The Foursquare Gospel

Ordained in 1919 as an evangelist by the Assemblies of God, McPherson utilized her credentials to forge a specific new theology, which became known as the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Specifically, McPherson’s gospel focused on the role and mission of Jesus Christ, emphasizing his role as Savior, Baptizer, Physician and Healer, and Coming King. As part of her continued popularity, healing became one of the four core pillars of her spiritual philosophy, and originated from McPherson’s personal familiarity with pain and illness. After being miraculously healed of a badly dislocated ankle as a young adult, McPherson strove to make the divine healing process a central tenet of her ministry. The healing incident wound up having a profound effect on her later life as a healing-based minister, and she often referred to it as a kind of spiritual awakening. Noting that when she first injured her ankle, she “was more concerned with the pain and excruciating agony of of my broken foot, than with the Lord as my healer” and “consequently, was not healed” immediately.  Eventually, as the pain worsened, McPherson became more accepting of the notion that divinely-inspired healing might work. A fellow Pentecostal, Brother Durham, initiated McPherson into the world of divine healing by curing her of her affliction. According to McPherson’s account, Brother Durham laid his hands on her ankle, “broke out praying in tongues, and then in English said ‘In the name of Jesus, receive your healing.’” At that point, McPherson claims to have felt “as though a shock of electricity had struck my foot,” a jolt that “flowed through my whole body, causing me to shake and tremble under the power of God.”[1]

Adopting the role of divine healer (especially in her early revival days) McPherson sought to cure the sick through the same divine healing practices she herself had benefitted from. During a 1921 revival in San Diego, the crowds clamoring to receive her healing prayers grew so great that services had to be moved to nearby Balboa Park, and US Marines volunteered to help keep order among the crowds, which police estimated to be around thirty thousand strong.[1] In all, the Foursquare Gospel preached a message of optimistic faith, a faith where miraculous cures played an important role. Instead of focusing on a wrathful and vengeful God, McPherson promoted the Foursquare God as a loving, benevolent, and merciful one who actively worked with humans to provide for salvation. A firm belief in the glory of God and leading a true Christian life were the essential paths that practitioners needed to follow in abiding by the Foursquare doctrine, and to do so would open to the adherent an avenue toward salvation as well as health and prosperity.