This testimony shows that occultism and all these dangerous practices are not only found in cults, but also in well-established religions considered ancestral, or even, in a secular and atheistic society.
I was raised on a Catholic backdrop going to Church, my parents not going.
A Protestant aunt had given my brother a beautiful Bible (black leather Bible and with gold page edges!). I read about a third of this “Holy Bible”, starting at the beginning.
First Encounter with God
One day – I was about 12 years old, reading the Bible, I said to myself,
All these miracles with the people of Israel, it’s not possible if there’s not a God behind it, it can’t be chance.”
Then I put God to the test as Gideon did.
If I draw 4 aces, on the first try, I will believe in God all my life.
I shuffled the cards (32) and spread them out on my bed, I picked 4, or rather 5, because the last 2 were almost stuck together. Each time, it was as if “someone” was showing me which one to draw.
Starting with the left, I flipped the first one, … it was an ace! Like my hair was coming straight to my head, the second one was an ace, the third one was an ace!, The fourth one, like I was being shown which one to flip from the last 2 (together). It was an ace!
God had answered – The fifth, it is a 7 of clubs, as if God signed this miracle, by his number of perfection (7) and his trinity.
Chance, according to Albert Einstein, is God walking around incognito. But here, God did not go incognito with that extra 7 of clubs given. The probability of drawing those 5 cards = about 1 chance in a million, and I only made that attempt once!
PS: I by no means recommend anyone to play cards to seek God, … there were no born-again Christians in my village and God spoke to me like this, when I was seeking Him. From that day on, I knew that God – theGod of the Bible – (not just any God!) not only hears prayers but also can answer them.
I knew he existed, but He was up there, … and I was down there, and we didn’t do “business” together.
Drugs, ouija and spiritism
Later, in second grade, around 17-18 years old, not finding any meaning in life, I thought everyone else was an idiot, because life has no meaning (subway, work/school sleep), I started drinking occasionally then weekly, then I smoked joints, I almost became a drug dealer, but God didn’t allow it.
I was reading esoteric books, meeting with a homeopathic dowser, … and I also practiced some Ouija board seances in the high school dormitory, we were invoking spirits, and even Satan, for fun. An inner voice would tell me : “You must see blood” and I did myself a little scarifications to see my own blood and be at peace. One night, after a Ouija seance, in my bed, I saw myself from the outside, I thought I was dreaming, then all of a sudden, my head snapped up and I sneered with another voice – like a devil, even my face was tense and hateful, I was so full of hatred that if a human face had passed in front of me, I would have immediately gouged out his eyes and torn out his cheeks. Half conscious, I wanted to move my right arm vigorously to make sure it was not a dream, my arm only shook, and I could not control it!
You laughed like a devil last night
The Search for Salvation
I don’t want to end up like a vegetable in Amsterdam.
if after so much effort, I can’t do it, then I’ll never do it – I am no longer in control of my future, … my life is no longer in my hand.
He asked me : “will you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?”
Free overnight
My bible was then at the foot of my bed, read, reread underlined, dusty and crumpled so much I used it, … but to the utmost in my heart. At midnight I faithfully listened to a Christian Radio, every Saturday I went to the church youth group… and that was my rapid Christian growth.
One day I was with a bunch of “druggies”…drugs I was free, but I was afraid the old music would lure me in and going to the bathroom I opened my new testament, randomly:
.… I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1John 2:14b)
– no comment –
2 years later, some theological topics were still not clear to me, but reading the Bible helped.
5 years later, I was an engineer, … but most important, I was fist a Christian believer, baptized and committed.
17 years later I was married, an elder in a church . Like the apostle Paul (tentmaker) I work like everyone else.
Through my professional travels all over the world, I have been able to teach in churches, Bible schools, warn, witness …
24 years later, life is not a smooth ride, but I haven’t changed captains (Psalm 107:23-32)… nothing new, except to always discover more wonders in the Bible.
Now my life is in His hand – He is a good shepherd.
I think to be a true Christian, we have to understand that there is no other Way, that we are in a hole from which no one but Christ – God with us, can pull us. (John 14:6)
Signed: a useless servant