In the Gospel of John, Lazarus of Bethany was the man raised from the dead by Jesus Christ. It was one of the biggest miracles attributed to Jesus, which showed His power "over the last and most irresistible enemy of humanity—death."
And it looks like God is continuing to perform miracles of this kind, and one of them apparently took place recently in Bellflower, California, when a pickup truck struck a boy crossing the street Pentecostal Evangel (PE) News reports.
The commotion startled Pastor Eric Angeles who lives nearby. The pastor of New Hope International Christian Church in Norwalk immediately rushed out of his home to help. The pastor's wife, Ruth, and their daughter May also ran out to see how they could help.
The nine-year-old boy's parents and sister were crying at the scene and the pastor said his initial impression was that the boy was already dead. "He was lifeless. His eyes and mouth were open, but he was motionless," he said.
Ruth had the same impression. "When I saw the boy, I immediately asked if I could pray for him," she said. "I prayed in the name of Jesus. 'Lord, just bring back life into this boy. Perform a miracle right in front of our eyes.'"
Ruth said she heard a voice inside her mind urging her to call out the boy's name—just like what Jesus did when He called out Lazarus.
The Hispanic boy's sister, Brianda, said his name was Leonel. Ruth then started shouting, "Leonel! Leonel!"
Pastor Eric then felt the Holy Spirit urging him to embrace the grief-stricken father, Leonel Montanez. He then heard himself saying, "Llame el nombre de Jesus"—even though he didn't know how to speak Spanish and didn't understand the language.
"I later found out that it meant, 'Call on the name of Jesus,'" Eric said.
Then Ruth noticed the boy's eyes blink once. She then announced that the boy was alive and asked everyone to call on the name of Jesus. "Even the man who hit him and other relatives were kneeling around the boy crying and calling on the name of Jesus," she said.
After five times of calling out Leonel's name and the name of Jesus, the boy began gasping for air.
That was not the only miracle for the Angeles family, however. After they rushed the boy to the hospital, the doctors found out he had a broken hip and ribs, dislocated shoulder and collarbone, a fractured skull, blood clots, and a fractured spine.
The doctors said it would take a month for Leonel to be strong enough to go home and at least six months before he could walk again.
But in two weeks, to his doctors' amazement, all his wounds were healed.
After four days in the hospital, Leonel was already back in his family's home and after two weeks, Leonel was reportedly already running, his body completely healed.
Pastor Eric said the miraculous recovery of their son fully convinced the Montanez couple of the power of Jesus Christ and they became even more receptive to the Gospel.
The pastor invited the family to share their story at New Hope International. Since the parents don't speak fluent English, their 17-year-old daughter, Brianda, translated their account.
"First of all we want to say thank you to everybody that prayed," Derenice Montanez, Leonel's mother, shared with the congregation through her daughter. "We are very thankful that he survived."
"We know that our Heavenly Father is true," the boy's father said. "We want to thank Him. We met Him at that moment."
