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In a world where the medical community is the be-all, end-all of health care, it is curious to note that there are some who believe that Faith is just as effective a healer as science. The notion that one can be cured of illness, injury, or disease through belief in a higher being is called faith healing. Although its fundamental nature is contrary to the empirical, testable world of modern academia, there are many who promote faith healing as an alternative to medicine.

Through reasons known only to themselves, there are many otherwise ordinary people who believe they can heal the sick, exorcise demons, the devil or evil spirits. Often, these people believe that when touching the injured part of the body, they can pray to God and he will invoke a miracle to heal the injury. These people are so convinced of their ability to heal that they will immediately ask the subject if they feel better. As I am not a believer in faith healing, it is my opinion that these people, despite their good intentions and rare (coincidental?) successes, are misguided.

Unfortunately, my research has shown that there is another type of person who performs "faith healings". Rather than being guided by the alleged power of their faith, they use hype, conjecture, and sensationalism to lure the desperate, the gullible, and the vulnerable- for the sole reason of making money. It just a business to them.

Evangelist organizations range from small local groups to multinational conglomerates who have the financial backing and political clout to use all available media, including television, radio and the Internet. Ole Anthony, president of the Trinity Foundation Inc. in 1988, found over 500 televangelists on 350 television stations. In addition, there were about 750 radio-based evangelists on 1,500 radio stations. The proliferation of evangelists hawking salvation in the mass media is occurring to such a degree that we can compare them to sharks drawn to the smell of blood in the water. Sad to say, many of them are drawn to money first, spreading the word second.

Faith healing is just the kind of sensationalist nonsense needed to relieve fools from their money, and this is why faith healing is becoming associated with large-scale, big-budget evangelism. It is beyond the scope of this article to examine the actions of all faith healers, so for illustrative purposes I will concentrate on two that are well known, Benny Hinn and Robert Tilton.

The Targets

Although the poor, uneducated, and desperate are the faith healer's easiest and most common targets, a large organization can often have the social influence to bring in educated, successful, and strong-willed people who in other circumstances wouldn't have given these people a second thought. The uneducated, who may lack the critical thinking skills needed to see through evangelist rhetoric, are often pursued. The educated, who in normal circumstances would openly laugh at these people, can be taken advantage of in times of mental, emotional, and financial stress, when their defenses are down.

The elderly are prime targets, as many face loneliness and isolation from society every day. This makes them vulnerable to the dogma of any con artist who can convince them they have the seniors' best interests in mind.

The poor are always favourites because they can be coerced with food, employment offers, high quality medical care, and other basic necessities. There has been a case where food stamps have been cashed or wedding rings sold to donate to the evangelist healer or his ministry. The rich, if successfully conned, can be counted on to donate the larger sums needed to expand their empires. Parents with crippled children, young children with terminal illnesses, or accident victims are prime targets. All of these people suffer from stress and hopelessness to change their situation, and in desperation may reach out to faith healers. It is unfortunate that sickness can cause people to become irrational. The terminally ill are the most desperate and often have lost all hope. They are more likely to consider unorthodox recovery methods, which provides an ambitious faith healers an opportunity.

In 1988, the televangelist donor poll was estimated at 5,000,000 people. Fifty-five percent were elderly, thirty-five percent were from the poorest and neediest segments of society, experiencing the worst kind of suffering- children suffering from AIDS. Spouses suffering from cancer. Only ten percent were from the upper middle class- people who typically are educated, career driven, and generally the least likely to fall for such scams (Trinity Foundation).

The Scams

The non-Western reader should be aware that the term "scam" is a derogatory term used to describe techniques used to persuade or trick people into giving up their money or assets. In Dallas, Texas, Norma Smith's husband was dying of a liver disease that the doctors were powerless to cure. Evangelist Robert Tilton was approached to help. Mr. Tilton gave her hope by stating that he would pray for her husband and he would recover- if she donated money to his ministry. The only problem was that she kept receiving letters asking her to keep donating to Mr. Tilton after her husband had died.

Hundreds of other people have filed lawsuits against Mr. Tilton for fraud, because he promised them miracle cures and prosperity if they sent in prayer requests, and of course money (Liberty Magazine May/June 1997).Mary Elizabeth Turk of Oak Cliff was suffering from cancer of the colon, and decided to donate money to Mr. Tilton. She was so trusting and mislead in her faith in Mr. Tilton and his abilities that she did not go to a doctor. When the condition worsened, she eventually did go to the doctors. They told her that if she had come to them at the onset of the disease she could have probably been cured. Instead she is dying.

Benny Hinn attacks followers by claiming superior insight into the scriptures and having powers from God. Hinn has shown in his miracle crusades that his karmic personality can bring emotionalism into his crusades that could border mass hysteria. Hinn claims his anointing can cure all types of diseases. People who succumb to mass hysteria under the guise of 'the anointing" are described as "slain in the spirit". Theatrics abound at Hinn's anointing. Swinging his coat around during an anointing that is so strong and powerful that his victims fall on the floor. It is amazing that after the first anointing, during which he actually touches people, he becomes so strong that people start to fall on the floor without Hinn's contact. He runs, screams and yells at his victims. He approaches others and screams that the demon must bow to the master Jesus and be gone. Is he supposed to be performing an Exorcism?

The claim of healing from a distance has reached a ridiculous point. While on the Larry King show, Hinn claimed that if people watching the show touched their television sets while he prayed for them, they would be healed. Hinn claimed that people were cured at his meetings by attending,entering the building or even as they drive into the parking lot. A ridiculous idea, but probably a profitable one.

Hinn has claimed to have healed a mother and her two children of AIDS while being interviewed on national television. Not surprisingly, it was discovered that the children were not really healed. In fact, it was discovered that one of the children was not even hers. When Inside Edition questioned Hinn about this event, Hinn squirmed, justifying his actions by saying that he believed that the two children were hers and he had just given her hope. (FreethoughtToday March 1998).

In another case, Laura Twilly was dying of cancer and was very excited of the prospect of being cured at one of Hinn's crusades. Hinn declared that she was cured. She died four weeks later. (Inpact News)In a 1998 article by Mark Howerter, he claimed that Hinn sent him data on three cases that were used to support his claim that he has healed thousands. One case involved a man who was supposedly cured of colon cancer. The Christian Research Center's medical consultant, Dr. Preston Simpson,investigated the case. He determined that the mans cancer was surgically removed, not miraculously cured. Hinn claims to cure illness or disease that are not outwardly visible, such as sore necks, backs, and other minor ailments.

We all know that a person's pain cannot be disproven, therefore the "cure" cannot be proven. Either way, pain is a subjective measure of health and well-being. If his ability to cure is real, why does he not cure visible symptoms of diseases, or deal with things less abstract then pain? It is because this would involve dealing with verifiable data and information which could be examined and disputed by the medical profession. Any healing which can be proven or disproved by empirical methods are avoided, as they would destroy the faith healers' illusion of ability and power. If their abilities were debunked, who would give them money?

Financial Benefits

The financial benefits of faith healing do not go to the sick, maimed or infirm. Televangelists scam out millions of dollars from these disillusioned and gullible people. The Tilton Ministries Empire had an estimated income of $80,000,000. In addition, his personal salary was estimated at $400,000 a year. He lived in lavish houses and drove expensive cars owned by his ministry (Liberty Magazine May/June 1997). In another case, the Trinity Foundation of Dallas, Texas started a program to meet the needs of homeless people. They found that many had given their last dollars to televangelists. They received reports that other ministries had also became dumping grounds for the victims of televangelists. One woman who received an inheritance of $53,000 donated $49,000 to televangelists. When she fell on hard times, she went to the church for help and was advised to go to a social service agency (Trinity Foundation Dallas Texas). You would think that the televangelist would have showed some compassion after the women donated such a large amount of money.

Hinn has the potential to reach 100 million homes in the United States and Canada. Through affiliates such as TheTrinity broadcasting Network, he can reach millions more homes in 128 countries. In 1995 Hinn's ministry took in $35,000,000, and during 1996 the company brought in $50,000,000. With a growth of 30% in one year, it is difficult to estimate what his ministry earns now. There should be substantial growth in the last five years, as the mass media is used more effectively to target other countries.

In addition, the Internet enables Hinn and his cohorts to solicit donations from around the world easily and with little overhead. In addition, Hinn built a $30,000,000 healing center in Flordia. Due to legal problems, he moved the facility to Dallis, Texas. This facility is staffed twenty-four hours a day. It must be nice to fleece victims around the clock. As far as it is known this facility has not opened yet.

Mathew Barry stated in an article called "Adventures In Faith Healing" (The West Australian, 4 Feb. 1998) that during a crusade he attended buckets were used to take up collections. Credit cards, cheques and cash were accepted. At a conservative estimate of $20 per person, with 15,000 attending, the estimated take was$300,000. In the Melbourne-Brisbane Australia crusade, $75,000 covered costs, and left a cool $400,000 profit. Hinn lives in a million dollar Florida mansion. In addition, he drives an$80,000 BMW. Hinn's fingers are endowed with diamonds and gold and a Roles watch on his wrist. Hinn and his personal bodyguards have stayed in hotel presidential suites costing up to $2,200 per night. During one junket lasting several days, the cost was $9,000 per staff member (Impact News).

Results

There has been a lot of needless suffering by desperate people seeking help from televangelists. Many of these people have gone through untold agony because their misguided belief in faith healing was manipulated. Others have caused untold suffering for their children. As evidence, a person can read newspaper archives and find countless parents who have been convicted and sent to jail or prison, because their faith- and the resulting medical negligence- caused the death of these children. Indeed, many parents have been served court orders demanding they take their children to hospitals and doctors for proper medical care.

Conclusion

Many people consider televangelists to be the pro wrestlers of religion. Indeed, the stage set for these crusades resembles a carnival sideshow. The lure of magical demonstrations, exorcism, the unknown, casting out demons, and healing the sick have tremendous appeal to the masses. Despite it's entertainment value, to date there has been no scientific evidence that people with terminal disease have been cured by faith alone. Experts in legitimate disciplines have refuted all the evidence presented by televangelists. However, the most serious and disturbing problem is that the entire premise of faith healing is rarely based on a sincere attempt to heal, but rather on a theatrical, pseudo-religious farce designed to relieve the desperate and gullible of their hard-earned money. They show no conscience whatsoever in their underhanded tactics, and anyone willing to study this problem will realize that the only thing getting healthy in these charades is the faith healer's bank account.