7-How it all got started

 

Since I give a bit of personal family history it becomes necessary to reveal things about persons, living and dead, ordinarily kept under wraps. I have tried to limit these things to just those parts having a principal effect on the founding of the Assembly of the Body of Christ, but many things I relate are painful and I put them in print only to reveal the truth of the origins of the ABC. My sole intent is to dispel some of the myths developed since the founding.

From my perspective there are no levels of sin or transgression. We often gasp at one type of sin or transgression, then turn a blind eye to another, as though one is worse and one is better.  The evidence would show all sin, or transgression, is something to be forgiven. We're human, we mess up, end of story. I have no intent of laying a judgment on any one person through my writings. This account is simply a historic retelling of the facts that brought about the creation of the Assembly of the Body of Christ. As humans, we wrap our emotions around hurt then carry it with us. When we do we weigh down our life but, in reality, some things are difficult to shed.

The founder of the Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC) was my father, Ramon A Haas. Understanding how the events in his life brought about the founding of a new denomination is important to the narrative and when you understand the man who set it all in motion, you understand a great deal about the organization itself. The founders philosophies guide the formation and form it into what it is, and will become. The philosophies of the founder are the substance the structure is created from, especially when you have an individual, like my father, who has now been nearly deified by some.

Without a doubt my father was a great man in some ways. I say that sincerely, and without hesitation, but I refer only to his participation in military service, not to his involvement in the forming of the ABC or in his raising of a family. 

My father was a decorated war veteran in World War II, piloting landing craft filled with Marines to multiple beaches in the Pacific theater under heavy enemy fire for part of the war.  He was commended in his military records for his bravery under fire and, you might say, he was part of “The Greatest Generation” written about by Tom Brokaw.  There is evidence in my dad's military records the strain of battle was intense and he was sent to a hospital in New Zealand for battle fatigue (PTSD), following a long and intense battle sequence in one of the Pacific Islands held by the Japanese.  The documents I gained list only “battle fatigue” as the reason, but he did suffer flashbacks from these incidents for quite a few years after returning. I am not sure exactly when these flashbacks ended, but it was long after I was born in 1955. I remember him having these flashback episodes in Ballard Washington, when I was ten, which would make it some time after 1965.

When my father came back from the war in the Pacific he was, like many from that generation, intent on changing the world and making a difference.  My father’s goal, for as long as I can remember, was to start or head up a church. It was the pervasive theme of our household from as far back as I can remember. Most of my memories of my father are of him hunched over a desk reading, studying and writing. When he was not reading or studying, he was off ministering somewhere in one form or another. In the car, it was Christian radio all the time. Rarely was he home for long as his ambitions drove him to "make a difference" by "bringing souls to Christ". It is unfortunate that in pursuing this goal he also brought great pain to his own family, then to many others.

I have always been fascinated with the Second World War era and have researched my dad’s involvement in that war. I have the bulk of his military records and am proud of the bravery he exhibited during the war, even if I cannot be proud of what followed. My dad left military service just prior to my birth in 1955 and before I was born he  brought two additional siblings into this world; one two years older,  the other seven.  My first true recollection of life was in the little hamlet of  Noti, Oregon. We lived in, and around, the Noti / Elmira / Veneta area from the time I was barely two until I was just shy of turning nine. During this time we connected with several churches, but mostly attended the Noti Pentecostal Church, and we spent many hours at the church, or at the home of pastor Don McGregor. This was a friendship my dad kept long after we left Noti. The Pentecostal church we attended would be considered a "holy roller" church, with groups of people speaking in tongues all at once, being "slain in the Spirit", passing out onto the floor and being covered with purple blankets. These were loud and very raucous church meetings.

We were dirt poor in Noti, living mostly hand to mouth on what we could grow, or get from government commodities, and the homes we lived in were mostly "shack like" structures. For a time we had no running water, no indoor facilities and used an outhouse. Jobs were not plentiful in the mid to late fifties so my dad floated from job to job, making money in any way he could. In 1963 he finally landed a great job with American Sterilizer Company, in Seattle Washington, repairing hospital equipment. This is when we left our status as poor.  At this job my dad had a good salary, a company car and full benefits. He was initially assigned the Eugene to Florence Oregon territory, while the company made preparations for him to enter the Seattle market, but it was not long before that happened and we left Noti for good. 

**Leaving Noti was a mix of sadness and joy for me. I can still remember the day the Mayflower van showed up to box all our belongings and move them to our new home in Mountlake Terrace Washington. I had to say goodbye to the life I loved in Noti. I have fond memories of those days. I have returned several times and it is always a mildly emotional experience for me to return. It has not changed much since the fifties except that the highway now bypasses it and the politics of the area has certainly altered. I often wonder how different life would have been had we never moved to the Seattle area because this is when our family life began to get very ugly.

We moved to Mountlake Terrace just before school was to start in 1964. For church we attended Ballinger Terrace Assembly of God. This church, at this time, had no established pastor and was in the process of selecting a new one. For the first few Sundays there were different petitioners for this position and each would give a sermon so the congregation could decide if they were right for their church.  When all the applicants had preached, the congregation voted for a man named Finch who had preached a powerful sermon and impressed many but after just a few weeks it was clear he was not the best choice. Membership began to dwindle rapidly, and it was not long before our family left as well. 

It was at Ballinger Terrace AG my parents first met a couple, about a decade younger, named John and Esther (Yvonne) VanDeKamp. They lived not far away with their two adopted children named Jon and LaVonne. My parents quickly became close friends and we began to do many things together...including summer vacations. My brother and I regularly babysat Jon and Lavonne while our parents went out ministering with the VandeKamps.

The Van de Kamps; unsatisfied with Ballinger Terrace Assembly of God; left in search of a new church and discovered Broadway Tabernacle in Seattle, pastored by James A Watt. They brought word back to my dad they were leaving Ballinger Terrace AG to join this new church led by Watt and encouraged him to follow. Our family remained at Ballinger Terrace AG for perhaps one or two more weeks, then began attending Broadway Tabernacle with the Van de Kamps.

My dad rose quickly in this new church and was soon sitting up on the platform. The Van de Kamps lived in Edmonds at the time and we soon moved to Edmonds to be near them. About a year later they moved from Edmonds to Ballard and we moved to a home in Ballard to be near them. Our families were quite close.

In the summer of 1967, the Van DeKamps planned a vacation to a resort on San Juan Island. San Juan Island lies in the middle of the Puget Sound and is accessible only by ferry. We followed them to this resort for vacation that year and, during this vacation, a tremendous fight broke out between my parents. The feuding was practically non-stop. I did not understand the dynamics then, as a twelve-year-old child, but the marriages on both sides were crumbling rapidly and it was on this vacation it became clear my dad and Yvonne were romantically involved and had been for quite some time. The tension of this situation rapidly tore both marriages apart. There had always been knockdown drag-out fights in our house, sometimes lasting well into the early hours of morning, with things becoming broken, but on this vacation the fighting escalated.

My dad was teaching a class at Philadelphia Bible College along with James A Watt at this time. When my dad and Yvonne’s romantic involvement became common knowledge they asked him to leave the college. This caused a huge rift to develop between my dad and Watt as well and we soon left Broadway Tabernacle.  My dad then moved us all to San Juan Island and began his own church in a rented historic church building right by the cemetery.

Church on San Juan Island

When we first arrived on the island all of us lived in a fifteen foot travel trailer on the property of a commercial fisherman my dad had befriended. We then moved to a one-bedroom cabin on a cliff above the Strait then eventually into a large house, mid-island, rented from Seattle City Light.  As kids, we knew nothing about the reasons for these moves, we just knew the island was a great place to live, there were plenty of woods to roam in and some great places to fish. We were once again out of the city and I felt right at home there. I loved the island as much as I loved Noti.

On January 14, 1968, the day of the second Superbowl, only one elderly woman showed up for church in the rented building by the cemetery. Someone determined that morning it would be senseless for my dad to preach to just one person in the church building so we moved the meeting to our house that day, intending to have just a prayer meeting. For several months after, we continued home meetings and my dad gave up the church building altogether. This was the event that led him on the path of holding meetings in homes only and this was adopted as a doctrine of the ABC.

The meetings on the island rarely exceeded one or two people. My dad continued working for American Sterilizer in Seattle, and continued to live in our home in Ballard. He would come up to the island on Saturday afternoon, spend the night, preach on Sunday then return to Seattle on Sunday afternoon so he could be ready for work Monday morning. This continued through that first summer of 1968 then into the fall.

Thanksgiving of 1968 we had a family trip planned to Victoria so we were all in great anticipation of dad showing up to take us to Canada. When he arrived that Thanksgiving week he came only to take his things. I was in the barn that day and returned to the house when he arrived to see what was up. When I approached the door I heard shouting, screaming, crying and fighting like I had never heard before. My mom and dad often had horrendous fights, but this one was different. My dad was not violent, per se, but he would often throw things or beat on a table when he became angry. This day was no exception. My mom informed me when I walked in the door my dad was leaving us on the island, taking all the money, and did not plan to ever return. He took his things, took the checkbook, all the money then just left…permanently.  After that he never wrote, called or attempted to visit.  My brother, ill at the time with pleurisy, ended up in Seattle for medical treatment shortly after. As a result, he ended up living with my dad instead of with my mom. In the divorce settlement they awarded my dad custody of my brother Robin and my dad signed over custody of me to my mom. He was ordered to pay child support, which he never paid.

My mom found a few odd jobs and we remained on the island for a short time. My mom had never worked a day in her life, having always been a "housewife" and now found herself on an island with no way off and a thirteen-year-old to care for. She had no money and very little way to earn money since she had no job skills. She tried working at a senior center as a nurses aide but that lasted only a few weeks. She began going on long walks many evenings during this period. I found out many years later, she was trying to work up the nerve to commit suicide but could only get as far as putting her toes on the edge of the cliff and could not bring herself to jump. I only knew when she was gone for these long periods she would return in a highly agitated state and would scream, cry and shout statements at me like "What am I going to do with you! How am I supposed to take care of you! Maybe I should I just kill you!"  I don't think she meant those things exactly, but it was still a full plate for a thirteen-year-old to carry. Each day she became increasingly unstable emotionally and I would often run to the barn, or out into the woods, to hide until she calmed down. To this day, she has never fully recovered from the days we were abandoned. She carries deep personal scars from this time of her life. In our family, we all do, even if we try not to admit it.

We lived on the island perhaps another month and left when my grandmother sent us money to move to Bellingham Washington. We left everything behind except what we could fit into our “62" Ford Falcon Wagon, which wasn’t much. We lived at first in a storage closet in the basement of the Bellingham Hotel on folding beds. This was Christmas time and we spent that Christmas in the basement of the hotel. My grandmother lived, and worked, at this hotel and the manager let us eat free at the cafeteria for lunch. We ate dry cereal for breakfast in our basement closet then most nights my grandmother bought us dinner at the hotel restaurant when she got off work. During the day we would go places, or just sit in my grandmother's small room. We were  not allowed to hang around the hotel except to sleep. We eventually got on welfare and could buy some of our own food, but times were still pretty lean and this caused some problems at school because the free lunch tickets were bright red instead of blue making one a target outside of class.

After about six weeks of sleeping in the basement closet, my great uncle, who owned a large house on Lake Whatcom, invited us to stay at his house until my mom could find a better living situation. He  also allowed us to buy groceries on his account at a local store so we began to eat much better. He, and my great aunt, intended to be in Europe for several months so we more or less house-sat while they were away.  Food, and the use of their house and car, was payment for our “services”. We had distant semi-relatives that also lived at the lake so I had other kids there I already knew to associate with.

After a few months of living at the lake, my grandmother bought a small house, and we then moved in with her. My mom started  technical school and found a part-time job with a military recruiter to supplement the welfare we received. Her emotional state did not improve much at home but, honestly, who could blame her.  I began high school as a freshman and it was them that my health began to deteriorate rapidly due to the family stress. My brother Robin came to Bellingham to visit me during this time, was shocked to see my physical condition and pledged to help me. I was under weekly medical care, was passing out in school regularly, had kidney stones, hypoglycemia and was having a difficult time walking.  This resulted from an exacerbation of  congenital hip dysplasia, coupled with malnutrition and  the ongoing stress of the whole family thing.

At the end of this visit my brother gave me money and told me to run away from Bellingham to Seattle so we could be together again. It was obvious my mom could not care for me properly and he did what he could to help me out. My mom dropped me at school the morning after he left and I went straight through the school, out the other side, walked the few blocks to the Greyhound station and took a bus to Seattle. My brother told my grandmother I was coming, but had failed to tell my dad. She met me at the Greyhound station and we took the city bus back to her house. She called my dad, told him I was in Seattle and he was not happy with the news at all. When my dad arrived that evening there was no hug, no hello, nothing. He was steaming mad I had come to Seattle. I was treated with total silence in the car all the way to his home at the Wilcrest Apartments.

When I arrived at his home, I discovered his extra-marital affair with Yvonne  had now led to his marriage to Yvonne (previously VandeKamp and McMurray) and I learned I now had Jon and Lavonne as “brothers and sisters”. I was given direct orders that same night that if I was to live at their house, I must tell no one Yvonne was not my real mother. I was under threat of severe punishment if I ever did. I was happy to be with my brother again  so planned to do whatever I needed to stay. I slipped up one time, in a meeting, mentioning Yvonne was my step-mother and was subjected to a severe chewing out that evening then confined to my room after school for a few days.

My Dad and Yvonne were still attending an Assembly of God church at this time. This is where they met another couple named Ralph and Karen. My dad, Yvonne and Ralph and Karen began a rotating prayer meeting as an adjunct to church and this is what would soon turn into a small bible study at the Wilcrest apartments. 

 

It would eventually become the incorporated  "Assembly of the Body of Christ" denomination, with meetings in several Western states. 

In my next post I will tell more about the beginnings of the church and describe the introduction of Gilbert Larson, the individual who took up the roles as "Apostle" when my father died. I will also discuss how it came to be that only one home was, for a time, used for the meetings.

NEXT POST

Assembly of the Body of Christ Geneaology

 

This genealogy has been tweaked a few times since its first inception to make it more readable thanks to the input of others. It is not intended to be an all-inclusive timeline and hits the major points in time only. The Azusa Street Revival caused a number of smaller groups to form but these finally divided, mostly racially, into two main streams; the Assembly of God and United Pentecostal denominations. 

The Sharon Orphanage is associated somewhat with the Assembly of God but that was not always a close or mutual relationship. Eventually those ties ended completely and the Orphanage became a new entity with the goal of reviving the Latter Rain which is perceived to have begun at Azusa Street in 1906. 

There was not a direct working relationship between the Sharon Orphanage and School and the United Pentecostal church, however many of the members of Sharon Orphanage had left the United Pentecostal church to join the movement and brought many of those doctrines with them. This Latter Rain movement would eventually make its way to Seattle WA through James Watt, Derek Prince, Ern Baxter and others. The primary and persistent driver, until his passing, was James Watt, someone known to our family very well. We spent considerable time with Watt and his family until we split from his church and moved to San Juan Island. Upon Watt's passing the expected "Latter Rain" revival had not yet occurred, despite his many prophecies it would. 

There were considerable other influences not present in this timeline. Demos Shakirian and Full Gospel Businessman's Fellowship, Campus Crusade, Kings Teens and many other Christian organizations. 

6-Broadway Tabernacle Days

 

The days at Broadway Tabernacle were busy for my father, Ramon A Haas, as he helped frequently with outreach campaigns. This meant our family was at the church quite often. He was also deeply involved in many other church organizations in the Seattle area. Philadelphia Bible College, Kings Gardens, Kings Teens, Campus Crusade for Christ, Full Gospel Businessman's Fellowship, David Wilkerson Crusades, Billy Graham Crusades, Nicky Cruz Crusades, Union Gospel Mission and many many others. It seemed he was seldom home.

In 1965 Bill Bright; a then famous tract writer; introduced a brand new tract called "The Four Spiritual Laws". I came home from school one day and several cases of this new tract had been delivered to our house. My father, it seemed, was spearheading an effort to distribute these tracts to all of the major churches in Seattle and it was partly his role to go from church to church, speak with the pastors about the tract, and hope they would order more to distribute widely. 

My father was also intensely involved with visiting and preaching at the local missions so my brother and I spent many nights locked in the church basement while he ministered in the streets of Seattle. Rarely was our father home for any length of time and, when he was at home, it was usually to study or hold a meeting with college kids from Philadelphia Bible College.

The tools used by the Assembly of the Body of Christ to conduct Greek Word Studies were developed during these Broadway Tabernacle days. James A Watt, emboldened by Ern Baxter in his quest to develop an exhaustive Greek study method, worked diligently on a workbook named "Through the Word, Word by Word".  It was essentially a reprinting of select pages of a book by John Stegenga called "An Analytical Concordance of the Greek-English New Testament". This book allowed a person to read a scripture in context then write the applicable section on the page.

The "Through the Word..." book listed scriptures found in the bible for repentance, faith, baptism, etc. as found in Hebrews 6:1-2. It also showed the Greek derivatives, tenses, mood and context for each.  It was an attractive book with a red and black cover depicting a microscope and a telescope on the cover. The connotation of the cover design was that it was possible to examine the bible microscopically with this book but in doing so see God telescopically and more clearly. Our family spent quite a few hours in the church basement collating and stapling these booklets together for mailing.

My father and Watt were quite excited about this new method of study and began a "Through the Word, Word by Word" class at Philadelphia Bible College in Seattle. The school was hesitant to allow the class initially but, after an experiment using the Greek word "Dorea", or gift, the class was deemed a success and was allowed on a limited basis.

Several students from the college wanted more from the Greek so my father began a special meeting, once per week, on Thursdays, for college students at our home. Since we had no table big enough to handle the large group, each week my father would bring out a large plywood sheet, lay it over our dining room table, and the group of students would then pore over Greek word studies, have lively discussions about the words and seemed to have a great time. I recall there was lots of snack food consumed. Several years after the formation of the ABC, this "Through the Word…" booklet was reformatted into a loose-leaf notebook renamed "The Foundation Truths". It is essentially the same book, usually distributed at cost of printing and is an important part of being a member of the ABC.

The development of the "foundation" book has been attributed erroneously to my father. In reality, it was James A Watt, and a few others, who developed the method of using John Stegenga's book. It was James A Watt who developed the original foundation booklet and my father later adopted this book for the Assembly of the Body of Christ. Derek Prince has also recreated this in a book he titled, "The Foundational Truths" which can be found at Amazon or most other bookstores.

In the ABC it is general practice to read three or four scriptures every day out of this book, then write them down. Many complete these books over and over, year after year, but once you have completed the entire book at least once you are considered to have “completed your foundation". 

Another project James A Watt completed while we were at Broadway Tabernacle is the "Daily Reading Card shown here. (Click to enlarge.)

This Daily Reading Card, developed by Watt, allows a person to read the entire Bible through in one year while alternating between Old and New Testament books. The Assembly of the Body of Christ simply adopted this card without revision as seen below.

The only thing changed was the removal of James A Watt's name and address. (Click on picture to enlarge)

The Broadway Tabernacle days lasted just shy of four years then ended suddenly with our move from the Seattle area to San Juan Island in the middle of Puget Sound. The reason for that move will be the subject of my next post and I will delve into the catalyst that caused my father to move away from Broadway Tabernacle and into strictly home based meetings. The concept of home-based meetings would later be incorporated as a doctrine of the "The Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC)", despite the actual beginning to be in a steepled church building initially. This all changed due to a conflict with the Superbowl.

 

Directly after the formation of the ABC the teachings moved rapidly towards isolationism and forbidding of contact with any other church. Also forbidden was the reading of other church publications or Christian books. From here followed the banning of any viewpoint other than the ones espoused by my father. One soon learned that to express an alternate viewpoint would cause one to  suffer extreme discipline measures including shunning for a set period and/or total ex-communication. A learned silence soon enveloped the members. The philosophy also developed that any person not directly associated with the ABC was unsaved or "in Mystery Babylon". It was highly discouraged one should associate with a person “in the world” or “in Mystery Babylon” or "in the wilderness" unless it was to bring them into the “safety” of the ABC. Isolationism is a prime marker of a cult. 

NEXT POST

5-A Quick Synopsis

 

I step back for a moment to provide a quick synopsis of the timeline of major events so far. 

In 1906, a small church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California became the scene of a revival known as "The Latter Rain Movement".  From this revival were born several new denominations, the most prominent being Assemblies of God, United Pentecostal Church and the Pentecostal Church of God. The Pentecostal Church of God, which formed at the Sharon Bible School in Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada, is directly in the birth lineage of the Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC) denomination. It was this new denomination in Canada that gave rise to the doctrines my father adopted prior to his formation of the ABC.

There were several individuals directly connected with the Sharon Bible School who passed on many of the doctrines incorporated into the Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC) denomination. The most prominent of these individuals were Derek Prince, James A Watt, and Ern Baxter. These men had been trained by, and taught at, the Sharon school in Saskatchewan Canada and were influenced in their path by William Branham; known also to many as Brother Branham.

The teachings of Branham influenced these men greatly and they began what would later become known as "The Latter Rain Revival" movement. These men envisioned this movement as a renewing of the Azusa Street revival that took place in 1906 in Los Angeles California. They felt then, and even now, this new movement would spread like wildfire through Canada, then to the US, then to the rest of the world.  That did not happen as predicted or prophesied. Some years ago year it was predicted again there would be a revival of the Latter Rain movement in Canada that would then spread to the U.S. then to the rest of the world. This too has not happened as "prophesied" and several of these "prophets" have passed on with no fulfillment of their prophesies. For further study of the Latter Rain Revival movement there is a great treatise at Birthpangs.org which goes into detail about this movement and its doctrines; the ABC being one of its many vehicles.

My father spoke frequently of the Azusa Street happenings throughout my life. He held high regard for the Latter Rain movement and considered himself to be one of those who would bring about this renewal. He envisioned the ABC would somehow play a major role. Below is a picture of one of the ABC tape lists where one can see the teachings of Brother Branham held a prominent place on the list. (Click on Tape List to Enlarge)

 

To encapsulate this further, my father, Ramon A Haas, steeped in the teachings of William Branham and others,  pursued a lifetime goal of becoming a Pentecostal minister when I was very young. To fulfill this goal, he attended two seminaries then teamed with a Pentecostal minister named Donald McGregor in Noti Oregon at the Noti Pentecostal Church. When we left Oregon he then began working with James A Watt in Seattle at Broadway Tabernacle.

We had moved to the Noti Oregon area when I was about age one and  moved away when I was approaching my ninth birthday.  Noti is one of the first moments in my life of which I am personally aware and, even though our days in Noti were ones of extreme poverty and hardship, I remember them as some of the best years of my life. We lived in a series of ramshackle dwellings and survived mostly on what we could grow, government food commodities and donated food. The welfare safety net, present since the Johnson era, did not yet exist. My father rotated from job to job and we got by. 

 

When offered a permanent job in Seattle with American Sterilizer Company he moved us to Seattle and it was in Seattle my father encountered James A Watt on a personal level. He was  immediately attracted to his church because Watt had been taught by Branham, was part of the Latter Rain Revival movement, had been at Sharon Orphanage in the very beginning and was well connected to multiple other religious organizations. I will list some of those organizations in a later post.

James A Watt was directly connected to the Sharon Orphanage, Derek Prince, Ern Baxter and William Branham. This encounter at Broadway Tabernacle was more of a reuniting of my dad with the Branham and Sharon Orphanage teachings as my father had been a follower of Branham in the late forties, prior to my birth, and Branham had directly influenced the formation of the Latter Rain Revival movement. He was quite happy he had reconnected with these base teachings and the Greek Word Study method would come a bit later at Broadway Taberncle.  At this point he still taught a "sinner's prayer" salvation by grace alone doctrine.

My father spoke often of Branham and retold the stories of Branham’s “miracles”.  His favorite Branham miracle story is that of a time when Branham allegedly entered a field, in 1945 in Macon Georgia, and was about to be killed by a large bull. As Branham recounted the story he rebuked the bull, it pacified, then lay down under a tree. Branham could then safely cross the field unharmed. There were no witnesses to this event but Branham followers, and my father, accepted it as absolute truth.  If one researches Branham there is solid evidence of many false miracles.

Shortly after our move to Seattle, James A Watt acquired Broadway Tabernacle from Derek Prince. After a week or two Prince left Seattle for Chicago to start a tape and broadcast ministry and Broadway Tabernacle then became Watt’s new pulpit. Here is a short excerpt from Wikipedia: 

"In 1962, the Princes moved to Canada, and from there to a pastorate at Peoples Church in Minneapolis, becoming US citizens. From here they moved to Broadway Tabernacle in Seattle where he ministered along with James A Watt whom he had met in Canada. During this time Prince was becoming widely known through his cassette-tape Bible lectures, and he became involved with the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International. This led to a move to Faith Tabernacle in Chicago..."

James A Watt and  Derek Prince; both close friends with Ern Baxter;  left the Sharon Orphanage and School about the same time. Their intent was to bring the Latter Rain message first to Vancouver British Columbia, then to Seattle Washington then to the rest of the world. There were also stopovers in Portland Oregon at the church pastored by a man named Wyatt. My father, a previous Branhamite, joined himself to Broadway Tabernacle church in Seattle and once again began to study the Latter Rain and Branham influenced teachings and doctrines under James A Watt's tutelage. 

To this point it can be demonstrated there is a direct lineage tying the roots of the ABC to those of William Branham, Ern Baxter, Derek Prince, James A Watt and the Latter Rain Revival movement at the Sharon Orphanage.  The Latter Rain Revival Movement had ties to the Azusa Street movement in Los Angeles California, which itself had ties to persons and movements all the way back through history.  As stated in Proverbs there is nothing new under the sun and all denominations, including the ABC, have roots in this history and not a single one popped onto this earth from a vacuum.

In my next post I will cover the Broadway Tabernacle days in more detail, then move on to the sudden split between my father and Watt. This split eventually caused the Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC) denomination to form and it was then patterned exactly after James A Watt's church and Bible study method, but in a home-based setting instead of a brick and mortar church. This move to home-based was an accident caused by the Super Bowl and I will cover this later.

NEXT POST

4-The James Watt / Ern Baxter Connection

 

Across from the Post Intelligencer building in Seattle Washington, with its large blue earth globe, was a two story square brick church named “Broadway Tabernacle”. The building no longer stands but this is where we attended church shortly after moving to the Seattle area from Noti, Oregon. At Broadway Tabernacle my father worked closely with James A Watt on various church projects. This close association, and the fact my dad was very proficient mechanically, meant some of his weekends would be spent at the church performing maintenance duties. One particular Saturday, March 18, 1967, my father and I were at Broadway Tabernacle to change the light bulbs in an enormous chandelier that hung from the high vault ceiling. To change the bulbs we climbed through a small doorway, just off the pulpit area, then up a narrow wooden stairway that wound its way high into the attic, about thirty feet above the main floor. Once there it was possible to crank the chandelier down to the main floor on a cable so we could easily change the bulbs. It was quite an adventure for an eleven-year-old kid.

We cranked the chandelier down, changed the bulbs then, just after returning to the main floor from the attic, James A Watt, the pastor, met us as he came out of his study. He was quite excited about a new method of study he felt the Lord had just given him. He stated to us this new study method used a set of books he had just recently acquired and he was excited to show my father his discovery. 

It remains a vivid memory for me but it is best described in James A Watt’s own words. (Link follows)

"On Saturday morning March 18, 1967 I was preparing for our Sunday services at Broadway Tabernacle, Seattle. Totally unexpectedly—in a split second I saw how to use the works of Englishman's Greek Concordance, John Stegenga's Greek Concordance, and Panin's New Testament numeric Greek and English texts to produce Greek word studies in a new format, but easily usable by lay leaders. It took me two hours to write up the insights given to me by the Holy Spirit." (Link)

I recall sitting in Mr. Watt’s study that day, to the left of the platform, for an extended period while he showed my father this new study method using a new book by a man named John Stegenga. Mr. Watt later wrote, when describing the 4000 page manuscript that took shape after this moment:

The idea for these 4000 MS. pages came to me in a split second on March 18, 1967. At the request of Pastor W.J.Ern Baxter, we prepared these papers. We started out with a research committee of some 40 helpers, but this soon dwindled down to one – Dean Finnestad. The main leg-work and production of this research was carried on by my associate Dean. 

Mr. Watt began this work immediately after that day and my dad was part of this original team of 40 helpers. The last remaining member,  Dean Finnestad continued the work and here is an excerpt from a writing by Dean Finnestad:

________

The Word Study Format

I have received several requests regarding the word studies and books which God has had me working on for the past 25 years. The first book “Foundation Truths” was done at the request of W.J. “Ern” Baxter who felt that the basic words listed in Hebrews 6:1, 2 are foundational for the Christ-like walk. This book uses lesson plans to discuss and develop the concepts involved in each of the major Greek words used in this passage of Scripture. I have since completed a book about angels entitled “Angels in Charge” which uses the word studies to develop a subject rather than an exposition of Scripture. In any case there are over 50 projected books based upon this word study format. Please keep in mind that although these books, and indeed all the word studies, can be studied by an individual they are really designed to be used in a group as a study guide.

The purpose of the word study is to help us focus on the definitions of words and relate them to our understanding of and relationship with God. Language is communication and understanding Scripture is a key to communicating with God. If we just open our minds and our hearts while studying His Word in this unique way we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us. And He is the best teacher of all!

One of the biggest problems facing the church today is the mis-use and mis-translation of the original languages used in Scripture. For the most part, our modern translations of Scripture have been done by men who don’t really know God. They have a head knowledge but no heart knowledge. They have intelligence but no wisdom. They have reason but no spiritual insight. Thus, their work reflects much doctrinal bias and it is this doctrinal bias which has lead to an apostate church, i.e. a church that has fallen away from the truth.

Lately God has shown me that this was all part of His plan. The Word of God is full of mysteries and these mysteries are only revealed by the Holy Spirit to men who seek for truth. He has kept the truth covered through the medium of language in order to shock the world as He begins to reveal the truth in His people in these last days.

God has also shown me that these word studies which He has inspired are a tool for His people to use to open and uncover and manifest and reveal His truth. A unique principle behind these studies and their related books is that once you have learned how to use them you become a teacher, able to pass on God’s truth to others as well as giving them this tool so that they, in turn, become teachers. Wasn’t this Paul’s commission to Timothy, to teach others to be teachers? This is how the nations of this earth will be brought into the Kingdom of God!

This is not a knowledge game. The goal is not to know more than others. The goal is that the truth of God will shine in His people and radiate His glory to all of creation. God’s people must not just know the truth, we must live it, and in living it we will attract the lost of this world just like a light in the darkness attracts insects.

The pages below have been taken from “Foundation Truths” and tweaked just a bit to give you a better understanding of how the word studies are created. After reading this article please read “A Sample Study” also found on this website.

Tools Used To Produce Greek Word Studies

1. John Stegenga's "Greek/English Analytical Concordance."

This unique concordance combines all Greek words into some 1619 root words. A root word is the basic word from which other parts of speech are derived. The root is sometimes a part of speech which isn't even used in the New Testament, yet other words which come out of the root are used. By looking at any word in the Greek text we are able to trace it to its root word and examine all the different parts of speech, i.e. verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, etc. By examining these different parts of speech, each in its own context, we are able to produce accurate definitions through usage rather than preconceptions.

1. Englishmen's Greek Concordance

This concordance, which uses the same Greek text (Stephanus) as Stegenga, takes the various parts of speech and then lists the verses in which the word is used. A short section of each verse is listed with the word under consideration in italics. This concordance establishes a common and consistent phrase for each reference in our word studies in the King James Version. However, we use any translation which is useful in creating a good title.

1. Panin's Greek Interlinear New Testament

This Greek text is our ultimate plumbline. Every reference we use is checked against Panin's Greek. If a reference is missing from Stegenga or Englishmen's we add it. If a reference is omitted in Panin we omit it from our study (hence, the notation "omitted in best mss"). If the Greek case form is changed by Panin we change it for our study. Panin also provides extremely accurate contexts. (See "Numerics vs. Numerology" for more about Panin.)

1. Kittel's "Theological Dictionary of the New Testament"

We use this work as a plumbline to our accuracy in evaluating the meanings derived from our approach. The exhaustive scholarship that has gone in to this work makes it a worthy comparison. Any conclusions based upon a word study which do not agree in essence with Kittel are suspect.

1. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

This work provides a rapid reference for our word studies. It is useful in quickly providing basic definitions of words used with the word study being done. It is also a good reference to double check meanings which emerge from the word study.

1. A Note about Strong's Concordance

This concordance is such a popular one and again is based on the Stephanus manuscript. While we do not consider this book one of our vital resources, we do include the cross numbering system found in Strong's on the root word outline from Stegenga in case anyone wants to use Strong's numbering system as a resource. Doing a word study using Strong's can be extremely tedious just trying to track related parts of speech. Our word study approach supercedes Strong's in that the tedious research has already been done. Using Strong's would only be a duplication of our work.

7. Another work we strongly recommend is "KJV Hebrew-Greek Study Bible" by Spiros Zodhiates. Not only does this study Bible reference all of Strong's numbers for both Hebrew and Greek words but Mr. Zodhiates also indicates by bold type those words which carry significant theological value and for which he has created his own index of special thoughts and definitions.

If one compares this method of study, described by Watt and Finnestad along with Ern Baxter in Canada, with the method of study used by the Assembly of the Body of Christ, you will find them identical in every way.  This is  because they stemmed from precisely the same place; James A Watt, Ern Baxter and teachings that flowed from the Sharon Orphanage Latter Rain Revival movement. 

 

Ern Baxter once pastored the largest church in Vancouver, British Columbia and was the primary Bible Teacher for the William Branham Crusades in the early days. Ern was an individual who considered books to be "friends" and felt they could, in his own words, "enlighten mankind about great people and ideas". It was, in fact,  Ern Baxter who encouraged James A Watt to further develop this method of study using John Stegenga's "Greek/English Analytical Concordance", in companion with the other books mentioned. My father, being part of James A Watt’s "team of 40", and our family spent many hours in the basement of Broadway Tabernacle collating and stapling the first version of his book based on these studies.  Being prior to the age of PC's and word processing a large type machine had been rented that would type the Greek words onto the pages. The book was entitled "Through the Word, Word by Word" was eight and a half by eleven in size, red and black in color and had a microscope and telescope on the front cover. These were produced and mailed to churches all over Seattle in the hope they too would adopt this new method of study. 

 

Watt's method of study was fully adopted by my father, Ramon A Haas, and was used extensively during the formation of the "Assembly of the Body of Christ" denomination. This method of study is still used exclusively today and using any other books or method of study can carry with it the possibility of admonishment or severe discipline by the leaders of the ABC. Nearing the end of my time in the ABC, I witnessed one individual; a newcomer; be chastised very strongly for using the wrong translation of the Bible.  These harsh words hurt that individual so badly they never came back.

Using Watt's study method comprises much of the purpose of the ABC. They derive most of what they teach from these Greek Word Studies, all based around He 6:1-2. This focus on Hebrews 6 is a direct carryover from the Sharon Orphanage days. 

 

This study in the Greek carries with it much more importance than seeking kindness, granting mercy and showing tolerance and love. Love is the greatest commandment yet it takes a back seat to these Greek word studies. To study and learn is not a bad thing, however when love, justice, mercy, tolerance  and respect for one another takes a back seat to this endless pursuit of knowledge it is evidence there is a great error in purpose.

Who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:6 

From my observation this endless pursuit of perfect knowledge through books is to no real profit without the weightier matters of the law; justice, mercy and faithfulness. This ill focused pursuit has caused the destruction of many over the decades and I have witnessed major quarrels develop over the proper interpretation of a single Greek word. Some quarrels took on Hatfield-McCoy status as long-lived feuds that lasted months, or even years, and always ended with ex-communication. The pursuit of knowledge, when kept in a proper perspective, is a wonderful thing, but I defer to the wisdom of my good friend Solomon. Some consider Solomon to have been the wisest man who ever lived. He wrote near the end of his book of Ecclesiastes;

“This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.” Ecc. 12:13-14.

Solomon showed he was a wise man because he realized that "

furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Ecc. 12:12

and knew that

"our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Paul emulated these thoughts as well when he wrote to the Corinthians

"Such confidence we have through Christ toward God; not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.2 Co. 3:4-6.

Solomon knew when books and studies outpaced love, mercy and kindness to one another…"there will be many words that create vanity”. Ecc. 6:11.

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