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When science stops, faith has a chance to take hold. Case in point: Couple credit God for cancer recovery

By David Smith

Picture the ideal family in your head and you might see Tom and Allison Holden in their cozy country home with their dual professional careers, two loving boys, and the health to enjoy all that life has to offer.

Nine years ago, their picture was anything but ideal. A malignant melanoma in Tom's body, which twice had been treated, reappeared. Only this time, tumors had spread to his brain, abdomen, leg and neck.

The Holdens, who live outside Rossville, visited prestigious medical centers, but doctors told them there was no cure. Instead of living to have that second child they'd hoped for, it seemed Tom Holden would be lucky to see his first son Kirk's fourth birthday.

And then it happened, a cure so improbable, and yet complete, the Holdens consider it nothing less than a miracle. While advanced medicine played a major role in the recovery, so did prayer, faith and God, they said.

"I think that God led us to the doctor that could help me," Tom Holden says. His wife agreed: "We felt it was a miracle because we had three major institutions tell us to plan the funeral. He was at death's door."

In a world of constantly advancing technology, it's a wonder so many people still believe in miracles. Even science-trained people like the Holdens -- he holds a pharmacy degree from Purdue and she a pharmacy degree from University of North Carolina -- credit God for providing hope, if not outright cures, where science fails.

Easter miracle

According to Michael Bergmann, Purdue associate professor of philosophy, a miracle is "an event that is not governed by laws of nature and is caused by God." He talks about miracles in his philosophy of religion class.

The belief in miracles is never so apparent as at Easter, a celebration of what many Christians consider to be the ultimate miracle, Jesus Christ rising from the dead.

"If there were no miracles, then this belief in the resurrection of Jesus, crucial to the Christian faith, would be false," he said.

Whether or not miracles are real is not the focus of his class, nor of science, he said. Bergmann said the persistence of belief in miracles may be because it's "hard for science to rule out the possibility of miracles."

Still, others look to natural laws -- the basic tenets of chemistry, physics and other branches of science -- to explain away phenomena others consider to be miracles. Sometimes, the skeptics are religious believers themselves.

One year after the death of Pope John Paul II, an effort is under way for his canonization to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. The road to sainthood must include documentation of two separate miracles.

Vatican investigators still are looking into the case of a French nun who is believed to have been cured of Parkinson's disease through the intercession of the late pope, two months after his death on April 2, 2005. If the miracle is confirmed, the pope will be beatified, the first step toward possible canonization.

The Rev. Timothy Alkire, pastor of St. Boniface Church in Lafayette, said he believes in miracles.

"Be careful to not call every answered prayer a miracle," he said. "We must be prudent."

Alkire has visited Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Lourdes, France. It is the site of reported visits to a teenager, Bernadette Soubirous, by the Virgin Mary in 1858. Millions visit the shrine each year, many seeking cures through the intercession of St. Bernadette.

"You find people who have lost all hope because of news that they have an incurable disease," Alkire said. "There is an intense spirit of prayer there, whether they receive a miracle or not."

Alkire said God can intervene in "extraordinary ways."

"Why do modern people want to downplay miracles?" he said. "For us Catholics, it is a completely different supernatural realm."

Thing of the past?

Pastor Steve Viars of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette said he does not believe in miracles as commonly defined.

"In the most technical sense, a miracle is a direct and immediate intervention of God into the physical world to publicly demonstrate his power," he said.

"As such, it comprises an act of special revelation. I believe that special revelation ceased when the Bible was completed. So in this sense, I do not believe miracles are still occurring today."

Viars said when people today talk about a miracle, they mean "God's providence."

"In other words, the event is unusual, unexpected, out of the ordinary," he said. "In that sense, I certainly believe God is providentially involved in the lives of people today."

Tested faith

That may best describe how Allison and Tom Holden view his cure from cancer after respected medical centers, including Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., told them nothing could be done.

It was while visiting Mayo Clinic that the Holdens heard of an experimental treatment involving the AIDS drug interferon.

They called a hot line (800-4-CANCER) and received in the mail information about the treatment program. They called the doctor at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill.

The treatment began on April 3 -- Easter Day -- 1997. As the drugs boosted Holden's immune system, the tumors began to fade and eventually went away.

The Holdens said the doctor told them that only 12 percent of patients on the program are tumor-free after five years. As of the eight-year mark last June, he was still tumor-free, and the doctor considers him fully recovered.

Holden's bout with cancer tested his faith in God, but ultimately it was his faith that helped him survive, both he and his wife believe. They are active in their church, and he gives talks about his experience to groups when asked.

"When I really felt God spoke, I had been up all night. I felt a real peace that everything would work out," he said.

Tom Holden turns 49 today.

"I didn't think I'd see my 40th birthday, much less my 49th."


_______________________


Note:



All anyone needs to do is to look around them and they would see that there are many such miracles. Our very existance here, the earth, the sky and all that is, all is a miracle performed by God.

I guess all Christians do beleive in miracles Jesus did.  Perhaps the topic ought to be "......miracles these days"!

Yes I do beleive and experience them often!  Howoever, I beleive that everyday there are hidden miracles in our lives.  We do not know how many times Jesus saved our lives on the road and so on!  I am sure there is gonna be a movie about me in heaven that includes all the hidden "incidences" or even spiritual warfare, with Jesus sitting beside explaining each and everyone of them for eternity, for there are many...

Topics end with me :-[

I knew I was wet,  but am I that damp :-[ !!!!

Somebody, please share and blot this reputation off me :-\

Maybe no one else responded because you had covered it so well.

Pr Roger you are really a pick-up man!  Praise the Lord!!!

RKJ, we live in the physical realm, however all around us there is a spirituaal realm which we cannot see. As you said we have no idea how many miracles have happened because they may have happened in the spiritual realm. I beleive miracle happen in the physical realm as well as in the spiritual realm. I can prove to you that miracles have happened in my own life. For example my youngest child had a code red called on her in an ER three different times. She was clinically dead on all three occasions, no signs of life whatsoever, yet God heard my prayers and He casused a miracle to happen on each of these three occasions. Seven years ago, I had a blood clot that was 3 and a half inches long, in an artery and to top it off it was free floating. The doctor told my husband that I was lucky to be alive, he said I should have died 3 months prior to that. My husband corrected the doctor and said "My wife is not lucky, she is blessed, God has done a miracle and kept her alive." There are many other occasions that I can tell you when things have happened that some people might consider coincidence or luck, but I call them miracles.  :D

airiam2worship,

I have been numb and depressed most part of my life that I have missed out on most of the things God has done for me and family.  Now, though I am all eyes and ears to what God is doing.  For instance, last week my brother was driving car on a highway and another car overtook so close that side view mirror got smashed.  The same happened the last week when my sister was driving in the city. 

i dont know if you would call these miracles.  As far as my knowledge goes, 'miracles releive people from something in super natural ways'.

If you would call these miracles then my life is full of them.  In my incapabilities God has filled life with His capability to do wonders. 

Just to adda funny one!  Most Schools in our country use rod in the classroom.  We get chastised often!!  Once when I was in my 9th year of schooling (about 15yrs old) our maths exam paper was being distributed.  The teacher is such a man that those who scored 99% were beaten for not scoring 100% and you can imagine what I would get (<40%)!!  I was in the line and I was praying so hard that the class will be over and I be spared.  But there was no way that the class would end in about 15 minutes and i was getting close to the cane!  When my turn was next (there was 10 more minutes to go), suddenly i heard the bell ring.  To my amazement it was about time!!  Till date I wonder how that was possible!! :o

Will share serious ones in future!!

RKJ thank you for sharing these moments with me. Let me tell you one nore. When I lived in Jacksonville, I lived near a very busy and congested state road, there was a very dangerous intersction, where two accidents a day were not uncommon. That was the way my husband usually took on his way home from work. My husband always came home at the same time every day about 6:20 pm.
One day, as I was reading my Bible, around 3pm, I felt this urgent need to get on my knees and pray, I had no idea why, but the feeling was so urgent that I just thru myself on the floor and began to pray. I didn't know what I was supposed to pray for, or who I was supposed to pray for, all I knew was that I HAD to pray. As I laid on the floor I was just telling God that I didn't know what was going on, but He did and I was being obedient. Immediately I felt I had to pray for a family member I still didn't know who. I knew that my grandchildren would be on a school bus about that time so I started to pray for each of them, then I started praying for my children, because I felt maybe it was one of them, I still felt the need to continue to pray, so I began to pray for my husband. After about five minutes into the praying I started to feel a release, like a load was lifted off my chest. I began to praise God and thankk Him and at around 3:45, my husband pulled into the driveway. I was surprised to see him home so early. He told me he wanted to surprise me and be home no later than 3pm, but he got caught up at work and didn't leave until 3:15. "Then," he said, "just as he was getting ready to get in the lane to make a right hand turn another car cut him off almost hit him." This caused the car in front of my husband to swerve, which made the car fall into a ditch that was filled with water." The driver of the car that went in the ditch was not hurt, but if my husband had left a little earlier it could have been him that ended up in the ditch. I think my prayer was for my husband as well as the driver that ended up in the ditch.
I have more miracles I'd like to tell you, but maybe later on.

Praise God!!

Just one more.  We used to go for a yearly 3 day convention in a village very far off from our city, during summer.  It was conducted in a Bible college which was about 6-10 kilometres away from the highway.  Buses drop us at the highway and we needed to wait for a van from the Bible college to pick us up. 

Our grandma had taken me and two of my sisters.  i was 11 and my sisters 12 and 14.  We were waiting in the hot sun for the van for a long time.  they were many others too.  I and my sister(14) thought we would will reach the college somehow and intimate them to send the van.  We rented a bicycle without realizing how far it would be and how dificult it would be for me to pedal, with her in the carrier.

We just took off with all the adults looking on.  we took turns in pedalling and were exhausted soon enough.  we could not move an inch.  we could not go back also.  Just in time a hefty man came by and put my sister in his bicycle and started to ride on.  i followed him only to realize how far the college was.  When we did reach the college, the man did not come in.  he just dropped us at the gate and stood there watching us till we walked into the reception area. 
everyone there were surprised that two kids could ride on bicycle this far.  We looked at the gate and he was not there!

i and my sister look back and always thank God for the angel he sent!  Or was it Jesus Himself?!!

Well, when the van arrived we were left out on the road with everyone rushing to climb in!!!  That is another story >:(

Do I believe in miracles? Boy howdy!

I was destined for hellfire and damnation but God Father sent God the Son to take my place on the cross. He defeated death, hell, and the grave. I am now FREE! THAT, my friend, is a miracle! 

And there have indeed been many more miracles. Actually, too numerous to count.

Yep. It's a no-brainer. I believe in miracles.

Amen. That is indeed a miracle! Praise God for his wondrous Salvation.

Hello, All,

I not only believe in miracles, I am one.  One week after 9/11, I succumbed to angio vasculitis, a condition similar to a stroke, but much more fatal.  Stress was the only cause doctors could identify in me for the cause of this rare illness.  Watching those planes crash into their targets was the icing on the cake of a stressful life in metro NYC.  This episode was followed by brain lesions - usually fatal as well. 

Today after five weeks in the hospital and intensive (self) rehab I am almost normal.  Some actions are still difficult - like typing - but my recovery is considered miraculous by my Columbia Presbyterian affiliate neurologist.

I never was bashful in evangelism, but now I listen to "the Spirit" carefully and speak the truth in love - not once, either - as often as they will listen.

He always gets the Glory.

doc

Amen!

Praise the Lord doc, what a wonderful testimony for our God, nothing is too big or impossible for Him.

Miracles!
I woke up this morning, opened my eyes.  I knew that this would be the day that the Lord had made.  Another day on this Earth to worship, praise and learn from our Lord. To know who was walking beside me at all times.  To not know what I would face this very day, but to not face it alone.  To already know my future, my homecoming. That is all the miracle I need.  For me the rest is icing on the cake!
Blessings!
-Am-

Yes!!!! I believe in miracles, everytime the nurse place my newborn (5) in my arms that was a miracle. Number 5 was the gift and miracle and opportunity, you see my son only lived 4 days, but I had complications when I was 5 months pregnant with him and I was rushed to the hospital, neither one of us was expected to live. The doctors were ready to perform a c-section and deliver my child right then and there. I refused I told them my child would be born alive when God was ready and that I knew it would be a boy and I would get to see him and hold him. Four weeks later, due to ruptured membranes, I contracted Strep Sepsis, neither one of us was expected to live. My son lived from 3am Easter Sunday until 11am that following Wednesday, they had him in an induced coma so he wouldn't feel the pain, I stood by his tiny little body praying, I asked God to let me see my baby's eyes, he had already had severe brain hemmoraging on one side of his brain, but Glory to God, he opened his right eye and just stared at me, until the nurse noticed it and was astonished because he was still in an induced coma. That was a miracle!!! My son is waiting for me in heaven, my doctors and the nurses were astonished at my faith and my doctor recieved the Lord.

Amen sister a miracle indeed! Our every breath, our every thought our every move, the sun, moon, stars in the sky, the birth of a child, a young plant pushing up through the hard packed soil and not being bruised for doing so. All of these and more are miracles and is complete proof of God's hand at work all around us.

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Amen Brother, that the mere fact that we are able to take the next breath and each beat of our hearts, those alone are miracles, that no one but God can give.

AMEN!

Amen and praise be to Jesus for all the testimonies here.

Pastor Roger thank you for mentioning Romans 1:20.  I am covering the second portion of Romans 1 this Sunday in Sunday School.  Spent the entire class last week going over the first 15 verses :).  And I have a worksheet for the men to fill out to name 3 things that are invisible works of God that they may see daily.

To all who have posted I do hope that you do not mind if I use some of these testimonies this weekend.  Of course the names will be changed to protect the guilty...er innocent ;)

It is amazing the miracles we see and experience every day.  About 4 years ago now I was a beaten down man.  Satan had pulled me far from God and with me went my family.  I was gambling hard and heavy online.  And I lost our house and our car.  I sat up one night before letting my spouse know what was going on and what was about to happen as far as the house was concerned.  I began reading James.  And I wept.  I had never been so broken in all of my life, save my salvation.  As if watching a flashback movie God revealed to me all of the times in that year in which he provided an opportunity to be saved (as in getting out of that mess, not salvation...I was already that).  Opportunities to come clean and make amends and save my house and everything else.  I feared the reaction of my wife.  We use to have some explosive arguements sometimes.  With God out of our house we lost our focus and there would be pushing and trowing of things.  Sometimes this would go on in front of our oldest one who was about 7.  He would be crying in the corner about our arguement.  I hated those arguements and the fights so I used that as an excuse to keep my secret and come up with more lies.

I nearly lost my family, I had lied and cheated in everything at that time.  The next day I took a long lunch and went down to pick up my wife where she worked and we walked over to see our pastor (she worked at day care at the church).  God was walking with us.  And before the pastor and my beloved I confessed all that I had done to them and to God.  I rededicated my life that weekend and my wife joined me.  We brought it all before the church.  I now see all that there is in life and the blessings around me.  I see the little things that God does to let us know He is there.  There are no coincidences in life.  Only the influence of our Savior.  And I thank Him each and every day. 

Again thank you all for the testimonies.  Have a blessed day (or night).  Ask me if I believe in miracles..... most definitely yes I do.

Sincerely
Brother Jerry

Amen! Thank you for sharing Brother Jerry.  May you be blessed!
-Am-

Brother Jerry,

In retrospect, would you say it took courage to do what you did?  Perhaps your desperation allowed God to have his way with you.  These self-inflicted problems leave us open to Satan's fiery darts and our arm will no longer hold up that shield
to say nothing of the sword.

You did the right thing, Jerry and we hope others consumed by sin will read it and do likewise.

"Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16  NKJV

May the Lord Bless and keep you both,
doc

Brother Jerry, thank you for sharing your testimony with us I am sure it wasn't easy for you to come clean before you wife and pastor. I am very happy that God had His way with you and He has a purpose for you.

Yes I believe, that men sometimes get involved in things they shouldn't and although they know it may be wrong they can't break lose. Ususally their greatest fear is losing their family, their marriage and everything they have worked for. Brother I am so happy you allowed God to take over your life.

I continually pray for my husband, because I know satan goes about as a roaring liion seeking whom he may devour. In a Christian home, usually he first tries to make the husband, who is the head of the house, be the first to fall, that way he can tear the family apart. satan has tried to do likewise in many households, including my own. Prayer, studying God's Word, staying close to God, spending more time with the family (wife, children) and closer fellowship with other Brothers in Christ keeps satan at bay, he goes away for a season but he will try again. he is come only to kill, steal and destroy. Husbands have to stay strong in the faith so they can guard their family, and protect it from satan's manuevers.

Brother I am praying for your continued blessings.

Thank you all for the kind words and continued prayers.  It has been a continual blessing since rededicating.  I have seen my son saved, our house blessed, my life under God's control.  And the relationship with my wife grow and prosper. 

I heard a preacher once during a men's conference state something of the nature that if you want "mama" to take care of you then walk in accordance to God and "mama" will walk beside you.  And how true that was.  My wife and I have our lives in alignment with what God had wanted and He has blessed us greatly.  Even when I had recently lost my job (long political story) He was right there with assistance to tide me over until I could find something else. 

And Doc.  You asked if I would call what I did courage.  No I would not.  I would call it trust.  I put my trust in Jesus again.  Trusting that He would do what was right in my life and the life of my family.  I had taken my trust from him and placed it in myself.  I put it back in his hands and let him drive.  God is not my co-pilot...I am His passenger.  And it is not courageous to put your trust in Jesus.  It is foolhardy not to.

THank you all again.
Sincerely
Brother Jerry

Amen Brothers and Sisters!

I give thanks for everything that GOD has done in all of our lives. YES!, I believe in miracles! We can see the miracles of GOD in nature and all around us. The truth of this matter is very simple: Almighty GOD does as HE pleases in heaven and on earth. HE reminds us continually that HE is GOD if we just look, listen, and pay attention. We are just human beings, and we should know that many of GOD'S Ways are past finding out. It is sufficient for us to know that HIS Will be done, it WILL be done, and men won't be able to explain it or understand it much of the time.

I've said this elsewhere on the forum, so I'll make it short. I almost died twice in 1998, and I really should have died, but I'm still here. I firmly believe that I'm still alive because of the power of prayer. GOD does what HE Will, and it must be HIS Will to answer our prayers. It was GOD'S Will for me to live, and I did. I obviously don't understand everything, but I feel that GOD has work for me to do, and I'm still here to do it.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 8:28 NASB  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Do I believe in Miracles??

Oh my yes.  I have should have been dead at least ten times over throughout my life, the doctors don't know why I am still around?  They to this day continue to shake and scratch their heads.  I just tell them......"By the grace of God Go I."  My job isn't done, .......but sometimes for the life of me, I scratch my head too.  For what could I possibly do for God?  Nothing!  Suffering is turned to blessings which gloifies Him!

God can work miracles through each and every one of us.

Each of us, are a living testimony to the power of God.

Amen, I love this thread. Sister Lin, I too am a walking miracle and I have a daughter who was clinically dead 3 times she had what is called SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) all because I had a very bad thyroid. She also had a hole in her heart, but praise God now her heart is whole, because she has Jesus in it and she has 4 beautiful children pf her own, I like the Apostle Paul have been thru many many things, the doctors don't know why I have survived, I always tell them God has a purpose for me and He isn't finished with me yet.

my doctors tell me I am a medical anomoly, I tell the they are wron I am Blessed  :D