An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

distinguish from mental disorders. Spiritual helpers do not always base their beliefs on thediscerning spirit of Jesus and His power to heal. The fundamentalist theologian FredDickason asserts that there are good angelic forces and bad demonic forces, and that much“New Age” spiritual healing may be drawing on the latter rather than the former. Dic asoncontrasts Saul‟s action of trying to contact the dead prophet Samuel through the witch ofEndor with James (Epistle of James, 5:14,) commanding the elders of the church to prayover the sick and anoint them with oil.Peters (2008) discusses this literature and reports many incidences where prayer forhealing is unsuccessful to the extent that complete reliance on prayer has resulted in death.In America and Britain, parents have been successfully prosecuted for neglecting theirchildren by resorting to prayer and physical violence, often extreme, in place of medicalintervention. A British example is the case of Victoria Climbié in 1999. In the report on theenquiry by Lord Laming (2003), the carers were advised by the spiritual healers to seekmedical intervention but did not do so. The case and its outcome have been debated inmany church communities and have brought about major changes in the way laws aboutcaring for children are implemented (Peters 2008, Waine and Henderson 2003, Ralph et al2003). Peters (2008:154-175) gives a detailed account of some of these cases and theoutcome of prosecution of members of a religious sect, and argues that healing throughprayer and rejecting medical intervention is contradictory to biblical teachings.60