- originally posted on 5/31/03 -

Luke 9:49-50,New Revised Standard Bible
John answered "Mater, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us. But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him, for whatever is not against you is for you."

Acts 8: 18-21
"When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying 'Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God's gift with money! You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you."

We aren't told in the bible whether the healing that occurs in the first passage I'm citing is successful, even though Christ's name is used by the "healer." The second passage, I believe, gives some insight into what makes a healer in Christ, in terms of a healing charisma, and that is that their heart must be right before God and that God must be living in them through the Holy Spirit.

So perhaps that's what really needs to be discerned in working with any energy healer, and perhaps someone likes this Mietek that Bonnie mentions is in fact the real thing, a walking saint with that charisma, who was brought in to help heal a populance where the church was oppressed by Communism for decades and where the standard of living was so low that the only way God could help his people medically was to have this healing gift manifested in a person like a Mietek.

This is not the case in the U.S. however. I would place bets on the fact that the average energy healer here isn't a Christian and certainly doesn't talk about his or her healing skills in terms of the Holy Spirit. I don't think I'd have the discernment to know how the hearts of such healers stand before God without praying for that discernment and waiting for an answer. And I would also need some more concrete info, such as understanding whatever faith walk they're following, details about their personal lives as well as reconnaisance of their character that could take years to evaluate in order to trust that what energy they are carrying is of the Holy Spirit and not something more demonic in nature.

- originally posted on 6/1/03 -

For the real seekers frequenting this board, I thought I'd post a teaching I ran across on the Intercessors of the Lamb website by Mother Nadine Brown. I think she's just one of the most wise and succinct spiritual directors around and when I was reading her latest teaching, it spoke to me re the string on this board about going to energy healers or that ilk to overcome whatever, vs what the Christian path is all about.

She writes:
"Pride is a spiritual self-delusion. In other words, we attribute our good qualities to ourselves. We also give ourselves the right to use our good qualities any way we like. We�re moving rather independently of God. It�s totally in opposition to the First Commandment, the commandment of all commandments, where we are to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole strength, because pride puts itself first when God should be first. Pride will not put God first. Pride will say, �My will be done.� There used to be a song out, �I did it my way.� Sad, isn�t it, but that�s what pride says - �It�s got to be my way, my will.�

Bottom line, pride is total independence�independence from God and usually independence from others. It is always based on Satan who is the father of lies. Humility is total dependence on God, which is totally opposite of pride. Humility is based on truth. Humility is based on Jesus. Humility knows and accepts its limitations. Humility knows it�s a child. Humility knows it�s weak. Humility knows it can do nothing without Jesus. Pride doesn�t accept any of those truths.

Several years ago when I was struggling with this, I was asking the Lord, �Why can�t we do this? Why can�t we do that?� It began to become clear to me, because He was starting to enlighten my mind, how very limited we are. We are not to be struggling and squirming because we can�t do these things, but we should accept
our limitations. The very act of accepting our limitations and weaknesses makes God come into us in greater strength and power. This is when I began to realize, �Lord, You deliberately made us limited.� I�ll never forget the day I got that light! He was smiling. Have you ever kind of sensed Him smiling like, �Yes, you�ve got it.�
�You made us this way so that we will always need You. You never, ever, intended us to do one tiny thing without You.� We are limited in every aspect of our lives, but God is not. And so when we reach our limitations, we have to go over into His. When we reach our limit of patience, we just draw on His. When we reach our limit of �I just can�t love anymore; I can�t be nice anymore; I can�t even smile anymore,� we go over into His because He said, �I�m not limited. It�s yours just for the asking.� He doesn�t want to be left out of anything we do. He made us limited so we would need Him. Humility will let us know that we need Him. We do need Him. (Teaching on pride will be continued on June 23, 2003.)

Excerpt from Mother Nadine�s "Prayer Warrior Summit: The Authority of Prayer Warriors,� tape 5, August 2002.

- originally posted on 6/1/03 -

. . . I can only agree with Linda about energy healers. So much power is handed over to these guys when we put ourselves in their hands. And the lines between healer and occultist, or healer and magician are oh so thin! Entrusting our spirit to Christ is like setting our feet on solid ground.Who else can we really trust? There's so much new agey confusion about light beings, spiritual masters etc.

All our soul energies are mixed together in a great big soup, which makes it easy for someone to go ahead and poison the broth at the best of times without inviting them to come around and swim in our portion for a bit. But our spirits! Our spirits are what makes us essentially who we are. They are the 'be' in our being, the 'ist' in our existance %$&$&$!!! Only the Holy Spirit can touch our spirits and marry them to Christ. This spiritual union seems to me much more desirous and much more deeply healing that any mere union of souls. I really want to get into Christ's energies, not some other fellows whose energies maybe as thick and sticky as an occult glue.

I can honestly relate to people who want to go to shaman, healers etc. There is something alluring about it all. No harm in reading about/ dialoguing with these other traditions.But the Lord does call for a moral and energetic purity within us - a much maligned word in the 20th Century thanks to racial purists etc, but this is different. "To the pure all things are pure."

This Cosmic Christ someone mentioned. Who's he? Is he the Christ that dwells within us?

As for being burned by fellow Christians, I can only say that the church is in such a divided,un- repentant state that its no wonder incidences of abuse are so prevalent. My family suffered terribly at the hands of ardent denominationalists, but this is no excuse to take our eyes off Christ. The moment we do the pain intensifies and the potential for healing diminshes.

What does Linda think of acupuncture, reflexology etc.?

Byebye for now,

Stephen.

- originally posted on 6/1/03 -

. . . I am the equivalent of an energy slut, from opening to all the energy healing junk in the first place and then in my search for "cures" for the resulting K imbalance. Over the past decade, I think I've tried just about every holistic treatment around short of joining up in an alternative universe UFO-cult. (But almost, did try virtual reality therapy, essentially putting a helmet on my head that plugged me into a computer program, getting zinged and hoping what the researchers dub brain wave therapy would get me in sync. Not after a few sessions, but the promise of a cure perhaps many more sessions and hundreds of dollars away since this stuff isn't covered by my insurance ... you get the drift.)

I think acupuncture, reflexology are fine as long as one isn't going to a practioner who is pushing the envelop, so to speak. Great for real physical problems, but if someone is going to these therapies with the primary goal to stimulate their subtle energy bodies as a path towards spiritual growth, versus physical or other types of symptoms that may merit these treatments, I say forget it. Also personally found acupuncture helpful at times during worst cycle of K imbalance a few years ago, but then my practioner turned into a zealot - and I had some really bad side effects. Of course, I was told this was yet another "clearing" of blockages, but it was painful enough that I haven't embraced acupuncture as any regular therapy since.

- originally posted on 6/2/03 -

This Cosmic Christ someone mentioned. Who's he? Is he the Christ that dwells within us?

There are two related meanings. The first refers to the pre-incarnate Word, Logos, or Second Person of the Trinity, "through whom all things came to be." Jn. 1. This is God giving specific form to all that is created. The second refers to the Ascended Christ--Jesus Christ, incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity, who is absorbed into the Word and "seats at the right hand of God." Where the Word is, there is Christ.

This is a mode of encounter with Christ that many need to become more open to, in addition to the Christ we encounter through Scripture, Sacrament, and church community. The Eastern Church is more attuned to this than the Roman, but our belief in the Ascension shows that we affirm the same.

There are trends in theology--most notably creation spirituality--which discuss the cosmic Christ as though it were an alternative source of knowledge about Christ than we find in the Church. In such circles--usually people who've been burned by the Church--the cosmic Christ is emphasized in such a manner as to discount the importance of the teaching of the Church and the role of Scripture. Obviously, the Christ we encounter through those means cannot conflict with what is supposedly affirmed by the cosmic Christ, however, since Christ is Christ.

I could go on, but I think you can see where this is going.