OCR Text |
Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, December 10-13, 2005 The Park Record C-12 Church claims mouthful of miracles A Neighborhood Italian Caf FAMOUS 4 COURSE GOURMET DINNER FOR DETAILS & RESERVATIONS Marriot Summit Watch Plaza 900 Main Street ,«***??•* Dinner Nightly from 5:00 pm Closed Wednesday 'Per Person. Noc valid with any other offer y*£pF Beverage, Tax and Gratuity, nor included No coupon necessary ..t-.-:'. Expires 12.15.05 m : • . . ' ^ i :; w w w • p A R K R E C R D • • J » l « - . • >. i l l IT* Park Record. • C 0 M By BRAD GREENBERG Med'iaNews Group Wire Service San Bernardino, Calif. - If Jesus could turn water into wine, why wouldn't God turn teeth inlo gold? A growing number of people at Highland House of Prayer are claiming he has. It began with a series of religious revivals in October. Now, much of the congregation is opening wide and pointing to shiny dots on their teeth. That was gray, they say, but now it's gold. Others have crowns and caps that appear to be wholly gold _ or maybe holy gold. ".The Lord spoke to me and said, 'It didn't have anything to do with faith. I did it to increase your faith,' " said the church's pastor. Larry Baker. "It has done so for me and this church tremendously." God only knows what's really going on. but about 15 of the church's 70 members say their teeth or fillings have turned to gold during the past three weeks. Some are now on a mission to gel their dental records and prove their claims are true. Across the world, Pentecostal Christians like those at House of Prayer claim teeth have changed, the disabled have been healed and the dead have been raised. For now. the spirit is moving at House of Prayer. The congregation meets in the Church of Yahweh, a blue and while building in a dark strip mall. Since October, Baker and visiting evangelists have asked church members to show their faith by giving money "sacrificially." Youths responded by selling their video games and basketball-card collections, a church bulletin reports, and adults sold second vehicles and wedding rings. The church offering, which averages about $3,500 per month, surpassed $25,000, Baker said. An unspecified amount went to the evangelists; the remainder was earmarked to help build their own church, the pastor said. Then God began paying through the teeth. Baker was at home enjoying dinner with his family when the phone rang. "I have a gold filling where I didn't have one," the woman on the line told him. "We told her to come over," Baker said. "I didn't realize I already had mine." A few friends arrived at Baker's San Bernardino home to see what they couldn't believe. Jamen Nicholson, an area minister and contract painter, turned to the pastor and said. "I guess you already got yours done." "I turned to my wife," Baker recalled, "and 1 said, "Is there gold in there?' She went very, very white." Since then, he claims, God has given him four more gold teeth and one that is silver. He plans to visit his dentist Wednesday to.get his records and to have his teeth checked. He wants to know if they are capped or solid. Theologians say the purported miracles are nothing to pooh-pooh. "We never say, "It can't be real,' because God is God,*" said Doug McConnell, dean of the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. "I'm not a dentist, but I would assume a dentist could say, "Yeah, it wasn't there before and it is now.'" About 84 percent of Americans believe in miracles, according to a 2003 Harris Poll. But things more commonly considered miracles include cancer disappearing, money appearing and, generally, prayers being answered. "Healings take place now because God and Jesus have healed in the Bible,11 said Robert Bruce Mullin, author of "Miracles and the Modern Religious Imagination." "I don't know of any place (in the Bible) where God turns lead teeth into gold teeth," Mullin said. Baker said that God was replacing their amalgam fillings, which are about 50 percent mercury, with a safer metal. "What God simply did was do away with the mistake of man and do it as only God can do it," Baker said. Although mercury is poisonous, there is no evidence that the fillings are hazardous. The American Dental Association has defended the safety of amalgam fillings, which have been used for 100 years. Some religious commentators urge caution before claiming mira- cles. Many believe, but they are being deceived by a "counterfeit revival," says Hank Hanegraaff, president of North Carolina-based Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man radio program. "The expectations of people have reached such a fever pitch that some time ago a parent who lost a child put his baby on ice and drove 350 miles to the Brownsville Assembly of God to have the baby raised from the dead," he wrote in a recent essay on the institute's Web site. These stories have "tragic11 consequences, wrote Hanegraaff, who was traveling Friday and unavailable for further comment. "When followers finally catch on to the manipulations of revival leaders, they often become disillusioned and disenchanted." Whether the fillings are safe or not - gold or gild - they have energized Baker's small congregation. "In the Bible, you read about it, people raising from the dead, people being made to walk, but today you don't see it, except some televangclist - twenty-nine, ninety-five for a healing handkerchief," said James Wynn, 18, of San Bernardino. "But that's not real. Then you see it happen to your friends and family. It's amazing." And what's in Wynn's mouth? "I have a filling that hasn't turned to gold yet," he said optimistically. New trend is a blend of spirituality, money • Continued from C-10 physical brandname Sanctuary by Anthropologie. "I love this store, but it's a bit pricey for me," she says. "Why is it that living this kind of lifestyle, you have to spend more?" Yeh, a native of China, makes frequent trips to Manhattan where she sees the same metrospirilual trends. "People have an Asian fetish," she says. "They think it's cool." Boulder's Pear! Street Mall "was all about Asian things, all these little Buddhas, and even a shop called Zen," she says. "It was very funny. But in Asia, Buddhism is all about your heart." Yeh, who is not Buddhist, is amused by the trend. But some practitioners of Asian religions are indignant when their sacred objects are used for trendy design. "Some feel very offended when the (Hindu) image of Ganesh is used in a home merely as decora- tion or a vague symbol, rather than recognizing that Ganesh is worshipped the way Jesus is worshipped'," says Ginni Ishimatsu, a religion professor in the Asian Studies Department at the University of Denver. "People don't recognize the proper way to approach a Hindu image, reverently, and with established rituals, like bathing your hands first, and using the right hand, which is the pure hand." At a Denver furniture store metrospirituality is obvious: customdesigned furniture, from beds to kitchens, featuring scavenged architectural objects, many of sacred origin. Walking into this colorful shop is like stumbling into an ancient bazaar. Near books with titles like "A Spiritual Style -- The Home as Sanctuary," you will find a $1,400 wooden reliquary from Thailand that once held a monk's cremated ashes. Or a $699 naga from Thailand, the dragon-tail symbol of protection from evil spirits in temples. Or a $900 Swati woman, elegantly carved, who once greeted devotees in Buddhist temples. Particularly popular are the $115 shelves from Pakistan, which people buy to make home altars, draped with exotic fabrics, and aglow with scented candles. Customers "are definitely seekers, but not of a religion," says owner Gretchen Geary Sumbler. "I called my business Source because I help people become their own source of their universe - source as in creation. Wherever they are in their consciousness, I work with them." She even offers free workshops in consciousness studies each week at the store - the ultimate in metrospiritual customer service. In a warehouse not far away, Jon and Amy Dobrin are busy packing their wares for shipment to metrospiritual hotspots like CorePower Yoga. As owners of the yoga-clothing company Be Present, they are excited about their new line of ecoyoga gear made from bamboo fiber. "There's an awareness in the clothing industry that this is an environmentally conscious alternative to traditional cotton," says Jon. "Bamboo doesn't need pesticides, uses very little water, and when you break down the fibers, it's softer than cotton." Jon practices'yoga, eats organic, loves green buildings and is on the waiting list for a Toyota Prius hybrid car. He acknowledges he fits the metrospiritual profile - albeit without the luxury. "You can't buy your spirituality, and you can't buy your core values," he says. "But maybe enough people from the core have finally rubbed off on people at the periphery, and that's created a market. Doing well by doing good is what it's all about." THE IDEAL VACATION GETAWAY 1113 Station Loop Road Spectacular views, minimal maintenance, and numerous upgrades make this an ideal vacation home or primary residence. This stunning 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home has a loft area which can be used as a den or converted to a fourth bedroom. It is located within minutes of Park City's world class recreation. Retail shops, movie theaters, a fitness center and 2 grocery stores are a short walk away. If you are considering the purchase of a condominium of similar size, compare the value oftcred in this single family residence at $509,000 Jeff Coe TESS R E I D Cell435.602.2955 J R E A L ESTATE Office 435.649.3000 jeffcoe@jessreidrealestate.com fa±t..r. «,^i*r. .,.•,»,,&, Above Information was obtained from a reliable sourco and is subject lo change without notice. Bring a smile to a child this season! Simply bring a brand new unwrapped toy to us, and receive a complementary dessert while dinning with us.* From now until December 15th * Limit one dessert per two guests. 412 MAIN STREET {435)649-8211 www.bistro4i2.com |