Scottish Town to Open Healing Room after Remarkable Healings Transform Lives

ELC Staff/TN : Aug 21, 2006
East Lothian Courier

Scotland's East Lothian Courier reports that plans are underway to set up a healing room in Haddington following claims by members of the West Church that hands-on prayer sessions have transformed their lives - curing them of mental and physical illness.

Over the last ten months, says the report, around 20 people have been gathering in the West Church sanctuary after the Sunday evening service to pray for the recovery of sick parishioners.

Some of the testimonies reported include:

"Haddington man Richard McGill, 56, of Gifford Road - who was forced to give up work because of a vocal cord cyst and depression - is immigrating to Brazil after a healing session which changed his life.

"He had gone to a healing session after two unsuccessful operations to remove the cyst. He said: 'Prayers were said by several people in the circle. My mood could not have been lower and I put myself into Christ's hands. I then visualized that I was lying flat on my face at the foot of Jesus' cross, and I became aware of a strong smell of wood and sensed warm blood dripping on top of me. I was overwhelmed and moved to tears by the experience.'"

And a fully-trained 36-year-old nurse from Gifford - who asked to be known as Claire - said a hands-on prayer healing session at the West Church cured her instantly of arthritis and a "vicious depression".

According to the report, she had thrown her anti-depressants into the bin, after battling the illness for 20 years.

Said Claire: "I was in no state to work. I was extremely depressed. I was on the edge of being suicidal. I had no concentration and I was miserable the whole time. It wasn't a good situation - to have patients around me and, as a professional, [I couldn't] continue to work."

Reportedly, the self-confessed former cynic didn't want to go to the healing at first but said she felt moved by God to go up to the front and join the circle where parishioners prayed for her recovery.

Claire added: "I felt totally and unconditionally loved. Having had years of depression, I felt I had lost touch with God. But at that moment, I knew he hadn't abandoned me. It was a feeling of complete peace and joy. I felt heat through their hands on my shoulders and it was the single most profound experience of my life."

The report states that when Claire returned home, she realized that the eight-centimeter swelling in her arthritic knee had completely disappeared. She threw her antidepressants away, and has now returned to work after two years of sick leave.

Claire added: "I was stunned - it's something I can't explain from a medical point of view. I think what God did was a long way outside conventional medicine."

Organizers say they have seen remarkable results from the healing sessions, and want to start a healing room in Haddington where residents battling sickness can drop in to receive a recovery prayer.

Reverend Cameron MacKenzie, minister of the West Church, is said to have challenged cynics to come to the faith healing conference where past traditions would be revived.

"It's very new in Haddington West Church but it's something that has been happening ever since the Gospels were written," he said. "The tradition in the church has been lost over the years with the upsurge in medical expertise. People have lost the core belief system that God is a supernatural being."