A Brief Visit to Heaven - Part 6
We return to our seats and Bill is next. He goes through what seems like the same procedure and appears to enjoy it immensely also. Now I am really getting nervous! I know my turn is coming soon and I don’t really know what to expect. Sure enough, we return to our seats and after five minutes or so of sitting around listening to music and waiting I suddenly feel a push from behind, as if a pair of someone’s hands had pushed me but there was no one behind me. Next thing I know I am up front with Wendy. So now I am up there in front of the Phoenix bird and some New Age song is softly playing in the background and Wendy tells me to choose an “I AM”. I didn’t know it at the time, but “I AM” is one of God’s names in the Bible. He is known as the great, “ I AM”. So that is blasphemy of the One, True God. It is also common term in the New Age false teachings.
For some reason I decide to choose “I AM ALIVE!” Wendy begins tapping me on my head and telling me to open up to the “spirit”. This is where I am totally freaking out inside. I remember see a picture flash in front of me of the cross on the wall in front of the altar from the old church I grew up in. I cry out from the bottom of my heart inside “ God, I don’t know if it is my time to go, but if it is please take me!!!” All of a sudden BAM! The Spirit of God comes in like lightning and floods my whole being with His love. I am overwhelmed with the presence of God and for a brief time I actually left my body. I am like transported to this large hall like place and all I can see is this amber color all around me. It is the color of fire. There seems to be someone there with me but I don’t know who it is for sure but I figure it must be God. I remember saying, “Where the heck am I!” And then just as suddenly I am back in my body. I know it had to be only my spirit leaving as my body was there in the room with all the people there. I asked them later if my body left for a short time and they laughed and told me it did not.
I didn’t really care whether I had left in the body or out of the body as now I am totally flooded with joy and I start yelling over and over, “IT IS GOD! IT IS GOD! IT IS GOD! HE IS REAL! I AM ALIVE!” I repeat this over and over. The others are amazed and they are happy for me but I notice Wendy is not thrilled. I don’t know why, but she is upset. They do the cradle routine for me and I am just overjoyed and ecstatic and continuing saying, “GOD IS REAL, THERE IS A GOD! WOW, I CAN’T BELIEVE IT !!” Wendy tells me to calm down now and not to interrupt the process for the others. The rest proceed on through with their own “reawakening” and I just sit back in amazement at it all. At this point, I am still thinking that Wendy was leading people into knowing God, but I soon find out this is not the case at all. I go home that night in pure bliss, riding on a cloud, but also with a million and a half questions about what took place. I know it is God! There is no doubt in my mind about that. His presence is too strong in my life to deny it. But how it all happened and what I am to do next is a mystery to me.
The next day is Sunday and I arise early and head back up the highway to attend the last day of the seminar. I jump into my car and I have to find some “God music” on the radio. I do find some old hymns playing and they really speak to my heart! I know God is still with me in a strong way on the second day. As I am driving up Route 5 north, I happen to see the large concrete Cross on top of Mt. Soledad in La Jolla. It really speaks to me and it looks so beautiful. I don’t even know why though. All I know is God is with me in a powerful way and I remember thinking, “I hope this lasts”.
After arriving at the seminar, Wendy has arranged some cheesy type of church service, with her as the Reverend. She gives us some New Age message and has the audacity to pass a collection plate among us after hitting us up for $800.00 a piece to attend the seminar! I am growing more and more suspicious now of Wendy and I am starting to doubt the whole thing. This is causing me to sink and I am losing my peace and joy. Wendy talks to each of us individually next and tells me not to do anything rash for the next few weeks till I settle down and adjust to the new life.
I start asking her about God and I soon realize her God is someone different than the One that is now inside of me. She asks me some questions and finally she says to me, “It appears you have had a Christian born again experience”. She seems very disturbed by this and tries to belittle the whole thing. I am really confused and I need to find some answers. Someone out there must know about God and what happened to me.
When I arrive home that night, I start talking to my wife about God. She sees I am really different. She gets very upset and at one point grabs me and says, “Come out of there you!”. She says I am crazy and wants to have me committed to a mental institution and calls me a “religious phenomenon”. She is very upset and doesn’t want to hear anything about God. I was hoping that maybe this would save our marriage but it seems it will now only get worse instead of better. I am confused and dejected one minute and then a rush of God’s Spirit bubbles up in my soul and I forget about all my troubles for awhile. I need some answers and I know now Wendy is not the person to help me find them.
The next morning I head to the office, later than usual. I have no idea how I can even think about working. I am so high on God that all I can think of, for almost every minute of every day now is GOD! I am obsessed with Him and I want to know more about Him and especially what happened to me. I am in the office no more than 10 minutes and the phones rings. It is Sally, a divorced Real Estate lady in our office who I had been chasing around to try to get her to play tennis with me. She always refused me before because I was married. Now she calls and says, “Hi! I thought that maybe you would like to play tennis with me today!” I thought, “Oh man, no way!” I say to her, “Sally, I am so sorry but I met God over the weekend and I know He doesn’t want me to do this kind of stuff anymore.” She is absolutely speechless. It is a total shock to her also as I was the top selling agent in the office at that time, very hard driving and after the money, and always looking at the ladies and dishonoring my wife. Now she hears I met God over the weekend. Yeah right! She says something like, “Oh, okay Neil. Good luck. BYE!.. CLICK”. I thought this was very strange that right after I met God, that now this lady had changed her mind about playing tennis with me. I didn’t know anything about the devil or how he tempts people at that time But I felt really funny about this phone call.
My being born again caused a major upheaval in the office. I had never known anyone who had been born again and I had no idea what being born again entailed either. Julie, who I shared an office with, was very surprised also and she says to me, “If I had to pick one person in the whole office (about 50 people) to become born again, you would have been last!” I laugh and agree with her. All I know is I didn’t really know how it happened or what it meant yet, but I was overjoyed with God’s Spirit in my heart! (End of Part 6)