Mr. Smith Wigglesworth, of Bowland Street Mission, Manningham, Bradford, gave some astonishing personal testimony of divine healing. He said he stood there because God had healed him. He suffered from appendicitis for several weeks, and was at last forced to take to his bed. He was at the far end when the doctor came and said he must go through an operation. After the doctor had gone out, two visitors came unexpectedly to the house. “One of them, a young man, came upstairs in a big hurry,” said the speaker, “and handled me very roughly, and said, ‘Come out, thou demon! Come out of this man,’ and that instant the demon did come out and I was perfectly well, that instant; so well that I got up and went out.” The doctor returned while he was out, and when told that the patient was not in he said “They’ll bring him back a corpse.” “But glory to God, it has never touched me since,” exclaimed Mr. Wigglesworth.
Continuing, he said that afterwards he suffered badly from another complaint, and had not faith enough to trust God to heal him. But one afternoon while he was speaking with God, the power of God fell right over him, and he was cured. “Would not the stones cry out against me,” he asked, “if I did not glorify God?” [Lk 19.40] He also related how he had cured people by anointing them with oil, of cancer, consumption, deafness, discharging ears, and a bad leg. Another incident he related was of an inmate in a lunatic asylum. The speaker and another man prayed for him, and then sent him a copy of the New Testament. When they visited the man they found he had been instantaneously healed, and he was now following his occupation.
Mr. Wigglesworth, continuing, said he was asked on one occasion to go to Weston-super-Mare to see a man who was possessed of a devil. He was absolutely unmanageable, and very distressed. “God wonderfully anointed me and prepared me for that visit. I stayed with the man all through the night; it seemed as if I was fighting demons, and I was practically in hell, but I got no victory whatever. At 6 o’clock I jumped up and said ‘I am going out.’ He said ‘Don’t leave me,’ and I said, ‘I shall be obliged to leave you.’ I went out to an early morning prayer meeting, and God seemed to give me fresh strength. I walked down the sea front to the bottom of the road, where I saw the man, with only his trousers on, rushing towards the sea. I met him, and in the name of Jesus I commanded the demon to come out of the man. He fell full length in the middle of the road, and God delivered him instantly. He rose up with tears in his eyes, and said, ‘I am a new man; I am free.’ His wife came running up after him, and he said, ‘My dearly-beloved wife, God has sent you a new husband,’ and they fell into each other’s arms.”
Mr. Wigglesworth, proceeding, told how he cast a demon out of a girl who had interrupted his services by taking fits, and how he visited a dying man at a Yorkshire village. He went upstairs into the man’s bedroom, and there was only the man, himself, and God present, though there was a lot of unbelief in the house, but, praise God, they were on the other side of the bedroom door. In the name of Jesus he laid hands upon the sick man, and the power of God fell. “I fell on the floor, and Matthew got up, shouting ‘Glory.’ The glory of God was so present that it was like being in heaven. I was laid with my face down, and I never looked up. In a quarter of an hour’s time the man was dressed and walking about, praising God. He opened the door and cried, ‘Father, God has healed me!’ His father fell down and cried for mercy, and his mother fell down and said, ‘Oh, save me.’” Afterwards in the same house he laid hands on a young woman who had been in the asylum periodically, and God instantly delivered her. The man, who had fed on slops for weeks, had a mutton chop and some eggs for his dinner that day. When he (the speaker) left the village all the inhabitants turned out to praise and bless God.
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Smith Wigglesworth (1859 - 1947)
Smith Wigglesworth, often referred to as ‘the Apostle of Faith,’ was one of the pioneers of the Pentecostal revival that occurred a century ago. Without human refinement and education he was able to tap into the infinite resources of God to bring divine grace to multitudes.Thousands came to Christian faith in his meetings, hundreds were healed of serious illnesses and diseases as supernatural signs followed his ministry. A deep intimacy with his heavenly Father and an unquestioning faith in God’s Word brought spectacular results and provided an example for all true believers of the Gospel.
Smith Wigglesworth is considered one of the most influential evangelists in the early history of Pentecostalism and is also credited with helping give the movement a large religious audience.
Nominally a Methodist, he became a born again Christian at age eight. His grandmother was a devout Methodist; his parents, John and Martha, were not practicing Christians although they took young Smith to Methodist and Anglican churches on regular occasions. He was confirmed by a Bishop in the Church of England, baptized by immersion in the Baptist Church and had the grounding in Bible teaching in the Plymouth Brethren while learning the plumbing trade as an apprentice from a man in the Brethren movement.
Wigglesworth believed that healing came through faith, and he was flexible about the methods he employed. When he was forbidden to lay hands on audience members by the authorities in Sweden, he preached for a "corporate healing", by which people laid hands on themselves. He also practiced anointing with oil, and the distribution of prayer handkerchiefs (one of which was sent to King George V). Wigglesworth sometimes attributed ill-health to demons.
Reportedly, David du Plessis recounted that Wigglesworth prophesied over him that God would pour out his Spirit on the established churches, and that David du Plessis would be greatly involved in it. Later du Plessis was very much involved in the Charismatic movement.
Wigglesworth continued to minister up until the time of his death on March 12, 1947.
Smith Wigglesworth was born to a very poor family. At the age of six he had to go to work. As a consequence, he never learned to read well until he was an adult. Later he claimed he never read anything but the Bible. He became a plumber by trade.
As a minister, Wigglesworth was hardly known outside of his hometown until 1907. In 1907, he received the baptism in the Holy Ghost, which changed his life forever. It was then, at the age of 48, that God moved Wigglesworth from a small relatively unknown ministry to conducting powerful meetings throughout the world, stirring the faith of thousands to receive healing and salvation. Wigglesworth would usually conclude a sermon by praying for the sick; regardless of what text he had ministered.
Smith Wigglesworth's ministry centered on salvation for the unconverted, healing for the sick, and a call to believers to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. He was filled with God - with love, compassion, and faith.
Wigglesworth said, "To hunger and thirst after righteousness is when nothing in the world can fascinate us so much as being near to God."
On March 12, 1947, Smith Wigglesworth, in perfect health, closed his eyes and slipped into eternity, at the age of 87.