James Hudson Taylor (May, 21, 1832 – June 3, 1905), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission (now OMF International). Taylor spent 51 years in China. The society that he began was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to the country who began 125 schools[1] and directly resulted in 18,000 Christian conversions, as well as the establishment of more than 300 stations of work with more than 500 local helpers in all eighteen provinces.[2]

Taylor was known for his sensitivity to Chinese culture and zeal for evangelism. He adopted wearing native Chinese clothing even though this was rare among missionaries of that time. Under his leadership, the CIM was singularly non-denominational in practice and accepted members from all Protestant groups, including individuals from the working class and single women as well as multinational recruits. Primarily because of the CIM’s campaign against the Opium trade, Taylor has been referred to as one of the most significant Europeans to visit China in the 19th Century.[3] Historian Ruth Tucker summarizes the theme of his life:

“No other missionary in the nineteen centuries since the Apostle Paul has had a wider vision and has carried out a more systematized plan of evangelizing a broad geographical area than Hudson Taylor” [4]

The Rebirth Begins By Hudson Taylor

In 1855, Hudson Taylor, a Christian physician and missionary to China, saw in the Spirit that a great end-time revival would occur in the land of the north. Taylor was full of the Holy Spirit and entirely surrendered to God. Known as a man of great self-denial, heartfelt compassion and powerful prayer, he interceded for the salvation of the Chinese every morning for forty years.

While on a ministry furlough in England, Taylor suddenly stopped in the middle of a sermon and for a few moments stood speechless with his eyes closed. Finally he explained to his audience:

I have seen a vision. I saw in this vision a great war that will encompass the whole world. I saw this war recess and then start again, actually being two wars. After this, I saw much unrest and revolts that will affect many nations. I saw in some places spiritual awakenings. In Russia I saw there will come a general, all-encompassing, national, spiritual awakening, so great that there could never be another like it. From Russia I saw the awakening spread to many European countries, and then I saw an all-out awakening followed by the coming of Christ.

May a true Spiritual awakening come to Russia and encompass Europe just as the great pioneer missionary Hudson Taylor saw. Even as the vision was accurate concerning the two world wars, may the vision be true concerning the following great awakening in Jesus name!

Now let’s look at the life and ministry of another forerunner – the apostle of faith, Smith Wigglesworth.

Smith Wigglesworth was born on June 08, 1859, in Menston, Yorkshire, England, to an impoverished family. Nominally a Methodist, he became a born-again Christian at the age of eight. He was confirmed by a Bishop in the Church of England, baptized by immersion in the Baptist Church and had the grounding in Bible teaching in the Plymouth Brethren while learning the plumbing trade as an apprentice from a man in the Brethren movement.[1]

Wigglesworth worked as a plumber, but he abandoned this trade because he was too busy for it after he started preaching. In 1907 Wigglesworth visited Alexander Boddy during the Sunderland Revival, and following a laying-on of hands from Alexander’s wife Mary Boddy he experienced speaking in tongues (glossolalia).[3] He worked with the Assemblies of God.

Wigglesworth believed that healing came through faith, and he was flexible about the methods he employed. Wigglesworth is considered one of the most influential evangelists in the early history of Pentecostalism and is also credited with helping give the movement a large religious audience. Reportedly, David du Plessis recounted that Wigglesworth prophesied over him that God would pour out his Spirit on the established churches, and that David du Plessis would be greatly involved in it. Later du Plessis was very much involved in the Charismatic movement.

Wigglesworth continued to minister up until the time of his death on March 12, 1947.

Smith Wigglesworth’s Prophetic Vision

I SEE A REVIVAL COMING TO PLANET EARTH AS NEVER BEFORE.
THERE WILL BE UNTOLD MULTITUDES WHO WILL BE SAVED.
NO MAN WILL SAY, SO MANY AND SO MANY,
BECAUSE NO MAN WILL BE ABLE TO COUNT THOSE WHO
WILL COME TO JESUS CHRIST.
I SEE IT!
THE DEAD WILL BE RAISED,
THE ARTHRITIC HEALED,
CANCER WILL BE HEALED.
NO DISEASE WILL BE ABLE TO STAND BEFORE GOD’S PEOPLE
AND IT WILL SPREAD OVER ALL THE WORLD.
IT WILL BE A WORLDWIDE THRUST OF GOD’S POWER
AND A THRUST OF GOD’S ANOINTING.
I WILL NOT SEE IT,
BUT YOU WILL SEE IT!

I agree! Don’t you? Let faith arise and may the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit come forth in this generation for the glory of God!

Blessings to You!

James W. Goll