Unknown - Healer: The Controversial and Supernatural Life of John G. Lake Book 1 1912-1923

THE HEALER

The Controversial & Supernatural Life of John G. Lake

BOOK ONE: 1914-1923

Compiled and edited by

Brett Wyatt

RILEY CHRISTIAN MEDIA

SPOKANE, WASHINGTON

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 Riley Media Group LLC

Revised, edited and added to from 1990 and 2002 editions

Former Titles include Fire of God: John G. Lake in Spokane and AFOM

First Available, June 2014

All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover set up: Stephen Wylie

Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

All Scripture is taken from the King James Version

Riley Media Group LLC

Spokane, Washington 99203-0127

ISBN 0-9708898-9-5 is ISBN of book 1

This Riley Christian Media edition is a revised republication of the work originally entitled A.F.O.M. and released primarily in the Pacific Northwest beginning in 1990 . Some typographical errors which occurred either in the 1990 edition or the original newspaper articles have been tacitly corrected

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my three sons who have always encouraged me and offered support for whatever endeavor I have put my heart to. Your joint ability to look past my faults and simply love this imperfect man leaves me deeply humbled. I hope I can return the amazing love I feel from all of you. You are quite simply amazing, all in different ways but all amazing.

Table of Contents

In 1990, I put together an extensive study on the life of John G. Lake. I spent hundreds of hours compiling newspaper articles that hadnt been published in 70+ years, I crawled under houses and any other building where Lake or his associates lived or worked. I interviewed people who actually went to Lakes Church and knew him including someone who worked with the youth of Lakes church in the 1930s.

Large ministries subsequently published their own collections of data on Lake harvested mostly from the papers of those who followed the life and career of Lake had accumulated over their lives and freely passed between the faithful. These ministries had another source for their well marketed books. That source was my work on the subject. While some of what they decided to use could have been found if they had spent their time researching within the archives in Spokane, they didnt have to, since my original work had given them a road map to many of the articles that they featured. My problem arose when they decided it was moral to include and profit from the interviews that I had made personally with members of Lakes congregation as well as some original artwork that I had commissioned for my first book on Lake. When confronted, one ministry denied any wrong doing and the other simply decided not to reply.

Sour grapes? Maybe, but after pouring my heart and soul into a project and then having a well funded ministry steamroll through and make crazy money from much of what was my work I do in fact feel violated. No Christian ethic was in play in these book factories which are operated by these ministries who rack up millions of dollars in sales annually.

After consulting legal counsel and finding out that the funds likely to be secured in an endeavor to hold these groups accountable would likely be spent for the legal costs associated with the process and quite frankly not having the means to press on simply out of principle I decided on another path for my time and work ethic.

Subsequent to the 1990 edition I republished an expanded edition of the material in 2002 and am now re-releasing it in 2014 as a two book set with significant new content including an interview with one of Lakes youth workers. What differs from this new edition is also that it includes much more material from people who were at odds with Lake at the time. Make no mistake, I believe that Lake accomplished much in his life and ministry, however sometimes his methods gave way to an appearance of impropriety. This book, continues to be the most even handed coverage of Lake given that I have not withheld what his critics had to say. When possible I have placed these one after another with Lakes responses to their criticisms to make Lakes story more easily understood.

So now I present you with the new, expanded version of my study of John G. Lake revised and updated extensively from the 2002 book. Enjoy reading The Healer: The Controversial & Supernatural Life of John G. Lake

The first door God opened here, strangely, was a door in what is known as the Church of Truth, a new thought body. Their pastor was formerly a universal preacher. He had seen Christ through Christian Science teaching. He was a hungry soul. He invited me to preach at his church. I said to him, my message is not yours. I preach the Christ and Him crucified. He replied, Brother, preach your message, and as much of it as you want to. You are in the hands of the Spirit of God.

After the first sermon, he invited me to take one of the healing rooms in their church, and pray for the sick throughout the week. God gave wonderful healings. The church was mightily moved. It was a new manifestation of the power of God to them. I was invited to teach their week-day classes on the subject of the Baptism in the Holy Ghost, God showed me four persons in the church at that time who would receive the Baptism. We continued to minister there for about six months, and then started our own work About February 1, 1915.

The first person from the Church of Truth to receive the Baptism in the Spirit was a lady. She received the Baptism at the first service we conducted in our own hall. At the close of the Sunday morning service the Spirit fell on her, and she was baptized in the presence of the congregation. She told me that five years before, while in great agony of soul, she fell on her knees and cried out for deliverance and light and help, saying Oh God is there no one anywhere who can bring me the light my soul needs and show me God as my spirit craves? And the Spirit spoke to her and said, Yes, in Johannesburg, S. Africa. On the day of her baptism and she was under the power of the Spirit, the Lord reminded her that He had fulfilled His promise to her, and that I had come from Johannesburg, S. Africa in response to her souls call and the soul call from others who needed God.

Another lady was likewise Baptized in the Spirit. They have been beautiful souls, as also the other two have been.

In connection with our work we maintain the healing rooms, open from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. every day, where the sick and the otherwise needy come for prayer. We also have a hall connected with the healing rooms, where we have our weekday and weeknight meetings. Our Sunday services are held in the Masonic Temple. Sunday school in the morning, preaching at 11 A.M. and the large public service at 3 P.M. Our work has been characterized with wonderful healings, and many of them.

When I wrote the stories of the wonders God was performing in Africa, to America the people largely said, We do not believe it. Satan tried in many ways to make the world believe it was not fact. But our work has been under the eye of such competent witnesses of such high character, and so many of them, that Satan no longer can deny the stories of what God has done. The news has reached all the Pacific coast states. People are coming, not the sick only, but teachers, particularly among the Truth people of the coast country, to inquire what it is, and what is the difference, and what do we mean when we talk about the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and how do you get it?

During the year 1915, 8030 persons were healed. Mr. Westwood ministers with me in the work, and has the adjoining healing room. Mr. S. P. Fogwell, formerly a deacon of Zion City is also with me. He makes calls from home throughout the city with the Ford car. Usually we minister to one hundred persons per day, sometimes more, sometimes less.