Image of charles f. parham

Prior to starting his Bible school, Parham had heard of at least one individual in Sandford's work who spoke in tongues and had reprinted the incident in his paper. He had also come to the conclusion that there was more to a full baptism than others acknowledged at the time. While Parham's account indicates that when classes were finished at the end of December, he left his students for a few days, asking them to study the Bible to determine what evidence was present when the early church received the Holy Spirit, [ 3 ] this is not clear from the other accounts.

The next evening January 1, they also held a worship service, and it was that evening that Agnes Ozman felt impressed to ask to be prayed for to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Parham's controversial beliefs and aggressive style made finding support for his school difficult; the local press ridiculed Parham's Bible school calling it "the Tower of Babel", and many of his former students called him a fake.

By AprilParham's ministry had dissolved. Mary Arthur, wife of a prominent citizen of Galena, Kansasclaimed she had been healed under Parham's ministry.

Image of charles f. parham: Charles Fox Parham (June 4,

She and her husband invited Parham to preach his message in Galena, which he did through the winter of — in a warehouse seating hundreds. In January, the Joplin, MissouriNews Herald reported that 1, had been healed and had claimed conversion. In the small mining towns of southwest Missouri and southeastern Kansas, Parham developed a strong following that would form the backbone of his movement for the rest of his life.

Out of the Galena meetings, Parham gathered a group of young coworkers who would travel from town to town in "bands" proclaiming the "apostolic faith". Unlike other preachers with a holiness-oriented message, Parham encouraged his followers to dress stylishly so as to show the attractiveness of the Christian life. It was at this time in that the first frame church built specifically as a Pentecostal assembly was constructed in Keelville, Kansas.

Other "apostolic faith assemblies" Parham disliked designating local Christian bodies as "churches" were begun in the Galena area. During Parham began working on a number of fronts. In Houston, Parham's ministry included conducting a Bible school around For about a year he had a following of several hundred "Parhamites", eventually led by John G Lake.

Seymour requested and received a license as a minister of Parham's Apostolic Faith Movement, and he initially considered his work in Los Angeles under Parham's authority. His commitment to racial segregation and his support of British Israelism have often led people to consider him as a racist. Fay Carrothers were in charge. This incident is recounted by eyewitness Howard A.

Although a Negro, she was received as a messenger from the Lord to us, even in the deep south of Texas. Another blow to his influence in the young Pentecostal movement were allegations of sexual misconduct in fall This was followed by his arrest in in San Antonio, Texas on a charge of "the commission of an unnatural offense," along with a year-old co-defendant, J.

Parham repeatedly denied being a practicing homosexualbut coverage was picked up by the press. Parham and his supporters insisted that the charges had been false, and were part of an attempt by Wilbur Voliva to frame him. However, Parham's opponents used the episode to discredit both Parham and his religious movement. Posters with a supposed confession by Parham of sodomy were distributed to towns where he was image of charles f.

parham, years after the case against him was dropped. Parham was never able to recover from the stigma that had attached itself to his ministry, and his influence waned. In addition there were allegations of financial irregularity and of doctrinal aberrations. His attacks on emerging leaders coupled with the allegations alienated him from much of the movement that he began.

He became "an embarrassment" to a new movement which was trying to establish its credibility. As a boy, Parham had contracted a severe rheumatic fever which damaged his heart and contributed to his poor health. At one time he almost died. Parham recovered to an active preaching life, strongly believing that God was his healer. While he recovered from the rheumatic fever, it appears the disease probably weakened his heart muscles and was a contributing factor to his later heart problems and early death.

In early JanuaryParham took a long car ride with two friends to Temple, Texaswhere he was to be presenting his pictures of the Holy Land. On January 5, he collapsed while showing his slides. When his wife arrived, she found out that his heart was bad, and he was unable to eat. Against his wishes he wanted to continue his preaching tourhis family brought him home to Baxter Springs, Kansaswhere he died on the afternoon of January 29, Licensing [ edit ].

This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U. See this page for further explanation. This image might not be in the public domain outside of the United States; this especially applies in the countries and areas that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works, such as Canada, Mainland China not Hong Kong or MacaoGermany, Mexico, and Switzerland.

The creator and year of publication are essential information and must be provided. See Wikipedia:Public domain and Wikipedia:Copyrights for more details. Original upload log [ edit ]. The original description page was here. All following user names refer to en. Removed border. Soon Parham began cottage meetings in many of the best homes of the city.

Image of charles f. parham: Charles F. Parham was one of

One of these homes belonged to the great healing evangelist and author, F. Every night five different meetings were held in five different homes, which lasted from p. When his workers arrived, he would preach from meeting to meeting, driving rapidly to each venue. But persecution was hovering on the horizon. Secular newspapers gave Parham excellent coverage, praising his meetings, intimating that he was taking ground from Voliva.

It was at this point that Parham began to preach a distinctively Pentecostal message including that of speaking with other tongues, at Zion. Parham considered these the first fruits of the entire city — but the press viewed things differently. They were not impressed. Criticism and ridicule followed and Parham slowly lost his credibility in the city.

He was shocked at what he found. He held two or three services at Azusa, but was unable to convince Seymour to exercise more control. Instead of leaving town, Parham rented the W. There was great blessing and many who had previously attended the Azusa Street meetings experienced deliverance from evil spirits. Parham believed Seymour was possessed with a spirit of leadership and spiritual pride.

Nevertheless, the die was cast and Parham had lost his control the Los Angeles work. His discouragement may have been the cause of his resignation as Projector of the Apostolic Faith Movement during this time. Parham returned to Zion from Los Angeles in December ofwhere his seater tent meetings were well attended and greatly blessed. The revival created such excitement that several preachers approached Parham to become the pastor of this new church.

But Parham resisted the very thought and said it was not a thought that came from God. He believed there were had enough churches in the nation already. Many before him had opted for a leadership position and popularity with the world, but rapidly lost their power. He felt that if his message was from God, then the people would support it without an organization.

Losing ground in Zion City Parham and a handful of followers hit the road again, this time on a three-month evangelistic tour in Canada, New England and back down to Kansas and Missouri. After a Parham preached a powerful sermon in Missouri, the unknown Mrs. Parham must have come back to God. Parham had left his wife and children under such sad circumstances.

Parham protested that this was most certainly untrue and when asked how she was so sure, revealed herself as Mrs. But this was nothing compared to the greatest public scandal of his life. Rumours of immorality began circulating as early as January Local papers suggested that Parhams three-month preaching trip was precipitated by mystery men, probably detectives who sought to arrest him.

Its headline read:. The report said Parham, about 40 and J. At the time of his arrest Parham was preaching at the San Antonio mission which was pastored by Lemuel C. Hall, a former disciple of Dowie. Parham pledged to clear hisname and refused suggestions to leave town to avoid prosecution. There is now overwhelming evidence that no formal indictment was ever filed.

There is no record of the incident at the Bexar County Courthouse, as the San Antonio Police Department routinely disposed of such forms in instances of case dismissal. The reports were full of rumours and innuendo. They both carried alleged quotes from the San Antonio Light, which sounded convincing butwhen researched it was found the articles were pure fabrication.

Even if Voliva was not guilty of creating such a fantastic story, he did his utmost to exploit the situation. There is considerable evidence that the source of the fabrications were his Zion, Herald, not the unbiased secular paper. Though there was not widespread, national reporting on the alleged incident, the Christian grapevine carried the stories far and wide.

The toll it took on Parham, the man, was immense and the change it brought to his ministry was equally obvious to his hearers. He became harsh and critical of other Pentecostals. Parham continued to effectively evangelise throughout the image of charles f. parham and retained several thousand faithful followers working from his base in Baxter Springs for the next twenty years, but he was never able to recover from the stigma that had attached itself to his ministry.

In his honour we must note that he never diminished in his zeal for the gospel and he continued to reap a harvest of souls wherever he ministered. Despite increasing weariness Parham conducted a successful two-week camp meeting in Baxter Springs in Towards the end of the event he confessed to a brother that he felt that his work was almost done.

Christmas was spent with his family, and after the New Year he was booked to preach and show his Holy Land slides in Temple, Texas. Despite failing health he was determined to go and left on January 2nd with two other brothers. On the night Saturday 6th January he collapsed during a meeting while showing his Holy Land slides. Mrs Parham and several of the family arrived at Temple and decided to cancel his itinerary and take Charles home to Kansas by train.

The family gathered and there were some touching scenes around his bed.

Image of charles f. parham: This picture was taken

The most rewarding to Parham was when his son Robert told him he had consecrated himself to the work of the Lord. Wilfred was already involved in the evangelistic ministry. That is what I have been thinking all day. Over twenty-five hundred people attended his funeral at the Baxter Theatre. It took over an hour for the great crowd to pass the open casket for their last view of this gift of God to His church.

A choir of fifty occupied the stage, along with a number of ministers from different parts of the nation. For the rest of his life, he also rejected any type of church organization. In Parham opened his own "Bethel Bible School" and healing home in Topeka, Kansas, where in he began publication of a magazine called the Apostolic Faith.

It was in this school that Parham and his students studied the differing teachings of the holiness movement relating to the "baptism in the Holy Spirit" described in Acts Through a student consensus, with some help from Parham, the student body concluded that speaking in tongues glossolalia was the "Bible evidence" of such an experience. On January 1,a student in the school, Agnes Ozman, spoke in tongues, electrifying the school and the Topeka area through sensational stories in local newspapers.

Parham's teaching that speaking in tongues was the necessary "Bible evidence" of baptism in the Holy Spirit became known as the "touch felt round the world" that, according to J. In a short time, all Pentecostals except Parham dropped this belief due to unsuccessful efforts at preaching in unknown tongues in India and other places.

By the pentecostal movement had spread to Los Angeles through a black preacher, William Joseph Seymour, who learned pentecostal theology as Parham's student in another Bible school in Houston, Texas.