The 7 Churches of Revelation and End Times Apostasy
(part 2)
The Birth of the Modern Pentecostal Movement:
Here is a "brief" synopsis of the early leaders of the modern pentecostal movement. I was frankly quite surprised at how much information was out there in the web about these people. They were covered extensively in news papers of the time; of which until I did this research, I didn't realize how much interest religious groups generated in the American media of that era.
Phoebe Palmer - 1840's to 1870's (died in 1874)
She is the "mother" of the "holiness movement" and the first to make popular the term "baptism in the Spirit"; although her understanding of it was not "speaking in tongues". To her understanding, it was the "power to live without sinning."
It wasn't until the Azusa Street revival (1906) that "baptism in the Spirit (or rather spirit)" came to be associated with "speaking in tongues" in the US.
Charles Fox Parham - 1895 to 1914 (died in 1929)
He is known as the "father" of Pentecostalism. Born in 1873; as a child he suffered from encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and tapeworms. He also had Rheumatic Fever at 9 years old; which weakened his heart. He suffered with the effect of the illness and recurring episodes of it for the rest of his life. (Rheumatic fever is a complication resulting in systemic inflammation from improperly treated strep bacteria. Different strains of strep can cause Rheumatic or Scarlet fever.)
Parham attended a university briefly to study medicine; but quit after another onset of Rheumatic fever almost killed him.
It was at this point that Parham broke with all denominations (1895). He married Sarah Elenor Thistlewaite in 1896 and in 1898 set out for Topeka Kansas. He had been a Methodist; having had a religious conversion experience back in his mid teen years. His parents were described as God fearing people; but not denominationally affiliated.
He spent some time studying with Frank Stanford; a holiness preacher who'd started the Holy Ghost and US Bible School in Shiloh Maine. This is where Parham first witnessed "speaking in tongues" and he believed at the time that this phenomena was indeed a known foreign language; which he believed this "gift" could be used to evangelize in foreign nations. Stanford didn't think much of it; stating its occurrence is infrequent and limited to "intense prayer".
Parham returned home and started his own Bible school / mission in which he called it: Bethel Healing Home (name later changed to Bethel Bible College). (1900) Parham had also gotten into the "faith healing" movement.
He had one student (Agnus Ozman) who is recorded as the first person of the Apostolic Faith Movement to "speak in tongues". Parham, Ozman and his other students were stated to all believe she was speaking Chinese. In the course of the next three days she'd also written out crude hieroglyphs that they believed to also be Chinese.
Within a couple of days; when these scribbles were printed in a newspaper. It was confirmed that they were not Chinese. Matter of fact; they weren't any recognizable language.
Yet allegedly, shortly after this event; Parham and half of his other students began "speaking in tongues". The school had attracted enough students by that point that several set out to China, India and Japan. When it was noted that they could not communicate with the natives there whatsoever; they returned to the US.
The school closed for good in 1901. On top of the "speaking in tongues" failures; Parham's one year old son fell ill and died.
Most of Parham's teachings were focused on events in the book of Acts; which he believed contained the "recipe" for reviving the teachings of the apostles. He later expanded his mission to include healing and was the founder of what would later be called "The Apostolic Faith Movement".
Now Parham was a veracious reader and in the course of his "religions investigations"; somewhere, he'd encountered material written by / and articles about John Alexander Dowie. Parham was said to be a "follower" of Dowie's teachings.
John Alexander Dowie - 1872 to 1904 (died in 1907)
He is known as the "father" of the Faith Healing Movement. He was born in 1847 in Edinburgh Scotland. In 1860 the family moved to Australia where John's father was active in the "Total Abstinence Society". John worked as a boot maker and in 1868; he moved back to Edinburgh to study theology.
After completing his education, John Dowie bounced between Australia and Scotland taking a variety of calls at various churches. He was first ordained in 1872; took his first pastorate in 1873 and married his first cousin in 1876. He published two "books" (which were a series of lectures) and gave up his pastorate to become and evangelist claiming to have "faith healing powers".
While in Australia, Dowie had come under scrutiny and was involved in a criminal investigation of arson. Many of his congregation accused him of embezzling and the company that insured his church building was investigating him for suspected arson. So Dowie did what any up and coming famous "preacher" does. He skipped town and moved to the United States.
After having arrived in the US; Dowie founded "The City of Zion". He'd picked a plot of land 48 miles north west of Chicago. The City of Zion was announced by Dowie on New Year's Day in 1900. It was to be a utopian type city sponsored by the church he had established there in 1896; (The Christian Catholic Apostolic Church). Parham claims in a newspaper article that he'd been a follower of Dowie's Zionism movement from its inception.
Zion Illinois still exists today. Its current population is about 24,500.
The newspaper article (The Topeka Daily Herald - September 26, 1906) cites Parham had come to the City of Zion allegedly on instructions from God to lead the people away from the organization's "general overseer" (named Wilber Voliva) who'd allegedly ousted Dowie from the church's leadership at it's most recent elections. This was not just the Topeka newspaper that reported this though; Parham's trip to Zion City made national headlines; and probably partially because Dowie had already made a "big splash" across the papers for other scandals.
Another article cites Dowie as having embezzled $3 million dollars and having taken off to Mexico in 1905. Dowie had other issues too. He's alleged to have taught polygamy and was accused of having many mistresses and affairs.
Parham did manage to "take over" the City of Zion; yet only for a couple of months. He left the area after a water tower fell on a tent he was staying in. Shortly after this, Parham was arrested in Texas for soliciting sex from an underaged boy.
Within about a year; more newspaper articles began to surface that Parham was homosexual and engaged in acts of pedophilia. Parham claimed these articles were "planted" by Dowie. Parham and especially Dowie were embroiled in multiple legal battles over the rights of ownership of the land in the City of Zion. The people who'd turned over their savings to "Zion Bank" (owned by Dowie) were suing him in attempts to recover their money.
Another newspaper article I encountered while doing this research came from the Zion Herald and was dated August 2, 1907. One article in the paper describes an eyewitness account of one of the assembly meetings of this "Apostolic Faith Movement".
Now take note: does this not sound like it could have been written of one of these "services" that happens today?
The article gives these descriptions:
#1
We have often heard of Justification, Sanctification, and Holy Ghost baptism as being distinct blessings, and, dwelling upon those thoughts, men and women, especially the latter, have gone wild in their insane ecstasies until they dance, jump, wave their hands, shout at the top of their voices, roll on the floor, go into spasms, get rigid, have trances, visions, and finally end up so physically debilitated as to give the demons of the upper air a chance to reincarnate themselves and make the last state of that neurotic house worse than the first, often ending up in adultery, the seal of these holiness meetings. Leaders, especially, are often the implicated with their newly converted.
#2
The chief asset of the Apostolic Faith Movement is emotionalism. "Tom" (Tom Hezmalhalch) will say at the beginning of the meeting, "No we are not here seeking feeling or emotion. That is not it." Yet he will begin by singing some chorus over and over again, waving his hands and shouting his hallelujah's until all through the congregation here and there are seen fluttering hands and heard unintelligible articulations, the sure physical sign of an unbalanced nervous and excited condition.
#3
I have seen young women former students of mine, in whom the whole body, head, and limbs, were in one continuous tremble, utterly unable to control themselves. I have seen older women in the attitude of prayer, with their arms outstretched, jerking in a pitiful manner and finding relief only in falling on a chair.
I have seen from 10 to 12 boys flat on their back's with hands and feet waving in the air, going through all sorts of tremors, jerks, and motions, and at the same time uttering inarticulate noises that would remind one of the bottomless pit rather than the order and decency of heaven.
This article was written in 1907. So if anyone has any question that this is the same phenomena that's going on now; it clearly is.
Wait, there's more - people end up dead!
Yet now having two leaders essentially "fall from grace"; the next two "leaders" stepped up to take their place (Tom Hezmalhalch and John G. Lake). As the now "unofficial leaders" of Zion City; these men along with others living in Zion City (which numbered about 6000 at that time) began to take matters into their own hands. Having believed based on what they'd been taught by both Dowie and Parham; (they had split popularity among the followers) the people began to perform exorcisms in "the style" of Dowie. This is when people in Zion City began to turn up dead.
Three deaths were confirmed by authorities to have happened because of these exorcisms and six individuals (Harold Mitchell, Mitchell's wife, Louise Smith (church eldress), Walter Greenhaulgh (a victim's son), Adam Greenhaulgh (victim's husband), Jennifer Greenhaulgh (victim's daughter) Benjamin J. Hopkins (undertaker)) were arrested. (Hopkin's for not reporting the deaths to the coroner.)
Only Harold Mitchell was jailed for manslaughter; the other four present at two of the known exorcisms were acquitted. The deaths only came to the attention of the authorities when someone "tipped them off" about Latita Greenhaulgh's death. Authorities later stated though, that they had up to to 12 additional cases of suspicious deaths on their hands.
On top of all this; Harold Mitchell charged $30. an exorcism for his "services". Another newspaper (Oakland Tribune - October 20, 1907 - article titled: "Most of the Patients Die") gives us these details. "Most of the Patients Die" was in reference to the suspected death toll now being 15.
(These killings made national headlines.)
When Parham was confronted about these deaths and his teachings; he made a statement to the Topeka Daily Capital which ran the article on September 27, 1907 - "Parham Doubts Tale of Torture".
Parham denied any responsibility for his teachings having any influence on the actions of those performing the exorcisms. He was interviewed in Baxter Springs Kansas, where he was holding another "service". Yet it was well documented that these practices were part of Dowie's teachings; (which Parham had previously stated he was a follower of Dowie's).
Two others, who were suspected of having vital information about these killings (Lake and Hezmalhalch) fled the state; which both later started / joined other "ministries" in Indianapolis (which they didn't stay long there either). They both left the United States and went to South Africa in 1908 claiming God had called them there. The real reason was more likely to escape prosecution for the deaths in Zion City.
Parham lost popularity and followers after the Zion City incidences; yet went on to other endeavors. He traveled frequently through Kansas and Texas where he worked to raise money (with pictures of the "holy land") that he stated would play into "end times prophecy".
By 1908; Parham had raised enough money (and stated to the press) that he had "information" on where the Ark of the Covenant was and that he was headed to Palestine on an archeological expedition to find it. (I have searched, but could not find any newspaper articles on this.) Allegedly, he got as far as New York City. He never purchased a ticket to the Middle East and returned home claiming he'd been robbed.
In 1914 he found the Assemblies of God denomination.
He died in 1929.
William J. Seymour - 1906 to 1914 (died in 1922)
Seymour obtained his doctrines from Parham. Seymour was one of the founders of the Azusa Street Revival in 1906; and had a bit of a difficult "go" of becoming an evangelist, because of his race. Seymour was of African ancestry.
Seymour though, had became acquainted with a woman by the name of Lucy F. Farrow, who was Parham's children's nanny, when Parham had moved to Houston and began his second Bible college there in 1905. Farrow encouraged Seymour to take classes at Parham's school; but (allegedly) because of Texas's Jim Crow laws, Seymour was only allowed to sit outside the classroom and listen from the hallway.
Parham did bring Seymour with him on street preaching endeavors, although would only allow him to preach to other blacks. Seymour continued though, hoping to receive the "baptism in the spirit" which never occurred for him in the time that he studied under Parham. Seymour and Parham did have some doctrinal differences though. Seymour did not believe in annihilation of the wicked, nor did he believe even at that point, that tongues was for evangelism. Now at what point did Seymour believe tongues was a manifestation of one being "baptized in the spirit", or that it was not a known foreign language; I don't know. I haven't been able to track down where that belief came from.
Yet, upon invite first from Lucy F. Farrow and then the Azusa Street Mission itself; Seymour moved to Los Angelous in order to preach at the mission. The mission was founded by Julia Hutchins and was part of the Southern California Holiness Association - (SCHA). Seymour argued that speaking in tongues was evidence of having received the Holy Spirit; whereas the SCHA believed that it wasn't and forbid him from preaching this doctrine. When Seymour refused; the SCHA banned him from the Azusa Street Mission.
Despite this; the SCHA's president maintained an interest in "baptism in the spirit" even though the organization's official position did not match Seymour's doctrine. The president told Seymour to please contact him if he ever was "baptized in the spirit".
So, Seymour remained connected to people at the mission and began a Bible study / prayer group in a member's home. As the study group grew, it later moved to someone else's home because they had a bigger house.
On Friday April 6th, 1906; the study / prayer group decided to add fasting to their prayers They planned on fasting for 10 days and on Monday April 9th, the first participant (who preached / taught after Seymour) began "speaking in tongues". By the end of the day, several of the other study / prayer group participants were also "speaking in tongues".
By April 12th news had spread through the mission members of those in the study / prayer group having been "baptized in the spirit" and that evening Seymour himself had been "baptized in the spirit". Thus the Azusa Street Revival officially began.
The revival went on for the next 3 years, in which as many as 1500 people would pack into the small mission to hear the preachers. From its inception, the revival remained all inclusive in regards to participants' race or ethnic back grounds. It was a socially progressive movement, which also included allowing women to preach and teach.
Ironically Parham was uncomfortable with this "racial mixing" and though he'd heard of this revival, he initially would not come to see what was happening. Many other holiness preachers though did come to preach and pray with the mixed group and in this sense; the revival held true of what God commands, that there be no distinction among Christians based on ethnicity, or culture of origin. It is true that we are one body in Christ regardless of what earthly language, culture, ethnic, sociological or religious background we come from and that we should not be segregated when it comes to the Christian life.
This movement became the origin of where the term "pentecostal" came from.
Though they were correct that segregation for racial / ethnic reason is wrong; other reports from eye witnesses, as well as local news papers were not filled with glowing accolades. Like as was described of behavior at Dowie's meetings; several people described fanatical and immoral behavior at Azusa Street.
Following quotes from:
Holy Laughter to Holy Fire by Michael L. Brown, pages 197&198
G. Campbell Morgan - English by nationality: died in England in 1946.
Professor at Cambridge, Birmingham and Biola, President of Chestnut college of Cambrige and Northfield Bible Conference at Moody Bible Institute: Pastor at Westminster Chapel.
Interesting side note: Toward the end of his life, Morgan changed his eschatological beliefs concerning Zionism from dispensationalism to God's promises today are fulfilled in the Christian church.
He described the Azusa Street activities as:
"the last vomit of Satan."
R.A. Torrey - American: died in 1928.
Earned doctorate of divinity from Yale. President of Moody Bible Institute. Pastored a congregational church in Ohio, and Chicago Avenue Church (now Moody Church). He was also a YMCA chaplain to EPW's (enemy prisoner of war) during the Spanish American, WWI & WWII.
He declared that this new Pentecostal movement was:
"emphatically not of God, and founded by a Sodomite."
H. A. Ironside - Canadian born Canadian / American citizen; died in 1951.
Had no formal college education, but preached at Moody Church in Chicago. He was an author of many books and pamphlets. He coined the term "fundamentalism" and held a strong position for dispensationalism.
He said (in 1912) both the holiness and Pentecostal movements were:
"disgusting. . .delusions and insanities." ... "pandemonium's where exhibitions worthy of a madhouse or a collection of howling dervishes," were causing a "heavy toll of lunacy and infidelity."
W.B. Godbey - American: died in 1920.
Main career was as the pastor of a Methodist church in Kentucky. He was also a public school teacher, taught at God's Bible School in Cincinnati and was president of Harmonia College in Kentucky. He was an adherent to the traditional Methodist holiness movement.
He said the Azusa Street Reviva was the result of spiritualism and called its participants: .
"Satan's preachers, jugglers, necromancers, enchanters, magicians, and all sorts or mendicants,"
Clarence Larkin - American: died in 1924.
Went to college for mechanical engineering, became a drafter and later became a teacher for the blind. He left that profession due to health reasons and after a prolonged "reset" went into manufacturing. Finally (though he did pastor a church for a while) he became an author and illustrator of books and pamphlets exposing the dispensational viewpoint. He's most known for his Bible history charts and illustrative time lines.
"But the conduct of those possessed, in which they fall to the ground and writhe in contortions, causing disarrangement's of the clothing and disgraceful scenes, is more a characteristic of demon possession, than a work of the Holy Spirit. From what has been said we see that we are living in "Perilous Times," and that all about us are "Seducing Spirits," and that they will become more active as the Dispensation draws to its close, and that we must exert the greatest care lest we be led astray."
Finally though in October of 1906 Parham did come to the mission and was not happy with what he was witnessing. He did go to the pulpit and denounced the movement, as well as criticizing many of the leaders Seymour had appointed; but much of his criticisms were more racially motivated, then they were adhering to anything Parham thought was doctrinally sound.
Parham did verbally uphold the truth that "speaking in tongues" was indeed to consist of miraculously speaking a known foreign language; ironically though, he did not practice that in his own circles.
In response, Seymour denounced Parham's leadership connection to the movement and stated that the Holy Ghost was the mission's only leader. Severing the movement from Parham though, ended up being fatal to the revival and from that point on the Azusa Street movement fell into disfavor with the greater holiness movement.
The major blow came though when Florence Crawford (who'd been the director of the Pacific Coast Apostolic Faith Movement - PCAFM) parted ways with Seymour and moved CPAFM to Portland Oregon.
The Azusa Street ministry also ran an apostolic faith publication newsletter (the Apostolic Faith Newspaper) which ended up the property of PCAFM when the paper's editor stole its mailing list and moved to Oregon to work for Florence Crawford. Allegedly, Clara Lum (the paper's editor) took issue with Seymour marrying Jennie Evens Moore. I did look on the Internet to see if I could find what that tiff was about; albite I didn't find anything. What ever Clara Lum's issue was; it does not appear to be race related as Moore and Seymour were of the same ethnicity.
As far as the movement of "baptism in the spirit" goes; there was some infighting between American and Canadian groups as to "who got there first".
In Canada; prior to 1906 there were reports of people (allegedly) "speaking in tongues" as the now manifestation of being "baptized in the spirit". This was not reported until 1907 though; so what was really going on prior to what was being reported from the Hebden Mission in Toronto (1907) can not be verified with hard documentation.
Ellen Hebden who was one of the leaders of this mission began to report having had this experience herself in 1906. She later wrote to William J. Seymour to tell him that this "revival" phenomena was happening in Canada. "Post humorously" debate has arisen over where did this happen first? Were they independent experiences, or did Hebden have prior knowledge of Seymour's "revival"?
Now when this type of phenomena first started; the leaders of these movements wished to remain independent of each other (believing to be) for fear of losing their freedom. They believed that if they joined together with denominations this would hurt the movement. None of the organizations this was happening in; were connected to historically already established denominations.
It wasn't until 1909 that "pentecostalism" groups tried to form a denomination. They were not successful at the time. Most of these organizations started as little mission groups and did not trust each other, or larger organizations and this is why they had trouble organizing (and / or incorporating) into / as denominations.
This becomes important as their history gets into the 1940's and the "latter rain" movement; as it attains to these organizations accountability. Because these organizations have no church hierarchy; there is no one to appeal to when the pastors become authoritarian.
1914 - Assemblies of God begins in the US.
1919 - the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada became the first pentecostal denomination to successfully organize.
The two (AoG and PAC) had merged for a while but split again in 1924.
Next up we'll be returning to the Book of Revelation.
Here though I would be neglectful if I didn't spring this little gem on the readers. Charle's Parham; the driving force behind this movement in general was… a Mason! Now isn't that interesting? (He was also a member of the Ku Klux Klan; which gives some context to his interactions with Seymour; but I think his connections to Masonry is more telling.)