Alisha’s Testimony-From New Age to The True & Living God.

Alisha Deschamp’s Testimony : From New Age to The True and Living God

Alisha Deschamps

Alisha Deschamps

I found Alishas’ video testimony on YouTube and contacted her. She very graciously wrote her testimony and sent it to me, to add to this post.

In her video, she shares such a beautiful and eloquent testimony. Like her, when I was a New Ager, I thought all the Christians had to be killed, so we could evolve! Alisha was into the New Age, Transcendental Meditation, etc, before she gave her heart fully to Jesus.

Here is her written testimony :

“My name is Alisha. I was not raised in a christian home. I, like many others searching for spirituality, believed in a One-consciousness and believed that I was one with God. I got into Transcendental Meditation (TM) as well as relaxation and seeking my “higher power”. I remember having a “revelation” at one point that in order to “evolve”, humanity must be void of all “Christians”. I also remember thinking to myself that “If this is the truth… then it sucks because it all seems so impersonal …”

After about a year, I found myself in meditation and surrendering to Truth. I let go of everything I was ever taught. All biases and confusions I laid down for a moment and sincerely cried out with all my strength … for Truth… I cried out saying, “No matter what I’ve ever been taught or learned. .. I let it go and ask for the Truth. No matter what that is… I only want to know the Truth!

That’s when I heard God’s voice. A voice came audibly to me … a Voice that was not my own. “Alisha, find your Bible… and open it!” The amazing thing, too, was that I recognized the voice. I knew in my spirit that it was the voice of Jesus, the Christ.

A panic set in. Did I even have a Bible in the house? I reached up in my closet and pulled down a box. I dug through the books and found a Bible! I dusted it off and opened it. What I read dropped my to my knees.

“I and the Father are One”.

Jesus was God. I, and I needed to hear this and be humbled, was not.

I looked to another spot on the page. Again, what I read overwhelmed my to the point of tears of joy.

“I am the Good Shepherd. I will leave my 99 sheep who are following me to search out the 1 lost sheep.”

Alisha Deschamps 3

I was loved. It was personal. A weight that I never knew I even had lifted. Yes, it was like a 100 pound weight lifted off me when I first believed and accepted the fact that I was lost without knowing God and His love for me. I was forgiven. The guilt and shamed that weighed me down was now GONE. I leapt for joy and wanted to go downtown and shout in the streets, “Jesus is Real!”

By Alisha Deschamp, May 2014.

Many thanks to Alisha for very kindly writing her testimony for this blog! God bless you sister!

Posted in Testimonies, The New Age, YouTube | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Spirit Entity Harassment Support Group – Facebook.

 

In this video I advertise a new Facebook support group by my good friend Chenzo1969 of YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP-6J3OiyR0VfeZqbNTIdQg/feedYouTube.

Spirit Entity Harassment Support Group on Facebook.

This group offers support from Survivors who overcame supernatural abuse in the Name and by the power in the Blood of Jesus Christ.

Blood

 

Please see this Facebook support page. It states :

“This group has been set up as a place of help and support for those who are suffering from troubling unwanted encounters with hostile tormenting spirits.

Many people, worldwide, and throughout history, have suffered encounters with all kinds of malevolent evil spirits that may present themselves as: ghosts, angels, extra-terrestrials, demons, angels, or a whole host of other beings of wide variety.

People who suffer at the hands of these beings often do so in silence out of either fear of the entities that harass them, fear of what friends and relatives may think of their experiences, or both.

This group has been set up as a place where people can come and share their experiences and get help and support from others who have been in similar situations as this themselves.

Chenzo’s true life story of deliverance from evil spirit entities :
http://spotlightministries.org.uk/testi.htm

Chris White’s excellent website on sleep paralysis :

How to Stop Sleep Paralysis

Freedom from alien abduction type encounters :
http://www.alienresistance.org/

ghost spirit-entity-harassment-support-group

Please also check out Chenzo’s YouTube Channel: Chenzo1969 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP-6J3OiyR0VfeZqbNTIdQg/feed

It’s an excellent channel with many of his own videos giving advice on reaching New Agers and Occultists.

Posted in Aliens, Angels, Ascended Masters, Challenge & Test The Spirits!, Dead People, Deliverance, Energy Healing, Facebook, Fairies, Ghost Hunting, Guest Articles, Occult, Poltergeists, sleep paralysis, Spirits & Ghosts, Spiritual Abuse, Spiritual Warfare, Spiritualism, Supernatural, Testimonies, The New Age, The Ouija Board, Truth Seeker, YouTube | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Sample Chapters in Finnish – Translated from Laura Maxwell’s Novel.

Finnish Flag

Finnish Flag

My lovely Facebook friend Tea is a professional copy-writer and very kindly offered to translate the sample chapters of my novel into Finnish. She translated them from this link https://ourspiritualquest.com/lauras-novel/

Please see the Finnish Translation below. For other Translations of it, please see this link.

She was keen to do this, so that people in Finland could read it. I’m very grateful to her for doing this.

ೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sample Chapters from Laura’s novel : A Spiritual Quest.

Lauran novelli : Hengellinen etsintä

Luku 1

Yliluonnollisesta kiinnostuneina vierailimme spiritualistisissa kirkoissa, New Age -keskuksissa ja psyykikoiden luona eri puolilla Skotlantia. Toisinaan meediot valitsivat meidät yleisöstä ja tekivät ennustuksia tulevaisuudestamme. Nuoruudessaan äitini meni katsomaan kansainvälisesti tunnettua meediota, joka esiintyi Glasgow Pavilion -teatterissa. Hänellä oli viesti äidilleni: ”Olet tunneherkkä henkilö, rakkaani. Hyvin voimakas aura ympäröi sinua. Olet opiskellut jälleensyntymistä ja reikiä vuosien ajan, etkö olekin?” Äitini hymyili hyväksyvästi. ”Tulevaisuudessa tarjoat jälleensyntymisterapiaa asiakkaille. Jopa kriitikot ja kyyniset journalistit tulevat kokeilemaan sitä. Näen sinun auttavan heitä avaamaan 3. silmänsä. Tiedäthän, että olet erittäin avoin ja vastaanottavainen henkienergioille. Se on sukupolvissa siirtyvä lahja, se on sinun verenperinnössäsi, näethän. Sinulla on mystinen, skottilainen värähtely, mystikon aura.” Hänen katseensa kiersi huonetta. ”Itse asiassa, muutamia mystikkoja on täällä tänä iltana. Näen sen selvänäköisesti. Täällä on myös joitakin parantajia. Tällä paikallisyhteisöllä on voimakas yhteys esi-isiin, druideihin. Tunsin sen tänään saapuessani paikkakunnalle.”
Äitini otti minut mukaansa kokouksiin, kun olin tarpeeksi vanha osallistuakseni. Eräällä tapahtumapaikalla, Deloris, tunnettu meedio, osoitti minua: ”Mikä on sinun nimesi?” hän kysyi. ”Lisa”, vastasin innostuneena. ”Lisa, sinun isoäitisi on täällä. Elossa ollessaan hänen kätensä oli puoliksi toimintakyvytön, tällä tavalla.” Hän väänsi sormiaan. En pystynyt kunnolla muistamaan isäni äitiä. Hän oli kuollut ollessani vauva, mutta äitini vahvisti myöhemmin sen, että hänen kätensä oli vääntynyt sillä tavalla. ”Hän sanoo kävelevänsä kanssasi kouluun. Etenkin silloin, kun alat murehtia tulevia kokeita. Mutta hän sanoo, että kaikki menee hyvin.”

Äitini pidätti hengitystään. ”Valkoinen Pilvi, intiaanipäällikkö, seisoo vasemman olkapääsi takana. Hän kertoo minulle, että sinusta tulee psyykkinen kirjailija ja taiteilija tulevaisuudessa. Olet opiskellut psyykkisen taitelijan, Carol Hodgen, kirjoja, etkö olekin?” Nyökkäsin ja hymyilin äidilleni. Tiesin hänen iloitsevan siitä, että Deloris puhui minulle. Äitini oli ostanut kaikki Deloriksen kirjoittamat kirjat. ”Voit alkaa harjoitella sitä nyt. Ajankohta on oikea. Mietiskellessäsi pyydä henkioppaitasi kontrolloimaan kättäsi. He harjoittavat sinua automaattikirjoituksessa. Tyhjennä vain mielesi ja pääset transsiin. Huomaat, kuinka se alkaa sujua kuin itsestään muutamassa päivässä.” ”Ooh”, hän sanoi madaltaen ääntään. ”Kanssasi on myös eräs ylösnoussut mestari.” Hän hiljeni ja katsoi tätä kunnioittavasti. ”Mies on valinnut sinut pyhien kirjoitustensa välittäjäksi. Hän haluaa, että olet yksi hänen kanavistaan. Hän on taitava käsityöläinen. Kun istut miestä varten, hän ottaa kätesi haltuunsa ja luonnostelee kuolleita omaisia, jotka aineellistuvat. Kun olet vanhempi, piirrät henkioppaita ja kuolleita rakkaitasi asiakkaillesi. Siinä vaiheessa oletkin jo koulutettu meedio.” Olin jännittynyt.

”Valkoinen Pilvi kertoo minulle, että olet Estelle Royn jälkeläinen. Hän järjesti kokouksia Royal Albert Hallissa 1900-luvun alussa ja oli todella kunnioitettu selvänäkijä.” En ollut kuullut hänestä, mutta yleisössä olevat vanhemmat meediot henkäisivät ihmetyksestä. Ajattelin heti, että hänen on täytynyt olla hyvin vaikutusvaltainen. ”Sinun tähtimerkkisi on Vesimies, eikö olekin?” Vesimiehen aika on alkanut. Onpa hienoa, että hyvin pian monet ihmiset maailmanlaajuisesti avaavat itsensä henkisille todellisuuksille ja ylistävät omaa matkaansa valaistumiseen.” Nyökkäsin jälleen, pidätin hengitystäni ja odotin, mitä hän sanoisi seuraavaksi. Äitini myhäili. Tiesin hänen ajatuksensa.

”Lisa vihaa vettä!” Äitini oli Kalat, mutta hänkään ei rakastanut vettä. ”Valokuvaat, eikö vain?” ”Kyllä”, nyökkäsin, ja minua jännitti vatsanpohjassa asti. ”Näen sinun kehittävän mustavalkoisia vedoksia pimiössä. Et ole erityisen innoissasi tietokonegrafiikasta.” Hän naurahti ja jatkoi: ”Mieluummin valmistat kuvat vanhanaikaisella tavalla.” Hymyilin hyväksyvästi.

”Ota valokuvia itsestäsi istumassa transsissa. Käytä infrapunafilmiä. Henkioppaittesi kasvot ja ektoplasma tulevat näkyviin otoksissasi. Myöhemmin pystyt saamaan vastaavia kuvia kummitustaloissa. Vuosien kuluttua se auttaa sinua todistamaan paranormaalin olemassaolon, kirjoissasi.” Äitini Ruth ja minä olimme haltioissamme. Olimmehan omistautuneet psyykkiselle tutkimukselle. Maalliset saavutukset merkitsivät meille tuskin mitään. Yhteys henkimaailmaan oli meille tärkeintä. Se oli meidän intohimomme. Se oli meidän elämämme.

Äitini oli näkyvästi tyytyväinen puolestani – olin perinyt hänen psyykkiset kykynsä! Isäni ei ollut kiinnostunut mistään uskonnosta. Hän ei oikeastaan edes tiennyt, mitä teimme. Äitini ja isäni olivat eronneet äskettäin, emmekä kertoneet isälleni juurikaan henkisistä kokemuksistamme. Kun äitini oli käynyt ensimmäistä kertaa spiritualistisessa kirkossa, meediot olivat vakuuttaneet hänelle, että hän oli vahvasti selvänäköinen ja kehittyisi myös selvätuntoiseksi. Olimme jo huomanneet sen ja olimme tyytyväisiä, että meediotkin huomasivat sen. Näytti siltä, että olin lahjakkaampi selvänäköisyydessä ja selvätietoisuudessa, ja ensimmäistä kertaa ollessani äidin mukana, meediotkin huomasivat sen. He jopa sanoivat, että kun olisin vanhempi, minulla olisi tytär, joka olisi erittäin lahjakas psykometriassa.

Liityimme yhteen spiritualistiseen kirkkoon, jonka toimintaan osallistuimme tunnollisesti. Alueella oli myös kaksi muuta kirkkoa, joissa vierailimme. Saimme pian selville, missä buddhalainen meditaatiokeskus sijaitsi. Kävimme mielellämme terveysruokakaupoissa. Ostimme niistä Bachin kukkatippoja, kristalleja ja öljyjä. Niissä jaettiin mainoslehtisiä, joissa tiedotettiin paikallisista psyykkisistä tapahtumista. Hyvin pian olimme osa samanmielisten ihmisten verkostoa ja jopa ystävystyimme joidenkin johtohahmojen kanssa. Äitini ja minä vietimme useita tunteja mietiskelyssä. Meditoimme yhdessä olohuoneessa. Huone oli täynnä tuoksuvia kurjenpolvia ja muita vihreitä kasveja, joten se oli kutsuva ja varsin miellyttävä paikka virittäytyä henkisiin värähtelyihin. Mietiskelimme myös hiljaisuudessa. Toisinaan kuuntelimme opastettua meditaatiota, luontoääniä tai New Age -musiikkia cd-levyltä.
Meitä lämmitti erityisesti siskoni hengen ilmestyminen, kun hän puhui kanssamme. Äitini oli menettänyt vauvansa ollessani noin 7-vuotias, ja henget kertoivat meille, että vauva oli varttunut tytöksi henkimaailmassa. Hän ilmestyisi minulle usein ja puhuisi kanssani, erityisesti silloin, kun olin huolestunut kaiken maailman asioista. Oli hämmästyttävää, kuinka samannäköinen hän oli kanssani, etenkin ollessani nuorempi, paitsi että hänen hiuksensa olivat tummemmat, jopa mustat kuten äidilläni. Isäni oli taideopettaja ja rohkaisi minua harjoittelemaan maalaamista koulun tulossa olevaa taidekoetta varten. Olen varma, että hän olisi järkyttynyt kuullessaan, että harjoittelin sen sijaan kuolleiden ihmisten piirtämistä. Hänestä henkiset mielenkiinnon kohteemme olivat varsin pelottavia. Hälytyskellot soivat hänen päässään!

Äitini oli minua edistyneempi spiritualisti. Hän saattoi kutsua henkiä pyytäen heitä menemään kehoonsa ja puhumaan hänen äänihuultensa kautta. Heidän kasvonsa tulivat näkyviksi, kun heidän piirteensä näkyvät hänen kasvoillaan. Käsin kosketeltava ektoplasma ja usva virtasivat hänen ympärillään muodonmuutosten aikana. Ektoplasma tuntui melkein kuin hienolta musliinilta tai hämähäkinseitiltä, ja se haisi otsonin tai meri-ilman kaltaiselta. Olimme lumoutuneita. Se kaikki oli
niin jännittävää, niin houkuttelevaa, niin toisesta maailmasta… Sitten olimmekin jo täysillä mukana!
Jo lapsena saatoin puhua henkioppailleni pihallamme. Rakastin sitä pihaa. Oli helppo kuvitella keijujen asuvan pensaissa, sinikelloissa tai punertavassa kanervikossa. Uskoin keijujen vapauttavan öisin tuoksua, joka oli itse asiassa kuusaman tuoksua puutarhassa! Talomme oli kadun kulmassa, ja puisto oli iso ja täynnä koivuja, jalavia ja kuusia sekä villejä pensaita ja keltaisia kukkia. Juoksin ympäri puutarhaa ja hyppelin muurien päällä ja muurilta toiselle. Puutarhan nurkassa oli yksi erityisen pitkä marjakuusi. Aivan kuin olisimme asuneet vanhassa metsässä. Jos olisin kiivennyt ylös, olisin voinut istua lempioksallani. Se olikin salainen paikkani.

Teini-ikäisenä sain tietää, että marjakuuset saattoivat olla satoja ja jopa tuhansia vuosia vanhoja, ja että keltit olivat arvosaneet niitä. Niitä oli istutettu hautausmaiden ja kappeleiden vierustoille, ns. pyhille paikoille. Niiden uskottiin suojelevan kuolleita matkalla tuonpuoleiseen. Niitä oli istutettu omistuksille suojelemaan niitä pahoilta hengiltä. Luin, ettei ollut suositeltavaa mennä marjakuusien lähelle Halloween -juhlan aikana, koska silloin ne houkuttelisivat paikalle pahoja henkiä. Useimmat taikauskoiset uskomukset olivat täynnä vastakohtia, minkä huomasin vasta myöhemmin.
Kuvaus puutarhasta ja leikeistä jatkuu…

Luku 2

Lapsuudessani äidilläni ja minulla oli deja vu -episodeja ja hyvin erityisiä unia ja näkyjä, jotka sittemmin toteutuivat. Ennustimme kansallisia tapahtumia etukäteen, jopa aivan täsmällisesti. Myöhemmin katsoimme samat tapahtumat TV-uutisista. Äitini saattoi ennustaa tulevia tapahtumia ja lähettää minut seuraavana päivänä paikalliseen kauppaan. Hän sanoi sellaisia asioita kuin, ”Lisa, huomenna Daily Recordissa on valokuva prinsessa Dianasta sinisessä samettisessa iltamekossa, pukeutuneena helminauhaan.” Ostin lehden ja todellakin, näin artikkelin ja valokuvan, jotka hän oli nähnyt ennalta. Palatessani kotiin saatoin näyttää ne hänelle. Se sai äitini tuntemaan olonsa tärkeäksi. Jotenkin antoi hänelle aimo annoksen lisää itseluottamusta. Äitini saattoi jopa kertoa etukäteen Grand Nationalissa voittavan ravihevosen nimen! Jälkikäteen hän saattoi valittaa, ettei hän ollut vaivautunut lyömään siitä vetoa! Hän antoi energiaparannusta ihmisille ja eläimille. Monet sairaat pyysivät häntä parantamaan paikan päällä tai etäältä. Tavatessaan täysin vieraita, hän usein hämmästytti heitä paljastaen heille heidän varjelluimmat salaisuudet. Hänen tarkat ennustuksensa ja niiden paikkansapitävyys saivat tunnustusta muilta meedioilta ja kanavoijilta.

Äitini ahmi kirjoja astraaliprojektiosta. Kokeiltuaan muutaman kerran hänestä tuli täysin perehtynyt myös kaukonäössä. Eräänä päivänä johtava selvänäkijä spiritualistisessa kirkossamme pyysi häntä keskustelemaan kanssaan. ”Ruth, minusta tuntuu, että on oikea aika antaa sinut entistä paremmin henkimaailman palvelukseen. Olet osoittanut olevasi äärimmäisen lahjakas. Jotkut meediot ovat lahjakkaita, mutta heiltä puuttuu luonteenlujuutta, ja sinussa on paljon henkistä kypsyyttä ja yhdenmukaisuutta. Rakastat erityisen syvästi ja aidosti loukkaantuneita ihmisiä ja eläimiä, mikä on ainutlaatuista. Karmasi on hyvin tasapainossa; en ole koskaan aistinut mitään negatiivista ollessani lähelläsi.” Harold jatkoi: ”Olen erittäin tyytyväinen henkioppaisiin, jotka työskentelevät kanssasi. Muistan päivän, jona ensimmäisen kerran saavuit tapaamiseen. Oli hienoa toivottaa tervetulleeksi niin korkeasti kehittyneet henkioppaat keskuuteemme. Minusta tuntui etuoikeutetulta ja kunnioitettavalta tuoda heidät hengen maailmasta sinulle.”

Äitini nyökkäsi hyväksyvästi. ”Samanlainen vetää puoleensa samanlaista, mutta sinun ystävällisen henkesi kanssa, on erittäin epätodennäköistä, että joutuisit koskaan kohtaamaan pahantahtoisia henkiä. He eivät voi tulla luoksesi, koska sinulla ei ole alempia energioita tai pelkoja. Sinulla ei ole luurankoja kaapeissa. Sinun ja Lisan ei tarvitse olla siitä huolissaan. Emme odota minkäänlaista ilveilyä henkimaailmasta. Kummassakaan teistä ei ole negatiivista energiaa, eikä ympäristössänne ole sitä. Molempien aurat ovat hyvin kirkkaat. Olette selvästikin olleet kehittyneitä sieluja aikaisemmissa ruumiillistumissanne.”

”Kiitos sinulle Harold,” äiti vastasi hiljaa. ”Olemme kiitollisia, jos pystyt jatkamaan työskentelyä kanssamme täällä, mutta minusta tuntuu, että sinun pitäisi tuoda lahjasi julkisuuteen.” Äitini hymyili. ”Haluaisin tehdä sen.” ”Rakas ystäväni on pyytänyt meediota tekemään psyykkisen lukemuksen naistenpäivänä kotonaan. Se avaa sinulle monia ovia. Se on aika tuottoisaa.” ”En tiedä, mitä voin laskuttaa, Harold.” ”Sanoisin, että siinä 20 puntaa per asiakas ja viitisen istujaa per juhla. Saat asiakkaita helposti. Muista silti, ettei enempää kuin viisi päivässä, tai se voi olla aika väsyttävää.” Äiti nyökkäsi, melko yllättyneenä.

Useat spiritualistit, jotka tunsimme, näyttivät kunnioittavan Haroldia mutta ilman suurempaa kiintymystä. Näytti siltä, että he kunnioittavat ennemminkin hänen asemaansa kuin miestä itseään. Tunteeton ja huumorintajuton Harold ei ollut kaikista lähestyttävin kirkon meedioista, mutta hänellä oli erittäin hyvä maine transsityöskentelyssä, erityisestä transfiguraatiossa. Hän oli yksi niistä psyykkisistä meedioista, jotka tunsimme.” ”Sinun kannattaa harkita taiteilijanimeä. Teeskentelyä, mutta tiedän, että jotkut ihmiset odottavat sitä. Davina Rose sopii sinulle, eikö vain?” ”Kyllä. Tietenkin.” Äitini ei pitänyt nimestä, mutta hän ei uskaltanut kyseenalaistaa Haroldia!

Luku 3

Toisinaan henget yllättivät meidät lähettämällä meille lahjoja taivaallisista ulottuvuuksista. Useasti kun äitini tarvitsi rahaa, hän piteli tyhjää rahapussiaan käsissään ja pyysi ihmettä. Hänen avatessaan sen siellä oli tarpeeksi rahaa siksi päiväksi. Nauroimme ja yritimme arvata, mistä se oli tullut. Äitini pilaili sanoen, huomasikohan pankki tai jokin muu taho, että heiltä oli viety rahaa! Totuimme paranormaaleihin aineellistumisiin henkimaailmasta. Kerran kun äitini oli erityisen pahoillaan kissamme Teddyn kuolemasta, ihanan raikas ruusu ilmestyi hänen yöpöydälleen, vielä kasteesta kosteana. Minuutteja myöhemmin kuulimme tutun miau -äänen käytävästä, kun Teddy käveli huoneeseen, hänen ensimmäinen vierailunsa meille henkimaailmasta. Jokin tässä pelotti koiriamme. Ne murisivat ja juoksivat pois huoneesta, hännät koipien välissä! Toinen kissamme Cindy piiloutui kaappiin kahdeksi päiväksi, ja sen silmät käytännössä pullistuivat ulos päästä. Yritimme houkutella sitä ulos katkaravuilla, mutta se kieltäytyi tulemasta. Kotieläintemme reaktiot hämmensivät meitä. Ne tunsivat Teddyn, joten miksi ne traumatisoituivat kuullessaan hänen henkensä? Ellei se sitten ollut jokin häirikköhenki, joka vain teeskenteli olevansa Teddy… Mutta kuinka olisimme varmoja siitä? Voisimmeko testata sen ja varmistua asiasta jotenkin?
Aluksi olimme psyykkisten ilmiöiden vallassa, mutta lopulta meistä molemmista tuli hiljaisia ja vetäytyneitä. Koirat jättivät huoneen heti, kun tarot- tai enkelikortit levitettiin suurelle mahonkiselle kahvipöydälle. Kodissamme oli masentunut tunnelma. Sisäilma vaikutti aina vähän kylmältä ja tunkkaiselta, jopa kesäkuukausina. Äitini kertoi ihmisille, että hänen talonsa lahosi, ja että siellä oli kosteutta. Mutta se ei tosiasiassa selittänyt sitä. Äitini asunto täyttyi harvoin auringonvalosta. Luonnonvaloa tuli sisään vain vähän asunnon suunnasta johtuen. Synkkyyden lisäksi ilmassa vaikutti olevan muutakin raskasta. Toisinaan toivoin, että hän olisi vaihtanut kaikki
mahonkihuonekalunsa. Vaikka ne olivat kauniit, niin ne pimensivät asuntoa entisestään. Kaipasin vaaleampaa puuta ja nykyaikaisia huonekaluja sekä peilejä ja kristalleja heijastamaan enemmän valoa. Olohuoneen aavemaisesta tunnelmasta johtuen vetäydyin entistä useammin omaan huoneeseeni. Ystäväni nauroivat ja sanoivat, että se näytti New Age -kaupalta! Siellä oli kynttilöitä, kristalleja ja pyramideja. Hopeisia riipuksia ja intialaisia huiveja oli aseteltu lampunvarjostinten ja sängynpäätyjen ylle. Rakastin isoa ametistia, jonka olin ostanut kaupasta Fort Williamissa. Ikkunoissani roikkui unisieppareita. Kuvat violeteista ja vihreistä ympyräkuvioista vuorasivat sänkyni yläpuolella olevan seinän. Makasin sängylläni kämmenet kattoa kohti ja keskityin ympyröihin, jotka näyttivät ajelehtivan tai kiertyvän kaukaisuuteen. Hiljentämällä mieleni pääsin meditatiiviseen tilaan. Joskus käytin suitsukkeita, mutta siniset savupilvet saivat huoneen ilman niin makeaksi ja sakeaksi, että minun oli lopetettava ja avattava ikkunat.

Kuulin, että gootit pitivät patsuliöjyn tuoksusta, joten ostin sitä, vaikka se haisi minusta samalta kuin koiperhosen toukat! Pienet pullot ylang ylangia olivat rivissä ikkunalaudallani. Avasin ne peittääkseni patsuliöljyn hajun! Lipaston päällä oli laventelia huonetuoksuna pienissä kulhoissa. Niiden sisällöt eivät koskaan kestäneet kauaa, koska Cindyllä oli tapana raapia käpälillään terälehtiä ja jahdata niitä matolla! Olin ylpeä Marilyn Monroe ja Audrey Hepburn -julisteista, jotka
koristivat seiniäni. Toivoin heidän keskustelevan kanssani henkimaailmasta.

Vietin yhä enemmän aikaa teiniystävieni kanssa. Minusta tuli gootti, joka kävi oppilasliitossa muiden goottien kanssa viikonloppuisin. Siihen aikaan ystävien kanssa oleskelu oli tärkeämpää kuin spiritualismi, joten en käynyt spiritualistisissa kirkoissa niin usein kuin aikaisemmin. Vuosien kuluessa huomasimme joidenkin kirkkojen johtajien poissaolon. Aloimme kuulla shokeeraavia huhuja. Olimme oppineet kerta toisensa jälkeen ihmisiltä eri spiritualistisista kirkoista, että kaikkina aikoina menneisyydessä meediot olivat joko sairastuneet tauteihin, joita ei voitu diagnosoida tai kuolleet nuorina. He kärsivät usein hermoromahduksista. He väittivät olevansa henkien riivaamia, ja useat heistä jopa päätyivät psykiatrisille osastoille. Tyrmistykseksemme kuulimme, että jotkut olivat jopa tehneet itsemurhan. Kuulimme myös hyväsydämisistä psyykikoista, joista oli itse asiassa tullut henkien riivaamia. He käyttäytyivät vihamielisesti ihmisiä kohtaan ja jopa tekivät murhia. Lopulta kuulimme eräästä englantilaisesta meediosta, joka oli vastikään murhannut morsiamensa. Hänen pitkäaikainen henkioppaansa tai suojelusenkelinsä oli yhtäkkiä kääntynyt häntä vastaan ja varoittamatta ottanut hänen kätensä haltuunsa ja puukottanut hänen tyttöystävänsä kuoliaaksi.

Spiritualistisen kirkon johtajat eivät olleet koskaan kertoneet meille, mitä näille psyykikoille oli käynyt. Osa oli toipunut asteittain, tai mikä surullista, joutuneet loppuelämäkseen vankisairaalaan. Isotätini May, eläkeläinen, kertoi meille tarinoita, joita hän oli kuullut meedioista vuosikymmeniä sitten. Nuorena hänet oli vienyt spiritualistiseen kirkkoon eräs sukulainen, joka oli sanonut, että hän on jotenkin omituinen ja että hänen tulisi kehittää psyykkisiä kykyjään. Hän oli haltioissaan nähdessään ensimmäistä kertaa meedion esittelevän vanhaa trumpettia. Se jopa leijui ilmassa istunnon aikana. Henget käyttivät trumpettia puhuakseen sen kautta ja vahvistaakseen ääntään, joten henget pystyivät antamaan selkeitä viestejä huoneessa olijoille. Maylla oli ollut myös pelottavia kokemuksia, ja hän päätti olla menemättä takaisin. Tämän jälkeen May ei voinut nukkua ilman valoja. Hänen keskittymisensä ja koulutyöskentelynsä kärsivät. Ujosta tytöstä tuli aikuisena entistä vetäytyneempi ja levottomampi. Hänen vanhempansa olivat raivoissaan sukulaisille, jotka olivat vieneet Mayn spiritualistiseen kirkkoon, ja he kielsivät heitä viemästä häntä sinne.

Pelatessaan aakkoslaudalla serkkujensa kanssa vuosia myöhemmin henget kiroilivat heille ja ennustivat tarkasti hänen ystävänsä kuoleman junaonnettomuudessa, joka tapahtuisi hänen ylittäessään junarataa lähellä St. Rolloxia Springburnissa Glasgow’ssa. Hän ylittikin usein junaradan kyseisestä kohdasta päästäkseen kotiin oikotietä. Jonkin ajan kuluttua aakkoslautaistunnon jälkeen kyseinen tyttö todellakin kuoli jäätyään junan alle. Täti May ja hänen serkkunsa näkivät painajaisia ystävänsä
kuolemasta ja vakuuttuivat siitä, että aakkoslaudan henget olivat syypäitä tähän traagiseen kuolemaan. Monet heistä kantoivat syyllisyyttä tapahtuneesta vuosien ajan. Heistä tuntui, että aakkoslauta oli asettanut jonkinlaisen kirouksen heidän ystävänsä ylle, ja että hän ei olisi kuollut, jos he eivät olisi kutsuneet henkiä pelaamaan sillä.
Emme osallistuneet spiritualististen kirkkojen toimintaan niin usein kuin aikaisemmin, koska tajusimme, ettei siinä ollut takuita. Sen sijaan se oli suorastaan vaarallista. Yhdessä viimeisimmistä spiritualistisista tapaamisista, joihin osallistuimme, todistimme transfiguraatioistuntoa, joka meni pahasti pieleen. Meedio yritti estää vastenmielistä henkeä tulemasta kehoonsa mutta hän ei kyennyt hallitsemaan sitä. Toinen meedio kiiruhti auttamaan tätä, mutta heti kun hän kosketti toista meediota, molemmat meediot huusivat. Tulenleimauksen seurauksena molemmat saivat palovammoja. Ohuita savupatsaita nousi meedioista, kun osallistujat kiiruhtivat auttamaan heitä. Joku alkoi etsiä ensiapulaukkua. Kukaan meistä ei kysynyt, mitä oli tapahtunut. Kukaan kirkon johtajista ei yrittänyt selittää, mikä meni pieleen, tai miksi. Emme enää pitäneet spiritualistisissa kirkoissa käymisestä entiseen tapaan. Huomasimme entistä paremmin, että seurakunnan tilaisuuksissa vallitsi painostava hiljaisuus, ja ehkä tietämättään he olivat hallitsemattomien ja tuntemattomien voimien vaikutuksen alaisia.

Oudot ja häiritsevät tapaukset alkoivat olla yhä yleisempiä jumalanpalvelusten aikana. Äitini ja minä jopa luimme samanlaisista onnettomuuksista meedioiden kirjoittamista kirjoista. Kuuluisa meedio, Edgar Cayce, kirjoitti 1930-luvulla, että psyykkiset lukemukset saivat hänen terveytensä vaakalaudalle, erityisesti jo hän yritti tehdä niitä enemmän kuin kahdeksan päivässä. Hän jopa sanoi, että liian monet lukemukset olisivat vaaraksi ja voisivat tapaa meedioita! Siltikin tiesimme spiritualisteja, jotka tekivät niitä vähintään 14 päivässä. Siitä oli tulossa tuottoisa bisnes meidän sukupolvellemme. Monet psyykikot näkivät sen vakavasti otettavana liiketoimena. Siitä oli tulossa hyvin suosittua yhteiskunnassa. Psyykkiset kehityskurssit herättivät kiinnostusta enemmän kuin koskaan aikaisemmin.

Äidilläni oli kamalia näkyjä onnettomuuksista eri puolilla maailmaa. Hän vihasi saada senkaltaisia ennakkoaavistuksia eikä hän halunnut niitä. Hän näki lentokoneiden lentävän kahteen hyvin korkeaan tornirakennukseen. ”Olen varma siitä, että se oli New York”, hän kertoi minulle myöhemmin. ”Se oli kamala painajainen. Sellaista ei kai voisi tapahtua Amerikassa?” ”Ehkä se oli yksi vääristä näyistäsi. Ehkä ilkikurinen henki pilaili kustannuksellasi.” ”Se on mahdollista, mutta en usko sitä. Lisäksi, taivas oli hirveä. Se täyttyi pahoista olennoista. Ne olivat niin mustia.” Kyseenalaistimme sen, miksi henget antoivat äidilleni sellaisia ennustuksia, etenkin kun hän ei pystynyt estämään tragediaa. Se toimi meille molemmille hälytyskellona. Joskus mietimme, olivatko henget suorastaan sadistisia. Nauttivatko ne meidän kiusaamisestamme?

Yliluonnolliset kokemuksemme eivät olleet yhtä miellyttäviä kuin aikaisemmin. Tiesimme, ettei kaikki ollut kunnossa. Aavistuksemme muistutti jatkuvasti itsestään mielemme sopukoissa, mutta emme pystyneet tarkentamaan sen syytä. Olimme tajuamassa, että okkultismi oli kuolettavaa, joten päätimme hankkiutua siitä eroon. Mutta oli outoa, että kun kerrankin itse asiassa teimme tämän päätöksen, helvetti pääsi irti. Kaikkina niinä vuosina, jotka olimme viettäneet New Age -liikkeen ja spiritualismin parissa, asiat eivät olleet koskaan riistäytyneet käsistä. Silti näytti siltä, että vain millisekunti päätöksestämme vetäytyä näistä harjoitteista, helvetti pääsi irti. Ihan kirjaimellisesti.

Luku 13

Lupauksensa mukaisesti Suzie haki minut myöhemmin. Lyhyt ajomatka Stirlingiin oli mieluisa, vaikkakin olin vähän hermostunut. Lähestyessämme kirkkoa taivas oli kirkkaan sininen ja ilmassa tuoksui appelsiininkukka. Saapuessamme kirkon parkkipaikalle minua hämmästytti nähdä rakennus, joka ei näyttänyt lainkaan kirkolta. Rakastan vanhojen kirkkojen arkkitehtuuria, mutta myös näkemäni uudenaikainen rakennus oli luokseen kutsuva. Jopa ilmoitustaululla oleva kirjoitus ”Community Church” veti puoleensa nykyaikaisella kirjoitustyylillä ennemmin kuin vanhanaikainen kaunokirjoitus, jota olin odottanut. Häkellyin täysin astuessani helluntaikirkkoon. En ollut koskaan nähnyt kerralla sellaista määrää onnellisia ihmisiä! Lämpimät tervetulotoivotukset kuuluivat kaikkialta. Muutamat halasivat toisiaan. Heidän kiintymyksensä oli aitoa eikä alentavaa. Rakkauden ja myötätunnon ilmapiiri täytti huoneen. Se muistutti minua häistä, joissa olin ollut Gospel Hallissa ja siitä, kuinka seurakuntalaiset olivat tehneet minut vaikutuksen rakastavalla vapaaehtoistyöllään ja epäitsekkäillä teoillaan avun tarpeessa olevassa yhteiskunnassa.

Kirkossa ei ollut vain iäkkäitä ihmisiä. Sen sijaan siellä oli kaikenikäisiä ystävällisiä ihmisiä, myös lapsiperheitä ja vauvoja. Eniten minua hämmästytti teinien ja parikymppisten ystävysten määrä. Aistin ihmisten olevan aitoja. Lisäksi aistin, että heillä oli jotakin sellaista, mitä minulla ei ollut ja teki minut uteliaaksi. Mikä heidän salaisuutensa on, mietin. Mutta kyynisyys kestää aikansa. Entä saarnaaja? Aikooko hän (mies) suhtautua meihin holhoavasti? Mietin sitä. Kristityt ovat aivan liian ahdasmielisiä. Jos he vain tietäisivät sen, minkä minä tiedän! On monia teitä Jumalan luokse, muistutin itselleni. Samanaikaisesti tiesin, että etsintäni oli ollut hedelmätöntä, se oli johtanut minut vain syvemmälle pimeyden syövereihin. Saatoin tuntea itsessäni äänen, jota mikään ei tyydyttänyt. Se ei ollut yksinäisyyttä. Tiesin, että vain Jumala voisi täyttää minussa olevan tyhjyyden. Osa minusta halusi uskoa siihen, että Jumala on olemassa. Osa minusta halusi tietää, kuka Jumala on. Tietää, miksi olemme täällä ja mikä on meidän tarkoituksemme maan päällä. Tietää, mistä tässä kaikessa oikeastaan on kyse.

Muusikot alkoivat soittaa uudenaikaista ylistysmusiikkia. Se oli yllättävää! Se ei ollut kuten hautajaiset, joihin olin tottunut, kun olin pakosta joutunut käymään kristillisissä kirkoissa! Kristillisissä kirkoissa, joissa olin vieraillut varsin vastentahtoisesti, oli ollut tylsää ja huumorintajutonta, eivätkä ne viehättäneet tai vetäneet minua millään tavalla puoleensa. En ollut koskaan pitänyt järjestäytyneestä uskonnosta ja pidin sitä uskonnollisten johtajien vallantavoitteluna, he kun halusivat nousta ihmisten tekemässä arvoasteikossa entistä ylemmäs nauttiakseen uskonnollisista seremonioista ja julkisista esityksistä. Minulle useimmat kirkot edustivat vain tyhjää ja teeskentelevää hengellisyyttä. Ne eivät kyenneet kohtaamaan ihmisten hengellisiä ja emotionaalisia tarpeita ja toivomuksia. Pidin niiden johtajia ylimielisinä kontrollifriikkeinä, jotka hallitsivat seurakuntalaisiaan ja siten edistivät sosiaalista mukautumista pelottelutaktiikkansa avulla. Niissä kirkoissa ei ollut mitään, mikä olisi saanut minut palaamaan niihin uudestaan.

Tämä kirkko oli erilainen. Yleisö ei käyttäytynyt kuten uskonnolliset sätkynuket tai kloonit. Näytti siltä, että he saivat olla oma itsensä – Jumalan luomia ainutlaatuisia persoonia. He palvelivat Jumalaa pop- ja rock-tyylisellä musiikilla. Taistelin sitä vastaan, mutta lopulta aloin liikuttaa jalkojani musiikin tahdissa. En voinut vastustaa. Musiikki oli niin hyvää. Saatoin melkein kuulla Cliff Richardin sanovan, ”Miksi paholaisella pitäisi olla kaikki hyvä musiikki!” En halunnut musiikin lakkaavan lainkaan. Ensimmäistä kertaa kuukausiin olin itse asiassa alkanut tuntea olevani iloinen ja aivan pienen pieni toivon siemen alkoi itää minussa.

Kun eteläafrikkalainen saarnaaja valmistautui puhumaan, näin hengellisen valon ilmestyvän hänen ympärilleen. Häntä näytti ympäröivän kirkas valkoinen valokehä (aura). Olin hämmästynyt. Sellainen valokehä oli hyvin harvinainen. Saatoin tuskin uskoa silmiäni! Hän muistutti minusta kuuluisaa evankelistaa tri Billy Grahamia. Hän antoi yksinkertaisen viestin.

“John 3:16 sanoo, “Jumala on rakastanut maailmaa niin paljon, että antoi ainoan Poikansa, jottei yksikään, joka häneen uskoo, joutuisi kadotukseen, vaan saisi iankaikkisen elämän.” John 14:6: ”Jeesus vastasi: “Minä olen tie, totuus ja elämä. Ei kukaan pääse Isän luo muuten kuin minun kauttani.”
Kyyristyin. Tämä ärsytti minua ja oli vastoin vapaamielistä ajatteluani. Anna ihmisten valita oma jumalansa, argumentoin mielessäni. Mutta sitten… Äitini ja minä olimme tehneet niin ja nähneet, mikä sotku siitä oli seurannut.

Saarnaaja puhui yksityiskohtaisesti Jumalan rakkaudesta ja siitä, kuinka Hän antaa armonsa meille kaikille. Hän painotti sitä, ettei Jumala ollut vihainen meille. Hän sanoi, että Jumala ei odota päästäkseen huutamaan meille eikä rankaisemaan kovalla tuomiolla, mutta Hän on lähettänyt Jeesuksen kestämään kärsimyksen meidän puolestamme, jotta meidän ei tarvitsisi kärsiä. Ikään kuin Jeesus olisi taannut meille ikuisen hengellisen armon ja anteeksiannon taivaallisessa raastuvassa… mutta meidän oli tehtävä valinta sen suhteen, hyväksymmekö sen vai emme, ajattelin.

Hän puhui hiljaisella auktoriteetilla ja aidolla vaatimattomuudella. Ilmaisten lempeyttä mutta myös voimaa kasvoillaan oli ilmiselvää, että hän oli myötätuntoinen sielu. Hänen sydämessä asti tuntuva sanomansa veti minua puoleensa magneetin tavoin. Tarrauduin hänen jokaiseen sanaansa ikään kuin hänen sanansa olisivat olleet ilmaa hapen puutteeseen tukehtumaisillaan olevalle. Hänen puhuessaan tuskin räpytin silmäluomiani. Se ei ollut hypnoosia, minua ei oltu hypnotisoitu! Hallitsin mieleni täydellisesti, silti en halunnut menettää yhtäkään sanaa. Hän myös selitti, että Jumala on oikeudenmukainen tuomari, jonka oli jaettava oikeutta. Sitten hän kuvasi taivasta ja helvettiä raamatunkohtien avulla. Helvetti. Se kuulosti tutulta. Äiti ja minä olimme olleet helvetin porteilla. Ensin hän (äitini) oli pelännyt tekevänsä itsemurhan siinä tapauksessa, että henget jahtaisivat ja kiduttaisivat häntä ikuisesti. Epäilin, että Helvetti oli täynnä villikkoja ja rokkikukkoja, jotka joivat onnellisina Budweiseria and Jack Danielsia. Oli kuitenkin todennäköisempää, että he olivat aivan yksin, vaikkakin lukuisat luisevat ja pirulliset kädet tavoittelivat otetta heistä ja pitivät heistä kiinni. Saatoin kuvitella heidät liikkumattomiksi, kun pahat henget hyökkäsivät heitä kohti. Samanaikaisesti he olivat syvästi masentuneita ja suunniltaan pelosta… ikuisesti.

Ajateltuani näin minulla ei ollut ongelmia uskoa Taivaan ja Helvetin olemassaoloon. Entä Jeesus? Oliko hän todellakin Vapahtaja? Jumalan Poika? Pian palaava Messias? Sellaista, mitä olimme hyvän aikaa etsineet ja odottaneet? Se, mitä olin etsinyt koko elämäni ajan?

Saarnaaja kysyi saarnansa loppuvaiheessa: ”Onko täällä ketään, joka tietää varmasti, että haluaa olla tänä iltana kristitty? Jeesus rakastaa sinua. Jos kuolisit tänä iltana, niin missä viettäisit ikuisuuden? Oletko varma, että pääsisit taivaaseen? Eräänä päivänä seisot yksin Jumalan tuomioistuimen edessä. Hän tietää jokaisen sekunnin elämäsi ajalta. Tämä on kaikista tärkein päätöksesi, jonka koskaan teet. Sen seuraukset ovat ikuisia.”
”Herra asettaa eteesi elämän tai kuoleman. Valitse elämä! Jeesus voi antaa sinulle uuden alun. Vain Jeesus Kristus voi antaa syntisi anteeksi. Jos haluat sisäisen varmuuden ikuisesta turvallisuudesta, niin nosta ja laske kätesi tai tule yksityiseen rukoukseen tilaisuuden lopuksi ja johdatan sinut pelastusvarmuuteen.”

Monet nostivat kätensä vastauksena hänen sydäntälämmittävään vetoomukseensa. Tarvitsen aikaa miettiäkseni tätä kaikkea, en halua, että minut aivopestään, ajattelin. Jumalanpalvelusmusiikki oli
henkeäsalpaavaa. Se oli hidasta, pehmeää ja rauhoittavaa. Itkin, koska tunsin aivan erityisen ilmapiirin ympäröivän minua. Sävelet olivat taivaallisia ja laulu enkelimäistä. Se ei ollut vain tunteenomaisuutta. Kyse ei ollut harrastelijatoiminnasta. Se oli jotakin ainutlaatuista ja erityistä. Saatoin tuntea sen!
Saatoin kirjaimellisesti tuntea käsin kosketeltavasti Jumalan läsnäolon… ensimmäistä kertaa elämässäni.

Luku 14

Sitten saarnaaja alkoi profetoida muutamalle henkilölle. Hän kertoi heille asioita, jotka he tunnistivat ja joista he olivat tyytyväisiä. Lopuksi hän katsoi suoraan minuun. Hän näytti katselevan suoraan sieluni olinpaikkaan. Tämä mies oli rehellinen. Tiesin sen. Hän hymyili. ”Mikä sinun nimesi on?” hän kysyi huolestunut ilme kasvoillaan. ”Lisa”, vastasin varovasti. ”Lisa, tämä ilta oli järjestetty ennen maailman luomista. Herra rakasti meitä jo äitimme kohdussa. Hän on nähnyt jokaisen kyyneleesi. Hän on kuullut jokaisen huokauksen, joka on lähtenyt huuliltasi. Koska Hän on nähnyt jokaisen kyyneleen tyynylläsi, Hän on lähettänyt enkelin luoksesi. Enkelillä on hengellinen kaksoiskappale kyyneleistäsi. Hän asetti ne taivaassa olevaan pulloon. Siinä pullossa on sinun nimesi. Se on purppuranpunainen. Sinun lempivärisi.”

Istuin sanomatta sanaakaan. Kuinka tämä tyyppi tiesi minun lempivärini olevan purppuranpunaisen, ajattelin. En ollut pukeutunut mihinkään punavioletin väriseen. Minulla oli ruskea housupuku!
”Jeesus on kuninkaiden kuningas ja rauhan ruhtinas. Kyllä, rauhan! Olet ollut epätoivoinen elämässäsi varmistaaksesi rauhan, mutta se on livennyt otteestasi. Se on arvokas lahja kuten harvinainen ja kallis, elämänantava hedelmä, jonka Jeesus haluaa antaa sinulle, eikä Hän koskaan ota takaisin lahjojaan. Voit tulla yhdeksi Hänen tyttäristään tänä iltana. Valinta on tietenkin sinun.”

”Hän kutsuu sinua nyt, lapsi. Hän on yhtä lähellä sinua kuin ilma sieraimiasi. Olet etsinyt ja etsinyt. Herra sanoo kohdassa Jeremias 33:3: ”Huuda minua avuksesi, niin minä vastaan sinulle. Minä ilmoitan sinulle suuria ja ihmeellisiä asioita, joista et mitään tiedä.” Kuulin Suzien niiskuttavan vieressäni ja huomasin, että hän kuvasi kyyneleitä silmäkulmistaan. ”Näen sinusta tulevan muutaman vuoden kuluessa Jumalaa rakastavan, paistattelet Hänen läsnäolossaan. Näen sinun istuvan Jeesuksen jalkojen juuressa ja kirjoittavan ja tukeutuen Hänen jokaiseen sanaansa. Jeesus puhui vertauskuvin. Ihmiset ovat aina rakastaneet tarinoita. Pyhä Henki antaa sinulle luovia ideoita. Hän rakastaa erilaisuutta ja vaihtelua. Hän loi maailmankaikkeuden, galaksit, aurinkokunnat… Tiedemiehet löytävät yhä enemmän aurinkokuntia, joita hän on luonut!” ”Amen”, sanoi yleisössä ollut mies iloisesti.
”Älä pakene tai piilota taitojasi, Lisa, vaan käytä Hänen sinulle antamia kykyjäsi. Luova kirjoittaminen evankelioimista varten on erittäin palkitsevaa sinulle ja se on siunaukseksi myös muille heidän hengellisellä matkallaan. Ole kiltti, äläkä kiellä niitä, koska et usko osaavasi kirjoittaa. Voimme tehdä kaiken Kristuksessa, joka meitä vahvistaa.”

Kaikki tämä kuulosti ihanalta mutta kalvava epäilys nosti päänsä pintaan. Pyhää Henkeä varten kirjoittaminen? Kuka Hän on – henki? En ole varma, haluanko kirjoittaa henkiä varten, mietin. Spiritualistit halusivat minun tekevän sen, ja kaikki se melkein tappoi minut. Myötätunto käväisi saarnaajan kasvoilla. ”Pyhä Henki ei ole henki (aave). Hän ei ole paha eikä vahingoita sinua. Hän
on kolminaisuuden kolmas persoona. Hänessä on kaikki Kristuksen upeat luonteenpiirteet. Voit luottaa Häneen niin kuin hän olisi täydellinen Rakkaus, ehdoton Totuus, ja hyvyyden ruumiillistuma, silti vahvempi kuin yksikään vastustaja.” Tajusin hänen tietävän ajatukseni. ”Olet viimein astumassa oikealle polulle”, saarnaaja jatkoi. ”Kohtalosi alkumetreille. Sinä ja monet muut olette niitä, joiden kutsumuksena on tavoittaa spiritualistit ja New Age -uskon harjoittajat, jotka tulevat vastaanne elämässänne. Tarjoatte heille mahdollisuuden vastaanottaa Kristuksen rakkaus, vapaus ja ikuinen pelastus.” En puhunut.

”Olet tuntenut pimeyden. Monet tässä maassa ovat. Se voi yllättää teidät, mutta Skotlanti on pimeä kansakunta hengellisesti. Olen saarnannut Afrikassa, alueilla, joissa harjoitetaan noituutta ja voodoota esi-isien pitkässä ketjussa. Tiedän alueita, jotka ovat suorastaan pahoja. Sen voi tuntea. Jopa jotkut saarnaajat eivät halua tulla Skotlantiin, koska he tuntevat sen, kun he pääsevät tänne!” Ajattelin, että hän varmastikin liioittelee.
“Scotia on kreikankielinen sana Skotlannille ja se tarkoittaa pimeyttä!” Muutama mutisi hyväksyvästi. “Scotia on uppoava reunus pylvään pohjalla. Skotlannin pimeys heittää itse varjon ylitseen! Mutta Jumalan tuntevat skotit voivat nousta kansakuntien majakoiksi ja loistaa Kristuksen valoa perustuksiltaan ja toimia tukipylväinä ympärillään oleville, jälleen kerran.” ”Amen”, kuului yleisöstä.

”New Age -liike ja okkultismi on yleistä tässä sukupolvessa – tässä kansakunnassa – tässä maailmassa. Mutta näinä viimeisinä päivinä näemme useita noitia ja satanisteja, jotka tulevat Kristuksen luokse, heitä on enemmän kuin koskaan ennen.” Oliko Suzie kertonut hänelle aiemmin, että olin New Age -uskon harjoittaja? Miksi hän kertoo minulle kaiken tämän, ihmettelin.

”Monet näistä arvokkaista sieluista janoavat yliluonnollista ja kääntyvät okkultismiin, jos he eivät ole nähneet Jumalan voimaa kristillisissä kirkoissa. Jotkut heistä jopa saavat tarpeeksi kristinuskosta ja kirkossa käymisestä, kun jotkut kristityt tuomitsevat heidät, joten he alkavat sen sijaan harrastaa okkultismia. Kirkoissamme on tapahduttava parantumisia, merkkejä ja ihmeitä. Mooses teki niitä. Elia teki niitä. Jeesus teki niitä! Opetuslapset tekivät niitä. Meidän on näytettävä New Agen kannattajille, että Jeesuksella on enemmän valtaa kuin vastustajalla! Emme voi pelastaa sieluja pimeyden syövereistä pitämällä kynttilää vakan alla!”

”Lisa, kuninkaiden kuningas on ojentamassa Hänen rakastavansa kätensä sinulle tänä iltana. Hän tarjoaa sinulle Hänen pelastustaan. Se on ilmainen lahja, eikä kukaan meistä voisi koskaan olla niin hyvä, että ansaitsisimme sen hyvillä teoillamme. Se tarjotaan sinulle yksin Hänen armostaan. Vastaanotatko Hänet?” En voinut pidätellä kyyneleitä. Vapisin vähän sekavien tunteiden vallassa. Voisiko tämä kaikki olla totta? Onko Jeesus todellinen? Ihmettelin. Hänen sanansa olivat vakuuttavia. Hän puhui sisäisellä vakuuttuneisuudella ja rakastavalla auktoriteetilla.

”Syvässä tuskassa ja epätoivossa John Knox huusi, Herra, anna minulle Skotlanti tai minä kuolen! On tulossa päivä, jona useampi skottilainen kristitty huutaa kovaan ääneen, Herra, anna meille spiritualistit tai me kuolemme!” En todella tiennyt, kehen John Knoxiin hän viittasi, mutta olin vakuuttunut siitä, että Suzien oli täytynyt kertoa hänelle minusta!

”Hän aikoo näyttää sinulle ja muille New Age -liikkeen kannattajille, että Pyhä Henki on jotakin aivan muuta kuin psyykkiset ilmiöt tai voimat”, saarnaaja jatkoi. ”Hänen tuntemisensa, Hänen tiensä seuraamisensa, Hänen läsnäolonsa ja kohoaminen korkeuksiin Pyhän Hengen kanssa käsittämättömiin autuuden valtakuntiin. Se menee kaiken sen yläpuolelle, mitä psyykikot voivat koskaan kuvitella.” Minusta tuntui epämukavalta ja halusin rynnätä ulos rakennuksesta!

”Siunaa häntä, Herra”, hän rukoili. Sillä hetkellä aistin, että Jeesuksen persoona tuli lähelleni. Hänen voimakas läsnäolonsa oli rakastavampi ja todellisempi kuin yhdenkään henkioppaan tai kuolleen sukulaisen, jotka olin tuntenut ja nähnyt; joiden kanssa olin keskustellut. Hänen puhtaat ominaisuutensa, ystävällisyytensä, hellyytensä ja loppumaton ymmärryksensä minua kohtaan sai minut kokonaan valtaansa. Ja silti Hänessä oli raudanlujuutta. Kyseessä oli voima, jota ei voinut haastaa eikä sen yli voinut kävellä. Hänen Henkensä oli lempeä kuin lammas, siltikin majesteetillinen kuin leijona. Hänen rakkautensa oli puhdasta ja täydellistä, siltikään Jeesus ei ollut alistuva ja saamaton vätys. Oli selvää, että Hänen voimansa oli sellainen, että hän voisi tuhota koko universumin pelkällä pikkusormensa sivalluksella.

… Sitten puhuja näytti vakavalta ja hänen äänensävynsä muuttui. ”Rikon kaikki demonisesti inspiroidut sanat ja jokaisen väärän profetian pahoilta hengiltä, jotka meediot ovat aiheuttaneet elämääsi. Jokainen heidän sanomansa sanan kirous on poissa elämästäsi ja mitätöity Kristuksen Nimessä.” Se tuntui kirjaimellisesti siltä, kuin raskas metalliketju olisi katkennut ja pudonnut kehostani. ”Herra, kiitos Sinulle, että peruutit Saatanan suunnitelmat hänen elämäänsä koskien”, hän sanoi hiljaa. Sitten hän piti tauon. ”He kertovat, että kirjoitat ja jopa piirrät henkiä varten, eivätkö vain?” Nyökkäsin. Minusta tuntui inhottavalta ja vastenmieliseltä. Sen, minkä Saatana aikoi kahlita, Herra voi vapauttaa, kääntää vastakohdakseen, ja käyttää sitä Hänen kunniakseen.” ”Kunnia Jumalalle”, Suzie sanoi hiljaa …

For other translations of my work, please see this link.

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Many thanks for taking time to read and share the above post. For similar posts please visit my blog Our Spiritual Quest.

DISCLAIMER:

Laura Maxwell does not necessarily agree with all the information and conclusions presented by friends, guest articles on her blog, TV or radio interviews or her own radio show.

Laura is not paid for writing in books, magazines or appearing on TV, radio or at events. All of her work is of a voluntary nature.

Click on below link to see a few of my TV interviews.

On Revelation TV – Europe, USA and beyond. http://www.revelationtv.com

Posted in Spiritualism, Testimonies, The New Age, Translations | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Elämäni Spiritualistina – Laura’s testimony in Finnish!

Finnish Flag

Finnish Flag

My Facebook friend Tea is a professional copy-writer and very kindly offered to translate my testimony into Finnish.

She was keen to do this, so that people in Finland could read it.

I’m very grateful to her for doing this.

She translated it from Mike Shreve’s excellent website TheTrueLight.net

Please see the Finnish Translation below. For other Translations of it, please see this link.

Laura Maxwell’s Story : My Life As A Spiritualist

Laura Maxwellin tarina : Elämäni spiritualistina

Yliluonnolliset ilmiöt kiinnostivat minua jo lapsena. Muutamat psyykkiset tapaukset lapsena lisäsivät niihin liittyvää viehätyksen tunnetta. Äitini oli kokenut psyykkisiä tapahtumia lapsuudestaan lähtien, mutta hän oli niiden kanssa varsinaisesti tekemisissä vasta myöhemmällä iällä. Aloittaessani yläkoulun hänestä tuntui, että oli aika kokea enemmän. Ulkoiluttaessaan koiriaan eräänä päivänä puistossa meediona toimiva mies lähestyi äitiäni ja sanoi näkevänsä hänet tulevaisuudessa meediona. Mies kutsui äitini spiritualistiseen kirkkoon Glasgow’ssa, Skotlannissa, jossa asuimme.

Pian äitini oli täysillä mukana kaikessa yliluonnollisessa. Spiritualistisen kirkon uutena jäsenenä hän osallistui sunnuntaisin spiritualistisiin jumalanpalveluksiin, keskellä viikkoa kehitysryhmiin ja silloin tällöin joogatunneille. Hän jakoi kanssani kaiken oppimansa, ja minäkin kiinnostuin siitä. Hänen sydämensä toiveena oli harjoittaa meediokykyä, ja muut meediot rohkaisivat häntä siihen. He pyysivät äitiäni liittymään avoimeen kehityspiiriin, jotta hän oppisi meditoimaan ja välittämään kuolleiden viestejä. Äitini oli halukas kehittämään kykyjään selvänäössä, -kuulossa ja -tunnossa sekä saamaan oppia muilta meedioilta.

Aina kun äitini oli varannut yksityisistunnon paikalliselta tai vierailevalta meediolta, ostimme istuntonauhan ja kuuntelimme sen yhdessä samana päivänä. Meitä hämmästytti, kuinka paljon puolituntinen nauhoitus sisälsi henkikommunikaatiota. Henget kertoivat yksityiskohtaisesti elämästämme: tarkkoja nimiä, paikkoja ja päivämääriä. Oli selvää, etteivät meediot olleet huijareita, jotka lausuivat tiettyjä nimiä sattumalta. He kuvailivat todella tarkasti kuolleiden sukulaistemme fyysistä ulkonäköä ja luonteenpiirteitä; jopa toistivat heidän yleisiä sanontojaan ikään kuin sukulaisemme olisivat keskustelleet heidän kanssaan.

Liityin Glasgow’ssa sijaitsevaan spiritualistiseen kirkkoon. Äitini ja minä luimme mystisiä kirjoja chakrojen avaamisesta, kristalliparantamisesta, jälleensyntymisestä, vaihtoehtoisista terapioista ja niin edelleen. Kävimme New Age -keskuksissa saadaksemme tietoa henkisestä valaistumisesta, jota havittelimme. Olimme huolissamme ympäristöasioista ja kuluttamisesta sekä sosiaalisesta oikeudenmukaisuudesta ja kansainvälisestä rauhantyöstä, joten osallistuimme mielellämme ihmisten ja eläinten kontakti- tai kaukoparantamiseen.

Lopulta osallistuimme myös muodonmuutosistuntoihin. Äitini kehittyi hyväksi automaattikirjoituksessa, ja meediot ennustivat, että minusta tulisi psyykkinen taitelija, joka piirtäisi kuvia kuolleista sukulaisista ja henkioppaista asiakkaille. Kokeilin Kirlian-kuvausta käyttäen infrapunafilmiä, jolle tallentui ektoplasmisia kuvia.

Seuraavien 10 vuoden aikana kuulimme usein tarinoita meedioista, jotka eivät enää kyenneet kontrolloimaan henkiä, jotka puhuivat heille tai heidän kauttaan. Monet meediot saivat hermoromahduksen tai kävivät ihmisten päälle väittäen, että heidän henkioppaansa olivat pakottaneet heidät siihen ja he päätyivät lopulta psykiatriseen hoitoon.
Kuulimme raportteja poltergeisteista meedioiden kotoa. Aluksi hyväksyimme selityksen, että ilkeämieliset tai pahantahtoiset henget saattoivat joskus tulla läpi ja aiheuttaa sellaista. Mutta kun se
tapahtui meille, sitä oli vaikea hyväksyä, ja sen seurauksena oli melkein mahdotonta toimia normaalisti.
Ystävämme, muut psyykikot ja meediot, eivät voineet tehdä mitään kotimme hyväksi. Henget puhuivat äidilleni jatkuvasti häiriten hänen nukkumistaan. Ne hyökkäsivät hänen päälleen fyysisesti, kolistelivat vaatekaapeissa ja paiskoivat ovia sekä tekivät muuta sen kaltaista. Yhden kerran ne pakottivat äitini transsiin ilman hänen suostumustaan, kun hän oli laittamassa ruokaa. Kun hän heräsi transsista, keittiö oli tulessa. Saavuin kotiin sen jälkeen, kun palokunta oli sammuttanut palon, onneksi ennen kuin se oli levinnyt muihin huoneisiin. Tajusimme, että äiti sekä koirat ja kissat olisivat voineet kuolla.

Äidin vanhempi täti, joka oli myös käynyt spiritualistisissa kirkoissa, tunsi näkymättömien käsien tarttuvan häneen ja työntävän hänet rappusia alas kotonamme. Sen seurauksena hänen ranteensa murtui. Mennessämme ostoksille katsoin kauhistuneena, kun äitini ikään kuin nostettiin ilmaan ja heitettiin jalkakäytävälle, josta hän paiskautui auton konepellille. Se ei ollut ainoa kerta.

Päätimme jättää spiritualismin ja käskimme henkioppaitamme poistumaan. Järkytykseksemme ne nauroivat meille ja loukkasivat meitä. Ne hyökkäsivät päällemme fyysisesti, mikä saattoi meidät aivan ymmälle, sillä ne olivat neuvoneet meitä ja olleet ystävällisiä meitä kohtaan vuosien ajan. Kävi kuitenkin selväksi, että ne olivat pettäneet meidät. Ne olivat väittäneet olevansa hyväntahtoisia, vaikka todellisuudessa ne olivat olleet kaiken aikaa kieroja.

Suurin järkytys oli, kun ”kuolleet sukulaisemme” kääntyivät meitä vastaan. Ne nimittelivät ja löivät meitä. Ne uhkasivat meitä, ettemme uskaltaisi jättää okkultismia. Olimmehan tietämättämme antaneet niille hallinnan ensimmäisestä päivästä, kun olimme kutsuneet ne elämäämme.

Toisena yliopistovuotenani äitini terveys huononi, ja hänen henkioppaansa uhkasivat tappaa ihmisiä hänen avullaan. Äitini lääkäri ei voinut hyväksyä poltergeisttapauksia ja diagnosoi hänelle skitsofrenian, joten hänet suljettiin mielisairaalaan. Kuukausia kestäneen rauhoittavan lääkityksen jälkeen lääkärit vapauttivat hänet avohoitoon. Äitini kertoi psykiatreille tarkoituksellisesti, ettei hän enää kuullut ääniä. He päästivät äitini kotiin. Kotiin palattuaan hän koki entistä pahempaa henkien häirintää ja teki itsemurhan.

Eräs kristitty, jonka olin tavannut psykologian oppitunnilla Strathclyden yliopistossa, kutsui minut helluntaikirkkoonsa. Hän kertoi muista psyykikoista, jotka olivat kokeneet vastaavia tragedioita, ja jotka olivat vapautuneet henkien vaikutuksesta, kun he olivat tunnustaneet Jeesuksen Kristuksen pelastajakseen. Luovuin spiritualismista ja minusta tuli kristitty. Myöhemmin eräs pastori ystävineen vieraili äitini kodissa ja puhdisti sen rukoilemalla. Jeesuksen nimessä kaikki henget lähtivät eivätkä palanneet. Myöhemmin myin äitini asunnon, eikä minun tarvinnut huolehtia siitä, että uudet asukkaat tulisivat häirityiksi.

Helluntaikirkossa ei seurattu kuollutta uskonnollista traditiota. Sen sijaan siellä oli elävä, rakastava ja miellyttävä ilmapiiri. Seurakuntalaiset olivat saaneet koulutusta profetointiin Pyhältä Hengeltä. Parantumisia ja muita ihmeitä tapahtui. Merkkejä ja ihmeitä tapahtui tuon tuosta. Itse asiassa näin muutamassa vuodessa enemmän parantumisia helluntaikirkoissa kuin spiritualistisissa kirkoissa yhteensä yli 10 vuodessa.

Kun minusta tuli kristitty, jopa ennen kuin olin lukenut Raamatun varoitukset okkultismista 5. Mooseksen kirjasta kappaleesta 18, tajusin välittömästi sen, mitä oli tapahtunut. Palapelin puuttuva palanen oli siinä. Kun kuolleet sukulaisemme ja henkioppaamme olivat alkaneet hyökätä äitini
päälle, se oli osoittanut sen, että ne itse asiassa olivat pahoja henkiä, jotka olivat pettäneet meidät ja vain jäljitelleet rakkaitamme. Kristityt antoivat selityksen sille, miksi kuolleiden oli mahdotonta palata puhumaan kanssamme. Kuoltuaan he ovat ikuisesti taivaassa tai helvetissä.

Minulle selitettiin myös, että pahat henget ovat langenneita enkeleitä. Niitä on ollut vuosisatoja ja niillä on psyykkistä tietoa perheistämme ja sukumme historiasta. Ne voivat muuttaa pahan ulkomuotonsa esiintyäkseen kuolleina perheenjäseninämme tai joskus eläneenä kuuluisuutena. Tämä saa vahvistuksensa 2. Korinttolaiskirjeessä kohdassa 11:14: ”Eikä ihme, tekeytyyhän itse Saatanakin valon enkeliksi. Ei siis ole mitenkään merkillistä, että hänen palvelijansa esiintyvät Jumalan asian palvelijoina. He saavat tekojensa mukaisen lopun.” Pahat henget toimivat spiritualismin avulla ja palvelevat Saatanaa saaden ihmiset uskomaan, että ne ovat kuolleita sukulaisia ja henkioppaita.

Ennen kuin irrottauduin okkultismista, en tiennyt Raamatusta kohtaa Ensimmäinen Johanneksen kirje 4:1–3, ”Rakkaat ystävät, älkää uskoko kaikkia henkiä. Koetelkaa ne, tutkikaa, ovatko ne Jumalasta, sillä maailmassa on liikkeellä monia vääriä profeettoja. Tästä te tunnette Jumalan Hengen: jokainen henki, joka tunnustaa Jeesuksen Kristuksen ihmiseksi, lihaan tulleeksi, on Jumalasta. Yksikään henki, joka kieltää Jeesuksen, ei ole Jumalasta. Sellainen henki on Antikristuksen henki, jonka te olette kuulleet olevan tulossa ja joka jo on maailmassa.”

Spiritualistina olin uskonut, että Jeesus oli vain jonkinlainen kosminen voima ja osa universaalia tietoisuutta tai psyykkinen parantaja. Kääntymykseni jälkeen kuulin monista psyykikoista, mustalaisista, meedioista, noidista ja jopa satanisteista, jotka olivat alkaneet minun tavoin ajatella, että olennot, jotka esiintyivät henkioppaina tai kuolleina sukulaisina, eivät olleet sitä, mitä ne väittivät olevansa. He olivat vapautuneet demonisista hyökkäyksistä vastaanotettuaan Kristuksen elämäänsä.

Kaksi menestyksekästä meediota Glasgow’sta, Sadie Bryce and Geordie Aitken, kääntyivät kristityiksi. Sadie vieraili kanssani samassa spiritualistisessa kirkossa. Hän puhui okkultistisesta menneisyydestään BBC:n ohjelmissa ja tallenteella, kun taas Paul Watson kirjoitti kirjassaan yksityiskohtaisen kuvauksen Geordien kokemuksesta. Kirjoittelimme toinen toisillemme Sadien kanssa, ja tapasin Geordien useita kertoja. Sain selville, että henget olivat johtaneet samalla tavalla harhaan meitä kaikkia.

Jeesus paransi pelkoni, fobiani ja fyysiset vaivani. Hän antoi minulle ilon ja rauhan, joita en edes tiennyt olevan olemassa. Hänen käsin kosketeltava ja rakastava läsnäolonsa on huomattavasti todellisempi kuin mikään muu kohtaaminen, jonka olin kokenut ollessani spiritualisti.

Kerrottuani elämäntarinani kirkoissa, satelliittitelevisiossa ja radiossa sain kuulla lukuisista ihmisistä, jotka olivat jättäneet spiritualistiset kokoukset, tarotkortti-illat ja vastaavat menot. Äskettäin viimeistelin todistusvoimaisen kertomuksen, joka sisältää joitakin yksityiskohtia tapahtumista, joita äitini, ystäväni ja minä koimme ollessamme tekemisissä okkultismin kanssa. Se sisältää myös joitakin upeita kohtaamisia Jeesuksen ja enkeleiden kanssa, ja ne ovat hyvin erilaisia kuin kohtaamiset, joita olin kokenut spiritualistina.
Jos haluat tilata kirjani A Spiritual Quest, otat yhteyttä sähköpostitse  laura.maxwell@protonmail.com

Posted in Foreign Translations, Spirits & Ghosts, Spiritualism, Testimonies, The New Age | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

111,800 YouTube views of one of Laura’s TV interviews!

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My American friend Jon Pounders of NowYouSeeTV, shared this post on his Facebook page.

“This video just passed 111,000 views. It’s always steady climbing because this obviously is a hot topic. Thanks Laura Maxwell for contacting us and allowing us to be a part of your ministry. I am consistently getting emails and messages from people that are thankful, because of the name of Yeshua (Jesus) and they realized that : Laura was telling the truth. If you are a Spiritualist that has “spirit guides,” use this test : Command them in the name of Yeshua (Jesus) to reveal their true nature. See what happens.”

Jon’s YouTube channel, really proves the impact of the internet as an outreach tool. He makes videos on it regularly and the various topics attract wide audiences. For example, my own YouTube channel has many videos on it, and has had 96,819 views since February, 2010. Whereas, in comparison, the above video alone that Jon made has had almost 112,000 views since June 2011!

I’m so grateful to Jon for making this edit of 1 of my TV interviews. It’s a powerful video, due to him adding all of his graphics, my photos, special effects, etc. I was so glad when the late Doug Harris at Revelation TV, gave Jon permission to edit it that way!

YouTube can be an amazing outreach tool, on Jon’s channel & mine, comments are left by viewers worldwide, from Christians, Occultists, athiests, etc. People have come to Jesus on our YouTube Channels and saw their demonic ‘spirit guides’ leave their presence! All glory to God.

With Doug Harris, Revelation TV, March 2009.

With Doug Harris, Revelation TV, March 2009.

Thanks again Jon for making this video edit for your channel. I’m very grateful to you and your channel.

If you are gifted in making videos, it’s very powerful, so please be encouraged to make outreach videos if you’ve not done so before.

To see the full length version of the above video, or other TV interviews of myself and others, please go to this link to my YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LauraMaxwellExSpirit/featured

Posted in Challenge & Test The Spirits!, Spirits & Ghosts, Spiritualism, Testimonies, TV Programs, YouTube | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Books on The Evidence for Jesus & also Evidence for Creation.

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Perhaps your friends or colleauges are interested in the evidence that Jesus Christ of Nazareth did live, die and rise from the dead, just as the Bible reports?

Here are a few books. More will be added to this list later!

On The Evidence For Jesus

The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict – Fully Updated To Answer The Questions Challenging Christians Today by Josh McDowall. Amazon link.

Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison. Amazon link.

The Case For Christ – A Journalist’s Investigation Of The Evidence For Jesus by Lee Strobel. (New York Times Bestselling Author). There are also versions for teenagers and children. Amazon link.

The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas. Amazon link.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Amazon link.

Jesus Is, by Judah Smith. Amazon link.

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BibleFire

On The Evidence For Creation

Handbook of Biblical Evidences – The Facts on Jesus, Creation, The Bible, by J. Ankerberg & J. Weldon. Amazon link.

Testing Darwinism by Phillip E. Johnson. Amazon link.

The Dark Side Of Darwinism by Jerry Bergman. Amazon link.

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More to be added soon !

God bless you,
Laura Maxwell.
Founder of ministry A Spiritual Quest.

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Posted in Apologetics, Books | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘NOAH’ by Answers In Genesis & Good Fight Ministries.

Below this video review, there are two other significant & revealing reviews of the new movie ‘Noah.’

The Noah Movie Deception and the Last Days. By Joe Schimmel

Did you know, according to Hollywood, that the main reason God destroyed the ancient world with a flood was because of a lack of environmental activism and overpopulation? Did you know that Noah was a liberal eco-terrorist and the world’s “first environmentalist”? Did you know that Noah was really a callous, dark person? Did you know that Noah was a drunken, axe-wielding murderer? Did you know that Noah threatened to kill his eldest son’s wife and her unborn daughter, because he didn’t want the earth to be repopulated? Did you know that Noah’s old pal Methuselah (really old pal) was a witch doctor who guided Noah spiritually? Did you know that Noah enlisted the help of Satan’s fallen angels to protect him while building the ark?

… Did you miss all of this when you first read the biblical account of Noah and the great flood in the book of Genesis? Of course you didn’t miss these things, because they never happened!

Noah director, Darren Aronofsky, blatantly admits about the movie “Anything you’re expecting, you’re f**king wrong,” and “Noah is the LEAST BIBLICAL film ever made.” He also said, “I don’t think it’s a very religious story …I think it’s a great fable that’s part of so many different religions and spiritual practices.” – Darren Aronofsky, Variety 2012

Should we expect more from a director who has made a slew of Gnostic themed movies and who praises the Nephilim (“fallen ones”)? When Aronofsky tweeted that Nick Nolte would be playing the role of the fallen angel Samyaza (another name for Satan) who, according to the extra-biblical book of Enoch, is the one who led a revolt where the “sons of God” took for themselves the “daughters of men,” begetting Nephilim, Aronofsky praised the evil Nephiim, tweeting, “just added the legend in #noah . long live the nephilim! it was an honor.” (Source)

Obviously, Aronofsky’s triumphant praise of God’s enemies, “long live the nephilim!” is something no God-fearing man or woman could ever utter.

While the bible makes it clear that Noah was a righteous man, director Darren Aronofsky would have us believe, as he told the Guardian, “He’s a dark, complicated character.”

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Hollywood screenwriter Brian Godawa condemned the Noah script under a post entitled “Darren Aronofsky’s Noah: Environmentalist Wacko.” Godawa wrote, “If you were expecting a Biblically faithful retelling of the story of the greatest mariner in history and a tale of redemption and obedience to God you’ll be sorely disappointed.”

Russell Crowe, who plays the lead character declared :

“The funny thing with people, they consider Noah to be a benevolent figure because he looked after the animals: ‘Awww, Noah. Noah and the animals.’ It’s like, are you kidding me? This is the dude that stood by and watched the entire population of the planet perish. He’s not benevolent. He’s not even nice. You know what I mean? At one point in the story his son says, ‘I thought you were chosen because you were good?’ And he goes, ‘I was chosen because I can get the job done, mate.’ So I think people are gonna be…judging from where their questions come from, I think they’re gonna be quite surprised what Noah actually means, what it means to be in that position.”

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Aronofsky’s and Crowe’s claim that Noah is portrayed as an uncaring, dark person ultimately serves to make God appear even worse … Noah is portrayed as a reluctant murderer of innocent babies on God’s behalf, whereas God has no problem having Noah performing the dastardly deed.

Portraying God as evil is an ancient ploy that Satan used in the very beginning, when he sought to get Eve to believe that God was withholding the forbidden fruit from her, because she would supposedly become God (Genesis 3:1-6). We also see this tactic used when Satan tried to get Job to curse God and commit suicide (Job 1 & 2).

A journal of Gnosticism.

A journal of Gnosticism.

Gnosticism.

Historically, Satan has used this stratagem in a more sophisticated way through the tenets of Gnosticism. Now he continues to promote this ruse in the present through avenues like neo-Gnosticism and Hollywood. In this respect, Darren Aronofsky was a perfect candidate to be the director of the Noah movie, as he has plenty of Satanic/Gnostic themes and diabolical inversions going on in his previous movies (as we shall see later). For an eye-popping treatment of Gnosticism in popular movies, see our documentary, Hollywoods’ War on God!

Gnostic and Occult Elements in Aronofsky’s Films.

Gnosticism

Aronofsky’s movie Noah, by painting God and Noah as dark and unmerciful characters, continues the age long, satanically inspired theme of calling good evil and evil good. We are truly living in days like those described in Isaiah:

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…” (Isaiah 5:20).

Aronofsky’s Gnostic tendency to invert that which is holy with glorifying death and evil in his previous movies helps us to understand why Noah would be depicted as a dark character in the movie Noah.

A lion faced deity found on a Gnostic gem.

A lion faced deity found on a Gnostic gem.

Christians who understand spiritual warfare from a historical perspective will remember that it was the Gnostics of the first three centuries of church history who were the greatest threat to Christianity. Gnostics attacked the gospel of Jesus Christ by twisting the narrative of biblical stories to make God look evil and the dark powers appear heroic, e.g. “The Judas Gospel.” The spirit of Antichrist that thrived in the early church period is alive and well today, with greater avenues of deception than ever. In our video documentary Hollywood’s War on God, we examine several big movies that promote Gnostic/Satanic themes.

After reviewing some of Aronofsky’s previous movies and observing the fact that his films are riddled with Gnostic elements, asking him to direct the movie Noah would be akin to enlisting Beelzebub himself.

To read more of this review from Good Fight Ministries, please go to their site.

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Below is an article by Ken Ham in Issue 3, Volume 7 of Answers Update, the newsletter by Answers In Genesis.

Noah1

Noah2

Below is an extract from the review from Ken Ham and Answers In Genesis.

Evil Is Good and Good Is Evil.

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

This verse repeatedly came to mind while reflecting on this movie because the film often flipped biblical morality on its head. It’s important to realize that the director and cowriter, Darren Aronofsky, is a self-professed atheist. This fact alone doesn’t mean that he couldn’t make a good film on the Bible’s history (especially if he seeks advice from Bible-believing Christians), but it should make believers wary of what he is going to present. Nearly every moral issue seen in Noah is inverted.

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As mentioned earlier, Noah, renowned in the Bible for being a righteous man, is portrayed in the second half of the film as a psychopath bent on wiping out humanity. He is far more concerned about the plants and animals than he is about people.

Rather than being the holy God described in Scripture, the god of this film is a vengeful being who remains silent when Noah pleads for an answer about his pregnant daughter-in-law. The god of this film is shown as using the cruel process of evolution (survival of the fittest) to bring about Adam and Eve, meaning that billions of animals must have lived and died long before Adam sinned (more on the evolutionary teachings below). This pro-evolution approach turns the film’s god into a cosmic hypocrite. He wants Noah to save all the animals on the ark so they could repopulate a new paradise where man is absent, yet in the process of creating the world he allowed billions of animals to suffer and die long before man was ever on the scene. Why would he have ever created man in the first place?

The film’s “villain” is actually the one who makes some of the strongest (we are using that term very loosely) theological statements. Tubal-Cain reminds Noah’s son Ham that man was made in God’s image and that man had been given dominion over the animals and the earth. Of course, Aronofsky takes this to the extreme, perfectly in line with the usual Hollywood thinking. Tubal-Cain is the evil man, yet he believes in land ownership, gun ownership (yes, he wielded some sort of explosive projectile weapon), and man’s superiority over—and right to—hunt animals. He’s also portrayed as a meat-eater, which is depicted in the film as the worst possible sin. It’s true that man was not permitted to eat meat until after the Flood (Genesis 9:3), so it would have been wrong for Noah to eat meat prior to that time. But the film’s Noah was inordinately disgusted by this activity yet had no trouble butchering human beings made in God’s image when some people attempted to eat an animal (and in other scenes).

In the backstory told by Noah to his family once they are inside the ark, the serpent in the garden of eden sheds its skin. This distracts Adam while Eve wanders off to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This shed snakeskin becomes some sort of magical talisman that Noah and his ancestors wrap around their forearm to use while blessing their children and for working wonders. So the shed skin of the serpent in the garden is good, yet God is bad.

In one of the strangest twists in the film, the fallen angels are the good guys. Yes, the fallen angels (called Watchers) are not demons but are the self-sacrificing heroes of the film. Aronofsky and Handel even flipped the morality of the non-canonical Book of Enoch and other ancient Jewish writings. In Enoch, an angel named Semjaza leads a group of 200 angels to come to earth and marry women, thus rebelling against God and corrupting mankind with their sorceries. Yet in the movie, these angels take pity on man because the vengeful god has thrown them out of the garden, so they leave heaven with good intentions—to help man. But the cruel god in this film causes them to crash into the ground. The earth clings to their bodies of light turning them into multi-armed rock giants (resembling a conglomeration of boulders). Methuselah, a sorcerer of sorts, is the only human who comes to their defense. He even used the magical snake skin to create an explosion that burned up hundreds of warriors who were trying to kill the rock giants/fallen angels.

In the middle of the film, Tubal-Cain finds Noah and declares his ownership over the land that Noah is on. He asks Noah if he really thinks that one man could stand against his army. Noah said, “I’m not alone.” Great! The Christian viewer thinks that Noah is about to demonstrate his dependence on God in the face of overwhelming odds. Wrong. At that moment, the rock giant Watchers, who sat motionless as piles of stone during the confrontation, stand up to intimidate Tubal-Cain and his army. In other words, Noah doesn’t depend on God to rescue him. His help comes from the fallen angels.

But it gets worse in Noah. The fallen angels, led by Semjaza, defend Noah and the ark at the start of the flood from Tubal-Cain’s raging army that is fighting to board the ark. The Watchers begin to fall one by one under the army’s onslaught. As the first one dies, the Watcher cries out to the heavens for forgiveness, then his rock-like body transforms into light and shoots up into the sky. This “resurrection” prompts another rock giant to proclaim, “He returns to the Creator.” So even though the Bible is quite clear that fallen angels cannot be saved and are destined for eternal punishment (Matthew 25:41; Hebrews 2:16; 2 Peter 2:4), Aronofsky lets his film’s real heroes go to heaven. Again, so much for biblical accuracy.

Paramount

Paramount

Given these moral reversals in the film, it is astonishing that any Christian leader could possibly endorse Noah. It’s truly incredible to think that Aronofsky and Handel just happened to overlook these points. No, their script includes clear, deliberate attempts to subvert the Bible’s morality, along with Scriptures proclamation of God’s character, the concepts of righteousness and mercy, the eternal judgment awaiting fallen angels, and man’s place in creation.

To read more of this review from Answers In Genesis, please go to their site AIG.

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For more reviews on Noah, see the below links.
Many thanks,
Laura Maxwell.

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Shayla escapes from a controlling Psychic.

This is a lengthy testimony from a YouTube friend of mine. It’s worth reading, as the detail and conversations convey how she fell under the manipulation and control of a Psychic. Her visits became addictive and it was difficult for Shayla to break free from.

Shayla lives in New York and shares how she eventually stopped visiting a Psychic and took the Bible’s warnings more seriously …

Shayla

Shayla

‘I’ve always been interested in arts and had been a very extroverted person all of my life. Very friendly and open-minded to new things. The early parts of my life I just knew I wanted to be an entertainer. So I was involved in modeling and acting, until finally I stumbling upon something unexpectedly, I’d never thought of myself as a singer and it was odd how I fell in to it. I was a very exceptional writer, I started traveling a lot and writing songs with major names in the Music Industry, I did shows and had my own group before I branched off and became a solo artist, my life was starting to evolve into something I didn’t imagine, but slowly I started seeing a darker side to the fast-paced life of the Music Industry. I was drinking every single day and partying all night. I had a Christian up-bringing but it was definitely not reflective at that time, it was as if I had lost touch with God.

By the time I was 23 I’d lived or stayed in have a dozen States including Canada, trying to chase a dream but I later found out that while I was chasing this dream something was chasing after me, and it was dark. After spending about a month in California with a Musical Legend and things not really working out the way I planned I decided to head back to where I began my journey which was Chicago and from Chicago back to New York City. This is when the darkness started to get deep. I started to get really depressed on and off and was being attacked off on by demons. Literally, I would have sleep paralysis and this would last for a few years, I wasn’t quite knowledgeable about what Spiritual Warfare was all about, but there was indeed a battle going on.

Barely a year would pass before I made another move, being the restless spirit that I was, I was always searching, I think for peace, but I didn’t know how to go about it, I was running from darkness. I made my way back to the Midwest, this time I would make it to Milwaukee. The first few year were very depressing and for me to have a regular schedule an a job was something that took time to get use to. The spiritual attacks would happen off and on, I just couldn’t understand why or what was going on. One day I went to the store and a woman stopped me. I was standing at the check out counter and she looked directly at me and said “God hasn’t forgotten about you.” I just looked at her, and I was kind of upset because I thought who does she think she is telling me that, She doesn’t even know me? I started to walk away, but when I looked back she was gone. I thought how strange but that would be the beginning of God leading me, calling me and I didn’t even realize it at the time.

Months went on and I had started having so many problems at work with a certain supervisor and co-workers, everything just seemed to be crashing down on me and I couldn’t take it anymore so I quit. I started to fall into an even greater depression because I had no income coming in and I couldn’t handle it. Then one day I was getting ready to go somewhere and I heard a voice, an audible voice say simply “Pray”. I was astonished as no one was in the house but me! I wasn’t really afraid but I still looked around and I waited, then I got down on my knees and prayed.

Whenever I prayed I always made sure to pray for my family, especially for my brother because I knew he was going through a lot of things. Oddly enough I would moved down to Texas where my brother was temporarily and two armed men would break into the house and shoot at him, but not one bullet touched him. That day that the armed burglars came in I was supposed to be there along with my sister in law. I know God was protecting us because my brother is ex-military and his two younger kids were in the room with him. He knew instinctive to draw them out of the house. The way it worked out was, he was supposed to go to see a recruiter about re-enlisting into the military but the recruiter cancelled for some reason and my sister-in-law decided she wanted to go grab a cup of coffee so we left and not 20 minutes later did we get a call to come back home and that the police were there and were doing finger prints, needless to say they eventually caught the two bandits a few weeks later. It was by the grace of God that we were spared and you would have thought I’d learn my lesson from that.

I eventually moved back to Milwaukee and found a job, but I was still depressed, still feeling like my life was meaningless without music, or passion or direction. So I started partying away again and I will never forget it. The day after New Year 2012, I felt this darkness come over me and it was so thick. That next night I had a dream that I was speaking to a Psychic and she held my hand and told me your hand is too warm. The following day I was watching videos on YouTube a few about testimonies from various Ex-Spiritualists and something about their stories really touched me it quite vexed my heart however, because I had a friend over whom was heavily into the occult and she got upset because she felt as if those people were saying ‘too much’, ‘telling all the secrets’ as she put it.

Later that night she enticed me to go see a Psychic, and I remembered the dream I had and I told her. She said, it’s a sign you’re supposed to go needless to say I went with her. I sat in the car, and something deep inside said to me “don’t go in, don’t go.” I went anyway. My friend was the first to go inside and get her reading, the it was my turn.

“Your body craves passion, you desire to feel love but you hold back, you don’t want anyone close to you,” The psychic told me her expression intense as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. How could she know all that? I thought in unbelief. I shook my head and thought well, she is a psychic. I had reservations about coming inside and I think she knew that as she began to tell me more about myself. “I can sense a lot of fear,” she began as she closed her eyes and then opened them again slowly. “You have gone through a lot in your life you’ve been hurt a lot and you have had a lot of struggle. You were meant to do so much but something is holding you back; something is keeping you from being the person you were meant to be. You were meant to be a warrior, you were meant to be great, a very influential person.” She said her eyes were looking directly into mine and eyebrows slightly burrowed, as she seem to be reading me. Something about what she said and how she said them began reverberating
inside my head.

Some how I already knew this, I had always felt this and I had just thought about this very thing a few days prior oddly enough. She continued on. “You’re a very generous person, just a very kind person but you are misunderstood. You’ve never been able to really connect the way you would want to with others because you’ve been hurt. Who hurt you?” She asked as I looked up at her I felt a thousand times smaller than I was than as I entered. I couldn’t believe it but I went on to tell her about the one true love that just completely caused my heart to stop beating as it should and all the relationships I would have in the future would have been effected because of that one time it just completely shattered my soul but not just that but a lifetime of heartbreaks, not romantic but just in life itself my belief had dwindled, the short glimmers of hope shattered by the negative force. I had some how built a wall so high that tearing it down or even climbing over it would be damned near impossible.

When would I ever begin to feel again, when would I ever come back to life? She sensed emptiness in me that I had placed so far down inside that I had kept hidden. While I would smile and fake happiness no one knew the true sadness that I felt inside my soul, sadness so thick that the darkness was deeper than opaque and transcended into something more like an abyss. I was in denial of my feelings and emotions and become very much numb.

“You don’t truly know yourself. This is not the person you really are. You are a person full of passion but this energy is keeping you from reaching your full potential. You have so much to give so much love but you’ve become shut off, heartbroken is not even a word to describe your emotion, it’s like you’re in a state of mourning,” she said as I felt the biggest lump in my throat, I tried hard to fight back my emotion and thank God I succeeded the last thing I wanted to do was be all teary eyed in front of a complete stranger.

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you think everything is okay then everything blows up in your face. So what was I missing all this time, there was so much irony there, in my life it was like a free ride but I already paid. That’s exactly how my life seemed, but why? It’s supposed to be my turn but someone keeps walking in front of me, and I have to laugh because as much as the irony is sickening it’s oddly and darkly humorous. You live and you learn but what you learn doesn’t always mean it’s going to help you, what you learn from experience can some times keep you from moving forward and that was the key if I was ever going to break this horrible cycle. I had three sessions with the psychic Eva and I felt as if she really hit on a lot of things that would help me on my sort of bittersweet journey.

“You’ve never truly been happy,” She had told me. She was right, I’ve had happy moments and happy times but what was happy? That’s always a journey and never a destination. Happiness is a pursuit of the human experience. We are all searching for that one thing that is going to move us, but what if that one thing that moves us is never meant to be something outside of us but and inner experience and all that soul searching wasn’t anything that had to do with just our aspirations and dreams but who we are in conjunction with those things. Happiness is very much a mood in the sense that we are happy at times. I think we search for happiness outside of the very essence of the word. We seek happiness through people, acquiring material things, wealth, even relationships but this is temporary, this happens in shifts it is not stable, it doesn’t last, it comes from somewhere else. (True happiness is knowing God, for he brings joy and peace)H

I had always looked at myself as a hopeless romantic, but a hopeless romantic that didn’t have anyone I truly wanted to express my love for and my love runs deep. Although when I finally was presented with the opportunity to express that emotion it was trampled on which in turn made me afraid to ever let go again, not ever.
“You’ve closed your heart to love. That’s not who you are. God doesn’t recognize us by our flesh or by our face, but he recognizes us by this,” she said pointing to her heart. “You are meant to impact the world on a great scale. You think that God doesn’t hear you, that he’s not listening to you, but he is. I know you pray but because of this negative force it keeps you from obtaining all that you can be. You have to believe you have to have faith I can help you, but I need you to believe I need you to trust me, I want you to believe in yourself. Faith without works is dead. Meaning God helps those who help themselves.

It’s crazy but the pieces are supposed to fall into place. Sometimes it’s belief that gets us there. It is belief tied into our works and our abilities. I think about this and it reflects the person that I truly am. With all the talents that I have I had to work harder then I ever had in my life to obtain and reach goals and sometimes that’s what it takes, that extra push, that extra effort. So many years seemed like a blur as I looked back, but I must admit I have come a long way, with some of those years being quite tumultuous I had grown and I had learned and I had taught. I learned the importance of being alone and how it’s significant to the soul to spend time with ‘self’ because we have to figure out who we are, we have to silence our minds sometimes from the clutter, from the noise and become quiet to our thoughts and receptive. I learned to understand what I am feeling and why I am feeling it; I learned not to be afraid of what I am feeling. I learned to stop blaming others and look inward to the mistakes I’d made because when it all comes down to it we are responsible for our actions and what we take and what we accept. How then can I look back at my life and say it is anyone’s fault that I didn’t live or didn’t know how to live because I held back the best part of me.

Nothing is promised and nothing that is broken is permanent. Broken pieces can be put back together. If you truly want to be whole love can make that happen. I have found the true meaning of forgiveness and it took me years to understand the moment I let go of it was the moment I got more than I could handle, the moment I jump off of it was the moment I touched down. Through my frailty I found strength and forgiveness gave me freedom because I didn’t have to hold on to it because I knew it meant me no good to hold on to hate, it was a poison but I am now free from the bondage of not forgiving for it is for me.

Over the course of a few weeks strange things started to happen things I couldn’t quite understand fully. Life had pretty much been a rollercoaster for me. I have always pretty much been in transit for the most part, it is true what they say of life, it is truly a journey.

The week that followed, the Psychic told me to fast and during that week it was as if I had the revelation of all revelations. First of all, I knew going into her place of business that I shouldn’t. It began so strangely, I had actually had a dream prior to all this coming about that I was speaking to a palm reader or psychic and she began to read my palm and as she looked at my hand she looked up at me and said, your hand is too warm and she just kept saying it over and over again. I awakened shortly; oddly enough a friend would come over and entice me to go to see a psychic. We went to one place, but it wasn’t open so my friend asked me to look online for one near by and we found one, we called her up and she gave us her location. When my friend and I entered, I remembered feeling so uncomfortable and scared because I knew I shouldn’t be there. She asked which of us would like to go first and my friend elected to be the one to go first. I sat in the car nervously, not knowing what to expect and thus it began.

But as I was saying during the week of the fast for nine days it was like a great intercession. I began to wonder and question. The psychic had been speaking as if she were a messenger of God, she spoke of deliverance, and things that I could relate to on a Godly level and it began to make me feel comfortable as if maybe what I was doing wasn’t so bad. She said, “I know you didn’t know what to expect when you walked through that door, I know you were scared.” I just looked at her and I thought to myself she is right I didn’t know what she was going to say and I was apprehensive but in the back of my mind I felt something was still wrong. She began to relay messages about my family and how they were and she did hit on a lot of things but she also missed on a lot of things and told me things that may or may not be true that I didn’t know. I began to wonder about her words during my fast and I began to doubt so the only place that I could find peace and really understand what I was up against was the Bible and I knew in the bible somewhere it did say something about not going to consult with psychics, so I began to do some research and sure enough it said “there should not be found one among you that consult with spirits or mediums or psychics.” As a matter of fact there are a few books in the bible that speak of not going to consult with them because they will defile you and deceive you. It bothered me so much and I felt absolutely horrible. What had I done? I knew in my heart it was wrong but I was not sure I was deceived what was I doing? I still couldn’t believe it.

 '...for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.' (Bible, 2 Corinthians 11:14).

‘…for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.’ (Bible, 2 Corinthians 11:14).

One night I had a horrible dream about the psychic it was supposed to be her but it didn’t really look like her and I asked her, are you a psychic? I just kept asking her and her face completely changed and turned into this horrible demon looking image and it woke me up.

A few nights later I was so convicted and so tormented that I had to pray as I always did but this was different. I asked God, please let me know right from wrong and for him to open my eyes, am I to see this psychic, is this right? That very night he answered my prayer as plain as the sun that shines in the morning sky. The dream was completely clear and concise, it was unmistakable and without confusion.

His Stripes

The Son (Jesus) was kneeling down praying and crying, I felt as if he was praying for me and then I saw a bright light towards the heaven, and out of the light was a voice and it said simply and plainly, “Do Not Go Back!”

I remember waking up quite disturbed, but not in a way that would cause any type of fear emotion but of realization and consecration because the Lord had spoke to me and I knew that it was of God because it did not go against his word it did not conflict or make a lie of his word because I already knew that I should not be going to see a psychic and in conjunction with that it also states in his word for me not to go so it was confirmation. I felt completely convicted and I realized the sin that I had committed against God and had grieved him. I realized that the son was crying because of my sin because he knew that I would continue to go after I just asked him if it was right or wrong and he had given me the answer so many times but being a sinner I failed to listen.

I remembered stopping by and she told me, you were supposed to call, I’m not sure if I was or not but I needed to see her to tell her I had to stop. She wasn’t there so she called back as she didn’t answer the first time and I was in the car with a friend. She said, “I thought we agreed you were going to call?” I replied, “Oh, I don’t remember.” She then went on asked if I was by myself and I wasn’t so she told me to call her back when I was alone. So, when I did finally call her back I tried to tell her how I felt what I was doing wasn’t right, that I’m supposed to trust in God and lean on him, It sounded almost as if she was in a restaurant or something because there was as lot of noise I could hear in the background. She went on to tell me that I had to do what was ‘in my heart’, and that I needed help that I couldn’t do it on my own.

So I went on and continued seeing this psychic. One night I went to work and there was a horrible snowstorm the lights went out and it was just a bad night. I had been hearing a voice for a while telling me to slow down, slow down. I didn’t listen as usual and when driving to a stop sign I was going too fast and ended up almost crashing as I slid on the snowy street. That really scared me and it should have stopped me. I went to the psychic and I told her and she was surprised and she began with her rant about the negative energy and how it was strong and very much present in my life. I then asked her something that completely threw her off, I asked if she believed in God and she looked at me surprised and said “Of course I believe in God, I’m a Christian, remember I am the one who showed you how to pray.” That really bothered me, because did she not know that I already knew how to pray? I remember her making a comment one time prior telling me in her own words, “I know you pray, but you do not think he listens or hears, he hears your prayers.”

I just knew I shouldn’t be there and I began to try to tell her about the dream I and it was like I didn’t want to tell her, it was like a part of me still wanted to believe that perhaps she was right, that just maybe she could help me. I said to her, because I couldn’t concentrate any longer on what she was talking about as far as the “negative energies”.. and I said to her “I’m sorry, I just I have to tell you this it’s bothering me, I just had this dream.” She looked at me her voice softened almost as if her heart may have sunken, and she said… “What was your dream about?” Just as I was about to tell her it was as if the words couldn’t come out. There was a long pause and she continued to look to me waiting for a response but nothing came and it was as if I felt that if I should tell her the truth that it might possibly hurt her and I know it sounds weird but I was scared and I just couldn’t do it so I told her that I forgot and she said to me. “See you can’t even remember, these negative energies are moving us apart.” I felt terrible after that. She then said, “I want you to pray Shayla, pray that our bond is stronger.” After I left her I remember going home and completely feeling lost, feeling horrible and convicted of my sinful nature. I felt I had disappointed God and not only that myself. I was so upset I cried and was in complete anguish over my actions and my choices.

A few days would pass and it was as if I was becoming addicted to her messages and silly antics and things that I thought was strange started to happen. I began putting things in envelopes with pictures of myself and brother and 9 one dollar bills, then another 9 one dollar bills, then it was 9 one hundred dollar bills, then another 9 one hundred dollars bills. It started to get completely ridiculous after that; I started to feel really stupid and foolish. She even gave me a red ribbon that she had anointed and prayed over. I remember the last night we spoke and she asked me about what I was doing and I told her about my affiliations with a revolutionary movement of truth and she said that she felt that my voice wouldn’t be heard and that I shouldn’t be a part of this group. She began to tell me how she felt I was meant to lead and become influential. She said to me, “From the first moment that I met you, I felt something was strange about you, rare.”

She asked me many questions and I began to wonder if she was so psychic why all the questions? I began to tell her that I knew a lot about what was going on in this world, things that people were not aware of. Things that were hidden, secret agendas and cabals that are so deep and profound that if any were to find out it would destroy their illusion of what they deem is reality. She looked at me her face very solemn very serious and she said, “Are you talking about The Illuminati?” I replied, “yes,” and she said, “how do you know about this, this is a very old ancient knowledge it stems back from many years, centuries ago.”

I began to tell her of my studies and my affiliations with the music industry and my personal findings as an explorer and photographer. She began to ask if I was in anyway involved in it directly or indirectly and I told her that I couldn’t tell her and she asked me why and if I was afraid to tell her. There again I was stumped. she began, “I know you made some kind of promise of not to tell but you were involved in something and look what it has done to you, made you fearful.” I just shook my head, because I felt as if I was being drawn back in when I was supposed to ending the whole thing. It was as if I was being hypnotized by some unseen force or power or seduced would be the proper word. She began to pray with me.

After the prayer she told me that I needed to write some things down that some where down the line some one in my family had an affair there’s some kind of deception but the only deception I could think about was the fact that she was deceiving me and her words burning into me, changing my perspective. I could recall how she had said that she needed to be in control and that she moves spirits “it’s what she does.” She would always ask how the meditation went and how I felt and honestly I didn’t quite know how to respond to her because something was off, something gradually just didn’t seem right but it was something I already knew but was not secure about.

The day that I was going to finally tell her that I could no longer see her and continue on with this she had gotten into a small car accident and oddly enough that night so did I. I couldn’t believe it, but I believe that it was God and him alone, my journey wasn’t over God hadn’t given up on me he was still there guiding me back to him making a way for me. She called me later on that day telling me she needed to see me and explained what had happened and I then told her what happened to me as far as my accident.

I told her that I felt I had grown a lot but I didn’t really want to tell her over the phone about the message that God had given me and how he had worked in my life and was continuing to work in my life and whether she understood or not was irrelevant I knew in my heart it was time for me to change it was time for me to make a more conscience effort to do right and not always do what I think is right but what God says is right. I knew that by leaning on my own understanding of things I would not understand but only by trusting in him would I be able to overcome. I understood that he had delivered me, that he had opened my eyes completely and that he had always been trying to do so but I didn’t want to listen. That Saturday would be the day that I told her the truth or at least I thought.

I didn’t know what to do I went in there with all the intention of ending this whole thing. I walked through the door and her little daughter was there. I was surprised because I thought that she would take her inside but she let her stay out there. She left a moment and the little girl was talking to me and then she entered back and she was like, “have you met my daughter,” and I told her no I’ve seen her before though she told me her name and it was so hard for me to tell her what I needed to and stand firm with it because it was a distraction. She even said it herself, I know this is a distraction and I should have gotten the message then when she said it. It was indeed a distraction because I couldn’t commit to what I said I was going to do when I got there. It was like the devil was drawing me in once again I just couldn’t do it once again. I couldn’t believe it!

She asked me, “What is it that you want to say?” and I told her, I said to her, “When people come in here they want some kind of answer right?” she replied, “yes,” and I began again, “and they expect you to answer them, you help them right? They want you to help them right?” and she said “Yes, but I don’t help everyone, some people I have to turn down.” I then went on to tell her what the Bible says about psychics and going to see fortune-tellers and she tried to defuse my words and tell me how it was a fairly new word. Then she went on about the negativity and how the negativity was drawing us further and further apart. She explained that if she couldn’t help people she became broken…broken…I just couldn’t believe that, something about what she said sounded so fabricated so unauthentic.

It just didn’t sound real to me. How could she become broken? How can one essentially play God and say things that contradict and then claim to be broken? I was so in torment and she explained that she felt as if she was trying to convince me and asked if I wanted to continue to move forward. The crazy thing is, it’s always been my choice so what was it that I was trying to hold on too, what could she help me with that God didn’t already say that he would do for me. I was a fool but for what? So we continued on with this Tango so to speak and she could see how vulnerable I was I guess I just lost my balance I felt like I was loosing myself… and only God could find me and bring me back to life, how and why did I allow myself to get this far, shame on me. She took one look at me, maybe she even laughed inside and said to me, “Look at you.” My posture was sunken, as if in defeat. I was drowning I knew it, and she knew it … Perhaps even the devil knew it and he rejoiced in it, but I couldn’t let them win.

This was the hardest battle I had ever had to face in my life why was this happening to me but where I am weak I knew God was strong. It was as if she was trying to scare me. She was like, ” You are weak spiritually, you need me.” I didn’t know if I knew who I was anymore it was like I was loosing myself… I told her about the dream that I had and how it told me not to come back and she said “Oh that’s the devil.” I didn’t believe it, I know that it couldn’t be true, I just felt in my heart that she didn’t know what she was talking about.

That night she took the items out the ones with the money in the envelope with the pictures and she lit a candle and place the items to my stomach and began praying with me with her hand against mine and then she brought the items up against my chest and we prayed but in vain because these prayers where not spiritual in nature but of flesh. She left shortly after and came back with a huge Superman looking Crystal and some lavender and salt water she was like I need you to wash with this. If it takes all that, it really isn’t worth it is all I could think but I accepted it.. but why?.. I would rather drink all night and had gone to a club then accept these foolish things . I can’t believe that I allowed myself to get this far but it’s not unlike many that fall victim to brainwash and illusion. I knew it was wrong so why was I continuing to walk directly in darkness.

Before I left, she told me not to let anyone see the crystal and I had someone waiting in the car so she said for me just to say it was a book or something frivolous, and then is when I knew, this was definitely not where I should be and not what I needed to be doing, I realized that from this very lie this very deceitful act I was indeed playing with fire, and you know when you play with fire you are bound to get burned. God forgive me was all I could think. I felt horrible like I just wanted to escape. After I left I went to get something to eat I sat there with my friend and I brought two drinks, I felt like I wanted to die.. I continued to drink I went to the liquor store and I bought more alcohol and I just began to drink, I think I was trying to drink it all away, honestly I just wanted to die, I didn’t want to be on this earth anymore, I didn’t want to be tormented by the flesh and spirit what a battle it is.

Where was my faith, who was I ..where did I go… why , why, why? Why Me? When did this begin . Oh yea it began when I chose to walk through that door, I’m the one that opened the door and this happened because of my choices. We don’t have to let half the things happen to us but we allow them into our lives because of our unbelief. I can hear him speak to me, that is the Holy Spirit, and I have heard him speak to me but I do not listen… why is this? What is this force that keeps me from doing right this temptation. I ask God to deliver me from and it is not he who tempts me for he cannot tempt me for he is not tempted.

Shayla

Shayla

That next day I pondered my decisions. I needed to just leave the whole thing alone, it was as if something deep down inside wanted to prove her wrong, part of me wanted to save her but it was not up to me to save her it’s was up to God, up to his will. This was the hardest battle for me, but it wasn’t for me to understand. I realize that I was trusting in myself. The fact that she said that I was too weak to do anything and that I needed her, deeply bothered me. For I know that we are all weak, but it is in our weakness our inability that he carries us.

God wants us to take refuge in him, surrender to him and submit to him so that we can be protected, and he will protect us, but we must turn from wicked. The devil hates us and he wants nothing more than to destroy us. I can recall the first night that my heart was touched and I felt God was trying to send me a message because my heart had hardened as I was living for the longest while in sin. I was living YOLO you know the saying, “you only live once”. I just wanted to live this life like a true rock star without any regard for God or much at all. I had partied every weekend, I was drinking so much going to bars and clubs and just acting like a straight up heathen, I didn’t really care anymore I just wanted to enjoy life. I forgot about God. I remember it as if it was yesterday.

It was a few days after the new year of 2013 and I had felt as if a darkness and come over me and I told a friend about it. The next night would prove to be something of the divine. I had a dream that I would come to meet a psychic or a palm reader that next night a friend stopped by that was heavily into Santeria a form of African Voodoo. She wanted to go see the psychic and that’s how my downfall began. These are perilous times we live in, dangerous times and I was already aware that I must be cautious because the traps are far and wide. I know what I can and can’t do and I know most definitely know what God can and will do and what he has done in my life. I can’t stand for anyone to tell me anything when I know better. Eva was either trying to deceive me or deceived herself, but I think it was a little bit of both. God had not closed my eyes or kept anything from me that I shouldn’t know and I was grateful for him sending his holy spirit to help me to discern because without him I’d be a lost sheep and I knew what was right, but we all fall short because of our sinful natures.

Somehow, oddly I’m back again I was at square one. It seemed like every time I tried to tell her that I think this wasn’t right she would try to explain to me how it was. I mean it started getting weird with the crystal at which I had to give back and of course that upset her. I was then sent home with a big white candle and red cloth in which I was told to pray with. There were three white wicks on top of the candle the first one representing the past, the second the present and the other was the future.

She told me to write down a few words on the cloth like healing, freedom, success, passion, etc, and I was to visualize red and white. I remember a few days prior I had stopped by as we had made an appointment and she didn’t answer, I thought that was so strange. She had apologized saying that it was something that happens from time to time and that she couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again. “It’s just how this energy works,” she had said.

All I could do is shake my head and think, well maybe, but then again maybe not. She asked me how I was feeling emotionally that day and I told her that it felt like such a strange day, very weird. She was surprised that I picked up on the day and she had told me that it was a very negative day. She told me to come in that Wednesday as I had to tell her something and after we spoke briefly she said, “Now yesterday you wanted to ask me something?” I was almost shocked that she remembered because I was actually second thinking asking her.

I finally got the words out and I asked her, “How do you know these messages are coming from God?” I could tell she was annoyed and she then replied, “Because I have the holy-spirit.” I wasn’t so sure about that. From there we went on and it was as if she was trying to get back at me for what I asked her by telling me everything I was lacking but it didn’t really bother me because I know that I was lacking a lot but it was up to me to fix it and God because he heals the broken and only he could put these broken pieces together because that’s what “he” does.

She did pray with me before I left and told me that she would be praying for me on and off for a few days with some breaks in between. I had spoken with her on the phone the next three days and she asked about my progress and how I was feeling and I was actually having a great day, I’d been thinking about a few things and putting a lot of things in perspective about what made sense and what didn’t make a whole lot of sense and this was definitely something that really was not clicking in my head. Because usually when people go to see a psychic they have their readings once and that’s it but the fact that I had to keep going back seemed ridiculous almost as if I couldn’t do it on my own and that’s exactly how it almost felt, as if I was dependent upon her as if she was the only one that could “save me“.

My days began to make a little more sense as I went on without a word from her or contacting her. I’d been praying for wisdom and understanding and was doing a little research and things just started to hit me like a sack of potatoes. That which I already knew and may not have needed to be reminded, but not to put my faith in a human being, not my whole faith because people let you down and the one unchanging force was God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

She text me to come in on a Wednesday and it really didn’t go too well. She told me I was like a paper bag floating in the wind. I just looked at her and she went on to say that I was indecisive, and she went on and on and I started to laugh and I asked her, what exactly do you mean? She replied I’m not saying this to insult you. I just smiled and shook my head and she says, “Shayla you disagree with everything that I say.” I didn’t disagree with everything she said just most of what she said because a lot of things she said were true but a lot of things I felt she didn’t quite understand and that’s not for me to prove. She wanted me to come back that following Monday so I left and text her a message stating that I am going to change and I am growing, but not necessarily in accordance to her and while I did agree with her on certain things, it was not in entirety.

I told her that the spirit of God within me is free to operate to the extent that my soul has been broken, not empowered. When we are weak he is strong. Of course I didn’t get a reply back, but I wasn’t really expecting one, I know she read it and the next day I told her I wouldn’t be coming in because I had a meeting to attend. So, I made up in my mind I was pretty much done with the whole situation.

She can keep the money all of that because I’m not fighting with her I don’t really feel the need to engage her anymore I was told already by God not to go so how many times am I to disobey him when he so plainly said “NO”. Am I to continue to test him? No, not at all. The way I look at it is. Quite possibly she may have been appealing to my senses in that she knows that I am a woman that believes in God, and I hate to say it, she possibly was playing on that, which I hoped not. However, deceit works this way, the craftiness of people and the scheming of their evil ways.

But I hope that she continues to speak of God even in her evil ways that she may or may not be aware of because with bad or good, sometimes good things come out of bad, without people realizing it. This experience was a great test and I think that by going through this I have learned to trust solely upon God. I realize now how we are so flawed, so hopelessly lost without him. Had I put all my faith in her and trust in her, I would be rejecting God and even though she tried to make it clear that she was some sort of ‘messenger’ of God this is false because while she says she’s a Christian and has the holy spirit she practices ‘spiritism’ and this goes against God. You can’t love God and do evil and love evil for the two will constantly be in conflict with each other, you cannot have two masters.

She’s a ‘Christian’ that reads tarot cards to people. A Christian that reads astrology charts. These things are not of God but of the devil. So that would make her a hypocrite and would make me a fool and a hypocrite so I needed to stop, while I was ahead and I am fully conscious and aware of what was really going on there.

The next meeting didn’t go as successful as I had planned I walked in there once again with every intention of stopping the whole thing. It’s as if some force is stopping, maybe it’s just me. However, I was beyond the point of curiosity as I am already aware of what I was up against and what this whole thing was truly about. Eva asked how my mediation went and she wanted to know detail by detail what I do and how I do it, and how I work with the candles and the cloth she told me to write on and work with me, she asked if I had brought in the sample of my work, as far as my goals and the books I am working on and I told her no. She told me why is it that I never do what she tells me, how come I can’t find the time to do it. I told her I do have some problems with her and I while I hear what she says because she makes some good points that I felt like a hypocrite because while she says she is a Christian and she expects me to believe that she also believes in astrology and uses tarot cards which makes her
a hypocrite as well because it says while I believe and trust in God I also believe in stars and worship of heavenly bodies and that a card (tarot card) can change people’s lives. S

he was of course offended without really showing it, but I know she was. But she went on to defend her practice by saying that she doesn’t read tarot cards with me or do astrology with me as if that justified it and made it better. You can’t love both Good and Evil. Just as you can not serve two masters.. Just as you cannot have heaven and hell, you can not search for heaven and find hell it just doesn’t work that way. She went on to tell me a bit about her other clients. She told me to she spoke to Doctors and bankers etc and etc.. she told me that they come in and she talks to them and they do what she says, and I felt as if she feels what she does helps by her own hands, and I think that people, even the smartest of people will believe anything, that’s just how we as humans operate we are so smart yet we are so ignorant and without a higher power leading us we
would and will surely be doomed.

She said she talks to them and they might have to leave abruptly but they always find time. Well I do have plenty of time but not for nonsense. She then went on to tell me that it was none of my business as if I asked her to share all the information about her other clients, frankly I could care less. I do however, care about becoming a better person, and not just a “good person” but a woman that God would have me to be and with all my flaws I know he still loves me because even when we are not faithful he is always faithful and he is just and it was completely starting to make sense to me. We need to listen to our instinct and that which is called instinct is a God given blessing, it is an instructor, it is a warning.

Now, most will not understand this or realize this but we all have 3 voices speaking within us, and I’m not talking about a mental disorder or some type of syndrome like dissociative disorder or multiple personality disorder, what I am speaking of is something more on the side of what we think in our own mind which is our own voice, and then there’s the evil voice which is that of the influence of Satan and then there is that “still small” voice, that is the holy-spirit. A lot of people may not know this voice but they still hear it, it’s the one that says “Don’t do that it’s not a good idea,” and how often do we ignore this voice? I know I have many times in my life and it’s lead me to a lot of wrong decisions and wrong places, kind of like this place.

This lady has told me without telling me exactly who she is. She says, she deals with simple people and intelligent people. She somewhat exalts herself in a way in which may appear humble but it is not, it is a game, this whole thing was a game. She says that I need help, and she’s was right I did, but it’s not up to her to help me because I already have a helper and if I just ask and believe it is always done. She told me God is not going to send an angel because that would be too easy, but this is her dull mind set because God can do as he pleases and maybe he won’t send and angel but that is not for her to say because all I have to do is speak to him and I know he has my back and he always had if not I know I wouldn’t be here today.
Not only was she unprofessional, with her kid coming into the area we were speaking with she was deceived and deceiving. I was completely done.

The next time I saw her would be my final. She had told me to come in so when I called and told her I was there she told me to give her a minute which turned into 30 minutes, again so ridiculous and unprofessional and even if I were to had believed her that type of professionalism would have made me question her greatly. So I walked in knowing exactly what I wanted. She asked me to have a seat and for some reason she had the biggest smile on her face as if she had conquered something or something great had happened.

But it seemed strange like as if there was something else there taking her place. I think of it later and I feel she was semi-possessed if not fully and was definitely unaware. So she told me to take a seat at which I was hesitant and she said ” You weren’t supposed to come in you were supposed to call.” I thought to myself, here we go with this game. So with that I told her, “I’m done.” She just smiled and she asked “Is there a problem can I know why?” I just replied “no,” and then she asked, “Well do you have any questions and I said “no,” and still with a smile she said, “well give me a few days I have to release from your work.” Whatever the heck that meant. She asked me to call her that Wednesday and then I just left.

Those couple of days were the longest but shortest in my life, for one I was so mad, I was mad at her mad at myself so many emotions were going through my mind. Ultimately it was my own decisions that lead me there. So I called and she didn’t pick up, her voicemail was full so I decided to text her a message and I said simply that I thank her for whether she may realize it or not she helped me a great deal in that she increased my faith in God. I ended it with saying may God’s ever loving mercy be upon her.

Shortly after that she called me and apologized for missing my called, which I knew after that message she would reach out. She asked me if everything was okay and I said I was fine, I even asked how she was and she replied by saying she was “well”. So, she went carrying on and I said I called because you asked me and I just wanted to say thank you, and she said, “what are you thanking me for?” I told her I was thanking her because she helped me and she may not fully understand how but she increased my faith in God and she replied “Oh so you are telling me these works were positive that they helped you.” I said , “Yes and no”. She didn’t understand and I told her that people are not conquests.

She was completely taken aback when I said that. She was almost shocked and replied by saying, “no one has ever told me anything like that ever in my life. Not ever.” She continued, “I don’t know where you would get that from. Do you think I take pride in what I do?” I told her “Well, I’m not quite sure what your motivation is.” She replied, “What do you mean my motivation. I don’t do this for money, I’m not a business person.” I just said nothing but thought to myself if you are not a business person why do you take money from people. She then went on to say there was great hindrance in our work and she wanted to know if I would come in, and I said no. So she started talking about me and how I was this and that and I needed to do this and I can’t be a blind person leading the blind but it is clear that she has no clear understanding of who God was and I wasn’t trying to condemn her or persecute her but I was telling her what it was and how it is. You can’t be a
Ppsychic and a Christian.
You can’t love good and do evil. You can’t serve two masters it doesn’t work that way.

She asked did I even do the meditations and I told yes, I did but it didn’t take all that, but she was so steadfast and determined that it was the way. So she said she had a client and she had to go and left me with a “God bless dear.” I know for a fact that she will think about what I said and I hope one day she will understand, but that’s not for me but for God to deal with and I know he will, he always does. The next couple of days would prove to be the most trying of all. I was dealing with the fact that I couldn’t get through to someone that was supposed to be getting through to me as ironic as that may seem.

I came in her business originally because a friend was interested in getting a reading and low and behold it drained me of my pride, $1945.00, and my sense of myself. I began to think about some of the things she said, some of it was true but she was more psychological than psychic. Anyone can understand were a person is coming from once you’ve been talking to them for a while, observing them and their mannerism, however it was her motivation, her intent and certain characteristics that really quite bothered me. Her leading questions and alluding to answers and re-stating what I had already said and it just became too obvious that she was a very good scam or should I say con artist. She certainly had me to a certain degree.

I decided that enough was enough though, I wasn’t going to listen to anymore of her answers and her asking me to do ritualistic things in my eyes because I just did not think it was necessary, really she would have been better off being some type of life coach if anything. However, like she once told me, she wasn’t a banker or a businessperson, this was what she did, her mother taught her how to do what she did. She was the fourth generation, in my eyes a fourth generation scam artist but who am I to judge, I wasn’t perfect either. People do what they feel they have to do I suppose. Each time I tried to explain her error she rejected it, and tried to justify herself and explain why she did things the way she did.

She said she “provided a place for people to come because the church won’t accept them,” but these just sound like excuses because the way I see it, is if you really want something you will look for it and not have to go into darkness to find it. How can you search for heaven and find hell? I had to find that out on my own.

I don’t necessarily agree with everything that defines many of the churches doctrines of this day. Are they full of hypocrites? A lot of them and the people make up the church so it is indeed sad when I hear things like that, and that is what makes a church unfruitful, by it’s deeds and the boundaries it places in front of people. No one is perfect but no one deserves to be condemned by anyone else because of this fact that we are all flawed and at our very best very wicked people.

I did struggle with the fact that I did want to call her back and just ask her to meet me somewhere and just talk to her, but how arrogant of me to think that I could do it on my own with my own power because it really wasn’t on my own that I could change people, you can’t make people change for God moves in a way (his spirit) that is so mysterious and he has a plan for each person’s life whether they want it or not. Many will not hear the message, sometimes it takes a disaster for people to wake up and sometimes it’s more subtle, sometimes we are humbled and realize just how wrong we truly are.

The point is, change happens because we open our hearts to possibility. We have to want it and we have to work at it because it doesn’t happen over night. Some people will look at their life and say: I am not happy, let me go out and get a better job or two jobs so I can have more money and receive happiness. They think that happiness is in things, or success or even in people, but this is error, happiness in this sense translates into something that is temporary just a mood at the time or a moment in time. True happiness is peace, it is being happy with everything you have including yourself as a whole.

You’re not going to go out searching for it because to be honest it was right there within your reach to begin with. However, you had to find it, you had to say no matter what I’m going to be happy and really it all comes from God and when we pray he give us that peace, that no matter what circumstances you are going through he replaces it with comfort. The Holy Spirit is free to move within the extent of the person whose soul has been broken, not empowered. That is just how it works, you can not exalt yourself and expect not to get knocked down it has been said that, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” So that’s how it works.

Life can be a crazy place sometimes but it’s not meant to be easy. A lot of the times we make it harder than what it is really suppose to be. Do I want to save the world? Probably, but it’s not my job to save it, it is my job to influence and become a better individual, that is how you change the world, you lead by example not by force. This has been the worst but ultimately best experience of my life. It changed who I was; it made me want to change. I think had I been any other way however, had I not had any idea of who God was or any knowledge of the Bible, things would have been worse for me.

I feel that some people may have realized but it takes a certain type of individual, a certain quality to understand certain things. We are all fools, but even a fool can become a leader. The wise and the rich along with all their money and power and land and material things die to the dirt of the ground like animals. No one is exempt from death but the point of it all is to live now.

True forgiveness is when you can say thank you for that experience. I definitely learned a great deal from it. I began to wonder if what she was saying was true because some of it did come true or to a certain degree. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so much so that I almost felt as if I wanted to go back but I didn’t thank God. A week would follow and I was supposed to go to a very empowering conference the speaker was going to be Joyce Meyers a very prominent writer and pastor but I was so distraught about my choices and decisions as of that time I didn’t know if I should go or not and was making every excuse in my head not to and I’m sure the devil was busy too implanting thoughts in my head.

I was so upset, thinking she was right about some things I woke up that next morning and I God instantly sent me a message he told me to read Lamentations 2:14 and it said clearly what I already knew to be true but didn’t want to listen obviously, but if you have ever read the verse in the bible or are familiar with it you know that it says; “Visions of your prophets were false and worthless, they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The Prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.” Another translation would be: “The visions which your prophets have seen for you are false and foolish; they have not made clear to you your sin so that your fate might be changed: but they have seen for you false words, driving you away.”

Shayla

Shayla

Often time to win us over, an instrument of the darkness tells us truths, to try to win us with honest trifles to betrayals in deepest consequence. So while I was beginning to doubt once again that maybe she had some truth I was forgetting that deception especially with this particular situation was worked in this way, to keep you unsure, now had I gone back and kept going back damning myself to much conflict debt not only monetarily but mental and emotionally.

She was trying to break me down but thank goodness I serve a powerful God, a God that loves and cares for me even when we are faithless he is faithful and this is a perfect example of that. I know a lot of people don’t believe in God but they need to, because he will answer every prayer and he knows your heart. He may not come when you want him but he is always on time. Sometime his answer is yes, sometimes no and sometimes wait, but you must listen to his voice, it is a still quiet voice and by this, I mean it is a small voice within you and some people like to call it your ‘conscience’.

God nudges at us, He wants us to draw near to Him so He can draw near to us. He isn’t forceful but He makes us aware of a lot of things and sometimes we ignore a lot of things but he will never harm you, I think we do that ourselves, in fact I know it. Then we beat ourselves up about when all we had to do was listen to that voice, that nudge, His Spirit.

Everything that happens in the world is made to work out according to God’s purpose. Evil exists, but it is not allowed to thwart God’s providence. God uses even sinful men for His purposes.’

Shayla of New York.

Posted in Spirits & Ghosts, Spiritualism, Testimonies | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘NOAH.’ Film Review by Marcia Montenegro.

Marcia Montenegro, an online friend of mine, is an author and founded Christian Answers for the New Age. She is also a former professional astrologer and former practitioner of meditation and various occult practices. Marcia kindly gave me permission to share her review below. (See this link to her website, CANA).

Christian Answers for the New Age.

Christian Answers for the New Age

THOUGHTS ON DARREN ARONOFSKY’S “NOAH” by Marcia Montenegro.

Many Christian reviews of the movie “Noah” by Aronofsky have made it clear that the film departs from the biblical text. Yes, there are extreme departures. But had this film been made by a Christian, I would be much more distressed by it and much more forceful in my response. I was surprised that a Jewish atheist filmmaker would include content from Genesis chapter one on creation, and the fact that man fell into temptation and sinned, thus leading to a world of depravity and wickedness in rebellion to the Creator.

Noah2

Some fallen angels, called Watchers, are imprisoned in stone as punishment for disobeying the Creator. This seems to be a vague reference perhaps to the Nephilim of Gen. 6 and to the Watchers in the book of Enoch, or a combination of them. They protect Noah and help him build the ark; certainly one may wonder why fallen angels are doing this. The answer is that it is a Kabbalah belief that fallen angels will one day be redeemed. They help Noah in order to go back to heaven, and later we see two of them ascending towards the heavens after bursting out of their rock shell. The basis for my view that Aronofsky drew from the Kabbalah is that he is Jewish and inserted some Kabbalistic beliefs into his movie “Pi.” (In online interviews, Aronofsky discusses how he came to learn some of the Kabbalah for “Pi”).

Noah comes to believe while on the ark that the Creator wants everyone destroyed. Noah realizes he himself has wickedness in him, and his family as well, and so he concludes they should not live, either. Creation would be better without man. This idea leads to Noah almost killing his twin granddaughters. Yet this idea is not presented as a good one, nor shown as coming from God, but more as a delusion held by Noah, or a product of his own thinking (we see earlier that Noah indicates God is not speaking to him, inferring he is left with his own thoughts). Noah later recants this belief and rejoices in the love of his family.

Tubal-Cain, a minor figure in the Bible, is shown as a villain representing the wicked who did not heed the Creator. He manages to get on the ark and hide there (this is not in the Bible). He voices the desires of men who do not want God’s will but rather their own, asserting that he is a man who can be like the Creator. He uses the phrase having dominion over the earth, which is stated in the Bible by God, but Tubal-Cain’s take on it is distorted and perverse, and is illustrated through his actions and character as one desiring a brutal and destructive rule over the earth (and other men).

As someone who believes the literal narrative of Noah and the Flood, I thought the fact that the ark was shown in the dimensions according to the biblical text was great. I also enjoyed the scene of the animals rushing toward the ark – it was quite a striking visual. The wickedness of humanity was depicted very intensely and made me think of what might happen during the Tribulation.

I did not see clear indications that the film is mostly Gnostic in nature. I saw the elements of Kabbalah in the idea of fallen angels being redeemed, and in the end when Noah talks about how mankind can build paradise again. These are both teachings from the Kabbalah. While the Kabbalah has strong Gnostic elements, it also has views quite different from the early Gnostic ideas. Neither Noah nor any other human character expresses the Gnostic belief that he or she is trapped in a body or is really a spirit creature. Only the fallen angels are in a state of being imprisoned on earth. Gnostics would not be interested in any paradise on earth or helping earth as Noah is; their goal is through secret teachings to get back to the remote gnostic god and once again be spirit beings.

The Creator in the Kabbalah is not the Demiurge of 2nd century Gnosticism, the evil lower god who created the material world. The gnostic view is that the material creation is evil, but in “Noah,” creation is seen as good but destroyed by man’s wickedness.

In the film, a snakeskin is a relic passed down from Methuselah to Noah. I believe it is presented as a reminder that man sinned and was expelled from paradise (which must be regained). Adam and Eve are shown as glowing in the Garden before they sinned, not because they are spirits, but I believe to represent their purity before the Fall (in the Kabbalah, Adam and Eve were able to contain the Creator’s light, which “leaked” out of them when they sinned). There is nothing in the film, as I recall, to indicate the early Gnostic views that Adam and Eve were once spirits, especially since the creation account is given at the beginning of the film (not in exact words of the Bible but as far as I could tell, pretty close – would need to hear it again to be more clear on this).

Additional storylines are inserted into the movie that are not related to the biblical account, and there is a strong pro-environmental theme throughout, though I did not see anything indicating nature worship. Noah and his family are shocked that the wicked hordes eat animals, but this in keeping with the fact that God’s command to eat the flesh of animals was not given until after the Flood (Gen. 9:2-3), apparently showing that part of man’s evil before the Flood involved killing and consuming animals (according to Aronofsky).

There is plenty in “Noah” to disturb those who know and believe the Genesis text. On the other hand, if you have seen this movie, there are several points of discussion for interaction with a non-Christian. One can offer to read together the biblical account and explain it, for example. In fact, right after the movie, the two friends I went with and myself had a cup of tea while one read the Noah story from Genesis on her phone via Bible Gateway.

The wickedness of man, depicted quite vividly in the film, is more fodder for discussion, leading to an explanation of the redemption offered through Christ. There are numerous references to the Creator. This movie is out there and people are seeing it, many of whom do not know the true account of Noah. So while I do not recommend the movie, I do recommend that if you are a Christian who has seen it, use it as a way to discuss the truth. If you know young Christians who have seen it, use it as a way to teach them the biblical text to correct the errors of the film.

CANA http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/AboutCANA_SpellBound.html

CANA

By Marcia Montenegro.

(See this link to her website, CANA.).

ೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

For more reviews on Noah, see the below links.
Many thanks,
Laura Maxwell.

Posted in Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Movie, The New Age | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘NOAH’ film – Esoteric, Kabbalah & Gnosticism!

The above free book and 30 minute documentary film isn’t the Hollywood version, starring Russell Crowe. You can watch it on www.NoahTheMovie.com

Please see below, for two reviews of the new movie ‘Noah,’ by Brian Mattson, Phd.

He is a theologian in Systematic Theology from the University of Aberdeen and Senior Scholar of Public Theology at the Center for Cultural Leadership.

Noah3

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL.

In Darren Aronofsky’s new star-gilt silver screen epic, Noah, Adam and Eve are luminescent and fleshless, right up until the moment they eat the forbidden fruit.

Such a notion isn’t found in the Bible, of course. This, among the multitude of Aronofsky’s other imaginative details like giant Lava Monsters, has caused many a reviewer’s head to be scratched. Conservative-minded evangelicals write off the film because of the “liberties” taken with the text of Genesis, while a more liberal-minded group stands in favor of cutting the director some slack. After all, we shouldn’t expect a professed atheist to have the same ideas of “respecting” sacred texts the way a Bible-believer would.

Both groups have missed the mark entirely. Aronofsky hasn’t “taken liberties” with anything.

The Bible is not his text.

In his defense, I suppose, the film wasn’t advertised as such. Nowhere is it said that this movie is an adaptation of Genesis. It was never advertised as “The Bible’s Noah,” or “The Biblical Story of Noah.” In our day and age we are so living in the leftover atmosphere of Christendom that when somebody says they want to do “Noah,” everybody assumes they mean a rendition of the Bible story. That isn’t what Aronofsky had in mind at all. I’m sure he was only too happy to let his studio go right on assuming that, since if they knew what he was really up to they never would have allowed him to make the movie.

Gnosticism

Gnosticism

Let’s go back to our luminescent first parents. I recognized the motif instantly as one common to the ancient religion of Gnosticism. Here’s a 2nd century A.D. description about what a sect called the Ophites believed:

“Adam and Eve formerly had light, luminous, and so to speak spiritual bodies, as they had been fashioned. But when they came here, the bodies became dark, fat, and idle.” –Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies, I, 30.9

It occurred to me that a mystical tradition more closely related to Judaism, called Kabbalah (which the singer Madonna made popular a decade ago or so), surely would have held a similar view, since it is essentially a form of Jewish Gnosticism. I dusted off (No, really: I had to dust it) my copy of Adolphe Franck’s 19th century work, The Kabbalah, and quickly confirmed my suspicions:

“Before they were beguiled by the subtleness of the serpent, Adam and Eve were not only exempt from the need of a body, but did not even have a body—that is to say, they were not of the earth.”

Franck quotes from the Zohar, one of Kabbalah’s sacred texts:

“When our forefather Adam inhabited the Garden of Eden, he was clothed, as all are in heaven, with a garment made of the higher light. When he was driven from the Garden of Eden and was compelled to submit to the needs of this world, what happened? God, the Scriptures tell us, made Adam and his wife tunics of skin and clothed them; for before this they had tunics of light, of that higher light used in Eden …”

Obscure stuff, I know. But curiosity overtook me and I dove right down the rabbit hole.

I discovered what Darren Aronofsky’s first feature film was: Pi. Want to know its subject matter? Do you? Are you sure?

Kabbalah.

If you think that’s a coincidence, you may want a loved one to schedule you a brain scan.

Have I got your attention? Good.

The world of Aronofsky’s Noah is a thoroughly Gnostic one: a graded universe of “higher” and “lower.” The “spiritual” is good, and way, way, way “up there” where the ineffable, unspeaking god dwells, and the “material” is bad, and way, way down here where our spirits are encased in material flesh. This is not only true of the fallen sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, but of fallen angels, who are explicitly depicted as being spirits trapped inside a material “body” of cooled molten lava.

Admittedly, they make pretty nifty movie characters, but they’re also notorious in Gnostic speculation. Gnostics call them Archons, lesser divine beings or angels who aid “The Creator” in forming the visible universe. And Kabbalah has a pantheon of angelic beings of its own all up and down the ladder of “divine being.” And fallen angels are never totally fallen in this brand of mysticism. To quote the Zohar again, a central Kabbalah text: “All things of which this world consists, the spirit as well as the body, will return to the principle and the root from which they came.” Funny. That’s exactly what happens to Aronofsky’s Lava Monsters. They redeem themselves, shed their outer material skin, and fly back to the heavens. Incidentally, I noticed that in the film, as the family is traveling through a desolate wasteland, Shem asks his father: “Is this a Zohar mine?” Yep. That’s the name of Kabbalah’s sacred text.

The entire movie is, figuratively, a “Zohar” mine.

Gnosticism

Gnosticism

If there was any doubt about these “Watchers,” Aronofsky gives several of them names: Semyaza, Magog, and Rameel. They’re all well-known demons in the Jewish mystical tradition, not only in Kabbalah but also in the book of 1 Enoch.

What!? Demons are redeemed? Adolphe Franck explains the cosmology of Kabbalah: “Nothing is absolutely bad; nothing is accursed forever—not even the archangel of evil or the venomous beast, as he is sometimes called. There will come a time when he will recover his name and his angelic nature.”

Okay. That’s weird. But, hey, everybody in the film seems to worship “The Creator,” right? Surely it’s got that in its favor!

Except that when Gnostics speak about “The Creator” they are not talking about God. Oh, here in an affluent world living off the fruits of Christendom the term “Creator” generally denotes the true and living God. But here’s a little “Gnosticism 101” for you: the Creator of the material world is an ignorant, arrogant, jealous, exclusive, violent, low-level, bastard son of a low level deity. He’s responsible for creating the “unspiritual” world of flesh and matter, and he himself is so ignorant of the spiritual world he fancies himself the “only God” and demands absolute obedience. They generally call him “Yahweh.” Or other names, too (Ialdabaoth, for example).

This Creator tries to keep Adam and Eve from the true knowledge of the divine and, when they disobey, flies into a rage and boots them from the garden.

In other words, in case you’re losing the plot here: The serpent was right all along. This “god,” “The Creator,” whom they are worshiping is withholding something from them that the serpent will provide: divinity itself.

The world of Gnostic mysticism is bewildering with a myriad of varieties. But, generally speaking, they hold in common that the serpent is “Sophia,” “Mother,” or “Wisdom.” The serpent represents the true divine, and the claims of “The Creator” are false.

So is the serpent a major character in the film?

Let’s go back to the movie. The action opens when Lamech is about to bless his son, Noah. Lamech, rather strangely for a patriarch of a family that follows God, takes out a sacred relic, the skin of the serpent from the Garden of Eden. He wraps it around his arm, stretches out his hand to touch his son—except, just then, a band of marauders interrupts them and the ceremony isn’t completed. Lamech gets killed, and the “villain” of the film, Tubal-Cain, steals the snakeskin. Noah, in other words, doesn’t get whatever benefit the serpent’s skin was to bestow.

The skin doesn’t light up magically on Tubal-Cain’s arm, so apparently he doesn’t get “enlightened,” either. And that’s why everybody in the film, including protagonist and antagonist, Noah and Tubal-Cain, is worshiping “The Creator.” They are all deluded. Let me clear something up here: lots of reviewers expressed some bewilderment over the fact there aren’t any likable characters and that they all seem to be worshiping the same God. Tubal-Cain and his clan are wicked and evil and, as it turns out, Noah’s pretty bad himself when he abandons Ham’s girlfriend and almost slays two newborn children. Some thought this was some kind of profound commentary on how there’s evil in all of us. Here’s an excerpt from the Zohar, the sacred text of Kabbalah:

“Two beings [Adam and Nachash—the Serpent] had intercourse with Eve [the Second woman], and she conceived from both and bore two children. Each followed one of the male parents, and their spirits parted, one to this side and one to the other, and similarly their characters. On the side of Cain are all the haunts of the evil species; from the side of Abel comes a more merciful class, yet not wholly beneficial — good wine mixed with bad.”

Sound familiar? Yes. Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, to the “T.”

Anyway, everybody is worshiping the evil deity. Who wants to destroy everybody. (By the way, in Kabbalah many worlds have already been created and destroyed.) Both Tubal-Cain and Noah have identical scenes, looking into the heavens and asking, “Why won’t you speak to me?” “The Creator” has abandoned them all because he intends to kill them all.

Noah had been given a vision of the coming deluge. He’s drowning, but sees animals floating to the surface to the safety of the ark. No indication whatsoever is given that Noah is to be saved; Noah conspicuously makes that part up during an awkward moment explaining things to his family. He is sinking while the animals, “the innocent,” are rising. “The Creator” who gives Noah his vision wants all the humans dead.

Many reviewers thought Noah’s change into a homicidal maniac on the ark, wanting to kill his son’s two newborn daughters, was a weird plot twist. It isn’t weird at all. In the Director’s view, Noah is worshiping a false, homicidal maniac of a god. The more faithful and “godly” Noah becomes, the more homicidal he becomes. He is becoming every bit the “image of god” that the “evil” guy who keeps talking about the “image of god,” Tubal-Cain, is.

But Noah fails “The Creator.” He cannot wipe out all life like his god wants him to do. “When I looked at those two girls, my heart was filled with nothing but love,” he says. Noah now has something “The Creator” doesn’t. Love. And Mercy. But where did he get it? And why now?

In the immediately preceding scene Noah killed Tubal-Cain and recovered the snakeskin relic: “Sophia,” “Wisdom,” the true light of the divine. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

Okay, I’m almost done. The rainbows don’t come at the end because God makes a covenant with Noah. The rainbows appear when Noah sobers up and embraces the serpent. He wraps the skin around his arm, and blesses his family. It is not God that commissions them to now multiply and fill the earth, but Noah, in the first person, “I,” wearing the serpent talisman. (Oh, and by the way, it’s not accidental that the rainbows are all circular. The circle of the “One,” the Ein Sof, in Kabbalah, is the sign of monism.)

Notice this thematic change: Noah was in a drunken stupor the scene before. Now he is sober and “enlightened.” Filmmakers never do that by accident.

He’s transcended and outgrown that homicidal, jealous deity.

Let me issue a couple of caveats to all this: Gnostic speculation is a diverse thing. Some groups appear radically “dualist,” where “The Creator” really is a different “god” altogether. Others are more “monist,” where God exists in a series of descending emanations. Others have it that the lower deity “grows” and “matures” and himself ascends the “ladder” or “chain” of being to higher heights. Noah probably fits a little in each category. It’s hard to tell. My other caveat is this: there is no doubt a ton of Kabbalist imagery, quotations, and themes in this movie that I couldn’t pick up in a single sitting. For example, since Kabbalah takes its flights of fancy generally based on Hebrew letters and numbers, I did notice that the “Watchers” appeared to be deliberately shaped like Hebrew letters. But you could not pay me to go see this movie again so I could further drill into the Zohar mine to see what I could find. (On a purely cinematic viewpoint, I found most of it unbearably boring.)

What I can say on one viewing is this:

Darren Aronofsky has produced a retelling of the Noah story without reference to the Bible at all. This was not, as he claimed, just a storied tradition of run-of-the-mill Jewish “Midrash.” This was a thoroughly pagan retelling of the Noah story direct from Kabbalist and Gnostic sources. To my mind, there is simply no doubt about this.

So let me tell you what the real scandal in all of this is.

It isn’t that he made a film that departed from the biblical story. It isn’t that disappointed and overheated Christian critics had expectations set too high.

The scandal is this: of all the Christian leaders who went to great lengths to endorse this movie (for whatever reasons: “it’s a conversation starter,” “at least Hollywood is doing something on the Bible,” etc.), and all of the Christian leaders who panned it for “not following the Bible”…

Not one of them could identify a blatantly Gnostic subversion of the biblical story when it was right in front of their faces.

I believe Aronofsky did it as an experiment to make fools of us: “You are so ignorant that I can put Noah (granted, it’s Russell Crowe!) up on the big screen and portray him literally as the ‘seed of the Serpent’ and you all will watch my studio’s screening and endorse it.”

He’s having quite the laugh. And shame on everyone who bought it.

A lion faced deity found on a Gnostic gem.

A lion faced deity found on a Gnostic gem.

And what a Gnostic experiment! In Gnosticism, only the “elite” are “in the know” and have the secret knowledge. Everybody else are dupes and ignorant fools. The “event” of this movie is intended to illustrate the Gnostic premise. We are dupes and fools. Would Christendom awake, please?

In response, I have one simple suggestion:

Henceforth, not a single seminary degree is granted unless the student demonstrates that he has read, digested, and understood Irenaeus of Lyon’s Against Heresies.

Because it’s the 2nd century all over again.

Postscript

Some readers may think I’m being hard on people for not noticing the Gnosticism at the heart of this film. I am not expecting rank-and-file viewers to notice these things. I would expect exactly what we’ve seen: head-scratching confusion. I’ve got a whole different standard for Christian leaders: college and seminary professors, pastors, and Ph.Ds. If a serpent skin wrapped around the arm of a godly Bible character doesn’t set off any alarms … I don’t know what to say.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Brian Mattson’s other review.

I saw a movie loaded with imagery and themes drawn from a variety of monistic, esoteric, mystical, and speculative religions that have their source in Neoplatonism. Among them, Kabbalah and Gnostic sects.

My critics openly admit that Aronofsky drew on a variety of these sources.

But, they seem to insist, his reliance on these sources is relatively harmless to the film, and these themes can be interpreted in healthy directions.

That’s interesting and all (and I’ll say more about it in a minute), but it isn’t the primary issue in this controversy.

The issue is this: should Christian leaders have endorsed this movie, either outright or being used as part of a Hollywood promotional machine?

Given the fact that Aronofsky drew from these types of sources, and given the themes and imagery of his final product, I say the answer is no way. Others, obviously, do not share that conclusion. I say let Aronofsky and Paramount gin up their own clientele. To me, it seems perverse for them to lean on the Christian community for it, which they did, holding private screenings for leaders and people of influence.

That, friends, is the issue. I’m not condemning or shaming anybody for seeing the film, talking about the film, debating the film, or even enjoying the film. I’m concerned that certain Christian leaders were basically asked to “vet” the film for their constituents, and they came to conclusions that simply missed the themes I’ve highlighted. I find that to be a bit of theological malpractice. Not enough to “lose your license,” be kicked out the kingdom, ostracized or condemned as a pagan or “enemy of the faith,” or anything of the sort. But enough to warrant a censure, and to be encouraged to beef up theologically and do better next time.

Now, if you want to go on to debate ways to interpret all of these themes and imagery, that’s fine. That’s partly why seeing and talking about movies is fun in the first place! Just so long as we’re clear that the Director did not get these ideas from the Bible; he got them from esoteric, mystical traditions that have as their purpose to subvert the original story.

[By the way, many people failed to grasp the rhetoric of hyperbole in my claim that it has “nothing” to do with the Bible. Obviously, all mystical re-interpretations of Noah have Genesis as their foundational source text. It’s the very thing they’re trying to subvert. I didn’t think that needed to be said. I was wrong.]

So, with my view of the major issue clear, feel free to find ways of interpreting the monistic/Gnostic/Kabbalic imagery any way you please (that’s one of the attractive features of these religions in the first place). But I’ll just note an irony: It is not me who is stretching for fancy interpretations here. That was what I expected at first with my movie review: “Boy, this guy’s really stretching. He’s crazy!” The fact that my critics are the ones searching for ways to interpret the symbolism of the texts and motifs they admit Aronofsky used means that it is not they who are on the solid ground.

But, as I say, those are all less important issues, in my view.

One final thing to clear up on the interpretive side of things. A number of people challenged my idea that God wanted to kill Noah and his family too, because Emma Watson’s character explains, “Maybe The Creator wanted you to decide” whether the human race lives or dies. Well, fine. The Creator doesn’t reveal anything about himself or his purposes in this film, so you’re certainly allowed to take her word for it. But it gets you no closer to anything resembling a biblical doctrine of God. And Christian critics should have had a response equally objectionable. God throws up his hands and says, “I have no opinion on the matter. You can live or die. I can go either way. You decide, Noah”? That’s not evidence of God somehow exhibiting love or mercy instead of wrath; it’s evidence of coldest of cold indifference.

And it represents pretty much the exact opposite of the Bible’s account. God chose Noah. God commissioned Noah to build the ark and, after the flood, to undertake the original Adam’s mandate to be fruitful and multiply. It was his purpose to save humanity. He didn’t leave it up to a potentially vacillating, half-homicidal Noah. So even if this interpretation of the film is right, it is still no closer to being an acceptable rendering of the biblical story.

It’s an interpretation that is not to the film’s credit.

If people still want to believe (perhaps even Handel himself) that this isn’t a subversion, they can. But I’m not buying it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more reviews on Noah, see the below links.
Many thanks,
Laura Maxwell.

Posted in Apostasy, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Movie | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment