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From the desk of Steve Shultz:
Amidst all the controversy we've heard about, such as people asking, "Is this a true healing move of God in Lakeland, Florida?" one has only to look at all the "secular media" who are reporting this "dead being raised" story--even more than the Church is reporting it. This has a definite connection with the Lakeland, Florida healing revival that began when Todd Bentley began speaking in early April at some healing meetings in Lakeland.
I remember receiving a phone call from Todd on my cell phone a few days into the revival, as he was so excited about what God was suddenly doing. I must admit that at first, I was not sure if this was any bigger than any other healing or revival meetings, because I've been to a lot of both healing AND revival meetings.
I soon discovered that this was going far beyond anything I have experienced, seen, or heard about in modern times.
"This thing is real!" I remember eventually concluding to myself. Night after night, I've sat glued to God.TV to watch the streaming videos of those being healed. And now, like a virus (THE GOOD KIND), it's spreading all over the world, even into our own city, Albany, Oregon, where meetings are now being held Thursday through Saturday nights and many are being healed--and in unprecedented numbers. And Todd Bentley isn't even at the church--our 900+ seat church in Albany at Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Many cities are experiencing the same. We may soon begin to publish the location of other locations where healing is breaking out.
After the story below, written by Aimee Herd of our own BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS, (to subscribe click here) see Pastor Stephen Strader's personal email from the niece of the woman who was raised back from the dead. Stephen Strader is the senior pastor of Ignited Church, who is hosting the Todd Bentley meetings in Lakeland, Florida. Note: while there are repetitive details of this account, we wanted to give you two or three sources. In the blending of all the details to you, our readers, get a more clear picture of what happened in this story.
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Blessings,
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Steve Shultz
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Aimee Herd from BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS:
The Dead Raised again! Woman, ALREADY WITH RIGOR MORTIS SET IN--Suddenly Comes Back to Life, Doctors Call it a "Medical Miracle"
"By the time she was found, her body had become stiff with rigor mortis."
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(Charleston, West Virginia)--According to the AP report, West Virginia resident, Val Thomas' heart stopped last Saturday morning, and by the time she was found, her body had become stiff with rigor mortis. (Photo: AP)
Paramedics were able to revive her, but only after an estimated 15 minutes without oxygen or a pulse--she was rushed to an area hospital. During procedures to lower her body temperature, Val's heart stopped two more times.
The Thomas family was told by doctors that Val had only a 10 percent chance of survival. She went 17 ? hours with no brain waves, while waiting for word on an organ donor recipient. The family made the decision to take her off life support.
Daniel Pence, Val's nephew said, "I prayed to God, 'Just show me something, I know there's something here,' but I didn't see it."
Some time after the life support tubes were removed from Val, she suddenly awoke. Doctors say, although her heart stopped three times, Val does not have any heart blockages. She was taken to Cleveland Hospital for further evaluation, but they could find nothing wrong with her--they are calling it a "medical miracle."
"I feel very blessed, I know God has something in store for me," says Val.
Another exciting aspect of this news, is seeing it reported by mainstream media outlets, such as: ABC News, Breitbart, and the AP/Yahoo News video, as well as the video on Fox News.
However, one fact that has not been mentioned before in other media reports is that a relative (niece-in-law) of Val, named Darla, had been prayed for by an attendee of the Lakeland Healing meetings in Florida. As this person prayed over Val's relative, she told her that there would be "healing, revival...and restoration in her family." At the time, the relative of Val Thomas did not know what she meant by that, but of course now, she is praising God for her Aunt Val's resurrection.
Says Darla, "Jesus stepped in when man stepped away--when doctors could do no more--Jesus did the rest."
But there is even more to this resurrection story; there is great fruit for the Kingdom of Heaven which has come from it.
We received the following report from Joni Ames, whose friend is a member of Val Thomas' church. Joni's friend writes: "Joni, the story is true. In fact, the lady (Val Thomas) was in the hospital; brain dead. They had already called the funeral home. The family had three relatives that were not saved. Two family members told God if He would allow her to live, they would give their life to God. The other was Val's 70-year-old brother who had already left the hospital after she died. When they took her off life support, and after she woke up, she wanted to know where her son was. So they phoned the brother to come back to hospital, and he hit his knees and gave his life to Christ too. The testimony was given Sunday morning at church and that's when the anointing broke out."
Already, three people have come to the Lord because this woman was brought back to life by the sovereign hand of God. What glorious fruit! There are reportedly numerous other resurrections of which have been testified during meetings in Lakeland. We at BCN and The ElijahList are working to confirm these, and hope to report them to our readers as soon as possible.
To watch this amazing video report, follow the link provided:
Source: News Staff ? AP, Breitbart.tv
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Reported by Aimee Herd
Breaking Christian News
Email: editor@breakingchristiannews.com
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Here is an email from Pastor Stephen Strader, who is hosting the Lakeland, Revival meetings. Pastor Stephen wrote to us on May 19, 2008, telling the story of this woman, Val Thomas, being raised from the dead. He includes the account as told by Val's niece, Darla, who wrote to him.
(Note by Steve Shultz: These type of raisings are hard to verify, but this one HAS been verified multiple ways.)
Stephen Strader:
Steve,
"I talked with the niece personally for over 30 minutes and verified this story. We have her name, DARLA and phone number."
Darla writes to Pastor Stephen Strader:
"A young lady from our choir ministry came to your revival several weeks ago. On May 8th at choir practice, our worship leader had the young lady tell of your Revival in Lakeland, FL.
Then our worship leader had the young lady pray for anyone in our choir that wanted prayer, because she believes in the transfer of the anointing. When the young lady prayed for me, in her prayer, she mentioned "Healing, Revival in my family, and Restoration." We did not know what was coming our way, but our Lord did.
On Saturday morning May 17th at 2:00am in the morning, I received a phone call that my husband's aunt, Val, had a heart attack. Val called her sister, Shelia (my mother-in-law), told her to come over, then Val called the paramedics herself, and then called her son Tim.
When Shelia got to Val's home, the paramedics were waiting and Shelia told them to bust in the door. When they found Val, she was laying face down, gray, and no pulse. The paramedics did CPR for eight minutes until they got a faint pulse. She was taken to the nearest hospital.
The doctors accessed her and then had the family come in. We were told that they were not sure if she had a heart attack or not, but she was on a ventilator and they put her in an induced coma.
The doctor was more worried about brain damage because she had been without oxygen for so long, and she had shown signs of some damage. The doctor was transporting her to another hospital to do a new procedure called Hypothermia, which drops your body temperature to 75 degrees and it helps preserve the brain. She was transported at 5:00am.
At 6:30am, her son received a call that a test was performed and there was no brain activity. Shortly thereafter, her heart stopped two more times. After two more times of being shocked, they gave her medicine to start her heart once, and once they did CPR.
The doctors performed another test and still no brain activity. The doctors told the family that she only had a 20 percent chance of living, but her mind would not be the same. If her heart stopped one more time, she would not survive.
By this time, they were telling us she had several heart attacks. Val's son finally made the decision around 12:30pm on Saturday to have her life support removed. This decision only came after much prayer, and God did give him total peace. The family was told to go say their goodbyes. Most of the family are Christians. As each one of us went in, we prayed with her.
Three of my sister-in-laws and myself anointed her with oil and had prayer. While we were praying, she would start to shiver from the top of her head, then it would go through her body to her feet. She did this several times.
One of us asked what was that, because we knew the Lord was working on her. The nurse said it is only where she was warming up. While in the waiting room, the family read Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, and we broke out in worship and song.
At about 3:15pm, was the time we thought it was all going to be done. Val's son was told there was a problem with the organ donor. Val had requested it, but her son said, 'No.' He was afraid that no autopsy could be performed. So the organ donor corporation was called in, they are called CORE. They were over an hour away. At this time, some of the family thought that this was a bad diversion. They couldn't believe when the decision was made and there was peace, that it had all stopped.
When CORE finally came, they told her son that they would only use the liver and the kidney, and it would not interfere with the autopsy. Once again, any family member that wanted to go back could. One last time, prayer came from the very last visitors.
We were told that CORE would contact the doctors in Pittsburgh, and see if they could use any organs because once you are over 50, they usually don't. We all left around 6:00pm, waiting on the final call.
A family friend/pastor stayed and he asked the nurse, 'Could you check and see if there is any blood pressure or pulse, so I can tell the family?' The nurse checked and there was nothing. All the machines had been taken off, but the breathing tube. So the pastor/friend left.
When the nurse was with her, she checked one more time--nothing, then she pulled out the tube. Val's hand went to her mouth, the nurse jumped, and said that had to be a reflex--then Val opened her eyes.
The nurse was almost in shock, she called for another nurse, they started a blood pressure on her, Val took a breath, her heartbeat came back, she had a blood pressure, and Val had asked for her son.
At 6:30pm, the family was called and said, 'Get back. SHE IS ALIVE and talking, and breathing on her own. WOW! Praise the Lord!'
Jesus stepped in when man stepped away--when doctors could do no more, Jesus did the rest.
We all went to see her Saturday right after the call. She knew everyone. Sunday, she was more alert and carrying on conversations with us.
Today, Monday morning she is sitting up in bed feeding herself Jell-O!" --Story submitted by Darla Pence, Niece of Val Thomas.
Submitted by Pastor Stephen Strader
Ignited Church
Lakeland, Florida
www.ignitedchurch.com
Email: ignitedchurch@gmail.com
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