F. F. Bosworth

His Methodist experiences also included salvation at the age of 16 or 17, and a spontaneous healing from major lung problems a couple of years later.

Bosworth's life after that was one that followed Christian principles, though his church affiliation changed several times over the years.

When Bosworth came into a Pentecostal experience in 1906, he had an intense desire to preach the gospel, leaving his business pursuits and stepping out in faith for his subsistence.

During the 1920s he was known for his "big tent revival" and large auditorium meetings and his advocacy of faith healing, with people from all denominations attending.

[2] In late 1893 or early 1894, while at a visit in Omaha, he attended a revival meeting with female friend; she convinced him to become born again.

The lung problems continued for the next eight years,[2][3][4] getting significantly worse when he was a young man (age 18 or 19), when the doctors diagnosed tuberculosis and said that he would soon die.

Bosworth then went from Nebraska to his parents' new home in Fitzgerald Georgia for a last visit and arrived in a near-death state.

It says "Miss Perry told him how lovingly ready God was to make him well ... and laying her hands on him she prayed that he might be healed.

From that self-same hour Fred began to mend, until, ere many days, his lung trouble was already a thing of the past.

"[2] Around 1895, after Bosworth had left home, his parents moved from Nebraska to Fitzgerald, Georgia, where a Union Soldiers colony had been started.

His mother nurtured his health back to a point where he could get around, and he claimed to have been miraculously healed at a religious meeting in Fitzgerald.

In Fitzgerald he married at the age of 23 (his wife was the daughter of another Civil War veteran), and right after he was married he ran afoul of local politics by supporting someone else who was running on a prohibition platform, resulting in his not being re-elected as City Clerk at an election held shortly after his marriage.

When he went to Zion City, he began to play his cornet again, this time in John Alexander Dowie's church, where he was soon made the band director.

The Pentecostal message met resistance from the administration in Zion City, making it so community facilities were not available for holding meetings.

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.

[11] His ministry continued, and the December 1908 issue of Latter Rain Evangel records meetings he was holding with Fockler in Indiana.

The church began as an independent Pentecostal work which had a loose affiliation with the Christian and Missionary Alliance 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.

When it became clear in 1918 that they would not change their position, Bosworth quietly withdrew from the Assemblies of God [13] and started a separate Christian and Missionary Alliance church[2] in Dallas.

[15] 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.

It appears the turning point for Bosworth's healing ministry were meetings in Lima, Ohio in August 1920.

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.

In mid-1907, Bosworth, Lake, and Tom Hezmalhalch were visited by William Seymour and Glenn Cook from Los Angeles, thus leading to close contacts with the Azusa Street Revival.

[13][20] How close a relationship the two men had and the degree Kenyon may have influenced Bosworth's early thinking are unclear.

Bosworth eventually established "The National Radio Revival Missionary Crusaders" as a nonprofit corporation in Illinois.

Bosworth's increased radio ministry in Chicago appears to coincide with Paul Rader's reduced broadcast frequency.

[5] In 1957, when Bosworth's family thought it was his time to go, Branham visited his bedside, prayed with him, and was greatly encouraged by his testimony.

When Bosworth died, Branham was asked by the family to come to preach his funeral but was unable to attend because he was in the middle of a campaign.

William Branham and F.F. Bosworth