My Story
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I was born in Albany,
New York the youngest of three children. My father was Catholic and my
mother was Episcopalian. I was raised Catholic and attended church
almost every Sunday. When I was ten my father decided that we were not
going to church anymore. He said the church was getting too modern.
Conducting folk masses and having people on the pulpit that were not
ordained was too much for him. I believe the real reason was that my
father had lost his faith or he never had a very strong one. I had no
objections to leaving the church. It had no meaning for me anyway, it
was all very boring and pointless to me.
I left home when I was eighteen and joined the Air Force. I attended
church on occasion but not that often. I would only go at out a sense
of guilt not out of a desire to know God.
Like many people in my position who felt that Christianity was not the
answer to life’s questions, I began to explore other beliefs and
religions. I ventured or perhaps waded into Buddhism, Hinduism, and
Transcendental Meditation. I eventually embraced the New Age.
A friend of mine was attending a year long course that he said was
helping him to become aware of himself and his identity in the
universe. He told me that it was giving him the peace that he had
always sought. In the same course you could also learn how to perform
psychic readings. I wasn’t interested in the psychic aspect, but I
was looking for meaning in my life and perhaps this would help. I
attended the course and at the end of it I was able to perform psychic
readings and was quite good at it. Now make no mistake, it does work
but there is a reason for that. I will explain why before I finish.
There was still something missing in my life, a community, and a sense
of belonging. There isn’t one in the New Age. A friend of mine
invited me to her church. She said I might like it and I did. The
pastor’s message was positive and I really enjoyed the music. The
church was rather large and I enjoyed the fact that I could remain
anonymous. My friend also knew I was a very logical and analytical
thinker. She told me about a seminar taught by a scientist who had
come to faith in Jesus Christ. He would be discussing the evidence to
support the Bible and the authenticity of the story of Jesus. I’ve
always been a good debater and I thought it might be fun to put the
teacher on the defensive. I was sure that when it got down to the
facts, he would rely on some type of a “blind faith” answer. I
couldn’t have been more wrong. The facts began chipping away at all
my mis-information I had about the Bible, Jesus and Christianity. On
the night of the last class I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal
savior.
I did have one more “demon” to conquer. In the week following I
experienced much opposition from the voices of my “guides”, the
ones I utilized to perform readings. They said that my newfound faith
was not real. It was then that I realized that the voices were in
opposition to my new found faith, because it was the opposite of
theirs. I knew right then that I had been in the wrong place my whole
life and that my spirit guides were not of God.
The reason that my psychic readings “worked” although not all the
time, is that it does have to work on some level other wise you
wouldn’t stick with it. The guides or more accurately the demon’s
goals, are to keep you dependent on them and from seeking or even
finding the truth about God. It was that realization that convinced me
that I had been wrong my entire life and that I needed to continue to
build towards a closer relationship with Jesus Christ.
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