A Miracle
I am a member of a megachurch. While attending one adult Bible study group, approximately 80 members, one fellow asked, “Has anyone here ever seen a miracle?” Only I raised my hand. Asked to describe it, I did.
In brief, I was present at a major evangelistic campaign in San Miguel, El Salvador, where an old man in a wheelchair was pushed to the front of the altar when Evangelist David Shibley called for people who needed to be healed. The old man was lifted up to the platform by two young men. David Shibley placed his hands on the old man’s head and declared him healed. “Next!”
Two helpers on the platform then picked up the man, carried him off, and placed him in my arms. Immediately, I asked myself what I was going to do. I decided to start praying for the man in Spanish. A strong voice said, “Don’t pray in Spanish. You are praying to me, not to him.” Immediately, I obeyed!
In the next few moments, the old man’s legs began vibrating like rubber bands. Slowly, I lessened my load until he was fully supporting himself, to his and my own astonishment. Gradually, I moved away, holding his hands until our arms were fully extended. When I invited him to walk as I held his hands, he moved forward. As we arrived at the front row of seating, he sat down, eyes wide open, perspiration drenching him.
When some church ladies brought his wheelchair, they asked who it was that brought him to the meeting. He asked, “Why do you want to know?” One of the ladies replied, “So we can find them to push you home.” He immediately stood up, legs no longer vibrating, took control of the wheelchair, and declared, “No. I will do this myself.” He pushed that wheelchair out of the stadium. The following evening, he was the first to arrive. He looked at me, asking, “When do we get started?”
Following my simple report, there was not even one comment, question, or acknowledgement of my reported miracle. No one presented a question, not even the class leader.
On another occasion, in a conversation with an octogenarian member of the church, he adamantly refused to believe God works miracles today.
The City of Capernaum Came To Mind
Capernaum compares in respect to my hometown, a mercantile center of commerce. The chief business was seafood caught in the Sea of Galilee.
As are the cities within Rockwall County, Texas, Capernaum was generally a prosperous city. It was in this city that Jesus made his second home after moving from Nazareth.
Immediately following Jesus’ entering Capernaum, a Roman Centurion appealed to Jesus to heal his servant “lying at home, sick with paralysis, terribly tormented.” The Centurion knew that Jesus need not make a house call but to simply “speak the word only.” Read the full story in Matthew 8:5-13 MEV. Note that the Centurion was not a Jew.
The God-given mission of Jesus Christ was to heal and save the Jewish people of Israel. Jesus noted that the Centurion’s faith was greater than that of any Israeli Jew.
As stated in Luke 7:1, this miracle happened just before Jesus entered Capernaum. Subsequently, Jesus performed many miracles in Capernaum proper. The indifference of the people of Capernaum to the miracles Jesus performed astonished and angered Jesus.
I quote from Luke 10:13-15:
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which have been done for you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be thrust down to hell.”
My Miraculous Experiences (some of them)
- At a church in Monterey, Mexico, God healed a blind grandmother as two of us laid our hands on her and called for her healing.
- In my home, where we hosted monthly meetings, a woman with curvature of the spine was instantly healed as I laid hands on her back and prayed.
- On a Sunday morning in our new auditorium, I was instantly healed of a very badly sprained right ankle. I walked out of church with only one shoe and the brace and crutch in my hands.
- On a road trip with my family of 4 boys and my wife, after stopping for lunch at a roadside restaurant, our Chevrolet full-size van would not start. It was hot, and I was getting impatient. That model of van featured a covering inside the cab over the motor. As men do, I pulled the cover and looked for clues. I was getting impatient, getting hotter, and sweating. James, my second-born son, asked, “Daddy, why don’t you lay hands on the motor and pray like you do when we are hurt?” I did, and the van started immediately. Our round trip to Carlsbad Caverns was uneventful. It was the day after our return that we discovered the fuel pump had failed.
- Before I became a believer in Jesus Christ, I had a great job as an engineer with a Connecticut-based aerospace manufacturer. Not wanting to move back to Connecticut, I decided to find a position in Texas, anywhere in Texas. Anywhere became Dallas, where the Honeywell Corporation made me a great offer. We set a date to go to work early in July 1974. Immediately after our move from Oklahoma to Richardson, Texas, I reported for duty. But before I could go to work, the company required a physical. I failed the physical due to very high blood pressure. The doctor explained, “Your boiler is about to burst.” Over that summer, I sought employment through Dallas Morning News help-wanted ads. As the summer progressed, our finances diminished, both the cash and our credit card. I confessed to my wife that I did not know what to do. She suggested we go to church. Full disclosure: I was not “raised in a church.” I was simply a heathen, ignorant of the Bible and all that goes with Christianity. My wife suggested I read her red-covered Bible. I turned to Genesis 1. She suggested we did not have that much time and pointed me to Matthew 1:1. As I read her Bible over the next two weeks, something was happening to me. Late on a Sunday night, I had a supernatural encounter with Jesus and went to bed. On Monday morning, I visited my doctor, who was treating a minor facial infection. When the doctor read the nurse’s report, he said, “Your blood pressure is normal.” I explained that my blood pressure was never normal. He explained that it was now normal. I asked him to put his findings in writing. He hand-wrote his findings on letterhead and signed the letter. I immediately took that report to the Honeywell office. On September 15, 1974, I started my new job with Honeywell.
Have you ever needed a miracle? Have you questioned: Does God know what I need? Are you a lifelong member of a local church, but never hear teachings on miracles?
What are your personal experiences when you needed a miracle, but none came your way?
Personal to all my Capernaumites
I realize many church-going people never experience miracles because they are taught otherwise. Thankfully, I wasn’t biased against the power of the Living God. My moment of desperation led me to read the Bible, to hear from God. If you are curious and not a church-going Christian, I suggest you start your search by reading the Bible. I suggest starting with Matthew chapter 1, verse 1. In this amazing age of information, you don’t have to buy a Bible from a bookstore or from Amazon. I have several hard copies of the Bible on my bookshelf, but my research is 100% on the Bible Gateway website. Most of the resources are free. I pay for more. Every Bible under the sun is online right now. My chief resources are the Modern English Version (MEV), Reina-Valera 1960 (RVR1960), the Nova Versão Transformadora (NVT), and the Biblia Sacra Vulgata (VULGATE). In the order listed above: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin.
My abbreviated miracle stories above are only some of my personal observations and experiences.
I wasn’t raised in a church. I knew nothing about the Bible until the moment of my greatest need. Church dogma and traditions were never a part of my life. I assume that the many people in my community who disavow miracles while embracing the patterns and prescriptions of a local church simply have not had a time in their lives when they needed a miracle. Or, your teachers and/or parents do not believe in miracles.
If my advice means anything, read the Bible and take the miracle-working power of the Living God, the Creator of the Universe, and His Bible as “gospel truth.”
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. — Romans 10:17
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 