Miracles in hospitals

During the last 16 years of my illness, I was admitted more than a dozen times for treatment in various hospitals.  On two occasions it was for English treatment and all the rest was for Aurvedic (Traditional Indian)treatment.  Twice the duration was eight days; others for 10, 21,30 or 45 days each.

English doctors declared that there was no cure for my disease.  Aurveda did a lot of good to me as the leanness and chillness of legs disappeared.  Every time some treatment was done, it kept me going for some time.  When weakness reappeared, I would be admitted again.
                                  
Third hospitalization in l991 Nov. in Trivandrum was the only one announced in our magazines for prayer.  All others were done within ourselves.  During these hospitalizations, I know of four who confessed Christ as Lord first time in their lives and accepted the Lord before me in prayer.  To almost every one I met, I tried to share about the love of Christ.  Where ever possible, Bibles and New Testaments were distributed.

I remember at least three miracles in the context of my hospitalizations.  First one took place in the very first hospital in Coimbatore.  Though my legs became paralyzed on the
7th of July, I would not go to hospitals as I could not imagine that I was ill due to the fact that I knew something  new was going to take place in my life from that date.  So on the 11th only, being forced by a neighbor doctor, I decided to go to hospital. 

I was taken to KG first where the doctor said further investigation was needed.  Then I was taken to Ramakrishna where there was one  Dr. Ashokan who was a good Neurophysician.  I was admitted in a general ward for ten days.

Healing on the next bed:
On the third day in the hospital, the 13th of July in the evening after supper, I was preparing to go to bed.  Before that I started reading my Bible.  On the next bed there a patient admitted for the past 20 days for some ailment on his back.  He had terrible pain and he was rolling on his bed in pain that evening.  I was disturbed and I stopped my
reading and asked his twenty year old son who was his aid, whether I could pray for him.  The boy said,  “What ever you do I don’t mind.  His pain must go.”    I found out from the boy that doctors had postponed operation several times as it was a difficult one with little hope of success.  Doctors were trying various medicines on him. 

So with the help of the boy I climbed down from my bed to his bed side and as I could not kneel down, I put my chest on to his bed sitting on a pillow on the floor and made a short prayer.  I climbed on to my bed to see the patient going to sleep immediately as though an anesthetic injection was given.  They stayed in the hospital for another two days and went home healed, without an operation!

Financial Miracle:
Sri Chithira Hospital in Trivandrum was the third hospital where I was admitted in l99l.
I was there for 30 days.  There I was a rather famous patient for various reasons.  One was that I was a friend of Prof. Ommen Philip who was known to doctors there as he trained some of them in hospital administration.  I had many visitors there as well. 

There came a patient from Calicut after I was there for more than 20 days.  He was staying in the next room.  He had a big problem.  He was a regular patient there for several years now.  Every six months he had to come for check up and take further medicines. 

This time when he came, the hospital asked him to pay Rs.l500/- for his test instead of the regular Rs.500/- which he had brought.  He had no money and to go back without the test would be difficult as he came from such a long distance.  In the night he was staying in his room and murmuring and complaining about the hospital for not informing him about the hike in charges before coming.  Then one of the nurses asked him to come and meet me in the other room where I would pray for him.

He came to me and said, “Sir, I am an atheist.  Don’t tell me about god.  If you can help me in any other way, please help me.  This is my problem” When he narrated the problem I listened very patiently.  When he finished his story, I said, “Is that your problem?  OK.  Now listen to me for some time.”  Then I began to share with him some of my prayer experiences.  I began with my three rupee experience and went on to share one or two others.  He was listening very intently.  Then I said, “Will you permit me to pray for you?”  He said OK. 

When I began to pray, he began to recite the prayer after me.  I had not expected it.  So I slowed down.  After prayer was over, I said, “I will continue to pray for you.  You please go and sleep comfortably.  God will do a miracle for you.”  He said good night and went to his room.

I continued to pray for him asking God to show Himself almighty to the patient by being gracious to him.

On the following day in the after noon he came to me with great joy on his face.  I asked him what had happened.  He said that day in the morning his problem was reported to the director and the director asked him to give a letter saying that the rest of rupees thousand would be paid when he would come next time for the test.  Then testing was done on the basis of that letter. But the surprising thing was when the result came in the after noon, the hospital gave him one thousand rupees back along with the result.  He could not understand why.  So he asked the concerned clerk why that much money was returned to him.  The clerk said that there was an instruction on the sheet saying so much should be paid to the patient.   

The patient not only got his test done freely; but 500 rupees came to him extra from the hospital.  Was it a clerical mistake? We don’t know what happened exactly.   But that day it came to us as answer to our prayer.

Another Financial Miracle:
It happened in Dec. 2005 when I was admitted in KAPL in Chennai.  I was treated in
Trivandrum during the summer that year and the doctor had asked me to get admitted again within six months if there was improvement.  There was marked improvement and I wanted to be admitted.  But I did not want to go back to Trivandrum during the Christmas break which was only for a month. 

So I went and met the doctor at KAPL where they were doing the same kind of treatment.  I had to do the booking of the room in advance as there was always a queue there.  This time I was to admitted for eight days.  But they asked me to pay Rs.10,000/- as advance.
But I had only half of that amount with me at the time of admission.

The doctor told me that he would admit me with that advance if I would be able to pay the complete amount on discharge.  I had no other money and I was not expecting any cheque to be cleared.  Trusting in the Lord alone I got admitted to the hospital.  The treatment was excellent. 
                                                                 
I told the two doctors and all the staff there, I believed in Atharva Veda as Ayurvedic treatment is a part of it.  I know if I followed the instructions in it, my body would benefit from it.  I went on to say that I got admitted in to this hospital trusting in the God of the Bible that He would hear and answer my prayers for my hospital bill.  The message of the Bible is basically about eternal salvation for human soul, but it has promises about this life also. 

Only brethren at Kilpauk knew that I was in hospital.  I promised the Lord that I would not accept a gift from them for that hospitalization.  They were very generous to us when Joyce was in the hospital the previous year for her heart problem.  So I did not want to accept any money from any one for my treatment lest some would think of us as a burden.
                                                                  
I was admitted on Saturday and on Tuesday two of the youth of the assembly visited me in the hospital.  I told them my financial situation and my decision not to accept money from Kilpauk for the present treatment.    I knew I would need a good amount on Friday when I would be discharged.  I said I needed their sincere prayers only.

While I was talking to them in the hospital, Joyce had a call from an evangelist friend of ours.    He told Joyce that he had deposited some money into our account from his home town.  Immediately Joyce took an auto and went to the ATM nearby collected the money and came to hospital.  The amount was Rs.20,000/- and the total bill for that hospitalization with medicines etc. was Rs.14,000/- only.

This brother who gave us the money had come to Chennai the previous week.  Then he came visiting us.  Thus he knew of my hospitalization.  But we never imagined that it was through him that the Lord was going to answer our prayer!  I do not know what made him donate such a big amount except it was of the Lord.

I was able to give a copy of the New Testament to all staff in the hospital including doctors asking them to trust the God of the Bible for the salvation of their souls.
One of the doctors from Brahmin background was deeply impressed about the Christian message while a staff member almost became a believer.  But I did not have the joy of seeing him commit his life to Christ.

Instant healing

Once I was away for three weeks for ministry elsewhere.  When I came back I learnt that one of our families in the assembly was having a season of sickness in their house.  They were estate laborers and they had fever one after another and had to be admitted for treatment as they were running very high fever.  By the fourth week the fourth person was in hospital.  When I was back, the matter was reported to me and I went to the hospital to see them and to pray for them. 

The patient sat up on bed as I went near and I made a short prayer.  As soon as I finished my prayer and said ‘Amen’ I opened my eyes to see the patient sweating profusely.  Her fever had left her instantly.  I myself did not expect such an instant healing.  But it pleased the Lord to heal her immediately.  She got discharged and went home the very  same day.

Confrontation with evil spirits

Once some one came to our house requesting for prayer from Rob Roy Estate.  His wife had an attack of evil spirits and when she would get possessed she would fall down cramped and be in that position for hours.  They had two little kids.  Literally they were suffering.  She had this attack for several years and they spent a lot of money going to various people for cure.  But nothing worked.  At last in desperation he came to us, though they were Hindus,  thinking that they would get  some help from us .

During those days I was not very fluent in Tamil which was the local language there.   Any how I went there to pray.    Spirits became very angry with the family and their trouble increased all the more because they came to me.  Whenever I was with them they would not have any problem.  But as soon I came out, spirits would create havoc in their life.  This continued for about a week.  Then I went to a brother who had  some experiences with casting out evil spirits.  He told me a great secret.  When the person shows symptoms of possession, if we would catch the person by our hand, spirits cannot leave until we release our hands!  Till then I had not touched that lady.  But now with this secret known to me, I was waiting for an opportunity to take hold of the person while in actual possession.  On the following day, we spent the whole day in that house fasting and praying. There was no sign of possession at all for the whole of that day.

Evening again I went back to the house to agitate the spirits.  I had several brethren with me.  We went to the house and started singing.  In the evening as we were singing the lady began to show signs of possession.  She began to shiver and shake and her facial expressions changed.  Bro. Elango of Lalgudi was present with me and I asked him to handle the lady.  He took hold of the lady by her hand and got into conversation with the spirits.  Following conversation emerged at this first encounter.

Lady under possession:  “I am not happy here.  Let me go to the other meeting below.  I do not like the music here.  There it is good.  Let me go there. Please let me go there.” (The same evening a group from Salvation Army music band was conducting a public meeting half a km away.  The spirits might have been referring to that)

Elango: “ No.  Never.  We will never let you go there.”

Lady :  “You do not have grace to chase me.  You cannot do anything to me.”
Elango: “We have received grace upon grace through Jesus Christ.  We will chase you.”

In similar terms the conversation went on for some time.  Later the spirits agreed to leave the lady and go.  So Bro. Elango after some time rebuked the devil in the name of Christ and the spirits promised that they would leave the lady never to come back again.  The lady became normal.  We conducted the evening cottage meeting there in the house.  Prayed and committed the family and the house into the hand of the Lord before we left.  It was 11 pm by the time we finished that evening.  We all went home thinking that the problem was over.

But at  2 in the morning came the husband to our house and woke us up saying that his wife  was under very heavy possession and she was dancing on her feet with her hair let loose and threatening people with death.  By the time I went to their house nearly fifty neighbors had gathered around that house at that part of the night!  All were just frightened to see the lady doing very unusual things.

I did not have any of my friends with me this time as I did not want to disturb them at that part of the night.  As I entered the room the lady was still dancing.  I caught hold of her hair which was flying in the air.  As soon I touched her, the devils became quiet but began to shiver like leaves in heavy wind.  I saw with my own eyes how devils  literally tremble at the name of Christ (Js.2:19).   The Lord gave me great courage to handle the situation.  I made her sit on the floor and for the next two hours  I conversed with the devils. 

I said:  “Who are you?”
Lady under possession:  “We are five of us.  Our names are so and so.”

I said:  “Why do you trouble this lady?”
Lady replied: “We did not come on our own.  We were sent by some one else.”
 
I said:  “Did you not know who I was,  but still why didn’t you leave this lady till now?”
Lady replied:  “Sir, we know who you are.  We know we cannot escape from your hands.  But we have no freedom.  We are tied down here.”

Some one standing around:  “Who tied you here?”
Lady replied:  “Some one standing here has done it.  But we will not tell you who it is.  I know you will fight between each other if you know who it is.” (I thought devils sometimes have more common sense than the so called believers!)

I said:  “Don’t tell us who it is.  But leave immediately”.
Lady replied:  “Sir, please release the knot.  Only then we can go.”

By now the devils began to shiver all the more.  I had held on to her hair so tightly that the devils felt there was fire on their head.

Lady began to shout:  “Ayoo,  Fire on my head.  Fire on my head!   Please let us go.”
I said: “Nothing doing.  Unless you leave this lady permanently, I won’t let you go”

Then the lady under possession asked us to bring a shovel and dig in such and such a place in the room and then we would find the knot there.

Some one standing around: “Are you trying to cheat the poor preacher?”
Lady under possession:  “Don’t call him a poor preacher.  He is a servant of the Most High God.  I can never cheat him” ( What a tragedy.  Some times people close to us, even  some who break bread with us do not recognize this.  But devils do!  All the more our Father in Heaven who considers us as co-workers with His beloved Son!!  Servant of God, take heart and live a life acceptable to Him.)

I said:  “Nothing doing.  You must somehow go.  We can’t follow your instructions.”
Lady under possession:  “Sir, we cannot suffer your hand upon us.  Please let us go.”

After about one hour under my hand the spirits became so desperate and the lady was continuing to say,  “We can’t suffer this fire any more.   Please let us go.”

I said: “OK, You know where the knot is.  Under my hand you can go and release the knot and go from this lady permanently.  Until you do that I won’t release my hand.”

So the possessed lady went into the corner of the room and went under a cot.  All the while her hair was in my left hand tightly held.  With her bear hand she dug a shovel full of mortar from the floor and then screamed.  “It’s gone.  It’s gone.” (The suddenly we heard the noise of the door slash open!)

The house was in the estate line and the flooring was not done with cement but with lime mortar.  But it is not possible for any of us to dig down into it with our bear hands. The possessed lady did it with her bear hand with ease. 

By now the lady was profusely sweating.  It was cold sweat.
 
Crowd was watching all this all the while.  Now the lady came out from under the cot and there was a lot of relief on her face as the devils knew the knot was released.  As soon as she came out, I made her to sit down once again.

I said:  “Are you all ready to go out of this lady permanently “
Lady:  “Yes, sir. Yes, sir.”

I said:  “Will you ever come back again?”
Lady:  “No, sir. No, never.”

I said: “OK. Now, one by one come and promise me that you will never come back to this lady again.  You must do two things.  First, you must take hold of the Bible in your  hand and then you must give me promise in the name of the Father,  the Son . and the Holy Spirit that you are leaving and will never come back  again.”

Lady:  “Sir, that is fire in your hands.  We cannot take it.”
I said; “Unless you take the Bible in your hands and promise me, I won’t let you go whatever you say.”

I said: “Now, come on.  Who is coming first?”
Lady: “Sir, I am ready.”

I said:  “Who are you?”
Lady:  “My name is so and so. ” (and the lady gave me a male name.  Four spirits gave male names and one a female name).

I said: “Take hold of the Bible and say after me what I say as your promise.”
Lady: (with hesitation) took hold of the Bible.

I said: “Now say after me. OK. In the name of the Father,  the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I, so and so promise to leave this lady permanently never to come back again.”
Lady repeated after me.
I said;  “Get out, you devil in the name of the Father, the Son, and  the Holy Spirit.  Never come back again.” And the first devil left the lady. 

I repeated the process for all the five devils individually and made absolutely sure that all five devils left the lady. I did this because in the evening the devils had promised to leave the lady; yet they came back in the night with greater force.   When the last one was gone, there was a blush and a smile on the face of the lady.  Every one knew that she had become normal. She got up and washed her face immediately to live a normal life.   Under possession the whole personality changes including the face cut.   She was now healed completely and the family later became believers and the devils left her permanently.

Then at 4.30 in the morning I shared a brief word of the Gospel to the people who were standing around and some one by then had prepared a cup of tea for us.  I prayed and left the house to go home.

This particular case took so much time and struggle because some witchcraft was involved in it.  Later the man in the house told me that they had hidden some magic spelled items in various part of the house as a magician tried to remedy the situation.  So after the lady became normal, they dug three places in the house where magicians had hidden magic spelled boiled eggs.  To my surprise, boiled eggs without shell remained exactly the same after being buried there for months!

This incident made me a famous exorcist and several people came from different places with their problems and were healed almost instantaneously by a simple prayer.  But I found that there was very poor response to the gospel even from those who were healed.  There was one occasion when I failed in my attempt and I had to call on another brother to help me in prayer before the devil left.  Later I knew that the one whom I had taken along with me first was keeping some grudges against me and our prayer was not effective then.

Once when a possessed person came to our house for prayer, I gave her the Bible which she refused to accept.  But when a news paper was given the possessed held it close to the chest saying, “This I can keep.  Please, don’t give me the other”(meaning the Bible). Yes,  the devils are afraid of the name of Christ and they  shudder even to touch the Bible!!