James Arthur Ray and the Sweat Lodge Deaths

It's been all over the news but I would like to say a few words about the 3 sweat lodge deaths that occurred recently. I want to send my heart felt condolences to the families of those who died in this tragic incident. I feel sorrow and compassion for them. Any loss of a loved one is one of the most difficult things to go through in life especially when it is under tragic circumstances. May God bless each of the family members who are suffering right now.

In many ways, I understand some of the desire of these sweat lodge participants. I don't think they needed to pay exorbitant sums of money for what they were searching for. As the scriptures teach, we have a source of spirituality that does not require money to tap into. The prophet Isaiah spoke well when he said: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1).

For Mormons, both of the Nicodemus and Millennial variety and everything in between, this source is centered on God through His Son Jesus Christ. It is Him who we place our faith in and with good reason. When we place our faith in man we are bound to be disappointed. Nephi spoke well when he said: Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost (2 Nephi 28:31).

At this point it appears that James Arthur Ray is a failed and false prophet. He may go down in history as a Marshall Applewhite or Jim Jones or perhaps he will come through it and redeem himself. Only time will tell and God only knows. Jesus identified the way to tell whether a prophet is true or false. He said:

" Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them"
(Matthew 7: 15-20).

It is often hard to judge the fruits of a person's life except over a long period of time and perhaps after they have died.

It is a good lesson for us as Mormons that we do not put our faith in man but we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Yes, even though we have living prophets we must avoid the temptation to put our faith in them. They are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith and all the prophets after him never claimed to be perfect and would never have wanted you to worship them. They point the way to Christ just as the dead prophets from the scriptures did. We should not forget that and this tragic situation is a good reminder. When we put any man or woman on a pedestal, we can become sorely disappointed and led astray. This is why our personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ is so important. The more of a Nicodemus Mormon we are, the more likely we are to put our faith in the physical. On the other hand, many false prophets preach a gospel of hyper-asceticism and unfortunately this is one of the signs of going off the rails. When someone starts to hate the body or see it as 100% negative and an evil thing then you can be assured that you have a false prophet in your midst. There are few Mormons in this category. I would call them hyper-Hellenized Mormons. There are not many of them and most leave the church.

I'm afraid that James Arthur Ray had perhaps become a hyper-ascetic and this was a sign that he had fallen into blindness and illusion. One of his goals was to reach the age of 120 and I noticed he had become obsessed with healthy food and drinking algae/chlorophyll water to shift his ph levels in the hope of achieving greater longevity. I was getting concerned that he had become too hyper-ascetic and was pushing too hard. Perhaps it is a factor in what happened here. Perhaps he forgot that we are all on different levels and that if we push someone too hard they could literally die.

I know some about this man, James Arthur Ray, and I feel very sad for him. I do not think he was an evil man at all but he clearly may have become blinded. In this country, he is innocent until proven guilty and I feel very sorry for him. He carries an extremely heavy burden right now. I don't know if I could stand to carry a burden as great as this. Although he needs to be held accountable for his actions, I personally have no ill will towards him. If it was one of my family members who died on this outing with him, I would hope that I could have the strength to forgive him. I know I would need God's help to do it. I know it would be the right thing to do. From what I do know about him, I believe he would have never wanted this to happen and the burden of this tragedy is something he will carry for the rest of his life. In the eyes of many, it has disintegrated all his hard work and any positive legacy he may have had. In many ways, it is like the burden that a drunk driver would carry if he or she killed someone as a result of their actions. Many people, who do not know him will think that he is a snake oil salesman and was only out for the money. It's true, James may have become drunk with power, money and success. It is easy to do.

I never payed anything into the coffers of James Arthur Ray. But, I have spent money in other places that seemed like the right thing at the time. James is no different than high priced business consultants, therapists, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, dentists, chiropractors, counselors, bloggers, lawyers, fashion designers, televangelists, movie makers and almost any other profession. It could be said of any profession that we either take advantage of a weakness in order to make money or we fill a needed niche. If you are in the profession you are in, you will certainly tend to look at it in the most positive light or you would likely leave that profession. If you have had a negative experience with a certain profession you could say they are only out for the money. It all depends on how you look at it. Either way, I say may God bless you James.

It is sad to see so many people out there who want revenge and who want an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. As Gandhi said, "soon the whole village is blind" and toothless with that approach! Until we get away from that tired, old, and worn out way, we will never have a millennium--internal or otherwise. Winning a million dollar lawsuit, having someone locked away, or giving someone the death penalty will never give anyone the peace and happiness they are searching for. Yet, there are so many who have not learned this lesson. They want his blood and they want him to pay the ultimate price. In many ways I feel the most sorrow for those who hate and condemn without even knowing anything about this man. May God be more merciful with you than you have been to James.

I remember when another man who became much more blinded went into an Amish schoolroom and deliberately shot all those children and the Amish community forgave him. That was one of the most inspiring, millennial, and Christ-like stories that I have heard. What a great example for all of humanity.

James Arthur Ray did not deliberately cause this. Based on what I know about James, this was an accident. He was pushing these individuals to break through physical and emotional barriers that hold people back. Much like Bob and Gillian on the Biggest Loser push severely, morbidly obese people to break through similar barriers. If anyone has seen the Biggest Loser, you will see people passing out and throwing up all the time. You may even see some dangerous situations on that show. The only difference is that NBC knows the liability in trying to help people change their lives and they were willing to pay the money for that protection. Thus, there are life-flight helicopters, consulting physicians, EMTs, ambulances, etc. all standing by. The sweat lodge incident did not have that. James was required by law to have one nurse on standby, which he did. He probably had done events like this for years with no disastrous consequences and instead received positive feedback from the participants. In this case, something went very wrong and people died. James has probably put himself in jeopardy of a manslaughter conviction unfortunately. It will be interesting to see how James deals with this. I wonder if his unflinching message of pure accountability will survive through this. It will be interesting to see if he can use the law of polarity as well.

In the mean time, I feel great sorrow for these families of those who died. Their lives have changed forever and many of them will find it hard to see through spiritual eyes. I would have a hard time if it was my family member. As I said before, I would need God's help to forgive. There would be such a great temptation to fall into bitterness and hatred.

Once again, I send peace and blessings to the family of the victims. May God be with you at this difficult time.