Sid: I mean just out of the blue as Don refers to it. What happens when an unexpected cross occurs? I mean the couple’s happy, they’re having their new baby and then a 1 in a million chance occurs. One of the lungs is missing and the heart ends up in that position rather than the normal position; they give him days and the baby will die. The family goes into the audacity of prayer that’s the name of the book that we’re making available and when they prayed and this was your church family Don correct.
Don: That’s right.
Sid: And when they prayed you just had a knowing that this baby was healed and just on his own suddenly they could take him home totally healed, no surgery. What did the doctors say?
Don: When in 48 hours this baby went from the death watch to being home. No surgery, medical science didn’t make him well, God turned his situation around.
Sid: You know people are listening to us and if you’re human something unexpected happens to a love one or to you, it’s called life. What should someone do when they have this unexpected cross Don?
Don: I believe that when you have an unexpected cross in your life and an unexpected cross can be almost anything a financial reversal, bad news from a doctor, the breakup of a marriage, you know almost anything it could be almost anything. But when we face an unexpected cross and all of us have been there I believe that it’s at that moment that we discover what we really believe and who we’re really trusting in. And I think that when we face these unexpected crosses that our first thing that we should do is to run to Father God and take our case to Him and do it in a way that we have confidence that He hears us when we pray.
Sid: I want you to give me an example give me a real life example of either your family or one of your church families and how you did or would pray and I want you to actually pray.
Don: Okay I… just a personal example of an unexpected cross for years I struggled with a heart issue; had atrial fibrillation and I was on a 30 day fast, drinking only water. And was in a hotel room I was speaking at a church and got up to take a shower one morning and you know in a weakened condition as far as physically because it was the 11th day of the fast and when I was taking the shower my heart went out of rhythm so badly that I fell in the shower I was the only one my wife wasn’t with me. And when I fell in the shower I experienced a demon that came in that bathroom and that demon told me “I’m going to kill you today and nobody is even going to know that you’re dead until church time.”
Sid: Now did you…do you think that that demon that communicated with you at that moment was the one that caused the afib?
Don: You know I think that it could have been I know that physically I was in a weakened condition because I hadn’t been eating and only drinking water and so my body was already struggling. You know if you fast at lengthy times you know that there are periods during that fast that your body just almost is screaming at you and it was at that… it was one of those moments. But…
Sid: So when you heard that obviously the demon was smart enough to say it to you as though it was your own thoughts or did you realize that it was an external voice?
Don: No I knew that it wasn’t my own thoughts I knew that it was an external voice. I have to admit to you even though I had been preaching and pasturing and being a guest speaker for years and years and years and really believed in the supernatural and the miraculous the first emotion that I felt was fear. Because I had a wife and 2 young children at the time and then of course I want to stay with my family and raise my family and the first thing was fear. Then I couldn’t even get up, I’d fallen and I couldn’t even get up I was too weak. And I finally it just…I guess my faith just kicked in and so I just said out loud I said “Devil if you think that you can kill me then go ahead but I don’t believe that you have that authority in my life; I believe that my expiration date is up to a higher power, but I’ll tell you this if you let me live till church time I am going to preach tonight.” And immediately I gained enough strength to get up and get dress and lay down on the bed but I was in weakened condition all day long. And that night I spoke just hanging on to the pulpit to stand up. Went back to my hotel room and called my wife and she prayed with me and when I woke up the next morning I woke up with my heart in rhythm, I was strong, I felt that I had sat down to a banquet table because I had supernatural strength. But an unexpected cross when it hits you tries to take your legs out from under you but that’s when your faith has to kick into action.
Sid: You know as your sharing that you did what you teach in your book. I mean it would have been so easy for you to check yourself into a hospital rather than preaching that night.
Don: That’s exactly right and immediately I thought I should call 911 but I recognized that what I was dealing with was a spiritual thing even more than a physical thing. And honestly behind every unexpected cross there’s a spiritual battle that’s going on we may see it as a financial reversal, as a negative report from a doctor, a counselor whoever the banker, but there’s a spiritual thing behind it. And for every unexpected cross there’s a demonic intention of trying to keep us from being people of faith.
Sid: Okay what about someone like W.A. Berg he gets leukemia, a member of his family had had that same type of leukemia and died. He gets the same symptoms and what does he do is it diagnosed when he recognizes that he has all the symptoms of this unusual form of leukemia?
Don: Yes when he experienced those same symptoms when he went to the hospital in Memphis, Tennessee they came back with the same diagnosis as one of his family members had passed away with. But I knew W.A. Berg for many years he’s an older minister and of course he was much younger when that happened. And I only met 2 people in my life that I thought had as much faith as W.A. Berg and one of them is my father. And he was a man of great faith and I believe that Pastor Berg decided in that hospital room that my life is not over I haven’t accomplished what God wanted me to accomplish he was in the process of planning a church in Marked Tree, Arkansas and he knew that he had an assignment from the Lord and he decided that he wasn’t going to let the devil kill him.
Sid: Tell me about the prayer that went on for him.
Don: Oh there was amazing prayer that went up for him churches in several surrounding states were having special prayer meetings for his healing. And somebody prayed the prayer of faith because God completely healed him of that leukemia therapy, without any chemotherapy, without any of that he walked out of that hospital and preached for 50 more years. He is recently passed away, but he preached for 50 more years and was never affected with that disease ever again.
Sid: And he held on to a scripture when he was fighting for his life Psalm 91. What verse did he hold on to?
Don: Psalm 91 it was where he stood on the scripture and I mean he clung to that scripture for his healing and God honored His word and God will always honor His word.
Sid: Don I understand that you work very strong with words of knowledge and words of wisdom but you actually operate in all 9 gifts of the Spirit and before you went on the air this day God spoke to you about a subject you mention in your brand new book about “Do you want your stuff back?” What did God want you tell people?
Don: What God wanted me to say to the listeners is that you can have your stuff back, the stuff the devil has stolen from you, the stuff that you have willingly given up yourself that God wants you to have that back. And I believe that He wants you to have it back sooner than later.
Sid: Give me an example of someone that… well give me an example in the Bible and example in real life.
Don: Well an example in real life is a young man in our church Clint Mayfield at the time who was 26 years old, married settled into a wonderful life and job with his family, he worked for an aviation company in Pasadena, Texas. He was involved in our church played in the band and but he was a motorcycle enthusiast he loved motorcycles. And he was out riding with some friends and he had ridden for half of the day. In Texas summer time heat can be pretty intense and so after lunch he had stopped and taken off some of the equipment that he rode with which was on a metal plated riding jacket that he had on, he took that off and some other things and put them in his backpack that he had on. And so when he put that in there took off down the road got up to highway speed or probably faster somehow one of the straps from the backpack had gotten down into the spokes of the motorcycle and got into the wheel and locked the wheel of the motorcycle. The motorcycle skidded for about a football field, length of a football field. The tire blew out and cleared over the handlebars and into the air and he hit the concrete highway really hard right on his back and then just slid down the road on his back. And I received a call from his family saying that he’d been in a motorcycle accident and I didn’t know how bad his injuries were, but immediately my wife and I got into our vehicle and started our journey to the trauma unit that he was in, he had been airlifted I knew that. And on my way to the hospital Susan and I were praying interceding for Clint and his family and the Lord spoke to me and said “When you get to that hospital I want you tell Clint and his family that they are to pursue for they shall recover all.” And that’s what I had in my heart to tell them that Clint was going to recover all. And so I’m pretty excited about this word until I walk into the ICU unit and saw Clint’s condition. And of course just like with anybody else the enemy the first thing the enemy does is says “Look at this kids condition and you’re going to tell his family he’s going to recover all you’re really going out on a limb herE.”
Sid: Now what was wrong with him at the time?
Don: He was…he had spinal injuries, he had road rash from his head to his toes, he had all kinds of internal injuries.
Sid: Was he conscious?
Don: No he was comatose.
Sid: Hm.
Don: And the doctors that came in described his condition as “Hopeless” that was the word that they used “It’s hopeless.” In fact a couple in our church their son is a doctor at that trauma hospital and they had called their son and asked him what Clint’s condition really was and he told them “There was no chance of his survival; absolutely no chance.” And so I had the word to tell him “You shall recover all.”
Sid: Yeah but if he’s comatose how you going to tell him that (Laughing)?
Don: (Laughing) I have to admit to you that I struggled with it for several minutes but I knew what I heard. And so finally I thought you know I’m going to put myself and God on the line here I just told him before we prayed I said you know I related to them the story of David, King David before he was King with his men in Ziklag the he had left town before his men and while he was gone some Egyptians came in and burned the city and stole all of their stuff including their wives and children. And when David found and came home and found the city in flames and his wives and children gone and all of his stuff gone he prayed and asked the Lord “Should I pursue them or not?” And the Lord said “Pursue for you shall doubtless recover all.” And that was the scripture that the Lord spoke to me on the way to the hospital. And so I relayed that story before we prayed and I said “I know what it looks like I get that but I’m telling you that God said that Clint is going to recover all.”
Sid: And what happened?
Don: Well the doctors said “Even if he were to live that he would probably never ever be out of a bed that he would be bed ridden the rest of his life.” But within probably a week Clint starting making some progress for about a week I think it was about a week there was just a…
Sid: Did the doctors actually use the word that his progress was miraculous?
Don: The doctors actually used the words that it was miraculous.
Sid: You know most doctors even if it is won’t say that. (Laughing)
Don: Right, right. Well you would have just had to been there and seen Clint’s condition initially. (Laughing) I mean one look at him and the natural mind just says “Oh this is over right here this is not going to be good.” But within a week he started making progress and over a period of probably 3 or 4 months he steadily made progress. It was difficult but he made the progress you know he was in the aviation business he’s the guy that plans flights for private jets, and so you know… And today he’s back at his job planning flights for private jets and when you’ve had that kind of a head injury you know the chances of ever being what you were before are slim to none as far as the world is concerned, but he’s back at his job doing well. In fact I have to tell you that I like the Clint that we have now better than the one we had before.
Sid: Why is that?
Don: Because his personality I think is better, certainly his heart for God has greatly improved and he’s just a delightful young man.
Sid: Now you told me God wants the people listening to us to recognize how important it is to be grateful.
Don: Yes.
Sid: Explain.
Don: I just think that…
Sid: And by the way when you’re talking about Clint I think the thing that made the difference is Clint is one grateful man.
Don: Oh you couldn’t ask for a more grateful man than Clint is or his wife or his parents. They recognize that Clint’s life has always been a gift from God but certainly now even more a gift from God and they’re grateful. And I just think, I just thing that gratitude is golden to God and I think the scriptural proof of that is that 10 lepers that were cleansed all 10 were cleansed but one came back and gave thanks. The Bible specifically says that that leper was made whole and so gratitude is so important.
Sid: But so important so even gratitude before you have something to be grateful for isn’t that faith really faith to have an attitude of gratitude when things seem to be going bad.
Don: Exactly that’s an act of faith to be able to be grateful when things are not good is an act of faith in itself and that’s what God responds to faith.
Sid: You know I have to tell you this story Don. Wherever I go people say they’re trained because they’re in retail business “How you doing?” And I know that it’s cosmetic and I know that they don’t care how I’m really doing they just want to make their sale and I say “I am extremely blessed, I’m extraordinarily blessed.” And many times I’ll say it exactly the way I just did and sometimes I’m going through an awful day and I grit my teeth and I say it any way. And guess what it’s like a magnet I walk in such favor and I believe it’s because I walk in an attitude of gratitude.
Don: I agree with that and you know the thing is that life and death is in the power of the tongue and I think we curse ourselves many times before we have the opportunity to be blessed.
Sid: Don these miracles that you have medically documented in your brand new book I am so excited about them and one of the miracles is a man that I personally know. Actually his doctor is Dr. Remidios and tell me about that miracle.
Don: That miracle was Dee Sapp she is married to the Pastor by the name of Gary Sapp and she had been diagnosed with colon cancer. It was an emergency situation rushed to the hospital and Dr. Remidios was the surgeon that saw her and they did emergency surgery right away and she had a tumor in her colon and they had to take out a large portion of her intestine. And when Dr. Remidios was doing the surgery, by his own words the Holy Spirit began to show him what he was to do. So he actually stretched, this is a procedure that had never been done before and he just did this at the bidding of the Holy Spirit, he stretched that, he stretched the colon and sewed it into place. And he felt that the Holy Spirit told him if he would do that the colon would work and she wouldn’t have to have a colostomy. And of course…
Sid: And you have to recognize how bold this was by the doctor. This was a procedure that had never been done before therefore he couldn’t possibly know whether it would work out or not but he heard from God and he took this step of boldness so as a result what happened Don?
Don: Well the procedure that he performed on her if it didn’t work he would lose her life.
Sid: Now that’s bold!
Don: He would lose his license.
Sid: Hm.
Don: And he stretched that colon and sewed it into place and within a few days the colon was working perfectly and that’s been a number of years ago and she still functioning properly. She and her husband travel all over the world preaching, in fact it’s been 18 years ago.
Sid: Now you told me he cut three feet of the colon out but then he did something that just sounds so amazing he stretched the remaining 3 feet is that what you said?
Don: That’s right he cut 3 feet out and he took the remaining part of the colon and stretched it.
Sid: Now what would you do? What would I do if you were do doctors; God said for us to do something and it could cost the patient their life because it had never been done before. Now that’s my kind of surgeon.
Don: Exactly yes if I have to have surgery that’s the kind of doctor I want working on me.
Sid: Okay I’m looking at this documentation you have tell me about the twins.
Don: The twins belong to Isaiah and Evangelina Garza and they’re from our church and…
Sid: You must have a lot of miracles in your church, do you?
Don: We have a lot of miracles in our church yes we do. In fact I preached a sermon recently that I titled “Tell of His marvelous Deeds.” And I talked about all of the miracles in the Old Testament, all of the miracle in the New Testament; all of the miracles that Jesus did I just hit the high points of it. And then what the Holy Spirit told me was all the miracles in the book of Acts and then I had everybody stand in our church that had a recent miracle that could describe in one sentence or so and we couldn’t even get to all of them there was over 100 people that stood. And we couldn’t even get to all of them and it dawned on me as they were giving their testimonies that there were more miracles in that house today than there were in the book of Acts. And you know there’s no ending to the book of Acts because it’s still being written.
Sid: So tell me about the twins.
Don: The twins at fourteen weeks of pregnancy they were diagnosed with twin to twin transfusion where the twins are transferring blood between them which cannot happen and if that happens at least one probably both of the twins will perish. So it’s a very serious thing and the doctors basically told Evangelina that she would have to abort one of the twins if not both of them and she refused to abort and make a decision on you know of aborting one of them. And eventually the condition got serious enough that the doctors basically told her either have an abortion on both of these children or we can no longer see you because you’re too much of a risk. And at that point Isaiah, Evangelina’s husband, took her by the hand and looked at the doctor and said “Doctor if God wants to kill our twins then He can do it but your not.” And yeah they walked out of the office and that Sunday night we were having a miracle healing service at our church and they came up for prayer. One of our ladies one of the lay members of our church a lady named Kim laid hands on them and prayed for them. And honestly I don’t think I ever made it to them that night there was so many people that had come for the miracle healing service for prayer. Kim prayed for them and she told them at the end of the prayer she said “I want you to go back to your seat and I want you write this date down because tonight this situation has been reversed.” And so they went and wrote and wore the date down and they went back to the doctor. And when they went back to the doctor they were doing the ultrasound and they said that the doctor started that ultrasound and he said “Unbelievable, unbelievable.” And…
Sid: It’s almost unbelievable to me that a doctor would say “Unbelievable” (Laughing).
Don: Well he’s the doctor that said “Have an abortion or I won’t be seeing you anymore.” And when he did this ultrasound he recognized that these twins had… were on the rebound had greatly improved. He was still doubtful that when they were born that they could be viable and live.
Sid: I actually have a quote by the doctor and this is what he said “There is no sign pointing to how this sickness began but there is evidence how it ended.” In other words the ultrasound showed him that everything was normal.
Don: Right well he… when the babies were born on February the 2nd of 2004 Isaiah had a video camera in the delivery room and whenever the babies were born they took them… they were born and then the doctor said “Bring that camera over here.” And he laid the placenta out on a table and started injecting it with milk and he said “This is amazing we don’t know how this started but there’s no doubt about how it ended.” And he said “It looks like skilled surgeon had gone in and severed all the places where the twin to twin transfusion was happening.” And I said that “The skilled surgeon did His name is Jesus.”
Sid: Hm. Tell me about another one very briefly though tell me about Mr. Thunderberg.
Don: John Thunderberg is a pastor in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. He was diagnosed with a usually fatal heart condition came on him with like 24 hours. And he was rushed to the hospital; by the time they figured out what was going on with him he was transported to Little Rock Hospital and he was put on the list for a heart transplant but his condition kept getting worse until the point that he could not have sustained a hearts transplant. He was in the hospital and he was retaining so much fluid that the fluid was going to kill him. And the doctor left on a Friday knowing that he couldn’t sustain a heart transplant and when the doctor came back on Monday the Lord had healed John. And from Friday to Monday John lost 48 pounds of excess fluid and the doctor could not believe it when he came into the room John’s room. They started running tests and within a couple of days John was at home. And John before had been on high blood pressure medication and today he don’t even take high blood pressure medication. The doctor said that “In all of his years of practice he had never seen a miracle but there was no doubt that John is a miracle.”
Sid: And by the way I have the doctor’s reports right in front of me. And you know this book of Don Nordin’s it’s just normal people like you and like me that have stepped into the audacity, the chutzpah, the fearless boldness of faith….
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth