MIRACLES Larry W Peebles May 14, 2021 21.19
I don’t think I have ever seen a fighting fish jump any higher. Water came up and rolled off like the humpback whale in the Pacific Life commercial. This, however, was not the Pacific Ocean, nor was it a fighting fish. This was a woman in a tank of water. I had just witnessed an incredible miracle!
Our church, Christ Fellowship Church in Dawsonville, Georgia, is into the fourth year of revival meetings centered on Sunday night baptisms. We are seeing people saved, healed, and delivered, marriages and relationships restored, and drug, tobacco, alcohol and porn addictions leave instantly. The fire of the Holy Spirit is meeting people in the water of baptism. Miracles are happening, and are being well documented. People are coming from all over the United States and foreign countries for baptism.
This move of God has been gaining momentum, and our church is now sending teams to other churches to conduct baptisms in water burning with the fire of God, while training the local churches to do the same. This revival does not belong to a single church or to a single pastor. Our church is simply honored and called to host and lead it. Recently my wife and I had the privilege of traveling from our church as part of a team to Awaken City Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. This is where I saw the woman.
The Knoxville meetings were scheduled for two nights. The Thursday night meeting was so powerful. Awaken City Church was an excellent host to about 300 in attendance, and our Pastor Todd Smith preached an encouraging and inspiring message while setting expectations for what would happen in the water. Our team of 25 baptized until sometime after 1 a.m. Many incredible miracles occurred in the three baptism tanks set up outside on the parking lot under a tent. The humble surroundings were the perfect stage for the glory of God to manifest. One of the most notable miracles was a man suffering from the effects of Lyme’s disease for 10 years was cured instantly in the water. All the sore and inflamed joints in his body were healed, and he was able to move pain free, especially in the shoulders.
The team from Awaken City Church observed on Thursday night, but did the baptisms the second night. Most of our all-volunteer team went back home to Georgia on Friday. Pastor Todd stayed Friday to speak again, and four from the team stayed over, mainly to advise and get the baptism process started smoothly.
Pastor Todd preached another powerful message on Friday night, testifying of more miracles our church has witnessed. Afterward, my wife worked in the changing area, to get people changed into clothes suitable for baptism. I worked in the tent, directing people into the tent and then into one of the four tanks set up for baptism that night. There were more people in attendance, and many came with severe medical conditions. My wife noticed a particular young woman who required the assistance of her sister to get into the meeting, and to get ready for baptism.
Sometime later, I was made aware of this same young woman when the local pastor came to me and pointed out that she was ready and now seated in the tent. She was in a great deal of pain, so he requested we baptize her on a priority basis, as there were 15 or so waiting in the tent, and more on the way from inside the church. I gladly spoke to those waiting about the woman’s condition, and no one objected. She would be the next one to be baptized.
When the next tank became available, I motioned to her that she could come forward, but immediately saw there was a problem. As I moved toward her to help, I could see she was barely able to stand with the assistance of her sister, but could not move. There was too much pain, and she was too weak. When I got to her, she was crying. I offered my arm for support, but she put her arm around my neck. Her other arm went around her sister’s neck, and the two of us carried her to the tank. When we realized she was too weak to lift her legs over the side of the tank, we each took an ankle, lifted and put her legs in the water. Then we were able to slip her fully into the water, and safely seated her at the bottom of the tank.
The team working that baptism took over, and I turned to go get the next candidate for another tank. I heard a scream from over my shoulder “Oh my God!” As I wheeled around to look, I heard a second scream “Oh my God!”, and saw the young woman shoot up out of the water like a huge fighting fish. She was standing, jumping, and shouting all at the same time. Her pain was gone, and she had the strength to stand. Our pastor saw it all, and recorded a video of the event. She began to shout repeatedly “He loves me”, referring to a giant wave of God’s love she had felt in the water. This was followed by “I thought He was mad at me, that He hated me!” The lead worker at the tank asked her questions about what had happened. She thought she was sick because God was mad at her, but felt His incredible love for her in the baptism tank.
Pastor Todd continued to video record, and started an interview with her. Between the young woman, her sister, and others who knew her and were watching the baptism, the story unfolded. She suffered for 20 years from Crohn’s disease. She had multiple surgeries to remove damaged parts of the intestines, but her condition only worsened, and the pain increased. She had recently been bed-ridden for 90 days, unable to eat solid food, and drank very little. The pain increased, and she grew weaker. In the water, she felt the overwhelming presence of the love of God, and the pain left her body. She was suddenly able to stand. In fact, when she realized how strong she felt, she got out of the tank and walked around to test her miracle. When she realized she had just walked on her own, she fell to the ground and began to weep again about how much God loved her. The whole tent exploded and went wild in giving shouts of praise to God. My words are inadequate to describe fully what happened. Here is a link to the interview https://fb.watch/5ry8NA7_WY/
I tell this story for a number of reasons:
- This affirmatively answers four fundamental questions: “Is God real?”, “Does God know and love me?”, “Does He do miracles today?”, and “Is this a miracle?” The answer to all is a resounding “yes”. I have seen a number of miracles in 30 years of serving the Lord, starting with my own miracle of a healing in my back. Each is incredible. This one is remarkable to me because it happened instantly, and the change in the person’s condition was so dramatic.
- This demonstrates the reason for miracles. The woman experienced real relief from pain and weakness. This is no doubt a great miracle. However, the greater miracle was the heart change. She felt and knew the love of God toward her. She knew God cared about her and her situation. Her concept of God was changed forever. She realized His great love before she realized she could walk again. In my own case, the miracle produced in me a desire to know this God who knew me. That desire and pursuit has not ceased in 30 years. Like a game of hide-and-seek, when He gives us a miracle, He is encouraging and helping us to find Him.
- I was personally involved. I sensed the woman’s pain and weakness when I helped put her in the water. Only a moment later, I saw her shoot up out of the water totally healed. It’s her testimony, so don’t take my word for it. But I saw it, much like the people in Jesus’ day saw the lame walk again. I am a first-hand witness to this miracle.
- There are stories like this every week coming from the baptisms in the water and fire of God at Christ Fellowship Church in Dawsonville, GA. The church is doing a great job of capturing the testimonies from letters, emails, texts, videos, and follow-up doctor’s reports. Many of these can be found on the church’s website, or Pastor Todd Smith’s Facebook page.
- Skeptics say “How can this be?” and “Why water baptism?” Granted, this may not fit the purpose of baptism as we have traditionally understood it. But it seems to me that God does what He wants to do. Jesus put mud in a man’s eye to cure blindness. Elisha told Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River to cure his leprosy. Jesus just spoke to the leper and he was healed. God doesn’t need to explain anything to anyone, though there will be many who will analyze, criticize, and attempt to frame what is happening in terms of their own beliefs/disbeliefs. This revival should cause one to reexamine their beliefs in light of what God is doing. If our belief system is “round”, but what God is doing is “square”, something will have to give if they are to fit together. I think I can predict which will have to change. Old wineskins cannot hold new wine.
- If an explanation is required to fit one’s theology, try this one. It was prophesied over John the Baptist that he would “go on before the Lord [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah.” (Luke 1:17) In other words, he would precede Jesus and prepare the way for Jesus with a Spirit-filled ministry demonstrating supernatural power. I believe this means John’s ministry included miracles during his baptisms. How else could he have drawn the crowds? The bible doesn’t tell us, but a message of repentance and wretchedness by itself does not normally attract a following.
Also consider that Elijah’s ministry was followed by Elisha, who literally picked up a double portion of Elijah’s mantel (cloak). It was Elisha who gave us two pictures of baptism when, as mentioned above, he sent Naaman into the Jordan River seven times to be cured of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-14), and when he miraculously retrieved the axe head from the water in 2 Kings 6:1-6. When the borrowed axe head went into the water, it represented a debt that could not be repaid. When it came out of the water, a situation was resolved that money could not fix. This is the situation many are facing when they enter the waters of baptism at Christ Fellowship. They’ve tried all other solutions with no results; this is their last stop. They need a miracle.
God’s miracles are filled with awe and wonder. Every week the Christ Fellowship congregation receives awesome reports of what God did for His children in the baptisms the week prior. We are left to wonder the how’s and why’s, yet in simple faith we pray and ask for more. The services are available live on the internet, and are saved for viewing later. My bible says the crowds followed Jesus. My invitation is to come and see.
