At the end of 2020, Alisha Kleiner (19)’s joy of life gave way to recurrent panic attacks. Diagnosis: depression. In the spring of 2021, St. Gallen will be treated at a clinic. Even after that, things weren’t so good for him, she says.
Kleiner is a member of a free church. In the fall he attends a Christian conference in Germany where they pray for him. Since then, she has no longer had panic attacks: “I recovered from one day to the next.”
Georg Schmid, a religious expert and head of the information center Relinfo, says such reports are not uncommon in the esoteric environment. In some Pentecostal charismatic free churches, there is a marked belief in miracles. Healing prayers are basically harmless. The expectation of recovery plays a big role in psychological or addiction problems.
«Useful placebo effect»
“Assuming I feel better after a prayer, it could have a beneficial placebo effect,” says Schmid. If physical complaints are treated in this way, they are usually complaints that can go away on their own. “Healing is then traced back to prayer.” Important: “Serious churches and healers point out that science-based medicine should also be used.” Alisha says that is the case for her. After the prayer, she went to therapy for a while. She believes in the power of prayer, but “I believe God also needs psychiatrists and doctors to help people.”
Not everyone sees it that way. Georg Schmid says there are suspicious actors in connection with healing prayers. For example, those who make promises or advise against medical treatment. “This can quickly become dangerous in the case of serious illnesses.” Skepticism is also appropriate when you need to stick to rules so as not to jeopardize healing success.
Pay attention to cancer news
Quite a few organizations and individuals advertise with improvement reports. For example, “Heilung auf der Strasse Bern” is an association of members of free Christian churches who worship once a week in the city center of Bern. The group talks online about how God can free people who pray from pain or psychological stress.
Even from cancer: “A man came and told us that we had prayed for him a year ago. At that time, a cancer surgery was planned. After the healing prayer, there was no need for surgery anymore.” Religion expert Schmid advises caution with such reports: Prayer is usually offered immediately after the family doctor voices his suspicion of cancer. If a visit to a specialist does not confirm this, the prayer is assumed to remove the cancer.
Strong growing interest
Spiritual healer Sananda, whose real name is Oliver Brecht, also claims to have cured people from tumors. By his own words, he is a being of light and an early Christian healer. He states on his website that he treats 50,000 people and animals each year with spiritual spiritual healing: “I’ve had thousands of documented healings,” he writes and explains what he’s been told it can do: “Heal tumors, epilepsy, flattening of the spine, flattening of the chest, pain that had existed for decades is gone.” He heals from afar, according to Sananda. He doesn’t need to talk to clients to do that. Costs? A few hundred francs.
Sananda claims that interest in her proposal is growing rapidly. If that’s the case, it wouldn’t surprise Schmid who knows the scene: stories of healing through prayer and corresponding esoteric offerings have increased significantly during the pandemic.
“In general, people in emergencies seek support, especially when they are mentally stressed. Some esotericists, spiritual healers, and individual free churches, including innocuous organizations, have benefited tremendously from this, but are also very dubious figures,” says Schmid. spread conspiracy theories.
Poisoning with chemtrails and microwave weapons
On his website, Sananda describes the pharmaceutical industry and the media as mafia and liars. He claims the population has been poisoned with microwave weapons and chemtrails, and has been invisibly tracked and tortured.
When asked about his statements, Sananda replied in writing that he knows many people who are not good with drugs and the press. Claiming to be a trained cop, the police do not comment on exactly how spiritual healing works. He does not force anyone to give orders to him and does not advise against medical offers, but considers himself an addition. “I didn’t promise anyone to heal him either.”
The group “Heilung auf der Strasse Bern” says the same thing: “We don’t make any promises, but we offer a voluntary free offer that can be used by anyone passing by without any preconditions.”
People using their offer are also advised not to stop taking their medication without talking to a doctor.