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THE PARANORMAL COMPENDIUM
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Titles marked with an asterisk "*" are either my personal experiences, or
first hand accounts from people I would consider to be reputable sources. Titles
marked with "#" are stories I've heard from people that I don't know personally,
i.e., sermons, lectures, T.V., etc. Titles marked with "@" are articles I've written
on particular subjects, rather than stories of people's experiences.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. 2
FORWARD ....................................................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 1: ASTRAL PROJECTION ........................................................................ 8
* THE TIME I WAS SURROUNDED BY 6 BEINGS ................................................. 8
* CAUGHT UP IN EUPHORIA .................................................................................. 11
* IN A CLOSET WITH A MIRROR ........................................................................... 12
* TAKEN WITH UNIMAGINABLE FEAR ............................................................... 14
* EMAILS I'VE READ, AND MY OBSERVATIONS ............................................... 15
CHAPTER 2: BIG FOOT .............................................................................................. 24
* MY DAD AND UNCLE PAUL AT CHIQUITA LAKE .......................................... 24
* MURPHY'S MONSTROUS CAMPING TRIP ......................................................... 26
* A FRIEND OF MY BABYSITTER'S ....................................................................... 31
* A MINOR EXPERIENCE OF MY OWN ................................................................. 33
CHAPTER 3: DEMONS & DEVILS ............................................................................ 34
* A DEMON KNOCKED ON THE BEDROOM DOOR............................................ 34
* NIGHTMARES THAT SHOOK MY BED .............................................................. 36
* MY BEST FRIEND JACK ........................................................................................ 37
* STORIES FROM THAILAND ................................................................................. 62
* THE WATER BABIES ............................................................................................. 69
CHAPTER 4: DREAMS & VISIONS........................................................................... 74
* MY 2 VISIONS OF HEAVEN .................................................................................. 74
* JESUS IN A HELICOPTER...................................................................................... 78
* A DREAM FOR A DREAM ..................................................................................... 89
* MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S VISIONS ........................................................... 91
CHAPTER 5: GHOST STORIES ................................................................................. 97
* EVERYONE SAW IT ALMOST EVERY NIGHT .................................................. 97
* IT WOKE ME UP ONE NIGHT ............................................................................. 104
* THE LADY IN BLACK .......................................................................................... 107
* THE GRAVEYARD GHOST IN KOREA ............................................................. 110
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* THAT TERRIFYING HALLOWEEN NIGHT....................................................... 111
* MY GRANDPA WALTER'S BEDROOM ............................................................. 113
* MY SISTER'S BIZARRE EXPERIENCE .............................................................. 118
* MY DAD'S ENCOUNTER ..................................................................................... 122
* RALPH THE GHOST HUNTER ............................................................................ 124
CHAPTER 6: HYPNOSIS ........................................................................................... 142
* WAS I POSSESSED? .............................................................................................. 142
CHAPTER 7: MIRACULOUS HEALINGS & EVENTS ........................................ 150
* HEALED THROUGH THE INTERNET ................................................................ 150
* RESURRECTION POWER .................................................................................... 154
# A DAY AT THE RODEO ....................................................................................... 164
# JOHN HAGGEE'S FRONTAL ATTACK .............................................................. 166
# THE MAN FROM ROMANIA ............................................................................... 168
# THE ANOINTED TABLECLOTH ......................................................................... 174
# A TRIBESMAN THAT KNEW ENGLISH ............................................................ 177
# THERE DEFINITELY IS A GOD! ......................................................................... 180
# MY ANTHROPOLOGY TEACHER'S STORY ..................................................... 183
CHAPTER 8: MISCELLANEOUS STORIES & ARTICLES ................................ 193
@ EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY .................................................................... 193
* THE HANGMAN'S NOOSE................................................................................... 212
* LACY’S HORSE ..................................................................................................... 216
CHAPTER 9: MYSTERIOUS PLACES .................................................................... 219
* THE SEAMLESS BARN ........................................................................................ 219
* MY TRIP TO THE FRESNO CEMETERY ........................................................... 222
CHAPTER 10: OUIJA BOARDS................................................................................ 224
* MY SISTER'S EXPERIENCE WITH THE OUIJA BOARD................................. 224
* MY OWN EXPERIENCES WITH THE OUIJA BOARD ..................................... 226
CHAPTER 11: PSI ....................................................................................................... 234
* MARK AND I (1ST AND 9TH GRADE) .............................................................. 234
* THE SWAP.............................................................................................................. 237
CHAPTER 12: STRANGE CREATURES & MYTHICAL BEINGS ..................... 242
* THE BALL OF LIGHT THAT COMMUNICATED WITH ME ........................... 242
@ IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ETHICAL?.................................................... 253
CHAPTER 13: UFOS AND ALIENS ......................................................................... 262
* MIKE’S UFO SIGHTING ....................................................................................... 262
* AN AIR FORCE FRIEND WHO WORKED AT NORAD AFB ........................... 264
* AIRMAN NEIL EVANS AND STAFF SERGEANT KOBAR SAW A UFO AT
KEESLER, AIR FORCE BASE ................................................................................. 267
* MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S UFO SIGHTING ............................................. 269
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APPENDIX A ................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
WHY DID GOD CREATE? ....................................................................................... 273
WHY DOES EVIL EXIST? ....................................................................................... 273
THE MEANING OF LIFE: ........................................................................................ 274
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FREE WILL IS USED FOR EVIL? .............................. 274
GOD'S METHOD OF DEALING WITH SIN: .......................................................... 275
GOD'S CALLING: ..................................................................................................... 276
GOD'S JUSTICE: ....................................................................................................... 276
GOD'S MERCY:......................................................................................................... 276
GOD'S POWER: ......................................................................................................... 277
WHY JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE:....................................... 277
HOW MIGHT ONE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE? ......................................................... 278
SCRIPTURES LISTED IN APPENDIX A................................................................. 280
APPENDIX B - REFERENCES .................................................................................. 287
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FORWARD
Most people have stories much like those found in this book. Why are
people so intrigued with these kinds of stories? Part of our interest stems from
being curious beings - we want to know the answers to unknown things. Even
deeper than that is our quest for God, which lies within the depths of every
human heart (Romans 1:18-25).1 It's that hunger for God we often misinterpret as
a hunger to find something that we aren't sure we're looking for. Do you feel it?
Are you reading this book searching for something - yet you're not quite sure
what it is? Can it be truth? Consider the ultimate truth - the "Way, the Truth, and
the Life" (John 14:6). Truth became a human being once. He was, and still is
the "Word made flesh" (1 John 1:1-14). Do you want to know more about who
this incarnation of Truth is? See Appendix A at the end of this book!
READ: Romans 1:18-20 (All humanity has been given the truth of God through
His personal revelation)
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto
them. 20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
READ: John 14:6
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me.
6Jesus
READ: 1 John 1:1-14
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him;
and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life; and the
life was the light of men. 5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness
comprehended it not. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through
him might believe. 8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that
1In
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Light. 9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world
knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Now for those that already have a relationship with the individual alluded
to above - this mysterious figure that dwarfs all other mysteries, your quest is
focused in the right direction; you are on an amazing adventure with God. But
perhaps you may still be curious about small mysteries (compared to God), such
as those listed below. Perhaps it isn't enough to know that your knowledge will
be complete one day (1 Corinthians 13:8-12).
READ: 1 Corinthians 13:8-12
never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether
there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish
away. 9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10But when that which is
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11When I was a
child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I
became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see through a glass,
darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as
also I am known.
8Charity
For whatever reason peaks your interest, this book contains a general list
of stories and articles I've compiled throughout my life.
This book is designed in a format that makes it possible to jump around. It
doesn’t have to be read like a normal chapter book, because it contains selfreferences throughout when needed. Also throughout this book are scriptural
references, (as if this hasn’t been noticed already). Additionally, each story
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contains a scriptural reference at the end. I can only hope that the relevance
they provide for each story brings God’s revelation to all who read them.
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CHAPTER 1: ASTRAL PROJECTION
* THE TIME I WAS SURROUNDED BY 6 BEINGS
Many moons ago, before I became a dedicated Christian, I once
purchased a book titled "Out of Body Experiences" by Dr. Robert Monroe. 2 While
reading this book I became utterly fascinated with the prospect of astral
projection. I wondered why Robert Monroe didn't do so many things I would've
done had the same bizarre phenomenon of astral projection been occurring with
me. Why would such ability belong to someone that had no imagination with
which to use it? For example, why didn't he fly invisibly to Area 51 and see what
is there! How come he never tried to check out the bottom of the ocean at the
Bermuda Triangle, or even investigate some other planets in the universe to see
if there's life out there? After all, according to Robert Monroe, the 'spirit' body
isn't impeded by limitations normally afforded the physical body. In spiritual form,
Robert Monroe claimed to be able to melt through walls and other physical
barriers, and he could also fly. Breathing, atmospheric pressure, and mass
density, according to Dr. Robert Monroe, are not native to the spiritual form. So
my question remains; why did he waste most of his out of body travels going to
other dimensions, where nothing he would learn about those places could ever
be verified, or even used? For example, if he discovered secrets about THIS
WORLD, he could at least DO SOMETHING with that knowledge.
One simple answer for Robert Monroe's lack of ingenuity concerning his
astral expeditions is that his experiences weren't authentic and he simply wanted
to make money as a writer. I wasn't going to rule out this conclusion, but I
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wanted to see if there was really something to this astral projection stuff. (As you
will see, I've come to the conclusion that Robert Monroe isn't just making this
stuff up). Something I wanted to do in particular was to attend a church in 'Spirit'
form in order to receive special revelation from God, speak with angels, or even
see and/or travel to the Kingdom of Heaven.
I had my fears about astral projection - i.e., primarily DEATH, (not being
able to get back to my physical body), but my curiosity led me into the dark
recesses of mad scientist experimentation. I followed steps in another book I
bought, "The Astral Projection Workbook", and after about a week, something
happened. 3 I fell asleep going through my 'exercises', and woke up in the middle
of the night with a strange sensation all over my body. I felt like I was floating
above my bed, but my 'spiritual' feet were still stuck in my physical body. While
struggling with my feet, I tried to relax and simply let go. At the moment I started
to relax, I immediately became aware of a terrifying situation; my bed was
surrounded by 6 beings. I didn't want anything to do with anything I couldn't
identify, so I tried to break the spell but found I was completely paralyzed. I
became even more gripped with terror because of the paralysis, and struggled
with every ounce of my strength to move. Finally my head barely began to move
and the spell instantly dissipated. I sat up in bed shaking with fear. I never could
see what those things were, but they felt wicked, and I was horribly afraid of
them. I declared that I'd never experiment with astral projection again!
(Unfortunately in my stubbornness, it didn't end here).
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READ: Romans 6:21-23
fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the
end of those things is death. 22But now being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
21What
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* CAUGHT UP IN EUPHORIA
A few years had passed since the incident with the 6 beings, (read more in
"The time I was surrounded by 6 beings"), so I figured I was up to another round
of astral experimentation. On ONE RARE occasion I actually had what I'd
consider a euphoric experience. I fell asleep going through the various
'exercises', and had a dream that I met an Indian next to a river in the
wilderness. Then Indian was holding onto a canoe that was floating in the river,
and when he pulled it up onto the riverbank, I felt a surge of energy pulse through
my body. (I have no idea what the connection was between his actions and my
sensation). I thought I was completely out of my body, but then opened my eyes
and saw that I was still lying in bed. I was disappointed to find myself still in my
physical body. This minor experience fueled my efforts for more astral projection
experimentation.
READ: 2 Corinthians 11:13-14
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ. 14And no marvel; for satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. 15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the
ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
13For
12
* IN A CLOSET WITH A MIRROR
I wasn't getting the results I wanted with the astral projection exercises I
was using, so I decided to try one of the other methods for out of body travel
prescribed in my astral projection workbook. For a quick background on how and
why I started experimenting with astral projection, read more in ("The time I was
surrounded by 6 beings").
For the new method, I tried using a mirror in the dark in order to reach into
the spirit world. I took a large mirror and placed it inside my bedroom closet,
closed all the window shades in the bedroom, and waited until dark. I then
placed a chair in front of the mirror inside the closet, seated myself in the chair
inside my closet, and slid the closet doors shut. I had some towels on hand and
quickly stuffed them into all the cracks, so that not one tiny bit of light entered the
closet.
Once everything was set and I was all settled in, I stared into the opaque
mirror in the pitch-black closet. It seemed like I was staring into a bottomless pit.
I didn't last 30 seconds in that closet! Immediately I felt some incredibly powerful,
incredibly evil presence come rushing toward me like a hurricane. My chest
tightened up, chills shot through my body and I almost puked! I scrambled for
the door, leaped out of the closet and flipped on the bedroom light. I was sick
with fear and kicked myself for being stupid enough to even try this experiment. I
had a bad feeling about it from the start, but stubbornly refused to listen to those
guardian angels that were probably shouting through spiritual megaphones trying
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to get through to me. Come to think of it, I was ignoring what spiritual sensitivity I
did have - (THE GOOD KIND) - in order to seek a spiritual sensitivity that wasn't
good for me!
READ: Deuteronomy 18:10-12
shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his
daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of
times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all that do these things are an
abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy
God doth drive them out from before thee.
10There
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* TAKEN WITH UNIMAGINABLE FEAR
I didn't quit with the mirror exercise for astral projection, (mentioned above
under "In a closet with a mirror"). I convinced myself that it was the mirror that
produced the bad experience, and kept recalling the one good experience I had
in trying to astrally project myself, (mentioned in "Caught up in euphoria"). I
returned to my initial astral projection exercises, and once again, I awoke in the
middle of the night paralyzed, dripping with unbearable fear. As last time, I felt
that the top half of my body was hovering above my bed, but my spiritual 'feet',
so to speak, were still stuck in my physical body. I couldn't see any beings
around me this time, but I felt the presence of something hideously wicked
flowing all over my body, practically suffocating me. This time I prayed to Jesus
and whatever it was disappeared. My faith was weak and I was disobedient to
God in many ways, but simply knowing the name of Jesus protected me.
During this time in my life I was a Christian, yet I was still experimenting
with astral projection. I didn't have it settled in my mind that it was entirely bad.
After this experience I decided to QUIT trying to astrally project myself, because I
kept getting horrible results.
READ: Matthew 6:33 (At this time in my life, all I really wanted was to see and
know God in a special way. Now I'm asking Him for His way of giving me this)
33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you.
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* EMAILS I'VE READ, AND MY OBSERVATIONS
Since I've published my book, Aliens in the Bible, I've been getting a few
emails every week from people much like my former self, and present self. 4 I
read them all - and welcome more. (jmilor@yahoo.com). After my last negative
experience with astral projection, (read "Taken with unimaginable fear"), I finally
actually prayed in earnest to the Lord to reveal to me if anything good can come
out of my attempts to project my spirit out of my body. The next day, the Lord
used email to answer my prayers.
I received an email from someone saying she had experiences with astral
projection, and that it was a tool used by satan worshipers. This person said she
never had the ability to conduct this feat and be in control of it herself, (unlike Dr.
Robert Monroe's experiences - author of "Journey's out of the Body"), but rather
she said she was victimized with it on several occasions. She claimed that
demons would come in the night, rip her spiritual form right out of her physical
body and take her places and show her things. On every occasion she was filled
with complete terror, and had no control. I believed this woman, because her
experiences were not only similar to my own; the content of her email clearly
demonstrated to me that she had an inside knowledge of things I'd been studying
for years. (She knew quite a bit more than I do, however, when it came to the
satanic details).
Initially, I was actually disturbed by the amount of satanic knowledge this
woman had. I questioned her about what I called a "disturbingly unbalanced
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interest", which I felt she might have had in order to obtain such detailed
information about satanism. (At first I didn't know she used to be a satanic cult
member. She only identified herself as someone with information about astral
projection). Fortunately she replied that she became a born again Christian, and
left satanism behind. Thinking that maybe her email was God's answer to my
prayer, I asked her the simple question I prayed about. She proceeded to tell me
about the various side effects of astral projection, i.e. premature ageing, for
example - which I didn't know about, and she also told me how satanists and
demons use astral projection to spy on, manipulate, and ultimately deceive
people. Her bottom line was that she couldn't see any conceivable good thing
about it.
Shortly after receiving this email, I received another email from someone
so paranoid that he made me swear never to give his name before he would let
me know about his experiences. He was terrified that the group of people he
used to be involved with would find out he leaked information about what they do
- and kill him in his sleep. This can apparently be done astrally, leaving no traces
of criminal activity. I still don’t see why he should be afraid about this. What’s so
bad about going to heaven and being in the presence of God and His everlasting
glory?
I did what I could to sooth this man's fears, and he proceeded to give me a
few details about his experiences. I was actually surprised that he experienced
so little compared to the paranoia he was exhibiting. He was under the
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impression that since he was given the ability to astrally project, as well as a little
telekinesis and mind manipulation, somehow his life would be in grave danger
were he to let this information out.
He recently became a born again Christian, but hadn’t received enough of
God to keep from living in overwhelming fear, I suppose.
Perhaps those that taught him these supernatural abilities were insecure
about their 'secret', which is blatantly published in multiple texts in nearly every
New Age bookstore across America. Why would they be so insecure? I don't
know. I guess they don't watch too much TV, either, or read too many
paranormal books, to be familiar with people such as Uri Geller, or David Blaine.
(I'm not saying these individuals are satanists - I only mention them in
association with telekinesis, and mind control, etc.)
All of my own experiences, in addition to the two timely emails above have
convinced me that astral projection is, in essence, a form of sorcery - which is
condemned in scripture as an abomination, (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). It is also
highly associated with false doctrines; you can't find an astral projection book
these days that doesn't refute most everything in the Bible.
READ: Deuteronomy 18:10-12
shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his
daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of
times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all that do these things are an
abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy
God doth drive them out from before thee.
10There
18
So the second email I received was a confirmation to prayer. In short,
astral projection is highly associated with satanism, and I’m certain that trying to
develop this skill is a very bad idea. I already had the suspicion that astral
projection is the gateway to supernatural power, (which I delve into the details of
how powers are developed in my first book, "Apparition"), but prior to these two
emails, I still didn't conclude that it was something that people simply shouldn't
do.
When I wrote Apparition in 1997, I was toying with the idea that astral
projection might in rare cases be a God given talent, (if it spontaneously happens
to someone), but I'm skeptical of that view now. It's still hard for me to discern
the origin of spontaneous astral projections, because if they happen, they simply
happen, right? How can someone be committing an evil abomination on
accident? After all, astral projection is commonly reported in fatal accidents, near
death experiences, and medical operations. In all of these cases, those
experiencing the sensation never purposely induce it. In all cases in scripture,
sorcery is always defined as something that the sorcerer's 'do' in order to invoke
their powers, which is markedly different than a spontaneous incident.
Furthermore, according to Dr. Robert Monroe, he never purposely induced his
astral projections either. However, the following facts continue to disturb me,
even in cases of spontaneous projections.
1. Robert Monroe's later books are littered with eastern mysticism, just like other
modern astral projection books, such as the previously mentioned Astral
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Projection Workbook, and “Adventures Beyond the Body: How to Experience
Out-of-Body Travel”, by William Buhlman. 5
2. The reason for much of the deception that astral projectors are experiencing,
as well as propagating, comes from the fact that these people are making up
their own belief systems based upon their astral excursions, (learning the reality
of the spiritual realm without a Christian foundation), and often those out of body
trips involve beings they encounter - which tell them many, many things. Since
we are living in a cursed world, and are surrounded by demonic entities,
(Ephesians 6:12), we must rely on the tests found in scripture in order to
determine the alignment of these beings, and whether the information they’re
giving out it accurate.
READ: Ephesians 6:12
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.
12For
Invariably, they drastically twist the definition of who God is, Jesus Christ
is not professed as Lord, (Galatians 1:8-9), Jesus is construed as a liar because
according to these false doctrines, He is not the ONLY "Way, the Truth, and the
Life", nor is He the ONLY "way to the Father", as He said He was, (John 14:6),
and the list goes on.
READ: Galatians 1:8-9
though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9As we said before,
so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye
have received, let him be accursed.
8But
20
READ: John 14:6
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me.
6Jesus
Clearly there are numerous flaws with the modern doctrines deriving from
astral projection. This type of false doctrine is not limited to frequent astral
projectors such as Dr. Robert Monroe, either. I've heard and read several
testimonies and doctrines, such as "Embraced by the Light", which are prime
examples of the same kinds of non-Biblical false teachings the Bible warns us
about. 6 People that have had only ONE experience with astral projection
frequently give these testimonies. This isn't always the case, but it is typical especially if the person that experiences the out of body experience is not a
Christian.
3. The two emails I received directly after I prayed to God when asking for
information about astral projection gave me two explicit examples of people that
viewed it as strictly satanic. I find this as no coincidence. Jesus declared that if
we ask, we shall receive, (John 16:24), and this is repeated again in (James 1:56) concerning wisdom specifically. I asked God for wisdom concerning astral
projection, and immediately following I received these two emails. God doesn't
leave His children in the dark concerning matters for which they are diligently
seeking out the answers from Him. I prayed, and God answered.
READ: John 16:24
have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your
joy may be full.
24Hitherto
READ: James 1:5-6
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, nothing
5
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wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and
tossed.
4. Who knows what kind of dangers one might be subjected to in the astral
realm? Aside from deceiving spirits, consider the possibility of demonic
possession, where a demonic entity might be able to assume complete control
over one's physical body! The astrally projected person, meanwhile, is either
stuck in limbo, or dragged down to hell, or who knows what! Who would ever
know? (Believe it or not, I saw this exact scenario played out in an episode of
"Jackie", a cartoon featuring Jackie Chan as the main character, which my
children watch on Saturday mornings). On the surface it all sounds stupid, but all
Christians should realize that demonic possession is a reality. Jesus confronted
it in every Gospel. Maybe that's why astral projectors are writing so many books
purporting eastern mystical thought; they aren't who they used to be! What if one
can't get back to his or her physical body because he or she gets lost, or is
captured and taken away by a demonic entity? Would such a person fall into a
coma, or just die? Neither scenario is comforting. Perhaps there are spiritual
'diseases', or other complex dangers that would threaten to corrupt the
fundamental definition of who we are in a spiritual sense? How many people die
in their sleep every year with no detectable cause? It happens. This list goes on
and on.
5. Finally, scripture plainly states that in the last days, there will be a drastic
increase in satanic power throughout the world. Since astral projection is a
common gateway into satanic power, it is probably one of the key elements that
22
the Bible is referring to. The New Age movement is greatly popularizing astral
projection as a wonderful hobby, frequently downplays the dangers which are
commonly referred to as 'non existent', and strongly encourages astral projection
as a path to spiritual enlightenment. Robert Monroe was at least honest enough
in "Journey's Out of the Body", (which was published back in 1973 prior to astral
projection gaining public popularity), to describe two incidents in which he was
attacked by what he described as 'demon dogs', but these kinds of incidents are
completely absent in today's astral projection books. These facts should come
as no surprise to anyone familiar with Bible prophecy.
In conclusion, trying to specifically induce astral projection is, in my
opinion, clearly a form of sorcery, and condoned as a wicked act. Furthermore,
there are explicit dangers involved in those very rare cases when astral
projection happens to people unintentionally. Please don't think that it's
something to fear if it happens to you! Simply be aware of the fact that there are
enough dangers of deception, as well as spiritual dangers that should by far
discourage experimentation such as I used to conduct myself. By the mercy of
God I'm still me! (Sometimes I wonder though... Just kidding!) Also, if in the
highly unlikely event YOU, the READER, actually ARE someone like Dr. Robert
Monroe, and have spontaneous astral projections from time to time, you should
now be aware of the fact that there may be severe consequences for not
addressing this issue through prayer, faith in Jesus Christ, and in consultation
with the Word of God, and fellowship with bothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
May the Lord help you with your unique issue! (If I just pinpointed you, please
23
email me, jmilor@yahoo.com, and we'll pray about it. I've talked with others
about stranger things.)
READ: Matthew 24:24 (In the End Times, there will be a marked increase in
satanic power and activity)
24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great
signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect.
READ: 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12
then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9Even
him, whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie: 12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness.
8And
24
CHAPTER 2: BIG FOOT
* MY DAD AND UNCLE PAUL AT CHIQUITA LAKE
As a family tradition, my dad has frequently told the story on nearly every
camping trip I go on with him about something that happened with him and my
Uncle one time while fishing in the Sierra Nevada's at a lake called Chiquita
Lake. 1, 2 (It should actually be called 'Mesquita Lake' because of the billions of
mosquitoes). I've been to this lake on numerous occasions.
Every afternoon at around 3:30 to 5:00 pm, this lake becomes as placid as
a solid sheet of glass, and an eerie silence permeates the environment. I don't
know why it gets like this. Even the birds know that it's time to shut up.
Years ago, when my dad and Uncle were camping at Chiquita Lake,
something quite unexpected happened one night while they were sitting around
the campfire. They suddenly heard a blood curdling scream coming from the
dark recesses of the forest. It was an ear-shattering screech that was nothing
like either of them had ever heard before, or since.
My Uncle described it as the sound of “…a woman who was screaming in
a mad fit, agonizing over a dead child that she couldn’t save…” My dad said it
sounded like a combination between a wild, bellowing bull and the shriek of a
mountain lion. It raised the hair on the back of his neck, and he and Paul sat
silently, wide eyed, staring at each other. Whatever it was that made the racquet
became instantly silent.
25
"Did you hear that?"
"What?" my Uncle returns with a hideously absurd reply. (My dad always
howls in laughter when recalling Paul's response).
"Should we go see what that was?"
"Hell no."
They quickly built up the fire, and couldn’t get any sleep that night.
Whatever it was, it was never heard again.
This story is a long-standing tradition in my family, usually told around
campfires. It remains vivid in my memories from my earliest youth.
READ: Genesis 6: 4-12 (Were the angels doing unnatural things with beasts,
as well as with humanity? Are they still doing these things?)
4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons
of God (angels) came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to
them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5And
GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And it
repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his
heart. 7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face
of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the
air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the LORD. 9These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man
and perfect in his generations, (the Hebrew text here refers to being without
physical defects, meaning genetic purity), and Noah walked with God. 10And
Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11The earth also was corrupt
before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12And God looked upon the
earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the
earth.
26
* MURPHY'S MONSTROUS CAMPING TRIP
A good friend of mine from my High School days once recounted to me his
encounter with a Big Foot. 3 He and some friends of his had a prolonged ordeal
with this creature while on a camping trip in the Arkansas Ozark Mountains. If he
was telling the truth, (which he continuously assured me he wasn't making this
stuff up), his experience goes far in describing the intelligence that Big Foot
creatures may have.
His story began with him and a few hunting friends of his being dropped
off in the Ozark Mountains for a weekend camping trip. They setup camp, and
quickly set off to hunt for deer. It wasn't long before one of them spotted a large
buck and shot it. The brush was thick in the area and the buck was several
hundred yards away, so the guy that shot the buck said he'd keep an eye on the
exact location of the buck through his rifle's telescope and guide the rest of them
to find it.
Monty and his small band of friends were trudging through the brush,
listening to the rifleman periodically yelling to them, "Go to your left - another 50
yards", etc. The rifleman then strangely changed his directions into a collection
of shouts, warnings, and other bizarre antics.
"Where's the buck?" they yelled out.
All they got back was "Get the hell out of there! Ah! Run! Oh my gosh,
run! Get the @$^%@ out of there!"
27
The looked at each other, puzzled, still wondering where the buck was.
They never found it. In response to all the warning shouts, they silenced
themselves for a moment to see if they could hear anything. They heard
absolutely nothing but their friend's yelling, nor could they see anything out of the
ordinary. Now they were curious to find out what all the commotion was about.
There didn't seem to be any danger in the immediate vicinity. When they got
back, they questioned their friend about what he was yelling about. He was pale
and shaking, and thus began their weekend of terror.
"Well where's the buck? What's wrong with you?"
"You didn't see it? How could you not have seen it! It was huge! It must
have been 10 feet tall! It slung that 12-point buck over its shoulder with one arm,
as if it were a lightweight jacket! It was huge! It was only a few feet away from
you guys! You had to see it!" (By the way, a 12-point buck could weigh as much
as several hundred pounds).
They turned and looked at each other with cracked smiles, expecting for
the joke to end any second. It didn't. "I'm not %@#$! kidding!" he yelled at them
at the top of his voice. "You think I'm ^^$* kidding? Look into my eyes! Do I
sound like I'm kidding? Wipe that @$$# smile off your $@$@^ faces, because
this aint no joke!" They finally realized their friend was serious, but didn't know
what to make of it.
28
They started walking back to camp, mumbling about the bizarre incident.
They then had the peculiar sensation that they were being followed and one of
them got the bright idea to have them all stop walking and become immediately
silent on the count of three. Of course anyone could guess what happened next.
They heard about two steps more only 20 feet away from them. The looked in
the area where they heard the steps, but the brush was too thick to make
anything out. "I know you heard that," the kid that shot the buck whispered.
Petrified, they broke out in a blind panic, running for camp. When they
reached camp, they started going over their options. "Isn't there any way we
could get out of here sooner?" They couldn't leave. They were dropped off, and
weren't going to be picked up until the weekend was over. They finally decided
on a courageous plan. They figured that they had guns, and whatever it was that
was wandering around in the woods didn't have guns. Therefore they were going
to hunt this thing down, because they didn't want to stay awake all night being
scared out of their wits. They tied their food up in a net, hoisted it up into a tree,
and off they went. (This is a common tactic for preserving food from forest
pilferers, such as bears, and in this case, Big Foot!)
They split into two groups of two, and went separate directions. Both
groups saw the large, hairy, blackish brown creature on several occasions for
brief glimpses, but the creature was too agile to shoot at. It appeared to be
toying with them. As soon as they would see it, it would disappear back into the
brush. They didn't want to be shooting irresponsibly, blindly firing rounds off into
29
dense brush, (for reasons any respectable hunter would appreciate), and that
was probably the only way they would've been able to shoot it. After several
hours of futility, they regrouped and returned to camp.
On their way back to camp, they were astonished to find a trail of
shredded tin cans. The remnants of a few cans of Campbell's soup and chilly
beans were laying on the ground, torn in half. Examining the cans revealed that
they were not opened with a can opener. They were actually ripped apart as if
they were empty aluminum cans. The tree where their food was hoisted up had
various claw marks on it, and the net holding their food had a hole gashed in it.
They were sick with fear, and felt completely hopeless.
During the night, they kept the campfire ablaze, and pulled armed shifts to
keep an eye out for the creature. During one of the shifts, one of them had to
relieve himself, (number 2, that undesirable duty while in the woods). While
doing his business, he had to lean his rifle against a tree. During this most
vulnerable moment, the Big Foot creature strolled right out in front of him and
stared him in the eyes. Monty's friend was filled with so much terror he couldn't
even scream. He lost his voice. The creature then grabbed his rifle! The
squeamish kid was paralyzed with fear, not knowing what to expect. The
creature then snapped the rifle in half like a twig, and disgustedly dropped the
two broken pieces on the ground in front of the squatting, helpless, whimpering
kid. Lucky for him he was clear and ready to go, with his pants positioned
around his ankles. The creature was polite enough to save him the
30
embarrassment he would've experienced with his friends, had he returned to
camp with soiled jeans.
Satisfied that it had made its point clear, the creature disappeared into the
forest as quickly and quietly as it had appeared. They didn't see or hear the
creature again for the remainder of the camping trip. After the young lad
proceeded to scamper back to camp, his voice eventually returned to him, and
he screamed wildly, crying like a baby. They all woke up, and stayed awake for
the rest of the entire camping trip. They didn't bother to hunt, or do anything but
keep the fire burning.
This story just seems too fantastic to be true, and I repeatedly appealed to
Monty to level with me, but Monty insisted that this story actually happened. I
never knew him to spin wild tales to me before, so I believe him on this one. I
don't have a problem believing in the existence of Big Foot, and if there is such a
creature out there, it has to be smart to so effectively evade humanity for so
long. Perhaps this particular Big Foot's behavior was more brazen than usually
depicted of these creatures, because Monty and his friends were only
teenagers. One thing I do know for certain, being familiar with the Big Foot
phenomenon. The Ozark Mountains are a hotbed for Big Foot sightings.
READ: Genesis 1:26-28 (Could Big Foot simply be another of God's
creations?)
24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle,
and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25And God
made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every
thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
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* A FRIEND OF MY BABYSITTER'S
My mother told me of a story about someone she knew of, (a friend of my
babysitter's) that was kidnapped by a family of Big Foots! 4 The man that this
happened to wouldn't willingly tell his story, assuming my mother would think he
was mad. After being coaxed repeatedly by my mother, he finally recounted his
tale.
As his story goes, he awoke one night while on a camping trip and found
himself in the incredible predicament of being carried away in his sleeping bag!
He was toted several miles through the forest during the middle of the night, and
gently set down before a family of Big Foots. There were two adults, and two
adolescents. The adults were monstrous in size, each standing taller than 10
feet. The adolescents were about the size of normal humans.
The creatures analyzed the man curiously. While they studied him, my
babysitter's friend devised a plan of escape. He pulled out a can of chewing
tobacco he had in his back pocket, pinched out a chunk, popped it into his
mouth, and preceded to chew. He then handed the tobacco to one of the Big
Foots. It mimicked his behavior, and passed the tobacco onto another Big Foot.
Unfortunately for the Big Foots, they thought the chewing tobacco was food, so
they swallowed it. This is what my babysitter's friend was hoping for. It wasn't
long before these creatures were horribly ill with stomachaches. While they were
vomiting, he escaped. He didn't bother to take his sleeping bag with him, nor did
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he return to pick up his camp. He madly searched for his truck. When he found
it, he left in the middle of the night, leaving all of his camping supplies behind.
READ: Romans 16:15 (Perhaps more intelligent creatures could benefit from
the gospel as well?)
15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.
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* A MINOR EXPERIENCE OF MY OWN
When I used to live in Arkansas, I would sometimes travel into the woods
a few miles away from my home onto my neighbor's property. There were some
bluffs, and a fairly large river called "Lee Creek", that was a beautiful place to go.
On one occasion while next to Lee Creek, I heard a very strange series of roars
in the river's valley. From where I was at, I couldn't see down into the forest, but
was able to see treetops violently jerking around. It was as if some very large
creature were throwing a tantrum, storming through the valley floor, hitting trees
as it went.
I wouldn't have mentioned this minor episode, were it not for the fact that
this wasn't a completely isolated incident. From where I lived, I sometimes heard
this same highly peculiar bellowing at nighttime from my house. It was a highpitched roar coming from the Lee Creek riverbed. I know wild bulls can make
some fairly strange noises, and I suppose there could've been a wild bull that
lived down there, but it sure didn't sound like any bull I've ever heard.
READ: Genesis 23:2 (Maybe the ranting Big Foot is famous for is actually
mourning?)
2And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and
Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
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CHAPTER 3: DEMONS & DEVILS
* A DEMON KNOCKED ON THE BEDROOM DOOR
When I was about 15 years old, living in Fresno, California at the time, I
decided to visit my friend Sheena. She lived in the house facing my house, on
the other side of the street. Her friend Gretchen had just spent the night, so
when I showed up, they were still laying in sleeping bags in Sheena’s bedroom,
obviously recovering from staying up most of the night.
We talked for a while, and the conversation eventually turned to
paranormal topics. Gretchen had a grisly story about someone in her family that
went through some turbulent times with demon possession. On one occasion
her family member actually saw the demon with her physical eyes, storming
across her living room. Gretchen was fairly animated in telling her stories, and
Sheena and I were slightly spooked. There was daylight outside, however, which
was comforting.
Suddenly there were several monstrous thuds pounding against Sheena's
bedroom door, and we all about jumped out of our skin. The timing couldn't have
been more accurate to invoke such a response. Being the only male, I seized
the opportunity to impress the two girls and quickly jumped up and opened the
door. No one was there. I looked into the kitchen and saw Sheena's stepfather
cooking at the stove, but he would've had to run to get that far away from the
bedroom in time. Pulling pranks would’ve been out of character for him, too. I
walked into the kitchen and asked him if he knocked on Sheena's door. He
35
looked at me with an unconcerned expression, shook his head and answered
"No".
I looked around the house, and Sheena's stepfather was the only one
there, aside from the three of us. We had no idea who pounded on that door. In
light of our conversation, we all had our suspicions. Needless to say, we decided
to change the subject.
READ: Mark 5:1-20
they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the
Gadarenes. 2And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him
out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3Who had his dwelling among the
tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4Because that he had
been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked
asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame
him. 5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs,
crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran
and worshipped him, 7And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do
with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou
torment me not. 8For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
9And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is
Legion: for we are many. 10And he besought him much that he would not send
them away out of the country. 11Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a
great herd of swine feeding. 12And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us
into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13And forthwith Jesus gave them
leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd
ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;)
and were choked in the sea. 14And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the
city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
15And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and
had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
16And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the
devil, and also concerning the swine. 17And they began to pray him to depart out
of their coasts. 18And when he was come into the ship, he that had been
possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. 19Howbeit Jesus
suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how
great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
20And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus
had done for him: and all men did marvel.
1And
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* NIGHTMARES THAT SHOOK MY BED
I've had several nightmares in my life that scared me pretty bad, but they
usually stayed in my dreams. This one didn't. I was dreaming about demonic
beings attacking me, and when I woke up, my bed was violently shaking! This
was during the time when I was experiencing other demonic things in relation to
my friend Jack. Read more about those things in ("My best friend Jack").
As soon as I realized what was happening, I called on the name of Jesus
and the episode was immediately terminated. When I called on the name of
Jesus to protect myself, it always worked. But when I called on the name of
Jesus to protect others, it didn't always work. I had some growing up to do,
spiritually speaking. To know more about what I'm talking about, read ("My best
friend Jack"), and ("Jesus in a helicopter").
READ: Matthew 17:14-21, (and also in Mark 9:17-29)
when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man,
kneeling down to him, and saying, 15Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is
lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the
water. 16And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17Then
Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I
be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 18And Jesus
rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that
very hour. 19Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we
cast him out? 20And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I
say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall
be impossible unto you. 21Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and
fasting.
14And
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* MY BEST FRIEND JACK
I used to have a friend who was going through some very turbulent times.
This person didn't want to be identified, so I'll just call him Jack. 1 He's still a very
good friend of mine. I make a special point to keep in touch with him.
Jack wasn't originally from the United States, and he had some incredible
tales about the country where he came from. (Many foreigners do, in fact). I
used to laugh when I talked with him about some of the things he saw, because
they would simply come out in conversations. For example, he mentioned that
he hated dogs with red eyes on one occasion while we were talking about dogs,
and I told him that dogs don't have red eyes. He insisted that there must be a
breed of excessively large, jet-black dogs that have 'glowing' red eyes. I told him
I knew of no living creature, let alone dogs that had 'glowing' eyes, and very few
that had red eyes. Dogs didn't fit the bill in either case. His patent response
was, "You obviously haven't traveled around that much. In my country these
dogs are seen by people all the time."
I assumed he might have been talking about the creepy reddish glow from
an animal's retina if you shine a flashlight in its face in the middle of the night, but
he knew of this phenomenon and insisted that these dogs' eyes weren't reflecting
any light, but actually emitted light from the darkness without any external light
source shining on them. He proceeded to tell me that once when he was a child,
he ended up coming home from the store fairly late. It became dark,
unfortunately, and this was a very bad thing considering where he was from. The
38
country he lived in was dangerous both politically, (civil war), as well as
spiritually, (which you will soon read why).
Suddenly a large 'demon dog' appeared from the woods and trotted up
beside him. He said it was a moonless night, and there were no lights along the
dirt road where he was walking. In fact, it was so dark he could barely see
enough to keep on the road. The dog, he insisted, had brightly glowing, red
eyes.
Oddly, his parents told him later on that evening after he had returned
home that these dogs usually show up to protect people. I wonder if they were
saying that just to comfort him.
The creature trotted along side him for about a mile and a half while he
walked home. Jack was full of terror, and tried his best not to look at the
fearsome creature too much. He exhibited an enormous amount of self-control,
remaining squeamishly silent, sweating bullets no doubt, and praying the entire
walk. The creature eventually returned to the jungle and disappeared.
Jack's stories were among my first in what became a culmination of
events that taught me the reality of the demonic realm. Much of his testimonies,
as well as my own experiences in spending time with Jack worked on my heart,
(scaring the crap out of me most of the time!)
Initially, Jack's stories were too freaky to accept, and I wasn't sure whether
to believe him or not. Over time, however, I learned that Jack not only
39
experienced and saw strange phenomenon; he was an enigma himself! Simply
being around him, I was subjected to things I could not have believed any other
way. For example, I recall talking to Jack on the phone one time, and Jack
immediately paused in his conversation with me. "Someone's listening to us,” he
said.
"No, it's just us. I can hear it if someone picks up the other line."
Jack refused to continue. He insisted that someone was eavesdropping
on our conversation. Just then my roommate scared the dickens out of me when
he suddenly made his presence known in my bedroom by placing his hand on
my shoulder. He snuck into my bedroom and was listening in on our
conversation from behind me, while I was in a chair facing away from the door.
There's no possible way Jack could've known that someone was hiding behind
me in my own bedroom.
After the 'phone' incident, I paid a little more attention to Jack's stories
about spiritual things, and began to hound him to tell me more. He was reluctant
to tell some of his stories, because they were both bizarre, and personally
disturbing for him to recall. For example, his mother told one of his earliest
stories to him, and he was too young to remember the actual event. He said that
when he was a baby and his mother took him to church to be baptized,
something quite unexpected happened when the holy water was sprinkled on
him. His mother told him that he screamed, and red beams of light shot out of
his eyes! "What!" I queried, and Jack continued. He said that his mother told
40
him the priest said he had a special blessing, and strangely, that the child (Jack)
wasn't '...from here'. His mother didn't have any idea what the priest meant, and
she didn't bother to ask. I guess she didn't want to know. I don't know what the
priest meant either, but the special blessing part seems a bit unlikely to me. I
didn't know what to say to Jack about this event. What could I say?
Jack also told me that when he was a baby, he tumbled down an
enormous flight of stairs. Nobody could see how he lived through it. When they
reached him, they saw that he didn't have a scratch on him. He wasn't even
upset.
Concerning the 'phone' incident I mentioned above, Jack elaborated that
he had strange powers at times that he couldn't explain. For example, when he
once asked his Grandmother for some money to go to the store, his
Grandmother said she didn't have any money. Suddenly his eyes were able to
actually see through his Grandmother's purse! He saw some money in it, and
yelled at his Grandmother, "Yes you do, you're lying! I see 5 dollars right there!"
Jack told me that on two occasions, he saw demon spirits when staying
with a dying relative. The wicked creatures were dancing gleefully around his
relative's bed. He was the only person in the house that could see them. He
described them as shadowy figures with red eyes and mouths.
Jack also spoke of a powerful demon that lived in the forest not far from
his home where he was growing up, and that everyone in the area knew of the
41
creature. No one ever went into that area at night. The "Chicken foot lady", as
they called it, lived in a small portion of dense jungle where there were many
caves that were later discovered to be ancient Indian dwellings. This demon
would appear to people in the form of a beautiful woman wearing a white dress,
but her feet were like chicken's feet. She would seduce men with supernatural
charm, and if they gave in to her wishes, she would kill them by draining the life
out of them. Jack said his mother said she actually saw this being one night. His
mother went to the bathroom outside of the house, (it was an outhouse), and on
the way back inside her house, the creature was standing next to the back door,
staring at her. She was panic stricken, but held her bearing, refusing to glance
back at the creature. It was said that this creature wielded its power through its
eyes, so if it were encountered, one must do everything possible to avoid looking
into its eyes. Jack's mother did just that, ignoring the creature, and went right
past it and inside her house. It didn't do anything to her. Jack's Uncle also
encountered this entity. The creature attempted to seduce him on one occasion,
but his Uncle came to his senses just in time when he realized it wasn't a normal
human being. He turned and ran away from the creature. It lashed out at him as
he turned away from it, and cut him on his cheek.
Regarding the Chicken foot lady in particular, I remembered from my days
of playing Dungeon's & Dragons that in the book written by Gary Gygaxx, titled
"Deities & Demigods", there is an entry for an evil Aztec god that fits the exact
description of this being. 5 In fact, Gary Gygaxx's physical description, as well as
the behavioral characteristics of this being is exactly the same as the being my
42
wife described. Deities & Demigods describes a demon that appears to men as
a beautiful woman, but has chicken's feet. It sustains an irresistible charm if eye
contact is made, and either drives men insane, or kills them. Considering the
fact that Gary Gygaxx obtained the legend of this creature from his studies of
many ancient religions, legends, and cultures, I have to come to the conclusion
that this particular demon must be widely known all throughout the country where
Jack comes from. The fact that this was an Aztec god also placed it in a
geographical region that corresponds to Jack’s native country. (Incidentally,
demons dogs are also found in Deities & Demigods. They also spotted, and
attacked a Dr. Robert Monroe during one of his astral projections. Read more
about this in "Emails I've read - and my observations").
While the Chicken foot lady appears to men, another demon Jack told me
of is called "La Duende". Jack never heard of the Irish legend of the leprechaun,
but he described one to me when detailing the description and characteristics of
La Duende. He said this demon would appear to women as a small, greenish
colored man only a few inches in height. It was mischievous and ill tempered,
loved to pull malicious pranks, and was relentless in its belittling torments. Jack
said it would invariably demand that its victims marry it, and if they refused, it
would use its supernatural powers to do horrible things in retaliation. According
to the people in Jack's neighborhood, not too far from Jack's house lived a
woman who was driven completely insane by one of these La Duende creatures.
43
These stories were interesting, and I always prodded Jack to tell me more
of them, until I started experiencing them myself! While talking on the phone one
evening with Jack, I was discussing the Carlos Castaneda book I was reading at
the time, and Jack immediately flipped out. He said there was a black, shadowy
figure flying all throughout his house. He dropped his phone, and I heard him
scream a few times. Furniture was being abruptly 'relocated' if I was judging the
background sounds correctly, and then the line went dead. This black shadowy
thing - from this moment on - became a tormenting spirit of both Jack, and me!
Jack began to see it in his house, but only when he talked to me. Furthermore,
when Jack came to visit me at my house, he would see it in my house too! Jack
would completely flip out. I never saw this thing myself, whatever it was, but
Jack certainly did.
It got so bad on one occasion that both Jack and I were forced out of my
house. Jack lost consciousness out of fear, and I had to drag him outside.
When he came to, I asked him if the thing was outside. He immediately yelped
and ran out to the sidewalk. I don't know why, but the shadowy thing stayed near
the house, as if it were bound by some unseen limitation. I asked Jack where it
was, and he pointed. I jumped at it, but Jack said it was dodging me. I must
have looked like a complete idiot, flailing about on my front lawn, trying to hit
something I couldn't see. I felt a bit stupid, but I knew Jack's fear was genuine,
so I was doing whatever I could to help. The shadow then went back into my
house, and Jack and I couldn't go inside together without Jack being chased
around, so we went for a nighttime walk.
44
The ordeal in my house was awful. Since my earliest childhood, when I
first learned of the existence of demons, I heard a preacher say the word
"Rebuke!" in a sermon once while attending church with my Great Grandmother.
I had the idea that the word "Rebuke" had some powerful invocation, but it was a
struggle for me to remember that word of esteemed vocabulary. I'd always ask
my older brother, "What's that word again, you know, the one you say if you ever
see a demon?" I really wanted to know, because I think I was keyed in on
something that happed to me when I was about 4 or 5 years old. Read more in
("That terrifying Halloween night".)
"Rebuke; you say 'I rebuke you in the name of Jesus'" my brother
instructed me. So from about 5 or 6 years old and onward, I recited the phrase "I
rebuke you in the name of Jesus" whenever I was afraid of the dark, or rather something I felt was in it. This small phrase was put to the test on that night the
shadowy creature was terrorizing Jack. I kept yelling "I rebuke you in the name
of Jesus!” but the wicked thing just ignored me.
After the initial attack, Jack stopped coming to my house after dark.
Things were just getting too hectic. He'd call me instead, but then stuff started
happening on the phone line. I had my doubts about what Jack was seeing up
until this point, but my doubts were soon put to rest. The phone connection
would become full of static, we'd hear a series of clicking noises, and then the
line would go dead. This ONLY happened when I was talking with Jack. While I
never saw the shadowy thing in all of Jack's hysteria, I did experience the
45
physical reality of my phone line exhibiting exceptionally peculiar behavior. On
one occasion when I hit the redial button to call Jack back after being hung up,
the phone displayed rows of "666". Six's filled the liquid crystal display, and the
phone continued to beep the number 6 after the display was full. Chills ran up
my spine, and I could feel a hideous presence all around me. I immediately hung
up the phone, and tried to repeat the malfunction. I dialed a bunch of 3’s; more
than could be displayed in the display field, hung up, then picked it back up and
hit redial. The phone redialed the 3's correctly, and once the display was full, it
stopped beeping. On this instance, I actually verified that my phone performed a
double malfunction; it redialed the wrong number, and then kept beeping after
the liquid crystal display was full. That phone still works to this day, (I’m looking
at it right now, sitting on top of my computer), and it has never performed the
same malfunction before, or since.
The demonic stuff was getting old with Jack. Something definitely didn't
want Jack to associate with me. This culminated on one night when Jack was
visiting me, and my friend Rami Bridges was there too. 4 Rami was a good friend
of mine - and still is. He had recently moved in as my new roommate. Rami and
I had barely become born again Christians just a few weeks prior, so I figured
that with the two of us there, the shadowy thing might not show up. We were
wrong. That thing showed up in full force, and chased Jack around the house
again. The scene was maddening! When it first appeared in the living room,
Jack screamed and leaped on top of Rami, crawled over the top of him and dove
behind the couch. I can still remember the look on Rami's face!
46
This time, while I was screaming "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus
Christ!” my friend Rami ran into his bedroom and grabbed his Bible. He ran back
into the living room and joined me shouting "WE rebuke you in the name of Jesus
Christ!" We were shaking that Bible around in the air as if it were a magic wand,
and yelling at the tops of our lungs. The thing ignored us, and tormented Jack
until he passed out. Rami was freaked out! (This was his introduction to Jack).
Rami and I dragged Jack outside, and I apologized to Rami that I didn't
think such an episode would come about with both of us Christians being there.
We talked for a while, with Jack lying unconscious on my lawn. (I wonder what
my neighbors thought of us. Those were the days...)
"I always said you attract weird stuff like a magnet. Looks like you hit the
jackpot this time", Rami glared at me.
"Why didn't it leave? Aren't demons supposed to be scared of the name
of Jesus Christ?" I questioned Rami. He shrugged his shoulders, puzzled. I
was stumped as well. "Maybe we don't have enough faith?" I paused. "I believe
in Jesus!" I protested to myself, and then looked at my house, seeing how futile
my protest was. Someone or something in there certainly didn't think I had any
faith at all, because it was calling my bluff, and apparently getting away with it!
"That does it, Rami. We should both get baptized. That must be it. It's
the only thing I can think of that we haven't done yet. We should've gotten
baptized already anyway. Do you want to get baptized with me?"
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"Yea! Let's do it. Let's get baptized" Rami resolved with me.
I took Jack home that night, and when I got back home, Rami was shaking
with fear. He said all during the time I was taking Jack home, he was hearing
noises all over the house.
The next Sunday, just as we said we would, Rami and I both went to
church at the Church of Christ on Palm Avenue in Fresno. About 90% of the
members were senior citizens. That church is still there, but it's different now; it's
now called the Potter's Wheel. We attended one of the most boring sermons I've
ever had to bear. I had a hard time staying awake. Right after the service, I
started asking around for someone to see about getting baptized, and ended up
making an appointment with a deacon.
I think the deacon thought I was nuts. "There's a demon tormenting me
and a friend of mine, and I want to get baptized. I was rebuking it in the name of
Jesus, and it ignored me" I told the deacon. "I think getting baptized will help
me. It will show that thing that I'm serious about God now."
The deacon didn’t believe my story, (but many other churches would
have). He pointed out various psychological conditions that my friend Jack might
have had, i.e., schizophrenia, etc. I didn't deny the possibility that Jack might
have had problems, but then I asked him how my phone could've malfunctioned,
and about numerous other details. He was highly skeptical. He explained that
he had a degree in demonology, and there was a clear, logical explanation for
48
the things that were happening between Jack and me. "Yea, I know. There's a
demon in my house! That's your clear, logical explanation!" I retorted. He held
his ground, however, fully convinced that there was no demonic activity in my
house. I have no idea why not. What kind of degree in demonology makes
someone a skeptic of the existence of demons? In summation, he insisted that
my motives must be pure for desiring a baptism. I could agree with that at least.
I told him that I didn't care if he believed me or not. I insisted that my motives
were pure, and I was planning on getting baptized anyway. Demons or no
demons, I had to have more of God in my life, because what that demon was
getting away with was direct proof that something was severely wrong with me.
Quite frankly, I was scared to death!
And so it was, during my early friendship with Jack, that the Lord refined
me through various spiritual trials. In the heavenlies, I was enrolled in the
University of the Kingdom of God, for a crash course in spiritual warfare.
Concerning the vision I had a few weeks prior to this, (read "Jesus in a
helicopter"), God was making some huge changes in me. I was a completely
different person than I was before I had the vision. I changed from a die-hard
liberal, party mongering, pornography watching, filthy mouthed drunk, into priest
by comparison - in just one night! I don't want to sound like I'm Mr. 'Purity'; I still
have issues I deal with. I don't claim to be better than anyone else, either. It's
just that most of the big, easy to identify sins in my life were completely stripped
away from me. I furthermore take no credit for this change. God did everything.
All I did was show up and say, "Okay God, it's your way now. What's next?"
49
After getting baptized the following Sunday, I immediately sensed that
something in me had been restored. Whatever protection and/or authority God
had removed from me in the past, He gave it back to me now - and more of it. Or
perhaps I never had any authority, and was given new authority. One thing I
know for certain; something happened!
I invited Jack over to my house again, and wondered about what was
going to happen. I actually looked forward to a confrontation, just to see and
experience the outcome. I also felt in my heart that no demon on this planet
stood a chance against me!
When Jack came over, we were chatting in the kitchen when Jack jumped
with a startled expression. He pointed out my back window and said, "I just saw
some guy go up into your studio apartment."
"What? Nobody would go up there. That door's locked, and the room is
vacant."
Jack insisted that he just saw someone walking up the stairs to go into the
studio apartment behind my house. I grabbed the keys for the studio apartment,
then went outside and proceeded up the stairs. Nobody was waiting on the
porch of the studio apartment, which was odd. I checked the door, and sure
enough, it was locked. Whatever Jack saw, it wasn't normal.
I opened the door of the studio apartment and walked inside. It was
empty, just as I thought it would be. I returned to the house and told Jack that it
50
was empty. He still insisted that he saw someone going up the steps, so I asked
him to go into the studio apartment with me and see for himself that nobody was
there. He didn't want to go. "Jack, things are different now,” I explained. "Trust
me; whatever is in there won't hurt you, if there is anything in there. God won't
allow it."
Jack and I walked into the studio apartment, and Jack stiffened with fear
when his eyes fixed at the counter space next to the stove. "He's right there.
You don't see that guy sitting right there?"
"No" I answered. Now I was curious about this new visitor. I wanted to
know who it was, what in the world it was doing, and what it wanted. Letting my
curiosity get the best of me, I proceeded to ask the invisible entity a host of
questions, but while I was talking to it, my interpreter, Jack, backed up to the
door and jutted out. I didn't think I'd be able to hear any reply, but I thought
maybe Jack could. But Jack abandoned me! I stepped out onto the porch of the
studio apartment, and saw that Jack had already ran back into the house.
"Why did you leave me? Don't you want to know who or what that thing is
out there? What did he look like?"
Jack was afraid and unresponsive. "I'm not going to talk to that thing. The
way he was looking at me was sickening. You just don't understand what it's
like."
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Just then, while Jack was still speaking, he suddenly stopped. His eyes
were fixed on the back window. "He's walking back down the stairs now. Wait...
Now he's sitting. He's sitting on the bottom steps, just right there. He's staring at
me now." Jack was fidgeting with unbearable nervousness.
"What does he look like, anyway?"
"Are you sure you don't see him sitting right there?"
"I said no. He's obviously not ... normal. Tell me what he looks like. What
is he doing?"
Jack stepped backward a few paces, shaking his head to say no. He was
scared.
"What?"
"He's staring at me and wants me to go outside. He just pointed at me,
and he's motioning me to go out there."
"Well what does he look like?" I kept prodding, dying with curiosity.
Jack proceeded to give the description of someone that could've been a
greaser from the 1950's. He was a white male about 20 years old, 5' 10" in
height, and had black, shiny hair. He wore jeans, and a white T-shirt. Jack said
he was chewing on a matchstick.
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Now my curiosity was burning. "Well let's go see what he wants. Don't
you want to know?"
"No!"
Suddenly I felt the Lord reveal something to me. That thing was the evil,
shadowy figure, and it was only outside because God wouldn't let it come into my
house anymore. I was totally on fire! That thing couldn't handle even being
around me anymore! It wasn't giving up just yet, though. It was now wearing a
costume so to speak, as a tactic to appeal to my curiosity. I couldn't believe I
actually fell for it, and was trying to convince Jack to go and talk to it. A question
suddenly popped into my mind, which I felt was from God.
"Did you feel ... an evil presence? Did it give you the impression that it
was wicked?"
"Yes!" Jack answered. I don't know why, but I felt that along with Jack's
ability to see things, he was also able to tell whether the spirits were good or bad.
"Okay, okay, there's no need to know anything about it. In fact, I don't
want you to talk to it. I already know what it is, anyway. That's the evil shadowy
thing, and it's looking like that right now just to trick me into getting you to talk to
it. I'll be the one to talk to it, and I know exactly what I'm going to say!"
I marched outside and stared at something I couldn't see. "Look, I don't
know who, or what you are, and I don't really care at this point. You obviously
53
can't come into my house anymore - but it doesn't end there." I pointed my finger
at the empty space on the bottom of the steps, feeling an eerie sensation that
something was there. "You are no longer allowed on my property" I raised my
voice. "You have to leave, and in the name of Jesus Christ, I demand that you
get out, NOW!" I shouted, pointing my finger toward my driveway.
When I came back into the house, I asked Jack what he saw. He said that
as soon as I was done speaking, it stood up and walked away - proceeding down
the driveway where I pointed. We never saw it or the shadowy figure ever
again. Praise to the Glory of God!
I was really fired up for God now. I went on and on about the victory God
gave us that day, a victory that only Jack, (and Rami), could relate to and truly
appreciate. The demons were GONE, and they STILL ARE! (At least they were
gone from my house. Little did I know, there was more to come...)
I would frequently talk with Jack about the Lord. He was a very bitter
young man, often talking about how much he hated life and yearned to die. He
was one of the coolest guys I knew, but struggled with an enormous amount of
depression. I have to say that he was my mission field, for the Lord put
something in me that yearned for Jack to be saved. I simply couldn't give up on
him!
Not too long after the day I cast the demon away from my home, I was
talking on the phone with Jack one night. When I started to talk to him about
54
Jesus, the phone began to make clicking noises, and then it actually went dead.
I wasn't scared anymore. I was mad! The shadowy figure was gone from my
house, but either it or something else was being awfully persistent with the phone
lines. More than ever, that thing didn't want me to talk with Jack, especially
about Jesus. I was persistent right back! I was determined that if it was going to
mess with either Jack or me, I was going to make it pay! (Jesus was behind me
of course. I suppose one could liken the situation to a puny pipsqueak kid
shouting might words at his enemies, but only because his 300 pound muscle
bound brother was standing right behind him. I had my muscle bound brother
Jesus standing right behind me, and I knew it!) I immediately called Jack again.
If that thing disconnected the line, I'd call Jack right back up as many times as it
took, and start shouting through the phone line, "In the name of Jesus, I
command you to stop disconnecting this line!"
One night Jack called to tell me that he was mugged while walking on the
canal bank behind his house. He was beaten horribly, having huge cuts all over
his face. He told me that he was so messed up that I probably wouldn't even
recognize him. He was lucky enough to be rescued by someone that happened
to be driving near by and decided to stop and help him. While he was recalling
the event, I felt truly filled with the power of God, and asked him, as if God were
asking the question directly through me, "Jack, after everything you've been
through, do you still love God?"
55
Jack paused momentarily, and meekly answered, "Yes. Yes I do. I don't
blame God for anything bad in my life. I'm responsible for most of the bad stuff
that's happened to me through the years."
Many things that happened to Jack in his life had nothing to do with
anything he had done, but the fact that he wasn't bitter toward God sparked
something in my soul. At that moment, I felt an overwhelming sensation of love
for my friend pour through me. "Jack, because of your faith... because you
haven't turned away from God during this troubled time, I just believe God is
going to heal you." At the time, I think I felt I was speaking more metaphorically
than anything. But as soon as I was done speaking, something amazing began
to happen to Jack.
"You know, I love talking to you John. You really make me feel better.
You're like the coolest dude I know. I feel good. In fact", Jack paused. There
was a prolonged silence. "I'm not even hurting physically anymore. The pain in
my face is ... Ahhh!" Jack screamed, and then dropped his phone. I could hear
various yelps, and couldn't tell what was going on. Dread surged through my
mind, and I sorely hoped the dark demon wasn't tormenting Jack again, just as
he was beginning to feel better. Jack finally picked up the phone, and was
yelling in hysterics. "It's gone! I can't believe it! Everything - everything is gone.
I'm healed! My face!"
All of Jack's cuts, bruises, and even his many stitches, had completely
vanished from his face. It was as if he'd never been attacked. I was astonished,
56
and greatly relieved that Jack was okay! Needless to say, God surprised me
more than I could've imagined! But it wasn't over yet. I was so excited and
overjoyed for Jack that I was giving praises and shouts of glory to God. Then
again, something severely unexpected happened.
"Why do you always have to talk about Jesus!" shouted an angry Jack
from the other end of the line.
"What do you mean, Jack? Jesus has just healed you. Why don't you
want me to talk about him? You were just laughing with joy a second ago!"
"I am happy" came a timid, confused reply, but then a quick rebuttal
ensued in a deep guttural voice, "Shut up! I hate you, and I hate Jesus!"
"What do you mean you hate me? Aren't I your best friend? What's
wrong with you Jack?"
"What's happening to me? That's not me John", said Jack, but then
strangely, he interrupted himself. "I hate you!" growled an angry, deep-pitched
voice into my ear.
"In the name of Jesus, get out of him!" I yelled through the phone.
Jack screamed in horror. "Ah, what's happening to me!" he cried in
hysterics. "Red beams of light just shot out of my eyes and burned two holes in
my carpet!" Jack was crying and confused. A few seconds passed, and again I
heard the ugly, guttural voice. "Shut up! I hate you!"
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"I said in the name of Jesus, GET OUT! I rebuke you! Be gone in the
name of Jesus!" I heard several bizarre noises; I think Jack was going into
seizures. He dropped his phone, and the line was silent for about five minutes.
Finally, he picked up the phone again.
"Hello? Jack, are you there?"
"Who's this?" asked Jack in a soft, childlike voice.
"It's me, John, your friend. What happened to you?"
"John? I don't know anyone named John,” answered Jack. It didn't take
long before I realized that he had amnesia. He couldn't remember anything past
being 12 years old! (I was never bored with Jack around. Just never knew what
was going to happen next.) I asked him if he saw two holes in his carpet, just to
see what he'd answer. He said he did see two holes in his carpet, then
wondered how in the world I knew about them, and wanted to know how they got
there.
Jack eventually regained his memory. As it turned out, he suffered from
multiple personality disorder once the demon was cast out of him on that night.
He never had this disorder before, but once the demon was gone, certain things
would cause him to switch into another frame of mind, and he would think he was
12 years old, back in his home country. I think that somehow multiple personality
disorder might be linked to demon possession. Perhaps when a demon takes
residence in someone's consciousness for an extended period of time, the
58
consciousness becomes segmented, so that when the demon leaves, multiple
personality disorder may result. One thing I know for sure - multiple personality
disorder can't make phones malfunction, and can't be blamed on being able to
tell if someone is eavesdropping in on a phone conversation. Multiple personality
wouldn't have an avid hatred for Jesus, either. Something definitely supernatural
had affected Jack for many years of his life, and after it was cast out, he had a
tremendous amount of healing to get through.
I learned that a horrendous psychopathic child molester had kidnapped
Jack when he was about 12 years old. That's why whenever he had an amnesic
episode, he'd return to being 12 years old, and relive parts of that nightmare.
Over the times I spent with Jack during these episodes, I was able to piece
together his entire story. I felt that recounting it was part of his healing - and I
always urged him to tell me what he could remember. It was painful process, but
the more he was able to recall, the less frequent and severe his episodes were.
He remembered being brutally tortured in unconceivable ways, and his
tormentor was planning to kill him, but he managed to escape. The madman
lived in a small shack out in the middle of the jungle, where he kept his victims.
He had tortured and killed other children as well, and showed Jack the pictures of
what he did to them. He would let Jack go free into the jungle sometimes, but
then he would hunt him down for fun. He always caught Jack, but after about 5
weeks of brutal torture, Jack managed to evade this awful devil of a man. Jack
remembered that he finally reached a house with a family of 5 teenage boys.
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The parents took him in, cleaned him up, fed him, and gave him a place to
sleep. They harbored him for a few days, but unfortunately for Jack, his
misfortune wasn't over yet. A few of the older boys molested Jack one night.
When Jack told their parents the next day, they accused him of lying and kicked
him out of their house. Again he wandered, but this time he at least he made it to
civilization. A bus eventually picked him up, took him to a police station, and he
was finally reunited with his family. He recalled that he heard someone in the
police station mention that he had been missing for 5 weeks. When he finally
returned home, he went to sleep, and when he woke up the next day, he couldn't
remember that a single thing had ever happened to him. The entire horrific
episode had been buried deep inside his mind for years, and didn't come out until
the day God spoke healing into his life.
Jack's life was one tragedy after another. I had the suspicion that he was
cursed by one of his relatives, who was involved in a satanic cult. Jack was a
magnet for misfortune, and I could write a book about Jack alone, but this
segment is fitting. His whole childhood history was riddled with memories of child
molestation, suicide, rejection, satanism, and the list goes on. All of that is
inconsequential now, though. Today, Jack is a born again, spirit filled Christian!
All his sorrows have since been turned into JOY, yes, that's right, JOY! He
accepted Jesus into his heart in early 1999, and through the miraculous power of
Jesus Christ, ALL those generational curses have been broken! The demons are
gone, the wounds are healed, and when Jack smiles, God laughs at the
dumfounded expression on my face!
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Jack never has episodes of amnesia anymore, and his supernatural power
is ... altered. He can sense spirits - but hardly ever sees them anymore. He likes
it better that way, too. He used to see spirits all the time; not just demonic
shadowy figures, but all kinds of strange things. He hated houses with antiques,
because he'd invariably see people standing around them, sitting in them or
leaning against them, etc. He doesn't see them anymore though, and he's very
glad about that fact! (I think he was seeing energy forms rather than spirits, but
that's just a theory of mine).
I've always wanted the ability to see into the spiritual realm like Jack used
to, but Jack has told me time and again that if I had that ability, I wouldn't want it
anymore than he wanted it. He said I simply couldn't understand how awful it is
to see such creepy things all the time. Jack said he saw angels a few times, too,
but the ratio of creepy things compared to Godly things was far in favor of the
creepy things. Perhaps he should've spent more time in church! At least he
does now. All Jack ever really longed for was a sense of normalcy, (which I
came to appreciate, being around him long enough). Jack now has the normalcy
he longed for. In fact, he's a family man now, married to a wonderful Christian
wife, and has three kids. Also, when I talk with Jack on the phone now - I do so
with a clean, crispy clear connection. Something has definitely been punished
for messing with Jack and me! Praise God!
God Bless you Jack!
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READ: Acts 16:16-20
it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a
spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants
of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18And this did
she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command
thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same
hour. 19And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they
caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20And
brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly
trouble our city
16And
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* STORIES FROM THAILAND
During my senior year in High School, I met another senior named Bill,
and we became great friends. 6 He played a mean guitar, and I play the drums,
so we'd have jam sessions on occasion. We had grand dreams of forming a cool
rock band and making tons of money.
I had just joined the Army fresh out of High School, but wasn't due to go
for about another month. I wanted to go on one last camping trip before leaving
for the Army, and I asked Bill if he'd like to join me.
"Are you crazy? Spend the night in the mountains! You can't be serious!"
he exclaimed with a shocked expression. I was somewhat surprised at his
bizarre reaction.
"Why not? I go camping all the time. We can go camping up at
Huntington Lake." He didn't like the idea of it. Bill was an Asian, and came from
Thailand. Apparently in Thailand, the forest is strictly off limits - for reasons
anyone from Thailand would know. He proceeded to tell me about certain
ghoulish creatures that floated above the ground, had scaly skin, and eyes
positioned on the sides of their faces like the eyes of a horse. These creatures
have long sharp claws, and viciously attack people that stay in the forest at
night. He said he knew of several attacks he remembered happening to people
he knew in his childhood. A relative of his was almost killed, barely managing to
escape. When he made it back into town, he was bleeding profusely.
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Bill said it was actually possible to fight these creatures, but the chances
were pretty slim for winning. They would only sustain damage if you were quick
enough, and lucky enough to be striking at them in the exact same instant they
were striking at you. (They had to make themselves temporarily solid in order to
hurt you). Otherwise, they were like phantoms, and offensive strikes would pass
right through them. Also, once they decided to attack, they always attacked in
packs, so the best thing to do if this happened would be to run as fast as
possible. But even that wouldn't help much, because according to Bill, they were
lightning fast. That's why it was best just to stay out of the forest! He actually
warned me that if we saw one when we went camping that I shouldn't stare at it;
instead, I should just ignore it. Staring at them tends to invoke their anger, but
they generally leave people alone if ignored. One thing they don't like is
excessive noise. He mentioned that we should be quiet when it became dark,
and build up the fire. Bill said that to go into the forest of Thailand in the middle
of the night and start making a lot of racquet would be certain suicide. I had to
inform Bill that the Sierra Nevada Mountains were incredibly tame compared to
the forests of Thailand. When we eventually went camping, he insisted that I
build two campfires, and keep them burning high all night. I didn't get much
sleep on that camping trip.
Bill also spoke of another strange kind of spirit that Thai people were really
happy to see! He said it appeared as a column of fire, and if one were to see it,
the thing to do would be to run over to where it appeared and dig a hole.
Invariably there would be money, jewelry, or something of esteemed value in the
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hole. The way it works, explained Bill, is that when someone would get to be
very old and nearing death, he or she would collect all their money, jewels, and
anything valuable, put it in a jar, and bury it somewhere where nobody would
ever find it. Then, many years later - if the 'spirits' were pleased with someone,
they'd show that person where he or she buried the loot in his or her next
incarnation. Bill said he had an Uncle strike it rich because one of these things
showed him where a jar full of money was buried.
I didn't know much about the Bible when Bill told me this story, but I do
now. According to (Hebrews 9:27), the theology of reincarnation can’t be true.
The Apostle Paul clearly states that people die only once, and then they are
judged.
READ: Hebrews 9:27-28
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
27And
The demon that appears as a column of fire, therefore, is a demonic spirit
assigned to the specific two-fold task: 1. deceiving the Thai people into believing
reincarnation, and 2. hoarding their family fortunes greedily away, thereby
preventing their children from obtaining an inheritance. What a waste. What an
ingenious deception...
Several years later, after I was finished with the Army, I worked in the
Central Unified School District as a substitute janitor. While there, I met another
janitor that was an Asian who was from Thailand just as Bill was. 7 I decided to
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test Bill's statement from years before about what he said concerning the general
knowledge that anyone from Thailand would know that the forest in Thailand was
off limits at night time. Sure enough, this lady was filled with even more
outlandish stories than Bill's! She not only confirmed everything Bill said, but
added to it with some terrifying personal encounters of her own. She said that
some places in Thailand were filled with such evil, powerful spirits - groups of
people would just fall over dead! She said her own brother was almost killed by
a demon in just that manner. She and her brother were stranded somehow, I
can't remember how, perhaps their car broke down, and they were trying to get to
a house before dark. She said that suddenly her brother became sleepy and fell
down on the ground. From years before this, she recalled a time when she was
in a car with some other people while they were driving through a forested area.
Suddenly several people in the car fell unconscious and one of them never woke
up. He died. Remembering the incident, she didn't know why it didn't affect her
in the past, or why it wasn't affecting her at the moment, but she knew she had to
keep her brother awake and get him inside a house and call for help. She
struggled to stand him up, and managed to revive him enough to walk. They
found a small log cabin, but it was abandoned. It was the only thing there, and
she debated whether to stay there or not. In her indecisiveness, her brother
passed out again. She decided that she had to get him to a place where he
could get medical attention, because she believed he could die any second.
Again she revived him, and they continued down the deserted road, but to her
horror, she saw an immense, black blob of a mass moving toward them. She
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immediately turned around, and her brother passed out again. She must have
had a rush of adrenaline, because she said she was so scared, she managed to
get her brother to the cabin, either by carrying him or dragging him. She couldn't
remember which.
When she reached the cabin and made her way inside, she felt that she
might be safe. She quickly built a fire, and intermittently ran back and forth
between the fire and her brother. He kept passing out, and she was doing
everything she could to keep him awake. Suddenly, the door opened up, and the
large, black blob flowed into the cabin. She was terrified, but ran to her brother,
refusing to abandon him. Amazingly, the blob moved over to the stack of
firewood, grabbed a few logs, and tossed them into the fire. It then sat right on
top of the fire as if it were sitting in a chair. She said it continued to feed the fire,
and sit on it for about two hours. Finally, it simply decided to leave. About 15
minutes after it was gone, her brother woke up. He couldn't remember a thing.
I didn't know this woman very well, but if she was lying, she certainly had a
good poker face. I asked her if either she or any of her friends were Christians.
She said that she had become a Christian, but knew nothing of Jesus when she
lived in Thailand. Perhaps the fact that she was going to become a Christian is
what saved her from all those demonic attacks during her younger years in
Thailand? What was the cause of her inexplicable immunity to the death spells
that came over the people around her on two separate occasions? Maybe
there's a seed of faith within us, even if we've never heard the gospel - that
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divides us from the spiritually dead? Perhaps God can see even a potential faith
in our hearts, and protects us according to that potential faith? Isn't He a
generous God! I also wonder that perhaps Thailand is so full of demonic beings
because spiritually speaking; it has been completely void of the gospel indefinitely. I told this woman that there are demons in America, but certainly not
to the magnitude and frequency of Thailand. According to this lady and Bill,
demons are common knowledge in Thailand - no more unusual than the
American black bear, or mountain lion. It doesn't even take a person of faith in
Thailand to know the reality of demons. The people there believe in the
existence of demons as a matter of life and death! (There would probably be
more Christians in America if demons made their presence as widely known
here, as they do in Thailand!)
I joked with this lady, and told her that I'd love to go to Thailand one day,
just to go into those forests and fight those demons. I said I'd take a team of
scientists, cameras, and specialized weapons, such as a gun that fires liquid
nitrogen. I'd make an enormous amount of noise in the jungles - and try to stir up
one of those horse eyed ghouls, and then freeze the wretched murdering
creature with liquid nitrogen when it would strike at me! As for the black blobs, I
don't think I'd go solo; I'd want my entire church congregation there! But in all
reality, Christ has placed more power within me, a single Christian, as well as
any other individual Christian with genuine faith in Christ, than every single
creature in the entire forest of Thailand combined. Consider (Luke 10:18), where
Jesus Himself gives an incredible solemn promise: "19Behold, I give unto you
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power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:
and nothing shall by any means hurt you!" Did everyone catch that? Jesus said
ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY! Lookout Thailand, here I come!
The stories of Bill and the janitor lady could easily be construed as
folklore, but having spent some time in the Panamanian jungle myself, I tend to
believe these stories are real. I wasn't in the Panama jungle but for a few nights
before I saw the inexplicable ball of light I talk about in ("The ball of light that
communicated with me"). There are things out there man!
I once received an email from some Christian accusing me of being a liar
concerning chapter 1 of Aliens in the Bible, where I talk about the ball of light I
just mentioned. It sort of makes me laugh, that someone would go through all
the trouble of writing an elaborate email to me, just to accuse me of being a liar.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Wait until that person reads this book! He or
she will probably write me a novel of an email.
READ: Matthew 16:18
I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19And I will give unto thee
the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.
18And
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* THE WATER BABIES
Now here's a tale that I've been mocked about endlessly, but the mockers
are my good church friends - so it's all good. Scott Jones in particular, laughs
and jokes about this story all the time. 8 Maybe I shouldn't have told him about it.
I guess the sound of it - "Water Babies" - invoked the giggle beast in him and he
couldn’t help himself.
Here it goes... When I was in Basic Training in the Army, there was a guy
in my platoon named Cypher. 9 He was a full-blooded Indian. (He probably still
is, too). I can't remember which tribe he was from, but he said he lived on the
Indian reservation around Pyramid Lake in Nevada. This particular lake is widely
known in various UFO and paranormal books for being a popular spot for UFO
sightings. People claim UFOs fly in and out of the lake. Pyramid Lake has a
nickname relative to the Bermuda Triangle, but I can't remember that nickname
right off hand.
Late one night during guard duty while I was on fire watch, I heard Cypher
and the guy in the bunk next to him quietly talking. The term "Water Babies"
jumped out into my ears, and I couldn't resist. Who could?
Cypher was in a prolonged discussion about the various things he'd
experienced in his childhood. Like Jack, ("My best friend Jack"), Cypher's
childhood included memories from his culture that the typical Western mind
would never conceive of. The nightmarish experience of the water babies was
among his most terrifying memories.
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He said that his parents always warned him and his friends never to play
outside after dark. Like idiots, they were out in the woods playing, and it started
to get dark. The oldest of the children didn't care. "You don't actually believe
any of that crap, do you?" he exclaimed. He was referring to his tribe's countless
stories of demons that roamed the woods at night.
Cypher and his friends were getting scared. "Well you can stay out if you
want, but we're going back." They left their older friend behind, and proceeded to
go back home. As soon as they were out of sight of their friend, they heard a
horrible scream. They quickly ran back, and their friend was nowhere to be
found. Instead, there was a pool of blood and some drag marks on the ground.
Something apparently grabbed this child and dragged him off.
The group of children panicked and ran back to their village. In a matter of
minutes, a large gathering of men was formed up with their knives, shotguns, and
flashlights. The children led them to the place where they were playing, and they
found the bloody trail left behind. They tracked down the child that was missing,
hoping he was still alive, and eventually found him. He was found lying on top of
his Grandfather's grave in the cemetery. He was cut all over his body, and in a
state of complete shock. I think Cypher said this child became mute, never
speaking a single word again. The elders of his village said that this was the
work of the water babies. There was an Indian word for them, but the English
translation is 'Water Babies'; which kind of strips away all the dread. The water
babies were apparently demonic baby-looking demons that lived in Pyramid
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Lake. They preyed on children in particular, if the children were left alone after
dark. They also attacked boats in the lake during the night, so none of the
Indians went out on the lake after dark.
Cypher also spoke of woodland beings that looked exactly like human
beings, but they were only 4 to 5 inches tall. He had an Indian name for those
too, but again, I can't remember. Ancient European legends also speak of tiny
human beings, giving them various titles, such as Brownies, Pixies, Fairies, etc.
Cypher said his mother would periodically put food out for them in order to stay
on good terms with them. He never saw them himself, but he'd always see their
footprints. Every morning after his mother would leave food out overnight,
Cypher would find tiny human footprints all over the ground where the raw meat
had been chained to a tree.
Cypher had stories about his village shaman, as well. He spoke with
reverent fear about the magic they used. This was the only night I ever heard
Cypher speak of these wild tales. Other than this particular occasion, nobody
would ever guess Cypher had such a peculiar childhood history. He was one of
the most hardcore guys in our platoon, and he did things that we could all
respect. You'd never believe it to look at him, because he was at least 40 to 50
pounds over weight, but that guy could run like a jackrabbit and do pushups all
day long! The drill sergeants constantly tried to break him down, but he thought
they were a big joke. He didn't have any fear of anything, (except for maybe the
water babies!) The one time we were allowed to go to the Post Exchange in
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order to buy supplies such as shoe polish and tooth paste, Cypher snuck into the
clothing and sales department and purchased himself some E-4 rank pins. We
were told not to buy anything except required items, and were warned that we
would be inspected when we returned. All through Basic training nobody was
allowed to eat ANYTHING with sugar in it unless it was given in the chow hall.
Cypher didn't agree. I heard the rumor that he managed to sneak out of the
barracks, and put those rank pins he purchased to good use! He pinned them on
his collar and off he went, free as a bird, from the Post Exchange to the movies,
to dining out - the works. I thought the guy that bought a bag of M&M's and hid
them inside his canteen was pretty slick, but Cypher was unbelievable! In Basic
training, all the newbies are either E-1 or E-2, but never E-4. The rank he
purchased was just high enough to be passed off as a permanent duty member
of that base, rather than someone in Basic training. People don't generally
question your rank, either, because pinning on a high rank is simply something
that isn't done! He probably would've gotten kicked out if he were caught.
Cypher also knew all there was to know about living in the wild. He told us
that since he was 11 years old, his parents would drop him off out in the middle
of the forest with just a knife, and leave him out there for weeks at a time. (I
guess they knew the spots where the water babies didn't go, or figured a knife
was good enough!) Cypher said this was the way of his people, who he was
emphatically proud of. The last I heard about Cypher was that he joined the
Special Forces. Good old Cypher. I'll never forget him.
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READ: Acts 8:9-13
there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city
used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was
some great one: 10To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest,
saying, This man is the great power of God. 11And to him they had regard,
because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. 12But when they
believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Then Simon
himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and
wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
9But
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CHAPTER 4: DREAMS & VISIONS
* MY 2 VISIONS OF HEAVEN
To begin with, I don’t know if these dreams were really visions of heaven
or not. All I know is that they were not ordinary dreams, and they had a profound
effect on me. I wasn’t a dedicated Christian when I had these dreams, so it could
be argued that they are of no consequence. Nevertheless, I cherish
remembering them, and continue to wonder if they have a meaning.
Vision #1: In this dream, I went to heaven through a huge gate, where I
saw grassy hills and trees as far as my eyes could see. A large being with a
huge book sitting on top of a podium referenced something in the book as soon
as I walked up. This being was wearing a robe, and its face was somehow
obscured so that I either couldn't see it, or I can't remember it if I did see it. I
remember that it found something of interest in the book, perhaps my name, and
then motioned for me to enter through the gate.
As soon as I walked in, I saw a man with a Spanish sombrero draped over
his face. He was sitting, leaning against a tree, playing a guitar. I approached
him and listened to him play. The music had an extraordinary effect on me seemingly harmonizing something in my body. Each cord reverberated through
me, as if I were one with the music.
Something prompted me to look up. When I did, I saw the most
magnificent bird I've ever seen in my life. It was an eagle with glowing blue eyes,
and it had electricity pulsating throughout its feathers. When we made eye
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contact, it lifted its wings, and a four-pointed star of light began to form in the air
between the tips of its wings. When the points of this star increased in size
enough to touch the wings, the star shot toward me and struck me in the
forehead like a bolt of lightning! I woke up, feeling an incredible sensation of
euphoria, and what I thought to be the power of God flowing throughout my
body. I drew numerous pictures of the eagle in this dream all throughout my
childhood.
Vision #2: I was walking through a damp, dark dungeon - wandering from
chamber to chamber, feeling my way through the dark. The ground was muddy
and full of puddles; the walls were slimy with moss and mildew. I finally reached
a door that I knew was the end. When I cracked the door open, it slammed all
the way open as if forced open by a powerful wind and light flooded the chamber.
I stepped out into an immense outdoor corridor that was part of a stone structure
higher than anything on earth. It was miles high - so high, the wall on the other
side, which was about 300 yards away, nearly converged with the wall I was
standing next to when I looked upward. Doors spanned these walls for miles
down. I was at the last door, where the corridor came to a dead end.
I heard an awesome chorus, which I think, could only come from one
place - heaven. When I looked upward, I saw floating in the sky a long line of
crosses, with people stuck to them like magnets. They weren't nailed - they were
stuck. They were also glowing with great power, and had God's glory all about
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them. They were floating down the center of the corridor, in perfect symmetry,
about 20 feet above the ground.
Suddenly, a new cross formed in the sky, next to the last one. It was right
above my door, in the center of the corridor. It first began to appear as a
miniature tornado, but instead of wind, there was a bright energy that was
spinning. A solid object began to become visible, spinning as it formed, and it
finally stopped - slamming into place, perfectly still. I felt its pull, and I instantly
jumped into the air, flying towards it. It whipped me around, and I slammed
against it. God's power suddenly filled me, and I woke up in bed as though I
were on a crucifix.
I had these two dreams when I was 12 years old, and have yet to discover
their full meaning, or even if they have a meaning. I do think they mean
something, because they weren't ordinary at all. When I had them, I almost
never attended church, and didn't understand much of anything about who Jesus
was, but these dreams always made me wonder about the Kingdom of Heaven.
I still search for their meanings. I believe it's good to live by visions - (when
supplemented with the Word of God and faith in Christ). I have a few ideas
about what they might mean, but nothing concrete. The first dream may indicate
a spiritual gift that God has given me. Only time will tell what that gift is. As for
the second dream, it seems to indicate that I might have the gift of martyrdom.
Then again, it could all be the work of an active imagination…
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READ: Joel 2:28-32
it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29And also upon the servants and
upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30And I will shew
wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the
great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 32And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount
Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the
remnant whom the LORD shall call.
28And
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* JESUS IN A HELICOPTER
Back in September of 1991, I was fresh out of the Army, and high on a
freedom kick. I restrained myself from nothing. I considered myself to be a
Christian, but wasn't aware of the fact that being a Christian had anything to do
with moral accountability, or obedience to the Word of God. In my mind, those
were just options. For example, I could go to church on Easter Sunday, then get
drunk and watch porno's right after service - and think nothing of it.
I did have faith in Jesus, but I didn't really know who Jesus was. I could
identify Him, but that's about it. I suppose I knew Him about as much as I know
the President of the United States. True faith in Jesus goes much farther than
simple identification, however. I didn't know Jesus as my best friend, or as a
brother - the way I do now. I didn't think of Him as a real person; someone that I
could take my problems to, or someone whose opinion I'd want about
something. The idea that Jesus would show me things, or give me things if I
asked, was completely foreign to me. God wanted to change all this.
I believe God implemented some policy changes concerning my spiritual
welfare during this time in my life, (i.e., a removal of angelic protection), so that I
would grow up. He protected me in my sin for quite a long time. I had recently
turned 21 years old, and entered a new level of spiritual accountability. If I wasn't
going to change, then consequences were on their way. God did me a favor,
however, prior to stripping away His protection. He gave me a dream, and in
essence, warned me that some serious consequences were on their way if I
didn't shape up. It was only up to me as to how severe they were going to be.
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My dream began with one of my best buddies, Rami, and me, walking
together in a run down ghetto in the middle of the night. Typical of degraded
neighborhoods, we heard people screaming and fighting in their homes, a bottle
shattering somewhere, and a few cats fighting. As we passed a spray painted
car sitting on cinder blocks, we happened upon a shopping card full of wine
coolers. We were in hog heaven, and began filling our pockets. We continued to
walk, each carrying about 10 wine coolers, and got so drunk that we lost track of
where we were. Before we knew it, it was daytime, and we somehow ended up
in the middle of a compound out in the desert.
As it turned out, this compound was part of a huge drug cartel. Rami and I
saw gang members standing around with machine guns strapped to their
bodies. I had the strong impression that something awful was going to happen in
this place, and that we had to get out of there. We looked for a way out, not
knowing exactly how we ended up there. There was no way out; we were fenced
in, and armed guards were everywhere. We were sorely out of place, too, and
desperately hoping nobody would ask us who we were or what we were doing
there. We just wanted to get out!
I started regretting that I dolefully wandered into this place, and
questioned myself about how I could allow it to happen. I kicked myself for
getting so drunk, and started to cry out to God. "God, how did I end up here? I
can't get out, and I don't even know how I got here!"
While I was crying in my spirit, something wonderful happened. A large
helicopter came from out of nowhere, and landed in front of Rami and me. The
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door flew open, and I heard someone yell, "Get in!" Rami and I both immediately
jumped inside. The door closed by itself, and off we went in the helicopter. As I
looked out the window of the helicopter, the compound faded away, and we were
free! I was greatly relieved, and sat back in my seat.
After a short while of flying, I began to wonder about what was
happening. Where were we being taken? I turned in my seat and looked out the
window again. All I could see were miles and miles of beautiful golden fields of
wheat. The landscape was very peaceful and comforting. I then saw a road
below, and we flew over to it. Next to the road were some power lines, which we
were getting very close to. I began to get concerned.
Suddenly, we jutted downward and underneath one of the power lines!
Before I knew it, the helicopter did a complete flip, spinning around one of the
power lines! Right after the flip, I saw that there was a mountain directly in front
of us. The helicopter instantly dropped downward. Just when I thought we were
going to explode against the side of the mountain, we flew into a tunnel that was
made for the road we were flying over. We shot through the tunnel and out the
other side. The helicopter did another flip around some power lines on the other
side of the tunnel, then zipped back up into the sky and returned to a peaceful,
tranquil ride.
"Now what was that all about?" I questioned with shock. Everything
happened so fast that I didn't even have time to react. We continued to glide
over the beautiful golden fields of wheat, and Rami and I exchanged bewildered
glances at each other. I then looked forward, and a question popped into my
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mind. "Who in the world is that pilot? He's ... really good!" I then leaned forward
and looked into the pilot's seat. To my amazement, I couldn't see anyone sitting
there. The seat was indented, as if someone WAS sitting there, but whoever it
was, He made Himself invisible. The controls and pedals moved busily about by
an invisible pilot.
I sat back in my seat, even more bewildered than before. While I was
trying to figure out what was happening, the helicopter suddenly landed, the door
flew open, and a voice spoke into my mind, "Get out!" Rami and I both jumped
out, but then the voice yelled to Rami, "You get back in." Rami and I smiled at
each other, I patted him on his back, and then he jumped inside. The door
slammed shut, and off the helicopter and Rami went.
I was surprised to discover that the helicopter pilot dropped me off right
back in the same place he picked me up! But something was drastically
different. Dead bodies were everywhere! A massive shoot-out must have taken
place right after the helicopter took Rami and me away from this place. I was
saved by whoever was flying the helicopter.
The gate to the compound was wide open, so I cautiously walked out, and
away from the compound. I was free, and unafraid.
I woke up in my bed early in the morning, instantly recalling the vivid
dream. I can tell when a dream is just a dream - but I know that was no ordinary
dream. It changed me!
I studied it in my mind, recalling how good it felt to walk away from that
compound as free as a bird. Nothing was holding me down at the end of that
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dream. I began to question myself. "Why did that feel so good? What was I
leaving behind? What gave me that sense of freedom?" As I looked around my
room, I felt like I was looking at the compound again, with all the same fences
and armed guards. Within my room was a tremendous amount of bondage that
had the potential to completely destroy me, body and soul.
Recounting the events in my dream, I finally remembered the part about
seeing the pilot's seat, and the invisible pilot. "Who was that pilot?" I whispered
to myself. I can still remember the powerful jolt of the reality of Christ that hit me
the second I asked that question.
"Jesus" spoke a soft but firm voice in my mind, with a profound realness,
and authority I cannot explain. I can't say I've ever audibly heard Jesus speak to
me, but on that occasion, Jesus' voice was so crisp, and real in my mind, I might
have actually heard His name with my physical ears. Chills shot down my spine
and tears began to pour down my face. I didn't know what was happening to
me. Where was all this emotion coming from? I took a deep, stuttered breath ...
a significant breath ... the kind of breath a newborn baby takes after it first exits
the womb. I was shaking, not knowing what to do. I was just sledge hammered
with the reality of Jesus Christ unlike ever before, and I felt like I had to do
something! I was BORN AGAIN! I jumped off my bed and began pacing around
my room. "What do I do? What do I do? What do you want me to do God?"
Suddenly I felt God's presence rush up into my face, and a wake of His
love hit me like a ton of bricks! I stumbled backward and fell to my knees, crying
like a baby. He didn't tell me to do ... anything. He just said, "John, I love you
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man. Even if you don't do anything, I still love you. I've loved you since before
time began, and I always will. You can go on ignoring me every single day of
your life, but that won't matter. I will still love you, always, perpetually - with the
kind of love you're feeling right now." I laughed and cried at the same time. Who
was this crazy God of mine!
"But how can you love me? I'm a mess! I'm sick! Just look around this
room. You know the things I've done!" I never realized what a sinful person I
was before this day. For the first time in my life, I was asking God what He
wanted me to do with my life. "Just tell me God, whatever it is, I'll do it! I don't
care how crazy it is!"
Instantly, my eyes became alive with new light. Everything in my room
that was associated with sin became illuminated. I ran over to my refrigerator,
pulled out all the alcohol and began to pour it down the drain. As the alcohol
poured down the drain, I felt a sense of freedom pouring into my soul. That was
the key! The more junk I got rid of, the better I felt! "Thank you God!" I verbally
shouted. I was finally experiencing a communication with Him I'd never had
before. I frantically turned around, scanning my room for the next thing to go. I
instantly spotted some pornographic VHS tapes. "Yea!" I ran over to them, and
began shredding them apart and busting them into pieces. I started throwing
cassette tapes on the floor and stomping on them, and ripping posters off my
walls. I grabbed my phone number book and started looking up some phone
numbers of some of my friends. I proceeded to call one friend after another telling each of them to come and get their stuff out of my house, because I was
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destroying everything! While talking on the phone, I started burning books,
magazines, and other junk. I was FREE!!!
My friends thought I was putting on an act. I didn’t care. I just said "Get
your stuff dude. If you don't, I'll rip it, crush it, burn it, or flush it!"
"Why?" they asked.
"Jesus came to me in a helicopter."
"What?"
"Just get your stuff..."
This dream proved to be prophetic on several counts. Below are a few things
I've taken note of.

Since I took the hint and purged my life of a multitude of sinful activities
after having this dream, I'm certain that I avoided some horrendous
consequences. I did experience other consequences, however. Shortly
after this dream, the reality of the demonic realm jumped up into my face!
All my years of sin, and experimentation in the occult caught up with me. I
discovered that my faith was still very weak, and that my walk with God
had a long way to go. According to the demons that frequented my
house, I was missing the protection, and authority in Jesus Christ that I
needed in order to kick them out! I had to work at getting those good
things back from God. Read about ("My best friend Jack"), to understand
this more fully.

Rami and I used to party together all the time. He became my roommate
shortly after this dream, and then he became a born again Christian, too.
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Our spiritual lives were virtually paralleled. We walked together in sin, and
entered into Christ at almost the exact same time. Just like in the dream,
we walked together in sin, and then we both leaped into the helicopter with
Jesus at the same time. After living with me for about a year, he went
back to live with his mother, then he moved away from his mother and
went to live somewhere else. Rami was my best friend all throughout high
school, but over the years, he's become more distant. I hardly ever see
him anymore. It's not that I can't see him. It's just that he went his way,
and I went my way. When I jumped out of the helicopter and he flew off
with Jesus, he flew out of my life.

Finally, I have no doubt that Jesus is the best helicopter pilot in the world!
He also has a bizarre, incredibly funny sense of humor!
People can call me crazy if they like, (and sometimes they like), but I'm
convinced that Jesus came to me in a helicopter. Why He chose this medium, I
have no idea. One thing's for certain, the impact of that dream changed me
overnight. Most of the addictions and bad habits I left behind after this dream
were so far removed from me, I not only had no more desire for them, I detested
them. I had no struggle whatsoever in leaving that dead life behind. Now it may
not be the same for everyone else, but God knows which ways are best to guide
us into holy living. No one should ever be confused about sin, and a relationship
with Jesus. He takes us as we are - then cleans us up on the way, (Romans
5:8). All we have to do is be willing to subject ourselves to His process. There
will be a cost - I won't kid anybody about that. The cost may seem very pricey at
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times, but on the scale of eternity, the cost is less than a penny for an 80 million
dollar winning lottery ticket. I urge you, the reader, to let go of that penny, if you
haven't already! It's a good deal, trust me. In fact, it's the best deal that ever
was, and ever will be offered!
READ: Romans 5:8
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
8But
The key to having Jesus in one's life is simple. Ask, and seek, (Matthew
7:7-11). Forget about trying to clean up a sinful lifestyle before looking to Jesus the Word of God is very clear that people don't have it within their own strength to
do this anyway, (Isaiah 64:6). I'm fully convinced that God will take care of our
problems, in His own way, and in His own timing. It's true that one should expect
a certain degree of holiness in a professing Christian's life, but new Christians
shouldn't get hung up on this. Actually, it's the non-believers and new Christians
that often get hung up on seeing discrepancies in a mature Christian's life, which
is not good! That's why scripture distinctly states that true faith in Christ will bear
its marks in holy living - (1 John 1:5-9). But this holy living is not the work of
mature Christians alone - they are just being submissive to God's process, as I
stated earlier. Each Christian is different - dealing with God in different areas,
struggling in some, victorious in others, etc.
READ: Matthew 7:7-11
and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you: 8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh
findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9Or what man is there of
you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10Or if he ask a fish, will
he give him a serpent? 11If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
7Ask,
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your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good
things to them that ask him?
READ: Isaiah 64:6
we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away.
6But
READ: 1 John 1:5-9
then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you,
that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have
fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7But if we
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
5This
Some Christians burn with an uncommon intensity - while others kick and
scream with God dragging them along the way. It's easy to spot mistakes and
label people, but the fact of the matter is, nobody has any business pointing
fingers at anyone else if it isn't done out of pure motives and a loving heart.
Simply put, God will fulfill His promise to perfect that work in us which He has
started, (Psalm 138:8).
READ: Psalm 138:8
LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth
for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
8The
He's working with me, and He can work with you too. (Hopefully He
already is!) All I started with was a tiny seed of faith in my heart that had been
dormant for years. Perhaps with you, the reader, if you aren't a Christian already
- all it will take are these seeds of faith that are being planted in you right now!
READ: 1 John 4:7-10
let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is
7Beloved,
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born of God, and knoweth God. 8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is
love. 9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
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* A DREAM FOR A DREAM
As I've mentioned in other stories in this book, my friend Rami Bridges and
I have been best friends since the 7th grade. In my story, ("Jesus in a
helicopter"), as well as in ("The Swap"), I talk about how Rami and I had a
peculiar bond in which our lives were spiritually paralleled. After we became
Christians, the Lord used both of us to help each other on various occasions.
One night I had a dream that I saw Rami looking a little down and
depressed. He was standing in the doorway of a camper trailer, and when he
saw me, he appeared to be nervous and trying to hide something. I approached
him, and he moved to the center of the doorway, trying to block my view. I
peered around him and noticed something behind him. I won't get into the
personal details for Rami's sake, but I did see something inside his trailer that I
knew was out of character for him. "What are you doing Rami? What's up with
that? You know better than that."
He was ashamed and didn't know what to say. I spoke a few words of
encouragement to him, and told him that I knew he could do better than he was
doing.
When I woke up the next day, I was intrigued by the dream because I
hadn't seen Rami in quite some time. I called his mother's house because it was
the last place I knew of where he lived. Rami wasn't there, but his mother was,
and she was very excited to hear from me. She said that Rami had been going
through a lot of problems lately but that just the night before, he heard a word
from the Lord and was now starting to turn his life around. I decided to visit
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Rami, and when I got to his house, I noticed that there was a camper trailer
parked next to the house. As it turned out, that's where Rami was living.
I talked with Rami for a while, and then we prayed together. What I saw in
my dream was confirmed with Rami's confession, but he was greatly encouraged
and determined to get back on the right track.
About a year later after I had the dream with Rami, I was out exercising
and decided on a whim to roller-blade past Rami's house just to say hi. I hadn't
seen him in about a year or so, and was wondering what he was up to. Little did
I know - it happened to be Rami's birthday! Rami and his mother were really glad
to see me, and were going to call me and invite my family and me over for Rami's
birthday party. I accepted, and we had a great time.
Not too long after this short reunion, Rami told me that he had a dream
about me. He said that in his dream, I was sitting in an Indian Teepee, praying.
The scene was similar to that of a vision quest. I then got up, and walked outside
the tent. There was an old Indian standing next to the Teepee, holding the reigns
of a white horse. He handed me the reigns of the horse, and bid me to go on a
ride. Rami didn't understand what the dream meant. That was for me to figure
out.
I still haven't figured out what all that dream means, but I've heard
prophecies in my church that God has something really cool planned for me. I
seek that journey of the white horse.
READ: Revelation 19:11 (Note - this is He that resides within me)
I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him
was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
11And
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* MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S VISIONS
My Great Grandmother Thelma was a godly woman, having been married
to a preacher, my Great Grandfather Rant, since she was a young teenager.
1
Much of her life was spent traveling with Rant throughout the United States, while
he spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the early 1900's. I didn't get to know my
Great Grandfather very well because he died when I was still very young, but my
Great Grandmother's stories remain vivid in my memories. I talk about her a little
more in ("My Great Grandmother's UFO sighting").
Once my Great Grandmother told me about a time when she saw the Big
Guy Himself, JESUS CHRIST! She said it was during a time when she lived in
Oklahoma, and was recovering from a stroke that had paralyzed the left side of
her body. She said when she was laying in her hospital bed she looked up, and
saw Jesus walk into her hospital room. He was wearing a glowing white robe,
and his countenance was beautiful beyond description. He smiled at her, giving
her an incomprehensible peace, then turned and walked out of her room. Shortly
after this, she regained control of the left side of her body, and was healed from
her paralysis.
Dying to hear more, I asked her if she ever saw anything else amazing like
that. She said she did. She said she saw Jesus again, and also an angel saved
her life once.
One time in the late afternoon while sitting in her lawn chair in her back
yard, she decided it was about time to go inside. She folded up her chair and
walked to her back door when suddenly she felt the powerful urge to turn around
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and look up into the sky. When she did, what she saw took her breath away.
The thick clouds in the sky parted way, making a hole in the center of them
where a beam of light shined down. Then Jesus descended down from the sky
through the center of the clouds, all the way until he landed in her back yard.
She said it was by the peach tree that I was familiar with. I was astounded;
Jesus descended to earth in my Grandma's back yard in Madera, California!
"What did He say? Did He say anything to you?" I excitedly asked my
Grandmother when she first told me this story.
"Yes, He did" she spoke with her Kentucky accent. "He said He wasn't a
comin for me that time, but the next time He came, He was expectin me to go
with Him." My Grandmother smiled, and I knew she was as serious as a
lightning bolt when she told me this story. For those people that knew my Great
Grandmother Thelma, they weren't surprised to hear such a thing. I'd tell
everyone in my family about Grandma's visions of Jesus, and they'd just laugh.
She told me of another time when she was choking in the middle of the
night. Her neighbors across the street from her were working on an old beat up
car, and she was gagging profusely on the fumes it was generating. By the time
she awoke, she was too weak to move. She wanted to close the window next to
her bed, but she couldn't. Afraid for her life, she began to pray to Jesus.
Suddenly her bedroom door opened up, and a man that looked like a
soldier in uniform walked into her room. He closed her window, and then rolled
her over on her side so she could breathe better. After doing this, he walked out
of her bedroom and closed the door behind him. As soon as she felt good
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enough to get up, she got out of bed and entered the living room to see if Rant
forgot to shut the living room door. It was shut and locked with a half dozen
mechanisms.
"That was a soldier of Jesus, and he saved my life he did" spoke my
Grandmother.
Grandma Thelma told me those stories when I was just a little boy about 5
or 6 years old. I asked her about them a few more times when I was older, and
loved to hear her recount them with animated expression every time. Later in
life, Grandma Thelma was to have two more visions. After Rant died, she came
to live with my dad, my brother, and me for a few months, and I'll never forget
what she said one Saturday morning when my brother Charlie and I were in the
living room watching cartoons.
"I saw your Grandpa Charles in the spirit this morning" she calmly stated,
then turned the page of the newspaper she was reading. If you read about ("My
Great Grandmother's UFO sighting"), you'll see that she brought out that UFO
story in much the same way. She was reading a newspaper, blurted out some
outlandish statement as if nothing were out of the ordinary, then kept reading her
newspaper. She probably wouldn't have said anything else, had not my brother
and I perked up.
"What!"
"Yep, I saw Charles. I woke up this mornin in my bedroom down yonder,
and there he was - in a beautiful suit, glowin in the spirit, standin at the foot of my
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bed." Charles was my dad's dad - her son-in-law, who had passed away in
1980.
Several years later, while I was in the Army, my Great Grandmother
Thelma went to be with the Lord. As my Grandma Ruth told the story, (Ruth is
her daughter, who she was living with prior to passing away), Grandma Thelma
had one last vision prior to parting this world. 2 Ruth said that the day before she
died, Grandma Thelma told her that she saw Rant standing at the foot of her bed
with his arms stretched out to her. After she told her about the vision, she said
she believed she was going to go be with the Lord at any minute. The next day
she died. It happened while my dad was visiting her and my Grandmother Ruth.
When he went outside to get into his truck and leave, my Grandma Ruth followed
him out to say bye. While the two of them were outside, my Great Grandmother
Thelma had a massive heart attack and was lying on the floor, gone, by the time
Ruth came back inside the house.
Jesus popped in and said, "Okay, it's time."
Grandma Thelma probably replied back, "Finally! What took you so
long?"
I've told friends about the things my Great Grandmother saw, and the
patent response is that they thought she was lying - especially about the vision of
Jesus in her back yard. It does sound just down right corny, I know! It doesn't
even seem to have any imagination to it. But regardless of what it may seem
like, I have to say that I don't think my Great Grandmother Thelma had it in her to
contrive a completely fallacious tale, and consistently repeat it to her
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grandchildren! Furthermore, anyone that knew her would say the same. She
was hardcore HOLY - I'm here to say! I recall one evening when my brother
Charlie and I were at her house we pulled out a deck of cards to play Crazy 8's or
some such game, and she flipped her lid! "Get those cursed things out of here!"
I never saw her get so angry before. She was normally the sweetest woman on
earth. She said when she was a little girl and brought some playing cards into
her house, her mother snatched them up and burned them in the oven! Charlie
and I were a bit surprised and went babbling to our mom about the incident when
she came to pick us up. My mom patiently explained to us that what she said
might sound extreme, but in her days, people were shot and killed in card games
all the time. Anyway, the bottom line is that my Great Grandmother Thelma was
the last person on this earth that I'd ever accuse of lying. If she said she saw the
pope skateboarding at the mall, then by God I'd believe that the pope was
skateboarding at the mall!
I can hear my dad saying something like "I believe that she believes what
she thinks she saw", but not lying. She was so focused on Jesus her whole life,
anyone could say that the various episodes she had were mentally contrived
hallucinations, but why? She was sharp as a whistle until the day she died. And
why does this watered down conclusion have to be what really happened? After
all, more than 500 people saw Jesus float away up into heaven! Are all of them
crazy? Millions of people all over the world have faith in Jesus, and each of
those millions of people has a story to tell - a personal testimony, about how
Jesus personally entered their lives and transformed them. Consider who Jesus
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is! The Creator of the entire universe became a human being - born as a
helpless child that needed His holy diaper changed! Taking all this into account,
if Jesus is real, then what's so hard to believe that He might have done
something special for a woman that devoted her entire life to serving Him?
READ: Mark 14:62
Jesus said, I AM: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand
of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
62And
READ: Matthew 17:1-3
after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and
bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2And was transfigured before
them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
1And
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CHAPTER 5: GHOST STORIES
* EVERYONE SAW IT ALMOST EVERY NIGHT
When I lived with my mother, brother, and sister in Van Buren Arkansas, I
lived in a ranch house that was haunted by a ghostly image that my mother
called "Addy". My mom said that the woman that used to live in our house was
named Addy, so she just assumed it was Addy's spirit that haunted the house. (I
now theorize that what actually occupied that house was probably an apparition
rather than a spirit. Apparitions are like 'recordings of the past', while spirits are
sentient beings.) Only on a single night did I experience something of a sentient
nature in that house, which is explained in the story ("It woke me up one night").
The Addy apparition was an interesting one, because it was a recurring
phenomenon, (almost every single night actually), and we were able to validate
its existence by demonstrating a simple test with different people that knew
nothing of it. (Most of our new visitors had to endure this creepy test).
The Addy apparition stood leaning against the hallway door jam next to
the television at the far end of our living room. One arm was positioned against
the door jam, while the other arm was bent with the hand placed in the center of
the waist. When we had new visitors, we would ask them to look at the
television, and pay attention to their peripheral vision concerning the hallway and
describe what they saw in the doorway, if they saw anything at all. Invariably
people would freak out, and describe someone standing in the opening in the
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exact posture I just described. It was a very distinct posture, and everyone that
was given this test would describe a person standing in the same posture.
On some nights this image was so clear - it was downright disturbing. My
mother was always open about this odd thing, joking about it and personalizing
"Addy" as a family member. She had no fear, but it bothered me on occasion,
especially when I was alone.
After years of studying ghosts and other paranormal phenomenon, I’ve
come to the conclusion that I don't think the image that popped up in the hallway
of this house was a 'spirit', per say. I already mentioned this above when
referring to apparitions. My theory about apparitions is simple; in unusual
circumstances, the physical atmosphere may sometimes make ghostly imprints
of people, animals, or even objects. These imprints may take on both visual and
audio characteristics. They might also encompass other more complex vestiges,
such as emotions, or even certain thought patterns. Perhaps that's why people
see them. It's not the visual object people are seeing, but rather, a visual thought
pattern that is tuned into. There are numerous possibilities, many of which I find
to be more plausible than actual disembodied spirits, in most cases. It's not that I
don't believe in disembodied spirits - in fact, I do believe they exist, for reasons
that I discuss in my book, Aliens in the Bible. But each situation should be
analyzed uniquely when it comes to paranormal phenomenon, in order to
determine a correct classification of what is happening. Concerning the image
that appeared in the hallway opening of this house in Arkansas, it resembled
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characteristics of an apparition, rather than a spirit, because it was static, and
unintelligent.
The theory of atmospheric impressions is especially plausible in the
instance of ghostly objects, because it wouldn't make sense for a non-living
object to be a ghost. How could it? It was never alive to begin with. Yet,
consider the famous ghostly object as President Lincoln's funeral train. 2 Other
objects, such as ghost ships at sea, phantom cars, and even entire battle fields
complete with cannon fire, have all been reported.
3
Huge breakthroughs have been discovered with sounds that have actually
been recorded on audiotape, such as phantom piano music, and even phantom
noises of games of pool. In one instance, a homeowner discovered that her
home used to be used as a pool hall in one room because sounds of games of
pool were caught on audiotape by ghost researchers. 4 I saw this on an episode
of Sightings. These are all a part of the ghostly archive. Concerning apparitions
in general, the evidence gathered leads me to believe that they have something
more to do with a physical atmospheric phenomenon, rather than spirits.
What causes an atmospheric 'recording' to take place, while in other
times, what can make that recording enter 'playback mode'? And what about
real, disembodied spirits? How can one tell the difference between an apparition
and a disembodied spirit? These are questions that paranormal researchers
have been struggling with for years. Paranormal researchers are finally to the
point that they've narrowed down at least one type of ghostly phenomenon, and
that's what I've been discussing - apparitions. They are fairly easy to identify,
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because they are repetitive, and generally mindless. This definition can become
blurred, however, if the idea that intense thought patterns and emotions could be
recorded. One could easily state that since the thought patterns are being
replayed in a living brain, they can become reanimated, and assume a semiintelligent quality. The effect would be likened to a computer that's programmed
to do a certain task. Computer programs do nothing unless activated; then they
become dynamic processes. Processes aren't intelligent in and of themselves,
and will do only what they are programmed to do, but if enough programming is
involved, they can have many characteristics associated with living things. This
is what the entire concept of artificial intelligence is based upon. During an
interactive session, it just might seem like an advanced AI program is really
alive. Take this same concept, and apply it to thought patterns, which are by far
more complex than computer programming. If thoughts can be translated into
energy, then inserted into someone's brain in some unknown manner, who’s to
say what that the end result might be.
Another explanation of ghosts could be a distortion in the space / time
continuum. Perhaps the dimensional fabric of time and space becomes frayed in
certain areas under certain conditions, so that events of the past, or future, are
perceived by recipients of the present. For example, what if the area in the
hallway of that house in Arkansas was distorted in time so I was able to see a
ghostly image of myself in the future? Consider the following scenario:
1. The area in the hallway becomes distorted in the space / time continuum, and I
can actually see a distorted glimpse of the future at a specific set time. It just so
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happens that the future I'm looking at is at a time when I am standing in that
hallway in a particular posture.
2. Excited about what I saw while sitting on the couch, I run over to the opening
in the hallway, and ask the others sitting on the couch, "Look, it was standing like
this, wasn't it?" I then assume the posture of the ghostly apparition I saw in the
hallway, and wham - I just passed through a ripple in the space / time
continuum. Sounds cool, doesn't it? I just made the image of myself in that
posture that I was so scared of, and it became permanently imprinted in the
atmosphere. Makes one wonder about how little we know, doesn't it?
3. From the moment after I had my 'snapshot' taken in the atmosphere in that
location, my imprint remains, and replays whenever the conditions are right, even
in the past. Now what makes the conditions right? That's the hard part. Let's
just say that in that particular region, the earth's geoelectromagnetic fields
happen to be in a high concentration. Also, the hilltop on which that house is
located contains a high concentration of nickel, copper, magnesium, and iron.
Furthermore, a water pipeline runs right underneath the doorway of the hallway.
Combining all these elements together, along with say the room temperature, the
amount of ambient light in the area, and even the mental state of mind of the
perceivers, a 'playback' will occur. Granted, putting all these environmental
conditions together might be tricky, but it would have to be, in order to elude
researchers for so long! Some of the elements I mentioned, i.e., the earth's
geoelectromagnetic field, various high concentrations of certain minerals, and
especially water, have all been associated with ghostly phenomenon. It's too bad
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that paranormal research isn't given more funding. With technology such as
biocomputers, and robots with molecule-sized components, certainly we should
be able to figure out what causes an apparition to occur!
All of the theories I've espoused so far, combined with the reality that
disembodied spirits really do exist, can make things fairly complex to define.
This becomes especially true when taking into consideration that various types of
paranormal phenomenon are often linked together. For example, the house in
Arkansas might meet all the required conditions in order to create an apparition,
but as it turns out, those same required conditions also do other things, such as
open up dimensional gateways - where real disembodied spirits can enter
through! Confusing yet?
For anyone that wants to know more about what the Bible has to say
about ghosts, I don't want to repeat what I've already written about them. For
more information about what the Bible has to say, check out my other book,
Aliens in the Bible. It's not just about aliens. I have an entire chapter dedicated
to the topic of ghosts. As for what the Bible has to say about atmospheric
phenomenon, consider the fact that both Joshua, as well as Jesus, considered
rocks to be reliable witnesses. Were these enlightened individuals aware of the
'record' and 'playback modes' of the environment?
READ: Joshua 24:26-27
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great
stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
27And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto
us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be
therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.
26And
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READ: Luke 19:14 (Perhaps the same stone in Joshua 24:27, along with a
few of his buddies, was near by when Jesus made this statement)
36And as He went, they spread their clothes in the way. 37And when He was
come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude
of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the
mighty works that they had seen; 38Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in
the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. 39And some of
the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy
disciples. 40And He answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should
hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
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* IT WOKE ME UP ONE NIGHT
One night while living in Arkansas, (the same house described in
("Everyone saw it - almost every night"), I was awakened in the middle of the
night by someone shouting my name in my ear! The shout was so ear shattering
that I leaped out of my bed and yelled back, "What!" The room was deftly silent,
and chills shot up my spine. I felt I was being watched from the darkness. In a
blind panic I scrambled for the bedroom light and turned it on. Even the bright
room gave me little comfort. I still felt the piercing glare of an unseen set of eyes.
Quickly I ran into the hallway and hit the hallway light. I then jolted down
to my mother's room, but oddly, her bedroom door was closed. Not once had
she ever closed her door at night, but on this night, it was closed. I then went to
open her door but it was locked. In all the years we lived in that house, she
especially never locked her bedroom door - neither during the day or night. Fear
gripped me now even more so, because I couldn't get to my mother for help. I
couldn't understand why she would shut and lock her door. In a fit, I began to
pound on her bedroom door and scream "Help, mom - wake up!" but my mother
would not wake up. I then kicked the door and beat it with my fists as hard as I
could, but the door wouldn't budge, and my mother never woke up.
After about 5 minutes of panicking frustration, I realized that the situation
wasn't getting resolved, so I stopped and looked around me. Stiff with fear I
proceeded into the living room and turned on the light. Room after room I went,
turning on all the lights in the house. I then turned on the radio and cranked up
the volume. My mom still didn't wake up. I sat in a recliner in the living room and
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after about a half hour I became sleepy. I left all the lights on, but turned the
radio off, then went back to bed.
The next morning, I woke up and noticed that my bedroom light was still
on. Immediately I recalled the bizarre events from the night before. I quickly got
up and went to my mother's bedroom. Her door was wide open, yet she was
sound asleep. I wondered momentarily if I could've dreamed the whole incident,
but only for an instant. I can tell when something is a dream or not, and that was
definitely not a dream. All the lights in the house were still on, too, proving that I
was awake. I went to my mother, woke her up, and asked her why she shut her
bedroom door. She said that she didn't. I told her that it was shut and locked
during the night, and recounted the events to her. She claimed that when she
went to bed, her bedroom door was wide open, like always. Furthermore, she
slept like a log throughout the night, which I was already fully aware of.
"It must have been Addy", she concluded, then rolled over and went back
to sleep. Little solace for a 12 year old kid!
I have no idea what, or why - whatever it was woke me up. I'm fairly
certain that whatever it was, it wasn't the apparition that my mother alluded to i.e., Addy. (This house had an apparition that frequently appeared in the hallway,
and I talk about it in depth in the preceding story, "Everyone saw it - almost every
night"). As I stated in the previously mentioned story, I think that it's probable
that the same environmental conditions that were responsible for creating the
apparition in our hallway, may also have done other things, such as opening up a
dimensional gateway for something to enter through. Whatever did this to me
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not only shouted in my ear, but also shut my mother's bedroom door, locked it,
and then placed her into an intensely deep sleep - which was not characteristic of
my mother. Apparitions do not do things like that. All the Addy apparition ever
did was stand in the hallway in a certain posture.
Nothing of this nature ever happened to me again in that house, thank
God! The entire episode remains a complete mystery.
READ: Luke 12:4-5
I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after
that have no more that they can do. 5But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear:
Fear him, (God), which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say
unto you, Fear him.
4And
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* THE LADY IN BLACK
This story takes place in the house in Fresno that I used to live in when I
lived with my dad, step mother, step brother, and brother. I was about 12 or 13
years old when I lived there. I never saw this ghost, but I certainly felt it, and
several other members of my family saw it clearly. I think my brother saw it
before, but I can't recall his experience right off hand. The story I do recall
involves a friend of my stepmother's, who once slept on our couch in the living
room and woke up in the middle of the night. 6,7 She said she saw a woman
walking from the bedroom through the dining room and into the kitchen. She
called out, "Rose, will you get me a glass of water?" thinking this figure was my
stepmother. The figure ignored her while it strolled into the kitchen. "Rose" she
called out again, but received no reply.
The next day Kathy asked my stepmother why she ignored her during the
night when she went into the kitchen. My stepmother said she never went into
the kitchen. "Yes you did" Kathy protested. "You were wearing a black night
gown and walked into the kitchen. I asked you for a glass of water but you flat
out ignored me. Were you sleep walking or something?"
Rose answered, "I never went into the kitchen, I don't sleepwalk, and I
don't have a black nightgown. You must have seen the lady in black..." Needless
to say, Kathy never stayed over again. In fact, she seldom came over at all.
Gee, I wonder why?
Who was that lady in black? Could she really have been the restless spirit
of some woman? If she was, how incredibly sad! I wonder about this concerning
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all disembodied spirits, in those cases where the haunting - or whatever the
ghostly phenomenon is - involves real, true earth-bound spirits. They are all in
an incredibly bad situation, due to the fact that according to the Apostle Paul who
stated in (2 Corinthians 5:8), "8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be
absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." This statement of his
only applies to those that have placed their trust in Jesus Christ to save them
from death. Since restless spirits aren't in the presence of the Lord, then they
are either in death, or in hell, which is unspeakably unfortunate. The ones that
are in death are the ones referred to when speaking of ghosts, because they
obviously aren't in hell - yet - or at least the lower parts of hell. They might not be
in the lowest hell, but they still aren't in the presence of the Lord in any case.
Can a disembodied spirit accept Christ? I don't know when that line of
demarcation is when one must accept Jesus or go to hell, but I wouldn't want to
wait to find out, either. Most assume we only have the opportunity to accept
Jesus while alive, because of (Hebrews 9:27).
READ: Hebrews 9:27-28
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
27And
The wording of Hebrews 9:27 seems to indicate an immediate judgment
after death, but does it explicitly state there is no further opportunity to accept
Jesus? I'll leave this question open - and avoid the dogma.
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One thing I know for certain; without Christ as their mediator, their
judgment is eternal pain and sorrow. In (Revelation 20:13-15), the destiny of all
the lost is revealed with unquenchable sadness.
READ: Revelation 20:13-15
"13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to
their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire."
Looking at the bright side of things, I say ghosts can be a good thing. Let
them continue to scare the crap out of people, so we can have some serious
reminders to apply to the LIVING! As for those that have passed, sometimes I
wish I could go back in time and warn them. What would I say to that lady?
READ: 2 John 5
now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto
thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6And
this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment,
That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
5And
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* THE GRAVEYARD GHOST IN KOREA
In Korea, graves are scattered all throughout the mountains. Koreans
typically sheer off a portion of steep slope about 15ft to 20ft in length, making the
ground flat, set the deceased person in the middle of the flattened area facing the
valley below, then pile the excess dirt on top of the person. I was told that
Korean's do this in order that the deceased ancestors have the opportunity to
oversee the valleys below the mountains. The end result is that the mountains
are full of "Happy Mounds", as they are nick named, which from the air, they look
like eyeballs carved into the mountains.
During military maneuvers in Korea, troops typically travel throughout the
mountains and take rest breaks or bed down around Happy Mounds. They do
this because sometimes these are the only flat places there are; the mountains
are very steep. So when I was in the Army during my tour in Korea, I frequently
slept around graves. I recall one night I was so tired I couldn't see strait. I sat
down on the edge of a Happy Mound and started talking to someone sitting next
to me. When I turned, I realized there was nobody sitting there. It's possible I
could've hallucinated or my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I sure thought
someone was sitting next to me.
READ: 1 John 4:17-18 (In essence, when we are right with God, we have
nothing to fear...)
17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love;
but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is
not made perfect in love.
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* THAT TERRIFYING HALLOWEEN NIGHT
I have a vague, terrifying memory that goes back to when I was only about
4 or 5 years old. I know it was near Halloween at the time, because my brother
and I had decorated our room with numerous Halloween decorations, such as
tiny 3-inch paper ghosts we had taped to our bedroom walls, paper machet
spiders, etc. We also made miniature ghosts out of toilet paper tied with thread,
and flew them around the house as if they were model airplanes. (Don't gross
out - the toilet paper wasn't used).
I remember that I woke up in the middle of the night one night; I think it
was Halloween night. To my utter horror, I saw greenish glowing ghost-looking
creatures flying all over my room. They ranged from 1 1/2 feet to 3 feet in
length. There were hundreds of them. They were semi-transparent, and I
remember that I could see holes where the eyes and mouths were. Come to
think of it, they looked just exactly like what the stereotypical ghost is known to
look like, aside from the fact that they were a greenish glow, rather than white.
When I saw them, I was filled with unimaginable terror. I tried to scream,
but I had no voice. Only a whisper came out. The more I tried, the more muted I
became. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I was paralyzed. Tears streamed down
my cheeks, and the creatures seemed to feed off of my fear; it excited them, and
they flew about more wildly. One after another would swoop down over me,
flying up into my face with hideous wickedness. They were incredibly evil, and
wanted nothing more than to terrorize me. I was so young at this time in my life; I
didn't know anything about Jesus. I just cried, and stayed awake all night, stiff
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with fear. I think it was because of this horrible memory that I tried desperately to
learn the phrase "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus!", when I first learned about
what demons were from going to church with my Great Grandmother Thelma. I
actually already knew what they were. I just learned what they were called at
church, and more importantly, how to get rid of the stinking things! I talk a little
more about that in ("My best friend Jack").
Somehow, those evil spirits took away my voice, and paralyzed me. I
couldn't move to get out of bed and go to my brother's bed just on the other side
of the room. The evil spirits didn't go away until daylight came through the
window.
As a side note, we had a visitor staying in our house that night. He was a
teenage kid that my brother and I have many awful memories associated with. I
don't remember much, but what I do remember, I'd rather forget. I have no
doubts that he brought some unwanted guests into our house that night.
READ: Matthew 18:5-6
whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6But
whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in
the depth of the sea.
5And
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* MY GRANDPA WALTER'S BEDROOM
Finally, I'm on a ghost story that's actually somewhat funny. This
happened when I lived with my mom, brother, and sister in a ranch house off of
Highway 145 in Madera, California. For those readers that are familiar with
Madera, they just might know where this house is, (or rather - where it used to
be). It was there for so long, it's practically a landmark. It used to exist across
the Highway from Gene's Grinders about a half-mile past Tozer Bridge, right
before the railroad track underpass. All that's left now is a 40-acre lot gone
fallow, and a few remaining eucalyptus trees that used to adorn the old ranch
house. A peculiar feeling comes over me whenever I see those huge old trees,
still standing there, towering pointlessly as sentries guarding a homestead that
no longer exists. I feel old when I look at them. They seem ancient, having
outlived all.
One night while living in that ranch house, my brother, sister, her husband,
my mother, and I were all sitting around in our living room talking about ghosts.
Why? I don't know. We talked about everything. But even worse than talking
about ghosts, talk apparently wasn't enough. Someone got the bright idea to go
back into my Grandpa Walter's bedroom. This was probably my sister Sharon.
She was fascinated with ghosts, and claimed that she couldn't wait to be one
someday. She is still fascinated with ghosts, and has told me that the house
where she lives now is haunted. I wouldn't be surprised. It's sitting right next to
an abandoned cemetery. There are also numerous graves all over her property,
(coffin-less graves at that), where Indians were buried long ago.
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The ranch where we lived used to belong to my Grandpa Walter, and he
passed away several years prior to this incident. His room was left exactly the
way it was when he died, and nobody ever went into that room. It was very
creepy in there, even at daytime.
My brother, sister, and her first husband, James Cessor, and I all grouped
together and bravely ventured through the kitchen, then the pantry, then toward
the dark recess of my Grandpa Walter's bedroom. I think my mother opted to
hold the fort in the living room, complaining about our stupid plan. We didn't
know what we were going to do - at least I don't think we did. I didn't anyway. I
was only about 9 years old at the time. Now that I think of it, what were we going
to do? I'll have to call my sister and ask her! Kids. ANYWAY, it didn't matter
what we were going to do, because we never made it to my Grandpa's bedroom!
The structure of that old house was a bit odd. To get into my Grandpa
Walter's bedroom, one would have to go through the bathroom first. It was like a
bathroom / hallway - obviously an add-on to the house that didn't take normal
floor planning into consideration. We managed to get all the way to the
bathroom, but paused outside the first door. There was some debate about
who'd get the nerve to open that door. I knew I was out of the question. I
remained quietly behind the adventurous group, listening to their giggling, which
was nothing more than a vain attempt to stifle the surmounting fear. Finally,
someone opened the first door. We quietly began to pile into the bathroom.
There were so many of us crammed in there, I remember I had to stand on the
toilet just to fit.
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Now the second door. It was closed as well. On the other side of that
door was my Grandpa Walter's bedroom. Who was going to open that last
door? More giggling ensued as the debate surged. My brother decided that
enough was enough, and that he had to turn on the bathroom light. Up until this
point, we were in the dark, because the only way to turn on the light in that old
bathroom was to walk all the way inside to the back wall, then pull a string
mounted light switch. It was the old fashioned kind.
My brother grabbed that string and pulled it, but the light didn't turn on. He
pulled it again. The light still didn't turn on. I'll never forget the way he started
yanking on that string like a monkey on steroids! He screamed, turned, and
WENT! James barely had time to turn around, but Charlie had to get out of
there! His hands hit James in the back and shoved for dear life. Sharon was
behind James and managed to get clear, but James looked like a linebacker's
rack being shoved across a football field! His feet were firmly planted on the
ground, trying to maintain his balance, but since he was wearing socks, he slid
across the linoleum floor. Charlie shoved him about thirty feet, out the bathroom,
through the pantry and the kitchen, and right into the living room! He probably
would've kept shoving him had there not been a step they had to go up to get into
the living room. I ran as well, but even I couldn't keep up with Charlie, who was
shoving another body! What a sight. We couldn't stop laughing! My mother
recalls hearing a bunch of racquet, then seeing James Cessor literally thrown
into the living room like a rag doll! Charlie was only three years older than me,
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but when his adrenaline kicked in, he had the strength of an ox. Needless to say,
we got our fill for the night.
The story doesn't end there. The next day after school, after putting my
books in my bedroom, I grabbed a snack to eat. While browsing through the
refrigerator, I peered through the pantry and into the bathroom, which still had the
door open. It was daylight, so I was feeling a bit brave. I walked into that
bathroom, grabbed the string, and gave it a yank. The light turned on. I flipped it
off and on a few times to make sure it worked really well. It did. "O ... kay", I
said to myself, and then calmly walked out of the bathroom. Deep breath.
MOMMY!!!
While we laughed a lot concerning the events that transpired on this night,
it's not funny considering the fact that it associates my Grandpa Walter with
ghostly phenomenon. I certainly hope he's in heaven, and not trapped in some
limbo state, awaiting trail, or possibly torment! I hate to say it, but that could be
the case. My mom said that on the night my Grandpa Walter died, his girlfriend
said she actually saw him praying at the foot of her bed, asking for forgiveness.
(What is it about that spot at the foot of the bed, anyway?) Sorry - that just
popped into my mind. Continuing on, if this story is true about my Grandpa
praying for forgiveness, I think it's a good sign. Repentance is always good.
Hopefully he wasn't too late.
How many people do we know of that are STILL ALIVE, but don't know
the Lord? What is to become of them? For those that are reading this that don't
know Christ as their Savior, doesn't the idea of death seem disturbing? Jesus
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died, but He came back to tell about it. He said it's actually a wonderful thing - if
we ask Him to forgive us of our sins and save us. The good place He has
planned for us is incredibly awesome! There are mansions, beautiful rivers,
gorgeous countryside with lots of trees, and peaceful animals. Kids can even pet
the lions! As for those that want to take the risk and ignore what Jesus said after
He arose from the dead - I think you're all CRAAAAAZZZZYYYY!!!!
READ: John 4:16
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
16For
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* MY SISTER'S BIZARRE EXPERIENCE
After my sister got married to her first husband, James Cessor, she and
he moved to an island planted right in the middle of the mighty Mississippi river.
For anyone that's never been to the Mississippi river, it's BIG! The river was
wide on both sides of the island, and the island itself was about 8 miles wide! I
went there once with my mom and brother, to visit Sharon during Christmas
time. We took a ferry across the river to the island, and then had to ride on a
trailer pulled by an old farm tractor just to get to my sister's house.
The island where she and James lived was used for a hunting club. My
sister and her husband lived in a shack right next to the dining facility for the
hunting club, and they had only one other neighbor on the entire island. The
place was completely isolated.
I never saw anything out of the ordinary when I was there, but my sister
certainly did. She said that she thought the island might have been used as a
military outpost during the American Civil War. Many battles had been fought all
throughout the region, and countless numbers of soldiers had undoubtedly been
killed there. With that in mind, she said that one day while she and James were
having a picnic, they heard an enormous explosion that shook the ground! Their
neighbor didn't have anything to do with it. They never did find out what it was.
This was a relatively tame incident, however, when compared to the man in a
blue uniform that waltzed into their living room.
It was dark, and there was a light snowstorm going on outside. Sharon
was busy in the kitchen doing something, cooking dinner I suppose. James was
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sitting on the living room couch cleaning a rifle. He had it broken down into its
various components, and was madly working away on it when suddenly the front
door opened up. By the time he registered that something was happening, a
man dressed in a blue uniform walked through the front door and right into the
center of the living room. He paused and looked around, inspecting the
premises. Sharon said she saw the man too. Aside from the uniform, he looked
like a normal human being, just as real and solid as anyone. He was a white
male with blond hair and blue eyes. Oddly, he appeared to recognize the fact
that something wasn't right. When he came to this realization, he then look down
at James, and with an odd expression of "Oopse", smiled, then proceeded to turn
around and walk right back outside.
James was pale white with astonishment. Sharon was paralyzed.
Knowing that they were the only ones on the island aside from a reclusive
neighbor, and also knowing the futility of running around on the island, especially
during a snow storm – in the dark, they wanted to know who in the world that
was! Sharon turned to James. He looked as if he'd just had a frontal lobotomy.
"Who was that?"
"Du ... eee... thu..." It took a while, but he finally snapped out of it and
leaped off the couch. He quickly ran over to the door to see where the man
went. Their two dogs were huddled up against the door, sound asleep. He had
to heave the door open to get them out of the way. Once on the front porch, he
found there was no one to be seen. The night was pitch black, and it was
pointless to set foot out of that house.
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After James came back inside, he and Sharon began to recount the
incident. For one thing, the soldier's uniform was perfectly dry, and his shoes
were brightly polished, not having a speck of mud on them. Mississippi mud has
a reputation - there's even a BEER named after it! (Serious, it comes in a jug).
It's practically impossible to walk in it, much less completely avoid it during a
storm. Then there was the fact that he walked through a door that was blocked
by two sleeping dogs. Who in the world was that? Perhaps a better question
might be what was that?
After a minute or two passed, Sharon broke down and started crying in
hysterics. Her entire grasp on reality was shaken to its foundations. (My sister
happens to be one of the most fearless people I know, even to the point of her
own detriment at times).
Sharon and James talked about this episode for days. The strangest part
about the whole ordeal is the way the man behaved. He acted as if he was fully
aware that some sort of strange cosmic mistake had been made, and actually
seemed a bit embarrassed about it. One would think that a normal ghost would
be caught up in its own time frame, not actually taking a detailed notice of its
surroundings. Typical ghost stories are a dime a dozen. Ghosts are always
doing something, such as a mother searching for her daughter, or perhaps the
reenactment of a brutal tragedy. They are usually absorbed about whatever they
were consumed with in life, and oblivious about their ghostly circumstances. This
was completely different. This scenario seemed more like, "Oopse, we overshot
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our mark. Wrong time. Sorry people - excuse me! Everything's cool! You never
saw me." That's what it sounds like to me.
READ: 2 Kings 6:15-17 (Perhaps one of God's angelic, undercover Civil War
agents accidentally overshot the mark?)
15And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth,
behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his
servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16And he answered,
Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17And
Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And
the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
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* MY DAD'S ENCOUNTER
My dad recounts a time when he was a kid and spent the night at his
Grandmother's house. (This was not my Great Grandmother Thelma, for those
familiar with the stories about her in this book, but rather, another Grandmother
that I never personally knew.) While at her house, he said he woke up in the
middle of the night, and not too far away from his bed, he saw an old man sitting
in a rocking chair. Oddly, he wasn't scared about seeing the man. He just
remembers that he noticed the man sitting there. He casually rolled over and
went back to sleep.
The next day when my dad told his Grandmother about the incident, she
looked as white as a ghost when he described what the man looked like. She
then produced a photo album, and very quickly my dad found a picture of the
man he saw. He had no doubts the man he saw in the rocking chair was the
man in that photo album.
"That's your Grandpa" said his Grandmother, somewhat disturbed. He
had been dead quite some time.
An interesting side note to this tale is that I've had various conversations
with my dad about what happens to people after they die. He's of the opinion
that people don't continue on as individuals. I wonder how he reconciles what he
saw with his philosophies. I'll have to remember to ask him someday. That'll
take a conversational engineering effort to work up to.
READ: Hebrews 11:6
without faith it is impossible to please Him (God): for he that cometh to God
must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
6But
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him.
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* RALPH THE GHOST HUNTER
I have a good friend, Ralph Osle, which I met through my wife several
years ago. 8 Ralph and I hit it off really well when we first met since we both
share several similar interests. Ralph is a computer programmer, and I'm a
computer security specialist, so we began our friendship by going to computer
shows together, and I would show him my websites while he would show me his
latest programs. We always had something new to share with each other,
because there's always something new with computers.
Ralph and I also shared a common interest in the paranormal. We
swapped ghost stories from time to time, and enjoyed talking about UFOs and
such. One thing that starkly differentiated Ralph from me, however, was that fact
that I'm a Christian, and Ralph was not. When we'd talk about ghosts and other
topics that had elements extending into the occult, I would always hold to the
Christian paradigm, while he wasn't so willing to accept the Bible's explanation.
For example, when we discussed reincarnation, Ralph believed that
reincarnation might be a spiritual reality, while I would point out that (Hebrews
9:27) states that reincarnation can't be true.
READ: Hebrews 9:27-28
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
27And
I was open enough to suggest other possibilities such as the theory that
one could be possessed by the spirit of a deceased person, and confuse
someone else's memories with their own. Demon possession is also a possibility
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- though I don't use this explanation as the default explanation to everything I
don't understand. My biblical theories intrigued Ralph, because he'd never heard
anything like them.
I'm not sure if Ralph was entirely aware of it, but our paranormal
discussions frequently turned into discussions about the Lord. I’d like to take
credit for deliberately engineering it this way, but I’m not that brave. Witnessing
to others about Jesus is hard for me to do. It was just a natural transition for me
to make - in this case, since ghosts involve deceased spirits that aren't in heaven
or hell. The fact that ghosts exist seems to contradict the Bible, but in reality, it
doesn’t. The Bible speaks about ghosts in several places. Read my other book,
Aliens in the Bible, for more information about what the Bible says about ghosts.
For years I planted seeds in Ralph, not really knowing if anything would
ever come of it. The Holy Spirit is never imparted in words of contention, so I
never vehemently argued with him. When we disagreed, we debated. He would
present his views, and I would present mine. We'd frequently end with a
stalemate concerning our interpretations of paranormal phenomenon. Instead of
arguing and getting angry, we'd laugh about all of it and leave the table open for
discussion for another day.
Ralph challenged me time and again to dig deep to answer some of those
hard, theological questions. At times we would delve into the depths of theology
and reach that threshold that one reaches where if the Holy Spirit is not present,
no matter of logical reasoning and intellectualism will penetrate the unbelieving
heart. I knew that a part of Ralph was searching though; else he wouldn't have
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been so interested in spiritual things. But part of him was holding back. In
Christian terms, he had a bad case of "Thomas-itis". Jesus cured Ralph just like
He cured Thomas.
Ralph's interest in the paranormal grew over time, and reached the point
that our conversations weren't enough for him. He wanted action; he wanted to
see, feel, hear, and experience the unknown in a personal way. So, a few years
after we met, some time in the early 90's, Ralph picked up the hobby of ghost
hunting. He purchased some equipment, such as an electromagnetic field
detector, and a few other things. He then started his investigations in the police
department, where he worked into the late hours of the night. Strange things
happened there, so it was a good place to start.
As Ralph continued in his ghost hunting, he began to cultivate more and
more stories about the strange happenings in various places throughout Fresno.
He talked about doors opening and closing, and lights turning on and off at the
police department, and also talked about the old winery in Fresno, where the
turnover for late shift employees was unusually high.
A few times Ralph tried to get me to go with him on various ghost-hunting
excursions. He called me one night and said he was on his way to the Fresno
Cemetery for a round of ghost photography. "No, that's not a good idea Ralph.
You know, that stuff can follow you home." He was excited by my warning rather
than intimidated. At the time, he didn't realize what he was headed for, which
was something I just went through a few years prior. I already had my fill of the
experiences Ralph was seeking.
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Ralph excitedly showed me his photos he took at the Fresno Cemetery,
which I think are still posted on Ghost Web. 9 Ghost Web happens to be one of
the largest ghost websites on the Internet. Strange misty shapes and spots of
light showed up on many of his photos, which he said weren't there when he took
the pictures. One of them had a face in it.
My contact with Ralph was touch and go for a while, until one night when
my wife received a call from Ralph's wife Maria, inviting us to their son's birthday
party. She then said she had a surprise to share about Ralph. My wife and I
wondered what it could be. "Maybe Ralph's a Christian now?" I blurted out to my
wife, mainly in jest.
"No, don't even joke about that, because you know that's a touchy subject
with Maria." My wife was referring to the fact that Ralph's wife Maria is an ardent
Catholic; in fact, she was considering becoming a nun when she was younger.
Ralph's faith - or lack thereof, was always a point of contention in their marriage,
so jokes even hinting around the topic would not be tactful.
The next day we showed up to the birthday party, and Ralph was smiling
from ear to ear about something. The party was really busy, but Ralph took me
to the side a few times and told me that he had to talk to me about some stuff
that had been happening since we last talked. When we finally got together to
talk, I was both elated, and disturbed by what he had to say.
It all began when Ralph did all he could do with ghost photography, so he
began scouring the Internet for another avenue in which to extend his hobby of
ghost hunting. He eventually came across something that combined both
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computer technology, and ghost hunting into a single package. For Ralph, what
could be more intriguing? What he discovered was a program that explored a
phenomenon called EVP, (Electronic Voice Phenomenon). The way it works is
simple. Most versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system have a
program called "Voice Recorder", which is nothing more than a simple program
that records sounds. Using Voice Recorder, Ralph would ask some simple
questions, such as "Hello, is anybody there?" Then he would put his computer
into record mode and stay quiet. After recording what seemed to be nothing but
silence in his computer room, he would then transfer the so-called silent sound
file into the EVP analysis program he downloaded from the Internet. The EVP
analysis program would then filter out static noise, and amazingly, the end result
was anything BUT silence. In fact, what Ralph heard was the voice of someone,
or something claiming to be a 44 year-old woman by the name of Andrea
Andersen. She said she once lived in Greenland, and died in a car crash with
her boyfriend back in 1944. Thus began Ralph’s relationship with something which at the time was exactly what he was looking for.
Once Ralph gave me the background of what he was now exploring,
(which was nothing more than an advanced, electronic Ouija board), he had a
book's worth of information to relay to me. First of all, he said he was now a
Christian, because he could actually hear people that were trapped in hell,
screaming! (Perhaps my earlier joke about Ralph becoming a Christian would
more accurately be described as a prophecy?)
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Hearing people suffering in hell affected Ralph so dramatically that he
went into his backyard, fell to his knees, and cried for the souls of the lost. He
repented in that moment, asked Jesus into his heart, and dedicated his self to
praying for these souls that claimed to be trapped in purgatory, waiting for
someone to pray them out. So, I was elated to hear that Ralph now believed in
Jesus, but wasn't too thrilled about his profession of the doctrine of purgatory,
and especially of the fact that he was communicating with a familiar spirit.
Ralph had more - much more information to relay. He told me about the
various levels of hell, the rules of purgatory, certain information or secrets, which
the spirits weren't allowed to relay, and on and on. I can't say I absorbed
everything he had to say as if it were gospel; I couldn't get past the fact that his
communication with these spirits was in direct violation of (Deuteronomy 18:1012, Leviticus 19:31, 20:6-7, 20:27), and numerous other scriptures.
READ: Deuteronomy 18:10-12
shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his
daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of
times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all that do these things are an
abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy
God doth drive them out from before thee.
10There
READ: Leviticus 19:31
not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be
defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
31Regard
In (Leviticus 19:31, and 20:6-7), there are warnings even for me - not to
heed what Ralph was telling me about what the spirits were telling him. These
scriptures of warning shouldn't be taken lightly. The strongest possible language
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is used to warn people not to have anything to do with communicating with spirits
in the spiritual realm. Forget about what the spirits might do. Scripture warns
against God's wrath! He's a jealous God.
READ: Leviticus 20:6-7
the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to
go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him
off from among his people. 7Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I
am the LORD your God.
6And
READ: Leviticus 20:27
man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely
be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon
them.
27A
Ralph's profound change of heart and profession of faith, combined with
the false doctrines he was also professing presented me with a confusing
scenario. On the one hand, I could see that there was certainly a genuine faith in
Jesus; it was in his eyes. On the other hand, I discerned that there was a
tremendous darkness in his midst. I could feel it in his house. He opened a door
in that house, and the battle was on.
Ralph explained that his dramatic conversion was due primarily to the fact
that these spirits he was communicating with told him that Jesus is Lord, and that
heaven and hell are a reality, and they confirmed many things in scripture that he
doubted for years. They also told him a bunch of things that were flat out wrong.
One of the doctrines that they validated to Ralph was the idea of purgatory.
Ralph and I debated for a while about this, but didn't come to any conclusion. (At
least together we didn’t). I told him that if there is a place like purgatory, it's
nothing more than one of the upper levels of hell.
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Ralph gave me a website,
http://www.religioustolerance.org/purgatory.htm, which gives a very good,
unbiased outline about the doctrine of purgatory. I researched it, looked up all
the scriptures, and also did some extended research in other sources. I
compiled this research into another article I put in this book, titled (“Does
purgatory exist?”).
I told Ralph that it was awesome to see that he now believed that Jesus is
the Way to eternal life. One thing Ralph was never able to overcome was the
idea that so many millions of people on earth are deceived with false belief
systems such as the Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic religions. Now he believed,
despite this stumbling block. But something troubled me tremendously. Why on
earth would a deceased spirit say anything about the Bible, when in fact it's the
Bible that condemns communication with deceased spirits in the first place?
Such a deception could only hold up for a short amount of time before falling
apart. I pointed out a few of the major inconsistencies to Ralph, and his wheels
were spinning. He then countered my statements with his personal testimony
about how these spirits helped him stop smoking, and they also forced him to
open up and confess his sins to his wife. According to Ralph, this was a
tremendous ordeal that made him feel like he was having a heart attack. But
once it was all over, their marriage had experienced dramatic improvements as a
result.
I can't argue with a testimony, so we left the table open, again. I had a
feeling that it wouldn't be long before things would fall apart, and Ralph's
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newfound faith would be tested. I also had the feeling that satan's strategy,
whatever it was, backfired when Ralph found Jesus - for real.
After returning home from the birthday party, Vilma and I couldn't get any
sleep that night. About midnight, I was still awake, unable to sleep. Suddenly I
heard a bang against the bedroom window, the TV made a loud popping noise,
and what sounded like a muted roar penetrated the silence. All three sounds set
off at the same time, and ended instantaneously. I was startled, and looked
around the bedroom, feeling the eerie presence of an unwanted visitor. My wife
stirred in her sleep; she was also restless. I prayed over our home, and tried to
go to sleep. Later that night, about 2:00 AM, my wife stirred awake and felt a
horrible presence. She said she felt that there was a tall, dark male figure
standing next to my side of the bed. She rebuked the spirit in the name of Jesus,
prayed over our home, and tried to go to sleep. We both continued to wake up
throughout the night, and each time, we prayed over our home.
The next day we talked about the events occurring during the night. We
both had nightmares. We walked through our home and prayed in all the rooms.
Our unwanted visitors left and our home returned to its previously peaceful state.
Two weeks later, I heard a knock on my front door. I peeped through the
peephole in my door and saw Ralph, Maria, and their kids quietly standing on our
front porch. They never came without calling in the past, but here they were.
"Humph?"
When I opened the door, I saw that Ralph was visibly shaken. "We have
to talk", he stated soberly.
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Ralph and I went to my bedroom to talk, while Vilma and Maria talked in
the kitchen. Ralph brought with him a notebook, which he nervously clutched.
He proceeded to rattle off a list of theological questions, all pertaining to various
doctrines he was receiving from the spirits he was communicating with. He didn't
know where to start.
"I don't need the computer anymore. I deleted the program off my
computer, and I haven't even been in my computer room ever since. I also got
rid of all those demonic computer games. I stopped..." Ralph paused, trying to
collect himself.
"We went to see a priest, and he told me that what I was doing was
dangerous, and that I opened up some kind of doorway that's allowing all kinds of
things into my home. These things are driving us crazy. Maria's hearing them
too now."
"What? Wait a minute. I thought you said you used your computer to
communicate with them."
"Not anymore. They started communicating through the electromagnetic
interference of electrical devices. That's what they told me. We could hear them
every time we turned on the AC, the radio, the TV, the microwave, or the vacuum
cleaner. Even Maria started hearing them just like me. Now it's to the point that
we can hear them all the time, without anything turned on. It's so bad that I
haven't been to work in a whole week, because they won't leave me alone. I
hear people screaming in hell, and I hear demons telling me to worship the devil
and they'll give me anything I want. I'll just be driving down the street, and the
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voices will be pointing people out to me, telling me that they belong to satan. I
even heard my grandfather's voice screaming in hell, and I can't tell if it was him
or demons playing tricks on me..."
Ralph could barely hold himself together. His prior enthusiasm turned into
torment. He was smiling with glee before, when he told me about how the spirits
were playing on his swing set in his backyard, and he could see the swings going
back and forth on a windless night. He told me with excitement about the spirits
telling him to go outside and take photos of them, and about the time one of the
spirits blew past the plant in his computer room and made it move as if a fan was
gusting against it. He showed me a number of pictures, each with strange balls
of light showing up in various locations in the photos. But now it wasn't fun
anymore. He and his wife could hear demons roaring in the night. Their children
were experiencing chronic nightmares. They heard small footsteps pattering
throughout their home, and the creepy sounds of small children giggling in dark
corners. When he went to the bathroom one night, he heard a small tap on the
window, and a voice spoke in his head, "Come outside and take pictures of us
like you used to. We're waiting for you."
"When I saw you on the porch, I figured something was up" I told Ralph.
"We've been praying for you guys. We had some strange stuff happening
around our house too, just after going to your house for the birthday party."
Ralph appeared semi distracted, as if he were receiving signals from
something else, even as we talked. "You're not the only one. My cousin Carlos
visited us from Santa Maria last week, and after he went back home, all kinds of
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weird stuff was happening to him too." Spending time at Ralph's was almost like
a disease - whoever went there got infected with ghosts and demons following
them home.
"They didn't want me to come here", Ralph informed me. "They told me
you weren't home, and when you didn't answer the door right away, they started
laughing, saying 'see, I told you he wasn't here.' They tried to get me to leave
before you answered the door."
Apparently, things fell apart...
"You said you saw a priest? What was that like? Did he pray for you?"
"No. It was mostly just trying to see if the stuff we're experiencing is
psychological or not. We only got to talk to him one time. We tried to get with
him again to see if we could get our home prayed over, but they were too busy."
"I know what that's like. I used to attend a church on Palm Avenue where
I was given a similar treatment. The church I go to now isn't like that though.
You should go to church with us sometime. There's a guy there that's been in
deliverance ministry for years. He sees spirits all the time, so for him it's no big
deal. The stuff that's freaking you out so bad can be cast out really easy if you
commit yourself to the task, and do things God's way. Of course - you have to do
things God's way, and when you learn what that's all about, you'll find that it can
be quite a challenge." We prayed together, and Ralph was relieved.
While I was upstairs talking with Ralph, my wife was talking with Maria in
the kitchen. Maria told my wife about something the demons were twisting
around in her mind. The priest they talked to advised them that whenever the
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demons torment them, they should respond with the statement, "I rebuke you
satan in the name of Jesus." Maria said the demons manipulated her mind so
that when she tried to rebuke them, her rebuke came out as "I rebuke you Jesus
in the name of satan". When she told Ralph about this, he knew for sure that she
was experiencing the same thing he was experiencing, because they did the
same thing to him.
Ralph and Maria came to our church the following Sunday. Before leaving
church, I introduced Ralph to my pastor. When Ralph first said to Josh that he
heard spirits talking through his AC vents, Josh couldn't contain himself and
busted up laughing. I suppose it is somewhat of an odd opener. "Hi, I'm Ralph.
Spirits are talking to me through my AC vents." It didn't come out quite that way,
but sort of.
When Josh started howling, I thought, "Oh no. Come on Josh, hold it
together!" He finally stopped laughing, and started listening to Ralph, while
Ralph proceeded with his story. I was glad to see Ralph being so tenacious.
Josh ended up telling Ralph that it wouldn't do any good to pray over his home
unless he really committed himself to seeking out God and being filled with the
Holy Spirit. This advice comes from a warning in scripture concerning spiritual
warfare. Once demons are cast out, if the person they were possessing,
manipulating, or otherwise tormenting, doesn't fill his or her life with God, they'll
come back with a vengeance, even worse than before, (Matthew 12:43-45).
READ: Matthew 12:43-45
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places,
seeking rest, and findeth none. 44Then he saith, I will return into my house from
whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and
43
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garnished. 45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more
wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that
man is worse than the first...
The only way to get them out and keep them out is to be filled with the
Holy Spirit, stay in the Word, and stay committed to the path of righteousness
and growth in Christian maturity. (I’m sure there’s a thousand other ways of
stating this same thing). I imagine Josh gave Ralph this advice also because he
didn't have any idea where Ralph was, spiritually speaking. This was the first
time they met.
When Ralph asked Josh if he thought he was crazy, or if he ever heard of
anything so preposterous, Josh put Ralph at ease by telling him that he had
countless stories of people going through similar scenarios. "Same old tricks nothing new. I wasn't laughing because I think you're crazy. It's just a wild story,
that's all." Josh prayed with Ralph and Maria.
The next Sunday, Ralph and Maria didn't come to our church. My wife
thought it would be a good idea to visit Ralph and Maria to see how everything
was going, so we stopped by after church. They said they were doing a lot
better, but they could still hear the voices from time to time. They were just
learning how to tune them out. After talking with Ralph, I got a sense that going
to our church may have aroused a point of contention. They had been attending
a Catholic church in the mornings; the same church with the priest that they
talked with before. Beat me with a stick if I'm wrong, but it's generally frowned
upon by Catholics, to be a Catholic, and attend a Protestant church. Our church
doesn't much resemble the typical Catholic Church, either. No queued bowing,
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sitting, kneeling, or standing; no verse memorization recital; no priestly robes.
Everyone dresses casually, and Josh, our pastor, says things like "We don't want
your crap anymore!" when rebuking the devil. So, it goes without saying, our
church is slightly different than Ralph and Maria's church.
By the way, if you the reader are Catholic, please forgive me if I have
brought offense against you. My intention for writing is never to cause division. I
don't like theological debates, either. They're pointless. Without the Holy Spirit,
all the philosophies and doctrines in the world, even if they contain truth, can be
venomous. So please forgive my drivel about Catholicism if any of it sounded
negative. I’m convinced that God loves Catholics and Protestants the same, for
like the Apostle Paul, 'I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,' (Romans 8:38).
Again after going to Ralph's house, some unwelcome guests followed us
home again. My wife and I were both restless throughout the night. Our
neighbors had their swamp cooler on, which made an irritating whistling type
noise that gave me the creeps. I felt like something kept trying to communicate
to me through that noise, and I struggled to ignore it. It never bothered me
before. My wife had a worse experience. She woke up around 2:00 AM, hearing
the muted cries of a man screaming in torment. Pray - go away...
The next day after I went to work, my wife came downstairs and heard
what sounded like a group of people talking outside on our back porch. The
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talking ceased immediately when she looked out the window. Nobody was
there. We prayed over our home again after I got home from work, and the
demonic garbage went away again.
The following Sunday, my wife and I were happy to see Ralph and Maria
show up at our church again. After service they went up to get prayer. I was
glad to see our deliverance team praying over them. The man I mentioned
earlier that's in deliverance ministry laid hands on them. He could write his own
book like this book, and it would probably be at least four times bigger than this
one, with nothing but personal experiences of his own.
To my surprise, while I wasn't looking, Ralph and Maria were both struck and stuck - to the floor, by the power of God! Ralph later told me that he used to
laugh at people that did that, as if they could help it. He thought the whole idea
of being 'slain in the spirit' was a big joke, and was attributable to either a
psychological phenomenon, or was a fraud. He had to reassess his point of view
while lying on the floor in the midst of a profound God given peace.
Ralph and Maria haven't been to our church in a while after that last
Sunday. The last I heard from Ralph, they're regulars at the Catholic church they
go to. Ralph told me he still hears voices, and anytime he wants to listen to them
he can, but he chooses not to. He says he's doing better at tuning them out, too.
The poltergeist phenomenon in their home has toned down too.
Reflecting on the entire turn of events, which completely altered his
perception of reality and way of life in a time frame of less than a month, Ralph is
glad, overall, about his final outcome. He's not going to hell, and for the first time
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in his life, he understands just exactly how awful, and real hell really is! He also
realizes how much bondage he used to be in, and the profound freedom from
that bondage he's currently enjoying has been a great relief, despite the torment
he went through to get it.
Ralph still wonders if some of the voices that speak to him have
something good to offer. Some claim to be angels, or spiritual guides trying to
help him. They give him what seems to be good advice, but that which may
seem right isn't always the case, (Proverbs 14:12).
READ: Proverbs 14:12
is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the
ways of death.
12There
Ralph also experiences trance-like states from time to time. This gift, I
guess one might call it, came about shortly after his experience at my church.
While in a trance-like state, he receives words of knowledge about certain
situations, people, or events. On one occasion, while speaking to a friend of his
at work, he was struck by a powerful force, and became completely immobilized
for about two to three minutes. When he finally snapped out of the trance, he
prophesied to his friend that the person his friend knew of that had cancer was
going to die soon, but that that person’s child would live. Ralph didn’t want to
give this bad news, but he says it was like God completely took over his body.
I personally don’t know what to make of all of the stuff Ralph tells me. I’m
glad I don’t have to make a ruling on it, because I just don’t know. Ralph told me
that he now knows for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that it’s God who
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speaks to him when he enters one of these trances. But this file is still open in
my mental filing cabinet, under the label “unknown”.
I’ve told Ralph before how satan works. The devil is good at what he
does. He feeds people elements of the truth to draw them in, and once he
obtains a captive audience, that's when he tosses in a lie. Over time, more truth
is exchanged for lies, until the end result is nothing but lies. But like I said, I have
no conclusion about what Ralph experiences. Many things seem to line up;
Ralph was floored by the power of God at my church, he prays, attends church,
and reads his Bible all the time, but in the same token, he still sees small pricks
of light, (spirits), which communicate to him, and some of them he knows are
deceivers. My gut says something isn’t right – even with the ones he thinks are
good. My only advice to him is to pray, and seek out the truth. God won’t let him
down.
My good buddy Ralph, ghost hunter turned Christian, found Jesus while
hunting for ghosts. Is that not an unusual testimony? His story is not over. Far
to the contrary; his journey has only now just begun.
READ: Acts 16:16-18
it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a
spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants
of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18And this did
she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command
thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same
hour.
16And
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CHAPTER 6: HYPNOSIS
* WAS I POSSESSED?
Back again to my Army days, I was experimenting with self-hypnosis this
time. I know you're laughing; self-hypnosis. Go ahead and laugh, but keep it to
a minimum, okay? When I first heard of the concept, I pictured myself sitting in a
chair completely zonked out - never to return! "He hypnotized himself" my room
mate would be telling everyone in the barracks, while the guys in the white
jackets wheeled me off in a wheelchair to the local insane asylum. It's nothing
like that, but I still don't think it's good. (I don't advise this AT ALL! It's one of
those things that you don't try at home - or work, or anywhere for that matter.
Forget the hogwash about the trained professional. It's not a good idea for
anyone!)
I was interested in self-hypnosis because I wanted to see if I was
possessed. Self-hypnosis also has applications for channeling spirits. I wanted
to both see if I already was possessed, and if not, I wanted to BECOME
possessed! My purpose for this was that I was interested in becoming a
medium, because mediums throughout history have been known to have
enormous psychic power. Again - NOT GOOD! Possession is something to
avoid, not SEARCH FOR, for crying out loud! What can I say? I was as lost as
last year's Easter egg.
It all started when I purchased two books. The first book was by Edith
Fiora, titled "The Unquiet Dead: A Psychologist Treats Spirit Possession". 1 Edith
Fiora is a psychiatrist by trade, and has written a number of paranormal books
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about UFO abductions and spirit possession. The other book I purchased, titled
"Past Lives / Future Lives", was written by Bruce Goldberg.
2
Both Fiora's and Goldburg's books are based on hypnotherapy sessions.
Having read "Past Lives / Future Lives", I can say with Biblical authority that the
philosophies it purports in support of reincarnation are completely inaccurate. As
I've stated earlier in this book, and in Aliens in the Bible, (Hebrews 9:27)
completely uproots the foundation of the doctrine of reincarnation with such plain
wording that there's no way around it, (though some people are very creative in
making the Bible fit with anything).
READ: Hebrews 9:27-28
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
27And
Now people can claim to believe in reincarnation if they want, but they
can't believe in reincarnation and the Bible at the same time, (without completely
distorting scripture), because the Bible excludes the possibility of reincarnation.
In addition to Goldburg's reincarnation propaganda, some, or perhaps
even most of his work is flawed due to inadvertently planting false memories
suggested into his subjects' minds while they were under deep states of
hypnosis. This is a common side effect with hypnotherapy, despite the frequent
objections that hypnotherapy experts might raise. I've read transcripts of several
hypnotherapy sessions, and it's clearly obvious what's happening in some
cases. For example, a hypnotherapy session can begin like such:
"You feel yourself falling back into time. You're getting younger ...
younger ... younger ... younger. You're 15 years old now. Slipping further back,
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you are now 5 years old. Slipping further and further back. You are now a
toddler. Feel yourself falling back in time. Take yourself to the day you were
born. You remember just exiting the womb. You are now inside the womb, and
still slipping further back in time, even before that. You're warm, and protected and calmly falling back. Now floating downward, you can feel that you are inside
a body. You are alive, and inside a body. Stretch out your arms, and wriggle
your fingers. Grab your chest. What do you feel? Are you a man, or a woman?"
The above scenario is typical of a hypnotherapy session that involves
regressing someone into a past life. Even the layman can see problems with it.
In the above scenario, the hypnotized person was given the following
suggestions:
1. He or she was told, or suggested that he or she remembered being 15, and
then 5 years old. The person probably has real memories back this far, but
maybe not. The fact of the matter is - it doesn't matter. He or she was told that
he or she remembered these things; therefore the human brain makes something
up to fill in the gaps. Three factors account for this: 1. The person is under a
state of hyper suggestibility, 2. The human brain has an incredible talent for
creativity, and 3. Any psychology book will clearly tell you that human memory is
naturally reconstructive anyway, without hypnosis.
2. He or she is then regressed to being a toddler, and then all the way to the day
of birth. I believe many things - if you haven't noticed by reading my stuff - but I
seriously doubt anyone saying he or she can remember the day he or she was
born.
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3. Beyond the womb, the creative juices of the brain really kick in. Doing just as
they’re told, clients fall back, float downward, and then feel themselves inside a
body - prior to the time of their birth. They experience these things, because they
are told that they are experiencing them. When given the option of being a man
or a woman, some people will play with the idea of being another gender, simply
because the option is given. Some people are very creative, and don't require
hardly any suggestions beyond this point. Others, however, have to go through
several sessions of past life regression to get used to the idea of creating false
memories.
Having said all the above about the varied outcomes of hypnosis, it's easy
to come to the conclusion that all of it is nothing more than a collection of induced
delusions, but I don't come to this conclusion. Probably most of it is completely
fallacious, but I don't think all of it is. Fiore has other theories, aside from that of
reincarnation, in which I think she may have accurately assessed a real
phenomenon. One of those theories in particular, which isn't a new discovery at
all but has been around for quite some time, concerns spirit possession. While
Fiore never laid claim to having clients that were possessed with demons, she
did have several clients that seemed to be possessed with the disembodied
spirits of other people.
I talk more about spirit possession in my book, Aliens in the Bible, so I
won't get into the details of repeating the biblical connotations again. In short, I
don't think spirit possession by disembodied spirits of deceased people is a nonbiblical concept. In fact, I think there may even be biblical evidence to support its
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existence. Furthermore, it may be more common than most people think,
unfortunately. For more information, read the chapters about ghosts, thoughtforms, and reincarnation in my other book, Aliens in the Bible.
Now that I've laid the background for self-hypnosis, exactly what was my
experience with it? In the back of one of Fiore's books, she provided a template
for a self-hypnosis session. How thoughtful. (She has another book titled "Spirit
Release Therapy: A Technique Manual", that provides more detail on this
activity). 3
All I had to do was fill in a few blanks, speak slowly and boringly, and
record my own session on an audiotape. The entire process took me about two
hours to complete. Reading and conducting the session myself, I did my best to
avoid making any obvious suggestions. I've read highly suggestible
hypnotherapy transcripts before, (just like the example I gave above), and this
didn't seem to be one of them. It was a fairly basic session. In fact, it was so
basic, I couldn't even see a connection between what the transcript read, and
what actually happened to me.
After making my tape, I turned off the lights, put the tape on, then lay on
my bed and listened to it. Since hypnotherapy is purposely boring, I feel asleep,
or at least it seemed like I did. I had a dream about some guy that I knew of
when I was a kid. In fact, I dreamed that I was he. He was a pretty raunchy
dude, from what I recall. I hadn't thought of him in years. In fact, I never thought
of him. I had no idea why he, of all people, was the one I dreamed about. I didn't
know him personally - I just knew members of his family, yet didn't care to know
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any of them. They were those kind of people, I suppose. Jesus, have mercy on
them! If you read ("That terrifying Halloween night"), the guy I'm talking about
here was the older brother of the teenager I mention in that story.
All I remember in the dream is what it was like to be that guy that I didn't
even know. I remembered a car he used to hot rod around in, pouring gasoline
on the tires and peeling out around his neighborhood. Flames burst from the
tires when he pealed out. Then the dream shifted to a dam on a canal, which
was a place my brother and I used to play all the time. We didn't actually play on
the dam, but rather on the large sand dunes not far from it. In the dream, I recall
falling into the river where the dam was, and drowning. It was awful! I woke up
from the dream, feeling as if I had just died! As soon as I woke up, I heard the
words from my session tape blurt out, "You are now fully awake, and you will
remember everything you experienced, if you experienced anything at all."
YUCK! What a horrible experience! I turned off the tape and started
pacing around my room. Things started coming back to me. I remembered that
when I was about 11 years old, I heard that the guy I just dreamed about had
drowned in the canal at the dam where my brother and I used to play. I felt as if
a part of my consciousness was waking up, and realizing that I was not John, but
someone else! It was a sickening, fearful experience. I walked over to my wall
locker, opened it up, and then looked in the mirror. It was strange! I felt like a
part of me was tripping out, totally out of place! "Who are you?" I asked myself in
the mirror. I felt as though I should be seeing someone else's face in the mirror.
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I then took note of my appearance; specifically, my clothing. I recalled
that my taste in clothing changed dramatically when I was around 11 years old.
For some reason I went from wearing bright colors to wearing black, and was
fixated on anything leather I could get my hands on. I never cared about clothes
before that. I also started wondering why I had a fixation on things like
motorcycles, and certain kinds of fast cars. For some reason, the whole grungy
biker image, clothes and all - became a part of my personality starting at around
11 years old. I was nothing like that before. Everything was starting to fall
together, like the pieces of an ugly memory coming to life. That guy's spirit was
wandering around the canal, and when he saw me and my brother playing out
there, he zapped me! I didn't like what I was thinking!
"You get out of me!" I demanded, looking in the mirror. "Get out, and stay
out. You've screwed me up for long enough. I don't even know who I am
anymore! How much of me is really you?"
From that moment on, up until I became a born again Christian, I
questioned some very basic things about myself, such as what my favorite color
is, (blue, not black), what kind of clothes I like to wear, whether I'm a sociable
person or not, etc. In many cases, I've had to think back to what I was like when
I was 6 or 7 years old.
Stubborn in my ways, I also tried a formula for channeling in another book
I had about self-hypnosis. I can't remember why I did that, having such an
unpleasant experience with Edith Fiore's self-hypnosis therapy sessions. This
experiment didn't last long, however. About 10 minutes or so into the channeling
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exercises, I felt like what I was doing was incredibly stupid. I didn't have much
spiritual sense in those days, but God certainly opened my eyes up on that one.
All I remember is having this feeling come over me that I better stop, or I was
going to pay dearly for it. I took the hint and stopped.
Several years later, if whatever it was didn't leave me, (grungy dude or
demon), it and whatever else was forced out of me for good when I became a
Christian. I got cleaned up in church. But in all seriousness, the only way to deal
with possession of any kind, whether demons - or departed disembodied spirits,
is through Jesus Christ. Edith Fiora, while giving instructions on how to cast out
the spirits that may possess someone, leaves out a few very important details.
First of all, without the authority of Jesus Christ, possessing spirits don't have to
leave. They can pretend to leave. They can also thumb their noses up and
refuse to leave. Without Jesus standing in the way, they can pretty much do
whatever they want to people, (or whatever God allows them to get away with, I
should say). Secondly, for those that don't have Jesus in their lives, nor plan on
having Jesus in their lives, they might as well leave whatever spirits are in them
exactly where they are, because according to Jesus in (Matthew 12:43-45), the
situation might even get worse if they are cast out. They leave all right, but only
for a short vacation. When they come back, they bring all their friends with them.
READ: Matthew 12:43-45
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places,
seeking rest, and findeth none. 44Then he saith, I will return into my house from
whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and
garnished. 45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more
wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that
man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
43
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CHAPTER 7: MIRACULOUS HEALINGS & EVENTS
* HEALED THROUGH THE INTERNET
Here's an interesting series of emails that transpired between me and
someone I've never met. I'll just call her Joyce as a pseudonym. 1 I did a little bit
of editing, but only to get the grammar legible.
EMAIL #1
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 07:23:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joyce
Subject: Re: from Joyce
To: John Milor <jmilor@yahoo.com> | Block address | Add to Address Book
Hello again. I don't know if you remember me but I would like to ask you a
few questions. You mentioned that you had the ability to heal people. I really
believe that God does work through you and you do have the faith, so I was
wondering if you would be able to heal me and a friend of mine. Also, we would
like you to teach us what you know. I live in Canada, Dinorwic Ontario, to be
exact. I know that I am asking a lot of you, but I believe that you have the truth
within you and that we could learn a lot from you. I know you must be very busy
and probably get a lot of people asking you to heal them, and I would understand
if you said no, but I am willing to travel to wherever you live if you say yes.
Please get back to me on this, okay? I would really truly appreciate it. Oh yeah,
one night when I couldn't sleep, I started watching T.V. and this program came
on about how they figured out the gene map of how human beings are made up.
There are a lot of positive and negative possibilities in knowing this information.
Does this have anything to do with the "Mark of the Beast"? Thanks for listening,
and God bless.
COMMENTS
First of all, I'm not sure where this kind spoken lady got the idea that I'm a
faith healer. My only guess is that in my book, Aliens in the Bible, I barely make
mention of the fact that God used me in the past to perform a miraculous healing
once. I make mention of the same healing in this book as well, in the story titled
("My best friend Jack").
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Anyway, I don't go around clearing out hospitals, or having healing
crusades, but by the tone of this lady's email, you'd think I had bolts of yellow
lighting shooting out of my hands. I'm not mocking her - far to the contrary! She
read just one little blurb out of that whole book, and she was all over it. Now that
would be awesome, to have healing bolts of yellow lightning, but my experiences
with healing have been rare; amazing and mind blowing, YES, but rare. People
aren't knocking down my door for healings, either. As for traveling to meet me this woman was the first to make such a suggestion. Perhaps healings don't
have to be so rare? Maybe I should just try it out more often? Some say healing
is always in God's will, yet others will say "Look around", and quote scripture
about the Apostle Paul's "Thorn in the Flesh". I'll be honest, I just don't know,
and it can be frustrating sometimes. But one thing I do know for sure; God CAN
miraculously heal people, because I've seen and experienced Him doing it. Also,
I believe He DOES heal people all the time, all over the world. I also know it has
something to do with His power, our faith – and somewhere in there, love comes
into the picture. As for the combination, or the formula - or whatever, I'm still in
my infancy about those things. I just pray, and focus on believing, and the rest is
up to God. BELIEVE. For me, that means clearing my mind, and focusing on
everything that I know of God, and everything He's revealed to me, and
commanding my spirit to trust Him.
When I first read Joyce's email, I immediately began to draft up a
response to the tune of "Don't get your hopes up". But before finishing, I reread
her email. Something struck me about it. It literally drips with faith. It's the same
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kind of faith that Jesus responded to time and time again, saying "Because of
your faith, you are healed". Suddenly I felt that the Lord wanted me to do
something that I wasn't initially going to do. Following is what the Lord directed
me to do.
EMAIL #2
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 07:23:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Milor <jmilor@yahoo.com> | Block address | Add to Address Book
Subject: Re: from Joyce
To: Joyce
(Matthew 7:7) says "Ask, and it shall be given you". Jesus said this. The
Lord says to you - "REJOICE, YOU ARE HEALED!!!" Now it is time to claim your
healing, as well as the power to heal your friend!
1. Lay your hands upon the computer screen 2. Say these words out loud: "Thank you Lord Jesus for healing me"
3. "I receive your touch of healing NOW, in your name Jesus Christ"
4. "I also receive your touch of healing power NOW, anoint my hands to heal, in
your name Jesus, AMEN."
You are now healed - believe it. Furthermore, your hands are anointed
with healing power. As soon as you get the opportunity, go to your friend, lay
hands on your friend, and pray for healing just as I have done for you. You will
see the miracle of healing occur right before your eyes!
God Bless you!
COMMENTS
One might say I was taking a big risk, but I sent off that email, laid my
hands on the computer screen, and did the best I could do with all God has given
me to "doubt my doubt", and believe that Jesus was really going to heal this
person. Here's the response I got back 9 days later.
EMAIL #3
From: Joyce | Block address | Add to Address Book
To: "John Milor" <jmilor@yahoo.com>
Subject: Fw: From Joyce
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Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 13:31:12 -0500
Dear John,
I can't believe the turnaround John!!!! I don't know exactly how it
happened but now I'm going back to school to pursue a different career and start
my own business when I'm finished. My ex fiancé phoned me on Saturday and
told me he couldn't live without me in his life any longer! I went to the doctor
today and found out I have absolutely no sexually transmitted disease AND I
don't have cancer!!! I'm sooooooo happy right now it's unbelievable!!! I thank God
and I thank you for praying for me also. Thank you sooooooo much! I will keep
in touch and let you know how I'm progressing. Thank you for caring and praying
for a stranger. Thank you.
COMMENTS
For those reading this that have a hard time beleiving that they can be
used by God to heal others, be encouraged. I don’t know any formula, and I
struggle with things like healing. To avoid doubting, I simply did my best to forget
about the initial email I sent out. This is what happened. Jesus didn't leave this
woman or me out in the cold, and I thank Him profusely! I could hear Him saying
to Joyce, "Because of your faith, you are healed!" Joyce, God bless you! And
for anyone reading this that needs a healing, email me, okay?
jmilor@yahoo.com It’s worth a shot in any case.
READ: Mark 16:17-18
these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out
devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18They shall take up serpents; and if
they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the
sick, and they shall recover.
17And
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* RESURRECTION POWER
The kingdom of God is full of saints that are obscure from the world’s point
of view. John Hadden is such as man. To the world, he’s a contractor who
specializes in painting, but in the kingdom of God, he’s a saint anointed with the
gift of prophecy, among other things.
John has many colorful stories that would find their home in this book. I
have included three of his stories, which are inter-related with the theme of
resurrection.
John is part of the leadership in my church, which is how we initially met.
I’ve received much prayer and counseling from him. Back in November of 2002,
I hired John to help me with some remodeling on my home. During this time, we
had several conversations in which I was privileged to hear about some of his
various experiences.
In one such conversation, I told John about something odd that happened
to me on my way home from work. While I was driving home, I stopped at a
stoplight, and a bird flew over to my truck and landed on the top of my cab. It
was such an unusual thing for a bird to do, that I did a U-turn after the
intersection, pulled into a parking lot, and then investigated. I thought that
perhaps the bird was an angel, and it was trying to tell me something. Nothing
came of the incident, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
“Did the bird talk to you?” John asked.
“Do you mean like Balaam’s Donkey or something? No, I just thought it
was unusual.”
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There was a momentary pause while I pondered John’s question. I knew
there had to be something more behind his question.
“Why do you ask that question?”
“Has any animal ever spoken to you?” he further asked.
“I don’t think so. I can sometimes tell what an animal feels by judging its
behavior, but I wouldn’t call that talking.”
Another conversational pause passed while John intently textured my
enclosed patio. He baited the hook, and I had to bite.
“Has an animal ever spoken to you?” I asked.
“Why sure” he answered, continuing to texture the wall as if nothing
unusual were said.
“An animal spoke to you – like Balaam’s Donkey – in plain English?”
“He didn’t talk to me in English, but I know he was definitely
communicating something to me. He was dead, and God raised him back to
life.”
I thought the talking animal was the highlight, but the story was getting
better. John proceeded to tell me that one day while he was doing bookwork in
his house, a bird slammed against his window so hard that it killed itself. Hearing
the noise, John looked out the window and saw the dead bird lying on the
ground. He normally would’ve ignored it, but he said that at that moment, he felt
God’s presence, and sensed that God wanted him to pray over the bird so that it
would come back to life.
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“But God, there’s people out front. They’re going to see me and think I’m
some kind of wacko praying over that dead bird” John whined. “Why?”
“Because I love even the sparrows”, spoke the Lord.
“Okay, I’m going, I’m going. He went outside and wandered around trying
to look like he had a purpose in his yard, not wanting to attract the attention of his
neighbors. Kneeling down, he started pulling weeds, and then casually made his
way over to the dead bird. He picked up its lifeless body, said “Be healed in the
name of Jesus”, then put it back down, stood up, and went back inside his house.
A little while later, John started questioning himself about what he did. He
wondered if he even heard God at all, or if his mind was just making stuff up. He
got up from his desk and walked over to the window and peered out. Suddenly
the dead bird sprang up and flew up to the middle of the window, and hovered
there, vigorously flapping its wings. (It wasn’t a ‘hovering’ type of bird).
The bird’s appearance in the window was so sudden, that John stumbled
backward and nearly fell down. While it flapped with all its might, it turned its
head and glared at John. Its eyes were burning with intensity, and John dropped
his jaw. Needless to say, the dead bird carcass on John’s lawn was nowhere to
be found.
As I write this story, a curious thought just popped into my mind. I wonder
if the bird that landed on top of my truck was the same bird. That little guy is still
flying around out there somewhere.
Anyway, John’s story didn’t start, or end with the bird. John explained that
he believed that God used this bird as part of a series of faith-building
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experiences. Prior to the resurrection of the bird was another related incident,
that began one day when John was working in his yard and he struck up a
conversation with his next-door neighbor. During their conversation, the woman
mentioned that she couldn’t have children.
“Can’t have kids, well why not?” John questioned.
“I’m missing some female parts”, she said candidly.
John was suddenly struck with compassion for the young lady, thinking of
how sad it would be to never have children. Reflecting on the joy his own
children brought into his life, he was taken with the notion that there should be no
reason for this lady to be deprived of such a precious gift.
“Well that doesn’t matter. Abraham and Sarah in the Bible couldn’t have
children, but God made Sarah pregnant when she was 99 years old!” John
exclaimed. The woman laughed, as if to brush off John’s statements.
“Do you mind if I pray for you to have children?”
The woman looked at him suspiciously for a moment, and then agreed.
She wasn’t a Christian, nor did she live a wholesome life. She and her husband
would frequently have guests over, and they’d make no attempt at hiding their
drunkenness and obvious involvement with drugs. John later discovered that
she didn’t even want to have children, but for some odd reason, she conceded to
his request. She most likely wouldn’t have, if she knew what was going to
happen because of it.
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“Lord heal this woman and enable her to have children in the name of
Jesus”, John said briefly while touching the woman’s arm. The following month,
she became pregnant, despite her missing parts.
Unfortunately, this woman wasn’t happy about being pregnant. She didn’t
wear maternity clothing, and basically lived her life as normal, drinking and
smoking, and on top of everything else, she was anorexic. She and her husband
would zip around town on his motorcycle like wild animals, and one day, going
over 80 miles per hour, her husband jumped the motorcycle with her on the back
of it. She flew off of it and when she hit the ground, she broke her back. When
she was examined at the hospital, the doctor pronounced her baby dead, and
told her that she had to have it surgically removed.
The woman was taken home, where she awaited the appointments for the
operations ahead of her. Staying true to character, she refused to take care of
herself, and tried to make her way around the house, despite the fact that her
back was broken. During her attempts at walking, she stumbled and fell, hitting
the temple of her head against the corner of her coffee table. She went blind.
Her husband had no doubt been feeling guilty about her decrepit,
deteriorating condition. He knew about John’s prayer for her to have children,
and the results it produced. Out of desperation, he went to John’s house and
asked him if he’d be willing to come over to his house and pray for his wife. John
concurred, thinking especially about the baby that God had given them. In his
mind, this baby was meant to be; God wanted this baby to be born, despite the
fact that it was pronounced dead, and its mother could care less.
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There were quite a few people present. Among them was the woman’s
aunt, who was a registered nurse. Her demeanor was condescending. She
glared at John with a disgruntled expression, while John asked the woman if she
would mind if he prayed in another language.
“Go ahead” she said, and then John proceeded to pray. Calling upon the
power of God, John proclaimed a battle cry against the forces of darkness. He
laid his hands upon the woman’s womb, and commanded the baby to come back
to life. As soon as he did this, the woman’s stomach proceeded to exude a
series of fervent thrusts from the inside. The baby was quickened by the Holy
Spirit, and started kicking up a storm!
Everyone in the room was completely amazed. The registered nurse,
however, completely lost her mind. She screamed as if she’d witnessed the
most horrific event of her life, then turned and ran for the front door. She
smashed into it with such force, it nearly broke. Out she went, screaming all the
way, not having any idea where she was going–just so long as it was AWAY.
“You’re going to have to believe to receive your sight,” John told the lady.
“I do,” she said. John prayed that Friday night. The following Sunday
morning, John saw her while he was pulling out of his driveway on the way to
church. She waved at him and his wife from her front porch.
“How do you like my new purple dress,” she asked.
John thought the question was odd, crunched his eyebrows and
answered, “It’s…nice?” She smiled and went inside her house, and John
continued to backup until his wetware circuitry finally made the connection.
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“She’s healed!” he exclaimed to his wife while putting on the breaks. “Did
you see that? She saw us. She waved. The…purple…dress… Wow! Isn’t that
cool?”
I asked John if he still knew those people, and what became of them. He
said shortly after the healing, they moved away, and he never saw or heard of
them, or their baby, ever since. But the incident made a strong, faith-building
impression. Then the bird incident that followed after that was a living creature
that he saw with his own eyes. These experiences brought John through various
levels of faith until he understood in a fundamental way that God’s power is
sovereign, and has no limits. Anyone who believes that God can raise the dead
is capable of issuing this command and seeing it come to fruition.
They say good things come in three’s, and such was the case with John’s
experience with God’s resurrection power. The next person to be resurrected
from the dead was one of John’s co-workers.
Ray (this isn’t his real name, but I will use it to protect his identify) lived his
life carelessly. He spent the majority of every check he made on drugs and
alcohol. John talked with him on more than one occasion about this matter, but
to no effect. Ray’s life then took a turn for the worse (or to be more precise, it
came to a complete stop). One Friday evening after work, he overdosed on a
substance that John asked me not to mention, because it’s a substance that
pretty much guarantee’s death if one is contemplating methods of suicide. After
ingesting this substance, Ray was taken to the hospital, but it was too late. He
was dead, and they couldn’t bring him back.
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Sometime later during the same evening that Ray overdosed, John
received a phone call from someone telling him about what happened.
Concerned, John called the hospital to inquire of Ray’s condition, and to ask
what room he was in so that he could go to the hospital and pray for him.
A nurse answered the phone, and when John asked what room Ray was
in, she replied, “Oh, you can pray all you want, but it won’t do any good. He’s
dead, and no amount of prayer is going to bring him back.” (By the way, I’m not
trying to give nurses a bad reputation)
John could hear a satanic influence seething through this woman’s
heartless words, and a righteous fury enveloped him. “I’ll tell you what lady, my
God can do anything, and to prove it, I command in the name of Jesus Christ that
Ray rise up from the dead this very instant!” John then slammed his phone down
on the receiver.
Ray was dead for several hours, lying on a table awaiting his trip to the
morgue, when he suddenly sat up. He wondered why he was where he was at,
but didn’t spend very much time contemplating it, or the dream he was previously
immersed in. He simply left the hospital and tried to put everything behind him.
When Ray came back to work the next Monday, he worked along side
John for over a week without a mention of what transpired. John occasionally
glanced at him askance, wondering what happened. He wanted to bring it up
several times, but refrained.
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About a week went by when John heard Ray talking to another co-worker,
apparently enjoying a conversation about the lose living he was going to enjoy on
the coming weekend. John finally lost his patience.
“Sir, I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I can’t believe it. Just two weeks
ago, I received a phone call from the hospital that you were pronounced DEAD.
You tried to kill yourself, and you succeeded. I called the hospital, and after a
very unpleasant conversation with a nurse, I commanded in the name of Jesus
that you come back to life. I have seen the glory of God in the fact that you are
standing here today. But goodness man, you are wasting this precious gift! God
has granted you a second chance; He brought you back from the grave, and wild
parties are all you can think about? What is the matter with you!”
The color departed from Ray’s face, and he completely lost his
composure. He was holding a one-gallon bucket of paint, which he dropped. It
was oil-based paint, and John cringed when he saw the bucket hit the concrete
floor where they were standing. The damage would’ve been painstaking, but
miraculously, the paint shot out of the bucket in a perfectly vertical column, and
then dropped strait back down into the bucket without spilling so much as a
single drop.
John’s eyes widened with amazement. “Wow, there are angels here right
now” John exclaimed, focused on the bucket of paint, while Ray, meanwhile,
bellowed and ran as fast as he could for nowhere in particular.
John didn’t hear from Ray until TWO YEARS later. When he finally talked
to Ray, Ray told him that he thought that what happened to him was a dream.
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He was standing before Jesus, and Jesus said to him, “John Hadden is praying
for you right now, so I am sending you back.” He thought he dreamed the
incident, but as soon as John spoke about the incident at work, the vision
awakened, and he found himself once again standing on the edge of eternity.
The words, “John Hadden is praying for you right now”, shot through the core of
his being with a jolt of thunderous force. He couldn’t think. Rippling waves of
dread overshadowed him, and all he could do was scream–though no sound
could release the anguish within him.
God bless Ray. He still has time. I hope and pray that he uses it well.
READ: Galatians 5:21
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.
READ: Matthew 10:7-8
And as ye go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely
give.’
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# A DAY AT THE RODEO
I heard a story from my brother Charlie once about an incident that
happened at one of the rodeos in Madera, California. I heard this story so long
ago, I can't even remember which church or anything, but in Christian circles,
these kinds of stories are always floating around. There are books upon books
of them, for anyone that yelps out, "Well why didn't I hear about it? How come it
wasn't on the news?" The fact of the matter is these things happen all over the
world all the time. They just seldom make the news for one reason or another.
In those rare instances when they do make the news, what becomes of them? A
three-minute segment zips by, passed off as no more than a curiosity, and then
on to the weather...
During the rodeo, one of the cowboys, Marty Upton, was bucked off of a
bull, and the wild beast stomped the cowboy in the stomach. 2 It stomped him so
hard, his stomach started to swell up like a balloon, and it was looking like he
wasn’t going to survive.
The bull was quickly contained, and Marty’s mother jumped out of the
stands and down into the arena. She and her son attended the same church,
and she was part of the church prayer team.
She ran over to her son, laid hands on him, and began to pray. By the
time the paramedics arrived, everyone was expecting Marty to be dead. Instead,
the paramedics couldn't find anything wrong! The swelling was gone, and Marty
was feeling fine. Marty wasn’t a regular church attendee, and from some
accounts he wasn’t what people would consider a very dedicated Christian, but
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he never refrained from telling this story to those that asked. The event struck a
chord in his soul, and recalling it always reminded him of the day God saved his
life.
READ: John 14:12-14
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall
he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my
Father. 13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. 14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
12Verily,
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# JOHN HAGGEE'S FRONTAL ATTACK
John Haggee is a famous evangelist that airs on the Trinity Broadcast
Network (TBN) from time to time. People may ridicule television evangelists, but
I really like John Haggee! He's cool. He has some great sermons that are
available on VHS, and one in particular certainly peaked my interest. The series
I'm referring to is called “Invasion of Demons”. 3 It's a popular tape series, and
has aired on TBN a number of times.
In this series, John Haggee stated with emphatic authority that on one
occasion, a member of a cult group, actually, a male witch, or warlock if you will,
walked into his church with a loaded shotgun in his hands. This was during a
time when John Haggee was sent to the University of the Kingdom of God,
where just like me - he too was enrolled in a course on spiritual warfare. (To get
a background on this metaphor, refer to "My best friend Jack"). In essence, he
was learning by experience some things about demons. Before these
experiences, he considered demons to be an antiquated concept of biblical
times.
So there he was, in front of his entire congregation, paused in the middle
of a sermon, staring at a crazy man with a loaded shotgun. The warlock lifted his
shotgun up to John Haggee's face, and started spouting off some awful
nonsense about how the devil was more powerful than God. John Haggee stood
his ground. He made a slight alteration in his sermon, but continued
nonetheless! He lifted his Bible up and shouted back at the man a verse, which
I've taken the time to memorize after seeing this particular sermon. In (Isaiah
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54:17), God declares that "17No weapon that is formed against thee shall
prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt
condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their
righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."
The mad gunman was unmoved by John Haggee's conviction, and
proceeded to unload every round of ammunition in his shotgun. John Haggee
says the man was no more than 8 feet away, aiming the shotgun right at him and
not a single shot touched him!
A football player in the congregation tackled the mad gunman as he tried
to make an escape. The gunman was later jailed, and on the following day, he
committed suicide in his cell.
After giving this testimony, John Haggee stated that this sermon was
being recorded at the time. He played back the recorded audio tape of the event,
which revealed a number of people calling on the name of the Lord, and then a
resounding series of shotgun blasts shortly followed.
READ: Acts 13:6-12
when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain
sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: 7Which was with the
deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas
and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas the sorcerer (for so
is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy
from the faith. 9Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost,
set his eyes on him, 10And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of
the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right
ways of the Lord? 11And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and
thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell
on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by
the hand. 12Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being
astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
6And
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# THE MAN FROM ROMANIA
Personal testimonies of faith in Christ vary far and wide, and I love to hear
them all. One the first personal testimonies I can recall that shocked my senses
was when I went to church in Madera, California, to the Grace Assemblies of
God, with my Great Grandmother Thelma. There was a guest speaker that day;
a man from Romania. 4 He was there with his wife and 6-year-old daughter to tell
us about his personal testimony.
He said he was a die-hard atheist while growing up, and his mother was
always witnessing to him about the Lord. He fully resented her for it, and cursed
her every time she opened her mouth. He went into the details about how sinful
the life was that he was living, and that he'd frequently come home to find his
mother praying on her knees, in tears, begging the Lord to open his eyes. On
one occasion he became so upset with her he barely came short of beating her.
He bellowed hateful words, disowning her as his mother, then stormed out of the
house in a furry.
While driving madly about, frustrated with his life and having a temper
tantrum, his car was struck by oncoming traffic and was completely demolished.
He was dead. Now this is where the story became interesting.
He recalled being taken down to hell, and seeing demons everywhere,
and a huge pit full of fire. There were people inside of it, screaming in agony. He
saw one demon changing into a costume of sorts that made it look like a
beautiful being of light - and off it went up to the surface. "He's going to go
deceive some more schmucks like you", taunted a demon near by. One demon
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in particular was his escort, and it was having a ball showing him around,
taunting him about what it was going to do next. The Romanian was so full of
terror; he couldn't look at the creature. It was hideously evil, and unimaginably
terrifying.
"There's just one last thing I want to show you before I throw you in that
pit", exclaimed the demon. It took him down a long corridor, opened up a large
gate, and out they went. Once outside the gate, he could see a beautiful city far
away, floating up in the sky. "Now if you'd listened to your mother, you'd be over
there right now. Just thought you might want to know that, before I throw you off
into that pit!" It cackled, thinking its last taunt was going to crush the man's spirit,
but the Romanian man was taken with a sudden spark of faith, even at this most
incredibly morbid moment. He began to speak to God in his mind.
"God, I know you can hear my mother right this very moment. I'm sorry I
let her down. If not for me, for her..." Suddenly a powerful wind swept down on
the man, and the demon shrieked and ran away. The wind carried this man up to
the huge city. It was just as described in the Bible in the book of Revelation. The
gates were made of a single carved pearl. There were mansions, and streets
made out of pure, luminescent gold. He also recalled seeing an unimaginably
beautiful river flowing from a huge temple where God's throne is.
When he first entered through the gate, he was handed a small white
tablet. It had his name written on it. He was then escorted to a large banquet
hall, where he walked up to a chair to sit at a table. The one he walked up to just
happened to have his name written on the back of it.
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Jesus Himself walked up to this man. It was at about this time that he
noticed the peculiar sound of a woman's voice echoing over an unseen P.A.
system. "Do you hear that?" asked Jesus.
"Yes. That woman... sounds familiar. That's ... my mother! Oh no!
What's happened to her? Is she dead too?"
"No no. She's very much alive, and she's praying for you right this
moment. We hear her like that all the time." Jesus smiled. "Tonight, she's
coming through loud and clear. She knows your dead. In fact, you've been dead
for four days, but she's still praying. She's been fasting and praying with an
incredible faith, since she learned that you died in that car crash four days ago.
She's on the steps of the mortuary right now, asking me to bring you back to life."
The Romanian man felt terribly ashamed, and didn't know what to say.
Finally, he began to cry, suddenly coming to his senses with the awesome reality
of everything that was happening. Everything his mother had told him throughout
his whole life was true!
"You're going back", Jesus told the man.
Astonished, the Romanian man looked up. "What? Didn't you just say I've
been dead four days?"
"So".
The Romanian man was engulfed in a whirlwind, and the next thing he
knew, he found himself laying on his back inside of a small steel box. He tried to
get out, but couldn't. He started pounding on the steel door, yelling for help.
Finally, the door opened up, and he sat up. He was sitting inside a mortuary
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cabinet, staring face to face with a man that was as white as a sheet. The man
backed up, shaking, not knowing what to think. "Is that crazy lady outside your
mother?" asked the man.
The Romanian man jumped out of the steel box, amazed that he was still
alive! He was BORN AGAIN! He leaped at the man that opened his box, and
gave him a huge hug, then kissed him on his cheek. He then started yelling
about how he had just been to heaven, but the man looked confused. The
Romanian man didn't realize it yet, but he was speaking in an unknown
language! In fact, he said he spoke in tongues for 6 months after this experience
before returning to his normal language. He also later found out that he was so
dead, that his body was rotting in the mortuary.
He ran outside the mortuary, swept his mother off her feet, and gave her a
great big hug and a kiss. She couldn't understand what he was babbling, but she
knew something happened to him. His eyes were different - and he was ALIVE!
Shortly after giving this testimony, this man's 6-year-old daughter was
given the microphone. She proceeded to proclaim the Word of God, and then
started praying in tongues! His wife came on the stage and hugged him. They
were truly an astonishing family. It's possible that he may have returned to
Romania. If he's still alive, (on this earth), or wherever he is, I'm sure he's still
telling his story.
Stories like this man's are real. Anyone interested can go into any
Christian bookstore, and read up. Christian radio is a wonderful resource for
these testimonies as well. Christian programs, like "Focus on the Family",
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hosted by Dr. James Dobson, always have speakers giving their personal
testimonies. 5 Just last year, one of the former members of the Zambini crime
family gave his testimony on Focus on the Family. The first time he went to
church, when he saw how happy and full of joy everyone was, he honestly
thought that everyone in the church except for him knew about some huge stash
of money hidden in the church. After he became a Christian, a contract was put
out on his life. That story is hilarious. He recounts the time one of the bombs
planted in his house never blew up, and a similar situation happened with his
car. Those mobsters just couldn't understand it. What was it about him? There
was another testimony given from a young guy stricken with Down's syndrome.
Believe it or not, this young man is married with kids, and travels all over the
United States giving his personal testimony. He's incredibly funny. I remember
one of his jokes was "I might be dumb, but I'm not stupid."
Again, I highly recommend Christian radio, as well as Christian
bookstores, for stories every bit as amazing as those given in this book. Church
is good too, of course. That’s where I heard the Romanian man’s testimony, in
person.
There's something about personal testimonies that stirs up the faith. The
Apostle Paul, who instantly changed from being a persecutor of Christians into
being a Christian, gives one of my favorite testimonies of all.
READ: Acts 8:1-6
Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of
the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2And desired of him letters to Damascus to
the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 3And as he journeyed, he
came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from
1And
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heaven: 4And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? 5And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I
am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And
the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do.
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# THE ANOINTED TABLECLOTH
This particular story was given on TV. The show was "Ripley's Believe it
or Not!" 6 I tried to look up the episode number on the Internet, but the way the
website is indexed made the task impossible. The Internet site only covers the
main stories, and this was just a small blurb given by the narrator at the end of
the program.
A Jewish man and his wife were happily married, living in Europe during
the time of Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany. Since they were both Jewish,
they were both taken to Nazi concentration camps. Miraculously, they were both
rescued and escaped death, but their home was destroyed, and everything they
owned was gone. They lost track of each other, and each thought that the other
was dead.
About 20 years later, the pastor of a church in America, I think in New
York if I remember the story correctly, was browsing through a yard sale looking
for something to cover a stain on the wall of his church. A leak in the roof of his
church produced a horrible stain on the wall right behind his podium, and not
having enough money to fix the hole in his roof, he was searching for a
temporary solution. He found a beautiful handmade square piece of fabric at the
yard sale, and asked what it was. The owners of the fabric weren't sure of
whether it was a tapestry, or a tablecloth. They sold it to him for a few dollars,
and he was utterly thrilled.
He took the cloth to his church to hang it on the wall. When he went to his
church, it was raining profusely. There was an elderly woman standing out on
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the sidewalk in the rain in front of his church, shivering, and waiting for the bus.
Having compassion on her, he invited her inside his church to get out of the cold.
"I can't go in there. I'll miss my bus."
"Don't worry about it" the pastor reassured her. "I'll take you home. All I
have to do is a small errand, and I'm free for the rest of the day."
The woman deliberated, and decided to trust him, seeing that he was the
pastor of the church. She didn't think she had much to lose anyway, carrying
around a burden of sorrow most of her life. She was the wife of the Jewish man
that she thought was killed in Germany 20 year’s prior.
She entered the church and sat down in the front pew, waiting for the
pastor to finish his errand. While the pastor started to hang the cloth, her eyes lit
up. "That cloth sure looks familiar. Would it happen to have the initials 'TGW' in
the bottom corner there?" I can't remember the exact initials, but for the sake of
relaying this story, I'll just use TGW.
Sure enough, the initials TGW were in the bottom corner, right were she
said they were. "How did you know that?" asked the pastor.
"I made that tablecloth with my own hands over 20 years ago!" exclaimed
the woman in tears. "I made it when..." she broke down. She proceeded to tell
the pastor about her experiences in Nazi Germany, and how the soldiers took her
and her husband away. She said she never saw her husband or any of her
possessions ever again. That tablecloth was the first thing she saw in over 20
years that had anything to do with the once content, blissful life she had in her
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youth. Completely amazed, the pastor insisted that she take the cloth and keep
it. After all, it was really hers.
"No, no. This is God's doing. You keep that cloth right there where it is. I
think it's plenty appropriate to rest at home here in this house of God."
The pastor eventually took the woman home. They talked for a while, and
she shared her sorrows with him, visibly shaken having her past stirred up from
the sight of the tablecloth.
On the following Sunday, while giving his sermon, the pastor noticed an
elderly gentleman in the front pew of his church staring intently at the tablecloth /
tapestry behind him. The man didn't appear to hear a single word of his sermon.
All his attention was completely transfixed on the tablecloth. After the service
was over, the man immediately went to the pastor and asked him, "Would that
piece of fabric you have hanging on the wall right there happen to have the
initials 'TGW' inscribed in the bottom corner? Where did you get that cloth? I
swear it looks just exactly the same as the tablecloth my wife made for me over
20 years ago."
You know the rest of the story...
READ: Matthew 19:4-6
he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made
them at the beginning made them male and female, 5And said, For this cause
shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain
shall be one flesh? 6Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What
therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
4And
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# A TRIBESMAN THAT KNEW ENGLISH
There once was a missionary trekking though a dense jungle, searching
for a particular tribe of people that were reputed to be completely isolated from
modern civilization. 7 I can't recall the name of the jungle, or the tribe. I think it
may have been on an island, though.
While hacking his way through the jungle with a machete, he heard
something quite strange, considering his location. Someone was out in the
middle of that jungle praying to God in plain English! The missionary's first
thought was that it had to be another missionary. He soon discovered he was
wrong. There before him was a native tribesman, kneeling before a huge tree,
praying in perfect English.
"Who taught you how to speak English?" he asked the tribesman, but the
tribesman didn't appear to understand a word of what he was saying.
As it turned out, the tribesman informed the missionary, (in his native
language), that he was praying in his 'prayer language'. This was not only
strange to him, but also to his fellow tribesmen. In fact, he admitted that he had
no idea that his 'babbling' would ever make any sense to anyone other than God.
This particular native was quite different from the others in his tribe. After
the brief introduction, the tribesman began to elaborate upon his personal
testimony about his faith in God. He began by stating that it was always his
'strange' belief, unlike the others in his village, that there was truly only one God.
Furthermore, he said that the more he began to talk to this God that he believed
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was the creator of all things, the more things would start to happen in his life that
confirmed to him that what he believed was the truth.
Unfortunately, whenever he tried to explain to the others in his village
about what he believed in, he was mocked and ridiculed. He therefore dedicated
himself to praying at the large tree in the jungle, which was a place he felt closest
to God. His prayer was simple. All he wanted was for God to send him someone
that could tell him more about what he knew was the truth.
"So you must know the truth" the tribesman exclaimed to the missionary.
"...because I know you have been sent here by God, to tell me about the truth."
READ: Romans 1:18-25 (All of us are given some truth about God)
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto
them. 20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21Because that, when they knew God,
they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing themselves to
be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God
into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts,
and creeping things. 24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through
the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
18For
READ: Matthew 13:10-15 (Those who respond to the truth shall receive more,
but those who don't respond shall receive less)
10And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in
parables? 11He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12For
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but
whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13Therefore
speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. 14And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias,
which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye
shall see, and shall not perceive: 15For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and
their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time
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they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand
with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
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# THERE DEFINITELY IS A GOD!
God has different missions for different people. In His infinite wisdom, He
may at times provide the gift of martyrdom, allowing certain people to endure
persecution, and even death. At other times, God will sometimes miraculously
protect His children, and preserve them from persecution. In any case, God will
be glorified, either by demonstrating His love through self-sacrifice, or by
demonstrating His power through miraculous signs and wonders. This particular
story emphasizes the later.
While speaking at his church in Frankfurt, Germany, Pastor Gerhard
Wessler spoke of a true story about a little girl in East Germany. 8 This little tenyear-old was the daughter of a Christian family in Mecklenburg, East Germany.
She had to attend the local communist school where they systematically tried to
destroy the students' belief in God. For instance, the teacher would tell the
children to bow their heads on their desks and ask God for candy. After waiting
awhile to see that nothing happened, the teacher would laugh and say, "See,
students, there is no God! Now, ask the government for candy." Then a piece of
candy would be given to each student on the government's behalf.
One day, the teacher told the students to stand and repeat after here,
"There is no God."
The little Christian girl refused, explaining to her teacher, "But I believe
there is a God." The teacher seized on the little girl, determined to make her
change.
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"You are to write a paper tonight. Put this statement down fifty times:
'There is no God.'"
The little girl went home, prayed with her parents about the problem, then
wrote fifty times, "There is a God!"
When she returned with this paper the next day, her teacher was
infuriated. The woman raged, "This time you will write, 'There certainly is no
God' seventy times. And if you don't, you and your parents are going to be in a
lot of trouble!"
The child and her parents prayed again and she returned with another
paper, writing seventy times, "There certainly is a God!"
The teacher became furious when reading it, shouting, "For tomorrow, you
write one hundred times, 'There definitely is no God!', and if you continue to
resist, I'll go to the police and you and your parents will see what happens!"
By now, the incident had become known throughout the school, and even
in the entire village. It was a fight between the powers of light and the powers of
darkness. The parents of the little girl knew what was at stake. But they would
rather suffer than deny their Lord. So the little girl wrote one hundred times,
"There definitely is a God!"
The following day the teacher looked at the paper and with her voice
shaking, she shouted, "Now I'll go and denounce you at the police station. Let's
see whether your God will help you!"
At this, the teacher went out to the schoolyard, got on her bicycle and rode
towards the road. She didn't get far. When she passed the school gate, she
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suddenly fell from the bike - her heart had stopped and she lay dead on the
ground.
The children saw this, having watched her through the classroom window.
They ran out of the classroom and gathered in shock around her body. Then one
person shouted out loud and the others shortly joined in, chanting, "There
definitely is a God! There definitely is a God!"
God can either deliver us, or He can give us the strength to suffer for His
Name. For this little girl, delivery brought the greatest glory for God.
READ: 1 John 4:4
are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he
that is in you, than he that is in the world.
4Ye
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# MY ANTHROPOLOGY TEACHER'S STORY
While attending my Anthropology class at Fresno City College in
California, my anthropology teacher happened to get on the subject of Indian
folklore, and I raised my hand and asked him about an anthropologist I've read a
great deal about. 9
"So what do you think about Carlos Castaneda?" Carlos Castaneda, for
anyone not familiar with him, started out as an esteemed anthropologist, and
claims to have become a sorcerer under the apprenticeship of Don Juan Matus,
a Yaqui Indian shaman. 10
My anthropology teacher stated that he thought Castaneda was probably
an excellent anthropologist until he started messing with the drugs the Indian
shamans used, like Mescaline, and Peyote. Castaneda initially only wanted to
objectively study the Indian shamans, like anthropologists are supposed to do,
but starting from the first day he met Don Juan Matus, he was initiated as an
apprentice - for various reasons that were demonic in nature, I'm quite certain.
The movie, "Altered States", is somewhat of a spin-off of Castaneda's books. 11
My anthropology teacher said "Carlos probably had a few 'trips', and then
wrote about them in his first book, which I have read and found to be slightly
more objective than the rest of his books. Once he saw how much money was to
be made in writing about his experiences rather than being an anthropologist, he
left all of his objectivity behind and made everything up from that point on."
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"So you mean to tell me that in all your years of studying other cultures
around the world, you've never seen anything strange like the stuff Castaneda
talks about in his books?"
The professor paused. The class was somewhat interested in what he
had to say, which was unusual for the most part. Dr. Hansen was a good
teacher, but any subject is difficult to teach, or learn, after eating lunch. (My
buddy James Phipps was in this class with me, and we used to have a game we
played concerning this certain teacher. He had the peculiar habit of being
redundant with the phrase 'if you will'. James and I would keep a tally of how
many times he said it, just so we could force ourselves to maintain our waning
attention span.)
"Well, I do recall something odd that happened once when I was down in
Africa." The class perked up, and he was encouraged to continue. He chuckled
nervously. (Anthropologists are typically very skeptical of so-called 'magic'.)
"I was waiting in the airport for my plane. There was a big holdup for one
of the flights, and some woman was outside making a lot of commotion, trying to
get on one of the planes. Everyone in that small airport was mumbling about the
situation, so I asked my guide what was happening. He said that the woman was
trying to get on the plane, because her husband's body was on it. She was
demanding that her husband's body not be allowed to leave the country. She
insisted that he be buried in his native land. She also said that she was placing a
curse on the plane, and that they wouldn't be allowed to leave until they gave her
what she wanted."
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The teacher paused again, not sure how to conclude the story. "Well, the
plane wouldn't start. After about two hours of putting up with this woman, they
finally gave up. We were watching them pull the casket off the plane. As soon
as the casket was on the ground, the plane started right up." He laughed, then
made mention of how strong the conviction was of those people. "My guide
looked at me and said with a deadpan serious expression, 'Our magic is very
powerful here.'" He laughed again.
"I don't know why the plane wouldn't start, but my guide had no doubt
about that woman's curse. He was dead serious."
I figured he'd have at least one bizarre tale from the field. Perhaps
Castaneda's adventures of turning into a bird, battling demons, and leaping off
into other dimensions were a bit much for my teacher, but he couldn't deny the
curse on that plane. I thought it was interesting the way he engineered his
statements away from himself, and onto his guide - as if refusing to take a stand
on the issue. I could tell that he was one of those people that have an amazing
anti-faith. Anti-faith, by my definition, works just the same as faith, but in the
opposite way. I wish I had the source, but I don't right off hand. I only know it
was an article in the Anti-mater section of an issue of Omni magazine. 12 I
remember reading about an ESP study that some paranormal researchers did
once with a bunch of diehard ESP skeptics. The results of the study revealed
that these people, when tested for ESP, missed so many targets - that their
percentage for missing was way beyond the average. The conclusion of the
study proved that they were exhibiting an ability to purposefully miss their targets
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rather than hit them! That's anti-faith in action. Certain Christians are like this,
and they operate really well when they 'doubt their doubt'. Funny, isn't it?
I don't have a hard time believing that supernatural powers are floating
around out there. In fact, it's part of the Christian heritage to know that this world
is full of supernatural things, originating either from the Kingdom of God, or the
kingdom of darkness. The Bible is very clear about this fact. It is true that much,
if not most, of the so-called 'magic' in various cultures found all throughout the
world is nothing but a bunch of smoke and mirrors. The entire sub-class of
eunuchs in India is founded on this exact principle. Anthropologists and other
scientific experts know this, and have demonstrated fraud time and time again.
For example, the movie "Serpent & The Rainbow" is based on actual findings
from an ethno biologist. 13, 14 The movie is obviously a Hollywood dramatization
with many distortions, but the true part about it is that there was an ethno
biologist, (Wade Davis), who was able to gather the ingredients of various drugs,
and expose one of the greatest Voodoo frauds of all time - the zombie.
The way the Voodoo shamans made their zombies entailed the
administration of a drug that slowed the heartbeat down so dramatically, that it
simulated death. Victims under the influence of this drug could actually be buried
alive for a few hours, in a public funeral, then dug up later on, in the middle of the
night when nobody was around. Before the effects of the first drug would wear
off, the shamans would then administer another more sinister drug that had
various ill effects. Among these effects were the induction of a highly suggestible
state of consciousness, as well as the physiological symptoms of pale skin,
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dilated pupils, and a 'spaced out' facial expression, sometimes with the eyes
rolling up into the head. People under the effects of this drug would also be easy
to control. In fact, so long as the shamans would continue to administer this drug
to their victims in regular doses, they could retain these victims as slaves.
What was the general public's perception of the zombie in that area of the
world? They would see someone that everyone talked about as being a powerful
sorcerer make a threat to someone else, demanding something. When his
demands weren't met, the other person turned up dead. Shortly afterward, after
the funeral and everything as a matter of fact, people would see that dead person
walking around, all weird and dead looking, doing things for the shaman! No
wonder people were scared! The devil works just exactly like this. Most of what
he does is a bunch of smoke and mirrors, and a feeding off of fear. Taking the
simple principle of the conservation of energy into account, it makes perfect
sense. It's probably a real drain for demons to use their ever-fading supply of
supernatural power, so they think up various ingenious ways to trick people 9 out
of 10 times. But in that rare instance when they’re revealed as charlatans, that's
when they pull out the real stuff to perpetuate the deception. The problem with
anthropologists is that they see mostly smoke and mirrors, and then simply label
all of it as a sham, when in fact there really are wicked, supernatural entities at
work. I have no doubt that it was a demon that inspired the formula for zombies.
Most anthropologists won't concede this notion, however a Christian
anthropologist might.
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I think a better source for non-objective cultural observations comes from
foreign missionaries. They can spot the charlatans just as well as anyone else,
but they also have an intimate knowledge of the spiritual realm. I have yet to
hear from a missionary that didn't have some of the most interesting,
supernatural confrontation stories of all time. I think the reason for this is that the
demons realize it's going to take a little more than smoke and mirrors when it
comes to Christians. They have to pull out the real stuff. If you, the reader, are a
member of a church - I challenge you to test a theory of mine. If you know a
foreign missionary, or if you ever meet one, ask that person if he or she ever saw
any kind of angelic or demonic manifestations. I doubt you'll even have to
explain yourself, because overseas is where the action is! Missionaries usually
have some hair-raising stories.
Why is it that demonic forces seem to be doing more stuff overseas than
they are in America? It's not that they are more prevalent in other countries as
opposed to America. It's just a matter of tactics. Satan is fully aware of reverse
faith, which is different than anti-faith. Reverse faith, (another term I'm inventing
here), is what I had that drove me into a closer relationship with Jesus, and was
primarily responsible for me getting baptized. The way reverse faith works is that
someone finds Jesus not because of what he or she experiences with God, but
rather what he or she experiences with satan. It's the dark side that drives
people to Jesus, oddly enough. The end result is the same, which is good, but
faith comes about in a reverse manner.
The Western world has the following two dominant influences.
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1. The Judeo-Christian heritage.
2. The scientific paradigm, which purports the philosophy of naturalism.
Naturalism finds its roots in the pseudo-science of evolution, and
promotes the idea that nature is all there is. 13 Currently, the philosophy of
naturalism has the upper hand in American society. Since the dominant
influence of Western society is the philosophy of naturalism, and its primary
precept is that there is no such thing as anything that can't be explained as a
naturally occurring phenomenon, then satan knows it's in his best interest to keep
the supernatural stuff to a minimum. That's why we don't see demonic
manifestations and accept them in America nearly as much as they're seen and
accepted overseas. This doesn't mean he isn't doing anything. It just means
he's doing different things. In the business industry, he propagates corporate
greed. In government, he's orchestrating a hierarchy of select offices that are
extending beyond public knowledge, and control. He's using the media to
propagate the extreme tolerance of all forms of immorality, and extreme
violence. His work is also evident in the educational institutions, and in the
scientific communities, where the demonic doctrine of evolution is propagated,
and scientific knowledge is pushing the envelope of ethical issues in research
such as genetics, and artificial intelligence.
Taking all the above details into consideration, what are satan's chances
of deceiving people if he empowers a certain man in a small town with satanic
power? Would people fear, respect, and give heed to this man? I doubt it. He'd
be an outcaste, most likely. And for those that actually did believe he had
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satanic power, they'd probably be the same kind of people that would go to a
church for help. That Judeo-Christian heritage is still a force to be reckoned
with. Reverse faith would kick in, just like it did with me. Is that what satan
wants? Absolutely not! So for cultures that have heard very little about the
gospel of Jesus Christ, and are dealing with a high degree of superstition and
paranoia, it's highly beneficial for satan to demonstrate his supernatural power.
As for the Western world, it's not a good idea at all.
Is satan's supernatural power completely absent in America? Now here's
an interesting twist. Of course it's not absent; it's all over the place. You just
have to know where to look. Let's start with the New Age section in any local
bookstore. I'm a living example that the demonic supernatural stuff is alive and
well in America today - but the way satan has this engineered is again,
ingenious. I can go to any New Age bookstore, buy a book on astral projection,
learn how to do it, and from that, cultivate an extreme amount of demonic,
supernatural power. With my power, I could do all kinds of things. If I were to
follow the general guidelines in most astral projection books, I'd use it to gain
wealth, power, and prestige. I wouldn't, however, advertise that this is what I was
doing. Why? Because I'd be operating in a counter-culture that currently isn't
widely accepted in American society, due to the philosophy of naturalism that I've
already mentioned. People generally scoff and ridicule those that claim an
affiliation with the New Age movement, associating a belief in UFOs, astral
projection, and the like with 'weirdness' at best, and insanity at worst. This is in
the process of changing, however, and I'm certain that most people reading this
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material know what I'm talking about. Many very notable people, especially
those in Hollywood, are claiming an affiliation with the New Age religious
movement. Because of their notoriety, they're able to get away with it. This is all
to satan's advantage too. As far as satan is concerned, it's okay to contradict the
philosophy of naturalism, just so long as it isn't contradicted with anything relating
to Jesus. Since the New Age is, by definition, 'anything but Jesus', or the Jesus
spoken of in the Bible anyway, satan loves it. Actually, he's the one that invented
it - and it isn't new at all. It's just a modified form of eastern mysticism.
Satan is actually the mastermind behind the migration from naturalism to
New Age philosophy. This will be a necessary step in his rise to power, because
the anti-christ will be known as one having supernatural power. With the New
Age movement paving the way, it won't be long before the American mainstream
will be leaning away from naturalism, and in favor of New Age philosophies. This
is already happening. Actually the current trend is somewhat of a hybrid of both
naturalism and the New Age. This is all a part of satan's plan - like always - to
take the worst of both worlds. The New Age movement takes all the deceptions
of naturalism, primarily the demonic doctrine of evolution, and simply adds a god
to it - who isn't Jesus. According to most New Age philosophies, people were
created by some cosmic being, but he's not the often depicted - 'narrow minded,
intolerant' - Jesus Christ that Christians believe in. He's an all-accepting,
anything goes kind of god. You know - the devil.
I'm sorry about that tangent. I started with my teacher's story about
Voodoo and ended up talking about how satan's deceptive strategies vary
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throughout the world. It's amazing how cunning his deceptions are, but please
don't be dismayed! The devil might be intelligent, but he became the stupidest
creature ever created when he contrived the idea to go head to head with God.
What an idiot! What was he thinking? He spends so much time and energy
contriving wickedness, but God perceives no threat whatsoever. God is on His
throne - searching the hearts of men, women, and children all over the world looking for that spark of faith. As for the devil, he's going to pay for the things
he's done, and the things he thinks he's getting away with. God makes no
threats. He makes promises, and they're in writing. I'm sure (Revelation 20:10)
was drafted the day Lucifer stepped over the line, and became satan.
READ: Revelation 20:10
the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,
where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night
for ever and ever.
10And
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CHAPTER 8: MISCELLANEOUS STORIES & ARTICLES
@ EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY
When I wrote Aliens in the Bible, I mentioned the concept of the Trinity in
one area of the book, and stated that I heard a sermon on it once that helped me
immensely to understand God's triune nature. 1 I wasn't talking about the Trinity
specifically in that area of the book, so I simply concluded that readers should
email me if they wanted to hear me explain more about that sermon. As it turned
out, I had about 3 or 4 people email me about it, and I had to retype the same
information out all those times. So by popular demand, I'm going to detail what I
remember from that sermon about the Trinity as best I can - right here, once and
for all. Now the next time someone emails me asking about this info, all I'll have
to do is send them a link to my website, http://www.AliensInTheBible.com, where
this book is posted.
Some people find it difficult to understand God's triune nature. How it is
that one being can be manifest in three individuals? Does the Bible really teach
this? YES! If it didn't, what would be the point of the word "Godhead", found 3
times in the New Testament, (Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20, Colossians 2:8-10)?
READ: Acts 17:29
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
29Forasmuch
READ: Romans 1:20
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse
20For
READ: Colossians 2:8-10
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him
8Beware
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dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
which is the head of all principality and power:
10And
ye are complete in him,
Before talking about how God has revealed his triune nature, I'm first
going to briefly make it clear from the Bible that the Father, Son (Jesus), and
Holy Ghost - are ALL God. They are three individuals, united as ONE God, (1
Timothy 2:5, 1 Corinthians 8:6), and at the same time, spoken of as three
individual beings.
READ: 1 Timothy 2:5
there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus.
5For
READ: 1 Corinthians 8:6
to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in
him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
6But
Without going into huge detail, the Father is the Head of the Godhead,
declared by Jesus to be the Greatest, (John 14:28).
READ: John 14:28
have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye
loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is
greater than I.
28Ye
Jesus is the mediator between the Father and man, (1 Timothy 2:5).
READ: 1 Timothy 2:5
there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus.
5For
The Holy Ghost comforts man, dwells in man, and reveals truth, (John
14:15-17, 26, 15:26-27).
READ: John 14:15-17
ye love me, keep my commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the
15If
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Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
READ: John 14:26
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.
26But
READ: John 15:26-27
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the
beginning.
26But
All three, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are considered to be God for
the 9 following reasons I was able to find:
1. All are referenced by the term Godhead, (Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20,
Colossians 2:9).
READ: Acts 17:29
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
29Forasmuch
READ: Romans 1:20
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse
20For
READ: Colossians 2:8-10
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality and power:
8Beware
2. The Father is essentially a synonymous term with "God", and is explicitly
stated to be God, (1 Corinthians 8:6).
READ: 1 Corinthians 8:6
to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in
him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
6But
3. Jesus said that He and His Father were as one, (John 8:58, 10:30).
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READ: John 8:58
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
8Jesus
30I
READ: John 10:30
and my Father are one.
4. Within Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead, (Colossians 2:8-10).
READ: Colossians 2:8-10
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality and power:
8Beware
5. The Holy Spirit is of the Father (Ephesians 4:30).
READ: Ephesians 4:30
grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption.
30And
6. The Holy Spirit is given from and sent by the Father (John 14:15-17, 26, 15:2627; 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8).
READ: John 14:15-17
ye love me, keep my commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the
Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
15If
READ: John 14:26
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.
26But
READ: John 15:26-27
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the
beginning.
26But
READ: 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8
God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 8He therefore
that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy
7For
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Spirit.
7. The Holy Spirit conceived Jesus (Matthew 1:18-20).
READ: Matthew 1:18-20
the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was
espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. 19Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to
make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20But while he
thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a
dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy
wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
18Now
8. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of God (Matthew 3:13).
READ: Matthew 3:13
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and,
lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God (The Holy
Ghost) descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17And lo a voice from
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
16And
9. Believers are to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost (Matthew 28:19).
READ: Matthew 28:19
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
19Go
Now that it should be fairly clear that God has a triune nature, exactly how
has God revealed His nature to us in a way that we can understand? According
to (Romans 1:20), we can understand the Godhead by studying the things that
are made. Now what did the Apostle Paul mean by that?
READ: Romans 1:20
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse.
20For
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Falling back to the most fundamental interpretation, if we want to study the
things that are made in order to understand the Godhead, we need a small
physics lesson. All things, according to physics, are made of energy, and require
time, and space to exist in. What is it about energy, time, and space, which can
reveal to us God's triune nature?
ENERGY: Energy is a single entity, yet consists of a relationship between mass,
velocity, and the constant of the speed of light. 2 Without any one of these 3
unique components, energy could not exist.
TIME: Time is a single entity, yet consists of the past, present, and future.
Without any one of these 3 unique components, time could not exist.
SPACE: Space is a single entity, yet consists of height, width, and depth.
Without any one of these 3 unique components, space could not exist.
Wrapping everything up, the THINGS THAT ARE MADE is the single
creation of the material universe and all things therein, yet it all consists of the
three individual components of energy, time, and space. Without any one of
these three unique components, (each of which consist of an additional three
unique, yet unified set of components), the things that are made could not exist.
So there you have it! It's all as simple as that. We are all familiar with
time and space, (though the energy one is a bit complex), so nobody should
have any problem in understanding how ONE God can be manifest in 3 unique,
individual beings.
READ: Matthew 3:13 (This is one of those rare passages when the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost - are ALL witnessed together)
16And Jesus, (The Son) when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
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(The Holy Ghost) descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17And lo a voice
from heaven, (The Father's voice) saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased.
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@ DOES PURGATORY EXIST?
The doctrine of purgatory was first established by Pope Gregory I in 593
A.D., and proclaimed as a dogma of faith by the Council of Florence in 1439 A.D.
3
The two primary scriptures in favor of purgatory are in (2 Maccabees 12:39-45),
which is in the Apocrypha and not the standard cannon of scripture, and also (1
Corinthians 15:29), which is in the standard cannon of scripture.
4
READ: 2 Maccabees 12:39-45
upon the day following, as the use had been, Judas and his company
came to take up the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their
kinsmen in their fathers’ graves. 40 Now under the coats of every one that was
slain they found things consecrated to the idols of the Jamnites, which is
forbidden the Jews by the law. Then every man saw that this was the cause
wherefore they were slain. 41 All men therefore praising the Lord, the righteous
Judge, who had opened the things that were hid, 42 Betook themselves unto
prayer, and besought him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of
remembrance. Besides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep
themselves from sin, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that
came to pass for the sins of those that were slain. 43 And when he had made a
gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver,
he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and
honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection: 44 For if he had not hoped
that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and
vain to pray for the dead. 45 And also in that he perceived that there was great
favour laid up for those that died godly, it was an holy and good thought.
Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered
from sin.
39 And
READ: 1 Corinthians 15:29-32
29Else
what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at
all? why are they then baptized for the dead? 30And why stand we in jeopardy
every hour? 31I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I
die daily. 32If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus,
what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow
we die.
The primary argument of the above two scriptures in favor of the existence
of purgatory is the fact that in these two passages, the people involved spoke of
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praying for the deceased, and also baptizing the deceased. Catholics argue that
it would be pointless to pray for the deceased unless there were an intermediate
location one must go to prior to entering heaven, and prayers would be helpful for
those trapped in such a place. This argument seems to make sense, but if
purgatory exists, then it conflicts with numerous other scriptures, such as
(Romans 5:18, 6:23, 3:24, 8:1; Ephesians 2:8; John 5:24; 1 Corinthians 6:11;
Titus 2:14; Hebrews 10:14; 1 John 1:7, 1:9), just to name a few.
READ: Romans 5:18
18Therefore
as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all
men unto justification of life.
READ: Romans 6:23
23For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
READ: Romans 3:24-25
24Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God;
READ: Romans 8:1
1There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
READ: Ephesians 2:8-9
8For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.
READ: John 5:24
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24Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is
passed from death unto life.
READ: 1 Corinthians 6:11
11And
such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
READ: Titus 2:14
14Who
gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
READ: Hebrews 10:14
14For
by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
READ: 1 John 1:7
7But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
READ: 1 John 1:9
9If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
How might the conflict between (2 Maccabees 12:39-45) and (1
Corinthians 15:29-32), and the above list of scriptures be reconciled? (2
Maccabees 12:39-45) makes perfect sense if one understands the structure of
hell in Old Testament times, and how it was altered once Christ was resurrected.
The passage from (2 Maccabees 12:39-45) was drafted in Old Testament
times, in which case, praying for the deceased in those days might have made
sense. According to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man given in (Luke
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16:19-31), Jesus clarified for us that hell, translated with the Greek term Hades,
(Sheol in Hebrew), was composed of two parts; the place of torment for the
unrighteous dead, and the place of paradise, also known as Abraham’s bosom,
for the righteous dead. So, in the Old Testament times, there actually was an
intermediate place for all departed spirits – even the righteous dead. Praying for
these deceased spirits might not have been in vain, either, because after Jesus
was crucified, He went to both the place of torment, (1 Peter 3:18), and also the
place of the righteous dead, (Luke 23:39-43), and preached to these spirits.
Many accepted Jesus’ message and were released.
Since Jesus was going to preach to them and release those who accepted
Him, they still had an opportunity to choose Him at that time, so prayer might
have helped them out. NOW – fast forward to after the ascension of Christ. All
departed spirits after the resurrection either go to the place of torment, (which
many assume bears with it no more choice to accept Jesus), or to the direct
presence of God, rather than to an intermediary location, (1 Corinthians 15:29).
Therefore, today, praying for the deceased appears to be in vain, because the
point of death marks the point at which spirits are judged according to (Hebrews
9:27). If a spirit is in Christ, that spirit goes to be with the Father in heaven; if the
spirit is not in Christ, it does not go to heaven.
READ: Luke 16:20-27
20And
there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full
of sores, 21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s
table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22And it came to pass, that
the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich
man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in
torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried
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and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may
dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this
flame. 25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou
art tormented. 26And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf
fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they
pass to us, that would come from thence. 27
READ: 1 Peter 3:18
18For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19By
which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20Which sometime
were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved
by water.
READ: Luke 23:39-43
39And
one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be
Christ, save thyself and us. 40But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost
not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41And we indeed
justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done
nothing amiss. 42And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. 43And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt
thou be with me in paradise.
READ: Hebrews 9:27-28
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
27And
Now what about the baptism of the dead I mentioned in (1 Corinthians
15:29-32)? This passage documents the Apostle Paul’s challenge to a group of
Jews that practiced the baptism of the dead, but didn’t believe in the resurrection
of the dead. These Jews most likely derived their custom of baptizing the dead
by expounding on the prayers for the dead that were chronicled in (2 Maccabees
12:39-45). The Apostle Paul doesn’t validate their practice of baptizing the dead;
rather, he tries to get these Jews to believe in the resurrection of the dead by
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pointing out to them that their practice of baptizing the dead, (whether valid or
not), is for all intents and purposes pointless if there is no resurrection of the
dead. In other words, to baptize the dead, yet not believe in a resurrection of the
dead, is completely inconsistent. So this scripture has to do with the Apostle
Paul trying to get these Jews to believe in the resurrection of the dead; it wasn’t
intended to support the doctrine of baptizing the dead. (Mormonism makes the
same doctrinal error with the concept of baptizing the dead).
Does this make any sense?
To sum everything up about purgatory, the two biggest scriptures that
support it have perfectly justifiable, easy to understand interpretations that have
nothing to do with a place of torment that believers in Christ must endure for
unknown eons. Proponents of the doctrine of purgatory use other scriptures to
support the existence of purgatory, such as (Revelations 21:27; Psalm 141:8;
Daniel 12:10; Micah 7:9; Zechariah 9:11; Matthew 5:26,12:32, 36; Luke 12:47-48;
Philippians 2:10; Hebrews 12:22; James 3:1; 1 Peter 3:19, 4:18; and Jude 23).
I’ve looked all of these scriptures up, and found not one of them plainly stating in
clear language that all or most deceased Christians go to an intermediary place
of torment to be purified prior to entering heaven.
In contrast, the scriptures I mentioned earlier in this article that indicate an
absence of purgatory, I consider to be much more clear and easy to understand.
So for the most part, the doctrine of purgatory is an argument from silence, and is
at best an implied extraction.
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Now here’s a question; can someone accept Jesus into his or her heart
after he or she dies? Show me a scripture that clearly states this is not possible,
and I’ll rule it out. I know there is a point at which the opportunity for salvation
will no longer exist for a soul; whether this is at the exact moment of death, or a
little while later, I do not know. But one thing I have a really hard time believing is
that Christians must endure any kind of torment after physical death, because
adding any requirement to go to heaven other than Jesus being crucified, in my
mind, suggests that Jesus' sacrifice isn't enough to purify and sanctify all the sins
of the world, which is contrary to scripture. So if a place like purgatory exists, I
think it would be for an extended opportunity of mercy for non-Christians, rather
than a place of torment for Christians. (Adding to God’s mercy rather than taking
away from God’s mercy is a starkly different view of purgatory than the traditional
view). I mean, what's the point of Jesus being crucified if Christians still have to
go to a place of torment for hundreds or even thousands of years, trying to earn
enough points to get to heaven? Who needs Jesus if we can purify ourselves?
I find it a sad fact that there are many people in the world that dedicate
their entire lives to serving the Lord, but never have the peace of mind that
should come with the assurance of salvation. They think they're going to
purgatory.
The gift of salvation is exactly what divides Christianity from every other
religion in the world. It's also why I, personally, believe in Jesus, as opposed to
any other religion. All religions in the world save Christianity, (with the exception
of certain branches or denominations), have one central theme; what must
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humanity do to reach God. Jesus flat out stated in (Luke 18:19) that man
CANNOT reach God no matter what he does, because no man is good enough.
The Prophet Isaiah, as well as the Apostle Paul, further illustrated this point in
(Isaiah 64:6-7) and (Romans 3:10-12), by defining the depth of humanities
depravity.
READ: Luke 18:19
Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one,
that is, God.
19And
READ: Isaiah 64:6-7
we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away. 7And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to
take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us,
because of our iniquities.
6But
READ: Romans 3:10-12
it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of
the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one.
10As
But instead of destroying our hopes, Jesus turned everything around by
demonstrating that while man can’t reach God, God can certainly reach man.
That's why Jesus came into the world. He came to show us how to live life, and
live it more abundantly.
READ: John 10:9-11
am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and
out, and find pasture. 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly. 11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the
sheep.
9I
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He came to show us His love for us by the greatest demonstration of
sacrificial love He could offer. All we have to do is believe in Him, and accept His
gift. The promise of eternal life in heaven through Jesus is sealed in (John
3:16). Our response certainly shouldn't be conforming to a strict, legalistic set of
rules in order to earn His love. I don’t believe it includes purgatory, either. It's
true that we should live godly lives, but the motivation should be from love - not
out of pride, and the idea that we have to earn anything. Remember what Paul
said? Salvation is a gift, that no one should boast, (Ephesians 2:8-10).
READ: John 3:16-17
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through
him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God.
16For
READ: Ephesians 2:8-10
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them.
8For
Of course if I’m wrong, I hope I don’t have to suffer a few more years in
purgatory for this article…
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# ANIMALS HAVE SPIRITUAL GIFTS TOO
I remember one time while watching a show about miracles on the
Lifetime channel; there was a story about a cat that saved its owner's life. 5 The
cat, through its peculiar behavior, convinced its owner to follow it outside. It then
led the elderly woman to a place in her flowerbed, and proceeded to dig a hole,
much to the woman's dismay. When the lady tried to stop the cat, a potent burst
of gaseous air shot out of the ground and made the woman nauseated. She
called around town, telling various authorities about what she found. It turned out
that there was a massive gas leak in the main gas line that ran under her house.
Her entire neighborhood had to be evacuated; there was enough gas in that
woman's house to blow a crater-sized hole in the ground. City officials were
amazed that the woman was alive. She could've been dead on two counts;
poisoned by toxic fumes, or death by explosion. When I saw that segment, I
laughed hysterically. In Christian terms, that woman's cat demonstrated one of
the spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit, called a "Word of Knowledge", (1
Corinthians 12:8).
READ: 1 Corinthians 12:8
to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of
knowledge by the same Spirit.
8For
I can't claim that an animal's ever saved my life, but a lizard sure helped
me out once. I remember one time when I was a kid; I was camping with my dad
and some other folks high up in the Sierra Nevada's. I wasn't familiar with this
particular place, and like always, I went off exploring. Being an avid camper, I've
never been lost before, at least up until this point. When I'm trekking in the
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woods, my primary tactic for remembering where I am is to stick to the river.
(Most of my camping trips have been near a water source). Doing this, I'm
always able to go up or down stream from camp for several miles, then simply
follow the river back to camp. This is a very simple, effective tactic, but it didn't
work on this occasion. On this particular river, there were many feeds that I
crossed without paying any attention. I crossed one intersecting stream after
another, and before I knew it, I was lost! I tried to follow the river back, but found
nothing but new territory. For the first time in my life, I was actually getting
scared of being lost in the woods. I was about 16 years old at the time, so I didn't
think there was any way this could ever happen to me. My confidence got the
best of me.
I wandered around for about an hour or more, trying to deny the fact that I
had absolutely no way of finding my way back to camp. The river streams in the
area were very complex. River feeds fed other river feeds, creating a meshwork
that was impossible to backtrack. I looked for landmarks, and found none. I was
at a loss. Finally, after various attempts at shouting for help, I gave up and sat
down. Nobody could hear me.
The water was too loud, and I was miles away
from camp. I started to pray. "God, I have no idea where I'm at. Can you help
me get back to camp please?"
Now at that time in my life, I wasn't the Christian I am now. I lived in
flagrant sin, and had no interest for God in my life. I never read the Bible, nor did
I hardly ever go to church, or pray for that matter. But like many people, I called
out to God when I was afraid. He was very gracious to me.
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No sooner had I finished speaking the last word of my prayer, did I notice
a very large lizard on the ground, right in front of me. I'd never seen lizards like
that in the Sierra's before. This one was huge. It scurried about 2 feet,
somewhat slow for a lizard, and then stopped. It then repeated the action. I
noticed it was going in a particular direction. Then I began to wonder, "Perhaps
God sent this lizard here to show me which way to go? After all, I just prayed.
What was I expecting, a glorious beam of light to shoot through the clouds and a
booming voice to say 'THIS WAY JOHN!'"
Intrigued by the lizard's behavior, I began to follow it. It didn't seem to try
to evade me. It would just scurry along about 2 to 3 feet at a time, then stop. I
followed this lizard for about 30 feet, and took note that it had a well-defined
direction it was traveling in. "Okay God, I sure hope this is from you" I mumbled
to myself. I then thanked the lizard also, and continued in the strait line that it
was traveling in. It wasn't but about 15 to 20 minutes later, I found my way back
to camp.
READ: 1 Kings 17:1-6
Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As
the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor
rain these years, but according to my word. 2And the word of the LORD came
unto him, saying, 3Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by
the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 4And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of
the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 5So he went
and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook
Cherith, that is before Jordan. 6And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in
the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
1And
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* THE HANGMAN'S NOOSE
One time while living in Arkansas, my sister Sharon and I went for a walk
on our neighbor's property. We reached the edge of one of his fields, where
there were some bluffs that overlooked a river valley below. It was a beautiful
place, and I mention it in this book in ("A minor experience of my own"). There
were caves in the bluffs, (actually they were more like nooks), and Sharon and I
would hunt for arrowheads there sometimes. Arrowheads are easy to find in
Arkansas; they're all over the place.
While standing on top of the bluffs with Sharon, I pulled out my binoculars
and peered through them. We were just sight seeing. Suddenly a horrible
feeling came over me, and I lowered the binoculars. "Sharon, I don't feel so
good. Something isn't right." I then handed her the binoculars. She looked at
me inquisitively.
"Yea, huh, what is that?" She then looked through the binoculars,
eyeballing the beautiful Lee Creek in the valley below.
"I don't know, but it just hit me all of a sudden, and it doesn't feel good. I
feel like there's something here that doesn't want us here. We better leave." The
sickening feeling hit me so strong, I felt nauseous, almost to the point of vomiting.
Sharon handed me back the binoculars. I decided to take one last look
before we left. While I was looking through the binoculars, something flashed in
front of the lenses that caught my attention. When I lowered the binoculars, I
realized that I was staring face to face with a hangman's noose! I have no idea
how we didn't notice it before. It was swaying in the wind, and I guess it was just
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at the right height, and snuggled in the tree there that we just didn't see it.
"LOOK" I shouted.
"Let's get out of here!" Sharon yelped, already 10 feet behind me. We ran
across the field like our feet were on fire, and didn't stop until we got all the way
home.
The feeling of being watched and completely unwelcome was undeniable
that day. I felt like I was punched in the stomach it hit me so hard. Sharon felt
the exact same thing. I simply couldn't figure out why that hangman's noose was
out there. It made absolutely no sense.
About a week after this incident with Sharon, a friend of mine, Arthur,
came over to visit me. 6 When I told him about the hangman's noose, he just had
to see it for himself. I didn't want to go, but he insisted. When we went to the
spot, I saw that the rope was fairly new. It was practically a display model, tied in
the perfect hangman's noose knot. Somebody knew what he or she was doing.
Furthermore, it was tied to a puny branch no more than 2 inches thick. The only
thing anyone would've been able to hang on it would be a small animal, but there
were no traces that the noose had ever been used. Who put it there, and why?
It was completely pointless! Nobody ever went out there. All the years I lived in
that house in Arkansas, I never once even saw the owner of that property, let
alone other people.
Arthur tore the rope down from the tree and ripped it apart. As for me, I
kept my distance. I didn't feel that nauseating feeling that day I was out there
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with Arthur, but I never felt quite the same about that place. Perhaps whatever it
was I was feeling was pleased to see Arthur rip the rope down out of the tree.
It wasn't until the last time I went down those bluffs that I discovered other
people had been down there. The small nooks in the bluffs had been turned into
an archeological site. Excavation work was being done, and various trays full of
Indian artifacts were lying around, with a few assorted hammers and chisels. It
must have been a fairly recent discovery, because I never saw any people down
there excavating before. I forget who was with me, but we were browsing
through some of the things that were dug up. I remember picking up a piece of
human skull laying on an excavation tray, and looking at the maze-like designs
the brain imprinted on it. Whoever was with me said "Keep it", but I quickly set it
down.
"Are you crazy? That's some ... human being! Don't you know anything
about Indian burial grounds! You better not take anything, either." Now that I
recall that last day I went down through that area, it occurs to me that perhaps
one of the archeologists tied that rope in the tree above the bluffs. Who else
would've done it? I still don't know why anyone would tie a pointless symbol of
extreme hatred in a tree out in the middle of nowhere, but I suspect it had to be
one of the archeologists that did it. Maybe he or she was a racist or something.
I have the impression that more than a couple of bones were dug up...
READ: 1 Samuel 28:11-15
said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me
up Samuel. 12And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and
the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
13And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the
woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. 14And he said unto
11Then
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her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered
with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his
face to the ground, and bowed himself. 15And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast
thou disquieted me, to bring me up?
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* LACY’S HORSE
I had a roommate named Lacy, back when I was in the Army. 7 Since he
was my roommate, he was exposed to me a lot, and we would talk about many
things. On one occasion, we happened to be talking about strange things, like
UFOs and such, and I asked him if he ever saw anything strange in his life. He
was a pretty easygoing guy, and really down to earth, but as it turned out, he had
a wild tale he hadn't shared with very many people before.
Prior to joining the Army, Lacy lived with his parents on a very large ranch
in Montana. They were the caretakers. One of Lacy’s jobs was to ride across
the property, ensuring everything was properly maintained. He had to make sure
there were no wounded cattle, breaks in the fence, or any other problems that
warranted attention. He said the ranch was so massive; it took one week just to
ride his horse from one side of the ranch to the other side. During that whole
two-week period of riding, he wouldn't see a single human being, much less any
trace of civilization - not even a road. I envied him. I can't say I've ever been to
such a pristine territory, (other than my fishing trip to Alaska, but even that place
had people around that flew in by planes).
One time while riding across the ranch, he was slowly meandering along
in a fairly wooded area when suddenly his horse froze. He spurred and prodded
the animal, but it had a fit, and refused to move forward. Lacy was stumped. He
didn't see any snakes on the ground or anything. Actually, there was snow on
the ground at the time, which meant that snakes were out of the question, and
many animals were in hibernation. He got off of his horse and looked around,
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but couldn't see anything obvious for his horse to be acting up. Being somewhat
familiar with the area, his light bulb finally flipped on, and he recalled that his
horse acted just the same way on one other occasion in the past, when he
happened upon an Indian burial ground. He was almost certain that he was in
close proximity to that same Indian burial ground, but couldn't see it from where
he was at. From what he recalled, the Indian burial ground was easy to find, with
wooden stands and such. He saw nothing of the sort in his immediate vicinity.
Not far ahead, where he was intending to ride before his horse acted up was a
cluster of trees and a small mound that obscured the view. Leaving his horse
behind, he decided to investigate on foot.
As he walked over the small mound and was able to see what was on the
other side of it, he found something that completely shocked him. Lying in the
snow was the carcass of a cow that had all of the blood drained out of its body.
Even odder, there wasn't a trace of blood in the snow, or even a single footprint
around the cow. To further complicate things, the skullcap of the cow was cut off
with surgical precision, and the brain was missing. Lacy didn't know what to
think. Aside from the collection of seemingly impossible circumstances, he knew
he was out in the middle of nowhere. People simply didn't roam around on that
property, much less bring surgical instruments to mutilate cattle and steal their
brains!
I wonder what Lacy’s horse was seeing out there?
READ: Numbers 22:22-35
God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD
stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass,
and his two servants were with him. 23And the ass saw the angel of the LORD
22And
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standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside
out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into
the way. 24But the angel of the LORD stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall
being on this side, and a wall on that side. 25And when the ass saw the angel of
the LORD, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against
the wall: and he smote her again. 26And the angel of the LORD went further, and
stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to
the left. 27And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under
Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
28And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What
have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? 29And
Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a
sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. 30And the ass said unto Balaam,
Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this
day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay. 31Then the LORD
opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the
way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat
on his face. 32And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou
smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee,
because thy way is perverse before me: 33And the ass saw me, and turned from
me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain
thee, and saved her alive. 34And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD, I have
sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if
it displease thee, I will get me back again. 35And the angel of the LORD said unto
Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that
thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
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CHAPTER 9: MYSTERIOUS PLACES
* THE SEAMLESS BARN
My mother tells the story that when she was younger, she and my dad
took a trip out into the foothills not too far out from Madera, California. She said
the she and my dad got out of their car and wandered around on someone's
property, not knowing who owned the place. She said they saw a barn on the
top of a hill, so they decided to check it out. For some reason, it peaked their
interest.
When they finally reached the barn, they noticed something highly unusual
about it. There were no cracks. She said every single crack between the
wooden planks was covered with smaller pieces of wood. The barn was locked,
too. Neither she, nor my dad could figure out why anyone would go through the
trouble to build a nice little bard out in the middle of nowhere, and take the
painstaking effort to cover all the cracks between the boards. This barn really got
their curiosity going.
They walked around the barn, looking for a crack to peek through, and
noticed that even the knotholes were covered up with lids from tin cans.
Someone definitely didn't want anyone to see what was in that barn.
While analyzing the strange barn, both my mom and dad saw a small,
petite tree behind it, with a white picket fence around the tree. Giving up on the
barn, they walked over to the tree. Oddly, the fence had a small gate with a tiny
lock on it. The small display appeared to be highly manicured. My mother
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recalls that she wasn't scared or anything. In fact, she noticed that the place
seemed to make her feel comfortable, despite the oddness.
"What on earth is this all about?" she questioned, fiddling with the lock.
"Who would put a fence, gate, and lock, around a tree?"
While scratching her head, my dad noticed down at the bottom of the hill
that there was another strange landmark. They left the small tree behind the
barn, and investigated the second site.
As my mother descended the hill, her mood descended as well. She
wasn't feeling comfortable anymore.
By the time my mother reached the bottom of the hill, she was sick to her
stomach with depression and overall negativity. She recalls that the fence was
so old that it was in pieces on the ground. All that remained standing was a gate,
with an ancient, gigantic padlock on it. In the center was a muddy seep-hole.
The place filled her and my dad with such utter disgust, that they had to leave.
They didn't even bother to go back to the barn, or look around any further. There
was something about the sight of that seep-hole drove them away from the entire
location like people-repellent.
My mother never went to that place again. I've asked her to take me there
before, but she can't remember where it is. That just kills me! I just have to
know! Now my mom lives in Alabama, so I can't bug her about it anymore.
Maybe I'll start bugging my dad. I never heard his side of the story.
Recounting this story, it seems to me that someone went through a lot of
effort to symbolically depict something. What on earth could that be? Let's start
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with the barn. It's completely sealed, hiding what's inside. What's the greatest
unknown of all? I'd say that the question of whether there's life after death is
near the top of the list. I realize that Christ conquered death, and that death is no
longer a fear for those in Christ, (1 Corinthians 15:55).
READ: 1 Corinthians 15:55
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death
is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
55O
As for everyone else in the world, death is that seamless barn.
Now how about those two landmarks? The tree is clearly the "Tree of
Life", which is both a symbol of Christ, and of eternal life. Its pretty fence and
gate, and a petite lock, make the statement of 'not everyone is allowed', but at
the same time, 'it isn't that hard to get in'.
Who can guess what's at the bottom of the hill? Hey, no cheating! You
guessed it - the pit of hell. Notice that the padlock on the gate is so ridiculously
large, it screams to people that this is not some place people want to go.
However, since the fence around the gate is completely deteriorated, it remains
the easiest landmark to enter. Unlike the landmark at the top of the hill, this
place makes the statement of 'everyone is allowed', and 'it's super easy to get it',
yet at the same time, 'you'd be crazy to want to get in'.
What a peculiar place.
READ: Matthew 7:13-15
ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is
the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it.
13Enter
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* MY TRIP TO THE FRESNO CEMETERY
Shortly after I got out of the Army, back in 1992, I got together with a
friend of mine, James Phipps, and we contrived the idea to take a trip to the local
Fresno cemetery in the middle of the night. 1 I wanted to bring my camcorder,
and see if I could catch a ghost on tape. Yes, I know, I have to admit yet again
that I was a complete idiot. Doing things like this is just asking for trouble,
spiritually speaking. I'm certain that many of the things I used to do played
various contributions to my later encounters with the demonic realm, which I talk
more in depth in ("My best friend Jack").
James and I did some filming on the way to the cemetery. We pointed the
camera at the people in a Taco Bell drive-up window, and continued with our
goofy commentary. When we arrived at the cemetery, I proceeded to take the
video camera out, and we walked around with the camera, filming various
gravestones. It was a very foggy night, and we had to have a couple of
flashlights just to do the filming. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. It was
quite boring, actually.
On the way home, we were hoping the action would come out when we
viewed the tape. Our hopes were dashed, however, when suddenly the VCR
started mangling our VHS tape. It didn't appear to destroy very much of it, so I
carefully weeded out all the shredded tape. The parts it did destroy were
shredded, but I know how to cut and splice VHS tapes. It's quite easy, actually.
James and I operated on the tape, cutting off the shredded section, and splicing
it back together with scotch tape. When we popped it back in the VCR and
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started watching it, we were highly upset about the outcome. It just so happened
that the tape was eaten by the VCR starting at a point about 10 seconds of
filming prior to reaching the cemetery. It didn't recover from the damaged
portion of the tape until about 10 seconds of filming after leaving the cemetery.
In essence, my VCR completely destroyed the exact portion of the tape that
covered our filming of the graveyard. The timing on this segment of tape was so
uncanny; it was as if something didn't want us to see anything that was filmed
while we were in that cemetery.
READ: 1 Samuel 6:19 (Curiosity lacking respect can be lethal)
he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark
of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten
men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the
people with a great slaughter.
19And
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CHAPTER 10: OUIJA BOARDS
* MY SISTER'S EXPERIENCE WITH THE OUIJA BOARD
My sister, Sharon Stone - and no, she's not the actor, tells of a time when
she once played with an Ouija board. All it took was one time.
She was at a friend’s house when her friend pulled an Ouija board out of
her closet. "Let's play with my Ouija board!" her friend cheerfully exclaimed. Not
knowing what an Ouija board is, my sister excitedly agreed. All board games are
good, so she thought.
"What do we do?"
"First, we just sit on the edge of my bed, and put the board on our laps,
touching both our knees," Sharon's friend instructed. Once in position, her friend
continued. "Now we take the pointer, and set it right here" her friend placed the
Ouija board pointer down on the center of the board. "Now all we do is ask a
question and put our fingers on the pointer. It's will spell out answers to us."
Looking at the pointer, Sharon was slightly puzzled. "It'll do what?"
"Ask anything, and the pointer will spell out the answers. All we have to
do is put our fingers on it, and it'll move."
"But there aren't any wheels or anything. How does it work?"
"Just do it and you'll see."
To humor her friend, Sharon decided to comply, not believing the game
would actually work. Her complacent attitude was soon replaced with shock,
however, when she went to lay her fingers on the pointer. Before she ever
touched it, it flew across the bedroom and slammed into her friend's bedroom
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door! Sharon screamed and fled the bedroom in a panic. Needless to say, she
never played with an Ouija board again.
READ: Deuteronomy 18:10-12
shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his
daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of
times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all that do these things are an
abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy
God doth drive them out from before thee.
10There
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* MY OWN EXPERIENCES WITH THE OUIJA BOARD
When I was about 6 or 7 years old, my sister told me about an experience
she had with an Ouija board. Her experience is mentioned in this book in ("My
sister's experience with the Ouija board"). While her story was creepy, it stirred
my curiosity. I wanted to know how, and if an Ouija board really worked. It
wasn't until I was in High School before I finally had the opportunity to try using
one myself. (NOTE: This was not a good thing. The Ouija board opens a
doorway into the spiritual realm, using people as conduits, and is nothing short of
a symbolic means of inviting spirit possession.)
When I was in band class at Fresno High School in Fresno, California, a
group of band kids brought in an Ouija board one day. They took it into one of
the back practice rooms of the band room, and began playing with it. I went into
the practice room, as asked to join. There were about 5 or 6 of us. I was amazed
at what was happening. No matter what questions we asked, answers would zip
out of the pointer, one right after another. I didn't feel like I was moving the
pointer. Instead, I just had my fingers lightly touching it, and going the direction I
felt everyone else pushing it. Everyone in the room was convinced that someone
there was moving it to produce specific results.
The first things that were spelled out seemed childish. When we asked
who was speaking, we learned that something that said it was a young boy about
5 years old was speaking. This puzzled me. Why wouldn't a young boy be in
heaven? Shortly after this, one of the kids said "Let's talk to Lucifer!" I ripped my
hands away from the board.
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"Are you insane? What's wrong with you! Why on earth do you want to
talk to pure evil and hatred?"
The kid laughed, not believing the game I suppose. He thought I was
being ridiculous. I was still fascinated with the game, and continued to play, but
not while Donny was coming up with stupid ideas. We didn't get to play with the
game for very long before something came through identifying itself as “Gor”. It
said it was a prince of darkness, and I didn't want to converse with anything like
that. We kept pausing in the game, and demanding that the evil spirit leave. It
appeared to leave several times, but would soon return and interrupt our
conversations with what we thought were other spirits. They were all probably
the same demonic creature. A few of the kids said that some Ouija boards are
just bad, and all you can get are bad spirits. I now know that all anyone will ever
get from any Ouija board is a demonic spirit. Ouija boards are a form of
divination, which is strictly forbidden in the Bible. I wasn't that enlightened back
then.
Convinced I could communicate with something good, I borrowed the
board from whoever owned it, and took it home. I tried to use it by myself, but it
wouldn't work. I then began to wonder if someone at school really was
controlling it. Why wouldn't it work with just me alone? Perhaps it was just a
hoax.
I brought the board back to school, and one of the other kids in our group
decided to take it to his home for the weekend. He invited all of us to join him at
his house, so we could all play with it without interruptions. He lived too far away
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for me to attend, but others in our group accepted his invitation. When they
brought the board back the following Monday, most of them wouldn't play with it
anymore. One of them told me that they saw a misty cloud form up in the
hallway of their home, and one of the girls playing the game fell on the ground,
went into convulsions, and started screaming. A few of the kids wanted to
destroy the board, but the kid that brought it back to school didn't want them to.
While we were in this heated discussion in the band practice room, our band
teacher ripped the door open.
"What's going on in here?" Our debates were immediately silenced; we all
glared up at him wide-eyed and suspicious. His attention was immediately
focused on the Ouija board in our hands. Suddenly he reached down and
snatched the board out of our hands. "This stuff is demonic!" he bellowed out,
and then left the practice room with the board in his hands. While he walked
across the band room, he continued yelling. "Don't ever bring one of these
things in here again!" He then threw the board in a trashcan. I'm glad this was all
he did. I once saw him pick up two fairly large kids - one in each hand - and
shake them around like rag-dolls. They were serious troublemakers, and he was
a serious trouble-breaker. He wasn't particularly fond of drummers either, (which
is what I am - and what those two trouble-makers were). Drummers had a bad
reputation in band for doing things like playing with Ouija boards in the practice
rooms. We drove our band teacher insane sometimes, and he'd lose his temper
and throw music stands at us. Those were the days...
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A few years later, after I joined the Army, my curiosity got the best of me
again. I wasn't fully satisfied with my experience with the Ouija board back in
High School. I still thought that maybe one or two of the kids in our group might
have been manipulating the pointer on the game board. Why wouldn't it work
with just me alone? I never came to any conclusion about how the Ouija board
works, or even if it worked at all, but I still wanted to know.
I asked my best friend, Frankie Joe Carducci, if he'd be willing to try using
the game with me. 1 I told him about my experience with it in High School, and
explained that I just wanted to know if it would really work. I trusted no one more
than Frank, so if the game actually worked with just the two of us, then I'd know
for sure that there was really something to it. We also thought we were
Christians, so neither of us figured we'd be in any danger. We just wanted to try
to talk to an angel from heaven, or an alien from another planet, or a good being
from another dimension or something. Neither of us had any desire to
communicate with anything evil.
I went to the nearest Toys-R-Us toy store in Murphyrey, not far from where
I was stationed at Fort Ord, California, and purchased an Ouija board.
Prior to using the board, I got a bizarre idea. I filled a cup with water,
grabbed a piece of copper wire, and conjured up some of my most cherished
memories. I then dipped the wire into the water and recounted the memories,
forcing myself to re-experience the emotions. Frank did the same thing, adding
his cherished memories to the cup of water. The idea of this activity was to make
our own "Holy" water, and anoint the Ouija board with it in case something evil
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crept in. I got the idea that water held 'emotional energy' from various other
sources, and that copper might be a good channel for transmitting that energy
from our bodies into the water. Whatever...
It was early in the evening when we started using the board. The pointer
moved very slowly. It wasn't making much sense at first, but then things started
spelling out, slowly. I was amazed that anything was happening at all. Only
Frank and I were using this game, and the pointer was moving. We both felt we
were just going along with pushing it where the other one was pushing it. At first,
words spelled out from someone that sounded like a soldier. We asked him what
year it was, and he said 1960 something. He said he lived in our barracks. We
assumed this was the spirit of a man that had died in our building.
As the evening went on, it started getting dark outside, and the darker it
got, the quicker the pointer started moving. Then the words being spelled out
changed dramatically, donning a poetic quality. It then started to ask us
questions, rather than the other way around. Clearly, something else was
speaking. It was also much more powerful than what we were previously
communicating with.
"Who is speaking?" we asked the board, then touched the pointer.
Instead of answering, it asked "Who are you?" We looked at each other.
Frank wasn't sure if it wanted to know who both of us were, or just one of us.
"Who are you asking about – me, John, or both of us?" Frank asked.
"I know who you are, Frank." Pause. "I do not know who John is. He is a
ghost among shadows. I know not whence he came."
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Frank pulled away. "Wow, that's cool" Frank commented.
"Why didn't it answer our question?" I asked Frank. "I don't want to talk to
something that doesn't identify itself. It knows I'm John, so now we should know
who it is. Who are you?" I repeated the question.
"I am the Tiger that roams the night, seeking whom I may devour." As
soon as this spelled out, a sickening feeling set in my stomach.
"I don't care how poetic this thing is, I don't want to talk to it. Let's bless
the board" I instructed Frank. We then dipped our hands into the cup of water we
'blessed', and wiped the water all over the board. After this, we both verbally
affirmed that we didn't want to talk to whatever it was that identified itself as the
'Tiger'. Placing the pointer back on the board, we asked, "Is there anyone
there?"
"I envy you" spelled out a response. Frank and I knew the response had
something to do with the thoughts we placed into the water.
"We don't want to speak to the evil thing. Who is this?" We placed our
hands on the pointer, and it wouldn't move. The game just died. We sat for
about three minutes or so, and the pointer didn't move anywhere. "Is there
anyone out there?" we asked again. Finally the pointer moved.
"I will take thy heads from iniquity, and feed them to the venomous beast"
a reply finally spelled out.
"What's iniquity mean?" I asked Frank with a disturbed expression on my
face.
"I don't know."
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"I don't know either, but that didn't sound good." While I was irritated that
the tone of the reply sounded hideously wicked, I was still fascinated by the fact
that something was spelled out that neither Frank nor I had the vocabulary to
understand. If the word 'iniquity' were really in the dictionary, it would confirm the
fact that there was really something speaking through the Ouija board that was
completely independent of both me and Frank. This would rule out the possibility
of the Ouija board being a 'subconscious' phenomenon, as some have
postulated. I took out a dictionary, and looked up the word 'iniquity'.
"Here it is!" I excitedly spoke up, but my excitement quickly dissolved. "It
means ... 'wickedness', or 'evil' ", I droned. "Well, I guess that settles it. The
Ouija board really works, but all you get is crap." I then picked up the board and
immediately busted it in half.
"Why did you do that? Don't you want to keep trying?"
"No. The last time I used one of these boards, something evil came
through that time too, and I didn't want to talk to anything evil back then either.
That's all anyone would ever get. Don't you see? That's just the way it is. The
more powerful spirits that are in the spiritual plane of this world are demons, and
they zone in on these opportunities when they get the chance. Probably even if
there are spirits that aren't all that bad, they don't get a chance to communicate,
because the more powerful, evil ones kick them out. These boards are just
demonic."
This was the conclusion I came to - even before I became a dedicated
Christian. I believed in some 'Christian' things, like the existence of demons, but
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I also played with Ouija boards, a totally un-Christian thing to do. Frank and I
took the board out into the woods and burned it. It didn’t reappear back in my
dorm room, either, as some rumors have it. The board was intimidating, and
probably did some damage to Frank and me spiritually speaking, but it wasn't an
all-powerful thing, as some horror movies portray.
READ: Matthew 2:19-20 (If we need to know something, God will let us know
without our having to use divination)
19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt, 20Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and
go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.
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CHAPTER 11: PSI
* MARK AND I (1ST AND 9TH GRADE)
One of my earliest paranormal experiences that happened to me that
might be related to PSI occurred when I was 6 years old. I remember my very
first day of school in the first grade, attending Milview Pirates Elementary, in
Madera, CA. It was an awful day. I couldn't believe my mother was actually
leaving me with a bunch of strangers. After all her talk about staying away from
people I didn't know, and here she was - leaving me behind in an entire institution
full of strangers!
Right after my mom peeled me off of her and jetted out the door, I started
bawling. The teacher sat me near the back of the classroom, and I finally
stopped crying. Not many other kids were acting up as bad as I was. I sat
quietly, not saying a word.
After a little while had passed, a kid got up from his desk and went over to
where I was to get a toy or something. I was in the back of the class where all
the supplies were. When the kid approached where I was at, he stopped what
he was doing, and then stared at me for a long pause. I stared back.
"Your name is Mark, isn't it?" I don't know why I asked this question. I
didn't know who this kid was, but for some unknown reason, I simply felt that he
LOOKED like his name was Mark.
"Yes. Your name is John, isn't it?"
"Yea, how'd you know?"
"How did you know?" he asked me back.
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"I don't know. You just look like your name is Mark."
"Well, you just look like your name is John." We stared at each other for a
minute or so more, wondering about the strange event that just transpired.
Finally Mark got himself a toy, and we started to play together. We both felt
much better, now that we had someone to talk to. Mark became my very first
friend in school, and together, we helped each other through that most
momentous day of school.
Over time, Mark and I made other friends that we hung out with more
often, and we slowly drifted apart. By the time I was in the 2nd grade, I think
Mark moved away, because I don't remember seeing him anymore.
EIGHT YEARS and five different schools later - (some in a different state)
- I was in the 9th grade attending Fresno High School in Fresno, California. One
day while walking through the racquetball quarts during lunchtime, I noticed a tall,
lanky kid sitting near the edge of one of the courts. I stopped in my tracks and
stared at him for about 15 seconds. He took notice of me, and stared back. We
both stared at each other with crunched eyebrows.
"I know you, don't I? Is your name Mark?"
"Sure is. And your name is ... John?"
"Yep; are you who I think you are? Did you attend Milview Elementary
over in Madera in the first grade?"
"Yea - so that is you! Wow!"
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Though Mark and I looked completely different, we still recognized each
other somehow. Even stranger, we ended up in the same school after years of
moving from place to place, even as far as 2000 miles apart.
READ: 1 Corinthians 13:12 (Perhaps Mark and I experienced a touch of divine
knowledge?)
12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
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* THE SWAP
My friend Rami Bridges and I had been best friends since the 7th grade.
In my story, ("Jesus in a helicopter"), I talk about how Rami and I had a peculiar
bond in which our lives were spiritually paralleled. We were friends before we
became dedicated Christians, and then we became dedicated to Christ at about
the same time - so our friendship evolved from being party buddies into Christian
brothers in Christ.
This might seem like I'm going off on a tangent, but I'm not. This story
requires a small background involving people other than Rami and me. When I
was a teenager, I remember hearing a strange story from my brother Charlie that
he and my step dad had swapped a portion of their spiritual essence. This had
nothing to do with anything physical. It was all purely mental, or spiritual - or
something - I'm still not exactly sure what. Actually, my brother said my step dad
did this to him, involuntarily. What a punk! I don't know really how to explain it,
because it sounds odd and I don't know what it entails. My step dad claimed that
he took some good stuff out of my brother's spirit, and exchanged it with a bunch
of his garbage he dumped into my brother. How he did this, I do not know.
People I knew noticed that my brother was beginning to act like my step dad in
many ways, (all the bad ways), and that my step dad was acting like my brother
in many ways, (all the good ways). I think I also remember my brother saying
that he confronted Aaron and demanded all his good stuff back, and the weird
thing reversed itself. Anyway, this strange tale intrigued me. It sounded like the
concept of a blood brother, but on a deeper level. For kids that live in the
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country, which I did on and off during that time in my life, having a blood brother
was cool...
I remember I told Rami about my step dad and my brother, and asked him
if he'd like to swap a piece of his spirit with me. I didn't know what I was saying.
I just figured we would have a kind of psychic bond. Rami thought the idea
sounded cool. "Yea, let's do that. But I don't want all your crap, and you get all
my good stuff!"
"No, it won't be that way. We'll make an equal exchange, okay? I'll give
you a little good and bad from me, and you do the same. That way, it'll be fair."
"Okay. How do we do it?"
I didn't know, so I just made something up. "All we have to do is mutually
agree on it, and shake hands." We shook hands, and thus began a series of
alterations in our behaviors. Rami and I both noticed that many of his common
phrases and train of thought became my own, and vice versa. (FOR those of
you reading this - I don't suggest doing this, much like I don’t suggest doing a lot
of things I’ve done before. I still don't understand it, but I believe God has given
me enough discernment to state with verifiable authority that swapping spiritual
essence is not a good thing. The only time it's acceptable is when it's directed by
God, (1 Corinthians 6:17, 12:13; Acts 4:32; John 10:30).
READ: 1 Corinthians 6:17
he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
17But
READ: 1 Corinthians 12:13
by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit.
13For
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READ: Acts 4:32
the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul:
neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his
own; but they had all things common.
32And
30I
READ: John 10:30 (Jesus and His Father were one in spirit)
and my Father are one.
Rami and I laughed constantly about this inside agreement we had,
because the changes we experienced were uncanny. Before I left for the Army,
Rami confronted me one day after we had another bizarre experience we knew
was related to our swap. I can't remember exactly what the event was that
triggered his reaction, but the bottom line was that it compared something good I
got from him with something bad he got from me. "Okay, I've had it. I want my
good stuff back!"
"No. I'm not giving it back." I retaliated. I then proceeded to calm Rami
down and remind him of some of the good things he got from me, and some of
the bad things I got from him. We weren't only blood brothers, we were spirit
brothers. I also reminded him that I was going into the Army, and that I didn't
want to lose contact with him. For all I knew, he might move away, and without
our bond, it might be impossible for me to find him again. Odd reasoning, but he
agreed and decided not to reverse the swap. I realize that to most people, such
an argument would be completely absurd, but Rami and I had experienced
enough of our swap to realize that something real had happened between us.
While I was gone in the Army, I did eventually lose contact with Rami. He
had moved from where he used to live, and wasn't listed in the phone book. I
didn't have any other friends that knew where he moved, either, so I had no way
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of finding out where he lived. As soon as I got out of the Army, it wasn't long
before I found him. I credit our swap to this account.
I was home from the Army for no more than two or three days before
meeting him again. It happened at about midnight one night when I was in my
studio apartment. I can't remember if I was asleep, or just vegetating on the
television. Suddenly I got a powerful urge to get up and go outside. For some
reason, I knew I had to walk about a quarter mile from my house to the Yum Yum
donut shop on the corner of Palm and McKinley. I ate donuts no more than the
average person, but for some reason I knew I had to get out of my room and get
over to that donut shop! I didn't even care about the donuts. I didn't have any
money. I just had to get there, and not waste any time.
I grabbed my jacket and off I went. While on the way there, I started
wondering about what I was doing. Rami popped into my mind. "I bet he'll be
waiting for me in the parking lot" I mumbled to myself.
I crossed Palm Avenue, and as soon as I stepped into the Yum Yum
donut parking lot, a banana colored Chevy Nova pulled into the parking lot and
stopped right in front of me. It was Rami. He and I hadn't seen each other in
nearly two years, but he rolled down his window and said as if he were expecting
me, "Hi John. Hop in!" Off we went.
"I told you we'd still need our swap to find each other" I mentioned to him.
He laughed and said that he was suddenly taken with the urge to go to the Yum
Yum donut shop too. He didn't even know why he had to go there, but on the
way there, I popped into his mind. He figured I was out of the Army and would
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probably be waiting in the parking lot when he got there. We laughed
hysterically.
As an interesting side note, I don't think it's any coincidence that both
Rami and I became born again Christians at about the same time. Nowadays,
Rami’s still a very good friend of mine. For the most part, he's gone his way, and
I've gone my way. I still feel a connection with him from time to time, but I think
God has turned it into a good thing since we both accepted Jesus into our lives.
He replaced it with the right kind of swap - a unity in Christ. I talk a little more
about this continued unity I have with my buddy Rami in ("A dream for a dream").
READ: 1 Corinthians 6:17
he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
17But
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CHAPTER 12: STRANGE CREATURES & MYTHICAL BEINGS
* THE BALL OF LIGHT THAT COMMUNICATED WITH ME
Following is an excerpt of chapter one of one of my other books, Aliens in
the Bible. This is a slightly more abbreviated version. It describes a true account
of events concerning something very peculiar I encountered in the jungle of
Panama.
It was in the summer of 1990, during the Panamanian conflict. I was an M60 Machine Gunner in the Army at the time, assigned to the 7th Infantry
Division. Prior to deploying to Panama City, my unit held up various guard posts
in the jungle behind Fort Sherman. This is where I had my encounter.
I remember gazing at my watch, seeing that I had fifteen minutes left
before waking up Corp. Stenger to take over the midnight shift. 1 Sleep at last, I
thought, while peering at my sleeping area behind me. I was issued a small net
to sleep under, but it didn’t do any good. In the jungle of Panama, it’s impossible
to find an area without bugs. Setting up a net in any given space does nothing
but trap bugs beneath it.
While staring at the net, I became aware of a peculiar glow that flashed in
front of me while my head was turned. The glow was like a dim flash. It
disappeared when I faced forward to see what it was. All evening the sky had
been flashing with lighting, even though there were no clouds or rain, just a
gloomy haze. This is common in Panama. I quickly dismissed the phenomenon
as lightning, because the effect of the mellow flash was very similar. The only
reason this particular flash caught my attention is because it was noticeably
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brighter than the lightning that had been flashing throughout the evening. I simply
attributed this to a brighter flash of lightning. A few minutes passed, and the flash
occurred again, this time while I was facing forward. It was immediately apparent
that this flash was not lighting. It flashed from behind the many trees and brush in
front of me about 300 yards away, and was much brighter this time.
I rubbed my eyes, repositioned myself, yawned, and leaned forward
expecting another peculiar flash. Sure enough, about a minute later, another
flash emitted from the jungle, and again, the intensity was increased. This was a
prime indication that it was approaching my position. I looked at Corp. Stenger
and thought about waking him up. While staring at him, I recalled that I was in a
highly unique situation for revenge. For the past year and a half, Corp. Stenger
had led the pack of individuals that enjoyed making my life miserable in the
Army. I developed a reputation of being unusual. I sort of asked for it, because in
the Army, anything that distinguishes a person as different from others is always
a target for ridicule. All it took was for people to walk into my room. There, they
found themselves in a shrine of the paranormal. Lining my walls were books on
every paranormal subject there is. UFOs, ghosts, palmistry, astrology, Tarot
cards, tea leaves, crystals, rune casting, miraculous healing, astral projection,
Ouija boards, psychic phenomenon, hypnosis, reincarnation, possession,
channeling, demons, angels, big-foot, different religions; if it had to do with the
supernatural, I had a book on it. Decorating my room along with the books were
items such as crystal balls, Dungeons & Dragons paraphernalia, (a game of
which I was an avid player at that time), incense burners and a host of candles
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seated in the most cryptic looking candle holders I could find. For this reason, I
was nicknamed "Weird", and the title never left me until I departed the Army.
Aside from my dorm decor, I once made the unforgivable mistake of
asking Corp. Stenger if he'd ever seen a ghost. That was stupid. (Please
pardon me while I go off on this slight tangent). It happened during a field land
navigation exercise, shortly after I first arrived in my unit. Three others and I
were in Corp. Stenger's group, and we were given a map, compass, and a list of
targets we had to find. Corp. Stenger had completed this land navigation course
so many times in the past, he had all the targets memorized. He simply plotted
down all the answers on our score sheet, then directed us to a large, secluded
Oak tree, where we sat for 4 hours with nothing but time to kill. Finding the
setting similar to a camping trip, I figured I'd ask one of my favorite questions I
always ask on camping trips. "Hey Corp. Stenger, have you ever seen a
ghost?" I think he only heard the 'ghost' part, because he about had a heart
attack! Everyone busted up laughing, and wondered what in the heck kind of
question that was! Oh brother - I never heard the end of it...
[BACK TO THE JUNGLE] Now here I was, faced with something that I
had always longed to see - an unknown. And soundly sleeping to my right was
Corp. Stenger, a man who loved to ridicule me endlessly about how moronic I
was for believing in such nonsense. (For the sake of producing an unpolluted
work, I will refrain from his exact terminology). I stood up, waiting for another
flash. Another one came, brighter, and closer. I smiled with delight, strangely
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unafraid, and burning with curiosity. Two things came to my mind to explain the
phenomenon: swamp gas, and ball lightning. 2, 3
When I thought of ball lightning, I realized that I was probably not in a
good situation. I was wearing a 23 pound chunk of metal, (my M-60 machine
gun), about 100 rounds of ammunition draped around my neck, and a pair of
night-vision goggles rested against my chest. Furthermore, my backpack had
several lithium batteries in it, along with a field radio that had a three-foot
antenna sticking out saying 'Here I am, come and zap me!' Thinking that ball
lightning would be attracted to these things, I set the M-60 down, took off the
rounds of ammunition and set them next to the M-60, and distanced myself from
the backpack a few feet.
Finally, I saw what was producing the flashing. It was a ball of light as
bright as a camera flash, and about the size of a soccer ball. The ball was about
twenty feet up in the air, would flash for about a half second, and then disappear.
While invisible, it would move about twenty to thirty feet closer to my position,
then flash again. I was utterly fascinated!
My guard post was off the side of a small dirt road. This road meandered
through the jungle behind Fort Sherman, Panama, and eventually dwindled into
nothingness. There were two other guard posts along the road, each positioned
about a quarter mile apart. I wondered if anyone at the other posts were able to
see the flashing from where they were. The brightness of this ball of light was
certainly sufficient for them to see. "Witnesses" I thought to myself with delight. I
figured that if others were faced with this phenomenon, then they would be
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forced to recant the burdensome reputation that they imparted me.
(Unfortunately, this event actually ended up making things worse. They mocked
that I was the one responsible for it).
I finally couldn’t wait anymore. This strange ball of light was clearly visible,
flashing consistently every two to three minutes, and rapidly approaching my
position. Every time it flashed, it was twenty to thirty feet closer to us. I had to
wake Corp. Stenger. My shift was over, and it was time for him to get up anyway.
As he rubbed his dreary eyes, I excitedly explained to him that I thought
there was some sort of alien probe, or alien life form approaching the camp. This
quickly got his attention, but then he crunched his eyebrows, and mumbled a few
curse words at me thinking I was making up a strange story. But while he was
cursing, the light flashed, and I interrupted him saying, “See! Didn’t you see it? I
know you saw it!” A suspicious and confused expression donned on his face.
“Well, my shift’s up, so have fun, because I’m crashing” I stated with an
unconcerned attitude, hoping he would respond. I actually had no intention of
going to sleep. I just wanted to make him squirm.
“Wait a minute. What was that?” Before he was fully cognizant, I seized
the moment to take charge. Corp. Stenger was on my turf now, and I was going
to do my best to make him remember this moment for the rest of his life. I
stepped out onto the side of the dirt road and began to talk to this ominous orb as
it approached us.
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“Who are you? What are you? Reveal yourself to me…” I questioned it. By
this time, it was flashing about ten feet in front of me, still close to twenty feet
above the ground.
“Shut up!” Corp. Stenger quietly chastised me.
I then looked at him with a serious expression and stated, “This …
whatever it is,” I pointed to where the ball of light flashed last, “is not of this
world.” Silence permeated the atmosphere. The ball of light then flashed almost
directly above me, as if in response to what I just said. Corp. Stenger and I both
got a clear look at it this time. I also realized that this ball of light was no longer
moving. It flashed about three times, remaining stationary, as if observing us. I
pointed this out to Corp. Stenger, and he didn’t know what to say. He stabbed at
an explanation.
“Maybe it’s some sort of ... bug …” he mumbled.
“Don’t be an idiot!” I was now chastising him. “It’s the size of a soccer ball!
You saw it.” Corp. Stenger scratched his head.
“Maybe it’s some sort of experimental technology they’re deploying from
one of the aircraft-carriers in the gulf?” he quizzed, wondering now what my
response would be. At least he was a little more creative this time. “Maybe some
sort of laser?”
I was still wearing my AN/PVS-7s, (night-vision goggles), so I turned them
on, and looked up to where I saw the ball of light flash last. I could see nothing. I
lowered the goggles and stared at Corp. Stenger. “We have nothing that could do
this. A laser shoots a strait beam of light, and needs an uninterrupted space in
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which to project. This thing is down in the trees, traveling around like a small
probe, and is a ball of light. This is definitely not a laser, and it doesn’t appear to
be physical, either, because I can’t see it with the goggles, and it’s making
absolutely no sound whatsoever.” I then handed the goggles to Corp. Stenger
and demanded that he try to see it for himself. He looked around, and then
suddenly he became startled. He claimed he saw a smaller light with the
goggles, something about the size of a silver dollar. He said he saw it hovering
about 5 feet above the road, and then it disappeared. He handed the goggles
back to me, but I never saw what he was talking about. I gave the goggles back
to him.
I continued to lecture him about the large ball of light that we both saw
without the night vision goggles. “It’s not ball lightning either, because ball
lightning doesn’t flash like that. I read about ball lightning, which is almost never
this big, but looks sort of like this. But when ball lightning appears, it zips around
wildly until it’s gone. It usually dissipates into something that attracts lightning,
such as metal objects. Here is a bunch of metal, a field radio with an antenna
that is nothing short of a lightning rod and some batteries”, I pointed to the M-60
and the backpack with the radio in it, “and that ball of light isn’t going for it. It’s
just sitting up there, checking us out. Ball lightning doesn’t do that. Ball lightning
doesn’t move through the jungle, then stop over the middle of a road and check
people out. This thing appears to resemble some sort of intelligence.” By this
time, Corp. Stenger was sweating profusely, scanning nervously with the
goggles, and growing with paranoia. I loved it.
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“And it’s not swamp gas, either, because swamp gas is just a glowing
greenish mist, not a ball of light as bright as a camera flash. Stenger, we are
faced with an intelligent life form probably from another world,” I stated with
confidence, and awe. He looked at me with fear in his eyes, and I smiled back
with delight. The light flashed again, as if responding to my statements again.
“Here, let me see those goggles,” I asked in calm, collected tone of voice. He
handed them to me, and I proceeded to walk out into the very center of the road.
“I’m going to try to communicate with it,” I said to Corp. Stenger.
“Are you crazy? We don’t know what that is!”
“If it wanted to harm us, I’m sure it could’ve done so by now.”
Corp. Stenger refrained from speaking any further, and took a few steps
backward off the road. He didn’t want to be a part of what I was going to attempt
to do. I really didn’t know what I was going to do, but I thought it would sound
good to say such a cryptic statement. I felt like I was in an episode of Star Trek.
While lifting the goggles to my eyes, I looked up to where the light flashed last. I
then cleared my mind, and tried to feel where it was going to flash next. Oddly
enough, a strange sensation overcame me. I actually felt that the object was
moving. “I can feel it moving” I stated to Corp. Stenger. I felt the object fly right
over my head, lower to about fifteen feet off the ground, and stop about twenty
feet behind me. I followed it with the night vision goggles, spinning myself
around in the opposite direction I was facing before, keeping my goggles pointed
at where I thought I felt its presence. I then began to speak slowly. “The next
time it will flash, it’s going to be right …about…”, then WHAM! The light flashed
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exactly where I was looking with the night vision goggles. I was blinded for about
a full minute, because the goggles amplify all light, and the flash was as bright as
a camera flash. I was astounded!
“Wow! Did you see that Stenger!” I excitedly pronounced, blind, and
amazed. “I communicated with it! It showed me where it was going to flash
next. There’s no way I could’ve known that. This thing is intelligent. It stayed in
that one spot until I wanted to communicate with it. Then it moved way over
there,” I pointed where it flashed, “and made me feel where it was going! I
actually felt its presence! And right when I was about ready to say ‘THERE’, it
flashed, as if it even knows what I’m saying!” Corp. Stenger stood motionless,
staring at me. He didn’t seem to share my enthusiasm.
I continued talking to this strange ball of light, but nothing more came of it.
It didn’t do anything particularly spectacular, like turn into a humanoid or
anything. It simply demonstrated to me that without a doubt, it was in fact
intelligent, and it was in fact checking us out. It proceeded to circle our post in a
complete 360-degree circle, taking about fifteen minutes to do so. Then it slowly
meandered down the road, flashing periodically as it went. The next day I
reminded Corp. Stenger of the event, and he simply looked at me and chuckled.
“Hanging around you long enough, something weird was bound to happen,” he
joked. I asked members of the other posts if they saw anything, and one
member from both posts did. They said it stopped and flashed above the road at
each post, as if taking note of their presence. I told them the whole story, and
they got a kick out of it. But unfortunately, the event subsided into a vague
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recollection, and prompting the event in conversation did nothing for me but ask
for ridicule. As stated earlier, they mocked that I was the reason for this strange
event. In my opinion, these individuals were faced with something utterly
astonishing, and their complacent attitude towards it astounds me almost more
than the ball of light itself.
This event stands clear in my memory as if it happened yesterday. I was
not alone when this happened. I was fully alert, and completely sober. (As a
soldier, you have to be when you're on guard duty; everyone's life depends on
it). My prior interest in the paranormal was thus intensified.
Years later, when I was talking with a friend of mine about this episode –
while showing him the manuscript for this book, actually, Michael Schiller said,
“Oh, that was a Will-o’-the-Wisp”. 4, 5 I had no idea what a Will-o’-the-Wisp was,
so Schiller and I browsed through the Internet looking for information. Sure
enough, we found out that there is a legendary swamp creature (found in
marshes, or jungles), known as a Will-o’-the-Wisp, which resembles the
appearance and characteristics of this ball of light exactly. Some legends say
they are spirits of the deceased, while other legends contend that they are nonhuman in origin. In all cases, they generally appear the same way, and do the
same thing. They are described as flashing balls of light found in swaps,
marshes, or jungles, and do nothing but try to arouse curiosity, and get people to
follow them. They typically lead people into traps, such as pits, or quicksand.
I suppose it’s a good thing I didn’t follow that ball of light, if it was in fact a
Will-o’-the-Wisp. Then again, it could’ve just been an angel. The Bible does say
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that angels are curious about us, especially concerning God’s work of
redemption for humanity.
READ: 1 Peter 1:12 (Angels are curious about us)
whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did
minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things
the angels desire to look into.
12Unto
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@ IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ETHICAL?
While attending the University of Phoenix, I took a class on ethics. I chose
to write my term paper on the issue of whether it would be ethical to pursue the
field of artificial intelligence or not. Since the paper somewhat fits into this
particular category of this book, I have decided to include it. For those that have
read my other book, Aliens in the Bible, you may notice some similarities
between this article, and my chapter on pseudo-life forms.
It is generally agreed upon by many intellectuals that within two human
generations, (roughly 50 years), computers will be smarter than humans. 6 In
fact, artificial intelligence, (here onward referred to as AI), will not only surpass
human intelligence, but dwarf it.
There are several factors contributing to the rise of AI; advancements in
the fields of microelectronics (UltraLSI), molecular nanoelectronics,
neurophysiology, embryology, and optical computing. 6 Even now, there are such
things as bio-computers, (computers which process information by chemical
means, storing data in genetically created brains), independently controlled
robots, and AI that can reason and understand human language to a limited
degree. 7
Computer processors currently process information through electrical
circuitry at a speed of over one million times faster than the human brain’s
neural-transmitters process thoughts through brain cells. This speed increases
exponentially, of course, with the introduction of circuitry integrated with fiber
optics; enabling computers to process information at the speed of light. It is for
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this reason that once AI advances to the degree that computers are at least as
smart as humans, they will quickly surpass human intelligence.
With the rise of AI, certain questions come to mind. Will computers with AI
develop free will? The natural conclusion to this question is yes. Free will, in fact,
is the key ingredient that defines the system as truly intelligent, and not simply a
mechanical puppet. With AI, one may ask the machine a question, and curiously
await a reasoned answer that was derived from the machine’s personal
experiences. This is what makes AI so fascinating – in exploring AI, we explore
ourselves, and our origins as human entities.
If the conclusion that computers with AI is that they truly do have free will,
then it must also be concluded that such systems will develop their own sense of
morality. This prospect, though not heavily debated now, will most assuredly be
the topic of intense political debate in the years to come. The ethical question
concerning the development of advanced AI will simply be, "Should the field of AI
continue to the point of the development of systems with free will"?
While the answer to this question, in my opinion, should be no, I feel that
the ultimate outcome will be, yes.
According to theorist and AI developer Dr. Hugo De Garis, there will be
two factions’ in the future political debates concerning the development of AI. For
this article, these factions will be labeled the "Cosmists", and the "Terrestrialists".
8
Simply stated - the Cosmists will be in favor of pursuing the field of AI with
unbridled diligence, while the Terrestrialists will be more cautious about the
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development of AI. The Terrestiallists will be strongly in favor of humans
remaining the dominant species on the planet.
In the eyes of a Terrestriallist, a sentient, created being made from man,
will become like man. Man, as we know, has a greater capacity to exercise both
good, and evil than do animals, because of his intelligence. With this in
perspective, an artificial life form, too, will have an even greater capacity than
man to exercise both good, and evil, because of its greater intelligence than man.
While it is noted that there is an awesome potential for the good, the awesome
potential for evil could be destructive to the point of completely demolishing
humanity from the face of the earth. Complete annihilation clearly outweighs the
benefit of any good, according to the Terrestriallist.
The Cosmists, on the other hand, will point out that while there exists the
potential for evil, they don’t think that the choice of evil will be the natural course
of evolution for AI. (Humanistic psychology at is best…) "Good", they will most
likely say, "is after all, more rational than evil, and should be the natural course of
evolutionary growth", (Garis, 1989). 6 Cosmists will believe that the natural
course of evolution for artificial life forms will be the desire to explore the cosmos
in search of more natural resources, instead of staying on earth, and competing
with humans for earth’s limited supply of natural resources. Artilects, (a term
coined by Dr. Hugo De Garis referring to artificial life forms), will not be hindered
by the constraints of biological human bodies, and will thus be free to develop
different means of traveling throughout the cosmos with greater efficiency than
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humans. They will also most likely be just as curious about finding other life in
outer space as humans are.
While the benefits of highly advanced AI will be astounding, the risks of
humans being thought as no more than humans think of bugs, is too great,
according to the Terrestiallists. Once AI has developed to the point that artilects
emerge, (sentient beings with free will), artilects will then begin to take control of
their own development, and leave human involvement in their internal workings
behind. Within a scant amount of time, humans won’t have any idea what their
systems will become. To assume that artilects will choose "Good" as a natural,
logical course for their moral evolution is assuming too much. Simply looking at
society today and the chaotic state of affairs the world is in, it appears from the
Terrestriallist's point of view that intelligence has little to do with morality. Such
people in human history as Adolph Hitler, Gangis Kahn, and other notorious
mass murdering atrocities were all highly intelligent. Unfortunately, all of their
intelligence was bent purely on evil. When considering the fact that 100 of the
world’s greatest minds in human history culminated into a single person could be
the equivalent intelligence of an artilect, such an entity would be too dangerous
to exist. If such an entity were to develop the kind of morality that drove Hitler, or
Gangis Kahn, nothing short of annihilating humanity would be the result.
In response to the Terrestriallist’s point about artilects extending beyond
human control, the Cosmists state the fact that advancements made in biocomputers could eventually be applied to humans. Such applications would
enable humans to acquire knowledge more rapidly, (i.e. downloading information
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instead of traditional learning methods, or telepathic access to the Internet).
Another possibility would be the development of a technology that would allow
the transfer, or copying of a human intellect into an artilect – thus, the artilect’s
sense of morality will be derived directly from a human being.
"Is this any less dangerous?" the Terrestrialists will argue. Though the
artilect will have a human’s morality, how stable will that morality will be, when
placed at the helm of a superior mind that thinks trillions of times faster than a
human brain, and is clearly dominant over conventional humanity. Humans
themselves are dangerous, but at least they are kept in check with the fact that
they are balanced in their intelligence with each other. An artilect with a human’s
essence, would none-the-less escape the confines of this equalizing barrier.
Putting aside the views of both Cosmists, and Terrestriallists, there are
some general points that I’m compelled to mention. First of all, human nature
alone dictates that the development of AI to the point of creating sentient beings
with free will is inevitable. Human nature demands growth. People have an
innate desire to want to learn as much as they possibly can, and explore that that
is unknown.
Secondly, how can such development be stopped? The point at which an
artificial intelligent being becomes self aware, sentient, and has free will, is very
hazy, to say the least. So what should be done? Prevent bio-computer
experimentation? Put a ban on microprocessors with speeds in excess of
10,000Ghz? There is no clear place to draw the line on the development of
computers, to prevent AI from evolving to the point of sentience.
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Lastly, even if a ban on the development of AI could be implemented
successfully, such a ban wouldn’t extend into the areas of covert government
projects, or computer geniuses developing these systems themselves to sell on
the black market. Any government not aided with the intelligence of artilects
would be at a stark disadvantage to those that will be, thus, in the name of
national security, again, the development of advanced artificial intelligent beings
that will reach the point of having free will is inevitable.
In light of the inevitable development of artilects, I am again compelled to
impart my own personal opinion in this matter. Creating artilects might seem to
pass the test of logical ethics, but I think the results will be disastrous. As a
Christian, when I study this topic of AI, I can’t help but see a peculiar insight into
a passage of scripture in the Holy Bible that many Christians are familiar with.
READ: Revelation 13:11-17
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns
like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon…And he doeth great wonders, so that he
maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And
deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he
had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth,
that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword,
and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the
image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not
worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small
and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or
in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,
or the name of the beast, or the number of his name…"
The Holy Bible is famous for its uncanny accuracy regarding prophecy,
and I find here in this passage of scripture another example of this. Consider the
image; a man-made being that is sentient, (living). This being appears to be
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highly intelligent, judging from the fact that it has the authority to make policies
which effect the entire world population.
Coupled with its intelligence is an enormous ego that demands worship,
no less. It doesn’t appear to have any qualms about dispatching with any of
those who disagree with its decisions, either, (regarding humans as inferior).
Like a system involving computer technology, the people of the world will
be forced to receive some sort of identification mark, so that without it, they will
not be able to buy or sell anything. Clearly, a logical, systematic means by which
a computer would be able to keep track of all the earthly inhabitants would be to
network people into some sort of tracking system – or maybe even a pseudo
collective consciousness. Also consider the fact that this computer-like system
targets humanity in its weakest point; economic dependency.
If such an entity had access to the Internet as part of its consciousness,
the integration of its biological counterparts – humans – would make it nearly
omniscient. In effect, such an entity would be a pseudo-Holy Spirit,
knowledgeable about the global economy, the governments of the world, human
affairs, and even people’s private matters considering the fact that it would
possibly know the contents of all electronic media that passes through the
Internet. Even more – depending on the development of bio-computer
technology, it could possibly have access to biological functions, thought waves,
and/or other human faculties, by having access to an imbedded "Chip" - a
possible medium by which the "Mark of the Beast" will be placed upon humans.
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In essence, the image of the beast, according to the Book of Revelation, is
satan’s attempt at being God – to rule over people. Everything God does, satan
tries to imitate. Christ had a prophet declaring His arrival, and likewise, the antichrist too will have his false prophet. Any in depth study Biblical study reveals
satan’s counterfeit in nearly everything that God has established.
The mark of the beast will most likely be some sort of bio-computer
technology; a biological computer chip that will enhance humanity’s
evolution…so it will be said. Perhaps, it will be a necessary addition to humanity,
if humans are expected to compete, or maintain any kind of equality with their AI
creations, as previously alluded to by the Cosmists in their argument in favor of
the continued pursuit of AI. This makes perfect sense, in fact, because it solves
two dilemmas: First of all, to get people to buy into an idea – such as a "MARK" –
would be very difficult. People don’t like the idea of being marked – especially
Americans. BUT – if this mark were an item of utilitarian value, i.e. a device that
would make people like gods in comparison to their natural state – then everyone
would be cutting in line to get one. "Sign me up" they would yell, "I’ll take a
dozen!" Secondly, this scenario fits because it falls in line with satan’s plan in
such a way that it should slap any Christian across the face with obvious clarity.
We could be like gods? Isn’t that what satan told Eve in the garden?
Though many people consider the book of Revelation cryptic, and filled
with paranoid dilutions, I personally feel that it is inspired of God, and find it
revealing to human nature. The creation of an artilect would be the epitome of
humanity's achievements, and no doubt, would be an artifact of intense human
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pride. In a sense, I think many people would consider such an entity, (the
artilect), the next step in human evolution, and in their own way, worship it, and
firmly believe that its decisions were god-like. With the introduction of biocomputer technology as well, people may very well think of themselves as gods
too.
Even as I researched the topic of AI, I was not surprised to find that many
people, (especially AI developers), approached the subject as they might
approach the very throne of God. Many AI developers believe that the
intelligence of an entity is a criterion by which to judge an entities proximity to
God. For this reason, the artilect, they feel, should be treated with reverence, and
awe.
While the future threat of AI looms on the horizon, I find myself in the
minority concerning the direction I think it will take. But, the same values and
beliefs, which reveal to me a message of warning concerning AI, also console
me. I don’t think I’m going to be around to experience the worst of things. Even if
I am, nothing can separate me from the love of God. Unfortunately, I can’t say
the same for everyone else in the world.
READ: Revelation 12:12-14
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters
of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13And when the dragon
saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought
forth the man child. 14And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle,
that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a
time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
12Therefore
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CHAPTER 13: UFOS AND ALIENS
* MIKE’S UFO SIGHTING
When I used to rent out the studio apartment above my garage in my
backyard, I once rented to an ex-Air Force member who worked in
Communications like me. 1 He was in the Air Force during the Viet Nam era.
One of his jobs was to track objects with radar. On one occasion, while working
at an Air Force base, (I can't recall the name of the base right off-hand), he said a
very bright ball of light about the size of an F-16 fighter jet zipped across the sky
and came to an immediate halt over the communications building. At the time,
he was sitting in a watchtower with another radar tech. In the tower, there was a
highly technical piece of radar equipment that was used for tracking flying
objects. It didn't register anything.
A beam of light shot down from the object to the top of the
communications building. Whatever it was appeared to be 'scanning' the
communications building. While the other guy got on the phone, Mike manually
pointed the radar tracking equipment directly at the object above the
communications building, and still, nothing registered. The object was virtually
invisible to their most advanced radar tracking equipment.
Before anyone ever knew it was there, the beam of light terminated, and
the object shot strait up into the air and was gone in less than a second. Mike
said it must have been going well over a thousand miles per hour, and couldn't
see how any human being could withstand the g-force exerted by such a craft.
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They never found out what the object was, nor heard anything about it. The
entire incident was brushed under the rug as if it never happened.
READ: Matthew 24:29
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and
the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken
29Immediately
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* AN AIR FORCE FRIEND WHO WORKED AT NORAD AFB
Back in 1996, while working on a computer in the Public Affairs office at
my base in Fresno, someone called one of the commanders in the office, and I
couldn't help but overhear bits and pieces of an odd conversation. The
Lieutenant Colonel said it was another UFO report, which we received at our
base from time to time. 2 I asked him what we do about those reports, and he
said for the most part, we ignore them.
"What if you received maybe 4 or 5 calls in about 15 minutes reporting the
same thing? Wouldn't that be perceived as a possible threat?"
"Then I might call NORAD" he calmly replied. "But they'd already know
about it. They track everything around the globe and into the outer atmosphere.
Nothing passes by that they don't know about. If there were a threat, we'd be
sent out before anyone ever saw anything."
Since I had this conversation with the Lieutenant Colonel, I wanted to
meet someone that worked at NORAD AFB just to ask about what things might
have been seen. NORAD AFB houses one of the largest radar tracking facilities
in the world. Being in Communications, I figured I might actually get the
opportunity someday. Fortunately, I did. The following year, while I was at
Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi, I met a man who was an active duty Air Force
member that once worked at NORAD AFB. 3 He was in one of my
Communications Security courses.
After getting to know him a little, I gave him my card about my last book at
the time, Aliens in the Bible, and I told him that I research paranormal things as a
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hobby. Then I asked him if he ever saw anything strange while working at
NORAD. I knew I might have been over-stepping my bounds, (possibly asking
for classified information), but he could just decline to answer my questions if that
was the case.
I don't know why, but I think in most cases, the majority of the Air Force is
in the dark about what's really being concealed concerning extra-terrestrial life,
and it frequently isn't even an 'issue' when it comes to ensuring certain things be
made classified or not. This must be purposefully decided. Two reasons
immediately come to my mind why the Air Force allows certain information to
leak out. 1. The Air Force has probably learned that making a big deal out of
trying to get people to shut up generally backfires, and 2. It might be a good idea,
for the sake of desensitization, to allow certain information to leak out in order to
help the public become use to the idea that life exists in outer space. This
realization may become a public reality very soon - perhaps within this
generation. The government may want people to be prepared.
I wasn't very surprised to hear this man tell me in a hushed tone that on
one occasion, he and several other technicians tracked 6 objects in outer space
that were the size of school buses. They were flying in a perfect 'V' formation.
He and several other personnel were ordered to 'keep on eye on those objects',
but were never told what they were. The objects remained in the outer
atmosphere for several hours, and then veered off into space until they
disappeared off the radar.
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When he later asked about the objects, the reply was, "we don't know
what they were". Others also asked about the objects, but nobody seemed to
know what they were. The general attitude was sheer complacency. I asked this
man if they ever told him to never tell anyone about the incident, and he said that
that wasn't the case. They acted as if they didn't know what the objects were,
and furthermore, they didn't seem to care.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that several high-ranking personnel had to
know what those objects were, because the U.S. Air Force is NOT complacent
about the national defense of the United States. That's what the Air Force is for.
That all it's for! The higher-ups at NORAD must have ordered their senior staff to
present a complacent attitude, because 6 school bus-sized objects traveling in a
'V' formation in the outer atmosphere is definitely not something to regard as
negligible.
READ: Daniel 8:8-11
the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great
horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of
heaven. 9And out of one of them came forth a little horn, (the antichrist), which
waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the
pleasant land. 10And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down
some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. 11Yea,
he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice
was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
8Therefore
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* AIRMAN NEIL EVANS AND STAFF SERGEANT KOBAR SAW A UFO AT
KEESLER, AIR FORCE BASE
Here is yet another example of how rampant UFO sightings are these
days. I started working on this book while staying at the Inns of Keesler, at
Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. I've been to Keesler on several
occasions for various training courses. At the time I began writing this book at
Keesler, I had a friend staying at Keesler also, named Neil Evans. 4 Neil is also
from my Air National Guard base in Fresno, CA.
Two weeks prior to my arrival at Keesler, Neil and a classmate of his
sighted a UFO while on base. 5 He said that they were standing outside and he
happened to look up and see a disk shaped, bluish yellow light in the sky sitting
perfectly still. It stayed in the same place for about 15 minutes, while they stared
at it and talked about it. The object didn't have any identifying features, nor did it
have any blinking lights. Suddenly, after about 15 minutes of hovering, it zipped
off in a northerly direction. Neil and the man with him knew what conventional air
craft look like, and what they are capable of. All kinds of aircraft frequent the
skies at Keesler AFB, but neither he, nor Sergeant Kobar had ever seen anything
remotely resembling the appearance and behavior of this particular aircraft.
READ: Mark 13:21-27
then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there;
believe him not: 22For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew
signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. 23But take ye
heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. 24But in those days, after that
tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
25And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be
shaken. 26And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great
power and glory. 27And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together
21And
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his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost
part of heaven.
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* MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S UFO SIGHTING
My Great Grandmother Thelma was born in Kentucky shortly after the turn
of the 19th century. She and my Great Grandfather were godly people. In fact,
my Great Grandfather Rant was an evangelist during the tail end of the Great
Revival. His aunt prophesied over him when he was a newborn baby, saying
that he would be a preacher of the Word of God throughout his entire life. She
was indeed a prophetess, because what she said came to pass. He left home
with his teenage bride and traveled all over the United States during the Great
Revival, spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
My Great Grandmother saw and experienced a few "different" things
throughout her lifetime, and relayed these stories to various family members,
including myself. I'd consider her my most reputable source of all the stories in
this book, because she was greatly known by all for having a fervent faith. She
once told me that she had read the Bible 26 times cover to cover - and was
currently working on her 27th reading. My childhood visits to her house were
always accompanied with stories about Daniel and the lion's den, David and
Goliath, and other famous Biblical accounts. My earliest memories of her and my
Great Grandfather were the times they were busily planting seeds of faith in my
heart. It goes without saying that she never missed church, prayed for hours
every day, read her Bible every day, and dedicated her life to serving God in any
way she could.
I didn't get to know my Great Grandfather very well, because he died while
I was still quite young, but I am well acquainted with my Great Grandmother
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Thelma's bizarre tales of the paranormal - before the term "paranormal" was a
cliché. She once saw a UFO when she was 14 years old. Our entire family
thought it fascinating to hear such an outlandish story coming from her, of all
people. Her story about the angel that saved her life as well as her two visions of
Christ seemed more fitting, but a UFO?!? Where did that come from?
She told this strange story one night when many members of my family
were at her house visiting. She was contently reading a newspaper story about a
wild goose chase between several police cars and a UFO sighted in the
countryside of Madera, Ca. - (where we all lived). After reading the story, she
piped up quite suddenly, excited about the article, and then blurted out to
everyone's amazement, "I saw a UFO when I was 14 years old!" Everyone's
mouths fell open. She then returned to reading her newspaper as if nothing out
of the ordinary were stated. She probably would've left it at that, had we not
prodded her to continue. That was her way.
Here's a woman that once thought I was stuffing bread inside of my snare
drum when my mother told her that I "dumped a lot of bread into that drum" referring to the money I spent on my snare drum, rather than processed wheat.
Here's a woman that walked behind the wagon when her family moved from
Kentucky to California. Grandma Thelma had no frame of reference to explain
what she saw, so it began with her testimony that my interest in UFOs was
stirred up.
Many say that UFOs are only a product of this technological age, but I
don't consider this a valid fact, knowing that my Great Grandmother Thelma
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never saw aluminum alloy when she was 14 years old, much less a flying
contraption.
She said it happened one Kentucky afternoon while she and a friend of
hers were walking home on a deserted dusty road in the middle of an endless
prairie. She noticed a strange object shaped like a cigar hovering without sound,
about 20 feet above the ground. It was cruising fairly slow, and flew right by
them. (Take note that a saucer might appear in the shape of a cigar when seen
from the side). She said it had a shinny metallic surface - like aluminum - and a
glass bubble on top. She actually saw a man inside, and he apparently saw
them as well. There were some bluffs near by, and when the object reached the
bluffs, it went over the cliffs, and then zipped off at an amazing speed. She said
in the blink of an eye, it was gone. It made a "Zingggggg" sound when it shot like
a bullet over the cliffs and out of sight. My Grandmother even made the soundeffect to illustrate her point.
If she were still alive, I'd question her more about the incident, and ask her
what her Biblical views were. She said she and her friend never told anyone,
because they figured whomever they told would think they were either lying, or
plum crazy. She was probably right. I suppose she was excited to get it off her
chest after some 60 plus years of silence about the strange event. Nobody in our
family ever doubted her. A 14 year old girl could be discredited on multiple
accounts, (overactive imagination, lying, wacko, or just plain silliness), but an 80
year old devout Christian woman from Kentucky - what motive could she possibly
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have had to commit the sin of lying to her family about something as stupid as a
UFO sighting?
READ: 2 Kings 2:11-12
it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there
appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My
father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw
him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
11And
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Appendix A
The Gospel
John 3:16
G od so loved the world, that He gave His
O nly begotten
S on, that whosoever believes in Him shall not
P erish, but have
E everlasting
L ife
WHY DID GOD CREATE
The heart of the Creator of all things - is love (1 John 4:16). Because God
is love, He decided to create a beautiful universe, and fill it with life. Why? So
He can be with and love His children (1 Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 1:4-5, John
1:1-2, 14). Love grows, and love enjoys loving relationships. God didn't want
this relationship to disappear someday, either. He wants to spend eternity with
His loving children, so He created His children as eternal beings (Acts 24:15,
Daniel 12:2, Genesis 1:26-27).
WHY DOES EVIL EXIST
Of course, in order for His children to truly love Him, they must freely
choose to love Him. Therefore God decided to create life with freewill (Genesis
2:16-17, Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Joshua 24:15).
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Because of the existence of freewill, the opportunity to not choose to love
and obey God exists. This can be a sad fact, because many will choose not to
love and obey God, but it must be so, in order for love to bear true meaning.
This is why evil exists. God allows evil to exist for a short season, (on the scale
of eternity), in order for all to choose Him with their own freewill. Once this
choice has been made throughout all creation, evil will pass away (Revelation
20:14-15).
THE MEANING OF LIFE:
That's the meaning of life by the way; to choose to love and obey God,
and have an eternal loving relationship with Him. Once this choice is made, the
meaning of life grows to incorporate revealing this truth to others, so that they
may also choose to love and obey God, and have an eternal loving relationship
with Him (1 Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 1:4-6, John 1:1-2, 14).
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FREE WILL IS USED FOR EVIL?
Unfortunately, because of the existence of freewill, sin has, in fact,
occurred on earth, beginning in (Genesis 3:6). What's worse, sin has a
spreading effect once it is turned loose. There is no human means to stop its
corruption. Sin was turned loose in the earth with the very first man and woman,
(Adam and Eve), and has spread throughout the entire earth since that time
(Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12-15).
Because God is perfect, (Psalm 18:30), there is no tolerance for sin; the
penalty of sin is death (Genesis 2:17, Romans 5:12). God defines death as
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returning to the dust of the earth, (Genesis 3:19), and calls it a curse, known as
"...the last enemy" (1 Corinthians 15:26). In essence, any rejection of God's rule
is sin. It began with Adam, and has since been endorsed by all humanity
(Romans 5:12). So - it appears there is a great dilemma - because after sin was
introduced into the world, all have been BORN into sin, living in bodies with a
sinful nature. All are penalized with death even from birth.
GOD'S METHOD OF DEALING WITH SIN:
God knew that humanity needed a means of escaping sin. That's why the
first thing He said about sin concerned His means of correcting it (Genesis 3:1415). His Son, Jesus, is the answer, who is first mentioned as the seed of the
woman, in (Genesis 3:14-15). You see, God decided that since humanity doesn't
have the "Umph" to deal with sin and death, (never did and never will - despite all
the religions and doctrines in the world that claim otherwise), He had to take care
of this problem Himself. He therefore imbed Himself inside the womb of a human
female by the name of Mary, and became a human being. The Creator of all
things - became human (John 1:1-2, 14, Colossians 2:9-10). Is this not
amazing? His name was Jesus - and still is. He lived a life of purity, and
obedience to God - a life of love - healing - and forgiveness. Because of His will
power, He was able to live perfectly, without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He then ended
His life on earth by sacrificing Himself for all (Romans 5:8-10, 1 Peter 3:18).
Then again by His power, He defeated death by rising from the dead (John
10:17-18, Romans 8:10-11).
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GOD'S CALLING:
God offers the free gift of salvation to all who will ask. He calls upon all of
us to turn from our sinful ways and trust in what He has done for us. There is
nothing we can do to remove our guilt before Him. Doing good things doesn't
remove our sin, and since all are sinners, nothing we can do can unto that; it's
only by the mercy of God that we can be saved through what He has done
(Ephesians 2:8-10). The gift of salvation is eternally rewarded, but to those that
refuse to repent and turn to God, they will have no place in His kingdom.
Therefore whoever spurns God's offer will suffer His wrath in the judgment to
come, which the Bible clearly warns of. This terrifying prospect (2 Thessalonians
1:7-10) is a reality that Jesus spoke much of, warning people of their fate.
GOD'S JUSTICE:
God is perfect justice (Psalms 19:7), perfect mercy (2 Corinthians 1:3-5), and
all powerful (Romans 1:19-20). Jesus' sacrifice is the best example of all of
these attributes. The fact that He died - and paid the penalty of sin - is justice.
God accepts sacrifice, and has allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to be sacrificed to
atone for all of the sin in the world. The price had to be paid - but He picked up
the tab! Whatever sins anyone has ever committed - past, present, or future have all been atoned for. All people have to do is ask, and believe.
GOD'S MERCY:
The fact that Jesus died - yet Jesus is without sin - is mercy. He didn't have
to die - He is blameless - yet He died for all who would ask for Him to take their
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place (Romans 5:8, 1 Peter 3:18). This was the requirement in order for His
sacrifice to truly atone for the sin of the world. If He were a sinner Himself, He'd
only be getting the punishment He deserved. But because He is perfect, His
crucifixion allowed Him to be made worthy to forgive all that would come to Him
and ask His forgiveness.
GOD'S POWER:
As for being all powerful; this is displayed in Jesus' perfect life (Hebrews
4:15), in His miracles, and especially in His resurrection. He died to atone for
sin, and rose from the dead to prove that the atonement was not without
meaning. He has power over death, and will give that power to all who ask Him
for forgiveness of sins, and salvation.
WHY JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE:
When God sacrificed His son, it wasn't easy. Would it be easy for anyone
to allow their children to be murdered? He doesn't take His son's death lightly despite the fact that Jesus was resurrected. God stands outside of time and
space, and can see His Son's death as if it were present - for eternity! He can
hear the cries of His son, "Father, why have you forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46,
Mark 15:34), for all eternity. This is His means of saving humanity, and there IS
no other way. If there were - He would've taken it, because neither He, nor His
Son desired the brutal murder of the cross. This is serious business, and it's why
God allows for no other means of salvation. But hey - I'm really glad there is no
other way, because His way is the easiest, and the best - though it is sad that
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Jesus had to be crucified in order to make it happen. Nobody has to go through
any rituals, or punishments. All people have to do is lay aside their pride, and
stop trying to reach God by their own strength. All they have to do is look to
Jesus, because He is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE; there is no way to the
Father, except by Him. (John 14:6)
HOW MIGHT ONE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE?
Salvation is a free gift. There's only one thing that people have to do to
receive it. Ask Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. He forgives all! No sin is
unforgivable. Of course, one must have enough faith to ask such a question.
This is a problem for many, because they simply don't perceive what faith
actually is. Let me make this even easier. Simply ask Him, Jesus - to forgive
you of your sins and save you - and HOPE He's real. I assure you, in His infinite
mercy, you are saved if you do this. Put your hope in Him, and He, and I both
promise you, you will not be let down. You don't even have to change your life
before you come to Him. He'll take care of those details later on. Just stop right
now - and send up a prayer to Him.
There are other ways of rewording the act of asking God for salvation. For
example, (Acts 20:20-21) states that you must have "Repentance toward God
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ". Repentance means a complete change
of heart and mind regarding sin – in which you agree with God about your sin
and want to live a life pleasing to Him. Faith in Jesus Christ entails accepting who
He is, "The Son of the living God", that "Christ died for the ungodly", and that He
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conquered death through His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 1 Corinthians
15:21-22). But all of these Christian phrases simply boil down to believing in God
enough to ask for forgiveness of sins from His Son, Jesus Christ, and allowing
Him to work in you to mold you into His likeness. He really carries the brunt of the
workload - mainly because people are so spiritually weak and puny.
It's all that easy. God bless you!
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SCRIPTURES LISTED IN APPENDIX A
1 John 4:16
16And
we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1 Corinthians 2:9
9But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Ephesians 1:4-5
4According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will
John 1:1-2, 14 *See note
1In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2The same was in the beginning with God... 14And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Note: God became flesh - to be intimately linked to us, and to save us.
Acts 24:15 *See note
15And
have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
Note: All spirits are eternal, whether they are obediant and faithful to God or
not. Everlasting damnation isn't God's desire, for He is not willing that any
should perish, but it exists because it is a byproduct of freewill. The fact that all
spirits are eternal, however, is evident in that they exist for eternity, whether they
are saved with God, or eternally separated from God.
Daniel 12:2 *See note
2And
many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Note: All spirits are eternal, whether they are obediant and faithful to God or
not. Everlasting damnation isn't God's desire, for He is not willing that any
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should perish, but it exists because it is a byproduct of freewill. The fact that all
spirits are eternal, however, is evident in that they exist for eternity, whether they
are saved with God, or eternally separated from God.
Genesis 1:26-27
26And
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon
the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created
he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 2:16-17 *See note
16And
the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden
thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Note: While it isn't explicitly stated that humans have freewill, it is implied by
the fact that God created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and gave
Adam and Eve the choice of whether to obey Him and not eat it, or to disobey
Him, and eat it.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 *See note
19I
call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before
you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and
thy seed may live: 20That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou
mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life,
and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD
sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Note: While it isn't explicitly stated that humans have freewill, it is implied by
the fact that people obviously have the ability to choose life - and to love and
obey God, as it is mentioned in this passage of scripture.
Joshua 24:15 *See Note
15And
if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye
will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for
me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Note: While it isn't explicitly stated that humans have freewill, it is implied by
the fact that people obviously have the ability to choose life - and to love and
obey God, as it is mentioned in this passage of scripture.
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Revelation 20:14-15
14And
15And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
1 Corinthians 2:9
9But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Ephesians 1:4-6
4According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath
made us accepted in the beloved.
John 1:1-2, 14
1In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2The same was in the beginning with God... 14And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Genesis 3:6
6And
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, (NOT), and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he
did eat.
Romans 3:23
23For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 5:12
12Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned...
Psalm 18:30
30As
for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to
all those that trust in him. 31For who is God save the LORD?
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Genesis 2:17
17But
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Romans 5:12-15
12Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in
the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one
many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by
one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Genesis 3:19
19In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for
out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
1 Corinthians 15:26
26The
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Romans 5:12-15
12Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in
the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one
many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by
one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Genesis 3:14-15
14And
the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou
art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly
shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
John 1:1-2, 14
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1In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2The same was in the beginning with God... 14And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Colossians 2:9-10
9For
in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
in him, which is the head of all principality and power.
10And
ye are complete
Hebrews 4:15
15For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Romans 5:8-10
8But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through him. 10For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall
be saved by his life.
1 Peter 3:18
18For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
John 10:17-18
17Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it again. 18No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to
lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I
received of my Father.
Romans 8:10-11
10And
if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Ephesians 2:8-10
8For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship,
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created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
7And
to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and
from the glory of his power; 10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints,
and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you
was believed) in that day.
Psalms 19:7
7The
law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD
is sure, making wise the simple.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
3Blessed
be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
Romans 1:19-20
19Because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath
shewed it unto them. 20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his
eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.
Romans 5:8
8But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
1 Peter 3:18
18For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
Hebrews 4:15
15For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
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Matthew 27:46
46And
about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mark 15:34
34And
at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?
John 14:6
6Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me.
Acts 20:20-21
20And
how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed
you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, 21Testifying both to
the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
1Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved,
if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he
rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22
21For
22For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
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APPENDIX B - REFERENCES
Chapter 1
1. King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769. (Note: All scriptural
references quoted throughout this book come from this electronic version
of the King James Version of the Holy Bible unless specifically stated
otherwise).
2. Robert Monroe, Journey’s Out of the Body, Main Street Books, 1973.
3. J. H. Brennan, The Astral Projection Workbook, Sterling Publishing Co.,
Inc., New York, New York, 1989.
4. John W. Milor, Aliens in the Bible, Xlibris Corp., Fresno, CA., 1999.
5. William Buhlman, Adventures Beyond the Body: How to Experience Outof-Body Travel, HarperSanFrancisco, New York, NY., 1996.
6. Betty J. Eadie and C Taylor, Embraced by the Light, Bantam Books,
October 1994.
Chapter 2
1. My dad, Charles A. Milor, lives only a few blocks from my house, and I
visit him periodically.
2. My uncle Paul L. Milor helped me update the accuracy of this story.
3. Murphy was hard to find, but I finally tracked him down. I was somewhat
expecting him to tell me this story was a bunch of baloney he made up in
High School, but he instead reaffirmed it. He said he couldn’t remember
many of the details, but that my story seemed correct. He asked that I not
refer to him by his real name.
4. I never met this man, but my mom’s babysitter knew him, and passed this
story on to my mother.
Chapter 3
1. Jack is one of my best friends, and gave me permission to print his story,
but also asked that I conceal his identity.
288
2. Gary Gygax is author of most of the Dungeons & Dragons books
referenced in this book. Dieties & Demigods is currently out of print, and I
can’t even determine who the publisher is.
3. Rami Bridges is a good friend of mine and has reviewed all the stories
with him in them and has concurred with their accuracy.
4. Bill was a good friend of mine back in High School. When I left for the
Army, I never saw him again.
5. The janitor lady was a coworker of mine when I worked as a janitor for
Central Unified School District in Central, CA. I can’t even remember her
name, and I have no idea where she’s at these days.
6. Scott Jones is a good friend of mine that attends my church.
7. I knew Cypher in the Army, and haven’t heard from him since I’ve been
out of the Army.
Chapter 4
1. Grandma Thelma is my great grandmother; she was my dad’s mother’s
mother. She is now with the Lord.
2. Grandma Ruth is my dad’s mother.
Chapter 5
1. Barbara A. Milor, Charles A. Milor V., and Sharon Stone, are my mother,
brother, and sister – respectively. My sister and brother have both
reviewed my stories with them in them, for accuracy.
2. I originally read about Lincoln’s funeral ghost train in a book, but I don’t
know where the book is anymore. I found this website that explains the
same haunting.
http://personalweb.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.geocities.com%2Fforgottenohio2%2Flincoln.html
3. Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal
Experience, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, 1991, See Haunting,
pgs 253-255, Apparitions, pgs 25-28, and Retro recognition, pgs 509-511).
4. I can’t find the actual episode number for this TV program of Sightings, but
the website is at http://www.scifi.com/sightings/.
289
5. Rose was my stepmother, who last I heard, lives in Albuquerque, NM.
6. Kathy was a friend of my stepmother’s.
7. Ralph Osle is a good friend of mine that I still see from time to time. He
helped me compile his story, and also gave me one of the references to
help me research the doctrine of purgatory.
8. Ghost Web is located at http://www.ghostweb.com - where else?
Chapter 6
1. Edith Fiore, The Unquiet Dead, Ballantine Books, August 1991.
2. Bruce Goldberg, Past Lives / Future Lives, Ballantine Books, June 1993.
3. Edith Fiore, William J. Baldwin, Spirit Release Therapy: A Technique
Manual, Headline Books, Jun 1995.
Chapter 7
1. Joyce – (XXX)
2. Marty Upton (XXX)
3. John Hagee, Invasion of Demons, Fleming H. Revell Company, New
Jersey, 1973.
4. I don’t know the name of the “Man from Romania” - I only know where
he’s from … obviously.
5. I don’t have episode numbers, but I do know that Focus on the Family has
an extensive website at http://www.focusonthefamily.org.
6. I don’t have the episode number for this reference to the “Ripley’s Believe
it or Not!” program, so I searched through the episode listings at Ripley’s
website at
http://alt.superstation.com/Shows/Story/0,8931,17|33|34,00.html. The
story I’m referencing in this book was just a small narration at the end of
one of the episodes, so I don’t think it’s listed on their website. I couldn’t
find it, anyway.
7. I can't remember if I read about this story, or heard it in a sermon. It was
purported to be a true story, but I can't validate the source.
290
8. Loren Cunningham, Winning God’s Way, Frontline Communications,
Seattle, Washington, 1988.
9. Dr. Hansen was my Anthropology teacher at Fresno City College, CA. I
tried to find him, but he has since retired. (XXX)
10. Carlos Castenada, anthropologist and author, documents his
apprenticeship under a Yaqui shaman, "Don Juan Matus".
11. Altered States, starring William Hurt, and directed by Ken Russell, 1980.
12. Omni Magazine has a section called AntiMatter that contained this article
about ESP exhibited in people that strongly disbelieve in its existence. I
don’t have the exact reference for the year, month, edition, etc.
13. Serpent & The Rainbow, starting Bill Pullman and Cathy Tyson, directed
by Wes Craven, 1988.
14. Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal
Experience, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, 1991, See Zombie, pgs
664-666).
15. Naturalism – defined as “Nature is all there is”. (XXX) Look in Biology
book.
Chapter 8
1. The Explanation of the Trinity article was derived from a sermon I heard
once, though I can’t recall who gave it, or even where it was given.
2. John D. Cutnell and Kenneth W. Johnson, Physics, 3rd Edition, John Wiley
& Sons, Inc., 1995.
3. Fenis Jennings Dake, God’s Plan For Man, Dake Publishing, Inc.,
Lawrenceville, Georgia, 1977.od’s Plan for Man
4. I don’t have the episode number of Miracle Pets on hand, but I do have
their website, which has information about the program, and many other
stories just as amazing as the one I’ve posted in this book.
http://www.miraclepets.tv/
5. Arthur was a good friend of mine when I lived in Arkansas. I haven’t seen
him in nearly 20 years.
6. Lacy was my roommate when I was in the Army. I haven’t see or heard
from him since I left the Army.
291
Chapter 9
1. James Phipps is a good friend of mine that I still see and talk to from time
to time.
Chapter 10
1. Frankie Joe Carducci was my best friend in the Army; I haven’t seen or
heard from him since I left the Army.
Chapter 11
1. I met Mark in 1st grade, then again in 9th grade. I haven’t seen him since
the 9th grade, but I just might see him again someday, reflecting on my
past encounters with him.
Chapter 12
1. Corp. Stenger was my team leader during my first year in the Army. I
have since found him, and validated my story with him. (XXX)
2. Any search for the term “Swamp Gas” on the Internet will reveal a host of
links related to UFO phenomenon, and information explained just exactly
what Swamp Gas is. In short, rotting vegetation emits high concentrations
of natural gas, which may spontaneously ignite over boggy ground.
3. Collin Wilson & Dr. Christopher Evans, The Book of Great Mysteries,
Dorset Press, New York, 1990, pages 91-92.
4. Michael Schiller is a coworker of mine that I see at least once every month
during our Air National Guard monthly training. (XXX)
5. Will-o’-the-Wisp are found all over the Internet, provided the spelling is
correct. I couldn’t find anything on the Internet except some British
comedy show and a punk rock band until I got the spelling correct. A
good website to start with is
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/folklore/will_o_the_wisp.html.
6. Garis, de Hugo, Dr. The Rise of the 21st Century Artilect. ATR, Kyoto,
Japan: AI-Magazine, http://www.hip.atr.co.jp/~degaris/essays/Al-Mag.html,
Summer 1989.
7. Tsugucjika Kaminuma and Gen Matsumoto, eds., Biocomputers: the Next
Generation from Japan, (trans. Norman Cook).
292
8. Hugo de Garis, Cosmism,
http://psoup.math.wisc.edu/extras/deGaris/cosmism.html, 1996.
Chapter 13
1. Mike was a former tenant in my studio apartment; last I heard, he moved
to Phoenix, AZ.
2. LTC Cotter is now the vice commander of my military base, the Fresno Air
National Guard, CA., 144th Fighter Wing.(XXX)
3. I can’t remember this guy’s name, but I do remember is was heavily
involved with origami. He could make practically anything with a piece of
paper, not that it bears any relevance here… :-)
4. Neil Evans is a good friend from High School, and now a coworker of
mine.
5. SSG Kobar was stationed at Keesler AFB with my friend SRA Neil Evans
when they sighted a UFO. I have no idea where he’s at now.
---------------------------------------------------------------The Paranormal Compendium
Add to purgatory research concerning extended mercy
-
-
Do any of our actions during the period of time after death, yet before the judgment,
count for anything in the judgment? If the flames of hell purify us, or make us even
more bitter and hateful, will that even matter?
Look up all references to there being “no hope” in hell, and check if it’s referring to
hell, or the grave, because they are different.
though I make my bed in the depths of hell, there you are (nothing can separate us
from the Love of God). Is this referring to the place of the righteous dead?
Lazarus, he was prevented from warning his brothers, but was he told there was no
hope for him?
Astral Projection
-
Astral Projection – silver cord is mentioned by King Solomon in the last
chapter of Ecclesiastes
293
-
Balam’s Donkey