An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

Below are brief parts of extracts previously cited from respondents in response to thequestion from the interviewer “Have you administered spiritual healing to anyone?‖ Theseextracts also illustrate a certain level of trust in the respondent from her friend.Respondent 11 COGICRespondent: Oh! A friend of mine came here one day and said the uncle was very ill hewas rushed to hospital. He had a mild stroke-----He was in pain so I said ‗Let us go andsee him‘. So we went and he was crawling, he was in so much pain. I did not go with theintention of praying for him but just before we left ‗I felt something say, pray for him‘ So Iasked ‗Would you mind if I pray for you? He said he did not mind. So I just prayed. I laidmy hand on him and prayed and he started dancing. It was so instant that I was surprisedmyself. I don‘t understand how these things work.Note the words: ‗I did not go with the intention of praying for him.‘What was it that moved her to pray and lay hands on the sick person? It could be seen as aprompting of the Holy Spirit, a movement of compassion or an attempt to practise herbelief and faith in the healing powers that has been invested in her as a person and apractising Christian. The resulting effect must have been rewarding and reinforced theinitial motivation to visit someone who is ill.Respondent 8, a COGIC member, makes reference to instances when she believed healinghad ta n place through her own touch and where she believed that „God was spea g to274