The Healing of Mr. Calhoun

It was one of the delightful surprises of our life-to listen to the experiences of God's grace as related by a ninety-one-year-old giant of faith, whom one would have taken to be not more than sixty or sixty-five years of age. His memory was as keen as that of a young man. His speech unhesitating-clear and full of assurance in Jesus Christ.
None of these incidents are manufactured, or exaggerated. Each is God's actual dealing with His trusting child.
Not merely are the experiences related, miracles, but the appointment we had with Pastor "Ashkenaz" (as he has termed himself) itself was miraculous; for both he, and we, were so tied up in busy schedules that, except for definite answers to prayer, we would never have been privileged to learn, and share, these encounters.
As you read these chapters, may the Holy Spirit bless your hearts, even as He has ours.
The Authors

I DON'T WANT anything to do with any d-., sky pilot. Forget it!" With more cursings and swearing the contorted face of Pastor Ashkenaz' neighbor turned, vending a volley of words at the kind man who could have been one of his best friends. A vicious kick sent his dog flying, yelping and skulking around the corner of the house, his tail between his legs. The cat, sleeping on the front porch, disappeared in a streak of yellow under the veranda. Pastor Ashkenaz shook his head sadly and stepped slowly up the stairs to the back porch. The resounding crash of the neighbor's screen door contrasted sharply with the soft click of his own door.
It had happened many times before. No matter what the kindness shown, Pastor Ashkenaz received only cursings, and mean demonstrations on the nearest animals handy to receive physical blows accompanied them. It was always that way until one night.
A midnight knock at the door, caused Pastor Ashkenaz a bit of surprise. The mean neighbor stood in the dim light from the porch, shivering in the cold under his heavy mackinaw and woolen cap. Pastor Ashkenaz lost no time inviting his neighbor in out of the cold.
The mean man's request surprised Pastor Ashkenaz even more. "There is a man down the street, about three blocks, who is dying. He is a member of the Baptist church, but his minister is out of town, and he wants to talk to a preacher. He will die before morning. His leg is severely swollen and fluid is oozing out onto the carpets they have put below to absorb it. He can't lie down and has been sitting in a chair for six weeks, bent over, dying by the inch.
"I don't know where to find a preacher," the old man added. "I know you are a preacher, although I don't know anything else about you. But would you go to visit him?"
"You have been sitting up with him?" Pastor Ashkenaz inquired, amazed that his mean neighbor could also be kind.
"Yes, he is a very dear friend of mine. Two of us friends have been sitting up with him and his wife."
"You go to bed and I will sit up in your place," Pastor Ashkenaz replied. "Go down the street a few blocks to 14 Carrol Street where the elder of my church lives. Arouse him and tell him to come up and sit with me. That will relieve your friend to get a little rest, too."
Pastor Ashkenaz knocked gently on the front door of the dimly lit house. The woman who let him in showed signs of much weeping. Deep lines of worry and tiredness etched themselves across her face.
She led the man to the corner where her husband reclined in a large chair. She lifted her hopeless eyes to Pastor Ashkenaz, which were again filling with unbidden tears.
"The doctor says he cannot possibly live till morning," she said. "He can speak only a word or two with labored breath. "
Pastor Ashkenaz spoke softly, his kindly blue eyes taking in the whole scene at a glance. "Now, Mrs. Calhoun, I think I have some good counsel for you. Go lie down and go to sleep. Do get a little rest. You do not want to sit here and see your husband die."
"Oh, thank you, Pastor," the wife replied, "I am so weary." And with that she slipped out of the room.
Pastor Ashkenaz had other plans in mind, than appeared on the surface. Yes, he wanted her to get some much needed rest. But he also wanted to be alone with the dying man. He wanted no one there who might not have fulfilled the conditions to answered prayer. Like Jesus of old, he wanted to be sure that unbelieving hearts were not present. As Jesus had cautioned, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." Again, "If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God." (Mark 9:23 and John 11:40.)
Pastor Ashkenaz also sensed that the stakes were high. For a mean old neighbor to have called him-the very man who had cussed him out so many times-was a challenge to the truth of God and the mission of His servant. What would take place with the friend of that mean old man could affect many a life for years to come. It was a divine providence that called him at midnight to pray for a dying man, a man who would be visited in a few hours by the doctor with a death certificate.
The odor from the dripping fluid permeated the whole room and gave an atmosphere of death. The death pallor was upon the face of the sufferer in the chair. Pastor Ashkenaz lifted his heart to God in earnest prayer. The Holy Spirit filled him, bathing his soul in heavenly influence. "This is the occasion when I want to work," the Spirit seemed to say, as faith swept over his heart and soul. He seemed to sense in every nerve of his body that he was called to this home "for such a time as this."
Pastor Ashkenaz began to speak tenderly to the dying man-still conscious, still clinging to the thread of life, still hoping against hope that the next breath would not be his last.
"Bless the Lord, 0 my soul," began Pastor Ashkenaz, reading from Psalm 103:1-5. He began to speak of Him "who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" (Verse 3). The sufferer's attention was fixed upon a God who heals; a Jesus who is the same today as two thousand years ago; a Jesus who never turns a deaf ear to a plea for help.
Pastor Ashkenaz cited examples of those who had been healed, like King Hezekiah, doomed to die immediately, but who was completely restored. Case after case of others who had no hope were cited to build the dying man's faith in a loving, healing, restoring Christ.
Then Pastor Ashkenaz opened the Bible to the book of James, chapter 5-the great healing chapter. It speaks of anointing with oil. It speaks of the sick being raised up. It speaks of confession of faults. It speaks of victory in Christ.
Looking kindly into the face of the dying man, Pastor Ashkenaz asked, "Why do you want to live?" Would the dying man say he wanted to live to make a little more money? Or would he say he wanted to become a success in politics, or industry, or some branch of learning? What would be his reply?
Pastor Ashkenaz sensed that on the basis of the dying man's answer he would, or would not, be able to pray the prayer of faith. In the fourth chapter of the book of James, the Apostle makes clear the reasons for God's not answering requests. He wrote under the spirit of inspiration: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3).
There have been men and women, both youth and aged, who have asked for healing of body without having clearly in mind the glory of God and the blessing they can be to humanity. Some have actually been healed, only to live a miserable existence in sin and folly. The writer recalls a man he himself prayed for in his early ministry, without asking, "Why? Why do you want to be healed?" The man Was healed. But the very first walk he took after his healing was back to the harlot with whom he had been living. So Pastor Ashkenaz showed wisdom, indeed, by asking the question, "Why? Why do you want to live?" And while the question itself was searching, yet the voice vibrated kindness, and no offense was taken.
Said the dying man: "1 lived on a farm a few miles from here and farmed it with a son, my boy who is about twenty years old. We got into a fuss one day, and" Here his voice wavered, and tears came to his eyes as he continued, "1 got angry and ran him off. After that, 1 came to this city to work in the shops as 1 could not farm it without my son. I want to return to my farm. And 1 want to get my boy back with me." The dying man's voice trembled as he haltingly continued, "1 can't die with this trouble between that boy 'and me."
There is a promise. It goes like this: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you" (Mark 11:24, 25). Here our Lord Jesus placed the spirit of reconciliation right in the midst of His instruction on prayer. As our favorite author has remarked: "To every promise there are conditions." Then adds, "The conditions met, the promise is unequivocal. "-Education, pp. 253, 258.
At this point, in relating his experience to me a few days ago, Pastor Ashkenaz exclaimed, "Brother, God will answer that kind of prayer!" I responded with two fervent "Amens. " This is the very spirit of Calvary. There Jesus died to reconcile man to God. There it was that Jesus cried out, "Father, forgive them."
Now here was a man, entirely ignorant of the faith which we hold so precious, but he knew enough about the Gospel to feel the surgings of the Spirit compelling him to reconciliation.
As Pastor Ashkenaz read James, chapter 5, the dying man broke in and asked, "Do you think the Lord would do that for me?"
Pastor Ashkenaz replied, "Yes! But do you think He will do it for you?"
Gaining new courage, and faith, and assurance, the dying man responded with.a fervent, "Yes, I do." There are times, friends, when the Holy Spirit reveals clearly the will of God in regard to healing of the body. The general rule in praying for the sick is, that since we do not know whether the sick have fulfilled the conditions for healing, we pray a prayer of commitment. We must not presume on God to do what He has promised when we ourselves refuse to do what He has laid out as conditions to answered prayer. But, while this is true, there is no question that at times the Holy Spirit teaches us what to ask for, and gives us in our very souls .the assurance that this particular prayer is heaven-inspired. So it was with Pastor Ashkenaz and his church elder as they knelt beside the dying man.
Praying a prayer. of faith, with a soul tingling with the presence of the Holy Spirit, Pastor Ashkenaz gently anointed the dying man with oil in the name of the Lord.
No sooner had Pastor Ashkenaz said his "Amen," than the man got right up from his chair, put his clothes and shoes on and walked over to the windowsill where were eight different medicines. He spoke with firm assurance. "I. am going to wake my wife. But before 1 do so, 1 am going to take this medicine out of here, because she will yell me it is time to take my medicine. I have absolute faith fhat 1 am healed, that God has done it, and that it is His will.”
With that he three his medicine out into the snow.
Pastor Ashkenaz began to sing his favorite healing song:
"Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me!
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee."
He went on singing verse after verse of that grand old song:
"Though like a wanderer,
Daylight all gone,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone.
Yet in my dreams I'd be
Nearer my God to thee."
The song seemed to fit the experience of the newly healed man. He had been a wanderer. Daylight was gone. Midnight had come to his soul. Now he longed for reconciliation with God and with his alienated son. Thus,
"God hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19).
PASTOR ASHKENAZ actually sang five or six stanzas of the song, "Nearer My God to Thee." You may wish to look at some of these meaningful stanzas and observe how completely they seemed to fit the need of the healed man's soul, and how truly they depicted his experience that night in a cold, snowy December.
Mr. Calhoun walked to the bedroom door and called to his wife to come out. As she walked into the living room where the healing had taken place, she was almost beside herself. Pastor Ashkenaz said that she looked like a woman in a nightmare. She exclaimed, "Am I dreaming? Or having a nightmare? Or what?" Then looking at her husband she exclaimed, "What are you doing up walking around?" Turning to Pastor Ashkenaz she asked very excitedly, "Is this his ghost? Has he died?"
A peaceful smile lighted his face as Mr. Calhoun assured his wife, "It's me!" Then he related to her the story of his healing.
The chiming of the clock on the mantelpiece caused Pastor Ashkenaz to turn. "Five o'clock already," he said. "We must be going now."
"No, no. Not yet," Mr. Calhoun pleaded. "I will build a little fire in the kitchen stove and make some coffee. It's a cold morning, and we ought to drink something hot."
"Thank you, but we do not drink coffee," replied Pastor Ashkenaz.
"Populas tea then?" Mr. Calhoun suggested, referring to a drink of hot water with milk and sugar. "I will go and get some kindling," he added in a firm clear voice.
"Let me do it," Pastor Ashkenaz offered.
Mr. Calhoun would have none of it. He hurried to the closet and donned his cap, coat and scarf. His shining face and buoyant step showed his great joy in being healed and able to do things again. "No sir!" he said, "I'll do it myself. "
At the chopping block he bent over the task of cutting kindling. In the midst of the task, the doctor's rig pulled up in front. The doctor came up the walk, exchanged a brief cheery, "Good Morning," and knocked on the front door.
"I just came from delivering a baby, so thought I would drop by," the doctor explained as he came into the living room and glanced at the now vacant chair in the comer.
Startled he asked, "Where is Mr. Calhoun?"
"Didn't you see him?" began Mrs. Calhoun. "He was out there cutting kindling."
"That was Mr. Calhoun!" A look of shock and great surprise registered on the doctor's face. "I thought it must be his twin brother. What has happened?"
"Let the man come in and tell you himself," Pastor Ashkenaz suggested.
In a moment Mr. Calhoun entered with his arms loaded with small wood and kindling. Seating himself before the doctor he related in a very moving way the power and love of God in his healing.
The doctor sat there dumfounded. The death certificate resting in his bag, which he had fully expected to sign for Mr. Calhoun, remained where it was.
In just a few days Mr. Calhoun and his family moved back to the farm. Pastor Ashkenaz wrote a letter immediately to a Pastor McIntosh, who was holding a series of meetings nearby, and instructed him to visit the Calhoun family.
When Mr. Calhoun learned that Pastor McIntosh was a friend of Pastor Ashkenaz, he was cordially received into the home. All of the family still living at home, attended the meetings being held, and gave their hearts to Christ, uniting with the Sabbath-keeping church.
But the son, for whom. the father was burdened-"-Still estranged from his father-continued to remain away from home, unaware of the recent happenings in his family. Mr. Calhoun thought about it much and prayed for the son, and for wisdom to know how to become reconciled With him.
One day Mr. Calhoun called his family together. "God has worked miraculously in my life to save me from death. Can't He now work on the mind of our boy and impress him to return to his home?" Mr. Calhoun spoke earnestly. "I believe He can, if we will but pray to this end."
The Word of God says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will" (Prov. 21: 1). Why would not a God who changed the heart of the king in answer to the prayer of the Prophet Daniel (Dan. 10:12, 13), change the heart of the boy away from his father's home? "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34). Therefore, anything He ever has done in ages past, He will do again, under like circumstances and with like faith. Certainly we may consider every act of God as a promise for His agonizing, believing, obedient children today! What consolation! What comfort!
Brother Calhoun, his family, and a few friends knelt together in the sunny parlor of the homey farmhouse. All was still, save for the audible voice of each suppliant, and the ticking of the clock. In the midst of the prayers, three chimes rang out. Still the prayers went on, each person loathe to rise from his knees; each heart yearning after the alienated son.
At that moment, on a nearby farm, the son glanced behind to the neatly plowed furrow and ahead to the distant object which helped to keep the furrow straight. A strange uneasiness possessed him. An odd compulsion seized him, and nothing would shake it off. His mind became flooded with thoughts of home, of Mother and Sister, of Father-yes, Father. True, Father had chased him off the old home place, and the unkind words spoken that day just would not be erased. But somehow Father seemed the central figure just now. Home and Father were very important. What if something was wrong at home? Suppose they needed him? Well, he certainly couldn't just keep on plowing!
He raised the plow, turned the mules, and headed for the barn. The animals did not resist. They hurried forward, glad to be through for the day. As he drove the mules into the barn, the owner walked in behind him.
"Having trouble with the plow?" asked the farmer. "Has something gone wrong?"
"No, I have to go home," the youth replied simply. "What do you mean, 'go home'? " the farmer demanded. "This is no time to close your work for the day."
"I know it, but something has happened, and I must go home."
"Oh, foolishness!" The farmer turned aside in disgust. "You are just emotional."
"No, it is not that," the boy insisted. "Something has happened and I must go home at once."
“But .you can't just leave!" the farmer remonstrated. "I need you,"
All during the conversation, the boy tugged at the harnesses, placed implements where they belonged and returned the mules to their stall. Gathering up a few belongings, the young man waved a cheery "Good-bye," leaving the farmer fuming in his back Yard.
It could have been that the father had never read the promise in Jeremiah 24:6, 7: "For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart."
But he trusted just the same. What joy came to his heart as he beheld the answer to his prayer, moving rapidly down the road toward home, then to learn that the boy had been impressed to return home at the same hour the family had knelt in prayer was really exciting.
Needless to say, the boy also accepted the "command­ments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12). The family became complete in Jesus and His last great message for a world dying in sin, malice, revenge and hatred.
But this is not the end of the story. As Pastor Ashkenaz related this experience to me, he handed me a letter post­marked February 10, 1970. The signature was unfamiliar, but the letter brought joy to his heart.
"Dear Brother and Sister Ashkenaz," it began. "In the 'Reaper' [the weekly organ of the Central Union Confer­ence], we saw your anniversary pictures. Congratulations, both on the sixty-fifth wedding anniversary, and the birthday [his ninety-first] .
"Brother Ashkenaz, I am wondering if you are the same minister who was with an Elder Martin of Springfield, Missouri, in about 1908, or 1909, that came to our house and anointed my father, Mr. Calhoun, and he got up from the chair, in which he was dying, and poured his medicines out on the ground."
The writer was Mrs. Vickers, a daughter of Mr. Calhoun. She expressed her happiness in the knowledge of God's truth. Married to a minister, together they had spent many years in the service of the Lord they love. Five generations now proclaim a risen Christ, with several grandsons enter­ing the ministry. She ends her letter with these words: "So we thank God for all these experiences, and the way He has led us."
Surely-"What hath God wrought!" Numbers 23:23.