SID: So in 1979, Rodney is desperate. He’s a broken man. His brother who he loved dies from leukemia, suddenly. He’s crying out to God for all, I mean, he didn’t care who was around or anything. There were people that did not understand being filled with the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit. Well Rodney had had all of that, but he knew there was something more. There was something greater. The Bible refers to it as “the fire of God.” He cries out and the fire comes upon him. How long did this fire stay on you?
RODNEY: Well when the fire came on me, I didn’t know what to do. I realized we’re going to have to have a glorified body when we get to Heaven. They’re going to have to carry us everywhere. But the day will come when this corruptible will put on incorruptible. Immortality will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. But the presence of God was so overwhelming. So all of the people around me, I just started laying hands on them because I thought the only way I can get rid of this is to give it away. But it didn’t lift off of me. It got on them and the fire got on all of them. They were filled with the Spirit, people falling under the power.
SID: So what happened to these people that didn’t know diddly about the power of God, these young kids, what happened?
RODNEY: Well there was a bunch of girls from a high school for girls out of the town of Greenstown, and it was an Anglican school. And of course they all got hit by the power. One of the ladies, of course she’s now married to a pastor friend of mine, years later we were talking and I spoke about the night the fire came on me. She said, “You were the guy.” She said, “Do you know what happened?” She said, “A revival broke out in that school. It went for three years, and many people were called into the ministry.” Because that’s what happens when the fire comes on people.
SID: Rodney, get ready. It’s coming again. And I believe that fire is going to start right now. I believe that fire is going to start with you. So Rodney, being raised in South Africa, had something from God. He knew he had to come to America. You told me you used to line up your teddy bears. Tell me about that.
RODNEY: Yeah. I used to line up my bears. I was only five. My little brother was three. I’d line up my bears and I’d preach to them and then I would hand the service over to my little brother, and I’d climb out the window to go to America to go preach. And then I would come back ten minutes later to tell my brother and the bears all the great things the Lord had done. I mean, I’d lay hands on the bears, all the bears fell under the power. And what’s so interesting is that we don’t have bears in southern Africa. America is the land of the bear. So it’s like the Lord was getting me ready.
SID: Okay. So he comes to America. That’s a story in itself. But then in 1989, he goes to Clifton Park, upstate New York. What happened?
RODNEY: All right. I get invited to do a week-long meeting in Clifton Park. The pastor said, “What are you going to teach on the morning time?” I said I felt led to teach on the subject of the anointing, how the Lord touched me. So on the Monday morning, the church ran about 250 people. So you know, Sunday morning looks great. Monday morning about 60 people showed up, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s [because] we never ever had a Monday morning meeting before. Tuesday morning about 100 people came and I told my wife, I said, something is happening. There’s a hunger that’s taking place. But right in the middle of the service as I was sharing out of the Book of Luke, chapter 4, verse 14, Jesus returned the spirit. He went out into Galilee round about and he taught in synagogues. And in verse 18, where he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel, heal the broken hearted, to proclaim and recover the sight of the blind, [unintelligible] forgive them Lord.” As I was sharing that, suddenly, it was like the very atmosphere of the room changed. The air parted and became, the only way I can describe it, it became holy. And I could feel the air moving in front of me. And while I’m talking, the power of God started hitting people in the congregation. It was like an unseen hand and people just started falling out of their seat. And some were weeping, some were filled with great joy, others shaking under the power. And of course, the noise is getting louder and I managed to speak above the noise of the people. And that’s what happened in ’89, and has continued unto this day.
SID: You told me that you never had that happen. People are usually respectful when someone is teaching or preaching. What did you tell God?
RODNEY: Well I mean, I had seen it happen often [unintelligible]. But I said to the Lord, “Lord, you’re ruining my meeting.” But I had been crying for God to come and move me. You remember, ’87 and ’88 were terrible years in America. Ministries collapsed. There was an apathy in the church and we had been crying out for a revival. So the Lord said, “Well I’m moving. You asked me to come and move.” And He said, “Let me touch my people.” He said, “If you’re ashamed of what I’m doing I’ll take it away from and give it to another.” Because I understood there would come persecution and criticism. People don’t understand the ways of the Spirit of God. But I said, “Lord, don’t take it away. Just come. Let your fire fall and whatever happens, happens.” People are going to say what they want to say, but thank God for the power of the Holy Spirit, and we will never compromise the anointing of power of the Holy Spirit and not to be accepted anyway, not for many, not for fortune, I will never comprise the touch of God.
SID: You know what? Many of you are so empty you don’t even feel anymore. That is not normal. That is not, in other words, you’re so used to religious Christianity that you don’t know what normal is if it just rears up in your face. But I’m going to tell you something. Many of you for the first time in your life are going to be normal because, I’m going, when we come back, I’m going to ask Rodney to teach you how to be normal, normal as defined by the Bible. Be right back.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth