Derren Brown and Dodgy Faith Healers...

I have always had a soft spot for Derren Brown (read:  I fancied him a LOT and then I realised he prefers the company of Men Folk...sigh). 

For those of you friends from overseas who don't know who Derren Brown is, check out his IMDB profile here - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1494925/.  He's an amazing psychological trickster and a bit of an evil genius.

I find him incredibly funny in that wonderfully subversive 'not everyone quite gets it' kind of way, I think he has a HUGE heart and soul, and his intelligence wows me - I love the way his brain works. He also hails from my part of London (Croydon). During his school days he professes to have been a Christian, worshipping in a 'Charismatic'church, but has since become rather vocal in the defence of Atheism, is a rather good friend of 'Dastardly Dick Dawkins' (Richard Dawkins - famed Atheist and irritant to 'God-Botherers') and has much to say about his experiences during his brief period in the church - many of which make me cross on his behalf and want to explain to him the Jesus I have come to know.

Last night Channel 4 aired one of his 'Specials' called 'Miracles for Sale'. 
The premise of the show was that the 'Faith Healing' business - particularly in America, where the end part of the show was based - is indeed that, a business.  A business, Derren contends, that is designed to rip people off, create false hopes, is based on power-trips and hype, adrenaline rushes and trickery.

Based upon that premise, Derren set out in search of an unsuspecting member of the British public prepared to adopt the guise of a pastor and miracle worker. Nathan was the chosen one, and he then had 6 months in which to learn the 'tricks of the trade' so that he could successfully take off as a Pastor across the pond in the US of A, the aim being to expose the insidious business of 'Faith Healing' for what it really is.

Nathans preparation included intensive schooling in the Scriptures from a Christian who was a 'recovering Faith Healer' himself, acting lessons, coaching in vocal dynamics and explanations of the 'methods' used by Faith Healers to make crowds more compliant and induce various mass group behaviours - such as hypnotic music, rhythms and manipulation.

As they prepared for the trip to the US, the production team, and Nathan himself, experienced pangs of guilt, fears over the level of deception they were embarking on and worries over their safety and their ability to 'pull it off'.  When they reached the US they experienced the level of security and paranoia that surrounds some of the 'Faith Healers' ministries, and witnessed at first hand some of the deceptions that abound in that particular area of 'Ministry.'

I will leave it up to you to watch the show for more of the detail but the culmination of the programme was, in essence, the holding of a 'Revival' meeting at which Nathan - by this point firmly in character as his alias 'Pastor James', who had been living in Uganda and practicing his ministry out there - 'healed' people in the manner of the Faith Healers that the show was designed to reveal as fraudsters.  Given that Nathan was a 'plant' and claimed to have no healing gift, yet still seemed to achieve the results that other self styled Faith Healers do, it threw up a myriad of questions around that whole area of Christian Activity.

I found that I had a few responses to the show.

Firstly, I LOVED it.  I really appreciated the way that the show was framed - which was that it was not designed to be an attack on Faith, Religion, Church, or even aspects of Gods ability to heal today, rather that it was designed to highlight and reveal a certain 'element' of activity by specific people who have an agenda other than the Kingdom of God.  It felt very respectful of Christians, and of Faith in general.  He did make some unhelpful comments about the lack of verification of people who had been healed by God which were not true, as there are many instances of those in the Medical Profession having verified such things as Tumours disappearing between scans and Diseases being miraculously healed.  I wish he hadn't said that part.

Secondly, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with the conclusions that the show came to - in that there ARE aspects of 'revival' and 'healing' meetings that, even beyond the 'money' element of certain ministries, are manipulative and rely on crowd dynamics and hysteria in order to bring about certain responses and results.  I have the channel 'God TV' as a part of my cable package, and have on occasion flicked over to watch. There have been numerous times when, upon my channel hopping, I have been confronted with scenes of hysteria, manipulative preaching and 'suspect supernatural activity' that seems to have NO basis in scripture or the vision of the Kingdom of God which I understand.

Thirdly, and for me, most importantly, I found myself convicted enough to need to look at my own practices and understandings of the more 'Supernatural' aspects of Gods activity (although for those of us who believe we are participating in the coming of the Kingdom, these are less 'supernatural' and more 'entirely natural'). 

I firmly believe in the fruit and gifts of Holy Spirit (including healing) and the activity of Holy Spirit in the here & now.  I have experienced the power of Holy Spirit as She has ministered to people, comforting and healing and restoring and revealing.  I have prayed for healing of others and received healing myself on a number of levels.  I have had encounters with people in ministry that have been firmly unexplainable were it not for Holy Spirit and Her leading and guiding.  I believe that times of abandoned and exuberant celebration (both personal and collective) of all that God is are beautiful and wonderful, and that when we see glimpses of the glory of God we are changed and renewed.  I have been present in large gatherings of Jesus-Followers where Worship has been life changing, Teaching has been mind blowing, and Ministry has been so powerful that Heaven has been coming on Earth - and all of that has been kosher and un-manipulated.

BUT I have also been in situations where I have seen various types of what can only be described as Spiritual Abuse taking place - where people have been told what to think, told off for not being more compliant or for daring to question the person 'leading' the session, where the atmosphere has been so hyped up you would almost need to be stone cold dead not to feel the dynamics of the crowd.  I have watched preachers push people over, manipulate people and, in the case of a certain recent Floridian 'Revival' behave in such an abusive way that it bore virtually no resemblance to the quiet, creative and lovingly gentle way we see our Jesus deal with issues of healing and restoration.

I have the privilege of teaching and leading worship regularly and I have to say that, for the most part, I know how to hold a crowd (and I do not say that to big myself up in any way).  A huge part of that comes naturally as I love to tell stories and weave tales, and my inspiration for that is the best story teller in the world - Jesus.  There is nothing wrong in that, in and of itself.  I guess that the problem comes if manipulation is allowed to sneak in, if my evaluation of how well something has gone, or how something should go, is based on anything other than Holy Spirit being allowed to do exactly what SHE wants to do, rather than MY desired outcomes of an event or service. 

I guess that, after watching last nights programme, I am left with the question, 'does what I do EVER look like 'that',' and, if it does, even just a tiny bit, well - that's just not on.