The absence of pain in John's surgeries- paranormal?

Another miracle claimed by John is that his patients exhibit no signs of pain when their flesh is cut with a knife. While I've never seen this performed, except on video, I believe that this is due to a combination of adrenaline rush, the power of suggestion and trickery.

When people unaccustomed to it are subjected to sudden stress or shock, their bodies produce an adrenaline rush that makes them temporarily numb to pain. There are many accounts of wounded soldiers and victims of shootings or stabbings not feeling any physical pain upon being injured (or not realizing at first that they were shot or stabbed at all).

An adrenaline rush is only temporary and wears off after minutes, if not seconds, leaving the victim in often terrible pain. Since no further follow-ups are done on John's patients, the cameras might not capture them reacting to the pain (if adrenaline rush is indeed the case here).

Also, John rarely cuts sensitive areas of the body and seems to only cuts superficially. The people he performs "visible surgery" on are also told to close their eyes, which leads to little immediate show of reaction on their part.

It is also entirely possible that John treats the knife with a painkiller, as he might be doing with the instruments he touches to the eyes of his patients.

It's important to note that these are all simply suppositions. Does any of this "prove" (or disprove) anything? No, but it is a valid, full and prefectly satisfying explanation for John's alleged "miracles". At the very least, it's a reason to reconsider travelling to another continent and putting your health (and perhaps your life) into this man's hands.

It is impossible to know what the truth behind John's procedures are due to John's never having subjected himself to medical testing, save once. Although at least one physician has observed the surgeries that take place at the Casa, the doctor was not there to examine any of the patients, conduct any testing or partake in any medicial studies.

The one medical study that has been undertaken, which investigated the effects of 30 surgeries, proved inconclusive.

Here is the study, in the original Portugese:

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-42302000000300002&lng=en&nrm=iso

To quote from the summary: "The surgerical procedures are real but we couldn't evaluate the efficacy. It didn't appear to have any specific effect. Our findings are undoubtedly more of an exploratory kind than conclusive ones. Further studies are clearly necessary to cast light on this unorthodox treatment."

There is an organization that tests claims of the paranormal, an organization by the name of the James Randi Educational Foundation. If John should ever desire to prove his alleged abilities, nothing would be simpler than taking the JREF's test. A million US dollars are offered for any demonstration of any paranormal feat, something that John should have no difficulty doing, as he claims to perform it every day and for a good deal of money.

Why doesn't John take this test or offer any other proof of his abilities? A million dollars could be his for the taking, to use in any way he desires and all of his critics would be silenced once and for all.