Miraculous

Philip A. Pickard

Philip A. Pickard

May 11, 2024

At age twenty two I began working at the University of Calgary, as an apprentice plumber and pipefitter, to finish construction of their new Professional Faculties Building. With steel toe boots, a hard hat and thick leather gloves, I lifted one-hundred-and-fifty pound cast iron pipe onto one shoulder, up three temporary flights of stairs, stopping at each landing to maneuver the pipe another one-hundred-and-eighty degrees. I did this as the “new guy” on the site, for eight hours a day over four weeks, until my merger frame could not take any more, and I quit. A few months later I began experiencing an especially rapid onset of pain in my lower back, where with the slightest rotation of my torso, people around me could hear three loud snaps. I could feel my vertebrae grinding bone-on-bone as I was literally becoming separated from within. Terrified by the thought of being confined to a wheelchair, I saw my family physician, who took an X-ray, and said to return in three days. He then showed me the image of my lumbar, which clearly displayed three crushed discs, between my L2 and L5 vertebrae, which appeared like crumbled cookies, and only half the size of the surrounding discs. But in my youthful naivety, I believed my doctor, along with the medical community behind him, would have an optimum cure for my “ailment.” But my doctor explained, that the only remedy for my “degenerative disc disease” would be to fuse the surrounding vertebrae together, which would result in a stiff column of bone in my lower back. He went on to explain that I would never lead an active life, or participate in any sports from that time forward. Immensely disheartened by the prognosis, I returned home to my parents, to report the horrifying news.

A few weeks later I went to a small prayer meeting, that I had been attending for about a year. The pastor believed in God’s power to heal, as seen throughout the first four books of the New Testament. Though while studying these accounts many times, I could never believe that happening for me, as my perspective on the Heavenly Father’s love was crushed, due to an unfounded relationship with my earthly father. To me, God was deistic—creating our world as a “well oiled machine” and then stepping away—where any notion of God’s care or interaction was incomprehensible. Then during prayer, the pastor walked by with contemplative eyes and said, “Man, do I ever feel God’s presence in here to heal tonight.” Where I provided a quick summary of my predicament and asked for prayer. At this time, my understanding of God’s power was juvenile, where I believed that any “encounter” with the Spirit would be accompanied by a sign; a surging power (Luke 8:46), radiating heat (Jeremiah 23:29), or spiritual weight (Psalm 32:4). But the pastor prayed and I felt absolutely nothing. He then looked into my eyes and said, “Now you just believe God to heal that.” Where, as a faith-filled believer, I nodded my head, but knew without question that God had come nowhere near. I left the meeting dejected, thinking I could perhaps ask for prayer some other time.

The next day I woke at 9AM, then stopped in reflection of the prayer I received an hour later. I began twisting my torso in various directions, where to my astonishment, there was no pain or grinding whatsoever. Enraptured by this miracle, I quickly thanked God, then ran up the stairs to report the good news to my parents. I burst into the kitchen, and explained to my mother, “I got prayer last night and my back is healed!” She was thrilled, began weeping, and thanking God. My father came to see what the commotion was about, where after my explaining, he became flustered, then returned to the living room to watch television. Six months passed and I returned to my doctor for an entirely different concern. And while it was unlikely he would recall our last meeting, I felt it necessary to explain what happened. I gathered my courage while sitting on the examining table, and asked, “Do you remember when I had crushed discs in my back?” then exclaimed, “God healed me!” To which my doctor explained he had also suffered from “inflamed discs,” which went away over time. So I asked, “How long does it take for your inflamed discs to go away?” To which he replied, “Two weeks.” Where I insisted, “Well, this happened overnight!” At this, my doctor immediately stopped, turned with a pointed finger, and said, “Get out of my office and don’t ever come back!” I left the doctor’s perplexed, grappling with what had gone wrong.

I can understand my doctor’s offence, as the occurrence was just as extraordinary for me. And now understand that our contemporary paradigm has factored any supernatural intervention by God right out of the equation. We blame God for everything that goes wrong in our world, yet our affinity toward science has resulted in a chasmic separation. Where for centuries, doctors have been given preeminence in society, and the pursuit of healing prayer has become absurd. Not to be misunderstood; universities began training physicians eight hundred years ago, where medicinal advantage has become undeniable. But this should never be considered a replacement for God. Herein lays the folly of humankind. Charles Pinnock explained: <blockquote>Healing prayer does not imply a negative view of medical science. The powers of healing are at work in the creation. What medicine can learn about God’s healing which is built into creation is all to the good. Skill in medicine is a creational charism. Prayer for healing simply means that we place problems of physical bodies before the Father and ask for help. It is not that we worship health or demand to be free from suffering.[1]</blockquote>

A parallel to my own experience may be found in the Book of John, chapter 9, where Jesus heals a man born blind. During this time, illness was believed to be linked to evil or darkness, which is not dissimilar from our view of the “less fortunate” in contemporary society. We categorize and marginalize those who are not well, not only for protection from disease, but also through fear of association. The man born blind would have been socially wrecked; because no one would associate with evil, spiritually wrecked; because he was prohibited from entering a synagogue; and economically wrecked, because he could not work. Though while his disciples argued theology, Jesus got into the mud with the man, and restored his sight. Here, God mends the root, where mortals can only see the surface. This caused such upheaval, that the family took the man to a Pharisee, to validate the healing. Where, eventually, he was thrown out of the synagogue. John’s first chapter identifies Christ as the ἐξηγέομαι (exégeomai, Strong’s: G1834) meaning to unfold, declare the Father (John 1:18). Which tells us that Jesus Christ is exactly who the Father is. Where to gain an understanding of God, we must exegete the man Jesus Christ. What I find interesting, is the majority of miracles in the Book of John occurred without the presence of faith, as was with me. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is seen moving toward the greatest areas of need. Which demonstrates God’s willingness to heal. Though in over fifty years as a Christian, I have observed that much of the western Church does not ask for healing. Our resources are so great that we have little need for God—from which I am none the better. Though because of God’s grace, everyone who knows me can attest that I have lived an especially active life. Where for the past forty years I have become skilled in many sports, which have included downhill skiing, snowboarding, competitive volleyball, and various acts of “bravery” on my mountain bike. All from God’s healing an injury that science could not fix.

<blockquote>John 9:13-34 The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.</blockquote>

Bibliography

[1] Clark H. Pinnock, Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 135.