Miracle of the Century
Ken Cantrell

"I walked alone with Jesus at my side through 40-foot flames for 35 minutes without taking any damage."

EXPLOSION ON THE U. S. S. LAKE CHAMPLAIN HANGARROW SHIP ON AUGUST 7, 1953. A FLAMING INFERNO OF HELL AND DEATH WAS UNLEASHED - WITH 16 CREWMEN IN THE CATAPULT ROOM.

ONE OF THE CREWMEN, KEN CANTRELL, WAS PROTECTED BY THE FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

"I OPENED THE RED-HOT DOOR. GOD TOLD ME NOT TO BE AFRAID, BUT TO OPEN THE DOOR AND GO OUT. I WENT BACK AND FORTH AND CARRIED OUT ONE BY ONE OF THE BURNT BODIES FROM THE "DEATH-MELTING FURNACE" AS THE FLESH FELL OFF THEIR BONES."

After reading Franklin Hall's book on fasting, "Because of Your Unbelief," I began a 21-day total fast (water only). On the tenth day, I felt a warm healing substance come over my entire body.

God gave me the word in Luke 10:19. Nothing could hurt me. Day by day the "power suit" grew stronger on my body. I experienced it the same as those in the upper room, Acts 2:3: "Tongues as of fire appeared to them and were distributed and sat on each of them." They sat on me too.

Jesus said in Luke 24:49 that this would happen. The words of Ps. 118:17 also came to me repeatedly. "I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord." I then learned that it was the baptism in the Holy Spirit that had covered me and protected me from death and destruction. This was before I experienced what was written in Acts 2:4.

The Explosion
The explosion happened in the Mediterranean Sea off Gibraltar at 11:03 on Aug. 7. 1953. Joe and Don were standing farthest from the only door to the room when the explosion happened. Joe Carnes collapsed and his flesh fell from his bones. Then I went to another. This one had been Don Hatcher. He was trained in electronics and that had been his job. He assisted me with the P.A. system. I liked him a lot in some way but I couldn't get him to convert to Jesus. I tried and tried but in vain. I think that if he had been saved, God would have somehow protected him from the flames. He didn't want to die and he screamed out loud as the death-dealing arms of the fire roared at him. Don tried in vain to get out of its deadly reach but the flames were all over him. They filled the entire 10-15 meter long room. No one could have escaped, including me, without it being supernatural. Notice how high the flames and smoke shot up through the flight deck.

It took seven months to repair the damage to the catapult room. The metal, the control valves, and the control panel were completely melted. Everything had to be replaced.

Another boy I was also very familiar with was Elbert Schaeffer. He had a fiery temper and always wanted to fight. He fought a lot with the other boys. I told Elbert that Jesus could take away his desire to fight, but he ignored it. He even tried to fight the flames, flailing his arms wildly, but it didn't help. As I carried each of the bodies from the death chamber, they could not be identified under any circumstances. Their bodies were so burned beyond recognition that they did not even resemble human beings.

Jesus was so close and I felt the power of the Holy Spirit so strong upon me (Acts 1:8) that this supernatural power of the Holy Spirit kept me from being afraid and from being hurt.

Thomas Moore was a normally built man. I tried to win him to Jesus. He replied in passing that there was still plenty of time.

My closest friend, Joe Carm, who was sitting next to me when the explosion occurred, began to shrink in the flames. His head shrank until it resembled a dwarf mummy. The same happened to the others and I saw their bodies being burned.

With horror, I saw all 15 crew members die before my eyes. It was on the 17th day of my fast.

God gave me supernatural vision in the flames, which were frying my comrades to death. I did not understand the meaning of the power that my dear Jesus had endowed my body with. At first it was too incredible that the fire could be real because I could not feel the slightest heat although the flames surrounded me from all sides. Therefore, I did not understand that the fire was harming my comrades although their flesh was being consumed right before my eyes.

Ken Cantrell

***

"I was first officer when this accident happened when Ken Cantrell repeatedly walked through the flames. I saw Ken walking back and forth to the room. He was carrying out 15 bodies that had been the entire crew that had worked with him. They were all dead and unrecognizable. They looked like roasted meat.

I tried to stop Ken as he was going in and out of the "melting furnace". I tried to stop him outside the door and got too close to the entrance of the room and was burned and had to be treated. The fire had no effect on Cantrell's body. He seemed to be a superman and did not falter in his efforts to carry the bodies out.

I saw the doctor examine Cantrell after the fire was out. There was not the slightest thing wrong with his body. Cantrell was asked by the doctor to come to the sick bay for observation. I saw with my own eyes a sick boy get up and be well as Cantrell's shadow approached him. It "It reminded me of Peter's shadow healing the sick, as told in the book of Acts."

Lt. Jim Brown, U.S.N. Ret. Spokane, Wash.

***

"I was stationed with Ken Cantrell aboard the U. S. S. Lake Champlain. I witnessed Cantrell walking through fire and picking up dead bodies with flesh so burned I saw it fall off the bones. The entire crew of 15 died in the fire.

I was on watch from 8:00 PM to midnight in the section of the ship where Cantrell slept. It was about 11:00 PM on the evening of Aug. 6, 1953, the night before the explosion. Cantrell had not eaten anything that day. I went over to Cantrell and told him to turn off the lights. It was after the time the lights were supposed to be off. He said he had no light on. I didn't believe it. I went over to where he was lying and could hardly believe my eyes. Light was radiating from Cantrell's body. I had read about light coming from a man in the Bible, a prophet who had fasted for 40 days. I understood, when the flames did not harm Cantrell, that it was this supernatural protection of the Fire of God, which preserved him from being burned."

Bill Harris, Portsmouth.

___________________