Supernatural Adventures in God by Jeanne Cook

Supernatural Adventures in God
Jeanne Cook

Jeanne CookRev. Dennis and Jeanne Cook, have been missionaries in the Darien jungle of Panama, Central America since 1981. Their four grown children, Christopher, Jennifer, Jason and Chad, spent many years helping in the ministry in the jungle. The vision of Vida Ministries is to train national pastors in a two-year Bible School and to establish strong local churches. They have established seven churches inside the Chocó Indian reservation. In 1991 the Cooks pioneered Radio Vida. It is the first and only Christian radio station in the densest jungle in the world. Click here to learn more about their ministry.

Note: The following is an excerpt from Jeanne’s book, “Footsteps of Faith… Living our Faith in Everyday Life.” This book recounts the story of their outstanding ministry. To order this book on amazon.com or through the publisher

This is the time that Dennis began preaching the gospel. I would cry in the tent because he had become everything that I had asked God for. He preached with such conviction and integrity. I was bursting with pride because he had earned the right to speak into the lives of the Indians because they knew his heart.

They were full of questions. They first asked him why he had moved there with his family. One of the Indians was an elderly man named Rudy Barcoriso who said he was 76 years old at that time. Until this day when you ask Rudy he will tell you he is 76 years old. Dennis was only 38 years old then, but Rudy could work circles around Dennis. As Dennis began to share, Rudy just smiled. He said, “You are an answer to our prayers, Dennis. For years, we heard there was a God but no one would explain who He was or how to live for Him. We heard about Him but did not know Him. God has sent you to us to reveal Himself to our people.

Every lunch hour Dennis would share a passage of the Bible. The Indians lingered on each word that fell from Dennis’ lips. Dennis had been silent for two years and now he had earned the right to speak into their lives. They loved him and trusted him with their lives. We were not Indian born, but we had become part of their lives and their family.

Rudy asked Dennis to come and hold a large meeting in the middle of his village so everyone could hear about Dennis’ God. In their custom everything had to be cleared by the chief. Dennis asked the chief for permission to have an open-air meeting. He just smiled and said, “Of course you can.” This was the favor of God because the chief was the witch doctor!

The next night Dennis set up a meeting in the place where we had lived for two years. He was going to use a loud speaker. Before the meeting the chief asked if he could use the sound system to talk to his people. Dennis felt a little insecure about it, but he consented. The chief got up and told his people to listen to everything Dennis said because he was a good man.

This was the night that the gifts of miracles began to establish our ministry in the Darien Jungle.

Dennis preached his heart out on “God our Savior.” I sat there crying because I was so proud of him. He was such a godly man and I had grown to deeply love and respect the call of God on his life. I was so glad that I chose to face my greatest fear because I had found the greatest richest in life. There is absolutely nothing so rewarding as walking in God’s call on  your life.

There were some women in a nearby hut that kept making so much noise that Dennis could hardly be heard. Dennis asked Alberto, one of the teens, to go over and ask the people not to make so much noise. When Alberto got there the noise became louder and louder. The voice, chanting to the devil, began screaming in terror. About that time a wind blew across Dennis’ shoulder with so much strength that we thought a tropical storm was about to hit…but it was not the season for tropical storms.

Soon Alberto came back with three women following him. They were totally blind. He asked them what had happened. They said that they were trying to destroy the crusade by chanting to the devil when a wind blew in and knocked them all to the ground. When they got up, they were totally blind. Then they said a voice came to them and said, “Never mock the one True God or a man preaching about him.” The fear of God fell on the village. They had witnessed the power of God to defend Himself.

Dennis laid hands on the the women and they were instantly healed and their sight returned to them. The compassion of God was so strong that everyone was crying. The Indians are not normally emotional people. I have lived here since 1981 and I can count on one hand how many times that I have seen one of them cry. Without a doubt, they saw the judgment of God fall on people making fun of Him. Why would He strike them blind and then turn around and heal them? These women were witches working against Him. You knew that you were definitely on “miracle” ground. When Dennis made an altar call they were the first in line to get in line to get born again. Almost the whole village got born again that night. Then he called for the sick to come forward. There must have been close to four hundred people there that evening.

Through the crowd pushed a woman that I had never met before. She had walked from another village carrying a little boy. You could feel the fever coming from her son’s body. When she got up to where the people were being prayed for I saw why the fever was so high. The child was about 12 months old. He had a tumor the size of a grapefruit in his groin area. Dennis prayed for the little boy. He felt the power of God go into the child’s body. The tumor did not disappear immediately. Dennis told the woman that the manifestation would come and not to give up hope.

Many people were healed that night as God moved mightily through their lives. There were a lot of sicknesses in the villages. Many people brought their children to be prayed for. Around 60% of the children did not reach their first birthday because of the many diseases in the jungle.

I remember one child who was almost dead when I took him into my arms. His little body was limp. He did not seem to have much life left in him. I held him up to my heart and began praying for him. The compassion of God came up from inside of men and I felt my whole body was on fire with the love of God. That baby’s body began to jerk. He was instantly healed and wanted to nurse. That was the first time that I had ever felt the love and compassion of God move through my body. It changed my life. From that point on I had such a cry in my heart for the salvation and healing of these people.

The next night we continued the crusade. The woman who had the little boy with the tumor came running up to Dennis crying, “Look, Brother Cook, the tumor is gone!” Then she gave her testimony in front of everyone in the crusade. She was the wife of one of the witch doctors in a nearby village. Ever since the boy was born he was sick and had the tumor. It kept getting larger and larger. She said her husband called upon the power of the devil that he knew, but the boy kept getting worse. The night before, she was sitting in a nearby hut when the three witches were struck blind. She saw God restore their sight. She told her husband (the witch doctor) that she was taking the little boy over to be prayed for. Her husband followed her, arguing the whole way. She said when the boy was no better she kept saying, “The manifestation will come.” How she knew to do that I do not know. To my knowledge no one had ever taught her to do that. The next morning, the boy woke up totally healed. The woman accepted Jesus into her heart that night.

The crusade went on for one week. Miracles and signs and wonders were so present that it was a sign to the unbelievers that we served a powerful God. The witch doctors trembled and would not come near us. They said their powers were no match for the power that lived on the inside of us!

That was our first crusade and, with the manifestation of God’s power, Dennis began preaching everywhere.