Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a
good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was
gathered to his people. — GENESIS 25:8

Older people are eventually going to live their life out and go home to Heaven, but they don’t have to die with sickness and disease. Grandma Jeffcoat is a good example of this. She had stomach cancer. She came to live with her daughter who attended my church. Grandma Jeffcoat had just come from Brother J.R. Goodwin’s church. He was her former pastor.

Grandma Jeffcoat was so far gone physically that her family had already called Brother Goodwin to preach at her funeral. Her daughter said to me, “Brother Hagin, I want you to go see Mom.”

Well, I began to talk to her mom, Grandma Jeffcoat, about healing. “Brother Hagin,” she said, “Just leave me alone. I’m eighty-two years old, and I’ve suffered so with cancer of the stomach. Please leave me alone and let me die. I’m saved and ready for Heaven. Let me go on.”

I said, “I’m not going to do it. Let God heal you and then die if you want to. It’s not the will of God that you die with stomach cancer.”

I knew that she was not going to be healed by my believing she was going to live while she believed she was going to die. There was no agreement there. I didn’t pray for her healing on the first visit. I didn’t pray for her healing on the second visit.

I just kept pouring the Word into her. I would kneel by her bed, lay my hand on her, and pray, “God, help Grandma not to cast away her confidence. She knows healing is right. Healing is the thing that brought her into the Pentecostal movement many years ago.”

Confession: I don’t have to die with sickness and disease. No, God can heal me, and THEN I can decide if I’m ready to go home and be with Him.