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Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Info Post
By Scott Bennett


Although there is so much that is said about this prominent figure in the Pentecostal Holiness denomination, there are still many who do not quite know the full story. It is hard to tell the complete story of Bishop Charles Harrison Mason because he achieved so many great things in his life, all while having plenty of very human struggles along the way. In spite of these, he went on to found one of the biggest churches of its kind.

In Shelby County, Tennessee was where this man was born and grew up. His parents were named Jerry and Eliza, and they had both became slaves before they moved to this unincorporated area and started working as sharecroppers. Not having very much money or access to resources, Charles got his education from reading and hearing about the Bible rather than by going to school.

The first time anyone joins a church is a very special experience, and it can change a person's life. It can be all the more special when the person carrying out the baptism is a relative or someone special in the person's life, and so it was a very special ceremony when Mason's half-brother baptized him. This was in 1879 at a Baptist church, and he was twelve.

Trouble arose in 1880 when both tuberculosis and yellow fever were spreading around the area of Shelby County, and Mason fell sick to tuberculosis when he was fourteen. In those days, hospitals would not treat African Americans, and the medical centers for African Americans didn't have enough money or trained experts. The result was many people needlessly dying, including Mason's father Jerry.

After the death of his father, this family had no choice but to move. They went to Arkansas to a small town called Preston, and it was a difficult transition since Mason's health had still not returned to him from his bout of tuberculosis. When he was at his very worst, his family desperately prayed for him to get better, and he was healed miraculously.

While this many devoted almost all of his life to God's Ministry, he did not always want to be a clergyman. When he was young, he told his parents that he only wanted to be a regular member of the church. However, after he was amazingly healed of tuberculosis after his family's prayers, he decided that God had saved him for the purpose of calling him to his ministry.

In order to become a minister of any type of church, it is necessary to get a license to do so. That is what Charles chose to do when he was 27 years old, thus starting off a career that would be his passion for his whole life. This led him to Arkansas, where he worked at a Baptist church.

One of the hardest things to do in professional situations is to disagree with one's peers. Since Mason knew firmly what he believed in and wanted to represent it and nothing else, he was able to take action and left the first Baptist church he was working at after only being there a short time. He felt that their views were too liberal.




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