"Hey, it won't be long now!"

For months during the darkest days of World War II I heard a middle-aged newsboy at the corner of 5th and Hill Streets in Los Angeles holler that hope! People could hear him for blocks. There was little to encourage expectation of an end to the conflict with Germany and Japan when he first started shout- ing the hope! But he kept on repeating the pitch to sell papers. People at first shook their heads as if the idea was impossible. But as the tide turned their frowns changed to smiles. And eventually the war ended.

From the beginning of the contemporary Pentecostal movement at Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles in April 1906 you could paraphrase interpreta- tions of tongues and prophecies with the same headline: "It won't be long now!" Only the expectation heralded not the end of a particular crisis but the second coming of Jesus Christ which in its aspect of the Revelation will end all wars for a thousand years, and in its aspect of the Rapture will translate believers from the scene of wars here on earth. "Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming soon!" the interpretations and prophetic utterances signaled. I remember hearing Aimee Semple McPherson, Foursquaredom's founder, on nu- merous occasions in Angelus Temple and L. I. F. E. Bible College calling attention to this frequent phenomena! Almost every person baptized in the Holy Ghost in the services expressed the expectation! Jesus is coming again! Jesus is coming soon!

From the beginning of her ministry Sister preached the Foursquare Gospel of "Jesus, only Savior, Baptizer, Healer, Jesus the Coming King," even before Šthat momentous day in Oakland, CA in 1922 when he first articulated the phra- seology! Her magazine she called "The Bridal Call," later "The Bridal Call Foursquare" and the "Bridal Call-Crusader." Almost every issue featured emphasis on Christ's second coming. Her first two books likewise featured this phase, "The Second Coming of Christ" and "When the Fig Tree Puts Forth its Leaves," both now out of print. But Foursquaredom has never been alone in the Pentecostal Movement in preaching Jesus the coming king. In prose, poet- ry, and prophetic utterances the subject proved prominent in most meetings whether in churches or homes!

The looking for "that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13) had been heralded supernaturally for thirty years throughout Pentecostal circles for three decades before a group of colored people who had witnessed the 1906 outpouring at Azusa Street Mission came to Angelus Temple and requested to use the facilities for the 30th anniversary celebration of the outpouring there which Donald Gee and others have hailed as the beginning of the modern Pentecostal movement. I wondered at the time why they did not conduct the celebration at the Azusa Street Mission itself. Later the "Dictionary of the Pentecostal and Charis- matic Movements" would relate that the mission was torn down that very year to make room for--you guessed it!--a parking lot!

So in April 1936 Elder and Mother Cotton led a host of saints from many parts of the world who came to the Temple for a week of celebration. The Cottons, and many others, stayed for five months, well into September, or returned from time to time to minister there. And Pentecostal eschatology was prominently proclaimed. "Holy Ghost Rallies" began in April and continued almost every month for years. August 1936 was the only month where two such dawn to midnight marathons of preaching, worship, and other ministries were scheduled, and both of them were called "Second Coming Rallies." Pentecostal preachers from most movements as well as from independent churches shared the Angelus Temple pulpit hourly. Sister McPherson assigned each outlines which were printed in the "Foursquare Crusader" the Wednesday before the Friday or ŠMonday rallies. I attended both of those rallies from beginning to end. Since interpretations of tongues and messages in prophecy frequently inter- rupted (that's a wrong word) the proceedings Sister invited any in the audi- ence who often gave interpretations and prophecies to come forward and sit in the choir lofts and tiers of chair on the stage behind the platform so that their ministries might be heard better throughout the auditorium which usually was packed to the dome during the evening sessions. Only about 1500 were present when the rallies commenced at 6 a.m. but from beginning to end vocal gifts abounded and many of them emphasized the second coming of Jesus.

Songs about the second coming also were sung repeatedly during the rallies and the other four services a day at that time in the Temple. Audi- ences really relished "We need the rain! We need the latter rain!" This had many "verses" including, "Singing in the rain," "Dancing in the rain," "Send us the rain," "Pour out the rain," but the two which proved most popular were "He's coming in the rain!" and "We'll meet him in the rain! People used a phrase then, "The power fell!" and what ovations of praise and glory flooded the auditorium often after those "verses" were led by Sister, the Cottons or Larry Newsome. Another multiple verse chorus about the rapture also excited praises, "John saw that number... all robed in white," "That blood-washed number," "O see them coming...", "The overcomers," and especially, "I'm in that number."

A chorus introduced for children caught on with all ages, "I'm gonna run, run run to meet my Jesus, when he comes, when he comes," "I'm gonna rise, rise, rise to meet my Jesus...," "We shall cast our crowns before him, when he comes, when he comes." While there were only two "Second Coming Rallies" the prospect of rapture and revelation attracted prominence in sermons, songs, and vocal gifts of the Holy Spirit in every rally at times, regardless of whether billed as "Holy Ghost Rallies" as most of them were, or "Second Coming Rallies," or "Latter Rain" or "Thanksgiving" Rallies or whatever the main subject was. The most marvelous song in the Spirit I ever heard was given by Sister McPherson at the November 1936 Thanksgiving Rally. It began, "Behold, He cometh" and continued