New Book. Now available at Amazon.com

 

I am delighted to announce the release of Gospel Magic for Preachers: Theology and Praxis.  This is the hard copy of my ebook which is available on www.gospelemagic.com. Hope you enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

Rocky Raccoon

He has been one of my best buys . . . ever! I first bought Rocky Raccoon over 20 years ago and I am now on Rocky V (yes they do wear out!). Surprisingly though Rocky has not made an appearance at St Andrew's Church since we moved to Abu Dhabi in 2010. (he was seen though on the beach at Fairmont Hotel and has made special appearances at the British Al Khubairat School)

Our Christmas morning service was packed - there was an overflow crowd out in the lobby and the balcony was full. I introduced my wrapped gift and after a momentt of suspense unwrapped it and out popped the Raccoon - cue my usual routine of attacking kids, eating and drinking, being hynotised etc Then once I had the full attention of the congregation (many who are not regualr churchgoers) I explained how Rocky only came to life when he was in my hands. I went onto explain that the gift the baby Jesus brings is life in God. That when we walk with Him and trust in Him and follow His ways that is when we become most fully alive.

There was a real buzz as the congregation moved out and I pray that the seed will have been planted in many a heart . . . all thanks to a furry puppet. Now that is Gospel magic at it's best.

Who is Gospel Magic for?

All over the world the Church is growing. The greatest need in virtually every church worldwide is for creative teaching to children, youth and young adults. Especially to those who are new to the faith or whom have little contact with the Church.

How to do Gospel Magic is an ebok made not for magicians or 'experts' but written specifically for the thousands of hard pressed teachers who are wondering what they are going to do this weekend in Church for the young people.

Each magic trick is easy, simple, with a great Biblical message and most importantly the young people will learn and remember vital Gospel truths.

So for pastors, priests, youthworkers, Sunday School teachers and anyone involved in evangelism in a post modern society, I invite you to check out my e book on How to do Gospel Magic which you can find at www.gospelemagic.com

Teach the faith in a memorable and inforgettable way.

'Nuff said!

Blessings from the Arabian Gulf.

Linking Rings and the Gospel

Of all the Linking Rings the Newman set are my favourite. They are flat, handle easily, burnish to a bright and ttractive bronze finish and the key ring is virtually impossible to detect.
I use my Rings in one of three ways.
1) To introduce the subject of illusion. The idea that not everything is as it seems. For example Jesus has been decribed as a greta moral teacher or prophet . . . but he is so much more than that. He seems like a normal human being . . . but there is a secret.
2) With a set of three rings it of course is a great visual aid for the Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are co-equal, co-eternal and of the same substance.
3) The need for unity between Christians and Churches. Even more so when they are livingin in Islamic countries.

How do you use your Linking Rings?

ribbon and glass penetration

One of the most baffling and visual effects I use in my shows is the beautiful ribbon penetration through glass. I think I bought mine years ago from International Magic Studios and its trade name was 'Fanplastic'. It always gets a stunned reaction and the patter is powerful. In a non religious context I use this to talk about Harry Houdini who could escape from anything. The sheet of glass is then woven into the frame and it really does look convincing. This is one prop which silences the hecklers and in 20 years of performing I have only had one guy come close to guessing how it works.

The themes of escape, liberation and freedom are of course all very Biblical ones. In the Old Testament it ranges from the people of Israel escaping from Egypt through to the New Testament message of finding freedom from sin in Christ.

I think you can still get this from International Magic Studio or the last I saw it was on the Penguin Magic. com site.

I like this because it is simple to perform, extremely visual (kids and adults are stunned alike), devastatingly fooling and lends itself to a message with a punch.

Check it out

instant gospel magic

All you need is a coin. Then you are set for performing a gospel magic trick wherever you are and at any time.

You need to know how to do the french drop, which is one of the smoothest ways to make a coin disappear from your hand. You can learn this by googling a video on how to perform the French Drop. (It's amazing what is out there!)

If someone asks me why I am a Christian - or more often - what do I believe. This is what I do.

I take a coin and explain to them that I follow the teachings of Christ. He taught his followers through word and deed that we are called to love God and our neighbours and that through a relationship with Jesus we can know God as our heavenly Father. This is possible because Scripture tells us that Jesus was put to death and his body was placed in a dark tomb. (Place coin in your fingers and perform French Drop). This would have been the end of the Christian story - except for one thing. Gesture towardsyour (empty) hand. When the disciples went to the dark tomb on the third day to get it ready for a proper burial - they found the tomb - empty!! (Open hand to show that the coin has disappeared).

Scripture tells us that on the third day Christ was raised from the dead - although many theories have been posited about how the tomb came to be empty. Themost convincing one still remains the Biblical one. The resurrection of Jesus.

Why do I believe in Jesus today? (reach to your chest with your loaded hand) - it's because Jesus is alive today and I know him - in my heart (produce coin from your 'heart' area of the chest at your finger tips).

This can then open up the discussion on what theories do people believe about the empty tomb and what difference does resurrection make for Christians.

Enjoy.

new purchase

John Archer is one of the Britian's busiest comedy mentalists and magician.

He has produced a dvd set called Educating Archer which gives a sample of his style. In the first dvd we see him in action and the second dvd presents the workings and secrets of his routine.

My favourite is his routine called Collard. The inspiration for this trick comes from Al Koran's "Medallion". Archer's adaptation of this classic effect involves the presentation of a large stuffed toy (or puppet) which has a collar and name tag around it. The audience are invited to help name the toy and they call out letters and vowels which are duly recorded onto a name certificate.

The conclusion of the routine is that the name on the collar tag hanging around the toy's neck in full view all the time matches the name which the audience has just constructed. Great routine with audience participation and a baffling ending. It also has for me a great Gospel allegory in which we are reminded that God has engraved our names on his palm. I am looking forward to trying this in a church service in the near future.

Escapology and Easter

On Easter Sunday I whipped out my trusty handcuffs which are sold by Magic Dealers under the name 'Electronic Release'. These are by far the best and most convincing restraints in the business. Yet you are in and out of them within a flash. Even when people can see you escaping they are still baffled as to how you get out because it so fast.

This year I shared the story of a boy in Sunday School class who told the group proudly what Jesus said when he resurrected from the dead. He said "Ta Daa!"

I loved that story and invited the congregation to have a "Ta Da" moment with the resurrected Christ in their lives.

The handcuffs were used to tell the story of how even death can hold Jesus down and that even though he experienced all the worse things that life could throw at him - prejudice, loss, grief, injustice, pain. humiliation, torture and death - Jesus overcame. Death could not hold him (escape from handcuffs) and he gives everyone of us the hope and knowledge that we too can overcome whatever life throws at us.

I love the verse which says that the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is the same Spirit who lives in us who believe in him. We need to have that Ta Da encounter with the Risen Lord to experience the reality and joy of his presence in us.

The choir who were sat behind me and could see the whole escape are still trying to figure out how I escaped so fast.

Happy Easter!

Magical Sunday School teacher!

Here's an email I received from a creative Sunday School teacher who is not a magician but wanted to recreate the magic of Mose's travels through the desert. With no training in magical knowledge she did a great job in imagineering how to bring about some special effects.

Hi Andrew

You inspired me for life!

For kid's klub we did the travel through the desert this afternoon.

To split the sea doesn't require so much skill...next bitter water was fun...(I did a false ceiling (cling wrap) in a rubbermaid plastic jug...filled it with bicarbonade of soda water that I served all the kids ...since we had to add a stick - I added a chop stick that poked a whole & whalla FRESH water!!!)

For manna I did some wafers on a ceiling fan...they even tasted like honey...after I scrapped of the icing... I had someone to switch the plug on...

I hid the hose pipe with an special nozzle in the garden. When I hit it with a stick my helper turned the tap full force - it squirted like 4- 6 m far. I had such a surprised crowd...one was even in tears...the other complained about getting wet - it was so much fun.

All this in order to say to the children that we have an awesome, great, mighty, powerful majestic GOD!!!

PS. Did you ever try cling wrap over an toilet?

A while ago I received comments that there was nothing in my ebook for pre school children. The truth is I wonder how much Gospel Magic can be used with kids younger than 4 years old. I am determined though to offer some rersources for those who do work with this age group.

Please click below to learn how you can move beyond a glorified baby sitting service to pre-school kids into ministry. All good stuff. it's not magic - it's ministry!


Click Here!

Blessings

Roman Catholic Magic

Did you know that the label of Gospel Magic and Gospel Magician was first coined back a Roman Catholic priest back in the nineteenth century. St Don Bosco was a Salesian minister who noticed that the Church could not compete with fairs and enterainments. So he pioneered the use of preaching the Christian message using the techniques of fairgound performers. Today he is remembered as the patron saint of Catholic Gospel magicians.

I also discovered that there is an alternative society to the Fellowship of Christian Magicians called the Catholic Magicians Guild. Some had tried to join the FCM but found the theology of FCM too Calvinist!!! Some famous Catholic magicians include Mark Wilson and an American Catholic bishop.

I am learning a lot from the above book. Some of the stuff is very good Biblical teaching and others tend to foucs on stuff more distinctively Catholic. (For example he uses a Card Castle to illustrate the heirarchy of the church with the Pope at the top, though he is careful to top the Pope with the cross to show that Christ is the head of the church).

In short there is little which would be different from what Protestant Gospel magicians would share. Scripture abounds and the whole focus on the book is teaching people the Christian faith.

As an evangelical protestant I am tempted to focus on the things that divide - like the infallibility of the pope (I have yet to meet a Catholic who really belives that), the focus on Mary, the sale of indulgences, the role of the saints and birth control!

This book reminds me of how much there is in common. The focus is on a Trinity who revealed grace and mercy through the cross of Jesus. The structure of the book is on the Catechism of the Catholic church - but a lot of useful tricks and messages that will work in any denomination. I found a generous ecumenical spirit in the book which was gracious and Christlike and I appreciated that very much.

As it is the very first book on Gospel Magic for Catholics it is extremely well done. The description of each trick is clear, illustrations are aplenty, and the message is backed up by Scripture. It is a product to be proud of. I am glad to have it in my library and look forward to using the ideas in it as part of my ministry.

I only wonder which aspect of Calvinism he found in the FCM?

Steve Fearson

I don't know about you but I am very impatient when it comes to buying things. When I have an idea in my head I want to go and learn about it right away. The internet is a boon in this regard. When it comes to learning about magic and illusion the possibilities are endless.

One of my favourite sites is Download Magic. The reasons why I like this site is that the material is original, simple and applicable to my work as a minister. Steve Fearson is a great teacher and is very funny. I have bought his instant levitation illusion for instance, in which people see you step inside a box and see your feet rise off the ground with no apparent means of support. He tells you how to make his props and his products always leave a smile on my face.

In his writings he mentions his thankfulness to God and his involvement with his church. He comes across as a confident and successful man. He is certainly very creative.

So if you want instant access to novel magic his website is as below:

Click Here!

Some of the best known magicians in the business use his material. All his products are instantly downloadable. Another reason why I enjoy investing in magic from him. No waiting . . . aaaah!

Predicting the future

Derren Brown has caught the public imagination with his stunt of prediciting the national Lottery numbers in live time. The internet is buzzing with questions on how he did it with several answers being provided.

It begs the question though - Should Gospel magicians or preachers use prediction type tricks to share the Christian message. Some Christians feel that mind reading and the like is beyond the pale and should not be used at all. I disagree.

I use mentalism and prediction tricks all the time. My message at then is usually a confession that I really can't predict the future . . . but I do know someone who has the future in his hands - Jesus Christ. Sometimes that leads to a Biblical message about the amazing fulfillment of prohecies in the Bible.

So where can we go to learn some of these tricks? Of course you can find one or two Gospel magic mind reading tricks at http://www.gospelemagic.com/ but if you really want to get into Mentalism magic at a deeper level then checkout the following website on How to be a Master Mentalist:

Click Here!


Have fun

Learning magic the easy way

:ots of people usually ask me for a good reference book which they can use on line or simply to download instantly new ideas for tricks. There is just so much good stuff out there to help you get going in magic as a hobby.

Below is a website that will give you a good start. Check it out.


Click Here!


Have fun. As the Fellowship of Christian Magicians would say "Keep the secret - Share the Word"

Gospel Magic in India

India is an amazing country. Have just spent all of August there and although I did not see any magicians I must have passed literally hundreds of churches as we drove around Kerala. Christians of every denomination rub shoulders along with Muslims and Hindus in one of the visibly religious countries I have ever been in.

St Thomas bought Christianity to Kerala and consequently India can boast to be home to one of the most ancient churches in the world. Awesome!

St Thomas went onto preach throughout the region eventually experiencing martyrdom in Tamil Nadu. It is still tough for Indian Christians today. I met a pastor who reported how his colleague was brutally beaten in front of his family. This happened last month. Yet the Gospel continues to be lived and shared in this most challeging of environments.

To the Indian pastors and ministers out there. God Bless you. Keep preaching and sharing the Living Word . . . Jesus Christ.

Indian Magic

Off to India next week for a month. On one of my earlier visits I watched an amazing magician on the streets. He did the best cups and balls routine I ever saw. He used a finely turned wand to push the cups over to reveal the balls and his misdirection was sooooo slick and professional. Ireckened this professional magician must have been about seven or eight years old. He had the lisp and the gap between his front teeth. Later I watched this urchin boy ply his trade of magic on others in a park. If he does this for eight hours a day . . . no wonder he's so good.

Magic is very popular in India and goes down a treat in the churches there too. I remember standing on a village wall doing a Rocky Raccoon routine and the whole village came to watch. Have magic wand will travel sounds like a nice motto to me!

M Joan Willis Gospel Visual Aids for Pre-Schoolers

From time to time I get feedback on the Gospel e Magic Book and sometimes it is not always praise. This is good. I welcome input from those who are thoughtful and want to input ideas that will help others. The main criticism from M Joan is that my book had nothing for children of pre-school age. I must confess I have very little experience of communicating or teaching with this age group. I invited M Joan to make a contribution to the blog and here it is.

M Joan Willis writes the following:

With regards to some of the applications for your trick, the one that comes to mind is the one using the Professor's Nightmare (3 ropes of 3 different sizes). You call it the 3-rope gospel trick. What I do is talk about the love of God and how he loves us all the same and then make the ropes all even. This is quite effective.Think your book has excellent graphics and is extremely well-done. Congratulations.


One 'trick' I particularly like is using three ropes of different colours- about 12" in size each. One end of each rope is a different colour. i.e. green with yellow tip, red with green tip, yellow with red tip. You hold this three ropes in your hand so that for all intensive purposes you have three ropes of three colours. You get the children to form a circle. Talk about God's love. Does he love all the children the same. What about children from Africa? China? Native children, etc. Then you tie the ropes together - using the yellow tip to join with the yellow end, the green tip with the green end and the red tip with the red end. You now have 3 circles which look to the audience that you have a circle of green, red and yellow. You can get the children to choose which circle they want for the children say of other countries. When you have finished chatting with the children you suddenly toss the three circle up in the air and lo and behold you have one big circle (if you do it right!) and you tell them that God loves all the children of the world regardless of where they come from or what colour they are. - this is just a hasty description that I have originated from the set of ropes which are easily obtainable at the magic store, very reasonable and it's very effective.Another thing that I like to do - although not really magic - is to chat with the children and ask them if they have ever made a snowflake (I am sure you did when you were a kid). You show them a square of paper and then fold it to make your snow flake. I fold my paper in half and then in quarters and then once again to form a triangle. At the very centre of the triangel I cut a little hole. If you were to unfold the paper you would see 8 small holes near the very centre. On the fold which is a triangle, I draw an anchor and then cut round it. (I have this done before the presentation but don't show the drawing). When it's unfolded it becomes a lovely snowflake - but don't stop here. You cut out each section of the snowfalke and you have an anchor. On the anchor I print the word 'Jesus' on the stem and at the bottom "God" and give each child one to take home. Explaining that Jesus/God is the anchor for life. This is a very hurried description. Usually I chat about anchors - relating to ships. Actually I probably will use this story tomorrow because being summer we see more boats and often they get anchored for fishing.

Thank you for sharing this M Joan and I wish God's Blessing on your ministry to the children.

tarbell's magic course and gospel magic

The absolute 'Bible' for magicians is the 8 volume set of the Tarbell Course. While it is dated (especially in the suggested patter), the truth is that there is nothing out there to compare with the comprehensive overview of virtually the entire field of magic and performing. It covers everything from the classics such as the Linking Rings or Egg Bag, through to Children's routines, through to tricks with cards, rope, coins and mentalism - not to mention large scale illusions.

It follows then that if many magicians have cut their teeth on learning the Tarbell course then a Gospel magic book using the same tricks is in order. This has in fact happened (and some time ago). So far the authors have produced a Volume one and two. Come on guys - not far to go now - only six more volumes.

The Spiritual Applications do not give you the secrets of the tricks (you need to have the original Tarbell books for that) - but they do creatively suggest messages which lend themselves to the tricks. Or is that the other way round - tricks that lend themselves to the message? Either way, these contributions to Gospel Magic should be on the shelf of anyone who is really into sharing their faith through illusion.

As the Fellowship of Christian Magicians would say - "Share the Faith! - Keep the Secret!"

Roman Catholics get into Gospel Magic

I guess you can't keep a good idea to yourself. The latest Gospel Magic book hot off the press is for priests and ministers in the Roman Catholic church. Designed to help young people learn the catechism, there are eighty visual lessons using Gospel magic tricks.

Rather cheekily it claims to be the first Gospel Magic book in print. This is blatantly not true. The works of Duane Laflin, David Ginn, Henry Smith, Keith Wills and one Andrew Thompson all preceded this work. What I am willing to concede is that this is probably a first for the Roman Catholic Church. I have ordered a copy and will write a review when I complete reading it.

In the meantime keep sharing and keep entertaining. I send greetings to the Magician's Apprentice who is currently visiting Cambodia. Hope the kids there get the message and the magic!

Theology and the Gospel Magician

Theology matters. Good Biblical teaching should be at the core of every Gospel magic performance and this can be easily overlooked by the novelty of medium.

So where do we begin? The Gospel magician should at the very least begin with their own Biblical knowledge. Do you read scripture regularly for yourself? To help you do this there are literally thousands of Bible Reading aids out there ranging from 'Read through the Bible in one year Bible Editions', through to devotional guides such as 'Every Day with Jesus'. Then there are those things specific to our own denomination. I am an Anglican so I use the daily lectionary as my starting point for reading scripture regulalrly and I preach from it every week. Whatever we use - the point is to read scripture regulalrly.

Secondly there are thousands of Christian books which offer commentaries on scripture or highlight themes in scripture. Some of my favourite authors include Philip Yancey, John Stott, John Ortberg, William Barclay, and Rowan Williams.

Thirdly, read Christian journals and magazines for Biblical teaching, knowledge and insight into Christian issues which will relate to your Gospel magic. Christianity Today is a fantastic online resource with many articles which engage with theological issues. Others I read include http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/ which is the Church of England newspaper, and newfrontiers magazine. Again the point is that there are zillions of resources out there to give us a better informed faith. The Gospel Magician should be growing by reading, reading and reading.

A real challenge would be to do some proper study, either through an online course or through a seminary or Bible school. As Gospel magicians we should do everything to make sure that we are informed and accurates in our presentation of the Christian message.

Finally there is the in house publication of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians which include 'Voila' (FCM Europe) and the 'Christian Conjurer' which include well thought our presentations combining Bible teachings and Gospel Magic illusions.

Go for it and get reading.