February 2018

MEET AGNES SANFORD—AGAIN!

BLOG 74 February 26, 2018 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

Robert Wise explores the world of Divine intervention from an objective point of view. Can 21st Century people believe that the hand of God touches people in today’s world? Read and you’ll find new insights.

I’m sharing again some of my experiences with one of the most gifted people I’ve ever known. You can find the original blogs on Agnes Sanford back in September, 2017. However, I’m repeating some encounters that I think have important value for today.

Many people came to Agnes through the years, but not everyone was restored in some dramatic way. Some people went home the way they came. I wondered how she knew what to pray for all of these people. Agnes had an answer.

Before she prayed, Agnes listened to hear the mind of God. What intentions did he have for the specific person in need? If she felt healing was not possible at that moment, Agnes blessed the person. When she got a green light, she interceded for the specific need.

If you didn’t know Agnes, you’d think that her praying about the wind, earth, and sky was off the scale. However, she prayed about hurricanes, against wild fires, and for the rain to start and stop because she believed it was the will of God for humanity to do so

Once during a conference in Southern California with people seated outside, the rain started to hit. She looked up and said, “I’ve got five more minutes then you can start. Please wait.” The rain stopped. When she finished, Agnes looked up again and said “Okay, you can start now.” It did. The crowd stared. The issue was the will of God.

The same was true for dying. I knew that Ted Sanford had a powerful, pleasant dream about dying that occurred five days before his death. Agnes had suggested it might be prophetic of what was to come. When the end came, it was just as Ted had dreamed. Neither Agnes nor Ted were afraid of death as they lived in the light of the resurrection. When her friend and house companion Edith Drury called to tell me that Agnes had died, the same amazing dimension had been there.

Agnes came out of her bedroom one morning and told Edith that she believed the Lord was calling her to fly. Could Edith see if a glider might be found to take them for a ride? As she always did, Edith accepted the unusual request in stride and started calling local airports. A week later, Agnes came out as she always did with an adjusted request.

“I think I got it wrong,” she said.

“Really?” Edith answered.

“Yes. I don’t believe I’m suppose to fly in an airplane. I think it’s time for me to go. I believe I should die.”

“Are you certain? I mean – well, after all –”

“I think so. Please call the women in our prayer group to come over and pray for me. I think I’m supposed to leave on Sunday.”

Edith shrugged. “I’ll do what you tell me. Yes, I’ll call them right now.”

On Sunday, the small group of people gathered around Agnes’s bed and began to pray for her release. In a short time, she was gone. Agnes died on February 21, 1982, the day celebrated in many churches as the Feast of the Transformation. It certainly was hers.

February 27, 2018 by revwise Categories: Dr. Robert Wise interview, MiraclesTags: Agnes Sanford, The Healing Light Leave a comment

MEET AGNES SANFORD

BLOG 73 February 19, 2018 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

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Agnes Mary White Sanford came out of a world that no longer exists. Her father Hugh Watt White and mother Augusta were Presbyterian ministers and missionaries in Hsuchoufu, China back in the days when the Western Church world saw that far off land as a place of mystery and romantic intrigue. She wrote her own story in Sealed Orders and didn’t want some anonymous person adjusting her story or taking apart her personal theology. Consequently, this chapter is not about Agnes Sanford per se, but my experience of and with her.

I not only knew Agnes, but taught in her School of Pastoral Care. During that time, I became acquainted with Dr. Harry Goldsmith whose healing and emotional restoration laid the foundation for the healing of the memories ministry that had a worldwide impact.

While Agnes has been gone from this world for three and a half decades, her quest for the miraculous remains highly instructive. She has much to tell us about interaction with the heavenly Father and how we can access the miraculous realm. While her personal orientation was unusual, her devotion to discovering the pathway to prayers for healing remains anyone can follow.

The first time I came to Agnes’s home in Monrovia, California, Edith Drury opened the door and ushered me in. Edith believed she had been called of God to shepherd Agnes in her later years after Ted died. She ushered me into the living room where Agnes sat reading a book.

“Oh, Robert! Do come in and sit down.”

“I wanted to inquire further about your work with healing prayer. I’m concerned to know more about praying for sick people.”

“Excellent,’” Agnes repeated. “We can certainly talk about that subject.”

We conversed easily and she rambled awhile about her life. Her pastor at the local Episcopal Church was Morton Kelsey who was to become internationally known for his writing. At that moment, little did I realize that I would in time become Morton’s bishop. We were simply talking, sharing our journeys, and eating sweet rolls.

After talking for awhile, Agnes walked out on the veranda. Monrovia is set in the foothills above Los Angeles and her house was on a steep mountainside. Standing with a piece of bakery roll in her hand, she seemed oblivious when a bird flew down and landed on her wrist. The bird pecked off a piece of bread and then flew off. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“I thought I saw a bird land on you,” I said.

“Oh yes,” she said casually. “They do that you know. I’ve never seen that bird before.”

That experience was my introduction to the unusual relationship Agnes had with nature. Dogs, birds, snakes, animals loved her and she developed an extraordinary capacity to pray for the earth and wind. Her amazing relationship with nature plays a part in her healing work.

Next week, we’ll dig deeper.

February 20, 2018 by revwise Categories: Dr. Robert Wise interview, miraculousTags: Praying for the sick, school of Pastoral Care Leave a comment

YOU JUST NEVER KNOW

BLOG 72 February 12, 2018 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

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A number of years ago, I experienced a divine intervention that restored my health virtually overnight. At that time, I knew nothing about miracles, divine healing, or the work of the Holy Spirit. As I recovered, I set out to understand how I had experienced such an extraordinary recovery.

During my investigations of the work of the Holy Spirit, I realized that many of the concepts that involved healing could be taught just as churches taught evangelism or prayer. Not everyone got the ideas, but I observed many people recovering a ministry that they never conceived was possible. Eventually, I began traveling to congregations and teaching people how they might develop a healing ministry. Eventually, I taught in Taiwan and England.

On one of these trips I went to Holland, Michigan, a center of Old Dutch Calvinism that didn’t believe in the gifts of the Spirit as a contemporary reality. I knew there would be a significant resistance to my subject matter, but I ploughed ahead. I began with a Friday night gathering and introduced the subject of healing. All through Saturday morning, I shared what I learned. As expected, the attendance was meager.

On Sunday, I held a healing service in a church that had never experienced such a thing. The attendance was even smaller, but I had expected resistance. As I always did, I invited anyone needing healing to come forward. A few people responded.

However, one couple stood out in my mind. A local university professor and his wife knelt at the front of the church and handed me a slip of paper describing the problem. He had pancreatic cancer. An incurable, deadly disease that usually takes a life within weeks or months at best.

I prayed as fervently as I knew how with the laying on of hands. Nothing spectacular happened, but I could feel what I believed was the Holy Spirit working through me. I finished, said “Amen,” and they returned to their pew. The service was over. Everyone went home and I flew away in a jet.

Six months later another professor from the same university was in my office working on an architectural project. We poured over the illustrations that he had brought in with him.

Finally, he straightened and asked if I remembered praying for the young man with pancreatic cancer. I knew what he would probably say. I was wrong.

“I saw him yesterday. He told me to tell you that the cancer is gone now. It just disappeared. He was healed.

Even though I came believing, I was still astonished. You just never know.

February 13, 2018 by revwise Categories: Divine Intervention, MiraclesTags: cancer-free, instantly healed 1 Comment

MEET MIKE AND BETH Part Two

BLOG 71 February 5, 2018 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

The ideas in this blog were first posted last summer, but the amazing event remains touching and are good for a second look. During their work with the Vineyard Ministry, significant gifts from the Holy Spirit came forth for Mike and Beth. Prophetic insight helped to propel significant spiritual growth in Oklahoma City. Mike also began to experience a healing ministry.

During a conference in Monterrey, Mexico, Mike was working with local citizens who were “the poorest of the poor but the richest in faith.” During an evening service with robust singing and praise, a blind elderly woman was led forward for prayer assisted by two young people. A group of ministers assembled around Mike and all of them began to pray, asking the Holy Spirit to restore her sight.

As he interceded, Mike felt like he was being transported from Monterrey into a page out of the New Testament. While he was internally experiencing that ancient scene, the old woman began to cry.

“Yo veo!” the woman sobbed. “Yo veo?”

“I think she sees,” the minister next to Mike whispered.

Over and over again, the woman gave thanks and praise to Jesus Christ for healing her. As the service ended, she rushed out into the streets to tell everyone that she had received this wonderful healing. Her sight was restored.

As the evening ended, the teaching of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 rang in Mike’s ears. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel … and the recovery of sight to the blind.” In the same way a gift of healing had become part of Mike’s ministry.

The divine interventions and miracles have continued through the years for Mike and Beth as they reach out to the needs of others.

What can we learn?

Since the Western World is living in an age that considers empirical data to be supreme, some of Mike and Beth’s accounts may sound over the top to hard-nosed secularists. The prevailing world view of the modern world insists on scientific data and demonstrable facts. Obviously, some of the foregoing does not fit the mold. So, what do we do?

I’d suggest we change our world view.

If we are to understand miracles and learn how to live with divine interventions, we need to make a paradigm shift. We must recognize that the transcendent dimension won’t fit in a test tube or calculate on a computer. God’s world and Word must be encountered in God’s terms. The failure to face up to this reality will keep the door shut that must be opened in order to have some insight into divine interruptions. Mike and Beth can teach us a number of things about the doors we often keep closed. They grew up with the door open.

Has the promise, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel … and the recovery of sight to the blind,” become out dated? Has the work of healing ministry stopped? Review some of these blogs and you’ll get the picture.

Miracles have never ceased!

February 7, 2018 by revwise Categories: Dr. Robert Wise interview, MiraclesTags: Blind eyes healed, Healing Ministry Leave a comment