Wenatchee Valley Concerns
Wenatchee Valley Issues
Recently, some members in the Wenatchee Seventh-day Adventist Church spoke out against having a Yoga class taught at their church and against using CranioSacral Therapy as part of a Grief and Loss Support Class put on by their church.
Grief and Loss Support
Hands-On Ministry. Suffering loss and working through grief can have a painful impact on your physical health too. The Hands-On Ministry is designed to support the body's holding of stress and to help it release. Those offering this volunteer ministry right now include Brenda Aufderhar, Lori Parker, and Joni Steinberg. God has been working in each of their lives and asking them to use touch with the prayerful intention of following whatever God asks them to do to support those who are suffering. This ministry will be offered one afternoon and evening each week. To sign-up for half-hour slots please call or go by the church office during the week and ask the secretary what times are available. There is additional information in the office including a list of possible symptoms that might be present in those who are processing grief, and stories of those who have found relief. The church elders have reviewed the details of this plan and recommended it to the church board which voted to include it in our overall Grief Support Plan.
May God bless your healing journey.
Wenatchee SDA Church
Though these programs have been curtailed; we must ask the question, “What led this church down this path?” The senior pastor, Mike Aufderhar and his wife Brenda are both Hakomi Therapists and the pastor’s wife is a Diplomat level CranioSacral Therapist (CST). Following is some research regarding these two therapies that was compiled by a church member: Hakomi Therapy Study is on pages 1-9 and the CranioSacral Therapy Study is on pages 9-23. The pastor’s wife also was showing select church members how to check supplements by use of the Sway Test. See Sway Test study pages 23-28. Concern that his members might get involved with these things led pastor John Witcombe to preach two sermons - Iceberg Ahead and Confrontation At Carmel. See pages 28-37. Next is Lori Parker’s Story (pages 38, 39). Her story highlights the danger we are facing here in the Wenatchee Valley. When our members are communicating with fallen angels while thinking they are communicating with God, as we believe this story reveals, this should be cause for alarm. Energy Medicine: What is it and how does it work? is found on pages 39-46.
HAKOMI THERAPY STUDY
(Author’s comments are in italics. All other text is related to its associated link found at the end of each section)
This study relates to M & B’s training as three-year certified Hakomi therapists. Incidentally, Hakomi Therapy, Matrixworks and Matrix Leadership are tied together through common trainers and Buddhist thought, which permeates all three programs:
--Mukara Meredith is found at the Hakomi Institute’s website as a certified therapist and is one of their primary trainers. She is also referenced on the Matrix Leadership website as one of the people who “strongly influenced the development of the training; she developed the Matrixworks program and is a student of the Biodynamic Cranial System, which is the more esoteric form of CranioSacral Therapy. Mukara is a practicing Buddhist, having graduated from Naropa University, one of the few accredited Buddhist-inspired universities in North America. She has 25 years experience in teaching, consulting, and working with the healing arts.
--Five of the 12 trainers found on the Matrix Leadership website have Hakomi connections and have either been trainers at the Hakomi Institute, or have graduated Hakomi trainings.
--Matrixworks is a model for understanding “groups as living systems”. Ron Kurtz, the creator of the Hakomi Method and Founder of the Hakomi Institute also discusses living systems.
Below are the three applicable bullets from M’s Independent Development Program (IDP) document, taken from the page that references being an “Effective Teacher/Mentor”.
|• Take Matrix Leadership class on group dynamics and |• Completion Certificate |
|group process | |
|• Take 3 year training in Hakomi Therapy, a body-mind |• Certification Document |
|integrative therapy, which includes content on group |• Web Link to my listing as a Certified Hakomi Therapist |
|processes | |
|• Work as a Teaching Assistant for Matrixworks group |• Reflection notes on what I learned by assisting the |
|process training |instructor |
Before this study begins, please be aware if one wants to verify information for themselves they would go to the main Institute link provided above, and then follow the directions that will be given throughout this document.
WHAT IS HAKOMI THERAPY? (Main home page, “Welcome”)
“Hakomi is a body-centered, somatic psychotherapy. The body’s structures and habitual patterns become a powerful doorway to unconscious core material.”
“The Hakomi method quickly accesses this core material, allowing it to emerge safely into consciousness.”
WHO DOES IT BENEFIT AND WHAT ARE ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS?
Hakomi is a psychotherapy that is used in a variety of settings. It directly benefits Bodyworkers, such as CranioSacral Therapists. It is also a “philosophy” and can benefit one in many aspects of their life. I personally called the Hakomi Institute and asked them if it was something you use only in individual or group sessions, or if it was a philosophy that becomes a part of you and can be used in many areas of your life. The answer I received was “It is both”. The person I spoke with at the Hakomi Institute just happened to be a Hakomi and CranioSacral Therapist (CST); they became certified specifically because of how Hakomi benefits them in the verbal and nonverbal dialogue in CST.
The last paragraph on the link to “About Hakomi”, “Introduction” states:
“Applications
Hakomi is effective and appropriate in most therapeutic situations, including work with individuals, couples, families, groups, movement, and bodywork. It is suitable for crisis work and psychological maintenance, but it finds its full potential in the processes of growth, both personal and transpersonal, when we are committed to moving beyond our limits. Hakomi has been effectively applied to a wide variety of everyday activities: athletics, theater, parenting, business.... Because Hakomi attends to the very nature of being human, it is easily adapted to support whatever tasks and adventures people pursue.”
So it appears that Hakomi is something that is not relegated only to personal or group therapy. From a therapist standpoint, “Where do M. & B. use it? Is it possible that the concepts and principles it teaches have been assimilated into ones self and are now part ones overall philosophy and approach to communication? The Institute seems to think it is used this way.
ABOUT HAKOMI THERAPY
In Hakomi Experiential Therapy:
“We work with special States of Consciousness, especially ‘mindfulness’, the meditative
practice of studying your present moment experience without judgment or effort.”
“We build a therapist-client relationship which maximized safety and partnership and works directly with the unconscious in cooperation with the conscious mind.”
Under “Resources”, “About Hakomi Therapy” by Ron Kurtz, it’s founder:
“Hakomi Therapy facilitates dramatically increased self-awareness and the senses of expansion and empowerment which come from creating new choices at the subconscious core belief level.”
“Some of the origins of Hakomi stem from Buddhism and Taoism, especially concepts like gentleness, compassion, mindfulness, and going with the grain.”
“Hakomi also draws from modern body-centered psychotherapies such as Reichian work, Bioenergetics, Gestalt, Psychomotor, Feldenkrais, Structural Bodywork, Ericksonian Hypnosis, Focusing and Neurolinguistic Programming.”
Ron Kurtz, says in his talk: “Foundations of Hakomi Therapy”(See Professional Journal, Issue #2 – Winter 1985):
“I want to discuss the theoretical and spiritual foundations of the work.”
“There are three main foundations of the work. The first is the body-centered therapies of the twentieth century, like Gestalt, Bioenergetics, Reichian work, Rolfing and Feldenkrais. I also include Carl Rogers and Psychomotor therapy too. So that’s the first root.
The second is eastern philosophy and religion, particularly Taoism and Buddhism, with a little Chinese/Japanese medicine thrown in. And the third branch is General Systems Theory and the twentieth century paradigm shift. I’ll discuss all three of these.”
I’m not sure what General Systems Theory is, but he says the best book he’s read on it is “The Self-Organizing Universe by Erich Jantsch”. As he explains it in this talk, it seems to be a newer explanation for evolution.
What is Gestalt?
Fritz Perls coined the term “Gestalt Therapy”. He was a doctor who gravitated to psychiatry and the work of Freud and the early Wilhelm Reich.
--Perls is considered one of the Neurolinguistic Programming Predecessors.
--“Gestalt has been one of the fields which has donated the most techniques to modern hypnotherapy”
--“In its own way, Gestalt Therapy as practiced by Fritz Perls and those who carried on his work employs a form of hypnosis on its patients.”
What is Bioenergetics?
“Supporters of bioenergetics believe the body "records" negative emotional reactions and stores them in the form of muscle tension and stiffness, poor posture, and low energy levels. To release these trapped emotions and return the body and mind to a balanced, healthy, peaceful state, patients must first release muscle tension and correct physical imbalances.”
“Bioenergetics was developed by psychiatrist Alexander Lowen, MD, in the 1950s. He based his work on Reichian therapy, which theorized that a person's repressed emotions are transformed into muscle tension and rigidity, which Wilhelm Reich, MD called "body armor." Dr. Lowen, who first earned a law degree in New York, became a therapist under Dr. Reich's training and then completed medical school at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. In 1956, Dr. Lowen created the Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis.”
Ron Kurtz says in his article “Foundations of Hakomi Therapy”:
“Bio-energetics... is really energy with consciousness.”
What is Feldenkrais?
In Ron Kurtz’s on-line book titled: “Hakomi Method of Mindfulness Based Body Psychotherapy - Readings August 2004”, on page 75:
“Mindfulness, which involves the relaxation of management and effort and quieting the mind, lowers the noise...When the noise is lowered, whatever signal is being masked will emerge....Here is one of the connections to Taoism and the Feldenkrais work and the Gestalt notion of figure and ground: awareness itself lowers the noise. When you turn your awareness toward something, you automatically lower the noise.”
“If you draw attention to movements in slow motion, as Feldenkrais does, you will start to notice things that you did not notice before... in mindfulness, attention is concentrated. The pace is slower. Ones usual concerns are set aside. The focus is on the present experience, as it is in Taoism, Feldenkrais, Gestalt, and other consciousness disciplines.”
(To mention a fact, B. has taken two Feldenkrais classes at Upledger. Its goal is “to improve kinesthetic awareness of self”. Ron Kurtz states Feldenkrais is a “consciousness discipline”. It would seem that taking specific classes in Feldenkrais, plus Hakomi training, all serve to make one very skilled at the ability to become self-aware, and to assist others in doing the same.)
What is Ericksonian Hypnosis?
“Erickson believed that the unconscious mind was always listening, and that, whether or not the patient was in trance, suggestions could be made which would have a hypnotic influence, as long as those suggestions found some resonance at the unconscious level. You can be aware of this, or you can be completely oblivious that something is happening.” (Wikipedia’s emphasis supplied)
“Where 'classical' hypnosis is authoritative and direct, and often encounters resistance in the subject, Erickson's approach is accommodating and indirect.”
“Effective hypnotic suggestion, then, should be 'artfully vague', leaving space for the subject to fill in the gaps with their own unconscious understandings - even if they do not consciously grasp what is happening.”
The website above states: “There are many myths about hypnosis which give a misleading impression. The reality is a lot different. You don’t lose awareness of who you are, where you are and what you’re doing. You don’t lose control. You don’t ‘go under’ in the sense that you fall asleep or unconscious; most people remain aware right throughout the session. In fact, being hypnotized is invariably a relaxing, enjoyable experience. Afterwards, you feel exceptionally calm and relaxed.”
In the FAQ section of this website: “You are not unconscious. You are in an alternative state of consciousness, like day dreaming, which can be very relaxing. You can hear everything that is being said. Nothing happens without your consent. You never lose control.”
What is Neurolinguistic Programming?
“Neuro linguistic programming, or NLP is both a philosophy and an education. It teaches you how to think and communicate in more effective ways. It has been described as “The art and science of communication”.”
Who benefits from NLP?
“The answer is: everyone! People from all walks of life can benefit from NLP from Parents to Prime Ministers. We train therapists, who use the skills to help others overcome blocks to living a happier life, to executives who use the skills to create better more effective communication in the workplace. The techniques can be applied to almost any situation.”
“NLP is like the ‘how to’ manual for the brain.”
So to summarize, Hakomi therapy draws from Buddhism and Taoism’s eastern philosophies as well as several hypnosis-based techniques that are recognized as being techniques that are easily integrated into a person’s general communication skills. “Cut away from yourselves everything that savors of hypnotism, the science by which satanic agencies work.” 2SM 350
The foundations of Hakomi directly involve hypnosis and meditation techniques. Eastern philosophy, specifically Buddhism and Taoism also form the basis of it. While I am sure there are other positive things it also teaches, these roots are disturbing.
MORE HAKOMI HISTORY & ORIGINS
Under “About Hakomi”, “Origins of the Method by Ron Kurtz”, he says:
“In 1987, eight years after Hakomi began, I had a meeting with Swami Rama. He told me that I had a mission. Nervous and surprised, I was still together enough to ask him, ‘What mission is that?’ He responded, ‘to create a new method of psychotherapy.’ When I think about Hakomi, I think about it in those terms.”
Is Swami Rama’s comment to Ron Kurtz about creating a new method of psychotherapy as being his “mission” something Christian’s, specifically SDA Christians, should pursue?
As Ron Kurtz goes on in the same article he give more history. Here are a few excerpts:
“There are two more tracks that influenced me. The first was eastern philosophy and practice. I had been practicing yoga since 1959. In graduate school I got interested in Taoism and Buddhism. Awareness practices became part of my life... Eastern thought was also the root of my interest in Feldenkrais’ work.”
“The last track is my life-long interest in science... My passion has been systems theory, the branch that studies living systems.”
“So, these threads: eastern philosophy, psychotherapeutic technique, and systems theory are the foundations of Hakomi.”
“So, when I think about what’s new about the Hakomi method, I think this is one of the main things: Hakomi is the evocation of experience in mindfulness... We evoke experiences while the client is in a particular state of consciousness.”
“The state of mindfulness is a deliberate choice on the part of the client to be vulnerable and sensitive. Clients drop their defenses when they become mindful.”
“Hakomi has been called applied Buddhism. It had built into it, from the beginning, this spiritual direction.”
“Outside of therapy, there are many, many sources of spiritual nourishment. But in the present moment of a therapy process, the source I use is the client. I search for and find the non-egocentric nourishment in some aspect of the client. This is very close to the Buddhist practice of searching for the seed of Buddha in every person. Or as Swami Premananda says, ‘The purpose of life is to see God in everyone and everything.’ When he was asked how this was done, he replied, ‘In the silence.’ The idea is to drop the ‘noise of self’ and to see the other as spirit. With this as a habit, with this as a base, therapy becomes a deeply heartfelt journey shared.”
WHAT DOES HAKOMI & YOGA HAVE IN COMMON?
In an article titled “Yoga And Hakomi: Two Friends Meet” by Dyrian Benz, found under Professional Journal, Issue 5:
“The whole point of Yoga is to achieve a still, clear mind.”
“However, the basic aim of all the (yoga) practices, which is easily forgotten by the diversity of the practices, is to achieve a clear and unconditioned mind. It is in this area that the Hakomi Method of Psychotherapy and Yoga meet.”
The clear mind, “mindfulness”, “stillness”, this whole eastern concept of opening your mind and accessing your higher state of consciousness-- is at the very heart and core of Hakomi. The spiritual direction of Buddhism is built right into it. You simply cannot do Hakomi if you don’t employ mindfulness and if you don’t have the ability to be still within yourself and then to evoke mindfulness in your client. Does one see how this is a danger? To become a certified Hakomi therapist, you receive training over a three- year period. The training teaches you how to be able to achieve a still mind, enter mindfulness, assist others to enter mindfulness. Allowing Buddhist philosophy, practice, and other eastern influences to be trained into your brain cannot be innocuous. How can you have this much training in these techniques and concepts and then simply not use it? Given the entire foundation of this therapy, how can one weed out what’s good and/or bad and only learn or apply certain things one deems useful? If you study and really understand what Hakomi teaches, all these eastern principles are the basis of it. There’s not much else left to glean, from what this reader has studied.
MINDFULNESS
According to Wikipedia on-line encyclopedia:
“Right mindfulness is also known as Right Meditation.”
“Mindfulness is an activity that can be done at any time. It does not require sitting, or even focusing on the breath, but rather is done by bringing the mind to focus on what is happening in the present moment, while simply noticing the mind’s usual ‘commentary’.”
“In addition to various forms of meditation, there are mindfulness training exercises that develop awareness throughout the day using designated environmental cues. Individuals are encouraged to select cues that then become triggers for awareness of the present moment, essentially making mindfulness a habit.”
This is concerning. Awareness practices became a part of Ron Kurtz’s life. Dropping the noise of self becomes a habit. Essentially making mindfulness a habit is encouraged and taught in the program.
WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Below, please find excerpts taken directly from the on-line book, “Hakomi Method of Mindfulness Based Body Psychotherapy” by Ron Kurtz
The Use of Mindfulness (All bullets are from page 4)
• “Mindfulness is undefended consciousness. It has been defined (by Nayanaponika) as "the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us at the successive moments of perception."
• “It's a skill; it improves with practice. It is a traditional form of meditation, especially for beginners.”
• “In mindfulness, there is no intention to control what happens next. It is a deliberate relinquishing of control. That's why the first focus in traditional practice is often on the breath. To pay attention to the breath and not control it is more difficult than one might imagine, especially when we think about how little attention we ordinarily pay to breath and how well it works outside of our conscious control. Mindfulness is a way to practice surrendering. It's a deliberate vulnerability, a chosen sensitivity.”
• “In mindfulness, one attempts to calm the mind, to silence thoughts.”
• “One focuses inward on the flow of one's experience.”
• “In Hakomi, we use it in small doses (30 seconds to a minute).”
• “We use it especially in the evocation of experiences.”
(Page 9) “Productive use of elicited reactions in the service of self-discovery is the essential framework for the Hakomi Body-Centered Psychotherapy. By using mindfulness, we enhance the effects of the reactions we elicit. In doing little experiments, we are making guesses as to what will elicit significant reactions. Through mindfulness and little experiments, we are attempting to facilitate discovery for the client primarily, but for ourselves, too!”
(Page 36) “Without mindfulness, it’s possible nothing much would be evoked.” Wow!
(Page 38) “Mindfulness practice is a spiritual discipline.”
(Page 67) “...to the evocation of experience in mindfulness used in Hakomi, they are all attempts to use experiential methods to access the unconscious.”
“Mindfulness is a way of noticing the moment-to-moment flow of ones experience. With practice, one begins to realize how experiences are put together. Mindfulness is a calm state of mind, in which attention is focused on present experience, noticing it without controlling anything but the noticing. In this state, one simply follows the changing contents of the mind without the intention to control what happens. It is a kind of voluntary vulnerability. For us, the important thing is that mindfulness offers the possibility that core beliefs can be made conscious. Advanced meditators can stay in mindfulness for extended periods of time, several hours or more, and in doing so can reach states of mind where silence and peace pervade ones whole being. That level of mindfulness takes years of practice.”
(Page 81) “Another very important thing about Hakomi: the beginnings of a basic spiritual practice are built right into it. If you’re a client in Hakomi long enough, you get a lot of practice using mindfulness...That’s spiritual practice.”
(Page 124) A SAMPLE MINDFULNESS EXPERIMENT
“There are three essential parts of the set-up. The first is: (1) you have to describe the experiment clearly to the client. You have to give the client clear instructions. You say something like, “I would like to do an experiment where…blah, blah, blah. If it’s going to be a probe, you might say something like, “In this experiment, you’ll become mindful and when you’re ready, give me a signal and I’ll make a statement and we’ll notice what happens. Okay?” It helps clients relax a little when they have an idea about what the experiment is going to be like. You don’t tell them what your statement is going to be—though you could and I have. But, you give them a clear idea of what’s expected of them and what you’re going to do. After that, (2) you get permission. “Is that okay to do?” And track for whether it really seems alright to the client. Clients may say okay when they’re really not okay with it. And if you get clear, sincere permission, then (3) you ask for and wait for mindfulness. You have to track for when the client actually gets into a mindful state. You say, “Give me a nod, when you’re ready!” Then you watch for the signs and wait for the nod. The signs are: one, the client becomes very still and two, his or her eyelids flutter up and down over closed eyes. This movement of the eyelids is almost always an accurate sign that the client is in mindfulness. I use it all the time.”
(Page 23) ANOTHER THING ABOUT EXPERIMENTS IN MINDFULNESS
“Another special thing that happens when you do experiments is many people experience a state of consciousness that we can call a ‘child state.’ When the client goes into that state, you can hear a change in the voice, the voice sounds younger the client’s use of words and sentence structure is more childlike. The client’s face also looks younger. These are emotional memories that were created when the client was a child. Somehow, as they arise and flood the system, they bring with them a sense of the child who had the original experiences. When the child appears, you want to contact it. Name the transition. (‘It looks like you feel younger.’). This childlike state is a very fruitful state to work with. The client is, in a sense, innocent and open, ready to be helped by an adult. I like to engage a client’s adult self in the process of working with her child. I want the adult to help me understand what’s going on with the child. I want to help the client’s adult self engage with her child in a nourishing way, more nourishing than the child experienced in her formative relationships.”
Well, this gives a pretty good idea about mindfulness and how it works. According to the Bynum Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, mindfulness is within the early stages of hypnosis:
The Bynum Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility
Levels of Hypnoidal Trance
1 No Objective Change
2 Relaxation
3 Fluttering of Eyelids
TWO GENERAL SKILLS (Page 85)
“There are two major divisions of skills: one is the gathering of information within each session...The second set is composed of all those skills necessary for managing the process which includes loving presence and building a healing relationship.”
WHAT IS LOVING PRESENCE? (Page 6)
“Loving presence is a state of being...Loving presence is emotional support and it is an important part of relating to others.”
“Loving presence is first of all about being in the present, showing up. It’s about being focused on what is happening in the moment on both your own experience and the experiences of the one you’re with. It is an opening and an exchange. It is not grounded in ideas or even words. It is an emotional connection made between the nervous system of two people that asks us to surrender.”
HOW THE (LOVING PRESENCE) PROCESS UNFOLDS (Page 18)
“Let’s talk about how the process unfolds over time.”
“Whatever the client is doing, you give that some of your attention. But not all. You’ve got four other things to pay attention to. So, while you’re giving some attention to the conversation and the client’s present experience, you’re also bringing yourself into a calm, compassionate, loving state.”
“It is a deliberate act of making this search a priority. In Buddhism, it’s the recognition of our mutual connectedness, our interdependence that evokes compassion.”
(Page 44) “A basic part of this method is learning and using this spiritually informed attitude. We call it, loving presence. There are training exercises and talks about it. We practice it every day of the trainings. There are definite skills that have to be learned. Certain habits of thinking and doing can get in the way. So, we study ourselves. That’s our spiritual work.” (Doesn’t God put an attitude of loving presence into our hearts through our connection with Him? Is it a set of skills hat need to be learned, practiced, and trained into us?)
AN ODD STATEMENT & DELIBERATE PROCESS (Page 96)
“Conversation is a game with rules, which act like a trance. The habits we need to develop in order to do body-centered psychotherapy are, in many ways, in conflict with the conversational ones. For example:
In ordinary conversation:
(1) We’re not necessarily trying to bring the other person into awareness of his or her present experience.
(2) We’re also not trying to deepen into emotions, memories, and core beliefs”... (etc, etc.)
“What we try to do as psychotherapists is:
(1) Pay as much or more attention to nonverbal aspects of the other’s behavior as we do to the conversational ones.
(2) Look carefully at facial expression, gestures and body postures, trying to get some ideas about what kind of core material is ‘running’ this person.
(3) Redirect the other’s attention to things going on in the present and outside of the flow of the conversation...
(4) Selectively allow quiet spaces in the conversation. We want the other to know he or she has plenty of time to slow down and to think and feel.
(5) Make contact statements, in order to summarize or acknowledge or redirect.
(6) Be extremely sympathetic, but not necessarily polite.
(7) Look at and listen to the whole person; we’re not focused only on the content of the conversation. Follow the storyteller, not just the story.
So....we have to learn new habits of interaction. For that, we need to become conscious of our old habits and deliberately practice new ones. That’s what the first part of this training session is all about.”
This explains why Hakomi is concerning on a personal and general communication level. These techniques can be used with anyone, anywhere. They are psychotherapy techniques. They are rooted in foundations that draw from hypnosis, NLP, and eastern philosophy and practice. The more you practice, the better you get at it. You don’t need to be in a therapy session to practice these communication techniques; although once you go through this training you learn how to effectively use them with groups. When one is adept at them, it automatically puts a person who is not – at a disadvantage in the conversation. If M. and B. have mastered these skills, which of course they have or else they wouldn’t be certified, then it would appear they could easily use them anywhere, or anytime, whether a formal therapy session is going on, or not. Hypnosis and NLP skills in general are dangerous, especially to those who do not know or recognize them.
EGW Quotes To Ponder:
“While it is believed that one human mind so wonderfully affects another, Satan, who is ready to press every advantage, insinuates himself and works on the right hand and on the left. And while those who are devoted to these sciences laud them to the heavens because of the great and good works which they affirm are wrought by them, they little know what a power for evil they are cherishing; but it is a power which will yet work with all signs and lying wonders--with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. Mark the influence of these sciences, dear reader, for the conflict between Christ and Satan is not yet ended....” {2MCP 711.3}
“In dealing with the science of mind cure, you have been eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God has forbidden you to touch. It is now high time for you to begin to look to Jesus, and by beholding His character become changed into the divine likeness. Cut away from yourselves everything that savors of hypnotism, the science by which satanic agencies work.”--Letter 20, 1902 (2SM, p. 350).
“To advocate the science of mind cure is opening a door through which Satan will enter to take possession of mind and heart. Satan controls both the mind that is given up to be controlled by another and the mind that controls. May God help us to understand the true science of building on Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer.”--Lt 130, 1901. (HC 109.)
Who Can Benefit from Hakomi Therapist Trainings?
(See Workshop/Trainings, Therapist Training, then go about ¾ of the way down the page)
• Many experience the Hakomi Training as the next step in their professional and personal development.
• Practicing therapists, social workers and health care professionals find a new range of skills and strategies, which increase both effectiveness and depth in working with clients.
• Bodyworkers find that Hakomi principles and skills can be powerfully integrated into their practice.
• Students with basic counseling skills and a strong background in psychotherapy find this thorough and in-depth program, offering both study of theory and training in the method.
• Counselors at all levels find their effectiveness and rapport with their clients or students enhanced.
Hakomi is not just for therapy sessions. It offers much more.
CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY STUDY
(Author’s comments are italicized)
1. Where did it begin? How did it evolve?
William Sutherland’s Discovery
William G. Sutherland, DO (1873-1954) originated cranial therapy. In 1901 he discovered that the bones of the skull have inherent motion. Over the next fifty years he learned to perceive the motion of the cranial bones and fluids and their effect on the body as a whole. Sutherland later discovered that the movement of the bones and the constant rhythm-pulse of the CranioSacral System can relate not only to physical health but to mental and emotional health...... In his last years he found that cranial manipulations finally led to the deep sacred. Awed, he called his discovery The Breath of Life. William Sutherland studied under A.T. Still, DO.
“Towards the end of his life Sutherland began to sense a "power" which generated corrections from inside his clients' bodies without the influence of external forces applied by him as the therapist. Similar to Qi and Prana, this contact with the Breath of Life changed his entire treatment focus to one of spiritual reverence and subtle touch. [13] This spiritual approach to the work has come to be known as both "biodynamic" craniosacral therapy and "biodynamic" osteopathy...”
“Dr Sutherland believed that the potency of the Breath of Life carries a basic Intelligence (which he spelled with a capital "I"), and realized that this intrinsic force could be employed by the practitioner for promoting health. A similar concept is found in many traditional systems of medicine, where the main focus for healing is also placed on encouraging a balanced distribution of the body’s vital force.”
(Is this “Breath of Life” and “basic Intelligence” he discovered the same that God breathed into man in Genesis 2:7? Did the Breath of Life God breathed have some kind of innate power that could be activated and employed by a practitioner for promoting health, or is this a pantheistic view?)
Upledger’s CranioSacral Therapy
“In the 1970’s, John Upledger, DO, OMM, a fellow Osteopath, happened upon the evidence of a CranioSacral System surrounding the Central Nervous System in a routine surgery, and from there headed up a special research team at Michigan State University which experimentally proved the CranioSacral Systems therapeutic benefit to general health.”......... “In 1995, Upledger observed, ‘The CranioSacral System is a core system in the human body. In my view it is the place where body, mind, and spirit reside independently and communally at the same time.’”
2. What is CranioSacral Therapy?
“Cranio-Sacral Therapy, or CST, is a gentle, hands-on manipulation of a physiological body system called the cranio-sacral system. This system is comprised of the soft tissue and bones of the cranium (or head), the spine and the pelvis. Massage therapists that perform cranio-sacral therapy also target the membranes and cerebrospinal fluids that surround and cushion the brain and spinal cord from injury during a therapy session. Their touch is equivalent to the weight of a nickel. The theory behind cranio-sacral therapy is that when blockages occur in spinal fluid, an unharmonious balance in the body can occur, resulting in muscle and joint strain, emotional disturbances and the improper operation of the body’s organs and central nervous system. Practitioners believe that until the spinal fluid is naturally allowed to move freely around the body, the central nervous system and the bodies other major organs and muscles will be put off balance and put at risk of sickness and injury.”
(How it actually works can be difficult to ascertain. Here is why): “Because, as part of Dr Upledger’s vision, he chose to teach these therapeutic techniques widely to people of all backgrounds, he chose not to label the greater forces at work in this process, but rather to let people draw their own conclusions as to the involvement of more numinous causes in the movement of CSF. He does not believe, however, that understanding the mechanics of the fluid flow and doing research that supports this, rules out the presence of God or Spirit or Chi/Qi, or a Breath of Life as a deeper cause.
Upledger CranioSacral Therapy involves a great many subtle structural techniques, but also, when indicated, Therapeutic Imagery and Dialogue. It is one of Dr. Upledger’s major contributions to the field of cranial therapies that he developed a process called SomatoEmotional Release® whereby the patient and therapist can engage together directly with the inner wisdom of the patient and access knowledge about the patient’s situation that may not be conscious to the patient. Thus many hidden dynamics and causes may be explored and resolved, thereby facilitating the healing of many challenging and mysterious problems.”
(These two techniques, Therapeutic Imagery & Dialogue and SomatoEmotional Release, are very important to study and to understand. They will be explored more below.)
3. Is there Historical Acceptance?
The Historical Acceptance of Cranial Motion.
“Although most Western countries did not recognize cranial motion, this possibility was not new to other cultures. There are various Oriental systems of medicine such as acupuncture and Ayurveda, which have long appreciated the subtle movements, which occur throughout the body, caused by the flow of vital force or life-energy. This has also been traditionally taught in Russian physiology. Interestingly, anatomists in Italy in the early 1900s were already teaching that adult cranial sutures do not fully fuse, but continue to permit small degrees of motion throughout life.”
“Cranial manipulation has been practiced in India for centuries, and was also developed by the ancient Egyptians and members of the Paracus culture in Peru (2000 BC to 200 AD). Furthermore, in the 18th century, the philosopher and scientist Emmanuel Swedenborg described a rhythmic motion of the brain, stating that it moves with regular cycles of expansion and contraction.”
(As a side note, Emmanuel Swedenborg was a Theosophist and known for his occultist writings. )
(CST is a form of “energetic medicine”, you find this all over the Internet. Energetic medicine is an age-old craft tracing its roots to Shamanism, Chinese, Indian (Ayurvedic) and other eastern healing methods, as mentioned below.)
4. How is CranioSacral Therapy best explained?
From the foreword in his book: “CranioSacral Therapy” by John E. Upledger DO, which would have been endorsed by Upledger himself:
a. Page xi of the Foreword, third paragraph:
“From the practice of palpation in craniosacral therapy there is emerging an “energy therapy,” for want of a better name, the rationale for which cannot be developed or elucidated by reference to anatomic and neurophysiologic texts. In studying the references in this book to the “V-spread” technique, I am especially struck by the many parallels between the sensings and manipulations in Upledger’s “direction of energy” and the sensings and manipulations of “body electricity” in yogic theory and practice, both in yogic intervention and in yogic self-regulation. It is not surprising, therefore, that this “direction of energy” technique and some of the visualization methods for self-regulation should find common ground. At present, these therapeutic modalities have a number of physiologic correlates that remain without satisfactory explanation if we do not hypothesize the existence of a kind of “body electricity” that can be “transferred” from therapist to patient (in the “V-spread” technique) or can be self manipulated by a patient trained in visualization therapy, one of the self-regulation methods of psychophysiologic therapy.”
(This statement says that the author of the foreword to Upledger’s training book was “especially struck” by the many parallels between Upledger’s techniques and those found in Yogic theory and practice. It clearly identifies that “self regulation” (hypnosis) is part of how this all works. It says that a kind of “body electricity” is being transferred from therapist to patient. As an FYI, Ellen White warns to stay away from anyone attributing his or her healing power to electricity. - Signs of the Times, March 24, 1887)
b. On page xii of the forward, at about the 4th paragraph.
“But the “V-spread” technique does work with babies and dogs. It is clearly intervention. Self-regulation may handle the same energy in a different way, but in both cases we find it useful to hypothesize the existence of a non-neurological and non-classical “body electricity” to account for results”. (This is an interesting point since very young babies have not yet learned language. The process that is facilitating their healing is not relying on language. It is energetic in its aspect & non-neurologic, as stated above.)
c. On the next page, xiii, in the first paragraph:
“The theory that best accounts for Upledger’s facts is, in my estimation, this theory from classic yoga. It is consistent with the data of modern visualization therapy and self-regulation, hypnosis, healing by therapeutic touch (the laying on of hands), t’ai chi (the “energy” dance of China), the martial arts (kung fu, karate, Judo, akido), acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, Philippine psychic surgery (in certain cases), traditional East Indian medicine (Ayurvedic medicine) and traditional American Indian medicine. In addition, the theoretical “body electricity” has characteristics similar to those of the “vital physical body” of Aurobindo (which the “dense physical body” is said to servily obey), and is similar to the “auric body” of psychics, reported much these days in “out of body” and “near death” experiences.” (These things do not reference God in any way has having a part in the origin of CST.)
d. On the last page of the foreword, xiv, third paragraph:
“But to this observer and experiencer, and seeker after rationales, Upledger and other therapists who are working in the many-leveled domain of mind-body are finding refreshing facts that support the idea of unity in medicine and yoga, body and mind, conscious and unconscious.”
5. How does the mind-body connection work in CST?
Michael Braunstein, a certified hypnotherapist and instructor at the UCLA Extension University for 11 years says the following in his article titled “Cranio-sacral therapy – Catch a wave!”:
"The scope of application expands through the use of the somato-emotional mind/body connection," Siracusano continued. "The process used by the practitioner is a very light touching with the hands to the skull, only about 5 to 10 grams' pressure."
But this touch actually contacts the central nervous system because of a fact of anatomy. "The skin tissue develops from the same embryonic cells as the central nervous system(CNS.) Therefore the therapist is in communication directly with the CNS and there [can be] a kind of 'touch-induced therapeutic trance.'"
This means a lot of things. For one, the therapist is in direct communication with the client on a deeper level.
"Some therapists can intuitively pick up on any sort of feedback from the client and hone in on different systems of the body [that may have a problem]," he said.
There's something else, too. The mind/body connection often results in somato-emotional release. Emotional memory can be triggered and that can become part of the release therapy as well. "This is called 'unwinding'," Siracusano explained.”
6. What is SomatoEmotional Release?
SomatoEmotional Release is a therapeutic process that helps rid the mind and body of residual effects of past trauma and associated negative responses. Dr. John Upledger and biophysicist Dr. Zvi Karni discovered the body often retains physical forces as the result of accident, injury, or emotional trauma. Following trauma, the body isolates the “energy cyst.” Students in SomatoEmotional Release learn how to help the client physically identify and expel the energy cyst through reexperiencing and resolving unpleasant incidents.
The body stores emotional energy such as sadness, fear, anger, in physical ways. When it becomes trapped or blocked in the body, disease results. Through C-S manipulation and supportive contact with the client, the practitioner can facilitate the release of that blocked emotional energy and dramatic results are possible.”
“Tissue memory is one of the important concepts in somato-emotional release. Muscle tissues and cells can store memories that are related to our traumatic experiences. When a particular muscle group is injured during an accident, a memory of that experience is formed in the affected tissue. This usually means that a small, unconscious contraction has formed in the muscle as a protective reminder of the painful experience. If the tissue memory is not appropriately released then the contraction will remain in the muscle as the injury heals, leading to future pain.”
“The therapist uses the cranio-sacral technique to engage the muscle contraction in order to evoke the memory associated with the initial trauma. Then the patient can become aware of the memory and deal with it appropriately. Once the release has occurred, the unconscious contraction of the muscle will disappear and the muscle pain will begin to heal.”
(Is this a proven physiological fact? Do tissues and cells store memories? Does the body store emotional energy in the form of small, unconscious contractions in the muscles, which will remain until a CST practitioner releases them? Is this something medical science accepts?
On the back cover of Dr. Upledger’s book “Cell Talk”, Jon J. Kabara, Ph.D. and Don Ash, P.T., CST-D state the following: “Dr. Upledger has proposed a new paradigm for understanding the link between our minds and bodies. That connecting link is actual communication between the intellect and body organs, cells, and molecules.” “Can we blend trust, and listen to the inner wisdom of our body cells and learn how to better care for our ‘celves’? Yes, we can.” This is basically saying that your cells, body organs, and molecules have a consciousness that a CST practitioner can communicate with. This is a pantheistic idea. The idea that God is within you -- that there is an inner wisdom, inner physician, or innate intelligence residing within -- are all forms of pantheism.
7. What is Pantheism?
In an article titled “The New Age Movement & SDAs”, prepared by the Biblical Research Institute General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, July 1987 you find the following statement:
“Pantheism once knocked on the Adventist door through the teachings and influence of Dr. J.H. Kellogg, superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, as well as others. We believe it is knocking again today in more insidious ways. Whereas Kellogg emphasized that “God” was in everything (flower, tree) and in people (cf, the title of his book, The Living Temple), the modern emphasis is on a universal ‘consciousness’ (cf, Hindu, ‘world soul’; Christian Science, ‘divine mind’) or ‘energy’ as the true reality that undergirds all nature and which may be manipulated. There is a subjective emphasis on activating a person’s ‘higher powers’ as the source for insight and healing rather than looking to an external, transcendent God and to objective guidelines that exist outside oneself.”
Deepak Chopra, M.D., a well-known physician from India who has authored more than 30 books, been on T.V. and radio programs, and a person who is a leader in the Transcendental Meditation movement, who lectures around the world -- is known for his paradigm called Quantum Healing and his philosophy of wellness that integrates the ancient wisdom of Ayuvedic Medicine with Western Medicine. He states in his “10 Keys to Happiness” under Key #8:
“the health of every cell directly contributes to your state of well-being, because every cell is a point of awareness within the field of awareness that is you.”
When Upledger’s paradigm teaches that “we can listen to the inner wisdom of our body cells”, and “tissue has memory”, and Deepak Chopra says “every cell is a point of awareness within the field of awareness that is you”, they are both talking about the consciousness of the cells. In the Table of Contents to Upledger’s book “Cell Talk”, you find that Chapter 1 covers “Consciousness”. The subtitles within this chapter are “Altered States, Consciousness: Molecular to Cosmic, The Energy of Consciousness, Dolphins and Consciousness, Psychics and Consciousness, etc.” These things are directly in-line with pantheism.
Deepak Chopra is a pantheist. He believes that we are connected with everything in the universe; that the universe is intelligent and the human body is part of the cosmic body; that our body is a source of information and energy.”
What other things are fundamental parts of Upledger’s CST?
8. What is “Intention”, a fundamental element of Upledger’s CST? See what John Upledger says below:
“The longer I practice as a therapeutic facilitator, the more I realize the power of intention. To this day, the kind of intention I use most often in my work is the simple intention to support whatever the client's "inner wisdom" wants to do at any given moment.
My first intention in a session, therefore, is to let the client know that whatever he or she wants to do is OK with me. I transmit this message non-verbally through my initial touch. On the outside we may be talking about many different things. Small talk is a wonderful distraction; it helps the body get past the mind's defenses. Yet while our voices may be saying one thing, our touch may be communicating something entirely different.
As the integration between conscious and subconscious awareness within the client progresses, I may very gently and with great sensitivity begin to verbalize what our touch has been communicating since the session began. Here's what that means in practical terms:
When I first put my hands on a client, I silently say, "If you want to do CranioSacral Therapy, that's what we'll do. Show me where to begin.
"If you have a pressing issue with an energy cyst, that's okay. We'll do that. Show me where you would like me to be.
"If SomatoEmotional Release is what you want to do, just start and I'll be with you. Go ahead and image all you want; please share those images with me. Perhaps I can help you understand what they are trying to tell you.
"We'll dialogue anytime you want to. Just let me know when you're ready. Whatever you think is the best way to come to resolution of this problem is OK with me. Let's do it."
It's wonderful to see how the client's body begins to respond to this offering of help. I don't have to say a word until his or her body tells me to start talking.”
(Intention is not a new concept. In fact, it was used in 1899 by magnetic healers. Magnetic healers used elements of and/or outright hypnotism in their healing. Here are some excerpts from the book “Early American Manual Therapy, The Practical Magnetic Healer by G.M. Brown, 1899” , click the “Practical Magnetic Healer link”, then go into the Introduction. See also: “Different Diseases”.
“In giving a description of the different manipulations, the author makes no claims as to their specific value as a therapeutic, but simply states that they were used as a means of transit, conveying the suggestion to the forces within the patient, which it is claimed, brings the patient back to health.”
“A word about “INTENTION.” Intention is always the first thing that is done in the direction of your patient. You must first intend before you will ever do anything....Webster says: “Intention” is a design, purpose, the fixed direction of the mind to a particular object, or a determination to act in a particular manner. It is my intention to cure my patient. You should also try to inspire your patient with an intention on his part to get well. You will soon observe a change in the condition of your patient, which of course you must point out to him when he will recognize the improvements and he is then convalescing.”
“All suggestions are applied for the purpose of bringing into action the necessary forces in each and every organ of the body where an abnormal condition exists. Any inharmonious condition or inactivity of any organ creates a disturbance, and directly or indirectly influences the functions of some or all of the other organs in a greater or less degree.”
“Spoken words are verbal suggestions. A thought of health for your patient, formulated in the mind and directed to the patient’s mind is a mental suggestion, or a transference of thought to your patient. In cultivating and developing the capacity to hold at will long or short periods of mental abstraction to accumulate thought force, you are ever building and increasing in power and volume the unseen element, which is being sent out from your mind and directed to your patient’s or any other person’s mind far or near, and thereby effect results favorable to the concentrated intention directed. This same power can be directed to one’s self with the same force and effect corresponding with your intention.”
All suggestions, whether they be conveyed by thoughts, words or deeds, in order to obtain the best results, the patient should be gotten into a passive attitude, or a receptive condition of mind, such being the requirements that the suggestion may be effective and permanent, and the results will be in strict accord with the primary thought, thus establishing the fact that the operator and patient were in direct communication, and in perfect rapport.
Suggestion, as defined in the magnetic treatment, is based firmly upon intention. Whatever is done must be preceded by an intention. Place your hot hands upon the body in the region of the afflicted part, exercising a steady intention to relieve him of his suffering. (This sounds like Upledger’s “Compassionate Touch”, which is simple “direction of energy techniques” that even children can employ. For example, placing your hands on someone’s knee or ankle and exercising intention can heal their injury.)
(While this is not CranioSacral therapy, does one see the similarities? The use of intention, the idea that the forces within the patient will bring them back to health, and the idea of establishing rapport between the patient and the practitioner. The concept that suggestions, whether conveyed by “thoughts”, “words, or deeds” are mental suggestions that are transferred to your patient is what hypnotism and neurolinguistic programming teaches. Ellen White warned to stay away from “magnetic healers”. This is a forbidden healing art. Is it clear that their method for healing is very similar to how CST works? Is CST really God’s healing that has been stolen by Satan and then reclaimed by Christians, or is it an age-old practice that has just been repackaged with a few new twists to make it appear new and different?)
9. Is Hypnosis Involved?
John Upledger says in his book “CranioSacral Therapy: Touchstone to Natural Healing” on page 106:
“When you are inducing still points in a friend or loved one, they get very relaxed. They get into an alpha state. This is the ideal time to very respectfully invite the Inner Physician to come forward and get acquainted.” (Upledger’s emphasis supplied)
“The “alpha state” is the brain wave state where your conscious mind is less dominant and the subconscious mind is coming to the forefront. Alpha state is where your brain waves would register as when you go into a light trance (light hypnotic state). The subconscious mind does not register the difference between imaginary reality and physical reality.”
This adds further support o the fact that some level of hypnosis is in effect during CranioSacral Therapy, which was indicated in the foreword to Upledger’s book “Craniosacral Therapy” on page xiii, as stated earlier in this document.
“Cut away from yourselves everything that savors of hypnotism, the science by which satanic agencies work.” 2SM 350
10. What is the non-verbal dialogue and imagery that Upledger’s program teaches & its practitioners utilize?
The article by Stan Gerome, an instructor at the Upledger Institute, titled: Dialogue, Imagery, CranioSacral Therapy, and Synchronicity explains:
“Synchronicity — experiential coincidences with meaning — abound in the use of Imagery, Dialogue and CranioSacral Therapy...Carl Jung, eminent 20th century psychiatrist, and Wolfgang Pauli, Nobel prize winner in physics (1945), were two men who realized the importance of this concept... Together Jung and Pauli recognized synchronicity as being a level of reality where matter and mind are undifferentiated.”
“What is happening when we employ Imagery, Dialogue and CranioSacral Therapy?
We seem to be entering a level of consciousness where physical and psychic reality meet... Jung called this transformative experience a “synchronicity,” a change in the psyche that produces a change in physical reality... It appears that the flow of image is a way for nonconscious information to emerge into consciousness. An open dialogue with these images (finding out what they need and what they want to bring to us) can induce incredible change — a psychophysical restructuring.”
“What practical purpose does all this have?
Imagine a client, John, goes to a CranioSacral Therapist for treatment of back pain. Using the arcing technique, a way of finding active lesions in the body, the therapist finds a spot at T-6. He asks if an image wants to come forward from that spot. John says, “Yes, I see a stone.” Does this stone have a color? “Yes, it’s black.” Does this black stone have a shape? “Um, it looks pretty round.” How big does this black, round stone look? “It looks to be about an inch in diameter.” Does this black, round one-inch stone have a name? There’s a quieting in the session and John softly says, “Grief.” The image has now been “personified.” It has shown us its size, shape, texture, and even given its name. The image now has all the elements that something in material existence has, even a life of its own.
The therapist then asks permission to speak to Grief directly. Grief says, “Yes, that would be OK” Grief, how long have you been in John’s body? “A long, long, time.” How did you get in there? “John put me here.” Does John know he put you there? “I don’t think so, but I tried telling him.” How did you try telling him? “By making him uncomfortable at first, then turning into pain.” John knows you’re there now. Grief, do you have a reason for being there that you would be willing to share with us? “Yes, I’ve protected him for a long time from events in his life that he couldn’t acknowledge at the time.” How does it feel to have John acknowledge you now? “It feels good.” What would you like to happen next? “I’d like to be free.” What would you need in order to be free? “I need for John to feel me as grief.”
Turning the dialogue back to John we ask him if it’s O.K. to feel grief. John says yes. As he gives permission, he begins to see a series of unpleasant events that caused him a great deal of emotional pain in his past. With these memories come a corresponding softening of tissues at T-6, as well as sighs and tears.
This softening of tissues is the dissolving of an energy cyst, a place where energy is stuck in the body.4 As the tissue relaxes, John’s back pain also releases. The result is very synchronistic. Through the acknowledgment of his grief John has allowed a change in the energy of his psyche, which also altered his physicality.
We then ask Grief if there is anything else he needs right now. Grief says no. Asking John if he needs anything, John says, “I’m grateful for the information Grief showed me.” They thank each other and the session closes.”
(Stan Gerome, above, credits Carl Jung with the concept of “synchronicity”. Carl Jung founded analytic psychology and worked with the conscious and unconscious of a person. He is quoted as saying: “For years, ever since it was published, the...Tibetan Book of the Dead has been my constant companion, and I owe to it not only many stimulating ideas and discoveries, but also many fundamental insights.” In Cranio Sacral Therapy, the author [and Upledger Instructor] stated above believes the concept of “sychronicity” is at work during CST.)”
(In this scenario, Stan Gerome is providing a hypothetical example of how imagery and dialogue works in CranioSacral therapy. The CST is non-verbally asking the body/inner wisdom/inner physician questions and is receiving answers. Does God speak through our bodies this way? I personally called the Upledger Institute and spoke with one of their CST practitioners. I asked her about therapeutic imagery and dialogue. She stated to me that: “at the beginning levels of CST, you are taught how to “listen” to the body through your hands. As you become more advanced, you get better at the verbal and non-verbal dialogue with the body. By the time you’ve done it for a number of years, you are VERY skilled at therapeutic imagery and dialogue.” This is non-verbal dialogue. Who or what are they really communicating with? From where are the mental images coming from? The body’s inner wisdom/inner physician? These elements of imagery and dialogue are a foundational part of how CST works.)
11. What does Upledger teach about Therapeutic Imagery and Dialogue and SomatoEmotional Release?
If you go to Upledger’s course descriptions and look up CranioSacral Therapy / SomatoEmotional Release – Therapeutic Imagery & Dialogue, you find that “the technique of Therapeutic Imagery and Dialogue uses the cranial rhythm and soft touch of CST and interweaves concepts of Jung, Perls, and Assagioli.”
When you go to CranioSacral Therapy / SomatoEmotional Release you find that “SomatoEmotional Release is a therapeutic process that expands on the principles of CST to help rid the mind and body of the residual effects of trauma. Joint research efforts by Dr. John Upledger and biophysicist Dr. Zvi Karni led to the discovery that the body often retains...physical forces...the dysfunctional area is isolated, creating what is called an ‘energy cyst’.”
When you look up the course SomatoEmotional Release II, it bullet points one of the course highlights as: “Explore the integration of psychosynthesis, Gestalt and Jungian psychologies within the SER process.”
(Therapeutic Imagery & Dialogue is a fundamental element of the SER process, as well as basic CranioSacral Therapy. You simply cannot do craniosacral therapy without imagery and dialogue. Verbal and non-verbal dialogue and therapeutic imagery strategies are found in many of Upledger’s classes, including the first level training for CST and the other’s mentioned below:
o CranioSacral Therapy Level I
o CranioSacral Therapy Level II
o CranioSacral Therapy for Pediatrics
o Clinical Application of Advanced CranioSacral Therapy for Pediatrics
o SomatoEmotional Release Level I
o SomatoEmotional Release Level II
o The Brain Speaks
SomatoEmotional Release integrates Assagioli (psychosynthesis), Perls (Gestalt), and Jung’s (Synchronicity) psychologies into its process.
12. Who are the people behind these psychologies that are integrated within the SER process?
A. Carl Jung was a known theosophist and spiritualist who kept the Tibetan Book of the Dead as his constant companion, as mentioned previously in this document.
B. Fritz Perls coined the term “Gestalt Therapy”. He was a doctor who gravitated to psychiatry and the work of Freud and the early Wilhelm Reich.
--Perls is considered one of the Neurolinguistic Programming Predecessors.
--“Gestalt has been one of the fields which has donated the most techniques to modern hypnotherapy”
--“In its own way, Gestalt Therapy as practiced by Fritz Perls and those who carried on his work employs a form of hypnosis on its patients.”
C. Roberto Assagioli was also a student of Freud. Assagioli was a theosophist and is known in the book “Discipleship in the New Age, by Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul” by the initials F.C.D. standing for “Freedom from Ties, Chelaship, and Detachment.”
--Assagioli laid the groundwork for “psychosynthesis”. Psychosynthesis....as a transpersonal theory, stresses the need of communion with “Higher” or “Transpersonal Self”...
(So you have three people who were known theosophists and/or spiritualists [Jung & Assagioli], and one whose therapies are recognized as having donated “the most techniques to modern hypnotherapy” and who is considered a predecessor to Neurolinguistic Programming [Perls]. These are the people whose concepts are integrated in Upledger’s SomatoEmotional Release.)
13. What is Theosophy?
Theosophy is a System of philosophy and religious thought. Theosophy is based on claims of a mystic insight... Madame Elena Petrona Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society in the United States in 1875. Hindu and Buddhist thoughts and doctrines have become prominent in Theosophy, with characteristic belief in reincarnation in accordance with the Hindu doctrine of Karma.
The Wikipedia on-line encyclopedia says that much of Theosophical thought springs from esoteric Buddhism.
--“The word (theosophy) was revived in the nineteenth century by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky to designate her religious philosophy which holds that all religions are attempts by humanity to approach the absolute, and that each religion therefore has a portion of the truth.”
-- “Theosophists hold that everything, living or not, is put together from basic building blocks evolving towards consciousness.”
Ellen White plainly called Theosophy “Spiritualism” and warned us not to have the least connection with it.
14. The Concept of the Innate / Innate Intelligence / Inner Physician / Inner Wisdom / Natural Bodily Intelligence / Sutherland’s basic Intelligence
Similar to “Intention”, this concept is not new. As shown earlier in this document, CST accepts the concept of an Innate intelligence within the body. In an article titled: “CranioSacral Therapy” by Rosemary Boon, with Learning Discoveries Psychological Services,
she states this clearly:
“Craniosacral Therapy is a subtle and profound healing form, which aids the natural bodily intelligence (both the central and the autonomic nervous systems)...” “For more information on cerebrospinal fluid and its role in the body, please see the article “The Relationship Between Vital Energy and the Human Brain and Nervous System”.
“CranioSacral facilitators recognize health as an active principle, and that it is a natural expression of Life – an innate ordering force.” (Rosemary’s emphasis supplied)
“The rhythmic cerebrospinal fluid movement is generated in the central axis of the body, to which all the other bones and the organ systems relate. This motion, therefore, is transferred to and taken up by the more peripheral bones of the body, the connective tissue and all the organs. Hence, the motion becomes a whole body motion.” (As a side note, this concept does not seem medically sound. How can the fluid motion that circulates only in the cerebrospinal space, which is basically the spinal column and brain – be transferred to and taken up by the ankle, foot, organs, and tissues in all other parts of the body? The author is saying the motion of the fluid is taken up elsewhere in the body.)
The acknowledgement of the “Innate” originated from the founders of Chiropractic, D.D. Palmer and his son, B.J. Palmer. They were well known spiritualists, worked as mesmerists, and shared a metaphysical bent. Chiropractic is another subject. At present, we are only looking at the founders of it, their beliefs, and where they got the idea of Innate Intelligence. Note that D.D. Palmer, founder of Chiropractic had a famous debate with A.T. Still, founder of Osteopathy, who is the man William G. Sutherland studied under. This debate occurred at a spiritualist’s campmeeting in Iowa, which they both were attending. The web link to this debate is as follows: A.T. Still accused D.D. Palmer of stealing his work and labeling it ‘chiropractic’.” It is interesting to find A.T. Still associated with spiritualism and that the he felt Palmer took his work and labeled it chiropractic.
D.D. Palmer, B.J. Palmer, and “Innate Intelligence”
Who were the Palmer’s? (B.J. Palmer was the son of D.D. Palmer.)
“Chiropractic was founded in 1895 by Daniel David Palmer, a grocer with an intense interest in metaphysics. Prior to his “discovery” of chiropractic, D.D. Palmer was a magnetic healer. He also had interests in phrenology (diagnosing disease based on the bumps of the skull) and spiritualism.” “D.D. Palmer’s son, B.J. Palmer, became involved in the chiropractic movement early on, during the formative years. B.J shared his father’s metaphysical bent (prior to chiropractic, he worked with a mesmerist and worked in the circus)...”
“Daniel David Palmer (1845-1914) originated the philosophy of chiropractic (Peterson & Weise, 1995). The philosophy was an attempt to explain the healing associated with the chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractic started when Palmer adjusted the vertebra of Harvey Lillard in 1895, which restored Lillard’s hearing. Palmer had been a magnetic healer prior to (delivering) this adjustment. Magnetic healing grew out of the teachings of Mesmer (1734-1825). Mesmer’s system of magnetic healing was a precursor to mental healing and hypnosis (Fuller, 1989). Palmer was also well read in the Spiritualist tradition (Beck, 1991). Spiritualism focused on contact with the after-life through séance and other means. It was very popular in America in the 1890s (Taylor, 1999). Palmer’s creation of the philosophy of chiropractic stems from these roots.”
“Palmer (1910) proposed that there is a universal intelligence in all things, which actively gives matter its organization. A subset of this was innate intelligence, which was the organizing principle in living organisms. Palmer sometimes interchanged these terms with god and soul respectively.” “Fuller points out that the roots of these ideas can be found in Transcendentalism as well as Mesmerism. Miller (2000) would agree. She proposes that the Palmers’ philosophy is largely derived from Emerson. In the teachings of Emerson and the Transcendentalists in general, spiritual transformation is found through the contemplation of God in nature (Taylor, 1999). This doctrine is similar to the Palmers’ overall philosophy. In Mesmer however, we can see a more direct link to the Palmers’ philosophy of healing.”
(The concept of Innate Intelligence is found in many places, most notably in the foundations of the chiropractic world. Many chiropractors “muscle test” their patients and believe subluxations in the spine cause a wide variety of health problems. These concepts are based on Palmer’s Innate Intelligence and vitalism, which is similar to “chi” and “prana”. When muscle testing & identifying subluxations they are working with the Innate to resolve health problems. There is evidence that Chiropractic manipulations can be beneficial in relieving back pain, but in light of this study, caution would be advised if one were to seek Chiropractic for resolving other health problems.)
“Primarily known as the developer of the science of Chiropractic, Bartlett Joshua (B.J.) Palmer, D.C. Ph.C., was an example of how one individual can reach outstanding personal and professional achievements throughout a lifetime. His early work and original research in the field of Chiropractic is the foundation upon the present day teachings of the science.” “B.J. Palmer was an example of a self-taught genius who understood and made strong use of the divine power that is within each of us--Innate Intelligence.”
B.J. Palmer explained the “Innate Intelligence” as follows:
“You must wait patiently while the Innate is assimilating the elements of your problem, and then goes about its own way and time to work your problems out for you. You must receive the message from Innate freely and, after understanding it you must act on it at once. Only by doing so will you make Innate serve you and continue to respond when you call upon it. You must have positive knowledge in the power and wisdom of the Innate, and obediently perform seemingly irrelevant thing. Remember that Innate, in addition to being the seat of knowledge and power, is a repository of inexhaustible resources.”
“WISDOM seeker knows that Innate knows CORRECT answers to ALL human questions; that Innate long ago solved ALL human problems; that Innate lives INSIDE him; that Innate is eager, ready, anxious to tell "education" what it and he needs IF he would listen to and that wee sma' voice that whispers what it alone knows and wants to tell. The work of Innate Intelligence is purely the work of Universal Intelligence.”
Upledger says in his book Craniosacral Therapy on page 26: “Learning to trust your hands is not an easy task. You must learn to shut off your conscious, critical mind while you palpate for subtle changes in the body you are examining. You must adopt an empirical attitude so that you may temporarily accept without question those perceptions which come into your brain from your hands.” [Upledger’s emphasis supplied]
Upledger also says in his article “When the Inner Physician Speaks, I Listen”
“For CranioSacral Therapy or any other bodywork to succeed, I believe that the therapist must release all assumptions, blend with the client and listen intently – with the hands and all faculties – to the Inner Physician. This is the voice of wisdom; the part inside all of us that maintains complete awareness of our inner and outer workings.”
Do you see the similarities? When you trace this all the way back, you find the concept of Inner Wisdom and Innate Intelligence stems from the roots of spiritualism, Transcendentalism and Mesmerism.
15. What is Transcendentalism?
The intellectuals, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau of the mid 19th century were the ones who began to raise questions about the old assumptions of religion:
“The Harvard-educated Emerson and others began to read Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, and examine their own religious assumptions against these scriptures. In their perspective, a loving God would not have led so much of humanity astray; there must be truth in these scriptures, too. Truth, if it agreed with an individual's intuition of truth, must be indeed truth. And so Transcendentalism was born.”
Similar to theosophy the Transcendentalist’s accepted truth from Hindu and Buddhist scriptures. In questioning God and believing that: “truth, if it agreed with an individual’s intuition of truth, must be indeed truth” – they stepped over a Biblical line. The Bible doesn’t teach us that we can create our own truth. It says:
John 17:17 – “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”.
Proverbs 3:5- “ Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
Romans1:25 – “Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. (Accepting Buddhists and Hindu teachings changed the Transcendentalists’ to where they began to trust in themselves and started contemplating God in nature, the same as Buddhists and Hindu’s.)
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.
After a time, Eve went with her own intuition, which told her that it was Ok to eat the fruit and that she would become wise and like God. Instead of doing what God said, Eve did what she thought was truth. You can’t create your own truth without reaping consequences that cause separation from God.
16. John Upledger, DO explains the “Inner Physician” and “Therapeutic Imagery and Dialogue”.
In John Upledger’s book “Craniosacral Therapy: Touchstone for Natural Healing”, copyright 2001, Chapter 2 “The Offspring of CranioSacral Therapy”, page 48 under the subtitle: “More Names: Therapeutic Imagery and Dialogue; Inner Physician” he says:
“Once I had found the name ‘SomatoEmotional Release’, I realized that there were still other aspects of the process that I needed terms for...”
“I came up with the term ‘Inner Physician’ for the entity conversed with, and the phrase ‘Therapeutic Imagery and Dialogue’ for the process of conversing with it...” “Once I had these terms in hand, the concepts developed in very rapid fashion.” He goes on to talk about the Inner Physician and give examples of where it proved helpful. When you get to page 54, at the end of this discussion, you find the subtitle: “But What Is It? Here is what Upledger says:
“But What Is It?” By now you must understand that the Inner Physician can be helpful in a wide variety of situations. At this time in my practice I have come to rely upon it and trust it completely. What exactly the Inner Physician is doesn’t matter to me. It works. My entree to it is through the CranioSacral system. I have gone from being a rather hard-line scientific-type physician to one who says that if it works I’ll use it. I don’t have to understand it first.
Does one realize what this just said? It said that when the therapist is dialoging with the body, they are talking to an “entity”. Upledger doesn’t care what this entity is! But “we” must! It confirms that you have to first accept the concept of an inner wisdom, which is what the Palmer’s found in Chiropractic and titled the Innate Intelligence.
There are distinct similarities between Palmer’s Innate Intelligence and Upledger’s CranioSacral Therapy. See below.
17. Parallels between Palmer’s Innate Intelligence and Upledger’s CranioSacral Therapy
|D.D. Palmer’s Innate Comments |Upledger’s Innate/Inner Physician Comments |Parallels... |
|“Palmer (1910) proposed that there is a universal |“CranioSacral facilitators recognize health as an active |Both discuss the “Innate” and |
|intelligence in all things, which actively gives matter |principle, and that it is a natural expression of Life – an |recognize it as an ordering, |
|its organization. A subset of this was innate |innate ordering force.” |organizing force. |
|intelligence, which was the organizing principle in living| | |
|organisms.” | | |
| | | |
|“You must wait patiently while the Innate is assimilating |“For CranioSacral Therapy or any other bodywork to succeed, I |Both believe the Innate understands |
|the elements of your problem, and then goes about its own |believe that the therapist must release all assumptions, blend |and assimilates the information about |
|way and time to work your problems out for you. You must |with the client and listen intently – with hands and all |underlying health problems. |
|receive the message from Innate freely and, after |faculties – to the Inner Physician. This is the voice of | |
|understanding it you must act on it at once. Only by doing|wisdom...” (From When the Inner Physician Speaks, I Listen”) |Both require the therapist to receive |
|so will you make Innate serve you and continue to respond | |the information freely and without |
|when you call upon it. You must have positive knowledge in|“Learning to trust your hands is not an easy task. You must |pre-conceived assumptions. |
|the power and wisdom of the Innate, and obediently perform|learn to shut off your conscious, critical mind while you palpate| |
|seemingly irrelevant thing.” |for subtle changes in the body you are examining. You must adopt|Both require the therapist to have |
| |an empirical attitude so that you may temporarily accept without |positive knowledge in or an attitude |
| |question those perceptions which come into your brain from your |of accepting without question, the |
|“WISDOM seeker knows that Innate knows CORRECT answers to |hands.” (Upledger’s book Craniosacral Therapy, page 26) |power and wisdom of the Innate. |
|ALL human questions; that Innate long ago solved ALL human| | |
|problems; that Innate lives INSIDE him; that Innate is |“For CranioSacral Therapy and its offspring to work properly, it | |
|eager, ready, anxious to tell "education" what it and he |is required that the practitioner have trust in the fact that | |
|needs IF he would listen to and that wee sma' voice that |within each patient lies the information necessary to understand | |
|whispers what it alone knows and wants to tell. The work |the underlying causes for health problems and what must be done | |
|of Innate Intelligence is purely the work of Universal |to resolve them.” (CranioSacral Therapy: Touchstone to Natural | |
|Intelligence.” |Healing, pg. 59) | |
18. Ellen White Quotes & Bible Texts
(It is important to remember that Satan deceived Eve and she was a whole lot more intelligent than any of us alive today. She regularly walked and talked with God. Satan also deceived one-third of the angels in heaven who were in the direct presence of God! Should it be surprising if he is able to deceive us in this present day? He has had thousands of years to practice ways to access our minds and confuse our perceptions. We should not lose heart, but should realize that Christ is always there to uphold us and renew us again. We should study to show ourselves approved II Tim 2:15. “And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jer. 29:13)
There is danger in having the least connection with Theosophy, or Spiritualism. It is Spiritualism in essence, and will always lead in the same path as Spiritualism. These are the doctrines that seduce the people whom Christ has purchased with His own blood. You cannot break this spell. You have not yet broken it. {13MR 1.3}
Satan a Student of the Mind.--For thousands of years Satan has been experimenting upon the properties of the human mind, and he has learned to know it well. By his subtle workings in these last days he is linking the human mind with his own, imbuing it with his thoughts; and he is doing this work in so deceptive a manner that those who accept his guidance know not that they are being led by him at his will. The great deceiver hopes so to confuse the minds of men and women that none but his voice will be heard.--Lt 244, 1907. (MM 111.) {1MCP 18.1}
“As Spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of Spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power.” GC 588
Christian Science, Oriental and Healing Cults.-- There are many who shrink with horror from the thought of consulting spirit mediums, but who are attracted by more pleasing forms of spiritism, such as the Emmanuel movement (“a pleasing form of spiritism”). Still others are led astray by the teachings of Christian Science, and by the mysticism of theosophy and other Oriental religions. {Ev 606.1}
The apostles of nearly all forms of spiritism claim to have the power to cure the diseased. They attribute their power to electricity, magnetism, the so-called "sympathetic remedies," or to latent forces within the mind of man. And there are not a few, even in this Christian age, who go to these healers, instead of trusting in the power of the living God and the skill of well-qualified Christian physicians. {Ev 606.2}
Danger in Consulting Cultist Physicians.--There is danger in departing in the least from the Lord's instruction. When we deviate from the plain path of duty, a train of circumstances will arise that seem irresistibly to draw us farther and farther from the right. Needless intimacies with those who have no respect for God will seduce us, ere we are aware. Fear to offend worldly friends will deter us from expressing our gratitude to God or acknowledging our dependence upon Him. . . . {Ev 607.1}
Angels of God will preserve His people while they walk in the path of duty; but there is no assurance of such protection for those who deliberately venture upon Satan's ground. An agent of the great deceiver will say and do anything to gain his object. It matters little whether he calls himself a spiritualist, an "electric physician," or a "magnetic healer." By specious pretenses he wins the confidence of the unwary. He pretends to read the life-history and to understand all the difficulties and afflictions of those who resort to him. Disguising himself as an angel of light, while the blackness of the pit is in his heart, he manifests great interest in women who seek his counsel. He tells them that all their troubles are due to an unhappy marriage. This may be too true, but such a counselor does not better their condition. He tells them that they need love and sympathy. Pretending great interest in their welfare, he casts a spell over his unsuspecting victims, charming them as the serpent.
The warnings of the Word of God regarding the perils surrounding the Christian church belong to us today. As in the days of the apostles men tried by tradition and philosophy to destroy faith in the Scriptures, so today, by the pleasing sentiments of higher criticism, evolution, spiritualism, theosophy, and pantheism, the enemy of righteousness is seeking to lead souls into forbidden paths. To many the Bible is as a lamp without oil, because they have turned their minds into channels of speculative belief that bring misunderstanding and confusion. {RC 344.5}
His agents still claim to cure disease. They profess to employ electricity, magnetism, or the so-called "sympathetic remedies;" but in truth the magnetic power of which they boast is directly attributable to the sorcery of Satan. By this means he casts his spell over the bodies and souls of men.” LP 139
“Cut away from yourselves everything that savors of hypnotism, the science by which satanic agencies work.” 2SM 350
Dangers of Associating With the Ungodly.--The world is not to be our criterion. We are not to associate with the ungodly and partake of their spirit, for they will lead the heart away from God to the worship of false gods. The steadfast soul, firm in the faith, can do much good; he can impart blessings of the highest order to those with whom he associates, for the law of the Lord is in his heart. But we cannot willingly associate with those who are trampling upon the law of God, and preserve our faith pure and untarnished. We shall catch the spirit, and unless we separate from them, we shall be bound up with them at last, to share their doom. {AH 459.4}
“We need not be deceived. Wonderful scenes, with which Satan will be closely connected, will soon take place. God's Word declares that Satan will work miracles. He will make people sick, and then will suddenly remove from them his satanic power. They will then be regarded as healed. These works of apparent healing will bring Seventh-day Adventists to the test.” 2SM 53
Men and women are not to study the science of how to take captive the minds of those who associate with them. This is the science that Satan teaches. We are to resist everything of the kind. We are not to tamper with mesmerism and hypnotism-- MM111
But it is not always safe to ask for unconditional healing. Let your prayer include this thought: "Lord, Thou knowest every secret of the soul. Thou art acquainted with these persons; for Jesus, their advocate, gave His life for them. He loves them better than we possibly can. If, therefore, it is for Thy glory and the good of these afflicted ones to raise them up to health, we ask Thee in the name of Jesus, that health may be given them at this time." In a petition of this kind, no lack of faith is manifested. {CH 375.1}
The Lord "doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." Lamentations 3:33. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." Psalm 103:13, 14. He knows our heart, for He reads every secret of the soul.
Matthew 7:16-18 “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
Job 14:4 “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.”
II Cor. 6:13-17 “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what in common hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what accord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you...”
Sway Test
(A form of Muscle test)
The sway test is a form of kinesiology (muscle testing) but one that can be used as an accurate measure for testing supplements, medications and all manner of food sensitivities and allergies. Think of your body as a pendulum with only forward and backward movement. If you need to test a new supplement you wish to purchase, hold it close to your heart and say to yourself, may I, should I, could it test this product to see if it will work for my body please. If you feel yourself fall slightly forward, this is a yes signal. If you slightly fall back, that would be no. If you don’t move, perhaps ask the question again. Simple eh.
THE SWAY TEST (quoted from )
A Self Testing Method for Vitamins, Supplements and Food
Stand with your feet no more than shoulder width apart. Either test barefoot or in flat shoes such as sneakers. Heels are not recommended.
Place the substance you are testing in one hand and close your fist over it. Hold this hand up to your heart center, which is your thymus gland. Then place your other hand over the first one.
State: "This is good for my body."
Become still, centered, close your eyes, take a deep breath, release it and let go.
After a few moments you become aware of your body either being pulled forward or falling backwards.
If you feel yourself falling forward, your body is embracing the substance in a positive reaction. If you feel yourself going backward, away from what you are testing, your body is repelling it in a negative reaction.
Sometimes we don't get a reaction or are not sure what answer our body is giving us. If you feel you are not getting a true reading, take the following steps:
Perform the test again. Make sure to take a deep breath and clear your head.
Drink water, your energy system may be dehydrated.
If you can, take the vitamins/supplements out of the plastic container and place one pill or tablet in your hand (not recommended in health food stores).
Program your body to go forward for a positive answer and backward for a negative answer. I had to do this when my body started swaying sideways! Simple tell your body "Go forward for a yes answer," and "Go backward for a no answer." Then test your body by saying "yes" and waiting for a response, then saying "no" and waiting for a response. Once your body continually sways forward for "yes" and backward for "no" you can be more assured of a true reading.
Remember that since the body is electrical, energetic, physical and metabolic, it is always in a state of flux. What is good for us one day may not be as beneficial the next. And we may overload on certain foods or vitamins, creating a toxic, or allergic, reaction to our energy system. Therefore, it is best to test before you ingest at various times. Then test your vitamins, supplements and other products on a regular basis, or at least when you buy a new supply. And make sure to test different brands of the same product to find which brand is best for your body. With foods, test them at different stages of processing or cooking. Although raw green beans may test positive, canned or micro-waved beans may not be as healthy.
Although you can learn the Sway Test in a few minutes, it may take some practice before you feel comfortable using it. Since this method is always available, day or night, requires no instruments, and is free, you can practice it regularly with almost any product or food. The more you practice, the more instinctive it becomes. When I first learned muscle testing, I even asked my body what color clothing was beneficial for me each day! Colors have vibrations, and sometimes one color especially resonates with our bodies. And I received lots of funny looks and questions in the health food stores. I even ask my body if supplements are good for my husband before I buy them. I have since learned other less noticeable ways to muscle test. However, the Sway Test seems to be the easiest method to learn and gives people a way to instantly take control of their own health.
USING THE SWAY TEST ( I have used this for pets too. Rather than say, MY body I say the name of the pet)
TO DETERMINE DOSAGE
Hold one capsule or tablet in your hand and state, "This is good for my body." If you sway forward, add another capsule and state again, "This is good for my body." Keep adding capsules, one by one, until you sway backward. Then you have exceeded the optimum dosage by one. Also ask the body, "I take this dose once a day." If you go forward, state, "I take this dose twice a day." When you go backward, the previous statement that tested positive is best for your body.
REMEMBER: Your body is constantly changing, so your optimum dosage may also change. If you use this method with prescription medications, use the results to open a dialogue with your doctor. DO NOT change prescription medications without first talking with your physician.
These are methods used by many Practitioners to help find out if the right remedy is being given, the correct potency, if the dosing is correct, if there are allergies to deal with but practice first and just play around until they begin to feel like second nature to you. It isn’t rocket science but it’s a very useful tool to have on hand and it is very precise. I use these methods along with EFT and Dowsing to question the animals or myself for that matter. If you don’t feel you are happy using these methods, then don’t. That’s fine. It’s information I put on here because so often when I am talking on the telephone with a client, I ask if the can do Muscle Testing and it’s amazing that most of them can’t. So, rather than send out documents all the time, I felt putting the information up on the websites would be the quickest way of getting everyone learning. You’ll also have great fun doing this so enjoy it.
IF I TEACH YOU NOTHING ELSE (quoted from )
I have had a number of alternative health professionals use various techniques to figure out what I should be taking, often using kinesiology, ie. muscle-testing. This usually involved my lying on a chiropractic table with one arm raised. The substance in question was either held in the other hand or placed upon my abdomen and the chiropractor would attempt to push my arm down. Truly, when something was put in contact with my body that said body didn't want to HEAR about, there was no way I could keep my arm up. But other than the obvious, I had a hard time feeling the difference between yes's and no's at times. So I trusted that the person DOING the test could tell. I have never been any good at doing kinesiology on myself or anyone else.
One stand-in chiropractor, many years ago, actually piled capsules of something or other on my navel and by testing repeatedly came up with the NUMBER of capsules I needed to take. I had a LITTLE trouble with that one.
So. A number of years ago, I attended The Green Nations Gathering, a gathering of more herbalists and students in one place than I have EVER seen. I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop given by Hart Brent who is not only a gifted herbalist, but a brilliant bio-chemist as well. She had been 'gifted' with not only her dog, but herself and her entire family coming down with Erlichiosis, the far more virulent of the tick-borne diseases. From that horrifying experience she developed an unbelievably complex but extremely effective means of dealing with chronic Erlichiosis. I have the utmost admiration for her.
Within this workshop, she showed us her method of self-testing and surprised us all by saying that in spite of all her research and knowledge, she will give NOTHING to any of her patients unless they self-test. To see her own page on this technique, which she calls Energy Scanning, click HERE
The longer I have worked with this technique, the more amazing it becomes. Aside from the fact that it is absolutely accurate for that individual at that particular time, perhaps more importantly, it puts the power back into the hands of the individual.
Below are a series of photographs to help illustrate this technique. Simply put, you hold the substance in question in the hand you write with, holding it in front of your forehead. You should be standing steadily with your feet apart, take a breath, bring your awareness OUT of your head and down to your GUT where your real WISDOM resides, and close your eyes.
Now. You pass the bottle of 'whatever' relatively slowly down in front of your body until it is in front of your lower abdomen (those of you who read Chakra-eze*, know what we just did here) Stand there with it for a bit and you will feel your body respond.
A great way to teach someone this technique is to leave them right there and not tell them what to expect. A strong positive or negative response will have them suddenly opening their eyes very WIDE as it is quite unmistakable. If you're having a problem FEELING the response, you may want to unlock your knees.......
A strong positive response causes your body to lean forward, a strong negative - to lean back. (Although I am beginning to hear of responses that are more 'buzzing' or 'vibrating' than actually 'swaying' back or forth.) In watching many, many folks do this, I have seen two different kinds of 'neutrals'. One is to stand completely still. No pull forward OR backwards. The other is to keep wavering forward and back over and over.
The first time most people try this they're worried about it 'WORKING' and are usually predicting results. The more comfortable you become, the more quickly you feel your own response. A lot of folks get a false 'initial' response, especially if they know what the substance is they're holding. They may initially pull forward, come back to center a second, and THEN the actual response is solid.
You will often get conflicting responses from something that has a large number of different ingredients, or even just two ingredients if your body can use one but not the other. Whenever possible, try to test things singly. You can also test to see if two things can be taken together by testing them each singly first and then hold them together.
The next obvious question is how we know we're testing for what's IN the bottle and not what the BOTTLE is made of. Now really. If we can fine-tune X-ray machines, we can fine-tune our intent. But truly, if you were to get a negative on every single thing you test in a standard tincture dropper-bottle, I WOULD test with an empty bottle and see what you get. You may be so SEVERELY allergic to the rubber cap that nothing else will test accurately.
And you CAN use this technique to test for food allergies too. I use it often as I have an allergy to nuts and there are things, like cheesecake, that sometimes has almond extract in it and sometimes not. I don't always have an ingredient label to check.
One of the greatest places to check this technique out is with the common cold. Think about it. Is your cold the same at the beginning as at the end? Do you need the same 'medicines' all the way through? Don't THINK so. You may need a decongestant at the beginning, an expectorant if it gets down into your lungs, and a cough suppressant at the end where you just can't remember HOW to QUIT coughing!
It is also extremely valuable to monitor just how long you need to keep taking something. You may test strongly positive for something, but that doesn't mean you need to take it forever. Keep testing every couple of days. You may begin to get a neutral and perhaps, eventually a negative. That's it. Say thank you and move on.
Energy Scanning: Using Body Dowsing for Self-Testing Remedies (quoted from )
You can directly ask your body what remedies you need by whole-body dowsing. You pass the bottle 3 to 5 inches in front of you scanning—from above your head to below the navel. In a positive response you will draw forward, a negative response is a push backwards, and neutral—no movement.
When you pass the remedy in front of your:
|Forehead you are reading your nervous system response to this remedy |
|Thymus (upper chest) |[pic] |immune system |
|Abdomen |[pic] |digestion/liver |
|1" below navel |[pic] |endocrine system |
|[pic] |
I do not recommend taking any remedy unless it tests positive (forward) at all four points. Any wavering is an equivocal response from your body. If you are mentally or emotionally not ready to receive the healing energy of the remedy, you go backwards. Or, if you are incompatible with its ingredients, your body rejects the healing energy and withdraws from it and you are pushed backwards.
If on the other hand, your body in its own wisdom knows what it needs and wants to heal—then you will be (inexplicably) drawn toward and into the remedy, feeling as though you are involuntarily magnetized toward it.
You can also test dosages with this technique. Hold the remedy in front of your forehead/third eye and say "I should take I now?" and see if you go forward or back. If the response is forward/yes—then ask "2?", "3?", etc. until you get a push backwards—that dose is too high. Take the dose with the strongest pull forward.
You also can use body dowsing to select the healthiest food choices for yourself.
To surrogate test for young children, hold the child in front of you when you are scanning. Pregnant women need to listen to a 5th testing point—in front of the uterus—to read the baby's response. For animals you can simply lay one hand on your pet and scan with the remedy in the opposite hand with the intent that you are testing for the "other".
It is important to be in a relaxed stance with the knees slightly bent/not locked or you won't feel the movement. If your response seems unclear, visualize a cobalt blue flame above your head to initiate your connection with your higher self-knowing. This dowsing technique is analytical but not in a left brain, logic-based way. An empty mind will help. Imagine clouds or ocean in your brain to prevent over-thinking this process, I do recommend that you be aware of what you're testing so that all levels of your knowing participate in the testing. Also be clear of your intent, asking "Is this good for me at this time?" or "Is this remedy important for my healing at this time?" The dowsing response will answer the question you are holding in your intent.
You are now empowered with a tool to select foods and medicines that heal not hurt your body. You become your own healer by accepting and using your own inherent knowing—instead of giving that power away.
* Chakra
[pic]
In Hinduism and in some related Asian cultures, a chakra is thought to be a nexus of metaphysical and/or biophysical energy residing in the human body. The New Age movement, and to some degree the distinctly different New Thought movement, have also adopted and elaborated on this theory.
The chakras are described as being aligned in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. In new age practices, each chakra is associated with a certain color. In various traditions chakras are associated with multiple physiological functions, an aspect of consciousness, a classical element, and other distinguishing characteristics. They are visualised as lotuses with a different number of petals in every chakra.
The chakras are thought to vitalise the physical body and to be associated with interactions of a physical, emotional and mental nature. They are considered loci of life energy, or prana, (also called shakti, or chi), which is thought to flow among them along pathways called nadis. The function of the chakras is to spin and draw in this Universal Life Force Energy to keep the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health of the body in balance.
The chakras are described in the tantric texts the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, and the Padaka-Pancaka, in which they are described as emanations of consciousness from Brahman, an energy emanating from the spiritual which gradually turns concrete, creating these distinct levels of chakras, and which eventually finds its rest in the Muladhara chakra.
They are therefore part of an emanationist theory, like that of the kabbalah in the west, lataif-e-sitta in Sufism or neo-platonism. The energy that was unleashed in creation, called the Kundalini, lies coiled and sleeping at the base of the spine. It is the purpose of the tantric or kundalini forms of yoga to arouse this energy, and cause it to rise back up through the increasingly subtler chakras, until union with God is achieved in the Sahasrara chakra at the crown of the head.
The seven chakras are said by some to reflect how the unified consciousness of humanity (the immortal human being or the soul), is divided to manage different aspects of earthly life (body/instinct/vital energy/deeper emotions/communication/having an overview of life/contact to God). The chakras are placed at differing levels of spiritual subtlety, with Sahasrara at the top being concerned with pure consciousness, and Muladhara at the bottom being concerned with matter, which is seen simply as crudified consciousness.
He spoke of its vastness the way mystics speak of the Divine. He was, of course, speaking about the Atman, the Divine essence that resides within every human being and is capable of joining with the Brahman during mystical experiences, epiphanies, prayer, meditation, spiritual practice, and for some lucky souls, in everyday life. It is that part of us which is sublime. If we add these not-so-disparate pieces from Hinduism, Buddhism, Sufism and Jung to the energy psychotherapies, we come to a wonderful conclusion: When we muscle test our clients or ourselves, we are asking the Atman, the Self, the Higher Self-- whatever name we wish to give this-- to respond to us and, ultimately, to do the healing. It follows from this, of course, that it is the Self, i.e., God, who is the inner healer.
Deuteronomy 18:10, 12 “There shall not be found among you any one . . . that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, . . . For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD.”
Iceberg Just Ahead
Sermon by John Witcombe
East Wenatchee SDA Church
October 28, 2006
pastorjcw@
I received an envelope last week that had come in the mail with posters for me to display in our church that advertised the Healing Rooms Center that is here in the Wenatchee Valley. Today, October 28, is the first annual National Day of Healing.
Quoting from their website: “We have team members representing 13 churches in our valley. It is very exciting as we come together in the unity of faith, to believe in the miraculous for healing, restoration of marriages, financial freedom, calling the prodigals home and anything else that will bring forth life.”
These Healing Rooms are part of a nondenominational Christian faith-healing ministry, the International Association of Healing Rooms, which was started in Spokane 6½ years ago. The ministry has spread to 20 countries. There are 410 Healing Rooms in the United States.
Listen to these testimonies:
“I had preliminary tests that showed every indication of cancer. I went to the Healing Rooms for prayer and the next day all reports by doctor were cleared. No cancer!” BD, Wenatchee
“Five year old ferret was healed of life threatening injury after prayer cloth was administered.” - Ken and Elisa F. Spokane Washington (Headquarters)
“I came to the Healing Rooms in need of healing from nerve damage - hip pain - headaches - spasms and circulation problems. The result of a 90+ mph head on accident in May, 2003. There was such peace in the room. As we prayed, my hips actually popped and the pain in my left leg that was like a hot iron, left my body. I can now extend backwards without pain and sit without discomfort. Praise God. He's true to His word.” - Lynn W. Spokane Washington (Headquarters)
An article was written about the Healing Rooms in our local newspaper, The Wenatchee World. They report:
“They pray, holding hands in a circle, each in his or her own conversation with God — but each in support of the group, team member Doug Gardner says. The overlapping language, which sometimes includes glossilalia (speaking in tongues), Gardner says, may seem like gibberish to an observer, but it is somehow unified, almost cadence-like, and singing sometimes enters the prayer. The volume can increase significantly as the group draws its energy.”
Quoting now from their October Newsletter where they give a report of a recent conference held in Spokane:
“Hundreds of people were instantly healed of terrible illness and pain. One session, the Lord told Cal to ‘go for it!’ so he called up people missing body parts. He had the audience declare GROW, GROW, GROW as he prayed. Many awesome things happened including 2 ladies who received new breasts after having cancer surgery were they were removed! At the same time at Denny’s someone who was not a part of the conference began to bang his hand on the table, his missing thumb was beginning to grow!”
Is this something we ought to get behind and support? People are getting healed. You cannot deny that prayers from these Healing Rooms are being answered. Benny Hinn, who is revered by those in this movement, prays to Jesus and hundreds of people are healed in his healing crusades.
There are two powers in this world and both powers can cause miraculous things to happen in response to prayer.
“As spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power.” GC 588
Is it possible to determine which power is answering Benny Hinn’s prayers?
Absolutely. Our scripture reading holds the key: 2 Corinthians 6:14, 15 “. . . for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?”
Someone speaking in tongues is in connection with a supernatural force. Knowing that many occultic pagan religions practiced this identical phenomenon clues us in that this ecstatic utterance represents a connection with unholy spirits.
The biblical gift of tongues recorded in Acts 2 was the instant ability to speak in known foreign languages for the purpose of giving the gospel. It was not what we see happening today. The tongues of today is a manifestation of demonic power.
Benny Hinn speaks in tongues in one breath and in the next he prays to Jesus for someone’s healing. God and Satan do not work together. The same power that drives the ecstatic utterance also produces the healing.
We cannot connect the power of God with anything having occultic pagan foundations. The seven sons of Sceva tried this: Acts 19:13-15 “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”
Light cannot be joined with darkness. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Ephesians 5:11. Have no part of the charismatic Healing Rooms Movement.
Have you heard of Soaking? If you are invited to a Soaking party you need to do your research before you jump into this. What are its origins? Who founded it? These are vital questions to ask.
This practice originated with Todd Bentley who is a tongue speaking, faith healing charismatic clairvoyant. Music is a big part of this experience. You can purchase Soaking CDs.
WHAT IS SOAKING? “To ‘soak’ in God's presence is to rest in His love rather than to ‘strive’ in prayer. As the person who is soaking connects with the Holy Spirit they often respond by falling or simply lying on the floor. As they rest expectantly waiting in God's presence, the Holy Spirit hovers over them to reveal more of God's love. God will also use these times to renew and repair areas of a person's life. As the believer soaks, God takes control and begins to draw their attention to His word either in the bible or through internal audible impressions or pictures they see in their mind's eye.”
This is a “New Thought” occult practice that has been cloaked in Christian garments. New Thought is a century-old, often mystically oriented movement that teaches the practice of the presence of God. New Thought uses a technique of “going into the silence” and simply listening for God's guidance. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Have no part of the Soaking Presence Movement.
Taking part of any activity that has occultic influence will allow Satan greater access to us and our families. There are many avenues whereby these barriers against Satan are lowered.
What if you needed to find water on your property and an elder in your church had the gift of dowsing, should you let him find the right spot to drill the well?
A friend of mine worked with the author of this 200 page book, Dowsing: An Exposé of Hidden Occult Forces. Opinions on the topic of dowsing (also known as water witching) are as varied within the Adventist church as they are in the larger Christian community.
Examples of various opinions include: 1) it is nothing more than mere fakery, 2) it is a natural skill based on natural laws that some have and others don't but can learn if they wish, 3) it is natural "gift" which is transferable rather than taught, 4) it is a method by which God can communicate with us, 5) it is communication of an occult nature.
The author started with belief #2 and after eight years of careful research came to the irrefutable conclusion that dowsing is communication of an occult nature.
You can read this book online:
Reading from the book, Occult Invasion by Dave Hunt: “For some dowsers the wand or pendulum will, in response to questions, accurately indicate the depth at which the water will be found and the flow of water per minute and even the quality of the water! No impersonal force can transmit information.
“Some dowsers are even able to locate sites for drilling by dowsing over maps! Henry Gross, while sitting in Kennebunkport, Maine, located three well sites on a map of Bermuda and described accurately the depth to drill, the quality of water, and the quantity per minute which each well would produce. At that time Bermuda had gone ‘three hundred and forty years without drinking water’ except for the rain that could be caught by various means.”
Even though that godly elder in your church might pray for God’s blessing and guidance as he water witches your land, know that God and Belial never work together.
Hosea 4:12 “They ask for revelations from a piece of wood! A stick tells them what they want to know! They have left me. Like a woman who becomes a prostitute, they have given themselves to other gods.”
Ezekiel 21:21 “For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.”
God forbade every species of divination.
Divination is used for much more than just finding an underground water source.
Have you ever encountered someone who checks himself to discover if a certain food or nutritional supplement is good for their body by way of the Sway Test?
What is the Sway Test?
From a website describing this test I read:
“Take a product and hold it in the center of your chest. Close your eyes and relax. If your body begins to sway backwards the answer is ‘no’, it is not good for you. If you begin to sway forwards then the product is right for you and the answer is ‘yes’.”
The same website that describes the Sway Test also teaches you how to use a pendulum and muscle testing (applied kinesiology) to receive answers to the same questions.
“When you muscle test, you extend one arm at shoulder level and a facilitator puts pressure on that arm. If the arm resists the pressure and remains strong, the answer is ‘Yes’. If it becomes weak and drops, the answer is ‘No’.”
For the pendulum test, they say, “When using a pendulum ask for only the highest of good to come through and for your guides and Masters to help with this information. Breathing deeply, relaxing, and remaining connected to your guides will help you get the optimum responses.”
This is occult practice. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Eph. 5:11.
Have nothing to do with divination.
I recently read something that prompted me to do a little research: Ev 606 “There are many who shrink with horror from the thought of consulting spirit mediums, but who are attracted by more pleasing forms of spiritism, such as The Emmanuel Movement.”
Have you ever heard of The Emmanuel Movement? Now keep in mind that this is a pleasing form of spiritism. The founder of the Emmanuel Movement was a clergyman, Dr. Elwood Worcester. He felt that all diseases had physical, mental and spiritual components. His principal techniques of relaxation therapy and suggestion were used to reach the unconscious. Prayer and godly counsel were a part of the treatment program. He felt that recovery must come from the healing capacities of the unconscious.
The Emmanuel Movement was squarely modeled on New Thought healing practices. This is spiritualism.
But The Emmanuel Movement did so much good back then. Pastors came from far and wide to receive training so that they could duplicate this ministry in their own churches.
We need spiritual discernment. It matters not whether a treatment modality works or not. What matters is what makes it work. What are its origins?
In my daily reading program I am reading the history of our movement and this week I happen to be reading about Dr. Kellogg’s pantheism episode. Almost everyone in the church had been sucked into the Doctor’s spiritualistic teachings. Elder Spicer, who had just returned from India, recognized the Eastern Religion spiritualistic origins of what Kellogg was teaching and came out against the Doctor.
Through the Gift of Prophesy this evil was confronted and defeated. Ellen White, in relating an inspired dream wrote: “A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly the lookout cried, "Iceberg just ahead!" There, towering high above the ship was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, ‘Meet it!’ There was not a moment’s hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice. There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collision, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stem, like a living creature. Then she moved forward on her way.” 1SM 205
Don’t think that the enemy has given up on introducing spiritualism into God’s Church. He is even now working in our midst to reintroduce spiritism.
Don’t forget, there were many good people who were taken in by what Dr. Kellogg brought into our church. Today, there are many good church members who do not see the dangers of a healing art that has come into our own Valley.
I don’t condemn those who become deceived by this. I condemn the practice. I must sound a note of warning against this healing art just as I warn against the Healing Rooms, Soaking and water witching.
“There are many ways of practicing the healing art, but there is only one way that Heaven approves.” CH 323. I look at the origins and I look at the lives of the founders of the healing art and if I detect the slightest indication of spiritism, I run the other way, as should you.
Ellen White speaks of those in her day who were using “sympathetic remedies” to treat the sick. She says: “They attribute their power to electricity, magnetism, or the so-called "sympathetic remedies," while in truth they are but channels for Satan's electric currents. By this means he casts his spell over the bodies and souls of men.” Ev 609.
No matter how bad I hurt, I do not want to be healed by Satan’s electric currents.
Today we have church members who are getting involved with therapies that have wrong foundations. I was told that it works and that it is good people who are utilizing this mode of therapy. Of course it works and they are good people, but we cannot accept it just because it works. If it has questionable origins I have to consider that its effectiveness could be attributed to the power of Satan, no matter who the praying therapist might be.
Having not ever heard of this healing art before, I did some research into its origin and philosophy. CranioSacral Therapy (CST) was pioneered and developed by osteopathic physician John E. Upledger. Part of the training includes Direction of Energy technique as you can see from the CranioSacral Curriculum.
Let me read what I found written by the founder regarding this technique: “Direction of Energy is a technique that has proven very helpful in CranioSacral Therapy. Yet it is so simple that it is almost hard to believe. It is performed by “intending” or imaging energy passing from one of your hands to the other through a part of a client’s body.
“In the 1970s I began advocating this technique for any part of the body that was injured, dysfunctional or painful. We found that you do not need the presence of cerebrospinal fluid between your hands in order to direct this ‘healing energy.’ We have also seen that Direction of Energy can be used effectively anywhere on the body.
“We have taught mothers to use it on their children. We have taught spouses to use it on each other. We’re even successfully teaching this technique to elementary school children who are using it to ease the pain of minor injuries such as skinned knees. In turn the children are exhibiting a heightened sense of accomplishment and self-esteem that I believe could go a long way toward helping us reduce childhood violence.
“One of the best examples of Direction of Energy I can give you is a personal one I experienced years ago while on the faculty at Michigan State University. It was a Saturday morning and I was pruning some bushes in our yard. As I cut one branch, another snapped back and hit me in the left eye.
“The pain was excruciating. I tried hard to see out of the eye but all I got was light and blurred images. I controlled my tendency to panic, made my way back to the house, and asked my wife to look at the eye and tell me what she saw. She described an indentation across the pupil.
“Fearing the possibility of permanent damage, I went to rest on my bed. After a minute or so of feeling the pain and realizing my vision wasn’t improving, I thought, ‘Okay Upledger, you teach this Direction of Energy stuff all the time. Don’t you believe what you teach? Don’t you practice what you preach?’ I embarrassed myself by my poor demonstration of belief in my own doctrine.
“So I looked at the clock with my good eye. The time was 11:22 a.m. I put my right hand on the back of my head. The fingers of this hand would be the “sending fingers.” Then I cupped my left hand over my left eye so that, if I could have seen with that eye, I would have been looking at my left palm.
“I started concentrating on sending energy from my right hand at the back of my head to my left hand in front of my eye. It took a few minutes to get started. I had to detach myself somewhat in order to focus my attention on sending energy rather than on fantasies of what life would be like without a left eye. Would I wear a patch? Would I get a false eyeball? All these things were running through my head. And man, did this thing hurt.
“After I got my concentration and focus working for me, the eyeball began to pulsate. As the pulse crescendoed I became aware of heat radiating out into the palm of my left hand. I allowed my fingers to reposition themselves on the back of my head any way they wanted to.
“As the pulse amplitude built and the heat increased, the pain in the eye got worse and worse. A few times I considered stopping because it hurt so much. Suddenly there was a “pop” in my eyeball that I was sure could be heard from the living room. Immediately the pain went away. All of my panic and fear dissipated. And I could now clearly see the palm of my hand with my left eye.
“I went out into the living room smiling. I wanted to jump for joy. I had no pain. I could see. I asked my wife to look at my eye again. She couldn’t find the dent across the pupil, and I had no after-effect from the injury.
“In the years since then, I’ve seen this technique used successfully by therapists in hundreds of different cases. All of us who have studied CranioSacral Therapy, and many lay people who have learned the technique through our one-day ‘ShareCare’ workshops, are helping others and helping themselves by the use of Direction of Energy.
“Why not try it for yourself? The worst thing that can happen is nothing. The best thing is that you facilitate healing. That’s the power of intentioned touch.”
Not true. The worst thing that could happen is that you would be healed by Satan's electric currents and find him casting his spell over your body and soul. (Ev 609)
“Satan is preparing his deceptions that in his last campaign against the people of God, they may not understand that it is he. ‘And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.’” (2 Cor 11:14) Mar 206
We are in that last campaign of Satan’s. He has disguised himself so well that many of our own members do not know that it is dark forces they are connecting with as they involve themselves in this healing art. Those church members who are trained in CST believe that they are picking only the good that’s found on this tree. But can we pick grapes from thorn bushes?
Matthew 7:16-18 “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
As I have examined the belief system of the founder of CST and the philosophical foundations of this therapy it is evident that this healing art cannot be joined together with the principles of the Kingdom of God. It is a corrupt tree and it cannot bring forth good fruit.
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 “. . . for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”
Eve was not able to go to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and just take the good from it. In fact the Bible tells us to not even desire the good that is connected with the evil:
“The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.” Deuteronomy 7:25, 26
We cannot take something that has an intrinsically false foundation such as CranioSacral Therapy and believe that God will work through this modality because we are praying that He will.
We cannot pray over a Ouija Board and expect that God will spell out the answers to our questions. God will not work in partnership with Satan.
How can we be kept from being taken in by Satan’s deceptions? An important key to survival can be found by looking at the experience of the very first person who fell to satanic deception.
PP 54 “On perceiving that she was alone, Eve felt an apprehension of danger. . .”
This was the voice of God to Eve – that still small voice telling her to flee. If she does not flee that instant the next voice she will hear will be Satan’s. And that voice will speak in such a way as to encourage you on in a path of danger.
These are the rules of engagement. God gets to have the first shot with his children but if they delay or hesitate, Satan has authority to be the next speaker. And indeed the next voice was the enemy’s voice – it always is.
Let me tell you my own experience with obeying that first voice. It was in the early 80’s and I was attending a ministers meeting in Atlanta, GA that was for all the ministers of the Southern Union. Dr. Savage was to instruct us on how to reach former members using his Lab 1 techniques. I knew nothing about Lab 1 but after the first class I felt there was something wrong with what this non-Adventist was teaching us. He was teaching us how you could tell something about someone by what they did with their eyes and their body posture. I had an uncomfortable feeling with what he was teaching so I skipped the classes and just enjoyed the five star resort for the rest of the week. As I studied this out I discovered why I had been so uncomfortable.
In his article, The New Age Connection, Jeff Reich relates a telephone conversation that he had with Dr. Savage concerning Lab I and NLP. “I asked him if he used Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) in his training seminars. He told me that in the forty-hour LAB I there was about five hours of NLP. The LAB II had more incorporated into it. He said advanced LAB content was almost exclusively NLP techniques. He verified that NLP was based on Ericksonian hypnoses.”
Because many people are afraid of sleep-like hypnotic trances, Erickson had as his objective the placing of people in a non-sleep hypnotic trance, so that the very same objectives could be accomplished as in deep hypnosis. Erickson also taught how to utilize and bypass client 'resistance' by embedding therapeutic interventions in seemingly casual conversation.
Ericksonian passive-type hypnosis is actually far worse than classical hypnosis, which puts people into a trance. Why? Because it utilizes indirect suggestions which are much harder to resist because they are often not even recognized as suggestions by the conscious mind, since they usually disguise themselves as stories or metaphors.
Any instruction that teaches you the mechanics of listening and communication that will give you an edge over the other person so that you can subconsciously manipulate them to fit your agenda, even if your agenda is to get the backslider to return to church, is forbidden ground for the Christian.
If you want to influence people, here’s how it’s done: “No other influence that can surround the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian.” MH 470
I warn against Ericksonian Hypnosis because many counselors have been trained in this technique.
Stay clear of the following psychotherapy modalities:
Silva Mind Control
Mind Dynamics
Subud
Hakomi
Hakomi Therapy draws from modern body-centered psychotherapies such as Ericksonian Hypnosis and Neurolinguistic Programming. In Hakomi you "build a therapist-client relationship which maximizes safety and partnership and works directly with the unconscious in cooperation with the conscious mind." -- Hakomi Website
We are warned against this: “Satan often finds a powerful agency for evil in the power which one human mind is capable of exerting on another human mind. This influence is so seductive that the person who is being molded by it is often unconscious of its power. God has bidden me speak warning against this evil that His servants may not come under the deceptive power of Satan.” 2SM 352
“Cut away from yourselves everything that savors of hypnotism, the science by which satanic agencies work.” 2SM 350
Let me close with this significant statement: “We need not be deceived. Wonderful scenes, with which Satan will be closely connected, will soon take place. God's Word declares that Satan will work miracles. He will make people sick, and then will suddenly remove from them his satanic power. They will then be regarded as healed. These works of apparent healing will bring Seventh-day Adventists to the test.” 2SM 53
We are being brought to the test here in our Valley. If you have failed the test already, just tell God you are sorry and stop what you are doing. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:” Acts 17:30
Truth is going to at last triumph. Jesus is at the helm of His Church. He brought us through our pantheism episode; He will bring us through our current crisis.
“We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” CET 204
Confrontation At Carmel
Sermon by John Witcombe
East Wenatchee SDA Church
November 11, 2006
pastorjcw@
“How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21
What’s going on here? Let’s go up to where these words were spoken: (gondola to the top of Mt Carmel). It was from this spot those important words were spoken. As Sharon and I stood here on Mt Carmel several years ago, we reviewed the amazing story this spot is known for.
It all started when Ahab “reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.” 1 Kings 16:32. Elijah was sent by God to give the king notice that “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” 1 Kings 17:1. And God said to Elijah: “Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.” 1 Kings 17: 3, 4. True to Elijah’s word, there was no rain. “And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there” 1 Kings 17:7-9. Zidon would be the last place I would think of going. Ahab’s father-in-law was the king of Zidon. That was Jezebel’s old stomping grounds. Elijah was miraculously fed by the widow of Zarephath. He even raised her son from the dead. Talk about drawing attention! But God kept him from being found even though Ahab was diligently searching for him.
After three years God sends Elijah back to Ahab and calls all of Israel to meet him there on top of Mt Carmel where he spoke those divisive words. Were those divisive words? Ahab thought so. Elijah was nothing but trouble. Everything was going along peacefully until Elijah showed up on the scene. When Elijah finally arrives back in Israel after those three years Ahab meets him with these words: “Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.” 1 Kings 18:17, 18.
The leadership of Israel, Ahab and Jezebel were the troublers of Israel by bringing into God’s church pagan religious practice. How could this have come into God’s church? Where were the watchmen? Why wasn’t anyone sounding a note of warning? We can see why from the answer the people gave in response to Elijah’s call for them to make a decision: “And the people answered him not a word.” 1 Kings 18:21.
Better to keep silent than to create a ruckus. Better just to play it safe and stay neutral on this issue. If Elijah would just cool his jets and not bring things to a crisis everyone would be a lot happier. By their silence they were saying, we don’t want to take sides. Let’s just all get along. The politically correct thing to do was to do just that. Just get along. Minimize your differences and don’t say anything negative about Baal and his followers. That’ll just stir up trouble and hurt people. What do you think of that attitude given the crisis of occult paganism they were facing? What do you think God thinks of that attitude? Listen to what God thinks of this:
“With stern and commanding voice Elijah cries: ‘How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.’ . . . in this fearful crisis, in the presence of the idolatrous priests and the apostate king, they remained neutral. If God abhors one sin above another, of which His people are guilty, it is doing nothing in case of an emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded of God as a grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God.” 3T 280
Well so much for political correctness! Neutrality in a religious crisis is not an option for God’s people. We must stand for the right though the heavens fall. And the heavens certainly did fall that day!
Story of what happened: prophets of Baal try first. At the time of the evening sacrifice Elijah called the people to come in close to him. (sunset 7:30, sacrifice time 3:00) It was unsettling to speak out against the apostasy of Israel. People were offended. Jezebel was upset. Eight hundred and fifty men lost their lives at the hand of Elijah that day. It was considered by some as being unloving. “There is a sympathy for sin and sinners that is dangerous to the prosperity of the church at the present day. You must have charity is the cry. But that sentiment that would excuse wrong and shield the guilty, is not the charity of the Bible.” ST, January 6, 1881
Look again at what Elijah said there on Mt. Carmel: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” Didn’t Elijah miss a third opinion, a third option? What if I’m not ready to follow God and I certainly don’t want to follow Satan, is there not a third position? Let’s say, a neutral position. Sort of like what Israel was taking there on Mt Carmel.
Jesus said, “He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” Luke 11:23. Doesn’t sound like a third option is available, does it? “We must inevitably be under the control of the one or the other of the two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world. It is not necessary for us deliberately to choose the service of the kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion. We have only to neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light.” DA 324
Our default position is to be against Jesus. That neutral position Israel had taken over the issue of who was the true God was a position against Jesus.
Considering Elijah and how he dealt with the religious crisis he faced; did Elijah violate principles of process in the way he dealt with this crisis? Why didn’t he first go and talk with Ahab and Jezebel to hear their perspective on why they had brought paganism into God’s church? Wasn’t his public rebuke of their mistake in leadership a violation of the principles of Matthew 18? I am sure Ahab, Jezebel and their sympathizers thought it was. They were very angry about Elijah’s words of rebuke and sought the world over to bring him to justice. But did he violate Matthew 18? Not at all. Ahab and Jezebel had not personally trespassed against Elijah. He rebuked a public wrong, which threatened the spiritual health of Israel.
Ellen White was also accused of violating Matthew 18. She publicly reproved a certain lady without first going to her and the lady and her husband felt very hurt. This incident is recorded in 2T page 15:
“Her husband seemed to feel unreconciled to my bringing out her faults before the church and stated that if Sister White had followed the directions of our Lord in Matthew 18:15-17 he should not have felt hurt: ‘Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.’ My husband then stated that he should understand that these words of our Lord had reference to cases of personal trespass, and could not be applied in the case of this sister. She had not trespassed against Sister White. But that which had been reproved publicly was public wrongs which threatened the prosperity of the church and the cause. Here, said my husband, is a text applicable to the case: 1 Timothy 5:20: ‘Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.’” 2T 15
In the context of this story she speaks of “the necessity of faithful reproofs in the church and the cultivation by all its members of love for the plain testimony.” Do you love the plain testimony? Do you covet faithful reproof? Hebrews 12:11 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” We love faithful reprove not because we enjoy it but because we enjoy the fruit of right doing that results from accepting the reproof.
My last sermon was a message of warning and reproof covering a number of issues. I spoke against water witching, calling it a species of divination. In my sermon I failed to mention an important text that speaks to this issue: Hosea 4:12 “They ask for revelations from a piece of wood! A stick tells them what they want to know! They have left me. Like a woman who becomes a prostitute, they have given themselves to other gods.” Deuteronomy 18:10, 12 “There shall not be found among you any one . . . that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, . . . For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD.”
God forbade every species of divination. Divination is used for much more than just dowsing to find an underground water source. I fear a number of church members are being exposed to two modern day forms of divination that are mainstream in today’s society. Muscle Testing and the Sway Test are commonly used by Herbalists, Naturopaths, Chiropractors, and other alternative health professionals to discover if certain foods or nutritional supplements are good for your body.
From a website describing the Sway Test I read: “Take a product and hold it in the center of your chest. Close your eyes and relax. If your body begins to sway backwards the answer is ‘no’, it is not good for you. If you begin to sway forwards then the product is right for you and the answer is ‘yes’.” The same website that describes the Sway Test also teaches you how to use a pendulum and Muscle Testing (applied kinesiology) to receive answers to the same questions. For the pendulum test, they say: “When using a pendulum ask for only the highest of good to come through and for your guides and Masters to help with this information. Breathing deeply, relaxing, and remaining connected to your guides will help you get the optimum responses.”
From a New Age muscle testing healer I read: “It amazes me that, when we muscle test, we are talking to God, and God is answering!! One of my spiritual teachers once told me that the full definition of prayer is talking to God-- creating connection and dialogue with God through language. With muscle testing, George Goodheart (father of Applied Kinesiology) discovered a modern form of prayer which included a way for God to answer us in a manner we could somewhat understand.” According to the American Chiropractic Association, “Applied Kinesiology (muscle testing) is one of the 15 most frequently used chiropractic techniques in the United States, with 43.2% of chiropractors employing this method.”
This is all occult practice whether you are asking a willow stick about an underground water source or asking your body or a pendulum about a food supplement. Why do I even mention these works of darkness? Because I don’t want you to be duped by these modern methods of divination.
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Ephesians 5:11. And remember, exposing public works of darkness is not a violation of Matthew 18. To not expose them, to take a neutral position is “a grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God.” 3T 280
I would like to close with a verse from Jeremiah: “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5
The swelling of Jordan is right around the corner. If we can’t discern the inroads of occult spiritism in the current issues we are facing in our valley today, we will certainly be swept away at the swelling of Jordan. Study as never before. Cultivate a love for the plain testimony. God will prepare you to keep up with the horses when that day comes.
“MY SONG” by Lori Parker
(Personal Testimony of Wenatchee Elder’s Wife)
Psalm 37:23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way.
I was without a job wondering what I was supposed to do. Hadn't God given me assurance that, Yes, I was suppose to quit my successful, secure, part time, Dental Hygiene job of almost 26 years? YES! It was at that Christian women's conference. The speaker said, “MOVE, SING A NEW SONG!” As I Looked up and silently asked my Lord, Do You mean me? Am I supposed to quit my job? “YES”, was His answer. My answer was, “yes Lord, I'll quit on Monday.”
Now I was earnestly asking my Father. . . “Where do You want me Lord?” I kept telling Him, I'll go where You want me to go.” Be careful, when you are at the bottom crying out to God. He may surprise you with His answer. I certainly was surprised at the miraculous steps propelling me along the way.
On Mothers Day, May 14, 2006 in answer to another plea, “Lord, will You show me how much you love me?” My Father in heaven had a three part gift for me.
Part 1—Dan and I had surprised my mom and drove to my parents horse ranch near Spokane, WA late at night on the evening before Mother's Day after mom had gone to bed. Early that next morning mom squealed in delight as I jumped out at her saying “Happy Mother's Day.” We settled down to an awesome two and a half hour morning worship together, after which dad got a call that 7 of his wild horses were running loose. We paused to pray that we could successfully contain them and set out on two of his 4-wheel vehicles. We prayed again after 45 minutes or so. We couldn't find the horses. Several minutes later as we miraculously found the horses they saw us and ran in the opposite direction. Just then, Dan and I looked up. In the sky was a cloud in the form of an angel. The rays of the sun shone behind it, a picture of Gods care and assurance I will never forget Soon after, my dad with a bucket of oats in his hand and the rays of God’s grace behind his back, captured one of the wild horses. He tied it to the 4-wheeler I was driving and he ran along side the contained horse with the bucket of oats in his hand. As we moved forward, miraculously, all of the other horses followed. As Dan drove the second vehicle behind we were praying silently and thanking God. As we were getting closer to the gate I prayed as my dad was running beside me, "Lord, tie my dad to the 4-wheeler too! The voice in my ear said, “NO, LORI, I WANT TO TIE YOU TO THE 4-WHEELER.AND I WILL SEND THE HOLY SPIRIT (the 2nd 4-wheeler) BEHIND YOU.” Humbly and with awe, I said “YES LORD, TIE ME TO YOU, I WANT TO GO WHERE YOU WANT ME TO GO.” All seven horses made it safely inside the gate. Dad and I knelt down right there and praised and thanked God for a miracle.
Part 2—On the way back to the ranch house my mom jumped off the vehicle and badly injured her right knee so she could barely walk on it. We helped her inside and iced her knee while I made us breakfast. Inside my head I kept hearing a voice say, "Lori, you need to support that knee," “what do You mean Lord?” “You need to support that knee, like Brenda does.” “OK FATHER.... BUT I DONT KNOW HOW." "I WILL SHOW YOU,” replied Father." Prayerfully and with much awe and astonishment I placed my hands on my mother’s knee. I felt God's healing energy and power as we prayed silently, but wondered what my mother felt. She felt it also and said the pain was slowly going downward toward her toe.* Again we were blown away by God's timing and His grace. She was extremely grateful for this miraculous healing as was I. I called this my 2-miracle Mother’s Day, but God wasn't finished showing me how much He loved me.
Part 3—The 3rd part came in the form of a distress call from our son that Mother's Day evening when we had gotten home from the ranch. I was able to encourage him with my 2-miracle Mother's Day story that still had me blown away and praising God with all that was in me. After the phone call ended I heard a voice in my head. It said, “No Lori, it was a THREE miracle Mother's Day!” Saddened by the call yet rejoicing in my Fathers words of promise to me, I hung up and again praised the Lord with prayer and scripture. (Ephesians 3:14-21). You see, that week, at a small MOMS IN TOUCH prayer group, we had prayed this scripture for my son. Here, my sweet Father in response to “Show me how much you love me” gave that scripture back to me!!!!!!! Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of a man (or woman) are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Later the Father asked me to go to a CranioSacral Therapy class I said, “but what about............” He said to me, “This is My work!” “YES LORD” was my answer.
* Lori’s experience with healing her mother’s knee and the pain moving out of her body through her feet is typical in New Age healing:
“When I attended Gary Craig's Becoming the Ultimate Therapist Seminar some months later, a new solution emerged from his approach. He used one algorithm (or parts of it), working from the head downward, for everything that had to be released. After some experimentation, I came quickly to agree with this, especially since it accorded with my knowledge as a healer: When I did healing, I could usually feel energy move down the client's body and then out the bottoms of his feet. I could feel the same movement when I used EFT or TFT on myself. I realized that, to remove what is unwanted in the human system, moving the energy downward is usually the simplest and most natural way to release it, since that is what the body often does if left to its own devices.”
Energy Medicine: What is it and how does it work?
© The Energy Medicine Institute, 2004
Energy medicine is both a complement to other approaches to medical care and a complete system for self-care and self-help. It can address physical illness and emotional or mental disorders, and can also promote high-level wellness and peak performance.
You heal the body by activating its natural healing energies; you also heal the body by restoring energies that have become weak, disturbed, or out of balance.
To accomplish this goal, energy medicine utilizes techniques from healing traditions such as acupuncture, yoga, kinesiology, and qi gong. Flow, balance, and harmony can be non-invasively restored and maintained within an energy system by tapping, massaging, pinching, twisting, or connecting specific energy points (acupoints) on the skin; by tracing or swirling the hand over the skin along specific energy pathways; through exercises or postures designed for specific energetic effects; by focused use of the mind to move specific energies; and/or by surrounding an area with healing energies (one person’s energies impacts another’s).
Use energy medicine to treat illness and relieve pain; stop the onset of illness as soon as it begins, stimulate immune function, relieve headaches, release stress, improve memory, enhance digestion, relieve arthritis, neck, shoulder, and low back pain, and cope with electromagnetic pollution.
By learning simple energy techniques to keep your energies balanced and humming, you can improve your health, sharpen your mind, and increase your joy and vitality.
"ENERGY MEDICINE" INCLUDES Therapeutic Touch, CranioSacral Therapy, Homeopathy, Acupuncture, and numerous other alternative medicine practices. A review of Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis - by Harriet Hall, MD
Other Energetic Medicine modalities include, Neuromodulation Technique (NMT) which is also known as the Feinberg Technique, Bowen Technique, Quantum-Touch, Medical QiGong, Reiki, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), just to mention a few. For a list of 1,200 different mystical or supernaturalistic modalities see:
The Expanded Dictionary of Metaphysical
Healthcare, Alternative Medicine,
Paranormal Healing, and Related Methods
© 1998 Jack Raso, M.S., R.D.
Each of the 1,200 methods described in this book: (a) has a mystical or supernaturalistic application, theory, significance, or pedigree; (b) has a name wherewith proponents or writers have called to mind a method, a group of methods, a system, or a general "approach"; (c) has been portrayed as a means of improving and/or delineating the health of individuals; and (d) has been a subject of uncritical public discourse in English since the late 1950s.
God’s enemy is assaulting this planet as never before. Satan is unleashing an onslaught of mystical healing modalities. The following was written by an Evangelical Christian who clearly sees the mystical/spiritualistic aspects of energetic medicine.
The Christian, Energetic Medicine, “New Age Paranoia”
by Elliot Miller
According to a recent Time/CNN poll, about 30 percent of Americans have resorted to some form of “unconventional therapy,” “half of them within the past year.”1
Perhaps more significantly, “holistic health” approaches have been steadily working their way from the New Age health care fringe into mainstream medical practice. Therapies such as acupuncture, biofeedback, and “Therapeutic Touch” (the laying on of hands to channel “Universal Life Energy” to the patient) are increasingly accepted and utilized by physicians, hospitals, and clinics across the country. The use of meditation and visualization are commonly prescribed to reduce stress. Chiropractic, long considered anathema by orthodox medicine, has recently acquired a new respectability.2 And at the local chiropractors office, spinal adjustments are not infrequently combined with more exotic forms of “energy balancing.”3
In the view of many evangelical cult watchers — including John Weldon, Paul Reisser, M.D., and myself — this trend is providing the New Age movement with one of its most strategic opportunities to convert our culture.4 For many holistic health modalities pack pantheistic/occultic philosophy and spiritual experience that can beguile and win over the often unwary and vulnerable patient.
But not all evangelicals share this concern.
THE CHRISTIAN HOLISTIC HEALTH MOVEMENT
There is a growing movement of Christian practitioners of holistic (or “wholistic”) health, and of Christians who turn to such treatments for their physical maladies.5 Perhaps the most articulate and vigorous spokesperson for this movement is Monte Kline, Ph.D., a former staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ who became a nutritionist and “wholistic health practitioner” after a personal bout with cancer.
In his March/April 1988 Christian Health Counselor newsletter, for example, Kline devotes six pages to the subject of “New Age paranoia” in the church. He argues that Christians have often been more hysterical than rational in their approach to the New Age movement, with the result that many innocent people and legitimate ideas and practices have been tarnished with the label “New Age.” He acknowledges that “there is much, much spiritual error in the New Age movement,”6 and Christians need to be discerning about these elements. But the opposition of many Christian authors to certain holistic health therapies represents what he calls “flat earth Christianity.”
Flat Earth Christianity
Flat earth Christianity is the too-often-prevalent Christian mentality that considers heretical and even demonic any theory that does not fit in with its traditions and present knowledge (e.g., for many medieval Christians the idea that the earth is round and not the Center of the universe was considered anti-Christian). Kline explains:
Their assumption is that anything outside their knowledge of the creation is supernatural in the demonic sense and therefore to be denied. Thus, the Ch’i energy of acupuncture, auras, and chakras could not possibly be just another part of God’s creation, only unknown to them....Yet man is called to exercise dominion over His [God’s] creation (Genesis 1:28), and how can man do that without exploration and discovery? True science is merely the processes of discovering, quantifying, and applying what God has built into His creation.7
Kline argues that the concept of holistic health is legitimate and much needed. While agreeing that New Agers have attached unchristian philosophy to its practice, he affirms that we should not “throw the baby out with the bath water” but rather provide a biblical framework for holistic health.
There are senses in which I could agree with everything in Kline’s position as represented above. I am glad that he recognizes the unchristian nature of New Age philosophy. And I can agree with many of his criticisms of certain Christian critics of the New Age movement. A number of innocent people and legitimate ideas and practices have been unfairly labeled New Age.
I would further agree with Kline that the basic concept of a holistic approach to health care is legitimate and needed, and that in certain respects the contemporary holistic health movement has contributed toward meeting this need. (Not all of its approaches are occultic or medically unsound; some, such as the emphases on exercise and nutrition, can be truly beneficial.) And, I strongly concur that a “Christian holistic health movement” is needed, if only it will stay clear of New Age error and medically unsound practices.
Finally, I would agree with Kline’s definition of true science and his characterization of many Christians (past and present) as having a “flat earth” mentality concerning things they do not understand.
WHAT IS BIOENERGY?
Despite these areas of agreement, I strongly disagree with Kline about certain holistic health theories and practices which he advocates and employs. At the heart of the difference is the practice of “energetic medicine.” Energetic medicine encompasses dozens of diverse therapies and diagnostic approaches, including meridian therapy (e.g., acupuncture, acupressure), Applied Kinesiology (both practiced by Kline — he uses electroacupuncture as a diagnostic technique), homeopathy, reflexology, polarity therapy, Therapeutic Touch, and (at least in its original theory) chiropractic. All these approaches are concerned with balancing or releasing energy in the body for the advancement of health and the treatment of disease. The energy that is the concern of these therapies has been given many names, including bioenergy, vital force, the life force, universal life energy, cosmic energy, chi (acupuncture), and Innate Intelligence (chiropractic).
If these therapies necessarily involve the practitioner and patient (at least on the level of belief, and perhaps much more) with this energy, it is crucial for the Christian to carefully consider whether it is a scientifically explainable energy (i.e., a physical energy) or whether it is a psychic or occultic energy (i.e., a spiritual, supernatural, and demonic power). As will be explained in what follows, it is my view that the latter explanation is best supported by the available evidence.
Although the view I’m advocating is exactly what inspired Kline’s term “flat earth Christianity,” I do not believe the label applies in this case. For Kline has not brought all the relevant factors into the discussion. He argues that “to say that invisible energy forces are the common denominator of creation is not scripturally heretical; it’s only offensive to our traditionally accepted world view; yet we’re all involved everyday with invisible energy forces through television, radio, and household electricity.”8
To be sure, some Christians have imprecisely objected to the idea of “invisible energies,” but that is not really the issue. Energy is often invisible without being occultic. Obviously, the “invisible energies” of micro, radio, and television waves can be and have been scientifically explained. Though they are not “physical” in the sense of visible or tangible, they are physical in the sense that they are a part of the space-time-matter-energy continuum that composes this world. Therefore they operate according to natural laws that can be scientifically measured and demonstrated.
Devilish Energy — An Operative Reality
The issue Kline ignores, however, is this: If devilish (not to mention divine) supernatural energy is operative in the world (and Scriptures like 2 Thess. 2:7-9 compel us to affirm that it is), then it is not true that all energetic phenomena have a scientific explanation and are among those parts of God’s creation that we are to “take dominion” over. We therefore cannot afford to assume that all phenomena are spiritually safe for us to explore — even if certain good effects are associated with them (2 Cor. 11:14).9
What if the practice is not condemned by name in the Scriptures (a point Kline makes in defense of acupuncture, Applied Kinesiology, and “most” holistic health practices10)? If it can be shown to be a part of or intrinsically related to something that is specifically condemned (in this case, spiritism — Deut. 18:11), or if it tends to involve or encourage unbiblical (in this case, occultic) concepts or behavior, it should still be avoided (1 Thess. 5:22).
I recognize that in matters of discernment such as these — where a practice is not specifically named in Scripture — a Christian’s judgment cannot always be foolproof. It could be that a concept or practice we currently consider occultic will later be shown to be scientific. But if after careful, objective examination of the available evidence something appears to be occultic, we do well to avoid it. This is prudence, not closed-mindedness or paranoia.
A Mysterious Force
Kline laments that “the Church has a penchant for not accepting any valid scientific discovery until about a century after the world has.”11 Even if we accepted this claim, it would be irrelevant to the issue at hand. For the “world” (as represented by the scientific establishment) has not accepted the bioenergy central to the above-named holistic health therapies as a valid scientific discovery.
Despite much effort to establish its scientific basis, this force remains enigmatic.12 A few debatable claims to scientific verification for it have been made, but they have not been accepted by the scientific community at large.13 Even many proponents of energetic medicine admit that bioenergy still fails the tests of repeatability and explainability required of an authentic scientific theory).14
Pagan/Occult Connections
While bioenergy has resisted the scrutiny of hard science, it is not difficult to classify it in terms of the sociological setting in which it has historically appeared: it is a fundamental feature of spiritistic paganism. Parapsychologist Thelma Moss, who has extensively researched healing energies, provides a few examples: “Is there a common thread that can be discerned through these various phenomena of healing? I believe so. The Hindus call it ‘prana,’ the Hawaiians ‘mana,’ the Chinese ‘ch’i,’ and Hippocrates called it the ‘heat oozing out of my hand.’ Mesmer ‘animal magnetism,’ and Quimby ‘mind force.’ I believe they were all referring to the same invisible energy.”15
Wherever it has appeared — in ancient paganism, modern occultism, or parapsychological research — this “life force” has been accompanied by altered states of consciousness, psychic phenomena, and contact with spirits.16 Additionally, those who are capable of perceiving, and adept at manipulating, this force invariably are shamans (e.g., witch doctors), “sensitives,” or psychics, thoroughly immersed in the pagan/occult world.17
In the New Age movement today bioenergy theory operates within the context of pantheism: all reality is God, God is impersonal but conscious energy; therefore, all reality is a manifestation of spiritual energy. And if this energy can be released man will be both healed and mystically enlightened to his true divinity. The actual manifestations of this energy (e.g., healings) have convinced many that New Age pantheism must be true (which provides us with a motive for satanic forces to manifest such healings).
Furthermore, the energy system models used to explain these therapies — which Kline himself defends (the meridians of acupuncture, the seven chakras [psychic centers] of yoga, the auras of occultism) — are all imbedded in world views that are intrinsically pagan and antagonistic to Christianity.18 Their intricate structures, and laws are directly related to religious concepts and are not even remotely related to physical science. It simply will not do to say (as many Christians besides Kline have) that these systems are true aspects of God’s creation that were discovered and accurately described or diagrammed, but not accurately interpreted, by pagans.19
A Vital Mistake
To my knowledge, Christians working with meridians and other religious/occultic energy systems have not seriously attempted to reconcile these systems to their faith. But they have at least grappled with the underlying concept of bioenergy. Attempting to demystify this force, Kline identifies it with electromagnetism. Citing the holistic health doctrine that an energy-based model is better for understanding health and disease than one based on matter, Kline comments: “It’s not hard, based upon quantum physics to come to this conclusion. Indeed, various frequencies of electromagnetic energy are the common denominator of all things. I acknowledge that as a fact of God’s creation. The New Age pantheist, however, sees that energy as the ‘all is One’ that is a non-personal God.”20 Endorsing Dr. Harold Saxton Burr’s Electrodynamic Theory of Life, Kline concludes that “there is a deeper level of life beneath the physical and chemical levels we normally measure — an electrical level that is ultimately responsible for producing our physical and chemical bodies.”21
At the same time, Kline correctly identifies the bioenergy concept with the metaphysical (i.e., philosophical) theory of life known as vitalism. Portraying this philosophy as a scientifically valid alternative to the dominant view of mechanism, he states that “the concept of Vitalism acknowledges that difference, that something extra that distinguishes a living from a non-living being.”22 Scripturally, he explains, that “something more” or “vital force” of vital km is the “breath of life” that God breathed into the dust to make man (Gen. 2:7). He concludes: “I believe that Scripture clearly shows the truth of the vitalistic concept of life over the mere mechanistic concept. The scriptural concept of Vitalism is the key to understanding the body’s ‘invisible energies’ and bioenergetic testing methods.”23
Although Kline has succeeded at describing bioenergy in nonoccultic terms (in some respects scientific, in other respects biblical), he has done so at the expense of a coherent position. Misunderstanding the meaning of vitalism, he has confused several distinct concepts. First of all, the difference between the philosophies of mechanism and vitalism is not the difference between a view of life based on matter and a view of life based on electromagnetic energy. The “vital energy” of vitalism is classically a nonscientific force. It cannot be reduced to the laws of physics (including electrodynamics) any more than it can the laws of chemistry. Thus, ironically, in holding that life can be explained in terms of scientific (i.e., physical) energy Kline is actually arguing for a mechanistic view.
Second, and related to the above, while it could be said that the Bible supports a form of vitalism, this does not provide a “key to understanding the body’s ‘invisible energies’ and bioenergeric testing methods.” Genesis 2:7 relates that the Lord “formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [Hebrew: hay nephesh].” The Hebrew Scriptures use the term haya to denote the experience and quality of life; its usage provides no insight into the nature of that life (i.e., pertaining to the vitalism debate). The word nephesh, which in its original usage meant “breath,” is used in the Old Testament to cover a range of related concepts including “life,” “soul,” and “person.” . . .
Third, the form of vitalism that is at the base of all energetic healing models is not the biblical view. Rather, it is rooted in an “emmanational” philosophy that is closely related to pantheism.24 According to this view, the “life force” is the very essence of God, radiating outward from the Divine Center as the inner reality and vitalizing principle of creation. Thus the universe becomes intrinsically alive (its essence being “spirit” or “intelligence”).
Many New Agers would agree with Kline that bioenergy is electromagnetism, but in their view it is much more than that. All “physical” energies are manifestations of divine energy. Since pantheists believe that nothing is ultimately physical, they easily blur the distinctions between physical and spiritual entities — distinctions that are critical to the Christian who wishes to avoid demonic involvement. Thus, for them, bioenergy takes on properties beyond anything science has found in electromagnetism: it has a mind of its own and a will to be well (the Innate Intelligence of original chiropractic theory); it is better manipulated and channeled by therapists who have highly developed psychic or intuitive abilities.25 Ultimately, vitalism is considered scientific by New Agers only because the spiritual realm itself is considered scientific in their pantheistic world view.
It would appear that Christians are doomed to failure when they attempt to fit the vital energy of energetic medicine into a Christian context. Yes, there are energies which radiate throughout the universe and permeate and surround our physical bodies, and there are respects in which these energies are significant to health and health care.26 But they are physical, not vital, forces. . . . It is not a cosmic energy that flows into our bodies, passes through various channels (e.g., meridians, chakras), and then flows back out into the universe. Thus, it cannot be obstructed; nor is there a need to “release” or “balance” it.
The idea that the universe is energy, that this energy is alive, and that this vital energy needs to be manipulated in our bodies to promote health is the basis of energetic medicine; it is essentially a pantheistic view and cannot be conformed to biblical theology. Pantheistic vitalism — since it makes no radical distinctions between spirit and matter — can have applications to health care. A biblical vitalism (if we may use the term) cannot.
Clearly, Kline has missed the differences between scientific and nonscientific energies and lumped them all together under the misleading heading of “invisible energies.” Once these various concepts are sorted out we find no solid reason to believe that the energy of energetic medicine is physical and scientific, but several good reasons to strongly suspect that if it exists at all (and I believe it does), it is supernatural and demonic. The risk is great, therefore, that it cannot be utilized without the utilizer becoming the utilized (i.e., a pawn and victim of satanic forces and deception). In fact, my wide-ranging research of occultism emboldens me to suggest that this energy is part and parcel of the occult — where the occult appears, it can be found; where it is found, the occult will inevitably appear.
ARE THEY THEIR OWN BEST ARGUMENT?
We might expect Kline and other Christian practitioners of these arts to reply that they themselves are the best argument against what has been presented above: they are Bible-believing Christians, not New Agers. Thus this energy does not always appear in the context of paganism, and it does not always lead to occult involvement and New Age beliefs.
All that has really been proven so far, however, is that Bible-believing Christians can attempt to utilize this energy within a nonoccultic context. If this energy is inherently occultic (and thus demonic) then all their good intentions will not prevent Christians involved with it from becoming confused and compromised. Continued involvement could gradually lead to further involvement with the occult, and the deterioration of Christian faith and life. I am aware of cases where this scenario has indeed been lived out, and I find no assurance that the same will not ultimately hold true for all who become deeply involved with this energy. If the practice is occultic, then Kline’s advice to “seek committed Christian practitioners”27 will not suffice.
In summary, Kline’s “flat earth” analogy fails because it overlooks one all-important factor. While he rightly notes that Christians have opposed legitimate science in the past because its theories contradicted their traditions, this is not the case here. The concern of evangelicals like myself is rather the clear-cut historic connection between this unvalidated “science” and spiritistic paganism.
Christians who believe in the supreme authority of Scripture must also believe in the biblical doctrine of Satan and his pervasive influence in this present world system. If “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), how much more the kingdom of the occult, his unique domain! Thus Christians have every reason to be cautious concerning phenomena that has had a long and strong connection to the realm of occultism and paganism.
NOTES
1Claudia Wallis, “Why New Age Medicine Is Catching On,” Time, 4 November 1991, 68.
2See, e.g., Elisabeth Rosenthal, “Hands-On Back Therapy Is Winning Respectability,” New York Times, 3 July 1991, sect. A.
3Many chiropractors disavow such energy balancing, however. For example, see the Christian Chiropractors Association’s “Policy Statement on New Age Healing” (CCA, 3200 S. Lemay Av., Fort Collins, CO 80525-3605).
4See, e.g., John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Can You Trust Your Doctor? (Chattanooga, TN: Global Publishers, 1991); Paul C. Reisser, Teri K. Reisser, and John Weldon, New Age Medicine (Chattanooga, TN:Global Publishers, 1988); and chapters 2 and 5 of Elliot Miller, A Crash Course on the New Age Movement (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989). A European evaluation along the same lines is found in Samuel Pfeifer, M.D., Healing at Any Price? The Hidden Dangers of Alternative Medicine (Milton Keynes, England: Word Publishing, 1988).
5See, e.g., the preface of Reisser, Reisser, and Weldon.
6Monte Kline, Ph.D., “New Age Paranoia,” Christian Health Counselor, March/April 1988,1-2.
7Ibid., 4.
8Ibid., 3.
9Although Kline acknowledges the need to test potentially occultic activity (Ibid., 5-6), the tests he recommends are insufficient. While “direct scriptural reference” is invaluable, practices unnamed in Scripture can still be unbiblical. Testing the fruit of an activity in someone’s life is also an important criteria, but requiring subjective judgments as it does, this test can never be conclusive on its own.
10Ibid., 5.
11Ibid., 3.
12See, e.g., John Taylor, Science and the Supernatural (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1950), 42-43: Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, 2d ed., s.v. “Psychical Research.”
13For example, Kirlian photography is constantly cited as providing the long-awaited proof of an aura of life energy surrounding the human body. Yet in scientific literature the phenomenon has long been sufficiently explained in terms of the moisture content of animate and inanimate objects — without reference to any vital energy. See, e.g.. Taylor, 43-44.
14See, e.g., Bernard Grad, “Healing by the Laying on of Hands: A Review of Experiments,” in Ways of Health: Holistic Approaches in Ancient and Contemporary Medicine, ed. David S. Sobel (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), 283-85: and Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, s.v. “Emanations.”
15Dr. Thelma Moss, The Probability of the Impossible: Scientific Discoveries and Explorations of the Psychic World (New York: New American Library, 1974), 84.
16See e.g., Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, s.v. “Vitality.”
l7See, e.g., the discussion of Baron von Reichenbach’s experiments in Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, s.v. “Emanations.”
18In a longer version of this article I devote over 700 words to expounding and demonstrating this position, using meridian therapy as a case in point. The interested reader may obtain a copy by writing me at Christian Research Institute.
19This is not to say that all forms of energetic medicine are unscientific and unbiblical in every respect. Acupuncture and chiropractic both appeal to a life force as the basis for their practice. Through manipulating this energy they supposedly can heal all manner of disease. They have not lived up to this claim. Nonetheless they are popular forms of alternative medicine. Why? They have proven effective at relieving certain kinds of pain. But this success can be explained in orthodox medical terms, without reference to any life force.
20Kline, 3.
21Monte Kline, “Bioenergetic Testing,” Christian Health Counselor, May/June 1988, 3.
22Ibid., 2.
23Ibid.
24See, e.g., the Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, s.v. “Emanations.”
25For example, acupressurist Diane Black explains that while theoretical knowledge and technique are important, “the chi dance is the thing.” That is, one must intuitively tap into “energies from the core of our beings and from the universe around us....it is the primordial skill of exchanging life’s energies, of opening to the universe’s energies that we can’t possess, but can use, channel and build with as a tool for life.” (“Chi — The Life Force,” Handtools: Acupressure Quarterly, Winter 1984, 6.)
26See, e.g., Harold M. Schmeck, Jr., “Magnetism: Promising New Tool in Diagnostic Medical Research,” The Orange County Register, 7 February 1981.
27Kline, New Age Paranoia, 6.
Glossary
Applied Kinesiology: A diagnostic method based on the premise that various muscles are related to various organs and glands, and that by testing for weakness in these muscles dysfunctions in the related organs and glands can be detected.
energetic medicine: Any of several therapeutic approaches which are based on the view that good health consists of proper energy flow in the body, and a blockage or imbalance of this flow constitutes disease.
meridian therapy: Any health care method which, on the assumption that health consists in the balanced flow of chi (vital energy) through twelve bilateral channels (meridians) in the human body, seeks to balance this chi by stimulating — via puncture (acupuncture) or pressure (acupressure) — various acu-points along the meridians’ courses.
spiritism: The voluntary possession of a human being by an invisible entity (usually thought of as a spirit) to obtain information, healing power, and so forth.
vitalism: A metaphysical doctrine of the nature of life which states that life is a substance that is not exhaustively composed of nonliving substance (i.e., physical matter/energy). The term is often associated with a vitalistic concept of the universe itself in which evolution is guided upward by a vital impetus.
The New Age Movement and Seventh-day Adventists
General Conference Biblical Research Institute
“We believe it is dangerous reasoning for Christians to think they can adopt and adapt occult healing techniques and separate them from their original context . . .” (page 12)
“We wish to underscore this warning. Conservative Christians who have studied holistic health over the last two decades are convinced that its diagnosing and healing procedures are based squarely on occult and mystical concepts. While some elements in holistic health may be matters of indifference, no distinctive occult technique can be viewed as "neutral" even when separated ostensibly from its roots. (page 8)
“The counsel is clear. In harmony with the Bible, Ellen White recognizes the presence of Satan and evil angels behind the occult systems of healing. To pursue recovery from sickness at such sources simply opens the door to satanic deceptions and control. The Ellen G. White writings give no support to the holistic health's pantheistic view of reality and emphatically reject this approach to healing. (page 10)
“There is no question that healings take place with the use of occult methods. That is what makes them deceptive. . . . It is not in the healing or the miracle that the evidence is to be sought. Both God and Satan can heal. Consequently, the Christian must look beyond the miracle or healing to the teachings being endorsed. Healing by occult-mystical methods simply endorses the occult-mystical worldview and places both the practitioner and the patient on Satan’s ground to be oppressed by him at will.” (page 14)
Energetic Medicine falls squarely within the boundaries of occult-mystical methods and as stated above “places both the practitioner and the patient on Satan’s ground to be oppressed by him at will.” “To pursue recovery from sickness at such sources simply opens the door to satanic deceptions and control.”
Many Faces of Healing: Unmasked - April 6-8, 2007
Today there is great interest in "natural healing" and a medical approach that is free from drugs. This interest has made many alternative/complementary therapies (i.e. acupuncture, aromatherapy, iridology, homeopathy, magnets, methods to align the flow of energy/ fluids, therapeutic touch, etc.) attractive to many people. These are relatively inexpensive, easily available and seemingly without adverse effects. They continue to grow in popularity and many are proclaiming great benefits.
How could there be any danger or harm in participating in such "natural," drug-free methods? Eve was totally unsuspecting when Satan used the serpent for a medium to beguile her in Eden. Is it possible that we too might be misled by his deceptions today?
This seminar will unmask the foundation and origin of many popular alternative/complementary therapies, helping the participant recognize the connections with pagan philosophy and theology. By attending this seminar you will develop a clearer understanding of God's true methods and will be better equipped to correctly identify Satan's many deceptions in health and healing. Come participate, it may save you life--your eternal life.
To hear these lectures online and to download relevant materials go to:
At the General Conference Annual Meeting they voted into church policy the following:
"The activities of the devil are rampant, both within and without the church. The church is warned (Col 2:8) 'Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men.' Because of the great controversy between good and evil, Health Ministries encourages church members to avoid practices rooted in non-Christian philosophy and belief. The Church and its institutions should promote and provide competent and caring service that respects the dignity and rights of patients.[pic]
Adventist health care and ministries are to promote only those practices based upon the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy, or evidence-based methods of disease prevention, treatment, and health maintenance. 'Evidence-based' means there is an accepted body of peer reviewed, statistically significant evidence that raises probability of effectiveness to a scientifically convincing level. Practices without a firm evidence-base and not based on the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy, including though not limited to aromatherapy, cranial sacral therapy, homeopathy, hypnotherapy, iridology, magnets, methods aligning forces of energy, pendulum diagnostics, untested herbal remedies, reflexology, repetitive colonic irrigation, therapeutic touch, and urine therapy, should be discouraged."
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