Are miracles real? And do they still happen today?
These questions have dominated my life over the past two years as I’ve traversed America exploring some of the most compelling claims of miraculous healing — stories that seem too bombastic to be believable.
The scenarios I was confronted with were mind-bending.
Yet the evidence in the cases I encountered while making my new documentary, “Investigating the Supernatural: Miracles,” was so compelling that it absolutely demanded a pertinent exploration as well as a verdict.
And if I’m honest, the determination I came to at the conclusion of filming will likely make the heads of some of the staunchest secularists implode.
It’s no secret that the vast majority of Americans believe miracles still happen today. In 2010, the Pew Forum on Religion found that 80% of Americans embraced miracles, and more recent data shows such beliefs continue to be prevalent among the general populace.
There’s a primary reason so many people persist in believing in the miraculous: their personal and lived experiences.
These individuals and their friends and loved ones have undoubtedly encountered inexplicable events and happenings throughout their lives — occurrences that have come to shape and enhance their openness to the supernatural.
Frankly, most people have seen happenings they simply cannot explain. Some have endured even more elevated experiences, including shocking medical healings and other incidents that have led them to definitively believe the divine is actively at work.
But my job in producing and hosting this film wasn’t to take these anecdotal examples of miracle claims at face value. Instead, it was to skeptically explore some of the supposedly ironclad miracle healing stories in a way that left absolutely no room for whims or personal opinion.
My primary task alongside Emmy-nominated director Jarrod Anderson was to examine the evidence and allow viewers to determine whether there truly are credible cases of medical healings that defy skeptics’ penchant for hole-poking.
Despite my staunchest efforts to approach the topic with skepticism and intense questioning, the scenarios I was confronted with were mind-bending, to say the least.
First, I met neuroscientist Dr. Joshua Brown, who was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, a condition for which there was no medical treatment. With no viable interventions, he and his wife turned to prayer — and his tumor vanished.
Again, it sounds unbelievable. But the medical documentation and experience speak for themselves, all details we unpack in “Investigating the Supernatural: Miracles,” allowing viewers to weigh all of the evidence at hand and decide for themselves what they believe led to Brown’s healing.
Some might seek to dismiss such an experience, but skeptics face an uphill battle, as the neuroscientist isn’t alone in his radical healing journey. In the film, you’ll also meet Bryan Lapooh, a former police officer in New Jersey who was paralyzed in a work accident and embarked on a horrific, 10-year period of paralysis that included excruciating pain and suffering.
During that time, Lapooh and his wife ventured on a monumental prayer and healing quest — but, at first, to no avail. After a decade of praying for healing, his wife, Meg, asked him to attend a Christian conference to try one final time.
At that event, Bryan made his way to the stage, where he was prayed for, received healing, and walked out of the building on his own — something that was deemed medically impossible. It’s a case that shocked his doctors as he, even today, remains out of his brace and fully functional.
The cases only intensify from there, with another man, Jeff Markin, suffering a massive heart attack. After being pronounced dead and remaining clinically deceased for 40 minutes, he came back to life with no brain damage.
Again, these cases seem otherworldly and almost incomprehensible, but our investigation led us to an ultimate realization: Something inexplicable was afoot.
Beyond this obvious conclusion, we were left with the most natural of questions: If tumors disappeared, paralysis was vanquished, and a man came back from the dead, what, exactly, sparked these incredible events?
And if miracles are real, what does that mean for our faith and how do we process the moments when healings don’t unfold, even despite our most fervent prayers?
Exploring these questions through the eyes of those who claim to have experienced miracles was eye-opening, convicting, and transformational, as it challenged everything I thought I knew about faith and miracles and left me with a renewed perspective.
“Investigating the Supernatural: Miracles” will do the same for those who watch. You can stream the film right now here.
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