Jona Emke 

Even before my daughter was born, I had been having Gallbladder attacks that would cause me great pain. Edna and I would spend the night in prayer and God would always give me relief! I believed that nothing was impossible with God. My confession was, “if Jesus Christ has saved me, then by the same Atonement He also healed me. I claimed His promise; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever the same!” 

Edna was pregnant with our second child, and I had started a new job as a car salesman in February 1991. By the beginning of April, suddenly without pain I turned jaundice, my eyes became neon yellow, my urine very dark, all the food intakes went through my system very fast, my skin became extremely itchy, and I lost about 20lbs in two weeks! I couldn’t work because I looked like death warmed over and I was very weak! But I held to the promise of: if Jesus Christ has saved me, then by the same Atonement He also healed me. I claimed His promise; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever the same! But one thing that I did do was to search my life. I started to make somethings right that I had not confessed to my Edna before we got married, other things that I had done that required confession and restoration, and I asked God, “You show me if I have anything that would cause me trouble to cross over the river Jordan and not make it to be with you forever.” 

After confession and restitution, I knew that all was well and then I could rest in His grace and promise, as it says in James: 

“Is 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:  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

James 5:14-16

I had confessed, been prayed over by the prayer of faith, I was forgiven by the Lord, therefore I was healed. I was willing to die believing that God is my healer. Friends would tell me, go to the hospital, seek medical attention!  You are going to leave a wife without a husband, children without a father.  I just kept believing that the Lord knows all things and He is the one that’s going to take care of my wife and my children. 

A week before my son was born on May 2,1991, on a Sunday morning around 5am, I started to bleed from my nose. I had not missed one church service even though I was sick and very weak. I was still leading song service twice on Sunday and on Wednesday! So, I came to church that morning bleeding from my nose, my blood would not coagulate. I went to my father, who was also my pastor, and said, “Dad if the Lord Jesus Christ does not stop this bleeding I will die today.” 

He just grabbed me, hugged me, started to pray and said, “Lord, we know you never fail and are always on time. If it is your will, stop this bleeding.” 

The bleeding stopped and I did the song service! 

From that day forward every day I got better. The Word says it shall be better! 

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Mark 16:17-18

A week later, we went to the hospital for the birth of our son as Edna was in labour. When checking into the maternity ward the doctor took one look at me and told me to go to the emergency ward, because I was going to go into shock and die! I responded and said to him, “Doctor, I am already healed!” 

My son was born that evening and when the doctors were checking my wife out of the hospital, they told her, “Your husband is going to die. You had better convince him to get medical attention or you will raise two children by yourself.”

 My wife said, “I can’t tell him to forsake his Faith in God; I will support Him!”

Brother, sisters, that was 34 years ago now. The Lord is the great physician that never forsakes those that trust in Him! 

I shared my testimony with a man in Chetwynd BC, Canada who was getting medical attention for cancer of the liver. He had the exact same symptoms as I had, and he was given 6 months to live. Praise the Lord, after I told him how God had healed me, he and his wife went on their knees prayed. They said, “Lord, you healed Jona Emke, and I need the same healing.” In six months, the man had recovered and is healthy and well today. That was 5 Years ago now! 

God is no respecter of persons. And my line to anybody that is sick and in need of healing is, “If God can heal a nobody like me, He can heal a somebody like you!” 

God is still in the saving and healing business.  It doesn't matter if you get medical attention or not. The only healer is our Lord Jesus Christ! 

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;”

Psalm 103:2-4