Prayer Sometimes Kills

We've all heard about 'Praying Away The Gay', but a church in England has said you can also 'Pray Away The HIV', and now three women in London are dead, because they believed, and stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their Evangelical Christian pastors.
All three women died after attending churches in London where they were encouraged to stop taking the antiretroviral drugs in the belief that God would heal them.

Jane Iwu--not her real name, at her request--described a friend, who was a pastor: "She told [the lady] to stop taking her medication--that God is a healer and he has healed her...the lady believed it. She stopped taking her medication. She passed away."

The BBC London, investigating the three deaths, also spoke to a second woman, who told of another HIV patient who died after taking advice from her pastor to stop taking her antiretroviral drugs. And the director of a leading HIV research center in London said she has dealt with the case of a third woman with HIV who is now dead as a result of taking the same advice from her pastor.

"I've only seen that once, but it has happened," said Prof Jane Anderson, director of the Centre for the Study of Sexual Health and HIV, in Hackney. "We see patients quite often who will come having expressed the belief that if they pray frequently enough, their HIV will somehow be cured."

An HIV prevention charity, the African Health Policy Network [AHPN] says there is a growing number of London churches that have been telling people the power of prayer will "cure" their infections. In fact, AHPN believes the Synagogue Church Of All Nations [SCOAN] may be one of those involved in such practices. That particular church is headed by Pastor T B Joshua, Nigeria's third richest clergyman.

SCOAN's website, which was set up in Lagos, Nigeria, shows photos of people the church claims have been "cured" of HIV through prayer. In one example, the church's website claims: "Mrs Badmus proudly displays her two different medical records confirming she is 100% free from HIV-Aids following the prayer of Pastor T B Joshua." And "HIV-Aids healing" is listed on the church's website among "miracles" it says it can perform. "Cancer healing" and "baby miracles" are also advertised.

It has posted videos on the internet showing its services in south London, in which participants who claim to have arthritis, asthma and schizophrenia say they have been healed after being sprayed with "anointing water" provided by the church.

Mary Buhari--not her real name, by her request--told the BBC that she'd had a phone conversation with a representative of SCOAN, in which she was told she could be cured of HIV: "I was told they can cure any illness on Earth through prayer, including HIV," she said.

However, when asked by BBC London if it claimed its pastors can cure HIV, SCOAN responded: "We are not the healer. God is the healer. Never a sickness God cannot heal. Never a disease God cannot cure...We don't ask people to stop taking medication...Doctors treat; God heals."

Maybe so, but at least three women didn't get that special healing. Their prayers went unanswered, and their lives ended.

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