October and the Supernatural

At the end of this month people will be enjoying the fun of Halloween.  Many don't take it seriously and see nothing wrong with trick or treat or the new trend in churches to do "trick or trunks" or try to dress up a distraction with "fall festivals".  There are many good Christians who have gotten into studying how this holiday came about and their objections fall onto deaf ears.  My own husband loves horror films as do one of our sons...it's all harmless they say.  I used to think so before I began following Christ fervently...and when I had pushed away all the bad things that caused me to run from the Church as a child.  I was a child of the 70's and lived to do whatever I wanted...and I was freed from the things that hindered me and scared me.  I seldom tell others about my childhood experiences as a child in the Church.  Who would believe me?  They wouldn't have then for sure...I was only 6-10yrs old.  They won't now because the supernatural only exists for those who go "ghost-chasing" or those who practice the Craft.  Christians today don't delve into it because to admit there is supernatural evil means there is supernatural good as well...and the whole reality of sin and punishment, heaven and hell might mean...well our souls are really in peril...aren't they?

I have friends who are into Wicca and have actual covens.  I have others who thoroughly enjoy Wiccan stories, stories of vampires, and Harry Potter.  I have known others who practice satanism.  Still others who are pagans and don't know they are...Mother Earth and all that.  Nobody wants to hear the Christian story anymore...the thought conjures up images of President Bush, the Republican Party, Pedophile priests, Jimmy Swaggarts, the Crystal Cathedral, Jim and Tammy Bakker, and the notorious Pat Robertson of the 700 Club...and suddenly one is nauseaous and gagging.  Christianity is a made up religion by men to control people...and if God is like these witnesses...they'd rather leave Him.

It was the 60's, and the world was in a state of chaos, rebellion and anger were screaming for change in the world!  I was a child and was not aware of events of my time completely.  Raised Catholic I went to a Catholic school, and we attended Holy Mass as a class.  We walked across the street to the beautifully adorned Church.  In those days they practiced the Old Latin Mass.  I was a scared little girl who came from a poor family.  I was a tomboy and a rebel even then.  My greatest resistance was to wearing a dress.  My mind was not on the catechism they were trying to teach, or the prayers we were to learn, and to prepare for Holy Communion.  I didn't understand it and I did not care.  My cares were to play football, basketball, baseball and fight with the boys.  Yet, God decided he would make me care...He would reveal things to  me.  He would scare the heebie-jeebies out of me! 

I sat in Church and prayed with my classmates, and did all the things I was supposed to do.  Yet every single time--I was tormented!  I would get lightheaded, nauseous, and dizzy.  Looking around, nobody else seemed to be having any difficulty.  Perhaps its because we were hungry alot as kids...and perhaps it was the incense that caused it all.  There had to be a reason for it.  Then I began to break out in a cold sweat.  As an adult it was easy to reason these were all symptoms of hypoglycemia.  There remained the issue of the "visions".  A child has a wild imagination do they not?  Yet for such an imagination....it kept me from the Church for over 30+ years.  I remember them vividly still at the age of 50.  I saw monsters fly around the sanctuary during Mass and I was terrified.  I felt like I was choking and couldn't breathe!  I saw images of ugly bird-like things seem to come right out of the stained-glass windows!  I saw many disgusting things happen at the altar that I cannot describe here; but are still very real to me in my mind...never forgotten.  So when my parents were getting a divorce, I convinced my mother to let me leave the Church.  She believed she had given us a foundation of faith and we would have to discover the way on our own journey.  She had only ever been to a Methodist church twice as a child, growing up during the Depression, and her mother died when she was four...leaving 10 children.  She had no true religion upbringing.  Marrying my father, she became Catholic, but he was far from Catholic much less living a Christian lifestyle of any kind.  This happened in the 4th grade! I was so relieved, and so happy!  No more nightmares and suffering in Church for me!!

My life went down some very difficult roads seeking answers and seeking God.  I found Him when I cried out as an adult.  I got "saved" in an evangelical church, went to a Baptist, Pentecostal, Non-denominational, and Methodist Church....my soul was on a journey.  God was speaking and teaching and I was so filled with joy, peace and love!  This was My God!  He was Good and not dark, heavy and scary!  He taught me the Scriptures, opened my understanding, developed teaching gifts, gave me discernment, and spiritual battles....by taking me to each of these churches.  He was the One who finally decided it was time to come home to Rome.  Oh wow! I cannot do that!  He spent 3 years causing me to dig into researching truths...everything He was saying was not what the protestants said, so who did say these things?  Everything He gave me came up Catholic on the internet.  He led me to email a Catholic deacon on the internet who "set me free" by his response to my story of the supernatural experiences I had as a child in the Catholic Mass.  I decided to trust the Lord and go to Mass Dec. 24th, Midnight Mass.  I came home to a very different church, a changed service,  a whole new culture.  I was home.

I truly believe in the supernatural!  I believe in the prayers, the liturgy, the Eucharist and all the Sacraments of having power!  I believe many are going to hell because of lack of belief and hardened hearts of routine and affluence.  I sincerely believe many are going to suffer damnation for corruption and deception.  Still many more, for the lack of Truth and the Ancient Paths of the Sacramental life and religion.  The "spirit of the world" is killing off whole populations in atheism and witchcraft and the occult--but it is also destroying souls within the Church herself...the spirit of the world is "antichrist".  I pray for Saint Michael to fight for us and defend us!  I pray for people to humble themselves and return to faith and worship and holiness!  I pray for people to be awakened before they slip into hell, to fires of eternal damnation, into the Abyss!  I pray for priests to return to preaching about hell, sin and suffering!  I pray for the Church to return to practicing ancient rites and prayers and practices to fight supernaturally against evil spirits at work in our midst, in our families, in our schools and workplaces...in our governing bodies.  May the Lord have mercy and send fresh fire through the Holy Spirit upon the heads of those whose hearts are not yet blackened beyond salvation! Amen!