Regressive Therapy - False Memories - Mind Control Hypnotic Thought Embedding - Personality Change Read and share these articles widely. Others need this information also. You will also want to read our other studies on these and related topics.

THE DEVASTATING EFFECTS OF REGRESSIVE THERAPY

WARNING! Warning! ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS things you or your loved ones can do - is to CONSULT A PROFESSIONALLY-TRAINED COUNSELOR!

 Do you feel a little discouraged? Are you depressed? Would you like encouragement?

If so, go to God for help. Pray and read the Scriptures. Find a Christian friend and talk and pray with that good friend. Find others to encourage, and your own worries will shrink in size. Praise God for all His blessings, and, trusting In His enabling strength, do the best you can right where you are and He will solve your problems for you, or strengthen you to live with those that cannot be eliminated.

But some, instead of this, go to a PROFESSIONALLY-TRAINED COUNSELOR in search of help in resolving discouragement or depression! This can be one of the most dangerous things a person can do!

In a majority of cases, that person was trained in Fraudian and hypnotic lore and, by going to him or her, your mind will be brought under the control of dark forces, which will seek to destroy both you and your loved ones.

It is one thing to talk and pray with a Christian friend, or a NON-professionally trained pastor; it is quite another to go to a man or woman who has received professional counseling or psychological training. There is a world of difference between the two!

Unless specifically stated otherwise, throughout this study all names have been changed. However, in most instances actual names, addresses, and telephone numbers are on file here. Unless otherwise stated, all case histories occurred in the United States.

THE STORY OF SHEILA

John Hunter is a Seventh-day Adventist church school teacher. He and his wife live in an East Coast state. Their two children are both grown. The son is married, and the daughter, Sheila, was unmarried and 31 years of age at the time when this problem began a couple years ago. She had attended Adventist church schools and academy, graduated from one of our colleges, and obtained employment in an Adventist hospital where she has been working ever since.

What should you do when you am not married and would wish you were? You should go to God and give Him all your hopes and fears, dedicate your life anew to Him, trust Him to lead whatever way He may choose, and believe that whatever the future may hold will be for the best. Then you should go about your work, rejoicing that your life is in His care and that He will bring the best. You should live your days praising Him and witnessing of His care to others.

But Sheila did not do this. Instead, she sought help from a professionally-trained counselor. One day, she took some time off work and went to an Adventist Counseling Center. The counselors there were church members, so she felt sure that in such a place she could obtain the help she needed.

But those counselors had been professionally-trained. (In the more "progressive" states counselors have to be professionally trained, in order to obtain state licensing, and be able to advertise, and charge for their services. But, of course, pastors do not have to receive such training. However they may have obtained it.) In order to obtain that professional training, men and women study worldly concepts based on Fraudian and related theories of mental problems and mind control, and they must learn and subject themselves to hypnotic procedures. We will learn later in this study that hypnotism opens the door to intervention and control by dark spiritual powers. Upon graduation, that "professionally-trained" individual goes out and, unknowingly, becomes a medium by which those dark forces are able to invade the minds of clients willing to talk, listen, and cooperate with this professional counselor.

At the counseling center, the counselor assigned to her was an Adventist male professional counselor. During the counseling, "regression therapy" was used. What is that, you may ask? Simple enough, you are asked to think back to earlier years, especially to childhood and recollect memories. But, while deep in a dreamlike thought on that, memories are embedded into your mind. Those memories never occurred in reality, but they are suddenly thereand with such a startling force and clarity that you are surprised by the strength of such thoughts-which you never had before.

What happened here is that the counselor, having earlier himself submitted to psychological learnings, hypnotic control himself, and instruction and practice in standard and Ericksonian hypnotic procedures, has become a powerful and dangerous agent of dark forces.

In Bible times, an example of this occurred when King Ahaziah became ill. You can read about it in 2 Kings 1. He chose not to go to God or to God's servants for help, but instead went to the god of Ekron. The god of Ekron was Satan, and the ministers of that god were men and women trained in Satanic rituals.

In classical hypnosis, the operator puts the person into a hypnotic sleeplike trance, and then tells him things he is to think and/or do while under hypnosis or after coming out of it. At a safe distance, most of us have heard something about that.

But Ericksonian hypnosis is quite new, and few are acquainted with it.

Ericksonian hypnosis and its dangers were discussed in detail in our earlier study, Hypnotism Enters the Adventist Church-part 1-10 [WM 323-332]. That study explains In detail about Ericksonian hypnotic methods, and how they are being taught In seemingly harmless LAB I, LAB II, and NLP (neuro-lingulstic programming) courses to Adventist pastors and laymen.

Without going into detail on all that, we should explain here that (1) the outstanding success of Ericksonian hypnosis is that it is done during seemingly casual conversations with an Ericksonian-trained operator, and (2) a key aspect of Ericksonian hypnotic method is the embedding of, what are called false memories or "pseudo-memories, " in the mind. This can be done in one of several ways. The highly-trained hypnotists just talk with the person and tell him a thought or compulsion that he will not be able to resistand then, having accepted it, the operator has the person under his mind control. Or a story is told, and while the client is listening to it, he is brought under control and thoughts, wishes, likes, and fears are embedded.

Then there is the average EricksonIan operator. He is more likely to be the one you will encounter in a counseling center. He has had just enough Ericksonian training to be able to effectively use it, but not enough to himself recognize that the newly-embedded thoughts and feelings did not exist there before.

(I say "embedded", because that is what the Ericksonian masters call them. They freely tell their students that they place new thoughts, desires, fears, and memories in the clients during brief, informal Ericksonian sessions; thinkings that were never there before!)

The average Ericksonian counselor will listen to the story of depression or moodiness, and then suggest that which he thinks is the cause of the problem. It is well-known in the professional psychological counseling field that the current fashion is to see childhood sexual molestation as the cause of adult depression. This view is taught to those obtaining professional counseling training (whether they be psychiatrists, psychologists, or merely trained counselors).

After taking their training, they themselves have become a medium, able to receive and transmit ideas from a supernatural power. As he counsels someone, the thought is suggested to his mind what the problem is. With uncommon frequency, it is thought that the person was sexually molested as a child. The counselor then tells the client that he is certain that this is the problem, and the client is shocked and rejects the idea.

But the client keeps coming back to the counselor for additional sessions. Why? Because he seems to feel a relaxation of tensions by so doing, and an intensifying of them if he does not return to the counselor. The counselor suggests that solutions will be found as the client, sitting before him, lets his thoughts go back into his childhood. He suggests that memories will appear that have been totally forgotten. Of course, he has all along been suggesting what those memories will be.

We have here another situation of going to the gods of Ekron, instead of to the God of Heaven. Later in this collection of tracts, we will quote statements that will corroborate this brief summary introduction. You should not place yourself In the hands of a hypnotist any kind of hypnotist, for to do so Is to place your mind and body In the hands of Satan.

Sitting before the trained counselor, the client is actually under Ericksonian hypnosis as he dreamily wanders through various memories of childhood. As he does so, suddenly a new memory is there! (1) It Is there with dramatic suddenness. (2) It was never there before. (3) It is powerful, almost overwhelming. (4) It came into the mind while the person was seated in the presence of the trained counselor, (5) dreamily thinking back into his past, and (6) after having been told several times what that memory will be when he eventually recalls it. (7) That memory will remain overarching in importance and power in the weeks, and months, and years ahead. It literally plagues him, and forces him to totally change his relationships in an effort to placate the force pressing it upon his mind.

Those are the seven earmarks of casual-conversation Ericksonian embedded memories. These are false memories, in that they never occurred in reality, but were, instead, placed in the mind wholly from without. Yet they are so extremely powerful, that the client is certain that they must be so. In addition, the counselor, a respected individual who has been "professionally trained," is there to agree that that memory surely must be true.

The psychological name for this is "regressive therapy- .. Whether done through classical (formal) hypnotism or Ericksonian (informal) hypnotic methods, the person is suggestively told to think back to early childhood, and he will recall memories long lost, which will be the key to his depression. The theory is that in discovering and recalling those memories, he will then find that his depression will leave.

Where did that strange theory originate? It came from Sigmund Fraud, an individual who, by his own statements, hated God, Christians, and religion. We will discuss him later in this collection of studies.

When you give your life into the hands of God, study His Inspired Word and, by faith In the forgiving, enabling grace of Jesus His Son, seek to obey that Word, you are a fortress in a revolted world, which Satan cannot penetrate. Yes, he can bring you grief and sadness through circumstances, events, and loved ones, but he cannot directly overcome you, except by your choice. But when you walk away from God's protection, and seek out the wizards of the world to solve your problems, then you are placing yourself on Satan's ground, and he will use the opportunity given him. Because you have gone to such counselors, Satan has been given an advantage in your life. You have opened a special door to him. He can now more directly affect your feelings. He can deepen your depression when you do not see the counselor, and he can apparently lift the depression partially when you do so.

When that embedded memory first flashes into the mind, a most horrible-and even terrifying emotional experience begins for 4 that person. He enters upon a nightmare far exceeding any presumed "depression" he may have earlier Imagined for himself. Terrors during the day and quaking of heart at night. He may become unable to continue gainful employment. He may be driven by the spirits (and, with the encouragement of the counselor, who may receive a kickback for referring him) to go to a private psychiatric hospital. Compounding that initial embedded "memory," additional ones are embedded during forthcoming visits to the counselor. You must keep in mind here that the counselor continues to advocate the same solution: MORE regressive therapy and MORE recalling of additional memories while thinking about one's childhood.. it all becomes a vicious circle, with one memory leading to another one. They just keep piling up, making the situation worse and worse. Yet, all the while, the stated reason for coming up with these new memories is to "relieve depression," for, as Fraud said, "recalling the memory will eliminate the tension." The vicious circle intensifies. And with the new memories come also embedded thoughts of terror, fear, and a powerful hatred for those who supposedly did these terrible deeds to that person in childhood.

Satan's whispering voice leads the harassed soul from one gloom to another, ever onward in desperation: "See, all this came from Christians; separate from those Christians that were closest to you, and henceforth distrust all Christians. Eventually leave God entirely. Then, when you are burned out entirely and your conscience seared, you can enjoy with me the peace of perdition."

The result is deeply shattered lives, not only of that individual, but also close relatives that were formerly deeply loved.

And now we return to Sheila. At the age of 31, she visited a "Christian counseling center,  this particular one managed and staffed by Seventh-day Adventist-trained professionals. She was assigned to a male counselor or "therapist." Regressive therapy was employed during which a "memory" of being sexually molested by her mother was "recalled." The result is that Sheila is now totally alienated from her mother. She will not speak or write to her. For her part, the mother denies even the thought of ever having done such things. As usual, the Adventist counselor reinforced the woman's memories. He said that those memories were indeed true; he was just sure they were and that the mother was lying. He said that she was living in "denial" and she herself needed psychiatric counseling. Of course, we can understand why the counselor would take this attitude. He must maintain his hold over the client, lest a reconciliation with the parents occur and he get in trouble. His strength is in maintaining the deception.

Sheila's parents were dumbfounded. In the intervening months, they have tried by every means to effect reconciliation, but without success. They pray for their daughter, but can do nothing to reach her or otherwise help her.

It is of interest that quite frequently the one who is depressed and seeks out a professionally-trained counselor is a woman in her mid-30s. The embedded memories of childhood molestation will generally be about the father, mother, and/or a brother or sister.

"It is currently estimated that approximately 34 million of this nation's citizen's (15 percent) suffer diagnosable mental disorders each year."-Morris Parloff, "Psychotherapy and Research: An Anaclitic Depression, " Psychiatry, November 1980, p.283.

"Preliminary results from a comprehensive study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), designed to assess the prevalence of mental disorders in the United States, suggests that anxiety disorders are the number one mental health problem for women." -Carol Tavris, "Coping with Anxiety, " Science Digest, February 1986, p. 46.

Only as people come to Jesus Christ in surrender, prayer, study and obedience to His Word, can they find the help they need. In addition, far too many people overwork, eat wrongly, take various drugs, or are filled with worries about themselves or others.

THE STORY OF BESSIE

Bessie is the wife of a Seventh-day Adventist church schoolteacher. She is also a registered nurse, and, at one time had become addicted to medically-prescribed drugs. But that problem was solved, and she rejoiced in the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.

But then Bill and Emmy Mayers came to town. This is a non-Adventist Christian couple that regularly hold seminars in human and family relations. As you may know, such seminars are rapidly gaining in popularity. But the crucial factor is this: Are all of those conducting a given "Christian seminar" simply Christians who are trying to help people, OR have they ALSO taken professional counseling, psychologic, or psychiatric training! This is the crux of the whole matter. IF they have taken such training, they have, all unknowingly, already counseled with the gods of Ekron, and you dare not counsel with them or receive instruction from them!

The Mayers have conducted their very popular human and family relations seminars for several years. While this particular seminar was in progress, Bill offered to counsel privately with anyone who needed special help. Bessie thought this was a splendid opportunity to achieve a higher sphere of personality contentment, so she made an appointment and visited Mr. Mayers after one of the seminar meetings. She told him that she had been somewhat depressed at times in the past. Somehow Bessie had the thought, an error shared by many others that because Bill had received "professional training in a mental health field," therefore he would somehow be able to impart to her a higher degree of personal happiness than she could obtain from Christ or Christian living.

Bill's training had taught him that regressive therapy was the way to locate such problems, and that, when it was found, it would probably reveal childhood molestation. As she sat before him, he suggested this to Bessie, and asked her to let her mind relax and go back randomly to thoughts of her childhood, so that newly-recovered memories might come to her.

They did! With such force that they almost knocked her over. The embedded memories were that her kindly father had molested her in childhood. The memory was so powerful that it was overwhelming, and could not be pushed out of the immediate consciousness. In spite of the fact that it was a brand new "memory," totally in contrast with what she knew her father to be like, and the objections of relatives and her sister, several years older, who denied that the father could have done such a thing, Bessie became half-crazed with the thought.

After that single meeting with Mr. Mayer, Bessie went home. Managed to crawl into bed and there remained in a semi-state of shock in the fetal position for several weeks. She refused to leave the bed except to go to the bathroom. She became almost totally non-functional. Eventually, she was encouraged to "go see a psychiatrist, which she did. As she acquired a dependence on him, the strange, but intense mental and physical depression partially lifted. At the present time, Bessie formerly a radiant happy housewife and worker in her local church, has become severally handicapped. She fears to meet people and keeps to herself as much as possible. There is little likelihood of a change in her condition in the future.

Will you be attending the next "family and human relations seminar" that is held in your area? It is known that Ericksonian hypnosis can be partially applied in group meetings, as well as in one-to-one sessions. An Ericksonian trainer explained that he was doing this to his entire class of counselors in training. See our earlier studies, Hypnotism Enters the Adventist Church-Part 1-10 [WM-323-332] for more on this.

THE STORY OF VERONICA

Paul Waller is a Seventh-day Adventist pastor who recently retired. A year or so earlier, while at the age of 64, he learned that his daughter, Veronica, had decided to visit a non-Adventist psychologist. She felt depressed, and the psychologist told her that modem scientific psychology was indeed able to solve such problems. Regression therapy was used, and, as she sat before him, her mind wandered into the sleep-like state of rapt preoccupation that a person will enter when thinking about long ago places and events.

She had gone to Ekron, and from Ekron came answers. A powerful memory burst into her mind, and there it was, spread out before her, a memory she had never had before in her life: Her father had come to her room every night for seven years and sexually abused her. Ignoring a lifetime of devoted love and care from her parents, Veronica seemed possessed with the thought. It was so big and powerful. With the full encouragement of her new-found guide, the psychologist, she went to the local conference office and confronted her father's employer, the conference president, with Joe allegations.

When the president spoke with the pastor, he denied the charges and, after listening to him carefully, decided he was telling the truth. But there were those who thought the father should vindicate himself by going to Ekron himself and "entering therapy"! If he had done that, the devil would have gleefully given him a corroborating "memory" of how he had done that dastardly deed for seven years! In that way, Satan could cover up one lie by giving another to match it. But the father refused to see a psychologist; and his wife, never doubting his innocence, stood by his side. The pastor and his wife will tell you that Veronica's experience has deeply damaged all three of them.

As with some other families who have endured a similar living horror of being accused of shameful vice by their children, this family was told of the Satanic source of this "pseudo-memory" problem. It was a sorrowful but genuine source of encouragement to them to learn that they were not alone in suffering this experience. They were told that many other families have been victimized in a similar way.

One might wonder why the children so fully believe a new "memory" that they never had before. The reason is the stark vividness of it. In each instance, the embedded memory is more fresh, real, and powerful to the victim than other actual memories of earlier years which actually occurred.

Veronica is now in her mid-30's. Since going to the counselor to solve her problems, she really has them now. She has gained heavily in weight and has become a compulsive eater. She will have nothing to do with either parent, and is gloomy most of the time. What was gained by the "therapy"? It produced alienation, not reconciliation; horror and misery, not peace and happiness. Yes, it got rid of that earlier "depression," but by substituting a far worse one in its place! Instead of occasionally feeling moody, now Veronica's whole world has been turned upside down!

THE STORY OF THE GALLUP'S AND THE McMARTIN'S

For obvious reasons, In these two cases real names are used. Mary Lou Gallup and her husband were operating a daycare center in Salem, Oregon. Mr. Gallup was a Nazarene pastor. Mr. Gallup, Mrs. Gallup, and their son all went to prison on charges of sexual abuse of children who were attending their day-care center. She is out on parole, but her son and her husband, an ordained Nazarene pastor of 38 years experience, are both still in prison. They are due for release before the end of 1991. In their attempt to seek justice, they have lost all their possessions.

The Gallup's were recently warned that if they contend for justice after they get out additional charges and new "information" will be brought out; a new trial will be convened and they will be sent back.

During the Gallup trial, the judge would not allow any favorable testimony or psychological profiles to be presented. Three children testified regarding events of years earlier. One boy openly admitted lying, yet his testimony was not withdrawn from the record.

You may have read about the McMartin's in southern California. It is thought that information, which some parents read in the newspaper about the McMartin allegations, caused them to interrogate their children and more new stories emerged.

Experts think that the problem develops in this way: A small child says something, and then other small children are questioned. A doll is used to objectify the points. Masturbation is thought to be a root cause, and when certain body parts are pointed to, instead of telling what they have been doing, they say an adult has been doing it to them. Even when questioned by a trained adult, the responses of the child are strained. Leading questions can easily entice a child to transfer the cause to an adult. But when calm, sympathetic cross-examining is done, the child is very uncertain as to whether these events took place. Because of that fact, the southern California jury exonerated the McMartin's of all charges.

Because "trained" experts are the ones questioning the children, Satan can enter and affect minds and produce unusual responses. The truth is that "psychology" is not the exact science that people are told it is. In fact, if we accept the statements given in the Spirit of Prophecy, psychological analysis is more satanic than science.

THE STORY OF CARLA

At this point, we will discuss the case of Carla Smith and her parents. It is a pathetic story. First, we will give a letter written by Evebelle, Carla's mother to the present writer. Throughout this story, all names and places have been changed.

LETTER FROM CARLA'S MOTHER

The following letter, dated April 20, 1991, was sent to me from Carla's mother.

"Dear Mr. Ferrell,

"I hope this material will help someone else from going through the terrible ordeal we have gone through.

"Carla's depression began in her teens but we don't know yet what caused it. It began getting worse about four years ago. We think Satan caused it, the same as he caused Elder James White's depressions, and in Bible times, Saul and David's.

"Our other daughter, Karin (who lives) here in ___, along with her psychiatrist, thinks it's a chemical imbalance in the brain and that it's genetic. We don't know now for sure what caused it.

"It was two years ago this April [therefore, April 1989] that our daughter Carla went to Wendy [the Adventist minister's wife who was a licensed counselor] for help. Carla went to some meditation classes put on by our SDA church down there. She was told it would help her with her depression. She then talked of ESP [extra sensory perception] and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) that she had learned there.

"She had no bad memories of me. She wrote me loving letters as recently as May (1989).

"(Her counselor) Wendy told Carla that she knew just what was wrong with her and that she, Carla, had been molested sexually as a child. Carla denied it at first and said, 'Oh, no; I'm sure I wasn't. But in 'regressive therapy' ["taking her back into her childhood," which therapy began in May, 1989] she began having false 'memories.'

"So Wendy took Carla to a rape crisis center in ___. The name of it is ___; it is a non-Adventist 'Christian counseling center.' She had more memories there. They told her to pound the padded walls and get her hate out on the perpetrators and then she would get well. They said she had a right to be angry. They told her to try to remember everything and that she would get well only if she did remember everything. So they prayed and prayed with her, and she remembered and remembered. [Even prayer with these Ericksonian hypnotists is dangerous!]

"Then she came up with more 'memories:' her brother, Shayne, was supposed to have raped her. In these sessions, a person would sit intently conversing with her, suggesting that she place her mind in neutral and think back, and see what else she could remember. So then she said that she remembered still more: Shayne had raped her in front of us, her parents! They told her to remember more so she could get well, and, in front of the counselor, she tried to return to the past in reverie again, this time she said that Shayne raped her because her father made him do it!

"None of this is true! Our son is a medical doctor now, in ___ and we believe him to be 100 percent innocent of molestation charges.

"They instructed her to remember still more, and she came up with the 'memory' that her brother, Shayne, was himself molested by his [and her] father. They told her to regress to childhood and suggested that she would be able to remember still more. Then 'memories' of farm animals began.

"Six months later, they suggested that she could remember still more, and, in front of the counselor, she went into that dreamy thinking state again, and, for the first time, a new charge: She had 'remembered' that we were cult members, devil worshipers, and that we had sacrificed human bodies!

 "These would have to be thoughts directly implanted by Satan! Our other daughter, Karin's doctor here in ___, said people who suffer from bi-polar (manic depression) problems often have bizarre thoughts like these and it's usually about people they were close to. The world may call it 'bi-polar,' to give it a name, but I think it's from Satan.

"They also gave her medications and sometimes the depressions lifted for a time. But maybe Satan lifted the depression to confuse us all. At any rate, most of the time she is in far worse condition than before she went to the counselors. She is separated from us, her parents. She fears to speak with us, and her counselor, the Adventist pastor's wife, has ordered her not to do so. She won't talk with her brother anymore, and they used to be close also. (All of our family used to be very dear to one another.) But she did talk to his Shayne's wife. Carla told her that her counselor said that because Shayne did it to her, he would later do it to his own children. So Shayne's wife nearly had a nervous breakdown over that, and left Shayne, took the children and left him! They are divorced now.

"Wendy [the Adventist pastor's wife; Carla's counselor] now says, 'Well, maybe the cult stuff isn't true, but they [we her parents] traumatized her so bad, that's why she's now having those thoughts.' So our daughter, Carla, still blames it all on us, because her counselor says so.

"Satan has Wendy fooled as much as he has Carla fooled. Did you know that, while taking their training to be counselors, they themselves have to undergo hypnotism? Is that when Satan first gets in and starts controlling counselors like Wendy? Then when they sit down with the one they are counseling, he gives her the suspicions to pass on to the one they counsel, telling them to go back to their childhood and they will remember a certain incident. And then they remember it!

"We think Satan first began working on Carla's mind, deepening depression, through those meditation courses that are being taught in some of our churches. Then she went to Wendy who urged on her the suggestion as to the cause. After that, she took Carla to that 'Christian Counseling Center,' which intensified it all, and taught her to hate.

"Now she has completely alienated herself from us. "-Letter dated April 20, 1991, from Carla's mother, Evebelle.

LETTERS FROM CARLA

The following letters reveal Carla's deep love and strong attachment to her parents. I have Xeroxes of the originals in her handwriting. The first two notes were penned before Carla went to Wendy for counseling. The letter was dated May 1989, just after she first contacted Wendy. She had already started counseling with Wendy, and within a week or so after this letter was sent, she was given her first embedded "memory, " that so powerfully turned her against her parents.

In view of the following notes and letter, it is obvious that Carla could not have had bad memories of her parents. THOSE "MEMORIES" were imbedded in her mind AFTER the following notes and letter were written!

". . And I thank Him every day for such wonderful parents. It's nice to be able to tell my friends what wonderful parents are like. There aren't many people who can say that about theirs. God must have given you to me to show me a little of what He is like. God is SO good to me.

"I love you with all my heart! "Carla. "

"Dear Mom,

"Sometimes I miss you so. There is just something about the touch of a mother's hand, the hug of a mother's arms, the look of care and love in a mother's eyes. I love you so! May nothing ever come between the love we have.

"'love you Mom, "Carla

"P.S. Merry Christmas.

LETTER FROM CARLA

The following letter was written in May. Carla had already been to Wendy a couple times for counseling. As soon as Carla went to Wendy, Wendy immediately told her that her depressed feelings must be caused by having been sexually molested as a child. Carla said it could not be true, and shared that conversation with her sister, Karin. But, within two weeks after the following letter was penned, the first regressive "memory" was produced by "regressive therapy" as a result of direct suggestion on the part of Wendy. Two weeks after this letter was sent, Wendy took Carla to the counseling center, where she was taught hatred, and more 'memories' were instilled. Carla should have left as soon as Wendy started urging such ideas on her, but instead she kept going back until Wendy succeeded in imbedding most terrible thoughts into her 'memories.' As discussed in our earlier lengthy 10-part tract set, Hypnotism Enters the Adventist Church, the imbedding of thoughts through informal hypnosis can easily be done through Ericksonian counselors.

"May, 1989

"Dearest Mom,

"I went to the mall today to find you something very special for Mother's Day. You know that I would give you anything within my power that you could ever want. But as I looked around, I began to realize that there is nothing in this world that I could get to fully express feelings for you. There is no card that says all that I feel; there is no gift that would mean all that I want it to; and there is not enough money in the world to show you how much I care for you. So Mom, here is a simple letter. It isn't much, but it's from my heart. .

"As looked around, I did find one beautiful thought that I would like to share with you. It said, 'Mothers hold their children's hand for a while. . their hearts forever.' If you were to realize how much of an influence you have on me each day, even though we're thousands of mile apart, I'm sure that it would bring a tear to your eye. You are always in my thoughts, my actions, my heart.

"I want to take this opportunity on Mother's Day to say, Mom, I love you. Three very small words though they may be, they are from the depths of my heart, and mean more than could ever be put into human words. How could we, as failing humans, ever hope to even begin to express our deepest emotions. I really don't know where I'd be right now if it hadn't been for your strength, love, and support through all of my 'hardships.' I thank the lord for allowing me to let me have you for my mother.

"I also want to say thank you once again. As much as you have done for me, I feel that I could never say it enough. Thank you. .

"Beloved Mom, though we may be separated for this short time, remember that we are together in our thoughts and in the lord. And soon, not only will we be able to spend a summer together, but also all of eternity. And if we're not in the same mansion, we'll be neighbors!

"Happy Mother's Day Mom! "I love you,

"Carla

LETTER TO STATE AUTHORITIES

The following letter was written by Carla's mother, Evebelle, to the state agency governing the licensing of counselors in the state in which Carla and Wendy reside.

"Enforcement

"Dept. of Consumer Affairs

"Board of Behavioral Science Examiners "__Street, - - [city, state, zip]

"We have lost our wonderful daughter through psychological counseling. Until a year ago, my daughter, Carla Smith, age __, and I were very close. In fact, she was close to our whole family. She was an easy child to raise and later worked diligently for her nursing degree.'

"She went for counseling 18 months ago to Wendy Green, a marriage and family therapist, license No.___, in ___, [city, state]. Carla had felt very depressed. She may have experienced burnout, or it may be schizophrenia or manic depression. She was depressed on and off during her teens but not as bad.

"Carla was wrongly diagnosed. We think that Wendy was an over-zealous therapist who induced memories that Carla had been sexually molested as a child. Carla told me that when she went to Wendy, that Wendy told her right away, 'I know just what's wrong with you, Carla. You have been sexually molested as a child.' Carla said, 'Oh, no; I'm sure I wasn't.' But after more therapy from Wendy, Carla began believing it, and she thought it was so neat that Wendy knew right from the start what was wrong with her. Carla said that Wendy said, 'It's usually done by the father in the family.' Wendy was trying to get Carla to remember. Then Carla began to have what she called 'memories.' I questioned my husband, and he said 'absolutely not,' and that he had never, ever sexually molested her or any of our children. I believe him completely.

"Wendy took Carla to __, a private sex abuse center in ___' They believed her so-called 'memories' and carried on from there with therapy, making her punch punching bags to get her 'hate' out on her perpetrators. They developed an awful anger in her. She will not see us any more. The tragedy is that none of these 'memories' happened. Those aren't 'memories' she's having.

"Then she began having 'memories' that we were cult members and devil worshipers and that we cut up babies and sacrificed them. She is being driven out of her mind. Last Christmas I gave her some shoes and she cut them all up, carved into the soles and sent them home. She thought she had to do that to keep from getting a demon. She thought we were putting a curse on her. At Christmas when we saw her, she had to have Wendy's friend at her side who, after Carla's accusations, kept telling us, 'That's right, you did molest Carla: and, 'That's right, you did, you did, cut up those babies; you're just repressing it.'

"We are Christians from many generations back. We have never had anything to do with devil worship. We are Seventh-day Adventists and have been all our lives. We wanted to come down there when Carla was at ___ [the counseling center], but Carla was told it would be better if we didn't.

"We were not included in therapy, even though they claim to include family therapy. Wendy will not see us or answer our telephone calls. We've tried for a year. If she's a family therapist, it seems she would include us. Carla is very suggestible, and trusts in Wendy. We believe Wendy talked her into those things. Those 'memories' seem so real to Carla, but we know for sure they aren't memories.

"Many people who have known us here for 35 years have tried to help us, but Wendy will not talk to any of us because of 'confidentiality.' Wendy has a control over Carla, and has her full confidence. Wendy says we're harassing her, but we know she's made a mistake, and we want our daughter back. Maybe Wendy now knows she made a horrendous mistake and doesn't know what to do, or would rather keep Carla that way to save face. Carla's genuinely terrified of us. Who got her that way? We have done nothing wrong. Wendy has said she herself is afraid of us. No wonder Carla is.

"Carla needs medical help. Please, please, help us. Wendy was involved with deliverance ministries (casting out demons). Carla told her sister, Karin, that we put a baby on the table to eat for Thanksgiving, instead of a turkey. Carla is still working at ___hospital. "Please investigate this. Please help us get Carla back. Help us get medical help for Carla. "Our minister here in ___ is: . . "Our former minister is: . . "A psychiatrist here in ___who has known us for 25 years is: . .

"Thank you for your help. "Sincerely,

"Evebelle Smith

"(Carla's mother)

"- [telephone number]"

WARNING NOTICE REFUSED BY MINISTRY MAGAZINE

After a lifetime of having her daughter, Carla, so close to her, Evebelle, frantically sought ways to resolve this problem and bring her girl back again, but all in vain. However, in the process she learned that other Seventh-day Adventist parents were having similar problems with Adventist counselors." So Evebelle decided to send a letter to Ministry magazine, certain that they would print her story, a variant of it. or at least some kind of warning, and thus alert our people against this growing menace in our church.

But Ministry magazine refused to print that warning, which was submitted to them a year ago, or anything about the subject.

The article contained essentially the basic Information you just read, but was short and to the point. It was a good article and should have been printed.

LETTER FROM PASTOR TO PSYCHOLOGIST

Many letters have been sent by friends of the parents, to the counselor, Wendy, and to other professionals, but all to no avail. The correspondence is generally unanswered. The following letter was sent by an Adventist pastor to the psychologist in charge of the non-Adventist counseling firm where Wendy, the Adventist pastor's wife, was employed:

"[Name, address]

"Dear Dr.

"Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. It concerns a patient your staff is treating: Carla Smith.

"I have known the Smith family as pastor and friend for twenty years. They are a conservative, hard working, bright, Christian family. They have been highly supportive of each other over the years. The charges coming to the family have fragmented this family.

"Those who are trying to help the family are finding it difficult to understand why there is no contact with the family to see if they are as indicated or why no contact with fellow professionals to see what is happening here. Since healing is needed with the family here also, you can understand the need for communication.

"Charles, the father, works for the State of __. Respected men in your profession have worked with him for 25 years and are very supportive of him.

"We would appreciate some communication. Hearing of demon possession and bizarre activities have not been healing, helpful or true as we see it here. The family needs some communication from you. "Sincerely,

"--Pastor

CHRISTIAN THERAPY CENTER

Wendy, the individual who, intentionally or unintentionally has brought so much misery into the lives of three homes, has a state license as a professional counselor, but only because she has completed many professional courses. These would have included several in classicaland especially Ericksonian hypnosis, since, within the past 15 years, it has come to be recognized as a powerful tool in reshaping the emotional and behavioral patterns of distraught people.

As soon as Carla went to her, she was told that her counselor, Wendy, was certain that the problem was that Carla had been sexually molested as a child by her father. Carla denied the possibility and shortly afterward mentioned that counseling conversation to her sister, Karin. What she should have done was to immediately flee from the place! Better yet, she should never have entered the office of a professionally trained counselor in the first place! But she lingered. It was about that time that she wrote that May letter, quoted above to her mother. .

Returning for more counseling sessions with Wendy, within two weeks she suddenly had the first "memory." It fully agreed with what Wendy kept insisting. Shocked and confused, Carla did not know what to do, but Wendy did. It was Imperative that she firm in the imbedded memory, lest she run into legal troubles with Carla's parents! So Wendy immediately talked her into going to a "Christian counseling center" (also called an "in-patient psychiatric hospital") in a city about 75 miles away. To make sure she got there, Wendy took her there in a car.

Here are portions of an advertisement from a brochure by this firm, located somewhere In America, where Carla was given still more "memories", and also embedded with deep fear and hatred, as she was told to beat pillows and the walls In a "psychodrama" effort to attack and destroy her parents. She was told that by doing this, the depressions would all go away. Here is a description of the "multiple therapy programs" and "healing behaviors" You will note that it portrays itself as a very safe, secure place to be, where the patient will be among friends, and receive prayer, Bible studies, etc.

"__ was created to treat women who have experienced victimization/abuse, chronic depression, eating disorders, internalized anger, stress, anxiety, sexual dysfunction, identify crisis, [and) related conflicts.

"__ is staffed by fully licensed professionals who are all committed Christians. They include psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, nurses, dieticians and counselors.

"The __ program and facilities were designed to provide quality Christian care and emotional healing for women in a safe, secure and comfortable home-like setting. "The client's weekly schedule in the __ Program has been planned to maximize the effect of the therapy sessions. Two key items in bringing about that effect are the controlled, constant, and secure environment, and the multiple therapy sessions each day.

"A complete treatment plan is developed each week specifically for each client. This type of treatment planning makes it possible for all the treatment team staff to address and affirm healing behaviors of our clients.

"In the weekly schedule are times of praise music and worship at the facility as well as the Sunday outing, which includes attending church and going to lunch. Every day our clients enjoy a Bible study led by one of the staff members.

"The therapy program includes: individual sessions, group sessions, family therapy, psychodrama, bioenergetics, biofeedback. Psycho-social assessment, psychological testing, occupational therapy."

WARNINGS BEGINNING TO BE SOUNDED

People are beginning to arouse to these dangers. Psychological counseling has always been dangerous. Ellen White warned us most solemnly to have nothing to do with it a century ago. But within the past 20 years, the situation has rapidly deteriorated. Mind control techniques are having devastating effects, and are ruining lives and homes.

Here is a warning raised by one non-Adventist writer:

Across America parents are receiving phone calls and correspondence that plunge them into a nightmare of accusations of abuse and incest. These are not parents of young children or teenagers. They are parents of grown children who throughout their lives had had no recollection of being sexually molested by their mother or father. Now, seemingly out of the blue, their bizarre stories are stunning their parents. These adult children, usually daughters, now claim to remember precise details of one of their parents sexually abusing them. Where do they get such ideas? Where do those sordid memories come from? What brings them to the surface? Inner healing and other forms of regressive-type therapy lurk behind this urge of family horror stories.

"At first the parents are stunned. They are being accused of sexual exploits that they declare they would never even think of doing. But when they try to talk to their son or daughter, their words fall on deaf ears. They are accused and condemned without a trialall based upon alleged memories discovered through inner healing. And now they are helpless in their concern over the welfare of their adult child who will have nothing to do with them. .

"Yes, memories can even be created, not from remembering true events, but by implanting imagined events onto the mind. In fact, it is possible for implanted and enhanced memories to seem even more vivid than memories of actual past events. .'Under certain conditions a person's mind is open to suggestion in such a way that illusions of memory can be received, believed, and remembered as true memories. Hypnosis, guided imagery, and inner healing are as likely to cause a person to dredge up false information as true accounts of past events. In a state of heightened suggestibility a person's memory can easily be altered and enhanced. This happens under hypnosis, through guided imagery, in age regression therapies (such as primal therapy) and during certain forms of inner healing.

"Bernard Diamond, a professor of law and clinical professor of psychiatry, says that hypnotized persons 'graft onto their memories fantasies or suggestions deliberately or unwittingly communicated by the hypnotists.' Not only may they have new memories, but Diamond declares that 'after hypnosis the subject cannot differentiate between a true recollection and a fantasy or a suggested detail.' He notes that court witnesses who have been hypnotized 'often develop a certitude about their memories that ordinary witnesses seldom exhibit.' Diamond declares, 'No one, regardless of experience, can verify the accuracy of the hypnotically enhanced memory.' (Bernard Diamond, "Inherent Problems in the Use of Pretrial Hypnosis on a Prospective Witness,' in California Law Review, March 1980, read pages 314, 333-337, 348.)

"The certainty of pseudo-memories and the uncertainty of real memories render such activities as hypnosis and inner healing questionable at best and dangerous at worst. Because memory is so unreliable, methods of cure that rely on unearthing so-called hidden memories not only open up the possibility of human creativity but also expose the mind to possible demonic suggestion. Even though the hypnotist or inner healer may wish to protect the person from receiving false material, he cannot avoid implanting human suggestion. Nor can he prevent demonic suggestions from entering the vulnerable mind of the person who is in a heightened state of suggestibility." Psychoheresy Update, Vol. 1, No.4, pp. 1, 4.

A LETTER TO CARLA

The following letter has been sent by the present writer to Carla, in the hope that it may be used to bring her to her terrible danger and her need to arouse and do certain things. But anyone who fights depression and would value advice in overcoming it will find the following recommendations to be of great help. The solutions are found as we come to God and His Word:

Dear Carla,

This letter is sent to bring you the solutions you have so long searched for. You have, as it were, been in a dark cave of depression for several years. Things may be looking somewhat better just now, but you are not out of it yet. This you know to be true. I want to assure you that there is a way out of the cave, and back into the full sunlight of God's presence.

You have suffered, off and on, from depression and discouragement, since you were a teenager. One thing led to another, and gradually the situation grew worse. When a person is lost in a dark cave, he must find the correct way out. This letter is written to present it to you.

Such problems can have many causes, especially in today's world. Life was hectic enough several hundred years ago, but it was also simpler. Families lived closer together. They worked together, suffered together, laughed together, prayed and worshiped together. Now they are scattered here and there. The American way of life frequently takes us to far places, and there, separated from family and friends, we try to start anew. That by itself is a pressure item.

But there are others. Many of us no longer live in the true countrythe farmlands, but in smaller or larger cities. A century ago we were told in the Spirit of Prophecy that people can hardly think right or live right amid the rush and noise of the cities. Yet the only rush and noise back then was the horse-drawn wagons in the streets. Today the rush and confusion is far worse. We tend to think we are super-people today, with our motorcars and our computerization. But we are still made of the same frail humanity that our forbears had. Part of the remedy remains unchanged: those of us that want true peace of heart need to get out of the cities. We were told to do so back at the turn of the century. The call is even more urgent today.

One reason you felt so very depressed was because you thought you were singled out for such depression. But that was not a correct conclusion. Many people today are depressed. And some of the solutions that you so much need, are very much needed by many others as well.

There are other causes of depression, but at the heart of much of the problems are these four: (1) a lack of time with God and His Word; (2) a neglect to submit to Him, and rejoice in Him as a trusting child; (3) a neglect of obeying His Word, and living to help and bless others; (4) a preoccupation with the world, the things of the world, and the cares of the world.

You are but a little child, Carla, as we all are. Intriguingly enough, only those who recognize that they are but weak, helpless little onescan and will come to God for the help He can give. And He can give you help that no one else can give. He can supply all your needs, solve all your problems. But it is a daily work, and requires a daily coming, submitting, sharing, and living with Him.

If you have not taken the time each day with God and His Word, then He cannot give you the help you need. Make this your first work each morning. Come and give Him everything you have and are. Kneeling alone in His presence, lay your life down before Him and let Him have all your hopes, disappointments, problems, and plans.

Bring Him your torn dreams, your shattered life, the uncertainty and misery in your heart. He can change, wonderfully change the most discouraging situation and work everything out for your best good and His glory.

But in connecting with Him, you must be willing to disconnect from all others. In laying down all your plans before Him to be set aside or taken up as His providence directs, you must also lay down before Him all your associates. God is your only Healer. No man or woman can heal your soul or solve your problems. If you will make Him first, He will guide you in the selection of those in whom you should confide and make close friends.

Every day you must take time to study His Word and, in His strength, seek to fulfill what you read. Our Creator is not merely a good buddy, He is our God, and is alone to receive our absolute worship, loyalty, and obedience. People today say it is legalistic to attempt to obey God, but that is an error. It is never wrong to obey God, and His children will, by His enabling grace, render Him the obedience that He deserves. Not that they can do it of themselves; in their own strength they are helpless to separate from Satan or sin. But through the empowering grace of Jesus Christ, His little ones can overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. They can come off more than victors, and follow the lamb withersoever He goeth. Someday soon, they will sing His praises around the throne. Just now it is their privilege to sing His praises all through the day.

How can that be so? Simply because there is SO much power in praising God! Nehemiah said that the joy of the Lord is your strength. In praising God for all that He is, all that He means to you, and all that He has and is doing for you, there is felt an immediate emotional relief and sense of mental and emotional strength. And that, itself, is but another God-given blessing to thank Him for.

Satan spends his time devising ways to press discouragements upon us. He pesters everyone; you are not unique. But when he comes to you, clothed in darkness and depression, do not push the panic button and run to men and women to solve your problems. Stay on course. You have determined to live right, and are taking time each morning and through the day with God. Let Him be the levelizer in your life, and you will find a firmness of control, direction, and moral quality that you cannot obtain by leaning on others to do that for you, which only your heavenly Father can do.

Well, it all sounds good, but then Satan comes along and tries to bring gloom into your life. What should you do? DO NOT run to people to solve your problems for you! Go to God, and find in Him your strength. (1) There is always strength and help in His Word, the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. Open and read a passage. Draw comfort from it. If the first passage you find is not  what you need, flip the pages to another location. The Psalms, Ephesians, John's writings, and similar books are outstanding. Mount of Blessing, Christ's Object Lessons, Desire of Ages, and Steps to Christ are excellent. I find the Testimonies to be very helpful. Open at random, and read and learn where you need to change. Often we need advice from God, not just encouragement. Often our ways need correcting, not just our feelings. Never be afraid of anything He has to tell you; it is all for your good.

(2) Thank Him, praise Him all through the day, and Satan's dark clouds are wafted away. Talk to Him softly as you go about your work. As you have opportunity, send up a little song of praise to Him. Make melody in your heart the rest of the time.

(3) Claim Bible and Spirit of Prophecy promises. Memorize Bible promises and think about them. Recall passages of comfort you have read in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and make them your own. Believe that God will fulfill His Word in your life.

(4) All through the day, try to help and bless others. Be so absorbed in their problems and trying to help them, that soon you realize you have none of your own! It really works!

But, in order to overcome depression, there are three other matters that must be attended to also.

(1) Be sure that secret sin is out of your life. If it is not, give the matter to God and let Him eradicate it. But do not expect Him to do it without your active participation. Contrary to what the theologians today are saying, it takes His enabling grace and your active effort to live right! Clean living does not come automatically. We must determine to do right because it is right, and in the strength of God we must resolutely resist the wrong and do the right.

(2) You may be sorrowful over wrongs you have done in the past Go to your heavenly Father with it, and settle it with Him. . He alone can forgive your past and help you now. He alone can dean your past record. And He will do it for the sake of His beloved Son, as you come to Him and plead for forgiveness. Then arise in His strength, and put away the past and begin a new life, not looking back. You are a new creature in Christ. If in the future, you slip and, for example, speak unadvisedly, you will run back to Him right away! Every morning you plead for grace to help in time of need later that day. One can never know in the morning what the day will bring. But begin each day's journey with God and you will be safe.

(3) You must also make it right wherein you have injured others. Have you wronged others? You need to work this out also. Only you can know all that is involved here. Discussing it with your heavenly Father will give you certainty as to what you should do, and strength to carry it out.

In your particular case, Carla. there remains the lingering issue of who is right in this great crisis you have been in for the past two years: your mother and father, or Wendy your counselor. But, here again, you can have certainty; a certainty that is not now yours. Let me explain:

Either your parents and your brother are correct in what they say, or your new-found memories and Wendy is correct. It cannot be both; it can only be one or the other. I know you will agree with this.

Do you need certainty? Do you not already have it? How can you know whether you already have it? What can you do to definitely obtain it once and for all? I want you to know that you can now acquire this certainty without conversing with anyone else, or going to see anyone. And no one need contact you in order for you to satisfactorily know who is right and who is wrong in this matter.

On one side you have your new memories and Wendy's assurances. On the other side, you have your parents' and brother's earnest protestations of innocence. Carla, just because you have memories does not prove that Wendy is right and your folks are wrong. Here is a little background on this matter. You should be aware of these facts: Ericksonian hypnosis was invented only within the past few decades and is routinely taught to counseling specialists in a variety of fields today. This involves an extensive series of techniques, which guarantees the counselor the ability to imbed ideas, thoughts, and memories into clients during counseling sessions. It is done through informal conversations, instead of through classical "put-them-to-sleep" hypnotic methods. The trained counselor applies Ericksonian techniques through simple suggestions made during conversations. Ideally, these are one-to-one sessions, but a trained Ericksonian can do it to entire audiences, using techniques he has been taught. The thoughts imbedded tend to be the thoughts the Ericksonian felt should be there, or thought ought to be there. Please do not underrate this situation; I have recently completed an eleven-part published in-depth study into Ericksonian methods, and I know what I am talking about.

Whether it be a one-to-one session, or before an audience, the focus of the method is on one of two approaches: [1] Get the person or persons to think back to earlier experiences in their life. [2] Tell them stories. Either way, during this time their minds are somewhat in reverie, and the suggestion is embedded. It will be a memory, an emotional response to a situation (fear, apprehension, anxiety, liking, etc.), or a decision to do a certain thing. In the case of a memory, one tell-tale evidence that it had Ericksonian origin is that it will be one which the person never had before. That is because it has been imbedded. By definition (Ericksonian definition), Ericksonian imbedding is putting something into the mind that was never there before. The fact that it was not there before, identifies it in such a counseling situation, as an Ericksonian inbedment. But a second factor will identify it as such also: this sudden, new thought, memory, or call to decision and action will be extremely vivid and emotionally strong. It was not there before, but now it is there and it is powerful.

For more information on Milton Erickson's new "informal hypnotism," which is now a regular part of training classes for professionals leading out in psychological, counseling, and weight-control, anti-stress, and crisis therapy programs, I would refer you to my eleven-part study on the subject. In it I quote extensively from ' Ericksonian professionals who speak of the above-mentioned techniques, and the importance of imbedding attitudes, emotions, and memories through counseling sessions.

That will provide you with a little background on the burgeoning field of "mental and emotional therapy" which most people are unaware of.

With that factual Information in mind, we can see that it could be possible for your new-found memories and Wendy's assurances to be incorrect, and the protestations of your parents and brother to be right. It really could be, but how can you know for sure, one way or the other?

There is no doubt but that you do need to know! It will only be a few decades and your parents will die, and you will continue to carry with you the lingering doubts as to how correct were those "memories," in view of the fact that they only occurred as a result of contacting professionally-trained mind-therapy counselors. You need definite certainty on this, and you can have it. And this certainty is a MUST. You see, Carla, if your new-memories were imbedded by a trained therapist, then those memories never existed in reality. If that be true, then you have wronged your mother, father, and brother, and you cannot have true peace with God until that matter is settled.

Neither Wendy, your mother, father, brother - nor any other of your friends or relatives-know the content of this letter. But I can assure that the party or parties on the wrong side would not want you to do what I am going to tell you to do. That in itself would be a sign that they are on the wrong side.

Here is the pathway into total certainty on this matter. You can have it, and you will have it, if you will do this. And there is no danger in doing it, for it will entirely be a matter between you and God. Over the years, I have found Him to be a most wonderful Friend, Counselor, and Helper. He will help you too, just now, Carla.

(1) Go alone to God. Fallon your knees and plead with Him for forgiveness for whatever in the past you may have done against Him or anyone else. In all sincerity, you do not really KNOW for sure who is in the right or wrong in this present matter. Tell that to your heavenly Father, explain to Him that all you want is what He wants you to do, whatever it may be. You want peace with Him and the doing of His will, whatever that may be.

I can assure you that as you do this, He will give you a fish and not a stone. He is loving and kind, and always helps His little ones as they humbly come, seeking His will that they may do it.

One thing is very important: Ask Him to cut off all outside influences. On one hand, you have been told that your parents are devil worshipers. Well, then plead with God that no evil influence can possibly come from them to influence you during these pleading sessions with Him. On the other, there is the very real possibility that Wendy, like so many other counseling therapists today, used Ericksonian hypnotism, and imbedded within your mind memories in agreement with what she told you a week or so earlier was your problem-before you even had those memories. If this is the case, you would want to plead with God to protect you from hypnotic influences from any of the therapists you have dealt with throughout this case, or any of their friends. And, while you are at it, ask Him to protect you from me and all other potential influences. Remember, Carla, you are safe when you are alone with God as His trusting child. It is impossible for Satan to catch you in his net when you are God's little child.

Plead with your heavenly Father to reveal to you who is in the right and who is in the wrong on this matter. Lay the whole problem before Him, open His Word and read. Do not leave that room until you have worked it through with Him. He will tell you what you must do, and then you must arise and do it.

I can assure you that He will give you an answer of peace. It may not be immediately, and it may not be for several days, but as you plead with Him ALONE, He will give it. It will definitely be from Him, for no one else is with you. How will He give that answer? He has His ways of doing this. Sometimes folk hear an actual voice, sometimes they find the needed guidance as they read here and there in His Word. Frequently, they will find that everything the convictions, the thoughts, the readings everything, is leaning them toward a certain direction and toward no other.

If, as a result of your seeking the face of God in this matter, you come to the conclusion that Wendy and your new memories are in the right, then you will have certainty.

But, if He reveals to you that your parents and brother are in the right, then you have a definite work to do OR, I assure you, the hypnotists win turn your mind, simply by a single telephone conversation, and will catch you again. This is no little matter, for hypnotism is of Satan. And the worst thing a Satanist fears is for those he is controlling to make contacts with earnest Christians who can help them! In this case, your parents have been labeled Satanists. But that does not prove the matter; the truth could be remarkably opposite.

If He reveals your relatives to be in the right, you must go to your parents and brother and settle the matter with them. You cannot have peace until this is done. In fact, you can be recaptured if you do not make speedy work to do it.

They gave you a lifetime of right living, and you were willing to let someone else blot all that out, and in its place give you hatred for them. Taking you to that psychiatric center, with its psychodrama, bioenergetics, biofeedback techniques, and beating on pillows to deepen your feelings of revulsion, fear, and hatred of those who should be the most loved ones in your life only deepened the imbedding and powerful emotions accompanying it.

But God can give you the victory. You are now in the valley of decision. You need not take my word for it. Go alone to God and He will tell you! Lay everything, everything - before Him, plead with Him for answers, open His Word and read in it here and there; the Bible, the Testimonies, Desire of Ages, the other inspired books. Open and read. Alone with Him, determined to know what is right, determined to do it,He WILL tell you! He will give you answers, He will point you in the right direction, He win tell you what you have done wrong and what you must do to again have His favor.

You are always safe when you are alone with God and His Word! If you do not get it settled that day, keep going back and pleading with Him. Determine that you will not stop until this matter is settled. But do not run to men or women to solve your problems. You have already had months of that. In truth, Carla, your problems really began when you went to men in place of to God to solve those problems, which only God can solve.

Also be aware of the fact that Satan can give relative peace to those he has under the control of his agents. But he cannot give that sweet joy, that sweet fellowship of being right with God.

Now go to God and to His Word. He alone can bring that wonderful peace back into your life. He alone can direct you into safe paths. If He instructs you in a certain course, you can know it is safe to do it.

Very sincerely,

A Friend

I am not going to telephone you, and this will be the last letter I will write you. The matter is between you and God. There are others you need to speak to: your mother, father, and brother.

The Lord has a way of sending material that you need. While I am working on a special writing project, material on that topic will start coming in from individuals who could have no idea that a major set of tracts on that subject is being prepared here. This happened most recently, for example, while preparing the tract set on hypnotism in the Adventist Church.

Last week, while I was typing the material for Part One of this present tract set, I came across the name for the counseling team that ruined Bessie in "The Story of Bessie." (see WM342, pp. 3-4). As usual, I routinely changed the names of the counseling team, but I was intrigued with who they might be, since I did not recall previously hearing about them. What kind of program could they have? Was it ever given in Adventist churches?

The next day a letter came from a friend in ___. When it was opened, one of my helpers here looked at it, and the thought came that I should immediately see it. Of course, I could have seen it later, but it seemed I must see it right then. So the letter was brought to me. I was handed the letter, and noted the blank, puzzled look on the face of the one who gave it to me. "I just thought you should see this letter now; I don't really know why." I opened it and found nothing of urgent importance in the cover letter. Then I looked through the enclosures. At the back, my friend had tossed in a copy of a special weekend program to be offered at a nearby Adventist church in a couple weeks. There it was! The very same counseling team that, in one brief interview, had shattered Bessie's life!

That husband-and-wife team are indeed giving their three-day (Friday to Sunday) programs in local Seventh day Adventist churches. You should be aware of the implications of this! Each seminar is titled and focused on finding and removing memories from earlier in life, and especially childhood. Emphasis is given, both in group lectures and in personal one-to-one counseling sessions, on discovering these earlier memories, now forgotten, and bringing them to mind so that physical, mental, and emotional problems can be eliminated. As they see it, not until that happens can any of us have true peace with God. Insecurity, fear, depression, guilt, jealousy, and chronic physical illnesses-all can be overcome, according to this seminar team.

Surely, surely, we are nearing the end of time! If ever there was a time when we need to draw near to God and His Word it is now.