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Dear Brother's in christ

in acts 10:10 it is said that Peter went into trance and also in few places it is mentioned that Apostle Paul went into trance. is it necessary that we need to go into trance during prayer please find below an article i read. kindly throw some light on this

My story, How I got started
I did not always plan to be a hypnotist! Believe it or not I was in the business world working in Restaurant and Grocery store management! Yep, that is what I said. And so you may be wondering....how did you end up as a hypnotist? Well here it is.

It started off while in college. I went to Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. And while in one of my bible classes, (I believe it was Corinthians and Acts) I ran accross where it talks about the apostles "entering into a trance" while praying. I kept getting caught by it. I did not understand why it used the word trance, and not just "prayed deeply" or prayed as mentioned everywhere else in the bible. My mind just kept going back to it asking why it mentioned it that way. I am one that never accepts something until I can understand it properly myself. I then researched the greek, and found out that it was indefinately trance and not prayer as mentioned in other areas of the bible. And I also was intrigued by the way jesus prayed. Why did he always get away from everything and get by himself and pray? I had a lot of questions and not many answers. I started researching everything. I eventually came to a stand still and didn't know if there was anything significant to it.

Then one day I saw a special on the History Channel. It was about "Prophets, Miracles, and Mystics" and it examined various different "Prophets" throughout history. I am always intrigued with watching things like that so I did as I usually do. And then it came to Edgar Cayce. It talked about who he was, his prophecies, and many different things about him. But what intrigued me is that it said that he went into a state of trance when he did all of this. He went into self hypnosis. And then come to find out, he is a very conservative christian with very strong faith in God! I had always thought that hypnosis was some kind of mind control. I did not know what to think of a trance-prophesizing-conservative-christian so I dug into research and that is what led me to learn more about hypnosis.

I then checked out every book on hypnosis I could find. Come to find out there was nothing wrong with hypnosis at all. In fact we go into hypnosis everyday! And counselors use it as a form of therapy to help people to overcome things in their lives! Hypnosis then became my hobby. I would check out various different books and read different websites about it. And through that I learned that you could become a hypnotherapist. That is when I came to a very important change in my life.

I had a good job. I had a company car and nice salary! But yet I now felt an overwhelming desire to become a hypnotherapist. I knew my friends would think I was NUTS. (and they did) So I decided that I wanted to get trained to be a hypnotherapist. I knew that it was unlikely. I knew that I would not be able to do it and stay employed. I figured it would never be possible because I had a good job, and there was no way I could take time off to get trained. And about 3 weeks later, I got laid off. Woah. It really came out of nowhere. I went through a hardworking week and then out of nowhere 4 of us got a phone call after our monday morning conference call.

I took it as the sign. Maybe it was or was not from God but it definately felt like it to me. And the timing was perfect for me to be trained.....I then spent the necessary time to get trained in all areas of hypnosis. I was nervous and a complete wreck because my bank account was dwindling the whole time.

During my training I decided to do the weight loss for myself. I was almost 300 pounds at the time. So I figured what the heck. It was incredible the way it worked. After the session I did not feel like anything really happened. We were practicing on each other in the classroom. I figured it did not work and what a big mistake it was that I got into this. And then I went into the convenient store at breaktime....that is when I was suddenly aware that I did not want anything except water! I found myself grabbing a Dasani instead of the usual diet dr. pepper and snickers. I just went over there and did it. I didn't even think about it. Woah. And then after that I simply stopped eating the moment I was satisfied. And I found myself ordering salads??? That definately was not me. I also then started jogging and running, and decided to train for the music city half marathon in nashville which I ran in 2 hours and 48 minutes I am proud to say! More on how I lost weight later, but to make a long story short, I now weight 225lbs. 75 total pounds lost.

So now I am a hypnotherapist and I see about 25-45 clients per week depending on the time of year, and everything continues to grow. It has been an amazing journey. And one of the most amazing journeys is how beneficial hypnosis is. People have been able to overcome things that they were struggling with their entire lives in as little as 3 sessions. I quickly realized how valuable and effective hypnosis was. And of course eventually that is why I decided to do hypnosis.

In some of the next emails I will send you, I will talk to you about different topics of hypnosis and how hypnosis helps for those things. Things I will touch on are Stop Smoking, Weight Loss, Anxiety, Confidence, and much more!

I look forward to getting to know you. Feel free to reply to my emails at any time and ask a question.



Benjamin DeFoor
Clinical Hypnotherapist
eHypnotherapy, 319 W McKnight Dr, Suite 8, Murfreesboro, TN 37129, USA

Hi there,

I found myself reading your story about how you became a hypnotherapist. I graduated college taking-up general Psychology but was not totally familiar about hypnosis (or maybe I was just not really attentive to the lesson... haha).

The line when you said "Why did Jesus always get away from everything and get by himself and pray?" caught my attention. I was like, 'yeah, I should have noticed that too'. Lately, I've been starting to practice reading the Bible at least half or an hour every night followed by a prayer and it really makes me feel good and I feel so secured. Honestly, that routine started to fade because of the holiday season's late evening events and all, plus a very discouraging news I got which made me lazy to keep it up. (Oh God, I'm so sorry!) I should get that routine back asap...

Going back to hypnosis, I think it's really helpful. Is the process somehow like yoga? wherein you would be like digging deeper into yourself and moving out stress away... You know, some people here in my place have been using hypnosis for bad intentions like hypnotizing other people for nasty scam. But, I know your's is totally not that kind of hypnotism and it's a good thing you have helped other people making their lives and relationships better.

Oh, and that unexpected pink-slip was definitely the sign!

Looking forward to hear other people's posts then... Happy new year to all once again!

_________________
Angelee Pogay
It's about "WHO" matters the most.

First, the "trance" ἔκστασις of Acts 10:10; 11:5 does not refer to a self-induced hypnotic state, but to a "bewildering" vision.

Second, Edgar Cayce did certainly claim to be a conservative Christian (and was a member of the Disciples of Christ), but also appears to have taught such things as transmigration of the soul (i.e., reincarnation) and astrology which are contradictory to sound biblical teaching.

Third, while you have written a personal record of this working for you, this really only means that pragmatically you have made changes. If something works...does that make it right? While there may be some benefits to be gained by such methods, are pragmatic concerns our only concerns as believers? I do appreciate your sharing here, but you have built a case for something that you appear to have determined to do one way or another.

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Favourite verse John 7:37-39

I was inclined to think the same way especially at the bottom part.. ..

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Angelee Pogay
It's about "WHO" matters the most.

I don't understand the statement "Feel free to reply to my emails". Anyway a trance isn't the same as hypnosis.

The original post was simply the text of a blast email that the person who started this thread pasted in.

At least he could have taken the time to rephrase it.

As a Moderator I'm leaving the post because of the discussion it has started.

Now, as a participant, I find much of this post dubious. I think that hypnosis is a valid modern therapuetic option for some cases when handled carefully and by a professional with the proper limitations. However comparing the trance mentioned in scripture to hypnosis is wrong IMHO. I haven't looked at the words in context carefully yet but I'm pretty sure this is not the intent of the passage.

Off the top of my head I don't recall any situation in scripture which points to the modern understanding of hypnosis. Does anyone else???

BLessings,
Randy

Nope.

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Ditto. My understanding is that it is making (hopefully) positive suggestions to a very relaxed subject. Does it help quit smoking? Maybe, in a supportive way. There is nothing dramatic or anything one may not get from positive imagary, tapes, etc.. No "big medicine."
IMHO

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Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,"
behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION" --
The apostle Paul, NASB

A local college does a hynotism event once a year. My wife talked me into going to it a few years back. I have to say I was amazed. For the first 20 min. I was in disbelief, I really thought it was staged. Then I noticed, I knew a few of the students that were picked out of the crowd.

It starts out: the speaker picks people out of the audience 10-20 of them. Then the speaker has them sit in chairs around the stage. He then has them stare at dim light while the speaker talks in a calm low voice (even some people in the crowd fell under hynotism.)
The things he would have them do was very comical. Act like a duck, get down on all fours and buck like a horse. They had them role playing, ex. one was a very strict cop who disliked laughter (he was a coworker at a grocery store I worked at, at the time.) He yelled at the audience everytime we would laugh. He got so mad at one time he started cussing, and the speaker had to erase his role as a cop. I was very suprised at what the speaker was able to do. He made some of the subjects forget thier names. He would even let them look at thier drivers license and immediatly after removing card from thier sight they still could not tell thier name back to speaker. He did this several times, drivers license/whats your name, drivers license/whats your name, and they still could not remember thier name.
I makes me wonder if hynotisms could be dangerous in the wrong hands. brainwashing and commiting crimes comes to mind.

all in all I would say it was a neat experience. looking back, I wonder if it could not be considered...possibly satanic, imo. I am really not to sure how to treat hynotism. It was almost unbelievible how much mind control the speaker had. It was like watching "puppets" perform on a stage, while the audience laughed away.

Well just look at the damage it did to shallow Hall! Tony Robbins should not be excused for such a deed

All jokes aside though, Tony your last couple of lines there sums it up in my view

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http://www.housechurchbrisbane.com/
Favourite verse John 7:37-39

What kind of college would lend it's name to mesmerism or stage hypnosis? Do you recall the name?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_hypnosis

Cheers

_________________
Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,"
behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION" --
The apostle Paul, NASB

Here are my reasons, needed time to put this together

There is not one person on this earth that I would subject my mind to; the bible clearly states that if we lack wisdom to ask of God, James 1:5-7 but to ask in faith without doubting. Further in 1 Cor 6:12, I acknowledge though this verse is relating to foods etc, the apostle Paul clearly states ‘I will not let anything control me like a slave’! Surely though with Gods gift of ability to reason this would be applied to hypnotism as it takes your mind as a slave.

We live in a world full of pitfalls and dangers far worse than any other time in my view. Col 2:4 tells us not to be deluded by persuasiveness of speech and Col 2:8 not to be spoilt by vein philosophy and deceit but to submit to Christ and walk in him Col 2:6 The bible also teaches us to use scripture for fixing what is wrong in our lives 2 Tim 3:16, it says nothing about giving our minds to another person to correct. I would suggest readers to do some thorough research into the origins of hypnotism (see foot note). 2 Cor 10:5 tells us to bring our thoughts into the captivity of the obedience of ‘Christ’ , if we take this verse into consideration with 1 Cor 6:12 then surely our minds are to become slaves to Christ and not to man.

This link was Googled and although not that familiar with this ministry I have come across them before and this particular article provides a very strong warning against hypnotism. http://www.bible-knowledge.com/dangers-of-hypnotism/

We are taught to renew our minds from the apostle Paul but this a self discipline and not implantings from another - Amp Version Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind[by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. This we need to do ourselves, not allowing another to take control as we have been set free and not to become a slave once again apart from to Christ

Joh 8:31-32 So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, "If you continue to accept and obey my teaching, you are really my followers. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Jesus is the Truth John 14:6 we are not to seek vein philosophies and spells of men, but to seek Jesus whom is the author and finisher of our faith Heb 12:2


Foot note - Source http://www.logosresourcepages.org/Occult/hypnosis.htm
(Note Googled and need to do further research into authenticity.)
The History of Hypnosis
You do not have to go very far back in researching hypnotism to see that it is associated with the occult. According to Dr. Cathy Burns, Ph.D. hypnotists themselves referred to hypnotism as seances as recently as 24 years ago.7 In fact, historically hypnosis has been viewed as part of the occult. Prevention magazine carried an article by Kerry Pechter that made that very clear. The article said, "like alchemy and astrology, the practice of hypnosis once belonged to the world of the occult."8 Another author went on to say, "Witchdoctors, Sufi practitioners, shamans, Hindus, Buddhists, and yogis have practiced hypnosis..."9 In India, Hindu conjurers call it Jar-phook according to an old book I have. It says, "The Jar-phook of Upper India [is] a system of treatment practiced by the Indian conjurors, or Jadoo-walla, by stroking and breathing on the limbs or body."10 But you don't have to go across the ocean to find hypnosis associated with the occult. In fact, "ritual hypnosis and dance were integral elements of shaman's communication with the spirits..."11 among the American Indians. A shaman is a medicine man. Both Sitting Bull (Tatankaya Iyotake) and Big Foot of the Sioux used hypnotism.
An honest researcher cannot deny the occult connection of hypnotism. Since that is true, Christians should not have anything to do with the practice. And upon what basis do I say this? Deuteronomy 18:10-12 for one --
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
Note the two emphasized words, "enchanter" and "charmer". According to cult/occult researcher Dave Hunt the ancient practice of enchanting and charming involved "exactly what has recently become acceptable in medicine and psychiatry [known] as hypnosis. I believe this both from the ancient usage of this word and from occult traditions.12 In light of this, hypnotism is unacceptable for believers to participate in.

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http://christianfindings.wordpress.com/
http://www.housechurchbrisbane.com/
Favourite verse John 7:37-39

haha yep. It is actually a private methodist collage. Lindsey Wilson College. I've heard, second hand, from the psychology teachers there that a person under hynotism would not do something they normally wouldn't do. example: one student would not dance when he was told to. but idk, I think with continual hynotism people could be sculpted. I don't think some of the people on the stage would normally act crazy in front of an audience.

Yeah I would agree wanelad, not to go with the flow of today. The things people are ok with today, would of been entirely differernt not to long ago.