Acts 2:17 – And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Obviously, the Lord’s ways are not our ways. When He intends to advance His kingdom significantly its never the way we would have thought. He will use a fisherman, a shepherd, a streetwalker, or maybe a starchy academic. He does what He wants, when He wants and how He wants and through whom He wants. In the early 20th Century He chose a woman from Toronto, Canada who was a worker at a Salvation Army Church to become the most famous and successful evangelist of her day. It was Aimee Semple McPherson, the young Pentecostal widow of Evangelist Robert Semple, that the Lord chose to effect a generation.
Sister Aimee began to preach the gospel in tents and auditoriums across the nation until she built the 5000 seat Angeles Temple that still is being used today. Her ministry was characterized by the power of signs and wonders with thousands being miraculously healed. Here is a quote from Douglas Rudd about the early days of Sister Aimee’s healing ministry.
“One stop was in Baltimore, Maryland. Because news reached reporters of healings God had performed in Aimee’s meetings elsewhere, a newspaper headlined her as the “Miracle Woman.” The theater was packed with sick people as a result of such publicity. She peeked out at the stretchers and wheelchairs that filled the front, then ran down to the dressing room. She dropped on her knees and said, “Now, Lord, see what You’ve done. People up there with broken backs and in casts and wheelchairs. Oh, Lord, I can’t heal them.” The Lord said to her,
“You are the key on the typewriter. You are only a mouth through which the Holy Ghost can speak. Will you go now?”
“Yes, Lord, it is wonderful. I will speak and if they are not healed, it is your business.”
When the time came, she preached and then prayed for the sick. The Lord told her, “Now I lay My hand over yours. I AM the Lord that healeth.” To her surprise, and to her shame, there were more healings that day than she had witnessed in any other place. People with broken backs, Catholics and Protestants, just ran all around the theater.”
Sister Aimee also started the Pentecostal denomination called the Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Preaching this message the Foursquare Gospel, was the foundation of her ministry. The Foursquare Gospel was Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is coming soon for His bride.
We can glean something very important from the ministry of Sister Aimee. Her life and ministry was all about preaching the Foursquare Gospel and ministering by the Holy Spirit to hurting people.If you want to know what the church should look like this would be a great place to start.
