I AM… THE GOOD DENTIST? Dentistry is the latest “move of God” according to many among the increasingly prolific number of apostles and prophets peddling the miraculous (almost all of whom, strangely, seem to be “called” to prosperous and at least nominally Christian western nations). Jesus may have been the Good Shepherd in biblical times, but his Father’s handiwork is now being demonstrated in the modern and rather secular field of dentistry. Men and women all over the world are having their cavities filled with solid gold. Gold crowns are appearing on molars where there were none previously. And to cap it all off (pun intended) gold dust is literally falling from the sky upon exultant worshippers (as a cute aside, at least one British Church is now claiming that it is “angel feathers” and not divine dust of a gold colour that drifts out of their heavenlies in their part of the world). The gold tooth phenomena has been doing the rounds at the edge of fundamentalist Pentecostal movements for a few years now and has attracted the attention of some secular newsmakers as well as commanding at least one article in the well respected and widely read evangelical periodical Christianity Today and given extensive coverage in the June 1999 issue of Charisma. Where on earth did it all start? Well, the image of God as divine dentist is the latest “manifestation” of the holy to have emerged from the Airport Christian Fellowship in Toronto, Canada, (www.tacf.org) home of course of the “Toronto blessing.” Toronto has seen and done it all: from hysterical laughter, to getting “drunk in the spirit,” to the involuntary making of “animal noises”… and now, gold teeth! The Pastor of Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, Pastor John Arnott, has issued a media release title “Gold Teeth” and, when asked “why?” told curious reporters that it is all about God’s love for his people and desire to bless them (personally, if God really is doing this to “bless” us I would prefer a lump of gold in the hand rather than in the teeth… some of the folding stuff would be even better… just if you are doing this and you are listening God?)… On the other hand, my Dentist (who, I am pretty sure, is not God) has told me that my “fangs” are in pretty bad shape. I would settle for plain old white fillings if they could be done miraculously and without any needles, drills, or other whirling and humming instruments. The reality is, of course, God is not a Divine Dentist and is not filling people’s mouths with gold teeth nor sweeping gold dust down on worshippers from the heavenlies. Already two Canadian tele-evangelists have been forced to recant their supposed molar miracles and admit that it was not God but in fact their human dentist who put the gold in their mouths… as the rather compelling testimony of dental records indicated. The theological absurdity of the whole thing is rather less humorous than the tenor of this article about it. What sort of God is able and willing to fill the mouths of devotees in the prosperous west with yet more gold whilst innocent children starve to death and die of easily curable diseases all over the poverty stricken third world? What sort of God is able and willing to reign down gold dust and perform impromptu dental surgery on the faithful but is unable and / or unwilling to do anything about the horror of Auschwitz, or Kosovo, or Palestine, or …. and the list goes one… and on? This is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not the God of the Bible nor of the Creeds. This is a heresy that comes out of capitalist materialism and western greed. A heresy perpetuated by the bizarre and unhinged and experienced by the stupid! And thank goodness it is a heresy, for if dental work is the best God can do what a pathetic God he would be. The good shepherd is good enough for me… A further critique of the whole gold teeth phenomena with plenteous quotes and links, including those referred to in this article, can be found on line at home.earthlink.net/~tracyjl/gold.htm#N_32_ |