Gods Generals

For the next ten years, Lester Sumrall split his ministry time between his renewed pastorate in South Bend, Indiana, and his unquenchable call to minister to the lost overseas. In 1956, Lester felt a call to Israel and moved his family to Jerusalem. In that same year, the Sinai War was waged between Israel and Arab nations. Lester believed his family was in the middle of God’s will, and they remained in Jerusalem. Lester’s love for the Holy Land led to another ministry, and, over the next three decades, he led thousands of Christians on visits to Israel through his annual trip there.

Roberts Liardon tells us that in 1957, Lester followed the call of God to Hong Kong. While he was away from the South Bend church, Morris Cerullo became the interim pastor to lead the flock in Indiana. Lester was excited to return to Hong Kong. It had been over twenty years since he had ministered with Howard Carter in that thriving city. He knew in his heart that it was another city God had chosen to be an evangelistic center. Thus, Lester began New Life Temple on the fourth floor of a downtown office building.

The Chinese came to him in scores to hear the good news of salvation and healing through the blood of Jesus Christ. There was so much to tell the thousands of people who had been blessed by Lester Sumrall’s ministry. So, Louise and Lester began World Harvest Magazine to share the gospel through the written word. Lester had started writing books in the 1930s, beginning with Adventuring in Christ, about his trip around the world with Howard Carter. The Sumralls continued to produce books, knowing that doing so was another way to reach the lost with God’s message.

The next evangelistic center to be built was in Brasilia, Brazil. The heartbeat of the people could be reached from these large evangelistic centers. Evangelism brought people in to hear the Word, and biblical teaching and the power of the Holy Spirit kept them growing in Christ. Ministering in these centers, Lester laid hands on the sick and saw them healed in the mighty name of Jesus.

After Lester had conducted six weeks of revival services, the newly saved began asking for water baptism. More than sixty people walked to the local creek and were baptized by the skinny “Little Preacher,” as they called him.97 Recalling what he had seen other ministers do in the past, Lester baptized these people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they began to walk in the newness of life. Still, for this now eighteen-year-old preacher, it was as though he performed on a stage, somehow separated from the reality of the hearts and lives changing around him. He just watched as God took care of the people who were drawn to the gospel.

Roberts Liardon tells us that traveling throughout Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee, Lester con­tinued to preach with ferocious zeal in every church that invited him but felt no compassion for those who came to hear. He was angry and disgusted with them more often than he was friendly and warm.

Then, one night, all of that changed.

A full-scale revival was going on in a small schoolhouse in rural Tennessee, where Lester was preaching. The service began, and joyful praises were rising to the Lord in swinging harmony. Suddenly, the scene in front of Lester dramatically changed. He was no longer sitting in the schoolroom or aware of anyone or anything around him.

Lester was receiving his second vision from God, and it was even more dramatic than the first. It was a vision that he would share with millions of people around the globe for the rest of his life.

With his eyes wide open, Lester saw a great highway filled with the peoples of the world. Every nation was represented. He saw them dressed in the colorful, native costumes of their individual countries, walking in one stream of humanity. Japanese, Chinese, Africans, Euro­peans, Americans, and others all were walking quickly along the road together. Lester realized that he was seeing the highway of life.

James later recalled, “When he laid his hands upon me I felt as if a dozen hands were placed all over my body, and I felt every bone going back into place. I was instantly released and I was completely healed.”

Over the next two weeks, James gained strength and put on thirty-three pounds! Soon, he was able to return to work as an ironmaster. On Easter Monday, just a couple of weeks after his healing, he gave a testimony in Royal Albert Hall before thousands. The next morning, London’s Morning Post printed a story about the meeting with a headline that read, “London Audience Mesmerized.” Years later, James Gregson testified that he had never missed another day’s work after his healing.

Roberts Liardon tells us that Miss Edith Scarth was also gloriously healed during the Leeds cam­paign. She suffered from tuberculosis of the spine and had to lie flat on her back and be wheeled around in a spinal carriage. For years, she had worn a spinal jacket and splint that came up behind her head and was fastened to her forehead by a strap. On first hearing about Jeffreys’ meet­ings at Leeds, she was skeptical, but then, despairing, she determined to go and see for herself if God was really moving.

At the second meeting she attended, Edith embraced the message of salvation and was saved. Jeffreys called for prayer for those in need of healing, but there were too many for him to lay hands on individually. So, he asked them to stand for corporate prayer. By holding on to the seat in front of her, Edith managed to stand. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit moved in her body.

As suddenly as the beating had begun, it stopped. The mob, tired of its sport, picked up Bosworth and demanded that he leave town imme­diately rather than wait for the next train. Bleeding, and with his wrist pounding with pain, Bosworth picked up his suitcase with his other hand and began walking toward Dallas. An attempt to flag down a train on the way proved futile, so he continued on foot. Two days later, he reached home and collapsed in front of his frightened wife. It took a month of bed rest to recover, but Bosworth was thrilled that he had been able to walk all those miles in a glorious state of deep intercession. He was thankful to be alive and able to preach the Word of God. Not long after this, a report came to Fred and Estella that the two leaders of those mobs had met with separate and untimely deaths.

What follows is a letter that Bosworth wrote to his mother shortly after the beating:

Roberts Liardon tells us that we were so glad to get yours, Bert’s and Bertha’s letters this morn­ing and will answer at once to save you the unnecessary worry about me. When I wrote you from Calvert on my way home from Hearne, Tex., I started a letter telling you all about the mobbing and then thinking how it, might worry you, I tore up the first, letter and wrote you the other one, not, mentioning the pounding I got.

I did this only to save you from worrying. I have never seen any paper with the account, of this mobbing so I don’t know what the paper said, wish you would send me the paper. I heard day before yesterday. It was in one of the papers here and went and looked over the files but failed to find it.

Sometimes I hear people say, “That scripture jumped off the page at me!” I don’t normally look for glowing scriptures for my guidance, but if one glows, I’ll receive it!

Roberts Liardon tells us that when the Holy Spirit illuminates a scripture to you, it becomes a specific word from God. Praying in tongues helps these things come to you. It helps you to accurately express before God the inquiring and questioning that is in your spirit. And He likes to respond to you in specifics.

How To Overcome The Homebuyer’s Blues

Roberts Liardon tells us that it’s nice to know that it’s God’s will for you to own a home, but are you buying the right one? When you’re investing $ 150,000, you have to know what you’re getting into, my friend! It’s not like buying a piece of bubble gum! When you sign your name on that loan, you’re going to spend thirty, forty or maybe even fifty years paying that thing off. You don’t want to be in a house that’s not right for you! If you pray in tongues a lot, when you walk up the driveway, you’ll be sensitive enough to hear God say, “No, don’t buy it,” or, “Yes, It’s for you!”