Page 301 - Lunacy and the Age of Deception

Voliva sound familiar, I wrote of them two years ago in a series titled Deception. Following is an
excerpt.
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Dowie taught that healing is promised in the atonement and insisted that those who sought faith
healing give up all medical care. He viewed druggists and physicians as instruments of the devil.
When his own daughter was severely burned after accidentally knocking over an alcohol lamp, he
banished one of his followers for trying to alleviate her pain with Vaseline. He refused to allow her
any medical treatment and she died in that condition. Many others who came to his faith cure homes
died of their illnesses without any medical attention.
[Source: http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/strange1.htm]

(For a Biblical understanding of faith and healing, I recommend the writing titled Understanding
Faith and Healing.)

In his later years Dowie claimed to have had a revelation that he was The Elijah of the last days, and
the first apostle of the Restoration. In his presumptuous role as Elijah, Dowie began to dress in garb
modeled after Aaron’s High Priestly garments.

John Alexander Dowie

Dowie purchased land in Illinois and established the town of Zion. The entire town of about 7,000
individuals was comprised of his followers. Dowie owned all the property, and he controlled the
local business that church members worked in. He was accused of misappropriating funds, a charge
that has a factual basis to it as Dowie built for himself a 25 room mansion while most of the church
members lived off of sub-standard wages for the time.

Although Dowie’s doctrine declared that physical health was promised to all mankind through the
atonement of Christ, he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1905. He never fully regained his health after
that, and suffered numerous subsequent strokes. He died after having been depressed and bed-ridden
in 1907.

Dowie had chosen as his lieutenant a man as avaricious and deceived as himself. When Dowie
suffered a stroke in 1905 while traveling in Mexico, W.G. Voliva, his second in command, took
advantage of the situation and wrested control of Zion. Upon his return to Zion, Dowie sought to
regain control, but was unsuccessful, being forced to be content with an allowance provided by the
church. Voliva, continued to stress the promise of divine health as a consequence of Christ’s