August 2010
Thomas Keiffer is a former attorney now ministering with Grace Life Partners.
“One day in Venezuela, Lisa, Charley and I teamed up with local believers and our two translators and presented the Gospel to 95 people. 91 of them made professions of faith. Planting churches can be exciting, but no one ever told me about Dengue Fever.
We encountered a girl walking down the street with her mother. The girl was wearing a jacket shrouded by a blanket in the blazing heat. The translator informed us that she had Dengue Fever. We noticed the IV port taped to her wrist.
We asked her if she wanted to be healed, and not surprisingly she said, “si.” We were led to a nearby house, where we were presented with an elderly, bedridden woman suffering from diarrhea and other ailments. She was trying to eat some soup.
The Dengue Fever girl sat on the edge of one of the twin beds in the grandmother’s bedroom. She described her headache and joint pains. In Jesus’ name, I commanded the Dengue Fever and related symptoms to leave and for her body to be healed. And then I held my breath. “How do you feel?”
Did I mention that there were three other ladies in the room praying as I ministered healing to the girl? I don’t know Spanish, but I heard a lot of “gloria’s” and “hallelujah’s” and “Jesus Cristo’s.” I have no before and after medical records, but here’s what happened.
The girl looked up and calmly responded that her headache was gone. She shed her blanket and without prompting removed her jacket. Standing, she reported that her joint pain was gone as well.
When the girl walked out of the grandmother’s bedroom into the next room, both she and her mother prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. Out of one room into another. Out of darkness into light. Out of death into life. All who sent and prayed for us played a part!
But this was not my favorite experience in Venezuela. More on that later…”
Another testimony from Thomas while in Venezuela
“After the first day of door-to-door evangelism in the oven-like heat, we attended an evening service with about 25 people under shade trees in plastic chairs. It was there that I was presented with Eljory, a 13-year-old boy who could neither hear nor speak. “Can you help him?” Gulp.
This is where the rubber meets the road. Time to put up or shut up. My first impulse would have been to pray for the boy and hope for the best. But I recently had been trained on the basis for exercising the authority to heal, instead of simply praying and asking God to fix the problem. Sounds different, I know.
Every pore in my body seemed to open at once. Dripping with anticipation, I looked Eljory directly in the eye and mentally reviewed my training as I would if I were to administer CPR for the first time. (Do I tilt the head back first? What about sweeping the mouth for obstructions? Four breaths, then two chest compressions?) You get the picture.
I put my fingers in the boy’s ears and commanded, “ears be opened … hearing be restored.” I thought about sticking my fingers in his mouth, but instead I touched his jaw and cheeks, saying, “tong be loosed … vocal cords be healed.” I didn’t know what else to do.
Sounds wacky? I understand. Well, what do you do when faced with a deaf mute boy looking for relief?
The translator standing behind Eljory clapped his hands, and Eljory immediately turned toward the noise as if he had heard it. The crowd gasped. He did not speak, so I repeated the process of commanding and this time the translator said the boy’s name (fairly loudly) behind his back. Again, the boy quickly turned toward the sound.
I then prompted Eljory to say “hola,” and he said something sounding like “aughooaaowa” – like you would expect to hear from a deaf boy without practice.
Although Eljory’s parents were not present, his aunt explained that he could hear nothing without a hearing aid that he was not wearing at the time of this encounter.
What exactly happened? I wish I knew for sure. But I know that I got out of the boat based on my limited understanding and attempted to walk on the water. I think I did, but I’m such a novice at trusting Jesus.”
Dave Diamond is the former head of Northlake Christian School in Covington, and now ministers and healing and teaches in India and other countries the Lord is opening for him.
“Dave was at a prominent church in Covington this morning. The pastor’s granddaughter had peripheral blindness caused by migraines. Dave felt emboldened and asked her in private if he could pray for her. He commanded the blindness to leave. He asked her to test her eye. She could see fully! Tears flowed as she told her dad and grandad!”
“A volleyball coach at our Bible study last night was healed of a painful knee injury.”
Mark Meyers is an attorney for Shell Oil Corportation
“Thomas told me that he had a brief vision as they were praying with Lucy at the end of the session on Saturday.
He saw an alligator with its mouth open showing lots of big teeth, and then a bright shiny large gold ring in its throat. The meaning is obvious – in order to come into our destiny, in the fullness of what God has done for us in sending His Son, which encompasses healing and casting out of spirits, we must risk all – reputation, rejection, man’s approval, etc. And this is what the Elijah Challenge is about – risking all as one decides to fear God above the approval of man, and be obedient to the Great Commission.
We were both very encouraged by the vision.”
[Note: At first we didn’t grasp the import of this vision given to Thomas. But then Lucy was given its meaning, likely from the Lord. The gold ring can be likened to a king’s signet ring—symbolic of authority as we see in Esther. The authority the Lord has given the Church is in the throat of our enemy the alligator. For us to retrieve that authority from the throat of the alligator through the rows of sharp teeth is very dangerous. But as you pointed out, we must risk all to get it back and use it to obey the Lord’s Great Commission.]