Dr. Clair B. King M.d. - Witnessed Miraculous Eye Replacement
February 23, 2004
The personal testimony of Dr. Clair B. King M.D., who witnessed the miraculous replacement of a five year-old-boy's eye.
I have the highest regard for the medical profession-and from my conversations with doctors it is my belief that one cannot be a doctor of medicine and not be religious.
It should not be amazing that we have doctors who tell of their personal experiences with their patients, as they witness divine healing through prayer. After all, all healing comes from God-a surgeon can perform surgery, but he must wait for a higher Power to do the healing; a doctor can prescribe medication but it takes God to heal.
Dr. Clair B. King has practiced ophthalmology in Canton, Ohio. Prior to that time,he was a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a past president of the Stark County Medical Society, he is on the staff of the 750-bed Aultman Hospital. He holds M.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, is a member of the Order of St. Luke the Physician, and an active leader in Christ United Presbyterian Church in Canton.
Dr. Clair B. King, M.D., wrote the following letter testifying to his MANY EYE-WITNESS accounts of Miraculous Healings.
Miracles, by their very nature, defy scientific explanation. Defining a miracle is like defining infinity or eternity. It is impossible to know the mind of God, and, therefore, impossible to fathom out His ways. Miracles can never be understood, they can only be accepted.
I believe in miracles, NOT only because I have seen them (and I have seen many), but because I believe in God. Even though I cannot understand or explain what takes place when a person is miraculously healed of some injury or disease, nevertheless, because I believe in God, I accept it. (I cannot understand radio and television either, but that does NOT prevent me from enjoying them.) Divine healing is NOT a substitute for medicine or surgery, but is complimentary to scientific medicine. Doctors are but instruments in the hands of God. And the fact that God sometimes chooses to heal without the help of His instruments should be a cause of rejoicing rather than confusion.
I have not always held these viewpoints, although I have been a Christian for many years. In fact, it was several years after my first experience with the Power of God to heal that I realized what had happened.
It was in August 1953, when five-year-old Robert Kasner was brought to me for treatment of an injured eye. The cornea had been slashed by apiece of flying glass. The clear liquid in the front chamber of the eye had drained out, and the iris was protruding from the laceration.
My son, who is in practice with me, and I performed emergency surgery at Aultman Hospital. The iris was reset in its proper position and a conjunctival Hap carried down like a patch over the wound.
Twelve days later, on a Saturday morning, we removed the dressing, only to find that the patch had not held. The iris was protruding through the cornea again. Surgery was again indicated and an appointment was made for an operation on Tuesday, three days later.
We let the parents take the child home over the weekend, but Tuesday morning he was on the operating table, being prepared for surgery.
Before we administered the anesthetic, I made a final examination 0f the eye. I could NOT believe what I saw and called my son to examine him. The eye was completely healed. There was nothing on which we could operate. We were astonished, even a little embarrassed. I had no choice but to dismiss the surgical staff and have the lad wheeled back to his room.
In my dismay, I called the boy's parents and their reply was simple and to the point. "We took Robert to a Kathryn Kuhlman Miracle Service on Sunday. Prayer was offered for his healing."
Six days later, I examined the eye again. "Well healed; good cosmetic appearance," I wrote on the boy's chart. On January 9, 1954, nearly four months later, the report I jotted on the lad's file was, "Media clear; fundus negative." At that time, it was incomprehensible to me and I filed the case away to gather dust.
But then in 1957, after attending a service at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cleveland where Emily Gardiner Neal spoke on Divine Healing, I began to realize there was more to healing than performing surgery and administering drugs. I bought her book, A Reporter Finds God Through Spiritual Healing, and poured through it. I had always believed that religion healed the soul and medicine healed the body. Could it be possible that God also healed bodies?
I had been taught in medical school that it was medicine that healed and it was doctors who administered the medicine. People are materialistic, I thought, and, therefore, they can only be treated with materialistic drugs and means.
Now I understood, for the first time, that people are both materialistic (flesh) and spiritual(spirit); and God, the Great Healer, often overrules His natural laws with supernatural laws of love and grace-and heals miraculously.
With this new understanding, I was in a receptive mood to listen to Dr. Alfred W. Price of Philadelphia when he lectured the next summer at Chautauqua, New York. We have a summer cottage there, but I had never paid any attention to the annual lectures on Divine Healing. Not only did I listen and comprehend, but I finished the week by joining the, Order of St. Luke the Physician, an order devoted to the teaching and practice of Divine Healing.
Returning to Canton, I was determined to convince others that such healing is not only possible, but desirable. Some of my associates, especially my minister (who was a close friend), felt I was showing signs of a mental breakdown.
However, since that time ALL three ministers at Christ United Presbyterian Church have been inducted into the Order of St. Luke.
Shortly afterward, while spending some time in India as an interim medical missionary, I learned to pray aloud before an operation. All the missionaries did. When I returned to my practice, I felt if it was worth doing on the mission field, it was worth doing at home. Forestalling an injured professional pride, I determined I would start praying aloud in the operating room before surgery. I have never regretted it.
It has changed the whole atmosphere of the operating room. Patients, nurses, assistants-all of us have been changed through the experience of going to God in prayer before the anesthetic is given. It is a thrill to be conscious of the fact that the Great Physician is by my side. His presence takes a great load of responsibility from my shoulders.
Not only did it make a difference in the operating room, but there was a decided difference in the patient's recovery. This was especially true among patients with emotional and spiritual problems who had received relief in these areas.
I still had doubts whether God would actually intervene, because of prayer, and invoke an instantaneous organic healing.
I had always believed God could actually heal tissue instantaneously, but never had conceded that He would.
That is, until I remembered the Kasner case. I went back and re-examined it. The corneal lesion had been perfectly healed, without even a scar. Only God could do this. And God did it in answer to Kathryn Kuhlman's prayer.
I wanted to learn more about her, so I drove to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to attend a Miracle Healing Service. Later, I talked with her personally.
"I have nothing to do with these healings," she said. "It is all done by the Holy Spirit." The fact that she was baffled by the healings convinced me that her ministry was genuine. She actually confessed to me that she never read books about Divine Healing because she wanted her mind to be a clear, pure channel to the power of the Holy Spirit.
"When I walk out on the platform," she said, "I depend utterly on God. I trust God for miracles to happen-and so they do. There is no mental block whatsoever." This is the crux of spiritual healing. From a medical standpoint, there is no understanding-no explaining. We doctors have a little knowledge. Many times, this knowledge becomes a block to truth. Knowledge is not always the answer. We have to accept some things on faith.
This may be the reason Paul said, "But God has chosen the world's unschooled to shame the learned," (I Corinthians 1:27). And to reason out Divine Healing is just as impossible as it is to reason out God.
Location: Canton, OH, United States
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