“that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” – Hebrews 6:12

 The Wigglesworth Dilemma: The apparent conflict between the behavior and Character of Christ found in the Gospels and what appears to be contrary behavior of those in seemingly powerfully but effective Christian healing ministry.

---

I continued on this investigation wondering if there is any basis for God working through Smith Wigglesworth’s use of violent acts?

I came up with these 5 questions as I sought wisdom on the matter:

1. Has God Used His People through Violent Means Before?
2. Does God choose to use imperfect/flawed human beings?
3. Can God use violent acts to bring Himself glory and to win people to Christ?
4. How/why might God use a man’s violent temper to accomplish His will?
5. Jesus was never violent but did He ever act out of anger or inappropriately?

---

1. Has God Used His People through Violent Means Before?

   • God has used his people to fight off evil in the Old Testament. Even today there are physical battles going on between the forces of good and evil involving violent action. (Although the lines between good and evil have become quite blurred in these days)
   • Yet, Jesus never advocated or modeled any violent behavior. Nor, did his disciples after Jesus’ death ever model or advocate the use of violence.

2. Does God choose to use Imperfect/flawed human beings? (Unfortunately, that’s all He’s got)

   • The Biblical record clearly shows that God uses imperfect people but those who have a heart for Him. God not only uses all he made us to be but even that which the world has twisted out of shape.  SW, before coming to Christ was known to have a violent temper. As a Christian, Wigglesworth was reportedly courteous, kind, and gentle. However, he became forceful when dealing with the devil, whom he believed caused all sickness. Did God use what the world made of him and use it for good? 

God honors the underlying heart and dedication of the man.

• • King David – David was a moral failure in some major ways. He committed adultery and in trying to hide his sin, he sent Bathsheba’s husband Uriah to certain death. King David’s power had corrupted him to think he could get away with anything. Yet, in Acts 13:22, it says God found David to be a man after his own heart. David acknowledged his sin and asked for forgiveness. He paid a price for his wrong but God loved his heart and was still able to use him for God’s glory.
  • Abraham and Isaac – God spoke to Abraham to take his beloved son and sacrifice him. How was that consistent with God’s loving character? Abraham must have been confused. Why would God promise him a son and then take the son away? It feels like a strange inconsistency or maybe even a dirty trick. But, based on Abraham’s relationship with God, he was certain he knew God’s character. Once, he even asked God in Genesis 18, “Will not the judge of all the earth do right?”
  • Abraham obeyed God’s unexpected command because he trusted God’s promise and knew him to be good and trustworthy. Abraham didn’t believe Isaac would die. In fact, God was so certain that Abraham knew God’s heart that He used Abrahams heart as a reflection of His own heart and the story as a prophetic foretelling of how God would be willing to sacrifice his own son to save mankind. James 2:23 “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Do we always hear God correctly?

• • Is it possible that SW on occasion misunderstood God’s instruction and acted incorrectly? SW was a damaged human as we all are, but even someone as dedicated and gifted at discerning God’s spirit as SW still leaves the possibility he occasionally misheard God.
  • I know, for myself, that when I have dedicated myself to seeking God’s will and hearing His voice on a matter that I have to wade through my own self-interests, desires and wounded-ness. I’m not always successful and get it wrong. (Still amazed at how often God still uses it for good.)
  • Even if SW actions in these cases were misguided, God still used it. Many Christians then and now denounce Wigglesworth and his actions. Yet, haven’t there been sincere Christians over the decades that have been sinful or misguided or who misunderstood God in certain ways but were still used by God because he honored their core faith and desire?
  • Jehu in 2 Kings was a man that did not always behave righteously but God blessed Jehu for his obedience to stand up for the things of God in certain matters, granting him a dynasty that lasted four generations. Eventually, God took His blessing away from him for willfully choosing to continue in sin. God still used the imperfect man Jehu.

3. Can God use violent acts to bring Himself glory and to win people to Christ?

That leads me to the question: Can an act of physicality/violence be an act of love?

Yes, I believe we see many examples of this:

1. Slapping someone who has become incoherent or extremely irrational.
2. Providing loving correction to a child by a healthy spanking
3. Providing for a person’s safety by shoving them away from oncoming danger
4. Using violence to protect a victim from violence
5. Performing invasive surgery for healing and to save a life – Going under the knife, as they say, is not intentionally violent but you can’t get much more physical – cutting flesh and breaking bone for a person’s welfare.

Where is the violence directed? – Jesus declared in Matthew 10:34 that he did not come to sprinkle peace but he came with a sword (machara) to do spiritual surgery for deep healing out of love. For SW, he was seeing in these people an evil spirit that had to be removed and God was leading him, on occasion, to get physical in this way.

Were those needing healing willing participants? – SW always prepared the people for what God was instructing him to do and then asked them for permission. Following Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding” and based on their desperate need and desire to stretch their faith, they would then give him permission.

What were the Results? – We have every right to make a judgement as to how a behavior stands up to the measure of Christ but there is no better measure than – was God called upon ‘In Jesus’ name’ and did God answer the call? SW exerted his anger and physicality towards the demons at the source of the damage and not to the person. The claim has been repeated that no one was ever hurt by his actions but only healed.

How do we handle others in Christian ministry who behave differently?

Jesus addressed a similar issue with his followers taking exception to “others” healing in Jesus’ name in Mark 9:38 – “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.”

Paul wrote something similar in Philippians 1:18 “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”

What about Matthew 7:1-3? – “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?”

We have every right and responsibility to size up anyone in Christian ministry based on scripture and to make decisions accordingly for how we are led. But, I believe it is clear that we are not called to “pass judgement” on how God can use what I may gauge as a biblicaly challenging ministry. By God’s leading we may be called upon to bring correction but my primary charge is to keep my focus on how God is leading me in the ministry I have been appointed to.

4. How/why might God use a man’s violent temper to accomplish His will?

   1. To compel into action– Upon seeing the demons who occupied the health of those seeking healing, did God redirected SW’s temper to forcefully attack those spirits? Perhaps God used Smith’s penchant for anger to motivate Smith into action.
   2. To connect with a culture – 1 Corinthians 9:22 Paul declares – “. . . I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” In this case God used a strong, working-class, hard-nosed individual to connect with the rugged common folk of the day.
   3. For the purpose of getting the people to focus their attention. SW said the reason he spoke bluntly and acted forcefully with people was that he knew he needed to get their attention so they could focus on God.

“God led him through anger directed toward the devil and sickness to act in a seemingly rough way. No one was ever recorded as being hurt by this startling treatment. Instead, they were remarkably healed. He believed that Satan should never be treated gently or allowed to get away with anything.” (From The Best of Smith Wigglesworth (pp. 234-235). Whitaker House.)

• For myself, on several occasions when praying for others, the thought has come into my mind/spirit that some people who step forward for prayer do not really believe anything will happen. They stand in a physical, mental and emotional fog. They even fear what a possible change to the unfortunate circumstances they have come to accept and let define them might mean to their lives. They are completely hopeless and faithless. Do they even want to be healed?
• In this regard, SW’s actions strike me as something like when Jesus asked what seems a merely rhetorical question “Do you want to be healed?” to the invalid in John 5:6. Of course he did. Or did he?
  • (BTW – This is also the very episode where when challenged by the Pharisees in John 5:19 Jesus declares, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”)
• On the occasions mentioned above I have felt compelled to ask the same question – “Do you want to be healed?” To be completely transparent there are times I have felt like some people needed a good slap to say, “Hey, wake up! God is really here and He wants to enter into your life to only do good for you.” (I have always resisted this temptation)
• Honestly, there are occasions when I have needed a good slap myself. Not a physical slap but God certainly knows how to lovingly jar me awake. (I’m left figuratively rubbing my jaw but saying, Ouch! I needed that!) It’s the kind of verbal slap (Jarring wake-up call) that Jesus gave the same healed beggar later on in John 5:14. Jesus catches up with the healed man now begging at the temple and says to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” In other words, “Hey, you have been given new life, don’t waste it by going back to the old life!” (smack!)

5. Did Jesus ever act out of anger or in a seemingly inappropriate way?

Did Jesus ever act out of Anger?

The only time in the Gospels Jesus is described using the word ‘angry’ was in Mark 3:1-6. He became angry/disappointed with the Pharisees lack of compassion for a man seeking to be healed on the Sabbath. What did Jesus do with that anger? – he transferred it to a show of love by healing the deformed hand.

In the case of Jesus cleansing the temple, most people assume Jesus was acting out of righteous anger. I would argue otherwise; that Jesus did not go into a wild rage but simply did a thorough cleansing to put his Father’s house back in order. However, if Jesus was acting out of anger the result was kingdom teaching, healing and joyous celebration of God.

Did Jesus act inappropriate at any time?

I’d argue – quite often. Let’s take Jesus’s healing the blind man in John 9:6-11 as an example. If I was able to fully listen to God’s instruction as an imitator of Christ and came upon a blind man that God showed me to, first spit on the ground, create mud and then smear it over this eyes. Would I do it? Furthermore, would I then tell him to wade through a crowd of people, likely laughing at his muddy face as he struggled to find water to wash it off? Would I really risk humiliating the man If that was the direction God gave me? Would I act on that instruction? Seems like a heartless and cruel joke to play on a blind person.

Yet, what was the result? Gloriously, the blind man’s sight was restored. Those who were laughing were now sobered by the healing reality. But, beyond that the man came to know that God was real, that God loved him and he was no longer defined by the sin others attributed to him – a man now experiencing the fullness of God by physical, emotional and spiritual freedom.

Not a violent bone in Jesus’s body?

Scripture indicates that Jesus was tempted in every way, so this likely means that he was tempted at some point to be violent. He resisted the temptation and remained our perfect example. Yet, there were some episodes where Jesus appears to be acting unkindly and out of Christ-like character.

Below are just a few examples of Jesus seemingly acting inappropriately:

1. 1. 1. As described above – when he humiliates the blind man by smearing mud on his face
      2. When he calls the Phoenician woman a dog
      3. When he casts demons into swine and they charge off a cliff to their death
      4. When he curses and kills a fig tree for not providing him figs
      5. When he waits 3 days and lets Lazarus die
      6. When he tells his disciples, that they can’t follow Him unless they hate their family

In these and other episodes there were people who were dismayed and even appalled by Jesus’ behavior. It wasn’t until the work was completed and we take a closer look that we can understand that this behavior was a means to fully realize God’s goodness, righteousness and truth.

If Jesus only did what the Father showed Him to do then these were examples of Jesus merely acting out how He was directed by the Father. Who of us fully knows the purpose of these awkward gyrations? I know I don’t and I’m pretty sure that there is no other person that knows with certainty why these actions were necessary for miracles to take place.

What do I know?

What do any of us really know about the endless capabilities of God? We do know that it was never the strange element Jesus used as part of the healing, but God’s hand in it. Whatever Jesus did, whether it was smearing mud, touching a tongue, giving a wet-willy, it was somehow about triggering faith – which always pleases God.

Finally, I recruited my tech-savvy friend Albert to search for a way to reach Smith Wigglesworth’s great Granddaughter, Lillian De Fin. He easily found her Facebook page. (I don’t know how I missed it). I reached out and asked Lillian about the infamous episode. She was generous to respond and I was not surprised by her message reprinted below:

“Hi David, I have heard my family discuss the healing of the baby on the stage. None of them were present when this healing took place. So, they can only repeat what they have heard. It would seem that many of the stories have been exaggerated over the years. From what I know the story is that the baby had a spinal problem. Most likely a condition known as spina-bifida. He did apparently put the baby on the stage and push it off the stage with his foot. The baby landed on his back fully healed. I am told many times the people would gasp at his actions but he always said “I know my business”. He operated in the gift of discerning of Spirits. My mom told me that at times he would see the demon causing the sickness and at other times he would see two hands touching the sick body. I think it’s unfortunate that people need to keep discussing the controversial healings when there are so many wonderful miracles that took place in grandpa’s ministry.”

Next Week: The Wigglesworth Dilemma – Part IV: Final Conclusions

---

Because of the continued interest in the ministry of Smith Wigglesworth, I have combined the posts with additional material into a book. Feel free to enjoy the posts or purchase the new book on Amazon.

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart! – Psalm 119:2

The Wigglesworth Dilemma – Definition: The apparent conflict between the behavior and Character of Christ found in the Gospels and what appears to be contrary behavior of some people in Christian healing ministry.

---

My search involves looking for a documented account of the infamous Smith Wigglesworth healing of a 2-year-old baby with spina bifida by throwing the boy against the wall and then kicking him like a soccer ball. Did this really happen and how could this behaviour possibly be reconciled to the Jesus I know?

Up to this point I have searched through over 15 books written about the life and ministry of Smith Wigglesworth (SW) and searched through numerous websites dedicated to keeping alive the legacy of Wigglesworth. So far I have found no documented record of this episode. These books and sites have recorded hundreds of miraculous healings – healings recorded in newspapers and through first-hand testimonies. Yet, even in what I would assume to be the most comprehensive listing of major SW miracles in the book titled, The Miracles of Smith Wigglesworth by Dr. Michael H Yeager this infamous episode is strangely absent. Why?

The closest account I found was in the book, Smith Wigglesworth: The Complete Story by Julian Wilson. On pages 126-127 it documents the following:

“According to eyewitness accounts, a child of around two years old with deformed feet was brought to the platform during a meeting to be prayed for. Wigglesworth requested that the infant be placed on the platform and then kicked the child into the audience. The child landed on its feet and ran off down the aisle.”

Hmmm? Not the same story but pretty amazing. Yet, it’s another story of SW kicking a child but not the same story of kicking an infant. Still, a reference to SW being led to kick a child as an avenue to see God’s healing power.

I’m left wondering; is this particular story of SW kicking an infant just some kind of urban legend or perhaps a conglomeration of different healing stories that people have mashed together over the years?

I Did Find This Story Documented. Where?

Of all places, the only place I could find this notorious account in writing was the one highlighted in my previous post via a posting by the BSA Louisiana State Director on the Northeast Arm-wrestling Message Board back in 2005. (What?) In the post the Director identifies that the story was “Legally Recorded” in some way. The Director is a Christian and he was sharing an article he had read about this amazing healing from the website Born-Again-Christian.org.

The only other documented account I found was a video clip from the TV program It’s Supernatural. On the show, the host Sid Roth describes the account and then the show moves on to Sid interviewing SW’s great granddaughter, Lillian de Fin, (who continues in wonderful Christian ministry). She mentions several healing accounts by her Great Grandfather but does not comment on the “kicking an infant” episode.

Digging Even Deeper

So, I went to the Born-Again-Christian.org site and found that the article was no longer there. I reached out to the editor and he was kind enough to respond with the following:

Dear David, Thank you for your note about Smith. I’ve not included that particular event on our articles, for many reasons. Smith was widely criticized by those ignorant about spiritual matters, and focusing on such an extreme example will only provide excuses to continue in that vein. It is mentioned in several books about SW, and I have no reason to doubt its veracity, but think it unwise to highlight it in your writing. Colin Melbourne English missionary in Asia

Hmmm? While this response caused me to pause and reconsider the “mission” I’ve set upon, I sensed God prodding me to press on and to “Keep Digging”

Regarding the Sid Roth program, I’ve looked up the several interviews I could find on line with Lillian de Fin and while she recounts many miraculous stories of healing by her Great Grandfather, she does not reference this particular account. I tried searching to contact her but failed to find a point of contact. (As you will see, I obviously didn’t look hard enough)

Is it just a myth or did it really happen? What I take from this additional information is there is a credible source who believes the story to be true as recorded in several books that I have failed to find. The indication, though, is that it seems an effort has been made to try and wipe it clean from the records by those trying to protect the Smith Wigglesworth legacy. (If that is true, I find it interesting how some things we try to hide, will likely only grow in their notoriety)

Still I wondered: Is that right? If Smith Wigglesworth was a true mighty man of God and the miracles were of God working through him, is it right to not fully glorify the works of God just because they are uncomfortable or not easily understood?

What Is Recorded of Smith’s “Violent” Behavior?

In fact, while there are several recorded accounts and acknowledgements of SW’s occasional healing practice involving slapping, punching, or kicking, the occurrences recorded seem rare. The indication is also that these were not acts of extreme violence. The slap, punch or kick were startling but not actually ‘heavy handed’ or forceful.

When asked about this behavior, Wigglesworth would answer, “It’s not my fault that you got in the way of the devil.” SW’s claim was that God told him to get physical with some of the infirmed who came to him. The physical acts were aimed at the spiritual enemy at the core of the illness. In other words, he was exerting anger towards the demons at the source of the damage and not to the person. The claim has been repeated that no one was ever hurt by his actions but only healed. However, based on my requirements for confirming a word from God, what can I possibly conclude?

Reconciling Smith Wigglesworth’s violent actions with The Character of Christ

Let me reiterate that this is my journey of discovery that I am sharing. I will admit at this point that my hope/desire is to seek answers to come to grips with SW’s actions. As I have learned, his life as a Christ-Follower and an example as an imitator of Christ was too significant and his ministry too powerful to cast aside because of a few episodes where my sensibilities make me turn off my ability to seek after God in a deeper way. Christ challenges us to be seekers. He beckons us to “seek first the kingdom” and to “seek and you shall find.”

Seeking Answers:

What can soften the “blow” of Wigglesworth’s actions? Is there any basis for God working through Smith Wigglesworth using violent acts?

I came up with these 5 questions as I sought God’s wisdom on the matter:

1. Has God Used His People through Violent Means Before?
2. Does God choose to use imperfect/flawed human beings?
3. Can God use violent acts to bring Himself glory and to win people to Christ?
4. How/why might God use a man’s violent temper for His purpose?
5. Jesus was never violent but did He ever act out of anger or inappropriately?

Next Week:The Wigglesworth Dilemma – Part III: Answers

---

Because of the continued interest in the ministry of Smith Wigglesworth, I have combined the posts with additional material into a book. Feel free to enjoy the posts or purchase the new book on Amazon.

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding – Job 37:5

Pursuing Hearing Gods Voice

In pursuing a more active relationship with Jesus by seeking to hear and know His voice, I have determined to establish certain disciplines to give me confidence that what is coming into my spirit/mind is from God. Most critical is determining . . . 1. Is what I’m hearing consistent with the goodness, righteousness and truth of God in scripture and 2. Is it a reflection of the overall Character of Jesus – Using Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” as the core description of Jesus’ character.

My personal conviction is that, at its core, exercising all spiritual disciplines and spiritual ‘sign’ gifts involves hearing God’s voice (being instructed) in some form. Jesus declared in the Gospel of John:

• John 12:49– “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”
• And in John 5:19– Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

So, if we are to trust the spoken word (rhema) that flows into our mind and spirit, we must know his voice which is best captured in the written word/scripture(logos)and consistent with the overall Character of Christ as revealed in scripture.

• Hebrews 4:12– For the word (Logos) of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
• Romans 10:17– So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema) of God.
• Ephesians 6:17– And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (rhema) of God:

If Jesus came to be our example (albeit perfect example) to follow – only doing what he saw the Father do and only saying what he heard the Father say, are we not called to be imitators of Christ? – Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma, to follow how He lived his life.–Ephesians 5:1-2

Likewise, Jesus said that those who follow him would know his voice. – My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. – John 10:27

Who do I imitate?

I am a Christ-follower who believes that the ‘sign’ Gifts of the Spirit (miraculous healing as an example) are for today. They have been practiced by men and women of faith for centuries since Christ. Have there been abuses over the centuries? YES.

How much of what is marvelously good as God’s creation has been stolen and abused for wrong or misguided or selfish purposes? Do we throw it all out because of those who abuse what is good?

While on this journey I have checked out various ministries, and been challenged by some as to whether they are a good reflection of what I’ve come to know about the Character of Jesus – i.e. good imitations (none of us are perfect imitations). If I gauge that they fall seriously short, I move on undeterred in my belief that these gifts from God are still real and true.

Yet, I wonder if it is possible to exercise these Spiritual gifts even when those exercising the gifts are not the most consistent reflection of the Jesus found in the Gospels?

While I have come across a number of good and (what I gauge to be) biblically accurate ministries regularly experiencing signs and wonders, there have been some pastors, preachers, evangelists, healing ministries (allowing for their inevitable flawed humanity to surface) that I have decided – Well, I cannot reject that God is involved, but this is just not a ministry I will associate with.

Paul, in one of the boldest statements of faith made by any Christian says in 1 Corinthians 11:1“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”The writer of Hebrews goes on to encourage, “that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”We are to not only look to Christ but look to those tangible, in-the-flesh Christians who have demonstrated to be faithful and good imitators of Christ.

The Wigglesworth Dilemma

Yet, how do we handle those in Christian ministry who I gauge do not always line up with the standard of the character of Christ? Their imitation of the Christ I see and know from scripture does not seem an accurate one? Instead of displaying the Fruit of the Spirit, I see someone who is harsh, judgmental, self-righteous, flamboyant, maybe even angry and mean – even violent! And yet God seems to be using them to draw people to Himself.

Let’s take the infamous preacher/evangelist and agent of miracles of the early 1900’s, Smith Wigglesworth (SW) and some of his practices as an example.

SW has come to be known for resorting to violence; slapping, punching and kicking those that would seek out miraculous healing from God. His life and ministry is controversial among some Christian circles today. He claimed that God would instruct him to punch, slap or kick some of the infirmed who came to him.

Many celebrate his dedication to hearing God’s voice and faithfully acting upon God’s instruction with miraculous results. But, some other Christ-followers are offended by his actions and reject him as an authentic minister of God. Based on my requirements for confirming a word from God, what would I conclude about Smith Wigglesworth? Perhaps his most infamously challenging episode is found in the following account:

The Healing GOOOOOOOAAL!

This particular episode described below, is the clearest version of various versions I have heard. This account goes as follows:

A 2-month-old baby boy was born with a defect known as spina bifida where the spine grows outside of the body. The child was being cared for in the hospital but the parents had little hope for their child’s survival. The parents stole their baby from the hospital and brought the child to a Smith Wigglesworth service and asked Smith to pray for him.

Smith held that baby in his arms and prayed to God. He then asked the Mother and Father “Will you allow me to do what the Father is telling me?” They replied “Certainly.”

Smith raised the child over his head and prayed. The Mother and Father praised God thinking Smith was lifting the child in a symbolic dedication to God. What was Smith led to do? Smith threw the baby against the wall! The baby fell to the ground as Smith then went up to the baby and kicked it like a football (Soccer Ball).

The Mother and Father were horrified by Smith’s actions. In shock, they ran over to their baby. But, they were stunned to find their baby alert and not even crying. Inspecting the baby, they realized it was totally and miraculously healed. Not a single bruise or marking was on the child and the spine was returned to a normal state.

The parents then took the baby back to the hospital so they, by print, could confirm that the baby was indeed the same child.

I’ve heard other slightly different versions of the story including describing the baby as recently died and then brought back to life.

Applaud or Appalled?

Okay, regardless of the version, it involves kicking an infant. This action divides the Christian community into two camps – those who applaud and those who are appalled.

Some Christians applaud it as an amazing example of Wigglesworth’s dedication to discerning God’s directive and acting on it. While others are completely appalled by something so contrary to their understanding of the character of Christ and the way Jesus behaved as documented in scripture.

And, based upon my disciplines for confirming God’s voice, I go to scripture. With Jesus as my example, do I see him ever being physically violent with those he sought to bring healing? Easy enough – No.

In Matthew 19:14-15 Jesus famously declared his affection for little children – “Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.”Mathew records Jesus laying on of hands but I guess he must have failed to record that part about Jesus kicking kids like a football.

I must say that the life of Smith Wigglesworth created a real dilemma for me as it has for some other Christians. As I reviewed his life and ministry, I saw a man totally dedicated to God’s word and the things of God, in every other way living out the full Fruit of the Spirit. A minister of God who repeatedly confirmed that his sole purpose was to lead people into a right relationship with God and who saw thousands come to Christ through his ministry. His life and these particular aspects of his ministry challenged my notion of how God works through His people.

So, I set on a mission to take a deeper dive into the life and ministry of Smith Wigglesworth and to find the writings documenting this particular (kicking an infant) episode. I wanted to see if I could reconcile this behavior to the Christ I know and who is described in scripture and to the biblical standard I have set for hearing and acting upon God’s voice.

Next Week:The Wigglesworth Dilemma – Part II: The Search