Sid Roth - They Lost Their Kids, Jobs and Home. Then This Happens
My next guests lost their two children, their jobs, their home and given a one chance in a million to live. Next on this edition of It's Supernatural.
Sid Roth: Hello. I'm Sid Roth your investigative reporter here with the Roses, Tom and Marilyn. Tom, you look pretty healthy for a doctor to say you have a one chance in a million to live. What happened to you?
Tom Rose: One in a million. Well I know the one, Sid. I know the one.
Sid Roth: What happened?
Tom Rose: Well our story starts around 1994. At that time Marilyn and I had been married for almost 19 years. We had three children. We had a 12-year-old daughter Lacey, a nine-year-old son Benjamin and an eight-year-old daughter Rachel. We were self-employed sign makers and all of a sudden I came down with an unknown virus that had been in my system, doctors predicted probably some 20 years since I was in Vietnam many years before.
Sid Roth: It was sort of like a time bomb waiting to explode.
Tom Rose: Just laying there waiting to have its time. And when the unknown virus manifested itself it attacked all the major organs in my body and within a very short period of time, I would say within a six-month period of time my heart had gone from working capacity to 15 percent.
Sid Roth: Now I'm not a medical person, but 15 percent sounds very bad.
Tom Rose: Fifteen percent. It was very drastic. My lifestyle changed overnight. I went from a 200-pound strong man, physical work, used my hands all the time to now I was bedridden, 160 pounds. And on September 20, 1994, the doctors came in my room knocked on the door, and they said, "Mr. Rose, we can't find out what's wrong with you. The only hope for you is for us to send you to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida to the heart transplant evaluation team for a heart transplant. That's your only hope". And that's what the doctors wrote. The doctors wrote down on a piece of paper for Marilyn to get me home, get all my affairs in order and they wrote, they put down, "We have told Mr. Rose of his grim prognosis".
Sid Roth: Marilyn, never in a million years did you think, you got three children and your husband is about ready to die. Did you think he would die?
Marilyn Rose: Well no, I really didn't. I kept saying, well I just know that something good is going to happen. We just kept expecting the best. Even though he looked terrible, he looked weak, but I just, I had my hopes high that it would just work out.
Sid Roth: But then you get a phone call from your mother-in-law just out of the blue and what did she say to you?
Marilyn Rose: Yes. Well Tom had been home from the hospital. They had told me to take him home and keep him stress-free until we were able to get him to Shands for the evaluation. And it was during that time that I received a phone call from my mother-in-law and she said, "Marilyn," she said, "Oh I'm so glad you're home". She said, "I saw a car up on the corner that looked like yours". And she said, "I knew you'd be taking the kids to the skating rink". And she said, "There's a terrible accident up there and I thought it was your car, but thank God you're home". And I told her, I said, "Well I didn't take the kids". But Tom's sister had taken our kids using my car to the skating rink that night and I knew something was wrong.
Sid Roth: Did you think there was something going on with your kids, your car.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: So what did you do about it? You've got a husband that can't have any stress.
Marilyn Rose: Yes. Well that was the main thing that went through my mind is what do I do now. And I hung up the phone, and I told Tom, I said, "I think there's been some kind of accident and I'm going to go and check it out, and I'll be back later". And that's about all I said. And I left the house, and when I got out to the road to where they were only a couple of blocks from the house, the traffic was all backed up and I could see emergency vehicles had kind of completely encircled the car. And I ran down the road, and a policeman caught me by the arm, and he said, "What are you doing"? And I said, "That's my car and those are my children". And he just got me by both shoulders and got real close to my face, and he said, "You can't go over there right now. They're not even letting us over there, and you will get, I'll get the car out of traffic for you". I had a friend that had tried to take me down there. And he said, "We'll let you know as we get your children out what's going on".
Sid Roth: Your heart had to be pounding.
Marilyn Rose: Oh it was. It was. I was just laterally shaking as I sat in that car.
Sid Roth: So what happened with your children?
Marilyn Rose: Well it took them almost an hour and a half to get them both out. They got our daughter out first and then my son was pinned in.
Sid Roth: How old were they?
Marilyn Rose: They were nine and 12.
Tom Rose: That was just two of our children at that time.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Tom Rose: Our eight-year-old was home with me.
Marilyn Rose: Was with Tom. And they told me that they would be taking them both to a hospital over on the beach, and that I should go there. And once I got to the hospital they told me that my son had been in such critical condition that they wanted to take him to a small hospital in our home town and get him stabilized, and then they were going to fly him a children's hospital in Orlando, Florida, and that I should go there. So I was at one hospital over on the beach side and was told I needed to go to another hospital 50 miles away, and I had a husband at home needing a heart transplant with a heart 15 percent.
Tom Rose: What Marilyn forgot to mention was my sister went to make a left-hand turn to go to the skating rink and was struck broadside by a speeding drunk driver that night. That's what caused the accident.
Sid Roth: Well how critical were your children?
Marilyn Rose: Very critical. When I talked to the doctor over on the beach side I was, "Well I'm here with my daughter. I need to know how she is". And he said, "Well she's in critical condition". But he said, "By the calls that we're getting from the other hospital," he said, "I think you need to go there". And he gave me his number.
Sid Roth: So your son was in one hospital, your daughter in another. Your son, it's more critical.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: You go there. What do you find?
Marilyn Rose: Actually when I first got to the hospital, I got to the one in DeLand before they airlifted him into the children's hospital and the nurse told me that he wasn't conscious and I didn't need to go in there. They weren't able to clean him up. And by the grace of God I was calm, and I said, "I want to see my son". And so they allowed me to go in there and they said he's not conscious. But I took him by the hand and I said, "Benny, it's your mother". And I said, "Everything is going to be all right, Ben".
Sid Roth: What did you see with my eyes?
Marilyn Rose: What did I see with my eyes? I just saw he looked so small. He looked smaller to me at that time. He just looked so little. And because before I could hug him and he'd be up against my chest. But he just looked so small there on the table. And as I took him by the hands, his head was braced and his eyes were swollen shut, and tears began to come out of his eyes. And I said, "Benjamin, God didn't give you a spirit of fear, but a power and of love and a sound mind, and it's going to be all right, Ben". And about that time the emergency team came in and they said, "We need to get him on the helicopter". And I said, "Now Mama's got to go". And he lifted one shoulder and he lifted the other. I kind of thought he was trying to protest me going. And I said, "It will be okay, Benny". I said, "Mama will be right behind you". And they wheeled him out and that was the last that he, he was brain dead by the time I got to Orlando.
Sid Roth: And Tom doesn't know this.
Marilyn Rose: No.
Tom Rose: No, I don't know anything by now. What happened then is my pastor came over to the house and Marilyn, during all of the trouble, she was in Orlando, Florida, she contacted my heart specialist and told him of the situation of my family, and that she didn't know how to break the news to me because of the stress factor with my heart 15 percent. So the doctor sent a nurse to come to my home and we got me sedated. And then Marilyn began to call me that things did not look well for our son.
Sid Roth: Hold that thought. Could it get any worse? Yes. Don't go away. Be right back.
Sid Roth: Hello. Sid Roth your investigative reporter. I'm so fascinated. I mean, what would happen? What would you do? Doctors say your heart is working at 15 percent. Unless you have a heart transplant you're going to die. Your two children are in an auto accident. Son, nine years old, dead. Daughter in the hospital fighting for her life. Marilyn, did you tell Tom at that point?
Marilyn Rose: I couldn't tell him over the phone. The doctor said just break it to him slowly. Begin to tell him that your son is in bad condition and let him absorb that, and then later go home and tell him. So I did. I went home and Tom was sedated and laying in the bed. And when I came into the room I just shook him and woke him up, and I didn't know what to do but just to tell him. And I said, "Tom, Ben has gone home to be with the Lord". And then when I did that, I'll just let you.
Tom Rose: Well it seemed like I was heavily sedated, but I just kind of woke up. We had been Christians. We had given our hearts to Jesus Christ 17 years before. We had been Christians all these years. And I told Marilyn, I said, "I know that all things work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to purpose". But then the Lord spoke something real special to my heart that I'll cherish. He said, "I have not made you for time, but I have made you for eternity".
Sid Roth: That is so profound. It's simple, but it's profound. I've made you not for time, not for this.
Tom Rose: Yeah.
Sid Roth: I've made you for eternity. Go ahead.
Tom Rose: So Marilyn and I, we just really clung on that night. And I said to Marilyn, I said, "Marilyn, do you realize today is October 1st". October 1st was a real special anniversary day for Marilyn and I. It was our first date that we had ever went on. We went clear up in the mountains out in Colorado and here it was our son died on October 1st. And I said to Marilyn, "That was 19 years ago, our first date". I said, "It seem like time went by so fast". I said, "We just have to hang on to God. We have to hang on to his promises and before we know it we'll be in eternity forever, forever and forever".
Sid Roth: What happened to your daughter?
Marilyn Rose: Well she began to recover. And she was recovering, this was about two weeks later, and she had been asking us about Benjamin in sign language because she on a respirator. And we couldn't tell her.
Sid Roth: Of course.
Marilyn Rose: The doctor said can't talk, so don't tell her yet. And then one day the doctor said. "Her lungs have recovered. We're going to take her off the respirator and whenever we get her of that it would be just a few days and you'll be able to take her home". And I told Tom, "Let's go home and rest that night and prepare to tell Lacey about Benjamin". And that morning, we got a phone call from the hospital that our daughter had a massive heart attack.
Sid Roth: How?
Marilyn Rose: Well she had a rapid heartbeat due to the trauma to her body. And so before taking her off the respirator they wanted to slow her heart rate down. And so they gave her an injection to slow her heart rate down, and they overdosed her, and it caused her to go into cardiac arrest.
Sid Roth: So it was a medical mistake.
Marilyn Rose: Yes it was. They said even that day they admitted it was a mistake that they had made. And they used the paddles.
Sid Roth: What about him?
Tom Rose: I'm there at the hospital. By the grace of God.
Sid Roth: You shouldn't have been able to take that.
Tom Rose: By the grace of God he sustained me through this time. But the thing was now on October 25th, ten days after that incident, our daughter Lacey also went to be with the Lord. So now here Marilyn and I were faced, we buried Benny and Lacey side by side. And I guess probably a lot of people ask us why, how, who, what's going on in your life, and all these questions surrounded Marilyn and I. But I think the question that really struck our heart was did God really love us. Would a God that is love, do you really love me.
Sid Roth: To have all sorts of doubts and questions going on. But that's the bottom line.
Tom Rose: That's the bottom line. God, do you really love me? As Marilyn and I began to pray and really began to seek his face as to his love for her and I, he began to convey a message that he loved us. And that's the only place he could show his love, was when he died that day on Calvary's cross, when he laid down his life for us. That's where he says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That's it. Because we began to look at his love through the loss of our 12-year-old daughter, through the loss of our nine-year-old son, through the loss of our business, through the loss of our home, through the loss of my health, and when we began to put all these clouds up we couldn't see him no more.
Sid Roth: And how about the medical bills? What was the highest you owed?
Tom Rose: Over $400,000. We had all this and Jesus said, "Focus on me. Don't look at your situation. Look at Calvary". He said, "Don't measure my love by your situation. Measure my love by what I did for you that day when I died on the cross and forgave you of your sins".
Sid Roth: Marilyn.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: You told me about the time that you put your hands on your husband's shoulder and shook him. What did you say?
Marilyn Rose: Yes. Well he had fallen into deep depression and he had come out of his bedroom one day, and he said that he...
Tom Rose: Now this is several months later.
Marilyn Rose: Yes, several months later. And he said, "I've asked God to take me home. I've asked him to take my life".
Tom Rose: Now they wouldn't give me the heart transplant, they said, because I was grieving and all I did was cry all the time.
Sid Roth: But you're going to die without a transplant. It's a Catch-22...
Tom Rose: Exactly.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: But because of your emotional state they wouldn't give it to you.
Tom Rose: Right because they said I had to be mentally alert to handle the heart transplant.
Sid Roth: Listen, he couldn't take it. How about you? How did you take it?
Marilyn Rose: No, I couldn't take any more. And when he said, "I've asked the Lord to take me home," which wouldn't have been hard, I mean, he was just barely hanging on for life, I got him by the shoulders and I said, "Don't you leave me now. I've already lost too much".
Tom Rose: It was hard for her.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: How did you react? What did you say?
Tom Rose: Well I said, "Marilyn, I've asked the Lord," I said, "I miss my children so much, our children. I miss them so much. I can't work any longer". Everything in our life had changed. We had to move. We weren't...
Sid Roth: This happens in the movies. It's not supposed to happen in real life, really.
Marilyn Rose: Yes. Yes.
Tom Rose: This is why I said, "Lord, I knew you loved me". I said, "I'm caught," I said, "between being with Marilyn, my eight-year-old daughter Rachel, her being with my son Benny and Lacey being home with the Lord". I said, "Lord, if you're not going to heal me take me home. I ask you to take me home". That's what I asked him that day. But what happened that afternoon is Marilyn and Rachel had to go downtown to some grieving counseling for my eight-year-old daughter. And I sat back in my green chair, and I talked, began to talk to the Lord. And to this day I'm not quite sure what happened because I had a vision or a dream, but call it whatever you want. But Jesus himself appeared.
Sid Roth: Stop for a second. Hold that thought. We'll be right back in a moment. I believe in miracles. You are going to believe in miracles after what you hear is going to transpire. Be back right after this.
Sid Roth: Hello. Sid Roth your investigative reporter here with the Roses. What would you do? How would you feel? I mean, you threw in the towel.
Tom Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: Did, I mean, all these horrible things that happened to you, did God do them?
Tom Rose: Oh no. No because our Bible tells us that the devil comes before the kill and to steal, and destroy. But Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly, period.
Sid Roth: All right. So you're up in your room.
Tom Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: You're having a dream or a vision. What happens?
Tom Rose: Right. Well then Jesus appears to me and he had his arms stretched out, and on his right hand side was my daughter Lacey, and she had this wonderful smile like her mama does, and on his left hand was my son Benjamin. And Benjamin was a very positive, strong, spirited young man, and he began to convey a message to me, and he said, "Papa". My kids called me Papa. He said, "Papa, do you remember what you used to tell me during our Bible studies at 8:00 at night how I, about Jesus and the wonderful stories you told me about him in place called Heaven"? He says, "Do you really believe"? He began to ask me if I really believe all I ever taught him about Jesus, you know. And he said, he says, "Papa, remember what you told me about my school work and about my karate lessons, and horseback riding and how I was to always focus on everything I started to finish". He says, "Papa, you need to focus on Jesus like never before and you need to finish strong". He says, "He doesn't want you to come to Heaven with a broken heart physically or a broken heart spirit". He says, "He wants you to focus and finish strong. He's got work for you to do for you to do if you'll focus and finish strong". And then Sid, that was the end of the vision. And Marilyn came home. I told Marilyn, I said, "Marilyn".
Sid Roth: Stop. Did he look different from the man that says, I'm throwing in the towel?
Marilyn Rose: Yes. When I left he was ready, he was ready to go be with the Lord. But when I came back, there was that glimmer of hope that I had not seen in his eyes for months.
Tom Rose: Yes.
Marilyn Rose: That glimmer of hope. Hope had entered into him.
Sid Roth: That was healthy.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: That was good.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Tom Rose: Yes.
Marilyn Rose: It was encouraging. It really was.
Tom Rose: But the next morning was Sunday morning and we were off to church again. And sometimes when God really does something for you supernatural like that, the old devil tries to get in there and steal it away from you real quickly. Well I wasn't really real fired up that next morning. But we got in the church. I wasn't in a wheelchair any longer, but I was walking on a cane and I got in my seat. And people started worshiping God in the service that morning. And I just sat there in still in the depths of despair, missing my son, missing my daughter, and I heard the Spirit of the Lord speak to me. He said if I would stand up and begin to praise him that he would heal me today. But I just sat there.
Sid Roth: Wait a second. Why?
Tom Rose: Well he always lets us make the decision just like when we accept him as our personal savior. It's a decision. It's our choice. He's a perfect gentleman. He's always a perfect gentleman.
Sid Roth: But that's so easy. Just stand up and praise him?
Tom Rose: Oh he is easy.
Sid Roth: But what he asked you was easy. Why did you resist?
Tom Rose: Because I didn't know if I wanted to be healed. To be honest, I didn't know if I wanted to be with Marilyn and Rachel or Ben and Lacey, and the Lord.
Sid Roth: And face everything.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Tom Rose: Because I had to go on in this world, see, and still all the grief and all. But anyway, he spoke to me one more time, and he said if I would stand up and begin to praise him today that he would heal me. Well I had done like everybody else in church that day, I stood up. And I pushed my cane forward and I lifted up my hands, and I began to praise him. I began to thank him for the three beautiful babies that he had given Marilyn and I, the wonderful years of marriage that we prospered in our business. We had always been in perfect health. And when I began to do that something happened to me that's never happened before. I began to feel a supernatural feeling on my body called the Holy Spirit begin to move on me. And in my chest area it began to get warm. And then it got warmer, and then it got real warm, and then all of a sudden it got real hot. And here, like I said, I'm 160 pounds. I've been laying in the bed for months and I'm wobbling all over, and this power of God is on me. And I bent over, and I said, "My Lord, what are you doing to me today"? And he said, "My son, this is my resurrection power. It was that same spirit that rose Jesus Christ from the dead. It dwells in each and every one of you". And that's what happened that day. And I had an encounter with God that has radically changed my life.
Sid Roth: Bottom line, did you have a heart transplant?
Tom Rose: No sir, I did not have a heart transplant.
Sid Roth: What did the doctors say?
Tom Rose: The doctors at first did not believe it and they continued to do check-ups on me, EKGs on my heart. And finally one day I walked into the doctor's office and he sat right there in his chair, and he looked at me, and he said, "Mr. Rose, I would have given you a million to one odds that you would be in the grave today and not here in my office". And I said very respectfully, "Doc, I know the one and his name is Jesus".
Sid Roth: Okay. What happened to you don't have a house, you have $400,000 in medical bills. You've got a wife and a daughter in grief counseling. What's in your life today? How much do you owe?
Tom Rose: Nothing.
Sid Roth: How did you pay that off?
Tom Rose: Well Marilyn and I made a choice and it was called forgiveness. We chose to forgive a drunk driver. We chose to forgive a hospital and doctors' mistakes. We chose to forgive. And when we chose to do that our small community in Florida set up a trust fund for us in every church and denomination in our small town, every club, card club, Kiwanis Club, all the different clubs that function in our city began to put money into that trust fund. They raised the money within probably a six-month or six-weeks period of time and paid every debt off. Every debt was paid in full. Since then, God has restored us with a new home. He's restored with vehicles. He's restored us with dreams and visions. He's just taken our shattered life and broken dreams and put them all back together again.
Sid Roth: Tell me about your daughter that's alive.
Tom Rose: Well she's 15 years old. She's in a private Christian school. She's a cheerleader. She's got a boyfriend. Hallelujah. She's doing real good. She's doing real good.
Marilyn Rose: She's a happy girl.
Tom Rose: How about that.
Sid Roth: What about that drunk driver that snatched away your two most precious possessions? How could you forgive him?
Marilyn Rose: It's a choice that you make. A lot of people ask that and it's just a choice that you make. They think that forgiveness is a feeling and it's not. Feelings will come. But you choose to forgive and then God brings the feelings. You just have to, every time...
Sid Roth: Did you really forgive him?
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Tom Rose: Yes.
Marilyn Rose: Yes. I can really say I have a peace in my heart and I don't hold anything against him. It is really the devil. It is the devil that comes to kill and steal, and destroy. He may use people. He may use circumstances, but we need to put the blame where it goes, and that's on the devil.
Tom Rose: But forgiveness is a supernatural act that Jesus performed first when he forgave us of our sins. He also gave us the ability to forgive others.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: You know what? He's coming real soon.
Tom Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: I mean, the Messiah is coming soon.
Marilyn Rose: Yes.
Sid Roth: Whether you're from a Jewish background or gentile background, or a Muslim background, he's coming soon. Do you know him? I'm not talking about religion. Do you know God? You must repent, turn from your sin, tell God you're sorry. He's a good God. Ask him to forgive you. Believe the blood of Yeshua, the blood of Jesus washes away all of your sins and you're clean, free, free indeed. There's such a peace inside of you. Ask the Messiah to come inside of you and be your Lord, be your savior. This is the most important choice of your entire life. Do it now. Right now, right this second.