Osborn, recalling his
father's many years of ministry, reflected on the evangelist's contributions to
the church.
"I knew another
patriarch of faith had been promoted to his eternal reward and was 'sitting
down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matt.
8:11),'" he wrote. "What a triumphant entry this man must have
received. He, being a man 'of faith is blessed with faithful Abraham (Gal.
3:9)."
Osborn's tribute to
Bosworth appeared as a brief article in the March 1958 issue (page 25) of the
Full Gospel Men's Voice magazine. It was titled, "F.F. Bosworth Promoted
To Eternal Reward: A Pioneer Of The Deliverance Ministry Has Gone Ahead!"
Osborn's full tribute can be viewed here or by following
this link:
https://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/voice/27/
In addition to borrowing
the words of John Wesley, Osborn used Scripture to talk about Bosworth's
passing. Bosworth died on January 23, 1958. According to an obituary, he died
of a heart attack in his home with his family in Miami, Fla. He was 81. He had
spent his final years serving as a mentor to healing revivalists of the Voice of Healing and working as a missionary evangelist. He seemed closest to William
Branham and Osborn.
Osborn mentioned Branham
in his tribute. He said that two weeks prior to Bosworth's death, he and
Branham were having a meal when Branham spoke of a recent visit with Bosworth.
According to Branham, Bosworth was excited about the possibility of the Lord
coming at any moment to take him to Heaven.
"Such is the manner
in which a man of faith faces his eternal reward," wrote Osborn.
"During his last days, he would often tell the family to go on to bed;
that 'this may be the night.'"
Osborn viewed Bosworth's
passing as being "triumphant," a term he used in three places. For
example: "His last words were as triumphant as his life was: 'Everything
is clear! Perfect trust! Nothing but the blood!'"
Following that utterance,
Bosworth began hugging and shaking hands with acquaintances "on the other
side of Jordan," Osborn wrote. At times, Osborn recounted, Bosworth would
stretch “out his feeble arms” and say, “Oh, it’s you!” Then, “Beautiful.”
Readers of Bosworth's
book, Christ the Healer, will recall that his son, Bob, also used the term,
"triumph," in the Epilogue to the book. In fact, the section was
titled, "The Ultimate Triumph." Like Osborn, he also recounted his
father's passing with descriptions and anecdotes of him reportedly seeing people who had crossed over to the other side.
Bob said his father's wish
was that he would die without pain or sickness. "About three weeks after
he took to his bed," Bob wrote, he greeted people on the other side for
several hours and then he stopped breathing.
Neither Bob nor Osborn
commented on Bosworth’s cause of death. However, there must have been some type
of illness or weakness that caused him to be in bed for three weeks before his
death. According to Bob, the family was surprised to see him “retire to his
bed” when he returned home after a mission trip in January 1958. When they
inquired about his wellbeing, he simply told them that “God had shown him that
he had ‘finished his course.’”
Osborn, who simply adored
Bosworth, ended his tribute with the following paragraph: “The words of Brother
Branham in his telegram to the Bosworth family were indeed fitting as he said
he felt like Elisha did when Elijah was translated, and he cried: ‘My father,
my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof’ (2 Kgs. 2:12).”
Acknowledgments:
Grateful acknowledgments are made to
Dr. Daniel Isgrigg, assistant professor, and director of
the
Holy Spirit Research Center at Oral Roberts University,
for his assistance in bringing this article to my attention.
