A. Allen, Ernest Angley, Willard Fuller, WV Grant, Peter Popoff, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Ralph DiOrio and others, exposing their tricks.

Prior to turning his attention to faith healing, Randi spent many years exposing fraud by psychics and mediums such as the famous Uri Geller.

Lacking any proof in most cases that the ailments were real, Randi points out that the principle of parsimony (or Occam's razor) would suggest that most, if not all, of the supposed cures did not actually occur.

Randi points out that thousands of doctors and nurses are members of the International Order of St. Luke the Physician, an Episcopal organization, thereby acknowledging that they accept that faith healing is valid.

Many healers practice striking the recipient on the forehead, after which they are expected to fall backwards into the crowd and make some loud exclamation as the evil is supposedly driven from their body.

As Randi puts it "Every denomination, sect, and cult of the Christian religion has attempted to explain, condone, deny, embrace, or denounce faith healing."

Another article about Grant and his stage tricks came out on May 22, 1987 in the Oakland Tribune, focusing on how he obtains information about people before the session and then presents it during the act as though it had been revealed to him by God.

Randi and associates obtained some of the trash thrown out after a show and found one of Grants "crib sheets" with personal information on potential victims of his performance.

He worked with a man named Gene Ewing to expand that list and to generate letters based on made up crisis situations and cheap religious gifts for mailings to prospective donors.

Randi offers the explanation that a lot of fundamentalist, evangelical, and born again Christian homes don't get their news from mainstream television and radio because they have been told not to by their preachers.

Roberts, although he claims to speak directly to God, made some very bad financial decisions, in particular the construction of a $14 million healing center that his advisors told him would not be able to support itself.

They would then claim that some unidentified persons in the television audience were being cured of various ailments such as heart conditions, cancer, stomach problems, inability to walk, and even financial difficulties.

They tried to obtain any evidence of a cure in numerous claimed cases including paralysis, liver cancer, crushed ankle, arthritis, knee pain, birth defects, and back problems.

A local judge had been attending the show and was concerned that the participants would be unable to pay their bills and end up in his courtroom after being conned into giving all their money to the pair.

So obligingly Randi sent him the details of his usual challenge in which he agrees to pay $10,000 for acceptable proof of 5 cases of healing verified by an independent, medically qualified panel, and would publicly acknowledge their success.

Randi describes an often-quoted case from the 19th century in which a child with a broken arm prays to Jesus to make it well and then convinces the doctor to remove the splint revealing a remarkable recovery.

George Bernard Shaw commented on healing at Lourdes: “All those canes, braces, and crutches and not a single glass eye, wooden leg, or toupee”.

A woman claimed she had lost her sight and it was restored by a psychic healer, but it turned out she was receiving medical care and steroids from a regular doctor, who did not find her recovery to be miraculous or surprising.

A physician named William Standish Reed actually answered a letter sent by Randi regarding a claim of a miraculous cancer cure discussed on TV.

But the reply (included as Appendix II) was worthless, saying that the woman's appearance and testimony on the 700 Club was sufficient evidence and refused to answer Randi's specific questions.

Sagan says that it's a failure to apply critical thinking and "if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us—and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along."

Randi emphasizes the need to seek evidence of high quality from both before and after the "cure," and avoid the vast amount of anecdotal information that can't be substantiated.

Dr. Gary P. Posner, a consultant known to the Randi investigators, had access to the medical records and doctors involved and found that there never was a brain tumor and that the girl continues to have migraine headaches.

Finally he points out that they got Al Capone on tax fraud, a crime that many faith healers are guilty of since they aren't properly following the rules for a nonprofit.

Randi describes the scene in San Francisco, February 23, 1986, where television crews are present to film Popoff giving a faith healing performance.

Randi ends the book with a biblical quote (Matthew 7:15): "Beware of false prophets, men who come to you dressed up as sheep while underneath they are savage wolves.

The more recent e-book edition does not include any new information beyond this update except for the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge which can be found following the Appendices at the end of the book.

In a similar case in California, Brother Joe Bugarin was arrested after performing a fake surgery on a plainclothes detective and was later sentenced to 9 months in prison.

The JREF is the James Randi Educational Foundation, which is dedicated to defending people from bogus paranormal and pseudoscientific claims, and to promote critical thinking.

Loren Pankratz wrote a 10-page article[5] in 1987 in the Journal of Religion & Health about the conflict between charlatans and stage magicians which includes a review of Randi's book.