The Happiest People on Earth: The Long-Awaited Personal Story of Demos Shakarian

Apparently Shakarian was responsible for bringing John and Elizabeth Sherrill to Pentecostalism, and the Sherrills really go to town with this one, with miracle healings, synchronicities, and messages from God abounding throughout. God even intervenes to assist Shakarian's dairy business, healing his cows of TB and supernaturally pointing out the best bulls to buy for breeding.There's also some Old Testament flavour: a prophecy prompts Shakarian's grandfather to leave Armenia for the west coast of the USA, where his son Isaac becomes an exceptionally prosperous farmer. Overlaying this is a mysterious story which even the authors call a "romance" - a tale of an illiterate Armenian prophet who received a secret message which remains sealed in an envelope until the right person comes along to open it: anyone else will be struck down dead!More prosaically, the book provides an account of Shakarian's activities as a revivalist impresario who arranged big tent meetings for the likes of Charles S Price and William Branham, before moving on to his establishment - with encouragement from Oral Roberts - of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International. The FGBMFI was conceived to involve more men in revivalism, and after a shaky start success of course follows, with branches across America and abroad. Among those Shakarian meets on his journeys are "Papa Doc" Duvalier and Fidel Castro.