Reiki (again) QUESTION from Archdeacon on November 2, 2002 Dear Brother,
Here we go again with Reiki. I have used your excellent teachings on this healing system in a futile effort to convince my Catholic friends that Reiki is not Christian, and that it might even be dangerous to receive a treatment from one of their practicioners. But as time goes by, I find that more and more Catholics are not only being prayed with, but are actually receiving training in this occult system, and are offering their services (at a price, by the way), to their friends. I keep on getting asssured that these persons are devout Catholics, so there can't possibly be any danger in receiving treatment from them. I can't believe how naive these folks are! They believe that mixing Reiki with a couple of Our Fathers and Hail Mary's, and invoking the Holy Spirit, will take care of everything.
I know that some people involved in Santeria do the same thing. They use statues and incense, and call on Catholic saints (whom they make interchangeable with their gods/demons). Does that make their occult practices legitimate? Of course not. I welcome your comments.
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on November 3, 2002 Dear Deacon:
The situation reminds me of the old cliche: What part of NO do you not understand? the N or the o?
All we can do is to present the facts and to pray. If these people insist on allowing satan a stronghold in their lives we cannot force them to do otherwise.
There is NO WAY Reiki can be sanitized by added a few Hail Mary's to it, just as there is no way that Santeria can add a few Catholic prayers and call it Catholic.
Satan works in two primary ways:
1) The Poison Apple Method:
In this method the apple looks good to eat, but satan has injected poison in the middle. If we foolishly bite into the apple without testing the apple first, we may find ourselves poisoned by the devil. This method is easy to fall victim if we are careless or causal about the seriousness of the devil's snares. We MUST follow the advice of St. Paul to test all things.
2) Grain of Truth Method:
This method is more sneaky in a way, but any Christian should be able to discern it, or so we would think.
In this method there is a grain of truth presented with a whole bunch of garbage around it. I illustrate this on a blackboard with a circle and a dot in the middle. The dot is the grain of truth; the rest of the circle is the demonic garbage.
People will see the grain of truth and then PRESUME that all the things attached to that grain of truth are okay. Such presumption can be deadly.
Satan knows what he is doing. He knows that the best way to corrupt Christians is to infiltrate the teaching positions such as DREs, CCD, seminaries, etc. AND to infiltrate the Spiritual Retreat and other spiritual assistance programs. This is the reason why MOST of the Spiritual Retreat Centers in the United States, even those run by ancient religious orders, have become New Age and even occultic in their approach to spiritual direction and spiritual growth.
All we can do is to present the facts. Then pray, pray, pray.
If you know specific people who are getting involved in this nonsense, you may wish to pray Hedge Prayers or other specific Spiritual Warfare prayers.
We have a catalog of such prayers in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog
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