My friends, I do humbly testify that they do exist, and have since the Gospel was restored. It was not an idle comment when it says in Jas. 5:14 "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the Elders of the Church; and let let him pray over him, annoiting with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up up; and if he committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." Outside of the LDS Church, I am curious as to how many churches actually practice this "annoiting with concescrated oil for the healing of the sick"? There are so many examples in Church history, witnessed by so many, that they cannot be dismissed. We do not proselyte on the basis of these things, but the Gift of healing is alive and well in the LDS Church. I posted sometime ago when Joseph healed so many that were sick on the banks of the Mississippi, (some nigh unto death), and the account of this was recorded by countless number of the saints in their journals.
I enjoy the account that occurred in Kirtland, Ohio. Mrs. John Johnson, who lived in the town of Hiram, forty miles distant from Kirtland, heard of the wonderful man that could receive revelations from God, HEAL the sick and see angels. She had a stiff arm that she wanted healed and made useful like the other, so she induced her husband to take a journey to Kirtland to see the Prophet.
Joseph asked her if she believed that God could make him an instrument in healing her arm which had been stiff for a long time. She ansered that she believed that her arm could be healed. The Prophet only remarked that he would visit her the next day.
The next day Joseph came to Bishop Newel K. Whitney's home where Mr. Johnson and his wife were staying. There was a campbellite doctor and a Methodist preacher in the room. He took Mrs. Johnson by the hand and without sitting down or standing on ceremonies, and after a short mental prayer, pronounced her arm whole in the name of Jesus Christ. He then left the house immediately. When he was gone, the preacher asked her if his arm was well. She immediately stretched out her arm staight, remarking at the same time, it's as well as the other."
The next day the preacher came to the house of Philo Dibble, who lived a little out of town, and related what he saw, and then tried to explain it on natural principles, saying that WHEN Joseph pronounced that arm whole in the name of Jesus Christ, it frightened her so badly that it threw her into a heavy perspiration and relaxed the cords, and the result was that she could straighten her arm. I guess that was a better explanation than some who commented on that thread about the greatest healing episode recorded in Church history, (as it was witnessed and participated in by so many), that it was obviously the work of the devil, Joseph being a false prophet.
I have personally witnessed many, but I will share only two with all of you. In Sept. of 1970, I and my family were driving back from the A&M-Wichita St. football game and outside of Marlin was struck by a drunk Baylor student driving on the wrong side of the road. My feeling as I looked at my two small children, with my 6 year old daughter looking like half of her head was gone, my wife covered with blood, and the individual who perpertrated this horrible scene lying moaning in the middle of the highway, had I not been a recently baptized member, I would have put him out of his misery permanently! My 4 year old son tried to get outof the car and walk around and I was impressed to have him lie down and not move, even though he did not look injured. I gave him a father's blessing and after they got him to the hospital, it was discovered from the X-rays, that he had three broker ribs and three fractured vertabrae.
It was the caving in of the side of the car that gave the impression that half of my daughter's head was missing at it covered it over (She had been lying asleep on the floorboard with her head against the door). When the ambulance got us to the hospital in Marlin, I took the opportunity to call the Bishop. It was approximately 1:30AM. I told him what haddd happened and that they going to take us to a hospital in Waco as they were not equipped to handle the seriousness of my daughter's injuries. (By the time we had got only to Marlin, one eye had swollen shut and under the eyelid, it looked like some one had put a full sized egg). The Bishop in Dallas Called a Bishop in waco and by the time we had got to the hospital in Waco, he and one of his counselors met us. At a little after 3:00 AM Bishop Danley and his first counselor arrived from Dallas. They gave my son and my daugher a priesthood blessing after annoiting their heads with oil. I will never forget the blessing that my daughter received. Most blessings of healing are based on the faithfulness of the individual receiving the blessing, but not this time. He promised her that she would make a full recovery. Within a day we were moved by ambulance to Bayor hospital. The Neurosurgeon told my wife and I that he would wait a couple of days before operting on the head trauma that my daughter had suffered. His quote was "we want to be in control of the istuation, instead of the situation being in control of us'. The nurse (a member of our Ward) heard him exclaim, over and over, "oh, no; on, no" The brain sheath had been penetraed but she had begun healing so well that he never dreamed that her injuries could be so serious. He removed the necrotic brain tissue as well as a part of the skull. We had to wait a couple of months before he could put in the accryic plastic plate to replace the piece of skull that he had removed. I can not tell you how disconcerting it was to sit at the dinner table and see that portion of her head pulsing, and looking around and perceiving every sharp cornered piece of furniture as a super danger if she stumbled and hit it. They had x-rayed her eye and told us that she had a blow-out fracture of her left eye. When she went back in for her next treatment, I can hardly describe the reaction of the eye Doctor "We looked at X-ray, we examinded her eye, we saw the fracture and now there is none. For years and years he and his nurse referred to her as their "miracle" child.
My son wore a back brace for several months and was completely healed. He played every sport you could imagine and played on Ricardson H.S.'s playoff team that beat Carter in the playoffs in the Cotton Bowl and the following week lost to Highland Park at Texas Stadium. My daughter completely recovered and was named the outstanding business at RHS (a school of 3,000 at the time). I told them they could go to any College they wanted, but I would pay their way to A&M or BYU. My son went to A&M and was in the Corps all 4 years and my daughter got her degree in finance. Each have four wonderful children and I could not be more blessed. An interesting aside; My wife had refused to initally join the Church, but unknownst to me had retaken the discussions,(and this time listened), while I was at work. She had set the baptismal date with the Bishop and was going to surprise me with this good news that Sunday morning at Church. With this horrible wreck, she could have easily taken the position that this was a sign from God that she was making a very bad decision. She never wavered and is a tremendous example to all that she comes in contact with. I don't expect to ever meet a more honorable woman or a more loving wife, mother and grandmother.
Last year I received a call from the Bishop and was asked if I would go with another quorum member to adminster to an ill individual at Medical City, who was not a member of the Church. It was after 9:00 PM so I was dressed very casually and my initial reaction was not one of excitement at this opportunity. But as my wife has reminded me many times, compassionate service is rarely convenient. As we drove over there I learned that the man's wife, who had joined the Church a year earlier, had requested this blessing for her husband. I wondered how pleased "he" would be over the request. When we met them, they were a delightful couple, about my age. He had developed some severe heart symptoms while travelling through Dallas from East texas. After we concluded our business, I gave his wife my business card (which is a "fun card that states my name, etc. with the little inscription "retired in everthing except in supporting Texas A&M" with an offer to help in any way that we could.
That afternoon the individual called me. I assumed he was still in the hospital as his wife indicated he might have to be there for a while. But no he said, he was home in Mt. Pleasant. The problem that was going to keep the Dr. from discharging him was no longer there and he had left Dallas at mid-morning. I had told my companion when I left the hospital that I impressed that this man would be baptized for he seemed so pleased with his wife's joining and what he had learned about the Church and the members whom he had closely observed.
He had looked at my card and noticed that I was an Aggie and so was he. What class? Class of '60. Well, so am I. Obviously we had a fun time discussing our college days. 4 months later he called me and told me had been baptized and how overjoyed he was. He and his wife were going to Salt Lake to stay with his sergeant who had served under him and was a member of the Church. Although it would be a year before he could go through the temple and take out his own endowments, he could perform baptisms for the dead, the prospect for which he was very excited. He had retired from the Air Force as a Major and his sergeant and he used to kid each other as they stayed in touch over the years. "You only made sergeant because I was your comanding officer; you only made major because I was your first sergeant".
I have thought about what the odds were of getting a call to admisister to a person late at night and finding out it was one of my A&M classmates. I believe that there was only 517 left as seniors (and there are fewer of us now) so the odds were pretty big against it.
These are just a very few of many reasons why I know that miracles still exist. That was one of John Wesley's (the founder of the Methodist Church) great frustrations when he wrote "It does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were common in the church for more than two or three centuries. We seldom hear of them after that FATAL period when the Emperor Constantine called himself a Christian.....The real cause was that the love of many was waxed cold. The Christians had no more of the Spirit of Christ than the other HEATHENS. This was the real cause;..The Christians were turned heathen again and had only A DEAD FORM left!" Pretty harsh, but true.
[This message has been edited by ibmagg (edited 5/2/2006 3:34p).]
