons by M. R. DeHaan. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Radio Bible Class, 194-?].
