October 31, 2006

[Rev. Doc]

Choosing The Trick Or Treat

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you."
John 14:1-2

Sarah Winchester, widow of Oliver Winchester, who invented the famed Winchester Rifle that won the West worried about the departed soul of her husband because of all the Indians that his rifle was responsible for sending on to the next life. She also feared for her own soul and the souls of the Indians. And she was also fretting about losing her dead husband’s fortune.

Instead of taking her worries to the Lord, she consulted with mediums and spirits. From then it was Halloween every night. These mediums told her that she needed to be fearful and further that if she was wise she would seek to placate the ghosts while she still had time and money. She was urged to make the spirits comfortable and provide them a place where they could dwell. She would need their friendship later.

So she hired 22 carpenters to build her a mansion, 160 rooms spread out over six acres! She had 47 chimneys, secret passage-ways, stairs that led nowhere. It was a designed home that made no sense. For 38 years she squandered her fortune on this project, holding nightly seances, from which she would receive further direction in just how to build. Work was finally stopped when she died in 1922. The mansion is near San Francisco and is referred to as the “Winchester Mystery House.â€