BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

A Dark Cloud “I don’t have words to describe how shocking that was,” David remembers. “I thought it had to be a case of mistaken identity. Surely he was wounded and not dead. When I walked upstairs to break the news to Cherie, one thought came to my mind: Oh, there’s the dark cloud. Chris had been a member of the Oklahoma National Guard when the governor sent them to Afghanistan. “Somehow we made it through the funeral,” David recalls. “Chris was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The loss we felt was devastating. One of the first calls that I received was from Brother Copeland.” Kenneth offered to send his plane to Tulsa, pick up David and Cherie, and fly them to Toronto to attend a prayer conference led by Terri Pearsons. When Terri called to talk to David about it, he told her, “Terri, I can’t go to any prayer conference. We’re just reeling here. You can imagine. I’m sure the prayer conference will be wonderful and glorious, but I don’t know how I could even talk to people.” “OK, I’ll tell Daddy,” Terri said. The next day, Terri called again. “He insists that you’re coming,” Terri explained. “He’s sending the jet to Tulsa, and you need to be ready to get on it. We’re going to put you up in a hotel in Toronto. You don’t even have to go to the meetings. If you want to go, you can. If not, just stay in the room and order room service. We feel like you need to get out of Tulsa and away from everything.” David and Cherie flew to Toronto. “When we arrived, we decided to go to the first meeting,” David said. “It was so wonderful that we ended up going to every session. Brother Copeland had heard from God. Toronto was a turning point for us. It was a glorious touch by God to our hearts and lives. It was during those meetings that I started thinking about peace. I realized that when you go through a violent tragedy, you need peace. It was through peace that the Lord protected our hearts. “We’d been praying for three years about moving to Florida. Later, when we got the green light from God, we moved to Florida and established a church there. Life was good. Our ministry grew and I continued to travel the world preaching the good news.” Another Dark Shadow The Florida sun cast a golden glow through the windows two years later as David and Cherie dressed for church. It was Mother’s Day, 2013. “David,” Cherie said as she stepped into the bedroom, “I found a lump in my left breast.” They prayed together. Afterward, David said, “Whatever this is, it’s under the blood of Jesus.” Cherie went to the doctor, who biopsied the mass. It was malignant. While Cherie was in the hospital having surgery, the first person to call David was Kenneth Copeland. “What can I do for you?” Kenneth asked. “Just believe God with us,” David said. Kenneth talked to David and Cherie, praying a powerful prayer. At one point, Cherie was pronounced cancer-free. Then the cancer markers started rising again—this time, taking off with a vengeance. Tumors kept popping up, metastasizing to her spinal cord. “You’re going to preach, no matter what,” Cherie told David. “You’re not sitting home with me.” He agreed and flew to Chile to preach. Two women in the service had breast tumors disappear during the meeting. When David returned home, Cherie said, “David, you go preach and all these people get miracles. I’m here fighting the good fight of faith and yet haven’t experienced the success that I want to see.” It wasn’t just the miracles that occurred when David ministered that marked a stark difference in Cherie’s situation. It was the legacy carried by David’s mother. A Miraculous Legacy “Before I was born, my mother was diagnosed with melanoma,” David remembers. “Doctors did a series of surgeries and finally told her there was nothing more to be done. This was in 1954, and there was no such thing as chemotherapy or radiation. My mother was 22 years old and had a 3-year-old daughter. “My mother prayed and told the Lord that if He had any more for her to do on earth, that she would like to live and raise her daughter, and perhaps even have more children,” David said. “That night, she was awakened when a figure in white came into the room. He told her not to worry, she would be fine. Then he walked through the wall of the hospital and disappeared.” The next day, the doctors told Jeri Horton she was dying. Her liver was not functioning and the melanoma had spread all over her body. Jeri called her husband and said, “I’m healed.” When Doc Horton arrived at the hospital, he found his wife a strange color of yellow and curled up in a ball. 14 : BVOV

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