Yesterday, buddy Rey and I were talking about his wife's previous experience performing tawas on people afflicted with paranormal illnesses. I am not a believer of this alternative treatment although my kids when they were young were subjected to these rituals because my husband's kins were believers.
Rey narrated how her wife uses the egg to determine if a person is nabati, nausog, nabalis, may sapi, etc. (Pardon me because I do not how to translate these words in English.) When a person approaches his wife or she simply sees a person seemingly ill, she will ask that person to buy an egg and after whispering litanies of a sort and the egg standing up on its own (the egg is raw), she will tell the person that she had stepped on something (or someone?) na hindi nakikita (not seen by anyone) located at a particular part of the house or garden, etc. She will then give an instruction to the afflicted or to the relatives of the afflicted on what to do, or perform rituals. One instruction was to go to the location and ask forgiveness from someone he/she doesn't see. She can also perform a ritual of exhaling air to the person from the head down. Rey contends that those people were healed after a short time.
When asked how she knows the description of the house or the area, she said that they simply appear like she's watching tv. These scenes suddenly flash letting her know where the location is and what (or who?) did it. Rey's wife has the ability to see objects and events beyond normal sight like a clairvoyant.
What I am worried about is if there is a 'spirit' who is with my buddy's wife. And if this is a form of sorcery, the more that I am anxious. The Lord God has a warning that says, "I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them..." (Leviticus 20:6). Thank God she had long discontinued the practice. Rey said that each time she does the act, she gets sick or feels ill. Pretty scary.
Then my mind wandered to the possibility of not seeing objects or events but hearing or knowing what other people think, particularly about me. I don't know if this is possible and can be classified as clairvoyance, too, then again it would be interesting to know. What if God gave us this choice to be able to listen or learn what other people think? Would it hurt that much if I learn that there are people who think ill about me than those who appreciate me? Would it weaken my self-esteem or contribute to the desire to better myself?
Papsie does not like the idea. He could gain enemies when that happens he told me. He would probably react in a negative way when people will think harshly after all the good things he had done for them. Oh, well, even without these supernatural ability, there exist people who repays good things with bad deeds. Their traits speak how they think. This is probably good reason enough not to ask for a supernatural ability.
If we believe that God is All powerful, then GOD is the only one who can break the laws of nature at will. Since the devil is not God, then it means that he cannot cause levitation because it's against the general theory of relativity (which explains gravity). which means mas magaling pa si david copperfield kesa sa ugok na devil.
ReplyDeleteHe also can not hear your thoughts. He is not All powerful (unlike GOD).
In our day and age the evidence we have shows that even God has seen fit NOT to break the precious laws of nature which he laid down at the founding of the universe.
So let us not attribute powers to the pathetic devil that he never had in the first place (the only power he has is to cause fear... and to spread virus, bacteria, fungi, parasites, genetic, metabolic illnesses etc.)
And let us not assume that GOD will give people extranatural powers. that will be breaking the laws of science. God is not a law breaker. God is not the Devil.
hi, tk. truly God is a powerful God. i believe so. God is also a spirit, an all powerful spirit. the devil and his advocates are also spirits. but we cannot underestimate his power because as you said he can cause fear. that is exactly his power - to lure people to sin, to inflict pain and illnesses, and to kill. and by saying that he is a powerful spirit, i don't advocate the devil's ways. it is like stating a fact that human beings are powerful too according to the gifts that were bestowed on them. we are even called 'little gods'.
ReplyDeletei am not saying the devil is equal to God. he cannot be. how can he be when he was also a creature by God? the thing is, the devil can disguise himself and his works making it appear like it comes from God. we can refer to what the Bible says, "... for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness..." (2 Corinthians 11:14).
we also cannot deny the fact that there are people who have extra natural powers (if we mean doing things that most people cannot do). take for example the woman in I Samuel 28 who summoned the spirit of Samuel upon Saul's command. consulting the spirits in those days is taboo according to God's policies. so where did the woman's extra natural power came? it cannot be from God because God forbids people to consult spirits and mediums.
Hmm, wouldn't it be nice to have the power to listen to anyone's thoughts? If I have that gift, sasali ako sa "Who wants to be a Millionaire", or any other tv game show, hehe. :-D
ReplyDeleteSnglguy, trust me man, the first place you'd go should God grant you that power, is a single's bar.
ReplyDelete"In our day and age", Bing.
We all believe in God and only He can bend the Law of Nature but if one of us a granted the gift, he or she must not use it for bad things. I won't question supernatural abilities because a part of me believes that it does exist because peculiarity can exist in the world.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty scary too to be able to see "things". But glad that your friend's wife has discontinued the healing rituals that she does for people.
ha ha oo nga, 'no, single? good idea. tiyak ang panalo! ha ha :-D
ReplyDeletei second the motion, tk. a single's bar is the first place he should go to and find out who has the hots for him. ahihihi
well, in our day and age, i had witnessed a friend who was possessed by the enemy, tk.
glad, too, kyels. if it's causing her her health then it is best that she stops. :-)
They cannot be translated to english because they do not have any English counterpart.
ReplyDeleteah.. oo nga, mon.
ReplyDeleteI belive in "hilot" - massage therapy to this day ..but these faith healer? definitely not.
ReplyDeleteif the hilot is good, will definitely have a repeat session, nalen. pero me hilot ding masakit manghilot he he at di ka na uulit pa.
ReplyDeletehehehehe ang kailangan mo swedish massage hindi masakit yun :) pero yung massage na ginagawa ko tyak na aayawan mo lol!
ReplyDeleteI am not a believer also. But in pseudo psychology, they said that the mind is really powerful that there are things also in nature that can't be explained by science.
ReplyDeleteWhatever. I still feel safe believing that only God is the most powerful.
"nabati, nausog, nabalis, may sapi," - I think you can use to the word "hexed". :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you had the power to read people's minds, the least you would be concerned is fret about what people think about you. It's a sorry state for you to have such power to bitch upon these poor mortals hehe :)
ReplyDeleteLooking at this phenomenon from a strictly theological perspective, such powers are supposed to be given by evil. Our paganic cultural backgrounds have likewise polluted and introduced mysticism in our religion and way of life :(
We have tried this tawas ritual when we were kids and it worked but growing up with faith I guess it is the most powerful of all ! When I was young we used to spend vacation in Quezon province and in times of sickness we went to see albularyos or manghihilot and tawas, itlog, leaves, cocounut oil, bigas etc. are one of their gadgets :) ! It did worked probably because of my Mom's prayers who made us all well ! Have a nice Wednesday Bingskee!
ReplyDeleteHi, Bing. Hope all is well. Just want to say I'm very, very sick and tired as I type these words (after a stressful holiday), but I feel I must comment on this blog entry, being a born-again Christian.
ReplyDeleteOk, here's my stand on this one:
These people, who do this kind of healing rituals, do have 'special powers" and they do not come from the Lord. The apostle Paul, for instance, had encountered "gifted" people who could foretell the future and who could heal people from all sorts of diseases. People were drawn to them and for obvious reasons.
While these 'faith healers' seem to do a good job, their source of power is rather, um, questionable to put it mildly. Their power cannot be from the Lord. The Bible doesn't mention anything about the use of "tawas," eggs, fresh chicken blood (my father believes in this sort of thing, my now deceased Lola being a spiritista), and what-have-you to heal people. So there is no way that such rituals are ordained by God.
The evil spirit behind these impressive healing or prophetic powers causes confusion. It is a deceptive way to keep people away from the truth which can be found in the one true God who is the source of all things good and pure, which includes complete healing from all physical ailments.
So, these faith healers do get results. But does the end justify the means? I don't think so.
*****
I can write more about these things, being exposed to these rituals as a child and as an adult (my spiritist-grandma had me prayed over by her spiritista friends every week when I was around five years old, and my parents drove me to many different places to see faith healers). As a result, my "third eye" was opened. I could see spirits -- in our home and in other places. Later on, when I became a Christian, this third eye was closed through prayers, and I could no longer see spirits.
These things do happen. Because, after all, we live in a spiritual world.
P.S. As for the "reading of the minds," there is such a thing called "word of knowledge" (God providing a Christian with 'inside info' about a person, place or event). There are modern-day prophets still at work in this day and age. They are gifted in discerning people's hearts and minds, BUT with good intentions. I had met a few during my stint in an international Christian organization. And when they were praying for us ministry workers whom they didn't know personally, they prayed for us specifically, knowing our specific backgrounds and needs. It was mind-blowing (how could this person know that I'm this and that, and that I'm struggling with this and that?).
And oh, before I forget, I got healed from partial deafness in 2000 when a Filipino missionary, who has a gift of healing, prayed for me. At first, I didn't really believe it (lack of faith, as one will call it), but truly, I was healed instantly!
Okay, Bing, I'll call it a day. :-) Sorry if I got carried away. Just want to discourage you to go to a "manghuhula" or faith healer, hehe.
One last thing: while we should not overestimate the power of the devil, we should also not underestimate its powers. However, it's a wonderful thing that God is more powerful than the enemy (after all, He was the one who created Lucifer).
ReplyDeleteHow good it is for a believer to know that "no weapon waged against him/her can prevail."
to attribute extra natural powers to the devil is flattering that old fart endlessly.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, he doesn't need extra natural powers to wreak havoc in this world.
I'm not talking about demon possession-- I'm talking about crack addiction.
I'm not talking about the "exorcist"-- I'm referring to CNN news headlines.
IN this day and age, there is no evidence that God is letting the devil break the laws of nature discovered by Einstein and Hawking.
unfortunately, that idiot/devil doesn't need to break the laws of Physics, he just needs George W to break the laws of men and common decency, supported by Pat Robertson (whether he has the gift of word of knowledge depends on one's sense of humor) and the neocons, to wreak havoc on the lives of women and CHILDREN in Iraq.
"Upon THIS ROCK I shall build my Church. and the powers of hades shall never more prevail against it" or something like that is somewhere in the bible. It's true. it refers to the Ancient Church of Christ, Right? The Catholic Church has survived despite of itself, the genocide called crusades, spanish inquisition and the reformation. atleast last I heard, the old guys there are discouraging beliefs not supported by scientific facts. Thank God they are old enough to learn their lesson from the Galileo fiasco.
i don't believe in quack doctors or whatever they are called. people from the province most esp. believe in such. it made me more of an anti-believer because i had a classmate in HS who died because she was taken to quack doctors and was given false conclusions. by the time her parents learned that she has bone cancer, it was too late. we think that she got it when we were doing the CMT training and three wooden rifles fell on her right or left hip bone (can't remember). her hip grew out of proportion and she became so skinny literally skin and bones.
ReplyDeletenalen, 'kala ko pa naman yung hilot mo ang tiyak na mas magugustuhan :-D
ReplyDeletehi, luchie. i would prefer, too, to believe in God than pseudo babbles.
pwede, single. mr thesaurus gave a definition like cursed.
well, at present without such power, bw, thinking about the possibility makes me wonder what it would be like when you have it. :-)
as to paganism, i also read about how it had introduced mysticism. looks like it was more appealing to people with a belief 'to see is to believe'.
hi, haze. if I don't have the knowledge about where these powers come from, it would be easy for me to believe. i had 'experimented' going to these faith healers and all sorts and the experience fortified my belief that God is the true healer.
i am very glad, jayred that you took time sharing your thoughts despite the need to rest. thank you, i appreciate it very much and actually had been wishing that you would get to read this post and share something.
i love your perspective about these things and with these words - It is a deceptive way to keep people away from the truth which can be found in the one true God who is the source of all things good and pure, which includes complete healing from all physical ailments.
don't you worry about you getting carried away. :-) it is really very nice of you to take time sharing your thoughts. be well, jayred. :-)
that's a sad story, evi. had known about a girl who went to one of these 'healers' who can detect illnesses daw. the healer suddenly announced that she is pregnant. the poor girl went home so ashamed because she was with her bf. after 9 months, she didnt get preggy but the damage was done. :-(
i had a teacher who had this special gift of seeing a person's aura or something like that. for example, you cannot lie to him because he'd know. it wasn't just some made-up story so we won't lie to him, it was true.
ReplyDeletei believe that there are really people whom God gave special powers to. but, yeah, i bet it's scary.
I belive that it is but one highly unknown and untapped human ability, to know what others are thinking. Mostly it's called ESP. I had of double-mind of it years ago, but now, after thorough observation, human beings could actually harness this capacity to the fullest.
ReplyDeletehi, babypink . i have yet to research about GOd's gifts to us. :-)
ReplyDeleteESP is clairvoyance, di ba, major tom? i would prefer being able to discern. it's lighter. :-)
when my sibs and I were younger, we were also sent to albularyos when we get skin allergies of the weirdest kind. But it stopped when my parents joined a religious organization. Also, after you are expose to the science of medicine and the like, you become more educated. Nowadays of course if I get sick or something, I will definitely go to a doctor but looking back, sometimes you can't help but wonder why in the world did you get healed with the help of an albularyo.
ReplyDeleteAs to having superpowers of hearing or knowing other people's thoughts? No thanks...the reason is very much clear why the higher being did not allow it. =)
they say, it's all in the mind, verns. the mind works wonders, too. if it wanted to believe something, it does send the signal to the parts of the body. :-)
ReplyDeleteagree, verns! God has reasons talaga.
thats actually pretty scary if she can really do those things or see those people(?)/elementals. what if she doesnt do what they say? what if shes harmed? i have never really believed in albularyos or hilots though my lola is. i actually think its ironic coz she is a devout catholic yet she believe those superstitious things. she said wala naman mangyayari masama kung maniniwala sya. Faith in God still does wonders.
ReplyDelete