Biography
Fred Francis Bosworth was born on January 17, 1877, in Nebraska, and grew up on a farm. He was converted as a boy and was drawn to music. He played the cornet and, as a young man, traveled with a band. In his early twenties, he went to Zion City, Illinois, the community founded by the healing evangelist John Alexander Dowie. There he saw divine healing practiced, and he was deeply moved. He came to believe that Christ heals the sick today. He was himself healed of a lung condition, he said, and he began to speak of the healing ministry.
In 1910 he moved to Texas, where he came into contact with the Pentecostal movement. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to preach in the Pentecostal churches. He also became involved in a church in Dallas. In 1914 he was one of the founders of the Assemblies of God, which was formed at a meeting in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was in the early leadership. However, in 1918, he withdrew from the Assemblies of God over a doctrinal dispute. He did not accept the view that speaking in tongues is the necessary sign of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He felt that it was not required by Scripture. He later joined the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
He is best known as a healing evangelist. In the 1920s, he began to hold large campaigns across North America. He worked with his brother, B. B. Bosworth, who was also a preacher and an organizer, and the two men held meetings in cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Toronto and Miami. Crowds numbered in the thousands, and the meetings drew great attention. He prayed for the sick, and many were reported to be healed. His campaigns were marked by plain preaching, congregational singing and a stress on faith in the promises of God.
In 1924 he published a book, Christ the Healer, which set out his teaching on the subject. It was based on a series of sermons, and it is regarded as one of the classics of the divine healing movement. He argued that healing is part of the atonement and that it is the will of God for all. He used a detailed examination of Scripture to make his case. The book has been in print for a century and has been revised and reprinted many times. He also spoke on the radio and was among the first evangelists to use the medium. In the 1920s, he broadcast over the NBC network.
He was a gentle and careful man, and he avoided hype. He warned that healing was not to be pursued as a goal in itself and that its purpose was to point to Christ. Still, his teaching has been criticized, since it can lead some to blame themselves when healing does not come. He acknowledged that there were cases in which people were not healed, and he said that he did not know why.
In his later years, he went on tour in Latin America and Africa. In the 1950s, he held campaigns in Cuba and in other countries, and he also supported the ministry of the young evangelist T. L. Osborn and others. He continued preaching almost until the end.
He died on January 16, 1958, in Miami, Florida, one day before his eighty-first birthday. His life shows the importance of one who does the patient work of teaching on the subject of healing and who has the humility to say that he does not know everything.