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December 27th, 2011
02:09 PM ET
Charismatic movement growing quickly worldwideBy Stacey Samuel, CNN Laurel, Maryland (CNN) - At the end of a row of neatly arranged banquet chairs, Sandra Ashford sat reverently, still in awe of what she says is her mother’s miraculous recovery from cervical spinal stenosis. “If it wasn’t my mother,” Ashford said, “I wouldn’t believe it." She explained how after a “laying of hands,” her 74-year-old mother, Delsie McDougall, no longer experiences the symptoms from what was becoming a debilitating condition. When she arrived in early December from her native Jamaica in search of treatment options, McDougall said, she couldn’t “walk straight.” When her neurologist prescribed surgery, she sought an alternative, one more in keeping with her faith. On the recommendation of a friend, mother and daughter experienced their first charismatic healing service in the rented ballroom of a Holiday Inn in Laurel, Maryland. On a Sunday evening a few weeks before Christmas, the two spent several hours in the temporary location of the Everlasting Life Christian Center. CNN's Belief Blog – all the faith angles to the day's top stories “To tell you the truth, I was very skeptical,” McDougall said as she stood and swayed to the live music from the gospel singers. She showed no signs of physical discomfort.  Sandra Ashford, right, and her mother, left, attend a healing service in Maryland. They are among a fast-growing number within the diverse Christian landscape to join the charismatic movement. According to a recent Pew Research Center report on Global Christianity, 305 million Christians worldwide follow the charismatic movement. “One of the reasons the charismatic movement is expanding … apart from salvation, we experience healing, miracles. The blind see, the lame get up and walk, and the deaf can hear. That attracts a lot of people,” said Samuel Fatoki, who leads the roughly 200-member church with his wife, Marcia, who serves as his co-pastor. Ashford recounted how on the third application of Fatoki’s hands on her mother, McDougall fell to the ground and began speaking in tongues. Ashford said her mother writhed on the floor, contorting in ways she couldn’t stretch before. Both said she’s been walking upright since. The Pew report categorizes charismatic Christians as a subset among non-Pentecostal denominations and includes Christians from each of the major branches: Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. The movement shares similar beliefs to Pentecostal denominations and similar practices like “divine healing, prophecy and speaking in tongues,” according to the report. Dale Stoffer, professor of historical theology and academic dean at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio, said the charismatic movement has been present in the United States since the 1960s. The religious experience in the movement is more experiential, rather than based in intellectual expression. “There’s a high degree of emphasis on the Holy Spirit working in supernatural ways,” Stoffer added. While the movement is growing here in the United States, there’s been an “explosion in Christianity,” Stoffer said, in Africa, Latin America and Asia: regions of the world that have seen increased numbers of charismatic Christians. A Pew Forum survey from 2006 found that 34% of Brazil's population identified themselves as charismatics. “These are cultures that have not been impacted by the Western Enlightenment,” explained Stoffer. A basic tenet in this healing ministry is complete belief, invoking one’s blind faith. “And the signs shall follow them that believe, they will heal the sick, lay hands, cast out demons in my name,” Marcia Fatoki recited from the Gospel of Mark. She said she also shares her husband’s ability to prophesy.  Pastor Samuel Fatoki listens to his wife speak at a recent service. Both asserted that they are not the purveyors of the miracles. “We’re not the ones healing,” Samuel Fatoki said. They are just the vehicles through which the Holy Spirit is working. But it’s not a gift that can be called upon on command, like magic, as a skeptic may expect to see in order to be convinced. “People’s faith level increases with more examples from others,” Marcia Fatoki said. At a time when individual tribulations seem to have grown with increasingly difficult economic times, it’s no wonder that the ballroom was filled with at least 200 people from as far as New York, New Jersey and Virginia, many with testimonies of being cured of ailments from chronic sinus issues and financial woes, to smoking cessation and the disappearance of tumors. So, what happens when neither of the Fatokis is able to heal someone? Samuel Fatoki said that that too is out of his hands, and it is the will of God. But for Sandra Ashford and her mother, what they have seen is enough to inspire a deepening of their faith. “To witness a family member go through this speaks volumes,” Ashford said, still giddy that more than three weeks later, her mother is still pain-free and walking with ease. “It is the will of God that everyone be healed,” Samuel Fatoki said.
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Don't mind if they do wish to worship God as they see fit.
I take exception, however, to the ones who won't leave me alone in my heresy.
I'll ignore them so long as they ignore me–otherwise they'll find a whole new direction to the concept of "Laying on Hands".
LOL & Amen! Especially at this time of the year we're bombarded, i.e., abused by the christians.
Didn't God say that the 'disease' we all have that He came to heal us of is SIN!??!!?? The signs and wonders Jesus did He even said were to give testimony that He was indeed God in the flesh (the Son of God) since He did these miracle's in the Father's name, forgiving sin as well(which only God has the authority to do)....God didn't come here to save us from illness and financial problems, or because you have a 'broken heart' cause your girlfriend broke up with you!!! He came to "SAVE US FROM OUR SINS"!! which is separation from God, death, and eternal hell. No wonder there is such a high 'fall away' rate in the US. The moment trials come, or worries of this world....people think God has abandoned them and they fall away, just like Jesus said they would in the parable of the soils....God heals hearts that are broken TO Him over sin in repentance...like it says:
Psalm 51 (my emphasis on verse 17)
Psalm 51[a]
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
OMGs. Only Christians are sinners. That's why they need for their God to save them from themselves.
Though unforgiven sin is the biggest enemy of mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ not only forgives us from it, but He also helps us in all ways possible. Whe He walked the earth, He not only forgave sins, but cured many sick people, and even raised the dead back to life. He is an ever present help in times of danger. Glory to His Name on the earth!
“Didn't God say that the 'disease' we all have that He came to heal us of is SIN!??!!?? “
Here’s a quote directly from the big JC himself. Doesn’t say anything about sin. He makes a direct promes to grant whatever you pray for if you believe including moving mountains into the sea. OK, put up or shut up. I choose Mt Whitney. You can choose which ever sea you want.
And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen. "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21:21-22 NAS)
@ TR6, That kind of language is called hyperbole. It is a figure of speech very frequently used by our Lord Jesus Christ for effect. He was assuming that we were smart enough to understand its real meaning. Like when He said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Obviously you cannot make a mountain to cast itself into the sea just by telling it to. So obviously it must mean something else. Try to see what He was signifying by using all these tools of communication. It's not difficult. "Those who have ears to hear, let them listen!"
god uses hyperbole ya huh. So without a secret decoder ring that you get in cheerios, no way to know what he is saying. Gotta be part o the in crowd, what I mean.
No thanks. If god can't even shoot his lines straight, no prizes. A real god should be talking in ways we can all understand, if he cares.
@ riddleyouthat, God is talking to human beings, so He uses all the devices that human beings use in communicating their ideas. It's not difficult at all to understand what God is telling us in His Word. Not any more difficult than understanding what any other average human being writes. The hyperboles used by the Bible are easily identifyied as such. On the other hand, if you're hostile to the Bible and to God, then you'll use any little excuse to attack Him, (much to your own harm, since He only wants to do you good, the best possible good you can ever get.).
When times are tough religion picks up for some people. The rest of us brave it normally.
Our Lord is an "ever present help in times of danger." Why go it alone when He is ready and willing to help us with our troubles? Better to love Him and be odedient to His Holy Word, the Bible, and request His saving grace in tought times. Besides, without His precious help none of us will make it to eternal life in His kingdom. If you always brave it alone normally, you'll end up in a place you really don't want to end up normally.
myoleman, why do you need help? Do you believe that your god gave your life to you as a gift? If so, you are on your own. Your god is telling you to stand on your own two feet. A gift freely given has no strings attached. Read the New Testament. You are permitted to accept the gift of your life and grow up now which will please your god who has enough to do without your whining and hanging on 'him' like a little kid. How old are you? Maybe you are a little kid? Call 911. You'll get more attention.
recieva, you're totally wrong. Our lives are supposed to be a partnership between ourselves and our God. We are like sheep, He is our Shepherd. He is there to guide us, protect us, feed us, gives us water, love us and guide us safely to His eternal Kingdom. Our Lord is happy when we open up our lives to Him. He blesses us abundantly with His care and protection. No matter how busy He might be, He'll always have time to share with us. We were never supposed to go through the desert of life on our own. There are too many predators out there. "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will grant you the desires of your heart."
yeah oilyman, lots o predos out there, priests especially. Watch out, kids.
oilyman, Your Lordy is ever present alright, right beside my 6'5 rabbit Harvey. God is there alright, sure. He just never does anything even when you ask nicely pretty pretty please. Harvey and God must be fine pals.
@ riddleyouthat, The Lord Jesus Christ, our God, always listens to the prayers of all his humble servants who live their lives in reverent regard to His Will. Always. And He even goes beyond that. He not only listens to our requests, but always grants us what's the absolute best for us at the time. We might not like it or appreciated it. But it's always what God knows that's best for us in the long run. He is a loving and totally caring God. Glory to His Name!
I am a simple Bible believing Christian - appalled at the ignorance of so-called Christians who wallow in their delusions that the Holy Spirit wants everybody cured of diseases. That is not the Gospel, it is not Biblical, it shames the name of Jesus Christ and TRUE Christianity. Also, Mark 16:9-20 are not even genuine verses. The earliest manuscripts end at verse 8 !
Post by sargeanton is the No True Scotsman fallacy.
http://www.iep.utm.edu/fallacy/
The Holy Spirit does want everybody healed of ALL diseases, especially sin. And eventually, every human being who's been forgiven and saved by our Lord Jesus Christ will enter His eternal kingdom totally healed from All their diseases. On the other hand, if those verses you mention are not genuine, then they should've been eliminated from all Bibles a long time ago. For some reason they haven't been. What if someday they discover a manustcript older than all, and it includes those verses? Just because the oldest manuscripts currently extant don't include certain verses, it doesn't necessarily mean that the original manuscript didn't include them.
sargeanton, of course the holy spirit doesn't care about diseases. What self-respecting ghost would? They don't get sick. If the spirits and ghosts really care about you they will refer you to competent doctors and hospitals.
Well you are right about one thing. You are simple.
yup, religion heals... can't ya tell? the path of peace is found thru the appectance of the truth, religion is a mind game one plays with oneself because they can't come to terms with death as the finality of life.
Nigerians Have graduated from 419 to churches , ripping people of their money. Go to Nigeria , almost every Nook and corner there is a church, The pastors and dirty politicians are the wealthiest in the nation , some own planes while most of the population cannot afford 3 square meals, they claim by touching you you will be taken over by the spirit what you don't know is the pastor holds a Taser and when he touches you that taser sparks and you will find yourself on the ground believing that the spirit has touched you in the end , in the end you will part with your money
Sometimes, people can be healed in a "miraculous" seeming way. The body is a strange thing, and medical science hasn't begun to discover all its mysteries. But just because something might seem supernatural does not mean that it is. It could be nothing more than we humans turn out to possess remarkable abilities to self-heal through persuasive thought. That still doesn't make it supernatural. It just makes it cool.
Blacks are stupid! They let White people Occupy their land steal their Commodities of oil,gold,diamond and metals enslave them and Murder Millions Of Africans and all they got is The DELUSION of Religion in Return.
Wish my African Brothers realize this, they come to africa as missionaries and they leave with oil,Slaves and what do we get.. Religion and Matches and oo guns to fight some other tribes
scranton, read BBM's start post again. The relevance escaped you but it is there if you follow from the start.
It's all staged to dup these simpletons out of money to make some pedophile preacher rich. Then everyone is shocked how can this happen??? Stupid people will believe anything.
"Stupid people will believe anything." -and thence we have the persistence of religion.
So very true.
Atheists don't disbelieve in God because of lack of evidence but because their hard heart refuses to believe.
This is how it happens, the pastor wears long sleeve with a taser under one , the moment he touches u , he presses the button , you fall to the ground believing a spirit has touched u , at the end you part with your money
Robert,
My feeling is you have a long list of gods and deities that you don't believe in. Odin, Ra, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc. I just have one more than you. Does that make my heart hard?
@Robert:”Atheists don't disbelieve in God because of lack of evidence but because their hard heart refuses to believe”
Clever of you to know what all Atheists believe. Have you asked each of them? Or perhaps your god and can see into their hearts. Or perhaps you are so psyco. That you hear the little voices in other people’s heads
Nigras are funny monkeys!
Hey idioto,
Do you know exactly how much DNA you share with ALL other humans ?
You sound like one of those red-neck ignorants SOBs that don't have the intelligence to poor pee out of a boot.
Like fecal material, you need to be flushed!
You're funny!
I wonder if the growing charismatic following is the reciprocal of declining education standards across the U.S.. Probably so because religion depends on ignorance to proliferate.
I shudder to think what the following would be if the Huckabees and Bachmans of the world got their way and xtianity was taught in schools.
If there is a proliferation of ignorance, we can blame the current education system which, by the way, is the Biden-Obama ticket. You don't give a damn if test scores continue to plummet, just as long as your f**d up world view continues to hold sway. Let Huckabee and Bachman have a crack at it–it couldn't be much worse than it is and might even teach you to read.
By the way, my husband and I pay so that our kids can go to a Christian school. And in case you're wondering how low I am on the "evolutionary scale", I was valedictorian with both of my college degrees– one was a bachelor of science with a GPA of 3.98 from Rutgers University, and the other degree was a B.A. from a Bible College, also a GPA of 3.98.
So you had to go to college twice ?
CNN has had a loophole exposed ... so you can embed vid links
Well, genius. Since we all know, you always could, this is NOT news. But you just tell yourself you are a genius, because that makes you one.
A spokesperson today said candidate Michele Bachmann, having recently left her church behind, is converting to Islam.
Bachmann is also leaving her latent-gay, flaccid husband Marcuthhhhhhhh so that she can be free to pursue musician Yousef Islam (Cat Stevens). Bachmann is guoted as saying "I've always liked his music. You know what they say about musical men and their trombones..." and "As a Muslim and POuTUS, I could solve our terrorism problems once and for all. There's no way Al Kaida and his countrymen will attack a country with a Muslim leader. This will help me get elected in other ways too. In fact, it might be the only way I can get more than the teabagger vote and pull in anything from Obama's liberal base."
Yousef Islam (Stevens) was heard to say "No way, dude, no friggin way. That leathery old haggis wouldn't have made it as my groupie even when she was 20, no matter how good her oratory skills are."
somebody has found a a very profitable way to fleece the flock again. When will people learn there are no miracles, no magic, and this talking in tongues is either hysteria or great act. Time and time again these things have been proven to be fraud and yet they sucker folks in over and over to relieve people of their hard earned cash or to victimized in some other way. In some other future article someone will report how this was all a scam, they always do.
"But it’s not a gift that can be called upon on command, like magic, as a skeptic may expect to see in order to be convinced." No, it is a gift that conveniently comes and goes, much like the placebo effect which powers it.
It's all fun and games until someone chooses faith healing over neurosurgery for their daughter and then the kid dies from a malignant neuroma. Oops, sorry; I meant, "until God chooses to take her home". Yeah, that's the ticket.
The placebo effect is powerful. Put grandma under an MRI machine and prove that physical problems seen in recent, previous tests are now gone. Then publish those results along with similar results from a meaningful sample size. Then we'll talk.
When will this foolishness end... RIP Hitch you were right about 'it' all.
If obesity is a disease, maybe they can lay hands on and get some skinny cause these folks are PHAT! Too much Churches and KFC. Jeezeus!
@BBM: Too funny! Right on. Those rollers are so PHAT!
MNaybe they can "prey the gay away" like Michele Bachmanna and her nancy man husband.
On that note:
A spokesperson today said candidate Michele Bachmann, having recently left her church behind, is converting to Islam.
Bachmann is also leaving her latent-gay, flaccid husband Marcuthhh so that she can be free to pursue musician Yousef Islam (Cat Stevens). Bachmann is guoted as saying "I've always liked his music. You know what they say about musical men and their trombones..." and "As a Muslim and POuTUS, I could solve our terrorism problems once and for all. There's no way Al Kaida and his countrymen will attack a country with a Muslim leader. This will help me get elected in other ways too. In fact, it might be the only way I can get more than the teabagger vote and pull in anything from Obama's liberal base."
Yousef Islam (Stevens) was heard to say "No way, dude, no friggin way. That leathery old haggis wouldn't have made it as my groupie even when she was 20, no matter how good her oratory skills are."
Where was Bachman's name mentioned in this article? Try to stay focused.
scranton, read BBM's start post again. The relevance may have escaped you but it is there if you follow from the start.