JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE - THE CORNERSTONE OF CULTS

You might not have heard of John Alexander Dowie, but you have probably seen his influence in operation in many modern cults.  This article is not going to rehash his history, but analyse his behavior and his personality.  Most of this is based on a book: Militant Christian Extremism: A Critical Examination of John Alexander Dowie, by John Andrew Collins.

For those who don't know much about Dowie, I will summarize his history.

He was born in Scotland in the middle of the 19th century.  His family moved to Australia when he was in his preteens.  In his late teens, he did return to Scotland for Bible studies.  Back in Australia, he became a Congregational minister, and pastored a few churches.  He split with that organization, and became totally antidenominational.  He also began preaching a "Gospel of Divine Healing."

As a faith healer, he gained more fame and influence.  But pressure from the press and local government officials led him to come to America.

First, he settled in Los Angeles.  The newspapers supported him, until they received reports about his behavior in Australia.  He soon moved up to San Francisco, where the same process repeated itself.

He arrived in Chicago just as the city was beginning to prepare for a World's Fair.  He set up a tent right beside the entrance to the fair as an easy way to pull in new followers, and money.

Conflicts with the press and city leaders caused him to move again, but this time he didn't go far.  He established the Chicago suburb of Zion, sandwiched between Waukegan and Wisconsin.  He was ousted from ministry, but stayed in Zion until his death in 1906.

Several well known leaders in early Pentecostal circles came from Dowie's commune:  Charles Fox Parham, F. F. Bosworth, John G. Lake, and Gordon Lindsay.  Bosworth and Lindsay were close associates of William Branham.

My analysis of Dowie is that he was a narcissist.  Narcissists always want to be the center of attention, they are always right, they are never to be blamed even when they are caught doing wrong.

I don't think he was born a narcissist, but I can see how he might have become one.

His exposure to ministry began in Scotland during his childhood.  Dowie wrote tracts and gave speeches for the Temperance Movement.  I'm sure the attention he received then boosted his confidence, and his ego.

He probably worked with the Salvation Army then because they were a major part of that movement.  Later, in Australia, he led several Salvation Army style marches.  When Dowie was criticized for the noisy spectacles, he publicly condemned the bar owners, the press, and even other ministers who didn't like his tactics.

Dowie seemed to have an appetite for controversy as a way to draw attention to himself.  He would often attack Spiritualists, Catholics, denominations and their ministers before they would say anything about him.  He even criticized a popular Civil War hero upon the man's death.  After he started his healing ministry, he added doctors, nurses, and government health officials to his list of targets.

Sadly, Dowie criticized his victims.  Many people with serious medical conditions came to him for healing, but no one could confirm any healings happening under his ministry.  He opened up healing homes, where people would pay good money to stay in order to receive healing.  But many were carried out the back under cover of darkness to be taken to funeral homes.  People who came to his services and didn't get healed, he would accuse them of not having enough faith.  Towards the end, he claimed that some were not worthy of healing!

One other thing I need to cover about Dowie - his financial abuse.  He would take up multiple collections during a service.  He would neglect or refuse to pay suppliers or contractors.  He built his commune by buying up land, then lease lots to his followers, or if they wanted to buy the lot, they could borrow money from the bank he owned.  He left behind a huge fortune. I believe the gathering of wealth also fed his ego.  He sometimes bragged about his business skills.

Well, I hope you can see how many cult leaders, false teachers, false prophets, false apostles, and false messiahs, etc. operate and fit this pattern.  Chances are, Dowie wasn't the first preacher to work this way, and he definitely wasn't the last, either!  But, I believe that preachers who followed Dowie copied his pattern, and it spread through various movements and revivals.

If you want to read John Collins' book, or just to find out more about Dowie, check John's website:  William Branham Historical Research

FIVE-FOLD? AGAIN??

Yep, I'm going to talk about the Five-Fold Ministry doctrine once again, and I hope for the last time.  I've been mulling over the name of that doctrine, what people have done with this, and what the Scripture say that people are missing in their understanding, and how we should describe the ministries listed in Eph. 4:7 - 16.

For a quick review, the ministries are: apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers.  Leaders have twisted these into a hierarchical structure, like a pyramid, with apostles and prophets at the top, with everyone else subject to their authority.  Anyone questioning their teaching, prophecies, or authority is disfellowshipped, defamed, and depressed.  This authoritative structure has led to destroyed marriages and families, and even death.

I believe the word "Five-Fold" gives these ministries authority they were never intended to have.  When you fold something like cloth or paper, you create layers, or levels.  Levels indicate structure, and authority is often organized along levels.  So you can see how the abuse entered the picture.

Speaking of pictures, look at your hand with the fingers spread out.  I have seen preachers use this to illustrate the doctrine.  Now, fold your fingers in.  What do you have?  A fist.  You can see how this doctrine has led to aggressive, even militant, behavior.

We should all agree, we need to rethink the pyramid image, maybe clarify it, or replace it with something more suitable.

I believe the pyramid image reflects two-dimensional thinking.  Having worked as a drafter, I have learned about 2- and 3-dimensional images.  Most of the time, when people think of a pyramid with 4 visible sides, like the ones in Egypt, they forget about the fifth side, the base.  Out of sight, out of mind. So, such pyramids have five sides, 4 triangles, and one square.

A 2-dimensional figure with five sides is called a pentegon.  Definite military connection there, so let's go back to 3-dimensional solids.

A five sided solid is called a pentehedron.  The pyramid I described above is just such an object.  Now if you extend the peak along the central axis far emough from the base, you have a squared spire.  If you tilt the central axis, you have something like a spike or tooth.  Again, inappropriate images to associate with ministry.

As we are often told, don't take verses out of context.  If we look elsewhere in Ephesians, we see some verses that apply.

Ephesians 2:19-22 LSB

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner the castone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Well, this passage knocks out the pyramid as a suitable illustration for the five ministries.  According to the standard hierarchical model, apostles and prophets are the capstone of the pyramid, not down at the bottom, in the foundation.

This image then is not one of a pyramid, but a temple

Something else to consider is what Jesus said in John 15, about He is the vine, and we are the branches.

So, instead of saying five-fold, we should say five branches of ministry.

MORE ABOUT THAT FIVE-FOLD THING

Since the post about Paul being a pioneer for the Gospel by opening up new areas, I have come to consider the implications for the Five-Fold Ministry.

One aspect of this is the chronological appearances of these ministries within a given geographic or demographic area.  Once an apostle opens up the area, prophets then appear to support the Apostles' doctrine to give direction to the new disciples' assemblies.

Once a sufficient number of disciples have been trained, elders are appointed, or recognized, to shephard, or pastor the flock.  All the elders are pastors, and not a board that rubber stamps the actions of a single leader.

Of course, other people in the given area still need to hear the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus.  So, comes the need for evangelists.  I am not a Greek scholar, but I have looked into the meaning of evangelist.  The English word is taken directly from the Greek word.  The best I   can determine is that an evangelist is a Good Newser, someone who is full of good news, and not just a travelling preacher.

The new disciples need a foundation of sound doctrines.  The elders may not be able to explain the truth of Scripture to every new disciple, possibly because of the number of new disciples.

This might have been the pattern of the early disciples of Christ.

This chronological view might also apply the list of gifts at the end of 1 Cor. 12.

PAUL THE PIONEER?

Was Paul a pioneer?  We often think of pioneers here in America as those who moved into uninhabited places and settled there to start new farms or ranches and communities.  They could be those who landed on the east coast, and using hand tools, they built houses and tilled the land.  They also hunted and fished until they could establish livestock herds or flocks.  They could also be those who moved away from those early settlements in covered wagons to repeat what the earlier pioneers had done.

Well, Paul never wore a tricorn hat, or travelled in a covered wagon, built a log cabin, or grew crops, but he was a pioneer.

Pioneers open up new territory.  That's what Paul did for the Gospel.  But we don't call him a pioneer, and maybe we should.  Then, we might also gain a better understanding of what an apostle is in the New Testament.

Before Alexander expanded the Greek empire to the east, the Greeks had already established a commercial and cultural empire of sorts acound the Mediterranean Sea by sending out groups of people to start colonies on the islands and shores.  These groups would have a leader called an apostle.

So, apostles in the Body of Christ are pioneers.  Their job is to take the Good News of Jesus to areas where it hasn't gone before.  They are not only to proclaim the Gospel, but to make converts into disciples.  Then, when the local assemblies of disciples has grown in both size and maturity, he appoints elders and moves on to pioneer another area.

In Hebrews, Jesus is called the Apostle of our confession (3:1).  Could the Father have sent apostles before Jesus?

Abraham is a possibility.  So is Moses, and Joshua.  I'll leave it up to you to study out.

I believe apostles are needed today. Maybe not to open up new geographic areas, but demographic areas.

I don't see many apostles in action today.  Those who strut around calling themselves apostles probably aren't apostles after all.  The real apostles will be operating in areas unknown to the larger Body of Christ.

I Believe In UFO's

Surprised by the title?  Well, hang on.  I do believe in Unidentified Flying Objects.

What is a UFO?  First, it is something that appears solid, so we call it an object.  It also appears to move through the atmosphere, so we say it is flying.  We can't tell what it is, so it is unidentified.  That's why we call them UFO's.

Unfortunately, people use that term to mean alien spacecraft.  They do that because saying UFO is quicker and easier to say than "alien spacecraft."

UFO's are real.  They have  been, seen photographed, filmed and videoed, so they are not just something someone made up.

But are they alien spacecraft?  I don't know for sure.  I believe some sightings can be explained.

I believe some are experimental aircraft.  Some could be atmospheric in nature, such as lenticular clouds, ball lighting, thunderstorm sprites, or the result of electromagnetic interactions we don't yet understand.

I recently thought of another possibility:  holograms.  Holograms are projected images.  The military could have tested holographic equipment over large cities to measure their effectiveness and range.  Holograms could then be used as a weapon to deceive enemy forces or spies.  This could also explain why some UFO's seem to enter mountains, ridges or cliffs.  Some appear to move faster than man-made aircraft.  A projected image can be made to do the same.

Of, course, another possibility is demons.

Whenever a UFO sighting is investigated, I believe a complete environmental data set should be compiled before analysis begins.  Weather conditions (including space weather), geological background (seismic, topographical, mineralogical), RF (tv and radio broadcast stations in the area), and demographic (population, industrial, and commercial profiles) are the types of information needed beyond date, time, location, and visual evidence (witness accounts, pictures).   Without this, investigations will continue to go round and round, and never come to a conclusion.

MUFON, are you listening?

FIVE-FOLD WHAT??

That title refers to a doctrine known as the Five-Fold Ministry.  This doctrine was first spread through Pentecostalism by a movement known as the Latter Rain.  Today it is a major part of the New Apostolic Reformation.

The major emphasis is on the restoration of apostles and prophets to the Body of Christ, along with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in order to produce a revival that will bring Jesus back to Earth.

Seems legit doesn't it?  Well, hold on to your Bible belts, muh frens...

But first, let's start with some Scripture:

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  Therefore it says,

 “When He ascended on high, 

He led captive a host of captives, 

And He gave gifts to men.”

(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?  He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Ephesians 4:7 - 16, Legacy Standard Bible

Hmmm, that passage does mention apostles and prophets, but it doesn't say anything about restoration or revival or bringing Jesus back to Earth.  Well, those other parts are taken from cherry-picked verse elsewhere in the New Testament.  I might cover those later if I see a need.  That last part is actually very dangerous, as we shall soon see.

Now, let's break down this passage.

First we see that we have received grace "according to Christ's gift."  Thank God!  We often forget, or we don't know, that Christianity is by His grace.  We don't deserve it, and we can't do anything to earn it, or to make ourselves worthy to receive it.  It's all Him!

You should be able to see why I said that part about us bringing Jesus back is so dangerous.  It shifts the responsibility for His return onto us and off of Him.  As if we were capable of doing that!  No, the only contribution we can make is to trust and obey.

The verse that mentions apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers, says He gave "some as..."  What does that mean?  Did He give men as gifts, or did He give men the gifts they needed to serve in the roles He called them to fulfill?  Which is more consistent with His grace?

Also, notice this passage doesn't contain the words five-fold or ministry.  We do see five roles, so that part is okay.

But, when we read or hear the word "ministry," we often think of clergy.  But ministry means service.  Not every member of the Body of Christ is called to one of the five roles mentioned, but we are all called to serve.

In the Gospels, Jesus said several times that "many are called, but few are chosen."  Sounds mysterious, doesn't it?  But to someone who worked in recruiting, it makes perfect sense.  A nation goes to war, and recruiters hit the streets, looking for bodies.  The branches of service compete for those bodies.  Young men and women sign up, and they go through a screening process.  Not everyone passes through the "screen." Many have been called, but few are chosen to continue in military service.

One thing I need to add here about the doctrine.  The proponents of the Five-Fold Ministry have labelled these roles as "offices."  They turn the whole concept into an authoritarian structure, with apostles at the top.  The ministers then become intermediaries between the people and God.  You need them to tell you what to believe, what to think, what to say or not say, who to marry, etc.  This just opens the door to abuse.

Contrast that with the rest of the passage.  The last phrase can tell if a congregation is lining up with this Scripture: "building itself up in love."

That's all I have for now.  I will post more about the "offices" later.

A WORD ABOUT CHURCH

That word, "church," gets thrown around a bunch.  It has come to have many meanings.  In its broadest meaning, we use it as a synonym for religion.  We also use it to designate a building dedicated for the instruction and practice of a religion.  A worship service is also called church.  

Those are okay uses for the word, but I  need to point out that we also use the word to mean the people who follow a religion, whether it's a local or worldwide group.

Do those other uses match what the Bible means when that word appears on its pages?  No.  Not at all.

When ever "church" appears in the English Bible, it is always a translation of the Greek word "ekklesia."  Ekklesia refers to people, especially citizens, that have been called out to assemble for a purpose.  At no time does it refer to a building or a religion.

You might be thinking, "So what?  Why is this information important?"  It is important so that we don't misinderstand God's Word.

So, why do we use "church" to mean so many different things?  Some of the words in Christianity have been taken from the Greek New Testament and transliterated into English, such as "baptism" and "Christ."  Why didn't that happen with Ekklesia?  Where did "church" come from?

The English word "church" does come from a Greek word, but not "ekklesia." The original Old English word was "chirchon." It came from the Greek, "kyriokos.". That word comes from two root words that mean "lord" and "house." So, it means "lord's house."

I surmise that once Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, the government let Christians use government facilities, or even gave them buildings. Some of those buildings where called "basilicas" in Greek. That word means, "king's house."

Since Greek was the predominant language of early Christians, they changed basilica to kyriokos.  Then any building used for Christian worship became kyriokos.  The word then migrated through other European langues, including German, "kirche."