Dan Cooper was refused access to Mike Montoya's ex-COBU site, just for responding to Jan's testimony, saying that it inspired him to also write up his experience.
Mike Montoya likened Jan's testimony, and whatever Dan had planned to post: as the same as "those in COBU praising Stewart Traill and COBU's message."
Some time in January 2011 Dan Cooper wrote and posted this on the COBU Survivors message board, and was also refused further access to it.
His sons: Abriel (then 23), and Tommy (19), (who was a miracle baby born at only 2 1/2 pounds in the hospital hallway with only the nurse present, and who needed an immediate tracheotomy), both wanted to write and post their own testimonies, but were discouraged when everyone was excluded from the ex-COBU sites.
Tommy was in his first year of college in the Art Institute (Dallas), and Abriel was in the National Guard and working as a nurse's aide.
This was Dan Cooper's last post on an ex-COBU site: 'Blessing upon Blessing', which was up probably less than 24 hours:
The Blessing of the Oil is the best thing to happen to me since getting out of COBU--except perhaps getting married to a good woman. In fact, it is what is helping most to get COBU out of ME! and to heal my marriage to my faithful wife.
I've been oiled several times, and each one has indeed been a blessing, highlighted by a personal word from the Lord. Words of comfort, of hope and promise, of exhortation and instruction. But best of all, of the Father's steadfast Love...for me. For this is what has been sorely lacking in my life and my heart; not because he stopped loving me, but because I was so oppressed that I stopped believing in Him. And isn't that all you need to know: that he still loves you, that you've been forgiven and he's forgotten your past sins, and that you can bring all your cares to Jesus?
In the beginning of Living Water, 25 years ago, (1987) we sought the baptism of the Spirit; spiritual gifts were manifested, and the Lord counseled me prophetically, "Call to me daily, and I will deliver you from your afflictions." It was to be a recurring theme for me--to seek the Lord, to listen for his voice, to do one thing in obedience and to please Him, and so to gain strength and confidence.
Oh, if only I had taken heed then. I could have saved myself and my family much trouble and heartache. For I knew it was the Lord, but it was like a foreign concept to me to simply trust and obey. And I still struggle...with the simplest of commands.
And I knew it was the Lord when we gathered to hear the message of the 'gospel of peace'. I believed it, for when you hear His voice in your heart, you just know. We entered into a covenant there--to go and free the captives of cobu,
But there were other voices too--familiar spirits we know all too well. I listened to them and fell again. And, in a word, went back to my way, to try to save myself. Bitter and stubborn, I ended up betraying my wife, my God, my covenants, and all I had to live for. I was at the point of utter ruin...
When God intervened. So rich in mercy and grace, he looked down and remembered me; that I had believed and was not without hope of redemption. "Lift up your voice", he cried, when I could hardly speak; and "oh taste and see that the Lord is good", to a soul who had despaired of seeing any good again. And he began to tell me how to save my marriage; repeating, pleading, explaining, and showing me what to do and say, by seeking Him in Grace's eyes. Making it right with Him would mean making it right with her.
Oh the Patience and the Faithfulness of the Lord our God! And of my dear wife, whose name is Mercy Grace. Twelve years now they've put up with me. Waiting, hoping, praying, seeking my restoration...
And what can I say about Dave & Cynthia?--faithful servants of God and man. For they did not scold me for breaking fellowship; they did not run after me when I ran and hid from my God; they didn't condemn me for deceiving them and for living a lie; they spoke the truth in love like nobody I know, when I wasn't even listening. And they didn't grow weary in well-doing, when I frustrated everyone with my stubborn defiance, and lack of faith and common courtesy. Yet they were there when I called on them in need--ready and willing to do all they could for me and my family. Forever grateful we will be to them; but they will tell you they were just obeying God, and that to Him belongs all the glory!
They entrusted me to a faithful Creator, and, I now realize, fought a courageous battle for my soul--which reached a climax, I believe, when our Father saw fit to answer many prayers on my behalf; marvelously strengthening me and casting out fear and doubt; breathing his Life back into me; calling from on high to the 'slough of my despond'. Something in me changed in that moment; something broke, and something broken was mended--when he said "Enough!" and declared my deliverance by faith.
Like waking up from the longest dream...I now walk as a new man, with head uplifted, and my eyes on the promise of a bright future, which is what any Christian has a right to. Our two sons marveled at the change in me, and they too have asked for and received this wonderful experience. For it is a joy to witness a changed heart and soul, but even better to accept the gift yourself.
And it is for you and your loved ones, for any and all who have been affected by Stewart and the cult. Dave is your friend. He's not what some are shamelessly charging him as, some who have tasted of this kindness themselves.
But it's your choice to believe or to doubt; to dismiss it or to consider it; to pray about it, and do as you decide; and if you hear His voice calling you, to come and see. I say this is what we've been waiting for, hoping for, crying out for in our wounded hearts. Don't let someone else decide for you.
Peter said to John, It is the Lord! And John sprang into the sea to see for himself. He was not disappointed. Peter himself had once braved the stormy sea, leaving the boat to walk on the water with Jesus. So if you find yourself wavering, you're not alone. Just take a step of faith, like you used to do. You just might find that the water's fine,
Dan Cooper's healing was so incredibly visual that his son Abriel said he didn't know who this new man was, saying: "Who is this man who always hovered around the corners and is now joyful and so different I barely recognize him?"
My wife Cynthia said Dan's recovery was so extraordinary that it reminded her of the movie "The Lord of the Rings" when Gandalf the White removed the spirit of Wizard Sarumon from the King of Gondor. His entire appearance was immediately and drastically changed, as Rimer (Worm-tongue) was exposed for deceiving the King; and the King was as though wakened from the dead ~ the film showed a very dramatic visible alteration.
Soon after Dan's healing by the power of Jesus, his sons also asked to receive the Oil Blessing, and their lives also were blessed.
Pray for Grace Cooper, Dan's wife, who has stage 4 metastatic breast cancer; and although she could be receiving disability, she is still working as the charge nurse for the ICU at St Luke's Hospital, NYC.
Dave Simmons