FAITH HEALING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 288, 5 December 1932, Page 9

FAITH HEALING.

LAUGHTER REBUKED.

MR. DALLIMORE'S CLAIMS.

LONG-DISTANCE "CURES." Raucous laughter broke out several times during Mr. A. H. Dallimore's revival fire service in 'the St. James' Theatre last evening, rousing the evangelist on tw» occasions to administer stinging rebukes to , the' section of the audience involved. ;■';'..:. »

,The first indication of levity;- in the. theatre came during „'Mr; ".Dallimore's address. He. paused, ..and very deliberately spoke his mind,;, concerning * thosewho laughed. The .audience, generally, showed strong .appreciation" of his remarks by a spirited'burst of clapping. Afterwards,- during ties' "laying on of hands," the , sight. of pne woinan half rising and sinking back again on the stage, to :He there for a considerable time, caused great merriment among some people. Mr. Dallimore let this pass, but when the same people, presumably, indulged in-more laughter at the eight of a girl resisting the .evangelist's "touch", and staggering backwards

a few steps; he turned to the front of the stage, folded his arms, and said, clearly and distinctly: ."-Do you think, that's funny ?■;, I tell you, your turn will come. You won't feel like laughter when you stand at the Judgment Bar, with hell on the other side. I know it is not true Auckland that is doing this. It ie the scum of the intellect of the city." (Long and continuous applause.). He went on to denounce the interruptors, ending by saying, "It is only a fool that mocks God."

"Animals, Too." During the course of his address, the speaker said that "not only people, but animals, are coming to realise the strength and power of Jesus Christ, as manifest in revival fire." Hβ did not, however, illustrate this point. Mr. Dallimore stated that the blindness of an old man in Hamilton had been immediately cured by the laying on of a blessed handkerchief. Two other "miracles" quoted were noteworthy for the- fact that the "power" of blessed handkerchiefs was declared to have held good for over 12,000 miles. Two elderly people, one in England and the other in Cardiff, Wales, were suffering from goitre and cancer respectively, the latter being on the point of death. Blessed handkerchiefs were sent ; in each case by a daughter. The goitre completely vanished, while the cancer victim got up immediately from her bed and walked about.

Mr. Dallimore also asserted that a woman had recently written to him stating that her husband, who had been out of work for two years, had found a good billet shortly after prayers had been commenced for him. Scene on the Stage. The actual "laying on" ceremony commenced some time before 9 p.m., about 30 people—from boys in shorts to greyheaded old men, from little girls to bonneted old ladies, with a very fair percentage of young men and women —lying prostrate on their backs along the stage and in the deep wings of the theatre. It was a full ten minutes before any of them moved to get up, and some lay still for half an hour or more. Several people collapsed on the stage while waiting for Mr. Dallimore. One woman began laughing hysterically. Another sang for some time in a high, wailing voice, the.chanting notes rising and falling* in a weird, throbbing cadence. Yet another woman "spoke in tongues" in a loud voice from the wings, where numbers of people were lying invisible from the audience. '

Many people signed a petition in the foyer of the theatre, urging the granting of permission for the evangelist to return to the Town Hall. Mr. Dallimore mentioned that the signed papere were under proper guard, since someone had been "interested enough to remove several sheets" on a previous occasion.