John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907)

John Alexander Dowie shook the world at the turn of the century with his passion for truth and zeal for the work of the Spirit. He brought to the forefront divine healing and repentance by shaking up a complacent Church and slaking the thirst of a parched society. He is known as the Healing Apostle of the late 19th century. Untold millions came to a revelation of Christ and the living power of the Holy Spirit through his deep conviction, unwavering faith and expansive vision. Against hypocritical, opposing clergy, fierce slanderous tabloids, murderous mobs, and relentless city officials, Dr. Dowie wore his apostolic calling as a crown from God, and his persecution as a badge of honor. Dowie was a force to be reckoned with.

In 1875, Dowie began pastoring a much larger group of believers in a suburb of Sydney called Newton. While in Newton, a disastrous plague ravaged the area and filled the inhabitants with terror. Within weeks of his arrival, Dowie presided over forty funerals within his congregation alone. As Dowie agonized over his inability to help his congregation, God began to reveal to him the meaning of Acts 10:38 - "...how God annointed Jesus of Nazareth with His Holy Spirit and power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him...."

It was on one such night that he heard a loud knock at his door. Two messengers had come bidding him to pray for a girl named Mary who was dying. Dowie rushed to her house and when he arrived he found her lying there, grinding her teeth and groaning in agony. Something in him at that moment snapped and he began to cry out to God. Suddenly she lay still. When asked if she was dead, he replied, “No…she will live. The fever is gone.” From that point the plague in Newton had lost its power. Not one member of his congregation died from the epidemic from that point forward and Dowie’s healing ministry began.

In 1888, Dowie felt led to travel through America and Europe and in June of that year he did. Upon the news of his arrival to the States, people came in droves from all parts of California for healing. Soon healing crusades ran up and down the California coast. Dowie started a chain of “Healing Homes”. These houses were not advertised as hospitals, hotels, or meeting places. They were simply a place where the sick and hopeless could come and lodge and be taught on healing.

The results were astounding: the lame walked, blind eyes were opened, deaf ears were opened, and cancer disappeared. Despite the results, the newspapers described them as: private lunatic asylums and accused of only wanting monetary gain. He was portrayed as a fraud, but to their disappointment this only served to draw more people to Dowie’s ministry. In 1895, he was arrested one hundred times for practicing medicine without a license, but each time the sentence was reversed.

In January of 1900, Dowie unveiled his plans to build a city called Zion outside of Chicago. It would be a “moral utopia” and it consumed him until his final days. Within two years ten thousand people inhabited this “paradise”. While Dowie’s dream of a Chriatian “Utopia” eventually failed, out of its gates came great spiritual leaders such as F.F. Bosworth, John G. Lake, Raymond T. Richey, and Gorgon Lindsay.

Although he lost his passion and purpose later in his ministry, Dowie was the first major ministry to bring a widespread consciousness of healing to America. He was the forerunner of many more to come!!