A Prophet to the Nations
Jeremiah 1:
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
2 To whom the word of the Lord came in the day of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the day of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah kin of Judah, into the end of the elevent year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee as a prophet unto the nations.
When Doyle was a small boy, not quite six years old, he was born again. It was a cold day and he was playing outside on a gravel pile, talking to God. His mother called out to him, asking if he was cold and he told her he wasn't. What he didn't tell her was, "I'm talking to God, Mother."
Recently Doyle said, "I grew up in a unique home and it was the purpose of God". His mother was a Baptist and his dad was a Northern Methodist. Years ago, his mother told him that she prayed and told God if he gave her a son, she would give him back to him. He was astonished when she shared that with him. He was told he was born with a hole in his heart and the doctors told his parents there wasn't anything they could do for him. They brought him home and his mother threw him on the bed and said in frustration, "He's yours Lord!" God forced his mother to give her son back to him. One of their neghbors told Doyle's dad, "You might as well get ready, one day you will find him dead in his crib." His dad said, "That won't ever happen." His dad believed God, and God healed him, because God had a plan for his life.
Doyle has also said, "The faith in my heart is the faith of my fathers; my dad and my grandfather". Luther Albert Davidson, Doyle's grandfather was born just west of Sarcoxie. He was a dirt mover; building dams, ponds, levees and roads, including widening a part of US-66 in the Rolla area. He was not only a businessman, but also a horseman. He owned fifty draft horses and all the equipment for dirt moving. He knew his horses. Luther and his house were born again when he was fifty, and at that time he left road construction. The business was very political and his heart wouldn't allow him to take bribes.
Lyle Davidson, Doyle's dad was born in Missouri. Lyle grew up in his dad's business and he remained in construction as a house builder, moving houses and farming on the side. He wasn't impressed with people and Doyle remembers that's how all the Davidsons were. All though they were well known and respected, they didn't care about fame. They were stong, solid people with honesty and integrity. Doyle remembers the Davidsons frequently talked about God, the Millers that he knew, hardly ever talked about God. Lyle was born again when he was seventeen and his faith always amazed Doyle. He had faith to be healed and when he was in a spot financially, he could believe to get out.
Lyle would say, "Doyle, you're going to have to preach the gospel one day." Doyle would just look out the window and think to himself, "Dad, don't be telling me that." He thought that meant he would have to be like those preachers he grew up around, and he wanted no part of that. When he was eighteen, he asked his dad if he could stop going to church because he didn't think it was doing him any good. His dad said, "Well if you don't think it's doing you any good, than you ought to not go." That was the kind of relationship he had with his dad.
Doyle spent four years in the Navy as a hospital corpsman and when he was dischaged, he made plans to go to veterinary school. In August 1958, God visited Doyle while he was rotating the tires on his car. God's presence fell upon him and he heard him say, "I don't want you to be a veterinarian, I want you to be a minister of the gospel." Doyle has shared, "I never knew fear, like I knew that day; I thought I was dying, sitting on the ground, in the presence of the Lord, praying, "Lord, don't send me to hell." He went on to become a successful equine practitioner in North Texas and had clients nation wide. Even in his rebellion, God exalted him and gave him favor with men.
Doyle was at the Texas State Fair grounds when he heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot and killed. He was stunned. “How could this happen in the greatest country in the world, that the President could be assassinated?” Soon after that, God put a book in his hands written by a man who was the son of a judge and had ended up in the penitentiary. He wrote a book about how rehabilitation in the prisons is not effective. Ninety percent of people, who are in prison, and get out, end up there again. This disturbed him greatly. He was thirty-one years old and he couldn’t understand how a country could have their president assassinated and ninety percent of people, who are incarcerated, went back to prison. He picked up the bible, looking for some answers.
The Spirit of God spoke to Doyle in 1969 and told him to sell his veterinary practice. It took a few months to work his heart out but he obeyed, despite everyone around telling him he was having a mental crisis. He has been obeying God for the past forty years and God has upheld him, never allowing his foot to slip.
God began speaking to Doyle that he was a prophet in the early 1970s and he struggled to believe that for years. God would say, “You’re a prophet.” Doyle would say, “I’m not a prophet”. Over and over this went on. False prophets were ministering such lies as, “God will use you as a prophet, but you’re not a prophet”. Those statements, along with Doyle’s own unbelief made it an incredible fight to be able to accept what God was saying to him. He has shared openly, “If I was honest I would have said, I don’t want to be a prophet; those who can read would not choose to be a prophet; I could see in the bible what happened to prophets.” Doyle told God, “I’m not a prophet and my Dad’s not a prophet". God told him "Amos already said that," and he sent him to the verse in Amos 7:14, Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit:. In 2009, God ministered to him the verses in Jeremiah 1. Doyle is sent as an apostle and prophet to the nations.
This past June, Doyle spoke that his ancestors came to this country so that he could preach the gospel. Since then God has been convincing him of those words. From that moment, God has been revealing to Doyle in a greater way, his plan for this nation, for Doyle’s life and for those he has put with him. Doyle began researching his ancestors and God has been revealing information about men in his family that had a significant part in the founding of this nation and the establishment of the early churches. Staff member David Kaspareit has discovered that many of his ancestors are also woven into Doyle’s family tree.
These people left their homeland, their families, all that was familiar and crossed an ocean to come to a new land. They knew they would endure hardships, but they cared more for the freedom to worship and serve God as they believed the scriptures directed them, than their lives. Only God could put that calling in a person’s heart and give them the strength and courage to do it. A number of these families eventually found their way to what is now Rhode Island and were founders of the earliest settlements, which became Providence, Warwick and Newport. They gathered to worship in their homes and those meetings became the first organized churches in that area.
Many of those who gathered in the Rhode Island area (about 1636), had been banished from Boston, Salem and Plymouth due to the doctrine they adhered to. The Puritans in Massachusetts were not tolerant of anyone who deviated from their religious views. Banishment, excommunication, public whippings and even death were punishments the magistrates administered. Rejection of infant baptism was particularly offensive to those who held to the puritan beliefs. Of those who settled in the area, a number of them are Doyle's ancestors and also David Kaspareit's. Stukely Westcott, John Warner, Ezekiel Holliman, Samuel Gorton, Obadiah Holmes and Chad Brown are in both their family trees. John Coggeshall and John Green (of Quidnessett) are also ancestors of Doyle. John Crandall and William Wickenden are included in David's lineage. These men demonstrated incredible courage to stand by their convictions in the face of what seemed to be insurmountable oppositon and persecution. The Spirit of God surely upheld these men and gave them favor with authorities in England and the Naragansett Indians in that area.
They practiced what is called a six-principles doctrine, which is found in Hebrews 6:1-3. The distinguishing features of this sect was the practice of laying-on-of- hands as a condition of admission, and of the rejection of infant baptism and of the doctrine of predestination and election and of a belief that by obedience, man may attain a measurable degree of perfection.
Hebrews 6:1-3:
“1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
“2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
“3 And this will we do, if God permits.”
In researching the early churches of this area, writers and historians refer to the churches at Providence, Warwick, Newport and others, as Baptist. However, published writings of the founders of those early churchs have not stated as such. They didn't call themselves anything except followers of Jesus Christ. They simply practiced what they understood the scriptures to say, endeavoring to be obedient to the word. And for that, they were called heretics. Meetings were held in members’ homes and it is recorded that the first official meeting house wasn't built until 1711 (others date it 1700). The Historical Catalogue of the Members of the First Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island, by Henry Melville King (1908) states that a deed on file in City Hall dated 1711, lists the church as a Six-Principle church, yet even with that information, Providence church claims to be the very first Baptist church established in America.
When God began to reveal this information about these men and their families and the doctrine they practiced, it was a great encouragement to Doyle. God revealed the scriptures in Hebrews 6:1-3 to Doyle in June of 1973 and he has been teaching them since that day. Over 300 years ago, Doyle’s ancestors were in this nation, ministering the doctrine that he ministers. Samuel Gorton was one of those men, and his published writings have given the reader insight into what he believed. His writings reveal a brilliant mind and some understanding of the scriptures. Doyle has read
An Incorruptible Key Composed of the CX Psalm, which is a commentary of Psalm 110 by Samuel Gorton. More information will be made available about Samuel Gorton and others, as the Spirit of God directs.
Sources:
- Society of Stukely Westcott Archives
- Historical Catalogue of the Members of the First Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island
- The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton by Adelos Gorton
Contributed by Kathryn Currier
posted October 13, 2009