Thanks for your kind words.
I don’t recall Jesse saying why or if he was even told why.
It’s been my observation that God sometimes tells folks why and often does not. It’s not as though God is big on explaining HIS WHY’S to mortals.
In some cases, it’s been because prayer warriors, faithful servants in The Lord have prayed to be able to see Heaven and return—usually prayed many years for such.
In many cases, God says something like—I WANT YOU TO GO BACK AND TELL THEM—TIME IS SHORT; GET READY; FORGIVE EVERYONE; HEAVEN IS WORTH IT ALL; HELL IS REAL; etc. etc. etc.
Sometimes it seems like a special tickle in Daddy God’s heart to just bless a treasured believer with such an experience.
That’s the range of things I’m aware of. I don’t pretend to read God’s mind well, if at all.
I like Jesse because he’s candid, down home real etc. Sure he likes spit and polish—that’s his background. But he’s been through being a rock star and the whole Southern Cajun experience and he’s not all that interested in phony stuff.
I thought it was interesting that when The Lord showed him his mansion—all the details were just as Jesse would have picked out himself. DOH! God certainly knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts.
I find a LOT of RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS TYPES to be very . . . welllll . . . UNGODLY. I’m not here speaking of gross immorality though the effect is likely worse.
I mean askew from God’s heart and His priorities.
The pharisees were all ready to stone the woman. Christ had a different priority.
The pharisees were convinced they knew the Scriptures well and how to apply them and stoning was the only fitting option.
Christ had a different priority.
The publican thought he had prancing prayers down just right. God had a different priority.
The Magicsterical Sanhedrin was convinced it was infallable and could execute God’s judgment precisely correctly and righteously. God snookered them.
Throughout Scripture and history man has presumed to have successfully packaged God in man’s tidy little boxes. And, to have discerned precisely and exclusively correctly even God’s own packaging of Himself.
GOD HAS ALWAYS PROVEN BIGGER THAN THAT—than either one.
God seems to love to use the unlovely, strange, katty-wumpus and unesteemed to confound the wise. It seems to be a major hobby of His.
And, often He seems to seize on this or that core aspect of a believer’s heart after God and run with that and seemingly not pay much attention to a lot of other true garbage in the process . . . at least for many long years.
Sometimes it seems like the undealt with flaws are to remind the servant of God about how human they are. Sometimes it seems like they are to dare/challenge onlookers to focus on God’s priorities, avoid carnal fleshy, mean spirited judgment and focus exclusively on what God is doing in the situation rather than on the flawed vehicle God may be working through.
I see endless cat-calls on FR about all manner of folks. Generally, the harsh, critical, prissy, arrogant, mean-spirited judgments are much more of a stench to God than whatever they are criticizing.
Folks flinging such mud and such rocks have clearly never had their own crud rubbed in their faces sufficiently horribly to quit such spiritually destructive activities.
That could be quite frightful. Have they crossed a line where God no longer disciplines them? That would be pretty horrible.
Personally, I thin Jesse’s story can stand on it’s own.
When he returned from his Heavenly visitation, he was a bit late for his speaking in the large church where he was visiting. So he walks down the asile from the back up to the platform to speak. And, as he’s walking he thought the people were particularly odd in the way they looked at him and were looking at him, pointing at him and talking to those standing nearby—evidently about him. Something about that was unusual and strikinglyi so.
Then he gets to the platform and the pastor looks at him strangely. Come to find out, his countenance was literally very overtly glowing—giving off a very evident light that everyone in the room could see.
The naysayers on FR have no explanation for that. They can deny it; disbelieve it etc. but they have no explanation for that. It flushes all their catcalls and derisions right down the toilet. It proves they are wrong and Jesse was right. I think that’s hillarious.
Another cute tidbit . . . Maybe it was driving back from that engagement. I don’t recall . . . I forget the specifics but they were something like say a 3 hour or 5 hour or some such drive was involved. Along the way, Jesse gets to worshiping and singing and he and the car seem to be just engulfed in a glorious anointed fog sort of something. Anyway—after a bit, that dissipates and Jesse notices that he’s about at his turnoff to his home. And from the time he left to the time he arrives at his home, it’s about 30 minutes or some such has transpired—a total impossibility. His wife verifies the time stamps. I think Jesse had gassed up before leaving the distant city and had that or a phone call time as one time stamp.
I love it when God pulls stunts like that. And God seems to love it, too. However, He virtually never does it for rock throwing critical judgment, mean-spirit pharisee types.
From God’s perspective, evidently, they can go suck rocks.
But I do not understand why he says the Holy Spirit was not in heaven. The Holy Spirit is God and is everywhere. This is the God of life and not death
The naysayers on FR have no explanation for that.
One word: Flatulence.
"Suddenly I felt a suction as if I was being pulled up out of the room. . .I heard a sound, Whoosh! And I was pulled up out of the room. . .I didn't know I had left the room and I was zooming along at a phenomenal rate of speed. . .in something like a cable car. . .Then I looked up. There stood another being. I realized that it was the blond-headed angel who had visited me. . . have an appointment with the Lord God Jehovah." (JD)Kinda like the last scene in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. How many others have had a ride in Jesse’s E-Ticket heavenly cable car?
Isn’t your “Daddy God” awfully stingy if only a dozen or so folks of the billions of Christians presently living get to ride Jesse’s E-Ticket cable car to heaven? You’d think your “Daddy God” could get tickle more often.
Or is this experience reserved for the uber-spiritual like Jesse and other tongue speakers?
>> “From God’s perspective, evidently, they can go suck rocks.” <<
.
Or Brimstone...
You cannot deny the works of the Holy Spirit without consequences, yet we have our ‘as usual’ denier here on this thread begging the Lord to strike him.