Smith Wigglesworth
Smith Wigglesworth was an evangelist and faith healer from Yorkshire, England, that was very influential in the Pentecostal movement. From 1924 to 1929, Wigglesworth toured the United States, ministering under the auspices of the Assemblies of God[1] sect that F. F. Bosworth helped promote and establish. In some of those revival meetings, Wigglesworth toured with Bosworth.[2]
Smith Wigglesworth was an evangelist and faith healer from Yorkshire, England, that was very influential in the Pentecostal movement. From 1924 to 1929, Wigglesworth toured the United States, ministering under the auspices of the Assemblies of God[1] sect that F. F. Bosworth helped promote and establish. In some of those revival meetings, Wigglesworth toured with Bosworth.[2]
Wigglesworth is infamous among the early faith healers for his brutality on stage. His methods often involved hitting, slapping, or punching the afflicted part of the body. On a number of occasions, his approach to persons suffering from stomach complaints was to punch them in the stomach, sometimes with such force that it propelled them across the room.[3] When challenged on this, his response was, "I don't hit them; I hit the devil".
You might think by the way I went about praying for the sick that I was sometimes unloving and rough, but oh, friends, you have no idea what I see behind the sickness and the one who is afflicted. I am not dealing with the person; I am dealing with the satanic forces that are binding the afflicted.[4]
- Smith Wigglesworth
William Branham appears to have plagiarized key elements from Wigglesworth's history when creating his stage persona, including Wigglesworth's campaign theme, "Jesus Christ the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever".[5][6] Some versions of William Branham's stage persona claimed to have been commissioned to heal the sick the day after Wigglesworth died, March 13, 1947, in an attempt to spiritually link his ministry with Wigglesworth's passing and conflicting with previous versions such as the persona described in Branham's tract, "I Was Not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision".[7]
I can remember those joyful days with you here in Oakland. And I believe the brethren that sponsored the meeting, one's setting right back over here. I believe that's right. Morse? Is that…Morse, Brother Morse. How are you, Brother Morse? Won…I'm so happy for you, brother. I'll never forget the little days setting in your school there, that you and I and Brother Kidd and all of us talked on the Bible and the grace of God. And how that Dr. Price had prophesied of a great move coming. And Dr. Price moved off the earth one day. Wigglesworth moved off one night, Dr. Price the next morning. And the next day I was visit [sig] by the Angel of the Lord just to go out. And man foresaw it coming (You see?), and here it is now.[8]
- William Branham
Both Branham and Wigglesworth shared a similar problem for a "faith healer": Wigglesworth and Branham were unable to prevent the death of their wives. As a result, Wigglesworth claimed to have spoken with his wife, Polly, after her death and Polly informed him that she did not want to return to life on earth. When William Branham altered the historical timeline to include his wife, Hope Branham's death as part of his stage persona, he did so using similarities to Wigglesworth's stage persona. Wigglesworth claimed that when his wife Polly died, he stood by her bedside and brought her back for one last conversation.
Soon the house was filled with people. Her body had been brought to the house. At Smith’s instructions, they took her up to her room and laid her lifeless form on the bed. ‘She’s dead, and we can do no more.’ Smith just smiled. He knew differently. Asking everyone to please leave the room, he closed the door when the last one had left. He turned around and walked over to her bed . He knew that she was with her beloved Lord as she had so longed to be, but standing before her now he couldn’t bear the separation. ‘In the name of Jesus, death give her up.’ Polly’s eyes opened and looked straight into his. ‘Polly, I need you.’ She answered, ‘Smith, the Lord wants me.’[9]
William Branham used a similar story in his stage persona after the death of Hope Branham. Unable to heal Hope of tuberculosis, Branham claimed that he spoke to her in either a dream or a vision. According to Branham, he toured the "big palaces" in heaven and Hope told him that his deceased daughter Sharon Rose and she were "better off than you are".
And I turned and looked, and there was great big palaces, and the Glory of God coming up around them. And I heard an Angelic choir singing, 'My Home, sweet Home.' I started up a long steps, running just as hard as I could. And when I got to the door, there she stood, a white garment on, that black hair, long, holding down her back. She raised out her arms, as she always did when I come home tired from work or something. I caught her by the hands, and I said, 'Honey, I seen Sharon down there.' I said, 'She made a pretty girl, didn't she?' She said, 'Yes, Bill.' She said, 'Bill.' Put her arms around me, (and she said) just around my shoulders, she started patting me, she said, 'Stop worrying about me and Sharon.' I said, 'Honey, I can't help it.' She said, 'Now Sharon and I are better off than you are.' And said, 'Don't worry about us no more. Will you promise me?'[10]
- William Branham
Followers of William Branham and Wigglesworth believe their communication with the dead to be spiritually significant, unaware that communication with the dead is strongly condemned by the Christian Bible. In the Old Testament, necromancy was punishable by death,[11] and those who attempted to use necromancers to communicate with the dead were unclean.[12][13]