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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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Count me in that 350 million or so. I love the presence of God being a reality in my life, and I love laying hands on others, especially those who experience His tangible touch in their lives for the first time ever.
You are delusional.
Why are these "miracle workers" wasting their time in Maryland? Shouldn't they be healing the many, many sick and malnourished children in Africa??
Or the veterans from our recent conflicts?
Jenny, you are still misunderstanding the point of healing. It is not the healing itself but the witness that healing is to the one who heals. And I do not mean the human medium but the ultimate healer. In fact, however, God is healing many,many of the sick and malnurished children in Africa. He is doing so through men and women like my friend Dick who spent forty years as a surgeon in mission hospitals and rural villages healing the very children you speak of. He is doing so through people like my daughter who is working to rescue trafficked girls, giving them hope for life in place of hopleness. Indeed God is still in the healing business for his purposes and to his glory.
Sorry Don, but it sounds like your daughter and friend deserve the credit. They are doing all the work.
Jim and Abby, your premise that physical healing is the goal of God, should he exist at all, is mistaken. God's goal is the healing of the soul. To that end many of our vets have experienced his healing.
Ultimately, physical healing is at best temporary. You will die. I will die. Those who Jesus healed died. The only thing that finally will matter is the healing of the soul. And everyone who calls upon him – everyone – will be saved/healed (that is the meaning of the word save here).
Sometimes God uses our physical need to bring us to the point of desperation where we admit our need, the deeper need of the soul. And desperation is what is required, because healing of soul is found only when we release ourselves to his healing having come to the end of ourselves, our self-sufficiency, and pride and fall before him. That is how it was in the New Testament certainly. That is how it works today.
Jim, they would not say so. The healing they see happening is far beyond their efforts to accomplish. The healing they have seen is only done by God.
@Don Camp:” The healing they see happening is far beyond their efforts to accomplish.”
So in all this miraculous healing did god ever regrow an amputated limb? Or do anything else that has never been done by medical science?
The “Miracles from you god” is just wishful thinking runs into a little luck
Shame on you, CNN. One name ot remind you about the dangers of reporting this: ANDY KAUFMAN.
Prayer changes things
Pray without ceasing in 2012
Seek God while He can be found
God does not leave – you do
Prayer changes things
Christianity as it is performed in churches like these is not healthy for ANYONE. You are a parasite.
Christians were told in Matthew 6:7-9 (part of the Sermon on the Mount) not to pray for specific things:
7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,...
Try amputating all your fingers, then pray to god to have them grow back. Let us know how that goes. When the prayer fails, we'll win on at least two counts.
It is written you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
I do not believe in any gods, including the christian one. I also have a child who I raise with reason, not mythology.
To raise a child with religion is nothing short of child abuse and should not be tolerated.
It is also written that I am not allowed to eat shellfish and I can sell my daughters into slavery. So? Our society has outgrown this religion, that is why we have secular laws. Time to let it die.
it is written man shall not live by food (and education) alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God
Evidence please?
@Atheism is not healthy for children and other living things:”It is written you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Goodness but that’s convenient isn’t it? Or is it just because it fails every test it is put to?
no proof can be provided outside of the buybull...it's all in the mind of the believer nothing more
SMILE! Another religious CULT!!!Go to church on Sunday Morning, by Sunday evening living like the Devil. Amen
*wave*
Do Churches chiken serve da watermelon an chiken combo?
Didn't anyone ever hear of somatic illness or psychologically induced illness. People can make themselves sick just with their thoughts or beliefs. They can also heal themselves just with their thoughts or beliefs. If a person believes that a preacher can heal them, they may be healed.
What I don't understand is why an omniscient, belevolent, omnipotent god would allow people to suffer in the first place. And why would such a god heal some and not others? What about 911? What about those who allowed their child to die from a treatable disease all because they expected a god to heal the child? For every one piece of evidence that god heals, there are probably 15 pieces of evidence that contradicts that.
Yes, I am an atheist. It is not because I haven't read the Bible. It is not because I have talked with Christians, been raised in a Christian church, etc. It is not because I experienced a traumatic event in my life turning me against god. It is because there is no evidence of a god's existence. Heck, there is no evidence of Jesus having existed either.
If you go back before Christianity, there are many stories about rulers/gods being born from virgins, rising on the third day, etc. All these were stories before the advent of the Jesus story. This shows me that the Jesus story is just another myth, except this myth was accepted by a lot more people and incorporated into peoples' lives.
When a god stands in front of me and proves he is a god, then I will believe. Until then, I will rely on science. My mind is rational and logical. Religion is not rational and logical. I am a highly educated person, as most atheists are. Well read, most of us have read the Bible more than any one Christian has. We have to in order to show Christians the contradictions in the Bible. Even when we use their own book against them, Christians will go on believing in something that is irrational and illogical. This is why I distance myself from Christians, as well as people of other religions that believe in gods, as much as possible.
Abby, I wonder if your experience with Christians is too limited. It is my experience that there are many who have not only read widely in atheistic literature and the Bible and who can reason quite logically in defence of the authenticity and the historicity of the Bible narrative and faith. A simple search of the Internet will take youi to more than a few able apologists.
I also wonder whether you have researched your own convictions. There are significant differences between the pagan resurrection myths and the plain and historically realisitc narrative of Jesus' resurrection. And I have to say, anyone who denies the existence of Jesus is rejecting evidence that has been sufficient for many qualified historians, Christian or not.
So if you cannot find a logical and reasonable Christian who can defend faith in the face of any of the objections of skeptics, you could try me. Biblicalmusing on blogspot
I've read the bible from cover to cover, both the old and new testaments. Ancient mythology pure and simple. End of story.
" It is because there is no evidence of a god's existence. Heck, there is no evidence of Jesus having existed either."
hmmm, if that's your case, then George Washington, Isaac Newton, or any other historical figure must not have existed. You're great-great-great granparents neither. Sure you have pictures, sure your family members have talked about them over the years, sure there maybe historical written accounts of them, but that doesnt account for them to ever have existed. Maybe you should actually pick up a book and read, instead of using your 1 brain cell to search wiki-pedia. My 3 year old daughter could do that. Maybe you should ask other atheists about historical accounts of Jesus. Some would agree (because they know how to read and research) that he existed. They may not agree that He was God, and I wont argue with there belief. But to say the man never existed:
Are you that idiotic?
*their* belief my bad
Jb, "Maybe you should ask other atheists about historical accounts of Jesus."
Maybe you should delve deeper into those so-called 'historical accounts' of Jesus... and see what is and what is not actual verified fact. For the purported most earth-shaking event since the beginning of time, this purported omniscient "God" sure left crummy evidence.
Well im sure Jesus is apologetic that he didnt post it on F@acebook as soon as he was born, moron
What a bunch of utter nonsense.
Note that the charismatic movement is growing mainly in “cultures that have not been impacted by the Western Enlightenment." In other words, among the uneducated.
It is well proven that atheists are highly-educated, well-read individuals while those who follow religion are not as well read. I am not saying that those who follow religion are stupid, I am only saying that they are ignorant of the truth.
What I really like is when a religious person attempts to argue with an atheist. 1. The religious person is not as well read as the atheist when it comes to the Bible and 2. The religious person most likely has not read any atheist books, because they are forbidden by their religion. Thus I get a laugh out of arguing with people who are religious because they usually end up getting mad and stomping away because they can't argue against the logical atheist.
Again, healing or sufficient grace is the perogative of God to accomplish his purposes. Healing is not actually for the blessing of the one healed. In the New Testament it was a sign that the person who was the medium God used to heal was also proclaiming God's message. In "enlightened" cultures God seems to use other means as the effective sign that affirms the message. There is even an example in the New Testament. Paul in Athens, the "enlightened" cvulture of his day, did not do miracles. He reasoned with those who gathered to hear him. And today, in America at least, that seems to be the sign – well reasoned explanations for what we believe.
Almost there, Don, but you really need to think that through a bit more. The truly "enlightened" actually get that the whole Christian god thing is just supersti-tion. It's just fiction for people who aren't as smart as they are.
Don – I know a good de-programmer that can help you a lot.
OK, 'splain me this: I have a co-worker who is a devoted Evangelical who says god sits in her cube with her at work all day. So why does she have Graves disease? Why has she suffered from migraines for 20 years? Shouldn't her faith in her god be enough to heal her?
God gibs us trials n' shiit ta make us luv him. I wuz put on trial fo gettin' nasty wit da nabors dog.
It is not faith that heals us but God. Faith is not a kind of magic wand that only needs to be waved over disease, and we will be healed. God is a person who has a will and a purpose for each of us and for history. If God's purpose is served by our healing then he will heal – and heal he certainly does do many times. If it is served by giving us the grace to bear with the affliction to his glory, as was the Apostle Paul's experience, then he will give us that grace. From your description, it sounds as though your co-worker is enjoying God's grace that is personalized for her.
The Apostle Paul wasn't healed in 2Cor. 12:7.
In 1Tim 5:23 Paul told Timothy to take some wine for his stomach and frequent ailments.
He left Miletus sick in 2Tim 4:20
So it is not God's will that everyone be healed. Jesus promised us we will suffer if we are his children in Romans 8:16-18.
But God is not willing that any should perish 2Pet 3:9
Please stop twisting the Bible for your own uses and dangling it in front of people to bribe them to Christianity. Jesus needs no help from those who promise what they cannot deliver. Go to needgod.com, take the test, repent of your sin and live.
That's a really benevolent god there that would allow you to suffer even though you are one of his children and he loves you. I guess it will be made up for when you get to that imaginary heaven.
If these healings are real, tell them to go to children's hospitals to do their work. They won't go, because this is delusional phony
baloney.
Excellent point Stevie68a. Although some of those folk would have trouble getting in the door.
Extremely well said. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, let me just add, "amen."
Exactly.
Yall jelus o' my gigantic, bombastic black booty! Uh huh ... White folks gots ta wory 'bout they OWN self!
Religion is the only thing standing between nigras and their COMPLETE animality. The "black church" is a very good thing.
Not a single soul will shed a tear when this "aryan" trash exits the world. The sooner the better. A complete waste of a human being. Not worth another response.
That may be the most ignorant, bigoted, hateful, stupid, idiotic thing I've ever heard anyone say. If I could reach through the computer screen I'd slap your silly face till you smiled.
Thank you, David, for that heartrending statement. Now go bend over for your nigra lover. No more snark from you, girl–you gave your word.
@iamacamera
Nigras are stinky, retarded beasts. I like it when a nigra puts that big watermelon grin on his face. "Oh, yessa, massa!"
Don't respond to Aryan...It's a waste plus I've reported as abuse,
Ooooh deeee dooooo! Aryan done been reported n' shiit!!!!
I could make the same point about so called White people and White Church what's your point ????????????????
God's will is not always that we be healed. Sometimes he chooses not to heal. If that is his will too, it is so we grow closer to him, not farther away.
Amen Julie...well said.
I hope we ALL someday understand that we deserve NOTHING from God because Christ was enough and should be grateful that He choose to love us first.
So, Julie and Jay, how come such a supposed "gift" from a purportedly omnipotent creature that has everything and could re-create it at will, counts as a sacrifice at all? Hint: it doesn't.
For that mattter, why does your "loving" sky fairy choose to let so many innocent people suffer and die, when he could save them without even lifting a finger?
Your whole religion is based on stupid, contradictory, and absurd premises. No thanks, you can keep your silly fictions about your evil sky fairy. I'll take reality any time over that nonsense.
Yes, God heals everyone, except when he doesn't.
Religion and magical belief need to go the way of the buffalo.
Seriously, people: grow up.
Why does your god have a penis?
@JulieMS:”God's will is not always that we be healed”
So if god’s will takes precedence over prayer, why bother to pray? It’s just going to do what it wants anyway
Isn’t it supposed to have a grand plan? If so, doesn’t that make prayer blasfamous?
"It is the will of God that everyone be healed"
When you trot out an amputee who has grown a replacement leg or arm I might think about believing your delusional crapoganda.
A great example. A good read on the subject: http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/god5.htm
reading some of these comments, I wonder how many were turned off by the teaching of a misguided Christian, or the religiosity of a church, or by the simple lack of knowledge and understanding of God's word ( why do the innocent suffer, why are there wars and one I still use myself..why me Lord!) So many people seem to be hindered from having an amazing , wondrous and supernatural relationship with our Lord. Events like the ones depicted in this news story are biblical, and happen everyday to countless believers all over the world.
Is it because science can't explain it ? God will show you if you take Him up on it. Science will lose much of it's glory once you have seen and experienced things of the Spirit for yourself. (Mark 9:23) God wants you to try it...not just read about it.
Religion has turned more people from the truth than should be allowed by law, just watching the news makes me hate it. Or worse, going to a religious church where they teach you that a relationship with God depends on YOUR ability to do or not do something...YIKES we're all dead meat! ( Romans 3:23) Thankfully God has nothing to do with religion. The undeniable fact is that religion killed Jesus...To our benefit of course. (Romans 8:1)
Having a relationship with God doesn't depend on following a "to do" list or a "don't do" list. It depends on your faith and your truthful desire for Him to show you that He is real. (Galatians 2:16) (1 Corinthians 2:5)
God is not a genie in the bottle, or a fairy tale. (1 Corinthians 2:14) If you are sincere in searching for the truth then He will make Himself known to you (Matthew 7:7) and you will know the truth.( John 8:32)
It has nothing to do with following rules and everything to do with His awesome love for you. It would SUCK to miss out on a wonderful relationship... much less eternity,(2 Peter 3:9)... because of some lame religion or idea from childhood.. God already knows your heart. He will meet you where you are. He wants to meet you where you are. No matter what He loves you. (John 3:16) (Matthew3:19) He wants to bless you more than anything. The only thing you have to do is allow it. (Matthew 6:33)
"I wonder how many were turned off by the teaching of a misguided Christian"
I can't speak for everyone, but for me it's the constant hypocrisy, the downright evil comments from a LOT of "christians", and their arrogance. It seems they love to judge and condemn and point fingers as if that is the end all be all of their "faith". They think their belief gives them free license to be the biggest, worst as sholes on the planet.
Nor can I speak for everyone, but for me personally, true atheism begins with a good solid read of Scripture.
I did this when I was a 14-year-old Christian, and I was amazed at the brutality, cruelty, backwardness and overall idiocy that populates the pages of the Bible. It took me about three weeks of reading the Bible to realize "holy crap, this is completely worthless!".
Since that day, I've been entertained by the intellectual contortions people must go through to justify this blood-soaked Bronze Age mess. Look above this post, then look below it: tons of people talking about Yahweh, the tribal war god of the ancient Hebrews, as if he was actually "real".
It's embarrassing to be human sometimes.
You know, you should go find a pulpit and preach that garbage. Religion is an antiquated way of explaining things that can't be explained. We now have science which can give the real explanation.
Just something for you to think about: Why did God not know that the earth was round? It says in the Old Testament that the earth was flat. If the Old Testament is the word of God, then God doesn't know the difference between round and flat, does He?
Religion is a joke on the stupid people of the world.
Blacks are retarded beasts, and more people are facing this reality every day.
Sounds like you're a candidate for that mindless description, princess.
personally id put a barrel in your mouth and squeeze until i hear a click. your death would be particularly gratifying if i could hang your body in front of others just like you after dragging your corpse for miles and enslaving the entirety of your race for 100s of years. trust me, your time will come and when it does there will be no mercy or quarter, we're talking women and children as well.
Dat rite! Aryan beez racis n' shiit! Blak folks beez genuses n' shiit! Da wite man done steel all our teknology n' filosofy n' shiit. Crakas!
Is there anything sadder than the loneliness of a troll?
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a God that heals all those who have sincere faith in Him. It happens to us according to our faith in Him. He performs all sorts of miracles and signs to increase our faith. Some of us are actually living-off Him. Glory to His Holy Name!
Tell that to the morons who decided to pray away their child's infected appendix. They prayed, it burst, he died horribly because of their arrogance and ignorance willfully spread by people like you.
Also- "Some of us are actually living-off Him." Sounds disgustingly parasitic.
Didn't help a single person in the Twin Towers to pray, did it?
Parasites living off an imaginary host. Should be extinct soon...
Just praying is not enough. You have to have true, sincere faith. Also, the will of God is supreme. It might not be God's perfect will to heal us immediately. Remember that for a Christian the biggest blessing of all is to be accepted into Heaven. Nothing on earth can even remotely compare to the blessings of a eternal life in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is possible to live off God. If you truly love Him and trust Him and depend upon Him for survival, He'll make sure you don't lack anything good to live. Glory to His Name!
Periodically the charismatic "movement" comes around again. It was "new" in the '70's and faded from the scene as one charismatic preacher after another succombed to adultery, fraud and theft from their "devoted" followers. I make this statement based on my observation of the charismatic ups and downs since 1960. Getting all wrapped up in and taken over by the "Holy Spirit" gives seemingly normal people a chance to escape and to hope for a "miracle." And they get to sometimes sway, babble, dance and jump around all in a setting in which this behavior is applauded. Be on the lookout for the next charismatic preacher who makes a big spash then tearfully pleads for forgiveness for–you guessed it–adultery, fraud, and theft..
Our Lord Jesus Christ performed many miracles and signs, healed a lot of people, even raised the dead back to life, and yet He was never caught in adultery. Not all charismatic preachers are evil, it's just that those who are, attract all the publicity and make it look like they all are.
oleman, read here http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/god5.htm
@ Bob, All true believers will receive a perfectly fit body once they are ready to enter heaven, a body that will never die. God have created certain physical laws that cannot be violated except by Himself or His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Bible says that anything will be done for those who have faith, it means anything that does not violate those physical laws.
how convenient that your god gets away with not fixing anything in the present, so he never has to deliver on the promises. Quite the swampland sale. Amazing how many fools it takes in.
@ Doktor Enderhawse, God always fixes all sorts of things in the present for those who have sincere, true faith. All His promises are fulfilled, always. The only fools are those who refuse to believe in Lord Jesus Christ. They miss out on the whole world!