"If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; … This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above." (Job 31:24-28)

More than a quarter of a century after the so-called Toronto Blessing broke out in 1994, Christians continue to debate whether, and to what extent, the movement was ‘of God’. Whatever the rights and wrongs involved, my biggest concern at TB meetings was the turning of people’s attentions away from God and onto the ‘manifestations’. These invariably became the centre of attention.

This unhealthy fascination with physical phenomena and the sensational didn’t subside after the immediate hysteria began to ebb off. Rather, various mutations emerged. In 1997 came the ‘gold filling’ phenomenon – claims that God was turning people’s black amalgam fillings into silver or gold (amalgam fillings are in fact silver in colour).

my biggest concern at TB meetings was the turning of people’s attentions away from God and onto the ‘manifestations’.

Believers were even taking torches to church so they could peer into one another’s mouths to see what creative miracles the Spirit had performed. While some of the testimonies carried an air of authenticity, others had a clearly natural explanation, with people simply having forgotten about fillings they had had many years previously.

Brazilian mystic

Following very quickly on the heels of the gold filling craze emerged another golden phenomenon – gold dust! This appears to have originated in Brazil, where attention centred on married mystic, Silvania Machado, who carried a striking testimony of physical and emotional healing. Soon Silvania was travelling worldwide – Brazil, United States, Canada, England, Switzerland – sharing her story. But her popularity primarily centred on her ability to walk up to the platform, shake her head, and witness the surprise and delight of the congregation as hundreds of tiny particles of dandruff-like ‘dust’ would fall onto the podium below.

Retired lawyer, Venefredo Barbosa Vilar hosted Ms Machado when she visited his part of Brazil. Suspicious of her ‘performance’, he decided to submit her gold dust to the test of fire. It burned like plastic. “It wasn’t gold”, he noted, but rather, “golden glitter, which can be bought at any large store.” In the following days, he got a professional company called Metago, based in Goiânia, to conduct an analysis of the dust. They quickly confirmed that the ‘gold’ was fake.

In her public talks, Silvania stressed that she had also had the ‘gold dust’ tested – at “one of the best laboratories in Washington, by one the best geologists in the world”. The man with these dubious qualifications was Daniel Roberts; he confirmed that the sample was 24-karat gold, but he later confessed that he hadn’t signed his report because he wasn’t certain. Another Brazilian dealer who certified a sample of the dust to be gold later admitted that he had simply examined it with his ‘clinical eye’.

It was found to consist of plastic film with no trace of platinum, silver or gold.

Silvania claimed that each particle of the ‘gold dust’ had the form of a sandwich, consisting of one layer of gold, one layer of oil, and a third layer of gold. In one of her statements, she said that a Canadian laboratory had found that the third layer was platinum. But in May 1999, John Arnott of the Toronto Airport Vineyard ordered a sample of the ‘gold dust’ to be analysed. It was found to consist of plastic film with no trace of platinum, silver or gold. Arnott cancelled Machado’s upcoming visit to his church.

With proof that her ‘gold dust’ was nothing of the sort, Silvania insisted that in the beginning it most definitely was gold – she couldn’t explain why it no longer was! Vilar cynically termed it a “backward transubstantiation”!

The lawyer observed that Machado normally interacted freely with people prior to a meeting, cheerfully greeting them with hugs and kisses. But in the half-hour or so prior to her ‘gold manifestation’, she curiously avoided people, keeping a distance.

Vilar cynically termed it a “backward transubstantiation”!

She even refused a lift offered to church, preferring to drive her own car, facing unfamiliar, crowded traffic at night for about eight miles. Vilar also observed that the glitter always appeared from the right side of Silvania’s head, where the volume of hair was bigger. Further, well before beginning her testimony, a number of sparkling spots could be seen on Machado’s face, suggesting that the glitter had been there from the beginning. Vilar expressed numerous other concerns about Silvania’s behaviour and testimony.

Pentecostal Stateswoman

The person most associated with ‘gold dust’ until the turn of the 21st century was Ruth Heflin (1940-2000), a Pentecostal revivalist from Ashland, Virginia. Heflin only came into ‘ministering in gold dust’ in the last three years of her life, after inviting Silvania Machado to speak at some meetings in her Ashland church in December 1997. She was immediately and completely taken in by Silvania’s ‘golden’ manifestations.

From then on, the phenomenon of “visible, golden glory” became more and more common at Heflin’s meetings, to the extent that it began occurring “everywhere we went.¹ Every time we would declare it in a meeting, it would happen”. At times she would see “golden dust raining down on the platform” in periodic showers (p.41); sometimes it “whirled in the air about us” (p.99). Heflin claimed that, soon, over one hundred ministerial colleagues were beginning to “flow in this anointing”.

Green and crimson gold!

In her book, ‘Golden Glory’, Heflin documents scores of ‘gold dust’ testimonies. One man continued to doubt the phenomenon even after his wife was repeatedly experiencing it. Asking God to forgive his unbelief, he awoke the next morning to find that “God had put large gold flakes all around his mouth and chin”. He and his wife began to see “green flakes everywhere”, also noticing that “some of the gold flakes had clustered together to form small nuggets”. Another day, “God decided to blow a rain of gold dust into our home” (p.117-19). Others claimed to see the gold dust appearing “daily … in almost every room of our house” (p.122). One woman “found red, purple, and green gold”! (p.124).

Others claimed to see the gold dust appearing “daily … in almost every room of our house".

Young people, apparently “get it quickly and easily”; others received it through reading one of Heflin’s books or listening to her on the radio (p.155). In Toulon, France, some people saw “gold dust come upon the walls of the church for three days. People came from all over with Scotch tape to take samples back to friends and families. 14 people received Jesus as a result” (p.172).

Other signs accompany the gold dust – the Lord gave one woman “perfumes from heaven …. Exotic fruit, incense, cedar, vanilla, etc” (p.174). Most common is “supernatural oil”. In South Africa, people saw a “glory cloud”, whereupon a group of around 75 people immediately fell under the power of God.

Heflin states that in “the glory of God … how easy it is to raise the dead and to heal all manner of sickness and disease. How easy it is to see people leaping out of wheelchairs and off of stretchers. How easy to see blind eyes opened and deaf ears unstopped!” (pp.256-57).

Golden boy

If there’s any one individual who has carried on the essence of Heflin’s ‘gold dust’ ministry, it’s Joshua Mills, who ministers globally “in the glory”. Heflin “left an indelible deposit of her anointing upon me through the books that she wrote”, Mills noted; “such a tremendous impartation came to me through each of them that I can never doubt the power of spiritual conveyance”.

Later, as she pulled in the final catch of the day, lo and behold, one fish was wearing her sunglasses on its face!

Mills says he has experienced the miraculous from his childhood, having learned to play the piano supernaturally, without any human influence. He has a number of other ‘large’ stories to tell. One relates to a woman he knows who went fishing in the Arctic. She wore sunglasses because of the sun’s reflections on the water, but as she was drawing in a bounty of fish, her sunglasses fell into the sea, and out of her grasp. Though disappointed, she knew that God would take care of the situation. Later, as she pulled in the final catch of the day, lo and behold, one fish was wearing her sunglasses on its face! Though it looked exactly like the specs she had lost earlier, it was in fact a brand-new pair, and they fitted perfectly!

One of Mill’s most popular stories is the ‘elevator story’. From his hotel room in Toronto, where he was ministering, Joshua took the lift down to his meeting. As he entered the lift, suddenly, “some kind of supernatural dump truck from heaven opened up and literally the gold of heaven poured over the top of my head all the way right down to my feet and I was covered in gold. Not just a few specks — like millions … I was painted with gold.”

The three people already in the lift started “freaking out, shouting and screaming”. God told Joshua to tell them, “This is a miracle from God, because Jesus loves you!” Immediately, he began ministering to them, and before they reached ground level, all three had surrendered their lives to Christ. A video of the incident, re-enacted for Sid Roth’s ‘It’s Supernatural’, unintentionally reveals the farce of the scenario.

Evidence wanting

While living in San Diego, one day Joshua felt an electrical sensation down his arm. His entire arm was covered in gold dust. He looked up, to find that the entire room was covered in the same dust – the curtains, the sofas, the tables – everything. It was the same in the kitchen, where the worktops, the sink, even the food in the fridge – was lacquered in “golden glory”. This was repeated through the entire apartment.

Could it be that he doesn’t want us to know the truth of what goes on at these events, because they may not be as authentic or spectacular as his own reporting of them?

This phenomenon continued for three weeks, the presence of God being so strong that anyone visiting their home would immediately fall down under the power of the Spirit. Mills took it as a sign of encouragement for the book he was currently writing. Oddly, he took no photos of the glory-adorned home as evidence of the miracle.

Indeed, with gold dust stories so abundantly plentiful at his meetings, it is simply extraordinary that so few instances have been captured on video and released to the public. It would be the easiest thing in the world for Mr Mills to set up video footage of his meetings. Could it be that he doesn’t want us to know the truth of what goes on at these events, because they may not be as authentic or spectacular as his own reporting of them?

I also found it thoroughly curious that I was unable to uncover a single piece of video documentation – even mobile phone footage from attendees – of gold dust actually appearing on Joshua’s person – any video footage that exists begins with the gold dust already present.

Questions abounding

What should we make of all these claims? Could any/some/all of them be of God? Would He have any purpose in them? Is there any biblical precedent that could give credence to them? In a second and concluding article, I will examine further developments in ‘gold dust’ apparitions, before offering a considered critique of the phenomenon.

Endnotes
1. One pastor who developed his own ministry in ‘gold dust’ after inviting Heflin to his church was ex-policeman, Bob Shattles, who went on to write a book on the topic; ‘Revival Fire & Glory’ (1999).