A. A. ALLEN
Faith healer (deceased)
A. A. Allen "scammed" his followers by asserting that he could command God to "turn dollar bills into twenties." (A. A. Allen, The Secret to Scriptural Financial Success (Miracle Valley, AZ: A. A. Allen Publications, 1953); quoted in Harrell, 75)
Allen was also known to have urged his followers to send for his "prayer cloths anointed with the Miracle Oil" (A. A. Allen, "Miracle Oil Flows at Camp Meeting," Miracle Magazine, June 1967, 6-7; quoted in Harrell, 200)
Allen offered "Miracle tent shavings" as points of contact for personal miracles. (Reported in "New Revival Tent Dedicated in Philadelphia," Miracle Magazine, September 1967, 15; quoted in Harrell, 200)
Allen even "launched a brief 'raise the dead' program." Of course, it died.(Reported in "New Revival Tent Dedicated in Philadelphia," Miracle Magazine, September 1967, 15; quoted in Harrell, 199)
Allen told adherents that God had given him "a new anointing and a new power to lay hands on the believers who gave $100.00 towards the support of our missionary outreach and bestow upon each of them POWER TO GET WEALTH." (Hank Hanegraaff, Counterfeit Revival, 1997 citing David Edwin Harrell, Jr., "All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America" (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 200)
"Of course some of you do not believe this. Listen, you old skeptic, you don't have to believe it, because it doesn't have to happen to you. But it had to happen to me. I'll tell you why. I decreed a thing ... God said "Thou shall decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee ... " I believe I can command God to perform a miracle for you financially. When you do, God can turn dollar bills into twenties." (David Edwin Harrell, Jr., "All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America" (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 75)
What A.A. Allen was doing bothered authorities of the Assemblies of God. Unlike the leaders of today's Counterfeit Revival, they were embarrassed by such outlandish claims and outrageous conduct. Thus, when Allen, who is extolled today by Benny Hinn as a "great man of God", was arrested for drunk driving during a Tennessee revival in 1955, the first of many alcohol-related experiences for Allen, the leadership of the Assemblies of God had reached its limit. (Hank Hanegraaff, Counterfeit Revival, 1997 citing Michale Moriarity, "The New Charismatics" (grand Rapids, MIC: Zondervan, 1992), 35)
At the entrance to Miracle Valley (A.A.Allen's 1,280 acre community) was a huge sign that made it plain just what was going on in that neck of the desert. In red and gold, it proclaimed: A.A.ALLEN REVIVALS, INC., MIRACLE VALLEY, ARIZONA. The Blind to See. The Deaf to Hear. The Lame To Walk. SIGNS. GIFTS. WONDERS. ... (A.A. Allen's) Miracle Magazine, a monthly publication with a circulation of 350,000 was produced at Miracle Valley. Allen was very careful to publish a disclaimer concerning the wild claims of healing that appeared in that periodical, sent in by enthusiastic "healees". ... "Utmost care has been taken to assure the accuracy of all testimonies before publication and A.A. Allen Revivals, Inc. and "Miracle Magazine" assume no legal responsibility for the veracity of any such report, nor do they accept responsibility as to the degree or permanence of reported healings, deliverances or miracles ..." (James Randi, The Faith Healers, 1989, p.83-85)
A physician from the nearby town of Sierra Vista, Dr. Kenneth A Dregseth, told an interviewer: "I have seen no miracles. In fact, I've had to run diabetics to the hospital when they've stopped taking their insulin, believing they had been cured in Miracle Valley." (James Randi, The Faith Healers, 1989, p.87)
A.A. Allen dogmatically claimed that he could raise people from the dead. He actually launched a "raise the dead" campaign in the mid-sixties. Thankfully it died when his disciples refused to bury their departed, and their departed refused to come back from the dead. (Hank Hanegraaff, Counterfeit Revival, 1997 citing Michale Moriarity, "The New Charismatics" (grand Rapids, MIC: Zondervan, 1992), 2 and David Edwin Harrell, Jr., "All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America" (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 199)
Allen was eventually kicked out of the Assemblies of God denomination when he jumped bail after being arrested for drunk driving. (Reported in "New Revival Tent Dedicated in Philadelphia," Miracle Magazine, September 1967, 15; quoted in Harrell, 70-71)
On June 14, 1970, listeners in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines were hearing a recorded message from A. A. Allen on his radio program saying: "This is Brother Allen in person. Numbers of friends of mine have been inquiring about reports they have heard concerning me that are not true. People as well as some preachers from pulpits are announcing that I am dead. Do I sound like a dead man? My friends, I am not even sick! Only a moment ago I made a reservation to fly into our current campaign. I'll see you there and make the devil a liar." At that moment, at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, police were removing A. A. Allen's body from a room strewn with pills and empty liquor bottles. The man who had once said that "the beer bottle and gin bucket" should have been on his family coat of arms was dead at 59 from what was said to be a heart attack but was in reality liver failure brought about by acute alcoholism. (James Randi, The Faith Healers, 1989, p.88)
In 1970 Allen died from what "news accounts report [as] sclerosis of the liver." (Reported in "New Revival Tent Dedicated in Philadelphia," Miracle Magazine, September 1967, 15; quoted in Harrell, 202) One writer describes Allen's cause of death as "cirrhosis" of the liver (see Gary L. Ward, "Allen, Asa Alonzo," in J. Gordon Melton, Religious Leaders of America [Detroit: Gale Research, 1991], 9)
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