Faith healers are evangelists who claim to assist ill people by asking God's help in curing their ailments. Often the faith healer performs in a public auditorium or large church. The show may be taped for broadcast. The faith healer leads the audience in worship and during the service asks the ill to come forward. The healer seems to know miraculously all about each person's illnesses and other circumstances, without having met the person. The healer may chant, pray, sing, or touch the person, calling on God to cure the illness. The ill person usually dramatically rises or claims to be healed, and the audience applauds a "miracle," a healing through faith in God.
Through careful observation, investigators have established that the claimed "miracles" are elaborately staged. Before the event, the healer's assistants roam the audience to select those ill people who are suitable for "healings." Only those ill who are considered suitable for a staged "healing" are allowed access to the faith healer. Partially crippled people are selected because they will be capable of rising at the appropriate moment from the wheelchair provided by the assistant. Those whose illnesses are not readily visible to the audience, for example a tumor or cataracts, are also selected. Assistants unobtrusively gather information about the illnesses and circumstances of the selected ill. Before or during the service, assistants pass this information on to the healer, so that the healer can appear to be supernaturally informed.
Hoping to be cured and buoyed by the drama of the occasion, the ill people for whom the healer prays may in the excitement of the moment believe that they are cured. But afterwards they are found to be unchanged or to have relapsed into their previous condition. The audience isn't there to see the relapse, and the healer may accuse the ill person of "backsliding," and thus not being worthy of being cured.
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