come alive in God, and there will be
no death in you. No part of your be-
ing will be unwell. Through the
work of the river, you will be expe-
riencing a glorious healing flow.
Often, God gives us a foretaste of what is to come and, in a moment of glory, shows us what to expect later. This taste stirs a hunger in our hearts and spir- its and makes us know that we can go after what we have seen in a new way. I have been declaring this now for many years.
I am not afraid to declare further that we will soon experience a healing revival that will surpass what happened in the great healing revivals of the past
The Power of the River 45
century. It will surpass the meetings of Aimee Semple McPherson, of Dr. Charles Price, of Katherine Kuhlman, of A.A. Allen, of Jack Coe and of other great ministers of God. It will happen be- cause we are living in the last days and the glory of the Church will not be less than it has been in days gone by. It will be greater.
As we move on into the twenty-first century, we will see things far greater than we have experienced in this past century. This Church age will not end with a whimper. Revival fires are stirring, and we are seeing unusual signs and wonders wrought by the mighty hand of God. This is only the beginning. Pat Robertson recently had crowds of nearly half a million people in Hyderabad in India with super- natural manifestations of God, and there is an ever-increasing glory evident in Benny Hinns meet- ings.
The estimated crowd in attendance at his meet- ing on the steps of the Capital Building during the Washington for Jesus rally was two hundred and fifty thousand and great things were accomplished for the Kingdom of God. His recent meeting in Bogota, Colombia drew crowds of eighty thousand and more and great miracles were recorded. These same types of miracles will happen for many lesser- known servants of God as well in the days ahead.
the forest must not overshadow the little trees and prevent them from growing. The older, more ma- ture ministries must make way for younger ministries to develop and flourish.
My uncle, Mothers brother, Dr. William A. Ward, published a new book in 1998 called Miracles That I Have Seen. I had heard him tell many of the stories he recorded in his book, but some of them were even new to me. When the book first came out, I was very busy getting ready to go overseas, but I couldnt re- sist opening it at random and reading a few pages. The story I opened to first was about a meeting he conducted in the Bahamas. The first night of his meeting there were three or four blind people present, and they were all healed. The people were so excited that the next day they went in search of blind people to invite. That night they brought more than two hundred blind people to the meeting. He prayed for every one of them, and all except four or five were healed.
The congregation was so excited by these miracles that they looked for greater challenges for the Lord. They asked Uncle Bill to go with them to a local leper colony. When they got there, a medical officer tried to refuse them entry. Im very sorry, he said, but this is a contagious disease. You cant go in and lay your hands on these people because you might con- tract leprosy. If you like, I will bring out a few, but
The Power of the River 47
even then, you will have to stand back from them. He marked a line fifty feet away and asked the min- isters to stand behind that line as they prayed. In this way, Uncle Bill prayed for fifty-six lepers.
As he was finishing his prayer, he felt led to re- member those who had not been allowed out, those who were too sick to be even that close to others. Heal them as well, he prayed.
Many felt the touch of God, but the medical of- ficer had a very strict policy on releasing his patients. No leper could be declared cured until he had been examined once every two weeks for a whole year. If, after that time, there seemed to be no more symp- toms of leprosy, that person could be released.
A little more than a year later, Uncle Bill was at- tending a meeting where Brother David Nunn was preaching and heard the preacher tell about an evan- gelist who had gone to the Bahamas, prayed for a group of lepers, and one hundred lepers were healed. Uncle Bill went to Brother Nunn and said, I am sure I was the evangelist you were talking about, but I only remember praying for fifty-six lep- ers. Later he called to speak with the pastor who had taken him to that leper colony. He told him what he had heard in David Nunns meeting and asked him what had actually happened. I only remem- ber praying for fifty-six people, he repeated.
member that when you finished praying for the fifty- six lepers outside you also prayed for those who could not come out? Altogether, a hundred lepers were healed, and they closed the leprosarium. Oh, praise God, we will see it again and again in the days just ahead.
My brother, Rev. Wallace Heflin, Jr., traveled a lot in ministry, as I did, and sometimes we lacked time to share with each other the great things God was doing. Once, when I was coming from Israel and he had a group ready to fly out for another ministry trip, we met in the airport in Washington, D.C.
We talked as he checked his people in, as quickly as possible placing suitcases on the scales. He had only recently made his first trip into Russia since the country had opened for preaching, and I was anxious to know how his crusades had gone. How was Russia? I asked, in the midst of the confusion. Tears came to his eyes as he replied, If I had only been born for those two weeks, it would have been worth it all. They were the two greatest weeks of my life.
In one meeting, in just a few moments time, fifty- eight deaf and dumb people had been healed. As I said, we have seen these things in other countries, but God is beginning to do great signs and won- ders here in America as well. The river of God is flowing and wherever that river flows, it brings life.
The Power of the River 49
Let the divine life of God flow through you. Dont do anything to hinder it. Give it free rein, for it is powerful.
My brother prayed for several people through the years who had metal pins in their legs and, after- ward, X rays showed that no metal pins were any longer present. One man even had his knee frozen into an unmovable position through surgery, yet he was able to move it normally after prayer. These things are not difficult for our God, and wherever the river flows, similar things will happen.