Jack Coe, Sr. was bold, opinionated and never backed down from a spiritual battle. In fact, he was one of the boldest Pentecostal preachers of the Voice of Healing Movement of the 1940s and ‘50s.

The boldness of the Spirit of God in Coe’s life was evident in his ministry. He was never afraid of telling it like it was. Unlike many theologians of his day, he had a distinct habit of getting right to the point. So much so that many religious leaders were often irritated by his forthrightness and thought he lacked the sophisticated polish needed to be a minister of the Gospel.

Despite religious attacks against him for being too radical and accusations of extremism, the persecution never appeared to affect Coe in a negative way. The greater the religious opposition, the happier he seemed. Coe’s relationship with the common man could be described as magnetic. He truly understood the people’s needs and his pointed and direct manner of addressing life’s every day problems drew listeners far and wide. The thousands who gathered to hear his Gospel messages welcomed his bluntness, frankness and simple style of communicating the issues that impacted them.

Coe had an overwhelming passion to touch the world for Jesus and bring the healing power of God to His people. He had such a strong reputation for healing the sick and casting out devils that hundreds of people in wheelchairs lined up across the front of the platform during his healing services. After a song of praise and worship of God, Coe would waste no time in grabbing crippled believers by the hand and jerking them up out of their wheelchairs in Jesus’ name. A bold act of faith on his part, but sure proof that God was with him would follow as masses watched the healed walk away from their wheelchairs.

Some of his greatest messages include “Curing the Incurable,” “Do it Again Lord,” “Greater is He if Thou Can Believe,” and “Will Thou be Made Whole?” If there was a common theme in Coe’s messages it was “hope for those who had none.” His faith-building sermons deeply touched desperate souls at the end of their tethers and they walked out of his meetings full of faith and hope for tomorrow.

Coe’s early life built in him a strong determination to help others. Born in Oklahoma City in 1918, his mother put him in an orphanage when he was nine years old because she was going through severe hardship and raising children proved too challenging. Coe left the orphanage at age 17 and, following in his father’s footsteps, began to drink and gamble.

A young Coe joined the U.S. Army after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. That’s when he got born again and the course of his life would forever change. He was so sold out to God that he attended church services every night, which led to persecution from his fellow soldiers who didn’t understand the strong call of God on his life. His platoon thought he was some sort of religious fanatic and a sergeant even sent him to an Army psychiatrist to be evaluated for his purported strange behavior. The examination led to Coe’s confinement in a psychiatric ward for observation when the doctor thought he might be suffering from some sort of psychological neurosis. After concluding that he wasn’t a danger to himself or others, he was released. Coe completed his military service and was ordained a minister of the Assemblies of God in 1944.

Voice of Healing leader Dr. Oral Roberts once called Coe “a man of great faith.” Coe also had great respect for Roberts and a little healthy rivalry went on between them. It’s said that Coe once attended one of Roberts’ revival meetings and afterwards measured his tent only to discover that Roberts’ was bigger. See, in those says the size of a preacher’s Gospel tent was thought to testify to one’s popularity and influence in Pentecostal circles. So what did Coe do? He ordered a bigger tent to avoid being outdone by Roberts. When it arrived, Coe was not bashful about announcing that his tent was the biggest in the world, seating more than 22,000 people and requiring three tractor-trailers to transport his mobile church and its components.

With such an enormous tent, Coe’s attention turned to filling it. He once shared a testimony of a time when he asked God to help him. When he prayed with confidence to the Lord, saying, “God, you can fill this tent,” the Lord replied, “Son, I won’t only fill this tent, but this is only the beginning of what I’ll do for you if you’ll have faith in Me.” The Lord continued, “Always remember not to take any glory for yourself. Don’t put any emphasis on what Jack Coe can do. Give all the glory to Jesus Christ and I will bless you and cause you to grow and prosper. Always remember from where your strength comes and what I have done for you.”

When Coe wasn’t drawing thousands to his mega-tent for healing and deliverance, he was busy in other Gospel ventures. He published a magazine called The Herald of Healing in 1950. In six short years, it was being delivered to more than 350,000 people. Remembering where he came from, Coe also showed his love and concern for children by opening an orphanage in the 1950s.

But SOON, more persecution would come his way and he found himself expelled from the Assemblies of God, his ministerial fellowship of nine years. Denominational officials allegedly felt that he was too independent and extreme and were sometimes uneasy with his ministry methods. Coe was reported as saying, “One of the officials of the General Council of the Assemblies of God made the remark to me that he would not rest until every man that was preaching divine healing in a deliverance ministry was separated from the denomination.”
 
Coe chalked up much of the persecution that plagued him to jealousy of his ministry success. While accusations of his bold preaching style never seemed to bother him, he was openly infuriated when accused of high living in a fancy house at the expense of the revival. Coe responded by printing pictures in his magazine of four homes owned by top denominational officials alongside his home and the homes of three other men who worked with him. The homes of Coe and his staff were modest compared to those of the church officials who allegedly accused him. Unfortunately, this rivalry only caused a larger rift between Coe, the Assemblies of God, and some other organized denominations.
 
It’s important to understand that Coe was not being singled out during this period in Church history; many other traveling tent evangelists were dealing with similar issues, including financial accountability and submission. This was a trying time in the Body of Christ for both the independent evangelists and the denominations. Even during this difficult period of misunderstandings, Coe managed to build the Dallas Revival Center and in just two years. The Center  was one of the largest churches in Dallas and Coe used it as a home base and the hub of his ministry activities. 

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From there, Coe traveled to places like South Florida, where one of the most memorable events in his ministry took place when he was arrested in Miami. When Coe set up his tent, thousands came from all over South Florida to attend. The Spirit of the Lord filled the region with signs, wonders, healings, and miracles during the early months of 1956. Everybody was pleased except Miami’s officials. The City’s answer to Coe’s healing meeting was a cell in the Dade County jail. On Wednesday, February 8, 1956, the headline of the Miami Herald read, “Coe freed under bond of $5,000.” What was his crime? He was accused of practicing medicine without a license, a felony in the State of Florida.

A savvy Coe took advantage of the incarceration, posing for a photo behind the steel bars of his cell. Believers who viewed the photo were outraged that a man of God was thrown into jail for believing Jesus could heal sickness and disease. The court case brought national attention to the healing revivalist. So many Christians called the newspaper that, for the first time in its history, it was rumored that the Herald’s switchboard broke down. Staff was supposedly swamped for days with expressions of outrage from Christians throughout the country. In a courthouse overflowing with believers, Coe won the case against him and continued planning more healing meetings in South Florida and beyond.

One year later, America was stunned with yet another newspaper headline, “Coe Dead from Polio.” In 1957, while preaching in Hot Springs, Ark., Coe suddenly went home to be with the Lord. He was only 39 years old. Many evangelists heralded the Voice of Healing, but Coe will go down in history as one of the boldest. According to Dr. Kenneth Hagin, Sr., founder of the Word of Faith Movement, “Jack Coe had the strongest healing anointing of anyone in my lifetime.”

Photos provided by Jack Coe Ministries, Jack Coe, Jr. For more information contact: Jack Coe Ministries, P.O. Box 398538, Dallas, Texas 75339, (972) 617-8445, jackcoe@jackcoe.org, www.jackcoe.org.


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