televangelist-faith "healer"- Peter Popoff....liar and fake

televangelist-faith "healer"- Peter Popoff....liar and fake [+ favourites]

A famous (or perhaps we should say "infamous" ) preacher you may have heard of is Peter Popoff. In the early 1980's he was pulling in over 4 million dollars a year deceiving thousands. Then, he was exposed by a stage magician (and skeptic) by the name of James Randi. Randi attended one of the services where Popoff seemed to "prophetically" know people's names, addresses and ailments and, with a small FM scanner, he discovered that Popoff was being fed information through a wireless receiver in his ear (by his wife backstage). This video clip is an excerpt from an interview with Randi on NOVA.

Peter Popoff- what an evil man.

"The summit is just a halfway point"

There is very little difference between this and what other preachers tell you... except that this fool probably actually DID heal people via placebos.

In fact, i bet that's how he justified his actions... that's probably why he doesn't consider himself an evil man.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

He never healed anyone though. By intrinsically attempting to appease or reassure another simply explains nothing, and does nothing. A healing process involves the actual physical revival of the mind and body. He's not even a psychologist. All he is is a greedy sick fuck in the name of "god".

"The summit is just a halfway point"

I'm not sure what your point is. The placebo effect is very real. And this is a perfect example of where it would take effect.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

My point is that I am very skeptical about the placebo effect entailing its cause, process and consequences. A placebo in my understanding is a psychological illusion and a response to treatment. Correct me if wrong, but Peter Popoff never used a placebo, he simply lied to people. A placebo is an inactive substance containing no medication. Placebos don't improve physical conditions. Placebos do not cure, as many people mistakenly believe; it is the perceived improvement of symptoms that characterizes the placebo effect.

"The summit is just a halfway point"
[  Edited by summit at   ]

Well, I didn't want to get into it, but lets just use one simple example to point out difinitively why the placebo effect indeed does physically heal.

Stress causes various chemicals to be released into your body. These chemicals can cause auto-immune dysfunction, thereby reducing the effectiveness of your immune system (or causing over immunity) thereby making you more prone to various sicknesses (including cancer) or even forcing you to lose hair (alopecia). A direct link has not been made from stress to a disease, but a direct link has been made between stress and certain chemical changes, and these chemical changes have been linked to various diseases.

Therefore...

If one is to reduce stress, they remain healthier. They can even improve their health by removing stress.

And I am quite certain that when Peter told the believers that they were healed, they certainly were very, very not-stressed for a while.

Hence, he did in fact help cure them.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

I understand vicariously what you are stating, about the biological processes of conditions involved such as 'stress' and its interconnection with various other health problems. And yes Peter may have periodically reduced the stress within the people. Yet all I am saying is that the effect is a form of psychological illusion, and therefore I think that it was not a cure based method but rather a form of regimen. A regimen that is designed to presuppose the person to make them believe that they think they are "cured". But realistically they are physically the same. Just my thought.

"The summit is just a halfway point"

So you agree he may have helped cure them, just not in the way they thought he was.

No argument here.

My original point was just that. He probably justified his actions to himself because he was curing them using a placebo, and the placebo was faith.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

No I was stating that he was enforcing a method of faith based regimen that is designed to presuppose the person to make them believe that they think they are "cured". But realistically they are physically the same, hence he didn't cure anyone. It is a psychological illusion. A placebo of faith, is not literal, but metaphorical. This is of ecclesiastical nature that peter performed. Anyways, besides this note, it just shows that many people have the capacity to superstitiously believe the absurd and the ridiculous ... even after being debunked. Some people find it difficult to give up their faith that they've devoted their lives, time, money and heart for, just like Christianity.

"The summit is just a halfway point"

They are NOT physically the same if their mental state affects their physical state, especially given the immense affect their mental state undergoes as a result of the faith. You already agreed to that and are now just wasting space being argumentative. Closing this thread.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."