Best Kept Secret: The Hidden Catalyst Behind Pentecostalism’s Second Wave | Hyde Park Cult

 

John Collins traces the suppressed origins of the modern charismatic movement by examining the life, influence, and eventual cult surrounding Avak Hagopian, an Armenian faith healer whose sudden rise in the mid-1940s reshaped Pentecostal history. Beginning with a recent fire that destroyed a historically significant estate, John connects forgotten newspaper records, early revival sponsorships, and personal experience inside the movement to show how figures like William Branham, later faith-healing theology, and even major charismatic institutions were built on events most leaders prefer remain unknown.

By following the trail through early healing campaigns, failed miracles, hidden financial backers, and evolving supernatural claims, this episode challenges the official narratives behind Latter Rain theology, the charismatic explosion, and the foundations of modern apostolic movements. The result is a deeply researched account of how one largely erased figure became the linchpin for an entire religious ecosystem that still shapes global Christianity today.