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Monday 25 January 2016

Nigerian Faith Healer Grows Shortened Limb


David Ibiyeomie, 53, pictured above, who is from Rivers state in Nigeria, is the presiding pastor of Salvation Ministries. Described as "an anointed and gifted teacher," he is another prosperity preacher cum faith healer from Nigeria's robust stable of such charlatans. While he has not joined his private jet flying brethren, he certainly is enjoying a lifestyle that is the sure to be the envy of at least 80 per cent of Nigerians.


He is also not lacking in the shenanigans characteristic of christian faith healers worldwide. A friend called my attention to this video in which Mr Ibiyeomie made a young boy's shorter arm grow to the same length as the other. The story was that the arm had been shortened due to iatrogenic causes. In the video, he asked the boy, who had a crooked right elbow, to stretch out both arms, and one of his assistants could be seen to adjust the boy's limbs so that the right one appeared to be shorter than the other. The adjustment was unnecessary since the permanently partially flexed elbow ensured that the right arm was 'shorter' than the left one. As the miracle progressed, the camera was focused only on the fingers, and their apparent 'lengthening' until they became equal. The camera never went back to the elbow, which would obviously still be crooked, showing that Mr Ibiyeomie had just perpetrated a very common scam.

The most heart breaking part of this story is that he has not helped this boy, and any voice raised to question this 'miracle', especially by the boy's expectedly anxious parents, will be met with the very effective, guilt-inducing answer that they "did not have enough faith." The pastor or performer of a miracle is never to blame; if a miracle goes wrong, then the blame lies solely at the feet (or in this case, the hands) of the recipient who did not receive her/his miracle by faith. It is to prove this 'faith' that seriously ill persons are almost always encouraged to stop (life-saving) treatment and to discard their medications. The applauding congregation also could not guess that they were being emotionally primed for the main reason they were in church - to have their pockets emptied.

Kudos to Ese C for the link



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