Smith Wigglesworth

Smith Wigglesworth (1859—1947)

Country of Origin

England

Countries/Regions of Ministry

Traditions

Pentecostal

Ministries

Healing evangelist

The bold British evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth, is known for his spiritual gifts of healing, miracles, and the word of knowledge. Testimonies could be downright shocking at times. Kenneth Ware, for example, relates how he was hurrying down the street one day when, suddenly, a man’s voice rang out: “Come here, boy! Put out your tongue!” He had never seen the man before, but Ware was only fifteen years old and didn’t have the nerve to run off. He had had a stutter that had been a serious drawback as long as he could remember. Before he knew what was happening, the audacious man reached out, grabbed his tongue, and announced “Lad, this tongue will preach the Gospel!” Then he walked away. From that moment, Kenneth never stuttered again. He preached his first sermon at age seventeen and became a lifelong missionary to Jewish refugees in France, among others.

The young Wigglesworth had grown up with his own major limitations—not physically, but in terms of opportunity. He had been put to work in a mill by age seven; as a result, he got no formal schooling. He learned to read only in his mid-twenties, when his wife taught him. He managed to support his family of seven by working as a plumber in the northern English town of Bradford. However, he belonged to Christ having been saved at age eight in a Methodist revival meeting. He was confirmed by an Anglican bishop, baptized by immersion in a Baptist church, and instructed about the Bible by a Plymouth Brethren friend. In his late teens, Wigglesworth was drawn to the Salvation Army, where he took up street evangelism. He also met a gifted young woman who could preach well, Polly Featherstone. They married in 1882.

Wigglesworth stayed in her shadow for many years until he heard about divine healing and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Hungry for a greater spiritual reality, he sought this baptism and finally received it when an Anglican vicar’s wife, Mary Boddy, laid hands on him, prayed, then left the room. He recalled, “The fire fell. The joy was so great that when I came to utter it, my tongue failed and I began to worship God in other tongues as the Spirit gave me utterance.”

His wife was less than impressed with his exuberant report. “I have been preaching for twenty years,” she said, “and you have sat beside me on the platform. But on Sunday you will preach yourself, and I’ll see what there is in it.” Up to this point, any pulpit attempts by Smith had broken down within two or three minutes, requiring Polly to step up and rescue the service. The following Sunday was an entirely different story. Wigglesworth preached from Isaiah 61:1-3—“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings….” Polly sat slack-jawed in the back of the mission, eventually sputtering aloud, “That’s not my Smith, Lord; that’s not my Smith!”

Wigglesworth's ministry subsequently grew, replacing the plumbing business. People were saved and healed in his meetings--sometimes outside of them as well. One testimony is of a woman who came to him worried about her son’s broken marriage. “Give me your handkerchief,” he said to the woman. He put it between his hands and said, “Lord, smite this young man with conviction!” He returned the handkerchief to the woman and told her to put it under her son’s pillow, saying nothing. That night, her son came home late, crawled into bed, and was immediately seized with a terrible feeling. He got out of bed, fell on his knees, and repented before God. Then he got dressed again, awakened his mother, and said, “Don’t worry, Mum. I’m going back home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He then had a wonderful reconciliation with his wife.

Polly Wigglesworth passed away in 1913; she was only fifty-one. In the following three decades, Smith traveled to the Continent, the United States, and Africa. Two books of his sermons, Ever-Increasing Faith and Faith that Prevails, were widely welcomed. Though his grammar was never perfect, his booming voice left little room for debate. The theme of his meetings was usually the simple chorus, “Only believe, only believe; all things are possible, only believe.”

Those who knew Wigglesworth closely said that over the course of his active ministry, fourteen different people were raised from the dead. Once when Wigglesworth went to Sweden, the government forbade him to touch anyone he prayed for. Wigglesworth asked the Lord what to do. He felt led to ask everyone with a physical need to stand, or at least raise their hand, and lay hands on their own body, while he led a prayer for healing from the platform. The power of God swept through the audience, with hundreds receiving their miracle. Wigglesworth’s son-in-law, James Salter, who often accompanied him in his travels, said, “We never knew what he was going to do next. We were always afraid he would go ‘too far.’ But he never did. He always said, ‘You can’t go too far with God; in fact, you can’t go far enough.’”

Later, the evangelist stayed with a Church of England curate who had suffered the amputation of both legs below the knee and was in a wheelchair. One evening, Wigglesworth asserted, “Go and get a new pair of shoes in the morning.” Was this a cruel joke? The minister hardly knew what to do. During the night, he sensed God saying to him, "Do as my servant hath said." He slept little but, early the next morning, got into his wheelchair and went to the downtown shoe store. When the clerk came, he said, “Would you get me a pair of shoes, please?”

“Yes, sir. Size and color?” Then the clerk glanced down at the man’s legs and said, “I’m sorry, sir. We can’t help you.”

“It’s all right, young man,” the curate replied. “But I do want a pair of shoes. Size 8, color black.”

The clerk went to get the requested shoes. When he returned with the box, the curate proceeded to put one stump into a shoe—and immediately a foot and leg formed! He moved on to the other stump—and the same thing happened again. He walked out of that shop with not only a new pair of shoes but a new pair of legs. When the man got back home, Wigglesworth was not surprised. He replied, "As far as God is concerned, there is no difference between forming a limb and healing a broken bone.”

Dean Merrill