Healing and Revival

"Led by the Holy Spirit"

Walter Vinson Grant was born on December 1, 1913 in Montgomery County, Arkansas. He was one of thirteen children born to a poor farmers Lester and Elizabeth Grant. As a child Grant was extremely sickly and his mother would say she could hold him in one hand when he was eighteen months old. His mother would teach the children bible stories and she would often pray. Perhaps in an insight she would call Grant her "preacher-boy".

His growing up was one of struggles. He contended with rattlesnakes, and worked hard, even as a child. The only church activity he had was Children's church twice a month and occasionally attending Sunday school. Schooling was minimal and often rough. He said he remembered teachers shooting eight boys over the years. Grant's mother was having fainting spells and heart troubles. One night while she was praying she had an experience where she was filled with the Holy Spirit. None of the family knew what it was until Grant's sister went to a meeting with "Holy Rollers" and recognized what had happened. His mother was healed from that point on. Grant went to these meetings at the age of twelve and came under conviction. Peer pressure quickly drove him away however, and he stayed away for another seven years.

Grant became wild, making alcohol, stealing from neighbors, and getting into fights. Twice he considered killing his teacher, but changed his mind before actually making the attempt. He called himself the most tenderhearted boy in his gang, which gives you a picture of his peers. At fifteen he ran away for a few months but returned because life was even worse on the road during the depression. By nineteen he had drunk so much cheap alcohol his stomach was in bad shape. When Grant was nineteen his sister was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. He knew it was a real experience because she had not talked with her father for ten years. After she was saved she came and made her peace with her father. Grant again came under conviction but continued to fight it. He knelt one day while he was working and gave his heart to God. He started going to church and repented of his sins and was filled with the Holy Spirit. Over the next several weeks his stomach was healed and over the next few months he gained forty pounds.

Grant went into business and prospered. He helped build several churches and Sunday Schools. Still God was calling him to preach the gospel. He finally came to the point that he was willing to give up everything to do what God was asking. In 1945 he became an Assembly of God minister. He began to see people saved, healed, and delivered in his meetings. God would call Grant to fast and he would regularly have dreams, visions, and angelic visitations. He heard about a Voice of Healing meeting in Shreveport, Louisiana and attended it. He saw hundreds saved and delivered. God gave him a vision for thousands to be saved. He launched his own evangelistic campaign in 1949. He regularly saw healings and creative miracles in his meetings. He also attended an Oral Roberts meeting where Roberts prayed for him.

In the early 1950's Grant felt that God wanted him to purchase a tent to take to smaller towns so that they could hear the gospel and be prayed for. God had given him a vision that a man would come and provide money for the purchase and that's what happened. He became one of the tent evangelists of the 50's Healing Revival. Hundreds of testimonies included healings of cancer, deafness, blindness, tuberculosis, broken bones, arthritis, and other diseases. He had a passion for being led by the Spirit of God and felt that God would not heal the same way all the time. Often he would receive impressions and ask people to do specific things like walk around the altar, pray for themselves, stamp on the floor, etc. He would see remarkable healings as he obeyed. He had a radio ministry where people would be healed listening to the program.

In 1952 Grant began to hold Faith Clinics. He wrote over 600 small books about healing, miracles and deliverance. He would teach people how to lay hold of God. He regularly wrote articles for the "Voice of Healing" Magazine. Grant had a powerful ministry of prayer and intercession, often praying several hours a day. There were also seasons when God called him to fast for periods of time. Often these fasts were followed by an increase in the presence of God in his meetings. He comments in his book "The Grace of God in My Life" that he would often pray until three in the morning and sometimes all night for people. In 1956, after several years of pushing himself day and night, his health broke. He retired from constant road trips and became Vice-President of the Voice of Healing Organization. He also provided direction and counsel to other healing evangelists.

There was a shift in the later 1950's and early 1960's for many of the traveling evangelists from healing to deliverance. In 1962 Grant began to publish his own magazine called "The Voice of Deliverance", which eventually had a circulation of two million. He also became the head of a group of churches known as International Deliverance Churches. In 1963 Grant bought the Old Oak Cliff Theatre in Dallas, Texas and started Soul's Harbor Church. By the time of his death it had grown to have 2500 members. Grant died February 12, 1983.

If you are doing research please be aware that W.V. Grant, Jr is also in ministry but he has had legal troubles in the past. Please check to see which of these men are being referred to in articles as you read about W.V. Grant.

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