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{{Short description|American preacher and evangelist (1873–1929)}}
{{Distinguish|Truck Parham}}
{{Infobox person
|name= Charles Fox Parham
|image = Charlesparham.png
|caption=Pioneer of [[Pentecostalism]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1873|6|4|mf=y}}
|birth_place=[[Muscatine,
|occupation=[[Evangelism|Evangelist]]
|spouse=Sarah Thistlewaite, 1896–1929, (his death)
|death_date={{Death date and age|1929|1|29|1873|6|4|mf=y}}
|death_place=[[Baxter Springs,
}}
{{Pentecostalism}}
'''Charles
==Personal life==
Parham, one of five sons of William and Ann Parham, was born in [[Muscatine, Iowa]], on June 4, 1873, and moved with his family to [[Cheney, Kansas]], by covered wagon in 1878. William Parham owned land, raised cattle, and eventually purchased a business in town. Parham's mother died in 1885. The next year his father married Harriet Miller, the daughter of a Methodist [[circuit rider (religious)|circuit rider]]. Harriet was a devout Christian, and the Parhams opened their home for "religious activities".<ref name=RestoringtheFaith44>Blumhofer 1993, p. 44.</ref> Charles married Sarah Thistlewaite, the daughter of a [[Quaker]]. Their engagement was in summer of 1896,<ref name="FieldsWhite">{{cite book
| last = Goff
| first = James R. Jr.
| title = Fields White Unto Harvest: Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism
| publisher = [[University of Arkansas Press]]
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| last = Parham
| first = Sarah
| title = The Life of Charles F. Parham
| publisher = Apostolic Faith Bible College
|
| oclc = 5090718 }}</ref>
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===Early ministry===
Parham began conducting his first religious services at the age of 15. In 1890, he enrolled at [[Southwestern College (Kansas)|Southwestern College]] in [[Winfield, Kansas]], a Methodist affiliated school. He attended until 1893 when he came to believe education would prevent him from ministering effectively. He then worked in the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] as a supply pastor (he was never [[ordained]]).<ref name=RestoringtheFaith44-45>Blumhofer 1993, pp. 44-45.</ref> Parham left the Methodist church in 1895 because he disagreed with its hierarchy. He complained that Methodist preachers "were not left to preach by direct inspiration".<ref name="FieldsWhite"/> Rejecting denominations, he established his own itinerant evangelistic ministry, which preached the ideas of the [[
===Topeka, Kansas===
Sometime after the birth of his son, Claude, in September 1897, both Parham and Claude fell ill. Attributing their subsequent recovery to divine intervention, Parham renounced all medical help and committed to preach [[divine healing]] and prayer for the sick.<ref name=RestoringtheFaith46>Blumhofer 1993, p. 46.</ref> In 1898, Parham moved his headquarters to [[Topeka, Kansas]], where he operated a [[Mission (Christianity)|mission]] and an office. It was also in Topeka that he established the Bethel Healing Home and published the ''Apostolic Faith'' magazine. Parham operated on a "faith" basis. He did not receive [[Offertory|offerings]] during services, preferring to pray for God to provide for the ministry.<ref name=RestoringtheFaith47>Blumhofer 1993, p. 47.</ref>
Parham, "deciding to know more fully the latest truths restored by the later day movements", took a sabbatical from his work at Topeka in 1900 and "visited various movements".<ref name="lifeofparhamp.48">Sarah Parham, p. 48.</ref> While he saw and looked at other teachings and models as he visited the other works, most of his time was spent at Shiloh, the ministry of [[Frank Sandford]] in [[Maine]], and in an [[Ontario]] religious campaign of Sandford's.<ref name="FieldsWhite"/> From Parham's later writings, it appears he incorporated some, but not all, of the ideas he observed into his view of Bible truths (which he later taught at his Bible schools).<ref name="topekaoutpouring">{{cite book| last = Martin| first = Larry|
When he returned from this sabbatical, those left in charge of his healing home had taken over and, rather than fighting for control, Parham started [[Bethel Bible College]] at Topeka in October 1900. The school was modeled on Sandford's "Holy Ghost and Us Bible School", and Parham continued to operate on a faith basis, charging no tuition. He invited "all ministers and Christians who were willing to forsake all, sell what they had, give it away, and enter the school for study and prayer". About 40 people (including dependents) responded.<ref name=RestoringtheFaith47/> The only text book was the Bible, and the teacher was the [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]] (with Parham as mouthpiece).<ref name=RestoringtheFaith50>Blumhofer 1993, p. 50.</ref>
Prior to starting his Bible school, Parham had heard of at least one individual in Sandford's work who [[Glossolalia|spoke in tongues]] and had reprinted the incident in his paper. He had also come to the conclusion that there was more to a full baptism than others acknowledged at the time.<ref name="FieldsWhite"/>
===Christian Faith Movement===
Parham's controversial beliefs and aggressive style made finding support for his school difficult; the local press ridiculed Parham's Bible school calling it "the Tower of Babel", and many of his former students called him a fake. By April 1901, Parham's ministry had dissolved.<ref>Espinosa 2014, p. 46.</ref>
Out of the Galena meetings, Parham gathered a group of young coworkers who would travel from town to town in "bands" proclaiming the "apostolic faith". Unlike other preachers with a holiness-oriented message, Parham encouraged his followers to dress stylishly so as to show the attractiveness of the Christian life. It was at this time in 1904 that the first frame church built specifically as a Pentecostal assembly was constructed in [[Keelville, Kansas]]. Other "apostolic faith assemblies" (Parham disliked designating local Christian bodies as "churches") were begun in the Galena area.<ref name=RestoringtheFaith54>Blumhofer 1993, p. 54.</ref> Parham's movement soon spread throughout Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
During 1906 Parham began working on a number of fronts. In Houston, Parham's ministry included conducting a Bible school around 1906. Several African Americans were influenced heavily by Parham's ministry there, including [[William J. Seymour]].<ref name=RestoringtheFaith55>Blumhofer 1993, p. 55.</ref> Both Parham and Seymour preached to Houston's African Americans, and Parham had planned to send Seymour out to preach to the black communities throughout Texas.<ref>Randall Herbert Balmer, "Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism", Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, page 619</ref> In September he also ventured to [[Zion, IL]], in an effort to win over the adherents of the discredited [[John Alexander Dowie]], although he left for good after the municipal water tower collapsed and destroyed his preaching tent. For about a year he had a following of several hundred "Parhamites", eventually led by [[John Graham Lake|John G Lake]].<ref>B. Morton,
His commitment to racial segregation and his support of [[British Israelism]] have often led people to consider him as a racist.<ref name="RestoringtheFaith47" /> However, some have noted that Parham was the first to reach across racial lines to African Americans and Mexican Americans and included them in the young Pentecostal movement.{{By whom|date=January 2024}} He preached in black churches and invited [[Lucy Farrow]], the black woman he sent to Los Angeles, to preach at the Houston "Apostolic Faith Movement" Camp Meeting in August 1906, at which he and W. Fay Carrothers were in charge. This incident is recounted by eyewitness [[Howard A. Goss]] in his wife's book, ''The Winds of God,''<ref>''The Winds of God'', Ethel Goss, 1958 Word Aflame Press, page 97-98</ref> in which he states: "Fresh from the revival in Los Angeles, Sister [[Lucy Farrow]] returned to attend this Camp Meeting. Although a Negro, she was received as a messenger from the Lord to us, even in the deep south of Texas."<ref name=Hyatt>Eddie
===Scandal and decline of influence===
Another blow to his influence in the young Pentecostal movement were allegations of sexual misconduct in fall 1906. This was followed by his arrest in 1907 in [[San Antonio, Texas]] on a charge of "the commission of an unnatural offense," along with a 22-year-old co-defendant, J.J. Jourdan. Parham repeatedly denied being a practicing [[homosexual]], but coverage was picked up by the press.<ref>Vinson Synan. ''The Holiness–Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997, p. 106 n.</ref> Finally, the District Attorney decided to drop the case. Parham and his supporters insisted that the charges had been false, and were part of an attempt by [[Wilbur Voliva]] to frame him.<ref name="revival-library.org">Tony Cauchi, [http://www.revival-library.org/index.php/pensketches-menu/american-pentecostal-pioneers/charles-parham Charles Fox Parham] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151213115506/http://www.revival-library.org/index.php/pensketches-menu/american-pentecostal-pioneers/charles-parham |date=2015-12-13 }}, Revival-library.org, United Kingdom, 2004</ref> Parham had previously stopped preaching at Voliva's ''Zion City'' church in order to set up his ''Apostolic Faith Movement''. However, Parham's opponents used the episode to discredit both Parham and his religious movement. Posters with a supposed confession by Parham of sodomy were distributed to towns where he was preaching, years after the case against him was dropped. Parham was never able to recover from the stigma that had attached itself to his ministry, and his influence waned.<ref name="revival-library.org"/><ref>Thomas A. Fudge, ''Christianity Without the Cross: A History of Salvation in Oneness Pentecostalism'', 2003</ref><ref>Gordon Mursell, ''English spirituality: from 1700 to the present day'', John Know Press, 1997</ref><ref>Dairmuid MacCulloch, ''A History of Christianity'', London, 2010</ref>
In addition there were allegations of financial irregularity and of doctrinal aberrations.<ref name=RestoringtheFaith56>{{cite book| last =Blumhofer| first =Edith L.| title =Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture| publisher =University of Illinois Press| year =1993| location =Urbana and Chicago| pages =56| isbn =978-0-252-06281-0| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKuTIfCPeJwC}}</ref> In the aftermath of these events his large support base in Zion descended into a Salem-like frenzy of insanity, eventually killing three of their members in brutal exorcisms. Members of the group, who included [[John Graham Lake|John G Lake]] and [[F. F. Bosworth|Fred Bosworth]], were forced to flee from Illinois, and scattered across America.<ref>Morton, "Devil Who Heals," 106-9.</ref> As the focus of the movement moved from Parham to Seymour, Parham became resentful. His attacks on emerging leaders coupled with the allegations alienated him from much of the movement that he began. He became "an embarrassment" to a new movement which was trying to establish its credibility.<ref name=RestoringtheFaith56/>
==Death==
As a boy, Parham had contracted a severe [[rheumatic fever]] which damaged his heart and contributed to his poor health. At one time he almost died. Parham recovered to an active preaching life, strongly believing that God was his healer. While he recovered from the rheumatic fever, it appears the disease probably weakened his heart muscles and was a contributing factor to his later heart problems and early death.<ref name= "FieldsWhite" />
In early January 1929, Parham took a long car ride with two friends to [[Temple, Texas]], where he was to be presenting his pictures of
==Beliefs==
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Initially, he understood the experience to have [[eschatological]] significance—it "sealed the bride" for the "marriage supper of the Lamb".<ref name=RestoringtheFaith46>Blumhofer 1993, p. 46.</ref> The bride of Christ consisted of 144,000 people taken from the church who would escape the horrors of the [[tribulation]]. It was Parham's desire for assurance that he would be included in the [[rapture]] that led him to search for uniform evidence of Spirit baptism.
Later, Parham would emphasize
===Other beliefs===
Parham believed in [[annihilationism]]—that the wicked are not eternally tormented in hell but are destroyed. According to this belief, immortality is conditional, and only those who receive Christ as
Oneness Pentecostals would agree with Parham's belief that Spirit baptized (with the evidence of an unknown tongue) Christians would be taken in the rapture. But his teachings on British Israelism and the annihilation of the wicked were vehemently rejected.<ref name=Enrichment/>
==Legacy==
Parham originated the doctrine of initial evidence—that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is evidenced by [[speaking in tongues]].<ref name=RestoringtheFaith56/> It was this doctrine that made Pentecostalism distinct from other holiness Christian groups that spoke in tongues or believed in an experience subsequent to salvation and sanctification. In a move criticized by Parham,<ref name=Enrichment/> his Apostolic Faith Movement merged with other Pentecostal groups in 1914 to form the [[General Council of the Assemblies of God in the United States of America]].<ref>Creech, Joe (1996). "Visions of Glory: The Place of the Azusa Street Revival in Pentecostal History". ''Church History'' 65, no. 3. Pages 415—417.</ref> Today, the worldwide [[Assemblies of God]] is the largest Pentecostal denomination. In
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading==
*{{cite book| last =Blumhofer| first =Edith L.| title =Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture| publisher =University of Illinois Press| year =1993| location =Urbana and Chicago| pages =56| isbn =978-0-252-06281-0| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKuTIfCPeJwC}}
*{{cite book|last1=Espinosa|first1=Gaston|title=William J. Seymour and the Origins of Global Pentecostalism|date=2014|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-5635-6|page=46}}
* Goff, James R.
===Primary sources===
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*Charles F. Parham, ''The Everlasting Gospel'' (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1911)
*''Selected Sermons of the Late Charles F. Parham'', ed Sarah E. Parham (Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, 1941)
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:American Christian Zionists]]
[[Category:American Pentecostals]]
[[Category:American evangelicals]]
[[Category:Holiness movement]]
[[Category:Pentecostal theologians]]
[[Category:People from Cherokee County, Kansas]]
[[Category:People from Muscatine, Iowa]]
[[Category:Southwestern College (Kansas) alumni]]
[[Category:1873 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:British Israelism]]
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