witnessing and university scholars

[ed]

I particularly want those scholars who teach us here on this site to witness to us about those occasions when Christ participated in their life and taught them. In effect where they were taught by Jesus as opposed to their being taught by men.
I dont like exposing myself in this manner but it came to me that I should not be hiding the light that is Christ in me.
I have far too many incidents to relate and many very repetitious as Jesus keeps on repeating until I understand and obey. Also some make me seem a lot more than I am.

I was born on the 13th May, 1946. Baptised Edwin George Hansen.
In May, 2001 Jesus, by means of an external voice, quite frightening, told me I would be
his witness during revelation.
Towards the end of 2008 I discovered that the Hebrew word, ed, as used in the old
testament means “Witness”
When Jesus told me I would be his witness, it was the 2nd part of a three part scenario.
The first part was played a couple of days earlier. For a couple of years before this many
strange things happened to me, especially in the realm of dreams and visions. This
particular night nothing happened but when I woke I had this very strong desire to wear
sackcloth. Now I was not well versed in the bible even though I had been reading it for a
couple of years. I was living in Thailand but alone during the week as my wife, Tui,
worked some distance from her townhouse and stayed the 5 week nights in company
accommodation adjacent to the work site, the Japanese company TDK. So I was virtually
alone in a foreign country without any language skills. I went to markets looking for sack
cloth. To me sack cloth was hessian, the cloth used in potato sacks and chicken feed
sacks and sugar bags. I could not find any but then on maybe the 2 nd day I saw a begger
wearing green garbage bags. I said to God, “If you want me to wear green garbage bags, I
will, but I need you to ask me again” Well the desire to wear sackcloth completely
disappeared immediately. Then after Jesus spoke to me at school, I went home and
opened the bible and the first thing I read was, “You will be my witness, wearing
sackcloth.: Then I understood the sackcloth. Of course I was perplexed. I kept saying to
myself, believe this Edwin, believe it. Then I would think of myself in a supermarket
belonging to God, full of all His treasures and rewards and thinking, “I would never dare
to reach up so high, surely to the top shelf. I still find it extremely amazing, especially as
there are so many wonderful people out there. At the same time, I am not going to give
up this inheritance. Several times I have thought, oh dear, maybe I have blown my chance
now but I am blessed as He keeps giving me small moments of encouragement which
fills me with renewed enthusiasm.

love
edwin

 

[Saint]

who do you include when you say, "scholars"? because i have a few stories, but i really wouldn't consider myself to be a scholar

 

[ed]

who do you include when you say, "scholars"? because i have a few stories, but i really wouldn't consider myself to be a scholar

Hi Saint,
Your a scholar. Anyone seeking Jesus sincerely is a student of God.

I hope I am not wrong in this but on the thread ANGER you will read a very beautiful story of Jesus Christ manifesting in ???????john's life.

love
edwin

 

[Saint]

yes, it was john, and it was a very beautiful story, too. Reminds me of the song, "broken and beautiful" and thank you, i'll put up my stories shortly

 

[charisenexcelcis]

I hope that this does not offend, but I would rather speak of my God. His grace toward me is without measure. His love unbounded. Though I am faithless, He is always faithful. When I was His enemy, He sought me out. The Almighty sought me! Whenever I wander, He comes after me and brings me back to where I ought to be. The God of the Universe comes after me! And He brings me, filthy though I am in myself, into His presence, and He continually washes me in the blood of the Lamb! Oh the Lamb, my precious Jesus. The most beautiful became hideous for me. All of the blackness of my heart He took upon Himself, and overcame it by His light. And when I mourn, He weeps with me. And when I celebrate, He laughs with joy. And when I fall, he lifts me up. And when I weary, He carries me. And if I were to spend day and night for all eternity praising His name, my praises would never do justice for what He did for me. And the Holy Spirit, who whispers in my heart when I am lonely or frightened. Who says, "I am here, you are never alone." the Spirit who at times grieves over me, and at times speaks word of the discipline of love. And the precious things that God has poured into my life, when there are so many who are far more worthy of His attention. Yet He freely pours into my life gifts both eternal and temporal. He delights in giving me gifts. and then what he is making of me. If you could only see what I was and what He is working in me. I cannot express my love and gratitude and wish that it was possible for me to love Him just for what He is without Him having to first love me. But I know that is not possible, for He is God and Love and Light and Holy. and though He has adopted me and declared me His love-heir, I will serve Him with every breathe that He lends to me, with every bit of strength that He loans to my body, with every thought that follows after Him.

 

[Saint]

Well, Jesus has never spoken audibly to me, but He has spoken directly to me before. I will start out with the weekend i got truly saved. Now, all of my life, people have told me that i belong in ministry, (preacher or something like that). Well, I went to this youth conference called Shabach (i believe it means to praise God with a loud noise). Now, at this time in my life, i HATED praise and worship, I HATED reading the Bible, and with what little parts of the Bible I knew, I corrupted it sooo bad, most of you wouldn't even believe it. I felt very uncomfortable when people showed emotion while doing praise and worship, and deep down, i think i thought they were faking. So, i grudgingly went to Shabach, and this is where my story changed. BAM! God hit me with a sledge hammer so big, i went to my knees, crying out to God for the very first time. It was during this that i saw a sort of flash, not a bright one, but enough to get my attention. I then saw me as an adult, standing in a hall with a circular, white desk. Someone else in the room falls down, touched by the Holy Spirit. God then tells me that i will do this. I ask Him, "in ministry" and He said, "No" and since, i've learned that i will do these kind of things in another profession.

Not too many weeks after that, God started to get me to read the Bible, He asked me to look up something, so when I get home from school, I ask Him what I should look up. He tells me that I should look up "love" Now, you should know that just because my life was turned around, that doesn't mean I was fully OK with God yet, and I really didn't see the importance of love at all. but I obliged, and looked in the back of my Bible, where I saw that there were hundreds of verses pertaining to love. But God persisted, and kept telling me to look up love. Well, not too much longer after that, i had fallen in love with love, and i'm sure that (because of cerain personal situations) I would never have kept up with being a Christian if i hadn't looked up love.

After that, God worked through me, teaching me through my own Bible studies. And then test day came: my friend believed that cussing was not a sin, merely because it didn't say that in the Bible. Well, I went into my room and begged God for guidence in proving him wrong, and God told me to look through my Bible. Well, that very night, I found colossians 3:8, which says that we should keep filthy language from our lips.

And finally, God has spoken to my heart on another matter about a year and a half ago. I can't give specifics because God spoke to my heart, not my mind. but it has led to me memorizing (not done yet) over 300 Bible verses in 3 different versions. I didn't understand why I was doing this, until a lot longer later when God showed me Psalm 119:11, which says that I hide your Word in my heart, that i might not sin against you. And then I understood, I had asked God to keep me from going back to life I had lived, and this was His answer.

Well, those are some of my stories. Ed was right to make this thread, because whatever we learn from other Christians is great, but what we learn from God in our private moments simply defies description. Thank you Ed, this has reminded me of good memories.

 

[AgeofKnowledge]

I hope that this does not offend, but I would rather speak of my God. His grace toward me is without measure. His love unbounded. Though I am faithless, He is always faithful. When I was His enemy, He sought me out. The Almighty sought me! Whenever I wander, He comes after me and brings me back to where I ought to be. The God of the Universe comes after me! And He brings me, filthy though I am in myself, into His presence, and He continually washes me in the blood of the Lamb! Oh the Lamb, my precious Jesus. The most beautiful became hideous for me. All of the blackness of my heart He took upon Himself, and overcame it by His light. And when I mourn, He weeps with me. And when I celebrate, He laughs with joy. And when I fall, he lifts me up. And when I weary, He carries me. And if I were to spend day and night for all eternity praising His name, my praises would never do justice for what He did for me. And the Holy Spirit, who whispers in my heart when I am lonely or frightened. Who says, "I am here, you are never alone." the Spirit who at times grieves over me, and at times speaks word of the discipline of love. And the precious things that God has poured into my life, when there are so many who are far more worthy of His attention. Yet He freely pours into my life gifts both eternal and temporal. He delights in giving me gifts. and then what he is making of me. If you could only see what I was and what He is working in me. I cannot express my love and gratitude and wish that it was possible for me to love Him just for what He is without Him having to first love me. But I know that is not possible, for He is God and Love and Light and Holy. and though He has adopted me and declared me His love-heir, I will serve Him with every breathe that He lends to me, with every bit of strength that He loans to my body, with every thought that follows after Him.

Testimonies are Biblical so do feel free to share if led; however, I really like this perspective which is so beautifully stated.

 

[ed]

I hope that this does not offend, but I would rather speak of my God. His grace toward me is without measure. His love unbounded. Though I am faithless, He is always faithful. When I was His enemy, He sought me out. The Almighty sought me! Whenever I wander, He comes after me and brings me back to where I ought to be. The God of the Universe comes after me! And He brings me, filthy though I am in myself, into His presence, and He continually washes me in the blood ofr the Lamb! Oh the Lamb, my precious Jesus. The most beautiful became hideous for me. All of the blackness of my heart He took upon Himself, and overcame it by His light. And when I mourn, He weeps with me. And when I celebrate, He laughs with joy. And when I fall, he lifts me up. And when I weary, He carries me. And if I were to spend day and night for all eternity praising His name, my praises would never do justice for what He did for me. And the Holy Spirit, who whispers in my heart when I am lonely or frightened. Who says, "I am here, you are never alone." the Spirit who at times grieves over me, and at times speaks word of the discipline of love. And the precious things that God has poured into my life, when there are so many who are far more worthy of His attention. Yet He freely pours into my life gifts both eternal and temporal. He delights in giving me gifts. and then what he is making of me. If you could only see what I was and what He is working in me. I cannot express my love and gratitude and wish that it was possible for me to love Him just for what He is without Him having to first love me. But I know that is not possible, for He is God and Love and Light and Holy. and though He has adopted me and declared me His love-heir, I will serve Him with every breathe that He lends to me, with every bit of strength that He loans to my body, with every thought that follows after Him.

Hi charisenexcelcis,
I am not sure how you mean "Offend" but praise or worship of God should not offend. Can we take one aspect of your post, eg, "His love unbounded" and share with us how you came to believe this. Or any other witness statement that you feel will edify the saints here.
love
edwin

 

[student]

A few nights ago, my friend and I were studying and in the course talked of angels. We also discussed the gospels which were identified as matt. - lion, mark - ox, luke - man and john - eagle. "I" suggested a coat of arms for Jesus. The cross in the center with each of these symbols in its respective spot. Sounded good.

The next day I discovered cherabim - the guards of the throne with four faces depicting the symbols.

The bible is a discovery every single day. My relationship with Jesus the greatest, most spectacular gift.

THe Holy Spirit and testimony brought about from Him is pretty fascinating, too.

 

[lighthousejohn]

Per Ed's request, I am adding this post to this thread.

Saint,

I hope you will listen to a bit of personal testimony. For most of my adult life, I had a rage inside of me. I almost choked a kid to death with my bare hands in a black-out rage (I had no idea I was doing it).
I became a Christian at the age of 16 and an alcoholic at 18. It was at the age of 28 that God really got hold of my heart. He took away the desire for alcohol. He helped me stop using profanity when I told Him that I know it did not reflect well on me as a Christian and that it did not honor Him, so I was surrendering the profanity to Him. Within two weeks, profanity was no longer part of my language.

My only real problem was that I till had this terrible rage in my heart. Iwas in the military as a top NCO and the last thing I needed was to lose control and hurt someone. God kept me safe and tempered me. He did not take the rage from me, instead, He chose to strengthen me so that I could deal with it rationally.

After I retired from the military and was called to full time ministry, I was called out at a ministry conference (not by name but by physical description). The person that called me out told me that God wanted to deal with an issue in my life that He knew I wanted to be free of. He told me that there was a blacness deep in my heart but that it was surrounded by great love. As soon as he said that, I fell to my knees with uncontrollable sobbing and tears flowing from my eyes. This individual told me that I needed to forgive someone in my life. A second individual said "It's his mother!" This revelation sent me into uncontrolled rage and crying at the same time. The minister told me that I needed to speak forgiveness to my mother. I must say that it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do but I finally cried out "Mom I forgive you!" The moment I said this a peace came over me that exists to this day. A lady that was sitting next to my wife described to her a fire rising up my back (I was still on my knees). My wife asked her "is that a good thing?" The lady told her it was a "cleansing fire".

Why was I angry at my mother? I found out later that same week that my mother had tried to abort me at seven months by going bareback riding. She has rejected me all my life and all I wanted was her acceptance. She has by the way, disinherited me.

To sum this up, You must come into agreement with God that your anger dimishes your testimony and brings dishonor on God. You must be willing to surrendur it to God. When you have done that, God will deal with it His way and in His time. Be patient, His will will be done and will be accomplished in you if you are obedient.

I agree with charisenexcelcis, that if you can identify what makes you angry, you will be on your way to dealing with it but be sure to include God in all that you do.

I hope this helps.

In Christ,
John

P.S.
Yesterday I was called by my brother at 7:00 am. He told me that my mother had passed away in her sleep. This information was not unexpected because of her failing health and complications from Alzheimers disease. I find myself reacting to her passing with a degree of ambivelance. My mother and I did not have a good relationship in life for many reasons. I am saddened only by the belief that she died unforgiven (based on evidence of lifestyle and her own testimony).


I have never mourned for my father because I was used by God to bring him to the Lord in 2000, even though he was in the end-stages of Alzheimers himself. This man had been asking me for 20 years about God but every time I was able to sit down and talk to him, my mother would interfere in one way or another. Now at the end of his life, in a fog of oblivion, I approached him on January 20, 2000 at 7:30 pm. My prayer was that God would give my father clarity of thought to be able to receive the gospel and to accept Christ as his personal saviour.

I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. I repeat it here just as it happened then. I arrived at the hospital and my mother was sitting there looking very angry. She said, "You're wasting your time. I've been here for 8 hours and He doesn't even know I'm here so I'm leaving. My wife and children went into the hall with her and I approached my father's bedside. He looked so frail and helpless.


I said "Dad!"
He looked at me and said "John"
My heart leaped for joy because I knew then that God was answering my prayer.
I said "I have something to ask you."
He replied "I know, I have been waiting for you."
I was so choked up with emotion that I could barely speak. My wife and children came in and stood at the foot of his bed praying.


I proceded to share the gospel in simple terms, periodically asking him if he understood. He always replied in the affirmative. After about 5 minutes, I summed up and asked him one final time, "Dad, do you understand everything I have spoken about?
He again replied "Yes!"
I then asked him, "Dad is there any reason that you would not want to receive Jesus as your personal saviour?"
His response was so beautiful to my soul. He said "I would be a **** fool not to!" He was 100% aware and 100% correct.


I was then able to share a prayer with him and then repeat it in short phrases which he repeated after me. My wife and children were in tears a he asked Christ into his heart. God had done a miracle right before my eyes. He had broken through the fog of my father's Alzheimers and given him full cognizance and abilty to respond.

After about 5 minutes of conversation between us, he said "John!"
"Yes." I replied.
He took his right arm and waved it along his left side saying "I want to thank you for what transpired between us."
I now had full assurance of his comprehension and understanding of the import of our conversation.

My father and I along with my wife and children, enjoyed several conversations after that until his death on March 24, 2000. I cherish those moments with him as the Holy Spirit in him reached out to the Holy Spirit in us. He never spoke to my mother again during those final 2 months.


As I said earlier, I have never mourned for my father because . I will one day mourn for my mother because as I said, the evidence of her life and by her own words, she never asked for forgiveness for her sins and her totally self centered life. I am not bitter towards her, I am just stating the facts as I know them. God knows her heart and her life. I leave it at that.


In Christ,
John

 

[Ricke]

This is such a heart warming testimony, and I Thank you so much for sharing this. This is so enlightening and God wants Christians to share with others things that transformed our lives, or experiences that helped draw closer to God. Again Thank you so much and May The Lord bless you always...

 

[ed]

Per Ed's request, I am adding this post to this thread.

Saint,

I hope you will listen to a bit of personal testimony. For most of my adult life, I had a rage inside of me. I almost choked a kid to death with my bare hands in a black-out rage (I had no idea I was doing it).
I became a Christian at the age of 16 and an alcoholic at 18. It was at the age of 28 that God really got hold of my heart. He took away the desire for alcohol. He helped me stop using profanity when I told Him that I know it did not reflect well on me as a Christian and that it did not honor Him, so I was surrendering the profanity to Him. Within two weeks, profanity was no longer part of my language.

My only real problem was that I till had this terrible rage in my heart. Iwas in the military as a top NCO and the last thing I needed was to lose control and hurt someone. God kept me safe and tempered me. He did not take the rage from me, instead, He chose to strengthen me so that I could deal with it rationally.

After I retired from the military and was called to full time ministry, I was called out at a ministry conference (not by name but by physical description). The person that called me out told me that God wanted to deal with an issue in my life that He knew I wanted to be free of. He told me that there was a blacness deep in my heart but that it was surrounded by great love. As soon as he said that, I fell to my knees with uncontrollable sobbing and tears flowing from my eyes. This individual told me that I needed to forgive someone in my life. A second individual said "It's his mother!" This revelation sent me into uncontrolled rage and crying at the same time. The minister told me that I needed to speak forgiveness to my mother. I must say that it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do but I finally cried out "Mom I forgive you!" The moment I said this a peace came over me that exists to this day. A lady that was sitting next to my wife described to her a fire rising up my back (I was still on my knees). My wife asked her "is that a good thing?" The lady told her it was a "cleansing fire".

Why was I angry at my mother? I found out later that same week that my mother had tried to abort me at seven months by going bareback riding. She has rejected me all my life and all I wanted was her acceptance. She has by the way, disinherited me.

To sum this up, You must come into agreement with God that your anger dimishes your testimony and brings dishonor on God. You must be willing to surrendur it to God. When you have done that, God will deal with it His way and in His time. Be patient, His will will be done and will be accomplished in you if you are obedient.

I agree with charisenexcelcis, that if you can identify what makes you angry, you will be on your way to dealing with it but be sure to include God in all that you do.

I hope this helps.

In Christ,
John

P.S.
Yesterday I was called by my brother at 7:00 am. He told me that my mother had passed away in her sleep. This information was not unexpected because of her failing health and complications from Alzheimers disease. I find myself reacting to her passing with a degree of ambivelance. My mother and I did not have a good relationship in life for many reasons. I am saddened only by the belief that she died unforgiven (based on evidence of lifestyle and her own testimony).


I have never mourned for my father because I was used by God to bring him to the Lord in 2000, even though he was in the end-stages of Alzheimers himself. This man had been asking me for 20 years about God but every time I was able to sit down and talk to him, my mother would interfere in one way or another. Now at the end of his life, in a fog of oblivion, I approached him on January 20, 2000 at 7:30 pm. My prayer was that God would give my father clarity of thought to be able to receive the gospel and to accept Christ as his personal saviour.

I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. I repeat it here just as it happened then. I arrived at the hospital and my mother was sitting there looking very angry. She said, "You're wasting your time. I've been here for 8 hours and He doesn't even know I'm here so I'm leaving. My wife and children went into the hall with her and I approached my father's bedside. He looked so frail and helpless.


I said "Dad!"
He looked at me and said "John"
My heart leaped for joy because I knew then that God was answering my prayer.
I said "I have something to ask you."
He replied "I know, I have been waiting for you."
I was so choked up with emotion that I could barely speak. My wife and children came in and stood at the foot of his bed praying.


I proceded to share the gospel in simple terms, periodically asking him if he understood. He always replied in the affirmative. After about 5 minutes, I summed up and asked him one final time, "Dad, do you understand everything I have spoken about?
He again replied "Yes!"
I then asked him, "Dad is there any reason that you would not want to receive Jesus as your personal saviour?"
His response was so beautiful to my soul. He said "I would be a **** fool not to!" He was 100% aware and 100% correct.


I was then able to share a prayer with him and then repeat it in short phrases which he repeated after me. My wife and children were in tears a he asked Christ into his heart. God had done a miracle right before my eyes. He had broken through the fog of my father's Alzheimers and given him full cognizance and abilty to respond.

After about 5 minutes of conversation between us, he said "John!"
"Yes." I replied.
He took his right arm and waved it along his left side saying "I want to thank you for what transpired between us."
I now had full assurance of his comprehension and understanding of the import of our conversation.

My father and I along with my wife and children, enjoyed several conversations after that until his death on March 24, 2000. I cherish those moments with him as the Holy Spirit in him reached out to the Holy Spirit in us. He never spoke to my mother again during those final 2 months.


As I said earlier, I have never mourned for my father because . I will one day mourn for my mother because as I said, the evidence of her life and by her own words, she never asked for forgiveness for her sins and her totally self centered life. I am not bitter towards her, I am just stating the facts as I know them. God knows her heart and her life. I leave it at that.


In Christ,
John

Hi lighthousejohn,
Thank you so very much for witnessing to us again and edifying us. I had trouble seeing the page and now a couple of minutes later my face is still wet. It is an amazing experience being close to the Holy Spirit. No sadness but a sense of presence and the tears not of sadness but of I do not know what. Is it joy that makes us cry. There certainly is a fullness of the heart.
love
edwin

 

[ed]

Hi,
It wasn't until after Jesus called me that I started looking back on my life and even today, His presence in my life, for what I thought was awful or good, is still being revealed.

This is in retrospect. Around 1962. I was a teenager travelling with friends in a utility
going for a Sunday swim at a recognised swimming hole in a fresh water creek. There
were probably 7 or 8 of us in the utility. 3 up front and the others in the back of the ute. In
those days there were no safety belts and no restrictions on riding in the back of vehicles,
likes trucks and utes. The sealed road was a ribbon of narrow black twisting through head
high grass which formed the perimeter of the last cane fields which gave way to gorge
country. We were going to Crystal Cascades on Freshwater Creek, Redlynch, Cairns. A
car suddenly appeared around the corner directly in front of us and Neville Armstrong the
driver, his father owned the utility, headed into the grass. He cut a swath through the
grass and swung back on the road as the other vehicle hurtled past. We had our swim and
on the way home, Neville pulled up at the sight of our detour. We knew the area so it was
easy to recognise where the incident had happened. Sure enough there was the mowed
down grass which showed our path off and then back onto the road. The very perplexing
aspect was that in the middle of the path was a strainer post. A strainer post is a brute of a
post, hardwood, at least 30-40cm in diameter and strong enough to give a bulldozer the
stutters. It had probably been there for 50 years or more. The grass before, on both sides
and behind the post had been mowed down. Very obviously the post had not been there a
couple of hours before. And yet it had been there for decades. Being teenages we just
wooped it up and piled back into the car and drove off. But it is not easy to forget.

love
edwin

 

[ed]

Hi,
This event occurred late in 1999 or early in 2000. It was a time of constant visions. Just
by closing my eyes I would see visions. I realised that was how Leonardo Da Vinci came
to paint helicopters, submarines and tanks etc. I saw things, amazing things, futuristic
things, but I am useless as a painter so I could not reproduce these images. Another daily
occurance was for me to lie on one of my treatment tables during my lunch break. I was
an acupuncturist. With time I could immediately go to a place and meet with a presence
and ask questions and receive answers. I so enjoyed these experiences. One day my body
started to gain weight, not in size, but in downward force. There were no pressure points,
but I could feel the foam sinking under my body. The force continued until I became
frightened of being crushed, then stopped just at that level. It was the most amazing
feeling. This was sheer bliss, and was a daily occurance. But I enjoyed it so much that a
fear came over me that I would become addicted to it so I stopped. I stopped going to that
place, at all times and wherever I was. I had no idea what was happening. Since being
called, I recognise it as being the work of the Holy Spirit. I have tried a few short times to
go back to that place but I can not. Maybe that is what John refers to early in Revelations
as being ‘in the Spirit’

love
edwin

 

[ed]

Hi,

This happened late in the 90’s. I can not recall if it was after the previous or before it or
during that time. As I stated, I was an acupuncturist. I was very interested in eastern
philosophy. The Falun Gung were often in the headlines in those days and the book store
I used to frequent, China Books, had some very beautifully presented books on Falun
Gong selling at remarkably low prices. I bought two books. I read one book. Through
email I contacted the head of this group who resided at this time in the US. He told me
that I could not participate in Falun Gong and heal. I told him, in emails, that I was an
acupuncturist. I asked him why I could not heal and he said I was forbidden to heal as a
member of Falun Gong as healing came from another place. Very shortly, days later, at
night I was woken by my room shaking as if in an earthquake. This beautiful spinning
golden and blue ball was coming down to me. In Falun Gong the ball spins one way to
bring in energy and spins in the reverse to send energy out. I recognised that I was a bad
person and no good would come to me and I shouted and screamed it away. I was
terrified and went onto the net and emailed that man and told him to leave me alone. I
told him I was a member of Dao, which I was, and he said he would not contact me
again.
This occurred probably in 2001, after Jesus had called me. I was asleep and dreaming. I
was with another person but I do not know who. Two very plain looking coffins flew to
us but both of us were terrified. We ran then separated to try and out manoeuvre the two
coffins. One followed me. They were plain in shape and bland in colour. There was no
apparent reason to be terrified but I was. Then the coffin hovered over me and in my fear,
I tried to leap out of bed but then instantly my legs were so completely bound that I could
not even flex a muscle. I reached up with my hands but then my arms were similarly
bound. I tried to scream out but my voice was lost, but my mind still focus and in my
mind I screamed out to Jesus and the coffin instantly vanished and I could move as
normal.
I had a similar experience with a puppy, around 2001 or sometime soon after Jesus called
me. The dog was not frightening at first but would not leave me. I was sitting up in a
chair. I supposed I had dozed off. I am not sure. But I was sitting up in a lounge
chair.When the dog would not leave me and I tried to push it away it manifested nasty
and instantly I cried out Jesus’ name and it vanished.

 

[ed]

Hi,
This experience was in the period of early 2000 after I had been called. Although I did
not seek to be in that place anymore sometimes I found myself there. One night, I saw a
head on a crude iron hook been lowered over a wall. It was a young strong face with an
abundant growth of red hair. But the hair had been chopped off, not neatly but as if
clumps were grabbed and hacked off then the hand dived in and grabbed another handful
and chopped that off also until all the hair was gone, well its length anyway. I asked,
“whose head is that ?” and the presence said to me, “John’s head.” I assumed the head
belonged to John the Baptist.
This event happened at least 3 times. The first time I was completely unaware. I was at
the same school during the same period Jesus called me. I can’t remember if it was before
or after He called me to witness but it must have been very close to that time. I was a new
teacher at a primary school and this school had just been allocated about 4 teachers from
the academy. They were being introduced to practical teaching. They did the normal lady
thing in Thailand and flocked around me because I am a foreigner. They wanted to
practise their English with me. I agreed to help and they said they would come each lunch
hour. I think three turned up on that first day and we chatted away and they did not come
back. This was very unusual but I did not mind as I would rather spend my time reading
than teaching English in my lunch time. One day my class did not turn up on time. It was
a week or so after these young teachers had the one lesson. I went looking for them and
saw one of the trainee teachers. I asked her about my class and she told me that they
would be up in the classroom in a short time. They were just doing some exercises. As I
was about to go she said to me, “ You speak Thai?” and I answered “No, not at all.” She
then accused, “You understand Thai!” and again I answered “No.” And she spun around
and stalked off. I had already made that very clear to these ladies. That is usually the
first question a Thai person asks. Well, what could I do. I thought about it and
realised that it is not possible to convince someone you can’t do something. You can
only convince someone you can do something. It was futile to attempt to defend my self.
I thought they would be back but they never did come back during my one semester at
that school. Some short time later I was teaching a regular class of university students.
Mostly the class consisted of three ladies. They were bright intelligent ladies eager to
learn and the class was always an enjoyable experience. One of the ladies asked a
question but I was surprised at the jilted English she used to convey her question. The
question was like this. “What do you call the place where ships come in.” I answered
immediately, “A port” and simultaneously the three ladies burst into laughter. Intrigued I
asked what was funny and one of them answered, “you understand Thai.” I probably said,
“oh yeah” and the matter was put behind us. But it puzzled me during the week so at the
next lesson I asked this lady, Mugnog, what she meant. She said she was not talking to
me but to the other ladies and she spoke in Thai. I understood what she asked because I
answered immediately and correctly. I had been teaching these ladies for some time and
they knew I could not speak or understand Thai. I told her I heard English.
The next school I was at, the Thai teacher addressed the assembled morning parade in
perfect English. I had never met a Thai person who could speak English even partly well.
The best Thai speaker I heard could only speak English reasonably well. What made the
whole episode unrealistic was the fact that if he was speaking in English none of the
students and most of the teachers would not have understood what he was saying.
These incidents convinced me that I was not to spend my time learning the Thai
language. If I needed to know something important, then the Holy Spirit would make sure
I understood. I then stopped reading number plates and every ad I saw on buses that
passed me by etc etc etc. I then stopped burying my mind in the Thai language and put
that effort in listening to Jesus Christ.
So I can tell you without any doubt that in my instances the Holy Spirit interpreted the
foreign language into my first language. He not only does this but He can do this so
perfectly that you are unaware it is being done, as in the school teachers, or so perfectly
that it is well beyond the ability of the speaker or in broken English to gain your
attention. This would be how the galileans spoke the languages of all the different
country men. The Holy Spirit was busy working for them.

love
edwin

 

[ed]

Hi,

This incident happened at the same school as in the story above. Maybe it was around
2002. I had met this man on one previous occasion. He was a foreigner like myself. I do
not know his country of origin but his native language was English. It is not possible to
not notice a foreigner amongst a sea of locals and when I saw him at the school function I
walked over and shook his hand, telling him my name in the assumption that he would
have also forgotton mine and apologising and asking him for his name again. He shook
my hand and in a very slow and deliberate voice with the words spaced he said, “My
name is Silly” I was stunned. I apologised again and asked him to repeat his name and he
said very normally, “My name is Billy” I smiled the smile of great relief and carried on
with some sort of conversation. ( I have not used his true name nor the rhyming name that
I initially heard) On my next visit with my own minister, I had started going to church at
this stage, I asked about this man. I did not mention what had happened to me. Pastor
Steve told me that this man was once a priest but he had given up the calling and was
making money hand over fist running his own busines. Wow. Well the incident wouldn’t
leave me alone. It was always on my mind so I found his phone number and called him
and asked to meet. He invited me to dinner at his place and we arranged for me to catch a
bus to the centre of the village where he lived and he would pick me up and drive me the
short distance to his home. This happened and then I asked him for a private
conversation.He lived in a 4 story building with internal lift etc. He was doing very well
for himself. So his family trundled upstairs to the kitchen dining area and I told him what
had happened after explaining how Jesus had called me. He took it with good grace,
asked me to look around and see how much God was blessing him and then we went up
to dinner and then he drove me home. That was the first time I had witnessed. That man
was held in high regard by all probably because of his wealth.

love
edwin

 

[ed]

Hi

In Thailand maybe 2003. I was waiting at a bus stop, one not to far from the building in
which our church services were held. It was a Sunday. Several people were there waiting
as well when we were joined by a man whose feet had probably not seen water for many
years. He was probably one of the people from the hill tribes. He was lost and out of his
depth and no one there would help him. I spoke no Thai and knew from experience that
even my pronunication of my destination would probably not mean anything to him.
Initially I thought that if our destinations were the same I could take him with me. He was
getting anxious and so was I so I called out for Jesus to help me. This young man walked
over immediately and spoke in English, asking me if I attended the Eternal Life church. I
said that I did but I said “ Could you please talk to that man and help him. He did and the
next bus was the one the dirty man wanted and my bus followed almost immediately and
the young man was going the same way I was so we sat together and spoke about the
Eternal Life Church.
love
edwin

 

[ed]

Hi,
This happened in Thailand after Jesus called me. Tui, my wife, went with a friend who
was having some personal problems. The friend took Tui to a Buddist Temple because
this friend wanted her fortune told. That done the friend wanted Tui to have her fortune
told as well and Tui agreed. She came home devastated, crying and moaning. The fortune
teller told her she would die and near water. The fortune teller also told her that she , Tui,
was the 17 death she had predicted so far and the previous 16 had died. I told Tui I would
pray and see what to do. God put it onto my heart to fast. This must have been about
February, or March because it crossed my mind that I may have to fast until her birthday,
which like mine is in May. I felt I could not fast until May. My fast consisted of not
eating until I arrived home from my teaching which was local. So I arrived home around
5.30 pm As I figured that black tea had no nourishment I would allow myself to drink
black tea as it didn’t really matter or make much difference to my fast. Within a couple of
weeks of fasting till 5.30 pm each day I was sick of feeling guilty so I put the time back
to 6 pm. Instantly I felt good about the fast. The fast continued. I was at church one day
doing some cleaning and I had just poured myself my third cup of black tea. As the cup
approached my mouth I slowly poured the entire contents of the cup over myself. I held
the cup very deliberately and poured slowly and completely. I was stunned. Absolutely
stunned. Luckily ( read Blessed) I had poured the tea onto my tie so the heat did not burn
me. I had always maintained that the drinking of black tea was of no consequence but
when it was taken away ( I stopped drinking black tea and settled on water only) I was
filthy dirty. It took me a couple of weeks to toss the bitter feeling of losing the black tea
as a drink. Then we went on holidays, a long drive to Phuket Island. I drove all night and
as I didn’t sleep I kept on drinking coffee when we would pull up at a service station.
When the sun came up I went back on my fast. This was the first time I had done this.
Normally I was in bed early as I had to be up early to bus my way around to my various
work places.On my return I was outside the church on the footpath handing out tracks for
the Eternal Life Church. A small group of Pretty Girls came along giving samples of
coffee. The young ladies are called Pretty Girls because they are and they are employed
to promote products as people are here in Australia. If you asked one of these Pretty Girls
about their work they would say , “Oh, I,m a Pretty Girl.” Then you knew they were
promotional workers.Again I had this most unusual experience. This young lady offered
me a sample cup of coffee which of course I declined. Then instead of moving on she
started to question me. Why? Oh a fast! What time do you start? What time do you
finish? Now my ears were pricking up. I looked at her and she stared back at me. I
thought about it; conscious of my recent travel and my drinking coffee and snacking till
daybreak. I said “midnight.” “Oh” she smiled and moved on.
That defined my fast. Jesus had on three occasions joined me and helped me define the
parameters of the fast. From 5.30 to 6.00 pm, Tea was disallowed because I was living a
lie thinking it was without a consquence, and now the night time had been determined.
Each change caused me to be disgruntled but after I took huge satisfaction as these
interludes gave me an assurance that Jesus was watching and helping me in my fast.
How did my fast end. Unbelievable. I came home from church one morning, here in
Australia and Tui was still in bed. I asked her if she would like a cup of coffee and she
said, “No.” I said “ Well, I’m having one and I did” That ended my fast which lasted 4 or more years.
love
edwin

 

[ed]

Hi,

These next events happened whilst travelling on public transport in Thailand. Maybe I
would be exaggerating if I said I could write a book on my experiences with God on the
various types of public transport and private travel in Thailand. One of the very
common types of transport in Thailand is the van. There were two types of seat
configeration. One type held 9 the other 11 passengers. Vans only stopped when
requested. Their sole objective was to travel as quickly as possible between termini. The
more journeys they made the more money they made. They collected and deposited
passengers from official bus stops but only stopped on demand. They were not numbered
for identification but had the name of the terminus written on the front of the van. I could
not read Thai and I could not speak Thai. Jesus keep me always.Initially Tui would write
in Thai the destination I sought and I would compare the writings on the vans. In
Thailand it is first in best dressed. Remarkably it is the same when they play cards. The
dealer always deals his card first. That shows just how ingrained the me first attitude is in
non- christian countries. In keeping with this policy no one sits or stands at the bus stop
but at various lengths from the stop towards the direction from which the van will come.
All want to be first and of course no one wants to miss out. Public transport in Thailand is
very busy. By my following the parable of the guest at the wedding feast, Jesus initially
always found me the prime seat behind the driver so that when I wanted to debus, I just
had to tap him on the shoulder. I could not call out as I did not speak Thai. When I felt
secure in this, then He took that seat away from me and buried me in the back of the bus.
Of course I asked “WHY” but every time without fail, when I was buried away from the
driver, someone else was getting off at my stop and they called out to the driver. My
slight movement to depart always had the people shuffling to make way for me. Never
was I trapped on a bus.On one occasion when I was buried in the back of the bus which
was almost empty now as it neared the terminus, it stopped and let on this huge fat man.
He waddled and twisted his way onto the bus and wriggled himself into the first jump
seat. For me to leave at the next stop, two stops short of the terminus, this fat man would
have to get out of the bus and get back on again. This would cost the driver some time. I
glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the bus driver looking at me. He knew that I was
to get off at the next stop. I shook my head, he smiled and pulled out into the main stream
of traffic and up and over the fly-over and was at the terminus in minutes. I then caught a
bus back and then on to where I wanted to go. Jesus used the fat man to teach me to “love
or do unto others.’
If the fat man had not got onto the bus the bus would have taken me to the next
intersection where I would have departed. Then the bus would have had to wait at the set
of lights. This was a major intersection and the lights took some time before completing a
cycle. For my part I walked down the cross road to the first bus stop and re-commenced
the last stage of my journey to this work site. Because the fat man caught the bus and I
signalled to the driver I did not want to go to the next bus stop the driver was able to take
the flyover and not lose the precious minutes stuck at the intersection. When I was not
working at that site which required me to debus at this intersection, I lamented the waste
of time if someone else wanted to use that bus stop. I, and all remaining passengers and
especially the driver, hated having to use that bus stop. Everyone just wanted to use the
flyover and get on with their journey. Jesus used the fat man to show me I was not
walking in love, nor doing unto others. I never again used that bus stop with the vans,
instead going on to the terminus and catching a bus back. Then a Christian was not being
a stumbling block to non-Christians.
love
edwin