Dancing with the Divine and the Darkness

Of course when you write a book, make videos, have a website like this, etc, etc, you are putting yourself out there to be critiqued by people. I expect no less and as I mention in the book, I have gotten a fair amount of flak from skeptics and zealots over the years on my paranormal work. So when a skeptic tells me that he does not believe the paranormal is real or a zealot cries that the Bible says I am not supposed to this (ghost hunting), I don't take it personally and that's fine.

When I wrote my book and put it out to the public, I was already expecting the same type of folks to come forward and criticize my work and that's fine again, I understand where these people are coming from. What I did not expect was an attack of such extreme hate and a complete distortion of what I wrote about. There was an extremely hostile 1 star review of my book left on Amazon. If it had been a review with constructive criticism or the skeptic/zealot response, I would have taken it with a grain of salt and moved on. But in this case, I have to write a rebuttal. I can't write a rebuttal on Amazon, so I am going to write it here. After each paragraph, I will write my rebuttal in red.

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Review Title: Proselytizing, Contrived and Self-Aggrandizing

With so many five star ratings, I was looking forward to reading this book. Halfway through, I couldn't stand it anymore. At page 121, I removed the book from my Kindle.

She ordered the eBook during a weekend promotion where I offered the book for free. She notes she saw the good ratings and that's why she ordered it.

For a man who claims to dislike zealots and proselytizing, the author certainly does a fair amount of both. Sneaking "Big J" into the dialogue doesn't make your preaching more palatable. I'd rather deal with hell fire and brimstone types than this author's manipulation and condescension. Did you think you were being subtle? Do you think your readers are obtuse?

Here she is refering to Chapter 3 - "Where There is Light, There is Love". This paragraph alone is the dead giveaway she did not bother reading the book description at the top of the page on Amazon. Right on the top you can clearly see where I wrote the following:

So how exactly did I sneak "Big J" in when it is clearly mentioned I will talk about him. Ergo, I didn't need to be subtle or manipulative as I was falsely accused. She also missed the entire point there. Yes I talked very much about how much religion was a turn off to me for a lot of years, yet for some reason Jesus came to me. Why me? Why not the people whose faith is 10,000x mine, but they never see him?

It's fair to present unbiased theories about the afterlife in a book about ghosts. But, no one - and I mean no one who isn't a Kreestian - asked for the heaping helping of Old Time Religion. Next time you write a book stick to the subject or DON'T WRITE. I did not buy this book to read about your close, personal relationship with Jesus.

Again another clear example of somebody who picked up a book and didn't read the reviews or book description. I never, ever said the subject matter of the book was strictly about ghost hunting. Just reading the two page preface was already the giveaway the book was going to be more than just talking about ghost hunting. Then saying I am going after non-Christians with "A heaping helping of Old Time Religion"? LOL. You'd think my book was saturated with Bible verses and holier than thou testimony and again, nothing could be further from the truth.

I'm a secular Jew. I do NOT appreciate picking up a book, ostensibly about ghost hunting, only to find out it's REALLY about the Joys of Jesus. If that's your interest, wonderful. But, it isn't mine and that is not why I bought the book. In other words, I wasted my money on a book written on false pretenses.

Again, reading the book description, the preface or even the previous reviews, you would have aleady known this was not a book "ostensibly" about ghost hunting. This is about my spiritual journey that took off once I started ghost hunting. She reads one section about where I talk about my encounters with Jesus and labels the book as the "Joys of Jesus"? Also, she did not buy the book, you note in her opening paragraph she got it on Kindle, the same weekend I was running a 3 day "FREE" promotion where over 3700 copies were downloaded. Plus even if she had paid for the Kindle version (which had been .99 cents for the past few months prior to the promotion), she could have returned it to Amazon for the .99 cent refund.

Book written on false pretenses? Again, somebody who didn't do a second of research before ordering her free book.

I looked forward to learning more about ghost hunting and communicating with spirits. So, how about sticking to the subject? I didn't need or want to hear about meditation, Reiki, crystals and of the author's dozens of areas of expertise. Sorry, dude, you're not an expert in Reiki after a few hours with Amy. No such thing as instant wisdom. Your book is a mockery of those who have spent years dedicated to true learning. What a farce. After a single session with Amy, you're a certified Reiki practitioner? After three or four, you're a master? Don't make me laugh. The "humble bragging" in the book is unbelievable and insulting to anyone who has dedicated years to learning.

This coming from the 2nd chapter "The First Doors Open". Again, you can see her lecturing me about sticking to the subject and not interested in the various things I talk about, (Reiki, Crystals, etc). Yet again on the top of the amazon page where I describe the book I write about.....

So she misses the point by a mile again. Why did I have the obsession to learn things that I never had an interest before?

Then the part about where she accuses me of "bragging" about how I became a Reiki Master after 3 or 4 sessions? I had to go back and actually re-read what I wrote. Did I write something that could be misleading and make the reader think that I had 4 sessions with Amy and became a Reiki Master? Well, I double checked, my wife double checked and sure enough there was nothing even close to what this lady wrote. Now I did say I had 4 "attunements" with Amy, because that's what you do when you are taking Reiki I, II, III and Master level classes. However, I never "bragged" that I got that done in 4 consecutive sessions. It took me almost 4 years to get my Master Level certificate. Amy never offered anybody she taught, the opportunity to advance until she felt they had demonstrated the ability to do so. Even then it was a minimum of almost a year before advancement.

What could have been a really interesting book - had the author stuck to the subject - turned into a mashed up heap of trite garbage.

Yet again, my book stuck to the subject. I wrote about the experiences of my personal journey. She may not like what she read, but she certainly did not tell the truth with the false claims she put in her super biased review. Which leads me to a couple of conclusions about the motive of this person. Either its a very sophisticated troll who gets their kicks out of trashing people's work with falsely written reviews or as I suspect, one of those anti-religious zealots who froths at the mouth when somebody says "God Bless You" to a sneeze. I hid nothing about what I was writing about, this was not an attempt to convert non-"Kreestian" people and certainly was not about the Joys of Jesus. If somebody orders the book after reading your review thinking its all about singing the praises of Jesus and Christiantiy, well that's on you.

Again, I know the paranormal and supernatural are not everyone's cup of tea and that's completely understandable. But this level of hatred and false testimony was something else and had to be answered.