the generals from the healing revival

THE GENERALS FROM THE HEALING REVIVAL
BY PERRY STONE
young minister leaned
over the ambulance cot
of the Catholic priest.
He was brought to the
Birmingham meeting
to be healed by the prayers of a noted
Pentecostal minister. Known for seeing
dramatic miracles, the minister, Thea
Jones, began rebuking a huge cancerous
growth visible on the priest’s face. Suddenly, the ugly growth loosened, falling to
the floor before the eyes of those present.
The priest who was quite weak began re20
VOICE OF EVANGELISM | MARCH–APRIL 2016
joicing and the people came to their feet.
Thus, another miracle from the healing
revival would be reported and recorded
for future generations.
Today’s generation of youth are too
young to recall this season in America’s
spiritual history, in which signs, wonders,
and miracles exploded on the scene from
coast to coast. This divinely appointed
revival began in the summer of 1948 and
continued consistently for many years.
Known as the “Restoration Revival,” its
beginning coincided with the miraculous
restoration of Israel as a nation (May
1948). Due to the amazing signs and
wonders that accompanied the Restoration Revival, it was also called the “Healing Revival.”
It is difficult to explain how the revival
actually exploded on the scene and why
so many men received an anointing to
minister to the sick and infirmed. From
the testimonies of the leading healing revival evangelists, the one key that
unlocked the door to the miraculous was
an intense hunger to experience miracles
and to see the sick and afflicted cured by
God’s power. Many of the men initiating
the healing crusades began ministering in churches or small auditoriums,
and eventually expanded into large tent
cathedrals. Some of the more noted individuals were Oral Roberts, Jack Coe, T.L.
Lowery, William Branham, A.A. Allen,
and Morris Cerullo. Each minister had a
dynamic testimony of a unique visitation
from God that empowered and directed
them into the healing ministry.
As a young Jewish man, Morris
Cerullo experienced a vision of hell
that brought him to Christ. This vision
catapulted him into a Kingdom-based
healing ministry that led many to salvation. Another great minister, Thea Jones,
fasted 21 days before seeing an angel of
the Lord who informed him he would be
given an anointing to heal the sick. Thea
resigned his church in Chattanooga, entering full time ministry. His son, Lavoy
Jones, recalls seeing ambulances pull up
to his childhood home with sick or dying
people desiring prayer from his father—
many receiving their healing. My former
board member, Ralph Carroll, was related
to Jones by marriage, and recalled seeing
a bus full of kids from a deaf and dumb
school attend one of Jones’ meetings in
Tennessee. That night, Thea prayed for
all of the kids, and to the amazement of
the attendees, many of the children were
healed. Oral Roberts was another powerful General in this Healing Revival. The
Lord revealed to Roberts that he would
feel the healing anointing in his right
hand, and when he did, Roberts would be
able to discern sickness and the presence
of demons attacking a person. This fact
was demonstrated often, especially in
Robert’s early ministry. William Branham also testified that an angel of the
Lord visited him, giving him the gifts
of healing and a strong word of knowledge gift from the Holy Spirit. Branham
could look at a person and relate secret
information about them in perfect detail.
Afterward, he would pray a prayer of
faith that would bring healing to the person and charge the faith of those seeing
the miracle. The many miracles always
renewed strong faith in those observing
them, often leading to conversion of sinners and deliverances of multitudes.
As a young teenager, my father, Fred
Stone, was converted to Christ and began
fasting and praying. This led to his call
into the ministry. He listened to Roberts
and others on the radio and served as an
usher at the Thea Jones Healing Campaign in War, West Virginia. Dad saw
firsthand when Jones rebuked a “choking
spirit,” resulting in a large goiter instantly
melting under the command of the man
of God. My grandfather, William Stone,
also received a healing after reading Oral
Robert’s Healing Water’s Magazine.
ENTER T.L. LOWERY
One of the young men who accepted
God’s call into the healing ministry was
T.L. Lowery. As a young man, Dr. Lowery
began conducting his first revivals in
local churches. One noted revival erupted
in Virginia, where he cleaned and rented
a Tobacco Warehouse, and used the
building as a “tabernacle” to accommodate the large attendance. From the very
beginning, Lowery was marked with a
unique and powerful voice, mixed with
an animated style of preaching that drew
curious seekers and hungry saints to his
evangelistic meetings. Eventually, a large
Gospel Tent that could accommodate up
to 10,000 people was erected from city to
city for each of Dr. Lowery’s conferences.
Host pastors united together, encouraging their churches to attend the Lowery
Healing Campaign. After pastoring four
churches, he travelled with his tent for
many years—blazing the evangelistic trail
beginning in 1954. Eventually T.L. accepted a pastorate at the North Cleveland
Church of God in 1969. From 1974 to
1981, he served on the Church of God’s
Executive Committee. After an extended
fast, God directed him to the nation’s
capital where he organized and grew a
VOICE OF EVANGELISM | MARCH–APRIL 2016
21
powerful church in Fort Washington,
Maryland known as the National Church
of God. After turning the congregation
over to his anointed son, Steven Lanier,
Dr. Lowery returned to Cleveland, Tennessee to build the T.L. Lowery Global
Foundation Center. He spent his remaining days imparting what he had learned
to the next generation.
At age 11, I first heard T.L. preach on
the coming of Christ at the Church of
God State Camp meeting in Roanoke,
Virginia. His message was so convicting that people ran to the altar seeking
forgiveness. I was among the sea of
people who flooded that altar. From that
moment on and over the next 45 years,
I followed Dr. Lowery’s ministry. I was
blessed to connect with him, eventually
preaching many revivals at his church in
Fort Washington, Maryland. When Dr.
Lowery moved to Cleveland to build the
T.L. Lowery Global Foundation Ministry
Center, I served on the board and was
present with my shovel in hand at the
groundbreaking. For almost ten years he
traveled, hosted conferences, and spent
time “imparting before departing.”
I was blessed over these many years
to have spent time with this man—hearing the miracle stories, expounding the
Scriptures, and most of all watching the
anointing fall on him like Samson of
old. His entire body would shake under
the power of God, and the powers of
darkness were ripped from their comfort zones as multitudes were instantly
delivered. For decades, his ministry was
marked by long payer lines and laying
hands on each person. Up until his departure to heaven, he was still laying his
hands on individuals, praying the prayer
of faith.
As a young dark-haired teenager wearing a black suit, white shirt and red tie, I
recall preaching in churches throughout
the mountain communities of south22
VOICE OF EVANGELISM | MARCH–APRIL 2016
“Eventually, a
large Gospel
Tent that could
accommodate up
to 10,000 people
was erected from
city to city for each
of Dr. Lowery’s
conferences.”
western Virginia; many in coal mining
communities where T.L. had begun his
ministry many years before. Often the old
timers would see and hear me preach. Afterwards they would comment, “I believe
that Perry Stone is going to be another
T.L. Lowery.” Of course, I considered this
a great compliment and felt humbled to
be compared to such an anointed vessel
of God.
A NOTE IN A BOOK
I can recall writing Dr. Lowery when I
was 18 years old. At the time, he was the
assistant General Overseer in the Church
of God in Cleveland, Tennessee. I asked
him if he still had any of his books available that he had written during the days
of his tent revivals. At the time, I was a
totally unknown young minister, hungry
to learn God’s Word and to experience
the same power of God Brother Lowery
had experienced. I remember a few weeks
later getting a package and opening it. To
my amazement, there was a book written
by Dr. Lowery that had been printed in
the days he preached under the big tent.
After reading his kind letter, I opened
the book to the first page and saw a black
and white picture of the tent, packed to
capacity. There on the page, written in
blue ink, Dr. Lowery had written a word
of encouragement to me. It read: “You
can do this…T.L. Lowery.”
I laughed at first, since my crowds in
those days were twenty to fifty people. If I
preached to 100 in any service I felt like it
was a Billy Graham Crusade! At that moment, a spark of God quickened my spirit
and I said, “God can do this. He can help
me one day to reach many people.” Thirty
eight years later the same large crowds
that came to hear T.L. have at times been
present in our own meetings – from a
small hand full to thousands!
About this same time (age 18) I was
given a small magazine called the “Herald
of Deliverance.” It was an early publication that was printed by T.L., with
its initial publication in 1956. It was a
small 2 color publication with sermons,
healing testimonies and advertisements
for books. It was this magazine that
inspired me to print a ministry magazine
that would be the “written voice of our
ministry.” Thus was born The Voice of
Evangelism, which has been published
now for thirty-eight years—expanding
from a four-page leaflet to a 24-page full
color magazine.
On February 21, 2016, at the age of
87, Dr. T.L. Lowery died peacefully in his
home. He was my mentor and my friend.
He will be dearly missed. The Voice of
Evangelism has purchased the T.L. Lowery Global Foundation Center for the
ISOW Internet School. The long hallway
is filled with glass cases that document
the ministry of Dr. Lowery from the beginning to his final days. This will remain
as a memorial and a reminder that a great
man of God has been among us.
I am believing as these great men of
God pass on that they will leave behind
a torch that will again spark a revival of
healing and deliverance.