As multiple holiness sects merged to form what would become modern Pentecostalism, many unusual men, women, and ministries became immortalized as “heroes of the faith”, many of which are described as such in books and videos naming them as “God’s Generals”. The religious empire of John Alexander Dowie, for example, was one of the multiple prototypes used by Charles Fox Parham as he was birthing the Apostolic Faith movement. Parham visited Frank Sandford’s Shiloh commune and Dowie’s Zion commune while building his own religious sect in Kansas.
Many of these religious leaders of the late 1800s and early 1900s, however, would not be viewed as “Christian heroes” if all of the critical information about them were to be published in those same books and documentaries. From sex crimes to murder, swindling to theft, many of these “Generals” were purely evil men and women. From a religious standpoint, they were not what one would call “Christian”. It should come as no surprise that a majority of the critical issues with their ministries are not included in the propaganda spread by “historians” immortalizing their stage acts in what can only be called “Christian fantasy”.
Some of the grandfathers of the Latter Rain Movement did not advertise themselves or their ministries as Biblical Christians. They were not looking to attract “normal” Christians. Instead, they were seeking to find people unsatisfied with Christianity and exploring an alternative belief system. John Dowie, for example, advertised himself as a “Christian Spiritualist” or as a “Medium” when speaking to new converts. Over time, and with a large portion of their histories concealed from converts and their offspring, the strange blend of Spiritualism and Christianity became advertised as “true Christianity” in the movement while Biblical Christianity was denounced by leaders and their converts.
You can learn this and more on william-branham.org
John Alexander Dowie:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/john_alexander_dowie
Militant Christian Extremism: A Critical Examination of John Alexander Dowie:
https://www.amazon.com/Militant-Christian-Extremism-Examination-Alexander/dp/173516092X
