Apostolic Faith Missions

And The So-Called Second Pentecost

IN the month of April, 1906, a little band composed chiefly of colored people were praying together in a mission-hall on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, Cal. Some of them had heard of a recent peculiar happening in Kansas where a strange power had taken possession of a man, and he had been apparently made to speak in “tongues.” Day after day and night after night these people, who thought they recognized in this a sign of a second Pentecost, cried earnestly to God for a similar manifestation, and at last the “power” fell. One by one they were taken possession of by a superhuman energy that made them at times insensible to all around, and caused them to pour forth a torrent of strange sounds, often monosyllabic gibberish; and again somewhat connected expressions that seemed to be in strange languages. Their joy knew no bounds. To them had been committed, so they believed, the ushering in of the “Latter Rain” dispensation—the final Pentecost to close up the present age.

Excitement ran high, and from far and near mission workers, ministers and others came to investigate. For months meetings were kept up almost continuously, and hundreds received the same mysterious power. Many came in as skeptics, and went away convinced that they had indeed seen a marvelous manifestation of divine energy. Many came to scoff and ridicule, but were soon on their knees, beating the floor, crying in anguish, and beseeching God for a like gift; and of these great numbers spoke in “tongues.”