Penny’s baby
In my previous article about the healing power of the mind, I confessed that I have been praying for my mother to be healed from an incurable disease that has dramatically affected her speech.
In that article, I revealed that I had received a most unexpected (but welcome) email from spiritual healer Carol Everett, inspiring me to ask for her help.
If you happened to read that article, you might be wondering how my mother is doing. Well, in my honest opinion, she’s doing much better. In fact, I’d have to say that my mother’s condition has improved significantly.
However, if you asked me if my mother has been completely healed, I’d have to say no…at least, not yet. Helped, or improved, absolutely. But completely healed? No. http://ifcus.org/about.php Not yet.
What does this mean? How should I interpret what I would describe as good, but not an instantaneous cure? Should I be discouraged? I don’t think so.
Was I asking too much of God, to heal an elderly woman? Absolutely not. The Creator of this universe from absolutely nothing, the Animator of lifeless matter into a living organism, can literally do anything He wants. This “naturally” includes healing the sick and even resurrecting the dead. However, the phrasing of that sentence was deliberate and crucial to get right…it’s what God wants, not what I want, that matters.
God is our Creator, not our personal valet. It would be arrogant and foolish to make demands of God.
Admittedly, some atheists have created websites asking clever questions like “why won’t God heal amputees?” to mock the idea that literally, there is nothing God cannot do. The truth of the matter is that person isn’t serious about anything except mocking the religious faith of other people. Oftentimes, an atheist can experience a miracle, but later convince himself that it didn’t really happen the way he remembers. God could heal an amputee in front of the national convention of American Atheists, and no one in attendance would believe what they had seen.
But let me try to stay on topic. Because my mother continues to suffer from some effects of her disease, does this mean I now think Carol is a fraud, or that God doesn’t answer prayers, or perform modern miracles? Absolutely not. If anything, I’m more convinced than ever that Carol is Koper not a con artist, for the following reasons:
- If this was a scam, someone surely would have “demanded” money by this point. As of this writing, Carol hasn’t received a dime from me, nor asked for money. And, of course, vice versa.
- Carol has been submitted to scientific attempts by researchers to test her abilities of recognizing and “treating” serious medical conditions using some sort of telepathic power, with apparently remarkable results.
- Testimonial videos and documentaries– the people involved are obviously not professional actors. They genuinely believe they have been helped or “cured” because Carol prayed, or meditated, or did whatever she does.
Before Carol started trying to help her, my mother could no longer complete a sentence longer than “Thank you!” or “I love you.”
However, a few days ago when I called, for the first few minutes, my mother was speaking to me as clearly as she had when I was a child. Gradually (after I commented on her noticeable improvement), she began to struggle completing her sentences a bit, and sounded like speaking was again taking more effort than it should.
For a moment, I was sure that I had heard a miracle. Perhaps the doubts and shocked disbelief that briefly entered my own mind were what caused my mother to falter.
Although her speech is slower, and sounds roughly comparable to a recovering stroke victim, my mother is now once again able to speak in complete sentences.
Last week, she couldn’t. Praise God!
And sincere thanks to Carol, for her assistance. I don’t know exactly what she’s doing, or how she does it, but it definitely seems to be helping.
Yes, I believe in miracles. What a theist might claim to be a miracle, doctors would probably describe as “spontaneous remission” — a phenomenon which does happen.
Cardiologist Chauncey Crandall is an experienced, highly qualified medical professional. He’s a very capable doctor. Yet in spite of his best efforts, Jeff Markin died after suffering a massive heart attack, because there are limits to what human beings can accomplish through science and medicine, even with great skill and training.
Seeking help from the best doctor available during a medical crisis or serious concern is always the wisest course of action. But when science and medicine don’t offer answers or hope, it’s also wise to develop a plan “B”.
God raised Jeff Markin from the dead. Dr. Crandall served as the means of doing so.
If you don’t believe Dr. Crandall is a real doctor, simply Google his name. Or visit his website. If you still question his credentials or the veracity of his account, please leave a comment below, explaining your rationale. God provided the miracle of life, restored to Jeff Markin, and Dr. Crandall was the vehicle by which this miracle occurred.
Also, in this testimonial video, a young mother named Penny is thanking Carol Everett for helping her daughter, who had been born with cysts on her brain. The infant’s eyes didn’t focus. Her appetite was poor, and her kidneys didn’t function properly.
But today, according to Penny, her daughter has been healed, and leads a normal life.
Skeptics probably won’t believe Penny’s testimonial, no matter how much evidence was provided in support of her claims. But why not? Why assume that she’s lying, or worse, part of a criminal conspiracy? It seems to me that skeptics often reject God because they do not want to believe He exists. They don’t want to believe that miracles are possible, because like me, they probably don’t consider themselves worthy of seeing one.
Skeptics tend to reject even a scrap of evidence that fails to conform to their existing atheistic worldview, but Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.”
Even more important, the next verses elaborate on what Matthew 7:7 means:
8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!“
Frankly, I don’t care what skeptics want to believe. If conventional treatments for this condition worked, I wouldn’t have needed to ask God for a miracle, I don’t think God would allow me to be deceived by fraud after sincere prayers and fasting, so I don’t think Dr. Crandall or Jeff Markin were lying.
I believe Penny, and Jonnie Brown, for the same reason I believe myself–there is no benefit to deceiving total strangers with a false story. Who profits from a deliberate lie? Not me.
It doesn’t matter to me what anybody else thinks because today, albeit with some difficulty, my mother can complete a sentence that she wasn’t able to say a week ago.
While this is not connected to a faith healer, nor prayers on my part (though I am a Christian…) I had a couple of rather remarkable experiences of the same ilk as yours. My mother had been suffering from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease for an extended period of time. She had not spoken a complete sentence to me for the better part of a year. A word here, a word there nothing more. Two times something rather remarkable happened. Once on Christmas and once on my birthday – four months later – I received a call from my mother. Both times when I picked up the phone (not knowing who was calling) she started speaking to me and we had a perfectly normal, totally lucid, clear as a bell, conversation. She was TOTALLY their! Those were the only times in the last couple of years of her life she was conversant… It brings tears to my eyes just talking about it..