F. F. Bosworth Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Ministry== ===The start=== In 1906, while still in Zion, Bosworth embraced [[Pentecostalism]] in meetings with Pentecostal pioneer, [[Charles Parham]]. The Pentecostal message met resistance from the administration in Zion City, making it so community facilities were not available for holding meetings. As a result, for weeks they met nightly in the living room of Bosworth's home, as well as in several other homes, with Parham going between the homes, prior to a large tent being erected for services.<ref name="FredFrancisBosworth"/> From the time Bosworth received his Pentecostal experience, Bosworth felt driven to share the new life he experienced. One early account says he immediately took a job selling pens so he could have an opportunity to testify to others. A group including Bosworth and Lake began preaching on streets of nearby towns such as Waukegan in late 1906 where they introduced speaking in tongues.<ref>Waukegan Daily Gazette November 19, 1906</ref> By April 1907 he was into the ministry full-time, joining Cyrus Fockler in the meetings he began to hold in Milwaukee.<ref name="Out Of Zion">{{cite book | title =Out of Zion | author = Gordon P Gariner | publisher = Companion Press | year = 1990 }}</ref> His ministry continued, and the December 1908 issue of Latter Rain Evangel records meetings he was holding with Fockler in Indiana. From there he held meetings in Fitzgerald Georgia, Conway S.C., then several cities in Texas. Dallas was the final city in his Texas tour, and the meetings there were in the later part of 1909.<ref name="Blomgren">{{cite book | last = Blomgren | first = Oscar Jr. | authorlink = Oscar Blomgren Jr. | title = Fred F. Bosworth - Man of God | publisher = Herald of Faith | date = Oct 1963 β Jun 1964}}</ref> Following Bosworth's Dallas meetings, he started his first church in Dallas in 1910. The church began as an independent Pentecostal work which had a loose affiliation with the [[Christian and Missionary Alliance]] organization. In 1914 Bosworth was involved in the starting of the [[Assemblies of God USA|Assemblies of God]], and was one of their first directors. In the process, he brought his church into the organization. In 1916 the Assemblies of God formalized their doctrine that the initial evidence of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost was speaking in tongues. Bosworth did not agree with this and tried to get them to change, presenting his arguments at one of their conventions. When it became clear in 1918 that they would not change their position, Bosworth quietly withdrew from the Assemblies of God <ref name="bosworthbio"/> and started a separate [[Christian and Missionary Alliance]] church<ref name="FredFrancisBosworth"/> in Dallas.<ref>Barnes III, Roscoe, "F.F. Bosworth: A Profile in Divine Healing," p. 71 http://ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/Norway/Refleks-Publishing/Refleks/Unregistered/2005/FPHC/2005_4-2.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083341/http://ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/Norway/Refleks-Publishing/Refleks/Unregistered/2005/FPHC/2005_4-2.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }}</ref> It was around this time (1918) that Bosworth published his pamphlet "Do All Speak With Tongues".<ref name="DoAllSpeak">{{cite book | last = Bosworth | first = F.F. | authorlink = F.F. Bosworth | title = Do All Speak With Tongues - An Open Letter to the Ministers and Saints of the Pentecostal Movement | publisher = John J. Scruby, Dayton, Ohio | date = c. 1918 }}</ref> ===Full time evangelism and healing ministry=== Even when pastoring his church in Dallas, Bosworth would hold meetings in other areas, and his ministry always had an element of praying for the sick and divine healing. When his wife died in 1919, he arranged for someone to look after his children, then went on, starting larger scale evangelistic meetings. It appears the turning point for Bosworth's healing ministry were meetings in Lima, Ohio in August 1920. The pastor there asked Bosworth to preach on Divine healing. While Bosworth had previously believed in Divine Healing, and had prayed for the sick, he had not previously preached Divine Healing. Bosworth writes that he went to the Lord and asked "'suppose I preach on Healing and the people come and don't get healed?' The Lord said 'If people didn't get saved, you wouldn't stop preaching the gospel.'" Bosworth studied the question, prayed about it and saw that it was God's will to heal as well as save people.<ref name="LifeStory"/> In the Lima meetings Bosworth stepped out on the Word, preached Divine Healing, and stated that healing of the body was as much a part of the gospel as salvation of the soul. He invited the sick to come and hear the word of healing for their bodies. The people responded, they were healed, and it led to more who came for salvation.<ref name="Blomgren"/> In 1924, Bosworth published the first edition of ''Christ the Healer'', a book that contains many of his sermons on the topic of faith healing and his responses to his critics (this edition included 5 sermons). Prior to Bosworth's death, the 7th edition had been expanded to include 14 sermons. He was also the author of dozens of other tracts, printed sermons, and articles, some of which were later condensed and included in subsequent editions of ''Christ the Healer''. One example is "The Christian Confession" (chapter titled "Confession"). Probably his most controversial pamphlet was "Do All Speak With Tongues? An Open Letter to Ministers and Saints of the Pentecostal Movement".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ag.org/enrichmentjournal/199904/084_lessons.cfm |title=Menzies, W. W., ''Lessons From the Past: What Our History Teaches Us'', Enrichment Journal - A Journal For Pentecostal Ministry, Fall 1999 |accessdate=2013-08-17 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010828004813/http://www.ag.org/enrichmentjournal/199904/084_lessons.cfm |archivedate=August 28, 2001 }}</ref> F. F. Bosworth held a number of [[evangelism|evangelistic]] and healing meetings across the United States and Canada in the 1920s, with thirty-nine extended meeting locations in the six-and-a-half years mentioned in ''Joybringer Bosworth.''<ref>Barnes III, Roscoe, "F F Bosworth : a historical analysis of the influential factors in his life and ministry" http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07302010-165851/unrestricted/00front.pdf</ref> ===Contact with other ministries=== Bosworth had contact with many of the Pentecostal and holiness ministers of his generation, and was both influenced by them and influenced them. Prior to coming to his Pentecostal experience, Bosworth spent several years under the ministry of John Alexander Dowie, where he would have heard many of Dowie's ideas on divine healing. From Zion City he knew John G. Lake, Charles Parham, and a number of other Pentecostal pioneers. In mid-1907, Bosworth, Lake, and [[Tom Hezmalhalch]] were visited by [[William J. Seymour|William Seymour]] and Glenn Cook from Los Angeles, thus leading to close contacts with the [[Azusa Street Revival]].<ref>Morton, "John G Lake's Formative Years," 23-4. https://www.academia.edu/7005594/John_G_Lakes_Formative_Years_1870-1908_The_Making_of_A_Con_Man</ref> He was associated with many of the early Pentecostal ministers, had [[Maria Woodworth-Etter]] hold several months of services for him in 1912,<ref name="Pent. Dict.">{{cite book|last=Riss|first=Richard M.|title=The new international dictionary of Pentecostal and charismatic movements.|year=2002|publisher=Zondervan Pub. House|location=Grand Rapids, Mich.|isbn=0310224810|edition=Rev. and expanded|editor=Stanley M. Burgess|pages=439β440|chapter=Bosworth, Fred Francis}}</ref> and knew the early leaders of the Assemblies of God. Bosworth also knew many of the ministers associated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance church, including A.B. Simpson and both Paul and Luke Rader. While in the Chicago area, Bosworth also met [[E. W. Kenyon]]. It is unclear whether his meeting with Kenyon was before his move to Texas, since he had returned to the Chicago area by 1924.<ref name="bosworthbio"/><ref name="ThinkingInTheSpirit">{{cite book | last = Jacobsen | first = Douglas G. | authorlink = Douglas G. Jacobsen | title = Thinking in the Spirit | publisher = [[Indiana University Press]] | year = 2003 }}</ref> How close a relationship the two men had and the degree Kenyon may have influenced Bosworth's early thinking are unclear.<ref name="ThinkingInTheSpirit"/> Bosworth's 1930's booklet "The Christian Confession", which was later condensed into a chapter of the 1948 edition of "Christ the Healer", mentions that many of the thoughts in that booklet / chapter came from some of Kenyon's writings and were used with permission. One researcher, who looked at Bosworth's other works to determine if any were influenced by Kenyon could find no other link, and the 1924 edition of "Christ the Healer" does not contain the chapter that is in the 1948 edition. ===Depression-era pioneer=== When [[The Great Depression]] hit in 1929, money for large-scale meetings became scarce. According to Bosworth's magazine "Exploits of Faith", it appears he still had large campaigns away from home through 1931, but after that his campaigns were closer to home. Bosworth was friends with Paul Rader, one of the first radio evangelists, and Paul Rader was broadcasting on Chicago radio stations prior to 1929. The first ad in Bosworth's magazine for a Bosworth radio program was in January 1930, indicating that his radio evangelism started in either late 1929 or early 1930. He began with a program called the "Sunshine Hour". Bosworth eventually established "The National Radio Revival Missionary Crusaders" as a [[nonprofit corporation]] in Illinois. By the early to mid-1930s he was broadcasting regularly over radio stations in the [[Chicago]] area, including [[WYLL|WJJD]]. Bosworth's increased radio ministry in Chicago appears to coincide with Paul Rader's reduced broadcast frequency. Due to financial problems, Paul Rader's last evangelistic broadcasts in Chicago were in 1933. Bosworth continued to broadcast well into the 1940s. There is a general gap in the information available on F. F. Bosworth and his radio ministry from the early 1930s to the mid-1940s, with the one available magazine of his from 1942 indicating that he was broadcasting from several stations across the country, and a 1963 article providing a general overview of Bosworth's radio ministry.<ref name="Blomgren"/> During the 1930s and 1940s, it appears he also conducted many healing campaigns all over [[North America]] as finances permitted.<ref>Last chapter of the 9th edition of ''Christ the Healer''</ref> F. F. Bosworth, as of 1950, commented that he had more than thirty years of great evangelistic campaigns, and fourteen years of this time conducted the National Radio Revival, and during which time received about a quarter of a million letters.<ref name="GiftsOfHealingPlus">{{cite book | last = Stadsklev | first = Julius | authorlink = Julius Stadsklev | title = A Prophet Visits South Africa | chapter = Ch 2-Gifts of Healing Plus-by Bosworth | publisher = Stadsklev | year = 1952}}</ref> As mentioned by his son, R. V. Bosworth, in the final chapter of the 9th edition of ''Christ the Healer'', Bosworth found it difficult to travel during [[World War II]] due to [[gas rationing#Civilian rationing|gas rationing]], but also found it difficult not to preach.<ref name="christthehealer" /> Shortly after WWII he thought his ministry might be over and he retired to [[Florida]].<ref name="bosworthbio">{{cite web |last=Whatley |title=Bosworth Biography |url=http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/hills/8335/bosbio.html |accessdate=February 1, 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020113449/http://geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/8335/bosbio.html |archivedate=October 20, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ===British Israelism=== During the gap in information from 1934 to 1944, it appears Bosworth accepted at least some elements of [[British Israelism|British Israel]] theology and left the Alliance church, not to return until 1944, when he was welcomed back into the Alliance, was asked to preach at one of their conventions and along the way publicly apologized for having been in error.<ref name="Genuine Gold">{{cite book | last = King | first = Paul L. | authorlink = Paul L. King | title = Genuine Gold | publisher = Word & Spirit Press | year = 2006}}</ref> While some who follow British Israelism claim that F.F. Bosworth maintained a British Israel view of prophecy until his death,<ref name="Controversy in Zion">{{cite book | last = Southwick | first = George W. | authorlink = George W. Southwick | title = Controversy in Zion | publisher = Truth in History Ministries}}</ref> they do not offer any evidence to support this other than one radio sermon by Bosworth, which does not go to the extremes many do with that doctrine.<ref name="The House of Israel and the House of Judah">{{cite book | last = Bosworth | first = F.F. | authorlink = F.F. Bosworth | title = The House of Israel and the House of Judah | publisher = Truth in History Ministries}}</ref> ===Africa and other overseas ministry=== [[File:WIlliam_Branham_and_F_F_Bosworth,_Pictured_in_A_Man_Sent_From_God,_c_1950.jpg|thumb|right|[[William Branham]] and F.F. Bosworth]] Bosworth began traveling and campaigning with [[William Branham]] in 1948. In late 1951, at the age of 74, Bosworth went with William Branham to Africa to continue their work.<ref>Barnes III, Roscoe (2007). Experience as a Catalyst for Healing Ministry: Historical Evidence and Implications from the Life of F.F. Bosworth https://www.academia.edu/2237000/Experience_as_a_Catalyst_for_Healing_Ministry_Historical_Evidence_and_Implications_from_the_Life_of_F.F._Bosworth</ref> The book, ''William Branham, A Prophet Visits South Africa'' records their time there, as does a book titled ''William Branham Sermons''. Both of these books include a sermon of Bosworth's, and a number of William Branham's sermons refer to his time and experiences with Bosworth. After the campaign with Branham, Bosworth returned to Africa several times between 1952 and 1955, also holding campaigns in Cuba (1954) and Japan (1955 and possibly 1957), and accompanying Branham on a campaign in Switzerland and Germany in 1955. Through at least 1956, it appears that when Bosworth was not overseas, he worked with Branham on a number of campaigns.<ref name="christthehealer"/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page