THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS
Despite all the evidence that God was behind my improvement, it had not registered with me. It never occurred to me that I should be giving thanks to God for delivering me from the second death or for healing my body. This ignorant and foolish position would result in a torrent of calamities that would come into my life.
At this point, I had been in the hospital or under in-home care for over four months, and my physical condition had steadily improved. I assumed that I was fit to return to work and dismissed my doctor’s warning that I was not as strong as I presumed. So, I went to my companies personnel department and underwent their physical exam required to return to work. They allowed me to start work on a limited work schedule of just a few hours per day to start.
A DIFFERENT LIFE
As I began working and reengaged in social life, I found that things had changed. I had not foreseen the implications that my medical complications would have on my life. The docs had previously laid out my medical condition and how it would affect my future life activities. They told me that pancreatic dysfunctions, as I had, typically stem from three lifestyle determinants and that I would have to work on all three to stay healthy. They told me that the first and most dangerous determinant is alcohol consumption, and consequently, I would have to stop drinking. They also identified a high-fat diet and a high-stress lifestyle as the other factors. Well, when I thought about it for a moment, I drank to excess on occasion, ate loads of fatty and deep-fried foods, and had an extremely stressful job. They were right.
They went on to explain that critical pancreas infirmities like I had are much more likely to be succeeded by an even worse re-occurrence, particularly after heavy alcohol consumption. They then presented me with the following statistics to make their point: If I started drinking, I would have a ninety-nine per cent probability of having a relapse, and that any such condition would be much worse than my first attack, ninety-nine per cent of the time. They then told me that the likelihood of surviving the first attack was one-in-three. I then understood that I was a walking dead man if I began drinking. Drink or live, that was the question. I chose to live.
STARTING OVER FROM SCRATCH
But I never comprehended how difficult it would be to quit drinking. What I was about to discover is that drinking had become the hub of my interpersonal relationships. Liquor was almost always involved in my social life and, quite honestly, had become the basis for most of my friendships. I was involved in numerous activities, but I soon discovered that they were simply excuses to party. Drinking was the reason for the softball leagues, canoe trips, camping, bowling, poker, parties, traveling, and other pursuits. My life centered around drinking, and without it, I would face a large void.
I initially believed that I could avoid going to bars and social events that involved drinking. But when I did, I noticed that my friends, for whom I still have high esteem, were not as friendly as earlier. It was as if they were announcing that since you have elected not to participate in our drinking activities, I am unsure if we are still my friend. Sure, they were cordial and gracious every time we got together, but even so, there was a new distance separating us. I can not fault them since they were right. I was not hanging out with them as previously.
Then I thought, what the heck, there is no reason I should bypass going to these activities with my friends. I will drink ginger ale or club soda and skip the alcohol. In practice, however, that did not work either. I found that my world-class comedian buddies were not as amusing when I was sober. I’m sorry, but their jokes were not all that humorous most of the time. I saw myself being the stick in the mud—the only one not laughing. Then I thought, well, maybe I will try recreational drugs. Perhaps this will allow me to get down with the crowd. But these drugs only dumb-ed me down, and that was not what I wanted either.
In the end, I dropped out altogether. Then I started thinking about how few of these people came to visit with me in the hospital. I suddenly felt like an outsider with them and realized that my old life was gone! To top it all off, I was also discontented at home and eventually moved into an apartment about a year later. I needed to reinvent myself—build a new life. I had to change, but into what?
SATAN CALLS
One day shortly afterwards, I was alone in my apartment when the phone rang. I answered, and a horrific sounding voice replied, This is Satan. The voice seemed mechanical, like a monster in a science fiction horror movie. It was loud, garbled and possessed a ringing tone. The voice consisted of several well-defined vocal threads, and each one sounded in a distinct octave. The resulting sound reverberated as if numerous people were speaking identical phrases slightly out of synchronization, which produced a garbled result.
Based on my recent encounter with Satan in hell, you can imagine what I must have been feeling. I was terrified out of my mind, trembling, and in a panic, I quickly hung up. I reasoned that there must be some explanation for this, perhaps a prank of some kind. Possibly someone was having some fun with me—using an electronic device to frighten me. But who would do such a thing? No one I knew would, nor would they have the capability. Besides, I had not told anyone of my encounter in Hades at that point. So, just as before, I tried to put this terrible memory in a faraway place in my mind; I made it small and rationalized it away. But, just a few days later, an identical incident transpired, and I then understood that the devil was relentlessly coming after me and that his harassment was not likely to stop any time soon.
Somewhat later, I considered relocating to another city and was using the National Business Employment Weekly to look for job opportunities. I spotted an ad that asked for my skill-set, and I called them. I was excited about this great opportunity and hoped to express my qualifications for the job. Instead, a voice answered, This is Satan. Yes, it was the same garbled voice as before. I replied, what? The voice replied This is Satan. My heart was pounding as I smashed the receiver down. How in the world could this be? No one I knew could have set anything like this up. How could this be? You know, sometimes a person just will not read the handwriting on the wall. That was me. Believe it or not, I redialed the number, reasoning that maybe I had miscalled by accident. Astonishingly, the same thing happened once again. I hung up, terrified that Satan was still coming after me.
THINGS CHANGE
After that experience, things started looking up for a while. As it turned out, I transferred to the Dallas/Fort Worth area with my current employer. I also had a lovely lady in my life who would become my wife and play a big part in helping me through the troublesome times that were to come. She would likewise play a contributory role in helping me find the pathway to the Lord. I felt like I was now reinventing myself, moving to a new environment, having a new love, and a new home. I was delighted.
Things were not perfect, however, as my dad died of a prolonged heart condition. By losing my dad, I lost the one person in this world who truly believed in me.
In the center of all of this, I was having work-related problems. There had been a departmental reorganization, and I ended up working for someone whom I did not see eye to eye. As time went on, the situation became very strained. Late one night, while my wife was in bed, I found myself pacing the hallway, pondering the consequences of being out of work. I speculated that it would be difficult obtaining another job in the current down turning economy. More than anything, I reflected on how it would feel to let my wife down. This situation became at a breaking point for me; I simply could not handle all the turmoil in my life anymore. As I walked down the hallway of my home, I finally gave in, slumped against the wall, and blurted out the words that were in my heart, Okay God, I give up. I will do whatever You want me to do.
I did not comprehend it then, but several beautiful transformations began in my life when I surrendered to God that day. God was about to lead me toward a vision of the future, and I would receive His blessings and favor as I walked toward it. Although I did not know it at the time, I was about to see the manifestations of Gods power and glory. I had been saved from the dreadful fate of the second death and placed on a pathway leading to Gods Glory.
A GLORIOUS VISION
Just a few nights after yielding to God, I had a supernatural vision. It appeared when I was in bed, while in that twilight place, somewhere between slumber and consciousness.
A florescent orange globe appeared, fronting a steel blue-black backdrop. The vision was exceeding beautiful as its colors were vivid, emitting light from within. Immediately, I understood that the orange globe was earth, despite the missing oceans and continents.
As I watched as a small black arrowhead appeared above the North Pole and traveled due South while dropping a thin black line behind it. I thought of the arrowhead as being a shuttle of some sort. It flew a perfectly straight line until it disappeared beyond the Southern Pole. Shortly after, it appeared at the North Pole again, now circumnavigating the globe on a new longitude, once again disappearing at the South pole. The shuttle then continued in this manner until it had printed all the vital longitudes across the face of the earth until the planet resembled a peeled orange.
With the longitudes now printed, the shuttle appeared at the Eastern Equator, now traveling on a westward course, and proceeded to circumnavigate the planet until it had painted its significant latitudes. When completed, the sphere looked like a replica of the earth that you might find in a school or office, except that it is bright orange and the longitudes and latitudes have remained.
Next, the skin of a single orange slice began peeling back, starting at the top and then coiling downward into a scroll at the Equator, and therein uncovering an astonishingly gorgeous pink under-layer. Each section then, one at a time, unwound in the same fashion. When completed, a beautiful pink upper hemisphere existed above the rolled-up orange skins at the Equator. The silky pink surface then revealed itself to be the petals of a young, tightly wound flower that matured as I watched. I could see new growth forming and then expanding at the flowers’ nucleus. This expansion forced the outside petals to flow over the edge, creating a waterfall of pink petals streaming downward.
I was awestruck by the majestic beauty of this ever-expanding flower. I couldn’t help but continue watching this awe-inspiring sight, but then wondered if I might be dreaming all of this. I thought, what would happen if I reopened my eyes? So, I opened them and lifted my head, and looked around my bedroom. To my astonishment, I was able to see the flower superimposed over the features of my darkened room. It was as if my retinas had semitransparent video projected onto them. Even though I did not understand how this could happen, I immediately re-closed my eyes, not wanting to miss any part of this beautiful experience. Then I started to wonder why this was happening to me? Why should I know this and, of what importance should this be to me?
Then abruptly, everything around me began moving. My vantage point to the flowering globe rotated ninety degrees, such that my view was directly over the hub of the flowering planet, precisely where the new growth was emerging at the North Pole. Next, a hole dilated open at that very point, and an unseen force pulled me inside. I looked around and discovered that I was at the feet of a Jesus that filled the earth from pole to pole. When I looked up into the perfect clarity, I saw His outstretched arms, and I believed He was delivering blessings to the souls of the earth. That is when all of the heavenly peace of my vision faded away.
Interestingly, I received this vision of a world filled with Jesus just a few days after I surrendered to God. I was unsure of what this meant at the time, but the reality is that everything in my life would rapidly change for the better afterwards.
GODS PLAN BEGINS WITH BLESSINGS
The morning arrived, and it was back to the reality of everyday life. I may have received a magnificent vision of a world filled with Jesus, but my struggles in the physical world remained. One of these struggles was a strained relationship with my boss that I created by opening my mouth and telling the truth too often. His retaliation came in the form of a much lower performance evaluation than my history of outstanding reviews. Even though his critique was unfair, it still resulted in what the corporation viewed as a satisfactory rating and one certainly not warranting remedial action.
Despite this, he called me into his office shortly after my performance review to convince me that I was not managerial material and should volunteer for a downgrade. I frankly refused as I knew that he did not have a legitimate case to demote me, and that was what he wanted to do. I also knew that I had years of excellent reviews filed away to challenge his deception if he ever tried. But what became crystal clear from this meeting was that he was out to get me by hook or by crook. And as fate would have it, a golden opportunity to do so would soon come his way.
The economy had substantially turned down, along with company revenues and profits. Our top executives reacted by directing an across-the-board headcount reduction. It soon became common knowledge that my boss had planned to surplus my job and lay me off as a part of this reduction in force.
However, shortly afterwards, the corporation offered an Early Out incentive package to senior employees to help reach their headcount reduction objectives. It was an exceptional proposal that included health insurance, a years salary, and free space available travel for life. To qualify, an employee had to be near early retirement age and have a minimum of twenty years of service. Unfortunately, I would not meet the age requirement until my next birthday, just a few months away. So, I explained the obstacle with the Personnel Department and received a management leave of absence to bridge me to my birth-date.
When my manager discovered that I had applied and qualified for the Early Out package, he promptly took action to get me fired. I caught wind of what he was attempting and went to the Personnel department to object, stating that I would file an age discrimination lawsuit if they permitted him to do so. Fortunately, they were very concerned about being prosecuted and promptly advised him to alter his course of action. He unbelievably responded that he had surplussed my job and had no work for me. He demanded that they fire me before I qualified for the Early Out package. Afterwards, I discovered that the two were shouting at each other, battling behind closed doors over the issue.
A few days later, the Personnel department called me to inform me that a director I had previously worked for agreed to move me into his organization until my retirement date, ensuring my severance package. That was a real blessing.
So God was there protecting me from harm again, just like all the other experiences I have written about here. In addition, He was about to move me to a place where I could see the power of God and learn how He worked through his people. I had pledged to do whatever He wanted, and now He was guiding me to a place where I would get spiritual enlightenment while He showered me with blessings and favor along the way. This circumstance proved to be the start of the new life that God had in reserve for me.
With my early retirement anxieties resolved, I commenced looking for another job. Surprisingly, a very well known entertainment corporation in California called me about an opportunity they had. Since I had not sent them a resume, I was interested in how they acquired my contact information. They responded that the hiring director found my resume on his desk, but he had no idea how it got there.
When I interviewed with the hiring director on the phone, he was so impressed that he wanted to hire me on the spot, but I had to continue working to safeguard my retirement package. I responded that I needed to learn more about the job, the work environment, and the culture before making a decision. I knew that arranging these things would push my potential start date back a week or so.
Consequently, they flew me out to California, where I had the opportunity to meet with many of the people I would be working with, and all went remarkably well. The only issue was that the hiring director wanted me to begin working immediately, even without providing a customary two-week notice to my employer. After some negotiation, I had persuaded him to wait until I became available.
So, we relocated into a lovely Santa Monica residence that featured beautiful views of the mountains, ocean and the beach, just three blocks away.
We also arrived with a 30% improvement in salary, a year’s wages in cash, health insurance, and flight privileges for life with the airline. Quite a change in circumstances! Especially for someone who was still clueless about God being at the center of all these increases. At that time, God had set everything into place, and I merely walked through the open doors that He had set directly in front of me.
A HEART FOR GOD
Shortly after we had relocated to our new home, our daughter, who had recently graduated from college, and had the summer off, came to visit. One day after arriving home from work, I found the two of them in the living room laughing and having a great time while talking about God. Sadly, I could not relate to what they were saying, and for some reason, I spontaneously blurted out: Whatever it is that the two of you have, I want it!
THE HEALING CONNECTION
Then one evening, not long after, I was in the loft flipping through channels looking for something to watch when I passed by a man in a white suit who was speaking about God. Something he said caught my attention in that split second that lead me to turn back to hear more of what he was saying. The longer I listened, the more I liked what he had to say. I then asked my wife to watch with me, and she also loved what he had to say. We discovered that he would be speaking at a church in Anaheim, and we agreed to see him in person.
I had never visited a charismatic church service previously and was unsure of what to expect. When we reached the church grounds, we saw a long line of people encircling a large round building and eventually found the end of the line. As it gradually moved forward, we overheard the people in front of us discussing what a big deal it was to have this pastor here. Eventually, we entered the church and promptly took some available seats. I noticed that a group of about ten musicians occupied the right side of the stage, and a choir of about forty people, standing in five rows of bleacher seats, were on the left side.
The service began with the loudest praise and worship music I have ever experienced. I was unfamiliar with most of the songs but did my best to keep up with the congregations singing. I saw that many people were raising their hands in the air while singing praises to God, and I decided to join them. Throughout all of this, I was feeling a strong desire for a real connection with God.
Later the church pastor came out to lead the people in prayer and, I remember hearing the people sitting next to me praying in a language that I believed was Latin, and I wondered what this might mean. I speculated that perhaps they were foreigners, but then, they spoke perfect English before the service. All of this was remarkably unfamiliar to me.
Afterward, the pastor introduced the visiting evangelist, who then came out attired in a white suit.
He began by reading Bible verses and preaching a message based on them. Once he had completed this teaching, he led the people in praising God and invoking the Holy Spirit in song. The entire congregation was reverently engaging. Then without any warning, he rolled his right arm around the left side of his body, then quickly swung it back past the audience and back toward the choir while shouting, choir, receive your anointing. Amazingly, the entire quire fell in unison into the bleacher seats. I could not believe my eyes because they dropped as if they were all a part of a single unit. The precision of their falling together was so perfect that it appeared as if a trap door opened below them. I conclude that what I saw could not have been a stunt. Even if they practiced for years, they would be unable to deliver this high level of synchronization.
A spark of anointing also hit me as the evangelist slung his arm past us. I did not fall to my seat along with the choir, but I felt something like a bolt of electricity hitting my heart. This powerful charge ignited a burning sensation in my chest that persisted thru the service. I turned and looked at my wife and said; Isn’t this a touch from God? I then told her of my encounter, and she admitted that she had received the anointing also. I looked around the congregation and saw people down in their seats all over the building. It was all around me. God was touching people here. I had just experienced an applied lesson in God’s anointing.
For someone who was seeking God, I sure got what I was looking for that night. God had once again taken me to where He wanted me to go. He took the initiative by providing a message on TV, and we answered by following His lead to this church.
COMING TO CHRIST
We began attending this church regularly right after this first visit. Our pastor would typically give an altar call every Sunday and, there were always lots of people who would come to the altar to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. For me, it only took a few weeks before I was one of many who stepped forward and gave my life to Christ. The pastor was flowing in the spirit on that day I officially dedicated my life to Jesus. The pastor had one hand raised high above his head as he started shouting praises to God, and as he approached, his eyes blazing directly at me. I remember thinking to myself—there are twenty people up here—why is he staring at me? Much later, he told me that he had sensed a shift in the heavens. I thought that this was a spiritual victory achieved by the Lord, snatching me right out of Satan’s hands. I had not previously told the pastor this story, so God was communicating with him that day.
SIGNIFICANCE TO THE VISION
The devil kept attacking me, but I turned to God and declared that I would do whatever He wanted. He responded by showing me the end state vision of a Jesus-filled earth, blossoming into a beautiful flower. He then moved me to a church and ministry where His Holy Spirit was active, and there I publicly surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, and a magnificent victory for God’s kingdom transpired in the spiritual realm.
I eventually learned over time that a world with Jesus at its core is Gods desire for His people. It, therefore, is an expression of His love for all of us. I present Revelation 21 here as it reveals what it is like living in this new world.
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. 2 Then I, [a]John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said [b]to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. 6 And He said to me, It[c] is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes [d]shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My Son. But the cowardly, [e]unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
So, we are to overcome the evil that exists in this world today. We are to keep ourselves clean and bring others to know the one true God. Matthew 28 provides our Grand Commission.
Matthew 28
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go [c]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. [d]Amen.
To the Christians who want to make Jesus the center of their world, this message is for you. Seek the spiritual realm for a connection with God for guidance. When directed, put on the armor of God and enter into the spiritual battle. The cumulative spiritual victories of the body of Christ will bring about sweeping changes, and a great awakening will ensue, and extensive conversions of the people of the earth to put their faith in Jesus.
Entering into spiritual battle will bring victory over evil right here on earth, and in doing so become the fulfillment of the Lord’s Prayer:
In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9 – 10).
Therefore, the victory is in our hands, but we must have guidance from the Father. Mathew 11 tells us what Jesus said about the spiritual warfare in heaven and on earth.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (Matt 11:12).
SEEKING JESUS 