Some complained that what good is praying doing when people are already dead. Most seemed to want to react to the shooting in their typical way—trying to tighten gun laws. Facts, of course, do not apply. The Air Force failed to report the shooter’s conviction and dishonorable discharge to the FBI, so the shooter could purchase weapons. If the Air Force had followed the law, he would have had to find a gun illegally.
The ignorance about prayer completely misses that God can provide healing to those who are wounded while comforting those who lost loved ones. God does answer prayer.
I saw that first-hand during the last week in October when I went to Brazil with Bill Dew, who has run his own healing ministry since the early 2000s. Bill lives in the San Diego area and we were joined by three other ladies from there. www.dewnamis.com
I saw countless miracle healings over the six days we were on the ground and praying for people in Brasilia. To single out a few:
• The first night, Bill asked God and the Holy Spirit to restore eye sight. One woman, who wore glasses with lenses as thick as coke bottles, received perfect vision. Her glasses were so strong that they hurt your eyes if you tried to see through them. Now, she has no use for her glasses.
• We prayed for a man who had knee and ankle problems. God healed his knee and then we prayed for his ankle where he had been shot. His ankle started working, but his right leg was 3 centimeters (more than an inch) shorter than his left leg. When our team member prayed for his leg, it grew so it was the same length as his other one.
• A young girl had a growth on her neck. After three sessions of prayer, God removed it entirely.
• I prayed for a man with pain in both knees. When we were finished, he could do a deep squat.
Typically, Bill would ask people suffering from pain in an area (neck, back, knees, legs, arms) and ask them to stand up and touch the painful area. He would call out people from the audience to be the prayer team and then ask them to move around the crowd and quickly pray for people standing (10 seconds or less) while he prayed. He then asked people to check their bodies. The number of hands that waved for total or near total healing was amazing.
He would single out a few for immediate testimonies that heartened everyone.
I have been privileged to see God move on several the seven mission trips to Africa I have taken, but never have been on a trip like this one. My takeaway: God loves his children and loves to heal them.