Ern Baxter

William John Ernest "Ern" Baxter was a prominent figure in the Pentecostal, Latter Rain, and Charismatic movements. Through his work as campaign manager[1] and Bible teacher[2] for William Branham and the "Baxter-Branham Campaigns," Baxter played a significant role in shaping the doctrines and practices of movements ranging from modern Pentecostalism to the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). He is most recognized for his leadership in the controversial Shepherding Movement, which became a prototype for the authoritarian leadership models used in the NAR.[3] The movement, which emphasized authoritarian leadership and submission to church elders, was accused of fostering spiritual abuse and control over its followers. Though based upon the authoritarian structures that developed within Latter Rain that Branham and other authoritarian figures of the movement had implemented, Baxter's model of control was more destructive and led to widespread manipulation and psychological harm to its victims.

His legacy continues today through the authoritarian structures of the NAR and its various apostolic networks. NAR converts are asked to "submit to the authority" of NAR apostles while being forced to accept the so-called "new truths" allegedly revealed by NAR prophets.[4] As was advertised in the Branham revivals Baxter managed, As advertised in the Branham revivals Baxter managed, NAR converts are led to believe that they will experience greater miracles than those seen by the original apostles or even by Jesus himself.[5]

Just think, friends, that in the ministry that I have had from the Lord alone, I've seen many, many, many times more miracles performed than is written in the Bible, that Jesus Christ has done in these three years, in one unit, one group of His ministry. One group, He's done more miracles than has been written in this Bible. Everything that could be written in the Bible except leprosy, that I know of, has been healed, even to three specific cases of people who were pronounced dead, are living tonight, healthy and strong.[6]
- William Branham

Baxter was a Canadian-born minister whose early ministry was deeply rooted in Pentecostalism. Born in Saskatchewan in 1914, Baxter grew up in a devout Christian household that had converted to Pentecostalism. His mother was allegedly the first in their city to receive the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit after having received the Pentecostal blessing in a revival held by a Scandinavian minister who believed in a "signs and wonders" approach to Christianity.[7]

Baxter's early ministry began in 1932 as a musician, traveling across Canada with evangelistic teams. During these formative years, Baxter's exposure to various Christian traditions deepened, and his theological perspective began to evolve. One pivotal moment came when he attended a conference in Trossachs, Saskatchewan. Unlike typical Pentecostal gatherings of the time, this conference attracted a diverse group of believers who were earnestly seeking the experience of the Holy Spirit, despite not identifying as Pentecostals in the traditional sense. At this event, Ern Baxter received what he described as the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The day after the revival, Baxer started to move beyond his role as a musician and step into preaching. He would later claim that God spoke to him, saying, "I want you to preach My Word,"[8] as was claimed by many of the stage personas used during Latter Rain. 

By the 1940s, Baxter was touring throughout Canada, advertising himself as "Ern Baxter: Preacher, Singer, Musician."[9] He eventually became the head pastor of the Evangelistic Tabernacle of Vancouver and, by 1942, purchased the massive Fairmont Academy to remodel it as his new church. The Academy building could accommodate more than 500 people and had a basement hall seating an additional 300.[10] The Tabernacle served as a revival center for various ministries, most notably that of Portland Oregon's Rev. John Kennington.[11] Kennington ministered with E. W. Kenyon,[12] and would later become very outspoken against the Faith Movement and especially against Kenneth Hagin for his blatant plagiarism of Kenyon's work.[13] By the time F. F. Bosworth joined Baxter and Branham, bringing with him expert knowledge and praise of Kenyon's theology,[14] Baxter had likely already been influenced by E. W. Kenyon's Positive confession and New Thought doctrine.

In November 1947, William Branham held a series of revivals in Vancouver in collaboration with Baxter's Evangelistic Tabernacle.[15] Branham approached Baxter and asked him to join his revivals, apparently convincing him that an angel had come down from heaven to tell Branham to invite Baxter to become his campaign manager.[16] By 1948, Baxter had become a personal representative for Branham and toured the United States and Canada, sharing accounts of Branham's ministry during the initial spread of the Latter Rain Movement.[17] He was instrumental in convincing the crowds that Branham had experienced an angelic visitation.[18] During the revivals, Baxter prepared the crowd for Branham's stage act by telling them about Branham's alleged angel.[19] Then, during the prayer lines with Baxter present, Branham claimed that the angel stood beside him,[20] giving him the authority to heal the people if they put their faith in Branham.[21]

Though Baxter would later claim that Branham was a "miracle worker,"[22] the so-called miracles generated by the Branham campaigns were merely a facade. During the same November revivals, newspapers exposed the campaigns for repeatedly claiming to heal the same individual for the same affliction in multiple cities.[23] As part of the stage act, Branham would claim that his hand began vibrating to diagnose a disease, then tell the person seeking healing that they could expect to remain sick for several days — just long enough for him to leave for the next town. Participants in the revivals passed large sums of money to Branham through his campaign team members.

A common practice of Mr. Branham was to take the hand of the sick person, and then say something like this, "The vibrations in your hand tell me that you have cancer. But I will pray for you that the Lord will heal you". When he had prayed, he would say something like this, "The vibrations are gone, the cancer is dead. You are healed! But you will be very sick for about three days till your body throws off the dead cancerous tissue. But don't worry, you are healed. Just trust the Lord." With similar words he would give assurances to these suffering ones that they would recover. This, of course, would bring hope and joy to these dear souls, many of whom responded with a large financial gift, sometimes far beyond their means. At times I was given large sums of money to pass on to Mr. Branham, which I always did gladly, for I too believed him.
Pohl, Alfred. 1982. Why I Left The Tongues Movement.

Baxter's exit from the Branham campaigns came as part of a larger break within the Latter Rain movement. At a meeting in Chicago, Illinois, Branham's ties to white supremacy were widely exposed to the public. Three hundred ministers challenged Branham over his doctrinal teaching of "Serpent's Seed,"[24] which was the notion that the Serpent from the Biblical Garden of Eden mated with Eve, the mother of all living, to produce a second and evil bloodline.[25] This doctrine was widely known among white supremacists[26] and extremists[27] as the Christian Identity doctrine, made popular by Rev. Wesley A. Swift.[28] According to the doctrinal teaching, the bloodline was nearly eradicated in the Great Flood described in the book of Genesis but reemerged through the bloodline of Noah's son Ham, which many white supremacists claimed to be the black race.[29] While white supremacists were very public in their descriptions of the color of the skin for each of the two bloodlines, Branham omitted race from his publicly taught versions of the doctrine and instead trained certain leaders in his sect privately to teach that the "evil seed" was identified by people with black skin.[30] According to Branham publicist Lee Vayle, the biblical Serpent was "as black as the ace of spades."[31]

Branham's subtle introduction of the Christian Identity doctrine into his revivals could only be understood through the combination of other doctrines, such as his "Hybreeding" doctrine. According to Branham, interracial children were "mulattos" that were "hybrid" and "illegitimate," and the two bloodlines should be kept separate.[32] It was difficult to conceal, however, due to the widespread awareness of the Christian Identity doctrine. In response to the three hundred ministers who had challenged him over the doctrine, Branham claimed that he introduced the racist doctrine "under anointing" and those who disagreed were "mixed-up theologians."[33] The group of ministers responded in kind, with an open letter rebuking Branham for what they considered to be a mistake that would soon lead to his own destruction. Both the ministers and the letter repeatedly warned Branham that he was soon to die.[34] After the ministers denounced Branham for his white supremacy, Branham began describing Ern Baxter as his "former" campaign manager.[35]  

According to Baxter, he left Branham's campaign after examining the "fruits" that Branham's doctrine produced.  After Baxter publicly exposed Branham's doctrinal issues, leaders in the "Message" very close to William Branham began claiming that Baxter was a "drunk" and a "womanizer".[36]

I think there can be a lesson in this. Branham, as a miracle worker, had a real place. Branham as a teacher was outside of his calling. The fruits of his teaching ministry are not good.
Ern Baxter

NEW WINE INTERVIEW WITH ERN BAXTER ABOUT WILLIAM BRANHAM

New Wine Magazine, "New Wine Interviews Ern Baxter", Christian Growth Ministries, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, pp. 4-7, 22-24

In his book All Things Are Possible, which is a historical look at the healing and charismatic revivals in modern America, David Harrell makes this statement: "Few learned observers recognized the significance of the huge healing campaigns of the 1950's; not many of those enthralled by the charismatic movement today understand its origins." Can you tell us what kind of religious "climate" than there was in the post-World War II years, and what circumstances made the era of the healing the revivals possible?

The atmosphere and religious "climate" at the time was one of low spirituality. All supernatural happenings around the world were reported on as being quite significant. In my opinion, the whole supernatural element in Pentecostalism generally was very low. There were pockets of blessing, but there was no widespread revival. One of the reasons for the impact which the healings accompanying the healing movement made, was that there had not been a wave of healings for a long time. In 1933 at a big Pentecostal conference, much of the delegates' time was spent discussing reasons why people weren't getting the baptism of the Holy Spirit anymore and the lack of healings and conversions. Consequently, I would have to say that the spiritual climate was very low. This provided a backdrop, then, for the advent of the healing revival. When William Branham came on the scene, he was the only one who had a genuine healing ministry at that time. Even the Jeffreys brothers for Great Britain had passed the peak of their ministry, which was in the late 1930s.

So the religious "climate" was one in which the supernatural had seem to cease. Then when Branham broke in on the scene with the quality of supernaturalism that he demonstrated, it was newsworthy because of its relative novelty.

What led up to your joining his team? Did he ask you, or did you just have contact with him and then a relationship developed?

I was going on a vacation and read about him in Time Magazine on the airplane. I was on my way with my wife to Winnipeg, Canada, to visit friends there. During dinner with them, my host, a prominent businessman in Winnipeg, said, "There's an unusual minister down at Zion Church. His name is William Branham." I said, "I just read about him on the airplane." So we decided to attend. After dinner, we left for the meeting and arrived around nine o'clock at this rather large church. (I think it seated about two thousand.) The site I saw was, for those days, very impressive. There was a crowd of people outside, listening to Branham by loudspeakers because they couldn't get in. I stood there in the darkness and listen to him.

What I heard was unique, unusual! I had never heard anything like it before. It was simple and direct. He was talking about demons and God's power to heal. Though it was basic, there was something very attractive about it.

As I stood in the darkness, I said to my host, "I have a sense that I am going to have something to do with this man." We went on home and made no attempt to contact him. Later, Branham went to Calgary, Alberta. By then, of course, his reputation was well known, and I decided to take some of my people to Calgary. At that time Branham had one or two men traveling with him, whose responsibilities centered in arranging the meetings. Branham was doing the bulk of the ministry. He would pray for several thousand people each night. Because his load was so heavy, other ministers who could handle large crowds were invited to share the afternoon meetings. Because I was known in Calgary, I was invited to take one afternoon service. I recall the theme I spoke on: "This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." I pointed out that this was the Gospel day and the day in which we should be enjoying all the blessings of God's grace. Presumably, the men that heard me took word back to him. After staying for two or three days, I went back home, again making no attempt to contact Branham personally. When I arrived back in Vancouver, a number of ministers came together and said, "We must bring William Branham here." I was asked to lead the meetings, which I did.

Later, Branham asked to see me personally. He said that he had been in prayer and the Angel of the Lord had spoken to him and told him that I was to be his companion in ministry. He invited me to join him.

At the time, I was pastor of a large church, and obtained leave from them, joining Branham in Ashland, Oregon. I started to travel with him as often as I could be away from my church. One year I was away eight months.

When he would speak, especially in those early days, he would say some things that were terribly provocative. To me, unnecessarily so. So when we talked together, we agreed that apart from his giving testimonies and relating his life story, I would do all the speaking, and he would do all of the ministering to the sick. That was the way it was when we were together. I was with Branham from 1947 until I had to leave him, in about 1953 or 1954. F. F. Bosworth joined up later than I did and shared in some of the meetings.

Could you briefly describe Branham's ministry and some of its high points? What caused him to break in on the national scene?

Well, Branham had a tremendous word of knowledge. Before praying for a person, he would give accurate details concerning the person's ailments, and also details of their lives - their hometown, activities, actions - even way back in their childhood. Branham never once made a mistake with the word of knowledge in all the years I was with him. That covers, in my case, thousands of instances. Branham's use of the word of knowledge actually started out as a phenomenon in his hand. He would take the hand of the person in his. Immediately at the base of his thumb, in the thick part of his hand, there would be a specific manifestation according to the sickness or need. From seeing the phenomenon so often, I began to pick up what these were and became adept at reading them. Tuberculosis was a light pink flush. Cancer was an angry red appearance in which the ball of his thumb would just seem to surge like a wave.

Was it actually visible?

Yes, you could see it. Then this gave way to the straight oral word where he would give accurate details concerning the person. He never missed, and this made a tremendous impact. Branham also probably introduced deliverance in its form at that time. He cast out spirits. This made the large congregations very sensitive to the presence of demonic powers. There was a lot of primitiveness about it. For instance, he would insist the audience bow their heads during exorcism lest the spirits get in another person! The whole ministry was so new and so powerful that, when I met him in 1947, his mail was enormous.

Many of the subsequent healers receive their initiative from him. He was relieved the fountainhead of the healing revival of the 50's and 60's. Many of the men who began to hold healing meeting subsequent to Branham's had short-lived ministries. Many of them couldn't handle what the ministry and its consequent recognition did to them personally The prominence and visibility it created was unbelievable. Many people did not know healing or anything supernatural existed. The ministry reached out and touched people in the denominations. It was very effective that way. People, of course, care about their bodies, so they came - some hundreds and others thousands of miles. It was hard to handle the adulation and the praise. It was almost like Barnabas and Paul's experience when they were considered "gods from heaven".

Can you recount some of the most memorable times with him and some of the events you vividly remember from your time together with him?

Well, to try to remember or to pick out a few outstanding supernatural occurrences with Branham is somewhat difficult because it was just a parade of the supernatural. On one occasion, we were down in the southern states, and a big auditorium meeting. The first or second night there, Brother Branham came to a certain man in the healing line. He looked at him and said, "Sir, I see you have come into this line tonight to trick me. In fact, I see you last night in a room sitting around a table with four other ministers. You are a minister of such and such a denomination." He pointed up to the balcony and said, "Those four men sitting up, there are your friends, and you plotted last night how to trick me. I was going to tell you what was wrong with you, and you were going to deny it." They just turned around and fled the building.

I was with him in South Africa at a time when a large number of religious people rejected the ministry of healing, creating real pressures. There was a man in the meeting who was interested. He was of a denomination that was coming down on us very heavily. On the way home from the meeting, this man felt a hand on the back of his shirt. He turned around and there was no one there. But when he got home, he took off his shirt and found a handprint there - just as if a hot iron had left its imprint on his shirt. The shirt was shown in the next day’s newspaper. Once in Des Moines, Iowa, a missionary from the South Seas who had just flown home because of a very serious ailment was standing in front of him. Branham started out by saying, "Oh, you're a missionary. You just flew in today," and then he named the place the man had come from. At that, the entire crowd went into jubilation.

Had Branham had any contact with any of the earlier men, like Smith Wigglesworth, or the Jeffreys? Would that have been the inspiration for his ministry?

I was very careful to check that out at the time. Branham had no direct link with pentecostalism in terms of his gift. In his home there had been no deep spiritual life, but he told me stories that indicated this gift was with him as a child. (He made some very significant prophecies, for instance, concerning the collapse of a bridge in his area of Ohio.) He once said to me, “If anybody ever writes my biography, you’re the only one I’ve ever told everything to.” He and I had many sessions that were hours long. During one of these, he told me he didn’t believe that tongues was the evidence of the baptism. So I asked him about speaking in tongues, and he said that he had gone to a pentecostal mission and had told God, “These are apparently the only people that will accept my gift - let me talk in tongues so I’ll be acceptable.” And he said God let him talk in tongues, but he never talked in tongues again. That seemed to be his introduction to the pentecostals, and they apparently accepted him because of it. Few people would know that story, but I mention it because as his gift became more apparent as he grew older, he saw that the pentecostal people were probably the only ones who would receive it.

He was a relatively illiterate man, and so had not read widely. He was a great hunter. His abilities were in the realm of natural and intuitive abilities. I questioned him about many people. He didn't know Dr. Charles Price, who had had quite a healing ministry back in the 1920's - 30's, or any others whom I mentioned. I do not see any inspiration for his ministry coming from any of these earlier men, certainly not in the realm of his word of knowledge. Concerning whatever God may have done in the spirit, I have no knowledge. But in the realm of his word of knowledge, there were no apparent human models he could have patterned himself on. He just seemed to break from a whole new source. He was missionary Baptist, so his tradition would not link him into historic Pentecostalism.

How was he received by the people in the 50's?

He was received gladly by the common people because of the manifestation of God and his ministry. But to most ministers he was an enigma from the very beginning. First of all, he was theologically, as well as academically, illiterate. When he would speak, his English grammar was bad, and his theology worse. A lot of ministers gnashed their teeth and wrung their hands when he preached. One of the reasons I joined him was try to articulate and provide an apologetic for his ministry.

What were some of the personal experiences that you had with him as his friend and companion and ministry?

We had a great personal friendship. We hunted together and walked great deal. Branham was a very simple man. He had maintained and checked the lines for the power company in his area and walking in the outdoors was his life. So we walked and talked together. We were great friends.

What brought about the end of that era of the healing revival and what prompted the decline of William Branham’s ministry and others like him?

Well, the healing movement began with such a spectacular display that the men involved in it faced major unprecedented problems. Men were suddenly ushered into very prominent, eye-catching, supernatural ministries. Many of them couldn’t handle it personally. One of the sad aspects of the healing movement is the personal shipwrecks and breakdowns. I think the healing movement began to subside because of the way it was mishandled.

Men could not handle the pressures and personal temptations. In addition a number of extraneous elements came in, such as exaggeration, false reports, misrepresentation. Right at the beginning of the healing movement, I saw this starting to emerge. The healers could not meet together in any meaningful way. They would have a conference together, but it was not meaningful. They began to publish competitive exaggerated statistics on tent size, numbers, results and other things. At that time Gordon Lindsay, who was still relating to Branham, started the Voice of Healing Magazine. Because I was prominently involved with Branham, I was asked to contribute. I wrote an article out of my conviction and concern entitled, “The Curse of Carnal Comparisons,” in which I pointed out that there was a good deal of Corinthianism already in the healing movement. And that if something was not done by the healers to remedy it, this movement would self-destruct. As a result of that article I was persona non grata from there on as far as the healers were concerned, so I confined myself to Branham. Tragically, as these men violated the principles of plurality, each of them had his turn at the pinnacle of fame, but most of them were easily picked off by the enemy. Satan’s aim is good. I remember in the beginning of the healing movement, simply to report a healing would produce great jubilation and praise from congregations. However, the cynicism became so deep that the people’s confidence was diminished. Even to this day, people are affected. People began to circulate healing testimonies which, when they were checked out by reputable journalists and reporters, even those who were friendly to the movement, were found to be false. The percentage of healings that stood up after investigation was embarrassingly low. As a result, disillusionment set in, and the healing movement as it was known in the beginning declined in momentum until today you can’t say it really amounts to anything as a movement.

What brought William Branham’s ministry to a close?

I believe there’s a Bible principle involved. No matter who we are, if we don’t relate to the principles of truth, we pay for it. We either fall on it and break in repentance, or it falls on us and breaks us in judgment.

The measure of faith Paul talks about in Romans 12 where he says, “to each man is given a measure of faith . . . he that prophesieth, let him prophecy according to the measure of faith,” indicates that we all have been given a grace gift. But we must walk within the confines of our gift. For instance, if a miracle worker, who may be used mightily in working miracles, steps over the boundaries of that gift and presumes, to be a teacher when God has not called him to teach, then he is violating the rule of walking within his grace. Branham saw himself as a teacher of some kind of “in” truth. To me, some of it was quite esoteric. I became aware early in his ministry that there was a mixture. I urged him not to say some things in public. As long as we worked together he refrained. One of the reasons for my leaving him was that he was starting to say some seriously wrong things. When that, coupled with other circumstances, eventually became unbearable, I resigned.

I think there can be a lesson in this. Branham, as a miracle worker, had a real place. Branham as a teacher was outside of his calling. The fruits of his teaching ministry are not good.

What do you think is one of the main things that we can learn from the healing revival and the ministry of Branham and others?

That’s an excellent question. I think we need to learn out of it the absolutely mandatory nature of the principle of plurality. No man, no matter how gifted, can afford to violate plurality and walk alone. Number two, I would say it points up the great necessity of staying in your calling or gift, and not making use of whatever accrues to you from that gift to get into other areas. I think it also points up the need of having responsible community to receive the fruits of this kind of evangelistic ministry. If the converts are not brought into a New Testament biblical community or church, they become followers of a man who cannot develop them into maturity.

I believe these principles are very basic. In addition, man does not live by miracles alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Miracles and signs arid wonders are not food. They are signs to tell you where the food is. If you try to live on the signs, you get unbalanced nutrition.