Bill Prankard, a pastor in Ottawa, Ontario, has walked in supernatural manifestations of God’s healing power for more than 30 years. In February 2005, Sid Roth interviewed Bill for the Messianic Vision radio program. Introducing him, Sid said, “This is someone who has a ministry similar to Katherine Kuhlman, and who has seen as many miracles as anyone on the face of the earth.”
Bill says he is just an ordinary person and attributes everything to having encountered the person of the Holy Spirit. He says that knowing the Holy Spirit as a person, not just as a doctrine, is the key to the supernatural. This two-part article summarizes and condenses Sid’s interview with him, describing some of his supernatural experiences and what you can do to deepen your knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Here is Bill’s account of a recent miracle that he witnessed and documented:
“George McMurtry was a believer from northern Ireland. He’d had 5 strokes. His left leg was withered to half its size, and his left arm was withered and curved up and of no use to him. He could only walk by using canes to drag himself along very painfully, and although he had lost most of his capacities, the doctor said he was lucky even to be alive.
“George knew that Jesus said in John 10, ‘You will have abundant life,’ but George was not having abundant life. He was having a life of pain and disability. However, George never accepted that his condition was permanent. He always said, ‘I believe that God is going to heal me.’
“I was at Toronto Airport Assembly ministering along with others at a conference on healing. George had persuaded some people from his church to bring him all the way from Ireland to the conference. George wanted to learn about healing, but I don’t know if he expected what was about to happen next.
“I gave a message, and at the end of the message, I said, ‘God is healing people, and anyone who needs healing should stand.’ George stood up along with many others. I said, ‘Put your hand wherever you need healing.’ George heard me say, ‘Take your left hand and put it on your head.’ So he takes his good, right arm and pushes his withered left hand up to his head. Then, I said, ‘Someone’s hand is being healed.’ At that moment, George’s withered left hand suddenly fell away and his arm straightened out of its curved, half-moon position and began to move freely. His fingers and hands were moving for the first time in 5 years!
“George’s friends told him to go up to the platform and show everyone what God had done for him. He was halfway down the aisle when his friends called after him, ‘George you forgot your cane!’ Previously, he could not have walked 5 steps without his cane, but George kept going because he didn’t need his cane. As he walked, his leg braces, which were held on by Velcro, fell open and came off. By the time he got to the front, his withered, paralyzed leg was totally healed, and George was completely restored.
“We have all this on videotape. When he first got to the front, he was laughing and crying so hard that it was hard for us to find out what had happened to him! When George returned home to Ireland, his doctor checked him, and said, ‘This is a miracle. There is no other explanation.’ The local paper wrote it up and put it on the front page. Even better, George started his own ministry and today he is vigorous and active in the Lord’s service. Even though I have seen thousands of miracles by now, each time it is as awesome and wonderful as the first.
“The Bible makes it plain that God wills to heal as well as to save souls. For example, the book of James says, ‘If any are sick, let them call for the elders and the prayer of faith will raise them up.’ Anyone can be healed, and everyone should be. If it is God’s will to heal anybody, then it is God’s will to heal everybody.
“I pray for people to get saved, but not everyone does. If people are not saved, it does not change the truth that it is God’s will to save everyone. We must learn to have the same confidence in God’s willingness to heal that we do in His willingness to save.”
Bill has written a book about issues that can block God’s healing power in our lives. Sometimes, the blockage comes from deep inner hurts of which we are scarcely aware. For example, Bill’s wife Gwen had often prayed for healing for others with miraculous results, but she herself suffered from some serious medical problems that limited her ability to travel and minister with Bill. She did not experience healing until God led her to deeply forgive and honor her father.
Bill explains: “God says ‘honor your father’ so that you will have a long full life. How you honor your parents affects what happens to you. Honoring your parents is not for them, it is for you. From the moment that Gwen began to honor her father, her health conditions began to improve. She has been on a steady healing course that gets better each day. She is getting younger and healthier in every way.”
Bill emphasizes that Gwen had never spoken ill of her dad, but that the Holy Spirit led her to see this area of hurt in her life. He says there are several such things that can block our flow of healing. Bill’s book is entitled, “Six Keys to Breakthrough in Healing.” This book teaches what you can do to bring a healing anointing into your life. Honoring parents in one of the keys, and another is how we speak about others.
Bills said, “It is humbling to see God revealed in the matter of healing. God is giving us revival in Canada. We are establishing a healing center and walk-in healing clinic. We have been going to Arctic Russia to nomadic Eskimos in the North Pole, and seeing God’s miraculous power at work. Miracles bring people believers and unbelievers to the Lord. You don’t have to be anybody special to work miracles just get to know the Holy Spirit. And, you don’t have to be in a meeting to receive a miracle He is there with you, right now.”
