Fan the Flame

Fire is fascinating. My husband and I love to sit in our back yard around the fire pit in the evening and watch the flames. They are mesmerizing. Maybe deep in our DNA we recognize fire's importance. It's probably safe to say that without fire, our ancient ancestors would have perished.

If you've studied survival techniques or watched survival shows on television, you know that fire is one of the first requirements of surviving in the wild.

Starting a fire isn't easy without matches. Even expert survivalists can struggle to start a fire. If conditions are wet or if there is a lack of tinder, it's next to impossible.

No matter how it started, one thing is certain: without fuel every fire goes out. Fires must be tended. In a survival situation, once you get a fire going, you do everything you can to keep it going. That means it needs to be stoked every night before going to sleep. It might mean adding fuel during the night. It certainly means adding fuel every morning.

Don't let a fire go out if you want to survive.

Without enough fuel, the fire gets low. If your fire is too low, it is ineffective. You can't boil water. You can't cook food. You can't warm yourself.

The Bible is literal and historical. At the same time, there are many parallels that can be drawn from scripture: an additional meaning or application beyond the literal or historical account. There are many scriptures referring to fire; I think we can draw a parallel interpretation from many of them.

From the days of Moses until the death of Christ, the Israelite people lived under "the law" and were instructed to keep the fire burning in the temple.

Continuously Burning

"The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out." [1]

Watch for Fire to Descend

David, King of Israel (reigned ca. 1010-ca. 970 B.C.) was a warrior, a poet, and a musician, as well as a King. He lived during a time when animal sacrifices were required for sin. But beyond the temple's bloody sacrifices, he saw a heart application.
"Every morning
I lay out the pieces of my life
on your altar
and watch for fire to descend." [2]

Fan into Flame

Hundreds of years later, another man, the Apostle Paul, told Timothy to    
"Fan into flame the gift of God." [3]

The parallel here is that the life of Christ within us, the Holy Spirit, is like a fire.

If you are struggling to survive, it is time to tend the fire.

If you are feeling cold, it is time to tend the fire.

If you are hungry, it is time to tend the fire.

If you are thirsty, it is time to tend the fire.

Years ago, I was a counselor at Bible camp. I had six girls in my cabin. One night, back in the cabin after chapel, one of the girls told me that her heart had grown cold to God. She told me that she knew she needed to get her heart right with God, but she didn't even feel anything anymore. Not a thing. Her heart was a stone.

I cared about these girls and when she told me this it broke my heart! It also shook me up. What could I say to her? What could I do to help her?

I didn't have the answer, but I knew the one who did. I started to pray and asked the other girls in the cabin to start praying, too.

After a few minutes, God dropped words into my heart for this girl who had grown so cold.

"You need to call on God," I told her. "The Bible says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." [4]

I, and the other five girls in the room, sat on the floor around her and continued to pray. She sat there silently with her eyes closed.

I think about 20 minutes passed this way. All of a sudden, a raspy cry rose up from somewhere deep within her, and she cried out, "Jesus! I need You!" With those words, Jesus came, and changed her completely. She was no longer cold. Her heart was set ablaze.

Maybe the fire is burning low in your heart. To you I say what Paul said to Timothy: fan the flame.

Maybe the fire has completely gone out and your heart has become cold, or maybe you've never opened your heart to God. To you I say: it is time to call on God. It is time to seek the truth. 

If you seek for the truth, you will find Him.

Do you have a story to share? Feel free to post it in the comments below.

1. From Leviticus 6, New International Version
2. From  Psalm 5:1-3, the Message
3. From 2 Timothy 1:6, New International Version
4. Romans 10:13

100 Years of Pentecostal Blessings in Fosston

In 2003, Lowell Nystrom published a short report on the beginnings and growth of the Pentecostal movement in Fosston.  In the next few weeks, we will be releasing short installments of this report. The following paragraphs are Lowell's own introduction to the narrative.

God's Major Revival
The modern-day Pentecostal revival started to occur in the late 1890's and early 1900's. History shows that people in many places throughout the world - including the Fosston area - began to experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit similar to that of the early church as recorded in Acts. People experienced intense conviction of sin and the need to repent and commit their lives to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, followed by an experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, accompanied by the ability to speak in unknown tongues and to exhibit other gifts of the Holy Spirit as described in 1 Corinthians 12-14. A strong interest in reading the scriptures, fervent prayer, holy living, and witnessing to others resulted. Typically, four basic doctrinal positions were emphasized, including personal salvation, baptism in the Holy Spirit, divine healing and Christ's second coming. Most Pentecostals still maintain these core beliefs.

The Pentecostal movement has not been a revival led by major or well-known leaders, but rather occurred among small groups of people, often in remote areas where they had no communication with others experiencing similar blessings from God. From these beginnings, the Pentecostal and Charismatic revival has spread quickly and broadly throughout the world to where it is estimated that over 500 million people were involved by the year 2000. The Charismatic (Pentecostal) Movement has had significant impact on most denominations over the last 50 years. This has truly been and continues to be God's doing.

People in and around Fosston were very early pioneers in this major revival. Early history is difficult to establish because these events were not well documented. However, there are various accounts indicating that the Pentecostal message was being preached in Fosston, possibly before 1900. By 1903, a group was forming that could be referred to as an "assembly" or "church." After 100 years, it is time to commemorate and celebrate what God has been doing! 

Unnamed Holy Jumper of 1908 Discovered

Well, what's good preaching if it doesn't include a little investigative journalism? Many of you will remember a reading I did several weeks ago out of the Lowell Nystrom pamphlet chronicling a newspaper article in The Thirteen Towns from 1908. The article briefly discussed feelings of people in the area toward the Pentecostal movement in the Fosston area, referring derogatorily to the people of Hill River and Queen townships as "the holy jumpers." It also discussed one unnamed man, aged 21, from Queen, who "lost his reason" and "was taken to Crookston and from there to Fergus Falls, suffering from a deranged mind" after "attending meetings of a particular sect." That particular sect was Queen Church, or course.

Yesterday I had a conversation with some of the holy jumpers whose families go way back and, in the midst of this, something someone said about the baptism of one of their relatives sparked this thought in my mind: "Hmmm, that sounds an awful lot like that 21 year old who "lost his reason and had to be carted off to the asylum." We did the math and it turned out this guy would have been, you guessed it, 21 in 1908, when the Thirteen Towns was breaking the story in all its grisly details. Naturally, I'm not going to tell you who it is; what fun would that be? You'll have to come on Sunday to find out during our final installment of Big Church called, Big Family. Until then, happy jumping, you lovely holy rollers!

Back to the Future

The bloodlines run deep and wide in Bethel Assembly. Ask many people of the older generation a question about Family, and you’ll find that they’re related to nearly everyone in the county in one way or another. When I started delving into the church history of Bethel I went to the usual suspects for info: Aimee Cole, Christine Hanson, Evelyn Woolliscroft, Lloyd Anderson. They pointed me in the direction of some very interesting reading and memorabilia, including the pamphlet put together years ago by Lowell Nystrom called 100 Years of Pentecostal Blessing in Fosston. It was in this pamphlet (which relies heavily on the handwritten notes and diaries of Lowell’s mother, Ethel) that I learned of a preacher named Jacob Bakken who had, sometime around the turn of the 20th Century, walked some 75 miles from Audobon, MN to Fosston to share his faith, hold revival meetings, and help establish a church body based on the move of the Spirit. It was Jacob Bakken that appointed Andrew Matson and Christ Ulseth, both of Hill River Township, to lead the first group of Fosstonites embracing the move of the Holy Spirit that was sweeping the nation. These gatherings were the beginnings of the Hill River Assembly, which met together for several decades until fractures and disagreements led to a brief dissolution of the Assembly in the mid-1940s.

It was also in the Nystrom pamphlet that I learned of some of the persecution faced by early members of the Pentecostal movement. One newspaper clipping from 1908 had the members of Queen pegged as “… the holy jumpers,” and stated that “This fanatical sect are causing considerable disturbance in Hill River and Queen, and their invasion of different communities about is said to be most unwelcome to the majority of people.” (Nystrom, 100 Years of Pentecostal Blessing in Fosston, 5). Nystrom also talks about his ancestors having to bury their infant daughter on their own land since they were no longer welcome to bury their dead in the Asphult Lutheran cemetery due to their wild beliefs (Nystrom, 2).

100 Years discusses the early conventions, which began as far back as 1909. These were originally hosted in large homes, and later in tents or barns to accommodate the crowds. Nystrom notes that “Significant crowds must have attended these conventions. A note about one such meeting stated that the crowds were smaller than normal so only about 400 people were fed for lunch” (Nystrom, 5). These conventions were a hallmark of the early Pentecostal movement in the area, and stayed that way until the early 1950s.

Finally, from Lloyd Anderson, 88 year old son of Bethel, and before that, Queen Assembly, I learned that the beginnings of the Queen Church (which would later be mostly responsible for building Bethel in Fosston in the 1940s) were right in his living room. His mother, an aunt, and a neighbor began meeting to pray, and from there a movement of the Holy Spirit was sparked that continues to this day!

The point is this: Bethel Assembly was born out of nothing other than a raw, unpredictable, and very powerful move of the Spirit of God. Today, in 2014, we can look back and trace the names and common heritage that got us here, but, like the early church, without the breath and power of God moving in the midst of it, it would have likely come to nothing.

We remember where we come from, and we use that to inform our direction for the future, which is straight back to the Spirit, who never leaves us, and who will deliver wisdom to us if we ask. And maybe, if we’re hungry, he’ll put the fire of God in us again, so we might do things as outlandish as walk 75 miles to preach the gospel because the message of Jesus is worth the sacrifice.

Submitted by: Pastor Seth Johnson