At just the moment when he was needed, a Presbyter of the Assemblies of God, of which the Goodwins were members, stepped forward and invited the Goodwins to come and live in his home in Overton, which was nearby their familiar area. 

     They lived with this presbyter for about a week.  Spending all the time they could with Douvena, her older brother Charles was the last to speak with her before she lost consciousness.  She passed, surrounded by the love of her parents, the love of her brothers, and the love of God.

     A young, faith-filled Kenneth Hagin had prayed for her.  So probably also had the healing evangelist Jack Coe, who knew and admired Dad Goodwin greatly.  The Goodwins themselves prayed.  Yet healing did not come.

     Their faith at that time must have seemed somewhat hypocritical.  They preached and believed in healing.  They had seen many others healed.  They had taught their congregations to look to God, and to trust Him no matter what.  Yet in spite of their prayers, their little girl slipped away.

     You can imagine how hard it was to return to their church the next Sunday and the next, and look over to the empty place in the pew.  How they felt when they looked at the microphone and remembered the little songs she used to sing.

     This was the greatest test of their lives.  Dad Goodwin later said, "It was the worst pain in my life." 

     I heard Kenneth Hagin say, "One time someone confronted Brother Goodwin and said, 'Brother Goodwin how in the world can you stand there and preach healing when your own daughter died!'  Brother Goodwin replied, 'Well first of all, she isn't dead.  She is just over in Father's House where we will all be one day.  And second, I believe that if we knew then about faith what we know now, she wouldn't have died.'"   

     Mom and Dad never did have a fully adequate explanation for their daughter not being healed.  But taking their cue from II Cor. 1:4, they looked to their God, "Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

     They took their test and turned it into a testimony.

     And years later as they heard the tragic news of the untimely death of one of Oral and Evelyn Roberts' sons, they sought out the grieving parents to pour into them the comfort they had found in God.

     Like the Goodwins, Oral and Evelyn found the strength in God to go on.  The Goodwins and the Roberts families continued to pray for other people's children to be healed and live even though one of their own had passed so early.  They both still boldly proclaimed that Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus fills with the Holy Ghost, and Jesus is coming again.

     Even though in this instance their faith had not connected with God, and their beloved child had not been healed, they continued preaching healing because it is in the Bible, it is so, and it is for us today.        

     Talking with Mom Goodwin the day after we received news of my only brother’s death, brought comfort to my mother and I both.  Mom was so tender-hearted and compassionate. The Bible says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those that weep.” Mom cried with us as my Mother and I poured our hearts out to God in grief. Then she wiped away her tears, and told us to do the same. And she gave us a charge to keep going strong for the Lord. And we have.

     In that conversation I still remember something Mom Goodwin said about death. She said, “People who say death is a friend, haven’t seen much death.  Now, I’ve seen alot of death in my life and I can tell you:  death is no friend. Death is an enemy that separates loved ones and breaks people’s hearts.” Yes, indeed. The Bible calls death an enemy. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” I Cor. 15:25.

     I've never met Brother Roberts or any member of his family, so all I know about them is what I have viewed from a distance. 

     In several ways, I believe there were close similarities between the Goodwins and Brother Roberts:

     First, they and he were genuinely anointed with an anointing that comes only from God.  They faked nothing.  They exaggerated nothing.  They didn't have to.  What they had and walked in and ministered to others was as real as real can be.  

     Second, the Goodwins and Oral Roberts withstood the onslaughts of the Devil, the tragedies of life, and the criticisms of people.  Their road was not an easy one. 

     Third, they and he were unintentional reformers of Pentecostal churches.  The Goodwins brought forth very clear and precise teaching on the Gifts of the Spirit.  And Brother Roberts ministered very clearly in the area of healing.  And their teachings on Spiritual Gifts and his on healing, came to be almost universally accepted in Charismatic circles. 

     Fourth, their ministry and his was characterized by integrity, excellence, straightforwardness, and balance.  The Goodwins prophesied, but they did not overemphasize personal prophecy.  They were spiritual, but they were also practical.  They were open to all the Spirit wanted to do, but they--like Roberts--did not allow themselves to get caught up in passing spiritual fads.  Oral taught healing, but he also taught people to take advantage of all that medical science has to offer.

     Fifth, they were solid.  They didn't have to withdraw and rewrite or re-record tapes because their teachings were later discredited.  Nor did they have to make excuses for wild prophecies that failed to come to pass.  When they came forth with a message from God, there was no question whatsoever that they had indeed heard from God.    You could bet the farm on whatever the Goodwins or Oral Roberts told you. 

     Sixth, they and he stood the test of time.  Someone wrote of Wigglesworth, "Smith Wigglesworth never debated his critics...He just outlived them."  The Goodwins and the Roberts' outlived the critics who prophesied thier doom, and the opponents who slandered them or challenged their ministries.  No one can remember the names of the critics of these men and women of God.  But multitudes have heard of the Goodwins, the Roberts', or both.  And at Rhema Bible Training Center, at Oral Roberts University, in the Assemblies of God, and in the Charismatic world, and I believe also that in the record books of Heaven, the names of Goodwin and Roberts are as good as gold.  

     Lastly, they and Roberts maintained a good testimony, stayed true to the Faith and to the ministry vision God put in their hearts, and they are worthy of emulation.  They ran their race.  They finished their course.  They kept the faith.  They are an inspiration to us all.  And their ministries continue on today in those of us who knew them, and in the lives of those touched by them.

     Only in Eternity will we come to fully realize how many spiritual treasures these three imparted to us.

     Amen.

     Books and materials authored by Oral Roberts, including his biography in which he mentions the Goodwins, may be obtained through his website by clicking HERE.

Copyright 2006 Mel C. Montgomery. All rights reserved.  Material may be copied and shared with others if done so free of charge, in entirety, and if attribution is given.