Editor's update, October 2026: This article originally repeated promotional claims about João Teixeira de Faria, known as John of God. Those claims were not independently verified. The former Johnofgodlove.com link has been removed because that site is no longer online.
Faria is no longer simply an accused spiritual healer. Brazilian courts have convicted him of sexual crimes. In 2019, Brazil's Superior Court of Justice described investigations into sexual abuse of multiple patients and ordered his return to prison. Agência Brasil reported in 2023 that Goiás courts had issued further convictions for rape of a vulnerable person and sexual violation by fraud, bringing the reported total sentence to 370 years at that time. A 2026 report on a later Superior Court decision states that he is serving his sentence under house arrest in Anápolis while another prosecution continues.
These convictions are the reason it is more accurate to describe Faria as a convicted sex offender than as a “miracle man.” Allegations and convictions should not be blurred together: the convictions concern specific criminal cases, while additional complaints and proceedings have continued separately.
There is also a financial dimension. Thousands of people travelled to Abadiânia, paid for travel and accommodation, bought herbs or related products, and donated money while seeking relief from serious illness. Public reporting has described a large, international operation and substantial sums connected with it. I would not state a precise “millions scammed” figure without a court-documented accounting. The safer conclusion is that many vulnerable people spent money in pursuit of cures that were never established by controlled medical evidence.
My firsthand account: I visited the centre with others who hoped to see genuine healing. We saw ceremonies and people who believed they had been helped, but we did not witness a verified healing. We saw no convincing evidence that cancer, paralysis, blindness, or other serious diseases had been cured. My experience was “no healings, nothing” that could justify the extraordinary claims repeated in the older version of this article. That is a personal observation, not a clinical trial, but it is directly relevant to why the original promotional language has been withdrawn.
Our experience lasted about a year. During that time, we were repeatedly led to believe that João de Deus was a genuine healer. We invested a year of our lives in that belief, but nothing happened: there was no healing and no outcome that justified the claims made about him. Looking back, it feels like a year of our life was wasted while we were being deceived.
The earlier article also repeated stories about operations, entities, invisible surgery, millions of cures, and celebrity endorsements as though they were established facts. They were not supported by medical records, independent follow-up, or controlled studies in the material available to us. They should not be used to make treatment decisions. Anyone with cancer, infection, paralysis, vision loss, or another serious condition should seek qualified medical care and should not delay it for a spiritual procedure.
What later emerged was far more serious than a failed healing claim. Many women reported that, during individual spiritual sessions, Faria touched their breasts or other intimate areas, or pressured them into sexual acts. Some said he directed them into private rooms or chambers where the abuse occurred. These accounts were reported publicly in December 2018, after women began speaking out, and they led to police and prosecutorial investigations. The Goiás court record now documents convictions for rape, rape of a vulnerable person, and sexual violation by fraud. The Goiás Court of Justice reported that he was prosecuted in cases involving 66 victims and convicted in relation to 56 victims in the first-instance proceedings, while noting that appeals and other legal limits affected some cases.
The Superior Court of Justice reported that prosecutors received 254 messages from alleged victims and that investigators cited threats to a witness, risk of flight, and millions of reais in financial movements when seeking his detention. The court record does not establish that he “bought off all the police,” so that claim is not presented as fact here. My own experience was that the centre operated openly in Abadiânia, including charitable projects visible in the town, while serious complaints were not acted on quickly enough. That contrast made the later revelations especially disturbing.
Police also reported finding unregistered firearms and approximately R$405,000 in cash hidden in parts of his bedroom, including a false compartment in a wardrobe. Reports also described substantial bank and investment holdings. These financial facts do not by themselves prove that every visitor was defrauded, but they help explain why the centre’s money and influence became part of the public scandal.
What I actually saw: The entire system felt like a lie. After one of the supposed surgeries, I was even kept inside the room without contact, as though the “spirits” had been operating on people and a special period of isolation was required afterward. I spent a year there and did not see one person receive a verified miracle cure. I saw cancer patients going to the temple day after day hoping to be healed, and people who had lived there for years while still carrying the same diseases. I did not see anyone cured. I saw no evidence that ghosts or entities were performing surgery, and no outcome that justified the claims made to desperate visitors.
What the court record establishes
In June 2019, the Superior Court of Justice reported that Faria was being investigated for sexual abuse against multiple patients and illegal possession of firearms, and it ordered him back to prison after a hospital stay. In December 2019, a court sentenced him to 19 years and four months for sexual crimes against four women. In July 2023, Agência Brasil reported additional convictions for rape of a vulnerable person and sexual violation by fraud, involving eight victims, and reported a cumulative sentence of 370 years. These are legal findings, not proof that every public allegation was established in court.
As of a June 2026 report on a new Superior Court decision, Faria was under house arrest in Anápolis. “House arrest” does not mean that he was cleared. It describes the way he was serving his sentence at that time. His legal status can change, so this article should be rechecked before publication or republication.
