Smith Wigglesworth ....

whsbandmom · Sep 18, 2005

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 Godwith 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.

Have you ever read any of his books, If so which ones? and what do you think about him?

Questioning Christian · Sep 18, 2005

I like Smith Wigglesworth and his ministry. I have great admiration for the exploits accomplished in his life. But I have a problem with the claim that is generally accepted by people, that he read no book but the Bible.

There are three of the titles. If I am not mistaken, he wrote more than 20 books. So how do Pentecostal historians claim he read no book but the Bible? If he read no book but the Bible, then how does he expect others to read his books?

Questioning Christian · Sep 18, 2005

http://impactchristianbooks.com/products.asp?category=wigglesworth&name=Smith+Wigglesworth

When I post these links, people say, "No, those were compiled teachings, taken from his sermons", but he is listed at Amazon, and elsewhere, as an actual author. He wrote books.

So if he wrote books, he read books other than the Bible.

We're supposed to believe he never ever read the newspaper, or some book by another contemporary preacher, not even a biography?

That's an amazing claim, but interestingly enough, not true.

Another Charismatic urban legend.

Heinrich · Sep 19, 2005

That's just your opinion aint it?

Lets see:
He was unable to read till somewhere past his teens. So that cuts out the first 15 years of his life.
He only said "I've never read any other book"
I wouldn't talk about the newspaper as a "book" do you?
Secondly he was pretty poor. So I guess bying books wasn't always an option.
One thing that is very true is that He loved the Bible and read it ALOT.
The last thing I like to mention is his wife. She DID read afaik. So it might
very well be possible that she read things and told it to him.

I still believe he didn't really "write" books. They were rather compiled from his lifes ministry. Which includes testimonies sermons ect.

And I would say that even if he did write a book that would make his claim to not reading books invalid.

-Heinrich

Andrew · Sep 19, 2005

Questioning Christian said:
I like Smith Wigglesworth and his ministry. I have great admiration for the exploits accomplished in his life. But I have a problem with the claim that is generally accepted by people, that he read no book but the Bible.

There are three of the titles. If I am not mistaken, he wrote more than 20 books. So how do Pentecostal historians claim he read no book but the Bible? If he read no book but the Bible, then how does he expect others to read his books?

Wigglesworth didn't write any books. The books you see today are all collections of his sermons. There were some faithful followers who bothered to transcribe his sermons. Then, someone managed to get hold of these sermons transcripts, order them by topic, and make them into books.

Of course, it only makes sense then that the put the name "Smith Wigglesworth" on the cover and not their own names, becos the content is not theirs. And nobody would by a book with your name there unless you are somebody.

Wigglesworth considered writing books a waste of time. He'd rather be out there preaching and healing the sick.

That's why you find the content/book very inspirational, as if someone is preaching to you under an annointing, becos it is preaching after all -- it's his sermons (edited of course for modern English readability).

ShaunJ · Sep 19, 2005

I have read a few things online by this guy and he is amazing! I would love to read some of his sermons.

Presbyterian Continuist · Sep 19, 2005

ShaunJ said:
I have read a few things online by this guy and he is amazing! I would love to read some of his sermons.

I found and purchased a copy of Smith Wigglesworth's collected works. This has been a great blessing to me. You would be able to find this in any normal evangelical Christian bookshop.

Questioning Christian · Sep 19, 2005

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0882434942/102-5623245-8900952?v=glance

For author Smith Wigglesworth, life was a continual adventure. Always trusting God, even in the most hopeless situations, he had total confidence in the power of Christ.

________________________

http://faith.propadeutic.com/authors/nonref.html <--- see that word "authors" ?

Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947) - faith healer who used violence to accomplish miracles (i.e., he hit people in order to heal them). Wigglesworth's methods and theology of abundance in many ways foreshadowed the Word of Faith movement, as especially revealed in his works Ever Increasing Faith and Faith that Prevails.

________________________

http://www.oru.edu/university/library/holyspirit/smith.html

Smith Wigglesworth's First Article

Reprinted from Confidence, a free Pentecostal paper published in Sunderland, England, Edited by A.A. Boddy , April 1908

[ok, so it wasn't a book, but he can't say he didn't author it. It's an authored work, including a poem; point is, he was published]
________________________

http://www.victoryword.100megspop2.com/reconstruction.html

Faith theology also has a strong root in Pentecostalism. Smith Wigglesworth, an early Pentecostal pioneer, had a substantial impact on Hagin and his theology. Wigglesworth writes in Ever Increasing Faith,

It is a blessed thing to learn that God’s word can never fail. Never harken to human plans. God can work mightily when you persist in believing Him in spite of discouragements from the human standpoint…I am not moved by what I see. I am moved only by what I believe. No man considers how he feels if he believes. The man who believes God has it (emphasis his).46

_______________________

Andrew · Sep 19, 2005

trust me, he didnt write any books. I have several of 'his' books. and if you look carefully, his sermons are repeated.

eg. a sermon (perhaps edited for emphasis) on speaking in tongues can be found in 'his' books Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Ever Increasing Faith. Becos the books will cover the same subject, the material/sermon is used again.

Of course, I'm not saying that he couldn't write a sentence, although he was not educated. Maybe he wrote letters and stuff like that too, but did he sit down and spend months writing a bestseller? No.

TreeOfLife · Sep 19, 2005

QC challenged the claim of the OP that this fellow never read any other book and proposed it was an urban legend. That was then challenged with a counter-claim.

Personally I don't care if the man read War and Peace in a fortnight.

What did he teach?!

JohnM · Sep 19, 2005

One of his books is now public domain because the copyright has expired (it was published in 1924).

http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/wigglesworth/5f00.0930/5f00.0930.c.htm

womanofgodwcci · Sep 20, 2005

He is so powerful. He laid hands on you with the intent of totally removing the devil from you and sometimes he would punch where he knew the devil was afflicting and knock the devil right back to hell. I love his ministry. I have all of his books and my favorite one is his devotional. My other favorite book is the one written called Smith Wigglesworth on Heaven. His book on Spiritual Gifts and Ever Increasing Faith and Healing are awesome as well.

He was mean as a cuss to his wife. He hated her going to church. He hid her shoes from her so she wouldn't go and even locked her out of the house one evening when she was coming back from church. Funny thing he forgot to lock the back door, which is how she got in and then they laughed about it and shortly thereafter is when she started helping him read the bible. She prayed over him daily that is how he got saved. He was prayed in by his wife who stood with God and took nothing from Wigglesworth, no matter how awful he was to her. She stood firm with God and look at the man of God he became. The ministry took off from there. I am amazed about the ministry of this man. Limbs growing back that were gone, diseases gone instantly, lives healed and saved left and right. He had faith for you if you didn't have it for yourself. He didn't think that the devil should get away with anything, not even a headache or a cold. That is what I liked about him. He had a hatred for the devil and didn't care how small or large the impact of hell was...he never, EVER tolerated it on any level.

JimB · Sep 20, 2005

You know, these threads that insist on mentioning individuals only draw the extremes of those who have either undeserved admiration or unwarranted criticism for the subject of the OP. These kind of threads seem to only stir up animosities. Wouldnt it be better to deal with the issues that face Pentecostals/Charismatics than the celebrities who only draw gratuitous praise/condemnation?

~Jim

womanofgodwcci · Sep 20, 2005

Jim M said:
You know, these threads that insist on mentioning individuals only draw the extremes of those who have either undeserved admiration or unwarranted criticism for the subject of the OP. These kind of threads seem to only stir up animosities. Wouldnt it be better to deal with the issues that face Pentecostals/Charismatics than the celebrities who only draw gratuitous praise/condemnation?

~Jim

Can't people post without you dictating what they can say or how they say it? You come in and out as you please voicing your opinions and views, we all have that same right don't you think?

Oh and by the way...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!

JimB · Sep 20, 2005

womanofgodwcci said:
Can't people post without you dictating what they can say or how they say it? You come in and out as you please voicing your opinions and views, we all have that same right don't you think?

Oh and by the way...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!

It was just an observation and a suggestion womanofgod.

~Jim

JimB · Sep 20, 2005

My Mom taught me that "small minds talk about people and mediocre minds talk about events but great minds talk about ideas. I think she was right and that is what I am trying to encourage.

~Jim

Andry · Sep 20, 2005

womanofgodwcci said:
Can't people post without you dictating what they can say or how they say it? You come in and out as you please voicing your opinions and views, we all have that same right don't you think?

Isn't that what we all do here anyways?

Yitzchak · Sep 20, 2005

So what about the issue of reading books? Are we reading less of the bible in our generation? would we be better off to limit ourselves to just the bible? What about television and other distractions?

JimB · Sep 20, 2005

Yitzchak said:
So what about the issue of reading books? Are we reading less of the bible in our generation? would we be better off to limit ourselves to just the bible? What about television and other distractions?

Interesting point. Sure, we should read the Bible. But I do not think it is always best to read it exclusively. One man I know, now deceased, proudly told everybody that he read nothing but the Holy Bible and his interpretation of it was about as skewed as anyone I ever knew. He also proudly told everybody that he did not depend on mens learnin but only on the Holy Ghost who showed him what was true. He was also the most legalistic person I ever knew. He could spout proof-texts like a machine but he never learned how to rightly divide the scriptures.

Books (i.e., good books) are very necessary. IMO, Good Christian literature is the compiled wisdom and knowledge of all the teachers (Ephesians 4.11) that the Christ has so graciously given to His church. I think it is arrogant (IMO) to broadly discredit all that God, who wrote a book Himself, has preserved for us down through the centuries and, instead, lean upon our own understanding.

~Jim

JimB · Sep 20, 2005

womanofgodwcci said:
Can't people post without you dictating what they can say or how they say it?
*****

I have waited patiently for an apology for your unkind remark (above), Womanofgod, and still have not received it. Will I have to demand an apology or will you offer it as readily as you did the insulting comment? There is really no need for this kind of stuff.

~Jim

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