JANUARY 24, 2020 BY BARRY DUKE
IT’S an all-too-familiar tale; an individual owes his or her life to the skills of first-aiders and medics, but Team Jesus takes most of the credit.
This week both the religious and secular media went into “miracle” overdrive after Christopher Wickland, 47, pastor of Living Word Pentecostal Church in Fareham, Hampshire, revealed this week that he’d “died” of a heart attack after trampolining last November, but that he came back to life after people around the world started praying for his recovery.
One Christian outlet, CBN News, said that Strickland collapsed at the Flip Out trampoline park. After he was rushed to hospital his wife Tracy immediately posted about her husband’s condition on social media and asked if people could start praying for him.
I put it on Facebook and it was amazing because hundreds of people from around the world contacted me and told me they were praying for Chris.
She added that while park staff and doctors did an “incredible job,” her husband would be dead “if it wasn’t for all these people praying.”
Even the the BBC decided it would run with this malarkey. Wickland posted on his Facebook page:
So tomorrow and Tuesday the BBC are interviewing us again for ‘Close Calls on Camera.’ They are giving our story the main segment of the show. Our story will get 15 mins of a 30 min show Wow.
After it was broadcast, someone called Maggie Spielman said:
Watched on South Today!! All glory given to God and the Word of God proclaimed!!! Hallelujah!!!
Wickland was jumping at the trampoline park with three of his youngest children when he became ill and collapsed.
The park’s staff quickly administered CPR to Wickland but he had stopped breathing for 15 minutes.
The staff used a defibrillator four times to restart his heart, and he was taken to the intensive care unit of St Mary’s Hospital.
Wickland spent almost 48 hours in an induced coma. He woke up on a Sunday morning just as his church was conducting their morning services. When informed that their pastor had awakened, the congregation launched an immense celebration with wild applause and tears of relief.
Said Wickland:
This is a miracle that is all down to divine providence and the very quick actions of some people. My congregation and other Christians around the world were also praying for me. All this power was harnessed to keep me alive. I’m not lucky, I’m blessed.
Speaking about his recovery, Wickland said:
I’ve been checked out by the doctors several times now and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me. They can’t believe that I died for so long and there’s no permanent damage.