Perils of Hypnosis
323
How to Be Preserved From Deceptive Influences
[
Appeared in Notebook Leaflets, Christian Experience, No. 5
.]
Satan often finds a powerful agency for evil in the power which
one human mind is capable of exerting on another human mind. This
influence is so seductive that the person who is being molded by it is
often unconscious of its power. God has bidden me speak warning
against this evil, that His servants may not come under the deceptive
power of Satan. The enemy is a master worker, and if God’s people
are not constantly led by the Spirit of God, they will be snared and
taken.
For thousands of years Satan has been experimenting upon the
properties of the human mind, and he has learned to know it well. By
his subtle workings in these last days, he is linking the human mind
with his own, imbuing it with his thoughts; and he is doing this work
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in so deceptive a manner that those who accept his guidance know not
that they are being led by him at his will. The great deceiver hopes so
to confuse the minds of men and women, that none but his voice will
be heard.
When Christ revealed to Peter the time of trial and suffering that
was just before Him, and Peter replied, “Be it far from Thee, Lord:
this shall not be unto Thee” (
Matthew 16:22
), the Saviour commanded,
“Get thee behind me, Satan” (
Matthew 16:23
). Satan was speaking
through Peter, making him act the part of the tempter. Satan’s presence
was unsuspected by Peter, but Christ could detect the presence of the
deceiver, and in His rebuke to Peter He addressed the real foe.
On one occasion, speaking to the twelve, and referring to Judas,
Christ declared, “One of you is a devil” (
John 6:70
). Often in the days
of His earthly ministry the Saviour met His adversary in human form,
when Satan as an unclean spirit took possession of men. Satan takes
possession of the minds of men today. In my labors in the cause of
God, I have again and again met those who have been thus possessed,
and in the name of the Lord I have rebuked the evil spirit.
It is not by force that Satan takes possession of the human mind.
While men sleep, the enemy sows tares in the church. While men are
spiritually sleeping, the enemy accomplishes his work of iniquity. It
is when his subject “understandeth it not” (
Matthew 13:19
) that he