FAKE MIRACLE DETECTION MANUAL
BY JIDE AKEREDOLU


It is all around us. Our television and radio are saturated with it. Miracles! Testimonies! Healing! Breakthrough! Deliverance! Infact I think there are more 'miracles' in Nigeria per person than in any other nation on the face of this planet. With the number of healing claims we hear of, it is a surprise that hospitals have not been made irrelevant. But the truth is that our health as a nation has not been worse. Our life expectancy is dropping, thanks to the HIV scourge, and poverty. As a doctor I see on a regular basis many of my patients who have claimed miraculous cures coming back unchanged or worse. Some have even lost their lives when they stopped the medications keeping them alive.


Methodology in Study of Healing Miracles
We should define an actual miracle of healing to have occurred when a person is actually cured, completely, without relapse, of an organic (i.e. not psychological or psychosomatic) disease. This involves knowing that the person was actually sick to begin with and knowing that subsequent to the miracle the cure was complete.
We have various possibilities that must first be excluded before a miracle claim can be taken seriously.
• No disease, therefore no "cure"
Some of the diseases could well be psychosomatic, and no one would call curing a disease that was never there to begin with, a miracle. A huge chunk of claims fall into this category. In a culture that oozes with superstition, and belief in the occult, there is widespread "somatisation" as noted by the late Prof Lambo. What this means is that psychological and stress problems showing as physical symptoms. The persistent headache, crawling sensation or sleeplessness that is not responding to drugs. 'Curing' these by making the patient feel a sense of protection, no matter how false, cannot be called a miracle. Infact, this may make the patient worse because the person ends up feeling safe only when under this "protection" and he may end up a slave of this "healer". They find it difficult to function outside the 'umbrella' of the healer. We see here some of the raw materials for a cult movement.
• Real disease, but fake "cure"
Some diseases may be real, but the cure during the "healing" is not. The ecstasy and excitement seen in a "healing" session could make a person involved feel so exhilarated that he would think that he was healed although in reality he was not. Those who suffer from diseases in which the main external manifestation is pain, such as cancer and arthritis, are most susceptible to this phenomenon. The brain is known to release chemical substances called 'endorphins' (pain - killing substances) during such moments and the relief, though temporary, can be mistaken for a cure. The symptoms, of course, invariably returns after the feeling of exhilaration fade away. The danger with this category of “cures" is that some people abandon their medication in the belief that they are healed. I have seen diabetic patients, cancer patients, and sicklers lose their lives in similar circumstances. Another group are those diseases manifesting in form of weakness of various grades. e.g. strokes, partial paralysis, cerebral palsy, etc. In a fire outbreak in my hospital recently, patients that were 'bedridden' ran for dear life with such speeds, some holding their drip lines and catheters etc. Some were later picked up more than a hundred yards from the hospital! The energy that comes apparently from nowhere in such a situation is unimaginable.
• Wrong diagnosis or prognosis Scientifically trained physicians are not infallible. A mistaken diagnosis, followed by a trip to a miracle centre, can lead to a glowing testimonial for curing a condition that would have resolved by itself, or was not as serious as first thought. In other cases, the diagnosis may be correct but the prognosis, i.e. the course the disease would take, which is inherently difficult to predict, might prove inaccurate.
• Temporary remissions
Another possibility are diseases which have periods of temporary remissions in their natural course. The miracle healing session which just happens to take place before one of these periods will be interpreted by the credulous as proof of miraculous cures. Examples of diseases in this group include peptic ulcers, arthritis, sickle cell anaemia, migraine, epilepsy, asthma, haemorrhoids (piles), and even some cancers. Infact, people tend to seek help when the disease process is at its peak and is usually followed by periods of remission! Before another relapse however, the miracle worker would have taken credit, testimonies given, and probably fat donations made to "give thanks" for the miracle. This is why treatment claims in medicine are subjected to ‘controlled studies’ before such claims are taken seriously.
Shamanism or Primitive medicine
Another possibility is primitive medicine. A shaman applying herbs or some methods of massage which have medicinal value is obviously not a miracle. Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices that involve the ability to diagnose, cure, and sometimes cause human suffering because of a special relationship with, or control over, spirits. Shamans have been credited with the ability to control the weather, divination, the interpretation of dreams, astral projection, and travelling to upper and lower worlds. Shamanistic traditions have existed throughout the world since prehistoric times. Shamanism is still practised in many cultures especially some south East Asian and South American cultures. It is something similar to our native doctor. The priests perform miracles on the sick by long prayer sessions with incantations (speaking in tongues?) and then giving them some liquid (holy water?) to drink. Tests have revealed that some of these portions contain quinine, a potent antimalaria!! Some have herbs with antibiotic properties! So, sick people with malaria for example, may be responding to quinine! This would not qualify as a miracle. Daily massages when applying various anointing oils are just physiotherapy.
• Placebo effect
The placebo effect (also known as non-specific effects) is the phenomenon that a patient's symptoms can be alleviated by an otherwise ineffective treatment, apparently because the individual expects or believes that it will work. Some people consider this to be a remarkable aspect of human physiology. Studies on humans are revealing the neural mechanisms of placebo effects. Some of the best studies are in the area of pain research. People can be conditioned to expect analgesia in certain situations. When those conditions are provided to the patient, the brain responds by generating a pattern of neural activity that produces objectively quantifiable analgesia. This fits very well with the second category above (“fake cure”) but is slightly different. Here, the relief may be long-lasting.
• Actual spontaneous remissions
We should note that there are documented cases in medical science where someone is actually spontaneously cured of a disease. These occurrences are rare, occur randomly and do not favour the adherence of any religion.
• Use of deception and trickery
The above possibilities assume the honesty of both the healer and the healed with no intention of deceiving. It must also be kept in mind that a healer wanting to enhance his own prestige could have resorted to trickery and deception. The extent of this is open to your imagination. Cases have been documented in which healers use ‘cold reading’ and ‘hot reading’ techniques to extract information from the faithful, pretending to have supernatural powers. People with mild illnesses, but otherwise ambulant, are encouraged to sit on wheelchairs “in order to be close to the stage where the ‘man of God’ can see you. When such people are told to “arise and walk” they obviously do, because they were not wheelchair bound to begin with. The ecstatic crowd is usually not aware of this. American televangelist Peter Popoff was caught red handed using a wireless radio earpiece to get information about members of the audience from his wife backstage, and then pretend to be getting the information from divine sources.
• Anecdotal evidence
The possibility must be kept in mind that the account of the miracle itself may not be true especially if they are second hand stories. This brings up the issue of the value of ‘testimonies’. Testimonies are of little use in verifying claims because they are prone to ‘selective thinking’, ‘self deception’, ‘wishful thinking’ and even outright fraud. Testimonies appeal to your emotions rather than reason. Testimonies are by their nature difficult to verify and attempts at checking are frowned upon. Scepticism is brushed aside as lack of faith. Why then do people continue to believe testimonies? Why are they so popular and why are they so convincing? There are several reasons. Testimonials are often vivid and detailed, making them appear credible. They are often made by enthusiastic people who seem trustworthy and honest, and who lack any reason to deceive us. People with some semblance of authority. To some extent, testimonials are believable because people want to believe them. However, it is interesting how a miracle claim in one religion is viewed with scepticism by adherents of another religion and vice versa. The same is seen even among different strands of the same religion. But if a claim is within the sect, "--oh! signs and wonders are happening"!
• One-sided coin. The faith healer can never lose! This occurs when the person uses both faith healing and science based medicine together. If there is improvement, the faith healer gets a disproportionate part or even all of the credit. If there is no improvement, the doctor gets the blame. Nobody dares suggest the pastor's prayers were not answered.
• An actual miracle of healing Only in those claims that have scaled the above scrutiny could a possibility of a miracle be considered. Some studies have put the percentage around 1%. I will put it less than that. We have to be aware of attributional fallacy. The fact that we don't know how something occurs does not elevate it to the status of a miracle!
Forer effect
The Forer effect refers to the tendency of people to rate sets of statements as highly accurate for them personally even though the statements could apply to many people. Psychologist Bertram R. Forer found that people tend to accept vague and general descriptions as uniquely applicable to themselves without realizing that the same description could be applied to just about anyone. This is the basis of the "shot gun" technique popular among faith healers
• There is no place in the bible where the "shot gun" technique is used. This is a technique first associated with Kathryn Kuhlman (the mentor of Benny Hinn), popularised by Pat Robertson and used by many 'miracle healers' in Nigeria. It involves talking directly to a large crowd either in person or on TV or Radio, describing vaguely a person or an illness which hundreds of people may feel is directed personally to them. It goes like this. "There is a woman out there with a breast condition which the doctors have not been able to cure. The Lord is healing you right now. Thank you Jesus. There is a man with a problem in the spine. It is giving you a lot of pain. The Lord is putting an end to your suffering. Give glory to God! Thank you Jesus! , Believe you are healed. Claim your miracle, " etc. Notice that the descriptions are left deliberately vague, that it could fit a lot of people. You sometimes have dozens of people each claiming the healer was referring to them. It can even be more ridiculous. I have seen people who have claimed to have got miraculous cures while watching tapes of healing sessions where such techniques were used. Most feel embarrassed when reminded that the tapes they were watching were probably months or years old. Maybe the Holy Spirit is still embedded in the cassette tape!
My advice is for people to follow the biblical advice to "test every spirit" diligently. A lot of 419ers masquerading as miracle workers are out there!!!!
Critics, like the Rev. Joseph C. Hough, President of New York's Union Theological Seminary, say of the desperately hopeful: "It breaks your heart to know that they are being deceived, because they genuinely are hoping and believing. And they'll leave there thinking that if they didn't get a miracle it's because they didn't have faith."
I hope there is a special place in Hell for people who try and enrich themselves on the suffering of others. To tantalize the blind, the lame, the dying, the afflicted, the terminally ill, to dangle hope before parents of a severely afflicted child, is an indescribably cruel thing to do, and to do it in the name of God, to do it in the name of religion, I think, is unforgivable.
However, there are some faith healers who genuinely believe that they are truly healing the sick. They mean well, but close scrutiny shows the belief to be a delusion. Let us pray for them – Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. Amen


Jide Akeredolu is a member of The Centre for Enquiry(Nigeria)

I hope crook oyakhilome adherents are reading.

Powerful and enlightening article. . . . Thank you very much.

I only hope the mugus out there would pay any attention.

After reading this fake miracle detection manual, we realise that all miracles are fakes.

Horus:

After reading this fake miracle detection manual, we realise that all miracles are fakes.

of course they're all fake, if they were real CNN the BBC and all the other international news broadcasters will be talking about

Horus:

After reading this fake miracle detection manual, we realize that all miracles are fakes.

i don't think all my miracles are fake, neither do i believe that miracles are supernatural. whenever humans cant explain mechanisms behind any happening, they call it a miracle and these fraudsters take advantage of our ignorance so much ppl begin to act like fools.

Enlightening article

I hope the followers of TB Joshua and Oyakhilome see this

Nice write up and makes lots of sense.
Now @poster, can you give us some specific references to fake miracles as detected by your method. I am usually more interested in workability of ideas.

Natural phenomenon or occurrences that people don't know or have explanations for they call miracle, Natural occurrences or phenomenon that people know and can explain they call science.

VALIDATOR:

Nice write up and makes lots of sense.
Now @poster, can you give us some specific references to fake miracles as detected by your method. I am usually more interested in workability of ideas.

This is a good example for starters.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1882562115589761236#

VALIDATOR:

Nice write up and makes lots of sense.
Now @poster, can you give us some specific references to fake miracles as detected by your method. I am usually more interested in workability of ideas.

Here is another one
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1882562115589761236#docid=-2908328681662849472

and another one- part 2
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1882562115589761236#docid=-4139729580649707462

VALIDATOR:

Nice write up and makes lots of sense.
Now @poster, can you give us some specific references to fake miracles as detected by your method. I am usually more interested in workability of ideas.

Examples are all over the net.  Here is another sad case.
http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/20251952/religion-vs-medicine.htm

and related stories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxqRN5vjDHQ&feature=related

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/flash]

Gud talk, but it's high time we get rid of dis copy and paste style of ours on niraland.

Gud talk, but it's high time we get rid of dis copy and paste style of ours on niraland.

Mazaje, that was a brrrrriiiiilllliant video!

@akered,
good video links.i've actually see the poppoff guy's own b4. Interesting.

James Randi and Darren Brown are the men!!!

We muslim know that the xtrian miracle is just a fraud

@Abuzola,
I asked you this very important question here. Still waiting for your reply,

what about the Miracles of Jesus?

What is the question mr validator ?

Tudor6:
Powerful and enlightening article. . . . Thank you very much.

I only hope the mugus out there would pay any attention.

There is a stage of faith beyond which recovery is impossible