Author, F.F.
Bosworth: The Man Behind "Christ the Healer"
Copyright (c) 2020
#FFBosworth
#BosworthMatters
Copyright (c) 2020
#FFBosworth
#BosworthMatters
A 1954 audio recording of F.F. Bosworth shows his continued and unchanging belief in the availability of divine healing to all believers by simple faith in God’s word. This is a position that he held for decades, beginning with the early days of his ministry of healing. He experienced a turning point on the issue in 1920 during meetings in Lima, Ohio. The audio recording features his message, “Mass Faith,” which was delivered on July 21, 1954, in Chicago. At the time, Bosworth was 77 years of age. He’d spent a number of years working with William Branham, Gordon Lindsay, and The Voice of Healing. In his later years of ministry, he seemed even more convinced of his position on divine healing.
Copies of
the audio recording are available online, on YouTube, and through the
Flower
Pentecostal Heritage Center (iFPHC.org). An excerpt of the recording
can also be found here.
“The Bible removes every bit of uncertainty from the mind
of the person in need on any subject in the Bible where God’s will is revealed,” Bosworth said. “There are 3,827 promises, every one of which is a revelation of what
God is eager to do beyond the power of any person to realize.” Bosworth said
that he has proven many thousands of times that his message of faith in God’s
word is true. He explained:
By the simple presentation of
nothing but the written word, the Bible … any incurable man or woman, I say
incurable from the standpoint of the human side, can by the simple presentation
of the written word, be brought to the same state of certainty and assurance
and freedom from fear, before anything happens, as any sinner can be brought to
the same state of mind with reference of the healing of the soul. If that isn’t
true, I never would preach on the subject of divine healing. Faith presupposes
that the sick person has found foolproof reasons for what to expect.
Bosworth taught that divine healing is in the Atonementof Christ. He emphasized the belief that the Greek word for “saved” is “sozo,”
and that it is the same word that is used for salvation for the soul and
healing for the body in the New Testament. For him, it all boiled down to believing
the promises of God and the provisions God has made for deliverance from sin, and from sickness and disease. The process for receiving divine healing is so
true and simple, he taught, that people can be healed without the laying on of
hands. They can also experience healing en masse, where thousands can be healed
at one time by having simple faith in God’s promises. For him, “mass faith” can
result in “mass healing.”
In addition to God’s promises, healing also involves the
love of God, according to Bosworth. “The love of God is so far beyond our conception,
only so far as we experience it, that it can’t be illustrated,” he said. “God is yearning to do what you want him to.” For this reason, there is
no need for people to beg God for healing, he explained.
Some people say, “If I’ll just beg
enough and pray earnest enough and get others to pray with me”… they think by
ganging up on God, they can get him good enough to be interested. That is as
far from the nature of God as you can go.
In Bosworth’s view, God’s love for humanity has not been
fully understood or appreciated. “No man, no preacher ever was able to
illustrate the intensity of God’s desire to do for everybody anything that’s
right,” he said in his message. “The Bible tells what is right by His promises. So [we] can come to Him without entering into any uncertainty whatsoever. If God
can have his way, every sick person would be healed tonight.”
Bosworth’s unwavering conviction on divine healing grew out of an experience he had following the death of his first wife, Estella. She died of tuberculosis in November
1919. In 1920, when Bosworth visited Lima, he was asked to preach on diving healing. That request became the impetus or nudge, if you will, for discovering God's will for his healing ministry. In my doctoral work on his life history, I described his experience as follows:
[Bosworth] apparently had been uncertain
about the will of God to heal all believers of all sicknesses and diseases.
However, after prayer and study of the Scriptures, he became convinced that it
was God’s will to heal all. He came to believe that healing is a part of
salvation and that it can be received in the same way that salvation for the
soul is received (Perkins 1921 & 1927; Bosworth 1948). He became an
apologist on the subject and insisted that divine healing was in the atoning
work of Christ.
This epiphany in Lima was a
significant moment for Bosworth. It shaped his theology and allowed him to become
grounded in his beliefs on healing. The revelation he received became the
cornerstone of his ministry and the central thrust of his preaching throughout
his career. It also resulted in the publication of his classic, Christ the
Healer (1924b & 1948) in which he offers instructions, and makes numerous
arguments in favor of divine healing.
More than three decades following his epiphany in Lima,
Bosworth’s conviction and teaching remained unchanged. He stayed the course in
his theology and in his defense of divine healing. “I know what I’m talking
about,” he said in the 1954 recording. “I don’t know much, but I know what I’m
talking about on that subject, because we’ve taken time to find out what God’s
word says.”
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Reminder: "F.F. Bosworth History" is now on Twitter. Follow @bosworth_fred
Note: My book, F.F. Bosworth: The Man Behind
"Christ the Healer," can be purchased here with
a 25% discount. Use the discount code: BOSWORTH25.
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Questions about the research and commentary on F.F. Bosworth may be directed to
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roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com. For updates on F.F. Bosworth history, simply follow
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