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20 Century APOSTOLIC REFORMATION Volume 1
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Books by Dr. Bernie L. Wade Does God Have a Name? Baptism According to Matthew 28:19 The Next Wave – Restoration of the Charismata I Was the Ugly Duckling GIVE US A KING Apostolic Reformation in the 20th Century The Israel of God The Biblical Marriage Manual How to Be a Christian Without Going to Church IS CHRISTMASs CHRISTIAN? The Israel of God - A Destiny Enjoyed History of the Apostolic Faith Church of God – AFCOG History of the International Circle of Faith – ICOF History of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ History of the Original Pentecostal Assemblies of the World 20th Century Apostolic Reformation – Volume 1 20th Century Apostolic Reformation – Volume 2 20th Century Apostolic Reformation – Volume 3 Apostolic Pentecostal Timetable of Key Events
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BOOKS BY OTHER AUTHORS CHURCH GOVERNMENT – By Dr. Barney Phillips I Slept With Potiphar’s Wife – By Bobby Sutton Before I Knew You - Lea Bates
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“Doctrine is truth lifted from Scripture and dedicated to purpose.�
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The History of Apostolic Reformation ©2010, 2013, 2015 Bernie L. Wade, Ph.D.
“Some months ago, among some of the colored people in this city, reinforced after a little with some whites, there began something which was called the "gift of tongues:" The meetings were held in a large rented building on Azusa street.” Dr. Phineas R. Bresee Founder - Church of the Nazarene December 1906
Published by Truth, Liberty and Freedom Press P. O. Box 685, LaGrange KY 40031 Printed in the United States of America All Rights Reserved
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FOREWARD
Since the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit subsequent generations have sought to attain the level of our forefathers. Revival is perhaps one of the most overused words in the vocabulary of those who follow Jesus Christ. Yet, there is no doubt that such is the wave of the Holy Spirit. Throughout history God has definitely moved on people in waves that we have called revivals or movements. There is a common thread in these movements or revivals; sincere desire to have God manifest his presence. The key ingredient is definitely prayer. Every such outpouring or revival has a dedication to prayer to thank for God answering the determination of his people. In the late 1800’s there were a number of notable such outpourings or revivals creating a general spiritual hunger for more. In the early 1900’s one man, Charles F. Parham began to preach that God was restoring the Apostles Doctrine. He founded what history has called the Apostolic Faith movement. From his noble contribution we can see what is no doubt the movement that has brought the largest impact on the world since the Day of Pentecost. From the beginning of time the plan of God for His people was for them to have fellowship with Him. We see in Scripture that it was for the very purpose of praising God that mankind was created. When Jesus ascended into heaven He left His followers with the promise that He would send the Comforter. On the Day of Pentecost, the full earnest of our inheritance came in the form of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit as the disciples of Jesus Christ who had gathered in Jerusalem in an upper room, became the first group to receive the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. The whole would be impacted by those who were endued with this Power from on High.
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Centuries later, many had mistakenly adopted the idea that receiving the Holy Spirit in the manner that the disciples of Jesus Christ did on the Day of Pentecost was a thing of the past. Thankfully, some vehemently disagreed with that ideology. On January 1st 1901 that changed forever when believers received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues just like the disciples in the New Testament. This launched the greatest period of growth in the History of the Church. Today, more than 5 generations later, the posterity of those early 1900’s Christ followers number in the hundreds of millions! Some 25% of the worlds Christians believing in the baptism of the Holy Spirit!1 There were 631 Million Pentecostals in 2014! Inevitably Pentecostals will exceed 1 Billion worldwide by about 2020!
1
More Than 1 in 4 Christians Are Pentecostal, Charismatic Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/more-than-1-in-4-christians-are-pentecostal-charismatic65358/#FJ028o4Eu2ceEEA1.99
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TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWARD ………………………………..……………… PAGE 7 TIMETABLE OF KEY EVENTS ……………...………….. PAGE 10 INTRODUCTION ………………………………………….. PAGE 42 GODS PLAN FOR RESTORATION …………………..... PAGE 47 HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM …………………………………. PAGE 61 THE GREAT WAR – SPIRIT VS FLESH ………………. PAGE 68 MULTI-CULTURAL REFORMATION ……..……………. PAGE 72 SCHISM AT AZUSA ……………………………………… PAGE 75 PARHAM AT ZION …………………………… ………… PAGE 78 TRIAL BY RUMOR ……………………………………….. PAGE 82
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TIMETABLE OF KEY EVENTS (1900 – 2015) 1901
January 3, 1901. Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Stone’s Folly – Topeka Kansas.2
1901
Apostolic Faith Movement begins under the ‘Father of Pentecostalism’, Charles F. Parham. Parham calls for a restoration of the Apostles doctrine. Bethel Bible College – Topeka Kansas
1905
William Seymour accepts Pentecostal doctrine from Parham in Houston, Texas.
1906
First General Assembly of the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) a prePentecostal organization.
1906
The Pentecostal Assemblies is established as a fellowship of ministers. The leader is J. J. Frazier.
1906-1909
Azusa Street Revival; Pentecostalism becomes global under Seymour's leadership. Those who receive their personal ‘Pentecost’ include, John G. Lake, Bishop Charles H. Mason, C. B. Cashwell, Glenn Cook, A.H. Argue, William H. Durham, Luigi Franceson and more.
1907
T. B. Barrett opens Pentecostal meetings in Oslo. Begins Pentecostal movements in Scandinavia, England, and Germany
1907
G. B. Cashwell spreads Pentecostalism in the South
1907
The Church of God in Christ (A split within Christ’s Association of Mississippi of Baptized Believers accepts the teaching of the baptism of the Holy Ghost with evident of other tongues) – Charles H. Mason a Missionary Baptist travels to Azusa Street and has the
2
The Genesis of the Pentecostal Movement. J. Roswell Flower
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Woodworth-Etter
"experience". 1908
John G. Lake begins South African Apostolic Faith Mission
1908
Church of God (Cleveland, Tn.) accepts Pentecostalism under A. J. Tomlinson
1908
July. Daniel Charles Owen Opperman assumed duties as the State Director of the Apostolic Faith Movement in Texas.
1909
The Church of God (Dothan, Alabama) – H.G. Rogers, M.M. Pinson D.J. Dubose, and J.W. Ledbetter (merged with Church of God in Christ [White] in 1913)
1909
Luigi Francescon and Giacomo Lombardi begin Italian Pentecostal movements in the U.S., Italy, Argentina, and Brazil
1909
German evangelicals condemn Pentecostals in the "Berlin Declaration"
1909
Florence Crawford leads the Apostolic Faith Church in Portland, Oregon as a mission of Azusa Street.
1909
On 5 November 1909, William Oliver Hutchinson, started a Pentecostal Church in Britain (The Emmanuel Mission Hall, Bournemouth). It soon became the headquarters of a large network of Pentecostal assemblies, known as Apostolic Faith Church.
1910
W. H. Durham begins "Finished Work" movement in Chicago
1910
The Church of God in Christ (White) Howard A. Goss seemed to dissolve or was absorbed when the Assemblies of God organized in 1914.
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1912
Maria Woodworth-Etter becomes a popular Pentecostal preacher in Dallas drawing crowds as large as 25,000
1911
G. T. Haywood becomes a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies. He is the pastor of Christ Temple, Indianapolis Indiana (a mission work of Azusa Street). He will become the most notable member of this group in history.
1913
April 15, 1913. Worldwide Apostolic Faith Camp Printing press used by G. T. Haywood Meeting organized by R. J. Scott and George Studd and held at Arroyo Seco near Los Angeles, on a campground used by the Azusa Street Mission. Maria Woodworth-Etter was the camp evangelist.
1913
Eudorus N. Bell calls for an organization for Pentecostals through his magazine Word and Witness, edited by Bell at Malvern, Arkansas. Others who are with Bell in organizing a ministerial group are Howard A. Goss, Daniel C. O. Opperman, Archibald P. Collins, and Mack M. Pinson. Mack M. Pinson The group met at Hot Springs and agreed to form a loose confederation, and made its first headquarters at a Bible school in Findlay, Ohio. In 1915, this loose group moved its operations to Saint Louis.
1914
April 2nd, 1914. The Assemblies of God (AG) is organized out of schism from the Apostolic Faith movement in general and in opposition to Charles F. Parham in particular. E.N. Bell is the Chairman. Daniel Opperman is the Assistant Chairman. This is spearheaded by Howard Goss and W. Faye Carrothers who disagree with Parham about blacks and women being licensed ministers. This would be standard operation procedure for white organizations.
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Goss enlists the help of E.N. Bell to get the information out for ministers to come to the meeting through the Word and Witness. The “conference opened at the Grand Opera House in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was an unusual and somewhat informal meeting, a gathering of 300 eager delegates, all of whom believed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Not many Americans then believed in tongues speaking or other visible manifestations of Assembly of God Headquarters 1914 Findlay Ohio the Spirit, such as healing, visions, and everyday miracles. This group did--and enthusiastically so.”3 Most of the key leaders of the Apostolic Faith movement are not in attendance at this meeting. Notably missing are Charles Parham, Glenn Cook, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Florence Crawford (the latter two presumably because of being Apostolic Faith – Portland, Oregon woman ministers), William Seymour (probably because he was black) and others. Although blacks made up at least 70% of the Apostolic Faith movement (including the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission) none were admitted as ministers of the new Assemblies of God organization. The next two years would see the AG use a series of maneuvers to continue to keep their group ‘lily 3
Christianity.com. Pulling Together, Assembly of God Bibliography: 1. Blumhofer, E. L. and C. R. Armstrong. "Assemblies of God." Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Stanley M. Burgess and Gary B. McGee, editors; Patrick H. Alexander, associate editor. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Regency Reference Library, 1988. 2. Meade, Frank S. Handbook of Denominations in the United States. Nashville: Abingdon, 1980. 3. Synan, Vinson. The Holiness-Pentecostal tradition: Charismatic movements in the twentieth century. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1997. 4. Wacker, Grant. "Assemblies of God." Encyclopedia of Religion in the South. Editor, Samuel S. Hill. Macon, Georgia: Mercer, 1984.
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white’ including creating supposed ‘doctrinal differences’ to separate themselves from black ministers especially those associated with Parham and Seymour. The AG leaders chose to identify themselves as Pentecostals placing emphasis to the experience of speaking in tongues and distancing themselves from the Apostolic Faith (and Parham, Seymour, Lake and others) which was focused on the restoration of the Apostles doctrine. 1915
October 1915, Bro. Opperman organized the Ozark Bible and Literary School, a permanent Bible training institution under the auspices of the Assemblies of God, which he served as an executive presbyter. Opperman who is probably best remembered for his role in beginning Bible training schools for Pentecostal workers. He conducted many short-term schools where Holy Ghost-filled saints were transformed in Daniel Charles Gospel missionaries. Many future leaders in the Opperman Pentecostal movement attended Opperman’s schools, including Ralph M. Riggs, who later became a General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God. Originally known as Schools of the Prophets, Opperman’s training centers were run along the faith line - no tuition. Attendees prayed for what they got and got what they prayed for! He assembled schools in such diverse places as Houston, Texas, Joplin, Missouri, Anniston, Alabama, Des Moines, Iowa, and Hot Springs, Arkansas.
1915
April 4, 1915. Glenn Gook from Azusa Street visits the Azusa Mission in Indianapolis pastored by G. T. Haywood. Together they baptize the entire congregation (465 souls) of the Christ Temple Apostolic Faith Mission. Cook baptized the whites. Haywood baptized the blacks. J. Rosewell Flowers is annoyed.
1915
October 1-10, 1915. J. Roswell Flowers, acting as the interim overseer of the Assemblies of God (in Bell's absence) obtained authority to convene a Third General Council to be held from October 1 through the
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10th at St. Louis, Missouri specifically to address, discuss, and debate the issue of baptism. This appears a witch hunt from the beginning as Daniel Opperman who Assistant Chairman seems to have been ignored. However both Bell and Opperman were of the Jesus name baptism persuasion. G. T. Haywood and others attempt to dialogue in hopes of not seeing division over baptismal formula. However, they did not know that the division was really about control [and their color was a factor] and very little to do with doctrine as white ministers from both sides of the argument would be comfortable with the AG’s position. Some would remain for a time and others longer.
Counsel of Nicaea
Haywood (who is not part of the AG because he is a black man)4 is there to discuss the opposition to his (and his congregations) as well as many other baptism in Jesus name. There was no debate that this is exactly how the Apostles baptized. The AG wanted to force all ministers to embrace the triune formula added at the Counsel of Nicaea rather than the customary baptism in Jesus name as the Apostles practiced. Bell, the Chairman, who was baptized in Jesus name the same year [1915] is opportunely not present. Opperman, the Assistant Chairman is also not present. Flowers, who has already made it clear that his mind is closed on the subject, is in charge. The easy solution would have been to allow either or both as men like Andrew Urshan proposed. However, that is only if you want unity. As the leaders of the AG were mostly focused on taking control. The bonus of riding themselves of black ministers was fine with them. There would be no ‘come and let us reason together’. During this meeting G. T. Haywood is publicly insulted as the target of racial slurs and innuendo. This supposedly for his and others baptizing in Jesus name and not the fact that he was black but the slurs were racial oriented. This rebuke is led by Andrew D. Urshan
4
Black ministers are not officially licensed by the Assemblies of God until 1969.
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two prominent Assemblies of God ministers: Kerr and Flower. These would claim that doctrine was the issue and not race. It could be argued that neither was relevant. The facts tell us that this was simply a corporate takeover. In any case The Great Pentecostal Schism is in full swing. Pentecostals would formally divide from the Apostolic Faith movement and over time form so many organizations [both Jesus name and Trinitarian persuasion] that it is very hard to count them. 1916
On January 8, 1916, a number of the Welsh assemblies created the Apostolic Church in Wales (ACW).
1916
Fourth General Conference of the fledgling Assemblies of God. They adopt their Statement of Fundamental Truths. All ministers were told they had to accept the document or not join or remain a member of the nascent organization. In the end 156 ministers choose not to remain. How the vote went down is debated with neither side agreeing on what happened. What is clear is that there was a departure from the multi-cultural and non denomination focus of the Apostolic Faith movement. These new “Pentecostals” only admitted whites and men as ministers. The imprimatur of Howard Goss and W. Faye Carrothers in this is undeniable. However, in the end, even Goss was not happy. The New Issue as the AG called it was brought to the fore. Factions among the attendees championed either the Apostolic Faith position of Jesus name baptism like the Apostles baptized, or the traditional Roman Catholic position. The Jesus name group was slurred as “Oneness” by Flowers who led the charge. The Jesus name group countered by calling Flowers and Flowers’ group “Trinitarians”. 100 years later many are still divided because of these near sighted men. A third group tried to
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mediate and all the issue to be sent to a committee for further study. Flowers would not allow this to happen and used his legalese and persuasion to propel the AG toward separation. The Trinitarian faction controlled the key leadership and committee positions. The committee that was to draft the statement of fundamental truths was solidly Trinitarian and contrary to the AG's original intention of not creating a denomination, was authorized so impose doctrinal limits upon the membership. The group opposed to Jesus Name baptism had enough support to call for a decision on their New Issue. 1916
Daniel Opperman changes the name of his school to the Pentecostal Bible and Literary School following the decision of the AG to force him as Assistant Chairman and others from the Apostolic Faith Movement out of the AG.
1916
Unhappy with the Assemblies of God (AG) and the decision to force all those who hold to the Apostles doctrine of baptism in Jesus name out, Howard Goss, D.C.O. Opperman and others form the General Assembly of Apostolic Assemblies (GAAA). Like the AG this group is also white ministers and does not recognize women ministers. Opperman is the groups first and only Chairman. His renamed school becomes the groups Bible college.
1918
On January 2, 1918, J. J. Frazee chaired a business meeting in Saint Louis, Missouri for the Pentecostal Association. To this meeting came representatives of the GAAA including Opperman, Goss, Rogers and others. The vision was simple, reunite the two factions that both had commonality in the Apostolic Faith Movement and represented the legitimate heirs of that legacy. In an effort toward unity on the part of both sides, the GAAA merges with the Pentecostal Assemblies at a meeting in Eureka Springs Arkansas and becomes officially the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW).
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1918
Assemblies of God move their headquarters from Saint Louis to Springfield, Missouri.
1919
A decision was made to form the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), and a dominion charter was granted on May 17, 1919. The PAOC organization held to three distinctive beliefs: to William Durham's Finished Work of Calvary doctrine, to the Oneness doctrine of the Godhead, and to water baptism in Jesus' Name5
1919
Robert C. Lawson (1883-1961). Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Of the Apostolic Faith, Inc. New York, N.Y. C.O.O.L.J.C. A man by the name of Robert C. Lawson is hospitalized with tuberculosis in Indianapolis, and has a prize fighter roommate whose mother was a Holy Ghost woman belonging to Christ Temple pastored by G.T. Haywood. Doctors tell Lawson he has but a short time to live. He remembers the testimony of the old Holy Ghost woman. He prays and God heals his body. He makes his way to Christ Temple where he is baptized, filled with the Holy Ghost and called to preach. The affliction was the Lord's "Wake-up Call" for a chosen life and vessel.
1919
Pentecostal Church of God organizes at Joplin, Missouri (First named Pentecostal Assemblies of America then Pentecostal Church of God). This group was doctrinally similar to the Assemblies of God, but the organizers were leery of formally organizing into a denomination with articles of faith. The group was lead by John C. Sinclair.
1920
PAOC merges with the Assemblies of God.6
5
Wegner, Linda (2006). Streams of Grace. Edmonton, Alberta: New Leaf Works. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-9734043-5-7. Wilkinson, Michael; Peter Althouse (2010). Winds from the North: Canadian Contributions to the Pentecostal Movement. Brill. p. 281. ISBN 978-90-04-18574-6. 6
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1920
5TH General Assembly of the original PAW was held in Tomlinson Hall, Indianapolis, Indiana. The multi-cultural crowd in excess of 5000 was greater than the hall could accommodate.
th
5 General Assembly of the original Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
1921
Fall 1921. Faced with replacing Daniel Opperman, his considerable educational expertise and his bible college, the AG establishes Central Bible Institute.
1921
Frank Small establishes the Apostolic Church of Pentecost, which was granted Dominion charter on 25 October 1921. Official organ: Living Waters.7
1921
Glorious Church of God in Christ. Founder, Mother Lula Phillips.
1921
6th General Assembly of the P.A. of W. (PAW) Indianapolis, Indiana
1922
H V Chanter was the leader of the Apostolic Church of God (ACG); a large group of Pentecostal congregations with HQ in Bradford... During 1921, Mr Chanter attended the Christmas convention of the ACW in Pen-y-groes. A prophetic word given in Bradford directed the leaders, to invite the Welsh leaders to join them for a meeting. They met 1922, with another wider meeting arranged for Easter. At the Easter convention, leaders from most of the ACW congregations and those affiliated with them met in Bradford.
7
Small, Franklin (n. d.). Living Waters: A Sure Guide for Your Faith. Winnipeg. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
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The 1922 Easter meeting in Bradford was the beginning of the Apostolic Church. Four main groups were present: The Apostolic Church in Wales; The burning bush congregation; The Apostolic Church in Hereford; and the Apostolic Church of God. A prophetic word directed them to form administrative union: Pen-ygroes was to be the administrative center; Glasgow, the financial center; and Bradford the missionary center. 1923
Howard A. Goss and T. C. Davis are empowered by the PA of W to sign ministerial credentials for white and black members. A growing rift due to segregationists attitudes was developing among whites who objected to a black minister, G. T. Haywood (who was the secretary at the time) signing their credentials. The measure was an attempt to appease the ministers. Howard A. Goss signed for the credentials for whites and T.C. Davis will sign for black ministers. Unfortunately, ministers began to see this as two separate groups with Howard Goss leading the white ministers.
1923
Amiee Semple McPherson founds Angelus Temple in Los Angeles (notable convert of McPherson, Dr. Charles S. Price).
1924
30 Sept.–Oct. 3, 1924. Texas District of the PAW. Special meeting to suggest important changes. This signaled upcoming schism in the PAW between white ministers and black ministers with Howard Goss leading the white ministers.
1924
Sept 29–Oct. 5th. 5th General Convention of the AC of JC – Louann, Arkansas.
1924
The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (P.A.W), an interracial Pentecostal organization tracing its roots to Apostolic Faith movement in general and the Apostolic Faith Mission (Azusa Street) in particular, splits over racial issues. Whites ministers had purposed at the convention to made separate administrative bodies for whites and blacks, but stay under the same organizational structure. A majority of the blacks did not agree to the proposal, prompting the exodus of many whites ministers from the PA of W.
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Bishop G. T. Haywood w/ Bishop S.N. Hancock founder of Greater Bethlehem Temple in Detroit Michigan
1924
The Pentecostal Mission is established, also known as Ceylon Pentecostal mission by a Hindu convert Ramankutty alias Pastor Paul.
1924
Mount Sinai Holy Church of America, Incorporate. Founder, Senior Bishop and First President, Bishop Ida Robinson.
1924
The Elim Institute is established as a Pentecostal school funded by Ivan Q. and Minnie Spencer Elim Institute
1925
Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus (AAFCJ). This is a Hispanic ministerial group. Juan Navarro, Francisco Llorente and Antonio Navaare the founders.
1925
The Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ, The Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance, and Emmanuel's Church in Jesus Christ forms as a result of the split from the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) over racial issues.
1925
The Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance (PMA) organizes in Tennessee. These are primarily white ministers who have departed the PAW. The PMA will change its name to the Pentecostal Church Incorporated in 1932. Emmanuel's Church in Jesus Christ is a regional organization that covers the states of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana for the PMA.
1926
John G. Lake pens his now famous letter to Charles F. Parham seeking vision and direction for the future of the movement.
1926
The Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas a predominantly African-American Pentecostal holiness denomination was founded by Benjamin Hardin Irwin and William Edward Fuller, Sr. (1875-1958). The Fire-Baptized Holiness Association originated in Iowa in 1895 under the leadership of Benjamin H. Irwin. Irwin
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expanded this into a national organization at Anderson, South Carolina in August of 1898. At age 23, William E. Fuller, Sr., a member of the African-American New Hope Methodist Church, attended the founding of that body in 1898. Blacks and whites were admitted with equality. Fuller returned to New Hope from the 1898 meeting, resigned his offices, turned in his license, and cast his lot with the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church. After Irwin left the church in 1900, J.H. King became the General Overseer. Bishop Fuller served as Assistant General Overseer to Overseer King in 1905. Acting on what he thought was a trend toward segregation, Fuller led about 500 members to organize the Colored Fire Baptized Holiness Church in 1908 in Greer, South Carolina. The True Witness periodical was established in 1909. On June 8, 1926 the name Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas was Foursquare church circa 1930 adopted. 1927
The Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ is organized from a merger of Emmanuel's Church in Jesus Christ and the Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ at a joint convention in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
1927
Four Square Gospel organized by Amiee Semple McPherson8.
1927
Apostolic Overcoming Holy Church of God organized (renamed from Ethiopian Overcoming Holy Church of God)
1928
The Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ forms from the merger of the Emmanuel's Church in Jesus Christ and The Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ.
8
http://www.foursquare.org/about/history
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1929
Charles F. Parham, considered the father of the 20th century Pentecostal movement9 dies at Baxter Springs, Kansas on January 29 (1870-1929). His wife Sarah Parham assumes much of his duties dealing with the publication Apostolic Faith, and his son Robert assumes his speaking schedule.
Apostolic Faith followers with Charles Parham circa 1902
1930
Pat Robertson is born in Virginia, the son of Senator Absalom Willis Robertson. In the early 1960s, Robertson would begin his 700 Club and the Christian Broadcasting Network, and become an influential televangelist of the last quarter of the 20th century. Robertson is an ordained Southern Baptist minister, but holds to a Pentecostal theology, a position which puts him at odds with many of his fellow Southern Baptists.
1931
Calvary Pentecostal Church is organized in Olympia, Washington by former Assemblies of God ministers.
1931
Morris Cerullo is born. Cerullo converts to Christianity from Judaism and is ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1950. Cerullo is prominent in the Voice of Healing ministry and the Full Gospel Businesses Men's Fellowship International. Cerullo will form his own ministerial organization called World Evangelism, headquartered in San Diego, California.
1931
9
29 Sept – 0ct 4, – Unity Conference, Columbus Ohio – PAW, PMA, AC of JC, and Apostolic Church of Pentecost Canada. From this Unity Conference would come a merger effort.
http://www.revival-library.org/pensketches/am_pentecostals/parham.html
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1931
Bishop Garfield Thomas Haywood dies in Indianapolis, Indiana at age 51. A son of former slaves, Haywood was born in Greencastle, Indiana on July 15, 1880. Early leader of the Pentecostal movement and promoter of multi-racial fellowship and worship. Haywood was chosen to be Secretary of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World in 1918, and one of five Bishops chosen to lead the P.A. of W. 1925-1931 when the PAW merged with others to become the PA of JC or PAJC.
1931
The Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (P.A. of J. C.) is formed by the merger of the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ and The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. This is a result of a Unity Conference which was held in Columbus, Ohio to explore ways to unify the Pentecostal groups. The Pentecostal Ministerial Association approached the meeting with a two Vily Able Guidroz tiered administration plan, whereas the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ suggested an integrated system. The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World accepts the merger proposal of the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.
1932
The Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance (PMA) changes its name to The Pentecostal Church, Incorporated (PCI).
1932
Church of The Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith (COOLJC) is organized by Bishop Sherrod Johnson, who splits from New York Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Of the Apostolic Faith Inc. S.C. Johnson
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1932
Apostolic Faith Church of God (AFCOG) is officially organized in Cleveland Ohio. January 1, 1932 by Bishop Ray Oscar Cornell. Bishop Cornell is from Bishop G. B. Rowe’s church in Mishawaka, Indiana. Founded in the heart of the city during the great depression this multi-cultural group would become one of the first mega churches in the Apostolic Faith movement with a sanctuary that would seat more than 2000.
Bishop R.O. and Ruth Cornell
In 1955, Bishop Cornell (along with C.B. Gillespie and Bishop Carl Angle) would be instrumental in reorganizing the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC or P.A. of J.C.) as a multi-racial organization as opposed to the all white United Pentecostal Church (UPC). 1933
Associated Ministers of Jesus Christ is organized. The group would incorporate during World War Two and take the name Associated Brotherhood of Christians
1933
The Elim Fellowship is formed as an international Pentecostal and ecumenical organization that serves the Christian pastor and workers worldwide. It began as an informal fellowship of graduates of Elim Bible Institute located in Lima, Ohio.
1933
The Way Of The Cross Organization Bishop Henry Chauncey Brooks (H.C.), Founder. The Way of the Cross Movement came out of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
1933
Kathryn Kuhlman opens the Denver Revival Tabernacle, at an old warehouse.
1934
Charles Emmitt Capps is born at Brummett, Arkansas. Capps was a follower of Kenneth Hagin and the Word of Faith movement and Positive Confession. In 1976 he publishes The Tongue, a Creative Force which is seen as an important WOF book, along with his later book Creative Power. Capps begins a radio program Concepts of Faith in 1977 and was ordained by Kenneth Copeland as a minister of the International Convention of Faith Churches.
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Kathryn Kuhlman came on an official visit to the Vatican On October 11, 1972. She visited Pope Paul.
1934
Paul Franklin Crouch is born. Crouch will team with Jim Bakker to form the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) at Santa Ana, California in 1973.
1934
Bethel Ministerial Association. Founder, Rev. Albert F. Varnell was one of the initial five Bishops of the PAW in 1925.
1934
Herbert W. Armstrong begins publication of The Plain Truth, a magazine that will be the official voice of the Worldwide Church of God.
1936
Florence Louise Crawford dies in Portland Oregon. Crawford is founder of the Apostolic Faith evangelistic organization (Portland, Oregon) a mission of the Apostolic Faith movement of Seymour and Parham. Crawford was converted in 1906 and worked closely with William J. Seymour until 1908. Her son Raymond Robert Crawford assumes the leadership of the Apostolic Faith Mission.
1936
Pentecostal Evangelical Church is organized at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The group is an association of churches and ministers. Melton, J. Gordon10
1937
Kenneth Copeland is born. Will develop a major televangelist ministry based on the Word of Faith theology.
1937
The annual conference of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC) meets in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Since Oklahoma is segregated, black ministers are forced Gloria and Kenneth Copeland into racially segregated accommodations. This combined with some mistrust by some black members since the 1931 merger between the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and the Apostolic Churches of Jesus Christ prompts many blacks leave the P.A. of JC.
10
The Encyclopedia of American Religions: Vol. 1. Tarrytown, NY: Triumph Books (1991); Chapter: Pentecostal Family; section: White Trinitarian Pentecostals; pg. 254. Page | 26
1938
The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) is revived as pre-dominantly separate "negro" organization. However, some white ministers join the effort which helps to maintain a multicultural group. Unfortunately, in time most of the white ministers leave. Board of the PAW (1944)
Leaders include Samuel Grimes, E.F. Akers, and A.W. Lewis. They call for a reorganizational meeting in Dayton, Ohio to revive the legal Charter of the P.A. of W. 1938
Assembly of Christian Churches is organized by Puerto Rican congregations (in New York and Puerto Rico) who were influenced by Francisco Olazabal, a noted Hispanic evangelist.
1938
Zion Assembly Churches is formed by Bishop J.P. Shields from a split from The Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith Inc (COOLJC).
1939
The Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship founded by George Jeffreys, a Welsh minister who, together with his brother Stephen Jeffreys.
1941
Oral Roberts pastors a Pentecostal Holiness Church (G.B. Cashwell influence).
1941
Demos Shakarian (Shakarian Family of the Azusa Street Revival) meets Dr. Charles S. Price (McPherson convert), a wellknown healing evangelist. Demos is the founder of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International.
1941
The Apostolic Ministerial Alliance (AMA) is organized by R. L. Ooten. The organization is a result of a split from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC).
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1941
International Bible College. Founded by Leonard W. Coote
1943
The New River, Wilmington, South Carolina, and Camp Fear Conferences of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church merge in general conference. In 1959 the group will formerly organize into the Pentecostal Free-Will Baptist Conference.
1943
Ambrose J. Tomlinson founder of the Church of God of Prophecy and early leader of the 20th century Pentecostal movement, dies at age 78. Tomlinson was one of the most influential men in the formation of the Pentecostal movement. In his early life, Tomlinson religious experiences was what is termed mystical Quaker, who accepted the teaching on healing in the atonement taught by Holiness-Pentecostalism. Before the end of the 19th century, Tomlinson also accepted the holiness Ambrose J. Tomlinson doctrine of entire sanctification, that the dedicated Christian can be free from sin, and claimed that he had attained this experience. Tomlinson's denomination splits into 24 or more different denominations.
1944
The Mutual Broadcasting Company is the only network selling air time to religious groups, but puts in place policies that made it difficult for evangelicals to buy time. This is attributed to problems that were encountered with Amiee Semple McPherson and Father Coughlin in the 1930s and early 1940s.
1945
Robert Parham the leader of the Apostolic Faith organization founded by his father Charles Parham, dies. Robert's death will leave a vacuum in the Apostolic Faith organization and this lack of leadership will result in a split in 1951 over progressive issues that many feel would bring the AF churches into more fellowship with other Pentecostals groups.
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1944
The National Religious Broadcasters Association (NRB) is organized by 150 evangelical broadcasters. Their first official act was to hire a communications attorney in an attempt to force the networks to sell them air time. This would be a crucial decision for televangelism, due to the rapid explosion of television ownership in the 1950s.
1944
Jack Coe, during his brief tenure [1944-1956] was an evangelist whose unfortunate death while in his 30s, cut short his ministry and it would be speculation to claim Coe’s influence was generational. After his death, A. A. Allen bought his tent and continued on with large tent meetings, as did Oral Roberts.
1946
The United Apostolic Church is formed. The next day the name is changed to the United Pentecostal Church. This group is formed by the union of The Pentecostal Church Incorporated and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ. The merger meeting is held in St. Louis, Missouri.
1947
The Pentecostal World Conference is formed at Zurich, Switzerland with several American Pentecostal groups in attendance.
1947
Granville Oral Roberts Resigns the pastorate of the Pentecostal Holiness Church launches first healing ministry crusade with his first city-wide campaign in Enid, Oklahoma. Roberts was ordained into full-time ministry in 1936 by the Pentecostal Holiness Church. Between 1941 and 1947 he served 4 pastorates, then begins an evangelistic ministry to pray for the healing of the whole man. One of the early pioneers of Tent revivals and television ministry, is considered the originator of "seed faith" doctrine.
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1948
The Pentecostal Fellowship of North America is founded as a means to bring about regular contact among Pentecostals.
1950
Churches of God in Christ Jesus. The founder was Bishop Peter Bridges
1951
Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International forms. Meets struggling Evangelist Oral Roberts and finances Oral Roberts along with a group of business men. They MARKET the "experience". They helped to organize Oral Robert's Los Angeles campaign which had over two hundred thousand people attending over sixteen days. F.G.B.M.F.I. Boasts They Were The Force Behind Charismatics.11
1951
The Apostolic Faith Alliance (founded by Charles Parham) splits over issues dealing with organizational structure. The faction that withdrawals and at Spearman, Texas they form the Full Gospel Evangelistic Association (FGEA).
1952
Rex Humbard in Akron, Ohio, begins his televangelist program which will continue until 1983. At one time Humbard will have the largest network of television stations that carry a religious broadcast in the United States. His success in the new medium of television helps to build a "Cathedral of Tomorrow" at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Humbard recounts that he was inspired to go onto television while standing outside of O’Neil’s Department Store in Akron, Ohio. People were huddled around a television, marveling at a Cleveland Indian’s game. Humbard, an Arkansas evangelist passing through town, felt called to become the evangelist to spread the Gospel via television. Humbard purchased an old movie theatre in Akron, christened it Calvary Temple, and began broadcasting.
11
According to the testimony of Demos Shakarian, the International President of the F.G.B.M.F.I., in the Denver Post of Sept. 3rd, 72, "He believes his organization was the force behind the charismatic renewal movement. . ." And according to the introduction leaflet of the organization they say of him, "As surely as God endued Moses with divine direction to deliver Israel, He empowered Demos Shakarian, a California dairyman."
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1952
Church of God, founded by A. J. Tomlinson in 1923 after he was removed as General Overseer from an organization of the same name that he began in 1906, is renamed the Church of God of Prophecy after civil action in court over who owned the rights to the name Church of God.
1952
Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ (ALJC) is organized when three Pentecostal groups merge; The Assemblies of Jesus Christ, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Jesus Only Apostolic Church of God.
1952
Original Glorious Church of God in Christ - Founded.
1953
The Emmanuel Holiness Church forms from a split within the FireBaptized Holiness Church. The organizational meeting takes place at Whiteville, North Carolina.
1953
Tofik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn Born. A Pentecostal pastor and televangelist. He is the host of This Is Your Day, a 30-minute television show on various religious networks, including Trinity Broadcasting Network, Daystar Television Network, Revelation TV, and The God Channel.
1954
Oral Robert’s first television program was broadcast on sixteen stations. It was filmed in a studio, but in 1955 the program switched to his tent meetings. For a time his sermons were done in a studio, healing lines in the tent. Roberts dropped his program in 1967, when his tent came down for the last time. Gene Scott assisted Oral Roberts in establishing Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gene Scott eventually joined the Pentecostal Assemblies of God denomination and for several years served in a variety of countries as an evangelist.
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1954
"Pentecostal Church of Zion... French Lick, IN... As a youth in Kentucky, Luther S. Howard was converted by an independent Pentecostal minister and, in 1920, was ordained a minister of the Holy Bible Mission at Louisville... Upon the death of its founder, Mrs. C. L. Pennington, the Mission was dissolved. Its ministers felt the need to continue their work and, in 1954, formed a new organization, the Pentecostal Church of Zion, Inc.
1955
George W. Hensley who is credited with introducing snake handling among Pentecostals died due to an untreated snake bite.
1955
The Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC or P.A. of J.C.) are reorganized as a multi-cultural ministerial organization by Bishop Ray Cornell Chairman, Bishop C.B. Gillespie and Bishop Carl Angle. Bishop George A. Wade is the General Secretary. Black ministers and women ministers are encouraged to join as ministers.
1957
On 20 November 1957, Bishop Hancock along with Bishops Heardie Leaston, Willie Lee, and Elder David Collins, officially incorporated the Pentecostal Churches of the Apostolic Faith (PCAF).
Bishop Ray Cornell and Bishop George A. Wade
1957
Bible Way Churches of Our Lord Jesus Christ World Wide is organized by Bishop Smallwood E. Williams.
1958
Richard W. Culpepper, David Nunn, W.V. Grant, and Morris Cerullo organize the World Convention of Deliverance Evangelists. It will function from 1958 to 1965, when it ceases meeting.
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1959
May 10, 1959 (Mothers Day) John & Dodie Osteen found Lakewood Church in Houston Texas.
1960
Church of God (Black Jews) "Prophet F. S. Cherry established the Church of God (Black Jews) in Philadelphia. Cherry taught that the true Jews are black and that Jesus was black."12
1960
Pentecostal Evangelical Church of God, National and International. Riddle, OR [H.Q.]
1960
Dennis Bennett, an American Episcopalian. Bennett was the Rector at St Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys California announces to the congregation that he had received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Soon after this he was ministering in Vancouver where he ran many workshops and seminars about the work of the Holy Spirit. This influenced tens of thousands of Anglicans, Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.
1960
Pat Robertson founds the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).
1960
Bible Way Pentecostal Apostolic Church is formed by Bishop Curtis Jones.
1960
People's Temple Christian Church Full Gospel becomes an affiliated church of the Disciples of Christ (Jim Jones would later become ordained by this Christian Church)
1961
The American Lutheran Church (ALC) During his seminary training, Larry Christenson questioned how and where the power of God for ministry was to be found. He studied the Bible and wondered as many do, why the descriptions of the early Christians were so different from what he saw in the church, and was also very curious about healing ministry through Agnes Sanford's book
12
Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 108.
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The Healing Light. In August 1961, during Christenson's second year of ministry he was invited by an elderly Norwegian woman to hear evangelist Mary Westberg. Christenson was asked that evening by Westberg if he wanted to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and he received the gift of tongues soon thereafter. 1962
Free Gospel Church Of Christ, Inc. Bishop Ralph Green Came out of The Way of the Cross Organization.
1962
The Holy Temple Church Of The Lord Jesus Christ Of The Apostolic Faith is formed. Bishop Randolph Goodwin is its founder.
1963
An outpouring of charismatic renewal took place in the Bel Air Presbyterian Church near Los Angeles. The pastor, Louis Evans, Jr., led the people into a "...program based on commitment to Jesus Christ, the discipline of studying and obeying the Word of God and training lay leadership for group study and prayer."13
1964
Pat Robertson begins the "700 Club" on television.
1965
Pat Robertson hires Jim and Tammy Bakker to create a small Jesus-based puppet show for kids. The result, a show called Come on Over, is an instant hit and was the beginning of the televangelical networks. Jim is instrumental in launching and hosting the 700 Club (November, 1966).
Bishop Ralph Green
Jim and Tammy Bakker
Over time Pat started putting himself on television instead of Jim and Tammy and began easing them out of the network. Jim and Tammy relocated to California and were staying with their friends Paul and Jan Crouch when the idea of launching their own Christian network was born.
13
(Hummel p. 46) This led first to effective ministries of evangelism and healing. Later they began to discover that as they were obedient to God, spiritual gifts of 1 Cor. 12 would manifest. http://www.prmi.org/history.html
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1965
Oral Roberts University opens in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1965
Raymond Robert Crawford dies in Portland Oregon. Crawford is the leader of the Apostolic Faith Mission (Portland, Oregon), a work started by his mother, Florence Louise Crawford in 1908. His mother was converted at the Azusa Street Mission in 1906 and worked closely with William J. Seymour until 1908.
1965
William Branham, a leader in the Pentecostal and "Latter Rain" movement dies on December 24th, six days after a car accident (December 18th). Branham's life was influenced by numerous visions and angelic visits. Branham was probably the leading individual in the Second Wave of Pentecostalism in the 20th Century. In May, 1946 Braham began his first revival crusade that would launch him into the vocabulary of Pentecostalism.
1966
William Branham A group of Presbyterian pastors who had been touched by the Holy Spirit gathered together at Camp Furthest Out at Lake Murray, Oklahoma and founded the Presbyterian Pastors Charismatic Communion.
This group was dedicated to promoting an experience of the Holy Spirit but in terms that were consistent with their Presbyterian theology and style. 1966
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The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LC-MS) Rodney Lensch was an LC-MS pastor in Thousand Oaks, California. He had also recognized the discrepancy between the power of God in the Bible and what he had experienced in his pastoral ministry, when he heard the testimony of three clergy from different denominations speak on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. One of them, Rev. Ray Bringham went to the home of the Lensch's, where he prayed for Lensch and his wife to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They received it that evening, and his life was transformed completely.
1967
The Roman Catholic Church continues Vatican II from which they go forward with a plan to return their “Protestant Daughters” to the “Mother Church”. Part of the plan is to embrace ‘speaking in tongues’ which has become popular among the people with everyone from pornography publishers to movie stars claiming to speak in tongues. The Pope approves the activity but adding that you don’t have to speak in tongues.
1967
The Charismatic phenomenon became accepted by the Roman Catholic Church. It broke out in 1966 as a result of a weekend retreat at Duquesne University led by theology professors Ralph Keiffer and Bill Soty. One of the largest tongues speaking groups today is within the Catholic Church. "By 1973, the movement had spread so rapidly that thirty thousand Catholic Pentecostals gathered at Notre Dame for a national conference."14
1968
The Wesleyan Church is formed when the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church merge. The issues are primarily retirement and other benefits for the ministers.
1969
New Testament Christian Churches of America, Inc. was incorporated in 1969 in St. Louis, Missouri, as Bishop Carl Angle
a schism from the Pentecostal Church of God (PCG) of Joplin, Missouri. NTCC was founded by a former PCG missionary, R.W. Davis 1970
Apostolic Churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, Inc. (ACLJC). Founded by Bishop Carl Angle.
1969
Holy Temple Church of Christ, Inc. by Bishop Joseph Weathers
1970
Apostolic Assemblies of Christ founded by Bishop G. M. Boone
14
"Seminar on Pentecostalism" by Wilson Ewin - page 22
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Bishop G.M. Boone
1970
The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) While there were a few forerunners such as Paul Swedeberg and Glen Pearson, the charismatic renewal as a movement did not occur in the LCA until the 1970's. According to Charles Miller, a charismatic Lutheran pastor and consultant, who worked with bishops in the 1970's and 1980's, the LCA bishops saw charismatic renewal as a move of God the same way as the Catholic bishops. Also, the teaching and practice of the gifts of the Spirit were addressed similarly, i.e., boundaries were given in theological statements but the use of gifts was tolerated and even encouraged. Charismatic renewal was not addressed by the LCA until 1972 when a resolution was passed at their convention.
1971
Bishop Worthy G. Rowe of South Bend, Indiana calls for key Apostolic Pentecostal ministers to come together to study the feasibility of a world-wide fellowship. Soon the Apostolic World Christian Fellowship (AWCF) is founded and Bishop Rowe is the first chairman.
1972
Jim and Tammy Bakker form Trinity Broadcasting in partnership with Jan and Paul Crouch.
1974
Evangelist Jim Bakker begins his Praise the Lord network (PTL). At the height of their ministry, Jim and Tammy Bakker were watched by about 13.5 million viewers across the country. They also owned Heritage USA, a Christian-themed retreat and gospel park of 2,300 acres.
1974
Evangelistic Churches of Christ Bishop Lymus Johnson, Founder
1975
Pope Paul VI: Speaking to the International Conference on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal on May 19, 1975, encouraged the attendees in their renewal efforts and especially to remain anchored in the Roman Catholic Church. 1975 marks the year of the Renewal's "coming of age" in the Catholic Church.
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1981
Jim Kaseman organizes Upper Midwest Faith Churches and Ministries. The group will change its name to the Association of Faith Churches and Ministries
1982
John Wimber began teaching MC510 "Signs, Wonders and Church Growth" at Fuller Theological Seminary, an institution regarded by some as representative of the very inner circle of traditional evangelicalism.15
1982
Clarence Robinson organizes The Full Gospel Evangelistic Association.
1983
Evangel Fellowship International was founded in 1983 by Bishop Houston Miles. Bishop Miles was driven by a vision that The Church is called not only to serve the local community, but to share God’s word and God’s love on a global level.16
1988
Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF) is a Christian church and religious organization in Etobicoke, part of the city of Toronto, Canada. It is a member of the Partners in Harvest group of churches and is directly affiliated with Catch the Fire Ministries. The church is famous for the Toronto blessing, an experiential religious activity which spread amongst the Charismatic church world-wide. by Pastors John & Carol Arnott.
1992
15
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship A spiritual gifts movement, led by National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. pastor Paul S. Morton.
pg. 16 Forward by Peter Wagner The Kingdom and The Power edited by Gary S. Greig and Kevin N. Springer 16 http://www.efiglobal.org/w/p/index.php/about-us/
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1993
Rodney Howard-Browne became well known in a meeting at Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida.
1995
World Assemblies of Restoration (WAR) founded by Bishop James Nelson
1996
Pentecostal Free Will Baptist formed. http://www.pfwb.org/history.htm
1997
International Bible Way Church of Jesus Christ founded by Bishop Lawrence Campbell.
1999
January 3rd, 1999. Pastor John Osteen dies. His son Pastor Joel Osteen would go on to become pastor and lead the church. Soon they would experience amazing growth and over to a new location in a former NBA Area with seating capacity of 16,800. The church will become the largest in the nation by the year 2007 with weekend attendance more than 40,000.
1999
Pastor Ron Phillips and the Central Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This SBC congregation had a "Fresh Oil & New Wine" conference that was attended by more than 500 SBC pastors. These are part of a new wave of Spirit filled ministers.
2000
The International Circle of Faith (ICOF) is launched in a reorganization of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC or P.A. of J.C.) as recharted by the Bishop Ray Cornell in 1955. ICOF is led by a diverse international group of ministers with backgrounds in a variety of groups tracing their roots to the Apostolic Faith movement including the Assemblies of God, Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Assemblies of God, Bible Way, United Pentecostal Church, Church of God, and others.
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Notables who have been part of this Apostolic restoration are Bishop Larry T. Smith, Dr. Bernie L. Wade, Bishop Harold McFarlane, Dr. Jerome Campher, Bishop Daniel Joseph Ubonabasi, Dr. David Ngwa, Bishop Alfred Tembi, Bishop Marcus Benson, Ralph E. Day, Stan & Cindye Coates and Bishop Barney Phillips. The multi-cultural, international group focuses on unity and the restoration of the original New Testament church particularly the five-fold ministry, the operation of the gifts and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. http://www.icof.net 2000
New Destiny Fellowship International. Founder Thomas W. Weeks.
2002
International Circle of Faith Colleges, Seminaries and Universities (ICOF CSU) launches. This is a global effort to bring an Ivy League quality of education to the global Pentecostal movement in general and ICOF in particular through networking educators and schools of learning. Notables who hold degrees with ICOF CSU schools include; Bishop Noel Jones, Paula White, Dr. Gary Garrett, Dr. Joan Hunter, Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda, Dr’s Frank and Hurdis Bozeman, Dr. E.J. McKenzie, Dr. Joel Church, Dr. Cindye Coates, A. Akbar Mohammed, John Atta Mills, Dr. John Alford, Dottie Peoples, Dr. Stan Coates, and Apostle Garnet Budge. In 2014 ICOF CSU merged to become Life College17
2005
Pentecostal Assembly of Believers. Founded by Bishop Carl Holland
2006
Centennial of Azusa Street Revival.
17
http://www.lifecollege.education
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2007
Pneuma Life Fellowship. Founded by Bishop Ronald Logan
2012
Apostolic Faith Fellowship. Founded by Bishop Charles Johnson
2014
ICOF CSU merges to become Life College.
2014
International Christian Apostolic Faith (ICAF). Founded by Bishop William Harris
2015
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) celebrates 100th annual convention.
Bishop Haywood, Bishop Lawson, Bishop Schooler and others
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INTRODUCTION
No book on the subject of Apostolic reformation or restoration would be complete without understanding the purpose and understanding what we are explaining. When we speak of Apostolic reformation we are not attempting to birth a new denomination. Rather we are referring to the desire to bring the modern church into alignment with the teachings of the New Testament Church and the Apostles and church leaders of that day. This idea of Apostolic Reformation has been a recurring theme throughout the last 600 years starting [most notably] with John Wycliffe who is called the morning start of the Reformation18. When we reference the word Apostolic we are also not referring to any particular group or denomination. It was John Wycliffe that gets credited with coining the word Apostolic. Wycliffe, who gave us the bible in the English language stated his use of the word this way; “I will do only those things that are Apostolic and nothing the Papacy dictates” meaning that he would only teach and adhere to those things that were taught by the original Apostles and the New Testament Church. Here is a brief listing of terms we are using in this book and their explanations: Apostolic – Like the Apostles. This designation is for those who are teaching those things that the Apostles of Jesus Christ taught and those 18
http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200302/200302_104_john_wyclif.cfm
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things that were generally believed by the Church during the first 200 years. By definition “1. Of or relating to an apostle. 2.
a. Of, relating to, or contemporary with the 12 Apostles.
b. Of, relating to, or derived from the teaching or practice of the 12 Apostles.”19 Pentecostal – Those who have experienced their own personal “Pentecost” meaning that they speak in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance just like those who received the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost if you prefer) in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. By definition, “1. Of, relating to, or occurring at Pentecost. 2. Of, relating to, or being any of various Christian religious congregations whose members seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, in emulation of the Apostles at Pentecost.”20 Reformation (or Restoration). Persons or groups that are focused or focusing the people of God on the things taught by Jesus Christ and His followers without the addition of man-made ideas, dogmas, doctrines, confessions, etc. John Wycliffe was among the first notables that criticized abuses and false teachings in the Church. In 1382 he translated an English Bible—the first complete European translation done in nearly 1,000 years. The Lollards, itinerant preachers he sent throughout England, inspired a spiritual revolution.21 A term covering a number of changes in Western Christianity (Europe) between the 14th and 17th centuries, resulting in the split in Christianity between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. The Reformation, widely conceived, was a reaction against the hierarchical and legalistic structures 19
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/apostolic http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pentecostalism 21 http://www.wycliffe.org/About/OurHistory/JohnWycliffe.aspx 20
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of the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. Reformers rallied against the Roman Catholic Church's dogmatic theology, economic and religious exploitation of the common masses, and Colonization and conquest of indigenous peoples. Most fundamentally, the Reformation challenged the Papacy's claims of divine authorization and infallibility. Luther, one of the main Protestant Reformers, eventually arrived at the conclusion that divine relationship and salvation come by grace through faith, not by good works, belief in dogma, or economic propitiation. One's relationship to the divine is initiated by God, and one can only participate in this relationship by remaining open to it. These men set the stage for those who would dare challenge the established norms. Those men who would dare attempt to bring true orthodoxy to the Church of Jesus Christ. Those men who would hear and heed to the call of Apostolic Reformation. These men would dare to bring the same Spirit that Jesus brought; one that causes transformation. Religious people have created many words for transformation. However, the end result is what matters.
And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, for you to prove what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.22 trans路for路ma路tion
(tr ns f r-m sh n, -f么r-) n.
1. a. The act or an instance of transforming. b. The state of being transformed. 2. A marked change, as in appearance or character, usually for the better.23 22 23
Romans 12:2. The Berean Literal Bible. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/transformation
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“The message here, which continues to guide us roughly 400 years later, is that, in religious community, everyone’s gifts matter. Everyone has a contribution to make, professional minister and congregant alike. It’s not just ordained clergy who can do important things, and serve. If everyone has a connection with the Holy, then everyone has a gift to give. Everyone has a role to play (1) In bringing comfort to the suffering (2) In making the key decisions of the community (3) In helping create love and justice in the world; and (4) In teaching the key ideas and beliefs of our faith. Even as ministers are “ordained” or “set apart” so as to contribute to the work of religious community in unique and special ways, they fulfill their special calling in partnership with congregants. Ministers work side-by-side with their people, to the good of the whole. It’s just as a Hopi wisdom saying puts it: “one finger alone cannot lift a pebble.” Everyone is needed, because everyone is a channel for love and wisdom.”24
24
http://anthonyuu.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/the-uu-top-ten-numbers-8-and-7/
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CHAPTER ONE
GOD’S PLAN FOR RESTORATION
Apostolic Faith Camp Meeting 1918
By: Bernie L. Wade, Ph.D.
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If a man must say that he cannot find God in the reality of his own present life, and if he would compensate for this by the thought that God is nevertheless the final cause of all that happens, then his belief in God will be a theoretical speculation or a dogma; and however great the force with which he clings to this belief, it will not be true faith, for faith can be only the recognition of the activity of God in his own life. R. Bultmann
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Apostolic Faith Church Newspaper - September 1906
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GODS PLAN FOR RESTORATION
“During the fifteenth Century, the revelation truths began to be restored to the Church. This began in 1400 AD with the first translation of the entire Bible from the original Scriptures being made available to the common people under the ministry of John Wycliffe. This would continue through a series of restorations until the gifts of the Spirit began to be restored at the Azusa Street Revival.”25 Throughout history God has manifested His presence in those who would humble themselves, pray and seek His face. The 20th Century was no different.
Ladies shopping; they are members of Dowie’s Apostolic Catholic Church.
There are many documented ‘outpourings’ of the Spirit of God throughout the World. “In the United States there were movings of the Holy Spirit as early as 1854 in New England, among those who were known as “The Gift People.” At Moorhead, Minnesota, in 1903, under the ministry of John Thompson, a minister of the Swedish Mission, the Holy Spirit was outpoured and those receiving the Spirit spoke in new tongues. The influence of that revival remains with us to this day. Then we learn as early as 1896 from the Church of God that the Holy Spirit was outpoured in the early days of that church at the Shearer School House in Cherokee County, North Carolina, and those who were baptized in the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues, others prophesied, and miracles of healing occurred.”26 These various manifestations of God were made possible through a long line of attempts, movements and reformations. Generally, these were inroads, both great and small, toward returning those who claimed to follow Jesus Christ back to the model set by the original Apostles and the New Testament Church. In the centuries that had followed the first Century Church there had been a gradual yet somewhat methodic move away from a Spirit led body of believers and toward a man-made system that much more represented the religious systems devised by men than the will of the Holy Spirit and the Church of Jesus Christ. “The sixteenth century rediscovery of Paul's objective message of justification by faith invaded the consciousness of men with a tempestuous fury and changed the course of history. The Protestant movement was 25 26
Foundational Discipling Principles. Dr. Robert Straube. 2010. Zulon Press. The Genesis of the Pentecostal Movement. J. Roswell Flower.
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founded upon a restoration of the primacy, supremacy and all-sufficiency of justification by faith. No one would want to contend that the Protestant Reformation completely recovered the purity of faith which existed in the apostolic church of the New Testament but it was a step in the right direction or more accurately many steps in the right direction. The Reformers did not always agree among themselves. They were not always consistent in every area. And it was inevitable that the church did not all at once abandon every error of the Dark Ages. But in spite of differences and inconsistencies, the Reformers were absolutely united on justification by faith — its objective meaning and its absolute centrality in the Christian faith. There is a tendency in human nature to gravitate from the objective stance of the gospel to religious subjectivism, to shift the central focus from Christ's experience to Christian experience. This is what happened in the great "falling away" in the early church. And the same evolution has taken place within the Protestant movement.�27 Tragically, this pattern is repeated throughout history both ancient and modern. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel repeatedly would have a restoration or reformation and return to the law of God only to follow this with a falling away. These falling away periods always included adopting the religion of men primarily focused on worshipping idols underneath every green tree and the embracing most of the darkness of paganism. Since the Advent of Jesus Christ the pattern has been repeated. In the last 2000 years there have been periods of great of adherence to the Apostles doctrine followed by other periods where the tenets of the Apostles were ignored or abandoned in favor of some form of godliness manifested in man’s religions. These religions all claim relationship to Christ in some form or fashion but in practical comparison are more pagans than like Christ. There have been several restoration efforts all historically categorized under the Protestant Reformation, followed by a generally cooling of spiritual fervor. The Protestant Reformation was all but dead with the British Empire ruling the world but the people, once again, did not know God. At least they were not acquainted with God 27
Protestant Revivalism, Pentecostalism and the Drift back to Rome. Arsenio A. Lembert Jr. 2009.
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in the same matter that the New Testament Church understood. Then came another wave of restoration under the influence of John Wesley. This pattern continued into the next Century with the Wesley revivals and Methodism as Wesley had instituted becoming a fading memory. The denominational structure was not reaching the masses and there was general dissatisfaction with what called itself the church. From this falling away came the Holiness movement (or Holiness reformation) with an expectation toward another Reformation. All of these movements have the common thread of an expectation that change would transform the Church into something that better represented the New Testament Church. The general focus was on returning the Church, once and for all to the doctrine of the Apostles, an Apostolic Reformation. However, the various denominations like their predecessors were not going to allow it to happen in their ranks. They would also block every effort for an Apostolic Reformation to come from outside their ranks. Yet, another wave of Apostolic Reformation was inevitable. All God needed was people to work through. This is a pattern that seems to almost continually repeat itself. The reformation that would come would have similar characteristics of previous reformation efforts. However, it would much more represent the Methodist or Holiness movement than it would any previous reformation. The movement would be called the Apostolic Faith movement, an accurate name for an Apostolic reformation. In the minds of those early leaders a true restoration of the Apostles doctrine was eminent.
CHARLES FOX PARHAM Perhaps no one in history better encapsulated the concept of restoring the Church to the pattern set by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and the New Testament Church than did Charles Fox Parham. When he came to his understanding or vision of the New Testament restoration is unclear but his focus on bringing to the Church or bringing the Church back to the Apostles doctrine is without doubt. As early as 1901, Parham is preaching in a procession through the streets of Houston, Texas (waving banners proclaiming themselves Apostolic) proclaiming that the Apostles doctrine was being Charles Fox Parham restored. Parham borrowed from both those New Testament Apostles and John Wycliffe in naming his movement, The Apostolic Faith. Like Wycliffe he was focused on the necessity of Page | 52
those things that were taught by the Apostles. What Parham gave the world is a plethora of restorations. All of these would be explained throughout the 20 th Century and beyond as Spirit filled. First, to those who would receive it, it was Parham’s intention to see a full restoration of those things that the New Testament Apostles taught. This, as opposed to what the many of the denominations of his day professed. Those who would follow this transitional restoration would generally would come to be referred to as Apostolics a term coined by John Wycliffe meaning like the Apostles. This was a reference to the New Testament Apostles of Jesus Christ. Charles Parham uses this connotation and called his group the Apostolic Faith. Second, those who were not interested in Apostolic reformation but would have interested in the manifestation of the Spirit through glossalalia [better known as speaking in tongues] would generally come to be referred to as Pentecostals. Later this “Pentecostal” distinction came to include both the first and second groups and later became a designation for nearly all Spirit filled individuals from those at Topeka Kansas in 1901 to the present day. Third, those who did not want to speak in tongues but wanted to be recognized as Spirit filled would become part of what would be termed the Third Wave or the Charismatic movement where speaking in tongues was generally ok but certainly optional. All three of these ‘waves’ claim a beginning in the Apostolic reformation of Charles Parham and his Apostolic Faith movement. One of the most missed points of the Apostolic Faith movement is that it was in every way the continuation of the Protestant Reformation or [if you rather] the Holiness Reformation begun by John Wesley. Like previous Protestant Reforms this group stood against, objected to or protested traditions, doctrines, dogmas, or religious regulations that had been thrust upon them by the Roman Church system. They also objected to doctrines, dogmas and religious regulations that had been handed down through various Protestant Reformation efforts. In naming the movement, Apostolic Faith, Page | 53
Parham was invoking the concept of Apostolic reformation began by men like who preceded him, like John Wycliffe. Parham was focused on restoring the Apostles doctrine or in other words restoring the New Testament Church and the teachings of those original apostles of Jesus Christ. Like previous reformation efforts there was a strong emphasis on Jesus Christ. “The emphases of the Holiness movement overall were generated by impulses of restoration.”28 This simple point of the Apostolic Faith movement being a continued reformation is seldom discussed. Perhaps the point of Apostolic restoration is lost because of the phenomena surrounding the Apostolic Faith movement especially the Azusa Street Revival; or more likely it is lost as the writers about the Pentecostal movement have been primarily Pentecostals.29 While the Pentecostal movement was substantially important, the concept of Pentecost remains only part of what those like Parham envisioned.
Sarah and Charles Parham
Unfortunately, the Pentecostals (as they became known) identified the movement primarily by an experience; that of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Even this tenet was later changed to the category of optional, but for the Apostolic Faith movement and even those who originally experienced this “second Pentecost” as they termed it, the manifestation of tongues was the initial evidence of the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Still, the Pentecostal experience was only a small part of the vision of men like Charles Parham and John G. Lake.
Ironically, the very first historical account written on this movement was not framed in the “Pentecostal” paradigm but rather was called, “The Apostolic Faith Restored”.30 This lends many to see what is very obvious. The so named “Pentecostal movement” is filled with history revision. Calling the Apostolic Reformation the Pentecostal movement is somewhat misleading and some see that as having been done on purpose. Like Rachel in her dying moments misnaming her son, the ‘Pentecostal Movement’ is only a part of what its founders envisioned. “In her dying breath Rachel named her son Ben-Omi, "son of my sorrow/ suffering," but rather than giving him a name that signified an ill omen, Jacob renamed him Benjamin, "son of the 28
Christianity Without the Cross. Thomas C. Fudge. Page 16. Anderson, Robert Mapes. Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. 30 The Apostolic Faith Restored. B. F. Lawrence. 1916. 29
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right hand/son of the south," meaning "son of a happy omen"31 The founders named their movement the Apostolic Faith, but the movement was given a name change that misrepresents the founders intentions. Many have been satisfied living only an experience, but the Apostolic fathers both ancient and near envisioned a vibrant church that would continue as did the first Century Church to turn the world upside down. Pentecost is an experience; an experience that should be the hallmark of every believer. This experience was/is not just for a few ascetic people. The experience of the original Pentecost was for EVERYONE, even those who Apostle Peter recognized as ‘afar off’, and even “as many as the Lord our God shall call”. The second Pentecost as an experience was aptly named because it was a continuation of the first Pentecost. However, the movement should have remained as it began, the Apostolic Faith movement. The original Apostles began a reformation that ‘turned the world upside down’. The second time around was and is to be no different. God has not changed.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH LOVES TO HAVE THE PRE-EMINENCE Long before the Roman Bishop decided that he alone was the representative of God, Apostle John wrote these chilling words that very accurately explain the problem faced by the Church in nearly every Century. I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, receives us not. – 3 John 1. In previous reformation efforts the Catholic Church responded with CounterReformation. In times past this was often led or directed by the Jesuit order. In this Apostolic reformation there would also be a counter reformation. This would come from an unlikely source and divide the Apostolic reformation from compatriots in the Gospel for more than a Century and perhaps forever. In the early years of the Apostolic Faith movement there were no major doctrinal disputes as there was no stated doctrinal positions, no creeds, no counsels to confirm or deny. The standard was simply to return to the Biblical teaching of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. The Apostolic Faith movement was a Christocentric movement. The
31
Jewish Study Bible. Page 72.
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same can be said of Apostle Paul and biblical hermeneutics on general.32 Jesus was the reason, the purpose, the method, the name and the message. There was an intentional avoidance of ecclesiastical tradition, doctrine and polity in the drive for Apostolic restoration. “The authority of the Scripture and the perceived purity of simplicity of the Bible and the early Church were prime motivators and always, in the Pentecostal perspective, superseded non-biblical incentives and ideas.”33 However, like in the Galatians Church ‘that which was born in the spirit men would attempt to be perfect in the flesh.’ In spite of a plethora of errors, unnecessary division and infighting, in less than 100 years this Apostolic restoration forever changed the World, Impacting both those who would believe and challenging man-made religion in ways that had not happened since the first Century. Those who trace their roots to the Apostolic Faith bands of Charles Parham have become the largest body of believers in the world. While the Catholic Church contends numeric superiority their calculated numbers include the part of their constituency that embraces the Pentecostal perspective; part of the Apostolic Reformation leaving them more closely associated with the Apostolic Faith movement than any other. From the outpouring of the Holy Ghost in 1901 would take the Roman Church more than two generations to fabricate a system to counteract the impact of the Apostolic reformation. In the interim they would contend (and they still do) that only the RCC was the true church and only their counsels and doctrines had validity. In spite of their best efforts to take the Christocentric focus and redirect this toward their empirical religious system, the Apostolic reformation continues. The impetus for the Apostolic Reformation is generally credited to an Independent Holiness preacher with a Methodist background, Charles Fox Parham. By 1901, American Methodism had been the source of unofficial manifestations of the Holy Spirit with people speaking in other tongues for more than fifty years.34 While there were far more skeptics than there were enthusiasts. Parham, a Methodist, was one of those who expected that these manifestations were movement by the Holy Spirit. He wanted to establish a bible college and encourage students to seek after more of the Spirit of God. In a time when divine healing and moves of the Spirit had scarcely been heard of, Charles Parham introduced the American church to the power available through pursuing a 32
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christocentric Christianity Without the Cross. Thomas C. Fudge. Page 17. 34 History of the Apostolic Church. Marvin Arnold. Page 23. 33
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Spirit-filled life. He revealed to the church the life-giving power found in the baptism of the Holy Spirit that was evidenced by speaking in other tongues. He sought to bring a balance of both the intellectual and experiential to the Body of Christ as a teacher, rooted and grounded in the Word of Truth, as well as a healing evangelist moved by compassion, commitment, and an amazing faith.35 “From envisioning and founding a Healing Home to establishing Bible Schools, Parham studied to show himself approved with a rare diligence while fervently working to prove the truth of God’s Word through the demonstration of faith. He gathered crowds exceeding seven thousand people while his ministry contributed to over two million conversions. All of this came from an unlikely source. Charles Parham was not raised in a particularly religious family. As with many of our heroes of faith, Charles suffered greatly as a child. He battled serious illness from infancy and then at the age of seven he lost his mother to a terminal sickness. Her parting words to him were, “Charlie, be good.” Though he had four brothers, he was overwhelmed by grief and loneliness. But the words of his mother rang in his ears and two years later, at the age of nine, Charles felt the call to ministry.”36 Though he continued to battle debilitating physical ailments throughout his childhood, Charles became increasingly hungry for God. Due to a lack of libraries and formal instruction, he read history books along with his Bible to Stone’s Folly, Home to Parham’s educate and prepare himself for ministry. He practiced a Bethel Bible College life of service by helping his brothers do chores and preached rousing sermons to the farm animals. “Up until the age of thirteen, Parham had only heard the sermons of two preachers, and it was after one of these meetings that Parham experienced a powerful conversion. He was walking home heavy-hearted humming “I Am Coming To The Cross,” pondering how he could be certain of his salvation, when he recalled experiencing a “flash from the heavens, a light above the brightness of the sun, like a stroke of lightning it penetrated, thrilling every fiber of my being.”37
35
The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham. The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham. 37 Ibid. Parham 36
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He soon began teaching Sunday school and held his first public meeting at the age of fifteen. He continued to preach before entering Southwestern Kansas College at the age of sixteen. It was there he became aware of the public’s disrespect for and the general poverty of ministers. Discouraged, he began to look for other professions. In light of his traumatic childhood illnesses he decided that the medical field would suit him well. Not long after changing his educational goals, he contracted rheumatic fever. Parham suffered for months from fever and the guilt of leaving his first call. He cried out to God that if he would not have to beg for a living he would preach. Heavily sedated with morphine, and with nearly his last breathe, he prayed the Lord’s Prayer. When he arrived at the phrase “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” his mind cleared and he realized it was God’s will to heal. So he cried out to God, “If Thy will is done in me, I shall be whole!”38 As he did, his lungs cleared and he was completely healed. In that moment, Parham renewed his commitment to give himself fully to ministry. “Not long after, at the age of eighteen, Charles held his first evangelistic meeting in the Pleasant Valley School House, near Tonganoxie, Kansas. It was there he met a Sarah Thistlewaite who he would marry five years later. In the meantime, when Charles was only nineteen, he was asked to pastor the Methodist church in Eudora, Kansas. Employing student pastors was common in the Methodist church and remains somewhat this way today. This helps smaller congregations by giving them a dedicated minister and helps the young minister by giving them practical ministry experience. “He fulfilled this position faithfully while continuing to also pastor in Linwood on Sunday afternoons where Sarah and her family 39 regularly attended services.” Sarah would prove to be a powerful force in his life. Few ministers can survive without a supportive wife. Sarah stood with Charles when all men forsook him. She continued his ministry vision after he died and wrote extensively about his life and ministry. The information she left gives us a wonderful insight into the life of a man that was far from perfect but was totally committed to the cause of Jesus Christ. “His congregation steadily grew in Eudora, but Parham did not feel bound to promote the Methodist denomination. He was focused on Jesus Christ and not concerned about where those that came to Christ continued in their faith; he was only interested that they 38 39
The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham. The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham.
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continued. He exhorted new converts to find any church home even if wasn’t Methodist. He proclaimed that being a member of a denomination was not a prerequisite for heaven and those denominations focused too much on promoting themselves rather than Jesus Christ. Parham’s primary aim was to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit regardless if it was contrary to any denominational objective. Parham began to pray for direction. He felt the Lord leading him into the evangelistic field and decided to hold meetings in schools, halls, or any church willing to have him and believe for the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself in a mighty way. It was at this time that Parham proposed to Sarah. In a letter he explained that his life was totally dedicated to the Lord and that his future was unclear, but if she could trust God with him, they should marry. Six months later, on December 31, 1896, they wed.”40 “The young couple was well received as they traveled and ministered across the plains of Kansas. Soon after the birth of their first son, Charles fell ill and began to weaken from heart disease. As he battled physical weakness, their tiny son was stricken with a mysterious fever. Doctors or medications could help neither father nor son. In his weakened state, Charles was called upon to pray for another ailing man. While praying for him he heard the words “Physician, heal thyself” ring out of his spirit and the power of God touched Parham who was healed instantly.”41 Parham rushed home to tell Sarah and pray for his baby. He immediately threw away all of his medications vowing never to again trust in anything but the Word of God. The fever miraculously left his son who grew to be a healthy child. He determined to proclaim the gospel of divine healing. From this time forward Parham’s ministry was marked by his dedication to preach the power of Christ to heal. The Parham’s moved to Ottawa, Kansas where Charles held his first diving healing meeting. He boldly proclaimed the Word of God regarding His will and provision regarding healing. As Parham inspired the faith of his listeners, miraculous healings began to take place. A woman who had been given three days to live was instantly healed. Another woman who was blind received her sight. Although healing crusades were taking place in other parts of the country through the ministries of John Alexander Dowie and Maria Woodworth-Etter, the people of rural Kansas had not been exposed to such manifestations of the Spirit. Word quickly spread and many in fear and ignorance accused Parham of witchcraft. Accusations such as this drove him to withdraw and search the scriptures.
40 41
The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham. The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham.
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Parham’s earnest plan was to see the Church return to the doctrine as taught by the original Apostles. His vision of Apostolic Reformation would be a driving force that would leave Parham with a resume like the New Testament Apostles and produce a plethora of other equally qualified five-fold ministers. “As an itinerant holiness evangelist he [Parham] longed for a return to the New Testament experience.” 42 According to Dr. Edith Blumhofer of the Assembly of God Seminary in Springfield Missouri, “He [Parham] rallied large crowds in Kansas to expect a full recovery of the Apostolic Faith (Apostolic Reformation or Apostolic Restoration).” One of the tenets of Apostolic Reformation is Divine Healing. “Everywhere he looked in the Bible, healing was present. Parham realized that healing, just as salvation, came through the atoning work of the blood of Jesus, and from that point on, persecution and slander never offended him. By early 1899, the Parham’s opened a home for divine healing. Sarah named it “Bethel.” The purpose was to minister to the sick around the clock. Powerful teaching services were held daily while individual prayer was offered several times throughout the day and night. On the ground floor was a chapel, reading room, and printing office. Upstairs were fourteen rooms with large windows. The Parham’s kept the windows filled with fresh flowers and the atmosphere charged with peace and beauty. This refuge also placed orphans in Sarah Parham with family at a relative’s home. Christian homes and found jobs for the unemployed. In addition, Bethel offered special classes for ministers and evangelists to train and equip them for the ministry field. Such an undertaking should have been more than enough to keep the Parham’s busy! But because of Bethel’s success, many began to urge Parham to open a Bible School.”43 The vision of Apostolic restoration was beginning. After much prayer and fasting, Parham secured a large, beautiful building in Topeka, Kansas in October of 1900. The Apostles and other New Testament believers in Jerusalem had sold everything and brought it to the feet of the Apostles. In like manner, the Bible school was open to anyone willing to “forsake all” to follow the teachings of Christ. They were to come willing to study the Word deeply and believe God for all their personal needs. This was certainly not the first (or the last) group to try such an approach but it was far from the norm. 42 43
A Pentecostal Branch Grows in Dowie’s Zion. Charles F. Parham 1906 Invasion. Edith F. Blumhofer. 1986, The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham.
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CHAPTER TWO
HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM
By: Bernie L. Wade, Ph.D.
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"John answered and said to them all, 'As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Luke 3:16
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“By September 1900, Parham had found a place for his bible school. The place was known as Stones Folly44. It was a castle with two towers that had been built and then abandoned. It had been sitting vacant for about 10 years. Parham and a group of about 40 students, their spouses and children remodeled the building into a school where they also lived and worked. They set up one of the two towers as their prayer tower, and had a ‘prayer chain’ where someone was praying 24 hours a day. The building was leaky and drafty and living conditions were difficult. In 1901 Parham went on a trip and encouraged his students to search the scriptures for evidence of the Holy Spirit. Over the Christmas holiday Parham went to minister in a meeting. He left the students with an assignment; learn what the Bible gives as evidence of the Holy Spirit. In a continued quest of Apostolic reformation they wanted to know what the Apostles had experienced. When Parham returned the students had decided that speaking in tongues was the Biblical evidence of the Holy Spirit just like the Apostles experienced on the day of Pentecost. At this point none of the students had ever experienced such a phenomenon. Like the early church in Acts Chapter 1 and 2, these bible school students began to seek God for such an outpouring using the book of Acts as their guide. On New Year’s Eve 1901 they experienced this manifestation of the charismata for the first time as the Holy Spirit fell upon them like as on the day of Pentecost. One student, Agnes Ozman, spoke in what was believed to be Chinese for three days. Word traveled fast and several area ministers were prayed for and received this gift.”45 Many consider Stones Folly the ‘Birthplace of Pentecostalism’.46 47 It was here that 44
Apostolic Faith workers at Bryon Hall
Fields White Unto Harvest; Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism. 1988. 64-5. James. R. Goff. The three story house was built by Erastus Stone in the 1880’s. Stone fell on financial difficulties and abandoned the house. Local residents called it “Stone’s Folly.” 45 http://healingandrevival.com/BioCFParham.htm 46 http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldrevivalnetwork/2258998151/
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eager students were instructed to study the book of Acts over a period of three days and report back to Parham what they found. Every one of Parham’s forty students reported finding that all who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts spoke in other tongues. Now there was a great excitement at the school surrounding the book of Acts. This was the biblical record of what the Apostles had accomplished and as they were pursuing Apostolic Reformation this was most relevant. Anticipation filled the atmosphere as people gathered for the evening Watch Night Service. A spiritual freshness seemed to blanket the meeting. A student named "Lizzie" Agnes Ozman approached Parham and asked him to lay his hands on her so she would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Parham hesitated not having received himself, but after she persisted, he humbly laid his hands on her head and she began speaking Chinese. She was unable to speak English for three days! Parham’s focus on Apostolic reformation was birthing a new wave of the Holy Spirit. “After witnessing this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the students moved their beds from the upper dormitory and turned it into a prayer room. There they waited for two nights and three days upon the Lord. Upon returning home from a meeting, Parham was led up to the new prayer room where he found twelve denominational ministers all speaking in other tongues. Overcome by what he saw, Parham fell to his knees praising God. He asked God for the same blessing, and after the Lord spoke to him about revealing the truth of this mighty outpouring everywhere he went—and that he would face severe persecution as a result—he was filled and spoke with other tongues.”48 Soon news of what God was doing had the Bible school besieged with newspaper reporters, language professors, and government interpreters. They sat in on the services to tell the whole world of this incredible phenomenon. They had come to the consensus that these students were speaking in the world’s diverse languages and their newspapers were headlined, “Pentecost! Pentecost!” Newsboys shouted, “Read about the Pentecost!” On January 21, 1901, Parham preached the first sermon dedicated to the sole experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Parham went through the country preaching the truths of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in wonderful demonstration. Once when Parham began to speak in a tongue 47 48
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/char/more/pente.htm The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham.
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unknown to him, a man in the audience jumped to his feet and declared he had been delivered of infidelity having heard Psalm 23 in his mother tongue. Parham’s ministry was not limited to preaching divine healing. Now untold numbers were being delivered from all types of bondages as Parham revealed the freedom and power available to all believers through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Along with fame and victory came persecution and sorrow. Not only did this mighty outpouring of the Spirit give rise to slanderous persecution, tragedy struck the Parham household when their youngest child died on March 16, 1901. The family was grief-stricken. Their sorrow was further compounded when those who did not believe in divine healing blamed them for the death of their son. But through it all, the Parham’s Apostolic Faith Meeting showed tremendous character. They kept their hearts tender toward God and continued to preach with even greater fervency. In the fall of 1901, the Bible school was unexpectedly sold out from under them. They moved into a rented home in Kansas City and Parham began to hold meetings around the country. Hundreds from every denomination received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and divine healing. A Kansas newspaper wrote: “Whatever may be said about him, he has attracted more attention to religion than any other religious worker in years.” Despite persecution, loss, and disappointment, Parham published his first book, A Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness in 1901. The book was filled with sermons on salvation, healing, and sanctification. Then in June of 1902, another son was born to the Parham’s. In 1903, Charles had his first experience with fanaticism and dedicated himself to studying the nature of the Holy Spirit and teaching how to discern what is truly of the Spirit and what is not. Parham was learning, just like the Apostles of old that part of Apostolic reformation was dealing with the counterfeit. By the fall of that year, the Parham’s moved to Galena, Kansas where they erected a large tent. The tent could hold two thousand people, but it Page | 65
was still too small to accommodate the crowds. As winter set in they managed to secure a building although they were forced to leave the doors opened so that those remaining outside could participate. Huge number poured into Galena from surrounding towns when strong manifestations of the Spirit occurred, and hundreds were miraculously healed and saved. Two national newspapers declared Parham’s Galena meetings to be the greatest demonstration of power and miracles since the time of the Apostles, writing, “Many come to scoff but remain to pray.” 49 “On March 16, 1904 another son was born into the Parham family. One month later Charles moved the family to Baxter Springs, Kansas and continued to hold tremendous meetings around the state. In 1905, Parham was invited to Orchard, Texas. While he ministered there, the outpouring of the Spirit was so great that he was inspired to begin holding “Rally Days” throughout the country. Many from Kansas volunteered to assist in the outreach, which was successfully launched in Houston, Texas just a few short weeks later.”50 The team returned to Houston once more due to high public demand, only this time they suffered severe persecution. Several of Parham’s workers were actually poisoned during one meeting making them very ill. They suffered with severe pain. Parham immediately prayed for each of them, and they all recovered completely. Parham’s own life was threatened several times. But not even poison enough to kill a dozen men could keep him down. Parham preached baptism in the Holy Spirit this way: When the power of Pentecost came, we found the real, and everyone who has received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit has again spoken in tongues. . . . Thousands of Christians profess . . . the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, yet the Bible evidence is lacking in their lives. . . . If you desire a personal Baptism of the Holy Ghost, the sealing power, escaping plagues, and putting you in the position to become a part of the Body, the Bride or the Man-Child, seek the Holy Ghost.
49 50
The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham. The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham.
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It is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit of promise, that seals the Bride and the same Baptism that puts us in one Body, (the Church). . . . Speaking in other tongues is an inseparable part of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit distinguishing it from all previous works; and . . . no one has received The Pentecostal Movement Baptism of the Holy Spirit who has not had Bible evidence to show for it . . . Speaking with new tongues . . . [is] the only Bible sign given as the evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.51 Like John the Baptist, Parham’s message was radical in 1901. Some still consider the message of repentance followed by water baptism while invoking the name of Jesus Christ and the subsequent infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues a radical doctrine. However, there is no doubt that this is the message on which all the Apostles of Jesus Christ agreed and the keys to the Kingdom that Jesus Christ gave to Apostle Peter. While there are many theologians who want to offer their wisdom on the subject, the Apostolic Faith movement relied on the Bible. Let the theologians sit down and get out of the way the King of all the Kings, Jesus Christ reigns forevermore!
51
Charles F. Parham, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness. (1910), 25-38.
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CHAPTER THREE
SPIRIT VS. FLESH
Bernie L. Wade, Ph.D.
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Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? - King James Version (1611)
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CHARACTER ASSASINATION Parham critics were everywhere and they would stop at nothing to defame him. They didn’t like his message so they sought to defame him in any way they could devise. Like Diotrephes they used a wonderful and almost unassailable two-pronged attack; an almost perfect strategy. First they attacked his character, not their doctrines or theology, but their character, just like the Apostles "unjustly accusing us with wicked words."52 Like Diotrephes they could not address the doctrines because they had no Scriptural leg to support him, so they attacked the character of those with good doctrine in order to discredit them and by association, everything they said. “How beautiful that strategy is. How do you counter a character assassination? He said, she said, someone said, all leaves impressions in the minds of the hearers and truth becomes secondary and ultimately lost. The focus is no longer doctrine but whether the person has a good reputation, which by the way was just defamed by the very accuser who is trying to hide his doctrinal failings in the first place. Prong two is the stroke of genius to the master plan. Cut off fellowship between those who have true biblical discernment and those on whom you are trying to impose the erroneous doctrine. Once fellowship is broken, it becomes impossible for anyone to contradict you. Those who remain in fellowship are those whom you have already won to your point-of-view (who lack appropriate discernment) or are those who are too intimidated to invoke the Word of God against you or against your faulty doctrine. The result is that no one is left to raise any dissent or to contradict you, or worse, raise a valid biblical debate.”53 “In other words, you win by default. You have silenced all your detractors and you win. You do not have to be right, because you win. And by winning, you do not mean that you have attained good doctrine but that you have retained control in spite of your lack of answers and in spite of your poor doctrine. You win, the others lose. How do you break fellowship between the discerning and the deluded? This requires careful scheming and impeccable execution. You must "put them out of the church" just as 52 53
The Diotrephes Syndrome: A Strategy for Using Church Discipline as a Weapon. C.W. Booth. Copyright © 2004 The Diotrephes Syndrome: A Strategy for Using Church Discipline as a Weapon. C.W. Booth. Copyright © 2004
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Diotrephes did. The only known mechanism that has the appearance of Scriptural and ethical propriety is by using "church discipline." Not genuine "church discipline" however, but pseudo (fake / imitation) church discipline.”54 “Genuine church discipline is all about bringing the sinner back into fellowship by encouraging his repentance from a sin. To encourage his repentance you must privately rebuke him, publicly rebuke him in front of the church, and then ultimately treat him as you would any sinner on the street (Matthew 18). Of course, this means no longer inviting him to your breaking-of-bread church services, asking him to take on deacon duties, or allowing him to teach, pray, or read Scripture during meetings of the church. Every interaction will be polite, filled with quotations of Scripture that entreat him to confess his sins and turn from them, always inviting him back to fellowship with God and the church. This, of course, will never do for your purposes. You goal is not restoration to fellowship, but to permanently sever it. You do not want the Biblethumpers being lovingly confronted with Scripture because you have none to offer. And frankly, you are the sinner (introducing improper doctrine—remember?), so you do not want or need the discerning ones to repent from any sins, you just want them to go away and not come back. OK, you would also settle for them to just stay quiet and let you run things, but you know that someone who has sufficient discernment to know the Word also knows he is obligated to speak the truth in love, always and often, so you know they will not stay silent.”55 Parham preached a fabulous Camp Meeting in Kingman, Kansas. The flyers for the Great Interstate Camp Meeting carried information about the meeting and then at the bottom this mantra (playing on the double K’s in Kingman and Kansas), “Konvincing, Konvicting and Konverting”. Critics then and now, use this to claim Parham was a member of the KKK (Klu Klux Klan). It is evident that he was not a member of the KKK, but his message was convincing, convicting and converting.
54 55
The Diotrephes Syndrome: A Strategy for Using Church Discipline as a Weapon. C.W. Booth. Copyright © 2004 The Diotrephes Syndrome: A Strategy for Using Church Discipline as a Weapon. C.W. Booth. Copyright © 2004
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MULTICULTURAL REFORMATION
Throughout his life Parham would remain consistent to the pursuit of Apostolic reformation. One of the things that the first Apostles faced was persecution. They were often falsely accused or misrepresented. In Parham’s case this would be the same. At first Parham was accused of being an ‘N’ lover. The ‘N’ substituted here for a racial slur. Not an unusual charge for any white person who willingly associated with blacks, Hispanics or other persons of color. Parham was not bashful Apostolic Faith Mission Portland Oregon about his association leading his ‘friends’ to slur his name. When this tactic was not working, his opponents switched to the opposite extreme and began accusing him of being racist. Diotrephes would have been proud of their effort to defame the man of God. Those who claim Parham as a racist do not have documentation to prove their slanderous claims. Rather, it was Parham who first reached across racial lines to both African-Americans and Mexican-Americans and included them in the fledgling Pentecostal movement. It was Parham, a native of Kansas, who offended southern whites by preaching in black churches and allowing a black pastor to enroll in his Bible school in segregated Houston, TX. It was Parham who did the "unheard of" and invited a black woman, Rev. Lucy Farrow, to preach in his Apostolic Faith camp meeting in south Texas in 1906. And it was Parham who, until his death in 1929, maintained cordial relations with the black community in his hometown of Baxter Springs, KS, often preaching in the local black Pentecostal church.”56 “During the summer of 1905, Parham, for the first time, ventured south across the Mason-Dixon line into Texas. Texas is one of those states that had long been 56
Across the Lines: Charles Parham's Contribution to the Inter-Racial Character of Early Pentecostalism. Eddie L. Hyatt. From the Fall 2004 issue of the PNEUMA REVIEW. With comments by Pauline Parham, daughter-in-law of Charles Parham, who passed away at the age of 94 on December 22, 2003.
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associated with racial hatred. These folks did not appreciate a white man fellowshipping with and treating people of color as equals. Parham was unwavering. “Parham went there to declare his newly discovered message of the baptism in the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues. Parham believed that their experience signaled the beginning of the world-wide, last-days effusion of the Spirit promised in Acts 2:17, and he had come South to declare this newly discovered truth.”57 The Apostolic restoration was coming! “Parham arrived in Houston with about twenty-five workers in July of 1905. For the first time he encountered a large black populace and an intense racial prejudice he had not known in his home state of Kansas. He conducted a very successful meeting in Bryan Hall which was attended by a number of blacks who, because of local law and custom, probably sat in segregated seating. Nonetheless, he reached out to the black populace and made friends with black leaders such as Lucy Farrow and William Seymour. In fact, his racial openness made Apostolic Faith Street workers circa 1917 some white Christians in Houston very uncomfortable. A white pastor, referring to Parham and his Kansas workers, wrote the following rebuke in December of 1905.”58 “I trust, therefore, that our evangelists and workers from the North will not forget this condition of affairs [racial segregation] and embarrass the work South by well meaning but mistaken efforts to disregard them. Let the race question alone until you have been South long enough to know by experience what it seems impossible for our Northern brethren to learn through other sources”59 Pauline Parham, daughter-in-law of Charles F. Parham said this, “Dad Parham was loved by the black people in our hometown of Baxter Springs, Kansas. He often preached in the black Pentecostal church there and even encouraged the whites to attend services at the black church. The black people loved him because he treated them right. The yearly camp meetings he conducted in Baxter Springs were attended by all races. One of those who applied for enrollment was William J. Seymour, who had been encouraged to do so by Lucy Farrow. His entry into the Bible school must have 57
Ibid. Hyatt. Ibid. Hyatt. 59 W. F. Carothers. “The Race Question in the South”. Apostolic Faith. Vol. 1. No. 8. 1905. 58
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caused some consternation because of the Jim Crow and segregation laws that time in Texas. Dad Parham, being from Kansas, was not used to such laws and customs and he welcomed Seymour into the classroom. There is an undocumented account, repeated in many books, that Seymour was required to sit in an adjoining room and listen to the lectures through an open door. The account I heard from those present was that he was welcomed into the class along with everyone else.”60 Unfortunately, this charge is still repeated by people who should be better informed. Parham conducted an annual camp meeting in his hometown of Baxter Springs, Kansas right up to the time of his death in 1929. I had the opportunity to walk those historic grounds with my dear friend, Dr. Gary W. Garrett. It was a tremendous experience that I will never forget. There is nothing special about the town, the area or the place where Parham held his Camp meeting. Which reminded me that God will work anywhere that the people will let Him? Several thousand people from throughout the nation attended the Camp meeting each year. One person, impressed with the interracial character of the Baxter Springs camp meeting, wrote61, "People of all creeds and colors were made to feel at home in the meeting and they certainly used their liberty in the Lord."62 Even non-Pentecostal scholars have noted the interracial character of Parham's ministry and meetings. Apostolic Faith Camp Meeting
Robert Mapes Anderson wrote, “In the Spring of 1906, Farrow followed Seymour to Los Angeles and joined him in leading the revival that was breaking forth in an old building at 312 Azusa Street. While in Los Angeles, Farrow sensed a Divine call to Liberia from whence her ancestors had been brought to America. On her way to Virginia, where she planned to board ship for Liberia, she stopped in Houston just in time for Parham's Apostolic Faith camp meeting. Being a dear friend and recognizing the gift of God in her life, Parham did the ‘unheard of’ and invited her to preach in one of the camp meeting services. The large tent under which she preached was packed to capacity and the audience listened intently as she told of her experience in Los Angeles and of her mission to Liberia. At the close of her sermon she prayed for many to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It was a powerful time. 60
Ibid. Hyatt. Ibid. Hyatt. 62 Sarah Parham, The Life of Charles F. Parham, 246. 61
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One participant said that she possessed "an unusual power to lay hands on people for the reception of the Holy Spirit.”63 Such racial openness by Parham led James R. Goff., Jr., who did his doctoral dissertation on Parham, to declare, "In the context of the day, he could hardly be called a racist."64 A black woman speaking to a predominately white audience and then laying her hands on them in prayer was unheard of in south Texas at that time. Parham was willing to offend local prejudices and customs if it meant helping another human being and advancing the cause of Jesus Christ. All Hail the Power of Jesus Name!
SCHISM AT AZUSA
During the Spring and summer of 1906, Parham and Seymour kept up a lively correspondence concerning a visit by Parham to Los Angeles. Their letters were very cordial and both were anticipating a wonderful reunion. In a letter dated August 27, 1906, Seymour wrote, “Dear Brother Parham, Sister Hall has arrived, and is planning out a great revival in this city, that shall take place when you come. The revival is still going on here that has been going on since we came to this city. But we are expecting a general one to start again when you come, that these little revivals will all come together and make one great union revival.”65
Charles R. Parham
“Both were overly optimistic about the reunion. When Parham finally arrived he was appalled at what he considered to be fleshly and demonic manifestations in the Azusa meetings. In his usual straightforward style, he confronted the situation head-on and offered correction based on what he believed he had learned about discerning between the flesh and the Spirit. The Azusa saints and especially the leaders took offense. After
63
See Lawrence, The Apostolic Faith Restored, 66. James R. Goff, Jr., Fields White Unto Harvest (Fayetteville, AR: Univ. of Arkansas Press, 1988), 108. 65 Sarah Parham, The Life of Charles F. Parham (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1977), 154. 64
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preaching two or three times, he was informed by two of the white elders that he was no longer welcome. Seymour apparently went along with the rejection.”66 Reportedly, “Parham was very embittered by this rejection. This bitterness later came out in the diatribe against the perceived excesses at the Azusa meetings. In this denunciation Parham used the "n" word in referring to an unnamed "fleshly" individual he had observed. This, however, was not normal verbiage for Parham. To his credit, this is the only recorded time he ever used this derogatory term. He always, before and afterwards, referred to African-American with accepted terminology for his day, i.e., "Negro" or "colored."67 “Perhaps because of the above slur, Parham's falling out with Seymour has often been ascribed to racism. However, the evidence indicates that it was over differences and questions concerning order, worship style and the genuineness of certain spiritual manifestations. Interestingly, the "racist" accusation was never made by Seymour, Farrow, nor by any of his friends or enemies while he was alive. And although Parham afterwards criticized the Azusa Street revival because of its alleged excesses, he did not blame Seymour or the black participants. Instead he pointed the finger at the "Holy Rollers" of Los Angeles whom he said invaded the meetings”68 This was an indication that elements outside of the Apostolic Faith movement caused the distractions. Parham later wrote, ”There was a beautiful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Los Angeles. Then all of a sudden a Holy Roller religious meeting in the city dismissed and came down to Azusa Street, and everything that was prevalent in their meeting was turned loose into the Azusa Street Meeting.”69 Pauline Parham said, “When Dad Parham died in February of 1929, my husband, Robert, Mother Parham and I picked up the mantle and fulfilled his itinerant schedule of ministry. Later that same year, his schedule took us to the Los Angeles area. While there we visited the Azusa Street Mission and Jenny Seymour, who had pastored the mission since her husband's death in 1925. We had a very friendly visit with Mrs. Seymour and then proceeded on our way. Being a young twenty year old, I did not realize the significance 66
Ibid. Hyatt. Ibid. Hyatt. 68 Sarah Parham, The Life of Charles F. Parham (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1977), 154. 69 Charles F. Parham, The Apostolic Faith, no. 3 (April 1925): 10 67
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of this visit and did not know the details of the earlier rift between Dad Parham and the Azusa Street Mission. Actually, Dad Parham never blamed Seymour for the rift but, rather, some of the elders at the Azusa Mission. I now realize that Mother Parham was going out of her way to reach out to Mrs. Seymour.”70 “Even before the Log Angeles revival, Parham had tapped this new ethnically heterogeneous constituency in Houston, where he garnered black converts like Seymour, Miss Farrow, and "Brother" Johnson, and some Mexican-Americans.”71 At the 1913 summer encampment of Parham's group in Baxter Springs, Kansas, "White people, colored people and Indians all took part in the meeting" and as Brother Parham remarked, "We had the Gospel in black and white and red all over." For years, Parham held integrated meetings throughout the lower Midwest.72 Unlike Parham, his disciple William Seymour could not contain an integrated ministry for his entire life. Recently, this author observed a self appointed Pentecostal “leader”, himself a former subscriber to serpent seed doctrine, taking shots on a public forum at Charles Parham. One would think that such a man would have been sense than to spread lies, rumors and innuendo. “And Parham? It seems obvious that he is not deserving of the criticism that has been heaped upon him.”73 He expressed “a racial openness that transcended the times in which he lived. Parham's example at this early stage was critical for what followed. It is for this reason that he deserves credit for helping set the tone of inter-racial openness and harmony that prevailed for a time in early Pentecostalism.”74 Undaunted by the persecution, Parham announced the opening of a new Bible school in Houston and moved his headquarters there in the winter of 1905. It was here that 70
Ibid. Hyatt. Robert Mapes Anderson, Vision of the Disinherited (New York: Oxford, 1979), 123. 72 James R. Goff, Jr., "Charles F. Parham and His Role in the Development of the Pentecostal Movement: A Reevaluation," Kansas History (Autumn 1984): 236. 73 Ibid. Hyatt. 74 Ibid. Hyatt. 71
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William Seymour was introduced to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and attended Parham’s school. When the historic school came to a close, Parham moved his family back to Kansas where his last child was born on June 1, 1906. It was around this time that Parham received the letters from William Seymour asking him to come to the Mission on Azusa Street to help him discern the moves of the Spirit there. As previously explained, Seymour was concerned that not all the manifestations being experienced were genuinely of the Holy Spirit.
PARHAM AT ZION
Parham had encouraged and helped William Seymour go to Los Angeles. “At the same time Parham felt led to hold a rally in Zion, Illinois in the wake of Alexander Dowie’s decline there. The people of Zion were disillusioned and losing hope making them vulnerable to corrupt forces attempting to take control of the city. Parham decided to bring the blessing of the baptism of the Holy Spirit to the discouraged people of Zion. He met with great opposition but eventually managed to secure a private meeting room in a hotel. After just one night he required two rooms and the hallway and then the meetings grew from there.”75 Soon Parham was invited to hold meetings in the largest homes of the city—one of which belonged to renowned author F. F. Bosworth. The meetings were tremendously successful and prompted the most ardent persecution. Not only were the newspapers critical, but Dowie himself spoke out against Parham. The overseer of the city asked him to leave. “Zion City was in considerable disarray by 1906. It was in receivership. Social and economic dissatisfaction affected the city as well. Into this setting a small group of citizens invited Charles Parham. Parham began a revival with significant implications 75
The Life of Charles F. Parham. Sarah E. Parham.
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for the future of American Pentecostalism.”76 The Apostolic reformation was in full swing. Local papers portrayed Parham as having “a pleasant and convincing manner that makes his discourse almost irresistible.”77 “His meetings, first conducted in a hotel room, increased to three per day and overflowed into the halls. By the end of the first week, several hundred regularly attended.”78 Zion’s Overseer Voliva lamented that Parham was “winning over some of our most faithful people.”79 Voliva went on the attack making a variety of personal and public threats on Parham. Parham stayed above the fray. Voliva proceeded to post ridiculous and very personal signs directed at Parham and those who were leaving Zion City to follow his Apostolic Reformation. He then used his power to block Parham from using the hotel and wouldn’t allow him to rent schools or use the cities one church building, Shiloh Tabernacle. “Undaunted, Parham moved his services to five private homes, where audiences spilled out to porches and lawns. Concurrent nightly meetings attracted hundreds. From 7 pm until midnight, Parham traveled from one home to another preaching and exhorting. The Waukegan Daily Sun (November 15, 1906) reported that as many as 300 attended a single house meeting. In Sarah Parham with some of her children and Apostolic Faith Zion, Parham never wavered from workers circa 1930 his message preaching that the members of Dowie’s group needed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. “After several weeks, A. F. Lee, General Ecclesiastical secretary of the Christian Catholic Church resigned his position to identify with Parham. Hubert Grant Dowie’s personal secretary joined Parham’s Apostolic reformation along with F. F. Bosworth conductor of the widely acclaimed Zion City Band. The Mayor, E. N. Richey joined as well. By mid-October 25 claimed to have received the Spirit baptism.”80 The Apostolic reformation had come to Illinois. 76
A Pentecostal Branch Grows in Dowie’s Zion. Charles F. Parham 1906 Invasion. Edith F. Blumhofer. 1986 Waukegan Daily Gazette. Oct. 15, 1906. 78 A Pentecostal Branch Grows in Dowie’s Zion. Charles F. Parham 1906 Invasion. Edith F. Blumhofer. 1986 79 North Chicago News. Sept. 26, 1906. 80 Pentecostal Branch Grows in Dowie’s Zion. Charles F. Parham 1906 Invasion. Edith F. Blumhofer. 1986 77
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In October of 1906 Parham felt released to leave Zion and hurried to Los Angeles to answer Seymour’s call. With Parham gone from Zion City, Voliva gave citizen an ultimatum: “Choose either me or this intruder who has stolen into our church.” All Parham followers were barred from the Zion Church. Parham’s Apostolic reformation followers lost their jobs (the Christian Catholic Church controlled all the city’s businesses). Zion residents were forbidden to socialize with the Apostolic Faith movement to whom they referred to as “Pentecostals” in an effort to differentiate between their Catholic Apostolic Church and Parham’s Apostolic Faith movement. AntiPentecostal billboards were posted throughout the city. So, the Pentecostals erected a tent.81 Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Parham and Seymour were unable to come to see eye-to-eye regarding the manifestations of the Holy Spirit and after holding only a few meetings there, the white leaders of the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission (which took its very name from Parham’s movement) locked Parham out of the mission. Nevertheless, later, Seymour continued to acknowledge that Parham was his "father in the faith" and maintained great respect for him. Seymour soon began to give the same Parham warnings of F. F. Bosworth "manifestations in the flesh" to his congregation. No doubt the extremes that Parham had witnessed in Zion with Dowie proclaiming himself to be the reincarnation of Elijah played into Parham’s concerns. Though Seymour and Parham never personally reconciled their differences on the subject, both continued to respect the other. Parham returned to Zion in December of 1906, again unable to obtain a building. He set up a large tent capable of seating two thousand people and again had such powerful meetings. On December 31, 1906 he held a Watchnight service in the tent in Zion. “It was warmed by seven coal stoves; some 2000 heard him preach for 2 hours on “the Baptism of the Holy Ghost”. Among those persuaded was John G. Lake, one of Dowie’s deacons who later helped organize the Apostolic Faith Movement in South Africa.”82 However, Voliva was fast at work. Using the local newspapers to spread rumors about Parham’s supposed sexual irregularities. Again, Diotrephes would have been proud. 81 82
Pentecostal Branch Grows in Dowie’s Zion. Charles F. Parham 1906 Invasion. Edith F. Blumhofer. 1986 Pentecostal Branch Grows in Dowie’s Zion. Charles F. Parham 1906 Invasion. Edith F. Blumhofer. 1986
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When Parham closed the meetings, he traveled alone to preach in Canada and New England leaving his family in Zion. The entire family suffered from harassment there. Finally one day Mrs. Parham received a devastating letter accusing her husband of scandalous acts. She was forced to move her children back to Kansas. Parham moved his headquarters from Zion back to Kansas. He left in Zion a thriving Apostolic Faith work with capable members who had prior experience in ministry and were well qualified to nurture and extend the movement. In June of 1907, William Joseph Seymour of the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission (home of the Azusa Street Revival) visited Zion and was reminded “of Old Azusa, ten months ago… People here receive the baptism in their pews while the service is going on.” He reported. “Sometimes scores of them receive it. There are little children form six years and on up who have the baptism of with the Holy Ghost.”83 The claims of scandalous acts were proven to be false. However the "scandal" that was cast on Parham's Ministry would be the catalyst for a decline in his ministry and the maligning of his moral character. The Parham’s suffered greatly at the maligning of Charles’ character. His enemies were using any means possible to destroy his reputation. National headlines read that he had been arrested for sodomy with his supposed companion. All of this was proven false and later recanted by the newspapers. Parham later wrote about the ordeal: “The greatest sorrow of my life is the thought that my enemies in seeking my destruction have ruined and destroyed so many precious souls.”
83
Apostolic Faith. Vol. 1. June-Sept 1907. 1.
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TRIAL BY RUMOR
In 1906, the Apostolic Faith Church was formally organized by Charles Parham. They issued credentials and had a number of officers and overseers. William Seymour held license with this group as did W. F. Carothers, Howard A. Goss and others. Parham’s disciples were having success all over the Southwest and the revival was expanding. Seymour was having a great move of the Spirit and was sending out evangelists north, south, east and west. Howard Goss (another Parham disciple) was doing quite well and hordes were coming from around the world to witness for themselves, not just to Azusa but to Chicago, Indianapolis, New York and elsewhere. Parham who had been against denominations either had a change of view or just saw this as an organized effort to bring together the various aspects of his ministry. The Apostolic Faith movement was constantly under persecution. “We could never be sure we were not going to be injured. Some workers were attacked, some were beaten, some had bones broken, some were jailed, some were made to leave town, some were rotten egged, and some were shot at. We were stoned, but at least we were never “sawn asunder.” Church services were disturbed by roughnecks for many years. Tents, buildings, and sometimes residences were burned; drinking water was poisoned, and windows were broken. We were sometimes threatened by angry mobs or by raging individuals when some member of their family had Frontier Schoolhouse Meeting with Parham 1904, near been converted. Often, we had no Baxter, Kansas protection; there were times when the police chose to close their eyes because we were the strangers, while the city paid them a salary.”84 The Apostolic Faith movement was advanced through the effort of an army of volunteers. “These lived often in extreme poverty, going out with little or no money, seldom knowing where they would spend the night, or how they would get their next meal, sleeping in barns, tents and parks, or on the wooden benches of mission halls, and sometimes in jail. Bands of workers would pool their funds, buy a tent or rent a hall, and live communally in the meeting place, subsisting at times on flour and water, or rice, 84
Ethel E. Goss, The Winds of God, rev. ed. (Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1977), 38.
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or sardines and sausages. . . . The Pentecostals found their chief asset in the spirit of sacrifice and the enormous drive of their leaders.”85 Then there were tale bearers and backbiters. Here is a quote typical of the character assassination that Charles Parham received: “As to Parham’s questionable character, let the reader judge: “Parham in early life was refused ordination by the Methodist Church. He was well known for the sexual overtones in his sermons ... He was later charged with Sodomy and considered by his own movement to be a fallen prophet.”86 What you have here is the Classic “Trial by Media” scenario. Messrs Arnold and Claydon (the authors of these baseless charges) would want you to believe that Parham was of “questionable character” and therefore the root of Pentecostalism is bad, so therefore the movement is bad. That is the underlying logic in what they have written. BUT is it true or is it a smear campaign waged by these two biased men? Let them be judged by their words and by the facts that are available to us. I will supply you, the reader, with the details they have conveniently left out so you can judge for yourself. Firstly and foremost let us look at the serious charge of sodomy. (Here in my references to Parham and associated historic events I am quoting from the very same sources that are used by Arnold and Claydon in their article.) “For a person in Australia, and more so in the United States, to have a conviction record he or she must have gone to trial and been found guilty by a jury of 12 good men/women. In both countries a person is presumed INNOCENT until proven guilty. This is the foundation of our laws and dates back to 1215 AD when the great charter of English liberties was granted by King John of England and was modified and entrenched as the Magna Charta in 1225 under King Henry III. If a person goes to Court and a case is not found against him then he is INNOCENT. I want to make that point very clear. The questions then are these: Was Charles Fox Parham ever convicted of sodomy? Did he go to trial before a judge? If he was convicted did he go to jail? To answer these questions let us look at the facts.”87 “By 1906 Charles Fox Parham was at the height of his popularity. He had previously set up the Apostolic Faith Movement in Texas, Missouri and Kansas and had between eight 85
Robert Mapes Anderson, Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 141. 86 Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Editors Mike Claydon and Terry Arnold. 2003. 87 Powell, Phillip. Christian Witness Ministries. Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues. March 2004.
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to ten thousand followers. He then launched an organizational program to link together all of the churches under the Apostolic Faith banner. The emphasis of this organization was to promote evangelical activity and to train missionaries for the coming revival. Late in 1906 Parham turned his attention to securing the faction riddled Zion City (Illinois) as a Pentecostal Capital.”88 “John Alexander Dowie, a Scotsman, built Zion City around the turn of the century. Interestingly, J. A. Dowie had immigrated to Australia in 1860 where he commenced his ministry in 1872. He was referred to as a man with a Mighty Healing Ministry. He left Australia for the USA in 1888 to promote his healing message. In Zion City there was much factional infighting taking place. Towards Dedication Service March 15, 1905 for the Apostolic Faith Mission the end of his life Dowie lost his in Perryton, Texas. Charles F. Parham planted this church . focus on Jesus Christ and placed it on himself. He declared himself to be the prophet Elijah and actually went around dressed like an Old Testament high priest. Zion City went into debt to the tune of approximately 2.5 million dollars. There were rumors abounding concerning Dowie’s infidelity and mismanagement of finances. Let this be a chilling reminder to all who aspire to or are in ministry that their focus must be solely placed on the Lord Jesus Christ and His work. It is His work Not ours!”89 “Parham’s return to the city of Dowie (ZION CITY) in mid December created a local media blitz. At the height of the controversy in Los Angeles, he had unexpectedly resigned his position as Protector of the Apostolic Faith. Perhaps in an effort to combat Azusa claims {that} he craved power, Parham gambled that control of the developing movement could be achieved through the role of general evangelist. It was a direct reversal of his organizational efforts from earlier on in the year. The move created considerable disarray in ZION City where VOLIVA (Wilbur Voliva) took over from Dowie on April 1st, 1906 and his associates leaked rumors that they had paid Parham off.
88 89
Powell, Phillip. Christian Witness Ministries. Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues. March 2004. Powell, Phillip. Christian Witness Ministries. Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues. March 2004.
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Voliva was an interesting character. He believed the Earth was flat!90 He preached many sermons on the subject. If you have internet access just type in his name on one of the search engines and see for yourself. Voliva was also in charge of the ZION HERALD, which was a Christian newspaper. From the accounts of the day, we learn that Parham set up meetings and started to gather quite a large number of people around him. By early January 1907 Parham had nearly 1000 followers and was the second most powerful religious influence in the city. If Parham’s success continued it looked as though the Apostolic Faith may have toppled Wilbur Voliva from his leadership position. For reasons unbeknown to anyone, Parham left the city in the heat of the battle to go on a three month tour of the Northwest of USA.”91 “Parham’s organization was itself having trouble with power struggles. A close associate named W. Faye Carothers abruptly broke contact with Parham over licensing women as pastors. Parham went back to Texas and immediately entered into another power struggle. By April there was bitter rivalry in Texas. The key issue of the struggle was about Parham himself. Rumors of immorality had been A sign from 1905 in Zion Illinois with W. G. Voliva’s name. The sign says, circulating for some time. Did they ‘TOBACCO. The use of tobacco in any form is a dirty, filthy, disgusting, degrading habit. No gentleman will use tobacco in this city. You have have any basis or solid evidence? The no more right to pollute with tobacco smoke, the atmosphere which answer is NO. Like most churches clean people have to breathe, than you have to spit in the water they drink. CUT IT OUT YOU FOOL before you reap smoker's cancer paralysis, today we have good Christians who or one of the many other diseases caused by the use of the filthy, nasty, are gossips and rumor mongers. stinking stuff! Sometimes unfortunately churches end up splitting on the basis of “gossip” and rumor mongering. This is all too common and is a sad indictment on today’s Church. Rumors can be seen as a sort of trial by media.”92 “Parham defectors made vague references to their former leaders “failure” and “awful sin”.93 Would this evidence stand up in a court of Law? No. It would be deemed as hearsay evidence and not first-hand evidence. By the summer of 1907 Parham’s name was anathema and he was “dis-fellowshipped” by a large segment of the Texas 90
Round Earth Still Disputed. Stars and Stripes. October 29, 1948 Goff, James R. Fields White Unto Harvest. Page 134. 92 Powell, Phillip. Christian Witness Ministries. Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues. March 2004. 93 Goff, James R. Fields White Unto Harvest. Page 136. 91
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organization, which was by then directed by Carothers and Howard Goss. This is the classic case of trial by media.94
Another of Voliva’s famous signs at Zion
“In April 1907 Parham reached Texas and on July 19 1907 he and another fellow by the name of J.J. Jourdan were arrested in San Antonio and charged with sodomy. This is a felony under Texas statute 524. The local secular newspaper THE SAN ANTONIO LIGHT broke the story, and Charles Fox Parham received widespread news coverage. Throughout the whole ordeal Jourdan remained silent. His association with Parham both prior to and after this event cannot be substantiated.”95 It is apparent that is was not a stunt by J. J. Jourdan for money or attention as he sought neither and disappeared from the front page news as quickly as he arrived. “On Tuesday July 23rd Parham was released from jail after two Houston friends paid bail of $1000. Parham secured a lawyer named C. A. Davis and announced to his followers that he was a victim of an elaborate frame up devised by his old rival WILBUR VOLIVA.”96 The charge by Parham against Voliva was never denied by Voliva. The fact is that Voliva had vowed to discredit Parham. Voliva had been in a very public fight with Parham and no one ever disputed that Parham was framed. “He [Parham] also stated that he would fight the charges. While Parham had been in San Antonio he had been preaching at a mission run by Lemuel C. HALL who was a former disciple of John Alexander Dowie. Parham convinced Hall to separate himself from Voliva’s organization, which was known as The Christian Catholic Apostolic Church (set up by Dowie) and to ally himself with the Apostolic Faith. Parham claimed 94
Powell, Phillip. Christian Witness Ministries. Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues. March 2004. Powell, Phillip. Christian Witness Ministries. Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues. March 2004. 96 Christian Witness Ministries. Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues. Phillip Powell. March 2004 95
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that Voliva was fighting back. Had Voliva attacked Parham through the press previously? The answer is YES.”97 Of this there is no doubt. “In addition to Parham, Voliva launched a direct attack on “Parham’s associates” in ZION. Among them were Bingley, a self confessed dirty old kisser, Fockler a self-confessed adulterer and Brudder Tom, ... an immoral man, caught ... hugging and kissing Sister Hall.”98 Voliva’s Zion City was in shame and Voliva, looking for a scapegoat, decided to blame it all on Parham. Even if Voliva’s schemes to defraud Parham had completely discredited Parham, Zion would have still failed. “From this we can clearly see that Voliva was prepared to fight dirty at the expense of a man’s reputation so as to hold onto his position of power. James Goff in his book Fields White Unto Harvest goes on to quote in the footnotes that the ZION HERALD (Voliva’s newspaper) and two other Christian newspapers deliberately distorted the truth in what they reported to show Parham in a bad light. I will gladly send copies to anyone wishing to view these.”99
W. G. Voliva
Voliva put up more signs, all over the city. This is what these said “You Know! That this city is the private headquarters of the Christian Catholic Church for its Officers and Members. Those who break in here and attempt to hold meeting of any kind, especially to run a disgraceful Monkey-House, are nothing but thieves and thugs. Old Parham from Sodom made fools and Monkeys out of you. Either repent of your idiotic performances and line up for GOD and Zion or pack up your stuff and get out of here, and establish a Zoo somewhere else. W. C. Voliva100 “Now concerning Parham’s supposed court case, all charges were dropped with no explanation given by the Texas Police. No formal indictment was ever filed! This simply means that the case did not go to trial and under the law Charles Fox Parham was a free man. It meant that he was not tried by a jury of his peers and was therefore never found guilty of any crime. The charge sheet does not exist because it is procedure in Texas that documents relating to cases that do not go to trial are destroyed.”101 To put things now into perspective why are these facts not offered when 97
Ibid. Powell. Goff, James R. Fields White Unto Harvest. Page 225. Footnote 43. 99 Ibid. Powell. 100 http://www.forensicgenealogy.info/contest_121_results.html 101 Powell, Phillip. Christian Witness Ministries. Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues. March 2004 98
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rumor mongers tell of Parham’s trials? Tale bearers and backbiters are only interested in attention, not facts! Do not attempt to confuse them with the facts. “A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.” 102 Exodus 20:16: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” Was Charles Fox Parham refused ordination? Let us see what James Goff says about this – FIELDS WHITE UNTO HARVEST
page 31:{Parham} was licensed in the Winfield District, Methodist Episcopal Church, North at the annual meeting of the Southwest Kansas Conference in March 1893. The following June, he was appointed as a supply Pastor for the Eudora church and entered actively into the Methodist pastorate.
Page 33: Despite his success, there were also storm clouds in sight. There is no evidence that Parham actively sought ordination as a regular member of the Southwest Kansas Conference, but it is safe to assume his superiors were not yet sure he was ready; his reappointment in 1894 still listed him as a ‘supply appointment’.
Page 36:...while officials may have delayed steps to formally ordain Parham, there is no evidence that any action was ever taken to remove him from the Methodist Church. Rather, it was Parham himself who voluntarily took that step. He reported to the annual Conference representing his Eudora congregation in March 1895. While listening to the presiding bishop ordain the new conference members, he reportedly was ‘horrorstruck at the thought that the candidates were not left free to preach by direct inspiration.’ He immediately surrendered his local preacher’s license and severed all connections with the denomination.
As you can clearly see Parham was a supply Pastor with the Methodist Church and although “technically not ordained” he still served in that role. “The technical term used is character assassination! In Charles Fox Parham’s case when you throw enough mud some always sticks, and he never gained prominence again. He died in 1929 in Baxter Springs, Kansas. His ministry had a few thousand followers at the time of his death. “Previously I mentioned the underlying tone of bad roots…major leaders in Pentecost who have gone bad. We do NOT excuse them, but their failure does not mean that the 102
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whole movement is false or corrupt. There are tens of thousands of pastors who did the right thing and who did not fall because of morality or money. Men like John G Lake that in the five years of Lake’s ministry in Africa from 1908-1912 over 1 million souls were saved. He planted 625 churches (of which 125 were white and 500 black), raised up 1,250 preachers. Over a 23-year period (1913-1935) he saw 100,000 people healed and that Spokane where he settled is documented by the US Government as the nation’s healthiest city.”103 It is interesting to note that when an earthquake struck San Francisco on April 18, 1906, God was pouring out his Holy Spirit on Azusa Street on the very same day. Frank Bartleman in his book AZUSA STREET on Page 53 says this: “The San Francisco earthquake was surely the voice of God to the people of the Pacific Coast. It was used mightily in conviction, for the gracious after revival. In the early “AZUSA” days both Heaven and hell seemed to have come to town. Men were at the breaking point. John G. Lake and Thomas Hezmalhach after Conviction was mightily on the people. They would fly into they established the Apostolic Faith Mission in pieces even on the street, almost without provocation. A South Africa. Hezmalhalch was the first very “dead line” seemed to be drawn around “Azusa President and Lake was his successor Mission” by the Spirit. When men came within two or three blocks of the place they were seized with conviction. Bartleman continues on Page 54 and note what he says: The false was sifted from the real by the Spirit of God.” “THE WORD OF GOD ITSELF DECIDED ABSOLUTELY ALL ISSUES. The hearts of the people, both in act and in motive were searched to the very bottom. It was no joke to become one of the company. No man “durst join himself to them” except he mean business, to go through. It meant a dying out and cleaning up process in those days to receive the “baptism”. We had a tarrying room upstairs for those especially seeking God for the “baptism” though many got it in the main assembly room also. In fact they often got it in their seats in those days. On the wall of the tarrying room was hung a placard with the words “no talking above a whisper”. We knew nothing of “jazzing” them through at that time. The Spirit wrought very deeply. An unquiet spirit, or a thoughtless talker, was immediately reproved by the Spirit. We were on “ Holy ground”. The atmosphere was unbearable to the carnal spirit. They generally gave this room a wide birth unless they had been thoroughly subdued and burnt out. Only honest seekers sought it, those who really meant business with God. It was no “lethal chamber” nor place to throw fits, or blow off steam in. Men did not “fly off their lungs’’ in those days. They flew to the mercy seat. They took their shoes off, figuratively speaking. They were on “holy
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ground.” “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
“Sarah Parham recalled some of the trials and tests this way, “June 2, 1902, another son was born to us. We wanted him to have a Bible name and called him Philip Arlington. Tom Alley, an old gentleman who bad lived in Jerusalem for ten years, was often a welcome guest in our home. He gave Mr. Parham a bottle of water he had brought from the Jordan River. We did not believe in sprinkling babies, as a special ordinance, but used it simply as a consecration service. Our friends came in for prayer, and we dedicated him to God.” Sarah Parham continued, “Our friends, the Wades, have contributed the following: We well remember the first time we met Bro. Parham. It was prior to his moving to Kansas City, Mo. He came here and held a few meetings in a mission at 16th and Main Sts. We were greatly impressed with his teachings, for he taught the Full Gospel. We were already believers in divine healing and several members of our family had been healed. Then a little later he moved his family to Kansas City and from that time on for twenty-nine years we were very close friends of him and his family. We knew him when he wrote his book "A Voice Crying in the Wilderness" which is still a cherished possession in our home. Then he opened a Bible School at 11th and Oak Sts., which we had the privilege of attending every afternoon and night for four months. We learned more of the teachings of God than we had ever learned before.”104 Sarah Parham continued quoting her good friends the Wade family. “We also know of some of the things `he had to endure while living in Kansas City. A good many persecutions that he suffered at the hands of so called ministers of the gospel. Do not think for a minute that Mr. Parham told us a word for he never did. We do not think we ever heard him say a harmful word of a living soul or ever utter a word of complaint. We remember at one time he took a minister and his family (and his family consisted of six members and he also brought a deaconess with him) into his home and kept them for nearly three months as he was down and out and had nowhere to go. Bro. Parham gave them the best room in the house, and treated them as royal guests. Then when they fell heir to a small amount of money just before Bro. Parham dosed the Bible school, they did not give Bro. Parham one cent and even left his personal bills for Bro. 104
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Parham to pay, which Bro. Parham did without a murmur, for which God honored and prospered him.�105 "While Bro. Parham was walking to church with a preacher, he saw that his friend had no overcoat and that the night was cold. Bro. Parham took off his coat and gave it to him saying he felt that the Lord wanted him to do this. For some time no one noticed that Bro. Parham was going without a coat, as he concealed it by being the first one at the night meeting and the last to leave. When it was discovered what he had done, means were given for a coat, and one of the leading tailors of Kansas City offered to do the work free of charge if the material was furnished. Thus the Lord rewarded his sacrifice with a better coat than he had given away, although we felt sorry that he went without one as long as he did.� "A short time before Bro. Parham moved to Kansas, he told us of a young minister who seemed to be branching out on the Full Gospel Lines, and was at this time holding meetings. Bro. Parham asked us to attend his meetings and help him in every way we could. This we did but had not attended there long until this young minister, through some friends of his, tried to turn us against Bro. Parham, and not only us but a number of others, some of which (I am sorry to say) listened to the false accusations and did turn against him. We watched very closely the lives of these persecutors and saw them one by one come to naught, while Bro. Parham went on to higher and deeper things in God, never saying one word in his own defense. He was like the Master, "too busy about his Father's business" to bother himself with the things the devil was trying to stir up.�106 "We recall another time when a minster told Bro. Parham that he could preach a certain night in his mission and he sent cards to all his friends stating that fact, and we went and found the mission packed (friends expecting to hear Bro. Parham) and to our great disappointment this minister took charge of the service, and never even asked Bro. Parham to the platform, after promising him he could preach that night. A few weeks later we saw Bro. Parham hand this minister's wife one dollar, and heard her say, "The Lord knew I just lacked that one dollar of having enough money to go to my husband." (he having left the city a week or so before). So you see, he was always returning good 105 106
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for evil. I have often thought that there would have been very few that would have been willing to stand the persecutions and hardships that he and his faithful wife endured as they were being "tried as gold in the fire." Bro. Parham was often wounded in the house of his friends, and mistreated by those who he did the most for, which we know sometimes he felt very keenly, even though he did not retaliate or resent it.�107 "If there could be one thing more than another that proved to me the wonderful Christian life Bro. Parham lived, it is his family of four sons and a daughter, who, with their families, are every one of them honest, honorable, upright Christians, proving that through his faithful Christian life they too have accepted their father's God.108 "He always made our home his whenever he was in the locality where we lived; staying with us from a few days to as much as three weeks at a time, which we felt an honor and a privilege to have him do. His being in our home so much and always the same cheerful Bro. Parham he was the first time we met him, made him very endeared to us. While we sadly miss him, his memory will ever be cherished in our home." From those close to Parham, those who knew him, his family and his lifestyle there was never a hint of impropriety. For the remainder of his life, Parham suffered as a result of the scandal. His ministry was threatened, as was his life on occasion. But he was steadfast in his commitment to continue traveling and preaching. He held tremendous meetings in the Pacific Northwest where thousands were healed and baptized in the Holy Spirit. It was in one of these meetings in the winter of 1924 that Gordon Lindsay found salvation and would later establish the international Bible college, Christ for the Nations. In 1927, Charles Parham realized his lifetime dream of traveling to the Holy Land. He returned in April, 1928 with slides of his visits to Jerusalem, Galilee, Samaria, and Nazareth and spent the next year and a half showing them at his meetings. After spending Christmas of 1928 with his family, he was scheduled to preach and show his slides in Temple, Texas and it was there while making his presentation he collapsed from heart failure. In a weakened condition he returned to his home in Kansas. He 107 108
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waited for his son Wilfred to return from ministry in California, while his youngest son, Robert, quit his job to be at his side. After many days fasting and praying, Robert came to Parham’s bedside to tell him he had dedicated his life to the ministry. Parham was filled with joy and a great peace overcame him. He died quietly on January 29, 1929 at the age of fifty-six. It was a real pleasure to visit the place where he was laid to rest. Thankfully, his tomb stone reads as it should, “FOUNDER OF THE APOSTOLIC FAITH MOVMENT.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bernie L. Wade, Ph.D. is a noted Pentecostal and Apostolic historian. He serves on the Executive Board of Apostolic Archives. “The Apostolic Archives International is a well articulated preservation society for Pentecostal history. We are proud to represent the global activity of the Apostolic Faith Movement from the cradle to the present condition. Our purpose is to preserve historical information at large concerning the movement in order to benefit every individual that has an interest in the Apostolic perspective.”109 Bernie L. Wade is a third generation Apostolic minister who traces his roots through the PAJC to the Apostolic Faith movement. He also serves on the International Presbytery of the ICOF – International Circle of Faith. http://www.icof.net Dr. Wade has written extensively about the Apostolic Faith movement and several key organizations. See: The Original Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) The History of Apostolic Reformation in the 20th Century The History of the Apostolic Faith Church of God (AFCOG) The History of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (PAJC) For more information write: P.O. Box 685, LaGrange, KY 40031 or email: Bernie.wade1212@gmail.com
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