energy and spiritual healing, Reiki,acupuncture, white magic

Alternative medicine

What power is behind the different therapies like spiritual healing, energy healing, Reiki and acupuncture? Are they neutral forces or false spirits?

When we are looking for healing, we can easily drift in to areas that God has not planned for anyone. Many methods of alternative medicine can actually arise from occultism and the powers of the devil. If used, they might lead people to deal with evil spirits and become spiritually bound.

Of course, this does not apply to all alternative medicine, but often there is reason to doubt it, especially if there does not seem to be any scientific or reasonable explanation for the method used. People may have become spiritually bound without knowing it. This is revealed at the latest when a person tries to turn to God. He might feel like being against a wall, and might experience strong spiritual battles. These are usual for people who are burdened by occultism and want to get rid of it.

In the following lines, we are going to explore this difficult and controversial area. We try, for example, to study the mechanism of action of some forms of treatment and what has been found out about them. If you yourself operate in this area or are interested in it, you should familiarize yourself with the following lines.

SPIRITUAL HEALING is one of the many methods used in alternative medicine. It is based on people trying to get in contact with the spirits of the dead, often those who were doctors. The spiritual healer is only a mediator, making a request to his or her doctor spirits, who are believed to be the real source of healing. The healer tries to achieve a state of harmony with these spirits so that he or she can mediate the healing powers. The healer can also, if necessary, go into a trance. The depth of the trance-state often depends on the quality and seriousness of the illness.

For example, well-known Brazilian healer “Arigo” or Jose Pedro Freitas, who believed he was doing healing work with the help of a German doctor Adolpho Frizin who died in 1918, went into such a deep trance that he did not remember anything of it afterwards. Same kinds of things are told about Harry Edwards, a well-known spiritual healer in one of his books:

He tried to go into a trance, which was a precondition for getting into contact with his spirit friends. By touching the patient the location and source of the illness was found. After that, power was transferred from the hands of the healer to the patient, which he felt as heat. (1)

It should also be noted that spiritual healing very much resembles ordinary spiritualism. Three issues are common to them:

- In both methods, a medium is needed, either a speech or healer medium. In one of the methods, the message is mediated through speech; in spiritual healing, powers are generally mediated through the hands (distance healing is a bit different from this).

- The trance state is usual in both methods.

- Both methods are believed to make a connection with spirits of deceased people. In ordinary spiritualist sessions, the aim is usually to get in touch with relatives or well-known public figures, while in spiritual healing the aim is to get in touch with the so-called doctor spirits (or saints, such as in the following example), meaning those people who were doctors while they were still alive.

An example from both these areas is given by Nicky Cruz in his book Juokse henkesi edestä (Devil on the Run), p. 18, 19, and 178. He tells how his parents operate in both areas, both relaying messages from the "dead" and operating in the area of healing. They continued their work almost to the end of their lives, until they saw the truth and turned to God:

‘Contacting the dead' was my mother's specialty. Talking about supernatural abilities, it was believed that she was very “sensitive” and acted as a gate through which the spirits could speak to the living. My mother and father and our paying customers sat in our living room in a circle and waited for the spirit to reveal himself. (...)

Everyone believed that my mother and father not only spoke with the dead, but also healed with the help of the deceased – especially the holiest saints of the Bible.

(...) I believe that our beautiful jungle home was full of such devilish beings. When my mother went into a trance, she allowed these bad, lying spirits to come into her and speak through her – demons who have the ability to pretend being our loved ones sending messages from beyond the grave.

(...) When my mother and father started to practice witchcraft, they couldn't imagine that the evil spirits would take advantage of them. They sincerely thought that they were helping people with the assistance of good spirits.

They quickly learned the terrible truth.

My father was so deeply under the power of spirits that he spent almost eighty years without Christ. The truth dawned on him the moment when he took a step towards the Savior. (…)

What does the Bible say? Spiritual healing has a clear connection with ordinary spiritualism. Both require a medium, usually a trance state, and it is believed that the dead are contacted. The similarities between them are quite apparent.

However, if we look at what the Bible says about this issue, we can see that it forbids having contact with the spirits of the dead. The Bible clearly says that this matter is not God's will and plan for anyone.

But where does this negative attitude come from? Why is contacting the spirits of the dead such a serious issue in the Bible?

The answer to this is simple. These warnings are there because we have an eternal soul and God loves us and does not want anyone to go to hell. They are there to prevent anyone from being bound and losing his or her eternal soul. God wants what is best for us and that is why these warnings are necessary. They are useful to everyone who values them:

- (Lev 19:31) Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

- (Lev 20:6) And the soul that turns after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

- (Deut 18:10-12) There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12 For all that do these things are an abomination to the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you.

- (Isa 8:19) And when they shall say to you, Seek to them that have familiar spirits, and to wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek to their God? for the living to the dead?

- (Isa 29:4) And you shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be, as of one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

- (Acts 16:16-18) And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show to us the way of salvation.

18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

ENERGY HEALING. In the area of alternative medicine, energy healing, energy flows and chakra-stabilization often come up. They are some of the cornerstones of alternative medicine and common also in the Oriental religions. For example, such cures as reiki, acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu, polarity therapy, homeopathy, zonal therapy and bioenergy treatment are all based on energy currents.

These methods are based on the idea that the power of life or cosmic energy that is everywhere or in us is transferred to heal the sick. It is thought that there are different kinds of canals in our body in which cosmic energy flows, but if there is a block in the flow or they are in imbalance, energy from the outside is needed. This extra energy can lead to the patient's energy reserves being balanced and the person getting better. Balancing can also be done by means of massage, meditation, and yoga that open the chakras of the body so that the energy can flow freely.

Is there neutral energy in this area? When it is a question of energy healing, people are often led to understand that there is some neutral energy, such as bioenergy or the power of life through which we can be healed. It is thought that this energy is everywhere in the nature and transferring it to our use could lead to the renewal of our body.

However, there is reason to doubt this theory. If we study this issue in the light of the next points, we can see that there is no neutral healing energy, but that it is a question of the same factors as in spiritual healing.

Mere energy cannot heal all kinds of illnesses. First, it is good to understand that energy alone cannot cure hundreds of different diseases. In some skin diseases, the sun's heat may be useful, but if the cell's genome is out of order, it cannot be treated with energy flows as little as a computer programming error can be cured by increasing the electric current or car defects can be treated with additional electricity. It is certainly a fallacy to believe that simply increasing energy could lead to a cure for a number of different diseases:

Almost 5,000 hereditary diseases are already known. School medicine tries to correct a mistake in the genotype by using gene technology. Unfortunately, the cell cannot be healed through bioenergy flows, just like a computer cannot be fixed by directing more amperes through it.

If we enlarge the diameter of one human cell billionfold, a city opens in front of us with a volume of a thousand cubic kilometers containing biochemical factories.

(...) We can only vaguely to understand the finesses of its technological solutions as only 0.5% of its programming has been mapped. It is an impossible thought that, for example, the activity of a liver cell could be improved by ‘color or jewel therapy’, i.e. by wearing an emerald on a necklace, no matter how fascinating the idea may seem. (2)

Spiritual life. The second reason to doubt energy healing being neutral is that the energy flow may often have been interrupted when a Christian has started to pray during the treatment. If it were a question of mere neutral power from the nature, this would not occur. For example, Kurt Koch tells in his book Onko paholainen olemassa, p. 68 (Between Christ and Satan), about a certain woman, who prayed before her turn when she visited the well-known healer Dr. Trampler. The doctor told this woman, "You I cannot help.”

On the other hand, the opposite can also happen: when a person goes to the wrong areas, his religious life can be blocked and it can be difficult for him to pray and believe. He may become depressed and as if a wall may come between him and God. If it were neutral natural forces, this would certainly not happen:

Example 73. One woman went to see doctor Trampler in Munich. The doctor successfully dealt with her back problems. During the treatment, he told the patient to keep her fingers up as antennas to receive cosmic powers, as the doctor explained. When the woman went back home, she noticed that her organic trouble had healed, but something restrained her spiritual life. It was now impossible for her, as for many others, to pray, and she felt as if an impenetrable wall had risen between her and God. (3)

The background of the healers. One reason to doubt the neutrality of energy flows is the background of the energy healers. Although many of them believe that they transmit neutral energy or even work in the power of God and the Holy Spirit, their background is usually tied to the occult and the New Age. It includes the very things that are typical of occultism and especially false anointing (the influence of evil spirits). This field and incorrect lubrication can include e.g. the following types of things that are typical of energy healers, especially those who have worked deeper and longer in that area:

• Occult phenomena have occurred in the family (clairvoyance, foreknowledge, spiritual healing...)

• Meditation and making the mind passive

• Spirit guides

• Seeing into the spirit world

• Repeated out-of-body phenomena

• Reincarnation, Karma and other New Age beliefs

• Lapses in consciousness and memory

• Great exhaustion after leaving the lubrication

• Increased compulsive actions

THE SCIENTIFICITY OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE. The terms used in alternative medicine, such as energy and bio-energy, seem to be scientific. They seem to refer to the treatments being based on an experimental and reliable scientific base.

This is, however, one of the problems with alternative medicine. Unlike in school medicine, many treatments in alternative medicine do not have a clear experimental base: it seems to be missing. It is typical for the treatments that their working mechanisms and scientific nature cannot be proven in laboratory conditions and by examining the human body. For example, acupuncture, zone therapy, and homeopathy, which are typical alternative medication methods, are methods whose mechanisms have been difficult to find and prove:

Acupuncture. In acupuncture (other similar methods are polar therapy, shiatsu, psychokinesiology, etc.), it is believed that there are twelve meridians and approximately 700 acupuncture points on the same meridians in us, but this has not been proven. Even though we have veins and nervous systems that are easy to observe and prove, meridians and acupuncture points have not been found; not even, although autopsies and microscopic examinations have been used to help. Those places where the points and meridians should be do not differ in any way from the other parts of the tissue.

Zonal therapy. Zonal therapy. In zonal therapy it is believed that by treating the soles of our feet we can affect the whole body. This is because the soles of the feet are thought to represent the whole body and also connect cosmic and other energy currents in the world. However, scientists have not found any anatomical connection between the soles of the feet and other parts of the body. The same is true also for other similar methods, in which some part of the body is thought to represent the whole body in miniature (for example, iris diagnostics is a method in which the eye reveals the condition of the whole body).

Actually, if pressing the soles of the feet had such a great effect as it is thought in zonal therapy, it would seem that walking on stones or pine cones would be the best kind of treatment and zonal therapy. It should affect the whole body, if we only walked on them long enough. It would certainly be more natural than actual zonal therapy.

Homeopathy. Homeopathy is based on the idea of something being treated with something that resembles the issue being treated. If someone has, for example, diarrhea, in homeopathy it should be treated with castor oil, because it causes diarrhea in healthy people. However, castor oil and other homeopathic medicine should always be diluted so that they only contain perhaps one millionth or none of the original active ingredient – actually, it is thought that the medicine is more powerful the more it has been diluted. In addition, it is also required that the medicine to be prepared is shaken each time it is being diluted further, because that is when the invisible "powers of life" are released.

However, when we examine the scientific background of homeopathy, we have to say that it is not easy to find. It can be seen by the next simple observations:

- The thought that similar heals similar is difficult to prove. How could castor oil that usually causes diarrhea, heal it? Or how could other ingredients that usually cause the symptoms of illnesses heal them when diluted? Homeopathic medicine functions differently than we could expect, it goes against logic.

- The second problem is that the power of homeopathic medicine cannot be measured under laboratory conditions or defined in any way. If the effect of the medicine depends on the efficiency of the dilution – e.g. castor oil diluted to one part per million or even more diluted – these kinds of amounts cannot have any effect; or then their power is based on mere belief or the placebo effect, as may have been presented by official medicine.

- As it is believed in homeopathy that shaking the medicine in between diluting is important, ordinary tap water – that has been circulated in nature – should actually have the same results. The next example refers to this:

The mechanisms by which the efficacy of alternative medicine treatments are explained are often truly strange. If the homeopathic solution that has been diluted and shaken many times is nothing else than mere water, but it is said to have the memory, mould, or energy of the ingredient that was in it, how can it then be explained that tap water, for example, which has been shaken in many bends and turns and has been in contact with innumerable ingredients, has no healing effect? Is this perhaps due to the fact that the preparation rituals that anthroposophy cautiously keeps silent about have not been performed with tap water? (4)

Herbs. The use of herbs is an area that has a connection with alternative medicine. Alternative medicine practitioners may have been well versed in this area and be avid users of herbs.

Using herbs is not a bad thing in itself. It has been known for a long time that many herbs have healing and other useful effects. From them we can get such vitamins and minerals that we do not get from our food and they can promote our health. Growing them, for example, in one’s own kitchen garden can bring new versatility to food.

One question mark is the herbs that have been prepared by occultist or biodynamic methods. "Cosmic powers" (for example, anthroposophical medicines Weleda and Wala) and "vibrations” may have been used to prepare them, so that they would strengthen the spirituality and health of the one who eats them. Thus, the herbs resemble homeopathic medicine that also has been handled almost in the same way.

What this then means in practice is that we should be careful where we obtain our herbs and medicine. If you know that these methods have been used to prepare the herbs, you are not doing anything wrong if you avoid using them.

IF HEALING TAKES PLACE. It is typical for many alternative medicine treatments that they cannot always be scientifically proven and they may lack a theoretical base. This raises a question of why people are sometimes healed. For what reason are they healed?

The answer to this is simple. If healing does occur, in principle there are only two things that can cause it. They are the placebo effect or the power of evil.

The placebo effect is one possible reason for healing. It is generally based on a good patient/doctor relationship, in which the healer can be medicine, even though any medical care is not given. It has also been noted that even a tablet containing sugar or calcium – that should not have any medical effect whatsoever but that the patient believes to be medicine – can result in healing, especially if it has been given by a reliable doctor.

The effect of a placebo might even be more powerful than that of normal medicine. It is estimated that 30–35% of physically and mentally sick people react positively to placebos. If the treatment includes methods, which have no medical effect in themselves, up to 50% of the patients can feel healed. (An article in Valitut palat / “Reader’s Digest”; “Luulon parantava voima”; December 2004"; about the power of placebos).

The effect of the placebo can thus not be excluded from the area of alternative medicine. It is likely that the treatments that do work are based on the placebo effect and a confidential patient/doctor relationship.

The forces of darkness are another possible channel for healing. As the powers of darkness can cause illnesses (for example, Job 2:7, Luke 13:16), they can also sometimes take them away, through spiritual healing, transportation of energy, or acupuncture, etc. (we should note that in some countries acupuncture needles are "blessed" by local witches) if the evil forces benefit from this.

Our body can thus be healed, but at the same time our soul can be bound by demonic powers. This can manifest, for example, as mental symptoms, or it is possible that they let a person be in peace until he or she turns to God (because Satan has deemed this person a sure case). Immediately when the person turns to God, he or she may be faced with difficult fights until s/he is freed from these powers (those who have been involved in occultist healing must confess this sin, pray to be freed from the powers of the devil, and then command them to leave in the name of Jesus Christ in order to be freed). The next example refers to how these kinds of symptoms are typical for people who are burdened by occultism and who are turning to God. The example describes a man who had been taken to see a spellcaster when he was a small boy, but now as an adult wanted to turn to God:

(…) The word of God spoke to the man, and he wanted to follow Christ. After he had made this decision, he started to suffer from deep distress, depression, and suicidal thoughts. This distressed man told me in pastoral care that his life had progressed normally after being healed. Only when he had started to pray and read the Bible had all hell gotten loose. The depression was so powerful that he had made three suicide attempts. A doctor had saved his life. When the doctor had seen the poison he had with him, he had said, "This amount of poison would have been enough to kill ten people.” (...) The fight lasted for a couple of months. Christ won in the end. The man was completely freed from the results of the spellcaster’s treatment. Where sin had been great, the grace of God had been even greater. (5)

The problem with spiritual healing, energy healing, and other similar methods is that they leave us exposed to the powers of the devil. It is the demonic equivalent of the laying on of hands, which resembles its biblical counterpart. However, when the Spirit of God wants to lead people to freedom, the powers of darkness always lead people into slavery, spiritual blindness, and unnecessary sufferings. These unnecessary paths, even in the church, are best avoided by not going under the hands of any unreliable person:

Fifthly, people who earnestly and eagerly wait to be baptized with the Holy Spirit should not allow just any person to put their hands on them when they pray. Evil spirits are very contagious, like a disease that spreads like an epidemic. I have seen how unclean spirits have been transferred to people when someone who has evil spirits in him has placed his hands on them. When such a spirit settles in them, they suffer terribly until they are freed from it. If someone wants hands to be placed on him in prayer, he should always make sure that the people who do that are full of the Spirit of the Truth. (6)

MAGIC AND SPELLS. One thing connected with healing is the use of spells. Using them has often been called white magic, because the intention is to turn only to the good powers and do good, while in black magic the intention is to do the opposite.

White magic may also use phrases like “in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (they might also use three prayers of the Lord, three signs of the cross or other Christian symbols connected with the number 3) and it can be difficult to distinguish these from real prayer. However, magic differs from prayer in that it is not directed to God who is in Heaven, but His name is only used as a technical symbol, which can be regarded as misuse of the name of God (Exo 20:7: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain....). The mechanical use of words is typical in magic, as if they were magical words; they become divine and if they are not pronounced right, the spell does not work.

Instead, in the right kind of prayer, the technical pattern or correct wording has no meaning. In it, we turn to God who is in Heaven, and simply tell our worries to Him. The letter to the Philippians has a good example of a normal prayer:

- (Phil 4:6) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

What does the Bible say? People who practice white magic often sincerely believe that they are in contact only with good powers and that they do good. They think like those practicing spiritualism, who believe to be in contact only with good spirits and try to protect themselves from evil spirits.

However, the fact is that both of these areas have a connection with deceitful spirits, not good ones. Even Anton LaVey, who served as the high priest of the Church of Satan, has stated that white magic involves exactly the same forces as black magic. He said that "People who take part in the ceremonies of white magic stand inside a pentagon to protect themselves from the 'bad' powers they call to assist. (...) From the eyes of a worshipper of Satan it feels phony to protect oneself from the same powers that are called to help.” (7)

However, the most important criterion in this area is the Word of God. The Bible says that being in contact with the dead and spirits is wrong, as is casting of spells and practicing sorcery. This is such a serious thing that people who practice these issues will not enter the Kingdom of God. However, those who have been dealing with these issues can receive full forgiveness and purification from their sins. This takes place when they turn to God, confess their sins and let God save them:

- (Deut 18:10-12) There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12 For all that do these things are an abomination to the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you.

- (Lev 19:26) You shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times.

- (2 Kings 17:17) And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

- (Isa 47:12) Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.

- (Gal 5:19-21) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, jealousies, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Contentions, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

- (Rev 21:8) But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

- (Rev 22:15-17) For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.

16 I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

REFERENCES:

1. Quote from (HEILUNG UND BEFREIUNG) Voitto on sittenkin meidän, Kurt Koch, p. 47

2. Pekka Reinikainen / Marja Rantanen, Parantajat, p. 191,192

3. Kurt Koch, (Between Christ and Satan) Onko paholainen olemassa?, p. 68

4. Pekka Reinikainen / Marja Rantanen, Parantajat, p. 193

5. Kurt Koch, (DER ABERGLAUBE) Taikauskot, p. 134

6. Yonggi Cho, Pyhä Henki ja sinä, p. 100

7. Feorge Vandeman, Psykisk Roulette, s. 156. Quote from Kauko-ohjattu (MED FORT HÅND), Ingerlise Provstgaard, p. 68