Shiloh, Maine – Jay Beaman’s Christian Pacifism

Frank Sanford’s Holy Ghost and Us, or Kingdom, or Church of the Living God, in Shiloh, ME

Frank Sanford founded a Holiness healing and evangelistic center in Shiloh, ME, focused on long seasons of intense prayer and severe discipline. Almost all activity centered on prayer, ministries such as healing, and evangelism. Shiloh, ME, was a magnet for Holiness seekers such as Charles Fox Parham and Ambrose J. Tomlinson, both of whom became founding leaders in Pentecostalism. Before WWI, Sanford taught pacifism.

Frank Sanford’s Pacifism

Sometime before 1907, Frank Sanford wrote, Revelation. In it, he taught Pacifism, which was the rule for The Kingdom.

Here is the faith and patience of the saints, “He that takes the sword must perish with the sword.” In other words, every man that takes worldly weapons to defend himself must in that manner perish. What have I always taught you? Not to resist evil. He says, “If my kingdom were of this world, then would my people fight.” He that takes the sword in the troublesome times that are coming are going to perish, and he that does not is going to suffer. To suffer rather than fight men with carnal weapons is where the faith and patience of the saints comes in.

Frank W. Sanford, Revelation, n.d., http://www.fwselijah.com/revelation.html.

During World War I, Shiloh was in serious decline. Frank Sanford was in Atlanta Penitentiary on an unrelated matter. He had been captain of a ship, on a “mission” to Greenland, and one follower had died on the voyage. Sanford was successfully charged with manslaughter. Sanford had a new revelation in which God revealed that WWI was the war of Armageddon and the U.S. would come to the aid of Israel and be on the winning side. He called upon all young men in the movement to join the military. One follower, August Frank Marsteller, was pacifist on his draft card, giving witness to the earlier pacifist view.

Shirley, Nelson, Fair, Clear, and Terrible, The story of Shiloh, Maine, 1989, p. 359-363.

August Frank Marsteller; Shiloh, ME, WWI Draft Card

Note that Marsteller requests exemption from military service based upon membership in the Church of the Living God. Frank Sanford’s use of that church name is intriguing, given that a similar pacifist sect group already had that name. Still, it was a bible name, and an inspiring one at that.