Meeting Transcripts

A Greater Than Solomon, Florence Crawford

"And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions."

"And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones and when she was came to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart."

"And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not" (I Kings 10:1-3).

The queen of Sheba is a type of the "ends of the earth" coming to the Son of man. They are coming to Christ with problems and hard questions, but Jesus can answer every question. How many have come to this camp meeting, some hundreds of miles, that they might listen to the Word of God, and ask counsel concerning the welfare of their soul. We thank God that it is possible for them to return to their homes with all their hard questions settled, and their hearts at peace with God.

You may think that the Gospel does not amount to much—that it is just a little fancy—but I thank God that it is a powerful reality. There are no people on the earth who have as much to be thankful for as the redeemed of the Lord, who have come from the different parts of the earth, and from different stations of life to receive the wonderful words of wisdom that Christ has to impart. Jesus stands ready to make intercession for every soul who will come and say, "I will pay the price. I will take the way. I will accept the Gospel of the Son of God." God will forgive them. But God demands that one make right every wrong of the past, as far as it lies in his power.

It means much to have the desire in one's heart to know the truth concerning his soul. God led one to this camp meeting this afternoon who confessed to having committed murder. For thirty years the memory of that crime had rankled in her breast; and many a night she spent with that before her, until her mind was almost gone. God has caused her to confess it out, but He has delivered her soul. Although it means to go back and meet the law, yet a merciful God forgives—even the hands that are stained with blood.

Oh, people, I worship the God of Heaven who has let the light of this glorious Gospel shine into my heart, and put a fearlessness there that will tell people of their sin and of the way of escape from sin!

"And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,"

"And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her."

"And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom."

"Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard."

"Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom."

Many people shrink from the reproach of this Gospel. But there were some people who were so hungry, and so diseased in their bodies, that they were glad to know of a remedy. They were looking for a way out. When the doctors fail, when climates fail, when everything else fails, and one has nothing that can satisfy that longing in the heart; then one is willing to turn to the God who has power to save the soul and heal the body. Many have been brought into this Gospel through the healing of their body. They came, they saw, they heard what God was doing; and when they beheld it and heard the testimonies and the Word of God, they believed the report, and said, "The half was not told me." When they received salvation they had the same testimony.

God has something in store for His people. Little did I know what God had in store for me when He led me into the light of this glorious Gospel. Some time previous to coming into this Gospel, God saved my soul in a miraculous way. One night He spoke to me when I was dancing in a ballroom. (My son is out preaching this Gospel, my daughter sits at this piano, and my mother sits in front of me, and they are witnesses with me of the great things God has done.) I was raised in a home of unbelief. I sat at the table with noted infidels. I heard them tear the old Bible to pieces, and say that God was but a myth and, that Jesus was not the Christ.

But God spoke out of Heaven to me in the ballroom, while the ladies' orchestra was playing, and said, "Daughter, give Me thine heart." Three times the voice spoke to me. I loved the world, the fine clothes, the jewelry—but when God spoke, I knew the voice of God. No one had to tell me it was God. I went immediately to my home. I prayed and wrestled for my salvation for days.

The enemy would sweep down upon me like a flood with all the teaching I had had contrary to the Word of God. I prayed on for days, fighting back the powers of the enemy that would say that there was no God, no Christ. But I knew that the voice that spoke to me came from God. Before God saved my soul I had longed to know Him. I loved Jesus and wanted to serve Him; but I could not do it. I did not have the power. At one time a noted infidel came to southern California, where I had been sent for my health. He heard at the hotel that I was staying there. He knew my people, and he said to me, "Will you play and sing for me?" I replied, "Yes, if I may sing what I like." He said, "You may sing whatever you like." The place was packed. I sang:

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"Jesus, Lover of my soul,

Let me to Thy bosom fly,

While the nearer waters roll,

While the tempest still is high!"

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"Hide me, O my Savior, hide,

Till the storm of life is past;

Safe into the haven guide,

Oh, receive my soul at last."

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I did not care what the effect was. I did not care what he said or did. My heart was reaching out for God. The handkerchiefs came out. The lecture fell flat. He tried to excuse me, but the lecture was spoiled. There is nothing back of infidelity anyway—I speak as one who knows—and they did not have power to stop that old song. When the question is asked concerning whether or not I shall be able to see the end of this Christian race, I remember how I took my stand for God before I was saved, when I had been cradled in infidelity and brought up to believe there is no God; and I surely will stand for God, now that I know Him.

When God saved me, my health was failing fast. I had never heard that Jesus Christ could heal my body. I knew. nothing of divine healing. But I knew He had saved my soul .I spent the little strength I had, in going behind the bars to tell the men there the way out of sin; or in going into the slums trying to rescue mothers' boys and girls. I vas saved, as I said; -but oh, how my heart hungered for something more! God had planted the truth of His Word in my soul. The time came, in the city of Los Angeles, when I would attend every evangelistic meeting that was held there. I would interview the evangelists and tell them that God had saved me, a proud, worldly woman, but that I was hungering for more of God. They would; say, "You are all right; you have all God has for you." I would go my way disappointed, but I hungered on.

I knew all about the old Methodist church - I was class leader in that church. I had been baptized in the Christian church. I had worshipped with the Presbyterians. I knew all about the Christian Alliance; and New Testament people. They were all in the city of Los Angeles. I was acquainted with all the leading ministers of that city; I would go to them for help and tell them I was hungering and thirsting for more of God. They would say, "You are all right," and "Be careful, do not go too far." I knew I was saved, but I was hungry for more of God.

I talked one day with a little woman and I said to her, "Is there not a people somewhere who preach the whole Word of God from Genesis to Revelation? If I could find such people I would follow them to the ends of the earth." The time came when God led this little woman to me again. She had gone her way and I had gone my way. After several years she came to my home and said, "Sister C., I have found the people!" I said, "Where are they?" She said, "I have found them, but they are down in the lower part of the city." She did not believe I would go into that part of the city to worship God. She did not know whether I had lost the hunger for more of God or not.

But the hunger was there. Disease had settled on my body and I was nothing but skin and bones. I had to wear a heavy metal plate across my body with great metal prongs in the back. I had not walked without it for eleven years. I had serious eye trouble. My son had never seen his mother without glasses. I had lung trouble, and also the heart trouble that goes with lung trouble. I had to wear chamois skin over my lungs. I know what the whole "cure" is from A to Z—Scott's Emulsion, cod liver oil, living in tent houses. I have been through the whole thing. I had running sores on my body that no doctor could help. In that hour, when doctors failed, I was in a condition to need a Gospel with power in it.

When this woman told me she had found a people in the city of Los Angeles, I did not say, "I am too proud." I said, "Take me to them!" I would have gone there if I had had to crawl on my hands and knees. I needed a Savior who could heal my body. That was eight years ago. I do not look like a famine sufferer tonight -- and I owe every ounce of flesh, every drop of pure blood in my body to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

This woman told me of a colored man preaching down on Azusa Street. She knew how I had been brought up; and how, in my married life, we looked down on anybody who even spoke to a colored person, unless he was a servant in the home. I said, "I don't care who preaches it. If they have the thing my soul is craving for, I want it."

I went down there. There were no windows in the building. It was an old barn that had been cleaned out. They had an old bench there. I went in and sat down. They sang a little but that didn't touch my heart. They prayed, yet that didn't seem to move me at all. Then they sang again. A man got up on his feet. He was about as tall as I, but he looked twice as tall. He said, "Hallelujah!" It went through my soul. He waited a minute and again he said, "Hallelujah!" I said, "God, I have heard the voice from Heaven. I have heard it at last." You say, "Is there anything in a 'Hallelujah'? "Yes, there is a lot in it when it has God's Spirit back of it.

I forgot my poor emaciated body. I forgot my suffering. I was so nervous that I would tear my hair at night, and couldn't help it. I forgot all that, but I heard the voice of the great Shepherd of the sheep. I was a sheep myself, I was a child of God. The one thing I wondered was, "How could I get it? How could I receive that wonderful blessing in my soul which I had hungered for so long?"

Again and again I would go to those meetings and then back home. I didn't tell my family there were colored people in the meeting where I was going. When they would say, "Who are they?" I answered: "Some church people who have banded together to pray for the power of God to come down. They prayed and the power fell, and now I am after the same thing." People, it was more than words—the hunger that God planted in my soul.

I reached the place where I didn't care what anyone would say - friends or my people - if I could only get it. That was the only thing I wanted. I had consecrated; I reconsecrated. I would go on my face in my home; and I would have gone through the floor, if possible, in order to get to where God would give me the experience that He had given those other people. And God gave it to me! At last He sanctified me! I never thought of my sick body. I never thought of the racking pains.

After God sanctified me, they told me that God would give me power for service, that God would baptize me with the Holy Ghost and fire. I tarried, and God sent the mighty enduement of power upon my life. He caused me to speak in the Chinese language. A Christian Chinese was there, and when he came and stood before me, he said, "Chinese white woman." How wonderful that was! And yet my body was not healed. I had not even asked or thought of asking God to heal my body.

The next day my daughter was taken to the dentist to have some teeth extracted. The dentist said that her mouth was in such a condition she would have to be operated on. The dentist went with her father to a specialist in that city and he examined her head. He said, "I cannot take the case at all." She hadn't breathed through her nose for four years, and she had growths in her head which he said had to be taken out. She had ulcers on her eyelids also, and her glasses had to be changed. They took her to a second specialist and he said that he would not take her case. They took her to a third. He took an X-ray of her head and refused the case.

When they brought that child home, I threw my hands into the air and said, "O God, if You could take this woman, who never spoke another language in all her life, and make her speak in the Chinese language, You can heal this child!" I took her down to the mission the next day. The prayer of faith was prayed. I took her home and laid her in her little bed. In a few minutes she was sound asleep, and she was breathing through her nose with her mouth closed - something that had not been for four long years. My heart went up in praise. The next morning I bent over her bed, and found she was breathing through her nose.

I can put you in touch with the physicians in the city of Los Angeles who refused that child's case. She had to live on predigested food. After she was prayed for she began to eat anything, and her body was perfectly healed. Her eyes were healed. Today she has a sound body because God healed her.

Friends, there is a balm in Gilead. The message of the last days is going forth and Jesus is coming soon. One greater than Solomon is here. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has power to break every fetter --- to set the drunkard free, to set the fallen woman free, to deliver the thief, to deliver the gambler -- to set them free, and make them kings and priests unto God -- the happiest people on earth.

My son said, "Why don't you ask God to heal you so that you won't have to wear glasses?" He wasn't saved - just a boy - but he knew that God had healed that child. I went down to the meeting that day. I hadn't thought about the healing of my body. I wanted to get the experience in my soul, and I had gotten it. God caused the child to remind me of getting the healing for my eyes. I was prayed for and God instantly healed my eyes.

My lungs were healed. The cough stopped. God healed my body perfectly, and I walked twenty-three blocks the night God healed my body. Oh! I thank God that I found a Friend - and His name is Jesus. Th greatest thing that ever came into my life is this salvation and the power to tell the story that Jesus Christ can save to the uttermost all who come unto Him.

I told God that if He would heal my body I would preach His Gospel as long as He gave me breath if He would make me a well, strong, woman, so that people could look at me and say, "That woman has what she is talking about." He healed me!

The Christ of Calvary is reaching for souls. It may be that you do not think you need Him. It may be that you are not in trouble. I was not in trouble except that I was a sinner, and I knew it. I found the Great Physician; the Mighty God; the everlasting Father; the Prince of Peace who came to this world to save lost and dying souls, to put peace in troubled hearts, and grant healing to sick bodies.

People, the thing that I thank God most for is that I do not have to lift up a partial Gospel. I do not have to tell people that God can save and cannot do more, when they come to me with cancers, or consumption, or tumors - as a little woman sitting in this place did only a few weeks ago. Standing over there by the post she said, "My unsaved children took me to two physicians to find out what was the matter with me. The first one said that I had three cancers, and the next one made an X-ray examination. He said that if I exerted myself just a little bit I was likely to meet instant death."

It was an easy matter to look into the face of that woman and say, "God can heal you. Jesus will heal you." And God did heal her. The prayer of faith was prayed that day. The following Thursday she came to this place and the cancers were gone. You can believe it or not, as you like. God did it! God Almighty is healing the sick.

This Gospel is preached without money and without price. That is the reason we can preach this Gospel just as God wants us to preach it. We can tell our experiences because there is no one to admonish us to sit down, and there are no people in the city of Portland who are better cared for than these people.

The foundation of the Gospel of the Son of man is faith. It is true it costs money to publish these papers. Six tons of paper were used to publish the last paper, and that costs hundreds of dollars. Our papers are translated into the Finnish, Norwegian, German, and Bohemian languages all without money and without price, and sent to anyone who wants them.

A printer came on the grounds the other day to attend to a little business with us. He saw the boxes of papers being packed, some going to Cincinnati, and some to Oakland; others to Vancouver, Tacoma, and Seattle. He said, "Do they pay for these papers?" I said, "Not one cent." God supplies every need in the publishing of our papers.

Ask the business firms we deal with if our word is not as good as our check. In all our branch missions on this Coast and in the East you will never find a collection taken. That is what Gad does for the people who have faith in Him. That is the reason we can pray for the sick. That is the reason we have power when a dope fiend, a man down in the depths of sin, or a woman of the underworld comes to us --- we can cast the devil out.

We invite you to come to our mission on the corner of Burnside. It is true it is a humble place. It might be a little hard on your pride; but "pocket it" and come. You will see a beautifully lighted hall, and mottoes on the walls; and best of all, you will hear about Jesus.

Many a mother's boy, about to commit suicide on the Burnside Bridge, is saved tonight because he saw the light flashing out on the sidewalk. During one week last winter six men who were about to commit suicide saw the sign, "Jesus, the Light of the World." They came into the hall and were saved. Hell lost six victims in one week. All winter long there are cases like that. While many in the higher walks find the same salvation, yet we do thank God that the men who are down in the depths of sin also find a ray of hope. Many are far from home and mother. Many a mother in the East has a boy who lands on old Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon; and many a time they hear the singing from the "lighthouse by the bridge" and come up into the place -- and some mother's prayer is answered.

Friends, there is a balm in Gilead. The message of the last days is going forth and Jesus is coming soon. One greater than Solomon is here. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has power to break every fetter --- to set the drunkard free, to set the fallen woman free, to deliver the thief, to deliver the gambler -- to set them free, and make them kings and priests unto God -- the happiest people on earth.