Summer Missionary Trip

A message by Walter Beuttler, transcribed word for word from the original recording

Transcriber's note: All Scriptures are from the KJV except where noted. This message has been transcribed word for word from Beuttler's own teachings, as accurately as the quality of the recording allows. Beuttler had his own dictionary of favorite words he used throughout his messages, and they have been transcribed and spelled out accordingly. Spelling of certain proper names, airports, hotels, and locations may not be exact. Messages were spoken in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Beuttler was a Bible teacher at Eastern Bible Institute for 32 years, traveling worldwide from the early 1950s until a year before he went to be with the Lord in 1974.

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1970 MISSIONARY TRIP This morning I’ll chat with you about what all transpired this summer. Then this evening I would like to go with you through the actual work, the objective, what I would consider the paramount need today on the mission field and how the Lord had been leading in my place to that kind of work. So I’m going to take a passage from Acts. I would like to give due recognition to the Word of God more this evening.

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Acts 13:1-2 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed (or reported) all that God had done with them.

Acts 14:27 So this morning, I’m going to report largely on what has transpired during the summer. And as I said, this evening I’ll go more particularly into specific missionary truth with some inclusion of my own observation the world over, we recognize that, and the Word of God. This is Missionary Sunday and we’ll make the best of it. Notice in Acts 13, the church in those days believed what the church no longer seems to believe.

Oh, perhaps it does in theory but not in practice. They came together to minister unto the Lord with fasting and prayer. Now today the accent is not on fasting, the accent is on feasting in spite of the implication in scripture. The accent today is not so much on ministering to the Lord, the accent is more on religious entertainment.

Really, to accomplish the work of God, the church needs to get back to the Book, to do less feasting and more fasting, and less entertainment and do more ministering unto the Lord in fasting and prayer. Now out of this ministry unto the Lord came the word of the Lord, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. God has a specific work for specific individuals and God communicates the information to the individual by a personal call.

Years ago, the Lord gave me, in 1951, a very specific personal call to Go and teach all nations. That’s a story in itself. So I began to do that which has taken me overseas now 36 times. The last journey was the 9th trip around the world in fulfilling that kind of ministry.

When these men had returned to the church, they rehearsed all that God had done with them. There is a place for that. I’m going to share that with you this morning. It will have to be quite brief because of the time element.

I do not like to keep you past 2:00 o’clock (Laughter). That’s a promise! As you recall, Mrs. Beuttler and I left in January, and I like to be sharing some things on the marvelous goodness of God.

I don’t want to leave Him out. We had a pastor and his wife visiting us a very short time before we left the house. They went home and later I got a call from him. On his way home, the Lord spoke to that pastor.

He said, “The Lord spoke to my heart to ask my board to give $100 to Brother & Sister Beuttler for a little vacation in Hawaii on their way to New Zealand.” When we left, we were all but at our wit’s end. We had gotten the house. There were a thousand and one things to do. We weren’t physically fit to go on a trip.

We were all wore out from all the changes that had taken place. The specific purpose of the gift was for a little vacation, so we spent 3 days in Honolulu that cost just under $100. For us it was the marvelous provision of God to give us a break and the money was donated specifically for that purpose. The Lord is alright, isn’t He?

We got to New Zealand to the large Assembly of God Church there for two weeks of meetings. All kinds of people were there from other groups. You know that I do not keep within denominational boundaries. You could never get me to do that.

Anyhow, God is breaking down denominational boundaries and I’m helping Him. We talked today, and have heard about color and race and nagging on these. Well, in religion God is all but obliterating denomination boundaries, and it’s working anywhere where people want Him, and I’m helping Him. That’s why I go everywhere.

So they had their meetings in the City Auditorium, even before I got there because the church has so grown. Their pastor has a tremendous ministry of deliverance. That church has undergone phenomenal growth. It is an amazing thing how God has blessed that young man.

He’ll go aside 2-3 weeks, some days in fasting and prayer and comes back with a powerful ministry. That’s what expanded the church. We were there and on Sundays (3 Sundays), we never had under 1,000 people. During the weekdays in the same auditorium, we never had under 700 people, so they told me.

I didn’t count them, but it was quite obvious. I was teaching on the Personality of the Spirit all that time. There’s a lot to that subject. There were all kinds of people.

There were Anglicans, Presbyterians, nuns, psychologists, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, all kinds of people with no difference, simply together. I could only wish that you had been there. The singing in the Spirit, in other tongues singing in the Spirit, the powerful utterances in prophecy, tongues and interpretations, all given in confirmation of the Word of God, and the general atmosphere, the worship, shall I say, “It was simply deliciousmous. The hunger of those people!” It was very easy to speak.

They had a tremendous amplifying system and you could talk conversational style and be heard throughout the auditorium and up in the balcony without any effort whatsoever. It was a strange thing there. Now I’m teaching, I don’t touch evangelism ever in my work. Here I was teaching on the Personality of the Spirit and lo and behold, after every service, people came to be saved.

I didn’t ask them to be saved; they simply came up. Sometimes they came literally by the dozen. I remember one evening people were standing in front there somewhere in the 30’s. What for?

To be saved or to be delivered. The pastor has a tremendous ministry that way. I didn’t tackle that. He took care of the altar service, but with no effort.

People just came. There was a circus in town and one of the circus performers fell off the trapeze. While he didn’t get hurt much, it scared the daylights out of him. He got so upset, he came to the Bible studies and got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.

(Laughter) He got scared right into salvation! We went to Faith Bible College in New Zealand and spent approximately two weeks with the students on the subject of Seeking God and Waiting on God. That subject had been requested. It was a most profitable evening.

We had studies in both the school and the church. There I had a new experience. They were videotaping the messages, both mornings with the studies in the school and the one in the evening. I had never been up on that, but I wanted it and am so glad they are going to do that again next year if we can go there.

I expect we will. They’re sending these tapes all over the South Pacific, so they told me. There was one Bible school that had wanted me to come, but I had no time open. So they said, “This is what we’ll do.

We’ll send the tapes down in your place.” So following my visit there, they sent the tapes to Wellington, to the Bible school. They were color tapes. I asked them to replay them for me while I had my lunch there or something. I watched Beuttler.

What a character! I said to somebody, “What a character! Is that me?” They said, “That’s you alright.” I never knew I made such faces. I guess you’ve never seen them, but apparently down there I made some.

I only wish I could bring them along, but it’s not possible because those tapes would not fit American equipment. They fit Japanese equipment and they say there is no way to get them used in American type equipment. You see there you have the students and when the students go out afterward, of course they multiply your ministry in other areas. From there we went over to Brisbane, Australia to Gospel Light Center, an interdenominational affair with all kinds of people.

It’s quite hot there, but did we have services. I would say the attendance was somewhere between 500-600, in that general area. Did the Lord give us a service! All kinds of people were there from all sorts of denominations, psychologists, doctors, nuns, nurses, preachers and hippies, yuppies white, black, green and yellow and anything at all.

We just came together. That’s the way I like it. You know God’s family is only one family, one church, one body, one faith, one God, one Father of us all. I like nothing better then when I have all kinds of groups together to teach the Word of God.

You should have heard them sing. Now up there, they were a little different. They like to put their singing a little bit into their torsos. Then they go swinging, some of them, with their torsos, but there was nothing out of the way whatsoever.

Younger folk with hippie style clothing, whatever you want to call it, but they were down there singing. The singing was so wonderful—more than wonderful—it brought tears to my eyes. On one occasion I went down to get Mrs. Beuttler and said, “You come up to that platform.” Now she’s a timid soul.

So am I, but I can override it easier than she could. I took her up to the platform and turned her around and said, “You look at those people.” She had to see the sight of those people, singing and worshipping, their faces aglow with the glory of God. I thought the angels in heaven must drewel with envy to hear such singing. They have two pastors there, tremendous pastors.

One of them is going to go throughout Australia largely in ministry in the area of deliverance from Satanic powers with tremendous results. Throughout Australia the man has done a terrific work. He’s one of the pastors there. We were finished there and went over to the Assemblies of God Bible School.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been there to the Commonwealth Bible College. I can say this to you, but I won’t publish this. I’ve gone there for quite a few years. I think this is my 7th visit, but I was sorry to see that school was dropping.

The school has undergone a change with the change of leadership, a man hostile to deliverance ministry and although a fine fellow, but without that spiritual something. If I’m not mistaken, that school is like a bush that is slowly drying up. I’m so sorry to see that because years ago Mrs. Beuttler was there and the students just glowed with the Spirit and exercised the gifts of the Spirit.

It’s kind of dead now. I was glad when we were gone. It’s a different kind of thing drifting into that school. I was so sorry to see that.

We had good studies, but it wasn’t like it used to be. You cannot oppose the move of the Spirit of God and the sovereignty of the Spirit without something broken. You can’t do it. Next we went to Sydney to the Italian church a little bit.

That was partly vacation, part ministry. Then we went up to Indonesia. I had misgivings about going there because I knew what to expect: the climate, the conditions would be very hard on me and I knew I couldn’t take things the way I used to. There’s a problem here and I don’t know what to make of it.

People either cannot or will not understand that when you’re close to 70 as I am, that you can’t perform the way you did when you were 30 years younger. You just can’t do it. I had asked for a certain program. I had fixed the program that I knew I could carry and found that they had completely ignored it and set up their own program, and it just was too hard.

Not only that, there was traveling. I had to put Mrs. Beuttler into cold storage on one island, that is Java, but that was providential, while I was gone two weeks to two of the outer islands, way, way out, one nearer the Philippines and the other some place else. We were there two weeks and she saw the need and volunteered her services.

I like you to know she got an appointment from the Lord to be a missionary for two weeks. She did typing and helped in the publishing department where they were in such great need of help. Later one of the missionaries said that they’ve had many visitors over the years from high places, from Springfield, from elsewhere. They have visitors every year and the lady said, “Mrs.

Beuttler was only the second visitor that has ever offered to help.” When I heard she was down there working, I was thrilled. She indeed got a little missionary appointment if only for two weeks. She wouldn’t like me to tell you that, but I like to tell. I went out first to Ambone.

It’s quite a flight. I tried years ago to get there but had engine trouble and had to turn back. This time I made it. It’s a beautiful, pictureful tropical island, but tropical conditions, furious heat, high humidity, all sorts of vermin, lots of skeeters, scorpions, snakes, ants and oppressive heat.

I expected that. There you have to sleep under a mosquito net. I hate them. They’re warm.

It’s not too bad if you have a fan that can blow the body heat through the netting, but the electric goes off at night. There’s really no electric out in there. They make their own and shut it off at 9:30. I had an inside room in that sultry, hot, heavy air under this netting.

You have to have it or the mosquitoes chew you to pieces, or spiders this big and they can sting, bite or whatever they do. They draw the blood, and you cannot get out from under that net. You just have to endure it. I had a personal problem there.

I had never known about it until this summer. I don’t know if you ever noticed, but when speaking sometimes I’ll go (sighs) as though I couldn’t get enough air, and have had that for years. I don’t usually sing anymore. This summer I found out, the doctor called it emphysema.

I don’t fully know what it is, but some condition that doesn’t give you enough oxygen, so with that, I found it very hard under the mosquito net, but you have to stay there. Besides that, we had to go into the city. It’s a hard drive in great heat and we’d have meetings in the evening. The superintendent noticed I was getting into trouble.

The missionaries didn’t seem to think anything of it, but he recognized it and said, “Brother Beuttler, you’re having trouble aren’t you?” I said, “Yes, I’ve got trouble. I can’t seem to keep up with it.” He recognized it so they decided the national pastors would go to the Bible school instead of me driving in to save me that drive into the city. That was a big help. The following week we went way up to Manado.

That’s another island way, way up somewhere. The climate was good because the Bible school was up several thousand feet at the foot of a volcanic mountain. The thing blows once in awhile, but it wouldn’t go off while I was there to my regret. So the climate was good.

I was still having a problem physically, so the superintendent said, “Brother Beuttler, we’re going to take the evening service away from you. We’ll have a business meeting. We have problems here we want to discuss.” So I had only two studies and was very, very glad for that as I was laboring. Here I want to tell you something that I hope you understand.

I like to be up early and wait on the Lord and get His thought. You know, be in touch, have an anointing, and the Lord so led in the ministry of the Word that the people were astonished. They told me later they had very serious problems, problems that could wreck the Indonesian work. I had no idea what they were.

Once we came for dinner, the superintendent shook his head and I wondered if something was wrong. I said to the missionary, “Is there any problem?” He said, “Brother Beuttler, the way you have ministered, you talk as though you knew exactly what was wrong on this field. The superintendent cannot stop talking about the way the ministry of the Word met the need.” The same was true of Ambone, only I hadn’t known it then. It got so they had to call a special meeting and try to convince the national pastors that nobody had informed Brother Beuttler.

Sometimes when I was speaking, they just grinned and shook their heads. I didn’t know what they were shaking them about. They said, “That’s exactly the very things that are wrong in this work” That’s the leading of the Spirit. That’s not me, but I tell you that to let you see how God does lead in this type of ministry and meets problems on the field of which I know nothing.

So we had an excellent week up there, and like in Ambone, they asked for another visit next year. That’s always the case. Then up in northern Sumatra, I knew what to expect: high heat, heavy humidity, sultry atmosphere, 3 meetings a day. I knew I couldn’t get away with it.

The superintendent wasn’t there to help me out, but I labored on. By night it was hard to sleep, but I had a fan. There is electric. It’s most uncomfortable—the living conditions were equipped (ask her)…If you wanted to take a bath, you just take a bucket and pour it over you.

The toilet situation was very poor. It’s the kind of a place you wouldn’t choose, but you have to endure it. We had meetings all morning, two sessions with a break, then one in the evening. I was wearing down, wearing down, wearing down.

I could barely push toward the end. They even asked if I could stay longer. That was out of the question. Finally we left and glad we were through.

I don’t know whether you can picture it with this constant pouring out in this sultry heat, and then through interpretation. Once I had a very poor interpreter. I knew the girl wasn’t getting what I was saying. I knew they weren’t getting it so we changed interpreters.

All those things wear you down. Then we left for Singapore. It was the first little break. We had some ministry in a Chinese assembly there.

It was the rainy season though we had a hotel now and air conditioning. There were terrific rains. In a very few days it was time to go to Bangkok, Thailand. There we were going to make a one-week rest stop.

I told Mrs. Beuttler that I’d like to take her to Papao Beach. That’s the summer resort there. In the Gulf of Siam you can enjoy the white sand, sit under the palm, or soak in the water.

If you want to gather shells or drink coconut right from the coconuts and just have a relaxing time. It was a dream that never came true. We were in that hotel at Bangkok and was so glad to be in an air conditioned place. It was furiously hot in Bangkok.

I think, if I err not, it was the greatest heat in either 100 years or 25 years. I forgot which, but anyhow, it was a record heat. It was furiously hot, oppressively hot. We were in the hotel.

It was evening and we were just loafing around. It was time to go and relax. I got a sharp pain in my chest, all of a sudden a sharp stab, and it spread all over the chest. It seemed like the whole chest was pulling together in terrible oppression in here.

I began to have trouble breathing. I had to be up to get any breath. I labored heavily, a suffocating kind of a thing. I knew what was up.

It looked like a heart attack. It feels like it. All I could do was walk up and down. I couldn’t sit down.

I couldn’t’ get my breath sitting. I was gasping for breath. Of course, Wife prayed. This thing was here, tightening up everything.

Finally we managed to get in touch with the missionary. Nobody knew we were there. I knew nobody. This was vacation time.

I don’t tell anybody where I am when I’m on vacation. They won’t let you vacation. Through them we were able to get the American doctor at the Seventh-Day Adventist Hospital. Was I glad for the Seventh-Day Adventist for the first time in my life!

(Laughter) He happened to be Chief of Staff. We taxied there the next morning and he wanted to keep me in the hospital right away. I didn’t want to do that. How could I leave Mrs.

Beuttler sitting alone in a hotel in a strange country? I just couldn’t do that. He wanted me to stay and I didn’t want to stay. Finally he agreed when he surveyed the situation.

He said, “Alright, I’ll take tests as an outpatient from here.” So they took tests for 4-5 days I think and the final result was that it was not a heart attack as had appeared even to him in the beginning, but this angina pectoris they called it. But it was a close one and there was some heart damage. If it had gone any farther, it would have been a heart attack. His conclusion was that I had to ease up, I had to stop as there was no guarantee this was not a forerunner, a big warning of a major heart attack if it would happen again.

So we taxied back and forth to have all the tests taken. He didn’t want me to continue with my trip. I wasn’t finished. The end of the week we were supposed to go to Ceylon.

Those people had asked to please come. They were so anxious for another visit. They were all there. I knew they would be, and they couldn’t make any change in plans.

Apparently there was no way out of it. I had to cancel Ceylon to my great regret. Do you know Brother Pepper? Has he ever been here?

He will be here then. He’s quite a man. If you ever listen to a man of God, you’ll listen to one with Brother Pepper when he comes. He’s a Beuttlerite too, a friend of the family.

It’s a privilege to see him when he comes. I’ll tell you something. He wouldn’t tell you that, but I’ll tell you. He wrote me and said, “Brother Beuttler, I feel that I am to take your place in God’s program when you are no longer traveling.” He told me that several times.

“I feel God’s dealing with me to step into your shoes when you leave them empty.” And he was so anxious to hear me perform, to conduct these seminars, that he wanted to attend a seminar to work himself in to see how I was operating. He planned to go all the way to Ceylon to attend the seminar there with the pastors. I learned since that some businessman paid for his fare. It’s amazing what God will do to supply the needs.

You know what I have learned? When you’re in God’s will, finances are no problem whatsoever. They just don’t mean anything. God has the means to accomplish His work provided we’re doing His work and not ours.

And that man gave him the round-trip fare to Ceylon, so I was hoping he wouldn’t hear about my problem and that he would be there. Apparently he had heard and wondered if he should go, but he went. Since we came back, we called Mrs. Pepper and she said, “Yes, he went and took my place.” He spoke hours, which I could not have done.

I think it was from 9:00 till 12:00 every morning, and again for hours in the evening. She said he had called home and told that they had tremendous meetings. They asked him to stay another week, which I could not have done, and he stayed another week. They are asking him to come back in December, so actually the folk in Ceylon had gained through my absence.

I could not put in the hours that man put in. As we said they had tremendous meetings, and so the Lord, as I see it, provided a substitute foreknowing what would happen in Bangkok. Bangkok is the capitol of Thailand, I guess you know that. We also had to cancel France.

In fact, today I was to start in France. Now they had time to make changes. They have already written for a visit next year, and if I can, I would like to do that. Folk have asked me how I’m getting along.

As far as I know, I’m coming along real well. Last Sunday evening over at the house, we had a little prayer meeting and ever since then, I’ve picked up very decidedly. Believe it or not, I’m already working on an itinerary to Venezuela, Peru, Fiji Islands, New Zealand, Australia and including Formosa and other areas down there to begin in January. That’s what I have planned by the grace of God.

I have been picking up and taking it a bit easy. I thank you for your prayers for this missionary work, the teaching of the national pastors, the tremendous demand for this type of teaching, and why this type of teaching is so important to the interests of the kingdom of God. So we’ll continue from this point this evening. Have a nice day and God bless you.

This message is one of the sixty-six surviving transcripts of Walter Beuttler's teaching. To hear his voice, visit the Messages page. To read the story of his life — from the Brooklyn Bridge to the school of the Spirit — see Who Was Walter Beuttler? The True Story of the Man Who Knew God.

Summer Missionary Trip

The Man Who Knew God