Smith Wigglesworth was born in the small town of Menston, Yorkshire in England on June 8th, 1859. Smith didn't grow up in a Christian home but His grandmother was Christian and made sure he attended church. When he turned 8 he began singing with the church at one of the meetings and it was then where he got a new revelation of being born again! When this happened he started operating as an evangelist! His first convert was his own mother! When his father realized what was going on he decided to take his family to church every Sunday even though he wasn't saved himself. When Smith turned 13 his family moved from Menston to Bradford, where he and his family would attend Wesleyan Methodist Church. Smith was very involved in this church and continually attended it when ever there was a service or meeting. Smith couldn't read but he always made it a habit to keep a copy if the new testament with him. At 17 he met a really Godly man who taught him about water baptism and the second coming of Christ Then Smith was baptized and he got really excited to tell so many people about Jesus before He came back. This Godly man also taught Smith how to work in the plumbing business. Then when he turn 18 he decided to head out on his own. He went to the house of a plumber and said “I’m looking for a plumbing job, can u hire me?” The man looked at him and said,”I’m not hiring right now.” Immediately Smith Thanked him and apologized for taking the mans time and started to walk away. As he was leaving the man said,” Stop! There is something different about you and I need to hire you!” By the time Smith turned 20 he was working so hard and efficiently that, the man who hired him couldn't occupy him anymore, So Smith moved to Liverpool to look for a new job. In Liverpool he began to preach the gospel to ragged children on the streets! He did his best to feed and clothe them and give them hope! He visited hospitals and prayed with all different types of people. He prayed to God to help him lead more people to Christ. Salvation Army asked him to teach at there meetings! He was never really good with his words at these meetings because he would always break down and mourn for the hearts of broken people! He just wanted to help more and more people! This caused these meeting to be powerful because people were motivated by his compassion for others! During these meetings Smith tended to keep his eye on one socially fluent woman. He knew right away that she was the one for him. As Smith kept attending these meetings he started to build a relationship with her. Their relationship began get stronger. Her name was Mary Jane Featherstone, but everyone called her “Polly”. She received a commission as an officer for Salvation Army but as her and Smiths relationship got stronger she would soon have to make a difficult decision! Even though Smith wasn't officially joined with Salvation Army, they still considered him a private in there ranks. Officers weren't allowed to have romantic relationships with lower ranks such as a private so Polly had to choose her Smith or Salvation Army! She resigned as an officer at Salvation Army and chose to continue her relationship with Smith. Soon after she joined Blue Ribbon Army and there she led many to the Lord! Smith and Polly got married back in Bradford in 1882. Smith was just turning 23 and Polly was 22. They would later go on to have 5 kids: Alice, Seth, Harold, Ernest, and George. Polly and Smith started their own ministry called the Bradford Street Mission where they gather people together and would show people who Jesus is. Polly was a better speaker then Smith so she would do the speaking, while Smith did the gathering! His job was to locate the fish and she would put down the net! One cold winter of 1884 the plumbing business started to speed up rapidly. Smith began to do a lot more with the plumbing business then he was able to do with ministry. This went on for two years and as he began to get busier and busier, he began to backslide from his relationship with God. Then one day Polly, still faithful to her savior, came home late from church one day. Smith got mad and said,” I am the master of this house and you will not come home this late ever!” Polly quietly replied,” I know you are my husband but Christ is my master.” Smith got even more mad and forced her out the back door and locked it! In all this annoyance, Smith forgot to lock the front . Polly simply walked through the front door laughing. At that point Smith realized how ridiculous he was being and started laughing too! This brought to him a new revelation. Right after he decided to take ten days to fast and pray! One day Smith decided to go to a healing meeting out of town! He was so amazed by what he saw there! He saw a new power from God that he never had seen before! He was so excited that he went home, told his wife and together the made a new ministry of their own! A healing ministry! Polly and Smith became so passionate for preaching about this divine message of healing. Smith himself got healed of a hemorrhoid he had dealt with his whole life! It was gone and he never struggled with it again! Their ministry slogan was the scripture,"I am the Lord that healeth thee" Smiths relationship with God was going great and he wanted more! He wanted more of the spirit! He wanted to speak in tongues! In 1907, Pentecost had reached Sunderlands and Smith heard that people were being baptized in the holy spirit and speaking in tongues. When he arrived to Sunderlands he went to one of the meetings which was taught by an old friend named Vicar Alexander Boddy. At the meeting Smith began to get frustrated The meeting was so dry, compared to what he had experienced at home. He finally got mad and disrupted the meeting asking , "how do I learn to speak in tongues and why is this service so dry?" He was so disruptive he was taken out side to be disciplined. Still in Sunderland, before he went back home he decided to go to Mr. Boddy's house to say,"goodbye" but he was not home, instead his wife was. He told her,"I guess I'll be leaving with out speaking in tongues." "It is not tongues in which you need it is baptism of the holy spirit", she responded. Then he asked her to pray over him! She pray a simple, but strong prayer and instantly he started speaking in tongues and praising God. Again Smith grew more and more excited! He shared this story at meetings in the ministry he created with Polly! Polly was so surprised, she had never seen him speak so clear and great! He was being led by the spirit! Everyone wanted what he had received there. Polly and Smith's ministry continued to grow in the spirit and healing realm, and there passion did too! Smith wanted to help everyone he could and did almost anything he could to do so! We would take trains to different towns and ride his bike 10 miles just to help one person! His plumbing business began to fade, he didn't have time for it anymore. He vowed that the rest of his life would be devoted to ministry unless God told him otherwise. The Lord made sure he never went back to the plumbing business again! The ministry grew so big that he began to get invited to speaking engagements all around the country, and then all around the world! Then one day while waiting for a train in Scotland he received news the his wife had fallen and collapsed of a heart attack while ministering back in their hometown! He rushed home immediately but by the time he got the the hospital he realized that she had passed. "Arise, I command the spirit of death out of you in Jesus's name!" He said. Right then she woke up! When she awoke she told him," The Lord has called me home." In a heartbroken response he said," If the Lord has called you, I will not hold you." When they buried her body, Smith laid over her gravestone wanting to die too. Then the lord spoke to him," Your time here is not up yet, I have more in-store for you" Smith prayed,"God is you want me to keep going on, give me a double portion of spirit-my wifes and my own." And God answered his prayer! Smith continued on and he could feel his wife's spirit with him! Alice, Smiths daughter, and her husband began to travel with Smith and joined his ministry! Still the ministry began to grow and with the double spirit Smith had, he saw great and amazing things! He saw blind people could see, deaf people could hear, people in wheel chairs started to walk, and cancer was destroyed all in different individuals he prayed over! One amazing story while he was attending a funeral at someones house, the coffin was in a room with 3 normal walls and one glass wall with two glass doors on it! While everyone was outside the room, Smith walked in! With everyone watching him he pulled the man out of the coffin, put the man up against the wall and said loudly,"In Jesus's name walk!" The man slid down the wall and fell on the ground. Quickly Smith picked up the dead man and put him up against the wall and yelled," I said wake up in Jesus's name!" Again the man slid down the wall and fell. By this point the people outside were appalled by the sight if this! Finally Smith grabbed the body violently, threw it up against the wall, screamed," I SAID WAKE UP NOW IN JESUS'S NAME!" Right then the man woke up and the two walked out the door together! It was said that a confirmed 14 people were raised from the dead in Smith Wigglesworth's ministry. He helped thousands get saved and healed, and he impacted a whole continent! Today his life impacts the world! Smith passed away on March 14, 1947. He was attending fellow minister's, Wilf Richardson's, funeral! He walked over to the casket, bowed over the body and he new then his time was up too! There at 87 years young, he went to be with the Lord.
