Does anyone know Bob Turner? Tell him I'd love to chat with him, catch up. He had the most wonderful story to tell.
I met him years ago in a home meeting. He played the piano beautifully for our worship, then he gave his amazing testimony. I love to believe wonderful things and tell others, but I don't want us to be deceived. I wanted to verify Bob's story.
I did. I called his high school and asked the secretary if she remembered him. "Oh, yes," she said.
So I didn't put words in her mouth, just asked what she remembered. She corroborated:
Bob was born with CP and at 14, his left side stopped growing. His left arm and leg were shorter and drawn up, and he walked with a dragging limp. His parents bought him an old piano for coordination therapy. He'd pound on it in frustration. But he still managed to learn a lot.
One night, a friend took him to a home prayer meeting and they laid hands on him and prayed. His left arm and leg straightened out and even his teeth on that side came in longer.
His parents didn't believe it when he ran up the stairs to tell them. They had been through so much for so long. His mother put her pillow over her head. His father said, "Let's see if it's there in the morning."
It was.
He went back to school on Monday and teachers pulled him into their rooms to ask what happened. A Bible club was formed and at the end of the year, an assembly program speaker had to cancel, and Bob and the host of the home meeting were allowed to give their testimony to the whole school.
All this, the school secretary corrobrated--in her own words, not mine. Except for one mistake. She said, "He went to a revival..."
No. It was just a living room full of believers.
Bob spoke in several churches in the area, and in my living room twice. I made more friends on those occasions, strangers brought in by friends into my packed house.
It would seem that God is still in the healing business. Several times, the Bible says Jesus healed them "all." Acts 10:38. I don't know why all aren't healed who ask with faith today.
Nowhere does Jesus refuse to heal anyone. Nowhere does He say, "I think I'll let you keep this affliction. It will make you more spiritual." But we have probably all seen situations where it does.
Nowhere does it say in the Bible the age of miracles is past.
In fact,
I Corinthians 1:7-9 KJV says we are to come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Great Commission in Matthew says to do all things He taught/commanded them, until the end of the age/world/cosmos. What things would that include? Matthew 10 says He told them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils. Again, to the end of the world....
Miracles do seem to happen more on the mission field than in more "sophisticated" science oriented-countries. Like ours. Ask a missionary back from the foreign fields. When everyone else isn't around.
Is much of the Western church pretty Laodicean, a la Revelation 3? I wonder, but that's another topic for another day.
Some people are still gloriously healed right here and now, and I hope that knowing that builds faith.
And we can dwell on the Word, such as Isaiah 53:5, "With His stripes, we are healed." And "Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today, and forever." But if His plans don't coincide with ours, we should also remember that God has His plans for us, and they're all good. "All things work together for good for them them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose," Romans 8:28.
And who does the healing? We are told in Hebrews that Jesus is at the right hand of God. God and Jesus are seated in heaven. So, God's work on earth is done by the wonderful Holy Spirit.
James says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." I'm no expert. I just suspect that God appreciates it when we
recognize all three aspects of Him in their different roles. Like it says in the hymn,
Holy, Holy, Holy--God in THREE PERSONS, blessed Trinity.
Too often today, we fail to mention one of these blessed Persons, God on earth today, the Holy Spirit, rather than act and believe for Him to minister accordingly, his
gifts of the Holy Spirit. Healing, in Bob's case.
My novel's heroine's little girl is very ill and a new believer prays for her. This believer just lost a loved one, himself. He says he doesn't know why everyone isn't healed. He just knows that healing was part of the work of the cross. "With His stripes we are healed." So he prays for the toddler in faith, believing, and....
Pray for me to get a publisher and you can read the book and find out. LOL Thanks!
As for Bob Turner, he doesn't have all the answers, either. But he did get his healing, praise God. May we see more healings like his.
To read what a Southern Baptist missionary personally told me about another part of the Great Commission--casting out demons in Indonesia--
click here.
God bless~
