Florida Doctor Raises the Dead

Most physicians help patients stay alive; very few bring them back from the dead.

 

Chauncey Crandall, chief cardiologist at the Cardiac Transplant Program at Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is one of the few.

 

The world-renowned doctor said to date he has seen three patients he prayed for raised from the dead. That’s why his West Palm Beach, Fla., medical practice is becoming the talk of the town. His patients also see tumors fall off, lesions healed and exotic maladies cured in the name of Jesus.

 

Crandall’s most dramatic account involved Jeff Markin, a South Florida man who was pronounced dead in Palm Beach Gardens’ emergency room in 2006 after going nearly one hour without a heartbeat.

 

Crandall recently told Fox’s affiliate in Miami WSVN that he pleaded with God for the soul of Markin, whose body was being prepared for the morgue. The deceased Markin would later tell WSVN that before he came back to life, he had entered a state of consciousness where he knew he was at his own funeral.

 

“A Spirit-filled believer who knows his authority in Christ can see dramatic results through the power of prayer,” said Crandall.

 

Talking to Crandall about his experiences is like listening to accounts of healing evangelists from decades ago. He vividly recalled dozens of stories about patients who were on the “very edge of death”—until he prayed.

 

“We don’t have physicians that pray the way they used to,” said Crandall, lamenting how rarely a doctor submits scientific acumen for the wisdom of God. “The power of Christ in me—not me—is healing people.”

 

Among many other miracles, Crandall has witnessed the healing of a young girl with a severe blood infection, a missionary with multiple parasitic infections and malaria, and a man who was scheduled to have his leg amputated because of lesions eating through his skin. “I’m not some weird kook,” he said. “I am a conventional cardiologist that uses conventional medicine. But I [also] believe in the power of God.”

 

As word spreads of reported healings, Crandall’s practice has grown. So much so that he now has a full-time chaplain who takes patients’ prayer requests. Many of them give their lives to the Lord after meeting with Crandall. Some have had demons of suicide, infirmity and other spirits cast out of them.

 

Crandall wasn’t always so bold. In fact, his faith was rather tepid during the first 25 years of his Christianity. He didn’t start praying for his patients until 1999, after his 11-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia. “I dropped to my knees,” he recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know about spiritual attacks. I didn’t even know Satan was real.”

 

As Crandall began questioning God about his son and Christianity in general he also became fascinated with the theology of healing. He searched out Scripture and bought books on the subject, including T.L. Osborn’s Healing the Sick. In church after church that Crandall visited he was told healing wasn’t for today.

 

But his pursuit eventually led him to Freedom Ministries, a Spirit-filled organization led by David Hogan, a missionary to the native Indians in Mexico. Hogan prayed for Crandall and commanded healing to manifest in his son Chad.

 

Crandall was so excited to connect with the radical missionary that he left his medical practice for a season to travel with Hogan to Mexico, where he witnessed miracle after miracle. The experience left no question in his mind that God’s healing power was real.

 

Once Crandall returned to medicine, he started praying for his patients every day. But his faith would be severely tested after his son soon died of leukemia. “I held that boy in my arms and cried out for God to raise him,” he said. e dd “I asked God, ‘Do I run from You today, Lord Father? Because I want to run from You if this prayer isn’t answered.”

 

God did not raise Chad, nor did Crandall run from God. He asked the Lord instead to give him a million souls for the kingdom in exchange for his son’s life.

 

Crandall is now content to leave his grief in God’s hands and continue laying his hands on those in need. “A doctor has great authority with a patient,” Crandall said. “He can either speak blessings or curses. I tell all my patients, ‘We are going to get you better.’” —JENNIFER LECLAIRE