TOUCHDOWN IN A HOSPITAL

Blog 126
July 22, 2019

football

MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

You might also want to look at the widely read blog on the MIDDLE EAST from Robert L. Wise, Ph.D. which features weekly updates on little known facts about Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, countries where he has traveled and worked.

TOUCHDOWN IN A HOSPITAL

Two things are predictable in Oklahoma in the summer. Football season is about to start and everyone’s attention is focused on which team is going to the top. And it’s hot! You can bet the temperature is headed for 1000. Newspapers run stories about frying an egg on the sidewalk.

High school senior Sam Tignor embraced both football and the heat out there on the practice field in Deer Creek, Oklahoma, on June 28. The weather people said it would be hot, but the heat index shot up and with a worse turn that day that took people by surprise. Out on the practice field getting in shape, Sam got the full intensity of the blazing sun.

With sweat rolling off his forehead, he staggered to the bench and tried to cover his face. Suddenly, he began to vomit. His eyes rolled back in his head. Sam began to convulse and went into seizures. Tumbling to the ground, he passed out.

His coach father Lance immediately recognized how serious the situation was. Sam had to get to the hospital at once. Loading the unconscious young man in the backseat of a pickup truck, they raced to a hospital which turned out to be the only one in the area equipped to deal with such a problem.

The emergency room raced into action. Sam was packed in a high-tech cooling vest. A breathing tube was placed in his throat. Doctors went to work, but soon came out with a grim prognosis. The next 24 to 72 hours were critical. Sam would be in a comma and could go either way. There was a strong possibility that Sam wouldn’t make it. Sam had suffered a heat stroke.

The physician immediately put him on the liver transplant list as his liver was failing with no hope of recovery. An enzyme count of 30-40 is normal, but Sam’s was over 8,000. If he did survive, Sam would need a transplant.

Sam’s grandfather was a minister with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The word went out in every direction calling on people to pray. His aunt Susan was in touch with groups that prayed. People were praying in Mexico and Africa. Intercessors in the Philippines and other states in America prayed for Sam. Visitors prayed by his bedside as well as total strangers across the world.

After a couple of days, one of the nurses said, “I’ve never heard the doctor use the word ‘miracle’ before. He is suddenly calling Sam “the miracle boy.” His mother Dusti had said earlier, “whether he makes it, or goes the other way, we are still believers.” Now the nurses and doctors were telling her, “You know this is a miracle? Right?”

The breathing tube is gone and his voice returning. Sam will be going home shortly. What happened? When people from all over the world prayed, their intercessions became like a giant power line sending life into Sam’s failing body. Life surged through Sam where previously there had been damage.

Does prayer work? Sam will certainly tell you it does. His recovery is a miracle that kicked the ball right over the goal post!

EACH WEEK WE WILL BE HERE. Find us on line: MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

SURPRISED BY GRACE

Blog 125
July 15, 2019

hospital

MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

You might also want to look at the widely read blog on the MIDDLE EAST from Robert L. Wise, Ph.D. which features weekly updates on little known facts about Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, countries where he has traveled and worked.

SURPRISED BY GRACE

Kimberly McConnell’s mother called to tell me that Kimberly was facing a frightening ordeal. Kimberly had struggled with drug addiction for decades in addition to being bipolar, a psychological problem. She had just taken an MRI test with a renowned surgeon who found tumors all over her pancreas. The possibility of cancerous growth was high. The surgeon wanted to remove her entire pancreas which would have left her a severe diabetic for the rest of her life. Kimberly was terrified. None of the options were good.

Kimberly’s mother wanted to know if I would talk and work with her daughter. Certainly.

When we began to talk, I realized Kimberly was paralyzed with fear. She felt a vise clamped around her chest squeezing the life out of her. Dread contaminated her rationality. So, we began to work on her anxiety by separating her emotions and her thinking. I discovered her principal concern was a fear of dying. We began exploring I John 5:11. “This is the record that God has given us eternal life…” The goal was to make this promise more than an idea or a belief, but a reality in Kimberly’s life.

She understood.

Kimberly quickly began to allow her thinking to take charge of her feelings. She began to see she could face the next medical tests and biopsies because she had eternal life regardless of what the results said. New stability had come into her life.

The next hurdle was realistically facing her tumors or possible cancerous cells. Long ago, I learned a spiritual exercise of “breathing in” the Holy Spirit. Just like taking a breath, we ask the Holy Spirit to enter us like breathing in air, to move through our body, through our blood vessels, flowing to the exact point of our need. Kimberly began praying in this manner, calling on the Spirit of God to surge through her body and to touch the tumors.

When Tuesday came, Kimberly went to the hospital without fear or dread. She could accept whatever happened … regardless. Her life was now squarely in the hands of God. Kimberly had found a peace that transcended every need. As Philippians 4:4 directs, her thinking was fixed on whatever was good, pure, right, lovely. The peace of God was with her.

The staff put her to sleep to avoid the pain of multiple biopsies. Kimberly went to sleep without fear. The doctor who had first observed the tumors was doing the tests. When she awoke, Kimberly was surprised because there was no pain in her abdomen. In fact, she couldn’t feel where the needles should have punctured her.

“Doctor!” she said. “What happened?”

The doctor had a grin and shook his head. “I saw those tumors for myself when you first came in weeks ago. But I didn’t do the biopsies today because we couldn’t find any tumors. The tumors on your pancreas are gone, simply gone.”

No one was ever more excited than Kimberly. She would not have to face all the possible complications and struggles she had anticipated. Miraculously the tumors had vanished.

What had occurred? As Philippians 4:9 promised that the God of peace would be with her. A miracle indeed!

EACH WEEK WE WILL BE HERE. Find us on line: MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

AN INTERVENTION IN NATURE?

Blog 124
July 8, 2019

rainstorm

MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

You might also want to look at the widely read blog on the MIDDLE EAST from Robert L. Wise, Ph.D. which features weekly updates on little known facts about Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, countries where Wise has traveled and worked. In an unbiased and politically neutral manner, he reports an objective view of what’s happening.

AN INTERVENTION IN NATURE?

You would find Jeff Brodsky fascinating. He doesn’t wear shoes and goes barefoot everywhere! That’s Jeff’s way of identifying with children he is trying to help. Jeff’s ministry is called Joy International and his mission is to rescue children who are being held in captivity as sexual slaves. He goes all over the world seeking out areas where human trafficking has snatched children and teens from their families, subjecting them to a life of absolute torture.

To date, Jeff Brodsky has assisted a multitude of young slaves find freedom.

I met him at Platte Canyon Community Church in Bailey, Colorado where he is a member. The Brodsky’s live in the Friendship Ranch in nearby Deer Creek Canyon. Recently, the Brodsky’s were on their way to a fund-raising event when a torrent of rain broke out. This summer the mountains have had an extortionary amount of rain storms and this day was the same. The rain came pouring down and would probably drown out their event. The sky had become dark purple with the sun disappearing behind the imposing clouds overhead.

As they rode along, the Brodsky’s reflected on the fact that their heavenly Father created the heavens and the earth. Certainly, God was the final word in what happened in the weather. Why couldn’t they pray for a break in the storm? Wasn’t it possible to ask Him to clear up the dreary situation?

There are stories in the Old Testament of prophets calling for a drought to punish wicked rulers and rain stopped for years. Elijah called for all dew and rain to halt. (I Kings 17:1) When the prophet Elijah prayed again after he had performed the work of the Lord, the rains came. (I Kings 18 41- 45) In the plagues that fell on Egypt, Moses seemed to have control over nature. (Exodus 5) Was that still possible?

The Brodsky’s called out for the Lord to open the sky. Immediately, the clouds parted and the sun came shining through. They were astonished! God had almost instantly responded to the prayer. The rain ended

Can such be? It obviously was!

Most people will find such stories unbelievable. They would never pray for such a thing…. And that’s probably why they don’t see it happen. They don’t take dominion as the book of Geneses suggests they should. Jeff Brodsky did. Divine intervention followed.

It’s worth thinking about.

EACH WEEK WE WILL BE HERE. Find us on line: MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

CAN YOU HEAR GOD SPEAK?

Blog 123
July 1, 2019

miracles

MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

You might also want to look at the widely read blog on the MIDDLE EAST from Robert L. Wise, Ph.D. which features weekly updates on little known facts about Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, countries where Wise has traveled and worked. In an unbiased and politically neutral manner, he reports an objective view of what’s happening.

CAN YOU HEAR GOD SPEAK?

The Bible is filled with stories of God speaking to people. Have you ever wondered how that happened? As in the case when Joseph was warned to take the baby Jesus and Mary to Egypt, an angel spoke in a dream. On the other hand, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and made the annunciation of the birth of the Christ child. After the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, angels came and ministered to him.

Of course, angels are not the same as the heavenly Father, but these stories of divine intervention tell us that it was possible to hear messages from heaven. But is that still possible today? There are plenty of people around who attest that it still happens. There are no rules or procedures, but some people say they continue to hear divine speech. Sometimes God seems to speak through circumstances. Often, people have thoughts that race through their minds that they are know are not from them. Ideas pop into people’s heads and they know they have received a message from God. Recently, I heard one of the more unusual stories of divine communication.

At the time, Glyn McDowell was a young man in his ‘20s. He considered himself a Christian with the usual typical beliefs one learns in Sunday School. However, his life was far from what believers usually expect. Glyn told me he was running around, drinking too much, simply having a wild time when possible. Having a good time was about all that interested him. Nobody had much money in those days and whatever work could be found was important so Glyn got into house painting.

He had just started in on a project to paint the backside of a house. Glyn was up on a ladder painting away when he heard “the voice.” The speech didn’t come through his thought processes, but clearly came through his eardrum. It was as clear as if someone was standing next to him talking into his ear.

“Go pay for your Blue Cross- Blue Shield insurance plan right now.”

The message scared Glyn McDowell so badly that he jumped down from the ladder, ran to his pickup, and drove to his home in Benton, Missouri. Once he had taken care of making sure he was completely properly signed up for the insurance plan, he drove back to the house where he was painting and started in again. However, the voice was so real and powerful that it left him unnerved. Glyn was certain God had spoken to him and it scared the pants off of him.

Two days later his wife became ill and had to be hospitalized. If he had not acquired insurance coverage, her time in the hospital would have wiped him out financially.

Glyn saved the Blue Cross/Blue Shield bill and still has it after all these years because he knows that the heavenly Father saved him from disaster. The bill reminds him to listen for God to speak every day. Why doesn’t this happen to everyone? I have no idea or explanation, but Glyn convinced me it is possible to hear God speak as plainly as a conversation with your next-door neighbor.

When I asked him what he learned from this experience, Glyn said, “God can help you even when you’re not asking for His help.”

EACH WEEK WE WILL BE HERE.Find us on line: MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

THE UNEXPECTED!

Blog 122
June 24, 2019

faith

A NEW BLOG IS HERE!

MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

You might also want to look at the widely read blog on the MIDDLE EAST from Robert L. Wise, Ph.D. features weekly updates on little known facts about Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, countries where Wise has traveled and worked. In an unbiased and politically neutral manner, he reports an objective view of what’s happening.

EXPLORE DIVINE INTERVENTIONS

Each week Robert Wise talks with, interviews, and follows everyday people who encountered miraculous interventions in their lives. Their amazing stories are described and explored to understand how these encounters occurred. No one theological view or denominational perspective is involved. Wise is open to what transpired regardless of the individual’s persuasion.

You will be challenged, inspired, and intrigued by these interviews. For over three years, Wise spoke with a wide range of people. Some were Christians; some were not. Many stayed outside the church while others were devout attenders. Wherever people had encounters, he discussed with them about what they saw, felt and experienced.

THE UNEXPECTED!

For three years Robert Wise explored the divine interventions that had taken place in individual lives. To his surprise, he discovered that many people had virtually never told anyone what wondrous fact occurred. They worried were concerned that people would think them crazy. The experience of divine intervention has been that unusual with many people and churches. Some denominations concluded that the miraculous age ended with the Apostles and that consequently after 100 A.D. there were no more such occurrences. Sorry. History doesn’t support that idea.

Another group’s practices were considered emotionalism. The unusual was explained away as being only rampant hysteria. The conclusion was that after the excessive sensation wore off, the so-called miracle disappeared and the person was left with the same problem as before. Clearly, there have been many cases where hype in mass meetings manipulated suffering people. However, the events that Wise encountered had nothing to do with emotion, jazzed up mass meetings, or people being controlled in a volatile environment. We will explore this scene in depth!

WE WANT YOUR STORY

Robert Wise also wants to know your history. Do you have an experience that you’ve never shared but know is important? Don’t worry about explaining or justifying the facts. Just let Robert Wise know. In the weeks that are before us, we will be considering many important happenings that demonstrate God is still at work in today’s world. You’ll be amazed and inspired by each of the blogs that explore a divine intervention.

EACH WEEK WE WILL BE HERE. TUNE IN. MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

WHEN THERE IS NO HOPE

Blog 121
June 17, 2019

healings (1)

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.

WHEN THERE IS NO HOPE

Three years ago, I found Patty Sill’s story and thought we ought to revisit what happened to her. I think you’ll find this fascinating.

Patty Sills’s condition was diagnosed as Tirdive Dystoma which meant her neck muscles continually contracted and pulled her head to one side. Patty had no control over her neck and was in constant pain. The condition made her spine bulge. She could be medicated but not cured. Doctors told Patty she would have this condition the rest of her life.

Patty told me that she didn’t want to live anymore. She couldn’t work or pursue any hobbies because she was so uncomfortable. Patty was certain she would be better off dead. Her voice sounded desperate as she described her deteriorating emotional condition. Patty had struggled with mental illness and attempted suicide. She had been in and out of mental institutions.

Having grown up in the Roman Catholic Church, Patty had lots of problems with church procedures. For one, she thought women should be able to be clergy. Organized religion only imparted other issues. Consequently, she was particularly skeptical about TV healers and churches in general.

Leslie, a young woman who had a reputation for talking with angels and praying for hurting people, was introduced to Patty. The whole idea seemed absurd, but Patty was desperate. She said, “yes, help me.”

Leslie asked Patty to lay flat on a table and she began to pray. Leslie’s hands became so hot that heat radiated through Patty’s body. When Leslie moved to her neck, Patty went into a convulsion and felt outside herself. She had to have help to stand.

The next day everything changed. With time, her incurable condition completely disappeared. If you ask her if she believes in miracles, she will tell you that she is living proof they still happen.

Since I began working on this subject, I have been amazed at how many stories I have turned up. They often come from people I know who have been reluctant to talk about their experiences that powerfully reordered their lives. In the contemporary world immersed in scientism and secularization, the idea that Divinity still reaches into everyday life and radically changes physical problems is considered nonsense. Television evangelists who claim to have such ministries are thought to be frauds, picking the pockets of desperate people– and some do. In the average mainline church, no one has seen a miracle or expects to encounter one. The subject remains closed.

But so were a number of other practices that are now totally accepted.

In the late ‘60s when I came out of seminary, people who claimed such cures were considered mentally ill. Consequently, talk of miracles has been off the table for a long time. So long, that it is now time to take a hard second look. In these blogs we will be exploring many stories like Patty’s and will hopefully help you discover how to become a part of this new revolution that the Holy Spirit is bringing to the world.

EACH WEEK HAVE WE GOT A STORY FOR YOU! STAY TUNED IN!

HOW DO MIRACLES OCCUR? Part 5

Blog 118 April 22, 2019

divine-guidance

MIRACLES NEVER CEASE ~ DO YOU HAVE AN EXPERIENCE TO SHARE? Robert Wise would be delighted to learn about your divine intervention. If you have a story to share, please contact him at revwise@att.net. He’s looking forward to hearing from you.

You met Quinton Moore in an earlier blog. I shared an incident in his ministry, but I didn’t go into details about his personal history. I think you will find more insight into his life and ministry instructive. Let me tell you a little more about his personal story.

Quinton Moore grew up in Pentecostal land. His grandmother had been the baby sitter for Oral Roberts while the cotton pickers worked in the fields. Today, Lottie Moore would be thought of as an old time Pentecostal. She lived in a world that assumed miracles came with the Christian faith. Quinton grew up in rural Oklahoma where Pentecostalism was a major religious force.

Grandmother Jessie Hargrove, a full blood Cherokee-Osage Indian, remains as one of his early memories. Quinton watched her pace back and forth praying in the Indian language and in tongues. Suddenly, she stopped. “Yes!” Jessie cried out. “I sees him!”

Eight-year old Quinton wasn’t sure what was going on, but watched his grandmother grab a shawl and ran to the door.

“Come on, Quinton,” she demanded. “We got to get to your uncle quick. He’s in real trouble. I now knows where he is now.”

Quinton piled into the pickup and they went flying down the road. He had no idea where they were going or where they were. Grandma Jessie seemed to have a map in her head and only she knew what was ahead. After a number of 90 degree turns on dirt roads he had never been on before, Quinton looked up and saw what was ahead.

“Hey!” he shouted. “That’s the cab to my uncle’s truck turned over!”

“Yes, son,” Grandma Jessie said. “That’s what the Holy Spirit showed me.”

They pulled up alongside the semi-trailer cab laying on its side. Jessie leaped out and climbed up the underside of the cab. “Just as the Spirit said! Your uncle’s down there out cold. He’s hurt. I’ll try to shake him loose. You run to that house over yonder and have them call an ambulance. Git with it!”

Quinton went running down the road to the nearest farm house. They were able to get his uncle to the hospital and saved his life. But Quinton couldn’t ever forget that experience. Without any knowledge of an accident, through her prayers, his grandmother Jessie had been able to discover the disaster and locate her son. She considered divine interventions to be simply part of her journey.

Her anticipation of the miraculous prepared her to receive special guidance that probably saved her son’s life. From the point of view of Grandmother Lottie Moore, it was all just part of the journey of faith.

Gives you something to think about.

HOW DO MIRACLES OCCUR? Part 3

Blog 116 April 8, 2019

don-rita-houston

MIRACLES NEVER CEASE ~ DO YOU HAVE AN EXPERIENCE TO SHARE? Robert Wise would be delighted to learn about your divine intervention. If you have a story to share, please contact him at revwise@att.net. He’s looking forward to hearing from you.

While reading The Oklahoman daily newspaper, I found the story of Don Houston’s near-death ordeal. Because Don’s experience intrigued me, I found the Houston’s and spent time with them. Don told me what happened.

Congestive heart failure ran in his family, taking his father at 58 and his brother at 56. Don is in the 2% who survive this condition. Because bronchitis made Don snore, Rita often slept in another room, but on this night she didn’t. In the middle of the night, she heard a “death rattle” and panicked. When she rolled Don over, there was no movement and nothing would wake him up. His tongue began to hang out. Rita called 911 and called for an ambulance as well as receiving instructions on performing CPR.

When the ambulance arrived, the attendants stuck needles in Don’s feet and received no response. By the time he got to the hospital, the only things keeping him alive were machines. The doctors gave Rita no hope that he would regain consciousness. She was told he probably wouldn’t recognize her if he ever woke up. The best they could hope for was a nursing home.

Rita asked the ER doctor if they could go into his secluded room and pray. With Don’s two daughters, she made a prayer circle around the bed and began to pray fervently. Rita kept praying over and over, “Jesus help us.”

The hospital put Don in an induced comma called the “Arctic Sun” where his body temperature was reduced down to around 90 degrees Fahrenheit. For four day he was the “frozen man” with his arms tied down to the bed.

And what was happening with Don?

Don became aware and looked around. He was in a totally white room with no windows and two distinct doors. The voice of God said, “Don, you had a heart attack.” The room suddenly lit up and arch-shaped widows appeared. Don saw figures walking by. They all had the same features, and the same colored hair. Each wore a white robe. He realized they were angels.

Don felt totally peaceful with no worries. Finally, one of the angels said, “Come with me.”  The angel escorted him through what Don calls “the door of second chances.” Suddenly, he was back in his body.

His daughter had been holding his hand and felt a squeeze. The doctor thought the tug was only a reflex. He took Don’s hand and abruptly there was another squeeze. The doctor nearly fainted. He rushed out and brought in other doctors to observe Don.

Rita leaned over the bed. “Do you know what’s happened?”
Yes,” he said. “I had a heart attack.”
“How do you know?” Rita asked.
“God told me,” Don said.

Rita stared. Don’s eyes had always been a greenish brown. Now, they were the prettiest bright blue eyes, she had even seen.

Today Don is inspired to tell everyone that there is life after death. He says, “I do know for a fact, there is something out there and you’re not alone. There is something there to comfort you and help you along the way and they’ll lead you. You need to get God in your heart because you never know when you’re going to pass.”

Can we call the results a miracle? Even a skeptic has to throw in the towel on such a phenomenon. For all practical purposes, Don was dead and the medical profession did not expect a recovery. However, we define life, Don Houston came back because he was filled with renewed life that only heaven can give.