John G Lake is one of the pioneers of the message of the early Pentecostal Church – the gift of tongues, healing, deliverance, miracles, raising the dead;  that is, the full range of spiritual gifts as seen in the life and ministry of Jesus according to the gospel accounts.  He was characterised by an absolute conviction of the superiority of the power of the gospel of Christ over any other spiritual system, including the secular ideologies of his time.  He was also unique in his time as it was in South Africa that he built denominations both within the Afrikaans and the native people, then returned to the US and built the Healing Room movement which made Spokane the healthiest city in America.  He was at one time both uncompromising in his orthodoxy but happy to attend seances and to debate philosophy.

This was a historical essay for a historical course but has much to say about many of the debates in the present Pentecostal and Charismatic movements that have moved a long way from the radical, uncompromising doctrine and demonstration of a Lake.  A recurring theme is that we have lost what Lake saw because we no longer believe and preach as he did, preferring political correctness for spiritual power.

A PDF is found here.