Is Hypnosis Compatible with Christianity? (100th Live )

Is it okay for a Christian to be hypnotized? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question for the next 25 minutes or so at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch us on YouTube and email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Well, Adriel, today is a very special day.

Do you happen to know what it is? I do, Bill. Today is the 100th live broadcast of CORE Christianity. Amazing. Yeah, it is amazing. People didn't believe we could do it, but here we are, Bill. We've been doing it every day for, gosh, it seems like we just started not too long ago, but it's pretty amazing that we've already put in 100 episodes. And all the way through COVID, which is pretty amazing as well. I'm curious, do you have any special memories or particular shows that come to mind when you think about the last 100 episodes?

It's like asking, you know, which kid is your favorite? Every show, Bill, has been special, but there was that moment. Actually, there was a moment where live on the air, we lost you. Oh, yes. I know you remember this, Bill.

Oh, man. And so it was sort of interesting. I mean, I had to take over for a brief period while we didn't have you live with us, and I just felt the power surging through my veins. I mean, it was really kind of scary, actually. I was happy. I liked it. But then we got you back on, so that was really nice. Well, we had to rein you in because, yeah, we were getting a little big-headed there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we have so many great calls that come in, and we want to thank our wonderful donors who make this program possible. A lot of people don't realize this, but we're not supported by a church or denomination. We actually rely on people to make donations to keep the show on the air, and we have a special group of people called Our Inner Core. Yeah, no, we are very blessed by the members of the Inner Core and just really appreciate their support, their encouragement. It's a way for you to partner with us.

It's a $25 monthly donation. We send you all sorts of great resources, like this book, Core Christianity, right here, and we just know it will bless you. So if that's something you're interested in, yeah, sign up to be a part of the Inner Core.

Love to have you involved in that group. You can find out more at our website, corechristianity.com. I have one other question for you, though, as we think about the 100th live episode. Adriel, with all the calls that come in, and we get listeners from all over the country, actually all over the world, what's your impression of the type of questions we've been receiving? I honestly am just so amazed by the diversity of questions. We get just about everything from deep theological questions to Bible questions, you know, what does this passage of scripture mean, to practical, everyday living, Christian life questions. One thing I really love about our audience is I feel as though they're Berean. We've had a lot of occasions where people call us back, as you know, Bill, and they'll say, hey, you know, I was thinking about what you said yesterday or earlier this week in the broadcast, and I wanted to follow up on something in this passage of scripture. So I love that people are digging into the scriptures and that we're able to have this discussion together with our audience. Well, let's go to a call we have on the line. This is Jordan from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jordan, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Yeah, my question is this. So this is actually my second time being serious and giving God my own. The first time actually led to pretty traumatic things taking place in my life. Divorce, loss of a three month old nephew. So, you know, I kind of went through a downward spiral for a while.

Well, thank God I pulled out of it. And now here I sit again and, you know, I get back in the Bible, I begin doing things the right way that I feel are the right way and immediately, you know, I lose custody of my son, don't get to see my son anymore. Just things just continuously going bad. I don't understand why things continue to go bad every time that I continue to try to be good, to do the right thing.

Yeah, Jordan, well, I'm sorry to hear about the circumstances, the events that you've been going through. You know, of course, Jesus said to his disciples in John chapter 16, in this world, you will have tribulation. Committing to following Jesus does not mean that we're supposed to not experience bad things in this life.

Jesus, I mean, was very clear. I mean, just think, Jordan, about the disciples, the initial disciples of Jesus, the apostles. The majority of them were martyred. They lost everything.

They lost family, they lost friends, they lost wealth. And yet, the message of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, the hope of the resurrection of the dead was greater to them than everything that they lost. This is why Paul, in the book of Philippians, says, you know, like, I count those things as rubbish.

As he was reflecting on his life as a Hebrew, a Hebrew of Hebrews, he says, and thinking about, you know, all the accolades that he had received, and all of those things just sort of dissolving when he decided to follow Jesus, and now, you know, being hated by many of the people that he had once loved. And so, I think sometimes, the first thing I want to say, sometimes we can buy into the lie that if we commit to doing good, if we commit to following Jesus, then our life is really supposed to come together, and everything's supposed to be nice, and then we realize that that's not the case, and then we begin to question, well, God, you know, are you not keeping up your end of the bargain, that kind of a thing. But God never promises us, you know, that we're not going to have tribulation in this life. The fact of the matter is, Jesus said the opposite, but he said also in John chapter 16, but be of good heart, because I have overcome the world. This world, yes, there is sickness, there is death, there is disappointment, there is sorrow, there is sin, but Christ has overcome those things, and that's why we follow him.

That's why we commit to him, even when it's hard. Now, one other passage of scripture that I was thinking about as you were sharing there, Jordan, is what Peter says, this exhortation that Peter gives in 1 Peter chapter 4, beginning in verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Let no one suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler, and if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name, for it is time for the judgment to begin at the household of God, Peter said, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God. Now, one of the things that I think is so important there from what Peter says is he's writing to these Christians who are suffering, Jordan, and he says, Beloved, don't be surprised.

Don't think it's strange. Don't think that just because you committed to Jesus, everything in your life is supposed to come together. And so what you're experiencing, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're not supposed to follow Jesus. On the contrary, I would say, Jordan, continue to pursue the Lord. Continue to seek him, continue to grow in your relationship with Christ, not to turn back.

And this is what happens with a lot of people is they experience difficulty in life and they just say, I'm throwing in the towel. God, you didn't do for me what I was hoping you would do for me. And we can't have that attitude. We follow Jesus.

Why? Not because he gives us our best life now, you know, as it's sometimes promised by some preachers. We follow him because he's the true and the living God, the Lord of heaven and earth, the one in whom we have the forgiveness of sins and the hope of the resurrection.

Follow him, continue to follow him and to draw near to him. And Jordan, I hope also that you're a part of a good church. Do you have a body of Christians around you that is also able to support you and encourage you in this time, Jordan? I'm sorry, we lost you there. I do have a buddy here in Portland as a family life pastor at a church called Avalon Missionary Church, and he's a great friend.

Him and I had this conversation the other day and, you know, the last couple of days I've just been sitting back glowing on, you know, what, what is causing this? I know there's a lesson in it and even through it will not forsake nor walk away from the faith. It's just, I wish, you know, I wish I could figure out what the lesson truly is in all of it because it hasn't been a one time, just a one time occurrence and maybe that is the lesson.

Maybe the lesson is, you know, deal with, deal with the trials that come along and know that they are there to build and strengthen faith and they most certainly have, but it's still a rough situation. Hey, well, I definitely, one, appreciate your call and hope that we've encouraged you and I want to pray for you as well right now. So let's pray for Jordan. Heavenly Father, we lift Jordan up to you right now as he deals with all sorts of different things in his life, difficulties, struggles, disappointments, Lord. Oh God, would you be with him? Would you fill him with your Holy Spirit?

Would you, even when he feels like he can't hold on anymore, Lord, when he's frustrated, would you hold on to him? Jesus, I pray that through these trials, these difficulties that he's experiencing in life, that you would work in him and through him, that you would strengthen his faith, that you would strengthen his character, that as he commits to walking with you, Lord, that you would sanctify him day by day. And we know, God, that that is your will for us, our sanctification, that you hear our prayer when we pray for this. And so would you continue to sanctify my brother, grant him your peace, your presence and clarity of mind as he thinks about these things. Be with him, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Jordan, hang on the line if you would. We would love to send you a complimentary copy of our book, Core Christianity. You can give your address to our phone screeners there. We'll send that off to you in the mail ASAP.

You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, our phone lines are open right now. You've got about 15 minutes or so. So call in right now. Here's the number.

It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also leave a voicemail on that same number 24 hours a day. And here's a voicemail we received earlier this week. Hi, I was wondering if it's wrong to be hypnotized for any reason.

Thank you. Yeah, that's actually a question we haven't gotten on the broadcast before, Bill. But I think it's a really good question. You know, my experience with hypnotism, not personal experience, I went to the fair as a kid. I remember one time and there was a hypnotist there and he had all these people on the stage and he, I guess, had hypnotized them. I don't know if this was all a big show. It seemed like you just picked people from the crowd and they came up and were willing to be hypnotized. And it was a sort of strange thing, right?

Like they were, you know, he had them barking and running around and doing all sorts of crazy things. And I don't know if that was real. I do know that hypnosis is meant to put you in a very suggestive state. And in some instances, like that experience that I had, seeing this at the fair, it seems like people lose control. I guess one concern that I would have when we're talking about this is the Bible really treats self-control as a virtue, as a fruit of the Spirit. The apostle Paul talked about that in Galatians chapter 5 verse 23. He lists self-control as a fruit of the Spirit. Typically in the Bible, you know, things that inhibit us, our faculties, you know, we're called, you know, by Paul in Ephesians chapter 5, don't be drunk with wine.

Right? Why? Well, because you begin to lose control of your faculties. You can't serve and glorify the Lord like you ought to. You're no longer in control, but instead be filled with the Holy Spirit. In other words, be controlled by the Spirit.

The Spirit is the one who is to guide you, to lead you, to make the suggestions, if you will, to help you walk in godliness and in holiness. And so one concern that I have in terms of talking about this whole thing of hypnosis is putting yourself in a vulnerable position, in a position where you're highly open to suggestion. And maybe even where you lose control of your faculties. I think we have to be very careful with that.

And certainly it's something that you would never want to play with. And I think there are probably even some sort of New Agey occult type things where they use hypnosis. And those situations where they just steer clear 100%. I do know, and Bill, I want to pass the ball to you here, that hypnosis is sometimes used in therapy to help people, actually to help people, you know, have more self-control in some instances.

Isn't that right, Bill? Yeah, sometimes it'll be used for things like to help a person quit smoking or to stop drinking alcohol as an alcoholic or some other type of negative habit. And so I would say we have to be really careful, as you pointed out. First of all, if you're going to go to a psychotherapist that practices hypnosis, go to a Christian one, go to somebody who shares your faith. And you talked about self-control. If the hypnosis helps you to be more self-controlled, for example, to quit smoking, I think that can be a positive thing. But I was remembering, you know, First Peter 4.7 talks about being clear minded.

And that ties in really well, too. And that ties into whether we're using some kind of a substance or we're under hypnosis. God wants us to be clear minded and self-controlled in all that we do. So I think there is a danger there if it's used for the wrong purposes. Sometimes it can be used to help people deal with things like post-traumatic stress disorder and some, you know, person having recurring nightmares and whatnot. And in those cases, perhaps it could be helpful, but always go to somebody who's an expert in it.

And I'd say somebody who shares your values. That's great advice, Bill. Thank you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we would love to hear from you if you've got a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Again, the number 833-THE-CORE.

833-THE-CORE is the number. And one of the things we want to mention was summertime just around the corner. In fact, gosh, we're just a few days away from the official start of summer.

But we know a lot of kids are already out of school and maybe out of school for the next 10, 12 weeks or so. We've got something for families we want to tell you about. It's absolutely free, and it will help your family, help your kids start to memorize God's word. 10 verses to memorize as a family this summer.

That's the resource that we're offering you right now for free. And get on this because the summer, as Bill was just saying, it's already here, and so you're going to want to get a head start and start memorizing these verses with the family. Obviously, there aren't a lot of better things you can do than be in the Word together with your family and memorize Scripture, and so get ahold of this resource, 10 verses to memorize as a family this summer.

I remember when I was 16, the first verse I ever memorized was, Jesus wept. Yeah, I'm still working on that one, Bill. Okay, let us know if you'd like a copy of that free resource. Here's what you do. You go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers, and again it's called 10 verses to memorize as a family this summer.

You can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to David in Wichita, Kansas. David, what's your question for Pastor Adrian? Okay, Daniel chapter 9 talks about the abomination of desolation, and Jesus talked about it. Okay, so I understand the Antichrist will do it, but also, is there like a double fulfillment or what, because 70 AD and then an Assyrian king supposedly did it. Is there a double fulfillment or what?

What's your answer? Yeah, you know, David, great question, and so we're looking at the book of Daniel, this prophecy in Daniel chapter 9, as well as Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 24 verse 25, this language of the abomination of desolation. Sometimes in the prophets you do have these, what we might refer to as double fulfillments or dual reference where you have something kind of on the original horizon that spoke to those people there, a more immediate fulfillment, and then something later down the line.

There are a number of instances that have been pointed to here. You mentioned 70 AD. Even prior to that, in about 167 BC, you had Antiochus Epiphanes who set up this idolatrous statue in the temple. There was this terrible battle, and there are some people who have pointed to that instance as well. It seems to me like in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus is, he's referring to two things there actually. He's referring to the time of his second coming, and then also to the time of the destruction of the temple. If you go to the very beginning of Matthew chapter 24, there are these questions that the disciples are asking. It says in verse 1, Jesus left the temple and was going away, and when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple, he answered them, you see these things, do you not?

Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. Then as he said at the Mount of Olives, the disciples came up to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be, in other words, when is this temple going to be destroyed, and, so there are two things here, what will be the sign of your coming? You have these two things being addressed here in Matthew 24 as Jesus is responding. In particular, I think what he's highlighting there in terms of the temple and fleeing from Jerusalem is what was coming in 70 AD. Sometimes we look at Paul's writing to the Thessalonians, David, and we think there's also going to be this man of lawlessness in the future, this ultimate anti-Christ, if you will, prior to the second coming or near to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, we know John says in 1 John that the spirit of the anti-Christ is already at work in the world, that there are many anti-Christs out there, but there's one figure in particular that Paul seems to refer to in the book of Thessalonians. So I would say, yes, you do have these sort of anti-Christ figures throughout the history of the church that crop up and that are referred to at different places, in different places of the scriptures, and I think it's okay to see this here as there being more than one referent. Thank you for your question.

Thanks, David, appreciate you digging into God's word, and that's a great question. Let's go to Clint in Cherokee, Iowa. Hi, Clint, welcome to the program.

Hello. So essentially, in the Bible it says that we're supposed to look forward to our next life, but how do you handle that in depression? Like, how do you stop yourself from going too far to seek death instead of just looking forward to it?

Yeah, that's a good question, Clint. Thank you for giving us a call, and I'm turning right now in my Bible to the book of Philippians, and it's sort of this discussion that Paul is having with the Philippians and also with himself, and he says in Philippians 1, verse 19, For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but with full courage, now as is always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.

He says, I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. In other words, on account of you, Philippians, so that I can encourage you and serve you, and he goes on to say, Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. Now, Clint, the Bible does say that there is something stored up for the faithful, for those who are in Christ, that is beyond what we could ever imagine.

We couldn't think it up. God is so good. The new creation, being in the presence of the Lord, it's far better than anything else we've ever experienced in this world. And so that's something that we look forward to, but that, of course, is never something that we bring upon ourselves. God puts us here on this earth to serve him, and we ought to be able to say, like the apostle Paul said in Philippians 1 there, for to me to live is Christ. That is, as I live my life, I'm living it for Jesus, walking with Jesus, serving Jesus, and as I do that, there's great joy even here in this world. There's joy to be had in what? In pouring out our lives for others, in serving Christ, in walking with him, in knowing him, in fulfilling his word as he calls us to live. And so I think that we want to have that sort of heavenly mindedness. Sometimes people say you can be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good. No, the hope of heaven really should inspire us here on earth. The hope of the new creation should cause us to love one another better, to serve the Lord with all eagerness because of the fact that our sins are forgiven. And so it's not just sort of this world is miserable and horrible and, gosh, God doesn't have anything for me here.

I'm depressed about it. I can't wait just to leave this world and go and be with the Lord in heaven. No, while we're here on this earth, God has a purpose and a plan for us.

He has a purpose and a plan for you, Clint. And it's to know him and to glorify him and to grow in the grace and the knowledge of his son, Jesus. To be able to say, together with the apostle Paul and friends, this is something we all want to be able to say, we ought to be able to say, for to me to live is Christ. It's him in me and through me, bearing fruit, working, spreading the aroma of his presence, of his gospel to the people around me. That's what God calls us to, friends, and what a joy that is and can be in this world as we look forward to the world to come, the hope of everlasting life. Visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.