After Nancy’s candlelight ceremony on Saturday night of the Walk to Emmaus, I flew out to Miami for a business conference that lasted most of the week. Bill and Marilyn picked up Nancy on Sunday evening, after the closing ceremonies of her Walk to Emmaus.
I called Nancy that evening, and she told me about her wonderful experiences at her Walk to Emmaus, and I told her how I was able to attend her Saturday evening candlelight ceremony (it was all due to Jesus), and fly out to Miami on Sunday. She was at our home, while I was in my motel room in Miami.
On Tuesday afternoon, I was listening to several speakers in a large conference room. Then to my surprise, security at the Miami conference somehow located me with several hundred people and asked me to follow them. Security startled me when they said to immediately call home because of an emergency. I called Nancy, while she was sobbing through her tears, told me that our house was broken into while she was inside the house! It occurred Tuesday about 3:00 p.m.
I believe that it was no accident that we were attacked after having such unbelievable spiritual experiences. It seems like Satan had sent one of his soldiers into our house to attack Nancy and steal my rifle, shotguns, and shells.
Nancy had her office in our finished basement of our walk-out ranch house. She felt tired, so she went upstairs to take an afternoon nap. As she slept, the intruder tried to smash open the basement door by ramming a metal cylinder into the center part of the six-panel door. He was unsuccessful. But our basement door had decorative, glass in the upper part of the door. So he smashed the glass in the upper part of the door, he reached down and unlocked the deadbolt lock, cutting his hand on the broken glass and dripping blood on the carpet floor.
He opened the door, walked in, broke the gun cabinet door open and proceeded to spread my shotguns, rifle, and shells across the floor. Nancy was startled and jumped up from the bed, when she heard the loud crash of the metal cylinder crashing into the door and the breaking of glass in the basement. She quickly grabbed her cell phone out of her purse, and ran as fast as she could to our driveway to call 911. Even though she doesn’t remember leaving the house, The Holy Spirit took Nancy out of the house just in time.
In the basement, the intruder heard Nancy’s footsteps across the floor above, so he quickly ran upstairs, opened the front door with his bloody hand, and peered outside. He saw Nancy calling 911 in the driveway.
He left his bloody fingerprints on the front door, while he quickly grabbed Nancy’s purse, ran downstairs and out the basement door leaving the shotguns, rifle, and shells on the basement floor.
He ran down the street behind our house and joined his friends who were waiting for him in a car. Later, we learned from a Council Bluffs detective, which is adjacent to Omaha, that the intruder was on drugs, and that he wanted my shotguns, rifle, and shells. This group of drug users lived in a new, unoccupied house for sale in West Omaha, which is a newer area of the city with more expensive homes, etc.
The previous day, he held a sawed-off shotgun to a guy’s head to steal a used Playstation 2, which was worth about $35 at the time. I knew that Satan had control of his heart. When you use drugs and/or alcohol, it dulls your senses and allows evil spirits to enter into your mind and heart. These evil spirits try to gain control of your mind to kill you spiritually first, and then kill you physically.
Within a few days, the police found Nancy’s purse (all of the cash was missing), keys, and credit cards.
This reminds me of John 10:10: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
After the home invasion, the TV news media arrived to report the rash of recent burglaries, and Nancy gave her testimony on television of the Holy Spirit saving her.
Later, Nancy was subpoenaed to attend his court hearing, and testify as to what happened. His court hearing was brief, and Nancy did not have to testify.
I asked for prayers for the intruder at church on the following Sunday to have Jesus cleanse and heal his heart. I wanted to give him a Holy Bible, but the police caught him and put him in jail. It just seems like I never made the time to try to give him a Holy Bible.
I learned that whenever:
*You accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior or experience a spiritual revival or
*You start a new ministry for Jesus or
* Join a team that will bring others to Jesus,
You will likely experience an attack from Satan or one of his demons. Satan’s soldier attacked the one person that I loved and valued more than anyone else – my wife Nancy.
Remember that after Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness for forty days where Satan tempted Him three times.
Matthew 3:16-4:2: “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.”
I have witnessed attacks by Satan’s demons just before or after a spiritual experience a number of times. One seminary student heard a voice in his head regarding his children that did not line up with The Holy Bible. Team members of KAIROS prison ministry and Walk to Emmaus suddenly receive conflicts in their work schedule shortly before they start a weekend.
Another example was a disruption at a Bible Study with the homeless. One guy said he had just talked to Lucifer and needed to disrupt our meeting. We explained that it was a Christian Bible Study and showed him the door. Also a Muslim woman wanted to question our faith, but I testified that I had seen Jesus several times, was baptized in the Holy Spirit, etc. At the Des Moines homeless shelter, the projector suddenly stopped in the middle of the DVD “The Star of Bethlehem”, and another time the intercom system didn’t work, and no one heard the announcement about the Bible Study that night.
After all of these attacks, I learned to frequently lean on The Holy Spirit, who will drive out evil spirits, help me in times of need, and bring others to hear the Word. I experienced a number of frequent spiritual events that occurred sometimes daily or at least several times a week. It’s a wonderful, different way of living. I learned to lean on The Holy Spirit when facing decisions, such as looking for work and where to live.
