Understanding the Anointing(he didn't get the baptism with the Holy Spirit and enter the
healing ministry himself until 1921).
Dad Nelson said, "I saw Dowie in the presence of six of us
denominational ministers and five medical doctors. The doctors
had brought in a woman who had a malignant growth on the side
of her face.
"It looked like a giant eggplant—blue-purplish—and it grew
inside her mouth and covered the whole side of her face. It was
almost as big as her head. Doctors couldn't treat it, it was so big.
In those days what they would have treated it with was
poisonous, and the woman might have absorbed too much of the
poison.
"I saw Dowie, in the presence of six of us denominational
ministers and five medical doctors take hold of that malignant
growth, say, 'In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ!'—and strip it
off of her face. The doctors examined her face immediately and
said, 'That's baby skin. That's newborn skin on the whole side of
her face.'"
Then Dad Nelson added, "You can follow Dowie's faith, but
you can't follow his doctrine!"
In his latter years, Dowie had missed God.
Some will ask, "Can you be wrong in doctrine and strong in
faith?" Certainly. We've seen that in the lives of Dowie and
others. You need to realize that a person can be right in his heart
and wrong in his head!
That's why you need to be careful about whom you follow—
especially in the ministry. A young man who follows another
man closely will make the same mistakes the older fellow got
into. Learn something from him if you can, but like Dad Nelson
said, "You can follow his faith, but you can't follow his
doctrine."
More than once I've seen people in marvelous, legitimate
ministries get off. And I've seen the same thing happen with the
pastoral office. Of course, people are always talking about
somebody who failed. (I like to follow somebody, bless God,