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The Amazing Cures of a Brazilian Miracle ManA gifted spirit medium, João de Deus incorporates spirit entities who perform physical surgery and psychic healing through him with miraculous results.
Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 5,
#2 (February - March 1998). ©1997/1998 All Rights Reserved
Thoughts of our origins and the purpose of our existence most often occur in that brief moment before we slide into sleep state. When our day's work is done, we watch the six o'clock news and grow weary from too much television. In that dark, waiting state, between 'lights out' and the welcome veil of sleep, our minds will often query the reason for our being. I know I did! I was just like you-hard-working, dedicated, ambitious-and after twenty-five years of twelve-hour days I felt I had made it. A successful businessman, the proud owner of several jewellery stores, I enjoyed the fruits of my labour: a large waterfront home, luxury apartment on the beach, investment properties, a Mercedes-Benz, and private schooling for my two sons. But deep inside me I often felt that life must have a greater purpose. Surely this could not be all there was to it. Then one day, quite unexpectedly, the 'Lord tooketh away'; actually, it was not the Lord, but some 'low life'-a common thief who robbed one of my stores and reduced my materially wonderful life to rubble. As I sat staring at my empty shop, contemplating the consequences of an insurance policy that would not cover the circumstance, I had the first glimpse of how fragile, how futile a purely material life really is. It was in the following bleak months of receivership that I was forced to look for a deeper meaning to life. When the world finally stopped spinning and all I held dear was gone-marriage, wealth, properties, income and, most of all, my self-worth-it was time to look for another meaning; not, I hasten to add, the ritualism of modern religions or the zealous fanaticism of the newborn breed. My years of calculated commercialism left me with a permanent factual attitude to life, so I needed proof in cold hard facts to support any new beliefs. I have been given the opportunity to observe, at first hand, irrefutable proof of the reason for our existence. The contents of this book are based on my personal observations. Where we came from and where we are going are difficult questions to contemplate in our modern-day rush for financial survival. That bedlam between the Corn Flakes and the six o'clock news does not provide much time for concerted thought. It takes time, quiet time, and lots of it. It requires instruction, explanation and education on a subject which is the antithesis of materialism; one which is totally intangible, incomprehensible, another world-literally, another world. As physical human beings, we require proof before we believe. I, for most of my life, accepted only what I could see, feel, eat or put into a cash register as real. I was the ultimate sceptic. On that memorable day in January 1996 when I first squatted on the floor of the main hall at Abadiânia, so closely I could touch the action; armed with SLR camera and flash I watched earnestly for the 'hidden card', the sleight of hand or the obvious 'set- up'. What I saw astounded me, as it astounds countless thousands of first-timers. I saw Raul rise from his wheelchair, after fifty years as a paraplegic, and walk. Still reeling from disbelief, my incredulity received a coup de grâce when I witnessed a tumour removal from a woman's eye by a blindfolded João, using only a kitchen knife. Now, having observed countless operations, healings and cures, including my own lifelong affliction of chronic asthma, I am converting those energies I wasted on scepticism and false sophistication to this simple chronicle of a man's dedication to humanity, of a scale and sincerity that defies our western logic. We all need proof as a means of verification, but sometimes, even when we see the evidence, we still find it difficult to accept because its comprehension is contrary to our western upbringing. Such is the situation with the cures of João Teixeira da Faria. João is a humble man who has a twofold purpose in life: to heal the sick; and to make people aware that we are here on Earth to improve our level on the 'other side', to elevate and better the position of our souls in the hereafter by what we do in this physical life. Although João is probably the most observed, recorded and tested healing medium ever to enter this physical world, it is difficult for even the most dedicated author to compile a logical record of his life. Information about his early life is scant. As a youth he was more occupied with daily survival than recording dates and occurrences. Even simple, chronological compilation of events in correct years of occurrence is a frustrating endeavour. There are no records save those in the memories of his associates, and they differ widely. João himself is a poor source of precise details because he remembers nothing of his actions whilst incorporated by spirit, and even when he is disincorporated he is still partially under their controlling guidance. Mediums of high elevation are, for the most part, attuned to spirit levels all the time. Much like a television left on with the volume turned low, they can still function but their attention is diverted. Even today, his works are a fast succession of miracles, performed so quickly and with such frequency it is almost impossible to record the details of one before another is underway. The sheer numbers of people who seek his help allow little time for reflection or maintenance of precise records. He operates and heals more people in one day than a large Western hospital achieves in a month. His staff members are all volunteers, but only one of them is dedicated two days each week to administrative records. And so, to the issue of proof. We humans are strange creatures. Sometimes we see the evidence but reject the explanation, grappling instead for our own one to fit with our narrow, limited knowledge; preferably an explanation that isn't going to rock our 'conscience boat' too much, that does not require too much in the way of a radical life-change, and that does not shake the shell of security that is our understanding and perception. In light of the evidence in this book, there is no alternative explanation. João Teixeira da Faria is the living proof. He has been tested and examined by the best scientific minds this planet can muster. He permits and welcomes these investigations in the hope that they will prove to everyone the existence of the spirit world and the importance of living correctly in this life so as to elevate ourselves in the next, instead of enduring a karmic penalty. João dedicates his life to healing the sick and incurable, without payment and without prejudice. He encourages the video recording of his daily work and welcomes the observation of anyone, especially medical doctors whose participation he particularly welcomes. To see João pass his hand over the cancerous breast of a woman who has been diagnosed with malignant carcinoma and then lift her blouse to reveal a fresh incision, neatly stitched, and the tumour gone, requires even the most reluctant observer to ask, "Who did that?". The answer to this question is connected to the one we ask ourselves on those dark quiet nights: "What's it all about?". Perhaps the life story of this extraordinary man will help you find the answers to those questions. João Teixeira da Faria is arguably the most powerful medium alive at this time and must surely rank amongst the greatest of the past two thousand years. A "medium", as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is a person who is "a spiritual intermediary between the living and the dead". João not only communicates with spirit, he incorporates the spirit entity; he is literally taken over by the spirit and, in doing so, loses consciousness, 'waking' a few hours later without any knowledge of his actions during the incorporation. Whilst 'in entity', his body is used as a means of conducting physical surgery and seemingly miraculous healing of the sick by the spirit entities who work through him. João's 'gift' is not hereditary. It is not a learned technique, nor is it transferable to any other person. At the age of sixteen he accepted the responsibility of devoting his life to spirit incorporation for the purpose of healing the sick. He accepted a lifelong task that would demand much of him and frequently repay him with abuse, personal deprivation, persecution and unlawful incarceration. To be trusted with such an awesome responsibility requires a strong, moral, righteous but humble person with unquestionable integrity. As if these restrictions and puritan criteria were not enough, he must also provide his service free of any charge, lest he lose the gift. To comprehend the enormity of his gift, and to understand the amazing and true occurrences barely outlined in this book, you must accept, albeit temporarily, the following beliefs: 1) We have all lived many lives before this one. We are incarnated, and after this life we will be reincarnated again into another life. (There are many well-documented cases of hypnotists taking countless numbers of people back into past lives. They speak languages totally foreign to them and they describe in detail places and lifestyles of long ago, which are frequently proven correct by subsequent investigation.) 2) If you remove the physical shell we call the body, what is left is the real you: your soul, your spirit. This eternal essence is in a perpetual state of improvement or deterioration depending on what you do in each of your physical lives. 3) Free will is the only means by which the physical you, and subsequently your soul, can improve its position after your demise. 4) Karma is the means by which you will pay your debt for wrongdoings or be rewarded for your free-will choice of good in each life. If you have killed, stolen, lied or cheated in a past life, chances are that you will be suffering some malady or conflict in your current life. Conversely, if you have been caring, considerate, honest and moral, then your soul will have elevated and you will probably be a healthy, well-balanced person. 5) There is a spirit world! It is much more complex than our physical world. It is much more powerful and decidedly more beautiful for those who have earned a place in it. It is multi-levelled and multidimensional, to cater for the infinite number of development stages through which souls pass. Of over 150 out-of-body, near-death experiences surveyed by Kenneth Ring (author of Heading Towards Omega: In Search of the Meanings of Near-Death Experience), all reported similar observations, feelings and experiences to support this belief. 6) Spirits, both good and bad, are with us all the time. So many of those strange coincidences we experience (usually when we most earnestly wish for them) are the result of thought generation picked up by and acted upon by your guides, your spirit guides. It adds new meaning to the biblical quotation, "Ask and ye shall receive". 7) Our human bodies are generated from and protected by energy fields. There are seven corresponding layers, each with its own density or frequency, and seven major chakras (spinning vortexes). Some people can actually see these layers as auras. If we live healthy, clean lives, our energy fields protect us very well. Conversely, if we abuse ourselves with excesses of alcohol, drugs or unclean living, the fields become weakened, will be attacked and will attract undesirable attachments. Disease begins in these outer layers and the fields lose their vibrancy (we often feel out of sorts a few days before we actually become ill). The mark of João's success is observable in the thousands who flock to his hospital-style healing centre every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. When he travels, he heals as many as 25,000 in three days. The sick queue for hours, and sometimes overnight, to see him. He never refuses anyone who is clean of heart and pure of intent. Although a devoutly God-loving man, he accepts all without prejudice or religious bias. He heals the poor precisely the same as he heals the rich or famous. The world's elite seek his help when western medicine fails. Actresses Shirley MacLaine and Janet Leigh, congressmen, statesmen, priests, nuns, rabbis, the poor and the wealthy find their way to the tiny village of Abadiânia in central Brazil to seek the help of João Teixeira da Faria, known throughout Brazil as João de Deus (John of God). To call him "the Miracle Man" is in a way a misnomer, because a miracle implies the absence of a natural law, when in fact his achievements are only the results of the law of reincarnation and the subsequent use of spirit doctors from the spirit plane. He is classified as miraculous only because we in the western world are reluctant to accept that a spirit world exists and therefore that his work is the result of this natural law. Of the more than 250 volunteers who give their time to the operation of the centre, most are grateful recipients of a new life after treatment by João and his spirit entities. Written off by medical doctors as incurable, they found their way to Abadiânia as a last resort. Amongst them are engineers, doctors, dentists, teachers, labourers, businessmen and simple folk who display no class division, but rather work in harmony to provide a loving and caring environment for those who, as they did, seek the help of João Teixeira da Faria. These fortunate people put aside the restrictions of our modern thinking and dared to seek the impossible: to be rewarded not only with a second chance at life but a new understanding of their purpose in this physical world.
THE MAN IN A WHEELCHAIR Today was special for Raul Natal. Sitting in the wheelchair, which served as both his prison and his mobility for the past fifty years, he waited with apprehension and hope. He dare not raise his expectations too high: he had been to so many doctors and specialists over those long years. He had been X-rayed, tested, probed, manipulated and medicated without success until the doctors and he had finally resigned themselves to the fact that he would never walk again. Why would today be any different? Raul heard about the healer, João Teixeira da Faria, from friends. "He has cured hundreds of thousands of sick and crippled," they said. "Perhaps he could help you, too," they encouraged. What did he have to lose? And so, in a final desperate pilgrimage, he endured the thirty-six-hour bus trip from São Paulo to the small village of Abadiânia, high on the green plateaus of Goiás state in central Brazil. It was 8.15 am on a clear day blessed with the cool crispness of high mountain air. People seeking treatment-already 500 or 600-were packed into the main hall of the centre, waiting quietly, each with his own thoughts and hopes, watching for the healer João to appear. From his waiting position at the front of the crowd, Raul saw the medium enter from a side door, hands clasped in front of his body, eyes intense. João took a middle-aged woman by the hand and stood her against the wall. Rummaging through one of the instrument trays carried by a volunteer, he selected a common kitchen knife and skilfully began to scrape a tumour from her eye. Without anaesthetic or sterilisation, and using only the crude knife, he scraped away at the eyeball-a procedure which would normally cause excruciating pain and irreparable damage-but the woman showed no external discomfort. She remained calm, standing against the wall without any observable reaction. João did not really seem to be concentrating. His hand swept the blade skilfully back and forth across the cornea, but his eyes were focused out into the crowd, searching and scanning. It was as if someone or something other than he was removing the growth. In less than a minute, he wiped the blade across her blouse and called to an assistant, "You can take her away; she is finished." Raul's mind raced in disbelief. His heart beat faster and his hands began to sweat. Could it be possible after all these years that he might walk again? A man was led forward from the crowd and instructed to face the wall. He told the healer that he had not been able to sit or bend without pain for years. Gently, João removed the man's shirt and, taking a scalpel, made a small one-inch incision between his shoulder blades. Incredibly, there was no bleeding and the man showed no sign of pain. "Lift your leg," said João. "Now bend over." Raul stared in disbelief as the man bent over and touched his toes. "Now squat down," said the healer, and the man obliged effortlessly. The tears of relief and gratitude streaming down his face did not escape Raul's observation as the man was led away to the recovery room at the end of the hall. Raul's expectations were rising: perhaps his dreams might yet be fulfilled. João was already turning his attention to a woman with cancer of the stomach. He unbuttoned her blouse, slowly, as if in a trance, and lowered her waistband to expose her lower abdomen. From an assistant's tray he selected a scalpel and slowly made a small incision three centimetres long. It did not bleed and the woman seemed unperturbed. He cut more deeply and inserted two fingers into the opening. Raul, from his front-row position, saw the healer withdraw his fingers and, with them, a soft white growth the size of a golf ball. The woman remained motionless with no apparent discomfort. All of this, he noticed, was without anaesthetic or the stringent sterilisation of modern medical practices with which he was so familiar. The wound was stitched with a single suture and the woman led away to the recovery room. Another paraplegic in a wheelchair was now pushed forward. This would be indicative: if this man were healed, there would certainly be hope for Raul. When João told the helpers to wheel the man away to the Intensive Treatment Room, Raul's fragile confidence sank to an all-time low. Perhaps it was too much to ask after all. No time to think now. João's voice jolted him back to reality. "How long have you been paralysed?" João inquired in a deep, compassionate voice. "I have not walked for fifty years," replied Raul in little more than a whisper. "What would you do if God gave you back your legs?" asked the medium. Raul was too stunned to answer. Short-term confidence fought with years of despair. His mind raced. Could it be possible? Why would he ask if it were not? Surely it would be a cruel joke if he were not serious. He looked at the healer; his eyes were steady and he wore a confident, almost boyish smile. Raul wanted to speak but the words would not come. He knew his joints were seized from years of inactivity; they were calcified and immovable and his muscles atrophied. "What would you do if God gave you back your legs?" asked João again, interrupting his racing thoughts. Raul did not know what to say. He was still fighting with reason and logic. A kindly hand from behind touched his shoulder. "Answer him! How would you feel if you could walk again?" prompted the assistant. All he could do was stutter, "I'd...be...so very happy." The healer bent down and briefly took hold of Raul's left ankle. As he did so, a warm surge of life swept through the leg. "Now rotate it!" he said. Raul obliged. It had been seized for as long as he could remember and now he was turning and twisting it! He watched in disbelief as João touched the other ankle and the same warmth engulfed it. It was like watching someone else's foot turning. It was unbelievable! "Now," commanded the healer, "stand up and walk!" Raul froze. "I can't!" he said. "Yes you can!" replied João with firm compassion. "Stand up and put this foot forward," he said, pointing to the right foot. With all his will and strength, Raul lunged forward from the chair. His legs held; shaking, but they held. João took his hand, offering minimal support as he took his first steps in fifty years. His heart was beating so fast he feared it would seize. The happiness and relief were too much for him. An uncontrollable flood of tears poured down his face. He was walking! Assistants led him away slowly to the main operation room where he sat on a bench with another twenty or so patients. A kindly silver-haired man, dressed in white, talked to them of faith and love and how the healings were not the most important gift here. A greater gift is the awakening, the realisation that there is a life after death and that this physical life is just an opportunity for us to improve and elevate our souls. The healings are just a physical demonstration that we can see and experience, but more importantly we must remember that the miracles are performed by spirit entities who use the medium João Teixeira da Faria as a vessel to perform their work. Raul listened and realised his life would not only be more active but more meaningful from this day on. He had been healed by the entities and the man they call John of God.
THE HOUSE OF DOM INACIO They come in their thousands-the sick, the lame, the incurable and the medically discarded-enduring long international flights and gruelling thirty-five-hour bus trips to a small village high on the Goiás plateau of Brazil. Buses arrive all through the night. At 5.00 am it is still. A low mist blankets the small one-street town of Abadiânia which has sprung up to cater for the multitudes who pilgrimage here. People sit outside the simple lodging houses, talking softly. There are not enough rooms to cater for them all, so they sleep in cars or buses or simply stand around waiting for the dawn. The lodging houses provide free coffee for the weary travellers who spill from the newly arrived buses all through the night. One hundred metres down the road, the cluster of low, white buildings is dark and silent. A kaleidoscope of stars forms a heavenly canopy above this Mecca of last hope, the place they call "the House of Dom Inácio". Dawn will bring new light and hope for a life without pain or illness for those who seek it. The healing centre opens at 8.00 am. The sick congregate to collect their queuing numbers. Cameramen prepare their equipment for filming the day's activity. Somewhere in an unmarked room, João rests and meditates alone in preparation for a day of healing. He will work until the last patient is attended to, sometimes far into the night. He lies on a simple couch in the semi-darkened room. Above his head hang pictures of some of the entities, including Dom Inácio, as well as Christ and the Madonna. On the adjacent wall hang a dozen or more certificates of appreciation, orders of government and honorary degrees bestowed upon him by grateful VIPs, governments and institutions. Amongst them is a Medal of Honour from the President of Peru [Alberto Fujimori] in gratitude for healing his son. The basic furnishings reflect the simplicity of the man the people call John of God. The centre resembles a small hospital, painted stark white inside and out, and with a sky blue band from floor to waist height internally. The design was supplied to João by his principal entity, Dom Inácio, in a vision he received whilst walking through a small valley nearby. The centre, affectionately called "the House", is named after this entity and is known in Brazil as "Casa de Dom Inácio" (the House of Dom Inácio). The choice of site is due to many things: the natural energy of this part of Brazil, the peace and quiet, and a massive outcrop of natural quartz which in itself provides a powerful energy source. Deep below there is a natural spring which flows to a small waterfall a kilometre away. Around this natural beauty grow many of the herbs necessary for the herbal cures prescribed by the entities. Situated on a high plateau, the centre looks out across the lush, sweeping hills of Goiás, a therapeutic sight in itself. The location is one of intense energies, the understanding of which is almost beyond our physical comprehension. The best explanation comes from spirit itself, from a spirit called Seth, in information channelled by Jane Roberts in the 1970s. From her book, Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, comes the following information: "There are main co-ordinate points, sources of fantastic energy, which represent accumulations of pure energy, where health and vitality are strengthened. These points are like invisible power plants. They act as psychic generators, propelling what is not yet physical into physical form." I believe the centre at Abadiânia is one such location. The House itself is designed around a central hall, open at one end, leading out to a covered walkway, toilet and rose garden. In this hall people congregate, waiting to witness the physical surgery by João-in-entity which occurs twice each day. All of these operations are videotaped by the house cameraman. Some years ago João requested the taping of the operations he performed 'in entity' because he had no recollection of his actions once he incorporated the spirit entity. There are now thousands of hours of video records freely available to anyone at a modest charge to cover production. In a semi-circle around the hall are four principal rooms. The first is the recovery room where patients are taken after treatment for care and observation until they are strong enough to leave. The effect of the anaesthetic, supplied by spirit, wears off in an hour or two and the patients are normally able to leave of their own accord without any visible side-effects. The recovery room contains twelve single beds covered in clean white sheets. The nurses are all volunteers who provide compassionate care until the patients are able to leave. Next door is one of two "current rooms" fitted with rows of bench seats with a walkway through the middle. In this room, dressed in white, sit twenty to thirty mediums in meditation. This meditation provides the current to assist the entities in their work. Interestingly, in the Edgar Cayce readings on Atlantis, there is a reference to this type of combined energy used by the Atlantians to achieve their extraordinarily advanced civilisation; a similar production of spiritual current. The people who queue to consult with the entity file through this room and, as they do so, they receive a spiritual cleansing. In two corners there are piles of crutches, wheelchairs and body braces discarded by healed invalids-a silent monument to the success of the man and his entities in their healing work. The second current room contains fifty or more mediums similarly seated in rows. The endless line of people pass through the middle and are spiritually prepared to meet João-in-entity who sits at the far end in a large chair covered in white linen. At the moment of meeting there is a split-second recognition by the entity of each person's 'blueprint': past lives, current situation, illness and spiritual awareness. Depending on what is seen, the person will be dealt with according to the requirement. Some are given herbal prescriptions. Some are sent to the intensive care room for surgery or treatment at a later time. Those who need spiritual strength may be told to sit in current, whilst others are given concise instructions on necessary life changes. Each person is dealt with in less than twenty seconds. The prescriptions are written at lightning speed in a 'spirit shorthand' which looks like a squiggly line and a few ticks. The pharmacists of the House have been taught to understand these 'hieroglyphs' by the entities who prescribe them. The third room is the intensive operations room which has a dual purpose: very serious cases requiring a long time in coma and those who request invisible operations. Around the wall is a line of single beds on which the intensive patients lie whilst the entities perform operations invisibly on paraplegics and on leukaemia, AIDS and serious cancer patients. They may be in a coma for a few hours or a few days depending on the extent of treatment required. Across the middle of the room are rows of benches on which those requiring invisible operations sit, eyes closed, hands resting on their laps in meditation. A medium talks quietly to them, explaining the procedure and raising their spiritual attunement. Twice a day, João-in-entity will enter the room and declare, "In the name of Jesus Christ you are all cured. Let what needs to be done be done in the name of God." At this time, all operations necessary are completed internally, without visible surface scars. Scientific teams have found by X-rays, following these invisible operations, that there are incisions and stitches internally. In this room sit twelve special healing mediums. There are a number of peripheral buildings and a kitchen house where thousands of plates of soup and bread are served each day, free of charge, to those who come to the centre. Many have travelled thousands of kilometres and some are so poor they cannot afford to buy food. The House takes care of everybody in like manner. There is a small coffee house, administrative offices, a large toilet block and a pharmacy for preparation of herbal medicine. The whole cluster of buildings is contained within a fenced compound which provides parking for dozens of buses on one side and a shaded garden area on the other for quiet relaxation in the fresh mountain air.
Procedures of the House The centre opens each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At 8.00 am people receive a short talk on the procedures and are asked to line up according to their preferred treatment: visible operation, invisible operation, first time or repeat treatment. Those for invisible operations are taken to the intensive operations room for preparation. Those for visible operations are led to the main current room to meditate for half an hour before being taken to the main hall for their physical surgery. This will depend to some degree on which entity is incorporated, as each has its own surgical specialities. João meditates in a small room at the rear of the complex before entering the main current room. To incorporate the spirit entity he simply stands before a table containing a wooden cross. He begins by asking that his hands be guided in the work of the day. Then, as he recites the Lord's Prayer, the entity enters him and takes control of his body. He takes some of those waiting for physical operations by the hand and leads them to the main hall where he begins. These visible surgeries are performed in front of the people waiting to consult the entity. Apart from the primary objective of alleviating the suffering of disease or maladies, these demonstrations serve to prove the existence of the spirit world and the delivery of spirit healing through the Christ energy. In addition, they raise the level of belief and attunement within each person. The healing and surgery is interspersed with asides to people in the crowd, as the entity sees or reads the blueprint of each individual, sometimes with spiritual advice, a suggestion to change eating habits, or even a stern warning to change immoral behaviour. Often he will point to someone and direct him to go and sit in current. This could be for the healing benefits of the current or because the person needs to meditate and raise his spiritual awareness before healing, or it could be because the person is recognised as a medium capable of generating powerful current. All of these events are videotaped by the House cameraman and may be purchased for a modest cost to cover production. They provide a valuable record of the achievements of the House and a souvenir for the recipient of the cure. João-in-entity begins each session in the intensive operations room where he separates and prepares those who wish to be operated on visibly. He then turns his attention to the rows of people waiting in meditation for invisible operations. In one brief statement he calls for the operations to be completed. Some recipients feel the operations and others do not, but they are all completed immediately. João-in-entity then takes the line of people waiting for visible operations into the main hall for physical surgery in front of the waiting crowd. When they are completed he returns to the main current room where he sits to receive the people as they file past him. He dispenses with each person in an amazingly fast manner. As they approach, the entity instantly scans and is already prepared to provide the necessary advice. Some are given a prescription for herbal medicine, some are directed to the seats nearby to give current, whilst others are direct ed to the intensive care room for invisible surgery or, if their surgery requires a different entity, they will be told when to return for treatment. He will remain until the last person is attended to. At the end of the daily program, João-in-entity will individually receive each of the mediums-all of whom have sat for many hours providing current-for a blessing and to attend to any special requests they may have. He then stands up, begins a small prayer and the entity leaves his body with a visible shudder of his heavy frame.
The Rules As in every facet of life, there are rules to be followed. If the rules are broken, the treatment is impaired. This warning is delivered frequently by João-in-entity, sometimes quite sternly if someone has come back for further treatment after disregarding the instructions. It is not surprising, though, that some people treat the rules lightly, as they do not seem logical to our physical reasoning (another example of man's lack of understanding and the superiority of spirit knowledge). Some rules are strange indeed. Firstly, there is a diet to be followed: no pork, chilli, eggs, bananas or alcohol. Why? Pork is a spiritually unclean meat. Chilli inflames the system. Eggs today carry the poisons of hormone feeds which, when ingested, interfere with the healing effects of the herbs and treatments. Bananas are treated with a chemical which also interferes in the same way. And alcohol disrupts the healing processes of the body. Perhaps the most difficult to understand is the 'no sex' rule. After an operation there is to be no sex for forty days! The explanation, that the energies of the body are in a healing phase not be disturbed by the physical energies of sex, does little to encourage people to show restraint when they are experiencing renewed health. Of all the frustrations João and the entities endure, the most frequently encountered are those to do with disrespect for entities and their work, and adherence to the simple rules for recovery. Every day, before each session, a member of the House gives a talk on this and other subjects in which it is stressed that these rules must be strictly adhered to. To disobey the instructions can result in a cessation of the healing process, a return to the pre-treatment condition or a worsening of the ailment, depending on the type of illness or affliction.
Look, Learn and Change Even the most casual or sceptical observer cannot help but be moved by the scenes of relief and compassion that exist everywhere in this small cluster of buildings. Amongst the thousands who wait in line for hours, one can see an example of almost every type of human suffering. Pain and disease are the basic reality of those who suffer from them. Here are such people who know and live with this intensely horrible reality. Many of them come because they are literally, practically, objectively hopeless. Modern medicine has given them up; in some cases they are given up by the best specialists in the world. So where do they turn when all else fails? Despite the hopelessness of their conditions, they all share a common look: their eyes carry the soft light of hope. When they emerge from their interviews, that hope has changed to happiness: a mother weeps for the cure of her small child, a cripple who could not walk gently coaxes his limbs to newfound life with the caring aid of staff or friends. Everywhere can be seen new hope, renewed life and a bond of love and caring for one's fellow man. The true essence of charity can be seen everywhere: an old man shuffles up to the dispensary window, fumbling in his pockets for small change to buy his herbs. A kindly lady, realising his predicament, slips a ten real note into his hand. The small change will buy his bus ticket back home. No wonder people come simply to observe: it is a moving and rewarding experience. Unlike many 'miraculous' locations in other parts of the world, there are no faith-healing aspects or mysticism. At Abadiânia each person talks personally to the entity, and the overwhelming majority of people are miraculously cured. Not everyone is cured in just one visit. Many things influence the recovery rate-karma, time for tissues to heal and cells to regenerate-and nearly everyone needs to change spiritually. Some need to change their environment; others their attitude to their fellow man.
REVELATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS Persecution had become a way of life for João Teixeira da Faria. Since he discovered his healing gift at the age of sixteen he had spent most of his young life travelling from city to city, exchanging healings and prophecies for donations of food, clothing, shelter or money. Inevitably, word would spread to a medical practitioner or a dentist whose complaint would bring the police swooping down on him. If he was lucky he would simply be run out of town, but more often he would be charged with a variety of felonies, thrown in jail and, not infrequently, severely beaten. Such was the young life of one of the most remarkable mediums of the past two thousand years: persecution, ridicule and abuse; always only one step ahead of hunger, deprivation or incarceration; and constantly on the move but still determined to carry on his divine mission of healing his fellow man and bringing awareness of their true purpose in this life. Despite his amazing contribution to mankind in the alleviation of suffering, João is still pursued by the authorities, spurred along by disgruntled factions: those medical doctors who fail to understand the source of his healing and surgical ability and call on their medical associations to take action, and the Church, whose clergy fear a weakening of their position within the community and fail to recognise the same spiritual source that is the very core of their doctrines. In 1981 a writ was issued against him for practising medicine illegally. The court session was held in Anápolis, only twenty kilometres from his healing centre. Fortunately his work is so well known in the area that a huge groundswell of public support, including grateful legal practitioners, resulted in an acquittal. The acquittal raised intense resentment amongst a minority group headed by a well-known Anápolis doctor and political leader. On 17 August 1982 he arranged a serious attempt on João's life by four men in three cars. His survival was acclaimed as a miracle. Even as this book goes to print, there is an action in progress, prompted by the Regional Medical Council of Espírito Santo and pursued by the Public Prosecutor through the Brazilian Penal Code. What the outcome will be for João in the forthcoming court case is unknown. The paradox of a judgement deliberated by the highest judicial minds in the country, whilst publicly acknowledging their own personal experience of humanitarian relief so freely given by this man, albeit in defiance of the law, is a most unenviable situation. For João, however, the axe hangs over his head every day while ever there are those factions whose inflated sense of sophisticated professionalism causes them to feel (unjustifiably) threatened. THE MEDIUM AND THE ENTITIES João Teixeira da Faria is a medium of extraordinary capabilities. His mediumship enables him to take on, or incorporate, thirty-three entities, all of whom were remarkable people during their own physical lives. The entities are spirits of deceased doctors, surgeons, healers, psychologists and theologians who are of such high soul elevation they need no longer reincarnate to our physical plane. They do, however, continue to elevate in the spirit plane by the extent of their benevolence and charitable works. João is capable of incorporating only one entity at a time, although he can change entity at any time as the need arises. It does not preclude any number of entities performing operations at the same time outside his body. During incorporation, each entity carries with him his own personality from the past life and, to those who work in the house regularly, each one can be recognised in João's behaviour. The first incorporation by João, when he was sixteen, was the spirit of King Solomon. He is still working with him today-a reminder that, unlike humans, the spirit is immortal. The principal entity is that of Dom Inácio de Loyola (St Ignatius Loyola), after whom the House is named. This Spanish nobleman was born in 1491 into one of the richest families in Spain. The Casa de Dom Inácio is so called because of the similarities between the life of this entity and the life of João. Both were lives of constant persecution, incarceration and ridicule. Both teachings maintain a simple, spiritual philosophy based on early religions, a belief in God, Christ, Holy Spirit and reincarnation, but uncluttered by modern religious dogma.
Note: Author Robert Pellegrino-Estrich conducts regular tours to Abadiânia, Brazil. For tour details and further information on the House of Dom Inácio, contact the author at: 606A/317 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia; telephone/fax +61 (0)2 9212 6345; mobile (0413) 534 555 (in Australia). Email: llight@ozemail.com.au Websites: Copies of The Miracle Man can be purchased from NEXUS offices in Australia, NZ, UK and the Netherlands. In the USA, contact Adventures Unlimited Press, on 815 253 6390.
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