Adventures in Charismania, Part 1

I was once playing in the worship band at a charismatic “prophetic” conference. My bass amp has a “direct box” built into it, which enables it to be connected to a sound system (PA). Because my amp has a tube preamp, it has a tendency to “discharge” the tube a couple of seconds after being turned off. This “discharge” causes a signal to get sent out of the “direct box” into the sound system which, frankly, sounds rather like a fart. As a result, I’ve learned to leave the amp turned on after playing a worship set.

On this occasion though, I forgot and switched it off as we left the stage and the prophetic speaker walked up and took the microphone. As he began to speak, my amp “farted” into the PA. He froze in mid-sentence, his eyes got really big, and he whispered into the mic, “Did you hear that?! Did you hear it???!!!” People responded with raised hands and enthusiastically bobbing heads. The speaker, now inspired, launched into a prophetic word that the strange sound was Satan being cast down which, in turn, was a sign that this particular conference would have world-changing ramifications. This elicited a wave of hallelujahs, further binding of various evil spirits, more prophetic words, etc. I was practically rolling on the floor behind the sound board, trying not to burst out laughing.

It took 45 minutes for things to settle back down. The consensus for the rest of the conference was that a powerfully supernatural event had occurred at the outset, which set the tone for the entire event.