A teen God squad that claims to have healed hundreds of people on the streets using the miracle power of Jesus says it has received death threats.
Australian newspaper The Sunday Mail reports
Grant Shaw, who leads the Pentecostal group Culture Shifters in Brisbane, said threatening emails would be forwarded by church members to police. […]
“I’ve had people say (in emails), ‘If I see you out on the street I’m going to kill you’,” Mr Shaw said.
“I understand why some people are upset … but we forgive them.”
Parents and doctors were alarmed at YouTube videos, with members praying and touching people on the streets.
Mr Shaw said the group had halted its weekly street healings until teenage members had consent forms signed by their parents.
University of Queensland medical ethics professor Malcolm Parker called the group’s claims “outlandish” and said claims of faith healing were “based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever”.
“Although they’re well-intentioned, they’re conducting highly unethical and inappropriate activities with potentially very serious harm,” he said.
He said if people believed they had been healed and hadn’t, they would be less likely to seek traditional medical treatment, putting their health in jeopardy.