Silva Mind Control – Program 5

By: Jose Silva, Dr. George DeSau, Dave Hunt, Dr. John Weldon; ©1986

Is it possible for us to create our reality simply by thinking it? Who is the Holy Spirit? Did Jesus solve our problems?

Questions from the Audience

Ankerberg: Welcome. Tonight, we’re examining the Silva Mind Control technique, which more than six million people have taken in more than 71 countries around the world. And Silva claims that any person who will take their 48-hour course over about four days of time will develop psychic powers, clairvoyant powers; that you’ll be able to tap into higher intelligence; in an altered state of consciousness you will be able to invite counselors or psychic guides into your mind to help you with your problems. And in that altered state of consciousness, you’ll be able to tap into the minds of other men, alive or dead. Jose Silva claims that God sent Jesus to teach us all of this. And, tonight, in our series of programs we’re going to have questions from our audience. Let’s have our first question.

Audience: My question is directed to Mr. Hunt. Mr. Silva talks about altering and creating reality. Now, I don’t like the point of inviting spirit guides into my mind to do that, but I wonder if a case could be partially made from the Word of God. For instance, Proverbs 23:7, “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Can we possibly alter and create reality by thinking in our heart to that end?

Hunt: Well, the Bible certainly isn’t teaching it there. That is generally quoted, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” which is a misquote. But you read it right. It says, “As he thinketh in his heart.” It’s not telling people they can change reality by changing their thinking. In fact, it’s a specific case in Proverbs 23. Solomon the king is writing to his son and he’s saying, “When I’m dead, and you’re head of state and you’re out there hobnobbing with other kings and rulers and so forth, and someone invites you to a feast and he says, ‘Eat up; we’ll be buddies; we’ll make a pact,’ you know, and so forth,” Solomon says, “If you are a man given to an appetite, you better put a knife to your throat. He says, ‘Yeah, let’s be buddies; that’s what he says with his lips, but his heart is not with you. As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Rather than telling you that you can change reality by changing your thinking, he says, “You better be careful that you know what that person really is thinking in his heart, not just what he says with his lips.”

Ankerberg: Another question.

Audience: Mr. Silva, we’ve heard a lot tonight about guides and counselors, spirits’ control. I wonder if you could answer, from your point of view, what your definition is of the Holy Spirit and what His function is?

Silva: My personal definition of the Holy Spirit. To me, it’s a dimension that we can create, a state of mind to enter it and make use of it for problem-solving situations. I don’t agree—personal concept, because my own Catholic officials have pulled my ears back a few times—that I cannot see that we have billions of people on this planet, and hopefully we have others in other solar systems and galaxies, that the so-called Holy Spirit would be there waiting for the proper time to jump into somebody and do something for them. I’ll say that God created a dimension that we can enter by arranging our state of mind, that we can use a dimension for problem-solving. Men shall be created by God to help ourselves solve problems on this planet. We were sent to the planet, not on a vacation, we were sent to do a work for God; help God with creation in thinking of His creatures. We seem to be functioning really as though we were functioning under a constant coffee break. We need to get busy and do our job. We didn’t come here to lie around, we came here to work.

Ankerberg: Okay. John, do you want to comment concerning the Holy Spirit?

Weldon: I think the issue of problem-solving has come up repeatedly and I’m concerned about the emphasis on pragmatism. The Romans were very efficient in their crucifixion. Just the fact that you are solving problems does not answer the question of whether or not an activity itself is right or pleasing to God, etc. I think when a person enters the psychic realm it’s like trying to play tennis with your side of the court under water. It’s impossible. You’re at a disadvantage, because man was not made to function in that realm, in that he is subject to entities who have his best disinterests at heart. I don’t doubt that there are things that seem to be good: Positive results can occur through the occult world or the psychic world, etc. That is something that many people have a testimony to. My question and my issue is, “What is the source of that goodness, or the alleged goodness? And is that source ultimately attempting to deceive people for a higher alternative; that is, leading them astray into a false theology, a false view of the world which will ultimately bring about a much more dangerous condition or situation?”

Ankerberg: Jose?

Silva: Information that comes from any source that you can use to solve problems has to come from God.

Ankerberg: Dave, or John?

Weldon: Most psychics claim their powers are from God, most mediums, most spiritists, etc. And yet God Himself in Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says, “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire [that related to human sacrifice], one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell or a medium or a spiritist or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord.” God’s view on that is very clear: just because somebody claims to be doing the work of God does not necessarily make it so. You have to determine, “Is that person doing what God has said is right?”

Ankerberg: Jose.

Silva: “By their works they shall be known.” Did he solve a problem or not?

Ankerberg: “By their fruits they shall be known.” [Matt. 7:16]

Silva: Well, works also.

Ankerberg: Okay. Get the quote right.

Silva: Okay. Now, the thing of it is, though, by the end results that go for this end. Now, if you did solve a problem, and the problem is solved, what doubt do you have in mind then, if you solved a problem already?

Ankerberg: But….

Hunt: Again, I have a problem with his problem.

Silva: That’s complicated.

Hunt: And his problem seems to focus around us: my problems, my feelings, my business world, my sex life, or whatever it is; how I’m going to solve my problems. But we’re leaving God out of this. And God says that the problem, the big problem on this earth, is sin in the human heart. There is evil within us, and you’re not going to solve it by getting into a state of mind. And Jesus Christ said, “I came not to call the righteous…”. Jose’s going to make everybody righteous, and I’m afraid it’s going to be a self-righteousness that is like taking an aspirin when you need an appendix taken out. You need radical surgery. And it’s going to make them feel that they’ve solved their problem when they’ve missed the real problem. Jesus said, “I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” [Luke 5:32] And I don’t hear of any sin and any repentance, and you don’t have a Savior unless you’re a sinner.

Ankerberg: Jose.

Silva: I’ve said before, John, that we sin because of ignorance. We’re not using what God really gave us to think with and to be able to attract the right information that we can use to solve our problems, or everybody, anybody’s problems. Not just our problems; problems that plague humanity and the planet. And I’m saying that the source is God. I mean, they couldn’t come from any other source if it is going to correct problems for His creation.

Ankerberg: Let me throw a verse in myself to everybody here, and that is that, concerning the fact of whether it comes from God or not, Jesus Himself, right in that passage where he’s talking about fruit also is talking about, “Beware of the false prophet.” [Matt. 7:15] And He said that there will be some that will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? But Jesus said, ‘I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me you who practice lawlessness.’” [Matt. 7:22-23] And Jesus said the way we would know the difference, “Everyone who hears the words of mine and acts upon them may be compared to a wise man who built his house upon the rock” that we all tell the kids in Sunday School. “And the rains descended and the floods came and the winds blew and burst against the house and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.” Then in the contrast He says, “Everyone who hears these words of my and does not act upon them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand,” and, of course, when the flood came, it fell. [Matt. 7:24-27] So it seems to me, Jose, that Jesus Himself is simply saying, “We can prophesy, we can do these great miracles, and yet not with God’s blessing upon it.”

Silva: Now, how are we going to detect the difference, if you are solving problems regardless of what source you’re using? Who is there to be the authority to define the differences?

Ankerberg: I think that God Himself answered that question for us by what Jesus Himself said. The ones who obey Him, those that are following what He says, that believe on Him, then He gives His stamp of authority.

Silva: That’s us. Founding on a rock. That’s us.

Ankerberg: Would you agree, John? David?

Weldon: I would disagree with that, because they have a different Jesus.

Silva: That’s your personal concept.

Weldon: They have a different Jesus Christ; they have a different God…

Silva: Oh, is there two of them? How or do you know?

Weldon: They have a… No, there is only one Jesus Christ.

Silva: Oh, I see. You said a “different one.”

Weldon: Well, I mean that you have a different Jesus Christ.

Silva: That’s what you say.

Ankerberg: Before we get too far into saying things against each other, let’s base it on evidence. What’s the evidence that you’re saying that, and then give me the evidence on the other side, Jose.

Weldon: Biblically, Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the godhead who took on human flesh. He is deity incarnate, undiminished deity and full humanity in one Person. He was not a “psychic” as it is defined in the psychics’ camp. He is God in the flesh. He came for one purpose and that was to die for the sin of the world so that anyone who believes on Him, which is what He said: “He who believes on me will have eternal life.” [John 3:18; John 6:47] And He said, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, if anyone believes on me he has eternal life.” [John 6:47] He came to die for our sin and that is the biblical Jesus Christ.

Ankerberg: Now, I would say, Jose, let’s draw a line. Do you believe that or do you not believe that? Do you disagree or agree?

Silva: I agree in part, you know, not in all that he said. He added many other things that don’t solve problems.

Ankerberg: Okay, what don’t you agree with?

Silva: I only agree with that part of the information that we can use to solve problems with. Now, we think we’re here to solve problems, not to create problems for God. We have been created in the image of God, meaning we can do on this planet what God is capable of doing in the whole universe. So we have that kind of, he calls it “psychic power,” we call it “mental power.” “Psychic” means “using your mind.” We use our mind for everything. You need to first have things happen in the world of the mind before they can be materialized. If they do not take place in the world of the mind, they will never happen in the world of physics.

Hunt: Well, Jose says that Jesus is—and I’m reading from his Keys to the Kingdom on page 31, and it is throughout his book—“I believe that Rabbi Jesus, a highly evolved Son of God, was assigned to this planet to correct this error in human development.” He is not a highly evolved Son of God. That is a concept that comes out of the East. The gurus and the yogis are trying to “realize self.” They are men on their way to godhood. The Bible clearly says that Jesus is God, He is the Creator, nothing was made that was not made by Him. [John 1:3] He humbled Himself, Philippians 2, and came down to this earth and became a man specifically to die for our sins.

And that’s another problem that I have: this matter of ignorance. I mean, maybe Jose never does this sort of thing, but maybe some Silva graduate here or whatever, the next time you’ve exceeded the speed limit on the freeway and you’re hauled before the judge, why don’t you say, “It was just ignorance,” you know? We have a saying in this country with lawyers, “Ignorance is no excuse of the law.”

Silva: You’re right.

Hunt: And why don’t you just say, “Well, look, you know, I’ve driven that freeway a hundred times and I never exceeded the speed limit. Surely my good deeds will outweigh my bad.” Or why don’t you say, “Scout’s honor, Judge, if you’ll let me off this time, I promise never to break the law again.” The judge says, “If you never break the law again, you’re only doing what the law demands.” You don’t get any brownie points for that. Now, what about the fact you already broke the law? There is a lack of guilt before a righteous God. And the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” [Rom. 6:23] and Jesus paid that penalty for us. And that is where our redemption and our salvation come from.

Ankerberg: Okay, Jose?

Silva: He’s covered several subjects there. Which one do you want me to answer? I wanted to answer the first one. He changed on us three times. Let’s go back to the first one.

Hunt: Well, Jose, you not only said Jesus was a highly evolved being, but you said one day you’re going to be more highly evolved than He is.

Silva: I didn’t say this. Maybe we could be. But He says some “greater things than these ye shall do.” Now why did He say this? Was He God speaking then, when He added, “And greater than these ye shall do”? [John 14:12] Now, another thing is, He never said other than “My Father and I… my Father who sent me.” Now, who’s the Father then if God was here? You answer that one.

Hunt: We have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Silva: Here we go.

Hunt: Three Persons who are One God.

Silva: It’s all subjective. Your mind.

Hunt: Well, the Bible tells me, Jose….

Ankerberg: Let’s get the evidence on the table before we decide. Dave, what’s your evidence?

Hunt: Well, you have basically three concepts of God. You have polytheism, like the Greeks and the Romans and the Hindus, and so forth. The problem is, you’ve got diversity but you’ve got no unity. There’s nobody to bring this thing together. So you’ve got the gods stealing one another’s wives and having war and there’s no peace in heaven and there can’t be peace on earth.

On the other end of the scale, you have a concept that God is a singular individual. That is, in Islam, Allah is a singular individual. He’s got unity, but he’s got no diversity. Before he created other human beings, he couldn’t experience love, fellowship, communion, he’s all alone.

In the center of this, consistently, through the Old Testament and the New Testament, you have the concept of a plurality within the godhead, Elohim, the Hebrew word used all through the Old Testament. You cannot escape the plurality of the godhead, but you cannot escape the singularity. And Elohim, this plural noun, used a singular verb and a singular pronoun. So Elohim doesn’t say, “We are that we are,” He says, “I am that I am. Is there a god beside me? I know not any.” [Isa. 44:8] And the Bible explains it as “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” three Persons, One God, and you have both unity and diversity. God didn’t need to create us; He doesn’t need anything from us. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit fellowshipped and communed and loved one another, and because God loves us, Jesus Christ became a man to die for our sins.

Silva: I would like Dave to answer what I questioned him on. When Jesus said, “And greater than these ye shall do,” who is speaking, God or Jesus?

Hunt: Jesus is speaking. And Jesus is God, but Jesus also became a man. He never ceased to be God; He will never cease to be man. He is the one and only unique Son of God. The New Testament uses that term about eight times, “The only begotten Son of God.” He is in a class by Himself that you and I will never be in.

Silva: Okay. But why did He say, “And greater works than these ye shall do”?

Hunt: Well, He told you why.

Silva: Am I going to be greater than God, then, after a time?

Hunt: No, He said, “Greater works than these shall ye do because I go to my Father,” [John 14:12] and He was going to….

Silva: Oh, there’s somebody higher than Him, then?

Hunt: No, He was going to send the Holy Spirit.

Silva: Here we go.

Hunt: And Peter, on the Day of Pentecost did greater works than Jesus. Three thousand people believed in Jesus on the Day of Pentecost. You can’t do anything greater than raising the dead. Jesus raised the dead. You certainly haven’t done anything greater than Jesus in that respect. But the greatest thing—and that’s where I think we’re missing here—is bring people to know Christ as Savior and Lord so they will spend eternity with Him and not be lost.

Ankerberg: Jose.

Silva: One important point here, John, that I think we need to mention and bring into focus, is that if anything that Jesus did cannot be duplicated, it has no value for us today. Now, if anything Jesus did, said, we could do, it has value today. Because if He solved problems by doing certain things, He taught us what to do and we continue to solve problems, that has value. But doing it once in eternity and nobody can duplicate that, it has no value, because we’re not going to be able to use it to continue solving more problems, so what value does it have? Just to know that it was done once?

Ankerberg: Okay, John.

Weldon: How would you apply that to the death of Christ? That was only done once, it can’t be repeated, but Jesus said that that was to forgive the sin of the world. That certainly has value.

Silva: Can you imagine what would have happened if He didn’t die? We’d all be Jewish today.

Weldon: No, if He didn’t die, we would all have our sins unforgiven.

Silva: Oh, boy, that’s your thought.

Weldon: That’s what Jesus said.

Silva: He would’ve stayed around to teach us how to take care of them.

Ankerberg: Well, okay, let’s move on here. Another question.

Audience: Jesus Christ came to solve the problems of mankind, and that is “sin.” Jesus came and died on the cross. How does the cross and the death solve your problems, Mr. Silva?

Silva: I’m not saying that it does. I’m saying that the message He brought when He was alive helped to solve problems, and that is the keys to enter the kingdom of heaven is within you, and to function within God’s righteousness. And all the natural laws will back you up to give you everything to be added unto you, whatever your needs are.

Ankerberg: Okay. Dave?

Hunt: Now, you see, I’ve been researching this, as John has, around the world for a number of years. You not only have common phenomena, they do the same things, engage in the same things….

Ankerberg: Who does the same thing?

Hunt: The mediums, the psychics, the gurus, the yogis, the voodoo priests and so forth. There’s a certain phenomena that follows them that they…

Ankerberg: Like what?

Hunt: Like healings, clairvoyant powers, out-of-body experiences, and so forth; mind-over-matter experiences. But there is also a philosophy—and John has referred to this earlier—that, in my opinion, identifies irrefutably the powers who are behind this, and that is, as you just heard from Jose, a rejection of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ upon the cross, a claim that we have this power within us. In fact, I’m reading here again from the same book on page 15, “We do not need to turn to a supernatural power to solve our problems. We can solve our own problems.” And I think Jose is overlooking the major problem, and that is the evil in the human heart, the sin nature of man. And Christ Jesus specifically said, “I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” [Luke 5:32] And I don’t hear any repentance from Jose. I don’t hear any acknowledgment of any real guilt. It’s just something that’s a state of mind that you can get rid of by going into your alpha level. I don’t think that’s biblical.

Ankerberg: Alright, Jose, a response from you?

Silva: My repentance is within me. I don’t have to make it public to anybody. When I go to my level and pray to my high intelligence, my god, that I believe is Jesus, that’s good enough for me. I don’t care what he thinks. He doesn’t have to know what I do within myself, okay.

Ankerberg: Final comment, Dave.

Hunt: Well, I think Jose said it all. I’ll just let it rest there.

Silva: One more point.

Ankerberg: Well, we’ll pick it up next week because we’re out of time here and so we’re going to have more questions from the audience, so please join us then.

Read Part 6