IN AN UPPER ROOM, I received the Hoiy Spirit and spoke in a new language! Praise God for His goodness to the children of men! He has not left us as helpless orphans. He has kept His promise and sent another Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He is with us and in us forever. No longer are we lonely, weak and defeated; but rejoicing, happy and at home with God’s people. Victorious living is no longer a hoped-for thing but a living reality.

I was born in 1923 in Bucklin, Kansas, and grew to manhood in that area. There were nine children in our family, four older and four younger than myself. At the age of seven, I accepted Jesus as my Saviour during a revival meeting held in a small country school house southeast of Bucklin. When I was a junior in high school in Mineola, Kansas, I publicly confessed Christ as my Sayiour and Lord, and was baptized. A year later, during a revival meeting, I answered what I believed to be God’s call to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the fall of 1941, I entered San Jose Bible College at San Jose, California. By the time I graduated in the spring of 1945, I was married and was the proud father of our first child, Donna. That fall we went to Jamaica, British West Indies, as missionaries for the Churches of Christ. Since then we have served as pastor to four such churches in the U.S.A. and Canada.

On the ninth floor of the Hilton Hotel in Denver, Colorado, August 25, 1961, I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, God’s gracious gift to His children, and praised God in an unknown language. This occurred while I was attending the Rocky Mountain Regional Convention of FGBMFI.

After twelve years of preaching the Gospel in my own strength, I was "beat," discouraged and in debt. The God I preached and the one I knew by experience didn’t even seem to be related in any manner except in name. The God I preached was a great God of power, love and grace; the God I knew through experience was weak, confusing and wholly inadequate for the challenges of our day. So I had put my Bible back on the shelf and had determined to make money, the world’s symbol of power. For five years, I served as a manager and instructor of the world’s largest self-improvement course, a program of leadership training. I organized these classes and taught them with great zeal, but this did not bring victory to my life. The principles and techniques of this training were excellent; but it rested entirely upon human strength. In this day, the arm of flesh is not enough: man needs the living God!

In November, 1958, I was at the point of committing suicide. If it had not been for the grace of God, I believe I would have taken my life. The next two years were spent in desperate attempts to improve my financial situation, for I was bankrupt. Everything I tried failed. With my mind I searched every avenue of thought that came my way, seeking and hoping to be delivered from the miserable purging I was experiencing and the terrible mental pangs. But all was in vain. There is no mental gymnastic that will save a man from death!

It was November 1960, in a hotel room in Julesburg, Colorado, that I wrestled for three days and nights with the demon of total despair. Finally I surrendered to God and agreed to trust Him regardless of what happened, and began to go into action as He led me. This was not easy to do. I had taught others and had trained myself to plan my life and to trust no one except my own intelligence. God confirmed His grace and power to me in many clear and simple ways. He began to lead me in the path of righteousness - the path I had forsaken for money’s sake!

One of the greatest blessings was His leading me to FGBMFI. My first meeting, as a guest of Russ Byron, proved to be a great spiritual feast. I joined the Fellowship in heart and soul that morning and paid my annual dues. This meeting impressed me as being genuine and just the thing I needed. Each breakfast was more blessed and meaningful to me. When the Regional Convention was announced, I made up my mind to go all-out and attend each session. I invited Don Young, pastor of the Assembly of God Church in Julesburg, to go with me. This in itself is quite strange: for a Church of Christ preacher to ask an Assembly of God preacher to go to a Full Gospel Business Men’s convention. But what is even more confusing is when an Assembly of God pastor brings an Episcopal priest to lay hands on a Church of Christ preacher to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit! Well, this did happen, and I praise God that it did!

When John H. Osteen, Spirit-filled Baptist, delivered his message Thursday evening, my heart burned within me. Ever since I was seven years old, I had known that God had called me to a particular task, but I didn’t know what it was. Now I knew - to be God’s burning bush in the Churches of Christ! I knew that I could not do this in my own strength. "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it!" I had labored too many years in vain. Unless God empowered me to do this, I would not even attempt it!

Following the service on Thursday night, I went to the prayer meeting with those seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It was confusing to me, and nothing came of it but a feeling of emptiness.

The next morning at breakfast, there was given an invitation to all who wanted the Holy Spirit to stand. I couldn’t lie to myself, so I stood. Then we were instructed to kneel and pray, and others were encouraged to pray with us for the Baptism. After some time of praying, with nothing happening, I got up and sat on a chair with my head bowed in disappointment. I noticed Don Young, who had been praying with me, get up and leave. The next thing I knew, I was looking in the face of an Episcopal priest. His eyes were kind, and he spoke with a sense of understanding. After about two questions, he said, "Let’s go to my room."

We left the ballroom of the Hilton and went to his room on the ninth floor. After we had sat down, Dennis J. Bennett talked to me for some time, explaining the speaking in tongues and receiving of the Holy Spirit. Following this, he laid his hands on my head and prayed a short, clear prayer. I opened my mouth and began to speak, but not thinking any English words, and God gave me a new language with which to pray and praise His name! After I had spoken for a little while, Brother Bennett said, "I will now place my hands on you and pray that you may interpret." I began to speak again, without using my own selection of words, and English words were formed by my lips, and I understood clearly what I was speaking! With this, I was convinced that God was definitely dealing with me. We returned to the general assembly in the ballroom and my heart was filled with joy and peace.

Friday night, when I stood with others on the platform before the convention audience to give my testimony concerning my receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, I was filled with the power of God, and with great freedom and joy I bore witness to God’s grace!

The next morning as I lay awake on my bed, the tempter came and said, through the thoughts of my mind, "Can you now speak in tongues ?" My answer was, "Yes !" Immediately I opened my mouth and spoke with ease in tongues and interpreted!

Since this time, I have experienced great freedom in prayer and praise of God in the new tongue that God has given me. When blocked in the English language, I have spoken freely in this new tongue. This has resulted in my spirit being blessed and strengthened. God has set the captive free!

Following Oral Roberts’ message, which concluded the FGBMFI Convention, we drove to Julesburg, about 185 miles northeast of Denver. When I awoke the next morning and realized that I must tell the church and my wife of my experience, my heart was gripped with fear; but faith took over, and I didn’t worry but relied wholly on God to help me tell the truth. It was not that I didn’t want to tell them, but I feared their reaction. At the close of my Sunday morning message, I broke the news. To my joy and satisfaction, they all accepted my testimony, some manifesting keen interest in what I had said.

Now I live and preach in the realms of great expectancy! Souls are being saved and delivered from their sins. Now I expect God to accompany my preaching with signs and wonders. It is the only thing that will bring salvation and healing to our land. Anything less will be too little, too late. Now we can claim the victory in Jesus’ name and expect to receive it!

For twenty years, I have worked among the Churches of Christ. I know and have used practically every argument that has been advanced in these churches in opposition to the full administration of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers today. Acts 7:51 could be appropriately applied to us today in the Churches of Christ: "You stubborn and stiff-necked people, still heathenish and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are always actively resisting the Holy Spirit. As your fathers; so you !" God help us to believe in our hearts, and hear with our ears, what the Spirit says to the churches! Here are two direct commands we need to obey: "Be filled with the Holy Spirit;" and "Do not forbid speaking in tongues!"

I am thoroughly convinced that the majority of the people in the Churches of Christ are as hungry for the full administration of the Holy Spirit in their lives as any other group of Christians. I believe that the Church of Christ preachers have a veil of unbelief over their eyes every time they read the scriptures concerning the Holy Spirit. And I believe our people are held in fear of the full administration of the Holy Spirit in their lives. My earnest prayer to God is, that the veil shall be removed and the fear be replaced with the power of the love of God!