This post lists three vital facts about your salvation as imparted by my direct encounter with the Holy Spirit in April 2014. They all have a basis in Scripture; so, don't think I am trying to change or add to what you should already know. By informing you of these, I am merely supporting with experience and not just biblical knowledge the same assertions heard in many a sermon.


The burden of my story
There is one thing that most might expect to find in this post that is absent: a description of events on that night. That's a real barn-burner of a tale, believe it. Maybe I'll tell it someday; but, it would be an affront to the Spirit to do anything at this point but to pass on what I learned. An encounter with any member of the Trinity has something to offer everyone. The experience is never for just those so encountered. That means I am obligated to pass on only what I learned to others unless the circumstances of the experience relate to what I learned. They do to an extent; but, they can be omitted without detracting from the knowledge born of them.


Even still, I would not be inclined to do it without the 20 or so people who can witness to it. I absolutely do not mind sharing the details of my encounter; but, there are witnesses to it that do not like to speak on it (namely, the Voices Demons and various medical personnel employed by Santa Clara County Health and Hospital Systems). To this day, they find the event unnerving and counterproductive to their agenda. Unless and until they are ready and willing to disclose their recollection as well, I would say that a single man's voice does a great injustice to all concerned.

Besides, without corroborating testimony, what merit would my story have? If my audience does not have any stories of their own, how could they rightly evaluate the merit of mine? My story does not entail any facts that could not be corroborated by the Scripture; but, how does that tell anyone anything they should not already know? That I had an encounter should be sufficient to advise anyone who could be made to believe that such a thing happens can readily believe my story based on my key takeaways from it.

NOTE | It also violates the long-standing policy of this blog to publish any information that cannot be substantiated by reproducibility, published testimony from a trusted source, or by evidence in the form of digital media.

There has to be a highly credible body of testimony—many people from all walks of life, some with things in common, some with nothing in common, and all with the same story to credibly tell it to those who have had no such experience. There is not a man alive who would believe it otherwise. I have such a body of witnesses, as I said; but, the only thing I am missing is willingness (the event worked out for nobody present but me, if you're wondering about the source of their unwillingness).

What I learned
Even still, I'll offer these key facts I learned about the Holy Spirit that everyone, that if you choose to believe (operate from), you will do exceedingly well in the judgment:

• The Holy Spirit—not God, not Jesus—is the only member of the Trinity that you are likely to have a direct encounter with—and, that only by calling out to Jesus, and by having a true, dire need for intervention. To be answered in the affirmative, it has been made abundantly clear that you have to have profit-sharing status with Heaven (the Scripture teaches that, of course, but in different words—mine are better). Not only does your past faith have to be evidenced by at least some of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, but your future faith has to evidence a clear understanding of why these are vital in the form of a plan for building on them. You'll note from Revelation 2-3 that past good works cannot be repeated in the future and still be called good works. They are stepping stones to greater works. Without a clear plan of increase and a foundation on which to increase, you have no pull with Jesus. Believe it.

• There is no big sin or small sin that is determined by the particulars of the sin. Guilty of one, guilty of all holds true in that vein. There is a difference, however, in the magnamity of sin. The small ones are any you acknowledge, contemplate and regret; the big ones are the ones you overlook and later forget. Were you rude back to someone who was rude to you first? If you not only failed to recognize the error but also either failed to apologize to even remember doing it until you were reminded, you're in trouble. That kind of error—not the size of the sin, the justification you had for it or the subsequent forgetting of it—is damnable in the literal sense. It is hard for people to see how small stuff like that can be worthy of Hell; but, it is every bit the error that any other sin is (judging a wrong as right, and then forgetting all about it later).

• Judgment by the Holy Spirit never addresses the sin you commit that you acknowledge and grieve, but only the sin you don't. Let's say you're a raging homosexual that you didn't mean to be; if you're sincere in your lament of your condition, the Holy Spirit will find no occasion to berate you for it. It's not whether you sinned, it's your attitude towards it. You will never stop being tempted until the day of salvation, regardless; you will not be fixed of your propensity for sin anytime prior to then. God is not expecting you to be fixed; but, rather, to desire a respite. You can take comfort in the fact that, while you still may be tempted to sin or are still be burdened by a history of same, a policy of never encouraging that same sin in anyone else is an act sufficient to achieve and maintain a firm confidence that you can be saved—even when others are adamant that you cannot. In the six years since, I have tested beyond testing that a Spirit-reinforced confidence is as unshakable and unmovable as any of its gifts or fruits. Call it like you see it, if you must; see how that avails you in the end.

The true gift imparted by an encounter with the Holy Spirit is the repurposing of your God-given knowledge accumulated by a life of true faith. It all makes sense, is what you'll say by the end; and, you won't stop saying it anytime soon afterwards. From this, those who are serious about life and what they read in the Scripture can take heart that all the intellectualizing and emotion poured into the Word holds value for a later time. You may find knowledge rewarding at anytime; but, nothing compares to the fire lit inside you by the Holy Spirit using that knowledge. A lifetime of soul-searching combined with a single encounter with the Holy Spirit, and you will never be moved, and no weapon formed against you will prosper. Amen. This fact should bring a lot of comfort and confidence to those who struggle with sin. Conversion from sinner to saint has a negative and positive element: repentance (taking away of sin) and faith (adding knowledge and practice). You can struggle to take away the sin while adding to your knowledge and good works. One does not supplant the other; but, one is not dependent on the other for the same benefit. My strategy prior to my encounter and my strategy ever since for justifying myself before God has been to do all the good I can while chipping away at my sinful nature. It is indeed hard to be tempted and to succumb to it after having gone a long time without and on top of a monumental effort to increase your faith by knowledge and works; however, what will lift your spirits every time is a comprehensive course of study and an ever-increasing involvement in the charity of Christ. God still wants you as long as there is something about you to want. Appealing to the pragmatic needs of the earth, which remain regardless of your righteousness, will get you through a rough patch every time.

By the end of it, I had a balanced and accurate perspective on the gravity of sin. I was not led to believe that sin was less serious than I thought; rather, I was informed as to how to productively and resolutely handle it. Ignorance and lack of outside perspective are the only strengths sin has to work with; remove these obstacles, and then you can move ahead.


Moreoever, I came out of this knowing that, regardless of whether I use that knowledge, the fact that the Holy Spirit imparted it to begin with meant that, at least at that time, I was capable of achieving salvation, and that salvation was still being offered to me. As rare as these things seem to be, and as precious as God's time likely is, that statement cannot be overvalued. The life of a demoniac can always use that kind of affirmation. It didn't hurt that my opposition witnessed it, either. It nailed to the Cross shame and guilt as a tool for dissuading a sound mind from reasoning correctly, and from being brave enough to appropriate the free gift of salvation being offered to him.


I could say more; but, suffice it to say, anyone who would not have already expected this as an outcome, and, I'd say anyone who could not add a couple of things to it on their own, would not find my story anything but one of magical fantasy, and that would make the Spirit mad. Believe that.