Dictated to Me, 12/31/2002
Evelyn was born in 1949 and came to Florida with her family in 1952. At that time she attended the Methodist Church. At sixteen, she was invited by a friend to attend the local Episcopal Church. She fell in love with Episcopal worship the first Sunday she attended.
This Episcopal Church had Sunday evening healing services and Evelyn started attending these services. Several people she knew were healed. One was a high school friend who was deaf. At the invitation to come forward for healing, he went up and was able to hear at once after receiving prayer. Her mother was also healed. She had a tumor the size of a grapefruit. She had gone to the healing service and received prayer. A few days later, she went in for surgery but there was nothing there.
While in college, Evelyn "skipped out on church for a while." There she met her first husband. They married in 1972. He finished his law degree, and they moved to a new home in 1975. There they began to attend his home church, an Episcopal Church.
At this church Evelyn became involved with everything vestry, every member canvass, acolytes, Sunday School, school board, newcomer committee, everything. She and her husband began to try to have babies, but it was very difficult. Finally, a daughter was born in 1977, although they almost lost the child several times. Three years later, she was pregnant again, but lost the baby three weeks before the due date. It was dead in the womb. The doctors could discover no reason for the loss of this child as it was a perfectly formed little baby girl. Her husband was unable to deal with the losses and began to have affairs. At one point, he had two mistresses at the same time. Evelyn and her husband went to counseling, trying to make the marriage work. She got pregnant again, but the baby was found dead after four months of pregnancy. The marriage collapsed and Evelyn and her husband were divorced.
Evelyn fell into a "pit," the word she used to describe the utter darkness in which she lived for the next year and one half. She felt inadequate as a wife, and didn't know what she had done to kill the babies. She could not see up, nor could she see down. There was nothing, a terrible black hole, a severe depression. She quit coming to church and nobody ever asked why she was no longer there.
Then, one day, there was a healing service by Fr. Francis McNutt given at the church. She came, but only for the part on healing, not for any other aspect of the service. She lacked the courage to be seen, and upon entering the church, she sat alone. When the invitation came to go forward for healing, she felt compelled to go to the altar. Francis laid hands on her and prayed for her. He also prayed in tongues, and later, two of his prayer assistants prayed with her for additional prayer. It was as if a light bulb had been turned on and she was immediately delivered from her terrible darkness.
She got involved in the church again. She was on the vestry and met a man she began to love. It was a wonderful period of her life. After eight months, they married. Her new husband was loving and caring, shared the same interests, and had the same goals.
At her husband's urging, she went to Cursillo in May of 1989. In August of 1989 got pregnant without medication and had a son. This was an absolute blessing, for while pregnant, the doctors discovered why she had not been able to carry to term. A new type of test discovered that her uterus was rejecting the babies. The problem was easily cured. In relating this, she said, "See, there are miracles." Her son was born in April, 1990. This freed her from the remnant of the dark guilt that had tormented her.
She and her husband began to lead Discovery weekends, a program of lay witness and ministry. They lead the prayer team, gave talks, and shared the healing that God had done for them. Once, at a Discovery weekend, she listened to a woman give the most horrific witness, a witness which made her difficulties seem like "a walk in the park." As the woman spoke, Evelyn could feel the woman's suffering pass from the woman to her. She felt as if her body was on fire, and by means of Evelyn's receiving this suffering, the woman was given the strength to finish her talk. One the talk was over, Evelyn no longer sensed the woman's anguish.
Sometime after the Discovery workshop, there was a healing workshop at the church with Al Durrance. This was in February of 1998. Her daughter was to be married in April, and because of how her ex husband had treated her daughter, Evelyn was very bitter toward him. She was afraid that her bitterness would ruin the wedding and damage the marriage. After the talk on healing, she went forward to receive prayer from Al. He said a brief prayer for her, and then asked her to meet with him again after the prayer sessions, telling her "I think I can help you." She waited and they prayed together afterwards. Al put his hand on her back, praying in English and in tongues. She felt intense heat, all over her body, particularly in her chest. Three times he moved his hand up her back, steadily praying in tongues and in English. Each time, she found herself screaming and crying, with Al saying something very powerful. She was delivered of three demons, one having to do with hatred toward her ex husband, another of self hate, and she does not remember the third.
As a result, she experienced a deep sense of peace, almost elation. She was "overjoyed at the freedom." Even now, she cannot conjure up a hard feeling against her ex husband. He is like "someone I used to know," without any "positive or negative feelings," toward him. The self hate is gone. From time to time she is tempted to take it back again, but she does not. Since then, there have been other trials in her life. "But I think that freeing me of those demons has allowed me the strength to face the trials that have come my way since then. I do believe that, if it weren't for that, I would be in a heap in a corner somewhere."
Some time after that, she went to the Christian Healing Center run by Judith and Francis McNutt. There, with two other women who are on prayer teams there, they named her two lost babies and sent them to her mother in heaven as well as to Jesus. Jesus took them, reaching out his hands, taking one baby in each hand. She didn't know where they have been until then, "waiting I guess." In regard to this she said, "When I went out to the Christian healing center, we finally let go of the babies." She has felt peace about her lost children ever since.
Comment
I asked Evelyn to give me this witness because I have known Al Durrance since 1969. At that time, he prayed for me many times over an initial period of eighteen months. Until then, I had been living in torment, and once free, could not express to Jesus the joy I felt at having a life. Therefore, I was interested in Evelyn's story. She dictated it to me as written above. I have changed her name to protect her confidentiality. I edited it slightly as I typed rapidly as she spoke and there were slight errors.
In light of Scripture and the witness of the early church, Evelyn's witness is perfectly reasonable. It is a witness to the power of the name of Jesus proclaimed on every page of the New Testament. It is the inheritance of the sons and daughters of God. As the gospels plainly show, Jesus cast out demons and he expected his disciples to do the same. It was one of the primary ministries of the early church. The church fathers believed in it, the church practiced it.
This ministry can make an enormous difference in the lives of oppressed men and woman and the church needs to practice this ministry as something expected and normal. The terrible tragedy is that the church either does not practice this ministry, or it is practiced in some circles in such a flamboyant fashion that it can actually harm those who receive ministry. A great deal has been written on this subject, and I leave it to the reader to look into the matter. Once again, it must be emphasized that this ministry is critical because people are suffering so horribly. They need help, and the name of Jesus is that help. More could be said, but that is the essence of the matter.
The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
