By Will Hall, Message Editor As Ricky Belgard spoke from the pulpit of Philadelphia Baptist Church at the Horseshoe Drive campus in Alexandria,  he said he was thinking of the lengthy ramp that would have been needed only seven weeks ago for him to have made it up on the platform. “Now, I’m standing on higher ground,” he celebrated. Belgard shared with the congregation that evening, June 4, how God had healed him from being bound, long-term, to a wheelchair while facing the prognosis of a slow death from the combination of two deadly conditions. LIFE OR DEATH “I have had Multiple Sclerosis for many years,” Belgard shared, “then the doctors discovered I don’t just have MS, but I have a problem in the brain stem. The brain stem controls all of your bodily functions that are supposed to be automatic -- like your breathing and your heart -- all those things you’re not supposed to think about. “Well, mine started shutting down,” he explained. “And so, four and a half years ago, I’m in the hospital and I already know what’s coming up because this disease is terminal.” BAD TO WORSE Belgard had signed a “do not resuscitate” order and despite requests by the nurses and doctors to intubate him and put him on life … [Read more...]