Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
He had discovered that changing a person’s beliefs was intoxicat­
ing, far more satisfying than performing tricks that only induced a
temporary bewilderment. For a while, he was able to convince a
number of young ladies that God had commanded them to grant
him intimate favors, which they could give freely, for God, they
would see, restored their purity as soon as the gift was given. He pro­
gressed to cheating grieving widows out of their bank holdings in ex­
change for a reunion with their deceased husbands. The husbands
bade greetings and adieu with the rippling pages. He later had a ret­
inue of young men to carry out his orders, from robbing banks to
stabbing to death a man who threatened to expose him as an impos­
tor. When friends of the dead man began to investigate, the crooked
finger of fate pointed at Seraphineas Andrews and he ran into the
Burmese jungle.
Seraphineas Andrews knew of the myth of the Younger White
Brother. How convenient that he was supposed to be white. Andrews
set up an impromptu church on a busy market day. He opened a travel­
ing table and placed a short stack of twelve cards on one side and the
open Bible on the other. “Within your villages,” he intoned, “you
have many Nats, who want to do you mischief and harm.” He
fanned out the cards with a single tap of his finger. “I have captured
their likenesses here.” The crowd peered at the faces: the Lord of
Spades, the Lady of Spades, the Son of the Lord of Spades...He
then called upon the Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus to recognize
him as the Younger White Brother who had come to deliver these
souls from evil. “Show me a sign that I am the one chosen to lead the
Lord’s Army.” He looked upward. The pages stirred and stood up­
right for a moment, then rapidly flapped forward.
There was another sign that Seraphineas Andrews often used. He
would select the most blustery man from the crowd and ask him to
pick a card from a full deck of fifty-two, which was always the king
of clubs, one of the colorful cards that represented a Nat. Next he
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