WHAT ENDED AZUSA STREET REVIVAL.
As long as the people are willing to be
obscure and not jockey for position or
recognition, the fire not only continues to
burn, but increases. As soon as self-seeking,
or self-preservation enters, the end is near.
This is precisely what brought an end to the
role that the little mission on Azusa Street
played in what was to become one of the
greatest moves of God in history. Seymour
was used mightily to begin the revival and
lead it through its most fragile times, but
then he, too, succumbed to the temptation to
exalt the lesser purposes above the higher
one.
For many months, the little mission was
filled with the glory of God. Awe and
wonder at the great things that God was
doing permeated every meeting. The larger
and more popular the movement became, the
more that the destroyer of revivals crept in,
which is almost always the CONTROL SPIRIT.
Bartleman issued a prophetic warning
that the grace of God would be lifted if they
tried to organize the move of the Holy Spirit.
He exhorted them that the Lord had to be
free to move and that the true Pentecost
could not become a sectarian barrier, but
must remain available to all people. "To try
to formulate a separate body is but to
advertise our failure," he concluded.
THE VERY NEXT DAY when the people came
to the meeting, there was a sign hanging on
the building, which read "Apostolic Faith
Mission." Bartleman knew then that the
beginning of the end had come for that little
mission. He was right.
From that time forward, the trouble and
division began. Rivalry between the mission
and other churches arose. The grace of the
Holy Spirit to subdue the presumptuous was
lifted, and contention entered the meetings.
Strange doctrines started to come forth and
bring more reproach. In the beginning, the
Spirit's work had been so deep, and the
people so hungry for only God, that any time
a carnal, human spirit was interjected into
the meetings it was discerned as easily as if
a stranger had broken into a private group.
Now open fanaticism went unchecked. The
handwriting was on the wall. The glory had
departed.
By the end of 1907, it seemed that a
control spirit had taken the place of the Holy
Spirit, not just at Azusa but at many of the
other Pentecostal meetings in the city as
well. There was little discernible love
between the brethren as the fights between
them became increasingly vicious. This was
the final affront to the presence of the Holy
Spirit at Azusa, and He departed. The move
would go on and ultimately become possibly
the greatest move of God in church history,
but the mission at Azusa faded into
obscurity, and then died altogether.
Today there is a parking lot where the
little mission stood. Although the revival's
ending was not what was desired, we can be
sure that in heaven, there is a monument to
the great souls of Azusa Street who wanted
God so much, they were willing to press
beyond the limits of their time and touch the
possibilities of eternity.
- Rick Joyner ( The fire that couldn't be quenched )
- Spiritual Notes