An Honest Liar Page #5

Oh, praise God! How many of you know that burns the Devil up?

After a while, you know, I'm sitting there and after some of the emotion

had died down in me, Popoff said, "I need people to come down to collect money" for him

and basically he had 15 buckets, and I'm supposed to go around the auditorium and collect cash.

God is touching that thyroid condition right now.

These people were throwing fives, tens, twenties, because one of the things Popoff always tells them,

"Whatever you give, you'll get back tenfold."

So if you put a dollar in, hey, you're going to get ten bucks. You put 100 bucks in,

you're going to get a lot more money back. And these people truly believed this.

Here it comes, complete healing in Jesus.

You foul spirit of deafness, take your hands off this woman

in Jesus' name. Lord, let these ears be open, there it is...

And as I get up close,

I notice in his ear, that there's an earpiece, there's no earhole.

It's a little piece of plastic in there and I come back to Randi and I said,

"I think I know what's going on."

I said what's up? He said, "He's wearing a hearing aid in his left ear."

Now, a man who heals the deaf,

you wouldn't think would be wearing a hearing aid.

- How do I sound now?

- Loud!

- Loud.

At that point, I realised we needed some technical help, so I

enlisted the aid of a private investigator named Alec Jason.

Stand by.

And...action.

One day, Randi called me and suggested that Peter Popoff was

using radio transmissions,

but they couldn't really figure out

how it was done and they wanted to know

if I could intercept it or detect it.

I said I certainly couldn't guarantee it.

Less than 50/50, maybe, you know, 25%.

We knew that Popoff had a "service" as he called it,

happening in San Francisco

and we figured we'd better be there.

- Do you support Peter's ministry financially?

- Every dime I can, yeah.

What brings you here today?

Well, I'm expecting a miracle. Physical healing.

The day of the event, I dressed as a security guard. Complete uniform -

badge, shirt, radio, keys...

everything.

I'm not a security guard - I just look like one, part of my cover.

'And I was nervous.'

I appeared in disguise as Adam Jersin.

And if you put those words together and mix them up,

they spell James Randi.

So I went down a corridor and that's where I set up my equipment.

It was concealed n bags. So I have

my scanner going and it's looking for new frequencies,

anything new that's not there normally.

Get ready...

get ready.

- Praise God.

- Suddenly,

on the scanner, one of the lights came on saying there's a signal

and the scanner has stopped at that frequency. And I hear what I

realise are now...footsteps.

High-heel footsteps on a hard surface.

How many of you believe it's all right to praise the Lord?

And then I hear someone coming closer and closer to the microphone

and a woman's voice said, "Hello, Petey..."

'Hello, Petey. Can you hear me?

'If you can't, you're in trouble...'

Yes! They were using a radio frequency. I found it!

In the name of Jesus...

'Jodi Dean. Jodi Dean.'

Is it Jodi?

Jodi?

Dean? Jodi Dean?

'No, she should be right there on your right side.'

Here it comes.

'OK, she lives at 4267 Masterson.'

4267 Masterson? I can see the angels of God all around your house.

Rosa?

- 'Cameer.'

- Is it Cameer? You been taking a lot of medication?

'She's there with her son Kipper and he has a lump in his chest.'

Wait just a minute, who's Kipper?

He's got a lump in his chest. You want God to melt it right now?

Kipper, stand-up, God's going to burn that thing out, right now.

They'd filled out prayer request forms, saying "I have cancer,"

or I have this problem or that problem.

So she's giving that information directly to Popoff

and then he's reciting that information

as if he's getting it from God.

'Martha Zacorski...'

Is it Martha, is it Zacorski?

- 'Weldon Krabb.'

- Is it Weldon...

- 'Krabb.'

- Krabb?

- 'Peggy White.'

- Peggy White?

- '1305 Celono.'

- 1305 Celono?

- 'Turn over to the left.'

- Hallelujah!

- 'There you go.

'She's had a hysterectomy, she can't take hormones.

'He's got kidney and eye problems.'

You want God to touch your kidneys?

Now, let that ear open! In the name the Lord - right now, Jesus!

Power of the Holy Ghost! Here it comes... Devil, back off!

And the bondage is broken! Whoo!

In the name of Jesus! You foul spirit!

I thought, well, I'm getting out of here now. So I packed everything up,

I turned the equipment off, took my bags and

walked down the stairs, outside to the cool air.

My heart's pounding now, because I've got the goods.

Not only did we have the evidence we needed,

we had more than what we needed.

We had it.

APPLAUSE:

So I went on the Johnny Carson show

and when the revelation came and you heard Mrs Popoff's voice...

'Hello, Petey, can you hear me? If you can't, you're in trouble...'

..Johnny suddenly realised what the gimmick was and he said,

"Oh, sh..."

It turns out that God's frequency - I didn't know he used radio -

is 39.170 megahertz, and God is a woman, obviously, and

sounds exactly like Popoff's wife, Elizabeth.

Has he seen this tape at all?

- No, he does not know about this until this very moment.

- Interesting.

I can't imagine what it would be like to maintain a life where your

living and your wellbeing of you and your family depends upon you

lying every single day.

I think they believe there is some way in which what they are doing

is good and that there's some moral compass that they've invented

that allows them to do this.

A double portion of God's power!

Well, we did it. We had exposed this man on probably the

most popular television show of the day.

And he announced bankruptcy shortly after that.

Oh, glory to God!

CARSON:
OK, we'll take a break,

we'll be right back.

Oh, OK, I'll see what I can do, all right,

here we go. Wait, I'll do a Jackie Gleason here.

Yeah, I don't know, hmm.

I'll do a plie at the bar, OK?

Oh, no, I don't bend that way any more!

It has been said many times when you're in love,

you want to tell the world.

Maybe it will work, I don't know.

And James Randi is in love with the truth.

The so-called psychics and the other charlatans are making money at our

expense and we have to bear some of the blame for it,

so let's get to work and do something about it.

I'll take two eight-by-tens.

The man that puts the fear of God into all those psychics,

The Amazing Randi!

James Randi isn't just about being sceptical of the paranormal.

He is about promoting a scientific worldview.

Science has created and shaped much of the world in which we live.

But constant vigilance can never be relaxed.

You want people to be educated, you want to go out and

shake these people and say, "Listen to me, listen to me."

The Million-Dollar Challenge is real, ladies and gentlemen.

Why is there not a line-up outside this organisation right now

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