Does God Still Heal Today?
Nicky Gumbel
One time I got a call to go to Brompton Hospital, where I was the Assistant Chaplain. And so when I got the call, I was on the squash court, and it was quite urgent. So I rushed to the hospital in my squash gear with my squash rackets in my hand. And when I arrived, I met the person who'd asked me to go, a mother called Vivian and first of all, Vivian was a bit surprised to see a Vicar in squash gear, and it took me a little bit of time to persuade her that I was a Vicar. But when she was convinced, she asked me to go and pray for this little boy. She was a mother of three children. And she was pregnant with her fourth, the third child Craig; he was 18 months old, and he had a hole in his heart. He'd been operated on, but it had been unsuccessful. So the doctor said that there was no hope for him. He was on life support, and three times they'd asked for her permission to switch the machine off and let him die. The mother wasn't a Christian, but she said, I want to try one last thing. I want to get someone to pray for him. So that's why I've been called. I went into the room. He had tubes all over his body. And I prayed for him, in the name of Jesus, to be healed. And then, I went to chat with Vivian and talk to her a little bit about faith. And there in the hospitals, she gave her life to Jesus Christ.
Nicky Gumbel
Two days later, I went back into the hospital to see how he was getting on. And she came running up to me so excited to sit after you prayed. Cray turned the corner, and he's recovered; he was healed of that heart condition. Now, that was not a placebo effect or the power of positive thinking. No way. It could have been autosuggestion. He was just a baby. That was 27 years ago. Today, Craig is still going strong. I've kept in touch with the family all these years, and he's the glue in that family, a remarkable young man. She said to me afterward, I didn't believe, but I do believe now. Of course, I've also prayed for lots of people who haven't been healed. But as John Wimber used to say, when we pray for no one, no one was healed. Now we pray for lots of people. Some are healed.
Jeff Klein
This week's Alpha Question: Does God still heal today? You can see that Nikki Gumbel's answer is definitely yes. What's your answer? Come out this weekend. Let's explore it together.