A young evangelist who preaches that faith heals “soul and body” is packing them into the Nuevo Circo – thousands of believers jam the bullring in hopes of a miracle that will rid them of their physical miseries.
But the young preacher is being attacked by the Catholic Church and several psychology teachers who declare that most of the alleged miracles in the Nuevo Circo are the product of mass suggestion.
The preacher, 26-year old Eugenio Gimenez of Puerto Rico and New York, has been preaching in Caracas since last June and his ancient oratory, similar to that of evangelists Billy Graham and Oral Roberts, has been very successful here.
The young evangelist has been packing the people into the Nuevo Circo and leading them in prayer and song. He urges them “to have faith and be cured and saved.”
Claim They’re Cured
Several people have claimed – after the prayer sessions – that they feel cured of their ailments.
Gimenez, who talks for approximately 25 minutes at a time and then prays for all while asking the listeners to touch their sick bodies and to have faith that they will be cured, calls himself an evangelist but says he does not belong to any protestant denomination. A committee of 17 evangelist churches here arranged for his appearance at the Nuevo Circo. The Nuevo Circo mass meetings will run through July 31.
He claims he is non-denominational and adds that his doctrine is the bible (King James version). Gimenez says he preaches unity without attacking any religion and that members of all faiths are invited to attend his meetings.
Hundreds Brought In
Gimenez’ appeal to the masses is based on the theory that faith can cure body afflictions. Hundreds of sick people – old men in wheelchairs, blind, and insane persons – are brought to the young preacher who prays over them asking for them to be cured.
Asked about the miracles which were supposedly happening during his religious meetings, he said that the miracles were real although he refused to take direct credit for them.
“Only Christ can make miracles,” said the young evangelist, “I only pray with the believers. It is through their faith they are cured.”
Asked about the possibilities of the miracles being simply a matter of suggestion, Gimenez denied it by saying that suggestion was a matter of the mind while faith was completely spiritual.
Psychiatrists from Caracas, however, disagreed with the young minister in the explanation of the “miracles.”
Dr. Pedro Tellez Carrasco of the Spanish Society of History of Medicine, said that most people who suddenly become cured were victims of disease caused by psychological disorders and therefore could be cured through mass suggestion of “faith.”
Cites Emotional Troubles
Dr. Abel Sanchez said that emotional disorders could cause physical diseases and cured by simple suggestion and could be called “miracles.”
Both doctors agreed that they believed in miracles, but said they refused to accept one without careful medical examination.
The Catholic newspaper La Region branded the religious campaign “a show.”
But while the psychiatrist and the Catholic church criticize him, [to be continued]