Forward by Bill Somers

Be open to the possibility. When you are presented with an opportunity to raise the dead, seek the Lord for his mind in the matter. Pray as He directs [in some cases it takes a long time], do as he instructs and, of course, give Him all the Glory
Here are some reports to keep you open to the possibility; and some examples to follow.

These testimonies have been collected by Richard M. Riss and others over the past few years and are here presented as an encouragement to the Body of Christ.

How to Raise the Dead

The following message is from Dr. Horace S. Ward, Senior Pastor of Maranatha Church of God in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He was one of the founders of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and was the first Executive Secretary of that organization.

Richard M. Riss RRISS@DREW.EDU

Date: 05-May-1997
TO: Richard M. Riss
Subject: Re: Resurrections from the Dead
Richard, here are two testimonies for your files on verified resurrections.

The first is very precious to me, because it is the true story of my wife, Marilyn, as often told by her mother, the late Mrs. Arthur C. Eastham, a dedicated Christian and faithful prayer warrior. She lived with us during the last four years of her life, and during that time she graciously provided me with the written testimony which follows. At that time I served as Assistant General Director of Education for the Church of God and was able to locate the late Reverend and Mrs. Buford Alford to get their recollections of the event. The Alfords were retired and no longer in active ministry, but they remembered this incident well. By telephone they both confirmed the accuracy of this testimony. They told me that they wrote their testimony of this resurrection and sent it to the Church of God Evangel for publication, but the editor chose not to print it because he felt that his readers would find such a story unbelievable. I find his response unbelievable.

TESTIMONY OF MRS. A. C. EASTHAM

"Dear Christian Friends, or All Who May Be Concerned: "I just want to greet you in the name of the Lord and tell you what Jesus did for my daughter, Marilyn Eastham Ward (Mrs. Horace S. Ward). She was almost 2 1/2 years old. We were living at Coffeyville, Kansas, at that time. My husband was pastoring a church there and also working as a railroad engineer.

"On this certain day in December, near Christmas, I took her in the car to the round house to pick up her father. As we came back into the house, I was carrying Marilyn and I noticed that she was starting to draw back and that her eyes were set. I called my husband, who had gone into the kitchen, and told him that something was wrong with Marilyn--that she was unconscious.

"We were not having services that night and we knew that we needed help, so we got into the car and took her to the home of the Reverend and Mrs. Buford Alford, pastor of the Church of God there. We had only gone a few blocks when she became limp and didn't breath anymore. She was dead, but we went on, praying as we went.

"The Alfords lived in the parsonage and the church lights were not on yet. It was too early. We stopped at the house and ran in, without even ringing the doorbell. They were eating supper, but I just ran in dragging a blanket I had for Marilyn, sat on the divan, and said, 'Please come pray for my baby.' They got up from the table immediately and started to pray.

"Sister Alford said, 'Honey, she is already dead.'

"I said, 'I don't care. Just pray.' I kept on praying. We all did. As people came to the church, they would come on over to the parsonage and help us pray.

"At different times people would try to take her out of my arms because she was dead, but I held her tight and wouldn't turn her loose. They even called the ambulance, but I still wouldn't turn her loose. I knew if I did, we would lose the victory. I knew if we held on, God would give her back, because I had prayed for God to give me both of my children, and I dedicated them to Him before they were born. I said, 'God, use them for your glory,' and I meant it with all of my heart. I knew that she hadn't had a chance yet. I know it doesn't always work like that, but I knew in my heart, that night, that if we kept praying and held on He would deliver. And he did.

"I kept my eyes closed and kept praying. It's easier to stay in the channel of prayer if you don't see what is going on around you. I knew God could do it, so we just kept holding on to God. Yet, she didn't breath or move.

"Finally I felt her little foot move. We began to praise God, praising Him from the depths of our hearts. Soon she drew a deep breath and began to move her hands. I said, 'God, if you will just let her open her eyes now,' and she did and tried to put her fingers in her mouth. Sister Alford brought her some water, but her jaws were locked. She couldn't drink, so she gave her some with a spoon.

"Marilyn didn't seem to know or recognize anyone, but we praised the Lord for what He had done. It was now 10:00 p.m. She had been dead for 4 hours and 10 minutes. There had been no church service, but it was estimated that about 150 people had been to the parsonage and had seen what happened, including one infidel, who only came to bring his wife. He went away a believer in God.

"God was so real--so much power was there in our midst--no one could resist it.

"On our way home as we drove through the main part of town, Marilyn raised up and noticed the Christmas lights and decorations. Her mind just seemed to snap back to normal, instantly. Whatever it was, she has never had another attack, since or before that time. She has an IQ that is well above average. That is what God has done and still can do if we just let Him, and I praise God from the depths of my heart for His great love."

Signed,

Mrs. A. C. Eastham

The second is a report that has blessed me for many years. It came from a secondary source, but someone on your e-mail list may have a copy of the original book by Charles A. Blanchard. I give it to you as it appears in the book by Evangelist John R. Rice.

TESTIMONY OF DR. CHARLES A BLANCHARD

"Dr. Charles A. Blanchard, late president of Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, is the author of a blessed book, 'Getting Things from God,' a book on prayer. The book is published by The Moody Press, of Chicago. Dr. Blanchard gives in his book the remarkable story of a railroad engineer raised from the dead in answer to his wife's prayer. Dr. Blanchard says:

"A Railroad Engineer Testifies

"I was a few weeks ago in the Eighth Avenue Mission in New York. On the platform by me sat a gentleman, to whom I was introduced, but whom I had never before seen. When the meeting had progressed for an hour or so, Miss Wray, the superintendent, called upon him for a testimony. He said: "Friends, about two and a half or three years ago I was in the hospital in Philadelphia. I was an engineer on the Pennsylvania Lines, and although I had a praying wife, I had all my life been a sinful man. At this time I was very ill. I became greatly wasted. I weighed less than one hundred pounds. Finally the doctor who was attending me said to my wife that I was dead, but she said: 'No, he is not dead. He cannot be dead. I have prayed for him for twenty-seven years and God has promised me that he should be saved. Do you think God would let him die now after I have prayed twenty-seven years and God has promised me that he should be saved. Do you think God would let him die now after I have prayed for him for twenty-seven years and God has promised, and he is not saved?' ' Well,' the doctor replied, 'I do not know anything about that, but I know that he is dead.' And the screen was drawn around cot, which in the hospital separates between the living and the dead.

"To satisfy my wife, other physicians were brought, one after another, until seven were about the cot, and each one of them as he came up and made the examination confirmed the testimony of all who had preceded. The seven doctors said that I was dead. Meanwhile my wife was kneeling by the side of my cot, insisting that I was not dead--that if I were dead God would bring me back, for He had promised her that I should be saved and I was not yet saved. By and by her knees began to pain her, kneeling on the hard hospital floor. She asked the nurse for a pillow and the nurse brought her a pillow upon which she kneeled. One hour, two hours, three hours passed. The screen still stood by the cot. I was lying there still, apparently dead. Four hours, five hours, six hours, seven hours, thirteen hours passed, and all this while my wife was kneeling by the cot-side, and when people remonstrated and wished her to go away she said: 'No, he has to be saved. God will bring him back if he is dead. He is not dead. He cannot die until he is saved.'

"'At the end of thirteen hours I opened my eyes, and she said: 'What do you wish, my dear?' And I said: 'I wish to go home,' and she said: 'You shall go home.' But when she proposed it, the doctors raised their hands in horror. They said, 'Why, it will kill him. It will be suicide.' She said: 'You have had your turn. You said he was dead already. I am going to take him home.'

"'I weigh now 246 pounds. I still run a fast train on the Pennsylvania Lines. I have been out to Minneapolis on a little vacation, telling men what Jesus can do, and I am glad to tell you what Jesus can do."'

"Dr. Blanchard was a great educator, a man of national prominence, a scholar, as well as a devout Christian. It was not hard for him to believe that God had answered the prayer of a wife for her unsaved husband, and that he was brought back in order that he might be saved. And if it is hard for you to believe, then I ask you in the words of Paul the apostle, 'Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?' (Acts 26: 8).

"If such an occurrence is rare, then it is equally rare that a woman should pray like that and believe God. God still answers prayer for those who trust Him." (John R. Rice, "Prayer--Asking and Receiving," Wheaton, IL: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1942, pp. 269, 270.)

The book by John R. Rice is one of the best I ever read on prayer. Although he was a fundamentalist, Baptist evangelist, he yielded no ground to the idea that the days of miracles had passed. Some of his best chapters are titled: "Big Prayers to an Almighty God," "Does God Work Miracles Today?" and "Miracles Today, Cont'd."

Richard, thanks again for all you are doing to keep the body of Christ aware of the current works of Christ. May God bless you richly.

Horace S. Ward, Senior Pastor
maranatha_pbg@juno.com
Maranatha Church of God
Post Office Box 31149
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420-1149

Subject: Myanmar Resurrection 03-May-1997
According to the Swedish Christian paper Magazinet the Pakistani/Swedish evangelist Christopher Alam visited Word of Life, Uppsala last week and told following incredible story from Myanmar (Burma).

A monk had been sick and died but before the cremation the man resurrected and begun to witness about a vison from heaven and hell.

He says: Then I died I met a man in white clothes and it was Jesus. He showed me the heaven and the hell.

The first man I saw in hell was Buddha. Jesus took the monk to the side and said: I am sending you to your own people and you shall tell them that they must repent and turn away from their sins and turn to me, I am the only way to God. Time is short, I soon will return to earth.

After this the monk has become very bold, the authorities arrests him time after time but many over all Burma have been saved as a result of the testimony from the resurrected monk

source Magazinet 16/97 friday 2 May 1997
reported by Torsten Lantz
etxtlz@kk.ericsson.se

From: Doug Demick 29-Apr-1997
Subject: World Missions Update - C. Peter Wagner I would like to summarize portions of three messages delivered by Peter Wagner of the Fuller School of World Missions. His area of specialty is church growth. These messages were given at the Living Way Christian Fellowship in Greensboro, North Carolina, on April 25 and 26, 1997. Because they were such a blessing and encouragement to me, I want to pass that on to others. I am writing from my notes and memory; if I misrepresent Peter in any way, I apologize in advance.

Peter proclaimed that we are ALREADY living in a time of a greater outpouring of God's Spirit than Pentecost. The reason that we in America don't realize that is that most of the activity is in other parts of the world, notably the third world. Some facts:

We are having a greater HARVEST than ever before.

* 140,000 people a DAY are coming to the Lord. This is 46 times the number that believed on the day of Pentecost. In China, a country officially closed to the Gospel, over 20,000 a DAY are turning to the Lord. In the Fungao area of the Hunan province of China, over 90% of the people are Christians. Significant mass conversions are happening in Hindu and Buddhist countries.

* Over the last 10 years, more people have become Christians than in all of church history prior to that.

We are having more MIRACLES than ever before.

Again, this is happening more in the third world than the western world. The messages contained many inspiring examples. My favorite:

Wagner became aware of an African pastor who pastors a church numbering 70,000, which has spawned FIVE THOUSAND other churches. Since his specialty is church growth, he invited this pastor to California to speak to the faculty and students at Fuller.

When asked how his church had achieved such phenomenal growth, the pastor replied to the effect that "miracles help a lot". As an example, one of the satellite churches of the "Deeper Live Bible Church" was having its Thursday night meeting. (On Sundays, the churches focus on Bible teaching; on Thursday nights, they pray for the sick).

During prayer for the sick, the pastor became burdened for the friends and relatives of those present who were too sick to come to the meeting. He asked those who had very sick friends and relatives to hold up their handkerchiefs while he prayed. (By the way, there is a Biblical precedent for this: Paul in Ephesus). They were then instructed to take those handkerchiefs home and lay them on the sick people, proclaiming them healed in the name of Jesus.

Unknown to the pastor, there was a Moslem man present who was headman of his village. This man had never been in a Christian church before. He could not think of any friends or relatives who were sick; however, not wanting to miss a blessing, he held up his handkerchief anyway.

The headman went home. Some time later a couple in his village came to him, saying that their 9 year-old daughter had died. The headman came to where the body had been washed and laid out for burial, and was comforting the mourners. Then he remembered the handkerchief, and went back to his house to retrieve it.

When the headman laid the handkerchief on the girl, and proclaimed her healed in the name of Jesus as he had been instructed, she came back to life! The elders of the village had a meeting and decided that even though this village had been Moslem for hundreds of years, they would now convert to Christianity. Small wonder!

This is only one of many exciting stories of God showing his glory to folks traditionally closed to the gospel, resulting in their conversion. The efforts over the past 5 years of focusing prayer on the "10/40 window" are showing positive results.

Another exciting fact: the church is now TRULY GLOBAL in scope.

The third world is now sending out more missionaries than the western world. Some of the top leadership in the church is coming from the third world.

The above are only brief excerpts of Wagner's talks. The tapes are available for $6.00 by writing to: Grace Presbytery Missions Office
5117 Cliffdale Rd.
Fayetteville NC 28314
Doug_Demick@WYCLIFFE.ORG

Subject: Yay God! 26-Mar-1997
Dear Richard,
This was shared from the pulpit last Wednesday night at church (3/19/97) about an event that had happened just prior to that.

I had been given a rather disturbing vision by the Lord. I didn't doubt His ability at all, but I was in wonderment.

Here is the vision: I'm driving down a road and there is an accident. A man lay on the side of the road, lifeless. I stop my car, go to him, put one hand on his head, and one on his heart, pray for his life in the name of Jesus, and wham! he comes to life.

The Lord gave me this a couple months ago. He gave it to me again two weeks ago, the exact same vision.

Last Monday night, on my way home from work, I witnessed a boy named Jarrod Hayes get struck by a car as he ran out from behind a city bus. It was the most horrific noise and sight I have ever seen. The car was doing at least 40 mph. You can imagine how his body cartwheeled like a rag doll being thrown across a room. I said, "Oh Jesus!" jumped out of my truck and ran to him, and here was the vision: A boy laying lifeless on the side of the road.

I did as the Lord had had me do in the vision, and wham! his eyes popped open and the Lord said, "He will be OK!" Oh my God!

Then he sent me to others who were involved to comfort them and tell them he would be OK, including the driver of the car, and his mother. I was to touch and hold them, and comfort them, and pray for a peace in their lives.

After Jarrod came back, the Lord knew just what to do to keep him calmed until the medics got there, and he used me for that too. The police on the scene just threw me a blanket, and left me alone with him. He is scheduled for release from the hospital tomorrow, one week from the date of the accident.

I spoke with Jarrod's mom, and she said it was a miracle he lived, and that there was no head trauma. I said, "I know!"

David McLain mclains@thurston.com
Olympia, Washington

From: Paul van der Hagen23-Mar-1997
Subject: Modern-day resurrections from the dead
Dear brother Riss,
From a newsgroup I subscribe to I gathered you are collecting documented accounts of modern-day resurrections from the dead. I "just" happened to be reading one of your reports last night.

My wife and I are missionaries here in Lyon, France working in a pioneer church planting situation together with a Brazilian missionary and a family from the UK.

This morning in our service Daniel dos Santos, a missionary from the Assemblies of God in Brazil with 23 years of experience on the mission field as a healing evangelist shared with us. In August 1993 he was preaching in a church in Rumania, in a village called Soimos, near the city of Arad. It was an evangelistic service where many people had come to receive healing from the Lord. The church was packed and a non-Christian lady called Maria, who was suffering from heart problems, and who had come to the service with her brother to be healed, became unwell because of the heat. She left the service and went into a side room. There she suffered a stroke and died because of a heart failure. The pastor was informed and then interrupted Daniel who was preaching. The pastor told the choir to start some chorus while he took Daniel to the side room and showed him the dead body. The pastor was very discouraged and wanted to finish the service. He felt the service had, in a way, failed as this lady had died. Daniel said that he then felt faith rise up in him and the Holy Spirit telling him to pray for this lady to be raised from the dead. By now she had been dead for 30 minutes; all resuscitation attempts had been given up 20 minutes after she had died. He commanded the Spirit of Life to come (or go back) into her. Immediately this lady started breathing again and came back to life again. When the pastor went back into the service to share what had happened the church broke out in praise to the Lord. Many were healed and became Christians during the service. The lady later testified that she had felt her spirit leave her body and then later on return again. She wasn't a Christian before but became one through this experience of the resurrection power of our Lord. She was also completely healed of the heart problems. Glory to God!

Daniel's father, who is in charge of a subdivision of the Assemblies of God in Brazil, being responsible for some 100,000 people, went to Rumania to meet this lady and saw her death certificate. Daniel is visiting us at the moment, and he and his family will be joining our church plant in June as his work in building up churches and leaders in Rumania has finished. The Lord called him in a dream to come to France to continue his work here.

If there is anything else you would like to know, do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours in Christ,
Paul van der Hagen Lyon, France
106131.1006@compuserve.com

From: Paul Gaskin Tue, 18 Mar 1997
Hi Richard,
I have been listening to a tape of a fairly recent (I think) meeting with Steve Phillips at Toronto. God had only then given him permission to share what follows. He describes an event that took place a few years back in Port Authority(?) New York (known locally as "hell on earth", because of its astronomical crime rate). Steve and two others came across a man lying on the pavement who had no vital signs of life (a policeman had kicked the man just before, and the body had moved like a piece of wood). Steve had felt an intense compassion for this man, and had wept profusely at this act, beseeching God to add extra years to his life. They prayed for this man and he recovered. The man described being in a place where it was getting progressively darker and colder, but suddenly heard someone weeping and a voice he couldn't understand (Steve had been praying in tongues!) then being sucked by a wind back into his body. He promised them that he would get his life sorted out with God (Times Square, David Wilkerson's church being just across the way). They had had no further feedback on this until, at the end of the meeting, Steve was told by someone from that church that this man had given his life to Christ and was a member of the church. Needless to say, Steve was delighted. These are only the sketchiest details and no doubt more can be got from either Steve, or David Wilkerson's organisation. Blessings! Paul
paul.gaskin@bbsrc.ac.uk

From: Gary Langley 17-Mar-1997
proimage@lava.net
Richard: Don't have the tape, but I heard my friend Dr. Jacob Kurien relate the story of how God used him in a ressurection. He told the story at Grace Christian Church in Kaneohe, Hawaii when I was present in the meeting. Dr. Kurien (a native of India) operates out of Houston, Texas.

His address / Phone number is:

Dr. Jacob Kurien
World Outreach Ministries
P.O. Box 87178
Houston, TX 77287-7178
Phone: (713) 922-1106

From: Chuck Schmitt Fri, 14 Mar 1997
More on Resurrections
Greetings Richard,
We had in our home over 2 years ago a brother by the name of Thomas Baloyi. He told us of over 6 people that he had prayed for and seen raised from the dead. Ian MaCormick (sp?) of New Zealand was raised from the dead. I met him at Metro Vineyard in '95. Also Betty Malz, whose book MY GLIMPSE OF ETERNITY, details her resurrection form the dead. She was clinically dead for over 28 minutes. Also, I had a woman here in Saint Louis that was raised from the dead, come and share her testimony in our home meeting. She was dead for 6 hours. She told us of a wonderful experience that she had in heaven! Glory be to Yahweh!In Him
Chuck Schmitt servant of Jesus DAYSPRING1@delphi.com

From: Steve van Deventer 13-Mar-1997
Dear Richard I want to respond to Resurrections
I am working in Holland and are originally from South Africa there I attended the Hatfield Baptist Church now the Hatfield Christian Centre.

I remember meeting a man there who had his own death certificate sight by a doctor from a hospital in his pocket. I think his name was "Heinrich". He was at a time travelling with brother. From the FGBMA to the a town in the northern part of Transvaal when he had a heart attack in the car. The drove him to a hospital where after a few minutes of trying to re-animate him, he died. The doctor and nurse pulled a sheet over his head and his co-passengers phoned ahead to their appointment explaining the situation.

After a time, ( and this is where I am not sure how the story went if it was much later or not) they returned with some other brothers from the FGBMA see his body and to thank the Lord for his life. They started worshipping the Lord and singing songs in the room surrounding the corpse when all of a sudden the nurse started to scream and then they saw a movement under the sheet and he sat up straight. They kept him in the hospital for observation for another day and could not find any damage to his heart afterwards. While when he came in they had him immediately linked to a monitor. I think you can get a confirmation on this story from Hatfield or from the FGBMA in South Africa .

The second story is from Zululand in South Africa. A revival broke out there that is in 1960 and it is still going. A book was published about this revival in 1975 about this revival by Dr. Kurt E. Koch {a German well known for his books Christian Counseling and Occultism} "Gott unter den Zulus" This book was also published in Afrikaans and in Dutch. In the Dutch version p. 163 to 169 he describes various resurrections from the dead and also a conversation between himself and a Lydia from the place Siza Bantu who was raised from the dead. In the later years more resurrection took place there in the heartland of Zululand Natal. This was also broadcasting by a Dutch Christian TV Station in the Netherlands about 2 years ago with a interview with a lady who was raised from the dead in Zululand. I can see if I can obtain information if it was about the same lady.
Steve.vanDeventer@net.HCC.nl
Drs. S. L. van Deventer
Dorpsstraat 14
1431 CD Aalsmeer
The Netherlands
Tel: 31-297-324628

From: John Etherington 13-Mar-1997
Subject: Resurrections
Hello Richard,
Our church (North Plymouth Community Church, UK) was recently asked (February 1997) to pray for a toddler, 2 years of age who was very poorly in hospital. Apparently, as it was reported to us, this child was clinically dead for a short time prior to recovering which greatly amazed the Doctors and medical staff. The mother is convinced that the recovery, healing and life of her child is totally due to an answer to prayer and at the end of February brought the completely well child along to our Sunday morning worship. Thank you Lord!
kind regards,
John Etherington
mtm@enterprise.net
http://homepages.enterprise.net/mtm

Subject: DAWN Friday Fax 97/07
DAWN FRIDAYFAX
India: 5 people raised from the dead last year in Punjab
He told me almost in passing "Oh yes, last year we experienced how God raised five people from the dead through prayer." 'He' is pastor C.M. Rustam from Ferozpur in Punjab, northern India, close to the border with Pakistan. The hospital in Chandigarh regularly sends people to the church for "prayer treatment" after seeing people healed of tumours and crippled limbs through prayer. Source: Rev.C.M.Rustam, Jesus Niwas St, Bharat Nagar, Ferozpur City 152002, Punjab, India.
(c) DAWN Europe, redistribution is explicitly allowed as long as the copyright remains intact with the text.

From: Wallace Henley 10 Mar 1997
Subject: Re: More on Resurrections
In 1995, I was ministering in an African church in London. One day, while driving my wife and me from the hotel to the church, one of the African pastors gave us a testimony about raising the dead. He said that one day he and his wife saw their two year old son dart out into London traffic. As they watched, horrified, a car struck the child. They ran to him, and someone called emergency medical help. The emergency attendants told the pastor his son was dead. The pastor stood and preached the Gospel to the gathered crowd. Then, to confirm the word preached, he prayed for, his child and God raised the child from the dead. I cannot remember the pastor's name, but he was trained through Centre for International Christian Ministries in London.

Walhenley@aol.com
Encourager Church
Houston, Texas

From: Riss, Richard M 07-Mar-1997
TO: Paul C. Rogers ( Paul.Rogers@mmts.eds.com )
Subject: RE: Resurrections
Paul, thanks for your two notes. As far as Mel Tari is concerned, the only thing I know about the incident to which you alluded is that, while I was a student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, John Woodbridge mentioned that it had come out that the Indonesian Revival was a fraud. He did not provide any of the details as to how this had come out, but the claim that the Indonesian Revival was a fraud sounded very suspect to me, especially since I had read what the critics had said in their attempts to try to discredit it, and even the material that they had written against its genuineness seemed to me to confirm its authenticity, even though that was not their objective. For example, the book by George W. Peters, INDONESIA REVIVAL (Zondervan, 1973), considers the claims of so many different individuals with respect to resurrections of the dead--one after another--that I have a tough time believing that nothing happened. He even has photographs of some witnesses on p. 81 of the book, with the following captions: "Man who claims to have raised two persons from the dead," and "Man who claims to have been raised from the dead." Then he writes on pp. 80ff., "I visited a man who is known in the community as having been raised from the dead. I met a woman who reported that her infant daughter of four months had been raised. I talked to the woman who was said to be responsible for having brought back to life two people, and to the man who claimed to have been instrumental in raising two people from the dead, a boy of twelve and a man forty to forty-five years old. In my questioning, I kept the sentiments of the people in mind. Their absolutist beliefs will not respond to questions of doubt. I was also aware of the fact that their word for death may mean unconsciousness, coma, or actual death. I also knew of their traditional belief in the journey of the soul after death from the body to the land of the ancestors. . . . Those who claimed to have experienced resuscitation and immediate restoration were people who had died suddenly. Several children who had died after suffering prolonged illnesses had more gradual restorations. The mother whose infant daughter was raised was quite sure that her soul had not left her body, for she had been dead only about half an hour. An older man was able to describe his condition after dying. While dead he had promised God that if he could ever live again he would confess his sins and pay back the money that he had stolen from an evangelist. He was sure that this theft had caused his sudden death, and so was the evangelist who brought him back to life. Thus the stories went. Two younger boys, one four and another eight, were not able to recount their experiences while dead. However, they were sure that they had not yet left the earth. I shall leave any judgments about these miracles to the reader. I went away satisfied that according to their usage of the word death, and their concept of death, they had experienced resuscitation. According to my concept of death, no such miracles happened." George W. Peters may be entitled to his opinion, but I cannot help but wonder if his judgement was not being clouded by his own preconception that, by definition, resurrections are simply impossible. I would term this "the will not to believe." His arguments are actually the same sorts of arguments that Harry Emerson Fosdick used in the 1920s with respect to the miracles recorded in the Bible. According to Fosdick, people in the first century thought in Biblical categories, and therefore wrote assuming that miracles of this kind could happen, but we in the twentieth century know better. To my own way of thinking, this is nonsense. When certain things happen, they have consequences. We must have some way of explaining the visible consequences of a historical event, which, according to eyewitnesses, was a miracle. Alternative hypotheses are fraught with all kinds of difficulties, such that suddenly, with the alternative explanation, there is a need for long, circuitous explanations for things that no longer fit together, whereas the whole thing is very easy to explain and quite straightforward if only we were to believe the witnesses to the events.

Richard

From: Lisa-Anne Wooldridge 06-Mar-1997
Subject: Resurrections
Hi, Richard, (thanks for all the good work on this list!) After reading all these examples of resurrections, I thought I would share with you again the "remote" restoration of my Aunt. (I think I shared this with you near the beginning of the new-wine list).

While asleep in my college dorm room I had a dream that my Aunt Shelia Samples had died. In the dream I traveled to the funeral home and went in, no one else was around. Her body was in a casket in the back room. (it was not time for her viewing yet). As I stood and looked at her, she looked waxy, cold, and strange with all that caked make-up on. The Lord told me very clearly to get into the casket and lay down and breathe on her. At first I told the Lord, "No way! What if someone comes in and thinks I'm nuts?" and again, He clearly instructed me to do it. The second time I was obedient (but I can still recall the feeling of not wanting to be found out). I climbed in, lay down and breathed on her. I am not sure I got out much more than "Lord Jesus..." by the way of praying for her. She started to stir, and I jumped out of that casket double quick! She sat up and with her arms upraised, began praising the Lord in a loud voice. At that point I woke up. It was about 4 in the morning if I recall correctly. I had an absolute certainty that my aunt needed intercession immediately. I climbed out of bed and prayed for her for 2 hours or so. The sun started to come up around 6 or so, and I felt a peace finally, and went back to bed. Shortly thereafter, my mother called me and told me that my Aunt had attempted suicide the night before, and at one point in the night was actually dead. They had already told the family she was dead, and since I wasn't there I am not sure what happened in the ER, but she was revived and around 6 am turned the corner out of the danger zone. I don't know if this counts as a resurrection/restoration or not, but I definitely believe it still happens! Every good and perfect gift is from the LORD!
Lisa-Anne wooldri@best.com

From: Jim Porter 10-Mar-1997
Subject: Resurrections from the Dead
Dear Richard,
Greetings once again. In my continuing travels for our missions work here at Elim I have experienced this miracle on one occasion. I was traveling to a meeting in Kitchener, Ontario when I was the first to arrive at the scene of a bad motorcycle wreck on the 405. The victim was laying in the right lane going through convulsions, with blood running out of his ears, etc. I later found out he had been traveling 90mph when he crashed. I told him I was a minister and that all we could do was pray. My assistant and I laid hands on him and within just a few minutes, he had revived and was trying to get up. A doctor soon arrived and took over treatment, and when I left a half hour later he was sitting up in the ambulance talking.

Though there is no way to prove it was an actual resurrection, but I've been around enough accidents to know this guy was on his way out. God saved him, but I have never been able to follow up on it. If you ever hear of any similar reports from your friends in Canada, I would be interested. I'm sure there must be some records of this accident somewhere as there were hundreds of people at the scene by the time I left.
Sincerely in Christ,
Jim Porter 74551.2354@CompuServe.COM

From: John Etherington Date: 13-Mar-1997
Subject: Re: Responses: Resurrections
Hello Richard,
Our church (North Plymouth Community Church, UK) was recently asked (February 1997) to pray for a toddler, 2 years of age who was very poorly [off] in [a] hospital. Apparently, as it was reported to us, this child was clinically dead for a short time prior to recovering which greatly amazed the Doctors and medical staff. The mother is convinced that the recovery, healing and life of her child is totally due to an answer to prayer and at the end of February brought the completely well child along to our Sunday morning worship. Thank you Lord!
kind regards,
John Etherington
mtm@enterprise.net

From: John W. Watson 07-Mar-1997
Subject: Resurrections from the Dead
Dear Richard,
I've just completed a paper on an obscure Baptist Evangelist in South Africa who ministered until 1977. In a biography about his life there is reference to a raising from the dead through his ministry in the late 1940's. The woman raised from 17 years old. My guess is that there would further documentation of this miracle available through Baptist and Newspaper sources to support this assertion. The name of the evangelist is William Duma. Duma was also known by the Billy Graham Associaton and attending the 1966 World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin.
In Christ,
John Watson J_Watson@compuserve.com

From: Ann Bowman Date: 06-Mar-1997
Subject: Resurrections from the Dead
Dear Richard,
David Pytches has an excellent chapter entitled "Raising the Dead" in: _Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church_ (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1985), 227-40.

He offers an solid biblical treatment of the subject and then gives an example from Augustine of Hippo (231-32) followed by ten modern day citations (232-39). These include the case of Jean Darnell's mother.
Blessings,
Ann Bowman ALB16Grace@aol.com
International School of Theology
San Bernardino, CA

From: Rob Bailey 06-Mar-1997
Subject: Up from the dead
Hi Richard,
I have a friend in Papua New Guinea whom the Lord has used to raise the dead on two occasions. His name is Suckling Tamanabae and he's from the Oro province. He is a powerful evangelist ascension gift ministry. He comes down to Australia from time to time and I've heard him tell the story of how he was used to raise the dead when this woman was dead and sticking. Another Bible school graduate that I taught told of how he had been used to raise the dead after the husband of the dead woman had split her head open with an axe. After she was 'revived' he sewed her wound up with a bag needle! The husband and a number of others got saved as a result! As far as I know these incidents have been authenticated by reliable people.
Love in Jesus,
Rob Bailey robanliz@netconnect.com.au

GOD RAISED HER FROM THE DEAD IN WELEGA

My name is Haptamu and I live in southern Ethiopia, Lekant and run Rhema church some 600 kilometres from Addis. We had heard that one of our brothers sister was sick. When we reached the village she had died. (This was within the last six months) We asked to be shown the body. We went to where she lay and began to pray for her. All the people around on seeing us praying loudly began to scream and fell down manifesting demons, for there is much witchcraft practiced in these parts. We had to stop praying and deliver the people from these demons. When they were all cast out we returned to the business of praying for this women. After praying we laid hands on her and her life returned and she sat up and we fed her some food for she was hungry , she was healed and delivered praise God!

From: Larry H. Walker
Subject: Re: Resurrection

Bro. Richard, I saw the E-mail request and your response on the validity of resurrections in our day. It brought to mind the personal testimony of a man who was a professor of Russian at Oral Roberts University during my years there (early and mid-'70s).

You probably know of him--Dr. Bill Basansky. He was born and raised in Russia. His mother was a godly woman. As I recall, he was drowned as a youth. His body was laid out on his family's kitchen table, presumably so he could be prepared for burial. Yet his mother refused to give him up--I believe she had dedicated him to the Lord at birth. The upshot of it all was that he was miraculously raised from the dead after a significant time has passed (I say this because people who drown in extremely cold water sometimes go into a form of hibernation and have been known to revive with no ill effects long after the conventional time for brain death).

Today Dr. Basansky has a powerful ministry--I believe in Florida--which abounds in healings and miracles. He was legendary at ORU for refusing to continue his classes if even one of his students was sick. He would gather his students together and they would pray until healing came. Only then would he proceed with the instruction in Russian. (His classes were uncommonly healthy and very well versed in Russian. . .)

I am currently verifying the facts of a recent miraculous resurrection of a very prominent figure in Christian music who was raised from the dead after being declared dead hours before by a team of heart surgeons in a major city. As soon as I have permission and verified information on this case from the person and his family, I will pass it on. I plan to include this in the new issue of the "Destiny Image Digest" magazine if approvals come through.

To His glory alone,
Larry Walker, managing editor, Destiny Image Digest Destiny Image Publishers LHW@MailGate.reapernet.com

From: Kym Farnik
Subject: Re: Resurrections from the Dead
Pastor Max Wiltshire who ministers as an evangelist in the outback of Australia to the Australian Aboriginal people has seen several people (7 or 8 I think) raised from the dead in the last 3 or 4 years.

I saw Max at the Ken Gott meetings held here in Adelaide three weeks ago. There is a very significant move of the Holy Spirit in the remote Aboriginal communities. EG: At Halls Gap there were about 600 people in the local community. During the crusade about 400 were saved!! Praise God!!! This crusade was held either late last year or early this year. (I did not get the exact dates).

I have a contact for Max via Evangelist Tim Hall. Tim is away in Melbourne Australia holding a series of revival meetings at Richmond Temple (AOG) in Melbourne. This is the 4th week of the crusade and has registered 400 1st time salvations with a similar number again responding to altar calls. I spoke with Tim last Tuesday and he was sharing about many healings as well. These included medically confirmed healing of cancer, arthritis, and other serious problems. PTL!!! Tim is due back in Adelaide next week and I will have some time with him then. I will get more details on Max at that time.

Blessings, Kym
Marion City Church (AoG)
544 Marion Road
South Plymton SA 5038
AUSTRALIA

From: 'Anonymous'  05-Mar-1997
Subject: Resurrections from the Dead
Dear Richard,
Thanks for forwarding the article on resurrections from the dead. You might also want to add to your list the account in Jack Deere's book Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Zondervan, 1993 (pg.203-206). Also Eridard Mukasa, who is a powerfully gifted preacher from Uganda and president of People of Destiny Evangelical Intl. Fdn., says he has seen a number of people raised from the dead back in Africa - although none here in the USA - at least yet :-).

Thanks and God bless your work. It's a great help!

From: Pastor Rich Marshall 05-Mar-1997
Subject: Re: Resurrections from the Dead
Dear Richard;
Again I am greatly blessed by your continued reports of revival spreading around the world. I have just read your post on resurrections from the dead and add a loud Hallelujah! to your report. Soon there will be so many reported and validated resurrections that even the most skeptical will be hard pressed to disagree.

In the case of the child that Wilma prayed for and that I witnessed, there is no doubt in our mind of what happened, God stepped in and brought this baby back to life. And not only that, but He restored all injured and damaged organs and flesh so that all the glory goes to the Lord Jesus.
Keep up the good work for the Kingdom brother. Give our greetings to Kathryn.
Pastor Rich Marshall Pastorich@aol.com

From: Kathie Tollifson 05-Mar-1997
Subject: Resurrections from the Dead
Richard,
A resurrection from the dead was medically documented in 1985 in Zaire in the book "Only Love Can Make A Miracle", which is the story of the ministry of Mahesh Chavda. This miracle resulted in a flourishing church in that locale.
Rejoicing,
Kathie Tollifson pyonyr@azstarnet.com

From: Wallace Henley 05-Mar-1997
Subject: Re: Resurrections from the Dead
We had a bonafide resurrection (restoration) to life here in 1989. The infant son of our children's minister died of lung congestion, and was dead for 90 minutes. The child was in a hospital trauma room, and the physician came into the waiting room where the mother, father, another of our pastors and I were waiting, and informed us the child was dead: lungs collapsed, no self-generated heartbeat, etc. As the mother, other pastor and I prayed, the father went into the trauma room. We had a powerful release of faith to command the mountain of death to be removed. Meanwhile, unknown to us, the father was laying hands on the child, and asking Jesus to restore the boy. The father then came back into the waiting room with the rest of us. Within in a minute, the trauma room doctor came into the room and told us that for reasons he didn't understand, the child's heart was beating again. The length of time the child was dead caused some physical symptoms to remain. But the child is alive to this day. His name is Timothy Williams. His dad is Brandon Williams, pastor of Northside Baptist Church, Arlington, Texas.
Wallace Henley
Senior Pastor
The Encourager Church
Houston, Texas

From: Riss, Richard M 05-Mar-1997
Subject: Resurrections from the Dead
It is a matter of historical record that resurrections from the dead accompanied the ministries of Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947), William Branham (1909-1965), and, more recently, David Hogan. On Branham, see, for example, David Edwin Harrell, Jr., ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), pp. 35-36, according to which, "Branham's healing power became a world-wide legend; there were continued reports that he raised the dead."

David Hogan ministers among Native Americans in Mexico, and he and his associates have witnessed a large number of resurrections of the dead during the 1990s. David Hogan and his colleagues have testified concerning these events in many places, including the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. Also, some of the young people of Dr. J. Patrick Fiore's church, Christian Life Center, in West Milford, New Jersey, have spent time in Mexico with David Hogan and know some of the details of these events.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, one influential book among Pentecostals was Lura Johnson Grubb's LIVING TO TELL OF DEATH (Memphis, TN: Voice of Faith Publishing Co., n.d.), in which the author, who was the wife of a well-known pastor, Paul N. Grubb of Memphis, Tennessee, provided the details of her own resurrection from physical death.

There were a number of incidences of resurrections of the dead in the island of Timor in Indonesia in 1965. One such incidence, in which a man was raised two days after his death, is described in considerable detail in LIKE A MIGHTY WIND by Mel Tari (Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House, 1971), pp. 76-78. The stench of the dead man was almost more than could be borne by those standing around him, who were singing songs of worship, praying for his resurrection. When he actually began to move, the prayer team was initially frightened, but they were reassured when the dead man woke up, looked around, and smiled, saying that Jesus had brought him back to life.

Several people have attempted to discredit the many reports of resurrections associated with the Indonesia revival of 1965, but I find those attempts to be unconvincing. One such attempt was made by George W. Peters in INDONESIA REVIVAL: FOCUS ON TIMOR (Zondervan, 1973), pp. 80-84. He says that in one case, an infant daughter "had been dead only about half an hour," as if this were a short amount of time, but it would seem to me that he was exercising undue skepticism, since lack of oxygen for more than just a few minutes would normally cause irreparable damage to the brain and certain death. The sheer number of testimonies to similar incidents that he attempts to refute is also an indication to me that genuine resurrections must have taken place there at that time.

I have heard from many people about a more recent occurrence of a resurrection from the dead which took place in Cambodia in 1994. One of them, Tom Ford, of Dallas, Texas, reported on October 10, 1994, that he had just returned from a two-week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia and that, "in Cambodia, we were hosted by Sophal Ung, the pastor of a church sponsored by the Global Network. The Lord is doing great things through his ministry there.

They've seen lots of miracles too, blind eyes opened, deaf healed, demons cast out, and the dead raised. There was a man that died of a heart attack and was dead nine hours. They took up boards from the floor of his house to have a coffin made. The Buddhist priest was going to come pick up the body the next day. His wife had been saved about two weeks and wouldn't give up. She and several Christians prayed for hours until midnight. The others gave up and went home, but she kept on. At 4:30 am the husband sat up [and] said, 'give me something to eat.' He went out the next day and the people of the village thought he was a ghost. People came from miles around to see the man that was raised up. The man and his wife now have a church in their house. I have the testimony on videotape also." At the CATCH THE FIRE conference in Toronto in October of 1994, some people from Cambodia, Monee Mon and Chen Mau, co-workers with Sophal and Deborah Ung, corroborated this story. At the same conference, James Ryle told my wife and me that he had seen a videotape in which Sophal Ung described these events.

In 1974, I attended the Christian Collegiate Conference at Temple University in Philadelphia. It was a conference for College Students, and there was an unusual diversity of speakers, including John Poole, who at that time was pastor of a church in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Cornelius Van Til, the great Christian Apologist who taught at Westminster Theological Seminary. Van Til tried to assert that miracles do not happen in the present day, but some of the people who were attending the conference were excited about an event that they said had taken place recently at Deliverance Evangelistic, a black church in downtown Philadelphia. According to these people, they had been to that church and spoken with several black people who had witnessed a resurrection from the dead which had taken place within the church building there during a church service.

In 1987-1988, my wife and I were living in Plano, Texas, where we were attending Fountain-Gate Church, pastored by Fuchsia Pickett. In one of her sermons, she alluded to an incident that had taken place a number of years previously, in which a woman had died during one of Dr. Pickett's church services, and had been raised from the dead. That the woman had died was confirmed by a Registered Nurse in the congregation. The woman who was raised testified to having left her body, and risen to the ceiling of the church and beyond, during the time that her body lay dead in the church.

More recently, Wilma Marshall, wife of Richard Marshall, senior pastor of Springs of Life Fellowship in Sunnyvale, California, was used of God in the resurrection of a baby who had just been struck by an automobile. This happened shortly after the Marshalls had returned from one of their trips to Argentina, where they had received a greater anointing from God. When the Marshalls told us about this incident, my wife Kathryn became highly motivated to go to Argentina, with the result that we did go to Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata for the sixth Harvest Evangelism International Institute last year.

People have widely varying criteria for evaluating claims of this kind, but one should bear in mind that it is always the case that it can only be eyewitness testimony that provides evidence for such claims, just as was the case for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If people choose not to believe eyewitnesses, then they cannot be convinced, regardless of how many examples may be cited, or witnesses produced. Nevertheless, I hope these examples will be of help to you. If you wish, I would be glad to put you in touch with many of the people whose names I have mentioned here.

From: Azusa 02-Apr-1998
Azusa@aol.com
Page maintained by Quentin Brown
Copyright ©1997 Outreach Magazine
BABY RAISED FROM YHE DEAD For Edward Wande, A Repentant Heart Preceded A Powerful Encounter With God Report by Pastor Min Tobitt

Late last year, on a roadside in Port Moresby, God demonstrated His power to a family when a little two-year-old boy named Poiyo was brought back to life.

But for the full story we need to go back to 1993. Pastor Edward Wange was sent to Port Moresby to pastor the Boroko (Moonlight) COC. He had successfully planted churches in the Simbu Province so this was a new challenge - to pastor a city church. It wasn't always easy, and during 1996 he felt restless and started to look for other ways to serve God. This had an unsettling effect on the church.

When in Australia to attend the International Conference in October and visit some other churches, God spoke very strongly to Edward to go back and plant a strong vision in the church, and build a militant church reaching out into the nation.

When he returned to the Boroko church, he did something that is not easy for a proud Highlander from PNG. He stood in front of his church and repented of his past failures and of the pain he had brought the church. He shared his new vision. This has brought a fresh and powerful release upon the church. It was at this time that the miracle of Poiyo being raised from the dead occurred.

As Edward drove along this road he noticed this family group in tears. He felt constrained to see what was wrong and found little Poiyo had died about 20 minutes earlier. When Edward asked if he could pray for the child the mother said, "It is too late - he is dead already!" However, Edward insisted and encouraged the family to believe for a miracle. As they stopped crying, Edward prayed in tongues. Three minutes later, the child's heart started to beat again. He continued to pray, and four minutes later the child opened his eyes and smiled at his mother.

Edward said: "The whole family were filled with joy and have all been added to the church after seeing the power of God manifested in this way." But Edward also knows that this is just one result of a repentant and open heart before God and His people. The Boroko church is still flourishing and it is standing-room only each Sunday as they meet.?

ANOTHER RESURRECTION REPORTED Date: 21-Feb-1998
Jimmy Crompton
We have had chronic back problems healed as well as sugar diabetes and High blood pressure. A retired business man named Ronny was diagnosed as having Glocoma by two seperate specialists. He was told that he would be stone blind shortly. The Lord gave me a word of knowlege one sunday in November about someone God was healing of Glocoma and two days later he was told by the doctor that his eyes were healed. He has no trace of the disease any more.

Ronny went to visit his daughter in Johannesburg. One afternoon he heard screams from down the road. It was a woman with her 2 yr old daughter who had just drowned. The mother had found her child lying on the bottom of the pool. How long she was there no one knows but she was blue, had no pulls and was definately not breathing. The mother was hysterical. Ronny took her and her child into his daughters house and started to pray, while others called the paramedics. For 20 min he prayed and then suddenly a spirit of anger came on him and he begun to shout at the spirit of death. Suddenly the child rolled over, coughed up an incredible amount of water and begun to scream. The screams of the mother and daughter helped the medics find the house. The came in and did every test in the book. The child was given a clean bill of health. The girl was taken to hospital for they expected complications but she is perfectly normal and well. No brain damage either. I beleive God raised her from the dead.
Jimmy Crompton <jrc@hinet.co.za>

From: George J. Lewis 10-Feb-1998
Subject: Resurrections
Dear Mr. Riss:
A friend from Ohio forwarded some materials from you. I find them fascinating, because of my own experiences. Grew up believing that "All things are Possible" with God. Witnessed one in my childhood (actually I was about 13) when a wonderful lady died of a heart attack in our church service. My father was the pastor. The Church wouldn't accept the death, though for nearly an hour it fought the battle in prayer, when suddenly the lady (Katherine English) opened her eyes and for the next hour walked back and forth in the altar area, hands uplifted, praising God and rejoicing for her life. The church experienced great renewal because of this.

I have been declared dead three times, (once prayed back by my wife) but I won't discuss these.

I have had three resurrections (two in hospitals, verified by nurses and other medical witnesses) One was an unsaved man, who came back, accepted Jesus, lived another month, then died again.

Another was an 80-year-old man in Rochester, Pennsylvania while I was hospitalized for kidney stones. There were two other patients in the same room as I was in. (The year was 1974) Suddenly the gentleman in the bed adjacent to mine suffered cardiac arrest and was 'coded'. Medical people rushed in, worked with him for a total of about 15 minutes. The man's sister was there; they ushered her out. She ran to my bed, and knowing I was a pastor, asked me to pray that his life would be restored to him. I tried to convince her that with his age and as ill as he had been, we should let him go. She refused, saying that he would want to stay. I asked if she would permit me to pray that IF HE WOULD BE RAISED UP AND MADE WELL, that his life would come back. She agreed.

We could hear the medical people working, but giving up, saying that there was no vital signs at all. I prayed. Suddenly the head nurse yelled, "Look! I have a pulse!" "His blood pressure is coming up", another one said. The man's sister was ecstatic. (I was more in shock!) The gentleman was restored to health and in about ten days was sent home. I pastored in the area for another three years and he still was living and enjoying life. (I have told this only about three times. I think I had little to do, the WOMAN's faith caused it to happen.)

The latest one was in my present pastorate. A good friend came to visit me from Michigan, and became dreadfully sick with keto-acidosis (a result of out- of-sight blood sugar count and diabetes) I was called to intensive care because he was dying. I took my wife, my youth pastor, and an Intensive Care Nurse Specialist with me. We watched his life leave him, and he lost all consciousness, as well as all vital signs. Respiration was gone. We asked the Lord to restore his life (as he was only 48 and we felt too young to go). In approximately 2 - 3 minutes. He coughed, and moved. Immediately conscious. Was released from hospital in another two days. (His keto- acidosis condition was INSTANTLY healed).
Do I believe? No. I KNOW!!!
This is a testimony to the Grace and Power of God. No praise to me or any other person. (By the way, the friend in the last story, had a marvelous, life-changing encounter with the Lord during the experience. His story changed my life as well.)
George J. Lewis
P. O. Box 1318
Thomaston, GA 30286
NedAus4303@aol.com

From: Tyrene Gary 09-Feb-1998
Subject: Raised From the Dead
Dear Richard,
A couple of months ago we had a pastor from Southern Mexico come to our church and speak, his name is David Hogan. Listening to the man speak was like sitting at the feet of one of the original disciples. They have 216 resurrections from the dead in their ministry. His accounts of the miracles were mind stretching to say the least. He walks in an area of faith that not many are willing to pay the price to get. He had story after story (I think our pastor, Frank Damazio, asked him and David said there were 1500 accounts of miracles) of signs and wonders and miracles that have taken place. If you want someone, who today, has witnessed and walked down that road you MUST contact him. You could contact Bible Temple's office at 503-255-2224 and ask for information on how to get in contact with David Hogan. My mother in law came to one of the meetings we had with David and he just put his scarf on her shoulder and her lungs opened up and she could breath better than she has in years (she HAD terminal lung disease). She is doing so much better today that it is truly a miracle, she had almost died the week before. I Don't want to build up a man but he has such a humble spirit and such a reverence for the Lord; many times when he talked about Jesus he would go down on his knees. He has an account of how they fasted for 9 months, 3 days fasting - 1 day eating, and then fasted the entire month of October and then the actual Glory Cloud of the Lord came to them and there were many, many salvations and miracles that took place sovereignly as the Cloud moved through the villages up in the mountains of Mexico. Contact him I believe that he has a message for the entire body of Christ today!
Thank you,
Tyrene Gary TGary2558@aol.com (Portland, Or)

From: Bruce Walker 08-Feb-1998
Subject: my personal testimony of back from the dead
Dear Richard:
I read with interest of several who had reported back from the dead testimonies. Here is mine: I enjoy reading your postings.
In Christ, Bruce Walker
I am a living testimony to being raised from the dead. When I was 8 months old I contracted a virus of some kind that left me very weak and with a high fever. My father is a Baptist pastor for some 60 years now. The story that has been related to me by my parents and others who were in attendance :

On a Sunday night in 1953 my mother stayed home from church because I had been ill for several days. At the time my father was the pastor of the Highland View Baptist Church in Trussville, Al. When my father came home from church my mother told him that I was not doing well. As they came in to check on me they noticed I was having convulsions, they rushed me to the Pell City, AL. hospital where they were met by our family physician of many years, who in fact had delivered my father years before, his name was Dr. Martin. When I arrived at the hospital, Dr. Martin was there to greet my parents and me. Dr. Martin, along with his attending nurse, rushed me in to the emergency room, but after a few minutes came out and told my parents that I had died. My mother resigned to this fact began to make funeral arrangements, family and friends were called and many from my church came to the hospital to comfort my family. My father though did not believe I was dead. He told Dr. Martin that God had told him that I would live and not die. Dr Martin tried to comfort my father, passing of my Dad's denial of death as that of a young father greiving. As time wore on, about an hour or so, my Dad was making a nuisance of himself by loudly declaring to anyone who would listen that I was not dead. Finally Dr. Martin pulled my dad aside and told him "Billy I can prolong life but I can not give it, accept the fact your son is dead." Mainly to humour my mother and father he took them back into the room where my body was draped with a sheet. Dr Martin then did something very unorthodox medically, he was going to prove to my parents that I was dead. Later he said he thought by doing so it would help them accept my death. The Dr. pulled the sheet down from my face and held a mirror in front of my nostrils-no breath, he pulled up my flesh and it stayed in a doughy heap, he put a stethoscope to my chest-no heartbeat. He turned to my parents and said "see, there is no life here". My Dad pleaded with Dr. Martin- "but God said he is going to live and not die." Finally exasperated by my dad's protestations- he took a needle filled with saline solution and stuck it in my heel, when Dr. Martin did this I let out a cry- Dr. Martin turned as white as the coat he was wearing, my parents just began to thank God, Dr. Martin said it was too early to tell, that if I lived I would have massive brain damage. I am now 44 years old, married, father of 2, in business for myself, in short ,very normal and thankful to God. The last thing that the good Dr. said before he passed on to be with the Lord was, "How is that Walker boy doing? I know I have seen a miracle, take care of that child." Praise God, He is taking care of me!
Humbly in Christ,
Bruce Walker
bruwalk@mindspring.com

From: Wayne & Evelyn MacKay 08-Feb-1998
Subject: Resurrections
Richard,
We really enjoyed your report on resurrections. If your research is ongoing, here are a couple more resources for you.

Marvin Ford has a book out describing how he died from a heart attack and went to heaven and came back with a powerful healing anointing. Unfortunately I don't have the book anymore so don't remember the title, but it should be easy to look up by author.

Dr. Richard Eby has a book. I think the name is "Caught Up Into Paradise". It describes how he fell off a second story balcony on his head, splitting it open. His wife rode up front in the ambulance pounding on the dashboard and demanding "Live, in Jesus' name" much to the consternation of the attendants. When he got to the hospital, they didn't even bother to sew his scalp on straight since he was dead anyway. I don't remember the particulars of his resurrection -- I think it was just sovereign -- but I recall that he said to this day when doctors examine him, they tell him he "couldn't possibly be alive" because there is supposed to be a pool of blood inside the brain (skull?) and his is still empty. Doctors tell him he couldn't be alive in that condition, but he says God left it that way as testimony to the fact of his resurrection. I believe Dr. Eby is still alive today. He also has another book called "Tell Them I am Coming" where God took him to hell. His books are well worth reading and, if I remember correctly, his first book also contains accounts of other miracles.

I also have a friend whose great-grandfather was raised from the dead after three days. All I remember is that his wife refused to let them bury him, and then he sat up in his coffin and asked for his Sunday suit, saying God had told him to go back and preach. He subsequently became one of the "curcuit-riders" and established hundreds of churches in America. I wrote her to see if she remembers or can get documented any more details, but haven't heard back yet.

Blessings, Evelyn
Wayne & Evelyn MacKay solution@arcos.org
Mississauga (Toronto), ON Canada

From: Gene Brooks 7-Feb-1998
Subject: Micronesian resurrection
Richard, if my memory serves, the details which follow about a friend of mine who was raised from the dead are accurate.

Paul Otoko is of royal lineage from the island of Panape in what is now the Federated States of Micronesia in the South Pacific. As a young man and unsaved, he lost his footing one day while pulling coconuts and fell to his death. He had fallen on the back of his neck and broken his spine. In Micronesia, funerals are done by building a funeral bier, decorating it with flowers, and carrying out the burial at sea.

Several of the Christian women in Paul's family, however, were quite disturbed that Paul had died without knowing Christ, and continued to pray for him as the body was being prepared for burial. As the bier was nearing the sea canoes, Paul sat up and asked what was going on.

Today Rev. Paul Otoko heads up maintenance, security, and several other responsibilites at William Carey International University where the US Center for World Mission is located in Pasadena, California. He is also an apostolic pastor to diaspora Micronesians located throughout the North American Western states and leads Micronesian Outreach Ministries in Southern California.

Gene
gene.brooks@juno.com
Rt. 3, 1635 Jefferson Davis Road
Clinton, South Carolina 29325 USA

Subject: Back from the Dead
Dear Richard,
In response to the inquiry about the women being raised from the dead, I have included the following article which appeared in our magazine concerning this incidence. Should anyone wish a copy of this edition, we have a few more back issues available and would certainly send them a complimentary copy if they e-mailed us. (While quantities last.)
God's best,
John Thuringer EDITOR, Arise Magazine
E-mail: arise@link.ca johnt@link.ca

BACK FROM THE DEAD Copyright 1997 Arise Magazine
Early on the morning of October 6th, as he was being driven to the airport to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight out of Montreal, evangelist Scott Holtz and his driver, Henry Pierre, came upon a devastating sight. A car had slammed into a highway guard rail at high speed in front of them, and they were one of the first cars on the scene to give assistance.

"When we saw the extent of the injuries suffered by this lady driving the car, we were horrified," Holtz explained.

She had slammed into a concrete wall with such force that a metal guard rail came crashing through her window and through part of her head. "As people stopped to assist this lady, nobody wanted to go near her body because of the terrible looking open wound she had suffered to her face and head," Holtz remembered.

Having called the police on their cellular phone, Holtz and Pierre waited for around twenty minutes for them to arrive.

While they waited, they began to witness about Jesus Christ to the other people who had gathered around. They were also trying to calm down their own emotions as they looked upon this terrible, early morning scene. "Here was this middle aged lady on the way to work, suddenly killed," Holtz said. "Her once beautiful face ripped open by the impact of the car wreck." They kept looking closely while waiting for the police to see if she would start breathing again. But there was no sign of life for over twenty minutes.

"Her heart was no longer pumping blood through her huge head wounds," Holtz related. "She had died instantly and tragically upon impact." The first Montreal police officers to arrive at the scene could barely look at her, according to Holtz. The two were astonished that the officers didn't even try to revive her. Instead, they simply "walked away in horror to redirect traffic."

The commanding officer later arrived and inspected the women. Then, he walked back to his cruiser to get a yellow plastic tarp to wrap her body in.

"It was at this time that my friend and I began to feel a tremendous love and anointing for this woman and her lost soul," Holtz stated. "We began to pray out loud for her and then suddenly she came back to life!" Her head started to move back and forth. She began to cough and breathe again. The color of life returned to her skin and what was left of her face. The blood started to flow out of her open wounds as her heart started beating once again.

"We became totally enraptured with love and euphoric joy as we saw this," Holtz continued. "We quickly began to speak to her in her car and tell her that we were Christians and had come to tell her how to get saved and get to Heaven. She was even trying to move her lips and say something to us." The police officer in charge was "taken aback" by what was happening. Two truck drivers even got scared and ran ran off when they saw the lady come back to life again.

A little while later, the police officer told Holtz defiantly that she was not going to continue living, but die very shortly.

"Soon thereafter, I confronted him strongly," Holtz mentioned. "He backed down under conviction of his own hard and insensitive heart." Holtz and Pierre had to leave the scene when the ambulance arrived, and they continued on to the airport as they had originally set out to do earlier that morning.

Later that day, Holtz received a phone call from a friend who had called the police department to find out more information. The police had already contacted the family of the lady and had listed her as dead on their police report.

"It was very strange to hear this," Holtz remembered. "But I refused to stop praying because I couldn't get the image of her coming back to life out of my heart!"

Back in Montreal the next day, his friend found a full color picture of the accident in one of the newspapers. However, few details were given about her condition. So, he contacted the police again. They would only say that she was dead and offered no further details.

Apparently the officer at the scene of the accident was so impacted by the sight of these two Christians praying for the lady in the car that morning that the story started to circulate at the station.

One particular officer overheard two others laughing at what Holtz and Pierre had done. It turned out that she was a born-again believer who decided to research the police report and find out what happened. Evidently, her body was transported to a nearby hospital, and her family was notified that she had passed away. Yet, upon the family's arrival, they discovered that she was still alive.

Henry Pierre found out the name of the hospital and went to see if he could get any more information. Unexpectedly, he stumbled upon the family waiting in the Intensive Care Unit. He was able to tell them the true story of what happened that morning which caused the family to "breakdown with overwhelming tears of joy and comfort."

"The doctors told him that they were able to save her right eye," Scott related. "This totally startles us to this day because at the accident scene she had no right eye at all. There was just an empty, bloody eye socket."

In the wake of these exciting events, Holtz is quick to point out that believers should expect God to do such things through their lives. "This is not just an isolated miracle. This is going to be a common occurrence," Holtz emphasized. "We are learning how to yield so that the resurrection power can flow through us."

"I didn't feel any anointing. I felt wasted, tired and was ready to get back to see my family that morning," Holtz continued. "I believe that after 'marinating' in God's presence in hundreds of services. His power kicked in when it was needed most."

(First Published: 01/12/97)

RESURRECTIONS FROM THE DEAD IN ETHIOPIA
From: IRN Date: May 1, 1998
Editorial note: This report has been verified and the author's name removed by request. He feels that any "promotion syndrome" would remove the anointing. He shares it with us simply to glorify God. We are grateful.

I went to the hospital in Atad to witness about Jesus and to see if I could pray for people. Whilst I was there I noticed a stretcher with a dead women on it and all the relatives mourning and crying out. They were saying in their sadness that they would never see their girl again, she was gone from them forever and their grief was great. My heart went out to them and I went across to them to see if I could console them in some way or pray for them. When I got to them I sympathised with them and tried to help comfort them in some way. They were very distressed this daughter meant a lot to them and she had been sick for some time and now had died.

After some time I helped clean the body and prepare it for burial. My heart began to yearn to help them more and I began praying. As I was preparing the body and praying I felt my hands moving across to her stomach and then I heard my mouth began to speak." I am the resurrection and the life. If a man believe in me, though he were dead yet shall he live!" I repeated it over and over again, getting louder and louder. The family, nearby began to get more distressed and angry but one of them was a Christian and realised that something was happening from the Lord and so he move the relatives out temporarily.

By this time I said I wanted to pray and the boy joined me, whom I did not know. I turn to the corpse and laid my hands on her stomach and began to pray to Jesus. I could feel fire come into my body and through my hand and suddenly the women open her eyes and sat upright in bed. She was perfectly well. Her relatives came running back in and there was great rejoicing and I preached to the whole family testifying of the gospel and the power of God.

The next day I went back and she was discharged and met the Christian boy and told him that he must now teach the family the ways of Jesus as they were going back to their home which was some distance away in the countryside. She was discharged by the doctors and being perfectly well, no disease that she had previously nor any other thing wrong with her. Praise the Lord!

A Testimony by my Interpreter and our Worship Leader.

I was holding a housegroup meeting and heard of one of the women's relatives that was sick in hospital in Addis Ababa. She was very sick and this girl was very worried about her. The next day I went with the girl to the hospital and we asked to be admitted to see this lady. The authorities refused us entry and so, not knowing what else to do we sat down and began to pray to the Lord. After some time the authorities came back and said that I could come in to see this lady but not the girl that was with me. I took this to be a directive from the Lord that I was to pray for this sick lady.

I was taken to the ward only to find that this lady had died and the doctors were being notified at that very moment. The guard left me alone with her and I was perplexed. Why did God bring me here when the lady had already died. I was going to pray for her sickness to be made better. Then suddenly I realised that the Lord might want me to pray for her even now.

I began to pray and during the praying I realised that I was calling her back to her body. Suddenly her eyes opened and she was better. She was brought back. When the doctors arrived they examined her and asked why the nurses had brought them to a patient that was already better. The nurses were confused. Later this lady was discharged from the hospital and she came to (church) on the Sunday to testify to her miracle. Praise the Lord!
Source: Awakening, IRN

Miracle In Washington

Becca Bates and her son Dustin were eating lunch in Centralia, Wash., recently when they heard a commotion. With a wail of sirens, an ambulance drove into the parking lot. A crowd of people were gathering. Curious, Bates and her son went outside. A 22-month-old baby lay on the pavement and medical personnel were just beginning to work on it. The child had stopped breathing, lost most of its color, and showed no signs of life. Dustin, 17, stepped forward and did the unthinkable. "Would you mind if I held the baby," he asked the medic. Incredibly, he was allowed to take the child. "Would you mind if I prayed?" he asked next. As Dustin began praying for the child in front of the crowd, Becca went to the distraught mother and prayed with and comforted her. About that time the baby started to move again. Dustin put the baby on his shoulder and started patting it. Soon the baby began to get color back in its face. Then it began to cry.
Source: INTERNATIONAL REVIVAL NETWORK
IRN NEWS DIGEST August 11th 1998

 
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