God’s Battle Axe – Charles Fox Parham

Charles Fox Parham, known in Christian circles as the ‘father’ of the Pentecostal Movement, had a thriving ministry in the United States of America in the 19^th century. He was born on June 4, 1873 in Muscatine, Iowa, to William and Ann Maria Parham.

As an infant, he was infected with a virus that permanently stunted his growth. The family later moved south to Cheney, Kansas where they lived as American pioneers. His mother died when he was seven years old, and at her deathbed, he vowed to meet her in heaven.

 At age nine, he realized that he had a calling on his life. Thus, he began to prepare himself for the ministry by reading the only appropriate literature he could find – a history book and the Bible. He officially received Jesus Christ as his Saviour at age 13, in a meeting held by the Congregational Church. No noticeable events occurred thereafter but he faithfully served as a Sunday school teacher and church worker during this time.

He held his first public meetings at age 15, which were well received by some members of the public. At age 16, he enrolled at Southwest Kansas College with a view to enter the ministry but he struggled with the course and became discouraged by the secular view of disgust toward the Christian ministry and the poverty that seemed to be the lot of ministers.

 Consequently, he began contemplating a more acceptable and rewarding profession. Thus, he started backsliding, a situation that threw him into turmoil. For months, he suffered the torments of hell and the flames of rheumatic fever, given up by physicians and friends. His rebellion was cut short when a physician visited him and pronounced that only death awaited him. The next morning, there came to him so forcibly all the wonderful lessons of how Jesus healed.

He asked himself why the Lord could not do so during his time. He said that all through the months he lay suffering, the words kept ringing in his ears, “Will you preach?” “Will you preach?” In the morning after the physician said he would last but a few days, he cried out to the Lord, that He would let him go somewhere, someplace, where he would not have to take collections or beg for a living as a minister of the gospel. He cried out to the Lord for healing and suddenly, every joint in his body loosened and God healed him. Only his ankles remained weak.

 Following his recovery, Parham returned to college and prayed continually for healing in his ankles. When asked to hold an evangelistic meeting at Christmas, he renewed his promise to God, and vowed to quit college to enter the ministry if God would heal his ankles. Then one night while praying under a tree, God sent the virtue of healing like an electric current through his body and his ankles were made whole. Henceforth, he would never deny the healing power of God through the Gospel.

 Parham held his first evangelistic meeting at age 18, in the Pleasant Valley School House, near Tonganoxie, Kansas. Before the meeting started, he went up on a hillside, stretched his hand out over the valley and prayed that the entire community might be taken for God. There was little response at first among a congregation that was predominantly nominal church folks. Nevertheless, there were soon many conversions.

After 19 revival services at the Schoolhouse, Parham, then aged 19, was called to fill the pulpit of the deceased Dr Davis, who founded Baker University. For two years, he laboured at Eudora, Kansas, also providing Sunday afternoon pulpit ministry at the M. E. Church at Linwood, Kansas. It was at this time he started cultivating the friendship of Sarah Thistlewaite, who later became his wife.

God so blessed his work here that the church leadership planned to reward him with a denominational promotion, but his heart convictions of non-sectarianism became stronger. According to him, finding the confines of a pastorate, and feeling the narrowness of sectarian churchism, he was often in conflict with the higher authorities, which eventually resulted in open rupture. Hence, he left denominationalism, though he suffered bitter persecution at the hands of church folks who seemed determined to drag him back into their little corners.

        When Parham resigned from the church, a couple, Mr and Mrs Tuttle of Lawrence, Kansas welcomed him into their home, treating him as their own son. They gave him a room where he could wait on the Lord without disturbance. Parham enjoyed times of deep communion with God in this place and felt that He was calling him to the non-denominational evangelistic field. He held meetings in halls, schoolhouses, tabernacles, church buildings, and a revival spirit was manifested in these services.

        After he and Sarah got married on December 31, 1896, they began their ministry together. In September 1897, their first son, Claude, was born. Soon, Parham collapsed while preaching and was diagnosed with serious heart disease. At the same time, baby Claude became ill and both of them became progressively weaker. One day, Parham was called to pray for a sick man and while praying the words, “Physician, heal thyself,” came to his mind. He recognised it as the voice of God and began praying for himself, not the man. The power of God touched his body and made him whole. Immediately, he returned home with a fresh commitment to healing prayer, threw away all medicines, gave up all doctors and believed God for Claude’s healing. God answered his prayer and healed the child.

           At a friend’s graveside, Parham made a vow that live or die; he will preach the gospel of healing. On moving to Ottawa, Kansas, the family opened their home to a continual stream of sick and needy people who found healing through the Great Physician. On November 29, 1898, his wife gave birth to a baby girl named Esther Marie.

          Same year, Parham opened his divine healing home in Topeka, which he and Sarah named “Bethel”. The ground floor housed a chapel. Each day the word of God was taught and prayer offered individually whenever it was necessary. Bethel also offered special studies for ministers and evangelists, which prepared and trained them for ministry of the word. The Parhams also established Christian homes for orphans, as well as assisted the unemployed to find work. Parham’s newsletter, The Apostolic Faith, published bi-weekly, had a subscription price initially. He quickly changed this by referring readers to Isaiah 55:1, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat…” He then exhorted his readers to give as the Holy Spirit led them. Consequently, the Lord wonderfully provided for him and his family. Each edition published testimonies of healing and many of the sermons he preached at Bethel.

        Because of the outstanding success at Bethel, many believers began to urge Parham to open a Bible School. He prayed about it and started the project at Stone Folly, a mansion one mile west of Washburn College in Topeka. When the building was dedicated, a godly man called Captain Tuttle looked out from the building, then renamed Prayer Tower, and saw a vision above it, vast lake of fresh water about to overflow, containing enough to satisfy every thirsty soul. The vision was seen as the promise of Pentecostal baptism that would soon come.

          The Bible School welcomed all ministers and other believers, who were willing to forsake all, sell what they had, give it away and enter the school for study and prayer. It was to be a faith venture, each trusting God for their personal provision. There were no charges for board or tuition; the poor were fed, the sick housed and fed, and each day of the month, God provided for all their needs.

         In December 1900, examinations were held on the subjects of repentance, conversion, consecration, sanctification, healing, and the soon return of the Lord. But the was the issue of the book of Acts, with particular reference to baptism in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. Parham had always felt that missionaries to foreign lands needed to preach in the native language. Having heard so much about this subject during his travels, he set the 40 students an assignment to determine the Biblical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and to report their findings in three days.

        Parham was astonished when the students reported their findings that, while there were different things that occurred when the Pentecostal blessing fell, the indisputable proof on each occasion was that they spoke in other tongues. During one of the watch night services at the school, about 75 people, mostly locals, gathered with the 40 students. It was here that a student, Agnes Ozman, asked that hands might be laid upon her to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

At first Parham refused, as he himself never had the experience. Nevertheless, she persisted and Parham laid his hands upon her head. He had barely repeated three dozen sentences when a glory fell upon the girl, a halo seemed to surround her head and face, and she began speaking in the Chinese language. She was unable to speak English for three days. Even when she tried to write in English, she wrote in Chinese!

         After this incredible deluge of the Holy Spirit, the students waited on God for two nights and three days, as an entire body. On the night of January 3, 1901, Parham preached at a Free Methodist Church in Topeka, telling them what had happened at the school. He said that he expected the entire school to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. On returning to the school with one of the students, they heard the most wonderful sounds coming from the prayer room. The revival later spread to many areas in the country, and several people received the gift of speaking in tongues.

       However, the Parhams were forced to leave Stone’s Folly when someone else took over the building. They moved to Kansas City and continued the ministry work there, with many miraculous healings recorded. Thereafter, Parham established many churches in and around Houston, Texas. In 1905, he opened Houston Bible School, which was initially segregated. One of the black students was William Seymour, who played a key role in the Azusa Revival. The Azusa outpouring was initially criticised by Parham, because he felt that it was emotion driven and out of control.

           In 1906, Parham visited Zion City founded by John Alexander Dowie, another healing evangelist. Then, one Wilbur G. Voliva ran the centre, in the absence of Dowie, as the latter was incapacitated by stroke. It is pertinent to note that both Dowie and Voliva were opposed to Parham’s teaching on tongues. Voliva was even linked to a smear campaign against Parham, which led to the latter’s arrest for sexual misconduct. The Police later dropped the charge due to lack of witnesses.

         The last 20 years of Parham’s life were lived in Baxter Springs, Kansas. In 1910, he wrote ‘A Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness,’ and ‘The Everlasting Gospel in 1911. Surprisingly, Parham became a member of the local Freemason Lodge, something most holiness groups were adamantly opposed to. He continued to preach on Pentecostalism and work as an evangelist. He constantly travelled to Pentecostal churches and he collapsed during a visit to Temple, Texas, which led to his death on January 29, 1929 at age 56.

          Parham’s legacy is certainly mixed. Many people know the name of William Seymour and Azusa Street, but most of them do not know of Parham’s role in that outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Azusa. He was a man willing to step out in faith, where few other had gone before. In doing so, he helped to change the world positively.

          Whatever criticisms we can hurl at Parham, there is no denying the fact that he started well and that God anointed him to preach the Gospel in his day. The enemy is always at work to pull down the stars of heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ was also tempted while here on earth. He overcame the devil by standing on the word of God. “It is written” was His major weapon against the devious and slanderous serpent. It is hardly surprising then that someone like Parham went through this kind of rough patches.

We are not in a position to judge him since we have no idea of the kind of battle arrayed against him. He has completed his mission on earth but we are still here. Let us remember that to whom much is given much more would be required (Luke 12:48). It is good for us to always turn the searchlight on ourselves and ensure that we are using all resources at our disposal to prosper God’s Kingdom.

       **** Materials sourced from Healing and Pentecost, A Biography of Charles Fox Parham, https://www.healingandrevival.com; Charles Fox Parham (1873-1929), https://www.revival-library.org.