Matthew 13:52

“Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old”

The making of a Kingdom Scribe:

Some Christians might know me for my work as a Christian historian thru such books as Quenching the Spirit (Creation House, 1992), Agnes Sanford and Her Companions (Wipf & Stock, 2015), and my just released, Anglican Healing Awakenings (Christos 2024). But I have also written two “pastoral” books, The Public Prayer Station: Bringing Healing to the Streets and Evangelizing the “Nones,” (Emeth: 2018) and Aging Gracefully With the Graces of Healing Prayer, (Emeth, 2019). These latter works were based on my healing and evangelistic experiences as an Anglican charismatic – both layman and then as a priest. I also wrote a political book, America in Danger, Left and Right: Biblical Analysis, Actions, and Intercessions for the Present Crisis (Amazon, 2022). I believe this is a prophetic work.

Like most people, my life has not turned out as I planned as a youth. I wanted to be an engineer, like my father. Indeed, I had good grades in math and loved science even as a boy. God had other and better plans for me. I was raised in devout Catholic family New York City an Irish and Italian Catholic neighborhood. I went to parochial school and a Catholic prep school. It was an excellent education, and I have found memories of the Sisters of Charity and Christian Brothers who educated me. I never experience the stereotypical “mean nun” of movie and book fame. Actually, the movie Doubt (2008), which presents the story of a nun protecting her students against priest abuse, reflects the type of nuns and brothers I had. My sister, Gloria, joined the Sisters of Charity when I was in the fourth grade, and she has now retired after 65 years of service.

I graduated from Fordham University (class of 1966) with a degree in history. After college I fell into atheism as a result of some misguided theological instruction at Fordham. (The Jesuits have a reputation of trying out trendy theology, and sometimes they blow up the laboratory in the process.) My family prayed for me all the while, and in 1973 I had a spiritual experience from the Lord in a dream which moved me out of atheism. This is described in my book, Forgotten Power. Another spiritual experience and an anointing for healing and deliverance came soon after. I quickly joined a charismatic prayer group, and learned the Pentecostal/charismatic viewpoint from attendance at Mount Paran Church of God’s evening service, while still going to Catholic mass Sunday mornings. Mount Paran (Atlanta, Georgia) at the time was pastored by the Rev. Paul Walker, one of the leading figures of the Charismatic Renewal. Much of my spiritual growth also came from by listening to cassettes from Bible teaches such as Derek Prince, Agnes Sanford, Tommy Tyson, and other luminaries of the Charismatic Renewal.

I met my wife Carolyn at Mount Paran, and since she was divorced, I could no longer receive Holy Communion at a Catholic Church. We moved to a Spirit-filled Episcopal church for several years, where we both exercised our gifts of healing. There I severed as convener (chairperson) of the local chapter of the Order of St. Luke (OSL). This was a religious order founded in the 1930s to further the healing ministry among Christian churches. At the time that was not cool, and it was an uphill battle. But by the time I joined, in the 1975, healing prayer had become accepted in many mainline churches.

In 1987, Carolyn and I experimented in taking the OSL members to the streets in a “prayer station.” This was a real estate sign on a wooden base that read “Prayer Station” and where OSL intercessors stood by and offered healing and intercessory prayers to the walk by public. It was a great success, and the idea has spread worldwide. My book, The Public Prayer Station explains this ministry in detail.

In 2000 I was ordained as a priest by an Anglican offshoot denomination, The Communion of Charismatic Episcopal Churches. Later I was received as an Anglican priest. I now operate within the Anglican Diocese of the South. I spent seven years as a parish priest to two Hispanic congregations in Smyrna, Georgia (just north of Atlanta. My emphasis was in combining the gifts of the Spirit and sacramental ministry into one worship event. I introduced the old Moravian/Wesleyan rite of the “Love Feast” as monthly service to that church. But I resigned that post in 2007 on the Lord’s prompting to concentrate the writing and teaching ministry which believe has always been my major calling.

Currently one of my favorite things to do is to teach healing prayer to the Fordham alumni at their annual Jubilee event. The course is called “Aging Gracefully with Healing Prayer,” has been very well received.

The other thing I really enjoy is a course I facilitate at parishes called “Every Christian a Healing Evangelist.” This course is both a teaching and a workshop on healing prayer. I begin by discussing why the Church has had such a weak healing ministry in contrast to the biblical mandate that all Christians are to lay hands on the sick for healing. I explain the biblical view, now widely understood among Catholic and Protestant charismatics, that all Christians are gifted with some measure of healing authority and power (and some even have special anointings).

The course proceeds then with various exercises and skits to enable the lay person to exercise his or her healing gift. First, there is a prayer exercise to show the difference between petition prayer and command prayer in healing – the New Testament standard. Then other exercises show effective ways in directing God’s healing energies to various parts of the body, including ways of rapidly healing back ailments. Other exercises include praying to stop or diminish and ongoing heart attack. Several skits show how to offer healing prayer to family, friends and even strangers at Walmart.

My hair had some black a decade ago