Scroll Down For Account of the Nebraska Church Explosion
1951 A.D. - Ronald Coyne's Plastic Eye Sees. For Years!!
Ronald Coyne was born on July 15, 1943. When he was a boy, his parents - Christians - moved to Sapulpa, Oklahoma, in the USA. In 1950, when Ronald was about 7 years old, he and his brother slipped out into the yard to play one day while they and their mother were all supposed to be napping. Playing with a piece of hay bailing wire, Ronald accidentally swung it in such a way that it pierced his right eyeball.
Within two weeks Ronnie's eye became infected, and so the eyeball was surgically removed. He was fitted with a plastic eye to replace it. He was, of course, totally blind in that eye then.
Sometime during the next 10 months Ronnie had an opportunity to attend Vacation Bible School. He was 'saved' there, and happily told his family about it when he returned. In June of 1951, his family attended a Christian Revival and Healing Campaign being held at the local Jr. High School auditorium. It was sponsered by the Assembly of God Church in Sapulpa. The Pastor was Rev. Lonnie Osborn. The Reverand's sister Daisy Gillock was the evangelist.
Daisy invited people to come forward and be prayed for if they wished to receive healing. Ronnie went up because his tonsils were giving him lots of problems. As Daisy prayed to Jesus for him, she also noticed an unusual grayness in one of his eyes, so she prayed to Jesus for his vision to be restored in that eye also, not realizing that there was no eye there to heal.
Though I've never heard about the tonsils, the eye began to see. It was praised as a miracle, but then praised all the more as it became known that it was a prosthetic eye. It was a genuine and incontestable miracle from Jesus if a person with a plastic eye could actually see from that eye socket.
Local papers picked up the story. Skeptical reporters began to arrive, wishing to test the boy. Sometimes they were allowed to test him with Ronnie's parents out of the room, and with his good eye securely covered to their satisfaction, etc. And he was tested in all sorts of manners many times as time passed. All of the clippings I've seen posted reported that Ronnie Coyne could see pretty well. He could read words, identify objects and colors, etc. It seemed his plastic eye allowed him to read as well as a boy his age could be expected to read.
It is reported that, at first anyway, the ability could be somewhat supressed for short times when especially skeptical people were around. His mother reportedly believed that this was from Satan trying to discredit God's great work. But even then, the eye would return to seeing soon enough. Reporter after reporter and doctor after doctor tested him and believed, allowing that somehow the boy was seeing.
Ronnie Coyne traveled widely demonstrating this ability to audiences around the world giving the glory to Jesus. Reportedly, God let them know it was His will that Ronnie travel and testify to the healing he had received, which I can quite readily believe. So he travelled and appeared to groups, and guested on T.V. shows - on a show called 'That's Incredible' for instance, which I liked as a boy, though I never saw this episode.
He spent much of the rest of his life as a testimony to God's greatness, his strange healing encouraging people to have faith. I found a reference which gave Ronnie Coyne's date of death as February 9th, 1994, at age 50. What an especially blessed family the Coyne's are, to be chosen to be witnesses for God in so strange and awesome a miracle!
Like another deed (which occurred in 484 A.D. and is posted on this site) where men with removed tongues were able to continue speaking and spreading the word of God, this is a great miracle and one which was evident for a good many years, and seen by numerous groups of people. While it's true that people can worship who or what they want, there is only one true God, in His interesting form of Father, Son, and Spirit. Which other 'god' proves Himself like our God?!? And Jesus, our King, is His son, the promised Messiah, and the only given path for mankind's salvation (according to Jesus Himself). So be saved and baptised. It's God's desire for all of us. Ronnie Coyne was! Then follow God in your life.
***** Update: I've heard that a site called transworldevangelism.com has a video you can purchase of Ronnie Coyne being tested and showing his unique ability. I took a quick peek at the site, and it looks like it may be true. I am not familiar with that site, I am not familiar with their video if there is one, and knowing so little about it, I mention it only as a point of interest you could pursue if you like. I am in no way affiliated with that site, so, again, don't confuse this with an endorsement. *****
Additional update: I have now attended a church in Tulsa where I met a couple that asured me that Ronnie Coyne's ability was quite legitimate, that they had known him well, and participated in exhibitions of his ability at a church they once attended.
Secondly, I have received E-mails from two different men who were young boys when Ronnie Coyne came to their church. They both not only attested that Ronnie Coyne really could see through his apothecary eye or empty socket, but that seeing this demonstrated influenced them to be very convinced Christians.
One of them, Brother Jeff Stogner, wrote that he was one of the young boys that got to tape Ronnie Coyne's good eye over, so that he couldn't see. He said Ronnie Coyne read from the empty socket that day.
The other, Brother Bill Hyatt, currently of Arkansas, said that in 1957 Ronnie Coyne came to a church that he attended in Kansas City, Missouri, and that his Social Security card was read from the blind eye of Ronnie Coyne, and Mr. Hyatt shared that he has now been in the Full Gospel Ministry for 54 years subsequent to seeing that miracle.
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1950 - Church Explodes During Choir Practice Time - But All 15 Were Late That Day
This is the smallest scale deed that is posted on this site - it effects a single church. But it is awesome anyway, and shows the glory of God.
On March 4, 1950 at the West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska in the USA, the entire group of 15 choir members were late for choir practice, all on the same night. The members reported that there had never been an instance in their memory when everyone was late before this day. The choir normally met at a predetermined time like all choirs do, which was 7:30 PM on Wednesdays, for this choir. Most of the members made it a habit to arrive by 07:15 PM as they liked to begin promptly on time.
At 0725 PM the still empty church exploded. The probable cause was determined to be gas from a leaky heating gas pipeline in the ground nearby. The boiler likely ignited it. But as mentioned, the amazing occurred, and all members, most of whom travelled seperately or in pairs, were each late for various seemingly ordinary reasons.
One girl reported that she was trying to finish the last of her Geometry before coming. It had been a struggle earlier, but she began to understand it and didn't want to quit before she had completed the assignment.
The minister came earlier and started the furnace but then went home. Later, when they were going to leave home for practice, his wife found a stain on her dress, so she took time to change it while her husband waited.
Several had their various car problems. One took a nap and overslept. One took time to read a letter for no particular reason. One got carried away talking with someone and lost track of time. For one reason or another, all were late. They were in the parking lot waiting for someone with a key, probably laughing about their good luck to all be so late on the rare day the minister's wife was also late. But as the minister and his wife finally arrived, the church walls exploded outward and the roof dropped. It is believed that no one inside could have survived.
If each person was late 1 out of 5 times the odds would exceed a million to one against this fortunate occurrence.
In my opinion, calling this an apparent deed of God is an easy choice. This faithful little group that met regularly to praise God were impeded, one after the other, just enough to save their lives. Many probably would have told you that they were not having a very good day - they overslept, their car wouldn't start, etc. At least until about 7:25 PM. Then their day suddenly seemed a whole lot better.
On Sept 25, 2009 I got a chance to go to the 'new' West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, which is a very pretty Nebraska town of about 15,000 I believe. The old light colored church involved in this account has been replaced by a pleasant looking brown brick church. I didn't happen to catch the pastor there, though I'd like to have. But I was able to go to the County Museum downtown in Beatrice and a very nice woman working there shared some copies of some news paper articles from back at the time of the explosion. (It's also a very worthwhile historical museum to visit, I thought. Lot's of interesting things to learn about early prairie medical work, for instance!)
It appears that the event occurred about like I first read that it had from a couple of other sources.) I had the date of occurrence wrong, apparently. It was March 4th, not March 1st, of 1950. And the newspaper article said that not all of the people had arrived at the time of the explosion, where as I had written that they were finally arrived there and waiting when the pastor and his wife drove up.
But the people in town that I spoke to seemed well convinced that it really was a miracle.
God is loving and caring and always, always so very able to protect His own from harm. A mighty shield is our God! It is true that we all die eventually, but how many times are we 'rescued' before that without our even knowing. If you are a follower of Jesus, this is the sort of Master you belong to. Why seek any other?
Hello,
I personally believe that realizing how many great deeds of God have actually occurred through out history will lead some people to be saved giving their life to Christ. If you agree, then please, take the time to be a 'missionary', to love your neighbor enough to care about their soul. Please mention and recommend visiting the Deeds of God website on any social media sites that you belong to. Tell a favorite account to your friends or family, and tell them where you read it. To know God is to stand in awe of Him, but too few people know Him today. Accounts like these are yet another way to come to know Jesus and the Holy Father, and the Spirit of Truth that helps us understand. Thank you. Dan Curry