First written: June 10, 2009
Slithering alongside the venomous snakes of
Awakening is the book's other dark theme: that of compulsive and
dangerous religions.
Round about the time of the second world war, the US in
particular saw the revival of various charismatic churches. What
they all had in common was enthusiasm verging on the fanatic, a
very close and literal interpretation of the Bible and a belief
that God passed on some of his own supernatural abilities to
mankind. One church that immediately intrigued me was The Church of
the Latter Rain.
This church still exists, of course, and everything I've read in
its literature and on its website suggests that it is an entirely
respectable organization, working hard to promote the messages of
God's love and peace throughout the world. I want to make that very
clear.
But when it started out - oh boy - could you get more gloriously
weird?
Healing through fasting, driving out demons, levitation, a
fascination with the zodiac, the sudden manifestation of
supernatural fire and smoke, resurrecting corpses. Back in its
infancy, the Church of the Latter Rain indulged in some very odd
practices. And had some decidedly strange leaders. The Reverend
Franklin Hall, to name just one, a bestseller author (of religious
pamphlets) who claimed to be able to resurrect dead bodies.
In learning all about him - he features in Awakening - I came
across the eerily sinister story of his fawn jacket. Rev Franklin,
we are told by his followers, wore the same pale brown coat every
day for years and although it was never cleaned, it showed no sign
of grease, dirt or odour. This was taken as a clear and
indisputable sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in his
life.
For the love of
whoever is up there! A fawn jacket! Are we seriously expected
to believe the power that can part the sea, rain down plagues of
untold misery and destroy the world in flood, would choose to
manifest itself in a fawn jacket bought at Kmart? I haven't heard
anything so daft since my Granny started talking about Great, Great
Aunt Alice coming back as a bluebottle.
Bringing back the dear departed though, that was a different
matter, and Hall claimed he could do it. He wrote a book: 'Formula
for Raising the Dead.' Do you know what? I sent off for a
copy. All the time I was waiting for it to arrive, I was actually
nervous. Would it be a dusty, leather-bound ream, inscribed with
runes, as untranslatable as they were ancient? Would I be
unleashing old and unspeakable powers just by having it in the
house? Would the graves in my local churchyard start opening
up?
It arrived. It was an orange and white pamphlet, full of
misspellings and was (call me a basement-dwelling troglodyte, if
you must, Rev) barely intelligible.
He defeated me in the end though, Rev Franklin. He was born in
the early years of the 20th century. I desperately wanted to find
the year of his death so that, in Awakening, I could make a cheap
joke at his expense. You know the sort of thing: 'Reverend Hall
died in 199x, my dear, one can only imagine he didn't get his
followers up to speed in time.'
I could not, and cannot still, find any record of Reverend
Franklin Hall's death. So - maybe I'll have to eat my words - maybe
he did it after all.
