John Lake (1870-1935) ****
John
Lake was born in Ontario, Canada in 1870. He was one of sixteen children in a
family that was beset with sickness and disease. In a span of 32 years half of
his brothers and sisters had died. There was a constant flow of doctors and
nurses in his home. Although, Lake himself remained healthy, and was married at
the age of 21. Within 3 years his young
wife was diagnosed with an incurable case of tuberculosis. Lake's wife was
miraculously healed by God. Later one
of his sisters was healed of multiple cancers and his invalid brother was also
healed. The Church Lake attended taught that the "Day of Miracles"
was over. These healings marked a great change in his life and proved to him
firsthand that the power of God is still available to those that believe.
During
this time John Lake had become very successful in the insurance business. But
whenever someone came to his offices to conduct business he found that he was
overcome with concern for their souls, instead of business. On several
occasions his business interviews would instead become a time of prayer, in
which he would pour out his heart to God for that person's soul.
Lake discussed this matter with the president
of his company and explained the condition of his soul. The president kindly
replied: "You have worked hard, Lake. You need a change. Take a vacation
for three months. If you want to preach, preach. But at the end of the three
months, $50,000 a year will look like a lot of money to you, and you will have
little desire to sacrifice it for dreams of religious possibilities." He
thanked him, accepted an invitation to join a brother in evangelistic work, and
left the office, never to return. John
then disposed of his entire estate, and made himself wholly dependent upon God
for the support of himself and his family.
He then devoted his entire life to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
God
called him to Africa where he was used mightily by the Lord. On the way to Africa aboard the ship, he
preached, and witnessed for the Lord.
Many interesting things occurred, a few of them I feel must be
mentioned. When the ship reached South
Africa, it was announced that in order to disembark, each passenger must have a
certain amount of money. John Lake and
his party didn't have anywhere near enough money to meet this requirement, this
was the fist time that he had been told of the need for money, in order to
clear the South African customs inspectors.
John had been depending on the Lord for all of his needs, according to
what the Lord had taught in Matthew 6:31-32 Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be
clothed? (For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all
these things. and also in Mark 6:7-8
And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two
and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; And commanded them that they should take nothing for their
journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: Some of the people that came with him were
very worried, but John told them that the Lord would not fail them. The next day, in the morning, they were in
line for the customs check, it was at this time they needed the money. Again some of the people with him began to
worry afresh, but again John consoled them, with these words "God will not
let them down." While in line a
man walked up to Mr. Lake and said to him "I want to help with your
ministry in south Africa, here is some money.
Yes it was more that sufficient for the customs check.
While
in Africa, John and his party was used of God to bring and demonstrate the
Gospel to many, many people, The first
being this, A plague hit south Africa, and many people from other lands,
doctors, nurses and such, came to help.
In the providence where John Lake was ministering, very few people were
dying. One of the Doctors that had
heard this, wanted to go and see for himself, if possible that John Lake had
found a cure or treatment for the plague.
when he found John Lake, he asked why so few were dying, and in other
places people were dropping like flies!
John replied that because of the power of God. Then John challenged the Doctors, he said, take the microscope
and place some of the live germs of the plague, on my hand, and as you do, you
will see, that the germ will die the instance hit touches my hand. the Doctor was unwilling to try this very
dangerous experiment, but after Johns insistence the doctor did as John had
instructed. The results were just as
John had predicted, the germ died instantly!
another
example that I shall never forget is this, One night John had come to a jungle
tribe were he had lead the chief of the tribe to the Lord, along with a large
amount of the people. When John arrived
he asked the Chief's wife where the Chief was?
She said that a little boy had
fallen out of a tall tree and was unconscious. John went to the hut where the Chief was praying for the little
boy. John quickly saw that the little
boy's neck had been broken, in the turn of century no one had ever recovered
from a broken neck! Doctors knew nothing of this kind of medicine. John looked
away, from the gaze of the Chiefs eyes, for he did not want the Chief to see
the unbelief in his own eyes. John told
the chief to continue praying for the lad, and he would go to his hut and pray
there. some time later, the Chief went
and found John sleeping, after waking him, John asked how is it with the
lad? the Chief said he was fine , and
had given him back to his mother. The
part of this story that impressed me was this, John Lake didn't have to write
about this seeming failure, and none of us would have ever known, but such was
the faith of John Lake, you see his faith was inter mixed with humility!
One
last incidence worth of mention was this, while traveling though the jungle
John came upon a man whom he had prayed for a few months back, the man had been
a leper. John had prayed for him and
now he was leprous no more. John had
lead him to the Lord as well as healed him.
John had prayed for this man to have the Spirit of God as well. The man took him back to his village, and
what john saw amazed him, this man after being healed of leprosy, went and
prayed for sixty other lepers and had started a Church composed of healed
lepers!
John
Lake came back to America after his wife died to raise his seven children. John
started several missions in the U.S. In
one of the missions more than 100,000 healings were documented in a six-year
period of time.
Books
to read for more information about John Lake;
1) Adventures In God.
2) Spiritual Hunger.
3) The Astounding Diary Of Dr. John G. Lake