Divine Healing
Miraculous Physical Recoveries
Study Finds 16 percent of Americans Have Had a “Miraculous Physical Healing”
Nearly a quarter of American adults report having witnessed a “miraculous, physical healing,” and, perhaps more surprisingly, 16 percent say they have actually experienced such a miracle themselves.
Pantry Healers
Provided by Health.com
Looking for a great skin refresher? How about a surprising remedy for a stuffy nose? Or a cure for blisters? The solutions may be as close as your kitchen pantry. Here are some surprising uses for everything from salt to honey.
How to Solve...
Heat rash
The remedy: Mix regular oatmeal (not instant) or cornstarch with water to make a thick paste. Apply to irritated skin, let it dry, and leave it on until it flakes off on its own (the residue will continue to work). Reapply only if it starts to itch again (otherwise you risk overdrying the area).
Why it works: Both oatmeal and cornstarch help reduce irritation and swelling, and provide itch relief.
Heel blister
The remedy: Carefully apply enough lavender oil (available at health-food stores) to fully cover the blister without popping it; this will help it deflate and dry out faster. Reapply every few hours for three to five days or until the blister heals completely.
Why it works: Lavender is a proven anti-inflammatory that can speed the healing of skin irritations. Bonus benefit: The aroma is incredibly
Sore muscle
The remedy: Saturate a cloth with apple cider vinegar and wrap it around the muscle for 20 minutes; the pain should disappear within a few hours. Reapply every three to four hours for continued relief until the pain is gone for good.
Why it works: Apple cider vinegar is a muscle reliever; it helps to draw lactic acid (the stuff that causes soreness) out of your muscles after exercise.
Athlete's foot
The remedy: Drop a few freshly minced cloves of garlic into a cotton sock, and then wear the sock overnight. (Just be sure to wash your feet in the morning with something that has a more pleasant scent!) Repeat the treatment nightly until the fungus disappears, usually within 7 to 10 days.
Why it works: Garlic kills all sorts of fungi-including the one that
Olive Oil
Earache relief
Warm olive oil can soothe your child's (or your) achy ear, says Rachel Lewis, MD, a pediatrician at Columbia University Medical Center. (Note: Only for kids 2 and up.) Use a syringe to place 2 to 4 drops of warm oil in ear (5 to 10 in your own). Follow up with doctor.
Skin soother
Olive oil's essential fatty acids are a natural Rx for rough elbows, hands, and cuticles, says dermatologist Lisa Donofrio, MD, of the Yale University School of Medicine. Nightly, rub a small amount of the extra-virgin variety into parched skin.
Dry-hair conditioner
Revive damaged hair with this treatment from John Masters of John Masters Organics hair- and skin-care lines: Saturate hair with extra-virgin olive oil, then wrap with a warm towel for 20 minutes. Shampoo, rinse, and condition if needed.
Salt
Sinus remedy
Stuffy? Mix 1/2 cup warm water with 1/2 teaspoon noniodized salt, says Diane Heatley, MD, of the American Academy of Otolaryngology. Using a neti pot, pour the mixture into one nostril; it'll flow out the other. Repeat on the opposite side.
Honey
Cough soother
For a nagging cough or scratchy throat that threatens to keep you or your kids up, try 2 teaspoons of honey. (Don't give it to babies under 1, though.) Honey coats the throat and helps thin mucus, says Ian M. Paul, MD, of Pennsylvania State University in Hershey.
Researchers from Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion released these survey results in a standing-room-only press conference in Washington, D.C., on September 18.
The pool of 1,721 respondents from across the United States said they had been touched by the divine in other ways as well. More than half (55 percent) said they had personally been protected from harm by a guardian angel, and 20 percent reported hearing the voice of God speaking to them.
“Religious and mystical experiences are an overlooked aspect of our national religious life, neglected by researchers and ignored or even denied by leading theologians and seminary professors,” writes religion professor Rodney Stark in What Americans Really Believe, the book that analyzes the survey’s findings.
I took up Stark’s challenge and asked Christopher Bader, one of the researchers, to tell me a little bit about the people behind these statistics.
For one thing, Bader explained, more women than men (18 percent compared to 13 percent) report having had a miraculous healing, and nonwhites are more than twice as likely as whites to report the same. Education and income levels also enter into it: Basically, the more education you have, and the more money you earn, the less likely you are to report a miraculous healing.
That said, although half of those who say they have been miraculously healed had only an eighth-grade education, 1 in 10 had postgraduate degrees. In other words, belief in these experiences touches people from all walks of life.
Pentecostals and African-American Protestants were far more likely than other groups, such as mainline Protestants or Catholics or Jews, to say they have either witnessed or experienced a miraculous healing firsthand.
But I still had more questions. What do these experiences feel like? Are they dramatic transforming moments or a gradual feeling of recovery in spite of the odds? Does it usually happen in a religious setting, like a church or revival, or can it happen in a hospital under the care of doctors? And the $60,000 question: Can science prove that a miraculous healing has taken place?
Unfortunately, the Baylor survey—though broad in scope—didn’t touch on those topics.
But I did find one story, featured on the evangelical TV show The 700 Club, about Waid Kidd, a man who suffered from post-polio syndrome, a painful, incurable condition that left him debilitated. A churchgoing man, Kidd had been prayed over many times, according to the report, to no avail. Yet one Sunday, he felt “called” to have church members lay hands on him. “The power of the Lord starting pouring over me,” he said.
“As I can best describe it, it was a bucket of warm water, and it was slowly poured over the top of my head. It went down over me, except it didn’t just go down over me; I felt it go through me. It went all the way to my feet and went out of [my] heels. I realized the pain was gone.”
While I have never experienced such severe illness or such dramatic healing, I wonder if others who have had such experiences may be reluctant, for fear of ridicule, to share their stories. I hope this study and the interest in it will start the discussion about this “overlooked aspect” of religious life in America.
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ThreeFromIL 09:39:50 PM Oct 19 2008
I think you have to have your mind open to hear when got is talking, it's in a whisper, not a shout. A number of things happened when I was getting divorced that even I, as an atheist, found a little too much coincidence. After no car accidents ever, in 30 years of driving, I was hit from behind while sitting at stoplights, twice in 3 months. Then, waiting to get on the expressway, a huge expressway light fell and just missed my car, it would have been deadly. Even though it got my attention in a big way, I didn't listen, because I didn't understand why God would have been against the divorce, I had a good reason for it. However, after I came down with an autoimmune disorder 6 months later, and some very severe difficulties happened to one of my kids and ex-husband, I realized that God knew that the divorce would cause much more tragedy than it would solve. If you don't listen for God's whisper and obey it, you won't hear it or reap the benefits.
ThreeFromIL 09:30:21 PM Oct 19 2008
I have a severe autoimmune disorder. Once when I was in alot of pain, but on very little medicine, none mind altering, I saw a glowing figure, floating and raising her hand to me. She had no feet that I could see, just a low flowing dress. She also had no face. I was an atheist at the the time, and was afraid because of the face. Plus I'm a computer systems engineer, not prone to anything but rationality. Then somehow I knew what she was, a guardian angel. The pain I felt opened my mind to something that I would not have normally let in.
Magusde2 09:23:31 PM Oct 19 2008
PD39 that analogy doesn't work. You can watch government at work on C-span, you can see its' affects through various public works for good or for ill, find something more abstract and less concrete. Where as, you truly can't see, feel, touch, or perceive god. But, eh, if you have faith there's nothing I can do to disprove it, so the point of arguing is moot.
S6MARS 09:12:52 PM Oct 19 2008
Yes i do believe in miracles, i was fixed after my second child due to the fact that my ex did NOT want anymore children and i was the unlucky one that had to get fixed because i was already cut open from my C-sect. The Dr. asked him if he was going to get snipped and the ***** said NO! and darted out the door 10 years later after missing 5 periods i found that i was pregnant and didn't even know it. My child is a living,walking miracle as well, my child was born with a rare birth defect and Dr's were wondering what my child was doing alive and my child should not be alive they told me. my child is 9 years old now and still fighting for her life, there were numerous times my child almost died on me God took her so far and at the last minute gave my child back to me. unfortunately i have lost count on how many times my child has almost died on me and was given back to me right at the last moment. God bless my child 9 years of struggling to stay alive and is still growing strong. PRAI
Deilaca95 09:01:02 PM Oct 19 2008
I, too, have always believed in God, but felt that was all that was needed to get to his Kingdom. I've since have learned differently. You MUST develope a relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ, first. . . before you can be in the presence of God. . . For most Christians, the Godhead of Father, Son and Holy Ghost is one entity. . . but you are wrong on this. The Godhead is in fact three seperate intities. Father, Son and the Holy Ghost are actually three seperate and distinct intities. . . . one in purpose, but seperate just the same. The "Guardian Angels" that are mention here is in fact the influence of the Holy Ghost.
schwinnrider12 08:52:18 PM Oct 19 2008
I was hit by a car while riding my bike a week and a half ago. As I was falling to the ground, I literally felt something like a cushion come over me. I slammed into the pavement after flying 20 feet (should have broken my neck) but came out with only minor road rash and some swelling. I am a cellist, and my hands and arms are extremely important because of that. I got one very small scrape on my left elbow, and that's it. Even though the car hit me at about 20 mph directly on my left shin, I have no broken bones, and a week after impact, I was walking completely normally again. God protected me from serious injury and got a law-defying driver with a revoked license off the road and behind bars.
thethousandhands 08:45:16 PM Oct 19 2008
YES THEIR IS A GOD I SEEN MANY MIRACLES MY MOM HEALED CANCER SHE HAD 3 YEARS NOW GONE IN A WEEK MIRACULOUS I WAS NOT A CHRISTIAN BUT NOW I AM USE TO BE ATHEIS
thethousandhands 08:42:20 PM Oct 19 2008
I FOR INSTANCE DONT BELIVE THINGS LIKE THIS BUT NOW I DO I USE TO BE ATHEIST INTILL MY MOM 44 HAD CANCER THE DOCTOR TOLD ME N MY FAMILY SHE CANT LIVE ANYMORE N THAN WE BROUGHT HER TO A CHURCH THAN THE PASTOR HE WAS A HEALER HEALED MANY PEOPLE N TRAVELD AROUND THE WORLD N WHEN THE PASTOR PRAYED FOR HER HE WAS LIKE CANCER U R NOW GONE IN MY HEAD IM LIKE SURE W/E BUT NEXT WEEK WE BROUGHT HER BACK THAN THE DOCTORS WERE ALL CONFUSE N WE WERE LIKE WHATS WRONG THAN THE DOCTORS LIKE WELL WE ANT FIND THE CANCER THAN THEY DID THE CHECKS OVER AGIN N IT WAS STILL GONE N MY MOM WAS HEALED OF BREAST CANCER THAN I WAS LIKE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE THAN THE DOCTORS LIKE ITS NOT N I KNEW MY MOM HAD CANCER FOR 3 YEARS N SHE LIVES N STILL TODAY SHE DOES N I SEEN MANY OTHER MIRACLES PEOPLE WHOS BORN CANT WALK START WALKING PEOPLE WHOS DISBALE UN DISBALE PEOPLE I KNEW FOR YEARS GETTING HEALED MIRACULOUSLY SO NOW IM A CHIRSTIAN N I SEEN N HEARD ALOT OF PEOPLE GETTING HEALED N DOCTORS BEING AMZED LIKE HOW N FINNNA
MeanStr 01:58:14 PM Oct 19 2008
Miricles don't Happen and there is no God.Well some People believe there are things that do go bump in the dark.And I'm not about to go camping in a old Cematerty for a long holiday weekend to find out.I well keep my Belief in God and in the End you may have the last laugh but I really doubt that .So the best of luck to you.
Fallenknight68 01:35:48 PM Oct 19 2008
GTRicochet please learn reading comprehension before you spew hate and negativity in a comment. "Nearly a quarter of American adults report having witnessed a âmiraculous, physical healing,â and, perhaps more surprisingly, 16 percent say they have actually experienced such a miracle themselves." That little three letter word in the sentence (and) means that the 16% is in regards to something different than the quarter of Americans mentioned as witnesses.
