Testimonies of Protection at BOW

by
Kraig J Rice

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Elmin Raymond Babcock- A Miracle In The Hospital
Rev. Lenard Griffis- his car suspended by a roadside guard rail
Sgt. Hanford Maurice Rice- almost killed on the battlefield
Sharon Ann Rice- A Vision of Danger Ahead
Evelyn Pope- Moved Ahead In Distance
Charlie Stone- D-Day Omaha Beach

INTRODUCTION
Here are some testimonies of the protecting power of God. He gets the glory!

Elmin Raymond Babcock- A Miracle In The Hospital
In December of 1980 my wife's father, Elmin Babcock, age 59, went into the hospital for hip replacement surgery. The operation went successful and he was recuperating well. He began physical therapy exercises, but during his first attempt at walking, a blood clot broke loose from the damaged hip area and lodged in one of his lungs. He nearly died as his blood pressure immediately dropped to forty over zero. He was rushed to the intensive care unit where the doctors said it was impossible for him to be alive.
The pastors of several churches were contacted asking them to activate their "prayer chains" (Contact folks in their congregations who had the gift of intercessory prayer). That night many prayers went up to God on his behalf.
Elmin was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and was ready to go home to Heaven if the Lord should call him. The doctors tried everything and gave no hope for him. That night God opened Elmin's spiritual eyes and allowed him to see angels with their wings outstretched touching each other. These angels formed a circle around him and he knew it was impossible for him to die. His condition began to stabilize the next day and by the time he left the hospital, two months later, all the doctors and nurses who worked in that hospital had heard about his miracle and many of them accepted the fact that they knew it was divine intervention that spared his life.
God still works miracles, He answers prayers, and He protects those who live for and serve Him.

baptism of Jesus
Pastor Lenard Griffis was very faithful to visit Elmin in the hospital. Everyone was very glad God had spared Elmin's life and then one day Pastor Griffis shared one of his testimonies with me...
Lenard Griffis- his car suspended by a roadside guard rail
Rev. Lenard Griffis was an Assemblies of God pastor. He was my personal pastor for over 5 years when I lived in his area of California. He performed the wedding ceremony for me and my bride when we got married. This is one of his personal testimonies to me:
"God called me to the ministry when I was just a lad. When I grew up I knew I was still called to the ministry but I hesitated for many years until after I married and had finished a four year term in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.
I kept putting off the call to the ministry until God got my attention one day. My family and I were traveling by car over a snowy mountain range in Gallup, New Mexico. My car spun out of control on the narrow ice covered highway and plunged over the side of the road, but providentially, my car was suspended over the gorge in mid air. Two front wheels of my car held fast to the shoulder of the road.
It was then and there God got my attention and I promised Him there in the car, hanging over the gorge, I would enter the ministry if He would spare my family. He spared my family and He spared my car.
Shortly afterward I entered the ministry and have ministered for well over 32 years. During the course of my ministry, numerous people have come to know Christ as their Saviour, many have received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
(according to Acts 2:4), and many have been healed through the power of God.
To God be the glory. He had a purpose in sparing my life."

Sgt. Hanford Maurice Rice- almost killed on the battlefield
Even though my father, Hanford Maurice Rice, was the son of a Baptist minister, his heart was hardened. He was a prodigal son. He was warped in several ways during his childhood by his father, but according to my mother more hardening took place on the battlefields on which he fought during World War 2. He told me at first he liked fighting in Europe and had many true combat stories to tell me.
One time he told me how God saved his life. On one battlefield he was near the French town of Saint Lo on the front lines in 1944 fighting the Germans. A lot of fighting was taking place around the large hedge rows there. His job as a platoon Sergeant was to check on his men to make sure of their combat efficiency. One day towards sundown as he was running while checking on his men he tripped. He fell flat on his face and at the same instance that he hit the dirt a burst of German machine gun bullets ripped through the air directly over his head just missing him. He would have been killed if he had not tripped. As he looked back to see what he had tripped over he saw no obstacles. He was astonished. He knew his guardian angel tripped him in order to save his life.
He never forgot that but he had trouble making any lasting commitment to Jesus Christ and he served the flesh more than the spirit. He had Ranger Training in the Second Infantry Division and landed on Omaha beach in Normandy, France, on D-day plus one and fought all the way to Germany where he was wounded in fighting on the Siegfried Line. Then he returned to America. He had a chest full of medals including the Bronze Star for bravery under fire and the purple heart with clusters.
So, since he was not living the Christian life then why did God spare his life? The answer lies in the sovereignty of God, however, he had a praying mother who interceded with God in prayer for him continually. As a matter of fact she told me one time that she prayed for all of her sons during that war and that God brought all of them back home to her. She knew that God had answered her prayers for Sgt. Hanford Rice.
But the story of Sgt. H. Rice has a happy ending. A few years before he died he told me that he had accepted Jesus Christ as his saviour.

Sharon Ann Rice- A Vision of Danger Ahead
In 1968 my sister, Sharon Rice, was driving her car from Cloverdale, Calif. to Ukiah, Ca. My mother was a passenger in her car. It was a two lane road at the time. As my sister approached this high hill she received an instantaneous vision from God. In the vision she saw a car coming from the other direction, coming over the approaching hill, in her lane. That meant a head on collision unless she acted fast. This vision kind of scared her. Instantly, she took the vision as a warning from God to her for her protection.
What did she do? She pulled her car over to the side of the highway and stopped. As soon as she stopped, a car came from the opposite direction over the hill, in her lane. They would have hit head-on unless she had pulled over. So, God spared the life of my sister and mother that day. He gave my sister a vision, she believed it, and then acted accordingly. He was watching over them. It wasn't their time to die. God wasn't finished with them yet.

Fear sees the obstacles
But
Faith sees the opportunities

Evelyn Pope- Moved Ahead In Distance
Evelyn Pope was the wife of a minister, Rev. Arthur Pope, of the Church of God of Prophecy in Cloverdale, Calif. in 1973. Most of my family attended their church. Their house was not far from ours.
One day Evelyn was driving her car full of church people. She was south bound on Highway 101 just south of Cloverdale, Calif. She just went over a hill in the road that was about a half mile from her house when a fast moving semi truck came up behind her and the driver did not see her because of the hill. It was apparent that the truck was going to rear-end her car at a great rate of speed. It appeared there was going to be a horrible vehicle accident with severe loss of life.
When the truck was about three feet away from Evelyn's back bumper her car was suddenly a half mile ahead in distance and she turned into her driveway. God had actually moved her car ahead the distance of one-half mile in a split second of time in order to save her life and the lives of those with her in her car. It was a miracle from God and it worked to save their lives.
God is all powerful and He can transform the laws of time and distance at His will.

Charlie Stone- D-Day Omaha Beach
It was June 6, 1944- the allied invasion of France during World War Two.
The LST landing craft was approaching Omaha Beach. The waves were rough and German artillery shells were hitting here and there. Inside was a weapons carrier and 39 men, two from the Second Infantry Division. One such man was T/5 Charlie E. Stone, a forward observer from the 37th Field Artillery Battalion. He wore the Indianhead patch on his shoulder. Most of the Second Division did not land until D-Day plus one, my father included.
It was 0745 in the morning.The beach was already crowded and there was not enough room for the LST to land so it had to idle down while waiting for an opening lest it hit a mine or anti-landing trap made of railroad track steel. While idling down in the rough seas the LST turned sideways to the beach and made a nice target. The LST was 300 yards from the beach when German artillery came pouring in. Suddenly there was a violent explosion, a horrible jolt and ear deafening sound as an 88 artillery shell exploded in the middle of the LST breaking her in half and killing most of the men. The LST, the maps, the portable radio, and the weapons carrier (a little larger than a jeep) went immediately to the bottom. The nine remaining men left alive were violently plunged into the extremely cold water and had to swim for their lives. Ironically, both of the men from the Second Infantry Division made it to the beach in the First Infantry Division sector.
Charlie Stone believed in God, being raised in Moyers, Oklahoma, and was a proficient swimmer there. It was his strong faith and good swimming ability that he relied on to help him swim that 300 yards to shore fully clothed with his boots on through the cold water. This is also where the discipline and training paid off that each man in the Second Div. had.
Charlie made it to shore, however, not all eight of the remaining men were good swimmers. Some were having a tough time swimming in. The seas were rough and cold, German bullets and artillery were hitting everywhere, bodies of soldiers from the first wave were numerous, and there was confusion and panic among most all of those left alive in the First Division on that beach.
Inspite of all of this Charlie Stone summoned up his courage and jumped back into the water and swam back out 30 to 40 feet from the beach and grabbed hold of the other man from the Second Division and helped him swim safely to shore thus saving his life. But this wasn't enough. He jumped back in again and swam another 30 to 40 feet from shore and helped another man swim in to the beach, saving his life also. For these actions he was proudly presented the Silver Star medal by the Second Division for his heroism there that day.
His job that day was to be a forward artillery observer for the First Division. General Hodges from the V Corps had ordered Second Division to help out the First Division with additional personnel so Charlie Stone had been assigned the duty.
How did Charlie Stone stay alive for the rest of the day on Omaha Beach? He said he found a huge shell crater in the sand and crawled in there and did not move. German mortars and artillery hit all around it that day but none scored a direct hit on that crater. About 1400 hours he went on the attack with other men from the First Division and started climbing up the cliff on a rope. A German soldier up on top cut it with a knife and he fell back in the sand but got up and climbed up a second rope.
The other man from the Second Div. who Charlie saved also went with him inland once they got off of Omaha Beach. They performed their duties well as forward observers with the First Div. and saw action for one day with them.
When the Second Division landed on D-Day plus one Charlie and his buddy reported back to them and went into action with their own outfit. Charlie was with BTC C, 37th Field Artillery Battalion who was supporting Mary Company of the third battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment.
Charlie made it all the way through the war and until his dying day he knew that it was God who spared his life that day on Omaha Beach.

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As of April 5, 2005