Hallelujah! times a thousand

A couple of nights ago, spurred on by reading William Crawley's bog, from which the above pic is taken, I watch a live streaming from one of the healing services from the Elim Christian Centre in Belfast. Very much like the Lakeland 'Revival' stuff, in fact in Belfast they claim that it's as a result of Lakeland, the services in Belfast have run every evening for the last two and a half months.

On Wednesday and Thursday Joshua Mills took time out of his busy schedule (I've no reason to doubt this) to do 2 nights in Belfast. Mills comes from the Extreme Prophecies stable which is heavily into 'signs and wonders' which include the appearance of gold and sapphire dust, oil, diamonds, angel feathers and such like. It also includes healings, imparted anointing, prophecy, and so on.

Previously I've seen footage of various Shamen whipping people into frenzies from which they experience all sorts of things - the 'supernatural' if you will. Psychologists will tell you it's all to do with expectancy and allowing yourself to get into a suggestible state. In such a state you can 'see' and 'experience' all manner of stuff which you genuinely believe to be real, but which doesn't pass mustard in the cold light of day. Mills is a slightly tubby, slightly camp American Shaman.

Joshua Mills claims that people have experienced weight loss, whitening of teeth, appearance of gold fillings, healings of all descriptions at his revival meetings. Gold dust, looking suspiciously like glitter but no-one has actually analysed what it really is, has appeared on his hands and jacket. Oil has flowed from his hands, or possibly from out the tubes up his sleeves.

On Thursday he emphasised the power of the Hallelujah. Indeed, he used the word frequently, and I mean frequently - possibly six or seven hundred times in the space of two hours. It punctuated almost every other sentence he spoke. And boy did he speak. He hardly took a breath.

Stage hypnotists, and people like Derren Brown, use something called "anchoring": a technique where a particular word or touch is anchored, or linked, to a suggestion. The 'victim' is put into a light hypnotic state and the suggestion is implanted via the anchoring. The anchor will then trigger the suggestion in the subconscious of the individual. That's why in Derren Brown's programs people believe they have a free choice, whereas they've actually been conditioned to choose the card, envelope, whatever, that he wants them to choose.

Pastor Brian warmed up the cried shouting "Are you ready to see God at work!". When the cry of 'yes' wasn't loud enough he asked them the same question again. There was then a time of worship led by a loud rock band where there was singing and also prayers. Pastor Brian prayed by shouting into a mic(!) while the band continued to bash out a beat. By the time Josh stood to speak the crowd were well warmed up, but more importantly, they were expectant.

Then Joshua spoke for 2 hours. He talked of miracles. He talked of power. He talked of healing. He talked of the supernatural. He talked of change and glory. All these things were punctuated with "Hallelujah....Hallelujah....Hallelujah". The anchoring was done. He spoke so quickly that no-one had time to process and think about anything he said which was lucky for him as he made ridiculous claims (the power of the Hallelujah brought his house plant back to life; the power of the Hallelujah enabled him to lay hands of healing on Fluffy the dog). By the time people were queueing for healing the power of the anchoring Hallelujah was so deeply implanted that they 'experienced' healing. They were expectant, whipped up, and hungry and so they believed whatever they wanted to believe, or whatever they were told to believe.

You may ask, O kind reader, and by the way, thanks for sticking with me thus far, why I'm so sceptical about Joshua and his like. A reasonable question. Why can't I leave him, and the hapless gullible fools who lap up his bullshit alone, and instead let them be happy in their delusion.

Last week the 7 year old daughter of people who lived down the street was buried. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour in December 2007 and died in August 2008. No miracles. No gold dust. No power of the Hallelujahs. God wasn't to be found in that house in any healing capacity. Allegedly He is in places where Mills and others are - there in bucket loads. But not where He is needed. Not in that little girl's home.

My anger is because some people will be so convinced and deluded that they will say that real healing occurs, but won't be able to see the factors that cause people to pretend to see it. For them it is freak shows like the Mills spectacle that is proof of God's healing power. Would not greater proof of healing be in the quiet and despair of the 7 year old's house rather than in the self-induced and deliberately enhanced emotional and hypnotic whirlwind of these revival meetings?! Why does God fail to do what is needed for her, yet seems to turn up big time only when particular people claim to have certain gifts. To compound the cynicism, Joshua quoted from Corinthians ("God loves a cheerful giver") as the bucket was passed around and also informed people they could donate online (and if they were writing a cheque could they please make it out to ECC). God can't/won't heal unless He is properly funded.