The Wondrous Value of Healing (Adventures in Religion #3)

By John G. Lake
June 26, 1935

For a moment I want to call attention to a challenge that has been distributed widely through the ministry of Henry Fosdick, as I mentioned yesterday. Fosdick has said, “Until the new theology can produce the sinless character of the old theology, it (the new theology) stands challenged.”

That is our position. We are reminding you, friends, that God is a miracle God. God is a miracle; Jesus Christ is a miracle; His birth was a miracle; His life was a miracle; His death was a miracle; His resurrection from the grave was a miracle; His ascension was a miracle; His reception at the Throne of God by the eternal Father was the greatest of all miracles, because that God then gave Him the gift of the Holy Ghost, and made Him the administrator of the Spirit forever.

Some things can be better taught by relating experiences than in any other way. I might try to impress you with the beauty and wonder of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, but dear friends, I think the relating of a few experiences will make it clearer to our mind than any other way.

I am reminded of an incident that took place on a railway train. Father Neiswender was stricken with a paralytic stroke. He had not been able to sleep for weeks. When they got him on a train to bring him to Spokane the motion of the train temporarily soothed him and he fell asleep and dreamed. In his dream an angel came to him and said, “When you get to Spokane, inquire for a man by the name of Lake. He will pray for you and God will heal you.” He was directed to our place and when we prayed for him he immediately began to use his paralysed arm and side, but was not completely delivered. The third time I went to pray the Lord showed me a blood clot in the spinal chord as large as a bead. I prayed until the blood clot disappeared. No one could explain an incident like that by any natural law. Consequently we must classify it in the line of miracles IN OUR DAY- not a thousand years ago.

One more incident of this order. A family by the name of Bashor had a lovely boy who became dissatisfied at home and ran away. He went to a farmer where he was not known, gave another name, and worked for him for a year. In the meantime the family with the aid of the police searched everywhere for the boy, but he could hot be found. One day the mother came to me broken hearted and told me the story. We knelt and prayed and asked God that He would cause that boy to get in touch with his parents. Two days later she received a letter from the boy. He told her that on the night we had prayed he went to bed and had an unusual vision. Jesus appeared and talked to him. Jesus said, “I forgive your sins, but I want you to write to your mother, and get home to your folks.” The boy was greatly moved, got up and told the farmer the incident, and the result was the farmer hitched up his team and brought the boy in to his home. That boy is now married and has a nice family, and still lives in Spokane, The part of that incident that might interest young folks is this. I was preaching at Mica, Wash. where I related this incident. A young lady in the audience listened to the story, and after the meeting she said to me, “I would like to get acquainted with that young man.” She did and he is her husband.

Dear friends, these are some of the things that show us that there is a work of God’s Spirit different from what we are ordinarily accustomed to, and these are the things that make religion real to New Testament Christians. Different ones in the Scriptures were guided by dreams. Joseph was guided by dreams, some were guided by a Voice from heaven. Now we are contending and bringing to your attention that there was an experience provided by the Lord Himself that made that intimacy a possibility. That is, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I wish I might say that with such emphasis that it would penetrate the deep recesses of your spirit.

One more incident. Over in the woods back of Kellog, Idaho, lived a family by the name of Hunt. I visited in their home just a little while ago. His aged father was given up to die; the son was very anxious about him. The father kept saying, “Son, I ought not to die.” The son had been much in prayer about this matter. One day he stood on a log road and presently he said a man appeared a little distance ahead, and as the gentleman approached he addressed Mr Hunt saying, “I am Mr Lake. I have Healing Rooms in Spokane. If you will bring your father there, the Lord will heal him.” He was so impressed, that he got his father and brought him to me for prayer, and the Lord healed him gloriously and he lived many years.