The Voice of Healing Movement!

Both Jim Jones and Todd Bentley were influenced by the Latter Rain Movement which sprung forth from the Voice of Healing revival that took place in the 1940's. The leaders of this Voice of Healing revival were William Branham A.A. Allen, Jack Coe, Oral Roberts. There were other leaders like O.L. Jaggers who as mentioned before laid hands upon and pronounced over Jim Jones a very special prophetic ministry. However, the four listed above are the most prominent of the movement.

In Branham (whose mantle and angel Bentley claims), we find very dangerous doctrines like a denial of the Trinity, the teaching that Eve had sex with the serpent and from that union Cain was conceived, further taught that God gave man 3 books (Zodiac, pyramid, and Bible), believed that he was Elijah returned, also the latter day angel to the church of Laoidecea, and prophesied that by 1977 the rapture would take place. Branham was notorious for his ability to discern the details of people's lives. He would call out these details as they came up on stage and he prayed for them. We know that years later Jim Jones had creative ways of learning info about people before services so that he could use the same tactics. I'm not sure if the same was true of Branham. We have seen in recent history in teleevangelist Peter Popoff exposed for having a mic in his ear to assist with his "words of knowledge." After Branham's death in a car accident in 1965, his followers waited by his gravesite for one week convinced that he would rise from the dead. However, it never happened. Yet, today there is a cult built around William Branham called the Branhamites who believe that "He was the greatest prophet that ever lived."

While Branham was known for words of knowledge, Jack Coe was known for picking people up out of wheelchairs to try to convince them they were healed. If they fell, he would say that it was because they did not have enough faith. Coe warned there was a coming a day that anyone who went to see a physician would have to take the mark of the beast. However, when he himself came down deathly sick- he would take the mark of the beast and consult a doctor. He died of bolbar polio at 38 years old. When he died, O.L. Jaggers (who would later lay hands on Jim Jones) tried to convince his wife Juanita that he could raise Jack from the dead. Juanita declined to accept Jaggers' offer. Jaggers offered this because he claimed that God had revealed to him the formula for how to attain physical immortality in this world.

A.A. Allen was known as "God's man of faith and healing power." Allen's healing services looked more like a sideshow. He was most known for his "ability" to build the faith of the crowd in order to see someone healed. I watched this personally on the God's Generals video series compiled by Roberts Liardon. Allen taught that God had given him the ability to turn $1 bills into $20 bills. He was of one the first ministers to promise financial blessing to those who gave to his ministry. In 1955, Allen was arrested for drunk driving in Tennessee. After the arrest, he was stripped of his credentials with the Assemblies of God (AoG). After being stripped of his credentials, Allen would play the role of martyr claiming that he was knocked unconscious and framed by men who poured alcohol down his throat. Many followers bought Allen's alibi, and his ministry continued. However he died in 1969 with cirrhosis of the liver, and was found to be drinking yet again on the night that he died as he had a high level of blood alcohol content.

I have yet to watch a video on Jaco Coe. However, I have seen the videos on William Branham and A.A. Allen. Allen's video especially appears to be more of a theatrical sideshow than anything else. I am convinced that that is what he was was nothing than a theatrical sideshow. The video I watched looked too staged for me to believe that it was real. Branham on video appeared humble, but he himself claimed some outrageous stories like a tree talking to him to confirm his calling. I'm not saying that that is impossible, but we must test things in light of scripture. We know that Branham taught dangerous doctrines and therefore we must call into question the claims of his supernatural enccounters. If he did indeed have supernatural encounters, the bad fruit of false doctrine which spread from his ministry must make us question the source of those encounters.

I'm not disputing that some people did get healed in the meetings of the above men. However, healing does not validate a ministry as being from God. Jesus verifies that in Matthew 7:22-23 when he says "There are many who will say to me on that day 'Lord, Lord did we not drive out demons in your name and in your name perform many miracles' and I will say to them 'Away from me, you evildoers, I never knew you.'

The theatrics seen in the Voice of Healing Revival Movement impressed a young 24 year old pastor, Jim Jones, who later used the same theatrics in order to build his following at the People's Temple which as I have mentioned eventually led to the death of 918 people in the greatest mass cult suicide in history. Years later, we see Todd Bentley using the same theatrics and taking them even further than we could have ever imagined. I am hoping the day never comes that he says, "God told me we must all drink koolaid laced with cyanide if we want revival to break out." But given the extent to which he has already gone with his violent ministry claims, it is sadly not that unlikely that he would indeed go that far- and people would still believe him.

The Voice of Healing Movement is also where Oral Roberts got his start in ministry in the 1940's. I do not have much information on his involvement other than the fact that it did launch him to success in ministry. Oral Roberts is a prosperity preacher and one of the main figures in the Word of Faith Movement which sprung forth out of the Voice of Healing Movement. Roberts is notorious for his claim in 1987 that he needed to raise $8 million in three months are God was going to bring an end to his life. I remember watching that as an 8 year old little boy.

As noted, the Word of Faith Movement sprung forth from the Voice of Healing Movement. Most of the preachers on TBN are a part of that movement. The Word of Faith Movement did not seem to miss a beat even in the midst of the controversy of the Voice of Healing leaders. It has dominated our television screens for years. On the other hand, the Latter Rain Movement which also was a product of the Voice of Healing Movement all but vanished for a couple of decades before being revived in the 1980's.

In my next post, I will detail in specific the dangerous doctrines of both the Latter Rain Movement and the Word of Faith Movement as I trace their history from the 1940's to the present. I will also provide a list of ministers currently on your tv screen that hold to the teachings of these movements.