The foreign word hypnosis comes from the Greek word hypnos, which means sleep. In layman’s terms, hypnosis can be used to induce an artificial state of sleep. Objectively, it is more accurate to speak of a state of narrowed consciousness.
Can Christians use hypnosis actively or passively?
A member of the congregation asked Dr Kurt E. Koch about the justification for hypnosis, or more specifically, whether believing Christians are allowed to use hypnosis actively or passively. He replied:
Even doctors disagree. There are doctors who radically reject hypnosis as an intervention in a person’s personality. There are those who argue that it is justified in diagnosis. There are also doctors who use hypnosis for diagnosis and therapy. I do not impose my views on anyone. Based on my experience in counselling, I myself reject hypnosis in any form because it reduces people to passive test subjects. When people are passive, it is easy for strange powers to creep in, especially if the subject is psychic.
The fact that in the East I always found hypnosis associated with magic, spiritualism and similar dubious currents strengthened my defence against hypnosis. Of course, a distinction must be made between the hypnosis of charlatans and that of medical specialists. But there are also doctors who reject hypnosis in any form because they have observed the long-term damage to the soul caused by hypnosis.
Examples from the book „Occult ABC“:
In Argentina a woman was brought to Dr Winther. She was suffering from a spider complex. This tormented woman saw spiders everywhere in her flat, day and night. On the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling. And she suffered terribly. All the best persuasion was useless and of no value. Dr Winther hypnotised her. During the hypnosis he spoke to her: „When you wake up, you won’t see any more spiders.“ The therapy was successful. When the woman woke up, she breathed a sigh of relief. All the spiders were gone. So far, the experiment had been a success. But now the downside. Dr Winther told me that from that day on the woman became a very strong, extreme alcoholic. She had got rid of the spiders, but now she was totally addicted to alcohol. This experience and another made Dr Winther decide not to use hypnosis in the future. He said that in both cases it was only a shift and not a deliverance.
Exhibitions featuring magic tricks and hypnosis experiments are to be strongly opposed. Even experts in the field of hypnosis say that these shows are nonsense and should be banned. And yet there are still headmasters who organise such school events and cause serious harm to their pupils.
Some examples of school events.
B 129 A girl in Tokyo was hypnotised by a charlatan at a school party. He was unable to get her out of the hypnosis. The girl emitted animal noises, developed a high fever and could only be brought back to consciousness after several days by specialised doctors.
B 130 A woman came to me for counselling and told me the following. The headmaster of the school had organised an entertainment evening. Various tricks were performed. The entertainer also tried hypnosis. He managed to hypnotise my reporter’s thirteen-year-old son. From that day on, however, the boy had terrifying dreams. He would often scream in his sleep: „The black man is coming, the black man is coming. Why don’t you get the black man away from me? The boy’s nightmares continued for years. His mother was terribly angry with this showman.
You should never invite entertainers to an evening of entertainment who also practise hypnosis.