I had only been out of the first hospital for a couple of days when I felt as if an Elephant was sitting on my chest as I sat in the easy chair at home.

After the intense pressure subsided, I took my meds and hit the sack. As usual, I read a little nonfiction. The book I read tonight was The Plot Against the President by Lee Smith; and then, as always, I read from my raggedy, marked-up Bible. (These days I find it imperative to know scripture more and more intimately for my own sense of well-being, as well as being well-armed to do spiritual battle throughout the following day.) I thanked God for the day; and although I usually fall asleep with the Bible in my hand, I was convinced I was on my way out and may not make it through the night. In spite of this foreboding, I fell asleep immediately, as usual, knowing I had done all I could to prepare for the inevitable just in case I don’t live to participate in the rapture, by writing letters to my beloved children and sending them out the day before.

(I had been in and out of the hospital for the past three years and had had a triple bypass, a stent, and more recently, a pacemaker put in my chest.)

I awakened at three in the morning and lay there thinking that maybe God had another assignment for me at another hospital, since things were not getting any better; so I got up from bed, packed up my laptop and Bible, and went to the other hospital.

Even though I am constantly ready to meet My Maker, I was also eager to see what He had in store for me in the present.

Sure enough, the very first person I encountered in a different hospital’s “holding pen” was a Jehovah’s Witness; and since I’d done extensive research into the cult, I was prepared for what I knew would ensue.

Through the curtains that separated us, I had heard him speak with the nurse about his ailment, which was exactly what I was dealing with! Although he was a robust senior, he replied to the nursing staff with a sweet, honeyed girly voice, prompted by his “works” mentality, and fooled no one about his religiosity.

At the same time, he had also heard my conversation with a Baptist nurse about our common faith; so, upon our initial face-to-face meeting, I found the self-assured, middle-aged man a little put off by my sudden appearance – almost ignoring me when I went over to meet him.

Then I remembered that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught not to have anything to do with what they consider non-believers of the sect. So, right away, the “action” began, and we were doing spiritual battle.

I found the man to be knowledgeable about select scripture. But I knew that he had only been taught the basic rudiments and certain scripture, but that he had no direct relationship with Jesus Christ. (Their faith is one of works, whereas scripture teaches that we are saved by grace and not of works lest any man should boast. Jehovah’s Witnesses take great pride in knowing the chapter and verse of a few verses of scripture learned by rote, and one of the many names ascribed to God – Jehovah – but seem to know little or nothing about a relationship with Jesus Christ.)

We went round and round, and although I didn’t deviate from the necessity of acknowledging Christ Jesus as Savior – I still forgot one essential verse that I lay on men like this: “There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved” – the man Christ Jesus. You see, they believe that just knowing God’s name plus works is how you earn salvation.

My first nurse was a Portuguese woman whom I determined was a Christian, or at least a decent person who really cared about people.

After our initial meeting she – without prompting – expressed concern for her two children having to grow up in this climate of fear and Godlessness; and when I asked her about her faith, she affirmed that she worshiped God and was a Catholic who rarely went to church. After I witnessed to her, I gave her the names of the websites where she could read my writings and the writings of others to win her over to Christ. This way she will know what to believe and why.

Now I was beginning to understand why I had been steered here – especially so after my next encounter.

A new nurse made her appearance on the second day, and it proved to be a confirmation that I was where I needed to be. We hit it off after our first meeting; and when she found out about my faith, she opened up to me, sighting that she was afraid about what was happening in our society.

Raised as a Pentecostal, she drifted away in her teen years – like so many others. Now she feels the unction to get back into the faith. (This was another clue as to why I was here, and that was to guide her back into the faith. As we got to know one another, I told her of my favorite verse of scripture, and she told me that it was her favorite as well! “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” was the verse. This opened our conversation further, allowing me to share other scripture with her. The woman and I both felt that our meeting was not an accident, and for her it was an answer to prayer. It was as if I had been placed there at just the right time to answer her questions and prompt her to return to Christ.

Later, after she told me of her concern for her grown children and the state of the country, I shared prophetic verses with her about Christ’s return and how there would be war in the Middle East.

After the operation to put a stent in place, I was placed on another floor where I watched the news the following evening and learned that a top Iranian leader was killed by U.S. forces which could escalate into all-out war.

Now, as I prepare to leave the hospital a male nurse from Haiti is questioning me about the truth of the Bible.

NOTE:

It may be a good idea for Christians to follow the news about the threat of war following the killing of the Iranian General. After all, Jesus said, “When you see all these things begin to happen – look up, for your redemption draws close.”

YBIC

Jim Towers

You can write me at jt.flmmaker@yahoo.com or visit my website www.propheticsignsandwonders.com and www.dropzonedelta.org.

We spirit-filled Christians all have a responsibility to “out” heretics in these days of deception; we can’t just let the minions of hell run over us. The days of “live and let live” are way behind us. We are entering into full-frontal spiritual warfare with the forces of evil. There should be no more complacency for the Christian church lest it be obliterated by the forces of evil. No more playing church or complacency! From now on we will be striving for our very existence.

While it is much easier to just attend church and mind your own business, and perhaps tell a few jokes or share the latest football score, it is imperative that we begin to get serious about our stand for Christ and the Gospel. Forget your favorite potluck dish for a while and begin to seek God’s face earnestly as the days ahead darken with evil-plotting by evil people.

We have been called to be salt and light in a dying world. We are called to be a peculiar people as well, people who don’t run with the world in dissipation. Smoke, strobe lights and deafening music or entertainment is not what lost souls are seeking – they need the hope that only Christ can give.

In the meantime, the Roman Catholic church is still holding on to idol worship as well as harboring pedophiles and promoting the One-World religion, making no bones about it. The pope even said recently that we shouldn’t be sharing the Gospel with others since we’re all children of God. I for one beg to differ since Jesus said, “Go ye out into all the world making disciples of all men….”

Protestants aren’t faring much better, albeit, their idol is power and money and not some silly handmade ceramic images placed on an altar with candles lit in front of it. They are now letting sin-laden women into the pulpits to spew their brand of religion, making the word of God to no effect. Even homosexuals are mounting the pulpits these days as well as running for president.

Then there are the overt cults with their own twisted scriptures, which gives us all the more reason to know scripture – to be able to refute their skewered claims.

With so much deception going on in society and the church, it’s hard to know where to turn. The only reliable source of answers to our most profound questions (and strength) being the unassailable Word of God. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If you really want to know what’s going on these days, then crack open your Bible and “Study to show yourself approved, rightly dividing the Word of God.”

We “born-again, spirit-filled” Christians are fighting a spiritual battle on several fronts, and the inevitable consequences of letting these doctrines of demons proliferate will lead to our own self destruction as Christians.

As the days pass, we are hearing, seeing and reading about unbelievable atrocities happening all around the world. With random killings, anti-Semitism and the rape of infants, you would think we are doomed; and, indeed, the majority of mankind is doomed to self-destruction for ignoring the Word of God.

With the great falling away happening in our culture, those leaving the church may not even have been true Christians after all, and if they were, they were what Jesus referred to as seeds that fell on dry ground and had no depth, and so they withered and died.

Satan is having a field day in these days leading up to the great tribulation, and it is becoming more evident that Satan is out to destroy the last remnants of sanity and Christianity from the face of the earth.

The lead usurper of the cabal at our church has finally thrown in the towel and left. In his wake of destruction and debt, he finally called it quits. I expect his friends will soon follow suit. Half of the flock has scattered to the four winds in confusion and despair as the rest of the congregation dwindles and declines, while remaining congregants venture into uncertainty.

In the meantime, I am back in the hospital again to witness to others. (That’s the only explanation I can come up with since the doctors say I’m normal.) I witnessed to the first three hospital workers I encountered, one of whom was a young man who was a Jehovah’s Witness. The other two were nominal Christians just doing their jobs.

Being “cleared” after about two hours of examination, I sat up on the gurney and immediately felt as if I had been sucker punched just under the heart. I twisted in pain, and it happened again. Summoning the nurse over with hand gestures, she came running when she saw me doubled over with pain. The young Jehovah’s Witness came with her, and together they hooked me up again to the monitor.

Long story short, I was kept overnight for observation.

Once I settled into my room, a middle- aged male nurse came in to take my vitals once again. He was very amiable, and we hit it off immediately. I asked if he was a Christian, and he affirmed that he was; but when I asked his denomination, he said he was a teacher in the new reformed Roman Catholic church – a charismatic one.

As we talked, he attempted to school me about the Early Catholic Church and how it was the mother church for all Christian denominations. Knowing better than to go there and open a can of worms, I instead told him about my conversion over forty years ago and how I was “Born Again” in the middle of the woods at about midnight, after which I slept soundly for the first time in a long time. In essence – it was my testimony.

When we talked about the dogma in the Catholic denomination, particularly about “Mother Mary,” I shared this scripture verse with him: “There is one mediator between God and man – the man Christ Jesus.” Mary is found only to be his mother and not a mediator.

As I countered the things he espoused and was apparently teaching, and he had no way to counter the scriptures I quoted, he finally asked if I was a preacher. I, of course, replied no – but I told him that I had received Christ over forty years ago and gave him my testimony as he listened intently. Having to make his rounds, he left for a while; but when he returned, he was ready to hear more. That’s when I said, “I could tell you things about how God has performed miracles in my life over and over again,” and he replied, please do! (Catholics love miraculous happenings.) And so, I began.

After a short-abbreviated litany of a couple of these extraordinary “stories,” he was fast becoming enthralled with what I had to say. Noting this, I quickly explained that I never told anyone about these things since they pertained only to me, and I had no desire to be bragging about them for self -promotion.

In any case, I finally concluded that God had me here to give a testimony to these lost and groping souls. What a privilege to think God could use me in this way.

Incidentally, a young single mother who’s a physical therapist here at the hospital is a former member of the church I attended. She too has left the church with over four hundred others.

YBIC

Jim Towers

You can write me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com or check out my website www.signsandwonders.com or visit me at www.dropzonedelta.org.