According to Derren Brown, in his recent programme “Miracles For Sale”, faith-healers are are operating a wicked and “highly dangerous scam” where “greed and deceit raise their ugly heads” as they deliver a “systematic and manipulative exploitation of the vulnerable”!
While I agree with the issues he highlighted about the potential for deception, I felt he wasn’t clear enough about whether all faith-healers are frauds and all healings are fake or hype, or just some of them.
Despite his disclaimer that this is “not an attack on sincerely held beliefs or decent churchgoers…this isn’t a comment on faith” he didn’t clearly say that it IS possible that some healings can be genuine. This therefore casts doubt on the authenticity of any healing – suggestion by omission! That omission made me feel that Derren is actually attacking belief and undermining faith because his programme will have thrown many believers and non-believers alike into doubt and confusion about whether or not they can ever believe an example or testimony of healing.
Derren raises some valid points and is right to reveal any deception taking place. No one should ever “charge” for healings. There are undoubtedly “healing” meetings which hype people up and some would-be healings which are little more than hysteria and the power of suggestion. Derren’s tricks of hypnosis, identifying suggestible people, giving a misleading description of the problem and using a repetitive phrase or one that creates an adrenalin rush are potentially used in some “healing” meetings, deliberately or otherwise. There’s no denying that there are people in the world who are claiming that they have power from God to heal when they have no such thing at all :-( The bottom line is that God’s gift of healing to people is good, but the devil will seek to corrupt it, exploit it and cause people to doubt it. We have a very real enemy who wants to damage us as well as spoil our belief in and relationship with God.
Jesus’ miracles and those of the early church as recorded in Acts were never done as stage shows or performances. Many were done in private situations, with just a handful of people present. Jesus often told people to keep quiet about their healing and didn’t ask for anything in return. In most of the narratives where Jesus heals people, the word “compassion” is used, as this was the main motivation for his healings. In one example, “when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matt 14:14) He then goes on to feed them, all 5,000+ of them – not the other way round!
When Jesus sends out his twelve disciples he gives them clear instructions about how to do his work saying “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matt 10:8, my italics) He goes on to tell them not to take provisions for their trip, because “the worker is worth his keep.” (Matt 10:10) Jesus is talking about their needs being provided for by the communities they go to, which clearly shouldn’t be extrapolated into having a fleet of fancy cars, several mansions (or even one), luxurious clothes, etc.
Perhaps the most powerful Biblical story to shed light on this situation though is found in 2 Kings, chapter 5. Naaman, “commander of the army of the king of Aram…a great man…a valiant soldier” goes to see Elisha, the Lord’s prophet, to ask for healing because “he had leprosy”. Elisha sends a messenger to him to instruct him to “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean”. Initially Naaman is angry and doesn’t want to do something so simple. He expected a bit of a show – “I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy”! Lol, I love his indignation :-) Fortunately, he eventually relents of his pride, washes in the river and is healed. Returning to thank Elisha, he offers him great riches for the gift of his healing but Elisha refuses to “accept a thing” because he knows that Naaman was healed solely by God’s divine grace not by his power. Not everyone agrees with his way of thinking though…
Leaving to return home, Naaman is stopped some distance away by Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, who feels that this is far too good an opportunity to miss out on gaining a few riches! Gehazi tells Naaman that Elisha has changed his mind about his gifts and is given two talents of silver and two sets of clothing. Returning to Elisha, he lies about where he’s been and what he’s done, but Elisha knows. He condemns what he’s done saying ““is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? [Substitute modern day equivalents here!] Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and your descendants for ever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.” God’s judgement on those who seek financial gain from his free and gracious gift of healing is unequivocal, severe and far-reaching.
While there may be a place for healing meetings, God’s real plan for mankind is through building His church – a body, a family, of people. Prayer for healing should be a natural part of the everyday life of God’s church, not flashy or hyped or staged.
It’s easy to see healings on TV or the internet or on a stage and question what you’re seeing (especially because we know that the camera often lies and our eyes can play tricks too!), but it’s completely different when you know people who genuinely have been healed. I have friends who have been miraculously healed by God including one suffering from brain injury and other serious injuries caused by a fatal car accident, one with severe endometriosis that was about to be operated on and another with cancer. With all these examples (and there are more!) medical professionals have stated that the change in their condition as a result of God healing them is nothing short of miraculous! Hurray!! None of these healings happened as the result of powerful suggestion, hype, sleight of hand or slip on shoes! The majority of the prayers - at the weekly church prayer meeting, within small groups or personally and privately - called on God to heal without the person who needed healing even being present.
Derren claims he just wants to expose frauds and hypocrites, but he does so by being – and by making Nathan into – a fraud and a hypocrite. I felt incredibly sorry for Nathan! At the beginning of the show he seems to be a happy-go-lucky guy, with a genuine smile and great charisma. What could be described as brain-washing begins with the persuasive multi-media video that he is shown describing his “mission”. He’s being offered fame and fortune as well as an opportunity to make the world a better place, by a significant and compelling celebrity. Who would refuse? During the six month project, Nathan is aware at times that he is their puppet, their “monkey” as he says, but he is also a victim – while in theory he can walk away at any time, he is hardly going to because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. By the end of the programme he looks exhausted and drained, the enormity of the deception and hypocrisy of being Pastor James Collins weighing heavily on him. In the car at the end after his “healing meeting” he says he’s glad to have done it but lacks conviction and Derren’s jubilance.
I found Derren’s disclaimers empty and insincere - given mainly to cover himself and attempt to avert some of the inevitable criticism - because his actions and explanations do attack belief and undermine faith (as detailed above). Another way he does this is with the Christian parody throughout the programme, e.g. the image of him opening a neon outlined Bible with the words “on the second day” or “on the sixth day” (a reflection of the Genesis narrative); in his false and probably blasphemous invocations of God’s name in his examples of “healings”; in the creation of the fake website http://www.giftsofthespiritministry.com/; and with choosing the name James Collins for Nathan, so he shared the initials JC with Jesus Christ :-(
Despite the doubts that Derren Brown raised – not just about the authenticity of the faith-healers he highlighted but about healings in general - the amazing reality I and many others have witnessed is that God can heal and does heal today. One of God’s many names is “Yahweh-your-healer” (Yahweh-rophe, found in Exodus 15:26) and so healing is not something He does, it’s something He IS - on a daily basis and not just at special events. The Bible recounts many stories of God healing people - and if we collected together the stories of all the healings since, they would fill an even bigger book - but the biggest miracle of all is that God raised Jesus from the dead! God isn’t just able to mend and restore our human bodies and defeat sickness and disease. He has also defeated death - perhaps the ultimate “sickness” - through Jesus’ death and resurrection. He offers us the opportunity of defeating death and receiving eternal life as well – infinitely better than any healing on this earth – and that really is something money can’t buy!!
