Agnes Ozman
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Agnes Ozman (1870–1937) was a student at
Charles Fox Parham Charles F. Parham (June 4, 1873 – January 29, 1929) was an American preacher and evangelism, evangelist. Together with William J. Seymour, Parham was one of the two central figures in the development and early spread of American Pentecostalis ...
's Bethel Bible School in
Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Un ...
,
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
. Ozman was considered as the first to
speak in tongues Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...
in the pentecostal revival when she was 30 years old in 1901 (Cook 2008). However, her experience, nevertheless valid, post dates the Shearer Schoolhouse Revival of 1896 near Murphy, NC., where the first documented mass outpouring of the Holy Ghost was said to have occurred; they spoke with new tongues there in a "Holy Ghost baptism" type of revival. Her experiences sparked the modern
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement
-Holiness movement, which began in the early 20th century. Her parents were
farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...
s, and since childhood, Agnes and her six siblings attended the
Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
in
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. As a young woman, Ozman participated in
biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
institutions and eventually attended the Bethel Bible School in Kansas. Parham, Ozman's teacher at the school, taught his students in line with the
Holiness movement The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is historically distinguished by its emph ...
; from which he introduced the concepts of
Divine healing Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...
and
Sanctification Sanctification (or in its verb form, sanctify) literally means "to set apart for special use or purpose", that is, to make holy or sacred (compare la, sanctus). Therefore, sanctification refers to the state or process of being set apart, i.e. " ...
. Parham told his students to ponder over what the Bible verse "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" ( Acts 2:38) might mean and whether any evidence specifically related to this gift could be found, giving them three days, while he was absent for this assignment. By the time he returned his students collectively agreed that if the Holy Spirit had descended upon an individual, then speaking in tongues would be present and constitute sufficient proof of that. The students pointed out that this type of event was mentioned four times in the
Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...
. Therefore, on
New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
, Parham and his students planned to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit. On January 1, 1901, Ozman asked her mentor to pray that she could be filled with the Holy Spirit through the
laying on of hands The laying on of hands is a religious practice. In Judaism ''semikhah'' ( he, סמיכה, "leaning f the hands) accompanies the conferring of a blessing or authority. In Christian churches, this practice is used as both a symbolic and formal met ...
, so that she might speak in tongues. According to Stanley Frodsham's book titled, "With Signs Following - The Latter Day Pentecostal Revival":
On 11:00 p.m. January 1, 1901, Agnes N.O. Ozman La Berge, who began attending Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas (Stone’s Folly or Mansion), requested that hands, most likely those of Charles Parham, be laid upon her so that she would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, while typically praying the benediction of Hebrews 13:20-21 "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."With Signs Following--The Latter-day Pentecostal Revival, Stanley Frodsham
Frodsham’s book also states that Agnes Ozman-La Berge said:
"It was common for me to pray the verses while praying, and it was as if hands were laid upon my head that the Holy Spirit fell upon me and I began to speak in tongues, glorifying God. I talked several languages, and it was clearly manifest when a new dialect was spoken. I had the added joy and glory my heart longed for, and a depth of the presence of the Lord within that I had never known before. It was as if rivers of living water were proceeding from my innermost being."
According to her fellow students, their
prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
s were heard, and her colleagues reported that a halo had surrounded both her face and head and that she started speaking
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
. Not long after, Parham and 34 other students also began speaking in unknown languages. It is said that Ozman could not speak
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
for three days and was only able to write in
Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
. Many experienced gifts of the Holy Spirit that day, and soon the group went off from Kansas City to spread the news. These events were additionally reported in several newspapers of the times including the St. Louis Dispatch, which included a picture of the inspired writing. Out of this experience, Charles Parham and nine others received the experience of speaking in tongues. Parham then opened Bible colleges in Houston, Texas, which led to
Lucy Farrow Lucy F. Farrow (1851–1911) was an African American holiness pastor who was instrumental in the early foundations of Pentecostalism. She was the first African American person to be recorded as having spoken in tongues, after attending the meeti ...
speaking in tongues in 1906, and an estimated 13,000 others speaking in tongues on 214-216 Bonnie Brae Street in the city of Los Angeles, California. By 1909, at the Los Angeles Azusa Street Mission under the Pastorate of
William J. Seymour William Joseph Seymour (May 2, 1870 – September 28, 1922) was an African-American Holiness movement, holiness preacher who initiated the Azusa Street Revival, an influential event in the rise of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement, Charis ...
and with the aid of
Lucy Farrow Lucy F. Farrow (1851–1911) was an African American holiness pastor who was instrumental in the early foundations of Pentecostalism. She was the first African American person to be recorded as having spoken in tongues, after attending the meeti ...
, an estimated 50,000 people had received this experience of speaking in tongues. Later in her life Agnes admitted that she had been wrong to believe that all people would speak in tongues when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Writing in The Latter Rain Evangel of January 1909 she wrote, "Some time ago I tried but failed to have an article printed which I wrote calling attention to what I am sure God showed me was error. The article maintained that tongues was not the only evidence of the Spirit’s Baptism. When that article was refused I was much tempted by Satan, but God again graciously showed me He had revealed it to me, and satisfied my heart in praying that He might reveal this truth to others who would spread it abroad. For awhile after the baptism I got into spiritual darkness, because I did as I see so many others are doing these days, rested and reveled in tongues and other demonstrations instead of resting alone in God.""When The Latter Rain First Fell: The First One to Speak in Tongues". In ''The Latter Rain Evangel'', January 1909, p.2. Available online a
pentecostalarchives.org
/ref> Ozman died from
heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
in 1937.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozman, Agnes American Pentecostals American evangelicals 1870 births 1937 deaths