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An incident in the life of this humble, obscure man shows something of his childlike faith. While travelling away from home on horseback - many blind people ride in Brazil - as he neared a certain farm a woman came rushing out to him, saying her mother had just swallowed a bone, and it was sticking in her throat choking her; did he know of a "blessing" (a Romish charm or incantation) which would relieve her? The blind man thought for a moment, and then said, "Go to her; you will find her cured." |
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The woman believed him and went. He thereupon knelt down and in simple faith prayed the Lord to relieve her that moment, and departed on his way. Some time after, when in the same direction, a man asked him, "Are you the one that has a blessing that cured a woman with a bone in her throat? What is it? I should like to have it, too." John replied. "You can have it. Take this Gospel and read it." |
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What these incidents tell us is that God (need we say it) can and does work miracles today when there is faith for it. They may be wrought amongst Christians (as recounted by J.N.Darby) or on the mission field (as recounted by F.C.Glass). However, we should be careful that we do not count every coincidence as a miracle neither should we be miracle seekers. If we do we may find ourselves just pandering to a natural liking for the unexplained. However, we should not take the sceptics stance that all anecdotal evidence of miracles should be dismissed as superstition and that credence should only be given to things which appear to have a natural explanation and can be duplicated. The only case that one new of personally was a Christian young lady who was very ill, was prayed for at a prayer meeting, and subsequently recovered. The remarkable thing about this case was that while she was lying in bed at home she was carried in spirit to the prayer meeting where she heard the prayers and was able afterwards to tell those around her who had prayed for her. She lived to be nearly 100. |
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July 2000 |
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