| 1 John 4:20-21“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved. |
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Mineral Wealth[caption id="attachment_168" align="alignleft" width="247" caption="The Prospector"][/caption]
My story is both ordinary and extraordinary. I made poor decisions in the first half of my life and am still suffering from the consequences of those decisions. I hope that those who read this will be inspired to think carefully and make decisions that will be honoring to God and will glorify Him. The second half has been very difficult yet rewarding.
At the age of 30 years I was at a rather low point because of deteriorating health and I had reached a point where I could no longer hold a regular job. I was associated with a van customizing shop that had no business to speak of, but the owner allowed me to park a non operable camper van next to the building to sleep in and I manned the office for free allowing the owner to be a playboy in a country western band. It was around the holidays when his visiting uncle approached me about a vision that he had just received about me. This “vision” concept was very new to me because I had not been mentored by a mature Christian in my youth, yet I was willing to listen. He said that this”vision” thing was a semi-normal aspect of his life and it came with colors which told him to share it with me, similar to the colors on a stoplight. It also consisted of 3 numbers and he also gave me 3 airline tickets from Tucson to Baltimore which became available because the
Lord had given one of the members of his party “heart problems'' to get me on that particular flight. The departure was in a day or two and I only had 8 dollars to my name. I prayed about it the night before the flight and the next day I felt reassured about it. Therefore I felt that I had been given the peace that I needed to do something so daring. The next afternoon I was on my way with a sleeping bag, duffel bag and a down jacket. There were snow storms in the Baltimore area so I decided to disembark at the first stop which was at the Dallas/
Ft. Worth airport. I immediately started hitch-hiking back to Tucson because it had already gotten dark. A series of sexual predators tried to pick me up at first near Ft. Worth but I recognized the threat and declined except for the third one who looked normal enough but after we were on our way he started making propositions that had me very worried that I might need to fight off this pervert. He soon took an exit and let me out. A few minutes later another vehicle stopped and took me an additional 75 miles and then just pulled over on the side of
Interstate 20 and said that this was as far as he was going. I thought that this was a little odd because there were no exits nearby. He just dropped me off and then kept driving. So I ended up in the middle of nowhere on I-20, 80 miles west of my starting point near Ft. Worth. It was 11 pm with no traffic in sight when I stopped so I climbed the side of I-20 to stop to sleep. I chose that spot because I saw an incredible shooting star which circumferenced the sky from south to north. I took it to be a signal that this was where I was to stop to sleep. I awoke at 3:15 am and it had clouded over so I suspected a change in the weather and started hitchhiking again. The third car stopped and off we went westward. The young man who picked me up had also seen the shooting star and stopped to sleep at the same time that I did. We drove for a few hours and then stopped for coffee. It was at that time that I felt inspired to show him the scrap of paper with the 3 numbers written on it. I then pulled out my wallet, placed the piece of paper on the table and simply asked him if this meant anything to him since he had earlier indicated that he had a very significant relationship with the Lord. He took one look and immediately said yes that it means “The Lord, Signs and Wonders and Double Signs and Wonders” I was not well versed in the Bible at that time yet accepted what he had just told me. The night before, The Lord said to him to start driving west but did not say why. Even though he was an electrical contractor and it was the middle of the week and he had a business to run, he was faithful to the Lords leading and started driving. I thank him greatly because this was the beginning of an incredible adventure that is still unfolding. He shared with me that the Lord had appeared to him on 3 previous occasions and spoke to him for about 30 minutes each time. Mathew chapter 5, verse 8 says that the pure of heart will see “God”. This is an example of this promise that the Lord made in His Word! I also remember asking him: what did The Lord look like? He gave a description similar to that which is written in the book of Revelation. We later stopped for lunch. After lunch, he said that this was as far as he would be going and then I thanked him and we parted company. By this time, I was overjoyed. He offered me some money as I was walking away, toward the interstate which I declined saying "I still have 8 dollars in my pocket, I'll be fine"! About a minute or so later I was standing again on the side of I-20, I looked up and thanked The Lord and said: I now know why I came on this trip, I am ready to go home. I stuck out my thumb and the 3rd vehicle stopped, I got in and he took me the full 750 remaining miles back to Tucson! Please make note of the multiple occurrences of "the number 3" which is a prominent number in the Bible! Numerology is an occult practice but we need to understand that Satan imitates and perverts all that God does! Some examples are astrology which is also a perversion of what God has written in the heavens via the constellations that He created. The story of Salvation is written in the stars! Another example is the anti-Christ and Satan's unholy trinity which is another perversion of God's plans.
After some time had passed, I felt led to go and visit my father and see if it would be possible to repair a somewhat damaged relationship. After a few weeks of preparation for the trip back to my birthplace, I decided to take the mountainous route through northern New Mexico via Taos. It was Saturday evening and I felt like reading in the Old Testament. I opened and read 3 random passages and then went to bed. The next morning I went into Taos for breakfast and to see if they had a protestant church. The waitress said that there was one Bible Church so I finished in time for their worship service and that morning the pastor covered all three passages that the Lord had inspired me to read the night before! The Pastor and Elders of the Church asked if there were any that needed special prayer. I immediately went forward and asked for prayer for my father because of his immoral lifestyle so they anointed me with oil on the forehead and prayed for him. After Church, I prayed to see what the Lord would have me do next and I distinctively heard “The Still Small Voice” of the Holy Spirit say “Go Get Him”, referring to my father so off I went.
After arriving it became clear that my alcoholic father was not very interested in reconciling and things soon deteriorated. Shortly after arriving I asked The Lord a couple of questions. First I asked about an old friend’s family situation and what the Holy Spirit told me was proven to be true later that same day. That same afternoon I asked the Lord to heal me and again the “Still Small Voice” of the Holy Spirit said to me that “I was not ready to be healed”. That trip was very disappointing and was probably the cause of me being disinherited but there is no doubt that The Lord sent me on that mission for at least a couple of reasons: To confront my earthly father about the fact that he had totally and completely rejected the only salvation available through the shed blood of “Christ Jesus”, The Lord also wanted to show me that even today a person can be possessed by the Evil One which is something that I would have never wanted to believe about my own father. He was also preparing me for a spiritual battle that had already begun. One afternoon near the end of my visit my father began to become belligerent and started saying filthy things that caught me by surprise, then the strong feeling came over me that I was under Satanic attack. I began to feel terrible and said to my father that it was the alcohol talking so he responded: I don't care! Then I started walking slowly toward him and he began walking backwards away from me and then it struck me like a brick that my father was "possessed by Satan". I tried to shake off this thought, I didn't want to believe it and then the overwhelming sense that it was actually true overpowered me so I exclaimed: You are possessed by Satan! and that very instant, the Satanic attack ended and the most wonderful feeling came over me. By this time my father was backed up against a fence. I had never seen my father show any fear toward me but I now know that it was not me that he was afraid of, It was the Lord working through me that frightened the evil spirit that had control over him!
While back in Tucson now, I began to notice certain interests that my attention was turning toward that I had not previously had any interest in. This manifested itself in a few different ways. First a young man asked me to travel on a service call to a small town to work on a cash register. Then he asked me to go with him on a winter camping trip to that same basic area with some local children from his apartment complex. These were for the most part fatherless kids that would not normally have a father figure influencing their lives. So even though it was winter I was willing to be a bit of an adventurist not just with a group of children but to also brave the bitter temperatures. It was because of these experiences in that particular area that helped me to decide later to choose an area near there to settle on and start looking for minerals and to file a mining claim which I still own today. There were other strange happenings that contributed to my decisions as well. I had no previous interest in prospecting, mining or precious metals and this same person also asked me to go into the Santa Catalina Mountains to look at some old abandoned mine tunnels. A friend recommended a mutual acquaintance who had a considerable amount of experience with mining and prospecting in Arizona, so I collected a number of topographical maps and asked this person to identify good places on these maps where I might begin my search. One of the maps included the same area where we went camping and I just knew that this particular canyon near there was the place where the Lord wanted me to start my search. Also, It seemed like signals were coming at me from different places as well. When I looked at the newspaper, on the front page in bold type it said "GOLD" because of a large gold discovery near Phoenix. Then I opened the Bible randomly and turned to a passage that mentioned "gold and silver". Then I looked at a television and it was an old western about gold mining, it was mind-boggling. The second day of January, 1987 I made my move and 5 days later I filed that mining claim which I still own. Soon afterwards the Miracles began!
The next installment is part two!
