christian ammunition

A few years back, a small, grey haired woman came into my office to conduct a business transaction.  She was probably in her late sixties or early seventies and was very elegant and proper in her speech and mannerisms, possessing a certain old southern charm that you rarely see anymore.  Our meeting started off pleasantly enough–we made small talk as I worked through assisting her with her transaction on my computer.  As we chatted, she made me aware that she was a nationally-known psychic medium and author who had assisted in solving several high profile police and FBI cases in the past (a small medium?).   I wasn’t really sure how to respond to this, and just decided that it would be best to make a very deliberate and concentrated effort on my part to steer our conversation back to the business at hand and to get things wrapped up as quickly as possible (the sooner the better, as far as I was concerned!).  That was not to be, however, as she continued with her biography by informing me that her ‘gift’ of psychic divination was, in fact, a spiritual gift from God and that the Bible confirmed this.  She then proceeded to tell me how that many Christians had ‘shunned’ her because of her ‘abilities’ and declared that most Christians didn’t really know what prayer was all about anyway or how to ‘do it correctly’.  According to her, true prayer was to be done via a state of intense meditation where one’s mind is totally cleared and the ‘holy spirit’ is allowed to flow through them.  I sat flabbergasted as I listened to her tell me, in a no-nonsense way, that the’holy spirit’ is the spirit which dwells in the rocks, trees, water, birds, etc. (pantheism, anyone?) and that we should endeavor to become one with that spirit.  As you can imagine, I had become very alarmed at what I was hearing by this point.  I leaned forward and spoke gently, yet firmly, across my desk to her and said,

Ma’am, I am a born again Christian and, as a Christian, I hold the Bible to be my ultimate authority.

I then proceeded to explain to her that the things she was telling me were not in the Bible.  “Yes, they are.”  She replied.  “No ma’am, they’re not.”  I answered back.  “Yes, they are.”  She said with more firmness this time.  “Where in the Bible are they?” I asked.  A brief pause from her, as she seemed a little surprised by the question.  She answered, “I don’t know but they are in there……y-you just need to look.”  “Ma’am, I have looked,” I said, “and they are most definitely not there.”  What came next was quite astonishing, yet not completely unexpected.  With a tone of defiance in her voice, she said

well, the Bible has been changed a bunch of times since it was written.

Without batting an eye, the same woman who had just been trying to use the Bible to justify herself, was now trying to undermine its credibility when it no longer suited her purpose!  “How do you know that?” I gently asked.  Her countenance seemed to change for a moment as she processed that simple, but direct, question.  It was obvious that she was not used to having her claims against the reliability of the Bible challenged (and didn’t seem to appreciate my having done so, either).  “My friend is a historian who has researched this extensively, and he told me” she responded.  “And how do you know that the information he gathered during his research is accurate?” I inquired.  She seemed at a total loss as she contemplated an answer and, then, very matter of factly, asked that we just get back to finishing up our initial business.  I was more than happy to oblige her request, as the atmosphere in the room had grown somewhat tense by now.

Once we were done, I handed her a few pieces of paperwork and then walked with her to the door of my office, where we cordially said our goodbyes.  As she was leaving, she reached into her purse and produced one of her business cards advertising her psychic services.  She offered the card to me, which I respectfully declined to take.  Boy, did that do it!  All at once, her whole demeanor changed as a fury welled up inside her and that spirit that was in her reared its ugly head and showed its true nature.  In an angry tone, she began to mutter all sorts of unpleasant things about me under her breath (most of which I couldn’t understand—thankfully) and her once elegant, sophisticated movements became erratic and forceful as she threw her purse upon her shoulder and briskly stomped out of my office and into the parking lot, where her tirade continued even as she got into her car and drove away.

I do not recall ever seeing her again since that day (although she did call in to complain about being ‘preached to’ when she came into the office.  The complaint was dismissed, though, once it was brought to light that she had initiated the discussion and was simply asked to justify her specific claims she made against the Bible).  Looking back, this experience serves as a clear reminder to me that, even now,  Christians must remain sober and vigilant, for our adversary, the devil, is still very much on the prowl and seeking whom he may devour via his many lures and manifold deceptions. Truly, the Enemy of our faith wears many disguises–whether masquerading as an angel of light, or even (as in this case) lurking amongst us in the form of a small medium at large.

UPDATE:  I received word not long ago that the woman in this story has since passed away.  I sincerely pray that she repented and came to know the Lord as her Saviour before she died.