Breaking Through the Barriers of Darkness: Recognizing the Cult of Qigong for What It Is

Chapter 4

The Principles and Essence of Qigong

1. Why Do People Believe in Qigong

Qigong theory holds that, simply put, qigong is to have one's body and soul, under their relaxed, static and natural conditions, naturally adjusted in order to reach the original state of "unity of man with heaven."

We can find out that the word "natural" is exactly where the error is.

My definition of qigong is as follows:

To put it simply, qigong is to have one's body postures and movements (or imaginations) meet with the required conditions through specific methods in order for the body to get healed by "qi" and for the acquisition of supernatural supernormal capabilities. This "qi" and supernormal ability come from the evil spirits in the spiritual sphere. "Unity of man with heaven" is the human soul and evil spirits becoming one.

Qigong is classified as Confucian qigong, Buddhist qigong, Taoist qigong, medical qigong, qigong of martial arts and folk qigong. Tibetan Buddhist qigong and Yuga both originated in Buddhist gong methods, but they have become different.

Almost all who know about qigong think it at least has some effect of improving the health and cultivating one's personality and character. This is even held to different degrees by those who object to qigong. Why? Because they have seen in others or experienced by themselves the indisputable facts. The most controversial aspect about qigong is as to whether the supernormal ability and spiritual phenomena are actually real facts. This issue has led to a conclusion which atheists are most unwilling to accept--the existence of supernatural beings. Hence, people respond strongly to qigong out of different motivations. Atheists think it is ridiculous and superstitious, rejecting firmly qigong's supernormal phenomena, which they take as mere jugglery or magic and lies, while theists and qigong devotees think they have found "scientific proofs" and believe that qigong is time-honored and that it is an unknown phenomenon of the human body and also a mysterious universe and life science.

Opposers of qigong have up until today never been able to propose convincing theories and proofs. Generally, the standpoint of the opposing side is their disbelief in the happenings of such things as supernatural phenomena. They deny actual facts because they lack in-depth practice of qigong or have no practical experience at all. Their conclusion is arbitrary and deduced completely from their own atheistic view without any factual basis. To qigong practitioners, such theory is not even worth refuting. But the recent famous figure who opposes supernormal capabilities, Sima Nan, has greater influence, for he can perform gongfu that qigong masters can, and when he sees that people believe what he has performed, he tells them that everything is fake, just magic. So his theory is very appealing to people, and his attack on the supernormal capabilities has afflicted a heavy blow on qigong.

Sima Nan believes that qigong is a very good means for healing and improving health. He thinks it has a supernatural effect but no supernatural beings behind it. This is to say that his theory is in essence to limit qigong to the totally materialistic, atheistic realm while resolutely denying any claim of supernormal ability. This undoubtedly shuts the door that may lead from qigong to belief in the supernatural beings in the spiritual sphere, adds to qigong more scientific coloring, and in the meantime make more atheists feel very much relaxed about qigong. What is hard to understand is that while Sima Nan acknowledges the surprising healing effects of qigong, his explanation of the principles of qigong healing is very ambiguous. In fact, I have my own view on Sima Nan, thinking that he quite probably believes in supernatural beings. He knows what his own qigong is like, and he does not want to deny supernatural capabilities. This sounds very paradoxical. But it seems true that his view contradicts that of Ke Yunlu, for his intention, or the practical result of his intention, can be said to fix people's knowledge of qigong unshakably on the ground of materialistic atheism.

We can see from the works of the famous qigong writer Ke Yunlu that he is a persistent intellectual, seeking for the mystery of life. He hopes to speak his thoughts and believes in the existence of higher life. He trusts "supernormal capabilities" to be true and worships the "universe," but he has not found any answers yet. His qigong theory was inspired by Yan Xin Qigong theory. Now he mainly focuses on theoretical research and has formed a higher and more comprehensive theoretical system. What is pitiful is that people like him linger still in a very limited thinking mode which is "materialistic." They may use all their lives to understand phenomena in this world, but there is one most important thing in this world which they do not understand and which is the true meaning of life. They spend all their time and even their own lives heading in a direction which will never give them an correct answer and which is an erroneous and dangerous road the exit of which is not heaven.

Anti-qigongists continue their fight against qigong out of different personal or other motivations, yet without substantial results. Few people quit practicing qigong because of their objections, for those who have benefited from the practice of it will not cease its practice. As for those who have acquired supernatural ability, they will even more crazily chase after supernatural power. Only a small group of people who have not had qigong practice or who have achieved very little effect in practicing it "see through" qigong and give up its practice under the influence of anti-qigongists.

In my qigong career I had seen many people get healed by qigong and many acquire supernormal capabilities. Some among them did not even believe in qigong and yet became devoted proponents of qigong, spreading it actively after they had benefited from qigong and actually experienced it. They usually preached first to family members and friends and let them benefit also from what they regarded confidently as truthful and practical. Their motivations were good. These people, even though they might have given up qigong because of the hardship in continuing its practice, were still sincere proponents of it. The joy I had had was unspeakable for being healed of my disease through qigong practice and for having acquired supernormal capabilities. I had also read many articles refuting qigong, but I disdained paying attention to them, thinking I knew most clearly what had happened to myself. Guang Ming Daily reported on January 24, 1987: "The Qinghua University Cooperation Team for Scientific Research on qigong carried out an experiment for observing the changes of 'information water' under the influence of qigong doctor Yan Xin's qi-emitting. They have discovered that external qi could cause structural change in those molecules that have physiological effects on organisms, thus preliminarily bringing to light the mechanism of qigong. The reason for qigong healing is causing the physiological effects to change. This discovery has upgraded our qigong research from the cellular to the molecular level." Li Shengping, a lecturer of the catalysis research division, who is one of the leaders of this cooperation team, explained to reporters about the above phenomenon and said that “we think that to further develop experimental research in this area will benefit not only the revealing of the effect of external qi on physiological effects on the molecular level, but will also have significance for modern basic research in biophysics and biochemistry.” The overseas version of People's Daily also delivered this news on January 26. The Hong Kong newspaper Wen Hui reported on this too.

We can then see that experts in high-level educational institutions like Qinghua University had spoken only after they had made experiments. They had seen and also proven the actuality of qigong supernormal ability, even though they had not understood the true principle of qigong.

Why then did knowledgeable intellectuals set off the trend of qigong?

Firstly, it is due to the many actual facts of qigong. The modern ideology of Chinese intellectuals is materialistic atheism. Their hearts' belief is science, which emphasizes facts. It is through their involvement in qigong experiments that some of these intellectuals came to acknowledge the facts of qigong. Their view brought about great influence on the society through media reports. In the Chinese mind scientists are trustworthy and respectable. But for more scientists it was in the beginning for the purpose of health improvement that they accepted qigong and some of them were healed and acquired supernormal capabilities. There were also a lot of intellectuals who, after witnessing the magical performance of Yan Xin and Zhang Baosheng, suddenly came to the understanding that some of the much-criticized legendary phenomena of feudalistic superstitions were not mere fabrications but actual facts. Though they could not as yet accept theism, they began to doubt part of the materialistic views and look upon the world and themselves from a new angle.

Secondly, Chinese intellectuals' atheistic ideology of culture made people's souls hunger. There is a latent conception of God in human nature. Humans have an instinct in the psyche for "worshipping," which is an undeniable truth. But since 1949 atheism has been the predominant ideology among people in China. They do not believe in the existence of supernatural power. "Man will triumph over nature" is a prevalent concept, so it is very easy for people to worship "man" himself. When they saw the phenomena of qigong supernatural capabilities, the intellectuals found they could not obtain reasonable explanations from their former ideologies, and they did not know what theory they could use to deal with such phenomena. Since they were unwilling to believe in supernatural beings and yet were strongly interested in this new thing which gave them considerable psychological satisfaction, they coined the new term "life science of the human body".

In the following section, I will introduce briefly some main supernormal functions and phenomena of qigong.

Practical Qigong

1. It is known by almost all that qigong can heal diseases of its practitioners with rapid and remarkable results and enhance health.

2. The qigong practitioner can emit "qi" or "gong" to heal others. The emitter of qi can feel the qi coming from inside his/her body; the patients have obvious sensations like tingling, warm, cool, painful, itching, etc. But "gong" emission may not have any actions, for it uses just imagination and meditation to command orders such as "you are healed" to heal diseases. There have been many magical healing cases, like broken bones healed immediately, protrusions on the skin such as tumors disappearing instantly, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, and the paralyzed walking.

3. Practitioners with penetrating power can see human intestines and things buried underground. Those who can hear sounds inaudible to others can receive instructions or guidance.

4. Remote gong function enables one to see things that happened in the past and that will happen in the future. For example, it can tell people what they have lost or what will happen soon. It can see what someone is doing in another town or city. It can also heal and transfer information remotely.

5. Some other supernormal capabilities can summon wind and rain and scatter clouds to let the sun shine through. It is said that qigong masters can even disappear and reappear suddenly and accomplish such feats as walking through walls.

Functions of Qigong for Performance

1. Transduction by way of thinking—knowing a person’s intentions and aspects of another person's thinking, transmitting imaginations to others, or knowing, without seeing, the words other people put down on paper.

2. Controlling temperature and blood pressure by imagination—having the readings on sphygmomanometers and thermometers fluctuate in seconds or a couple of minutes within a wide range.

3. Moving objects--shaking pills out of sealed bottles, moving objects from afar to near, and catching small objects out of the air.

4. Using imagination to burn things—burning to make holes in clothes by touching them with the hands or merely through the imagination.

5. Changing the color of liquid by using the imagination and making the upper and lower parts of the liquid in a glass have two different colors.

6. Changing the flavor of cigarettes and alcohol by imagination.

7. Displaying many different colors or even designs above one's own head.

There are still many other phenomena which we cannot numerate, but they are more or less the same. Their common characteristic is supernatural and nonsensical. These phenomena have caused strong responses and great controversies in the Chinese scientific realm and in Chinese society, and are without an explanation so far. Because materialism refutes or is unable to explain these phenomena which Chinese traditional belief in supernatural beings can but only acknowledge, but it does not have a scientific theory to analyze them logically, the principle of these phenomena has never been expounded. Besides, modern basic scientific experimentation and logical means have failed to make comprehensive and steady measurements of these phenomena with accompanying inference.

The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the following: There is at present a huge population of qigong adherents in China. We cannot simply conclude that it is due to people's benightedness and ignorance or to the highly skilled tricks of great qigong masters. The reason people believe is that they have seen the facts and especially because their personal experience has convinced them and people around them. Yet, because they do not understand the essence and principles of qigong, they are entrapped by superstitions and have their souls distorted and bound and become weary of life and slaves to the devil in a life which is painful and offers no other choice.

People do not believe in anything without reasons, nor do they give up easily an ideology that is ingrained in their minds. But we can never forget that the most important thing for everyone of us, before death happens to us, is to understand the meaning of life, the origin and destination of life, and to be completely sure of what will happen after we die.

In China when you ask people the question "Do you believe there are heaven and hell?" most people will answer: "No, I do not believe so." If you ask again, " How can you be sure?" the answer will be: "I cannot be sure. It can be known only after I die."

Ask again, "What if you find out after you die that heaven and hell exist?"

Silence.

It goes without saying that it will be too late if you find out then.

This seems to be too big an issue and complex, but for Christians who believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Father, it is a simple question which has a very simple answer: "I believe that there are a heaven and a hell and that I will go up to heaven after I die."

Why do Christians all over the world, no matter what color they are, how different their cultural backgrounds are, and how far apart their social status, all have the same answer to this question? What is it on earth that convinces people today of their belief in Jesus and such great assurance of the destination of their lives?

All reasoning people will consider this question. And the answer is very simple: "Because the existence of God is a fact and He proves Himself through Jesus Christ to all people who seek the truth."

2 . Methods and Principles of Various Gongs

The numerous supernormal phenomena of qigong are actual facts, so I will not argue here whether they are true or fabricated. Because of my own personal experience, I know the supernormal phenomena of qigong and believe that their existence is true and not at all fabricated. But I would like to remind qigong practitioners and people involved in the supernormal ability training all over the world, that most important is no longer how many supernormal capabilities you have acquired, but to understand where the supernormal ability has come from and for what purpose it has come. A sensible person should be clear about the reasons and principles of the things that he/she is involved in.

In order to have a bird's eye view of the essence and principles of qigong, we have to understand the concept of the spiritual realm.

The spiritual realm is a world of spirits. Contrary to the material world, its characteristic is that it cannot be felt by any sense organs, but only through spiritual interactions or through spiritual power and means or flair in the spiritual realm.

As in the physical world human beings often see at work the two kinds of forces, good and evil, there are good and evil forces in the spiritual world too. The evil spirits comes from Satan, the head of all evil spirits, who has innumerable little spirit beings working for him. It can be said that the chief evil spirit is Satan. He has personality and character and has his own thinking and working methods. He has in this world people who belong to him and represents evil. The Holy Spirit comes from God, the King of the universe. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent and has His own character, independent person, and thinking. He has authority and power and fully represents God the Father and Jesus Christ. God has in this world people who belong to Him and who represent righteousness.

We see that the results of the different work by the Holy Spirit and evil spirits are in strong contrast—such as goodness and ugliness, kindness and corruption, health and disease, light and darkness. The fruit of the devil through human lust is sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, hatred, idolatry, witchcraft, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, and orgies, while the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are all listed in the Bible.

The spiritual background of qigong is evil spirits. Its characteristic is supernormal ability, witchcraft and idolatry. We have learned in chapter one the definition of qigong. To put it in a simple way, qigong is having one's body posture or movements and/or one's imagination meet with specific requirements in order to have the body healed by "qi" and obtain supernormal capabilities. Such qi and the so-called supernormal capabilities come from the evil force in the spiritual realm. Qigong is in fact like the witchcraft mentioned in the Bible. Jesus has prophesied in the Bible that by the end of the world there will be people performing miracles and great signs. So we are not to ignore the power of evil spirits, which far surpasses that of human beings and which has the characteristic of being supernormal.

The connotation of qigong includes "qi" and "gong." The thing that the practitioners feel moving in their body is "qi," and the supernormal ability of the practitioner is "gong." The standard to evaluate the level of the practitioners is "gong power." We refer to someone as having high "gong power" or as not having strong "qi," for the result of practicing "qi" is "gong."

Whether there is "qi" or the main and collateral channels in human bodies, we do not as yet have confirmed scientific proofs commonly accepted. Even if "qi" does exist, we can only say that evil spirits make use of the physiology of human body to cause people to have an undeniable feeling and make them believe that the result of qigong practice is caused by the functions the human body itself already possesses. The idea of the presence of evil spirits most strongly corroborates the above view. However, the goal of the evil spirits is "gong," not "qi", for the supernormal abilities displayed by "gong" come completely from evil spirits.

Let us draw an analogy. There are many kinds of lies. One is sheer lies; another is half truth and half falsehood. If we look at the true part, it indeed tells the truth; but if we consider it as a whole, it is a lie. This is why half-true and half-false lies are more dangerous. When we analyze the danger of this kind of lie, it is very wrong to analyze the false separately from the true. Only when we survey an example of it as a whole, can we clearly see the essence and purposes of this kind of lie and prevent the evil results from taking place.

Qigong is a half-true, half- false trick.

There are still in the world many other things which have the same essence as qigong, even though they have different superficial formalities—for example, Yoga from India, transcendental meditation from America, still meditation of chan, and Tibetan Buddist training. There are also many unknown training methods, but they are all the same.

The most important method of gong practice is "entering into tranquility," and the goal is to achieve "soul tranquility," which is stillness of soul. The most important principle of the emission of gong and the performance of supernormal ability is believing one's own supernormal ability.

The common characteristic of all the above-enumerated qigong-training methods is the adjustment of imagination. It emphasizes sensations and illogical intuition (deep- level consciousness). The deep-level consciousness is actually the remaining consciousness in human beings after the major part of the primary consciousness (i.e. the soul) is suppressed and logical power is almost gone. It is also called sub-consciousness. It is incomplete consciousness, partial consciousness. It is as if most parts of the body have been bound, while only small parts of it are active. These parts then become very active and sensitive, even though the overall ability has greatly decreased. As long as these parts are controlled, the whole body is controlled. Yet these small parts cannot indeed withstand a single blow. They are very weak and incompetent. The evil spirits come exactly at this time to attack one’s deep-level consciousness and easily win. They gradually control one’s entire soul. Hence the power of evil spirits is given full play through such people. This is their shortcut for manipulating this world. And it is in this way that they enslave the souls of the people whom they manipulate.

This is the true principle behind the different means through people acquire the power of the evil spirits. But those people are unaware of this principle, and they are running as quickly as if they were flying towards curses, death and the hell.

It is easy now for us to understand why qigong practice is the quickest way to acquire supernormal capabilities. There are uncountable gong methods, but "all means get to one aim." They all have the same principle, having only different methods. In the section which follows, we will analyze the operating principles and methods of the evil spirits from the angles of various characteristics of gong methods and categorize them all in several groups.

Elementary Gong Methods

The characteristics of this type of gong method are its many movements, or detailed steps. It is very much like setting-up exercises done to radio music, but having its basic training in imagination adjustment, focusing the imagination on certain spots and adjusting breathing and having a good healing effect too. It often comes with music or leading steps on tapes. People who practice this type of gong often do it for the purpose of enhancing their health. The creator of these gong methods emphasizes that they are elementary gong methods, which do not easily produce supernormal ability, but which have a very good healing effect on the practitioner's diseases and which improve the health of weaklings, and so on. There are some gong methods that have been handed down from one's own ancestors and some that have been copied from others. Such qigong masters have very low-level qigong and do not believe in supernormal abilities. They take this type of gong as just a tool for enhancing health, in the same category as cultivating one's character and soul and also taking care of one’s garden by watering the flowers and vegetables.

Analysis of Principles

It is not easy for the evil spirits to attack and control people. Their candidates must meet with one condition, which is to open their own door for them, since the evil spirits could hardly break in through closed doors. God created man and empowered his soul with the ability and sense of automatic repulsion. This is analogous to the human body itself that has certain resistance to diseases and self-protecting responses. When one’s soul is free, evil spirits cannot usually get hold of him/her. The elementary gong methods are means to start to bind people's consciousness by having them repeat body movements and imagination steps. Such methods also strongly recommend practice every day, thus making the practitioner bind himself in his heart from the time he accepts qigong. After the soul begins to be suppressed, the evil spirits begin to heal one’s diseases. (This includes the health-enhancing effect of physical exercises, though it is only secondary.) When encouraged, people will be more willing to accept bondage, to have their souls more and more limited, thus laying a foundation for the evil spirits to further get near them and occupy them, for the door of self-protection has been slowly opened.

Intermediate Gong Methods

This level of gong teaches the combination of movements and tranquility, the so-called "extreme movements beget tranquility; extreme tranquility begets movements." There are obviously fewer movements and more imagination. Imagination focus spots become fewer and monotonous. There are still very good health-enhancing effects. At this time the practitioners' mind and soul have considerable changes. They become more inclined to keep quiet and to persevere. Practitioners of this gong level pursue complete physical health, long for higher gong methods, start to believe in supernormal abilities, and are able to heal diseases and train others in qigong practice. A few so-called "sensitive" people may acquire at this stage supernormal capabilities and signs. Intermediate gong practitioners who achieve ideal results strongly believe in qigong theories and have quick comprehension of the qigong methods.

Analysis of Principles

Intermediate gong is a stage at which the evil spirits achieve preliminary success. At this stage practitioners no longer doubt qigong due to the health benefits they have obtained from it. As the meditation time increases, tranquility increases, and the primary consciousness, i.e. the soul, becomes further suppressed and bound, while the deep-level consciousness, which is partial consciousness, i.e. the subconscious, begins to be frequently active. The evil spirits can further attack and tempt one’s "remaining consciousness" and familiarize it with the feelings that they bring out, thus having the defensive door opened more and more for them. At this time, the evil spirits have already come into the practitioner's soul, but are not yet completely united with it as one. The soul is still fighting and struggling, though very weakly. Please notice that the longer the time of practice, the more seriously will the soul be suppressed. The attack by evil spirits is greatly weakened when the practice of qigong is not carried on. Yet the evil spirits will use other means, such as making one see strange signs etc, to stimulate one’s qigong mentality and to cause one to pursue a superstitious living style.

Senior Gong Method

This type of gong usually does not have any movements, but only meditation, imagination. Breathing and body adjustments, and tranquility are important methods. Through tranquility the practitioner forgets everything, including him/herself, leaving only a little consciousness still active. The consciousness may even disappear for a brief moment and enter into a "void" status. The main practicing posture is sitting in meditation, which now becomes the most comfortable posture of the body. When I felt very tired, I would sit in meditation to get an inexplicable pleasure and degree of relaxation. At this stage the practitioner's temporal and spatial senses become abnormal. Supernormal capabilities are now easy to attain. The purpose of qigong practice centers on the acquisition of high-level gong power and supernormal capabilities. Practitioners obviously feel external power and help which they explain as cosmic energy and the power of "masters." People at this stage stay in "qigong status" all the time, for they think their energy has been connected steadily with that of the universe or of high-level "masters." Practitioners at this stage can perform strange signs and supernormal abilities that surprise even themselves. The main training methods of Taoism, Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism are exactly high-level methods of qigong.

Analysis of Principles

Practitioners of this stage can have direct contact and spiritual communication with evil spirits. People with high-level supernormal capabilities have their souls completely controlled by evil spirits which have already entered the practitioners and become one with their souls. Much of the thinking and consciousness are those of the evil spirits. The evil spirits' supernatural power becomes the power of the practitioner. Basically, we can say that this practitioner of qigong now becomes one with the evil spirits, which, on the other hand, become part of this person too, since the evil spirits and the soul of the practitioner have been united as one. From then on, the supernormal capabilities begin to be constant, and the practitioner is able to use them as he pleases. The life of this person at this time is in the greatest danger. He is on the verge of a precipice, yet considers him/herself as about to attain the highest state of enlightenment. He feels very much satisfied with the result of his efforts and would never want to doubt the origin and principles of his power. It is very hard for such people to have a thorough change, to wake up to reality and to realize their errors and mend their ways.

The above analysis of qigong principles is carried out according to the different levels of qigong. There are yet some areas that cannot be covered. In the following, I'll observe and analyze qigong from other angles.

Spontaneous Qigong Phenomena

The practitioner depends on meditations to adjust and relax his/her primary consciousness, especially for relaxing his/her own body. Beginning practitioners are often required to close their eyes, which can more easily cause the body to lose balance and hence activate the spontaneous gong. After some time of practice, the practitioners do not have to close their eyes, nor do they have to meditate on the steps in order to set the gong going at any time. Practitioners have an obvious feeling of an external power inside their body, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, presenting all kinds of postures, even laughing or crying, running or lying down, dancing or martial arts actions, etc. Practitioners are very clear about what they are doing, but the consciousness of their souls has completely given up its autonomy. They become an audience of their own body's performances. Under most situations spontaneous gongs can be controlled, though sometimes they are uncontrollable, making crazy scenes without stopping. This kind of gong method has rapid and remarkable healing effect. It enhances greatly the practitioners' sensitivities to the spiritual realm.

The Principles and Essence of Spontaneous Gong

It should be said that spontaneous gong is intermediate gong. It uses rather direct means to allow the evil spirits to guide the practitioner. This gong method emphasizes very much mental innuendo, which is to be accepted actively by your consciousness, so that a great many posture requirements to bind the soul are rendered unnecessary and the evil spirits' guidance and manipulations are obeyed. Even though the subjective thinking of the practitioner can very easily control the spontaneity, the practitioner has accepted the concept of allowing it to happen "naturally." Practitioners take the spontaneity as instinctive movements of their own bodies, not knowing that evil spirits guide it. Most often, the movements and sounds in spontaneous gongs are inappropriate, even ugly. They make the practitioner look as if they were lunatic. This is because evil spirits bring about ugly things, and they shun goodness.

Qigong theories regard these phenomena as good and beneficial to humans, advocating things paradoxical to a beautiful concept of humanity. But because there is a sinful tendency in human nature and the sinful nature is always at odds with good human qualities, it makes man's ears itching and eyes heavy and caters to man's own lustful desires. The superficial benefits that qigong offers people make it very easy for people to accept it without any considerations. However, many people can sense that there is something wrong about it after they have reached a certain level, and they try to escape disaster at the last moment. These people should know that once one has opened the door to evil spirits in the spiritual realm, one can never depend on his or her own power and will to close it again. They can be rescued from danger only through knowing and believing in Jesus Christ. This is the personal experience of thousands upon thousands of qigong practitioners, including myself.

The Principles and Essence of Gong-emitting Audiotapes and Information Objects

"Qi-emitting" tapes of qigong master Yan Xin prove his "information theory." He thinks that the important principle of qigong is the communicating and transferring of information. He describes "qi" and "gong" as information that carries energy. This information comes from the universe. Man can accept it and pass it like transmitting TV programs. Once the human body is able to receive this kind of information, supernormal capabilities appear because the energy this kind of information carries is supernatural. When practitioners practice and receive this kind of information, they then enter into qigong status, which is "having had the feeling" as practitioners call it. This "information theory" holds that ordinary practitioners can receive this information only occasionally, hence their gong power is unstable, while high-level qigong masters connect themselves completely with this cosmos-information energy and are able to continuously make use of it. This is what is called "being in qigong status twenty-four hours a day." Qigong masters can become "masters" for others and transfer their own information to others or even onto objects that then become "information objects" and take with them the same power as that of the qigong masters. This is why many people can feel supernormal energy the first time they listen to Yan Xin audio or video tapes. They find it almost beyond belief and heartily praise this "information theory."

The "information objects" of qigong actually do not carry information but energy of the evil spirits. When I practiced qigong, I also gave others some information object to heal diseases; for example, I gave them some Chinese herbs, or a prescription, or a bowl of clear water. I just thought that it was an "information object" and told the pious seekers how to use it, or drink it, or carry it with them close to the body. They all received shocking effects. I often felt at that time like a supernatural being. After I became a Christian, I realized that when high-level qigong masters give others "information objects," the evil spirits living in qigong masters help and have other evil spirits to cooperate in carrying out the task. There are evil spirits following the "information objects" so that they can start to perform supernormal capabilities to either heal or perform strange signs when people use "information objects" as they have been told to use them. It is very ridiculous to watch how people are brought into submission and filled with admiration. Evil spirits are everywhere in this world. The Bible says, "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." When the soul of a person is occupied by the devil, it is exactly the same as being devoured by him.

It is very easy for the evil spirits to cheat non-Christians, for these people do not know the truth in the real universe and are unable to discern the phenomena they have seen and experienced as what they really are. Human nature is proud, but when we look up at the sky, we will know how small human beings are. The size of the universe is beyond the human power of measurement, even at our greatest threshold of thought. We have to acknowledge that human wisdom and ability are very much limited. We are very imperfect and full of weaknesses and shortcomings like pride and ignorance. I am such myself. I was willingly enslaved by the devil for seven years. I was manipulated by evil spirits to assist them to destroy others and myself in this world, while thinking, "I am alone awake, while all others are drunken." I even thought that I was bringing blessings to all other human beings and to myself. Now I find it indeed ridiculous and lamentable, and feel intolerably shameful when I recall it.

Principles and Essence of Cosmic Language

The biggest controversy and sensation caused by the woman qigong master Zhang Xiangyu is not so much about her supernormal ability and healing miracles as about her so-called "cosmic language," which is a "language" that cannot be understood either by others or the speaker him/herself. It is regular, though it does not have any specific meanings. An external force acts to have the speaker's mouth and tongue move spontaneously and utter "cosmic language." When Zhang first practiced qigong, she had spontaneous movements and had an untouchable and invisible "master" who spoke to her as a person does. Zhang hence has a deep experience with qigong and "supernatural beings." She has the evil spirits' help and has acquired the essential stuff directly without spending much time and energy in practicing qigong. People like her have extraordinary supernormal capabilities that give an even stronger feeling of "evil." But her problem is that she does not understand qigong theory and has no conscious control of her supernormal abilities, which are then very unstable and, as sometimes happens, cannot always be maneuvered.

The reason of this phenomenon is very simple. The "cosmic language" is in fact sounds made by the evil spirits through controlling human mouths and tongues. It does not go through the human mind. There are many different devils talking with her, one or more than a few of which may have been sent especially to be with her. This is why Zhang said she can speak many "cosmic languages." She can hear voices of many different "masters," some male, some female, speaking with her in Chinese. Maybe it is because she does not understand qigong theory that she makes use of the countryside talk of ghosts and gods to illustrate her case, which is made to sound very superstitious and very unscientific. Her case is in fact the same as other qigong methods and is also the doings of evil spirits, which use different forms of performances to suit different people.

After Zhang was put in prison, she must have been disappointed at her "masters," who may, on the other hand, have explained what has happened to her as an inexorable doom and as practical miseries that are the best lessons to learn. All qigong practitioners should understand that the purpose of the evil spirits is to destroy a person and that never has it been to bless one.

The Principles and Essence of "Qi-emitting" Lectures

Qigong master Yan Xin first started "qi-emitting" lectures. At these lectures little children can see several white human figures moving around the back of the lecturer, as if they were helping the lecturer to teach. The evil spirits are active in assisting the lecturer by performing supernormal actions. There are all kinds of evil spirits spread all over the whole audience. They cooperate actively with the lecturer to perform magic arts. They usually look for people with weaker souls among the audience. These people quickly respond, for their souls are frightened, and some began to cry, laugh, run, jump, faint, or suffer from shock. Then too, the evil spirits that some of the practitioners bring with them also set about to work. If these people are physically healthy, usually they do not have big movements, but just feel strong "qi feelings" and power infused into them. Hence the whole scene is managed by evil spirits and thrown into great chaos, yet usually without physical accidents and damages. At the climax, there will be paralyzed standing up to walk, the deaf listening, the dumb speaking, and other strange signs of this sort. So in people's mind these phenomena prove the "qi-emitting" lectures to be good deeds of good people, for they help to rescue and heal people and display the great supernormal abilities.

When I practiced qigong, I realized that the power displayed by "qi-emitting" lectures is not that of the lectures. This I proved through several experiments I made, which were really simple. Any qigong practitioners or even people who have never practiced qigong, as long as they have the motivation to attend the qi-emitting lectures, can get shocking effects from them. The only condition is that these people know it is a "qi-emitting" lecture that they are attending. Because the purpose of the evil spirits is for more people to accept and believe in the supernormal abilities that come from them, they will help any intentional or unintentional people who work for them. One thing that we should remember is that big qigong masters seldom give psychological explanations of whatever phenomena may take place. But after their first experience at the "qi-emitting" lectures, people will find it much easier later. It is very easy for strange signs to appear at big qigong masters' lectures, for they bring with them more evil spirits. The evil spirits living in them are big devils, which are very powerful. However, the most important deciding factor lies in the purpose that the devil wants to achieve.

The Principles and Essence of Remote Sensing, Perspective, Remote Perception and Foretelling (Future-telling)

These supernormal capabilities have a lot of mysterious colorings. They look very appalling, and the performers find them intriguing too. According to qigong theory, these are some functions that appear after the practitioner's "tianmu" (the third eye) is opened. This theory holds that tianmu is between the eyebrows and is possessed by everyone. The tianmu of common people is closed. It can be opened only through qigong practice. When it is opened, the practitioner is able to acquire the abilities of seeing lights, perspective, remote perception and remote sensing. Under the influence of Buddhist culture, many children and women like to have a little red dot painted between their eyebrows. The little red dot means tianmu. When people practice to have their tianmu opened, they have swelling, painful, and even breathing feelings at the position of their tianmu. I used to be able to see with my eyes closed the outline of my hands when I woke up during the night. The outline was formed by lights. This is regarded as the beginning of one’s tianmu being opened. These supernormal capabilities come also from the evil spirits. However, it is not easy for the evil spirits to display these supernormal abilities through people. They do it only through those qualified people that they appreciate a lot. Many people who have practiced for ten years, or even for a whole lifetime, are able to perform some low-level supernormal abilities. But some obtain them very quickly. This type of direct supernormal abilities surprises the performers so much that they cannot believe it is true, and it is doubt that strengthens the conscious resistance of the soul and causes great difficulties for the evil spirits.

There are three types of remote sensing. The first type of low level is to try to accept "information" through tranquility. "Revealing" ideas, thinking or answers appear in the mind, and they are found to be true. But this function is not stable, for the evil spirits have not yet become one with the performer. Or it may due to the fact that the evil spirits in him/her are not capable enough.

The second type of higher level is to have the evil spirits telling the performer directly in a human voice things about the past, future, other people, etc. The characteristic of this phenomenon is its exactitude. But it is not stable. The evil spirits may under certain situations choose not to speak to the performer.

The third type of the highest level is the ability of the performer to see directly what he/she would like to know. The performers have pictures in front of their eyes, which they can look at while they speak. The main characteristics are stability and exactitude. Powerful evil spirits have become one with the performer. They show what they see to the performer, who then thinks that him/herself has seen it. Some people, especially witches in the countryside, like to use a bowl of water to see what they would like to see. This situation belongs to a slightly lower level.

Perceptive performers are able to see internal organs of the human body. They can see through things and see things underground. It is again the evil spirits that are looking. Because the performer's body and soul have been connected completely with the evil spirits as one, what the evil spirits see is what the performer sees. “Perspective function” in its beginning stage is to see lights that are invisible to others, like lights above the human head and light outlines of various objects.

Foretelling (future-telling) is to foretell to another person what will happen soon, mostly bad things. Sometimes earthquakes and other such events can be foretold. But historical or social events are seldom foretold. I found that the evil spirits do not know all things, especially important events of the future, which is an area where the evil spirits have very limited power.

The Principles and Essence of Long-distance Gong Emitting

Qigong master Yan Xin is well-known for his "long-distance gong emitting." He once performed long-distance gong emitting to alleviate Deng Jiaxian's pain when he was suffering severely from cancer. The media reported this event. Deng is an atomic scientist. I have practiced long-distance gong emitting, the effect of which is even better then face-to-face gong emitting. When you have decided to do this, the evil spirits will set to work immediately. Sometimes the evil spirits in the local area will do it soon after they receive the command. The gong emitter does not do a thing. Sometimes when one is not even in qigong status, or even when one forgets, the evil spirits will not forget, but go and heal the sick or perform the appointed tasks. Hence, people in this world see many shocking phenomena.

The devil does these things for the purpose of maintaining his theories in this world, so that these theories meet with facts, behave regularly. He wants to make them more appealing and the rules easier to master so that he can victimize and capture more people.

The Principles and Essence of Divination Practice, Palmistry, and Fengshui

The spiritual cause of divination is the activity of evil spirits. There are mainly three forms of divination. The first form is observing the situation and making logical analysis, plus guesses. Actually, it is not divination. The second form is based upon the principles of the Eight Trigrams of I-Ching of the Zhou dynasty (approx. 1066-221 B.C.) in China. It takes effort in study and practice and has quite complex technical problems. The exactitude of this form has a lot to do with the moods and conditions of the person and is thus not very great. The third form is the evil spirits directly telling the person exactly what he/she has been asked about by transmitting the ideas or using human voices and pictures. The performer may also see pictures and even words and signs on other people's faces so that they can tell such persons what they have asked about.

There are also palmistry, physiognomy and fengshui. Palmistry is telling a persons’s fortune in the past and future through examining the lines of the hand. Physiognomy is fortune-telling through observation of people's facial features, the characteristics of their eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows and ears. Fengshui is judging whether a certain place or building is auspicious according to geographical position or building structure. These three types of activity should be categorized as evil crafts of divination.

Divination is very much in vogue all over China. Whether they are officials, or businessmen, or workers, or peasants or soldiers, people are understandably concerned about their fortune. But believing in divination cannot improve your fortune, but rather can only cause you trouble and bondage. Only God can change your fortune. It is only through knowing Jesus Christ that you will find a wonderful life. If you are willing to put Christian faith into practice, you will find proof of the truth of Jesus Christ.

We have learned about the essence and theoretical principles of qigong methods and functions. In a word, the spiritual background of qigong is evil spirits under the control of the devil. The purpose of these evil spirits is to have human beings stray away from God through these means and to destroy human lives. After we have realized these basic principles, we are able to understand any qigong methods and qigong supernormal capabilities and are able to make explanations on them. It is now easy for us to understand the following phenomena:

1. Why does it happen sometimes that qigong masters' gong power disappears suddenly? Because the evil spirits have left them or stopped working through them.

2. Why do gong emitters require gong receivers to believe and relax? Why cannot they operate properly for people who do not believe? The evil spirits cannot easily win over people's souls because God has endowed human souls with self-protective ability. Human consciousness inclined toward resistance interferes greatly with the work of evil spirits. Only when humans are off guard is it possible for them to steal in.

3. Why do qigong theories tell people not to be afraid when they see anything or hear any sounds? Because being afraid causes people to be alert and arouses their resisting consciousness and thus makes it hard for the evil spirits to take control of them.

4. Why do qigong theories regard red-letter days in the lunar calendar, Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, tombs and night time as having strong qi fields and as having good information? This is because evil spirits like to flock to these places and like to act during those times.

5. Why are the diseased and little children quick to produce gong? Because their souls are weak and more susceptible to the evil spirits' captivity.

6. Why do some qigong practitioners go lunatic or even die? Some people have very strong souls, yet have accepted qigong logically in their mind. So the evil spirits have to fight with the soul fiercely and have to use unexpected means to destroy this person. They no longer try to manipulate the soul, but conquer it completely and bring this person's logical and primary consciousness to a sheer "shock" and fully under their control. If they then ask this person to commit suicide, he/she will do as ordered. They may also simply kidnap the soul of this person, who will then die, or turn this person into a lunatic who will be like a walking corpse in this world and bring limitless grief to his/her family. Such lunatics should get help from Christians who will pray for him/her and drive out the evil spirits so that this person's soul can be relieved and healed and return to normalcy. Then if this person accepts Jesus as his/her Savior and confesses his/her sins to God, he/she will be saved forever, and evil spirits can harm him/her no more.

7. Why do some practitioners not have any feelings? Such people have strong logical thinking and less exquisite feelings. They either do not believe in qigong at all or do not believe in it completely. They may even have a resisting sense towards it, and both their physical health and soul’s health may be very strong. Evil spirits will have really a hard time if they want to conquer this person. There may be other reasons, (e.g. there are Christians praying for this person). Under such situations the evil spirits would usually give up attacking this person. People like these are lucky, but qigong theories call them as "insensitive."

There are many other supernormal capabilities for the purpose of performance, which the effect of magic and skills resembles. There are some performances that are claimed as a show of supernormal capabilities but that are only deceitful tricks prevalent in the society for a long time. Yet if a performance is truly that of qigong and of supernormal abilities, it comes from the evil spirits.

There are many other cases and phenomena which we will not numerate one by one here. Qigong methods are "methods without set rules." The devil will surely work out through different people new methods one after another. The gong methods will be more and more abstruse, and the effect will be more and more remarkable and quickly achieved. There will always be people fooled by them. However, people equipped with the knowledge of the principles and essence of qigong will find it very easy to explain the always-changing methods of qigong methods and supernormal capabilities, for all the gong methods have the same spiritual background, which is the activity of evil spirits.

We have now concluded our discussion of the principles and essence of qigong. I hope all qigong adherents will give this presentation calm consideration. Especially qigong masters of high levels can understand very easily the danger of qigong. Knowing the basic qigong principles and phenomena will be helpful to Christians in their understanding of the essence of qigong. May Christians help more qigong practitioners to wake up to the danger of qigong and to know Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and God our Father.

3. The Principles and Essence of Martial Arts, Taijiquan and Chinese Medicine

This is a very sensitive issue, and I am sure the conclusion will definitely hurt the national self-esteem of many Chinese. But I have to talk about this, and hope more people will see the essence of these things and know the root of falsehood in our traditional culture. This is as if to discover, out of love, the disease that a family member has so that our loved one can be healed. I am a Christian, and God knows my heart.

Martial arts, taijiquan and Chinese Medicine have had a long history. Many Chinese are indeed very proud of them. Chinese people would like to introduce these things to the whole world and hope they can be developed even more. The motivation is no doubt very childish. Why? Firstly, they cannot be widely spread in the West because the western cultural context does not emphasize these practices. Secondly, these all have in them the coloring of a fallacious culture and do not have a remarkable effect on society. Modern western culture has been successful. People would surely choose what is excellent.

Martial arts, taijiquan and Chinese Medicine are sharply different from qigong, for, materialistically, they are actual things that people can have direct contact with and master. Yet what people can see now is only their superficial and elementary phenomena, without knowledge of their deep connotations. In the following section we will discuss the principles and essence of martial arts, taijiquan, and Chinese Medicine separately.

The Principles and Essence of the Martial Arts:

Why is it said that Tianxia gongfu chu Shaolin (Shaolin produces the gongfu in the world)? What is the difference between the martial arts and wugong? Why do some high level wugong masters indicate with regret that the martial arts have been lost?

The martial arts of Shaolin temple are a Buddhist gongfu. It is distinctly based on qigong. The Buddhist monks at Shaolin temple not only practice wu but also sit in meditation. If only skills of movement are involved in the practice, it is only martial arts, not wugong. The martial arts that are commonly known by people now are often purely physical wrestling skills, a sheer combination of strength and skills without any spiritual background. But for those who practice wugong, like those Buddhist monks at Shaolin temple and Taoist priests at Wudang mountain, the practice of martial arts and the practice of wugong are inseparable. Their practice of wugong is based upon qigong. The power of evil spirits is brought into play through the kicks and blows of the practitioners; hence wugong has an uncommon killing effect. Just like that of qigong, the spiritual background of wugong is the work of the evil spirits with only a difference of focus. The former puts more emphasis on healing and supernormal abilities; the later, on self-defense and attack.

In many stereotyped postures of martial arts, we can see traces of qigong (e.g. "operating dantian qi," inhaling and exhaling, and the starting and finishing movements which benefit the operating, lifting up and gathering in of qi). There are even some movement names of martial arts that have the characteristics of qigong.

The Principles and Essence of Taijiquan

Taijiquan is a type of wugong. Because its essential connotations have almost all been lost, the taijiquan that people practice now has mainly the function of enhancing health. Taijiquan was performed by a whole group of people on the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Beijing in 1990. It symbolized the precious traditional assets of Chinese nation. It is proudly exclaimed as such to the whole world.

The basic significance of taijiquan has been taken from Taoist taiji eight trigrams. It is actually Taoist wugong. Taijiquan is a method of practice that stands between martial arts and qigong. Its spiritual background is the activity of evil spirits, the same as that of qigong. It is said that taijiquan is the movements that appear in spontaneous gong. Some people put the movements that are imitations of animal actions into regulated steps of taijiquan. Taijiquan emphasizes very much the keeping of the will, the leading of the qi through one's will, having qi come out from one's hands, and movements being gentle, elegant, slow, and full of natural grace. This is actually to maneuver the "qi" to move within the body and on the hands. Qigong practitioners can understand the meaning of taijiquan very quickly. When persons who already have qi practice taijiquan, they feel that their hands are very heavy and sticky, as if they were in the water. They have a distinct feeling of energy. People who obtain qi through taijiquan practice like to play taiji hand pushing. Two practitioners push hands with each other, and each feels such strong strength in the other person's hands that being a little off guard can have this one person knock off another through external power. From this the practitioners understand what taijiquan depends on to attack the other party, not just on simple skills. It is because taijiquan is still a qigong method that many practitioners of taijiquan today can very easily achieve healing and health-enhancing effects, even though they do not have the practicing skills of wugong. Taiji swordsmanship, with the practitioner holding the sword in hand while practicing, has the same principle as taijiquan.

Nowadays, many who practice taijiquan or taiji swordsmanship practice them as health-improving exercises without obtaining the "qi." But this is like having high possibility of wetting one’s shoes when one walks too close to the river. The evil spirits have a lot of opportunities to intrude, even though one practices these exercises just as he/she would do physical exercises.

The Principles and Essence of Chinese Medicine

Qigong theory holds that Chinese Medicine and qigong came from the same origin. The principles of Chinese Medicine are supplementary Yin and Yang and the rules of main/collateral channels and primary qi. Huangdi Nei Jing is the classical work of Chinese Medicine. It is also a qigong work, a fact known to many high-level qigong masters and recognized in qigong theory. The idea that "experts see the essence in the origin" applies here. But lay persons do not easily believe that Chinese Medicine and qigong are really connected with each other. Especially because Chinese Medicine makes use of herbs to heal diseases, people find it even harder to believe it has anything to do with qigong. Almost all qigong masters but only a few doctors of Chinese Medicine acknowledge the close relationship between Chinese Medicine and qigong.

There is in Huangdi Nei Jing a classical theory highly praised by people in both Chinese Medicine and qigong areas: "Having a peaceful and happy mood, desiring nothing, following the operation of the primary qi, maintaining the introspective meditation of the spirit and mind, keeping illnesses at bay." These statements are commonly recognized theories for enhancing health and cultivating character. They are also qigong methods of keeping the mind-will. Great qigong masters search for a lifestyle of "having a peaceful and happy mood, desiring nothing.” If it were devoid of its foundation in qigong, Chinese Medicine would be like taijiquan without qigong, unable to bring its genuine functions and effects into full play. Then Chinese Medicine would have been able only to give play to simple herbal healing. But the fact is that the theories of main and collateral channels and the real qi operating are also qigong theories.

There among the people is the highest-level work of Chinese Medicine. It is called "zhou you shi san ke." (Prescriptions of Incantations) It is said to be the highest form of Chinese Medicine. It records many curse incantations. Healing methods no longer use herbs, acupuncture and acupressure, but instead curse incantations. There are recorded in this book healing incantations for all kinds of illnesses. Healing is achieved only through incantations, which are obviously incantations that can maneuver the power of the evil spirits.

Herbs are indeed effective in curing diseases, the fact of which has been proven by science. But if herbs are used by the evil spirits as a cover under which to manipulate human beings, there is an area of danger and the problem of Chinese Medicine.

Yoga from India

India is a mysterious country, being the place of origin for Buddhism and Hinduism, both of which are still believed in India. Yoga is a special physical exercise peculiar to India. Its characteristics are suffering and perseverance. Yoga practitioners are unbelievably restrained. Of course, when it is spread out over the world, Yoga has already lost its essence and become simply a health-improving method like gymnastics.

The methods of the practice of Yoga involve treating human body cruelly, putting the body in almost untenable postures, suffering hunger, swallowing strings in order to clean the intestines, keeping the same posture for a long time, holding the breath for a long time, or even cutting the tie under the tongue to stretch it long enough to reach the part that is between the nose and the mouth because in this way the practitioner can practice having the ability to breath little. Some Yoga practitioners are able to lie in hibernation underground for a month, depending on only the air in the coffin in which they lie, which is sufficient for them. Usually, the hibernators will need many Yoga practitioners to wake them up through meditation.

The background of Yoga is the activity of evil spirits. After torturing a human body painfully for a long time and rendering the soul near collapse and very weak, evil spirits then easily capture and take control of the human soul. Then this person will have supernormal capabilities. The hibernation is actually what happens when the soul has left the body or when the soul is so completely controlled by evil spirits that it suffers from shock. This is why there have to be many Yoga practitioners to meditate in order to maneuver the evil spirit to have that person's soul returned and that person awakened. Generally speaking, this kind of training is hard for people to keep, yet those who do succeed usually have shocking capabilities. The point is that it does not have much practical meaning, for it does not solve any problems in human lives. Its practitioners are very miserable, for the devil likes to torment them. But they are willing to cater to the evil spirits, leading a hellish life while still in this world.

The Tibetan Gong Method

Tibet is an area with a very complicated spiritual background. Due to the long closedness and also to Buddhist belief, Tibet is scarcely influenced by outside cultures at all. Since 1951 the Tibetan religion has been influenced by the Han culture of China, mainly atheism, but with little effect. The geographical and religious features of Tibet help to preserve the traditional characteristics of Tibetan culture.

Tibetan Buddhism is mainly divided between the Red and Yellow denominations. Long-term training is mainly by means of the Tibetan gong method with the goal of supernormal capabilities as its major focus, though emphasis is also put on Tibetan medicine and the study of Buddhist theory. The major methods of practice of Tibetan qigong are sitting in meditation, learning gong from masters, and cultivating a belief in the reincarnation of the soul. Major functions include sense transmission by will, tianmu opening, keeping out the cold, sit-and-die, and light cremation, etc. It is said that light cremation is an unintelligible phenomenon. When a practitioner thinks he is going to become Buddha, he will sit in meditation in front of all followers. Then his body begins to radiate colorful lights and shrink gradually. When light cremation is complete, only the hair and fingernails are left. The bodies of the ones with slightly lower gong levels, cannot be completely light cremated. There will be left a very small body as hard as iron. This supernormal capability is rare. It is a big strange sign performed by evil spirits.

Sorceresses in the Countryside

In the Chinese countryside a sorceress is known to all. Every local area has its own woman of supernormal capabilities called "divinities" like "xian gu", "huang gu" or "ban xian." Most sorceresses are old ladies, and there are not many of them. There is usually one well-known sorceress in a town or area. But they are spread all over China and are respected by the local people. They are "half a supernatural being" in the local people's heart. The major work of the sorceresses is to perform divination, the casting out of demons, and healing. When the local people have lost their ox or some other possession, when their children are strangely ill or have lost their soul "hun," when they need to ask about their future, or when they need to ask for help after a disaster, they will go to the sorceress for help. Before or after the sorceress helps them, they will give her money or other things in order to thank her. Even though they live in the poor countryside, sorceresses never lack such good food as chicken, duck, fish or pork. They are the first ones whose families become comparatively well off.

Of course, some sorceresses are false and do not have any supernormal capabilities. Genuine sorceresses are those who have supernormal capabilities, and quite a number are even well educated. High officials often go secretly to see the sorceress. Because sorceresses can tell exactly what will happen, people believe in them after seeing things happen as they have foretold them.

The spiritual background of sorceresses is the activity of evil spirits, just as is that of qigong. The difference lies in the fact that the ability of sorceresses is given directly by evil spirits, not as a result of gong practice. When sorceresses perform divinations, the evil spirits speak directly to them or display a kind of "pictures." Sorceresses simply pass on the information the evil spirits have offered When sorceresses drive out demons, the evil spirits will very often produce its effect within the sorceress, just as in spontaneous qigong. At this time the sorceress knows exactly what is happening, but is unwilling or unable to control herself. Evil spirits sometimes speak prophecies through sorceresses, imitating other people's voices identically, or even show vividly other people's facial expressions on sorceresses' faces. Those imitated are usually dead people whose living family members have come to ask about them. Hence people greatly fear and respect the sorceress’s power, which is in fact the activity of evil spirits. The so-called driving out of demons is having the evil spirits that are on the victim cooperate and leave the person in order to perform a strange sign and to convince people. The calling back of souls is the same. In the countryside where a belief in ghosts and gods is prevalent, evil spirits are active, roaming all around, looking for people that they can attach to. Small children's souls are relatively weaker; therefore, the devils find them easier to get hold of. Sorceresses simply affect to call back the soul, and the evil spirits cooperate by releasing the soul of the "soul loser." The evil spirits like to have people worship them and like to go to the places where idols are kept. This is why, where people are very superstitious and worship idols, the evil spirits often display their supernormal powers and perform strange signs. To common people these areas seem to be abnormal, having a lot of strange things happening there. Please note that people worship idols because they hope the idols will protect them and bring them good luck. Worshiping a man's picture is also idol worshiping. We often see people put up the picture of a certain "great man" for the purpose of getting protection and good luck from it. Such actions are not only benighted and superstitious, but invite evil spirits as well.

The focus of this chapter has been on the principles and essence of qigong. I hope more people will understand the essence of qigong and more qigong practitioners will mend their ways after realizing their errors and find the true meaning of life. I hope more Christians will learn the principles of qigong and understand how to help qigong practitioners. There are many people in this world who are described by Jesus in the following passage from the New Testament: "This people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." These people can never accept the truth and will lose all what they have, including their lives.

We are not to judge who will be saved or who will not be. We are to love all people and forgive all who are venomous toward us. We are to do what we should do according to the righteous principles that God has given us.

We would be happy to pray to God earnestly for more qigong followers to be saved and for more people to accept and know Jesus Christ.

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