John Edward Cooper’s Notes

“INCREDIBLE”

AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
JOHN NELSON PARR



John Nelson Parr, Fleetwood, Lancs. England.
March, 1972.

“Incredible”: autobiography of John Nelson Parr — Contents
Chapter Three: Incredible Search for Power

Chapter Four
INCREDIBLE PENTECOSTAL REVIVAL

The Rev. A. A. Boddy planned a great Whitsuntide Convention at All Saints, Sunderland, and the chief speaker was Rev. T. B. Barrett. We decided to send Brother Dan Parsley to this convention and bring back a report. He came back and told us it was just like the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus was gloriously magnified, many were speaking in other tongues, many miracles of healing were seen in the name of Jesus and he definitely said “this revival is from God”. After his report we became very desperate and we decided to hold a Christmas Convention in Stanley Hall, Longsight. We invited two or three from Kilsyth and Preston who had been Baptised in the Spirit and spoken in tongues. Many people had been to Sunderland and the Pentecostal Revival had spread to Preston, Lytham, Kilsyth, Blackburn, London and other places.

During the convention one of the speakers said to me as I knelt seeking the Lord in prayer “Have you been Baptised in the Spirit?” I replied “Yes” (for I sincerely believed I had been baptised in the Holy Ghost). Then he said “What are you seeking?” and I replied “A greater fullness of the Holy Spirit”. He replied “Did you speak in tongues, when you were Baptised in the Spirit?” I said “No”; then he replied “You have never been baptised in the Spirit”. From that moment I sought the Lord earnestly for the Baptism in the Spirit. On Christmas day morning, Sunday, December 25th, 1910, a young man was Baptised in the Spirit and spoke in tongues. It was at the end of the breaking of bread service, when I heard someone speaking in a strange language. I opened my eyes and looked at him. His face was wonderfully radiant and he kept moving his hands as though he was holding a conversation with someone and talking to them in a strange language. I did not like noisy people and I thought it was wonderful to be Baptised in the Spirit in that way. At the night meeting on Christmas day 1910 I was sitting at the back of the hall, feeling I had come to the end of myself. Prayer meetings were held every night for three weeks prior to the Christmas Convention and I had been to every prayer meeting and had not yet been Baptised in the Spirit. I was sitting down in the attitude of prayer right at the back of the hall, and I was singing to myself very quietly, and meaning every word “gentle Jesus meek and mild. look upon a little child; pity my simplicity, suffer me to come to Thee”. That verse fully expressed my feelings. When I came to the end of the verse, the Spirit of God fell on me in mighty power, shaking me from head to foot; I gripped the heavy pine form in front of me to try and stop the shaking but then the form commenced shaking so I took my hands off it. In a few moments I bellowed out speaking in other tongues. After speaking a few sentences in other tongues, then I spoke in English; this apparently being the interpretation of the message and this continued for about four hours until about 2 a.m. We knew nothing about the gift of interpretation but that night the Spirit of God operated that gift through me for about four hours. After this experience I understood what it meant in Acts chapter four, verse 31 where it says “When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together”. Nearly all the messages given that night by tongues and interpretation were about the imminence of the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

[1] Donald Gee supplied more details in his book on the Pentecostal Movement:

…Mr. Parr was one of a group who actually had been expelled from a well-known Holiness Hall in that city [Manchester] because they started prayer meetings to seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost with scriptural evidence. They sent one of their number to Sunderland to spy out the land, and he brought back a good report.

 As they were breaking bread together on the morning of Christmas Day, 1910, the power of God fell very quietly upon one of their company, and he was baptised in the Holy Ghost and spoke with tongues. This so intensified young Mr. Parr’s hunger that, simply to humble himself still more before God, he asked to be allowed to give out the hymn books at the door for the evening service. Later, when they began to pray, he commenced to sing “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child.” At that moment the power of the Holy Spirit came upon him mightily, and from 8.30 p.m. until 1 a.m. he was speaking with tongues and giving interpretations.

 Mr. Parr recalls one striking incident that very night. Through him the Spirit of God, by tongues and interpretation, had uttered strong warnings to one present. A little later the tone changed to one of victory, with the words, “The Lord has triumphed.” Not until four years later, when attending a Convention at Bradford, did he hear a man testify to the fact that it was he to whom the Spirit had spoken that night in Manchester. It appears that a receipt had been sent to him by mistake for an unpaid bill, and he had determined to evade payment. As the Spirit spoke through those spiritual gifts he decided in his heart to do the honest thing and pay what he owed, and at that very moment the Holy Ghost made known to all the secret victory.

Donald Gee, Wind and Flame (Nottingham: Assemblies of God Publishing House, 1967), page 65