Jump to content

Roy Davis: Difference between revisions

163 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
Line 60: Line 60:
Roy Davis moved to Jeffersonville from Texas in the 1920’s and started a church. The Encyclopedia of Religious Debates (2012) and the Gospel Guardian Newsletter (1947) both refer to Roy Davis as having a Pentecostal Holiness church in Louisville, Kentucky in 1929. This would have been a white-Pentecostal church. In 1929 he participated in a debate with Jefferson Tant of the Church of Christ (http://www.ptc.dcs.edu/teacherpages/tthrasher/listings/Ta.htm). It is recorded that Mr. Tant said the following to Mr. Davis: "If somebody should put your brains into a mustard seed they'd have as much room to play around in as a tadpole would in the Atlantic ocean." (http://www.wordsfitlyspoken.org/gospel_guardian/v1/v1n7p8.html). After the church in Jeffersonville burned down, Roy Davis returned to Texas.  
Roy Davis moved to Jeffersonville from Texas in the 1920’s and started a church. The Encyclopedia of Religious Debates (2012) and the Gospel Guardian Newsletter (1947) both refer to Roy Davis as having a Pentecostal Holiness church in Louisville, Kentucky in 1929. This would have been a white-Pentecostal church. In 1929 he participated in a debate with Jefferson Tant of the Church of Christ (http://www.ptc.dcs.edu/teacherpages/tthrasher/listings/Ta.htm). It is recorded that Mr. Tant said the following to Mr. Davis: "If somebody should put your brains into a mustard seed they'd have as much room to play around in as a tadpole would in the Atlantic ocean." (http://www.wordsfitlyspoken.org/gospel_guardian/v1/v1n7p8.html). After the church in Jeffersonville burned down, Roy Davis returned to Texas.  


In the early 1900’s, Jeffersonville was a town with little law. It was known for a time as “little Las Vegas” for its gambling and related entertainment (which the Branham family participated in with their sales of alcohol). While New Albany and Louisville had strong anti-KKK laws, Jeffersonville did not, which is likely why the Reverend Roy Davis settled there. Roy Davis later moved back to Texas where he became known for his involvement with the KKK. In fact, as late as 1948, Jeffersonville was one of the towns where crosses were lit to discourage African-Americans from voting in elections.  
In the early 1900’s, Jeffersonville was a town with little law. It was known for a time as “little Las Vegas” for its gambling and related entertainment (which the Branham family participated in with their sales of alcohol). While New Albany and Louisville had strong anti-KKK laws, Jeffersonville did not, which is likely why the Reverend Roy Davis settled there. Roy Davis later moved back to Texas where he became known for his involvement with the KKK.  


In Jeffersonville in the 1930's, the issue of race was likely just as important socially as the issue of doctrine. When William Branham went to Mishawaka, Ohio in the mid 1930's, he came back inspired with a new Pentecostal message that he heard from an elderly African American preacher. This was startling not because it was a Pentecostal message (William Branham was already a Pentecostal minister) but the fact that the Pentecostal experience he witnessed crossed racial barriers and included Oneness theology. However, he stated that he listened to his mother-in-law and chose not to associate with the Mishawaka Pentecostals.  The question must be asked whether his mother-in-law's concern related to fact that the Mishawaka Pentecostals were African American.  It couldn't have been related to their being Pentecostals as William Branham was already a Pentecostal in 1933, well before his attending the Mishawaka meetings.   
In Jeffersonville in the 1930's, the issue of race was likely just as important socially as the issue of doctrine. When William Branham went to Mishawaka, Ohio in the mid 1930's, he came back inspired with a new Pentecostal message that he heard from an elderly African American preacher. This was startling not because it was a Pentecostal message (William Branham was already a Pentecostal minister) but the fact that the Pentecostal experience he witnessed crossed racial barriers and included Oneness theology. However, he stated that he listened to his mother-in-law and chose not to associate with the Mishawaka Pentecostals.  The question must be asked whether his mother-in-law's concern related to fact that the Mishawaka Pentecostals were African American.  It couldn't have been related to their being Pentecostals as William Branham was already a Pentecostal in 1933, well before his attending the Mishawaka meetings.   


When William Branham’s ministry started reaching an international audience in the late 1940s, he was no longer concerned with mixing with either Parham or Seymour Pentecostals, or Oneness or Trinitarian Pentecostals.  However, the issue of race was also important in the late 1940's when his sermons began to be recorded. At this time, there is no indication of racial tensions in William Branham's recorded sermons (other than comments against Martin Luther King Jr.), while at the same time crosses were being burned on lawns in his home town.   
When William Branham’s ministry started reaching an international audience in the late 1940s, he was no longer concerned with mixing with either Parham or Seymour Pentecostals, or Oneness or Trinitarian Pentecostals.  However, the issue of race was also important in the late 1940's when his sermons began to be recorded. At this time, there is no indication of racial tensions in William Branham's recorded sermons other than comments against Martin Luther King Jr. and a prophecy that he would lead millions to their death.  
 
   
==Where did the division of White and Black Pentecostals come from?==
==Where did the division of White and Black Pentecostals come from?==