Chapter
2 -
What about trance
preachers?
We
have mentioned above some things that are included in the false anointing. We
have noted that things like passiveness, guiding spirits, almost continuous
seeing into the spirit world, forgetfulness, compulsion, and many other
features are connected to this issue.
On the other hand, it is good to note that
the false anointing is not limited only to mediums, spirit healers, or other
similar persons whose message usually deviates completely from the usual
Christian message. This kind of false anointing can also occur in trance
preachers, i.e., preachers who preach in their sleep, who can even speak of
salvation, repentance, conversion to God, and other things completely in
accordance with the Bible. These people seem to be under the power of a similar
kind of ‘false’ anointing, because their actions very much resemble the
activities of mediums.
We will look at the characteristics of the
activities of trance preachers and how they resemble those of mediums. Most
examples are connected to Helena Konttinen, a trance preacher who lived in the
beginning of the last century.
A
foreign spirit, passiveness and supernatural
information. The first thing to note is that the
trance preachers sink into passiveness and a strange spirit occupies them and
speaks through them, and this is quite similar to what happens to mediums. The
passive state is characteristic to both cases: the persons themselves are
unaware of almost everything. They may even ask others what they themselves just
said!
On the other hand, the actions of both
groups include supernatural information; it is also a common feature. It is
common for both of these groups to tell people about things that only the
people themselves know. We can see these features in the activities of Helena
Konttinen, for example.
It is, however, good to note that this
supernatural information concerns only the seer spirits and deceased spirits
mentioned in the Bible, about which we already spoke. So, if the actions of
these people display such knowledge, it is coming from these untruthful
spirits. They can give people similar ‘gifts’ as described in the Bible, i.e.,
gifts like words of knowledge and prophecy. The purpose of these spirits is,
however, to drive man
further away from God into damnation.
-
(Isa 8:19) And when they shall say to you,
Seek to them that have familiar spirits, and to wizards that peep, and that
mutter: should not a people seek to their God? for the living to the dead?
Forgetfulness
and insensibility
are two common features for mediums and trance preachers. Both can really be in
such a condition that they do not remember anything and during that time they
do not feel anything either. For example, Helena Konttinen describes her own
trance below. She tells of her insensibility so
that she did not feel the stings of needles, for example.
This kind of insensibility was also typical for the well-known ‘sleeping prophet’ Edgar Cayce who
once in a trance did not feel pinpricks on his skin:
Going
into that trance takes place so surprisingly that even my conversation with my
friend can be cut off. If I am sitting down at the time, I will fall back to
the direction to which I happen to be leaning. I remember only a few times when
I fell down when I was standing, and I did not hurt myself. People around me
naturally lift me on a bed or sofa. There are no convulsions. My body does not
stiffen; it is usually limp. My feet get cold when the trance lasts for a long
time. People have tried to wake me up by stinging me with needles but I know
nothing until I wake up. During the first three years, my eyes were open
without blinking even though the trance might take as long a five hours. (11)
Seeing
into the spirit world. One similarity is constant
hallucinations and seeing into the spirit world. Many trance preachers can
regularly see these visions during their sermons, and also at other times. Many
of them are like in heaven during the whole sermon or they can see a book from
which they read to the audience. Helena Konttinen could, during her trance, see
two ‘angels of blessing’ or a spirit posing as the Savior. What is significant,
however, is that she also at some stage suspected her preaching being from the
devil. She tells of her suspicions and how she also saw visions during a
speech. Unfortunately, she suppressed these suspicions when she received new
visions:
What
if the enemy is doing his work in me, and poses as an angel of light? Finally I
thought that I was the enemy's weapon, because he came to me in a visible form
more that once, and I did not see the Savior in the trance, except when under
greater distress.
(…) On the following days, there were three
explanation speeches and I saw the Savior, but his hands and sides were not visible.
And again I became suspicious: what if the enemy is affecting this preaching,
because he can also transform himself into an angel of light. (12)
Non-biblical
teaching. Although many trance preachers
quote the Bible, it is significant that their teachings include non-biblical
material and unfulfilled predictions. The spirits usually dictate to them what
they may speak and what they cannot mention in their normal state.
We will not discuss this issue here in any
more detail, but the book Totuus unissasaarnaajista by Armas von Bell,
for example, discusses the teachings and unfulfilled predictions of Helena
Konttinen in more detail.
Supernatural
forcing. We noted above that compulsion and
compulsive activities are one of the main properties of the false anointing and
guidance, and we can see the same in the lives of trance preachers as well. We
can see that they too have had to live under a similar kind of coercion as many
mediums or spirit healers who have been dealing with these matters for a long
time.
They have been forced to speak things they
did not want to speak, or have had to do things against their will in this
state of trance. In addition, it is worth noting that if they have tried to
give up their activity or have been disobedient, the consequence has often been
punishment or diseases, in the same way as in the lives of mediums. The
following descriptions of Helena Konttinen very well describe this. If a person
notices similar things in his own life, it is not a question of the work of the
Holy Spirit:
It
was further informed that the freedom from trance speeches would be given at
the end of my life and I could be free from it in my home, but the gift of
explaining would not be taken away; I would have to act with it until I was
very old (…)
"If a servant was taken into the house,
he would indeed love his master but would not do his work, the master would
force him do it..."
(…) Such harsh punishments came for the
reason that in spite of the many warnings I had offended. In the beginning when
I was placed into a trance, it had been said that if I would not willingly go
into the Lords service, I would be forced to by means of punishment. (13)
The
testimony of a former trance preacher. The testimony of a former trance preacher shows us that evil spiritual
powers work behind the trance preachers. She says that she was overpowered by a
spirit, and also how she was freed from this spirit. It is worthwhile to pay
attention to the point that this woman was not in faith, even though she prayed
for other people. In addition, it should be noted that immediately when she
turned to God, the difficulties on her part began – which is very usual with
people burdened by occultism.
Italics have been added to the text below to
make it easier to see some of the typical features of the false anointing. The
description is from Armas von Bell’s book Totuus unissasaarnaajista, a
story told by a former trance preacher:
I
was awakened in 1929. I was walking in order to hear all the speakers. I did
not read the word of God myself as of yet, I only listened to those who spoke.
(…) Then came the year 1930. I once went to the town of Kotka. My friend said
that there would be a trance preacher, and I went with her.
The meeting started with the preacher stating
the names of the hymns, two of them. My friend said that the speaker had two
sermons, the walking sermon as the second, and so it was. She preached the
first sermon while lying down, but when the second sermon started, she jumped
up, went to the back bench and asked everyone, “What did you come to get?” Then
she came and put her hands on me, and that spirit came to me. I fell on my
knees, and the preacher said that I should preach the message of the prophet
Isaiah, Chapter 40, to the nation. I cried and my power was gone, so that
the people had to help me up.
The speaker’s pupils were not visible, only
the whites. She was being led by the spirit.
There was another meeting in Kotka the next
week. There, I went into a trance and I did not know what I preached. It
continued for six months every evening at 7 pm. I myself did not know
anything about it and I did not remember anything I had spoken, but there was a
spirit in me that knew beforehand all that was going to take place.
People were very amazed and happy that now
they had amongst them a seer and they always gathered to hear my sermons until
the room was full. I preached and prayed for people, and I informed hidden
issues: once I informed them of a large amount of moonshine hidden. (…)
Once, I hit a drunkard's bottle into pieces and prayed for him. People wondered
how I dared, since he was such an awful man. Once, when many boys had come to
visit us, I took one boy from the shoulders and brought him to his knees and
ordered him to pray for himself to be saved. I was often on my knees before
people, and I prayed for them.
(…) Then a talker from a youth association,
Olga Kahvakka, came to this town, and we had a sewing circle. She came there; I
had again preached a long sermon and prophesied her journey. She came to our
place and asked me whether I was in faith. I said, “I am not.” She said that
when she was 16 years old, she was like I was now and that she prayed for
salvation and to be healed and she got rid of the spirit.
When I knew what spirit was in me, I started
to read the Bible and pray that the spirit would leave me. Of course, this did
not please the spirit and then it showed its true color; that it was an evil
spirit. It had me do many crazy things. When I was reading the Bible, it said,
“Throw the Bible into the corner!” And I did it, but when it commanded me to
burn the Bible, I received strength to resist and I did not do it. I even had
to be dumb for two days when the spirit within me became dumb. When people came
to talk to me, I wrote down on paper that I could not talk.
(…) When I had gotten rid of the spirit, I
called a doctor and said that I had rid myself of it by praying and reading the
Bible, and he said that it was cheap medicine. Even afterwards this doctor,
Sederholm, asked me about the state of my faith. Thank God, I was able to
answer that my faith is getting stronger and stronger.
Yes, I believe that every trance preacher
will be freed if he only wants to. I do not think that any of those whom I have
met have been believers.
(…) After I received the Holy Spirit, it has
not even tried anymore. The trance preaching spirit is not like an evil
spirit that controls a person. It is also said in the Bible: "Who has
a dream, let him speak of it; who has the Word of God, let him speak of
it."
There would be much to write, about
everything the spirit made me do in my life. Nobody should, in the state of
awakening, follow everybody. You are stronger once you are reborn. No evil
spirits will easily grab hold of that. (14)
