We are “over the top” when it comes to our faith and Jesus…here’s one of the reasons why…OUR TRUE STORY…will take a few minutes to read it!!
Published in “The Christian Ranchman June 2003: MODERN DAY MIRACULOUS HEALING by Karla and Roger Welch
Roger and I are born-again Christians…that is, we have a relationship with Jesus Christ. What we are about to share is just a part of the faithfulness of God that we have experienced in our lives. Also, we are Pentecostal and believe in all the gifts of the Holy Spirit (as listed in I Cor. 12:8-10, 28) that they are for today. We believe that the whole Bible is the Word of God and that He is the same yesterday, today and forever and that Jesus is still the same healing Jesus. Based on that…here is a story about a miraculous healing that my husband experienced.
We were building our home and were into the second month. They had poured the cement around the posts in the basement and we were preparing the basement for the floor to be poured. Since we both had full time jobs, we did all our building nights and weekends. My husband’s brother, Tim, was the main “contractor” on the house and different friends/family were helping us at times. This particular day we were working on the second floor of the house. My husband, Roger, was thirsty and asked that a can of soda be thrown up. There was a hole where the stairwell was to be and it was partially covered with a piece of plywood. When the soda was thrown up from the basement thru this hole to the second floor, Roger stepped on the plywood over this “future” stairwell. Unbeknownst to him, the plywood had been cut ¾ of the way around. When he stepped on it to catch the soda, the plywood gave way.
He fell two stories, headfirst, and was knocked out as he fell. He landed on his head in the basement on the jagged concrete that had been poured around the support posts. He started contorting like an animal in its last stages of life. Everyone started screaming and yelling and thought he was dead. He brother-in-law, who is also a Christian, ran to him and laid hands upon him. He said words to the effect of….”In the name of Jesus, I command you to come back!” He is a Vietnam veteran and had seen a lot of men that were fatally wounded…a familiar sight. Instantly after he prayed, Roger stopped contorting and his eyes popped open. A call was placed for the ambulance. The neighbors, who were also building a home behind us, heard the call come over the scanner. A paramedic was among them and he immediately rushed down and helped stabilize Roger until the ambulance arrived.
Upon arriving at the hospital, they immediately started running tests. First they said it was a miracle that his head had not split open…especially since he has a thin skull. He did not require any stitches…he had a small cut above his eye, which they put a butterfly bandage on. They were amazed that he had not broken his neck or was not paralyzed. He had escaped without major injury but said he suffered a brain contusion that would heal in time. But, upon doing the x-rays, they were surprised to find a tumor the size of a grapefruit in his chest. They said the tumor was unrelated to the fall and that they could not operate until the brain contusion had fully healed.
We immediately called for prayer and the Christian community responded. A call was placed to my sister, Joyce, in Corpus Christi, which means “body of Christ.” Joyce attended a non-denominational Charasmatic church. Her church prayed and the Lord gave her Pastor a Word of Knowledge (I Cor. 12:8). The Lord said, “the tumor will be benign and when the surgeon operates, it’s going to pop out like a ball in his hand and it will be attached by two cords. He will exclaim, it’s the easiest operation I have ever done!”” A Word of Knowledge is a supernatural revelation or insight into circumstances without any human source but solely by divine aid. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are NOT like a psychic’s (medium’s) gifts…a psychic’s are counterfeit to the real gifts of the Spirit.
We met with the oncologist and he told Roger that regardless whether the tumor was malignant or benign, he would have to have chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The next thing they did was run a gallium scan on the tumor…this is nuclear medicine. They inject a dye and if it absorbs into the tumor tissue, there is a 90% chance that it is cancerous. They did the test and the dye was absorbed…they told us the tumor was cancer. But, they wanted to be 100% sure so they did a biopsy. They cut Roger across the pectoral muscle and removed a piece of the tumor and sent it out to the lab. It came back positive…the test confirmed it was malignant.
Well, the Lord had given us both the gift of Faith (I Cor. 12:9) at this time. This is the supernatural ability to believe God without doubt…absolutely NO doubt…to meet adverse circumstances with trust in God’s messages and words. Although the FACTS stated that this tumor was malignant….the TRUTH (which in this case was the Rhema Word of God…which is the spoken Word) said it was going to be benign. We had such absolute peace. The nurses got upset because we would tell them the tumor was benign…they thought we were crazy. Roger even shared with one of the young doctors exactly what was going to happen during the operation. The only way we could do this was because we TOTALLY knew that he was going to be healed because we KNEW we had heard from God.
Two days before the operation, I had been reading my daily devotional and God spoke to me out of His Word. When the Lord speaks to you like this…it kind of just lifts off the page and goes into your spirit I was reading in the Old Testament about Gideon and how the Israelites went into battle and the Lord caused the enemy to turn on itself and be destroyed (Judges 7:22).
The night before the operation, Roger’s anesthesiologist came in to administer some type of sedative to cause Roger to relax. The anesthesiologist was also a Spirit-filled Christian. He happened to bring him a cassette tape filled with songs of faith…one song in particular was “My God is An Awesome God.” Sometimes the Lord will minister to you through music. Well, Roger did not take any sedative…the music was his sedative…he played the tape over and over and had complete peace. He had an encounter that night with the Holy Spirit…where he felt lifted as if in angel’s wings…almost weightless. He felt God’s love to such a degree that there was an absence of fear…”Perfect love casts out fear” (I John 4:18). He had supernatural confidence in God and supernatural absence of fear.
The next day, the operation was performed…the tumor was removed and sent out to be analyzed. The operation was similar to open heart surgery where they cut your chest and open you up. In a few days, the surgeon and his staff came in to examine and talk to Roger. Roger asked the question, “How did the operation go?” The surgeon responded, “I reached my hand into your chest cavity under the tumor to see how many places it was attached. When I did, it just popped out into my hand like a ball the size of a large orange or grapefruit. And as I lifted it up, I saw that it was attached by two blood vessels. I just snipped them off and you know this was the easiest operation I have ever done!” That’s when the young intern exclaimed, “that’s exactly what Mr. Welch said was going to happen!” It was a real “eye opener” for him.
When the documented results came back…they were astonished that the tumor was benign. The young intern told Roger that of the 400 plus similar cases, which were operated on since the intern had been there, this was the first one that turned out benign. There was no explanation except that of a divine miracle.
Next we had a meeting with the oncologist. We had prayed beforehand and pleaded with the Lord saying, “Lord, we’re building this house…we don’t have time to go through radiation and chemotherapy, but let it come thru the doctor’s mouth that Roger doesn’t have to thru with this…we will do whatever he says.” When we met with the oncologist he said, “By the way…that tumor was so benign…you don’t have to have chemotherapy or radiation!” We left there rejoicing and weeping…thanking God for His faithfulness and healing power.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever…still healing!!!
