Understanding an Interesting History
How did all this start?
I never knew…
When the Jesus Revolution movie came out and my wife asked to go, I hesitated. I’m such a skeptic! Who were the people represented in the movie? Chuck Smith, Lonnie Frisbee and Greg Laurie. Who were they and what did they believe?
Lonnie was a character and a half, he claimed to come to Christ while dropping LSD, he died of AIDS and that was enough to think I won’t want to see this movie!
After hours of study, we went and enjoyed the movie! God uses broken people and the Old Testament is full of them.
As I was finding out more about Chuck Smith, I read about his second coming claim that came and passed! I found he was a L.I.F.E. College graduate and originally a Foursquare pastor. Well who started that college? Wait…what… Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson?
The rabbit hole trail was a long one and it was interesting to see a thread and theme and connections between what I knew and what I did not know!
I say all of that to give the reason for this article. It’s not conclusive or in depth but the basic facts are spelled out. This is not meant to be a negative story or calling out any gift or denomination it is just a story that shows we often do not know what we think we know…
Second Coming Expectation at the turn of the century
After the Civil War there was a spiritual resurgence called the Methodist awakenings or the Second Great Awakening.
Believing that the second coming of Christ was imminent, these Christians expected an end time revival of apostolic power, spiritual gifts, and miracle-working. Figures such as Dwight L. Moody and R. A. Torrey began to speak of an experience available to all Christians which would empower believers to evangelize the world, often termed baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Keswickian Theology of the Higher Life movement claims that the Christian should move on from his initial conversion experience to also experience a second work of God in his life. This work of God is called “entire sanctification,” “the second blessing,” “the second touch,” “being filled with the Holy Spirit,” and various other terms.
The Holiness Movement 1885 Declaration of Principles, which explained:
"Entire Sanctification... is that great work wrought subsequent to regeneration, by the Holy Ghost, upon the sole condition of faith...such faith being preceded by an act of solemn and complete consecration. This work has these distinct elements:
The entire extinction of the carnal mind, the total eradication of the birth principle of sin
The communication of perfect love to the soul...
The abiding indwelling of the Holy Ghost.”
For the Holiness Movement "the term 'perfection' signifies completeness of Christian character; its freedom from all sin, and possession of all the graces of the Spirit, complete in kind.
Most of the traveling Holiness Preachers, who were drawn to faith healing and evangelizing were the fore runners of the nascent Pentecostal church.
Biblical Foundations
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Acts 2:5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
Acts 2:17 And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It was a popular belief that they were living in the end times, they expected God to spiritually renew the Christian Church, and bring to pass the restoration of spiritual gifts and the evangelization of the world.
Matthew said that when the “gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world … and then the end will come.” This helps explain the missionary fervor and evangelizing preaching and the expectation of power from on high.
Evolution of Ideas
The Holiness Movement experience of entire sanctification or Perfection is generally identified with the filling of or the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It wasn’t until Charles Fox Parham that the baptism became manifested by the ability to speak in tongues.
Initially the gift of tongues was understood to be for the same purpose as in Acts 2, to be able to preach in a foreign tongue for the purpose of evangelization.
In the years following the Azusa Street revival Pentecostals who went to the mission field found that they were unable to speak in the language of the local inhabitants at will when they spoke in tongues in strange lands.
Numerous studies over the years have proven that the Gift of Tongues has never been in an actual language. In most cases the mode, rhythm and structure mimics the person’s original language ability.
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Today Pentecostalism has over 700 denominations with mostly no central authority, most emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit.
The majority of modern Pentecostals and Charismatics consider speaking in tongues to primarily be divine, or the "language of angels", rather than human languages.
The next section is an brief introduction to some of the leaders and pioneers of the Pentecostal Movement.
John Alexander Dowie 1847-1907 Australian
He is considered to be the prototype for future evangelists, faith healers and prosperity preachers. Most of his contemporary faith healers were directly influenced by him.
Dowie became interested in spiritualism and believed that he could heal people by the "laying on of hands” after being influenced by G. Milner Stephen.
Dowie migrated to the US in 1888 and established the profitable International Divine Healing Association, which was run largely as a commercial enterprise. All members were expected to tithe and those who did were eligible to request Dowie's aid in healing their ills. After some financial fraud accusations he departed San Francisco.
He moved to Chicago to exploit the tourist traffic of the Worlds Fair in 1983. He disbanded the International Divine Healing Association to form the Christian Catholic Church in Zion which was later renamed the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in 1903.
He pushed the concept of tithing 10% not necessarily to the church but directly to the preacher. Tithing was not a formal concept in the US since it was based on Old Testament law. It was perpetuated in Europe in the Catholic and English churches, but fell from grace with the advent of Luther and renouncement of all thing Catholic. Now, in Dowie’s case it was probably copied from Joseph Smith’s new Mormon teachings.
Contemporary newspapers claimed he was the richest man in the West. He routinely collected millions after all he owned a town, bought with donations and then subsequently leased out to the same church members!
In 1902 the local newspaper stated “The faith of Dowleism--that terrible and relentless denial of science as an aid to sufferers - precluded the services of a physician services of a physician.” Dowie’s daughter Esther had a terrible accident when her hair caught on fire and she failed to receive treatment since according to Dowie medicine was of the devil. He could not save his daughter and he suffered a series of strokes shortly after.
During 1905-6 Dowie's empire collapsed as millions of dollars went missing and it ended up in bankruptcy under the control of the courts. Was it a consequence that the Mob took over Chicago after his demise?
Frank Weston Sandford 1826-1948
In August 1891, after performing an exorcism and claiming to hear the voice of God warn him of "Armageddon", he established a commune called the "Shiloh" in Durham, Maine.
Charles Fox Parham was influenced by the early reports of the Shiloh commune.
1897 witnessed and praised the miracles of contemporary faith healer John Alexander Dowie. Soon after he was credited with all kinds of healings and even one resurrection. He believed that illness might be the result of either discipline from God or an attack of Satan.
In 1904 he was convicted of murder due to the harsh treatment of his followers.
After a world cruise he eventually returned to the US and was put in prison for his crimes.
He was supported by his followers while in prison, but his influence waned and when released he retired from active preaching.
Charles Fox Parham 1873-1929
In 1895 rejecting the Methodists and other denominations, he established his own itinerant evangelistic ministry, which preached the ideas of the Holiness movement.
In 1900 Parham, "deciding to know more fully the latest truths restored by the later day movements", took a sabbatical and "visited various movements” but was most influenced by Frank Weston Sandford and the Shiloh Movement.
1900 started Bethel College in Topeka Kansas, The school is credited with starting the Pentecostal movement due to a series of fasting days that ended in students starting to speaking in tongues on January 1, 1901. Not long after, Parham and 34 other students also began speaking in unknown languages. He began to call this new movement apostolic faith.
Parham told his students to ponder over what the Bible verse "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38) might mean and whether any evidence specifically related to this gift could be found, giving them three days, while he was absent for this assignment. By the time he returned his students collectively agreed that if the Holy Spirit had descended upon an individual, then speaking in tongues would be present and constitute sufficient proof of that.
Parham associated glossolalia with the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a theological connection crucial to the emergence of Pentecostalism as a distinct movement. Parham was the first preacher to articulate Pentecostalism's distinctive doctrine of evidential tongues, and to expand the movement.
Parham and later William J Seymour taught that "baptism of the Holy Spirit was not the blessing of sanctification but rather a “third work of grace” following the “new birth” and “entire sanctification”.
The Seymour-Parham breakup marked the beginning of the end of Parham's prominence in the revival movement. While oil San Antonio Texas, he faced allegations of sexual misconduct in fall 1906, which were later dropped, but not before damaging his reputation.
Parham encouraged his followers to dress stylishly so as to show the attractiveness of the Christian life which is still a Pentecostal tradition.
Lucy F. Farrow 1851- 1911
She was the first African American person to be recorded as having spoken in tongues, after attending the meetings and finally working for Charles Fox Parham in Houston Texas. She is also credited for introducing William J. Seymour to this new teaching.
Later in 1906, when Seymour became the pastor of a Holiness church in Los Angeles, he sent for Farrow to join him in what would become known as the Azusa Street Revival. She would be known as the "anointed handmaiden" who laid her hands on many who received the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues.
William J Seymour 1870 -1922
Encouraged by Lucy F. Farrow, he enrolled in Bethel Bible College which Parham started in Houston in January 1906, he would eventually adopt Parham's belief that speaking in tongues was the sign of receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In 1906, he moved to Los Angeles, but in spite of his teachings had yet to receive the gift of tongues. He was removed from his position as pastor of a holiness church and started a house church which grew and was later moved to an old church/warehouse on Azusa Street.
Seymour was licensed as a minister of Parham's Apostolic Faith Movement, and he initially considered his work in Los Angeles under Parham's authority. However, Seymour soon broke with Parham over his harsh criticism of the emotional worship at Azusa Street and the intermingling of whites and blacks in the services.
Seymour did not experience the gift of tongues until after Lucy F. Farrow traveled from Houston to help him in California. The peak of the revival spanned from 1906 through 1908, but lasted until 1915.
This revival is considered the birth of the global Pentecostal movement. From it grew many new Pentecostal churches as people visited the services in Los Angeles and took their newfound beliefs to communities around the United States and abroad. During the 20th century, glossolalia became an important part of the identity of these religious groups.
All major American Pentecostal denominations can trace their origins to Azusa Street, including the Assemblies of God, the Church of God in Christ, the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, the United Pentecostal Church, and the Pentecostal Holiness Church.
William Howard Durham 1873 - 1912
In 1901 he started a store front church based on Holiness Movement teaching. After one of his members visited Azusa Street and was baptized in the spirit and spoke in tongues, he wanted learned about this new movement in spite of his skepticism.
He went to Azusa Street himself and had his own experience of baptism in the spirit and began speaking in tongues. Upon his return to Chicago he started preaching and spread the Pentecostal revival into the mid west.
During one of William Seymour's revival tours in 1911, he asked Durham if he would serve as the visiting preacher while he was gone. Durham agreed, but his views on sanctification caused a schism in the church. Durham and Seymour had a falling out and the movement was split into two factions.
His newsletter was co-opted by one of his rivals and his secretary who fled with the mailing list and published the newsletter under the same name and he never regained control of his newsletter.
Many denominations trace their roots from Durham's work: General Council of the Assemblies of God in the United States of America; International Church of the Foursquare Gospel; Open Bible Standard Churches; New Testament Christian Churches of America, Inc.; the Scandinavian-American Fellowship of Christian Assemblies and the Independent Assemblies of God, Pentecostal Church of God; the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada; the Oneness United Pentecostal Church; and many independent Pentecostal congregations.
Agnes Ozman 1870–1937
She is considered to be the first to speak in tongues in the first pentecostal revival movement.
Later in her life Ozman admitted that she had been wrong to believe that all people would speak in tongues when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Writing in The Latter Rain Evangel of January 1909 she wrote,
"Some time ago I tried but failed to have an article printed which I wrote calling attention to what I am sure God showed me was error. The article maintained that tongues was not the only evidence of the Spirit’s Baptism.
When that article was refused I was much tempted by Satan, but God again graciously showed me He had revealed it to me, and satisfied my heart in praying that He might reveal this truth to others who would spread it abroad. For awhile [sic] after the baptism I got into spiritual darkness, because I did as I see so many others are doing these days, rested and reveled in tongues and other demonstrations instead of resting alone in God."
John G Lake 1870 - 1935 Canadian-American
He and his family were regular attendees at Dowie's services in the late 1800’s . He later opened a small chapter of Dowie’s Christian Catholic Church in 1898.
1907 converted to Pentecostalism under Parham’s preaching in an attempt to win over Dowie’s supporters. He became a co-pastor with Thomas Hezmalhalch after Parham left the Zion area.
After Parham’s arrest for reports of sodomy and pedophilia in the summer of 1907, the church began to disintegrate and was blamed on demonic possession. After deaths related to demonic exorcism in which several people died they were chased out of town.
Lake and Hezmalhalch went to Africa and founded the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) in 1908. There were the first to introduce tongues to Africa. Lake was instrumental in spreading this fusion of Zionism/Pentecostalism that is unique to southern Africa.
Thomas Hezmalhalch 1847 - 1934
He was a preacher of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in England before returning to the US. While living in California he was baptized in the Holy Spirit during the summer of 1906. He was influenced by the healing ministry of John Alexander Dowie and joined the Holiness Movement as a preacher.
After an adulterous affair in Los Angeles William Seymour sent him in early 1907 to Zion, Il, where Charles Parham had established a Pentecostal community. He was a co-pastor with John G. Lake a recent arrival from the Azusa Street Revival.
Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson 1890 - 1947 Canadian
As part of William Durham's Full Gospel Assembly in Chicago, McPherson became known for interpreting glossolalia, translating the words of people speaking in tongues.
As a traveling evangelist she emulated the enthusiasm of Pentecostal meetings but sought to avoid excesses, in which participants would shout, tremble on the floor, and speak in tongues. She set up a separate tent area for such displays of religious fervor, which could be off-putting to larger audiences.
She was ordained evangelist by the Assemblies of God USA in 1919.
In 1918, she decided to stay in Los Angeles, since it was a popular tourist destination. Her ministry to tourists allowed her message to spread nationwide.
She raised money to build a church and ended up with excess funds to be a able to build Angelus Temple (considered a mega church of it’s time) was advertised as the largest single Christian congregation in the world.
Initially a faith healer she largely distanced herself and focused on more interdenominational topics. She resisted trends to isolate her church as a denomination from the AOG and continued her evangelical coalition-building.
In 1923 she founded the Foursquare Church Denomination and The L.I.F.E. Bible College, which l later in 1990 became the Life Pacific University. Her purpose was to train ministers in order to share her new "Foursquare Gospel" both nationally and internationally.
McPherson was one of the major influences to move the Pentecostal toward more main stream Christianity.
Maria Beulah Woodworth-Etter (1844 - 1924)
She received the baptism in the Holy Spirit while praying for an "anointing for service” in a Quaker meeting. She later became a traveling American healing evangelist. In her opinion the healings were dependent on the person and their level of faith.
“She claimed to have frequent visions or trances, during which she talks to the Savior and tastes the joy of heaven: she is also given glances of the horror of hell.” It was claimed that she conducted more miracles than all the apostles combined.
She charged 10 cents attendance fee, had multiple donation opportunities and even had concession/merchandise stands.
She began to pray for the sick in 1885, believing that those with sufficient faith would be healed. Her meetings also became known for people falling to the floor in trance-like states. She was known as the Trance Evangelist.
Her ministry style was a model for Pentecostalism. Helped found the Assemblies of God in 1914 after being expelled from the Church of God in 1904.
William M. Branham 1909 - 1965
Considered the leader in the post WWII healing revivals. Was baptized and ordained by Roy Davis who later became an Imperial Wizard of the KKK. He was a lifelong supporter of the KKK. His views on Christian Identity Theology and the Serpent’s Seed Doctrine were a result of Davis’s influence.
In 1933 he began holding tent revivals under the sponsorship of Davis. From the beginning miracles were credited to Branham. In the 40’s he held numerous revivals attended by thousands, ironically his revivals from the beginning were interracial. Interestingly there were rumor of KKK recruitment covertly conducted through Branham's ministry!
Branaham was considered one of the leaders of the Latter Rain (post–World War II movement) as well as the Healing Revival led by Oral Roberts.
Branaham was very popular and his continuous ministry took a toll on his health and he had to take time off, which also seemed to happen during some allegations of financial fraud. It was during this time that Oral Roberts was promoted to fill in and rose to prominence as a faith healer.
Branham told his audiences that he was able to determine their illness, with details of their lives, and pronounce them healed as a result of an angel who was guiding him.
F.F. Bosworth on of his co pastors said "he does not begin to pray for the healing of the afflicted in body in the healing line each night until God anoints him for the operation of the gift, and until he is conscious of the presence of the Angel with him on the platform. Without this consciousness he seems to be perfectly helpless.”
He later claimed that there were two ways that he could tell if someone was healed. The first sign were vibrations he felt in his hand when he touched a sick person's hand, which communicated to him the nature of the illness, but did not guarantee healing. The second was the use of what his fellow evangelists called a word of knowledge gift separated him from his contemporaries in the early days of the revival.
The word of knowledge method was later copied by his contemporaries as well.
According to Pentecostal historian Rev. Walter Hollenweger, "Branham filled the largest stadiums and meeting halls in the world" during his five major international campaigns. He had many claims of famous healings but most seemed to be made up.
It was claimed Branham was frequently given and accepted large financial gifts from individuals who he pronounced as healed, including those who subsequently died.
It was also noted that of those who met him they either loved him or hated him! By the mid 1950’s amid IRS fraud and other scandals quit touring and concentrated on teaching. He would later be deemed a bad teacher of heresy by other Pentecostals.
He would later claim to be a prophet with the anointing of Elijah, who had come to prelude Christ's second coming. In his later life his teachings became more radical and his followers became more cultish.
Jim Jones, yes that Jim Jones, was supported and encouraged in his ministry by Branham. Jones was influenced to move to South America by Branham's 1961 prophecy concerning the destruction of the United States in a nuclear war.
Branaham died a few days after a head on collision with a drunk driver. According to Kenneth Hagin, who had prophesied his death several yers earlier, God revealed that Branham was teaching false doctrine and God was removing him because of his disobedience.
To this day there are millions of Branham followers all over the globe and many still operate in a cult like fashion.
Oral Roberts
Endorsed and promoted as a faith healer by William Branham. He was also a close friend of faith healer Kathryn Kuhlman. By the 1950’s he distanced himself from faith healing.
Roberts believed that God who wants to bless people spiritually, physically, and economically, he called this the “blessing pact” which later became known as “seed-faith”. Like Dowie before him he ran direct mail campaigns of seed-faith, which appealed to poor Americans, often from ethnic minorities.
He was one of the first televised Prosperity Gospel Preachers in the US. In the 80’s Roberts was director of a multi million dollar ministry and his influence was on par with Billy Graham.
It was reported that even in financial difficult times "he continued to wear his Italian silk suits, diamond rings and gold bracelets—airbrushed out by his staff on publicity pictures".
Kathryn Kuhlman 1907-1976
Faith Healer
She began preaching at the age of 14 and traveled around the US and abroad in the 1940’2 to 70’s. In 1970 she moved to Los Angeles, she was an early supporter of the Jesus Movement and friend of Chuck Smith.
While claiming over 2 million people healed a study in 1967 of 23 people showed that none were cured or healed. The people healed often fell backwards.
Her ministry greatly influenced Benny Hinn, Sid Roth and her good friend Oral Roberts.
Conclusion
Do Pentecostals love God and want to do good? Yes some do! Has their ministries started new schools, churches, hospitals and more? Yes they have! Do they have a doctrine that is different than mainstream Christianity? Yes certainly!
Even Charismatics, who came out of main stream cessationism denominations like to have some distance from their Pentecostal brethren, much like Aimee McPherson and even William Branham espoused.
My personal concern is that after a thorough look at it’s founders how can I trust a bunch of self serving leaders? Men and women who for the most part avoided systematic theology and relied more on personal experience. I think of Benny Hinn and ask myself is he really a Christian? Or is he a mystic?
The bottom line is where does the source of the supernatural experience come from? Sid Roth said I can just speak like a baby and learn to speak in tongues! He says all I have to do is try. I do not want to be considered a second class Christian just because you do something I do not.
The early church faith healers claimed to heal all kinds of sicknesses and even raise people from the dead, in fact this is an ongoing claim made by the new wave of faith healers. There is no documented proof that any person was raised from the dead or for that matter any healing. Dowie used to remove the dead bodies from his “Healing Houses” at night so no one would notice!
I’m a skeptic and just do not have an ability to trust people whose tradition includes deception, lies and greed. Let’s be clear I do believe in the supernatural including God’s angelic servants and the fallen sons of God who work for the evil one.
I see a parallel with the secular claim that the Biblical origins are really just early myths adopted from other cultures like the Sumerians, and later included in the scriptures. In fact the Biblical story of creation has been proven to predate these claims with actual artifacts.
Ok why does this matter, well when God tore down the tower of Babel he appointed rulers over man but claimed direct rulership over his chosen people, the people of Israel. It makes sense that the demonic forces would try to co opt the truth with their own version in order to spread Satan’s lies and deceit. This is my understanding of what I see as a parallel demonic ministry.
Some claim that the manifestations of the spirit in the Toronto Blessing, Brownsville Revival and others we see in The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) are possibly Kundalini energies released unwittingly.
Kundalini and Pentecostal/NAR manifestations share some of the same manifestations: slain in the spirit, uncontrollable laughing, physical jerks, animal sounds, new spiritual insights and revelations, spontaneous movements, repetitive singing and chantings, tongues, awakened by the laying on of hands, miracles and healing, trances, prophesy and more.
How can you tell the difference?