Roberts Liardon

What had happened to the word the Lord had given him that he was to bring the message of God’s healing power to his generation? Most of the people in the churches he served did not believe in or seem to care about the healing power of Christ. Oral recalls, “At this time, I had a feeling of destiny. A miraculous power was at my fingertips. I could feel it. I was frustrated and filled with inner conflicts, but I had the feeling that someday God’s power would come into my life and I would deliver humanity.”

Roberts Liardon tells us that even though Oral tried to drown out the voice of God with activities, he couldn’t forget that clear call: “I have called you to proclaim My healing power….” In 1947, Oral began to cry out to God for a new direction—a ministry according to the prophetic word given to him. Oral Roberts was nearly thirty years old and feeling a dryness in his walk with Christ. In prayer day and night, crying out for God’s power and anointing, Oral began a life-changing study of the four Gospels and the book of Acts, asking the Lord to reveal Himself. Oral spent nights on his knees reading the Bible, “sometimes laughing, sometimes crying; sometimes shaken to the depths of my soul.”

Through reading the Word and praying, Oral discovered that the Jesus of the Bible was:

• A Man of heartfelt compassion and vibrant power.

• A responder to the desperate need of the people around Him, as Jesus spent two-thirds of His time healing the sick and performing miracles.

• A miracle worker whose works were to be surpassed by His disciples through His name.

• A giver of the miraculous power by sending the Holy Spirit.

Roberts Liardon tells us that from the time of his dramatic conver­sion and healing from tuberculosis at the age of seventeen until he went home to be with the Lord at the age of eighty-three, Lester Sumrall lived a life of obedience. He spent hours seeking the Lord’s will and learned to hear His voice with surety.

To Lester Sumrall, “faith was a pilgrim­age with God—just breaking loose from ev­erything and saying, ‘Lord, have Your way. I’m walking with You.’” When he left his pastorate to go to minister in Manila, he spoke of the pain of leaving those he had led to Christ. Yet, he did it out of obedience to God’s calling.

Years later, he wrote that if God asked him to leave once again—his television stations, his great church, and his international headquarters—he would do it without losing one night’s sleep.

Why? Because, to Lester Sumrall, faith was a walk of life itself. Was he willing to go with God? Abraham was, and he became the father of the greatest nation that ever lived—the nation of God’s people. Lester was determined that he would walk in faith, as well.

Lester Sumrall was always ready to move to a new place in God. He was never afraid of the Holy Spirit leading in some new direction, as long as it was confirmed in the Word of God. When he studied all of the powerful moves of God in Christian history, he concluded emphatically:

• If I had lived during the time of Martin Luther, I would have become a Lutheran, because they were the ones who were carrying the banner of God.

• If I had been living in the days of John Knox, I would have joined the Presbyterians, because they were carrying the flames of revival.

• If I had lived in the days of John Wesley, I would have joined the Methodists, because that was where God was moving.

• If I had been living in the time when the Salvation Army was founded by William Booth, I would have joined that group, gone to the street corners, and “tooted a horn” for Jesus, because they were getting people saved.

• I want to be where the blessing of God is being poured out…where the anointing is on people.

Roberts Liardon tells us that there was nothing ordinary about these newlyweds. After a brief honeymoon in Niagara Falls, Canada, Lester and Louise planned their first missionary journey together. The rest of the world was still wrapped up in the battles of World War II, so the Sumralls headed back to South America. For Lester and Louise, this time was an extended honeymoon of 50,000 miles of preaching and singing about the Lord around the continent where they had met and fallen in love. Through their crusade ministry, they saw souls come to salvation and delivered from the occult, and countless people in South America were healed of their diseases.

An especially important healing prayer for Lester took place in Puerto Rico. There, in dirty living conditions, his young bride contracted a fatal form of malaria. The American doctor gave up all hope of seeing Louise rise from her sickbed, and Lester was devastated. His beautiful bride was more precious to him than he had imagined, and he was about to lose her so early in their life together.

Throwing himself on his knees in prayer, he reminded God of His covenant of healing with His people. Then, he laid hands on Louise and prayed for her divine recovery from malaria. Within days, her fever broke, and she was soon well again! How that miracle stirred their faith for the healing message of Christ! They preached with a renewed fervor for God’s power and His goodness toward those who believe.

“Mystery! Wonder! Providence! Here I was on my way to Australia to meet and travel around the world with a man I had only met once. How strange.” This excerpt is from Lester’s diary entry on the first day sailing on the R.M.S. Makura for Australia. Lester was reflecting with amazement on how the Lord had brought him to the place where he was. Although he had only twelve dollars to his name, he had faith to believe God would make a way. The pastor who had driven him to the docked ship had expressed concern, saying, “Lester, you will starve.” The young man’s response had been to suggest that if that happened, his tombstone should be inscribed: “Here lies Lester Sumrall—starved to death trusting Jesus.”

Roberts Liardon tells us that no church or mission society was backing or supporting Lester and Howard on their journey. However, Howard had told Lester that they needed to travel by faith and never ask for help or even mention to anyone but the Lord that they had a need. As the ship sailed out of the San Francisco Harbor and into the vast Pacific, Lester resolved that he would spend his lifetime adventuring for Christ. He looked at his finances and declared, “If God could feed Elijah by the brook of Cherith, He can supply our needs.” (See 1 Kings 17:2–4.)

The first great challenge to his faith for God’s provision came as the ship entered the port in Sydney, Australia, seven weeks later. The Australian government informed the passengers that they couldn’t disembark unless they had the equivalent of 200 English pounds to bring with them into the country.

Who was Howard Carter, and what role did this powerful man of God have in Lester Sumrall’s early ministry? Lester often called the years he spent traveling the world with Brother Carter the “highlight of his life.” The heartfelt love of a father had been tragically missing from Lester’s early relationship with his natural father, and the Lord saw fit to restore that affection to him through Howard. At the time of their miraculous meeting in Arkansas, Howard was in his early forties, and Lester was barely twenty.

Howard was a true British aristocrat, in every sense of the word—refined, well-educated, and wealthy. Beyond that, he was a vibrant man of God, sold out to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of using his wealth and position for leisure, though, he dedicated it all to the work of the kingdom of God. His inheritance was willingly invested in the Hampstead Bible College, with much of the money providing free tuition for ministry students in need.

Roberts Liardon tells us that during World War I, Howard had been arrested and imprisoned for a time as a conscientious objector. As other powerhouse believers of the past, Howard had used his time in prison to meditate deeply on God’s Word. He’d yearned to grasp the contemporary purpose and place of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. After studying at great length, he wrote an important book, Questions and Answers on Spiritual Gifts, about the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. This work became a foundation for the early twentieth-century Pentecostal movement and is still the basis of much of our understanding of the gifts of the Spirit today. It was to this humble, dedicated teacher of the Word that God entrusted the formation of Lester’s ministry heart.

Phillips, on the other hand, had grown up in a family that had monetary experience. Among his father’s side of the family was the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London, as well as others who had been financiers and businessmen in both Great Britain and South Africa. His father had become a Christian and had brought up his son in the church. Normal church life for Phillips would have been much calmer and more “ordinary” than the fire-filled, Spirit-led revival meetings Jeffreys had experienced.

When Phillips received the baptism in the Holy Spirit at the age of sixteen, he believed it was “to empower him to live a life fully consecrated for God.”

Jeffreys and Phillips had worked in close harmony in the leadership of the Elim movement, writing letters to each other daily and exchanging ideas. They didn’t make any decisions about the campaigns or the ministry without consulting each other. They certainly didn’t agree on everything, but they had a close relationship built on years of trust. Together, they had faced fierce persecution against the early Pentecostal ministers in Britain. And, together, they had enjoyed the success of the ministry. They were, without question, the two leaders of the Elim movement.

Roberts Liardone tells us that the major change in the government of the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance occurred on April 10, 1934, with the adoption of new church legislation called the Deed Poll. Prior to this time, all decisions for the Elim movement had been made by Jeffreys and Phillips. With the adoption of the Deed Poll, an Executive Council of nine would have legislative authority in the denomination. The nine would consist of Jeffreys and Phillips, three people nominated by Jeffreys, and four others elected from within the denomination. With this decision, Jeffreys gave up his vote on the governing council. It was a decision he would come to regret in the years that followed.

When George was fifteen years old, his life changed radically, as did the life of his brother Stephen. A Spirit-filled young man named Evan Roberts began preaching throughout the Welsh countryside, bringing a powerful move of the Holy Spirit wherever he went.

From the age of thirteen, Roberts had cried out for a visit from God. For ten years, he had prayed for revival to come to Wales. Then, in 1903, at the age of twenty-five, he began to pray for a mighty movement of the Holy Spirit. That year, after hearing a message about surrendering to God, he fell to his knees and asked the Lord to bend him and use him for His glory. He felt the peace and power of God visit him, as well as a burning desire to bring the gospel of Christ to people throughout Wales.

Roberts Liardon tells us that beginning in November 1904, as Roberts preached in churches and at outdoor meetings, the Holy Spirit was poured out. There was weeping and brokenness, confession of sin, and repentance at every meeting. The Welsh Revival had begun. Revival sessions were held wherever Roberts was led to minister. The crowds would come, and the Holy Spirit would move in waves upon the people’s hearts. Singing and praise would go on, sometimes for hours, followed by confession of sin and holy repentance.

Prayer was lifted in unison, and members of the congregation often interrupted the prayers with a word from the Lord. These meetings would go on into the early-morning hours, with the Spirit moving in people’s hearts, even when there was little or no preaching.

Tens of thousands streamed to the daily sessions and were converted by the power of God. The effect on Wales was enormous. Bars and public houses were closed; liquor sales were down by 75 percent. Chapels were open, and church numbers were growing. During the course of the Welsh Revival, hundreds of thousands of people were converted.

F. F. Bosworth was a simple man with a heart to bring the lost to Christ. He believed that physical healing was included in the atonement and that true healings would draw crowds to hear the message of Christ’s salvation, the ultimate goal. He was also a very deliberate man, so he looked for confirmation of each healing that took place. Often, the local newspapers would record in detail the miracles that had occurred on those August nights in Lima.

In an article published in the National Labor Tribune, a newspaper in nearby Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bertram Miller wrote of the miracu­lous Bosworth campaign, “There has been no criticism from the pub­lic press, no fanaticism or carnal emotionalism at any of the services…. Many denominations and nationalities were in attendance at the meet­ings, and many were saved and wonderfully healed, wondering why they had never heard the full gospel before….”

Roberts Liardon tells us that some were healed instantly, many at their homes in the following days. At one service alone, there were ten doctors present watching the proceedings with deep interest. Several of them had terminally ill pa­tients of their own healed before their very eyes.

After several weeks of ministering in Lima, the Bosworth team moved on to Pittsburgh. Many of the newly healed went with them, eager to help in the work and pray for the sick themselves. Bosworth never believed that healing came through his hands alone but through faith in God’s Word that built up in the hearts of those who needed healing.

The miracles in Pittsburgh surpassed those in Lima. No church was large enough to accommodate the crowds, so the meetings were held in Carnegie Hall in Oakland, a suburb near downtown Pittsburgh. The National Labor Tribune continued to report on the amazing meetings as they were occurring.

F. F. Bosworth was a frontier evangelist, a pioneer Christian radio broadcaster, one of the most successful healing evangelists of the 1920s, and a man who created a bridge to the healing re­vivalists of the 1940s and 1950s. From his visit to Azusa Street and on, Fred Bosworth was a corner­stone of the modern Pentecostal movement.

In his early revivals, Bosworth came in contact with other Pentecostal leaders, such as John Al­exander Dowie, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Charles F. Parham, John G. Lake, Paul Rader, and E. W. Kenyon. Years later, in the 1950s, with his vast knowledge of the Scriptures and his broad experi­ence as a healing evangelist, he became a mentor for men like Jack Coe, a young Oral Roberts, Ern Baxter, and many in James Gordon Lindsay’s “Voice of Healing” group. He built an es­pecially close mentoring relationship with William Branham and T. L. Osborne. Baxter traveled with these men to South Africa and may have attended the Branham-Bosworth meetings in the States, as well.

F. F. Bosworth was a man of great integrity and honor. He was not overcome with emotionalism in the healing ministry but steadily looked to God to fulfill His Word. Because of this, he never wanted people to claim healings due to emotional responses. Bosworth faithfully recorded the names and addresses of those who were healed through his ministry. To him, they were the “witnesses,” living proof that God’s Spirit was at work among His people to heal. Bosworth welcomed doctors’ confirma­tions of the healings, as well.

Roberts Liardon tells us that as a result, during his years in ministry, Bosworth accumulated over 250,000 letters and testimonies from people who had been touched by his messages. A number of those testimonies will be shared in these pages as we look at one of God’s true generals, who led some astounding healing revivals in the early twentieth century. Yet Bosworth always stated that his primary focus was evangelism, then healing.

Roberts Liardon tells us that you also have to develop the ability to cooperate with the Holy Spirit when He bubbles up new words in your prayer language. Just like English opens up the world that speaks English and German opens up the world that speaks German, praying in tongues opens up the world of the spirit to you.

When I go to Russia, I usually take an interpreter along to help me. When I arrive at the airport in Moscow, I become dependent upon my interpreter as soon as I get off the plane because I don’t know Russian.

My interpreter has the ability to get the job done, because he knows the language. Sometimes my interpreter will be real nice to people and talk to them real sweet in Russian and other times you’d think he’s a part of the Red Army about to attack! When I ask my interpreter what’s going on he just says, “I’m taking care of it.”

Roberts Liardon tells us that sometimes he’ll inquire about something and other times he will be giving commands. I can usually tell what he’s doing by the sound of his words, but I don’t know what he’s actually saying.

The same way my interpreter speaks for me, when I’m in Russia, the Holy Spirit speaks through me when I’m in the spirit.

When I am preaching with an interpreter, for the most part I ignore the interpreter and keep my eyes upon whom I’m speaking to. I have to just trust that my interpreter is going to accurately translate what I have said to the people. The whole world can be opened up to me through helpers called: interpreters.