TRAPPED UNDER THE ICE!

Harry houdini (Erich Weiss) was born in Wisconsin in 1874. The
son of a Jewish rabbi, Houdini became one of the world's greatest magicians for his seemingly supernatural ability to escape out of anything: chains, handcuffs, locked trunks, etc. He published a book titled: "A Magician Among the Spirits" after his disappointing attempt to find someone who could communicate with the spirit of
his dead mother. He died in 1926 from a ruptured appendix.

Throughout his life Houdini searched for the truth, but God alone knows if he ever found it. It doesn't seem that he ever did. Yet Houdini did things which seemed literally supernatural. He did things which nobody had ever done before or has hardly ever been able to equal since.
They would lock him up in trunks, put him in a trunk bound with bands of iron and tied with chains, padlocked with heavy padlocks, and then drop him into rivers - - - and within a few minutes he was out!

Some say it was the power of the Devil that he used, others say it was some kind of scientific know-how that he had about locks that helped him to escape. I'm not going to say how he did it, but he did escape from a trunk with the padlocks on the outside! I know, but I'm not telling. One thing I will say is that I believe in his hour of need it was God who pulled him through.

Houdini believed in the spirit world and had tried and tried to get in touch with the spirit of his mother who had died. He went to many spiritual mediums who pretended to bring up the spirits of departed loved ones, but Houdini was a smart enough man, and intelligent enough, that they couldn't fool him. He got so fed up with so many "quacks" and phoneys that he set out to expose them, which he did in his book. In fact it were these same fakes who caused his death only months later!

But in this life Houdini finally did get to hear the voice of his mother. And do you know who it was that put him in communication with her? God! Yes, I believe that God brought her back to help him in his hour of need.

Houdini had done a certain trick many times, but one time he made a bad mistake. He was scheduled to do his per- formance at a certain time at a certain river, - - but in the meantime the river had covered over with ice.
They had to chop a hole in the ice to drop the trunk through into the river. Houdini got out of the trunk alright and into the ice-cold water under the ice, but he couldn't find the little hole in the ice! He was able to find a bit of air right underneath the ice, but he was freezing! He was getting absolutely frozen from the icy water, and he knew he wasn't going to last much longer. And I be- lieve with all my heart that he cried out to God for help, and suddenly he heard his mother's voice calling his name, "Erich!". He followed the direction of that voice, and it










led him directly to the hole. He got out just in time! He had been under the water just as long as he could stand!

Yes, God is a merciful God and a loving God, and He'll even help a Houdini under the ice!
I believe it was God that saved him. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).
Jesus is very merciful and very loving. Call upon Him and He will help you to escape the death of this world into His glorious Kingdom forever!