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'John of God': Investigating a Brazilian Faith Healer


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And how are her knee problems?

They got better for a little bit, but she also didn't do everything that he'd suggested she do. I think the pain in her knees is back. So it doesn't seem that the invisible surgery worked for either one of us.

You followed other people who had come, primarily from America, to see him. What did you find out with them? What was most persuasive about their cases and what made you most skeptical about John of God's powers?

We followed four cases very closely. One woman from California who was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident. She has had no feelings below the waist in 20 years. We followed a man who's got an inoperable brain tumor and was told he would probably die within months two years ago. We followed a man who's got Lou Gehrig's disease who has done everything, including stem cell surgery, to try to get better. We see a woman from South Africa, Lisa, who has breast cancer.

What we do is study their medical records and follow them throughout their weeks down at the Casa. We see their medical records after the fact. And you will see on the broadcast what happens with the X-rays and MRIs, whether the tumors have grown or not, what's happened to the breast cancer patient and whether this man will ever walk again.

Without giving any of that away, would you say that there were a few cases that you found surprisingly persuasive?

Yes. I think you'll be amazed. There have been changes in the MRI results.

What made you most skeptical about him? Is there a question of money?

He doesn't charge people for what he does. So one couldn't accuse him of trying to milk these people who are easy targets. But the fact is, the clinic does pull in something like $400,000 a year from the sale of herbs. I asked him about it. He said, people who can't afford it, he gives it to them.

There are many inns around this town. It is now the biggest industry in the little town. So we wondered if he gets a cut of any of that. He says he uses everything he gets to pour back into the clinic and also has scholarship funds and supports orphanages. When I asked him in the interview whether he does this for the money, his eyes teared up and he said he was offended that anyone would say this about him.

You've got to wonder whether this is possible. How can anyone be cured simply by remote control in this fashion? You have to somehow start believing that there is something about prayer and faith and mind over matter that is contributing to some sort of healing.

For example, even though he cuts into people and he dips these knives and forceps into holy water, there is no infection that we can find. Here's a man who had been shaking hundreds of hands all day and then he pokes his fingers under a woman's skin, through this incision, and the incision is healed relatively easily and cleanly and no reports of infection. The folks who have the operations done have no anesthesia administered to them. We watched people very closely. Some of them have never met John of God before and there he is, cutting into them with no anesthesia and there they are telling us they hardly felt any pain.

Is he performing miracles? I can't say that. But something is going on that's pretty baffling and interesting.


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