Ok so this is something I need to share with someone else besides my wife cause it's eating me up, plus I really need someone else's thoughts, I need someone to tell me I'm not crazy, and I'm more than welcome to recieve opinions telling me I'm wrong but please be kind enough to leave an explanation to why I'm wrong so we could have a healthy conversation about it and who knows you might convince me, honestly I'm always open to the fact I might be wrong because I'm aware I don't know it all.
So as a small group of you might know my father is fighting cancer and losing, and in the fight they have become very close to god, annoyingly close to god. They contacted some time ago with a priest who lives in San Francisco who is said to make healing miracles (never him of course, it's god who does it through him) through some ceremonies he calls "praying celebrations" or something like that. It's that creepy shit you see in Latin-american tv where a ton of old ladies close their eyes and look like retards while the father prays and starts touching people and they faint and all of a sudden are healed from their illneses. So after lots of talking and praying over the phone with him he is now coming to my parent's home for two weeks to conduct various of these ceremonies and then off to a trip to Rome to get to know the vatican cause he's never been to Europe.
Funny part: He is also a Psychologist. I have spoken with him because he insists to speak to the whole family (he is VERY insistent, it busts my balls) and can clearly see through his facade, but my parents are way too goddamned stupid to do that, they feel blessed with his coming. The guy is a worldclass manipulator, it's pathetic how he's all loving and peace and after all the praying and when everyone's at his mercy he kindly and slowly insists on bringing latinamerican friends, on burning hundreds of copies of his cd (with a recorded ceremony he did in Venezuela and a couple lame religious songs) that he later sells for his profit (with Cds we bought him) and other things that he does not insist on or explicitly ask for but the people he "heals" give him out of the kindness of their hearts.
More Funny parts: I translated about 15 testimonies (he is also VERY insistent on the testimonies, on spreading the word and telling story after story at every ceremony) and find it funny how ALL are women and 80% are over 60 years old, all latin and central american and the great majority are housewives. IOW: Stupid, uneducated people. I'm sincerely sorry if that comment offends anyone here because my intention is not to start fights but it's my take on it and I'll stand by it. He has helped many wealthy people in these countries, including a couple families that are acquaintances to my family (as in friends of cousins and such) who can testify they were healed from serious diseases (one of them cancer) after praying with the Father. Of course my parents stand behind the truth of people they know by second hand acquaintances who were really sick and are now really in good health, there's no lie to that. But the whole thing is way too fishy for me, as I said he has helped wealthy people so he has recieved help in the form of train tickets, being taken care of when he travels as regards shelter and food (he has even flied on private planes) and I'm guessing he also has most of his bills payed in this way cause he wouldn't be making 1 or 2 hour long calls from USA to Spain like he has done with my parents. Because of this also my parents are trustful in him, so trustful that my father is paying him the voyage from California to Spain, then from SPain to Rome and then from Rome back to California. He is getting a fucking payed vacation to Europe.
My thoughts: He's a psychologist and a good one, he knows what people to go for (insisting on latinamerican people, it's almost like he doesn't even want spanish people in the ceremonies at all, like he's afraid of the lack of faith in this country and rejection of the church), knows how to ask for stuff and always gets what he wants, he even started insisting on my father to do the check-in for him through internet (cause he's never done it, but he travels every year to south america??), to get him an aisle seat cause he likes to walk and started explaining his diet to my mother after he had gained their trust. He insists so much that my mother has become very insistent and is pretty much FORCING everyone in the family and trying to convince many friends into coming (when our Spanish relatives are not religious at all, they're actually against the church in general) and that's what he wants, to force people but he doesn't want to force them himself cause it would be too obvious.
Now, what's up with the healing? I mean I'm a non-believer 100% but as a good nonbeliever if you show me proof, well, there's no "believing", there's just knowing. My family knows people who have been healed of cancer and other diseases after seeing him, of course that is not proof that he actually did it, or that God did it through him for that matter, but it does make one think. Just looking at options and I'm not very educated on this stuff, but the mind controls the body right? Stress has proven to actually make people sick, and relaxation and laughter has proven to make people better, couldn't this be taken to higher extents? Couldn't a completely serene and relaxed person who is sure everything will be fine (by believing firmly that Mr. whoever is taking care of him) expel the bad cells in his body, make his own body regain balance and achieve good health? Just a thought, as I have said many times I'm not a person to "believe" in anything cause it's pointless to think that something is true(or correct) without actually knowing about it, and that's what believing is IMO.
So your thoughts, on Mr. fancy Father Phsycologist and on what's up with the healing? Thank you to whoever actually read the whole thing
So as a small group of you might know my father is fighting cancer and losing, and in the fight they have become very close to god, annoyingly close to god. They contacted some time ago with a priest who lives in San Francisco who is said to make healing miracles (never him of course, it's god who does it through him) through some ceremonies he calls "praying celebrations" or something like that. It's that creepy shit you see in Latin-american tv where a ton of old ladies close their eyes and look like retards while the father prays and starts touching people and they faint and all of a sudden are healed from their illneses. So after lots of talking and praying over the phone with him he is now coming to my parent's home for two weeks to conduct various of these ceremonies and then off to a trip to Rome to get to know the vatican cause he's never been to Europe.
Funny part: He is also a Psychologist. I have spoken with him because he insists to speak to the whole family (he is VERY insistent, it busts my balls) and can clearly see through his facade, but my parents are way too goddamned stupid to do that, they feel blessed with his coming. The guy is a worldclass manipulator, it's pathetic how he's all loving and peace and after all the praying and when everyone's at his mercy he kindly and slowly insists on bringing latinamerican friends, on burning hundreds of copies of his cd (with a recorded ceremony he did in Venezuela and a couple lame religious songs) that he later sells for his profit (with Cds we bought him) and other things that he does not insist on or explicitly ask for but the people he "heals" give him out of the kindness of their hearts.
More Funny parts: I translated about 15 testimonies (he is also VERY insistent on the testimonies, on spreading the word and telling story after story at every ceremony) and find it funny how ALL are women and 80% are over 60 years old, all latin and central american and the great majority are housewives. IOW: Stupid, uneducated people. I'm sincerely sorry if that comment offends anyone here because my intention is not to start fights but it's my take on it and I'll stand by it. He has helped many wealthy people in these countries, including a couple families that are acquaintances to my family (as in friends of cousins and such) who can testify they were healed from serious diseases (one of them cancer) after praying with the Father. Of course my parents stand behind the truth of people they know by second hand acquaintances who were really sick and are now really in good health, there's no lie to that. But the whole thing is way too fishy for me, as I said he has helped wealthy people so he has recieved help in the form of train tickets, being taken care of when he travels as regards shelter and food (he has even flied on private planes) and I'm guessing he also has most of his bills payed in this way cause he wouldn't be making 1 or 2 hour long calls from USA to Spain like he has done with my parents. Because of this also my parents are trustful in him, so trustful that my father is paying him the voyage from California to Spain, then from SPain to Rome and then from Rome back to California. He is getting a fucking payed vacation to Europe.
My thoughts: He's a psychologist and a good one, he knows what people to go for (insisting on latinamerican people, it's almost like he doesn't even want spanish people in the ceremonies at all, like he's afraid of the lack of faith in this country and rejection of the church), knows how to ask for stuff and always gets what he wants, he even started insisting on my father to do the check-in for him through internet (cause he's never done it, but he travels every year to south america??), to get him an aisle seat cause he likes to walk and started explaining his diet to my mother after he had gained their trust. He insists so much that my mother has become very insistent and is pretty much FORCING everyone in the family and trying to convince many friends into coming (when our Spanish relatives are not religious at all, they're actually against the church in general) and that's what he wants, to force people but he doesn't want to force them himself cause it would be too obvious.
Now, what's up with the healing? I mean I'm a non-believer 100% but as a good nonbeliever if you show me proof, well, there's no "believing", there's just knowing. My family knows people who have been healed of cancer and other diseases after seeing him, of course that is not proof that he actually did it, or that God did it through him for that matter, but it does make one think. Just looking at options and I'm not very educated on this stuff, but the mind controls the body right? Stress has proven to actually make people sick, and relaxation and laughter has proven to make people better, couldn't this be taken to higher extents? Couldn't a completely serene and relaxed person who is sure everything will be fine (by believing firmly that Mr. whoever is taking care of him) expel the bad cells in his body, make his own body regain balance and achieve good health? Just a thought, as I have said many times I'm not a person to "believe" in anything cause it's pointless to think that something is true(or correct) without actually knowing about it, and that's what believing is IMO.
So your thoughts, on Mr. fancy Father Phsycologist and on what's up with the healing? Thank you to whoever actually read the whole thing
