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Thursday, September 18, 2014

RISK

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking


http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/

One of the things on my bucket list - one risk I want to take for God is to tell you a story about something that I was involved in at Mizzou. 





What happened my sophomore year at the University of Missouri, in Columbia, is not common knowledge.  Somewhere in the world there must be a few women who remember, but I haven't spoken to any of them since I left the campus in 1968.  

Friend & Marcia (right)  at MIZZOU, 1968.  Copyright 1968 Marcia Norwood


I didn't realize the full meaning of what I was involved in - until years later, when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior (in 1973), and began studying the the Bible, The Word of God.  

Knowing the author of any book, gives one insight.  That's true with the Bible. You simply can not understand the Bible without knowing the author.  The indwelling work of the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual truths to believers.

"The WORD became flesh and dwelt among us."
Holy Bible
John 1:14
I attended a protestant church when I was a little girl.  I loved God and Jesus, and had a reverence for the Bible, but in a historical sort of way.  The idea of a conversion: a need to turn from sin to a personal savior was foreign to me.
When I went off to Mizzou (1967-1968),  I didn't believe in a personal devil.  I had no understanding of spiritual warfare, or the presence of evil in our world.
My Jewish college roommate, Merle, and I, went on a weekend trip with our college friend, Betty, to Betty's house in the boothill of Missouri.    We came in late  after a Saturday night of dancing and (under-age) drinking at a local bar, and as punishment, Betty's mother made us get up early Sunday morning to attend their Southern Baptist church.  The pastor talked about the devil.  
The devil.
It was all I could do not to laugh out loud in the middle of church.
"Do you believe the devil is real?"  I smugly asked Betty after the service.
"Of course I do," Betty replied.
I thought she was crazy:  beautiful - but Hillbilly crazy.
It's a risk for me to tell you this story now, for two reasons.
FIRST - you might think I'm crazy, too...but  I'm okay with that.  I would rather be a fool for God, and be obedient to Him than seek approval of man. 
SECOND - the things I learned about the devil, might make someone curious and others hungry for a supernatural power that comes from the enemy of God

Be sure of this:  sin and the devil will take your farther than you want to go; hold you longer than you want to stay; and cost you more than you want to pay:  perhaps even your soul.  

God is faithful to redeem all who call on Him for salvation, but there is an unforgivable sin of unbelief.  There is a time when in God's omnipotence (all-knowing) that He gives people up for a reprobate mind.  
 "Even as they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind..."
Holy Bible
Romans 1:28

Here I was,  a "good" church-going girl, with no knowledge of spiritual warfare, who came face to face with a real devil.

How do know it was The Devil?

He told me.

He told all of us in our dorm room on the 7th floor at Gillette Hall at the University of Missouri.  

He spelled out his name on the Quija Board that we played with.

We thought it was a joke.

We laughed.

The board worked best when a girl named Pat and I put our hands on it.  Someone else had to write down the letters because it spelled out messages so fast.

I actually thought Pat was pushing it to spell out things.  Pat thought I was pushing it.

Neither of us pushed it.  


Sometimes we didn't even need to put our hands on it.  It began spelling things out when Pat and I sat down.

People were curious. Pat and I were invited to a college class (perhaps Psychology?) and  wires were attached to us to see if the movement was voluntary or involuntary.  

We all thought it was a game.

It got us lots of attention.

What happened next was not a game.

I'll tell more of the story in the next blog.

FYI (For Your Information)

There is a movie coming out soon about the Ouija Board.  I saw part of the preview at the movie theater last week.  When I saw what it was about - I closed my eyes, covered my ears and began to pray the name and blood of Jesus.  

I am not promoting the movie.

This is not a harmless board game, and any movie about the Quija Board is a foray into darkness.

Whether you realize it or not, we live in a fallen world.  There are spiritual battles all around us - battles between darkness and light - good and evil.  

You must make a choice.  

Not choosing is a choice for the dark side.

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits whether they are of God...
...Ye are of God...and have overcome them:
because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."
Holy Bible
1 John 4: 1-7

Don't be fooled.

Don't be afraid.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power,
and of love,
and of a sound mind."
Holy Bible
2 Timothy 1:7



I'll tell more of the story in the next blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend!

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories 
in Photographs, 
Prose and 
Public Speaking
 



  
 

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