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ABSTRACT
This paper looks at the role of independent and interdenominational Pentecostal actors in the politicisation of American Pentecostalism between the 1950s and 1970s. It lays particular stress on a nexus of three tightly interrelated groups: the deliverance movement (with emphasis on Oral Roberts and Gordon Lindsay); the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship, International; and the Word of Faith movement (with emphasis on Kenneth Copeland). The paper reveals a striking diversity of mid-century political postures and positions, but documents a growing shift towards political networking, patriotic themes and activities, and Christian Americanism within these quarters throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, culminating in open political engagement. That outcome is epitomised by Copeland’s fervent endorsement of President Richard Nixon in a sequence of prophetic messages that prefigured, in striking ways, the ardent embrace of Donald Trump by New Apostolic Reformation prophets almost a half-century later.
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This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 Kenneth Copeland, The News Before It Happens, Believers Voice of Victory (BVV), September 2, 1974.
2 Quotations are Copeland, The News Before It Happens, BVV, April 1974), 2, and Copeland, The News Before It Happens, BVV, August 2, 1974, respectively.
3 Copeland, ‘Take Another Look’, BVV, September 1, 1974.
4 Copeland, The News Before It Happens, BVV, March 2, 1975.
5 Frank Bartleman, ‘Christian Citizenship’, in Early Pentecostals on Non-Violence and Social Justice: A Reader, ed. Brian K. Pipkin and Jay Beaman (Eugene, Ore., 2016), 106. See also Stanley H. Frodsham, ‘Our Heavenly Citizenship’, Weekly Evangel, September 11, 1915, p 3. Frodsham interpreted heavenly citizenship to require the renunciation of all earthly kingdoms: ‘The Cross of Jesus Christ is the place where the saint and the world separate forever’.
6 ‘Pentecostal Saints Opposed to War’, Weekly Evangel, June 19, 1915, p. 1. At the onset of World War I, virtually all organised Pentecostal bodies formally declared their pacifism and secured the right of conscientious objection for their members: See Jay Beamon, Pentecostal Pacifism: The Origin, Development, and Rejection of Pacific Belief among the Pentecostals (1989; Eugene, Ore., 2009). Though the majoritarian view, pacifism was never uniform. For a look at competing voices within a predominantly pacifist body, see Roger Robins, ‘A Chronology of Peace: Attitudes toward War and Peace in the Assemblies of God’, Pneuma: The Journal for the Society of Pentecostal Studies 6, no. 1 (Spring 1984): 3–25.
7 On dispensational premillennialism, see Brendan M. Pietsch, Dispensational Modernism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). For a very brief outline, see Roger Robins, ‘Caught Up to Meet Jesus in the Clouds’, Christian History Magazine 128 (November 2018): 34–36. Tomlinson is quoted in R. G. Robins, Pentecostalism in America (Santa Barbara, Cal., 2010), 50–51.
8 My concern is with ‘strong’ politics, defined as intentional participation in the secular political system via practical actions intended to influence or apply that system towards desired ends. This definition correlates with participation modes I and II in Jan van Deth’s conceptual map of political participation and refers to actions ‘located in the political sector of society; that is, the sector directed by government under the jurisdiction of state power’ that are also ‘targeted at’ that sector: See Jan W. van Deth, ‘What Is Political Participation?’ Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Politics, November 22, 2016; Accessed June 28, 2021. Examples of politically active early Pentecostals would include the members of the Non-Partisan League and Prohibition Party noted in Darrin Rodgers, Northern Harvest: Pentecostalism in North Dakota (Bismarck, N.D., 2003); the socialist labour activists described in Jarod Roll, Spirit of Rebellion: Labour and Religion in the New Cotton South (Champaign, Ill., 2010), 39–42, 48–50; and Aimee Semple McPherson: Mathew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America (Cambridge, Mass., 2009), 212–36. For the mainstream and grass roots of early Pentecostalism, compare Grant Wacker, Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture (Cambridge, Mass., 2001), 217–23, who found little interest in politics and a disinclination to vote.
9 For a case study with broad application organised around Grant Wacker’s pragmatism thesis (see Wacker, Heaven Below, p. 10) and the concept of ‘the banality of politicization’, see Roger G. Robins, ‘Pragmatism and the Political Turn: The Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri’, Missouri Historical Review 116, no. 1 (October 2021): 25–47. I touch on developments within Black Pentecostalism there, but for fuller treatments see Calvin White, Jr., The Rise to Respectability: Race, Religion, and the Church of God in Christ (Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, 2012); and Jonathan Chism, Saints in the Struggle: Church of God in Christ Activists in the Memphis Civil Rights Movement, 1954–1968 (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2021).
10 For an engaging look at the intersection of Pentecostalism and popular culture in America, see Arlene Sánchez-Walsh, Pentecostals in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018), where that nexus is fleshed out through selective narratives of Pentecostal figures and popular icons with Pentecostal upbringing drawn from the full chronological sweep of the movement.
11 Grant Wacker, ‘The Pentecostal Tradition’, in Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions, eds. Ronald L. Numbers and Darrel W. Amundsen (New York, 1986): 531. This dialectic, which forms a central thesis for Wacker’s Heaven Below, has close parallels to the interplay of ‘routinization and charisma’ outlined in Margaret Poloma, The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads: Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989).
12 The seminal work here remains David Edwin Harrell, Jr., All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern American (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975.)
13 A. A. Allen, ‘How God Feels About Segregation’, Miracle Magazine, May 9, 1963. For more on Allen, see Sánchez-Walsh, Pentecostals in America, 30–33.
14 William Marrion Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages (Tucson: William Branham Ministry, n.d.), 369–370.
15 Branham, ‘The Stature of a Perfect Man’, The Spoken Word, October 14, 1962, 56: ‘… that boy is a citizen. He’s an American. This is freedom for all. The colour of a man shouldn’t change his difference… . (God said) “of one man made of all blood, all nations.” We’re all one. But that boy, he was a soldier; he was a veteran. He fought for what’s right. He had a right to go to school. That’s right, but he had plenty of schools he could go to.’
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., 57–58.
18 Branham, ‘Marriage and Divorce’, The Spoken Word, February 21, 1965, 13–14.
19 Photos of Roberts gladhanding politicians dot the pages of Healing Waters, Roberts first magazine, and its successor, Abundant Life. For Talmage, Browning, and Scott, see Healing Waters covers from June 1951, August 1951, and June 1952, respectively.
20 For Roberts’s lobbying efforts, see David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Oral Roberts: An American Life (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985), 171–173. For battle versus TV monopoly, see Oral Roberts, Oral Roberts’ Best Sermons and Stories (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Oral Roberts, Citation1956), 51. For Hall and Mills, see June 1970 and June 1973 issues of Abundant Life; for Randolph and Albert, see July 1972 issue of Abundant Life. See also Harrell, 309.
21 See Oral Roberts, The Drama of the End-Times (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Oral Roberts, Citation1963), 6–7, 13–15. For ORU and integration, see Oral Roberts, ‘God Doesn’t Look at Skin Colour’, Chapel Address, September 26, 1989. For Bradley, see Abundant Life, July 21, 1974. For Mahalia Jackson and other examples, see Daniel D. Isgrigg, ‘Healing for All Races: Oral Roberts’ Legacy of Racial Reconciliation in a Divided City’, Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology 4, no. 2 (2019): 227–256. For Harrell’s general assessment, see Harrell, 306, 430.
22 Harrell, 153. For general surveys of the FGBMFI, see Vinson Synan, Under His Banner: History of Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International (Costa Mesa, California: Gift Publications, 1992); and Matthew William Tallman, Demos Shakarian: The Life, Legacy, and Vision of a Full Gospel Business Man (Lexington, Kentucky: Emeth Press, 2010).
23 For the inclusive denominational spectrum of the FGBMFI, see Tallman, 171, and Full Gospel Men’s VOICE (Voice), July/August 11, 1959.
24 For founding directors and early history, see Voice, February 1953 (the inaugural issue). For initial plans in 1954, see Voice, April 3, 1954. For coverage of the 1954 convention, including Nixon’s address and Shakarian’s reaction, see Voice, September 4, 1954–7, 1, 15.
25 For political associations, see Synan, 66, 111; and Tallman, 177, 183–187, 215–219, 270. Quotation is Tallman, 219.
26 Pat Robertson, ‘Let Freedom Ring’, Voice, April 9, 1964–11, 14–15. Don Clausen, ‘Improving Our National Image’, Voice, July/August 4, 1965, 8. James Watt, ‘I Was a Candidate’, Voice, July/9 August 1965–11, 21.
27 The 1960 election is directly addressed in the July/August and September 1960 issues, but not in or after the October 1960 Voice, which covers the events at Van Nuys.
28 Texas Herald, April 1, 1951, 2, 6–7; and Texas Herald, August 1, 1951.
29 Texas Herald, June 1, 1951, 2.
30 Texas Herald, September 7, 1953, and December 9, 1953. See reprints in the August and November 1973 issues.
31 J. A. Dennis, ‘An Open Letter to the President’, Texas Herald, April 4, 1951; and Texas Herald, January 1, 1952, 7.
32 Dennis, ‘True Patriotism’, Texas Herald, September/October, 3 1951.
33 For examples of ‘The Conservative Mind’ and ‘Defender Book Shelf’, see The Defender, August 7, 1963; and The Defender, October 22, 1963. For defence of McIntire, see The Defender, March 9, 1964,11.
34 The Defender, June 19, 1964, 20.
35 G. H. Montgomery, ‘The Mongrelized Beast’, The Defender, August 9, 1964–11.
36 T. L. Lowery, America’s No. 1 Problem – Segregation (Cleveland, Tennessee: T. L. Lowery Evangelistic Association, n.d. [Fourth Printing, c. 1960]. Quotations are from pages 8, 9, 11, and 15.
37 Montgomery, ‘Do The Republicans Want To Win?’ The Defender, June 22, 1964. Montgomery, ‘America has made her Choice’, The Defender, December 3, 1964.
38 Booth-Clibborn and Parham are quoted in Pipkin and Beaman, 8 and 19, respectively. ‘Is Christian Civilization Breaking Down’, The Christian Evangel, February 27, 1915, p. 3.
39 On Pentecostalism and civil religion, see also Pentecostalism in America, 119.
40 On Christian American Exceptionalism in the Christian Herald and Signs of Our Times, see Robins, ‘Evangelicalism before the Fall: The Christian Herald and Signs of our Times’, Religions 12, no. 7 (2021): 504, 5, 9.
41 For a sampling of the four topics listed, see respectively Voice of Healing (VOH) November 14, 1949 (source of quotation); May 4, 1972, 13–15; April 20, 1952–22; November 2, 1966–3.
42 Gordon Lindsay, ‘Are Revival Days Numbered?’ VOH, September 1, 1950–2.
43 Gordon Lindsay, ‘The Coming Presidential Election and Prophecy’, VOH, April 20, 1952, 22; February 22, 1953.
44 Lindsay, ‘Significance of the MacArthur Revelation’, VOH, July 12, 1964.
45 Lindsay, ‘Little Rock, Arkansas’, VOH, January 5, 1958.
46 Lindsay, ‘The Los Angeles Tragedy’, VOH, October 12, 1965.
47 Lindsay, ‘The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.’, VOH, June 13, 1968. For Lindsay’s reaction to instances of racial persecution that he personally witnessed while living briefly in the South, see Gordon Lindsay, The Gordon Lindsay Story (Dallas, Texas: Voice of Healing Publishing Company, 1959), 114–115. For a more wide-ranging perspective on race in Pentecostalism, see Sánchez-Walsh, Pentecostals in America, Chapter 6: ‘Race, Ethnicity, and the Construction of an American Pentecostal Identity’.
48 VOH, September 1, 1954, 4, 25 (Nixon) and 8, 30 (Dennis).
49 On federal authority and the ‘welfare state’, see Lindsay, ‘The Welfare State in America’, VOH, August 12, 1965; and ‘The Great Revolution Under LBJ’, VOH, December 10, 1965. On abortion, see Lindsay, ‘A Million Abortions Per Year’, Christ For The Nations, May 5, 1969; ‘Legalized Murder’, Christ For The Nations, July 11, 1971; and ‘Abortion’, Christ For The Nations, March 14, 1972, 15. On homosexuality, see Lindsay, ‘The New American Horror’, Christ For The Nations, July 6, 1971, 7. For an example of the use of Matthew 24:37 to connect disorder and decadence to the Second Coming, see VOH, October 12, 1965.
50 Gordon Lindsay and Harry Hampel, ‘Shall We Have a Catholic President?’ VOH, September 4, 1960, 5, 10, 14–15 (disclaimer on page 4).
51 Lindsay, ‘America’s Crucial Presidential Election of 1960’, VOH, November 4, 1960, 5, 14. ‘Master stroke’ is p. 4; and ‘Armageddon’ is p. 14.
52 Lindsay, ‘Nixon Loses Election by Two Votes in Each Precinct’, VOH, January 4, 1961. Lindsay, ‘The Life and Death of President John F. Kennedy’, VOH, January 12, 1964–14. See also Lindsay, ‘The Strange Death of President John F. Kennedy’, VOH, December 11, 1963.
53 Lindsay, ‘Nixon and Billy Graham’, Christ For The Nations, November 15, 1968; and Lindsay, ‘George McGovern’s Views Concerning Evangelical Preaching’, Christ For The Nations, September 12, 1972.
54 James C. Hefley and Edward E. Plowman, ‘Where To, America?’ Christ For The Nations, 3 July 1975, 5; Bob Summers, ‘An End to Apathy’, Christ For The Nations, March 4, 1976; and ‘Election ’76’, Christ For The Nations, October 5, 1976.
55 See Derek Prince, ‘From Cambridge to Pentecost’, Christ For The Nations, February 4, 1968, 6, 15, continued in Christ For The Nations, March 12, 1968, 13, 15. Derek Prince ranked among the leading names on FGBMFI speakers lists from the late 1960s and 1970s, alongside Pentecostal and Charismatic celebrities like John Osteen, Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Kevin Ranaghan, Harald Bredesen, Frances McNutt, Rex Humbard, Kenneth Copeland, Velmer Gardner, Andre Crouch, Jamie Buckingham, David du Plessis, and Peter Marshall. On Prince’s close ties to Shakarian, see Synan, 135.
56 Prince, ‘Praying for the Government’, New Wine, March 10, 1970.
57 Prince, ‘Praying for the Government’, 9–10. Prince, ‘Civic Responsibilities’, New Wine, 28, 30.
58 Prince, ‘Questions and Answers’, New Wine, April 30, 1976, 31. For context and a longer-term view of Christian Reconstructionism, see Julie J. Ingersoll, Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
59 Derek Prince, A Personal Message From Derek Prince, Spring 1976. See especially New Wine issues for April, June, and October 1976. ‘Intercessors Report’ is June 19, 1976; ‘awakening’ is July 21, 1976; ‘Christian Leverage in November’ is October 17, 1976.
60 For a brief overview of the movement, see Robins, Pentecostalism in America, 85–86, 130–132.
61 Kenneth Hagin, I Believe in Visions (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1972), 53. Hagin, The Interceding Christian, 2nd ed. (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, 1983), 3.
62 See Brad Christerson and Richard Flory, The Rise of Network Christianity: How Independent Leaders Are Changing the Religious Landscape (Oxford, 2017): For Shepherding notions such as ‘covering’, see 32; on spiritual warfare, see 29, 94–100; on dominionist theology, see 12, 134–138.
63 Copeland, ‘The News Before It Happens’, BVV, February 2, 1976. (The prophecy is dated ‘September 17, 1975, Tulsa, Oklahoma’). Copeland reiterated the prophecy on November 7, 1975 at the FGBMFI ‘Governor’s Luncheon’ in Birmingham, Alabama. Intermingled as it was with praise of and prophecy about the state’s governor, the message suggests that Copeland may have imagined George Wallace as that future president: Copeland, ‘The News Before It Happens’, BVV, December 2, 1975.
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Roger Robins
Roger Robins is a former Professor (retired) in the Center for Global Communication Strategies in the University of Tokyo. He is the author of Pentecostalism in America (Bloomsbury, 2010) and the biographer of the early American Pentecostalist, AJ Tomlinson (Plainfolk Modernist (Oxford University Press, 2004).