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Van Praagh, Contemporary Medium and Mystic by Lou Whitworth a Paper from Crossroads Evangelical Ministries

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Van Praagh, Contemporary Medium and Mystic by Lou Whitworth a Paper from Crossroads Evangelical Ministries An Analysis of the Teachings of James Van Praagh, Contemporary Medium and Mystic by Lou Whitworth A Paper from Crossroads Evangelical Ministries Introduction James Van Praagh is a medium and psychic who became quite popular in the late 1990s through his numerous appearances on television talk or news shows such as Oprah, Dateline NBC, 20/20, Good Morning America, and Charles Grodin=s talk show on CNBC. You may well have seen him on TV holding a Aspirit reading@ (or seance) with members of the studio audience. He also does spirit readings with the listening audience when he is interviewed on radio talk shows such as Larry King Live and others. His dress, language, and manner all tend to belie his decidedly unusual occupation, and his young professional appearance disarms his subjects. This approach is very effective because it allows him to capture the attention and interest of those who would normally be skeptical or unreceptive. During the late 1990s Van Praagh was also writing. In 1997 his first book, Talking to Heaven: A Medium=s Message of Life After Death, came out and was extremely successful. He followed that in 1999 by Reaching to Heaven: A Spiritual Journey Through Life and Death. And in late 2000, he released his third book, Healing Grief: Reclaiming Life After Any Loss. As of this writing in December 2000, Van Praagh=s influence hasn=t diminished. Training and Education James Van Praagh grew up in a Catholic family and attended a Catholic school in grades one though eight. The first steps in Van Praagh=s psychic journey began in the first grade. One day after the children had finished their lunches and were putting away their lunch boxes, he and his teacher locked eyes, and he was immediately filled with sadness. He instantly knew that the teacher=s son had been hit by a car and had broken his leg. He walked over to the teacher and told her that her son had been injured by a car and had broken his leg, but he would be all right. The teacher didn=t know what to think, but seemed shaken. In about an hour, she got word that, indeed, her son had been hit by a car. His leg was broken, but otherwise he was fine. Later, referring to his clairvoyant knowledge concerning this incident, the teacher told him he had a rare gift.1 Between ages six and eight Van Praagh commonly saw what he described to his mother as Alights around people.@ His capacity to see these lights (Aauras@) largely disappeared as he grew older. Then in his early twenties, when he had started meditating and developing his inner awareness, the ability to see auras returned.2 When Van Praagh was eight years old he had a mystical experience that marked his life forever. It occurred one morning as he was lying in bed. He felt a blast of cold wind on his face, but when he looked all around the doors and windows were firmly shut. Then he looked up to see the palm of a huge hand, glowing and pulsating with a white light. It seemed to be coming through the ceiling. 1 He was transfixed but unafraid. Though he heard no words and received no mental message, AI knew that this vision was God.@ He was so overcome with joy, and by a sense of love and peace that invaded his whole being, that HE DETERMINED TO DO ANYTHING HE COULD TO EXPERIENCE THOSE WONDERFUL FEELINGS AGAIN.3 As a youngster in a Catholic school, Van Praagh puzzled over the usual questions children ask, but was frustrated when the nuns sometimes answered his questions with threats -- hinting that people who ask too many questions might not go to heaven. In the second grade he used the wrong color of pencil for a particular project and claims that because of that mistake, a nun slapped him so hard he fell down and momentarily lost consciousness. So from an early age Amy faith and trust in the Catholic Church soon became a delicate balance between what was preached and what was demonstrated.@4 (Of course, to some extent, the tension between what is proclaimed and what is lived out effectively is present in any religion or philosophy. In this, the Catholic Church is not certainly alone.) Van Praagh states that he is grateful for the experience of attending Catholic schools. But it must be a reluctant sense of gratitude judging from his comments in Talking To Heaven. Van Praagh was involved in other paranormal experiences between eight and eleven years of age. He took part in a youthful seance that seemed to scare all the others when an apparent contact was made. Once, he and some friends encountered some spirit children playing in a graveyard. They never went back to that graveyard!5 After having him spend grades one through eight at a Catholic grade school, his Irish-Catholic mother saw to it that he enrolled in a Catholic seminary. She expected him to attend all four years thereBgrades nine through twelve. He didn=t want to go, but the fact that he=d be able to get away from home and see something different, helped him accept the idea. At seminary, he tried to give his life to God, but was frustrated. Then during a Good Friday worship service, as the students were taking turns meditating, he had another experience: AI became aware that God was inside the room.@ He felt peaceful and tranquil. Then he felt that God was in him! In fact, he felt that God is Aeverywhere and in everything. God is unlimited. I finally had an answer and knew this was the reason why I was in the seminary. I had to take this sense of God with me. From that day on, I never questioned the existence of God. I just had to look in my own heart to see God.@6 Through his seminary training Van Praagh came to a greater sense of self and was forced to learn how to get along with others. He was changed by, and very grateful for, his experience of God during the worship service. Nonetheless, he came to reject most of the principal beliefs of Catholicism, because of its belief system which he called Aextremely archaic.@ It was not so much the church=s position on social or gender issues that rankled him, positions that many liberal Protestants and Catholics call Aout of date.@ Rather, it was foundational doctrinal matters upon which most conservative Protestants and Catholics agree that he found insupportableCthe reality of sin, the Trinity, the uniqueness and deity of Christ, etc.). AIronically the seminary also helped me to realize that Catholicism was not for me. I found something much richer and deeper to believe inCGod. It was not the God who sat on a throne in heaven or the son of God who hung on a cross. It was the God of love that resided in me.@7 He continued, however, to hold to the conviction that if people would truly follow the ideals of their religion, whatever it might be, the world would be a better place.8 But it must be noted clearly that though Van Praagh=s alleged shabby treatment by the nuns in Catholic school is regrettable, and may have soured him on the Roman church, it is just 2 an excuse. The archaic beliefs he actually turned against are the Bible as the revealed Word of God, our Heavenly Father who is the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ who is His revealed Son of God and Son of Man and Savior of the world, and even Christianity itself. Van Praagh left seminary after his first year and graduated from a public high school, then enrolled in San Francisco State College as a broadcasting major. After graduation from college, he moved to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a screenwriter. This was in the summer of 1982. He did temp work for a while, then got a gopher-type job at the William Morris Agency. But it was there that his direction became more clear. His supervisor invited him to came along on a visit to a medium. He jumped at the chance, though at the time he didn=t know what a medium was. He mainly wanted a diversion from work, but the visit proved to be propitious. He was intrigued by what he observed. But what really got his attention was the comment the medium made to him, AYou know, James, you are very mediumistic. The spirit people are telling me that one day you will give readings like this to other people. The spirits are planning to use you.@9 This statement haunted him for months. Although the idea of becoming a medium intrigued him, it ran counter to all his plans and goals. He was conflicted, but decided to read all he could on psychic and mediumistic activities and test his abilities.10 He started trying to follow his instincts, developing his intuition, and playing psychic games at work and with friends. After about a year, friends, friends of friends, and co-workers started asking him questions about the future, about their lives. Soon the number of these unsolicited requests grew to the point that he had to make a choice about his future. The decision he made was to press on and become a full-time medium.11 By 1997 he had been speaking and giving readings to thousands of people in private sessions, group meetings, and on radio and television for a decade.
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