The Magician

       I really enjoy watching a good magician. I know that they have no real magical powers, but they do have some powers. They have the power to entertain me, and they have the power, or ability, to deceive me. This is a good deception though. I know that I am being deceived and I'm good with that. That's the whole idea. For many years, I was a performing, small-time, magician. I did parties, church groups, and schools. I had a good time performing. My enjoyment came from watching the faces of those who discovered, too late, that they had been deceived. The better a magician can deceive, the better they are as a magician. After all, who wants to watch a magician if you can see through all their tricks. That would be boring, or worse yet...annoying. 
       I remember one show I did, in particular where I was the entertainment, at a church dinner. One of tricks I performed consisted of having a volunteer choose a card from a deck of cards. They showed the card to the audience and placed it back in the deck. I went through a series of deck shuffles and then I would cut the deck and show them their card. Every time I shuffled the deck, I could cut the deck and reveal their card. I finally revealed that the deck was made up entirely of their card choice, only to reshuffle and show that the deck was back to a normal deck, with all types of cards. They loved it. I ended by putting the deck away and asking the pastor "Pastor? Before dinner, did I give you anything and ask that you keep it until I asked for it?" "Yes." he responded. "What was it?" I asked. "A hymn book." he announced. "Would you please open it up and tell everyone what is hidden inside?" I requested. Upon opening the hymnal, he pulled out a playing card, held it up and told which card it was. I just happened to be the card that the volunteer had chosen from my deck of cards. They were amazed. I was not. I know the trick behind the trick. I was the deceiver and they were the deceived. It was quite simple, really. But is it not true that most people are easily deceived? I am a rank amateur when it comes to performing magic tricks. I could not compete with a Vegas professional.
     Now the spiritual side of this whole thing. How long has Satan, the deceiver, been practicing and perfecting his performance? How easy is it for him to deceive those that sit and watch his performance of smoke and mirrors and sleight-of-hand? I will watch and rewatch a magician's performance, even in slow motion, in order to figure out how he pulls off the seemingly impossible. Sometimes I can figure it out and sometimes I can't. But I always watch. Even if I figure out what he is doing, I can usually admire his ability to do it.
       Then there is Satan. Not many people talk about him anymore. Many preachers are willing to talk about the love, grace and mercy of God (those are happy and nice), but fail to temper their sermons with a reminder that Satan is a very real threat to the future security of us all. Some have allowed their message to become so twisted that "the great magician" has been all but nullified. I am aware that Satan is not the equal/opposite of God or Jesus, the Christ. He is more the equal/opposite of Michael, the Messenger angel. But, he was given dominion over the Earth and the opportunity to influence us away from a right relationship with the father (God). This past Sunday, our pastor was preaching and stated "...you can't flirt with the devil and look like Christ..." Good point. I would add that unless you already know all the tricks, you can't sit through a magician's performance and not be taken in every once in a while.
       Here are a few of the tricks that I have already figured out: Let's call the first one the ol' "Confuse them by agreeing with them" or "agree with them till it hurts...them" trick. If you can convince people that they are safe, then they will not attempt to reach safety. If you convince me that I already have purchased my ticket, then why would I spend the additional funds to procure another? So instead of trying to get people to avoid accepting Christ, Satan whispers in our ears "Go ahead. All you have to do is 'believe, and you will be saved'. You don't have to do anything else. Scripture says that you are saved by faith alone and not by works, so that you can't brag about what you did. Don't worry. Christ will change the things that are wrong with you and if he doesn't change it then it must be OK. You got 'saved' when you were young and your preacher told you that Christ died for all your sins. That means that past, present, and future sins are taken care of, so don't sweat it. You're good to go. Have fun and live your life free of worry. After all, God wants you to be happy and we all know that a loving god would never send anyone to hell." Did you see that? Did you see how the magician was so close? How he made the trick look like the reality? How if you didn't pay close attention, you might have been taken in by the sleight-of-hand? How what is real is combined with just enough deception to fool us into thinking that what we saw was what we saw? Exactly.
       How about the "Crowds don't lie" or the "herd mentality" trick. Oh, that's a good one. The premise is this: a crowd offers the magician accomplices with which to sway the opinions of the holdouts in the crowd. Here's the magician's patter ("The dialogue used in the performance of an effect. Patter styles may differ from magicians to magicians - some prefer a serious patter, while others opt for a light hearted humorous patter to relax the audience and try to catch them off guard.-www.road2magic.com/magic-articles/glossary-of-magic-terms"): "All of you see what I have in my hand" he states. To which we all answer "Yes." Those who disagree will seldom disagree publicly, but will instead concur and 'go along with the crowd' for fear of standing out and inviting ridicule. It becomes easier to 'go with the flow' of popular misconception then to stand out , as an analytical self-thinker, and draw fire from the masses. What would happen, during a magician's performance, if one person stood up and stated "but, I saw how you really did the trick."  (Magicians hate that, by the way.) People would ridicule the standout for the "anti-go-along" statement. "Why don't you just shut up and sit down" they might respond.  Then the person either stands their ground or quietly sits and conforms to the crowd. No one else will speak out now. They know what will happen. They don't wish to be a Martin Luther or John Calvin. The mantra of this trick becomes "You gotta go along to get along." Most of the magician's audience will assume that "They can't all be wrong. I must have been mistaken." When discussing denominational dogma, I have actually been told "How can all those people be wrong?"
       If Satan , through his messengers, can convince people (although scripture says that killing oneself is a murder, for which one has no opportunity to ask for forgiveness) that it is God's will that I kill myself in order to go to heaven, then what else is he capable of? Sure, people drinking kool-aid or eating pudding in order to meet the mother ship to heaven is the extreme, but what about the "live like hell, going to heaven" misconception?
       So, you say "OK Michael. That's all well and good, but what can I do to avoid deception?" Well, what I have found is, learn the tricks, watch the magician closely and hang out with others who are doing the same. Sometimes my fellow audience member/magician "figureouter" will catch something that I have missed. Also, I have found that it is important to not be distracted by those the deceiver/magician has employed as assistants or brought on stage as volunteers. These a can include family, friends, ministry workers, etc. Just because someone is employed as a pastor does not mean they are teaching the right thing. I have met many who mean well, but are lacking in knowledge and others who are down right evil. When you find a pastor who loves God, studies the word, and is insistent on truth over fiction, you have found a real treasure. Also, know the truth (investigate on your own) so that you will recognize untruth, when you see it. When I was in the Army, we had to learn to recognize friendly aircraft and vehicles, as well as unfriendlies. We had to be able to spot the enemy and know the difference in order for survival.
       Go ahead. Enjoy watching that magician. I do. But remember, there is more there than meets the eye. Camaflauge is successful, when it works. Ask a deer.