EFT for War Veterans

Someone left a comment on one of the articles on this blog that contained a link to a very good article titled Exactly How Does EFT work? That article contained a link to a Google video that I wanted to embed here, it's really good.

It lasts about 20 minutes and is titled EFT for War Veterans. I have the full-length DVD Operation Emotional Freedom that I haven't yet reviewed on here (it's not formatted for a non-wide-screen t.v. so I have to watch it again on my pc), so this video gives a good snapshot.

Gary Craig is retiring

Apparently Gary sent out a message in the 'EFT Insights' e-newsletter and posted a message on his blog around the middle of December that he would be retiring. I don't always read those newsletters, I'd been receiving them since 2001 or so. Also during that time I was moving my web site to a new hosting company; so I saw the updated note about his retirement around the end of December.

The original retirement date was to be early January 2010; but it's been changed to March 1st 2010. I was really surprised, since a few months before that he'd been talking about a lot of plans he had in response to the updated 'open hands policy'. I'm quoting the message below but not linking to it, since it's likely the link won't be active after March 1st. As a result of this news, I'm going to be adding the 'EFT-ADV' credential back after my name both here on the blog and on my website. I'll also be removing the links to the 'World Center for EFT' -- though I'll add them back or add another link if things change again or if there's a site with article archives, etc.

I am looking forward to the film about (EFT and Veterans / PTSD), what I read about what happened in the book EFT for PTSD was very exciting. See Gary's blog post text below.

I will be retiring on January 15, 2010. It has been a magnificent ride and I am thrilled to have joined with you in bringing the EFT gift to the world. I will keep the EFT website, DVD store, Certification and related items active until my retirement date. This should give you plenty of time to make any adjustments you deem necessary.

Please know that our website cannot be maintained by or turned over to someone else. This is because it has my name all over it and thus turning it over, legally speaking, may create unwanted liability for me and my family. Although I am leaving the website open for awhile, it remains subject to copyright protection and is not to be copied and reproduced elsewhere.
Further developments will be announced as they occur. In the meantime, I'm hoping you will refrain from contacting me directly on this matter. Our email list has 475,000 subscribers and, as much as I would like to correspond with each of you individually, I can't personally visit with even 0.1% of you. However, feel free to comment at the end of this blog. Even though I may not respond to you directly, I will read everything you write. Your input, as always, is highly valued.

Although I have a strong emotional tug about this decision, it was an obvious thing to do. For many reasons it was inevitable and has been a long time coming.

Why?…The Challenges: EFT’s rapid growth has become an administrative nightmare and my ability to handle it was exceeded some time ago. This is so, despite the high quality help I have received from Tina Craig, Eric Huurre, Dawson Church, CJ Puotinen, Chris Wheeler, Carol Vrtis, Rob Lasch, David Mackay and more volunteers than I can count. My gratitude to you all.

While it is my nature to try to accommodate all the requests and demands from the EFT Community, the pile of pressures has grown from a manageable hill to an imposing mountain. Just the day to day questions, clarifications, requests and legal issues from the U.S. alone is enough to occupy a staff double our current size. This is multiplied by the many requests for “special exceptions” to our Open Hand Policy to deal with a dizzying array of laws, cultures and languages from different countries.

Also, as should be apparent to most of our seasoned readers, some EFT'ers have been hyping their products in ways that tend to erode the spiritual essence of the EFT movement. This has resulted in some behind-the-scenes disagreements, deceit and other negative experiences. At the core, I prefer peace to pugilism and wish to distance myself from these unnecessary "fame and fortune" energies. As you will see below, I'm leaving for higher ground.

Finally, my physicians tell me that I have had a heart attack. I am unaware of when this happened and have no symptoms. Nonetheless, the tests show clearly that part of my heart has died. Accordingly, it is sheer idiocy for me to continue with the pressures of running EFT. To do so, is to risk another heart attack, stroke, etc. No thanks.

The Solution: So, the solution is for me to get out of the way and turn the EFT name over to you. I have spent 30,000 hours and over $2,000,000 developing our educational stream and thus the message has been clearly displayed for the world to see. In addition, our EFT Manual has been freely downloaded well over 1 million times (not counting the 20+ translations).

With this in mind, I am contributing ONLY the trademarked names (EFT and Emotional Freedom Techniques) to the public domain so that you can decide for yourselves how best to use them. Different countries and cultures can establish their own organizations and rules without having to go through me. However, this does NOT include our DVDs, website, the EFT Manual, books and other materials. They remain my copyrighted property and are NOT being released to the public domain.

I am fully aware that some will carry the EFT name forward with integrity ... and some will not. That is part of human nature. It is up to you to choose your own ethics. I can no longer be a policeman in this regard.

If you are a serious student and want to learn EFT properly from the source, our DVDs are still available until our existing inventory is exhausted. I don't know if they will be available after my retirement. I'm working on it, but no guarantees.

Please know that my position here has always been voluntary. While there has been some modest profit over time, no one would have taken on this task for the money. My goal from the start has been to launch EFT into TherapyLand and thus bring its healing benefits to the world in a low cost, easy to understand manner. With your help, that mission has been accomplished. Millions of clients have been exposed to EFT and thousands of careers have been launched. Please accept my gratitude for your superb assistance. You can carry it forward from here.

Other issues: If you have an EFT affiliate account, any outstanding balance as of my retirement date will be paid shortly thereafter.

Those who have official EFT Certification through our Certification process will have the only official EFT Certifications ever offered. These may be quite valuable as you list yourselves on the various listing services out there. However, if you feel inconvenienced by my retirement and want your Certification fee refunded, please send your original Certificate (not a copy), postmarked on or before December 23, 2009, with a note stating you are abandoning your EFT Certification, to:

EFT
PO Box 269
Coulterville, CA 95311
If you wish to obtain official EFT Certification or continue on to EFTCert II, you must satisfactorily pass your exam prior to my retirement date.

A Parting Gift: Our full length movie featuring EFT as the answer to our war veterans’ PTSD is in its final stages. The total budget for this movie approximates $500,000 and it will be a stunning door opener for the whole EFT field. It will create a major awareness for the public regarding EFT and all EFT’ers will benefit by it. I have given it to my dedicated film director, Eric Huurre. He will introduce it to the public early next year.

The Future – Where to From Here? EFT has two important features: (1) What it does and (2) Where it points. The vast majority of EFT’ers are fascinated by what it does and are forever delivering ooohhs and aaahhs as EFT does its magic. This is fine. However, this is nowhere near as important as where it points.
EFT is but the doorstep to a far grander Palace of Possibilities. It is way outside our normal experience and its results cannot be properly explained by medicine or conventional science. As remarkable as it now seems, EFT is actually a toy that will someday be tossed away as a mere introduction to the exquisite beauty that is our birthright. It points to a future mental state where disease, war and resentments do not exist. This level cannot be reached, however, by...

* more tapping points or,
* the "latest and greatest" options for delivering EFT or,
* any of the other varied offerings that have found their way onto the EFT scene.

Instead, it will require a new approach, a new way of thinking that may or may not be directly related to EFT. I will be exploring the upper reaches of this Healing High Rise and have my sights on the Penthouse. Perhaps we will meet there someday.

Big Hugs, Gary

PS: I am contemplating a new website and newsletter along the lines of my last paragraph. Just stay on this list and I will keep you informed.

EFT Setup Phrase

I have had several people ask me about the EFT 'setup phrase' or affirmation; particularly the part about 'I deeply and completely accept myself' (or -- I would like to deeply and completely accept myself) and why do you say it three times? That is part of the basic EFT 'protocol' as it were, as developed by Gary Craig. Essentially, that part of the whole tapping sequence is to clear out any possible PR or 'psychological reversal'. PR isn't always present, but if it is it'll keep the rest of the tapping from doing any good. It's been estimated that it's only present about 30% of the time, but in some cases (like depression and cravings or addictions), it's present closer to 100% of the time. Since it doesn't take long to do the 'setup', we do it before we really know whether it's actually needed.

However, due to the questions, I decided to look in Roger Callahan's book Tapping the Healer Within , since it'd been a while since I read it, and found that he just taps the Karate Chop point 5 or 7 times IF the PR appears to be present, without any affirmation or 'reminder phrase'. I decided to try something a little different, and just say a 'setup phrase' once, rather than 3 times, (such as: Even though I have this fear, God hasn't given me a spirit of fear) while tapping the KC point -- you'd end up tapping that point or rubbing the Sore Spot, at least 5-7 times. I then move onto the rest of the tapping points with the reminder phrase. I've done that revised setup with myself and a few clients, and it's worked just fine. I have accordingly changed the tapping points I have available on my website. (see below) There was also the thought for me, that repeating the setup phrase 3 times was almost like a 'magic number', which smacks of witchcraft, which of course is in direct opposition to the topic of spiritual warfare, at least from a Christian viewpoint.

As a Christian, I have come to know I am accepted by God in Christ, so if you have a hard time with 'I accept myself' -- then by all means add it into the setup or say something like 'I know I am accepted in Christ Jesus and I can accept myself'. It's somewhat flexible. To illustrate the flexibility, here's a link (see below) to an article by someone else and how she selects setup phrases. What she uses as setup phrases, I would probably use as variations on the 'reminder phrase' while tapping the various points.

Lastly, while I'm mentioning changes, while I was reading the comments on the blog post I mentioned a couple of days ago about the online 'Summit', I discovered there was a change to the Open Hand Rights for EFT, and have accordingly removed the designation of having received the EFT-ADV certificate of completion on this blog and on my website, and have also removed the EFT Logo since it is no longer allowed to be a top of the page sort of identifier. I may add the logo somewhere else on the site as a secondary logo at some point, but for now I just have a palm branch in it's place. Since it looked silly to have the words Emotional Freedom Techniques next to the palm branch rather than next to the Logo that said EFT I removed that also. I also added a disclaimer that I'm using my version of EFT, etc. These new guidelines are apparently part of the fallout of the online 'Summit'. It's a bit annoying, but it is what it is.

20 Aug 2010 - I edited this article to remove the links to the EFT (emofree) website since it isn't up anymore. I also removed the link to the tapping points on my website since that has since moved and was a broken link, the tapping points are now an attachment to an article on the user forum of the site. In addition, I now have the EFT-ADV designation back on the blog and website as mentioned in the blog post earlier this year about Gary Craig's retirement.

Have you wondered why Gary isn’t part of The EFT® World Summit? - EFT Blog

I just read this comment by Gary Craig, about the 'world summit' and thought I'd post the link here, for those who may be interested. I'm still reading the comments, there are lots of them.

I wasn't going to sign up for the summit at all, because it originally sounded like (or I assumed?) it was going to be video presentations, and until last week I was using a dial-up internet connection. But I got a DSL connection last week and signed up for it, and it wasn't until I got onto the page the first day that I discovered it's audio, only. In addition, it's put out by the makers of the 'Try it on everything' DVD and book, and I've not seen the DVD and from what little I know of it, there's a lot of the 'law of attraction' belief, of which I have repented.

I wasn't interested in listening to all of the presenters, or even most of them for that matter; but I'll listen to a few of them and see if I can get some good pointers. But I appreciated Gary's input and figured I'd pass it on.

April 25 - update

Here's a new message from Gary Craig on the EFT World Summit topic.Just thought I'd post the link, to sort of complete the picture.

EFT on blogtalk radio, Facebook and other stuff

I just signed up on Facebook about 10 days ago, and discovered there are a few EFT related groups on there that I've joined. Some of them are pretty new, it appears -- one of which is 'EFT from a Christian Perspective'. Stop by and say hi!

Also there's one for an EFT class on blogtalk radio. I haven't listened to any of the shows, and when trying to pull up the page I keep getting a 'page load error' telling me the server was reset while the page was loading. I tried again after allowing javascript from blogtalk radio (I use the Firefox browser with NoScript add-on) and got the same message, so you may have more success pulling up the page than I did. Just be warned that the shows may or may not be 'Christian-friendly'.

Lastly, while on the topic of 'social networking' sites, I'm also on Twitter with the user name of CiaW , at the moment I don't send many updates or messages there but feel free to add me or invite me to your updates if you'd like.

Update Feb. 24 -- I have also started a group on Facebook called 'EFT for Spiritual Warfare', and I'd be happy to have you join that one too, as well as the Christian Perspective group another practitioner started, if you're on Facebook.

EFT over the phone

Since I'm an EFT phone practitioner, I wanted to share 2 articles that were in a recent edition of the EFT Insights e-newsletter. Both of these articles are about people who had PTSD issues, one a Vietnam Vet and another from other traumatic events. In addition, both of these show great results from doing EFT over the phone.

Here's the first one, titled: Trauma-ptsd-dominoes.

The second one is titled: An hour and ten minutes.

An Outrageous Idea - EFT blog

I wanted to point you to a recent blog entry from last year on the emofree web site -- suggesting that EFT should be mandatory for all war veterans. The blog article isn't very long, but read the comments too! It was linked in a recent edition of the EFT Insights e-Newsletter, so most of the comments are very recent.

Let not your heart be troubled

Since fear and anxiety (particularly in the area of finances) seems to be such a prevalent news topic, I thought I'd pull together a few verses of scripture that may be helpful. You could combine it with EFT by tapping a round on your fear or anxiety, and then do a round with 1 or 2 scriptures at a time. I read a news story the other day that said something like 'traders on Wall Street were fearful (or in panic?)'.... and my first thought was that they should learn EFT! Then maybe cooler heads can prevail. Remember to Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1Pe 5:8 KJV)

All verses are from the King James Version (KJV); and there are many more verses I could add -- a search under just the word 'riches' brought up 97 verses!

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. (Psa 37:16)

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. (Psa 37:23-25)

He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. (Psa 112:7)

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (Joh 14:27)

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Mat 6:24)

He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. (Pro 11:28)

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. (Isa 45:3)

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. (Jer 9:23-24)

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (Eph 3:16-20)

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Php 4:19)

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; (1Ti 6:17)

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass in the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more shall he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. Yet seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luk 12:27-32)

For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Rom 8:15)

So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper; I will not fear: What shall man do unto me? (Heb 13:6)

There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth is not made perfect in love. (1Jn 4:18)

And it may go without saying, but I'm also available for coaching, and donations are always welcome, too!

Truth vs Lies, the essence of Spiritual Warfare

When I first felt the call to become an EFT practitioner, I thought or maybe decided that I'd offer it more as a secular or 'generic' EFT. So I took the EFT-CC and ADV exams, got the certificate(s) of completion; and figured if I just had myself listed as a practitioner then I'd be set. (The old 'if you build it they will come' scenario.) It turns out that Gary Craig's listings required that you have at least 50 (now 100 I think?) individual sessions before you could be listed. Apparently some of the people listed there weren't really even offering EFT, which is why the whole scheme was recently changed. So, I haven't been listed there. (Which goes to show that honesty doesn't always pay, but I'll stick with it anyway...)

So my practice, as it were, was going nowhere fast. Through prayer, I was led to research and write the EFT for SW booklet. I'd been researching SW for a few years anyway, but I hadn't thought to really tie the two together for public consumption. Near the end of the booklet I have a list from Clint Byar's book Devil Walk , of various lies the devil uses, along with God's truth as found in His Word. When I started the blog, and even somewhat since then, I keep having this thought of 'the truth vs the lie'. While I know that's important, from an EFT practitioner perspective, I wasn't quite sure how to reveal or discover the lie. I felt like I was floundering around and not really 'getting it'. [For those who don't understand the 'floundering around' reference -- Flounder is a type of fish, so imagine a newly caught fish on a deck or boat flopping around.]

In addition, I'd put forth my idea that there's a link between one's emotions and the spiritual realm, and felt like I'd really crawled out on a limb with that idea. But, I found nothing in scripture or elsewhere that convinced me that wasn't true. Since EFT is a great tool for emotional issues, I saw it as sort of a method of 'deliverance lite'. Now that I'm studying Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM), it's clearing up a lot of the questions or issues that had me floundering around. Essentially the premise is that a lot of our emotional turmoil is rooted in lie-based beliefs, and sometimes conflicting beliefs. This fits in perfectly with what I found in Dr. M. Scott Peck's Glimpses of the Devil , on pg 52 he writes: Some instinct told me that the attack [on the demonic spirits] would fail unless it could discern the roots of Jersey's nihilism and demonstrate each of them to be fallacious. And on pg 74 he writes: Each of the four demons we encountered ... represented a lie of sorts or a false pattern of thinking.

To tie that into TPM and the topic of spiritual warfare; I found the following in the TPM Basic Seminar Manual 2007 to be very helpful:

The cure-all for a person’s emotional distress is not exorcising demons. Demon oppression is rooted in the lie-based pain in the person’s mind. When the lies are removed and truth replaces the pain with His peace there is no basis for further oppression. ... If we deal with the reason the demons are there in the first place, they can be permanently removed without a battle. ... I am convinced that demonic oppression is nothing more than demons punching our lie-based “buttons” and triggering the pain that is already there. If this is so, then they are actually providing a helpful service if we will attend to what they have exposed. ... Truth resides in a spiritual realm. However, we live in a physical world, and it is more natural to see with our physical eyes and to evaluate things from this perspective. As life happens around us, we are prone to draw conclusions based on lie-based interpretations, and as a result suffer emotional distress. (pg 45)

Apparently, in earlier training for TPM, there was some focus on more of the 'traditional' spiritual warfare practices, i.e. binding demons and the like. Now the focus is on uncovering the lie-based beliefs, and resting in the finished work of Christ. Page 44 of the Manual says: Satan is no longer in the same place he was 2000 years ago before the cross. Hebrews 2:14 says he was “rendered powerless” through the death of Christ. Either he is powerless or he is not. We cannot have it both ways. If he is powerless, but yet expresses power in our ministry sessions then something is wrong. I suggest we look at what we believe. It makes no logical sense for us to celebrate the victory of Christ and yet continue in the fight. To which I say, amen!

Does that mean that I'm abandoning EFT in favor of TPM? No. They're both excellent tools. I mention an instance in my e-book, about pondering some frustration I was having, and how I had a sudden thought that 'I can't make it on my own' and a childhood memory came up; that I ended up tapping on. In relation to what I've learned with TPM, it was a spontaneous exposure of a lie-based belief and the memory-container where the lie originated. Ed Smith has made it clear that if you're using something else in addition to TPM, then he doesn't want you to call it 'Theophostic', which is certainly fair. My inclination right now is to use EFT for the emotions or areas where there is a high level of pain -- say a SUDS level of 8+; and then when the pain is reduced, move on to Theophostic. Also, EFT is often helpful for things that I wouldn't use TPM for, such as some knee pain I had a couple of months ago. I also haven't yet completed the requirements for being able to officially call myself a TPM facilitator -- so for now I'll just say that I will most likely include prayer in any ministry or coaching sessions, but still follow the TPM Guidelines.

Using Theophostic Prayer

I wrote a few weeks ago about discovering Theophostic Prayer Ministry (not to be confused with Theosophy, which is a new-age philosophy), and after reading 'Healing Life's Hurts' I ordered the 2007 Basic Training, since the concepts are very much in line with what I've discovered through EFT and related spiritual warfare / discernment and Biblical studies. On one of the DVD's, Ed Smith says to take responsibility for your own painful emotions, as opposed to making it about other people or events. Just a few days before that, I'd asked a woman at church to pray for my ministry and I could tell from her response that she didn't believe I'd actually been called to this ministry. When she asked, I said things have been a little slow, as far as customers, but that I've only recently begun to feel more self-confident about it. (Doing web site support or other things at my current part-time job isn't quite as big a responsibility as putting myself out as a coach, but I've finally begun to trust that it's Jesus who is my / our Savior, and I can lean on Him, so I don't have to try and do it all under my own power... it had felt like it was more responsibility than I wanted to take on. After all, this is people's lives we're talking about! And of course the devil does his best to make me feel discouraged, etc.)

So I asked and she confirmed that no, she didn't believe it. That didn't feel good! It was sort of bugging me for a few days, since she's someone whose opinion I'd like to be favorable. So taking Ed Smith's advice, I decided to see if there were some memories with similar feelings attached to them, and I came up with 2 memories. The strongest and earliest one was where I'd been maybe 11 or 12 years old, and I was sitting at the dining room table writing a poem. My step-mother asked what I was doing and I told her, and though I hadn't finished the poem she wanted to see it. She decided immediately that I couldn't have written it, because it was too good. (!?) She was convinced I had to have copied it from a magazine -- though there was no magazine in sight; and started yelling at me to tell her where I'd copied it from. I kept saying I didn't copy it, I wrote it and then she showed it to one of my step-sisters and she also agreed I had to have copied it. That basically ended my poetry writing career, short as it was.

When I was thinking of that memory, I recalled an earlier memory from when I was in grade school (age 8 or so?), and our local library had a drawing contest -- and I won first prize! I had spent days on that drawing, after a couple of false starts. It's not like I'd hidden in a closet to do the drawing either, but I guess no one paid attention while I was drawing it. Because again, my step-mother didn't believe I'd drawn it and thought I copied it. So I was thrilled to have won (the prize was a copy of the book Charlotte's Web ), but there was this cloud of disapproval around it too. I was a little surprised that there was still a 'sting' left in these memories, because I'd already used EFT and tapped on them. So I discovered that the lie-based belief was that it's not o.k. to be who I am . When I asked the Lord for His truth about that belief, what He said was "I made you in my image." and the remaining sting of those memories is now gone. And my feelings about whether people believe me about this ministry are not great, but it doesn't feel so personal.

In fact, a couple of days ago I realized that the Lord had addressed the issue for me through scripture a couple of weeks before. I usually watch In Touch with Charles Stanley on Sunday mornings from 8-9am and then go to the 11am service at my church. On July 27, both Charles Stanley and my pastor had the same verse of scripture as part of their sermon, which is unusual -- so it really 'spoke to me'. That scripture was: Is 41:9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its remotest parts And said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.

Is 41:10 'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' (NASB) He really does know what we need before we ask!

I'm going to post another message about how all of this relates to spiritual warfare.

Emotions and evil spirits

Here's a short but interesting article on Spirit Daily, and I wanted to share a couple of sentences because they tie demonic attacks to our emotions -- confirming some of what I've written. And of course, EFT can be a good tool to help calm the situation, along with prayer, of course!

"The evil spirits might attempt to afflict you with spirits of agitation and aggravation," explains the author, John LaBriola, in explaining methods of detection. "He will either try to excite, exaggerate, or deaden your emotions. All at once you get to the point where you become irritable and angry for seemingly no reason. Or you may find yourself flat, devoid of feeling."

"He'll play with your emotions and push your buttons to the point of distress and distraction, agitation, or apathy," writes the author. "He'll use either end of the spectrum to try and lure you into the sins of despair or presumption."

Using EFT when a specific word triggers you

Here's an interesting article from the EFT Insights e-newsletter, and while it has some 'new age' or non-Christian leanings; it has some good information. I'm going to quote the parts that are applicable regardless of one's faith (and it also ties in to some of the premises behind TPM or Theophostic Prayer which I'm going to write more about later).

By Jo Hainsworth

When I commented to a friend recently that I was struggling with reading a book because of the word ‘God’ appearing in it regularly, she suggested I try using EFT on it. Despite being a real advocate for EFT, after seeing amazing results for myself and others, I hadn’t even considered this as a possibility. This article details the process that I followed. It was just incredible how this netted amazing results in a very short time. I’m sure that you could use the same process with any other word that causes a negative reaction. If I had rated my reaction to the word when I started it would have been a level of intensity of 10 out of 10, and having done the EFT, I would now say it is a 0 out of 10.

I began by listing down all the memories I have of things that could have given me a bias against the word ‘God’. I didn’t think I’d have much to write down, as I was brought up without any religion at all, but soon had a list of 7 things that stood out as experiences with the word or concept of God that could have potentially left me with an issue with it. My intention at the start was to work through tapping each of the 7 experiences over a number of days, then trying some reframing using Wayne Dyer’s 7 Faces of Intention/God which I intellectually liked when I read them, but had been unable to really buy into because of my negative reaction to the word.
I next decided to tap the earliest memory, because experience working as an EFT practitioner has taught me that if we can collapse the earliest event that resulted in us taking on a belief, all the other events that simply reinforced that belief often tend to resolve soon after. The earliest memory I had was of being told about a man who lived nearby to us who was said to be doing something very cruel that resulted in a number of animals dying, who went to church each Saturday to Confession. As I started working with this event, a vow that I had made when I was about 9 or 10, and never consciously thought of again since, popped into my mind. I could suddenly clearly remember thinking “If God is OK with that sort of cruelty, so long as you go to church and confess it, I’m not having anything to do with God!”

I know from working with others (and from the Stephen Daniels in the Using EFT for Chronic Diseases DVD) that a vow made as a child or young person can alter the course of our lives, so I decided to tap not only on the event itself, and my memories surrounding it, but also the vow too. I started with tapping on the event, and while I hadn’t thought about it for over 25 years, found myself crying and feeling quite emotional. I tapped through all the emotions and words that came up for me, and by the time I’d finished tapping on the event, I realised that the person involve just didn’t know any better. No longer a monster in my mind, they became someone who simply lacked awareness. I then moved onto the vow, tapping on:

Even though I made a vow that day that if that's what God was like, I wouldn’t have anything to do with him, I now choose to recognise that God was misrepresented that day and to let the vow go. ... This was no longer an intellectual thought, after simply tapping the choices statement to set up my intention, the earliest memory and the vow that had come up as a result of it, my entire attitude towards the word ‘God’ had changed. As I couldn’t get any charge on any of the remaining issues on the list, it felt totally redundant to do any tapping on any of them.

I know I've had instances where I've blamed God, or been mad at Him and then tapped on it. Of course I also had to tap on feeling like it wasn't even o.k. to be mad at Him, but then I realized He already knows how I feel. Then after I tap on it I can see whatever the issue is more objectively or better yet, from His perspective (through scripture and/or prayer).

In Defense of Theophostic

To add to the article I just posted about Theophostic, I wanted to point to another article I just found, with the same title as this post. It sounds to me like some of the underpinnings of this are very similar to what EFT does. Here's one part in particular I wanted to note:

Some Christians are suspicious of Theophostic® because it uses some truth that psychologists have discovered. For example, it acknowledges that we are complex human beings, and our present way of experiencing life is heavily predicated on our early childhood experiences.

And this ties into what many EFT practitioners have found, and in the arena of spiritual warfare, in at least a few books I've read, it is noted that it is frequently through significant traumatic or emotional events that the demonic gains access.

Overall I really enjoyed the article, and will be spending more time exploring this topic.

New to me - Theophostic Prayer

I exchanged some messages from someone on a discussion group for Christian EFT Practitioners (on Yahoo), and she mentioned Theophostic prayer ministry (TPM). I had heard of it, but hadn't really looked into it. So I did a search and found an article titled A Biblical Evaluation of Theophostic Ministry that I want to comment on.

Some of the quotes taken from the founder of TPM, Dr. Smith, I very much agree with. I suspect most EFT practitioners, regardless of faith, would also agree. Here's a sample:

"Recovery is not building strong defenses against the lies or controlling undesirable behavior. Genuine recovery is freedom from the lies that control and dictate such behavior" (Genuine Recovery, p.10).

"If a person is truly recovered, then relapse should not be a concern…" (Genuine Recovery, p.12).

The article goes on to say:

That Theophostic offers new "methods" is indisputable. But that it offers new "applications" (presumably of Scripture) would be hard to establish. The proposal that Jesus Christ must directly reveal to a struggler the specific lie he is believing (not through Scripture or through bringing Scripture to mind, but directly) — that He does this only as painful memories are re-visited — and that Jesus himself must then personally refute that lie in that person’s heart, not merely in general but while the person is recalling the life context in which he began embracing that lie — these are not notions derived from a study of Scripture. They are new revelation.

I say it is not a new revelation, it is entirely scriptural if you take into account the spiritual side of the equation. And EFT has a similar approach, though EFT helps relieve the emotional 'hold' that keeps the lie in place, from my perspective. I'll probably expand on that in another article, but it's basically my premise behind using EFT as a tool in spiritual warfare. I think that would be in agreement with

Luk 8:35 ESV
(35) Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. (emphasis added)

I think, from some of what's in the article, that it's written from a Reformed / Calvinist theology, which I don't hold. It appears to me that TPM is predicated on the Holy Spirit speaking directly to a believer, and that it's a form of deliverance (though they may not call it that, it'll be a bit before I have a better grasp of that.) However, in this article the author appears not to believe that the Holy Spirit speaks directly to believers, even though that belief is unscriptural. I think they believe that the following passages only applied to the Apostles at pentacost and now they don't apply.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (Joh 14:16 KJV)

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (Joh 14:26 KJV)

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. (Joh 16:7 KJV)

Here's the part of the article that talks of the Holy Spirit:

So what do people need? "They need an experience." People need Jesus Christ to talk directly to their souls. This is not the secret work of the Holy Spirit, blowing like the wind, regenerating a person or strengthening him with power in his inner being (Ephesians 3:16).
This is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, directly speaking extra-biblical (although not anti-biblical) content into the person’s heart."

So to the author's way of thinking, the Holy Spirit does a 'secret work' and not according to the following verse of scripture: (13) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (14) He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (Joh 16:13-14 ESV) However, the author at least says it isn't anti-biblical. It's a long article, but there's just one more part of it that I want to comment on, which also reveals the Reformed point of view, and ties in with a previous blog article I wrote. Here's a quote from the latter part of the Theophostic article:

Then why does it work?

We might ask, "Suppose Theophostic is shown to be in error — how do
we explain that it often seems to help people?" God alone can answer this. But two suggestions follow. [...]

Do any of these cases prove that the supplicants’ methods were justified? Not at all. They prove only that God sometimes responds generously to our misguided — or even sinful — approaches toward him. Many people no doubt pray sincerely during Theophostic sessions. God is at liberty to answer any of them with mercy, even while his Word demonstrates the error of their approach.

Second,in many cases people may merely be imagining that Christ speaks to them or that they receive divine help. The power of suggestion is very strong. [He then goes on to quote from a book titled Abnormal Psychology about the power of suggestion. Which begs the question of whether the field of psychology even acknowledges the spiritual realm -- but that's another topic I won't address here.]

What I do want to address is the statement: "God sometimes responds generously to our misguided — or even sinful — approaches toward him." and "God is at liberty to answer any of them with mercy, even while his Word demonstrates the error of their approach."

The above statements seem to imply, at least to me, that there is a 'right way' to approach God, outside of being a believer in the finished work of Jesus Christ. I think that idea borders on witchcraft, where you have to say the 'right words' and perform the 'right actions' to (allegedly) get results. I wanted to respond with the following verses of scripture that came to mind when I read that, which to me are in direct opposition to the premise:

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16 KJV)

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Heb 11:6 KJV)

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jer 29:12-13 KJV)

That's my response to this article, though I'll probably have more on TPM.

More on EFT and Christians

I just updated the article on my website about whether EFT is ok for Christians?, and wanted to post some of that here, in relation to acupuncture:
In the book They Shall Expel Demons , Derek Prince tells of a Chinese doctor in Malaysia as follows, leading to the inescapable conclusion that acupuncture is not something a Christian should engage in or practice:

About eight years ago, at a retreat in Singapore, God spoke to me about the dangers of acupuncture and its link to the occult, especially its inseparable origin with traditional Chinese religion. I immediately renounced my practice of acupuncture - a skill I learned in Hong Kong and practiced successfully for five years.

... I gathered all my machines, needles, books, diploma and charts and made a great bonfire of them publicly. The total cost of the items was about $15,000-- but the blessings after that were priceless because:

1. My wife, who had suffered from chronic migraine and had acupuncture, done by me many times before, was immediately healed without medicine or prayer.
2. My unexplained fear of darkness immediately vanished.
3. My medical practice, instead of suffering a loss, received a doublefold increase in blessings. [i]

There are 3 more paragraphs of the letter, well worth reading. After reading this (June 2008), I again became concerned about using EFT, since I obviously don't want to be involved in something that would be spiritually dangerous, and it is nominally based on the acupuncture meridian system. So I prayed, being ready to renounce EFT publically, along with re-doing this article and re-thinking this ministry. Had I been deceived? I slept on it, and when I woke up I remembered my dilemna and prayer, and here's what I believe the Lord revealed to me: 'The training for acupuncture involves many hours of study, and that study involves a good deal of the spiritual basis of the practice. However, one can learn EFT without any particular spiritual basis behind it.' Essentially leading to the conclusion that I can continue with the EFT work. However, I am also open to the thoughts of other believers on this topic.

[i]
Prince, Derek They Shall Expel Demons © 1998 by Derek Prince, Chosen Books, Grand Rapids MI,(Sixteenth Printing March 2008),pg 135.

An article about EFT for Christians

I was testing search engine keywords for my website, and one of the results was this article which adds a good perspective to the question. The title for the article is: Is EFT Appropriate for Christians? by Sally Creed, on the Family Christian Counseling Center website. Enjoy!

Destined to Reign - Grace has a name!

I previously wrote about reading a book called Destined to Reign by pastor Joseph Prince. Due to previous mental programming, I thought that maybe the title was a little presumptuous. But that's o.k., because He is faithful to show the way, one step at a time. And, it's also scriptural --

Rom 5:17 KJVA
(17) For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; [meaning Adam] much
more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

and closely following that verse:

Rom 5:21 KJVA
(21) That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

As I was reading the book, I came to page 149 where it discusses Romans 8:1, where the KJV says:

Rom 8:1 KJVA
(1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

So many (including myself) have come to the understanding that IF you walk after the Spirit, there is no condemnation; but IF you walk after the flesh, there IS condemnation. When I was growing up, my 1st step-mother would either threaten or proclaim that some 'wrong' action had put you on her 'shit-list'. Some days, it didn't take much more than having a pulse to put you there - seriously! So my view of God was somewhat colored by that, wondering if I was on or off that list. How wonderful to begin to glimpse the Truth of His grace.

In addition to e-Sword (electronic Bible); I have a print copy of the King James version and an NASB, as well as a Lamsa translation and the Jewish New Testament translation by David H. Stern. So before I finished reading pg 149 in Destined to Reign, I jumped up and got my NASB Bible and read that it says:

Rom 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus.

[period]

Then I turned the page, and see that on pg 150 Joseph Prince has the NASB translation there, too. Wow, that's amazing, was what I thought. Now I know there's some controversy about the different translations, and there's the 'King James only' crowd, so take a look at this discussion about that, in relation to this passage, if you'd like.

In case you're wondering, here's a couple of other translations:

There is therefore no condemnation to them who walk in the flesh after the
Spirit of Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:1 - Lamsa translation)

And in the Jewish New Testament it reads:

Therefore there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union
with the Messiah Yeshua.

As I was pondering this insight, the Spirit had me look up the following passage, in effect He's confirming the NASB (and similar) translations:

Joh 3:17-18 KJVA
(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Notice it says 'He [or in my case she] that believeth on him is not condemned:...' with no qualifiers! (in verse 3:10 it says: "Jesus answered and said unto him..." and then it goes on. So if you have a 'red letter' Bible, John 3:17 and 18 are written in red!) So what Paul wrote to the Romans was and is in agreement with the words that Jesus himself spoke, and there is no higher authority!

As Joseph Prince says (I've watched some of his YouTube videos) - Hallelujah!
Knowing that goes a long way toward being relieved of the fear of condemnation, as a believer. It'll be a process to fully grasp the understanding and being able to rest in His finished work, and of course EFT can help in that process. More to come!

What fruit are you eating?

I've recently had a couple of insights about using EFT and how it ties in to scripture that I wanted to share.

The first one was a few weeks ago at church, we were reading through the 1st chapter of 1 John, in the 9th verse it says:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1Jn 1:9 KJVA)

And in some respects, that's exactly what happens with EFT; we confess or bring to light our negative feelings or behavior and once we've tapped on it and brought the SUDS level to 0, then we are 'cleansed' of it. Now I know some find immediate cleansing or deliverance with prayer or confession. But in some areas EFT helps to allow us to really let it go. Then of course the command to forgive our debtors becomes much easier, but that's probably a topic for another time. To me, it means we don't try to continue hiding or 'stuffing' whatever the issue may be.

Then later, the passages about various fruit of the spirit came to mind, as follows.

(19) Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, (20) idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, (21) envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,[2] (23) gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:19-23 WEB)

And here are the mention of 'fruit' that deal with emotions: hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, envyings (same as jealousies?), love, joy, peace, and self-control.

And the big insight that I had tied that in to the book of Genesis, way back in the Garden of Eden.

(2) The woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,
(3) but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. (Gen 3:2-3 WEB) .

And the passage that prompted me to make the connection, was from psalm 37: Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. (Psa 37:1 KJVA) That's sure easier said than done much of the time, and EFT helps a lot for me to be able to have faith that that instruction will help keep me out of the devil's clutches.

Some of the questioning I've done about using EFT as a Christian, has been because I wanted to make sure that it wasn't unscriptural. But in a spiritual sense, I see the 'works of the flesh' as noted above being in the category of the 'fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden.' So to the extent that EFT is an excellent tool to allow us to do away with the 'evil fruit' (See also Matthew 7:16-18) and then we can more readily cultivate the 'good fruit'; EFT is in fact scriptural.

Beloved, dont imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn't seen God. (3Jn 1:11 WEB)

I know that for me, as I go through the process of pruning away the negative emotions with EFT, it is much easier for me to be sensitive to what the Spirit is saying, particularly as it relates to scripture. What do you think? Please also feel free to contact me to inquire about EFT coaching.

Spirit releasement - a different kind of therapy

I'm reading an article about something called 'spirit releasement therapy'. I'd previously heard about it from something mentioned in the EFT e-newsletter that I've been receiving for a few years. I looked at the website (linked above) and thought it was interesting, but since it's primarily a secular endeavor I just bookmarked it, and prayed that if it's worth knowing more about that the Holy Spirit let me know.

Here's a couple of paragraphs from the article, followed by a couple of personal comments.

Most of us have a child or relative or friend whose life is shattered by depression, sexual dysphoria, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism or a host of other ailments. What if you were told that there was a healer who could get to the bottom of the problem and heal it, but that the source of the problem was probably an attached spirit? Would you go for it? Could you open your mind to the possibility that your sister’s untreatable 30-year-long bulimia could be stopped dead in its tracks by identifying the spirit behind the disease, releasing it into the light, and then teaching her how to protect against a future attachment?

All in this movement hope that you would. They see the procedure not as a throwback to medieval times when demoniacs were put to death, but as an advance. William Woolger, an internationally renowned transpersonal psychologist, sees it as “the next and essential stage in the development of psychology, a kind of return to the source.”

My thinking on this topic is that 1^st, yes I do believe in a spiritual realm. (Obviously, since I talk and write about spiritual warfare!) 2^nd, my approach doesn't necessarily require a 'direct involvement' with attached or possessing or whatever types of spirits. My contention or belief is that with EFT we're getting to the emotional 'roots' of any hold such a spirit would have, and once that's cleared then any spirits involved either leave automatically (since they have nothing to 'hold onto'); or using the authority of Jesus Christ / Yeshua the spirit would be banished pretty easily once it's roots have been removed. If there's any need for direct involvement, I'd leave that to the Holy Spirit and His direction.

Another thing that bothers me with this particular approach and having researched the topic, particularly exorcisms and deliverance, is that the devil and his demons are liars and deceivers. The article points out that these practitioners have found that some of these spirits are 'earthbound' spirits, i.e. former physical human persons who have passed on and have not gone 'to the light' yet. Then there are some that are termed DFEs, or “dark force entities”, and those I'd equate with the satanic or demonic realm. From this article and the spirit releasement website stories, it appears that one doesn't need the authority of Christ to have the spirit(s) release it's hold on a person. And the logical conclusion to that is that He (Jesus / Yeshua) died in vain. Or maybe His sacrifice was only needed until someone could come up with this spirit-releasement therapy? Overall, I don't buy it.

Obviously, if it's helping people that's a good thing. And if it leads people to Jesus and not away from Him, that's also a good thing. From what I've read, I gather that it does the opposite, and that's not a good thing, because I know in whom I believe. There's a song running through my head as I type this:  That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die, You count it strange, so once did I, Before I knew my Savior.

I'll add more if or when I have more insight, and if anyone wants to join in the discussion you're welcome!

EFT-SW now has a website, too!

I'm re-posting this and deleting the other post from a few days ago - I was a bit confused over some of the hosting technicalities. The important thing is - it works! Comments about the website, and even about my temporary confusion are welcome. ;-)

I know you've all been anxiously awaiting this news, so here it is -- I now have a website for EFT and Spiritual Warfare, in addition to the blog! (Ok, maybe no one else but me is excited by the news, but I wanted to share it anyway!) It doesn't have a lot of the technological 'bells and whistles' other sites have, or the fancy layout and design, but for a home-made effort I think it's not too shabby. Feel free to offer criticism, so long as it's constructive (and keeping in mind that being a web-master isn't my calling, though dealing with html code is probably easier than dealing with real live people some days!).

I also don't really aspire to learn how to put together java scripts, but if someone has some expertise they're willing to lend, it may be welcome. I can't think of much I want the web site to do that it's not already doing -- basically a landing page with some contact info. for me and links to some topical articles I've written, which I hope to add to as time goes on, and possibly cross-post a few on here.

The articles are (for the most part) taken out of the e-booklet I wrote earlier this year, though I did add to and/or make some revisions to what is written in the booklet, for the article asking

is EFT ok for Christians? and also on the EFT and the Law of Attraction article.

Lastly, the site is hosted by Witness Today - Free Web Hosting for Christians. If you have some funds in search of a place to donate, they'd be a good spot. Of course, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you clicked on my donate button, either! (Or hire me for coaching and I'll start donating to the hosting service; after doing boring things like buy a few groceries and pay the electric bill!).

There's a link to the new site over on the links section ---> and you can also find it again here.