11.8: Miracle Working & Fraud 1 Chapter 11.8 Modern Miracle Working & Fraud Not Everything Amazing is Real Table of Topics A) Introduction to Explaining Modern Claims to Miracle Working B) Super-supernaturalism’s Inadequate Approach to Fraud C) Fraud in the Ancient Church: Apollonius D) Fraud Among Spiritualists & Shamans E) Fraud in Early Super-supernaturalism E.1) Fraud of Indonesian “Revival” E.2) Fraud of Kathryn Kuhlman E.3) Fraud of Oral Roberts E.4) Fraud of resurrections F) Fraud in Modern Super-supernaturalism F.1) Fraud of the “Toronto Blessing” F.2) Fraud of the “Happy Hunters” F.3) Fraud of John Wimber F.4) Fraud of Benny Hinn Publications & Particulars 11.8: Miracle Working & Fraud 2 Primary Points We have found super-supernaturalism’s claims to miraculous gifts fall far short of their biblical attributes. It is not our burden to explain all super-supernatural phenomena. If it has been proven to be unbiblical, or even extrabiblical, then it would seem the burden of explanation rests with super-supernaturalists. Our concerns are that 1) people are claiming abilities that only messengers of new divine revelation possessed in Scripture, 2) healings that God has granted through the secret and faithful prayers of Christians are being claimed by faith healers, 3) false teaching regarding the miraculous gifts has and will lead to even greater deception later, 4) modern faith healers are just plain lying at times, 5) some healings are no doubt demonically empowered, and finally, all of this is being done in the name of our Christ. There is a consistent lack of diligence or ability of super- supernaturalists to provide undeniable, detailed proof of their claims Pagan spiritualists throughout history have been exposed as frauds. Many of super-supernaturalism’s leaders have been proven frauds including Kuhlman, Roberts, Wimber, and Hinn. 11.8: Miracle Working & Fraud 3 A) Explaining Modern Claims to Miracle Working Thus far in our study we have looked at the biblical characteristics of the gifts of miracle working and healing, and in the process, we have found super-supernaturalism’s claims to these gifts fall far short of their biblical attributes. 1 Not only does most of the miracle working claimed in the movement lack the power and convincing nature of those possessing the miracle working gifts in Scripture, they also lack their purpose. Accordingly, modern super-supernaturalism completely ignores the biblical fact that every God-sent miracle worker in the Bible was also a messenger of new divine extra biblical revelation from God. 2 The reason super-supernaturalism so blithely dismisses the biblical criteria for God-sent miracle workers is that, not only do they lack any new divine revelation, but such a claim would incur greater scrutiny of their life and ministry. As it is, modern “miracle workers” in the Church simply wish to portray themselves as just wanting to help people and preach the Gospel, which obviously raises much less concern. Nonetheless, unbiblical behavior and deception in the Church is never to be acceptable for those who love and fear God. As we’ve demonstrated, the difference between those possessing the biblical gifts of miracle working in Scripture, and those claiming them today, is so great, that it would seem presumptuous and misleading for them to label their experiences as these gifts. Nonetheless, super-supernaturalism can claim some fairly supernatural experiences. They can produce a multitude of astounding stories, and not only events that happened somewhere on the other side of the world, but right in their own local churches. How do we explain this? First of all, it can be said that it is not our burden to explain all super-supernatural phenomena. If it has been proven to be unbiblical, or even extrabiblical, then it would seem the burden of explanation rests with super-supernaturalists. Especially when they have insisted all along that the phenomena are biblical and from God. Along these lines, and regarding specifically the issue of healing, respected Bible teacher John MacArthur writes: Charismatics plead, “But incredible things are happening; how do you explain it?” I hear the same refrain constantly from Charismatic friends: “I know this lady whose son who had cancer and— My friend’s mother was so bent over with arthritis she couldn’t move and—.” In reply I say: “Since no Charismatic healer can come up with genuinely verifiable cases of instant healing involving organic disease; since no Charismatic healer heals everyone 11.8: Miracle Working & Fraud 4 who comes for healing and hundreds go away from their services as sick or crippled as when they came; since the Word of God needs no confirmation . since Charismatic writers appear to disallow God his own purposes in allowing people to be sick; since Charismatic healers seem to need their own environment; since the evidence they bring forth to prove healings is often weak, unsupported, and over- exaggerated; since Charismatics are not known for going into hospitals to heal even though there are plenty of faithful people in hospitals; since most instances of healings by Charismatics can be explained in ways other than God’s unquestioned supernatural intervention; since so much confusion and contradiction surrounds what is happening—let me ask the return question: How do you explain it? It certainly is not the biblical gift of healing” 3 The second reason we need not explain every supernatural phenomena is that the mere absence of an alternative explanation does nothing to prove that the phenomena were empowered by God. Reformed theologian B. B. Warfield (1851-1921) was right when he wrote: Bare inexplicableness cannot be accepted as the sufficient criterion of the miraculous. There are many things which we cannot explain, and yet which nobody supposes to be miraculous. Nature was made by God, not man, and there may be forces working in nature . which are beyond [current] human comprehension. Simple inexplicableness, therefore, is not an adequate ground on which to infer miracle. There must be something else about an occurrence besides its inexplicableness to justify us in looking upon it as a direct act of God’s. 4 Accordingly, just because we cannot explain a particular phenomenon, there is no reason to conclude it is a miracle, much less an act of God. And this is particularly so when the phenomenon is completely absent from the Scriptures, as so many modern super-supernatural phenomena are, such as being, “slain in the Spirit,” or “holy laughter.” 5 However, because we claim that modern super-supernatural phenomena have nothing to do with the biblical miraculous spiritual gifts, it would seem appropriate to offer some alternative and legitimate explanations for them. But how do we begin to sift through the claims of the miraculous in super-supernaturalism today? First of all, we must exclude from the discussion any direct 11.8: Miracle Working & Fraud 5 miracles 6 that God alone has in fact performed, but that modern “miracle” workers have taken credit for. Unfortunately, the real fact that God is still doing wonderful miracles, the best of which is converting people into new creations, can be lost in all the need to correct super-supernaturalism and protect the Church from its potentially damaging errors. 7 We want to repeat, as we have throughout this section of Knowing Our God (KOG), that we love, expect, and believe in miracles and God’s ability and willingness to perform them even in our day. But for what we think are biblical reasons, we do not expect or believe in miracle workers. Accordingly, purely God-wrought miracles provide no support for super-supernaturalism’s claims that the miraculous spiritual gifts of commanding instantaneous, complete, and truly miraculous healings are still operating, and there is no doubt that some are taking credit for being God’s instruments in working a miracle when in fact God did not use them at all. This leads us to another explanation that also drastically reduces the number of miracles super-supernaturalism can claim: Fraud. Obviously in any environment where spectacular claims are being made in order to prove something, exaggeration and even outright deception are inevitable and unfortunate. A few examples of the many that could be demonstrated will be briefly noted below. Therefore, it is suggested that if: 1) No one would confuse direct miracles, perhaps occurring in answer to prayer, with delegated miracle working occurring through the command of someone with the biblical gift of miracle working, and 2) If everyone was being extremely careful to avoid exaggeration and be completely honest; then the number of “miracles” needing to be explained within super-supernaturalism would be significantly less, if not extremely few. Still, there is no doubt that there are supernatural phenomena within the movement today. And again, if we are going to claim that it has nothing to do with miraculous spiritual gifts from God, then by what power is it? It will become evident that apart from real God-sent miracles and fraud, there are basically two categories of explanations that super-supernatural phenomena fall into: 1) Natural causes, and 2) Supernatural causes. Natural causes include “the power of suggestion” and supernatural causes obviously include demonic influences. More specifically, the more supernatural or spectacular unbiblical miraculous phenomena are, the more likely their explanation is found in the demonic realm. And if such a thing is indeed occurring in God’s Church, then it demands some careful evaluation. In the following we attempt to basically categorize alternative explanations of super-supernatural phenomena into either fraud, 11.8: Miracle Working & Fraud 6 mind-cure, or demonic. Admittedly, however, it is very difficult to make hard and fast distinctions.