Love ‘Em Or Hate ‘Em: Christian Sect Leaders Through The Ages

“We have no creed by Christ,” so many people say – and it’s true that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith, but throughout the centuries, Christianity has seen many sects. Check out this simplified list of leaders through the ages.

Mary Baker Eddy

Raised by Congregationalist parents, Baker struggled with the Calvinist view of predestination and original sin. Suffering from chronic illness and some nervous disorders, she took great hope from the biblical accounts of Christian healing. Eddy sought cures from modern medicine to homeopathy, diet to hypnosis, but none worked. Healed while reading the Bible, Eddy taught that life was in and of Spirit, not of the body, and that the full gospel was in fact Christ operating on human consciousness to bring about healing, rather than with modern medicine – the Kingdom of Heaven being the spiritual reality on Earth.

William Seymour

A member of the holiness movement descending from Methodism, Seymour attended a new Bible college founded by Charles Parham. Parham was also a holiness preacher, but understood the practice of speaking in “tongues” to be the sign of conversion from the Holy Spirit. Thus the Pentecostal movement was born. Seymour was removed from his pastoral office in Los Angeles due to his teachings and started preaching from Azusa Street in 1906. Most modern charismatic groups look to the Azusa Street Revival as their founding in some way.