God’s Battle Axe – A. A. Allen

Alfonso A. Allen was clearly one of the most important revivalists in the early days of the healing ministry. He was born on March 27, 1911 at Sulphur Rock, Arkansas in the United States of America. He grew up with an alcoholic father and an unfaithful mother who lived with a series of men. By the time he was 21 years old, he was a confirmed drunkard. Two years later, he served a jail sentence for stealing corn in the midst of the depression. It was at this point that he was converted in a “tongues speaking” Methodist church. In 1934, Allen met and married Lexie in Colorado, and she became a powerful influence in shaping him for his future healing ministry.

Licensed by the Assemblies of God as a minister in 1936, Allen began an effective evangelistic ministry at a small church in Colorado. After a two-year pastorate, he spent four-and-half years as a full time revivalist during World War II. He was the worship leader, musician and preacher, but low finances and mediocre results took their toll on this father of four children. He left the itinerant ministry in 1947 when he was offered the security of a pastorate at an Assemblies of God Church in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Soon after moving to Texas, he heard news of the revival under Oral Roberts and other revivalists, especially the accounts reported in ‘The Voice of Healing’ magazine. Although Allen initially labelled the revivalists fanatics, he attended Roberts’ campaign in Dallas in 1949 and was enthralled by what he saw. He left convinced that the revival was from God. Back in Texas, he attempted to sponsor a radio programme but was blocked by the board of his church. In anger, he tendered his resignation and began conducting revivals. He later sent a report to the ‘Voice of Healing’ in which he claimed that hundreds are being miraculously healed at his meetings. In the summer of 1951, Allen joined the ranks of tent ministers, with his headquarters in Dallas, and started a radio programme, the Allen Revival Hour in 1953. He conducted oversees campaigns in Cuba and Mexico regularly, and by 1955 was broadcasting on 17 Latin American radio stations and 18 in America.

Allen’s stage presence and theatrical approach endeared him to the economically disadvantaged people as well as the black community. Above all, it was the power of God which attracted the huge audiences over the years. Thousands were converted in the midst of the dramatic healings and deliverances from evil spirits. Nothing was done in a corner, but all was employed to support the message that Jesus Christ was alive and interested in the needs of the ordinary people.

However, Allen’s preaching style made him many enemies, especially those in the camp of the Assemblies of God Church. His situation was compounded by an indiscretion that led to his arrest in 1955 for drunken driving while conducting a revival at Knoxville, Tennessee. The local press took advantage of the development to attack him, compelling him to forfeit his bail in favour of a trial. He claimed that the devil and his agents were after him for doing God’s work. Although he was subsequently acquitted, the publishers of ‘Voice of Healing’ distanced themselves from his travails.

To pre-empt his imminent expulsion him from the group, he resigned his membership and started publishing his own magazine. The Knoxville incident further strained his relationship with the Assemblies of God, especially after it suggested that he should withdraw from public ministry until the matter was settled by the court. In his response, he surrendered his certificates to the church, noting that withdrawal from public ministry would give the appearance of admission of guilt.

By the mid-1950s, many of the more moderate ministers tried to continue to work with the Pentecostal denominations, but Allen repeatedly attacked organised religion and urged his colleagues to establish independent churches. He lamented that Sunday school had replaced the altar in Pentecostal churches and that few church members were filled with the Holy Spirit. Thus, in 1956, he announced the formation of the Miracle Revival Fellowship, an alternative fellowship intended to license independent ministers and support missions. Theologically, the fellowship welcomed all who accepted “the concept that Christ is the only essential doctrine.” He later listed 500 ministers in its first ordination.

Interestingly, as other ministers of that era were struggling and the revival was waning, Allen’s charisma and ministry skills enabled him to stay afloat. Also, Miracle Magazine was a huge success. At the end of a year’s publication in 1956, it had a paid subscription of about 200,000. In 1957, he began conducting the International Miracle Revival Training Camp, an embryonic ministerial training centre in Arizona. He also built permanent headquarters of his ministry in the State. In 1958, he purchased an old tent belonging to another revivalist, Jack Coe and proudly announced that he was moving into the “largest tent in the world.”

Allen continued to minister in tents and other locations until tragedy struck in 1972. For about a year, the evangelist suffered from severe arthritis, which compelled him to be on medication. He had surgery on one of his knees in 1970. He planned to have a similar operation on the other knee. However, he died at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, California on June 11, 1970. While the Coroner claimed that Allen died from liver failure due to acute alcoholism, his friends disputed the report. They believed that the Coroner’s Report of “fatty infiltration of the liver” was a result of the few times he used alcohol in his last days to alleviate the excruciating pain of the arthritis.

It is not our responsibility to sit in judgment over Allen and his ministry. One thing is sure; he did the best he could with the resources at his disposal. Most importantly, he took the battle to the gate of the enemy and led thousands of souls to Christ. We have a lot to learn from people like him, who despite their shortcomings prospered the Kingdom of God.