The Testimony of J. M. Humphrey

A Preacher’s Repentance From Adulterous Remarriage

I was born June 30th, 1872, a few miles south of Memphis, Tenn., and spent the earlier part of my life in and about that section. At the age of nineteen I was married to a young lady of seventeen. She was then an excellent girl. About four years later we moved to Chicago, Ill., where we were both converted and sanctified, and lived a happy Christian life for some time. But as time passed my wife grew cold and indifferent, and finally renounced all religious scruples, and went into open sin and uncleanness to such an extent that I was forced to “put her away,” according to Matt. 5:32. However I remained unmarried, having been instructed by the Bible and my religious teachers that there were Bible grounds to put away the unclean party, but none whatever to remarry while she lived. So I believed and taught this for years, from the pulpit and through the press. But later on I read more largely on the subject and met many holy, devout men, as I went forth in the evangelistic work, who were more experienced both in Word and ministry, than I, and who believed there were Bible grounds for the innocent party to remarry under my circumstances, taking Matt. 19:9 for their authority. Also I saw in the discipline of all orthodox churches that they recognized the one ground, viz., Matt. 19:9.

So as I did not hold myself as any criterion, after weighing the matter in these different scales, I finally concluded that I was wrong, and my views on the subject were non-scriptural. So I publicly confessed my mistake, and accepted the general view of the Christian world — viz., one ground for the innocent party to remarry. Matt. 19:9. So as I was the innocent party, after living a single life for seven years, I felt as clear as heaven to take a second wife — basing my foundation on Matt. 19:9. However, some of my friends advised me different; but their advice came too late. But the very next day after the ceremony was performed, I felt strangely. I did not feel that sky-blue clearness. I felt a little smitten in spirit. However, I would not allow myself to feel under condemnation, for I had (as I thought) the Bible on my side. Hence, I concluded that it was only the enemy trying to torment me. However, the Lord was very tender and patient with me, and would bless and pour out His Spirit upon me, knowing I was ignorant of my mistake.

But as time passed by, this annoyance became a constant thing; so I would set myself apart for a few days of prayer and fasting; at which time my sky would clear up as bright as noon, and all was well; but when I would resume the former routine of life, things would darken up again. So this continued for about five months, in this alternate way. However, I was as honest as an angel in the matter, believing I had God’s highest approval in the step I had taken. But after the first five months of our married life, the thing became a real doubt; so I resolved to set myself apart by prayer and as much fasting as I deemed prudent, for I wanted to know from God.

First: if I had really made a mistake, — and if there were really no grounds for divorce-marriages.

Second: I wanted to know (if it was wrong) what step to take to get out of it, as it would no doubt be a great stumbling block to the unsaved.

However, I was fully determined to obey God in spite of men or devil, even at the loss of all things, even life itself. So we lived a separate life, for eighteen months, waiting for the clear, unmistakable mind of God. However, but little of my time was spent at home, as I was engaged in evangelistic work, with the blessing of God wonderfully upon my soul.

We read in Job 33:14-18 these words, “God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction… He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.” Truly, the Lord has verified this in my case, as He has used this special method (together with the Word) of warning, instructing and reproving me ever since I was saved.

I confess, all visions and dreams are not to be depended upon, yet God has a way of making one know when He is speaking. So I here give the reader, in substance, what God said to me, or in other words, some methods He used by dreams and visions to make me know I was wrong in my divorce-marriage. I do not force it upon anyone, I only relate it, and let you take it for what it is worth. It is to be remembered, I did not receive all of these in one night, or in one month, but from time to time, during a period of eighteen months, and upward.

1. On the night of April 13th, 1907, the Spirit came to me in a dream or vision, in the form of an eminent preacher, who lives an exceptionally holy life, (however, I do not know his views on this subject), and quoted clearly and distinctly two passages of Scripture. The first one is found in Isa. 52:11, “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” The next passage is found in II Cor. 7:1, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” These came, not as other flighty dreams, but were stamped on my heart and mind by the invincible power of the Spirit. Hence, I can never forget them.

2. On September 28th, 1907, in my dream I stood on the sidewalk of a solitary street. I saw no one for miles around. But suddenly a being from another world descended and sat on the top of a building just across the street from where I stood, and began talking in loud, clear, thrilling and awful words, such as filled me with terror, for they seemed not only words, but stuck fast in my soul like arrows. He spake as follows:

“There is someone in this community rejecting God-given light, and if they do not stop, God is going to send them to hell forever. He has sent me to warn them. Now you may do as you please about this matter. I have warned you, so good-bye!”

After he was through speaking, he was transformed into the likeness of a large bird, and ascended into the sky. Immediately I awoke, filled with confusion, terror and conviction, beyond the power of language to describe. I related it to my wife, and told her that God was not pleased with our marriage. But she did not seem to see it in that light, hence the sad news almost broke her heart. So I did not leave her then, as I wanted to be sure it was God talking, and not the enemy. So I decided to pray for God to make it clearer still. However, we continued to live clean and separate.

3. Another night I saw in my dream a large white boat at sea, (which I believe represented the safe Bible way) but I had left this boat, and taken a little narrow skiff (which I believe represented that one isolated passage of Scripture, Matt. 19:9, which is the only passage in the Bible that seems to give grounds for divorce-marriage) and was rapidly drifting away from the large lifeboat. And as I drifted, my little boat became uncontrollable and rapidly leaped on, over the angry, turbulent waves, until it gradually began to sink, and I went down to a watery grave. I awoke with a sense of God’s displeasure on divorce-marriages beyond the power of description. But as I wanted to be sure, and not make another mistake, I decided to still keep the matter before God, so as to obtain His clear, unmistakable leading.

I want to say right here, strange as it may seem, God kept His blessing on my soul, for He knew I wanted to know His will, and would do it. Hence the patience He had with me, in convincing me of the wrongness of this matter, was something marvelous. The great trouble was this, it was such a legalized sin, among almost all classes, even the strictest and most devout people of earth (with a few exceptions), that it was difficult to renounce and go against their smooth words and plausible arguments on the subject. I plainly saw if I took the way God was holding up I would have to take a dead stand against the majority of preachers and holiness teachers of our day. Another thing that made it so difficult to take the way the Spirit was holding up was I did not want to be a “turncoat,” i. e., I had known this light on the divorce subject before, and was led by shallow teachers to renounce it; but God showed me, notwithstanding that fact, I had to take His clear, uncompromising way, no matter what men or devils would say. It is better to turn a thousand times and be right, than never turn and be wrong.

4. Another night, in my dream, I saw myself joined arms with my second wife, walking down a wide brimstone road in hell, and as we passed a large vestibule I saw throngs of voluptuous men all dressed in black, and wearing silk hats. They were all keeping time to a band of music, and waving college banners, and singing this chorus:

“In hell at last! In hell at last!

And earth and all her pleasures past.
In hell at last! In hell at last:
For aye and aye the die is cast.”

And in front of these men were about a dozen large black swine (emblems of filth and uncleanness). And they were flopping their ears and cringing to the music. In this, God showed me that I had followed the sensual, unclean, flesh-indulging multitudes of earth, into this divorce-marriage business. At this I awoke with that awful picture burning in my brain, and that hellish music ringing in my ears.

But as it meant so much to make another public confession, and say I had made a mistake by re-marrying, while my former wife lived, I thought perhaps these were only dreams, and I had better pray some more before I made, what seemed such a fatal step. So I decided to spend some more days in fasting, and some more all-nights in prayer before God, to know the unmistakable truth about this matter.

5. One day, as I stood all alone in the parlor of a friend’s house, in an eastern city, (while contemplating taking up this awful cross) it seemed as though a glorified spirit descended, and sang the following chorus to me. ( I never heard the words or the tune until then):

“Heaven is cheap at any cost,

Do gain its ports or all is lost;

For earthly gain is only dross

And naught’s of value but the cross.”

And with this song there seemed to come volleys of exhortations from Wesley, Fletcher, Pollock and millions of glorified saints saying to me, “Gain heaven’s port at any cost:”

For several days afterward, an inexpressible heavenly melting was upon me, and that angelic song was ringing in my ears. Since then I have had the song put to music, and put into our song book, “Revival Fire In Song.” It can be had at our office for fifteen cents.

After this invincible message I was not only convinced that the divorce-marriage was wrong, but also thoroughly convinced that we had to separate fully. So we began to plan and work to that end. However, we kept praying for still clearer evidence so that in after years there would be nothing to regret over taking this step of separation. Of course, after many of our friends and brethren heard that we had decided to separate, they came to us, by letter or in presence, and tried to reason us out of our conviction, etc., by defining what divorces meant, and by saying what Jesus must have meant, etc. They meant well, but their arguments were too shallow to build on for eternity. We saw one woman die in this divorce trap. She was a good Christian woman, and professed holiness too, but we have never seen such a distressed, forlorn, God-forsaken looking being before or since.

O, friends! we cannot afford to take any doubtful position in regard to our eternal welfare. Preachers and people can reason us on to a false track, and into hell, but they cannot reason us out.

So my advice to everyone is, take the clearest track to heaven. Of course it may be the most unpopular, and may bring lots of persecution, but after all, it is the safest way to the pearly gates.

6. One night, in my dream, two preachers came to me (one I thought was St. Paul). And as they stood near me, the other preacher read to me from a paper which he held in his hand the following in substance: “You would be all right if it were not for that divorce-marriage.” At this they disappeared, and I awoke with these awful words ringing in my ear: “You would be all right if it were not for that divorce-marriage.” And while lying there thinking upon these awful words, a strange feeling seized me, as if it was death. I was conscious, but could not speak or move; and as I struggled and made efforts to free myself, I found something holding me fast: and God seemed to put this question at me: “How would you like for this to be death, and you tied up in that divorce-marriage?” As I lay there and struggled all that I could see, filling the whole horizon of my mind, was, “That divorce-marriage.” From this, God caused me to see that a soul could not afford to go to their death-bed with the least conviction on their heart, or a shadow of a doubt in their experience.

7. The following night in my dream I was standing in a large yard all alone; and while thus standing, it seemed that God was so angry with me because of my divorce-marriage, that a great stream of lightning swept down from heaven and ran on the ground to meet me, in thousands of fiery spangles. It picked me up literally, and carried me about thirty feet to a large heap of fire burning on the ground, and held me fast in those flames. When I awoke, I still seemed to be on fire. Even the bed seemed hot with those wrathful flames. And as I was awakening, I heard these words out of that avalanche of lightning, “Prepare to meet thy God.” This occurred while I was away in another town. I went home and told my wife, and we mutually agreed to separate.

Since we did so, I feel as clear as an angel. And I am fully convinced that divorce-marriages are wrong; no matter if every preacher in the universe says they are not. I have been in hell (so to speak) for almost two years on account of listening to false teachers. O friend! don’t be deceived by any preacher or teacher! It is wrong beyond all shadow of doubt! If I had the voice of an archangel I would sound it from pole to pole. I came near losing my soul by giving ear to these false teachers, rather than to God! Of course, many of them are good, well-meaning Christian men, but they are only giving their opinions, and also what that isolated passage in Matt. 19:9 seems to mean. But I have been caught in the snare of the thing, and God has been hurling light and conviction on my soul for nearly two years, both night and day, making me know and feel that the thing is wrong. I am not writing what I think, but what I positively know; and am willing to seal this testimony with my blood. I know whereof I speak. And no matter how conferences or church disciplines may rock the conscience of the people to sleep telling them they can marry while their husbands or wives live; they are wrong, and the souls whom they are deceiving will find it out when eternity is unveiled, if not before. I thank God that He kept conviction and light streaming from heaven on my soul until I walked in it, in spite of all the false comforters, who were crying, Peace: Peace: when there was no peace; but dread, fear and awful uncertainty.

Now, precious eternity-bound friend, will you take the advice of one who has acted the fool, and never, never enter into a divorce-marriage under any circumstances? And if you are now in one, and love your soul, and want to gain heaven, do get out of it: even at the cost of all things, or else you will regret it throughout all eternity.

J. M. Humphrey

J. M. (Jerry Miles) Humphrey was an author and speaker in the Holiness Movement of the early 20th century. While in ministry, he divorced his wife, and married another woman seven years later. The day after the wedding, he began to harbor doubts about the propriety of this second marriage, and ultimately ended it after two years of soul-searching, which included eighteen months of mutual sexual abstinence.

His published works include:

• Select Fruits from the Highlands of Beulah
• Crumbs From Heaven
• Sin’s By-Paths
• Old-Time Religion
• Impressive Talks
• Fragments From The King’s Table
• A Word of Warning on Divorce – Marriage
• Fire from the Pulpit
• X-ray Sermons
• Daily Guide for the Sanctified
• Railroad Sermons from Railroad Stories
• The Worker’s Secret Of Unction
• Spiritual Lessons From Every-day Life
• Fifty Ready-Cut Sermons

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Humphrey

“Look at the legalized adultery we call divorce. Men marry one wife after another and are still admitted into good society; and women do likewise. There are thousands of supposedly respectable men in America living with other men’s wives, and thousands of supposedly respectable women living with other women’s husbands.” – R. A. Torrey From R.A. Torrey’s book How to Pray, pages 94-95

R.A. Torrey (1856-1928) was a very well-known Christian writer, evangelist, pastor, graduate of Yale University, and was also the superintendent of Moody Bible Institute for 19 years.

The Miracle Healing of Delores Winder

“Jesus Set Me Free”:

The Miracle Healing of Delores Winder

By Linda Josef, Ph.D.

Delores Winder was dying. Although she was just 48 years old, the disease that had tortured her life was now poisoning her kidneys. Her esophagus was ruptured, a fractured bone was poking through her skin, organs were failing, and the doctors said they could do no more for her. Delores was granted permission to leave the hospital so that she could die at home. Death would bring relief from a life of terrible pain and disability, but she was.

With these mixed feelings, she went home and set about making her own funeral arrangements, but she didn’t die as expected. Instead, she experienced what Sid Roth calls one of the greatest healing miracles of the twentieth century. Today she is 80 years young and busy ministering the healing power of the Holy Spirit from her home in Shreveport, LA. Delores told Sid all about her remarkable experience in a recent radio interview. I have paraphrased and summarized Sid’s interview with her in two parts. Part 1 describes her own healing, and Part 2 gives some of her teaching about the Holy Spirit and healing.

A Rare and Painful Disease
Delores’ symptoms began in childhood – she seemed to break bones very easily. Numerous medical tests were conducted to try to determine the cause of her fragile bones, but nothing was diagnosed. When she was in her late twenties, she experienced a collapse of several vertebrae that required a fusion of her spine. The spinal fusion failed and had to be repeated three more times. Her doctors realized that something was terribly wrong with her bones.

Delores was ultimately diagnosed with a rare disease in which her bones thinned out because they could not absorb calcium and other needed minerals from her bloodstream. This made them old and brittle and as easy to break as a twig. Her hip sockets were so fragile that she could barely walk and she lived in fear of them failing completely. She had to live in a full body cast with a neck brace to avoid more breakage.

Delores also had to take a lot of medication, and it made her sick and unable to eat. She weighed only 73 pounds, was almost completely disabled and required help for the most simple body functions. It is hard to imagine living for 15 years in such a condition. She could not walk without assistance, hold her own child or enjoy anything like a normal life.

One of the worst aspects was the excruciating pain. Delores described her normal pain level as “15 on a 10-point scale.” Even the heaviest pain medications could not alleviate her suffering, so the doctors carried out an agonizing surgical procedure, called a percutaneous chordotomy, in which they went into the brain and burned out the nerves to the lower part of her body. The good news was that the pain level was greatly reduced because of the procedure. The bad news was that her lower body now could feel nothing and could not move on its own. This procedure was an extreme measure, taken only because she was at the end of her life.

Delores was not afraid to die. She had been a Christian since childhood. She loved God and believed in God, but she did not believe in healing. She belonged to one of those churches that taught that healing had passed away with the Apostles. In fact, people that believed in supernatural healing made her uncomfortable. She believed that everything that happened to her was God’s will, and that her job as a Christian was to bear her suffering as best she could.

The idea of dying did not bother her, but she was deeply grieved about leaving her husband and 14 year old son all alone. She did not tell her son she was dying, but he knew, and she could hear him crying at night in his room. She said, “I begged God to tell me what would happen to my boy – how he would get along and be cared for after I was gone. I just wanted to be able to tell him it would be okay for him. That worry, along with the worry for my husband Bill – that was the main thing I thought about. I prayed about it almost constantly as I waited for the end to come.”

Jesus Set Me Free
“One day I was lying in my bed and a lady I knew as an acquaintance came into my bedroom. She had come to pray for me and then she turned on the TV to a show with Kathryn Kuhlman, the miracle healing lady. I was just revolted by what I saw. I did not believe in divine healing at all, and I felt at the time that these television ministries were making a mockery of faith. I asked her to turn it off, and to please leave me. Well, she did turn it off, but she asked me just to pray about Miss Kuhlman and not close any doors.

“Later, after she left, I was pleading with God to tell me how He was going to take care of my son Chris and my husband. As I prayed, I clearly heard the name ‘Kathryn Kuhlman’ just as if someone had said it out loud. Then I knew that my answer about Bill and Chris would come through her.”

It was not too long afterward that Miss Kuhlman came to a nearby town to speak on the Holy Spirit at a Methodist conference, and Delores knew that she had to go to this conference. Her friend Gail agreed to help her make the very difficult and painful ride to the conference. When she finally arrived, Gail was unable to get her out of the car. They had decided to give up and go back home, but fortunately a man came out of the meeting and helped her get out of the car. He carried her into the service and got her and Gail settled in their seats.

Kathryn Kuhlman began to teach saying, “I am going to introduce you to the Holy Spirit. If you call the Holy Spirit an ‘it’, you don’t know Him. He is God here with us. He is the third person of the trinity.” That is the last thing Delores heard, because she suddenly felt that she was in the presence of God. A great sense of peace washed over her, and she had a vision. In the vision she saw her son standing with a man that she recognized as Jesus. He told her that her son need never feel alone, that He would always be with him. Delores had her answer; she had what she had come to the conference to receive.

Delores later said, “I had been in church all my life, and had even taught Sunday School. I read my Bible constantly, but the reality of the Holy Spirit had always escaped me. He is so real, and He wants us to know Him as a person – to be conscious of Him in everything we do. He wants to use all of us to deliver gifts of healing. All we have to do is open our hearts to Him. Healing is the ministry of the church, and He wants to use all of us for this purpose.”

Meanwhile, people in the audience were being touched. Some seemed to faint, some were getting healed and others were laughing. Although she had encountered the Holy Spirit, she wanted no part of a healing service, which she thought was a lot of bunk. She was ready to leave and was pulling herself to the edge of the seat, gathering her things. Suddenly, her legs started burning as if they were on fire. This made her even more desperate to leave. Delores did not realize that her legs were supposed to be dead, and medically speaking, they had no potential to feel burning pain. Something supernatural was happening to Delores, and she did not even recognize it.

Delores described what happened next: “I wanted no part of this sideshow. My friend was about to get me up to leave, when I noticed a man standing next to me. He said, ‘Something is happening to you.’ I told him, “My legs are burning like fire and I am dying, and I need to get out of here right now.”

He helped her up, and as he helped her shuffle to the door, he asked her if she had had any surgeries. Then he asked how she could feel her legs burning if she had had her nerves deadened. She did not know it at the time, but the man had come off the stage to Delores because he knew she was being healed, and he told her this. At the bottom of her heart she thought this was just more of the sideshow, but there was something in his face that said, ‘he knows what he is talking about’ He persuaded her to take off her body cast, and then had her carried to the stage. There, her worst fear came to pass – she was standing with Katherine in front of 3,000 people, the center of a big spectacle.

Katherine told her to walk, and the men holding her up backed away. Terrified of falling, she tried to prove she could not move her feet. To her amazement her feet did move, and she started walking She could feel the floor! Then the feeling came back into her hands and arms, and she started shouting, I can feel! I can feel! Later they told her she began running around the stage. When she came back, Katherine told her to bend over, and she did so, finding her spine was completely healed. She could touch the floor with no pain and was able to stand up. Everything was different! Different! Katherine smiled at her and said, “There is work for you to do. God wants you to have a dose of the Holy Spirit.” Then she went down from the power of the Holy Spirit.

Delores said, “When we left, I walked off that platform – no cast, no cane, no assistance. This was medically impossible. I had thought the woman was a kook, but I was healed. I was in such shock that I did not really know what had happened. But I was completely healed!”

When Delores finally arrived home, it was 2 AM. Her son had been waiting up for her, and came to the door. He saw his mother get out of a car unassisted for the first time in his life. He was so excited, he ran to her and picked her up, all 73 pounds of her, and began dancing around with her. Her husband was in shock, but really thought somehow it would not last. He made up his mind to enjoy it as long as it lasted. The next morning she got up and took a shower by herself for the first time in many, many years. She went to church and then went out to lunch where she ate a normal meal for the first time in years. She went back to the same doctor who had sent her home to die. When he confirmed that she was completely well, she said, “Is there any possible medical explanation for this?” And there wasn’t. It was God.

Closing Thoughts
It took Delores a long time to process what happened to her. She had never believed in healing at all and was disturbed because she could not explain what had happened. Gradually she began to understand, however. As she got to know the Holy Spirit she started to have quite a number of supernatural experiences, signs and healing miracles coming through her.

Delores said, “God has given a healing ministry to the whole church, not just to special people. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, but we must step out and take a chance to pray for people. I often wonder what would have happened if that man had not stepped forward to help me out of the car. We should all be doing these works. If people will only open their hearts, God will do it. We just have to believe. And if we cannot believe, we can pray, ‘Lord, I do believe in you, help my unbelief.’ My belief was in Jesus not in healing.

Wherever she goes, Delores walks in signs and healing miracles. More details about her healing, her miracle experiences and her teaching are revealed in her book, Joy Comes in the Morning. Some of these ideas are summarized in Part 2 of this article.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright ©1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.</div>