"A Fictional Place" - part 10

Here's another installment on the history of Kye Valley.  Part 9 started in 1949 and went through the 1950s.  Part 10 takes place during the 1960s.

3 Friends
It became the early 1960s.  The Bible study was still going strong.

During this time tent crusades/meetings were held by various evangelists throughout the Northwest.  Ed Hart, Jack Kealy Sr, and Marty Stephens went to a couple of these meetings because of reports of miraculous physical healings.  They wanted to know if healing was still for today.  They witnessed for themselves people being healed during the altar calls.

The three friends went home and searched for themselves God's Word concerning miraculous healings.  Their church taught that miracles had ended back in the first century with the last of Jesus' 12 apostles.  But Ed, Jack Sr, and Marty could not find anything in God's Word that said such a thing would happen.

For several weeks Ed taught the Bible study a series of messages based on  Hebrews 13:8.  It was the verse about Jesus being the same yesterday, today, and forever.

One autumn night the Bible study experienced the miracle of a physical healing.  A woman, who had been hobbling around on crutches, was suddenly able to walk after the worship and prayer time.  Everyone there that night shouted, clapped their hands, and praised God for what He had done for this woman.

The church pastors heard about the healing and accused the three friends of a fake healing.  But Ed, Jack Sr, and Marty all insisted that the healing was real.  They personally knew the woman who had been attending the Bible study for about two years.  She had been injured in a car accident several months earlier.

Ed simply told the pastors, "I feel like if I were to denounce healings I would be judging God.  Who am I to tell God what He can and can't do?"

The church asked Ed, Jack Sr, Marty and their families to leave.  They were no longer welcomed in that fellowship.  This hurt Marty because he had grown up in that church.  But the three friends agreed to forgive and pray for reconciliation.

The Bible study continued to meet.  One night Marty lead in a prayer of forgiveness and reconciliation.  Marty's son Jacob and Ed's son Shawn were both there.  Both boys always remembered Marty's prayer.  The idea of reconciliation was a seed that remained in their hearts.

The Bible study lasted into the spring with much prayer and fasting about what to do next.  What was God's will in all of this?  On Easter Sunday the Bible study became Morning Star Fellowship.