Three restored toes and a healing of Celiac Disease? The anatomy of wild tales of Charismaniacal healings

::::::::

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29 (NIV)

Click Here

Click Here

I remember watching the absurd Holy Ghost II, Electric Boogaloo, when the fake healers led by Robbie Dawkins went scouring through some random European park for victims, I mean people who needed healing. I joke because the set up was too obvious. The medical conditions were always vague localized pain. The time was always around midnight. I remember them "healing" a woman of shoulder discomfort and then praising God. I wondered; didn't this city have any emergency rooms they could visit? I mean if they are truly itinerant healers and want to "make Jesus famous", what better way than to document a genuine healing miracle! The reason they didn't is the same reason Todd White went to a Korn concert in the first Holy Ghost debacle of a movie, instead of the emergency room. Why try and heal someone with stage four cancer when you can pretend to grow out a short leg on some rube at a thrash metal concert?

This same dynamic plays out across Charismania every week. People who swear by the Toronto nonsense, the Pensacola demonic visitation, or the "Come to Lakeland so Our Pastor can Heal You by Kicking you in the Face" revival all still insist on many grandiose healings. The same happens all the time at Benny Hinn events. Or the late Reinhard Bonnke. Or charlatans like David Taylor who pretends people throw away their crutches or arise from their wheelchairs at his events. What these all have in common unfortunately is not one shred of proof is ever offered. Everything is verified via third party anecdotal assurances of "trust us." It is a repetitive black eye on the church and totally self-inflicted. The key verse reminds us that faith can be developed through seeing or not seeing. Blessed are those that do not need to see but realize we are dealing with the world now and we cannot expect those walking in darkness to discern the light.

And now we don't have expect it! We have two recent cases of a claimed bona fide healing so all the doubting Thomas's out there can see the powerful healing of our Lord! The first story is being reported by Charisma News that an 11-year-old girl was healed at the recent Asbury "revival." You remember, the one that the organizers had to end because too many people who lived there were having problems parking. If I remember correctly The Great Welsh Revival of 1905 ended the same way. Of course, those horse and buggy's really took up a lot of room back then. The 11-year-old at Asbury claims that she was healed of Celiac Disease and Eosinophilic Esophagitis. These are two serious conditions. Celiac Disease is a chronic digestive and immune disorder that damages the small intestine. It is triggered by eating foods containing gluten. The disease can cause long-lasting digestive problems and keep your body from getting all the nutrients it needs. Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic disease of the esophagus. Your esophagus is the muscular tube that carries food and liquids from your mouth to the stomach. If you have EoE, white blood cells called eosinophils build up in your esophagus. According to the 11-year-old:

"This one guy, he prayed for me of my EoE, and I just felt this tingling in my hands and my feet and my whole body and I actually was healed,"

Let me be clear. I pray that this girl was genuinely healed. I am more skeptical of the people around her. The child says she knows she was healed because she knows God was there. But God is everywhere, no? Did her family have to travel ten hours to find God and His healing? More importantly, these two conditions must have been documented medically and if she has genuinely received healing their cure can be as well! What a way to show God to the lost world! What a way to lend immediate credibility to Asbury! What a glorious opportunity we have. The world is waiting.

While we wait on that case, we also have the second link above to consider where a local pastor is claiming a woman had three toes miraculously restored to her foot! Proving this case should be a slam dunk as medical records should show the woman minus three toes before the meeting and after, restored! Let us reason together this article from Charisma to see what is going on.

"In a world that intensely hates God and His Word, it all comes down to this. Do you believe that God can do what He says he can do? Do you believe the miracles Jesus did in the Bible? Do you believe what it says in John 14:12-14: "Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me will do the works that I do also. And he will do greater works than these, because I am going to My Father. I will do whatever you ask in My name, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." - Charisma News

Charismania is all about the show. It is all about power. The humble servant of Christ has no desire for usurping the power of God. The poorly taught read these verses and assume God is saying our works will actually be greater than that of God Himself! Greater in scope! Greater in audacity! Greater in power! Greater in glory! Except God does not share His glory. God does not share His power. God does not share the credit with His creation. The one translation that was lost on them was that the works will be greater in number. The ministry of Christ was only three years. His apostles would live for decades past that. As the gospel continues to rise up new believers, their lifetimes will exceed that of Jesus Christ, always providing an opportunity for a greater number of works. Let's see where this is going though:

"For non-believers, it's a given. Jesus isn't real to them and they don't believe in the Bible. For any miracles that Jesus performs, there is a scientific and logical explanation. For Christians, it's a matter of faith. What happened recently at an outlet of James River Church in Joplin, Missouri, may take a great deal of it. Pastors Bill Johnson of Bethel Redding in California and Mike Lindell of James River Church have testified to something miraculous God did on the night of March 14 at James River's Week of Power Prayer Revival. Johnson was a guest speaker at James River Church in Springfield, Missouri, that night. During Johnson's sermon, simulcast to all the church's branches, Johnson asked if anyone was in need of a "creative miracle." Johnson has witnessed many of them in his decades of ministry." - Charisma News

So, the foreshadowing is that God did some fantastic act of supernatural healing. Let me again say that God can heal. God does heal. He does so sovereignly. He does so sparingly. The problem with this set up is we are supposed to believe that God responded to a request for a "creative" miracle from one of the biggest heretics on the planet in Bill Johnson. Johnson is leading tens of thousands if not millions of people to hell. One of his false teachings is divine healing, where he routinely robs the sovereignty of God by teaching God MUST always heal us. This abhorrent teaching shipwrecks the faith of many people.

'After Johnson's inquiry, 46-year-old Kristina Dines, who lost three toes in 2015 when her now ex-husband, Stephen Thompson, broke into her home with a 12-gauge shotgun and shot her, spoke up saying she needed three toes to grow back. Several women around her, she says, came to her and knelt down and prayed for her foot. That's when God's Holy Spirit power shone through. Johnson told his own congregation Sunday, "So, this gal was at one of the other campuses and said, 'I want my toes back.' And so, another gal was praying for her, and I have the statement, but it took about 30 minutes they said they saw the bone come, wrapped in flesh, completely grown out and by morning, she had toenails and she got three completely brand-new toes. "One of the women who was praying for her, her husband is a medical doctor. He came and examined her and yet she's got three brand new toes. I guess the person with the three new toes would know, but it's also nice to have a doctor come and check things out and say, 'Guess what? This is for real.'"' - Charisma News

Listen beloved. Can God do this? Of course! He is God! The real question is would He? Would God answer healing miracles in an apostate church after a rank heretic like Johnson spoke? No, He would not. The bigger problem for Ms. Dines is that she goes to a false church, that preaches a false gospel and she is on the broad path that leads only to destruction. It was a nice touch to add this bit about there being a doctor but even his story is entirely anecdotal! There is nothing in this story independently verified!

"Several doubters and scoffers arose both in the media and on social media. The Daily Beast reported that Lindell has "thus far refused to provide proof" of Dines' miracle. But Lindell, in a sermon this past Sunday at James River, said there are reasons it has not been publicized." - Charisma News

This is the usual script for liars and false teachers. Anyone who dares oppose them must be a scoffer or doubter. For the record I do not doubt God for an instant I doubt any man like Bill Johnson who couldn't find a correct doctrine with two hands and a flashlight. Just like at Asbury, I do not doubt the kids who just wanted a little more of God than an organized church service could give them. I get that. What I doubt are the revival vultures circling around them once word got out. Suddenly hucksters like Greg Locke and Todd Bentley were there. Suddenly there were reports of exorcisms and videos of random dudes teaching poorly about praying for the manifestation of tongues with unsuspecting local folk. So, inquiring minds want to know now, why would you not be shouting this toes miracle from the rooftops?

'"As you know, there has been quite a furor on social media about what happened to the girl with the toes. They have taken on Kristi, who has had a lot of trauma in her life, and it makes me sad to see them do that because her miracle is real. "People say, 'Well, if it's genuine, why aren't you doing something to publicize it?' There are a couple of reasons for that. First, I'm less interested in proving to people what God did than I am in protecting sheep who are vulnerable. I'm going to protect sheep. My first concern is for her. "We have to have that heart. We have to discern what is right. [John Lindell's wife] Debbie is at the Joplin campus and is meeting with her and some of the others that were a part of that miracle. The News Leader asked if we would comment on it; they had been following things on social media. They have had a repeated history of not only a general bias against evangelical Christianity, but a targeted bias against James River." - Charisma News

This is where most of these charismaniacal stories go off the rails. Someone demands proof and suddenly there are a myriad of solemn sounding reasons why they just can't do that. One would think that the woman, not "girl" at 46 years old, would be gushing to tell such a supernatural and profound story of healing! I understand the back story sound horrific and traumatizing but we are talking about a woman who is born again by the power of God no? You are claiming that the God who created the universe grew back three toes on you and you cannot figure out why people want the details? You can't just go, "trust us." We do not trust you. That is the entire point. Targeted bias? Put on your big boy evangelical pants and deal with what YOU have started now.

'"I just felt like I'm not going to talk to an agency that has a history of not being unbiased. I can point to a bazillion examples of that. At the same time, we've had two national news agencies contact us and asked if we would do a story. And so, we are in the process of simply assessing Kristi and the circumstance. I want it to be good for her. What I want to assure you of, it's real. It is a legitimate miracle and we can provide the kind of proof that would be necessary. I've seen the picture of the toes. She was going to be fitted for a prosthesis. They have the molds and all of that. Again, the issue is, we've got to care for people first." Lindell says if you need proof this can happen, then "You haven't read the Gospels lately."

Don't fall for the sleight of hand by John Lindell here. The issue is not believing this CAN happen. The issue is not believing it DID happen. The first is not believing God but the second is not believing you. The problem in all of this story is not bias, people who don't like you, or even unbelief. The problem is you have created a national story and now want to pretend that everyone else infringing upon you. Of course, you have responsibilities to the woman but now you have responsibilities to the public as well. Pretending one is important and the other is not is unbiblical as well. If you could not provide proof, you never should have shared it so widely. The lost in this country have now latched on to your promotion of this story. There is now a website devoted to proving the story right called, "showmethetoes.com" This story is of YOUR creation. What better way of shutting up people who you think are biased against you than to show them the before and after of this miracle you are selling?

"He said to them, 'Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you'" (Matt. 17:20). "Jesus said, 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.' Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, 'Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!' When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the foul spirit, saying to it, 'You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter him no more.'" (Mark 9:23-25) "Here's what we have to remind ourselves of," Lindell said. "There are people who doubted the miracles of Jesus. There are questions of who Jesus healed and why. There were people who remained unconvinced of the supernatural"it's always pretty much the same group, the Pharisees." Indeed. There will be Pharisees and scoffers. As believers, we shouldn't be surprised when their unbelief arises." - Charisma News

Yeah. Nice try. People who disagree with you are not automatically Pharisees. The majority of those that want proof are unsaved so comparing them to the teachers of law in Jesus' day is asinine. Unbelief has arisen because you told a fanciful tale of a major healing, along with alleged medical verification and then when asked for the receipts, you said, "trust me." Trust me that at a church service where Bill Johnson was preaching, God grew back three toes on a 46-year-old woman, which a doctor verified. Can I talk to the woman? Too traumatized. Can we speak to the doctor? You're a biased Pharisee. Right.

Hey, in closing maybe this similar tale will help with closure. The other day I heard an audible voice from God today telling me that John Lindell and Bill Johnson are probably lying about this toes miracle. I had two other pastors with me, and they heard the same thing. Thankfully I also recorded the whole thing. You want to speak to the other witnesses? No, they were pretty shook up by hearing so clearly from God but trust me, they agree with me. You want to hear the recording? Oh ye of little faith. The bible is filled with audible words from God! Oh you just doubt that He spoke to me? Well, that's because you are a Pharisee!

Well, you know how this goes"

Reverend Anthony Wade - March 29, 2023

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.