SECTION VII
Chapter 5. Belief in Relics, Faith-healing, and other "Christian"
      Supernatural Phenomenon

   "Religions are born and may die, but superstition is immortal."
                                            -- Will Durant

  Most religions have promised miraculous cures--be it through sacred
relics, magical amulets, anointing with sanctified oil or water, visiting
a holy site, or prayer. Even Buddhism--which is one of the more passive and
inner-spiritually driven religions--has advertised miraculous cures in an
attempt to win over new converts.

  Christian believers in miracles have long pointed to 1 Corinthians 12 as
biblical proof that their powers are authenticated.  In this verse, Paul
states that there are nine gifts from God--three of them being the Gift
of Healing, the Gift of Knowledge (interpreted to mean the ability to
"call out" the Sick for healing), and the Speaking in Tongues.  We shall
be looking at these, in addition to other ancient Christian traditions
on miracles.

  Early Christians, borrowed much of their mystical, magical rites from
either the pagans and/or Jews. One of the oldest pseudo-sciences employed
by almost ALL ancient peoples--was that of numerology.

Numerology
  
   Numerology is the mystical belief that names can be broken down into
their numeric equivalents to obtain special knowledge. For example, to the
ancient Hebrews, the number 26 had special mystical meaning--for it was the
numeric equivalent of the name of God, or "Yahweh".  The Hebrew words for
"One" (ehad) and "love" (ahavah) each add up to 13, making the total equal
to the magical number 26.

  The number 26 was also considered important because it is in verse 26 of
Genesis where God says: "Let us make man in our image".   Adam and Moses
were 26 generations apart; the DIFFERENCE between the numeric equivalents of
Adam (45) and Eve (19) was 26, and on and on.

  The ancient Greeks, such as the school of Pythagoras, also engaged in
numerology.  Early Christian mystics, who read and wrote in Greek, noted
that the numerical equivalent of the Greek letters alpha (the first Greek
letter, symbolizing "Beginning") and omega (the last Greek letter, which
to mystics symbolized the "End") added up to 801.  They felt it significant
that the Greek word for dove ("peristera") also had a numerical equivalent
of 801, and that this hidden truth pointed to the validity of the Trinity.
(Note: For more examples by St. Augustine and other early Christians,
see Section V, Chapter 3)

  During the Middle Ages, numerology was considered a serious subject. The
number seven was determined to be the harmonious number within the universe.--
There were seven planets, seven zodiacal signs, seven notes in a harmonic
scale, etc.  There were seven virtues for Christians, seven sins, and seven
sacraments. According to the Book of Genesis, the world was made in seven
days, Adam and Eve had been in Paradise seven days, etc, etc. Theologians
noted this mystical number seven came up when one added three (the number
in the Holy Trinity) plus four (the number of gospels).  Again, if you
multiplied the three facets of the soul times the four elements within
the universe (based on Aristotle's theory) this gave a product of twelve--
the number of the Apostles.

  The most famous Christian numerological sign was that used in the book of
Revelations, to denote the name of the Beast of the Apocalypse--or 666.
Revelations does not specify which language is to be used (ie Hebrew or
Greek) to calculate the numerical equivalents.  However a good guess,
is Hebrew--for in Hebrew the numeric equivalent of "Caesar Nero", who
was the first Roman Emperor to persecute Christians, had a value of 666.

  Christian mystics sometimes searched for combinations of 666 to make a
politically motivated accusation.  For example, some Catholic mystics in the
sixteenth century denounced Martin Luther as the Antichrist, since his name,
using Latin, had a numerical equivalent of 666.  Some of Luther's followers
fought back by noting that the words in the pope's crown, "Vicar of the Son
of God" could be calculated as 666.

  Numerology has been employed, even up into modern times. For example, one
group has noted that the American President, Ronald Wilson Reagan, has six
letters in each of his names--arguing (obviously as a joke) that this makes
HIM the Anti-Christ.

(Many of the above examples above were taken from INNUMERACY p 67-8, who in
turn quotes Georges Ifrah's FROM ONE TO ZERO).

Religious Relics

   Jews have no tradition of revering religious relics. Indeed, according
to Jewish law, touching the body of a corpse makes a person "unclean" for
seven days. According to the book of Numbers: "Whosoever touches the body of
any man that is dead and purifies not himself, defiles the tabernacle of the
Lord". Walking into a tent containing a dead body, also made a Jew impure
for seven days, and special purification rites were required for both the
religious Jew AND the tent. Likewise to touch a dead man's bone or even
to stumble upon a grave, placed a Jew in a state of impurity.  (Actually
modern medicine knows that corpses are breeding grounds for disease--which
is why some of the early Egyptian archeologists became ill after opening
ancient tombs).

  This, of course does NOT mean that Jews exhibited NO reverence for their
dead. The Old Testament tells of the great care that was given to the burial
of the bones of their patriarchs, kings, and prophets.  In Jesus' time, the
Pharisees carried on the long tradition of "building the sepulchers of the
prophets and garnishing the tombs of the righteous."  Matthew's Jesus shows
how Jews revered their dead, while still viewing direct contact with corpses
as impure.  In comparing tombs with hypocrites, Jesus declared hypocrites
were "like whitened sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful but inwardly
are full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness."

  Christians shared with the Jews their reverence for the graves of pious
individuals, but NOT their attitudes towards CORPSES. At least by the late
second century AD, it was common for Christians to clamor for the bones and
ashes of martyrs, in the belief that these objects brought them into contact
with divine magical healing powers.   Sometimes relics were WORN by believers
(say as a necklace).  Sometimes a church collected them and placed them on
display for pilgrims. On festivals and other special occasions, relics could
be paraded down the streets for all to see.

   Pagans had similar attitudes towards relics and their dead heroes as the
Christians.  In the ancient world, pagan cities competed for the privilege
of burying a great hero in a tomb on their soil. According to Herodotus, the
Lacodaemonians believed that if the body of Orestes was not brought back to
their city, then they would lose in battle. During a plague in Orchomenos,
a priestess declared that the plague would not halt-- until the body of Hesiod
were brought there. (As with Christians, if the entire body was not available,
then bodily parts--could be substituted.) (James Bentley, RESTLESS BONES,
THE STORY OF RELICS, Constable and Company Limited, London, 1985, p 40)

  In the fifth century, the Christian Bishop Theodoret of Cyrrhus noted how
God had replaced pagan heroes with Christian martyrs. While PAGANS had earlier
built temples over their heroes' tombs, CHRISTIANS now built churches over the
relics of their saints. (Ibid, p 41)

  When the Christians were persecuted by the Roman pagans, this ironically
increased the SUPPLY of saintly bones--and hence relics. Because of this,
pagans were often bribed to hand over the remains of Christian martyrs to
their followers.

  Still, even with numerous Christian martyrs now available, DEMAND became
so great for religious relics, that it began to exceed the seemingly
endless SUPPLY of Christian saintly remains. At first, reverence was given
only to the corpse itself (ie bones and ashes).  Thus, a practical solution to
the SHORTAGE arose, by ALSO showing reverence towards ANY piece of clothing
or possession that had come into personal contact with the saint.--This
included not only clothing and jewelry, but even whips and instruments
of torture that had brought the Christian into his state of sainthood.

   St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, justified the veneration
of garments worn by the saints, based on his study of the New Testament: In
the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul used handkerchiefs and aprons, which were
taken and used second-hand by others to exorcise evil spirits from the
possessed.  Also according to Acts, people waited in the streets, hoping
that St. Peter's SHADOW might fall on them and cure them.  St. Chrysostom
argued that if handkerchiefs, aprons, even shadows could heal, then to touch
clothing worn by a holy Christian should also invoke a blessing. (Ibid, p 42)

  Pagans had also reverenced the possessions of their heroes.  The temple of
Athena at Phaselis once boasted of Achilles' lance. The temple of Athena at
Iapygia claimed it possessed the sandal of Helen. Agememnon's scepter was
displayed at Chaeronaea. Other pagan relics included the egg of Leda and
left-over clay from which Prometheus molded mankind. Like Christians, pagans
believed that these relics contained powers to cure the sick, promote
fertility, guard against the plague, and assure victory in times of war.

  Catholic Christians, however, soon surpassed their pagan counterparts in the
vast volumes of relics they collected. Some Catholic churches and private
collections contained literally hundreds of thousands of relics, many claiming
to date back to the time of Jesus.  There were pieces of wood from Jesus' cross
(enough to build several log cabins), bones of the children killed by King
Herod, bones of other famous individuals including St. Peter, the three Wise
Kings, St. Peter, etc, jars of the Virgin Mary's milk. There were several heads
that were reportedly the decapitated head of John the Baptist, sixteen
foreskins from the baby Jesus' circumcision, scraps of bread and fish left
over from Jesus' miraculous feeding of the 5000, a crust of bread from the
Last Supper, a hair from Jesus' beard--the list goes on and on.

  One wealthy man collected some 17,000 religious relics, which led then
Pope Leo X to declare that the man had saved himself exactly 694,779,550 1/2
days in purgatory by his pious dedication to his hobby. (James Randi, THE
FAITH HEALERS, p 14)

  Many early Church fathers were careful to explain that it was NOT the
relic that the Christians worshipped--but God who kept the martyrs with Him in
heaven. St. Augustine wrote on the subject, "No bishop has ever at the altar,
in any holy place which contained the relics of the martyrs, said 'Peter,
or Paul, or Cyprian, we offer you this sacrifice.' It is to God, who crowns
the martyrs, that the sacrifice is offered."

  At times, St Augustine became annoyed that believers were not more careful
whether they had obtained a genuine (as opposed to a faked) relic. Still,
he also strongly believed that relics should be held in the highest regard:
"The clothing or the ring of a saint", according to Augustine, "ought to be
dearer to us than those of our own parents." (James Bentley, op cit, p 46)

  Byzantium believed that its holy relics protected it against invaders.
When Antony, Archbishop of Novgorod visited Constantinople in 1200, he gave
a long list of the relics that were contained in the great church of St.
Sophia. These included two slabs from Christ's tomb, the table from the Last
Supper in Jerusalem, clothing from Elijah, tablets of the Ten Commandments,
the Ark of the Covenant, some of the hebrews' manna during their forty years
in the Exodus wilderness, and the trumpet Joshua used to blow outside Jericho.
Some relics were considered so holy that they were displayed only on special
occasions.--These included "the wood of the cross which Christ's neck touched,
in the form of a cross", and "the hammer, the gimlet and the saw with which
the cross was made." (Ibid, p 50-1)

   Protestant reformers were some of the earliest vocal critics of relics.
Martin Luther lashed out against relics: "What LIES there are about relics!
One man claims to possess a feather from the wings of the angel Gabriel,
and the Bishop of Mainz has a flame from Moses' burning bush.  And how does
it come to pass that eighteen apostles are buried in Germany when Christ chose
only twelve?" (Ibid, 177)

  John Calvin was even more indignant.  He had heard that one treasured relic
consisted of "a piece of broiled fish which Peter gave to Jesus on the sea
shore". Observed Calvin, the fish "must have been thoroughly spiced to have
been preserved so long". He noted how unlikely it would have been for an
apostle to have kept the fish. After viewing numerous containers purportedly
containing milk from the Virgin Mary, Calvin cracked: "had the Virgin been a
wet-nurse for all of her life, she could not have produced more milk than
you can see in various parts of the land." (Ibid, p 170)

   As to the vials of holy blood that were kept of Jesus' blood, John Calvin
appealed to reason: How was it possible for so much holy blood to be found
after a period of seven to eight hundred years. Likewise, he attacked claims
of possessing Jesus' manger and swaddling clothes, and the altar on which
Jesus was presented in the Jerusalem Temple.  Surely such personal items
would not have lasted longer than fifty years. As for the altar, the Romans
had presumably leveled the Temple of Jerusalem.

  Calvin argued that if people would just use their brains, that they could
easily see that some relics were clearly fakes. The head of Mary Magdalene
at Marseilles had waxen eyes. At Geneva, a relic purporting to be the arm of
St Anthony's fell out of its shrine one day, and was discovered to be the
bone of a stag. Likewise in Geneva, the purported brain of St. Peter's was
later discovered to be merely a lump of pumice stone. All these fake relics
were, according to Calvin, "inventions for deceiving silly folk--or (as some
monks and priests confessed) pious frauds or honest deceits to stimulate the
devotion of the people." Calvin lashed out at such reverence as worthless.
(Ibid, p 172)

  Luther, Calvin, and other Protestants downplayed relics in their theologies.
As John Calvin explained, nothing should detract from the two pillars of the
Christian religion--ie the Bible itself, and the sacraments of Holy Communion
and Baptism.  The cult of relics could be perceived as a short-cut by believers
in attaining divine help, without changing one's daily behavior.  To Calvin
and the other Protestant reformers, because the cult of relics was based on
superstition, there was a danger that worship of relics could slip into
idolatry. (Ibid. p 174)

  Catholic reformers, while keeping the cult of relics, made an effort to
remove fake relics from the genuine relics.  For example, in 1707, the
Bishop of Chalons halted the veneration of the holy navel of Jesus which
was displayed at Notre-Dame-en Vaux. (Ibid, p 180) However, thousands of
purported GENUINE relics are still venerated by Catholics to this day.

The Shroud of Turin--World's Most Famous Relic

  The gospel of John describes Jesus as being buried with a cloth napkin over 
his face.  According to the gospel of Mark there was (also) a shroud that 
covered the entire body:
"And Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the 
centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he 
learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to 
Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped 
him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn 
out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the 
tomb." (Mark, 15: 44-46)
   The Shroud of Turin purports to be this burial cloth that covered Jesus 
Christ's body.  It was first "discovered" during the thirteenth century AD. A
contemporary medieval investigation into the shroud led by a local bishop,
wrote in its report to then Pope Clement, that the shroud was a fake. According
to the report, the bishop had even talked to the artist who "confessed" in
the thirteenth century how he had "cunningly painted" the image on the shroud.   
Despite this report, the church in Turin continued to hold out the shroud as a 
genuine relic.  (Note: Ian Wilson believes he's found several European 
references to the shroud, connecting it to something called the Edessa Cloth. A 
historically well-documented object of reverence in Constantinople for 350 
years, the cloth disappeared when the Crusaders plundered the city in 1204.  
Although most reports say the cloth only contained an imprint of a head, Wilson 
believes the body portion was usually folded for viewing).

  In 1898, a great deal of excitement was generated after the Shroud at Turin
was photographed. For the photograph of the shroud showed a quasi-negative
portrait of Christ--one in which dark and light were approximately reversed.
In addition, the proportions of the image, seemed too perfect to be merely
painted--as there was a DEPTH dimension to it. Various scientific theories
were proposed by shroud advocates to "explain" how Jesus' resurrection had
left this miraculous "imprint" on the shroud.

   Skeptics maintained that the image had been painted.  Their position was that 
there was NO historical record of any such shroud in the first thirteen hundred 
years (not to mention the contemporary bishop's report that he had evidence the 
shroud was a fake). In addition, the "blood" on the shroud was still red--
instead of turning black with age. It also showed clear, fine flows--as opposed 
for example of showing clumps in the hair.

  In 1978, Joe Nickell (in association with CSICOP) published an article
explaining how the negative image could be easily reproduced by using the
medieval art of rubbing a bas-relief sculpture.  A year later, micro-analyst
Walter McCrone discovered that the "blood" was actually a common form of
tempera paint used during medieval times, and one which contained red ochre,
vermilion, and rose madder pigments in it.

   Still, there was a great deal of controversy generated over the genuineness
of the shroud at Turin.  Some scientists associated with the Shroud of Turin
Research Project (STURP)--a group whose Catholic leaders also served on the
Holy Shroud Guild-- continually dismissed the findings of Nickell and McCrone.
Finally, to resolve the conflict, the Catholic Church agreed to allow a small
sample of the shroud to be used in a carbon-14 test, to settle the age of
the shroud once and for all.
   On April 21, 1988, under the gaze of Anastasio Cardinal Ballestrero of Turin 
and a video camera, Italian microanalyst Giovanni Riggi cut a 1/2-in. by 3-in. 
strip of linen from the shroud, well away from its central image and any charred 
or patched areas. He divided the strip into three postage stamp-size samples and 
distributed them to representatives of laboratories in Zurich, Oxford and the 
University of Arizona in Tucson. Each then performed at least three radiocarbon 
measurements on its sample. 
   (Note: Radiocarbon dating works by measuring an artifact for an isotope 
called carbon 14, traces of which are contained in all organic substances, 
including the flax plants from which the shroud's linen was made. Carbon 14 is 
unstable and decays over time into another isotope. The amount present in living 
organisms remains nearly constant because it is continually replaced through the 
intake of food and air. But when animals and plants die, their level of carbon 
14 begins to decrease at a known, fixed rate. Thus the amount of residual carbon 
14 in an object provides a measurement of its age.) 
  The scientists retreated to their labs. In October of the same year, the 
Oxford team gave a press conference at the British Museum. To eliminate 
suspense, they had helpfully written two dates on a chalkboard behind them: 
"1260-1390!" This estimated span for the origin of the shroud's linen was later 
detailed in an article co-written with the other two labs for the journal 
Nature, which straightforwardly stated that the radiocarbon-dating results 
"provide conclusive evidence that the linen of the Shroud of Turin is medieval." 
Nuclear physicist Harry Gove, who helped develop the radiocarbon-dating process 
used on the shroud, went a bit further. He said the odds were "about one in a 
thousand trillion" against the shroud's having been woven in the time of Jesus. 
Edward Hall, a member of the Oxford team, went further still. Anyone who 
continued to believe the shroud was a flat earther." ("Science and the Shroud", 
TIME MAGAZINE, April 20, 1998, Vol. 151 No. 15, 
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/980420/cover1.html)

    Still this was not the end of the matter, for the manner of the Carbon 14 
dating has been challenged--The most important of these coming from Dr. Leoncio 
Garza-Valdes, a San Antonio, Texas, pediatrician with interests in microbiology 
and archaeology. Based on his experience that a lacquer-like coating produced by 
bacteria can affect Carbon 14 dating, Valdes wondered whether the shroud also 
had a "bioplastic" varnish which fooled the labs into decreeing an object 
younger than it actually was. 

   In May 1993, Garza-Valdes was permitted to test a tiny piece of the shroud. 
Two years later, working with microbiologist Stephen Mattingly of the University 
of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Garza-Valdes determined that the 
coating was embedded with "coccal-shaped bacteria and filamentous mold-like 
organisms" which he felt had the potential to skew the radiocarbon dating by 
1,300 years (to get it to Jesus).  The coating--which is transparent and thus 
invisible to the naked eye—isn't easily removed by the conventional cleaning 
methods of most radiocarbon labs. Properly cleaned, declared Mattingly, "I think 
you'd find out the [shroud's] linen is much older, though I don't know by how 
much."  (Ibid)
    The scientists who had radiocarbon-dated the shroud were predictably dubious 
about Garza-Valdes' claims regarding the bioplastic film and pointed out that 
other than Mattingly and Valdes, no peer-reviewed on their shroud work had been 
performed. "The only people who have ever seen these bacteria are Drs. Mattingly 
and Garza-Valdes," complained Arizona's Timothy Jull. "In my opinion, our sample 
of the shroud was very clean, and there was no evidence of any coating." Even if 
the hypothetical varnish existed, Jull added, the amount necessary to throw off 
the dating by 1,300 years would have been visible to the naked eye. 
    Unfortunately the labs will not have the opportunity to rigorously perform 
another radioactive test on a verifiably "clean" piece of the shroud to resolve 
the issue once and for all.  Soon afterwards, in 1986, Cardinal Saldarini called 
in all outstanding threads and samples without explanation, announcing only that 
the church would disown any testing on unreturned remnants.  Thus without a 100% 
reliable radiocarbon test, to many, belief in the authenticity of the Shroud of 
Turin returns to the realm of faith.
Speaking in Tongues

  Speaking in tongues refers to the ability to speak foreign languages
while in a state of religious exaltation.  To qualify as a miracle, these 
foreign languages cannot be previously known to the speaker of tongues--else 
there would be nothing mystical about the ability.

  Speaking in tongues is mentioned in Mark 16:17-8, where a risen Jesus
Christ tells his disciples:

   "And these signs shall follow them that believe:  In my name shall they
   cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up 
   serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
   they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
  
  Acts 2:4, also describes a meeting of the Apostles where:

  "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them power of utterance."

   Speaking in tongues is not unique to Christianity, but appears to be
widespread in many cultures. Anthropologists have found glossolalia among 
primitive tribes they have studied.  Nor is the practice a recent one.  
Speaking in tongues was known to the ancient pagans.  Plato spoke of this 
phenomenon. Indeed, the ancient Greek and Roman oracles often  spoke in 
tongues-- in the AENEAD, Virgil mentions a Roman sibyl (or fortune teller) 
who spoke in this way. The ancient mystery religions in Greece and Rome 
encouraged their members to be placed in ecstatic trances, during which some 
spoke in "tongues".  Speaking in tongues also was known in some of fringe 
members of the major religions.  The Bebiim, early Hebrew prophets (see 1 
Samuel 10:5) were said to engage in wild dancing and mystical speakings. The 
Muslim Maulawiya (the whirling dervishes of Islamic Sufism) lash themselves 
with whips and play with snakes during ecstatic sessions that include 
speaking in tongues.

  Although some of the early Protestant sects recognized the phenomena
of speaking in tongues, it was later de-emphasized.  It fell into general
disuse until about 1830, when it re-appeared in England among "females of
excitable temperament". (Randi, FAITHHEALERS,p 36)

  The speaking of tongues was kicked off in the United States in 1900's, when
a Methodist minister in Topeka, Kansas encouraged his Bible students to
search for the second baptism of the Holy Ghost--the speaking in tongues.
On January 1, 1901, Miss Agnes Oaman become the first American to demonstrate
the gift of speaking in tongues during a Pentecostal revival.

  Today the practice is an important rite in the Pentecostal Christian
church.  The largest single Pentecostal church is the Assembly of God,
which has over a million and a half members in the U.S. alone. (Pentecostal
believers have been largely considered a fanatical group of "Holy Rollers"
by the more conventional Christian sects).  However during the early
1960's, the practice of speaking tongues also infiltrated into more mainline
Christian denominations--including Episopalians, Lutherans, and Presbyterians.
By the 1970's the practice had also spread to the Catholic church.

  I knew a young émigré from Russia who attended a Pentecostal ceremony
were people around her spoke in tongues. She related the experience of how
one woman next to her informed her she was speaking Russian (among other
languages.) Laughing over the experience, she told me, "I don't know WHAT
she was speaking--but it wasn't Russian!"

  Actually, there is a biblical passage that explains why observers typically
do not understand the utterances of those speaking in tongues-- I Corinthians
14:2 explains that "when a man is using the language of ecstasy he is
talking with God, not with men, for no man understands him ..." That is,
only God understands the speaker's utterances.

Demonic Possession

    Most doctors and psychiatrists today diagnose "demonic possession" as any
one of a number of mental illnesses. During an epileptic seizure, a person
can experience muscular rigidity, foam at the mouth, and uncontrollable
shaking. The face may be distorted, and the individual may utter strange,
guttural noises.  Just prior to the seizure, the individual may experience
auditory and visual hallucinations.

   Individuals diagnosed with hysteria can, in extreme cases, vacillate
between wild movement and a catatonic motionless state. The body is
frequently bent in a semicircle.  The face will contort into various
degrees of rage and horror. Other individuals exhibit multiple
personalities, with each personality having characteristics very
different from the other.

  For a diagnosis of possession, the Catholic Church will look for various
factors: First an attack must last for several hours, before the Church will
question it to of demonic nature.  Secondly, the exorcist looks for a general
hatred towards religious objects. According to the Roman Ritual, other signs
of possession include "the ability to speak with some familiarity in a strange
tongue or to understand it when spoken by another; the faculty of divulging
future and hidden events; and the display of powers which are beyond the
subject's age and natural condition." (MYSTERIES OF THE UNEXPLAINED, p 106).

  For example, one story of a possessed young girl claimed that when the nuns
sprinkled holy water on her, that she screamed that it burned her. But when
they secretly substituted regular water, she simply laughed. The young girl
also complained vigorously whenever a cross, or any other religious object was
brought near her--even when it was concealed upon being brought into the room.
Other physical manifestations included levitation, the ability to transform
herself into a snake, and psychic knowledge of dates and events.
  
   Psychiatrists and doctors usually explain the above manifestations as
misconceptions or hallucinations by the witnesses. I saw a documentary on
television once where a woman was brought to the hospital, after being under
the delusion she was "a devil". After being treated as a mental patient with
lithium, she completely recovered and went home. Unfortunately, because
lithium is not a cure, she later relapsed.  (Interestingly, one reason why
bathing in mineral waters during ancient times was used to treat mental
illnesses, among other maladies--is because it sometimes contained traces of
lithium.) (See Section VIII, Chapter 6 for a discussion of the mind and
mental illnesses.)

  Because cases such as this show improvement after medical treatment,
there are two possibilities:

  (1) either the devils are "driven out" by lithium/other treatment,

or,

  (2) the lithium chemically alleviated physical problems arising in the
brain, which are unrelated to demonic forces.  (This is the accepted view
of virtually all medical professionals.) As of this date, no documented
MEDICAL case for exorcism exists.

An Exorcism with a Tragic Ending

    In November 1973, Anneliese Michel, a young German student attending
the University of Wurtzburg was taken by her parents to their local parish
priest.  She had developed abnormal behavior while at the university --
refusing to eat, flying into violent rages, and trying to attack others for
no apparent reason.  The doctors had earlier diagnosed Anneliese as an
epileptic, but her parents were concerned that other forces were at work.

  The priest concluded that Anneliese was possessed by demons, and he
recommended that an exorcism take place.  As required by Roman Catholic
procedures, the case was reviewed by Father Rodewyk, a leading authority
on demonic possession and exorcism.  He also recommended that an exorcism
take place.

  The actual exorcism began in the spring of 1976.  After several months of
the exorcism, Anneliese died of malnutrition and dehydration--Indeed she
weighed only 70 pounds. The two priests who performed the exorcism were later
given suspended prison sentences in Germany.  The Catholic authorities were
shocked, and in May 1978 the German Bishops' Conference ruled that no future
exorcisms were to take place unless a doctor was present.  (Time, 111:80-81,
August 8, 1978)


Stigmata

  Stigmata refers to the phenomenon whereby some devout Christians have
apparently "experienced"  wounds on their hands/feet, etc--following the
contemplation and worship of images of the crucified Jesus. During the
thirteenth century, in medieval Europe, it became popular to recreate
the physical aspects of Christ's resurrection through miracle plays, and
individual acts of "self-mutilation." (Ian Wilson, STIGMATA, Harper & Row,
1989, p 18.  Note this section on stigmata relies heavily on  Wilson's book.)

  For example, in England there was a recorded case of a man who had
deliberately pierced his hands and feet.  He them proclaimed himself
as the "Son of God and the Redeemer of the World". He created public
spectacles by arranging for himself to be nailed to a cross. (He was
arrested, and received life imprisonment).(Similar cases are recorded
in John Capgrave's CHRONICLE OF ENGLAND.)  (ibid)

  It was during the thirteenth century religious revivals, when Jesus
Christ's pains from his wounds was being emphasized--that the FIRST
case of stigmata emerged.  The first recorded case of stigmata was
attributed to the famous St. Francis of Assisi.

  Francis was forty-two years old at the time, and extremely sickly from
living an impoverished, ascetic lifestyle.  Modern scholars suspect that
St. Francis had earlier contracted malaria. According to his biographer St.
Bonaventure, by 1222 St. Francis "began to suffer from diverse ailments so
grievously that scarce one of his limbs was free from pain and sore suffering.
At length by diverse sickness, prolonged and continuous he was brought to
such a point that his flesh was wasted away and only as it were the skin
clove to his bones."  (Ibid p 17))

  After having earlier spent days fasting and praying on Mt. Alernia,
St. Francis of Assisi experienced a vision of Christ crucified in 1224.
He then arose to discover that he had marks on his body corresponding to
the five wounds or stigmata of Christ.  According to Brother Leo,

  "For his hands and feet had as it were piercings made by nails fixed
  in from above and below, which laid open the scars and had the black
  appearance of nails; while his side appeared to have been lanced, and
  blood often trickled there from."(Translated from Reginald Balfour SERAPHIC
  KEEPSAKE, p 38, as quoted by Ian Wilson, STIGMATA, Harper & Row, 1989, p 13).

Afterwards, Francis' wounds prevented him from walking. Therefore a donkey
was brought in to help him down the mountain. (Ian Wilson, op cit., p 13)

  Francis of Assisi died two years later.  His marks were still present
on his corpse at the time of his death.  One monk claimed he could discern
how black nails appeared to have formed themselves out of his flesh.

  Following publicity from St. Francis' miraculous stigmata, other amazing
instances of stigmatization followed. Some cases apparently were nuns who
clearly displayed a neurosis towards self-mutilation to make themselves
worthy of heaven.  For example, the stigmatic Elizabeth of Herkengrode, was
known to have whipped herself into a frenzy until she bled, to roll herself
on thorns, and to writhe on the floor as if being hit by invisible blows.

   Sometimes there were cases of outright fraud.  For example, the nun Sor 
Maria de la Visitacion, who became known as the "holy nun of Lisbon", claimed 
stigmata. These included hand and foot "nail-wounds" and "crown of thorns" 
punctures on her forehead.  She became so famous, that her blessing was sought 
after, by the Marquis of Santa Cruz in 1587. (The Marquis was the naval 
commander of the Spanish Armada on its ill-fated voyage to England.)

    Some were skeptical of Sor Maria's stigmata.  A fellow nun claimed
she had caught Maria in the act of painting one of the nail wounds on her
hand.  An inquiry was set up. But when a Catholic priest tried to test her
veracity by washing her hands with soap, Sor Maria screamed that the slightest
touch to her wound caused her intense pain.  The good father, bought her
explanation, and-- based on visual examination, passed her stigmata as
genuine.

   After the disastrous defeat of the Armada by the English--and with it,
the evident failure of Sor Maria's blessing--new doubts appeared. A new
investigation was called for, this time conducted through the body of
the Inquisition.  The no-nonsense Inquisitors, paid no attention this time
to Sor Maria's screams of pain, as they washed her wounds with soap. What they
found was that her "wounds" had indeed been painted. Sor Maria was arrested.

  Despite some cases of fraud, others (such as St. Francis of Assisi) are
probably genuine stigmatics. A common factor is that, just before the stigmata
appears, the individuals seem to have been under extreme physical or mental
stress while contemplating the sufferings of Christ. (Ibid, p 82). This would
also explain why there were no reported cases of stigmata, before the
thirteenth century when the visual, physical pain of Christ's crucifixion
was NOT emphasized.

 Psychologists explain the reaction away as hysteria, which has also been
documented to produce skin rashes and blindness.  Some documented cases are
clearly have NO religious connection.  For example, a woman placed under
hypnosis by the Liverpool hypno-therapist Joe Keeton, was told to relive a
purported past life of an individual who had died by hanging. According to
witnesses, as the woman was reliving the experience of hanging, the skin
around her neck flared up with a dark red rope mark on it. (Wilson, op
cit., p 93)

  In one scientifically documented case, a German psychiatrist named Dr.
Alfred Lechler reported on a disturbed twenty six year old women known as
Elizabeth.  Elizabeth had been referred to him to treat hysteria and multiple
personalities. Born into a poor family, Elizabeth's mother had died when she
was six.  Afterwards, she lived with a tyrannical step-mother who made her
life miserable. After a bad case of influenza, Elizabeth began suffering
involuntary tremblings and cramps in her joints.

   Elizabeth's health improved following her treatment by Dr Lechler.
However, when her step-mother demanded she return home, she began suffering
from serious bouts of headaches and nausea, followed by a four-day period
of unconsciousness and later feelings of paralysis.  Dr. Lechler allowed
her to stay in his own household as a domestic servant, to pay for continued
treatment.  During this time, Dr. Lechler noticed that she tended to display
physical signs of any diseases she came in contact with--even though she
wasn't really sick. For example she once began coughing up blood as if
she had contracted tuberculosis.  Later tests proved she was perfectly
healthy.

  During church services on a Good Friday, Elizabeth watched a slide
presentation regarding the various stages of Jesus' sufferings. Later, she
complained to Dr. Lechler of experiencing pains from nails being driven in
her. Curious about the phenomenon of stigmata, Dr. Lechler placed a hypnotic
suggestion that real nails were indeed being driven in. The next morning,
Elizabeth woke up with red and swollen marks (about the size of a penny) on
her hands and feet.  Dr. Lechler then explained to her that he was the cause
of her stigmata, and that he could make them vanish in the same way he made
them appear.

  She agreed to let him conduct further experiments on her.  In one
of these, Dr. Lechler had her focus on pictures of other stigmatics who
experienced "tears of blood".  Within hours, Elizabeth had also reproduced
this stigmatic experience.

  To Lechler, this was clinical proof that stigmata was a psychological,
as opposed to a religious phenomenon.  He conducted other sessions with
Elizabeth's approval--including suggesting a crown of thorns being placed on
her head.  To rule out the possibility that Elizabeth was self-inflicting
the wounds, he arranged to keep her under observation so as to watch the
marks appear on their own.

  In 1932, he filed the following report:

  "After a few hours under constant observation an area the size of
  a five mark piece appeared, a blue coloured swelling on the top of
  her feet, and in the middle were several pea-sized bright red spots.
  Elizabeth groaned frequently due to immense pain...When Elizabeth
  was not concentrating the pain went.  And so it would increase and
  decrease as the suggestions were put to her...

  Dr. Lechler's report went on to recreate the bleeding from a crown of
thorns being placed on her head, and issuing blood-stained tears, all under
the "strict control" of himself and "reliable nurses."

The significance of his report was to demonstrate how stigmata could
be induced under hypnosis, indicating stigmata was a REAL psychological
phenomenon (although not necessarily a miracle.) (Ibid p 91-100.)

Lourdes, France

  Lourdes, France is the most famous of all the Christian sites associated
with miraculous healings.  In 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, an illiterate and
asthmatic peasant girl of fourteen, claimed she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary
at a grotto where she had gathered stones. Considered at first mad, the
Catholic Church later proclaimed her a saint. A shrine was designated at
the location of her vision four years later in 1862.

  Bernadette Soubirous died of cancer in her early thirties--but this fact has
been virtually ignored by promoters.  Even today, millions of pilgrims flock
to the site, to bathe in its mineral springs, and to drink its waters. The
small town of approximately 18,000 inhabitants, has 400 hotels to accommodate
the visitors to the site--more than any other city in France, excepting
Paris and Nice.

    Public relations people who sell Lourdes as a tourist trip, claim that
there are as many as 30,000 reported healings a year at Lourdes.  Church
authorities are more cautious-- saying that only 100 claims have been fully
documented, and of these only 64 have been officially recognized as true
miracles.

  The CBS documentary "60 Minutes" had a segment on the miracles at Lourdes.
Their conclusion:

  "There are stories of the cripples who suddenly could walk, the blind
   who suddenly could see, the incurable cancers that were cured.  But
   most of these remain undocumented stories, part of the mythology that
   gives other pilgrims hope." (as reported by James Randi, op cit., p 21)

  I personally knew of a good Catholic woman who was dying terribly of cancer.
She had lost the rest of her family in earlier years, and was undergoing very
painful radiation treatments for her cancer. One day, she announced she was
going to Lourdes.  When she returned, she insisted that "God had miraculously
cured her!" It was such a pitiful sight to see her - her figure still frail
and emaciated as she insisted she was cured. She was obviously trying to "will"
the pain to go away-- at the same time she was trying to convince herself she
was really cured. She relapsed several weeks after her "cure", and died shortly
thereafter. All were relieved to see her finally out of her pain.  However, if
a chronicler had documented her statement at Lourdes, she surely would have
been included in the count of those who had been miraculously "cured".

   Some people remain convinced that there are miraculous healings at Lourdes.
Probably the most famous of these individuals was Lexis Carrel, a Nobel
Prize winner in medicine who was converted after visiting the shrine in
1903. Numerous other accounts exist of believers who stated they were cured.

  On the other hand there are skeptics--both religious and nonreligious--
who do not believe that there any miraculous happenings in Lourdes. In 1949,
Leslie Weatherhead, author, psychologist and Lutheran minister, visited
Lourdes.  Deeply moved by the people around him, he wrote in his PSYCHOLOGY,
RELIGION, AND HEALING, how he could find no evidence of supernatural healings:

  "Lourdes can no doubt provide a great spiritual experience.  As a
   healing agency its proportion of cures make it negligible.  Few of its
   cures brought to our notice could possibly be regarded as miracles and
   those few did not depend on the paraphernalia of Lourdes."

Later he adds,

 "There is probably no stream in Britain which could not boast as high a
  proportion of cures as the stream of Lourdes if patients came in the same
  numbers and in the same psychological state of expectant excitement."
  (as quoted by Jan Ehrenwald, M.D. FROM MEDICINE MAN TO FREUD, Dell, 1956)
   p 150)

  Although some six thousand people have claimed to be "cured" at Lourdes
since 1858, even the Catholic church has taken a more conservative stance--
officially recognizing only 65 of these as genuine miracles. Some critics 
have argued that even these were either poorly documented, or were of a 
type that can naturally go into remission.  

   For example, James Randi relates, in his book THE FAITH HEALERS, how he and 
his coworkers attempted to review the "true" miraculous cures documented at 
Lourdes. When attempting to track down evidence for what was the "best" 
documented case of a miracle-- which was a remission from cancer--Randi found 
a similar case in a Swedish medical journal. The other cases were difficult 
to confirm.  As another example, a miracle purported to have occurred in 1970, 
involved a man who claimed to have recovered from paralysis on one side of his 
body. However, when an American team had examined the data they could find no 
medical documentation of his pre-existing condition. The doctors on the team 
stated they believed that the man's symptoms were classic signs of hysteria, 
which are not uncommon in emotional releases, such as those found in faith 
healings. According to Randi, when his group appealed to the Lourdes's officials 
for more evidence, they appeared to be suspicious and "not helpful". (p 30)

The Royal Touch, Precedent for Faith Healing

  European royalty used to claim that they ruled by "divine right" from
God Himself.  By the early 1300's, this was extended to claim that European
kings had powers to heal others with their royal touch.  It was purported to
be especially effective against scrofula, a tubercular inflammation of the
lymph nodes, (and easily confused with other similar illness of the time.)
Martin Luther claimed to have the power of miraculous cures. The Mormons and
Episcopalians sects also claimed health cures.

  There are reports of various individuals who performed miraculous cures.
In the 1600's there was a Mr. Valentine Greatraks who "practiced upon
himself and others a deception...that God had given him the power of
curing the king's evil...In the course of time he extended his powers
to the curing of epilepsy, ulcers, aches, and lameness...crowds which
thronged around him were so great, that the neighboring towns were not
able to accommodate him." (EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS AND THE MADNESS
OF CROWDS, Charles MacKay, 1841)

  The famous magician and miracle skeptic, James Randi analyzed Mr. Greatraks
methods. (Incidently, Greatraks became very wealthy from his "healings").
First, Mr. Greatraks made the audience wait for him, the effect of which would
be to whip the people's anticipation up into a frenzy.  Secondly, the throngs
of people clamoring to be cured, prevented the questioning of Mr. Greatraks
by skeptics. Third, Mr. Greatraks assigned supernatural causes--demons and
evil spirits--to the illnesses of the people.  And last, the people were
whipped up into such hysteria that the blind, lame, and paralytic all claimed
in the frenzy of the moment to have been cured.  James Randi argues that the
methods use by Mr Greatraks were very similar in style and format, to those
used by modern faith healers. (p 19)

Modern History of Protestant Faith Healing--The First Modern Faith Healer

  The Reverend William Branham, who preached in the 1940's, is often
credited as establishing the modern format used by today's evangelical
healers. The Reverend Branham was famous not only for his flamboyant
sermons, but also his spectacular cures and promises.

  James Randi (the Mr. Skeptic of faith healers) notes in his book THE FAITH
HEALERS how the Reverend covered up for his failures. In one documented
case, a deaf mute was proclaimed "cured" by the Reverend Branham, during
one of his performances. When the Reverend heard the next day, how the man's
condition was just as bad as before--he explained that the relapse was due
entirely to the man's cigarette smoking.(p 31). (Of course modern doctors
accuse cigarettes of many ills, but not of making one deaf and mute.  One
might think that a genuine miracle SHOULD also be able to repair any
damage for cigarette smoking.)

   Reverend Branham built a large and faithful flock. When he died in a 1965
automobile accident, "he wasn't buried for four months because his flock
expected him to rise from the dead at Easter.  He didn't." (p31)

  The Reverend Branham's success, encouraged others to copy his same format.
Some traveled from town to town in religious revivals.  Others, such as
Rex Humbard and Oral Roberts used radio to broadcast their message and
cures. Today, of course, we see televangelists who regularly broadcast
television shows, so as to spread their message to the widest possible
audiences.