OUR FOUNDER
Hal Weeks
To visit an archive of his website, please click here. (This is an archive of Hal's site that has broken links and some missing content, but if you are willing to hunt for it there is some invaluable resources within it.)
Notice first! None of this testimony is intended to convey the idea that we should not avail ourselves of medical intervention. However, even medical science has its limitations, and there are many places in the world where medical resources are either limited or non-existent.
First,
My name is Hal Weeks. I discovered I had cancer of the lymphatic system when I was fifty-eight years old. The prognosis was a thirty-five percent chance of survival for five years. But God had other plans. I was ninety-six last January 20. This is the story of this miracle which occurred without any medical intervention other than diagnosis. Although It was originally treated with cobalt for a period of twenty-one days, as it turned out, it did not heal me.
As time went on I discovered several nodes in my neck and under my right armpit that seemed to be growing. In August, 1977, at the age of sixty-four, a large node was removed from my right armpit. It was diagnosed as a poorly differentiated nodular lymphoma which meant my cancer had metastasized. I was then referred to an oncologist for treatment.
However, he agreed to defer any treatment on the basis of my belief that I would be divinely healed. I was scheduled to return in three months. Over the three month period The tumors kept getting smaller until they were gone. When I returned, the doctor could find no evidence of the cancer. He said, "If I were examining you for the first time, I would have diagnosed you as not having the disease."
I continued having periodic checkups until August, 1982, at age 69, at which time he transferred me back to my family doctor. Then in 1995 I discovered two large lumps over the right collarbone. It was determined to be lymphoma that had apparently returned. I did not have a biopsy since I did not plan to have medical intervention and the surgeon said there would therefore be no point in it.
Again, I turned it over to the Lord. Over the next six month the tumors increased in size and number. I began to have second thoughts about not having medical treatment. As clear as I have ever heard the Lord speak, He said "I thought you had turned it over to me." I repented of my concerns and again trusted God for a healing. It stopped getting worse for two months, at which time the Lord said it would be gone in three months and it was. Since then I have had many other conditions healed, again without medical intervention. There has been no further reoccurrence of the cancer.
This not to say we should not seek medical help. I have and do use the resources of medical science. In fact, in June 2001 my heart went into fibrillation. I called my doctor and was told to go to the hospital emergence room. They kept me in the hospital for ten days until they had determined what medication I needed. Although the side affects of the medication are a downside, I am still able to function. And the Lord still ministers to me in many, many ways.
THE SPIRITUAL COROLLARY
Having always believed in prayer, I had been asking God to heal me all during the course of this disease. However, since I had not revealed my condition to more than a couple of friends, I had not received much -- if any -- general prayer. For several years, I did believe I had been healed and I did receive what the doctors called a marvelous remission. But with the recurrence in August, 1977, and a diagnosis that the condition was now more advance, I became deeply troubled. At that time, a friend of mine invited me to attend a Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship dinner. Being "charismatic" their emotional behavior turned me off so I decided to "lay a fleece" before the Lord. I said, "Lord, if this is something you want me to get involved in, heal my back." (I had a back problem that had been causing me pain for some time) Immediately the pain left and my back was healed. I now believe this was the deciding factor in my seeking the experience known in charismatic and Pentecostal circles as the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I was prayed for to receive this at a Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship meeting on August 18, 1977, at the age of 64. Nothing seemed to happen at the time, but I was assured I had received this baptism and I thanked God for His gift. At about 10:30 the following Saturday evening, while in bed reading some charismatic testimonies and reflecting on them, my attention was drawn to a strange tingling sensation in my right arm. This subsided but shortly I noticed the same sensation on the side of my face. As I began to rub my face and neck, where the tumors were, I felt a sort of electrifying of my right arm. I remember exclaiming, "Lord, your hand is holding my hand." Immediately, waves of an indescribable sense of the power of God began to sweep through my entire body. I have had similar sensations since but never again with that intensity or duration. For several days afterwards, the power of God was so strong on me that I finally had to ask God to "lead me beside the still waters." I did then experience some abatement for a time of rest, but this was the beginning of a whole new way of life and the beginning of a new relationship with Jesus that I had never known before. At the time it was impressed on my mind that I had received three prizes. The third prize was the healing of cancer; the second prize was the deliverance from spirits of fear and doubt; and the first prize was going from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus in a personal way as my Lord. As to speaking in tongues, Although I had had no objections to doing so, I was not actively seeking to do so. About a month later I woke up in the middle of the night and felt the power of God come over me. An inaudible voice said to me, "speak." When I did I began to speak in tongues. For a time I found myself speaking in a different tongue. Now I speak in many different tongues, although I do not have the gift of interpretation of tongue. I have been told that one time I spoke German by someone who knows German.
Although medical science classifies this as a spontaneous remission, I claim it as a divine healing.
I continue to see others healed through my prayers, as well as through those who have followed our teaching on "how to heal the sick". (see "How to Heal the Sick) I have told the Lord I am more than satisfied with the lifespan he has already given me, but he says this is not my time and I am to continue in ministry several more years. My leaving this "vale of tears" will be peaceful and without trauma. Who could ask for any more than that?
Hal & Ginny Weeks