A Theological Reflection and
Short History on the Healing Ministry
.
by Damian Stayne
And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and
healing every
disease and every infirmity.
-Mathew 9:35
A young nurse was working in the hospital
when a man who was intoxicated came in and
attacked her. He broke her spine and
severely damaged her spinal column. As a
result, she underwent a total of forty
medical interventions, during which
several metal plates and bolts were
inserted into her spine, but none of the
treatments helped. The damage to her spine
was so severe that for six years, she
could not even get out of bed. Standing
was completely impossible. Although she
was on very high doses of morphine, the
doctors were unable to properly manage the
pain. She could not even sit herself up in
her bed. Her speech had been affected, and
she did not have complete use of her arms.
Because of the damage to the spinal
column, she could not cope with light, so
she had to always be in the dark or wear
sunglasses. For six long years, she lay
bedridden in pain in a dark room.
In desperation her mother brought her in
her wheelchair to a healing service. I
preached, and then we heard a joint
testimony of healing from a woman and her
physician husband. At one of our previous
services in France a year before, this
woman had been healed of an incurable
degenerative condition that had kept her
bound to a wheelchair.
As I led the time for healing, I asked the
Christians in the auditorium to place
their hands on the sick near them and
pray. As God prompted me, I commanded
conditions to be healed in Jesus' name. I
concluded, "Be freed from your crutches,
be freed from your sticks, be freed from
your paralysis, be freed from your
wheelchairs, in Jesus' holy name." Then I
told the people, "Now in Jesus' name, do
what you couldn't do before." All over the
room, hundreds demonstrated their
healings.
Suddenly we heard a big cheer from the
center of the crowd. I jumped off the
stage and approached the area where the
excitement was. There was the young woman
standing next to the wheelchair, hugging
her mother. I asked what had happened, and
they explained that she had just stood up
with no pain. All the strength had
returned to her legs. I could see that she
was completely stunned.
I walked her to the stage. With her empty
wheelchair next to her, she gave a brief
explanation of her incredible healing. She
walked up and down the platform freely and
then jogged back and forth, shaking her
head in wonder and wiping tears from her
eyes. The people were cheering and
shouting the praises of God. A year later,
she was still completely healed.
It was reported to me afterward that some
male members of the security staff for the
facility in which we were meeting were
moved to tears. Through witnessing such a
beautiful act of God, they were convicted
of the lordship of Jesus and then and
there asked for his mercy and invited him
into their hearts as their Lord and
Savior. Glory to God!
The Vatican document Instruction on
Prayers for Healing states,
"'People are called to joy. Nevertheless
each day they experience many forms of
suffering and pain.' Therefore, the Lord,
in his promises of redemption, announces
the joy of the heart that comes from
liberation from sufferings (d. Isaiah
30:29; 35:10; Baruch 4:29). Indeed, he is
the one 'who delivers from every evil'
(Wisdom 16:8)."1
The prophet Isaiah announced a future time
in which sickness and infirmity will be
overthrown and there will be a great
outpouring of healing grace:
Then
the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf
unstopped;
then shall the lame man
leap like a hart,
and the tongue of the
dumb sing for joy.
(Isaiah 35:5-6; see also
65:19-20)
This is a prophecy of the
messianic era. Jesus' ministry was the
fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, and the
Church is the continuance of the ministry
of Jesus in the world through the power of
the Holy Spirit. One aspect of that
ministry is the ministry of healing, which
is inseparably linked to the proclamation
of the Christian gospel.
Jesus' Ministry of Healing
The amount of time that Jesus gave to
healing the sick was considerable. He
clearly understood this ministry as having
a central role in his mission. It was a
demonstration of the in-breaking of the
kingdom, not only the confirmation of his
message. At times this ministry is
described as an expression of his
compassion; at other times, as an attack
against the influence of the evil one; and
at still others, as a sign of the glory of
God. Looking at the Gospels, it is
inconceivable to imagine Jesus without
healing miracles, because they were so
prevalent. This is from the Vatican's Instruction
on Prayers for Healing:
In
the public activity of Jesus, his
encounters with the sick are not
isolated, but continual. He healed many
through miracles, so that miraculous
healings characterized his activity:
"Jesus went around to all the towns and
villages, teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness"
(Matthew 9:35; d. 4:23). These healings
are signs of his messianic mission (d.
Luke 7:20-23). They manifest the victory
of the kingdom of God over every kind of
evil, and become the symbol of the
restoration to health of the whole human
person, body and soul.2
Jesus' ministry is summed
up by Peter: "God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with
power; ... he went about doing good and
healing all that were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with him" (Acts 10:38).
When Jesus commissioned the Twelve, he
"gave them authority over unclean spirits,
to cast them out, and to heal every
disease and every infirmity" (Matthew
10:1). He said to them, "Heal the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out
demons" (10:8; see Luke 9:1). This makes
it clear that the Church potentially has
within its power the grace to heal every
disease and sickness, even to the raising
of the dead (d. Matthew 10:8). This
commission was not restricted to the
apostles. The seventy-two were also
commissioned, when they were sent out to
"heal the sick" (Luke 10:9).
In the conclusion to the Gospel of Mark,
as well as in the Letter to the Galatians,
the expectation that healings are to be
normal in the ministry of ordinary
believers and the local church is clear.
It is highly significant that there is no
commissioning of Jesus' disciples to
proclaim the gospel that is not
accompanied by the command to heal the
sick. In the four Gospels, more than
one-third, or 38.5 percent, of the
narrative text refers to the healing of
the sick in one form or another.
The New Testament Church:
A Model of Proclamation with Healing Power
The conclusion of Mark's Gospel, speaking
of the disciples, declares, "And they went
forth and preached everywhere, while the
Lord worked with them and confirmed the
message by the signs that attended it"
(16:20).
The first preaching of the gospel
described in the Acts of the Apostles was
accompanied by numerous miraculous
healings, which demonstrated and confirmed
the power of the gospel proclamation. The
Vatican's Instruction on Prayers for
Healing notes, "This had been the
promise of the Risen Jesus, and the first
Christian communities witnessed its
realization in their midst: 'These signs
will accompany those who believe: ... they
will lay hands on the sick, and they will
recover' (Mark 16:17-18)."3
Such an emphasis on healing and miracles
as natural accompaniments of the
proclamation of the word of God is clearly
expressed in the prayer of the early
Church. In a moment of persecution, when
caution might have seemed the prudent
response, the community of disciples
prayed, "And
now, Lord, look upon their threats, and
grant to your servants to speak your word
with all boldness, while you stretch out
your hand to heal, and signs and wonders
are performed through the name of your
holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:29-30).
Following Pentecost, multitudes were
healed through Peter and the apostles. But
only after this second outpouring of the
Holy Spirit, when power for healing was
specifically requested, is Peter recorded
as being used to heal them all (Acts
5:16).
The healing gifts are widely distributed
among believers in the Acts of the
Apostles and the letters of the New
Testament. The Vatican document on prayers
for healing states, "The wondrous healings
are not limited to the activity of the
Apostles and certain of the central
figures in the first preaching of the
Gospel. "4 The preaching of
Philip in Samaria was also accompanied by
miraculous healings: “multitudes with one
accord gave heed to what was said by
Philip, when they heard him and saw the
signs which he did. For unclean spirits
came out of many who were possessed,
crying with a loud voice; and many who
were paralyzed or lame were healed” (Acts
8:5-7).
St. Paul describes his own proclamation of
the gospel as being characterized by signs
and wonders worked by the power of the
Holy Spirit. He writes, "For I will not
venture to speak of anything except what
Christ has wrought through me to win
obedience from the Gentiles, by word and
deed, by the power of signs and wonders,
by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans
15:18-19; see also 1 Thessalonians 1:5 and
1 Corinthians 2:4- 5). It is clear from
the accounts of Paul's ministry that
miraculous healings were among these signs
and wonders to which he referred. Such
wonders were also occurring among the
faithful in the local church: “Does he who
supplies the Spirit to you and works
miracles among you do so by works of the
law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians
3:5).
Healing in the History of the
Church
Of course, the Church has been committed
to healing through the medical profession
and the establishment of hospitals through
the ages. This developed alongside the
activity of charisms of healing, as we see
in the lives of St. Cosmas and St. Damian
(c. AD 287), both medical doctors who also
exercised gifts of healing.
As with prophecy, the expectation of
healing miracles continued in a dramatic
way in the early centuries of the Church.
In the second century, St. Irenaeus (AD
130-202) wrote, "By praying to the Lord
who made all things, only by calling upon
the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, [does
the Church] even now cure thoroughly and
effectively all who everywhere believe in
Christ."5 Likewise, Origen (c.
185-c. 254) testifies about healings in
his age: “We too have seen many set free
from severe complaints, and loss of mind,
and madness and numberless other such
evils, which neither men nor devils had
cured."6 And Hilary of
Poitiers, a Chruch Father and Doctor of
the Chruch (c. 315-c. 367), writes, "We
become steadfast in hope and receive
abundant gifts in healing."7
Later, in the fifth century, St. Augustine
of Hippo says “with regard to the goods of
life, health, and physical integrity, ...
'We need to pray that these are retained,
when we have them, and that they are
increased, when we do not have them.'"8
Many of the testimonies of these Fathers
are vigorously upheld by Blessed John
Henry Newman in his great Essays on
Miracles.9
Dr. Ramsay MacMullen, professor of history
and classics at Yale University, in his
book Christianizing the Roman Empire
AD 100—400, asserts that healing and
deliverance from demons—and not only
social advancement, as some secular
critics have claimed—were major factors in
turning the pagans of the empire to
Christianity. The reason was that these
miracles clearly demonstrated that the
Christian God was greater than all the
gods of Rome.10
The number of reports of healing miracles
in the ministries of saints down through
the ages would be impossible to count. One
example of a saint with healing gifts was
St. Patrick (385-461): “For the blind and
the lame, the deaf and the dumb, the
palsied, the lunatic, the leprous, the
epileptic, all who labored under any
disease, did he in the Name of the Holy
Trinity restore unto the power of their
limbs and unto entire health; and in these
good deeds was he daily practiced."11
After the fourth century, there seems to
have been a decline in expectant faith for
healing as a ministry exercised by
ordinary Christians. However, there
continued to be amazing stories of
miracles in the revivals led by many
saints, including St. Augustine of
Canterbury, St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne,
St. Bernard, St. Francis, St. Dominic, St.
Collette, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Francis
of Paola, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Paul
of the Cross, and others. From apostolic
times, healings have been present in the
Church in what French theologian René
Laurentin calls “a constant tradition,"12
and it would be hard to find a period when
they were entirely absent from the Church.
Yet the records we have tend to be, for
the most part, demonstrations of healing
in the ministries of the saints, holy men
and women, and at shrines, or through
relics. The point I want to make here is
not that healing miracles were not a part
of Catholic culture and belief; they
certainly were. However, the expectation
of them as regular components in the life
of Christian communities, through the
prayers and actions of ordinary good
Christians, in the first four centuries
had faded.
“During the first eight centuries of the
Church’s history, the anointing of the
sick was regarded as a rite of healing for
all kinds of illness," writes Fr.
Laurentin. After the ninth century,
spiritual healing became more emphasized,
although physical healing was accepted as
a real possibility. “Only by a distortion
that began in the nineteenth century did
it become the ‘sacrament of the dying.’” 13
Healing in the Orthodox and Coptic
traditions
Healings continued in the Orthodox Church
in a similar way. Some Orthodox saints
were remarkable in their healing gifts.
Especially well known are St. Seraphim of
Sarov, who was a contemporary of the Curé
of Ars, and St. John of Kronstadt, who
died in the early twentieth century. St.
John's life is sometimes referred to as “a
sea of miracles.”
Here is just one story from St. Seraphim:
The
sick nephew of Princess Shahaeva was
carried into St. Seraphim's cell. The
saint told him to lie facing away from
him, but the man in time turned to look
at the saint and saw him levitating in
the air in prayer. The young man was
healed but admonished to never tell what
he had seen until after the saint's
death.14
In 1903 St. John of
Kronstadt appeared in his gold vestments
to a man who was dying of typhoid, and as
he blessed him, he held the man's hand.
This was no ordinary vision. St. John was
mysteriously physically present in that
room, although he was known to be present
simultaneously in another place many miles
away. He assured the man that he would
recover and then stepped away and
disappeared into a white haze. The man
quickly recovered. When he told his father
about the priest who visited him, his
father explained that he had sent a
telegram to Fr. John in Kronstadt asking
him for his prayers.15
The Coptic saint Pope Kyrillos VI
(1902-1971) was the instrument of
thousands of healings, recorded in
eighteen volumes. In one healing, he gave
a cup of water that he blessed to a woman
who had been diagnosed with an undeveloped
uterus, which made having children quite
impossible. Eight months later, she was
experiencing pain and enlargement of her
abdomen, and she consulted a new doctor
who did not know of her medical history.
To her astonishment, he told her she was
eight months pregnant. The woman's husband
showed the doctor her previous medical
reports, and the doctor was amazed that
the woman had been able to get pregnant
and carry the baby to nearly full term.
“Can it be that we are still in an era
where clergy pray on water and miracles
are performed? God created a new womb for
her," he said. This same physician
attended the delivery.16
Healing in the Pentecostal and
charismatic tradition
Maria Woodworth-Etter's healing services
and revivals attracted people from all
over the United States in the early
twentieth century. Dying people would be
brought in cots and find themselves
instantly raised up. The blind, deaf, and
lame were regularly healed, and often in
large numbers. Even the dead were raised.
One of the miracles that took place in her
ministry that was witnessed by a medical
surgeon, John H. Bowen, was the total
healing of a child with several chronic
conditions.
There
was a boy seven years old, who had never
walked; he was born insane, blind, deaf
and dumb; he was always pounding his
head and beating himself like the maniac
among the tombs. They tried everything,
including the best medical help, but the
doctors could not locate the cause, and
they said he would never have any
sense….
[But after the prayer he] can hear and
see perfectly. God has given him a
bright, intelligent mind; he laughs and
plays and walks around in front of the
pulpit every day in view of all the
congregation; before he was healed, he
had spasms, as many as twenty a day, but
now he is well and happy.17
Hundreds of thousands,
perhaps even millions, of healings were
experienced through ministries such as
these in the first part of the twentieth
century. These were followed by the
healing revival of the 1940s and 50s,
which swept across North America. Meetings
took place in tents that could hold up to
eighteen thousand people. In the sixties
and seventies, Kathryn Kuhlman became
renowned for her extraordinary healing
ministry. Such large numbers of healing
miracles took place in her ministry that
she was sometimes referred to by Catholics
as a “Walking Lourdes.” Kuhlman was very
happy to have met with Blessed Pope Paul
VI, who gave her his blessing and assured
her of his prayers.
As we have stated, the “canonizing" of the
enduring place of charismatic gifts among
the people of God in the texts of the
Second Vatican Council opened the way for
a renewal of charisms of healing being
exercised among "ordinary" Catholics. The
Sacrament of the Sick was restored to its
original intention as a sacrament of
healing, and the language of healing can
now be found in many of the liturgical
texts of the Church. In 2000 the Vatican
also published a document encouraging the
charism of healing in the Catholic Church.
Healing Ministry Today
In today's culture, it is common to hear
the term healers used of both
Christian and non-Christian practitioners
of healing. However, such a title is
inappropriate when referring to Christians
exercising healing gifts. Like other
spiritual gifts, healing is not something
we receive one day and possess for the
rest of our lives, as though we carry it
in our pockets and bring it out whenever a
need presents itself. Every time we seek
God’s intervention for healing, we depend
on his free gift.
While this total dependence on the Lord's
action never changes, there are those who,
if faithful, can be used in this way very
regularly and often with increasing power
as their faith grows. In such cases, we
refer to “a ministry of healing.”
Professor Francis Sullivan explains:
Paul
never speaks of a “gift of healing,” nor
does he speak of any individuals as
“healers.” Paul mentions healing three
times in 1 Corinthians 12 (vv. 9, 28,
30), and each time he uses the phrase charismata
iamaton, which means “charisms of
healings." The consistent use of this
phrase suggests that Paul saw each
healing as a charism, or gift of grace.
But his statement, “To another [are
given] charisms of healings,"...
suggest[s] that when Paul talks about
those who “have charisms of healings,"
he has in mind not the people who are
healed, but people who are in some way
involved in the healing of others.
Paul's way of speaking of this implies
that he does not see this as a habitual
“gift of healing"; on the other hand, it
does suggest that certain individuals
are used with some frequency as channels
or instruments of the healings that take
place. If this is the case, then it
would seem legitimate to speak of such
people as having a ministry of gifts of
healing for other people.18
An exercise of the kingly
anointing
When we were baptized, we were made
sharers in Christ's priestly, prophetic,
and kingly anointing. Often the emphasis
on the kingly anointing has been one of
conforming the world to the values and
purposes of Christ through social
action—by influencing work, politics,
education, commerce, and the environment,
so that God's values reign there. This is
quite true, and its importance can hardly
be overestimated. It is something in which
all of us are called to play a part in one
way or another. But this is not the whole
story.
In Genesis, Adam had dominion over
creation. Before the fall, all creation
could be mastered by man: “Fill the earth
and subdue it; and have dominion” (1:28).
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary tells
us of the word subdue, “The nuance of the
verb is ‘to master,’ ‘to bring forcefully
under control.'"19 Dominion
in Greek is kratos, and according
to one definition, it means “force,”
“strength,” or “might,” and “more
especially manifested power." It is
derived from the root word kra,
which means “to perfect, to complete."20
Thus, to exercise dominion is to have
mastery over and bring to full order and
completion God's creation. This exercise
of dominion is a kingly authority that
Adam and Eve exercised over creation
before the fall. According to The New
Jerome Biblical Commentary, "In the
ancient Near East, the king was often
called the image of the deity and was
vested with God's authority; royal
language is here [Genesis 1:28] used for
the human.”21 Adam named
creatures as Jesus named people. In other
words, he creatively defined them. This is
not naming as one might name a pet;
rather, Adam's words carry the very power
of God as God's son in a sinless state.
“The giving of names [by Adam] is in
itself a creative act." 22
In the Liturgy of the Hours, we read in
one of the intercessions in Lent: “May we
gain through the second Adam what was lost
by the first. "23 Supernatural
ministry such as physical healing
demonstrates the kingship of Christ in a
particular way. Jesus says to his
disciples, “All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Go therefore
...” (Matthew 28:18-19) There is nothing
that is not under his authority. The
kingly authority of the risen Jesus is not
only over the spiritual realm but also
over the physical realm, and it is
possible to exercise this kingly authority
even now, imperfect as we are.
When I am standing before a crowd, many of
whom are physically sick, I stand with the
authority of Christ exercising my kingly
anointing in him. As I speak to the
various conditions—“Ears, hear; eyes, see;
legs, be strong; cancers, be gone," and so
forth do not simply speak with hope. I
speak with faith and authority, knowing
that if I am acting in the Holy Spirit,
people's bodies will resonate to the
creative word of Christ on my lips—not to
my voice but to the words of Jesus from
me.
Now of course, unbelief can present an
obstacle, as we see even in Jesus’ own
ministry in his hometown: “And he did not
do many mighty works there, because of
their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). But I
believe that God has woven into his
created material world a programming that
recognizes the voice of its Creator. The
Sea of Galilee had no ears, but it “heard”
the voice of its Lord in Jesus' command to
be still (see Mark 4:39). The fig tree had
no ears but “heard" the voice of its
creator in Christ and withered (Matthew
21:19).
When we speak in authority, in faith, in a
faith environment, our words have
tremendous creative power through the
power of the Holy Spirit. Now, unless I
have specific revelation about a
particular sickness to be healed, I cannot
be absolutely certain I will see healing
in all the areas I’ve mentioned, but I
have a general faith expectation that is
not wishful thinking. At every service we
run, we normally see deafness, levels of
blindness, and lameness healed, and
sometimes in large numbers. It's common to
see incurable and terminal conditions, as
well as many smaller conditions, instantly
healed.
When we command healing, we do so as
people exercising the King's authority
over what he has made. This is why
cancerous tumors, even large ones, often
shrink and even vanish. When the Scripture
says, "For the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the sons of
God” (Romans 8:19), this is because the
children of God hold the material world's
healing in their hands. As coheirs with
Christ, we are the kings and queens over
God's creation; we are called to exercise
his dominion in love, turning back the
effects of the fall and establishing the
kingdom.
This article is excerpted from Lord,
Renew Your Wonders: Spiritual Gifts for
Today, Chapter 4, pages 94-105,
by (c) Damian Stayne, 2017, published by The
Word Among Us, Frederick, Maryland
USA. All rights reserved. Used with
permission.
Damian Stayne is
the founder of Cor
et Lumen Christi (The Heart and Light
of Christ), a Catholic community located in
Wigton, United Kingdom, which seeks to
integrate a deep life of prayer and worship
and a ministry of the word with healing,
signs and wonders. The community is formally
recognized by the Vatican. Damian has
ministered in 25 countries, equipping
believers of every background for
supernatural ministry and seeing thousands
healed at his services. God has graciously
used Damian to bring many into the ongoing
experience of the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, prophetic revelation and
deliverance. He believes that the Lord
desires the new season in the miraculous
that the church is now entering to be
characterized by humility, purity, intimacy,
unity and the manifestation of God’s glory.
Damian is married to Cathy and they have two
adult children John and Miryam.
For contact Info and book orders see below.
Notes:
1. Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction
on Prayers for Healing, 1,
September 14,2000, quoting Pope St. John
Paul 11, Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles
Laici 53.
2. Instruction
on Prayers for Healing, 1.
3. Ibid.
4. Instruction on Prayers for
Healing, 3.
5. Irenaeus, Against Heresies,
bk. 2, chap. 32, 5.
6. Origen, Contra Celsus, bk. 3,
chap. 24.
7. Hilary of Poitier, Tract on the
Psalms, 64:15.
8. St. Augustine, Epistle 130, VI, 13,
as quoted in Instruction on Prayers
for Healing, 4.
9. John Henry Newman, Essays on
Miracles,
newmanreader.org/works/miracles/.
10. See Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing
the Roman Empire AD 100–400 (New
Haven, CT: Yale University, 1984), chap.
4.
11. Edmund L. Swift, The Life and
Acts of St. Patrick, quoted in
Hebert, 193.
12. René Laurentin, Catholic
Pentecostalism (New York:
Doubleday, 1977), 112.
13. Ibid.
14. “The St. Seraphim of Sarov,”
orthodoxinsight.com/icons/deticon4.html.
15. “A Sea of Miracles" (Orthodox
Photos.com, 2003), orthodoxphotos.com/
readings/portrait/miracles.shtml
16. Fr. Rafael Avva Mena, quoted in Ata
and Mena, 27-28.
17. Maria Woodworth-Etter, Signs and
Wonders (New Kensington, PA:
Whitaker House, 1997), 130-131.
18. Sullivan, 151.
19. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A.
Fitzmyer, Roland E. Murphy, eds., The
New Jerome Biblical Commentary,
11.
20. Vine's Expository Dictionary of
New Testament Words (Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson), 334. The word kratos
“also signifies dominion, and is so
rendered frequently in doxologies, 1
Peter 4:11; 5:11; Jude 25; Revelation
1:6; 5:13 (RV); in 1 Timothy 6:16, and
Hebrews 2:14 it is translated 'power."
21. New Jerome Biblical Commentary,
11.
22. Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox
Way (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's
Seminary Press), 54,
23. Divine Office, Lent weeks 1 and 3,
Thursday morning intercession.
|
Lord, Renew Your Wonders: Spiritual
Gifts for Today by
Damian Stayne
is available at:
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books website:
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INVITATIONS
If you
would like to invite Damian or his team to
lead one of their training schools in
spiritual gifts and a public Miracle Healing
Service or their Healing, Signs and Wonders
conference please contact Damian at
coretlumenchristi@gmail.com
FILMS
Short
films of Healings at our events to build faith
can be found at
top illustration: Jesus heals
the lame man, illustration by James Tissot
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