On mission trip to India, he was surprised by his own healing

By D.L. Sandusky —

Since 1991, I have visited India over 30 times, mostly for business, some for both business and ministry and a few trips for missions only.

About 15 years ago I had a shocking experience, at the conclusion of a city rally in Kakinada on the eastern coast, where the Christ Gospel India headquarters are located. I had heard testimonies of miraculous physical healings by the Power of God, but I had never experienced healing in my own body.

Bishop Yelchuri, Director of Christ Gospel India, arranged a series of meetings. I preached a four-day city rally in the evenings, with about 3,000 attending. In addition, I taught a seminar for about six hundred of our pastors during the day. The temperature was in the 90s F (32 C) with no AC. I was getting very tired, but I continued to push myself since I was only in my early fifties, in reasonable health and in my ignorance, I still thought nothing was too much for me.

About half the attendees were Christians, with pastors of other Christian churches in the city, joining us on the dais, as a sign of support. My messages were partly directed to Christians and partly directed to the other half attending who were Hindus.

I love to tell the Old Old Story, as well as teach deeper things from the Word of God I have learned over the decades from my Pastor and Master Teacher Rev. Bernice R. Hicks. The Holy Spirit was more powerful each night.

Services started with congregational singing, special songs, introductions of pastors sitting with us, then I gave the message. At the conclusion we opened the hall for prayer and thousands of people came to be anointed and prayed for, including the Hindus who never want to pass up any kind of spiritual blessing. Bishop Yelchuri had his pastors positioned to pray with people wanting to accept Jesus as their personal Savior and each night about 50 people came to the Lord.

The fourth evening about 10:30 pm things were winding down. I had laid hands on and prayed for at least 1,000 people that night and I was hot and exhausted. There were only a few waiting for prayer and our own staff of about 30 musicians and workers were waiting to close the hall.

Suddenly, I became extremely ill. It was like something very ugly swept over me and I could no longer stand. I urgently asked Bishop Yelchuri to pray for me. He and the brothers of the church gathered around me and prayed, but I got sicker. They brought a chair but I was so ill I fell from the chair to the floor. Then our men picked me up and laid me on the carpeted platform.

The musicians and workers knelt around me on the platform. The men laid hands on my body holding my head, arms, hands, legs, and feet. The sisters formed a circle around the men. They started praying with the most intensity I had ever heard, screaming to the Lord, and shaking my body violently.

Then something remarkable happened.

My soul and spirit dropped away from my body, falling downward through the concrete platform and the floor. I looked upward as if I were in the bottom of a deep well. My body was still at the top and I heard my Indian brothers and sisters screaming and praying for me. I felt I was dying at the bottom of this well but was at peace and without any fear.

Laying there I considered these simple, sincere, desperate prayers above me in a language unknown to me. Then, something like a ticker tape with a written message passed in front of my eyes saying:

“God WILL hear these people!”

As soon as this tape passed, I was instantly healed and back in my body. When I started to rise the brothers helped me stand and walk to our car. I could have stood on my own and walked out, but I was shaken and appreciative of their prayers, love, and support as these dear Saints almost carried me to our car.

Returning to the Yelchuri home that night, we concluded I had heat stroke. But all I knew was that I instantly became extremely ill, I was out of my body on the verge of death and then because of the prayers of these sincere, believing Indian saints, God spared me.

Upon returning to the US, I met with my pastor to report on the mission trip. I gave the above account suggesting heat stroke as the cause. She rose from her chair and said forcefully, “This was not heat stroke, it was a demon trying to take your soul and spirit from your body.” The Holy Spirit witnessed this truth.

I have been intrigued with the mysterious and ancient culture of India since my first visit 33 years ago. Sometime later I read that some groups in India practice summoning up their gods, which may be fallen angels, and then cast spells to draw the souls and spirits from the bodies of their enemies.

Thank God my soul is saved and protected by the Blood of Jesus Christ and for the effectual fervent prayers of my Indian brothers and sisters who stood in the gap for me that night.