Prophecy, Scorn and a Rejection of This World: The Forbidding Vision of a Faith-Healing Preacher
Scorn, the preacher told his congregation, was a person’s lot if they led an “honest, clean, pure, godly life.” The world hated “people that live like that,” he said.
Key points
- Notes from one of their meetings in 1937 revealed that Followers believed White possessed the “gift of prophecy.” It also recorded the debates that simmered among them — whether women should be allowed to cut their hair, for instance.
- Courtesy of the Phillips family It was a stark and forbidding vision for those who followed the righteous path.
- One account written years later by a Follower suggested that White split with a prominent Idaho preacher after revelations that the man had sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl.
The preacher was Walter White, who led an Oregon City offshoot of the Followers of Christ, an Idaho sect that spurns medical treatment as a show of faith.
People like that, he told the faithful, “want to be somebody.” They want “the wisdom of the world and admiration.” Today, nearly 60 years after White’s death, his pronouncements continue to influence the faithful.
Additional details
- He rambled at times during his sermon but always returned to simple and severe messages about choosing righteousness rather than the ways of the world.
- “It was the discussion-ender.” White’s grave in the Followers’ cemetery outside of Oregon City Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian To understand the modern-day Oregon City congregation, it’s essential to examine White’s role.
- The Oregonian/OregonLive was able to piece together details through documents we obtained, including biographical sketches, a transcript and the recording of the sermon, along with written accounts of dreams White purported to have and records of baptisms he performed.
- They talked about the value of dictionaries, which some classified as “worldly” items to be avoided, and determined that women assisting with home births should not “look under the cover” as women labored.
- The Oregonian/OregonLive and ProPublica have published a series of articles in recent months about the Followers of Christ in Oregon and Idaho, focusing on the long history of parents in Followers congregations declining to seek medical care for their critically ill children and the sometimes fatal consequences.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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