Greetings friends,

I have been putting together a Gospel Magic Show, but I would like to begin the show by doing something to hit home the importance of God's Holy Word, especially since every trick I will be doing will be visualizing and hopefully teaching scriptures.

Is this something some of you Gospel Magicians do? Do you tell children about the Bible and why it's so important, before applying scriptures to your effects. I just want the message and show to be as powerful as possible and thought that prefacing the scriptures by showing how important the Bible is would be a good start.

Any thoughts and ideas are extremely welcome!

Alan

You could do a T & R routine with a piece of paper that says "God's Word" on it, showing how people have tried to destroy God's Word throughout history, but are never able to do so. God's Word will never pass away.

That's exactly what I would recommend, and there's even one you can buy that's already made up and has a kicker on it where you drop "the torn paper" and you open it up and it says God's Power... Here's the link and it's only $6.00

http://www.gospelmagic.com/cgi-bin/gospe......&catstr=

Dear Alan,

I hope you will not mind this bit of advice:

Duane Laflin wrote in "Greater Gospel Magic" the following points about trivializing the gospel:

"A Gospel Magic effect must aid the audience in understanding the message. Some well-meaning gospel workers have the mistaken idea that every trick performed in a ministry setting must have a message. Therefore, they add contrived and ineffective applications to some of their effects. Sensing the need for comedy at a certain point in their show, or knowing the need to open a program with an exciting event, they develop missages to justify performing tricks that meet the need. The message they attach to the tricks are good and true, but if the tricks do not actually illustrate and emphasize the messages, they become distractions FROM the messages [emphasis Carrie's]. Even though the honest purpose is to prepare the crowd for reception of the overall theme of the program, by forcing applications on to tricks when the applications aren't necessary or don't quite fit, these gospel workers become guilty of using messages as excuses to perform specific tricks."

"There is nothing wrong with just doing a trick for laughs or to add some energy to a show. It is better to honestly do a trick for the fun of it than it is to come up with an application that isn't really helpful or clear."

"It seems to be best for most Gospel Magicians to entertain a crowd with most of their tricks and then use only a few of them to emphasize and illustrate spiritual truth. It is more wise to have several tricks that serve as plain and powerful examples of the lesson than it is to have many tricks that allow you to do little more than make nice comments about eternally significant concerns."

"Some Gospel Magicians do have the training and experience to weave together a combination of tricks and applications throughout an entire program in such a way that a meaningful and dynamic conclusion is reached. Most Gospel Magicians do not. It requires very strong Bible training and an exceptional knowledge of magic to 'preach' with every effect."

"When a magical effect is used to present a message, the magic must make the message more clear. If the magic doesn't really enhance the message it then most likely detracts from it. The end result is a trivializing of the gospel."

Take a look at André Kole, for example. He does a whole program filled with nothing but amazing illusions. After a short intermission, he performs a gospel illustration and expounds on its meaning, then performs his last great illusion of the night (usually the vanish of the Statue of Liberty).

More from Laflin:

"Please don't think you must mention the blood of Christ every time you use a red object.

"Please don't refer to the blood of Christ unless you are truly dealing with the sacrifice at Calvary and trying to make the message of the cross as clear as possible."

"Please don't try to illustrate spiritual truth that you haven't even bothered to study."

"Please do develop several effects that are strong and definite presentations of the Gospel. Learn to do them as effectively as possible."

"Please do stay excited about the opportunity that is yours with Gospel Magic.... Enjoy the quest for finding good illustrations that may help open the eyes of others to the life-changing message."

"Please don't say about a coin or other object, 'This is Jesus.' Be careful with your words. Explain that the object will be used to help the audience think about something Jesus did or about a concept relating to His life. Treat your visual aids as visual aids. Treat the truth with respect. Give honor to the name of Jesus Christ."

"Please be happy to call yourself a Gospel Magician only if you are willing to take both your mesage and your magic seriously."

Carrie

I completely agree with Carrie Sue.

This is not only the preference of Andre Kole, but other performers such as Kirby Van Burch.

Kirby Van Burch does a complete illusion show that is absolutely awesome and then closes it with a Gospel illustration.

It leaves one final thought with the audience that is both clear and direct, rather than having one effect about Christ's blood, another about Daniel and the lion's den, and another about Jesus and the feeding of the five thousand which is more confusing than it is helpful.

However, this isn't to say that your own routine isn't thought out and well-presented. Performing several effects with Biblical emphasis may be something you do with great skill, however, it's just a word on the side of caution.

I'll add to that...I believe you need to be called by God before you go into churches and do programs...it's one thing to be witnessing and using an effect to illustrate a truth you're sharing, it's another thing to be ministering using the art of magic to reach people. In my programs, there's always a main point that I'm communicating and any effect that I use points in that direction.

Magicians who jump all around, like Christian Illusionist shared..."It leaves one final thought with the audience that is both clear and direct, rather than having one effect about Christ's blood, another about Daniel and the lion's den, and another about Jesus and the feeding of the five thousand which is more confusing than it is helpful.", is like a pastor who gets up to preach and he's all over the board and none of it has to do with the other. What a mess that congregation would be in...

Bottom line...know where you're going with your presentation...don't make it just a bunch of tricks and throw a christian thought or bible story in there for good measure.

Keep the faith!

The way I do it is to interweave the gospel message in bits and pieces throughout the program, then tie it together at the end. When I say bits and pieces, I mean 3 effects. My entire show consists of 9-10 routines, and my opener, middle routine, and closer all have a common theme that I wrap up nicely at the end. The other 6 or 7 tricks in the show are just pure fun. As an example, I may open with Dick Stoner's "Grave Mistake" and do a comedy bit on fears that we have, utlimately the fear of dying. In the middle of the show, I do the C & R Rope, and talk about how our connection with God has been cut due to sin in our lives, but God provided a way to restore our connection to Him. Then for my closer I do a simple paper tear that ends with the paper in the shape of a cross. It is very simple, yet very powerful. I then give a brief invitation where I 'call back' to the prior 3 effects, mentioning our fear of dying, our sin that separates us from God, and how God can release us from our fears, restore our relationship to Him, and resurrect us to heaven with Him through the cross of Christ. It's good magic, it's fun, and it isn't overloaded with too many different themes. But it does have a central thread running throughout the show that ends with an effective conclusion. I have also tried it with a "just for fun" show that ends with one or two gospel tricks, and this has worked as well. But for me, the 3 routines interwoven throughout the show has worked best. For your consideration... God bless, Jeff

The keyword (to me) is "balance". As Carrie Sue accurately quoted from Laflin - not everything you do has to be "Gospel" in orientation. However, everything *should* contribute to a logical, consistent conclusion.

-Eric

To address Alan's original question, I use Wonder Bubbles to open my Gospel routine. I talk about how bubbles are fun, but they don't last. The problem with things of this world is they do not last. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord lasts forever.

Now, onto the philosophical discussions in this post:

I have one routine where every effect teaches a Biblical lesson. When I've done it for adults and teens in churches, I use my Bible-related patter. When I do it for younger children, I do more an entertaining show with some Gospel messages interwoven.

I've never understood the idea that not everything has to be Gospel-oriented. As I look at Eric's post, he talks about "balance," which I beleive is important, too. I should say my Biblical applications are not driving home sinners need to repent. Though all of the effects in this routine have a Biblical application, they are fun and entertaining.

Bobby

It all depends on the venue you're doing. In my Kid's Krusade programs, I use magic to teach spiritual concepts each night, but in my one night program called "Can you Believe, an Evening of Illusion, Laughter and Ministry" not everything I do is Gospel, but messages of encouragement with a powerful salvation ending is woven into the program.

Bobby,
A main reason why I don't think every single trick in my show has to be Gospel-oriented is that it can become almost like a 'dealer demo' show instead of a unified show. Do you know what I mean by that? A dealer demo is basically one unrelated trick, then the next unrelated trick, then another, then the next, and on and on and on. Not that people can't structure a gospel show to be much more than that and still have a related application with each trick, but for me, it's easier and more effective to do it the way I posted above. I think either way is fine if you can make it work for you. Some people (like Terry, in the post above) do it both ways, depending on the situation.

Thanks for the explanation. I must confess, you would consider the routine of which I wrote earlier to be a "dealer demo" show. My approach to that particular show is not to present a unified theme throughout, but to do some effects that are fun with Christian patter. I am terrible at coming up with patter for secular shows and am much more comfortable with Bible-based patter.

For example, when I do a ring-and-rope routine for a secular show, I basically say "The ring is off, the ring is on." It's not that bad, but neither is it that far off. When I use my Christian patter, I talk about how sometimes sin has a way of tying us up in knots. We think we can deal with it by ourselves, but it traps us (ring on). Then I do several other ring on moves, showing how sin gets ahold of us. But with the power of Jesus, we are able to break free from the bondage of sin (ring off).

Thanks for the insight,

Bobby

This is great. I sure wish I could have more time to read and post here on this forum. Everytime I come on here I am amazed and encouraged by what others say. I'm usually never one to be short on words, and I'm always willing to share my opinion, but right now I just feel compelled to take everything in and think about things. God bless you all!

I want to give an even further clarification on my previous post, during my Kid's Krusades, every effect I do goes to further the teaching I'm doing that night. For example I do Multum in Parvo and a killer stage sponge ball routine (where the spectator ends up with up to 20 sponge balls in their hand)but my message that night is on making room for Christ. So the effects go together to illustrate the truth. I like how jkvand puts it, some guys are like watching a dealer demo his goods.

I truly enjoyed reading and respected everyone's opinion shared so far. It's funny how so much time went by before anyone responded! I had almost figured that nobody was going to respond.

Many of the routines I am currently performing for churches were inspired by Duane LAflin. I have also invested in other resources, not to mention things only the Holy Spirit could show me. My motivation in asking this question was that,I was trying to see things from a child's point of view, who may or may not know the difference between right and wrong, and know some biblical truths, but I wanted to give validitiy to The Source. The power of what's in the Bible is so magnificent I wanted to somehow share this. I really like the idea of the torn and restored paper (Thanks for the link Terry).

Carrie I love the quotes you gave from Duane LAflin. He is without a doubt my inspiration when it comes to Gospel Magic. As far as I'm concerned he is a class act and sets the standard for ALL Gospel Magicians.

When I started doing Gospel magic, I had never seen anyone use magic to teach the gospel with. I created my own style out of necessity. I'm so thankful that God has opened those doors. I remember one defining moment when I was watching Dough Henning and was thinking, how I wish I could go full time, and I heard the Lord speak to my heart and said wouldn't you want to be great for me...Since then I've performed far more than most, and have helped led thousands of people to the Lord from New York to Arizona, from Minnesota to Florida...I can't wait to see what God is going to do this year.

Amen Terry!!!!!

Tony Brent
Outta Control Magic Show
Orlando