On September 22, 1955 nine of the larger congregations of the non-instrumental branch of the Church of Christ, acting in unison, inserted half-page advertisements in the Santa Ana, California Register, Orange County’s largest daily newspaper, offering $1,000 reward for one proven modern-day miraculous healing. The word of three local accredited medical doctors was all the proof required. A prominent evangelist engaged in a healing ministry had pitched his huge tent at the corner of the Santa Ana freeway and La Palma Street in Anaheim, and they were out to prove him. The money was in a Fullerton bank, and the offer was made in good faith. When the evangelist moved on at the end of his scheduled appearance without laying claim to the money, the congregations and their ministers who had inserted the ad, were sure that the miracles claimed during the meetings were false and the evangelist guilty of making merchandise of gullible people (II Peter 2:1-3). These men were sincere. I know, because since the congregation for which I preached was alphabetically ahead of the other eight, my name headed the list of those making the attack. I mention this here so that it can be held in contrast with my present views. Of course, God did heal and deliver many in those meetings. What I see now that I did not see then, was that I and my brethren were allowing externals to blind and hinder our objectivity to where we could not see what the Scriptures actually did say, and the results that really did occur through the prayer of faith.

I had been born and raised in a Church of Christ environment. My father and a grandfather had been elders in that body. I had attended two colleges operated by our brethren. My wife’s family is of that persuasion. We have raised our five children in the church, with them rarely missing a service any time in any week from the time they were a week old, except for what our people call a providential hindrance." At the time of my breaking with my people over the matter of the Holy Spirit, I had been preaching for sixteen years in a number of congregations. I knew all of the reasons our people give for disbelieving in the miraculous for today, and believed that all such ceased with the writing of the New Testament.

In 1962 my family moved to the San Diego, California area where I became the minister for one of the larger congregations. f Shortly after settling there, word came that a well-known doctor and his wife, Church of Christ members from families which had also been such for generations, had received a baptism in the Holy Spirit. An elder and I were talking of this, and wondered how someone so well-grounded in the Scriptures and secularly educated could be led off into such an unscriptural doctrine. It occurred to us that such a doctrine might rise up among us, and that someone ought to make a more careful study of the matter so as to be able to "nip it in the bud," if and when it did. It was suggested that I make such a study, and I accepted the challenge.

Thus, as time from a busy ministry would allow, I began to study and compile information relating to the Holy Spirit. Almost simultaneously with the beginning of the study, I received a copy of Trinity magazine (no longer being published) in the mail from some anonymous sender. It was filled with well-written testimonies and teachings relating to a baptismal filling with the Holy Spirit occurring among ministers and lay people in many different mainline Christian denominations. The subjects were, in the main, well educated and consisted mostly of professional people, businessmen, teachers and clergymen. Realizing that these could not be dismissed as ignorant, psychotic, neurotic or hypnotic, I determined to search the Scriptures myself rather than depend upon the findings of someone else, regardless of how well thought of he was in the brotherhood.

In February of 1963 a minister’s retreat was held in the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego and I was assigned to conduct a forum on a subject of my own choosing. I prepared a questionnaire on the Holy Spirit, introduced it and sat back to listen. I was soon startled by what I was hearing. Here were over twenty prominent Church of Christ ministers - respected, honored, and familiar with the Scriptures. On most any subject they would instantly give chapter and verse to undergird their position, but here on the matter of the Holy Spirit they were not doing so. I heard coined brotherhood expressions, interpretations, explanations and assumptions - and such things as: "Let’s not rock the boat," "One might lose his pulpit if he said too much about this," and "Don’t forget how hard we have worked to get our standing in the brotherhood."

I left the retreat sensing that something was not right. For the next year or so I pursued the study at every opportunity, staying largely with the Scriptures themselves. I ran all the references in the Bible on the Holy Spirit and related matters, placed them in different categories for comparison, and made copius notes. At no time did I personally study with a "Pentecostal" preacher or teacher, or attend one of their meetings. I did secure several additional copies of Trinity, and several copies of VIEW and VOICE, publications of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. A few tracts also found their way into my hands. As I studied I became aware that mine and the brotherhood’s approach to the Holy Spirit question called for side-stepping certain passages, lifting others from their context, and building doctrine on assumptions. I came to feel that some of our criticism of those who believed in a baptism in the Holy Spirit was unjustified, and on the other hand to see that they had problems, abuses, traditions, and blind spots as well as we, and were trying to do something about them. I came to realize that there was no passage of scripture, taken in its own context, which stated that the miraculous would cease when the original apostles died or the New Testament was written. In fact, the Scriptures said nothing about an apostolic dispensation. I was surprised to find that reliable history records much miraculous activity centuries after the death of the apostles, and became aware that all basic Christian doctrines were initially given to the apostles with the intention of their being passed on to succeeding generations - including a filling with the Holy Spirit with accompanying manifestations. It surprised me to find that the "gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2 :38-89) promised to all was what Cornelius and his household had received, accompanied with evidence seen and heard (Acts 2:33; 10:44-47). Our church doctrine maintained there was a difference.

My study led me to see that in all of the Bible there was but one passage (I Cor. 13 :8-10) which even hinted that anything of the miraculous would cease at some time. Rather than stating that the manifesting agent would cease, it spoke of "parts" - that produced by the agent - ceasing. Thus it states that "prophecies," not "prophecy," would cease. The time when they would cease was based on Christian maturity ("perfect") and not on the apostolic lifetime or the writing of the New Testament, as our doctrine dictated. While only knowledge, prophecies and tongues were said to cease, I realized that we had added to the list to the point of removing all of the supernatural from the Scriptures, which are supposed to guide us into all truth. I noted that if "childish things" (I Cor. 13 :11) referred to the gifts rather than to the Corinthian Christians’ behavior, then the Apostle Paul was giving strange admonitions in the 14th chapter when he time and again urged disciples to seek the gifts. Was he urging childishness? Of course not. Realizing that Paul was contrasting the divisive, factional, schismatic behavior of the Corinthians (I Cor. 12) with love rather than with the gifts, I saw that parts - a person, a gift, or both - are never the whole, and when used wrongly or rightly have only so much to contribute to the whole and then, having made their contribution, cease. It appears that Paul is saying, "Boast not in the limited part you are allowed to play, but seek instead and glory in the more permanent and important matters of faith, hope and love.’’

One morning, alone in the church building, as I was contemplating these matters I pushed my chair from my desk and, singing at the top of my voice, made my way to the communion preparation room to make myself a cup of instant. The words and tune of the song I sang was, "How Great Thou Art," but my mind was on the other matters. I had heated the water and was pouring it on the instant, when I suddenly became aware that the words coming from my lips were to the same tune, but were not English. They were strange words, and while I did not cease singing, I did soften down considerably and found myself analyzing what was taking place. No power seemed to have hold of me, yet the words rolled out smoothly and fit perfectly with the tune. I had no idea of what word would come next and I knew that I could stop anytime I wanted to, which is what I did after a few moments of enjoying what was going on. I thought that if this was a tongue as mentioned in I Corinthians 14 then I should be able to speak. I tried, but to no avail. I began singing again and the strange words came, but I still couldn’t speak conversationally. In thinking of this I remember that I was not worked up emotionally, was not sick, and in no way felt abnormal. In fact, physically, mentally, and emotionally I was as normal as a normal, contented person could be.

While at the time I noticed nothing unusual about the above incident, in the following week, quite unconsciously at first, I became aware that I was beginning to look at others in a different light and to feel a depth of brotherly love and concern for everyone such as I had never felt before. When someone would confide in me, I had a genuine interest and found tears forming, which was unusual. Also, the Scriptures began to take on a new light and depth. In passages I had read all my life I now saw matters I had not seen before. Since I found myself unable to speak in a tongue, even with this singing experience, I was not ready to acknowledge that I had been filled with the Spirit but did sense that the Lord was at work in my life as He had not been before.

The Lord provided us with the means. A Christian gentleman, perhaps the best-known evangelist in the brotherhood, was coming to our congregation for a series of meetings. We agreed to take him into our confidence. Material was arranged in such a way as to be presented on charts. Two sheets were secured and prepared for the presentation. In addition to this brother I also invited a former college president and a minister-elder friend. On a Saturday morning the three listened for over two hours. Having no inkling of what was in store, they listened quietly, attentively, patiently and in amazement. At the conclusion, I asked them to please show me where I was mistaken. One of them said little, and later indicated basic agreement. The others used the same brotherhood arguments that I had used myself so often - largely assumptions, interpretations and explanations demanded by brotherhood position. When these failed, an appeal was made towards what such convictions would do to my brotherhood image, such as no church allowing me to preach and so on. If there had been any doubts about my new convictions prior to that meeting, they were all gone when it was concluded. The more they reasoned, the more apparent it became that the Lord had directed my study. I was Determined to be faithful to Him and my convictions, and praised Him for giving me these notable men with which to share them. May God hasten to open their eyes also.

On the following day (Sunday), my wife and I revealed our convictions to the elders and deacons, and on Monday evening were releaved of our duties. In order to feed my family we moved to Santa Ana, California where, due to the goodness of Christian loved ones, I went into the auto supply business and the Lord provided us with what we needed. We continued our studies and sought the Holy Spirit in His fullness. The wife and I and our two children who are still at home have all received the Spirit with the accompaning manifestation of tongues. Although I had sung in a language I did not understand, I was not content, and sought God until He blessed me with the ability to pray and converse with Him at will in a new tongue. This occurred on Sunday at midday, as I sat in a chair in an upstairs bedroom alone, not seeking a manifestation of the Spirit but just rejoicing in the Lord. Since then, I find that I can use this tongue almost at will.

We worshipped with the Church of Christ for awhile, but found it difficult to serve the Lord as we wished, since it was almost impossible to lead others to Him and then have them exposed to teaching from the pulpit and classroom that was adverse to a complete Gospel. In time we became identified with the Anaheim Christian Center Church where we became Bible school teachers and I became one of their elders. It was while at Christian Center that I was asked to move to San Diego and work with the downtown congregation of the Church of Christ. We made our convictions known to them and stipulated that in coming there would be no restrictions and that the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures, not man, were to structure the congregation. This was acceptable to them. The Lord sold our business and our house and we are now back in San Diego.

God has led us to recognize that believing and accepting more of His Holy Spirit in our lives today does not necessarily make us any less a member of Christ’s Church or more a member of some other denomination. In fact, we can see that all religious organizations, as does the Church of Christ, have their share of customs, practices, and traditions which need to be scrutinized in the light of the Scriptures. Just as Jesus loved all the people of all the "denominations" existing in His day, and freely associated with them in an attempt to call out His sheep, so today the Holy Spirit belongs exclusively to none of our denominational bodies but works in all.