Morris Cerullo is an ordained Assembly of God Minister and claims to be a “Healing Evangelist.” Morris Cerullo claims to be a miracle maker, but has been under investigation for being a money taker. John Paul Warren, a former Senior Executive with Morris Cerullo World Evangelism (MCWE) has filed a lawsuit claiming he was ousted from the MCWE organization after confronting Cerullo about “unethical and fraudulent fund-raising techniques.”
This is the second such lawsuit against Cerullo. Warren, who is a highly respected, third-generation, ordained Assemblies of God Minister, filed his suit in May of 2000 in San Diego County Superior Court. He is represented by attorneys Dean Broyles and Tim Rutherford of San Diego, and Hunter Lundy, based in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Lundy successfully represented Marvin Gorman in his suit against televangelist Jimmy Swaggart in 1991, which resulted in a large verdict against Swaggart.
“Cerullo refers to himself as ‘Dr.Cerullo,’ although he does not have any degree earning him this title,” says Lundy. “He runs MCWE from offices in San Diego, which he calls `mission control,’ but he does not serve as the minister of any physical church or congregation.” Cerullo raised millions of dollars and bought the defunct PTL Network, theme park and conference grounds from bankruptcy court after Televangelist Jim Bakker’s career ended when he was convicted and sent to federal prison for fraud.”
There are many claims that people at the rallies of Morris Cerullo were healed of serious medical conditions by the power of prayer. After the prayer many people came forward giving testimony of miracles that they feel have happened to them or to those they have brought with them to the meetings. His posters for a London appearance featured abandoned canes and wheelchairs.
In 1991 British authorities suspended the license of a satellite station for broadcasting the program, “Victory with Morris Cerullo.” The license was reinstated after the station agreed to precede the program with the disclaimer, “Morris Cerullo World Evangelism cannot substantiate the claims made by those participants featured in this program,” and advising all persons suffering from illness to seek medical attention.
Following his Mission to London in 1992, a documentary on BBC, “Newsround,” reported that a lady called Audrey Reynolds stopped taking medication for epilepsy (although she was never instructed or advised to do so by the ministry) after she believed herself to have been healed during Cerullo’s rally. She subsequently died following a seizure in her bath. The story was also reported in a Christian newspaper. Another report from this crusade claimed that Cerullo pronounced a four year old cancer sufferer to be free from the disease, yet she died from it just two months later.
Subsequently, Cerullo was challenged on British television to produce his three best examples of claimed miraculous healing for scrutiny by a panel of doctors. Their final report was “there is no evidence that anything has occurred that is outside the realm of normal clinical experience.”
Cerullo resigned from the Evangelical Alliance in 1996 after the Advertising Standards Authority upheld four complaints against him relating to his claims of being able to offer miraculous healing to the disabled.
Cerullo was expelled from India in 1992 after disturbances erupted at one of his rallies. The Times of India reported, “A so-called miracle healer, Morris Cerullo, who prefers to call himself a man of God, was declared ‘persona non grata’ and bundled out of the country by Calcutta police this morning after mass healing services on Park Circus Maidan yesterday evening turned into a fiasco when members of the crowd stormed the dais challenging the efficacy of his healing power. A later article in the San Diego Union Tribune suggested that “Cerullo worked a crowd of 30,000 ‘many of them sick’ into a frenzy for two hours and then pronounced them cured, prompting many in the crowd to call him a cheat.”
He also produced fund-raising material which was condemned as unethical by a number of religious leaders, as it implied that giving money to his organization would result in family members becoming Christians.
This man has a very bad reputation hoarding millions upon millions for himself. Sadly he still has a ministry in San Diego where he is cashing in on his convoluted teachings. Stay away from this charlatan.
Notes
1. Andrews, Cecil (2008-04-29). “Mandate 2008 with Colin Dye: Another cause for concern.” Take Heed Ministries.www.takeheed.net/Assorted_Articles/Contemporary/mandate_2008_article.html.
2. Morris Cerullo’s misadventure in India.” Skeptic Tank. www.skepticfiles. org/atheist/cerullos.html. 3. San Diego-based evangelist accused of evading taxes.” http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050712-1741-ca-evangelist-taxfraud.html. 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Cerullo..