Aimee Semple McPherson – Evangelist

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This is the day that …  Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared, in the year 1926!

On that day Cecil B. DeMille expected to pick up the morning newspaper and read front-page headlines of his latest cinematic masterpiece.  Instead of which “the front pages were pre-empted by a lady who was the most vocal enemy of the moving pictures.”

Aimee Semple McPherson was known to thousands of admiring followers as “Sister Aimee”.  Her “four-square gospel” was sounded forth dynamically by this flamboyant female evangelist, both from the pulpit of her Angelus Temple (seating more than 5000 people), and over the air-waves of her own radio station – KFSG, Los Angeles.  Time Magazine dated 12 October, 1970, spoke of “her 750 satellite churches and radio parish of millions”.

Then came the fateful day, at 1.00 p.m., when Aimee and her secretary went to the beach.  The secretary saw Sister Aimee enter the water.  But no-one saw her emerge.  Hence the headlines!

A Memorial Service was held at the Temple – a crowd of 25,000 thronged the area. 

Then, on 25 May, a ransom note!  “$500,000 was demanded for the release of Sister Aimee,” said the kidnappers.

Almost a month later, on 23 June, at 1.00 a.m., Aimee walked in from the desert explaining that she had escaped!  She was given a triumphant welcome home to Los Angeles, where 50,000 followers waited to catch a glimpse of her.

But rumour and suspicion made much of her disappearance and she was eventually charged with fraud. She endured an eight month grand jury trial and came out of the whole process triumphant.

She declared in her autobiography:  “To my dying day I must proclaim my story of the kidnapping and the escape is true.  It DID happen.  It really did happen just as I told it.” (The Story of My Life, by A.S. McPherson, page 190).

Suspicions and rumour distract from the impact of this amazing young woman who preached to enormous crowds, birthed the Church of the Foursquare Gospel denomination, motivated thousands of young couples to go to the missionfield and saw wonderful conversions and healings in her meetings.

It is said that her mother, sensing God’s call on her own life, asked God to take and use her daughter, Aimee, in her place. There is no doubt that this one individual was given great influence and achieved more in her short life than many others who preached God’s word over a greater span. Aimee died at age 54.

It is interesting to note that great men of the Bible, such as Jack Hayford, are not ashamed to be part of the Foursquare Church and to acknowledge the wonderful contribution and work done by this firebrand woman.

Un-Charming Prince – Forgiven

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This is yet another instalment in the investigation of how to deal with the ugly reality most marriages confront, of the husband or wife not being what we want them to be. Susan and I have both experienced this in our marriage and I have spoken to many men and women who have their own story to tell of this phenomenon. At some point in most relationships we come to realise that the other person is less than we hoped and thought them to be. They may prove to have qualities far below what we expected.

I believe that the most powerful Repair Mechanism in marriage is forgiveness. So let me tell you about my own experience of having to forgive Susan. When she proved to be a Tainted Cinderella I struggled, but eventually resolved the situation by applying forgiveness. I think this experience will be instructive and helpful.

In the early years of my marriage to Susan, which took place almost 35 years ago, I was surprised to find that she was not the ideal wife I had expected. I did not realise I had specific expectations until they were not fulfilled. I simply thought that Susan would have the same ideas of marriage as me and would naturally do the things I thought she would. I was mistaken. Susan had her own ideas and her own determination to be and do what she thought was best. When I suggested she do things my way or fit in with my expectations she showed that she had no inclination to do so. She could tell me why her ideas were better and why mine should be rejected.

I don’t recall the detail of a lot of this now; since it was three decades ago and we have worked through many things since then. I do know that I found myself so bewildered and hurt by what Susan turned out to be that I would cry silent tears into my pillow. One day at church my pastor prophesied as he prayed for me and he said, on the Lord’s behalf, “I know the tears you shed at night”. That was an amazing prophetic revelation. I had told no-one of my situation and inner pain. I feared for a while that Susan would ask me about the tears. I didn’t want to tell her that she made me cry.

The problem was resolved very simply. I finally realised that I was despising Susan for being ‘Susan’. OK, she wasn’t the person I thought she was. She wasn’t the person I thought I was marrying. But I did marry Susan. Susan was my bride. I was rejecting and despising her for being ‘Susan’, because I wanted her to be someone else. I wanted a warm and devoted wife whose whole focus was to please me. I even coined the term, ‘Country Kitchen Mum’, to describe the idea of a loving woman who made you feel special and who made you the focus of her life. Susan was not a Country Kitchen Mum.

I finally came to the place, without me ever discussing it with Susan, of forgiving her for being ‘Susan’. I told God that I forgave Susan for not being the woman I wanted her to be. I committed myself to be Susan’s husband, to love her unconditionally, even though she was not the bride I thought I was marrying. I guess I felt a bit like Jacob must have felt being married off to a different person to the one he thought he was marrying.

Once I forgave Susan for being Susan something wonderful happened in my heart. It seemed that my fantasy ideas about the ideal wife I wanted Susan to be just evaporated and all the disappointment and hurt feelings I felt evaporated with them. I found myself on a journey of discovery, to build a very real relationship with a very real person; my wife Susan. At first I had been building a fantasy relationship with a person who did not exist. My season of struggle with the Tainted Cinderella was a vital step toward removing the fantasy notions.

Please note that it is possible for the dream to die and for bitterness and resentment to grow instead. If I had not forgiven Susan for being Susan I could have spent the rest of my life resenting Susan for being Susan. So the journey from the Honeymoon Phase to the Happy Reality Phase requires God’s grace, not just realisation. Forgiveness is the very powerful Repair Mechanism in marriage. Never hold back from using it. And the internal transformation you can enjoy will often surprise you.

This is part of a series of posts on the theme of the Un-Charming Prince:

http://chrisfieldblog.com/topical/un-charming-prince
http://chrisfieldblog.com/topical/un-charming-prince-thats-me
http://chrisfieldblog.com/topical/i-kissed-the-frog
http://chrisfieldblog.com/topical/un-charming-prince-forgiven

John Charles Ryle

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This is the day that … John Charles Ryle was born in Macclesfield, England, in 1816.

As Bishop of Liverpool from 1880 to 1900 he became “one of the greatest and most influential Anglican evangelicals of all time”.

Educated at Eton and Oxford, where he showed prowess as a fine sportsman, his thoughts turned to the ministry after a very real conversion experience.  He was 21 years of age at the time and had attended a parish church.

It was not the sermon that influenced him, but the second reading of the Scriptures.  It was from Ephesians chapter 2:  “By grace are ye saved, through faith …” “It was in the simple hearing of those words of Scripture that he grasped the secret of the Gospel” writes Marcus Loane (J.C. Ryle, page 32).

For a while he worked in his father’s bank.  But by 12 December, 1841, he was ordained a clergyman in the Church of England.  Various ministries followed.

He married in 1845 … was widowed in June, 1847;  married again in 1850, widowed again ten years later; and remarried in October, 1861  (J.C. Ryle, by P. Toon, pages 42, 44, 52).

Ryle was not a good mixer – the two places where he was “genuinely happy” were in his pulpit and when he was “in his study surrounded by books” (ibid, page 43).

Thirty books came from his pen, including a vigorous defence of Anglican theology – Knots Untied.  And a classic work on “Holiness”, from a Reformed perspective.  His commentaries on the four Gospels are still in print.

In his preaching “he was at heart an evangelist whose sermons always sounded the note of a singularly clear call to forgiveness of sin and acceptance with God” (Loane, page 105).

This great Bishop heard his Master’s “Well done!” on 10 June, 1900.

Kenneth Taylor

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This is the day that … Kenneth Taylor was born, in 1917.

It was at family devotions that one of his children asked him the meaning of a verse in the King James Version of the Bible.  When he had explained it the children retorted:  “Well, Daddy, if that’s what the verse means, why doesn’t it say so?

As a result Kenneth Taylor would sit in the Chicago-bound train day after day armed with Bible, notebook and pencil.  And in 1962 he had paraphrased the Epistles.  He called his book Living Letters, and took it to a publisher.  And another.  And another.

Their refusals did not dampen his enthusiasm.  He took out a bank loan and published it himself.  It sold slowly at first – and then Billy Graham decided to give it free to those who wrote in to his telecasts.  Half a million copies were printed and sent to viewers.

Taylor then tackled the Gospels … and the rest of the New Testament … and the Psalms.  And kept on going.

In 1971 The Living Bible was published by Tyndale House, his own book company.

“In the first 27 months Tyndale House sold 13 million copies of The Living Bible.”

In 1986 Moody Monthly reported that 33 million copies had been sold, and “profits go largely to fund paraphrases in other languages.”

Kenneth Nathaniel Taylor died at age 88, on June 10, 2005.

Personal Note from Chris – My dad used Living Letters because he loved the idea that God’s Word could be made accessible. However there were many nay-sayers. Some questioned how a Bible could use the word ‘boomerang’ and be taken seriously.

When I turned up at church with a Living Bible I was asked, “What do you feed it?” I didn’t get the joke.

I loved the sense of God’s Word being so easy to read.
Then came all the talk about how a ‘paraphrase’ was not a REAL Bible.
Now, everyone takes for granted their easy access to so many translations. Enjoy the privilege. It did not come easy.

Bible Teaching In Melbourne

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This post is to announce that Chris Field has commenced live Bible Teaching in Melbourne!

People who love the Bible and are keen to learn how to apply Biblical truth and wisdom to their life can now enjoy two live Bible Teaching sessions each week in Melbourne, Australia.

Sunday nights at 5pm Chris Field leads a Sunday Night Church service for Full Gospel Assembly Melbourne, at the YWAM base, 1 Kent Road, Surrey Hills.

Tuesday nights at 7pm Chris Field leads a mid-week Bible Study, at the Box Hill meeting rooms of Full Gospel Assembly Melbourne, 15 Ellingworth Parade, Box Hill.

For May and June the sessions are dedicated to Family topics, for which Chris is well known. This coming Sunday night, the evening of Mothers Day, Chris will teach from the Bible on “How To Treat A Woman”. On Tuesday night, next, May 13, Chris will present his “Straight Talk On Sex” material.

People looking for relevant and faith building Bible Teaching in Melbourne are invited to Surrey Hills 5pm Sunday Nights and Box Hill 7pm Tuesday Nights.

Please pass this notice on to your Melbourne contacts. You can email them the link to this notice, which is: http://chrisfieldblog.com/family/bible-teaching-in-melbourne