With televangelism and charismatic preachers on the rise in the 1970s, mainstream preachers were taking a back seat as people were drawn into these more fiery styles of preaching as opposed to the dull, doddering styles most Americans came to love and respect. Michael Landon took the idea, married it to the concept of traveling preachers of the 1870s and 1880s and so-called "faith healers" that were around at the time, and created "The Faith Healer."
Mrs. Oleson, tired of Rev. Alden always foiling her diabolical plans and preaching contrary to her values, learns of a charismatic young preacher who claims to have healing powers. The Rev. Jacob Danforth, as it turns out, is in their town and is accepting calls to draw new members to his growing church. Mrs. Oleson sends a teletype message inviting him to Walnut Grove on Sunday mornings, to preach at the same time as the dull-but-dependable Rev. Alden's church services.
Eventually, most of the church – even Nels, who is drawn in more by his own curiosity and his overbearing wife's insistence (if it were up to him, he'd stay at Walnut Grove Church) – abandons Rev. Alden. After all, Danforth 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! Alden can do none of that, nor is he the fiery fire-and-brimstone preacher that Danforth is. In any case, just the Ingallses, the Garveys and Doc Baker remain loyal to the Rev. Alden's services. Doc Baker, as it turns out, is suspicious of Danforth's beliefs, which is starting to be widely accepted as truth and is spreading, and when Doc Baker tries to expose flaws in Danforth's reasoning, it backfires on him and causes him to lose the respect of everyone!
Later, a farmer named Matthew Dobbs brings his 13-year-old son, Timothy, to Danforth, after Timothy complains of severe abdominal cramps, to Danforth to have him "healed." Doc Baker sees this and urges Matthew to travel with his son to Mankato for surgery, but the elder Dobbs – putting all of his trust in Danforth – ignores Baker's pleas. Danforth does his faith healing act … and lo and behold, it appears Timothy is healed!
But later that night, Timothy's appendix bursts (just as Dr. Baker feared was about to happen) and he dies. Dobbs confronts Danforth but Danforth forces him to admit that God "chose" his son to come home. 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.
Meanwhile, Charles is on a delivery run to Sleepy Eye and learns that Danforth is holding a revival there. He confirms his initial suspicions that Danforth is a charlatan and learns he is planning another revival nearby. Charles works with the Rev. Alden, Mr. Dobbs, the Olesons and Doc Baker, and at the height of his "I can see, I can walk" act, Charles interrupts the service and exposes Danforth as a liar. Everyone walks away, angry and rejecting the minister as a phony and a charlatan.
The next Sunday at church, the Rev. Alden forgives everyone ... but not until after he admits his own shortcomings: he was jealous and envious of Danforth and that time allowed him to reflect on his own character and beliefs. Everyone learns a lesson, and the result is a win-win situation. What the Rev. Danforth tried to tear apart actually made the congregation stronger than ever.
As for Danforth, Word of God has it that word quickly got to his church office and he was defrocked from his ministry, and it spreads throughout his territory. Rejected by everyone and unable to convince others of his so-called "faith healing" powers, he ends up committing suicide shortly after his dismissal from the pulpit.
Tropes associated with this episode:
- Allusion: Clearly, the episode is inspired by the rise of televangelism and television preachers whom some contended were more after money (and often had skeletons in their closet to hide) rather than healing souls.
- Anachronism Stew: Pentacostalism and the Charismatic Movement began in 1906 at what is called the Azuza Street Revival, many years after the series takes place.
- Fake Faith Healer: The episode is, unsurprisingly, focused on this trope. A faith healer named Reverend Danforth comes to town, and everyone is very impressed by his claims and his apparent faith, until a young boy that he is supposed to have healed ends up dying and his healing "volunteers" are revealed to be fakes, at which point the scales fall from everyone's eyes.
- Good Shepherd: What Rev. Alden is affirmed to be after Rev. Danforth is run out of town.
- Healing Hands: What Rev. Danforth claims to have. It is revealed he has no such ability.
- Recycled Premise: This episode's overall premise is similar to the third season finale of Michael Landon's previous series Bonanza; which also focused on a phony faith healer who attempts to take advantage of a blind woman feeling guilty for the death of her father in a wagon accident. Much like this episode's allusion being a response to the growth of televangelism in the 1970s; the Bonanza episode was written as a reaction to the tent revivals of The '50s that led to the rise of faith-healers such as Oral Robertsnote ; William Branham and A.A. Allen.
- Religion is Magic: The lie that Rev. Danforth preaches to his parishioners … until Charles exposes him for the charlatan he is.
- Seven Deadly Sins: Rev. Alden harbors at least two of them – pride and envy – when Rev. Danforth was at the peak of holding Walnut Grove Church's members in his hypnotic grasp. Alden, angry and upset that he was not as charismatic nor as fancy as the younger and more energetic Danforth, even temporarily shuns Charles when he tries to help him. After Danforth is forced out of town, Alden reveals his flaws to a humbled congregation, and in everybody learning a lesson after their church was nearly torn apart by a liar, become stronger in faith than ever before.
