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Episode 610: The Faith Healer

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Title.thefaithhealer
"The Faith Healer"
Season 6, Episode 10
#125 overall in Series
Original air date November 19, 1979
Episode Guide
IMDb The Faith Healer
Written by Don Balluck
Directed by Maury Dexter
Episode Chronology
Previous episode:
"The King is Dead" 		Next episode:
"Author, Author"

"The Faith Healer" is the 10th episode of Season 6 of Little House On the Prairie, originally airing November 19, 1979.

The episode, perhaps partly in response to rise of charismatic, fire-and-brimstone-style televangelists whose backgrounds were questionable, was paired with the tent-revival and "faith healers" of the 1870s and 1880s to form this episode's plot: a young traveling minister claiming to be a faith healer comes to Walnut Grove, eager to spread his style of preaching through his crusades, which eventually – as members of Walnut Grove Church are drawn to his charismatic, hypnotic personality and promise to heal by prayer alone – poses a huge threat to Rev. Alden and his ministry.

A series of events will determine the dull-but-dependable Alden's future in Walnut Grove.

Plot[]

A traveling minister, the Rev. Jacob Danforth, comes to Walnut Grove on Mrs. Oleson's invitation, after she – again frustrated by the Rev. Alden always getting in the way of her schemes – becomes aware of his 'healing' crusades. Through persuasion and his charismatic personality that seems to connect with the townspeople, Danforth attracts a large attendance at his meetings, where some people make miraculous recoveries. During his initial service, Danforth puts on an act where he claims can heal the sick, allow the lame to walk and the blind to see, all by simple commands ... and the healed can testify to exactly that!

Danforth, deciding he wants to start a permanent ministry in Walnut Grove and acting at Mrs. Oleson's encouragement, schedules his services at the same time on Sunday as Walnut Grove Church's services. Mrs. Oleson also orders Nels to go along with her to these services ... or else! Eventually, Ingallses, the Garveys and Dr. Baker – who was already opposed to Danforth's claims – remain loyal to the Rev. Alden's services. At one point, Danforth tries to suggest to Rev. Alden that they become joint ministers and appear together each Sunday, but Rev. Alden tells him point blank that he believes he's a fake and refuses to cooperate.

A teenage boy named Timothy Dobbs becomes ill, and Dr. Baker realizes the boy's appendix is about to burst and he needs immediate surgery in Mankato. Danforth overhears the conversation and persuades the boy's father to allow him to use his "healing powers" to cure Timothy ... and when the pain subsides immediately it seems Danforth really is a faith healer, much to the disbelief of Dr. Baker. Word spreads and both Dr. Baker and Rev. Alden are disgraced.

Eventually, both the good doctor and Rev. Alden are proven right, as that night Timothy's appendix bursts and he has gone into convulsions. Dr. Baker rushes to his aid but he dies of internal bleeding. The boy's father angrily confronts Danforth during his next service, but Danforth has a ready response, coercing him to admit that God "chose" Timothy to come home and bullies him into believing the only way he'll be able to join Timothy in Heaven is to admit he's right. The man is humiliated and breaks down in deep tears as the congregation sides with Danforth, proclaiming "Allelujah!"

Meanwhile, the Rev. Alden becomes bitter and announces he's leaving Walnut Grove. When Charles goes to him to ask him to reconsider, Alden snaps at him and tells him to go away.

One day on a freight trip to Sleepy Eye, Charles happens to see a revival tent almost identical to the one in Walnut Grove, and inside a large crowd with the Rev. Danforth preaching his sermon about fire-and-brimstone, faith and healing. He investigates and is really not surprised to see the three actors (the "ill" man, the "lame" man and the "blind" woman) are the very same ones seen at Walnut Grove's earlier revival. His initial suspicions that Danforth is a charlatan confirmed, Charles learns Danforth is planning another revival nearby and begins forming a plan.

Charles, along with the Olesons, Dr. Baker, Rev. Alden and Mr. Dobbs, travels to the next revival and lie in wait. At the height of his "I can see, I can walk" act, Charles interrupts the service and exposes Danforth as a liar – the "ill" man perfectly healthy, the blind woman flinching and reacting as the lame man's crutches are raised at her, and the man pretending to be lame forced to run when Charles lunges at him. Danforth claims that Charles' comments are outright lies and that exposing him is Satan's work ... but then the Olesons speak up and admit that they had seen the act several times, Rev. Alden calls Danforth a liar, Dr. Baker reveals that several Walnut Grove residents had become seriously ill because they took Danforth's advice and ignored his. Mr. Dobbs angrily says that his son is dead because he listened to him; in fact, Charles has to restrain Mr. Dobbs when he tries to lunge at Danforth. The attendees realize Charles – who fires a parting shot to Danforth that he is nothing but a liar, charlatan and common criminal – is telling the truth and begin walking away. Danforth begs his followers to stay and that he is telling the truth, but the people angrily leave, never looking back.

The next Sunday at church, the Rev. Alden is back in his rightful place at the pulpit ... and he delivers a sermon full of healing and forgiveness. Rather than focus on the dangers of being led astray, he instead admits his own faults: He was stubborn and angry when someone else tried to take his place and seemed better than him, but God helped lead him back and helped drive away a threat to their congregation and community. His brief time of being "replaced," in fact, allowed him to reflect on his own character and beliefs, and that his role as minister indeed is not as a fire-and-brimstone preacher but a minister offering love, guidance and the true preaching of the Word of God. In the end, the result is a win-win situation, and what the Rev. Danforth tried to tear apart actually made the congregation and Walnut Grove stronger than ever. After the service, Rev. Alden thanks Charles for never giving up on him.

The show's unofficial bible, the Little House Encyclopedia, suggested that as word spread about being exposed as a liar and fraud, Danforth – trying several times to restart his "crusade" but failing, and even his volunteers abandoning him – eventually took his life.

Cast[]

External links[]



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