Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. (James 5:14-15)
My father told me about a healing miracle that occurred back in the mid-seventies before I was born. Back then, my father was pastor of a Baptist Church in Broken Hill, a remote mining town in New South Wales.
A local church deacon approached him and asked if he could visit relatives who were in need. This man’s cousin Ernest (known as ‘Knocker’) suffered from terminal bowel cancer.
Knocker was skin and bones, a shadow of a man when my father met him for the first time. Shortly after the first visit, Knocker was hospitalised for palliative care. Cancer, in its last stages, riddled this man’s body and four-hourly morphine injections were injected to manage severe pain. He also needed a colonoscopy bag.
My father continued to visit from time to time, and eventually, through these pastoral visits, Knocker and his wife Stella both came to faith in Jesus Christ.
One day, the hospital called and asked my father to come immediately. They believed Knocker would die within the next few hours. My father scurried around, but Knocker didn’t die that day. Somehow, he managed to hold on.
A second call came a few days later. ‘Knocker only has hours to live,’ said the hospital. But, again, Knocker rallied through. Everyone expected his imminent death. Throughout this time, my father sat at home reading his Bible and stumbled upon a verse in the New Testament book of James:
“Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15).
In four years of attendance at theological college, divine healing had never been discussed, but as my father read the Bible that day, scales fell from his eyes. He shared the scripture from the book of James with Knocker. He told him to read it through and, if he agreed, they would do exactly what the scriptures suggested. Knocker agreed.
The following Sunday morning, before the nine o’clock service, my father and an elder from the church went to the hospital. Knocker’s skeletal body was weak and close to death.
The men gathered together in that hospital room and followed the passage in the book of James to the letter. My father and the church elder anointed Knocker with oil and spoke prayers of faith to God. Knocker confessed all known sin aloud in their presence.
Nothing happened immediately, but having done everything according to the Scripture, my father and the elder left the hospital and went to the nine o’clock church service.
Stella, Knocker’s wife, attended the church that morning. She was baptised in water, not only for herself but also for Knocker. It was a ‘baptism by proxy’. He desired to be baptised but was far too ill to be moved from his hospital bed.
Not long afterwards, a doctor from the hospital (who attended the local church) passed on the news: Knocker was healed! All traces of cancer had vanished from his body. My dad was amazed. The whole church was amazed. Knocker and Stella were both amazed.
The doctor described how all the medical staff in the hospital were amazed too. The talk of 'a miracle' was on everyone’s lips. The sudden healing of a cancer patient on their deathbed was an incredible phenomenon.
My parents moved away from Broken Hill several months after this miracle occurred and lost touch with Knocker and his wife. But seven years later, out-of-the-blue, Stella tracked down my parents and called them on the phone. She said Knocker had recently died, but God had been gracious and had granted him seven extra years of life. For that, she was grateful.
A local church deacon approached him and asked if he could visit relatives who were in need. This man’s cousin Ernest (known as ‘Knocker’) suffered from terminal bowel cancer.
Knocker was skin and bones, a shadow of a man when my father met him for the first time. Shortly after the first visit, Knocker was hospitalised for palliative care. Cancer, in its last stages, riddled this man’s body and four-hourly morphine injections were injected to manage severe pain. He also needed a colonoscopy bag.
My father continued to visit from time to time, and eventually, through these pastoral visits, Knocker and his wife Stella both came to faith in Jesus Christ.
One day, the hospital called and asked my father to come immediately. They believed Knocker would die within the next few hours. My father scurried around, but Knocker didn’t die that day. Somehow, he managed to hold on.
A second call came a few days later. ‘Knocker only has hours to live,’ said the hospital. But, again, Knocker rallied through. Everyone expected his imminent death. Throughout this time, my father sat at home reading his Bible and stumbled upon a verse in the New Testament book of James:
“Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15).
In four years of attendance at theological college, divine healing had never been discussed, but as my father read the Bible that day, scales fell from his eyes. He shared the scripture from the book of James with Knocker. He told him to read it through and, if he agreed, they would do exactly what the scriptures suggested. Knocker agreed.
The following Sunday morning, before the nine o’clock service, my father and an elder from the church went to the hospital. Knocker’s skeletal body was weak and close to death.
The men gathered together in that hospital room and followed the passage in the book of James to the letter. My father and the church elder anointed Knocker with oil and spoke prayers of faith to God. Knocker confessed all known sin aloud in their presence.
Nothing happened immediately, but having done everything according to the Scripture, my father and the elder left the hospital and went to the nine o’clock church service.
Stella, Knocker’s wife, attended the church that morning. She was baptised in water, not only for herself but also for Knocker. It was a ‘baptism by proxy’. He desired to be baptised but was far too ill to be moved from his hospital bed.
Not long afterwards, a doctor from the hospital (who attended the local church) passed on the news: Knocker was healed! All traces of cancer had vanished from his body. My dad was amazed. The whole church was amazed. Knocker and Stella were both amazed.
The doctor described how all the medical staff in the hospital were amazed too. The talk of 'a miracle' was on everyone’s lips. The sudden healing of a cancer patient on their deathbed was an incredible phenomenon.
My parents moved away from Broken Hill several months after this miracle occurred and lost touch with Knocker and his wife. But seven years later, out-of-the-blue, Stella tracked down my parents and called them on the phone. She said Knocker had recently died, but God had been gracious and had granted him seven extra years of life. For that, she was grateful.
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