Writer: Trish Teves
Danny Ray is a master magician. He has the ability to captivate a room of teenagers and make grown men scratch their heads in wonder. He is a premiere illusionist, a wizard of awes. His art is a rare one, one that took my breath away the first time I witnessed it. When I met him that night, he seemed friendly and professional, but restrained. After a few conversations, he was more relaxed and showed off his quick wit, but he had an intensity in his face that suggests another world is spinning in his head. It’s an energy that drives him to be better, quicker…trickier. And more adept at sharing a message he believes can save people’s lives. He has performed for thousands of people across Japan, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United States; his favorite venue is the Close-up Gallery at the Magic Castle, where only the most elite magicians are allowed to display their talent. Holding a master’s degree in divinity and with years of youth ministry experience, Danny Ray has no peer when it comes to preaching, magic, and mass appeal. But Danny was not always sure he should perform his natural ability of sleight of hand. At age ten, Danny began practicing magic and became really good, really fast. He continued to practice and was performing for audiences by the age of fifteen. It was then that a friend invited Danny to church. The youth pastor at the church gave a powerful message of Christianity. “That night at youth group was a pivotal point in my life,” Danny recalls. Danny decided that full-time ministry was what he wanted to do, but he struggled with continuing his hobby of magic. “I remember picking up the Bible and reading ‘magicians are going to hell.’ But some of the counselors at youth group encouraged me that what I did was not sorcery or witchcraft, but sleight of hand; I can explain how I do it. It’s very different than what is being referred to in the Old Testament.” Since then, Danny has been on a fast track to preach the Gospel…using magic. A pioneer in trickery, he uses four guns (three loaded) to preach about “making good choices.” But the best trick of all is that he’s using a craft, commonly associated with wickedness, to shed light on a hopeful, virtuous message.

Risen Magazine: How easy is it to trick someone?
Danny Ray: I have studied deception most of my life. It is clear to me how easy it is to deceive people. I do it for entertainment purposes and for fun, but ultimately to share God’s life-changing message. However, if I wanted to use what I know to con people, I could. If I wanted to use it to persuade people to do things for me, I could. Satan uses deception to trap us in countless ways. There are some things in the art of magic and illusion that are powerful but completely dishonest. I don’t incorporate them. I don’t lie to people, but I use misdirection (getting them to look where I want them to look) and sleight of hand. Let me give you an example of how powerful some of the deception can be. There is a method called recreating history. Let’s say I wanted to vanish a coin. I ask them to take out a coin and place it in my hand. I look at the date and have them verify the date. I act like I put it in my hand and close my hand into a fist. I have them hold onto my wrist to make sure that there is no way the coin could vanish. I talk to them for a moment (this creates time misdirection…another subject all together) and I recreate history. I say, “You took a coin out of your pocket. You checked the date. You placed it into my hand. You held my wrist. I never touched the coin except when you placed it into my hand, right? (They agree) Watch, because the coin has completely vanished.” Satan uses this recreating history in the Garden of Eden. God says one thing, then Satan twists His words just slightly to recreate history. Crazy.

RM: So, what is time misdirection?
DR: Here’s an example of time misdirection. Let’s say that I wanted to vanish four coins from my hand and have them appear under a glass. I place them into my hand. When I close my fist they shoot up my sleeve, around my back and down to my other hand. I load them under the empty glass. But now I need to convince you that they a