Hypnotism and Spiritism

✔ Is hypnotism spiritism? Yes, for the one who submits to hypnotism is under the control and influence of another person. (Deut. 18:11) This controlling influence is apparently a human, but it puts its victim under a spell; it can lead to a hypnotized person’s producing spiritistic phenomena. For instance, the French psychologist Richet experimented with subjects whom he had previously hypnotized. He claimed that, while in this state, they were often able to identify playing cards even though they were enclosed within opaque envelopes. Thus a number of hypnotized persons have given evidence of ESP or extrasensory perception. A more recent series of tests was made by a British extrasensory perceiver, to see whether other persons could develop ESP. Writing in his autobiography Clock Without Hands, he said:

“I found that when I hypnotised some people they seemed to be able to ‘borrow’ my E.S.P. faculty. . . . Strangely enough I found I could get no E.S.P. myself . . . when I was actually conducting my experiments. . . . The results suggest that either I was able to transfer my E.S.P. ability to other people, or I was able to remove in them some barrier which repressed . . . psychic powers. . . . My own experiments seem to indicate that hypnotism may be a means of developing the psi faculty.”

The true Christian who is dedicated to God for the doing of his divine will will not surrender control of his power of reason and his will to another human, much less undergo the risk of allowing demon powers to move in on a hypnotized mind. No, the Christian does not seek ESP, and hypnotism’s link to such spiritistic practices further exposes it as something not for Christians.