Observations placeholder
Azusa street revival
Identifier
003038
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Azusa Street Revival was an historic Pentecostal revival meeting. It began with a meeting on April 14, 1906, and continued until roughly 1915. The revival was characterized by ecstatic spiritual experiences accompanied by speaking in tongues, “dramatic worship services, and inter-racial mingling”!! The participants received criticism from secular media and Christian theologians for behaviors considered to be “outrageous and unorthodox”. Today, the revival is considered by historians to be the primary catalyst for the spread of Pentecostalism in the 20th century.
BUT here I found shameful evidence that the persecution continues. Read any Christian USA based fundamentalist Internet site comments and they still call this form of practise – ‘the work of the Devil’; or ‘shameful’ or somehow ‘wrong’. The Puritanism and the dogma persist………….
“People falling, violently shaking and levitating, shouting and screaming, making all manner of animal noises, howling, screeching, and laughing hysterically and uncontrollably, creates an atmosphere of physical chaos confusion, in which demonic activity is commonly mistaken for a “wave of the Spirit."
Here, a totally bizarre statement….
Some people are natural healers...that is not a biblical observation, ………. "Natural healers" are what shamans, witches and mystics claim to be. These peoples are trained in their practice; they are not gifted by the Holy Spirit.
If not the ‘Holy Spirit’ what else? Aaaah ……..the Inquisition lives and it appears to live in
the USA……….
A description of the experience
Richard Riss.
“…here were also many signs of trembling, speechlessness, holy laughter, and drunkenness in the Spirit at Azusa Street during the outset of the Pentecostal revival... Continuous meetings were held there every day for a period of three years beginning in mid-April, 1906. The mission on Azusa Street published the well-known newspaper, THE APOSTOLIC FAITH [William Seymours Paper]… contains many accounts of these manifestations. For example…In the fourth issue (p. 4), G. W. Batman wrote, "I received the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire and now I feel the presence of the Holy Ghost, not only in my heart but in my lungs, my hands, my arms and all through my body and at times I am shaken like a locomotive steamed up and prepared for a long journey."
J. Roswell Flower
“The meetings began in the mornings and continued for at least 12 hours… There were no hymnals, no liturgy, no order of services. Most of the time there were no musical instruments. But around the room, men jumped and shouted. Women danced and sang. People sang sometimes together, yet with completely different syllables, rhythms, and melodies…’’