Raising the Dead

The Bible records a number of accounts in which someone who died was restored to life. In the Old Testament, Elijah brought the widow of Zaraphath’s son back to life (1 Kings 17:17-24). When the son of a Shunnamite woman died, Elisha raised him from the dead (2 Kings 4:25-37). A dead man who was thrown into Elisha’s grave was restored to life when his body came into contact with the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:20-21).

• The New Testament records three people Jesus raised back to life.
• The son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-15)
• The daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:40-56)
• Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, of Bethany (John 11:1-45)

Jesus also sent His disciples out with these instructions: “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons” (Matthew 10: 7-8). In the book of Acts, Peter raised Dorcas back to life (Acts 9:36-42) and Paul raised Eutychus back to life (Acts 20:7-12).

However, raising the dead did not end with Jesus and the apostles. It has continued down through the history of the Church. Here are some examples, abstracted from my book, Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Church.

• Ireneaus records a church community that, through prayer and fasting, saw a dead brother restored to life. (ANF Vol. 1, Against Heresies, Book 2, Chapter 31, Section 2)
• Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical History, tells of a pregnant women who fell from a height in the church and died on the spot but was restored to life at the prayer of the congregation. (NPNF Second Series, Vol. 2, Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, Book 7, Chapter 5)
• St. Augustine, in his City of God, tells of a Christian woman of Caspalium who became ill and died but was restored to life. Also a young Syrian girl at Hippo, the son of a man named Ireneaus, and an infant that died — all brought back to life in the name of Jesus. (NPNF, First Series, Vol. 2, The City of God, Book 22, Chapter 8).
• Sozomen tells of a man who man who was brought back to life under the ministry of Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem. (NPNF Second Series, Vol 2. Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, Book 2, Chapter 1)
• Martin of Tours restored to life a man who had hanged himself. (NPNF Second Series, Vol. 11, Suplicius Severus, On the Life of St. Martin of Tours, Chapters 7-8)
• Martin also brought a young boy back to life (NPNF Second Series, Vol. 11, Suplicius Severus, Second Dialogue, Chapter 4)
• John Cassian tells of a dead man raised again to life by Abbot Macarius of Egypt. (NPNF, Second Series, Vol. 11, Conferences of John Cassian, The Second Conference of Abbot Nesteros)
• Benedict of Nursia (the father of western monasticism) raised to life again a young monk who had died. He also restored the son of a country man back to life (from the Second Book of Dialogues, Chapter 11 and Chapter 32, by Gregory the Great)
• St. Dominic restored a man to life (Brewer, Dictionary of Miracles, pp. 80-81. Citing Edward Kinesman, Lives of the Saints, 1623)
• St. Vincent Ferrier is also recorded as raising the dead on a couple of different occasions. (Ibid, p. 86, citing Peter Ranzano, Life of St. Vincent Ferrier)
• John Welch, one of the Scottish Covenanters, raised a young nobleman back to life. (Howie, Biographica Scotiana)

Even today, many people have been brought back to like in the name of Jesus. (These examples are also cited in my book.)

• Archbishop Benson Idahosa, of Nigeria, restored to life an infant girl who had been dead for two hours. He also raised his wife who had been dead for over a half hour.
• British evangelist Smith Wigglesworth is said to have raised 13 or 14 people from the dead. Roberts Lairdon records one of these in his book, God’s Generals. Stanley H. Frodsham describes a few other in Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith.
• Roland and Heidi Baker, founders of Iris Ministries, tell of many who have been raised form the dead in Mozambique. They record some of these in their book Always Enough: God’s Miraculous Provision Among the Poorest Children on Earth. 
• Ben Peters, of Kingdom Sending Center, reports numerous modern-day resurrections in his book Resurrection: A Manual for Raising the Dead.
• David Hogan, founder of Freedom Ministries, an outreach to the peoples of Latin America, records numerous resurrections. Reports of this ministry estimate that out of 2,300 attempts, about three hundred have been raised from the dead.
• Early in 2002, Christ for All Nations, founded by evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, released a video called Raised From The Dead: A 21st Century Miracle Resurrection Story. It documents how Daniel Ekekchukwu, a Nigerian pastor who was fatally injured in an automobile accident, was certified dead and even embalmed, was miraculously restored to life after three days through prayer and faith in the name of Jesus Christ.
• James Rutz recounts that same incident in his book Megashift: Igniting Spiritual Power. He also gives several other examples of the dead being restored to life in Guatemala, Mexico, South Africa and India by the power of the Holy Spirit. One woman he interviewed, a sixty-year-old Dalit from New Delhi who converted to Christ, was involved in sixteen resurrections in the six years she had been in ministry.

Here are a couple of recent videos about Jesus believers bringing the dead back to life.


Miracle on Rama Cay Island from Global Celebration, the ministry of Georgian and Winnie Banov.


DEAD RAISER (Official Trailer) HD from Mountain Light Cinema.
You can find additional examples here. God is still doing what He has always done in His Church.

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Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit
in the History of the Church
by Jeff Doles

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Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.