Interactions with God #4

After accepting Christ in the middle of the sidewalk in downtown Morgantown WV, as I said earlier, due to my initial instruction, I didn’t yet believe the bible was accurate. That makes a huge difference in how a person lives. I was still drinking to get drunk, sleeping with my girlfriend, and a number of other things a “Christian” would not normally do. At the same time, I did accept Christ and I did receive the Holy Spirit upon “conversion”, as they say.

The Father is God, but God outside of time, big, really big, vast even…infinite. So big that He is seriously impossible to comprehend or relate to. Thus Jesus, God in time. An avatar so to speak (yes this is a very lame way to express a truth that is much greater, but it works…for now).

The Holy Spirit is also God, but I and anyone else would have a hard time coming up with an explanation that makes sense to our hamster sized, human viewpoints. But the Holy Spirit does live in those who really accept Christ and He does change things.

For one, He offers a mental (or Spiritual) connection to God, both Jesus AND the Father. Yup, the one outside of time and space. This alone can give a Christian a unique view of reality, one which those who reject God can’t see. This is explained very well in 1 Corinthians 2:10-16. God showed me this many years later, but that is another interaction in itself…

My friend John, from high school had moved with his family to Rockwall, TX. near Dallas after high school graduation. He went to school at SMU while I went to WVU.

During the early part of 1983, John would call me on a fairly regular basis, usually at 2 in the morning, to tell me how he had gotten a sunburn while drinking a beer by the lake, or pool, or anywhere outside. This was a big problem, not because he called so late, no, it was because he knew how much I HATE to be cold. West Virginia, northern West Virginia, in February… We are talking minus 40 to 60 degree wind chill factors!! I HATE COLD.

John had been working on me to join with him and transfer from our current schools to the University of Texas, in Austin, TX. SMU was in Dallas, so Austin being 3.5 hours south (depending on how fast you drive), was even warmer!

Transferring was a pain, even then. You lost credits and had to apply and be accepted. I kept pushing him off, until a particular day in which the wind chill was down to minus 60. You can say, “Ooooo, I love winter, that cold brisk air! You can always put more clothes on!” NOT AT MINUS 60 WIND CHILL! There are not enough clothes on the planet to make that work for me!

So, a February morning, after one of John’s calls, I was walking from my apartment to the PRT (tram system) station, heading to the campus for a class. On my way down the hill from my apartment, a particularly strong gust of wind hit me square in the face. It was COLD, so cold it made my face hurt. So cold, that right there and then I vowed to move to Texas. So after that semester ended, I did.

John and I, after spending the summer with his folks in Rockwall, TX, moved to Austin and got an apartment.

I was still dating Jennifer at the time. She was two years older than I, and graduated from WVU at the end of that same semester. She was looking at her future and seriously believed I was to be part of it, so near the end of the summer in 1983, she moved her stuff down to Austin and got an apartment not to far from where John and I lived. Unfortunately, John and Jennifer didn’t get along too well.

During the next few months, I would spend a few nights a week at Jennifer’s apartment. Yes, this is called fornication, and is seriously frowned upon by God. So, one night in particular at Jennifer's apartment, I woke up in a cold sweat, swamped by fear.

I was terrified; I had no idea of what yet either. Something really scary was in the room. As I looked around in a panic, I could feel that the fear was coming from the right corner of the room. As I looked there, I didn’t see anything, but a picture of something formed vividly in my mind.

(This was my first vision, it is like a very realistic waking dream).

It was 8 feet tall with really broad shoulders and covered in a black cape. The head was almost comical in a scary sort of way. It was a shiny black sphere, like an eight ball without the white number eight part. The image had two big eyes and a grin that went from one side to the other with a big white straight teeth. Like I said, cartoonish, but still terrifying.

Obviously, this was a demon, and the image I was getting in my mind was not what it really looked like. If it was, I am sure this demon would have been brutally picked on by other demons for his appearance.

It does pose many questions though, like “what do they look like?”. I think the bat-wing, horned images are just as manufactured as this one was. Why it didn’t look like something a wee bit scarier? I believe that is because of the reason it was allowed to be there in the first place… God was interested in making a point, to yours truly.

Upon seeing this odd image, filled with fear, and covered in sweat, I did the normal thing any Christian, bad or otherwise would do. I told it to go away using the name of Jesus.

For those who don’t know, this is biblical, however, it is not that the name has any magical powers. No, it is the authority that God gives his children because they are called by The Name. It is like a policeman, he has the authority of the City or State. He could say, “in the name of the State, Law, or City, STOP!” but he doesn’t need to because he has a badge and a uniform. Again, the name is not magical; it is the authority behind the Name, which is God.

Any self respecting demon, knows this and will run off with his tail between his legs. But, that didn’t happen. No, this particular being smiled all that much more and began to mock me. It wasn’t saying anything that I could hear, but I knew it was. I became even more frightened.

Since using the name of Jesus didn’t work, I went to the source. I looked up at God, in my heart and mind, and asked Him why didn’t his name work?

His reply, and He did reply, is rather hard to explain. I didn’t see His face, but yet I did. It was more like I knew He was looking at me. He didn’t say anything, but I watched Him move his eyes from me to the girl still asleep next to me… I knew at once what He was implying. I said to Him…”Oh…” I then apologized for my sin.

Immediately, the smile left the Eight Ball demon and it fled. The fear left and I managed to get back to sleep after a while, planning to not be in that bed again ever.

I am not the brightest bulb. I never claimed to be. But where I found myself not three days later would make even a real dopey fella wonder. Yes, I was in that bed again. Though I never had that happen again, it was the start of God working to change my life by taking from me everything. Clearly, He was no longer satisfied with my sinful behavior and was beginning to demand change.