JAS News - News from The John Ankerberg Show

[John Ankerberg Show Staff]

November 22, 2006


Dear friends, prayer partners and supporters of The John Ankerberg Show,

Jesus promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  The apostle Paul
said, “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.”

In the middle of November, I wrote our Christmas greeting to you and told
you I was having some pains in my arms and pressure across my heart.  A dear
friend of mine, head of emergency in one of our hospitals here in
Chattanooga, administered a nuclear stress test to me.  I was supposed to
travel to two conferences the next two weekends.  My friend came out with a
smile and said, “You're not going anywhere this weekend.  You go home and
rest.”  He said, “I think you might have had a small heart attack, and it
looks like you have at least two blocked arteries”.

So I made an appointment with one of the leading cardiologists in the city
and asked, “How fast can you see me?”  Three days later I was in his office,
and we started more testing.  He said, “I don't think you have had any heart
damage -- so that's the good thing.  But we are going to have to do an
arteriogram -- in which we will put a scope up your leg and into your heart
to investigate the severity of the blockage.”  Remember the verses I told
you about?  I started repeating them back to the Lord in a more earnest
fashion.

I rested at home, and it was during this time that I wrote you the December
newsletter.  A few days later it was time to do the procedure.  As I walked
in to the hospital, I asked the Lord for his presence, the courage I needed
to face whatever was coming up, and His peace.  He gave it to me in such an
overwhelming way.  I praise His name!

I have never had an arteriogram before, so I didn't know what to expect.  I
learned that it's a wonderful tool of modern medicine.  I was awake during
the whole procedure, talked with the doctor, looked at the screens that were
showing my heart, and discussed each artery.  There were so many blocked
arteries that he could not stent, that I told the doctor, “Let's go toward
open-heart surgery and if possible get these arteries fixed once and for
all.”

Darlene was sitting out in the waiting area thinking that the doctor would
put in two stents, and we would go home the next morning.  But he came out
and told her, “I'm sorry, I have bad news for you.  Your husband has five
major arteries that are blocked and five smaller ones that are blocked.”
That was a terrible blow to her.

A year ago my mother-in-law had heart surgery, and everybody talked about
one special doctor who could replace heart valves and do bypasses in a
stellar way.  He saved my mother-in-law's life, by performing a very
difficult surgery.  That was about a year and a half ago.  Since that time
I've talked to doctors all over town and they told me, “If they had to have
their valves replaced or arteries bypassed, there was only one man they
wanted to do the work and his name was Dr. Richard Morrison.”  So going in I
told my doctors, “If I need open-heart surgery, make sure Dr. Morrison is
the surgeon.”

I'll tell you more in the next letter about the five worst days of my life
and how God was with me step-by-step.  Dr. Morrison operated on me for over
five hours.  He performed 10 bypasses on my heart.  When he drew a diagram
for Darlene it looked like he had completely rewired my heart. I was in
intensive care and then spent some days in the heart section of the
hospital.  The good news is that I've just come home.

What I need now is your prayers that God would protect me and keep me from
any complications. Please pray for my dear wife Darlene and daughter
Michelle.  They have really been through it.  Many of you know of the things
that I'm talking about. Then remember my wonderful staff who just saw God
and three wonderful doctors save my life.  I was a ticking time bomb. Now my
staff is working on programs and there is a lot do. That is it for now. I
will tell you what really happened in my end of year letter. I am praising
God that he allowed me to live and in the future to serve Him and you.

Please keep praying.

With love in Christ,
Dr. John Ankerberg


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----



Ankerberg Theological Research Institute (A.T.R.I.)
P.O. Box 8977
Chattanooga, TN 37414 USA
(423) 892-7722
For credit card orders only:
1-800-805-3030
http://www.johnankerberg.org

PLEASE NOTE:  The John Ankerberg Show respects the privacy wishes of those
subscribed to the John Ankerberg Show news list.  This email is being sent
to you because you have expressed an interest in receiving communications
from The John Ankerberg Show.  If you wish to be removed from this list,
please click here to unsubscribe.
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL.  For further information, email
jasnews at johnankerberg.org.




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/johnankerberg-list/attachments/20061122/811dd3ee/attachment.html