Can God heal a severed limb? I have recently received this same question from several different people and thought I might take a moment to respond.
In the winter of 2011, my nephew was scraping ice off his car when the ice-scraper broke, launching a shard of plastic at his eye. According to the doctors, it gouged out a small chunk from the white of his eye, and they were concerned about the future of his vision. He was in so much pain that he couldn’t even open his good eye, and the doctors didn’t expect him to open the injured eye for a couple weeks. He had no insurance and a two-month-old baby girl at home.
I received news of this accident on a Thursday, just before our regular young adult group that meets in my home. That night, we all prayed for my nephew and commanded his eye to be healed in the name of Jesus (even though he wasn’t present).
When he woke up the next morning, his eye was completely healed. And here’s the fun part: The missing white portion had miraculously grown back! The doctors were dumbfounded. My nephew was so impacted by the miracle that he committed his life to Jesus. A few weeks later, as you can see in the photo, I was baptizing him in our bathtub!
People question whether Jesus ever healed severed limbs or worked similar creative miracles. Actually, that’s an easy one to answer, because He most definitely did!
When Jesus was being arrested prior to the crucifixion, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. According to Luke 22:51, after stopping the disciples from defending Him further, Jesus “…touched the man’s ear and healed him.”
I find the wording of that passage very interesting. Remember, the ear had been cut off. What does Luke mean by saying that Jesus “touched the man’s ear”? Does this mean that Jesus picked up the severed ear and stuck it back on the man’s head? Or does it mean that He simply touched the place where the ear had been and a new ear grew? The Bible doesn’t go into that much detail. What we do know, though, is that the ear was cut off, and Jesus healed it.
Last week, I ministered in Africa. During 4 days in the bush, I witnessed nearly 100 healing miracles and more than 50 salvations. (To read the full report, please visit Art Thomas Ministries.) I didn’t see any limbs re-grow, but I did see deaf ears and blind eyes open, cripples walking, and more. Hernia disappeared. Ulcers disappeared. Even open wounds from syphilis were healed instantly! I have learned that there are absolutely no limits to what God can do.
While in Uganda—just last week—I had a dream in which I was in a room that looked like some sort of laboratory. Everything was bright, white, and sterile. There were shelves of file-boxes, and I somehow knew these were “case files.” I opened one of the boxes, removed a folder, and opened it. I didn’t read anything inside, but when I opened the folder, some sort of hook or clamp lowered from the ceiling with a human ear attached to the end. A woman was sitting nearby with a missing ear, so I took the ear that had been lowered and placed it on the side of the woman’s head. It instantly fused to her skin, and its color changed from light blue to match her skin tone.
When I woke up, I could feel the presence of God. I asked Him what the dream meant, and He said that whenever the enemy steals, kills, or destroys something Jesus paid for, God’s righteousness requires that restoration take place in Jesus’ name. Jesus paid the price to reconcile all things. (See Colossians 1:20.)
You can (and should) judge this for yourself, but I also received the impression that the boxes in the dream contained “cold cases”–instances of creative miracles that were purchased and provided for, but never received. I felt as though there was a woman in this world who lost an ear, and Jesus immediately made a new one in heaven so that it would be ready to meet the demands of righteousness. The only missing ingredient, then, is a Christian who will effectively administer the will of God.
As Jesus taught, let us pray, “May Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth, just like it is done in heaven.” God’s will is done in heaven. Everyone there has two functioning ears. If you lost an ear here, then God has a new one waiting there. In fact, if you’re missing your right ear (or if you’re deaf in your right ear), place your hand there now and agree in faith: Ear, grow, and be restored in Jesus’ name. Let me know what happens! (e-mail Art@SupernaturalTruth.com)
Remember, Jesus said that for those who have faith, “nothing will be impossible for you.” (See Matthew 17:20.) There tend to be two schools of thought on this scripture: First are those who believe Jesus was speaking metaphorically when He said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.” The second school of thought would be those who believe Jesus was actually telling the truth when He said, “I tell you the truth…”
If you believe that Jesus was giving His disciples false hope and misleading them with an exaggerated metaphor, then you will likely believe that God merely moves “obstacles” in our lives as we trust Him. If you believe that Jesus meant what He said, then you believe people of faith can actually command literal, physical mountains to move from one place to another. This latter form of faith is what is necessary for us to see amputee healings.
There are reported cases of amputated limbs being healed (besides the biblical account of the servant’s ear). I remember a story in which Smith Wigglesworth felt led to tell a man with no legs to go buy shoes. When the man put his peg-leg into the first shoe, a leg instantly grew out! The same happened for the second shoe. I also recently heard a testimony of a young man in South Africa who–if I remember correctly–was missing his right leg. After prayer, the leg began to grow, although very slowly. After a couple weeks, a knee cap had formed. When I heard the testimony, it was a few weeks after that, and the leg had grown down as far as the ankle. In another case, I heard of a woman without a jawbone who received prayer in Mexico. When the minister returned the next year, he didn’t recognize her because God had grown a new one for her!
These are admittedly hearsay testimonies that I haven’t personally witnessed, but I believe they’re true. Why shouldn’t I? The only reason to disbelieve such stories is that you don’t believe God can actually do them. If anything, I know that my nephew’s eye grew back to normal, and no one can take that away from me.
If you don’t believe that God can heal an amputated limb, then you’re serving the wrong god.
My God can do anything.
How about yours?
We must each decide which God/god we are going to serve. Are we going to serve the false god of comfortable, stay-as-you-are Christianity? You know the one: he’s the god who died for your sins, loves you, and listens to every prayer on the planet, but he rarely does anything more than change our mental and emotional perspectives on earthly circumstances. That’s not the God of the Bible. My God splits seas. (See Exodus 14:21.) My God feeds His people by dropping quail–3-feet deep–across a massive stretch of land. (See Numbers 11:31.) My God not only died for your sins but also holds the power of resurrection and personally conquered the grave. My God even raises other people from the grave! My God walks on water, calms storms, and multiplies food. My God opens blind eyes and deaf ears at the command of His children.
My God created an entire human body out of dust. He made a second one out of a rib. What’s so difficult about a mere limb?
God bless, –Art
UPDATE (Oct-3-2013):
The following miracle happened in August 2013. At three years old, Carlos’ ear drum was surgically removed. Now, he can hear clearly. That’s a creative miracle that I consider to be equivalent to an amputee regrowing a limb — something was surgically removed that then regrew after prayer. Here’s the video of the miracle taking place along with Carlos’ own testimony:
In June of 2015, Carlos contacted me to say that he has had hearing tests each year at work, and each time, his hearing in that ear is even better!
