Meramec professor investigates the enigma of a spiritual healer in Brazil
Carlos Restrepo
– Editor in Chief –
In South America, 80 miles from the capital of Brazil, Brasilia, there is a town called Abadiania. In this town resides John of God who is referred to by natives as “The Miracle Man of Brazil.” Recently, an STLCC-Meramec faculty member witnessed first-hand this spiritual healer’s work.
Over spring break, Gulten Ilhan, philosophy and world religions professor at Meramec, traveled to Brazil to research this individual. What she saw cannot be explained by logic, she said.
“It was an out-of-this-world experience,” Ilhan said. “I teach logic class, and this doesn’t make sense; there is no rational explanation, but something out of this world happens there.”
Joao Teixeira de Faria, commonly known as John of God, lives on a ranch in the middle of Abadiania where people come to his free clinic for health problems ranging from headaches to cancer to brain tumors. John of God is not a licensed doctor.
“I am merely an instrument in God’s divine hands,” John is quoted as saying on http://johnofgod.com, a website made by one of his followers.
A friend of Ilhan who had lime disease went to see John of God and told Ilhan about her experience. Ilhan said when she first heard about it, she was skeptical about John of God and wanted to learn more about him.
“I was very cynical. I was even making fun of it before I went,” Ilhan said. “If somebody came and told me what I am telling you, I would claim that the person had become insane-that he is bogus. This guy is real. Whatever is happening, I cannot explain.”
When he was 11, John of God had a vision that he had to go to a church. In this church, he supposedly healed his first patients and continued to do so throughout his life, Ilhan said.
When Ilhan went to the house where John of God resides and sees his patients, she said she saw hundreds of people there every day looking for medical care.
“This guy, John of God, when you go in front of him he supposedly scans you. You don’t even have to tell him what the issue is,” Ilhan said. “Then he makes recommendations. He may prescribe herbs or he may do invisible surgery. There is no touching you. Supposedly, spirits do the surgery.”
Studies of John’s powers, however, remain inconclusive, according to a 2000 article titled “Cirugia espiritual: uma investigação” (Spiritual Surgery: an investigation) in the “Revista da Associação Medical Brasileira” (Magazine of the Medical Brazilian Association).
According to the article, “The surgical procedures are real but we couldn’t evaluate the efficacy. It didn’t appear to have any specific effect,” “Findings are undoubtedly more of an exploratory kind than conclusive ones. Further studies are clearly necessary to cast light on this unorthodox treatment.”
As a world religions professor, Ilhan said she is investigating and studying more about this new field she had never explored before.
“I know it sounds very bizarre, extremely out of this world. Logic cannot explain it; rationality cannot explain it,” Ilhan said. “But all I know is that people are swearing that they are cured from AIDS, blindness, cancer, alcoholism, you name it.”
Ilhan said in the future students may expect a class offered on this subject.
I bought many, many books and I am reading more. Hopefully, one day I may offer a course on spiritism.”
