“Lay Hands On Her and Pray That She’ll Have a Seizure”

A short essay as told to me by a friend

Today, while our regular senior pastor and most of the congregation frolicked at Lake Rollins family camp, Pastor Mike Marczak preached to a small contingent of regulars who did not attend camp. He shared a personal story. Our Citrus Heights church at the time was not charismatic but a few of us, including Mike were.

A woman he knew developed a brain tumor and began to have seizures. It shut down her life because she couldn’t be alone or drive. To get a better diagnosis, her doctors put her into a program in which she was monitored in a hospital 8 hours a day for 5 days. She was hooked up to machines that would be able to pinpoint just where the seizures were located. The catch was that she had to have a strong seizure for the diagnosis to work.

The woman entered the program, but only had tiny seizures. On day 4, Suzanne Marczak and another woman from our church stayed with her all day for moral support. On day 5, Mike himself spent the day with her. He said they had a good time laughing and crying and telling stories, but at the end of the day, the expensive treatment had not produced the needed diagnosis.

Pastor Mike put the problem to the Lord. The nurses had asked him to leave. The program was over. It hadn’t worked.

Suddenly Mike heard a clear command from God. “Lay hands on her and pray that she will have a seizure.”

Huh? Not that she’ll be healed?? But Mike approached his friend and said, “If you will permit me, I’m going to pray the weirdest prayer I’ve ever prayed.” He laid a hand on her head and said, “Lord, let her have the biggest, baddest seizure that she’s ever had.” As he withdrew his hand, the woman’s lip began to quiver. Her eyes rolled back. She went grand mal. Alarms buzzed, bells rang, medical personnel came running.

All of this was on video. Furthermore, there was a microphone hanging down right over the bed, so the chaos was preserved for medical posterity. What made the record even more compelling is that 12 other patients in the ward, 6 on one direction of the ward and 6 on the other, all had grand mal seizures at the same time. And there were only 5 medical personnel to deal with it!

That day Mike had another story to share with me while we sat under a tree after the service. He was part of a charismatic prayer group that prayed about the command to share the good news of the Gospel. One day one of them had a vision of someone in a Buddhist country (I don't recall which one) that was asking God to affirm which god was God, Buddha or the Christian God. That person shared the vision and the group had to decide what to do about it. A plan developed to send one of them to the country. As they raised the money amongst them, the Holy Spirit assured them that the person in the vision would be waiting for them when they got off the plane. 

Mike was the one they sent. He was uncertain how he would recognize the person considering how crowded some cities are, especially ones with airports. He got off the plane and just outside the airport when he spotted a monk who seemed to be waiting for someone. Mike approached him and began to share the gospel. The monk was very receptive and listened to Mike as he explained the basics of Christianity. The monk left him very encouraged. Mike felt his work was done so he turned back to the airport and got on the next plane home.

O for more pastors who would tarry in prayer and manifest the gifts of the Spirit for the glory of God. It isn't just a matter of longing, it also requires teaching and creating an atmosphere of allowing the Spirit to move. In most of our Evangelical churches and confessional churches that just isn't possible, and not every pastor, even the great ones, are able to cope with the unexpected in a church service. That's understandable. I'm glad that some who can.