My Testimony

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Growing up in the church was a non-event for me.  Though my parents acknowledge the existence of God & brought us up by biblical principles, my father could not tolerate or accept the hypocritical attitude expressed and demonstrated by the churches. Therefore I only attended church for the usual four occasions, Christmas; Easter; Funerals and Weddings.

 

As I grew up, I was technically anti-church, as I never saw churches doing anything for the community unless they were putting their hand into your pocket (never their own) to assist others. They were always asking for money and displaying hypocritical attitudes, i.e.;

 

• Priests were delivering messages on the evils of drinking whilst having a keg of beer under the staircase for after the service.

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• Preaching on gambling while running various forms of gambling to raise funds for church projects.

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God Witnessed His Power To Me

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It was not until my first daughter was born that I actually discovered a church that had something going for it. People physically saw miracles happening regularly.  This church in point of fact preached the actual word of God and did not water it down; try to explain anything away, or justify its stance. They taught from the Bible as it was written, i.e. the miraculous Acts of the Apostles and Jesus disciples.

 

My daughter was born with a deformed hip shelf and all the medical treatment was not working. My wife believed in God and asked me if I would go to a Pentecostal church in Toowoomba and have our daughter prayed for.  Though I did not believe in praying and laying on of hands, and seeing people healed, at that time, (as was being pushed on the Sunday television programs), I agreed to go as I was prepared to do and try anything for my daughter. Normal medical treatments were not working, so I thought, what was there to lose?

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It was at this point I saw the power of God [not the church] in action. We had been to the orthopaedic specialist on Friday afternoon, who after examining our baby, stated that the hip was still vertical, so the treatment had failed. He requested X-Rays as he was going to operate, then put her into a plaster cast.

 

We attended the Christian Outreach Centre in Toowoomba for a Sunday evening service. There my daughter was prayed for, two days later on Tuesday the X-Rays were taken. On Thursday of that week, we received a letter from her specialist doctor, stating that "no further treatment was required as the hip was normal".

 

Being shocked by this news, I questioned this outcome, only to be advised the hip was now perfect. Praise The Lord.

 

To my mind and understanding, this was not physically possible, at least in the natural, as a hip shelf does not just go from vertical to being perfectly cupped around the hip ball joint. Therefore, as an analytical person, this medical miracle which had occurred in just a few days aroused my curiosity and led me to investigate this event further. After being presented with irrefutable proof of her condition in November 1979, I made a decision to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour.  

 

The healing and miraculous power of God is now one point that no one can dispute with me. Since becoming a Christian, I have seen numerous other healings and miracles in peoples’ lives, including my father, relatives and other individuals in churches.

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Phil

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