I was getting my usual hair cut at the salon. I've been going to the same hair stylist for over 18 years. That day, I heard the lady on the next station stool bragging to her stylist about her church on how beautiful her church was decorated with chandeliers and stain glass artwork. She mentioned that a lot of high caliber, prestigious and successful rich people attended her church like doctors, lawyers and some city councilmen. She boasted that her son was a successful engineer and that he too attended the same church. She added that it was the best church in the Newport Beach area because a lot of important and rich people attended there.

Hearing the conversation, my hair stylist asked me what church I belong to? Sadly I told him I haven't gone to church for more than 15 years and it's because no one has ever invited me to one. 15 years ago I did attend a church. It was the best church I have ever been to and I only wish it still existed. It was located in the worst area in the city known for gang violence, prostitution and drugs. It stood in the poorest block in the neighborhood and it was a mere hole in the wall so tiny only around 45 people could fit. It was next door to a bar and the church shared the dividing wall. It was dirty, dim and the walls were cracked and unpainted throughout the inside. The church didn't even have a name so I named it Anita's church after the lady who invited me. (The lady getting a hair cut next to me laughs and chuckles in judgment.)

The people that attended this church were the poorest in the town. Mostly old, many came to church with instruments like spoons and tambourines as they sang their hearts out to the hymn of the piano player. Loudly they banged their wooded homemade instruments and cried out with so much passion and agony for the needs and sufferings of their hearts as they were desperately in expectation for the presence of God; it was the best church in the world! (The lady next to me shakes her head and blows out a laughing puff of air in arrogance and judgment and says to her hairstylist, "Did you hear that? Dirty walls, cracked and unpainted and he calls that the best church in the world. Ha Ha!" She laughs again.)

The reason why I say it was the best church in the world is because in that church God was really there! Before that day, I had gone to several churches but I never found the presence of God in any of them. Yes there were some that were beautifully decorated but they were mere empty buildings because God wasn't there. God never showed up to any of those churches. But when I came to this tiny poor church, I found that God was really there. That day as the small congregation cried out and sang, I couldn't understand them any more as they all started singing in many different languages. At the time I was very young and I didn't know much about the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. Then as the people sang, it suddenly started to rain a light sprinkle inside the church. I immediately looked up at the ceiling to see if there was a burst or leaking pipe but I was shocked that no pipes were even present. The ceiling wasn't hidden but bare without any pipes. How can this be I thought; what's going on? Our clothing was wet yet I didn't feel cold. And as soon as it stopped raining, a moving white mist appeared to enter the church on the ceiling above us then it descended covering us and drying our clothes and body as though it had never rained. (The lady next to me isn't laughing anymore but real quiet and embarrassed as I saw her reflection in the mirror.)

Then the piano player starts pounding on the piano as she starts yelling and crying out in a language I couldn't understand as though she was warning us of something to come; then all of sudden we hear a tremendous loud lion roar from the entrance of the church. I got scared and jumped out of my seat immediately and turned around expecting to see a real lion but instead it was an old man of around 69 years of age staggering drunk in the entrance of the church. The drunk old man had come from the bar next door and as soon as he stepped foot inside the church, he fell on all fours and trotted like an animal and roared loud like a real lion as he passed a few inches next to me rushing towards the podium. How can this be? I thought, there's no way any man can roar with such amplification and sound like a real lion. This man is old and frail and yet he's trotting like a real animal on all fours. Then the pastor raised his hand out and shouts to the old man: "Satannnnnn!!! Come out of this man! In the name of Jesus! I command you; you have no authority here. It is God who commands you! Get out! Now! in Jesus name- Obey! Leave this mans body now! You have no right to it! On Jesus authority, I command you to go to the pit and feel the wrath of God! You dirty vile serpent! Feel the flames of judgement! I bind you and all your evil parts and cast you to the pit of hell! Be gone now you rotten snake!" (I glanced in the mirror and saw the lady with her mouth open and her eyes were popping out in amazement.)

The old man had made his way up to the stage and next to the podium and fell on his back. Then the old man started bouncing off the floor like pop corn in heat. His entire body was stiff like a board yet it bounced several times off the floor. How can this be? I kept on asking myself. It's humanly impossible to do that much less an old frail man like that. Then the pastor got on his knees and opened the old mans mouth as though he was opening the mouth of a lion and yelled inside the old man's mouth- "Satannnnnn! Come out now in the name of Jesus Christ. Leave this man's body and go back to the pit of hell and feel the wrath of God! You dirty vial serpent! Feel the flames of judgment and be gone!" This lasted for at least 20 minutes, then the old man gave out a loud roar and I heard many screeches and high pitch yells all at the same time as though many demons were leaving the old mans body. Finally the old man started to cry and was back to normal. The congregation started again in their singing and praising out loud as the old man composed himself and made his way out of the church while he cried and prayed out loud. This was just the first hour of church. What next? I questioned. My heart was racing as I glanced at the back corner of the stage and noticed there was a tape recorder turned on and had taped the whole scary ordeal. This was at the time tape recorders were being taped on actual tape and reel. I planned to get the tape from the pastor at the end of church service to review it at home.

The pastor called out for a short break as they got ready to perform a baptism. They opened up the middle of the stage and exposed a small tub full of water where the baptism was going to be performed. I could see the warm steam coming out of the tub. The piano player started again and the congregation followed with hymn. The pastor changed his cloths and put on a robe then got into the tub followed by a young woman dressed in a white robe who walks on stage then makes her way down into the tub of warm water. The pastor helps her in and starts the ceremony by reading the Bible out loud. After a short while, the young girl starts crying in a soft whimper but then all of sudden she starts yelling hysterically and splashing the water out of the tub and onto the stage. Here we go again I thought, now what? Then it happened. The young girl is screaming as if the water in the tub is burning her up. The pastor is trying to calm her down by holding her hands but she breaks away violently. Then to everyone's surprise and amazement, she flies out of the tub as if an angel had carried her out of the tub and gently placed her on stage. When she quickly levitated out of the tub she came down in slow motion on the floor standing on her feet. The tub had to have been at least three and a half feet deep. The human body can't possibly do that! How can this be happening?! As she stood on stage dripping with water, the pastor helped a lady cover the crying girl with a long white towel. The congregation immediately starts shouting in tongues. It was simply another miracle. Wow! Man oh Man! God's presence was really there! (I looked in the mirror and noticed the lady and her hair stylist frozen and staring at me with a regretful look of having laughed at me earlier.)

"OK Alex, I'm all done." My hair stylist says to me. He brushes off the hair from my shoulders and takes off my robe. I tell him thanks for making me look sexy again. He winks his eye and smiles at me through the mirror as though telling me he was glad I told the story so that those ladies would hear it. I had already told this story to my hair dresser a few months ago; that's why he was able to keep on cutting my hair through out my story. In regards to the tape recorder; when I borrowed it and took it home and played it for my family, all the supernatural occurrences weren't recorded. Only the parts of the service when nothing supernatural took place where recorded. No one had tampered with the tape as I took it immediately after the service. Again, another supernatural experience. How can this be? Why would God prevent the supernatural from being recorded? I don't know the answer but I'll tell you this; now that was a church to go to!

"Then as the people sang, it suddenly started to rain a light sprinkle inside the church. I immediately looked up at the ceiling to see if there was a burst or leaking pipe but I was shocked that no pipes were even present. The ceiling wasn't hidden but bare without any pipes. How can this be I thought; what's going on? Our clothing was wet yet I didn't feel cold. And as soon as it stopped raining, a moving white mist appeared to enter the church on the ceiling above us then it descended covering us and drying our clothes and body as though it had never rained."

"Then it happened. The young girl is screaming as if the water in the tub is burning her up. The pastor is trying to calm her down by holding her hands but she breaks away violently. Then to everyone's surprise and amazement, she flies out of the tub as if an angel had carried her out of the tub and gently placed her on stage. When she quickly levitated out of the tub she came down in slow motion on the floor standing on her feet. The tub had to have been at least three and a half feet deep."

Author: Acropolis De Versailles