Ignited with the Love of God
On the evening of August 18, 1901, A.J. Tomlinson knelt to pray for direction about the escalation of verbal attacks he was receiving from the local townsfolk. One man had even challenged him to a duel. Hearing the Spirit whisper, “Depart,” he slipped into the rainy night to walk the 10 miles to a friend’s home. He arrived around midnight–wet and muddy.
Soon after Tomlinson made his escape, ruffians attacked his Culberson, North Carolina, home with rocks and curses. Although there were broken windows, no lives were lost that night. It was Tomlinson’s reports of the deplorable conditions of the mountain poor in his publication, Samson’s Foxes, that evoked the Culberson violence. Tomlinson was publishing the small epistle from his home, where he also operated a school, founded an orphanage, and distributed clothing to the poor. Such is the power of the printed page to ignite both love and hatred.
A significant aspect of Tomlinson’s leadership throughout his ministry was his use of the publications to inform, educate and share the gospel. Barely more than a year after arriving in Culbertson, he launched Samson’s Foxes as a means of raising support for his ministry in the tiny mountain hamlet. In later years he edited The Way, served as a corresponding editor to the herald of Pentecost in the South, The Bridegroom’s Messenger, and published the Church of God Evangel. His book The Last Great Conflict (1913) included the earliest history of the Church of God and is still an excellent source for understanding our theological foundations.
The first issue of Samson’s Foxes was dated January 1901 and was “published in the interests of the ‘Hundred Fold’ Gospel and the speedy evangelization of the mountain districts of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and the world.” The four-page periodical carried an annual subscription price of 10 cents, and featured articles on divine healing, children, and the conditions of the mountain people. Tomlinson published Samson’s Foxes until near the end of 1902 when he temporarily moved his family to Indiana because of the problems in Culberson. Although the publication ceased and was later replaced by The Way, Tomlinson never abandoned his vision that the love of God would ignite the mountain homes.
Explaining his burden of ministry Tomlinson wrote, “The name Samson’s Foxes was given to me as the name of this movement while doing mission work in the mountains of Georgia. We found so large a number of children growing up, in almost total ignorance, having no help to develop their talents. It was a large field and we saw that it would be impossible for us to visit all the homes to set them right.
“While praying and mediating about the work God whispered, to me, the words ‘Samson’s Foxes,’ and I was made to know that He wanted a school where children could be trained and educated for the cause of Christ. Sending them forth in every direction as Samson turned his foxes loose in the Philistine’s cornfields—Judges xv: 4-5. Having the fire of God’s love to drive out sin from the homes of their own people.”
——————————————————————-
This article was written by Church of God Historian David G. Roebuck, Ph.D., who is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Lee University. This “Church of God Chronicles” was first published in the June 2001 Church of God Evangel.
