Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson (1927)

Aimee Semple McPherson (born October 9, 1890 , † September 27, 1944 , also: Sister Aimee ) was a Canadian- American evangelist in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church in Los Angeles . She was a pioneer in the use of mass media and gained great prominence as a result . Above all, she took advantage of the increasing demand for entertainment programs in radio broadcasts to make her work in the Angelus Temple known to a broad section of the population.

She was one of the most published Christian evangelists in her day, surpassing even Billy Sunday . She performed public "faith healings" before large mass gatherings. Contemporaries spoke of up to 10,000 people who had been healed. McPherson's claim that the United States is a nation founded and sustained by divine inspiration is repeated today by many pastors and churches. The news machine also turned its family and church misfortunes into media events. The debate over whether a kidnapping of her was fabricated made this case a national event. McPherson's style of preaching, extensive charitable work, and ecumenical contributions have greatly contributed to the revival of the American Evangelical Movement in the 20th century.

Life

youth

McPherson was born Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy on a farm in Salford , Canada . She was raised religiously by her mother Mildred (Minnie), who was involved in the Salvation Army . As a child, she played Salvation Army with her classmates or used to gather her dolls for worship. As a teenager, she became interested in dime novels, cinema, and dance events. This caused great resentment among the Salvation Army and its religious father, James Kennedy, a Methodist. However, novels were also found in the Methodist Church library, and Aimee read them with a mixture of guilt and lust. However, she soon found that the austerity was not shared by all Christians. Her dance partner was a Presbyterian pastor. In high school, she was confronted with Charles Darwin's theory of evolution . She began to test her teachers and pastors about faith and science, but received no satisfactory responses. She then wrote to the Canadian newspaper Family Herald and Weekly Star , asking why public schools had courses that would undermine Christianity. For the first time, she received feedback from all over the country to this open letter. After her conversion to the Pentecostal movement, she started a crusade against the theory of evolution in high school, which became a lifelong passion.

conversion

At a revival in December 1907, Aimee met Robert James Semple, a Pentecostal missionary from Ireland . A crisis of faith ended at this event. She decided to dedicate her life to God.

Marriage and first family

Robert and Aimee Semple (1910)

At this event, she was not only carried away by Robert Semple's sermons, but fell in love with him. She decided to dedicate her life to God and Robert and after a brief engagement, she married him on August 12, 1908 in a Salvation Army ceremony. She pledged that her marriage should never disturb her zeal for God or her charity for her comrades and her commitment to the "Army". The meaning that the couple attached to the term "Army" was very open and encompassed much more than just the "Salvation Army". Robert supported her as a worker in a foundry and at the same time preached at the Pentecostal mission on site. The couple studied the Bible together and thus gained extensive knowledge.

They both contracted malaria while on an evangelism tour in China . Robert also developed dysentery and died in Hong Kong . Aimee recovered and gave birth to their daughter, Roberta Star Semple . At 19 she was a widow. She began Sunday school and held services on board the ship that brought her back to the United States. She often spoke of her husband in her sermons.

Soon after her recovery, she joined her mother, Minnie, who worked with the Salvation Army in the United States. In New York City she met Harold Stewart McPherson, an employee. She married him on May 5, 1912, after which they moved to Providence , Rhode Island . Their son Rolf Potter Kennedy McPherson was born in March 1913.

During this time, McPherson fell into another crisis. She felt she was neglecting her calling to preach. She developed obsessive-compulsive disorder . After the birth of their son, the need to preach increased. In 1914 she became seriously ill. After an operation, she heard a voice asking her to preach. When she accepted this challenge, she was able to move in bed without pain, despite a failed operation. In 1915 she left her husband without prior notice and took the children with her. A few weeks later she invited him to join her in the evangelistic work.

Her husband wanted to bring her back first. However, when he met her at an evangelism, he saw how much she had changed. He became her co-worker. They sold the house in Providence. He helped set up the tents for the evangelism and sometimes preached himself. During the tours they lived in a gospel car. But Harold McPherson longed for a more orderly life. He returned to Rhode Island and filed for divorce in 1918, which was granted in 1921.

On September 13, 1931, McPherson remarried - the actor and musician David Hutton. This marriage was marked by great strife. McPherson even sustained a head injury.

While on cure in Europe, she learned that Hutton ridiculed himself as Aimee's husband in his cabaret act and was often photographed with scantily clad women. McPherson and Hutton separated in 1933 and were divorced on March 1, 1934. McPherson later reported publicly that this marriage was wrong from the start, both theologically and personally. Therefore, in 1935, she also rejected the application of the well-known gospel singer Homer Rodeheaver .

First successes as an evangelist

While she was married to Robert Semple, she had moved to Chicago with her husband and had become a member of William Durham's Full Gospel Assembly . It was there that it was discovered that Aimee had a unique ability to interpret language in tongues . She translated eloquently and, finding no fulfillment as a housewife, began preaching in 1913 at evangelism and tenting (Sawdust trail) in the United States and Canada.

After the first successful assignments, she hardly had any difficulties with acceptance. Zealous converts filled the local churches. This success turned some hesitant pastors into enthusiastic supporters. She often began evangelism in a church and soon had to rent a larger building because the room could no longer hold the audience. She worked to develop all the enthusiasm a Pentecostal church event could develop, including Amen Corner and Halleluiah Chorus. In doing so, however, she made sure that any exuberant chaos with screaming, trembling and speaking in tongues was avoided at the same time. At her events she always kept an eye on the public, but never wanted to discourage someone who suddenly became spiritual. So she set up a "tarry tent room" outside the public area so that those who suddenly began to speak in tongues or experienced other effects of the Holy Spirit would be brought there so that the rest of the audience would not be disturbed.

In 1916, McPherson set out on a tour of the southern United States in her gospel car. In 1918 she went on tour with her mother Mildred Kennedy. Mildred was an important person in McPherson's company and handled all of the management. The Gospel Car was a 1912 Packard bus that was decorated with religious slogans. In the back seat of the convertible vehicle, McPherson preached with a megaphone . On the way to the next missions, she sat in the back seat typing her sermons and other pamphlets. In 1917 she created her own magazine, The Bridal Call . In it she published articles on the role of women in religion. It represented the connection between Christians and Jesus as a marital relationship. The magazine developed great importance for the role of women, but also for the development of the Pentecostal movement into a religious institution in the United States.

On one of her tours, McPherson was spotted by the newspapers in Baltimore in 1919 after giving evangelism at the Lyric Opera House. Baltimore marked a turning point in her early career. The masses could hardly be kept under control under the influence of the Spirit. In addition, her faith healings became a public issue for the first time, and the visitors to her events came more and more for the miracle stories. McPherson himself considered the Baltimore Revival to be a turning point, especially for the story of the outpouring of Pentecostal power.

In Los Angeles

In 1918, McPherson moved to Los Angeles , like so many who took this step at the time because of the climate and the advantages of the border location. Minnie Kennedy rented the largest meeting room they could find, the 3,500-seat Philharmonic Auditorium . People waited for hours to get in and the room was always so crowded that McPherson struggled to get through to the pulpit. Grateful believers soon built a house for the family, which had all the luxury of that time.

Los Angeles had also become a popular vacation destination. McPherson no longer had to travel across the States to preach, but attracted audiences from across the country.

For several years, however, she had to travel and tried to raise funds for a large domed building, which she used as a church building at 1100 Glendale Blvd. wanted to build in the Echo Park district . The church was to be called Angelus Temple , thus taking up the Roman Catholic tradition of the Angelus prayer . McPherson did not want to take on debt, and she actually found a construction company willing to work with her while she raised the funds. She started with $ 5000. The company decided that this would be enough to dig the pit for the foundations.

McPherson managed to motivate different groups of people. She used various fundraising methods , such as selling seats for $ 25. In return, the chairholders received a miniature chair and were encouraged to pray daily for the people who sat on the chair. Through these methods, McPherson achieved that donors were happy to give money and developed a sense of ownership.

McPherson was making a lot more money than she'd hoped. So she changed her plans and built a megachurch that would attract masses of believers and parishioners in the years that followed. The company cost approximately $ 250,000 and was kept low through donations of building materials and volunteer work. McPherson occasionally summed up that when she got to California she only owned a car, $ 10, and a tambourine . Membership rose to over 10,000 and it was advertised as the largest single Christian congregation in the world. According to Church records, Angelus Temple had 40 million visitors in its first seven years.

McPherson planned Angelus Temple not only as a community center, but also as an ecumenical center for Christians of all denominations for exchange and collaboration. Large numbers of lay people and clergy from Methodists, Baptists, Salvation Army, Presbyterians, Episcopalies, Adventists, Quakers, Catholics, Mormons and also political leaders came to the Angelus Temple. Many of them also appeared as guest speakers. Even Robert P. Shuler , a former violent critic of McPherson, was a guest speaker. Because "Pentecostalism" appeared suspicious in the United States in the 1920s, McPherson avoided the term. She practiced speaking in tongues and faith healing herself, but kept these things to a minimum in her sermons in order to reach the mainstream of her audience. Used medical and orthopedic aids left behind by people who no longer needed them after faith healings were displayed in a museum area. Subsidiary congregations were referred to as "lighthouses" based on the influence of the Salvation Army, while the main congregation was called "Salvation Navy". This began the expansion of the Foursquare Gospel Churches .

Charitable work

McPherson (left) packs Christmas food baskets (ca.1935)

McPherson fought to ensure that the church organization served not only the spiritual but also the physical needs of the poor. And although she fervently believed and preached that Jesus Christ would come again soon , she never made a commitment when this second coming would take place. There were two thoughts that prevailed in their proclamations: "Jesus is coming again, how can I be prepared for this?" And "How can I help others be prepared?"

McPherson's way of answering these questions was to mobilize her community, and beyond that, anyone she could address through radio, telephone, and word-of-mouth. Everyone should be active in charitable work and social employment.

"True Christianity is not only about being good, but also doing good."

Her “Charities and Beneficiary Department” collected all kinds of donations, even for disasters in Japan and an aid organization for Germany. Men who were released from prison were helped by a "brotherhood" to find work. A “sisterhood” was created that sewed children's clothes for impoverished mothers. Founding churches across the country were also encouraged to follow the example of the Angelus Temple. Even people who viewed McPherson's theology as laughable supported this work.

In June 1925, McPherson paused a radio broadcast after hearing news of the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake, took over the microphone from the surprised singer, and made an appeal asking for food, blankets, clothing, and other first aid. While the Red Cross was still organizing its aid, McPherson's second convoy reached the affected city. In 1928, after the dam of the St. Francis Dam , McPherson's Church even led the relief effort. In 1933, after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, McPherson arranged in a very short time that volunteers were on site and soothed the disturbed people with blankets, coffee and donuts.

In 1927, based on her childhood experiences with the Salvation Army, McPherson opened a "Commissary" in her church. This organization was instructed to help the needy on a larger scale. In fact, the Commissary was the only stop in town, where food, clothing and blankets were distributed without asking questions. It was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and set up soup kitchens, free hospital wards, and other aid institutions while the Great Depression continued. It served an estimated 1.5 million people. When the government abolished the free school lunch program , McPherson took over the organization. Their attitude of giving first and investigating later resulted in some waste and deception, but it "eased adversity in an epic dimension."

McPherson even managed to get the fire department and police to help distribute it. Doctors, doctors and dentists were persuaded to work in the free clinic, where 500 nurses were trained to care for children and the elderly. To prevent households with financial problems from having their electricity cut off in winter, she set up an emergency fund of $ 2,000 with the electricity provider. The Yellow Cab Company also provided a large building in which 80,000 people received free food within a month.

Volunteers distributed food baskets and evangelistic literature under the motto "Everybody and anybody is somebody to Jesus" (translated: Everyone is a person for Jesus). One reporter wrote that he had always viewed the "breadline" as "a colorless scar on our civilization", but at the Angelus Temple commissary he observed "the warm dress of sympathy and Christian assistance". On the virtual mourning page of McPherson, the following appreciation was given in June 2002:

“My grandpa always talked about when he was a kid, he and his family moved to California from Missouri, during the depression, and his family was starving and they met you and you gave them a bag of vegetables, and some money, he never forgot it. "

“My grandfather often spoke of his childhood. When he moved to California with his family from Missouri, during the Great Depression, when his family was starving, and when they met you and you gave them a bag of vegetables and some money. He never forgot that. "

- Anonymous

McPherson also started a job agency to help the poorest and expected all community members to help. In 1932 the police searched the commissary because it was suspected that there was a distillery that was used to make brandy from donated apricots. All they found was some sauerkraut and cooking oil that had leaked and the commissary was closed for a short time. The press became aware, and in order not to stop work, those responsible were changed. The press, generally cynical of the Angelus Temple, appreciated that the virtues made up for mistakes.

Because McPherson insisted on avoiding administrative delays by categorizing them into "deserving" and "undeserving", the Commissary became one of the most effective aid agencies in the region. Even when McPherson transformed into a fashionable, blonde Hollywood character, her diligence and practical social work remained the same. She enjoyed organizing large projects. Documentation in 1936 found that Angelus Temple supported more families than any other public or private institution in the city. Because she also helped illegal immigrants, she came into conflict with the laws of California. Although the Commissary's guidelines were later adjusted, helping those in need, regardless of where they live, remained a top priority.

Anthony Quinn recalls:

“This was all during the height of the Depression, when hunger and poverty permeated America. Many Mexicans were terrified of appealing for county help because most of them were illegally in the country. When in distress, they were comforted by the fact that they could call one of Aimee's branches at any time of the night. There, they would never be asked any of the embarrassing questions posed by the authorities. The fact that they were hungry or in need of warm clothing was enough. No one even asked if they belonged to Aimee's church or not. "

“During the Depression, when hunger and poverty permeated America. Many Mexicans were terrified of asking the state for help because most of them were in the country illegally. In times of need, they were comforted by the knowledge that they could call one of Aimee's branches at any time of the day. There they would never be asked the embarrassing questions of the authorities. The fact that they were hungry or in need of clothing was enough. Nobody asked if they belonged to Aimee's church. "

- Anthony Quinn

plant

Annunciation style

In August 1925, on the way back from an event, McPherson decided to charter an airplane so that she could give her Sunday sermon. She was also aware of the publicity of this action and so she arranged for about 2000 followers and journalists to come to the airport. However, the aircraft failed and the landing facilities gave way, causing the aircraft to belly land before takeoff. McPherson was not deterred by this, boarded another plane and used the experience to deliver a narrative sermon about "The Heavenly Airplane". The stage in Angelus Temple was decorated with two miniature airplanes and a picture of the Los Angeles skyline. In the sermon, McPherson described one airplane powered by the devil, sin, and temptation, while another was brought to the Holy City by Jesus.

On another occasion, she used a traffic cop uniform and a police motorcycle as props for her sermon.

For their services, McPherson assembled a group of artists, electricians, decorators, and carpenters to set the stage for each service. Church music was played by an orchestra, and McPherson also performed some elaborate church operas. The Iron Furnace , based on the book Exodus , tells the story of the exodus from Egypt. She even got support from some Hollywood stars. The acting troupe consisted of about 450 people and the work was so complex and expensive that it was only performed once.

Although McPherson condemned theater and film as " the devil's workshop ", she used their tricks and effects. She became the first evangelist to use the moving image technique. McPherson wanted to avoid boring services to which parishioners came out of a sense of duty. She wanted the sacred themes to rival vaudeville and film performances. The sermon was serious but used elements of comedy. Animals also kept appearing. McPherson gave up to 22 sermons a week, and the Sunday evening service drew the greatest number of visitors. Additional tram rides and police were needed to regulate traffic for the events.

McPherson preached very conservatively, but used progressive methods and took advantage of radio broadcasts, films, and stage appearances. The women's movement was just developing, and the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution introduced women's suffrage. McPherson was able to approach some women with modern ideas, but she also disappointed many with conflicting theories. Through her use of new media, she helped people integrate them into their lives. But she also used the media to her advantage and became the “first modern celebrity preacher” .

After the First World War , the controversy between fundamentalists and modernists arose . Many modernists were looking for less conservative models of religion. McPherson struggled to ban modernism and secularism from families, churches, schools and communities, and developed a strong following for what she called "the Foursquare Gospel" by combining contemporary tastes with her teachings. She was competent to have intellectual discourse about her teachings, but she preferred to preach the gospel simply and powerfully. Her special voice and her graphic explanations created a mass experience "that bordered on hysteria".

The 30 or so revival events that McPherson hosted between 1919 and 1922 exceeded any major event held in America up to that point. "Neither Houdini nor Teddy Roosevelt had such an audience nor PT Barnum." (Neither Houdini nor Teddy Roosevelt had as many listeners as PT Barnum ). Their one to four week series of events made the largest buildings burst at the seams. It also broke the audience record set by Billy Sunday . Often she even used his tent constructions for her events. In San Diego , the city even had to call in the National Guard and other forces to control the crowd of 30,000 Awakened. McPherson became one of the most photographed people of her time and was interviewed by journalists about all kinds of events, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Her faith healings gained her unexpected supporters. When a Roma tribal king and his mother announced that they had had faith healing through McPherson, thousands more came to her and many were converted. They changed their culture by using crosses and other Christian symbols in addition to their astrological cards and crystal balls. Valuing gold and loyalty, they paid McPherson with sacks of gold and coins, greatly encouraging the construction of the Angelus Temple. On May 29, 1922, when severe storms threatened to drown the congregation in Wichita , McPherson interrupted the speaker, raised her hand to the sky, and prayed, "Let go of the rain after the message is delivered to these hungry souls." The rain stopped immediately, which even triggered a headline in the local newspaper. The Romani gathered saw this as an additional sign of this woman's authority. The faith healings were discussed extensively in the media and formed a large part of her early career. No one else has so many healings been attested, including through secular media. Especially in the years 1919 to 1922. Over time, however, the aspect of faith healing diminished more and more. Weekly healing meetings were later scheduled and continued until her death in 1944.

International Church of the Foursquare Gospel

McPherson at a sermon in the newly built Angelus Temple in 1923

McPherson's church developed into its own denomination over time: the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel . The hallmark of this denomination was the alignment with Christ: Savior, the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, healer, coming King. The four main beliefs were: Christ can change the life of individuals through salvation; Holy Baptism includes the power to glorify God and praise Christ through practical acts; Divine healing is renewal of life for body and mind; and the gospel-based expectation of Christ's return before the end of the millennium.

McPherson published the weekly newspaper Foursquare Crusader and the monthly magazine Bridal Call . It also began broadcasting radio messages in the early 1920s. On a Sunday in April 1922, Rockridge Radio Station in Oakland made it possible for her to preach for the first time over the wireless telephone. She became the first woman to give a radio sermon. In 1924 the church's own transmitter KEIB (KFSG) opened. This made McPherson the second woman to receive a radio license from the Department of Commerce .

McPherson conducted their events without racial segregation. When some Ku Klux Klan members attended their event, the discarded hoods and robes were found in the nearby Echo Park after the event. She also supported many Hispanic preachers in Los Angeles.

McPherson's tour of the country and popular revival movements was tolerated, but her settlement in Los Angeles caused some resentment in local churches. Although she shared most of the fundamentalist tenets, many churches were suspicious of a woman who gave entertaining sermons, did faith healing, and was divorced and constantly featured in the newspapers. In addition, the members of the ward, especially the women, had a unique style. They copied McPherson's guise, and a kind of uniform developed: a white dress with a navy blue cape. Men were usually less conspicuous because they wore suits. Her voice, broadcast on the radio by her own station, became one of the most famous in the American West.

Their pictorial sermons, which emphasized salvation, the love of God, and the joys of service and heaven, drew criticism from many pastors because the gospel message was presented too much as theater and worldly pleasure for their taste. Divine healing , as McPherson called it, was viewed by many pastors as a unique gift from the first apostles. Robert P. Shuler published a pamphlet called McPhersonism , in which he stated that their "spectacular and widely advertised program was not in keeping with God's Word." Discussions such as the Bogard- McPherson debate in 1934 raised interest, but none of them effectively cast doubt on McPherson's findings.

The newly emerging denomination of the Assemblies of God , another Pentecostal Church, worked for a time with McPherson, but insisted on a strict separation from other Protestant denominations. McPherson always struggled against isolation and continued their interdenominational collaboration. She had an ecumenical vision of faith, and when participating in discussions, she avoided aggressive rhetoric that divided so many denominations. Their goal was to work with the existing churches and share their visions and creeds.

A great support in her passion was the rapid founding of the LIFE Bible College, which was attached to the Angelus Temple. The ministers who were trained there were to return to all denominations at home and abroad and spread the Foursquare Gospel there. Frank Thompson, a Methodist preacher who had never had a Pentecostal experience, was won over to lead the college. He taught the students the teachings of John Wesley . McPherson and others, meanwhile, gave them Pentecostal ideas. For about a year Antonia Frederick Futterer , probably the role model for Steven Spielberg's film character Indiana Jones , was a member of the college. McPherson's accomplishments brought the Pentecostals, previously viewed as marginalized Christianity, into the mainstream of the American evangelical movement.

Life in the media spotlight

Relations with the press

As early as 1926, McPherson was one of the most charismatic and influential women and pastors of her time. Her reputation was on par with Charles Lindbergh , Johnny Weissmuller , Jack Dempsey , Babe Ruth , Ty Cobb , Knute Rockne , Bobby Jones , Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino to name a few. She was an important American phenomenon, which, together with a few other famous preachers, in contrast to Hollywood celebrities, could be revered unrestrained by her audience without the followers "bringing their souls into distress"

Carey McWilliams wrote that she was more than a celebrity, she was a folk heroine and civic institution, honorary member of fire groups and police departments, a patron saint of service clubs, and an official spokeswoman for the community for issues that are serious or well could be frivolous. McPherson also led personal crusades against anything she believed threatened her Christian ideals, such as drinking alcohol and teaching evolutionary teachings in schools.

McPherson became a major supporter of William Jennings Bryan during the Scopes Trial in 1925. John Scopes was tried for illegally teaching evolution at a school in Dayton, Tennessee . Bryan and McPherson had worked together at the Angelus Temple and believed that Darwinism destroyed student morale. The New Yorker quoted McPherson with saying: "Evolution is the greatest triumph of Satanic intelligence in 5931 years of diabolical war against the heavenly hosts. It poisons the minds of children and the nation. ”She sent a telegram to Bryan that read,“ Ten thousand members of the Angelus Temple and millions of radio subscribers send you their grateful appreciation for your lion-hearted defense of the Bible against evolution and toss their hats with you in the ring. ”She then organized a“ night prayer service and a large conference with a Bible parade through Los Angeles.

politics

While her mother, Mildred Kennedy, was a Democrat , no one was sure which party McPherson leaned towards. She recommended Herbert Hoover before Franklin D. Roosevelt , but enthusiastically supported the latter and his social programs once he was in office. She was a supporter of the trade unions . She preached that a gangster's money was no more messy than the millions of dollars a man amassed by working underpaid factory workers. However, it was much more cautious when strikes turned into violent riots. She saw in them possible activities of communism , which tried to infiltrate the unions and other organizations. McPherson detested communism and its offshoots because it wanted to do without God. The ultimate goal, she said, was to push Christianity off the earth. McPherson's view of fascism was just as negative.

McPherson never allied himself with any kind of conservatism or liberalism throughout . She took the view that everything would take care of itself if Christianity took a central place in politics and the elements of God, family, school and government were held together. "Take one of these off and civilization will fall and fall," she warned. Today's leaders of the Foursquare Gospel Church assess their views differently: “McPherson's passion was to see America in good spiritual health. Hence, she saw the need for the church to influence the government. This attitude has to be assessed against the political and religious climate of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. It is not possible to draw a parallel between today's extreme fundamentalists, right-wing Christianity and the focus of Sister McPherson. ”She was also one of the first prominent proponents of a“ Jewish homeland ”in Palestine . She explained that when the Jews return, they will accept Christ, their sufferings will end, and "they will establish a kingdom in Jerusalem much more beautiful than the world can imagine."

kidnapping

Disappearance from Venice Beach

The kidnapping of Aimee Semple McPherson caused a media stir and changed her life and the course of her career. After she disappeared in May 1926, she was found in Mexico five weeks later. She claimed to have been held in a hut in the desert.

On May 18, 1926, McPherson went to Ocean Park Beach north of Venice Beach for a swim with her secretary. McPherson disappeared shortly afterwards. She was thought to have been drowned. Search parties combed the beach and the nearby area. The Angelus Temple received letters giving clues as to their whereabouts and ransom demands. Sightings across the country followed. As a precaution, the ransom demands were passed on to the police, who investigated at least one of them. Mildred Kennedy thought this was a joke and thought her daughter was dead.

As the Angelus Temple was preparing for a memorial service, Kennedy received a phone call from Douglas, Arizona . McPherson was alive. She was recovering at a hospital in Douglas and told her story to officers there.

McPherson with her family and officials after her abduction at the hospital in Douglas, Arizona: District Attorney Asa Keyes (far left), Mildred Kennedy, Roberta Star Semple, (center left). Far right Deputy District Attorney Joseph Ryan with Rolf McPherson.

McPherson said she was asked by a young couple on the beach on May 19 to pray for their sick child. McPherson took them to the car, where she was suddenly pushed into it and drugged. She was taken to a rundown hut in the desert. Two of the kidnappers, Steve and Rose, were her permanent guards. A third man, not known by name, came by occasionally. Once, when all of her kidnappers were out, she escaped through a window.

She covered a distance of about 32 km in about twelve hours. At around 1:00 a.m. she reached Agua Prieta , Sonora , a Mexican city ​​and collapsed in front of a house. Local residents helped her and she was eventually taken across the border to nearby Douglas.

Return to Los Angeles

McPherson was greeted by 30,000-50,000 people at the train station on her return to Los Angeles. The parade back to the Temple became an even bigger event than President Woodrow Wilson's visit in 1919. Many members of the Chamber of Commerce and some politicians who were already outraged by McPherson's stance on evolution and the Bible disapproved of the crowd. Some Los Angeles churches were also upset.

The story was spread across the country, and suspicions arose that her disappearance might not have been a kidnapping after all. Against the wishes of her mother, who was afraid that the press would unfavorably develop the story, McPherson decided for a police investigation and filed a complaint. A grand jury was commissioned to identify any evidence. However, under pressure from various influential groups, the investigation turned against McPherson. Her family and friends tried to determine whether the kidnapping had been faked. District Attorney Asa Keyes led the investigation against McPherson. He was known for winning cases, but six of his convicts were found innocent and pardoned by the governor.

The process

The first meeting was scheduled for July 8, 1926. The negotiations dragged on with immense media coverage throughout the summer of 1926. In and of themselves, the negotiations were secret under California law, but reports of them reached the press. Influencing was evident, especially as much of the alleged evidence came from reporters who first published it in their newspapers and then went to the police. McPherson, too, renounced secrecy and frankly used her radio station to spread her version of the story. On November 3, the closing date was set for mid-January 1927. Along with McPherson and her mother, several of her defense lawyers were accused in the interrogation. If convicted, the total sentences would have been 42 years.

Various speculations about McPherson's disappearance have been raised by the press and coroners. Among them was the suspicion that she ran away with a former employee, Kenneth Ormiston. She was accused of living with him in a vacation home in a California seaside resort until May 29. The period Ormiston had rented the cottage coincided with the first ten days of their disappearance. However, the three-week period thereafter could not be explained. McPherson answered this in the same version with the above story.

While the prosecution tried to refute her story, exonerating witnesses confirmed her statements. McPherson was also able to plausibly explain the information in question. In contrast, the prosecution developed weighty credibility problems. Witnesses changed their testimony and evidence came from questionable sources or was treated sloppily in custody. On January 2, 1927, Ormiston revealed that Elizabeth Tovey, a nurse from Seattle , Washington, was his mistress and that she was the one who had lived with him at the vacation home. All charges against McPherson and her supporters were dropped on January 10th.

After the end of the process

Notwithstanding the court's decision, months of poor press coverage cemented public awareness that McPherson was doing badly. The magazines had a keen interest in keeping the controversy alive as it drove sales. Most of the investigation against McPherson was funded by Los Angeles area magazines valued at an estimated $ 500,000.

Some supporters were disappointed that the process failed to restore their reputation. The kidnappers remained unknown. McPherson's litigation cost was estimated at $ 100,000. In 1927 she published a book with her version of events: In the Service of the King: The Story of My Life .

Many famous people commented on the process. In a letter to the Los Angeles Times a few months after the case was dropped, Robert P. Shuler noted, “Perhaps the most important lesson of the whole situation is the apparent loyalty of thousands to this leader, despite her obvious and proven guilt. "

Henry L. Mencken , a well-known journalist, satirist and cultural critic and an ideological opponent from the earlier Scopes trial of 1925 spoke up. He wrote that "Los Angeles will remember the testimony against them for much longer than the testimony they acquitted."

Affairs

The Los Angeles Times published this photo in 1936, with the caption that it was supposed to show McPherson reading a ransom note.

A number of affairs have been said of McPherson. Most of the time, the suspected lovers fended off the allegations. Kenneth Ormiston, a married man with a young son, for example. He could have benefited greatly from publishing an affair with McPherson. Whether the two had a good working relationship was not discussed at all. Ormiston vehemently opposed these attacks.

Even one of her coworkers suspected McPerson because of her changed demeanor and connections to Hollywood . In 1929, John D. Goben hired detectives to shadow McPherson. However, the detectives could only confirm that McPherson prepared their services and composed songs until the early hours of the morning. Only their third marriage was an obvious breach of church principles. McPherson himself only answered a fraction of the allegations. She stated that she used her time preaching Jesus.

After her death, several insubstantial rumors about love affairs were published. These included hints from Gordon Sinclair , a Canadian journalist, and Milton Berle , a comedian.

Since 1931, McPherson kept a low profile to protect himself against rumors. From 1930 onwards, it can be traced almost every hour where McPherson was staying.

Next life

McPherson surrounded by flowers while cutting the Angelus Temple cake, 1927

McPherson used all kinds of holidays to hold public worship services and gala events.

After breaking with the press

When the heyday of her public relations came to an end in the 1920s, McPherson carried on her work as usual, but lost the positive impact of the press. She used to be referred to as a “miracle worker” or “miracle woman”, with reference to her extensive religious healings, but later on, the misfortunes in her family were exploited as headlines. For example, her conflicts with her mother became the talk of the town. At that time, 10% of the Los Angeles population were members of their temple. At times, film studios also outbid each other with offers.

She believed that the talking images had the power to change Christianity. Hence, McPherson dabbled in Hollywood culture and appeared on television news alongside celebrities such as Mary Pickford , Frances Perkins and Franklin D. Roosevelt. She took off, had her hair dyed and dressed up fashionably. One reviewer wrote that McPherson can outdo Hollywood stars in fashion. The instrumentalization of her fame, justified by the fact that she attracted listeners and brought them to Christ, was more than what some of her church members could endure. They longed for the Sister Aimee "in the old time dress" when her uniform of a navy blue cape over a white work apron, which she bought cheaply in small shops, was her trademark. Other staff loved this new demeanor and their services grew in popularity so they were full. McPherson wanted her demeanor to express the best she gave for Jesus.

In early 1927, McPherson hosted a direct vindication tour that visited different cities and took advantage of the publicity surrounding her abduction giving her opportunities to preach the gospel. Her visit to New York in a fur coat and well-cut yellow dress was covered in the gossip magazines. She even went to nightclubs, such as one of the most famous speakeasys in New York: Texas Guinan's Three Hundred Club on 54th Street. While McPherson was drinking water at their table, she asked Guinan herself if she would like to speak to his guests. McPherson was happy to take the floor and gave a short speech which, without judgment and with a conciliatory tone, delighted the party guests and elicited long applause. The revelers were invited to attend their sermon at the Glad Tidings Tabernacle on 33rd Street .

Problems with Mildred Kennedy

In the summer of 1927, Mildred Kennedy left the Angelus Temple. In an attempt to curtail her daughter's influence and officially gain more influence for herself, she had prompted a vote of no confidence in McPherson, but lost it. The two had previously argued hotly about management issues and McPherson's changed demeanor. 300 members of the choir left for similar reasons. These could be replaced, but Kennedy's financial and administrative skills had been critical to McPherson's growing work. Successively, several much less talented management staff were hired as replacements and through them the Temple was drawn into various questionable businesses, such as hotel construction, cemetery facilities and land sales. The Angelus Temple was also deeply in debt. Kennedy returned in late 1929, but ongoing arguments with her daughter resulted in her resignation in late July 1930. The following month, McPherson had a nervous breakdown and was unable to preach for 10 months. In some cases an acute acidosis was diagnosed .

comeback

When she recovered and returned to the pulpit, she published her "Altar of Roses" sermons with renewed vigor. These were based on the Song of Solomon , where the rose of Sharon Hld 2,1  LUT is described as the mystical body of Christ. While journalists dismissed these sermons as emotional drivel, scholars and theologians described these treatises as a complex Neoplatonic interpretation. McPherson had written hundreds of pages on the book of Songs, with many unique approaches.

The Boston revival in October 1931, however, began at a snail's pace. A Los Angeles newspaper ran the headline of a flop. On the first evening, McPherson spoke to fewer than 5,000 people in the 22,000-seat sports arena. The city had large congregations of Unitarians , Episcopalists, and Catholics , honorable denominations traditionally hostile to the Pentecostal movement. But the "Bring Back the Bible to Boston" campaign picked up speed and the audience skyrocketed. McPherson also increased their presence enormously. When a reporter asked McPherson why she was making her sermons so dramatic (including gesturing with a white Bible) she replied, “Our God is a dramatic God ... he rolled away the red sea ... Elijah on the mountain ... the Crucifixion, the resurrection, His ascension, ... tongues of fire on Pentecost. ”On the last day more than 40,000 listeners came and about 5,000 had to be turned away. A total of 160,000 people came to the series of events. With this, McPherson proved that she still had great influence.

The next event in New York wasn't quite as successful as gossip reports dominated the press. But after a short breather, McPherson went on tour again - on her last evangelism tour - speaking in 46 cities in 21 states, reaching about 2% of the population of America. A crew of musicians, stage technicians and costume designers accompanied them. Between September 1933 and December 1934, McPherson preached 336 sermons and appeared on 45 radio stations.

The Boston Evening Traveler reported:

“Aimee's religion is a religion of joy. There is happiness in it. Her voice is easy to listen to. She does not appeal to the brain and try to hammer religion into the heads of her audience. Rather, she appeals to the hearts of her hearers. She radiates friendliness. She creates an atmosphere that is warming. She is persuasive, rather than forceful; gracious and kindly, rather than compelling. Fundamentally she takes the whole Bible literally, from cover to cover. "

“Aimee's religion is a religion of joy. There is happiness in it. One can easily listen to her voice. She doesn't want to speak to the head and hammer religion into the minds of her listeners. Rather, it speaks to the hearts of its listeners. She exudes friendliness. It creates an atmosphere that warms. It is compelling rather than powerful; gracious and loving instead of compelling. Basically, it literally takes the Bible from start to finish. "

- CoxBoston

However, in an informal meeting with Harvard students , she made it clear that she was not being slavish to the letter. She told the students that Genesis left a lot of room for interpretation. Neither she nor the Bible insists that the world came into being exactly 6,000 years ago. In another meeting with students, she heard the opinion that Christ's teachings were outdated and of no use. Education, science and cool deliberation are the new saviors of the world. She then decided to travel to see the world through new eyes. In 1935 McPherson went on a six-month study trip to get to know the relationships between education, social affairs, religion and economic development in various countries around the world. She met Mahatma Gandhi among other personalities . McPherson suspected that he might be secretly inclined towards Christianity, that his devotion might be a "spark of the purifying, enhancing, strengthening power of the Nazarene". The Hungarian journalist Edgar Lajtha reports in detail about her activities at this time in the chapter "The Saints of Los Angeles" in his book World Experience , which the church founder visited around 1935 at her place of work.

Another highlight of the trip was a barefoot walk on the long stone path to Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar . She heard Benito Mussolini in Italy and concluded that there was going to be a war. In Verdun, from an abandoned military vehicle, she gazed sadly at the hundred thousand dead who had died on the still uncleared battlefield. Bleached bones could be seen and nearby men were carefully working on the iron harvest. They collected old ammunition to dispose of.

In 1936 a delegation, including Emma Cotton , asked if they could use the Angelus Temple for an anniversary event 30 years after the Azusa Street Mission Revival . The mission's original building and land no longer existed. Evangelist Emma Cotton organized a series of events with McPherson, which led McPherson to enthusiastically commit to the Pentecostal Movement. The experiment to reach people as a “Hollywood Celebrity” was unsuccessful, connections to other churches hardly existed and so McPherson went back to their origins and even allowed the more conspicuous phenomena again, even if those responsible at the Angelus Temple were concerned , the “Azusa People” could bring “wildfire and Holy Rollerism” to the community. McPherson countered that she would use every hand to see the power of God in motion again.

The Azusa Street Revival anniversary events brought a number of black preachers to the Angelus Temple. The members of the "Azusa Revivals" brought every ethnic group into the Angelus Temple. It was the "saints who were once melted together by the fire of Pentecost". McPherson even began to use tongues in her own sermons. In later anniversary meetings, men such as Charles H. Mason , a founder of the Churches of God in Christ appeared .

Problems in the church leadership

Roberta Star Semple (left), McPherson (center) and Rheba Crawford Splivalo, Assistant Pastor (right), at a parade in 1935

In 1936, McPherson rearranged the responsibilities in their community to address the financial difficulties. However, this led to great tension in the staff. It was rumored that the Angel of Broadway, the charismatic evangelist Rheba Crawford Splivalo, who had worked with McPherson for several years, was trying to dispute her Angelus Temple. McPherson told Splivalo to leave town. In the course of the controversy, McPherson's attorney published a violent attack in the press that upset Roberta Star Semple, McPherson's daughter, after which she instigated a defamation trial against him for $ 150,000. Splivalo litigated McPherson for a sum of $ 1,080,000 because McPherson had described her as a " Jezebel and a Judas " and "unable to stand in the pulpit of the Angelus Temple". The two trials of Semple and Splivalo were unrelated, but McPherson saw it that way. Mildred Kennedy was also involved in these conflicts because she sided with Semple. In these tense circumstances, McPherson's defense of herself and her attorney became a theatrical drama in a public trial. Semple won her trial with a low Compensation, after which she moved to New York, Splivalo and the Angelus Temple settled out of court for "the cause of religion and the good of the community".

With that, the Angelus Temple had lost a large part of its talented leaders. In Giles Knight, however, McPherson found a permanent and competent administrator who made the Temple debt-free, ended the approximately 40 pending lawsuits and ended the exaggerated projects. He shielded McPherson and only allowed her to receive a few personal visitors and planned her activities outside the community very carefully. During this time, McPherson was particularly creative and achieved great perfection in her preaching style. No longer was she beset by torrents of reporters, demands from lawsuits, and innumerable individuals asking for her attention. Even the non-religious Charlie Chaplin secretly attended their services. She later even met with him to perfect her performance. Your reputation improved enormously and even her former opponent, Robert P. Shuler announced that "Aimee's missionary work is envied by the Methodists." He even supported the application of the Foursquare Church to the National Association of Evangelicals for United Action 1,943th

Their cross-racial revival efforts at the Angelus Temple continued. She invited black people to church and to preach. During the 1943 race riot in Detroit , McPherson publicly staged the conversion of former heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson on the Temple stage and hugged him as he thanked God profusely.

Wartime

Attitude to war

Pacifism , an official component of "Pentecostalism," was promoted by the Foursquare Gospel Church in the 1930s through official statements and documents that were continually revised by McPherson. A quotation from the press, attributed to McPherson, treats, with reference to Mahatma Gandhi, the concept “I want to incorporate the ideals of India with my own….” Clinton Howard, chairman of the World Peace Commission , was also a speaker loaded. In 1932, McPherson was campaigning for disarmament.

However, the leaders of the Foursquare Church were aware of the dangers that the enormous technological development brought with it. Developments in aviation and shipping in particular endangered the isolation and security of the United States, and so they drafted a position paper that kept various options open. Both the idea that one could take up weapons for a just cause and that any killing, even in military use, would be murder and endanger souls, were now accepted.

Reaction to the war

The congregation during a 14-hour Holy Ghost service in 1942

McPherson followed with watchful eyes of the events leading to the outbreak of the Second World War led and predicted that a much greater misfortune could be in the suit, when the First World War . In a sermon she described a situation in a recently conquered country where all religious symbols were replaced by the image of Adolf Hitler . She speculated that the apocalypse from the Revelation of John with its great losses and the subsequent Second Coming of Christ were imminent.

Nights of prayer were held every Friday in the Angelus Temple from 1940 onwards, from the time Germany caught Belgium , the Netherlands and France by surprise. McPherson urged other wards to follow suit and sent a sketch of their plan to Stephen Early , President Franklin Roosevelt's secretary, and other influential people. Prayer, they believed, was stronger than the means of war. Early returned this letter with a note of thanks. The governor of California was also positive, and a month later Roosevelt called a National Day of Prayer to ask the "Lord of the Universe to bless our republic."

After the outbreak of war, McPherson rejected the Christian pacifism cultivated by many Pentecostals. She used her strength to support her state in winning the war. “It is the Bible against Mein Kampf . It is the cross against the swastika . It is God against the antichrist of Japan ,… This is no time for pacifism. " The Angelus Temple itself became a symbol of the sacrifices made for the war on the home front. If necessary, it was announced, the building could be used as an air raid shelter. The distinctive white dome was painted black and the stained glass windows were covered. Like all other buildings in the city, no window was allowed to let light out at night. One evening in May 1942, McPherson himself drove a horse-drawn carriage up to Angelus Temple to point out the need to conserve oil and rubber.

Rubber and other collections were organized and the radio station, KFSG, gave the Office of War Information unlimited airtime. McPherson urged her parishioners to wrap bandages and donate blood two hours a day. Money was raised to equip military stations with furniture and radios. Newsweek published on July 19, 1943 an article on McPherson, "The World's Greatest Living Minister", in which one could read that she had already collected 2,800 "pints of blood" for the Red Cross ; Soldiers were greeted with special greetings and the climax was when they read The Star-Spangled Banner .

She gave soldiers Bibles with her autograph. In doing so, she discovered that they often had no relation to the church or their own Bible. "What a privilege it was to invite the servicemen present in every Sunday night meeting to come to the platform, where I greeted them, gave each one a New Testament, and knelt in prayer with them for their spiritual needs, and God's guidance and protection on their lives. Later, when the altar call would be given, many of these same servicemen would make another trip to the platform publicly to receive Jesus Christ as their personal savior. "

She railed against Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tōjō and was involved in promotions for war bonds . Pershing Square's Victory House in Los Angeles had never seen a larger crowd before. McPherson sold $ 150,000 worth of bonds in one hour on June 20, 1942, breaking all previous records. Then she repeated the success on July 4, 1944. The US Treasury gave her a commendation and the Army made her an Honorary Colonel .

Their wartime sermons often associated the Church with American patriotism. McPherson addressed members of the military with the conviction that crackdown on the Axis powers was long overdue. She held the view that churches, families, and everything that Christians hold dear and dear to them are in danger of being completely wiped out.

McPherson adopted the strategy of total war , which brought them under criticism. The line between the church as an independent moral, critical authority and government was lost. On the contrary, the impression arose that church and government were playing together. For example, crimes committed against Japanese Americans while in relocation camps have been swept under the rug. It also forbade the congregation to support Christians who lived as pacifists. Eventually, the pacifism clause was completely removed from Church publications.

death

McPherson's grave in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale

On September 26, 1944, McPherson traveled to Oakland California to hold revival services and deliver her popular "Story of My Life" sermons. When her son walked into her hotel room at around 10:00 am the following morning, he found her unconscious with pills and a half-empty pill bottle. She passed away around 11:15 a.m. It was later revealed that she called her doctor that morning because the medicine made her uncomfortable. However, he was undergoing an operation at the time and could not be disturbed. Then she called another doctor who referred her to the nearest doctor. However, she passed out before she could make that call.

The autopsy could not conclusively clarify the cause of death. McPherson had been given sleeping pills after various health problems. One of the active ingredients in the tablets in her hotel room was Seconal , a strong narcotic that had not been prescribed for her. Where she got it from was unknown.

The coroner suggested that an accidental overdose with associated kidney failure was the cause of death. Officially, the cause of death is unknown.

45,000 people queued to pay their respects at the Angelus Temple when she was laid out there for three days. It took eleven trucks to bring the flowers, valued at $ 50,000, to the cemetery, and the cemetery received as many flower deliveries as it did the last time after Will Roger's death .

Marcus Bach, an observer wrote:

“Roberta, who had married an orchestra director, flew in from New York. Ma Kennedy was at the grave, Rheba Crawford Splivalo had returned to say that there was never a greater worker for God than Sister. A thousand ministers of the Foursquare Gospel paid their tearful tribute. The curious stood by impressed. The poor who had always been fed at Angelus were there, the lost who had been spirit-filled, the healed, the faithful here they were eager to immortalize the Ontario farm girl who loved the Lord. Here they laid the body of Sister Aimee to rest in the marble sarcophagus guarded by two great angels on Sunrise slope. "

“Roberta, who married an orchestra conductor, flew from New York. Ma Kennedy was at the grave, Rheba Crawford Splivalo had come back to say that there was never a greater worker for God than Sister. Thousands of pastors from Foursquare Gospel Church paid their tribute. The curious were impressed. The poor who had always been fed at Angelus Temple, the lost, the Spirit-filled, the healed, the believers here were earnestly seeking to immortalize the Ontario Farm Girl who loved God. Here they placed Sister Aimee's body in the marble sarcophagus, which is guarded by two angels, in Sunrise Slope. "

- Marcus Bach:

Millions of money had passed through McPherson's hands. When they calculated her personal legacy, however, it came to just $ 10,000. Her daughter Roberta received $ 2000, her son Rolf the rest. In contrast, her mother, Mildred Kennedy, had received $ 200,000 in cash and property in 1927. Foursquare Church itself was worth $ 2.8 million at the time.

McPherson was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale . After her death, her son Rolf ran the Foursquare Gospel church for 44 years. Today the Church has 7.9 million members worldwide.

effect

plant

McPherson's work flourished even in the face of scandals. The newspapers that spread McPherson fame and message on the one hand, got rich from the scandalous news, real as well as imagined. After her death, the negative media image was largely maintained. and remains the predominant reporting to this day.

Robert P. Shuler, whose harsh criticism softened over the years, wrote that he could not understand how God could use such a person. It had a myriad of flaws in his opinion, but ultimately it had a positive impact on Christianity. He appreciated her attempt to identify with the average person, as well as her ability to explain the gospel in simple terms and irresistibly draw people to their services.

Her legacy extends far beyond the glamor of Hollywood. Through the thousands of pastors she trained and churches around the world, through the connections she made, she transformed the evangelical faith and shaped it to become relevant to American culture and to involve the audience personally.

successor

In 1924, nine-year-old Uldine Utley (1912–1995) became an ardent follower in Fresno . After hearing McPherson's dramatic retelling of the story of David and Goliath , the girl tearfully gave her life to Christ. She wanted to be "a little David for the lord and fight Goliath". Her parents were her managers and she set out to preach to millions of people. She often used metaphors similar to McPherson's, for example “the Rose of Sharon” or pictorial words for the “Bride of Christ”.

Two years later, John Sung was in New York in a spiritual crisis. He wanted to hear Pastor IM Haldeman , but the sermon was 11-year-old Utley. Sung was deeply impressed and is looking for a similarly strong authority. When he returned to China, he reached about 100,000 people in three years. The evangelism of Utley and Sung was also accompanied by spiritual healing.

Along with Billy Sunday, McPherson and Utley were counted among the most important evangelists in 1927. John Sung was known as the "John Wesley of China", or "Billy Graham of China".

Edwin Louis Cole's mother was a student at LIFE Bible College. Cole himself took part in various events at the Angelus Temple. Cole later became the founder of the Christian Men's Network and influenced, for example, Bill McCartney (Promise Keepers), Pat Robertson (The 700 Club), John Maxwell (Injoy Ministries), Kenneth Copeland , Oliver North and even Chuck Norris .

In contrast to the currents of liberal Christianity, which held many biblical miracle stories to be superstitious exaggerations, McPherson conveyed a Christianity that made full use of the biblical texts and in which miracles can still be experienced today. Their ecumenical approaches helped the Pentecostal churches to better explain their faith in the context of Christian dogmatics. As a result, traditional churches were also confronted with the unusual gifts of the Spirit and began to learn from the techniques of the Pentecostal revival movements. This anticipated many developments in the charismatic movement .

When it comes to the women's movement, McPherson was a pioneer because she simply disregarded contemporary norms. Women as preachers and divorced were unthinkable in many fundamentalist churches. But their success could not be denied. Meanwhile, secular society sorted women into either Victorian ladies or whores. McPherson did not fit into either category. Atheist Charles Lee Smith publicly said of McPherson shortly before a panel discussion that she had an extraordinary mind, "especially for a woman."

Her constant endeavor to form alliances between communities did not lead to success until after her death. The Foursquare Gospel Church was inducted into the National Association of Evangelicals in 1952 , and from then on, church leaders worked to establish the Pentecostal World Fellowship . Pentecostalism, which once lived on separatism and stood on the edge of Protestantism, became part of the Christian mainstream and gained a foothold on all levels of American society.

Popular culture

McPherson has been quoted and processed in many literary works:

• The figure of Sharon Falconer in Sinclair Lewis ' Elmer Gantry from 1926.
• The Evangelist Big Sister in Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust .
• Upton Sinclair was intrigued by her story. He wrote a poem about her dubious kidnapping (An Evangelist Drowns), quoted her in his novel Oil! from 1927 as Eli Watkins , a corrupt small-town pastor.
• In the 2007 film There Will Be Blood , this character is called Eli Sunday .
• Evelyn Waugh had her appear as Mrs. Melrose Ape in her satirical novel Vile Bodies (1930).
• The Vanity Fair sold a satirical paper dress-up doll with her trains.
• She also appeared in The Voice of Hollywood No. 9 (1930), a documentary from Tiffany Studios.
• Frank Capra's film The Miracle Woman (1931) with Barbara Stanwyck and based on John Meehan's play Bless You, Sister was based on her biography.
• The figure of the "Sensuous Sermonizer" Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's musical Anything Goes (1934) is attributed to her.
• Agnes Moorehead's role as Sister Alma in the thriller What's the Matter with Helen? from 1971.
• A television film about the events of her abduction, The Disappearance of Aimee (1976), showed Faye Dunaway as McPherson and Bette Davis as her mother.
• In 2006 the film Aimee Semple McPherson was directed by Richard Rossi . He also created the short film Saving Sister Aimee (2001, also: "Sister Aimee: The Aimee Semple McPherson Story") Rossi also authored the award-winning play "Sister Aimee" (2009 Bottletree One-Act Competition) broadway.com
• The documentary Sister Aimee in the PBS series American Experience aired in 2007.
• In the novel Back in the USA , she appears as Secretary of Manpower Resources under President Al Capone .
• The novel Escape from Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (Tor, 2009) describes Sister Aimee in hell after her death as the leader and saint who led the damned out of hell.
• The musical Saving Aimee (Scandalous) is by Kathie Lee Gifford (music: David Friedman and David Pomeranz ); 2011, 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle; 2012 Neil Simon Theater on Broadway.
• “ An Evangelist Drowns ” (2007) a one-woman play about her life with made-up accounts of her relationships with Charlie Chaplin and David Hutton
• " Aimee Semple Mcpherson and the Resurrection of Christian America " (2007, biography of Matthew Avery Sutton)
• "La disparition de Soeur Aimee" (2011) In: Crimes et Procès Sensationnels à Los Angeles , Nausica Zaballos, pp. 103-140, Paris, E-Dite, ( ISBN 978-2-84608-310-2 )
• In the song " Hooray for Hollywood " (by Johnny Mercer , from the movie Hollywood Hotel ) she is mentioned: "Where anyone at all from Shirley Temple to Aimee Semple is equally understood."
• "Aimee: The Gospel Gold Digger", (1932, John D Goben.)
• The play The Wide Open Ocean , a vaudeville play, was staged at The Actors' Gang Theater in Los Angeles. (by Laural Meade).
• Spit Shine Glisten , (2013) is loosely based on the life of McPherson. It was performed at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California .
• The musical, Vanishing Point , (Rob Hartmann, Liv Cummins, & Scott Keys) connects the lives of McPherson, aviator Amelia Earhart and crime writer Agatha Christie . First performed in 2010 at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania.

See also

• Elmer Gantry

Web links

Commons : Aimee Semple McPherson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Aimee Semple McPherson Biography.
• Woman Thou Art God: Female Empowerment, Spirituality & a biography on Aimee .
• The Ballad of Aimee McPherson .
• Did McPherson send a "Minions of Satan" message to Herbert Hoover, and another article by the same historian later concluding she did not send such a message.
• Aimee Semple McPherson in the Internet Movie Database (English)

literature

• Richard R. Lingeman: Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street. Minnesota Historical Society Press 2005, ISBN 0-87351-541-2 .
• Robert Bahr: Least of all saints: the story of Aimee Semple McPherson. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1979, ISBN 0-13-527978-X , books.google.com .
• Edith Waldvogel Blumhofer: Aimee Semple McPherson. Everybody's sister. WB Eerdmans Pub. Co, Grand Rapids, Mich 1993, ISBN 0-8028-3752-2 , books.google.com .
• Raymond L. Cox: The verdict is In. Salem California 1983, OCLC 11315268 books.google.com .
• Daniel Mark Epstein : Sister Aimee: the life of Aimee Semple McPherson. Houghton Mifflin / Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York 1993, ISBN 0-15-182688-9 , books.google.com .
• James Morris, Jan Morris : The Preachers. St. Martin's Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-900997-41-9 , books.google.com
• Matthew Avery Sutton: Aimee Semple McPherson and the resurrection of Christian America. Harvard University Press Cambridge, Mass. 2007, ISBN 978-0-674-02531-8 , books.google.com .
• Lately Thomas: The vanishing evangelist: the Aimee Semple McPherson Kidnapping Affair. Viking Press, New York 1959, OCLC 1575665 books.google.com .
• Lately Thomas: Storming heaven: the lives and turmoils of Minnie Kennedy and Aimee Semple McPherson. Morrow, New York 1970, OCLC 92194 , books.google.com .
• Nausica Zaballos: La disparition de Soeur Aimee. In: Crimes et procès sensationnels à Los Angeles, 1922–1962. Au-delà du Dahlia noir. E-Dite, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-84608-310-2 , pp. 103-140, books.google.com .

Publications

• Declaration of Faith. The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel 1920.
• The second coming of Christ: Is He Coming? How is he coming? When is He coming? For whom is He coming? A. McPherson, Los Angeles 1921, OCLC 8122641 , books.google.com .
• This is that. Personal Experiences, Sermons and Writings of Aimee Semple McPherson, Evangelist. The Bridal Call Publishing House, Los Angeles, Cal. 1921, OCLC 1053806 , books.google.com .
• In the service of the King. The story of my life. Boni and Liveright, New York 1927, OCLC 513458 books.google.com .
• Perfection, Can a Christian be Perfect? Echo Park Evangelistic Association 1930.
• Give me my own God. HC Kinsey & Co., New York 1936, OCLC 1910039 books.google.com |.
• The story of my life. In memoriam, Echo Park Evangelistic Association, Los Angeles. Hollywood, Cal. 1951, OCLC 1596212 books.google.com .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Variety Obituaries. October 4, 1944.
2. ↑ bbc.co.uk
3. ↑ ^{a b} George Hunston Williams, Rodney Lawrence Petersen, Calvin Augustine Pater: The Contentious Triangle: Church, State, and University. Truman State University Press, 1999 p. 308.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Newspaper Article - AIMEE McPHERSON IN SINGAPORE . Newspapers.nl.sg. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Aimee Semple McPherson Audio Tapes
6. ↑ Daniel Mark Epstein, Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson (Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993), p. 111. The Scriptures say: The healings are a gigantic obstacle to scientific historiography. If events went as the magazines, letters, and testimonies describe, then Aimee S. McPherson's healing ministry was a real miracle ... The documentation is overwhelming: Sister Aimee came to see tens of thousands of very sick people, blind, deaf, paralyzed. Many were temporarily healed, some forever. She referred to heaven, to Christ the Great Healer, and took no part in the success. (Epstein writes "The healings present a monstrous obstacle to scientific historiography. If events transpired as newspapers, letters, and testimonials say they did, then Aimee Semple McPherson's healing ministry was miraculous .... The documentation is overwhelming: very sick people came to Sister Aimee by the tens of thousands, blind, deaf, paralyzed. Many were healed some temporarily, some forever. She would point to heaven, to Christ the Great Healer and take no credit for the results. ")
7. ^ The Incredible Disappearing Evangelist . Smithsonian.com. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
8. ↑ RD10Q: Aimee Semple McPherson, Evangelical Maverick . Religion Dispatches. September 26, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
9. ^ ^{A b c d e} "Between the refrigerator and the wildfire": Aimee Semple McPherson, pentecostalism, and the fundamentalist-modernist controversy (1). - Free Online Library . Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
10. ^ Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America Cambridge, Harvard University Press , 2007, p. 9
11. ^ Sutton, p. 9
12. ↑ Sutton, pp. 9-10
13. ↑ Epstein, pp. 28-29
14. ↑ ^{a b c d} Sutton, p. 10
15. ^ Edith Waldvogel Blumhofer: Aimee Semple McPherson: everybody's sister , Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Inc., 1993, p. 81
16. ↑ Sutton, p. 58
17. ↑ Epstein, pp. 72-73
18. ↑ Epstein, pp. 74-76
19. ↑ Epstein, pp. 91, 95, 128
20. ^ Sutton, p. 172
21. ↑ Epstein, pp. 374-375
22. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 333. In 1932, 33 employees of the Foursquare Gospel Church founded their own Pentecostal Church, the Open Bible Evangelistic Association, after the couple's dramas had become too much for them.
23. ↑ Epstein, p. 434
24. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 333. Note: Homer Rodeheaver was “singing master” with Billy Sunday . McPherson knew him from working at Angelus Temple. It was he who introduced her to David Hutton. McPherson's biographer Sutton noted, referring to Roberta Star Semple, that McPherson liked Rodeheaver, but not the way he kissed.
25. ↑ Aimee May Marry Homer Rodeheaver (North Tonawanda, NY Evening News June 21, 1935)
26. ↑ Epstein, p. 172
27. ^ Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America , Keller, Rosemary Skinner; Ruether, Rosemary Radford (Indiana University Press, 2006) pp. 406-407
28. ↑ ProQuest Login - ProQuest . Proquest.umi.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
29. ↑ Edith Waldvogel Blumhofer, Aimee Semple McPherson: everybody's sister (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing , Inc., 1993), p. 147
30. ^ "But in the history of the outpouring of the Pentecostal power," Epstein, pp. 170-172
31. ↑ Epstein, p. 151
32. ↑ Epstein, p. 153
33. ↑ Aimee McPherson . Aimee McPherson. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
34. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 246
35. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 244
36. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 245
37. ↑ Converted to today's (2012) conditions 3.2 million
38. Jump up ↑ Thomas, Lately Storming Heaven: The Lives and Turmoils of Minnie Kennedy and Aimee Semple McPherson (Morrow, New York, 1970) p. 32.
39. ^ Bridal Call (Foursquare Publications, 1100 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles.) October 1929, p. 27
40. ^ Sutton, p. 335
41. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 210
42. ↑ Jesus is coming, therefore how can I get ready, "and" how can I help others to get ready? "
43. ^ "True Christianity is not only to be good but to do good," she preached.
44. ↑ Epstein, p. 249
45. ↑ Sutton, pp 186-191
46. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 269
47. ↑ Sutton, pp. 189, 315.
48. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 348.
49. ^ "Alleviated suffering on an epic scale". Epstein, p. 369
50. ↑ Epstein, p. 370
51. ^ Sutton, p. 316
52. ↑ the breadline was a "drab colorless scar on our civilization", but of the Angelus Temple commissary, he observed-what "the warm garment of sympathy and succor Christian." Sutton, S. 317
53. ↑ Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) . Findagrave.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
54. ↑ The newspaper media, generally cynical of the Temple and in particular, of McPherson, recognized “the excellent features of that organization's efforts” and “the faults of the Angelus Temple are outweighed by its virtues”. Sutton, p. 194
55. ↑ Sutton, pp. 191-192
56. ^ Sutton, p. 195
57. ↑ Anthony Quinn, The Original Sin: A Self-Portrait. Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1972, pp. 122-132.
58. ↑ ^{a b} Sutton, p. 72
59. ^ Bach, Marcus, They Have Found a Faith, (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis / New York, 1946) p. 59
60. ↑ Lessons I Learned From Sister Aimee | Foursquare Legacy | The Foursquare Church . Foursquare.org. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
61. ↑ Sutton, p. 74
62. ↑ Epstein, p. 252
63. ↑ Nathan Saunders, “Spectacular Evangelist: Aimee Semple McPherson in the Fox Newsreel.” The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists 14, no. 1 (April 1, 2014): 71-90. doi: 10.5749 / movingimage.14.1.0071 .
64. ↑ Epstein, pp. 79-80
65. ↑ "Bordering on hysteria." Epstein, p. 156.
66. ↑ Epstein, p. 239
67. ↑ Epstein, p. 241
68. ↑ let it fall (the rain) after the message has been delivered to these hungry souls ".
69. ↑ Wichita Eagle, May 30, “Evangelist's Prayers Hold Big Rain Back,” Blumhofer, p. 184
70. ↑ "of the woman's power". Epstein, p. 240
71. ↑ Epstein, p. 57
72. ↑ Epstein, p. 185
73. ↑ Epstein, p. 111
74. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 183
75. ↑ From Lackum, Karl C. "Vinton Boasts Only Broadcasting Station in US Owned By Woman," Waterloo Evening Courier 7, Iowa, October 14, 1922 S. Note: The first woman to receive a broadcasting license which Mrs. Marie Zimmerman of Vinton, Iowa , in August 1922.
76. ↑ Blumhofer, pp. 275-277
77. ↑ John Updike: Famous Aimee: The life of Aimee Semple McPherson . In: The New Yorker , April 30, 2007. 
78. ↑ Epstein, p. 275
79. ↑ Epstein, p. 264
80. ↑ her "most spectacular and advertised program was out of harmony with God's word." Robert P. Schuler: McPhersonism: a study of healing cults and modern day tongues movements , January, 1924, p. 3
81. ↑ Ben M. Bogard : Bogard-McPherson debate: McPhersonism, Holy Rollerism, miracles, Pentecostalism, divine healing: a debate with both sides presented fully. Ben M. Bogard, Little Rock, Arkansas 1934
82. ↑ Biography of Charles S. Price . Healingandrevival.com. March 8, 1947. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
83. ↑ earstohear.net Note: Divine Healing was a controversial theological topic of McPherson's ministry, but it was not the only one. Other pastors have also seen successful healings in their ministry, such as James Moore Hickson (1868–1933), an Episcopalian with an international reputation. Another pastor, Dr. Charles S. Price (1887–1947), took part in a campaign by McPherson in San Jose to uncover the fraud. He was converted himself, however, and preached McPherson's way in his own church. He was healed himself. He then became a travel evangelist, where tens of thousands were converted and healings were recorded over and over again.
84. ↑ Epstein, pp. 185, 240
85. ^ "Spiritual gifts" are skills such as speaking in tongues , translating this speaking in tongues, spiritual healing, etc.
86. ↑ articles.latimes.com
87. ↑ Los Angeles Times (The Adventures of a Would-Be Raider of the Lost Ark), September 30, 2001.
88. ^ Ralph G. Giordano, Satan in the Dance Hall: Rev. John Roach Straton, Social Dancing, and Morality in 1920's New York City. Scarecrow Press, 2008, p. 167
89. ↑ "without apparently compromising their souls." George Hunston Williams, Rodney Lawrence Petersen, Calvin Augustine Pater: The Contentious Triangle: Church, State, and University. Truman State University Press, 1999, p. 308.
90. ↑ She had become "more than just a household word: she was a folk hero and a civic institution; an honorary member of the fire and police departments; a patron saint of the service clubs; an official spokesman for the community on problems grave and frivolous. "Matthew Sutton: Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America . London: Harvard University Press , 2007.
91. ^ Evolution "is the greatest triumph of Satanic intelligence in 5.931 years of devilish warfare, against the Hosts of Heaven. It is poisoning the minds of the children of the nation. "Sutton, p. 52. Note: Sutton could not prove that McPherson actually said this quote to the reporter for The New Yorker , but she hated evolutionary philosophers influenced moral relativism and took the position that the "survival of the fittest" thinking has a destructive influence on society.
92. ^ "Ten thousand members of Angelus Temple with her millions of radio church membership send grateful appreciation of your lion-hearted championship of the Bible against evolution and throw our hats in the ring with you." Sutton, pp. 37, 52
93. ↑ "at all-night prayer service, a massive church meeting preceded by a Bible parade through Los Angeles." Sutton, P. 37
94. ^ Sutton, p. 214
95. ↑ money was "no more unclean than the dollars of the man who amasses his millions from underpaid factory workers". Sutton, p. 219
96. ^ Sutton, p. 221
97. ^ "Remove any of these," she warned, "and civilization topples, crumbles." Sutton, p. 223
98. ^ Democratizing the Religious Experience . Xroads.virginia.edu. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
99. ↑ "McPherson's passion to see America sustained in spiritual health, which compelled her quest to see the Church influence government, must be interpreted in light of the political and religious climate of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. It is not accurate to draw a parallel between today's extreme fundamentalist, right-wing Christianity and the style or focus of Sister McPherson. “ " Sister Aimee "to Air on PBS | Foursquare News | The Foursquare Church . Foursquare.org. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
100. ^ "And they will establish at Jerusalem a kingdom more wonderful than the world has known." Epstein, pp. 165, 395
101. Jump up ↑ Cox, Raymond L. The Verdict is In , RL Cox and Heritage Committee, California, 1983, pp. 41-42
102. ^ McPherson, Aimee Semple: In the Service of the King: The Story of My Life. Boni and Liveright, New York, 1927, p. 16. Note: Although McPherson, magazines, and most biographers referred to the woman as a "rose", she was later referred to in some books as the "Mexicali rose".
103. ^ Melton, J. Gordon The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena , (Visible Ink Press, 2007) p. 218
104. ↑ Sutton, p. 103
105. ^ President Wilson visits LA - Framework - Photos and Video - Visual Storytelling from the Los Angeles Times . Framework.latimes.com. June 20, 2011. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
106. ^ Melton, J. Gordon The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena, (Visible Ink Press, 2007) p. 218
107. ↑ Epstein, p. 301
108. ↑ Sutton, pp. 120-122
109. ^ The San Bernardino County Sun September 25, 1926; P. 1.
110. ↑ Isadora Duncan, Aime Semple McPherson - HL Mencken . Ralphmag.org. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
111. ↑ Sutton, pp. 133-134
112. ↑ Epstein, p. 312
113. ↑ The People versus Aimee Semple McPherson, et al., Case CR 29181, January 10, 1927; Superior Court of Los Angeles County, County records and Archives
114. ↑ Modesto Bee And News-Herald October 20, 1926, p. 1
115. ↑ Thomas, Vanishing Evangelist pp. 285-286, 291
116. ↑ Cox, pp. 85, 209-211
117. ↑ Cox, pp. 71-72
118. ^ Thomas, Vanishing Evangelist , p. 278
119. ↑ Epstein, pp. 312-313
120. ↑ Cox, pp. 150-151, 152,166.
121. ^ Lately, Thomas The Vanishing Evangelist: the Aimee Semple McPherson Kidnapping Affair (Viking Press, 1959) p. 26
122. ↑ Cox, pp. 17-18.
123. ↑ The Coshocton Tribune ; Coshocton, Ohio January 3, 1927 p. 8
124. ↑ approximately US $ 6.4 million in 2013
125. ↑ Epstein, p. 289
126. ↑ Epstein, p. 308
127. ↑ "Perhaps the most serious thing about this whole situation is the seeming loyalty of thousands to this leader in the face of her evident and positively proven guilt." Shuler, p. 188. Note: Los Angeles Times , June 1927
128. ↑ He wrote that since many of that town's residents acquired their ideas "of the true, the good and the beautiful" from the movies and newspapers, "Los Angeles will remember the testimony against her long after it forgets the testimony that cleared her." Mencken, HL (1930), The American Mercury
129. ↑ Epstein, p. 386
130. ^ Sutton, p. 175
131. ↑ Epstein, pp. 264, 287
132. ↑ Cox, p. 234. Note: Kenneth Ormiston actually sold his story to the press, but named Elizabeth Tovey as his mistress.
133. ↑ In 1926, during the kidnapping grand jury trial , his privacy was violated in all kinds of ways by reporters, only to be framed in an affair with McPherson. Epstein, pp. 289, 307
134. ^ Sutton, p. 135
135. ↑ "was a gross insult to a noble and sincere woman." Thomas Vanishing p. 31
136. ↑ Cox, pp. 37-38.
137. ↑ John Goben • web journal . Webjournals.ac.edu.au. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013., Blumhofer, p. 311, Note: John D. Goben was a successful Midwestern evangelist when he began working with the Angelus Temple in 1927. A 1930 revival event he organized resulted in the founding of Stone Church in Toronto, Canada. Goben then acted as treasurer of the International Foursquare Gospel Lighthouses , the association of daughter churches. He was sacked as treasurer due to a dispute with McPherson and a civil lawsuit over Church ownership. He then followed up on his suspicions, which could not bring any evidence. At one meeting he tried to force a confession, whereupon McPherson passed out in shock. Goben was then fired. His bitter departure led him to publish the pamphlet Aimee, the Gospel Gold-Digger , whereupon a brief lawsuit was filed.
138. ↑ Epstein, pp. 334, 337
139. ↑ A Lasting Legacy | Foursquare Legacy | The Foursquare Church . Foursquare.org. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
140. ↑ 1966: Will the Real Gordon Sinclair Please Stand Up. Sutton, pp. 175, 312
141. ↑ 1974: Milton Berle: An Autobiography , Berle asserts he met McPherson at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles where both were doing a charity show. Upon seeing her for the first time, Berle recalled, "I was both impressed and very curious ... She was all dignity and class when it came her turn. The house went wild when she walked out into the lights. “Backstage, she invited him to see Angelus Temple. Instead, Berle wrote, the two of them went to lunch in Santa Monica, then to an apartment of hers where McPherson changed into something "cooler [...] a very thin, pale blue negligee." Berle said he could see she was wearing nothing underneath. She just said, "Come in." Berle said they met for the second and last time at the same apartment a few days later, writing, "This time, she just sent the chauffeur for me to bring me straight to the apartment. We didn't even bother with lunch. When I was dressing to leave, she stuck out her hand. 'Good luck with your show, Milton.' What the hell. I couldn't resist it. 'Good luck with yours, Aimee.' I never saw or heard from Aimee Semple McPherson again. But whenever I hear 'Yes Sir, That's My Baby (song)', I remember her. " Milton Berle with Frank Haskel. Milton Berle: An Autobiography . Delacorte Press . Pp. 123-29. 1974.
142. ^ Cox, Raymond L. The Verdict is In, 1983, p. 241
143. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 205
144. ↑ ^{a b} Roberts Liardon, God's Generals: Vol 7, DVD of 2005.
145. ↑ Sutton, pp. 153-160
146. ↑ ^{a b} American Experience. Sister Aimee . PBS. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
147. ↑ During this time she also traveled to England, Scotland and Wales for five weeks for revival events. Press releases, depending on the sources, either spoke of boring events or of the crowds impatiently waiting for the next time. Poor Aimee , Time . October 22, 1928. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved on August 21, 2007. “Those of the nobility and gentry and middle classes who reflected upon the matter appeared to feel that the Holy Bible still offers a sufficient choice of Gospels . But of course the London mob, the lower classes, rushed to attend the evangelistic First Night of Aimee Semple McPherson " 
148. ↑ "Behind all these beautiful clothes, behind these good times, in the midst of your lovely buildings and shops and pleasures, there is another life. There is something on the other side." What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? " With all your getting and playing and good times, do not forget you have a Lord. Take Him into your hearts. "
149. ↑ Epstein, pp. 318-320
150. ↑ Epstein, p. 325
151. ↑ Blumhofer, pp. 308, 317. Note: A month later most of the choir members returned. Their leader, Gladwyn Nichols later returned as well, after publicly apologizing to McPherson.
152. ↑ Epstein, p. 341
153. ↑ Epstein, p. 343
154. ↑ she had hundreds of pages written about it, each "different from one another as snowflakes". Epstein, p. 356
155. ↑ Epstein, p. 368
156. ↑ ^{a b} Dr. Raymond L. Cox: The Greatest Nine Days . oocities.org. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
157. ↑ "Our God is a dramatic God, ... rolling back the Red Sea, ... Elijah on the mountaintop, ... the crucifixion, the resurrection, His ascension, ... tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost."
158. ↑ Epstein, p. 388
159. ↑ Today in History: October 15, 1931: Aimee Semple McPherson Uninvited to Speak at Harvard . Skepticism.org. October 15, 1931. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
160. ^ McPherson, Aimee Semple, Give me my Own God, HC Kinsey & Company, Inc., 1936
161. ^ "A glimpse of the cleansing, lifting, strengthening power of the Nazarene". Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007), p. 233
162. ↑ Edgar Lajtha: World experience: people, islands, oceans. A travel book . Berlin: Rowohlt, 1937, pp. 158–190
163. ^ McPherson, Give me my Own God, pp. 88-89
164. ↑ "the saints who were once smelted together with the fires of Pentecost" were "being reunited, rewelded, and rejuvenated."
165. ↑ Dr. Raymond L. Cox: What Aimee Semple McPherson Pentecostal? . oocities.org. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
166. ↑ "leave town". Epstein, p. 368
167. ↑ $ 2.3 million 2012
168. ↑ $ 17 million in 2012
169. ↑ "unfit to stand in the Angelus Temple pulpit". Thomas, Storming , pp. 282–284, 297 NOTE: Splivalo had a loyal following with members of the Angelus Temple who had problems with McPherson anyway. Splivalo compiled a list of nasty remarks McPherson should have made. However, this could not be verified by McPherson's sermons, writings and statements.
170. ↑ Herald-Journal - May 11, 1937
171. ↑ United Press, April 15, 1937. Epstein, pp. 413-414
172. ^ "Cause of religion and the good of the community." Epstein, p. 416
173. ^ "Aimee's missionary work was the envy of Methodists". Epstein, p. 427
174. ↑ "as he raised his hand in worship". John Updike: Famous Aimee . The New Yorker. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
175. ^ Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America - Matthew Avery Sutton | Harvard University Press . Hup.harvard.edu. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
176. ^ "If the nations of the world would stop building warships and equipping armies [,] we would be all but overwhelmed with prosperity." Sutton, p. 256
177. ↑ Sutton, pp. 256-257
178. ↑ ^{a b c} World War II and Angelus Temple | Foursquare Legacy | The Foursquare Church . Foursquare.org. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
179. ↑ "beseech the Ruler of the Universe to bless our Republic." Sutton, S. 258th
180. ^ Aimee Semple McPherson: Foursquaredom and Uncle Sam. Foursquare Crusader, 14 (February 1942) p. 24.
181. ↑ Sutton, pp. 264, 333.
182. ↑ An A P47 Thunderbolt cost $ 85,000, a P51 Mustang $ 50,000, an M4 Sherman tank $ 50,000, and a B17 Flying Fortress $ 240,000
183. ↑ Product Prices . Panzerworld.net. October 22, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
184. ↑ Sherman tank - improved M4 models with 76 mm gun, protection . Ww2total.com. April 26, 1945. Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
185. ↑ US 2 million dollars in 2012
186. ↑ Blumhofer, p. 373
187. ^ Sutton, p. 264
188. ^ Sutton, Matthew. Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America , London: Harvard University Press , 2007
189. ↑ ^{a b} Sutton, p. 263
190. ↑ Epstein, p. 438
191. ^ Robinson, Judith Working Miracles. The Drama and Passion of Aimee Semple McPherson. James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers, Toronto 2008. pp. 104-105
192. ↑ Note: In the 1993 obituary for her daughter-in-law, McPherson's life and death are mentioned. Lorna McPherson, 82, Of the Angelus Temple. , New York Times. June 18, 1993. Retrieved August 21, 2007. “Aimee Semple McPherson founded Angelus Temple in the early 1920s, when her brand of fundamentalist Christianity, stressing the“ born-again ”experience, divine healing and evangelism, was popular in the United States. She died on Sept. 27, 1944, of shock and respiratory failure attributed to an overdose of sleeping pills. " 
193. ^ Sister Aimee's' Death Is Ruled An Accident , United Press International in The Washington Post . October 14, 1944. Retrieved February 22, 2008. "Aimee Semple McPherson, famous evangelist who occupied the headlines almost as often as the pulpit, died of shock and respiratory failure" from an accidental over-dosage "of sleeping capsules, a coroner's jury decided today. " 
194. ↑ $ 630,000 2012
195. ^ Sutton, p. 270.
196. ^ Marcus Bach: They Have Found a Faith The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis / New York, 1946, p. 74.
197. ↑ approximately $ 130,000 in 2013
198. ↑ approximately $ 26,000 in 2013
199. ↑ approximately $ 2.5 million in 2013
200. ↑ approximately $ 36 million in 2013
201. ↑ Epstein, p. 440
202. ↑ foursquare.org
203. ^ Cox, p. 3. Note: An example is the report of a reporter for The Los Angeles Times , Dial Torgerson , May 18, 1969; in his Aimee's Disappearance Remains a Mystery story, he reports that HC Benedict, the owner of Carmel Cottage who was accepted as a witness against McPherson, apparently died of heart failure before he could testify. Cox reveals that HC Benedict actually testified for McPherson. HC Benedict died on November 20, 1926, a few weeks after the taking of evidence.
204. ^ Sutton, p. 278
205. ↑ ... while great cathedral churches closed their doors on Sunday night, the crowds pushed through her portals in one ever-flowing stream.
206. ↑ Sutton, p. 275
207. ↑ George Hunston Williams, Rodney Lawrence Petersen, Calvin Augustine Pater: The Contentious Triangle: Church, State, and University . Truman State University Press 1999, p. 308
208. ↑ The Taiwanese 台灣 人 Tâi-Oân Lâng: Dr. John Sung 宋 尚 節 博士 . Thetaiwanese.blogspot.com. February 13, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
209. ^ Timothy Tow - John Sung and the Asian Awakening . Articles.ochristian.com. February 10, 1927. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
210. ↑ ^{a b} Awake and Go! Global Prayer Network - John Sung . Towel.mysitehosted.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
211. ↑ The Real Conversion Of Dr. John Sung . Rlhymersjr.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
212. ↑ 1927 NYTIMES October 27, 1927, SM4
213. ↑ Dr. Paul Lee Tan: Dr. John Sung - "Billy Graham of China" . Biblesnet.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
214. ↑ Dr. Edwin Louis Cole . Christianmensnetwork.com. April 24, 1981. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved on November 14, 2013.
215. ↑ Who is more powerful than the president? . Mobile.wnd.com. June 10, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
216. ↑ Sutton, pp. 277-280
217. ↑ Epstein, pp. 229-231
218. ^ Sutton, p. 150
219. ↑ "particularly for a woman". There is a God: Debate between Aimee Semple McPherson, Fundamentalist and Charles Lee Smith, Atheist (Foursquare Publications, 1100 Glendale BLVD Los Angeles. CA), 1934
220. ↑ Sutton, pp. 275-276
221. ^ Sutton, p. 280
222. ^ Lingeman, p. 283.
223. ↑ Caleb Crain: Notebook: Aimee Semple McPherson . Steamboats Are Ruining Everything. June 29, 2007. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
224. ↑ Vanity Fair's Cutout Dolls - no.2 . Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
225. ↑ IMDb title: 0978414 The Voice of Hollywood No. 9 (1930)
226. ^ Sister Aimee by Richard Rossi . Bottletreeinc.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
227. ↑ Gottlieb, Robert; Kimball, Robert; Reading Lyrics (Random House LLC, 2000) p. 438
228. ↑ Osborne, Jerry; Mr Music column; Lakeland Ledger 2001. p. 21
229. ↑ articles.latimes.com
230. ↑ theater.calarts.edu
231. ↑ susanwsimpson.com