Given by John Buck

January, 2002

In the summer of 1980, some friends brought to my attention the writings of Bill Britton and his tape ministry. I had never heard of him before, and I decided to test his ideas by signing up for a Bible correspondence course. His ministry would send a tape along with a page of fairly simple questions about the content of the tape. I would listen to the tape, and answer the questions, and send the answers back to them, in order for them to send the next tape. The first tape described the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and the meanings of the various kingdoms. I thought the tape was pretty sound, and I had only a couple of minor disagreements. So I sent the answers in to get the second tape, and had waited a few days before listening to it. In the meantime, I had somehow hurt my neck, such that it was painful to me to turn my head in either direction. My neck had begun to feel a little better, and on a Monday evening, after work, I did some bench presses with the weights in my garage. Immediately, I realized that I had strained my neck further, and it was extremely sore. After supper that evening, I decided I would listen to the next tape, and at the time, I could not turn head in either direction without pain. In the middle of the teaching, Brother Bill stopped and said that he believed that God was instructing him to pray for someone to be healed. He simply gave instruction to any listener who needed to be healed to raise hands and to join him as he offered prayer. I could hardly believe my ears, and I thought this was one of the strangest things I had ever heard. My immediate thought was that he could not possibly even know who he would be praying for. It also seemed a bit absurd to think that this prayer could be for me. Nevertheless, I raised my hands, and began agreeing with him as he prayed for healing. As he was praying, and I was praying, I felt something like a warm, mild electrical surge in the back of my neck. It lasted only a few seconds. Then I noticed, immediately, that I could turn my head in either direction, and felt no pain at all. From that day to this, I've not had pain in turning my head -- more than twenty years, now. At the time, I thought this experience to be most unusual, but certainly a divine intervention. Brother Bill had recorded that tape at some earlier time, unknown to me, but well before the event. He did not know who he was praying for or where they were or when they would hear it. He was simply obedient to God's instruction; God would do the rest. I have wondered how many others may have heard that tape and experienced a healing. I may never know that number, but I do know this: God used that experience to show me first-hand evidence of His power, which transcends time and space. He also showed me that I had a lot to learn from Brother Bill and others we would meet through attending some conventions in the early 1980's.