My Experience with a Mystical Priest

David Gray shares his experience with a mystical priest who was channeling a Padre Pio spirit.

In April 2002, my aunt invited me to meet with a mystical Catholic priest from India with whom she had been consulting for help with relationships and other problems. She told me that she believed this priest had some supernatural power to foresee the future and to identify problem areas in people’s lives. I decided to go because I was rather depressed at the time and my faith in Christ was not yet very strong. Besides, I was enticed by the thought that this person might be able to foresee the future. I thought maybe he might have some special gift of the Holy Spirit.

When I arrived, my aunt led me to the upstairs room where the priest did his consultations. There was a raised bed in the center of the room and a tiny altar off to the side in a corner. The priest put on some relaxing spiritual music, put his hands on my head, and began to pray over me in some unknown language. He then received a vision from Padre Pio, an Italian priest who lived in the early 1900’s and was recently canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.

In the vision, Padre Pio told the priest that he wanted to use me as an instrument. He wanted me to go buy a book about him so that he could “”teach me his ways.”” He said that I would eventually develop this miraculous power to heal people just by looking at them or touching them. He was going to use me as an instrument to bring many people to God. The priest said that I might start to have visions or hear things.

When the vision was over, the priest told me that he has worked with thousands of people, and I was the first one whom “”Padre Pio”” had wanted to use as an instrument. I imagine that since this priest is from India, he probably encounters very few true Christians. The priest gave me a medallion of Padre Pio and told me to rub it on my forehead in the morning and at night.

I left the house with mixed feelings. I was excited about the possiblity that all of it might be true, but I was mostly skeptical. When I got in my car, I prayed to God and asked Him to show me if the prediction was from Him or not. I then drove home. When I went into the house, I quickly realized that I no longer had the medallion. I later found out that my aunt had it. I probably gave it to her at some point before I left, but I think the Holy Spirit made sure that I did not take it home with me (according to some Christians, demons can cling to occult objects).

Over the next couple days I thought about the prediction and the significance of losing the medallion. Although the fact that I no longer had the medallion seemed like a pretty good hint, I hated to abandon my “”gift.”” I picked up my Bible and asked God to show me a verse that would help me to figure it out. I know this is not a generally reliable way of determining God’s will, but I stuck my finger into a random place in the Bible and opened it. My finger was pointing precisely at the part of 2 Chronicles 23:13 where it says “”Treason! Treason!””

“”Treason against who?”” I thought. I really wanted that gift, so I did not immediately accept the obvious fact that I was committing treason of the worst kind against Christ. I guess I thought that maybe I would be committing treason against Padre Pio. Man! I must have been really depressed that week! I did some research on the internet, and I found several verses in the Bible that condemn the practice of fortune-telling and communicating with spirits (e.g. Deut 18:10). I was really bummed, though, to think that my miraculous gift was never going to appear.

Sunday came around and I was still thinking about the whole thing before I went to Central Baptist for the service. I still kept asking God for clarification as if he had not already given me enough. That Sunday Pastor Gay started his sermon with “”There are those of us who would like to know the future…who go to fortune-tellers and psychics…”” I think he went on to say that our future is secure with Christ, but I was too busy trying to catch my breath!

Well, I finally got the hint and did not go back to see the priest. I have spent the past several months researching New Age beliefs, and I am very thankful that God was so kind to protect me from this very real form of evil. Feel free to share the story. God bless you!

In Christ,

David Gray

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