PIONEER OF THE 20TH.CENTURY HEALING WAVE
FOUNDER OF ZION CITY, ILLINOIS
AND THE CHRISTIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
(1847 - 1907)
HIS TRIALS, TRAGEDIES AND TRIUMPHS
THE STORY OF JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE
JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE TROD SIMILAR PATHS TO THOSE WHO WERE PIONEERS BEFORE HIM; FIRST, THAT WHEN A MAN OR WOMAN IS CALLED OF GOD TO ENTER INTO AN UNUSUAL OR SUPERNATURAL MINISTRY IT IS OFTEN THE CASE THAT GOD ALLOWS THEM TO ENTER INTO A PREPARATION TIME THAT INCLUDES GREAT TRIALS OF SORROW, SUFFERING AND REJECTION. SECONDLY,THAT PERIOD IS OFTEN FOLLOWED BY THAT SERVANT OR HANDMAIDEN FULLY EMBRACING THE MINISTRY OF HEALING AND THE WORKING OF MIRACLES AND A DEEP, UNSHAKEABLE LONGING AND DESIRE TO SEE CHRIST EXALTED BY THE SALVATION OF SOULS, HEALING AND CURING OF THE SICK; AND OTHERS CALLED INTO A SIMILAR MINISTRY AND THIRDLY, THAT WHEN THAT SERVANT OR HANDMAIDEN OF GOD BECOMES INVOLVED IN SECULAR ENGAGEMENTS AND THE ACTIVITIES OF THE WORLD, (ALTHOUGH NOT SINFUL IN THEMSELVES) THE DEEP, PURE, ANOINTING THAT FOLLOWED THEM IN THEIR EARLIER DAYS BEGINS TO DECLINE AND FADE.
WE DO WELL TO TAKE HEED TO THESE LESSONS SET BEFORE US.
JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WAS BORN IN EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, IN 1847; HIS YOUNG LIFE WAS ATTENDED OFTEN BY SICKNESS AND DISEASE; HIS FAMILY WERE VERY POOR AND POVERTY WAS HIS STATION IN LIFE. YOUNG JOHN HAD A DIFFICULT TIME ATTENDING SCHOOL REGULARLY BOTH BECAUSE HE WAS OFTEN TOO SICK, BUT MORE SO, BECAUSE THE CLOTHES HE WORE WERE SO SHABBY THEY CAUSED HIM GREAT EMBARRASMENT.
THROUGHOUT HIS YOUNG YEARS GOD WAS DEALING WITH JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE AND HIS LIFE IS NOT UNLIKE THAT OF MANY WHO ARE CALLED OF GOD TO ENTER INTO A MINISTRY THAT IS BOTH PECULIAR BY IT`S UNIQUENESS AND ASTONISHING BY ITS ATTENDANCE OF THE MIRACULOUS.
JOHN ALEXANDER`S FATHER WAS OFTEN OFF ON PREACHING TRIPS AND IT WAS THE LOT OF YOUNG JOHN TO ACCOMPANY HIS DAD. LIVING IN THE SLUMS AND POOR PLACES IN EDINBURGH AND NOTING THE GREAT WICKEDNESS AND SIN THAT OFTEN WAS FOUND AROUND WHERE HE LIVED HE DEVELOPED A DEEP HATRED FOR SIN AND EVIL WHILST STILL QUITE A YOUNG LAD.
Photo - Edinburgh Castle, Scotland
JOHN ALEXANDER RECEIVED A DEFINITE CALL FROM GOD AT THE EARLY AGE OF SEVEN YEARS, AND ONE DAY WHILST LISTENING TO A STREET PREACHER BY THE NAME OF HENRY WRIGHT, AT A VERY YOUNG AGE, JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE GAVE HIS HEART TO THE LORD JESUS. THERE`S LITTLE DOUBT THAT THAT STREET PREACHER WOULD HAVE HAD ANY IDEA THAT THE YOUNG LAD HE HAD JUST LED TO THE LORD WOULD ONE DAY BE DESTINED TO LEAD TENS OF THOUSANDS TO THE LORD JESUS AND BE AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD THAT WOULD RESTORE IN AN UNMEASUREABLE FASHION, THE HEALING MINISTRY TO THE CHURCH.
YOUNG JOHN WAS EXTREMELY SERIOUS IN THE DEDICATION OF HIS YOUNG LIFE TO THE LORD AND AT THE AGE OF SIX HAD ALREADY SIGNED THE `PLEDGE` NEVER TO TOUCH ALCOHOL.
HE HATED TOBACCO AND WHEN LATER IN LIFE HE ENTERED THE MINISTRY HE WAS IT`S STRONGEST DENUNCIER.
AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN HIS PARENTS EMIGRATED TO AUSTRALIA WHERE HIS UNCLE ALREADY WAS. HE TOOK WORK AND BEGAN TO SAVE HIS WAGES AS BEST HE COULD; WHEN HE WAS 21 YEARS OLD HE LEFT AUSTRALIA AND RETURNED TO SCOTLAND TO STUDY MEDICINE AND TO ENTER THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE AT EDINBURGH AS AN ARTS STUDENT.
HE HAD A DEEP HUNGER FOR KNOWLEDGE, BECAME A BRILLIANT STUDENT AND WAS SAID TO BE NEVER SEEN WITHOUT A BOOK OF SOME KIND IN HIS HANDS AND COULD CONVERSE ON ANY TOPIC. AND EVEN BEFORE HE ENTERED THE MINISTRY GOD REVEALED TO HIM THAT HE WAS A HEALING GOD, FOR JOHN SUFFERED FROM CHRONIC DYSEPSIA AND HAVING PUT HIS FAITH AND TRUST IN GOD AND WITH MUCH PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE, JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WAS COMPLETELY HEALED OF HIS AFFLICTION.
YET IT WOULD BE MANY YEARS BEFORE HE HAD A TRUE, DEEP REVELATION OF THE HEALING MINISTRY.
AS A YOUNG STUDENT AT EDINBURGH JOHN ALEXANDER WAS APPOINTED AS AN HONORARY CHAPLAIN IN EDINBURGH INFIRMARY, AND IT WAS HERE HE SAW HOW THAT SURGERY IN MANY CASES COULD NOT PROVIDE A CURE AND THAT DEATH WAS A CONSTANT VISITOR TO THE THEATRE. HE HAD OPPORTUNITY TO WATCH MANY OF THE OPERATIONS AND WITNESSED THE FATAL RESULTS WHILST OFTEN HEARING THE SURGEONS DECLARE THAT THEY WERE `GUESSING IN THE DARK`.
AFTER BEING IN EDINBURGH SOME TIME JOHN DOWIE RETURNED TO AUSTRALIA, AND IN 1873 RECEIVED THE CALL TO PASTOR A CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH NEAR SYDNEY. DURING HIS TIME THERE THE LORD SHOWED HIM THE UTTER HOPELESSNESS OF HUMANITY WITHOUT THE SAVIOUR, AND THERE WAS INSTILLED DEEP IN HIS SOUL A DESIRE TO SEE MANKIND DELIVERED FROM THEIR AWFUL STATE.
JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE BEGAN TO PREACH HARD AND LONG AGAINST SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, ESPECIALLY THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL AND THE CURSE OF CIGARETTES;……AND HIS ATTITUDE AND REVELATION OF SIN IS SUMMED UP IN A MESSAGE HE GAVE ONE DAY……HE DECLARED…
“ THE AWFUL SIGHTS AND SOUNDS WHICH I SAW AND HEARD IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD AND ELSEWHERE, HAVE DEEPLY IMPRESSED ME WITH THE CONVICTION THAT THERE IS A TERRIBLE AMOUNT OF EVIL AND MISERY IN THIS CITY. THE HALF COULD NOT BE TOLD OF WHAT IS KNOWN, AND IT IS MY FIRM BELIEF THAT NOT ONE TITHE OF WICKEDNESS IS APPARENT TO THE ONLOOKER. IN ALL CLASSES THERE IS A FLOOD OF MORAL EVIL, AND WHILE MEN ARE DISCUSSING MERE EXTERNALS IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS, VAST NUMBERS OF SOULS ARE HARDENING IN VICE AND ARE WHOLLY SLAVES TO BODILY AND CORRUPT PASSIONS. NINE TENTHS OF INFIDELITY IN ALL CLASSES HAS, IN MY OPINION, ITS ROOTS IN IMMORALITY; FOR INSTINCTIVELY THE HUMAN SOUL CRIES OUT TO THE LIVING GOD UNTIL IT IS SILENCED BY SINS CONSCIOUSLY OPPOSED TO ALL IDEAS OF PURITY, AND ONLY THEN DOES THE FEARFUL AND GUILTY HEART QUESTION GOD`S EXISTENCE, DENY HIS LAWS, REJECT HIS SON, AND FLEE FROM HIS PRESENCE…”
WITH THIS REVELATION OF THE UTTER HOPELESSNESS OF MAN`S CONDITION WITHOUT CHRIST, GOD WAS TO REVEAL TO JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE THAT NOT ONLY IS MAN`S HEART DEAD TO SPIRITUAL THINGS BUT HIS EARS ARE ALSO CLOSED SO THAT HE CANNOT HEAR THE MESSAGE OF SALVATION, AND THAT THE PRISONERS WHO ARE BOUND BY THE CHAINS OF SUCH GROSS AND UTTER DARKNESS MUST FIRST SEE THE COMPASSION AND HEALING WORK OF CHRIST ERE THEY CAST THEIR SOUL ON HIM FOR SALVATION.
…..AND JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WAS TO ENTER INTO SUCH AN EXPERIENCE VERY SOON… FOR DURING HIS TIME IN THE SYDNEY SUBURBS A PLAGUE SO GREAT AND TERRIBLE SWEPT THROUGH SYDNEY AND ITS VICINITY BRINGING SUCH DEVASTATION THAT THE YOUNG PASTOR WAS ABSOLUTELY APPALLED. WITHIN A FEW WEEKS HE HAD BURIED MORE THAN FORTY OF HIS OWN CONGREGATION.
JOHN DOWIE WAS ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED AND HEARTBROKEN. THE SICK AND DYING WERE EVERYWHERE, THE TRAGEDY AND SORROW CUT HIM DEEPLY.
…HE WROTE LATER THAT HE SAT IN HIS CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, SORROWING AND WEEPING, AND SAYING…
”WHERE, OH WHERE, WAS HE WHO USED TO HEAL HIS SUFFERING CHILDREN? ..NO PRAYER FOR HEALING SEEMED TO REACH HIS EAR, AND YET I KNEW HIS HAND HAD NOT BEEN SHORTENED. STILL IT DID NOT SAVE FROM DEATH EVEN THOSE FOR WHOM THERE WAS SO MUCH IN LIFE TO LIVE FOR, GOD AND OTHERS. STRONG MEN…FATHERS..GODLY CITIZENS…AND MORE THAN ALL, TRUE CHRISTIANS SICKENED WITH A FEVER, SUFFERED NAMELESS AGONIES, PASSED INTO DELIRIUM, SOMETIMES WITH CONVULSIONS, AND THEN DIED…MANY HOMES WHERE THE LITTLE CHILDREN,….YOUTHS AND MAIDENS, ….WERE STRICKEN WITH FOUL DISEASE…AND ONE BY ONE LAY COLD AND DEAD… IT SEEMED AS IF I COULD HEAR THE TRIUMPHANT MOCKERY OF FIENDS RINGING IN MY EARS.… .DISEASE THE FOUL OFFSPRING OF ITS FATHER SATAN AND ITS MOTHER SIN… WAS DEFILING AND DESTROYING THE EARTHLY TEMPLES OF GOD`S CHILDREN…AND THERE WAS NO DELIVERER.
….AND THERE I SAT WITH SORROW-BOWED HEAD FOR MY AFFLICTED PEOPLE, UNTIL THE BITTER TEARS CAME TO RELIEVE MY BURNING HEART…. THEN I PRAYED FOR SOME MESSAGE, AND OH HOW I LONGED TO HEAR SOME WORDS FROM HIM WHO WEPT AND SORROWED FOR THE SUFFERING LONG AGO…A MAN OF SORROWS AND SYMPATHIES……THEN THE WORDS OF THE HOLY GHOST INSPIRED IN ACTS 10 vs. 38; STOOD BEFORE ME ALL RADIANT WITH LIGHT, REVEALING SATAN AS THE DEFILER, AND CHRIST AS THE HEALER….”GOD ANOINTED JESUS OF NAZARETH WITH THE HOLY GHOST..AND WITH POWER..AND HE WENT ABOUT DOING GOOD…HEALING ALL THAT WERE OPPRESSED OF SATAN…FOR GOD WAS WITH HIM..”
MY TEARS WERE WIPED AWAY..MY HEART WAS STRONG…I SAW THE WAY OF HEALING…AND THE DOOR WAS THROWN OPEN WIDE.
WITH THE REVELATION OF CHRIST THE HEALER RINGING IN HIS SOUL PASTOR DOWIE LEAPT TO HIS FEET, RAN OUT OF THE CHURCH, AND DOWN THE ROAD TO THE NEAREST HOME OF ONE OF HIS DYING MEMBERS AND, ENTERING IN HE CRIED OUT MIGHTILY TO THE LORD FOR HEALING AND CALLING UPON GOD DECLARED....
“THY WORD IS TRUE….THE PRAYER OF FAITH SHALL SAVE THE SICK.. …SAVE HER NOW LORD “
GOD IMMEDIATELY ANSWERED THE FERVENT PRAYER OF FAITH UTTERED BY JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE…FOR RIGHT THEN, AT THAT MOMENT, THE SICK AND DYING ONE RECEIVED THE TOUCH OF THE LIVING GOD, AND WAS MADE WHOLE., .AND FROM THAT VERY MOMENT… NOT ANOTHER MEMBER OF HIS FLOCK DIED IN THE GREAT EPEDEMIC…FOR, JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WITH FIRE IN HIS SOUL AND ANGER AT THE DEVIL WENT FROM MEMBER TO MEMBER REBUKING THE FOUL DISEASES AND CALLING UPON GOD TO SHOW MERCY AND BRING GREAT DELIVERANCE….AND GOD STOPPED THE PLAGUE, HALLELUYAH!
Photo : circa 1900 ..Martins Place: Sydney... has a large stock of Victorian era buildings, built from the Hawkesbury sandstone on which the city lies...
JOHN ALEXANDER CONTINUED WITH HIS MINISTRY IN THE SUBURBS OF SYDNEY AND OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS SOME EVENTFUL HAPPENINGS OCCURRED IN HIS LIFE BRINGING TRIALS AS WELL AS JOY; HE SOUGHT THE HAND OF HIS COUSIN, JEANIE, IN MARRIAGE, BUT HIS WORLDLY-MINDED UNCLE HAD NO TIME FOR THE YOUNG PREACHER AND HIS MINISTRY AND VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED ANY THOUGHT OF MARRIAGE, REFUSING TO GIVE HIS PERMISSION; JOHN ALEXANDER PLEADED WITH HIS PARENTS TO INFLUENCE HIS UNCLE, AND AFTER QUITE A LENGTHY TIME OF SEVERE OPPOSITION, AND DECLARING THAT THE PENNILESS PREACHER WOULD BRING HIS DAUGHTER TO FINANCIAL RUIN AND POVERTY BECAUSE OF HIS `POOR CHOICE OF A VOCATION`.., THE UNCLE FINALLY RELENTED AND GAVE PERMISSION, BUT CERTAINLY NOT WITH GLADNESS OF HEART. THROUGHOUT THE EARLY YEARS OF THE MARRIAGE THE UNCLE CONTINUALLY SOUGHT TO INFLUENCE HIS DAUGHTER AGAINST HER HUSBAND AND WOULD HAVE, AT A MOMENT, TAKEN HER BACK HOME, BUT YOUNG JOHN RESISTED EVERY INFLUENCE OF HIS FATHER-IN-LAW AND SOUGHT AS BEST HE COULD TO PROVIDE FOR THE NEEDS OF HIS WIFE AND THE 3 CHILDREN ( 2 DAUGHTERS AND 1 SON) THAT WERE BORN TO THEM.
DURING THESE 4 YEARS HE DISTRIBUTED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF LEAFLETS AND TRACTS THROUGHOUT SYDNEY, ANGERING THE ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO INDUSTRY AS WELL AS DEEPLY UPSETTING OTHER CLERGMAN, EVEN IN HIS OWN DENOMINATION, THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, SINCE MANY OF THEIR CHURCH MEMBERS HAD FINANCIAL INTEREST IN THESE INDUSTRIES.
PASTOR DOWIE FELT ALSO, THAT THE WICKED STORIES AND LIES PRINTED ABOUT HIM WOULD HARM HIS MINISTRY TOO. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT HE HAD COMMITTED HIMSELF FINANCIALLY TO THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN AND WHEN HE LOST, ALL HIS FAIR-WEATHER FRIENDS DESERTED HIM AND LEFT HIM DEEPLY IN DEBT. HIS IN-LAWS WERE FURIOUS AND DECLARED THAT THEIR DIRE PREDICTIONS HAD COME TRUE AND SOUGHT TO DRIVE A WEDGE BETWEEN THEIR DAUGHTER AND THEIR SON-IN-LAW. ALL THIS WAS A TREMENDOUS BURDEN ON HIM, AND BECAUSE OF HIS FORTHRIGHT VIEWS MANY CHURCH DOORS CLOSED TO HIS MINISTRY, AND HE COULD BE FORGIVEN FOR THINKING THAT ALL THE WORLD WAS AGAINST HIM . HIS INCOME DROPPED TO ALMOST NOTHING AND BECAUSE OF THEIR DESPERATE SITUATION HIS WIFE WENT TO STAY WITH HER PARENTS FOR A TIME, TAKING THE CHILDREN WITH HER. JOHN ALEXANDER`S HEALTH SUFFERED TOO, BECAUSE OF T HE LACK OF NUTRITION, AND OFTEN-TIMES HE WAS FORCED TO ENTER SEASONS OF FASTINGS SIMPLY BECAUSE HE HAD NO MONEY TO BUY FOOD.
ALSO SOME WELL-MEANING CHRISTIAN FRIENDS ENCOURAGED HIM TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT AS AN ELECTION DREW NEAR, DECLARING THAT HIS INFLUENCE AND PASSION IN PARLIAMENT WOULD BE OF CONSIDERABLE HELP IN CURBING THE LIQUOR AND TOBACCO TRADE; AT FIRST HE OUTRIGHTLY REFUSED, BUT AS HIS FRIENDS CONTINUED TO PREVAIL UPON HIM JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE RELENTED AND ENTERED THE RACE. BUT IF HE THOUGHT HE WOULD BE A WELCOME ENTRANT HE WAS SOON TO DISCOVER OTHERWISE, FOR ALMOST EVERY NEWSPAPER AND OTHER CANDIDATE ROUNDED ON HIM RELENTLESSLY OVER HIS STAND AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRADE AND TOGETHER AS A MAN, VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED HIM AND PRINTED OUTRIGHT LIES IN THEIR NEWSPAPER ABOUT HIM. WHEN THE RESULTS OF THE ELECTION WERE ANNOUNCED POOR JOHN WAS FAR BEHIND IN THE RACE AND TO SAY HE WAS DISAPPOINTED IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT. BUT THIS WAS SURELY PROVIDENCE, FOR HAD HE WON THE ELECTION AND BECOME A PARLIAMENTARIAN, THE WORLD MAY NEVER HAVE EXPERIENCED THE TREMENDOUS WAVE OF HEALINGS THAT WAS SOON TO BREAK OUT.
BUT EVEN DARKER TIMES WERE ABOUT TO UNFOLD, FOR IN 1882 HIS DAUGHTER LITTLE JEANIE WHO HAD, SINCE BIRTH, BEEN OF A WEAK AND POORLY DISPOSITION, TOOK ILL AND AFTER A FEW DAYS PASSED AWAY. THESE WERE THE DARKEST DAYS OF JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE`S LIFE, BUT IT WAS ALSO THAT SAME YEAR THAT A NEW LIGHT WAS ABOUT TO DAWN ON HIS DARK EXPERIENCES, FOR ALTHOUGH HE HAD SEEN THE WONDER WORKING POWER OF CHRIST HEALING THE SICK IN HIS EARLIER MINISTRY DURING THE GREAT PLAGUE, HE HAD NOT AS YET ENTERED INTO A HEALING MINISTRY, SINCE SUCH A THING WAS TOTALLY UNHEARD OF OR KNOWN OF AT THE TIME. AFTER THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF HIS LITTLE CHILD, DR DOWIE, IN 1882 MOVED TO MELBOURNE AND BEGAN ENTERTAINING PLANS TO BUILD A CHURCH INDEPENDENT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL DENOMINATION, AND WHERE, HE PURPOSED, THAT `DIVINE HEALING WOULD BE INTRODUCED AND PRACTICED ON A REGULAR BASIS IN THE CHURCH`
HIS PLANS FOR A NEW BUILDING WERE NOT EASILY FULFILLED FOR HE FOUND THAT SATAN FOUGHT HIM ON EVERY FRONT TO STOP THE BUILDING OF HIS TABERNACLE. FRIENDS FAILED HIM, PROMISES WERE BROKEN, PLANS FRUSTRATED, HOPES OFTEN DASHED BUT JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE HAD A VISION BURNING IN HIS SOUL AND HE DETERMINED THAT BY THE GRACE OF GOD A TABERNACLE THAT WAS UNDER HIS SOLE JURISDICTION WOULD BE BUILT AND OPENED FOR THE SICK AND SUFFERING TO COME TO AND TO BE HEALED IN.
FINALLY, IN 1884 AFTER MUCH TRAVAIL THE DOORS OF `THE FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH` WERE OPENED AND DR. JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE COMMENCED HIS DIVINE HEALING SERVICES. WITHIN A SHORT PERIOD NOTABLE MIRACLES BEGAN TO OCCUR AND ONE OF THE FIRST WAS TO A MRS LUCY PARKER, WHO SUFFERING FOR ALMOST 3 YEARS WITH A CANCER I N HER EYE WHICH HAD TOTALLY ROBBED HER OF SIGHT IN THAT EYE AND WHO WAS ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH TO HER CHILD AND HAD BEEN TOLD BY HER DOCTOR THAT THE EXPERIENCE OF CHILD BIRTH COUPLED WITH THE CANCER WOULD BRING ABOUT HER DEATH ALMOST RIGHT AWAY. MRS PARKER SOUGHT THE PRAYERS OF JOHN DOWIE AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER PRAYER THE CANCER IN HER EYE BURST AND EMPTIED I TS CONTENTS INTO 2 HANKERCHIEFS, THE SWELLING DISAPPEARED AND THE WOUND CLOSED OVER. ON OPENING HER EYE, MRS PARKER COULD SEE PERFECTLY. SHE WAS TOTALLY HEALED. SHE GAVE BIRTH TO A BEAUTIFUL HEALTHY CHILD SOON AFTER.
ANOTHER YOUNG LAD OF 16 YEARS SUFFERING FROM TUBERCULOSIS OF THE BONE, UNABLE TO WALK AND HAVING TO BE CARRIED EVERYWHERE WAS INSISTENT ON BEING TAKEN TO THE HEALING MEETINGS BELIEVING THAT WHEN `DR DOWIE LAYS HANDS ON ME I SHALL BE HEALED`
THE YOUNG LAD WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED FOR AS SOON THE GOOD DOCTOR LAID HIS HANDS ON HIM AND PRAYED THE HEALING WAS INSTANTANEOUS. HE JUMPED UP AND STAMPING HIS 2 FEET ON THE FLOOR BEGAN CRYING “OH, PRAISE GOD, I AM HEALED, I AM HEALED“; THE BOY`S MOTHER, A POOR, TIRED LITTLE WOMAN SITTING NEARBY, ROSE UP AND CRIED WITH JOY, “OH, ARTHUR, ARE YOU HEALED? MY BOY, ARE YOU HEALED?” AND HE ANSWERED, “YES, MOTHER, I AM HEALED.”HE STARTED TO WALK AND THEN SAID, “I BELIEVE I CAN RUN,”AND WITH THAT, HE BEGAN TO RUN AROUND THE AISLES OF THE CHURCH.”
THE LAD RETURNED TO THE HOSPITAL AND TESTIFIED TO WHAT THE LORD HAD DONE FOR HIM. SOON AFTER, MANY OF THE YOUNG BOYS FROM THE HOSPITAL SUFFERING FROM MANY KINDS OF AFFLICTIONS CAME TO THE HEALING MEETINGS AND WERE WONDERFULLY HEALED.
AFTER THESE AMAZING AND WONDERFUL EVENTS, DR DOWIE REGULARLY HELD HIS DIVINE HEALING SERVICES WHERE THOUSANDS ATTENDED AND HIS CHURCH WALLS WERE DECORATED WITH ALL KINDS OF WALKING STICKS, CRUTCHES, BRACES, ETC, LEFT BEHIND BY THOSE WHO WERE HEALED AS A TESTIMONY TO THE HEALING WORK OF THE GREAT PHYSICIAN. HE BOLDLY PREACHED IN HIS OWN CHURCH AND IN THE OPEN-AIR WHERE AS MANY AS 20.000 PEOPLE CAME TO HEAR HIM, YET THIS WAS NOT WITHOUT GREAT TRIALS, FOR HE STILL STRONGLY RAGED AGAINST THE TWIN CURSES OF ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO AND FOR THIS WAS MERCILESSLY TARGETTED BY THOSE WHO HATED HIS STERN DENUNCIATIONS.
Photo:
The University of Sydney, established in 1850,
is the oldest university in Australia...
.OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS, THE GATES OF HELL LAUNCHED A HUGE ATTACK ON HIM AND THE HATRED BECAME SO INTENSE THAT BY-LAWS WERE PASSED FORBIDDING STREET MEETINGS, BUT BE DISOBEYED THESE, DECLARING THAT A GREATER LAWMAKER HAD GIVEN AUTHORITY TO HIS CHURCH TO PREACH THE GOSPEL IN ALL THE WORLD; FOR HIS DISOBEDIENCE TO THESE BY-LAWS HE WAS IMPRISONED ON MANY OCCASIONS, BUT THE PERSECUTION ONLY RESULTED IN GREATER ATTENDANCES AT HIS CHURCH. ATTEMPTS WERE MADE ON HIS LIFE BY THOSE WHO RAN THE LIQUOR TRADE AND DYNAMITE WAS PLACED UNDER THE FLOOR OF HIS STUDY ROOM IN ORDER TO KILL HIM, BUT GOD FORE-WARNED HIM IN A DREAM, AND IN THE DREAMS OF ONE OF HIS CONGREGATION, WHO WARNED HIM THAT AN ATTEMPT WOULD BE MADE ON HIS LIFE. SITTING AT HIS STUDY SHORTLY AFTER, AND DICTATING TO HIS SECRETARY HE WAS UNAWARE THAT DYNAMITE WAS UNDER HIS CHAIR AND A LONG LIT FUSE WAS SLOWLY CREEPING TOWARDS ITS TARGET. THREE TIMES IN A ROW DR DOWIE HEARD A VOICE SAYING, “RISE, GO!”… THE THIRD TIME THE VOICE SPOKE IT THUNDERED IN HIS EAR AND DR DOWIE KNEW GOD WAS URGING HIM AND ALONG WITH HIS SECRETARY LEFT HIS OFFICE…. A LITTLE LATER IN THE MANSE THEY HEARD THE SOUND OF AN EXPLOSION AND WHEN THEY RETURNED TO THE CHURCH FOUND THE PLACE WHERE HE HAD BEEN SEATED COMPLETELY DESTROYED, ALL THE CHAIRS AND DESK WERE BROKEN UP AND A HUGE GAPING HOLE IN THE FLOOR BENEATHE WHERE HIS CHAIR HAD BEEN. DR DOWIE KNEW GOD HAD SENT HIS ANGEL TO PROTECT HIS LIFE.
THIS WAS NOT THE END OF HIS PERSECUTIONS AND HE CONTINUALLY WAS HAULED BEFORE THE COURTS ON FALSE AND DELIBERATELY MADE UP CHARGES. BUT JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE REFUSED TO GIVE IN ; HE PREACHED ALL THE MORE VEHEMENTLY AGAINST SIN AND WICKEDNESS AND THE MORE HE PREACHED THE MORE HIS CONGREGATION GREW IN NUMBER.
IN 1888, DR DOWIE FELT GOD WAS CALLING HIM TO THE USA AND SO AFTER HIS MANY YEARS OF TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS IN AUSTRALIA HE SET OFF FOR AMERICA, AND IN JUNE OF THAT YEAR PASSED THROUGH THE GOLDEN GATE OF SAN FRANCISCO. HE HAD ONLY 75 DOLLARS IN HIS POCKET AND NO CHURCH TO MINISTER IN . ON HIS ARRIVAL, REPORTERS LOOKING FOR A STORY TOOK NOTE OF HIS COMING AND PRINTED UP SOME OF HIS MINSTRY DETAILS IN THE NEWSPAPERS.
Photo : The Golden Gate... is the North American strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
SOON AFTER, THE HOTEL WHERE HE WAS LODGING BECAME FILLED WITH THE WEALTHY AND INFLUENTIAL SEEKING A CURE FOR THEIR SICKNESSES, BUT JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE TOLD THEM TO GO AND FORSAKE THEIR SINS FIRST, BEFORE COMING FOR HEALING. THEN IN THE CROWD CAME A VERY POOR WOMAN WHO HAD HAD TO BORROW THE DOLLAR FARE TO GET TO JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE. SHE WAS UNABLE TO WALK PROPERLY BECAUSE OF A DISEASED FOOT AND IN HER HOME TOWN SOME MILES AWAY SHE AND HER HUSBAND HAD HEARD OF JOHN DOWIE. HER HUSBAND AN ATHIEST HAD SAID “THAT IS THE OLD-TIME RELIGION, OR ELSE IT IS ALL A LIE, GO DOWN AND SEE IF THE DOCTOR IS WHAT THEY SAY HE IS, AND IF HE IS, YOU WILL COME BACK HEALED”… THE POOR, SICK LADY WAS ASTONISHED AT HER HUSBAND FOR HE WAS NOT GIVEN TO SAYING THAT KIND OF THING, AND AFTER TELLING HIS WIFE TO “GO” …… SHE DECLARED…. “SO I HAVE COME“.
THE DOCTOR WAS DEEPLY TOUCHED BY THE WOMAN`S STORY AND AFTER LEADING HER TO THE LORD IN SALVATION KNELT DOWN AND TAKING HER DISEASED FOOT IN HIS HAND PRAYED GENTLY FOR HER. THE POVERTY- STRUCK WOMAN WAS DEEPLY MOVED AT THE SIGHT OF THE DOCTOR KNEELING BEFORE HER IN PRAYER AND BEGAN TO WEEP SOFTLY; DR. DOWIE SENSING THE POWER AND PRESENCE OF THE LORD COMMANDED HER, “IN JESUS` NAME, RISE AND WALK” THE OLD WOMAN WHO HAD NOT WALKED PROPERLY FOR SUCH A LONG TIME AND BECAUSE OF GREAT PAIN HAD NOT BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP FOR MANY, MANY MONTHS IMMEDIATELY LAID ASIDE HER CRUTCH AND BEGAN TO WALK UNAIDED. HER DAUGHTER STANDING NEARBY WHO HAD BROUGHT HER AND FROM WHOM SHE HAD BEEN ESTRANGED FOR SOME TIME IMMEDIATELY EMBRACED HER MOTHER WEEPING AND ALSO SURRENDERED HER LIFE TO CHRIST. SEVERAL DAYS LATER THE MOTHER RETURNED TO TESTIFY TO THE GLORIOUS HEALING AND SAVING POWER OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
THIS BEGINNING OF MIRACLES IN THE USA IN THE MINISTRY OF DR DOWIE OPENED THE DOOR FOR INTENSIVE HEALING CAMPAIGNS UP AND DOWN THE COAST AND MANY MIGHTY AND AWESOME MIRACLES WERE REPORTED AND DOCUMENTED INCLUDED THAT OF TERMINAL CANCER CASES, INCLUDING THE HEALING OF THE SONGWRITER, REV. F.A. GRAVES WHO PENNED THE SONG, `THERE`S HONEY IN THE ROCK FOR YOU`, THE HEALING OF SADIE CODY, THE NIECE OF WILLIAM `BUFFALO BILL` CODY,
Photo : Buffalo Bill Cody... whose niece Miss Sadie Cody was healed in John A Dowie`s Meetings
AND ESPECIALLY THAT OF MISS AMANDA HICKS, COUSIN OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. SHE HAD BEEN THE PRESIDENT OF CLINTON COLLEGE IN HER HOME TOWN BUT NOW BECAUSE OF HER INFIRMITY WHICH HER PHYSICIANS WERE UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE SHE WAS IN UNRELENTING AND UNREMITTING PAIN WITH HUGE DOSES OF MORPHINE BEING ADMINISTERED. SHE HAD BEEN GREATLY ENCOURAGED TO TRAVEL THE 400 MILES TO DR DOWIE`S MEETING BY A FRIEND WHO BEING A SKEPTIC HAD GONE TO INVESTIGATE THE HEALINGS AND RETURNED CONVINCED OF THEIR AUTHENTICITY.
IN ABSOLUTE PAIN MISS HICKS ARRIVED AT THE MEETINGS AND AFTER SEVERAL DAYS SITTING UNDER BIBLE MINISTRY BECAME CONVINCED OF THE POWER OF GOD TO HEAL. SHE WAS AT THE VERY POINT OF DEATH AND DR DOWIE AGAIN SENSING THE DIVINE PRESENCE REBUKED THE DEMONS OF DISEASE AND MISS HICKS FELT THE POWER OF GOD FLOW INTO HER BODY, AND LATER IN THE EVENING SHE ROSE AND WALKED UNAIDED. IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED SHE TESTIFIED THAT GALLONS OF CANCEROUS MATTER WAS PASSED FROM HER BODY, AND SHE WAS REDUCED BY 6 INCHES IN CIRCUMFERANCE.
SHE RETURNED HOME TO HER CITY OF CLINTON TOTALLY HEALED AND HER AMAZING TESTIMONY WAS GIVEN FRONT PAGE NEWS IN THE `CLINTON DEMOCRAT` NEWSPAPER OF MARCH 8TH. 1894.
THE WHOLE COMMUNITY TURNED OUT TO WELCOME HER HOME AND EVER AFTER, WHEREVER SHE WENT, SHE TESTIFIED TO THE MIRACLE HEALING POWER OF JESUS CHRIST.
ONE WOULD THINK THAT WITH SUCH GREAT MIRACLES AND HEALINGS HAPPENING, JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WOULD BE FREE FROM PERSECUTIONS, BUT THE OPPOSITE HAPPENED.
IF HE THOUGHT THAT HIS TIME IN AUSTRALIA WAS DIFFICULT, EVEN WORSE WAS TO FOLLOW IN THE USA. FOR WHILE IN AUSTRALIA IT WAS THE LIQUOR TRADE WHO VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED HIM, HE DISCOVERED THAT IN THE USA IT WAS THE MEDICAL PROFESSION WHO WERE HIS UNRELENTING AND SWORN ENEMIES. DURING THE NEXT FEW YEARS THE PERSECUTION WAS SO GREAT THAT HE WAS ARRESTED OVER 100 TIMES ON FALSE, TRUMPED UP CHARGES, EVEN BEING HAULED BEFORE THE COURTS BY THE CHICAGO COMMISSIONER FOR HEALTH ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS FOR PRACTICING MEDICINE WITHOUT A LICENCE, IE., PRAYING FOR THE SICK IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, AND WAS ARRESTED AND TAKEN TO JAIL ON MANY OCCASIONS...
YET AT EVERY COURT AS HE DEFENDED HIMSELF HE WAS TOTALLY EXONERATED AND LET FREE. ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS WERE MADE ON HIS LIFE SEVERAL TIMES AND HE ENDURED THE BREAK-UP OF HIS HEALING SERVICES BY HUNDREDS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS WHO WERE BENT ON DRIVING HIM OUT OF THE HEALING MINISTRY AND OUT OF CHICAGO.
IT WAS DURING THOSE TIMES THAT A THOUGHT WAS BORN IN THE HEART OF JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE. `THE CREATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF A CITY WHERE NO ALCOHOL, CIGARETTES, GAMBLING DENS OR PLACES OF ILL-REPUTE OPERATED, AND WHERE THE CITIZENS WERE FREE TO LIVE AND WORK AND WORSHIP GOD IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF SPIRITUAL PIETY AND FREEDOM FROM HARRASSMENT.`
IT WAS AN ALMOST AUDACIOUS DREAM, A VERY BOLD PLAN, AND DARING IN ITS OPERATION. IN THE MIDST OF UNRELENTING OPPOSITION ON ALL SIDES, DR DOWIE SLIPPED OUT OF TOWN ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS AND DRESSED AS A TRAMP TO AVOID RECOGNITION TOURED THE STATE LOOKING AT FARMS AND PROPERTIES, AND IN THE PROCESS, SECRETLY BOUGHT UP WELL OVER 6.000 ACRES OF LAND ON WHICH TO BUILD HIS DREAM CITY…ZION..
ON NEW YEARS EVE. 1900 DR. DOWIE ASSEMBLED THE THOUSANDS OF HIS MEMBERS TO A SPECIAL MEETING. THEY SENSED THAT HE WAS ABOUT TO SHARE SOMETHING IMPORTANT BUT WERE TOTALLY UNAWARE OF HIS PURCHASE OF THE LAND AND IN THE UNFOLDING MOMENTS HE TOLD THEM OF HIS DREAM CITY, OF THE LANDS NEWLY BOUGHT, OF HIS LONGING FOR A CITY WITHOUT THE DENS OF SIN; BEFORE THEM ON 2 LARGE SHEETS OF CANVAS HE HAD DETAILED HIS CITY…
THEY STOOD IN ABSOLUTE ASTONISHMENT, TRANSFIXED BY THE GREAT VISION BEING LAID BEFORE THEM AND GASPED AS THE MAGNITUDE OF THE PROJECT UNVEILED BEFORE THEIR EYES. WITH GLAD AND JOYOUS HEART THE WHOLE COMPANY OF BELIEVERS UNRESERVEDLY EMBRACED THE PLANS, AND TALKED EXCITEDLY UNTIL DAYBREAK, OF THIS DREAM.
SOON AFTER, BUILDING WORK WAS BEGUN, AND LOTS WERE LEASED OUT TO THE MEMBERS ON WHICH TO BUILD HOMES, PLACES OF BUSINESSES AND A NEW MASSIVE PLACE OF WORSHIP. DR DOWIE BECAME HEAVILY INVOLVED IN ALL THE PREPARATION, PLANNING AND BUILDING WORK OF ZION CITY AND DURING THOSE EARLY YEARS OF THE CITY HIS MIND WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM HIS DIVINE HEALING MINISTRY BECAUSE OF ALL THE DIFFERENT SITUATIONS AND PROBLEMS THAT ARISE IN SUCH A MASSIVE PROJECT.
PERSECUTION HAD NOT YET ENDED AND DR DOWIE IN REPLYING TO HIS CRITICS BEGAN TO ANSWER THEM WITH CAUSTIC REMARKS WHEREAS IN HIS EARLIER, MORE HUMBLE YEARS HE WOULD HAVE RESPONDED WITH GENTLENESS.
ALTHOUGH HE STILL TRAVELLED EXTENSIVELY, AND BECAUSE OF HIS WEARINESS IN BODY, DUE TO HIS HEAVY INVOLVEMENT IN HIS MASSIVE BUILDING PROJECTS, AND POSSIBLY DUE TO OTHER CAUSES, JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE SEEMED TO LOSE THE SIMPLICITY OF THE EARLIER YEARS WHEN HE HAD HIS GREATEST ANOINTING OF GOD.
Photo - Shiloh House Zion City...John A. Dowies Healing Home...
AND THEN… SOMETHING VERY STRANGE BEGAN TO MANIFEST IN THE BRILLIANT MIND OF DR JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE…. SOMETHING SO STRANGE THAT IT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS A PROFOUND FIXATION… FROM SOMEWHERE CAME THE THOUGHT THAT SINCE HE WAS USED OF GOD TO RESTORE THE MINISTRY OF DIVINE HEALING TO THE WORLD IN SUCH MASSIVE SCALE… SINCE HE WAS CALLED TO BUILD A CITY…ZION CITY.. AND THAT TENS OF THOUSANDS FOLLOWED HIM, WORLDWIDE, UNQUESTIONINGLY, AND THAT HE BELIEVED THAT HIS MINISTRY WOULD BE HAILED IN EVERY CONTINENT,..THEN IS IT POSSIBLE? THE THOUGHT CAME.. THAT HE WAS TRULY ELIJAH THE RESTORER, … ELIJAH THE PROMISED ONE BEFORE THE COMING OF THE LORD?…AT FIRST HE RESISTED THE THOUGHT… BUT SLOWLY AND UNRELENTLESSLY THE THOUGHT CAME AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND
EVENTUALLY BECAME A VERY STRONG FIXATION, CONSUMING HIS MIND..THE CONVICTION, THAT HE…
“JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WAS TRULY ELIJAH THE RESTORER”
HAVING THUS SETTLED IT IN HIS MIND AS TO HIS TRUE IDENTITY AND CALLING, AND THAT GOD HAD GIVEN HIM AUTHORITY OVER THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HIS FLOCK AT HOME AND WORLD-WIDE, JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE THEN DECIDED TO MAKE KNOWN TO HIS PEOPLE THIS REVELATION.
SOON AFTER THIS FIXATION CAME TO HIM ANOTHER VERY DARK TRAGEDY UNFOLDED IN THE LIFE OF JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE. AT THEIR HOME IN ZION CITY, HIS DAUGHTER ESTHER WAS USING A LAMP WHICH SHE HAD BOUGHT WITHOUT HER FATHER`S KNOWLEDGE AND WHICH WAS FUELLED BY ALCOHOL, A SUBSTANCE WHICH DR DOWIE HAD ALL HIS LIFE HATED AND RAGED AGAINST. SHE ACCIDENTLY KNOCKED OVER THE LAMP, HER CLOTHES WERE SET ALIGHT AND SHE RECEIVED HORRIFIC BURNS TO THREE QUARTERS OF HER BODY. THE DOCTORS WERE CALLED AND GREAT HELP WAS ADMINISTERED BUT IT WAS CLEAR THAT HER BURNS WERE FAR TOO SERIOUS AND EVIDENTLY TOO DEEP TO BE CURED BY MEDICAL HELP, AND UNLESS A MIRACLE WAS PROVIDED THERE WAS NO HOPE FOR THE LIFE OF THE YOUNG MAIDEN. MUCH PRAYERS AND GREAT INTERCESSIONS WERE MADE BUT POOR ESTHER DID NOT RECOVER. IN MAY 1902 ESTHER DOWIE FELL ASLEEP IN JESUS.
DR DOWIE AND HIS WIFE JEANIE WERE BEYOND COMFORT. THE THING HE HATED AND RAGED AGAINST ALL HIS LIFE HAD KILLED HIS DAUGHTER.
WITH UNCONTROLLABLE SOBS DR DOWIE BURIED HIS DAUGHTER THE FOLLOWING FRIDAY IN ZION CEMETERY.
ONE MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO THINK THAT THIS AWFUL AND TRAGIC EVENT… THE DEEP SORROWS THAT HE WENT THROUGH… MAY HAVE CAUSED THE FIXATION OF HIS `ELIJAH` REVELATION TO FADE AWAY…BUT SADLY THIS WAS NOT THE CASE…
SHORTLY AFTER THE TRAGIC LOSS OF HIS BELOVED DAUGHTER, DR DOWIE REVEALED TO HIS PEOPLE THE ELIJAH REVELATION, AND A MEETING OF ALL WERE CALLED AT THE TABERNACLE AND THIS SOLEMN VOW ELICITED FROM HIS PEOPLE;
“ I VOW IN THE NAME OF GOD, MY FATHER, AND OF JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON AND MY SAVIOUR, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST, WHO PRECEDES FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON, THAT I WILL BE A FAITHFUL MEMBER OF THE ZION RESTORATION HOST, ORGANISED AT THE SHILOH TABERNACLE IN THE CITY OF ZION, ON LORD`S DAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST. 1902, AND I DECLARE THAT I RECOGNISE JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE, GENERAL OVERSEER OF THE CHRISTIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ZION, OF WHICH I AM A MEMBER, IN HIS THREE-FOLD PROPHETIC OFFICE, AS MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT, THE PROPHET FORETOLD BY MOSES, AND ELIJAH THE RESTORER…….. THIS I MAKE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND OF ALL THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WITNESSES.”
John Alexander Dowie in his robes as Elijah the Restorer
Born May 25, 1847
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died March 9, 1907 (aged 59)
Zion, Illinois, United States
IT COULD BE ASSUMED THAT NONE WHO TOOK THAT VOW THAT DAY DOUBTED THAT JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WAS TRULY ELIJAH THE RESTORER THEY HAD SEEN THE ASTOUNDING MIRACLES AND HEALINGS, HEARD HIS MOST ELOQUENT SERMONS AND LISTENED TO HIS MAJESTIC VOICE PLEADING BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD IN PRAYER AND SUPPLICATIONS, … THEY KNEW THAT NO ONE WAS HIS EQUAL ON EARTH,… AND JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE HIMSELF, OUTWARDLY HUMBLE AND SO LOVINGLY GRACIOUS WITH HIS BELOVED FLOCK, FELT THAT HE WAS SO UNWORTHY TO RECEIVE SUCH AN OFFICE, BUT IN HIS HEART HE FELT HE COULD NOT DENY, BUT THAT HE WAS THE ONE SPOKEN OF BY SCRIPTURE, ELIJAH WHO WAS TO RETURN.
IT WAS FROM THIS TIME, SAD TO SAY, THAT A DECLINE BEGAN IN THE WORK AND SUCCESS OF THE MINISTRY OF THIS DEAR SERVANT OF GOD. PERSECUTION AND OPPOSITIONS WHICH HE WAS ABLE TO OVERCOME IN EARLIER DAYS WERE NOW MORE OF A BATTLE TO TRIUMPH OVER; OPPOSITION WITHIN AND WITHOUT ASSAILED HIM AND DR DOWIE AGAIN BEGAN TO TAKE UP EXTENSIVE PREACHING AND HEALING CAMPAIGNS AWAY FROM ZION CITY AND BEGAN TO TRAVEL OVERSEAS MORE OFTEN.
WITH A HUGE TEAM OF OVER 70 WITH HIM ON EACH TRIP THIS RAN UP HUGE EXPENSES AND THE FUNDS OF ZION CITY BEGAN TO BE DEPLETED; IT SEEMED THAT ZION CITY WAS HEADING FOR BANKRUPTCY. DURING HIS TIME AWAY FROM THE CITY AND ON HIS WORLWIDE TOURS THOSE WHOM HE HAD APPOINTED TO OVERSEE THE WORK IN HIS ABSENCE BEGAN TO CHANGE THE WAY HE HAD RAN THINGS IN A DESPERATE BID TO AVERT FINANCIAL RUIN.
NEWS CAME TO HIM OF THESE THINGS AND ON HIS RETURN HE DISCOVERED THAT PLANS WERE ALSO AFOOT TO DEPOSE HIM OF HIS LEADERSHIP. BUT SOON EVENTS WERE ABOUT TO OCCUR THAT WOULD STUN THEM ALL.
AS SEPTEMBER 1905 DREW TO A CLOSE, IT WAS THE `LORD`S DAY` EVENING, AND JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WAS IN THE TABERNACLE CLOTHED IN HIS MAGNIFICENT ROBES AS THE FIRST APOSTLE AND ELIJAH THE RESTORER; HE HAD JUST DELIVERED A WONDERFUL AND SOUL-INSPIRING SERMON, THE PEOPLE WERE PREPARING TO CELEBRATE HOLY COMMUNION, DARKNESS WAS STEALING ALL AROUND; JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE RAISED HIS VOICE IN OLD FAMILIAR PRAYER AND HIS PEOPLE WERE CARRIED BACK, IN MEMORY, TO EARLIER, SIMPLER DAYS, DAYS OF MIRACLES AND WONDROUS HEALINGS; FROM SOMEWHERE AMONG THE VAST THOUSANDS GATHERED, THERE ROSE THE OLD, OLD COMMUNION HYMN,….
`TIS MIDNIGHT NOW, ON OLIVE`S BROW,
THE STAR IS DIMMED THAT LATELY SHONE,
` `TIS MIDNIGHT; IN THE GARDEN NOW
THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR PRAYS ALONE`
SLOWLY, THE LIGHT DRAINED AWAY UNTIL THOUSANDS SAT BOWED IN SHADOW, THE GREAT PROPHET SAT AT THE TABLE, READ FROM SCRIPTURES, BLESSED BREAD AND WINE AND SENT IT ROUND TO HIS PEOPLE. HYMNS WERE SOFTLY INTONED. DR DOWIE AND HIS PEOPLE WERE ONE AGAIN, AROUND THE SACRED TABLE…..THE SACRAMENT WAS ALL BUT FINISHED ….THEY WAITED FOR THE LAST WORDS FROM THEIR SHEPHERD. AGAIN THE PEOPLE WAITED…..SUDDENLY THEIR LEADER SHOOK HIS RIGHT HAND AS IF SOME FOUL THING CLUNG TO IT. HE BEAT IT UPON THE ARM OF HIS CHAIR. THOSE NEAR HIM SAW HIM SWAY. HE TURNED……., GHASTLY PALE, TO AN ATTENDING DEACON, WHO HURRIED TO HIS SIDE. DR DOWIE WAS HALF-LED, HALF-CARRIED AWAY…. NEVER AGAIN WAS HE TO PREACH IN SHILOH TABERNACLE.
JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE HAD SUFFERED A STROKE !!
SADLY, FOR JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE, THE SANDS OF TIME WERE RUNNING OUT. HE UNDERTOOK A TRIP TO JAMAICA IN THE HOPE THAT HIS HEALTH WOULD RETURN, HE SEEMED BETTER, BUT ONLY FOR A SHORT TIME. MEANWHILE THOSE OVERSEEING THE CITY, AND BEING AWARE OF THE IMPENDING FINANCIAL DISASTER WIRED THEIR LEADER PLEADING WITH HIM TO AVERT DISASTER BY BRINGING IN MEASURES TO REMEDY THE SITUATION. JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE REFUSED, BELIEVING THAT THE SITUATION COULD EASILY BE WEATHERED. IN HIS ABSENCE THE COMMITTEE WERE FORCED TO TAKE ACTION AND SOUGHT TO SAVE THE SITUATION WITHOUT HIS INPUT.
A NEW OVERSEER WAS APPOINTED. HE TOOK TOTAL CHARGE OF THE FINANCIAL AFFAIRS OF ZION CITY, AND AFTER A COURT CASE JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE WAS DEPOSED FROM HIS LEADERSHIP POSITION AND THE PEOPLE ABSOLVED OF THEIR `ELIJAH VOW` TO HIM.
HE REMAINED IN HIS HOME IN ZION, AND ALTHOUGH DEEPLY HURT AND UPSET AND FEELING BETRAYED, HE RETAINED A VERY LOVING AND HUMBLE ATTITUDE TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE WHOM HE STILL REGARDED AS HIS BELOVED FLOCK. HE LINGERED ON THROUGHOUT THE FOLLOWING WINTER.
A FEW MONTHS LATER IN MARCH 1907, ON THE BRINK OF 60 YEARS OF AGE, AFTER A LIFE OF GREAT TRIALS, TRAGEDIES AND TRIUMPHS, THE SPIRIT OF JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE, THE FAITHFUL AND FORTHRIGHT SERVANT OF GOD, WHO HAD BROUGHT SUCH A GLORIOUS MINISTRY OF HEALINGS AND MIRACLES BACK TO THE WORLD, ON A SCALE UNSEEN SINCE THE DAYS OF THE APOSTLES, RECEIVED THE CALL TO LAY DOWN HIS ARMS, AND COME HOME TO HIS ETERNAL REWARD. HIS SPIRIT OBEYING THE SUMMONS, LEFT ITS EARTHLY TABERNACLE, TO RECEIVE WELCOMED REST IN THE ETERNAL CITY OF GOD.
Below :Link To John A Dowie Singing...
http://www.godsgenerals.com/vid/dowie_001_hi.html
Below : Link To John A Dowie Preaching Against The Evils Alcohol And Narcotics
http://www.godsgenerals.com/vid/dowie_002_low.html
Below : Link To John A Dowie Praying
http://www.godsgenerals.com/vid/dowie_003_low.html
HIS REMAINING CHILD, GLADSTONE DOWIE, WHO BECAME A MINISTER OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, DIED IN 1945, AND IS BURIED IN ZION CEMETERY, ILLINOIS
BELOW:
JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE IN
SHILOH TABERNACLE AT IT`S CONSECRATION MARCH 31st.1902
An Excerpt from`John Alexander Dowie`
by Gordon Lindsay.
Published by `Christ For The Nations, Inc.`
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