Encounters with Christ..." I can always see Him."

Working hard to become rich, Antonios Tanos (who had emigrated from Greece to Germany) smoked and drank a lot, even after he had developed asthmatic bronchitis and doctors urged him to quit smoking and drinking. His life was looking bleak indeed when his mother gave him a book about St Rafael. Although Antonios was convinced there was no God, in his despair he finally picked up the book. At that moment, with the doors and windows of his apartment closed, a man appeared in his room, surrounded by a light that was brighter than the lamps.

The man, who had short brown hair, brown eyes and a slim face, came closer and closer.
Overwhelmed with joy Antonios said: "You must be St Rafael."

The man replied: "Antonios, I am not St Rafael.

I am Jesus. All will be well."

In the second of a new series the Dutch evangelical Omega programme profiled various people who, like Antonios, had experienced physical and psychological healing after a personal encounter with Jesus.

The most impressive story was told by

Debbie Ferget from the US: thrown from her car in a serious crash, she was taken to hospital in a body bag. Examining her body before sending it to the morgue, the doctors noticed some physical movement. She was not expected to live through the night as her injuries were so appalling. Debbie's family was called in to identify her.

Despite the severity of her injuries Debbie came out of her three-month-long coma.

She could not see but was able to hear the voices of three doctors around her bed. They explained what had happened, that she would probably never see again, and that she would be paralysed due to her spinal injuries.

"When they had finished and left the room," explains Debbie, "a big bright burst of light filled my room and there stood Jesus. He told me I was His child and I was going to be OK. It was like a peace that came over me from my head to my toes, a peace like I had never known before." As time went on, she was released to go home but the doctors were not very encouraging about her walking again.

One night she was in bed with her little daughter beside her, chatting, "when this big burst of light filled the room and at the foot of my bed stood Jesus again, looking exactly the same as before." Again He held out his arms and told her He loved her. "Then I could see two little hands with wings lifting my leg in the air and He looked at me and said: 'Only if you believe in Me.' My leg went back down, I couldn't wiggle my toes because I was still paralysed. But I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would walk again. Within a year I went from a walker to two crutches to one crutch to a cane."

Three years later she became very ill and suffered a stroke. In the hospital she was found to have a brain aneurysm. She was taken to one of the best hospitals in the country to find out if anything could be done.

That Friday morning, at sunrise, a huge burst of light filled her room again. And there stood Jesus again at the foot of her bed. Still visibly moved by the experience, Debbie continued:

"He reached down and touched my head. I knew he had healed me, all the pain had left." When the doctors came, to see her, they didn't believe her when she told them Jesus had healed her.

She was taken to another hospital where they took 52 x-rays before they were convinced that there was not a trace left of her brain haemorrhage

"I am not special at all, I feel I'm just the same as everyone else.

Only Jesus knows how He appeared to me.

I will always remember what He looks like.
(Source: Omega, Evangelical Broadcasting Organization, the Netherlands)

http://www.mcn.org/1/Miracles/summary.html