In January 2005 I received a bizarre religious fundraising mailing that included a letter that horribly abused the power of underlining words, along with a paper prayer "rug." The paper had a rug printed on it with Jesus's face in the center. I've saved the mailing since then, but today when I went looking for it after receiving a mailing with prayer flags from the Dalai Lama (we're tight), I couldn't find it. I might have lost it in the move or perhaps it's in that bag of stuff I intended to take home but has been residing in my trunk since June. Anyhow, this is what the mailing said...
YOURS FIRST
On the back of the envelope:
Dear Jesus,
We pray that you will bless someone in this home spiritually, physically
& financially. And please dear Lord, bless the one who's hands
open this letter. Make good changes in this one's life and give
them the desires of their heart. We pray over and bless this letter
in your holy name. Amen.
The enclosed letter is too long to type, but here are some excerpts:
God's holy blessing power is in the enclosed anointed prayer
rug we are loaning you to use!!!
When you use this Faith Church Prayer Rug, go into a room where you can be
alone (just God and you). Turn off the television and radio and
try to be by yourself when you kneel on this Holy Ghost Bible Prayer Rug,
or spread it over your knees. We want this Church Ministry, Prayer
Rug to be touching both of your knees as you pray for the needs you
are facing right now. If you need more joy, peace, health, money, a new car, a
new house, or whatever, we, as a very old (54 years) church, want to know about
it.
These next 24 important hours are crucial to you. Timing is important to
God. After you kneed on this Church Prayer Rug, or place it over your knees,
place it in a Bible on Philippians 4:19. (If you don't have have a Bible, it's
okay -- just slide it under your side of bed, for tonight, if you can.
If you can't do this, it is okay. Leave It There No Longer Than Tonight
Only! God sees.
On to the prayer rug. It's an 11x17 piece of paper with the image of a rug
printed on one side. In the middle is the scariest Jesus portrait, ever. At the
bottom it says "Look into Jesus' Eyes you will see they are closed. But as
you continue to look you will see His eyes opening and looking back into your
eyes."
UPDATED!!! Here's the rug!! Now if I could only find the letter to scan...
Why the heck are they so insistent that both knees touch it, and that it be kept under the bed ONE NIGHT ONLY? WTF?
Furthermore, if the eyes on a printed picture opened and looked at me, I don't think I'd see it as a miracle. I think I'd be calling 911.
Posted by: webhill | September 10, 2008 at 03:39 PM
This whole story is way too freaky for me to read closely. "God sees" combined with that graphic is enough to give me night terrors for a good long while....
Posted by: Ann Handley | September 10, 2008 at 09:03 PM
That's the kind of rug that could really tie a room together, is it not?
Posted by: Dan | October 27, 2008 at 03:30 PM
hello iam looking for one of the same rug you have in the picture ,the church prayer rug .if you know where i could get one please could you let me know ,i had went to prison in 2005 ,out sence 2008 it was with me the hole stay but i dont have it now ,and i would love to have another .if you can help me this is my address kelly jo pratt ,po box 316 freric mi 49733.or my e-mail kellyjopratt@hotmail.com thank you and merry x-mas .
Posted by: kelly jo pratt | December 02, 2009 at 12:31 PM
your only supposed to keep it one night. ill send u mine its freaky as hell
Posted by: sam | January 08, 2010 at 03:40 PM