The world is a stage on which we reveal our choices before God. He who exists in eternity paused eternity itself and created “time” — a brief window in which we may freely choose our eternal destiny. In the Garden of Eden, everything was easy. God’s perfection surrounded Adam and Eve; every option was good except one, the Tree of Good and Evil.
Adam and Eve in the Garden
Today, the situation is reversed. Humanity continually mars God’s perfect creation. The knowledge of evil is everywhere, and opportunities to do wrong seem limitless. But there is still one good choice left: the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ.
Every day, we must deliberately choose good and reject evil. We must ask ourselves:
Do we love or hate?
Speak truth or lie?
Save life or destroy it?
Act as friend or enemy?
Help others or serve only ourselves?
Live for God or serve the devil?
Making these daily choices is the evidence we present to the spiritual realm of heaven. Choosing to follow the good choices Jesus has given us is the narrow road, the path less traveled. The world cannot understand this goodness any more than darkness can comprehend light.
Yet this is the path of genuine pursuit — a lifelong quest for a deeper relationship with God, a desire to walk the road that leads to His door, to do His will, and to become like Him is the path that leads to everlasting life in heaven. As we fall more deeply in love with Jesus, we become one with Him, as a bride becomes one with her bridegroom.
Our years on earth are for one great purpose: to prepare the way for His second return, just as John the Baptist prepared the way for His first coming. That is why, in the posts that follow, we will seek to know Jesus together. Our aim is simple but life-changing: to help you become more like Him. We will explore who He truly is, present a model of Christian living that both challenges and inspires you, and invite you to measure your choices against His. Along the way, you will gain fresh insight into:
the actions of Jesus,
the supporting work of the Father,
the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and
the ministry of His angels.
We will discover the steps that draw us closer to God, the different levels of relationship we can enjoy with Him, and why those levels matter for fulfilling His calling on our lives. My prayer is that you will join me — heart, soul, mind, and strength — in seeking Jesus with everything we are. Let’s begin the journey.
God has paused eternity to grant us time to make choices that will determine our immortal fate.
During this time, God will judge whether we choose good over evil, love over hate, and save a life over killing. His judgment will determine whether we become members of the bride of Christ and, thus, one with Jesus, living forever in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth or whether we will suffer in the Pit of Fire and Brimstone with the devil and his minions, enduring unbearable heat and pressure, desperately seeking an escape that never occurs (SWIMMING IN THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE.)
The power to determine our fate lies in our hands. On Judgment Day, you may be asked, “Why should you live?” as the Lord once asked me (STANDING ON THE SEAT OF JUDGMENT BEFORE GOD.) So be prepared, live a life of love as Jesus commanded, and have a treasure trove of good works done in love. Doing so requires a relationship with Him that can be developed by conforming ourselves to Jesus, and one way to achieve such a transformation is through the scriptures. We can read and meditate on the words and actions of Jesus found in the Bible while examining our souls to see if we would do as Jesus did in similar circumstances. If we discover discrepancies, we can deploy prayer and fasting as necessary to get a breakthrough.
The scripture below emphasizes the importance of emulating Jesus, including deploying the gifts of the Spirit, such as healing, prophecy, and leading others to the Kingdom of God.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12
Our choice to become more like Jesus is a challenging and less-traveled path. It demonstrates our desire and commitment to follow the pathway leading to His door, do His will, and achieve an intimate, loving relationship with Him.
If you’re interested in embarking on this journey, I intend to share future posts that will act as a guide. Each post will concentrate on a specific scripture for prayer, meditation, and reflection on whether action is needed to become more like Jesus. When combined, these posts will present a model of Christian living that will challenge and help shape your life choices to align with those of Jesus.
I hope you’ll join me in wholeheartedly seeking Jesus with all your heart, mind, and strength. Remember, you’re not alone on this journey. Support and guidance will soon be available to you right here on possess-the-vision.com.
Despite all the evidence that God was the source of all my progress, it never occurred to me that I should be thanking Him for delivering me from the calamities inflicted by the devil’s attacks. Therefore, this foolish position would soon result in another torrent of aggression by the devil. Further, because I was unaware of Spiritual Warfare, I had no idea that I was even in a war or that I should turn to God for help.
At this point, I had been in the hospital or in-home care for over four months, and my physical condition gradually improved. They had released me from the hospital, and I no longer required IV sugar water feedings at home and was able to digest food properly. Having little to do at home, I became restless and desired to return to work. So, I went to my company’s personnel department, passed the required physical exam, and was authorized to start work on a restricted work schedule. I did all of this despite warnings from my doctors that I was not as strong as I presumed.
For details about the experiences documented here please go to https://possess-the-vision.com/ and look the section titled: THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE OVER ME.
A DIFFERENT LIFE
My doctors described how the pancreatitis damage I suffered would influence my future life activities. They communicated that pancreatic dysfunctions typically arise from three lifestyle determinants and that I must focus on each to stay healthy. The most dangerous factor would be alcohol consumption, and consequently, I would have to stop drinking altogether. The other two factors would be a high-fat diet and a high-stress lifestyle. They were right. When I thought about it, I occasionally drank excessively, ate loads of fatty and deep-fried foods, and had an exceptionally stressful job. I would have to focus on all three to live.
They further explained that acute pancreas conditions like what I had experienced would likely reoccur without due diligence to these three lifestyle determinants, especially if I began drinking alcohol again. They reinforce this point by providing the following statistics: If I resumed drinking, I would have a ninety-nine percent probability of experiencing a reoccurrence of the condition that sent me to the hospital for three months. Further, such a reoccurrence would be much more life-threatening than the first, ninety-nine percent of the time. They also disclosed that only one in three people entering the hospital in the condition I had that night I entered the hospital would have survived. I then realized I would likely die if I began drinking again. So, my choices were to either drink or live. I chose to live.
STARTING OVER FROM SCRATCH
I never comprehended how difficult it would be to quit drinking, however. What I would soon find out was that drinking had become the focus of my interpersonal relationships. Liquor was almost always intertwined with my social activities and, quite candidly, had become the foundation for many friendships. While I participated in numerous social activities, I soon conceded that drinking was involved in all of them. Drinking was a component of the softball leagues, as well as canoe trips, camping, bowling, poker games, parties, travel, and other pursuits, and I would face a large void without it.
So, I attempted to avoid drinking at bars and social events, but when I did, it seemed that my drinking friends, whom I have high esteem, were less friendly than before. Sure, they were cordial and gracious every time we got together, but even so, I felt a new distance had emerged. I wondered if they were skeptical of our friendship since I was not drinking or hanging out with them as often as before. It was not their fault; I was the one who changed.
Then I thought, what the heck? There is no reason I should avoid going to these activities with my friends. I will drink ginger ale or club soda and forget the alcohol. In practice, however, that did not work either. My world-class comedian buddies were not as funny when I was sober. I saw myself as 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 dumbed me down, which was not what I wanted either.
In the end, I dropped out entirely. I started thinking about how few people visited me during my three-month stay in the hospital. I suddenly felt like a stranger and realized my old life was gone! I was also disheartened 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 afterward, I was alone in my apartment when the phone rang. I answered, and a horrific-sounding voice answered, this is Satan. The voice seemed mechanical, like a monster in a science fiction horror movie. Its sound was loud, garbled, reverberated, and possessed a ringing tone. It also spoke in several well-defined distinctive octaves concurrently. Therefore, the resulting voice echoed as if numerous individuals were uttering the exact phrases but slightly out of synchronization, creating the garbled effect.
You can imagine my horror based on my encounter with Satan in Hell (IN HELL – CONFRONTED BY THE DEVIL) several years prior. I was terrified, trembling, and panicked, so I quickly hung up. I considered, however, that perhaps this was a prank. Possibly, someone was having 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 with the devil. So, just as before, I put this horrific memory in a faraway place in my mind; I made it small and rationalized it away. But then, just a few days later, an identical incident transpired. I then understood that the devil was relentlessly stalking me and that his harassment was not likely to stop anytime soon.
Somewhat later, I contemplated relocating to another city and was using the National Business Employment Weekly to look for job opportunities. I spotted an ad requesting my skill set and called them. I was enthusiastic about this great opportunity and hoped to be able to present my exceptional qualifications. Instead, the same garbled voice answered, “This is Satan.” I replied, what? The voice replied, “This is Satan!” My heart was pounding as I immediately smashed the receiver down. How in the world could this happen? You know, sometimes a person will not believe the handwriting on the wall. That was me. Believe it or not, I redialed the number, reasoning that maybe I had accidentally misdialed. Astonishingly, the identical thing transpired once again. I hung up, dreading that Satan was still coming after me.
THINGS CHANGE
Soon after, I transferred to the Dallas/Fort Worth with my current employer. I had a new love, a lovely lady who would shortly become my wife. She would be influential in helping me through some troublesome times and finding the pathway to the Lord. I felt like I was reinventing myself by moving to a new environment and having a new love and home—I was delighted with all these things.
But things were imperfect, as my dad died from a prolonged heart condition, and I lost the one person who truly believed in me.
I afterward began having work-related difficulties. There had been a departmental reorganization, and I was assigned to work for someone with a different perspective on everything. As time went on, my work situation became very strained. Late one night, while my wife was asleep, I found myself pacing the hallway, pondering the consequences of potentially being out of work. I speculated that obtaining another job in the current downturn of the economy would be difficult. More than anything, I reflected on how letting my wife down by becoming unemployed would feel. This circumstance brought me to a breaking point. I finally gave up, slumped against the wall, and blurted out the words in my heart: “Okay, God, I give up. I will do whatever You want me to do.”
I did not apprehend it then, but several beautiful transformations commenced after surrendering 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. I was about to see the manifestations of God’s power and glory. I had been saved from the dreadful fate of the second death (SWIMMING IN THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE) and placed on a pathway leading to God’s Glory.
A GLORIOUS VISION
I believe the vision came just a few nights after surrendering to God. It appeared when I was in bed, in that twilight place between slumber and consciousness.
A fluorescent orange globe appeared, fronting a steel blue-black background. It was captivating; its colors were vivid, emitting light from within somehow. Despite the lack of oceans, continents, and blue and green coloring, I understood this orange planet to be Earth. I knew this because knowledge was being inserted into my mind to help me comprehend what I saw.
Then, a tiny black arrowhead-shaped object emerged above the North Pole, and the idea of it being a space shuttle entered my mind. The shuttle trekked Southward, leaving a thin black stripe across the Earth’s sky before vanishing over the Southern Pole. Shortly afterward, it reappeared at the North Pole, orbiting on a new longitude and eventually disappearing beyond the South Pole similarly. It then continued in this manner, painting the major longitudinal lines across the face of the Earth’s sky, leaving the planet resembling a peeled orange.
With the longitudes printed, the shuttle emerged at the Eastern Equator, traversing the Earth on a Westerly course while circling the planet until it had painted the significant latitude lines across the sky. When completed, the sphere looked like a globe of the Earth, like one you may find in a school room or office, except for its bright orange color and lack of oceans and continents.
I watched in awe as a slice of the planet’s orange skin (that space between two of the Earth’s longitudes) began peeling back on itself, commencing at the top and then curling downward into a scroll shape near the Equator, exposing an astonishingly beautiful pink underlayer. Each section then, one at a time, unwound identically. When completed, a gorgeous pink upper hemisphere was visible above the coiled-up orange skins at the Equator. As I continued to watch, The silky pink exterior revealed itself to be the flower petals of a tightly wound blossom that began maturing. At the north pole, I saw new growth forming and expanding from the flower’s nucleus. This expansion forced the exterior petals to stream over its edge, creating a waterfall of pink flower petals flowing 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 I wondered if I might be dreaming. I pondered, what would happen if I reopened my eyes? So, I opened them while lifting my head and looked around my bedroom.
To my astonishment, I could see the flower superimposed over the features of my darkened room. It was as if my retinas had a semi-transparent video projected onto them. Even though I did not understand how this could occur, I instantly closed my eyes, not wanting to miss any part of this captivating experience. Next, I started to wonder why this was happening to me. Why should I know this, and what importance should this be to me?
Then, unexpectedly, everything around me began moving. My vantage point to the flowering globe rotated ninety degrees, so my view became directly over the planet’s epicenter, precisely where the new growth had arisen at the North Pole. Then, a gigantic hole dilated open there, and an unseen force drew me inside. I looked around and realized that I was at the feet of Jesus, who filled the Earth from pole to pole. When I looked up into the immaculate clarity of this place, I saw His outstretched arms and somehow knew He was delivering blessings to the souls of the Earth. At this point, all of my vision’s heavenly peace faded away.
Interestingly, I received this vision of a world filled with Jesus shortly after surrendering to God. I was unsure of what this meant then, but the reality is that everything in my life would rapidly change for the better from this point forward.
GOD’S PLAN TURNS TURMOIL INTO BLESSINGS
The morning arrived, and it was back to the reality of everyday life. I may have received a magnificent vision of a Jesus-filled world, but my struggles in this world remained for a moment. One of these struggles was my continuing strained relationship with my boss that stemmed from my telling him the truth too often. His retaliation took the form of a considerably lower performance evaluation than the prior outstanding reviews I received for years from other directors. Notability: even though his review could have been fairer, it still resulted in what the corporation regarded as satisfactory performance and, therefore, did not warrant any remedial action.
Despite this, he called me into his office after my performance review to convince me that I was not managerial material and should, therefore, volunteer for a downgrade to a technical position. I refused, knowing he had no legitimate case to do so. I also knew I had years of excellent reviews filed away to challenge his delusion if he ever tried. But what became crystal clear from this meeting was that he was out to get me by hook or crook. And as fate would have it, a golden opportunity would soon come his way.
The economy had substantially turned down again, along with company revenues and profits. Our top executives responded by mandating across-the-board headcount reductions. I soon became aware that my boss planned to surplus my job and lay me off as a part of this headcount reduction program.
Then, shortly afterward, however, the company offered senior employees an Early Out incentive package. It was an exceptional offer that included health insurance, a year’s salary, and free space available airline tickets for life. To qualify, an employee must be near early retirement age and have at least twenty years of service. Unfortunately, I would not meet the age requirement until my next birthday, just a few months away. So, I explained this impediment to our personnel Department and received a management leave of absence to bridge my employment to my birthdate.
When my director discovered that I had applied and qualified for the Early Out initiative, 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 surplused my job and had no work for me. He demanded they fire me before I qualified for the Early Out package. Afterward, I discovered that the two organizations 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, securing my severance package. That was a real blessing.
So God was there shielding 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 would see the power of God and how He worked through his people. I had pledged to do whatever God wanted, and now God was guiding me to a place where I would get spiritual enlightenment while showering me with favor and blessings along the way. This event started God’s new life, which He had held in reserve for me.
With my early retirement worries resolved, I began looking for another job. Surprisingly, a well-known entertainment company in California called me about an opportunity. 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 did not know how or who delivered it.
The hiring manager then interviewed me on the phone, and he was so impressed that he wanted to hire me on the spot. However, I needed more time to protect my retirement package. So, I responded that I needed to learn more about the job, the work environment, and the culture before deciding, as I knew arranging these things would push my potential start date back a few weeks.
Consequently, they flew me to California, where I met with many of the people I would be working with, and everything went remarkably well. The only issue now was that the hiring director wanted me to begin working immediately, even without giving my employer a customary two-week notice. After some negotiation, I persuaded him to wait until I became available.
So, we relocated into a lovely Santa Monica residence with beautiful mountains, ocean, and beach views 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 for me and my family! Particularly for someone still clueless about God being at the center of all these blessings. God was setting everything into place, and I walked through the open doors He had placed before me.
MY VOCAL PROCLAMATION FOR A TOUCH FROM GOD INITIATES GOD’S INVITATION
Soon after we had relocated to our new home, our daughter, who had just graduated from college and had the summer off, came to visit. After arriving home from work one day, I found her and my wife 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! That was my vocal proclamation.
GOD RESPONDS BY LEADING US TO A CHURCH WHERE I WOULD GET A TOUCH FROM GOD
Then, one evening, not long after, I was up in the loft flipping through TV channels, looking for something to watch, when I flipped by a man in a white suit who was talking about God. Something he said at that moment caught my attention and led me to swing back to hear more about what he was communicating. The longer I listened, the more I liked what he had to say. I invited my wife to watch with me, and she also loved his message. We then discovered that this preacher would be speaking at a church in Anaheim, and we decided to see him in person.
I had never been to a charismatic church service before and was unsure what to expect. When we arrived at the church, a long line of people surrounded the sizeable round building, and we walked a significant distance before finding the end of the line. As the line gradually moved forward, we overheard the people in front of us discussing what a big deal it was to have this preacher here.
After quite some time, we entered the church and promptly took some seats. We sat before a 360-degree circulator stage with about ten musicians occupying the stage’s right side and a choir of about forty stood in five rows of bleacher seats on the left.
The service began with the loudest praise and worship music I have ever experienced. I was unfamiliar with most songs they played, but I did my best to keep up with the congregation singing along. People raised their hands while praising God, and I joined them. Throughout all of this experience, I felt a strong desire for a real relationship with God.
After the praise and worship ended, the pastor came to center stage and led the church in prayer. I remember hearing the people sitting next to me praying in a language I believed was Latin, and I wondered what this might mean. I speculated that they were foreigners, but they spoke perfect English before the service. All of this was entirely foreign to me.
Afterward, the pastor introduced the visiting evangelist, who began his preaching by reading several Bible verses and then sermonizing on them. Once he had completed this teaching, he led the people in praising God and invoking the Holy Spirit in song. The entire assembly was reverently engaging in this effort. Then, without any warning, he pushed his right arm around to the far-left side of his body, then quickly pivoted it back past the audience and backward toward the now standing choir while shouting choir, receive your anointing. Amazingly, the entire quire fell in unison into their bleacher seats. I could not believe what I saw as they dropped as if they were all a part of a single unit. They fell so perfectly that it appeared as if a trap door had dropped open under them. I immediately knew that this could not have been a stunt. Even if they practiced for years, they could not achieve this perfect level of synchronization.
God’s anointing hit me as the evangelist’s arm swung past us. I did not fall to my seat 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 throughout the service. I turned and looked at my wife and said; is this a touch from God? I told her of my experience, and she admitted that she had received this blessing, also. I then looked around the congregation and saw people lying in their seats all over the building as others attended to them. They were down all around us. I knew God was touching people here, and I had received the touch from God I was looking for.
God had once again taken me to where He wanted us 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 ministry regularly immediately after this first visit. The pastor would generally provide an altar call every Sunday, and several people would come to the altar to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour each week. For me, it only took a few weeks before I was one of many who stepped forward and gave my life to Christ. I remember the pastor flowing in the spirit that day, having raised one hand high above his head while shouting praises to God as he approached me, his eyes blazing directly at me. I remember thinking there were twenty people up here. Why was he focused on me? He later told me he had discerned a significant shift in the heavenly’s during this alter call. I then acknowledged that the Lord attained a spiritual victory, snatching me out of Satan’s hands.
Our church, Melodyland, had an annual conference that had become a tradition over its twenty-five-year history. People of God came from all over the world to teach, preach, and worship God.
One Sunday, after our church service, pastor Wilkerson engaged my wife Pat and me in a conversation about the upcoming conference. He revealed that he needed an illustration for the cover of the conference brochures they were about to send out. It just so happened that God had given me a vision a few days earlier, and I described what I saw to the pastor. He liked what I communicated and had an artist draw it up, and it was used as the heading for the brochures. Here is a description of the vision I presented to the pastor.
A stunning image of a star in the vast expanse of space, radiating sets of uniquely colored light beams across the sky in various directions, with some of them reaching and striking the earth from a great distance.
Then, suddenly, the star and its light increased several times larger in both size and illumination. Because of the star’s massive expansion, its surface was now closer to the Earth, and because of its larger size, it scorched our planet with its superheated light.
Isaiah 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon will be as thelight of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, asthe light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up thebruise of His people and heals the stroke of their wound.
Afterward, the starlight gradually dissipated into a soft cloud-like light encompassing the globe in a canopy. I believe this predicts what must transpire before completing God’s plan.
I will now present my interpretation of the vision presented above:
In the beginning, God communicated with His people from a great distance. However, His words will arrive much more powerfully in the future, scorching those whose roots were not planted deep in good, well-watered soil.
Matt 13: 3-8 Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.
Therefore, everyone anchored deep into God’s good ground will understand His will for their lives much more clearly than ever before, which will kindle a revival that will spread throughout the Earth, resulting in a massive harvest of saved souls. The Word of God will be known to everyone, but only the people whose roots have grown deep into the living water of life will live.
John 4:13 – 14 Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
Then God’s love will surround and protect the Earth, and His people will prosper under His soft and gentle love.
That’s it for today, may God’s blessings be upon you and yours,
Although I lived through the night, my troubles were far from over. My life would continue, but now the devil had me on the ropes, and although I did not know it, he was coming in to finish me off. He continued to attack me in the hospital and even afterward. Many of his attacks afflicted my body with additional damage. In contrast, my doctors and others tried to persuade me to have a very dangerous operation that I did not need. The devil beset my job and my personal relationships, and when all else failed, he tried to physically kill me with his bare hands. He invoked havoc in my life with a continuous surge of events devised to abort my future and, therein, eradicate the purpose of my life.
Consequently, as much as possible, I blocked these memories from entering my consciousness, as I did not want to dwell upon them or their consequences. I rationalized them away, pretending they were simply one dreadful dream. I then pictured them as small and far away. I put them behind me, and as a result of ignoring what God had shown me that night, I opened myself to the spiritual attacks that would beset me from that moment on. Because of my poor decisions, I was about to experience the reality of living a life without the protection of God and, therefore, have nothing to thwart the attacks of the devil.
I was ashamed of what I encountered and did not share what happened with anyone. I did not realize what God had done for me until years afterward when I recognized that what happened to me was God’s response to my doubting the devil’s existence. Yes, God responded by showing me the truth, not only of the devil’s existence but also the existence of Hell, the Lake of Fire, Spiritual Golgotha, and the Judgment Seat of the Lord. I had not comprehended the blessings that He gave me by revealing the truth of these things. It was not as if I had been punished as I had previously believed, but instead, God removed me from harm in each of these places. Therefore, God gave me the honor of knowing the truth of the reality of these spiritual truths. Unfortunately for me, this belief would only come many years later.
So, from this point forward, I will present how I became an innocent victim of a constant stream of spiritual attacks, not knowing that I had become a target of the devil’s spiritual warfare. These experiences will be chronicled in future postings.
While growing up, I enjoyed watching The Twilight Zone on television. This TV program presented the real-life experiences of ordinary people that cannot 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, 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 picked up my laundry from the Quartermaster after a long training day and carried it back to the 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 stowing clothing into my footlocker when I noticed a faint glow illuminating the darkened sky outside. As I watched, it gradually grew until it lit up the entire street scene and eventually began pouring light into our poorly lit billet.
Soon, a few interested soldiers appeared on the street, looking up into the sky, some pointing toward the light source directly above them.
The light looked something like this.
Wanting to see everything they saw, I returned to the door to exit the billet. As I passed the windows again, I saw more soldiers entering the street.
When I reached the doorway, I encountered a group of about ten soldiers who were obstructing my access to the door. I did not recognize them; consequently, I’m sure 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. I decided to go through them by pressing my shoulder on them if needed. When it came time to lower my shoulder to the soldier before me, I could not move him with the gentle force I exerted. So I slowly ramped up my exertion 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 at 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 had 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.
I turned back toward the soldiers in the doorway and wondered why everything had halted 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 where they left off, and the sounds of the billet returned as well. I looked back toward my bunk and saw everyone 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 growing smaller and fainter as it rose, until it vanished, restoring the darkness.
I returned to my bunk, sat down, and saw no one discussing what had happened. 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 the morning and escorted me to the Company Commander’s office. Once inside the HQ, he checked with the Commander and 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 returned to Attention, saluted the Captain, did a left face, and 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, at the height of the Viet Nam ramp-up. Therefore, I received an extraordinary blessing!
These thoughts reminded me of 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. Looking back at these experiences, I see a pattern of protection that has always been there for me. This incident was just another in a long chain of supernatural protections.
If this experience was an isolated event, there could be speculation about what happened that night at Fort Ord. But it is not an isolated event. After looking back and 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. 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 went to Vietnam, but not as a part of an infantry unit. In 1966/67, I was with the 618th Maintenance Company in the Central Highlands. I remember watching the Fourth Infantry Division’s convoy rolling eastward past us down Highway 19. I marveled as the line of their vehicles stretched out for miles as they moved past us and onto their Central Highlands targets. I wondered if any of the men I trained with were among them.
Only a few days later, 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 night. 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.
Thank 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 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 about to happen before they occurred. The following story exemplifies the things that fall into this category. In fact, ESP has been discredited by the scientific community, who now state that it does not exist. They fail to realize that foreknowing is not something that is under our control but rather something given to us by God.
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 and her family from time to time, and my sister and I always 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 pretty tired and trying to sleep in the back seat. My head was propped against a padded door handle while my body was on the seat. Just as I began to doze off, I awoke, discerning that another car was about to crash into us at the precise point where my head was resting against the door.
Thinking that I was being ridiculous, I ignored the sensation and, put my head back down and tried to get back to sleep. I experienced the very same feeling several more times before I decided to tell my mother about it. She reaffirmed that I was being silly and recommended that I dismiss these thoughts 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 more substantial, and eventually, I could not stop the urge to pull my head away at the very second that another auto came crashing into the side of us where my head had been resting just a second before.
The accident turned out to be 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 wondered 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; I could have sustained a significant injury to my head or neck.
In this case, however, I heeded the warning and made the right choice. Still, I wondered about where these warnings were coming from and why. Looking back at this and all similar life experiences, I can say that these warnings came from God. They were always for my protection, guidance, or, in some cases, saving me through divine intervention.
But I seldom hear about these experiences from others, so they must be very unusual. But are they? How about you? Have you ever had an incident 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 transpired to you. We would love to hear your story.
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 