Billy Burke is a Pentecostal faith healer

Faith Healer

Faith Healer is a play by Brian Friel about the life of faith healer Francis Hardy as monologued through the shifting memories of Hardy, his wife, Grace, and stage manager, Teddy.-Synopsis:...

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Pastor Burke's main base of ministry is in Florida, but he also conducts services internationally, and throughout the country and regularly visits western Pennsylvania, particularly the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh where he says he was healed of brain cancer by faith healer Kathryn Kuhlman

Kathryn Kuhlman

Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was an American faith healer and evangelist.-Early life:Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was born in Concordia, Missouri, to German-American parents...

 when he was 9 years old.

Life

According to Pastor Burke, when he was 9 years old he underwent an unsuccessful operation for brain cancer that left him partially paralyzed. His grandmother convinced the parents against doctor's orders, to remove him from Montefiore Hospital and bring him to a Kathryn Kuhlman healing service at the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. It was there that he said that he was completely healed. His parents' subsequently divorced and he lost his brother in a car accident. After attending another Kathryn Kuhlman service in Ohio, he decided to enter the ministry and attended Melodyland School of Theology in Anaheim, CA. He went on to minister in Western Pennsylvania and then moved to Florida in 1989. Since then, he has traveled all over the United States and the world, spreading his message of healing, and faith. he was never involved in any sexual activity.

Criticism

Pastor Burke has also been criticized for his advocacy of the Word of Faith

Word of Faith

Word of Faith is a family of Christian churches as well as a label applied by some observers to a teaching movement kindred to many Pentecostal and charismatic churches and individuals worldwide. The basic doctrine preached is that of salvation through Jesus Christ and what that salvation entails...

, a form of gospel sometimes called by critics as "the health and wealth gospel".

External links

Billy Burke Ministries https://www.billyburke.org/resources.html

"Billy Burke believes medicine, miracles mix" http://post-gazette.com/pg/06246/718673-51.stm