Dead Man Resurrects to Forgive Killer

Excerpt from the documentary film, Finger of God - a Darren Wilson Film released in 2007

Narrator:
This is Francis. Francis was dead once, but as you can see here, he is now very much alive. Before I had even reached Mozambique, I met Francis here, who came to see me at the airport in Johannesburg. Iris Ministries, which was where I was heading, has seen nearly 100 people raised from the dead in the last seven years. Francis was one of them. Here is his story…

FRANCIS
We were at the hall at the 23rd of September 2003. I was the one who was responsible to welcome the guests. As I was outside speaking to the guests, just welcoming them, I decided to lock up the gate because it was almost dark.

As I was about to lock the gate, four men came to me, approaching me. …I thought they wanted to get into the hall to have fellowship with us. Then immediately, as I was looking at them, they grabbed me and started beating me.

As they were starting [to beat] me, I asked them, “What is happening?”

Then they said, “No we want to kill you today. [This is] your last day.”

Then I tried to fight back. [But] all my attempts failed because there were four—four men. Then after that, after they assaulted…and beat me,…I didn’t know later what happened.

ROLLAND BAKER
Somebody finds an old car and they get the body [of Francis] to the hospital. A preacher goes with them, they don’t know what to do. They get to the hospital… The guys,…[had] killed [Francis] about 11 o’clock [at night]. At about 12:15, the whole place is praying— the whole entire conference is praying. They don’t know what to do. [At the same time around] 12:15 at night, [back] at the hospital, Francis starts to breathe and he comes back to life.

Narrator interjects:
Now, originally I thought that was the end of the story. But it’s not. In fact, it’s not even the best part of the story.
Rolland Baker continues the story:

ROLLAND BAKER
But he [Francis] is in a complete mess. By now his eyes are swollen shut, his mouth is swollen shut. He can’t talk. He is in a total physical mess.

It looks like it’s going to take him just ages and ages to recover—but he’s alive…

There is a whole gang of these guys [who assaulted Francis]. The police, later in the morning, finally find one of them. And they are so proud of themselves. They call the church, “Come on down here, press charges, sign papers, we’ll get this guy in jail right now.”

But last night, when Francis came back to life, just before they put him out for the night, he managed to croak out, between his swollen lips, “Forgive them.”

The only thing he could say. It’s the only thing he did say: “Forgive them.”

And that got back to the church.

So the police called [us] to come down and press charges and sign papers, [but] the whole church agrees, “We’re not going to do that. We’re just going to forgive him.”

The police are really upset. This is not how they handle crime in South Africa. And they keep demanding that someone come down and press charges. But the entire church, with one voice, said, “No! We’re not going to do that.”

As soon as they forgave this guy, I told the police, absolutely no! [Then] the phone call came from the hospital that Francis was totally and completely healed. Not a scratch on him. Not a bruise on him. [He] could see and talk perfectly normally.

There was 100% nothing wrong with him. No reason to keep him overnight until Monday. So they told the church to come get your guy right now. Then [Francis] goes down to get the guy out of jail [that] killed him the night before.

FRANCIS

Then I went to the police station and asked, “I want to see that man.”

Then after that, I asked them to release that man, because I had already forgiven him.

The police, the officers firstly denied my request because they [said], “How do you forgive someone who has beaten you to death like this?”

I [said], “No, this guy doesn’t know what he did.”

Then the police accept my request. …they released him and then I hugged him and [told] him that God loves him, and then I said to him, “You know, my brother, I’ll ask you just to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and go back home happy.”

Narrator:

Well, he [the assailant] did become a Christian, and then he went to Bible school and, right now, he can’t stop telling everyone how God changed the heart of a murderer—through one act of forgiveness by a dead guy.

Editor’s note: This story was used by permission from Wanderlust Productions. The Finger of God is the first of two amazing film documentaries, their second one is called, Furious Love. For more information on how to acquire these two films on DVD, visit their website: www.wanderlustproductions.net.