An out of body experience, also known as astral projection, is supposed to be the phenomenon when a person's consciousness is detached from the physical body and travels or exists outside of the body. During these experiences, the person is aware of his surroundings and is often aware of what is being said around him.
Are Out of Body Experiences real?
There are a lot of reports from people who claim to have had various out of body experiences. The problem is testing them. Some people claim to have died during surgery, in emergency rooms, etc., who were aware of conversations going on in separate rooms while they were being worked on by doctors.
Some of these "astral projections" seem to be generated by trauma, death and then being revived, drug use, and occult practices where altered states of consciousness are sought. There are people who claim to be able to do it at will. Generally, they seem to occur at unpredictable times.
One of the explanations offered for out of body experiences is that the person has undergone a trauma or altered state of consciousness and is not actually traveling outside of his body, but is imagining it the way a person will experience a dream but in a much more "real" impression than normal. The brain, after all, is highly complicated and can produce all sorts of images that can seem real.
What about 2 Cor. 12:1-4?
"Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak," (2 Cor. 12:1-4).
This Scripture is often used to support out of body experiences, but it cannot be properly used this way. In Jewish cosmology, there are three heavens. The first heaven deals with the atmospheric region (Deuteronomy 11:17; 28:12; Judges 5:4; Acts 14:17). The second heaven deals with the region of outer space (Psalm 19:4,6; Jeremiah 8:2; Isaiah 13:10). The third heaven is God's dwelling place (1 Kings 8:30; Psalm 2:4; Matthew 5:16).
So, when Paul says that he knew someone who was caught up to the third heaven, he was speaking about entering into the dwelling place of God. What is important is that it occurred either in the body or out of the body, of which he did not know. Also, it is possible that this occurrence Paul speaks about, which is probably about himself, might very well be in reference to the instance when he was stoned and left for dead.
"But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead," (Acts 14:19).
Are out of body experiences harmful?
The Bible tells us that we are to avoid any occult practices. Astral projection is just such an event. Essentially, it amounts to what the Bible calls divination and sorcery and is to be avoided. In addition, it may very well open up individuals to demonic oppression since it is in violation of the Scriptures and is dabbling in the spiritual realm in a manner not approved by Scripture.
Lev. 19:26, "You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying."
Lev. 19:31, "Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God."
Deut. 18:9-11, "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead."
2 Chronicles 33:6, "And he made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger."
posted with permission
http://carm.org/out-of-body-experience
Here's a quote about out of body experiences and how people can be and are trained to have them: (I know this is true because I used to do it myself before I was saved)
Silva Method (formerly Silva Mind Control [SMC]) was developed by José Silva. Over six million students in 71 countries have taken the Silva International courses (formerly Silva Mind Control International). (One of Silva's goals is to have the Silva Method course taught to all school children, both in grade school and in college.) He claims that any person who will take his 48-hour (four day) course will develop psychic powers. A student is shown how to enter an altered state of consciousness, and in that state is taught how to tap into "higher intelligence in the universe." The student is taught how to function psychically and clairvoyantly, and how to invite counselors, or psychic guides, into his mind to help him with his problems. By the third day of the course, students are supposed to be able to operate psychically enough so that they can project their awareness outside of their bodies; i.e., have out-of-body experiences. Their minds are supposed to be able to tap into any source in the universe for the information, including the minds of other men, alive or dead.
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/silva.htm
This shows that out of body experiences can also be had through hypnosis, or self hypnosis:
Hypnosis is nothing new. It has been used for thousands of years by witchdoctors, spirit mediums, shamans, Hindus, Buddhists, and yogis. But the increasing popularity of hypnosis for healing in the secular world has influenced many in the professing church to accept hypnosis as a means of treatment. Both non-Christian and professing Christian medical doctors, dentists, psychiatrists, and psychologists are recommending and using hypnosis.
Although a hypnotist may encourage only a light or medium trance, he cannot prevent a hypnotized subject from spontaneously plunging into the danger zone, which may include a sense of separation from the body, seeming clairvoyance, hallucination, mystical states similar to those described by Eastern mystics, and even what hypnotism researcher Ernest Hilgard describes as "demonic possession." We would argue that hypnosis is occultic at any trance level, but at its deeper levels, hypnosis is unmistakably occult.
.... One researcher makes some interesting observations concerning why he would classify hypnosis as part of the occult (Peace, Prosperity, and the Coming Holocaust, pp. 119-120):
"One reason for calling hypnotherapy a religious ritual is the fact that it produces mysterious effects that leave any investigator who approaches it as science thoroughly puzzled: (1) under hypnosis administered by psychiatrists, persons who have never had any contact with UFOs can be stimulated to 'remember' UFO abductions that conform in detail to those described by supposed genuine abductees; (2) hypnosis also leads to spontaneous 'memories' of past and future lives, about one-fifth involving existence on other planets; (3) hypnotic trance also duplicates the experiences common under the stimulation of psychedelic drugs, TM, and other forms of Yoga and Eastern meditation; (4) hypnosis also creates spontaneous psychic powers, clairvoyance, out-of-body experiences, and the whole range of occult phenomena; and (5) the experience of so-called clinical death is also produced under hypnosis.
....The connection between hypnosis and Eastern mysticism is clear. At varying depths of the hypnotic trance, patients describe experiences that are identical to the cosmic consciousness and self-realization induced by yogic trance. They experience first of all a deep peace, then detachment from the body, then release from identity with one's own small self to merge with the universe, and the feeling that they are everything and have no limitation upon what they can experience or become: i.e., God-consciousness "in which time, space, and ego are supposedly transcended, leaving pure awareness of the primal nothingness from which all manifested creation comes."
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/hypno.htm
I wanted to write about this because I was asked about it and because we hear a lot about this today. Out of body experiences are pretty common in today's world as are near death experiences, both of which are really pretty much the same thing.
Many of you know that before I was saved I was heavily into the new age and occult. Because of that involvement, I had many out of body experiences. I literally taught myself how to do it through reading new age and occult books.
The new agers and occultists today, are very careful about how they word things. I'm talking about those who write the books and do seminars etc, not the common every day person, although even they use the same words since they parrot what they've heard. There's a reason why they're so careful about how they word things and the reason, to put it bluntly, is to trap Christians. They say things in such a way that whatever they're talking about sounds like something that can be done, used, in conjunction with the Christian faith, like a supplement to it; something that will only make your faith more real, not take away from it or replace it, and certainly not a sin.
Obviously if a Christian knows the Lord personally, and knows His Word very well, then he's not going to fall for it. But let me tell you that at that time in my life, I did know God's Word, and I knew it quite well! I knew right from wrong. What I didn't have though was a close personal relationship with the Lord, and I was no longer reading/studying his Word daily and hadn't been for some time. Therefore, I got caught in Satan's trap. And this IS from Satan. Don't let there be any doubt in your mind about that!
Oh, the out of body experience may be more peaceful and loving then anything you've ever felt in your life, but it's still from Satan and it's a trap. Satan is a master deceiver, he always has been. He isn't going to show you horrible things, he's going to show you things that you want to see in order to get you where he wants you.
The whole thing of out of body experiences and near death experiences, is nothing more then what happens, or one of the things that can happen, when you empty your mind of everything - which is something the Bible cautions against. According to God's Word, we're not to empty our minds and we're not supposed to just let whatever wants to float around in our minds be there. Instead, He tells us to be in control of our minds and what's in them all the time. He tells us to be alert and on guard against anything that goes against what His Word says. Those things we're not to allow in our minds at all, for any reason.
Does that sound a little extreme to you? It does to many. As always though, the Lord knows what He's talking about. We say, "but it's only thoughts...words...they can't hurt anything". But God says differently. He says our words and thoughts have power and that His Word is the ultimate power. He tells us that it's what we think that makes us what we are. That it's our thoughts that ultimately cause our emotions and our actions. In Proverbs 15:26 we're told that the Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked...their thoughts...not just their words or actions! Isaiah 55:7 says —Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. * In Mark 7:20–21 and other places, Jesus tells us that it's the thoughts of our hearts that make us unclean, that cause us to sin. In Ephesians 2:3 we're told —All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. * etc. (notice that the words in bold are talking of feelings and thoughts)
You know me, I could go on for pages showing you what the bible says about our thoughts and how we're to be in control of them at all times. I needed to establish this here though to show that when we are not in control of our thoughts, and allow or even attempt to force ourselves to "empty our minds" and enter another state of consciousness, that we are doing Satan's work for him. Out of body and near death experiences are simply more of Satan's deceptions to lure us away from the Lord and His Word.
Being a master deceiver, Satan again isn't going to do things that are going to look like they're obviously against God - hence the feelings of love and peace people often feel in these experiences. He is going to show you things that he knows you'll find ways to incorporate with whatever you know about God already. Remember that when he tempted Eve, he caused her to question what she knew of God and what He'd said to her. He said, "Did God really say..." He wants to twist God's Words in our minds and the easiest way to do that is to get us to do it for him, and so when you get involved in this stuff you'll find yourself asking, "did God really say"... Trying to find loopholes to God's Word. You'd be amazed at how many you can find too when you start trying to. Of course there aren't really any loopholes, but you make them up because you have to in order to justify what you're doing. So although you may know His Word says not to do something, you will make the excuse of "well, that was just for back then because they didn't understand..." or something like that.
The way it's set up is to first trap people, because we humans just love experiences, especially "supernatural" ones. After they're well and truly trapped, they begin to look at what they're doing as a supplement to their faith (if they're a christian at all). Then, as they continue on this path, they come to a point where they decide it's not a supplement but rather an extension. In other words, you begin to see the Bible as being God's elementary school education, and what you're doing now as His high school education. So you see yourself as well beyond and above ordinary "Christians". Of course eventually even that facade falls away and you "realize" that you don't need God or the bible because you can do everything yourself.
Obviously everything I've related is from my own experiences and shows how this affects someone who at least thinks they're a Christian at the time they begin to play around with the new age or occult things...including out of body experiences.
But what about someone who has an out of body experience that isn't "trying" to have one and knows nothing about them? What if the person isn't a Christian and knows nothing about God? That really changes nothing. Out of body experiences are still tools of Satan, things he uses to draw people away from God and His Word. While the actual experience can happen "naturally" for any number of reasons, such as when under anesthesia, (I had it happen that way as well) that doesn't change the fact that Satan can and will use it to both pull someone away from God and draw them closer toward him instead. Even someone who knows nothing about them, even if they know nothing about God, will start telling other people about their experience when it does happen because as I said, we tend to love things that seem to be supernatural experiences. It makes us feel "special", "unique". So we tell other people and eventually do what we always do and wind up talking to others who've had similar experiences and eventually wind up involved in the new age or occult garbage. Just because the person isn't aware that Satan is behind it, doesn't change the fact that he is.
What can we do to protect ourselves? Exactly what God tells us to do. Be alert and be aware of the devils schemes (which is why I'm writing this). When we're aware of his schemes we can then avoid them by again doing what the Lord tells us to and taking control of our thoughts, emotions and imaginations.
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