THE TESTIMONY OF JACK BROWN
I have always had a love in my heart for God. I believe there was a sensitivity in my heart to the things of God before I knew Him, but I strayed from His purpose in my later teens. When I was eighteen I was in a rock band, taking drugs, and living a counter culture life style. But I knew in my heart I would be confronted with Jesus and I would have to decide whether to continue in my rebellion or walk with Him.
I was living with my grandparents in Eugene, Oregon. It was the first day of spring 1969. I was alone in the attic of their home. On that day Jesus made Himself real to me. He gave me a command to follow Him and to choose heaven or hell. It became my day of salvation. I decided that day to forsake all and follow Jesus. I chose who I was going to serve. After making that decision, Jesus has guided me through many things to prepare me for the responsibilities of being an area director of the 700 Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Having been raised in the Catholic Church, I believed that total commitment to Jesus was synonymous with becoming a priest. Anything less than that for a man, or being a nun for a woman, fell short of total commitment and total consecration to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, upon accepting Jesus, I purposed in my heart to become a priest.
Now at that time I had been living in an unhealthy relationship with my girlfriend, Linda. In my mind, forsaking all for Jesus included leaving Linda behind. This was hard for me and devastating to her. She was confused and deeply hurt, and just did not understand. I lacked the ability to explain adequately to her what was taking place in my spiritual life. There just did not seem any graceful way of breaking off our relationship. I had purposed to follow Jesus. Nothing and no one was going to stand in my way.
I left Eugene and went to Seattle, Washington to (announce the good news of my salvation to my parents. I just had to tell mom and dad that I was born again and that I had met Jesus. I also told them I intended to enter Catholic seminary. This made my dad very proud. For a Catholic dad to have a son in the priesthood was certainly a mark of accomplishment.
I entered St. Thomas Catholic Seminary in Kenmore, Washington in the fall of 1969. While there, I became known for my artistic abilities. Some of my fellow seminarians and some of the priests would call on me to do art projects for them.
One day, a priest asked me to do a poster for him announcing his sermon for the coming Sunday. It was to be placed on a tripod in front of the chapel so that people would see his sermon announced. The words he wanted on the poster were, "The Second Coming of Christ - The Harvesting of Pentecost".
I worked diligently on that sign. It was a large (2-1/2' X 3') impressive poster. After I finished it I set it on a tripod at the chapel for all to see. Since I wanted the poster back, I went to look for it after the service, but it was gone. I searched all over the seminary and asked others about the poster but no one knew anything about it. I finally gave up the search.
Several weeks later, late at night, I sat alone in my room studying about the love of God. My room was an extremely small four walled room. I had been in my room all evening. I stress these two points because if the poster had been anywhere in that room I would certainly have known about it. As I sat at my desk studying I felt a Presence come into the room, a very keen Presence, and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I was afraid and wanted to hide. Because of the physical touch I expected to see an angel of the Lord or the Lord Himself standing behind me. As I took courage and turned, there was the missing poster leaning against the wall! Deep in my spirit I knew that an anqel of the Lord had delivered the poster. Simultaneous with seeing the poster, the message of the poster came alive to me for the first time. God was going to use me in association with the "Second Coming of Christ" as a worker in His harvest and the harvest would be a gathering of all believers to the bosom of God. The Spirit ministered the parable of the ten virgins to me. Five of the virgins had their lamps filled with oil and five did not. Those who had their lamps filled with oil, filled with the Holy Spirit, wore able to receive the Lord and were received by Him at the time of His coming. In my mind's eye I saw the mighty arm of God sweeping down at the coming of Jesus and drawing those vessels He had invested with His Holy Spirit unto Himself and harvesting the latter harvest. Somehow I would fit into His plan along with many others.
This was my baptism in the Holy Spirit. God filled me full of His love and I was given a vision of who I was in Jesus, a vision of being more than I was then in Christ. I was just an infant in Christ and had a deep longing to become what He had called me to be. A son of God. Someone whole and totally alive in Jesus.
God redirected my life after that point. God showed me that the priesthood was not necessary to fullfill the call He had for me. Within a year I had returned to Eugene, Oregon and Linda and I were married.
During those early years of marriage I sensed the calling of God on my life but at the same time I sensed it escaping me. I had a wife and before long we had two children which brought me under the responsibility of supporting and caring for a family. I went from job to job, the first as a rose picker in a horticulture firm, and then as a landscaper. In time I went into carpentry apprenticeship which brought general odd jobs in carpentry as well as work in roofing and remodeling.
Through all this there was a heavy burden settling in on my spirit. It. was a sense of failure, an though I was missing the call of God. I felt that I was missing the vision I had in the seminary, the vision of being a vibrant minister of the Word of God, filled with His Spirit, and active in God's latter day plan for bringing about a mighty harvest. I was really in a dilemma. I did not know how to pursue a place in the ministry and I did not feel I had the time, space, or resources to attend a Bible school. I was searching for direction and not finding it.
I decided to enter the military with the understanding that I could get some college credits. I thought perhaps I could enter chaplain work. At that time I was not looking to the Lord for direction, but because I had a general sense of missing His calling I was just groping for some way to achieve this calling.
In November of 1972 I went to Portland, Oregon with a bus load of potential recruits to go through the Army physical examination. I went through the exam with about fifty others. Two of us were called out because of negative results on our chest x-rays.
The doctor who talked with me informed me that a cloud was noticed next to my lung. He went on to explain that I ought to see a specialist because it could be very serious. I told the doctor that I did not have the income to handle the expenses that could be incurred; however he suggested that I walk over to the University of Oregon Medical School Hospital, which was a mile and a half from the examing station. He told me that the school was a training center for interns with the best doctors in the world as instructors. He went on to say that if I was unable to pay the cost that, for the sake of exposing the interns to different situations, they might not charge me.
The University of Oregon Medical School Hospital is located on top of a hill overlooking the city of Portland.. I still remember walking up the hill that day. I was in kind of a state of shock. God gave me a definite sense of peace. I was covered from fear. I didn't know what to think or make out of this thing. When I arrived at the emergency room of the hospital, the attending physician confirmed the seriousness of the matter and felt it best that I check in and go through extensive diagnostic procedures. I called Linda to let her know what had happened. She was crushed by it.
Two weeks went by and the doctors came up with the diagnosis of Hodgkins Disease, which is a disease of the lymph glands affecting our body's ability to fight bacteria or infection. The lymph glands are a system thoughout our body, and my lymph glands were swelling and there were tumors in different parts of my body. There was involvement in my neck which made it very husky and thick.
The disease is staged in this way: 1A-1B, 2A-2B, 3A-3B and 4A-4B. The lesser is 1A and 4B is the greater degree. At this time my case was staged at 2A, which meant that it was in the fairly early stages of this particular cancer.
Linda, I and our children moved to Portland temporarily so that I could go for radiation therapy as an outpatient. The American Cancer Society sent out a station wagon to pick me up along with others who needed therapy and who did not have transportation. We were together each day as we rode to the hospital for our treatments and then rode home together. We called the station wagon the "cancer wagon". Most of the dear folks in the stitting room looked like zombies as they waited to receive their radiation treatment. Radiation has a way of draining ones energy, the skin turns red and dry in the area that is being treated and one experiences a loss of hair.
I went though six weeks of the radiation. It was very successful. The tumors subsided and Linda and I thought we had victory. We were really claiming that Jesus had healed me. We went back to our home in Eugene and enjoyed a fairly normal life for the next year. The cancer ceased to progress and the doctor said it was in recession.
After that, I did not have the strength to bo back to carpentry work, so I started going to Lane Community College. The government paid my way for schooling through the Vocational Rehabilitation program and we received financial assistance from welfare for my medical expenses, which were extreme, as well as for living expenses.
About a year later, while in college, I began to notice some more problems in my groin. Small tumors were beginning to form and began growing rapidly. This was a real blow to our faith. We thought we had won the battle and here were facing another bout with this detestable disease.
At this time we wars attending a wonderful church, Santa Clara Assembly of God in Eugene. The Bible says, "Is there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord". (James 5:14) When I began to look to the Lord for guidance, this was the first step of obedience He impressed me to take. I went to the elders at Santa Clara and they laid hands on me and prayed.
Our pastor was very supportive. One Sunday he called Linda and I to the front. He said, "I think of this man as my son; I want each of you to make a commitment to fast and pray for this man at least one day this week." The church really went into battle for Linda and I. I believe this had a way of pulling our church together as they rallied around this battle. God was doing a real work in hearts and knitting the brethern together.
Through the doctor's report I learned that the disease had progressed to 4B, the last stage. The tumors in my groin were the size of oranges. I also had them in my arm pits, in my neck and around my lungs. Even though I was six feet tall, I only weighed about 145 pounds. My face looked gaunt my cheeks were sunken in and my skin was pale.
One day Morris Brown, the 700 Club director in Eugene, came to our church in hopes of finding volunteer telephone counselors for the 700 Club Counseling Center. I responded to the call, and volunteered to pray with people and encourage them from God's Word. God gave me a burden for those I talked and shared with over the phone. Sometimes my heart just broke for those people and I just had to weep rignt along with them.
It's amazing how He used CBN to bring me into healing He had for me. Through the eyes of faith, Morris saw that I would be the next area director in Eugene. What a peraon of faith he was, to see a man who was virtually dying and yet believing in his heart that that dying man would one day be the next area director!
One day Morris recieved a visit from Jim Murphy, who at that time was overseer of all the counseling centers in the United States for CBN. Jim came to Eugene to discuss business with Morris over a dinner meeting at Morris's home. Linda and I were invited to that dinner meeting. It seems that Morris had talked to Jim beforehand and told him to check me out because he thought that one day I would be a part of CBN.
As Jim and I talked before dinner he gave me a scripture that had been important to him, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body? and be ye thankful". (Col. 3:15) Jim too, had suffered from Hodgkins Disease.
To Jim, a former military man, Colossians 3:15 was special because in the original greek the word rule, he believed, could be better translated "arbitrate" or "take the authority" or "to command". His illuminating the scripture in that way made an impact on me. Colossians 3:15 became a key guiding principle in dealing with the doctors and with critical decisions to be made. There was a time, for instance, when they wanted to do exploratory surgery to see how extensive the cancer had progressed. God did not give me a peace about it. Now I know that there would be (and was) a natural fear associated with such an operation, but I believe that God did not want me to subject myself to this surgery and I had to refuse the recommendation of the doctors.After that episode with the doctors. God led me to withdraw from all medical treatment being offered me at that time. The doctors began to work on Linda in hopes of getting me to accept more therapy. Her decision was to stand by me in my decision, which then brought accusations by the doctors that she was standing in their way of doing all necessary to give me every opportunity for recovery. They told us that I would expire by December of 1976 if I did not recieve medical help. This was told us in March of 1976.
After that God sent another man from CBN, Pat Robertson. Pat came to lead in a rally with the partners in Eugene, to preach the word and encourage them. Morris arranged a meeting for me with Pat before the rally. We just gathered in a circle and Pat was asked to pray for my healing. As we gathered together in prayer a word of knowledge kept coming forth from Pat as we prayed. He said, "cast off the grief, cast off the grief...", and he prayed for my healing asking Jesus to take the cancer from me. Most outstanding about the prayer was this word of knowledge, "cast off the grief".
I walked away from that prayer session really believing Pat had missed the mark, that he was not hearing God. I have always believed myself to be a fairly even keeled person with not a lot of emotional highs or lows. I did not see any grief in my life at all, but in the days ahead the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me that I was carrying a definite grief.
This word of knowledge was key and fundamental to my complete healing. I give Jesus the glory for this. The word of knowledge actually related to my thinking I was falling short of the calling of God. This was the grief that had settled into my spirit. It was a lie of the devil that told me I had to bring myself into my ministry and by my own effort alone I must achieve the calling of God. I had over emphasised this aspect rather than balancing it with the fact that God must bring all of us into tlie fullness of our calling. He must lead us by His Spirit. Unless His grace operates in our lives, nothing good will come of our lives. This sense of failing God and fear of missing His calling was the grief I was carrying and it was causing me problems. I believe today it was what caused my cancer.
The Holy Spirit, in His beautiful way, began surfacing opportunities for me to begin to cast that grief upon Jesus. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." (Isaiah 53:4) I began to see that I was loved by God and that He had a good plan for my life. This illness was not from Him, but from the enemy. God's Spirit drove me into the word as never before. I just could not get enough of it. The word of the Lord itself has healing value. As I read, and prayed, and meditated my level of faith was raised.
In December of 1976 God sent a third man from CBN to minister to me. His name was Floyd Baker. He was traveling around the country conducting miracle services for CBN at that time. Floyd is a wonderful man of God, rooted deep in the word and he has a healing ministry. When he ministers it is under the anointing. One can certainly sense the power and presence of Jesus in his meetings.
When Floyd came to Eugene, a meeting for the 700 Club counselors and their families was held prior to the public meeting. Morris had shared his concern for me with Floyd before the meeting and asked him if I could be prayed for during the meeting. All the counselors knew about my situation. There was an anticipation in many hearts that night as the meeting began; an anticipation that God would move.
We were in prayer with Floyd and just entering into worship, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Morris. He motioned me to come up front because Floyd wanted to pray for me. I went forward and Floyd laid hands on me and cursed the cancer in the name of Jesus. Nothing happened that I was aware of and I went back to my seat and again entered into praise. Linda turned to me very concerned and told me to look at my hands, that my skin color was grey. It was! But as I looked at my hands the Spirit of the Lord welled up within me and I said to her, "Don't be afraid. That is just the spirit of death leaving my body." We continued to praise the Lord. I was just so filled with the joy of the Lord! This I believe, was the moment the reversal began.
For the previous five years (the total length of the disease) I had eaten just to sustain life. The first indication of my healing was that I noticed a healthy appetite. What a joy it was just to be hungry again! I had forgotten what it was like to enjoy food.
After the meeting we went to a nearby restaurant. I ate five hamburgers, three orders of fries, and two milk shakes. I have never eaten like that before and I don't eat like that now. Within the next three months I gained forty pounds. The disease slowly left my body. Praise His Name!
The very next month I was hired as the 700 Club Area Director. God was now bringing me into the ministry. Ed Cole, an associate of CBN and the man who interviewed me shared with me later that Morris had told him of his belief that I would be the next area director in Eugene. But upon meeting me before my healing and seeing the cloud of death over my life he felt that there was just no way he could hire me. He also shared with me that after seeing me again shortly after my healing, that he had perfect peace about hiring me.
The cloud was lifted. So on January 1, 1977, I went to work for CBN in Eugene, Oregon. Twenty one months later, I was transferred to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where 1 now serve the Lord through CBN.
It wasn't until May of 1977 that doctors confirmed my healing. As of this writing I have been cleared of it more than three years. Through all of this, there were many lessons learned about His healing power, how He works, how He loves us, and how He works through the body of Christ to minister encouragement and life.
I asked the Lord if there was an overall lesson that He wanted to teach me. He spoke to me from His word "but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you". (Matt. 6:33)
That's all we have to do, seek God and there will be fruit coming out of our lives. Make Him first in everything, putting everything else aside and everything will fit into place as it should. (See St. John 15:5)
I would not have chosen this as a test of my faith but in looking back, I would never avoid it knowing what it has accomplished. I am convinced of the faithfulness of God and His healing power.
"I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice, and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple; I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto the rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealth bountifully with thee. For thou has delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted; I said in my haste, all men are liars. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows into the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am thy servant; and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord. ~ Psalm 116
(Special appreciation is extended to Sue Artin and Michele Blissett for their assistance.)