In my prior post, I reported how I faced the devil in Hell and experienced his absolute hatred for me. I watched him in horror as he strained to attack me, but God had secured his feet to the ground, keeping me just out of his reach.
In this experience, just like so many before, God protected me from harm. In this case, I was instantly transferred to another place, leaving Satin in a rage, trying to break his restraints and harm me.
My destination was the Judgement Seat of the Lord.
I arrived in a tranquil fog that mysteriously had no dampness. The mist engulfed me so that all I could see was gray. I pondered my recent experiences in Hell (see – IN HELL – CONFRONTED BY THE DEVIL) and the Lake of Fire (see – my prior post) and believed I was fortunate to be in a peaceful and calming place like this one.
All of this suddenly changed as I started to re-live the iniquities of my life in a much more vivid way than when I lived them. Once again, I experienced the feelings, emotions, and perceptions of the people I had infringed upon, and it humbled me. All of this occurred instantaneously, however. Instead of taking hours, days, months, or even years, I re-experienced them concurrently.
Suddenly all of this ceased, and I heard a voice coming thru the fog. It was a mature, calming voice, one that projected love. It emitted a confidence that drew me toward it. It was firm and yet unintimidating and had a perfect tempo. Its power, phrasing, and pronunciation were exact, yet the voice transmitted a sense of caring and consideration. I perceived all this from just the four stunning words He spoke.
I thought, how did I decern all this from just four words? After all, it was a straightforward question, yet so profound that it cut to my heart. The inquiry had surprised me, and its implication hit home like a sledgehammer. “Why should you live?” is all the voice spoke without expression of judgment or wrath. Therefore, there were no clues as to what an acceptable response might be.
The ramifications of the question devastated me as I recognized that my response would determine my fate. I assumed there must be a valid answer because if not, why ask the question? Frantically, I searched for explanations to justify my poor behavior.
Then another insight came to me from out of the blue, and it rocked me even more. There are no lies in this place, only truth. Lies do not exist here because the one who asked the question already knows the reality. Everyone here has access to this reality.
Soon yet another fact smacked me into a frenzy. The question pertained to more than merely mortal life and death on Earth. The question is about living forever, either in paradise or in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, the second death (Golgotha – see SWIMMING IN THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE and MY JOURNEY TO SPIRITUAL GOLGOTHA.) I now began to comprehend the consequence and gravity of the question. Death forever! Agony, torture, and suffering in the Lake of Fire for eternity. Everlasting torment at the hand of Satan. Then that “oh, no” feeling swam over me in a deluge, you know, that guilty sensation you get in your gut when your actions have severely harmed someone.
Then I heard a commotion from behind the one who asked the question, and another voice said, “What about good works?” Then, I heard more rustling and fuss, and then the disruption stopped, and a third voice said, “There are none.” I stood there dumbfounded and thought, how can this be since I have certainly performed good works? Then another truth entered my mind. Even my good deeds were done for the wrong reasons.
I understood the focus was on me to answer the question, and I became desperate to find an appropriate reply. I felt I had to say something, so I blamed others and then paused for a response, but the silence was the only response I would get. Then, I admitted that I should not try to blame others for my bad choices, and I surrendered, telling God that I would change, and I requested His help.
That was the last thing I recall about being before the judgment seat of God. My next recollection would be awakening in the ICU in the morning. I had lived through the night by the mercy of God.
Yes, it happened again, just like in my previous postings, where I communicated that someone had been watching out and protecting me. This time, however, the one who saved me had the power to rescue me from the greatest misfortune of all, the second death. You would think that this time there would be no mistaking who was watching out for me, but regrettably, I was still blind. I saw all of this as one terrifying dream. So I moved my memories of that night to a faraway place in my brain and moved on.
But the devil was not done with me, and neither was God. The spiritual battle over me would continue for quite some time. In subsequent postings, I will tell of continuous setbacks in the ICU and the turning point back to God.
In my earlier postings (When You Disbelieve The Devil’s Existence…,) I shared an experience when I began to disbelieve in the devil’s existence and shortly afterward experienced a spiritual attack. This attack wounded me severely and left me in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU,) fighting for my life while my doctors did not expect me to live through the night.
LEAVING MY BODY BEHIND
While unconscious in the ICU, I had a near-death out-of-body experience. In this experience, I found myself seated on the floor of a transparent spaceship, hovering in the blackness of space with the radiance of billions of stars around me.
I could feel my buttocks and crossed legs touching the floor even though I could not see it. Mysteriously, I also comprehended that I had a transparent dome above me, shielding me from the environment while permitting me to see in every direction.
Throughout this experience, I received knowledge relevant to my circumstance. Dispatches would arrive in my brain that helped me comprehend what was occurring. For example, I suddenly knew I had left my body behind and was about to travel through space and time. So, when I detected the first sensation of movement, I knew what was happening.
The ship proceeded slowly forward at first and then gradually accelerated. As I moved forward, I began to hear voices and pieces of people’s conversations as I passed them by in time. One comment after another in succession, as if I were slowly driving past an unbroken line of individuals, each one engaged in dialogue. Initially, I could hear entire sentences, but as the craft accelerated, the terms came in quicker, were higher-pitched, and were less recognizable. Soon, there were very few recognizable words, and eventually, there were none. The sounds of voices transformed into a sound like that of a 33 RPM record played at a 78 RPM speed. Then, as the ship’s acceleration advanced, the sounds became like Morse code. Ultimately, even these blips became a squelch, like the sound an old radio makes when the dial is turned quickly across a broad range of stations.
I then knew my ship was traveling through time, passing by the voices of my unfulfilled life’s future conversations. They were the voices of a tomorrow I would not have. Abruptly the squelching just stopped, and I thought I would have had a very long life if I had lived.
With the sounds of voices now behind me, I focused on attempting to identify my location. At first, all I could see were the stars and the blackness of space all around me.
I soon noticed, however, that I was zigzagging back and forth through space. The ship was moving in S-shaped curves like a sine wave, veering to the left, then curving back to the right. Like a sailboat moving against the wind, I went back and forth while maintaining one straightforward heading. Where was I going, I wondered.
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).
Therefore, enter the battle field through prayer and fasting.
While growing up as a youngster, I enjoyed watching The Twilight Zone on television. This TV program presented the real-life experiences of ordinary people that can not be explained by science or the laws of nature. While there have been several Twilight Zone experiences in my life, this one is noteworthy because it reveals the power of God, divinely intervening in my life, to protect me from harm and possibly death.
A LIGHT IN THE NIGHT SKY AT FORT ORD
This experience likely occurred on the last Wednesday in October 1965, which would be October 27th, just a few days after this picture was taken.
I’m in the back row, on the right, the one with the glasses.
It all started when I had picked up my laundry from the Quartermaster after a long training day and carried it back to barracks as the sun was setting. I could see the darkness falling through the long line of windows as I walked across the length of the billet to my bunk. I began moving clothing into my footlocker when I noticed a faint glow illuminating the darkened sky outside. As I continued watching, it gradually expanded until it lit up the entire street scene, eventually pouring light into our poorly lit billet as well.
Soon, a small number of interested soldiers appeared on the street, looking up into the sky, some pointing toward the source of light directly above them.
Wanting to see everything they saw, I started walking back toward the door to exit the billet. As I passed the windows again, I could see that even more soldiers were entering the street.
When I reached the doorway, I encountered a group of about ten soldiers who were obstructing my pathway to the door. I did not recognize any of them and, consequently, I’m sure that they were not a part of my unit. They were having a great time joking, laughing, and engaging in banter with each other. So much so that they were oblivious to my need to move through them. So I asked them politely to make a way to the door for me. But nothing happened. It was as if they did not hear me. So, I asked again in a louder voice. But the result was the same. They just kept jamming as if I was not even there. So I decided to make my way through them by pressing a shoulder on them if needed. When it came time to lower my shoulder into a soldier in front of me, I found that I could not move him with the gentle force I exerted. So I gradually ramped up my effort to its maximum, and still, I could not budge him. I would have had better luck pushing into a wall. In awe of this man’s strength, I moved back to see the face of this wall of a man.
When I saw his face, I was stunned. He was staring in the direction of another soldier, but he was not moving. There was no eye movement, blinking, or breathing. There were beads of sweat on his face, but they were suspended there, defying gravity, not trickling downward or dripping off.
I then noticed that pure silence had displaced the everyday noises of active soldiers in a billet. I gazed at the other soldiers standing in the doorway. They were all frozen like manakins occupying a store window as if time had stood still. I gradually shifted my gaze back across the billet. All the men halted in mid-stride. The entire scene looked like a video when the stop button is depressed.
Then the light streaming through the windowpanes caught my notice. I observed motionless dust particles suspended in the air, unaffected by air currents or gravity.
The light looked something like this.
I turned back toward the soldiers in the doorway and wondered why everything had stopped but me. Then suddenly, it all returned to normal, as if someone had pressed the play button again. The men frozen in the doorway resumed their banter from exactly where they left off, and the sounds of the billet returned as well. I looked back toward my bunk and saw that everyone was moving around again as if nothing had transpired.
I peered through the windows and saw that the light outside had faded. So I navigated through the soldiers in the doorway, opened the door, and looked up into the sky. I saw a big ball of light ascending into the sky, gradually appearing smaller and fainter as it rose, until it vanished, restoring the darkness.
I retreated to my bunk, sat down, and saw no one discussing what had just transpired. Everyone went back to doing the things they had been doing before. Then it dawned on me; they had nothing to remember. Their bodies were there, but time stopped for them, and therefore they did not experience what transpired. Their souls were unconscious. But then, why would I be the only one to experience what occurred? My answer would come soon.
The Company Clerk came in first thing in the morning and escorted me to the Company Commander’s office. Once inside the HQ, he checked with the Commander and then directed me to go in. I marched in, did a left face at the center of the Captain’s desk, came to Attention, and saluted while shouting, “Sir, Private Gordon reporting as ordered, Sir.” The Captain firmly responded, “At ease, Private,” and I moved to Parade Rest.
The Captain then spoke in an agitated voice, “Gordon, did you know that you have a type 2 profile on your eyes?” I immediately replied, “Sir, Private Gordon does not know what a type 2 profile on his eyes is, Sir.” The Commander sighed deeply and sat back in his chair. Looking me straight in the eye, he said, “Son, it means that you can not be in an Infantry Unit. I will make arrangements for someone to get you reassigned. That is all.” I came back to Attention, saluted the Captain, did a left face, marched out of his office. As I walked back to my billet, I wondered why I had to endure all of this training before anyone noticed my ineligibility.
It was not until much later in my life that I realized what a tremendous gift I had received that day. I had avoided being attached to an Infantry Unit in 1965, in the height of the Viet Nam ramp-up. Therefore, I had received an extraordinary blessing!
These thoughts brought memories of all the other times I had been removed from harm or guided away from danger. Some would call them miracles because they are scientifically indefensible. I now see them as God’s divine interventions in my life. All the encounters that I never told anyone because they would know I was crazy. When I look back at these, I see a pattern of protection that was always there for me. This experience was just another in a long chain of supernatural protections.
If this experience were an isolated event, then there could be speculation about what happened that night at Fort Ord. But it is not an isolated event. After reviewing these other events, I have concluded that God has protected and guided me all along. I have written about these experiences in other posts as well.
Further evidence will appear in the experiences that I will be publishing here in the future. Together, I hope they will lead you to believe that only God can do what I have described here. The direction of my life certainly changed course in that short, 12-hour span.
I eventually did go to Viet Nam, but not as a part of an Infantry unit. In 1966/67, I was with the 618th Maintenance Company in the Central Highlands. Years later, when I was doing my research, I discovered that most of the men in my training unit became a part of the Fourth Infantry Division. I remember watching their convoy entering the battlefield by way of Highway 19. I marveled as the line of their vehicles stretched out for miles as they moved past us and on to their Central Highlands targets.
It was only a few days later that we heard the sounds of their battles. We felt the ground shaking as the bombs and shells exploded miles away. The sounds of the explosions rumbled through the air like rolling thunder through the nights. I remember lying in my bunk on one of those nights, thinking, I’m so glad I am not where those boys are today. As it turns out, the 4th Infantry Division took more casualties than any other unit in the Vietnam War.
Thant you, Lord. Praise God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
After I entered elementary school, I started to encounter things that could not be explained by the laws of physics. Some call these strange experiences ESP or extrasensory perception. I would dream things that would come true and know things that were to happen before they occurred. I have been publishing a series of my experiences here in an effort to communicate how God repeatably warned me of danger through the years of my life. In today’s story, I travel through space and time to gain prior knowledge to a horrible event that about to happen. This event changed world history and is still a topic that is still examined, researched and analyzed to this day. I happened shortly after I graduated from high school.
A DAY OF TRAGEDY
I was still living at home with my mom and dad at the time and was delivering pizzas at night for income. I did not have a car, so I walked to work every day arriving at about four o’clock in the afternoon and then returned back home again around midnight on weeknights and two in the morning on the weekends. One November night while I was walking home alone, I felt a big emptiness inside. It is difficult for me to explain, but I had a guilty feeling down in my gut. I had experienced these feelings before when I did something very wrong to someone but that was not the case here. This was a much larger emptiness than I had ever felt before, it was as if an enormous injustice had been done.
When I arrived home from work that night I was exhausted so I went straight upstairs to my room and went to bed. It was then that a phenomenal experience began to happen to me. As I was dozing off to sleep, I would awake with a start as I sensed that my legs were floating off the bed and into the air. As I was quite concerned about this feeling I sat straight up in bed and touched my hands to my legs to ensure that, yes, they were still there. Rationalizing that this must have been part of a dream I decided to simply ignore the floating sensation and go back to sleep. So, I bedded down a second time, intent on getting some desperately needed sleep and dozed off again, only to wake with a start a second time sensing that my entire body had been lifted two feet above my bed and was floating there. Once again I sat straight up immediately only to find myself in bed as normal once again. I thought to myself, this is crazy, I am extremely tired, most likely coming down with a cold, the flu or something like that. I once again determined to ignore these weird sensations because I needed the sleep. So, when the sensation of floating up off my bed reoccurred I simply ignored it, hoping that it would go away.
Floating up from my bed.
The sensations did not go away however and my body not only floated up off my bed, but it passed effortlessly through the ceiling and roof of my house as well. From there my ascent continued rapidly up into the sky and I passed through a cloud layer. Eventually, I stopped traveling straight up and started moving in a direction parallel to the earth. I continued on this course for quite some time and as I traveled through the night sky, I could feel the air getting warmer. This meant to me that I must have been traveling south. Then I started descending, and I saw a city full of lights ahead of me. I continued a gradual descent until I arrived at the side of a tall brick building without any visible windows. In addition, I saw streetlights arrayed in a straight line in front of the building and parallel to the curb. Each streetlight was made of metal and they curled over at the top like the hook at the top of a candy cane.
Then, I noticed a woman standing beneath one of the street lights who had her head was down, and who was sobbing uncontrollably. As I hovered above her I watched her and felt great compassion for her grief.
Woman standing under the street lights.
I started to wonder what had gone so wrong that caused her sadness and I wondered if I might be able to help her in some way. Could she hear me if I spoke I wondered? Then I wondered if I could even speak. I deduced that I had nothing to lose and tried to speak but no sound came out. It was as if there was not enough air to speak. For a moment I contemplated abandoning my effort to speak but committed instead to try to use a louder voice. This time it worked as I said to her, “What is wrong lady?” and then watched for a response. She did not respond but kept sobbing as if she did not hear me. Then, I thought perhaps she will indeed, not be able to hear me. Not giving up I spoke once again increasing the volume, “Why are you crying1?”
To my surprise she answered without looking up, “Why, don’t you know? Don’t you know that today they killed the President?”
At that instant, I don’t know how, but I was instantly transported back to my bed. I was sitting straight up once again but this time I was thoroughly soaked in sweat. My heart was pounding so hard that I thought it might explode and I was breathing like I had just run a four-minute mile. I looked around my room only to find that I was still alone in the dark. I sat there for several minutes waiting for my body to cycle back down to normal. I did not know what to think about what had just happened. The thought of the President being killed seemed a very improbable thing to me. I admired President Kennedy, and I believed that he was doing good things for our country, so I guess that his death was not something that I wanted to accept. Once again, I rationalized that although this out of-body experience seemed very realistic it, nevertheless, must have been a bad dream, so I once again went back to sleep.
When I got up the next morning, I still felt out of sorts even though I had slept in because of the hard night. I found myself at home alone as dad was more than likely working, and mom was probably out shopping. I went to the kitchen for some breakfast prior to starting my walk to work. I somehow felt displaced, like I was somewhere that I was not supposed to be. As I walked to work things just did not seem normal. For one thing, it was an overcast and gloomy day and the typically busy street that I walked along had almost no traffic for some reason. Where were all of the cars and people I wondered? It was an unusually quite walk that morning as there were no birds chirping, no horns blowing, things were eerily quite. I wondered if everything had died. Then I had that empty, hollow feeling inside of me again.
When I arrived at the pizza restaurant where I worked I entered through the back door that led to the kitchen. The owner was there watching the television as I entered. He seemed extremely angry and he shouted at me, “Do you know what those crazy people did today?” I thought to myself, “oh no!” For it dawned on me that I certainly did know and being horror stricken, I shouted back, “They killed the President.” His mood turned quizzical and he asked me how I could know this because it had just been announced on television. I just shook my head and did not answer him. I was thinking that I could never explain what had happened to me the prior night.
I do not know why or how this happened to me. Was there something that I could have done to change things? I don’t think so. Perhaps just telling the story is sufficient. Or, perhaps there is more to this than meets the eye. After all, the woman under the street light said, “They killed the president.” Perhaps the experience I had indicated that a coup took place and that an evil organization was now subverting the will of the people to self rule.
I still wonder what was the value for me to know of the assassination in advance. Perhaps it was another warning of impending danger. There are many people who believe that this event was a major turning point in our country, one in which was necessary to change the nature of our democracy and the direction of our country.
Interestingly, I recent viewed a video entitled “Dark Legacy,” which was about President Kennedy, his policies and actions as President as well as the circumstances of his death. In this movie they demonstrate that time and again Mr. Kennedy took actions for peace. As a part of this demonstration they included a clip of a speech that John F. Kennedy gave to the United Nations in 1961. In it he stated that he would seek a treaty with Russia to ban on long range missiles but ultimately his intention was total disarmament of both Russia and the US as well as the elimination of all weapons and all armies from the world. I recommend that you view this film for yourself. You can find it on netflix.com. If you do not have a subscription you can get a free thirty day trial with no obligation.
The point of this is that a diametrically opposite view of world politics was established from the moment of his death. This is clearly demonstrated in the immediate reversal of Kennedy’s initiative to bring home all of our Viet Nam military personnel by 1965 (see http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM263.html for a copy of the executive order). Orders for a massive troop build up in Viet Nam were initiated within two days of the presidents assassination. It would appear that the military industrial complex had won.
Kennedy had been successful over in the Cuban missile crises but it appears that the military industrial complex may have eliminated the major obstacle to their war agenda. To get an idea of how badly the Joint Chiefs of Staff wanted war, watch the movie Thirteen Days, which documents the course of events surrounding the Cuban missile crises.
We now know that if Kennedy had given in and approved the militarys recommend course of action that our invasionary force, that would have been required to secure the nuclear warheads, would have fallen victim to tactical nuclear weapons on the beach. So in seeking a peaceful solution, President Kennedy may have adverted a massive defeat of the invasion force and possibly a nuclear exchange with the Russians that would have been a result of the escalation of this incident.
So yes, I would say that we lost a lot with the loss of President Kennedy that day in November 1963. As for me I still view this experience as a warning of danger from God, even to this current day.
After I entered elementary school, I started to encounter things that could not be explained by the laws of physics. Some would call these strange experiences ESP or extrasensory perception. For example, I would dream things that would come true and know things that were to happen before they occurred. The following story is one example of the kind of things that I experienced that are of this nature.
Here is my story for today.
A BRICK WALL
When I was about ten years old, I had a dream in which I came to a red brick wall that blocked my path. In this dream, I became very frustrated searching for a way past the wall but not finding one. I started searching along the base of the wall to my left only to find a dead end. Then, I searched for a way around the right side of the wall only to find another dead end. I contemplated how I might be able to go over the wall, but it was just too tall, and there was nothing to grab on to, so I could not find a way over it either.
Now if this were an isolated experience, it most likely would have been long forgotten, but I kept redreaming it nighty after night. As if I was in one big loop, continuously searching, for a way past the wall. For months this went on. Most often, the dream sequence would last most of the night, leaving me still trying to find a way to the other side when I awoke.
This dream was a mystery to me as I had never seen a wall like this one, and I had no idea why it may be relevant to me. My innocents, however, was about to change.
One summer evening, I joined with a group of older neighborhood boys who were gathered just down the street from where I lived. Interestingly, some of these boys were the ones who had a great laugh on me in the boogeyman story. One of the boys had just acquired a used car. In the course of our conversation, he suggested that we all go down to Hastings Street.
I was by far the youngest one there and had no idea what Hastings Street was or why anyone might want to go there. If I had, I would not have gone with them. I found out years later that Hastings street was the black cultural centre of Detroit. It was famous for its bars and restaurants, and Jazz. It could be a dangerous place to be.
For some reason, all the boys all wanted to go, and I trusted their judgment and jumped in the car for what I thought would be a fun time. As we were in route, the driver started to take big gulps from a bottle of Orange Vodka that he had stashed under the driver’s seat. It seemed that in no time at all, he was quite drunk. In fact, by the time we got to Hastings Street, he was a sloppy, goofy drunk.
I was in the back seat between two of the other boys as we cruised very slowly down Hastings Street. I could see large numbers of people on the street, mostly just milling around. There were women in provocative clothes standing on street corners and under streetlights. I was so young that I didn’t know what this meant at the time either. We drove by bars that all had their doors propped open, and we could hear loud blues and jazz music as we slowly passed. I also remember that we passed a police car that had four officers inside. One of the boys said it was the big four, indicating that this part of town required Detroit’s toughest police.
The musician John Lee Hooker on Hasting Street
Then our intoxicated driver starts singing in a loud voice, “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.” Then, being very amused with his newly created song, he let go with a loud belly laugh. Then he rolled down his window, hung his head out and sang it again, “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes,” followed by another belly laugh. I remember being embarrassed at first, but after a while, I started to become quite fearful. This activity seemed to be very stupid for white boys to be doing in a black part of town.
There seemed to be no way to stop him either. He just kept repeating this song and laughing over and over again even though the other boys were shouting at him to quit and telling him quite emphatically to shut up. When he did not, they threatened him with physical violence if he didn’t stop.
The car came to a red light, and we stopped for what seemed to be a very long time for me. It was when the light changed, and we had entered the intersection I saw the red brick wall through the windshield. A chill ran down my spine as we attempted a u-turn in the road. The driver was having difficulty in making the turn because of the stick shifter. Halfway through the turning process, I could see men coming from buildings and out of the alleyways. As they came toward us, I could see that they had baseball bats, lumber, and tire irons in their hands. They were coming from several directions.
After completing the U-turn, our drunk driver stalled the car. He attempted to restart the vehicle, but it would not start even though it turned over just fine. But the engine began to turn at a slow rate, indicating the battery was getting week. I could see that the groups of angry men were getting closer. Then I thought that it was possible we could all die here, and no one would ever know what happened. Then the distinct smell of gas filled the car indicating that the engine flooded. We had the driver push the accelerator to the floor and listened as the engine turned progressively slower. Suddenly, the clicking sound of the solenoid is all we hear. Meanting the battery lacked power to turn the engine. I then thought that we would all die. But for some unknown reason, the engine suddenly turned one more turn and roared to a full-speed start. Our driver, now seemingly very sober, dropped the shifter down into first gear and we peeled away.
The angry men were running alongside and behind the car and started slamming the vehicle with their weapons. The sounds of the weapons striking the metal of the car were quite horrific. The car finally started pulling away from the mob, and we drove away safely.
I am sure that if we had been there just a few more seconds, our fate would have met an unpleasant end. In looking back at this incident, I know that the dream of the brick wall was another warning from God. Also, I believe that the one extra turn of the engine was help from God as well. I know that one isolated case like this one could be a coincidence, but it is not just one case. I was being warned and protected again and again. Just read my previous blogs and look for the ones to come, and you will come to see how God works.
After I entered elementary school, I started to encounter things that could not be explained by the laws of physics. Some would call these strange experiences ESP or extrasensory perception. For example, I would dream things that would come true and know things that were to happen before they occurred. The following story is an example of the kind of things that I experienced that can not be explained scientifically, and in fact have been discredited by the scientific community who now state that ESP does not exist.
Here is my story for today. I was most likely nine or ten years of age when it occurred.
PREMONITION OF AN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT
My mom and dad would take us to visit my aunt’s family from time to time and my sister and I looked forward to these trips because we got to play with cousins our age.
Their house was about an hour’s drive across town and we were driving home late one night after one of our visits. I was quite tired and was trying to get some sleep in the back seat. I had my head propped up against a padded door handle on the driver’s side. Just as I started to doze off, I awoke with a start, sensing that another car was about to crash into us at the precise point where my head had been resting.
Thinking that I was being silly, I ignored the sensation and put my head back down and tried to get back to sleep. I experienced the very same sensation several times before I decided to tell my mother about it. She reaffirmed that I was in fact being silly and recommended that I dismiss it from my mind and try to go back to sleep. So, I made another attempt to suppress my fear and get some sleep.
But the sensations grew stronger and I could not stop the urge to pull my head away from the side of the car once again. Only this time another auto came crashing into the side of us at the very point where my head had been resting just a second before.
The accident turned out to be quite minor, and no one was hurt. There was a big dent in the side of our car and some broken glass but the car was drivable and we drove it the rest of the way home.
I had to wonder though about what the outcome may have been if I had not pulled my head away at the last second. The jolt of the collision was substantial, so I suppose I could have sustained a major injury to my head or neck. In this case, I heeded the warning and made the right choice. Still, I wondered about where these warnings were coming from and why.
Looking back at it now and by looking at all of the experiences that I have had in my life of this nature, I can say that these warnings came from God. For me these things that happened to me were a protection, a guiding.
But I really never hear much about these kinds of things from others. So I think that they must be very unusual. But are they? How about you? Have you ever had an experience of this nature, one that can not be explained by the laws of science? If so leave a comment here to tell me and my other readers about what happened to you. We would love to hear your story.
After I entered elementary school, I started to encounter things that could not be explained by the laws of physics. Some would call these strange experiences extrasensory perception (ESP). For example, I would dream things and then they would come true, and know things that were to happen before they occurred. The following story is just one of them. Others will be posted at a later date.
I DREAM THAT I WAS LIKE A SUPERMAN
One night I had a dream that I was standing in the middle of the street and an oncoming car was heading toward me at a high rate of speed. Rather than run out of the way to escape, I braced myself and extended my arms toward the car to absorb the impact. The car ran directly into my outstretched hands and it stopped in its tracks. In my dream, the car was a gray 1940’s model. The hood was v-shaped and formed a rounded point where my hands met the car. I could see my hands against the gray automobile, and I was in awe of what had happened. I remember having the feeling of extreme physical strength. I imagined that this is what Superman must have felt like—knowing that you can muster unmatchable power and that there is nothing that can defeat you. In this dream, I truly felt invincible.
superman stops a car
A few days later, I was playing with one of my friends who lived down the block. We were flying a saucer toy that he had just received. The saucer sat on top of a handle and would lift off and fly up into the sky when the string was pulled. It was the spinning motion coupled with the fan blades inside the saucer that would create lift that in turn launched the saucer up into the sky. The toy look like the one depicted below:
We were having a great time chasing it and trying to catch it before it landed. On the last launch, my friend pulled very hard and the saucer soared high into the air. As it rose above the houses, a strong breeze kicked up and carried it out into the street. Being totally focused on catching the saucer, I started running after it as fast as I could, not paying much attention to where I was going.
My friend’s mother was there and she shouted to me, “Joe, don’t go into the street. Joe, stop!” I remember hearing her words but they seemed faint and very far away. I was in the middle of the street by the time I caught the saucer and it was then that I could clearly hear my friend’s mom screaming for me to come back. I turned and looked up the street and there was the gray car of my dream speeding toward me. There was no time to get out of the way, so I held my arms out in front just like I did in my dream. I could hear the tires squealing in response to the car’s locked brakes. Then the car hit my hands as it slid to a stop. Unlike my dream, it was evident that it was not my power that stopped the car. I realized that I was not all-powerful. The car had knocked me backward even though it just barely touched me. I watched the front of the car rock back and forth in reaction to the sudden stop. I saw my own hands against the hood of the gray car just like in my dream but I stood there trembling as I realized that I had just looked death square in the eye.
My friend’s mother came over screaming at me to listen to her. Somehow her voice grew faint again as I wondered about the dream that had become a reality. How could such a thing be true? Why were the real life events so accurate but lacked the feelings of power and strength that I had in the dream? Something stopped that car, but it was not me.
I did not know what to think about this when it happened. As fast as the car was moving, I was very surprised that it stopped so quickly.Was it possible that something stopped the car that I did not understand? Was it possible that this something also tried to protect me from this circumstance in the first place? Or was it a notice to me that something was here to protect me and nothing could harm or hurt me? Well, being like many young boys, I spent about five minutes thinking about it before I filed it in the back of my mind where it was not thought about again for quite a long time.
Now, taken on its own merits this is a nice story that could be rightly classified as a coincidence. But when things like this happen over and over again, well, you can only come to the conclusion that what happened was far from coincidence. In the end I would have to conclude that it was God protecting me from harm. I plan to post a number of the other incidents so that you can make a decision for yourself.
This experience occurred before my sister, and I entered grade school. It was a beautiful summer day, and we were playing in our front yard while a group of older boys were hanging out on our neighbor’s lawn. I guess these boys decided that they would have some fun with us, youngsters, by telling us frightening stories about the boogeyman. I knew what they were up to, however, and proclaimed that there was no such thing as a boogeyman.
They then assured me that they were eyewitnesses to every story and then continued by spinning even scarier yarns, while I stood firm in my assertions that there is no such thing as a boogeyman.
But they challenged my denials, stating that the boogeyman was hiding between the houses just a few doors down the block. They said that if I was so sure, then why not take a look for myself? I suddenly became markedly less confident; after all, perhaps they were right. I tried to wiggle my way out of the situation, but when they called me a chicken and fraidy-cat, well, they had me. I couldn’t back down, so I devised a scheme to maximise my safety.
I thought that if the boogeyman was between the houses that he would capture me if I got close enough. So I decided to run on a diagonal to get a look from the other side of the street. I also knew that I should start immediately so that the boogeyman if it existed, would not have any time to prepare for my arrival. So, without hesitation, I bolted across the street, running head down as fast as I could. Much to my surprise, I could hear my sister running right behind me. When I got to a position where I could see between the houses, I stopped and quickly turned to take a look. To my horror there it was hiding between the houses, right where the boys said it would be. It was so tall that it had to hunch over to keep its concealment. I somehow knew that it was waiting for kids like me to come by capture and devour.
Its general shape was like a hugely powerful man with burnt leathery skin and the head of a dinosaur, very much like the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It just stood between the buildings, staring at me. I could feel its anger and disgust. I then lost all control and started screaming in horror, flailing my arms in the air while running back as fast as my legs would carry me.
When I got back to my yard, the storytellers were rolling on the ground, laughing so hard that they had to hold their aching stomachs.
These boys believed that their deception had worked, but, I knew what these boys did not. I knew—that there was a devil down the block and that it was lying in wait for innocent kids like me. What they had made up in jest turned out to be the truth. Evil exists in the world. The devil is real.
I tell this story because this experience was not my only encounter with the devil. Much later in life, for some unknown reason, I started to question if the devil was real. I had not heeded the warning that God gave me as a child. The result was that the devil struck me by exploding my Pancreas. When I arrived at the hospital, and moved into the ER, after hours of examination and tests, the doctors told my immediate family to send for my other relatives because I would likely not make it through the night.
That night in the ER, after the doctors and nurses had left me to rest, I had an out of body experience. I traveled through space and time, and Hell was just one of several stops that I made, and there, once again, I was confronted by the devil, who looked much like the devil that I saw when I was a child. Once again, I could feel how intensely it detested me, and how desperately it wanted to destroy me. It struggled to move toward me, but God had anchored its feet to the ground.
What I discovered later in life is that the devil wanted more than just my life, no, more importantly, it sought to destroy the purpose for my creation. It tried to kill the vision.
So, let this be a warning of the existence of evil of this world, and that spiritual warfare is coming whether you are ready for it or not.
So, please do not make a mistake as I did by believing that the devil’s existence is simply a myth. Be careful of what you think, and be cautious about the choices that you make because based on my experiences, your life, your purpose and your calling may hang in the balance. Seek God with all of your might, put on the spiritual armor of God, and follow his guidance.
I thought it appropriate to start this book with my earliest memories, and then move through my life while sharing my spiritual experiences. At the time, it seemed to be a nice way for the reader to get to know the author and his background. The surprise was the earth-shattering discoveries that I uncovered while I was writing. During this process, I came to realize that God had been working in my life from the very beginning; I just did not know it. He gave me people like my mom and dad, who were good people who cared for me and gave me good direction. He issued warnings of danger in ways that could have only come from Him. He showed me the truth of spiritual good and evil at a very early age. He took me by the hand and led me in the steps that I would walk. He closed all the doors but the ones that He wanted me to walk through. In addition, He protected me from harm time after time and did it in such a manner that His divine intervention could be the only possible explanation.Things that have no explanation just kept happening to me, and they were always for my benefit even though that may not have been the perception at the time. I was blind to the fact that God was at the heart of these unusual events. This blindness made it extremely difficult for me to rationalize these experiences, even to myself. To me they were true mysteries. I rationalized them by thinking that perhaps I was just lucky to have escaped harm, or that I was smart for having the foresight to know a better course. In some cases, I could not come up with any rationalization at all so I pushed the entire incident into the back of my mind and kept my mouth shut. I thought that it was better than having the whole world know with certainty that I was out of my mind. These events would always take me back to the question: why were these things happening to me? Why me? I would discover the answer to these questions through the creation of this book. Writing this book enabled me to see the big picture of what God had been showing me over the fifty plus years of my life. It revealed that God was protecting me because He created me for a purpose. God created me to possess the vision.When the time came and I turned my life back over to Him, He opened my eyes. Looking back on it now, I am amazed at all the things that He did to protect me or get my attention. The simple truth is that I had been dancing through life not paying any attention.I did not recognize many of the wonderful truths that God had been showing me. In some cases I did not recognize them even after I returned to Him.This book tells how God has communicated with me over the course of my lifetime. It is a story of the past, the present, and the future. It is a story that has value for everyone. In it you will learn the spiritual truths of this world and the next. This means that you will learn about the realities of heaven and hell, the angels and the devil, the portrait of the bride and even the judgment to come, just as I did. It is a story of God giving me a purpose that came to me in a line upon line, precept upon precept manner, just like the Bible tells us. I have no recourse but to pass these understandings on to you so that you will know the truth also.So fasten your seat-belt. What you are about to read will include some of the most fascinating experiences you have ever heard. Many of the stories in this book may be difficult to believe because they span beyond the laws of nature as we know them, and yet they are true. Many of the stories are parables. They communicate a true earthly narrative that is easy to understand but they also contain a heavenly message. So be warned, you will be stepping into the supernatural quite often as you proceed through this book. These events may shock you and leave you mystified but my prayer is that when you finish this book you will also know how to possess the vision.
SEEKING JESUS 