AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE SACRED: JOHN OF GOD

Instructions arrived before the event: dress completely in white to enable the Entities to scan your auras…

John of God at the Casa de Dom Inacio

I first heard about John of God a decade ago from a friend who had accompanied his terminally ill uncle to Brazil, in search of a miracle. As the story was recounted to me, the uncle was cured of cancer but perished from the implacable disbelief of his doctors and family, who could not be convinced of the healing despite exhaustive medical tests that showed no trace of the disease. The uncle gave in to doubt, and the cancer returned to take its course.

I remembered that tragic story last year, while watching a television program where best selling author Wayne Dyer described being cured of leukemia by John of God. In poignant contrast to the uncle’s mind-set, Dyer admitted that, despite his initial scepticism, he has made a concerted effort “to remain healed” by keeping his faith strong and his mind positive. He spoke of the inner transformation that resulted from the healing, emphasizing that consciousness shifts have been observed in every studied case of recovery from untreatable diseases, so that the thought patterns that produced the pathology no longer dominated.

Compelled to learn more about the miracle man of Brazil, I pored over books, documentaries, news reports and testimonials about him.

João Teixeira de Faria is arguably the most powerful unconscious medium alive today. The humble farmer, who – to this day – cannot read or write, is clear about one thing: “I do not cure anybody. I am merely an instrument in God’s hands.” During the healing sessions he incorporates into his body the spirits of saints and deceased doctors, called the “Entities.” João’s demeanour and physical appearance assume the incorporated Entity’s once human characteristics, such as eye colour. Photos have even captured the Entity’s face and body superimposed over João’s.

One of the spirit Entities, Dr Jose Valdevino, 

is so fully incorporated into John of God that Valdevino’s 

physical presence is captured on film, obscuring 

John of God’s facial and physical characteristics.

While João is essentially asleep, and has no recollection of events, the Entities operate on the patient’s energy field in invisible or visible surgeries. An invisible surgery is when nothing is done physically to the patient, who could be thousands of miles away, even if unexplained incisions sometimes appear on the body. Few surgeries are visible, meaning that John of God cuts into the patient’s body without anaesthesia or sterilization, yet without pain or infection. These are performed only when the patient needs to experience a physical intervention.

It is estimated that, in the 55 years that John of God has devoted himself to this work, as many as 15 million people have been treated, free of charge. The Casa de Dom Inacio – named after one of the Entities, St Ignatius of Loyola – was established in Abadiania in 1979, in central Brazil, as his non-denominational healing centre. Countless people claim to have achieved miraculous healings of cancer, AIDS, paraplegia, blindness and other seemingly incurable conditions. Countless more claim to have been helped physically, emotionally or mentally, and identify the Casa as their spiritual home.

The more I learned about John of God, the more I sensed that his gift was different from everything else I had experienced in my quests for the transcendental. Journeying to Brazil went on my to-do list, although I was not looking for a healing or to be convinced: John of God had already helped several people in my immediate environment. A friend’s father received a long distance blessing on his deathbed. Without any medical explanation his condition rapidly improved, and he was released from hospital.

When healing sessions were announced for my hometown, Toronto, I seized the opportunity to delve deeper.

Arriving at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre early in the morning, I felt slightly awkward and ‘cultish’ dressed in white amid thousands of others. I had decided to go alone, wanting to immerse myself in whatever was in store. Since I had no specific expectations, I began the day as a rather dispassionate observer.

The enormous hall was permeated by reverence and serenity. Mounted on the walls, portraits of the Entities gazed at the nearly soundless crowd with piercing eyes. A transfixing portrait of Jesus presided over the events from the stage.

While waiting for the morning healing session to begin, I stood in line at a prayer triangle to deliver help requests from friends. These wooden triangles, which stand for Charity-Faith-Love, are described as energy portals. I wanted to see for myself.

When I arrived at the triangle, I followed the protocol: I placed my hands on the sides and my head inside. And then it hit me… an energy current so powerful that I felt lightheaded. Paralyzed by joyous gratitude of a profundity beyond words or comprehension, all I could do was shout out in my mind: “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I may never fully grasp the meaning of that experience, but it was as though I had been touched by the Ineffable.

Like almost everyone who had gone before me, I walked away from the triangle in a daze and in tears. A dispassionate observer no more…

John of God entered a few minutes later and invited everyone to have psychic surgery. A line formed instantly but since I did not need physical healing, I rationalized that I should stay behind. Yet, in that very moment, I knew that my decision was based purely in fear, for I was being called into that room where a profound transformation would take place within me. Not knowing what this transformation might be, I battled myself  in trying to decide whether to join the line or not. With a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach – a clear signal that I was betraying my higher purpose –   I stayed behind. I decided not to force myself into anything, to spend time meditating in John of God’s energy field and to receive a blessing in the afternoon.

I returned to the triangle line; whatever that was, I wanted to feel it again. The current was equally strong but, this time, I drifted into an inner stillness and tranquility that stemmed from a deep knowing that all our wants and needs are meaningless. Even as I was mentally delivering my friends’ requests to the triangle, I knew that, no matter what happens in our lives, all is well. If only shifts in perception were that easy! I have tumbled back into the clamour of wants and needs, yet that Truth still resonates within me, relieving the turmoil somewhat.

I placed the requests in the overstuffed basket next to the triangle, and then it was time to line up for the afternoon session. To go before the Entity…

While we were being ushered into the hall where the Entity was incorporated into the body of John of God, the energy was so strong that everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. My limbs were limp, my vision blurry, and my mind blank. The energy field was our doorway into the “gap.” As described by Deepak Chopra in Quantum Healing, the gap is the space from where we are able to commune with the Divine, grasp the Truth of how life operates and how we participate in Creation. It is in the gap that healing happens.

John of God sat at the centre, flanked by other mediums in meditation. As we passed before him one by one, he selected certain people for deeper intervention. I don’t know what happened with them, since most of us were led to a separate area, which stood for what is called at the Casa the “Current Room”. We were instructed to sit in meditation with our eyes closed. When my eyes cracked open for an instant, a thick, white light blinded me. From the moment I sat down, robust, smooth and clearly defined waves penetrated my body. At one point, the energy focused on my jaw and scanned up and down, where I had had ongoing discomfort from some unsuccessful dental work.

I don’t know how much time passed before the Entity announced that the session was over. As we were led out in a daze, volunteers handed out tissues for all those teary eyes.

I remained in a state of tranquility for hours, although the discomfort in my teeth increased significantly after the scan. And then it was gone, never to return.

On the following day, a sceptical friend – on whose behalf I had requested emotional and mental healing at the triangle – experienced an opening through a series of strange coincidences that helped him accept the existence of the transcendental. “I finally get it,” he kept saying. “Everything is energy and it is all around us.” His lifelong conflict between belief and disbelief dissolved.

Physical healings are only one part of John of God’s mission: in raising planetary consciousness, emotional, mental and spiritual healing is the real work. It must be said that not everyone who seeks John of God’s help is physically healed, nor are all healings instant. Healing is typically a process that requires faith, commitment and inner transformation, as illustrated by the contrasting examples of Wayne Dyer and my friend’s uncle.

Discarded wheelchairs left behind at the Casa
by those who no longer needed them.

I did not witness this but media have reported that instant healings did take place in Toronto. A young man surrendered his crutches to John of God and walked away. Perhaps they will be added to the Casa’s collection of wheelchairs and canes, left behind by those who no longer need them.

I’m still processing what I took away from the experience because, as layers of insight peel away, they only reveal more. Even so, now I understand why the case of John of God had always felt so different to me, compared to the work of all the other healers and energy practitioners I had encountered.

What comes through John of God is an energy current of incomparable power, clarity and deliberate intent. It is the highest vibrational field I have ever experienced; simply being within it can spontaneously raise one’s consciousness. It has the ability work on hundreds of people simultaneously, providing what is needed to each individual.

Yet the profound difference is that the energy is itself Intelligence. It is Consciousness. It is as though a saint’s halo had spread out to envelop everyone in the room and beyond, healing bodies, hearts and minds.

As devout as João Teixeira de Faria may be, he is but a conduit for Intelligences that are – I have come to believe – not simply good but holy. The John of God phenomenon is not a case of one of us reaching up to the Source, but of the Source reaching down to us. Perhaps what is served up, through the body of this humble man, to the millions who seek and receive it, is indeed “bread from heaven.”

I suppose that I, too, received what I was unknowingly seeking: an encounter with the Sacred. As I write this, the ineffable wave of gratitude comes flooding back…