Anyone heard of John of God?

[kiwichick]

might seem a random question, but have ne of u guys heard of/ visited John of god?
I have just been offered to have my flights home from london change to go via Brazil in hope of visiting him to cure a neurological condition.Im generally pretty skeptical of this sort of thing and don really know what to think, so as with anything midly travel related i thort id put it to u guys and c what ur thoughts were?
Any experience?
Replies mush appreciated

[simply_angelic]

well if it's for free, what's it going to hurt? Might as well give it a shot...(at the very lest you'll get to see another beautiful country). Personally though, I've never heard f him so I cant exactly vouch for the guy, but good luck!

[kiwichick]

lol yeh im not gonna lie i dying to go to brazil anyway! and hell if its free...
but equally i have way to bigger conscience (sp?) and if my heart isnt in it i probably couldnt waste their money.. its got both promising and freaky aspects to it i guess..

[MeTurk]

I'd have no faith in abilitys like that, their either con men or crazy most of the time but it's a good excuse as any to go to Brazil, I'd go just to see one of these "healers" in action.

[davidd]

Hmm the trip to brazil sounds good but he sounds sketchy

Scientific evidence is sparse. In one study, thirty "operations" were followed, including six patients who were actually opened, and the extracted tissues were collected and submitted to exams. The report stated, "We were struck by the fact that the surgeon really incisions skin or ocular epithelium in addition to scraping the cornea without identified anaesthetics or antiseptics being used."[8] The report concluded that John of God's "operations" do not have "any specific effect"

I would go for free but it would depend on who it was putting up the money

[voyd]

Originally Posted by kiwichick

I have just been offered to have my flights home from london change to go via Brazil in hope of visiting him to cure a neurological condition.

Hmm, sounds interesting. If you go, let us know how it goes!

[kiwichick]

My parents have an old friend who forked out and went to see him who they beleive would've been a huge skeptic so we're gonna go chat to him and try get a first hand opinion. will definately keep u posted tho

[lilchappy]

Make sure it isn't a scam where they get you there and all that and then you sit down with the guy and they demand money to heal you and guarantee you will be healed. Watch Lost?? Sometimes you can't be healed.

cya...lilchappy

[kiwichick]

from what ive read it seems pretty above board, its more just the whether its worth going is the question. i dont think i could agree to the weird little operations, esp. if im there by myself (i have an amazing family however and i dont think theyd even let me do it on my own ).
lol no gotta be honest 'lost' isnt my thing , as for cant be healed im not so sure. for some unkown reason i have complete faith that this will eitha pass or continue to become more n more bearable (it turned me into an absolute optimist).hope beats painkillers.
Trigeminal Nueralgia (which ive got) is a rare chronic pain condition believed clinically to be the most intense pain. kinda like lightneing strikes through my facial nerves 100-1000 x per day when medicated (and the meds are as much of a bitch as the TN). lol dont take this as a sympathy plea, i live a blessed life which i would never appreciated as much without this reality check but having exhausted otha traditional methods im thinking its time to branch out....

[buzzingtalk]

go for it - if the guy sounds safe then why not? make sure you read all the conditions, ask questions, do lots of research. but if it is all safe, dont turn down a chance to try something different. you never know...

i never used to trust herbal stuff till a year ago when it got rid of something that normal drugs didnt. since then i am a real beleiver in alternative therapy or anything outside of western medicine.

good luck, be informed

[kiwichick]

yeh i definately believe western medicine has along way to go and that ignorance in regard to eastern medical practices more than likey comes at a cost to the quality of health care available. Whilst im unsure bout the spiritual aspect, it seems silly to discount it completely. still bit unsure bout all of this but will have to get on to it soon if I am going to do it..

[voyd]

Originally Posted by kiwichick

My parents have an old friend who forked out and went to see him who they beleive would've been a huge skeptic so we're gonna go chat to him and try get a first hand opinion. will definately keep u posted tho

I recently heard that this dude is legit and indeed VERY powerful. I would go and give him a shot...

But, if you already have, let us know how it turned out???

[BigE]

I haven't heard much about John of God but if he is "authentic" you will need one thing: Faith. I'll look him up anyway.

[BigE]

This man can be dangerous. Here is why I think so:

John of God is a medium and not a healer. When a person needs healing, John is then possessed by a spirit of a dead medical doctor. The spirit will possess John and his intellectual faculties. He then performs the surgery according to the spirit that possesses him. The problem is we have no idea what is really possessing John. John does not really know.

The difference between mediums and healers is this: healers have been given a supernatural gift to heal according to the Faith of the recipient of the healing. Mediums are thoes who can discern different spirits and communicate between the natural and supernatural world. There is a huge difference. The problem with discerning spirits is you can only discern between good and evil spirits. You do this by determining their goodness by what they are in the spiritual realm. Spirits have no bodies and are beyond time and space. They can't become good or evil. They are already good or evil. Since this is the case, if John of God makes a mistake then you can be in trouble.

[voyd]

^ Interesting, I did a little more research myself.

He is indeed a medium who works within an Allan Kardec Spiritism framework. Which basically believes in reincarnation as a process for spiritual evolution - with free will & karma determining our progress in it. And there are also many spirits that can help (or I suppose, hinder) us in this game.

Supposedly, João was first "incorporated" (possessed) by the King of Solomon...and typically by Dom Inácio de Loyola (St Ignatius Loyola) today.

Of course, the skeptics claim he's just another quack incorporating textbook parlor tricks...


I guess you would just have to judge for yourself. Although if he was completely ineffective, it seems he would not have become so renowned through word-of-mouth to begin with.

[BigE]

^ That is very interesting. I'll have to read more about that, especially since there is probably a lot of that going on in places such as Latin America and California.

I only know so much about spirituality outside of the classical Christian tradition (Roman, Protestant, Greek, and Russian) and Judaism (although weak). I have only recently been examining many of the spiritualities and religions of Asia since there is a huge debate in Catholic theology regarding interreligious dialogue between Catholicism and Asian religion.

[voyd]

Allan Kardec Spiritism actually draws a lot upon the Bible.

Originally Posted by BigE

there is a huge debate in Catholic theology regarding interreligious dialogue between Catholicism and Asian religion.

Hmm, what's the debate over? Whether Jesus really travelled to Asia in his 18 missing years and learned and taught from the Eastern mystery schools there?

In fact, you may be aware that some Catholic priests have been investigating if Jesus's resurrection was (or related to) what Dzogchen Tibetan Buddhists call a "rainbow body" ascension:

Steindl-Rast's own curiosity about the rainbow body began when he heard various stories of Tibetan masters who had, through their practices, reached a high degree of wisdom and compassion. It was reported to him that when they died, rainbows suddenly appeared in the sky. "And I was told that after several days their bodies disappeared. Sometimes fingernails and hair were left. Sometimes nothing was left."

In 1999, he decided to explore the strange phenomenon of the rainbow body and a possible connection to the resurrection of Jesus. "I sent a fax to a friend in Switzerland, who is a Zen Buddhist teacher. I knew that many Tibetans live there, and so I asked him if he could inquire about the rainbow body. Two days later, I received a fax back stating that a Tibetan had unexpectedly approached him, and when the rainbow body was mentioned, the Tibetan said, 'It happened to one of my teachers just recently, and a famous lama who witnessed the events wrote an account about them.' " At this point, Steindl-Rast contacted Father Francis Tiso, an ordained Roman Catholic priest who has not only studied ten languages, including Tibetan, but is also familiar with Tibetan culture. (Francis Tiso holds the office of Canon in the Cathedral of St Peter, Isernia, Italy, and is assigned to the Archdiocese of San Francisco, where he is parochial vicar in Mill Valley.)

Through his Swiss contact, Tiso received the name of the monk whose body had vanished after his death: Khenpo A-chos, a Gelugpa monk from Kham, Tibet, who died in 1998. Tiso was able to locate the village, situated in a remote area where Khenpo A-chos had his hermitage. He then went to the village and conducted taped interviews with eyewitnesses to Khenpo A-chos' death. He also spoke to many people who had known him.

A few days before Khenpo A-chos died, a rainbow appeared directly above his hut. After he died, there were dozens of rainbows in the sky. Khenpo A-chos died lying on his right side. He wasn't sick; there appeared to be nothing wrong with him, and he was reciting the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM over and over. According to the eyewitnesses, after his breath stopped his flesh became kind of pinkish. One person said it turned brilliant white. All said it started to shine.

Lama A-chos suggested wrapping his friend's body in a yellow robe, the type all Gelug monks wear. As the days passed, they maintained they could see, through the robe, that his bones and his body were shrinking. They also heard beautiful, mysterious music coming from the sky, and they smelled perfume.

After seven days, they removed the yellow cloth, and no body remained. Lama Norta and a few other individuals claimed that after his death Khenpo A-chos appeared to them in visions and dreams.

Francis Tiso remarks that one of is most intriguing interviews was with Lama A-chos. He told Tiso that when he died he too would manifest the rainbow body. "He showed us two photographs taken of him in the dark, and in these photographs his body radiated rays of light."

Because Lama A-chos emphasized that it was possible to manifest the rainbow body while still alive, not just in death, Tiso plans to return to Tibet with professional camera equipment to try to photograph this radiating light.

A week before the Khenpo died, a flat rainbow appeared over his house. Those present at his death told Fr. Francis that they saw the wrinkles on his skin disappear and the skin become smooth and shiny like that of a young boy's. Another disciple said the skin actually became luminous. Fr. Francis said this meant he was able to change his cellular structure and release light. Everyone present noticed a sweet fragrance, like perfume. Outside the hermitage they saw rainbows in the sky, which was filled with a very fine rain. In a few days they also heard music, as if someone were singing outdoors, but they could not understand the words. A lama the Khenpo's disciples consulted told them to cover the body with a yellow cloth and not touch it. The disciples could see through the cloth that the body was shrinking but saw no signs of decomposition and no insects, although the weather was warm. On the eighth day they looked in the box and the body had completely disappeared, leaving only the cloth (his clothing had been removed when he died), which had no marks on it.

[MeTurk]

Originally Posted by BigE

John of God is a medium and not a healer. When a person needs healing, John is then possessed by a spirit of a dead medical doctor. The spirit will possess John and his intellectual faculties. He then performs the surgery according to the spirit that possesses him.

Surgery?!! I wouldn't let a possessed man within 10 foot of me with a scalpel. What if the doctor's from 300 years ago and wants to bleed the badness out of you?

I'd go for a look but be very wary this has con written all over it. I'm very sceptical and don't believe in this kind of stuff.

[lauren313]

Originally Posted by MeTurk

Surgery?!! I wouldn't let a possessed man within 10 foot of me with a scalpel.

It's alright, according to Wikipedia (ok, not necessarily the most reliable source, but still...) you can have your surgery performed on a "surrogate" if you can't make it over there!

[MeTurk]

Originally Posted by lauren313

It's alright, according to Wikipedia (ok, not necessarily the most reliable source, but still...) you can have your surgery performed on a "surrogate" if you can't make it over there!

:D I suppose it's worth a go so.

I see the makings of another backpacker slasher flick in there somewhere. Rich folk with knackered livers could send some poor unsuspecting backpackers off to have there livers sliced up while the rich bastards spend a few days in a health spa. No wonder his got such good reviews.