I just reviewed MagicBob's "Magic for the Gospel Magician" column submitted today to editor John Sturk of the Newest TOPS web magazine. Should be posted there shortly. Pretty practical- my routine is based on http://www.wretchedradio.com and the "law as a schoolmaster/mirror" theme, MagicBob uses Abbott's inexpensive "Flexible Mirror" for illustrating James chapter 1, verses 23 and 24. See MagicBob's presentation at http://www.MagicBob.org/mirror.wmv Typical well done MagicBob routine, he filmed it in his basement.

On a personal note, my nephew is getting married January 16 in Columbia, SC. Our family is driving 13.5 hours from Michigan one way to be there. To my absolute delight I found out that SC magic convention http://www.scamcon.org is the exact same days we will be there and located less than a mile from the hotel we are staying at. Wowsa! Is that cool or what?

Very nice presentation. Thanks for sharing it MagicBus. Will it be on an upcoming, "Now That's Magic" episode?

Possibly- I talked to Randy Craven today, our FCM member/series Editor, he thinks he is going to crank out a one hour "SPECIAL EDITION" of Now That's Magic! before the end of the year. I'll post it here first on The Magic Café the moment it gets posted to http://www.ChristianMagician.org

Randy has the complete liberty to select and use whatever footage he wants from any source (including any DVD cuts you or other magicians send to him), including from MagicBob's fine routines he films in his basement. MagicBob has quite afew of these segments already posted to his own website at http://www.MagicBob.org I think Randy has almost 1.5 hours of new raw footage he is working through, will be great to see what he comes up with!

Thanks again for your kind interest, it makes me feel good that perhaps those looking for a Gospel magic routine or two might find it on the web site. I don't even know myself what a final edited program will look like, or who will even be on it, so I am too like a little kid on Christmas morning eagerly waiting to view the next episode that comes out... Can't wait!

Magic Bus (and Magic Bob) Thanks for sharing this routine with us. Have been pondering a routine for the mirror after watching the video yesterday. I liked the big comb and the big tooth brush, (as well as the reference to Colon, Michigan) but I personally would leave out the phrasing "here is what a magician does with a mirror" because it makes that the motivation for doing the effect, i.e. to "show what a magician would do" rather than having what seem an obvious message driving the actions and illusion. So what follows is what my mind came up with after playing with the concept for the day.

Routine:

Mirrors are notorious for revealing the truth. If you are a wearing a dirty, raggedy t-shirt covered with say mud…you won’t look into a mirror and see yourself in a tuxedo. The mirror will show you the truth that you are wearing a dirty raggedy t-shirt.

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for us to use like a mirror to show how we can’t live up to the standards of God. It reveals the sin in our dirty, raggedy lives.

However, it seems these days, people are doing their best to hid the truth (cover the mirror with its bag) so people will think they are wearing a tuxedo instead of dirty raggedy t-shirt. But they don’t stop there. They also do what they can to poke holes in the truth (push needles through the cloth “penetrating the mirror”) saying things like "Well, that's not what the writers really meant by that." Also they love to bend the truth (bend mirror inside bag) to fit they way they choose to live. They say silly things like “Well like, what is like true for you may not be like what is true for me.” (bend mirror back and forth as you say this)

But you know what…truth doesn’t work that way. Truth is absolute. Are you going to say to a highway patrol man when he pulls you over to the side of the road, “Dude, like that speed limit thing, that’s not truth to me…man.” Guess what...you are still getting the ticket...you are still going to have to pay the fine. Unless of course somebody pays it for you...but I'll get to that in a moment.

So forget about bending the truth (straighten mirror out) and forget that you can poke hole in it (remove pins) and don’t try to hid from it (remove cover) and realize that we must be honest when we look in the mirror (do this) and say… “I am a sinner!” And the only way we can get rid of that sin is to . . .

. . . and go into the gospel message.

Nice! Now I want to go and buy myself the prop.

Excellent routine! I am printing it off the Magic Café so I don't lose it. My routine (submitted to New TOPS- should be in there shortly) uses a Mikame Mirror Frame with a copy of The Ten Commandments on the back of the mirror. The mirror shows us our sin- but we can't wash our face with the mirror when it reveals to us our sin/dirt, etc.. Abbott's sells both the flexible mirror used by MagicBob and the Mikame Mirror I use. The Mikame is much more expensive and has a thinner, more wood type finish; the one MagicBob used is less expensive and probably a little more rugged. A really nice trick with Gospel "applications" that do not seem too much of a stretch.

I like using a paper bag because you can crumple it up afterward. I also like using a machete to slash the mirror after I poke holes in it. Gets a nice reaction.

Another direction ... (some of the patter refers to other events that happened in the show, so some parts may not make complete sense)

This is the center of my "Don't hide your light" show. All through the show the mirror is in a stand with a lit candle in front of it and several times during the show I call attention to it. "We are made to be a reflection of God's light (love for others)" is the general gist of the show.

When it is time, I take the mirror and start the patter of what can happen when we get around people who don't want to see God's light. They want to us to cover it up, just while you're not in church. So, because we want to have friends we hide the light(put in bag) so we don't "offend" others.

People are jealous and if they don't have something they don't want you to have it either, so they will start trying to poke holes in your light (image). They do this by convincing you it's OK to do little sins, tell little lies, go along with the crowd, etc. Their goal is to wreck your image & take your light away from you. After they poke holes in your light they'll start to bend it, trying to break it!

And when they are through, they will leave you and go onto someone else. They will not be your friends and you are left with a broken light (image). It's at times like these that we can forget our love for God and feel God has forgotten us. But God will never forget His love for us.

We can always return to God and He will straighten & repair our light (and broken hearts) so we can once again be a reflection of His light (love for others).


-Wes Holly-

Wow those are good lessons! you guys have some creative minds!

Wes -

Wonderful message in your routine. Also great idea with the paper bag and machete. Not using the bag it comes with opens a lot of ideas...like putting Santa Clause Christmas wrap over it...hiding the real meaning of Christmas behind the fantasy aspects of the holiday.

(I love the Café...)

Thanks for sharing Wes.

This is all great stuff!!

My flexible mirror routine should be posted to The Newest TOPS web magazine column section shortly. The password for access to our "Magic for the Gospel Magician" column from last month is "houdini" Roger from http://www.ChristianMagician.org

The "Mirror Frame" column is now posted as well at http://www.ChristianMagician.org along with the other Gospel magic articles written for The Newest TOPS web site. Our next column will most likely be on "prayer sticks" or the Chinese sticks. Many Gospel routines have been used over the years using this basic prop- MagicBob and I will be adding our own versions to the mix a few weeks.

Boy o boy o boy. I am really enjoying those videos on ChristianMagician.org. I feel like I am at Church on a Tuesday night. Thanks for blessing me with those videos. I never knew that a Christian twist could be put into all of these props in my basement. Thank you so much for this!

God bless,
Frank

Thanks for the very kind comments, much appreciated! I will pass them on to MagicBob and our film editor Randy as well. Thanks again!

Love some of these ideas! I, too, had used the Mirror to illustrate the James passage; however, I like some of the patter you all have shared--as well as the idea of using other bags rather than the cloth bag provided!

Abbott's Magic in Colon http://www.abbottmagic.com has at least two styles of the "Flexible Mirror" for sale, and Sterlini Magic (also in Colon now?) has at least four styles of the mirror frame in different sizes and price ranges.

When I first saw this post I thought a few folks had received Barry Mitchell's new book "Let Me Tell You A Story". He includes a gospel routine, inspired by Dr. Jerry Burgess, for this effect. Since no one mentioned the book I thought I might.

Thank you all for sharing the ways you use this prop. Now to brainstorm a way to add balloons.......


peace,
phill

Thanks, Phill, I wasn't aware of Mitchell's book--and didn't know he had a gospel routine for the flexible mirror! It's such a "simple" effect, and yet I've found it is so effective for children and adults, alike!

You are most welcome. If you have Barry's previous book "The Magic of Thinking Creatively", the routine is in there as well.


peace,
phill