Sunday, July 21, 2013

Was Kathryn Kuhlman a charlatan?


I'm going to briefly assess the claims of Kathryn Kuhlman. I'm doing this because some unbelievers use her as a standard of comparison to judge the miracles of Christ. Of course, that comparison is fundamentally inapt. We wouldn't expect her to be able to do what Jesus did. But let's play along with the comparison for the sake of argument.

I should say at the outset that my interest in Kuhlman is pretty limited. As such, I have a fairly cursory knowledge of her life and work. I haven't attempted to conduct in-depth research. So this post is less about arriving at definitive conclusions than laying down some markers. These are the questions I'd ask, the considerations I'd bring to bear, in evaluating her claims. 

1. In principle, there are several different possible ways of classifying Kuhlman:

i) She was a charlatan. A deceiver. A gold-digger. 

ii) She was sincere, but self-deceived.

iii) She was a "sensitive" who had natural paranormal abilities.

iv) She was a medium who had occult paranormal abilities. If so, that wouldn't necessarily mean she was consciously in league with the devil.

v) She was a divinely-empowered healer.

The available evidence may be insufficient to pin down the correct classification.

2. Are there reliable sources of information about her and her ministry? 

i) Jamie Buckingham wrote her "authorized biography." He was a graduate of SWBTS, so he's not obviously a flake. The fact, moreover, that he wrote a warts-and-all biography might suggest that he's not  just a shill for Kuhlman. But he is sympathetic. 

ii) William Nolan, a Christian physician, published classic exposés of Kuhlman. I'll be discussing this.

iii) Kurt Koch wrote an exposé. As a Lutheran exorcist, he is not predisposed to dismiss her claims on naturalistic grounds. He's not Martin Gardner. On the other hand, he was opposed to Pentecostalism, so there may be some hostile bias.

3. According to one allegation, she was guilty of financial malfeasance. Diverting funds to finance a "lavish lifestyle." 

i) That would certainly be consistent with the antics of a charlatan. Financial scandals are characteristic of fraudulent faith ministries.

ii) On the other hand, Buckingham defends her. I find his explanation plausible, although the corruption charge is also plausible.

Her ministry's a personality-cult, centered on her. Personality-cults attract a greedy entourage who are there to feather their own nest. So it's possible or probable (I don't know which) that she was personally guileless, but surrounded by sharks. It wouldn't surprise me if she took little interest in the bookkeeping end of the operation. But I don't know that for a fact.

iii) From the little I've read, the accusation is less about personal expenses than professional expenses, viz. fancy robes, a private jet. If so, that's not the same thing as a lavish lifestyle.

However, that would still interject commercialism and showmanship into her ministry. 

iv) According to Koch, she gave Nolan contact information for some of the people she (allegedly) healed. If she was a charlatan, I wouldn't expect her to volunteer that information. I'd expect her to be evasive and uncooperative. So her transparency is consistent with her sincerity. 

In addition, I don't think she took issue with Buckingham's candid, sometimes embarrassing, biography. If she was a charlatan, I'd expect her to insist on a hagiographic treatment.

In sum, there is conflicting evidence regarding her personal integrity. 

4. Now let's review Koch's assessment, from his Occult ABC. He begins with some background information:

From 1946, she conducted an average of 125 healing meetings per year. She used the largest halls in the USA, and her healing meetings were attended by about one and a half million people each year. This figure is given by a doctor named William Nolen.The background of my views is the material I collected during many lecture tours in the USA. At the time of writing, I have been there thirty-four times for tours. I have read Miss Kuhlman's books, I have attended a four-hour healing meeting at the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh; and I have had a personal conversation with her. I also have many verbal and written reports from people who attended her meetings.At this point, I must thank most warmly my two principal informants. Mrs. H. Maynard Johnson, wife of the technical director of the Eifel Hospital in Minneapolis, collected twenty-eight cases of healing, with full addresses, from Minneapolis and the surrounding area for me. I also received an excellent, scientifically based article from Dr. H. H. Ehrenstein of Songtime Boston. Names of further assistants will appear in the course of the chapter.
Moving along:
5. First of all, I must give a brief sketch of the style of these healing meetings. After a fantastic organ prelude, Kathryn would appear on the stage dressed in a long blue or white robe. Everyone would stand up. She would say: "How glad I am to have you all here. The Holy Spirit will perform a great work among you." The atmosphere was heightened by an introductory hymn sung by thousands of expectant people. This was followed by prayer and a short sermon. Then Kathryn would suddenly announce, "Up there in the second row of the balcony a man has just been healed of cancer. Please come down to the platform," or "a girl in the seventeenth row has just been healed of a lung disease." It would continue in the same way for several hours. The people who had been healed came to the platform. Kathryn would hold her hands about six inches above the head of each and pray. They then would fall backwards to the floor. Two attendants would catch them as they fell, so they would not hurt themselves. The people who had been healed would lay for ten to thirty seconds unconscious on the floor. When they stood up, they would say that they had a wonderful feeling. While I was watching, I saw even ministers falling to the floor unconscious, one of them a Catholic priest.Kathryn would then ask those who had been healed one or two questions, different every time. For instance, she asked a woman in her fifties, "Do you believe in Jesus?" "No, I am a Buddhist." A young man about twenty years old was asked: "Are you a Christian?" "No, I am an atheist." "Won't you believe in Jesus now that He has healed your wife?" Kathryn asked. A long silence passed. After much pressing on Kathryn's part, he finally said, "I will try."Many people have tussled with the question of how it was that Kathryn could tell which person had been healed of which disease. Many doctors investigated this problem and came up with various answers. Was it clairvoyance or mediumistic contact?
How should we account for her apparent clairvoyance? 
i) It's possible that she really was clairvoyant. I don't rule that out. And I don't consider that less likely than naturalistic explanations. 
However, let's consider some naturalistic alternatives:
ii) "Psychics" do cold readings. This doesn't require any genuine extrasensory insight. 
However, that wouldn't explain how she could know about a perfect stranger at a distance. 
iii) It's possible to obtain information about attendees, then transmit that to the healer. The notorious scam involving Peter Popoff is an oft-cited example.  
However, I have no evidence to support that explanation in the case of Kuhlman. 

By the same token, it's possible to plant imposters in the audience. But, once again, I have no evidence to support that explanation in her case. And it would be difficult for an operation that size to recruit and conceal new plants year after year. How would you keep a lid on that? You'd be very vulnerable to blackmail. 
iv) Self-selection bias. In the nature of the case, her healing services would attract hordes of people with terminal, degenerative, or life-threatening diseases–as well as the disabled. Combine that with the sheer size of the audience, and the odds are high that there will be people in attendance who approximate her descriptions. Every row would have hundreds of attendees. Or so I assume. 
In sum, her apparent clairvoyance is consistent with paranormal abilities, but it might also be consistent with natural means.
6. Ex 105 At the healing meeting in Pittsburgh a woman doctor brought a woman on to the stage. The doctor gave the following report: "This woman had multiple sclerosis in an advanced stage. She used to wear two splints and was almost blind. Her abdomen was partially paralyzed. She had a permanent catheter for three years. Three months ago I went with the patient to one of Kathryn Kuhlman's meetings. The patient was healed. Since then she has needed neither splints nor catheter. The paralysis has disappeared. She is now a nurse in the hospital in which she used to be a patient."There is no reason to doubt the truthfulness of this testimony. We know, of course, that the fact of healing gives us no indication of what power it was that brought it about.
That's impressive as far as it goes. It would certainly be consistent with a genuine healer. But it would be more impressive if Koch (or other reputable sources) could cite more cases like that. Given the huge cumulative number of people who attended her services over the years, if even a fraction were healed, that would be a large absolute number. So it should be possible to obtain many well-attested cases, if she was a genuine healer.
7. Ex 107 A third experience made me begin to have doubts. It was during a personal interview with Kathryn. She suddenly began to pray with me. She held her hands about six inches above my head. At once I began to pray in my heart, "Lord Jesus, if this woman gets her power from You, then bless both her and me. If she has gifts and power which do not come from You, protect me from them. I do not want to come under an alien influence." While Kathryn was praying, two ushers came and stood behind me to catch me as I fell. I felt nothing, however, and stood like a rock without losing my consciousness in the least. Then came a second surprise. Kathryn nudged me gently, probably in order to make me fall. She did not succeed. Then she asked me, "Do you have a healing ministry yourself?" I answered, "In my pastoral counseling it has happened occasionally, but that is not my calling: my task is to preach the Gospel and bring people to salvation."
This is inconclusive. The problem with this example is that, by his own admission, nothing out of the ordinary happened. If he hadn't prayed, and he felt himself "coming under an alien influence," then this would indicate that she had had some sort of paranormal ability, but as it stands, we have no basis of comparison. We don't know if his prayer made the difference. We don't know if there was anything for his prayer to block. 
8. Ex 111 "I went to a second meeting and tried to pray the whole time, but also to watch carefully. After the healing service, K. K. left the platform, and went through the crowd standing in the big hall. Suddenly I felt an oppression and a fear that she should touch me. I closed my eyes, lifted my arms and prayed in Jesus' name that God would help me. When K. K. passed in the place where I stood, she gripped my right arm very strongly for a moment. Nothing happened. After a while, I felt strong power, like electricity, above me, I felt like I was going to die. My arms were paralyzed and I couldn't take them down immediately. 
If this is true, it would be consistent with paranormal abilities. However, it's very subjective. Given, moreover, the highly charged atmosphere of the services, it could be autosuggestive. 
9. One year after meeting with Kathryn, the state of all twenty-eight people said by her to have been healed was as follows: Ten had not been healed, seven had experienced an improvement in their condition, eleven had diseases in which the mind can play an important part. In the whole of this extensive report, there is not one clear case of healing from an organic disease. So for all the trouble taken by Mrs. Johnson, for which I thank her again, nothing has been proved.Dr. Nolen had the addresses and telephone numbers of eighty-two people in Minneapolis sent to him. These people had been to the Kuhlman meeting and had been said to be healed. Some of them were sufferers from cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other diseases. Dr. Nolen followed up those who had been healed in order to get an accurate picture of the whole story.Dr. Nolen also obtained from Kathryn Kuhlman a list of eight people who were alleged to have been cured of cancer. Again the result of his investigations was completely negative.Dr. Nolen comments,
The more I learned of the results of Kathryn Kuhlman's miracle service, the more doubtful I became that any good she was doing could possibly outweigh the misery she was causing ... I don't believe she is a liar or a charlatan or that she is, consciously, dishonest ... I think she sincerely believes that the thousands of sick people who come to her services and claim cures are, through her ministrations, being cured of organic diseases ... The problem is - and I'm sorry this has to be so blunt - one of ignorance. Miss Kuhlman doesn't know the difference between psychogenic and organic diseases. Though she uses hypnotic techniques, she doesn't know anything about hypnotism and the power of suggestion. She doesn't know anything about the autonomic nervous system. Or, if she does know something about these things, she has certainly learned to hide her knowledge.
On this face of it, this undercuts the credibility of her healing claims. The problem is not that she failed to heal everyone who came to her. The disciples failed to heal the demoniac. 

The problem is that, given the sheer number of people who attended her services, even if she only healed a small percentage of attendees, some of those ought to be caught in the sample. 

Now, Nolan's analysis could be offset if we had testimony from other doctors of patients who corroborated healings. But I haven't seen that.

10. A sensational aspect was the way those who had been healed fell backwards. What powers were involved? Was it hypnosis? Kathryn's friends called such people the slain of the Lord.
Dr. Nolen's report, which I have reproduced here in a shortened form, does not answer all the questions raised by these strange healings. In particular, he does not deal with the falling backwards of the patients or he simply calls it hypnosis. Such an explanation is inadequate. Doctors, ministers, and strong-willed people cannot be laid out on the floor, as if they had been knocked out by hypnosis. Here other powers are involved. Again, the sometimes accurate indication of the place where the patients are sitting and of the nature of their diseases sounds remarkably like psychic contact.

With due respect to Koch, I find that unconvincing. Falling backwards ("slain in the Spirit") is such a cliche at healing services that I don't think it's reasonable to chalk that up to paranormal influence. Surely that happens at services where the faith-healer is undoubtedly a charlatan. I think that's a conditioned response. 

In sum, I haven't read any compelling evidence that Kuhlman was a genuine healer. But that could reflect my limited reading. 

UPDATE:

Craig Keener has a well-documented section on Kuhlman in his Miracles, 1:459-68. I think he marshals some impressive evidence for miraculous cures in connection with her ministry. 

20 comments:

  1. Michael wrote:

    Steve, thanks very much for this entry. I was quite surprised to see the subject of Kathryn Kuhlman brought up here today because I have been meaning for months (and it occurred to me again just last night) to write to you about this to get your and perhaps a couple of the other Triabloguers' evaluation of her ministry. I had hesitated only because my correspondence would have been a lengthy one since it would have had to go over much of the same ground that you've already helpfully covered, so I can advance the discussion by bringing up a few other salient points. I will also add that my approach to Kuhlman's ministry is neither that of an adoring fan or a hostile detractor; I simply want to get closer to the real truth of what was actually happening in those healing services and in her own spiritual life.

    On the favorable side, Nolan's statements notwithstanding, outside critics who seem to imply that *all* the claimed miracle healings were fakes aren't aware of the totality of testimony that appears to prove otherwise. There were at least half a dozen publications by Bethany Fellowship and Logos International in the 1970s alone selected from *very many* testimonies which (at least to my mind) showed beyond a reasonable doubt that some instantaneous, miraculous healings of serious organic and structural (not merely functional) diseases were occurring in Kathryn Kuhlman's public meetings. And those healings were *verified* by fully qualified doctors, including each person's own private physician who had a fully documented case history.


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    1. Michael

      "On the favorable side, Nolan's statements notwithstanding, outside critics who seem to imply that *all* the claimed miracle healings were fakes aren't aware of the totality of testimony that appears to prove otherwise. There were at least half a dozen publications by Bethany Fellowship and Logos International in the 1970s alone selected from *very many* testimonies which (at least to my mind) showed beyond a reasonable doubt that some instantaneous, miraculous healings of serious organic and structural (not merely functional) diseases were occurring in Kathryn Kuhlman's public meetings. And those healings were *verified* by fully qualified doctors, including each person's own private physician who had a fully documented case history."

      I'm quite open to that claim. However, we need to distinguish between what doctors reportedly said and reports by actual doctors. Is the evidence firsthand testimony or secondhand testimony?

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  2. [Continued:]

    Furthermore, Koch's statement that "A sensational aspect [of Kuhlman's meetings] was the way those who had been healed fell backwards" is also disingenuously off-base. Although she did "lay hands" on people from time to time, my understanding is that this was *not* the manner in which the preponderance of the healings happened. That was the really new and startling aspect of Kuhlman's public healing meetings. Unlike her Pentecostal contemporaries, Kuhlman did *not* invite people to the platform to receive healing, lay hands on them and say with loud authority "I command this sickness to depart, in the name of JESUS, etc." There was no contact between Kuhlman and anyone in the audience *before* the healings took place. The miracles happened in the *audience* during the praise service, usually from a certain *point* in the xervice, when all at once the power swooped down on the people. At that moment, Kathryn herself would evidently become enswathed by that same power. Her countenance would take on a pronounced intensity and she would suddenly announce that certain ones here and there in the crowd were being healed of particular ailments. Often she would mention some uncommon, very serious disease most specifically and actually point directly to a person far away in the vast audience and they were healed *where they stood*!

    As the healed individuals began to make their way to the platform to give a testimony of what had happened to them, they were first questioned and screened by an usher who ascertained whether their testimony seemed credible, or at least credible enough to bar any charlatans or frauds from the platform. Once they went up, the power seemed to envelop Kathrym yet more, and sometimes the healed person (and even on occasion doctors called up to examine an individual) would crumple and fall to the floor. This happened time after time in those public services.


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    1. Michael7/21/2013

      "Once they went up, the power seemed to envelop Kathrym yet more, and sometimes the healed person (and even on occasion doctors called up to examine an individual) would crumple and fall to the floor."

      Instant medical diagnosis? No x-rays. Just eyeballing the individual?

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  3. [Continued:]


    Steve wrote: "In sum, I haven't read any compelling evidence that Kuhlman was a genuine healer. But that could reflect my limited reading."

    Here's the thing though: Kathryn Kuhlman would *never* allow herself to be called a "faith healer". She quite rightly thought it was misleading. She would say "*I* have no power to heal; it is all of the Lord. I do not have any *gift* of healing. All I know is that the power falls, the Holy Spirit fills the place, and the healing miracles begin." Kathryn clearly understood that she did not have any resident ability within herself to heal, or even a gift from God that *remained* in her to perform such miracles, and in that conviction, at least, her theology was certainly Biblical.

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  4. Michael

    "Here's the thing though: Kathryn Kuhlman would *never* allow herself to be called a 'faith healer'. She quite rightly thought it was misleading."

    That's just a semantic quibble.

    "She would say "*I* have no power to heal; it is all of the Lord. I do not have any *gift* of healing..."

    But according to the NT, there is(was) a gift of healing. So if, by her own admission, she didn't have the gift of healing, did she have a real healing ministry? How does her disclaimer compare with the NT?

    "Kathryn clearly understood that she did not have any resident ability within herself to heal..."

    You're burning a straw man.

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  5. Steve, you wrote:

    "Instant medical diagnosis? No x-rays. Just eyeballing the individual?"

    Given the fact that the participants were on a public stage, of necessity it had to be just a quick, preliminary, on-the-spot evaluation by a doctor present. Of course that sort of thing in and of itself doesn't conclusively prove very much. But as I said, what *is* noteworthy is that many of the published testimony accounts of these healings were *verified* by the patient's own fully qualified doctors.

    In order to scientifically ascertain whether any healing occurred as the result of a genuine divine act, we can submit four criteria to judge it by. First, the disease had to be either organic or structural (not merely functional), and of such seriousness and duration that it ruled out any possibility of exaggeration or deception as to the person's condition. Second, the healing had to have happened instantaneously or in rapidly connected sequences to exclude autosuggestion, hypnotism, influence by a sensitive who had natural paranormal abilities, or any other natural phenomena to account for it. Third, the healing had to be *verified* by fully qualified doctors, including the person's own private physician following a fully documented case history. Fourth, to further verify its authenticity, enough time must have elapsed after the alleged healing to show that there was no mere temporary remission or psychosomatic reversion.

    If we judge whether miracle healings happened by those criteria, then it seems conclusive (at least to me) after reading a number of those testimonies that yes, such phenomena did in fact occur in Kuhlman's public meetings. That obviously doesn't mean *all* of the alleged healings could be so classified; I'm sure many would fail that test in one or more respects.

    You ought to read some of those published accounts if you can locate them; although they may be out of print, perhaps you can find one or more from a used book seller. You might begin with "Captain LeVrier" and "Never Too Late", both published from Logos International, 1973 and 1975 respectively. In my view those testimonies speak for themselves.


    You wrote:

    "You're burning a straw man."

    I was simply responding to one of your possible ways of classifying Kuhlman as "a sensitive who had natural paranormal abilities". Based on everything I've read (including those who had private conversations with her) she did not view herself that way at all. And it wasn't just a matter of her saying one thing publicly to con the religious crowd ("it is all of the Lord") and believing something different privately.


    I'll address your other remark about the "gift of healing" tomorrow as that will require a longer response. It also goes to the issue of why she didn't want to be called a "faith healer", and why that isn't just "a semantic quibble".

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    1. Michael said:

      "First, the disease had to be either organic or structural (not merely functional)"

      Sorry, could you clarify or elaborate on what you mean by the terms "organic," "structural," and "functional" please? Like by "organic" do you mean pertaining to a particular organ system (e.g. nervous, cardiovascular)? Or do you mean something more typically mundane like relating to an organism? Or something else? By "functional" do you mean the disease had to have caused a deficiency or even loss of function, or in some sense interfered with a function?

      "Second, the healing had to have happened instantaneously or in rapidly connected sequences to exclude autosuggestion, hypnotism, influence by a sensitive who had natural paranormal abilities, or any other natural phenomena to account for it."

      I'm not sure the timing of a healing ("instantaneously" or "rapidly connected sequences") would necessarily be able to exclude all these. For example, couldn't "a sensitive who had natural paranormal abilities" heal "instantaneously"?

      Also, I'm not sure how a shorter time course for a healing necessarily means it's more likely to be a divine healing? For instance, it seems to me in Mk 8:22-26 Jesus healed the blind man at Bethsaida in stages.

      "Third, the healing had to be *verified* by fully qualified doctors, including the person's own private physician following a fully documented case history."

      I think it likewise depends in part on how the doctors "verified" the healing. Not all methods of verifications are necessarily reliable. Some are more reliable than others.

      Some doctors may not be the most appropriate type of physician to verify a healing. I wouldn't necessarily expect an ophthalmologist to be able to appropriately discern whether a person has been healed of bowel cancer, to take one example.

      "Fourth, to further verify its authenticity, enough time must have elapsed after the alleged healing to show that there was no mere temporary remission or psychosomatic reversion."

      A spontaneous remission can be a genuine healing, but it may or may not have had a divine origin. It depends on a number of factors including the particular disease we're talking about, of course, but (to simplify) it's possible some people have stronger immune systems, and after enough time had elapsed they would've been healed regardless of outside intervention.

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    2. rockingwithhawking wrote:

      "Sorry, could you clarify or elaborate on what you mean by the terms "organic," "structural," and "functional" please? Like by "organic" do you mean pertaining to a particular organ system (e.g. nervous, cardiovascular)?... By "functional" do you mean the disease had to have caused a...loss of function, or in some sense interfered with a function?"



      Yes, those specific quotes of yours that I pulled are basically what I mean.

      As to your other points, you can correct me if I'm mistaken, but they seem to reflect the attitude of someone whose immediate inclination when confronted with this subject is to attempt to explain away and discount any consideration of the possibility of divine healing occurring today. Believe me, I understand how easy it is for a certain type of mind to tend strongly to skepticism about a subject like this because I wrestled with it myself. There is a significant strain among many who hold to Reformed theology that divine miracles, including healing, ceased entirely with the end of the Apostolic age and their generation. *All* reported and alleged divine healings since then may therefore be dismissed as spurious or attributable to other causes, either natural, psychological or demonic. B. B. Warfield, among others, championed that view, and although he was very adept at demolishing some specious claims surrounding the issue of divine healing, I believe his contention that it was confined distinctively to the Apostolic Church and *necessarily* passed away with it is mistaken. The main reason is that I see *no* Scripture either stating or implying such a thing. Although I agree that the age of the Apostles was an abnormal period and certain peculiar features of the era passed away *with* it, it's important to distinguish carefully what *did* and did *not* pass away with it.

      I am certainly no pentecostal or what typically passes for a "charismatic". You may quibble about some of the specifics of my criteria for judging alleged divine miracles, but if by doing so you're intention is to argue (pace Warfield) that divine healing ceased with the passing of the Apostolic age, then you and I are going to have to disagree about that. Entire books have been written on this subject, the battle has been raging back and forth for more than a century and we're not going to settle the matter in a few brief posts on a religious blog.

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    3. Michael said:

      "As to your other points, you can correct me if I'm mistaken, but they seem to reflect the attitude of someone whose immediate inclination when confronted with this subject is to attempt to explain away and discount any consideration of the possibility of divine healing occurring today."

      Yes, I'm afraid you're mistaken.

      My immediate concern is Kuhlman. I didn't find your comments persuasive. However, I read the relevant section in Craig Keener's book on Kuhlman, and found that far more persuasive. Point being, I'm quite open to the fact that God produced authentic miracles via Kuhlman, and again found Keener's writing on Kuhlman salient and compelling.

      "You may quibble about some of the specifics of my criteria for judging alleged divine miracles, but if by doing so you're intention is to argue (pace Warfield) that divine healing ceased with the passing of the Apostolic age, then you and I are going to have to disagree about that."

      Well, with all due respect, I don't find your criteria sound for reasons I noted above. But the fact that I don't find your criteria sound has nothing to do with my own position on "divine healing" or the like.

      Speaking of which, I don't hold to this cessationist position at all. Rather I do think divine healing can occur today.

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  6. Steve, I just saw this further additional comment you made:

    You wrote:

    "However, we need to distinguish between what doctors reportedly said and reports by actual doctors. Is the evidence firsthand testimony or secondhand testimony?"



    Sure, it would certainly be helpful to see that particular exhibit of firsthand evidence in each individual case. But as far as the ministry of Kathryn Kuhlman is concerned, I don't have a way to access someone else's private medical records from forty or fifty years ago (nor would I want someone else to have the ability to access mine). What we do have in the testimony of Captain LeVrier (just to mention one such case connected with her) is a good deal of specific, credible information that he provides about his life to help "set the stage" for what happened to him.

    He tells us that in 1968 he was a Captain of the Accident Division in the Houston, Texas Police Department and had been on the force since 1936 when he was twenty-one years old. When he was first diagnosed with terminal cancer, he mentions by name the various hospitals he was treated at along with the specific names of the doctors who were working with him for the surgery operation and radiation treatments. LeVrier also describes the reaction of one doctor (whom, again, he mentions specifically by name) when months later he showed up at his office fully healed after attending one of Kuhlman's public services. He tells us the name of his wife and children, and that he was a member of First Baptist Church and also mentions the name of his pastor.

    Furthermore, a Baptist Bible teacher of my acquaintance both saw and heard Captain LeVrier speak in public before an audience of 7,000 some years after his claimed healing, where he gave every evidence of robust health and radiant Christian joy.

    A person would have to concoct one heck of a theory to believe that the crucial parts of his testimony were fabricated outright. And even if they *were* fabricated what would have been the payoff for Captain LeVrier? Public humiliation, a ruined career and multiple lawsuits?

    Short of examining his actual medical records (and considering the absence of any contravening testimony by others who could have easily produced it), how much more evidence is necessary to come to the reasonable conclusion that LeVrier's claim that he was healed of advanced, malignant, terminal cancer is likely true?

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  7. Steve wrote:

    UPDATE:

    "Craig Keener has a well-documented section on Kuhlman in his Miracles, 1:459-68. I think he marshals some impressive evidence for miraculous cures in connection with her ministry."


    I haven't read Keener's two volume set, but after looking over the reviews at Amazon I'll have to to pick it up. A comprehensive study like this was long overdue.


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    1. Actually, you can read the entire section on Kuhlman here:

      http://books.google.com/books/about/Miracles.html?id=oCrSpYJvGakC

      The section is subdivided under two headings: Kathryn Kuhlman and Doctors and Kuhlman.

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  8. Here's a link to a testimony of an alleged verified miracle healing by Delores Winder on Sid Roth's TV show "It's Supernatural"

    http://www.sidroth.org/site/News2?abbr=tv_&page=NewsArticle&id=9025&security=1041&news_iv_ctrl=1463

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    1. Oh, I forgot to say that it supposedly occurred during a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting.

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  9. Steve:

    Regarding the term "faith healer" and Kuhlman's dislike of it as applied to her, although she moved in the same Pentecostal circles as her contemporaries Oral Roberts and Kenneth Hagin (both of whom I have a pretty low opinion of), there really was a striking difference in method in her services as far as divine healing was concerned, as I mentioned above. It's true of course that she did preach about faith ("I Believe In Miracles!") and exhorted her audience to believe too. But there were cases where even rank unbelievers who merely held out some sort of vague hope that God might heal them received healing when, on the other hand, devout Christian believers who *did* exercise faith for it were not healed. But she didn't blame them for this, which was unusual in the so-called "faith movement". Because healing is an iron-clad doctrine of the cultic Faith theology as promoted by E. W. Kenyon, Hagin and their followers, typically when a Christian was not healed in response to faith he was made to feel somehow guilty for not having strong enough faith, taking medication and/or seeing a doctor, holding on to a "negative confession", etc. In contrast, Kuhlman left the matter completely to the sovereignty of God, which I suspect is one of the main reasons why she didn't want to be classed with others who didn't approach it that way.


    The second half of the phrase "faith healer" I'll address below.

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  10. Steve:

    I wrote:

    "She would say "*I* have no power to heal; it is all of the Lord. I do not have any *gift* of healing..."


    You wrote:

    "But according to the NT, there is(was) a gift of healing. So if, by her own admission, she didn't have the gift of healing, did she have a real healing ministry? How does her disclaimer compare with the NT?"


    A closer examination of the relevant verses in 1 Cor 12: will clear up some of the fog surrounding the phrase "gift of healing". My interlinear Greek NT literal translation renders the phrase as a double plural. That is notable because it doesn't occur with any other gift of the Spirit as far as I'm aware. Nor is it accidental, for it occurs three times in that chapter, always the same double plural, which my interlinear translates as:

    grantings-to of-curings-to (vs. 9)

    grantings-to of-curings-to (vs. 28)

    grantings-to of-curings-to (vs. 30)


    The NKJV, ERV and ASV translate this double plural correctly as "gifts of healings" (The ESV, NIV and NASB translate just the first word as a plural: gifts of healing".) There must be a reason why the phrase is rendered so precisely, and it's because divine healing power is never given to an individual in the same way that other gifts of the Spirit are given. Evidently there is no such thing as a "gift" (singular) of healing which *resides* in a person. Each miracle of healing, though it is effected by the Holy Spirit *through* a human intermediary, is a gift all by itself. Many such healings are "gifts" (plural) of healings, and the word "curings" (or "healings") is plural because there are so many different kinds of sickness and disease.

    A Christian who possesses the gift of teaching, or giving or helps has it *resident* within himself and can choose to minister that particular gift whenever he chooses. But only the Spirit Himself can impart life and health to diseased physical bodies, and He does so sovereignly according to His own will and timing. Kathryn Kuhlman understood this; the noisy parade of "faith healer" con men who predominate in the so-called "faith movement" do not, which is why they leave a trail of deception, confusion and ultimately disaster wherever they go.

    I don't know if Kathryn Kuhlman ever did a proper exegesis of the relevant 1 Corinthians 12 passages and understood that distinction doctrinally, but she certainly knew the truth of it experientially. That's the other reason why she didn't want to be called a "faith healer". She didn't have the ability to heal anyone. To the extent that there were genuine miracles of divine healing performed in her services Kathryn was just a vessel that ministered "gifts" which came as fresh, biotic impartations of life from God, "gifts" which she neither possessed nor fully understood.

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  11. I have to say that another logical possibility is that Kuhlman was a charlatan yet the Holy Spirit nevertheless performed healings/miracles because her message was sufficiently orthodox enough that:

    1. people's faith were strengthened enough that they sometimes could receive what they asked God for (or expected from God),

    2. God in His sovereignty healed to authenticate the message (not necessarily Kuhlman the person)

    3. out of pure compassion/mercy.

    Nota Bene: as a Calvinist I believe that all faith whatever "size" or "strength" is ultimately the gift of God, though God usually uses means to bring it into existence or to increase it (e.g. preaching, reading/listening to God's Word, prayer, etc.).


    Some might say God wouldn't do that. But we do have Paul testifying that some people have accurately preached the Gospel with less than pure motives (Phil. 1:15-16). I think it's a safe assumption that some people were genuinely saved by such preaching. IF some were genuinely saved by such preaching, then maybe some people were also genuinely healed as well.
    We also know that Judas had a successful preaching and healing ministry even though the NT also reveals that Judas' preaching wasn't with pure motives.

    Some might counter by asking, "Why then do some preachers who are clearly orthodox in their teaching and sincere in their beliefs not see such healings in their meetings?" A possible answer is because they don't expect it in their ministries or teach their people to expect in their meetings and ministry.

    I'm too young to know much about Kuhlman's ministry but my hunch is that she was sincere and genuinely used by God with God's approval and commendation. Though, admittedly she was needlessly flamboyant and theatrical. But God can use all types of personalities.

    Steve said...
    So it's possible or probable (I don't know which) that she was personally guileless, but surrounded by sharks. It wouldn't surprise me if she took little interest in the bookkeeping end of the operation. But I don't know that for a fact.

    Agreed.

    Steve said...
    But according to the NT, there is(was) a gift of healing. So if, by her own admission, she didn't have the gift of healing, did she have a real healing ministry? How does her disclaimer compare with the NT?

    Based on Mark 16:17-18 (and other passages like Mark 9:23; John 14:12-14 etc.) some charismatics believe that all Christians can potentially have healing ministries [even if not Ministries with a capital "M"] because the Holy Spirit is in every Christian. I think of George Mueller who had great faith to see miracles of provision happen in his life and ministry. YET, by his own admission he said he didn't have the "gift of Faith" mentioned in 1 Cor. 12-14. Rather, that he developed his faith to such a degree that he was able to receive from God such answers to prayer.

    Of course Mark 16:17-18 is almost certainly a late interpolation and is not an authentic part of the Gospel of Mark. However the Holy Spirit is free to honor people's faith in God's Word even in those portions that might not be genuine. Think, for example, of how many people have been converted by the Holy Spirit through Luke 23:34 even though it too is almost certainly not original to any of the Gospels.


    Side note: As as charismatic (and not just a Calvinist) I do believe that there are genuine healing ministries out there today. Of the few that stand out to me as genuinely from God there are two that stand out above even those. They would be Roger Sapp's ministry as well as Curry Blake's (their teaching material can also be found on YouTube not just at their websites). However, I do have some disagreements with their theology of healing (and general theology) which I won't go into unless asked by someone.

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    1. Mueller did say that there were special occasions when he believed he received the gift of faith from God for a specific purpose or end, but that in his ministry he did not normally or usually operate with a special gift of faith.

      Think not, dear reader, that I have the gift of faith, that is, that gift of which we read in 1 Corinthians 12:9, and which is mentioned along with “the gifts of healing,” “the working of miracles,”prophecy,” and that on that account I am able to trust in the Lord. It is true that the faith, which I am enabled to exercise, is altogether God's own gift; it is true that He alone supports it, and that He alone can increase it; it is true that, moment by moment, I depend upon Him for it, and that, if I were only one moment left to myself, my faith would utterly fail; but it is not true that my faith is that gift of faith which is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12:9.- George Mueller quote taken from a sermon by John Piper

      In Basil Miller's biography of Mueller, the same quote above continues "...It is the self-same faith which is found in every believer...for little by little it has been increasing for the last six and twenty years" [page 122]

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    2. Above I cited Phil. 1:15-16. I meant to include verse 17 & 18 too.

      15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

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