“Reincarnation is a heresy; evocation is a sin”
 

Theologians have completely changed the tone of the criticisms addressed to the Spiritism. The time when the mediumistic communications were considered acts of the “devil” and the mediums were considered as fakes, has long gone.

This change of posture can be found in several books, such as "Spiritualism and Faith" written by the friar Boaventura Kloppenburg, published by “Círculo de Leitura” in 1986.

Friar Kloppenburg is an old acquainted of the Brazilian spiritists, due to his various publications addressed against the "heretics" of the twentieth century.

In the above mentioned book, however, the theologian assumes a curious position. Firstly, he states that the Church has never officially considered the afterlife communications as a devil’s act. According to his point of view, the spiritist communications are perfectly possible; the error would be to invoke spirits; and this is the “sin” committed by the spiritists. The evocation - the act by which the mediums invoke spirits - would be a sin condemned by the Bible and, according to his point of view, one of the two great evils of the Spiritism.

The other one, which he calls "heresy", is the belief in reincarnation. Heretics therefore would be all those who believe in the thesis that a spirit can come back to a new physical body to continue its further evolution. This is the core of the new ideas disseminated by the renowned theologian.

We must respect all sincere opinions for sure. Friar Bonaventure is a sincere theologian and therefore he deserves our greatest respect. However it is necessary to clarify that neither the reincarnation nor the evocation of spirits were condemned by Jesus from Nazareth, the true author of the Christian Doctrine, which is, from all points of view, superior to the doctrine contained in the Old Testament, in which the Spiritism’s critics seek the arguments to ban the evocations of the dead.

Reincarnation is one of the fundamental principles of the Spiritist Doctrine and undoubtedly one of its strengths. Who confirms this are the newly converted spiritist, who explain that thanks to the reincarnation law, they might better understand their existential problems and resolve them. After the work published by Ian Stevenson and Banerjee, who studied the subject for a long time, reincarnation is no longer a naive belief attributed to spiritists, but a subject of academic studies.

And it was exactly a psychologist with a Protestant background - the American Morris Netherton – who has founded, over thirty years ago, a new therapeutic technique based on our lives or past lives experiences, which has worldwide members such as physicians and health professionals.

The communication with the so-called dead has converted more than one desperate father, who finds in the post-mortem letter received from his beloved son the comforting message of faith, hope and immortality.

Chico Xavier was the instrument in hundreds of these cases. But he did not invoke the spirit of the youngsters that have departed. It was the desire to be reunited, the suffering of their parents that made and still make these spirits to come back to us and say that they are alive, that death does not exist and it is in Jesus that we find the true path to the happiness that we dream.

The evocation of spirits was a process adopted by Kardec and his followers in order to structure the Spiritist Doctrine. Kardec used to attend the meetings with a list containing several questions. The Spirits answered the questions. This is how the "The Spirit’s Book" was born. The evocation, so condemned by the Friar Boaventura, is not currently in practise.

The Spiritual Instructors, such as Emmanuel, call our attention to the fact that it is not necessary to invoke spirits. The spirits attend the mediumistic sessions where they can communicate spontaneously, as per God’s permission, using their available time and own need or desire to express themselves through a medium.