On a cold winter morning in 1925 in a schoolyard in Scranton,
Pennsylvania, a group of rosy-cheeked children laughed gleefully as they
chased each other around the tall oak tree. Little girls giggled on the swing set
as they swung higher and higher.
Suddenly, one little girl fell to the ground, crying as she clutched at her
chest. Apparently, she had injured herself, but even as she wiped her tears, the
adults who were supervising were not concerned. Nine-year-old Raffaela
Serio continued to have pain near the “invisible” injury on her chest. Her
parents were concerned, so they took her to see one doctor and then another. It
appeared she had just bruised the area near her left breast, but as the pain
increased, a small lump formed and then grew to the size of an orange.
Raffaela’s parents called on a friend who was a pediatric specialist trained
at Johns Hopkins University. After administering several difficult tests, the
doctor gravely pronounced the diagnosis. Little Raffaela Serio had sarcoma
cancer of the left breast.
The grieving parents watched as their precious daughter lost weight rapidly.
The specialist determined that the cancer was rooted too deeply for surgery
and said he could do little for the pain. There was also an open, seeping sore,
but since not much was known about cancer at the time, the doctor prescribed a
special brown salve to be applied on the affected area each day, which would
then be wrapped with clean bandages. Although they tried to be hopeful,
Raffaela’s doctors saw slim chance for a recovery.
After months of ineffective treatment and worry, the Serios invited
Raffaela’s doctor to join them for dinner one Sunday afternoon. As they quietly
conversed around the table, the doctor looked with mournful eyes at the sick
little girl he had been unable to help. Turning to her mother, he made an unusual
statement for a physician: “There is a man holding some kind of special
meetings in a large tent in Scranton. He prays, and people get well.”
Doctor, really, you must be kidding!” the Serios responded.
“No, I’m not joking. I mean it. I had a patient with a very large goiter who
has been healed. She said Evangelist F. F. Bosworth prayed for her, and she
was instantly healed.” Mrs. Serio looked at the doctor in amazement, and he
continued, “Why don’t you take dear little Raffaela down there? They may be
able to help her also.”1
The Serios drove to Scranton that very evening to hear F. F. Bosworth
preach a sermon on Christ’s salvation and divine healing. They purchased a
copy of Bosworth’s book Christ the Healer, which would become a Christian
classic on the power of Christ to heal. For the next week, the Serios read large
portions of the book aloud to Raffaela so that all three of them could
understand the biblical promise of healing in Christ.
With their faith greatly increased, the family drove back to the crusade the
following Sunday. During the time of prayer for healing, F. F. Bosworth
stepped toward the little girl standing on the platform and prayed a beautiful
prayer for God’s healing power. He prayed that God would heal her and use
her as a living monument for His praise and glory.2
When they returned home later that night, Mrs. Serio got the salve ready for
Raffaela’s daily treatment. Raffaela looked at her mother in astonishment.
“Why, mother dear, where is your faith? Didn’t you hear the man say that Jesus
healed me? I don’t need any more bandages. I am healed.” Neither the large
lump nor the swelling from beneath her arm to her collarbone had gone away,
but the little girl had begun to see herself through the eyes of faith.
There was little sleep for Mrs. Serio that night as she tossed and turned,
worrying about her sweet girl. But the next day, as she later recounted,
“morning dawned and with it came a newness of life for our darling! She had
stepped out into the faith life with Jesus and He had met her. Oh! the joy and
glory of it!”3 The morning sunlight revealed that all the swelling from the
collarbone and under the arm was gone! Five days later, the lump was the size
of a hickory nut; shortly after that, it disappeared completely!
“Praise our wonderful, precious Jesus” was the joyous mother’s cry that
summer of 1925 in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania.4 Her little girl had been
miraculously healed because a man of God had been faithful to preach
complete salvation in the atonement of Christ—salvation for the mind, body,
and spirit. And God had been faithful to perform His Word.
An Early Pentecostal General
F. F. Bosworth was a frontier evangelist, a pioneer Christian radio
broadcaster, one of the most successful healing evangelists of the 1920s, and a
man who created a bridge to the healing revivalists of the 1940s and 1950s.
From his visit to Azusa Street and on, Fred Bosworth was a cornerstone of the
modern Pentecostal movement.
In his early revivals, Bosworth came in contact with other Pentecostal
leaders, such as John Alexander Dowie, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Charles F.
Parham, John G. Lake, Paul Rader, and E. W. Kenyon. Years later, in the
1950s, with his vast knowledge of the Scriptures and his broad experience as a
healing evangelist, he became a mentor for men like Jack Coe, a young Oral
Roberts, Ern Baxter, and many in James Gordon Lindsay’s “Voice of Healing”
group. He built an especially close mentoring relationship with William
Branham and T. L. Osborn. Baxter traveled with these men to South Africa and
may have attended the Branham-Bosworth meetings in the States, as well.
F. F. Bosworth was a man of great integrity and honor. He was not
overcome with emotionalism in the healing ministry but steadily looked to God
to fulfill His Word. Because of this, he never wanted people to claim healings
due to emotional responses. Bosworth faithfully recorded the names and
addresses of those who were healed through his ministry. To him, they were the
“witnesses,” living proof that God’s Spirit was at work among His people to
heal. Bosworth welcomed doctors’ confirmations of the healings, as well.
As a result, during his years in ministry, Bosworth accumulated over
250,000 letters and testimonies from people who had been touched by his
messages. A number of those testimonies will be shared in these pages as we
look at one of God’s true generals, who led some astounding healing revivals
in the early twentieth century. Yet Bosworth always stated that his primary
focus was evangelism, then healing.
A Frontier Boy
When the Civil War finally ended after four long years, the United States was a wounded nation. The U.S. government decided to create a new national
vision of change and expansion to encourage its citizens to look beyond the
years of war to a future of hope and promise. People were enticed to move
West and settle new territories. With the Homestead Act of 1862, which
supplied homesteaders with affordable federal land, and with the expansion of
the railroad, families were moving by the thousands to the Midwest.
Burton Bosworth had served in the war as a Union soldier, and he and his
wife, Amelia, headed out to Nebraska, where they could buy land for a cheap
rate. They bought a small farm in Utica, Nebraska, and began a family.
On a frigid winter day, January 17, 1877, Amelia Bosworth gave birth to
her second son, Fred Francis. The Bosworths were grateful to have another
son to help build their farm. It would have brought them greater joy if they had
known that this son would also touch more than one million people with the
love and power of Jesus Christ.
Fred was a boy with steadfast determination. He was a hard worker who
set some lofty goals, and he ultimately reached them. When he was only nine
years old, Fred accompanied his father to a Civil War reunion at Fort Kearney,
Nebraska, to enjoy the brass band and military ceremonies. A lover of music
from his earliest days, Fred was mesmerized by the music flowing from the
decorated stage. As the crowd cheered and sang patriotic songs, Fred inched
forward to watch the cornet players. Fascinated by the instrument, Fred was
determined to possess his own cornet and to learn how to play it. He had a
yearning for music deep within his soul.
Being a farmer’s son, Fred was adept at using the resources around him.
For example, when his uncle gave him the runt of a pig litter to have as his
own, he fattened up the pig and sold it at the local market. With that money, the
industrious boy bought a cow, raised her, fattened her up, and traded her and
her calf for a brand-new cornet. Now that he had his coveted instrument, he
needed money for lessons. Undaunted, Fred pored over the old organ’s
elementary instruction book in their farmhouse parlor, and that is how he
learned to read music and play notes.
Fred purchased the most advanced cornet music book he could find. While
working in his father’s feed store, he would practice for hours when business
was slow. He studied the notes, learned the musical values, and practiced diligently. Early in his life, he showed the perseverance that would take him
through difficult times and even persecution in years to come.
Soon, Fred was skilled enough as a musician to play in a community band.
When his family moved to University Place, Nebraska, he auditioned and won
a seat in the Nebraska State Band. One day, this young man’s fine musical
talent would even grace the stage in New York City.
By the age of sixteen, Fred Bosworth was itching to be out on his own. In
addition to his natural aptitude for music, he was a natural salesman. He met a
“general agent” who wanted him to sell a variety of products, including cement
for building industries. Fred and his older brother “rode the rails” around the
State of Nebraska, often jumping open train cars to ride for free, as they tried
to make their fortune as traveling salesmen. On one of these adventures, Fred’s
life was changed forever.
Changed Forever!
Many of young Fred’s sales trips took him to Omaha. On one trip, he
stopped to visit Miss Maude Greene, who was several years older than he.
She’d invited him to join her at an old-time revival at the First Methodist
Church that week. The first two nights, he listened politely to the gospel
singing and the preaching, then escorted Miss Maude home and returned to his
hotel. On the third night, however, the Holy Spirit began to tug on his heart.
For the first time, Fred really heard the message of salvation and
understood the sacrifice Jesus had made for him on the cross nineteen hundred
years earlier. His heart was stirred within him. Sensing that something was
happening, Maude encouraged Fred to take a trip down to the altar when the
preacher called.
Reluctantly at first, but then with a firmer step, Fred Bosworth approached
that little Methodist altar. While he knelt there, he knew that he must decide
that very night if he was going to make a decision for Christ or walk away from
Him.
With the presence of God flowing through him, Fred decided to say yes to
God. Immediately, his heart was filled with joy to overflowing, and he erupted
in holy laughter. “Such a happiness filled his heart he laughed for joy, till he actually felt embarrassed because he could scarcely stop.”5 Now, Fred had
another decision to make. Much of his sales success had been based on
dishonest methods and half-truths. He needed to quit his salesman’s life and go
home. But what would he do with his life in Christ now?
For the next two years, Bosworth held so many different jobs, it was hard to
keep count. He worked in a windmill factory, then as a clerk in a grocery store.
Following that, he was a department store clerk, a meat market butcher, a
railroad maintenance worker, and a house painter. He learned more about his
relationship with the Lord during this time, but he also struggled with an
anxious soul.
A Female Healing Evangelist
Fred’s career was not his only struggle. His health was deteriorating
rapidly. Eight years earlier, when the Bosworths lived in University Place, a
young boy had been hurt, and the local doctor needed to perform surgery. There
was not enough adult help available, so young Fred helped the doctor during
the surgery. The operating room was kept very warm, and when Fred left, he
walked out into an icy-cold Nebraska night. As a result, he developed a severe
cough that weakened his lungs and resulted in a chronic lung condition that
manifested as a dry, raspy cough.
Now, at the age of nineteen, his cough had worsened, and it had become
painful to breathe. After spending several weeks in bed, Fred was finally
diagnosed with tuberculosis—the “killer disease” of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. And the doctor’s verdict was hopeless. He predicted
that Fred had little time left to live.6
What should he do now? His parents had moved to Fitzgerald, Georgia, for
a fresh start one year earlier. Facing death at nineteen, Fred Bosworth decided
to take a train trip to Georgia to see his parents one last time. He was seriously
ill during the long, agonizing train ride and wondered if he would make it there
alive. When he finally reached Fitzgerald, Fred stumbled off the train and into
his mother’s loving arms. She nursed him over the course of several weeks,
until he was finally able to get out of the house for short periods of time.
On his first outing, Fred went to another Methodist revival so that he could
be encouraged by the Word of God. Miss Mattie Perry, a healing evangelist, was teaching a series on developing a deeper walk with God. Fred coughed
throughout the service, and she looked his way intently several times. At the
end of the sermon, Fred went forward to pray for more of God in his life.
Miss Mattie walked directly over to Fred, looked him in the eyes, and told
him that God still had work for him to do, and that he was too young to die.
With that, Miss Mattie laid hands on Fred and prayed for him to be delivered
completely from tuberculosis. From that very moment, Fred began to heal, and
within days, his cough was gone completely. A doctor’s visit confirmed that
his lungs were totally restored. Fred Bosworth rejoiced in his healing, but he
had little idea at the time that he had been healed to bring forth the truth of
God’s gospel message to thousands of people, believers and nonbelievers
alike.
“God, I Still Need a Plan”
Fred’s health returned quickly. He didn’t know how he was to serve God,
so he settled in Georgia with his family and found work, first as the assistant
postmaster in Fitzgerald. Next, he was elected town clerk. After a time, he
moved on to work as a banker. When Fred was twenty-three, he met and
married a young lady named Estella Hayde. He had led her to the Lord shortly
after they’d met, and she was also dedicated to finding a way to serve Jesus.
Fred and his wife attended church faithfully, but a subtle anxiousness
continued to plague his soul. To ease his unrest, Fred returned to music and
played the cornet that he loved, which was possible because of the renewed
strength in his lungs. Soon, he was playing and directing the Georgia Empire
State Band, performing at weekend community events throughout the State of
Georgia, and waiting for God to show him the next step.
God is faithful to His Word. He had a plan for F. F. Bosworth, whose life
was about to make a sudden turn in God’s direction. In God’s providence, Fred
and Estella had been given a copy of the magazine Leaves of Healing. Written
by Scottish evangelist John Alexander Dowie, it proclaimed the healing power
of Jesus Christ at work on the earth today. It also described a Christian
community that Dowie had established in Zion City, Illinois.
Fred and Estella discussed the new city with great excitement. Fred already
knew from personal experience that Jesus Christ still healed. Now, he was
eager for the opportunity to learn from someone who believed the same thing
and to serve the Lord in this new city. As soon as the young couple arrived in
Zion City, Fred found a job as a bookkeeper in a local store. At each
community church service, he played his cornet joyfully to the Lord.
The Zion City Band was not very accomplished. John Alexander Dowie
quickly recognized the scope of Fred Bosworth’s musical talent, and when he
asked Fred if he would take on the paid position of band director, Fred jumped
at the chance. In the past, Fred had played with secular bands, and he thrilled
at being able to play the music he dearly loved while lifting up the name of
Jesus.
According to one of Bosworth’s early biographers, “The Zion City Band
rapidly changed from a discordant, amateur musical group to one of the largest
and finest musical organizations in the entire United States.”7 Fred’s reputation
as a musician spread just as quickly. Within months, the forty-seven-member
band received a great deal of recognition as a result of playing at Dowie’s
outreach services, even performing at Madison Square Garden in New York
City!
Bosworth was to direct twenty consecutive concerts, two per day for ten
days. In New York, critics initially viewed the Midwestern Christian band
with cynicism and predicted cultural disaster, but they were unprepared for
Bosworth’s musical talent and his dedicated service to God. After the first
performance, the press offered its praise, saying, “The Concert…was awaited
with no little apprehension, but before the players on the stage had swept the
first four bars of the first overture, all present knew they were listening to real
music produced by masters of the art.”8 F. F. Bosworth was just twenty-six
years old at the time of this musical victory.
The Sweeping Power of the Holy Spirit
Not everything in Zion City was going as well. Beginning in 1903, John
Alexander Dowie became increasingly autocratic in his role as the city’s
leader. He proclaimed himself a prophet, “Elijah the Restorer,” and donned the
robes of an Old Testament priest. Financial and personal troubles surrounded
him.
At the same time, a resident of Zion City named Mrs. Waldron attended atent crusade under the ministry of Charles F. Parham and received the baptism
in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues. When she brought the exciting
news to Zion City, John Alexander Dowie was determined to keep the “tongues
movement” out of his community. However, Bosworth and evangelist John G.
Lake, who also lived in Zion City at the time, were hungry for the presence of
the Holy Spirit in their lives. When Parham came to Zion City to preach on the
baptism in the Holy Spirit a few years later, the Bosworths welcomed him into
their home to hold meetings. Shortly after this, Fred Bosworth and Lake
received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Together, they made a trip to Azusa
Street in California to experience the Holy Spirit’s revival there and to seek
answers to their questions from the Reverend William J. Seymour concerning
this “new” work of God.9 After Bosworth received the baptism in the Holy
Spirit, he looked back at his early days of nomadic movements from one job to
the other and said, “I wish someone at that time had told me about being
baptized in the Holy Spirit. I did a great deal of drifting not knowing what the
right place was for me.”10
The right place for Fred Bosworth became clear to him almost immediately.
During the years that he lived in Zion City, he spoke of his fear that God would
call him to preach the gospel. After receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit,
however, he became afraid that God would not call him to preach. At twentynine years of age, his life had been radically changed. He began to search the
Scriptures on the Holy Spirit, such as Matthew 3:11, “I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost,
and with fire,” and Acts 19:2, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye
believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there
be any Holy Ghost.” Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would come, and
that He would be the One to baptize the disciples in the Spirit.
Bosworth also read some of the writings of A. J. Gordon, who spoke out
forcefully on the scriptural proof for the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second
and separate experience from salvation. “It is as sinners that we accept Christ;
but it is as sons that we accept the Holy Spirit,” Gordon wrote as he
expounded on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. “We must withhold our consent
from the inconsistent exegesis which would make the water baptism of the
apostolic times rigidly binding but would relegate the Baptism in the Spirit to a
bygone dispensation.”11 Bosworth admired the wisdom of using biblical logic and the Word to
defend the good news of the full gospel. It would become a hallmark for him in
future debates on the healing power of God on the earth in modern days.
Committed in the Face of Death
Leaving Zion City, Fred and Estella Bosworth decided they would rely
completely on the Lord for His provision. Fred abandoned his secular job and
his music once again to preach the gospel wherever they were invited. In the
beginning of this new life of faith, the Bosworths had to rely daily on the Lord
for their provision. They now had a young daughter, Vivian, and they would
pray for each meal to be provided, often up to the last minute. At one point in
time, they ate boiled wheat for three meals a day. It sustained them for that
period, but afterward, they never had boiled wheat on their table again.
When there was no food left, Fred Bosworth would stick his head into the
empty bread box and shout, “Glory!” at the top of his lungs. Then, Estella and
little Vivian would do the same. God always provided!
The little Bosworth family traveled to South Bend, Indiana; Austin and
Waco, Texas; Conway, South Carolina; and Fitzgerald, Georgia, before finally
settling in Dallas, Texas. The year was 1909, and the Pentecostal movement
was gathering momentum throughout the nation as the Holy Spirit moved. In
Dallas, Fred began a church affiliated with the Christian and Missionary
Alliance. They held tent meetings all over the area, sometimes four meetings in
one day, introducing people to the power of God through His Holy Spirit.
Excited to see others come to know the Lord, Fred was always open to new
opportunities to preach. One hot summer night in 1909, a friend told him of a
camp meeting in Hearne, Texas, some miles outside of Dallas, where the Spirit
of God was moving among a black congregation. Racial tensions were high in
Texas at the time, so the tent meetings were segregated. The white folks didn’t
want to approach a “black altar.” Thus, Fred was invited so that the white
attendees might also receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit from a white
preacher.
Bosworth took a train to Hearne and then followed the music to find the
camp site. Excitement for Jesus filled the air, and the white people who were
listening on the outskirts of the camp invited Bosworth to come and preach to them about the power of God. Standing on a platform between the two
segregated groups, Fred gave a short message on the love of Christ and the
power of His Spirit to change lives.
“Please stay at my house tonight,” one of the other white ministers invited
him, “so that you can continue your message tomorrow.” Bosworth welcomed
the opportunity, and they headed toward the man’s home. Suddenly, a mob of
angry white men carrying clubs and sticks rushed up behind them. They spit
and yelled at Bosworth, accusing him of coming to preach to the black
congregation. He explained that the white congregation had invited him, but the
incensed men still threatened him and ordered him to leave town immediately.
Filled with a hatred that comes only from Satan, these men meant business,
and Bosworth knew it. He agreed to leave and walked rapidly to the train
station to head back to Dallas. Standing in the dark station in the quiet of the
Texas night, Bosworth was suddenly confronted with an even larger mob of
drunken men, who cursed aloud as they stumbled toward the train station.
The mob fell upon Bosworth and knocked him to the ground. They
threatened him, saying he would never leave there alive, and beat him with
boat oars and sticks all along his back until the skin was torn and bleeding.
Several cracks of a baseball bat on his left arm resulted in a broken wrist,
leaving his hand to hang painfully at his side. Through it all, Fred Bosworth
didn’t put up a fight. He committed himself to the Lord’s protection and did
nothing to defend himself.
As suddenly as the beating had begun, it stopped. The mob, tired of its
sport, picked up Bosworth and demanded that he leave town immediately
rather than wait for the next train. Bleeding, and with his wrist pounding with
pain, Bosworth picked up his suitcase with his other hand and began walking
toward Dallas. An attempt to flag down a train on the way proved futile, so he
continued on foot. Two days later, he reached home and collapsed in front of
his frightened wife. It took a month of bed rest to recover, but Bosworth was
thrilled that he had been able to walk all those miles in a glorious state of deep
intercession. He was thankful to be alive and able to preach the Word of God.
Not long after this, a report came to Fred and Estella that the two leaders of
those mobs had met with separate and untimely deaths.
What follows is a letter that Bosworth wrote to his mother shortly after the
beating:
We were so glad to get yours, Bert’s and Bertha’s letters this morning and
will answer at once to save you the unnecessary worry about me. When I wrote
you from Calvert on my way home from Hearne, Tex., I started a letter telling
you all about the mobbing and then thinking how it, might worry you, I tore up
the first, letter and wrote you the other one, not, mentioning the pounding I got.
I did this only to save you from worrying. I have never seen any paper with
the account, of this mobbing so I don’t know what the paper said, wish you
would send me the paper. I heard day before yesterday. It was in one of the
papers here and went and looked over the files but failed to find it.
At, the annual State Encampment (Pentecostal) of the Col. people at Hearne,
the people built a brush arbor, (continuing from the end of their tent) to
accommodate the white people of Hearne who wanted to attend the camp
meeting. This full gospel had never been preached to the white people at
Hearne and besides filling this brush arbor, automobiles and carriages and
many white people standing surrounded the tent to listen to the preaching and
testimonies of the Col. people. Many of the white citizens became deeply
interested in the teaching and not wanting to seek the Baptism at a colored
altar. The white people urged the Col. leaders to send for some white
Pentecostal teacher to come and help them into the Baptism. And so to
accommodate these white citizens, I was sent for and of course went, to the
campground and on Saturday night preached to two large audiences, one white
and one black. God gave me unusual liberty and blessing in teaching and
explaining the truths for which this movement stands, both audiences receiving
the truth with great enthusiasm.
I was tired and thought I wouldn’t preach that night but the people wanted
me to and then God anointed me for it. As I was on my way to spend the night
with another white preacher who had also come that day we were attacked by
several roughs, one of whom had a revolver with which (as he and the others
cursed us for coming there as they said to put them on a level with the d.[irty] n
—s) they seemed determined to shoot us both down at once.
God was wonderfully with me and with perfect coolness, I told them that, I
was doing God’s will the very best I knew how, was ready to die and would
offer no resistance to anything God permitted them to do, (these are not, the exact, words), but if they had no objections I would like to speak a few words
of explanation before they shot us. At first they refused me this privilege, but
finally said I could say what I wanted to. I then told them that I came with no
thought or desire of pushing them on a level with anyone but, that it, was the
white people who wanted me to come to help them, that I had done the very
best, I knew and was willing to take anything God permitted.
With this explanation, they decided not to kill, but insisted that we should
take the next train, and so we went to the depot and I bought my ticket to Dallas
and the other Bro. went to his room for his suitcase; and while he was gone
and I was waiting for my train, a larger mob of about 25 took me horn the
depot and knocked me down and pounded me with heavy hardwood clubs with
all their power, cursing and declaring that I would never preach again when
they were through with me. As they pounded me with these heavy clubs (made
from the oar of a boat), I offered no resistance, but committed myself to God
and asked him not to let the blows break my spine. God stood wonderfully by
me and no bones were broken except a slight fracture in my left wrist. When
they left off pounding me with the clubs as I got up others of the mob who had
no clubs knocked me down hitting me in the head with their fists. I was
knocked down several times but was not for a moment unconscious, which was
a miracle of God’s care.
I was then not allowed to take my train but had to walk 9 miles to Calvert
where I got a train Sunday at 2 p.m. for home.
The suffering during this pounding was terrible but as soon as it was over I
looked away from wounds and bruises to God and he took away all suffering
and put his power and strength upon me so that I carried a heavy suitcase with
my right arm over 9 miles. I never had the slightest anger or ill feeling towards
those men who beat me so cruelly, and the walk to Calvert in the dark with
moon-light was the most heavenly experience of my life and the Lord gave me
wonderful intercession for those men that He should forgive them and prepare
them for his coming.
My flesh was mashed to the bone on my back down nearly to my knees, but
since the beating I have been free from all suffering.
Others been made nervous and have broken down and wept as they were
shown the wounds on my bow, but I have been absolutely free from nervousness, no fear and not even tired.
He has been so precious to me since that I have thanked him many times for
being privileged to know something of the “fellowship of his sufferings”. If
this moving was the result of some unwise thing I had done or for speaking
anything but His own sweet message, I would be very sorry but since it came
for plain obedience in preaching His gospel to every creature, it has given me
great joy to experience this which was so common among the early Christians
in the first centuries of the church.
I feel like I am several notches higher in the Christian life.
Already this experience God has used and made it a blessing to others and I
have read some of the sweetest letters from God’s people.
You need not worry one bit for we are not now preaching to Col. People
and will not unless God clearly leads as he did when he led us to Queen City
and other parts of Dallas. He put his seal upon this by saving many, healing
many and baptizing over 225 with the Holy Ghost. The deepest and quickest
work I have known of. We do not lay our own plans but wait for him.
We have just moved our tent from the corner of Weaskell and State Sts. To
the corner of East Side and Washington Ave., and last night which was our first
night in the new location, the tent was nearly full and the attention was fine.
Pray that God will give us a great meeting there. We may move into some
house near the tent in a few days.
Vivian is well and so sweet. God gives her at times the real burden for
souls at which times the Spirit makes intercession through her in tongues. Bro.
Graves (Fred A. Graves) is with us.
The paper just came from Z.C. (Zion City, Illinois) telling about my beating.
Not much like the facts. My face was not scratched but my head was bruised
in several places, No marks left on my face.
Would love to see you all at home. We are all happy in the will of God.
I would much prefer to be faithful and have some little tribulation now than
to fail to overcome and have to pass through the great tribulation soon to come. Praise God I am determined to have God’s plan for my life carried out.
With much love to you all, I am Your Devoted Son.
Fred
Ten Years of Revival
As the Pentecostal wave moved through the country, Assemblies of God
congregations began to spring up. In 1910, Bosworth established the First
Assembly of God church in Dallas, and people flocked there from miles
around to hear him preach. From the very beginning, seekers were saved and
baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Bosworth
didn’t have any formal seminary training, but he was an intelligent man who
studied the Bible with more diligence than he had displayed when teaching
himself to play the cornet. God had placed him in the spiritual office of
evangelist, as well as teacher, for building up the body of Christ. (See
Ephesians 4:11–13.) This was evident to everyone who heard him.
In 1912, Bosworth invited Maria Woodworth-Etter, the famous Pentecostal
evangelist, to lead a series of meetings at his church. During her six-month
stay, revival rocked the city of Dallas. Scores of people were saved, filled
with the Holy Spirit, and healed under her ministry. Bosworth became wellknown among Pentecostals because of the success of Woodworth-Etter’s
meetings. Revival continued in his church for the next several years.
The number of Assemblies of God churches grew, and Bosworth was
selected as a delegate to the General Council of the Assemblies of God
denomination as it was being formed. In April of 1914, the first General
Council met in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to discuss the new work. Bosworth was
then invited to become one of the sixteen members of the executive presbyters.
It was the role of the Council and the presbyters to set the tenets of faith for the
new denomination.
Even while pastoring his church in Dallas and working as a delegate for the
Assemblies of God, Fred Bosworth traveled over 75,000 miles throughout the
Southwest and took every opportunity to preach. If there was even one ear
open to the gospel of Jesus Christ, Fred was eager to bring the good news! He
believed in an interceding church that also reached out to the lost, so he
organized many tent meetings in different areas of Dallas that occurred
simultaneously. The gospel was preached night after night, and more and more
people turned to Christ for salvation.
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