God's Presence Demonstrated
GOD’S PRESENCE DEMONSTRATED This is somewhat a new experience for me more or less. I found out this evening my brother is of Presbyterian origin. Is that right? “They don’t claim me anymore,” he answered.
(Laughter) “Oh, I see.” I was with the Presbyterians in Korea a few years ago and enjoyed myself there with them so very much. I want to tell you that I’m not a preacher; I’m not a musician; I have no tricks; I don’t try to make an impression. My work is to share with God’s people everywhere, the world over, what God has shared with me. And so my visit here will consist, I trust, of sharing with you the things which are upon my heart and the things which are upon the heart of God.
I’m teaching at Northeast Bible Institute. I’ve been there 33 years and traveled all over the world every year for many years; and before doing that, one year the Lord had asked me to go aside. That was in 1951 when he called me to go overseas. The Lord drew me aside and I knew that He wanted me to shut myself up with Him.
Now in Bible school there is no peace, so I took a hotel room at Robert Morris in Philadelphia, shut myself up, told Wife I wanted no interruptions. The president was not to call me—the president of the school. And if President Eisenhower wanted me for lunch, tell him that it was not convenient; he could call some other time. That was my way of telling her I did not want to be disturbed.
I was there 48 hours in fasting and prayer from Friday, 2:00 o’clock ‘til Sunday, 2:00 o’clock. During all that time I had felt nothing, I heard nothing, I received nothing. There simply was nothing. I got nowhere.
I spent time before the Lord without being aware of His presence until way past midnight. I don’t remember how long. I was up very early in the morning before the sun rose. I didn’t even bother to undress or shave or go out for a meal.
I was there all day Saturday from very early to very late. Come Sunday afternoon, I was sitting there on the floor at 2:00 o’clock—it happened to be 48 hours. Just then I realized that I spent 48 hours in prayer and fasting and seeking the Lord, and got absolutely nowhere. I had felt God that wanted to speak to me, but He didn’t speak.
So as I sat there about 2:00 o’clock—in fact, 2:00 o’clock sharp I happened to notice, I said within my heart, “My, it takes God a long time to speak.” No sooner had I said that than the reply came—the first thing which I heard or received from God in 48 hours. The Lord spoke in a voice right in here (points to stomach area). Now you’ll probably find me make reference to this place more than once. That’s where the Spirit dwells.
That’s where occasionally, not always but occasionally, He speaks. In here was a voice as clear as a bell and as sharp as a razor—a voice which was not audible—making sounds like I’m making sounds now, but a voice that I heard. And the voice said in reply to my statement, “To hurry God is to find fault with Him.” That’s telling you! In other words, the Lord told me, “You are finding fault with me; you’re criticizing me; you think I’m too slow.” Well I apologized and asked the Lord to forgive me.
No sooner had I done that, the Lord walked through the door! I didn’t see Him; I did not hear Him, but it was so absolutely real that sight could not have made it any realer. Now that’s a Beuttlerism, you understand. I have to make up some words that I need that Webster didn’t think of, so when I do that you have to recognize I know better, but I put it that way for a purpose.
The Lord walked in (at a time as I sat on the floor). The Lord walked in and behind Him there followed His presence. Have you ever seen perhaps on TV a regal personage? I saw it recently on the news bulletin on TV where they had the celebration in Iran where the royal dignitary walked up to his throne with a long robe following behind him.
You have seen pictures like that of a royal, a regal person, a great king coming with a long robe behind him. Well, that’s the way His presence came. As the Lord walked in that presence, His presence, followed Him like one of these regal robes; it wasn’t seen; it was clearly discerned; it was as real as you. Now I’m telling you some strange things before we get done, but I have a purpose in telling you this and starting with this.
I’ll tell you the purpose later. The Lord walked in and stood over to my left approximately at arm’s length—I would say just a little bit beyond the length of my hand—and there He stood. The Lord stood there for 4 hours. For 4 hours He was teaching me out of His word on the subject of knowing God.
That’s what we’re going to talk about. The Lord would give me a scripture—maybe something I had never observed—I’d look it up. I would read it and ooh, the thing began to unfold, and I would see the beauty, the content of a given verse. Last summer I was in Bangkok, Thailand and walked along the street, when to my great delight, I saw a beautiful Lotus flower lying on the side of the road.
Don’t ask me how it got there. I can only think that somebody had a bunch of Lotus for some banquet or something and one dropped off—there was the Lotus. I’m very fond of the Lotus. I opened it up, it destroyed it really, but I wanted to see the inside; I opened up that Lotus, pulled the petals back, and oh, what beautiful petals—wine color like red wine.
I looked in there and delighted myself in that beautiful arrangement of the Lotus within. Well, that’s what the Lord did with the scriptures. He gave me a scripture, and He’d open it up, so to speak, and let me look on the inside, and that, as I said, lasted for 4 hours, till 6 o’clock. I’ll give you the whole story, then I’ll come back again.
I told you the subject had to do with Knowing God. At the time I didn’t know, but now I know that that was to be my major subject as I would travel for the Lord throughout all the years. I’ve done it 20 years now—a little bit over. Things that are very near to the heart of God; things that He wants His people to know and that knowing God involves the knowledge and the personal experience of the presence of God—the manifest presence of God.
I’ll be leading toward that, especially tomorrow. Tonight we sort of have to get started and just put our foot a little bit within the door. I’ll go on with the afternoon on Sunday and I’ll come back. At 6:00 o’clock the Lord turned; I could tell when He turned.
The Lord turned, faced the door that was behind me, and as He turned He spoke again, right in here, and said, “And the Lord left him to try him.” With that His presence followed Him. I’ve omitted something: As He came in with His presence following Him like a robe of a sovereign that drags along behind as they mount the steps to the throne—when He arrived there—that presence spread out and went through the entire room of that hotel. It was as real as real could be, and as I sat there I said within myself, “Now His presence fills ever cubic inch of this room.” I believe without any question that God gave me an experience similar to that of Isaiah—when He said in Isaiah 6, and his train filled the temple.
Now that train is not a choo-choo train; it’s not a Washington-Miami express; that train is generally believed to be the effervescence of His glory. Apparently Isaiah saw the manifest presence of God throughout the throne room, and so he said, and His train filled the temple. This presence that also was like a robe also filled the entire room, and I knew every cubic inch is now filled with that presence. Now later on tomorrow sometime we’ll differentiate between the omnipresence and the manifest presence, but we’re not ready for that.
I have to lead you step by step toward that. We can’t just plunge into it. We have to lay a foundation. So the Lord said right in here (pointing to stomach), and the Lord left him to try him.
As He turned He went out and that presence collected from all over the room. This is a bit hard to explain as though, well, it just collected from all over the room and followed Him out of the room like the robe of one of these mighty kings. He went out and His presence, like a robe, followed behind Him. My, that was something!
Four hours of personal teaching from a personal Christ on the true knowledge of God. I didn’t know that later He would send me into all the world. He has put my feet into more than 100 countries, and some of them so often, I couldn’t even tell you how often. I didn’t know that, but here He began to give me the essence of subject matter very dear to His heart.
So, the Lord left him to try him. I thought, “That sounds to me like something is going to happen.” In school you know, we teach, then you give a test, and I thought, “It looks to me the Lord’s been teaching me, and He has decided there will have to be a test.” There was alright! Before I get into that I want to tell you something. I will choose my words most carefully.
I will be as accurate as I know how, and everything I tell you is the absolute, unembroidered truth. I say that because it might strain the credulity of some of you—so I say beforehand, it is the truth. I thought, “Something is going to happen.” I had no idea what. Nothing happened so I got up, walked around.
I thought I might as well go to bed. It was 8:00 o’clock. I had slept very little since Friday and I thought, “I’ll go to bed.” As I did, lo and behold, Satan walked into that room! He came through the door—he didn’t open it—just came through the door as though the door wasn’t there.
I recognized him at once. He walked in precisely the same way the Lord had walked in—step by step he came in. Behind him there followed the satanic presence like a regal robe of some sovereign that you have seen perhaps on TV. I’ve seen it with Queen Elizabeth—that long flowing robe—perhaps 10, 12 feet behind him.
It just dragged along. Well that robe followed Satan, not the robe, but the satanic presence followed behind him like such a regal robe. You see, not only is the Lord royalty, Satan is also a mighty ruler. He is the ruler of all the world today.
He has the whole world under his control minus God’s children, but we won’t go into that. He is a regal man of tremendous power—so he had that robe. He stood precisely where the Lord stood. I was not sitting now; I was standing by the bed that had four posts (that I hate).
I stood by one of the posts, and Satan walked in and stood precisely where the Lord stood. As he stood, that robe-like presence (satanic now) spread throughout the whole room exactly the way the Lord’s presence had done—precisely: it was a carbon copy. I stood there and said within myself, “The satanic presence is now filling every cubic inch of this room.” I could tell without any question—there’s no question about it however difficult it might be for some of you to accept it—the satanic presence filled that room.
I stood by the post; Satan stood where the Lord stood. I was not afraid; I was not aware that I had any fear. He opened the debate. He did!
He spoke and started with, “The Lord did not visit you.” I answered out loud. Now his voice was not audible like mine and yet it was a clear, distinct voice that I heard, but it wasn’t a natural voice, but I heard him. (You see, Jesus had the same thing.) It was a spiritual voice. There is such a thing as spiritual sound, as spiritual hearing.
I declare to you there is such a thing as spiritual color and spiritual form. I even believe there is spiritual weight, And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon him. But we’ll get into that maybe tomorrow. We better get into the Word!
For now here came that voice, “The Lord did not visit you.” And I said out loud, “Yes He did.” “No He didn’t” came the reply. I said, “Yes He did.” Now I cannot give you all the things in the right sequence; I can’t guarantee that. I remember the beginning quite well; much of it I have forgotten; some of it is not in the right sequence, but the picture I’m giving you is correct. I think the second one was, “This Bible is not the Word of God.” I said, “Yes it is.” “The Lord didn’t teach you,” he said.
“Yes He did,” I said. And he went on something like, “Why don’t you deny God?” I said, “Why should I?” “Well because God isn’t a real God,” he said. I countered, “He sure is real; I know He is.” “Why you’re not even saved,” he said. “I know I am,” I said “Why don’t you deny His Word?” he said.
“Why should I, it’s the Word of God,” I replied. “No, it isn’t,” he said. “Yes, it is,” I said. And so the thing got quite animated.
Oh he said among other things—I forgot a lot, “You are praying too much.” I said, “No, I’m not.” “You are going to finish your life in an insane asylum,” he said. I said, “No, I won’t.” “Yes, you’re going to lose your mind because you’re praying too much,” he said. I said, “I’m not praying too much and I’m not losing my mind.” Now here is where I forgot a number of things. I cannot tell you how long this lasted; I don’t know.
And he said, “You are losing your mind already.” I said, “I am not.” He said, “You are so, see?” And with that things began to happen. (I still stood by the bed.) The room started to turn—Brother! I was the center of a merry-go-round: the dresser, the bathroom door, the wall, everything started to go like a merry-go-round; and it went faster, and faster, and I would say it went something like this speed. (Must have shown speed) Now this is an approximation—maybe a little faster.
The whole room was going around, and he said, “See?” I said, “No, I don’t. This is only a delusion. Nothing is moving. You’re only trying to deceive me to make me believe it is moving, but it isn’t.” “Yes it is,” he said, and the thing went faster.
But I’ll tell you that was serious and I began to see something, “Now you’re losing your mind.” I saw triangles in the air: triangles, circles, squares, trees, rocks, mountains, everything moved throughout the room; lewd scenes, all kinds of things in one great confusion as the whole thing went around. I stood in the middle and he said, “Are you ready to deny God?” “No, and I won’t be,” I said. “Well, you better,” and so on he went. I held my ground; I never budged.
He tried to get me to deny everything the Lord had taught me and I wouldn’t deny it. All of a sudden he turned and started to go through the door. I could tell step by step. As he did, the whole satanic presence all over the room collected and followed him like a regal robe of a royal dignitary.
That robe again followed him out of the room and I was left alone. My, that was something! You have no idea what that thing was like—the dreadfulness of it. I had the strangest feeling he was going to come back.
I noticed it was 10:00 o’clock. I fussed about the room for awhile, rested a bit, what have you. I better not even guess the time. I thought, “Ten o’clock was certainly the time to go to bed.” I had been up since about (I’m not sure), but lets say about 4:00 o’clock.
I was just going to take off my coat when in walked Satan the second time. He came in—that presence followed him like a regal robe of a royal dignitary. He stood in the same place, and that presence spread out and filled the entire room. I knew that for the second time the entire room was filled with the satanic presence.
There was one thing that I noticed: this time everything seemed to be very much stronger. He said the same words—the whole thing was a carbon copy of the first visit. I don’t think it varied in one detail, not that I could recognize. We went through the whole thing.
“The Lord didn’t visit you.” “Yes, He did.” “Why don’t you deny this and that and the other?” It was the same thing but with one difference: there was such power coming from that being now that wasn’t there before. The first one was powerful, but this one was super powerful. When he spoke, “Are you ready to give up,” there came with that an authority that was frightening. I don’t think I was frightened—I’m not aware of it, but I sure recognized that this time I was in trouble.
I knew it. “Are you ready to deny the Word? Are you ready to deny God? You are losing your mind.” And then the room, everything went round again.
“You are losing your mind. You are finishing your life in an insane asylum,” and all the rest was the same. And then the appeal, “Are you ready to surrender?” I said, “No, I’m not ready and I won’t be.” I took my stand firm, but I noticed somewhere inside of my will I was weakening and that’s what worried me. I could tell my answers were no longer as resolute as they were the first time.
There was such a persuasive overwhelming power coming from that being! It weakened my will; I wanted to and I couldn’t. My answers became less and less resolute and he pounced on me with his words without mercy. There is no mercy in the devil.
He asked me, “Are you ready? Will you deny? Will you do so and so?” but with power. “No, I won’t,” I said.
But there was not that ring there like at the first—that categorical refusal. My will was weak, and I thought to myself, “If he does not let up soon he is going to win.” I didn’t say that, I thought it. He kept hammering away for me to give up and to give in. I resisted but my resistance weakened.
I imagine he knew it. He kept pressing until I had no more will to resist. I wanted to but didn’t have the will. My mind wanted to but my will didn’t have the power.
I can’t explain it any better. I became completely exhausted, not only physically, but what I thought was worse, in my will. I stood by the bed, and I do not remember whether I said audibly or simply silently within myself what I’m telling you now. I said, what I think just within myself, “I cannot resist any more.” I might have said it out loud; I think it was only inside.
With those words, I threw myself on the bed completely finished. I could stand no more; I could talk back no more; I had it; I was through; I could not resist anymore and threw myself on the bed in seeming defeat—and he stood there. Just as I struck the bed I felt something in here—within my spirit. It felt like the size of an orange (middle size).
It’s the only way I can put it. There was no orange there: I knew it was the presence of the Spirit of God—I know that presence, and I felt that presence in here, just about the size of a medium-size orange. Somehow, as far as I remember, I now concentrated on this thing in here and ignored Satan though I knew he still stood there. Apparently, as far as I recall, he bothered me no more.
That presence was there and it expanded slowly, and this presence sang. The Holy Ghost sang in here—I heard Him sing. I didn’t sing, He sang, and I heard Him sing that chorus, Isn’t He wonderful, wonderful, wonderful; isn’t Jesus my Lord wonderful? He sang that and as He sang it His presence got larger and slowly moved upward and sang again, Isn’t He wonderful…?
I listened and presumably he listened too. Nothing went on; he said nothing and I was occupied with this. It started again, Isn’t He…and finally this presence reached my throat. Now you say, “Brother Beuttler, explain it.” I can only relate it.
That presence reached here and still sang, and when it reached here, I joined and we sang; the Spirit and I sang a duet, presumably for his majesty the devil. He had nothing to say—at least he didn’t say anything to me. And we sang; I sang out while the Spirit sang in His own way, and as we sang it just started over. I had just joined Him, lying on the bed, Isn’t He wonderf…I got as far as the “f,” or we got as far as the “f,” when the Spirit stopped, broke off the song.
I waited and He spoke. I got it a little different from the way it is in the Bible. I can’t help that. Remember Paul quoted some scripture in the New Testament differently from the way it is in the Old Testament.
If we get into it—I don’t know if we get the time—I’ll give you a reason for it. The Lord let me in on that one year. And the Spirit spoke and said, When the enemy shall come in like a flood, (and here is the difference) then the Spirit shall raise an armed defense against him. With that Satan turned and went out of that room just like this—that presence assembled and out it went.
He was gone and the glory of the Lord filled the entire room. I was free. The Spirit came to my defense: I was defeated; I couldn’t stand up against that, but at that moment I got assistance from the Holy Ghost, and as I said, the glory of God filled that room. I looked at my watch and saw that it had become midnight; so it took quite awhile.
Next day I went back to school with a new experience. You might wonder, and rightly so, what was the whole thing about? Well, for 4 hours as I told you, the Lord had been teaching me things about the knowledge of God, His personalized presence, the secrets of His presence. This is a subject for which I should have with you an entire week.
I can only take you into this thing a little bit, but enough I hope to make your mouth water and seek the Lord. I just want you to know there’s lots more than what I’m able to give you. As I said, I didn’t know at that time the Lord would send me overseas. I think (but I don’t know this), but I think the devil either knew it or had an inkling, and the reason he tried to overthrow me was that this truth of the knowledge of God, the reality and the secret of His presence, might not be taught throughout all the earth.
He wanted to rob me; he wanted to destroy the very thing which the Lord had given me because that’s one thing the devil hates. He does not want people to know God—so important is this truth to God, to His people, and to Satan. It’s important to Satan in the sense that he does not want God’s people to have the personal manifest presence of God in their lives. But Satan, though challenging fiercely, lost the debate because of the faithful intervention of the Spirit of God.
It is some of these things that Satan sought to destroy, that I want to share just a few of them with you while I’m with you. As I said, there’s lots more, but we’ll do what we can. I believe with all my heart, if I had succumbed to Satan, the Lord would never have sent me overseas. NEVER!
I think Satan had an inkling, if not complete knowledge, and did everything he could to destroy it. We had a revival in our school in 1951. Were you there, Brother Young? You weren’t there.
I don’t suppose anybody else was there at that time. Well, that is where God began to put these things into execution. We had a Friday night service and had quite a move of the Spirit, but some of the students carried things too far. I was in charge, and I put my hand on those fellows with their manifestations—they went to excess—but in doing so, I did it in a carnal spirit.
As soon as I did it, all moving of the Spirit stopped, and I knew I killed the meeting. It was as dead as though a blight had struck that meeting. I knew it was finished so I dismissed it and we went home, but I knew I wrecked the meeting. Incidentally, that night and during that revival, the Lord awakened me every morning at 2:30 on the dot.
That meant I had to stay up the rest of the night sitting in His presence to be ready for the services. The Lord would give me the whole outline for a sermon, and for every meeting the Lord would let me know beforehand what He was going to. It was amazing! I wish we had time, but I can’t give you anymore.
That night at 2:30 the Lord woke me again. I was awakened by a man’s voice singing audibly in my bedroom. Wife didn’t hear it, but I heard it—it wasn’t for her; it was for me. I was awakened by a man singing and the voice reminded me of the voice of Lawrence Tibbett, [a baritone opera singer].
I don’t know if any of you have heard his singing. Well, it reminded me of his voice. And the Lord sang…oh, I awakened with the song, and looked in the direction of the voice and saw the Lord standing there with my eyes. I’ll take you into the scriptures with these things.
We’re just getting our feet wet tonight, and tomorrow morning we’re going to move into the Word, and I’ll show you these things related to the Word. He stood there full size, dressed in white garments, looking my way keeping on singing. I heard Him like I hear a man’s voice. I saw Him like I see you—I suppose the distance was something from here to this man here.
He stood by the window and I sat up in bed spellbound. Wouldn’t you? He sang 2 stanzas, and apparently I was awakened just as He began the first stanza. The first stanza had to do with sin and forgiveness.
He started another stanza (the same tune) that had to do with grace, forgiveness and glory. And when He finished His song—suddenly He wasn’t there. Oh, what presence! I knew it was time to get up, so I sat there—had a chair ready for these times—sat there waiting before the Lord—Oh, what a presence!
I kept musing over this song that the Lord sang for me. By the way, this type of experience has happened only once in my lifetime so don’t think that is a regular thing. It is not; it was only once. There have been other experiences, but this kind happened only once.
At the beginning of the revival the Lord told me that the success of the revival will depend upon my instantaneous, unquestioning obedience. If I had time I’d like to tell you some things about that revival. I don’t think you’ve heard the likes, but I mustn’t indulge. I must get to the knowledge of God.
Tomorrow morning we’ll start with it, scripture wise. I recognized I was mulling over the second stanza, and in my spirit I seemed to push away the thought of the first stanza that had to deal mainly with sin. I pushed that away—I didn’t like that one. When I realized I was pushing that thing away, I was frightened.
I thought, “Why do I want to push that away? What’s the reason?” I got suspicious of my own self, and I said, “Lord, is anything wrong?” And I got an answer at once. The answer was, The error of Uzzah. Do you remember Uzzah in the Old Testament?
He touched the Ark of God and got killed. When the Lord said, The error of Uzzah, I knew what He meant: You committed the same sin as Uzzah; you touched the Ark of God. Now I didn’t die because somebody else died 2,000 years ago in my place, but it was sin nevertheless. I said, “Lord, I’m so sorry.
I really didn’t mean to.” He knew that. Uzzah didn’t mean to either. I said, “Don’t know what I can do.” At once I got the answer: On Sunday morning during the communion service, I want you to stand up and make a public confession to the whole student body for what you have done at that meeting and ask the student’s forgiveness. I squirmed when I heard that.
I said, “But Lord, it’s the students that do the confessing, not the teachers.” They just listen. But He didn’t listen to my rationalization. I knew He meant it and I knew there was no way out. I said, “Lord, I don’t see how I can do a humbling thing like that, but You know You’ll get me sooner or later, so Lord I believe I will, but right now I won’t.” Well you know the Lord understands.
Sunday morning came. We were just giving out the bread when my heart suddenly began to pound. Ooh, it pounded! I thought it was going to jump out of my chest.
Oh this thing! I knew what it was—it’s the signal. Now is the time and I stood up. Somebody else administered communion.
They gave it to somebody because everybody knew I was so terribly tired and wanted to give me a rest. I was sitting down among the boys, and I stood up. They were giving out the bread and in the middle of it I stood up. Now was the time—God knew it.
I stood up and said, “Students, I have a confession to make.” Whew! You could have heard a pin drop—the silence! I could hear their thoughts, “Brother Beuttler!” Necks turned and stretched in looking back. I came out with it and told them exactly what happened.
I said I want to ask your forgiveness for having killed the meeting. No sooner had I finished that word when one of the boys jumped to his feet and gave a powerful utterance in prophecy. I won’t give you all of it, just some of it. I remember most of it, but not all.
It was obviously addressed to me. Because thou has done this thing and has humbled thyself in the sight of this congregation; therefore, the Lord thy God will lift thee up above thy fellows and make thee a city set on a hill. When I heard that I broke and dropped down between the seats and wept. As I did, the Lord spoke right in here, within me, as clear as a bell, as sharp as a razor saying, Go and teach all nations.
That’s where I got my call to go overseas. If I had not humbled myself that morning, I do not believe God would have ever sent me to carry these truths that Satan was challenging—and I’ll take you into some of them. In fact, what I’m giving you here is actually the exhibition of the knowledge of God and the ways of His presence. Teach all nations!
Where would I go? With what? Bible school teachers don’t have salaries, especially in those days. We were as poor as a church mouse.
Even a church mouse could have felt like a millionaire. Me go traveling? Me? Where to?
With what? A few weeks later the Lord spoke, “Go get a passport.” I said, “Lord, You’re funny. I don’t need a passport. What for—I’m not going anyplace?
I have no money to go with.” “Go get a passport.” “Oh no!.” I wouldn’t get it. The Lord spoke a third time, several days in between, “Go get a passport.” I almost did, and I said, “Really Lord, this is silly. I’m not going anyplace. Why spend money for a passport.
I’m not going.” So I dropped it. About two weeks later in one of the churches, a lady walked up to me. She never did that before nor since. She said to me out of the blue, “Brother Beuttler do you have a passport?” I said, “No, why should I have a passport?” She says, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Then she reached for something in her purse.
(All I have here is an outline. I left my plane ticket at the hotel.) She said, “I have an airplane ticket for you to go to Europe with.” I said, “Wha, wha, what is this?” She said, “This is a ticket on a charter flight to Europe. We cannot get a refund, but we’re allowed to give it to somebody else. Something came up and I cannot go, and I felt God would have me give you this round-trip ticket free of charge, but you don’t have a passport.” I said, “Oh, I’ll get one right away.” “No you won’t,” she said.
“It takes 4 weeks to get a passport (it did then, it doesn’t now). This flight leaves in two weeks. I’m sorry,” and she put the ticket back and walked away. Would you like to know what I did?
Would you? I stayed home, but did I feel bad. I missed it! I missed it!
It was Spring and God didn’t talk to me anymore about traveling for 9 months—not a word. He didn’t say, “Boo.” I said, “God, when is the time to go?” Not a word. Christmas drew near and I began to feel, “Now is the time to go again.” I was looking for somebody to give me a ticket, somebody to walk up to me, shake hands and say, “Oh, Brother Beuttler,” and I felt like saying to them, “Well, praise the Lord, but where’s the ticket?” I said that to myself, not to the person, “Where’s the ticket?” But no one gave me a ticket, however I did finally get a passport.
The Lord bore witness that that was the thing to do, but nobody gave me a ticket, but word got around. I had to ask the night school, where I was teaching, for permission to not teach for a week, and also in the day school. They had to give me permission, so word got around. It was Christmas time.
One brother walked up to me and said, “Brother Beuttler, how are you going to go?” I said, “Well, by boat.” “By boat! Man, you’re only gone for two weeks.” It was a little over two weeks, something like that—Christmas vacation. He said, “Why do you plan to go by boat? You haven’t got enough time.
You hardly get there when you have to turn around and come back.” I said, “There’s only one reason: Air is too expensive.” He said, “How much would that cost?” I said, “Oh, I don’t know.” “Next Monday night you let me know what air fare would cost, and I’ll pay the difference.” And he did—I went by air. We were halfway across the Atlantic and I was watching a star up there when suddenly the Lord spoke, right in here, clear as a bell, sharp as a razor saying, “I have sent thee on a journey.” I was thrilled!
Ooh, I was in the will of God! “I have sent thee on a journey.” I didn’t know where to go so I went home to my folk in Germany. I’m German, you can tell that. I didn’t know what the Lord wanted me to do.
I figured, “Well, my mother is unsaved and she is sick. The Lord perhaps wants me to talk to her,” which I did. But my sister is Baptist and she said, “I told our pastor you were coming and he wanted to know if you’ll give him a service. I told him that you were Pentecostal.” She didn’t know whether I’d go to a Baptist church.
She didn’t know but I’d go to any church. If only the Communist Party of Moscow would invite me for a week of Bible studies, I’d give them the knowledge of God. I’d go! I told that to somebody up at school the other day, one of the teachers, and he said, “You would?” I said, “Sure thing!” So I told my sister, “Sure, I’d be glad to,” “Fine,” she said.
The Lord woke me up very early and gave me a message. I preached it at the Baptist Church—real sedate. The pastor said, “Could you come back tomorrow night?” “Sure,” I said. “You do that,” he answered.
The Lord woke me up in the morning early, and gave me a message. I’d sit there a couple of hours—that’s what does it you know. That’s the secret. And that went on for a week.
Sunday morning the pastor said, “Now before you speak I want to talk to my people.” I thought, “Uh, uh, here we go. Now he’s going to cancel everything. I was talking on the things of the Spirit.” He said to them, “I want to let you know that for many months I have been praying that God would give us Baptists the truth of the deeper things of the knowledge of God.” And then he started to cry. My sister said that was the only time they ever saw him weep.
He said, “Just think, God sent a man from America to answer my prayer.” While that was going on the Lord had something up His sleeve. He said to me one day—in the morning—not in a voice this time. The words just stood there in my consciousness, vivid, exactly as I’m telling you. Go to Amsterdam on New Year’s Day about the middle of the afternoon by air.
I was in Germany. It was exactly as I’m telling you, not a word changed, nothing. I said, “Lord, New Year’s Day is a holiday. I want to spend New Year’s Day with my Mother.
I haven’t been there for so many years.” Here it came, here it stood again, Go to Amsterdam on New Year’s Day about the middle of the afternoon by air. The same thing. I said, “Lord I have never been in Amsterdam. I have no interest in Amsterdam.
I want to stay with my Mother for New Year’s Eve.” That’s something special in Germany. And the Lord spoke a third time—I say spoke, not words, just the words stood there in my mind some place, and I knew what they were. I heard nothing, but there they were standing out in my consciousness. I was just going to tell the Lord I wasn’t going when I remembered, “Go get a passport.” (Laughter) And I said, “Beuttler, are you going to miss God again?” So I made up my mind: I’m going to go.
I went to Stuttgart, Germany where I’d have to fly from, and went to Swiss Airlines. I asked about a flight on New Year’s Day about the middle of the afternoon. They said, “Sir, we have no flights.” “Alright, thank you.” I went over to KLM Airlines. They said, “That’s a holiday.
There is no air service between Stuttgart and Amsterdam on any holiday and especially New Year’s Day.” “Yes sir, you mean nothing’s going to Amsterdam?” “Absolutely nothing.” Oh brother! I was in trouble. I’ve done a lot of teaching on divine guidance and now I was stuck. I stepped out on the sidewalk in the rain, snow, winds—a mixture of miserable weather.
I stood there, shut my eyes and spoke to God. I said, “Father, do You know the airline schedules or don’t You?” There was no answer, and I was almost in panic. I thought, “How can I ever open my mouth again and teach people on knowing the will of God if I make a boo-boo like that?” I thought, “What can I do? Oh, I’ll go over to the American Express Company and see what they say.” I’ll never, never forget that man.
He had this big schedule book of air schedules, and he went through that book back and forth, “Un-un,” he said, “When did you want to go?” “New Year’s Day.” “Oh no, un-un, you said New Year’s Day?” I said, “Yes.” “You mean by the middle of the afternoon?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “My, you are lucky. There is a special flight going from Stuttgart to Amsterdam non-stop at 4:10 pm. How will that suit?” When he said that, the Spirit bore witness strong within me, and I said, “That’s it, that’s it, that’s it.” I got all excited.
I got my ticket. The day came and I went to Amsterdam. I had no idea what I was to do there. Standing at the airport, I said, “Father, I have arrived in Amsterdam.
Now what do I do?” Not one word, not even “Boo.” I said, “Father, this is Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport and I’ve arrived.” Not a word. What was I supposed to do? There I stood like a fool. I said, “Father, if You don’t tell me what to do, I’m going into the city, look for a hotel, check in and tomorrow morning at 8:00 o’clock I’m going to London.” I had to go there anyhow.
I got nothing. I went to the city, looked around Park Hotel and stuck my nose in a bit. It looked alright. Almost any of those hotels are tops in Europe.
Oh, do they have the hotels! Before I went to bed I said, “Father, I’ve checked in now. What do You want?” Not a word. I was so frustrated I said, “Father, I’m going to tell You something, unless You tell me something between now and tomorrow morning at 8:00 o’clock, I’ll be out at the airport going to London.” I was up early and said, “Father, I’m still in Amsterdam.” Not a word.
Alright, out I went, sat on the British European Airways flight at 8:00 o’clock ready to take off. The plane didn’t take off. We waited about 15 minutes and oh, was it cold! Here came an announcement, “Will all passengers please return to the airport lounge?
There is a heavy fog settling over the airport. It is too dangerous to take off.” That’s exactly what they said. Ugh! Everybody was glum.
You know how that is. We went in and as I walked through the door suddenly there was the enveloping presence of God. Oh, what a presence! Within, without, I seemed to be in a cloud of God’s presence.
I thought, “Un-oh, here it is.” I got a spirit of prayer and worship and all I wanted was to find a place to sit down, so I walked around and found a nice comfortable chair and sat down in a corner. I just sat there and inside the presence of God rose up in a combination of worship and prayer. It was an INTENSE presence and I kind of lost track of time. Finally I thought maybe I ought to see what’s going on with the weather.
To my shock it was 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon, and I had been sitting there all that time. I thought, “Has the plane left?” I walked over there. The fog was so heavy, so thick that you could only see the barest outlines of the nearest planes, and then I heard that they canceled all flights: nothing was coming in, nothing was going out, nothing was expected to move for the rest of the day. As I stood there, two men were in front of me.
One man apparently worked at the airport, the other appeared to be a passenger. The airport man said to the passenger, “We don’t understand this fog. There is no fog anywhere in this general area except right over this airport—nowhere else. We can’t understand it.” At first I thought nothing of it, but later on I began to see.
Well, I thought something’s wrong. Surely the Lord wouldn’t have me waste all this time. It’s expensive you know. I stood there and figured out how many dollars I was wasting per hour while sitting there at the airport doing nothing.
I actually figured what I was wasting. What could I do? The presence left; I felt so empty, so confused and so alone. I said, “Something is wrong.
I failed the Lord somewhere.” I walked around and there was a long table like a dining room table. Nobody was sitting there. They just had these stiff upright seats—nobody chooses them you know. I walked over and sat down at the corner of that table.
Now you have to follow my details. They’re not superfluous. I sat there wondering where I made my mistake. As I sat there, I looked to my left and here came a man in a black suit.
He was an unusual man. The man walked so erect, yet not stilted. His step, his bearing was so regal, and a good-looking man he was, and I thought, “Who can that man be? He must be one of the royal families of Europe.” His whole bearing had the regal something about it.
And that man sat down right opposite me. Well, I paid no more attention to him, I was worried. I closed my eyes and spoke to God in my heart. I said, “Father, where am I?” I was confused and seemed to have lost the way, “Where am I?” And for no reason that I can explain, I looked at this man.
At that very moment, he lifted a book from his lap. I don’t think I had noticed the book. He lifted the book from his lap, opened it up as though he wanted to read, and I saw the title of the book which said, I Am Leading You Where You Do Not Want To Go. The man closed his book and put it back on his lap as though he had changed his mind, and I had my answer from God.
A waiter came along and said, “Will you two gentlemen please move? We need this table to feed some passengers.” I went this way, the man with his book walked that way. I looked after him and stood for a moment saying to myself, “Who could that man be? What an unusual man, so good looking, so regal, so cultured.” Now you can believe what you want, but since that incident the Lord has born witness to me twice: once publicly, once privately, that that man was none other than the angel of the Lord whom God had sent to the airport to bring me back into His will.
You can do with that what you like. Your disbelief doesn’t change the fact. So I went my way. There was no chair to be found anywhere.
I was walking around, walking around looking for a seat. Oh, I apologized and asked the Lord to forgive me and that presence came back. Oh what a presence! All I wanted was to sit down, but my chair was taken.
I spied one chair, nice, comfortable chair and a little round table. A Negro man was sitting on one side, the opposite side was empty. I quickly sat down before somebody else got it. I shut my eyes and let my spirit go up to God.
As I let my spirit go up, this man interrupted me. I heard him say, “Sir, tell me your secret.” I opened my eyes and found him leaning across the table and I said, “What secret?” He said, “Sir, I have been watching you sitting over there in that chair all morning. I’ve been sitting here and I kept watching you. What was that light on your face?” “What light?” I asked.
He said, “I don’t know, but you had a light on your face. I wondered to myself saying, ‘I wonder if that man has what I am seeking?’ Sir, if you have what I am seeking will you please tell me your secret.” Well, I was dumbfounded and asked, “But what are you seeking?” He said, “I am a businessman from East Africa. I was brought up in the Mohammedan faith, but Mohammed never gave me peace. I need my sins forgiven and I don’t know how to get them forgiven.
I want true peace. I’ve tried different religions. I became a Catholic, but I didn’t find what I needed. I became a Protestant and tried different Protestant churches, but I didn’t find what I needed.
Then I gave up all religion and for many years I have prayed every day one prayer, ‘Oh God, if there is a God, show me the way to true peace.’ Sir, do you know the way to true peace? If you know, won’t you tell me your secret?” In the meantime the Lord had given me what I should say, and now I gave him the story of my own conversion in New York when I looked for peace. And there it was my privilege to point this man to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace in the middle of this very busy Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
The fog had been so thick only about an hour before—nothing moved, and now as I finished my testimony and for the second time used the scripture, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved, an announcement came over the loudspeaker, “We are leaving in ten minutes. The fog is lifting.” I finished my verse and said goodbye. God saw this man praying in East Africa—he had come from Nairobi. So God, in His providence, brought this man to Amsterdam.
In the meantime, He brought Beuttler from New York to Germany, gave me the time in which I should go to Amsterdam. It was that we were both there on the same day. God shut the airport down with a fog to answer that man’s prayer, and when I lost my way, He sent His angel to get me back. God brought us together in that busy airport, and as soon as my testimony was given, God lifts the fog and the planes begin flying again.He went his way and I went my way.
This is some of the outworking of the true personal knowledge of God. That is the kind of truth that works. Satan had tried to destroy that, but it was saved through the intervention of the Spirit. If we will allow ourselves to be led into this area of the manifest presence of God, and the true knowledge of God, there are experiences for us in God where the same scripture would be fulfilled that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Eye hath not seen, neither has the ear heard, what God has prepared for them that love him.
That’s a quotation from Isaiah where it reads, Eye hath not seen, neither has the ear heard, what God has prepared for them that waiteth for him. If we will give ourselves to God and His Word, we have never seen, we have never heard, we have never imagined the experiences waiting for us in the presence of God. That’s all for tonight, tomorrow we’ll go into the Word, but this is the Word demonstrated. The Lord bless you, goodnight.
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.
The Man Who Knew God
Walter Beuttler was never famous, yet he carried God's presence to more than a hundred countries. His students said that when he walked into a room, the air changed. This is the first full account of a friendship with God that was specific, sustained, and costly. Read the story of his life →