João Teixeira de Faria

João Teixeira de Faria (1942—), better known by his alias João de Deus ("John of God") is perhaps the most famous medium and psychic surgeon in Brazil today. He is based in Abadiânia, a small town in the state of Goiás, southwest of Brasília.

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Biography

João de Deus was born João Teixeira de Faria in 1942 in Cachoeira da Fuaca, Goiás, in humble surroundings. Not much is known about João's early life, however according to Robert Pelligrino-Estrich's book "The Miricle Man" João got only two years of education and spent many years travelling from village to village in the states of Goias and Minas Gerais healing people and administering the local herbs to whomever turned up wherever he stopped. He later spent a number of years living on the local army base in Brasilia, where he was given his basic necessities in exchange for his healing work on members of the military there.

Eventually João claims he was told by his spirit guides that he must expand his work to reach more people, so he left the protected life at the army base. He visited his friend, the late Chico Xavier, one of Brazil's most celebrated healers who told him he should go to the small Goiás town of Abadiânia where he was meant to fulfil his healing mission. In the early days when João first did his healing work there, he just sat outdoors in a chair near the main road where people soon began to arrive seeking cures for their various illnesses and conditions. Gradually the numbers increased to thousands a day and slowly he developed his centre, The Casa de Dom Inácio, to what it is today.

General

"It was not I who chose this mission of mine. It was God who entrusted it to me and I will see it through to the end. I do not cure anyone; it is God who cures. He is the way and the truth – and everywhere, for those who ask, this Supreme Being is present." (João de Deus)

This controversial figure attracts thousands to his center, the Casa de Dom Inacio, where many undergo either visible or invisible psychic operations. Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday hundreds of poeple line up outside to pass before the medium, who prescribes a course of treatment or offers advice and answers to questions. The courses of treatment include a prescription of pills or in some cases surgery.

When called for a surgical operation by João, patients are offered the choice of visible or invisible operations. If they select an invisible operation (or are less than 18 or over 45) they are directed to sit in a room in the Casa and meditate. João will enter the room and pronounce them healed. Visible operations can take place in a closed room at the Casa or in the main public hall on a raised stage. The visible operations involve incisions, eye scraping and even placing a pair of forceps up a patient's nose.

When João performs consultations and surgeries, he claims to lose consiousness. The volunteers, staff and patients claim that while he is "in entity" he is taken over by the spirits of many different people (including famous doctors). While in entity João has claimed to be (amongst others) Inacio de Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, Dr Osvaldo Cruz, and King Solomon of Biblical fame.

According to web sources, celebrities, politicians, doctors and other well known people have come for healing at the Casa de Dom Inácio, over the years. Shirley MacLaine is even supposed to have had a large tumour removed from her stomach at the Casa, after unsuccessful treatments in the Philippines by psychic surgeons there. The actress Janet Leigh also visited the Casa for treatment. A president of Peru, presumably Alberto Fujimori, was allegedly healed of problems with his hands and his son of another condition, when João made a visit to Peru some years ago. He gave João the highest military honours in gratitude.

One can even have a surrogate surgery done on someone who is unable to make the trip. Others are more interested in making money or solving problems in their personal life. One follower who organizes tours [1] asked the entitity of Joao de Deus if he would help him fill planes with people coming to the Casa. He was told to pursue the endeavor.

There is no scientific proof that any of these operations have been successful but that does not diminish the number of candidates, many of whom are foreigners. The fame of this "healer" has even caused the appearance of a mini-industry of tours to this small, once forgotten town on the edge of the highway. A small colony of English speaking foreigners has even sprung up in the area and there are many sites on the Internet. Strangely, there are almost none in Portuguese, the language of the country.

Followers insist that João will take no money but a concoction of herbs is always prescribed, which should be taken for a period of up to one year. These herbs can only be bought at the Casa. Critics say João is the owner of a large cattle ranch near the town, but there is no proof that he himself is becoming rich.

Fact or Fraud?

Is there any veracity to the cures and are the physical operatons actually carried out? A university study was carried out by Brazilian psychiatrists and published in the Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira [2] (2000). Thirty "operations" were followed, in which six of the patients were actually opened. The extracted tissues were collected and submitted to exams. The "surgeon" really incised the skin or the ocular epitelius, besides performimg corneal scrapings without any anesthesia or identifiable anesthetic. Despite this, only one patient complained of moderate pain when she had her breast incised. The patients were examined three days later with no sign of infection. The histopathological exam showed that the tissues extracted were compatible with the site of origin, and, with the exception of a lipoma (adipose tumor) of 210 grams, were normal tissues, without pathological characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS: According to the group of psychiatrists, the operations are real, but, despite not being able to evaluate the efficiency of procedure, they apparently have no specific effect on the cure of the patients. João Teixeira himself says that the actual physical operation is not necessary but is only carried out because the patients need to see the operation. The researchers stress the importance of the placebo effect. "Perhaps these operations serve, in reality, to provide a supposed cure (for the one operated on and for those who are witnessing the operation) by way of another not well-understood mechanism; perhaps the operation acts as a placebo."

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