In January 1989, at the age of 48, after some ten years working at a desk job, I came to the realization that I had physically atrophied. My muscle tone was gone and I had gained some weight. I decided that it was time to get myself back into physical shape. So, I took up weight lifting; something I had enjoyed as a youth. Enthused by the quick results I was getting, I added more and more strenuous exercises to my routine. Soon I was working out daily, morning and evening, pushing some million pounds of iron in a month. By the following April, it happened…

I was working at my computer when my heart just plumb stopped beating. It took only a couple of seconds for me to realize what had happened – it was a helpless feeling. I realized that I had to do something immediately and began to forcibly hyperventilate. I figured that that would keep the oxygen going. However, I only bought myself a few seconds of time. A momentary fibrillation occurred, then my heart totally stopped again. I saw the room spinning; then my vision faded. I began to fall out of my seat as I was loosing consciousness. Suddenly my heart began fluttering, then it began to beat normally just in time for me to catch myself from falling to the floor.

This episode of heart failure, which seemed to have lasted ten to fifteen seconds, sufficiently scared me that I quit my weight training. I hoped that this episode was a unique one-time event. Ten days later, again at work, my heart stopped again, and this time for about five seconds. This second episode made me realize that I could drop dead at any moment. So, I sought medical advice. My cardiologist discovered that I had developed an irregular heartbeat and insisted I take six weeks off from work to recuperate, which I did. Then, I went back to work. But, my health was not the same anymore. Although I never had a recurrence of heart failure, I did continue having an irregular heartbeat that was disconcerting whenever it happened, and that was fairly often. I accepted this condition and hoped that someday it would correct itself. But it didn’t…

About a year later, in the evening as I sat watching television, my heart just began shutting down. It began skipping one out of seven beats. I was uncomfortable and confused by the regularity of the skipped beats. After about a half-hour my heart began skipping one out of every five beats. This too was very regular and I became very concerned. I was not feeling very good and slipped off the couch to lie on the floor. I called my wife away from her kitchen chores; she took my pulse to verify my count. After about another half-hour my heart began skipping one of three beats and I went into shock. My arms and legs got cold and I began to tremble. I felt warmth in my head and chest as my body went into survival mode. I asked my wife to wrap me in blankets, which she did.

I concluded that my body was shutting down and that I was dying. I felt helpless and confused. I became angry for lack of control. I felt that I was not ready to die yet; I still had things that I wanted to do.

By now my wife raced for the telephone. I urged her not to call 911. I feared that I would receive a pacemaker, or some other treatment that would compromise my lifestyle. I was not willing to compromise.

"Call Charlie," I asked. Charlie had helped me out of other very difficult situations before. I was sure he could help me then as well. If anyone could help, it would be him.

My wife got Charlie on the telephone and briefly explained my predicament to him, then handed me the telephone. My conversation with Charlie was very brief. “How are you doing?” he asked compassionately.

His voice comforted me. “Not so good Charlie,” I replied feebly.

I did not have to explain much to Charlie. He instantly knew all he had to know of my condition in order to help me.

“Well, you hang in there,” he said as he concluded our brief conversation.

“Okay Charlie,” I replied.

I expected something remarkable to happen immediately, but nothing did. I was concerned that if my heartbeat got reduced any further I would surely die. Yet I felt confident that help was to come, somehow. I patiently continued to lie on the floor. After about a half an hour my heart increased its rhythm to skipping only one of five beats. I began to feel better, and felt confident that all would be well soon. But I was still very weak and far from normal. It was 11 p.m., but I was afraid to go to sleep. I thought that sleep would slow my metabolism down too low and I might not wake up. At about 11:30 p.m., remarkably my heart normalized some more. It adjusted to skipping only one of seven beats. After having stabilized at this rate for a half an hour I decided to risk going to sleep.

I got up the following morning by my alarm clock at 5 a.m. My heart was still regularly skipping one of seven beats. I was not feeling very good, that I could keel over at any moment. My energy was very low. Nevertheless, I proceeded to prepare myself to go to work. I moved very slowly. Then, I carefully drove to work. Once at work in my private office, I slowly worked at my computer tasks. I prepared some reports that I had to distribute within a couple of hours. I barely could focus on my work. Suddenly at about 9 a.m. a miraculous healing took place.

As I sat in front of my computer I was overwhelmed by a Divine presence filling the room. Just then, I saw an intense white light, about two-feet wide, come down in front of me at a 45-degree angle into my chest. I immediately felt terrific and noticed that my heartbeat had instantly normalized. I said a prayer in gratitude for the healing. I then sorted the reports and scurried up the stairs to the various offices to distribute the reports. I felt the Divine presence again at about noon and again at about 3 p.m. as I worked at my computer. Each time, the Divine presence was accompanied by an intense white beam of light that came down in front of me at a 45-degree angle, and infused its energy into my chest. By the time I got home I felt fantastic. That was the last time I have had any problem with my heart.

Since then, (for over fifteen years now) I have been in excellent physical condition and also very physically active. I have resumed weight training, but to a much more moderate degree. I regularly hike the local mountain trails. And, I even had taken up skydiving. However, I gave up the sport after Charlie cautioned me that the sport had very little margin for error.

Such was the glory and power of Charlie Lutes!

This account is just one of a wide range of numerous remarkable experiences I have had with Charlie during my twenty-nine years of friendship with him.