national morality

                                                                       (09-09-08)

Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 8, (KJV) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

      Why would Jesus appear to me?  Why would He do it in the sanctuary of my own church on the Sabbath day over two years ago?  Why would He allow me to view His glory?  Why would He personally go out of His way to give me a hug and a heavenly smile that broke through like the rays of a very bright sun in the sky, causing me to squint?  

   He did.

     Let me share with you, dear reader, how this came about.

     It has been over two years and I am finally writing about it.  This encounter is significant!  But, how is it significant?  Although I have prayed about it, Christ has not given me a clear understanding of why He chose to appear to me in this way.  So I have decided to write to you and share my experience with you.  Perhaps God will reveal to you a reason or reasons. Perhaps God will speak to many people about this incredible encounter.

     I do not look upon myself as anyone special above any other person, for the scripture teaches that everyone, every living person, will ultimately see Jesus.  I am just perhaps seeing Him a littler sooner than you, perhaps also for a specific reason; perhaps if nothing else, just as a testimony against sexual immorality, or our present day attitudes in the general public about sexual immorality. 

     Anyway, let me get to the event as it occurred, as I remember it.    

     We had a visiting preacher that Sunday, as our pastor was recuperating from open heart surgery and was not able to preach.  It was probably in late July of ’06, based on my Pastor’s recollection of the time.   The visiting preacher was showing a projection image of the Crusades that occurred in the dark ages, with Christian soldiers, armed in mail and swords and carrying large white shields with large red crosses painted on them.  He was telling the congregation about how Christ would not want His followers to behave that way, to take matters into their own hands, and to wage a Holy war. 

     As he was preaching I was praying and talking to God in my heart.  I was asking God things like; How does he know that Lord?  How does he know whether or not you spoke to people back then to go and fight? How does he know these things, did he pray and ask you Lord?  I just don’t believe that he could know whether or not you actually put it in people’s hearts to go and fight.  

     And so it went, I would listen for a while and then comment back and forth to the Lord as if He were just sitting there next to me, but in my mind I would speak to Him as if He were above me; I would speak in an upward direction.  Of course no one near me could tell that I was speaking to the Lord in this way, that I was challenging the preacher’s conclusions in this way and appealing to the God of heaven to refute what I was being told.

     As the preacher came to his conclusions I commented to the Lord that I would like to go over to the preacher and speak to him and give him a hug, for I truly loved the man and appreciated his sermon, none the less.  And so I went over to greet him after the sermon.

     As I walked over to speak to the preacher, several other people came to him before me and were talking to him, so I just stood nearby and waited my turn to greet him.  Soon they moved on and my turn came to talk to him. 

     Just then my eyes were opened, and I saw Jesus, standing behind him, about 10 to 15 feet away looking up toward our church’s stained glass window, toward the cross that is always hanging there in the center of our sanctuary, up over the choir.  As I saw Him, He turned His head and looked directly at me, then He turned His body and began to move toward me. 

     I must admit that I am not a very personable type of person; I do not often look into people’s eyes when I speak to them or pay as much attention to them as I should when talking, to get their name and things like that.  My attention is often on their dress and manner of holding themselves, their attire, and their physical condition. 

     And so it was even now, even when the Lord of Glory stood before me in His glorified body, my attention began to drift to His person, His spiritual body, His glory.   

     The sudden appearance of the Lord did not startle me or cause me any type of feeling or anything like that.  If you had been standing next to me you would not have noticed anything different than anyone else who may have been standing in the congregation at that time.  There was no outward evidence of what I was witnessing; the Lord of Glory, in His glorified body.  How beautiful He was to look upon, how magnificent and lovely to behold! 

     But my mind was focused on what apparently was the creative power of God which I could see roiling inside his person; like the roiling of gases if one could look directly into the sun itself without a filter.

     As a practicing land surveyor, I have had to occasionally put a filter on my instrument to make measurements using the sun as a line of sight along with the appropriate land markers in order to calculate a geodetic bearing on the ground; so I know exactly what the roiling of the sun’s gases looks like.  Perhaps you have seen the same on a scientific television program.  If so than you know what I am describing.  The creative power of God, the eternal God before me, revealing to me His glory.  I am truly humbled.

     As my gaze then returned to His face, it was just as He approached the preacher from behind him, just as He, the Lord, began to walk right into the body of the preacher as if he weren’t even there.  So I really did not get to look into His face, but only for a moment, just as His Holy Spirit melded into the face, or became one with the face of the preacher.  My face was at that moment only inches away from His and I could then see the Holy Spirit begin to vanish and an outline of only His face as He entered the preacher.

     At that very moment I reached up to hug the preacher and the preacher began to smile.  As he smiled and opened his lips to reveal his teeth, a shaft of brilliant light then exploded out of his mouth and directly into my eyes, making me squint greatly as I hugged him.  Then I thanked the preacher and turned and walked away.

     I really did not even look back.  I don’t recall thinking a lot about it for a while.  It was only later that I realized that it was Jesus.  It was only later that I realized that what I had written in my book about war was consistent with what the preacher had preached that day!

     When I was a young man my eyes were once opened in a prayer meeting and I saw an angel walking between me and the preacher.  As I saw the angel I jumped up and declared out loud for everyone to hear, “I just saw an angel!”   The person next to me said, “Shut up and sit down!”  And so I did.

     God ministered to me greatly over the ensuing years with that experience, of seeing a holy angel.  The point is that I have a frame of reference with which to compare seeing Jesus, to seeing an angel.  In neither case did I ask God to allow me to see anything.  It just happened.  It just happened and was over very quickly, very quietly.

     I could see through the angel, I could not see through Jesus.  The angel was to look upon similar to a fluorescent light; Jesus was to look upon unlike anything you could imagine.  The creative power of God to which I referred, was the most beautiful white color you could possibly imagine and His smile revealed the light of His inner self, like the light of the sun in the noon day, a light of great strength and power, of brilliant glory and majesty.

     And so I leave you, dear reader, to reflect on this testimony with me, to pray about this testimony with me; and to do so in light of my book that I have written entitled, “National Morality…”

     Why would the Lord reveal Himself to someone like me, to someone who makes the claims that I make in my book?  You really owe it to yourself to read my book and to pray about all that I have shared with you in this testimony and in my book. 

     Time is short, make certain of your election, make sure your salvation, make certain that you have oil in your lamps and that they are trimmed and ready for His return.  I tell you the truth, it will be soon.

      Lovingly in Christ and for His name’s sake,

     tom   

            Please pray about helping to make this testimony come to life on a youtube video.  If you have the capabilities for special effects or know of someone who has the capabilities, then contact me at nationalmorality@cox.net  asap.  Thank you.