Miracle on a football field?

God still heals today. Photo: ishutterthethought/Flickr/Creative Commons

Some have gone so far to claim he faked his death even accusing him of taking a pill before hand so the symptoms would seem real.

On May 5, 2015, Zack Clements, 17, was participating in football training at his Christian school, Victory Life Academy, in Brownwood, Texas when he collapsed to the ground.

Nobody, knew what had happened. While others prayed, people immediately started performing CPR.

When the ambulance showed up, Zack, who had just had a heart attack, was rushed to a hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.

When he arrived, It took hospital emergency personnel 20 minutes to get his heart restarted. Medical staff prepared Zack’s parents, Bill and Teresa, to brace themselves for the worst.

In an interview with People.com, the attending cardiologist at Children’s Medical Center, Dr. Lisa Roten, was concerned if Zack did survive there would be irreversible brain damage.

Roten told People:

“For 20 minutes, he was legally dead. We were worried he may have suffered irreversible brain damage.”

Once the hospital team stabilized Zack’s heart, they put him in a medically induced coma and lowered his body temperature to give his heart and mind an opportunity to recover.

A few days later, to the amazement of medical staff, Zack awoke completely aware. His brain had not been damaged and he was not suffering any symptoms from his heart attack.

But Zack had a story to tell. While he was dead, Jesus, surrounded by angels dressed in white, appeared to him.

Zack said:

“He put his hand on my shoulder and told me that everything was going to be all right. It made me feel like someone was watching over me and I was going to get through it. Since it happened, I feel like a strong person.”

After his mother videoed Zack’s stories and other media picked it up, the trolls came out in force vilifying his testimony. Bill, Zack’s father, said some absurdly accused the family of having Zack take a pill to fake his death.

Zack is back at school and though the jury is out on whether he can participate in sports — they are giving it time to make sure his heart issue doesn’t resurface — Zack is glad to be alive and equally convinced Jesus appeared and healed him.

I have always been uncertain what to think of testimonies such as this. But one similar story changed my mind. In December 2011, Annabel Wilson Beam, 12, of Texas fell down 30′ inside a hollowed-out Cottonwood tree on her parent’s rural property in Texas.

It took emergency crews hours to finally extract her. At the hospital, MRI scans showed that she had suffered trauma as she bounced down the inside of the tree but other than a few bumps and bruises could find nothing wrong with her.

They sent her home.

Then Annabel told her mother while lying at the bottom of the tree Jesus appeared and said it was not her time and everything was going to be fine. Then an angel stayed with her until she was finally rescued.

At first, the family thought their daughter was suffering from a concussion, and took her back for tests, but she was clear.

Then a strange, miraculous thing happened.

Since 2008, Annabel had suffered from an incurable intestinal pseudo-obstruction mobility disorder. Essentially the intestines don’t contract to push the food. As a result she can’t absorb nutrients properly and suffers from extreme vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation and weight loss.

She has been in and out of hospital many times and on several medications to try to control the disease. At times, Annabel has even wished she was dead.

But after she came home, her intestines suddenly started working. The stunned doctors slowly weaned her off the medication and months later it was obvious, Annabel was healed.

In one of His last addresses to the disciples, Jesus told them signs and miracles would confirm His word: