Ping!
Awesome.
This sentence caught my attention: “When I was thirteen, one of my sisters called our mother to tell her she had just come from a charismatic prayer meeting and someone had sensed that God wanted to cure someone with a bad back.”
I have a friend whose sister was cured of a huge tumor after a general healing mass held by a priest. He asked those who had problems to come to the altar rail and he laid his hands on them and prayed for their infirmities to be healed. He was very specific that he was not responsible but was merely a conduit for Jesus to do the healing. He also was very specific to say he did not know if anyone would be healed, that was not his mission. It was all low keyed. The next morning she was read all over, as if she had a total sunburn.
Several days later she went back to her dr. for a scheduled follow up appointment to consider what to do next, e.g. surgery. The Dr. had a new x-ray done to see if it had grown but the x-ray revealed the mass, that had been the size of a muskmelon was several was gone. I met her a couple of years later and she repeated her story.
The key point was that the priest emphasized that he did not promise any one any healing. He merely held the mass and laid on his hands. Any healing that was done was done by Jesus. He did NOT ask folks about their problems.
At that very moment, I had an actual vision of our Lord in my car. He sat next to me. It was clear that it was Him. I was still crying. He reached across the seat and dug his right hand into my chest ...At that point, I would have driven off the road ...
I am sure there is a "surge" when he thinks I am christ standing here doing this "sacrifice ...
If this is a real testimony, I don't believe it really happened...
1Ti 3:1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
There are no priests in the NT church...Why would this guy claim God said something to him which God contradicts in the scriptures???
"Christ Is The Answer" - Fr. John Riccardo(To be fully honest, though, I have to admit, that I still have some lingering, nagging questions about Fr. Riccardo's involvement with the "Alpha" program. Do a Google search on