Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 153
153 This is a mighty sign of the Ownership and Mas- tership of God which the Promised Messiah as manifested to the world, and every person who comes to know of it, is bound to acknowledge that a Perfect and Living God exists, and that it is possible for man to attain to union with Him. Another instance of the manifestation of God’s attribute of Ownership and Mastership carries particular interest for the people of the West, for the sign itself was shown in the West. One Dr. John Alexander Dowie, an American, claimed to be the Elijah or forerunner of the second advent of Jesus as , and very soon collected a large following. He founded a city, not far from Chi- cago and called it Zion City, and proclaimed that his movement would spread throughout the world. He claimed to heal people with his prayers and even with his touch, and told them to avoid the use of medicine. When his movement began to spread he announced that God had sent him to destroy Islam and its followers before the appearance of Jesus. When the Promised Messiah as was informed of this he wrote to Dr. Dowie that he had been appointed to defend and propagate Islam, and that as Dr. Dowie claimed to have come to destroy Islam, they could easily demonstrate the truth of their respective claims by means of prayer. Each of them should pray that of the two whoever was the impostor may be chastised and destroyed by God in the lifetime of the other. Now, if God really is the Master of this universe, and He appoints a man as the guardian of His garden and another man claims that he has also been appointed for the same purpose and disputes the claim