My  Special Thanks  to All of You...

 
This page is designed, created, and written by myself personally.  It is my thanks and tribute to the thousands who have prayed, fasted, and kept me before the throne of God.  It made the difference!  TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Many stories and things have been written, told, spoken, and retold that really are not medically sound or even true in some cases.  This then is my own story as I experienced it.

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The annual revival crusade in Sydney, which I have preached  for many years, was a tremendous success.  Fifteen  were baptized in Jesus' mighty saving name!   Nine were filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost.   There were healings and wonderful deliverances!  The services were wonderfully attended and the Spirit of God moved mightily in each service to reach one and all present.  The manifestation of God and the response of the people were exciting and uplifting to behold.  The church in Sydney, Australia is a marvelous experience to attend and be a part of.  I am ever so fond of Pastor Slack and his congregation!

Being half English and half German myself,  I can relate to the British culture and influence of the land of Australia.  I stayed over a couple of days and then was at the Sydney airport on my way to another conference in Hawaii.  Pastor Slack and myself were at an airport restaurant standing before  the counter ordering.  I looked up at the menu on the wall and that was the last thing I remembered until the later in the hospital.  I fell, not crumpled down in a heap, but all six foot one and half inches of me fell straight backwards and the back of my head struck  the cement floor of the airport.

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Pastor Slack  fell on his knees

immediately at my side and began

praying loudly that  I would be raised

from the dead and live!   Jesus heard! 

 

Two policeman nearby came running

 to help  and together they worked

 untiringly to restore my life.  Pastor

 Slack was still praying...

 

The team shocked my heart ten times. 

Normally it is done only three

 times, but they would not give up. 

Pastor Slack

_________________

 

Nigel   

  Nigel, an ambulance officer,

  responded to the airport call for help.

  Along with another officer with him

  and a paramedic who arrived shortly,

  they began to work for my recovery.

  After thirty minutes during which time

  there was no heartbeat nor breathing

  at all;  suddenly my heart and

  breathing began to function.  I was

   taken to the hospital.

 

I am convinced that I owe  the Miracle of my life being restored  to Brother Slack's fervent prayers,  Nigel, and the others there assisting.  They worked as a unified team with my recovery as their goal. 

Nigel also came to the hospital to visit and to check on my well being and progress.  I shall ever be most grateful for such burden and unified efforts on my behalf from each member of the rescue team.  May they ever be Blessed  by God Himself!

_________________

 

 

Most people in the condition I was in, are dead at hospital arrival.      

I was not!

  There is only one reason for that ...

 

 He

died

that

I

might

live!

 

And I am alive because of His Death, His Life, His Love, and His Mercy!

To God Be The Glory!

_________________

 
There is tremendous interest and amazement at hospitals both in Australia and America concerning my case and hospital staff members have been very vocal about this fact.  In both hospitals I am called the "miracle patient."   Various hospital staff personnel came to my room  in both countries to hear my story directly from me.  Though I was weary and did not always feel well, I was determined to tell them about Jesus!   Many people commented when they came into my room that they could feel the Holy Ghost!  It was really tremendous!

The most outstanding happening occurred when I was first able to talk  during my fourteen day stay in the hospital in Sydney, Australia.  After I regained consciousness, I was told that doctors were coming in to speak with me.

When they came in, they sat down on chairs at the foot of my bed and did not speak, they just looked at the floor.   I felt badly because I thought that perhaps I personally was not cooperating in some way.  So I made an apology and explained that I wanted to cooperate, but that I had not slept well the night before,  I had a headache, and was generally not feeling well.

One of the doctors looked at me briefly and said, "Reverend,  it has nothing to do with you personally."  

I said, "Then what does it have to do with?"  

He said, "Medically you should be dead, but you are alive and we do not know why."

At that point I said, "Let me ask you a question.  Have  you ever heard of the Christ Jesus from Nazareth?"

Neither replied, so I restated my question.  At that point the other doctor looked at me and stated, "Yes, we have heard of Him."

I then said, "Then you admit that you know about Him?"  They replied in the affirmative that they did.   I said, "Here is understanding, you know about Him, but I KNOW HIM!"   They were emotionally moved!  I shall never forget the presence of God that I felt in those few moments of time.  It was simply WONDERFUL!

Doctors, nurses and other hospital staff have promised in both countries to come to the meeting where I am preaching the next time I am in their country.  These people are and were some of the very finest I have ever known professionally anywhere in the world!  I have made friends with some of them and plan to see and get together with them in the future.

_________________

 
I remember through the three years I attended Apostolic Bible Institute in St Paul, Minnesota, that every day at the fifteen minute break time we were given, I neither went downstairs to play ping pong  (I am not against ping pong) nor ate donuts, but rather went to the prayer room and  there I pleaded with God daily to use my life.  I begged God not to just let me occupy space on planet earth and asked that my living in this life would not be in vain.

What is most interesting in walking with God and in learning and knowing His ways, is that generally the answer He sends when we pray never looks like the answer we have pictured in the theater of our mind's eye. 

The things that happen to us so many times are nothing more or nothing less than the shadow of His hand outstretched caressingly bringing about His will for others and ourselves. 

Faith, in the simplest definition that I have been able to express, is simply: BLINDLY TRUSTING THAT GOD WILL ALWAYS DO THAT WHICH IS RIGHT BY YOU.  

The more you think about it, the more you realize how profoundly simple and true this statement really is.

_________________

 
Immediately upon hearing of my physical condition and what had happened to me in Sydney,  Pastor Jeff Young Sr. from Bethel Springs, Tennessee caught the first plane to Sydney and was at my side in the hospital room as soon as possible.   My sister came with a number of others who also traveled great distances to be at my side plus those from Australia itself.  There is no way to tell you the comfort and security this brought to me personally.  I shall never forget it!

The support I felt from the saints and friends in the church in Sydney was totally beyond the call of duty in every way.  Their kindness and help is rated among some of the very highest in all of my life's experiences.   To say that I am completely indebted is an understatement.  I will not and cannot ever forget it!

The homes and hospitality opened to me in both countries gave me a whole new look and perspective of what Christianity is really all about.

I am thankful for all that has happened to me.  The time spent in hospitals among people both known and unknown has caused me to re-evaluate everything about my life and ministry.  I am a better person. Therefore, I can say with complete sincerity that I am glad for what God has allowed in my life because I now know and see things I neither knew nor saw before. 

Not once in all of this did I ever experience even one second of fear.  It simply was never there.  My sufficiency is totally in Him.  I am ready to go or stay whatever His bidding may be.  What a marvelous way to live and what incredible comfort to possess  -  Simply stated:  IT IS FREEDOM that only Jesus can give!

_________________
   

Dr. Jeff Young Jr.

Dr. Young is 'expertise personified'

 He is brilliant and totally professional in his field!

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Medical Report:

On November 12, 2003, Brother Stoneking suffered a cardiac arrest due to a massive heart attack.  He suffered this ventricular fibrillation arrest at the airport in Sydney, Australia.  

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is the most commonly identified arrhythmia in cardiac arrest patients. This arrhythmia is a severe derangement of the heartbeat that usually ends in death within minutes unless corrective measures are promptly taken.  Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was administered by bystanders until paramedics could arrive.  I quote a letter I received from Dr. Mark Pitney in Australia (Brother Stoneking’s attending physician while in the hospital overseas): “Even with intubation (a breathing tube in place), paramedic CPR and repeated cardioversions (shocks to the heart—ten total shocks! ), a stable rhythm (heartbeat) and output (circulation) was not gained for thirty minutes.”

Basically, in common everyday vernacular, Brother Stoneking was dead for thirty minutes.  The first miracle of this was that he lived at all.  Sudden cardiac death accounts for approximately 300,000 deaths per year in the United States, of which 75-80% are due to VF. More deaths are attributable to VF than to lung cancer, breast cancer, or AIDS.  A major adverse outcome from a VF event is anoxic encephalopathy (brain damage due to lack of oxygen), which occurs in 30-80% of patients.   Irreversible brain damage usually occurs within 6 minutes.  Again, according to Brother Stoneking’s reports and the doctors I spoke with directly in Australia, no adequate heartbeat or circulation was established for thirty minutes.

When he collapsed, he struck his head on the concrete floor causing large hematomas.  As if a heart attack and VF arrest were not enough, this was a terribly complicating set of events.    A hematoma is a localized mass of blood confined within a space.  So when he fell he developed blood on the brain.  The reason this complicates matters so, is that the number one treatment for a patient having a heart attack is the use of powerful blood thinners.  Since he had bleeding on the brain he could not undergo any treatment for his heart attack.  Also, the fall caused a fracture of his skull.

He was taken to the cardiac catheterization lab (a special procedure room used to take angiograms or pictures of the arteries of the heart).  There they “initially” felt he needed to have open-heart surgery.  However, when I spoke with Dr. Pitney he stated to me, “I will send you Mr. Stoneking’s films for you and your colleagues to look at because I can’t explain what happened between the first shot and the second shot!”  What he meant by this was, with the first pictures taken it looked as though Brother Stoneking would need three to four bypasses because it looked like he had several severe blockages. However in the very next picture his blockages looked better.

Because of this miraculous finding, as well as, a spontaneous and what I can only explain as miraculous resolution of his heart attack,  it was felt by his neurologist and cardiologist in Sydney that he could be stabilized and sent back to the states for any procedures he might require.  Miraculously, and that is the only words I can use because it is a miracle, Brother Stoneking recovered in Sydney without any brain damage.

Upon getting him back to the states we readmitted him to the hospital and my colleagues and I began our own work-up.  The MRI of his brain here miraculously showed “no evidence of bleeding or even prior bleeding.”  This is a documented miracle, because I have a CT scan report from Australia that shows blood on the brain.  We also did a repeat CT scan after the MRI results to better assess his skull fracture.  I was in the CT room with Bro. Stoneking and the radiologist kept getting more and more pictures and questioned me about whether the doctors in Sydney were correct about the skull fracture because the only fracture he could find on CT here was one that looked “old."   This was another miracle!!

Bro. Stoneking finally underwent successful balloon angioplasty and stent to a 100% blocked right coronary artery.  The final miracle of it all was discovered in our Cath Lab here in the states.  Brother Stoneking’s heart was functioning at about half of what it should.  As a result of this he had some fluid on his lungs in Australia, a common complication following a heart attack of this magnitude.  With any heart attack there is usually some residual damage and this can be indefinite and can take up to 6 months for stunned myocardium (heart muscle) to recover, if it recovers at all.  When we reassessed his heart function here, his heart function was entirely normal!!!   

I can truly say that Brother Stoneking’s recovery and medical course is miraculous.  He was nicknamed the “miracle patient” at our hospital and people would come by just to see and talk with him.  To God be the glory!!  God is still in the miracle working business in the 21st century! 

Dr. Jeff Young Jr.

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Update:    In March of this year 2007, I had a complete blood lipid profile run at the hospital in Jackson, Tennessee.  The results returned out as one of the best they had seen and I am on no medication of any kind!

They now can check an individual's DNA.  They checked mine to see the marker for heart disease.  They found that I am not carrying the APOE geno genetic maker for heart disease!  Dr. Young said, "If it was there before God raised you from the dead (and it must have been in order for you to have the attack), when He raised you from the dead - He removed it!

This is totally impossible - it cannot be done!  A miracle totally!  Only God could do such a thing!"  

Dr. Jeff Young Jr.

_________________

 
Dr. Weiner, here in America, walked into my room the day after he treated my heart condition and told me,  "Reverend, you have excellent health!" 

 I said,  "What do you mean?"  He said,  "For one thing, none of us believe that you are sixty-three years of age.

Your blood pressure is normal;  there is no sugar diabetes in your body and  there is no cancer in your body.  The only thing is this beginning of blockage in the veins on the outside of the heart."

Dr. Weiner

is absolutely brilliant

and a total expert

in his field!

 He went on to say, "What we have done for you is good for over fifty years." 

My response was, "Doctor, I do not want to be disrespectful, but I don't think I want to hang around in this world another fifty years." 

He chuckled and together with others he confirmed that what they had done was a smashing success! 

TO GOD

BE THE GLORY!
 

My personal thanks and gratitude to Dr. Jeff Young Jr.  and Dr. Weiner for their expertise and total commitment to my recovery and well being.

How does one repay such care and love as described herein from strangers, friends, family, and ministers?  I am not sure, but my prayers are that the blessings of God be upon all of them.  No one is more deserving!

_________________

 

I shall not die, but live,

and declare the works

of the Lord.    Ps 117:18  

 

 
I feel so excited about the future of my ministry and all that God is going to do for all of us just before His soon return.

Several days ago at about 5:00 AM, Brother T. W. Barnes prophesied to me over the phone concerning my future and the happenings of God and this world.  Marvelous what is COMING DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD US!

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This CD can be ordered directly from my Bookstore

Click on CD Listing under CDs

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Understanding:

One thing that has become so forcefully impressed upon my heart and mind through this ordeal, is the truth that no matter how many or how few enemies,  foes, or demonic powers that  war against you,  until God says He is through with you, there is no thing nor any force--either human or demonic that can touch your life!

GOD IS THE FINAL VOICE AND AUTHORITY IN A CHILD OF GOD'S LIFE  and there is none that can alter it!

Those that get in God's way with what He ordains for and with your life will have Him to deal with and His judgments accordingly.  Selah!

Lee Stoneking

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My Miracle Update

November 2004

 
On November 12, 2004 I stepped into the pulpit in Sydney, Australia and said, "One year ago on November 12, 2003 I dropped dead of a massive heart attack in your airport and was clinically dead for 30 minutes.  But tonight I am back alive and well..."    the people stood and began to applaud!  It was a most emotional moment for me. 

_________________

 

Terribly Dead

is the emotion that gripped me when I was shown these photos taken by Brother Nassif with his cell phone one year ago when I was first admitted to the hospital in Sydney.  It was difficult because no photos were allowed by the hospital and the photos are small because of the tiny camera capabilities of his cell phone.   I am forever grateful to Brother Nassif for obtaining this lasting record of my being 'so terribly dead.' 

Brother Nassif had kept these photos on his cell phone since November 2003 until I returned in November 2004.  I had no idea that there were more than the one I already had.

 

 
Doctors in hospitals both in Sydney and here at home are forced to admit that it is a miracle of God.   There is no way to refute it because it is medically documented with eye witnesses all along the way.  TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

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Exact spot where I fell dead with a massive heart attack Nov 12, 2003

in Sydney, Australia at the Sydney airport on my day of departure

________________

Doug

Pastor Young
I will never forget the sacrifice and expression of concern toward me as a Brother in the Lord when I was unable to help myself...  Brother Jeff Young and Brother Doug came immediately from Bethel Springs, Tennessee to assist in any way they could on my behalf.  Brother Young has been a loyal and trusted friend for nearly twenty years.

 

I was heavily sedated with powerful drugs and was filled with tubes and wires shortly after this photo was taken.  I kept pulling them out which  understandably frustrated the nurses and doctors assigned to my care.

In their frustration, they determined to totally strap me in so that I could not move.  This announcement was made the morning Brother Young and Brother Doug arrived and came into my room.

Upon hearing the doctor's intent, Brother Young said, "No, we will not let you do that to him.  We will sit on either side of him and hold him down all day and pray!"  They did so...  and early the next morning when they came to see me, I was sitting up on the side of my bed and said, "Brother Young, what are you doing here?"  It was the first time I even realized they were there because of the medication.  About that time, the doctor walked in and exclaimed, "This is not the same man I took care of last night!"  Their prayers had broken the power of the drugs and from that moment on I was totally restored to normal.  The news spread through the hospital and many came to view and to hear a man raised from the dead by the Power of God in our day!  TO GOD BE THE GLORY - HE ALONE CAN TAKE IT IN MY CASE...

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As I left Sydney after the Revival Crusade in November of 2004 -  (one year later after the heart attack,) I asked Brother Slack on the way to the airport if we could have breakfast at the restaurant where I had fallen and lay dead for over thirty minutes the year before.  And he replied, "No problem." 

In the above photo I am sitting where the policeman had been sitting when he saw me fall and who rushed to assist me with CPR until the ambulance arrived...

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The owner of the restaurant greeting me one year later-Nov 2004

Directly behind her to the left is the waitress.  When Brother Slack and I walked into the restaurant, the waitress immediately recognized me and came quickly exclaiming,  "You look great!"  I simply replied,  "I'm doing great!"   She then went quickly into the back and brought out the owner.  The owner said, "You look great"  when she saw me and my response was the same!  They were happy to see me and expressed great kindness toward me and those with me.

The restaurant had been closed after I had the heart attack.  A crowd gathered around to watch the CPR, and electric shock treatments to the heart and chest area.  Portable walls were brought and put up to keep the crowd away...

________________

 

This photo is a real treasure to me.  Sister Nassif, myself, Brother Nassif, Brother Slack, and Jena saw me off from the airport and I positioned myself so that while we ate, I could look just a few feet beyond me and view the floor where one year before I had lain dead for thirty minutes.   It moved me in ways I cannot totally explain.  But the reality of life and the Power of God is more pronounced in my life than ever before.

________________

 

Pastor Ted Slack and Myself - Nov 2004

We both know in such reality, WHAT A DIFFERENCE JESUS MAKES!

He is still the Resurrection and the Life  -  AMEN!

________________

 

When I was put in the ambulance, I was slated for DOA -  Dead on Arrival

The blood had coagulated in my hands, forearms, feet and calves.  What I did not know is that it had also clotted in my heart.  There were clots and the doctor's advice was,  "We have to cut him open immediately to even try to save his life."   Pastor Slack and those with him said, 'No, we'll pray."  And they prayed...   they took another set of pictures of my heart and the clots and blockages had disappeared!!!  They did not cut me open.  The photos above portray Dr. Pitney's exclamations and comments concerning this miracle.  

Dr. Pitney told me himself that there was one huge blood clot at the top of the heart area.  But it totally disappeared and he said,  "We do not know what happened to it.!  BUT WE DO -  JESUS STEPPED ON THE SCENE!

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Dr. Pitney and myself in his office Nov 2004

We had a wonderful discussion about it all.  He was ever so kind and totally interested in me and my welfare.  I simply wanted to walk in, shake his hand, and thank him for all he had done for me.

He gave me the photos with the clots and without the clots in my heart.  They are now in my album of memories from My Miracle in Sydney!

________________

 

Nigel

Ambulance Driver

Through the year of 2004,  I stayed in contact with Nigel and asked to see him when I returned in November of 2004.

He so very kindly agreed and we had lunch together.  In all, we spent about three hours chatting and sharing.

In that time, there were many questions I wanted to ask him because he was the only one that would really know.  He was the one who had attended to me and had administered the electric shock treatments to my heart while lying  dead on the floor of the Sydney airport.

I asked him, "Nigel, what happened when you shocked my heart?"  He said, "It would beat two or three times; sometimes four times; and then STOP!

He said, "Lee, everything that could go wrong went wrong.  We were not told you had had a heart attack.  Only that someone had fallen at the airport.  This is routine work for us, so we were not aware of the graveness of your situation.  People fall daily at the airport resulting in sprains of various kinds.

It was not until we were walking in the airport that a policeman came and said, "You must come quickly.  This man is very sick.  They are giving him CPR.  It was then I realized it was quite serious!  When we got to the restaurant and saw you lying on the floor, I knew you were dead.  Nothing worked.  Even the battery on my machine went dead.  We were able to use another one which the paramedic had brought with her."

I said, "Nigel, when did I really begin to breath and my heart begin to beat?"  He said,  "Lee, it was not until you were in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and you were expected to arrive Dead On Arrival."

I said,  "So, Nigel, I was actually clinically dead for longer than thirty minutes wasn't I?"  He replied immediately, "Oh yes,  you were dead for at least forty-five minutes."

My condition was far worse than I knew and the Miracle of my being raised from the dead even more Miraculous than I had understood! 

How can I repay Jesus, Nigel, doctors, Pastor Slack and congregation there in Sydney, and believers world wide for all they have so gracious done and given on my behalf?   I will continue to do for others on behalf of Jesus and His Great Commission to Preach the Gospel to every creature what I have always done.  It is all I know and feel to do...

Someone said, "What a price to pay with what you have been through."   My reply:  "BEHOLD THE PURCHASE OF SUCH A PRICE!"    Miraculous healings have taken place in the lives of people all over the world where I have gone since I have been raised from the dead!   His every wish is my command and someday when I see Him,  my ultimate reward will be to simply hear Jesus say:   "WELL DONE."  Nothing else really matters to me.

God Bless all who read here and may the Love of God flood your whole being as never before!  Jesus grant it I Pray!

________________

 

 
The sacrifices of love and devotion shown and demonstrated during my hospital vigil by this staff and people are indelibly engrained in my memory...  I can never forget.  They sat with me daily and nightly.   They never left me alone  -  constant prayer was lifted to God on my behalf continuously. 

The power of prayer by the people of God has no equal  -   and in the Church, we are covered with that which moves the heart, the might,  and  the Hand of God!

Lee Stoneking

 
 

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