Return to life miraculous
Sharon Lee recovers after 40-minute death
Healing miracles are claimed in many religious faiths, but bringing someone back from death is a very rare occurrence.
The biblical account of Jesus' restoring Lazarus to life is one of the few known instances.
But both medical professionals and members of some local churches report that happened in the case of local Pentecostal Holiness minister Sharon Lee, 51, who was declared dead for 40 minutes on Nov. 6, 1999 before she was revived.
Making the incident more remarkable was that doctors felt she had no chance of without serious brain damage, which is normally considered irreparable after 20 minutes of loss of brain function. However, Lee returned to life with no apparent brain damage.
She credits the healing gifts of her fellow evangelist, Dr. Guy Peh, who is from Dallas, Texas. He had earlier conducted revival services in Lee's church. In late October he called Lee and told her he felt a definite need to be at her church in early November.
Dr. Peh normally appears at larger churches, and Lee told him her small congregation, His Hand Extended Pentecostal Holiness, didn't have the finances to pay for his visit. However, he said that didn't matter and came anyway to lead a five-day revival here, starting Nov. 1.
On the morning of Nov. 6, Lee was getting ready to go to work from her home near Fay as was about to drive there when she said she felt a command from God to "Stop." She pulled in at her sister Janet Kautz's nearby home.
"I didn't feel any pain," Lee said. "I just had a strange feeling that something very unusual was going to happen - it was just like my spirit was drifting away."
She asked her sister to drive her to the hospital emergency room and to call Dr. Peh and some of her church members to pray. On the way to the hospital, she called her husband, Larry, to meet her there. She doesn't remember arriving at the hospital.
Dr. Mohammed "Ash" Ashfaq was on call at the emergency room. Dr. Ashfaq said Lee was sweating and died suddenly. The doctor and nurses worked over Lee, giving her 20 shock treatments and oxygen. After 10 or 15 minutes of no response, Dr. Ashfaq wanted to discontinue resuscitation attempts because doctors know that irreversible brain damage sets in at that point.
However, Kautz frantically insisted that efforts continue to save her sister because her church friends where there praying by then. Vociferously leading the prayer was Dr. Peh, and when he was told of a certainty of brain damage, he placed his hands on Lee's head and prayed for her mind to be restored.
Lee was considered to have been dead for some 40 minutes before her heart miraculously resumed functioning along with the rest of her body. A close friend of Lee's, Lucille Antonelli, said, "The power of the Almighty God struck Sharon with life !"
At that point, however, Dr. Ashfaq warned the family that she would be brain-dead and had no medical hopes of living a normal life.
Though Lee wasn't aware of anything else at the hospital, she recalls hearing Guy Peh "praying over her." Lee, who has felt called to a healing ministry herself, said of Missionary Evangelist Peh, "I definitely know he has special gifts of healing, but the hospital was full of people praying for me, including Mother Panay Gillum and her Christ Gospel Church members and Rev. Lafayette Randle. Missionary Evangelist Peh is real BOLD. He was praying very loudly, and I think the people at the hospital didn't quite know what to think.
Speaking of the unusual circumstances of Missionary Evangelist Guy's premonition that he especially needed to be here, Lee said, "It was just like it was a play all laid out.
Larry Lee said, "I know it was a miracle. I was right there and watched her die."
The Lees and other believe that God sent Missionary Evangelist Peh to their church at that precise time to save her. Antonelli said, "Missionary Evangelist Peh was truly a vessel used by God who did not give up, along with her family and friends, who were grounded in their faith of 'prayer changes things'."
Missionary Evangelist Peh told the Weatherford reporter that he had had another experience of seeing the dead returned to life not long before Sharon Lee's case here. He said he was in Bozeman, Montana, to speak about racism at Montana State University and visited a church during his stay. During the service, a man suffered a heart attack and was carried outside. Two nurses present found no pulse.
Missionary Evangelist Peh said they prayed, and that the man's heart started again and he began to gasp for breath and then was revived with CPR. He said it was God who brought that man and Sharon Lee back to life.
Another doctor tried to discourage Dr. Ashfaq from transferring Lee to Oklahoma City after she had been clinically dead for 40 minutes, but she was sent to the intensive care unit at University Hospital and it was there that she regained consciousness, with absolutely no evident mental impairment.
An article about the occurrences appeared in the SWOSU student newspaper, and Dr. Ashfaq told the editor, Amanda Madden, that he had never thought it would be possible to revive Lee or that she would be herself again.
The Watonga Republican
Wednesday, January 19, 2000
RMI
Reader Comments (2)
I thank God everyday for Guy Peh being at my church on Nov.6, l999, and how the Lord used him to speak words of life over me. I have lived ten more years still pastor HIs Hand Extended in Watonga, and also Radiant Glory PHC in Canton, Oklahoma. The Lord has given me the opportunity of praying with many people and preaching the gospel this last ten years. I truly believe Dr. Guy is a gift from God for this latter day time. We will continue to hear how the Lord has used him and his lovely wife in this great restoration ministry. Love you so much and thank God for you. Sharon Kay Lee
God will do it wit hmiracle and our life will be changed to glory for the Lord and he will perform miracles through us in power of the Holy Spirit withthanskgiving and pleasure of joy and the songs of glory with my piano play,thanks and bless and win,keijo sweden