Praying for Pigs

"John, can you come here and pray for this pig?" my mother calls. Gees, ever since I took the Advanced Class at The Way, Mom thinks I've got some sort of special connection with God, that I'm a "faith healer" or something.

"Yeah, I'll be right there." I answer. This hole I'm digging to plant Dad's latest tree will just have to wait.

"Yeah Mom, I'm coming." All I knew about spiritual matters relating to pigs was the incident in the Bible where devil spirits wanted to possess a herd of pigs instead of being sent to the abyss by Jesus. After a year of ministering healing I had some confidence in helping people this way, but for something unusual like this... I just wasn't sure.

I went down the hill to the back yard to see what the commotion was about.  Dad, Mom and my brother Ken were there, hovering over a small pig on the ground. The pig was squealing and convulsing. Now I had been trained in the laying on of hands after the manner that Dr. Wierwille had learned from B.G. Leonard. But I had only put my hands on people. People can control their minds. This was a pig! I was a little overwhelmed by the sight. I asked Dad what had happened. (Its wise to gather as much information as can glean with your five senses.) He said the pig had escaped from the pen and that he and Ken had chased it all over the yard until it just collapsed and started to act like this.

The next thing I did was ask God what was going on and what I could do about it. He clearly told me that the pig was having a heart attack and there was nothing I could do to save him. The pig was in panic and shock. Oh boy,  I thought, I can't tell them that the pig is as good as dead already. We just brought him home from Bloomer's (also grads of PFAL) last night for this year's 4-H projects. If this pig dies we have to go back and get another one. Itd be hard to buy five pigs, keep only four and admit we couldn't keep the fifth pig penned up or even alive.

I again asked God what I could do to help my parents and Ken as they were very worried about this situation. He told me that praying wouldn't hurt and it would comfort my parents that I tried. My next question was, Should I put my hands on the pig?  I knew that would be OK, so I did, and proceeded to pray for the pig.

To my surprise, I "felt" the pig's heart in my own chest and "saw" what his heart was doing and "experienced" for a moment the panic in his tiny brain. It was awful. I nearly lost my focus on what I was doing. When I finished prayer, I told them that I didn't think the pig would recover. Then I got up to go back to digging the hole for the tree. I continued to be surprised that the pig's heartbeat stayed with me as I went back up the hill to the tree planting. If I closed my eyes I could still "see" the pig's heart. That continued for what seemed like a long time but it was probably only a minute or two. Suddenly the feeling just went away. I stood up just as Mom shouted "The pig just died!" I responded matter-of-factly, "I know Mom. I already know." I felt the same loss and disappointment my parents felt.

I knew that this afternoon we would be going back to see Virgil Bloomer to get another pig. Dad was already counting the money we lost. Pigs are not cheap.

I learned a lesson in all this. For the first time I realized that it is not necessary to be in physical contact with someone to receive revelation as is the case when one is inspired to use the laying of hands to minister healing. I also learned that I could know the outcome of an event to comfort my own heart without having to be there. I was again in awe of this wonderful thing, holy spirit, and the communication one could have with God. I was struck with how much God cares about little things such as a pig and how my family would feel about the loss.

This lesson comes to mind sometimes when Im ministering healing to someone over the phone lines. Ive never before now told any one that I often think of a dying pig when I receive a call from a believer who wants me to pray for them or minister healing over the phone. The lesson comforted me but hearing about a dying pig was not going to comfort anyone else in that situation. I felt it was wise in most situations to keep this incident to myself.  I didnt think it would inspire confidence in my ability to help them-theyd probably think I was nuts!