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| New Jerusalem is a spiritual city |
It was the last week of July in 1982 that I asked Jesus Christ into my life. I was working on my dad's cattle farm in Iowa. I had been suicidal since the age of fifteen. My dad put me in a mental hospital for several days earlier that summer. He had me pay the hospital bill. The psychiatrist diagnosed me as suffering from depression and gave me some medication which didn't do any good.
I remember the morning that I asked Christ into my life. I walked over to the window of my bedroom and looked outside. I then did a 360, turning and looking around at the walls of my bedroom, then returning back to the window.
I said something like, "There is nothing on this planet; there is no reason for me to be here." I was really sick of living and daydreamed of blowing my brains out with a gun.
I then walked over to my bed and got on my knees and said, "Christ, if you are God, will you please come into my life." It was the toughest prayer I have ever prayed in my life. I don't know why, but I didn't feel the Presence of God until three days later. I knew I had eternal life.
For the next three or four years, I went through a time of great tribulation (purification). It was very unpleasant and I still struggled with suicidal thoughts. This was a time of dying to self (I am still dying to self) and letting the Lord have His way with me. He was pruning my vine and it was very painful.
During this three or four years of tribulation, I spent time in three more mental hospitals. This one psychiatrist diagnosed me as manic-depressive. I had to pay another $4,000.00 in hospital bills (this wiped out my hard-earned life savings). My dad later told me that he paid for all of these hospital bills. If I have any integrity in me, it sure didn't come from my dad.
In October of 1985, I prayed another prayer of desperation. I said, "Lord, either You are going to heal me of manic-depression or else I am going to blow my brains out." Less than three months later, my faith in Jesus Christ healed me of manic-depression (demonic bondage). This healing began on the 7th of January in 1986 at a monastery in Nebraska.
I drove back home and told my parents that the Lord healed me of manic-depression. Their reaction was very unfavorable. My dad occasionally would mock me and make fun of me and ask me if I was still on my medication (I was on lithium and a low dosage of an anti-psychotic, which didn't do much good) (I told them that I was getting off of my medication). The mocking by my dad got so bad, that for three days during Easter Week--Thursday, Friday and Saturday--I had this hot, searing pain in my hands, my feet, my side and there was a circle of pain around my head. It was very painful; it really wore me out. I was working on my dad's farm and it was very painful to walk and driving the tractor was difficult. On Easter Sunday, the pain was gone.
When one door closes, another door opens. My family did not receive my powerful testimony of healing, so I left my dad's farm in April of 1986. Eventually I started hitchhiking around the western United States. Being healed of manic-depression and having a sound, healthy mind was absolutely liberating. It was like I had been born again all over again. My hitchhiking led me to central Washington.
In September of 1986, I was living at a Christian hostel in Ellensburg, Washington. It was then that the Lord came to me a Second Time (The Second Coming). Since September of 1986, there has been a constant burning in my forehead (the Presence of God).
Within a week of experiencing The Second Coming, I was attacked by the devil. All day long, there was this evil presence all over me; it was like someone had put a heavy blanket of oppression on me. I got very angry and shouted, "In the Name of Jesus Christ, begone, Satan!" Suddenly, the evil presence was gone. It was such a relief. Praise the Lord!
The Second Coming has been happening to purified vessels (I am still being purified; the Lord is still delivering me of demons) since after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that the first man to experience The Second Coming was the Apostle John.
John 21: 20-23: "Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?"
I have been living in New Jerusalem (it is a spiritual city) since September of 1986. I am very grateful for what the Lord has done in my life.
"The Kingdom comes not with observation."
[The Kingdom of Heaven is not seen by our physical eyes, it is perceived in our spirit by the power of the Holy Ghost in spiritual (purified, dead to self) believers. Also, I would like to add, that The Second Coming IS NOT the Baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I was baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues in September of 1988--two years after Jesus came to me spiritually The Second Time.]
I Thessalonians 2: 19: "Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?"
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George Fox--An Autobiography
Edited by Rufus M. Jones
Chapter IX
"A Visit to the Southern Counties Which Ends in Launceston Jail"
1655-1656
"While I was in prison here, the Baptists and Fifth-monarchy men prophesied that this year Christ should come, and reign upon earth a thousand years. And they looked upon this reign to be outward: when He was come inwardly in the hearts of His people, to reign and rule; where these professors* would not receive Him. So they failed in their prophecy and expectation, and had not the possession of Him. But Christ is come, and doth dwell and reign in the hearts of His people. Thousands, at the door of whose hearts He hath been knocking have opened to Him, and He is come in, and doth sup with them, and they with Him; the heavenly supper with the heavenly and spiritual man. So many of these Baptists and Monarchy-people turned the greatest enemies to the followers of Christ; but He reigns in the hearts of His saints over all their envy."
*professor--someone who professes to be a Christian, but is not really saved. Someone who has Christ in his head, but rejects Christ in his spirit. Outward (false) salvation versus inward (true) salvation: "The letter kills [outward], but the Spirit gives life [inward]."
Chapter XIV
"Labors, Dangers and Sufferings"
1661-1662
"But I told them that the whore was alive in them, and was not burned with God's fire, nor judged in them with the same power and Spirit the Apostles were in; and that their looking for Christ's coming outwardly to set up His kingdom was like the Pharisees' 'Lo here,' and 'Lo there.' But Christ was come, and had set up His kingdom above sixteen hundred years ago, according to Nebuchadnezzar's dream and Daniel's prophecy, and He had dashed to pieces the four monarchies, the great image, with its head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and its feet part of iron part of clay; and they were all blown away with God's wind, as the chaff in the summer threshing-floor."
Chapter XVII
"At the Work of Organizing"
1667-1670
"Whilst I was under this spiritual suffering the state of the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven was opened to me; which some carnal-minded people had looked upon to be like an outward city dropped out of the elements. I saw the beauty and glory of it, the length, the breadth, and the height thereof, all in complete proportion. I saw that all who are within the Light of Christ, and in His faith, of which He is the author; and in the Spirit, the Holy Ghost, which Christ and the holy prophets and apostles were in; and within the grace, and truth, and power of God, which are the walls of the city; -- I saw that such are within the city, are members of it, and have right to eat of the Tree of Life, which yields her fruit every month, and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.
"Many things more did I see concerning the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, which are hard to be uttered, and would be hard to be received. But, in short, this holy city is within the Light, and all that are within the Light, are within the city; the gates whereof stand open all the day (for there is no night there), that all may come in."
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II Timothy 3: 5: "Having a form of godliness [the outward appearance of godliness; man-made liturgies, rituals, rules and ordinances that feed the pride of carnal man], but denying the power thereof [the power of the Holy Ghost, spiritual leadings, perceptions; the life lived by a spiritual, dead-to-self man]: from such turn away."
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Below is a comment by Jerry Collins that is right on target when describing The Second Coming. Jerry Collins' comment is #20 on the post "Is the Japan Earthquake in Bible Prophecy".
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The Second Appearance of Jesus and His Kingdom is a Personal Experience
Clint Eastwood's film High Plains Drifter
Glorified in His Saints
As a Thief in the Night
George Fox--An Autobiography
Is the Japan Earthquake in Bible Prophecy?