Sis. Danielle Sis Sherrida Smith United House of Prayer For All People Greetings fellow classmates!

We are so excited to share information with you about the United House of Prayer for All People. Our goal is to provide information about the origin of the House Of Prayer and prove why this is not the Church that Jesus died for. Many of us have heard of the House of Prayer, eaten lunch from their establishment, or even seen a picture of their beloved Sweet Daddy Grace, so lets delve a little deeper into the foundation of this religion. The United House of Prayer For All People is considered a Pentecostal holiness church. The Church was founded by Bishop Charles Emmanuel Grace in 1881-1960. According to the gospel of Matthew, Joseph had a dream where an angel appeared and told him a virgin would bear him a child. Da Graca claimed to be the vessel that God finally planted on Americas Land. He immigrated from Cape Verde and his birth name was Marcelino Manuel de Graca. He started preaching after leaving as a cook on a railway and Da Grace adopted the subname of Daddy Grace. He later established the byname Sweet Daddy Grace and proclaimed himself Bishop. He established the United House of Prayer for All People, Church on the Rock of the Apostolic Faith in 1926 in West Wareham Massachusetts after moving to Newark, New Jersey. He claimed he was an representative of God with authority to withhold or grant salvation. His theology was centered around Jesus teaching and supported by the Old Testament. According to the Washington City Paper.com, He really appreciated the verse Isaiah 56:7 which states: And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offering and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. This Church was so successful because he had many offerings that went directly to Daddy Grace increasing sales of his healing products. He sold soap, tea, stationary, coffee, facial creams, toothpaste, talcum powder, hair dressings, and Grace Magazine. The Church Headquarters is currently in Washington D.C. In reference to the baptism, House of Prayer believes convocation is the most important ceremony, which is the start and end of their church year (Dallam, 2007). During convocation there was a mass baptism which is the only time believers can be baptized in their church. There is no Biblical example of waiting until an official decided to baptize believers to their church. The convocation reportedly had biblical basis from Hebrews scriptures, which was a series of events, a mass baptism usually by fire hose or river, and was funded by a annual fee each member paid to the House of Prayer (Dallam, 2007).

In 1955 it was said during a House of Prayer convocation that water baptism was not required (Dallam, 2007), the word baptizo means immersion and also washing producing a permanent change (StudyLight, 2012). One does not experience true baptism or permanent change without full immersion in water, further proving the House of Prayer church does not follow the word of God. According to Washington City Paper.com, in much of the documentation about this church, it is described as a cult. They attributed people being drawn to the religion because Daddy Grace had an electrifying image and people were drawn to him. Grace had long hair and Flashy clothes . He would travel and developed a name for himself with his four inch nails that were painted red, white and blue, and for his cutaway coats that were Chartreuse. He had huge revivals, healings, mass baptisms1000 people at a time under fire hoses and in rivers. His practices inspired people to give love offerings directly to him, even though Graces behaviors were not always Godly. He was arrested for cheating the public and vagrancy and was sued by a woman who claimed that he abandoned her after giving birth to his daughter. Even though the suit was dismissed, another woman claimed that he had also fathered two of her children. Now brothers and sisters, in Matthew 7:15 the word says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. V 16 states you will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? V 16 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. The word also tells us in Hebrews 1:1, 2 that God who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. Therefore God was not speaking to Mr. Grace, even though he may have been hearing voices. This is important to someone who is not a member of the Church of Christ because, they could easily be led down a road of destruction, if basing their spiritual walk on outside appearances, tradition, or recommendation from others. This is important to someone who is a member of the Church because as Christians we need to stand firm in what we believe and be cautious about how we support these type of denominations through our donations. Again, remembering Matthew 7:15 that states, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Daddy Grace was dressed up like a sheep, a clown, something, and he definitely was very boisterous/flashy. I know so many people who are members of this denomination who are sincere, but sincerely wrong. That is the saddest part, that someone like this could lead so many people down a destructive path to hell. One can account for many erroneous practices and attitudes differentiating the word of God and the House of Prayer. Any church that has practices and beliefs outside of Biblical reference should be questioned and kept at a distance. Although House of Prayer seems business oriented through efforts supporting financial gain, everyone should be careful not to give contributions when they do not agree with the foundations or beliefs of such institutions. Many people casually support the House of Prayer through

the food plates that they sell from their House of Prayer kitchen without remembering they are supporting fruits of their falsehood. Sources: The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright, 1982. WWW.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/6686/a-hourse-divided WWW.ship-of-fools.com/mystery/2001/354Mystery.html Dallam, M. (2007). Daddy Grace: A Celebrity Preacher and His House of Prayer. New York: New York University Press. Holy Bible (1998). King James Version and New Living Translation.