A friend invited me to attend a Wellness Expo. Vendors with information on health issues, vitamins, exercise, the newest exercise equipment, loads of free samples; the possibilities were endless. She had been given free tickets, I was free for the afternoon, sounded like a great idea, and off we went.
Driving around for several minutes unable to find a parking spot we were encouraged by the large turnout and pressed on. After finding a spot we walked the short distance, found the registration table, chatted a minute with the ladies at the table, put our names in the basket for the drawing to be held later in the day and went inside.
What greeted us was startling, shocking and unexpected.
No exercise equipment, no free samples, no brochures on vitamin therapy -but crystals. Crystals of every shape, size and color. People everywhere. Booths whose vendors offered physic readings using tarot cards and palm readings. In one booth a circle of people were sitting with eyes closed, humming. Another booth a woman lay on a padded table, a cloth covered her eyes. The vendor sat at the woman’ head with a crystal attached to a chain. The crystal was moving in a circular motion over the woman’ head. All this and we had hardly gotten past the front door. In stunned silence we made our way to the exit spotting as we were leaving a Native American artist doing portraits. I glanced at the sketch pad where the artist had sketched the woman' face - surrounded by animals.
I believe the LORD allowed us to see this, as He did Ezekiel, [Chapter 8] to move us from the comfort zone of our padded pews to the reality of the twenty-first century and to our knees. Never could I have imagined so many were bound in this darkness, and what we saw was only the tip of the iceberg. Never would my heart have been heavy for the state of these lost souls, never could I have put a face with my prayer or even thought to pray for those bound in witchcraft, idolatry and New Age deception,
Never.
As we were leaving, a young woman was coming in. I said to her “if you are looking for New Age this is the place.” Her response;
“Cool.!”
Evolution, physic readings, humming meditation, crystals, New Age mysticism, tarot cards…. “Cool.!”
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things Romans 1
Indeed they are, and I fear, like Nero, the church is fiddling while Rome is burning.
ReplyDeleteWhat an opportunity to greet participants as they entered the building - passing out tracts, sharing a smile. Sadly, no such effort was in evidence. The church has become so 'bless me' they care little for the hurting among us. Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.[Perhaps the subject for my next blog post :-) Stay Tuned!]
I am grateful for the experience - thanking God that He led us to see the darker side of life for a moment. Seeing those precious souls, made in His image, stumbling, groping and grasping for 'spiritual' comfort was an eye opener.