The Christian- humanist skepticism and healing mediumship
Davilson Silva

Healing mediumship follows the natural order of things; as
stated by Kardec, in nature there is proof of a
spiritual being existing within man

Do men’s illnesses have to do with “God’s punishment” for “committed sins”, according to theologians? Wouldn’t it be an utter nonsense, an absurd such a blasphemy? Is it legitimate for someone, once being ill, to seek a healing medium to spare him, or at least alleviate him from a disease?

Since the beginning of times, we know man is much more than a mere existing, animated   being. When ceasing to believe in divine punishment, it caused great suffering to a number of people. Illnesses… God’s punishment? It’s nothing but an outrage, consequence of obsessions of guilt that have caused countless disturbances of a psychological kind.

Well, with the last of the questions presented above we won’t compromise answering right away: it’s as fair to seek a healing medium as to seek a doctor. If there is healing mediumship, God allows that to take place; if God permits it, there are wise and magnanimous reasons why. Spiritual healing represents one of the generous expedients of the judicious divine mercy in order not to let men take his condition of incarnated Spirit for granted. The Creator of all there is never neglected His creation on earth. From ancient times, accidents and illnesses, all the time, were part of the everyday life. In Jurassic times, dinosaurs had bone tumors; Paleolithic men suffered from spine tuberculosis; in Neolithic times trepanation was practiced (because of the discovery of perforated skulls), maybe aiming at curing epilepsy. God has never cease to provide resources for us to face problems of existence. Divine solicitude has never been away from things in this world, especially man, Soul or incarnated Spirit, even in rudimental forms.           

Independent Perceptions – A Spirit, trapped in a perishable physical body for a certain time is, above all, a being equipped of independent perceptions of its dense format. Its solid shape is nothing but a mirror of its spiritual form. Apostle Paul (I Cor., 15:40) referred to an “earthly body” and a “heavenly body”, stating that, “undoubtedly, one is the glory of heaven and the other of the earth”.

The Spiritual Being, active in its “earthly body”, meaning its physical body, by means of natural phenomena, has the power to change the chemical composition of a sick organ, what science deems unexplainable. Ever since man has appeared in the world, healing resources have been available, from the self healing system – for example, a cut in a finger would immediately start to heal -, to the awareness of the need for an emotional balance in order to achieve a perfect health. The medical doctor Michael Wynne Parker pointed out that an expressive number of physicians already admit that up to 80% of all patients suffer from diseases caused by emotional stress and irrepressible ideas.

Well then. For Dr. Parker, Who is also a protestant and bearer of healing mediumship, it is inadmissible the prejudice and the skepticism of Science and Church about mediums and spiritual healing. ¹ He wrote in his book: Healing And The Wholeness And Man: “The affirmation that it is not the healer who cures is in absolute contradiction with the concept of complete self-sufficiency of man” (between parentheses in order to emphasize the term medium as opposed to “healer’ for it represents a derogative connotation and shows intolerance for not distinguishing an imposture from the truth).

For the doctor, when instructing the humanist development of the Church, theologians ended up clashing with the difference we know exists between the spiritual and the material principles. Should be understood as Christian humanism the belief that man in his own and complete self-sufficiency, believing only in what He experienced, witnessed and what he is capable to do is skeptical of all the rest. Thus, humanism from the Church, resulting from western Christianity, has underestimated human spirituality, throughout the centuries, opposing atheistic materialism from science experts. 

Exclusion of the philosophical-spiritual aspect — When wishing to bring democracy to the west, the Church (either Catholic or Protestant) overestimated issues related to the physical, the material, and not the Spirit. Worried about materialism and thinking of expanding Christianity with the desire to civilize certain areas of Europe, by providing them with culture and education, the Church applied all its strength in politics and sociology. When taking part in irreconcilable sectors with the purpose of a true connection of the creature with its Creator, theologians emphasized the breaking up between man and God. Therefore, the humanist development shirked what would be an effective approach to Spirituality, excluding the philosophical-spiritual part, and giving birth to the complete and colliding self-sufficiency of man.

Until today, a reflex of this “reactionary mentality” lingers on, according to Dr. Parker, who, in his own opinion, generated the so-called charismatic and psychological movements. It is worth mentioning: medium phenomena are verified in the realm of the Church and could not be avoided. Due to its frequency, there was no way but to cleverly hide them underneath the dogmatic cloud of the Holy Spirit. This slant of the Church for the physical and the private and dutiful interests of its acts came from this concern about “civilizing” most of the European continent.

Once the Church, utterly identified with material development, ever since the Reform, let itself be led, up to today, by its Humanist Christianity, failing the indispensable medium work. That’s why the Church prosecutes, arrests and sets paranormals and mediums in flames, underestimating the limitless mental potential of the human condition and its severe consequences, which disturbs the Church, and, should I say, shake its pragmatic structures, for it is free and out of their reach. However, despite the old materialistic skepticism from Science and the western Church, ² the manifestations will continue to take place whether inside or outside the academic realm at the margin of the ecclesiastic enterprise or even within it.

Scientists and theologians haven’t marched towards the same ideal; but there’s something in common between them: they have always denied the many medium paranormal manifestations. Especially, as far as the Church is concerned, even if in private, cautiously, they accept their own paranormal and medium occurrences and claim: “there’s no truth outside the Church”, medium phenomena will never be their privilege. Nothing will stop Spirits from acting all the time and in different environments, by means of whomever: whether young or old, rich or poor, wise or ignorant, with this or that belief, whatever that may be.   

Mediums and doctors together — For instance, many hospitals are open (about 1.500 of them), spreading all throughout England, where healing mediums of all kinds of faith are allowed to work with the non-natural medicine. Probably, only in such a country (of protestant majority!) there is such a well organized program of cure in the world, with the support of notable National Federation of Spiritual Healers. ³ This federation has existed since 1950, and is accepted as a corporate member in the Association of the United Nations.

By the way, look at this! The master Allan Kardec himself, wrote in the 19th Century:  

We said that healing mediumship will not kill medicine or doctors, but will not cease to deeply change the medical science. Undoubtedly, there will always be healing mediums, because they have always been around, and this ability is in nature, but they will be fewer and fewer, as we increase the number of medium-doctors, and science and mediumship start helping each other. Then there will be more trust in doctors when they are mediums and in mediums when they are doctors. ⁴   

In conclusion: healing mediumship follows the natural order of things; as stated by the master Kardec, it is in nature, and it proves there is a spiritual being inside us, at the same time it is of our service. Diseases are not related to divine punishment, despite theologians making us believe this nonsense. Our Father has never wished to see anyone sick and medium cures are not a privilege of any specific religious denomination or any sect. It is worth mentioning that the spiritual father of medicine was not Hippocrates, from the islands of Cos, but Jesus, from the city of Nazareth. In the name of God, Jesus performed cures without any ostentation, without any sumptuous apparatus and without circumscribing this sublime procedure to any specific venue (all in all, the Doctor of all Doctors accomplished 26 individual cures and 27 in groups, not to mention 9 cures performed by the apostles).

It is justifiable to seek a medium, but one that does not promise alleged miracles, instant cures, once that, according to the words of my dear friend, Prof. Edvaldo Kulcheski, “it’s not by chance, as it overtakes from inside out”. The ideal medium would be, therefore, one that is proven to be competent, discreet and benevolent.

Notes:
 

1 -       The doctor Michel Wynne Parker was a minister of the Methodist Church, but abandoned the institution due to theological divergences with its leaders who prosecuted him because of his involvement with spiritual healing.
 

2 -       When we refer to the western Church, we are making a distinction between this one and the Eastern one, the so-called Orthodox Church, which by western standards is “little orthodox”, naturally for not have followed the Christian humanist steps, and is geared towards the phenomena of spiritual healings.

3 -       We cannot leave out the fact that the National Federation of Spiritual Healers, operates within ethics, not charging for services rendered, and its members are under a Hippocratic Oath. Moreover, the existence of the American Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine of the United States, with about 1.400 members, all doctors, could not be overlooked.

4 -       KARDEC, Allan. Spiritualistic Magazine, Psychological Studies Journal, Vol. 10, October of 1867, S/ed. São Paulo, Edicel — Editora Cultural Espírita Ltda., s/d, p. 304.

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