Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts

by Craig S. Keener

church elder whom she knew who had medically incurable cancer; the pastor regularly visited and prayed for him until he was healed, greatly affecting those who knew him.[15] The pastor of Cathedral of Praise notes that during a church service his wife was fully healed from tuberculosis in both lungs; another member recounts that during a crusade his dying wife, who had a toxic goiter, was healed.[16] A sympathetic popular writer who observed healing meetings in the Philippines reports how a doctor attending one of the meetings confirmed that one of his own deaf patients had just been healed.[17] A close friend of mine from college also reports to me witnessing numerous instant and obvious healings in the Philippines.[18] Ma tells of events surrounding the beginning of the Christian movement among the Kankana-eys through Elva Vanderbout, a single woman missionary in the 1940s and 1950s. (Ma’s dissertation involves the history of this movement.[19]) Vanderbout helped the needy get medical help where possible[20] but also prayed for the sick. Ma notes the account of “an old man who had such a critical spinal problem that he could only crawl on his hands and knees like an animal.” In 1958, the man’s friends carried him to a revival meeting conducted by Vanderbout; at the close of the service, he was “instantly healed and he stood up and walked away,” testifying of God’s works.[21] Among the many persons healed of deafness and muteness was a young woman deaf and mute for twelve...