Raised From The Dead?
Posted: January 22, 2011 Filed under: Faith, News | Tags: Brazil, healing, Jesus 41 Comments »Those of you who follow world news will know there has been some serious floods in Brazil this month.
This morning I received news about something extra-ordinary that has happened in the region.
Apparently, some people have come back from the dead. I’m not joking.
Here is the front page of a local newspaper:
The text translated says the following:
Caleme, Teresopolis
16 Dead Bodies Confirmed Resurrected from the Dead
Sunday, January 16, 2011
CALEME, TERESOPOLIS, Brazil – People of the barrio of Caleme have witnessed Saturday 5 dead bodies raised from the dead in the street. Another 10 bodies from the morgue have been raised to life. One woman who drowned and was dead was also raised back to life. The people in Caleme reported that 5 American men went near the 5 bodies and yelled, “Rise and live in the name of Jesus.” The dead bodies started to shake and stood up and walked and are alive. At the nearby morgue, there were 10 dead bodies in the hallway. People said that 5 foreign women went near the bodies and said, “Rise and live in the name of Jesus.” The dead bodies shook and stood up shaking and walking and were alive. People were screaming, yelling. Riot at the barrio of Caleme. These 5 dead bodies in the street of Caleme have been dead since Wednesday January 12. The 10 dead bodies in the morgue have been left in the hallway since Wednesday. People have talked to the dead risen. They were still weak but were able to talk and they said, “I was in a dark place many people crying, shouting. Was I asleep? Now I am alive!” “I know I was dead. I was in a dark, ugly place. I do not know what happened, but I am back to life. God is alive.” The families of these dead are celebrating and happy. There has been hope in Caleme since Saturday.
The top picture the newspaper has used (of dead bodies under blankets) can also be viewed here on AOL news. You will have to scroll down, it’s in the right column and is time-stamped as 12th January. The newspaper says they were raised on the 15th January and has a picture of the same blankets with no bodies! As you’ve just read- they even have quotes from the people who were apparently dead and are now living.
To the skeptics: This isn’t the first time I’ve heard about people being raised from the dead when people prayed to Jesus and it probably won’t be the last. I am in no position to state that this 100% definitely happened, but I find it interesting that given the above evidence it certainly seems possible.
I doubt that every report I’ve ever heard of this kind of thing is true, but I believe many of them are. I’ve never seen someone raised from the dead, but I have seen people before my eyes healed of everything from a bad back, to arthritis, to cancer. That’s not to mention that fact my own mother was told by doctors at a top London hospital she would NEVER be able to have children and consider adoption. What can I say? Prayer works!
Finally, if anyone hears of further developments regarding this story please let me know. It’s a shame these stories never get picked up by the major news channels. Some say that’s because they are obviously false, others that mainstream news tends to be secular and not interested in promoting religious miracles.
So, over to you. What do you think?
What evidence?
All I see is a news report with people making claims.
It’s all anecdotal. Where are the medical reports from qualified doctors?
Just because somebody says something to be true, it doesn’t make it so.
I’ll be interested to see if anything more can come of this, perhaps some more reports or something, perhaps from a less biased perspective.
As it stands, there is literally nothing to back up this claim…
I personally have been healed when two people prayed for me in Jesus’ name last August 2010. I was desperate, needed a miracle or I felt I could not go on. I cannot verify these reports of people rising from the dead, but I can verify personally that when we speak the name of Jesus sickness has no more power, so why should death? It’s about faith in the actual creator, not in some vague idea of a universal God, but more than that. Not long after I was healed I asked God to show himself to me and his presence (The Holy Spirit of God) came to me and I knew, like you know who your parents are, that he is the creator and that he made us all, loves us all, and desires us to know him. I was amazed. I had no idea anything like that could happen. Anyway, since then I’ve prayed for my other sisters who live in another country, and weren’t particularly religious and they have had similar experiences of healing, and knowing God personally. I guess you have to believe that He “is”. If he created us then it goes to figure that he is way more advanced than us so we cannot know him by using our own reasoning. We need to ask for him to teach us who he is so that we can know what he’s capable of. Sure, I agree totally that there are plenty of hoaxes out there, and like I said, I can’t verify this particular story, but I can tell you mine. Just a strangers thoughts on the subject. Hope you don’t mind!
Even if you can’t believe the story of people rising from the dead. Know this. God is real. Life is not some random accident, and neither is this email. So why are you really here? Ask HIM.
If you took the time to seriously search out this subject you’ll find there are many hoaxes but their is also valid medical backed up evidence of people who have been raised from the dead deny this one if you can google search channel 7 news being raised from the dead. There are factual proofs of people being raised from the dead like it or not God is real and he still empowers and uses some of his saints to perform miracles if you seriously search you will find numerous verifiable instances of the resurrecting power of Christ in his saints
Yeah.. D proof that JESUS is our risen is that he can still do the things he did wen he was alive.. There is absolutely nothing that GOD cannot do..
Yeah.. D proof that JESUS is our risen LORD is that he can still do the things he did wen he was alive.. There is absolutely nothing that GOD cannot do.. Includin raisin d dead in our time.. If he did it den,dat means he can still do it..
I technically drowned when I was younger and was pronounced dead but for a very short time before my body began the fight again with one last attempt from the lifegaurd.
After even just a few minutes if a body is ‘dead’ there will be no oxygen going around the body thus causing damage to the brain and numerous other aspects of the body unles they are hooked up to a machine to make the body take in oxgyen and cycle it around the body. If these bodies had been ‘dead’ for as long as it’s saying without medical aid then they certainly wouldn’t be in any state to be walking and talking, their cognative process would be severly impared.
Also as the person above me states, where is the evidence for this? All we have are two photographs a a couple of witness statements. Word of mouth means nothing without actual irifutable evidence. If we all accepted things we’d head without evidence we would not progess scientifically, medically, etc etc. Without the tried and tested scientific method we wouldn’t have advanced this far. Essentially anything without evidence to back it up is nothing more than a farce for the gullible.
Someone once showed me this video, I suggest you spend just ten minutes of your time watching this video, after all what is ten minuets out of ones life it it helps one understand and question the world around them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T69TOuqaqXI
I do not mean this is any way to be patronising or to be in way way rude, some people have taken it as such before. I just suggest this to you as it might help you question things when prestented with such as this. Evidence and analysis is key to progression scientifically, medically, socially, and just generally any aspect of our lives. To truely better ourselves we need to constantly be critical and challenege to progress and learn.
Your first two parahgraphs completely miss the point. No one is saying what happened makes sense with our current understanding of science and biology. That’s what makes it a MIRACLE! lol
Stating that this story does not make sense with our current understanding of science and biology is not off topic!
I think we all know what camp I fall into here… but I would genuinely love such a story to be real. I just hope these people go and open up a hospital where they can summon up Jesus to cure people all the time. Surely they have a unique connection to Jesus if between them they managed to get him to raise 16 people on command.. ny the time their trip is complete maybe they will.have reversed the death toll altogether!! i do sometimes wonder why these things seem to be concentrated in countries that don’t have a lot of cctv and despite the prevalence of the media are never caught on film, but that must just be the skeptic in me… Hopefully doctors reports will be forthcoming soon, also I hope these 16 raised people come forward for testing so we can understand how they remained dead for 3 days yet didn’t suffer from any decomposition or rigor morris, perhaps Jesus knew he was going to be summoned so put a special spell over them ahead of time to ensure their organs would still function when he raised them, either that or he reversed decomposition altogether. I suppose if you’re going to believe the story you have to believe that ANYTHING is possible and nothing we know to be fact remains so when Jesus is brought into the equation.
With regards to the mainstream media reporting on it, I think we can safely say the daily mail or the Sun will run it if they get wind but I doubt any serious paper will, because they are all part of the big anti religion, promote fake science conspiracy. But that doesn’t explain why the highly religious American right wing media doesn’t ever pick such things up..
Let’s be real, never has there ever been any independent evidence, medical or otherwise to back up one of these claims… they are no different to the “aliens abducted my sister” stories from the national enquirer, the only people who believe them are those that want to.
As Sam mentioned, there is no way to determine the validity of this claim, but I, for one, have no problems believing it’s possibility. Why? Because I help with a volunteer group praying for people every Thursday night. We regularly see people healed. We always encourage them to go back to their doctor for verification.
I understand that atheists won’t consider the possibility of this. But I don’t understand anyone who considers themselves a Christian not believing the possibility. After all, if God can’t raise people from the dead, then there is no Christianity.
If you really have doubts that God exists or can heal, then do some due diligence and interview someone who’s been healed or raised from the dead.
“Due diligence” would not be interviewing people who are already believers about what happened. “Due diligence” would be providing an objective measurement of the health of the “healed” before and after the faith healing experience. And I highly doubt any skeptic would have a problem with that. Being a “skeptic” doesn’t mean you “won’t consider the possibility of this”, it just means you are making an effort not to be so gullible or susceptible to other people’s dishonesty.
I’ll just add, you begin with “there is no way to determine the validity of this claim.” Really? Is there really no way to take a closer look at the people who wrote this article, the people who supposedly witnessed it, and the people who supposedly died? There always are ways to determine if such stories are true or not, it’s just a matter of real due diligence — not the lazy “oh well, I guess it can’t be proven or disproven, so I’ll just choose to believe it” kind.
You’re absolutely right, David. We should take a closer look before we pass judgment on something like this. What I meant to say is that the is no way to determine the validity of this claim without doing exactly what you’ve said.
It’s simply not enough to say (from the comfort of our keyboard) that this didn’t or couldn’t happen.
Correct. But we can, from the comfort of our keyboard, assess the evidence we are provided. One bit of evidence I shouldn’t even need to submit is that people like to make up and retell these stories. Newspapers in particular because they can sell issues with them…so long as they attach blurry, mysterious looking photos. Aliens, Elvis and Jesus are popular subjects. But from the comfort of our keyboards, I guess you are saying we simply can not know whether Elvis is alive or dead. Then again, it’s difficult by your standard to say we can know anything at all.
Regardless of one’s initial gut reaction to the story, it would be interesting to investigate it further. Unfortunately, although the newspaper has a website http://www.odiariodeteresopolis.com.br/default.asp with a list of articles by date http://www.odiariodeteresopolis.com.br/busca2.asp there seems to be no mention of the story, either on 16 Jan when it claims to have been filed, or at any other time that I can see. That’s quite surprising if something as extraordinary as this had really happened. Even if the original article couldn’t be found, I’d expect to be able to find many follow-ups in subsequent days. In fact, this looks like a rather sloppy photoshop job, taking an existing picture, adding a masthead and sticking some vaguely plausible text underneath it.
If you can come up with a link to the actual story, rather than a poor-quality image which claims to be scanned from it, maybe there might be something to discuss. Until that time, I’ll continue to regard this “story” as a crude hoax on the gullible.
I got a thumbs down…so I assume somebody disagrees with my response that there is literally no evidence here to back up this claim.
So let’s analyse the article in question:
There are 2 photographs, and a full article.
1st Photograph is apparently of corpses (cannot be confirmed) covered by blankets. The colouring of the photograph has been changed for some unknown reason.
2nd Photograph is of a pile of blankets. It is in full colour, but because the 1st image has had the colours changed, you cannot even confirm that they were the very same blankets used to cover the apparent corpses in image number 1.
The images are then followed up by the article.
The article states that “witnesses” (Unamed and Unidentified) saw five “American Men” (Unamed and Unidentified) ressurect 15 corpses (Unamed and Unidentified) from the dead. We are then told that the 15 resurrected individuals (again, unamed and unidentified) are safe & sound, and fully healthy (nothing from a doctor or professional, no photographic evidence, and no way of confirming this at all), and are currently with their families (unamed, and unidentified).
So I ask…what evidence is there?
The first photograph in full color can be viewed on this site towards the bottom on the right: http://www.aolnews.com/tag/teresopolis/photo/
The second photo is supposed to show the same sheets sans-bodies? Aside from not sharing the patterns, the colors, and aside from the change in location from outdoors to indoors…they are dirty sheets so they have that in common. Perhaps part of the miracle here is God changing the color of the sheets–and moving them–after the dead rose. We have no evidence he didn’t, so I guess we’ll just never know. God certainly works in mysterious ways.
I live in the Regiao Serrana which has just suffered severe floods. I haven’t seen anything in the Brazilian papers about this at all.
With all my heart I would like to believe it was true – I believe that Jesus has the power to do miracles today – but I think we need to provide proof.
For the believers reading this, is this the God-equivalent to an “undo” button? It’s hard for me to understand how such a story is evidence of a merciful ‘miracle’, considering that God’s the one who killed these 15 people to begin with, along with everybody else who died in the earthquake. Oops…yea I didn’t mean to kill THOSE 15 people…
Thank you for posting this, it is so encouraging. The comments are so silly, trying to disprove it. The real question is: what is the benefit of them lying about people being raised from the dead? It has to be true.
you’re so right, it is encouraging. After killing so many people, it’s encouraging to know God can have a change of heart at least for a few of the victims. Just a little praising and pleading from a handful of his fans and his heart warms just enough to undo the death he caused. So thoughtful of him. Although it sounds like it wasn’t his idea. If it weren’t for those other people praying i guess he wouldn’t have done it. And, let’s be honest, it’s not all that hard for him to resurrect because he can do anything he wants…so it’s not like he really put that much effort into raising them from the dead…easier than snapping his fingers. But still, it’s so encouraging to know that when he makes a mistake we can pray to him to let him know so he can fix it.
You’re incorrect if you think God is the one who killed those people. I certainly understand, however, that if that’s your perception of God, you would want to have no part in believing in or following Him. It makes total sense.
You don’t think the earthquake was an act of God?
Well, debunked enough for bethel to completely remove the story with no explanation, and healing herald has removed the pdf for review. Does anyone who furiously defends these unfounded stories have any concept of what a horrible witness this is to the people you are trying to reach? Or is it just too much fun to high-five those who already have your identical belief and show how quick you are in quoting scripture?
http://thejourneyproject.org/missions/digging-for-the-truth-in-teresopolis.html
Thank you zeemanb. This story has been bothering me as well. To a certain extent I’ve become accustomed to the ease with which internet fiction gets created, circulated and consumed as truth. But I was surprised at how quickly and extensively this particular story was picked up considering its (in my opinion very obvious) lack of substance.
I assume most people have encountered fake news before, so I am interested in how and why so many people are still so gullible. Is it that people do not have the skills, or is it a lack of willingness to be honest with themselves about the difference between what IS true versus what they WANT to be true.
I am also surprised to see this posted on the blog of a journalism student.
U bitter about sometin? Y would some1 lie about a miracle JESUS didnt perform.. D reverse is likely to be more acceptable.. Search ur scriptures.
Old story, but Bethel has 100%, completely admitted that this story was a lie concocted by ministry students and spread by Bethel leadership. No scriptures needed, Bethel lied, they got caught, continued to lie until someone finally went to Brazil and proved it was a hoax. Now nobody at Bethel will allow anyone to speak about it, and any questions directed at them are immediately deleted and the person asking is blocked. Bill Johnson has money to make, and nothing, absolutely nothing can get in the way of that.
Hey, just commenting on here that I write The Journey Project blog. (I’m not a journalism student anymore, I’ve graduated, from American University with a B.A. in journalism, so I know how journalism works). And apparently the newspaper was a hoax. I’m not sure if the people were actually raised from the dead or not, but if they were, why would you make a fake article about it? And why would anyone believe your story after you faked an article?
We’re trying to get to the bottom of this, here in Brazil. I believe God can do miracles, and I also believe that lying is wrong.
-Emily
What is really sad now is that the choruses of joy ringing through the blogosphere over this story have now gone dead silent….and the sites championing it- bethel and healing herald have gone into damage control mode….modifying the sites and removing all commentary that in any way questions them. That is the essence of corruption and lack of accountability. Never admit you were wrong, erase evidence, and pretend that nothing happened…..because if a story of a miracle with “evidence” from a source that YOU defended is untrue…then how about the hundreds of reports from your “dead raising” teams that are substantiated either by anonymous sources or others you defend? How many of those are untrue? What system of checks and balances do you have in place to guard against it? This is the internet, so your game now is to let this blow over and let it be replaced with more “true accounts” that are really just meant to entertain those who already believe. If they were meant to minister to a sick and dying world, you would not have to hide like a coward from telling the truth. But that’s what you do- protect the machine and insulate yourself with those who will NEVER question you. You create the very anti-Christian sentiment that you fight against.
The sceptics need not worry. Soon there will be so much of this going on everywhere it will make them embarrassed to be sceptics.
So….your response is “you’ll see!”? Ok, I’ll accept that. My only question is- how are these blatant lies about miracles to be dealt with until then? Lying is no longer a sin as long as it serves God’s glory? I for one am not a skeptic. I believe in Christ and I believe in miracles. What I DON’T believe is that it is in any way acceptable to pervert the glory of God for one’s own purpose, and then run and hide like reaches, popping out from a rock every once in a while to tell me “hey, SOMETIMES this stuff happens!”.
Ok, so I can’t spell roaches…..but I can spell skeptic!
From my perspective as a skeptic I have to say your perspective (as a believer in miracles) is refreshing–but all too rare. Many people seem to strip from their minds the possibility that they, or others who say they share their faith, could be incorrect or outright lying. There is something profoundly disturbing about this tendency to overlook not just little details, but enormous inaccuracies and completely ignore/excuse bad behavior. The result: 1) an unwillingness to communicate with people who see what’s actually going on and 2) they become accessories to the bad behavior and in effect encourage it.
As a skeptic it is my opinion that faith actually encourages this kind of blindness to objective truth, and I would point out this article, and many of the pro-miracle comments here as evidence of that. In order to make a leap of faith people are often encouraged to exercise a suspension of logic. But once logic is suspended they are more or less free to place their personal opinion of truth over objectively determined truth at any point that it pleases them to. Clearly it pleases many Christians to believe this story, and so it becomes “true”.
I commend your willingness to address this flimsy and potentially dangerous thinking.
^ that comment’s meant for zeemanb btw
I saw real blood on the moon Jan. 14, 2006. You can check it out on my website tenwaiting4jesusdotpodbeandotcom.
We are in the end times. Dr. Owuor said God told him that time is over and we are only in a small space of time called The Fathers Grace for anyone who wishes to repent. I believe him. His web site is repentandpreparethewaydotorg
Here is the response I received when I sent the “article” to a Brazilian friend:
This definitely is a hoax.
It is written in very bad Portuguese (lots and lots of grammatical errors), but it basically says that some dead bodies were brought back to life by North Americans who shouted: “Stand up in the name of Jesus”!
I did a quick research on the “ Diário de Teresópolis”, and it does seem to be a legitimate newspaper, so I guess somebody just took a piece of a real article and wrote this on top of it. The headline has nothing to do with the text, it just says that this paper had published an article in early 2010 suggesting some preventive measures to avoid all the disaster that’s been going on.
My take: a foreign person wrote this article, put it on an online English-Portuguese translator, and tried to make a really bad joke.
In my opinion Bethel and others should apologize for posting something and claiming that it’s true… there should be a retraction and an investigation into who is providing this false information… this is embarrassing for the body of Christ… it’s not enough to simply remove a post.
David, thumbs up
proof or not it makes no diffrence ..to think that “your” opinion is valid (no matter if your for or agianst the articals main content) Is absurd…it is only a artical not a nazi declaration for u to believe it!!! and science can only explane about half of what we know of ..how arrigant ou u as the reader to pass judgment on s subject u were not a part of!!!! be open minded people..
D foolishness of GOD is wiser dan men’s wisdom.. U cant understand the truth of GOD’s WORD with ur human senses.. Search the scriptures.. Faith is spirirtual.. We cant percieve or understand it with our senses.. Just like we cannot reach out to GOD with our senses but with our spirit.. It’s a choice.. But,den,if u dnt believe in this amazin reports dat defies medical science,how den can u believe dat JESUS is risen n dat we’d be caught up with him in d heavens? Think about it.
You got ur reasons.. But there z sumtin i’ve learnt- GOD is too strong to fail:too right to do wrong:and too wise to make a mistake.. Search the scriptures.