Vicki Jamison-Peterson: One of God's Handmaidens

Contents

Foreword

Preface

1. Why Vicki?

2. Vicki’s Spiritual Roots

3. A Young Adult

4. Vicki’s Call from God

5. Enlarging Her Borders

6. A New Day in Chicago

7. The Road to the Miraculous

8. Change is not Always Good

9. The Beginning of a

New Season

10. Facing the Storms of Life

11. Finishing the Course

Acknowledgments

Resources

End Notes

This book is dedicated first to my daughter, Paige, and her daughter Jessica Faith. Paige, you always said you wanted to sing like Miss Vicki and preach like your Mama. God heard your words, dedication and you do! You are my inspiration and legacy of ministry yet to be fulfilled.

Second, to my husband, Bob, for believing in me, standing in agreement for God’s will to be done in writing Vicki’s story and for allowing me the time, finances and freedom to obey Him. I love you dearly.

Foreword

The story of Vicki Jamison is a compelling one of an amazing woman of God used by God to carry His healing power to the nations. I know because I received a healing under her ministry when she came to South Africa back in the 70’s.

The struggle to carry this anointing and then the natural desires to be accepted led her into a marriage that ultimately destroyed her life. This book shows the struggle that all those that would be used of God will face. The giants come to all of us, remember the enemy wants to silence your voice. This is why we need to surround ourselves with Godly counsel and people that we can trust. We need to follow the Holy Spirit and His daily leading. The same Holy Spirit that leads us to operate in the gifts of the Spirit publicly will lead us in our daily lives to make the correct choices.

Choices have consequences, this book will not only inspire you but will also act as a warning to all those who are called of God. Don’t make decisions based on the now make decisions based on Eternity. It is costly in the long run.

Please allow Vicki’s life, her triumphs and tragedies to challenge you the reader to take stock of your own life. The body of Christ was blessed having Vicki come our way. Vicki, thank you for your life and ministry—until we meet again on that golden shore!

Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne

Revival Ministries International

Tampa, Florida

Preface

One spring day in 1979, I received a phone call, which would have an eternal and enormous effect upon my life. It was an invitation to teach a workshop for a Woman of the Word Conference in August of that year. The Conference, led by Billie Adams, was to be held on the campus of Redlands University in Redlands, California and hundreds of women were expected to attend. My husband, Bob, and I were pastoring a small church and this seemed an incredible invitation. That phone call was something I call a suddenly! One day I was teaching twenty or so women in our weekly Bible study in El Dorado, Arkansas, and the next, I was speaking before hundreds at a large conference a thousand miles away. That phone call changed the course of my life.

This was my first trip to California and I shared a rising sense of anticipation with the eight hundred women who were coming from other parts of the country as well as abroad. All of us were hungry for God. August in California is often hot and humid in the Inland Empire, and this year was no different, but it could not dampen our sense of expectation. Billie Adams was the only person I knew and I felt like a young girl in a candy store with so many wonderful Christians and ministers surrounding me. My assignment was to minister in a morning and afternoon workshop each day. I was thrilled at the excitement and apparent hunger I witnessed among the women. Many of the relationships established at that WOW conference remain today as the Lord sealed our hearts together.

Friday afternoon I was asked if I would be willing to give up my room for a few hours. Vicki Jamison was flying in and she would need a place to rest before ministering that evening. I was familiar with Vicki’s ministry. My husband and I had attended a service she conducted during one of Kenneth Hagin’s Camp Meetings in Tulsa. I was honored to be a blessing to her in that way and quickly replied, Yes!

As I was leaving, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me in intercession for Vicki. This was the first time I experienced that degree of travail. I needed some place to go so I went into the restroom and locked myself in one of the stalls. For the first time in my Iife, I was experiencing the kind of prayer Paul wrote about in Romans 8:26-28. I knew the Holy Spirit was making intercession "with groanings which could not be uttered." As I was praying, something else I had not anticipated began to happen. The Lord allowed me to see and feel some of the heart aches Vicki had experienced… things I would have no knowledge of in the natural. It seemed to me that every part of my being was standing in the gap for her during that moment.

Vicki and her accompanist, Sharon, had arrived and were visiting with Billie and others. Suddenly, she asked who had given up their room for her to use and Billie sent someone to find me. I had not been released from that spirit of prayer when someone knocked on the restroom door of my temporary prayer closet and asked me, Frieda are you in there? I told them, Go away. I was surprised when I was told Vicki wanted to meet me. So, with red eyes and make up long wept off my face, I came into the room. Before I could acknowledge her at all, the spirit of prayer returned and I knelt at her feet and began praying again. I cannot recall what I said, but I realized that, as I had wept, my tears had fallen on the hem of her dress. I began to apologize and said, I’m so sorry. You were preparing to minister and my tears have fallen on your dress.

Vicki’s reply has stayed with me over the past thirty years. I don’t care about this dress, I need your prayers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! After all this time, one of the overwhelming thoughts that comes to mind is how gracious Vicki was in a borrowed room or in the auditorium of a university campus. Her faith was genuine and the gratefulness she exhibited was refreshing.

After this time in prayer I couldn’t wait for the evening service to begin. The brochure advertised the Friday evening’s service as a Miracle Rally. When Vicki began to sing the anointing of God and His glory rolled through the University auditorium like the waves on the beach. As her voice soared over the pipe organ and the congregational worship, it seemed as though the room was bathed in the presence of God. As she began to sing the Doxology, I realized, growing up as a little Baptist girl, I had never heard it sung under the anointing. It was glorious!

As Vicki began to speak and share the word of God, I could sense faith beginning to rise in each person there. Then, in her own unique way she began singing words of knowledge about the healings that were taking place. I was not aware of any evangelist who ministered in this manner, yet all around the auditorium one by one women began to respond to her words. Miracles were happening before my eyes. As one of the speakers, I was privileged to sit on the front row and witness first hand as God ministered to His people through His handmaiden, Vicki. I looked around and in every aisle women were standing shoulder to shoulder in response to Vicki’s ministry. However, they didn’t stand for long, the power of God swept through the place as she sang.

The following day a few of the speakers performed a skit for the women of the conference. The skit Bible Study Betsy was written by Mary Ann Lawrence, a pastor’s wife, to depict the behavior of a Christian in her home. With humor and spiritual insight the skit demonstrated how we can be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. Vicki was the narrator and I was one of the participants known as midnight madness along with Billie Adams, Mary Ann and her daughter. The ladies at the conference loved her humor and we enjoyed entertaining them. Vicki was able to relate to the women and they loved it.

You see, it is easy to see someone under the anointing of God and fail to realize we are all vessels that He can fill and use. The key is found in personal obedience. Vicki was obedient to the Heavenly call and positioned herself to be used by God through her natural talent, abilities and Godly character. Every day we make the necessary choices to be chosen by God. It was obvious by the fruit borne at Redlands University that Vicki made many correct choices as she cooperated with the Lord. Matthew 20:16 says in the King James Version, For many are called, but few are chosen. Over the years I’ve observed the price that has to be paid in the spirit realm to be chosen by God. The Lord sees our heart and what motivates us to serve Him.

Five months later, I was in Vicki’s meetings in January 1980 in Tyler, Texas while I was also ministering in the area. As I walked into the auditorium her nephew Greg asked me, Does my Aunt Vicki know you are here? In a few minutes she sent word for me to come and pray for her, and insisted that Bob and I sit on the platform behind her and pray as she ministered. She understood the power of prayer and we were honored to pray for God’s will to be done through her.

After the services were over in Tyler, Vicki turned to us and said, Why don’t you come home with me? We followed her back to Dallas and the next day Vicki took us to her offices and began to share with Bob and I. We had resigned our church the first of January and were beginning a traveling ministry that year. Vicki was a take charge lady and she understood the mechanics of a valid ministry. Looking back over the last thirty years of our own ministry, her words of wisdom proved true in my life.

After Vicki graduated to Heaven it concerned me that future generations would never know about Vicki. During a time of prayer I sensed the Spirit of the Lord direct me to tell her story. This woman greatly influenced my early days of ministry and was also a powerful role model to our daughter in her teen years. My desire is that this book will challenge, inspire, and also warn others who sense a call to ministry.

If we are wise, we learn from those who have gone before us. I learned from Vicki to be sensitive to the voice of God. I also learned to guard the anointing at all costs: it is precious, costly, but borrowed. The anointing of God is not our permanent possession! Every day, we make the choice to overcome every snare, temptation and weakness that attempts to steal our purpose and ultimately our destiny.

Why Vicki?

"The Lord gives the command; the women who proclaim the

good tidings are a great host: Kings of armies flee, they flee,

and she who remains at home will divide the spoil!"

Psalm 68:11,12 New American Standard

It is my personal belief that over the last two hundred years God has anointed four primary women with an incredible ability to minister healing and miracles to His people. There were other women used by God to pray for the sick including Phoebe Palmer, Mrs. Elizabeth Mix, Mrs. Michael Baxter, and Carrie Judd Montgomery. However, I believe the four prominent ones were Maria Woodworth-Etter, Aimee Semple McPherson, Kathryn Kuhlman and Vicki Jamison-Peterson. These women were thrust into prominence by notable and documented miracles on a continual basis throughout their ministry. In my journey writing this book I have noted several common similarities among the four evangelists listed above. Although they lived during a time period that limited the freedom women now enjoy, their encounter with God caused the Gospel to come alive to their generation. Each one was uniquely different in appearance and personality; it was obvious that the hand of the Lord rested upon them. In addition, three of the four women, Maria, Kathryn and Vicki, were led by the Spirit of God to focus their efforts in the New England portion of the United States.

The Scriptures are clear that God is not a respecter of person. Just as surely as He anointed men in the great healing and tent revivals, He anointed women as well. As Christians we serve the Lord God who operates in complete balance and order. Man might argue and quibble about a woman in ministry, but His word is still as true as when it was written in Psalm 68. The Lord God gives the command. The women who heard His command and obeyed were quick to declare the good news.

I believe these four women stand out as excellent examples of Godly women who proclaimed the good news of the gospel in spite of every sort of opposition, ridicule, false accusations and occasionally slander or lies. In fact, each woman was ahead of their time in regard to their ability to hear and obey the Lord. They were willing to be a vessel in the hand of the Lord. They joined the ranks of Deborah and Huldah from the days of the Old Testament along with Phoebe, Priscilla and Philips four daughters in the New Testament.

For instance, among the Judges of Israel there were two individuals who served in both offices as prophet and judge. The Almighty God equipped both to do His will on the earth. One was a man named Samuel and the other a woman named Deborah. As a judge, Deborah functioned as a military deliverer, civil magistrate, and prophet of God. It appears from reading the Scripture that she was quite willing to abide in her home as the wife of Lappidoth yet she was sensitive to the call of God on her life. The anointing of God that rested upon her prompted the general of the Israeli army to refuse to go to battle without her. He understood that she carried the anointing of God and clearly heard Him speak. Deborah’s warlike song of praise is generally believed to be one of the oldest poems/songs in the Bible.¹

Another example was Huldah, a contemporary of Jeremiah and Zephaniah. Again, we see the balance of God as men and women were anointed and called by God for a specific purpose. Huldah’s reputation was known as one who heard the word of the Lord and was able to articulate His plans to the people. In addition, she refused to allow fear or intimidation to keep her from obeying God and delivering a message from God. When Huldah was consulted for her Godly wisdom, Israel was in a period of great turmoil and the word of God had been lost. Her words to the King were filled with courage and boldness. She was simply another woman whom God used at a critical time in the history of Israel.²

I am persuaded that God looks for a yielded and available vessel. If under the confines of the Old Testament women were used by God in a ruler ship capacity, I believe these four women of the two last centuries: Maria, Aimee, Kathryn and Vicki joined the ranks of Deborah and Huldah from ancient days. Often, they had men around them who recognized the anointing of God on their lives and supported God’s call upon them. Unfortunately, there were also men around them who were jealous of their anointing and at times displayed ulterior motives; others allowed the cares of life to attempt to distract them from their eternal purpose. No one is immune from the distractions or attitudes of those around us.

So why a book about Vicki Jamison-Peterson? Thus far, I believe Vicki was the last woman of the great healing evangelists, and the mantle passed down from previous generations came to rest fully on her shoulders. As I have researched her life she, and the other three women in recent history, clearly embodied the Godly character traits of those who answered the call of their Father God. These four women, like few others, experienced the wonder working power of God as they listened to and obeyed His voice. The Almighty God demonstrated through them His goodness to the church, and in nations around the world, as miraculous seeds were sown in the lives of multitudes.

However, at the same time it saddened me as I studied the lives of these evangelists how the enemy was able to hinder them through the men they loved and married. Love is a powerful force when both parties love and serve God in a marriage relationship. Yet, in each one of these women it was a reoccurring snare set in hell. Satan does not have to be creative if the same temptation works every time. The greater the sensitivity of these four women to God, the greater the enemy of their soul desired to attack their weaknesses or mistakes through their mates.

I believe as women we respond with our heart and when we love someone it can override reasoning, intellect and sometimes reality. At the same time it takes a strong man who is secure in his relationship with God to be married to someone like one of these four women. If we can learn to prefer one another in the love of God, there is a mighty force released in the marriage. The opposite is also true.

Aimee McPherson wrote about this in her book, . . . he told me he loved me. He said he wanted to be at my side and work with me… the promise of so many things I had missed in years gone by, the protection of a man, the thoughtfulness and tenderness and devotion of a good husband.³ Her words could have been written of all four women. You see, Aimee’s first husband died while they were on the mission field and she remarried twice; however, both marriages ended in divorce. Maria was divorced from her first husband and remarried. Kathryn fell in love with a married man, married him after he divorced his wife, and lived with him for six years until she realized she could not continue in a relationship that displeased the Lord. Vicki’s second marriage occurred after she fell in love with a man who had everything she admired in life. He had the education, credentials, status and the appearance of a man filled with the Holy Spirit. Yet, his background had been that of a practicing Mormon. He claimed that he had repented; yet in the end he returned to those roots and moved back to his family in Utah.

I am convinced the enemy’s ultimate plan is to steal the anointing of God upon our lives. He attempts to steal the Word of God from us through distractions, obstacles and hindrances of every sort. In addition, I’ve noticed how religious thinking attempts to thwart God’s unction on a woman. It takes great courage to deal with the issues that prevent the will of God being done in our lives. Yet, the end of the story for the believer and certainly for these women was victory. The spiritual fruit of their lives was found in the men and women who were born again and healed through the power of God. Eternity alone will reveal the affect of their lives on others and how the purpose of God was accomplished in those who sat under their ministry.

Maria Woodworth-Etter

Maria Woodworth-Etter was born in 1844 on a farm in Ohio. As a child she sensed God was speaking to her about ministry. After the Civil War ended she met a young soldier and they married. However, her husband had no desire for the things of God. They were unequally yoked spiritually and heartache was the result. Five of their six children died and her husband was caught in adultery. They divorced after twenty-six stormy years of marriage. He remarried quickly and tried to disgrace Maria, however, he died within a year of typhoid fever.

Her divorce did not hinder God moving through her. I believe man attempts to label sin in different categories, but God looks on the inside, at the heart. Maria began to organize and preach large meetings at least thirty years before women could vote in national elections. She was called to a miraculous ministry and she was mightily used by God in New England, throughout the Midwest and in Texas. She had an eight thousand-seat tent she began to use starting in 1889. During the first fourteen years of ministry she traveled more than 35,000 miles and held meetings in thirteen states; and stood before hundreds of thousands. Only Heaven’s accounting records the number of those saved, born again into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, through her ministry alone. Interestingly, more than two-thirds of her converts were past middle age.⁴

When she was forty years old this petite lady, who looked like someone’s grandmother, stirred this nation. Thousands flocked to her healing and miracle crusades as the power of God was demonstrated in their midst. She attracted crowds as large as 25,000. In addition, many men and women became Christians and they greatly influenced their sphere of influence. For example, her services in Dallas with a young pastor named F. F. Bosworth created a fertile place for miracles and healing to occur.

She was used to link the divine healing movement and the Pentecostal movement. F. F. Bosworth pioneered a church in Dallas in 1910 and that site became the center of a great revival. Maria held tent meetings at his church every night for five months. Many were healed of serious medical problems, and the miracles attracted people from all parts of the U. S.⁵ A year later she was the featured preacher at the Los Angeles Worldwide Camp Meeting.

Wayne Warner wrote of Maria and the meetings held in Dallas, Reports of divine healing almost seemed common in Dallas, if divine healings can be called common. And the reports came from others beside Woodworth and Bosworth. Eyewitnesses from many states verified the accounts. Even the medical profession took note of the healings. One of these was Arthur C. Bell, M.D., who had a practice in Dallas and was dean of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.⁶

A century later it was in Dallas that the call of God came to Vicki to minister. I believe it was the seeds of revival that were sown through Maria’s season of ministry. It was not an accident that Vicki began her ministry in Dallas. The spiritual climate was cultivated years before her birth by those who went before her. I firmly believe Vicki built her ministry on the prayers, messages and gifts of the Holy Spirit from those in years past.

Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson born in 1890 near Salford, Ontario, Canada, followed Maria almost fifty years later. Near the end of Maria’s life, Aimee met and spent time with her as she traveled to California and was greatly influenced by Maria and her heart for God. Aimee preached in her own tent, theaters, auditoriums and churches as she made eight transcontinental tours of the United States. For instance, when Maria was seventy-four she founded and built a church in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is today a congregation of over 1,500 members known as Lakeview Christian Center. Aimee occasionally preached for her, as it was known then as the Woodworth-Etter tabernacle.⁷ The Holy Spirit energized these two women.