"It's a hot trick."

The Rev. Christie, pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Grovetown, uses sleight of hand and optical illusions to teach biblical truth. "I call it magic with a message," he said.

It takes creativity and work to prepare the weekly messages he gives during the 9:15 and 10:45 a.m. Sunday services. Gospel illusion captures the attention of both children and adults, he said. "Once you have their attention, you are able to share the gospel or some biblical truth."

He does shows outside of the congregation, such as a fall program at Augusta Christian Schools in Martinez where he performed for some 700 students and a recent banquet at North Augusta Country Club for about 100 people from Curtis Baptist Church.

At the Curtis banquet, "adults were the ones who came over and squatted down in front like little children," he said.

A good magician needs dexterity, "but it is a skill that you can acquire," said the Rev. Christie, who practices several times a week.

When he was 8 or 9 years old, he decided to buy his own tricks after watching a couple of magic shows. He used the driveway of his Rome, Ga., home to stage shows. The shows were free, but the children brought nickels and dimes anyway, he said.

His first trick, called "the ball and vase," was a very simple one that depended on sleight-of-hand, he said. "What appears, what you are seeing, is not what is really happening."

The Augusta chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians meets at 7 p.m. first Mondays at the Golden Corral restaurant, 227 Bobby Jones Expressway. For more information, call 868-5867.

Some believers say that magic should not be mixed with Scripture teaching - Deuteronomy 18:9-13 forbids occult practices, such as crystal gazing or consulting spirits of the dead, called necromancy.

But what the Bible forbids is using devilish power - not wholesome entertainment with optical illusions. Optical illusions are the work of nature, he says in a booklet he wrote explaining his views.

He acquires new tricks from other magicians through the Internet or the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, called a magicians' ring, where members perform for one another.

"You want to have your craft well-rehearsed when you go in and do that for them," he said.

The Rev. Christie's 13-year-old son, Jared, has already performed for the magicians' ring and applied for junior membership, his father said.

About a dozen of the ring's 30 members are ministers, said Russell "Magic Murphy" Tollison, the group's president.

The Tollison family joined Woodlawn about a year ago after an 11-year search for a church. The family enjoys the Rev. Christie's gospel illusions, he said. "He is very good at it."

In one illusion, the pastor presented a pitcher filled with rainwater - "Augusta snow," he said. Rainwater "is what we normally get. But Christmas without snow would be like Christmas without Christ."

He poured the water into a paper cup. "We will make it the kind of snow we can all enjoy," he said.

When he tipped out the contents, the water was changed into powdery white snow.

A magician never reveals secrets outside the ring, the Rev. Christie said. "A good magician never does - and I don't either."

For more information on the local club, call 868-5867 or visit the Web site at www.magicmurphy.com/ring184/.

Reach Virginia Norton at (706) 823-3336 or vanorton@augustachronicle.com.