Christopher Closeup
It was 2002 when 27-year-old Daniel Fazzina was diagnosed with a “lymphatic cancerous tumor” in his chest. Located right above his heart – and actually larger than his heart – it was crushing his pulmonary artery, suffocating him.
Doctors said the tumor was inoperable in its current condition, so they would try to treat it with medication and chemo. If those options didn’t work, his prognosis was death within three weeks to three months.
At one point, Daniel lay in a hospital bed feeling like a “totally broken man.” He surrendered everything to God, saying, “Jesus, I know I’m Your child. If You want to take me, I will go with You. But if You want to heal me and let me live, I will do my best to continue to serve You, and share with the world Your goodness, grace, love, mercy, and power.”
Daniel pursued as many treatments and therapies (intravenous vitamins, acupuncture) as he could during that time, trying to save his own life. In addition, the lifelong Christian welcomed people’s prayers and anointings.
At the three-month mark, he was still alive and scheduled for a scan to see if the tumor had shrunk. Not only did it shrink, but it was completely gone. That result defied medical expectations, so Daniel believes his healing was a miracle.
Grateful for this second chance at life, he followed through on his promise to dedicate himself to spreading the word of God. He’s been doing it through his “Divine Intervention” radio show – and also through a new book called “Divine Intervention: 50 True Stories of God’s Miracles Today.”
During a recent interview on “Christopher Closeup,” Daniel (who was a classmate of mine at St. John’s University) discussed the book, which includes not only his own story, but that of others who have gone through medical, emotional, and/or spiritual healings. And for those who have doubts about the medical stories, he includes documentation to back up various claims.
Daniel explained, “I’m a journalist, and I’m curious by nature, and I wanted to do my best to provide evidence and show people that these stories are not just things I made up. I also include photographs of each person and contact information, if [readers] want to initiate a conversation with the actual people in the book. My goal here is to encourage believers and to challenge skeptics as to the reality of God and point them to Jesus.”
Divine Appointments and Transcending Hatred
Dramatic healings, however, aren’t the only miracles that Daniel sees. He acknowledges that God intervenes in people’s lives in much less noticeable, but no less important, ways.
He said, “Every day I experience certain things, meeting certain people or going to certain places, and divine appointments happen. And when God does miracles in our lives, it often forces a decision. Are we going to acknowledge it and follow Him – or are we going to put our head in the sand and walk the other way? Because I’ve known people who’ve done that. They’ve experienced God’s miracles in their life, and they choose not to follow Him. It breaks my heart. But God is a perfect gentleman. He does not force Himself on anyone. He wants us to have a loving relationship with Him, and we cannot have a relationship of love if there’s no choice involved. We need to choose to love.”
One of the people who made that choice of love is Jacob DeShazer, a World War II veteran and one of the Doolittle raiders who got captured by the Japanese after bombing their mainland.
DeShazer spent 40 months in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, enduring horrific treatment, which included starvation, torture, lice, bedbugs, and rats. In addition, many of his fellow soldiers were executed or died from the poor conditions. The whole experience left DeShazer burning with hatred toward the Japanese, explained Daniel.
Somehow, a Bible made it into DeShazer’s hands, so he read it constantly in his jail cell. Daniel said, “He read the part where it says that if you trust in the Lord, if you call upon the Lord, you shall be saved. He believed, and he gave his life to Jesus. He started noticing that God talks about loving your enemies, and God started working on his heart. His hatred for the Japanese eventually disappeared, and it turned into compassion. He felt like God had called him to share the love of Christ with the Japanese people.”
Daniel continued, “After the war ended and they were released, DeShazer returned home and promised the Lord, ‘I’ll go wherever You send me.’ He went to seminary and Bible school, he got married, and then he and his wife went back to Japan in 1948 or 49, as a missionary this time. They spent over 30 years there, and planted over a dozen churches. And one of the cool things is that Jacob DeShazer’s testimony was put on a tract in Japanese, and it was distributed throughout Japan. One of the people who read the tract was Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, who initiated the attack on Pearl Harbor. He bought a Bible out of curiosity, and eventually gave his life to Jesus, and became an Evangelist. DeShazer and Fuchida actually ministered together in Japan, and in Hawaii, and all over the place, and they became friends. It’s amazing how God can…bring two enemies together like that in the unity of the Holy Spirit.”
Dark Valleys and Unanswered Prayers
Daniel realizes that the outcome he had in his bout with cancer is not one that every person receives – and he doesn’t know why he lived while others don’t. He hopes that people whose prayers are not answered in the way they want continue to believe in God’s goodness and love.
He said, “The only thing I can say is that, if you don’t get your healing, maybe God has a different plan for you. I know that going through cancer was a dark valley. I didn’t understand it at the time. But God has a bigger picture. He’s got the bird’s eye view. We have a very limited view in the circumstances that we’re going through. One of the Scripture verses that I held onto when I was going through cancer was Romans 8:28. It says that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord, and who are the called according to His purpose. So it doesn’t say that everything that happens in your life will be good. I understand that because we live in a broken, sinful world. There are bad things that happen. But if we trust in God and know that He has our best interests at heart, He’s gonna work everything together for good. So I would say just hold onto your faith, keep praying, keep pressing and keep believing. But if the healing doesn’t come, know that God is working a greater work.”
Pointing People to the God of Miracles
Since those dark days with cancer, Daniel has gotten married to a doctor who shares his strong faith. Appreciative of the blessings in his life, he hopes that his book can serve as a blessing to readers:
“My hope is that If they’re believers in Jesus, it’s going to take their faith to a higher level. And if you’re a skeptic, I’m hoping that this book will challenge you into maybe considering that there might be more to this life than what we perceive with our five senses, that God might be real. And if you are open to that consideration, it’s my hope that you’ll actually pray to God and ask Him, ‘Hey, if you’re real, show me. Reveal Yourself to me.’ My goal in this book is not to just showcase miracles for the miracle’s sake, but really to point people to the God of miracles so they can enter into a relationship with Him and have everlasting life.”
(To listen to my full interview with Daniel Fazzina, click the podcast link:)
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