What do Jean Dixon, James Van Praagh, John Edward, Sylvia Browne, Danielle Egnew, Miss Cleo, Lydia Clar, Janet Nohavec, Joseph Shiel, Chip Coffey and Theresa Caputo have in common?
They are all psychics/mediums.
What else do Jean Dixon, James Van Praagh, John Edward, Sylvia Browne, Danielle Egnew, Miss Cleo, Lydia Clar, Janet Nohavec, Joseph Shiel, Chip Coffey and Theresa Caputo have in common?
They are all Roman Catholics.
That is to say that they are either all practicing Catholics and/or were raised Catholic, come from Catholic backgrounds/families, etc.
For example, Danielle Egnew stated, “I was raised in a very traditional Evangelical Christian home in Montana, though my grandparents, who were Italian Catholic, were rather mystical about spirituality.”
Janet Nohavec was once a Catholic nun.
Joseph Shiel attended a Catholic seminary.
Sylvia Browne was born Jewish but her family converted to Catholicism.
Even Nostradamus’s mother’s family was originally Jewish but converted to Catholicism.
John Edward has stated that he prays the rosary before every reading.
Chip Coffey has written “I am a psychic/medium, I am Catholic and I am gay…I feel absolutely no guilt or shame regarding who I am or the work that I do” and “I was raised in the Catholic faith, which is filled with miracles, mysticism and manifestations. I have incorporated my spiritual beliefs with my Catholic upbringing, which has given me a very personal and private relationship with God.”
Edward even wrote a book titled, “Practical Praying – Using the Rosary to Enhance Your Life” and states:
I am very spiritual. I’m not very religious. I just made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of our Lady of Guadeloupe. It was my third time there and I am very, very connected to that site. That to me is more important. There is nothing like incorporating that into my life. That’s more important than going to church on Sunday.
The book cover includes some or another image of the Roman Catholic “Mary” and sometimes, depending on the edition, is the image from the Our Lady of Guadalupe tilma.
In short, an alleged apparition of Mary appeared at the abandoned ruins of a deserted temple to an Aztec goddess and told Juan Diego that she wanted a sanctuary built there in her honor. In other words, a demon who was lonely, no longer being worshiped as a goddess, simply updated its name, cleaned up its image and is now, still today, being worshipped as a goddess—by any other name.
For details see:
Roman Catholic Church: Our Lady of Guadalupe – Officially or Unofficially the Goddess of the Americas?
On the Treatment of Images, part I of II
Roman Catholic Maryology: Mary in Roman Catholicism, part 20 – Examples of Extreme Deception
But what is the relation, if any, between Roman Catholicism and being a psychic medium (spirit channeler, fortune teller, etc. by any other name)?
There can be no relation…right?
After all the Catechism of the Catholic Church states the following:
Divination and magic 2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility. 2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future.[Cf. Deut 18:10; Jer 29:8.] Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others – even if this were for the sake of restoring their health – are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.
So, what do we learn? Just as it was stated: all forms of divination, conjuring up the dead, practices to “unveil” the future, clairvoyance, mediums, magic, sorcery, spiritism, etc. are condemned. Also, wearing charms is also reprehensible.
Do you know that the Roman Catholic Church has such a thing as “Cannon Lawyers”? Their peculiar doctrines and dogmas as so vast that they actually need specifically trained lawyers to even attempt to sort it all out.
Do they sort it all out? Well, they condemn wearing charms but encourage wearing charms just as long as you call them “scapulars”—see “The Fatima Crusader” : The Rosary and the Scapular.
They condemn mediums, etc. but very many mediums are or were raised Catholic but why? Simply stated, Roman Catholics are told that it is perfectly holy, right, appropriate and Vatican approved to pray to the dead, to thereby communicate with the dead. Be it “Mary,” “saints” or even dead relatives, prayers to the dead (and for the dead) are an everyday part of a Roman Catholic’s life.
Is it any wonder then that so very many mediums, having grown up praying to/communicating with the dead, end up essentially doing the very same thing in the form of being a psychics/mediums?
In fact, John Edward has written a book titled, Practical Praying: Using the Rosary to Enhance your Life.
The latest talk of the town is Theresa Caputo who stars in the “reality” TV show The Long Island Medium:[1]
…I began seeing spirit at age 4. I suffered from anxiety for years until my mom suggested I go to a spiritual healer/teacher. I went to see Pat Longo and that’s how I found out that I had the ability to communicate with spirit…I see, hear and feel things differently than we do in the physical world…
She also stated:[2]
Q: Do you consider yourself a religious person?
A: I am a practicing Catholic. I believe in God, I have strong faith and I attend mass every Sunday.
Thus, she prays to/communicates with the dead during her readings with clients and also every Sunday at Roman Catholic mass.
Now, while she claims she first “began seeing spirit at age 4” she did undergo non-Christian, non-Catholic, occult rituals in order to develop her ability:
Q: Is there training for mediums? And what does it mean that you are a “certified” medium? A: I wouldn’t consider it training. Through spiritual awareness classes and meditation, I learned how I connect with “spirit” and what they’re showing me. And through reading people, I learned what my signs and symbols mean…
I’m just able to be that vessel for “spirit” to be able to validate for us in the physical world that they are still with us.
See the progression? First she saw spirits, then she prayed/communicated with them and finally she is now their vessel. Note that she demands that the spirits put on a happy face for her audience—clearly, a way to disarm and manipulate her audience into accepting demonic powers as good ol’ grandma’s spirit, etc.:
Q: What should the live audience expect at your show?
A: They can expect maybe some crying but a lot of laughter. I always require “spirit” to communicate with laughter…I can guarantee them it’ll be an enjoyable experience that they probably never would’ve expected.
And now to the bottom line as she also responded to skeptics:
I would say to skeptics, just have the experience. I had somebody say on my Twitter account, ‘You’re so full of blah blah.’ I said, ‘That’s great, I value your opinion, but why don’t we do a reading on air and then see what you think before you start passing judgment.
Well, there are at least two forms of skeptics in this regard: 1) Those who believe that the whole thing is a sham and she does not and cannot communicate with the dead.
2) Those who believe that she is communicating with something, such as disguised (laughing) demons, who pass themselves off as the spirits of the dead.
The attached video is very interesting in that Orson Wells explains how he learned “cold reading” techniques but that then, even as a purposeful fake medium/psychic, he would get insights about people about things he could not have known. You see, even if we are just faking it, satan is not. If you pretend to be in touch with the spirits of the dead you are apparently led towards real communication with spirits all right—demonic spirits.
Think about it, demons are invisible presences who have been around and can certainly give us accurate information about the past, our relatives, etc.
Now, take it up a notch from purposefully faking it to taking it seriously and purposefully seeking contact with the dead. This is none but an invitation for demonization.
Add this to an authoritative hierarchical religious structure which does not necessarily emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus, which emphasizes ritual and which has its adherents focus on “Mary” rather than Jesus (see the essay To Jesus Through Mary) and you have a volatile concoction, a recipe for spiritual oppression.
Lastly, from video Ultimate psychics / mediums exposed: fakes, frauds and fails you can see something interesting, using James Van Praagh, John Edward, Theresa Caputo and others as examples: they all act, behave, work their audiences, their clients, in the very same way employing the same mannerisms, the same shoot off various options and watching the audiences/clients getting impressed at an accuracy rate in the very low percentages, etc., etc., etc.
As a note of possible interest: note that Mullin Management, who handles Caputo, was contacted for this article. The following is part of the message sent to them:
I know that she has shared that she has been gifted from a very early age and I would love to know if there are any practices of a spiritual nature that she has engaged upon—and/or recommends to others—in order to receive or utilize the hers and similar spiritual gifts.
They did not bother replying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Note:
[1] From her official website’s about section.
[2] Ryan Gilbert, Theresa Caputo Says Life As ‘Long Island Medium’ Is ‘Bananas’,” Courant, June 26, 2012 AD
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