Reducing Tongues to Hypnosis

Tongues for the Post-Modern Saint Part 3

If you haven’t read the previous posts in this series, please do so before continuing.  Without the foundation of the prior discussion, this post may seem unfounded at the least, and blasphemous at worst.  Remember, the premise of this study is that tongues are essential to a flourishing spirit-filled life.  How is it then, that many tongue-talking believers do not demonstrate this superfluous and abounding lifestyle?  The how is correlative to the end result -a lackadaisical stance on tongues that generates a “take-it-or-leave-it” attitude in the body of Christ concerning glossolalia. [For added fun, read my friend Stacey Blubaugh's post Lackadaisical Dilemma.]

Friend, we cannot abandon or forbid tongues! (1 Corinthians 14:39)  It is a God-given gift that bridges the divide between our spirit man / subconscious realm and our cognizant world.  When we pray in tongues, the floodgate of divine activity within our inner man is wide open giving air to the workings of the Spirit of God through that all-so-mysterious prayer language.  Mysteries of divine revelation and empowerment are revealed as we pray in His heavenly language (something we’ll delve into in the next post.)

Back to our question.  How is it that many tongue-talking believers do not demonstrate a superfluous and abounding lifestyle?  It is my belief that these saints do not understand the power or purpose of tongues - but have reduced them to a form of self-hypnosis. I use the word “hypnosis” in a very calculated and cautious way.  I am not relegating the use of tongues to a work of satan or his new-age henchmen.  Far be it!  I’m using this word in its less-severe sense.  Hypnosis is an artificially induced altered state of consciousness, characterized by heightened suggestibility and receptivity to direction.1  Perhaps a more “biblical” explanation for this phenomenon is that tongues can be used to render the believer into a trance. I realize the use of these two words is enough to cause 60% of my audience to click away, immediately.  Please afford me the grace to continue.

Paul shares in Acts 22:17-18, “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking.” Trance in this instance means: [a throwing of the mind out of its normal state, alienation of mind... transported as it were out of himself, so that in this rapt condition, although he is awake, his mind is drawn off from all surrounding objects and wholly fixed on things divine that he sees nothing but the forms and images lying within, and thinks that he perceives with his bodily eyes and ears realities shown him by God.]2  Through praying in tongues, no doubt, Paul was awakened to the conversation God was having with Him in the inner man.  Acts 10 & 11 also refer to trances as a response to prayer and contemplation. 

Imagine, with me, that the breaker panel of your being has a master control switch.  As we amble about our daily lives, we tend to operate from our intellect, powered by our fallen nature and its senses.  By praying in tongues, we can flip the switch and shift control to the spirit man (which has been in constant communion with the Spirit of God in our subconscious realm.)  Many tongue-talking believers fail to understand that a world of divine communication awaits them if they but flip the switch! 

This heightened state of divine awareness is what most believers are seeking when they proceed to speak in tongues.  It is easy in our busy, distracting world to spend days on end without speaking in tongues or cultivating our connection with the Spirit of God via the hidden man of the heart.  When we finally find time for Him, the noise of the world clogs our senses.  In the silence of attempted communion, we hear nothing but worldly static.  So we progress to shabat tolokwandi sicatee ay (my attempt at typing tongues).  We throw the “switch” on our breaker box, but little or nothing ekes out. Now it’s time to pull out the big guns!  SHABAT TOLOKWANDI SICATEE AY! …and still nothing.  So we close our eyes, tune in and continue pumping the well until the flow comes – at first a little and then suddenly it’s more than we asked for.  What is happening, here? 

We are using tongues to blast through corroded circuits to access the divine realm.  This can feel like demonic resistance or even warfare when it’s nothing more than our own flesh warring against us.  Tongues will break through the flesh, for sure…  but so will periods of silence and contemplation.  A good long shower, or drive in the country can dislodge the clogs just the same!   This brings me back to the idea of “hypnosis.”

Hypnosis is a practice we all unknowingly use to unwind or quiet our wrought-up minds.  Some critics of glossolalia suggest that those who practice tongues are merely throwing themselves into a frenetic hypnotic state.  How funny!  We all throw ourselves into a hypnotic state on a daily basis.  One of the definitions of hypnosis is a state of detachment from surroundings, ie. contemplation or daydreaming in a focused and/or relaxed state.  Some call it unwinding, zoning out, or diverting from the stresses of life.  Watching our favorite sitcom at night, reading or recreational web surfing are all forms of redirecting our minds on more pleasurable things.  When we do, the pressures of life lift for a moment to allow our untethered self to surface. 

Have you ever observed a loved one while they were watching a funny movie?  The furrowed brow will relax and the inner child will emerge to enjoy a good laugh.  I love when my husband loses himself in a great comedy flick.  His visage transforms while he watches with rapt attention.   This same phenomenon can be observed with any activity that puts our mind in a diverted state.

Why is it that we can hear God better on the mower or while blow-drying our hair?  These are activities that are mildly “hypnotic” in that they can be accomplished in a subconscious state.  Have you ever driven home from work and have forgotten how you got there, or if the lights you drove through were actually green or red?  You were hypnotized by the subconscious nature of the routine allowing your mind to flit in and out of multitudes of other more interesting topics.  It is in these states that the matters of the heart / subconscious / spirit man come to the surface – to be discussed with God.  For some who have not disciplined themselves to “be still and know,” these are the only times they hear the voice of God.

There is so much more to the practice of speaking in tongues than this very basic benefit.  As a matter of fact, I prefer to pray in tongues very purposefully with my eyes open.  Rather than use tongues to bypass an undisciplined psyche, I choose to yield my mind to the Spirit of God and lend my earthly senses for His use… but more on this in the next post. 

Read Part 1 Tongues for the Post-Modern Saint

Read Part 2 Accessing the Inner Man

Read Part 4 Tongues: The Key to Revealing the Mysteries of God

Read Part 5 Participating with Angels

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1. Hypnosis defined: http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/hypnosis

2. Trance defined: < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=G1611&t=KJV >