Roger Morneau is a man of remarkable faith. When he prays, things happen. Some miracles have saved him from certain death. But most are in response to prayers for others. Patients dying in a hospital get well. Shattered families are reunited. Addicts find freedom. And hearts are changed. Every year Roger Morneau received thousands of calls and letters requesting intercessory prayer. As he shared God’s amazing answers, he showed how you too can take hold of the incredible power of prayer.
Read also: A Trip Into the Supernatural (Roger Morneau)
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INCREDIBLE POWER OF PRAYER (PDF)
This book was adapted from three previous books by Roger J. Morneau: Incredible Answers to Prayer, More Incredible Answers to Prayer, and When You Need Incredible Answers to Prayer.
THIS IS THE HOUSE OF DEATH
On December 1, 1984, I was on the verge of dying in the intensive care unit of the Greater Niagara General Hospital in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I had congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation that the physicians could not reverse. As the cardiologist stated a few days later, if my wife had taken 20 minutes longer in getting me to the hospital, I would have been dead before arrival.
It came upon me unexpectedly. My wife, Hilda, and I were visiting her mother for the weekend. Our trip from central New York had been pleasant, and we had had an enjoyable evening with Mother. Retiring at 10:00 p.m., I felt unusually tired and slept comfortably till about 3:00 a.m., when I awoke with sweat pouring down my face. Although I realized that I was having some discomfort in breathing, I attributed it to the bedroom being overheated.
When I opened the window about two inches, the cool winter air immediately improved my condition. However, I could not get back to sleep. I kept tossing in bed, and my breathing problem returned after a while.
I kept opening the window wider as breathing became more difficult, till by 7:00 a.m. I had it completely up.
After taking a shower, I became extremely tired and realized that something was definitely wrong with me. It took all the strength I could muster just to shave. Walking to the car required as much effort as if I were climbing a hill.
In the emergency room the staff quickly rigged me up with an oxygen mask, intravenous tubing dripping medication into my system, and a diagnostic monitor to check the activities of my heart. A cardiologist with the assistance of several nurses did everything they could to keep me alive.
A short while later they placed me in the intensive care unit, which was already filled to capacity. Because all the glassed-in chambers were occupied, they assigned me a bed in the open area close to the nurses’ station.
I had, so to speak, a foot already in the grave, as my breathing had grown so shallow that I could hardly get any oxygen into my lungs. I now believed that I was going to die, and my conviction deepened when someone asked if I would like to have a minister come and see me. In my feeble condition I stated that I felt too sick to have anyone visit, except my wife, who was allowed to see me for 10 minutes every two hours. Besides, for almost 40 years I had made it a daily practice to seek out God and prepare myself to die.
While I realized that my condition was critical, I was also aware that a number of other people in the ward were struggling to hold on to life. “This is the house of death,” I told myself.
## The Presence of God
Thirty-six hours passed, and I was still alive and now able to breathe without having the oxygen mask on all the time. My thoughts ascended to God in a melody of praise.
That Sunday evening the intensive care unit was in a state of great urgency, and the head nurse called for additional help to meet the situation. To my immediate right an elderly man appeared on the point of death as two nurses struggled to keep him alive. To my left a man in his 30s, already having had three heart attacks, stated that he was probably living his last days.
Lights flashed at the nurses’ station with increasing frequency as the condition of a great number of patients worsened. Because of my close proximity to the station, I could hear comments that indicated that the condition of some patients was deteriorating and becoming desperate.
Not for myself, but for others, my thoughts ascended to God in prayer. For 39 years I had seen the power of intercessory prayer bring great blessings into the lives of many. One practice that I had formed early in my Christian life was to bring the spiritually sick, those who have had head-on collisions with sin and become spiritual and at times physical wrecks, to what I like to refer to as Christ’s intensive care unit. The results had been rewarding, as many times I had seen my prayers answered before my eyes.
As I considered my Lord and Saviour in the Holy of Holies of the heavenly sanctuary ministrating in behalf of fallen humanity (Hebrews 8:1, 2), I found my heart soaring in thanksgiving for all the many blessings He had so compassionately bestowed on others in answer to my prayers. And my joy in the Lord was great as I reflected upon God’s never-failing compassion toward me, a most undeserving human being.
Now I asked for the mighty power of the Holy Spirit of God to surround everyone with a spiritual atmosphere of light and peace and to restore them to health if it was His will. And to encourage my own Christian experience as I lay at the point of death, I asked God to allow me to see His healing touch at work in that ICU. Then I thanked the Great Physician, the Author of our being, for answering my prayers.
As I had discovered years before during a time when I had been personally involved in spirit worship, demonic spirits struggle hard before yielding their prey to the power of the Spirit of God. For about 15 minutes a large number of patients experienced increasing distress, and nurses actually ran to their aid. Then the medical staff’s fears became reality as the heart of a Mr. Smith stopped beating.
The emergency beeper at the nursing station went into action, intensifying the sense of urgency. Immediately the head nurse asked over the PA system for all the doctors in the hospital to come and assist. Three physicians raced into the unit. A nurse on the run retrieved the resuscitator that had been left at the opposite end of the room.
About 10 minutes went by while the medical staff did all they could to restore him to life, with no success. In fact, one of them, leaving the room with his head down, came to the nurses’ station and said to the nurse there, “The man is gone.” Immediately, I appealed to the Lord of life in prayer, asking Him to restore Mr. Smith by the mighty power of the “Spirit of life” in Him (Romans 8:2), that great power that raised Lazarus from the dead. No sooner had I said amen than Mr. Smith regained consciousness and asked why so many people were in his room. He stated that he was extremely hungry, and asked if he could have some food.
Another of the physicians approached the station and told the nurse to order something from the kitchen, adding, “I have never seen anything like this in all my years.”
My prayers had been answered in miraculous ways in that not only was Mr. Smith alive and feeling great, but also the peace of heaven now blessed those present in the intensive care unit. A state of quietness invaded the place. Nurses leisurely stood in the doorways of the glassed-in rooms as their patients actually fell asleep in the peace and comfort previously denied them. As for myself, I could feel the presence of God.
## New Leases on Life
For long hours Hilda had been waiting to spend some of her allotted 10 minutes with me. About 10:00 p.m. she came in for the last time that day before returning to her mother’s place for the night. During her stay in the waiting room of the ICU she had become acquainted with Mrs. Smith. The woman had been greatly disturbed over the condition of her husband, who—having given up hope—had actually declared that he wanted to die. Now Mrs. Smith told her of the marvelous—and even miraculous—change in her husband’s physical condition, and of the drastic change of attitude he now possessed. Before he had said that he had wanted to die, but now he announced that he wanted to live.
Four days later I had the privilege of meeting the Smiths on the cardiac floor of the hospital. Their joy reflected the peace of God’s love. Hilda has been corresponding with the woman, who has informed her that her husband has been in excellent health and hasn’t missed any work since leaving the hospital. He retired, with the prospect of some good years ahead of him.
The day after Mr. Smith’s recovery, the doctors discovered that some of their patients in the ICU were well enough to transfer out to other floors of the hospital. The condition of the cardiac patient on my left had changed so much for the better that the hospital moved him immediately, and he was exuberant with joy as he looked forward to a bright future. The elderly man on my right was like a different person. His physician was greatly surprised over the change in his condition, and declared him ready to be transferred the next morning if he continued to improve. It took place on Tuesday morning as anticipated. I was delighted to see my prayers answered before my eyes.
But as for myself, things didn’t look good. In fact, at 8:00 a.m. on that Tuesday the cardiologist, answering my questions about my condition, indicated that the possibility of my getting out of the unit alive was extremely slim. Lab tests revealed that a virus had done irreparable damage to my heart.
With my heartbeats so irregular, I simply could not remain alive long in my current state. The doctor suggested one last treatment: to stop my heart with 50 volts of electricity, and restart it with a 200-volt shock. I signed the necessary papers to allow him to proceed. Later that afternoon the cardiologist informed me that the procedure had not helped.
My condition worsened as my lungs filled up with fluid. I realized that I wouldn’t last much longer. That evening, although low physically, my mind was alert as I thought back upon almost six decades of living. Scene after scene passed through my mind, and my heart filled with gratitude to God as I saw the care He had exercised over me, even when I had no use for Him. Eventually my memory went back to when I was 7 years of age.
“He is alive! He is still alive!” Edmond, my older brother, shouted after shutting the power off and jumping through a remodeling opening in the floor to the basement below. I had tripped on a block of wood and fallen on a machine strap 14 inches wide. The strap drove a three-foot wheel deriving power from a nine-foot one with the help of a 350-pound tightener spinning on the strap. People had heard my shouts for help way up to the second floor even over the noise of the heavy machinery of the feed mill my father owned in eastern Canada.
If a three-inch steel shaft had not dislodged from its heavy mountings as a violent shock shook the building, I would have instantly perished. But instead the strap fell off the smaller wheel, which in turn caused the tightener to drop off the strap. I had fallen chest down on the strap, which carried me under the larger wheel, then up to the top, where I became wedged against a ceiling beam.
The wheel never slowed down until someone turned the power off. Almost all my clothes were torn off—a heavy winter jacket, a sweater, flannel shirt, and heavy underwear. My left arm was hanging down along the side of the wheel, and friction had worn the top of my hand and fingers down to the bones. For a while the doctor thought he might have to amputate, but I had praying parents who knew by experience the power of prayer in Christ, and all turned out well.
It took three days to repair the damage done to the machinery. According to the millwrights who worked on putting things back in running order, a supernatural force must have caused the damage. They stated that the weight of the tightener alone would have crushed every bone in my body and the machinery wouldn’t have slowed down a bit, much less cause that heavy steel shaft to slip out of place. The force that jolted it free, they estimated, had to be equivalent to the impact of an object of one ton.
“O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:8).
Yet as I thought over my past, I recalled at age 12 how bitter I had become toward God when my mother was lowered in her grave. In my grief I could not adjust to the idea that a good God would allow the suffering of humanity to go on and on, and do nothing to end it. I lost belief in Him and the supernatural. In my late teens I read the works of infidels, then some of Charles Darwin’s writings, and to top it all, Thomas Henry Huxley’s works convinced me that man was a direct descendant of apes. By the age of 21 I considered myself to be an atheist, having rejected all the Catholic beliefs I had ever had, and denied the existence of God. Then unexpectedly I had a most shocking experience with the supernatural. And little did I know that God was watching and caring for me.
It was 1946 in Montreal, Canada, and I met a wartime buddy who had become a member of a society that claimed to communicate with the spirits of the dead. I became involved in their practices, and before long my friend and I were led into a secret society who worshiped super intelligent, beautiful beings whom they referred to as gods. In fact, their worship room contained numerous beautiful paintings of spirits who had materialized, were photographed, then had paintings made of them.
During that time I was working for a Jewish embroidery firm. One of the owners asked me to do him a favor. He had just hired a man whose religious beliefs puzzled him. The boss wanted me to find out what denomination he belonged to. In the process I became deeply interested in what the Bible had to say about the supernatural world of spirits.
A couple days went by; then the spirits informed the high priest of our society that I was studying the Bible and that the gods were furious. Within a few short days the group’s leaders offered a $10,000 contract on my life. But the spirits advised that the killing should not be done by anyone outside of the society, and that members should dispose of me by shooting me at a convenient time. The spirits would endow three volunteers with the gift of clairvoyance, enabling them to know where I was at all times. Again the Lord delivered me from an early grave. (A detailed account appears in my book *A Trip Into the Supernatural* [Review and Herald, 1993].)
Now, in that hospital bed, although my body was failing, my mind was still clear and sharp. I realized more than ever before the power contained in God’s holy Word, as Psalm 103:10-14 (scriptures memorized years back) went through my mind: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”
Hope, encouragement, and faith sprang into my heart. With joy I recalled that bright sunny day during April 1947 when I was baptized in Montreal, Canada.
In the autumn of that year the Lord greatly enriched my life when on September 20 Hilda and I united in marriage. My young bride was a devout woman who understood the power of intercessory prayer, and who for four decades has been instrumental in securing from on high the divine help that has kept Satan from bringing me to an early grave.
Now becoming extremely tired, I asked the Lord to give me some rest, and I would converse with Him in prayer at 3:00 a.m. when the nurses would awaken me for my medications.
## The Hour of Deliverance
Since 1946 when I had had that unique encounter with demonic spirits, I had experienced moments of fright as I thought about the future. Then the Spirit of God would bless me by leading me to read two portions of Scripture: Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,” and Romans 8:38, 39, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In that way I learned to fortify myself in the merits of the sacrificial blood of Christ. And in addition, I made it a part of my morning devotions to review the events of that sacrifice by reading Matthew 27:24-54. Such practices have removed all fear of the destroyer, and served to surround me with a spiritual atmosphere of light and peace. So, after taking my medications at 3:00 a.m., I reviewed mentally those verses of Scripture just mentioned. I presented before my great High Priest in the Holy of Holies of the heavenly sanctuary, my personal needs, telling Him that if my pilgrimage through this land of the enemy was coming to an end, it was OK with me, seeing that it is the common lot of humanity to go to the grave sooner or later. But I added, “Lord, if it be pleasing in Thy sight, I would appreciate Your honoring the prayers of the many persons who are praying for my recovery, so that they may see them answered, and their Christian experience strengthened. If so, then bless my damaged heart with the power of the Spirit of life in Thee, that great power that raised Lazarus from the dead, and impart to me strength and energy sufficient to meet the needs and demands of this day.”
From experience I had learned that when in faith we take hold of His strength, He will change—wonderfully change—the most hopeless, discouraging outlook, if it is our heavenly Father’s will. As I closed my morning devotions an assurance rested upon me that all was well, regardless of what the outcome might be.
I slept soundly till 6:00 a.m. when the lab nurse came to draw some blood. By 7:30 the cardiologist approached my bed with a smile on his face that let me understand that his concern over my condition had lessened. He began by saying that things were looking up, and that a great change for the better had taken place, something he could hardly believe. Pointing to the heart monitor, he said, “The last time I saw you, the monitor was indicating that your heart was beating anywhere between 145 and 185 times per minute. Now it’s in the 80s. If your condition holds this good till 3:00 this afternoon, I will have you transferred to the cardiac unit of the hospital.”
By 3:00 p.m. my improved condition was holding, and an orderly wheeled me into a lovely room with the sun shining in brightly. Suddenly I realized that my enjoyment of life had grown as never before. Even the dirty city snow somehow awakened in me a new sense of appreciation as I watched the little sparrows bounce around on it.
The Lord had seen me through “the valley of the shadow of death,” and I had reached new heights of understanding about the power of intercessory prayer. And though I had almost passed through the portal of the tomb, I now valued the experience, realizing that the Lord of glory had been at my side through the presence of His Spirit in a way that I had never known before.
Almost a week to the hour that I had been admitted to the emergency room, I walked out of the hospital on my own two feet. Those feet may not have moved very fast, but they did carry me again to the world outside, and that was wonderful.
GOD PROTECTS HIS CHILD
God used a number of experiences to prepare me so that He could then bless others through my intercessions. They helped me to see both the importance and power of intercessory prayer.
The first of these experiences happened in the wintertime. For a number of days I had been studying the biblical concept of faith. While Scripture speaks of vast numbers of people having had their lives ruled by distrust of God and unbelief, it also reveals how certain persons acquired a living faith by developing an unfaltering trust in our heavenly Father, and in the power of His Holy Spirit. I decided to keep thanking the Lord for all the many times in my life when His Spirit had given me faith, and asked Him to increase it.
That particular morning in my devotions I read the experience of Philip in Acts 8, where an angel told him to go south of Jerusalem on the road to Gaza. There he saw the treasurer of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, sitting in his chariot reading a scroll of Isaiah. Then the Spirit of God said to Philip, “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”
As a result, a baptism took place, and the Bible says that “when they were come out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip.” And he found himself at Azotus, a little town about 20 miles from where he had left the Ethiopian eunuch.
Reading the story, I said to myself, What exciting times those days were when the Spirit of God was so close to people. And through the rest of that day I meditated on the biblical story.
In those days I was a salesman, and that evening I had a 9:00 p.m. appointment with a building contractor living on a rural road about four miles west of Castile, New York. Our home was in Curriers, about seven miles north of Arcade. To avoid a route that would have forced me to go east in a roundabout way, I had gotten instructions to go cross-country on some county roads that would supposedly save me a lot of travel time. Unfortunately, it didn’t. I got lost three times because of the constant crossroads, and I made wrong turns. It meant stopping and asking directions at farms, and I arrived almost an hour late.
On my way there I realized that my gas gauge had dropped rather low, but reasoned that the best thing to do was to fill the tank in Castile afterward. We got involved talking business, and time flew by. When I had finished writing up an order and was ready to leave, my watch indicated almost midnight. By then the thought of getting gasoline had left me. The contractor, desiring to save me going into Castile in order to take Route 39, a state road that would carry me west into Arcade and home, suggested that I drive three miles west from his residence, then take a left that would get me directly onto Route 39.
I was reluctant to go that way, but he said I couldn’t make a wrong turn because of a huge landmark at that intersection. As I stepped out on the porch, the cold chilled me instantly. He looked at his thermometer, which read five degrees below zero.
“I hope you have a good battery,” he said.
“Yes, sir. One of the best for winter driving.”
Waving goodbye, I left. Because of the bitter cold, it took longer than usual to get heat into the car, and it absorbed all my attention. I had traveled about five miles when all of a sudden the engine began to lose power. A glance at the gas gauge told me the tank was empty. Terror struck my mind as I realized that the last farm I had passed was more than a mile away, and no more were in sight.
Like a flash I saw myself in a hospital bed with my toes cut off. You see, when I was 17 years of age, I froze all my toes one morning in northern Quebec when the temperature had gone down to -42° F. I spent five months in the hospital. The flesh turned black and actually fell off my toes. Afterward I had a number of operations, skin grafts, etc. And the day of my discharge the surgeon who had worked on my feet sat me down and stated that I should no longer live in that part of the world. He believed that my feet would quickly freeze if exposed to the cold, and that the only thing that could be done then would be to amputate.
Now in a burst of fear I cried out, “Dear Jesus, please help.” Many times before when certain destruction stared me in the face, I had made that call for help, and Jesus had never failed me. Immediately a great calm came over me. But the car was still slowing down.
“Forgive me for being so panicky, seeing that You have never failed me,” I prayed. “O Lord, I know that the Spirit of God that transported Philip 20 miles so long ago can get me and this car over those hills into Curriers if He so chooses. Dear Jesus, may the Spirit of God that controls the atoms please fuel this car so it will take me home without stopping. Thank You, Lord, for Your help.”
It was almost as if something hit the back of my automobile, and it shot forward; then the motor started to accelerate and hummed like never before. The speedometer climbed and when it reached the speed limit I had to release my foot from the pedal, as the vehicle kept dashing ahead. Eagle Hill—which I had never climbed without the transmission shifting down—I now sped up in high gear. Jubilantly I praised the Lord for His miracle-working power.
I began quoting verses of Scripture, such as Psalm 107:1, 2, and 8: “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” “O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
Praising the Lord with my whole heart and at the same time crying for joy, I felt the words of Psalm 105:1-5 had never sounded so wonderful. “O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face ever-more. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth.”
After I pulled into the driveway, up a small grade, and past the side entrance of our house, the car stopped. It did not reach the garage. Turning the ignition off, I ran into the house, surprised to see the lights on in the kitchen.
About 11:45 p.m. Hilda had awakened, and realizing that I was not home yet, got on her knees and prayed for God’s loving care over me. As I entered, she knew that something great and wonderful had happened. “You look excited. What’s the good news?”
I recounted how the Spirit of God had brought me home 27 miles without any gas in the tank. We had a praise session to the Lord that probably lasted an hour, then went to bed but could not sleep most of the night, as we kept talking about my experience.
In the morning I tried to start the car, but it would not. We had to fetch gasoline from the neighbor’s farm to get it going.
## Facing Death and No Time to Pray
Nothing prepares a person for sincere heartfelt prayer as the threat of death. And I have found by experience that nothing calms fear as well as memorizing verses of Scripture that tell of God’s deliverance in ages past. During times of need the Spirit of God fortifies the mind with the power inherent in the Word of God.
I have had experiences that would have driven me crazy were it not that I had fortified my mind in the Word of God, and trusted the Lord to carry me through whatever He would allow to come my way.
In late March, about two months after the previous incident, we had a lot of snow in the western New York area. In Wyoming County around the Arcade-Rushford area, snowplows had piled up mounds in some places as high as 10 feet. But the rigor of winter was beginning to abate, the sun was gaining strength, and the days were getting longer.
One particular evening while I traveled home I occupied my time memorizing 2 Chronicles 16:9: “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” By then I neared Rushford, driving at a reasonable rate of speed and slowing down before each turn in the road, as it was impossible to see if any vehicles were coming around the corner.
Suddenly I came upon a stretch of road that was quite slippery, as some of the snow had thawed during the day, then refroze when the sun went down, leaving large patches of ice. It was impossible to brake lest I lose control of the car. Touching neither brake nor accelerator, I let the car roll into the curve with the hope that nothing approached from the opposite direction.
As I rounded the corner I saw a large horse standing in the middle of the road. There was no way to avoid hitting it. My hands froze on the steering wheel, and all I could say in a call for help was “Dear Jesus.” Instantly some force, which I believe to be the Spirit of God, since I felt the exact same presence that night two months before, wrestled the steering wheel out of my hands and directed the car toward the front legs of the horse. Just a moment before impact the animal reared up on its hind legs, and I slumped in my seat to avoid the hoofs hitting me in the face through the windshield.
They cleared the car probably by one or two inches. A short distance down the road I managed to bring the car to a stop and give my pounding heart a couple minutes to recover and at the same time send forth a prayer of thanks.
Realizing the danger to other motorists, I drove to the first house down the road to see if the horse belonged there. When I explained what had happened, the man stated that the animal belonged to a neighbor and was kept indoors during the winter months. Picking up the phone, he contacted the owner, who declared that his horse had been in its stall a half hour ago when he had completed his evening chores. However, he would check and call right back.
A few minutes later the message came that in some mysterious way the horse had gotten out. The stall door was wide open, the barn door was ajar, and the animal was gone.
Neither man could figure out how it could have taken place. Nobody could have reached the barn without someone seeing him, since the driveway faced a large picture window in the kitchen where the family had been at the time. “It’s strange, strange,” they said.
My wife and I had another praise session to our heavenly Father. Death had stared me in the face, but the eyes of the Lord had been upon me, and His Spirit brought deliverance. That incident helped me to grow in knowledge of God.
Lamentations 3:22-26 contains special words of hope and assurance of God’s loving care over those who place their lives in His protection. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”
Many times over the years my heart has lifted up to God in thanksgiving whenever the Spirit of God has brought me out of impossible situations.
## Truck Crash
For almost 20 years I worked in telephone directory advertising sales (yellow pages) for both the Bell and Continental telephone systems in Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. For the last five of those years, I was division sales manager for the Mast Advertising and Publishing firm of Overland Park, Kansas, publishers of directories for Continental Telephone and other independent telephone companies. I had charge of directory people in the Northeast Division, covering an area of eight states.
Yearly I traveled anywhere between 25,000 and 45,000 miles. I was on the road in rainstorms, snowstorms, dense fog, and other unfavorable conditions. Frequently I saw cars hurtling at me that were undoubtedly driven by drunks or individuals with their minds spaced out on drugs.
To be crushed in a car on a highway is something that doesn’t attract much media attention in this day and age, but to be smashed in a car in a Sears parking lot could get front-page attention.
In December 1971 I was working on the Watertown, New York, telephone directory. For a few nights it had been exceedingly cold for that time of the year, and one morning I wanted to assure myself that my battery would not fail me, so I proceeded to the Sears auto department to have it checked.
It was a busy morning in the service department, undoubtedly brought about by the cold spell that had taken many by surprise. Being unable to bring the car indoors (the bays were filled), the service manager brought a tester out to the car, performed the necessary checks, and announced that the battery would carry me through another winter without any problems.
Meanwhile a large tractor-trailer loaded with 27 tons of cargo had parked sideways behind my car while the driver went inside the store to get unloading instructions. My car faced the building, making it impossible to get away. At the time I was driving a small Saab. The manager suggested that I back up under the body of the huge trailer, as there was sufficient room to do so. He would guide me in the maneuver.
The truck motor was turned off and the brakes set, or otherwise it would have rolled down the hill, since the parking lot was on a steep incline.
Slowly I backed under the trailer while the service manager directed me. When I had all of the car under the trailer except the motor, suddenly I felt that same feeling of urgency that I had experienced in previous emergencies. I remember bringing the gearshift out of reverse position; then what seemed to be a powerful and sudden push propelled the car forward. If I had not had my foot on the brake I would have hit the building. Even with that lunge forward, the vehicle did not get completely out of the path of the truck that suddenly shot backward, hitting the rear bumper and knocking the taillight off the fender. The blow shoved the back part of the car sideways about three feet.
The people who had been watching me back up under the trailer ran to the car to see if I was all right. Although shaken some, I was not hurt. They kept repeating, “Are you all right? Man, are you ever fortunate. You were almost killed. How did you get that car forward so quickly? How did you know that the truck was going to roll? How were you able to stop the car from going into the brick wall?” One elderly woman declared, “Your angel saved your life. God must certainly love you a lot.” A man said, “Fellow, you were almost crushed flat into that car. Do you realize that?”
The tractor-trailer damaged several cars, jackknifed, then stopped as it demolished the back half of a large Chrysler. The driver of the rig appeared on the scene in time to see his vehicle crash into the last car. Unable to believe his eyes, he emphatically declared that he had the truck in forward gear and that the emergency brake was on.
The owner of the Chrysler was furious. He and his wife had gotten out of the car just a few seconds before the accident and were walking up to the store; they had to run out of the way to avoid being hit. He began accusing the driver of being many unflattering things, including being an idiot for leaving a truck standing without the brakes secured properly. Determined to check them there and then, he started for the cab, but the driver refused to let anyone enter it and stayed out of it himself until the Watertown police could get there and make an accident report.
A great number of people gathered quickly, everyone curious to know what had taken place. They were amazed that I had escaped certain death. When the police arrived they tried to disperse the crowd and clear the way so that traffic could move, but the people didn’t want to leave.
One of the officers climbed into the cab of the truck to examine the controls. He stated to his partner that the ignition was off and the gear shift was in neutral, and the light on the dashboard indicated that the brakes were on. Naturally he couldn’t figure out what had happened that would have allowed the truck to roll as it did.
When he prepared his report I was the first one he interviewed. At the close, he said, “Mr. Morneau, you are a very lucky person in the fact that you are alive at this moment. A second longer under that trailer, and you would not be here making an accident report. Instead you would have made the front page of the evening paper, and I can imagine how that would read.”
As I drove away, the words “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning” went through my mind.
JESUS’ INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
As I studied the life of our Lord, I was especially drawn to the writings of the apostle Paul. It amazed me that Jesus had appeared to the man on his way to Damascus to point out that his religious zeal was misguided.
Think of it—the Lord of glory talking to a man who hurled believers into prison, was instrumental in having many put to death, and even found pleasure in trying to force some of them to blaspheme (Acts 26:10, 11).
Questions kept running through my mind. Why would God follow such a course with Saul of Tarsus? Was He showing favoritism toward Saul by working for his salvation in a manner different from what He was willing to do to save other men into His eternal kingdom?
Then one day as I was sitting in my car waiting in a long line in front of a car wash, an answer came loud and clear. I had my Bible open, reading 1 Timothy 2: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority. . . . For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” I became deeply impressed with the thought that God was calling me to do a work that not even the angels of heaven could do. He wanted me to be an intercessor for the unsaved and the ungodly that I met in my work. And I knew exactly where to find the power to help such people—in prayer and supplication to God, who waits for our requests for help so that He will then have the legal right in the sight of the inhabitants of the universe to move with power into Satan’s domain and rescue his captives.
One morning I called on an automobile body repairing and painting shop. As I reviewed the copy in his display ad, the owner stated that he needed a few days to make up his mind, as he was contemplating closing the business (if he did, he would cancel his ad). I asked why he would do a thing like that, when he had what seemed to be a very progressive operation.
“I might as well tell you about my problem. Would you please close the office door?”
As I sat down again, he said, “I don’t know why I am telling you this, when I have told no one else. I have a bad situation at home that is getting worse by the day. My wife and I are not getting along anymore, and I have come to the point that I feel like closing this shop, moving to California with my 16-year-old son, and filing for divorce. That’s why it’s so difficult for me to make a final decision about my advertising.”
Considering the pressure of my schedule and the training I had received, the right thing for me to have done in such a case would have been to cancel the man’s advertising (I would need his signature to cancel) and to explain that I could put it back in if he called the telephone business office before the date that the book went to the printers. That would have saved me the trouble of coming back, which would have enabled me to use my time selling advertising to other business firms.
But I didn’t do that, because I kept hearing those words, “Not for Himself, but for others, He lived and thought and prayed.” I felt strongly that I should have the man unload his burden while I silently prayed for him. Then I asked, “Do you mind telling me how things got so bad?”
“It began about three years ago,” he said, “shortly after we moved into our beautiful new house. My wife began to place silly demands upon me. She complained that I was not giving her enough of my time, and that I loved my business more than her. I agreed that I did spend a lot of time managing the business—to serve the public is time-consuming. And I tried to explain that in order to acquire all the things she had asked for, I had to work long hours and there was no getting around that fact. But somehow she could not understand that, and kept nagging and accusing me of being hard-hearted. The time came when she got enraged to the point of throwing dishes on the floor.”
“Have you thought of getting professional counseling on the matter?”
“Yes, we went that route last year. It helped for a while, but her anger kept coming back. I tell you, she is not the same person I have known for so many years. She can be real sweet, then for no reason at all her personality changes, and she becomes mean and ugly. One thing I do know for sure is that I cannot continue living like this.”
I would have liked to talk to him about God, but I could not because in training school the instructors had told us in no uncertain words that it was against company policy to talk politics or religion with yellow pages customers, and that company time is strictly for conducting business.
Instead I suggested that I would return in two weeks to give him a chance to decide about his yellow pages ad. He felt good about that, and as I left his place of business, I mentioned that I would remember him and his wife in my prayers. The man thanked me for my interest in his problem.
As I was driving to my next call, thinking about his difficulties, I felt a deep concern for the couple’s well-being, something I had never experienced before toward complete strangers.
Now I realized that the way I felt was undoubtedly a result of Christ’s imparting His compassionate love to me by the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer. A sudden desire to stop and pray for them possessed me as I passed a supermarket. Turning into the parking area, I drove to the back, where I turned the motor off. As I did, I said to myself, “I only wish that our Lord had a special intensive care unit for those devastated by the ravages of sin and oppressed by Satan.”
My wife, Hilda, a nurse, was at the time working in the intensive care unit of a large hospital. A couple days previously we had talked about her work, and I had been fascinated by the care and dedication the nurses exercised toward their patients. I longed for similar spiritual help for those facing crises.
Taking my Bible out of my briefcase, I opened it at the twenty-seventh chapter of Matthew and read some about the Crucifixion. Then I pleaded in prayer the merits of the blood that Christ had shed on Calvary as the reason that the man I had just talked to, and his wife, should receive divine help.
God was leading me into a prayer ministry that would bless the lives of a great many persons, bringing them the peace of His love in a cruel world.
The time I had taken to have the businessman tell me about his problems God helped me to make up that afternoon. On every call I found owners at their business, in a good mood, and interested in having a larger and better yellow pages program. At the end of the day I totaled my increase and found it to be the best day in net revenue I had ever had. It greatly pleased my supervisor, who asked me to pass on the secret of my success to the other advertising representatives. I did by saying that the great Monarch of the galaxies had crowned my efforts with His divine blessing.
To secure divine help for the body shop man and his wife, I lived the next two weeks a bit differently. Each night I set the alarm clock 15 minutes earlier than usual because I wanted to begin each new day with prayer for the couple. After reconsecrating and rededicating my life to God, I would intercede with Him in their behalf. With the Bible opened at the Crucifixion chapter, Matthew 27, I pleaded the merits of Christ’s blood as the reason that they should receive special help in their daily lives.
My first intercession went something like this: “Precious heavenly Father, I wish to thank Thee first for having allowed Christ to come and live among us and then purchase our redemption at such a great cost. In addition, I desire to express my appreciation in that You have honored me so greatly before the inhabitants of the galaxies and the angels of heaven by having made me a member of Jesus’ resistance forces in a sin-occupied world.
“I also rejoice over the fact that You have revealed to us the many functions the Holy Spirit can perform to work out human salvation, and close Thy mission on earth with power and great glory. Gracious Father, because the pen of inspiration has referred to Thee as ‘the Father of infinite pity,’ I do not hesitate to bring to Your attention the lives of Mr. and Mrs. A.
“I realize that they have been under the constant attack of the enemy of all righteousness. I ask that You send the Holy Spirit to surround them with a spiritual atmosphere of light and peace. May the Spirit of God minister to them in such a mighty way that all the forces of darkness that have oppressed their minds and brought them to where they are today be rendered inoperative. May they now have the freedom to think clearly and to reason correctly.
“Lord, I ask that the Holy Spirit remove all hatred, animosity, and selfishness from their hearts, and replace it with Your divine compassionate love. Please, Father, impart to them the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control.
“Father, I ask these things that someday I may be able to say, as Job did of his experience, ‘When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me’ [Job 29:11-13].
“And Father, may this experience bring me closer to my Saviour, ‘that I may know him [better], and the power of his resurrection’ [Philippians 3:10]. Lord God, as this intercession comes to a close, let it not be the end, but the beginning, of a precious walk with Thee. Again, I thank Thee for Thy love and Thy grace so preciously dispensed in the lives of those I pray for.
“This petition I present in the name of our merciful and faithful High Priest, Christ Jesus, who has acquired the legal right, in the sight of the inhabitants of the galaxies and the angels of heaven, to appropriate to the fallen descendants of Adam His great righteousness and complete salvation.”
Candlelight Dinner
Two weeks passed, and with mixed feelings I entered Mr. A’s place of business. While I expected to hear of blessings received, it was also possible that the couple could have resisted the leading of the Spirit of God in exercising their God-given right of freedom of choice and have made wrong decisions. But it wasn’t long before I realized that things were looking up in their lives.
Stepping into the doorway of the bookkeeper’s office, I asked if Mr. A was going to be tied up very long with the man in his office. The bookkeeper stated that I would be able to see him in a few minutes, then invited me to sit down. He added that his boss had just finalized plans to have the shop enlarged. Furthermore, the businessman had been expecting me to stop by that morning. Instantly I lifted up my heart to God in a silent melody of praise as I began to see that the power of His love had been benefiting those I had prayed for.
Mr. A greeted me with a firm handshake and a peaceful expression reflecting God’s love. “I have a lot of good news to tell you. Things that are almost unbelievable have taken place since you were here. My wife and I are on good terms again, and life has taken on a new meaning.”
As he continued, I could tell that the Spirit of God had been working in their lives. He told me how for three days after I had stopped by his office his wife began acting differently. When he went home for lunch and the evening meal, he found to his surprise the TV turned off and their favorite classical music playing in the background. She was pleasant but seemed lost in her own thoughts. A couple days later she called him at the office and asked if he could work things out so that he wouldn’t have to return to the shop after dinner. The man stated that he could, but would probably get home a bit later than usual.
At home she treated him to a candlelight dinner. Then she explained that she had been giving serious thought to the tensions that had threatened their marriage. She now believed herself capable of taking control of her life and stated that she had matured in a few short days from a confused mess to a calm, reasonable person. Furthermore she added that life was too short to waste feeling sorry for oneself when in reality she had so much to be thankful for.
As he described to me what he called his good fortune, my heart thrilled with a joy born of heaven, and silently I thanked and praised the Holy Trinity for making me a channel for God’s love and healing.
He then stated how he himself had experienced a few days of self-examination. Both of them had decided to venture on what one could call a new beginning.
“This may be hard for you to believe, but I am telling you without exaggeration that the whole atmosphere of our home has changed,” he concluded. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s so peaceful, so enjoyable. Coming home is a pleasant experience again.”
Now he was making new plans for the business. He figured that if he were to enlarge the building some and get two additional auto body repairmen, the added revenues would enable him to hire a qualified person to make repair estimates and manage the place. Then he would be able to take some time off every so often, and spend it with his wife.
“How do you explain something so fantastic taking place in so short a time?” he suddenly asked.
Silently, I prayed, “Heavenly Father, please bless my mind with the right thing to say.”
Aloud I said, “Mr. A, if you recall, as I left here two weeks ago, I mentioned that I would remember you and your wife in my prayers. Well, what you have experienced is the result of answered prayers.”
Shaking his head, he replied, “I believe you, and appreciate greatly your having prayed for us, but I have never seen prayers answered with such power. The Mrs. and I are churchgoing people, but I must admit that I have never seen prayers answered this way—prayers that actually change lives.”
To my surprise, his expression and voice suddenly slipped into a note of desperation. “Please, please promise me that you will continue praying for us, please!”
Never in my life had I felt so needed by someone, and at the same time so glad that I was seeing my prayers answered.
“Mr. A, I promise to pray for you and your wife. In fact, I will place your names on my perpetual prayer list. I will see to it that daily intercessions will ascend to God in your behalf.”
With the pressure of my schedule in mind, I quickly revised his ad, then left for my next call. I did not work that telephone directory the following year, as I had graduated to major markets, but I met at a regional meeting the fellow who had handled the account, and received some good news.
“Roger, Mr. A sends you his regards. He wanted me to tell you about the success of his business, and above all, that everything is well with the family. In fact, he said that things have never been better at home. He didn’t tell me what you men talked about, but somehow you have made a profound impression upon the man.”
It was indeed good news to hear that the Spirit of God was giving intensive care to the couple on a daily basis.