This week in Christian history: Mr. Rogers ordained, Pentecostal leader born

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, June 05, 2022

Smith Wigglesworth born – June 8, 1859

Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947), an influential leader of the early Pentecostal movement who claimed to be a faith healer. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when Smith Wigglesworth, a prominent leader of the early Pentecostal Movement, was born in a small village in Yorkshire, England.

Wigglesworth was a traveling preacher and reported faith healer who helped to spread Pentecostalism across the world, including Europe, India and the United States.

The Christian apologetics website GotQuestions.org was critical of Wigglesworth and his claims of faith-healing, labeling the Pentecostal figure “a false teacher, regardless of whatever popularity he enjoyed and whatever shows of power he may have included in his act.”

“Of those who doubted the healings were real or that tongues were a necessary sign of Spirit baptism, Wigglesworth simply said they did not believe the ‘full gospel,’” stated Got Questions.

“Today’s ‘faith healers,’ like their protégé Smith Wigglesworth, perform their ‘miracles’ only in carefully organized meetings and on a stage they control. None of them are walking through hospitals healing everyone as they go.”