I was born in 45 in Wyandotte Michigan, and spent my first 39 years in that area, except for 4 years service in the Navy.

I had a roman catholic upbringing with 8 years of religious training in a catholic parochial school.
Once the priest told me in confession that my problem was that I did not believe what the Church taught me. Well he was right, what they taught was not real to me or believable.
When I walked away from that Church, I prayed that if God was real, he would lead me back.
In my high school years, I was agnostic and even atheistic. Very anti religious. I had an early interest in Science Fiction and later in fantasy.

My family even though Catholic was involved with occultism. Mother read tea leaves, and all the books by T. Lobsang Rampa and some by Edgar Cayce. Dad was alcoholic and so was I.

My college studies led me to logical empiricism and skepticism. A total rejection of any world beyond the 5 senses. Cool rationalism was the word. This was in 1965, just as the wave of eastern religion hit the USA. Drugs were popular, though my experience with them was nil. I started to look at Zen Buddhism, Yoga, Mystic Philosophy, reincarnation, parapsychology and ESP, and other new age things. I read Edgar Cayce, Arthur Ford, Jeanne Dixon, Daniel Logan, Ruth Montgomery, and others.

Along came the Jesus movement in the 70's. I heard the Gospel at that time but did not accept it. I had some bad experiences with denominational Baptists and Nazarene's. But I became exposed to Hal Lindsey, Salem Kirban and others at that time. Later I became aware of the Charismatic movement, and read several books from that group; even attending a John Giminez FGBM meeting in the mid 70's. I learned enough about the Gospel to know that It required a personal commitment that I wasn't ready [willing] to make.

At this point I left any interest in Christianity behind but maintained an interest in occultism and the New Age Movement. [Having rejected the truth, I then believed the lie.]

About this time I began a heavy 10 year involvement in the Wargaming Hobby. This at first meant an interest in military simulation games but also led into fantasy and science fiction games with their heavy involvement with occultic elements. During this time I met and actually had business dealings with both original authors of Dungeons and Dragons.

I met my wife in '75 and got married in 77. She also had a heavy interest in occult topics, even consulting psychics, etc.

I left the wargaming hobby in 83 and we left Michigan in 84 to move to the New Orleans area. Shortly after coming to Louisiana, my wife Mary needed a serious operation to remove a brain tumor. It was the aftereffects of this that led to our getting saved in May of 85. [That's another story.]

At the time I left wargaming, I thought to turn my time and energy to a more serious pursuit of the New Age Movement. However, thanks be to God, several influences led me to reject involvement in the New Age. I would like to briefly list them here.

A. Inconsistency
Certain aspects of the New Age movement are highly intellectual, this appealed greatly to me, a former major in philosophy, But other elements such as astrology and tarot were grossly stupid. They seemed to require one to completely lay aside his mental faculties and accept whatever information was offered. That this usually contradicted teachings in other branches of the New Age was never mentioned nor was it even noticed apparently. This seemed to be a taboo topic.

B. Dishonesty.
Some really good New Age writers, Robert Anton Wilson comes to mind, made a point of being eclectic. That is drawing upon the widest possible range of sources and extracting whatever human wisdom was to be found. This was with the notable exception of Christianity which was rarely considered even a possible source of truth or wisdom.

Those who wrote about Edgar Cayce were a rare exception, since they often included some elements of Christian teaching in their works. These though perverted contained enough convincing elements to lead me to regard the bible as authentic. One of these books even influenced my to call upon God in such a fashion that I actually received a touch of His Presence while in a lost condition.

C. Warnings
Many times over these years I encountered warnings against occult involvement. Once I was presented a religious paper teaching that astrology was satanically inspired. A few New Age or occult writers surprisingly warn against careless experimentation in meditation leading to contact with evil influences or spirits. Most however downplay this or don't mention it at all. Nowadays the most careless forms of channeling are widely encouraged.

The psychic medium and writer Daniel Logan devoted an entire book to warning against satanism, witchcraft and demonic powers.

Ed Warren wrote in his book "The Demonologist" about many real cases of demon possession and warned about occult practices that could lead to it.

The greatest help of all came through a book titled "Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow" by Constance Cumby. This book really opened my eyes to the real nature of the New Age as a vehicle for Satan. Someday I plan to thank Constance personally.
 

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