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James Randi: You have to know what the real world is, and what the fantasy world is.
When they overlap, where the fantasy world gets in to the reality world and takes over,
then you are a victim for anyone that comes along with a good story to tell.
What famous skeptic James Randi just described
was my experience growing up in Christian fundamentalism.
My perception of what was real and what was fantasy became blurred.
From a very young age, I saw countless people being healed instantly
by the power of God.
I saw short legs and short arms grow out,
I saw people throw their crutches down and run laps around the audience.
I had a short arm myself and prayed for it, and God grew it out.
All of this was absolute proof to me that God was real.
Everyone around me would testify of amazing miracles and healings that they had seen
or that their friends had seen,
and I would almost always take their word for it.
I had no reason not to, since I saw miracles happening to Christians all the time.
I found it really frustrating that unbelievers
couldn't just open their eyes and see what God could do.
But it was like what my pastor said,
these people were blinded by their sin and unbelief.
Or so I thought.
In my experience, there are two groups of christian healers.
The ones that intentionally con their audience, and those that,
in their naivety, deceive their audience unintentionally.
Let's take a look at the con artists first.
Skeptic James Randi explains the leg growing gimmick.
Now what he's probably going to do tomorrow night is lengthening the short leg.
He said you've had trouble walking, or you've got pain in your back or something,
that's because of a short leg. Do you ever tell me about a short leg?
Course the answer is no, because the guy didn't know he had a short leg.
Get this, this is a cute gimmick, now.
He lifts up the leg, just sit back in the chair.
Sit right back in the chair, now.
Now I want you to see this. Now, can you see the difference in those two legs?
The leg on your side is about three inches shorter than the leg on my side.
How many can see that?
How many believes that without any pulling or pressure or anything,
I'll let these legs rest in one hand.
Lift this hand to the Lord.
That God can let the leg on your side grow out even with the leg over here on my side.
How many believes that?
Everybody stretch your hands out and say, Father,
touch brother Edward. Let his leg begin to grow, heal the disc, there it coming in the name of Jesus.
(speaking in tongues)
Hallelujah.
You move the legs over like this and you do this.
And you pull the shoe off slightly.
You noticed I pulled that heel off slightly?
And then you press the heel back on again, and swing the legs back like this
and they're even. That's all there is to it.
With these con techniques in mind, let's look at a video of AA Allen.
This evangelist was known for the amazing healings and miracles
that took place at his meetings.
Watch closely.
How many believe God'll do it?
How many believe God could do it?
Can you see?
Do you believe God'll do it?
This will not be healing,
this will be a miracle, do you believe it?
Oh God, from the top of this woman's head,
down to the bottom of her feet.
My Lord, let this leg Lord grow as long as the other one.
Oh God, in Jesus' name.
My God did it.
Look.
Look.
Look.
Aside from pulling out her shoe and pushing it back on,
when the healing takes place he pushes her legs away from himself,
to make them even.
Notice how we can see more of the soles of her shoes,
because of the change in angle.
Also notice that the length of her short leg doesn't change at all.
If there's any miracle here, it's that the long leg is actually getting shorter.
Did you feel it?
Yes, yes.
Tell these people what you felt.
I felt the Lord pull it out even with the other one.
She felt the Lord pull it out right with the other one.
Funny how they don't seem to notice someone
pulling the heel off their shoe in the first place.
Though even without the heel pulling technique,
people will still swear they felt the leg grow out.
Here's another video I found on YouTube.
See if you can spot what's happening here.
You still young, how old is he?
He's thirteen.
Thirteen? You look twenty, man.
You would love it to grow?
Yes.
Throw the paper away.
Ok, look at your legs. Say, I'm healed.
I'm healed.
In Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name.
I'm healed.
I'm healed.
In Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name.
Alright?
Thank you Jesus.
And now?
Thank you Jesus.
Did you feel it?
Yes.
What did you feel?
I felt my legs...
Did it pull?
Yes.
Now stand up.
Just walk.
Was he walking with a limp?
He was not walking straight, now he's straight.
Come on, hear the testimony here, man.
Praise God, we thank God a lot.
What do you say, young man?
I wasn't walking like this.
Do you feel the difference?
Yes.
Huh?
Because my friends were laughing at me.
They were laughing at you because you were limping, and now?
Now, now I feel great.
Let's walk, let's see.
I'll play it again, and this time I'll put a marker on the video as a guide.
Note the angle of the boy's legs in relation to the pattern on the carpet.
All this pastor did was angle the boy's legs to the left.
Let's speed it up so you can see the legs moving back and forth.
Not much of a miracle, is it?
With these con artists, they may use a couple gimmicks like this for impact,
but for other miracles they rely mainly on the fallible testimonies
of those that are supposedly healed.
If a person thinks they've been healed from some internal problem,
then the preacher is off the hook.
He is no longer accountable since it was by the audience member's own admission
that a healing has taken place.
I'll talk more about these supposed healings in Part 2.
Is praying for the sick biblical?
This might seem obvious, but let me explain the scriptural foundation
for why many Christians pray for the sick.
Some Christians say that divine healing was only for a certain time
and no longer occurs today.
However, there is insufficient biblical support for this.
They have to say that because they realize in the real world,
such prayers simply don't work.
Most Christian groups that pray for the sick
are fundamentalist, evangelical, charismatic, or pentecostal.
Generally these are the groups that take a literal stance on the Bible
and believe that God continues to perform miracles today.
Jesus trained his disciples to pray for the sick and cast out demons.
When Jesus ascended up into heaven, he told his disciples,
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
Which is what they did in the book of Acts.
According to the Bible, all new believers in Christ are called disciples.
They are not just the twelve that followed Jesus around.
Later on Paul writes that God distributes the power to heal and perform miracles
to individual members in the church, as God sees fit.
All of these prayers of healing are to be done "in the name of Jesus",
because Jesus is the actual healer, not the pastor.
So there is certainly fair biblical support
for why these preachers do what they do.
The question is whether any miracles take place at all.
In Part 2, I'll talk about the pastors that truly believe
God is using them to heal others,
and also what I think is really happening when someone is healed.
Thanks for watching.