Healing News

by Francis MacNutt
Fall 2001

In the last issue of The Healing Line we devoted an entire page to what appeared to be a major break–through in the deliverance ministry, when the International Order of Exorcists announced a conference on exorcism in Malta in October. They were hoping for 1,000 people to attend, which would have marked an astonishing change in attitude — much more acceptance than ever before. Then the announcement came that the conference has been canceled due to "unforeseen circumstances". From what we understand, the 1,000 registrations that they were hoping for did not materialize, and so they had to cancel.

A Healing of ALS

Often we are asked whether we have ever seen certain very serious illnesses healed, such as Down's Syndrome (we do know of one). One of the sicknesses we are asked about is ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Back in 1977 our team prayed in Toledo, Ohio, for a woman who had ALS and she was notably improved, although not totally healed, in the two days' time our teams prayed with her, but, so far as we know, she was not totally healed. (If you wish to see what happened to her, her partial healing is captured on our video "The Healing Ministry in the Church.")

Well, finally, I met a man who has been healed of ALS. His name is Don Jaeger (from Winter Park, FL), and he was kind enough to write out a description of his healing from which I take the following salient points. During the summer of 1992 he was diagnosed with ALS, which is ordinarily fatal and whose downward progress is steady and irretrievable. (Two of the top experts in central Florida, an EMG specialist and a neurologist, agreed upon the diagnosis.) Then Don went to hear Canon Jim Glennon (author of Your Healing is Within You) and came to believe in Jesus' healing him of ALS. They prayed for him at his church and he had his first religious experience — a warmness and peace — that convinced him that he would be cured. He continued to seek medical counsel and physical therapy, as well as attending weekly healing services at his church. During this time, he continued to believe that he was being healed, and, while waiting in a neurologist's office, he received what he felt was an irrefutable sign that he was healed when he became very warm and a "total encompassing, utter peace came over my body." A month later, he asked for a sign that he had been cured and that time would prove it. He was at his physical therapy session, and they asked him to lift some weight with only his lower legs to establish a base–line for further exercises. With his lower leg weakened through muscular atrophy, and with absolutely "no strain, or hanging on to handles, I lifted the maximum weight of 220 pounds. This word flew all over the center." Later he went to the Cleveland Clinic, one of the best hospitals in the U.S. specializing in ALS. The doctors there put him through three hours of tests and one said, "The people in Florida may not believe me, but I see over 150 cases of ALS a year and you show no signs of ever having had ALS." Don then threw away his brace and went snow skiing. "As a reminder of my illness, I still have a weakness and pain in my left leg and right hand." After his healing he dealt with fear that the ALS would return but "through God's help I no longer have that fear." So, praise God, this is the first report I have ever received on the healing of ALS. (Don says he knows of another man who was also healed of ALS.)

The following is a fascinating news item taken from The Tablet (an English Catholic weekly magazine). Since we are learning more and more about general healing and being set free from familiar (ancestral) spirits, I share it with you to add to your information on this controversial topic.

George Frederic Handel's House

In England, the Sunday Telegraph reported that an unnamed priest was to exorcise the London House in which the great composer George Frederic Handel had lived. A fund–raiser for the Handel House Trust reported seeing a ghost, thought to be of a woman, in the bedroom where the composer had died in 1759. A Catholic priest was quoted as saying that "This is a soul who is restless and not at home."

Later, however, a spokesperson for the Trust stated, "Although a presence has been felt by members of the staff in the bedroom, which includes a floral aroma, the Handel House Trust has no intention of contacting a priest or organizing an exorcism." A Jesuit expert in London, Fr. Francis Edwards, was contacted by The Tablet but was not aware of any priest being asked to perform the exorcism, but he added, "I have no doubt that ghosts exist. People in that state are those who have clung too hard to life, because of some resentment or desire for revenge. I would say they are in purgatory but can be moved on."

Francis MacNutt is a Founding Director and Executive Committee member of CHM.