John Alexander Dowie 1847 - 1907 |
God's Family Album - God's Family Album A ~ D | |||
Thursday, 28 May 2009 09:32 | |||
While serving at the Newtown Congregational Church about 1876 a young girl lay groaning and grinding her teeth with white froth and blood passing from her mouth. Dowie prayed for the girl and she fell into a deep sleep. "Is she dead?" her mother asked. Later she awoke completely recovered. Her brother and sister had the same fever and were healed as well. "And this is the story of how I came to preach the Gospel of healing through Faith in Jesus." He organized the International Divine Healing Association with branches in Australia and New Zealand in 1886. He ministered healing to many despite encountering much opposition. In 1888 he moved to San Francisco with his wife and 2 children believing that God wanted him to carry the “leaves of healing from the Tree of Life to every nation.” "By 1901, he had become such a dynamic influence upon the Christian people of America that he had baptized over 10,000 converts in four years and had over 40,000 subscribers to his Leaves of Healing magazine which was published in English, Dutch and German.". When Dowie was criticized in Australia he continued to promote God's healing and deliverance and many were healed. When he was criticized in Chicago he moved and ignored the criticism. It was during that fair that one of the earliest serial killers in North America was murdering young women less than 1 mile from the same location at the same time. Who received criticism? Later when Mr. Dowie was deceived and scandalized by the editor of the CHRISTIAN WORLD he became obsessed with bringing justice to bear on this man. He even went so far as to rent 25 train cars to carry 1500 believers to meetings at Madison Square Garden which he rented for the occasion in 1907.This time when criticism arose he changed his tactic and chose to listen to and deal with the critics. Not many were healed then as a result. |