Bibliography and Literature
Weatherhead, Leslie D., Psychology, Religion and Healing (First Edition), Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, London EC4.
Kazuhiko Asai, Organic Germanium “A Medical Godsend”, Kogakusha Ltd Publishers, Tokyo, Japan.
Allan, L. J., Painless Pain Control-Body Energy Techniques, Allan, Margate, Kent CT9 3BT, England.
Sherman, Harold, “Wonder Healers” of the Philippines, Psychic Press Ltd, London WC2.
King, Serge, Kahuna Healing, Publishing House, 306 West Geneva Road, Wheaton, Illinois, USA.
Westlake, Aubrey T., The Pattern of Health, Shambhala Inc., London EC4.
Leck, Sybil, Diary of a Witch, Leslie Frewen of London.
Sanchez-Perez, J. M., Engrammes of the Universe, Exposition Press, Hicksville, New York.
Ansie Encyclopedia (First Edition 1955), N.V. Amsterdamse Boek en Courant Mij., the Netherlands.
Van Dijk, Paul, Geneeswijzen in Nederland, Uitgeverij Ankh Hermes B.V., Deventer, the Netherlands.
Van Nijnatten-Doffegnies, H. J., Het Geheime Dorp, Callenbach, Nijkerk, the Netherlands.
Visser, A., Het Verscholen Dorp, Wilmace, Dronten, the Netherlands.
About the Author
JAN DE VRIES was born in 1937 in Holland and grew up during the difficult war years in occupied territory. Although he graduated in pharmacy, he soon turned to alternative medicine. His most influential teacher was Dr Alfred Vogel in Switzerland, and they have worked together closely for 35 years.
In 1970 he and his family moved to Scotland and settled on the west coast in Troon, where he set up a residential clinic called Mokoia. He also has clinics in Newcastle, Edinburgh and London. Since 1990 he has been involved in Klein Vink in Arcen, Holland, doing research into the efficacy of herbal medicine for the European Commission.
He lectures throughout the world and is a regular broadcaster on BBC radio.
Books available by the same author
By Appointment Only series:
Stress and Nervous Disorders (3rd impression)
Multiple Sclerosis (4th impression)
Traditional Home and Herbal Remedies (5th impression)
Arthritis, Rheumatism and Psoriasis (5th impression)
Neck and Back Problems (4th impression)
Migraine and Epilepsy (3rd impression)
Cancer and Leukemia (2nd impression)
Viruses, Allergies and the Immune System (4th impression)
Realistic Weight Control (2nd impression)
Who’s Next?
Heart and Blood Circulatory Problems
Asthma and Bronchitis
Life Without Arthritis—The Maori Way
Skin Diseases
Nature’s Gift series:
Body Energy (2nd impression)
Water—Healer or Poison?
Food
Well Woman series:
Menstrual and Pre-menstrual Tension
To my four “Miracles”
Fiona Janyn Tertia Mhairi
For those who believe in God,
No explanation is necessary;
For those who do not believe in God
No explanation is possible.
John La Farge.
Introduction
“There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Hamlet—William Shakespeare
After a quarter of a century in the healing arts I am certain that the more I learn, the less I know and the more there is to be learned. Why do some people survive and others with the same disease perish? Why do some people succumb and others do not when an epidemic rages? Why do some people triumph in adversity and others cave in? Why do some people thrive on stress and others crumble under the weight? Why are some people strong and others weak?
Apart from all considerations of infection, inheritance, disease, environment, strength, weakness, nutrition, wealth or poverty there is the over-riding factor of spirit.
The key to good medicine is the consideration of that holy trinity, Body, Mind and Spirit, the platform on which Complementary Theraphy stands so firmly. Any practitioner who denies the intervention of some higher being in his healing work is supremely vain or insensitive. Intuition is not taught in medical schools but is a vital component in the armoury of the true “healer”, even if he is unwilling to acknowledge this divine gift.
Today, alternative medicine is big business, and accounts for millions of consultations each year. With the growth come the growing pains. The unscrupulous waiting to exploit the unwary. The back room bone setter with fancy diplomas. The part time accupuncturist and faithless faith healer. The public must be aware of this mushrooming industry and the dangers it brings.
The miracle of this book is the Miracle of Faith. Reading it you cannot fail to believe and be moved by the stories it unfolds. As a healer I am mystified. As a Dutch Jew, humbled by the courage of Aunty Cor and Opa—some of my own relations were hidden by a Catholic family during the war—and as a human being I am uplifted by the spiritual light in this book.
Martin Luther King said:
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
I have known Jan de Vries as a colleague and friend for many years, and there can be no question as to where he stands. It is firmly on the side of Holistic Medicine. He is a true “healer”. He has the faith to help his patients help themselves to better health through a true understanding of the intricate balance between Body, Mind and Spirit.
Michael Van Straten
Cheddington
Bedfordshire
Copyright © Jan de Vries, 1997
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author has been asserted
This edition 1992
First published Great Britain 1987 by
MAINSTREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY (EDINBURGH) LTD
7 Albany Street
Edinburgh EH1 3UG
Reprinted 1988, 1989, 1999
ISBN 1 85158 469 2
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for insertion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
1
Are There Miracles?
EVER SINCE I was a child I have been intrigued by the subject of miracles. I have often tried to define for myself what a miracle is, as well as trying to find a definition for the actual word “miracle”. Various dictionaries give different explanations of the word and some of those which appeal to me are the following:
an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs;
an event or action that apparently contradicts known scientific laws;
a selection of the following: a marvellous, or extraordinary, or incredible, or supernatural, or unbelievable, or wonderful event.
My mother tongue, which is Dutch, again displays a diversity of meaning for the word “miracle”. According to several dictionaries it can signify:
an occurrence which is beyond human comprehension;
an act of God which cannot be explained under the accepted rules and laws of nature;
a divinely natural occurrence.
It seems that we have an enormously wide choice of words and phrases which are synonymous with the word “miracle”. However, do miracles really exist and what are miracles? How many people have witnessed or experienced a miracle?
In order to find an answer to these questions I interviewed a large number of people, mainly my patients. I asked them if they had ever experienced or witnessed a miracle and unfortunately very few of them could give me either an affirmative or a satisfactory answer.
In my lifetime I have witnessed some miraculous events. Could any of these be classed as a miracle or might it be wiser to view these as events or occurrences for which no logical explanation exists?
When asking other people about miracles the answer I mostly received referred to the miracles which were performed in Biblical times, where the dead were brought back to life, those suffering from incurable diseases were cured, the blind were made to see and the deaf made to hear again. These were the miracles which Jesus Christ, the son of God, performed during His time on earth.
I was born and brought up in a strict Christian family and in my childhood I heard about these wonderful miracles. I often wondered why the dead could no longer be raised again as had happened in Biblical days. This question preyed on my mind a great deal. I was very young when my parents and I visited the home of an uncle who had died suddenly. The seeming finality of death began to bother me and rarely left my mind. My mother has since told me that at this time she was advised to take me away from the kindergarten I attended and have me enrolled in another school.
The educational system in the Netherlands differs quite considerably from that in the United Kingdom, in that public or private education is unusual. Primary as well as secondary education in the Netherlands is divided into state schools or what are called “Schools with the Bible”. No religious instruction is given in state schools and the “School with the Bible” may belong to either a specific denomination or be classed merely as a Protestant or a Catholic school.
None of these schools would automatically fall into the fee-paying sector and parents are given a completely free choice. Even if the parents themselves are not religious, their children are still allowed to attend a “School with the Bible”.
Because of the religious background of my family, I attended a kindergarten where Bible stories were part of the curriculum. Here it was noticed that the subject of death was becoming something of a phobia to me and my mother was advised to have me temporarily enrolled in a state school as the subject was just too emotive for my young and impressionable mind.
Thus I was moved to a state school. This did not stop me wondering, however, why no miracles took place like those we heard about when my mother read every morning from the Children’s Bible.
I have no recollection of my problem at school, but what I can remember is the first instance when I thought a miracle had been performed. Although I considered it a miracle, it also frightened me badly at the time.
One of my young friends at primary school was allowed to invite a few lads to go for a day trip on his father’s fishing boat and I was one of them. How it happened I cannot exactly remember, but one of the boys fell overboard. Eventually the crew was able to bring the boy back on board and we were badly shaken to see his lifeless body. We thought that our friend had drowned, but one of the fishermen told us that we had better pray very hard while they tried to revive the youngster by administering artificial respiration.
It was then that what I considered to be a miracle took place. We saw life returning to this boy and we all thanked God indeed for saving our friend. I remember how much of an impression this made on me and how I decided to keep my eyes open for other miracles, which of course did not happen.
I do believe, however, that God performed a miracle on the night when I was woken by unusual knocking sounds on my bedroom wall. As there were no neighbouring rooms, I could find no reason for these sounds, yet the knocking continued. Whatever was the cause, I still don’t know, but it shocked me into the realisation that I was alone, which resulted in fear. I did not know what to do as the knocking persisted and I was too afraid to leave the room in the middle of the night.
I then remembered what my parents had taught me and I prayed to God to have this frightful sound stopped. While I prayed, the knocking kept on and became alternately louder and softer. There was an unnatural feeling in the room which I find very difficult to describe. Then suddenly I remembered, from the prayers which my mother had taught, the words: “I am always with you”. All at once I felt as if God had spoken these words to me aloud there and then and I was comforted. The knocking eventually ceased. Since then, during some of the more difficult times of my life I have remembered and received solace from these words: “I am always with you”.
I have had my share of difficult times and I sometimes think back to that fearful night in my childhood days. I then made a promise to God that I would honour him. Sadly I know I have not always kept that promise. I nevertheless know that God has always been with me and during any unusual event in my life, when I did not see a way out, or a solution myself, I have felt God’s guidance.
I recall also the gradual process of my discovery of nature and how I considered that to be a miracle. I admired the wonders of nature—the flowers and plants, the animals and insects and all that nature offers. I slowly came to realise the force of nature in which we recognise the miracle of God’s creation.
Another vivid memory I have is of going out to play with some friends. It was during the Second World War and as always we were very hungry. The harsh winter of 1944/5 is always referred to by the Dutch as the “hunger winter” and no mention of any year is necessary to indicate which period one is referring to. Without any real hope of finding anything, my friends and I looked around for something to eat, which had more or less become second nature.
Suddenly we spotted a German car. Nobody seemed to be about and as I was the smallest of our group I was chosen to investigate. What I found in that car was beyond belief: food, chocolate, sweets—to us it was like a miracle, this sheer abundance of food. I started throwing some of it out of the car, when suddenly one of the boys shouted that the British planes were coming over. Immediately all hell broke loose. We ran for our lives and jumped into a ditch to hide between the shrubs. There we kept our heads down and hoped that after finding that treasure trove, we would get the opportunity of taking advantage of it.
Thank goodness we had stuffed our pockets full before we made a dash for the ditch, because the car was hit and went up in flames. At least we had managed to salvage something. Was the timing of this air-raid pure coincidence? A few minutes sooner and we would have been killed, and some minutes later we would not have been aware of how near we had come to losing our lives!
On another occasion I also remember shouting at some German soldiers and pestering them. We were only young and if we had been alone we would not have dared, but each other’s company gave us an inflated feeling of bravery. One of the soldiers turned and pointed his gun at us. We knew that life was of little value in those days and we had played foolishly with this precious gift. At that moment we realised only God could save us. He would either make the soldier shrug his shoulders and regard us as some foolish youngsters, or harden the soldier’s mind to eliminate this disturbance. Anyhow, the soldier’s attitude changed.
All these events together, some of more significance than others, made a lasting impression on me when I was young. I learned that we are protected by a Higher Power and that God is always with us. Often, though, when I realised how many civilians lost their lives, I asked myself the question: “Why them and not me?”
At this time, my mother was helping out with the nursing of the wounded in the danger zone around the Arnhem area. Due to circumstances at home, she took me with her. Most people had been evacuated and we were aware of how precarious the situation was for civilians and prayed that God would protect us. He did!
With this childhood background my age group grew up quickly and learned faster about the realities of life than if it had been peacetime. I learned about life and death at an early age and events took place during my teenage years which made me look for the cause and effect of what happens in the world.
I discovered that we possess an immense power within ourselves to overcome problems. I learned that people, by prayer and faith, can overcome problems and illnesses and I also found that God supplies us with extraordinary mental and physical strength and power in times of need. This is apparent in the fact that when we suffer extreme pain, our body will release hormones which act as a natural morphine to relieve us.
I started looking for different types of miracle, or rather I started to look for miracles in different circumstances. Where before I had always considered the Biblical miracles as an example, I realised, that if we are prepared to see it that way, miracles or extraordinary events happen if only in the timing of everyday routine. Events take place which are inexplicable and afterwards they are often referred to as “fate”.
During the days when I was working at Biohorma—a subsidiary of the Vogel laboratories in the Netherlands—I had to travel by train to The Hague once a week. It was a slightly complicated journey as there was no direct connection and I had to change trains along the way.
One morning my first train arrived slightly ahead of schedule, which enabled me to catch an earlier connection to my destination. I had to sprint, but it was worthwhile as I arrived at the Biohorma offices in The Hague well ahead of my usual time.
These few minutes at the change-over saved me quite a bit of time. However, it most likely also saved my life. About an hour after my arrival in The Hague the telephone rang and Mr Bolle, the present Director of Biohorma, anxiously asked our assistant to tell him quickly if I had arrived.
From him we learned that the train in which I would have been travelling under normal circumstances had been involved in a very serious rail accident. Indeed, this is considered to be one of the worst ever accidents in the history of the Dutch railways. More phone calls followed, as both my wife and my mother knew that I normally would have caught that train. I could only thank God from the bottom of my heart that I was still alive. I asked myself if this was a miracle, or was it merely the case that circumstances had been in my favour.
In the Bible we read in the book of Ecclesiastes (9: 11–12):
In this world fast runners do not always win the race. The brave do not always win the battle. Wise men do not always earn a living. Intelligent men do not always get rich. Capable men do not always rise to high positions. Time and unforeseen occurrences befall them all. You never know when your time is coming. Like birds suddenly caught in a trap, like fish caught in a net, we are trapped at some evil moment when we least expect it.
In the case of some persons in early Biblical history the general pattern of their birth and life was prophesied, although many incidents in their lives seemed due to time and unforeseen or unforeseeable circumstances. Nevertheless, experiences like my speedy train journey—and its fortunate consequences—are the result of unusual situations and we can only be grateful for such benefits.
It is interesting to see that while many of the miracles recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible, like that of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, could possibly be explained by some natural phenomenon, the miracles which were performed in the New Testament are beyond explanation. An example of this is the miraculous awakening of Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 39). Even so, attempts are often made to explain it by the possibility that Lazarus could have been in a coma. However, if we actually read the account in the Bible we find that it tells us of “the smell of death”.
Dealing with so many patients, I often hear such statements as: “It was like a miracle” or “you have performed a miracle”. I can honestly say that in the majority of cases the explanation is simply a matter of cause and effect.
Physically, mentally and spiritually we see a world before us which awaits exploration by our thoughts and action. Our actions may be influenced by our thoughts and our minds. Cause and effect is truly the law of the universe because God’s power is seen in heaven and earth in its entirety. If we recognise Him as our Creator, we will find that His laws can can be expressed in many ways.
At school we learned that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Due to the activity of our mind and our thoughts, ideas come to life. With the reality of everyday life, we also learn to accept the universal laws of cause and effect.
God has created us so that we are free in our thoughts and in our choices, making us capable of doing things in life which are most important to us. Let us therefore be a credit to Him and follow the laws of nature, which are the laws of God.
Because we are all imperfect, we all have some health problems. This may be due to adverse reactions to our thoughts and deeds. However, if we decide to live according to the laws of nature, this negative reaction could be transformed and would have a positive effect on our well-being.
Nature is such a tremendous form of energy. It brings God’s laws into operation and covers so many different aspects. By obeying His laws our lives may serve as a credit to our Creator.
Activity and energy is often on our minds and we tend to act according to our convictions. If we think positively, we may expect to find a positive answer or resolution, while to others the eventual outcome may be viewed as a miracle.
Is it not a miracle when we see how from small and seemingly insignificant seeds, large and strong trees grow? Therefore the seeds of energy, which God has given us by His creative power, can be used to help others.