May 2019

Today I met “Raymond” and his mother.  Raymond has a horrible case of Down syndrome.  He acts out verbally and is quite scary.  As a matter of fact he was clearing out the establishment I walked into when I met them.  So, instead of leaving – of course – I approach the mother and ask if he has Tourette’s.  She responded by telling me “No, he has Down syndrome.”  Later she shared that he is non-verbal, has psychosis, extreme physical tics and has displayed the power of six men when he has been restrained; which, she says, shouldn’t happen.  I agreed totally as I immediately recognized this as a spiritual problem; and you would too after looking at Raymond and his physical appearance. He’s tiny.   He has a long history of all types of serious medications, sojourns in medical facilities to address his condition, and an unfortunate brief stint in foster care, to which he still acts out disturbing demonstrations of what possibly happened to him in that environment.  However, my mind was immediately taken to the Book of Mark, The Gerasene Demoniac, and that his issues were demonically inspired. As his mother told me about the innumerable failed attempts at care from back when he was just a toddler, locally and beyond, to the present Jesus was telling me to pray for her son.  I didn’t know if she was a believer or not, but I asked, “What about Jesus?  Have you tried Jesus?”  She paused and answered “No.” Then she questioning herself as to why she had never had a body of believers pray for her son.  Long story short, I prayed for Raymond.  From the moment I engaged in conversation with mom and her son, his behavior changed and he became very docile.  I prayed for Raymond (he allowed me to get close to him) and hugged him at the end.  He was very calm and even seemed to like me.  I told her that Jesus had told me to come to the place where we met before I arrived.  We agreed this was a divine appointment.  No one in the medical world has been able to do anything for Raymond during his 25 years of life.  I believe Jesus can do anything.