Miracles of the life-saving sort are often explained away by science or disbelieved altogether — even by the faithful, even at Christmastime. But not for Frank Policastro. The 57-year-old pastor of Northwest D.C.’s Real Life Church preaches that God saves lives, literally, and that God saved Policastro’s own life from the ravages of cancer. Policastro sat down with The Washington Examiner to explain why, despite critics, he believes no less.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I was raised in a denominational faith with all of the wonderful trappings of religious history, but it had no reality for me. It was while working as an archaeologist in Israel that I had a real experience with the Lord. Still, though, I don’t consider myself to “have religion” at all, which I consider manmade. But I do have a relationship with the Lord, and that has changed my life completely.
You speak about your experience with colon cancer, and your belief that God cured you of the disease. How did that happen?
A couple of years ago, I started to have some serious symptoms, so I prayed, and I prayed, but nothing changed. I was told, eventually, that I had a very serious, very advanced stage of cancer, and that my only hope was massive radiation and massive chemotherapy.
At one point during a hospital stay, around midnight, someone came in to my room, and I woke up but there wasn’t anyone there. I heard my neighbor’s breathing, but I didn’t see anyone in the room. I never saw the Lord, but I heard his voice – it came to me and out of me at the same time: You shall not die, but live, and tell of the works of the Lord. I began to repeat the words, and to meditate on them day and night, as the Bible says.
I remember the moment the surgeons walked in with odd looks on their faces. One said there had been a remarkable turn of events. Another called it a real head-scratcher. They said they didn’t understand it — they knew cancer, and the cancer was gone from my body. I was rejoicing. The next day, reluctantly, they released me from the hospital. I haven’t been back since.
How do you pastor to those who pray, and pray, and pray for God to end their suffering, or cure their disease, to no avail?
I don’t believe it’s God’s will to kill or to punish. God is not against anyone — he’s not saying, ‘I won’t heal that person.’ But there is hope for everyone. Sickness and disease exist in the world, but God has made an escape — Scripture tells that, too.
I talk to cancer patients, and almost all of them say that the disease makes you lose control, emotionally, mentally and physically. The central thing is to take back that control. Where doctors can’t, God can. So, I tell them what happened to me, and we pray, and hope, and encourage. Once their belief is triggered, they’re getting better. All I can do is share my faith. Maybe that’s simplistic, but it’s what I can do.
Some people would categorize your teachings as self-help Christianity — promoting a faith because it can fix things, instead of because it is fundamentally true. How do you respond to that?
I guess I would go to my understanding of Jesus — he is a separation of God’s radiance. He came to Earth in human form. He is the word of God made flesh. He has the Holy Spirit without measure. He is a demonstration of what God’s word and the Holy Spirit can do in humanity. If you say that’s self-help, so be it. He came not only to teach us, but also to demonstrate how to walk a victorious life.
I wouldn’t want to characterize mainline Christian theology as wrong, but I do believe that more important than ritual is relationship. Ritual can teach us all about God, but we never meet him. Relationship introduces us to him. That’s why Jesus came — to bring us back into relationship with God.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
I believe that with God, all things are possible. I am living proof of that.
– Leah Fabel
