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A History of William Sowders' Ministry From Its Pentecostal Foundations To The Gospel of the Kingdom By September,
1994 Almost a score of years
ago, as the result of a most unusual experience with the Lord, my thoughts
were turned toward the kingdom of heaven. Some how -- I didn't then
understand why -- it seemed important that I investigate the life and work of
William Sowders. Realizing that the memory of this man was scattered among a
number of people and sources, and that many of these people were already
falling asleep, I determined that I should interview these people and write a
full and complete account of this man's history and ministry that it might be
preserved for the people of God. This project has become known in several
churches deriving from his ministry; and many people have been helpful in
providing materials so as to make this project possible. These, and others
who have heard about this project, have been eagerly waiting for me to show
some results. I have not finished this project, and I certainly hesitate to
write much when I have not completed collecting and studying all the
available information. Still, there are certain areas of William Sowders'
ministry about which, now, I can write with some degree of confidence. In the
recent ministers meeting at Belle Fourche, South Dakota I was prompted by the
Spirit to write some of the history for this September's Camp Meeting. If I
do write something which does not perfectly reflect the actual history of his
ministry, I will correct this if someone brings me better information. Some may wonder, "What
is the purpose of all this history, all this attention to Brother
Sowders?" They may agree with Henry Ford, "History is bunk."
It ain't salvation. You don't need to know all
that. Well, maybe. But, it might be that you will need to know this story in
order to be saved. This, after all, is the story of the gospel of the
Kingdom, which will be preached to all the world.
Biblical religion is distinguished from all other religions in that it is
much concerned with history -- the creation of the world, its corruption by
sin, the incarnation of Christ, and the restoration of the world through
Christ. These are things which actually happened, which someone had to tell,
which you need to know. Real history is about people. The Bible itself
focuses on individuals, not only Jesus, but Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul.
Since the time of Paul individuals have continued to be important to the
preservation of the faith, and to the restoration of the truth: John Wycliff, Martin Luther, George Fox, John
Wesley. Understand, my purposes for doing this
history is not to compose a sentimental history of the man for old timers, or
for those who live only in the past. Neither is it to develop a sanitized
organizational history of one of the several movements connected with his
faith and works, making everything in the past sound glorious, trying to
connect the present leadership to the glorious past. Rather, I was hungry to
know the reality of those wondrous works of God surrounding this man, and to
know something of the roots of my own faith. Someone had a dream about
this fellowship connected with the faith and work of William Sowders. After
Sowders death, the people came to a fork in the road. The vast majority of
the people took the wrong turn at that fork. They went some ways down the
wrong road until they came to a bridge. The bridge itself was broken down,
and there was a great wreck at the bridge. After the wreck people began to
turn back in the direction in which they came. Eventually they got back to
the fork, and then they took the right road. The interpretation of this dream
should be rather plain to everyone who knows about the history of this group
of people in the past forty years. This explains why for the past few years
it seems that the body of Christ has been going back to its roots. This does
not mean that it is going to go back to the forks and not move ahead. It is
going back to Sowders simply to get on the right road. One of the teachings of
Brother Sowders concerned the importance of walking in the "present
truth" or the "present light". What this means is that God
works in accordance with the particular situation and a particular time, and
therefore one must continue to seek God for new situations and conditions.
This revelation is in contrast with traditional Christianity's idea that the
church is the blessed possessor of eternal truth. The notion of development
and progress is completely absence from the official churches. Why, after
all, is there any need for these blessed possessors to seek truth since they
already have it? If there is any place for a spiritual journey, it belongs
solely to individuals. There is no idea of all the people being led by God
from situation to situation, and from dispensation to dispensation. Those
blessed possessors couldn't possibly be the Israel of God. If the truth is all in hand
there is no goal at the end of the journey for the people as a whole. By
contrast with this dead and static concept of the church, Brother Sowders had
what can be described as an historical understanding of the church. In
recent years, certain scholars have noted that the concept of history itself
derives from the Bible. God is a God who acts in history. He makes history.
He created the world; destroyed the first civilization by a great flood; chose
Abraham by whose descendents he would bless all the peoples of the world;
delivered his people from Egypt through mighty acts by which they were to
remember from generation to generation. Finally, he sent his Son into the
world -- into history -- for the means of salvation of all men. That
salvation does not come through an eternal truth separate from himself which
Jesus proclaimed, but that salvation can only be obtained through trust in
the historical Jesus, who is the living Lord. Nor is he merely -- I say
merely because I do not deny that he is in part a mystical Christ separated
from history or manifesting himself in various appearances, though only as
himself -- but the salvation of every individual depends on this one thing
that happened about two thousand years ago: the obedience of Jesus to death
on the cross. |
