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Aimee Semple McPherson was the founder of the Foursquare Church Denomination in 1927 and is credited for taking faith healing Pentecostalism into mainstream popularity by use of the latest technology of radio. She is perhaps the earliest “mega church” in Pentecostal History (D.L. Moody was perhaps the earliest mega church in Evangelical history). Aimee was profoundly impacted by the Salvation Army upbringing by her mother and the Pentecostal teaching of her first husband Robert Semple. Both were products of the Azusa and Parham Pentecostal Movement.
McPherson claimed to have been born again as the result of the preaching of her first husband Robert Semple. Little is known about Mr. Semple except that he was a Pentecostal preacher that died in 1910, leaving Aimee a widow. It is safe to say that at the time of her conversion in 1907-1908, her conversion was through a prominent Pentecostal preacher at the time named Charles Parham.
Parham was a Holiness Pentecostal preacher in Topeka, KS, whose methodology of preaching was in the manner of “tent revivals” which was the same manner of preaching adopted by both Robert Semple and, eventually, his wife and ministry partner, Aimee Semple. It was her discipleship under Robert Semple and his Holiness Pentecostal influence that shaped the early years of Aimee’s Christian life and eventually the Foursquare Movement she would found.
Robert Semple died shortly after his marriage to Aimee, while on a short term mission to China. Aimee Semple McPherson returned to the U.S., remarried, and continued to travel and preach in tent revivals. She then divorced her second husband, Harold McPherson, and in 1918, she settled in Los Angeles, again went on the revival tent preaching circuit for 5 years and returned to Los Angeles to build Angelus Temple.
She then founded a radio station and established herself as the first woman to regularly preach the Gospel via mass communication. She also established L.I.F.E. Bible College to disciple Christians for a life of Ministry. LIFE Bible College is still the primary college of the Foursquare Denomination to this day.
After Robert’s death, Aimee would incorporate stage plays, entertainment, and play acting to communicate her message. She evoked a cult-like devotion from her followers which resulted in massive cover ups of her personal failings and eventual drug overdose suicide in 1956.
The Foursquare Denomination is Pentecostal/Charismatic. The Four squares of her Foursquare Gospel was not a concept founded by Aimee Semple McPherson, rather, it is a derivative of AB Simpson’s “Fourfold Gospel” with the four pillars being:
Many Pentecostal denominations had already adopted and preached this Foursquare derivative of Simpson’s “Fourfold” gospel, including the Assemblies of God, by the time that the Foursquare Movement had been made official in 1927.
In the early days, this denomination was accused of being a “cult” due, partly, to its departure from Scripture which forbids a woman to teach or to hold authority over men in the church (1 Timothy 2:12-15). She was also a flamboyant entertainer who was charismatic in both theology and practice. She fell from popularity when she appeared to fake her own kidnapping, suddenly appearing out of nowhere without a scratch or wrinkle. Her story didn’t hold up and eye witnesses reported seeing her at a motel with a Foursquare staffer. The greater tragedy is that a man lost his life swimming out to find her in the area of the ocean where she supposedly was “kidnapped”.
This may have haunted her conscience as her death was also shrouded in controversy from an “accidental” overdose of sleeping pills/sedatives. Family claimed she was complaining of an inability to sleep due to being “keyed up” by performing in front of 10,000 people but half a bottle of sedatives was found with many pills strewn about her death bed.
Today, there are a purported 30,000 Foursquare Churches with approximately 7 million members. Like other Pentecostal/Charismatic groups the Foursquare Church believes in a worldwide proliferation of what they call a “pentecostal witness” which doesn’t equate to the spread of the Biblical gospel as much as it pertains to a spread of Pentecostal mysticism. Because of this the Foursquare Church carries a strong missions emphasis.
The denomination is officially Pentecostal/Charismatic and like many other churches of this stripe they have embraced a “seeker sensitive” approach to marketing in many of the congregations luring people in by way of a “come as you are” approach but like the Seeker Sensitive mega churches – when you “come as you are” you ultimately will “leave as you were” as the biblical gospel is de-emphasized.
Jack Hayford was a hyper-charismatic pastor of the Foursquare Church called “Church on the Way” (pictured) who rose to prominence after starting a radio program originally entitled “Free Way” which was then re-titled “Living Way” and syndicated shortly thereafter. Hayford was a staunch supporter and purveyor of the Word-faith, signs and wonders, and dominion theology movements.
Being a highly educated man primarily in English and secondarily in theology, Hayford was a dynamic communicator with a greater mastery of the English language than most Bible-believing Pastors but like many charismatics, believed in a mystical private revelation and communication from God which often contradicted a sound interpretation of God’s own established word, the Bible. Because of Hayford’s slick usage (some might say over-usage) of academic language in his sermons and teachings, many, including myself, felt that Hayford legitimized pentecostalism and demonstrated that one could be a “thinking theologian” while maintaining a belief in pentecostal practices.
The Church on the Way Christian Learning Centre, Idle by Humphrey Bolton, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Hayford was Pastor to Paul and Jan Crouch who believed themselves to be “little gods” in keeping with Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland’s word faith teachings. Hayford also supported these heresies remarking on occasion with regards to the faith teaching, “Most of which I believe”. Hayford was a prototype for many of the ministries today like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyers in that he combined the streams of Word Faith and Signs and Wonders streams of Pentecostalism while adding a flavor of seeker sensitivism to the mix to create a mega church of three combined departures from the Scriptures.
Hayford made attempts to legitimize the highly questionable lifestyle of Foursquare denomination founder Aimee Semple McPherson, consistent with most adherents of the aberrant group, he believed that despite the evidences of her improprieties, McPherson was a victim of slander by way of the “devil”.
Hayford was an early supporter and speaker at the ecumenical and pentecostal Promise Keepers movements of the 90’s and from this exposure gained an even greater audience across multiple denominations. He fully embraced and defended the heretical laughter “revival” and “drunk in the spirit” practices that accompanied the “Toronto Blessing” of John Arnot and Rodney Howard Browne – even defending these men against those in discernment ministries who called these anti-biblical practices into question.
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