Pastor Mur shares a story of how God answered a prayer in ways he never expected.

There are nearly 50 Foursquare churches in Hawaii, and 75,000 people get to go to these great churches each weekend. They are full gospel churches that grew out of the ministries of two men – Ralph Moore and Wayne Cordeiro who founded Hope Chapel and New Hope.

I attended a Foursquare church for the first time in November 1976. I had come from New Jersey to California to speak at a construction industry seminar, and planned my trip so I could attend that Sunday morning service at Angelus Temple, its founder’s church. It was the first time I had ever been to California.

I was 30 years old when God saved me in 1961. I had no background in Biblical Christianity when that happened. I had moved to Philadelphia earlier that year, and made a friend who invited me to a Billy Graham Meeting, and late one night two weeks after that meeting, Jesus came into my bedroom and my heart.

I immediately wanted to be an evangelist like Mr. Graham, and enrolled at Philadelphia College of the Bible in January 1962 after executing its written agreement never to attend a full gospel church. I unintentionally broke that agreement 18 months later, and was soon involved with full gospel churches. My dad had taught me to love to read, and in those days I read everything I could find about the Holy Spirit. My construction work moved me around, and I had to drop out of Bible College.

While there were no Foursquare churches where I lived, I discovered the writings of Aimee Semple McPherson, the founder of the Foursquare movement, and decided that I would go to her Angelus Temple if I ever got to Los Angeles. I was 45 years old when I got there for the first time.

The Angelus Temple, Church of the Four Square Gospel, built by Aimee Semple McPherson and dedicated January 1, 1923. The temple is opposite Echo Park, near downtown Los Angeles, California.
Image: 2005 photograph / Wikimedia Commons.

When the Temple’s morning service ended that day, I walked up onto the platform and stood behind the pulpit. No one paid any attention to me. I looked out into those 4,000 seats, and tried to imagine what the place looked like 50 years earlier when Sister Aimee was in her prime; and then I did something outrageous and even silly: I prayed that God would somehow involve me in that Temple and in the church it had spawned.

I said outrageous and silly because I lived 2,500 miles from there. I was the founder of a small, though growing, consulting engineering firm that demanded my attention virtually every hour of every day. Those demands had also led to a failing marriage and all the hurt and misery that entailed. My prayer lacked a serious foundation; there was nothing to build on, and I soon forgot my words. But looking back today, I realize that the first thing I learned at that church is that God answers the prayers uttered at that altar.

Pastor Jack Hayford, President of the Foursquare Gospel Church purchased a special run of this book and mailed a copy of this book to every minister in his denomination. Hayford has traveled to Israel many times in the past 40 years and has known Don Finto for more than 30 years.

Finto spent 25 years as pastor of Belmont Church in Nashville. Now in his mid-seventies he is active with the growing community of Jewish believers in Jesus. This interest which began 40 years ago has taken Don to Israel often; and the insights and experiences that he gathered over these years give him unusual insight to the move of God in the mid-east and across the world.

Finto divided his book into two main sections. The first reviews the tremendous growth in the Christian church over the last half century across the world. No other period of history has experienced this sort of Christian expansion. Finto discusses his opinions of what the conversion of several hundred thousand Jews to faith in Jesus portends for the world in general and for the country of Israel. He writes that 40 years ago there was not a single congregation established to foster the continuing Jewish identity of Jews who believe in Jesus. Today there are 400 or more congregations throughout the United States, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Israel and other countries.

Moreover, these congregations are not covert. They do not have to be silent and are featured in Jewish newspapers and on national television. The congregations include people from all ranks of the community. 7,000 of these live in Israel, all over the land and in every walk of life.

Finto continues with reviews of the growing church in Africa, the effects of 25,000 new believers a day in Latin America, Africa and China. That is 75,000 believers a day. 60 million Nigerians profess faith in Christ; and other African countries besides Nigeria are experiencing significant growth in believers. We read of success and persecutions, victory and defeat but a church growing in ways that have not been seen in the 20 centuries of its existence.

South Korea has 60,000 churches and 40 percent of its population are professing Christians; South Vietnam has seen 800,000 conversions in the last 25 years. 150,000 Muslims have come to Christ. Finto describes corporate and individual conversions.

I found his review of the growth of the Kingdom fascinating. We are so assailed with negative criticism of the church and Christianity from many quarters that it is good to remember that we are a triumphant church and that this triumph is being acted out in vast numbers across the earth.

The second part of the book has an eschatological bent. Finto tells the reader of his personal interpretations of various prophetic texts and how and when they are and will be fulfilled.

I am glad that I was one of the Foursquare pastors that received a copy of this book. It is an interesting and lively read that will add to your understanding of what is really happening across the earth and challenge your thinking on what is yet to come.

Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns

Publisher’s Page (As of May 2019, this title in print by Chosen Books): http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/god-s-promise-and-the-future-of-israel/358911

The Angelus Temple, Church of the Four Square Gospel, built by Aimee Semple McPherson and dedicated January 1, 1923. The temple is opposite Echo Park, near downtown Los Angeles, California.
Image: 2005 photograph / Wikimedia Commons.

The Foursquare denomination held its 2002 annual convention and 75th Anniversary in Denver. Some 2000 pastors and their mates gathered for four days of fellowship, business and inspiration. With a few exceptions, my wife and I have attended these Foursquare conventions for 20 years.

This year, there was some pre-convention tension in some conversations and in several letters to our President that had been circulated to many attendees. The concern was the recent appointment of 27-year-old Matthew Barnett as the senior pastor of Angelus Temple.

Angelus Temple is close to the heart of Los Angeles. It is across the street from Echo Park, which features a lovely lake just off the Hollywood Freeway. The first service at the Temple was held on January 1, 1923, and included unveiling a plaque that dedicated the Temple to the cause of Interdenominational Worldwide Evangelism.

Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare, built this now venerable old sanctuary. Church lore describes 5300 seats that were filled over and over all week long for the first ten years of the Temple’s life. The Temple reached out to help the community while daughter churches sprung up throughout southern California and beyond. During the Great Depression, 1,500,000 people were fed each year through the ministries of the Temple. The Temple impacted ten percent of the population of LA in its early years. Next door a Bible College was built and thrived, peaking in 1929 at 1,000 students. Men and women were there prepared to take the Foursquare Gospel to all corners of the globe.

As the years rolled by, Angelus Temple’s congregation changed from one born out of a miracle revival to an older, well-entrenched group of people who had grown up under Sister’s leadership. Aimee died in 1944, and her son Rolf assumed the leadership of the denomination and the pastorate at the Temple. Rolf McPherson, or “Doc” as he is known in Foursquare circles, later appointed others to pastor the Temple while he concentrated on establishing and building the denomination.