Fuller, Willard (1915-)

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Fuller, Willard (1915-)

Spiritual healer specializing in the astounding phenomenon of psychic dentistry. Born in Grant Parish, Louisiana, Fuller was brought up as a Baptist and hoped to become a minister, but suffered from a pronounced stammer. After graduating from college with a B.A. in business administration and a B.E. in electrical engineering, he joined the army, where he reached the rank of master sergeant. By the time he returned to civilian life in his own town his stammer had ceased. When a traveling evangelist preached on two consecutive nights on the theme "Go Preach," Fuller decided that this had a special meaning for him. He determined to enter the ministry.

In 1946 he studied at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, where he graduated in theology. During one of his own revivalist meetings a stranger told him that he would be used "as a funnel through which God would pour blessings on His people." Later Fuller felt impelled to leave the Baptist ministry and become a Pentecostal. One day he felt a sudden surge of spiritual force and heard a voice declare that he was given the gift of healing and would heal people in the name of Jesus. At his next service he invited those who needed healing to come forward, and a number of remarkable cures took place.

He attended a service by evangelist A. C. McCabe, who practiced dental healing. McCabe told Fuller that he would also perform dental healing. Fuller was at first reluctant to attempt this, but a man he had cured of a stomach ulcer returned to his meetings and asked him to pray for a tooth cavity. Fuller laid hands on the man's head and prayed, "In the name of Jesus, be thou everywhere whole," and the man confirmed that his tooth cavity was healed. From March 1960 on, Fuller demonstrated this strange healing ability at his meetings. Those who attended his services stated that they saw or personally experienced dental healing, involving instantaneous filling of cavities with gold, silver, or porcelain, straightening of crooked teeth, and healing of decayed teeth and gums. On various occasions such phenomena were witnessed by professional dentists in the congregation.

Although such dental healing phenomenon seems incredible to skeptics, the suggestion of fraud seems even more incredible in the face of numerous eyewitness reports and considering the large sums of money that would be involved in skillful conjuring with substantial quantities of gold, silver, and other cavity fillings.

Fuller organized the Lively Stones World Healing Fellowship to give focus to his ministry. He was assisted by his wife, Margaret, a trained psychologist. She worked for several years in the area of counseling within the realm of the ministry and was herself a healer. She used the same method as her husband—that of laying on of hands and praying in the name of Jesus.

The Fullers were devoted to a healing ministry based on spiritual faith and the power of prayer. Although a number of those who attended their services claimed to receive miraculous dental healing, the Fullers did not become rich through their healing. They had a simple lifestyle and lived for some time on a houseboat. They did not charge for their healing, and their ministry was sustained only by voluntary contributions. They traveled wherever they were invited if their schedule permitted. They moved freely among groups of all persuasions and beliefs. They believed and taught that we are living in the New Age in which God's kingdom will be established on this Earth and perfect order in all things will once again be a reality.