John Alexander Dowie — Not Messenger of God

1900

From all Christendom come the heartiest expressions of praise and gratitude that the person and works of that monumental impostor, John Alex. Dowie, have been laid open to the light of day as was done so effectually in The Ram's Horn March 3d. We have been surprised and a little amused to have kind but cautious friends approach us and ask in trepidation whether we felt safe in unmasking such a dangerous character. They had heard of his violent temper and its awful discharges of vituperation against those who incur his displeasure. They had heard also of his supposed demoniac mesmeric power to wither or restore those upon whom he is pleased to work with his depraved power. But truth does not fear the basilisk eye of a conjurer.

It is true that Dowie has been driven into a corner by the startling arraignment which was heaped against him in this paper. In an agony of rage at seeing his commercial plans for a material Zion balked at the outset by this timely, or untimely, exposure, he struggles against his impending doom. For nearly five hours last Sunday he stood and fought like an imprisoned rat with his back to the wall and poured out impotent invective against The Ram's Horn and those who contributed to help us unveil the Dowie delusion. On previous occasions he had drained the vials of his hate against such men as Doctors Henson, Hillis, and the like, and even the saintly Moody had scarcely escaped his poisoned spear. But now his quiver of hate is empty; the vial of his wrath is dry. What he says now come as the dregs from a cankered heart or the sickly fumes from a burst cannon. He has neither power to kill nor make alive, to build nor to destroy. He will go to his own place. But we pity the charmed victims who are still chained by his spell. It is a comfort to know, however, that there will be few hereafter who need come under his dextrous touch unadvised or unwarned. People in every corner of the globe now know that John A. Dowie is NOT a Messenger sent from God.

—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 4.