73 Years of Wisdom

One day, I received a dream from the Creator of the universe. This dream was definitely from the Creator, as you will soon discover, because everything that I was shown came to pass.

In the dream, my father was in his back room which he loved. This was a room that he had specially constructed to act as a second kitchen. The outer wall of this room was constructed with logs. My father lived in a log cabin which he himself had built.

In the dream, giant screws were coming up through the floor. They were all over the place.

My father was cornered. He was immobilized, on account of the giant screws.

In the dream, there was a message. The message said (to my father), “You will not get out of here until you confess Jesus as Lord!”

What was this dream all about?

This dream was about an immobilized state that my father would find himself in, in about 15 years. For in about 15 years, my father would contract Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS.

The message, “You will not get out of here until you confess Jesus as Lord!” was all about how my father would finally become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. For, up until that time, my father did not trust in Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. But that was about to change. In the midst of my father’s life, God was going to “put the screws” on him.

To “put the screws on” someone is actually an idiomatic expression in the English language, and means “to compel by exerting pressure on”1 them. And this is exactly what I saw in my dream. I saw these giants screws coming up through the floor, which were cornering my father, and causing him to become immobilized. In real life, the “screws” represented the disease that he was diagnosed with, less than 15 years later.

God is a good God. He does not delight in people getting sick. However, he may still allow sickness for the greater good.

There are times when sickness can be used as a means of chastisement from a loving God who does not want people to “miss out” on the best that God has to offer, meaning eternal life.

In order for a person to receive eternal life, they need to see their need for the Savior, who is Jesus. God can, and does, use disease, sometimes, to speak to a person about their need. It is just as we read in the book of Job:

“He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones; So that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food. His flesh is so consumed away, that it can’t be seen. His bones that were not seen stick out. Yes, his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the destroyers.” (Job 33:19-22)

This does not look good, but sometimes this is the situation that God uses to speak to a person about their need for the Savior, who is Jesus.

There are times when God will restore a person after they have come to see their need, but in my father’s case, he died shortly thereafter. Was this a bad thing? Well, not really, because he went to be with Jesus, and one day he will receive a new body and live on the earth forever. This is what the Bible teaches concerning all those who have faith in Jesus Christ. So while it is hard to lose someone, as long as they know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, that is the main thing. I will see my father again! And we shall live forever in God’s kingdom. That will be pretty amazing!

Thus, there it is in a nutshell, and we see that God will allow a person to be subjected to pain, even, for the sake of speaking to them about their need for the Savior. For we all need a Savior — someone who can save us from ourselves and our own ideas. Why might that be a good idea? Because our own ideas often do not include God, who wants to give us life. That life can only be received if we have first developed a trusting relationship with Jesus Christ who came to die for our sins.

So, briefly, in the dream, God our Creator showed me what was going to happen to my father, and why. He was going to permit it so that my father would recognize his need for the Savior, and confess Jesus as Lord. For as it is written,

“It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2:21)

At the end of the dream, the voice said (speaking to my father), “You will not get out of here until you confess Jesus as Lord!” In other words, my father would not “get out of here” (meaning, leave the earth) until he had confessed Jesus as being his personal Lord and Savior. Well, here is what happened.

About three months before my father died in the year 2000, he asked me to visit him. For he was about five hours away by car. So I went and visited him.

When I went to visit him, he was immobilized from the disease, and wanted a cup of tea. He asked me to get him a cup of tea. So I did.

I went to the stove, and beside the tea pot was a note that he had written sometime before that. I’m not sure if he sent me to gethe tea so that I would see the note, or if the note was just there, but, in any event, I saw the note.

On the note, he had written, in his own handwriting, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me.”

Thus, this was the note.

As you can see, in the note, my father actually confessed Jesus as Lord. It was just as had been revealed to me about 15 years earlier in the dream. My father would not leave the earth until he had confessed Jesus as Lord. Well, he did!

Son of the Living God

This confession of Jesus being the “Son of the Living God,” where does it come from? If you read the Bible, you will find out that this was Simon Peter’s confession of Jesus, as well, when Simon Peter said to Jesus,

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (See Matthew 16:16)

This expression is also found in John 6, once again used by Simon Peter, in which he said to Jesus,

“Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (See John 6:68-69)

Thus, this was my father’s confession. He not only confessed Jesus as being “Lord,” but also “Son of the Living God.”

In response to Simon Peter’s confession of Jesus being the Son of the living God, Jesus responded,

“Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (See Matthew 16:17)

Thus it was that my father confessed the same thing — he confessed that Jesus was the “Son of the living God.” Where did he confess it? He confessed it on that small piece of paper! Thus, the Lord knows how to save people, and he will even use disease in order to get the job done!

The Straight Path

About five years after my father died, I had another dream. Thus, between the first dream and the second were about 20 years. In the second dream, I met a man (Jesus) who took me on a walk. At first, we were walking on the “straight and narrow path.” This is the path of salvation (see Matthew 7:13-14). Then, we both temporarily took a “sharp left” down a corridor.

We left the path in order to see someone who was not on the path! Heaven forbid, but it was true! In a room, was my mother and her husband, whom she married before my father died. In the dream, I did not speak with my mother or her husband at all. The Lord merely showed them to me. In real life, my mother married another man before my father died. She also rejected the Lord. Thus, she was rightfully off the straight and narrow path that Jesus commanded we walk on.

After seeing my mother and her husband, we got back on the straight and narrow path, because that was our path. We had only taken a temporary diversion in order for God to communicate a point. He wanted to point something out to me, which will become clear at the end of the dream.

As we kept walking a short distance, all of a sudden we were outside and there were no more walls anywhere. We were out in the open. It was day. It was bright. Then, I looked up into the sky, and I saw my father standing on top of what I first thought was a very high mountain. For it was high up in the air that I saw him standing. In the dream, he was many miles away, but I could clearly see him standing on what I initially thought was some type of invisible mountain.

Then, the Lord Jesus turned to me, and pointing at me said in a very commanding type of voice, “Your mother’s remarriage is not the true remarriage. Your father’s remarriage is the true remarriage!”

The dream ended.

Wow. What was that all about? In real life, my father never got remarried, so I initially dismissed the dream. “This dream does not make any sense. My father never got remarried.” So I initially dismissed the dream.

Then, ten days passed. It took me ten days to wake up and realize that God had actually spoken to me about my father. What he in fact showed me was true. Everything was perfectly accurate!

First, I assumed it was a mountain he was standing on. But my assumption was faulty. There was no mountain in the dream. And if there was no mountain in the dream, then there was no mountain. What was my father standing on, then, if there was nothing beneath his feet? For I saw nothing underneath him, yet he was standing and he was alive!

To “stand” in the Bible is a figurative expression meaning to do well (for example, see 1 Corinthians 10:12). It also means to successfully resist the devil (for example, see Ephesians 6:13-14). Thus, my father had done well and, at the end of his life, had resisted the temptations and the snares of the devil by surrendering his life into the hands of Jesus. My father was alive and well in heaven!

The True Remarriage

The Lord had said to me, “Your mother’s remarriage is not the true remarriage. Your father’s remarriage is the true remarriage!” Why did he say this? Let us think about it for a minute. It will become very clear. First, my father confessed Jesus as his Lord. He did it in the note, when he wrote, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me.”

My father was a genuine believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. My father trusted in Jesus, and was saved. My mother, on the other hand, rejected Jesus. She was not on the straight and narrow path that Jesus told us to be on.

“Enter in by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in by it. How the gate is narrow and the way is restricted that leads to life! There are who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

But what about the issue of remarriage? In real life, my mother remarried. But that would only be temporary. It would not last. For when a person dies, they are no longer married, are they? That is true, they are no longer married.

There is, however, a very special marriage spoken about in the Bible that is eternal. The Bible says that marriage in human terms is actually a picture of Jesus Christ and the church. The temporary marriage is what we experience on this earth. It cannot last, for when a spouse dies, the marriage is over. They will not be joined again in eternity (see Matthew 22:30).

A person who is joined to Christ (by faith, they trust in his death and resurrection) is joined to Christ, and is said to be part of the bride of Christ. Only one is the bride, which is the church, meaning the assembly of believers. For this reason, we read concerning this spiritual marriage,

“For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will be joined to his wife. Then the two will become one flesh.” This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the assembly. (Ephesians 5:31-32)

And thus, the Lord said to me, “Your mother’s remarriage is not the true remarriage. Your father’s remarriage is the true remarriage!” Thus, ten days after I had the dream, I realized that it really did come from the Lord.

The Lord had shown me my father standing on what appeared to be an invisible mountain. Of course, there was no mountain. The Lord was telling me that my father was doing well and had made the right choice and that he was in heaven!

Thus, this dream was yet another confirmation of my father’s salvation.

But there was more. Many years later, in 2016, the Creator who is God, gave yet another dream to a man who had never met my father or mother, and it contained detailed information concerning both of them. In the dream, God showed my friend that my father had been transformed on account of his decision to trust in the Lord, and the dream provides even more information about the coming of the Lord, the transformation of a believer’s body into an immortal one, and the battle of Armageddon. I want to encourage you to read that!2

Questions

1. Are you “saved”? Go back and read Acts 2:21 and find out what it says about being saved.

2. What is there to be saved from? What happens to people who are not saved? Where do they go? To better understand this, please find a Bible and read the following verses: John 3:16, 3:36, 5:24, 11:25-26, 20:31, and 1 John 5:10-13 (at the end). What happens to people who trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior? What about those who do not?

3. According to the first dream, how did God use the disease in my father’s life?

4. According to Job 33:19-22, can God use pain to rescue someone from the Pit? What is “the Pit”?

5. If you were to die tonight, where would you go? If you were to die tonight, and God were to say to you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” what would you say? Is there any good works we can actually “do” to save ourselves? Please read Ephesians 2:8-9 and Titus 3:5-7. How does God save us? On the basis of our works, or his grace?

6. According to Isaiah 64:6, all of our righteous deeds are like a filthy rag or a polluted garment. Therefore, they cannot in any way merit us salvation. Read John 6:29. What is the work that God requires?

7. Read John 1:12. What is the key element in being able to be a child of God? Are all people children of God according to this verse? Who qualifies as being a child of God and who does not?

8. Read Romans 3:23. How many have sinned? How many people have fallen short of God’s glory?

9. Wages are things that we earn as a result of our works or our deeds. Read Romans 6:23. What are the “wages of sin” or the “payment for sin” according to this passage, and what is the “free gift of God” through Jesus Christ?

10. Read Romans 4:1-5 and Romans 4:16. On what basis was Abraham saved? Was it by observing the law, or because of his faith?

11. Read Proverbs 20:11, Matthew 7:16, John 8:39, and Titus 1:16. Although our works do not save us, the Bible says we will be known by them. Read James 2:21. In what sense was Abraham justified by his works?

12. Read 1 Samuel 16:7, John 5:28-29, 2 Peter 1:10-11, and Revelation 22:12. Discuss in what respects God looks at the heart, and in what respects God looks at the deeds. What is God’s basis for judgment in John 5:28-29? Why?

13. Read 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. What is the basis for judgment for saved individuals? How is a person saved and what role do our works have? Is this passage talking about saved people, or non-saved people?

14. Read Daniel 12:2. What is the corresponding verse in the New Testament? What is everlasting life and what is everlasting contempt?

Finally, this article is called, “73 Years of Wisdom.” Why? The answer is that my father was 73 years old when he died. Although it took him a while before he was able to fully trust in Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, he finally did it! And so his collective wisdom, of 73 years of knowledge and life on this earth, was that he decided to trust in Jesus. And thus, no matter how old you are, whether you are young, or whether you are very old, you are never too young and you are never too old, to start trusting in the Lord. Trusting in the Lord today means an eternal future with God and his people forever.

One day, Jesus Christ will return, and will setup his kingdom on the earth. And what an exciting time it will be for all those who have put their faith in him.