By Kenneth M. Hoeck
What is hypnosis? What is NLP? Why do we need this type of information within the Churches of God at large?We have all heard the term "brainwashing" before and many of our loved ones have even proposed that the "cult-like" churches we are part of used it upon us "gullible people". Many of us can chuckle in recall of hearing that one used repeatedly by family members who did not share our "new understanding." But what if it were partially true? What if there were people within the various Churches of God who covertly were guiding the members to slowly accept new ideas which are alien to the true faith and who were dedicated to destroying that faith at all costs?
Now I do not say this to frighten or intimidate any of us, but there are such people, ungodly men, who thrive within the churches of God. Do not be surprised for the apostle, that is called Paul, warned the ministry in Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Paul was telling them (and us today) to WATCH for this to happen for he KNEW that it definitely would occur. He pleaded this urgent message to them for three whole years! He wanted us to take notice of this. He knew how these wolves would sneak into the flock and devour them from within the fold. This knowledge pained him to heartwretching sobs as he uttered his warning out of love for the brethren. Paul mirrored Christ's own urging as we can read that Jesus said in Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
These imposters fellowship with you and partake of the Holydays among you, many speaking from the podium. These "salesmen of false doctrine" use many techniques to attach their "products" to your mind. How can you spot them?
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29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. |
The people who use these techniques do so very discreetly. They will, most often, intentionally tell you lies if confronted to cover up the mind games that they perform to their usually unsuspecting audience. In nearly all cases though, the audience is completely unaware that any "suggestions" have been implanted in their subconscious minds. Eventually the "hypnotist" gets comfortable very quickly with his "subjects" (his audience) and will begin to make his suggestions bolder or less subliminal and it is then that they can be better identified for what they are using.
ABOUT HYPNOSIS
Charles Tebbetts, in his book titled Miracles On
Demand stated "There is no legal definition
of hypnosis. Webster's dictionary describes it incorrectly as an artificially
induced sleep, but it is actually a natural state of mind and induced
normally in everyday living much more often than it is induced
artificially. Every time we become engrossed in a novel or
a motion picture, we are in a natural hypnotic trance (p.
211-212)."
Myron Teitelbaum, M.D., author of Hypnosis Induction Technics, concluded: "The hypnotist is merely the guide who directs and leads the subject into the trance (chapter 3: page 18)."
Roy Hunter, MS,CHt is a Certified Hypnotherapy Instructor, Published Author and Professional Speaker/Trainer Publisher: TranceNet Journal (http://www.trancenet.com) He states "To me, the most accurate way of defining hypnosis is to simply call it "guided meditation." Since many of us enter a meditative or "trance" state while listening to music, watching TV, listening to a good speaker or a good sermon at church, or even while reading, you could say that the hypnotist does not even have to be a live person.
Roy Hunter also said "There are certain abilities which are enhanced during the actual hypnotic process itself: (a) the ability to Imagine, (b) the ability to Remember, (c) the Creative abilities, and (d) RESPONSIVENESS TO SUGGESTIONS. Naturally, it is this last ability which creates the appeal of hypnosis to some and the fear of hypnosis to others "
The method used to induce a trance upon a particular subject or group of subjects is identified as the Induction Type. Virtually all techniques of hypnotic induction can be categorized into six main induction categories. The ones we need to be most concerned with are summarized below:
- Progressive relaxation and imagery methods are frequently used on self-hypnosis tapes, as well as by some who facilitate meditation. Hypnotists and meditation leaders often use relaxation induction or guided imagery to have someone imagine being in a safe or peaceful place, and then awaken to full consciousness. It is important to understand that often those who actually use hypnosis inductions of this type will deny their use of hypnosis--and some facilitators of such meditations will even say that they don't believe in hypnosis. Yet they might ask you to "close your eyes and picture this......" or they may use certain "trigger" words to bring forth intense emotions in order to influence your thinking ... which is still a form of a trance ...which is still hypnosis.
- Mental confusion methods are designed to confuse the conscious mind, so that it simply becomes easier to just relax and "let go" into hypnosis. Top hypnotists warn that hypnosis trainees should not attempt this type of induction until they understand it, and know what to do when a client enters hypnosis, as it is very powerful to the mind. This is an induction type employed by many "alternate agenda speakers" in the churches. These tares will highlight contradictive ideas to the listeners subconscious mind during a sermon to make it easier to later breakdown their faith.
- Mental misdirection methods employ active use of the imagination, coupled with response, to hypnotize through responding to suggestions. This is a favorite of the Masons and Jesuits. The responses of certain groupings of people are investigated and recorded. If they know what outcome or end-thought they want to foster in the minds of their listeners/readers then they use this data to select the appropriate stimuli to obtain the desired result. People in each culture develop certain responses to common situations in the persuasion process. It is because of these responses to certain stimuli that make it possible to predict behavior and therefore persuade others. Unfortunately it is the same responses that make it possible to manipulate or be manipulated by unscrupulous individuals.
What is NLP?
The name Neuro-Linguistic Programming comes from the disciplines which influenced the early development of the field. It began as an exploration of the relationship between neurology, linguistics, and observable patterns ("programs") of behavior. It is a powerful form of combined hypnosis techniques. NLP is a set of models of how communication impacts and is impacted by subjective experience.
NLP consists of a number of models, and then techniques based on those models. The major models usually associated with NLP are: Sensory acuity and physiology. Thinking is tied closely to physiology. People's thought processes change their physiological state. Sufficiently sensitive sensory acuity will help a communicator fine-tune their communication to a person in ways over and above mere linguistics.
NLP has several techniques for diagnosing and intervening in certain situations. They have a phobia cure, a way to detraumatize past traumas, ways to identify and integrate conflicting belief systems that keep you from doing things you want or vice-versa, etc.
There are always minimal cues people give that indicate very specific kinds of thought processes. These include eye movements, certain gestures, breathing patterns, voice tone changes and even very subtle cues such as pupil dilation and skin color changes (training of Practitioners of NLP includes the skills and knowledge to use these information gathering techniques and to notice and interpret the subtle cues).
A basic observance and imitation of someones body language is a simple form of NLP. This is actually taught in some of those "How To Become A Better Communicator" classes. Sometimes you will find NLP trained people who annoyingly mimic body posture to distraction, in an attempt to gain "rapport." They were poorly trained so they are easily identified and avoided. Go out in public; watch couples; watch good friends. They walk in synchronization. They move in synchronization. They naturally mirror each other movements. NLP'ers just noticed this, and said "if you don't have initial rapport, here's one thing to pay attention to."
NLP is this gathering of information to make models, based on the internal experience and information processing of the people being studied and modeled, including the part that is outside of their conscious awareness. The word neuro refers to an understanding of the brain and its functioning (response). Linguistic denotes the (both verbal and non-verbal) communication aspects of our information processing. Programming is the thinking and behavioral patterns that we all go through. There is a relationship between perceptions, thinking and behavior that is neuro-linguistic in nature. The relationship is operating all the time, no matter what we are doing, and it can be studied by exploring our internal or subjective experience.To do this well means to actually study the structure of people's thought processes and internal experience, as well as their observable behavior.
All human change is nothing more than an integration of resources or a collapsing of realities, one into the other. The particular process of collapsing anchors involves taking a negative state, and integrating or collapsing it into a positive state or vice-versa. Teachers of NLP say that doing this gives the person we're dealing with more neurological choice. One of the major premises of NLP is to increase the choices a person has or to obliterate the idea of a single absolute reality (even if it is truth).
Speaking of NLP tecniques used in a clinic setting, Training and Development Journal said "(NLP) does offer the potential for making changes without the usual agony that accompanies these phenomena. . . Thus it affords the opportunity to gain flexibility, creativity, and greater freedom of action than most of us now know. . ." --
It has been noted that people respond more agreeably to something if it is somewhat familiar to them. The hypnotist/ NLP practitioner has learned that implanting words or ideas into your subconscious mind makes it simpler to effect a change in your behavior or your beliefs. This is sometimes refered to as "seeding of the thought". Planting suggestions that will influence others to adopt their way of thinking is an effective tool to the modern day sorcerer (user of mind control techniques).
A common question is "Does knowing what's being done make it less effective?" I've found that knowing what someone is doing lets me barricade against certain things, but there are definite cases where knowledge is not sufficient to keep it from working. Certain aspects of NLP are like this: if someone is using NLP techniques and doing it well, even if you know they may be doing it, you may not be cognizant of the actual use of this Jesuit tool and even fall prey to it.
"NLP cannot be dismissed as just another hustle. Its theoretical underpinnings represent an ambitious attempt to codify and synthesize the insights of linguistics, body language, and the study of communication systems." -- Psychology Today
THE EFFECTS
"Opinion is ultimately determined by the feelings, not the intellect." --Herbert Spencer
The trained "manipulator" works on your emotions as well as your intellect. A person's feeling's are much more powerful than academic thought processes. After the repeated mental raping of the mind, anyone can begin to lose ground to these subtle influences. The subject (one who receives the hypnotic suggestions) can begin to question things he or she "used to know". Eventually, or sometimes even suddenly, the truth of God becomes obscure to them and they may even accept or re-accept old traditions, ideas, and beliefs!
The experts say that a type of amnesia (basically selective forgetting in this case) sometimes occurs spontaneously in hypnosis, and sometimes happens as the result of a direct or indirect suggestion to forget something. The amnesia effect may last a variable time, possibly months or longer, depending on the psychological significance of the amnesia and the forgotten material and on the intensity of attempts to recall and availability of recall cues in the environment.
THE PRACTITIONERS
Besides the salesmen, the hypnotist doctors, the motivational speakers and other common professional workers who use NLP and hypnosis techniques to better their careers, there are others who have a deeper more devious agenda. These "tools" are used by all advanced level Jesuits and high degree Freemason's. These unscrupulous individuals disguise themselves as your brothers, your friends, your administrators, and your ministers to gain your confidence.
"If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend." --Abraham Lincoln
In the Jesuit Oath, the new Jesuit leader is instructed "you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant, and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope....To take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means."(The Jesuit Oath as told by Carlos Didier, Subterranean Rome, pp349-351)
The hidden agenda is to spy upon the church members of various groups, to be one of the brethren, to become speakers in the assembly, and to gather all information about you and send it to the boss in Rome! These involve the same NLP hypnotic techniques we described earlier in the article.
The Jesuit Oath continues: "You have been taught to insidiously plant the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace, and incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace. To take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means."(The Jesuit Oath as told by Carlos Didier, Subterranean Rome, pp349-351)
The "seeding" or implanting of thoughts and ideas formerly foreign to you are sown in your subconscious. They then proceed to "water" this implanted "seed" through advanced NLP methodology.
The Jesuit Oath also states "You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to 'be all things to all men,' for the Pope' sake, whose servants we are unto death." (The Jesuit Oath as told by Carlos Didier, Subterranean Rome, pp349-351)
These trained Jesuits have infiltrated every church group they can weasel into, as well as all other positions of power and authority. They have gathered, and continue to gather and record, all the responses to their rhetorical stimuli. They use this information to achieve their Supreme Leader's main objective ... to maintain manipulative control over us ... their "subjects" in this sorcerer's lab experiment.
EXAMPLES IN ACTION
1.) One of the first recorded cases of these techniques, before they were labeled with a name, seems to have been applied a long time ago in Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Let us examine this and the subsequent verses of the passage for the truth. [subtil = "aruwm" in Hebrew-Strong's# 6175-cunning (usually in a bad sense):-crafty, prudent, subtil] The technique here is a mental confusion induction method. Satan states "Didn't God say you can eat from EVERY tree?" [serpent = "nachash" (Strong's #5172 & 5175) meaning hissing, (fig) a snake [ because of its hiss ], whisperer, enchanter, divine, a shiny one, bright. ].
He quotes God (Genesis 2:16) using God's exact words but only part of the whole message given by God on the subject (Genesis 2:17). He used this same device on Jesus (Matthew 4:6) but Christ used the scripture correctly (Matthew 4:7)and was not ensnared by the Devil's wily ways
Now, it is important to note, this Nachash or Satan was no more a literal snake than Dan when he was called one in Gen 49:17..... or Herod a fox in Luke 13:32 .....or Satan a roaring lion in 1 Peter 5:8. Satan was a cherub(Ezekiel 28:14-16), one of God's angelic host, and the cherubim are described in Ezekiel 1:5-14 as bright illuminated beings. Utilizing the same "presence" and "charisma" that had influenced one-third of the angels of heaven to follow him, Satan attacked the first couple with his superior (to their fully carnal) mind.
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Satan directly contradicts God's word bringing confusion to Eve's subconscious mind. [Satan is a liar - John 8:44 , Proverbs 30:5, I John 2:4,] "Ye shall not surely die..." : This was Satan seeding the false doctrine of an immortal soul in man, implying that man could break God's command and not eventually pay the price (eternal death) [refer to Romans 6:16,23, Matthew 19:16-17.]
Enchanting with all persuasive powers such as "Didn't God say, my dear, that you can eat of every tree you desire? Go ahead, why not my precious, I bet its the best tasting fruit in the garden; don't you think?. God wants to save it for himself. Come now child, do you think you'll really die? God just knows that if you eat it you'll be like Him, becoming full of knowledge (...of good and evil)." He tried the same method of temptation in the encounter with Jesus in Matthew 4:8-9 and , once again, the very mind of God in Christ prevailed rebuking him in Matthew 4:10.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
The woman's eyes were now "opened" ... she had been "enlightened" to ideas that she would not have ordinarily come to. She experienced the immediate deception of Satan and also carried with her the seed of doubting God's word and the seed of the false doctrine of Immortality of the Soul deep in her subconscious thoughts. [beguiled = "nasha"in Hebrew- Strong's#5377- to lead astray, i.e. (ment.) to delude, or (mor.) to seduce,]
The scriptures do not say how many times previous to this encounter that Satan spoke with the first couple. The text does not show any "introductions" taking place so it is possible that Satan had already befriended them and this was one of many times that he launched mind control (subconscious influence) tactics upon them. Either way, this analysis was good to demonstrate how these "techniques" work. Satan used a bold approach showing he was comfortable in his craft.
2.) Here is a present day example to examine. In a blatant, yet probably unintended, admission on an ecumenical sabbatarian webpage, one COG elder wrote the following on the topic of unity based on sabbath-keeping alone.-"First, there is the psychological barrier which needs to be surmounted - certainly at grass-roots level initially. Second, there needs to be a certain amount of 'seeding' of the idea amongst the laymembership, ministry and leadership. Finally, the leadership should adopt approaches and policies which will lead to agreements on how to work together."
These ideas and the language that they are presented in seem to come straight from a Hypnotist's Instruction Book. The obviousness of this communication lends one to believe that it was either accidental or executed in boldness by a long-time "friend" of the group being addressed. The ecumenical approach is a common one as it allows a slow but sure changing of ideas or behaviors. The suggestion here is to breech the firewall that keeps one group from fellowshipping with another. This is accomplished by directing focus to the single commonality (in this case sabbath-keeping) and taking the mind away from looking at other facets of the group interaction. This allows a small, but ever-widening, chink in the armor that protects you from false doctrine.
3.) Let us return to the scriptures for a glimpse at another short example. Acts of the Apostles 8:9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: 10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. 11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
This is more of an example that such things were taking place even in the first century A.D than of methodology. Notice than Simon the Magician used the "magic of the wisemen" (or Magi) to befuddle the minds of the townspeople. [Sorcery means the techniques or devices of the Magi's of the East ... it could include conjuring, mind persuasion tricks, rabbit out of the hat tricks, or even up to physical manifestations of objects] The "tricks" that Simon played (most likely with the help of unseen demons) supplied the confusion in their minds so he can influence them to exalt him as the very power of God. We do not have biblical quotations of any of Simon's deceptive speeches but surely he utilized some of the same devices as Satan and todays psychological sorcerers.
4.) The following is an excerpt of some techniques exhibited recently by a prominent speaker within the Churches of God (at Large) at a sermon taped before a live audience . The entire excerpt added up to less than one minute of elapsed time yet is chock full of suggestive thought emanations. Read it and see if you can pick up on the subliminal messages.
"...But where are you going to go to find someone that is valiant for the truth? There are a few people out there who still seem to be trying. I noticed something interesting really recently that I never quite focused on. There is a range of journalists out there who are strongly involved in political commentary who are extremely critical of President Clinton they are, every one of them, Catholic, most of them Irish catholic, and they have been educated in the strict excellence of Catholic Universities. Also they were educated by Nuns and Priests who taught them a strict set of morals that are afterall, in their origins, based on the bible. And its really fascinating to watch this - how they have been educated, in many cases, Jesuit Universities. They have that Jesuit manner of cutting through all the malarkey and going straight to the heart of the matter and these are individuals who were taught by their mentors to tell the truth. This group of them wound up in journalism."
Here is an thought-by-thought breakdown of the NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) used in this portion of this particular sermon:
- "where are you going to go to find someone that is valiant for the truth?"
- "There is a range of journalists out there who are strongly involved in political commentary who are extremely critical of President Clinton they are, every one of them, Catholic,"
- "...they have been educated in the strict excellence of Catholic Universities. Also they were educated by nuns and priests who taught them a strict set of morals that are afterall, in their origins, based on the bible... they have been educated, in many cases, Jesuit Universities."
- "They have that Jesuit manner of cutting through all the malarkey and going straight to the heart of the matter and these are individuals who were taught by their mentors to tell the truth."
- "This group of them wound up in journalism."
Also notice the contradiction when the speaker first says "I noticed something interesting really recently that I never quite focused on" and yet three sentences later, ........"And its really fascinating to watch this" ... he tells us how he has been observing this in fascination! This person's character is brought into question by our examination of these opposing comments. His subtle contradiction also causes further ripples of confusion to the listeners minds.
2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
OUR VOICE IS ONE OF WARNING
These examples have been presented for our examination to enable us to possibly
detect when these Wolf-in-Sheep-Clothing Techniques are being used
in our presence. The tares have been planted with the wheat and will
grow alongside us until the time of reaping comes. It is not our intention
to defame or harm anyone (hence the speakers names have been withheld) but
to inform you- the churches of God of what could be occuring right
under our noses.
We do encourage you all to remember
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves
enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the
space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with
tears. We add our voices to Paul's own, in love, that
you all may escape the fiery darts of the Wicked One.
The solution only lies in deepening our relationship with God. To continue
to humble ourselves before Him and to pray to Him for understanding and guidance.
To read His word, as often as we can, so we will know Him and thereby
know His will for us ... to put on the mind of Christ.
We will conclude with a meditative thought from God's mind (His Word) taken
from that wonderful Book of Psalms.
Ps 64:1 <<To the chief
Musician, A Psalm of David.>> Hear my voice,
O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. 2 Hide me from
the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the
workers of iniquity: 3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and
bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: 4 That they
may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot
at him, and fear not. 5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter:
they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
6 They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both
the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is
deep.
Ps 64:7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow;
suddenly shall they be wounded. 8 So they shall make their own tongue
to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away. 9
And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall
wisely consider of his doing. 10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD,
and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall
glory.
~ PRAY UNCEASINGLY ~
