John Alexander Dowie (1847 - 1907) ***
John Dowie was a most
unusual man, he was born in Scotland, when he became thirteen years old his
parents decided to emigrate to Australia.
It was in Australia that he received the call to preach the Gospel. He began to pastor at a Church in Alma,
Australia.
Sometime later he fell in
love with his cousin, he wanted to marry her but had to get the permission of
her father, this took a lot of ingenuity, but John was up to the job, and
succeeded. After his marriage, he
continued to pastor, because of his desire to serve the Lord, God made Dowie a
very generosity man. His generosity
took shape in such things as selling his furniture to further the work of the
Lord. This and similar events
distressed his farther in-law, and when John's first child was born, his father
in-law took advantage of the opportunity to try and separate his daughter from
John. This was one of the first instances of John's great gift of persuasion
showing itself. John wrote a few letters to his wife, who at this time was back
with her father. The letters were a skillful work of art, they were so persuasive that his father in-law relinquished
his hold on John's wife, willingly, and so they were reunited.
Sometime later a plague
broke out in the city where he was currently pastoring, with the results that
many people were dying over night. When John became weary of all of the death
in his congregation, he looked to God for Divine healing of one of the members
of his Church. With the results, that from that time on, no one else in his
congregation died from the plague again.
After this event, John didn't preach Divine healing, he simply continued
on as before.
John had a desire to go to
America, and so in the summer of 1886, after praying he and his family packed
up and went to America. Dowie and family arrived in San Francisco, he started
talking to people about the enduement of power from on high. John ministered in
California for some time and then went to Chicago Ill. It was here that God would use John to do a
great work among the people.
John built a small building close to the entrance of the world's fair in Chicago. The building was dubbed "The little wooden hut." John starting preaching here and after a little while, God blessed the work and it grew. John later began to pastor in a large building, preaching against any and all types of vise. This did not make him popular, within a very small amount of time, great persecution began to present itself against John Dowie. Let me say here and now, that John stood tall in the grace of God and wore the persecution with grace. I might add that few people in modern times have ever endured more persecution, that did John Dowie. He was arrested on false charges over 100 times in the course of one summer. He had his third class mail certificate revoked, and many other things like this occurred at this time. But God was with him, and he endured. Many attempts on his life were made, but the God of Love always delivered him.
Once while working very late
(which was his habit) he heard a voice telling him to get up and leave his
office in the Church. He continued to
work, again he heard the voice, he again continued to work. But the next time
he heard the voice he got up and left the building. Only moments later the
building exploded, dynamite had been planted right under his desk. God does
take care of His own. It was good that
John listened and obeyed the voice of God.
John had a dream of building
a city in which only Christians would live, a city where no vice or sin of any
kind would be allowed. he called this
city "Zion" In order to bring his dream to reality, he dress up like
a tramp, and wandered the country side buying up land, enough land to build a
city. In 1900 he announced his undertaking to his congregation. Soon the city
of Zion, Ill. was built.
Now John had little or no
persecution, the walls of his new tabernacle was covered with braces, wheel
chairs, and all types of apparatus for the lame and crippled. These were hung
up after the owners of them were Divinely healed!
The Elijah Declaration
It was after all of this
success that trouble began, first, John began wearing priestly garments of his
own design, then he started saying that he was "Elijah." After this
declaration, he seemed to lose touch with reality. He started trying to buy land to build other "Zion
Cities" But in the process he bankrupted the first "Zion City." Many other tragic events took place, and so
a great man of God fell under the power of pride. John weathered all sorts of
persecution, but fell when the persecution stopped.
Do not judge him too
harshly, for few men worked harder for the Kingdom of God as did this one.