Shamanism for Ol' Shep

Gary: Next week, the eighth segment of The Occult Invasion. We hope you can join us. You’re listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still ahead, answers to your questions in “Contending for the Faith.” And in “Understanding the Scriptures,” Dave and Tom resume their discussion of God’s salvation.

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Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from Dog Fancy Magazine under the headline, “Coyote Medicine: Into the Spirit World” by Lisa Hank:

“Shamans have been dispensing guidance, healing, and wisdom gleaned from the spirit world for thousands of years. Only recently have some veterinarians added shamanic healing techniques to their medical kits. Once such healer is Randy Kidd, DVM of Kansas City, Missouri. ‘Early results with the cases I’ve treated indicate a great potential for shamanism,’ he said. ‘Especially when used alongside all the family members, creating a balance between pets, humans, and nature’s inherent ability to heal.’ Shamans are believed to access the spirit world through a mental journey to another dimension, an alternate universe or a collective unconscious. They return with knowledge and power to spiritually heal all living things. To reach this plane a shaman might use mind-altering drugs, chants, dances, rattles, drums, and rituals to reach a trance-like state; a jumping off point to the spirit world.”
 

Continuing to quote Lisa Hanks: “I found myself, along with the audience at an American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association conference, being guided into the spirit world by Dr. Kidd to the monotone beat of an Indian drum. He encouraged us to drop into a deep meditative state and envision a flight into a desert dreamland populated with powerful spirits. Once grounded in this other-worldly landscape, we were to look around carefully noting our observations. A veterinary shaman might discover on the other plane that a dog’s inexplicable illness results from spiritual trauma such as the family’s imminent breakdown, a destructive secret, or recent stressful events. His cure would be to bring peace to the family and ease the dog’s symptoms as it heals. ‘Often the first animal you’ll see in the alternate plane is your power animal or a spirit guide,’ Dr. Kidd said. The guide might appear in the shape of an animal such as a lizard, coyote, snake, eagle, bear, or frog. Power animals provide answers to pressing questions, predictions, and clues. Although answers are often symbolic in nature and not straight-forward. As for my journey to the spirit world, I had a nice meditative break and did indeed envision a desert landscape. But my experience was obviously not as exciting as of some other attendees. One ecstatically described a vivid dream-like journey complete with ancient gnarled trees, flying animals and a power lizard, sunning itself on a rock. As with all holistic methods, shamanic skills seem to be easier for some than others.

A shamanic veterinarian might use his or her spiritual insight to find additional diagnostic clues to identify and treat difficult to treat and heal animal illnesses. Shamanism attracts some holistic minded veterinarians because they do not focus solely on the immediate symptoms of a problem, but the surrounding physical, emotional, mental and spiritual dilemmas that might contribute to it. Holistic veterinarians are a unique, adventuresome group willing to try almost anything that might heal patients. A type of treatment Dr. Kidd called ‘coyote medicine.’”

Tom:  Now, Dave, I know we went on and on with that bit of information, but people think we make this stuff up. I mean, here you have—this is a legitimate field of endeavor: veterinary medicine. We have lots of people who you would say, “Well this guy’s a quack and that guy—you know, they are into this holistic thing or whatever.” But this is somebody with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine working on animals, and he’s into this, you know, big time. All the way.

Dave: Well, Tom it’s not only animals, but just kind of catching on in the animal world now. They’ve been doing this with human beings for a long time, and it has invaded the whole world of medicine. Well, you have on TV Art Ulene. He’s a medical doctor who is a medical consultant on some national network.

Tom: Yeah, ABC—he was with ABC.

Dave: Yeah.

Tom: And now I think he’s with another network, right?

Dave: Right. He’s done this thing himself. He went into this journey and his power animal,

believe it or not, is a rabbit. Anyway, he recommends this. You have a number of medical doctors that are involved in this sort of thing. Now, on the one hand you would ask yourself—I mean, this seems ludicrous! First of all, they start out in their imagination. They are imagining something…oh, into the Christian world as well. Inner healing—well, I’m imagining myself, and I’m imagining Jesus coming along, and suddenly this “Jesus” takes on a form of his own and begins to move and act and speak to me.

So, on the one hand you would say this is self-deception. You’re imagining this, but something begins to happen. They do make contact with entities that do have a life of their own apart from their imagination and talk to them, guide them. And it works in many instances. Not in every instance.

I guess that’s what draws people to this. Here’s sort of a hands-on spirituality that I can prove. It’s not a God that I can’t see, you know. He’s far away, and I pray to Him, and maybe He’s going to answer my prayer and maybe He isn’t. Usually, He isn’t, because His ways are not our ways. But this is a hands-on thing. I can get into this thing and I can really experience it.

This is, as you know, the most powerful occult technique. The fastest way into the spirit world is through visualization, and this is what he’s talking about. And you make real contact with spirit beings.

Now, of course, some of our young people experienced it first on drugs—LSD and so forth. And that catapulted them into this landscape—this amazing landscape where they began to have these adventures and picked up these spirit guides. It’s just indicative of the fact that somehow Christianity doesn’t seem to have the answers that people want, because they want a god who will do their bidding. And so now, they are turning to another god, Satan, the “god of this world” who deceives them into thinking that they can be in control. And it works for animals, it works for human beings, and so forth.

Tom, I’m shocked. I’m saddened. It’s heartbreaking, but this is what the pagan people…this is what the indigenous people have been involved in for thousands of years, so I suppose what is so astonishing is that what we used to call superstition, we’re now calling science.

Tom: Right. And there’s so many doorways into this. I mean, you’ve got little Fifi, your poodle. I mean, who could expect that you could get caught up into taking them to Dr. So-and-So, who is such a fine veterinarian, and he can handle all of these problems, and he has such a new approach to all of this…

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Tom: …you know, and you’re caught up in it. If it begins to work, if the practical aspects appeal to you, you could get caught up in something that you may not be able to get rid of.

Dave: You have to ask some simple questions. If it works, there must be some power. What is this power? Is it of God? Is this God? No, if you read the Bible, this is not the way God works. Then this must be a substitute for God. This must be someone else and that someone else is Satan and you’re really on dangerous ground. You better be careful. And you better get back to the Word of God, be a Berean and find out what God himself says. Don’t take our word for it. Submit to Him.