Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29 (NIV)
I remember watching the absurd Holy Ghost II, Electric Boogaloo, when the fake healers led by Robbie Dawkins went scouring through some random European park for victims, I mean people who needed healing. I joke because the set up was too obvious. The medical conditions were always vague localized pain. The time was always around midnight. I remember them "healing" a woman of shoulder discomfort and then praising God. I wondered; didn't this city have any emergency rooms they could visit? I mean if they are truly itinerant healers and want to "make Jesus famous", what better way than to document a genuine healing miracle! The reason they didn't is the same reason Todd White went to a Korn concert in the first Holy Ghost debacle of a movie, instead of the emergency room. Why try and heal someone with stage four cancer when you can pretend to grow out a short leg on some rube at a thrash metal concert?
This same dynamic plays out across Charismania every week. People who swear by the Toronto nonsense, the Pensacola demonic visitation, or the "Come to Lakeland so Our Pastor can Heal You by Kicking you in the Face" revival all still insist on many grandiose healings. The same happens all the time at Benny Hinn events. Or the late Reinhard Bonnke. Or charlatans like David Taylor who pretends people throw away their crutches or arise from their wheelchairs at his events. What these all have in common unfortunately is not one shred of proof is ever offered. Everything is verified via third party anecdotal assurances of "trust us." It is a repetitive black eye on the church and totally self-inflicted. The key verse reminds us that faith can be developed through seeing or not seeing. Blessed are those that do not need to see but realize we are dealing with the world now and we cannot expect those walking in darkness to discern the light.
And now we don't have expect it! We have two recent cases of a claimed bona fide healing so all the doubting Thomas's out there can see the powerful healing of our Lord! The first story is being reported by Charisma News that an 11-year-old girl was healed at the recent Asbury "revival." You remember, the one that the organizers had to end because too many people who lived there were having problems parking. If I remember correctly The Great Welsh Revival of 1905 ended the same way. Of course, those horse and buggy's really took up a lot of room back then. The 11-year-old at Asbury claims that she was healed of Celiac Disease and Eosinophilic Esophagitis. These are two serious conditions. Celiac Disease is a chronic digestive and immune disorder that damages the small intestine. It is triggered by eating foods containing gluten. The disease can cause long-lasting digestive problems and keep your body from getting all the nutrients it needs. Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic disease of the esophagus. Your esophagus is the muscular tube that carries food and liquids from your mouth to the stomach. If you have EoE, white blood cells called eosinophils build up in your esophagus. According to the 11-year-old:
"This one guy, he prayed for me of my EoE, and I just felt this tingling in my hands and my feet and my whole body and I actually was healed,"
