No greater effort will be exerted by Satan in the last times than in the area of hypnotism. It is the most effective method of drawing men and women under his control and power. It is well known that some people are far more suggestible than others, and therefore much more vulnerable to hypnotic suggestion. It may well be that there are some so resistant to suggestion that no human being could hypnotize them. However, we must recognize that the master hypnotist, Satan, is able to hypnotize every single human being. There is only one way that we can have certainty that we will not be deceived by Satan, and that is by inviting Christ to take full control of our lives. Thus the Scripture says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5.
The mind of Christ could never be hypnotized by Satan, and therefore could not be deceived. If we invite Christ’s mind to be our mind, then that alone will preserve us from the hypnotic presentations of Satan. The servant of the Lord warned us:
“The experience of the past will be repeated. In the future Satan’s superstitions will assume new forms. Errors will be presented in a pleasing and flattering manner. False theories, clothed with garments of light, will be presented to God’s people. Thus Satan will try to deceive, if possible, the very elect. Most seducing influences will be exerted; minds will be hypnotized.” Maranatha, 59.
This passage is not talking about the world at large; it is talking about members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is fair to deduct that every individual on the face of this planet will be hypnotized by Satan with one group excluded—those whose names are written in the book of life.
In Satan’s last great effort, all are going to be deceived by his hypnotic influence and the influence of his representatives. Thus, there will be an apparent unison that will bring the world together to worship the Papacy, referred to as the beast power in Revelation 13.
“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8.
Surely only mass hypnotism could lead the inhabitants of this world into one bond of worship. This brings together the Atheists and the Agnostics, the Animists, the Muslims, the Shintoists, the Taoists, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the Zoroastrians, the Protestants, the Catholics, and every non-committed person in the world. This will be the greatest mass-hypnotism of all ages. Sadly, myriads of those who once walked in the light of the Advent faith, but who have not surrendered their lives to Christ, will also be hypnotized at this point.
Almost ninety years ago Sister White sensed the great inroads of hypnotism in the Adventist Church: “This same hypnotic influence is seen working among our people today. Ever since my return to America a heavy burden has rested upon me. Everywhere I see the power of the enemy. Were it not for the armies of the Lord’s host, led by Michael, the destruction that Satan would be pleased to witness would come to the people of God. They would be discomfited and brought to shame. But the Lord will work for His people. He will not suffer them to be defeated.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, 248.
As the decades have passed, the intensification of Satan’s efforts to hypnotize have unquestionably led to more and more Adventists coming under his hypnotic spell. As men and women move more and more to the world, and less and less place their confidence in Christ, there are deep inroads of Spiritism in the church through the power of hypnosis.
As early as 1870, Sister White referred to the efforts of Satan to hypnotize God’s people. She remarked, “Some seem to have no power to keep their eyes open in meeting. Satan seems to mesmerize them when important truths are presented.” Review and Herald, March 29, 1870.
Thus the inroad of Spiritism into our church is not new.
Again during the first decade of this century, Sister White refers to the hypnotic influence exerted by Dr. Kellogg: “The men who sustain Dr. Kellogg are in a half-mesmerized condition, and do not understand the condition of the man. They honestly believe that he is to be trusted.” Arthur White, The Later Elmshaven Years 1905–1915, vol. 6, 72.
You may have wondered why it is that you can present the clearest, most unambiguous statement of the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy to men and women, and somehow they do not seem to be able to understand its meaning or its significance, or they are able to rationalize it away. Surely already so many have been hypnotized by Satan that they cannot perceive the certainty of God’s truth.
“Satan is waiting to steal a march upon everyone who allows himself to be deceived by his hypnotism. He begins to exert his power over them just as soon as they begin to investigate his theories.” Medical Ministry, 101, 102.
This statement indicates the danger of even exploring areas of error and apostasy. Satan is there to try to draw us into his trap by the use of hypnotism. Colin remembers three of his former friends or colleagues, all of whom decided that they would help people who had moved away from the truth and who had accepted the evangelical concepts of the New Theology. All three of them have joined the ranks of these evangelicals. Rather than helping the one who was deceived, they were themselves equally deceived. It is a wholly unsafe practice to dabble in the artifices of Satan. One has an obligation personally to investigate; but once error is detected, it is unsafe to continue such a study.
Predicting what would take place right at the end of time the servant of the Lord said, “This entering in of Satan through the sciences is well devised. Through the channel of phrenology, psychology, and mesmerism, he comes more directly to the people of this generation, and works with that power which is to characterize his efforts near the close of probation. The minds of thousands have thus been poisoned, and led into infidelity.” Selected Messages, vol. 2, 351.
How important it is that we do not allow our minds to come under the control of others, for in so doing we are coming under the power of Satan.
“Satan often finds a powerful agency for evil in the power which one human mind is capable of exerting on another human mind. This influence is so seductive that the person who is being molded by it is often unconscious of its power. God has bidden me speak warning against this evil, that His servants may not come under the deceptive power of Satan. The enemy is a master worker, and if God’s people are not constantly led by the Spirit of God, they will be snared and taken.
“For thousands of years Satan has been experimenting upon the properties of the human mind, and he has learned to know it well. By his subtle workings in these last days, he is linking the human mind with his own, imbuing it with his thoughts; and he is doing this work in so deceptive a manner that those who accept his guidance know not that they are being led by him at his will. The great deceiver hopes so to confuse the minds of men and women, that none but his voice will be heard.” Selected Messages, vol. 2, 352, 353.
On a number of occasions Ellen White wrote testimonies to physicians who were using hypnosis and other mind control techniques. She indicated the danger of these, and yet today there are some of our Seventh-day Adventist doctors who are routinely exercising an hypnotic influence over their patients all in the name of medicine.
In Medical Ministry she wrote as follows:
“Now, my brother, I consider you to be in positive peril. I present this because I know that you are in great danger of being seduced by Satan. We are living in a time when every phase of fanaticism will press its way in among believers and unbelievers. Satan will come in, speaking lies in hypocrisy. Everything that he can invent to deceive men and women will be brought forward.
“Just in proportion as men lose their sense of the need of vital religion, so they become filled with common, earthly ideas, which they exalt as wonderful knowledge. Physicians who lose their hold on Christ become filled with ideas of their own, which they look upon as some wonderful science, to be brought into the medical profession as something new and strange.” Medical Ministry, 114.
Some Seventh-day Adventists have thought nothing about going to a hypnotist to seek help in psychological problems, and even for various forms of child and marriage counseling. But such is the work of Satan. We are to have nothing to do with these practices.
Colin recalls talking on the telephone in 1974 to John Roth, whose life was almost destroyed by his attendance at a mind-control program. Mr. Roth was at the time, an orthodox Jew and in middle-management in an oil company. Wanting to improve his status in life, he accepted the recommendation of a friend to attend a Silva mind control program. Having paid several hundred dollars for the program, he eagerly attended. The first night a very well-presented man stood before them and explained that we only use approximately six percent of all the neurons we have during our lifetime and that this program was to help to expand dramatically the use of the neurons in our brain.
It all sounded very good and Mr. Roth couldn’t wait until the second day. On the second day, all those who were in attendance were asked to imagine that they had a counselor and to decide what kind of questions they would like to ask such a counselor. By the third night the instructor was not talking about an imagined counselor, he was talking about “your counselor.”
Being an Orthodox Jew, Mr. Roth was rather disturbed by this and called his friend who invited him over to his place and told him that this was the best part of the program; that he got such wonderful advice from his counselor. He then asked Mr. Roth, “What question would you like me to ask my counselor?” Mr. Roth almost off-handedly said, “Ask your counselor what I will be doing in twelve months time.” He watched his friend go into a trance-like state, no doubt built upon auto-hypnosis. After a while he was deeply concerned by the obvious agitation of his friend, and wondered what was taking place. Shortly afterward, his friend came out of the trance-like state and said, “I don’t know what happened. My counselor has been so kind and so helpful to me, but when I asked your question all he did was curse and swear.” This did not encourage Mr. Roth, but having paid so much money for the course he attended the fourth and fifth nights. Before the program was over, they had been led into levitation and astral projection (out-of-body experiences).
Almost immediately Mr. Roth became ill; in fact, so ill that he had to be admitted to the hospital. But there the doctors could find no physical problem. And yet, clearly, his vital forces were diminishing and they had to concede that he was dying. This, you can understand, brought great worry to himself and to his wife. One night they were visited by Christian friends. The friends were shocked to see the state of Mr. Roth and as they talked with the wife, she told them what had taken place and that they had associated this sickness with the program that he had attended. The Christian friends said, “There is one answer to this, but you may not like it, and that is to pray in the name of Jesus.”
Eventually she agreed and they went back to the bedside of Mr. Roth and asked if he would agree, which he did. So that night they prayed in the name of Christ that he would be released from the satanic power that was destroying his life. Virtually immediately, he began to recover. The physicians could give no explanation for his recovery any more than they could of his original illness. The Roths accepted Christianity and Mr. Roth became a major speaker around the United States telling people of his salvation from the satanic influence over his life.
No doubt, some way, somehow, the spirit that was the counselor of his friend, who had cursed and sworn when asked what Mr. Roth would be doing in twelve months time, realized what would take place.
In his book, The Seduction of Christianity, David Hunt quotes one of the world’s leading occult authorities and historians, Manly P. Hall, who declared, “There is abundant evidence that in many forms of modern thought—especially the so-called ‘prosperity psychology’ ‘will power building’ metaphysics and systems of ‘high-pressure’ salesmanship —black magic has merely passed through a metamorphosis, and although its name may be changed, its nature remains the same.” David Hunt, The Seduction of Christianity, 14.
More and more Seventh-day Adventists seek worldly help for their spiritual problems, which often are designated emotional problems. In reality, these stress and emotional issues are the symptoms of a lack of spiritual depth in the life. What men and women need much more than human counselors and psychologists is the power of the indwelling Christ in the life.
Colin well knows the simple means that Satan uses to hypnotize people. As an undergraduate student of the University of Sydney, he studied a little into the areas of suggestion and hypnosis. One night, in a group of Adventist youth, he was asked if he could hypnotize. Foolishly, he responded, “Of course,” never thinking that anything would take place. As he chose one of the young ladies and used the very simplest of techniques that had been explained in class, he was terrified by the fact that she soon entered a deep hypnotic state. Also, the young people watching from the darkness outside the window were terrified when they saw what took place. They came rushing into the room, urging Colin to bring the young lady out of the hypnotic state. Colin was uncertain of what to do, but in the end, given the command to wake up, she did wake up. He had to ask the forgiveness of the Lord and to make a commitment never to allow such a thing to happen again.
Most people unfamiliar with hypnosis believe it is an extraordinarily difficult art. But in reality it is simple and commonly used today in all sorts of aspects of life, including advertising, interpersonal relations and counseling.
If ever there was time when God’s people needed the mind of Christ, it is now. Hypnotism is surely the strongest avenue to lead men and women to be deceived by Spiritism. Indeed, the two are indivisibly linked one with the other. God’s people are called to keep clear of any form of hypnotism, mind control or human methods of handling the problems and issues of life.