A former California pastor who miraculously recovered from six brain tumours credits the Lord for his cancer remission.

Scott Erdman was first diagnosed with melanoma in 1981, and fought the disease for decades. He expressed gratefulness that he has been cancer-free since 2010.

Erdman's battle began when he was a student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. The then 24-year-old found a lump in his armpit, and doctors eventually removed a tumour and 24 surrounding lymph nodes.

Erdman decided early on that he would trust God for his restoration.

"I've always been an individual that's really wanted the most for what I could give, and so when this happened… God really took the issue of what was going to happen with my life, and I didn't ever really take it back," he told FoxNews.com.

"I decided to live as I could, as long as he would have me alive."

He continued his studies and worked as a youth pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian Church before being diagnosed with three brain tumors in 1991.

After being given a one-year life expectancy, he sought treatment at UCLA Medical Center and underwent surgery and stereotactic radiation therapy.

"I didn't expect removing these three tumors surgically would cure him of his melanoma," Erdman's neurosurgeon, Dr Keith Black, admitted. "I did believe it would give him a year or two before new [ones developed]."

After the procedures, Erdman suffered seizures, but he was determined not to give up.

"It gets a little exhausting, but it's like you don't have an option," he explained. "I can pack it in or I can go for it. I wasn't going to pack it in."

Another tumour appeared two years after his first surgery, and another bout with cancer in 1994 caused him to lose his left kidney, spleen, part of his pancreas, and more lymph nodes.

Dr Black continued to treat Erdman after he moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and used Gamma Knife radiosurgery to remove two lesions in 2008. The former First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood pastor has been in remission since 2010.

"I can tell you, the reason I'm alive is because of God, no question in my mind," the now 57-year-old declared. His neurosurgeon agreed that Erdman's faith helped him beat the odds.

"I think the fact that he's a pastor is not lost on this story," Dr Black noted.

And whether you're religious or not, one thing to me has been very clear in dealing with cancer patients, and that is the patient attitude clearly affects hormonal levels in the body and their immune system— if someone is very worried or very negative, you get a release of chemicals in the body that are unhealthy for your body and immune system.

"Whether it was his belief that he would do better, belief that divine intervention would help him do better, or whether it was actually divine intervention, obviously we don't know," he continued, "but it's very clear that attitude makes a real difference in outcome with cancer."