Protection Needed!

Protection needed!

After the shock of my father’s sudden death, followed by the overwhelming realisation that loving contact can sometimes come to reassure us from ‘beyond the veil’, I slowly regained my equilibrium – but now knew that I needed protection.


 On the advice of a friend who had had similar experiences, I began to say the Lord’s Prayer at the start and the end of each day, concentrating especially on ‘Hallowed be Thy name’, ‘Deliver us from evil’ and ‘Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory’.  In addition, I established a new routine of reading my Bible twice a day - first thing in the morning before I got up and again at night when I went to bed.  A Plain Man’s Book of Prayers by William Barclay, the popular Scottish preacher, was also of great help.  It had not only a Biblical quotation but also both a morning prayer and an evening prayer for each day of the month.  This meant that I had to know which date and day of the week we were at – something which previously, in my misery and confusion, I had neither known nor cared about.

As you can see from the photo, the Barclay book eventually began to fall to pieces!  I then subscribed to The Upper Room, a pocket-sized book issued three times a year.  Each day has a Bible quotation chosen by a reader, who then tells us why it is of special importance to him/her.  This little book has provided me with help and spiritual support for almost fifty years!  - sometimes through days of great sorrow and anguish.  (It can now be ordered online, at www.brfonline.org.uk)


Did you notice the little sleeping cat in the photograph?  I put it beside my bed as a reminder to relax, to ’let go and let God’.


But now, today, I have to admit that this week another little cat completely freaked me out!  At breakfast on Wednesday I was idly scrolling down through Facebook when I came across an irresistible item about a dear wee kitten- and its reaction to a horror movie!  Its face was close up to the screen, its eyes moving faster and faster from side to side as the film music got louder and more sinister…  Then, as the action was obviously reaching a horrible climax, a voice suddenly said my name!!


Aghast and horrified, I hastily switched off my Kindle.  How could that have happened?  Was this a new development in Artificial Intelligence?  I thought of ‘Alexa’, of how my bank now offers ‘help’ from robots, of how companies get to know one’s name and preferences.  How had that speaker come to know my name?  Did everyone who watched the kitten get their own name pronounced at the climax of the horror film?  If so, I thought indignantly, there must be many other viewers, including innocent children, feeling scared out of their wits!  Maybe this was meant to be a pre-Halloween joke?  Is there any form of protection available, perhaps from a company such as Norton, from this new personalised addition to a horror movie?


These thoughts troubled me all morning as I went shopping in the town centre.  Still feeling shaky, I decided to treat myself to lunch in a cafeteria.  I asked a young waiter if he or any of his colleagues knew of any such recent development in AI which had enabled someone to say my name aloud as I watched an item on Facebook.  The young man replied that he was not aware of any such thing, but that he understood my alarm and would try to find an explanation.  (Fortunately, the cafeteria was almost empty just then!) 


He soon came back, brandishing his smart phone.  “I ‘googled’ kitten and horror movie, and I got an article on the Daily Mail website.  Apparently, the cat had been watching Psycho.  The scary action takes place at the Bates’ Motel.  The climax comes when the young woman discovers the corpse of the evil Norman Bates’s mother in a rocking chair.  So that’s why the voice you heard said “Mrs Bates”.  It’s just a coincidence that it happens to be your name too!”  We laughed at this simple explanation, especially when I told him that I write about coincidences!


But…


There must be many other women known by the name ‘Mrs Bates’ who could be freaked out as I had been.  Back at home I ‘googled’ Psycho and Mrs Bates, and saw the crucial moment in the original film when the young woman screams in horror on seeing Norman’s mother’s corpse.  Needless to say, there was no over-voice politely announcing, “Mrs Bates”!


What surprised and intrigued me next was that when I told some friends about my freaky experience, they did not laugh, but said somewhat nervously that they thought such a personalising trick was very likely possible now, given the rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence.  It is very alarming to think that there might be people “out there”, as we say,(referring to cyber space), who might not only want to use AI as a means of stealing our money, but also as a means of destroying our mental health, for their own purposes.  Perhaps it is time for humans to stop watching horror films, and avoid wandering thoughtlessly around the Internet.  We are all vulnerable.

We need protection!

As usual, I turn to the Bible for spiritual comfort, and look up words from the letter written to the Romans by Paul, whose supernatural encounter with the resurrected Jesus completely changed his life.  (Romans 8, verses 38, 39)


‘In spite of all, overwhelming victory is ours through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that there is nothing in death or life, in the realm of spirits or superhuman powers, in the world as it is or the world as it shall be, in the forces of the universe, in heights or depths – nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Deo gratias