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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 let’s 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 baptisms-
1000 people at a time under fire hoses and in rivers. His practices inspired people to give love
offerings directly to him, even though Grace’s 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 sheep’s
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.