The Story of My Healing
“Healing is one of the most controversial subjects we can talk about in the church. Yet the Bible is filled with accounts of Jesus’ healing miracles. When we look at the healing ministry of Jesus, we must also recognize the vital connection we have with it: We are His body on earth today (1 Cor. 3:16). Therefore, we must exhibit the same passion for healing that we have observed in Him. Our calling is to practice the faith, not just preach and teach it!” Please read my story.
Bill Adkins
It was the morning of August 27, 2007 that I awoke in a stupor. I was extremely weak; barely able to rise from the bed. I called Linda, my wife and told her how I felt. She immediately said we should go to the doctor. I wanted to sleep but she insisted. She drove me to the office of Dr. Phillip Bowden, a church member and it was there that the alarming situation developed. My blood pressure was 60/40. There was something terribly wrong because this extreme low blood pressure indicated a crisis. An ambulance was called and I was rushed to Methodist Hospital where examinations began. A CAT Scan quickly revealed that I had a kidney stone lodged in my kidney, blocking and backing my urine into my system. I had sepsis. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition in which the body is fighting a severe infection that has spread via the bloodstream. If a patient becomes “septic,” they will likely have low blood 
pressure leading to poor circulation and lack of blood perfusion of vital tissues and organs. This condition is termed “shock” and is sometimes referred to as septic shock. My organs were shutting down.
For days I had felt weaker and had experienced chills but like so many people I
assumed that it would soon pass. I could sense the worry exhibited by the physicians and nurses and I was quickly rushed, literally pushed at a run to an operating room where a surgeon was waiting for me, revealing that he had to do a procedure immediately with no time for anesthesia. I remember him saying, “I’m sorry Dr. Adkins but I must do this now; it’s going to hurt.” He ordered several nurses to turn me over and hold me down. It was then that I felt the most excruciating pain of my life. He was punching a hole in my back through to my kidney to release the poison from my system. But it was too late. I was in complete septic shock and the physicians informed my wife and family that the discovery of my condition had come too late. There was not much they could do other than use their best antibiotics, but in the meanwhile, my kidneys had failed; my respiration was failing and my heart would soon stop beating and it did, twice. Over the course of the night, Linda was told that the prognosis was not good. They concluded that I could not make it to the next day. Yet, the saints began to pray and I survived the night. My church members continued praying, as I was surrounded by my wife and several registered nurses from our membership. My kidneys had completely shut down and my body was swelling with fluid. I can only remember brief intervals when I could see people around me, but I remember hearing a physician explaining to other physicians and residents in the hospital what was happening to me. I heard him say, “He can’t possibly recover, the infection is too advanced.”
With those words, I began to commune with the Lord. I can’t call it prayer, it was more like a conversation. I was talking with Jesus and I had no problem dying. I was ready to go. But it seemed as though He was saying to me, “not now,” you still have much to do. Strangely, at my very worse, I felt good. As I got closer to death and heaven, I felt at peace with no pain, but joyful comfort. I was asleep but the physicians said I was in a coma. I could hear the ventilator breathing for me. I could feel the large tube down my throat but it did not trouble me. I was at complete peace because I was communing with Jesus. I was getting close to home and it felt good. I had always wondered what dying might feel like. Now I was there; I was dying. I was approaching heaven’s door. But suddenly, I began to feel pain and discomfort. I was being jerked back to life. The oxygen mask on my face was somehow bruising my forehead. I could feel my right hand as if it were about to explode. I looked at it and it was the size of a football. But the good thing was, every time I opened my eyes I saw Linda, my angel, refusing to leave my side, fighting against the rules of the hospital to stay with me. My lovely Linda, strong, faithful and brave, refusing to give up on me. One physician came in the room to discuss with her my imminent death. She rebuked him and cast him out of the room. She summoned her own team of nurses and prayer warriors.
The nurse had catheterized me, but because my kidneys had failed, she did not bother to close the end of the tube of the urine bag attached to my bed in intensive care. There was no need. No urine would be produced by dead kidneys. But the saints continued to pray and my wife recounts the events of that night to me. While there, with four registered nurses of our membership in the room, they began to hear a dripping sound on the floor. They asked each other, “Do you hear that?” Mother Lucille Pratcher, a retired registered nurse, got up and walked around to the urine bag and shouted, “He’s passing water.” That meant that my kidneys had turned back on. The word was spread throughout the hospital, “It’s a miracle.” The fluid continued to drain from my body by the power of my resurrected kidneys and by morning I was awake and talking.
My nephrologist had come to my room with a team of University of Tennessee physicians and residents and they stood staring at me in bewilderment, literally peaking inside the door from time to time. He then came to my bedside and said, “You must have a special relationship with God. In all my years of medicine I have never seen anyone recover from your degree of sepsis and kidney failure.” My church member, Dr. Phillip Bowden, told me that he had never seen anyone recover with a blood pressure as low as mine had been, especially at the age of 59. The parade continued, medical professionals were coming from everywhere in the hospital to see me, to peak in at me and wonder.
I was healed, baffling medical science. Later, we found out that the story of my death was already written for the morning newspapers. TV stations were ready to release the “breaking news.” But God had released his miracle healing power. My kidneys were like brand new. I was healed and about to be released and on my way home. But this miracle does not end here.
In an attempt to save my life by raising my blood pressure levels, the drug Levophed was administered to me. Levophed is a drug used for blood pressure control in certain acute hypotensive states. What it does is force the blood pressure to come from the extremities of your body to your torso, leaving little to no blood flow, for sometimes hours at a time. The nurses have a saying they often quote, “Leave ’em dead with Levophed.” A dangerous side effect is that necrosis, death of body tissue, may occur in the extremities, like your hands, arms, legs and feet. In my case it was my feet. Blood flow returned to every extremity of my body except the toes on my right foot. They were black, literally dead and decayed. My podiatrist and fraternity Brother was Dr. Nathan Lucas, who did everything in his power to save my toes, but it was not to be. In a discussion with him we determined that it was in my best interest to remove my toes, however, the side effect would be that I would probably walk with a limp for the rest of my life. At that juncture, I decided that would be an easy price to pay for my life that God had spared. Dr. Lucas removed my five toes and I began therapy. Of course, I walked with a limp.
It was a Saturday morning and I was walking to my kitchen when I heard the Lord say, “Stop limping, just walk.” I understood what the loss of toes meant; loss of balance, loss of normal foot motion, thereby causing a limp. But I heard the Lord say, “Stop limping, just walk.” And I did. To this very day I do not limp, praise God. As far as I’m concerned, this is as great of a miracle as my healing from septic shock. I was walking normally with no toes on my right foot; a sign from God, like Noah’s rainbow, of His healing power.
Since that time I have believed God for the healing of many others. In our 
church, we have seen miraculous healings from cancer, heart attacks and diabetes. In my book, LIVING IN THE SPIRIT, I explain that many pastors teach and preach God’s Word but they don’t practice it. I believe in the “laying on of hands,” the “anointing of oil” and the “casting out of demons.” I believe in the utilization of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
God’s power of healing can be released in your life. I now understand that my suffering was part of my preparation. God needed me to be a living witness to His power. My life and testimony is living proof of His anointing given to me to heal in His Name. I’m not a Benny Hinn, I’m Bill Adkins a walking, breathing, living testimony to the healing power of Jesus Christ. I want to teach everyone that a believer can receive God’s healing power through faith. His healing power is available to the believer through the grace of Jesus Christ. I am only the vessel of His usage, but as His vessel, I can practice spiritual supernatural transference of the anointing through the faith of the believer. This is the supernatural power of God that is still available on this earth. For me, I operate under the power of signs and wonders, accepting and understanding my apostolic mission. I practice the faith according to God’s Holy Word.
Renowned theologian, Dr. Eric Von Anderseck wrote, “The Church has been asking, Why do we need apostles if we already have pastors and teachers to guide the Church? We would also have to ask, Why did God send Moses if Aaron was already in Egypt? Why did God send prophets if God had the priests and Levites in place to guide the children of Israel? By biblical example we can see that God has a purpose for each calling and that one calling does not replace another. The Church is asking, Why do we need apostles? We still need apostles because believers have become painfully aware of their absence. God has brought to the attention of the Body of Christ what He is about to do in restoring apostles to the Church. More than just preachers, teachers or ministers, but “doers,” “practitioners of the faith.”
Sickness is the Great Interrupter of life. It enters without knocking, it comes uninvited, thwarting all plans, mocking the idea of certainty, and diminishing hope for the future. It intrudes like a burglar in our home, touching every part of life, stealing our joy and robbing us of our everyday abilities.
In many cases, some pastors are slow to believe that God’s will is to heal. Nevertheless, He does. Does God always heal us? No. His divine plan for our lives is for this earthly tent to be exchanged for an eternal heavenly dwelling that never suffers the effects of a decaying body. But God still heals because this is His pattern for revealing His nature through His Son, Jesus Christ. God’s majesty is still being displayed in the earth. Healing is a part of that divine majesty.
I am a living witness and testimony, because God healed me. In the depths of a poisoned body and organs shutting down, I was given almost no chance to survive, but God healed me. As I lay hands on you, you reach out and touch Him, like the woman with the issue of blood. It is one thing to throng the Lord and quite another to trust Him. Many people bump into Jesus, but few reach out and touch Him. In faith, reach out as He passes by.
I invite you to come and worship with us, to be part of not only a worship service but a spiritual experience. God’s power is still in the earth and it is given to us. Believe!
Worship with us each Sunday at 9:30AM.
Greater Imani Church
The Cathedral of Faith
3824 Austin Peay
Memphis, TN 38128
Visit us online at www.thecathedraloffaith.com
Watch us on TV on WATN, Channel 24
Sundays at 6AMWatch our Sunday worship service, streamed live on computer by visiting our web site.
Call us toll free at 1 -877-27IMANI or call 901-274-6711
