BANGALORE, Jan 25: It's 9.30 pm at Jakkur airstrip and US pastor Benny Hinn's "healing" session was in progress. The entire ground was reverberating with cries of "rise and heal".

After a dozen or so testimonies of "cures", a man jumped over the fence to reach the stage. He explained his "ailment" to the volunteers. "Pastor, this man here has not walked for years. But today, a wonderful miracle has happened to him. He can walk, run, jump... in fact, he jumped over the fence," said an American volunteer whose job is to recount the health problems and the apparent miracles.

"Hallelujah! Shall we have a huge round of applause for this glorious feat of the Lord? I told you, none of you will leave this place sick," pastor Hinn replied.

The "cured" man jumped and ran about. Hinn gave him a slight nudge on the chin. But the man did not collapse, unlike many others who did after they "felt" an electric current pass.

Now the inside story: This "healed" man, P Raj (name changed), was a decoy planted by The Times of India to find out how Hinn's medical team separates the wheat from the chaff. Raj, actually in fine health, came to the meet pretending to have a pronounced limp, and was put in the "sick" enclosure. As the "healing" session began, this man started screaming that he was cured. Like him, thousands of people claimed a cure and jostled to get onstage.

Doctors in Hinn's team explained to Times Of India that they could make out the "really cured" from those who were not. "We check them meticulously. We cannot explain these miracles, but they are happening. We can make out who has been cured and we send only those persons onstage," explained one doctor. Raj was certified "cured". For the record, however, Raj had no malady.

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Source: Times Of India