Faith Pot

A baby born without a brain four decades ago says God created a brain for him and is inspiring others with his powerful testimony.

Jacob Phillips, 44, who is a resident of West Monroe, Louisiana, shares his story, which began at Louisiana’s Bossier General Hospital on Dec. 12, 1977. He was delivered by Caesarean section with “triple trouble,” and his doctors weren’t too hopeful that he would survive.

‘Triple trouble’

“I was born with hydrocephalus, more commonly known as water on the brain. I also had partial skull formation, which means I barely had any skull, [and] to top it all off, I had no brain,” Phillips said.

He adds, “My brain stem was what was keeping me alive. Finding this out, the doctor told my parents and family I wouldn’t live through the hour. I was given an immediate death sentence. I credit my faith in God for where I am today. I strive to keep a close relationship with God because He gave me what I needed to live.”

Phillips was blessed to have a Christian mother who prayed for God’s intervention and never gave up on him even. She had suffered a miscarriage with her first baby before some time he was born and on the day he was delivered, his dad was “extremely distraught”. “I can’t imagine what was going through [my mom’s] mind when the doctor gave the bad news. My dad was a quiet man who didn’t say much,” Phillips said.

The family received an outpouring of support from Phillips’s grandparents’ church in West Monroe. Phillips’s mother threatened to wheel herself to the nursery to feed her ailing son, despite her doctor’s disapproval, and she received the support she needed.

“I remember my grandmother telling me once that she told the doctor I wasn’t going to die. She looked him in the eye and said, ‘You don’t know what my God can do!’” Phillips said.

God created a brain

While the family was clinging on to their faith in God for Phillips, his nurse Susie also demonstrated her faith and called her pastor Don Logan, of nearby Shreveport, with the approval of his mother. Phillips’s grandparents also called their own pastor in West Monroe, Loel Ashbrook, whose friend, Duane Amis, happened to be in the office when they called.

“I call these three men the Power Trio,” said Phillips. “They came to the hospital to pray for me. God created a brain in my head because of the preachers’ prayer.” In his book ‘Born Without A Brain,’ Phillips has mentioned Nurse Susie’s recollections that she sent him via Facebook messenger, from a conversation she had with Pastor Duane Amis in 2014.

Nurse Susie wrote: “I remember the baby without a brain. His head was shaped like a peanut. He had hydrocephalus. We transferred him to Ochsner’s Hospital in New Orleans. The Lord healed that child. The neurosurgeon called him a vegetable that day; I was infuriated! The baby’s head was so filled with fluid, doctors didn’t know if surgery would help. I think Jacob [Phillips] was 3 when his mom brought him back to see me. I wept that day! I am so thankful the Lord let me see His power.”

Phillips who is legally blind and has undergone 25 surgeries in his life, beginning with a major surgery at 1 week old to have a shunt fitted in his head to correct hydrocephalus. The doctors later built him a skull using bone grafts. But at the age of 10, Phillips met with a life-threatening situation when his his shunt “supposedly malfunctioned.” He couldn’t hold down food and spent 26 days in hospital, where the shunt was replaced, and a stomach cyst caused by the malfunction was removed.

Phillips was bullied from preschool to high school because of the way he looked and felt better at home because almost every day he would return from school in tears. “That part of my life has been difficult to overcome, but I have left it behind for the most part,” he reflected. “I don’t really have a philosophy I live by; I just take one day at a time.”

He says that growing up amid people of faith helped him to overcome the negativity around him and he became “born again” at 10 years of age in his uncle’s children’s church. He was called into ministry at the early age of 17, and after 25 years he became a licensed and ordained evangelist minister.

He and his wife of 12 years, Charlene, 42, run a ministry called ‘Sons of Righteousness’ and travel across the country to share the goodness of God, “We met when I was 18, and she was 16, through a mutual friend over the phone,” Phillips said. “I went to see her a few days later, and when I stepped out of the car, I took one look at her and said, ‘I’m going to marry that girl one day.’ I couldn’t ask for anyone better.”

Phillips’ book “Born Without a Brain,” share the story of his life and inspire others in faith. He had to wait for 9 years to publish it. “I have a friend in Oregon who helped me get started, and a friend in Mississippi hooked me up with a publisher in West Virginia who would ultimately help me get published on Amazon,” he said. “I wanted to get my story out to show God still does miracles, and He wants to do something in the lives of others.”

Phillips has a message for all of us who are struggling, he says to pray to God about it. “I’m huge on having a solid prayer life,” he said. “There is nothing in this life that can’t be overcome.”

Are you inspired by this amazing testimony of Phillips? Share this story with your friends and family.

https://www.faithpot.com/baby-born-without-brain-jacob-phillips/

天生无脑 今成牧师

【特约记者／谢宜汝综合编译】一个一出生即被医生宣判只剩一小时可以存活的无脑男婴，竟然在祖母、母亲、教会牧者和弟兄姊妹的代祷下得到医治。40年后的今天，他以牧者身分，站上讲台见证上帝的奇妙大能！

「我能够站在这里，归因于对上帝的信心。我努力与上帝保持密切的关系，因为他给了我生活所需要的一切。」44岁的雅各．菲力浦斯（Jacob Phillips）说道。

雅各见证时分享，他于1977年十二月12日，出生在美国路易士安那州西门罗（West Monroe）波西尔综合医院（Bossier General Hospital）。他是通过剖腹产出生的，当时医生诊断他患有脑积水，只有少部分颅骨形成，最可怕的是他「没有大脑」（中枢神经系统最上层四个脑叶部分）。他是靠着脑干维持着生命，因此，医生告诉他的父母和家人，小雅各活不过一个小时，等于是宣判了他的死刑。没想到，神却给了雅各一个活下来的机会！

母亲与众人迫切祷告 摇动神的手

原来面临这场磨难的小雅各的母亲是基督徒，她坚信此时必坚心倚靠神，并请求上帝帮助小雅各，让他活下去。小雅各的母亲曾经有过一次流产经验，因此她在上帝的面前祷告，告诉上帝，她不想再失去另一个孩子。甚至她不顾医生的反对，坚持到育婴室怀抱哺喂小雅各。

与此同时，医院里挤满了支持和代祷的人群，包括小雅各的父母，以及在西门罗教会的弟兄姐妹，他们不断地为小雅各迫切祈祷。

雅各回忆祖母告诉他，尽管医生的诊断相当让人沮丧，但是她还是必须为小雅各而战。她甚至告诉医生：「这个孩子不会死，你不知道我的神有何等大的能力！」

当一家人迫切祷告在上帝的面前时，照顾小雅各的护士苏茜（Susie）也打电话给她的牧师唐洛根（Don Logan）。小雅各的祖父母也打电话给他们在西门罗教会的牧师洛尔（Loel Ashbrook），以及他们的朋友杜安（Duane Amis）。这三位牧者、传道人不顾一切地来到医院，一同来为小雅各祷告。上帝就在众人的代祷下，为小雅各「创造了一个大脑」！

在雅各．菲力浦斯写的书《天生没有大脑》（Born Without A Brain）里，记录了护士苏茜的话：「我记得这位没有大脑的婴儿。他的头形状像颗花生，他有严重的脑积水，所以我们把他转到纽奥良的奥克斯纳医院（Ochsner’s Hospital）。神亲手医治了那个孩子…..小雅各3岁时，他的妈妈带他回来看我。那天我哭了！我非常感谢主让我看到祂的大能。」

信仰帮助他克服成长过程的一切艰辛

虽然如此，小雅各的成长过程仍然非常艰辛，他全盲，一生中更经历了25次手术，从1周大就开始做手术，头上被安装了分流器，以治疗脑积水，再以骨移植建造了头骨。最让他难以忍受的是，因为他奇特的外形，在学校容易受到同学欺负。在他成长的过程中，几乎每天都会泪流满面地回家。他回忆道：「我生命中的这个阶段很难克服，但我大部分的时间都把它抛在脑后。我并没有什么哲学观，我只是一天天的过下去。」

在小雅各十岁那年，因为分流器故障，遭遇了危及生命的重大事件。当时他无法吞咽，在医院待了26天，并更换分流器，切除了由故障引起的胃囊肿。后来他好起来，并在教会中「重生」了。他在信仰中成长，并靠着从神而来的坚定信心，克服了围绕在他四周的嘲弄和负面情绪，并于17岁时被神呼召进入神国事工。25年后，他成为一名按立的传道人、牧师。

译文来源：基督教论坛报