A. W. Rasmussen: Independent Assemblies of God to Latter Rain

A. W. Rasmussen and the Latter Rain

A. W. Rasmussen was, according to William Branham, a close friend[1] and business associate. Rasmussen was also one of the strongest supporters and promoters of William Branham, and his “Message” during the time Branham worked closely with members of the Latter Rain movement.[2]

Just coming in the door just now and meeting many good friends of mine that I have met before, and some of them have just returned from overseas, Brother duPlessis, and this Brother Rasmussen, another bosom friend, and Clair Hutchins, many of the others that was greeting me at the door in their way coming in. It just makes me feel real good to see them all back again.[3]
- William Branham

About the same time the Azusa St. Revival was exciting Pentecostals in 1906[6], Scandinavian Baptists broke out in Revival in Chicago[7]. As a result, many of the Scandinavian churches joined the Pentecostal faith[7]. Among those who joined was Rev. A. W. Rasmussen[8]. In 1918 Rasmussen founded the Independent Assemblies of God (I.A.O.G) under the title "Scandinavian Assemblies of God"[8], which joined Independent Pentecostal Churches in 1935[8]. For about five years, he ran the organization from Brooklyn, NY[9], holding two services, one Scandinavian and one English[9], and working with revivalists from coast to coast[10]. In November of 1941, he took a leadership position in Chicago's Philadelphia Church[11]. It was the same church that organized William Branham's "Chicago Campaign"[12]. From Chicago, Rasmussen would continue to unify the I.A.O.G. while working with Canadian groups[13]. In 1945, Rasmussen relocated to Edmonton, Alberta and started the Edmonton Gospel Temple[14]. Interestingly, the building included a “Masonic Temple Club Room.”[4] William Branham, with whom Rasmussen frequently ministered, acknowledged both ministering in a former Masonic facility[5] and maintaining friendships with Freemasons, though he did not express theological alignment with the organization[15]. While Rasmussen worked in Edmonton, Joseph Mattsson-Boze took his place in Chicago at the Philadelphia Church[16]. Church directories in Chicago, however, continued to list Rasmussen as "Pastor"[17].

Branham's healing ministry in 1947 helped catalyze the Latter Rain revival at the Sharon Orphanage in North Battleford, Saskatchewan[18]. William Branham was both a catalyst and supporter of the Latter Rain movement[18]. Though he would later distance himself from the main branch of Latter Rain[19], Branham would continue to work closely with Rasmussen and Boze[20] while teaching specific doctrines from the Manifest Sons of God sub-sect of Latter Rain[21]. After the birth of Latter Rain, Rasmussen invited Latter Rain leaders George Hawtin and Percy Hunt to speak at I.A.O.G. conventions[22] and advertised the men involved in the revival at North Battleford as featured speakers[23]. Both Hawtin and Hunt were invited to share their “formula” for revival with the I.A.O.G[24], and afterward, Rasmussen began to merge his sect of the Assemblies with the Latter Rain Movement[25].

The revival at the Sharon Orphanage made an impact on Rasmussen and his multiple congregations[26]. As the revival began to spread, Rasmussen became instrumental in propagating it throughout the United States[27]. In many occasions, Rasmussen would hold Latter Rain revivals in Edmonton one week and then continue them with Joseph Mattsson-Boze in Chicago the next[28]. Then he'd return to Edmonton to tell of the events that happened in Chicago's Latter Rain revivals[29].

Divisions over Extremism

Not everyone agreed with Latter Rain, however, and eventually it would nearly split Pentecostalism in half[30] as church leaders began to realize the very dangerous way in which Latter Rain leaders were given authority[31]. The Assemblies of God met in Seattle, Washington to halt the danger[32], at which time the extremist views of the "The New Order of the Latter Rain" were rejected[33]. After the resolution was passed, Rasmussen's Independent Assemblies of God maintained alignment with Latter Rain leaders[34] and continued to promote the ministry of William Branham and the revival movement that followed[35]. Ultimately, this ideological stream laid groundwork for the rise of Jim Jones and the People's Temple[36], during the time Jones worked with William Branham as a “Message” pastor in the Latter Rain[37].