'I think that the church should promote healing ministries'

Brother David Jardine, member of the Anglican St Francis order, is director of the Divine Healing Ministries in Belfast. He says:

"The gospels say that Jesus performed 41 miracles, but I think He healed more — even those who touched the hem of his cloak were cured.

We have a Monday night healing service in St Anne's Cathedral and a young man came in with such a bad speech impediment, he could hardly string two sentences together. When he went up to receive prayer and the laying on of hands, he was cured instantly.

I asked the couple who had prayed for him what they'd done and they said they'd just left it up to the Holy Spirit.

Every prayer has the power to heal, but some have more of a gift than others, and for particular conditions.

Francis McNutt in America is good with back problems and I seem to be able to bring peace to anybody suffering from depression.

There are three kinds of faith you need for healing, the faith of those that are praying, an atmosphere of faith, where people are expecting something to happen, and the faith of the sick person. I put that last because those who don't get cured sometimes feel guilty, which they shouldn't.

The Ministry of Divine Healing has been an official branch of the Church of Ireland since 1932, and I think the church should promote the healing ministries more. God's help is only a prayer away."

'I believe in miracles and believe strongly in the power of prayer'

Father John McManus is parish priest of the Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Newtownabbey. He says:

"I certainly believe in miracles, nothing is impossible to God. And I believe very strongly in the power of prayer, that's why the community comes together every week for the liturgy.

If people are brought back to life through Jesus's power, it's not a resurrection — they're restored to their human life and will die one day, but that they're being restored is a miracle.

I've seen people get better after receiving the sacrament of the sick. They're not cured, but they improve for a month or so, it gives them some time before they die. It's to do with personal faith which is at the core of any faith. Jesus had to leave certain places because he couldn't work miracles due to people's lack of faith.

I believe that people always get their miracle, even if it's not the miracle they asked for. If someone goes to Lourdes, they pray for what they want.

But the real miracle is about what God wants. He will give a person with a terminal illness the ability to accept it and cope with it.

There's a passage in Ephesians that sums it up: 'Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we will ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us'."

'A miracle occurs when you believe God has intervened'

Rev Liz Hughes is the minister at Whitehouse Presbyterian Church, Belfast. She says:

"A miracle occurs when you believe God has intervened in your life and changed something. We had somebody who considered himself an atheist up until two years ago when he became a Christian — although he did keep coming to church to try and prove his position! That's a miracle.

We have healing services regularly and the laying on of hands. Touch is very important in this ministry — and it really seems to help people. Examples I've seen include one person who had a brain tumour and was given two more years of life. They were very special years to her; she managed to touch other people's lives and made new friends. Other people might not see it like that but for her, it was a miracle.

Once, I prayed for a sick child and had a picture of him in my mind. The surgeon who operated said it was a miracle there was enough bowel to join up and bring about a cure.

It's problematic for people when their prayers don't seem to be answered, it's very puzzling. There are no pat answers to why there's heartache and suffering and I'm not going to give one. You can only look at the cross at the centre of faith, which is unexplained suffering. I must say I'm delighted to hear of this boy's case. You don't want to go round with a sceptical attitude."

Believing in the mystery of miracles

‘I have a relationship with the Creator that is better than all the heroin’

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Andy Duffin (36) is Andrew's father and goes to the Elim Church in Tiger's Bay, Belfast. He appealed for people to pray to help his son. He says:

I was an alcoholic, into drugs and crime, a total unbeliever. Then my wee daughter, Jordan, two years old, was killed, run over by a church bus.

This set me asking 'Why are we here?', 'Why are we born?', 'Why do we live and why do we die?'. Then I was on a three-week bender when I heard a voice in my head, saying 'Away up and see your uncle', who had been a Christian for six weeks.

Well, he took me to church, and when the pastor said all those who wanted to be saved should raise their hand, I did. What I've got now, a relationship with the Creator, is better than all the heroin I took. My son's car accident happened seven weeks ago. I saw Andrew on the Friday night, and on Saturday this girl phoned me with the news. I had no lift, so I phoned him and he said 'Daddy, I'm in a lot of pain'. They said he just had bruising. A friend and I were praying from the Saturday night, with Pastor Madden, and we had an impartation, the laying on of hands so you receive benefit from God. The doctor called us all into the room on the Sunday to say Andrew had been 'dead' for 16 minutes after a heart attack and that they thought they'd lost him.

His lungs were packing up, his kidneys and his heart, he was critical.

But I was confident he'd pull through. I had God, and science hasn't got the final word in life, it's the word of God that is the truth. The doctor looked at me as if he thought I was nuts but I knew he'd be all right.

My son's not a Christian yet, he needs time to think, although 14 of his friends have given their lives to God. But he'll say 'Daddy, I know the Lord saved me.' I said to the chief doctor, Dr Dolan, 'I want you to tell Andrew he's a miracle.'

He came back, 'I don't ever use these words but you are a miracle.' It was awesome what happened to him."