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!

Gods and Monsters article

This is a very interesting article titled: Gods and Monsters. It's from the National Catholic Register, and again I'm Protestant. However, it appears likely that those of the Catholic faith are more likely to believe in things spiritual.

Here are a few sentences that resonated the most with me:

Uncritical acceptance of spiritual forces can have disastrous consequences.

[I have noticed that in some circles, there's a general belief that if it's from the 'world of spirit' it's more likely to be accepted without question as from a 'more enlightened' source.]

In my own case, the spirit that I was in contact with consistently tried to make the ordinary world seem dismal and meaningless and to present an image of death as a beautiful awakening of the fettered soul. I nearly committed suicide for its sake. I was going to do so, and sincerely believe that I would have if my guardian angel had not intervened.

An education in anti-supernaturalism leaves one easy prey for evil spirits.

Undefended by the armor of God, unwarned against the existence of demonic intelligences, and starving for the wondrous and spiritual, modern man is about as well defended as a pack of shepherdless sheep in a wolf’s den.

Someone captivated by the possibility of occult magic will not find his way back into the fold if all he finds there is worldly wisdom and prosaic ritual. He must find, in the teachings and liturgy of the Church, a vision of the spiritual world that puts all others to shame.

Such a vision already exists. It exists in the works of the theologians, where all the complexities of the angelic orders are laid out. It exists in the Scriptures, where the hosts of heaven descend in power to scatter the proud in their conceits.

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