Frank Bartleman: God Was in the Earthquake
Frank Bartleman was greatly used as a vessel of the Lord in intercession, and as a writer both before and during the Azusa Street Revival which began in 1906. The very same month and year that the revival began, the great San Francisco earthquake occurred. Frank Bartleman saw this as being the hand of God and quickly wrote a tract which was widely distributed.
By Frank Bartleman
“I found the earthquake had opened many hearts. I was distributing especially my last tract, The Last Call. It seemed very appropriate after the earthquake. Sunday, April 22, I took 10,000 of these to the New Testament Church. The workers seized them eagerly and scattered them quickly throughout the city.
Nearly every pulpit in the land was working overtime to prove that God had nothing to do with earthquakes and thus allay the fears of the people. The Spirit was striving to knock at hearts with conviction, through this judgment. I felt indignation that the preachers should be used of Satan to drown out His voice. Just as he later used them to stir up hatred and murder, during the great war. Even the teachers in the schools labored hard to convince the children that God was not in earthquakes. The devil put on a big propaganda on this line.
I had been much in prayer since the earthquake, and had slept little. After the shock in Los Angeles the Lord told me definitely He had a message for me for the people. On the Saturday after, He gave me a part of it. On Monday the rest was given. I finished writing it at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, ready for the printer. I kneeled before the Lord and He met me in a powerful way, a powerful witness that the message was from Him. I was to have it printed in the morning. From that time until 4 a.m., I was wonderfully taken up in the spirit of intercession. I seemed to feel the wrath of God against the people and to withstand it in prayer. He showed me He was terribly grieved at their obstinacy in the face of His judgment on sin. San Francisco was a terribly wicked city.
He showed me all hell was being moved to drown out His voice in the earthquake, if possible. The message He had given me was to counteract this influence. Men had been denying His presence in the earthquake. Now He would speak. It was a terrific message He had given me. I was to argue the question with no man, but simply give them the message. They would answer to Him. I felt all hell against me in this, and so it proved. I went to bed at 4 o’clock, arose at 7, and hurried with the message to the printer.
The question in almost every heart was, Did God do that? But instinct taught men on the spot that He had. Even the wicked were conscious of the fact. The tract was set up quickly. The same day it was on the press, and the next noon I had my first consignment of the tract. I was impressed I must hasten and get them to the people as quickly as possible. I was reminded that the ten days I was called by the Lord to prayer was up the very day I received the first of the tracts. I understood it all now, clearly.
I distributed the message speedily in the missions, churches, saloons, business houses, and in fact everywhere, both in Los Angeles and Pasadena. Besides I mailed thousands to workers in nearby towns for distribution.
Many raved at the message. A man followed me on the street raving like a maniac. He followed me into a business house, to do me violence. But the Lord protected. He then tore my tract up publicly at the curb, to show his hate. Many threw the message down in a rage, only to pick it up again and read it. It seemed God held them to it.
Everyone was curious for the tract, though it burned the most of them like fire. Sometimes they would get so excited on the street cars they would get off before they reached their street. My very presence seemed to convict many. The message struck consternation to thousands of souls. I have never written a tract that had so much influence.
Sunday, May 11, I had finished my Earthquake tract distribution. Then the burden suddenly left me. My work was done, Seventy-five thousand had been published and distributed in Los Angeles and Southern California, in less than three weeks time. At Oakland, Brother Manley, of his own volition, had printed and distributed 50,000 more, in the Bay Cities and ’round about, in about the same space of time. The following are some extracts from the Earthquake tract:
But what had God to do with earthquakes? When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9). Which removeth the mountains, when He overturneth them in His anger, which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble (Job 9:5-6). The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by Him (Nahum 1:5-6). And I will punish the world for their evil. Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken our of her place, in the day of His fierce anger (Isaiah 13:11, 13).
Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of the mountains moved, and were shaken because He was wroth. There went up a smoke in His wrath, and fire out of His mouth devoured. The Lord thundered from Heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. Then the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid bare, by the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His anger (Psalm 18).
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and turneth it upside down (perverteth the face thereof), and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. The foundations of the earth do shake, the earth is utterly broken, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall be moved to and fro. The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it. (Isaiah 24:1, 18, 20). Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with earthquakes, and great noise, and the flame of a devouring fire. (Isaiah 29:6). Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, from before the terror of the Lord, when he arises to shake terribly the earth (Isaiah 2:19). And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there was a great earthquake (Revelation 16:17,18).
And will you claim there is no God in earthquakes? John Wesley has said, Of all the judgments which the righteous God inflicts on sinners here, the most dreadful and destructive is an earthquake. From Earthquake Tract, April 1906.
SIGNS of the LAST DAYS: NEW tower of BABEL
SIGNS of the LAST DAYS: The Antichrist
SIGNS of the LAST DAYS: Revived Roman Empire
SIGNS of the LAST DAYS: Earthquakes, floods, famines and plagues
SIGNS of the LAST DAYS: Spread of Nuclear Weapons
SIGNS of the LAST DAYS: Increase in persecution of Christians
SIGNS of the LAST DAYS: The Mark of the Beast
25 Years of Revivals in America
Thankful for 25 Years of Revivals in America
After 33 years of ministry, more than half of it on this side of the globe, we have now preached revivals in America for over quarter of a century. I have lost count how many times we’ve crossed from the Dakotas to Texas, and from the Carolinas to California to preach the Gospel to all willing to hear. I do remember one time when we drove 18 hours straight to Minneapolis, preached a single sermon, turned around and drove back the same distance due for another appointment. I’ve recorded every place, time and sermon. If needed, I can calculate the distance of getting there and back in total millage too. I’ve long lost the count of sets of brakes and tires worn-out during travel. Maybe, the next 25 years I’ll just fly! But through all this, I’ve often stood at a church parking lot, spent out from preaching, looking at the blue sky above and realizing: I am living my dream. Preaching is all I’ve always wanted to do!
Two times, apart from the 1990 post-Communist revival in Bulgaria, we have experienced continuing Holy Ghost revival in America. The first time was in the summer of 1999 in South Carolina, where one revival night multitudes were called to the ministry and on other nights, we just could not close the services with the power of God so powerfully evident. If you were a pastor back then, we most probably preached in your church one of these revivals, which are now marked by our 25-year anniversary.
In 1999, our revivals were weeks before the Y2K. Perhaps naively, I contributed the unusual move of the Spirit and extraordinary attendance to the turn of the 21st century. We were forced to see things a bit more prophetically, when we were hit by a fresh wave of revival pre-pandemic in the Spring and Summer 2019. Along with preaching virtually daily during the revival season, we were able to publish our New Testament Interlinear in Bulgaria and distribute it to our churches just before the shutdown.
This time, the revival in 2023 came a bit sooner than the usual decade-long cycle we had experienced with the past two. As we are getting ready to continue our 2023 Revival Harvest Campaign with a Community Communion service just in time for Thanksgiving this week, we have completed two full months of revivals in Polk County. Some 50 back-to-back services can truly change one’s perspective on our days! That God is at work is not even in question here, but what about the Church?
Exactly 20 years ago in his book “A Call to Righteousness: Impending Judgment,” Dr. David Franklin outlined the cycle of repentance for a nation’s revival as following:
- When a nation persists in violence, the Sovereign Lord confronts and holds responsible,
- When a nation forgets God, He allows for times of repentance,
- If repentance is ignored, God will expose and execute judgment on an unfaithful nation.
Every time God renews His covenant with His people, He shows His presence! (a) We know that God is present in the covenant, because He shows His glory. It happened to Moses and his generation. And it also happened to Solomon several hundred years later. (b) When a generation loses the vision of the Glory of God, God begins renewing His covenant again with a new generation. (c) God is not satisfied with a people who know the signs and the blessings of the covenant. He rests not until He is revealed as the God of the Covenant!
This Biblical truth is valid for any nation in the world, and I often draw a painful parallel of similarities with my home country of Bulgaria; where in October the 7th government elections since the start of the 2020 pandemic did not produce the desired change. Though the voting machines imported from Venezuela were pulled out a day before the election for obvious reasons, the vote went in history as the lowest ever with only 33% participating. This halted the acting government, setting the country for another parliamentarian election in 2024. With two regional wars now (Ukraine and Israel) and record high inflation, Bulgaria is walking a close line to another national crisis as we experienced back in 1997. In the midst of this, the Church of God Balkan Ministry Center in Sofia, which was initially sold in 2021, is back on the market with first installment toward its purchase made on November 16, 2023.
Meanwhile, on the national Day of National Awakening (celebrated after All Saints Day on November 1st), we were able to release and present the first Greek-Bulgarian Interlinear of the New Testament online. Its name, Evangelieto.com, means The Gospel in Bulgarian. This new website is a natural continuation of Bibliata.com – the first Bulgarian Bible online, we released back in the fall of 1996. This new online edition, which has been in the works since 2016, is dedicated to those students of the Bible, who prefer working with the original texts, rather than using the multitude of new Bible revisions often with religious and ideological orientation. The Greek-Bulgarian Interlinear of the New Testament online proposed the following solutions to the Bulgarian Bible translation:
- A non-received text – Textus Haud Receptus
- Critical Edition of the Greek New Testament (Tischendorf, Westcott&Hort, Nestle-Aland, UBS and SBL)
- Literal translation from Greek, made word for word without dynamic equivalents
- Linguistic paradigm for repetitive parallel permutation structures in the Greek-Bulgarian translation
- Analytical Greek New Testament with complete morphology of the words
- Complete textual commentary of the New Testament with thousands of references
- Audio/video reading of the verse with its original and consequent variations
- Discussion board under each verse for pastors and ministers to offer their thoughts on the text.
Thankful for 25 Years of Revivals in America: Revival Must Go On!
DO NOT COPY THE FIRE!
By Kathryn Donev
If I were to ask you if it would be okay for your child to hang out with a friend that actively practices witchcraft, I’m certain you would be appalled by the question and your very quick response would be a sharp, “No”. But when encompassed in a kid friendly fantasy world, a young boy named Harry who studies at a school of wizardry and possesses a simple stick that shoots cool fireballs seems harmless.
I’m reminded of a story in Leviticus in which two boys thought it would be okay to play with strange fire.
It’s a very simple story. Arron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, who were priests of the wilderness tabernacle took their censers and put unauthorized fire in them. They then were instantly consumed by the Fire that came from the presence of the Lord and died. The Potter’s fire, the true fire, the authorized, familiar fire consumed everything. This is a lesson that teaches that we are not to let our children play with strange fire. A potter’s fire that seems so innocent, could cost your children their life.
It is our responsibility as parents to teach our children that we are not to play with cool looking fire even though it’s only “make-believe”. Witchcraft is real. It is dangerous. It is confusing and The Potter is not a God of confusion. We must protect our children from being consumed.
