Then And Now

I had quite a surprise this week, but first a little background.

It is recorded in the second chapter of Acts that on the day of Pentecost 120 people were gathered together in one place in Jerusalem and "all were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance".  Devout Jews from every nation heard in their own languages those men and women "speaking of the mighty deeds of God".

Peter stands with the other apostles and explains to the crowd what has just happened;

"This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel; 'And it shall be in the last days God says that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy' ".

The gifts of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in other tongues and prophesying, enabled the early Church to grow and mature. There are numerous passages in Acts which show that tongues and prophesy were considered a normal part of any Christians life. Unfortunately history records that these and many of the other gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they are supposed to operate personally and corporately gradually became more and more unusual and less and less understood.

The gifts of tongues and the gifts of prophesy are much more varied than just speaking a language that other men understand or foretelling future events. Praise the Lord the operation and understanding has been restored in these days to a large part of the Church. And it began to happen in a very interesting way.

Any time there is a great revival, where hundreds and thousands and even millions of men and women come under conviction of sin and surrender their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it has been the work of the Holy Spirit that inspires and equips the leaders, that draws the crowds, that convicts of sin, that sets free the prisoner, that heals and delivers, that creates the desire and gives the ability to live a holy life, that proclaims truth and rejects error and that inspires the joy that only the redeemed can understand.

Beginning in the 1700's there were revivals in different parts of the world that had evidence of the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues and speaking prophetically. But the idea that these gifts should be commonplace in the Church had not yet taken hold. In the later part of the 1800's there were a number of groups and ministers who did begin to believe that gifts such as tongues were for today as well as speculating that tongues would actually be a sign that a believer had also been filled with an infusion of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then in 1901 an interesting thing happened. Let me quote here from The International Directory of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements in it's biography of Charles Parham;

"In the summer of 1900 Parham embarked on a tour of Holiness religious centers. The focus of his 12 week journey was Frank W. Sandford's Holiness commune in Shiloh, ME. Impressed with the emphasis throughout the Holiness movement on a "latter rain" outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Parham sought for himself a greater personal manifestation of this power. Through Sanford, he heard isolated reports of xenolalic tongues as missionaries. (My Note: "xenolalic" means actually speaking in a language that can be understood, as in Acts 2. Also, isn't it interesting that even today mainline denominational missionaries go abroad and get the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Just last month one of the main Baptists branches allowed their missionaries to continue to speak in tongues 'as a prayer language'.) Privately he drew great significance from the discovery.

Parham returned to Topeka in Sept. 1900 and optimistically secured quarters for a Bible school to prepare prospective missionaries for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit power. In an elaborate old mansion on the edge of town , he taught his students the essentials of Holiness doctrine and challenged them to search for the true evidence of Holy Spirit reception. He strategically directed them to the account of Acts 2 where xenolalic tongues sparked the initial phase of Christian growth, and on Jan. 1, 1901, one of Parham's students (Agnes Ozman) experienced the expected blessing and sign. During the next few days, Parham and about half of his student body of 34 were likewise baptized."

Now here is the exciting part, at least for me. My name is Robert LaBarge. In 1659 a Robert LaBerge emigrated from France to New France (Canada), the only person by that surname to have done so. One of his descendants, a Joseph LaBerge, in 1806 canoed from the Quebec area of New France to St. Louis, changing his name to LaBarge. He is my direct ancestor. In the book mentioned above it's biography of Agnes Ozman says that she was assured a place in Pentecostal history when she became the first to speak in tongues at Charles Parham's Bethel Bible College. After giving her background it goes on to say that subsequent to her tongues experience in 1901 "she returned to city mission work. In Lincoln in 1906 she heard about Pentecostalism, related her earlier experience, and identified with the emergent movement. In 1911 she married Pentecostal preacher Philemon LaBerge. The two traveled about the country holding meetings where ever possible. In 1917 LaBerge affiliated with the Assemblies of God, receiving credentials as an evangelist."

For years I had thought that perhaps I was the first LaBarge who had left the Catholic Church (although I had received my Charismatic experience while a Catholic) for the green pastures of evangelical thought. Now I find out that, like a lot of things apparently, I was a little slow on the uptake. It sort of makes you feel that you are part of something in God's plan that is much bigger and more complex than one would ever realize.

Agnes and Philemon LaBerge were at the beginning of a movement that according to Pew research in 2011 now numbers over 500 million Pentecostals and Charismatics world wide. The Spirit is moving, lives are being changed, the gifts have been restored and it is now common place for men and women to pray in the Spirit. I speak or sing in tongues several times throughout the day, every day. It's a family thing.