Testimony of Divine Healing - Pastor Eugene Hoe of Melbourne was healed from infective endocarditis
It was a phone call I never want to receive again. My uncle, who had taken my husband, Eugene Hoe, to the doctor to get an MC, had been advised to immediately take Eugene to the hospital. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined that Eugene would be in a hospital! He was suspected to be down with meningococcal meningitis and, my uncle told me, had been taken to the hospital "just in time".
I knew this could not have been so because I had been praying for him all night.
A couple of days earlier, when Eugene had bruises on his arms and legs, I had phoned mum (Pastor Jean Lim) in Malaysia. I had told her that I felt the Lord reminding me of the time when she was sleeping in the night and I heard her proclaiming the name of Jesus and commanding the enemy to leave in Jesus' name. The next morning, when I asked her what happened, she had said that she had literally felt the enemy attacking her and pulling her legs. Then we had noticed that there were bruises on her legs.
The bruises that Eugene had were similar to mum's. I knew then that the spiritual warfare was especially intense because we had been praying for Melbourne and preparing for the Jesus Heals miracle services and for the TRANSFORMING GLORY 2 Prayer Retreat.
Now Eugene was at the hospital and all I could think of was how to get him out of there. I rang mum and she suggested that I get one of our prayer partners to come with me to the hospital. As we were praying on the way there, I really felt I should pray what Jesus had prayed:
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." (Matt 26:39)
I am not exaggerating when I say that I literally felt what I think could have been the intensity that Jesus felt when He asked that the cup be passed from Him. I knew that the Lord could take this all away in an instant, but He had His plans for Eugene.
The other verse that struck me was, "For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." (Ex 20:5)
All I wanted was that only God would be glorified in all of this, but if Eugene was going to be in the hospital, I did not know how God was going to get ALL the glory. There would be people who were bound to say that he had been healed by the doctors and the medication instead of by God.
When we arrived at the hospital, Eugene was already in ICU. He was on drips and tubes were everywhere. He had to be isolated for 24 hours because meningococcal meningitis is contagious. There was no way I could take Eugene out of the hospital then .
We were even advised to be immunised because we had been in close contact with Eugene. The Health Department informed Eugene's office about his situation and advised anyone who was concerned and who had come into contact with Eugene to be immunised. That was how serious the situation was.
This was my first time in an ICU. As I walked in, my heart was just filled with compassion for all the people there. There was no joy, no smiles. People were sullen and serious. We met the parents of a teenage girl diagnosed to have this same meningitis. She had been in a coma for a week already. I felt that God wanted me to witness this so that I could have a heart of compassion for people who are going through a life-threatening crisis.
I went home that night, praying that when I returned in the morning, I could take Eugene home.
Eugene looked better the next day. I was very hopeful that I could discharge him. Even the nurses said that he was stable. Then came the bombshell. One of the doctors had ordered a check on Eugene's heart and discovered a bacterial infection about 2cm long on his heart valve. They suggested transferring Eugene to a hospital better equipped for performing surgery to remove the bacteria and see how much damage had been done to the mitral valve. And they were thinking of doing this in the next day or two after consulting with the surgeons.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. One of the doctors from our church came to visit and I asked him if the hospital would operate on Eugene without our permission. He said that if there was the possibility of death occurring within a few minutes, they would go ahead with the surgery even if there were no family members present to give consent. I knew then that we had to have someone with Eugene round-the-clock, to pray and intercede on his behalf, and also to prevent any surgery from taking place. Not wanting to cause much of a scene, I prayed that the Lord would give us a window of time during which we could pray and have Eugene walk out of the hospital without surgery.
Our children had not seen Eugene for almost two days and we felt that it was now time for them to visit him. This was a challenge because I had to prepare the children emotionally for the shock of seeing their daddy with drips and tubes. I also had to prepare their daddy to be strong for his children.
Praise God. There were tears but the Lord gave strength to both daddy and the children. It was a scary and shocking time for the children but it gave them the resolve to pray for their daddy even more and to trust God to bring him out of the hospital. Every day, their prayer was for the Lord to bring Eugene out of the hospital. Every morning, they asked if they would come home from school and see their daddy at home. Believe me, they knew the gravity of the situation, BUT I praise God for their simple faith and trust in God. To them, it was an easy task for God. All they had to do was to ask and believe.
Everyone at church was so relieved when mum and some of the intercessors from Malaysia arrived. Mum went to the hospital two hours after landing in Melbourne. I praise God for mum's arrival but I knew that as Eugene's wife, I myself had to have the faith to believe that God was going to heal Eugene. I thank God that I had been brought up in a faith-filled atmosphere. This was definitely the key for me.
I knew that there have been families who believed God for divine healing, but did not receive and became disappointed with God. But I just knew that God is a God Who never fails. Things happen that we cannot explain but if we ask of God and believe not only with our mouth (confession) but truly with our whole heart (not wavering, not letting the slightest doubt come in), God can and will answer. God is only waiting to be asked. Indeed, God does deserve to have all the glory.
We faced a challenge over the next few days as we were not allowed to bring Eugene home. The doctors were frustrated at having to postpone the surgery for another day or two because we refused to give consent for surgery. We kept on praying and having at least one person with Eugene at all times to worship, pray and intercede.
Then, after lots of tests, they discovered that bits of the bacteria had broken off, gone into the bloodstream and deposited itself in various parts of Eugene's body. His lungs, kidneys and spleen were affected. He was also having pains in his stomach. Bits of the bacteria traveled to Eugene's brain and caused him to have three strokes!
We really felt that the enemy was coming in like a flood but praise God, we knew that the gates of hell could not prevail against us. We also felt that it was time for God to show Himself strong. Every time they did a test on Eugene, there seemed to be more parts of his body being affected.
Eugene was now more alert and could talk more cohesively. By now, he was just sick of all the tests and more bad news about his condition. So, he told the consultant the he wanted to go home. We were told that it was a "preposterous" decision, and that without medical support and antibiotics, Eugene would not survive. I guess the hospital staff felt that we did not realise the seriousness of Eugene's condition.
The most bizarre thing happened next. The hospital took a 24-hour injunction on Eugene which meant that he could not leave the hospital for the next 24 hours. During that time, the hospital submitted for a court order to appoint a public guardian for Eugene to decide for him whether he should leave the hospital or not.
The hospital did this because they felt that the three strokes were severe enough to impair Eugene's judgment and he was not able to make rational decisions for himself. Hence, he needed someone to make the decision for him. So it was submitted that either Eugene's dad, myself or someone from the Public Advocate's office be Eugene's guardian. The court appointed a Public Advocate, whom we have never met, and who did not know anything about Eugene to make decisions for him.
That night, I went home with a real burden to pray that the Lord would somehow speak to the guardian, and this person would be used as an instrument for the Lord's plans and purposes to be accomplished. We were scheduled to meet the following afternoon.
This time, I felt the Lord prompting me on two Scriptures.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Is 55:8)
I cried out to the Lord, saying, "Lord, I know that indeed my thoughts are not Your thoughts BUT indeed I want you only to be glorified in all this. If it is Your desire to take Eugene, how are you going to be glorified in all this? Yet, Lord, You have spoken and even as You have said that Your ways are not my ways, then have Your way, Lord. Do not let it be my way."
Then came the second verse:
"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." (Rev 12:11)
I knew straightaway that the Lord was asking whether I was willing to lay Eugene down so that He would have His way. What a turmoil. Yet I knew that I had to. In order to have the victory, there was a price to be paid, and if we had to pay the price in this way, then - so be it, Lord.
I knew that we were fighting a battle beyond that of Eugene's healing. We were also in warfare for the church and for our city as we had been crying out to God to move among us for so long.
The next morning, I only told mum about these verses. Then mum had a word:
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision. (Ps 2:4)
We just felt that the Lord absolutely had everything in control and indeed, He was even laughing in heaven. With that assurance, we prayed as a family and then I went to the hospital. I prayed with Eugene and shared the verses with him.
He asked me, "You mean that you would rather have me die so that God can move in His way and be glorified?" What an unfair question!!
I replied that I would rather him die and God be glorified than for God to share His glory with man. The only way for us to overcome the evil one was for us not to love our lives to the death. If Eugene was more afraid to die than eager to see God glorified, then he could not say that he did not love his life to the death.
This was a real difficult time as we spent the next few moments releasing each other to the Lord and imploring the Lord to truly have His way which is far higher than our ways.
After that, Eugene broke into laughter. He said, "I see it now. I have been so blinded." He was laughing so loudly that I had to shut his mouth. I thought that if the hospital already thought Eugene was not competent enough to make his own decisions, now they would think he had gone delirious and hysterical.
So we met up with Eugene's guardian and some of the hospital staff to discuss the predicament. After that, the guardian asked to have time alone with the hospital staff. I called mum from the hospital as she was home with the children and I asked her to pray because the decision was being made. She said not to worry as God has everything in the palm of His hands, and God is always victorious.
Finally, after two hours - which seemed like eternity - we were told that Eugene could leave. Of course, against medical advice and we were very welcome to bring him back BUT with the view of having surgery. There was nothing else the hospital could do as the bacterial vegetation had grown to 3cm (another test had been conducted in the morning), which was an indication that the antibiotics were not having an effect.
I believe that the Lord allowed this in order to confound the hospital staff because, every time we said that it was God and our prayers that were keeping Eugene alive, they said that it was the antibiotics that were keeping Eugene alive. Hence, I believe that the Lord allowed the vegetation to grow just to show that He would be the one to sovereignly heal Eugene.
Also, because the vegetation was growing, and they had not determined exactly what bacteria was attacking Eugene's heart valve, the only thing that could be done medically was surgery. Even if Eugene were to continue being on life support, without surgery, he would only have two weeks left to live. So SURGERY WAS THE ONLY THING THAT WOULD HAVE KEPT EUGENE ALIVE. By now there was only a 60% chance of surviving the surgery. In the midst of doing the paper work to discharge Eugene, we were told repeatedly by different staff members that without the medical care and antibiotics, Eugene would die very quickly, perhaps even that very night.
Praise God, it was such a relief to have Eugene in the car. I thought of bringing Eugene straight home BUT he said he wanted to attend the Jesus Heals meeting - it was the second night of the meetings - because after all, he was supposed to be there leading worship. I was amazed at his courage and strength, but I had to ask him again just to be sure that I had heard the right thing.
So off to Jesus Heals we went, and so many of our friends were so shocked to see Eugene. In fact, a number of them were so shocked that it took them a while to be able to talk about Eugene's situation. This night, 22/02/02, was indeed the beginning of Eugene's miraculous healing. I truly thank God that indeed He is not only our Creator, but He is also our Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord our Healer.
We have not often seen the Lord heal, divinely and miraculously, in the Western World because, I believe, we have put too much faith in medicine. In the Third World countries, people are healed instantly because they have no other choice, no other hope BUT JESUS. We in the Western World have too many choices and have allowed ourselves to be deviated from the true and only source of healing. One that is without any side effects and is free.
I pray that Eugene's testimony will encourage the believer and the non-believer to trust God 100%. God does not pick and chose who He wants to heal. God will heal if we do not waver or doubt Him.
Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:2b,3)
Let us not ask amiss anymore. Let us pray believing that God can and will heal. Are we willing to release our lives or our loved ones into the hands of the God Who made and created us, or into medicine with all its humanistic values?
I praise God for the unceasing prayers of the saints that were offered up to God on behalf of Eugene. I believe that it was not only the round-the-clock prayers BUT more importantly, the "act of faith" - taking Eugene out of the hospital against all odds - and placing him completely in the hands of God. I now see that this it the 'faith working together with his works' as mentioned in James 2:22.
What does it profit, my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (James 2:14, 17, 21 - 24)
But without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6a)
I believe God is calling His saints to trust in HIM completely, to the point of foolishness in the eyes of man. I praise God that because of the 'foolish' act of discharging Eugene, he is still alive - not only two weeks later without surgery, but at the time of this writing, five months down the track.
We are so thrilled to hear of the other 'foolish' acts being done because of the faith that they received from hearing Eugene's testimony. God is getting all the glory because these people are being healed and many are becoming living testimonies of His healing power.
I believe that God is challenging more and more to trust Him 100%. It is one thing to say we trust Him, but after this experience, I can really see that God honours those who trust Him totally and completely. God desires that we put our 100% trust in Him. Then He can move mightily without the limitations and inhibitions of man. I strongly encourage everyone reading this not to choose God only when there is no other hope. Why leave it till so late? Why not trust Him from the very offset?
I praise God for the strength and wisdom that only God could have given me during this time. I had to be strong for the children, and I felt the best way was to keep their routine - daily activities - going. Looking back now, I know that indeed my help (and especially) strength comes from the Lord Who made the heavens and the earth (Ps 121:1, 2).
Indeed, He took me on eagle's wings. I was fasting, praying, running around up and down for two whole weeks, yet I did not feel weary or exhausted. The Lord truly not alone brought healing to Eugene, but gave us all the strength and perseverance to go through this.
Praise be to our Lord God Almighty. Indeed, He is our all-in-all !!!
