The performance of miracles is something that reinforces the faith of the believer and the skeptisicm of the non-believer! What is without doubt is the miracle establishes the credentials of the pastor. But since the 1950s some pastors have literally been pulling their congregations legs.
The Miracle
The pastor tells a member of his congregation that one of their legs is shorter than the other. The knowledge must have come from the angels because, amazingly, the person with the short leg often doesn’t even know! Sitting the person down and holding out their legs, they do appear to be different lengths. Calling the name of Jesus makes the shorter leg grow…apparently.
The Method
The ‘miracle’ is a well-known parlour trick amongst magicians. Starting with the legs slightly sideways and pulling the shoe slightly off the heel, makes one leg appear to be longer – or the other to be shorter! Reverse the process and you have an instant, miraculous healing.
The best thing is to watch this wonderful old clip of faith healer A.A. Allen followed by a demonstration of the method by magician James Randi. Watch carefully as Allen swing the legs to the side and blatently pulls off the shoe. Also on this video is another leg-puller W.V. Grant.
From the Faith of Fire church in Denmark we have the following video. The pastor was rather careless because it was performed over a wooden floor where the strips of wood create a grid. Notice the position of the feet going across the grid at the start and the way they are lined up at the finish. Perhaps he thought no one would notice because his congregation’s faith would suspend their critical reasoning?
There are also pastors in Ghana who do the same thing. From the one’s I have seen they have learnt the same method.
YouTube is full of these videos. You can do a search using terms such as “miracle leg grows”, “lengthen a short leg miracle” or “short leg miracle”.
Based on my knowledge of this trick, none of the YouTube performances I’ve seen are convincing to me. What do you think?
Why Don’t We See?
Intelligence has no bearing on the ability to be tricked, as James Randi showed with his Project Alpha.
In James Randi’s book The Faith Healers, he quotes Joseph Barnhart, professor of Philosophy at North Texas State University. Barnhart claims the faith healing service functions as a grand drama in which all become participants. The division between performer and audience does not exist in this context. The gradual build up to the climax is a ritual of magical proportions. The afflicted wants to get close to the magic and suspends all doubt to reinforce “the myth that all the actors have agreed to believe in”.
“The faith healing service is a sort of mutually accepted morality play that is participated in without doubt or hesitation, for fear of breaking the spell.”
We suspend our disbelief within a church service because we presume the proceedings are being conducted honestly. In a stage performance of magic we know we are being tricked. Historically, unscrupulous pastors have exploited this.
The pastors cover their tracks suggesting that questioning is challenging God and that being critical is “touching God’s anointed”.
If we suspend our critical abilities we have no defence against this sort of deceit .
Just because we cannot think of an explanation doesn’t mean the thing is real. It just shows the limits to our imagination!
There may be fakes out there, but I have seen a persons leg grow,now this preacher stood back ,the lady was sitting in a chair her leg was a least a half to 3 quarters of an inch shorter,the prayer to Jesus was said,the leg slowly grow,up to and past the other one then shrank back to the same length as the other..No squirming in the chair, no pulling of the legs here,nothing of the things you described ,no magician tricks here, the preacher was 3 to 5 feet away,look there may be fakes out there, but this preacher knew and openly acknowledged that he personally could not heal any one, but Jesus Christ could,if you doubt the power that Christ has, read the story of Betty Baxter ,well known and was reported in the news papers at the time, you can get back to me after you read her personal story if you wish……..Mal Hunter
I have seen this trick many times, even had it performed a couple of times on me. I actually have a relative who’s a self-proclaimed healer and prophet. He does this trickery regularly at the church he pastors. It’s still hard to believe that someone in my family does this. Does he know he’s tricking people or is he so deep into it all that he’s deceived himself into doing parlour tricks and then calling it divine? It makes my head hurt sometimes
That would be a very interesting thing to find out. Somehow if you are going through the procedures to create an illusion, it’s hard for me to imagine you don’t know what you are doing. If it was horoscopes or palm reading then it would be easy to deceive yourself but removing someone’s shoe or even swinging their legs? Surely you would have to consciously do that? Why they do it is what I can’t understand.
I have considered the idiomatic effect, but sometimes it’s too obvious. I’m not a Christian anymore and see him or step in that church only when I have to. An honest cousin of mine (with a history of mental problems) said that she was skeptical of it…until she did the exact same thing, using her mother as an healee. I’ve thought about asking him to “check” my legs…although I wonder if he’s read my blog and seen how critical I am of faith healers lol. Stil, something in the back of my mind tells me I’m all wrong and that I’m burning in hell. It sounds rediculous, but I can’t seem to shake the thought. I’m an Agnostic Atheist…and yet my fear of this is overwhelming at times.
Sorry, spelling error: Idiomotor Effect
Argh! Sorry for the spelling errors…on my phone
I’m obsessive compulsive and have a really hard time letting things go. My only comfort is knowing that there is a natural world that operates accordin to the laws of physics. Why relatives would do that (why they would even see themselves as “called” and superior is a whole other discussion) is beyond me…and that question is always in my head >_<
Hi, I have a healing ministry, and grow out legs through God’s power. If you watch AA Allen again, you will notice that on the lady and the little girl, he did not turn the legs to the side as Randi did. They were straight on. That is the way i do it too. No trick, no slight of hand, and in fact, if the person’s body is not square in the chair and 90 degrees on the seat from the back of the chair, , I will not begin the miracle. Be careful here of being too wise in your own minds….God uses the foolish things….. Many people are served by this miracle, many issues solved…..
Greg thanks for checking my post and taking the time to comment. Randi’s method is not the only one of course and not the one I use – it’s a little too obvious in my opinion. If you are indeed one of the few that can create this miracle Randi would like to give you 1 million dollars which you can use to develop your ministry. If you don’t know how to apply for it let me know. I think I’m more fascinated that there appears to be a never ending supply of people with short legs!