A Televangelist Prayed for My Sick Baby; Does That Make Me a Whacko?

Faith in man or faith in God?

The Rev. Ernest W. Angley, a faith-healing Pentecostal televangelist, died on May 7, 2021, at age 99, according to an announcement on the website of his Cuyahoga Falls-based ministry.

Ernest Angley was often the butt of jokes and the recipient of much criticism. From his deep southern drawl to his odd mannerisms, obviously fake toupee, and faith healing services, he’s been the poster child for what many consider fake televangelists.

Much controversy surrounded Angely over the years with serious allegations of sexual misconduct and labor violations, to name a few.

I attended Rev. Angley’s church once. I went partly out of desperation and partly out of faith. Our newborn son was facing a difficult surgery that would confirm the worst possible diagnosis the doctors could predict.

He had been ill since the moment of birth: a high bilirubin count that had gone up not down, severe jaundice, inability to digest food, vomiting, dark urine, and light stools. After many diagnostic tests, the only thing left was to correctly diagnose the worst-case scenario and hope that the surgeons could save his life.

As a disciple of Christ, a follower of Jesus’ teachings, I couldn’t help but believe in a miracle. After all, Jesus spent much of his time on earth healing the sick and diseased, often saying things like,

“Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:19, NIV)

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) says, that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever.”

Why not call out to him in faith just like the lepers and many others who were healed by Jesus?

My husband and I used to watch Rev. Angley’s Hour of Power broadcasts on the local television channel and so we thought, why not? Let’s attend his church and ask for prayer and a miracle.

Jesus also said that where two or more are gathered in his name he is there in the midst of them. Thousands would be gathered on Sunday morning at Grace Cathedral in Akron, Ohio, so we showed up with faith and a huge request.

We were told we could not sit in the service with my son because it was being filmed and they didn’t want to pick up any distractions on film. This upset me because I thought my son’s life was more important than a television broadcast.

As the usher whisked me away to the nursery, I explained to her why we were there. I told her that it was urgent my son get prayer before his surgery scheduled for that week. She was sincerely compassionate and said that Rev. Angley was not holding prayer or healing services that day because he had to leave immediately for the airport. I must have looked crestfallen and exhausted so she added, “I will see if he will pray for your son before he leaves the stage.”

As promised, at the end of the service she came back to the nursery to get me and my son, escorted us down the aisle to the stage, and called Rev. Angley over. She told him our story, and he spoke to the entire congregation in his strange accent and mannerism calling for everyone to “pray for baby”.

He laid his hands on my son and everyone stretched out their hands as he called on them to all “pray for baby, pray for baby.” I don’t remember a word of his prayer, just the strange way he said “pray for baby, pray for baby.” After his prayer for my son, he walked off the stage.

If you’re looking for a reason to scoff at our faith in seeing Ernest Angley and asking for prayer, you’ve probably found it by now. Here is more to fuel your doubt if you don’t believe in faith healing: my son still needed surgery.

The doctors confirmed the worst diagnosis: biliary atresia

After seven hours of surgery, we were even more shocked to hear doctors tell us that they had saved his life (for now) but his condition was serious, his illness was chronic, and he would never be a normal, healthy boy.

The final statement had us reeling: “he’ll most likely need a liver transplant.”

You might think I lost my faith in healing, televangelists, or even God at that point, but I didn’t.

Stick with me, there is a happy ending

The doctors told us to wait until my son passed his first bowel movement post-surgery. If it was dark in color, then the surgery had been successful. It was green — have you ever seen anyone jumping up and down cheering for green poop?

But, just because the surgery (called the Kasai procedure) had taken, that did not mean he would live a normal life. His liver had sustained significant cirrhosis, and the probability of needing a liver transplant was not in our favor. Still, we watched as day after day his jaundice retreated, his skin turned pink, and he began to gain weight.

He didn’t look like a “liver baby” as they called such patients in the hospital. New nurses would walk into our room, recheck his chart, then ask, “Doesn’t he have biliary atresia?”

“Yes,” we replied. “but he’s being healed every day.”

Once when traveling on the hospital elevator with my son’s gastroenterologist, he pointed to my son and told another doctor, “Can you believe this baby has biliary atresia? If it weren’t for the scar on his abdomen, you’d never know it.”

We smiled and praised God and continued to believe that “pray for baby” had worked. Some might say the doctors did an amazing job — and they did — but the story of my son’s life does not align with the facts about biliary atresia.

Up to 40% of the time the surgery doesn’t work and many children with biliary atresia need a liver transplant immediately. A whopping 85–90% of biliary atresia children receive a liver transplant before the age of 20. My son is 27.

Biliary atresia children are intermittently or chronically jaundiced (he never was after his surgery), have a barrel chest from inflammation of the liver (he never did for a moment), and all experience elevated liver enzymes.

Every month my son’s bloodwork showed that his liver enzymes were moving into normal ranges. At age two he was taken off all medications for his liver despite the fact that the doctors told us that would never happen.

It’s still true today: aside from the scar on his abdomen, you would not know that he was born with biliary atresia. And despite Ernest Angley’s strange ways, I believe that my son was healed.

Whether Reverend Angley had anything to do with it or not really doesn’t matter. We believed and that has everything to do with it.

With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26, NIV)

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20, NIV)

Here is more about how God sustained us during the time of my son’s healing: