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Prayer as a Healing Energy

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Last month’s column focused on the messages channeled by Qala Sri’ama Phoenix (http://g-a-i-a.com) about the many types of children incarnating in addition to indigos, crystals or rainbows. The question of how adults can incorporate the qualities of these “new children” in order to become fully formed beings of light arose. This month’s column was originally intended to address forms of energy healing that could facilitate this. However, before exploring that topic, I’ve decided that the current state of research on prayer and healing needed to be addressed. This decision is based on the results of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) study that was released at the end of March.

     You’ve probably heard or read the new reports which seem to deliver a death blow to beliefs that distant healing can be accomplished through intercessory prayer—prayer for God’s intervention in the natural order. STEP, a respected nine-year study supported in part by the John Templeton Foundation, tracked a sample of 1,802 bypass patients from a mix of hospitals who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Group 1 received intercessory prayer after being told they may or may not receive it, Group 2 did not receive intercessory prayers after being told they may or may not receive it, and Group 3 were told they would be receiving intercessory prayer and did receive it. The praying was done by strangers who did not know the individuals they were interceding for.

     Not only did the group that received prayer fare no better than those didn’t receive prayers, but those that knew they were being prayed for by strangers actually did worse that the others. So, what does all this mean for prayer and healing research? Dr. Charles F. Bethea, principal investigator for the STEP study at the Intergris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, pointed out that the group that fared worse with prayer may have been affected by an induced form of performance anxiety or made to feel that doctors had doubts about their health outcomes. An article in the March 31, 2006, online edition of Science & Theology News (www.stnews.org) quotes Dr. Bethea as stating: “One line we considered in this study was did the patient think ‘am I so sick that they had to call in the prayer team?’” Investigators point out that it is possible that intercessory prayer may not be amenable to randomized control methodology and that a large-scale study like this may not be replicated.

     Another prayer study, however, may have hit on a factor that certainly needs further investigation. In the August issue of The Lancet, a Duke University-led study called MANTRA II (short for Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings) also showed that distant prayer did not improve the prospects of recovery in heart patients. One intriguing segment, however, may give us a glimpse at the idea that prayer may be an energy force. In the article, “Does prayer research have a prayer?” (online edition of Science & Theology News, September 7, 2005), MANTRA II’s lead investigator, Dr. Mitchell Krucoff points out a suggestive trend that emerged in the final year of the study indicating some favorable results for prayed-for patients. Dr. Krucoff stated that prayer enrollment in MANTRA II fell so sharply after the September 11 terror attacks that investigators added a “two-tiered” prayer strategy, asking more congregations to add their prayers to those of the first group who had been praying for the patients all along. They found that patients prescribed this “higher dose” of prayer were somewhat less likely to die or be readmitted to the hospital during a six-month follow-up period.

     The intensity or dosage of prayer energy might then be a positive factor in healing. Could this be one of the reasons, for example, that a growing body of scientific evidence supports the idea that in-person prayer—prayer encouraged as a therapy for patients and in which they participate—provides health benefits? Should we then be studying not just the fact of being prayed for but the quantity and quality of prayer—or any other type of healing energy, for that matter?

     I am reminded of the description of John of God’s Casa de Dom Inacio in Abadiania, Goias, Brazil (www.johnofgod.com). One of the rooms is a meditation room where thirty or more mediums, all dressed in white, sit in deep meditation. This non-stop meditation is supposed to generate a strong healing current. Next door, in the main interview room, sit another sixty or more volunteer mediums. The long line of ailing pilgrims walk through the centre of this meditative force on their way to receive their cures or prescriptions from the medium Joao and his cast of supporting spirit entities.

     My own Ph.D. research is focusing on the transformative effects of Near Death Experiences (NDEs). One classic case study that relates directly to our current discussion appears in Dr. Melvin Morse’s Transformed by the Light. The 39-year-old woman named Janet was not an NDEer, but one of the study participants who had a mystical experience of light while under severe stress. Janet had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer. The cancerous lesion was on her nose and her doctors insisted that she have it removed immediately.

     Here is an excerpt from Janet’s experience:

     “I was in the deepest state of depression and despair that I have ever known. Two nights before surgery I was sleeping when I was awakened by a bright light shining in my eyes … I asked that my cancer would be removed. I prayed actually. And the light said that what we think of as prayer is more like complaining and we are frequently begging to be punished for something that we are simply going to do again in the future. He asked me to think of my own worst enemy and I did. Then he said to send all of my light to my worst enemy. I did and a sudden burst of light went out of me and returned as if it had been reflected back from a mirror. I became aware of every cell in my body. I could see every cell in my body. It was the sound and sight of light coming from my being. I was crying, laughing, shaking, trying to hold still and trying to catch my breath. When I finally recovered, the being of light said, ‘now you have prayed for the first time in your life.’” Janet’s cancer disappeared, a rare occurrence for basal cell carcinoma.

     As I reflect on this experience, I see parallels between this message from the light and the information provided by many of the healing practitioners who have been interviewed in The Monthly Aspectarian and elsewhere. And that’s what next month’s column will be about: the types, quality and quantity of healing energy and how they can be integrated into our lives.

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Mary Montgomery is a certified web author and developer. Her company, Montgomery Media Enterprises (“Freelancing with Finesse!”), specializes in public relations, writing projects and web authoring, development and publicity, especially in the non-profit sector. Ms. Montgomery has a Master’s Degree in religious studies from Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) and is working on a Ph.D. with a focus on the new scholarship of Unlimited Love and the Other Regarding Virtues. She is also in the process of completing the Morris Pratt Institute Course on Modern Spiritualism. Contact her via email at Monty764@aol.com or at her web site at www.montymedia.com.

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