As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:7-8).

No matter what, people are gonna freak out when you talk about raising the dead.  Already, when I spoke with a good friend about what happened today, she said, “I don’t think I want to hear any more.”

So, going into this, I know I’m getting myself into trouble from some.  I just refuse to limit what God can do.  If Jesus said, “ANYONE who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12) then I claim that promise.  I will do greater things than Jesus–Just writing that somehow feels sacrilegious because I have subconsciously bought-in to the anemic condition and thinking of many.  I just think that God gets excited when His people step out on His Word in boldness….no matter the backlash.

Having been a faithful attendee of the Schools of the Supernatural, I hear from time-to-time about men and women of God who have raised the dead.  None of the speakers (so far) have been eye-witnesses to this specific miracle, but they all know of someone (usually a missionary) who has done “this” (it is, of course, God’s power).  I want to be an eye-witness. 

Most famous among the anecdotes involve Smith Wigglesworth.  I have really enjoyed reading his sermons online.  Apparently, he has something like 22 (or so) documented cases of raising the dead.

Today, Louie and I were having lunch at In-N-Out and this conversation came up about wanting to see God raise the dead.

Me:

Louie, I want to start going to some mortuaries, or something, and practice our faith!  To be honest, I see something like this causing MAJOR revival across the world.  Louie, we’ve got to find some dead people.

Louie:

I want to see that.

Me:

It would be great to videotape it!  I’d like to get a death certificate and have the video of the resuscitation.

Well, Louie starts getting excited as we talk about it and then he excuses himself from the table.  Looking up, I see that he is talking to the girl behind the counter.  I hear her say, “On Kenwood Drive.”  I said aloud at the table, “Oh crap!”  I knew what Louie was doing…he was finding a mortuary!

Louie (to me):

Chris, there is a mortuary on Kenwood Drive….and I have a video camera in my car!

We both started getting really excited.  From In-N-Out we drove to a mortuary in Spring Valley.  On the way there and in the parking lot we prayed out loud.

Me:

Dear God, please prepare our hearts and minds for your miraculous work.  Please pave our way right now.  Remove all obstacles.  Direct us to a man or woman of God who will be sympathetic to our desire to see your power.

We prayed again outside of the mortuary and then walked in.  There was no one at the front desk, so I walked all the way to the main viewing room where the body is displayed.  I figured maybe we could resuscitate the body before anyone knew we were there.  The only problem is that there was no deceased person in the room.  The moment I noticed this, Ed came around the corner.

Ed is 75 years old and works at the mortuary.  He gave me and Louie one of the warmest welcomes ever.  I got straight to the point.

Me:

Ed, this may sound strange.  Well….are you a believer?

Ed:

Yes, I am.

Me:

Ed, we believe in a God that still performs miracles through the power of Jesus Christ.  We have seen over a dozen healing miracles in the last 90 days and we believe God is calling us to experience more. 

I could tell by Ed’s reaction that he was sympathetic…this fed my spirit!  Louie and I found our man!

Me:

There is no more evidence of God’s healing power than to deliver someone from death.  Ed, we would like to pray for God’s power to fall on a deceased person in your mortuary.  I know this may sound crazy, but I’m not a nut.

Ed:

My spirit bears witness with you that you are not a nut.  I too, believe in the healing power of Jesus Christ.  I completely understand.  Chris, I would love to see happen what you are talking about.  The only thing is that you would need written permission from the family to pray over their loved one.

Ed invited us into his office and we spoke for 15 or 20 minutes more about the goodness of God.  God really had brought us to the right man.  He was completely on-board with what we wanted to do….which is a miracle, given the complete craziness (to the normal world) of the proposition.

Ed and I exchanged numbers.  I asked him if he would be willing to allow the Lord to lead him to call me if there was a family who needed prayer.  I told him that I would drop everything to come to the mortuary, pray for the family, and then see if they would allow me to pray resuscitation over the body.  Ed agreed to this.  Before leaving, Louie suggested we pray for Ed and we did.

From there we went to another mortuary in La Mesa, but nothing felt right in that mortuary.  The “door” did not seem open.  In fact, the woman at the second mortuary told us they only get 1 or 2 deceased persons per month.  I started to realize that it was going to be tough to get permission to pray over someone’s deceased loved one…but I really felt that God led us straight to Ed to encourage us.

From the parking lot of the second mortuary, we prayed for direction.  Before Louie’s prayer ended, I interrupted him.

Me:

I know what we’re gonna do!

Louie:

I didn’t finish my prayer.

Me:

God told me what to do!  We’re gonna put an ad on Craig’s List explaining what we want to do.  We will only get calls from family members that WANT us to come pray!

This is the verbiage from the ad we posted this afternoon…

 ”We Want to Practice Raising the Dead…Seriously”

A group of my friends and I have been praying for the sick in the name of Jesus Christ and we have personally witnessed over 10 miracles that have occurred over the last 90 days. We are now at a place of faith to practice doing what Jesus said a believer should be able to do…raise the dead (John 14:12). If you have a family member that has recently passed or is about to, please contact me so that we may come and speak the healing and resurrection power of Jesus Christ over your loved one.

We are believing for miracles from a miracle-working God.

You can read more about these healings on www.powerdemonstration.wordpress.com

We will see what happens.  I sent the posting from Craig’s List to my Pastor.  Though he hasn’t responded yet, I’m certain that he thinks I’m a complete nut.

UPDATE (9/4/10): My pastor doesn’t think I’m a complete nut!  He thinks I’m “radical.”  Whew!