A FALSE DOCTRINE THAT HINDERED SMITH WIGGLESWORTH UP TO HE WAS FORTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD BY DR. MICHEAL H. YEAGER
Smith Wigglesworth was a man who truly knew God and walked with God. In the later years of his life, he had amazing miracles. From the time he was 48 until he went home to be with the Lord at 87 years old. I have always looked upon Smith as a perfect example of what every believer can be. Now, I know many of those have said that Smith Wigglesworth was an Apostle of faith, but Smith himself never claimed this in any of his teachings.
I have written over 40 books about Smith through the years. These are many different books dealing with many different subjects. Until he turned 48 years old, there was not one recorded miracle in his life. Now we know that Smith never read anything but the Bible. In third grade, he had to quit school to work in a factory to support his family. They were very poverty-stricken and poor in those days. Smith was born again at eight years old at his grandma’s church, who was a Methodist.
Smith was the first one in their family that was saved. Smith is the one who led his dad, his mom, and the rest of his family to the Lord. At eight years old, Smith gave his heart to Christ; he had an encounter with Jesus Christ. From that moment until Smith was 48 years old, he was a tremendous soul-winner. In his teenage years, he met his future wife, Polly. I wrote a book about Polly and the amazing woman of God she was.
When Smith met her as a teenager, she was a fiery evangelist with the salvation army. Smith also worked with the salvation army, and they were just tremendous soul winners. Now what’s so strange is that from the time that Smith was born again, he was passionate and deeply in love with God. He always read his Bible and prayed nonstop. Yet he did not have a miracle in his life until he was 48 years old. When it came to people being healed or delivered, there is not even one miracle recorded.
Smith led people to Christ, but there were no healings or supernatural experiences. Smith also had a challenging time communicating and speaking. Polly, his wife, was the preacher. Polly taught him how to read and write. He read nothing but the Bible. But whenever Smith would get up to preach or speak, he would stumble, stutter, and hesitate. His mother had the same problem. She would repeat the same word repeatedly before she could get the following word out!
But when he was 48 years old, suddenly, he changed! He went to a meeting, and from that moment forward, he came home, he became a preaching machine. Okay, so what was the difference? Why did Smith not have all these amazing, powerful signs and wonders in his early years? Why was it only in his later years? For one reason, he was not baptized in the Holy Ghost until he was 48 years old. When he was baptized in the Holy Ghost with the gift of speaking in tongues from that moment forward, he was mightily used by God.
But let’s talk about why Smith did not get baptized in the Holy Ghost until he was 48 years old. You see, when Smith heard that they were being filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, he got very curious and decided to go to this church where the Holy Ghost was falling. He had to travel a great distance, and he attended every night in every meeting. As a matter of fact, he argued with the pastor. He argued with the church’s people saying that he already had the Holy Ghost without the tongues!
Finally, on the day he had to go back home, he ended up at the pastor’s house. When the wife looked to see who was at the door, she said: The wife said, oh no, it’s that Smith Wigglesworth. When they let him into the kitchen, Smith fell to his knees in their kitchen. He told the pastor and his wife, I’m not leaving till I’m baptized in the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues.
Well, God met him there on that kitchen floor. Now, Smith did not get filled with the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues up to that moment because of ONE WRONG DOCTRINE. We need to talk about this crucial issue. One wrong Doctrine can cut you off from so much that God has made available for you. Now think about this, all of those years, Smith had believed a false doctrine which kept him out of the place of the supernatural, the miraculous. Remember, once he was Baptized in the Holy Ghost, he was empowered to not only preach but to cast out devils, heal the sick, cleanse the Lepers, and to raise the dead.
What was that false Doctrine? It was this: he believed that when he got born again, at that moment he had received the Holy Ghost. That’s what he believed. Not only did he believe this, but almost every believer in that generation believed this. Even Smith’s wife, Polly, believed this. When Smith got baptized in the Holy Ghost, he telegraphed his wife and said, Honey, I have been baptized in the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues.
She telegraphed back and said, oh, Smitty, you’ve always had the Holy Ghost. That one false Doctrine kept most believers from being filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, if you embrace that Doctrine (I received the Holy Ghost when I was born again), you will not hunger for a fulfilling of the biblical promises that John the Baptist gave.
Matthew 3:11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Because of that false Doctrine, it kept Smith out of the supernatural because he believed he was filled with the Holy Ghost when he was born again. Now the truth of the matter is when you were born again, you did not get the Holy Ghost. What did I get? You received the Spirit of Christ, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
See, after you were born again, the Spirit of Jesus comes into your heart, transforms it, and prepares your heart for the one who is to come alongside the Comforter. The Holy Ghost comes within us when you receive Him by faith! He now empowers and enables us to do the will of God. Jesus told the disciples that they were not supposed to leave Jerusalem until they were baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Now Jesus had breathed on them in the gospel of John, and that is when they were born again. It is exactly what God did when they created man in the garden.
Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Because Smiths’ generation was taught that one false Doctrine, it kept them out of the greatest gift, other than salvation, other than Jesus, that any believer could ever receive. This is what’s happening in the church of today. People have embraced wrong doctrines. False Doctrines are cutting many believers off of so many of the blessings that God has for them when it comes to healing and true biblical prosperity. The purpose of wealth is to establish the covenant.
Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
Wrong Doctrine is keeping believers from their God-given authority when it comes to meditation when it comes to what the Word of God does within us and true deliverance. There is so much wrong teaching, and this is why we’re not experiencing and walking in the fullness of what God has for us because we have embraced some doctrine or doctrines that do not exactly line up with the word and will of God.
Smith Wigglesworth, for forty years, since he was eight years old, could have been moving the Holy Ghost. He could have been moving in the power of God. He could have been moving, in the spirit. But all those years, he was a stranger to the supernatural. Why? Because of one wrong Doctrine.
But when his doctrines were corrected, that stronghold was finally pulled down, when it was finally dealt with, and finally he opened the door for God to move upon him and baptize him in the Holy Ghost and fire with power and authority.
2 Corinthians 10:4 (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) 5 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Only then did Smith take off like a rocket.
From the time he was 48 until he went home to be with Jesus at 87, he had miracle after miracle after miracle. Many believers in their minds think that they are waiting for God to do something, but God is waiting for them.
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
What keeps us out of the fullness of what God has for us? What Doctrines, attitude, theology, thought, and philosophy is stopping us? My friend, we can experience a much greater move of God. Thank God that Smith saw the light and was baptized in the Holy Ghost. He could have easily died as just a plumber if he had not been baptized in the Holy Ghost at 48. A born-again, God-loving, God-fearing WORD embracing plumber, but with no miracles or power!
Smith had been taught a wrong doctrine, and even though he read many scriptures about the promise of the Holy Ghost because he already thought he had the Holy Ghost, it cut him off from the actual experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. So, whatever the devil is using to cut us off from all that God has for us, may the Lord open our eyes and bring us to that fullness of the spirit.
– Dr. Michael H Yeager
Credit- JESUS SAVES TV
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