Book Review: Spirits and Spiritual Interactions

SpiritsAndSpiritualInteractionsI just finished reading Spirits and Spiritual Interactions by Dr. Christopher E. Palmer this week. Thank you to one of my readers who recommended it. The book is self-published, 223 pages and took less than a week to read. I think I read an hour or two each night before retiring. As I read I would put a few comments in Goodreads After the first 40 or 50 pages I gave it three stars, After I got through about 150 pages I had raised it to four stars and upon completion I’ve decided it deserved five stars. I’ll explain why I raised my opinion as well as make a few observations.

Not Meant to be Sensational

There is nothing sensational about this book. It wasn’t meant to be. That doesn’t mean there are no examples of how to deal with dark spirits and dark energy. The author treats the subject with the utmost of respect. I had to keep reminding myself he is at least twenty years younger than me and wondered where he got all his experience and knowledge on the subject. Dr. Palmer is a chiropractor by profession. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve found most chiropractors are more open to alternative forms of healing. I found the book to be well thought-out and well-written.

A Few Typos – No Big Deal

Sure, there were a few typos. The editor in me circled five, maybe seven, but it didn’t cause a problem. I did have a problem with a major flaw of the first section heading printed at the top of every page in that section not matching the actual chapter heading in the front of the book. I also had a problem with the length of the sections. There were only five. Although they were labeled sections they seemed to be chapters because the text kept running on an on without page breaks. I guess I was expecting well-defined page breaks with a blank page between each chapter.

More of an Introductory Book

So far I’ve focused on a few technical preferences that have little to nothing to do with the content of the book. Let’s get in to that. The book was obviously written for an LDS audience but made a good effort to include explanations of LDS terms and doctrines as it went along. That’s why I rated it so low at first. I thought it was way too basic until I realized the author was trying to be as thorough as he could be. I would recommend this book for someone as a starter book who has no exposure to working with spirits or the spirit world. Please let me explain.

Nothing Frightening in the Book

In the twenty plus years I’ve been working with those who claim to be sensitive to spirits, or in other words, can easily detect their presence, a book like this would be way too toned-down. But if you are one who has never heard of the gift of discernment of spirits or seen it in action or even believe that it exists, this is a great book. It is convincing with good examples, practical and very conservative or orthodox views of how things work with dark energy and dark spirits. It is written in such a way that there is no fear factor at all. There was nothing frightening in the book.

The five sections are:
1. Basic Details about Spirits
2. How to Recognize the Presence of Spirits and
Discern Their Affiliation with Light or Darkness
3. Other Things That Bring Light or Darkness and Similar Kinds of Spirits
4. How to Remove Dark Spirits, Their Influence and Effects
5. Ways to Fortify Against and Be Resilient to Evil and Unclean
Spirits and Spiritual Darkness

How This Book Compares to Others

Now, I won’t list the table of contents here, but compare these basic five sections of Dr. Palmer’s book with, oh, let’s say, the contents of Doug Mendenhall’s Book: Conquering Spiritual Evil. If you are a novice in dealing with spirits, do NOT start with Doug’s book. It’s like a college text. On the other hand, if you are a novice, DO start with Dr. Palmer’s book. It’s excellent in getting you used to the wording, the phrases and the methods of recognizing and working with spirits. If you feel you have no ability or gift in this area, then you may be disappointed, but it has been my experience that most LDS folks have at least some sensitivity to the presence of other spirits.

This is a Step-by-Step Sort of Book

I may be wrong on this. My wife tells me she has none but she has related some stories from her mission that have convinced me otherwise. She is also a very orthodox and conservative LDS member. If I could get her to read it – she won’t because 1) she says she hates to read doctrine and 2) she is too busy writing and promoting her own books – I am certain she would be very confident with Dr. Palmer’s approach to the subject. It is reassuring, slow and easy step-by-step stuff that doesn’t make you feel like there is anything weird with talking about the influence or presence of dark spirits or dark energy by the time you get done with his book.

The Book is an Easy and Clear Read

I confess I am more of a Doug Mendenhall sort of reader: give it to me straight, raw format and let me sort it out for myself. He does that in his book. You’ve got to do a lot of pondering and praying with Doug’s book or you could be misled in what he is trying to say. Not so with Dr. Palmer’s book. It is written in such a way that it’s clear he did not want to be misunderstood. He did not want to frighten any of his readers. He wrote in such a way that caused you to feel good about the process of clearing your home, your space and even you favorite places to visit. I thought that was kind of, well, different, but I got what he was trying to get across.

It’s a Comfortable Book to Read

For those who have not read Doug’s book for comparison, let me say this: If I were an LDS mother, single or married, concerned with the dark influences I’m beginning to sense in my teenage son or daughter, I would be extremely comfortable recommending Dr. Palmer’s book as being helpful and easy to read. On the other hand, if I found myself dealing with evidence that some hard-core, satan worshippers had inhabited the home I just bought, I would get Doug’s book. Both talk about the importance of removing dark objects and especially portals – so very often overlooked – but Dr. Palmer just made me feel more comfortable reading about it.

Like Visiting With a Medical Specialist

In other words, and this is unfair to Doug, whom I consider a friend, Dr. Palmer’s book comes across more like a friend sitting across from you, advising you on something about which he has studied and does regularly, in the same sense that you got to visit him to get your back adjusted. Again, it starts assuming you know nothing about working with and removing spirits and takes you up to and through the basic steps of getting the job done. But he doesn’t get into difficult cases and makes sure that you come away feeling all is light and rosy when the job’s done.

The Book is Targeted at People New to This

Dr. Palmer, I’m sorry if I’ve received the wrong impression from reading your book. If you run across this review, you’re welcome to respond. The bottom line for me is I would feel greater confidence in working with Doug to help me deal with a problem in getting rid of the influence of evil and unclean spirits in my home, work or other space. To be fair, Dr. Palmer makes it clear that some spirits will come back again and again or send replacements – a favorite trick – but Doug’s book gets into things other than spirits that could be the source of the problem. Maybe you think this is all made-up, the product of someone’s imagination. I assure you it isn’t. I know of at least a half dozen people who do this sort of thing – cast out evil spirits. All are or were LDS. Please don’t forget it is part of our doctrine. Don’t think it’s spooky. It just is. Accept it.

You Don’t Need the Gift of Discernment

Another I have written about is Mel Fish in Cedar City. It seems there is much more of this kind of activity – being bothered by evil or unclean spirits in the Mormon corridor along the Wasatch Front. But I run across it all the time here in California too, especially wherever objects or activities of darkness abound – porn, drugs, stuff like that. Our objective in life is to fill our souls with light. We are beings of light. We came here to learn how to increase that light with faith, obedience and gifts of the spirits. If you don’t have a gift in this area – feeling the presence of spirits – alive or dead – don’t worry about it. Everyone has some sort of gift and can share light that will help and strengthen others. We all need each other.

Dr. Palmer Gives You the Basic How-To

I recognize this is not a very detailed review of Dr. Palmer’s book. Let me just say I give it five stars. I think he has done a thorough job, even if he does get off to a slow start. I know I called it a beginner’s book but that’s not really fair. It’s a good introductory book. It is not confusing. It is clear. It is precise. He provides the example (only one, while Doug and Mel Fish provide many), that works in removing dark spirits. I wish he wrote about dark spirits that can attach themselves to us or can hide within us. He wrote at the beginning he specifically would not address that subject. For that, see Mel Fish. But using the methods Dr. Palmer writes about, I would feel comfortable in clearing my space, my room, my home, my work or anywhere else.

Would Like to Read A Deeper Edition

Dr. Palmer has a lot of knowledge on the subject. I learned some new things. I am always impressed when someone takes the time and effort to write a book, especially non-fiction about such an important subject. You know you won’t find this in Deseret Book. This sort of book is not a good fit there. I’m so happy we live in the day of Amazon and CreateSpace. Dr. Palmer addresses an important doctrine that our modern church chooses to ignore, helps us learn the basics to protect ourselves, our families and our homes, and makes it available to you. I say bless you Dr. Palmer. I hope you continue to prosper and perhaps write more on this in the future.

2 thoughts on “Book Review: Spirits and Spiritual Interactions”

  1. Thanks! I still struggle a little with Mendenhall’s style (but I love him and believe him all the same). When I’m ready for more of this topic, I will check out Palmer before my second read of Mendenhall.

  2. Hi Tim! I appreciate your comments on my book. I just happened to google my book title and your article came up. Yes, typos are a problem–it doesn’t seem to matter how many times I re-read, there’s always a few that get missed. I’m hoping to fix that in the next edition. Just FYI, I plan to publish a 3rd edition in about the end of September of this year – about a month and a half. I just started a Kickstarter campaign to see if I could drum up some support to do a few things like hire a copy editor and also deal with a couple other details. Also, for this upcoming 3rd edition, in the first section I’ve added a few pages that I think will improve that part of the book quite a bit–should you be interested I’d love to hear your comments on it. I’ve also added about 10 pages overall here and there throughout the book. I don’t mean to take up too much space on your blog, I just thought you might appreciate an update from the author. If you have any specific suggestions other than what you have mentioned here I would love to hear them–feel free to email me. I don’t blog much myself so I don’t know about the propriety of leaving a link to the kickstarter project, but you can find the project on their site in case you are interested to see it. Again, thank you for your comments on my book. Have a great day! Dr. Chris Palmer

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