Book Review: John of God

SPIRITUAL BOOK REVIEW

TITLE: John of God
SUBTITLE: The Brazilian Healer Who’s Touched the Lives of Millions
AUTHOR: Heather Cumming and Karen Leffler
PUBLISHER: First Atria Books/Beyond Words - $22.95 Hardcover
COPYRIGHT: 2007
MESSAGE: Healing through Love
STARS: 3.75 (out of 5.0)

SUMMARY
This is the story of Medium Joao Teixeira Faria, known as John of God, a channel to a phalange (group) of highly evolved Entities. The entities use the divine power of unconditional Love to heal every form of physical, emotional and spiritual sickness. “A steady stream of doctors, scientists, quantum physicists, politicians, professors, actors and film makers from all over the world have been treated by the Entities. The famous and the ordinary, people of all color, creeds and religions are seen without favoritism.” Over the past 45 years, the entities have healed over 8 million people.

Joao’s birth date is unstated, but is presumed to be in the late 1940’s. He was born into a poor Brazilian family living in the interior region of the country. Joao never learned to read or write. At 6 Joao worked as a cloth cutter in his father’s tailor shop. When he was 16 Joao had a fainting spell where an entity appeared and performed a healing through him. This was the start of Joao’s recognition of Self as a servant of God and humanity. Joao is not comfortable with the title of healer (curandeiro) or miracle worker (milagreiro) and prefers to be addressed as Medium Joao.

Eventually Medium Joao opened a healing center in the town of Abadiania, 70 miles south of Brasilia. Most people call it “the Casa,” but the formal name is the Casa de Dom Inacio de Loyola, named for one of the Entities working through Medium Joao. The Casa is built over a natural energy vortex “formed by quartz crystal bedrock underneath of it.” It’s designed to accommodate hundreds of visitors and guests who come every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

MESSAGE OF LOVE/HARMLESSNESS:
Love is the answer to every problem in the world. It’s the undoing of all pain, dysfunction and dis-ease. As Medium Joao says, “There is no magic here. Here we practice the Love of God.”

Medium Joao’s healing process is set up to focus, maximize and direct the power of love. “The concentration and focus of energy here is different, more potent.” There are 3 techniques. 1) The person must ask for (or intend) the healing to take place. “The Entities do not work without permission.” 2) The person is helped by the “current” of Love that’s created in the large meeting room of the Casa where “approximately sixty permanent mediums” join to serve others. 3) The person is “seen” by an Entity. “…they are able to see our energetic field and have access to our complete karmic history (the cumulative effects of all our actions).”

“As we stand before the Entities and ask for healing, we must understand that we are entering into a partnership; we are co-creating healing by using our free will in a proactive way and making a concerted effort to change our lifestyle, habits, and anything else that no longer serves our highest good.”

INSPIRATION:
John of God reminds us that each of us is the light of the world. “Each person is a filament of this creative life force, referred to as Light, Prana, Chi, or Ki. Each person is like a single thread of light. A hundred threads become a strong chain or current of light…All of those praying and meditating together are links in this great chain. At the Casa, this is called holding current. When everyone is focused in their prayers and meditations, the Entities easily draw upon this energy for healing.”

RELEVANCE/PRACTICALITY:
Those who hear the call and answer it have the potential to become healers. Consider Phillip C. Bechtel, a neurosurgeon from Fort Worth, TX, with an interest in alternative healing. Bechtel heard about John of God and visited him in Brazil 11 times over a 2 year period. He also experienced dreams where he talked to John of God. Bechtel believes his body was physically changed through these interactions to accommodate the conduction of energy.

“I do not know what this energy is or how it works…I have come to the conclusion that my job is simply to get out of the way and serve as a conduit of this energy, or force. I firmly believe that the source from which the energy comes knows far more about what to do, where to go, and how to help the person I am working with than I do. Therefore, I do not attempt any direction or control of the energy, or its function within the patient.”

ORGANIZATION/READABILITY:
John of God is part biography of Medium Joao, part instruction guide for visiting the Casa, and part collection of inspirational stories from people who have been helped by the Entities. Unfortunately, these three distinct purposes come to us in a jumbled up, disorganized manner. The book is difficult to read because of this. It’s like the two authors each had a writing assignment, and they put the book together without checking to see where there were overlaps and missing pieces of information. That said, the compelling message of Love that shines through John of God is enough to keep the reader interested. Even more, it’s a great gift of grace to read about this bone fide healer’s life, his healing process, and the transformations made possible by Medium Joao’s selfless presence here on Planet Earth.

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©2008 Karen Bentley
Karen Bentley is America's Spiritual Reviewer and exclusively reviews books and movies from a love-based perspective. Bentley is the author of several books including The Book of Love, 10 Radiant Ideas, The Power to Stop, The Sugar-Free Miracle™ Diet Handbook and more. Go to www.karenbentley.com, www.spiritualreviewer.com or www.sugarfreemiracle.com,for more information.