Todd Bentley’s type of Medically Verified healings from Lakeland Outpouring for USA Today

Following on from ABC News Nightline  revealing the kind of medically verified healings that are NOT being supplied by Fresh Fire Ministries, despite the “ministry” claims that medically verified healings are numerous and readily handed over to media sources as testimony,  here’s what USA Today  encountered when they  asked for proof from Todd Bentley’s ministry of proven healing and miracles (note, this was before  the ABC story aired – the ABC Nightline story with the videos is here).

“Expecting critics, Bentley’s ministry distributed a list of 15 people it said were cured, and vetted by his ministry, with all but three of their stories “medically verified.”

Yet two phone numbers given out by the ministry were wrong, six people did not return telephone messages and only two of the remainder, when reached by The Associated Press, said they had medical records as proof of their miracle cure. However, one woman would not make her physician available to confirm the findings, and the other’s doctor did not return calls despite the patient’s authorization.” (http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-07-11-revival-healing_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip)

A reminder of what ABC Nightline encountered as ‘medical proof’ - http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaithMatters/story?id=5338963&page=1 -

“When asked to present evidence of the healings, Bentley promised to give “Nightline” the names and medical records of three followers who would talk openly about his miracles. He never delivered. Instead, his staff gave “Nightline” a binder filled with what he says are inspiring miracles, but with scant hard evidence. It offered incomplete contact information, a few pages of incomplete medical records, and the doctors’ names were crossed out.

When pressed further, Bentley provided the name of a woman in California who had a large tumor in her uterus that shrank after she saw Bentley.

Her husband, however, told “Nightline” that it could be a coincidence because she was still undergoing medical treatment. He said she was too ill to talk to the media.  The husband did provide some of his wife’s medical records from a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, where she went for cancer treatment after being turned away by American hospitals. The wife, however, insisted on obscuring the clinic’s name and the names of the doctors.” (ABC Nightline)

YET, this is what Todd Bentley claimed at the 23rd June meeting to the adoring Lakeland crowd:

“We have received thousands, if not tens of thousands, of healed people’s testimonies. I have staff working 80 hours a week working on the biggest catalogue in the world of such data with names, addresses and the medical verifications. We have medically vereiied doctor’s evidence of the dead raised…. every conceivable miracle we have in this catalogue of outstanding medically verified miracles.  We have blood tests, x-rays, even letters from the medical community. We are making these medical stories available to any media. We also have got a video catalogue with follow ups and literally thousands of testimonies for the media for the most notable miracles to present to a sceptical world - this could be one of the most well documented revivals in history!”

This is what he says to the crowd who all adore him and believe him. Yet at that time the media was being fobbed off with no information packs at all with claims of “privacy issues” (see here). Some catalogue! World News, had made repeated requests  for documentation of healings, but claims of “privacy issues” had been the only response from Fresh Fire.   ‘The Province’, a Canadian newspaper, said back in April of their ‘fobbing off’ by Fresh Fire:

“When The Province asked to speak to someone who had been healed through Bentley in either B.C. or Florida, Fresh Fire was unable to find someone at short notice, citing difficulties with outdated contact information locally, and record-keeping problems in Florida.”

‘Healed’ at Lakeland? Double-Check

‘Healed’? Double-Check http://www.theledger.com/article/20080705/NEWS/588942307

Published: Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 7:15 a.m.

After the June 22 front-page article on the Florida Outpouring Revival ["Signs and Warnings"], I simply have to speak up. I am a psychotherapist. Several weeks ago, the mother of a young adult patient of mine called for an appointment for her son.

He had been stable for quite some time on his medications for schizophrenia. He had recently decompensated, and was hospitalized in order to stabilize him and restart his medications.

He had attended one of Todd Bentley’s gatherings and was told by Mr. Bentley that he was “healed.” He stopped his medications, only to relapse into psychosis.

The outcome could have been worse. My client has very risky behaviors when psychotic. He might have died.

Please, if you think you have been “healed” of mental or physical illness, please consult your doctor before stopping medications or treatment. Your life may depend on it.

BRIDGET PIEKARSKI, MS, LMHC

Lakeland