In an aching Karachi, televangelist offers some people a dose of faith and a touch of healing

Marilyn Hickey’s three-day healing convention ends today.

KARACHI:

Miracles can happen. At least that what the hordes of people who gathered at the YMCA ground on Friday night believed.

The crowd saw a man with a white beard throw away his crutches and ostensibly begin to walk for the first time in 10 years. They also saw a woman who hadn’t been able to hear for more than 30 years, claim to hear again and an elderly man claim to regain his eyesight.

The people gathered to see US televangelist and faith healer Marilyn Hickey change people’s lives with God’s word… literally.

Hickey is holding a three-day healing session in Karachi and the first session was on Friday. People, both sick and the able, thronged to the ground for a dose of faith and holy treatment.

Arif Masih brought his sister near the stage, sweating and with tears in his eyes. His sister was unconscious and tubes ran from her nose and other parts of her limp body, destroyed by cancer. “The doctors have given up hope and say that she can’t live any longer,” he said. “But I know there will be a miracle tonight. My sister will be cured.”

Robinson lay on a mattress. He had been brought to the venue in an ambulance. He fell from a building three months ago while painting it and had damaged his spinal cord. His entire body was paralysed. “The doctors demand Rs1.8 million for the surgery,” cried Rosey, his mother. “We poor people have no one to go to!”

Apart from Christians, many Muslims had also come to witness and be healed. Muhammad Munaf, who suffered from muscle weakness, said, “We are all believers of one God. Allah can bless anyone. Maybe she is the one to heal me.”

And as the sick waited anxiously to be healed, a band played religious songs on the stage to set the mood. Behind the stage, Prayer Warriors chanted holy verses while pointing towards the sky. They prayed for the safety of the event.

Other members of the Prayer Warriors huddled around people they believed had evil spirits. This group was responsible for extracting the evil from people’s hearts and replacing it with goodness.

“Oh Lord, protect us,” prayed Pastor Glem Votter, who was heading the group. “We have special powers to transform people’s hearts,” he said. “Tonight as we pray for safety, we also pray for demonic souls to change to good ones.”

Warriors like Votter have spent many years fasting and praying for the solidarity of the country as well. He said that they also go to troubled areas and pray for the well being of the people.

How does one become a prayer warrior? “God selects them,” said Votter. One of the signs that you are a prayer warrior is that you spend a lot of time praying, at least about four to five hours or more.

The session

The healing session began with Pastor Subash Gill leading the choir to pray to the Lord to touch them.

Eyes closed and heads bowed in reverence. The people too began singing to the beat of the shoal and harmonium. An ecstatic Rehana Samuel had tears rolling down her cheeks. “God is touching me,” she cried. “It feels as if there is an electric current passing through me!”

Finally Marilyn Hickey arrived with her team, clad in an orange shalwar kameez. She first let other people, who had been cured by her on her previous visits to Pakistan, testify to the standing crowd.

“I had stones in my kidney which were removed,” said a woman. “When Hickey prayed for me, I felt as if I had been operated on.” A couple said that they were blessed with a baby after they attended her session in Islamabad in 2005.

The televangelist finally began praying. Pastor Abraham Daniel acted as her translator. Hickey first narrated the incident when Jesus Christ (RA) made a man, who had been physically impaired for 38 years, walk. She said that she saw the biggest miracles happen in Muslim countries.

The Pakistanis, she said, were open and eager to be healed. “Miracles always have to do with faith. It should grow here,” she while referring to the venue. “Jesus heals!” she shouted and the crowd echoed her words.

According to Robin Asghar, the chairman of the Marilyn Hickey Ministry in Pakistan, the organisers expected a turnout of around 40,000 people. Their expectations weren’t unusual, since the venue was packed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2012.