The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

Read the truly amazing life story about how the forces of good and evil battle over a man and the vision that God gives him. Joseph W. Gordon’s Possess the Vision (Xulon Press, $12.95, 140 pages, ISBN 1-59781-205-6) tells about the mysterious spiritual experiences that occur throughout his lifetime.

A CATHETER IN THE AORTA

In a series of prior postings I have communicated how a life threatening illness sent me to the emergency room where the doctors did not expect me to live through the night. Being close to death, my spirit left my body and I experienced the truth of our spiritual reality. I traveled to and swam in the Lake of Fire (also called the second death) where I experienced unimaginable horrors. I then went into Hell where I was confronted by Satan and experienced the incredible hatred that he has for me. Next I traveled to the Judgment Seat of Christ and heard the words from God that no one wants to hear, which were, “Why should you live?”

If you would like to read the details of all of this please use the following hyperlinks:

The-Initial-Attack

The-Intensive-Care-Unit-and-the-Initial-Prognosis

Entering-the-Spiritual-Realm-of-Death

A-Journey-to-Golgotha

Inside-the-Lake-of-Fire-the-Second-death

Confronting-Satan-in-Hell

Judgment-Day

Reliving-my-sins-before-the-Judgment-Seat-of-Christ

Gods-Question-on-Judgment-Day

Opening-the-Books-on-Judgment-Day

Repentance-Brings-Salvation-Even-on-Judgment-Day

But I made a promise to God that I would be better if He would work with me. The next thing that I knew was that I woke up in the intensive care center. I had lived through the night but what was about to become clear was that the battle for my life was not over. My problem was an exploding pancreas was filling my body with digestive enzymes that are used to decompose meat. So in effect, my body was disintegrating from the inside out. To slow down enzyme production I was placed on a strict fast until such time as a more definitive direction could be made. Then suddenly my vocal cords became swollen and choked off my air supply and an emergency operation was performed that saved my life.

But now the emerging problem was how to get adequate levels of nutrition into my system. The doctors had tried several times to reintroduce me to food but each time they did my digestive enzyme levels shot up, causing damage to my internal organs. In addition the nurses were having an increasingly difficult time finding a usable vein each time they had to connect me to IV nutrition. Since the larger veins had already broken down, only the smaller veins were available. Of course, using smaller veins reduced the amount of nutrition that could be pumped into my system each day. Since I was already getting IV solutions almost twenty hours a day, this was a critical situation. After a lot of agonizing my doctors finally decided to risk placing a semi-permanent catheter into my aorta.

That’s correct, right through the middle of my chest and very close to my heart. They were hesitant to perform this procedure because a single slip during the procedure could cause permanent heart damage.

But there were several advantages to having it done. First of all my veins would get a needed rest and the problem of nutritional volume would be solved. Once the catheter was in place, all I needed to do was attach it to an IV for just four hours a day to get all the nutrition that I needed. Things would became much easier and totally pain free. An added benefit would be that I would be able to get up and move around more often since I would not need to be permanently connected to an IV.

They performed the procedure in my hospital room and I was conscious during the entire operation so that the doctors could talk with me. They opened a small hole in my chest by going between two of my ribs. Once this was done they had enough room to insert the catheter. As fate would have it, the doctor had a great deal of difficulty getting the catheter to penetrate my very strong aorta wall. The doctor made several unsuccessful attempts to force the catheter into the artery. Each attempt was accompanied with additional force and before the procedure was completed, the doctor was using all of his strength and much of his body weight to get the catheter inserted. At the time that all of this happened I was very concerned. It seemed that all I could think about was their warnings of the risk of heart damage from an inadvertent slippage. But there was no slip as the catheter finally punctured the aorta wall, making a sound like the crushing of a giant beetle’s shell as it entered. The good news was that the operation was a success. There were no slips, thank God. I was very happy and relieved that this entire ordeal was over.

Keep in mind that a permanent solution to my condition had not been devised and that the spiritual attacks on me were far from over. For now I was content but at the same time I felt a need to find God. Look to the next posting to find out what God does in reaction to my feeble attempt to find Him.

Read the truly amazing life story about how the forces of good and evil battle over a man and the vision that God gives him. Joseph W. Gordon’s Possess the Vision (Xulon Press, $12.95, 140 pages, ISBN 1-59781-205-6) tells about the mysterious spiritual experiences that occur throughout his lifetime.

A VISION OF A JESUS-FILLED WORLD COMING TO PASS

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

THE STENCH OF DEATH

In a series of prior postings, I have shared how a life-threatening illness sent me to the emergency room, where the doctors did not expect me to live through the night. After the doctors did all they could and left for the night, my spirit left my body, and I drifted closer to death. I then journeyed to where I would experience the truth of our spiritual reality. I traveled through space and time to the Lake of Fire (also called the Second Death), where I swam with the other lost souls there, enduring unimaginable horrors. After a time, God removed me and transported me to Hell, where the devil confronted me. I experienced the incredible hatred that he had for me as he tried to destroy me there. Next, God delivered me to the Judgment Seat of Christ, and I heard the words from God that no one wants to hear, “Why should you live?”

But I made a promise to God that I would be better if He would work with me. The next thing that I knew was waking up in the ICU. I had lived through the night, but what was about to become apparent was that the battle for my life and soul was not over. 

The Stench of Death 

It was at this time that I noticed that I was a very different person than I had been before going into the hospital. Of course, I was very sick and, as a result, in a state of funk most of the time. But it was more than not feeling well. One thing in particular was my excessively vulgar speech. Vulgarities seemed to flow out of my mouth with every sentence I uttered, and for some reason, I did not seem to care. Nor was I concerned about who it offended. I spared no one from my offensive speech—not my mother, father, or children. Even doctors and nurses were daily victims of my foul remarks. Things like the simple notes that I wrote to people contained vulgarity. It was so bad that it was even clear to me that something was amiss. I wondered to myself, why am I saying such awful things? It was obvious to everyone that my language had changed. 

The stench of death was still all over me from my journey in the spiritual realms of death. Oh, I was alive and, in this world, but death and evil still covered me like a blanket. My mind was also affected. My thoughts were of sensual pleasures and flirting with nurses. These actions were incredible for someone who might die any minute. I remember thinking, what is wrong with you? You’re so sick you cannot stay awake for more than an hour at a time, and you are considering these absurd thoughts?

In addition, the devil’s physical attacks were about to resume. In my next posting, I will communicate how I fought for my life being unable to breathe.

If you would like to hear the details of all of this, please use the following hyperlinks:

• MY DAY OF DEATH
• THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AND THE INITIAL PROGNOSIS
• ENTERING THE SPIRITUAL REALM
• MY JOURNEY TO SPIRITUAL GOLGOTHA
• SWIMMING IN THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE
• IN HELL – CONFRONTED BY THE DEVIL
• STANDING ON THE SEAT OF JUDGMENT BEFORE GOD
• BACK FROM DEATH
• THE NEXT THREE MONTHS
• THE STENCH OF DEATH
• MY ABILITY TO BREATHE IS ATTACKED
• UNABLE TO GET ENOUGH NUTRITION TO SURVIVE 
• MY MEAGER ATTEMPT TO FIND GOD BRINGS A MIRACLE
• BIBLICAL VALIDATION OF MY EXPERIENCES IN HEAVEN AND HELL

Additionally, the physical attacks of the devil were about to resume. In my next posting, I will communicate how I almost died from not being able to breathe. 

Much love to you from Papa Joe. May God’s blessings be upon you and yours. And remember to:

A VISION OF A JESUS-FILLED WORLD COMING TO PASS

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

Read my story by ordering my book, “Possess the Vision”

The Physical Impacts of Spiritual Attack

In a series of prior postings I have communicated how a life threatening illness sent me to the emergency room where the doctors did not expect me to live through the night. Being close to death, my spirit left my body and I experienced the truth of our spiritual reality. I travel to and swam in the Lake of Fire (also called the second death) where I experienced the unimaginable horrors. I then went into Hell where I was confronted by Satan and experienced the incredible hatred that he has for me. Next I traveled to the Judgment Seat of Christ and heard the words from God that no one wants to hear, “Why should you live?”

If you would like to hear the details of all of this please use the following hyperlinks:

The-Initial-Attack

The-Intensive-Care-Unit-and-the-Initial-Prognosis

Entering-the-Spiritual-Realm-of-Death

A-Journey-to-Golgotha

Inside-the-Lake-of-Fire-the-Second-death

Confronting-Satan-in-Hell

Judgment-Day

Reliving-my-sins-before-the-Judgment-Seat-of-Christ

Gods-Question-on-Judgment-Day

Opening-the-Books-on-Judgment-Day

Repentance-Brings-Salvation-Even-on-Judgment-Day

On day two of my hospital stay I could not have been any sicker. I remember thinking at this point that at least I was still alive. I spent the entire first week in the intensive care unit. Most of my time was spent sleeping—healing might be a better word. My doctors confirmed that my pancreas was the major problem. It had literally exploded by producing thousands of times the normal quantity of digestive enzymes. This over production caused such a great pressure on the inner lining of the pancreas, that it was pushed through the outer wall of the organ in much the same way an inner tube is forced through a weak spot in a bicycle tire. The doctors called the protrusion of the inner wall a pseudo-cyst. In addition, they considered it to be a very dangerous problem because it would eventually harden and break. In turn, this would result in the uncontrolled release of digestive enzymes into my blood which would have a disastrous effect on my body. The digestive properties of these enzymes are used by the body to digest dense proteins like meat and are not found anywhere else.

This is what had already happened. The pseudo-cysts had leaked extraordinarily high volumes of digestive enzymes into my bloodstream where they started to break down my body proteins. This must have been the reason for the numbness I felt. These pseudo cysts continued to slowly seep digestive enzymes into my system because my pancreas continued to over produce them. The result was that my blood, veins, arteries, muscles, nerves, organs, bones, and brain were disintegrating. Because of the continued over production of enzymes, my body remained under continuous attack.

My doctors told me that the pseudo-cysts danger was a ticking time bomb that would have to be defused before it was too late. Surgery was on their minds and in their hearts from the very beginning. But for now, I was not strong enough for any operation. My body needed to recover, and I needed to gain strength.

In the meantime, the doctors proceeded with a recovery strategy that focused on an abstinence from food. This approach was based on the fact that the pancreas is a digestive organ and only produces digestive enzymes when food is introduced. Through the elimination of food, my digestive system would be put to sleep and the over production of digestive enzymes would be stopped or slowed down considerably. This in turn would give my body time to cleanse itself of the toxins that were causing the damage. Throughout this process my blood was closely monitored to ensure that the enzyme levels were in a tolerable range. I made it through the first week without eating anything. After that, I was fed an IV sugar and vitamin solution.

The doctors said that this process was having the desired effect; my digestive system had been put to sleep, and I was gaining strength. While this was good news, I still felt very sick.

So at this point, we knew what the problem was and had a plan to address it. What we did not know was that the attacks were not over as I would suffer multiple setbacks while in the hospital over the next three months. I will tell you about these in subsequent postings as I present the chronological tale of events that transpired. But there is also a psychological impact from spiritual defeat. There was a stench of death that permeated by physical being and this is to be the subject of our next posting.

Read my story by ordering my book, “Possess the Vision”