Quote:
Originally Posted by tv1a
He fell because he got too big for the mothership.
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I am very aware of the entire MH situation and if by mothership you mean the UPC org your statement makes no sense.
I will not rehash MH's moral failures here but they had nothing to do with any organization. They were the failures of a man who at some point became a shell of his former self as his considerable charisma and speaking ability took over.
I think from an early age he knew the power of his oratory skill and it must have been a constant battle to remain submitted in every way to the Lord. He could move an audience like no other preacher I have ever heard. In my opinion he was the most powerful oneness pentecostal preacher of the 20th century (at least the most powerful I have ever heard).
At its peak his church, Truth Church, in Ft. Worth was an amazing place. I can remember going to see their TV program taped around 1978 when he had his program on CBN and also had a small Bible College. Hundreds of people were in the prayer room before service and when you walked in the air was electric.
I remember people talking back then about how you could not have a service with TV cameras going (just about every church has them now for video recording) but even stopping several times to redo things for mistakes (they were taping three 30 minute shows the service I was in) the congregation maintained an attitude of praise and worship. I believe the excitement of bringing the Jesus name message to thousands who had never had a chance to hear it before highly motivated the congregatoin.
Of course keep in mind this was before the 500 channel universe we have today. Back then being on CBN insured a much larger viewing audience than being on a religious network today. You were only competing with a handful of local and cable stations in your time slot.
The night I was there I was with the son of a visiting preacher who was a guest speaker so we were ushered into MH's office before service where he was very kind to a 19 year old Bible College student. He invited us to his ranch the next today to spend time with his son which we did.
I think MH was the best chance Oneness Pentecost had of an amazing breakthrough preacher who could have introduced Jesus name baptism to a large number of people. Since MH's fall we have seen this same pattern of failure among many successful preachers featured on mass media. Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, the guy in Colorado, etc, etc. While I still think mass media is a good way to reach people it is clear the same talents and personality traits that make a person a good media preacher also makes them susceptible to failure. As my pastor said a few months ago "human beings were not designed to be worshipped". That is why so many celebrities who seem to have it all (money, fame, adoration) are drug addicts or alcoholics.