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Wife 'cured' by prayer can't get benefits stopped because government computer doesn't recognise miracles

By LUKE SALKELD

Last updated at 08:14 11 December 2007

When June Clarke walked again after six years in a wheelchair, the committed Christian put it down to the power of prayer.

But when she shared the good news with benefits officials, they refused to stop her incapacity allowance - telling her their computer "didn't have a button for miracles".

With the Government pledging to crack down on "sicknote Britain", it seems remarkable the 56-year-old received more than £3,500 she did not even want.

Mrs Clarke, from Plymouth, slipped on a wet floor at her workplace in 2000.

She badly damaged her hip, pelvis and spine and had to give up work and draw incapacity benefits as her symptoms worsened.

Her husband Stuart, 58, a pastor at Hooe Baptist Church, said that he prayed every day after the accident that God would "bring my wife back".

The prayer seemed to be answered when his wife attended a Christian conference in January last year.

Within hours, Mrs Clarke was able to fold away her wheelchair and stop taking painkillers.

When she realized she was permanently cured four months later, she contacted the Government's Industrial Injury Department to put a stop to her benefits.

But the department continued to give her £600 a month - and she ended up being paid £3,600 in incapacity benefits for a period when she was in perfect health.

"After I got healed in January 2006 I went to the doctor to check it out with him," she said yesterday.

"He said wait six months.

"But after four months I felt uncomfortable taking benefits when I didn't need them.

I contacted the offices to ask to come off the benefits."

But officials told her that the system was unable to recognise an apparently miraculous recovery.

Mrs Clarke had been awarded an allowance for life and the computer wasn't programmed to allow the payments to end until her death.

"They said: 'We haven't got a button to push that says miracle'."

She then saw a government doctor, who was baffled about her recovery but declared her fully fit.

The allowance was stopped and Mrs Clarke has since been able to repay the money by working as a carer.

Mr Clarke said that he found the couple's battle with the benefits system amusing, if frustrating.

"We would have loved to have used the money for a good cause," he said.

"But it wasn't ours to spend.

It can't be often that a government department gets a complaint about unwanted cash."

A spokesman from the Department for Work and Pensions said: "Each case is treated individually.

When a customer contacts us to say they no longer require or need to claim benefits we ask for a letter of confirmation for security reasons."

Don’t Blindly Dismiss Christ’s work in the world.

Those who out of bias dismiss the value of eye-witness testimony are actually dismissing whole spheres of knowledge.

Skeptics do not apply their dismissive attitude outside of their skepticism.

No one lives or makes life choices without relying on eye-witness testimony.

In the U.S. based on a 2004 Survey

2004 national survey of 1,100 physicians, conducted by HCD Research and the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City

Three-Quarters of Doctors believe in miracles.

Over half claim to have witnessed a miracle.

Dr. Craig Keener makes interesting notes on these astonishing numbers:

The context of the question mentions Biblical miracles which indicate a fairly dramatic event.

Doctors’ training directs them to look for ordinary causes first.

Based on God often using natural means in many Biblical miracles, how many interventions may not have been missed?

There will always be those in any group that will be unwilling to consider a miracle even if it happens right in front of them.

What we learn from the man born blind.

Don’t let others bully you out of what you know because they don’t like it.

Don’t let their confusion or bias make you change what you know.

Like the man born blind, if you hold firm under pressure, you will grow in faith.

Because he maintained integrity in his thinking and speech, he gained more insight and revealed the blind bias of the skeptics.

Just like those who opposed Jesus and His work when considered in history and the entire world skeptics are in the minority.

Take aways:

God can take what we see as a disability to reveal His glory!

Don’t be surprised that people don’t immediately believe.

Hard hearts create blind spots.

Never give up on telling people about Christ’s power and the importance of prayer.

You never know who is listening.

You never know what a person really thinks at any moment.

I remember being taken to visit a relative of a fellow Christian.

My friend had concern for his cousin.

He saw her as a good person because she seemed so busy.

He thought she would be open.

But she really wasn’t.

She was good enough without God at the time.

He had left me in the dining room with her husband.

He had the biker garb.

He had tattoos, wallet with a chain, and piercings.

He looked a bit annoyed.

I thought, well this door is closed.

If she wasn’t open he’s got locked written on his face.

God prompted me, just knock on his door.

If he says go away, you can know you tried.

Well, I looked at him and said, “Hey do have any spiritual beliefs?”

He paused and looked at me.

I thought uh oh.

Then his face softened.

He said, yeah, I’ve had some things happen in my life recently.

I think God is trying to get my attention.

We went through the gospel and he prayed to Christ for forgiveness.

I found out he got involved in a local church and started leading in ministry soon afterwards.

You can know Christ always wants you to give Him glory and you never know what He will do around you when you are faithful.

Posted on Dec 22, 2004, 1 p.m.

By Bill Freeman

A national survey of 1,100 physicians, conducted by HCD Research and the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City over the past weekend, found that 74% of doctors believe that miracles have occurred in the past and 73% believe that can occur today.

A national survey of 1,100 physicians, conducted by HCD Research and the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City over the past weekend, found that 74% of doctors believe that miracles have occurred in the past and 73% believe that can occur today.The poll also indicated that American physicians are surprisingly religious, with 72% indicating they believe that religion provides a reliable and necessary guide to life.

Those surveyed represent physicians from Christian (Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox Christian and other), Jewish (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and secular) Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions.

"The picture that emerges is one where doctors, although presumably more highly educated than their average patient, are not necessarily more secular or radically different in religious outlook than the public, stated Dr. Alan Mittleman, Director of The Finkelstein Institute.

"Our business is to determine physicians' needs and requirements relevant to the health care environment and this study was a great opportunity for us to use our methodology to explore physicians' spirituality and personal beliefs," explained Glenn Kessler, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, HCD Research in Flemington, NJ.

The study affirmed earlier polls conducted by HCD that indicate a correlation between physicians' spiritual and political conservatism.

Additional findings indicate:

-- (58%) (over half) attending worship services at least one time per month

-- 46% (a plurality) believe that prayer is very important in their own lives

Physicians views of the Bible and religious teachings

Often, religious conviction, especially a belief in the miraculous, declines as level of education increases.

This does not appear to hold true for physicians.

Perhaps because of their frequent involvement with matters of life and death, physicians show significant openness to religion.

Regarding their views on miracles and the source of the Bible:

-- 37% physicians believe that the Bible's miracle stories are literally true while 50% believe they are metaphorically true.

12% indicated that they did not believe in the Bible's description of miracles

-- 9% believe the Bible was written by God, 58% believe the Bible was inspired by God and 34% consider it human ancient literature.

-- 55% believe that medical practice should be guided by religious teaching (44% do not)

Religion and the practice of medicine

Perhaps the most surprising result of the survey is that a majority of doctors (55%) said that they have seen treatment results in their patients that they would consider miraculous (45% do not).