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[saint701]

Greetings All,


Blessings!

The originator of the following story wishes to remain anonymous. He does so because he attends a Charismatic church in St. Louis and is known by those he fellowships with. Having listened intently to him relate his horror of all horror stories, we understand why. We've read much, endured much, and battled dark forces in the spiritual arena, but have never read or heard a story like Jerry's. Only a true Man of God could have endured such agony of mind, body, soul, and spirit, and lived to tell about it. (©) Jan 12 2010. All rights reserved by the originator of this story.

Jerry is fiftyish. He still has plenty of hair on his head; although having listened to Jerry's story one might think it all would have fallen out by now or become white as a sheet. He is of average height and build and quite manly in his appearance. One feels both the intensity of his inward spiritual strength and the depth of the inward scars that have come from the many years of his great sufferings.

His story begins during the winter time. He is sitting at his desk upstairs in his bedroom, the last ray of sunshine disappearing some 2 hours earlier. It is now 7 p.m. He has his Bible and Strong's Concordance open before him. He is stuck on Matthew 24 verses 13 and 14. He wonders if these verses have a depth of meanings, one for those that have become partakers of the sufferings of the Lord from generation to generation, and another directed only to those of that generation that must endure the period of the Great Tribulation.

It would be better for one to have the mindset of having to suffer death during the great tribulation, than to expect to be caught away into Heaven before its beginning, and be sorely disappointed and disillusioned when one is not. Such pre-tribulation thinking could be devastating to one's faith. No, for Jerry there was only one kind of thinking, to be one of those determined to suffer all hell if necessary in order to keep his salvation. He made up his mind to suffer death at the hands of the anti-christ, or if so blessed, be one of those to endure until the coming of his Lord in the clouds of Heaven with great glory.

Unfortunately for Jerry, he had no idea just how soon his personal tribulation period would begin.

Jerry worked on his view of Matthew 24 verses 13 and 14 until around 10 p.m., watched the news, and then went to bed. As he dozed off, he couldn't help but notice feeling rather strange, as though there was a spiritual presence about him that he had never experienced before. He shrugged it off as just a part of his sense of loss at not being able to do more Bible study. For quite some time he had been carrying feelings of guilt with him wherever he went. He felt guilty that he wasn't spending enough time in personal Bible study, and he had a nagging sense that his once powerful faith had diminished because of that. He also missed watching Christian programming on television as such also helped grow his understanding of the Bible, and he had all but stopped his prayer life.

Jerry had some vacation time coming. He worked at the Boeing plant in St. Louis doing his part to assemble aircraft using the most modern technology of the day. Things at work had slowed somewhat. He would not be missed if he took a few days off, so he did just that, determined to fortify his spiritual life and get that right standing with God feeling back.

During his first day off he relaxed on the couch, and channel surfed some before landing on Kenneth Copeland. Now Jerry wasn't a great Kenneth Copeland fan, but would watch the show if the subject being discussed wasn't prosperity. He was relieved on that day that it wasn't. It was something about our union with God and being sat down on His throne, the boldness to enter the Holy of Holies, and draw near to God because of the blood of Jesus. The teaching made Jerry happy. He determined to lay his recent spiritual shortcomings before the Lord and find His grace and favor in his time of need.

In bed that night Jerry envisioned himself kneeling before the Lord at His Throne of Grace, and being cleansed of his guilt feelings. Jerry also smoked so he decided to lay those at the Lord's feet as well. Then boom! He was looking directly at a little demon that had hold of a tiny bit of his brain. The thing looked so shocked and surprised at Jerry's sudden appearance it turned loose of its stronghold.

Such didn't last but for an instant and Jerry was again surrounded by that odd spiritual feeling of a few nights' back. This time, however, the feeling was stronger. He crawled out of bed and headed downstairs. He thought that perhaps he was sensing something new about the Holy Spirit he hadn't come across before. Notwithstanding, he felt odd, and what he felt around him seemed strange.

Now Jerry wasn't that old spiritually at that time. Although a born again, spirit filled Christian with a prayer language, he couldn't say that he had developed much of a sense of discernment concerning the presence of evil. In fact, he was quite the novice in that area of his spiritual growth and development.

None the wiser, Jerry entertained that spiritual presence, even determined before it never to smoke another cigarette. Jerry went back to bed. He hoped that at the dawn of the next day he would be free from his disgusting habit, and he would have that sense of strong faith back inside him more powerful than ever.

He had no idea what was roaring down the train tracks in his direction. The next morning would tell the tale. It would be a new day alright, but nothing like Jerry expected.


Jerry got out of bed early and quickly noticed that same old urge to smoke he always had. Jerry felt sad. He would just have to keep waiting on the Lord for deliverance. Jerry had tried quitting by faith many times, but by the time a 3rd day without smoking would come around he was so filled with anxiety he always caved. He had given up even trying. The roller coaster ride he experienced during a period of smoking cessation just wasn't worth it. It always turned out the same way.

He reached for his pack of smokes, tapped the closed portion of the pack's top against his left forefinger, and pulled out a cigarette with the same hand and put it between his lips. He put the pack of smokes down and picked up his lighter with his right hand. It would be his last cigarette for the next 17 days.

There was a demon in the air above Jerry. It had carefully bated Jerry into giving it power over him through cigarettes. Jerry, though quite naive about discerning spirits, heard a vicious voice in his head say, I am going to give you all these things.