Bible Hypnotism by F. D. Starr

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 24, 1900

Bible Hypnotism.

By F. D. Starr

F. D. Starr.

(Oakville, Ontario.)

The expression “Bible hypnotism” may seem like a very strange one; but it is not designed to convey the idea that anything like the modern belief and practice that are known by the name of hypnotism are of Bible origin. I wish rather to call attention to the derivation of the term.

Hypnotism is from the Greek term hypnos, the ordinary Greek word for sleep. Thus, for a person to be hypnotized would be for him simply to be put to sleep. The word hypnos very often occurs in the Septuagint, as well as in the original Greek of the New Testament.

Sleep is one of the most interesting and mysterious phenomena with which we are acquainted. And inasmuch as the Lord has chosen it as the most beautiful and appropriate illustration of death, it is no wonder that Satan, the great deceiver, usurper, and counterfeiter, should have utilized it to further his own cause, and to palm himself off as the great hypnotizer, having power over both sleep and death. The fact is, he has neither. God has both.

Satan, it is true, had the power of death, but he has not the power over death. God gives sleep. “I laid me down and slept, I awakened, for the Lord sustained me.” “He giveth his beloved sleep.” Ps. 3:5; 127:2. Death also is in his power. “I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Rev. 1:18.

It is interesting to notice some of the instances in which the term in question is used. The sleep that God caused to fall upon Adam, as recorded in Gen. 2:21, was merely hypnos, and while it might seem irreverent to say that Adam was hypnotized, yet if the great adversary had not, as it were, monopolized this expression, there would be nothing out of place in so stating the case. The same can be said of the record concerning Jacob’s experience, as given in Gen. 28:11–16. In 1 Sam. 26:12 Saul’s bodyguard are said to be in this same hypnotic (sleeping) condition. In Judges 16:20 Sampson is said to have been ex-hypnotized (if we may be allowed to coin a new word); that is, he awoke from the sleep into which Delilah had induced him to fall.

We might give many references, and increase the number of our illustrations, showing the use of this term in the Greek, but will not take the space for that, further than to say that the condition of Joseph, as stated in Matt. 1:24; of the disciples on the mount of transfiguration (Luke 9:32); of the young man who fell out of the window (Acts 20:9), was simply that of yielding to the influence of hypnos, nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep. They were in the natural hypnotic condition.

The beautiful manner in which Inspiration links this condition with that other which it so closely resembles is exquisitely stated in Ps. 13:3: “Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.” Here we have the hypnos of death. Our Saviour uses the same expression concerning Lazarus. John 11:11, 13. Here we have the term ex-hypnos, or rather ex-hypniseo, referring to the Saviour’s act in awaking Lazarus from this sleep of death.

The condition into which the finally impenitent will be left is stated in Jer. 51:39. To give the Greek expression, we would say that they will be hypnotized with an everlasting hypnos (sleep)—sleep an eternal sleep. The same is stated in Ps. 76:5: “They have slept their sleep.” This will indeed be a dead sleep, or the sleep of death.

It is in this condition of unconscious slumber that all the dead now are, and in which they will remain until he who only has the power to awaken the sleeper, shall, through the resurrection, call them to life again. This is the real hypnotic condition as revealed to us in the Scriptures. It is no marvel that Satan, transforming himself into an angel of light and life, should seek to make mortals believe that he has the power to awaken the dead, as claimed by the witch of Endor, and that the hypnotic spell is already broken from those who have passed into the realms of hades, and that he should thus seek to establish his claim by demonstrating through the alluring exploits of hypnotism (so called) that he has power to induce and terminate ordinary sleep.

What though he has apparent success? What though, in resisting Moses, “the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments”? Beware of the base counterfeit. Satan, as of old, seeks to steal the livery of heaven. Satan is the destroyer. Christ is the restorer. But if men will so willingly yield themselves to the agent of modern hypnotism, to have their bodies controlled as he may choose during their unconscious hours, then how cheerfully and confidently should the servants of God yield their bodies (Dan. 3:28) to him who can, with all the ease with which he called Lazarus out of his sleep (hypnos), call all the righteous out of their graves, and break their slumbers.

Of his power to do this, he gives us proof daily, in causing us to enjoy unconscious slumber, and awakening us morning by morning. The one is no more difficult for him than the other. This takes from death all its terror. Thank the Lord. That is what the gospel is for. Why will men be amused with the lying wonders of modern hypnotism, when they should be amazed at the mighty workings of him who raised the dead, as seen in their daily experience in sleeping and waking?

So what is intended by Bible hypnotism is the unconscious condition of the dead as set forth in the Scriptures. They sleep, are in a true hypnotic condition, in the dust of the earth. From this condition they shall not be awakened till the heavens pass away. Job 14:12. In this men do not believe. They believe rather in the conscious condition of the dead, who are in reality asleep; and they choose to believe in the human agent who claims for himself the power to hypnotize beings like himself, and awaken them at his will. But supposing he possesses this power to a very limited degree, what is that in comparison to the power of him who raises the dead, and brings them from their dusty beds? “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” John 5:25.

Here is the only power that can break the hypnotic condition, and rouse the slumberers from their sleep. Divinity only has resurrection power. Sometimes the church of God is found in a dead, or sleeping, condition. Under the preaching of the Word that church is aroused to life and activity again. How is the change regarded? Some one may say, This church was dead till So-and-so came here and resurrected it. Is that correct? As well may we say that Moses brought the water from the rock. Nothing but the power of God could do that. Nothing but the voice of the Son of God can awaken the dormant soul, whether he be sleeping in the church or in the tomb. Let us be careful that we do not attribute to poor weak mortals the power that belongs to God only, and thus imbibe the seductive teachings of modern hypnotism.