AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER July 30, 2007

* HEART SURGEON RELATES ASTOUNDING ACCOUNT OF A RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD

* BRINGING JESUS TO THE HOMELESS

* COURT RULING A BLOW FOR JUSTICE FOR THE UNBORN

* KU KLUX KLAN GROWING IN STRENGTH

* DISCOVERY OF HUGE UNDERGROUND LAKE IN DARFUR COULD BRING END TO CONFLICT

* IN FRANCE, MUSLIMS CONVERTING TO CHRIST BY THE THOUSANDS DESPITE DEATH THREATS

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HEART SURGEON RELATES ASTOUNDING ACCOUNT OF A RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD

The audience of 120 doctors from 50 countries sat in stunned silence as a renowned heart doctor produced evidence of how, after he had prayed for a patient who had died and was being prepared for the morgue, was brought back to life after prayer. Dr. Chauncey W. Crandall IV, who serves at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, made his dramatic presentation at the 4th Annual World Christian Doctors Network Conference in Miami, Florida. He produced dramatic evidence that was shown on the screen and then, afterwards, agreed to tell the story to Assist News Service in an interview with Dan Wooding. The following is the interview as conducted by Dan: Dr. Crandall began by saying that the dramatic incident took place almost a year ago in West Palm Beach, Florida. “We had a fifty-three year old man who came to the emergency room with a massive heart attack and actually his heart had stopped,” he said. “The medical people had worked on him for over forty minutes in the emergency room and then declared him dead. “They called me in to evaluate the patient towards the end of his treatment where they had unsuccessfully tried to revive him.

The nurse was preparing his body to be taken down to the morgue when the Holy Spirit told me to ‘turn around and pray for that man.’ When the Holy Spirit talks to you, you have to respond. It’s sometimes a quiet voice and this was a quiet voice and to honour the Lord I did turn around and I went to the side of that stretcher where his body was being prepared.

“There was no life in the man. His face and feet and arms were completely black with death and I sat next to his body and I prayed, ‘Lord, Father; how am I going to pray for this man? He’s dead. What can I do?’ All of a sudden, these words came out of my mouth, ‘Father, God, I cry out for the soul of this man if he does not know You as his Lord and Saviour, please raise him from the dead right now in Jesus name.

“It was amazing as a couple of minutes later, we were looking at the monitor and all of a sudden a heart beat showed up. It was a perfect beat; a normal beat; and then after a couple more minutes, he started moving and then his fingers were moving and then his toes began moving and then he started mumbling words. “There was a nurse in the room-she wasn’t a Believer-and she screamed out and said ‘Doctor Crandall, what have you done to this patient?’ And I said, ‘All I’ve done is cry out for his soul in Jesus name.’ “We quickly rushed the gentleman down to the intensive care unit, and the hospital was by now buzzing about the fact that a dead man had been brought back to life. After a couple of days he woke up. He had an amazing story to tell after I had asked him, ‘Where have you been and where were you on that day that you had that massive heart attack? You were gone and we prayed you back to life in Jesus name.’

“He said, ‘Doctor Crandall, it’s the most amazing thing. I was in a dark room and there was no light. It was complete darkness and I felt I was in a casket and I kept repeating that I was so disappointed.’ He said the disappointment came from the fact that none of his family, friends or colleagues, had come to visit him. Then he told me, ‘All of a sudden, these men came in and they wrapped me up and they threw me in the trash.’

“Dan, he was in hell that day and as he told me that story, I cried out, ‘Lord, this gentleman needs to accept You as Lord and Saviour.’ I then explained the salvation message to this man as he sat in that bed and I held his hand and I cried out, ‘Father God, in the name of Jesus, I pray that this man accepts you as his Lord and Saviour right here in the intensive care unit.’ He held out his hand and accepted Christ as his Saviour with tears rolling down from his eyes and now he’s a child of God. “I told him, ‘You never have to be thrown in the trash into total darkness now. The life of Christ is in you and the light of the kingdom of Heaven is on you now.”

I asked Dr. Crandall if there had been any brain damage to the patient. “No there was no brain damage at all; his brain was completely normal,” he said. “I was most concerned about his hands because his fingers were completely black and he had some numbness in his fingers and his feet, but now that is totally resolved.” I asked Dr. Crandall if he could give the name of the man and he said he couldn’t as the patient had requested that it would not be revealed. “All I can say is that he was fifty-three years old and he was a car mechanic,” he said. “He had a family who were Believers, but he left them twenty years ago because he didn’t believe in the Lord. His family continued to pray for twenty years for his salvation, and his ex-wife was on her hands and knees praying for the salvation of her ex-husband, who came to know the Lord that very day”.

I concluded the interview by asking Dr. Crandall what he would like to say to doctors who do not believe in supernatural healing.”I would just like to say to my colleagues and physicians out there, that the Lord is real. We’ve seen many miracles and we pray for our patients daily. There is not one week that goes by that we don’t see a mighty miracle in our office. The people need this; they need the power of Christ in their life and they need the power of Christ for healing.

“I would just encourage my fellow doctors to get involved in a church, meet with a minister, and attend a healing service run by people that believe in the power of Jesus Christ. We love our colleagues in medicine-we pray for them.”

Source: Assist News/Christian Doctors Network

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BRINGING JESUS TO THE HOMELESS

While churches have long provided meals, occasional shelter and indoor worship services for the urban homeless, a small but growing number of congregations now recognize that many homeless people will not attend traditional services indoors. So these congregations now go outdoors to bring church to the homeless and anyone else who happens along.

“When you become homeless, you become very aware of how people treat you,” said the Rev. Anne-Marie Jeffery, who runs Street Church. “It’s hard to walk into a church, and it’s even harder when you are homeless because you’re worried about how you will be received, or if you smell bad. Some people never go inside at all, because they worry that they can lose all their stuff,” as in shopping carts that must be left outside, “or be sent to a mental hospital or to jail.”

Homeless off and on since 1991, Rickey Robinson figures he needs to get close to God as often as he can. So on one Tuesday afternoon, he bundled himself in a long black coat and joined a small group gathered in a corner of Franklin Square Park, where they prayed, sang a hymn and recited the 23rd Psalm.

Some men could not bring themselves to look up from the grass. Others could not stand still. Most are homeless. They sleep at a nearby shelter and spend the daytime, when the shelter is closed, looking for shelter and food. They are the parishioners of Street Church, an outdoor worship service run by the Church of the Epiphany, a downtown Episcopal parish.

Billy Ray was sitting out Communion on a park bench the other day. His legs hurt from walking across the city that morning to get to Street Church. He has a hardness about him, which he admits to, but he said he considered the service a blessing. “I was way out of touch with the Saviour,” Mr. Ray said, looking at the Communion line. “This here keeps me in touch. Otherwise I’d be thinking devilish thoughts, and this helps me stay positive.”

Street Church began last February. Rev. Deborah Little Wyman, an Episcopal priest, who started an outdoor worship mainly for the homeless in Boston 11 years ago, wanted to find a church in Washington to begin a similar service. Ms. Wyman, trying to introduce outdoor worship elsewhere as well, says she is working with churches and other groups, about half of them affiliated with the Episcopal Church, in 40 cities in the United States and abroad.

“Our theology is to love and not try to fix them and just to be present where they are,” Ms. Wyman said of the outdoor congregants. “We’re not trying to sell any one theology or denomination.”

Source: Intercessors for America

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COURT RULING A BLOW FOR JUSTICE FOR THE UNBORN

The Supreme Court of South Korea has issued a verdict declaring that an unborn child will not be considered human until the mother goes into labour.

In the age of ultrasound technology and a time in which a 21-week unborn child can be saved in an incubator, the Supreme Court of South Korea issued a verdict declaring that an unborn child will not be considered human until the mother goes into labour. The ruling was based on a 2001 case involving a pregnant woman who consulted a midwife at a facility in Seoul as the expected birth date approached and she had no labour pains.

The midwife advised the mother to wait two weeks, but during that time the baby died of cerebral damage. The Supreme Court cleared the midwife of “negligent homicide” charges ruling that the mother did not have labour pains so the unborn baby cannot be recognized as a human being. Therefore, no human, no homicide.

Father Lee Dong-ik, professor of medicine at the Catholic University of Korea, called the ruling an “extremely shocking and deplorable verdict.” He said, “Every country has slightly different legal grounds on when to consider an unborn a human being, but no country has such a definitive ruling that an unborn baby is not a human being. When a 21-week unborn child can survive with an incubator, it is unacceptable to see a verdict where a 42-week unborn is not considered a human being.”

Source: Intercessors for America

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KU KLUX KLAN GROWING IN STRENGTH

The Ku Klux Klan has experienced “a surprising and troubling resurgence” in the United States during the past year, an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report revealed. According to the report, the white supremacy group has successfully exploited issues such as immigration, gay marriage and urban crime to draw in new members and accelerate activity.

The ADL monitors the activities of hate groups and reports developments to policy makers and law enforcement agencies. ADL Civil Rights Director Deborah M. Lauter pointed to immigration as the key issue stirring up racist sentiments in the United States. “If any one single issue or trend can be credited with re-energizing the Klan, it is the debate over immigration in America,” said Lauter.”

Although some Klansmen may still hold cross- burnings dressed in robes and hoods, today’s young Klansmen are more likely to look virtually indistinguishable from racist skinheads or neo-Nazis,” said Lauter. “Today’s Klansmen may be as likely to gather at white power music concerts or socialize at so-called ‘unity rallies’ with other white supremacists, as to participate in ritualistic cross burnings in the rural wilderness,” she added.

Source: Intercessors for America

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DISCOVERY OF HUGE UNDERGROUND LAKE IN DARFUR COULD BRING END TO CONFLICT

According to geologist Farouk El-Baz, director of the Boston University Centre for Remote Sensing, a huge underground lake (the size of Lake Erie) has been found in Sudan’s Darfur region which could help end the conflict in the arid region, and with the agreement of the Sudanese government, as many as 1,000 wells could be drilled in the region.

“Much of the unrest in Darfur and the misery is due to water shortages,” El-Baz told Associated Press. “Access to fresh water is essential for refugee survival, will help the peace process, and provides the necessary resources for the much needed economic development in Darfur.”The discovery is “very significant”, Hafiz Muhamad from the lobby group Justice Africa said. “The root cause of the conflict is resources-drought and desertification in North Darfur.”

Source: BBC Focus on Africa

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IN FRANCE, MUSLIMS CONVERTING TO CHRIST BY THE THOUSANDS DESPITE DEATH THREATS

Muslims are converting to Christianity by the thousands in France, even though they face death threats and exclusion from their families. Most Muslims hide their conversion and pastors do their utmost to protect them. It is estimated that every year in the world some six million Muslims convert to Christianity, and in France that translates to about 15,000 Muslims each year.

One example is comedian Siad Oujibou, who used to pray five times a day but found his questions about death and his desire for a God lacking within Islam. He is now a Christian pastor. Since then, he has “faced many reprisals and humiliations from his family and was even under a sentence of death.” Said Oujibou, “We are under this law if we change our faith. In certain countries we would be condemned to death because we have converted. But I haven’t changed my religion. I don’t believe in religion, I believe in God. And God and religion are two very different things.”

Source: Zee News

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