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~The views and opinions expressed here are of the blog author and not necessarily of CCAPSG as a whole~

Monday, December 14, 2009

Real Life Stories - The Magic Sand Poltergeist


Once again this series of real life stories has the theme of Indigenous artefacts and the resultant chaos that occurs when they are brought into the homes of naïve westerners.



Last week we talked about the ‘cursed keyring’. This weeks story is about relics that had been in a family for years.



Often when someone we love dies, we cherish the things they collected in their lifetimes. It reminds us of what they did and who they were. Sometimes it’s furniture, books, antiques or other collectibles. Other times they are items from another culture they visited.



That is where our story begins..



Years ago ‘P’ lost his beloved father and grief stricken he kept his dad’s items in storage. ‘P’ was married with three beautiful kids and a senior position in aviation – life was going well - but he mourned for his dad and began to go through his old belongings.



He found an old Aboriginal midden (used to store and cook shellfish) and a glass jar full of colourful sand in layers – with distinct images of birds between the layers. He remembered this was known as magic sand and was meant to have spiritual meaning to the Aboriginals. He placed the midden at the back door of his family home, at the base of the steps. The magic sand was placed inside the house.

From that point onwards It took many months for ‘P’ to raise the subject with me, but when he did the events that were taking place at his house sounded very familiar.



“Baz, can you and the elders come and pray for my house, there are twenty pound weights being thrown around downstairs when no one is down there, wind out windows are opening and closing of their own accord and footsteps that come up the back stairs, then go onto the roof and over our room happen all the time”? I confirmed these events with his wife and noting that this sounded very unusual indeed promised to organise a team to do deliverance prayer at his house. This was at a time when CCAPSG did not have an investigative arm or equipment to check for other natural phenomenon. We treated it with what we had – faith.



The elders of the Church did go and pray, but I did not due to other things that were on. ‘P’ was upset with me for not coming and rang me to let me know. I explained my absence and as we sorted things out amicably, firstly on the phone and them over coffee more of the story came out.



The events had not subsided.



Even worse, now a dark cloud of ‘malevolence’ had crept up the stairs at night, a phenomenon that was palpable to the point that ‘P’ could trace it’s journey as it moved up the three levels of the house.



The footsteps continued as did night terrors and they always emanated from the area where the midden was. Strange behaviour by Ravens in the area around the midden only intensified the feelings that they were being watched all the time.



Then the penny dropped. All the occurrences started when the midden and magic sand was brought into the house.



We discussed it and ‘P’ decided he needed to get rid of the items.



Guess what?



As soon as they were removed the phenomenon also ceased.



When I became a Christian in 2000, I had a lot of stuff in my house that had been used ceremonially (for example animal fetishes) as my wife worked in a Native American Art Gallery.. We simply got rid of those items and kept the others that had not. We were simply more aware of what had gone on in my wife’s house as a child and realised we wanted a clean house with no unwelcome visitors. This is not a ‘fundamentalist’ mindset – it’s common sense when you have experienced horrific phenomenon before that was linked to a ceremonial item. I hope this story encourages us to be on guard and realise that at times we need to do what was done in the book of Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament.



From Acts 19:11-20 (NIV)

11God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

17When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. 19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.[a] 20In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Let me make this clear - by no means are we encouraging people to randomly destroy items from other cultures which can be so rich in history, art and legacy, but to be very discerning about what you buy or allow yourself to inherit and what you put in your house. It’s important to realize that when something gets in to our lives through those entry points that we can’t let the financial cost of the item dictate whether it has permission to stay in our homes – the long term cost is far greater in the toll it can take on our families.

By Pastor Baz

3 comments:

  1. Dear Editor.. :)

    I have recently started to sculpt and love it, plus I thank God for my talents I have picked it up quite quickly and the results have been great !

    However depends how you look at it, I like sculpting vampirish things.

    I like the legend myth and seem to have quite a few of them for painting etc.

    I dont only do those I have taken to various forms of dioramas and even got into wargamming which is something I like to do with friends over a beer.

    Imho, I do not see them as a point of worship infact they are just miniatures that I like to do. I wouldnt mind selling them, and I certanly do not see them as being evil in any way but rather a creative outlet.

    I just cant for the life of me sculpt an angel or a harp or a cherub baby, I just dont have it in me.

    I would love to create sculptures from bible stories but theyd would not be the nativity scene or something fluffy, Id love to sculpt the raw emotion at the height of the battle like Samson killind a Philestine with a jawbone of a donkey or one of the many interesting stories of the mighty Judges !

    Ive also taken up to painting, and soon am about to start a large 4 horseman of the apocalypse painting.

    I dont fear anything in the house, as I rest my fears in God, hes is the author of Fear as well as Comfort, and I believe Christ is King over all, after all Clay is Clay.

    is it wrong for me to create images and sculptures which could be deemed innapropriate to many Christians if I myself dont find anything wrong with them ??

    I know the Bible verse Paul talks about, all meat is clean and good to eat, but does that correlate and as a Christian artist I need some advice.

    Regards
    -dj

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  2. Hey Dj, great to hear from you champ,

    I think the most important thing here is you are asking some really good questions in a transparent manner, which means you have the intent to discern what is good, rather than defend a current position. That's called teachability and it's a great thing, so don't go changing ok. It's really refreshing to hear your comments.

    One of your questions is basically (paraphrased)'is my current intent and position ok with God'.

    I think a lot of Christians have created a cultural environment where mythology is bad and only things mentioned in the bible directly as good are good. That means a lot of Christians have issues with metaphors, analogies, imagery, symbolism that pertains to anything considered evil - hence the Lord of the Rings, Twilight, Narnia etc get's attacked for blurring the lines between good and evil. Same goes for the stuff you are interested in. It all comes down to intent. If you were creating it as an idol of sorts because you were obsessed with the subject and it became your main focus, you could end up with spiritual bondage and attachments. If it's an expression of mythology, art and for example, being in a situation that seems unredeemable (a theme for vampires in twilight) then it's a different story.

    I hear you when it comes to 'Christian fluff' whether it be movies, music or other media. Some people are grittier than that and the Bible is certainly a gritty book, so I encourage you, pursue that passion to sculpt the roughter tougher end of town when it comes to biblical stories and with your other interests, just ask the Holy Spirit to show you whether to down tools or to use it for the glory of God. The Bible is silent on vampires except to say that drinking blood is not cool!!

    Jesus loves you Dj, He'll show you what to do and we'll be praying for you bro and the scripture you mentioned (eg Paul) are good to read and do a study on to get their clear meaning (ask your Pastor for a study) - Baz.

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  3. Thank you Baz for the advice I will take it on board.

    Drinking blood.. NOT cool - got it !

    Lets catch up soon !!

    ReplyDelete