John Alexander Dowie
(Photo: John Alexander Dowie)
John Alexander Dowie was called the father of healing revivalism in America by some in the height of his ministry. He was Scottish born but raised in Australia and at an early age felt that he was called to be a minister. After training for the ministry and trying out a few pastorates he decided to start his own congregation in 1878 centered around the doctrine of divine healing, eventually building up a small following. Finding it difficult to establish a firm foothold in Australia, in 1893 he immigrated to America and launched a spectacularly successful ministry in Chicago. He had no qualms about declaring the superiority of faith healing to biomedicine even going so far as to claim, “The gifts of healing are one of the gifts of God which are the constant possession of the Church in the Holy Ghost. And oh, what miserable substitutes have been presented for divine healing by the allopath, the hydropath, the psychopath, the homeopath and all the other paths that lead to the grave” (McGee 2010, 53). It was his sensational divine healing demonstrations that drew crowds of thousands and in fact he became so successful that in 1900 he bought approximately 6000 acres of land in Illinois on which to establish the paradisaical city of Zion.
Dowie named his church the Christian Catholic Church with himself appointed as the “first apostle” of the church, even declaring himself to be “Elijah the Prophet” in 1901 as prophesied in Malachi 4:5 (Harrell 1975, 13). He proved to be a tyrannical ruler of his theocratic city of Zion, feeling he was the sole person authorized by God to lead His true church into the millennium. In spite of Dowie’s firm belief that he “personally incarnated ‘the first apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ’ and the ‘High Priest on Earth…of that High Priest in Heaven” (Wacker 2001, 155) this apparently did not bless him with financial responsibility and his ministry fell into severe money problems as did the city of Zion under his control. His followers eventually revolted, effectively carrying out a coup d'état in 1906. “Dowie was the first man to bring national attention to divine healing in twentieth-century America” (Harrell 1975, 13) and though he was widely perceived to be an unstable zealot right up until his early demise in 1907, he still played a pivotal role in introducing Pentecostal healing to the world.
(Photo: massive Dowie healing meeting)
William Branham
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| (Photo: William Branham preaching; "The light above Branham's head was explained as a supernatural halo" Harrell 1975, 117) |
Branham’s life was touched by God at a very young age when at seven years old, God himself spoke to him and told him to never drink or smoke – a commandment he claimed never to have broken. His had a difficult childhood involving an alcoholic father and profound poverty, but he was a dependable youth whom those who knew him described as always being “a little different” (Harrell 1975, 28). Though his family had not been active in church, Branham always felt a pull towards religion, especially considering his own supernatural experiences with God. He visited many churches as a young man, but it was after he himself received a personal faith healing, he felt the call to preach. He became an independent Baptist minister, preaching to a small group of parishioners under a tent by the age of 24 – without compensation. He experienced impressive success in his early ministry of the 1930’s, drawing people in with his ethereal manner of preaching and stories abounded of instances such as when, “a heavenly light appeared above him as he was about to baptize the seventeenth person” (Harrell 1975, 29).
While his ministry was very successful, his personal life was not so. He didn’t hesitate to relate the stories of how his wife and child were drowned when the Ohio River flooded in 1937; his personal finances were in shambles and he himself suffered from depression. However, all this would turn around on May 7, 1946 when Branham related the vision of an angel of God that visited him. The angel said, “Fear not. I am sent from the presence of Almighty God to tell you that your peculiar life and your misunderstood ways have been to indicate that God has sent you to take a gift of divine healing to the people of the world. If you will be sincere, and can get the people to believe you, nothing shall stand before your prayer, not even cancer” (Harrell 1975, 28). Among other things, Branham was promised that he would be able to detect the presence of diseases by vibrations in his left hand. This was the sign that they were waiting for. After this apparition, Branham was reportedly able to raise the dead, supernatural lights appeared around him, and experienced overall success in praying for the sick on a scale larger than anything seen before.
William Branham had a dream of uniting all believers under one vision of Christianity, and so by avoiding controversial doctrinal subjects he teamed up with another Pentecostal evangelist of the time, Gordon Lindsay of the church Assemblies of God. Unfortunately, just as their new mission was in full swing, Branham announced that he was ill and could no longer participate in the mission field. Oral Roberts, another successful Pentecostal minister, called upon, “God’s believing people everywhere to immediately go on their knees, calling Brother Branham’s name in prayer, that he may be restored to strength for the mighty work that still awaits his labors” (Harrell 1975, 33). To the delight of his followers Branham soon returned, perhaps spurred on by the success of his competitors though he claimed he did not resent the increase in ministries. Setting up a team in 1950 Branham made the first expedition to Europe by a leading American healing revivalist and for the next few years his revivals were again very successful, largely due to the presence of Branham’s colleague that accompanied him, Oral Roberts. Sadly Branham never seemed to be able to regain his initial success in America and it was speculated by some that his managers had swindled him into financial ruin. This did not discourage him – he remained sure that, “something greater than wha
t has been given me is yet at the door” (Harrell 1975, 40). While at first maintaining something of an anti-competitiveness, Branham’s teachings started to become increasingly eccentric and his claims of supernatural apparitions became increasingly bizarre, confirming in 1957 that “God had told him that he would receive a new ministry and that ‘no one could impersonate this last ministry that will be given to him’” (Harrell 1975, 41). From that time until his death from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in 1965, he searched and waited for signs of the revival of his own ministry that never came (Connelly & Weaver 1989, 262).
t has been given me is yet at the door” (Harrell 1975, 40). While at first maintaining something of an anti-competitiveness, Branham’s teachings started to become increasingly eccentric and his claims of supernatural apparitions became increasingly bizarre, confirming in 1957 that “God had told him that he would receive a new ministry and that ‘no one could impersonate this last ministry that will be given to him’” (Harrell 1975, 41). From that time until his death from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in 1965, he searched and waited for signs of the revival of his own ministry that never came (Connelly & Weaver 1989, 262).Oral Roberts
Granville Oral Roberts, being somewhat of a student and colleague of Branham, went on to build a ministry far grander than anything Branham ever had. Having a much easier upbringing than Branham and early on having a family involved in the church, Roberts also claimed from an early age to have been called to the ministry. In an experience similar to William Branham’s, Roberts was healed of tuberculosis and stuttering as a teenager by a traveling evangelist prompting his desire to also preach. Having a father who was a minister for the Pentecostal Holiness church, Roberts started preaching in small Pentecostal Holiness churches in 1935. After experiencing much adversity as a lay minister, Roberts nevertheless prayed and fasted much in 1947 eventually receiving revelation directing him to start his own independent ministry.
Oral Roberts’ ministry emphasized it being multi and interdenominational and also centered around charismatic healing. In June 1947, “Roberts reported his first major healing – he removed the braces from the legs of a young polio victim and reported that she was healed” (Harrell 1975, 42). What proved to be a crucial move on Roberts’ part in securing success for his ministry was that he decided to publish his own magazine Healing Waters in November of 1947 starting with 10,000 copies. His dabbling in social media did not stop there; soon he had a radio station and in 1948, Healing Waters, Inc. was born. Through his effective organization and business savvy Oral Roberts’ ministry grew and his message of Pentecostal healing spread like wildfire. His revivals became so highly demanded and successful that he bought a massive tent to seat 2000 people in 1948. Within 3 years he was forced to buy a bigger tent to seat 12,500. Eventually, “his audiences grew as rapidly as his tents” (Harrell 1975, 44).
Oral Roberts achieved worldwide success like no other evangelist before him because of one thing above all else: he was an expert in mass communications. Roberts’ revolutionized his ministry in a way few others dared to: televangelism - bringing the word of God right into people’s living rooms. He was able to use his magazine, radio station, and eventually his television program to not only spread the teachings of his ministry but also to send out mass appeals for financial support. In addition to his small salary, he accepted “love offerings” of money from his supporters (though he later admitted that these “love offerings could be quite large – “The evangelist believed that God did not want his followers to suffer from poverty, and he did not intend to do so himself” (Harrell 1975, 48). The rest was used for the support of the infrastructure of his ministry, including salaries for other preachers on his team, which gave quite an incentive for preachers to work under his tutelage.
Roberts’ success was also due to his miraculous healing powers, especially in the beginning of his ministry. Like his mentor William Branham, Roberts also experienced a manifestation of God’s power except it was in his “right hand [giving him] the power to detect the presence, names, and numbers of demons in afflicted people” (Harrell 1975, 50). With his supernatural powers from God he allegedly healed masses of people in large gatherings, all the while telling of his amazing tête-à-têtes with God who in 1956 gave him a master plan which would facilitate the conversion and salvation of ten million souls in the decade to come. Like so many evangelicals before him, Roberts’ ministry fell upon hard times financially which threatened to to arrest the growth of his following however, he was not defeated.
(Video: Roberts heals a small boy's polio)
Oral Roberts increased his efforts not only to spread the word of God and the miracles of healing through his own talents, but he endeavored to help develop the talents of others through his own Oral Roberts University in Tulsa established in 1967 who he then sent on missionary campaigns throughout the world (Harrell 1975, 151). In spite of all the attention paid to his university, his televangelist ministry etc. “the maturity and the continuity of the Roberts’ ministry may be best seen in the evangelist’s work as a healer” (Harrell 1975, 156). Pentecostalism was criticized for its sensational faith healing, and there were many instances of supposed fraud that hurt the credibility of the charismatic healing system. Even notable evangelists expressed doubts they had themselves; Pentecostal Holiness Church’s editor G.H. Montgomery’s daughter was a missionary to deaf people and, “said that neither she nor her colleagues had ever found one person who had been healed of deafness” (McGee 2010, 196) despite accounts that hundreds had received their hearing after a faith healing. Roberts distinguished himself from other ministers by acknowledging that, “many things about healing remain unknown and freely admitted that he had failed many times” (Harrell 1975, 156) and though it was seen by many Pentecostals that to “resort to medicine and doctors [was] an implicit sign of unbelief” (McGee 2010, 197) Roberts himself broke ground for the City of Faith Hospital in 1978 setting a new example for acceptance of medicine by Pentecostals (McGee 2010, 197). At the time of his death at age 91 in 2009, Oral Roberts was a recognized by many in the Christian faith as whole as an honorable visionary. Jack Hayford, the president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel said of Roberts,
If God had not in his sovereign will raised up the ministry of Oral Roberts, the entire charismatic movement might not have occurred. Oral shook the landscape with the inescapable reality and practicality of Jesus' whole ministry. His teaching and concepts were foundational to the renewal that swept through the whole church (CNN 2009, 2).
