ADTT: Learning from God’s Generals [A.A. Allen]

A.A. Allen
September 19, 1936 – June 11, 1970

I watched A.A. Allen in the God’s Generals video with my classmates in the Apostolic Discipleship Training Tract (August 20 class) and his personality and presence was in complete contrast to that of William Branham’s. That is not to say one is better than the other, but merely an observation.

Asa Alonzo Allen’s life was a testimony of the fact that where you come from does not necessarily determine where you will end up. Coming from a family with an alcoholic background didn’t hinder God from using him for His purposes.

Allen became known as “God’s man of faith and power”. I can only imagine the price tag that comes with that label. I’m pretty sure he paid his dues. On the video the ADTT class viewed, it was evident that he had a preaching gift. He had eloquence as a speaker and a forceful conviction in sharing the Word of God and in moving in the anointing bestowed upon him.

He was also recognized as the most persecuted preacher of his time, with the likes of the Ku Klux Klan opposing him. Church folk and people threw charges and accusations against his increasing fame.

My observations on the life of A.A. Allen can be narrowed down to two positive and two negative qualities/characteristics.

Positives

1) It was said in the video that he knew how to build up faith to get people healed. This is important for a man of God moving in the healing, signs and wonders department because many people that come to healing meetings may not necessarily be equipped with “faith that can move mountains”. So building up a sick person’s faith to receive healing definitely comes in handy.

2) He sought and inquired of the Lord before going all out with his calling. Allen knew he had a calling for a great ministry but he needed to have the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to do it. So he fasted and sought the Lord. As a result He found God and God gave guidelines for him to follow in order for him see His miracle-working power at work. Here are eleven of the thirteen guidelines the Lord gave Him:

He must realize he couldn’t do greater quality miracles than Jesus.
He could walk as Jesus walked.
He must be blameless like God Himself.
He must measure himself to Jesus alone.
He must deny his fleshly desires with fasting.
After self-denial, he must follow Jesus seven days a week.
Without God, he could do nothing.
He must do away with sin in his body.
He must not continue in shallow, pointless discussions.
He must give his body wholly to God forever.
He must believe all of God’s promises.

Negatives

1) He defended himself and his ministry by exaggerating the miracles that followed him. I can understand – to some degree – why Allen felt he needed to do this. But there really isn’t any need to defend ourselves because it is the Lord who will vindicate us and fight our battles for us.

2) He wasn’t able – in my opinion – to fully entrust to the Lord the alleviation of his pain from arthritis and instead relied on alcohol. And I say that in a non-judgmental way. We all have weakness and areas of life that we continually work on and ask the Lord for deliverance from, and I can totally relate to Allen’s dependence on alcohol to numb his arthritic pain. (In my case, my crutches tend to be my emotional connections to people.)

Lessons

A.A. Allen is the second in the long line God’s Generals that I have had the privilege of studying. I have been learning much from these great men of God – from both their successes and failures. My hope – for myself and for my ADTT classmates – is that we get inspired by and surpass their successes (for God’s glory, of course); then learn from and avoid the mistakes they have made.

I believe these men of God lived lives that should serve as signposts that point the pathway to Jesus. We would do well to take a page or two off their books to benefit from their life lessons and losses, so we can become better servants of the Living God.

More on the life of A.A. Allen