"Healer" Author Michael Guglielmucci Wrote Song In Deception Category: Music Views: 236
Earlier this month, Hillsong released their latest live album titled This Is Our God. I've been addicted to the title track as well as the upbeat "Run". There's a song on the album titled "Healer" which is also incredible and many in my own church have embraced the song as well.
Some distributing news has come out this week about the Pastor who wrote the song, and the "inspiration" that helped him pen the lyrics. Check out this new article, which has been verified many times over by various print:
About two years ago, Pastor Michael Guglielmucci announced to his congregation that he had terminal cancer. Today, he is cancer-free.
To the shock of many church members and fellow pastors, at a recent Australian Christian Churches (ACC) – formerly named The Assemblies of God – national executive meeting, the pastor admitted to having a lied about his battle with cancer. The Advertiser stated that the ACC was going to audit Mr. Guglielmucci's bank accounts, which were filled with donations he willingly accepted from people who prayed for his plight.
After inventing his cancer story, the pastor wrote a hit song titled Healer, which – according to the newspaper account – became "an anthem of faith for believers, many of whom are suffering illnesses and were praying for Mr. Guglielmucci." While performing it live at his church called Planetshakers – a subset of the church Guglielmucci's parents founded called Edge Church International – he wore an oxygen tube in his nose. The song, which is on Hillsong's latest album, appeared at No. 2 on the ARIA charts.
In the Healer video, Guglielmucci talks about his feelings after he found out about his so-called "aggressive form of cancer."
"I just went home," he said. "I knew I had to go home and needed to get alone with God."
And his followers were not the only one surprised by the deception. Among them also were his wife and family. Guglielmucci's parents are with him while he seeks professional help. Sources in the church community report that he attended his medical appointments alone.
Jonathan Fontanarosa, Edge Church's executive pastor, says everyone is waiting on a better explanation pending further investigation.
Wow. Talk about shocking. The video that is referenced in the article is found on the This Is Our God DVD. It used to be available to watch everywhere but it's quickly being removed. I'm sure Integrity is working overtime to remove any online reference to the testimony and song, but there's not much they can do about the video and CD now that it's out.
I did find it here though. We'll see how long this stays up.
The live performance is one thing, but it's the 8 minute testimonial from the Pastor's own lips that brought me to tears when I originally viewed this before the story broke. This is being taken down left and right so we'll see how long this stays up as well.
The story is pretty shocking and the depth of deception that this man went to is even more surprising. For him to allow his story to reach a national audience, I don't know. Talk about playing with fire.
This is yet another example of a high profile Christian falling in front of his fellow man, and the ignorant comments that are going to follow, from both Christians and non-Christians, will irritate me to no end.
I hope the Christian community does not harpoon this guy on their pitchforks and swords. At the same time, I hope those around him hold him accountable for the deception he caused and certainly, there should be consequences for what he did.
My gut reaction without having too much time to process it all? It's sad. I'm sad to see a powerful testimony exposed as a lie. I'm discouraged that someone would twist the power of God and distort His true healing power into nothing more than a means to make a buck. I'm also saddened that another example has been given to those who live their lives to destroy everything that Christians stand for. Things like this can do so much damage.
But I also know that when we put our faith in a man, we will be disappointed. Believing God IS a healer and can heal sickness and change lives is a TRUTH. The message of the song "Healer" is still TRUTH. If man wants to attempt to distort that truth for their own personal gain that will be their loss to bear. It will not shake the fact that God is who is. He does not change, He is the same yesterday as He is today and man can not destroy that.
As for the song, it's still powerful; however, I'm not sure I'll be able to sing it in a service without thinking about all the baggage that is now attached to it. That saddens me as well.
August 25, 2008, 14:42PM
I'm sad too :(.
And so you know Kevin, we also have a thread on the forums where we discussed this a small amount. I think it got pushed down though.
August 25, 2008, 14:10PM
As this story continues to develop, the church has posted an official statement. You'll have to cut and paste this URL: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24233308-5006301,00.html
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