Morton’s Paper: https://share.google/5EtTbMfD3IvTUfROL John G. Lake is treated as a saint in the Word of Faith and charismatic …
27 COMMENTS
📌 SOURCES & RECEIPTS — because I said I’d show my work. Almost everything in this video comes from historian Barry Morton’s paper “Yes, John G Lake was a Con Man: A Response to Marius Nel” (Research Fellow, Dept. of History, UNISA). He’s responding to AFM scholar Marius Nel, who defends Lake. Morton is a skeptic — I say that in the video — but his factual claims are each tied to a specific source. Here they are so you can check for yourself. THE ARRESTS & EXPOSÉS • Impersonating a police officer — Oregonian, 25 Aug 1921 • Posing as Arab faith healer “Abdul Ben Shinandar” — Spokane Daily Chronicle, 21 & 25 Nov 1933 • Selling congregants worthless mining stock — “Healers Accused of Blue Sky Fraud,” Oregonian, 24 Jul 1921 • Broken leg “healed,” X-ray showed still fractured — “X-Ray Belies Healing,” Oregonian, 27 Nov 1921 • Girl “healed” of deafness was never deaf — Spokane Press, 23 Jul 1924 THE CECIL RHODES QUOTE (the one anyone can check) • The glowing Rhodes endorsement of Lake appears in the Copeland-published collection (Liardon, ed., p. 236) and is repeated in the AFM’s official history (Burger & Nel, p. 38). • Cecil Rhodes died in 1902. Lake didn’t reach Africa until 1908. The quote is impossible. THE FABRICATED LIFE • No seminary ever existed in Newberry, MI; Lake absent from the local paper — Newberry News • Lake’s name in NO Methodist minister list for IL/WI/N. Michigan — Wisconsin United Methodist Church Archives, Conference Journals 1887–92 • Listed as “carpenter” — Chicago City Directory 1892–94; US Census 1900 • Did not found/edit the “Harvey Citizen” (not on the masthead) — Harvey Citizen, IL State Library • “Business empire” was a one-man house-flipping operation, properties under $2,000 — Sault Ste Marie News, 19 Dec 1896 & 18 Dec 1897 • NOT in Chicago Board of Trade membership records — Univ. of Chicago, Daley Library Special Collections • Actually an insurance/property salesman in Waukegan — Waukegan Daily Sun ads, 1906 THE KILLINGS & THE “CALLING” (please note the precise claim) • The fatal “exorcisms” were led by a follower named Harold Mitchell — NOT Lake — Chicago Tribune, 1907. I am not saying Lake killed anyone. • Members bound, starved, limbs broken; at least three died; Letitia Greenhaulgh tortured to death — national coverage, Sept 1907 • Mayor Wilbur Voliva named “Parham, Tom [Hezmalhalch], and Lake… responsible in a greater or less degree” and called for them “driven from Zion” — Zion Herald, 20 Sep 1907; Chicago Tribune, 23 Sep 1907 • Lake never spoke of it again — and produced his “call to South Africa” visions at this exact time — Blake, ed., Lake’s Writings From Africa, pp. 140–45 HIS OWN CHURCH TURNED ON HIM • AFM minutes on the Schneiderman resignation (1909): exaggerated healings, messages “not by God,” and “it was felt that there was only too much truth in the letter” — AFM Executive Committee Minutes, Johannesburg • The Botha ox-wagon story is false — Botha’s office didn’t know Lake — National Archives of South Africa, SNA 448 3606 • Five+ AFM Executive members plus senior African overseers accused Lake of financial impropriety, exaggerated miracles, being dictatorial, a séance, and worse. Records were later destroyed. The dissenters left and founded the Full Gospel Church. HOW THE MYTH WAS BUILT & STILL SPREADS (context beyond Morton’s paper) • Gordon Lindsay — ordained by Lake — wrote the popular biographies that made Lake a “God’s General.” Those biographies leave out the arrests, the fraud, and the Zion deaths. The heroic Lake most people know is a scrubbed version. • In 1999 Cal Pierce (connected to Bethel) reopened Lake’s Spokane “healing rooms” after months of “grave soaking” — praying at Lake’s grave to absorb his anointing. It grew into the Healing Rooms movement: 3,000+ locations in 76 nations by 2024 (their own figures). Bethel’s Bill Johnson cites Lake as a key influence. • Note: this last section is context from other reporting, not from Morton’s paper — I flag that in the video. THE PAPER: search “Barry Morton, John G Lake, A Response to Marius Nel.” Morton’s earlier peer-reviewed article: “‘The Devil Who Heals’: Fraud and Falsification in the Career of John G Lake,” African Historical Review 44:2 (2012). I couldn’t personally pull century-old microfilm and archives from my living room, and I’m not going to pretend I did — most of these sources are offline. What I can do is name exactly what Morton cites so you can follow the trail. That’s the honest version. 🙏
Grave soaking is obviously not healthy, I would say borders witchcraft. The anointing is transferrable and tangible, Ive seen it, shared it, and seen amazing miracles in Christ name, Its when the realities get stretched we get into trouble and abuse it citing a specific truth and going off the deep end with it.
THANK YOU for this. I am a South African, grew up in the charismatic church here. This is the FIRST time ive heard he is a fraud. And just like John G Lake was influential on Bethel, Bethel is pretty influential in Sotuh Africa currently.
Love your videos, watch your videos. I just can't get through them without bypassing 20 or more ads. Not hyperbole. It makes them hard to get through and is somewhat of a deterent.
Long response incoming. In the summer of '08 I went to a huge revival meeting at a Louisville mega-church where Todd Bentley was headlining. After he spoke he said he'd planned to pray for everyone personally but there were 1000's so he couldn't. He said "Put your hand on your neighbor and pray and God's gonna do what God's gonna do". I had sciatica and asked my friend to pray, and he did. No shake and bake or outward signs. A simple prayer and we drove 2 hours home. Next morning I woke up and was healed. The real thing. I used to wake up 45 minutes early to deal with sciatica. Now I don't, and it never returned. A month later we found out he had an affair with an intern, left his wife and kids, stepped down from Lakeland, and went on to marry the woman he was in the affair with. It taught me an important lesson. It wasn't about him. Not even a little. It was the LORD having mercy on me, in spite of T.B. simply because He loves me. It also sustained my faith to know that men could rise and fall, but HE will always be faithful because He cannot deny himself.
Factual truth and sincerity, thank you for your ministry. I do feel betrayed by the NAR leaders – how could I have let myself be deceived. I do need to replace the indoctrination with God's truth and trust Holy Spirit to guide me..
Another excellent and much-needed video on a man who has sadly had so much influence in the charismatic church. God bless you, Bro! Keep up the great work!
I read about Lake in Liardon's God's Generals. They are claiming Lake healed over 100 thousand people. My question is this: if God healed so many thousands in Lake's ministry, why are healings so scarce in the current Charismatic movement?
Thank you for this video. I am a lot like you. I have seen miracles, but I grow tired of exaggerations and the “man of God” syndrome. The only good thing we can say about Lake is he raised our expectations of what we believe God can do. It doesn’t surprise me with all the exposure going on.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Jesus did not deny the claim of miracles through the individual. The issue is the contrast between the Fruit of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit. The challenge is when we confuse our intimacy with Him and our sanctification with being the vessel by which God chooses to bless someone.
Charlatans aside we should not bury the gifts He has put in our hands. Let’s carry Him into all the circumstances He leads us and trust that He will show up to demonstrate His love. Miracle or no miracle.
Scripture reveals over and over again that God will work through a misaligned people group, church, or individual. That certainly doesn’t excuse their character or misalignment. They will be held accountable for such.
Wow, didn't know about this at all. Thank you for sharing this. I'm almost tempted to say that people who transfer these kinds of anointing are transferring some kind of lying spirit. There's so much coming out lately about charismatic and word of faith preachers telling lies,making up stories, manipulating and sexually and spiritually abusing people. I've been to Andrew Wommack's 'bible college' and then found out that his main testimony about his son being raised from the dead isn't true as he tells it at all. He just fabricated a fairytale around something that happened, but not as all as he tells it. Is there no end to these people's lies? I do believe in healing, seen it first hand, but I've also seen some con-men/women at work pretending and making up stories or even hiring people to pretend to be healed. It's sad. I rather stay away from these kind of churches and people nowadays. Still following Jesus, but not in those circles anymore.
I appreciate you saying, "this isn't another – 'Trust Me' with no sources cited". I regret having read so many books in Bible college that were based on pure nonsense. You wonder how such things get published. People put something onto ink and paper and suddenly it becomes fact! Someone speaks into a microphone and suddenly he's an apostle! …They taught us how to properly write a research paper, but it turns out the whole movement is built on sand! crazy when you think about it
Question for Donald Shrode…what about Curry Blake? He seems on the up and up but literally his ministry is named for Lake. He is totally against sowing seeds for healing rebukes it and warns people to flee it. He is against blaming the sick for lack of faith but rather says we as disciples should have the faith to lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.
📌 SOURCES & RECEIPTS — because I said I’d show my work.
Almost everything in this video comes from historian Barry Morton’s paper “Yes, John G Lake was a Con Man: A Response to Marius Nel” (Research Fellow, Dept. of History, UNISA). He’s responding to AFM scholar Marius Nel, who defends Lake. Morton is a skeptic — I say that in the video — but his factual claims are each tied to a specific source. Here they are so you can check for yourself.
THE ARRESTS & EXPOSÉS • Impersonating a police officer — Oregonian, 25 Aug 1921 • Posing as Arab faith healer “Abdul Ben Shinandar” — Spokane Daily Chronicle, 21 & 25 Nov 1933 • Selling congregants worthless mining stock — “Healers Accused of Blue Sky Fraud,” Oregonian, 24 Jul 1921 • Broken leg “healed,” X-ray showed still fractured — “X-Ray Belies Healing,” Oregonian, 27 Nov 1921 • Girl “healed” of deafness was never deaf — Spokane Press, 23 Jul 1924
THE CECIL RHODES QUOTE (the one anyone can check) • The glowing Rhodes endorsement of Lake appears in the Copeland-published collection (Liardon, ed., p. 236) and is repeated in the AFM’s official history (Burger & Nel, p. 38). • Cecil Rhodes died in 1902. Lake didn’t reach Africa until 1908. The quote is impossible.
THE FABRICATED LIFE • No seminary ever existed in Newberry, MI; Lake absent from the local paper — Newberry News • Lake’s name in NO Methodist minister list for IL/WI/N. Michigan — Wisconsin United Methodist Church Archives, Conference Journals 1887–92 • Listed as “carpenter” — Chicago City Directory 1892–94; US Census 1900 • Did not found/edit the “Harvey Citizen” (not on the masthead) — Harvey Citizen, IL State Library • “Business empire” was a one-man house-flipping operation, properties under $2,000 — Sault Ste Marie News, 19 Dec 1896 & 18 Dec 1897 • NOT in Chicago Board of Trade membership records — Univ. of Chicago, Daley Library Special Collections • Actually an insurance/property salesman in Waukegan — Waukegan Daily Sun ads, 1906
THE KILLINGS & THE “CALLING” (please note the precise claim) • The fatal “exorcisms” were led by a follower named Harold Mitchell — NOT Lake — Chicago Tribune, 1907. I am not saying Lake killed anyone. • Members bound, starved, limbs broken; at least three died; Letitia Greenhaulgh tortured to death — national coverage, Sept 1907 • Mayor Wilbur Voliva named “Parham, Tom [Hezmalhalch], and Lake… responsible in a greater or less degree” and called for them “driven from Zion” — Zion Herald, 20 Sep 1907; Chicago Tribune, 23 Sep 1907 • Lake never spoke of it again — and produced his “call to South Africa” visions at this exact time — Blake, ed., Lake’s Writings From Africa, pp. 140–45
HIS OWN CHURCH TURNED ON HIM • AFM minutes on the Schneiderman resignation (1909): exaggerated healings, messages “not by God,” and “it was felt that there was only too much truth in the letter” — AFM Executive Committee Minutes, Johannesburg • The Botha ox-wagon story is false — Botha’s office didn’t know Lake — National Archives of South Africa, SNA 448 3606 • Five+ AFM Executive members plus senior African overseers accused Lake of financial impropriety, exaggerated miracles, being dictatorial, a séance, and worse. Records were later destroyed. The dissenters left and founded the Full Gospel Church.
HOW THE MYTH WAS BUILT & STILL SPREADS (context beyond Morton’s paper) • Gordon Lindsay — ordained by Lake — wrote the popular biographies that made Lake a “God’s General.” Those biographies leave out the arrests, the fraud, and the Zion deaths. The heroic Lake most people know is a scrubbed version. • In 1999 Cal Pierce (connected to Bethel) reopened Lake’s Spokane “healing rooms” after months of “grave soaking” — praying at Lake’s grave to absorb his anointing. It grew into the Healing Rooms movement: 3,000+ locations in 76 nations by 2024 (their own figures). Bethel’s Bill Johnson cites Lake as a key influence. • Note: this last section is context from other reporting, not from Morton’s paper — I flag that in the video.
THE PAPER: search “Barry Morton, John G Lake, A Response to Marius Nel.” Morton’s earlier peer-reviewed article: “‘The Devil Who Heals’: Fraud and Falsification in the Career of John G Lake,” African Historical Review 44:2 (2012).
I couldn’t personally pull century-old microfilm and archives from my living room, and I’m not going to pretend I did — most of these sources are offline. What I can do is name exactly what Morton cites so you can follow the trail. That’s the honest version. 🙏
Too Many Commercials and Constant interference
Grave soaking is obviously not healthy, I would say borders witchcraft. The anointing is transferrable and tangible, Ive seen it, shared it, and seen amazing miracles in Christ name, Its when the realities get stretched we get into trouble and abuse it citing a specific truth and going off the deep end with it.
THANK YOU for this. I am a South African, grew up in the charismatic church here. This is the FIRST time ive heard he is a fraud. And just like John G Lake was influential on Bethel, Bethel is pretty influential in Sotuh Africa currently.
Donald, if you want someone in South Africa to go check the papers/research that is here in a library somewhere, contact me.
Thx
Love your videos, watch your videos. I just can't get through them without bypassing 20 or more ads. Not hyperbole. It makes them hard to get through and is somewhat of a deterent.
Thank you for having the courage and wisdom to sort through the history and not throw out the truth of the Word. You are shepherding well.
Long response incoming.
In the summer of '08 I went to a huge revival meeting at a Louisville mega-church where Todd Bentley was headlining. After he spoke he said he'd planned to pray for everyone personally but there were 1000's so he couldn't. He said "Put your hand on your neighbor and pray and God's gonna do what God's gonna do".
I had sciatica and asked my friend to pray, and he did. No shake and bake or outward signs. A simple prayer and we drove 2 hours home.
Next morning I woke up and was healed. The real thing. I used to wake up 45 minutes early to deal with sciatica. Now I don't, and it never returned.
A month later we found out he had an affair with an intern, left his wife and kids, stepped down from Lakeland, and went on to marry the woman he was in the affair with.
It taught me an important lesson. It wasn't about him. Not even a little. It was the LORD having mercy on me, in spite of T.B. simply because He loves me. It also sustained my faith to know that men could rise and fall, but HE will always be faithful because He cannot deny himself.
Very interesting.
Gods Generals was not written by Gordon Lindsay?!
Factual truth and sincerity, thank you for your ministry. I do feel betrayed by the NAR leaders – how could I have let myself be deceived. I do need to replace the indoctrination with God's truth and trust Holy Spirit to guide me..
Another excellent and much-needed video on a man who has sadly had so much influence in the charismatic church. God bless you, Bro! Keep up the great work!
I read about Lake in Liardon's God's Generals. They are claiming Lake healed over 100 thousand people. My question is this: if God healed so many thousands in Lake's ministry, why are healings so scarce in the current Charismatic movement?
Thank you for this video. I am a lot like you. I have seen miracles, but I grow tired of exaggerations and the “man of God” syndrome. The only good thing we can say about Lake is he raised our expectations of what we believe God can do. It doesn’t surprise me with all the exposure going on.
What about Curry Blake? I saw him preach about 10 years ago. A Lake follower.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Jesus did not deny the claim of miracles through the individual. The issue is the contrast between the Fruit of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit. The challenge is when we confuse our intimacy with Him and our sanctification with being the vessel by
which God chooses to bless someone.
Charlatans aside we should not bury the gifts He has put in our hands. Let’s carry Him into all the circumstances He leads us and trust that He will show up to demonstrate His love. Miracle or no miracle.
Scripture reveals over and over again that God will work through a misaligned people group, church, or individual. That certainly doesn’t excuse their character or misalignment. They will be held accountable for such.
Great job, mate.
Thank you so much for this video, brother. I am also surrounded by people who promote the legacy of Lake. 😞
Wow, didn't know about this at all. Thank you for sharing this. I'm almost tempted to say that people who transfer these kinds of anointing are transferring some kind of lying spirit. There's so much coming out lately about charismatic and word of faith preachers telling lies,making up stories, manipulating and sexually and spiritually abusing people. I've been to Andrew Wommack's 'bible college' and then found out that his main testimony about his son being raised from the dead isn't true as he tells it at all. He just fabricated a fairytale around something that happened, but not as all as he tells it. Is there no end to these people's lies? I do believe in healing, seen it first hand, but I've also seen some con-men/women at work pretending and making up stories or even hiring people to pretend to be healed. It's sad. I rather stay away from these kind of churches and people nowadays. Still following Jesus, but not in those circles anymore.
He had drs with equipment at his services and there were tens of thousands of documented miracles.
Using children to promote fake healings. A century later we have Kathryn Krick doing the same thing!
I also saw Lake as a hero but was always disturbed about his wife starving to death.
Now I can understand it.
Are you saying Curry Blake is a con man ?
I appreciate you saying, "this isn't another – 'Trust Me' with no sources cited". I regret having read so many books in Bible college that were based on pure nonsense. You wonder how such things get published. People put something onto ink and paper and suddenly it becomes fact! Someone speaks into a microphone and suddenly he's an apostle! …They taught us how to properly write a research paper, but it turns out the whole movement is built on sand! crazy when you think about it
Question for Donald Shrode…what about Curry Blake? He seems on the up and up but literally his ministry is named for Lake. He is totally against sowing seeds for healing rebukes it and warns people to flee it. He is against blaming the sick for lack of faith but rather says we as disciples should have the faith to lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.