Recently I received a phoned request from a brother in Christ, for any information that I have regarding the practice of Hypnotism. I am not in the habit of collecting and reading books on such subjects; But the Bible does give an account of the activities of Demons. It is the word of God, and is absolutely true, and thus absolutely reliable. My friend and brother in Christ, obviously has contact with a person or persons who are dabbling with this evil. As there might be others of my brethren and sisters who have amongst their friends folk of the same bent, I thought that my answer to him, may be useful to them also, hence this paper.

Though the Bible does not, (to my knowledge), deal directly with the subject of Hypnotism. Yet it does deal with the origin of Satan, and the hordes of deceiving spirits that are subservient to him. I would not hesitate to say that all powers related to Hypnotism, and Spiritualism, belong to the realm of darkness, and should be avoided by all genuine Christians at all costs.

Satan and the hosts that followed him in his pride and rebellion against God, was created as the most beautiful of God’s angels, and they were created long before the world was created, and they were present when the foundations of the earth were laid, and the world was hung on nothing. Thus we should not think that all of Satan’s ways, and his claimed revelations must of necessity be base, and vile, but we are warned that he is able to transform himself into an angel of light, and his ministers into ministers of righteousness. Satan could not bear to see the heart of God so happy, as it was at the world’s creation, and the joy it gave to our Creator to be able to see the wonder of His own handiwork.

The world that God had created; was a system of order and beauty, just ready for the creation of and the introduction of man, (Isaiah 45:18), and it gave our Mighty God much pleasure. So Satan and his hosts set about to spoil what was for the pleasure of God in His creation. Satan then intervened and used the great power with which God had endpwed him, to turn that beautiful ordered creation into confusion, and darkness, to make it waste and empty; (Chaos). Thus we have the details of Genesis chapter one following verse one. So God set about to bring the Cosmos out of Chaos, and in seven days produced out of that which was waste and empty, a system of order and beauty in which He could find pleasure and rest.

When God’s work of creation was finished, the man and his wife were there, and they were perfectly happy, in the most beautiful garden that this word has ever known. To complete the happiness of man, it was God’s habit to come down each day in the cool of the day, and to commune with His creature man. Thus in Eden’s fair garden, there was all that would bring delight to the heart of God, (the Creator), and the man that He had created. Satan could not bear to see God and His creature man so happy, so he intervened to spoil it all once again.

So he entered Eden’s fair garden, and sought to sow the seeds of unbelief in the heart of the woman. He knew that if only he could entice God’s creature man to disobey his Creator, then the throne of the universe, (which God had given to man), would be his, and he would have the man, and the whole creation as his miserable slaves. So Satan set about his wicked work, and all he had to do to achieve his wicked end was to get the man and the woman to sin, to disobey God’s commandment. He was most successful in his endeavours as the current (and past), history of man and the world testifies. The result of Satan’s activities was that the first male child that was born to man, grew up to be a murderer, he murdered his own brother, and history records that he in turn was murdered by his own descendant, Lamech, (Genesis 4:23).

The next reference to Satan’s activities and that of his wicked hosts si to be found in the sixth chapter of Genesis. There we read of Man, (the race of humanity), the daughters of men, and the sons of God. There is some divergence of opinion with regard to this passage, some thinking on the basis of what the Lord Jesus said, that angels are sexless, neither male or female. (Matthew 22:30). On this basis they think that the Sons of God, that are mentioned are the descendants of godly Seth and Enos, who intermarried with the daughters of men, (the female descendants of Cain), who were physically attractive, and gifted in music and the arts etc. However this explanation does not account for the fact that we are told that the result of this unholy union, resulted in the existence of a race of giants born to men and that such were upon the earth at that time.

We must admit that the expression, "The sons of God", in the Old Testament sometimes refers to angels, and at other times to godly men. Please note the passages in the book of Job. Chapter 1:6, where the reference is to godly men on the earth, who’s habit it was to gather together, into the presence of God. But then we have the passage already referred to in (Job 38:7), here the reference is to Angels, because the context shows that they were present at the world’s creation, whereas man was created at a later time. In any case such a view does not explain the presence on the earth of a race of giants, as we have mentioned earlier.

Neither does the statement of the Lord Jesus indicate that angels are sexless, but simply that they are preoccupied with what is holy. It is to be noted that when angels are referred to in the Bible, they are in every place spoken of in the masculine. When they are referred to by name, their names are on every occasion masculine. For example, (Gabriel, and Michael, the Prince of Persia, the Prince of Greece, (both fallen angels), but all are in the masculine. In any case the expression found in Genesis, the Sons of God, seems to be in contrast to the human race, which is mentioned first. However be that as it may, the fact that there was an unholy union, would only remove the guilt one generation further away. Because the sons of God, would not be tempted by the Spirit of God to enter into a union that was obviously not of God. So it would seem that the descendants of godly Seth, and later of Enos; were tempted to break down the barriers of separation that existed between them and the descendants of wicked Cain, by the forces of darkness, (IE) Satan and his hosts..

Thus from this we learn that the ways of Satan and those fallen angels who serve him, is always to get the children of God to compromise, and to break down the barriers that exist between what is good and what is evil, and to mix up together both good and evil.

Lest any might think that we have wandered from our original quest that of explaining the phenomenon of Hypnotism, let all who may read this understand that we regard the phenomenon of Hypnotism, as being of the Devil, and to understand it we must first understand his ways.

The result of Satan’s intervention on that occasion, that referred to in Genesis chapters five and six was the rapid moral deterioration of the human race, their descent into immorality and violence in particular, in addition to every form of evil. This deterioration brought down upon man the fierce wrath of God, and led Him to pour out a judgement that destroyed the whole human race with the exception of eight individuals. The earth was thus cleansed through the flood of Noah’s time, but though they were saved from the terrible destruction of the great flood, yet the heart of man was unchanged, and Noah began to cultivate a vineyard, made wine from its fruit, and resorted to lewd behaviour in his tent, which resulted finally in the cursing of the black races, (a third of humanity).

We read about the dispersion of the human race in Genesis chapter ten, there in verse ten, of that chapter, we read of Nimrod, a great man who was a tool in the hands of Satan, and one who had the vision and desire for world domination. Such power as he manifested, did not come from God, but was rooted in unbelief, and in mistrust of God; it obviously came from Satan himself. I would suggest that in Nimrod we see the power of Hypnotism, in that he was able to unite men to follow him, and to unite them in rebellion against, and in mistrust of God, whose goodness was everywhere manifested.

By the time that Lot appears we find that the whole commercial system. (a system that flourishes on the principle of human greed, and the exploitation of man by man). A system that divides the human family into the rich, and the poor, the haves, and the have-nots. It is believed that Idolatry was introduced following the death of Nimrod, and this idolatry spread through much of the then world. Thus we are able to trace the ways of Satan, and the havoc that he wreaks amongst men, through temptation that inflames the lust that is latent in the very nature of men, and unites them in opposition to God.

We thus have traced the activities of Satan, and the effect of his activities on the whole race of men. Let us now look at the activities of demons, those great spiritual, (and thus invisible), powers that operate amongst men today, which would include the power of hypnotism. We read about the activities of Demons through out the Bible, in both Old Testament and New. We should point out here that there are some fallen angels, Demons, that have been cast down to the deepest pits of gloom, and are held there as prisoners awaiting the final day of Judgement,(2Peter 2:4),& (Jude 1:6). But also there are hordes of such beings that roam the earth, and seek to indwell lost men such as those referred to by the Lord Jesus in, (Matthew 12:43).

It should be pointed out that there is a divergence of opinion as to demons and their origin. But we hold the opinion that demons are really fallen angels, and there is a great variation in their ranks. Some are great in power, and will stubbornly resist being exorcised after once they have taken up residence in the body of a human being. Others are like frightened birds, and often when they are commanded to depart from a person in the Mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ, they will scatter in haste to vacate the person in whom they have taken up their dwelling. They may be many, as in the case of Legion in the New Testament, however there often is one boss demon, who will sometimes stubbornly refuse to leave, and will only leave after much prayer. The Lord Jesus understood the gradations in the hierarchy of Satan, and said of one kind, "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting,"(Matthew 17:21). Experience has taught me that Satan’s hordes are all envious of each other, but are united in several things; that is they are united in their common hatred of, and resistance to God, whether it be the Person of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, and their common subservience to the Devil. He is their undisputed Master, but each demon loves themselves and seeks prominence etc.

In the Bible, both Old Testament and New, we have a reference to the spirit of Python, or familiar spirits, (that is spirits that are familiar with individuals), and are able to impersonate some people who were once living but now dead, even to speaking with the same voice, appearing in the same clothes that the dead person was accustomed to wearing, and have been know to appear with the same scars, warts etc that the deceased person had on their person. We are given the details of the activities of such demons, in the case of King Saul who had sinned away his opportunity, so that God would no longer listen to him, or answer him by prophet, dream or vision (1Samuel 28:7-25). The careful imitation was such that even today some Bible teachers are of the opinion that the apparition that was seen by the woman was really Samuel, but this could not have been so. No medium filled by any spirit could ever disturb the rest of one such as Samuel, who had been faithful to God all during his earthly life, right from his boyhood days. After having completed his ministry on earth, he was gathered to his people there to rest from his labours on the bosom of Abraham, along with all who had died in faith. Yet the apparition was familiar with what God had said and done through Samuel, and was able to accurately predict what was going to be the result of the battle that was about to be fought with the Philistines.

The apparition told Saul; today thou and thy sons will be with me. This and other inconsistencies strip away the subterfuge of the apparition and show it to be a deceiver that was imitating the godly Samuel with whom Saul had not had any fellowship for many years. But we can be sure that ungodly Saul would never be in the place of rest and pleasure along with godly Samuel. Though we are not the judge, yet it would seem from the examination of what is recorded of the life of the murderous King Saul, that today he suffers in the flames of hell, awaiting that day when the books will be opened, and he and all those who have died in their sins will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Satan’s ways have not changed, he is a liar from the beginning, and still is today. Though he is a wolf at heart, still he appears amongst God’s defenceless sheep, in the same clothing as the sheep themselves. We should not be surprised then if the names of his ministers are preceded with Rev. or Pastor.

I remember on a visit to Dubai reading in a booklet, one of a set sold by the O.M. ship Duolos. That one cannot speak in tongues without first allowing the cord between their mind and tongue to be cut. This means that each individual in order to be able to speak in tongues must literally give their minds over to the control of some spirit other than the Holy Spirit. No believer should ever do this, for to do so is to give their minds to deceiving spirits, (1Tmothy 4:1-3), and to depart from the faith.

The Holy Spirit always works through the mind of the believer, and one aspect of His nine fold fruit. is "Self control". (That is the control of our minds, and as a result our passions also). (Galatians 5:22-23). I have seen Hypnotists at work, and can vouch that they are evil people, who play on weak minds that are yielded to their control, and believers should avoid them at all costs.

We read in Acts (chapter 16),of a poor slave girl, who was indwelt by the spirit of Python, who brought her Masters much gain by fortune telling. For many days she followed Paul and Silas, calling out that they were indeed the servants of the "Most High God". We might have thought that Paul would have prized such cheap publicity; but he had no desire for the publicity that the Devil could give so he turned and rebuked and cast out the evil spirit from this poor girl

However this brought great shame and suffering on he and Silas, as they were flogged publicly. And cast into prison. It led to them discovering the Jailer, leading him and his whole family to the Lord. And to their being baptised that night. It is also possible that all the people in that jail were saved that night, as well, because none escaped, though the earthquake had opened the doors of the prison, and loosed the bonds of all.

A careful examination of this passage will reveal much about demon powers. Evil spirits do not know what is going to happen in a believer’s life, but they may have a shrewd idea. They do have control of many lives, and may be able to cause accidents to happen etc, so as to fulfil their prophecies. Much of what is claimed to be prophecies amongst the people of God today, is nothing more than this. There is a desire in the human heart to know what is going to happen in the future. However the genuine believer does not need to know what is going to happen in the future, because we are to ("Walk by faith and not by sight), (2Corinthians 5:7). All that we need to know as to our future is written in the Bible, and the Holy Spirit who has recorded it there, will reveal to us from the word what we need to know.

The slave girl also had a patronising attitude towards the servants of God, and the work of God in which they were engaged. Let us beware because there are many today who have a similar attitude, and such might deceive us into thinking that they too are of God, when they really could be the servants of Satan.

The Holy Spirit never acts contrary to the will of the believer in whom He dwells. Nor does he cause the believer to be like a lifeless puppet. He would never cause us to make an utterance that we did not understand, that is that we did not understand what we were saying. If the Holy Spirit is present, others who may be present may not understand what a person was saying, but there would always be an interpreter present to present what the person was saying into a language that could be understood by most of those present. Thus we may be sure that any spirit that causes a person to lose control of their tongues, or of their actions is not the Holy Spirit, but some demon power

This brings us back to the question at the beginning of this paper. Hypnotism and affiliated phenomena is most certainly not of God. The Holy Spirit does not cast spells, neither does He inflame corrupt human passions. Those that claim to make contact with the souls of the dead, are cheats and deceivers. We may be sure that once a person is physically dead, there is no one living who can bring them back to life again. We may be sure that the person that has died in their sins has gone to hell, and they will remain there until they are called to stand before the Great White Throne, where they will have to give an account of their wicked lives. Likewise those who have died in Christ enter into joy unspeakable, and will remain there until they come with the Lord Jesus to gather all for whom He has died, from this earth and takes them to be forever with Him.

No Wizard, Medium, or Necromancer will ever be able to disturb the sweet rest of those who are with Christ, which is far better! Let us rejoice then in the prospect of all that lies before us. The glorious prospect of departing to be with Christ, which is far better.