Tag: Jesus

It’s The End of the World as We Know It

On By permission2speakIn spiritual stuff, Uncategorized2 Comments

Rapture dreams, the Illuminati’s focus on the Antichrist, and the soon return of Jesus Christ

A few years ago, I asked my dad, an agnostic Baby Boomer former Hippie who attended Woodstock, his thoughts on the crazy times we were living in at the time.  Since he personally lived through and experienced many historical moments, I thought he would reassure me with a casual comment such as,

“Well, similar things were happening back in ‘69, so don’t worry, it will all settle back down in a year or two…” 

He thought for a moment and then said something completely unexpected:

“I think we are heading into the end times.”

I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my irreligious father, whom I had been sharing God’s love with for forty years, with no spiritual movement on his end.

Fast forward to September 2025.  It appears that there is growing momentum toward my dad’s mindset, with many people speculating that the rapture (definition forthcoming) may occur this coming September 2025, sometime within Rosh Hashanah. 

Regarding the timing of Jesus’ second coming, the Bible states that “no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” However, many people believe that this phrase is a Jewish idiom referring to the Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah. 

So, are we heading into what the Bible refers to as the end times? And will the rapture occur this coming September 23rd or 24th?

The truth is that I have no idea, and nobody else does either. But I do think we are getting closer.  Maybe very close!

The goal of this post is to provide you, dear reader, with some interesting and compelling information related to end-time events. I desire that this material will draw you closer to God and prepare you for whatever may come. 

For context, the following blog post presents my opinion on a complex subject matter.  I cannot write with any sense of authority. 

But can I write with a sense of curiosity and with the mission to figure everything out?  Absolutely!

First, a brief overview and clarification of key terms are provided.

The book of Revelation details the very challenging time preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ, when Jesus returns as a reigning King who will conquer evil, judge humanity, and establish a new Heaven and Earth. During the seven years of the “Great Tribulation,” there will emerge an evil Anti-Christ figure who will deceive the world into following and worshiping Satan. Jesus will ultimately defeat both the Anti-Christ and the devil.

The end times refer to the last seven years of life as we know it, before Jesus returns to earth for His earthly 1000-year reign.  The second half of the seven years will be more difficult than the first.

The rapture of the church (the belief that Jesus will snatch away His believers) is mentioned in books preceding the book of Revelation. The idea is that believers in Jesus Christ will be lifted away from the three sets of wrath (wrath of the Lamb, of Satan, and of God) that the earth will endure. Refer to the P.S. section for scriptural references and a detailed examination of all things related to the end times.

The following are three reasons why I believe we are nearing the end.

Scripture and Societal Unraveling:

We are living in crazy times! I have felt this way since COVID-19 in 2020. It’s easy to see that some of what the Bible says concerning the signs of the end times is upon us.  Jesus said that in the last days there will be an uptick in wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, and deceptive leaders.  Timothy, another Biblical writer, says that “in the last days, people will be lovers of themselves, boastful and proud, and lovers of money.”  In addition, our society is unraveling before our eyes, at least to some degree and in some localities. The recent assassination of Charlie Kirk is one example.  Rising crime rates and international instability (Russia invading Ukraine, and conflicts surrounding Israel) are other examples.

Many pastors and theologians could summarize the biblical signs of the coming end times more effectively (or differently) than I can.  

Instead, I would like to highlight two other angles that I believe are very compelling.

End Times Dreams:

There have been many people of all ages (including young children) who, over the last few months and years, have experienced rapture or end-time-related dreams and visions with eerily similar threads.  Many people report that Jesus appears to them to tell them one of four things: one, He is coming back soon; two, the rapture is happening soon (like September 23-25 of this year soon); three, the end times are upon us; or four, how God spoke to them about a three-day darkness event, with the rapture occurring within those three days.  

These dreams, visions, and prophecies align with the Bible. 

According to Acts 2:17:

“And it shall come to pass that in the last days, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

It would be very easy for me to dismiss the dreams, visions, prophecies, and testimonies, except for one teeny tiny problem:

Three people in my immediate circle also had similar dreams. 

Below is a recap of those dreams.   

Rapture Dream (close friend Felita): Felita finally finishes the book she has been writing for two years and closes her laptop with a sense of satisfaction.  She hears a trumpet blast.  Immediately, she is brought up to Heaven in the rapture and sees Jesus.  She is filled with complete joy and peace.  She wakes up. 

Second Coming of Jesus Dream (daughter): My daughter is driving past a field, notices cars pulled over, and sees people outside of their vehicles, looking out. She exits her car and notices that the sky is dark, cloudy, and electric, with a visible rainbow in the lower portion of the sky.  A massive bolt of lightning strikes the ground. She looks up and sees Jesus appear in the sky.  My daughter falls to her knees in awe.  She then hears screaming and notices that people next to her have fallen to their knees, screaming in terror.  My daughter’s impression is that these people are screaming because they realize that Jesus is here, that they have been wrong about Him the whole time, and that death and suffering await them in Hades. She wakes up.

Post Rapture Apocalypse Dream (family): This person is driving through a destroyed city on a bike, attempting to escape a horde of people who are trying to kill him.  He is on the run because a horrible person is trying to force everyone to take a mark on their hand or forehead to survive, and he refuses to accept this mark. He wakes up!  This person has experienced the same dream three times consecutively.

I asked him if he thought he was “left behind” after the rapture.  He said, “Maybe God left me behind for a reason.”

But if biblical signs and dreams with common threads were not enough for you, I understand.  However, here is one final perspective to consider, one that you have most likely never encountered before.

You’re not going to like this, but according to the Luciferian Brotherhood, a group of high-ranking Satanists who run the world, we are very close to the end times. 

First, a moment of context. A few months ago, I began researching the fiction book I am writing, with an emphasis on the elusive organization known as the Illuminati. At first, I thought the Illuminati was all conspiracy hogwash, and that I would find very little to support the claim that this organization even exists!

Turns out, the Illuminati does exist!

By divine providence, I came across an excellent book called An Illuminati Primer.  The book uses the testimonies of several defectors, whistleblowers, survivors, and escapees to paint a very horrifying picture of this elusive group called the Illuminati. I will link the book in the P.S. section.

Also called the Luciferian Brotherhood, the System, the Cabal, and the Deep State, etc., the Illuminati is a highly secretive medium to large group of people at every level of life and government, who have infiltrated the whole world with an evil, Satanic agenda, whose goal is to worship Satan and do whatever he pleases, and also to set up government, religious, and monetary systems which will be used to introduce and support the Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ will claim to be the second coming of Christ and bring a false peace to the world. He will force everyone to take a mark or a chip to buy and sell. He will eventually force people to worship him, while he himself worships Satan, a.k.a. Lucifer. The end goal of all of this is for Satan to raise an army of human beings who are possessed by demons, with the intent to take over God’s throne and thus rule not only the world but the entire universe.

Does this all sound too lofty and out of reach for you?  Does your personal worldview not include God, the devil, or a spiritual world?  If that’s the case, I understand. The author of the book, Veronica Swift, points out that you don’t have to believe in God, Satan, or any higher power to educate yourself with this book and understand the organization’s agenda. 

But you must understand this: they themselves strongly believe in all of it, and everything they are doing now is for a larger purpose, which is mainly to honor and glorify their god, Lucifer, and organize themselves around a one-world system that is focused on the installation of the Anti-Christ.

These people are powerful, well-connected, and well-funded.  Dismiss them at your own peril.

I will now present what the Illuminati is focused on. 

Again, you are not going to like it. 

The Illuminati and the Anti-Christ:

“Much of what the Illuminati is doing these days seems to revolve around preparations for what are termed the ‘end times,’ or what Christians might know as the Apocalypse predicted in the Bible’s New Testament Book of Revelation. This System orchestrated End Times is also called the Great Deception, because when the Anti-Christ springs on the scene and the masses of people worldwide become aware of him for the first time, they are supposed to be in awe of him and believe that he is the second coming of Christ.” (p. 47)

According to one key whistleblower, the Anti-Christ has taken over a key leadership position which was once held by a woman called the Queen Mother of Darkness in the year 2020 (p. 49).  The implication is that the Anti-Christ is just waiting for his cue to sweep in and rule the world.

In my humble opinion, that cue will be the rapture of the Church, or if the United States is greatly minimized or destroyed, and/or the System’s goals (monetary, religious, government) are in place.

The New World Order:

Another key insight I gained from this book is that several key objectives of the New World Order must be fully implemented. Their goals are as follows:

  • One, they wish to take over and govern the world.
  • Two, the U.S. currency must be totally devalued.
  • Three, they will create a second pandemic, which is highly fatal to young children.
  • Finally, they wish to implement hate laws against Christianity, Judaism, and any political group that does not agree with the agenda.” (Chapter 22.)

Digging deeper into these four goals, you can see that the folks behind the Anti-Christ agenda need a period of worldwide instability to set the stage for this helpful and amazing Anti-Christ figure to step in and fix everything.

Do you think our world is becoming increasingly unstable?  I do!

I will now transition to what I believe still must take place before the seven-year window begins.  With that said, the seven-year window could start, and then the following three things will fall into place afterwards.  Both options are possible.

A Great Shaking to Awaken:

I believe that the world must experience a Great Awakening (revival) event first, which will bring many people into the family of God.  There are some signs that this movement is happening as we speak, with the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk and the outpouring of support, an increase in church attendance, and many college campuses and students experiencing spiritual awakening.  In addition, Mel Gibson has finally started filming the sequel to The Passion of the Christ (August 2025), which I believe God will use to draw people to Himself. Many prophetic intercessors are also speaking about potential challenging future events that will shake people awake, with an outpouring of God’s Spirit to follow.

The Third Temple in Jerusalem Rebuilt, and the Gospel Preached:

Certain Biblical events must happen before the end, among them: the Temple in Israel must be rebuilt, and the gospel must be preached to the entire world.  Some people believe that the Red Heifer must also be sacrificed after the Temple is built.

Based on the limited research I have conducted, we are still some distance away from realizing those first two goals.

The Temple is important because when it is finally rebuilt, the Anti-Christ can stand in the middle of it and claim to be God (or Messiah).  (An Illuminati Primer, page 50.)

The Acceptance of Extra-Terrestrial Entities:

At some point in the future, either before or after the rapture, there will be an introduction and acceptance of Extra-Terrestrial entities.  They may promise help and technology, but don’t be deceived.  After much research, I have learned that the message of the extraterrestrial entities has proven to be New-Age, anti-Christian, and mirroring a false end-times scenario. These demonic aliens will no doubt deceive many people to align with the Anti-Christ and to receive his mark, to trust in him, and to worship him. They will also deceive mankind into believing that the rapture of God is a removal of the undesirables who have outdated religious thoughts. These demonic aliens will promote world peace through a one-world spiritual system, a one-world government, and a one-world leader of their choosing. Their covert goals are to abolish all systems that are based on the Bible and begin the Age of Aquarius (a period of time based on intellectualism, equality, innovation, and global interconnectedness).

If the goals of the Extra Terrestrials sound like the goals of the Illuminati, they are! I also find it interesting that UFOs are all over the news.  Consider the interstellar object called 31 Atlas. It’s large, very fast, has no tail like a typical comet, and has a puzzling forward glow. It is set to come close to our sun in late October 2025 (coming right up). A Harvard professor thinks it could be alien technology. 

The Collapse of the U.S. Dollar:

The Anti-Christ system is a one-world monetary system, run by Lucifer and the System.  That means the U.S. dollar cannot be the world’s currency.  There are signs that the U.S. dollar is weakening, and world leaders are coalescing around other currencies and economic opportunities. I also theorize that the Anti-Christ needs to move the whole world to a digital platform to control people. When both happen, buckle up.   

Closing Thoughts:

This was a hard post for me to write. I don’t want to put my neck out and be wrong.  However, I also feel a moral and spiritual obligation to share my thoughts on what I am learning. 

If indeed we are embarking on the end times, I am praying and asking God to stay behind and not be raptured up.  I want to be a resource for people and lovingly point them to Christ in their hour of need.  I realize that, if I stay, it will make my life much more complicated, and that I could be killed for my beliefs, as I refuse to take the mark or bend the knee to the Anti-Christ.

This morning, I woke up extra early and asked God to speak to me about the end times.  To be honest, I got nothing.  So, I will continue to watch and wait, pray for wisdom and discernment, and share the gospel as much as I can (in a normal, non-panicky way).

I will close on a positive note!

Remember my agnostic dad that I mentioned at the beginning of this post?  I was thrilled to hear that he recently asked Jesus Christ to forgive him of his sins and come into his heart and life to be his Savior, God, and King.  He is a new creation in Jesus Christ and is slowly growing closer to God every day!

For those of you who are undecided about God and Jesus, I would like to offer you one final thought, as it pertains to my daughter’s dream. 

In her dream, as soon as she saw Jesus, she fell to her knees in awe and reverence.  Others fell on their faces, screaming in terror.  There is an interesting Bible verse that lines up with her dream.

Revelation 1:7 says:

“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes on earth will wail on account of Him.”

Trust me, at the very end, you don’t want to be on your knees wailing.

Please consider allowing Jesus to come into your heart, forgive you of your sins, and start a new life with Him. The gospel is this: God sent His only son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Thank you for reading this sobering post.  May God bless you and may God continue to bless America (and keep its currency strong). 😊

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P.S. Thank you for reading. Below is further reading on the end times, links to the two books I mentioned, and the chapter on the book of Revelation I wrote for my book.  Happy digging!

I used A.I. images for the photos in this post.

Scriptural references for the rapture include: I Thes, 4:13-18, I Cor. 15: 51, Matt. 24: 40, and Luke 17: 34 -34).

Scriptural references for the end times include Matthew, chapters 24-25. Jesus’s end-times discourse of what will indicate the time of the end consists of wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, and deceptive leaders. In addition, 2 Timothy chapter 3 states that, “there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and unholy.” There are several other Biblical references for the end times.

You can order the Illuminati Primer here: https://veronicaswift.blog/book/an-illuminati-primer/

You can also listen to it for free on Amazon and Spotify. Here: https://a.co/d/7kVd0W5

You can order my book, which will help you to manage demonic spirits, evil in general, and will get you prepared for the end times, here: https://a.co/d/bINKAtm

Finally, if you have a few minutes to read or skim, below is the complete chapter from my book on the book of Revelation and the end times.

CHAPTER 11

THE END TIMES

The Book of Revelation, the coming deception, the Anti-Christ, and preparation for the end times.

I am a child of the 1980s and remember my sister and I watching A Thief in the Night, a four-part rapture series at our youth group. Those movies were terrifying in their own low-budget, cheesy Christian sort of way, and I made an inner vow that I would never, ever take the “mark of the beast” when the time came.

Fast forward to 1988, when my entire family read the book called 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 by Edgar C Whisenant. I admit the book was interesting and compelling, and probably did serve to curb my teenage rebellious steak a little. Personally, I didn’t really believe that the actual rapture would happen in 1988, as the Bible says that “no one knows the day or the hour, only God,” (see Matthew 24:36) as to the timing of the rapture. 

Around that time, I had a friend whose dad was a pastor and had read this book, along with his wife. They were convinced that Jesus was coming back in 1988! However, they were not so convinced that their rebellious teenage daughter (my friend) would be “caught up in the clouds,” as they say. 

Her parents would drop her off at school and tell her: “Now remember, if we are raptured during the day today, and you are still here, you can go stay with your grandma,” while they shooed her out of the car and off to school. 

1988 came and went. Fast forward to 2023. One sunny summer day, my agnostic, Baby Boomer dad and I were talking about how America had drastically changed, disturbing natural and man-made events were occurring all over the world, and the fabric of society was unraveling before our very eyes. I had been wondering if he had any thoughts on what was going on. 

He blandly replied: “I think we are heading into the end times.”

I looked at my dad in disbelief! I couldn’t believe that he would come up with that theory on his own, especially as an agnostic. 

In this chapter, I want to do some shallow digging into the most difficult and controversial book of the entire Bible: the Book of Revelation. My goal is to help all of us with simple tools, some spiritual in nature, in the event we are indeed heading into the time right before the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

This chapter is also futuristically written for those who are “left behind,” as they say, or those who come into a relationship with the Lord after the rapture has occurred. 

A few qualifiers

I must confess that this chapter was not in the original draft, and I never wanted to touch the end times or the Book of Revelation with a ten-foot pole. But in my spirit and my gut, I wonder that we are heading into the time of the last days, for a variety of reasons. My hesitation in writing on this chapter is that I am not a theologian or a pastor. But then it occurred to me that it’s okay to offer a layperson’s perspective on spiritual topics, as this is one of the main themes of this book you are currently reading!

So, please understand that this chapter is mostly conjecture and speculation on my part. And to be fair, there is no layman or seasoned professional who knows exactly what the period known as the end times is going to look like. In addition, no one knows the timing of the rapture. 

Feel free to take this chapter with a grain of salt and do your own research! Before we work our way through the weeds, I will offer an overview of the Book of Revelation. 

The Book of Revelation in a nutshell

Below are the major themes of the Book of Revelation (and other biblical content preceding it):

  • Jesus is coming back to earth for a second time. Every person will see Him. Those who don’t know Him or believe in Him will mourn when He returns. I believe that they will mourn because they know that they didn’t choose to believe in Him while they had their opportunities, and they will have received many opportunities preceding this moment. 
  • At some point, God will rapture Christians to heaven to be with Jesus as He comes to earth for the second time. In the Greek, the word for rapture is harpazo, which translates to “snatch” or “take away.” Many Bible scholars and theologians believe this will happen at the outset of the Great Tribulation, but there are differences in opinion on this.
  • There will be a great deception, where Satan and his demons will deceive the whole world into following an Anti-Christ figure. This person will be controlled or possessed by Satan and will rule over all the inhabitants of the earth, and force everyone to take a mark or symbol. This mark will enable people to buy food and other necessities to survive but will also require they show worship and alignment with this person. I have an opinion about how the whole world will be deceived, which I will share in a moment. 
  • Satan’s goals are to make war against the saints (meaning Christians), and to deceive the whole world into worshipping him, thus ultimately destroying them in the process.
  • The Great Tribulation is a time of God’s judgment and wrath (one definition of wrath is “anger at sin”) being poured out on the earth, which will lead to many distressing natural disasters and other challenging events. It will last seven years, with the first half being very difficult and disruptive but less horrific than the second half. The second half will be catastrophic, and many millions or even billions of people will likely perish. 
  • God will still draw people to Himself despite the chaos and suffering. There will likely be a large revival preceding the coming judgments and smaller revivals within the seven-year period. An Angel of God will fly out over the whole earth, to be visible to all people, both to draw people to God, and to warn people to refrain from taking the mark of the AntiChrist. Two times in the Book of Revelation it states that even through all the suffering, people still do not repent of their sin and worship God. Despite mankind resisting Him, God still attempts to draw humans to Himself, as He wishes none to perish, but everyone to turn to Him.
  • The Battle of Armageddon is a huge war between good and evil. It occurs at the very end of the great tribulation. God wins. 
  • The Millennial Reign of Christ occurs when Jesus comes to earth again. Jesus Christ will become the actual and physical King over all the earth. This period will last 1,000 years. There will be a new Heaven and a new Earth. 
  • The Great White Throne Judgment will occur after the 1,000-year reign. This is the judgment for fallen angels, Satan, and those who, of their own free will, did not choose Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord while they were alive on earth. If anyone chooses the mark of the Anti-Christ, unfortunately, they will suffer for all eternity in hell. 

A few thoughts on the coming judgments.

There will be three “waves” or sets of judgments. The first set of judgments is called the Seven Seal judgments. This includes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which many have heard of. 

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are the first judgments out of the gate and begin the time of distress on the earth. The first horse is white and symbolic of the rule and reign of the Anti-Christ. The second horse is red and is associated with war. The third horse is black and is associated with scarcity (implying food, water, or resource shortages). The last horse is the worst of this first grouping: it is a pale horse and is associated with the death of one-quarter of the world’s population through war, famine, disease, and wild or evil creatures. 

If you do the math, during the first set of judgments, it is possible that up to two billion people will perish.

Two billion!

Interestingly, these first seven judgments are like the Egyptian plagues from the Book of Exodus. 

The second set of judgments is called the Seven Trumpets judgments, and the final set is called the Seven Bowls judgments. The judgments get progressively worse and cause cataclysmic world events, resulting in the deaths of many people, animals, and other forms of life. 

The trouble on the earth includes, but is not limited to the following: an increase of evil; the outbreak of many wars; death, destruction, earthquakes, famines, food shortages, undrinkable water, pain, and anguish; fire that burns a significant portion of the earth; large hailstones; a large star falling to the earth and poisoning the drinking water; evil locusts that torture people, and much more.

Right before the last set of judgments, an Angel goes out to the whole earth and urges mankind to turn from their sin and receive the gospel of Jesus, because the hour of His judgment is close.

This is what the Angel says in Revelation 14: 

“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water” (v. 7).

“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark, they too will drink the wine of God’s fury” (v. 9).

“They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” (v. 10).

Evil beasts during the end times?

I want to speak briefly about the concept of evil beasts as part of the fourth judgment. Ezekiel 34:25 says, “I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from their land.”

Except, when you look at the actual Greek word used for “wild” it is ra which translates to “evil.”  

It is well known in Satanism that there are shapeshifters, werewolves, and other evil creatures that Satan uses to accomplish his purposes. Rebecca told a story in one of her books where she was driving home one night, and her car suddenly stopped working. Up ahead, she saw a werewolf, who told her (through her thoughts) that he was going to kill her. She rebuked it and commanded it to leave in Jesus’s name. It went. 

One of her clients told her that werewolves were used heavily in Satanism to punish wayward members. I have listened to many stories of dogmen, wendigo, skin-walkers, not-deer, and similar creatures, who have glowing red eyes and project hate and fear wherever they go. I have heard stories of people tracking large wolf tracks that gradually shift over to human footprints! One YouTuber, who documents these types of stories, claims that sightings and encounters of these creatures are on the rise. 

Who is to say they won’t make an appearance during the end times? If you happen to be the unfortunate soul who comes across some of these monsters, resist fear and stand your ground. Rebuke them, renounce them, and command them to leave in Jesus’s name.  

Are we nearing the end?

I personally believe we are closer to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Here are a few reasons why I think this is true: 

  • Chaos in the Middle East
  • Israel becoming a state after 1,900 years
  • The spread of the gospel to remote regions
  • Signs in the heavens and the earth (the rise in major earthquakes, for example)
  • The spread of evil and occult acceptance
  • Declining moral standards and societal unraveling
  • A rise in interest and acceptance of the extraterrestrial phenomena

Below is a passage in the Book of Matthew from the very words of Jesus. I will highlight the main themes. As you read His words, ask yourself if what He says to be on guard for is happening today. 

Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. 

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:4-14).

While I don’t have time to get into deep theology in this book, I would like to point out that major earthquakes have been increasing dramatically since the 1980s; Israel is a state again after 1900 years of being exiled and spread out (see the article in My Jewish Learning by Jeremy Moses); wars are certainly on the increase; many Christians have begun to turn away from the gospel, and Christian persecution is on the rise. 

I don’t personally know whether the gospel has now been preached to the world. I have heard many stories of Muslims and those of other faiths having dreams about Jesus, and them eventually converting to Christianity. It seems to me that we are indeed closer to the second coming of Jesus Christ, which leads me to my next point. 

The timing of the rapture

There is a heated debate among Christians regarding the timing of the rapture. Will it come right before the start of the seven years, in the middle, or towards the end? 

Most traditional Christian theologians and Bible scholars believe it will occur before the seven-year tribulation begins. This is called the pre-tribulation rapture theory in Christian bubbles. Others believe that the rapture will occur about halfway through it (3.5 years into the process) before God’s wrath is poured out and catastrophic events occur.

A minority of Christians postulate that all believers will go through the entire tribulation period but be protected from God’s judgments, as they will be protected by some sort of seal. Although there may be a certain protection against God’s judgments, unfortunately, the Bible indicates that many Christians will still be martyred for their faith in Christ during this time.

My personal thought is that the rapture will occur halfway through the seven-year period, but we shall see. I would rather be completely ready in the event we have to go through some, half, or all seven years of the tribulation period. 

The Boy Scouts’ motto is one we should all live in accordance with:

Be prepared.

The Anti-Christ

A religious and political leader called the Anti-Christ will emerge and will most likely bring some sort of peace and economic stability to the world, as well as usher in a one-world currency and one-world government. This person will rule and reign on earth for three and a half years. 

In the Greek language, anti-Christ means “Christ Counterfeit.” The Bible states that the Anti-Christ will have been mortally wounded and have come back to life, and his False Prophet (the person who supports him and points to his authority) will perform many signs and wonders. This will result in much deception and worship of the AntiChrist (also referred to as the Beast in Scripture). 

There are at least six Bible verses regarding the Anti-Christ, including the following: Daniel 7:24, Matthew 24:24, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 1 John 2:18, 2 John 7, and Revelation 13:1-10. I will highlight a few of these verses.

Revelation 13:5-8 states:  

“The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months (3.5 years). He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given the power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life.”

In Revelation 13:16-17, it says:

“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell.”

According to 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, and Revelation 13:14, the Beast will attempt to deceive the entire world. Two highlights of the verses are as follows: 

“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, and it (the Beast) deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.”

So how exactly will the whole world be deceived? I have a theory. 

The UFO and extraterrestrial phenomena

Many years ago, I worked at Concerned Women for America (CWA), a conservative women’s public policy organization. I was friends with the girls who worked in the radio department and often wandered over to their section of the office building to chat with them. The radio department was sent a huge number of books from budding authors in hopes that CWA would feature them on their radio show. 

One day, I picked up a random book about UFOs, alien life forms, and extraterrestrial (E.T.) beings from a Christian perspective. The author asserted (with research) that whenever these E.T. aliens appeared to people, many times they had a strangely anti-Christian religious message to give to them. The aliens would say, in effect: “Shake off your old religious ways and come into a higher way of thinking.” They may have said seemingly nice things to people too, about technology and resources, but I don’t remember. However, I found it strange that their anti-Christian messages were repeated to numerous people with whom they made contact.

Fast forward to today. 

I honestly didn’t believe in the E.T. phenomenon, but I perked up when the U.S. government finally admitted to the existence of UFOs and other unexplained anomalous phenomena (U.A.P.s), after decades of ignoring or denying it. The federal government even hosted a hearing in the U.S. Senate on the topic. The hearing included three military veterans who testified that the U.S. government had operated a secret multi-decade reverse engineering program of recovered vessels. They also stated that the U.S. had recovered non-human “biologics” from alleged crash sites (Romo & Chappell, 2023).  

I am currently reading a book by Missler and Eastman called Alien Encounters, where the authors assert that extraterrestrial (E.T.) beings are giving a more “New Age” message to psychic medium channelers, who then have written numerous books on their messages and goals. The aliens communicate messages that are different from what you might expect. 

Below are a few highlights of what I discovered in this book:

  • Their messages are primarily apocalyptic, religious, and antiBiblical (p. 254).
  • Lucifer is a misunderstood extraterrestrial who gives us a gift of freedom. If we accept this gift, then we are free. This is the Luciferian initiation. It is one that many people know, and in the days ahead, will be facing, for it is an initiation into the New Age (p. 157-158).
  • There will be a mass evacuation of people on earth who do not fit Mother Earth’s vibrations because of their traditional religious thinking (This is discussed in detail in Chapter 9 and summarized on p. 184).
  • Mother Earth will experience changes such as earthquakes, famine, pestilence, wars, poverty, and violence. These are simply “birth pangs” of Mother Earth as she attempts to usher in a new age of peace and prosperity followed by global governance” (p. 177).
  • The E.T.s advocate for a world leader who will “unify the world in peace and brotherhood with technological answers to solve our problems” (p. 177). This evacuation is to remove those who no longer fit in, those whose thought patterns are of the past (p. 186). After certain people are removed, and when enough people have the right vibrations, the New Age of peace, harmony, and brotherhood will arrive (pp. 178, 191-192, etc.).
  • The earth’s changes are not the wrath of God, but rather they are the birth pangs of our Earth Mother who is trying to expel the “dark forces” from her surface so she can evolve. They also state that there will be an arrival of a new, highly evolved humanoid-hybrid species, which will be in vibration or harmony with Mother Earth (p. 256).
  • Jesus is a superior E.T., who will also return with other UFO spaceships at the right time, and all people on earth will indeed witness this. He will come surrounded by a fleet of glittering spaceships, objects which you call UFOs (p. 155).
  • During abduction and channeling experiences, aliens give prophetic messages (which often turn out to be false) and profess a benevolent purpose while doing painful experiments and performing sexual activities with their human victims (p. 248).
  • According to the teachings of the Pleiadeans (a group of evolved E.T.s), “mankind stands at a quantum leap of evolution that will abolish religious and government systems as we know them” (p. 148).
  • Lastly, many thousands of people claim to have been removed from their homes or other locations by E.T.s and are sexually assaulted or have some kind of sexual experimentation conducted on them. These activities suggest or infer that the E.T.s are attempting to make a humanoidhybrid species, as they have indicated to psychic medium channelers (pp. 256, 259).

What the UFO experts say

Many mostly secular UFO researchers have concluded that modernday aliens may very well be the equivalent of fallen angels who are demonic entities (Missler & Eastman, 2023, p. 247).

According to Dr. Pierre Guerin, a well-known UFO researcher, “UFO behavior is more akin to magic than to physics as we know it…the modern UFO-nauts and the demons of past days are probably identical” (p. 247).

John Keel is an internationally renowned UFO researcher who stated: 

Demonology is the ancient and scholarly study of demons who have co-existed with man throughout history. The manifestations and occurrences described in this imposing literature (in other words, demonology literature) are similar, if not entirely identical, to the UFO phenomenon itself. Victims of demonomania (possession) suffer the very same medical and emotional symptoms as the UFO contactees. The UFO manifestations seem to be, by and large, merely minor variations of the age-old demonological problem (p. 248).

Stuart Goldman concluded his research with the following comments: 

50,000 people cannot be lying. Something is here – probing them, inspecting them, and planting thoughts in their minds. Are we seeing the formation of a new and highly destructive cult, one whose views posit the elimination of people who are unfit to exist in the coming New World? Are they really demonic entities hovering about, searching for likely candidates…the answer is not easily forthcoming (p. 249250).

Gordon Creighton, editor of the British periodical Flying Saucer Review said: 

“Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demonic possession. I do believe that the great bulk of these phenomena are what is called Satanic” (p. 258).

Jaques Vallee, who received much criticism from fellow researchers for his views, stated the following: 

I pointed out in the “Invisible College” that the structure of abduction stories was identical to that of occult initiation rituals. I had shown in “Passport to Magonia” (his previous work) that contact with UFO-nauts was only a modern-day extension of the age-old tradition of contact with non-human consciousness in the form of angels, demons, elves, and sylphs. Such contact includes abduction, ordeal (including surgical operations), and sexual intercourse with aliens. It often leaves marks and scars on the body and the mind, as do UFO abductions (p. 253).

“Even secular researchers have concluded that the UFOs and their occupants are demonic” (Miller & Eastman, 2023, p. 321).

In summary, the message of the extraterrestrial entities has proven to be New-Age, anti-Christian, and mirroring a false, end-times scenario. These demonic aliens will no doubt deceive many millions of people to align with the Anti-Christ and to receive his mark, to trust in him, and to worship him. They will also deceive mankind into believing that the rapture of God is a removal of the undesirables who have outdated religious thoughts. 

The demonic aliens are in lockstep with the goals of the New Age movement. As touched on in the last chapter, their goals are to create world peace through unification in a one-world spiritual system and a one-world government through a one-world leader of their choosing.

Their covert goals are to abolish all systems that are based on the Bible and begin the Age of Aquarius. They endeavor to convert Western religious beliefs into those of Eastern thought (Miller & Eastman, 2023, p. 145). 

E.T.s and the name of Jesus

I have no direct knowledge of anyone experiencing contact with an extraterrestrial demonic being. I did a quick look online and found the following from a former New Ager turned Christian who worked with many individuals with these experiences. 

This is what she had to say:

Having worked as a secular Counselor previously (Mental Health, Trauma, Bereavement) and with many traumatic alien abduction cases, as well as a hypnotherapist, I also ran experiencer support groups for those who were having abduction experiences. I believe the entities are NOT Extraterrestrial biological entities from other stars, planets, or galaxies but rather

interdimensional in their nature and demonic in the entirety of their being. I also believe they have supernatural abilities to cross the veil at their will and they do, and that they have what we would call shape-shifting abilities to present /however they want YOU to perceive them. They are masters of manipulation and deception. Remember that these entities are imposters for being represented as Benevolent.

This person ended their summary with probably the most important thing they could say, and it goes in keeping with the book you are holding in your hand: 

I want to make a point loud and clear that if the mentioning of the name of JESUS is powerful enough to make those socalled “Aliens” flee, then they are NOT Aliens indeed. They are demonic entities. They will flee and instantaneously dissolve right before your eyes, with the name of JESUS (Nachtigal, 2021).

In my research, I was able to locate testimonies of those who have experienced E.T.s from a Christian angle. One website is the “Alien Resistance HQ” at http://www.alienresistance.org/, which goes into long accounts of biblical truths about the description of angels, fallen angels, aliens, and UFOs.

Rebecca had a client who was experiencing demonic oppression.

Her client later admitted that she encountered a UFO spacecraft and God had warned her to look away. She dismissed the still small voice and watched it for quite some time. She ended up experiencing demonic oppression and came to Rebecca for help. Rebecca stated the following: “That was the doorway. I always suspected that the UFOs were demonic phenomena, especially in light of the tremendous emphasis placed on them by the New Age movement and other pagan religions” (Brown, 1992, in “Prepare for War,” p. 299.)  

Spiritual preparation for the end times

I will close out this chapter with a few thoughts on ways to be prepared in the event we find ourselves alive during the great tribulation (or more likely the time preceding it). Please pray about ways you can be on guard and act in accordance with the times we are living in. 

First, we will all need wisdom and patient endurance. In Revelation 13:18 we read: “This calls for wisdom. Let the person with insight calculate the number of the beast…666.”  

In Revelation 14:12, it says “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.”  

Be on guard against deception. Ask God to protect your heart and mind. Pray against a spirit of deception and a lying spirit. Continually read and study the word of God, so that you will have wisdom, and avoid being deceived. 

Get prepared with food, water, and provisions. As we don’t know when the rapture could occur, it’s good to be ready. Have a plan of where to go (and with like-minded people) in the event things get crazy. 

Remember you will need freshwater in abundant supply. Think about living near lakes, rivers, and streams. 

Do not, under any circumstances, receive the mark, symbol, tattoo, sign, implanted chip, scarf, tie, or coat of the Anti-Christ. Remember what the Angel said. 

Apply the principles of what you have learned in this book: put on the full armor of God each day; anoint your home and other places with olive oil and plant crosses; command demons to leave in Jesus’s name, and pray around public areas, to start. If you encounter an E.T. entity, command it to leave you in Jesus’s name. If you see a flying saucer or UFO in the sky, command it to leave in Jesus’s name. 

Remember God’s heart for the unbeliever. According to 2 Peter 3:9, Christ is delaying His return because He is patient with us, not wanting any to perish, but all to be saved. People will be scared, desperate, needing help in every way (including financially), and hurting. Give them the hope of eternal life in heaven with Jesus and provide for their practical needs. The Book of Revelation is God’s giant “last call” to all of humanity. 

No matter how long we are here on planet Earth, remember the following excellent advice from the Book of Peter:

“But in your heart, set aside Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do so with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

Soon, we will be in heaven for all eternity. The only thing that will really matter, besides loving and serving God and others, is looking around the room and seeing how many souls you led to Christ while you had the chance. Don’t know where to start? Pray and ask God to help you to become a soul winner. When we stand before the Lord, there will be an accounting of how we lived our lives. It is important to share the gospel and to plant seeds of faith in others. No other activity we do during our time on earth will be as important as being a soul winner.

Finally, keep looking up! One day, Jesus will come back in the sky. He is your redemption! Remember that in the end, Jesus wins.

In the next and final chapter (which is very short), one particular and helpful class of angels will be touched upon, as well as a brief and relatable call to action will be presented.           

Chapter 11 summary

The Book of Revelation is the final book of the Bible and details the second coming of Jesus Christ. Before His second coming, there will be distressing events on the earth, including the rise of an Anti-Christ figure who will force everyone to take some sort of mark or chip. There are many judgments, but God continues to draw people to Himself during this difficult time. He even sends an Angel out to be visible to the whole earth to invite everyone to worship God and to reject the Anti-Christ. 

I believe that extraterrestrial beings are demonic spirits, who will be used by Satan to deceive the entire world into worshipping Satan and the Anti-Christ. There are ways to be spiritually prepared during these difficult times, including patient endurance, wisdom, using basic spiritual warfare principles, and being as prepared as possible for every scenario, including if Christians must endure all or part of the great tribulation. 

Pray and ask God to help you to save souls. When you get to heaven and look around, you will be so happy that you did. 

Finally, keep looking up, because in the end, Jesus wins!

Six to Nine Months

On By permission2speakIn spiritual stuff, wicked cool stories8 Comments

My childhood bestie, cancer, death, and life

When I was a little girl in the 1970s, I met another free-spirited, tow-headed little girl named Hillary, and we became best friends for the rest of my childhood.

Hillary and I met when we were babies.

My mother Linda and Hillary’s mom Becky also became best friends, spending almost every weekend together for about twelve years straight. They even lived in the same homes and apartment complexes during several portions of my childhood.

Linda and Becky were two twenty-something divorcees with four young children and two modest salaries between them, doing their best to survive and thrive.

Hillary, Jessica (my sister), Kurtiss (Hillary’s brother), and I all grew up in the middle of Generation X, with few financial or other resources available for single working moms or their children. Linda and Becky were the quintessential under-resourced, overextended single working moms of that era.

We four kids got into loads of adventures and trouble together, including spending many Saturday afternoons roller skating at Sports O Rama in DeWitt, New York, and swimming at Jamesville Beach during the summer months. We also did all the typical childhood rites of passage of that era: playing outside for all hours with no adult supervision, riding bikes, playing in the woods, and coming in when the streetlights came on.

One of the clearest memories with Hillary and my sister Jessie was roller-skating to “Angel in the Centerfold” by the J Giles Band at Sports O Rama for several Saturdays consecutively. All the kids at the roller rink screamed for joy and entered the rink to skate to that song. I also remember doing the “Limbo” with Hillary, Jessie, and all the other kids at the rink. I distinctly remember seeing the tiniest little girls do full-on splits to clear the 12 inches where the Limbo bar stood. Now that was a sight to behold.

All was well in the Hillary-Heather bubble until we were both twelve years of age. Sadly, our moms unexpectedly went their separate ways. This was long before social media or planned play dates, so unfortunately, my friendship with Hillary ended. Or rather, much like a cassette tape player back in the day, our friendship was put on a very long “pause.”

In the decades that followed, I connected with Hillary only occasionally. I remember seeing her once as a teenager and visiting her twice when her children were very young. We enjoyed the occasional phone call. I sent her a Christmas card every year when I had her address.

In our forties, however, our lives reconnected over Facebook, and from then on, we picked right up where we left off and became fast friends once again.  

In the many decades I had missed, I learned that Hillary had built a wonderful life for herself. Not only had she single-handedly raised two great children, but she had also graduated from a business school at the top of her class and had excellent jobs for many years. I am so very proud of her many professional accomplishments. But probably the best accomplishment of all was simply the kind of person Hillary grew up to be: she possessed a rare combination of kind-heartedness, a hard work ethic, a sense of humor, a servant’s heart, a compassionate, listening ear, a positive outlook on life, and a will of steel.

At one point in her life, Hillary struggled with some drug addiction due to a car accident that left her in constant physical pain. She was able to break free from this addiction cold turkey and completely on her own by isolating herself, drinking chocolate milk, and sucking on orange popsicles for an entire month. After that month, she never touched any painkillers or other unhealthy substances again.

I share this story about Hillary to highlight her strong will and that she refused to allow one dark chapter to define her entire life story.

Just a few short years into our wonderful reunion, Hillary was unexpectedly diagnosed with two forms of deadly cancer at the age of 44. I was with her in the hospital while we awaited liver biopsy results when she received this news. I will always remember the look in the doctor’s eyes when he spoke to her that day. Even before he said anything, I saw the dread and sadness in his eyes as he stated, very directly in fact, the following***:

“Hillary. I am so sorry to tell you that you have two forms of cancer, and they have metastasized. The tumor on your liver is very large and inoperable. Your cancer is phase four. It’s not looking good.”

Hillary was silent for a moment, probably in shock. She then asked: “But doctor, isn’t there anything we can do? Can we fight this?”

The doctor sat quietly for a moment, and I could see the answer in his eyes. To me, the answer was “No, you are going to die.” I sat there in stunned silence, waiting for the doctor to continue.

He sighed and said: “We will hit it with chemo and radiation, and there are also a couple of immunotherapies we can try. But I need to caution you that any treatment will most likely only extend your life by a month or two.”

Both Hillary and I were speechless.

Finally, she broke the silence and quietly asked: “How much time do I have?”

He said, “About six to nine months.”

After the doctor left, we both sat devastated and cried together in the hospital room.

For my part, at that moment, I began earnestly praying for Hillary to be physically healed, that she would come to know how much God loved her, and that her soul would be secure in heaven in the event she would not be healed in this life.

For the next several months, I walked through Hillary’s entire cancer treatments and daily life with her. We texted daily and spoke on the phone frequently. I was her “person” outside of her immediate family. We were soul sisters once again during this terrible time.

Hillary and her care team did indeed “hit” her cancers with chemo, radiation, and immunotherapy treatments, but these did little to slow the progression of the two forms of fast-moving cancer.

This is the one and only picture I got of Hillary during one of her cancer treatments.

Have you ever watched someone dying from cancer?

It’s not a pretty sight.

I watched Hillary’s body go from naturally skinny to downright skeletal. Her hair fell out. Her skin color changed. Her memory and thought articulation began to wane. She lost her appetite. She was in constant physical pain due to the tumor in her liver, which continued to grow, pressing on other organs. She often had very little energy to do simple household tasks. She napped frequently and lacked the motivation or organizational skills to handle the initial stages of her immunotherapy treatments (which I subsequently helped her to secure).

Despite those initial difficult months, Hillary maintained a positive attitude and a heart to see the good in everything.  Although she complained just a little here and there about her cancer, she always attempted to maintain a positive outlook on life and even her diagnosis.

“It could be so much worse, Heath.” She would tell me. “I am grateful to be alive today. There is still so much to be grateful for. I have lived a good life.”

Honestly, it was very convicting for me to witness her attitude as she faced the worst news a person can face. I remember remarking to God that she was handling her cancer diagnosis much better than most Christians I knew would handle it.

I looked deeply within myself and wondered if I would handle this type of soul-crushing news as well as Hillary.

Watching Hillary slowly fade made me realize how incredibly blessed I am, and how little I have to complain about.

As far as religion was concerned, Hillary was an atheist and did not believe in God. With her permission, I would share the gospel with her, and one time I even brought her to church, which she enjoyed. While she would politely listen to me talk about Christianity and God’s love, she was not interested in the message of the good news of Jesus Christ and persisted in unbelief.

There were several distinct moments of joy during the awful months of her cancer treatments.

  • Erik, Hillary, Hillary’s daughter, and I spent a night in the Singer Castle in the 1000 Islands, New York, located on the St. Lawrence River. It was an amazing experience as we had full reign of the entire castle during the evening hours. I will never forget finding all the secret passageways with Hillary and the rest of our group.
  • Jim and Hillary were married in November of 2016. It was a beautiful event! Unfortunately, Hillary’s wedding dress did not fit her properly as she had lost so much weight in the months following her original dress fitting. That was hard for Hillary. But in typical fashion, she “got over it” and moved on to enjoy the rest of her wedding. I was so honored to be a part of that wonderful event.
  • Hillary and Jim visited our family a few months before she passed. We did some sightseeing in the Washington D.C. area, and Hillary and Jim saw the White House for the first time. Hillary was in constant physical pain by that point, but we still had a wonderful visit with the two of them.
  • Hillary and I attended a Heart concert on a beautiful sunny day in 2017. After the opening act, some DJs from a local radio station stood up and announced a “front-row seat for two people” contest that anyone could enter.  She dared me to enter it and appealed to me that we should both pray to “win the contest, which would prove that God exists.” We entered it and won! God revealed Himself to Hillary that night as we rocked on to a band we both enjoyed growing up.

One time when I was visiting her, we got into a deep conversation.  In her typical blunt style, she told me why, in her opinion, she had developed cancer. Here is a summary of what she relayed to me:

“Heath, I have cancer because I smoked cigarettes my entire life. I started when I was fourteen, and now I’m forty-four. That’s forty long years, and now I am dying. It’s time I admitted this to myself.  And to you. I deeply regret smoking, and I wish I never started in the first place.”

As the months sped by, and the sand in Hillary’s hourglass began to recede, I prayed passionately for her physical healing. I also prayed for God to save her soul, and that she would choose Jesus Christ as Lord before it was too late.

Hillary continued in her atheism, while I continued to speak to her about how much God loved her and wanted to comfort her and give her peace. She was always receptive but remained firm in her beliefs. She always welcomed any prayers I offered her, however.

As time went by, I began to suspect that Hillary was being blocked by spiritual forces of evil who did not want her to turn to Jesus Christ. I began praying quietly from her bathroom whenever I would go see her at her home, basically binding up any demons that were blocking her from coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ. After I exited the bathroom, I went directly to her and shared the gospel again (with her permission). Although I made a tad more progress after binding the demonic spirits, Hillary was still not interested in turning to Jesus Christ (although she was softer after each prayer, I noticed).

Several weeks before she passed, I was set to visit her over a weekend. A family member (whom I shall not name) contacted me over Facebook. This person warned me to refrain from sharing anything about God with her. This person insisted that Hillary was a lifelong atheist and would die an atheist. I told this family member that I always asked Hillary’s permission before I shared anything with her about God. Each time, Hillary said an enthusiastic yes. I told this person that Hillary herself had brought up the topic many times. Nonetheless, I honored this family member’s request and decided not to say a thing about God during the weekend visit, unless Hillary herself brought it up.

Sure enough, when Hillary and I went out to lunch, she very happily said: “Heath, I have been praying to God to reveal himself to me, and He has been!  He has been talking to me!”

I asked her what He had been saying to her.  She said something to the effect that God told her that He does exist, and He loves her very much!

Several weeks later, Hillary entered hospice. At this point, it was not looking good for her physical healing, but still, I continued to cry out to God for a last-minute miracle.

About a week into her time in hospice, she called me up and said “Heath, I know you just visited me a few weeks ago, but can you come and revisit me? I need to speak to you.”

Of course, I said yes, and immediately booked a flight back to Syracuse. I felt in my spirit that this would be the last time I would see Hillary alive on the face of the earth.

I texted many Christian friends and family and pleaded with them to pray for Hillary, as this would be the last chance she would likely have to receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

When I arrived, she was so sick that she fell asleep on the couch and laid her head on my lap. I sang and prayed over her sick, deteriorating body, stroked her head tenderly, and prayed for her.

The next day, she was in a much better place both physically and mentally. She asked me if we could review that “little booklet” together. I had previously given her a gospel tract which she had yet to read. I again went into her bathroom and bound up the demons that were blocking her. After exiting the bathroom, I asked her if it was a good time to go through the gospel tract with her. Hillary said yes, and we went through the tract together.

After reading the gospel tract aloud to her, which presented the plan of salvation, I asked her if she wanted to receive Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

What would Hillary choose?

“This is it, Lord.”  I thought to myself.  “This is the end.” 

“Yes, I would!” Hillary replied enthusiastically, with a smile on her face.

I asked her to “repeat after me,” and led her in a prayer to ask Jesus into her heart and life.

During the prayer, she confessed (on her own) to God that she had ignored Him her whole life. She asked God to forgive her. She asked Jesus to come and live inside of her heart, forgive her of all of her many sins, and stated that she would live for Him rather than herself for all the remaining days she had on earth.  She then asked Jesus to take her to heaven with Him when she died.

When she was done praying, she had tears streaming down her face and said, “I am so sorry it took me so long to do that, Heath. I am sorry I was so stubborn!”

I told her, with a sly smile, that she didn’t stand a chance, as I had probably 50 people praying for her, including small children who were constantly peppering God for her salvation.

I relayed the story of a homeschooling mom friend, whose kids prayed daily for Hillary’s physical healing and her salvation. Her kids were extremely invested in finding out what was happening with Hillary and kept asking their mom (my friend) for updates.

With several young children praying for Hillary, I had a feeling in my heart that she would make it over the finish line. 

And she did!

She smiled and wiped her eyes. She said, “Thank you, Heath, for not giving up on me. And please tell everyone who has been praying for me, especially all the kids, that I said thank you.”

Suddenly, Jim came downstairs to check on his wife. She was beaming and her face was shining with light.

“Jim!” She cried out. “I have something to tell you, and you’re not gonna like it!”

He paused at the door.

“I just prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Savior, and I am so happy right now and I have so much peace!”

I held my breath. How would Jim respond?

Immediately, Jim rushed over to her, took her frail body into his strong arms, and said, “Baby, whatever brings you peace and happiness is great with me.”

All three of us burst into fresh tears. It was such a personal moment for Jim and Hillary that I had to look away.

Having Hillary receive God’s gift of salvation was one of the best experiences of my life.

Just a few days after she asked Jesus into her heart, she passed away. Jim told me that Hillary had a sense of peace, calm, and joy up to the very end.

Later, I heard from her daughter that, before she died, Hillary gathered her entire family around her (many of whom were atheists) and told them that she now believed in God and Jesus and she was going to heaven when she died. She asked them to please consider Christianity for her sake. In typical Hillary fashion, she asked them to please raise their hands if they were willing to do this. Her daughter said she, herself, raised her hand, and that all but one of her family raised their hands as well. Interestingly, the one family member who warned me to stop talking about God with Hillary also raised their hand.

I still pray for Hillary’s entire family to this day.

Additionally, Jim asked me to say a few words at her memorial service. I shared how much Hillary meant to me, her many wonderful qualities, and a mini version of her Christian conversion. I was blessed to honor Hillary and share God’s love with the entire group of people gathered.

Before she died, I asked Hillary to please pray for me when she got to heaven. She immediately said yes. Knowing her, once she got to heaven, she probably went straight to God and asked to be the head of my prayer team.

I also told her that when it was my time to go, I wanted her, along with Jesus, to come and get me and take me home with her to heaven.  I also asked her to bring a pair of roller skates with her, as I wanted to start roller skating in heaven together once again.

It has been eight years since Hillary passed. I still experience “Hillary moments,” and realize that it’s her birthday, or some other day important to her. I often “feel” her prayers from heaven. Sometimes I even ask God for permission to speak directly to Hillary. Once I sense that I have Hillary’s attention, I pour my heart out to her and ask her to please pray to God on my behalf.

I firmly believe that Hillary still prays for me from heaven. Why? Because I asked her to. And she is the type of person who would do that for me.

I can’t wait to see her again one day.

Dear Hill, if you are reading this post, I want you to know that I love and miss you so much. It’s not the same around here since you left. Please keep praying for me from heaven, because I really need it. When it’s my time to go, and when you come for me with Jesus, don’t forget the roller-skates!

I will see you soon! 

I love you.

Love, Heath

________________________________________________________

Hillary J. Walters (Hillary Drake) of Cicero, NY passed away peacefully in her home on 3/30/2017 surrounded by her loving family after a hard-fought bout with cancer. She fought with a strong-willed determination to live and taught us not to take our time for granted. She was far too young to be taken away from us all and from this life at 44 years of age. Hillary had a spirit of generosity and love none of us will ever forget. She was kind to a fault, with selfless compassion and was a loving mother. More than anything she loved to make silly jokes, loved cooking and crafting but laughing and making people feel good was the heart of Hillary and something we will all carry with us for as long as we are here to keep her memory alive.


In her life, she has known great struggles but more so, she knew great accomplishments and overcoming difficult odds. First and foremost, she raised two beautiful, kind, and loving children. She worked hard putting herself through Bryant and Stratton College so she could make a better life for them, graduating at the top of her class as valedictorian with an associate’s degree in business administration. She went on to work at the college as a receptionist in the admissions office, then spent over five years as an office manager and Sr. Admin Support Specialist at a radiopharmaceutical company, and then as the head admin for the Onondaga County lake clean-up project, always giving her very best to whatever she set her mind to. In her honor and in respect of her wishes, Hillary does not want a funeral but instead a celebration of her life; which is so Hillary. Thus we have decided to bury her ashes with the planting of a tree at her home where she enjoyed the latter part of her life with her husband Jim and pets Roxie, Robbie and Jakey.
Date of Death: March 30, 2017

____________________________________________

*** A quick note on what the doctor said to Hillary and me that day in the hospital. The doctor’s statement was to the best of my recollection. It is possible that he didn’t know that the cancer had metastasized by that point, but I do remember that he said that the tumor was inoperable and that there was very little the medical community could do. But the look in his eyes said it all: that Hillary’s cancer was fatal, and that she didn’t have long to live. It turned out that her doctor was correct: Hillary lived another nine months. At this point, the details don’t matter. What matters now is that Hillary is alive and well in Heaven with Jesus, living her best life. 😊

If you have read this far, below are a few more pictures, and three songs that remind me of Hillary.

Lastly, I recently wrote a book, which you can check out here: https://a.co/d/5hCFDMJ

Take care!

The four besties reunite once again!

“I’ll carry these torches for you, that you know I’ll never drop…”

I Published My First Book!

On By permission2speakIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Why I wrote a book on the topic of demonic spirits, plus a quick update on our adoption of a teenager from Colombia!

Yes, that’s me! I wrote a book about demonic oppression and all things pertaining to evil spirits, and how to get rid of them. It took me a full year and a half to write this book! Read on for all the deets!

My husband Erik and I are currently staying in a hotel in a small city in Colombia, where we are in the process of adopting a teenage boy named Sam! After an extensive ten-year wait, we are finally adopting again! Pictures of Sam and Colombia are included at the end of this post, so be sure to read all the way to the end!

Erik and I have become acquainted with other American parents at our hotel as we await our “sentencing,” one of the final pieces of the adoption process. Many of the children at this hotel are being adopted by foreign and U.S. families, so it has been a neat experience seeing the kids play together while the parents swap adoption stories, parenting advice, and personal anecdotes by the hotel pool.

Inevitably, the “What do you do for work?” question floated through the air, and many parents piped in with their line of work. I told a few ladies I am mostly a stay-at-home parent but also dabble in writing and recently wrote a book. One woman asked about the book’s concept, and I gave her the cliff-note version. She seemed interested and said she would order a copy.

As I sat there wondering if I summarized my book properly, I was reminded how much I hate marketing and promoting myself. I believe the root of this is that I secretly fear rejection. Announcing to people that I wrote a book leaves me susceptible to disinterest, a mild form of rejection.  

Case in point: I took six months to write one simple blog post announcing my book to the 100 people who subscribe to my blog. I am even couching it with an adoption update to increase impact and draw readers.

So, please give me two minutes to present my book,  A Path to Freedom through Deliverance: Reducing Demonic Activity in People and Places.

Here are just a few of the issues presented in the book:

  • Do demonic spirits exist, and if so, do we have to worry about them?
  • What do you do if you suspect evil spirits are harassing you?
  • Have you ever had patterns or behaviors that you feel trapped by or cannot gain mastery over?
  • Are you experiencing strange things that go bump in the night in your home or other location?
  • What are the doorways that we unwittingly open to allow demonic spirits to enter our lives?
  • Isn’t deliverance scary, like the Hollywood movies portray?
  • Do I need a deliverance?
  • Is there anything we can do about evil spirits?
  • How can I protect my kids and my family from evil?

This book had its origins in my own deliverance story. Almost ten years ago, I received freedom over darkness and obsessive thought patterns through the power of Jesus Christ. I have been happily set free ever since. Then I learned through mentorship and experience how to minister freedom to others and bring light into their darkness. I tell the stories of the captives who have been free and equip regular people to access the power of God to protect themselves and those they love from the things that lurk in the shadows and seek to destroy us.

The book digs into the many symptoms of demonic oppression (including negative emotions and addictions, trouble with relationships, suicidal thoughts, feelings of shame or guilt that won’t resolve, or a feeling that something is working against you, etc.), how to protect your family from demonic spirits, a mini-primer on the occult, ways that demons prevent people from coming to Christ, and thoughts on the End Times and extra-terrestrial entities.

I also highlight what really happens during a deliverance session based on the model I used, and how it’s not as scary as what Hollywood would have you believe.

Here are two quick stories from the book:

Story one: Due to a severely dysfunctional family life, our client Jasmine suffered from severe demonic activity and oppression in her adult life. During her deliverance, she shared a terrifying story from her childhood. One night, while she was in her dark room trying to fall asleep, she felt water dripping from her ceiling and looked up. She was terrified to see a demon hovering above her bed, with an evil expression. It was dripping a substance on her with its long claws. She screamed and ran to the bathroom only to find that the “water” she assumed was dripping on her was blood! Many years later, Jesus used our small deliverance team to set her free from many demonic spirits.

Story two: Twice in five years, our deliverance team experienced two scary demonic manifestations. Once, our client “Liz” started to rock back and forth, and her eyes became small and evil-looking. The Lord told me that Liz was about to pounce on me! I immediately stood up and commanded that the demon stop manifesting, in Jesus’s name. Immediately, Liz became normal again. The rest of the process went smoothly, and Liz later joined our deliverance team! At another deliverance, our client Sarah swore at me and her head flew backward in a dangerous way. I immediately stood up and told the demon it must stop controlling Sarah in the name of Jesus. Sarah calmed down and our team commanded that the demon leave.  It left! By the way, in the model I use, scary demonic manifestations are rare and can be managed.

So why did I write this book? The answer is simple. Just as I have been set free, I want everyone to be set free from demonic spirits who cause them to experience many emotional, psychological, and physical health problems. I also want people to know that you don’t need a fancy title or degree to make demons leave a person or a location in the name of Jesus.

A Path to Freedom is bottom-lined, fast-paced, and can be completed in under three hours. I would be so grateful if you would check out my book. Please click here: https://a.co/d/7TtbEt6 or go to Amazon and enter the title of my book in the search bar: “A Path to Freedom Through Deliverance” by Heather Pulkstenis.

Thank you for reading and have a lovely, demon-free day!

____________________________________________________________

P.S. Below is one final story from the book if you have another minute, which illustrates how a person can manage unwanted ghosts in their home…

Final story: One night, I stayed in the home of extended family members, who claim their house is haunted by a friendly ghost. One night, their baby son (my cousin) began to cry continually in his bedroom, which was adjacent to the guest bedroom I was sleeping in. A small, creaky, back staircase straight out of the 18th century was positioned between our two rooms. While waiting for his parents to come and calm him down, I heard someone loudly walking up and down the staircase, which I assumed were his parents. After the crying persisted for at least 25 more minutes, it finally dawned on me that I had experienced my first interaction with the family “ghost.” I wrestled with whether to get up and attempt to calm the baby. I was afraid that if I got up and exited my room, I might have a face-to-face encounter with this creepy ghost. I decided to pray and ask God what I should do. I felt Him nudge me to resist fear and go pray over my baby cousin.  I got up out of bed, quickly ran past the haunted staircase area, and entered my cousin’s room. The baby was standing up with a look of distress on his face. I walked over to his crib and prayed the following over him: “Dear Lord, please bring my baby cousin peace, and bind and remove any evil from his room. Help him to immediately go back to sleep, Lord. In Jesus’s name, Amen.”

Immediately the baby stopped crying, laid down, tucked his two little hands under his chin, and closed his eyes. Just like that!

The book contains many prayer scripts like the one offered above, plus many more tips on how to manage evil. Feel free to check out “A Path to Freedom Through Deliverance,” and thank you for supporting my writing journey!

And now to reward those who have stayed with me for this entire post, here are several pictures of my husband, me, and Sam in beautiful Colombia. Enjoy!

On the day when our adoption of Sam became final!
Me with some other adoptive parents and their kids!

And just for fun, above and to the left is the original picture I used for the cover of my book, plus two rejected front cover designs!

To check out my book, please click here: https://a.co/d/4Ubgbng

To read a previous post on the topic of deliverance and spiritual warfare, click here: A Path to Freedom through Deliverance

To read an interview with a real live demon slayer (aka Dr. Appleby, my mentor and friend), click here: Confessions of an Exorcist

How to get rid of ghosts and evil spirits: Stop Ghosting Me! How to deal with unwanted ghosts and evil spirits

I dive into just one tiny element of the occult, the infamous staple of the 1980s slumber party….Are Ouija Boards a Doorway to Communicate with (evil) Spirits? My Ouija Board story

And finally, my most popular blog post of all time which has nothing to do with demons is found here: Generation X: the least parented generation in U.S. history is quietly raising their kids and ruling the world

Thanks for hanging with me until the very end!

The 1980s called; they want their rebellious teenager back!

On By permission2speakIn caterpillars to butterflies10 Comments

 Why going rogue didn’t work for me, but Jesus did

I want you to hit rewind on your VHS tape that has already been taped over twice and reminisce about the 1980s with me.  Feel free to pour yourself a huge bowl of Count Chocula cereal using only whole milk, plop down in your grandmother’s plaid Lazy boy chair in her unfinished basement, and take a listen.  

That awesome decade brought us the following: the Berlin Wall fell (1989), the Chernobyl nuclear power plant blew up (1986), serial killers made a more obvious debut along with scary movies such as Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Ronald Reagan ruled and reigned (1981-1989), and Journey released their timeless hit song “Don’t Stop Believin” (1981).

It was also the decade where millions of kids walked or rode their bikes home from school and watched Scooby Doo on their wood-paneled TV sets that rested comfortably on tufted green carpets.  After Shaggy pulled the ghost costume off the bad guy and the show ended, these resilient kiddos jumped up off their gold-checkered couch and actually turned the TV channel knob over to Growing Pains starring Kirk Cameron.  Kirk’s image was scotch-taped to their bedroom walls thanks to Tiger Beat magazine.

On lazy afternoons, these 80s kids would look forward to their manual telephone ringing on the kitchen wall and picking up the receiver, not even knowing who was on the other side. They were delighted when it was their best friend calling. They would proceed to stretch the telephone cord all the way down the slightly musty cellar steps and have a hushed conversation with their bestie, plotting and scheming about when they could get together and whose house they would spend the night at. They were secretly planning the fun and slightly bad things they were going to do later behind their parent’s backs.  

Suddenly, a very faint “click” was heard on the phone line. Little brother was quietly listening in on the call from the cluttered spare bedroom! After discovering the little brat and yelling at him from the cellar, the plotting and scheming would continue. 

Or maybe that was just me. 

These phone calls were just the start of my newly formed covert rebellious streak.  

My best friend Jennifer and me at 14 years old. We would plot and scheme on the phone, and then buy matching sweaters. We also lit our eyeliner with matches before we applied it directly onto our lower eye-lids for a more dramatic effect. 😁

But I get ahead of myself.  

Before I became a rogue teenager, I was a fairly innocent young child from the 1970s, being raised in a completely non-religious household.  And my first contact with God and religion did not occur in its purist form.

Me and my sister Jessie!
Jessie and me today…with a fun photo filter!

My first brush with organized religion occurred after I was newly formed in my mother’s womb.  My mother Linda became unexpectedly pregnant with me at 17 years old and was advised by Planned Parenthood staff to abort me.  She then, along with my father, confessed the pregnancy to both sets of parents.  My mother’s parents immediately sought the advice of their Presbyterian minister who, after listening to their imminent problem, blandly stated the following:

“Linda is very young and very smart.  She should go to college. She should get an abortion.”

My mom — pregnant with me. She wasn’t allowed/invited to graduate with the rest of her Senior class because of her ‘situation.’
Me
My grandmother worked for the minister who advised my abortion. She was his secretary.
My parents!
Me
Yep, that’s a beer.

My mom, dad, and four grandparents rejected this advice and I was born later that year, much to the dismay of my mother’s Presbyterian minister who received a pretty direct phone call from me 35 years later.  Two years after I made my debut, my younger sister Jessica (Jessie) was born.  My parents were very young and not ready for marriage, and sadly their marriage ended after four years. This started a chain reaction of various hardships that stayed with me throughout my childhood and teen years.  These hardships included, but were not limited to, not having a close relationship with my father, my mom being materially poor, being raised in a single parent household, constant feelings of rejection and insecurity, and experiencing two divorces. 

There were many good things about my childhood as well, and I am eternally grateful for all of the ways we were blessed and provided for. I want to give a special shout out to my mom, who gave my sister and me a very stable childhood filled with love and blessings.  My four grandparents also stepped up to the plate and supported us financially and emotionally in many ways.  My dad also came around later, I had a good relationship with both my step-dad Bob and step-mom Mel, and I truly loved my three half-siblings which came along as a result of a my extended family.  Finally, my mom’s best friend Becky had two kids and I was best friends with her daughter Hillary.  Hill and I grew up together from age zero to 12, and we enjoyed many fun adventures together throughout those formative years. 

This is a quintessential 1970s photo.

Yet it was right in the middle of these early years mixed with good and bad that God decided to enter my world. 

God first showed me how much he loved me through the friendship and example of a Catholic nun.  Although my mom considered herself an atheist and pitied people who had to lean on any religion, she enrolled my sister and me into a small Catholic school (Cathedral School) because it was close to her job site in downtown Syracuse, New York. During my first grade year, I made a connection with my teacher, a nun named Sister Patrick Joseph. We had a special bond and she loved me very much (and I loved her).  Sister Patrick Joseph instilled in me that God loved me very much, He created me to be a beautiful little girl, and that I was very special to Him and very deeply loved. The highlight of attending Cathedral, besides my friendship with my special teacher, was that I won a school-wide writing contest in the first grade. The title of my book was “God and Pennytress the Easter Bunny.”  It was a huge honor as this writing contest included the entire school consisting of kindergarten through 5th grade students. 

My second brush with religion occurred via an old church bus trolling through our poor, sketchy neighborhood in the south-side of Syracuse.  This church bus drove kids up the road about three miles to a small town called Nedrow, where the good news of Jesus Christ was presented in a Vacation Bible School format.  One day during the church class, I remember a woman teacher talking to me about Jesus Christ, and how He was God’s one and only Son.  She told all of us that God loved us and wanted to have a relationship of love with us.  The seeds about Jesus had already been planted by Sister Patrick Joseph, so I remember bowing my head and praying, asking Jesus to come into my heart and my life, to forgive me and to be my Savior and my Lord.

Our house on Matson Ave. (above), and the church where I came into the family of God (below).

It was around this time that God also started to quietly work in the life of my mom.  At the time, she was an atheist/liberal/feminist who used to make fun of Ronald Reagan.  Her good friend Bonnie would send her letters and share God’s love with her, but she had no interest in the “religious parts” of the letters and would gloss right over them. 

One day as she was reading a book, she had a profoundly transformative experience. From my mom:  “I was looking into New Age religions when I read Edgar Cayce, a clairvoyant ‘prophet’ who was popular with New Age seekers.  In one of his books, he was discussing how Jesus’ birth, ministry, and death fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies, written hundreds of years before He was born.  I suddenly realized there must be a God for that to have happened, and my mind was completely transformed.  This was confirmed by the fact that almost immediately, I called my friend Bonnie to tell her what had happened, and she followed up by sending me Christian reading materials to study.”

That experience eventually led her to a belief in a loving God and His Son, Jesus Christ. She slowly and steadily grew as a new Christian, and our little family of three started attending church. This was also during the era of “Jesus Music,” and I have many fun memories of riding around in our car, listening to Keith Green music. Later, she met and then married a wonderful man named Bob, who became my new step-dad.  

Although Bob was and is still is a great guy, I had a real problem with authority figures back in the day and wanted to rebel against bosses and rules, therefore our relationship was somewhat rocky for many years.  I also developed a tough, rebellious exterior due to hiding all of my insecurities and fears of rejection.  And although I was slowly growing in my new faith in God, I was also being pulled away by the world and the pressure to appear cool and be accepted by my peers. 

This brings me back to the beginning of this post, where I began my rogue streak. For the next few years, I continued to rebel against my parent’s rules and my new Christian faith.  Sometimes it was as mild as riding my bike all over Onondaga valley with my best friend Jennifer and not telling anyone where we were going or what we were doing.  I look back over those years and I am grateful for God’s protection, as Jennifer and I were constantly alone and doing things away from our parents at 14 years of age. 

Most times, the rebellion was hidden and fairly mild. Other times, the rebellion was more pronounced.  For example, a few of my Christian high school friends and I would change our New York State driver’s licenses and go up to the Syracuse University (SU) bar scene (we would call it going to “the hill” for short) and fake-ID our way into various SU bars.  Even though we were a mere 17 or 18 years old at the time, we would dance, drink, and meet up with and sometimes make out with guys we literally just met (speaking for myself here, I am not sure what the other three did).  

However, one time I followed a young SU student named Andrew back to his Greek frat house.  This was really bad because I actually left my group of three friends and went off on my own with a man I had just met. Nothing bad or scary happened that evening but looking back, this was very foolish behavior.

I also told little white lies to my parents about my whereabouts and would attend underage drinking parties (who didn’t back then?) and concerts without their knowledge or consent. I also worked at a Christian summer camp and would sneak cigarettes, sneak out of my cabin at night and meet up with other kids sneaking out, and sneak wine coolers off campus in the middle of the woods.  

There was a lot of sneaking around back in those days.  But it was around this time that I realized that going rogue wasn’t really working for me; here are the three reasons why.

First, going rogue did not leave me happy, peaceful, or set free

This realization ironically began at a well-known bar at SU.  

I remember one night my friends and I were drinking and dancing at a bar called “Maggie’s.”  All the young college kids were very drunk, sloppy, sweaty, slimy, and dancing in a very provocative, sexual manner.  I looked at my friend Marla, and said the following: “this whole bar scene is kinda gross.  And everything about this place starts with an “S.”  The girls are dressed slutty (I probably was too), the men are sleazy and sexual, the place is sloshy and sloppy and smoky, everyone is sweaty and shiny and dancing in a sexual manner, and it stinks in here!” 

She laughed at me and we continued to dance to “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC. 

I was also not deeply set free inside, mainly because I was not happy deep inside. I think the greatest lie of rebellion is that it will lead to a great sense of personal freedom and happiness.  I found the opposite to be true, because I became a slave to my own desires and agendas.  I become aggravated if anything tried to mess with my freedom.  For me, it was more about being extremely self-centered and wanting to do whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to do it.  

I have learned since that time that Christianity is all about loving God first, and loving and serving others after that.  If you do those two things well, God will bless you and give you the internal freedom and peace you are truly longing for.  

In addition, I felt like there was this invisible force that was keeping me from fully rebelling.  I went right up to the line of right and wrong and peered over the edge, but something was holding onto my t-shirt, not letting me slip over the edge.  

Big hair, don’t care. Me and my high school besties getting ready to fake-ID our way into a bar on The Hill. And to be more precise, we just changed the date on our driver’s licenses with a very sharp pencil. 😂
I’m still friends with all of my high school buds, including Marla, above!

Second, I realized that as I aligned with rebellion, I was aligning myself with Satan and his demons and away from God and his angels

This is the part of this article/post that will make you want to check out mentally because it sounds weird, but hang with me for a minute and you will see what I am referring to.  

At around 16 years of age, my best friend Jennifer’s older brother Jeff handed me a book and said: “Read this book; it will change your life and you won’t be the same.”  As I was an active member of the “yeah whatever” club, I promptly dismissed him until I opened up the book and read the first ten pages.  I was hooked. He was correct: the book completely changed my life, and stopped me in my tracks.

The book was called “He Came To Set the Captives Free” by Rebecca Brown. It is the true story about a young doctor named Rebecca Brown who ministered to over 1000 men and women who were active members of their local Satanic group, but wanted out.  The only problem with Satanism is that it works much like Hotel California, in that you can definitely check out anytime you’d like, but you can never leave.  However, Rebecca was the most bad-ass Christian I had ever heard of  or read about (I thought most Christians were weak and boring) and through the power and authority of Jesus Christ, she successfully led these men and women out of Satanism and into a very real relationship with Jesus Christ.  She also became friends with one of the top witches in the United States and got her out too (an impossible task).  

The stories she told blew my mind and made me realize that Satan and his demons hated me and wanted to destroy me.  They were thrilled when I rebelled against God and my parents. They wanted me to do bad and risky things late at night with no protection.  They wanted me to hate God and doubt his love and goodness.  

After reading about the invisible world of angels and demons and how real they actually were, I realized that I wanted to align my life more on the side of God and the Angels for the rest of my life. 

Third, Jesus worked for me instead

The final and most important reason that going rouge didn’t work for me is that Jesus worked for me instead.  I began to grow as a Christian during the summers of my teenage years working at Christian summer camps.  There were many chapel services and friendships that God used to draw me to Himself.  My high school growth spurt led to my college growth spurt, and here I am today. 

The gospel means “good news.” God loves you and me so much that He sent His son to die on the cross for our sins, so that we can have a relationship of love with him, and to experience eternal life. I choose to be a Christian because God has drawn me to Himself with His love, and He has been faithful to me over the years.  Here are just a few ways God has been faithful to me:

  • During my youth, God provided many blessings and also some hardships, in order to shape my character and humble me.
  • When I was a young adult, God showed me that my identity, the very core of who I am and how I felt about myself, was incorrectly placed.  He revealed to me that I am unconditionally loved and accepted, and that He is in control of all aspects of my life.  And then He healed me of my deep-seated fears of rejection. 
  • God also provided a wonderful and fulfilling career on Capitol Hill, doing meaningful work, as well as a wonderful husband Erik, whom I married at 27 years of age.  He blessed Erik and me with three wonderful (yet challenging, I must be honest) kids, through the miracle of adoption.  
  • But probably the most important reason I continue to stick with God is because I am free, peaceful, and happy deep inside.  I enjoy a deep sense of security and peace that the world or any other human relationship cannot provide.  I have peace knowing that God is in control of every aspect of my life, that He is good, and that I can trust Him implicitly. 
  • There are many other benefits to having a relationship with God.  Please see the highlights located in the Bible verse I will leave below. 

So as I look back over the 1980s, I have many fond memories of good moments with my family and especially my mom and sister Jessie, dancing all crazy with my high school besties, riding my bike all over the valley with Jennifer, going on little adventures with Hillary, Grandma Inge buying me Nancy Drew books and an Orange Julius at the mall, and consuming a lot of unhealthy sugary cereals while watching the launch of MTV on my vintage couch with a large green ashtray beside it.  😁👍

But the best thing I received from that awesome decade was that it solidified my relationship with God and Jesus Christ.  Jesus loves me, forgives me, heals me, redeems me, and satisfies me with good things so that my youth is eternally renewed. 

So please don’t stop believin’ in a loving God who will set you free big time and give you eternal life!  

Thank you for reading my Never Ending Story all the way to the end.  

Try not to accidentally tape over it.

Later, dude!

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – 

Who forgives all your sins

And heals all your diseases

Who redeems your life from the pit

And crowns you with (His) love and compassion, 

Who satisfies your desires with good things so that 

Your youth is renewed like the eagle’s…..

Psalm 103

Photo credit from my friend Juli, who was also my friend in the 80s. 😁

P.S. I just published my first book! The book is about Christian deliverance, and how to reduce demonic activity in people and places. I share the struggles of what led me to seek out a deliverance for myself, how a friend and I started our own deliverance ministry, and what I learned about creative ways to do basic spiritual warfare to reduce demonic activity in people and places. I discuss the many negative symptoms of demonic oppression and the four doorways (trauma, occult involvement, ongoing sin, and generational curses), and teach everyday Christians how to command demons to leave people and places, in Jesus’s name. If you are struggling with demonic oppression, a haunted house, or other demonic activity and you’re not sure how to handle it, check out this book!

The link is here: https://a.co/d/4kDlJwH