Lesley Sumrall :
Smith Wigglesworth knew these pioneers who were British intimately. He knew the pioneers of Pentecostalism. He often ministered with the Jeffreys, Donald Gee, Howard Carter, T.B.
Barratt of Norway, Stanley Frodsham, and most of the others I have mentioned.
Of a truth, he was born in very favorable times, surrounded by unusual men who blessed and inspired one another. And, like many other great men, he came from a humble beginning. Much of this has been told in detail in Frodsham's books and in books by others about Wigglesworth .He was hardly known beyond his hometown of Bradford until he was forty-eight years old when he received the Pentecostal experience at Sunderland under the ministry of Episcopal Vicar Alexander Boddy and his wife. Until this time, Wigglesworth was a plumber and assisted his wife, Polly, in a mission. She did the preaching, and he greeted people at the door, passed out books, and counseled at the altar.
From the time Wigglesworth was six years old, he helped support his family, first by pulling turnips then by working in a factory with his brother and his father. Because he was deprived of an education, he never learned to read until he was an adult. In fact, his wife taught him to read. In later years, he said that he never read anything but the Bible.
Wigglesworth was converted at eight years of age at a Wesleyan Methodist Church. At ten, he changed to the Church of England and was confirmed. He was sixteen when he went to the Salvation Army. At twenty he moved to Liverpool to work. He won hundreds to Christ, particularly the poor children who lived near the docks. He fed them from his salary and preached Jesus to them.
At twenty-three, Wigglesworth returned to Bradford, where he made his home for the remaining days of his life.
There, he opened his own plumbing business and met the young lady who was to become his wife.
Wigglesworth received healing from a ruptured appendix. As a result, he said that God gave him great faith to pray for people suffering with appendicitis. He began his healing ministry before he was baptized in the Spirit. He usually concluded his sermons by praying for the sick.
Polly Wigglesworth died before her husband began to be well-known and to preach extensively in other countries. In his later years, he became one of the best-known evangelists in the Pentecostal movement.
He was accused of being "rough" with people, but he was never accused of being weak in faith.
Of course, I heard about him long before I ever met him.
In Sidney, Australia, a pastor asked me, "Have you ever met Smith Wigglesworth?"
I said, "Not yet. I'm on my way. I'm going to find him somewhere. I have heard of some of the miraculous things that happen in his unique ministry."
The pastor said, "He was here in my city recently, and did we ever have a time! I took him to one of the fanciest restaurants to have lunch on Sunday. When we came into the restaurant, someone took his coat and hung it up for him. He looked around like an eagle. Only wealthy people ate in this restaurant. Instead of sitting down, he took a fork and began to hit the side of his glass with it. Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing!
Everybody stopped eating.
"Here was Wigglesworth, a handsome-looking man, beating his water glass. Then he raised his hand and said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I have noticed since arriving here that none of you prayed over your food. You resemble a bunch of hogs to me. You just jump in and eat without giving thanks to the One Who provided it for you. Bow your heads, and I'll pray for you.'"
The pastor told me, "I could have crawled under the table very easily and gotten out of the way so people wouldn't see me. Wigglesworth raised his hands and prayed for those people. Before we left the restaurant however, two families came over and got saved. Then I was ashamed of myself for not being as strong as Wigglesworth."
Wigglesworth's ministry centered on salvation, healing, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was strong in character and created his own atmosphere wherever he went.
After receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Lord spoke to Wigglesworth to prepare a banquet for the poor, the lame, and the blind. He secured tickets and hired two people to
go throughout the city and find the afflicted, the tormented, and the crippled and bring them to a supper he would provide at the mission.
He often said the sight of those suppers was beyond description, and that this was the happiest time of his life. The mighty healings that took place during those times increased
Wigglesworth's faith.
During the 1920s, he came to America on severalevangelistic tours. The first time I heard any specific details of his ministry was in San Francisco before starting around the world with Howard Carter.
I was preaching at the Glad Tidings Tabernacle, which seated more than three thousand people.
People said to me, "Have you met Smith Wigglesworth?"
I said, "No, not yet," and they told me he had been there in the same tabernacle where I was preaching. They told me of a cancer patient brought to the healing service.
Wigglesworth went down the line, saying, "What'sup?"
British-ese for "What is wrong with you?"
When he got to this man lying on a bed wearing only a little hospital gown that tied in the back, Wigglesworth asked the doctor with the man, "What's up?"
The doctor explained that his patient was dying of cancer.
Wigglesworth asked, "Where is it?" and the doctor replied, "In his stomach."
The evangelist promptly balled up his fist and hit the man in the stomach so hard the man appeared to die. His hands fell off the bed, and the doctor began to scream, "He's dead! He's dead!"
He looked up at Wigglesworth and said, "You've killed him! The family will sue you!"
Wigglesworth calmly looked at the doctor and said, "E's 'ealed." He talked with a Yorkshire accent, not pronouncing his "h's."
He did not stop but kept on walking down the line praying. About ten minutes later, the man came down the line behind Wigglesworth on the platform. He had stood up, moved the doctor to one side, and was walking around in that funny little hospital gown with his backside hanging out before more than three thousand people!
He did not have one thought for his appearance, however. He had his up hands over his head and was screaming, "I'm healed! I'm healed!"
Even the doctor had developed faith. He was right behind the sick bed yelling, "He's healed! He's healed!"
The man caught up with Wigglesworth and said, "I have no pain. I feel wonderful inside. I have energy I have not had for I don't know how long," but Wigglesworth never even
turned around to look at him.
He just said, "Well, thank God for it," and went on praying for people. It was no big surprise to Wigglesworth. He already knew the man was healed.
That was the first time I had heard a detailed story of Wigglesworth's ministry, although I had heard about him since I was a small boy. After hearing this story, I thought, "Say! Someday I want to meet him."
Then I went to New Zealand and Australia and heard more stories, including the incident in the restaurant, which only increased my desire to meet this man. When I met him I was not disappointed. He was just what I expected him to be from all that I had heard about him from the people of the nations I had visited, where he had conducted meetings.
Some ministers found Wigglesworth too strong in faith, and that frightened them. Also, he was strong in rebuking them for not having any faith. I loved him and his attitude against sin and sickness. In fact, the stories had not been enough to really tell me what the man was like, nor can any book written about him do Smith Wigglesworth justice.
- Dr Lester Sumrall (Pioneers Of Faith)
Lesley Sumrall :
Smith Wigglesworth knew these pioneers who were British intimately. He knew the pioneers of Pentecostalism. He often ministered with the Jeffreys, Donald Gee, Howard Carter, T.B.
Barratt of Norway, Stanley Frodsham, and most of the others I have mentioned.
Of a truth, he was born in very favorable times, surrounded by unusual men who blessed and inspired one another. And, like many other great men, he came from a humble beginning. Much of this has been told in detail in Frodsham's books and in books by others about Wigglesworth .He was hardly known beyond his hometown of Bradford until he was forty-eight years old when he received the Pentecostal experience at Sunderland under the ministry of Episcopal Vicar Alexander Boddy and his wife. Until this time, Wigglesworth was a plumber and assisted his wife, Polly, in a mission. She did the preaching, and he greeted people at the door, passed out books, and counseled at the altar.
From the time Wigglesworth was six years old, he helped support his family, first by pulling turnips then by working in a factory with his brother and his father. Because he was deprived of an education, he never learned to read until he was an adult. In fact, his wife taught him to read. In later years, he said that he never read anything but the Bible.
Wigglesworth was converted at eight years of age at a Wesleyan Methodist Church. At ten, he changed to the Church of England and was confirmed. He was sixteen when he went to the Salvation Army. At twenty he moved to Liverpool to work. He won hundreds to Christ, particularly the poor children who lived near the docks. He fed them from his salary and preached Jesus to them.
At twenty-three, Wigglesworth returned to Bradford, where he made his home for the remaining days of his life.
There, he opened his own plumbing business and met the young lady who was to become his wife.
Wigglesworth received healing from a ruptured appendix. As a result, he said that God gave him great faith to pray for people suffering with appendicitis. He began his healing ministry before he was baptized in the Spirit. He usually concluded his sermons by praying for the sick.
Polly Wigglesworth died before her husband began to be well-known and to preach extensively in other countries. In his later years, he became one of the best-known evangelists in the Pentecostal movement.
He was accused of being "rough" with people, but he was never accused of being weak in faith.
Of course, I heard about him long before I ever met him.
In Sidney, Australia, a pastor asked me, "Have you ever met Smith Wigglesworth?"
I said, "Not yet. I'm on my way. I'm going to find him somewhere. I have heard of some of the miraculous things that happen in his unique ministry."
The pastor said, "He was here in my city recently, and did we ever have a time! I took him to one of the fanciest restaurants to have lunch on Sunday. When we came into the restaurant, someone took his coat and hung it up for him. He looked around like an eagle. Only wealthy people ate in this restaurant. Instead of sitting down, he took a fork and began to hit the side of his glass with it. Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing!
Everybody stopped eating.
"Here was Wigglesworth, a handsome-looking man, beating his water glass. Then he raised his hand and said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I have noticed since arriving here that none of you prayed over your food. You resemble a bunch of hogs to me. You just jump in and eat without giving thanks to the One Who provided it for you. Bow your heads, and I'll pray for you.'"
The pastor told me, "I could have crawled under the table very easily and gotten out of the way so people wouldn't see me. Wigglesworth raised his hands and prayed for those people. Before we left the restaurant however, two families came over and got saved. Then I was ashamed of myself for not being as strong as Wigglesworth."
Wigglesworth's ministry centered on salvation, healing, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was strong in character and created his own atmosphere wherever he went.
After receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Lord spoke to Wigglesworth to prepare a banquet for the poor, the lame, and the blind. He secured tickets and hired two people to
go throughout the city and find the afflicted, the tormented, and the crippled and bring them to a supper he would provide at the mission.
He often said the sight of those suppers was beyond description, and that this was the happiest time of his life. The mighty healings that took place during those times increased
Wigglesworth's faith.
During the 1920s, he came to America on severalevangelistic tours. The first time I heard any specific details of his ministry was in San Francisco before starting around the world with Howard Carter.
I was preaching at the Glad Tidings Tabernacle, which seated more than three thousand people.
People said to me, "Have you met Smith Wigglesworth?"
I said, "No, not yet," and they told me he had been there in the same tabernacle where I was preaching. They told me of a cancer patient brought to the healing service.
Wigglesworth went down the line, saying, "What'sup?"
British-ese for "What is wrong with you?"
When he got to this man lying on a bed wearing only a little hospital gown that tied in the back, Wigglesworth asked the doctor with the man, "What's up?"
The doctor explained that his patient was dying of cancer.
Wigglesworth asked, "Where is it?" and the doctor replied, "In his stomach."
The evangelist promptly balled up his fist and hit the man in the stomach so hard the man appeared to die. His hands fell off the bed, and the doctor began to scream, "He's dead! He's dead!"
He looked up at Wigglesworth and said, "You've killed him! The family will sue you!"
Wigglesworth calmly looked at the doctor and said, "E's 'ealed." He talked with a Yorkshire accent, not pronouncing his "h's."
He did not stop but kept on walking down the line praying. About ten minutes later, the man came down the line behind Wigglesworth on the platform. He had stood up, moved the doctor to one side, and was walking around in that funny little hospital gown with his backside hanging out before more than three thousand people!
He did not have one thought for his appearance, however. He had his up hands over his head and was screaming, "I'm healed! I'm healed!"
Even the doctor had developed faith. He was right behind the sick bed yelling, "He's healed! He's healed!"
The man caught up with Wigglesworth and said, "I have no pain. I feel wonderful inside. I have energy I have not had for I don't know how long," but Wigglesworth never even
turned around to look at him.
He just said, "Well, thank God for it," and went on praying for people. It was no big surprise to Wigglesworth. He already knew the man was healed.
That was the first time I had heard a detailed story of Wigglesworth's ministry, although I had heard about him since I was a small boy. After hearing this story, I thought, "Say! Someday I want to meet him."
Then I went to New Zealand and Australia and heard more stories, including the incident in the restaurant, which only increased my desire to meet this man. When I met him I was not disappointed. He was just what I expected him to be from all that I had heard about him from the people of the nations I had visited, where he had conducted meetings.
Some ministers found Wigglesworth too strong in faith, and that frightened them. Also, he was strong in rebuking them for not having any faith. I loved him and his attitude against sin and sickness. In fact, the stories had not been enough to really tell me what the man was like, nor can any book written about him do Smith Wigglesworth justice.
- Dr Lester Sumrall (Pioneers Of Faith)
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