Perry, How fun! I love your stories; would like to hear more details. I think that hypnosis is based on either a demonic element, in which case we should not even get any closer to it than to verify that fact; or else the mind has some truly phenomenal areas that we don't even come CLOSE to comprehending! Or both. Either way, I've always been interested in knowing which (or both), but would rather err on the side of avoidance. It's kind of like playing with fire if you are unsure what's "in there".
Talk about ghost stories: the speaker, Ann, (and an acquaintance of mine) at our last quilt guild meeting was talking about an entirely different subject, until she opened the floor to questions. One of the women said, "Tell us one of the Main Street ghost stories." She was quite surprised at the question, but did comply. (Main Street is an historic street in St. Charles, near here where I grew up and where her quilt shop is located. Dates back to Lewis & Clark, and was the location of Missouri's first capitol.) So she told the story about "Annie", a 6 year old who had died in a fire in the building where her button shop used to be located. Annie took a liking to playing with a toy sewing machine that Ann used as a display in the front window of the shop. No matter how the display items were arranged around the sewing machine, the women working in the shop would find them all moved around by the next morning. It got so bad that she couldn't keep anyone to clean the shop after hours, things moved around so much. Ann said that one evening she placed a pattern in place on a shelf, turned around, and the pattern came up over her head and landed on the floor in front of her. Apparently Annie didn't want it there! St. Louis is so full of old houses and buildings, it is also full of ghost stories. I find them to be very entertaining. You can go on tours of some of the old beer baron's homes which are VERY haunted to this day. I won't go that far, because I do think that ghosts are very likely not just the dead souls of lost folks hanging around, but might well be demons. I'd really like to know if they are lost souls, because that means that the dead (or at least the lost dead) don't always go straight to their "eternal reward" What do you all think on TT? And we are definitely instructed in the Word not to try to contact the dead? But are there any good ghost stories out there? It's weird, but as I was typing this last paragraph, my computer did a very weird thing--time to go!!! Izzy -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Charles P. Locke Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 11:42 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] hypnotism Izzy, About 25 years ago I developed an interest in hypnosis. I read many books on it. I have been hypnotised and have hypnotized, and although there are some strange aspects to it, I was not convinced that it opens one up to evil spirits. I was not a believer at the time, so that aspect of it was not in the forefront of my experimentation. Neither me nor other participants ever appeared to be possessed, and none of it ever seemed "evil". I looked at it as just a strange phenomenon of the mind. I do not dabble in it any more (and haven't since about 1985). I have no reason to. In fact, when I first believed, all of my interests in that type of stuff disappeared. Once I found Christ, I no longer had any reason to seek anything else. Many other beliefs, attitudes, and interests I once held changed almost immediately, too, but that is another topic. The idea about demonic possession, I think, comes into play because many beleive that being in such an "altered state of consciousness" opens one up to demonic possession. It may open one up, but I think there is a lot more to it than that. I believe that one must be willing and dabbling in the occult, or inviting possession in some way in order for a possession to occur. I played with a Ouija board, too, when I was a kid. I never saw it move on it's own, but eventually began to think it was a trick to be manipulated, so used to push it around and impress my kid friends. In fact, my original Ouija board is still at my Mother's house. I debated selling it on eBay, but decided not to, because that might invite someone to begin to dabble in the occult. I also had a magic 8-ball, but never ever thought it gave anything other than random answers, and viewed it as the toy it was. Hey, what were we being taught in the 60's anyway? My mother bought both of these toys for me (not at my request, but as Christmas or birthday gifts. She thought they were just toys, too, not to be taken seriously. She was a believer, and the organist at church. They just weren't talking about those things in the Methodist church in the 60's. So, my bottom line is that playing with these toys is not inherently dangerous in itself if used with skepticism. But, if one is trying to use them as devices for truly contacting spirits, they just might get what they want! In fact, a close friend of mine in college (coincidentally, the son of a Lutheran minister), and an agnostic as I was in the 70's, told me a few years after college that he had transitioned from agnostic to Christian as a result of contacting spirits via the Ouija board. Not only is his story of contqacting spirits spooky, but his version of the spirit world was collaborated by a guy I heard on a radio talk show 8 years later (yet another topic for another night). Wow, not only does this bring back memories, but is almost like telling ghost stories around the campfire (one of my designated jobs when I was a cubscout den leader..."It was a dark and stormy night..."). Perry >From: "ShieldsFamily" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [TruthTalk] hypnotism >Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 22:52:58 -0600 > > > >Here's a NEW topic: I hope somebody even cares. I saw a program on TV >today >about a hypnotist, and it got me to wondering about it. I've read in the >past that hypnotism is a demonic thing and Christians should never do it, >etc. I wonder what really is the truth about it. It is truly spooky. Any >ideas? Izzy > _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
