The children and young people upon whom came this
outpouring of the Holy Spirit and through whom came these visions and
revelations were members of the Adullam Rescue Mission in Yunnanfu,
Yunnan Province, China.
For the most part, these children had been beggars
in the streets of the city. In some cases they were poor children with
one or both parents dead and had been brought to the Home. There were
also some prodigals who had run away from their homes in more distant
parts of this or adjoining provinces.
But from whatever source they came, these
children, mostly boys ranging in ages from six to eighteen, had come to
us without previous training in morals and without education. Begging is
a sort of "gang" system in which stealing is a profitable part. The
morals are what would be expected of a "gang" in a godless land.
The Bible is carefully and daily taught in the
Adullam Home, and the gospel is constantly preached. Since the children
coming into the home have always been open to the teachings given,
before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit recorded below, some of them
were doubtless converted, while many had a very good knowledge of the
main themes of the Bible.
All who received the Holy Spirit knew enough to
believe in one God and to trust in the blood of Christ for salvation.
They also prayed for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. They sought
Christ. We did not see anyone seeking visions or any of the
manifestations that were received day by day as all single heartedly
prayed and praised the Lord Jesus. He alone was sought and magnified
throughout all the weeks of the Spirit's outpouring.
In this visitation from the Lord all were
treated impartially. The oldest and the youngest, the first arrivals and
the latest comers, the best and the worst, all sitting together around
their common Father's table were alike treated to His heavenly bounties.
This giving of the Promised Spirit was clearly
a love gift of grace "apart from works" or personal merit. It was not
something that was worked up. It was something that came down. It was
not the result of character building by man from below. It was a
blessing of God that came from above.
The Experiences
Herein Related are Unexplainable on Natural Ground
The experiences of these Adullam children that
are herein related cannot be explained on natural ground, because:
1. These wonders
could not possibly have been the product of the
natural minds of these children. Such
uneducated, mentally untrained, unimaginative boys as these could not
themselves have conceived of such things.
2. These spiritual
experiences, visions, and revelations
could not have been the working of the subconscious mind.
Many of these children were too young, too ignorant, or too recently
rescued from heathenism to know the Bible teaching on these subjects.
3. Then, again, these
things cannot be explained by the
psychology of mental suggestion from others.
We ourselves had never seen such visions, never been in meetings where
there were such, or read or heard of such visions as were given these
children. These experiences were new to all of us.
4. Furthermore, the
children did
not get these things from one another. When the power of the Lord
fell in our midst many children were filled with the Spirit at the same
time. Those who were in different rooms sometimes had simultaneous
visions of the same things. There was no possibility of comparing one
with another.
5.
The complete harmony
of these visions covering numberless details is beyond any natural
explanation. Even the most ignorant children, who could easily be
confused on cross questioning, whether questioned singly or in groups,
gave as clear and uniform answers to questions covering great numbers of
details as could possibly have been given by eye witnesses of anything.
Typical New Arrivals at the
Adullam Rescue Mission
6. Neither can these
experiences be explained as any sort of mental excitement, religious
frenzy, natural emotion, nervous state, nor any
sort of self-produced condition. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit came
upon normal children in a normal state of mind free
from all the conditions just mentioned.
The Visions and
Revelations Given Adullam are
Consistent Supernatural
Experiences in the True Church
Supernatural visions and revelations are
foundation rocks upon which the Church was established and upon which it
stands. The whole Bible, Old and New Testament, is a
supernatural
revelation from God.
In the Old Testament,
God revealed his will to men by speaking through prophets by direct
inspiration in which the mind of the prophet had no part. The Lord
appeared to men and spoke to them in a "voice" with "words." He thus
spoke to Moses, as man speaks to man face to face (1).
In the Old Testament,
God revealed himself to men in dreams, in visions, and in various kinds
of supernatural revelations. Angels brought messages to men and were
continually active as God's ambassadors in carrying out His plan of
redemption on earth.
The New Testament, likewise, claims to be a
superhuman
revelation. Paul said of the gospel he preached: "Neither did I receive
it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through
revelation of
Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:12). What he wrote in all his epistles was simply
a part of this supernatural "revelation of Jesus Christ."
Without such working of the Holy Spirit and
without such visions and revelations as were given Adullam there would
be no Christianity at all. The true Church, begun in this manner, exists
to the present day because just such supernatural manifestations formed
the cradle in which it was born and nursed into vigorous life.
When
Herod would destroy the baby Jesus, the wise men were "warned of God in
a dream" (2). An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. One like a man
of Macedonia appeared to Paul in a vision. At Corinth the Lord spoke to
him "in the night by a vision." When he was praying in the temple at
Jerusalem he fell into "a trance" and saw Jesus, who spoke to him,
giving him directions for his work. Peter also fell into "a trance"
while praying on the house top. He saw a vision and heard the Lord
speaking to him in a voice with words. An angel appeared to Cornelius in
an open vision by day.
The whole book of Revelation was given to
John as a supernatural revelation when he was "in the Spirit." It
is a revelation from the Lord who spoke to him in "a great voice," and
it is also a record of visions given in the Spirit and through the
ministry of angels.
Paul either died and went to heaven "out of the
body" or was in vision caught up to heaven like our Adullam children and
there saw Paradise. He had such an abundance of these supernatural
revelations that the Lord had to send him a thorn in the flesh to keep
him humble.
(1) "Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as
a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exodus 33:11).
(2) "Being warned of God in a dream" (Matthew 2:12).
Other Visions and Dreams
"An angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream" (Matthew
2:13).
"A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia
standing . . ." (Acts 16:8-10).
"The Lord said unto Paul in the night by a vision" (Acts 18:9).
"When I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I
fell into a trance" (Acts 22:17).
"Peter went up upon the housetop to pray. And . . . he fell into a
trance" (Acts 10:9-10.).
"And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter . . . and a voice came unto
him again the second time" (Acts10:13-15).
"Cornelius . . . saw in a vision openly . . ." (Acts 10:1-3).
"I, John . . . was in the Spirit . . . and I heard behind me a great
voice . . . saying What thou seest, write in a book" (Revelation 1 9-11).
"But I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in
Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether
out of the body, I know not: God knoweth), such a one caught up even to
the third heaven . . . He was caught up into Paradise" (2 Corinthians
12:1-3).
"By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should
not be exalted overmuch there was given me a thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians
12:7).
"An angel of the Lord spake unto Philip" (Acts 8 :26).
"There stood by me this night an angel of the Lord whose I am, whom also
I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar" (Acts
27:23-24).
"Cornelius . . . saw in a vision openly—an angel of God coming in unto
him and saying to him . . ." (Acts10:3).
"And behold an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shined in the
cell and he smote Peter on the side, and awoke him, saying, Rise up
quickly: And the chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto
him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals" (Acts 12:7-8).
"When they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered;
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4:31).
Angels, also, had a large part in the work of
the first church. The early disciples were often
protected and
directed
in their work by the angels.
In this way they were delivered from imminent danger from earthly
powers.
An angel spoke to
Philip, directing him to Gaza. An angel stood by Paul and talked with
him, encouraging and directing him. Cornelius, his household, and his
friends were led unto the way of salvation and into the baptism of the
Holy Spirit through the words of an angel who came to him. This angel,
appearing in bright apparel, talked with him, directing him to send for
Peter and then departed. When Peter was in prison an angel rescued him.
This angel loosened the chains from Peter's hands, told him to put on
his garments and shoes, opened the prison door and the city gate that
was locked, and led Peter into the street.
Greatest of all the supernatural manifestations
in the early church were those of the mighty Holy Spirit, who came to
that Church just as the Lord had promised He would come after Christ
ascended to the Father.
That first church did not
read prayers.
Neither did that first church say
prayers. That first church prayed to God from the heart, and God
directly and supernaturally
answered these heart cries. When the disciples
were in danger they got together and prayed to God. This was not
formal
praying; it was not a cringing, heartless, carefully worded prayer
meeting for men's ears. Everybody prayed at the same time; everybody
cried to God in a loud voice.
This was a special prayer meeting for one great need.
When God answered, everybody knew He answered.
The Holy Spirit shook the house in which these people were praying, and
every one was "filled with the Holy Spirit," with a mighty superhuman
power. They then went out spreading gospel fire in the very face of
death.
The early church had a
living God.
Through the Holy Spirit they had Christ in their midst. He worked in
them and through them supernaturally by gifts of the Holy Spirit: "For
to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another
the word of knowledge; to an other faith . . . ; to another workings of
miracles...; to another gifts of healings . . .; to another prophecy . .
.; to another discernings of spirits . . .; to another kinds of tongues
. . .; and to another interpretation of tongues" (1 Corinthians 12 :7-10) .
Where is the Living God who brought our fathers
up out of Egypt with a mighty hand before the eyes of the heathen? Where
is our God who once answered in a voice that men could
hear, yea, whose
voice shook the whole earth? What has become of the God who from the
time the earth was created sent his angels to walk and to talk with his
people?
What has become of the angels?
And the Christ of the Bible? Where is He? Have
they taken away our Lord, so we cannot find where they have laid Him?
What has become of His "Promise?" Christ said
that if He should go away it would be better than ever for His people,
for God would walk with them more than in all the ages past. His Promise
was, "It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I do not go away
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto
you. . . . He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also."
(John
16:7, 14:12)
Our Lord has gone.
Where, oh, where is the Holy Spirit that was to come to take His place;
to carry on His uncompleted task; to work in the midst of His Church in
signs and wonders and gifts of the Holy Spirit? Has God died ? If so,
when? Or has God withdrawn so far away that He cannot hear? Can not God
talk any more? Have the angels deserted us for some other universe?
If so, when did they
forsake us? After all, is the Holy Spirit, this great power of God, this
great substitute for the miracle working Christ, the Christ whose words
the winds and waves obeyed, whose words burst the tombs, is this Great
Substitute just a gentle influence? Where is the Holy Spirit who shook
and filled a whole house of praying disciples and through them shook a
world?
If ever there was a Living God, if ever there
were angels, if ever there was a wonder-working Christ, if the Holy
Spirit was ever given, if the Bible is a supernatural revelation from
God, then such trances, visions, revelations, and workings of the Holy
Spirit as have been given Adullam are supernatural visitations from God
such as we should expect.
These trances, visions, revelations, and
supernatural manifestations are normal experiences in the supernaturally
founded, supernaturally filled, and supernaturally directed Church of
the New Testament, the only Church the Bible tells or foretells anything
about.
