God’s power mightily manifested

How Tom Barratt, a minister of the Norwegian Methodist Church, was baptized with the Holy Spirit

There were not many people at the evening meeting, but God’s power was mightily manifested. I asked the leader of the meeting a little before 12 o’clock, to lay hands on me and pray for me. Immediately the power of God began to work in my body, as well as in my spirit. I was like Daniel powerless under the Divine touch (Dan. 10:8) and had to lean on the table on the platform, where I was sitting, and slid down to the floor. Again my speaking organs began to move, but there was no voice to be heard. I asked a brother, a Norwegian, who had often heard me preach in Christiania [Oslo], and the doctor’s wife, to pray for me once more.

‘Try to speak’, the Norwegian said. But I answered, that ‘if the Lord could speak through a human being. He must make me do so by His Spirit! There was to be no bumbug about this!’

When they were praying, the doctor’s wife saw a crown of fire over my head and a cloven tongue as of fire in front of the crown. Compare Acts 2,3-4. The brother from Norway saw a supernatural highly red light.

The very same moment my being was filled with light, and an indescribable power, and I began to speak in a foreign language as loudly as I could. For a long time I was lying on my back on the floor speaking, - afterwards I was moving about on my knees with my eyes shut. For some time this went on, then at last I sat on a chair, and the whole time I spoke in ‘divers kinds of tongues’ (1 Corinthians 12:10) with a short interval between. When speaking some of these languages there was an aching in my vocal chords. I am sure that I spoke seven or eight different languages. They were clear and plain, and the different positions of the tongue, and the different tones of the voice, and the different accents, made me understand how different the languages were, one from the other. (Now, while I am writing this the Spirit works on my vocal chords and I have to sing). The most beautiful of all was the singing – when the inspiration reached its climax I burst out in a wonderful baritone solo. I never heard the tune before, and I did not understand the words but it was a most beautiful language, so smooth and easy to pronounce. Those who were present and heard the whole thing, said that my voice was quite changed. I shall never forget how beautiful and pure the singing sounded. It seemed to me the rhythm in the verses and chorus, was as perfect as it is possible to be. Several times after that I sang songs, and today the Spirit has been constantly singing through me in a foreign language. I have recited poem after poem, that were given me instantaneously by the Spirit. Now I am asking the Lord to give me the interpretation of the languages I speak.

This lasted till about four o’clock in the morning. Until 3 a. m. there were nine persons present who can testify to the truth of every word I have written, and some of them stayed till 4 a. m.

This incident happened in New York the 15th November 1906

From: Nils Bloch-Hoell, The Pentecostal Movement, Published simultaneously in the United Kingdom by George Allen & Unwin LTD., London, and in the United States of America by Humanities Press Inc., New York, printed in Norway 1964, pag. 134-135

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