Chapters:

     19 BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 
       

        
             When  I  awakened  the  next day,  I  was  starting  a  life 
        altogether  different than that which had gone before.  I was  no 
        longer  following  the  patterns of men or of the  earth,  I  was 
        simply  trusting Jesus.  God began to work, and before  long  the 
        community was stirred up.  I didn't know it was going to  happen, 
        for  I wasn't aware that when you walk with God you stir  people; 
        but I began to learn it.
        
             As  you  read  about  how God worked  through  each  of  His 
        servants, you begin to discover that God's men create upheaval in 
        the  carnal  heart.   However,  unless  you  get  in  the  battle 
        yourself,  you'll only know this theoretically in your mind.   To 
        experience  it is a different matter.  But I was happy in  Jesus.  
        I  knew  little about the future, but I was looking  to  God  who 
        holds the future in His hand.
        
             During  November I would return to the parsonage and try  to 
        tell  Florence  what all God was doing with me.  "Honey,  God  is 
        slaying me," I would say.  "I am dying--I am dying."
        
             She  would  look at me, trying to understand what  I  really 
        meant.  "Is that right?" she would reply.
        
             "Yes,"  I would tell her, laying my hand over my heart  "God 
        is slaying this self-life.  I am dying right here  inside."   Day 
        after  day, for weeks and months, He persisted in slaying out  of 
        me little hidden things:  little ways which weren't  pleasing  to 
        Him;  little ideas that were of the earth and not of Heaven.   It 
        was  marvelous, but it was a death, believe me.   This  continued 
        through  December  of  1941  into  the  following  year,  through 
        January, February, and March.
        
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             The   last  day  of  March,  1942,  I  began  a  series   of 
        evangelistic  services.  When I entered the pulpit that  night  I 
        felt  normal  in  my  body and soul.  As soon  as  I  opened  the 
        service, however, God began to take me into an area of the Spirit 
        which I never knew existed.  There is no way to describe how  God 
        was  working  within me and around me.  I have  seldom  heard  of 
        anyone  being  in  such a place.  It was a  realm  of  suffering, 
        revelation, and crucifixion which words could never embrace.  God 
        was helping me to know:  "Son, you have gone about as far as  you 
        can go on your own."
        
             When I arrived home that night, I knew that I must get to my 
        bed;  and that is where God kept me for about  two-and-a-half  to 
        three  weeks.  I was unable to get up; and if I tried, He put  me 
        back in bed.
        
             God  talked to me day and night.  He talked to me more  from 
        midnight  to four in the morning--when my wife, my children,  and 
        the  village were asleep--than any other time.  I was  unable  to 
        sleep  because  God was revealing to me about Eternity.   He  was 
        speaking to me about my mission on earth, about the great need of 
        the  Church.  Because of the light I kept on,  Florence  couldn't 
        rest and had to sleep in another room.
        
             During the day I would call her to me.  "God is calling me!"  
        I would try to tell her.  "He is talking to me.  He is telling me 
        some things."
        
             She would answer, "Yes, I know that God is doing it."  Night 
        after  night, day after day, God marvelously worked with me.   He 
        would open the scriptures to my understanding and shine the light 
        of His truth on various areas of my soul, revealing hidden  needs 
        and  carnal  ways in my heart, and in the hearts  of  men,  which 
        grieved Him.
        
             Each  evening,  Rev. Homer Pumphrey and his  wife,  Rebecca, 
        would come over to the house.  The devil would try to tell  them, 
        "Don't go back tonight.  You are wearing out your welcome.   Just 
        stay  at home."  But each night, here they would come from  their 
        parsonage home twelve miles away.
        
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             You  talk  about  being happy to see  somebody!   I  was  so 
        delighted each time they would come, for hardly anyone understood 
        what  I was passing through.  I tried to tell a few what God  was 
        doing  with me, but I don't know whether anyone  comprehended  it 
        much.   Even I couldn't grasp all of what God was doing.   I  was 
        simply trusting Jesus.
        
             I  would tell the Pumphreys, "God is talking to me!  God  is 
        doing  wonderful things with me!"  They would listen and  try  to 
        grasp what I was striving in my feeble way to share.  They were a 
        great encouragement to my wife and me at this time.
        
             One night I began to tell them the message God had given  me 
        out of the third chapter of Colossians:  "If ye then be risen with
        Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on
        the right hand of God.  Set your affections on things  above; not
        on things on the earth." 
        
             When  I  first started to share with them, it seemed  as  if 
        Homer  was three city blocks from me in spiritual distance;  yet, 
        he  had visited us night after night and was trying his  best  to 
        understand  me.   Soon, however, the Holy Ghost got hold  of  his 
        heart, picked him up in his soul, and set him down real close  to 
        me.   I was sharing all that I could tell him as fast as I  could 
        get it out, and he was listening with all the energy that was  in 
        him.   "This  is  wonderful!"  he would say.   "This  is  such  a 
        precious  message!"  The Holy Spirit was giving it and Homer  was 
        feasting.  So was I.
        
             It was while I was still on my bed that a precious  handmaid 
        of  Jesus felt led of the Lord to pray and fast at the  altar  of 
        Shideler  Church.   She went to the altar  at  ten-thirty  Sunday 
        morning while my father conducted the service for me.  She prayed 
        all day and on into the night.
        
             She had prayed at that altar twenty-two hours when at eight-
        thirty in the morning, while I was still asleep, the power of God 
        began  flowing through me in waves of glory.  Before I was  fully 
        awake,  wave after wave of the Holy Spirit was moving through  my 
        body!  I was being baptized with the
        
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        Holy Ghost under the glory, the power, and the presence of Jesus!
        This continued for nearly four hours.
        
             It  was the most wonderful experience of His love--for  when 
        the  power  would come through me at intervals, it came  in  wave 
        after  wave of love.  There is no way of telling the  love  which 
        flowed from my heart to my enemies, to those who hated me, to all 
        men, following my baptism by the Holy Ghost.
        
             Of course, the love of Jesus flowing from your heart to  all 
        people is the true manifestation of the Holy Spirit's indwelling.  
        The  initial evidence of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is  not 
        talking in a language unfamiliar to us.  The true evidence is the 
        flow of divine love to every person in the earth.  Jesus did  not 
        say,  "A  new commandment I give unto you, that ye  speak  in  an 
        unknown  language."   He  said: "...That ye love one another as I
        have loved you."

             There  is a gift of speaking in tongues, as Paul  instructed 
        us in First Corinthians twelve; but it is not wise to press for 
        this particular gift.  God administers this sacred gift to those
        whom He wills.  Spiritual immaturity will pursue the gifts of God,
        but spiritual maturity will seek first the Kingdom of God and His
        righteousness.
        
             The  glory of God was so within me and about  the  parsonage 
        that  I couldn't begin to tell people about it.  I sent  Florence 
        to  bring  my Sunday School superintendent and his  wife,  Addie.  
        When  they came into my room, I tried to tell them of  the  great 
        riches God had for all who would follow Him.  "It is for you,"  I 
        would tell them.  "God wants to do wonderful things!"
        
             They  didn't  quite know what to do, but they knew  God  was 
        there and it was precious.  Addie knelt, praying earnestly  until 
        she was numb into the knuckles and into the toes.  As she  prayed 
        she  began  to  reach  a little of the wonder  I  was  trying  to 
        describe.   "Oh, my dear ones!" she declared.  "The  presence  of 
        God  is so great just above us!  I can't tell you what  I  sense.  
        If God would see fit to descend upon us, it
        
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        would  be marvelous what He would do in this age!"  She caught  a 
        glimpse  of  the Spiritual Awakening God wanted to  send--a  true 
        Holy Ghost Revival to the World.
        
             I  requested Orville H. to bring a dear holiness  mother  to 
        see  me.  She answered him, "Orville, I am too sick to go; but  I 
        will send some scripture."  She wrote down the verse of scripture 
        on her daily devotional calendar: Leviticus 20:26--"And ye shall
        be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from
        other people, that ye should be mine."
        
             Think of that!  Of all the verses from God's Word she  could 
        have  sent  me, Jesus had arranged everything so  precisely  that 
        just  this scripture should appear on her calendar at that  date:  
        "...I HAVE SEVERED YOU FROM OTHER PEOPLE, THAT YE
        SHOULD BE MINE." I was so thankful.  I knew this scripture
        to be verification from God of what He had been showing me
        concerning my calling.
        
             That  very  morning,  this woman's  daughter,  Nora,  had  a 
        vision.   She lived about seventeen miles away in Roll,  Indiana, 
        and  I  had not seen her since she had sung for us at  Oak  Grove 
        nearly  four years before.  But that morning she saw me  standing 
        before  her.  God spoke to her and said, "Go get your mother  and 
        take her to see Rev. Helm."
        
             She hurried all the way to her mother's home.  "Mother," she 
        announced, "the Lord told me to take you to Rev. Helm."
        
             She  looked  at  her daughter and replied,  "Why  Child,  he 
        already sent for me, but I am just not able to go."
        
             "I will dress you and take you," Nora insisted.
        
             "I just don't think I can make it," her mother answered.
        
             "Yes,  you can."  Nora said, "because God has told me to  do 
        it."   She  dressed her mother, helped her into the old  car  and 
        brought  her to see me.  I still marvel that the very  thing  God 
        had  prompted me to work out earlier in the day, He  accomplished 
        perfectly,  giving this dear mother and me a sweet time  together 
        in prayer.  This was another encourage-
        
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        ment to my heart that what I was going through in my spirit  was 
        of the Kingdom of God.
        
             All  during this time the Holy Ghost continued to fall  upon 
        me and move through me in waves of His love.  He was so precious.  
        About all I could do was praise God and give thanks to Jesus.  In 
        the  days when God came upon me, slayed me, worked with  me,  and 
        took out of me many things which were hindering His Spirit, I had 
        to  die out to everything.  I could not do what I wanted.  I  had 
        numerous  responsibilities which seemed necessary and  important, 
        but I could do only that which God wanted me to do.
        
             When  He took me to the river of death, I saw  that  nothing 
        mattered in this world but God's will.  When I stood at the  very 
        edge of death, I knew that  nothing mattered at all but doing 
        God's  will absolutely.   Nothing else is going  to  last 
        but  what  God directs, what He guides, and  He  initiates.   
        Nothing! 
        
             And  while  God  was bringing me into  the  depth  of  these 
        marvelous revelations concerning His Kingdom and His work in  the 
        hearts of men, about all I could do was walk with Jesus and  talk 
        to  the  birds and the flowers.  It was as if I were  in  another 
        world.
        
             God has taken us through many experiences, my friend.  It is 
        only  by  His  grace that we have made it, for  there  were  many 
        pressures  upon us--difficulties so immense that I am  unable  to 
        share  them.   The pressure was this:  would we bend  to  man  or 
        would we go with Heaven?
        
             God will test you, dear one, to see what kind of person  you 
        are.   He  knows  in the first place, but He  is  wanting  us  to 
        discover it ourselves.  Most people will not stand when they  are 
        put to the test.  Most people have carnality, evil, and  iniquity 
        inside  of them.  God wants to remove that by placing us in  some 
        difficult  situations where we must submit everything to  Him  in 
        order  to make it through.  But very few will press on  into  the 
        struggle  that God may inwardly cleanse them.  Most persons  will 
        bend to the flesh and
        
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        detour the path of trust, which goes right into the heart of  the 
        battle.
        
             But  if  we submit, believe God, and press on in  faith,  He 
        will  cleanse the carnality and inner weakness out of us.  It  is 
        only through Jesus Christ that we can survive the battle, and  we 
        must  remain  in that place of submission all the  time  for  our 
        hearts to remain clear, cleansed, and undefiled.
        
             On the third morning that this precious handmaid had  prayed 
        at the altar of the church, she requested that Florence come  and 
        pray  with  her.  This meant that I would have to  care  for  our 
        three children and see after the needs of the home.  I was so  in 
        the Spirit, however, I couldn't do anything but walk with God and 
        talk  to  Him.  "Jesus," I said, "you will have to  help  us.   I 
        don't know what to do but trust you."
        
             My wife went next door to the church to join this sister  in 
        prayer.   (Years  later this woman told us, "When  Florence  came 
        into  the church that morning, she looked like an angel  to  me."  
        It was so important that she go to pray with her.)  But how was I 
        going  to  take  care of our three children?  Who  was  going  to 
        prepare  the  meals?  How would I pay the light bill?  I  had  no 
        answer,  I  was  just  simply trusting  Jesus  to  work  out  the 
        situation.
        
             Seated  in  a wicker chair outside on the  porch  at  eight-
        thirty  that  morning.  I looked up, and who  should  be  driving 
        around the corner towards the parsonage but Rebecca Pumphrey.  As 
        soon as I saw her I started rejoicing.
        
             Rebecca  stopped the car in front, came up through the  yard 
        with their little daughter, Barbara, in hand, and asked "Oh, Rev. 
        Helm, do you need me?  I'm not accustomed to the voice of God.  I 
        got up early this morning at six o'clock to wash our clothes, and 
        I put a bucket of water in the tub to heat when God said, `Go  to 
        the  Helm's.'  I put another bucket in, and the Lord  would  say, 
        `Go  to Helm's.'  The devil would say, `Don't go.  You have  been 
        over  there  every  night for two weeks and have  worn  out  your 
        welcome.'"
        
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             As  she  told  me I was happy.  I was  saying,  "Praise  the 
        Lord!"
        
             She continued, "You know, each time I put a bucket of  water 
        in  the tub, the Lord said, `Go to Helm's.'  Finally I got  Homer 
        up  and I said, `Homer, pray with me because I am not  accustomed 
        to the voice of Jesus, and I think He is telling me to go over to 
        Florence  and  Loran's.'  He felt I should come over.  I  had  to 
        come.  Do you need me, Brother Helm?"
        
             I  looked  down at her with deep gratitude in my  heart  and 
        said,  "Rebecca, if ever a servant of God needed  assistance,  we 
        surely need you today!"
        
             God had told her to come just as she was, in her work dress.  
        He knew that she was needed to look after our children.  She  was 
        going  to prepare the meals, purchase a few groceries, and  drive 
        in  to  pay the light bill.  How very badly she was  needed,  and 
        what a great help she was that day, no one will ever know.
        
             The  following day I was seated in the dining  room  looking 
        out  the window when I saw a tree--a beautiful cherry  tree.   It 
        was  round  like  the  earth, and had fruits  all  over  it  just 
        beginning to turn red.  It was an early spring, way ahead of most 
        springs that I can remember.  I had never seen this tree so amply 
        covered with fruit before, nor did I see it so afterwards.
        
             I  was  lifted to a realm of a vision as I spoke out  of  my 
        heart, "Jesus, that cherry tree is like the earth.  As this  tree 
        rests  on  its  trunk, the earth spins about its  own  axis.   Oh 
        Jesus," I cried, "all these cherries are nearly developed  fruits 
        all over the earth.  I can see them."
        
             And  He said to me, "Yes, that tree is like the earth.   And 
        as  the  cherries  cover the whole tree,  my  Spirit  covers  the 
        earth."
        
             "But, " I asked, "If your Spirit so richly covers the earth, 
        why  are  men  such  spiritual  skeletons?   Your  Spirit  is  so 
        plentiful and abundant, yet we are starved."
        
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             That  very second, a live dove flew into the middle of  that 
        tree.  At the same instant, God spoke within me:  "BY ME, THE 
        HOLY GHOST, THEY WILL BE FED.  ONLY BY ME, THE HOLY
        GHOST, CAN THEY BE FED." Then another dove fluttered into
        the tree beside its mate. God again spoke within me: "BY ME,
        THE HOLY GHOST, THEY WILL BE FED.  THEY CAN ONLY BECOME
        SPIRITUAL, AS I, THE SPIRIT, FEED THEM." 
        
             He  was revealing to my heart that you and I cannot do 
        anything  without  the leadership of the  Holy  Spirit.  
        Unless God begins something by His Holy Spirit, our labor cannot 
        bring  life  to  it.   He was trying to  help  me  see  that  His 
        guidance,  His  leadership, His will was supreme above
        all our finest goals or fondest hopes. --"BY ME, THE HOLY GHOST,
        THEY WILL BE FED. ONLY BY ME, THE HOLY GHOST, CAN THEY
        BE FED." 
        
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