Mediums And Churches Need To Learn

Bendee · #1 (**permalink**) 5th November 2006, 01:15 AM

MEDIUMS AND CHURCHES NEED TO LEARN
By Pastor Ray

In the July issue of the Psychic World I wrote an article on what I termed as Psychictualism. Yes it was a silly word meant to draw your
attention to what was happening in the world of Spiritualism. The then
President of the NSAC in the United States of America Reverend Barbara
Thurman NST wrote asking my permission for it to be copied and sent for
display in all the NSAC Churches in America, which it was. It was
subsequently printed in the "Summit" the publicity arm of the NSAC. The
article brought back a fair amount of comment, all of it agreeing with what
had been going on. Basically we were enduring an invasion of our platforms
world wide by Psychics. So what is the score to date?

Certainly the feedback is that we are improving on our platform presentation
but it is still not good enough. Recently I heard that in one church where
there was to be a change of booking secretary the incoming person would only accept the position with the proviso that she had control of who she booked.
The reason being that she had suffered the "Old Pals Act" and dwindling
quality that the church had suffered, and wanted to do something about it.
And that's what we need. If the churches won't collectively do it, then the
individuals must. Don't be afraid to tell your committee or board what you
think otherwise they will dictate and Spiritualism is run democratically. In
other words "Run by the people for the people".

I wish that someone would enlighten two of the churches in the SNU's
Southern District Council that they need to look after their visiting
mediums a little better than they have been doing. During last month I
turned up at one church only to be informed that another medium was already
there. The other church could not find a chairperson so they cancelled the
Service. Did either of these churches bother to inform me? No! So who pays
out for over 200 miles of fuel? Needless to say. There's two churches going
on my black list. Don't ever grumble if mediums let you down! You may have
deserved it.

As an active medium I know only too well that we are always subject to
criticism. We accept that. We took on the responsibility, no one else. We
must also accept that sometimes we are brilliant and other times we are not
too good at all. But if we don't heed the critique how can we ever learn to
work harder. Many years ago I became complacent with my mediumship until one evening the spirit world decided to stop it! And stop it they did. For nine
months I begged and prayed for the communication to work. Even genuine tears had no effect. Eventually my promise was accepted and I was allowed to continue.

The main issue that I want to raise is the fact that mediums are continually
asking questions of members of the congregation and sitters. John Edwards,
Colin Fry etc they are all at it and with the use of a clever way with
English words you don't even know that you are being asked a question. The
next time you go to a demonstration, listen carefully and see just how many
times the medium seeks to extract information from the person in the
congregation. You will be amazed. I admit that at times we all slip into
making that mistake and the reason is that we don't like to be seen to be
wrong so we don't make a statement, we ask for a confirmation first. An
example of this is by saying to the person "I have a mother figure here".
Now come on! What is that meant to indicate? It is allowing a leeway for the
contact to be 1. Mother. 2. Grandmother. 3. Great-grandmother etc. Part of
the guessing game that some mediums play. Well hear this! We are not in it
to play guessing games. We are in it to provide evidence beyond reasonable
doubt that there is life after death. We are working with people and their
emotional states. We must remember that.

The situation of trying to obtain evidence of survival from mediums is far
from satisfactory at this time. We have been told by alleged communicators
that we will soon be travelling abroad, that there is an 'anniversary'
nearby (but never elaborating any further upon this), and that we are going
through a time of upheaval. Despite being able to convey an abundance of,
essentially banal, information, I am bewildered by the fact that these
supposed communicators invariably cannot, or will not supply important
details such as their name or relationship, perhaps even how they made their
transition. Furthermore, there is the question of why these supposed
communicators are nearly always those whom we do not know and never say
anything remotely evidential or useful, while those who would be able to
identify themselves always seem unable to communicate. In the upshot, they
often seem to be little more than imbeciles, apparently unaware that they
will not be recognised and that what they say has no value.

If you consult a medium, the first thing to ask yourself is whether the
medium knows you or knows any of your acquaintances. It is best to go to
meetings in large towns or anywhere rather than your home town. Don't give
your name; go alone or with a friend if you want to take serious notes.
Don't go in any uniform, and leave any of your badges at home. If you are in
a church meeting, don't give any sign of assent if the medium says, "I hear
the name John," even if that was your grandfather' s name; but if the medium
speaks to you directly, answer courteously as you would any other friend,
but don't give information away. For example, if she says, "I see a
gentleman standing by you and hear the name John. I think it is your
father," do not say, as many sitters do, "No; it is my grandfather, " but
"Please go on. I should like to hear something more about the gentleman." In
this way the genuine medium will be encouraged and the fraudulent one will
be given every opportunity of making mistakes. Above all, remember that
common sense and good manners require you to avoid expressing scepticism,
derision, or incredulity, for the genuine medium, even if she has made
mistakes, is on your side. None of us are perfect whatever job we do. Do not
be over influenced by other people having greater success than you. They may not have been as careful as you to avoid previous leakage of information, or they may be so anxious to believe that they will believe anything.

Published as part of an article on "Declining Church Attendances" in the
United States of America. I wrote:

"Empty Church, full Church". No problem to finding the answer and here it
is: Spiritualism or any other religion is only as good as the local Church.
So if your Church is full, you have a darn good ruling body, committee or
board. But, if your Church is empty or only part filled, then you need to
get rid of the ruling body because they are not doing their job right. Don't
put the blame on one person, it is the ruling body. Whether you like it or
not, running a Church is a business and must be run as such. .That is their
job, and that is why they are elected-to run the Church, not run it
down. .They may need to forget the "silly restricted attitude" they
present. .Don't blame the Minister.Don' t blame the President.Blame the Board
or Committee. I vividly remember the late Gordon Higginson saying to us when
he was talking about Mediums (and the same applies to boards/committee' s.)
"You are only as good as your last message".So to churches, I would say,
"That you are only as effective as your last numbers in the congregation. "
And that reflects the quality of the mediums you attract.

My advice to mediums is this. Don't ever forget that you are in continuous
training. Every communication is entirely different from the last one. Don't
take on the image of a night club bouncer when delivering your information
and leave that ego back home. If you don't, then you are heading for big
trouble. You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the
people all of the time. Be honest, do your best and if you make a mistake!
Admit it. People will love and admire you for it. There is not only the
congregation listening in, is there?

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