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BISBEE — Soon Cochise County will be putting the Miracle Valley 39–acre parcel up for auction.
In a work session July 25, county Development Services Director Dan Coxworth asked for the go ahead to demolish the remnants of the Miracle Valley Bible College boys and girls dorms. Supervisors Peggy Judd, Ann English and Tom Crosby decided to put a hold on any more work there.
Coxworth wanted to remove more of the asbestos and make the property more appealing to potential buyers, but the supervisors said to leave the property as is.
The State Historic Preservation Office has informed the county the property would be eligible for a listing in the National and Arizona Registers of Historic Places. Miracle Revival Training Center Tabernacle is eligible for inclusion as it represents significance within the historical context of American evangelism post-World War II and the Civil Rights Era, stated SHPO.
Though the property may be eligible for the designation, it will be up to the next owners to seek the designation or not, whoever they may be, said Coxworth.
Coxworth said, “The determination of eligibility does not compel a listing. The choice to designate it is up to the county. No further action is required. The property may be auctioned to the highest bidder. The county has no obligation to move forward on the designation. We met the requirements.
“The buyer does not have to comply with SHPO. If the buyer seeks that eligibility, there are grants and tax incentives if the property was declared an historic buildings.
“Whoever wants it can do what they want and whoever offers the highest bid will own the property.”
English said, “People will have to bid on what they can afford. When we put up the property for auction, we don’t know how the property will be used. It’s up to the owner to decide what they want to do.”
Chief Civil Deputy Attorney Christine Roberts added, “The county is under no obligation under statute to put special conditions on the property.”
English said, “Our job as I see it, is to get the most money for we can for any piece of property we have on our list for auction.”
“Everyone has the same opportunity to bid on the property,” said Judd. “We will put information on the land sale noticed so people know what they’re buying.”
Coxworth called the property, which was deeded to the county from the state for back taxes, a “challenge” and dangerous.
He explained he was not going to allow potential buyers to see the property in person due to the derelict structures and possible liability issues, but said he would include all the necessary information so a buyer would know what they are in for as an owner.
The people associated with the preservation of Miracle Valley will be able to bid in the auction.
About Miracle Valley
A.A. Allen, said to be a faith healer, was given 1,280 acres from Urbane Leiendecker in 1958 at a revival meeting in Phoenix and developed Miracle Valley Bible College, a series of buildings including the dormitories for girls and boys, the domed-tabernacle, classrooms and residences.
Tax problems arose as the Internal Revenue Service questioned Allen’s insistence that Miracle Valley should be designated as a church, but in 1962 was granted the exemption after a three-year battle.
Allen allegedly suffered from alcoholism and was accused of faking miracles in various places around the country and the world. It was a trip to England that caused him problems. The British authorities were advised by people who attended his revivals that Allen enticed people to fake disabilities and then act cured. The British asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into Allen’s credentials in 1965. The FBI did find a number of drunken driving charges which included leaving the scene of an accident.
His wife tried to commit him to a mental institution, but she later withdrew the petition. Allen died in 1970 and witness accounts stated his death was due to alcoholism and medications.
The property ended up in the hands of others after his death.
Peace in the valley was disrupted in 1982 when a competing, religious, African American group took up residence directly across from the bible college. Racial tensions mounted and a day of retribution came heralded by gunfire and two people were killed.
Dr. Melvin Harter on the Progress at Miracle Valley Bible College
God is reported to have told Allen, “I say unto thee I have ordained this place [Miracle Valley] and if thou wilt trust me, there shall no evil befall this place. There is no power that can destroy that which I have ordained. If thou wilt believe that I am the God of all flesh, that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever, no evil shall befall this place, no destruction, because the hand of the Lord is upon this place and surrounding this place. I shall protect it from all the powers of evil and all the powers of man, for I, the Lord, am the power of all powers. There is no power but of me, saith the Lord, and I shall protect, I shall keep, and I shall save throughout the Millennial Age, saith the Lord.”
Miracle Valley
We were stopped at a rundown liquor store, only a few miles from the Mexican border, when I saw it. My son and I had been driving a lonely stretch of Arizona Highway 92, with little to see except dry grasslands stretching in all directions towards distant broken mountains on the horizon. He was thirsty. This was the only place to get a drink. And yet there, in the distance, was the tattered dome of a church rising from the desolate landscape. I pointed to the complex and told my son, “We’re going in.”
He smiled. We had already trespassed in abandoned houses, a church and heavy mining facilities earlier in the day, so it seemed natural that we would go into this abandoned church as well. As we got closer, we could see that the church was surrounded by tall grass and a number of rundown buildings. The roof of the church looked as if it had been violently ripped off, exposing the great hall that must once have been filled with worshippers. Even though my son and I love exploring ruins together, there was something foreboding about this place. But we were too curious to stay away.
The first building we came to was the cafeteria and meeting hall. The main doors were locked tight, but when we went around back we found a door that had been jimmied open. The kitchen was partially stocked and looked as if it could be ready for service without much work, It seemed like the workers had dropped their utensils and departed unexpectedly and without notice. Inside the main room, a large group of Gothic-style high-back chairs sat neatly arranged for a large gathering. The room was decorated for a fall celebration. Had the participants just left? Maybe they were due to arrive at any moment.
Next we found a school building. In the classrooms the chairs sat as if the students had stood up and left for a fire drill, but had then been lost to some great unknown apocalypse, never to return. Lessons were still written on the chalkboard. The loneliness of the space was heartbreaking. The lives of the occupants seemed to hang on the edges of the all the furniture that their hands had last touched on their way out the door.
Dormitories were left a tumbled mess of personal belongings, alarm clocks, cleaning aids and furniture. Looters had set fire to a few rooms, and smoke damage added to the mood of desperation and abandonment. It was clear that many people had shared these rooms and passed each other socially in the halls. As trespassers, my son and I found it hard not to worry that someone was hiding inside one of them.
What was this place? Why did it hold such an aura of menace? When I got back to my home in Tucson, I started doing research. The more I learned, the more powerful the images I’d recorded came to seem. The emptiness of the compound was the sort you feel when your beliefs are shaken to the core. The fact that it was named Miracle Valley seemed savagely ironic now.
What do you do with your faith when your religious leader is found dead, sitting in a chair surrounded by a pool of his own piss, his luxury hotel room “strewn with pills and empty liquor bottles?” How do you stay a believer when your spiritual shepherd was unable to save himself from his own substance abuse; especially when it was your money that had been funding his addictions? These were the questions faced by members of the Miracle Life Fellowship when their founder A.A. Allen succumbed to acute alcohol poisoning after a particularly heavy drinking and pill-popping binge at San Francisco’s Jack Tar Hotel in 1970.
Growing up in a Catholic family, I had never listened to any of A. A. Allen’s numerous daily radio and TV broadcasts. I wasn’t aware of the Miracle Magazine that he published monthly to highlight the many modern-day wonders for which he took credit. And I never could have imagined that my son and I would one day stumble on the remains of his dream on a trip to explore ruins around Bisbee, Arizona.
My boy likes old mining sites and abandoned buildings. He dreams of finding a forgotten chest of gold in a collapsed mine shaft or an old suitcase stuffed full of gangster cash in an abandoned building. But the “treasures” we found at this complex, at the intersection of Arizona Highway 92 and Healing Way, were both more mundane and more disturbing. We found evidence of what people will do to impose reason on faith, a record of a crumbling order.
A.A. Allen started out as a preacher in the World Assemblies of God Fellowship in 1936. After attending an Oral Roberts tent revival in 1949, Allen found his calling to spread the “miracles” of the Lord. Shortly after witnessing Roberts’ revival he founded A.A. Allen Revivals, Inc. This gave him both tax-exempt status and put him in control of all financial gains from this venture. Then he went on the road in earnest pushing his Healing Revival Campaigns across America. In 1955, Allen took the boldly entrepreneurial step of purchasing a large expensive tent — something he could not really afford — that could accommodate over 10,000 people. Allen had faith in his own success.
That same year, he was arrested for driving drunk in Knoxville, Tennessee. This event was the last straw for the Assembly of God organization which then pushed Allen to resign from their ministry. During this same time, he also resigned from the Voice of Healing association in whose magazines he had been a regular contributor since 1950. When his drinking became too much to hide, Allen pulled out of all organizations that he had initially looked to for support. Instead, he began to rely solely on his growing popularity and his own organization in which he held absolute financial control.
When Allen jumped bail on his drunk-driving arrest, he claimed that the charges were nothing but “a trick of the devil to try to kill his ministry.” He and his supporters claimed that all the drinking and corruption charges lodged against him were nothing but malicious slander. For governments and religious movements alike, staying on a war-footing increases solidarity in your ranks. Americans fighting their “War on Terror,” politicians in the former Soviet Union at war with everyone within and without, followers of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple fleeing to Guyana and David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians barracading himself and his followers into their Waco, Texas compound: all relied on followers coming together to fight against what were perceived to be common enemies, real or imaginary.
This is why allegations of corruption and misdeeds by Allen were discounted within the Miracle Life Fellowship, as persecution not only of Allen himself, but of all his supporters and followers as well. Indeed, even now there are currently numerous websites devoted to conspiracy theories meant to debunk the official accounts of Allen’s life and death.
Who doesn’t dream of a happy miracle that will change their life forever? Allen wrote in his booklet, Power To Get Wealth. How You Can Have It! that the key to financial success could be found in Deuteronomy 8:18: “It is He that giveth thee power to get wealth.” Allen added, “Christ came to do away with the works of the devil, and one of the works of the devil is POVERTY!” Capitalizing on this promise, Allen began selling “prosperity clothes” which were anointed with his mysterious “Miracle Oil.” Allen sold these handkerchiefs for $100, a very large sum in 1958. He promised to forever change donors’ fortune with this act, claiming he could command God to “turn dollar bills into twenties.” No matter how you do the math, you’d be a fool not to purchase one of the these prosperity handkerchiefs, right? After turning just five dollars into twenties, everything else would be free money!
The miracles Allen promised didn’t stop with financial success. He ran TV commercials declaiming, “See! Hear! Actual miracles happening before your eyes! Cancer, tumors, goiters disappear! Crutches, braces, wheelchairs, stretchers discarded! Crossed eyes straightened! Caught by the camera as they occurred in the healing line before thousands of witnesses.” Allen often matched his wild promises with wild style, wearing outlandish outfits such as a lavender suit with white patent leather boots. What the commercials didn’t tell you was that Allen’s hired “goon squads” violently prevented all independent photographers and reporters from documenting or testing the validity of his purported miracles.
The concept of faith-healing is interesting from a scientific standpoint. Even if Allen was guilty of questionable practices, an understanding of statistics would suggest that, given the vast numbers of people who attended his revivals, many actually found the “miracle cures” that they came looking for. Current research has shown that even when using mainstream commercial pharmaceuticals, more than 50% of their effectiveness comes from the placebo effect. Our bodies work in mysterious ways, especially when we have strong faith and belief in the cure. It begs the question, “What does truth matter when even a lie can heal you?”
The land that Life Fellowship International Bible School was built on was given to Allen in 1958 by Urbane Leiendecker, a young rancher. God reportedly spoke directly to Leiendecker as he sat alone in his pickup truck one night looking up at the stars saying “My son, from this place the Gospel shall go out to all the world…with signs, wonders and miracles.” A short time after this visitation, while Leiendecker was attending the 1958 Great A.A. Allen Winter Camp Meeting in Phoenix Arizona, God again spoke to Leiendecker saying, “This is what I have asked you to do with your range! This is the purpose for which I have ordained it and told you to give it to Brother Allen.” Within days, A. A. Allen Revivals, Inc. was named the sole owner of Miracle Valley.
After Allen died, the property changed hands many times. First it went to Reverend Don Stewart. After taking charge, Stewart was immediately hit by Allen’s brother-in-law with allegations of embezzlement and pocketing offerings from revivals. Stewart moved up to Phoenix and tried to sell the school. He gave up in 1975 and leased the college to the Hispanic Assemblies of God organization for one dollar a year for twenty years, essentially giving the property away.
This new group turned out to be somewhat militant in actions and beliefs and preached what locals referred to as “anti-white doctrine.” The group had repeated hostile and violent confrontations with neighbors and utility workers. In 1982, law enforcement was called in. An armed standoff ensued that ended with two group members and one deputy shot dead. In the same year, an arson fire caused substantial damage to the administration office and a large warehouse on the property.
Stewart received a one million dollars insurance cash-out settlement from the insurance company. To avoid a prolonged legal battle with the Hispanic Assemblies of God organization, who still held a twenty-year lease on the property, he gave them the property as-is with the agreement that they would maintain a bible school on it for an additional twenty years. After receiving his one million dollars, Stewart walked away with more money than he could have gotten though any legitimate sale. The arsonists were never caught.
The Hispanic Assemblies of God organisation occupied the premises for precisely twenty years after receiving the property from Stewart, thereby honoring their legal commitment. Then, in 1999, they sold the complex to the Harter Ministries who began teaching classical Pentecostal theology. This organization found it hard to make money with this approach. Within ten years, this new bible college was destitute and unable to meet expenses. In January, 2009, banks foreclosed on the property and it was vacated by force of court order. This explains the Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations strewn throughout the compound, traces of what would be the final celebrations in Miracle Valley.
I wonder what the devotees felt while celebrating their last New Year’s Day in the complex. Did the weaker in the group sneak off to buy liquor across the highway? Did they huddle together praying for a financial miracle that would save their school? Were they making plans for what they would do if the school was lost? Or did they find denial in their faith?
A.A. Allen is quoted saying, “Again and again, when my head was splitting and my frayed nerves let me shake visibly with a ‘hangover’, I promised myself I would never go on another again. But when night came, I was right back there…the life of the party! A confirmed drunkard!” After dedicating his life to spreading the Lord’s Word, Allen said, “No more dances! No more liquor! No more cigarettes! Desire for them had vanished, and a new joy and peace had taken their place.” What had filled his new life was money, power and a devoted following. Life on the road, fancy clothes, throngs of fans — it all had to be exciting.
In the adminstational offices, the ghost of Allen still lingers. You can imagine not only the financial power Allen had at the apex of his career, but his isolation. What did Allen think when he sat up alone at night? How did he deal with his personal crises of faith? Looking out through the north-facing windows in the Dome of Faith at night, the lights of the liquor store beckon from across the field. Did he send a faithful assistant out for liquor when the pressure of being A. A. Allen became too great to bear, or had he successfully kicked his alcoholism as he claimed (despite the fact that after his death, the coroner concluded following a 12-day investigation and autopsy that Allen died from “liver failure brought on by acute alcoholism”)? Does it even matter anymore?
God is reported to have told Allen, “I say unto thee I have ordained this place [Miracle Valley] and if thou wilt trust me, there shall no evil befall this place. There is no power that can destroy that which I have ordained. If thou wilt believe that I am the God of all flesh, that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever, no evil shall befall this place, no destruction, because the hand of the Lord is upon this place and surrounding this place. I shall protect it from all the powers of evil and all the powers of man, for I, the Lord, am the power of all powers. There is no power but of me, saith the Lord, and I shall protect, I shall keep, and I shall save throughout the Millennial Age, saith the Lord.”
After my son and I emerged from the last building, we heard the sounds of glass shattering and other materials being smashed. The sun was going down, and darkness descended around us. We rushed through the central grounds of the compound and saw two carloads of teenagers wielding sledgehammers. They were smashing windows and breaking down doors. We were done exploring and didn’t want to confront them. As we quietly walked out toward the main highway where our car was parked along Healing Way, we heard the sounds of continued destruction punctuated by riotous laughter. No one was protecting Miracle Valley on this night.
* * *
Urban Leiendecker (the rancher who gave his 1280 acre ranch to the A. A. Allen Revivals, Inc. in 1958) came by to inform us that he recently had a vision, and in his vision, he and Rev. A. A. Allen were walking throughout the campus as it appears today. Leiendecker said to me,“Brother Harter, this is the time for the restoration of Miracle Valley” and then Brother Leiendecker said that in his vision, as he and Rev. Allen walked throughout the campus, Allen began to point to each building and told Leiendecker that he wanted “these buildings restored.” As they walked to the old A. A. Allen Revivals, Inc. Headquarters Building that was destroyed by fire in 1982, again Rev. Allen told Leiendecker as he pointed to it, “I want this building rebuilt.”Leiendecker then stated that A. A. Allen told him that “Now is the time!” referring to the Allen prophecy given in 1970 at the Miracle Valley Mid-Winter Camp Meeting.
Prior to Rev. Allen’s untimely death in June 1970, Brother Allen aired over his nation-wide radio program a vision that God had given to him during the previous Christmas season. The Holy Ghost prophesied through Allen in his last Mid-Winter Camp Meeting held at Miracle Valley in 1970. The prophecy was simply that “Miracle Valley would become like a ghost-town with the buildings needing repair, etc., that tumbleweeds would blow across the campus and weeds would appear to be everywhere. However, in the last days, God will honor His Word again for Miracle Valley.”
The prophecy continues by God telling everyone that He will send “another people to Miracle Valley” that would fulfill God’s divine will and that students would leave this campus again and go throughout the world preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, performing miracles, signs and wonders, and literally masses of people would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This revival will start at Miracle Valley and spread throughout the entire world.
In 1999, Melvin Harter Ministries obtained Miracle Valley. Miracle Valley Bible College & Seminary was opened immediately, and students began arriving. Miracle Valley Bible College & Seminary is now preparing students for active ministry.
Dr. Harter writes,
May God richly bless you as you join with us at Miracle Valley.
– Dr. Harter email: miracleoffice@yahoo.com
WEBSITE: http://www.miraclevalley.net
Anonymous
Joseph D. Absher Dr. Melvin Harter on the Progress at Miracle Valley Bible College
Friends, as many of you may know, Sister Harter & I were at Miracle Valley Bible College where our ministry owned it for nearly ten years. During our stay there, hundreds of thousands of dollars were put into the improvements of the property. Over $550k was put in just by our own ministry.
Most of the MV property will be going up for auction sometime in the near future. I believe God wants us to proceed in acquiring it. Since we purchased the property in 1999, we have continued to own the MV Cemetery, as well as another 15-acre MV parcel. MHM also owns a 3,000 sq ft structure that houses items from Miracle Valley. All of the property mentioned is debt-free, nothing is owed.
Friends, I am creating an up-to-date email list for our newsletters. I would like to invite our Facebook Friends to join our special email list. I have over 3,000 friends on Facebook, and I believe you would thoroughly enjoy the newsletters. You will learn what is happening in our ministry and stay up-to-date on Miracle Valley. You will read of miracles and healings and learn much regarding the Life & Ministry of Rev. A. A. Allen. To my Church of God friends, you will discover that Rev. Allen was more or less Church of God in his doctrine than he was Assemblies of God, particularly in the Doctrine of Entire Sanctification.
I need you to send me your name and email address; I would love for you to receive our special newsletter via email, absolutely free and no charge whatsoever. We will not share your email address with anyone. We will be offering several specials things that I know you would really enjoy. You can PM (Private Message) me or use MESSENGER to send your email address. I know this, you will be truly blessed.
May God richly bless you is our prayer. – Dr. Melvin Harter
https://www.miraclevalley.net/
Anonymous
My Vision of the Destruction of America
or
Will Russia Invade America?
THE MOST AMAZING, STARTLING BOOK
OF THIS GENERATION
This book tells the dramatic story of a supernatural vision-revelation which God gave to me during my campaign with the Puerto Rican brethren in New York City last winter, a vision which was revealed to me atop the Empire State Building. Suddenly, the Lord showed me the entire North American continent, spread before me as a map on a table. From far to the North, a great black cloud in the form of a skeleton reached its tentacle arms toward America to embrace her in the embrace of death. From the gaping mouth and nostrils drifted white vapors, enveloping the cities, and strangely affecting the Statue of Liberty! Guided missiles, like fish leaping out of the water of the oceans, toward America, carrying their cargoes of death. As the various phases of the vision unfolded before me, God’s voice spoke to me, explaining the vision in the words of the scripture. Research reveals that not only are the prophecies of this vision scriptural, but that scientific and military leaders today are fully aware that these things are actually COMING TO PASS! One military man, upon hearing this vision given in a sermon, declared, “Either this man has truly received a vision from God, or else has somehow come upon some of the Army�s top military secrets!”
Here is a book which will give you in one, a modern day vision-revelation of the happenings of the near future, in terms easily understandable by the modern mind; God’s ancient word, confirming His divine foreknowledge of these events; and a correlated study of modem scientific research, confirming beyond doubt the reality of these revelations.
https://www.miraclevalley.net/gpage6.html
Anonymous
Peter Vandever Corrections are made in BLUE by Dr. Melvin Harter
1958: Fire and brimstone, faith-healing evangelist Asa Alonzo Allen acquired 2,400 2,560 acres in an open valley south east of Sierra Vista on State Route 92 East and dubbed it Miracle Valley. He had been successful with tent-show revivals around the country where there were undeniable miracles. He sponsored twice-yearly revivals at Miracle Valley Mid-Winter Camp Meeting & Summer Camp Meeting that attracted as many as 3,000 participants. Crowds reached as high as 5,000 people. Allen had a massive church (Some say it seated 4000, however, it really looks like seating capacity to be 2500 and Bible college complex built on the property everything constructed at Miracle Valley was build by common people whom the Lord sent, there were no construction firms involved. All the brick was made on the property. Cabinets and other wood items were all made at the Wood Shop building by “God-called carpenters.” Later the Wood Shop building was turned into the College’s current Administration building: 15 block buildings in all, including one office structure to accommodate 175 225 employees who produced and distributed his books, tapes, lesson plans, prayer cloths and radio programs on 70 radio stations, and handled his 300,000 member mailing list. The church received 55 million pieces of mail annually. The college had 100 students. Annual income was estimated at nearly $2.5 million.
1970: On June 16, June 11 Allen, 59, died in a room at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco. Death was from acute alcoholism, an autopsy found. Autopsy does not state this fact. Allen’s associates tried to continue the ministry, but it failed, mired in court proceedings involving claims of misused funds.
Mid-1970’s: The property was acquired by another religious group, Hispanic Assemblies of God and sporadic attempts were made to begin another religious operation. Periodic seminars, church services and encampments were held on the land. Southern Arizona Bible College operated from 1976-1995.
1978: The first of a number of members of the Chicago-based Healing Center and Church, founded in 1962 by the Rev. Frances Thomas, began arriving on the land Mrs. Thomas had attended MVBC under Allen. She wanted to do as Allen did, and that was to bring kids to Arizona and train them in the ways of God. However, she was unable to purchase Miracle Valley Bible College because the Assemblies of God could not sell it at the time. Thereford, Mrs.Thomas obtained property in the sub-division. She obtained “Valley View Restaurant” and turned it into her church. She purchased several homes in the area. MRS. THOMAS WAS NOT ON THE BIBLE COLLEGE PROPERTY NOR DID ANYTHING THAT HAD OCCURRED BETWEEN HER, HER CHURCH AND THE COCHISE COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT EVER OCCUR ON THE BIBLE COLLEGE PROPERTY. News reporters want to sell newspapers so they SENSATIONALIZE (this is a nice word for “outright lie”) so they can make more profits. She was one of the estimated 10,000 ministers ordained by Allen. From the start there was mistrust and dislike between the tough, urban Chicago transplants and set-in-their-ways, rural Cochise County residents.
Late 1980: A series of racial slurs, burglaries and vandalism – each side blaming the other – prompted church members to establish an armed security force to patrol the property.
1981: The deaths of four children, whom state officials said might have survived, had the fundamentalist church members not refused to administer medication, prompted authorities to try unsuccessfully to place other children there under state supervision. Church members refused.
Mid-1981: Cochise County deputies were met with physical resistance as they tried to serve church members with traffic warrants. Then Sheriff Jimmy Judd conferred with Gov. Bruce Babbitt and the head of the state Department of Public Safety. Increased patrols by law officers were established.
September 1981: A dynamite bomb exploded in a van driven by church members, killing one and injuring two others. Other bombs were found in the van, leading to speculation the church members might have been headed to Sierra Vista to free two other church members arrested the same day.
May 1982: Gov. Babbitt intervened to arrange the surrender of 14 church members wanted on traffic warrants.
June 1982: Church members filed a $75 million suit, claiming civil rights violations by eight county officials.
October 1982: Church members wielding bats and clubs fought off deputies trying to serve traffic warrants. Three dozen law officers returned the next day to try again, and more violence broke out. Two church members – including Thomas’ eldest son – were killed, and two were injured. Five deputies were hurt. Nineteen church members were indicted in shooting-related incidents. Many church members returned to Chicago.
May 1983: Church members vowed they would not return to Miracle Valley.
February 1984: County officials dropped all charges against church members. Later, a $500,000 out-of-court settlement was announced in the church members’ $75 million lawsuit against the county.
November 1987: A church member paralyzed from a bullet wound in the shootout dies, apparently of complications from that wound.
(End of Article)
Miracle Valley Bible College was purchased by Melvin Harter Ministries, Inc, Dr. Melvin Harter, President, in August 1999. Since that time, limited classes have been underway, concurrent with renovation of the buildings, in preparations for full class schedules.
PLEASE NOTE:
The conflict between Church members from Chicago and the local authorities was located in what is known as the Miracle Valley Subdivision located on the north side of Highway 92. There never any conflict on the Bible College campus located on the south side of the highway.
However, when there is any mention of Miracle Valley, there are those who purposely attempt to mix the two properties, implying that gun fights and controversy occurred on the Miracle Valley Bible College campus. This effort is only done for two reasons, (1) financial gain, and (2) disruption of the current restoration of Miracle Valley Bible College today.
Appreciation is given to Doug Snyder of the PALOMINAS AREA HISTORY – SOME HISTORY OF MIRACLE VALLEY https://www.miraclevalley.net/subpage39.html
Anonymous
In the 1940s, A. A. Allen and his wife, Lexie, traveled in evangelistic work. During a previous camp meeting they attended, God led Allen to Pollock, ID. During their time in Idaho, the Allens established a local church. However, prior to his starting his new church, Allen was invited by another minister to conduct revival services in the upper room of this building.
Dr. Harter visited this area and spoke with a woman who has lived in the house next door, asking if she ever remembered Allen’s revival. The woman stated she did indeed remembered Brother Allen and the revival services that he held in the upper room of the building adjacent to her now existing home, which at the time of the revival, her house had served as a gasoline station. She said that her husband attended the Allen Revival, held in the large open room in the upstairs of the adjacent house. She stated that her husband said he never saw anything like this revival before. During Allen’s service, people fell to the floor and some even rolled. (This was a common occurrance among early first generation Pentecostals.) Initially, it frightened her husband, but at the same time, he continued to go to the Allen revival meetings because he felt something he had never felt before.
On the other side of Allen’s Revival house is the local Post Office. You can read more about this revival meeting in one of Allen’s books, MY CROSS, page 66 & GOD’S MAN OF FAITH AND POWER, page 113-119.
“The axe was raised above his shoulder, ready for the downward stroke. Suddenley, it seemed the wood closet was filled with the presence of God. “Stop!” came the command. “Your work here is done. I want you to go down to Pollock. The time has come for the work I sent you to Idaho to do.” http://www.miraclevalleyarchives.org/gpage.html
Anonymous
“The following Sunday, his mother came to me and said, ‘Brother Schambach, I’m down to my last twenty dollars. I’ve paid the hotel bill, but we’ve been eating in the restaurant, coming to three services a day and giving in every offering. All the money has run out. My baby has not been prayed for.’ She was very upset, and she was ready to give up and go home.”
“I said ‘Ma’am, I can’t apologize for the moving of the Holy Ghost. I know you have to leave tonight, but if you come to the service and, once again, the Holy Spirit leads in another direction, and your son’s prayer card is not drawn for prayer, I will personally take your baby to the man of God’s trailer house and see that he lays hands on your baby. You will not leave disappointed.’ And I meant that from my heart.”
“That night I came out, and I led the singing in that evening service. Then I introduced Brother A. A. Allen, and he came bouncing out on that platform and said ‘Tonight we’re going to receive an offering of faith.’ I had never heard him use that expression before, and I saw eyebrows lift all over the congregation. He went on, ‘Now, if you don’t know what I mean when I say an ‘offering of faith,’ I mean for you to give God something you cannot afford to give. That’s a good definition, isn’t it? If you can afford it, there’s no faith connected to it. So give Him something you can’t afford to give.'”
“As soon as Brother Allen said that, I saw that boy’s mother leap out into the aisle and come running. Three thousand people were watching her in that Birmingham Fairgrounds Arena as she threw something in that offering bucket. I never saw anybody in such a hurry to give, and, I confess, I was nosy. I came down off that platform to see what she had given. You know what I saw in that bucket? A twenty dollar bill.”
“I knew that was all she had. She had told me that. She had driven from Knoxville, Tennessee, to the meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. She didn’t know how she was going to get home or what she was going to use to feed herself and her baby on the way. I went behind the platform and wept. I prayed, ‘Lord, I’ve been trying to teach that woman faith all week. But now I’m asking You to give me faith like she’s got!'”
“. . . Brother Allen went on and collected the offering and launched into his sermon. But about fifteen minutes into his message he stopped and said, ‘I’m being carried away in the Spirit.'”
“I said to myself, ‘Here we go again on another trip.’ This is how God used him: he said he could see what the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate to him like he was watching it on a television screen. He would describe it as he saw it. That night he said, ‘I’m being carried away to a huge white building. Oh, it’s a hospital.’ Of course, I heard this kind of thing every night that I worked with Brother Allen so I was sitting there unmoved.”
“Then he said, ‘I’m inside the hospital, and there’s no doubt in my mind where I’m heading because I hear all these babies crying. It’s a maternity ward. I see five doctors around a table. A little baby has been born. The baby was born with twelve, no, sixteen, no, twenty-six diseases.'”
“When he said that, I started getting chill bumps up and down my spine. I said, ‘Oh, my God, tonight’s that baby’s night!”
“Brother Allen continued, ‘Twenty-six diseases. The doctors said he’d never live to see his first birthday, but that’s not so. That boy is approaching four. Now I see the mother packing a suitcase. They’re going on a trip. Another lady’s with her. The baby’s in a bassinet. It’s in the back seat of an old Ford. They’re driving down the highway. I see the Alabama/Tennessee border. That automobile is driving in the parking lot. Lady you’re here tonight. Bring me that baby! God’s going to give you twenty-six miracles.'”
“That woman came running again for the second time that night. She put the baby in Brother Allen’s arms. I jumped up to stand beside him, and everybody in the audience, 3,000 strong, was standing. Brother Allen must have wanted to be sure that the audience was agreeing in faith for the miracle because he said, ‘Everybody, close your eyes.’ But I thought, ‘Not me, mister. I’m going to be scriptural on this one. I’m going to watch and pray. I’ve been waiting for this all week.'”
“That little boy’s tongue had been hanging out of his mouth all week. The first thing I saw as Brother Allen prayed was that tongue snapped back in the mouth like a rubber band. For the first time in four years, the little guy’s tongue was in his mouth. I saw two little whirlpools in his eyes, just a milky color. You couldn’t tell whether he had blue or brown or what color of eyes. But during the prayer, that whirlpool ceased, and I saw two brand new brown eyes! I knew God had opened his eyes, and if God opened the eyes, I knew He had unstopped the deaf ears.”
“Then those little arms began to snap like pieces of wood; and for the first time, they stretched out. The legs cracked like wood popping. All of sudden, I saw God form toes out of those club feet as easily as child forms something with silly-putty. The crowd was watching by this time going wild! I’ve never seen any people shout and rejoice so much in all my life.”
“I saw that baby placed on his feet, and he began to run for the first time in his life. He had never seen his mama before, never said a word, but he began running across the platform and I was running right after him to catch him. He leaped into his mama’s arms, and I heard him say his first word, ‘Mama.'”
” . . . . The following Saturday after his healing, I received a special delivery letter from his mother. . . She said ‘Brother Schambach, I took the baby to the hospital Monday morning, and the doctors won’t give him back. They kept him all week. They have called in every doctor from all over the country who has had anything to do with the case. They have pronounced my baby cured of twenty-six major diseases.’ Of course, we went on to get the copies of the affidavits from the doctors certifying that boy’s life was a genuine miracle.” http://www.miraclevalleyarchives.org/gpage4.html
Anonymous
This is so sad. Everything left as if some sudden catastrophic event had taken place!
Anonymous
things are picking up per Melvin Harter