Ministry Moments:
Mary, Baha'i Psychic
by Lynn Ridenhour
One day while relaxing at the Upper Room, a young
girl walked in--couldn't have been more than fourteen--plopped herself down in
a chair, looked me straight in the eye, and said "...Let's test our gods.
I'm the school witch..."
She wasn't joking.
These kids have never seen much action in church, so I can understand their
fascination with the occult. At least there's action participating in a
sιance or playing with a Ouija board. Our pastor once placed the Ouija board
on a table and asked it, "...what do you think of the blood of
Jesus?..." It picked itself up in midair, threw itself against the wall,
and landed on the floor.
I learned quickly--operating a Christian halfway house for street people is
serious business. As a believer, you had to put up or shut up. Most of
the kids who came our way (I call them "kids;" they're anywhere from
13 to 33) had heard enough preaching to last a lifetime. They were only
interested in action. And if you didn't have it, they quickly knew it.
It kind of reminded me of the ancient "spiritual shootouts."
I like how Peter Wagner put it:
"Christian preachers in those days were so sure of the power of
God," says Wagner, "...that they did not hesitate to engage in power
encounters. They would challenge in public the power of pagan gods with
the power of Jesus...For instance, the author of the apocryphal Acts of Peter
provoked a spiritual 'shootout' in the very forum of the capital...All this
involved the manhandling of demons--humiliating them, making them howl, beg
for mercy, tell their secrets, and depart in a hurry. By the time the
Christian preachers got through, no one would want to worship such 'nasty,
lower powers...The supernatural power of God 'driving all competition from the
field' should be seen as the chief instrument of conversion in those first
centuries." (The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit, p.p.78-82.)
Multitudes were brought to Christ back in the early days of
Christianity--not by arguments, not by debates, not by lectures &
sermons--but by power encounters.
Things haven't changed. Our youth especially are not impressed with our
creeds and sermons and buildings and denominations and administration
handbooks. They follow the supernatural, even if it leads them into the darker
side, the occult. The church sadly has lost an entire generation, having lost
the manifest power of God.
And the manifest power of God is the chief instrument of conversion in our
day. I had just been challenged publicly. It's the power of Jesus Christ
against the power of pagan gods, or more precisely, the power of the
occult. In other words--I had been invited to a spiritual shootout.
"Whada ya say, preacher man?" said the gum-chewing teen. She was
looking me right in the eye. Thankfully, the Lord gave me a holy boldness. I
hate sin and what it does.
"Tell you what. For the next seven days you will lose all your powers.
You won't be able to hold any of your seances or do any of your magic. If you
try, none of it will work for you."
She was taken back. I don't think anyone had ever spoken to her quite that
directly.
"O, yeah, preacher man. We'll see. We'll see," and she stormed
out.
That's the last I saw of her. To look at her, you'd never guess she was a
witch. She looked like any other normal kid. Most kids are into that type of
thing anyway for the fun of it. I'm not sure they're really aware they're
playing with fire. They're not aware of a jealous God who visits the
iniquities of the fathers upon the children, especially upon those who dabble
in the occult (Ex.20:5; Deut.18:10-12).
A couple days later two high school teenagers show up at the Upper Room.
I'd never seen them before.
"Are you the preacher man?"
"Well, you could call me that. Why?"
"Are you the man who stopped Jenny's powers?"
"What do you mean?"
"We had our regular meeting last night and nothing happened. Jenny
said you put a curse on her."
"I wouldn't call it a curse. Guys, you caught me at a bad time. If you
ever want to witness some real power, come back and talk to me about Jesus. I
gotta go now." And I did have to leave. I left them standing in the
doorway of our coffeehouse as I drove off.
The next day some more teenagers come and tell me that Jenny
"...couldn't do her thing..." And that she was blaming me.
Jenny lost her powers for one week.
And the word got around. That's when Mary shows up on my doorstep. Mary was
a beautiful young lady with long straight black hair, dark complexion, and big
brown eyes. I would say, she was in her early twenties.
Mary was a hairdresser. And a lot of teens were her clients; they liked
Mary. She had a bubbly personality, the type that kids opened up to. Mary was
also of the Baha'I faith and claimed to be a mystic with psychic powers.
I heard a knock and opened the door.
"Mr. Ridenhour, I'm here to read your mind."
She's standing in the doorway and those were the words she greeted me with.
"Please, won't you come in." I'm used to about everything. We had
Jim living with us, former drug dealer, who was into "inner space."
Entire universes are wrapped up in atoms, according to Jim. Jim didn't believe
in "outer space;" he believed in "inner space." He used to
believe, that is. Jim's a student of scriptures now, hungering for more of
Jesus. He's reveling in his newfound love affair with the Lord Jesus. Jim
became one of our best street evangelists. He lived with us for six months.
Mary seemed to be a bright, intelligent young lady. You could see her
enthusiasm as she talked about the awe-inspiring figure of Bahaullah,
"...the Promised One of all religions..." as she put it.
Mary continued talking about world peace and how the Baha'I Faith is the
Exemplar of universal happiness. She talked for about ten minutes without
interruption. Then she got to the point.
"I have the gift," she said. "...I can read people's minds,
their thoughts. And I've come to read you your thoughts..."
I sat and listened intently to her every word--then stopped her.
"Mary, every thing you've said is wonderful--all that world peace and
universal happiness. I believe in it. But Mary, you've been here now close to
twenty minutes and you haven't once mentioned your peace. The peace from
within your own soul..."
She flinched ever so slightly.
"And you came to read my mind? That's fine. But Mary, let me ask you
something--do you know the difference between a trick and a miracle?"
She shook her head no.
"God does miracles, the devil does tricks." She still didn't
understand.
"Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does miracles. And while he was on
earth he was careful to give all the praise and glory to His Father. He never
once drew attention to himself while performing a miracle."
She was listening.
"A lot of people, Mary, can do supernatural things, but most of those
people become the life of the party, or people are attracted to them. And
Mary, one thing is always missing--inward peace. The peace of God cannot be
substituted. Or counterfeited..."
She was still listening.
"The gospel is simple. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Only the
Prince of Peace can bring inward peace, Mary. And the great thing is--we don't
have to change a thing. He comes to us. He does the changing for us. It's
called the peace of God that passes all understanding..."
I had said enough. There was a tear in Mary's eye. I knew she wanted that
peace. And didn't have it.
Mary left. Two days later I hear a knock on my door. It's Mary. She's
standing in the doorway. I open the screen door and she says, "...I need
deliverance..." That's all she says. Without an invitation she walks
inside, sits down in a chair, and asks for prayer.
Mary met the Prince of Peace that day and became our praise and worship
leader.
