Sid: Now I sure hope what happened to my guest Bill Kent doesn’t happen to you to make you red hot for the Messiah. But here’s what happened to my friend Bill in May of 1985. He was riding his motorcycle and he had an accident with a train. At the worst state explain your physical condition Bill.
Bill: I went into cardiac and respiratory arrest 3 times and was back 3 times. Beyond that I suffered physical injuries including massive head injuries; blindness in the right eye because of optic nerve damage and spinal cord injuries that left me a quadriplegic for a period of 15½ years.
Sid: But you didn’t let that hold you down so to speak because you went on to a career in wheelchair sports, and according to my records here you won 39 gold medals. What sport did you participate in?
Bill: I was involved in shooting air guns at stationery targets and giving God the glory I borrowed a gun from the ROTC Department at Salisbury State University the evening before the competition the very first competition that I was ever involved in. Shot it for 20 minutes to adjust the sites; the next day went into a competition; the Maryland Wheelchair Games at Salisbury State University, and with the aid of God, was able to accomplish 5 gold metals and 5 national records.
Sid: Yes, but you did take a tail spin as a result of you know being a quadriplegic and was there any hope medically that you could get better?
Bill: The doctors said “No.”
Sid: Okay, so a lot of things were going bad in your life I mean you attempted suicide twice; what was going on?
Bill: Well, that was in 1994, I flipped over backwards in my wheelchair and broke my neck and at that point you know I was a born again Christian going to you know church on a regular basis serving the Lord. And at that point in my life when I had this accident I reached out to God for help; reached out to the church for help, and was basically you know without. And at that point you know I said “If this is the God that I serve then I don’t want to be involved.” So I cut off my relationship with God and the church and everything and just started living life the way I wanted to live it. And I’ll tell you what you want to talk about tail spin; you want to talk about complete failure; I couldn’t do anything right.
Sid: Well, according to what I read here you lost everything. Then in July of 2000 you were stuck at a friend’s house literally stuck because your van that you had was broken down.
Bill: Yes.
Sid: And you had an encounter with God; tell me about that.
Bill: Well, it was in October of 2000 God spoke to me and said “Go to Columbus Ohio.” This was a continual message every day for like 2 weeks and I thought I was losing my mind.
Sid: Now when you say God spoke to you was it an audible voice?
Bill: You know it’s like it has to be a Spiritual voice but it was so clear and so concise and so strong that it could have been audible.
Sid: So one day you’re watching television and an evangelist comes on that you’ve never heard of he’s name is Rod Parsley; what happened?
Bill: I was watching the TV and Pastor Rod Parsley came on and his church is in Columbus, Ohio exactly where the Lord told me to go on November the 5th. But this was an infomercial about a debt burning service on October the 31st.
Sid: Well, that’s not going to do you any good
Bill: No, because my message was to go on November the 5th but before… I mean just as the program ended you know within about 5 minutes this power the Lord came on me and convinced me that I had to call the church. So I did and then there was an elder at the church that tried to convince me not to come because he didn’t want to see me disappointed in case I didn’t receive.
Sid: Well, I mean that’s a long hike for you to drive in your van that’s broken-down?
Bill: Well, the van had just been repaired; just had a new transmission put in it and I had spent every penny that I had. So I went to my pastor at the church and I explained this to him and he said “It sounds like you heard from the Lord so let’s see what happens.” And this was a Thursday evening and the pastor conducted his service and at the end he took up an offering. And at the end of that he came to me and he gave me this offering and said “This is what you need to get to Ohio.”
Sid: Could you have gone without that offer?
Bill: No, I could not.
Sid: Okay but you got a little but you got king of a down payment of what was coming; he prayed for you and what happened?
Bill: Yes, yes he offered to pray and he prayed and you know at the time I didn’t feel anything but you know it’s God’s time and not mine and not yours and not anybody else’s; it’s God’s time. And the next morning I woke up and I had an assistance dog and his name was Baron and he was a Dalmatian but I didn’t have any feeling on my right side. The next morning after the pastor; after Pastor Gurley had prayed for me I woke up to my dog licking my right hand; so the feeling had started to come back on my right side. I was being healed.
Sid: My goodness you must be really excited; so you head to Columbus, Ohio to Rod Parsley’s Church, a man you had never heard of till you happened to see him on TV until God told you that you had to be there on a certain date. Your headed there you’re about there and you make a phone call and someone answers from the church; what goes on?
Bill: Yes, it was a young lady from the prayer center at World Harvest Church answered the phone and I had called there to speak to an elder but the elder was not available. So this young lady offered to pray for me; and I’ll tell you she said one of the most awesome prayers that I have ever heard. I had never heard anything like it you know. That convinced me that this was the Holy Ghost. During that prayer for the first time in 15½ years I had sensation in the bottoms of my feet. The bottoms of my feet actually felt like they were on fire. This was God you know healing me.
Sid: You know you must have been getting pretty excited.
Bill: I was ah, if I… it was an experience that I can’t even describe; I mean you know I was so elated.
Sid: So you get to the church; what happens as you… I assume that you’re in a wheelchair?
Bill: Yes, I’m in a wheelchair; I go into the church with my dog and they usher me down into the D Wing Commons it used to be a cafeteria now it’s just a common area in the church; a gathering place. And I’m in this D Wing Commons and there’s this young lady in there probably 3 or 4 years old; a little black girl that is singing and dancing and twirling and I can’t make out what she’s singing. So I get closer and closer and then finally I interrupt her and she spins around and gives me a blank look. And I say “What are you singing?” And she said to me “I’m not singing, and I said “But you were you were singing and dancing.” And she said “No it’s not me.” And I said “Then who was it?” And without hesitation she said “Jesus.” And that just flipped me out; that just flipped me out you know it’s like…
Sid: She was saying the Lord was dancing through her.
Bill: Yes.
Sid: And moving her body.
Bill: Through her.
Sid: Okay go ahead.
Bill: Yes and speaking through her and I was a born again Christian you know born again and baptized in the Holy Ghost in a Pentecostal Church so I believe in speaking in tongues. This little girl 3 or 4 years old I didn’t believe; I didn’t understand that it was possible for a 3 or 4 year old girl to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But she was singing in tongues. That was another confirmation that the Lord was in the House; then they take me into the sanctuary and the praise and worship starts; and it’s unbelievable. Before the praise and worship actually starts there was a young man that was the director of praise and worship at World Harvest Church and he made an announcement that it was going to be a miracle faith and healing service.
Sid: You didn’t realize it was?
Bill: No.
Sid: I’ll tell you what hold that thought we’ll have you back tomorrow for one of the most authentic bona fide medically proven miracles of a quadriplegic walking. But I want to read from the New Living Translation Acts Chapter 20 verse 24; this is Paul speaking. “But my life worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus; the work of telling others the good news about God’s wonderful kindness and love.” And then he goes on to say “No one’s damnation can be blamed on me for I did not shrink from declaring all that God wants for you.” I have to tell you that’s the way I feel, I feel that my life is worth nothing unless I tell people about the marvelous good news about what the Messiah of Israel did for me. And that’s why when you hear this I will have just returned from Israel with very high profile evangelistic meetings; I can’t wait to tell you about them. As a matter of fact there are many of you that have listening to me for years and have not read my testimony book. The title is “There Must Be Something More” because that was a song I wrote as a Jewish non-believer because people that write music or paint pictures that’s what’s going on in their heart. My heart was screaming “There must be something more!” But I didn’t see it in traditional Judaism and so I wondered into the New Age and the occult and almost lost my mind, my marriage, my life and God rescued me. I can’t understand a backslider I know what’s back there; there are so many people caught up in the New Age and they call themselves Christians or they call themselves Jews but they don’t realize what they’re dealing with. And that’s why I wrote this book…
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth