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One of the biggest health fads right now is a morning drink of celery juice. Proponents state that stand-alone celery juice confers a myriad of health benefits and drinking it every morning has some mysterious cleansing powers different from that of any other green juice or vegetable.
And how do they know this?
The Medical Medium told them.
I have no problem with celery juice. Nor with the Medical Medium personally. Or even with the notion that he might sometimes be right—celery juice is a fine juice and very easy on the digestive system. He is often, however, probably wrong (see below).
But even that isn’t my problem. Most people—including experts-- are sometimes right and sometimes wrong.
The issue I have is a more general one. I have a problem with medical diagnoses by divine revelation.
Believe me, I understand the frustration with conventional medicine and the desire for alternative solutions. I’ve been in the trenches fighting the pharmaceutical-medical-industrial complex for 28 years. I don’t blame anyone looking for answers they haven’t been able to get elsewhere.
And I’m quite willing to accept that there are people who are able to “hear” or envision messages of wisdom that others can’t. I was a big fan of Abraham, the collective voice of spirits that spoke to Esther Hicks and delivered inspiring and wonderful messages of compassion, acceptance, and kindness.
But there’s a whole universe of medicine, naturopathy and nutrition that exists between conventional doctors and a psychic.
Which is exactly what the Medical Medium is—a psychic. One who specializes, for sure, but still a psychic.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Here’s the problem: the Medical Medium isn’t just telling people to drink some green juice. He’s giving medical diagnoses. Which only he can see and the solution to which only he has. And any time medical truths are revealed to Just One Person, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Let me explain.
I’m one of the biggest critics of the way we “use” science for marketing purposes and the way the drug companies have virtually co-opted research and turned it into a marketing tool. I also do not believe every piece of valuable information we get about health (or life, for that matter) needs to be verified by a double-blind placebo controlled clinical study. The entire NYC fire department doesn’t have a single double-blind study showing that water puts out fire.
But science is like democracy—it’s a deeply flawed enterprise, yet it’s better than all the alternatives.
And when we ignore science—flawed as it is—we’re ignoring the entire collective knowledge base of medicine, nutrition and health. And we’re asking for trouble.
Some of the Medical Medium’s nutrition advice is demonstrably, provably false. For example: the notion that genes have no influence on disease. (Tell that to anyone who has sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis, both diseases that are monogenetic.) And that’s just one example.
So there’s the accuracy problem.
And then there’s the potential for demagoguery.
What if another medium gets divine revelation and her divine revelation is different from the Medical Medium’s? Who’s right? How would you check? You usually don’t get second opinions from other psychics.
Nonetheless, I’m aware that many people will answer my critique by saying “But he’s helped so many people!” or “He has a gift!” or “He’s right so many times!”
I get it. So I’d like to pose a hypothetical situation.
Suppose there were a guy known as the Airplane Medium.
The Airplane Medium never went to pilot school and wouldn’t know a Delta Airbus 350 from a minivan. He gets his knowledge from the same spirit who speaks to the Medical Medium. And he feels, with absolute certainty, that sprit showed him how to fly a plane safely.
So here’s my question:
Would you get on a plane with the Airplane Medium at the controls?
I’m just asking.
And if your answer is no—then let me ask you this:
What’s the difference?