Summary
What Counterfeit
Revival leaders attribute to the anointing of God is far better
explained by the old and pervasive principles of hypnotism. Whether
referred to as hypnotists, Holy Ghost bartenders, or Hindu gurus,
today’s "mesmerists" all employ similar methods and obtain similar
results. Counterfeit Revival leaders work their subjects into altered
states of consciousness, manipulating them through peer pressure,
exploitation of expectations, and the subtle power of suggestion.
Ultimately, revival mesmerists convince their followers that reality
can be reduced to a personal experience of enlightenment, leading them
into severe spiritual deception.
In the 19th century itinerant "mesmerists" bedazzled the
common folk in American towns with their mysterious powers of
suggestion.
In a fascinating recollection of his teenage experiences with
such a mesmerist (c. 1850), American humorist Mark Twain describes
sitting on a platform with several other townspeople while the
mesmerist/magician attempted to entrance them. One of these local
citizens, a man named Hicks, succumbed dramatically and complied with
the mesmerist’s every suggestion. Twain, however, felt nothing. The
young Twain resented the attention and admiration the citizenry
lavished on Hicks for his antics on the stage. Twain recalls:
On the fourth
night temptation came and I was not strong enough to resist. When I had
gazed at the disk a while I pretended to be sleepy and began to nod.
Straightaway came the professor and made passes over my head and down
my body and legs and arms, finishing each pass with a snap of his
fingers in the air to discharge the surplus electricity; then he began
to "draw" me with the disk, holding it in his fingers and telling me I
could not take my eyes off it, try as I might; so I rose slowly, bent
and gazing, and followed that disk all over the place, just as I had
seen the others do. Then I was put through the other paces. Upon
suggestion I fled from snakes, passed buckets at a fire, became excited
over hot steamboat-races, made love to imaginary girls and kissed them,
fished from the platform and landed mud cats that outweighed me — and
so on, all the customary marvels. But not in the customary way. I was
cautious at first and watchful, being afraid the professor would
discover that I was an impostor and drive me from the platform in
disgrace; but as soon as I realized that I was not in danger, I set
myself the task of terminating Hicks’s usefulness as subject and of
usurping his place.1
Twain so succeeded at convincing
the audience that he was under the mesmerist’s spell that even 35 years
later, when he confessed his chicanery to his own mother, she refused
to believe him.
MESMERISM
TODAY
Today’s "mesmerists" operate not only in carnivals but also in
churches and communes. Whether they are referred to as hypnotists, Holy
Ghost bartenders,2 or Hindu gurus, the methods they employ
have much in common.
First, they all work their subjects into altered states of
consciousness. Second, each of them uses peer pressure to conform
followers to predictable patterns. Third, they depend heavily on
expectations. Fourth, the power of suggestion is pivotal to their
performance.
Cynics may write off the use of altered states of
consciousness, peer pressure, expectations, and the suggestions
of hypnotists, Holy Ghost Bartenders, and Hindu gurus as
sociopsychological manipulation. Christians, however, must comprehend
an even more significant threat — these manipulation techniques are
fertile soil for satanic and spiritual deception.
Such manipulation tactics pose a threat so significant that
I’ve developed the acronym A-P-E-S to facilitate remembering and
resisting them. The A represents Altered States of Consciousness;
the P, Peer Pressure; the E, Expectations; and the S, Suggestibility.
As the father of eight children, I have made countless trips
to the zoo. It’s always humorous to see my kids mimicking the movements
of the various mammals they encounter. It really gets hysterical when
we get to the apes. They are as likely to mimic my kids as my kids are
to mimic them! The apes "ape" the kids, the kids "ape" the apes, and my
wife, Kathy, and I end up breathless with laughter.
What is not particularly funny,
however, is that despite the peril, evangelical pastors and
parishioners worldwide are now "aping" the practices of pagan
spirituality. Before looking at the crisis this has caused within
Christianity, it is critical that we first gain a perspective on the
history of hypnotism.
THE HISTORY
OF HYPNOTISM
Back in the 18th century Franz Anton Mesmer
(1734-1815) — a Viennese physician who moved his practice to France —
caused people to laugh, fall into trances, and jerk spasmodically by
simply gesturing in their direction. Popularly referred to as "the
Wizard from Vienna," Mesmer, from whose name the word mesmerize
is derived, earned other appellations as well:
He has been
called the father of psychotherapy as well as of Christian Science, the
discoverer of hypnosis, the progenitor of clairvoyance, telepathy and
communication with the beyond; and he has been denigrated as a rogue, a
charlatan, an arrogant pursuer of social and monetary favor, a
meretricious magician. In his day it was asserted that he had sold his
soul to the devil. More subtly, he has been cast as a visionary who
unwittingly stumbled upon a discovery the value of which he was not
able to see.3
He promulgated the principle that a magnetic force emanated
from his hands, enabling him to direct the actions and thoughts of
subjects.
Even those who questioned Mesmer’s motives admitted that the
impact he had on patients was dramatic. Their convulsions were reported
as "extraordinary for their number, their duration, and their force."4
By simply pointing a finger dramatically in the direction of one
patient, "she moved convulsively as if in great pain and arched her
body from shoulders to feet into a rigid position until he released
her."5
Two royal commissions investigating "Mesmerism" in 1784
reported that the convulsions of Mesmer’s patients were "marked by
violent, involuntary movements of the limbs and the whole body, by
constriction of the throat, by throbbing in the chest and nausea in the
stomach, by rapid blinking and crossed eyes, by piercing cries, tears,
hiccups and uncontrollable laughter."6
Among the testimonials sent by Mesmer to the Royal Society of
Medicine was that of an army officer named Charles du Hussay, who
suffered from a number of physical symptoms such as fever, nervous
trembling, and partial paralysis. After being treated by Mesmer, he
wrote, "I know nothing of the means used by Dr. Mesmer. However I can
say in all candor that, without treating me with drugs or any other
remedy than what he calls animal magnetism, he caused me to feel
powerful sensations from head to foot."7 Charles du Hussay
went on to testify that after feeling the sensations of intense cold
that caused his body to feel as if it were turning to ice and heat that
caused him to sweat profusely, he was completely healed of his
infirmities.
Early in his career Mesmer maintained that he could heal
people by means of metal magnets. By 1775, however, his beliefs had
undergone a metamorphosis. He now maintained that his healing prowess
was the result of an indwelling force he referred to as "animal
magnetism." So convinced was Mesmer of the validity of his method that
he wanted to teach it to the clergy of his day. In countries such as
Germany, magnetism became so popular that by the early 19th century
Berlin physicians had erected a monument to Mesmer and theology
students were trained in the treatment of diseases through the use of
animal magnetism.8
In time the belief that certain people could exercise
influence over others by means of the indwelling force of animal
magnetism was largely discredited. Yet the manifestations that Mesmer
and his successors produced in their subjects could not be dispensed
with as easily. The manifestations came to be viewed, not as the result
of Mesmer’s magnetism, but as the result of mental manipulation.
The person most responsible for this shift in perspective from
mesmerism to modern hypnotism was an English doctor named James
Braid (1795-1860). The manifestations that Mesmer attributed to the
"doctrine of animal magnetism," Braid attributed to the "doctrine of
suggestion." The primary difference between Mesmer and Braid was one of
perspective. Mesmerists believed that through an indwelling force
called animal magnetism they could cause their subjects to experience
such manifestations as uncontrollable laughter and spasmodic jerking.
Hypnotists, on the other hand, believed that the manifestations
experienced by their subjects were not the results of a power residing
in the hypnotist, but rather the results of a heightened state of
suggestibility that a subject experienced while in a hypnotic trance.
Braid discovered that through mental manipulation he could
alter a patient’s perspective to such an extent that he was able to
perform surgical procedures that were virtually painless. By
deliberately inducing his subjects to fall into a sleeplike altered
state of consciousness, they became extraordinarily responsive to
suggestion. Braid termed this sleep state hypnosis.9
While Braid has been credited with coining the term
"hypnosis," the phenomenon itself can be traced to virtually every
culture, civilization, and century. As one writer observed, "It is as
common in Polynesia today as it was at the fortune-telling shrines of
ancient Greece and Rome."10
In recent history pseudo-Christian cults have seized on the
principles of hypnotism to advance their pernicious principles and
practices. J. Gordon Melton underscores this reality by correctly
associating mesmerism (hypnotism) with the mind science cults:
Mesmerism was
developed into a new healing system by Phineas Parkhurst Quimby
(1802-1866), a professional mesmerist who felt that many diseases could
be cured by suggestion and were therefore essentially illusory.
Eventually drawing the conclusion that all diseases are illusory,
Quimby in 1859 began teaching the system that he called Science of
Christ, Science of Health, and occasionally Christian Science.11
What has been commonplace in
cultic systems such as Christian Science is today becoming commonplace
in the Christian church as well. Like Gnostics in the second and third
century, many who claim the name of Christ are taking a trip beyond
Christianity into the world of the occult. Leaders of the Counterfeit
Revival are convincing them that reality can be reduced to a personal
experience of enlightenment — a transformation of consciousness that
will initiate them into "true spirituality."
ALTERED
STATES OF CONSCIOUNESS
As we move into an examination of the "A" in the acronym
A-P-E-S, we would do well to note the comments of Dr. Charles Tart, who
has been credited with coining the term "altered states of
consciousness" (ASC). Tart says during deep hypnosis "a transition to a
new state of consciousness" takes place, a state in which the
hypnotized subject’s identity "is potentiality, he’s aware of
everything and nothing, his mind is absolutely quiet, he’s out of time,
out of space."12
As we will see, leaders of the Counterfeit Revival use a wide
variety of techniques to work followers into altered states of
consciousness. One of the most disarming methods used is to sing one
song over and over until participants finally lose touch with reality.
Counterfeit Revival leader Rick Joyner confessed that at one
of his conferences participants sang one song "for over three hours."13
As a result, he said, "the gulf between heaven and earth had somehow
been bridged."14
Joyner reports that "when that one song finally ended, some of
the musicians were lying on the floor." Says Joyner,
I looked at
Christine Potter and Susy Wills, who were dancing near the center of
the stage and I have never seen such a look of terror on the faces of
anyone. An intense burning, like a nuclear fire that burns from the
inside out, seemed to be on the stage. Christine started pulling at her
clothes as if she were on fire, and Susy dove behind the drums. Then a
cloud appeared in the center of the stage, visible to everyone, and a
sweet smell like flowers filled the area.15
Leaders like Joyner see the human mind as a lower form of
consciousness. Thus, like Eastern gurus, they work their devotees into
altered states of consciousness. Joyner, in fact, says "experience is a
much better teacher than words."16
In stark contrast, Dr. Elizabeth Hillstrom warns that altered
states of consciousness can be an open invitation for demonic
deception:
Having
largely set aside their ability to think rationally and critically or
to exercise their will, they have become hypersuggestible, which means
that they are likely to accept any "spiritual truth" that enters their
minds. Even more remarkably, they seemed to be primed for mystical
experiences and may attach great spiritual significance to virtually
any event or thought, no matter how mundane or outlandish. Seeking
mystical experiences through altered states, as defined here, looks
like an open invitation for deception.17
Arnold Ludwig, writing in Tart’s Altered
States of Consciousness, confirms that when "a person enters or is
in an ASC, he often experiences fear of losing his grip on reality."18
A classic illustration is provided by best-selling neopagan author Lynn
Andrews. As she progressed into a trance state she believed she was
going insane: "I was terrified. I began to inhale great breaths of air,
gasping. I sobbed uncontrollably. I had finally done it — I had lost my
mind."19
Offending
the Mind
Whether in the ashrams of cultists or at the altars of
churches, the objective of achieving an altered state of consciousness
is always the same: to dull the critical thinking process because the
mind is seen as the obstacle to enlightenment. As John Wimber and John
Arnott put it, "God offends the mind to reveal the heart."20
Counterfeit Revival guru Rodney Howard-Browne explains that
"you can’t understand what God is doing in these meetings with an
analytical mind. The only way you’re going to understand what God is
doing is with your heart."21 Thus, while Howard-Browne
allows his subjects to make nonsensical sounds, he has often prohibited
them from praying. On one occasion, as a woman was about to lapse into
an altered state of consciousness, she became apprehensive and called
out to God in prayer. Immediately Howard-Browne commanded her to cease.
"Would you listen to me?" he shouted indignantly. "If your praying had
helped, it would’ve helped you; now get laughing."22
Even while people are lined up waiting to receive his touch,
Howard-Browne commands them not to pray: "Now people in the lines, wait
for me to come and lay hands on you, and don’t pray, please don’t
pray." He addresses those who insist on praying as "stubborn people,"
adding, "People come trying to be all serious and praying. No! This is
not the time to pray. This is not a prayer meeting; get in the joy; you
can pray on the way home."23
Like Rodney Howard-Browne and
leaders of the Counterfeit Revival, the late Indian guru Bhagwan Shree
Rajneesh denigrated the mind, going so far as to say that the "goal is
to create a new man, one who is happily mindless."24
Rajneesh’s experiences "on the road to enlightenment produced temporary
insanity, possession, and almost killed him."25
Dynamic
Meditation
Rajneesh’s prescription for attaining this new consciousness
was a process referred to as "dynamic meditation," which was used to
subjugate the critical faculties of idealistic devotees to the will of
the "Master." They chanted mindlessly in unison until the hushed
moaning of their mantras filled the ashram. Sanskrit songs of praise
were sung to the accompaniment of rhythmic clapping. At the subtle
suggestions of the "Master," they engaged in repetitive physical
motions to complete the process of becoming mindless. Some jumped up
and down furiously and chopped their hands frantically through the air.
Others threw their heads backward and forward violently and bent wildly
at the waist. Alternately they laughed and sobbed uncontrollably. Their
frenzied behavior produced a mind-altering form of hyperventilation
that dulled their critical thinking processes and emptied their minds
of coherent thought. In the end they personified Rajneesh’s rendition
of the "mindless man."
As shocking as it may seem, what was once relegated to the
ashrams of cults is now replicated at the altars of churches. In the
ashrams of the cults there is no pretense. Despite such dangers as
spirit possession or insanity, Hindu gurus openly encourage trance
states through which devotees tap into occult realms and discover their
"higher selves." Whether they experience involuntary movements or
encounter illusory monsters, all is written off as progress on the road
to enlightenment.
When Jack Kornfield, a Western psychologist seeking Eastern
enlightenment, suddenly and involuntarily began flapping his arms like
chicken’s wings for two solid days, he was simply instructed to
contemplate his experience.26 When followers of the
Counterfeit Revival have even more bizarre experiences, they are
seduced into believing that they have simply overdosed on the Holy
Ghost.
What Eastern gurus like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh characterize as
a trance state, Holy Ghost bartenders like Rodney Howard-Browne
characterize as being "drunk in the Spirit." John Arnott is even more
crass. He calls it being "marinated in the Holy Spirit."27
Southern Baptist pastor Bill
Ligon claims that God is directly responsible for this condition of
"spiritual drunkenness." According to Ligon, God told him, "I have to
get My people drunk in My Spirit because they have been drunk on the
world. Their minds have been polluted, they feed their doubts — there
is no confidence in Me and My power. I have to get them so drunk that I
can change their thoughts and their attitudes."28
Striking
Parallels
When I first visited the Anaheim Vineyard, the drunken
behavior of devotees instantly reminded me of Rajneesh’s ashram. The
late John Wimber’s daughter, Stephanie, stood at the altar, testifying
that the power of God was upon her as she jerked spasmodically in what
her father referred to as a chicken walk. It wasn’t long before others
had joined her in jerking while rhythmic clapping and repetitive
choruses filled the auditorium with sound.
Before the evening had ended, the crowd was engaged in the
same practices Rajneesh devotees used to achieve their altered states
of consciousness. Some were jumping up and down furiously, chopping
their hands frantically through the air. Others were violently throwing
their heads backward and forward and bending wildly at the waist. One
woman looked as though an invisible hand had grabbed her and was
shaking her as if she were little more than a rag doll. All the while,
sardonic laughter punctuated by animal noises rose eerily from the
bodies writhing on the ground.
Later, when I visited the Airport Vineyard in Toronto (now the
Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship), the sights and sounds I
experienced were even more shocking. One of the participants was in
such a profound altered state of consciousness that even when people
tripped over him on the way to the restroom, he remained oblivious.
Counterfeit Revival leader John Arnott says people are acting
"like lions and oxen and eagles and even warriors."29 Arnott
admits that these experiences deeply frighten people, but maintains
they are divine rather than demonic. The problem, according to Arnott,
is that we have been conditioned to believe "that the Holy Spirit’s a
gentleman" who would never do anything "rough or impolite." That, says
Arnott, is simply "not true!"30
Counterfeit Revival leader Wes Campbell recalls that during a
Wimber Vineyard conference a man named David was merely playing the
piano when suddenly "he was seized by the Spirit like a rag doll and
just shaken and bounced like a jackhammer, violently...and then he was
thrown to the ground, just thrown to the ground...his glasses were
knocked off, his nose was pushed to the side, his ears pinned...."31
Campbell says this encounter was so violent that David had to
be taken to a back room to be checked for demons.32 During a
subsequent meeting, David again was supposedly decked by the divine:
"Next thing this big — it’s like the fist of God just comes right down
on his head and goes bang! right on his head. I saw his whole head just
snap...."33
When God suddenly seized
Campbell’s wife, he was so scared that he started screaming. For the
first six months, Campbell says, "I was scared to go home with her at
night!...the slightest thing would set her off."34 The
behavior of the Holy Spirit was so out of control that, as Campbell
puts it, "we didn’t want to let Him out of the back room."35
Center Stage
Today what was once relegated to the "back room" is center
stage in the Counterfeit Revival. Thousands testify to "getting drunk"
and personally experiencing powerful psychological and physical
manifestations. These experiences are so "real" that many key
evangelical Christian leaders are convinced that they cannot be
explained apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.
Tragically, many of these leaders are dangerously ignorant of
the striking parallels between their experiences and those of Eastern
meditators who achieve altered states of consciousness through occult
practices. As has been well documented from studies of the world of the
occult, the dangerous effects may involve depression, detachment,
depersonalization, disillusionment, and many equally serious disorders.
In addition to pain, meditators may sense energy flows
coursing through their bodies, or feel tingling, tickling, itching, or
vibration on their skin. These sensations usually begin in the feet or
pelvic area and move up the back and neck to the crown of the head,
then down across the face and abdomen.
Meditators
may experience extreme heat or cold, and find their bodies making
strange involuntary movements — muscle twitches, prolonged trembling or
sinuous writhing....The automatic movements of the body may be
accompanied by spontaneous crying, laughing, screaming or whistling.
Other common involuntary behaviors include speaking in tongues,
chanting unknown songs and making a variety of animal sounds and
movements.36
In addition to these physical manifestations, Dr. Elizabeth
Hillstrom warns of profound psychological disturbances as well:
Emotions
swing wildly from ecstasy, bliss and peace to intense fear, depression,
anxiety and anger. Thoughts become strange and irrational, and
experiencers may slip into dissociative or prolonged trance states.
They may feel very alienated and confused, and often seem to be
watching the things that are happening to them as if they were outside
observers. Not surprisingly, experiencers often fear that they are
losing their minds.37
God is not obligated to protect
people from the consequences of unbiblical behavior. Whether someone
works himself or herself into an altered state of consciousness in a
cult or in the church, the destructive effects are the same.
Nonetheless, Counterfeit Revival leaders like John Arnott have been
unwilling to reconsider their destructive doctrines and practices.
Instead, they have become masters at employing peer pressure to
maintain their current following as well as to attract new followers.
THE
PREDICTABLE PATTERNS OF PEER PRESSURE
Peer pressure is such a powerful force that even the threat of
physical or psychological pain does not always prove to be a sufficient
deterrent. Moreover, many who fall prey to the Counterfeit Revival are
not moved in the least when its deceptions are exposed. The peer
pressure that caused them to participate in the first place often keeps
them from acknowledging that they were willing participants in a
spiritual lie.
A well-known charismatic leader participated in a Benny Hinn
television extravaganza. Hinn was "slaying" his subjects "in the
Spirit" when suddenly he moved in this man’s direction. Hinn stretched
forth his hand and shouted, "In the mighty name of Jesus!" Immediately
the man fell backward into the hands of a designated "catcher."
Later the man confessed that his experience had nothing to do
with the power of God. Peer pressure had caused him to fake his fall.
Revealingly, when he asked a cameraman to edit out the faked fall, the
cameraman merely chuckled and told him it was common for people to fake
it.
Like Hinn, leaders of the Counterfeit Revival use peer
pressure to conform their prospects to predictable patterns. They urge
them to follow the crowd rather than considering the consequences. John
Arnott, for example, tells his prospects that the greatest deception is
not false doctrine but being among those who fail to recognize a move
of God. In the United Kingdom he told followers,
If you’re
going to be concerned about deception, then please be concerned about
the greatest deception that there is, and the greatest deception of
all, in my opinion, is not to fall for teachings of a false prophet or
fall for some, you know, wild goose chase of a rabbit trail out there
or whatever and wake up in ten years that you’ve been deceived. In my
opinion the greatest deception of all is to have a move of God come
through and you not recognize it.38
The Power of Peer Pressure
Arnott and his associates have carefully crafted their worship
services to enhance the likelihood that Christians will cave in to the
power of peer pressure. They kick off their meetings with the
testimonies of those who allegedly once feared deception but now
embrace the exotic experiences of the Counterfeit Revival as a genuine
move of God. The "time of testimony" is followed by a "time of
teaching" designed to further pressure people to work themselves into
an altered state of consciousness. The grand finale is a "time of
ministry" in which virtually anything goes. The peer pressure to
participate during the ministry time is so potent that even otherwise
discerning Christians often end up casting caution to the wind.
During the "time of testimony," pastors and participants
routinely testify that once they were blinded by the devil but now
their eyes have been opened. Once they doubted that God could be
involved in such bizarre manifestations as believers pawing the ground
like an angry bull, but now they "know" experientially that God often
moves in mysterious ways.
Often, as the initiated give their testimonies, they model the
effects of the manifestations. Recall that while Stephanie Wimber was
testifying to the power of God upon her life, she was bending violently
at the waist. It wasn’t long before people in the pews were mimicking
her strange behavior.
Stephanie Wimber’s testimony gave way to a time of teaching.
As she walked back to her seat (still bending at the waist), a Vineyard
pastor began reciting his rendition of Paul’s experience on the road to
Damascus. He hammered home the notion that there were two categories of
believers: the initiated and the uninitiated. Before God knocked Paul
off his horse, he was an uninitiated Pharisee. Thereafter he joined the
ranks of those who had experienced the power of God firsthand.
The pastor’s message was cleverly designed to pressure people
into becoming initiated like the great apostle Paul, rather than
remaining uninitiated like the apostate Pharisees. The "time of
testimony" and the "time of teaching" place enormous peer pressure on
people to participate during the "time of ministry."
Leaders of the Counterfeit Revival seem well aware that people
in crowds are prone to believe that the behavior of their peers is a
standard that should not be questioned. They further reinforce this
proclivity by intimating that to resist these manifestations is
tantamount to resisting the Holy Spirit.
According to Larry Randolph,
speaking at the Toronto Airport Vineyard, "the neutral ground is
dissipating by the hour. You can’t stand in the middle anymore and say,
‘Well I don’t know. Maybe it’s God, maybe it’s not.’ You’re going to
get rolled over."39 In Randolph’s estimation, the song the
Holy Spirit is now singing is, "I’m a Steam Roller, Baby. And I’m Going
to Roll Right over You."40
THE
EXPLOITATION OF EXPECTATIONS
As proficient as leaders of the Counterfeit Revival are in
using peer pressure as a means of psychological manipulation, they are
equally expert in elevating the expectations of followers. Subjects are
systematically programmed to believe they are poised to take over the
sociopolitical systems of society.
According to Arnott, God is about to exact vengeance on His
adversaries and restore the church to its proper place. "Wouldn’t it be
wonderful," he muses, "if the Lord would start to move in power and
restore the church to its proper place and make us the head and not the
tail?"41
Counterfeit Revival leader Bob Jones suggests that the star
status of the leaders of this endtime church will be even greater than
that of the apostle Paul. Despite the fact that Paul, under divine
inspiration, penned two-thirds of the New Testament epistles, Jones
tells devotees, "Paul will be more anxious to talk to the endtime
apostles and prophets than the endtime apostles and prophets will be to
talk to Paul, because what the prophets of this generation will do will
be far greater than what he had done. The saints in the New Testament
will wait in line to greet the apostles of this generation."42
Subjects are led to believe that if they enlist in "Joel’s
endtime army" these promises will become living reality. Paul Cain
claims that this army will be so potent and powerful that "no demon, no
man system, no enemy will stop them or hinder or resist them."43
Cain elevates expectations to a fever pitch. He assures
devotees that they will be "invincible"; that God is offering them a
"greater privilege than was ever offered to any people of any
generation at any time from Adam clear down through the end of the
millennium"; and that they are "gonna have more than just a little
omnipotent surge — you’re gonna behold that glory and become that
glory."44
What Cain prophesied as the
"greatest revival of all times,"45 Randy Clark claims is now
reality. He tells credulous Christians that "people are being raised
from the dead and temples [are] being hit by lightning or fireballs and
knocked off their things [sic]. It’s all over. Germany and Africa. It’s
everywhere. God’s doing it."46
More
"Evangelastic" Stories
Clark and Cain are not alone in circulating "evangelastic"
stories. Rick Joyner, for example, elevates expectations by telling the
faithful that "an eight foot by ten to twelve foot size mist" suddenly
appeared in one of their meetings. He claims that this experience was
so vivid that one of the women present, Christine Potter, not only saw
"this cloud of the Lord" but also felt "an intense heat, as though her
clothes were on fire." According to Joyner, Christine was so hot it
"looked like she was trying to remove her clothes in order to escape
being burned."47
The evangelastic stories used to enhance the expectations of
believers are now becoming so bizarre that it is a wonder that anyone
still takes them seriously. Charisma magazine, for example, has
circulated a story titled "‘Holy Water’ Triggers Healing Revival."48
Followers of the Counterfeit Revival were told that plain old bottled
water, when "blessed" by a charismatic bishop, was suddenly transformed
into "miracle water."49 Those who drank this miracle water
not only were so mightily touched that they "fell down under the power
of God," but also were miraculously healed of such ailments as "cancer,
tumors and heart disease." Millions are reportedly hearing about the
miracle water from secular sources. Among them are "prominent
politicians, celebrities and doctors," all attempting to acquire some
of the miracle agua for themselves.
Leaders of the Counterfeit Revival seem to bank on the fact
that expectations aroused by stories such as Charisma’s
"miracle water" or Clark’s "resurrections" can give birth to a broad
range of mystical experiences. When they "slay" subjects "in the
spirit," they apparently understand that the expectations of their
followers will give birth to the experience itself.
By way of illustration, almost
everyone reading these words can successfully navigate the length of a
common wooden plank resting on the ground. Suspend that same wooden
plank between the twin spires of a cathedral and you have an entirely
different proposition. The fact that you are now suspended hundreds of
feet in the air naturally introduces the anticipation of a possible
fall. The notion of falling easily gives rise to the fall itself.
Creating a
Miracle
Another classic case of expectations giving birth to
experiences can be found in the story of a young Bronx boy named Joseph
Vitolo. In his book, The Story of Hypnosis, Robert W. Marks
recounts that in 1945 nine-year-old Joseph was kneeling on a rock in an
empty lot when he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary. Mary promised Joseph
that she would appear on successive nights and that a miraculous spring
would emerge from the ground on the night of her last appearance.
Following the announcement, crowds trekked to the site of the
alleged vision. On one night 25,000 people surged to the scene with
flowers, candles, and statues of saints. It was automatically assumed
that Joseph had a special anointing. Thus a steady stream of cripples
were brought to Joseph so that he would lay hands on them.
While Joseph was not able to accomplish anything out of the
ordinary, the expectations of the crowd were such that they began to
create their own "miracles." On one of the nights a light rain began to
fall and a woman screamed, "It’s pouring, yet Joseph doesn’t get wet."
Despite the fact that news reporters standing near Joseph observed that
he was as soaked as anyone else, the expectation of the miraculous
created the illusion.
Another woman claimed she saw an apparition in white
materialize behind Joseph. In reality the apparition was nothing more
than another woman protectively covered with a white raincoat.
Marks points out that the
expectations of the crowd were such that "if imagination and hysterical
contagion had been left to do their hallucinatory work, the crowd would
have created its own miracle. And it is highly probable that Joseph
could have produced some real ‘cures’ and real ‘visions’ if the
hypnotic effects of the situation could have progressed far enough."50
The expectations of the crowd had been heightened to such an extent
that, as Marks says, they were "no more capable of resisting the proper
hypnotic suggestion than Pavlov’s dog was capable of resisting the
stimulus to salivate."51
THE SUBTLE
POWER OF SUGGESTION
The power of suggestion is incredibly potent. In an altered
state of consciousness, this power is significantly magnified as people
become hypersuggestible. Add to this potion peer pressure plus enhanced
expectations, and people become willing to accept virtually anything
that enters their minds.
Remember Twain? He was virtually
boiled to death in his own bile as he watched Hicks "scamper and jump
when Simmons the enchanter exclaimed, ‘See the snake! See the snake!’
And hear him say, ‘My, how beautiful!’ in response to the suggestion
that he was observing a splendid sunset." Whether the suggestion came
from Simmons or the subject himself (autosuggestion), the result
powerfully enhanced the performance of "the professor."
Hypersuggestibility
First, it should be noted that
some people are far more suggestible than others. Statistically, "one
out of twelve Americans is susceptible to creating a memory out of thin
air, then believing it."52 Such fantasy-proneness has been
identified as the "Grade Five Syndrome."53 While Grade Five
personalities are generally very intuitive and intelligent, they also
have vivid, visual imaginations. Thus they are highly susceptible to
the power of suggestion. To begin with, they are very trusting. Second,
they desire to please (particularly an authority figure). Third, they
have the capacity to accept contradictory experiences. Fourth, they
have a marked propensity for affiliation with new or unusual events.
Fifth, they are apt to relate everything they experience to their own
self-perception.54 This complex of characteristics makes
Grade Fives particularly susceptible to spiritual fantasies, "psychic
and out-of-body experiences, and the occasional difficulty in
differentiating fantasized events and persons from nonfantasized ones."55
Subtle
Suggestions
Furthermore, the subtle power of suggestion can be brought to
bear on an individual either directly or indirectly. An example of the
direct approach is Rodney Howard-Browne’s now famous phrase, "Fill,
Fill, Fill! Let it bubble out your belly!" or John Arnott’s mantra,
"More, Lord! More, Lord!" (Arnott says, "I know how to say ‘More,
Lord!’ in about fifty languages now."56)
Indirect suggestions are far more subtle. They can involve
"embedded suggestions and commands, paraverbal shifts of tone, voice
directionality, enunciation, syntax, and pacing; the use of truisms,
binds, double binds, and other semantic variations."57
I have attended and analyzed
Counterfeit Revival meetings with "performance professionals,"
including a stage hypnotist and an expert on
sleight-of-hand/sleight-of-mind. They were readily able to identify
numerous instances of these indirect suggestion techniques. They also
pointed out that these techniques are not typically learned by formal
instruction, but rather by frequent imitation. For example, Kathryn
Kuhl-man studied Aimee Semple McPherson; Benny Hinn studied Kathryn
Kuhlman; and someone today is no doubt studying Benny Hinn!
Crowd
Dynamics
Finally, as underscored by Robert Marks, "people in crowds are
more easily influenced than people taken singly. This fact has been
capitalized on by stage hypnotists as well as evangelists, political
orators, and dictators."58 In fact, as Marks points out,
"the effect of suggestion on crowds seems virtually without limit. It
can make black appear white. It can obscure realities, enshrine
absurdities, and impel men pitilessly to cleave the skulls of their
brothers."59
While epidemics of sardonic laughter, sneezing, and even
suicide can appear to be spontaneous, in reality they are often the
result of subtle stimuli and suggestions. As noted by Charles Baudouin,
"In the sphere of movement, suggestion by imitation is common.
Immoderate laughter readily spreads through a crowd; yawning is
contagious."60 Once epidemic suggestion contaminates a
movement, human beings can "behave like beasts or idiots and be proud
of it."61 No one "is immune to the force of mass suggestion.
Once an epidemic of hysteria is in full force it strikes intellectuals
as well as morons, rich and poor alike. Its wellsprings are
subconscious and biological, not rational."62
When Rick Joyner’s devotees sensed "nuclear fire," saw a
glorious "cloud," and smelled the "fragrance of flowers," they may not
have been aware that singing one song over and over for three hours had
caused them to become hypersuggestible. That, however, does not alter
the facts. The three-hour repetition of a spiritual song, being slain
in the spirit, or even a spiritualistic seance have at least one thing
in common — they all involve subjects becoming extremely susceptible to
spontaneous suggestions. Charles Baudouin concludes that "in the first
place, a condition of mental relaxation is imposed upon the
participants. Secondly, an emotional state is invariably aroused by
approximation to the mysterious. Thirdly, there exists an expectation
that remarkable things will happen."63
Leaders of the Counterfeit Revival capitalize on these
expectations to create the illusion that they are endowed with
supernatural powers. Rodney Howard-Browne dupes devotees into
visualizing that his fingertips come off and a full volume of anointing
flows from his hands; John Wimber conditioned constituents to believe a
spiritual power emanated from his hands like electricity; and Franz
Anton Mesmer promulgated the principle that a magnetic force pulsated
from his hands.
What leaders of the Counterfeit
Revival attribute to a dose of the anointing and Mesmer ascribed to the
doctrine of animal magnetism, James Braid candidly acknowledged to be
the dynamic of suggestion. Pagan religions and pseudo-Christian cults
have long capitalized on the power of suggestion to promote their
practices. Counterfeit Revival leaders have followed in their train.
Psychosomatic
Symptoms and Sickness
Dr. William A. Nolen, Chief of Surgery at Meeker County
Hospital in Minnesota, has spent many years investigating claims of
supernatural healing here and abroad. He concludes that "when
evangelical healers dramatically call on God to transmit His power
through them to cure their patients’ diseases, they are using the power
of suggestion in the hope that it will so affect the patient’s
malfunctioning autonomic nervous system [the system that regulates such
functions as digestion, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.] that the
disease or symptoms caused by the derangement of that system will be
cured."64
Like hypnotists and Hindu gurus, these "healers" use the power
of suggestion to create placebos for psychosomatic symptoms and
sickness. In truth, however, there is nothing supernatural about this
kind of healing. Hinn and Howard-Browne can "heal" asthma, allergies,
and arthritis, but then, so can mesmerists and medicine men.
The difference between the "magic" of mental manipulations and
genuine miracles is dramatic. Christian apologist Dr. Norman L. Geisler
has pointed out that when Jesus and the apostles healed people, the
miracles were always one hundred percent successful and immediate, and
there were no relapses:
God never
performed a miracle "slowly" nor did an "80 percent" healing. Biblical
miracles were 100 percent and immediate. In the case of the few
immediate cures in the contemporary signs and wonders movement, most
are clearly of the psychosomatic type and none are immediate healings
of incurable diseases. There is nothing supernatural about these kinds
of cures.
Such cures
are done regularly by Hindu gurus and by many other false religions and
cults. Even non-Christian doctors and counselors witness these kinds of
cures in their patients. Both spontaneous remission and psychosomatic
cures of the same nature as these "signs and wonders" occur apart from
any pretense to the supernatural.65
While leaders of the Counterfeit Revival can create the
illusion of "lengthening" legs, they can’t recreate an amputated limb;
while they can create the illusion of slaying subjects in the spirit,
they can’t resurrect the slain; and while they can create the illusion
that someone’s vision has been restored, they can’t replace a missing
orb. In the end they create only disillusionment and self-deception.
The power of the Spirit creates life and limb. The power of suggestion
only creates a lamentable lie.
After Mark Twain failed to
convince his mother of his con, he was left to contemplate how easy it
had been to make someone "believe a lie and how hard it is to undo that
work again." By God’s grace, we will be empowered to undo what Twain
could not.
NOTES
1The entire account is found in Bernard DeVoto,
ed., Mark Twain in Euroption (New York: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1922), 118–29.
2Rodney Howard-Browne and others claim to be
dispensing the "new wine" of the Spirit.
3James Wyckoff, Franz Anton Mesmer (Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975), vii.
4Vincent Buranelli, The Wizard from Vienna
(New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1975), 110.
5Ibid., 65.
6Ibid., 110.
7Ibid., 110-11.
8Albert Moll, Hypnotism (New York: DaCapo
Press, 1982), 11.
9Ibid., 14-15.
10Robert W. Marks, The Story of Hypnotism (New
York: Prentice-Hall, 1947), 152.
11J. Gordon Melton, Jerome Clark, and Aidan A. Kelly,
"New Age Almanac," as quoted in John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Encyclopedia
of New Age Beliefs (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1996),
322. Mary Baker Eddy, once a patient of Quimby, took his system,
modified it with her own ideas, and developed the Church of Christ,
Scientist, commonly known as the Christian Science Church, one of the
best known of the mind science cults.
12Charles T. Tart, "Transpersonal Potentialities of
Deep Hypnosis," Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 1 (1970):
37.
13Rick Joyner, "The Heart of David: Worship and
Warfare," Conference Report, April 1996; audiotape transcript.
14Ibid.
15Ibid.
16Ibid.
17Elizabeth L. Hillstrom, Testing the Spirits
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 79.
18Arnold M. Ludwig, "Altered States of Consciousness,"
in Altered States of Consciousness, ed. Charles Tart (Garden
City, NY: Doubleday/Anchor, 1972), 16.
19Lynn Andrews, as quoted by Ankerberg and Weldon, 23.
20John Arnott, The Father’s Blessing (Orlando:
Creation House, 1995), 182; also John Arnott, "Go for the Kingdom,"
Toronto Airport Vineyard, audiotape transcript; John Arnott,
"Understanding and Responding to Moves of God Conference," Calgary
Family Church and Downtown Full Gospel Church, 25 April 1996; audiotape
transcript.
21Larry Thomas, No Laughing Matter (Excelsior
Springs, MO: Double Crown Publishing, 1995), 48.
22Rodney Howard-Browne, Carpenter’s Home Church,
Lakeland, FL, 9 March 1993; audiotape transcript.
23Ibid.
24Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, quoted in Fear Is the
Master (Hemet, CA: Jeremiah Films, 1986); videotape.
25Ankerberg and Weldon, 21.
26Hillstrom, 120-21.
27Arnott, Father’s Blessing, 96, 167.
28Mona Johnian, The Fresh Anointing (South
Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Publishing, 1994), 129-30.
29John Arnott and Guy Chevreau, "Pastor’s Meeting,"
Toronto Airport Vineyard, 19 October 1994; audiotape transcript.
30John Arnott, Discovery Church, Orlando, FL, 29
January 1995; audiotape transcript.
31Wes Campbell, "Spiritual and Physical Manifestations
of the Holy Spirit," Toronto Airport Vineyard, 15 October 1994;
audiotape transcript.
32Ibid.
33Ibid.
34Ibid.
35Ibid.
36Hillstrom, 122.
37Ibid.
38John Arnott, "Catch the Fire," Midland and Wales,
U.K., 2 February 1996; audiotape transcript.
39Larry Randolph, "Renewal and Revival Today," Toronto
Airport Vineyard, 18 November 1994; audiotape transcript.
40Ibid.
41John Arnott and Guy Chevreau, "Pastor’s Meeting,"
Toronto Airport Vineyard, 19 October 1994; audiotape transcript.
42Mike Bickle and Bob Jones, "An Interview with Bob
Jones" (Belper, Derbyshire, U.K.: Banner Ministries, 1989); audiotape
transcript.
43Bob Jones and Paul Cain, "Selections from the Kansas
City Prophets" (Belper, Derbyshire, U.K.: Banner Ministries, n.d.);
audiotape transcript.
44Ibid.
45Ibid.
46Randy Clark, "Catch the Fire: Questions and
Answers," Toronto Airport Vineyard, 14 October 1994; audiotape
transcript.
47Quoted by Richard M. Riss, "Impression of
Morningstar Conference from Kent McKuen," 24 April 1996; e-mail
communication.
48Cincilla Grant, "‘Holy Water’ Triggers Healing
Revival," Charisma, June 1996, 21–23.
49Ibid., 21.
50Marks, 150.
51Ibid., 150.
52Jon Trott, "The Grade Five Syndrome," Cornerstone,
vol. 20, no. 96, 16.
53Gradations of hypnotizability range from 0 (almost
no hypnotizability) to 5 (extremely hypnotizable).
54This information was summarized from a variety of
sources, including Dr. George Ganaway, "Historical Versus Narrative
Truth," Journal of Dissociation 4 (December 1989): 205-20; and
Steven Jay Lynn and Judith W. Rhue, "Fantasy Proneness," American
Psychologist, January 1988, 35-44.
55Judith W. Rhue and Steven Jay Lynn, "Fantasy
Proneness, Hypnotizability, and Multiple Personality," in Human
Suggestibility, ed. John F. Schumaker (New York: Routledge, 1991),
201.
56John Arnott, Discovery Church.
57Vance L. Shepperson, "Hypnotherapy," in Psychotherapy
in Christian Perspective, ed. David G. Benner (Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1987), 164.
58Marks, 190.
59 Ibid., 191.
60Charles Baudouin, Suggestion and Autosuggestion (London:
George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1954), 80.
61Marks, 193.
62Ibid., 195.
63Baudouin, 82.
64George Abell and Barry Singer, eds., Science and
the Paranormal (New York: Scribners, 1981), 193-94.
65Norman Geisler, Signs and Wonders (Wheaton,
IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1988), 121.
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