128 Sermon Illustrations on Deception

Truth in the abstract is perhaps made too much of as compared to certain other laws established by as high authority. If the Creator made the tree-toad so like the moss-covered bark to which it clings, and the larva of a sphinx so like the elm-leaf on which it lives, and that other larva so exquisitely like a broken twig, not only in color, but in the angle at which it stands from the branch to which it holds, with the obvious end of deceiving their natural enemies, are not these examples which man may follow? The Tibbu, when he sees his enemy in the distance, shrinks into a motionless heap, trusting that he may be taken for a lump of black basalt, such as is frequently met with in his native desert. The Australian, following the same instinct, crouches in such forms that he may be taken for one of the burnt stumps common in his forest region. Are they not right in deceiving, or lying, to save their lives? or would a Christian missionary forbid their saving them by such a trick? If an English lady were chased by a gang of murdering and worse than murdering Sepoys, would she not have a right to cheat their pursuit by covering herself with leaves, so as to be taken for a heap of them? If you were starving on a wreck, would you die of hunger rather than cheat a fish out of the water by an artificial bait? If a schoolhouse were on fire, would you get the children down-stairs under any convenient pretense, or tell them the precise truth, and so have a rush and a score or two of them crusht to death in five minutes?

— OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

The course of some men makes it seem as if they had chosen the devil with more purpose than did this lawyer:

St. Evona, or Ives, of Brittany, a famous lawyer in 1300, was lamenting that his profession had not a patron saint to look up to. The physicians had St. Luke; the champions had St. George; the artists each had one; but the lawyers had none. Thinking that the Pope ought to bestow a saint, he went to Rome, and requested his Holiness to give the lawyers of Brittany a patron. The Pope, rather puzzled, proposed to St. Evona that he should go round the church of St. John de Lateran blindfold, and after he had said so many _Ave Marias_, the first saint he laid hold of should be his patron; and this solution of the difficulty the good old lawyer willingly undertook. When he had finished his _Ave Marias_, he stopt short, and laid his hands on the first image he came to, and cried out with joy, “This is our saint--this be our patron.” But when the bandage was taken from his eyes, what was his astonishment to find that, tho he had stopt at St. Michael’s altar, he had all the while laid hold, not of St. Michael, but of the figure under St. Michael’s feet--the devil! (Text.)--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”

Young people, sincere people, impulsive people, and imaginative people have all a common danger--that of being led astray by false lights. Of these false lights there are many kinds--some bewildering the intellect, others entangling the affections in hopeless morasses, others again misleading the sympathies, the imagination, the belief. But they all end in the same thing--mischief, mistake, and a loss of way. To the young and sincere--and the young are generally sincere, up to a certain point--organized craft and falsehood are arts of which they do not know the formula, foreign languages whereof they do not understand the very alphabet. Appearances stand for realities, and words are not so much symbols in themselves. They are able to tell their own little white lies and act their own little falsities, of a small and insignificant and, for the most part, transparent kind; but they do not apply their own rules to the grammar of their elders; and when those elders say so and so the younger believe them, and when they show such and such lights they follow them--in many instances to the same result as those doomed ships which were deceived on the Cornish coast, at such time as that, let us hope legendary, parson sent out his hobbled horse on the cliffs in a fog, with a lantern fastened to his fore-feet, to simulate the plunging of a ship in the sea. Then said the sailing masters of those doomed and predestined ships: “Where one vessel can go another may,” and so plowed their way straight onto the rocks and into the hands of death and the wreckers. So it is with certain false lights held out to the unwary and ignorant.--London _Queen_.

It takes the greatest cunning and a life of practical study to know how long, how thick, and exactly where the soundbar should be in each instrument. The health and morale of many an old violin has been impaired by its nervous system being ignorantly tampered with. Every old violin, with the exception of the “Pucelle,” has had its soundbar replaced, or it would never have endured the increased tightness of strings brought in with our modern pitch. Many good forgeries have thus been exposed, for in taking the reputed Stradivarius to pieces, the rough, clumsy work inside, contrasting with the exquisite finish of the old masters, betrays at once the coarseness of a body that never really held the soul of a Cremona. (Text.)--H. R. HAWEIS, “My Musical Memories.”

A story is told of certain mariners who followed the direction of their compass, believing it to be infallibly right as a guide, till they arrived at an enemy’s port, where they were seized and made slaves. The secret was that the wicked captain, in order to betray the ship and to beguile them into obliquities, had hidden a large loadstone at a little distance on one side of the needle. (Text.)

On the chalk downs of Wiltshire, in sight of the town of Westbury, there appears a great white horse, which presumably marks the sight of one of the battles between Alfred the Great and the Danes. As you look at that white horse upon the hill from the road approaching it it is perfectly drawn--it is so accurate that I doubt if any painter of a horse could improve upon it; but some time ago when I was in that neighborhood, I went up to the white horse to see it on the spot. There I found that this cutting in the green turf which revealed the chalk below was so extensive that if I walked round the outline, I could cover about a mile, and the shape as it lay along the slope of the hill had no resemblance to a horse whatever. Like the long shadows cast by the setting sun, its sprawling limbs went down the hill, and were so much greater than the width of the body that you could not have told in walking over it that the artist--for an artist he was--who designed it could possibly intend to be drawing a horse; that perfect horse upon the hillside, to the traveler approaching from Westbury, appeared to have no existence at all--it was a great perspective drawing upon the hill, which, when seen close at hand, did not even suggest a horse’s form. Taking that as an illustration, does it not often strike you how the whole pageant of earth and sky, which delights our eye, is just as unreal as the scenery of the stage? Those clouds that drape the setting sun, and form lofty mountains and shimmering seas, making a landscape in the sky so beautiful that no painter on earth could reproduce it; those clouds that charm us with their beauty, if we were in the midst of them, would be merely like the drenching rain of an April day, without beauty, without charm. And those starry heavens which are to us all of the earth a subject of endless delight because of their beauty and their incomparable grandeur, are not in the least what they appear.--ROBERT F. HORTON, _Christian World Pulpit_.

In winter, when millions of city dwellers breathe the air of ill-ventilated dwelling-houses, lung infections are more frequent than in midsummer, when ventilation is enforced by the horrors of stagnant heat. But the coincidence of frosts and catarrhs has decided the bias of the popular hypothesis, and in sixteen different European languages the word cold has become a synonym of an infection which the absolutely conclusive evidence of physiological facts proves to be a result of vitiated warm indoor air, and to be curable by cold outdoor air. In other words, the best remedy has been mistaken for the cause, and as a consequence catarrhs are considerably more frequent than all the other disorders of the human organism taken together.--FELIX OSWALD, _North American Review_.

An instance of “high finance,” under the guise of religion, is set forth by the daily press in the case of one, Carl Helmstadt, of whom this is said:

The detectives report an instructive conversation with this man, who tells clergymen he is a brand from the burning and needs their prayers for deliverance.

“How many ministers have you swindled?” the detective asked Helmstadt.

“Oh, I don’t know how many.”

“More than one hundred?”

“Sure,” answered Helmstadt. “Why not? We kneel down and pray together, and we both weep. Then I tell them I feel greatly relieved, spiritually. Then I sting them for a few dollars.”

John Stonehouse was a former British Cabinet minister who came to America and faked his death by leaving his clothes on a beach in Miami. He then fled to Australia under an assumed name, was discovered, taken back to England and sentenced to 7 years on 21 counts of theft, fraud and deception involving nearly $400,000. He served 3 years before being released on parole. Stonehouse has now found out through personal experience that death can be real! At the time Americans were rushing to beat their income tax filing deadline, Stonehouse collapsed at his home near Southampton and died instantly of a massive heart attack. He was only 62.

"It is appointed unto men once to die...." (Heb 9:27). Fakes don't count!

Betty Eadie's "Embraced by the Light" (1992) purports to tell her experiences after clinically dying. Much Mormon and popular influence: Jesus is separate from Father, humans are not sinful by nature, tragedy does not really exist in world. Many Christians accept it uncritically. NDE is a recent phenomenon and has developed into a "religion of the resuscitated." Most claim to have met ultimate reality face-to-face without the assistance of any religious institution, human mediation, or historical connection. They were There; now they Know; and we should listen, especially since the news they bring is so consoling. It is a belief in an enjoyable life after death with no fear of divine judgment, and dispenses with traditional dogmas of sin and the need for salvation, asserting instead that one must simply grow in knowledge and love, both vaguely defined. We are exhorted to grow in knowledge while, on the other hand, we are barred from specific doctrinal affirmations about God, such as there being a narrow road that leads to life and a broad road leading to destruction.

This approach to human consciousness conforms to New Age thinking. However, some NDEs have led people to faith in Christ, including some who have had visions of hell. It is better to trust the eternal certainties offered by the One who experienced death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the place of unmatched authority. He alone has the last word on matters of life and death.

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"The idea of hell and judgment are nowhere to be found [in Betty Eadie's bestseller, Embraced By The Light, on the N.Y. Times bestseller list for more than 40 weeks, including 5 weeks as #1]. In November 1973 Eadie allegedly died after undergoing a hysterectomy, and returned five hours later with the secrets of heaven revealed by Jesus. Eadie says that Jesus 'never wanted to do or say anything that would offend me' while she visited heaven. Indeed, Jesus seems to be relegated to the role of a happy tour guide in heaven, not the Savior of the world who died on the cross."

Richard Abanes, in Christianity Today, March 7, 1994, p. 53]

In religious terms, glasnost must be understood, in part, as "repentance".

In the fall of 1988, in the city of Rostov on the Don River in southern Russia, a man approached an evangelist and pleaded for forgiveness. The Pentecostal preacher, Joseph Bondarenko, did not understand what the man was talking about. Then the stranger reached into his pocket and pulled out his KGB identification: "I am the one who put you behind bars. Please forgive me!"

At another service, a young man came forward, accepted Christ, then turned to the congregation and made the following remarkable statement: "I am the editor of an atheist paper. People, I have been deceiving you. Please forgive me. God is real!"

#1517

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“But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit” Acts 5:3a

Satan’s primary strategy is deception. He will introduce his thoughts and ideas into your mind and deceive you into believing that they are yours. It happened to King David. Satan “moved David to number Israel” (1 Chronicles 21:1), an act God had forbidden, and David acted on Satan’s idea. Did Satan walk up to David one day and say, “I want you to number Israel”? I doubt it. David was a godly man and he wouldn’t have obeyed Satan. But what if Satan slipped the idea into David’s mind in first-person singular? What if the thought came to David as “I need to know how large my army is; I think I’ll count the troops”?

If Satan can place a thought in your mind – and he can – it isn’t much more of a trick for him to make you think it’s your idea. If you knew it was Satan, you’d reject the thought, wouldn’t you? But when he disguises his suggestion as your idea, you are more likely to accept it. That is his primary deception. If you knew where the thought came from, you wouldn’t be deceived.

Ananias and Sapphira might have thought that it was their idea to withhold some of their offering while getting the strokes and attention from others who believed they had given everything. If they knew that it was Satan’s idea, they probably wouldn’t have done it (Acts 5:1-3). If Satan can get you to believe a lie, he can control your life. That’s why it is truth that sets you free (John 8:32).

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #9367]

It's not enough to have the right house, the right clothes, the right car, and the right education. You also need the right histories and friends. In "Harpers & Queen," writer Mary Killen reports on a slew of British entrepreneurs who fill this latest niche. One creates fake ancestral portraits for your newly purchased manor. Another sells instant libraries at a mere $16 per inch of books. Through yet another resourceful businesswoman you can rent appropriately tony "friends" to attend your next dinner party.

#3413

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People find it hard to be honest with themselves.

Dieting documentary on PBS — scientists thought overweight people had different metabolism. They gained weight when eating same amount as rest of us. Conclusion was due to self-reporting tests.

A new technique called “doubly-labeled water” finds exactly how many calories they are consuming. One dieter reported, in good faith, 850 calories of intake. The test showed it was more like 3,300. When told this, her estimates of intake increased. We don’t mean to be dishonest, but we do it to justify ourselves.

________

Doubly-labeled water involves isotopes that can be detected with scientific instruments. It has been very useful for metabolic studies.

Skeptical conference looks at the human "belief engine" - how world views are formed. We must always be suspicious of our own experience. (example given of "bending spoons")

Andrew Neher, professor of psychology at Cabrillo College, in Aptos, California, says believers and skeptics often construct their views in similar ways. Each learns from families, friends, different organizations, and the society at large, and each tends to stereotype the other - sometimes members of their own group.

I read about a photographer for a national magazine who was assigned to "shoot" one of those big Western forest fires. He was told that a small plane would be waiting to fly him over the fire.

When he got to the airport, sure enough, he found a little Cessna waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, "Let's go!" The pilot, the plane, and the photographer were soon in the air.

"Fly over the north side of the fire and make several low passes," the photographer shouted.

"Why?" the nervous pilot asked.

"Because I'm going to take pictures! I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures," was the reply.

After a long pause, the pilot tensely asked, "You mean, you're not the instructor?"

The pilot and the photographer both trusted someone to do something they could not do. Luckily, in this case, thanks to communication by the air traffic control, they were able to get back to the airport.

In life, trust is often put in places, people, and things that are not worthy of such trust. People have entrusted friends, advise columnists, talk shows, spouses, organizations, and a host of other people and things - even their own feelings - to direct them. Unfortunately, many people do not learn until it is too late that their trust has been misguided and misplaced. Many decisions lead not to safety but to destruction!

Jesus warned, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matt 7:15) and "if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matt 15:14).

Our authority should be in God and His Word and not in preachers, friends, relatives and others. People can knowingly or unknowingly deceive others. God's word is the only safe guide.

#4109

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Heather Holmes gave the following testimony at Friendship Pregnancy Center's banquet on October 11, 1996. Heather is a volunteer who lives in Towaco, N.J., and attends Grace Bible Church in Pompton Plains, N.J.

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Good Evening. Last year was my very first Friendship banquet. Of course, I was late and we sat way in the back at Table 78. If anybody was to tell me then that I'd be up here speaking I would have told them they were crazy. What a difference a year makes!

I became a Christian in 1993 and I really didn't need much convincing that I was in need of a Savior. I had carried around the sin of abortion with me for about ten years and never told anyone. It wasn't spoken of - I just kept it hidden in my heart. I was very happy to leave it at the foot of the cross, except I don't think I really left it there.

Two years later I was at a health fair in Wayne and I saw the pregnancy center's booth and took some information. When I found out that it was a Christian organization I said, 'Ah, the Lord has led me here to reach out and help some young girls. I'm going to tell them not to do what I did.' So I started my training to be a counselor at Friendship. At the time I was pregnant with my son, Timothy (I also have a 4-year old daughter, Alexandra) and at home things were really starting to come to a head. I was angry a lot and didn't know why. I didn't have a lot of patience. Sometimes I felt numb, like I didn't have any emotion at all, and other times I was depressed and didn't know why.

Then I met Ann Marie [Van Sickle, PACE coordinator] when she came to our counselor training to tell us about the PACE [Post-Abortion Information & Education] program. I toyed with the idea of trying to get some help but never followed-up on it. Then I got a really bad nightmare one night and it involved my son. I couldn't tell anybody about it but that's all I needed. 'Thank you, Lord, for only giving me one nightmare!'

The next morning I was on the phone with Beverly [Frutchey, client services director] and she had no idea that I was post-abortive. I didn't tell anybody because at that point shame, guilt and secrecy were a big part of my make-up. [After I told her I was post-abortive], Bev hooked me up with the PACE program - a wonderful program. It gives hope after abortion, an intense Bible study and a safe, non-judgmental environment. We could share with each other and mourn and grieve. It took me twelve long years to bring this to light.

I really believe Satan rejoices when you keep things like that in the dark because that's where he works best and has a stronghold. I believed every single one of his lies. When I was saved I knew I was saved in my head but I didn't feel it in my heart. I believed that I wasn't worthy of forgiveness and that I was a bad mom. Then through the group I began to see him for what he was - a liar - and I began to look up for help and started believing and seeing God through healthy, biblical eyes. I knew that Jesus died for every one of my sins - not just this or that sin - every single one. In Ephesians 1:15 it says that God loves me and He chose me in all wisdom and understanding. He knew every single thing about me, and He still loved me, no matter what! That's kind of amazing to me, but I hold on to that so tightly.

Today I have so much less stress in my life. I enjoy my children so much more fully. I'm not afraid that God will punish me by taking away one of my children. I know God loves me - He gave me a wonderful family, a wonderful husband. God graced me with a wonderful church full of supporters to help me also. I know now that my debt is unequivocally paid, and I really have left it at the foot of the cross. I'm enjoying my God-given, God-intended freedom through my salvation. I can tell you right now that I can feel it in my heart, and I never thought that was possible.

If there is anybody here who's feeling like I did last year ... maybe I'm talking to you. Call Friendship, call the PACE program. Reach out because I promise you you'll find healing.

I'd like to read you a couple verses that meant so much to me. They're from Psalm 116:1-9:

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;

he heard my cry for mercy.

Because he turned His ear to me,

I will call on Him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me,

and the anguish of the grave came upon me,

I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the Lord:

"Oh Lord, save me!"

The Lord is gracious and righteous;

our God is full of compassion.

The Lord protects the simple-hearted;

when I was in great need He saved me.

Be at rest once more, 0 my soul

for the Lord has been good to you.

For you, 0 Lord, have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,

That I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

#4315

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[A skeptical view of miraculous healing, but one with which believers need to be familiar. - Holwick]

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT FAITH HEALING

The notion that prayer, divine intervention or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness has been popular throughout history. Miraculous recoveries have been attributed to a myriad of techniques commonly lumped together as “faith healing.” During the past forty years, several investigators have studied this subject closely and written about their findings.

Louis Rose, a British psychiatrist, investigated hundreds of alleged faith- healing cures. As his interest became well-known, he received communications from healers and patients throughout the world. He sent each correspondent a questionnaire and sought corroborating information from physicians. In FAITH HEALING [Penguin Books 1971], he concluded, “I have been unsuccessful. After nearly twenty years of work I have yet to find one ‘miracle cure’; and without that (or, alternatively, massive statistics which others must provide) I cannot be convinced of the efficacy of what is commonly termed faith healing.” [1]

During the early 1970s, Minnesota surgeon William Nolen, M.D., attended a service conducted by Katherine Kuhlman, the leading evangelical healer of that period. After noting the names of 25 people who had been “miraculously healed,” he was able to perform follow-up interviews and examinations. Among other things, he discovered that one woman who had been announced as cured of “lung cancer” actually had Hodgkin’s disease — which was unaffected by the experience. Another woman with cancer of the spine had discarded her brace and followed Ms. Kuhlman’s enthusiastic command to run across the stage. The following day her backbone collapsed, and four months later she died. Overall, not one person with organic disease had been helped. Dr. Nolen reported his findings, which included observations of several other healers, in HEALING: A DOCTOR IN SEARCH OF A MIRACLE, a book that I heartily recommend [2].

C. Eugene Emery, Jr., a science writer for the Providence Journal, has looked closely at the work of Reverend Ralph DiOrio, a Roman Catholic priest whose healing services attract people by the thousands. In 1987 Emery attended one of DiOrio’s services and recorded the names of nine people who had been blessed during the service and nine others who had been proclaimed cured. DiOrio’s organization provided ten more cases that supposedly provided irrefutable proof of the priest’s ability to cure. During a six-month investigation, Emery found no evidence that any of these 28 individuals had been helped [3].

The most comprehensive examination of contemporary “healers” is James Randi’s THE FAITH HEALERS [4]. The book describes how many of the leading evangelistic healers have enriched themselves with the help of deception and fraud. Some of Randi’s evidence came from former associates of the evangelists who got disgusted with what they had observed.

Randi’s most noteworthy experience was the unmasking of Peter Popoff, an evangelist who would call out the names of people in the audience and describe their ailments. Popoff said he received this information from God, but it was actually obtained by confederates who mingled with the audience before each performance. Pertinent data would be given to Popoff’s wife, who would broadcast it from backstage to a tiny receiver in Popoff’s ear. After recording one of Mrs. Popoff’s radio transmissions, Randi exposed the deception on the Johnny Carson Show. First he played a videotape showing Popoff interacting with someone in the audience. Then he replayed the tape with Mrs. Popoff’s voice audible to illustrate how Popoff used the information.

Randi also exposed the techniques used by evangelist W.V. Grant, who calls out people in the audience by name and describes their ailments. Grant obtains this information from letters people send him and by mingling with the audience before his show. To help his memory, he uses crib sheets and gets hand signals from associates who also use crib sheets. After one performance, Randi was able to retrieve a complete set from the trash Grant left behind! Following another performance, Randi found that some members of the audience had given false information about themselves, their ailments, and their medical care. For example, after “Dr. Jesus” had “put a new heart” into a man supposedly awaiting open-heart surgery, Randi found that the details (including the doctor and hospital named by Grant) could not be corroborated.

Grant’s subjects typically are “slain in the spirit” and fall backward into the arms of his assistants. In 1986 I observed from a few feet away what happened when he encountered an elderly woman who did not wish to fall backward when he touched her forehead. Grant pushed his fingers into her neck so hard that she could not remain standing. I also watched him “lengthen” the leg of a man who limped up to the stage, supposedly because one of his legs was shorter than the other. The audience may have been impressed with this feat, but I was not. Before the show began, I noted that the man was one of Grant’s assistants and walked normally.

INTERCESSORY PRAYER

In 1988, two investigators reported that their thorough search of the scientific literature had located only three controlled examinations of the effects of prayer by third parties on people who were unaware of the prayers. Of these, one (described below) claimed benefit but was poorly designed, whereas the others found no benefit and were well designed. Surprised by the small number of published studies, Witmer and Zimmerman asked 38 journal editors whether they had ever received but rejected a manuscript on the subject of intercessory prayer. They also asked the editors to ask their readers whether they knew of any such study, published or unpublished. No editor or reader responded affirmatively [5].

The study most often cited as evidence that third-party prayer is effective was carried out in the coronary care unit at San Francisco General Hospital. The study compared 192 patients who were prayed for by Christians located outside the hospital with 201 patients who served as controls [6]. The published report stated that the prayed-for group had fewer complications. However, the author’s tabulation was not valid because he scored interrelated complications separately and therefore gave them too much weight. The average length of hospital stay, which was not subject to this type of scoring error, was identical for the treatment and control groups [5,7].

IS ANYONE HELPED?

Is there any evidence that faith healing works? The first step in approaching this question is to specify what should be considered proof that an ailment has been healed by a supernatural method. In my opinion, three criteria must be met: 1) the ailment must be one that normally doesn’t recover without treatment; 2) there must not have been any medical treatment that would be expected to influence the ailment; and 3) both diagnosis and recovery must be demonstrable by detailed medical evidence.

If I wanted to demonstrate that I had an effective new treatment method, I would take pains to document the basis for my belief. For example, if I thought I could cure cancer with prayer, I would begin by making certain that patients I worked on actually had cancer. I would obtain their records, talk with their doctors, and have independent physicians examine them to determine their current status. After administering my treatment, I would conduct careful, long-range follow-up studies and report the outcome in detail.

Has any “faith healer” ever sent for the medical records of a client? Or had a client examined by a doctor before and after healing is administered? Or inquired about a client’s health months or years after the healing? Or even kept statistics to indicate what percentage of people with various ailments appear to have been helped? Or compiled data that an independent investigator could verify? As far as I know, no healer has ever done any of these things. On the other hand, many cases have been documented in which people with serious disease have died as a result of abandoning effective medical care after being “healed.”

Thus, as far as I am concerned, there is no reason to believe that faith healing has ever cured anyone of an organic disease. What about functional ailments — in which the symptoms are bodily reactions to tension? Some people who visit “healers” may feel better because the experience causes them to relax or because of a placebo effect. But any benefit of this type should be weighed against the fact that people who are not relieved may conclude that they are “unworthy” and become depressed as a result. Money spent for a fruitless experience with a healer is another negative factor.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

A number of religious sects favor prayer over medical care. Christian Science is probably the best known of these groups and is the only form of faith healing that is deductible as a medical expense for federal income tax purposes. Christian Science contends that illness is an illusion caused by faulty beliefs, and that prayer heals by replacing bad thoughts with good ones. Christian Science practitioners work by trying to argue the sick thoughts out of the person’s mind. Consultations can take place in person, by telephone, or even by mail. Individuals may also be able to attain correct beliefs by themselves through prayer or mental concentration. “You Can Heal,” a pamphlet of the Christian Science Publishing Society, states that “every student of Christian Science has the God-given ability to heal the sick.” Two weeks of class instruction are required to become a practitioner.

The weekly magazine Christian Science Sentinel publishes several “testimonies” in each issue. To be considered for publication, an account must be “verified” by three individuals who “can vouch for the integrity of the testifier or know of the healing.” During the past few years, believers have claimed that prayer has brought about recovery from anemia, arthritis, blood poisoning, corns, deafness, defective speech, multiple sclerosis, skin rashes, total body paralysis, visual difficulties, and various injuries. Most of these accounts contain little detail, and many of the diagnoses were made without medical consultation.

As far as I know, no systematic, medically supervised study of the outcome of Christian Science healing has ever been performed. However, a recent study suggests that devout Christian Scientists, who rarely consult doctors, pay a high price for avoiding medical care. The study was performed by William F. Simpson, Ph.D., an assistant professor of mathematics and computer science at Emporia State University. Dr. Simpson compared alumni records from Principia College, a Christian Science school in Elsah, Illinois, with records from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, and published his findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Even though Christian Science tenets forbid the use of alcohol and tobacco, the death rates among those who had graduated from Principia between 1934 and 1948 were higher than those of their University of Kansas counterparts — 26.2% vs. 20.9% in men, and 11.3% vs. 9.9% in women [8]. A subsequent study comparing the mortality of Christian Scientists and Seventh-day Adventists (who also are admonished to abstain from cigarettes and alcohol) found even greater differences [9].

Rita and Douglas Swan, whose 16-month-old son Matthew died of meningitis under the care of two Christian Science practitioners in 1977, are not surprised by these statistics. Angered by their experience, she founded CHILD, Inc., to work for legal reforms that can protect children from inappropriate treatment by faith healers. So far, they have collected 140 cases of children who died in this manner. Information about her group can be obtained by writing to P.O. Box 2604, Sioux City, IA 51106.

Membership in the Christian Science Church has been declining steadily. Since 1971 the number of practitioners and teachers listed in the Christian Science Journal has fallen from about 5000 to about 1800, and the number of churches has fallen from about 1800 to about 1300.

IS SPIRITUALITY HELPFUL?

A 1996 poll of 1,000 adults found that 79% believed that spiritual faith can help people recover from disease [10]. This idea is also popular among physicians. Although many studies have found associations between various measures of religiosity and health, no well-designed study has demonstrated that religious beliefs or prayer actually benefit health.[11]

REFERENCES

1. Rose L. “Faith Healing.” Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1971.

2. Nolen W. “Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle.” New York, 1974, Random House Inc.

3. Emery C.E. “Are they really cured?” Providence Sunday Journal Magazine, Jan 15, 1989.

4. Randi J. “The Faith Healers.” Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books,1987.

5. Witmer J, Zimmerman M. “Intercessory prayer as medical treatment? An inquiry.” Skeptical Inquirer 15:177-180, 1991.

6. Byrd R.C. “Positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in a coronary care unit population.” Southern Medical Journal 81:826 829, 1988.

7. Posner G., “God in the CCU? A Critique of the San Francisco Hospital study on intercessory prayer and healing.” Free Inquiry, Spring, 1990.

8. Simpson W.F. “Comparative longevity in a college cohort of Christian Scientists.” JAMA 262:1657-1658, 1989.

9. “Comparative mortality of two college groups.” CDC Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report 40:579-582, 1991.

10. McNichol T. “The new faith in medicine.” USA Today, April 7, 1996, p 4.

11. Sloan R.P., Baglella E., Powell T. “Religion, spirituality and medicine.” Lancet 353:664-667, 1999. The full text of this article can be accessed online by registering at the Lancet Web site and going to the contents page of the Feb 20th issue.

The classified ad read, "I am the man of your dreams. I love late night walks under star-filled skies." The ad ended by asking, "Are you the woman of my dreams? E-mail me soon, and let me touch your heart!"

Welcome to classified advertising in cyberspace. As with the notorious singles bars of the 1970s and 80s, you never know what you're really getting. In cyberspace, people are known only by their log-on names -- and they often adapt various on-line personas: completely fabricated names and personalities.

In other words, what used to be called schizoid behavior is considered standard fare in cyberspace.

In fact, pretending to be someone else is part of the attraction. Nobody knows what you look like, whether you're a man or a woman, how old you are, or where you live. You can present yourself as a beautiful blonde woman, a priest, an Olympic athlete, or a child -- even if you're none of these things. On-line junkies can even pretend to be the opposite sex in so-called "chat rooms" where people converse via their keyboards -- sometimes in sexually graphic terms.

MIT scientist Sherry Turkle describes this proliferation of identities in her book "Life on the Screen." Turkle argues that technology is rendering obsolete the belief in a single unified self. One's personality becomes whatever one chooses to make it. As Turkle puts it, cyberspace creates "a decentered self that exists in many worlds, that plays many roles at the same time."

The amazing thing is that many psychologists applaud these virtual multiple personalities. It used to be that psychologists helped people find their true selves. People spoke of "getting themselves together." But postmodernism has come to psychology, just as it has permeated the rest of our culture. It is the radical rejection of everything formerly considered to be stable and unchanging -- truth, morality, even human nature.

Postmodernism teaches that all we are is a collection of the different roles we play in the changing phases of our life.

The new breed of postmodern psychologists defines the healthy personality as one that constantly reinvents itself. People who have a stable, consistent personality are not viewed as healthy, but repressed. Since truth is relative, it's considered neurotic to be tied down to enduring beliefs that give order and stability to your life.

What this means is that we may soon be facing a culture where Christians are labeled, by definition, "psychologically unhealthy."

We need to be ready to argue that real mental health starts with knowing who we are and where we stand in relation to ultimate truth -- which is God himself. At the core of our being is a coherent self that God addresses, a self that God calls to respond to him.

Cyberspace may give opportunities to lose ourselves in a hall of mirrors -- and some people think that's a good thing. But you may never know whether the person behind the on-line ad really is the man of your dreams, or whether he's a 13-year-old kid with acne -- or even a woman.

It goes without saying that Christians ought not to fall for this stuff. Our task is just the opposite. Our task is to bring a message of wholeness to fragmenting souls.

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Copyright (c) 1999 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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"From birth to 18 a girl needs good parents. From 18 to 35, she needs good looks. From 35 to 55, good personality. From 55 on, she needs good cash. I'm saving my money."

-- Sophie Tucker (1884-1966), vaudeville actress

"Getting talked about is one of the penalties for being pretty, while being above suspicion is about the only compensation for being homely."

-- Kin Hubbard

"When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck."

-- Richard Cardinal Cushing

"Beauty is the first present nature gives to women and the first it takes away."

-- George Brossin Mere

"A beautiful lady is an accident of nature. A beautiful old lady is a work of art."

-- Louis Nizer

"There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness."

-- Countess of Blessington

"A beautiful heart more than offsets the handicap of a homely face."

"Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies."

-- John Donne

"I think women see me on the cover of magazines and think I never have a pimple or bags under my eyes. You have to realize that's after two hours of hair and makeup, plus retouching. Even I don't wake up looking like Cindy Crawford."

-- Cindy Crawford

"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."

-- Abraham Lincoln

The Lesson of the Door Knob

While playing golf recently an old friend related a story from his childhood memory bank about his grandmother. She raised chickens and would occasional have problems with snakes getting into her chicken house and eating the eggs. Being a resourceful woman, she would place a white porcelain door knob in the nest with the eggs. When the snake would come by for his next meal, he would mistakenly choose the door knob instead of an egg. Unable to crush the door knob during the consumption process as he did the eggs, the snake would apparently choke and eventually die. Within a few days my friend's grandmother would find the dead snake, retrieve the decoy egg, and save it for the next unsuspecting and uninvited dinner guest. I do not remember what prompted the telling of the story (though I think it might have had something to do with my golf ball ending up in an area where snakes were likely to be found), I do remember one of the applications that came to mind: You need to be careful of what you swallow.

There are a number of biblical examples of that lesson. Although the roles were reversed in the garden, when the serpent convinced Adam and Eve that "You will not surely die" if they ate the fruit of the "forbidden tree, they needed the lesson of the door knob. As David relaxed on his rooftop, peering into Bathsheba bathing area, he should have considered the lesson of the door knob. When Joseph was being tempted by Potiphar's wife, he obviously remembered the lesson of the door knob and ran away from the tempting situation as fast as he could. When Judas was taking the payoff from those who wanted to kill Jesus, he should have remembered the lesson of the door knob. As Peter was made his bold claims of his devotion to Jesus, he would have done well to consider the lesson of the door knob.

The same is true for us.

The middle-aged husband who has become bored with his life and "innocently"agrees to have dinner with his young and attractive work associate would do well to remember the lesson of the door knob.

The young mother and wife who has grown tired of being at home with the kids and decides to "get out and live a little" needs to remember the lesson of the door knob.

The teenager who is feeling that his parents "don't know anything about real life" and wants to "experience it all" needs to consider the lesson of the door knob.

The young executive trapped climbing the ladder of success faster than he ever imagined needs to slow down and reflect upon the lesson of the door knob.

The young man fresh out of school who has decided he wants to go into the military so he can "see the world" only to find himself on world tour like he never imagined somewhere in a strange land may be reciting the lesson of the door knob.

The newlyweds trying establish themselves in the community by going deep into debt for their "dream house" and their "dream car" and their "ideal family" need to consider the lesson of the door knob.

During this time of year we see a lot of things that we feel absolutely "we must have," until we get them. Then we may wonder why. Why did we not remember the lesson of the door knob?

Many things look shiny and appetizing on the outside. But, when you look inside they have an incredible way of not being what we thought we were getting. The automobile. The career move. The relationship. Once we try to peal away the shell, or the shell will not crack, we realize we did not get what we had expected.

It can happen in our quest for spirituality too: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophies, which depends on human traditon and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." (Colossians 2:8, NIV)

This week, we would all do well to make sure that the egg we are about to swallow is really an egg. Door knobs, not matter how much they may look like an egg, are not healthy. So, be careful what you swallow.

One of the most agonizing

rackets in the US. today involves the credit crisis.

This is done when you pay a crook to transfer to your name, the credit

history

of another person with a good credit history. Then he transfers your

bad

credit history to that individual. You may have read about it sometime

back.

In Houston, one automobile dealer sold seven cars to members of one

family on

the basis of seven completely stolen credit histories. Of course,

those who

have had their credit histories stolen have to re-establish their

credit line.

It's an agonizing process to go through. Not being able to get credit

even

though you have always been faithful to pay your bills on time.

A little of hell spilled over on the world because two people believed in a false prophet. In his brilliant book, “Nicholas and Alexandra,” Robert K. Massie tells how the Tsar and Empress of Russia were misled by a miracle and thus brought their great empire down to dust.

After many years of anxious waiting for an heir to the Russian throne, Tsar Nicholas II and his German wife, Federovna, were blessed with a son. However, their hopes for the future were cruelly crushed six weeks later when doctors discovered the infant had hemophilia, an incurable blood disease that could kill at any moment. All of his short life was to be lived in the shadow of terror, with death stalking every footstep.

This tragedy introduced into the royal family one of the most evil men who ever lived. Several times the young tsar slipped close to death. Seeing him writhe in excruciating pain, his tormented parents would beg doctors to do something, but they were helpless. In those moments they turned to Gregory Rasputin, a religious mystic of questionable credentials, later known as the mad monk of Russia. Invariably, he would pray for the boy and there would be a marked improvement. Even today doctors are at a loss to explain how these healings took place, but history testifies to them.

Always, Rasputin would warn the parents the boy would only live as long as they listened to him. Rasputin's power over the royal family became so great he could, with a word, obtain the appointment or dismissal of any government official. He had men appointed or dismissed on the basis of their attitudes toward himself rather than their abilities.

Consequently, the Russian government reeled under the unwise counsel of this evil man. Seeds of revolution were planted and watered with discontent. It erupted into the murder of the royal family, internal war, and the communistic takeover a key government figure during those trying times, later reflected, “Without Rasputin, there could have been no Lenin.”

Dr. O. J. Nease tells of a sad mistake relative to transfusion. You

know the former method of transfusion was to place a well person

beside the sick one, insert a tube into the arm of the well person and

one into the arm of the sick one, and then, through a mechanical

process, pump the blood from the well to the sick person. But on one

occasion the device did not work properly, and in some way the pumping

was reversed from what was expected. They pumped the blood full of

deadly germs into the arm of the well person. A whole pint had been

transferred before it was known. The results were disastrous. It looks

as though the devil has succeeded often in these days in injecting the

deadly poison of deception and damning counterfeits.

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

"Why should there always be this fear and slaughter between us?" said the Wolves to the Sheep. "Those evil-disposed Dogs have much to answer for. They always bark whenever we approach you and attack us before we have done any harm. If you would only dismiss them from your heels, there might soon be treaties of peace and reconciliation between us." The Sheep, poor silly creatures, were easily beguiled and dismissed the Dogs, whereupon the Wolves destroyed the unguarded flock at their own pleasure.

Yes, Satan call tell Christians, "Ah, don't obey the Commandments. Go ahead and sleep in on Sunday mornings. O, come on, this little 'sin' won't hurt anyone, etc." However, Satan's sole purpose is not to help us, but to destroy us!