Doug Tales 121: Energy Work, Part One

Is energy work the same as spiritual work? Doug Mendenhall explores various aspects of energy work in I See…Arise! (2016), pp. 45-47:

Years ago I read a book about calling down the powers of heaven in order to effectively do God’s work. Is it God’s energy and Light we are calling down? What are the “powers of heaven”? If the Lord went away to charge up His batteries, just as Kitten talked about Joseph Smith doing before he did healing work, should we take notice of both Christ and Joseph Smith doing so? Might it be something that we not only should take a good hard look at, but should also do?

In the previous chapter we related a few of our experiences with using energy to bend spoons, to effectuate healing, and to keep ourselves in balance. Or is all of this talk of energy, meditation, chakras nothing but Eastern religious or New Age malarkey, not worthy of the time of our “spiritually” illuminated Western minds? Why would someone that walks the heavens like Denver Snuffer make a statement in his book Preserving the Restoration: “We need to search the gospel to obtain illumination for our hearts and minds.” (p. 3) Really Denver!? Isn’t “illumination” one of those Eastern “energy” terms we need to stay away from?

But what if it’s true?

What if this kind of thing is important, even perhaps more important than seeking relief in a bottle of pills or a bottle of whatever? Or perhaps more important to our immortal souls than sitting on the sofa with fake and spiritually deadening offerings from Hollywood, or sitting at a sporting event in which our modern day gladiators battle each other as we cheer them on while we imbibe in the local offerings of mild barley drinks? Do any of these things matter? Or is it more important to our eternal welfare to connect to our Lord Jesus Christ in order to become like Him? Does this take work?

If we are not balanced energetically, it is much harder to keep ourselves balanced emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, especially since all three consist of energy, a finer or more subtle substance. The importance of Robert Bruce’s book Energy Work can’t be stressed enough. Yes, there are many volumes that pretend to teach more, but none do it in such simple, easy to understand terms as Robert does. From his book Energy Work:

“My eldest son, Benjamin, is a psychologist. He has practiced tactile imaging energy work for several years, besides studying various systems such as Zen, Tao, Yoga, et cetera. A few years back, he signed up for a course in Iron Shirt Chi Kung. He was told that most students would start feeling significant levels of energy movement if they practiced every day for a year. But during the first day of instruction, Benjamin was feeling major energy movement. (His instructors could not understand such rapid progress, and they were not open to Benjamin’s explanation.) I have heard many similar reports over the years.” (p. 6)

Why did Benjamin feel major energy movement his very first day instead of after a year of practice? Because he did the simple things his father had taught him. He could feel the energy in his body, feel it move in his body, and knew how to clear himself. So why do energy work? Again from Bruce’s book:

“Normally, many of the structures within the human energy body are virtually dormant. They function at a level sufficient for normal physical existence, but on a very low level in a spiritual sense. These structures and energy centers can awaken accidentally, often causing spontaneous psychic experiences, or they can be brought out of dormancy by spiritual practices and energy work.

“The benefits of energy work come on every level. It encourages the physical body to function better, to maintain and repair itself more efficiently, and to resist disease. The ability to work directly with your energy body allows you to stimulate your body’s own self-healing mechanisms in specific ways to target injured or diseased areas.” (Energy Work, p. 6)

Energy work is spiritual work. In the previous chapter when my friend’s kidneys had shut down for three days, the Lord wanted someone to “work” on them. I happened to show up. If I had not been exposed to energy work, learning to clear myself and to send focused energy to her kidneys, nothing would have happened. Could I have laid hands on her head and voiced a blessing to accomplish the same thing? Of course if that is what the Lord Jesus Christ had wanted. He asked that I “run energy” on her. If I had been told to voice a blessing and laid hands on her head, what would the mechanics of that blessing entail? What would the oil do? Does it make for a better spiritual connection? Would I have been calling down the powers of heaven through our combined faith to effectuate the healing? What does that look like? My friend talked about the energy flowing out of my hands (uncontrolled at that point) and into her. That is what the Lord used to “heal” her kidneys. Is that what the Lord did, use controlled focused energy to effectuate the healing He did? Or was it just the mud he put on that man’s eyes that healed his sight?