Miracles and the Supernatural
The following are mostly things from my family’s or my own experiences. I don’t consider anything as “proof,” but as “evidence” for the existence of God and the supernatural. For those that might have known me in high school or college, no not the show “Supernatural.” I’m not into that anymore (jaw drop!) but into God. Some of you might be inclined to take some things as “coincidences.” You’re judging based on your own experiences, which is understandable, but there are too many of those in my life to think some like the following are merely coincidences. Keep in mind that the following list is not comprehensive. It’s not everything, but it’s a start. At the very least, you’ll get to hear some potentially “crazy” stories and perhaps a seed will be sown for a future faith to grow. If not, then Jesus did say that if people didn’t believe him, who had come to earth and performed miracles in front of their eyes, then how much less would they believe heavenly things of the Father who could not be seen? If they didn’t believe Jesus, then what chance do I have of the world believing me? All I can do is share and hope some seeds get sown. You are free to stop reading at any time or to dismiss what I share, but know that the clock is ticking and we don’t have forever to find the truth. Now, don’t believe every supernatural occurrence is “good” or of God. Compare everything to Scripture and read my “Word of Caution” at the end for a bit more about how Satan can also trick people. Despite what I share below, I’m constantly asking of myself and others “how do you know that?” and “does that align with Scripture?”
Mother Theresa Healing: The greatest visible healing miracle I can tell you of is one my dad witnessed. My dad met Mother Theresa once and she prayed over his friend who was in a wheelchair. He’d been in an accident and was basically a vegetable for months. He didn’t recognize anybody and they had to feed him and do everything for him. My dad had asked his friend’s mom for permission to take him to Mother Theresa, and she said yes but wasn’t expecting anything. Well, right in front of Mother Theresa, he regained his mental faculties and was able to walk and talk after she’d prayed over him. My dad also said she had prayed for him first, even though my dad got mad and didn’t want it at the time and told her to pray for his friend. He was left astounded after as was the man’s mom who hadn’t been a real believer before that. My dad’s friend later was then able to dance with my mom at her and my dad’s wedding. There are some controversial things about Mother Theresa I wouldn’t agree with now, but God can still use people even if flawed. I don’t presume to know where she is, but trust God to make the judgment for each and every one of us. The Bible has a part where it says “Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name and did we not perform many miracles?” but Jesus says “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Again, God knows our hearts and while he can still use us for His purposes, we all need to be careful in our walk with God and examine whether we are truly following His ways, or whether we’re doing what we believe to be right in our hearts that will only lead to destruction.
“Cerebral Palsy” Healing: The greatest healing miracle I have witnessed was not in-person, but online. While there are many con-artist wolves in sheep’s clothing out there who are just looking to make money, God does still perform actual miracles. This is not from a televangelist or anything. Many fakes have been exposed. I even saw one actress fake getting “healed” two different times, and if they’re not acting then sometimes they’re nice people duped into thinking they were healed when they weren’t and so on. But do not throw the baby out with the bath water! God does still perform actual miracles! Being pretty skeptical myself with all those false things out there, I can really only think of this ONE that is genuinely convincing. I don’t claim to know what this boy has (there’s different neurological disorders and different causes of the symptoms of the muscle spasms), but many that have posted the video call it cerebral palsy. Either way, pretty hard to fake (and again, I’ve seen fakes too). Just watch and if you have any questions, email me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NpymZ0eCzk&t=18s
My Testimony: The most significant miracle in my life is what my whole testimony is about. Go read it under “About Me” if you’re interested. Skim it if you must, but it all had to be said for you to get a better idea of where I was coming from before and what things were like after. It’s been years since that fateful day and I am forever thankful and am still sometimes brought to tears of joy because of the greatness of God’s mercy and love.
Holy Spirit and Grandma: The first time I felt the Holy Spirit was with my grandma on my dad’s side, but I hadn’t realized it at the time. She just told me to close my eyes and picture Jesus’ wounds. Nothing happened at first, so she told me to try again. I complied without expecting anything out of the ordinary, but she had her hand in front of my forehead and prayed and I felt the warmness and saw brightness under my closed eyes in a similar way to what I experienced at the retreat, but on a smaller scale. That was when I first believed that there may be more to the stories my dad had told me of my grandma being able to heal people that doctors couldn’t and casting demons out of people. I’ve never seen it, but after that day I knew there was something supernatural there after all.
Miracle Baby: Once when one of my aunts was pregnant, the doctors told her she should abort her baby because she and the baby would both be at risk of dying during the pregnancy. She was even put on bed-rest for a while. I remember that my dad said he was with his prayer group at church and they all prayed for her over the phone and my grandma had been praying too among many other people that knew of the situation, myself included. Well, both she and the baby made it out fine (surprising the doctors) and that baby has grown up into one of my healthy little cousins.
Near Death Experience: When another of my aunts was pregnant, her baby died in the womb and she had a near death experience. Her heart stopped and the doctors had pronounced her dead. She said she saw a light and the infamous tunnel and was going toward it when she heard her husband call out to her, telling her not to leave him as he shook her. She said she felt herself go back into her body and that when she came back, she told him she’d been on her way to heaven so why did he call her back?
Power of Prayer: Once, my dad, who used to be an alcoholic (he stopped sometime after my brother was born), said he was going to start drinking church wine again. My mom, brother and I were scared, but especially me. He was stubborn and got in line on Sunday. Before he got there, the chalice ran out and so he got in the next line. We had already taken communion and were kneeling in prayer, but he was in line and then the next cup ran out. They never run out that early if at all. The minister usually has to drink what’s left because it doesn’t run out, and yet early on in the line two chalices ran out with almost half the rows still needing to take communion! I found out after that my family had been praying about it. My brother probably in general. I was praying for anything to stop him, from changing his mind to an earthquake, but something. My mom said she specifically had prayed for them to run out, and right before he got there, they ran out twice! Needless to say, my dad while at first inclined to try again the next Sunday, did end up changing his mind after that.
Late Night Scare: Speaking of moms, they have like supernatural-backing with God, so to speak, and we are to honor our mother and father. It’s one of the commandments. If we do we’ll be blessed, but cursed if we don’t. Well, once when I was in college I happened to be going out late that night to watch a movie or something at a friend’s apartment about a block down from my apartment. I usually don’t go out at night, but we never hung out and it might’ve been our last chance before summer so we decided to do it then. My mom and I happened to be on the phone and I always tell her what I’m doing so I mentioned it, and she was like what, it’s too late to go out. You’re not going. I was like what? But we’re just going to watch something, I’m not going to a party or anything. She’s just down the street and I’m in college now. Blah blah blah. Well, she didn’t want to hear it and got mad and said something to the effect of, “Okay, but if someone in a truck gives you a scare, don’t come crying to me” and hung up. I didn’t think anything of it and thought she worried too much and I’d apologize later. Well, I ended up staying over way later than I’d intended. We were talking and since it was still dark she walked me back part of the way. It was already 5 in the morning and we were still talking outside near the front corner of my apartments (I lived at the back end) because it was also close to her place. Then, some truck pulls up in front near us while we’re still talking, and I just notice it looks like there is a TV or something in the back and the driver was bald and looked like he was older in his 30s or 40s and had gloves on… Just as I’m getting a weird feeling, they pull away from the curb and I think okay maybe they’re leaving. Then they start to slowly circle around the roundabout and come back around and we were like oh shoot, what do we do? My place was closer, but instead of walking on the street we went another way and quickly headed towards the middle of my apartment complex. At that point, we ran to my place. We could still hear the motor of the truck cruising up and down the street. It was all very weird. My friend thought it was funny and an adventure. I wasn’t laughing. She’d thought they were going to ask for directions at first. I was like are you kidding? Some shady-looking people at 5 o’clock in the morning? They probably thought we were drunk college students coming from a party and would’ve kidnapped us! Two girls with no one else around and two of them? They could easily over-power us. The television or whatever was probably stolen. They did not look like college students and for all we know, could’ve been deciding on raping or killing us. Who knows! What were they doing cruising back and forth along that street at that time if not looking for us to see if we popped out? It was all surreal and like a living horror film, but my friend seemed to be having fun. She left maybe 2 hours later around 7 just to be on the safe side. We heard the truck for a while and didn’t want to risk it still being out there without other people around. I told my mom about it after and now I take what she says more seriously. Exactly what she said happened, somebody in a truck gave us a scare. It was crazy. She knows nobody up there she could’ve called to scare us (not that my mom would ever do that, she’s not the type), and for it to happen at exactly the time we happened to be outside? We didn’t plan on even being up so late, but since we’d started to hang out late then it carried into the morning to an un-planned hour.
Message from God: Once, I was upset with my dad over some small thing again. It was always little things blown way out of proportion with us. Anyway, I was so upset I couldn’t think of anything but to pray the Our Father and basically ask God what to do. I’d been contemplating whether it wouldn’t be better to try to distance myself from him emotionally so as not to get hurt again, and even go as far as to start calling him “sir” instead of “dad.” As I went through it, something happened that only happened that one time and has never happened again. As I got to “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” that part literally got highlighted in my brain. I have never heard the “voice” of God like some people claim, but clear as day God responded by highlighting these words in my brain. It broke through my consciousness and then I wasn’t upset but grateful because I knew that I had to forgive him just like God had forgiven me. It was like God was like “DUH, are you actually listening to the words you are praying?” He emphasized it for me in a way I will never forget. He’d helped me to forgive before and He did it again and got the message through my thick head loud and clear. FORGIVE. 70 times 7.
Voice of God: I learned of someone’s conversion story after their death. I hadn’t even known they weren’t Christian before. It was a very nice lady I met through work who otherwise was not out of the ordinary. She started attending church after bringing her kids to a summer camp there, but they didn’t believe yet. She even talked to the pastor and let him know this. He told her to ask God to show her. Well one day, she was driving and basically did what the pastor said and I forget exactly what she said but she asked Him if he was real to show her. And she apparently for the only time in her life heard a literal voice that said her name and then said, “Don’t you know how much I love you?” That’s like Paul on the road to Damascus hearing Jesus say “why are you persecuting me?” Well, she was convinced and believed right then and there, and got baptized pretty soon after that. God gives us each what we need.
Pray for Others: Once, my housemate’s parrot all of a sudden took flight from the kitchen through the living room and hit the sliding glass door. HARD. It looked like he had hit the glass head-first. My housemate dashed over and after I got over my shock, when I headed over, I saw they were holding him in their hands, with his head lolled to the side. For all intents and purposes, he looked like he was dying. Unfortunately, I’d seen and held a dying bird before that (actually 2 now) and if he wasn’t dead already, that’s where it looked like he was headed. One of my other housemates came out of her room to ask what the noise was. I told her, and then we gave our housemate some privacy and I left for work. I cried as I prayed in the car though, to please not take away their bird. They may not be a believer, but nobody deserves to lose their pet like that. I know how much they love each other. Please, don’t let him die. I was afraid of what I would find after work, an empty cage and a sad house. But the parrot was alive and had only broken his wing. Believe what you will, but I think it’s a miracle and thank God that he lived that day.
Poltergeist Activity: After her husband died, my mom was over at my neighbor’s house one day when all of a sudden a door upstairs slammed, hard. The window was not open so it wasn’t the wind, and nobody else was home. This is an elderly widow who lives alone now. My mom hates even talking about demons or the devil, so for that to happen in her presence scared her. That was when my neighbor confessed to her that things like that had been happening that she didn’t do and that she’d been hearing her husband’s voice asking why she wasn’t with him and whatnot. I think it was a demon tricking her into thinking it was her husband and maybe wanting her to kill herself, because our spirits either end up in heaven or hell and even if it was on earth that is a very strange request and why would they be bothering you with poltergeist activity like that? As far as I know, I think that activity stopped.
Something Unholy: They say that animals have a 6th sense that humans don’t have. I think this is true. That’s how dogs have miraculously detected cancer and things before their owners knew. Well, 2 of our dogs showed this weird “spidey-sense” that we couldn’t explain in our first house (we had lived in apartments and rented previously). For some reason, they were afraid to be in the garage. Both of them would tuck their tail between their legs, put their ears back, their fur literally stood on end, and they’d be skittish and beg to go back inside. At first I thought maybe there was an animal in there (though they usually chased or pursued them to smell them). Nothing. It wasn’t the weather. Maybe they just didn’t like garages? But I tested that out at our next house and they were perfectly fine in that garage! Our third house too. And we even had a mouse in our third garage once and they definitely were interested in that smell! My first dog only ever showed that kind of fear at the vet’s office (she was the one that got spayed, we didn’t do it for our second one), and when there she did not have her hair stand up. The only other time I saw my first dog’s hair stand up was when she was growling at something once. I didn’t see anything outside the window, so I thought maybe it was behind a pet bed we had that was designed for cats (it had a little roof on it). I was about to move it when she snapped at me as if to bite me. When I pulled my hand away, surprised by her strong reaction (normally she never snapped at us), I peeked inside and saw there was a wolf spider on the underside of that pet bed’s roof! She had stopped me from putting my hand in there! Those things are like mini tarantulas! Anyway, back to the first house’s garage. My mom said she got a weird feeling in there too. I never did. But she learned from a neighbor that someone had died on our street corner (our house was by the corner next to some apartments) and she decided to put holy water in the garage. There was also a picture of the Virgen de Guadalupe drawn in pencil on the back of the garage door from the previous owners (whether anyone thinks that contributed in any way, I’m not Catholic anymore). Anyway, none of that made a difference to my dogs. They NEVER liked being in that garage and we never could explain why except that maybe it had something to do with that death nearby? Likely indicates demons again, but definitely strange.
Spared from Losing Consciousness: Two different times I almost fainted in public. The closest I came was the time when I hadn’t eaten anything before biking to church. I’d been fine up until we stood up again and then all of a sudden I felt sick like I was going to throw up, my vision turned to black and white instead of color, and my hearing got muffled so that the priest sounded far away. I only confirmed my suspicions after when I Googled symptoms of fainting, but I prayed not in the middle of church. I didn’t want to cause a scene or have anybody call an ambulance or anything and I thought just let me get to some water. I didn’t trust myself to speak, but it was time to shake hands with people and say “peace be with you.” I shook the person’s hand next to me and tried to smile before heading out of the pew and towards the back of the church where there had to be a water fountain. I drank it and shakily made it back to my seat as my vision and hearing went back to normal with nobody any the wiser. The other time it was due to heat and lack of food so I bought myself a churro and drank some water and was fine after. I’m not anorexic (nor bulimic), just didn’t always have time to eat back in college when I’d just wake up and go to class or to church.
Not a Pancake: Once I was driving and a trailer started to change into my lane. There was construction going on in the freeway at the time so there was no shoulder and just a middle concrete divider between lanes. I don’t know how in space or time this was possible, but the trailer did not squash my car. I somehow had enough space and time to honk and slow down to go behind the trailer while the trailer went back into their original lane. I could’ve been squashed in between the wall and the trailer, but somehow wasn’t. It all happened in a weird slow-motion and I can’t explain how there was enough space for both of us in that lane with no shoulder.
Close Call: Another time, my light was green and I slowly started forward only to have to hit the brakes when a crazy truck sped right in front of me through a red light. They were coming from my left, so if I’d been just a little bit ahead I would’ve gotten creamed on my side of the car. At the speed that truck was going, my little car didn’t stand a chance and I’d likely be hurt big-time if not dead. The truck didn’t even slow down and just sped on through as if nobody else was there and they hadn’t almost just hit me.
Near Break-In: One night, somebody tried to break into our house. Only my brother and I were home when there was this big thwack downstairs and then something that sounded like a bunch of buzzing bees. Someone had hit our sliding glass door with something and the sound was the glass cracking. It kept cracking, but luckily never completely shattered. I called the police, but of course by the time they got there to go look, nobody was there. Who would stick around?
Apparition: I have this memory from when I was 7 that some of you will think was a dream (believe me, I questioned this myself), but I think it’s an actual memory. Could I swear to you that it is? No, but my heart tells me it is. Once when I was 7, I was on the couch in my living room praying as I sometimes did. Only this time, I wondered if anyone was actually listening and so I prayed that if they were, then to show me. I wanted to see. I saw Jesus appear like he looked in the picture Bible I had, from the waist up, look at me and smile, and then fade away… I was stunned, and still remember my mom in the kitchen in the background as I sat there in awe. Let me just say that sometimes people have said they’ve seen Jesus in dreams, and I haven’t even seen that. This is my only experience ever seeing him. I also think that the pictures we see of him are probably not what he actually looks like, but he probably appeared in that way because that’s the image I was used to and expected. I don’t think a demon would want me praying to God if that’s what some of you might be thinking.
God Knows: Sometimes God orchestrates things. Like once, after feeling a bit left out, I prayed and turned on iTunes radio only to hear the song I’d heard at my first retreat “You Are Not Alone” and be reminded and encouraged. Or the time I wished I had another copy of the same exact Bible I had so I could fix the printing errors in it and I happened to find multiple copies of it to choose from (I examined them all to avoid the same printing errors). I had also been wanting a nicer copy with marked tabs and I found both that day. Though I always checked after, I haven’t seen any since and I don’t remember seeing any before that. And many a time when I’ve heard sermons or come across a Bible passage that directly speaks to what I was just thinking or experiencing. It’s not just “self-confirmation bias” or the “spotlight effect,” but exact matches of right place and right time.
Alive and Well: The following you may not consider miraculous, but things can always go south and these are times they did not and I am thankful that God watched over me. I was not kidnapped by a random guy in the park when I was a child because my dad got to us in time. I met a creepy pedophile once that thankfully did not stalk me even though he was asking creepy stalker questions hoping for another chance to see me or do something worse. I witnessed a shoplifting incident (actually two but I was in no immediate danger with the other) that almost turned into an altercation involving fists, if not worse like a gun (if he’d had one he probably would’ve taken it out) between the guy robbing the store and one of the store employees a couple of feet down from me in a tiny Payless shoe store. When I used to volunteer at the animal shelter, I was once yelled at by a lady under the influence of something (drugs and/or alcohol) from across the street and she thankfully didn’t come after me. Another time I witnessed a drug deal, again making like I was just minding my own business and nothing else came of it.
Dangerous Thugs: My uncle one night had to walk through the street alone with a bag full of money when a gang started following him. He prayed to make it home safely and said he didn’t act afraid and gave them the “eagle eye.” They would have attacked him if not for one of them falsely thinking he was a cop with a gun in his bag and had other cops waiting for him.
He Hears Our Thoughts: One time, I was helping to fundraise for the church youth group by selling some chocolates. I never liked people trying to push products on me, so I did not feel comfortable trying to get people to buy a chocolate. The others also seemed to be uncomfortable. One was trying to lead people over to us, but while I can’t speak for the others, I said nothing. I didn’t ask people to buy them. I just held them up and stood there looking hopeful. Well, I remember thinking, if I could even just sell one, I’d be happy. And right after I thought that, a man came up to me and asked, “How much for a chocolate?” I said, “a dollar,” and after thinking about it a bit he said, “Okay, I’ll take one.” And just like that, I had sold one and it totally was not me. I didn’t coax or even notice him; he came up to me out of the three of us. Maybe I was closest? We were standing together so I doubt that.
Discipline Rod: Speaking of God orchestrating positive things, he can also discipline. I won’t go into the details here (like Paul never described his “thorn in the flesh,” the sin is not important), but let’s just say one time I was doing something that I used to ask His forgiveness for and then somehow, after doing it so much, my attitude had changed and that day I was feeling good, smiled to myself and thought “wow, who would think that a Christian would be doing this?” and then bam! Right there, right after that thought, consequence! Totally convicted, outwardly and inwardly. I rightfully felt guilty and ashamed and no longer prideful of what I had been doing. God does discipline those He loves and while it might not be pleasant in the moment, we know it is for our good and the good of others. I was not thinking of anyone but myself in that moment, and I was wrong and sorry.
Angels Comfort and We Pray: God can sometimes give us supernatural insight through the Holy Spirit. One time, only once in my life, have I experienced this. I was sitting in church when I couldn’t shake the feeling that the lady next to me was weighted down by this black sadness around her, and yet I felt like there was a warmness behind that, covering her. Almost as if an angel were comforting and hugging her in her grief. Sounds crazy, but I prayed for her and whatever she was going through. I only later found out that this person had had someone close to her in the hospital at that time, but luckily they were then doing well.
Intercessory Prayer: Once I went to a workshop on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the speaker was sharing how one time they had been sleeping when they woke up in the middle of the night and had a strong urge to pray. Well, this person said God gave him the gift of intercessory prayer (if you have this gift, your prayers are supposed to be especially powerful for delivering and healing people). However, he said that sometimes God would put it on his heart to pray for people he’d never met and he said he was getting tired of not knowing if his prayers were even making a difference. He wanted to know who he was supposed to be praying for and why. Well, this time when he woke up with yet another urge to pray for a random person, he did pray but he also asked God to show him who he was praying for. This time was particularly intense for him because he felt called to pray for a couple of hours. Well, sometime after, he got a call that his friend had been in the hospital and almost didn’t make it, but at such and such time (forgive me if I don’t remember all the details) the doctors said he was past the point of danger. When he found out, he realized that this was the time he had been praying and the time he had felt it was okay to stop. He said after that he didn’t want to know who he prayed for anymore and just trusted God and prayed.
Sin Opens Doors: Evidence of demons and their influence exists too. Once, I was watching a movie that didn’t stand out to me as particularly sinful. I won’t mention its name as there are worse movies and many people love this one, but there are things about it that allow me to see now why this might happen, besides whatever else I was doing in my life at the time. Well, I was in my room watching on my laptop when I saw a spider on the wall opposite my bed. Then one was on the wall right by my bed and started to crawl behind my curtain which is directly above my bed so I couldn’t see it but couldn’t risk it going onto my bed with me on it. So I went to the bathroom to get some toilet paper to try to find and kill them, but when I got back I didn’t know where they were. Since I couldn’t find them, I decided to go downstairs. When I went to go throw away the toilet paper though, I saw another spider in our upstairs bathroom. I wondered if it was the same one I’d seen on one of my walls before, but that was too fast to be the same one. I went downstairs, only to be scared by a big cockroach I thought was another spider. And then just when I think I’m safe, I see 2 more spiders on the living room wall. This was too weird. And then, one started to crawl toward me, up the wall and onto the ceiling until it was almost over my head. I moved on the couch and when it started to make a web down to where I was sitting, I lost it. I think I had what must have been a panic attack because my vision changed, heart was racing, wasn’t breathing right. I tried calling out to my mom but nothing came out. I just started crying and for some reason it felt like the worst thing ever which could’ve been that “feeling you’re going to die” symptom of panic attacks. But it wasn’t from a lack of breathing, just fear. Totally strange, never had one before or after that, but it’s likely what it was. Anyway, by then I had moved from the couch where the spider had started descending and had moved onto the blue single lazy-boy sofa my dad has. I had awoken my mom, grandma, and brother who came out to see what was wrong. I couldn’t even tell them at first. My mom found some of the spiders and killed them, so I wasn’t hallucinating them. And then I ran into another one right in front of them when I went to blow my nose in the downstairs bathroom because by then I’d been shaken up and had been crying. I called my mom to come look and she came and stepped on it and I was like I told you they’re following me! I didn’t know what was going on at the time, but I now think a demon was behind it. The devil knows what scares us and he just laid it on. 1 or 2 is normal, but that many in such a short time span and going where I went is not normal. Demons can attack even so-called Christians when we open doors for them through our sins, which I had done without realizing it. God can let it happen to open our eyes so we stop sinning.
Angry Demons: Demons can also get angry once you actually start trying to obey God. After I was healed at that first retreat, I had a strange experience. One time I got upset over something small, but it was very weird because my rational mind knew this was something ridiculous to get so upset over. It was an overreaction and I was bombarded with negative thoughts, including more drastic ones that were definitely uncalled for, over something so small. It is the one and only time I remember thinking that it was like it wasn’t coming from me, but outside of me. Like this blackness that suddenly came around me. I believe this is what they refer to as a spiritual attack. Demons can influence our thoughts and feelings, but unless you get possessed, they can’t control us. I decided to pray and as quickly as it had descended upon me, it stopped. It may sound crazy, but it’s not unheard of. Other Christians have gotten similarly attacked when they first started walking with Christ, and some even after. God always triumphs, but they still try.
Nightmares: I used to read Goosebumps, Fear Street, ghost stories, urban legends, and watch horror films. Needless to say, I sometimes had nightmares. I used to like them because of the adrenaline rush and because if I figured out I was just dreaming, I could usually then do something crazy in the dream that was fun, drive or fly away in them, or blink myself awake. The blinking really worked. Well, once I had a nightmare where I couldn’t blink myself awake. No matter how much I tried, it was just not working. So I did something I never had before, and called on the name of Jesus in my dream, like “Jesus! Let me wake up, in the name of Jesus!” and I still kept blinking. And as I blinked myself awake, my half-asleep half-awake eyes seemed to see black demonic figures moving in the shadows and blending into what turned out to be my room’s furniture. Very weird experience, but again, sin opens portals so not that weird. While many nightmares are probably normal products of your imagination as your brain runs through the day’s events, some could be demonically influenced like this one seemed to be.
This blog: God put it on my heart years ago to start one, but I never have until now. I’ve always made excuses that I’m too busy and have tons of things to do, and being a bit of a perfectionist, that I was not ready. Well, finally, I made time and while I still wasn’t fully ready (there’s also the fear that goes along with putting yourself out there), I just went for it and I hope that this work in progress helps somebody and that it was worth it to even just one person out there. I just plant the seeds; God is the one who grows them, so I put everything into His hands.
WORD OF CAUTION
Counterfeit Miracles: There is also such a thing as false miracles. Besides the con artists that don’t actually perform miracles, there are also false prophets who work with demons. And while I had a good experience at my first retreat, one also has to be careful with events like that because not everyone is one of His workers. At one event, I witnessed people fall over when the man blew into the microphone. This was disorganized and not like what I had experienced before. Then he claimed people were sparkling due to the Virgin Mary being present and I couldn’t see anything. I later found stuff about the counterfeit Kundalini spirit which leads to weird jerky movements (kriyas), barking like dogs, acting “drunk” in the spirit which the real Holy Spirit would not do, and I saw things about “gold dust” and other superficial “miracles” that showed that demons can also do supernatural things and they like Satan can appear “as an angel of light” when they’re not. I also once almost went to see a Catholic mystic named Emma de Guzman who was invited to one of the churches I attended (I went to 3 in the area), but saw on YouTube that she did things like painfully pull a rose out of her chest and I couldn’t help but think that this was another deceived person. There are also Eucharistic miracles, but I reserve judgment on those. You shall know them by their fruits is all I will say. You can believe what you want, but there are many testimonies out there of people who came out of occultic or New Age practices after finding the truth and how those “spirits” showed their true colors afterward by turning on them. I used to be interested in the occult, witchcraft, astral projection, psychics, ESP, and so on before I knew how God felt about those things. Word of advice, look up the history and meaning of what you are into, what people were involved, and experiences on both sides (positive and negative) of others before you try or continue what you have chosen to do, to see whether anybody has had negative experiences because you may only have been shown the positives. They are not always worth it.
Back to YouTube: Apart from the powerful “cerebral palsy” healing, it is pretty hard to find what seem like genuine miracles out there but… There was a church that prayed in the Philippines for a tornado to go away and it did (which skeptics will think a coincidence).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDp8nHvCp1o
There was also a baby girl who acts like she saw Jesus (it could’ve been an angel as she could just be repeating the name she hears when they pray). She is so young that, if you know anything about child development and psychology, you will know that it would be pretty hard to fake as at that age they are focused on what’s in front of them and can’t even talk yet, let alone fully comprehend everything around them, and are therefore unable to act or lie yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttNbc58dyw
Mother Theresa Healing: The greatest visible healing miracle I can tell you of is one my dad witnessed. My dad met Mother Theresa once and she prayed over his friend who was in a wheelchair. He’d been in an accident and was basically a vegetable for months. He didn’t recognize anybody and they had to feed him and do everything for him. My dad had asked his friend’s mom for permission to take him to Mother Theresa, and she said yes but wasn’t expecting anything. Well, right in front of Mother Theresa, he regained his mental faculties and was able to walk and talk after she’d prayed over him. My dad also said she had prayed for him first, even though my dad got mad and didn’t want it at the time and told her to pray for his friend. He was left astounded after as was the man’s mom who hadn’t been a real believer before that. My dad’s friend later was then able to dance with my mom at her and my dad’s wedding. There are some controversial things about Mother Theresa I wouldn’t agree with now, but God can still use people even if flawed. I don’t presume to know where she is, but trust God to make the judgment for each and every one of us. The Bible has a part where it says “Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name and did we not perform many miracles?” but Jesus says “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Again, God knows our hearts and while he can still use us for His purposes, we all need to be careful in our walk with God and examine whether we are truly following His ways, or whether we’re doing what we believe to be right in our hearts that will only lead to destruction.
“Cerebral Palsy” Healing: The greatest healing miracle I have witnessed was not in-person, but online. While there are many con-artist wolves in sheep’s clothing out there who are just looking to make money, God does still perform actual miracles. This is not from a televangelist or anything. Many fakes have been exposed. I even saw one actress fake getting “healed” two different times, and if they’re not acting then sometimes they’re nice people duped into thinking they were healed when they weren’t and so on. But do not throw the baby out with the bath water! God does still perform actual miracles! Being pretty skeptical myself with all those false things out there, I can really only think of this ONE that is genuinely convincing. I don’t claim to know what this boy has (there’s different neurological disorders and different causes of the symptoms of the muscle spasms), but many that have posted the video call it cerebral palsy. Either way, pretty hard to fake (and again, I’ve seen fakes too). Just watch and if you have any questions, email me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NpymZ0eCzk&t=18s
My Testimony: The most significant miracle in my life is what my whole testimony is about. Go read it under “About Me” if you’re interested. Skim it if you must, but it all had to be said for you to get a better idea of where I was coming from before and what things were like after. It’s been years since that fateful day and I am forever thankful and am still sometimes brought to tears of joy because of the greatness of God’s mercy and love.
Holy Spirit and Grandma: The first time I felt the Holy Spirit was with my grandma on my dad’s side, but I hadn’t realized it at the time. She just told me to close my eyes and picture Jesus’ wounds. Nothing happened at first, so she told me to try again. I complied without expecting anything out of the ordinary, but she had her hand in front of my forehead and prayed and I felt the warmness and saw brightness under my closed eyes in a similar way to what I experienced at the retreat, but on a smaller scale. That was when I first believed that there may be more to the stories my dad had told me of my grandma being able to heal people that doctors couldn’t and casting demons out of people. I’ve never seen it, but after that day I knew there was something supernatural there after all.
Miracle Baby: Once when one of my aunts was pregnant, the doctors told her she should abort her baby because she and the baby would both be at risk of dying during the pregnancy. She was even put on bed-rest for a while. I remember that my dad said he was with his prayer group at church and they all prayed for her over the phone and my grandma had been praying too among many other people that knew of the situation, myself included. Well, both she and the baby made it out fine (surprising the doctors) and that baby has grown up into one of my healthy little cousins.
Near Death Experience: When another of my aunts was pregnant, her baby died in the womb and she had a near death experience. Her heart stopped and the doctors had pronounced her dead. She said she saw a light and the infamous tunnel and was going toward it when she heard her husband call out to her, telling her not to leave him as he shook her. She said she felt herself go back into her body and that when she came back, she told him she’d been on her way to heaven so why did he call her back?
Power of Prayer: Once, my dad, who used to be an alcoholic (he stopped sometime after my brother was born), said he was going to start drinking church wine again. My mom, brother and I were scared, but especially me. He was stubborn and got in line on Sunday. Before he got there, the chalice ran out and so he got in the next line. We had already taken communion and were kneeling in prayer, but he was in line and then the next cup ran out. They never run out that early if at all. The minister usually has to drink what’s left because it doesn’t run out, and yet early on in the line two chalices ran out with almost half the rows still needing to take communion! I found out after that my family had been praying about it. My brother probably in general. I was praying for anything to stop him, from changing his mind to an earthquake, but something. My mom said she specifically had prayed for them to run out, and right before he got there, they ran out twice! Needless to say, my dad while at first inclined to try again the next Sunday, did end up changing his mind after that.
Late Night Scare: Speaking of moms, they have like supernatural-backing with God, so to speak, and we are to honor our mother and father. It’s one of the commandments. If we do we’ll be blessed, but cursed if we don’t. Well, once when I was in college I happened to be going out late that night to watch a movie or something at a friend’s apartment about a block down from my apartment. I usually don’t go out at night, but we never hung out and it might’ve been our last chance before summer so we decided to do it then. My mom and I happened to be on the phone and I always tell her what I’m doing so I mentioned it, and she was like what, it’s too late to go out. You’re not going. I was like what? But we’re just going to watch something, I’m not going to a party or anything. She’s just down the street and I’m in college now. Blah blah blah. Well, she didn’t want to hear it and got mad and said something to the effect of, “Okay, but if someone in a truck gives you a scare, don’t come crying to me” and hung up. I didn’t think anything of it and thought she worried too much and I’d apologize later. Well, I ended up staying over way later than I’d intended. We were talking and since it was still dark she walked me back part of the way. It was already 5 in the morning and we were still talking outside near the front corner of my apartments (I lived at the back end) because it was also close to her place. Then, some truck pulls up in front near us while we’re still talking, and I just notice it looks like there is a TV or something in the back and the driver was bald and looked like he was older in his 30s or 40s and had gloves on… Just as I’m getting a weird feeling, they pull away from the curb and I think okay maybe they’re leaving. Then they start to slowly circle around the roundabout and come back around and we were like oh shoot, what do we do? My place was closer, but instead of walking on the street we went another way and quickly headed towards the middle of my apartment complex. At that point, we ran to my place. We could still hear the motor of the truck cruising up and down the street. It was all very weird. My friend thought it was funny and an adventure. I wasn’t laughing. She’d thought they were going to ask for directions at first. I was like are you kidding? Some shady-looking people at 5 o’clock in the morning? They probably thought we were drunk college students coming from a party and would’ve kidnapped us! Two girls with no one else around and two of them? They could easily over-power us. The television or whatever was probably stolen. They did not look like college students and for all we know, could’ve been deciding on raping or killing us. Who knows! What were they doing cruising back and forth along that street at that time if not looking for us to see if we popped out? It was all surreal and like a living horror film, but my friend seemed to be having fun. She left maybe 2 hours later around 7 just to be on the safe side. We heard the truck for a while and didn’t want to risk it still being out there without other people around. I told my mom about it after and now I take what she says more seriously. Exactly what she said happened, somebody in a truck gave us a scare. It was crazy. She knows nobody up there she could’ve called to scare us (not that my mom would ever do that, she’s not the type), and for it to happen at exactly the time we happened to be outside? We didn’t plan on even being up so late, but since we’d started to hang out late then it carried into the morning to an un-planned hour.
Message from God: Once, I was upset with my dad over some small thing again. It was always little things blown way out of proportion with us. Anyway, I was so upset I couldn’t think of anything but to pray the Our Father and basically ask God what to do. I’d been contemplating whether it wouldn’t be better to try to distance myself from him emotionally so as not to get hurt again, and even go as far as to start calling him “sir” instead of “dad.” As I went through it, something happened that only happened that one time and has never happened again. As I got to “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” that part literally got highlighted in my brain. I have never heard the “voice” of God like some people claim, but clear as day God responded by highlighting these words in my brain. It broke through my consciousness and then I wasn’t upset but grateful because I knew that I had to forgive him just like God had forgiven me. It was like God was like “DUH, are you actually listening to the words you are praying?” He emphasized it for me in a way I will never forget. He’d helped me to forgive before and He did it again and got the message through my thick head loud and clear. FORGIVE. 70 times 7.
Voice of God: I learned of someone’s conversion story after their death. I hadn’t even known they weren’t Christian before. It was a very nice lady I met through work who otherwise was not out of the ordinary. She started attending church after bringing her kids to a summer camp there, but they didn’t believe yet. She even talked to the pastor and let him know this. He told her to ask God to show her. Well one day, she was driving and basically did what the pastor said and I forget exactly what she said but she asked Him if he was real to show her. And she apparently for the only time in her life heard a literal voice that said her name and then said, “Don’t you know how much I love you?” That’s like Paul on the road to Damascus hearing Jesus say “why are you persecuting me?” Well, she was convinced and believed right then and there, and got baptized pretty soon after that. God gives us each what we need.
Pray for Others: Once, my housemate’s parrot all of a sudden took flight from the kitchen through the living room and hit the sliding glass door. HARD. It looked like he had hit the glass head-first. My housemate dashed over and after I got over my shock, when I headed over, I saw they were holding him in their hands, with his head lolled to the side. For all intents and purposes, he looked like he was dying. Unfortunately, I’d seen and held a dying bird before that (actually 2 now) and if he wasn’t dead already, that’s where it looked like he was headed. One of my other housemates came out of her room to ask what the noise was. I told her, and then we gave our housemate some privacy and I left for work. I cried as I prayed in the car though, to please not take away their bird. They may not be a believer, but nobody deserves to lose their pet like that. I know how much they love each other. Please, don’t let him die. I was afraid of what I would find after work, an empty cage and a sad house. But the parrot was alive and had only broken his wing. Believe what you will, but I think it’s a miracle and thank God that he lived that day.
Poltergeist Activity: After her husband died, my mom was over at my neighbor’s house one day when all of a sudden a door upstairs slammed, hard. The window was not open so it wasn’t the wind, and nobody else was home. This is an elderly widow who lives alone now. My mom hates even talking about demons or the devil, so for that to happen in her presence scared her. That was when my neighbor confessed to her that things like that had been happening that she didn’t do and that she’d been hearing her husband’s voice asking why she wasn’t with him and whatnot. I think it was a demon tricking her into thinking it was her husband and maybe wanting her to kill herself, because our spirits either end up in heaven or hell and even if it was on earth that is a very strange request and why would they be bothering you with poltergeist activity like that? As far as I know, I think that activity stopped.
Something Unholy: They say that animals have a 6th sense that humans don’t have. I think this is true. That’s how dogs have miraculously detected cancer and things before their owners knew. Well, 2 of our dogs showed this weird “spidey-sense” that we couldn’t explain in our first house (we had lived in apartments and rented previously). For some reason, they were afraid to be in the garage. Both of them would tuck their tail between their legs, put their ears back, their fur literally stood on end, and they’d be skittish and beg to go back inside. At first I thought maybe there was an animal in there (though they usually chased or pursued them to smell them). Nothing. It wasn’t the weather. Maybe they just didn’t like garages? But I tested that out at our next house and they were perfectly fine in that garage! Our third house too. And we even had a mouse in our third garage once and they definitely were interested in that smell! My first dog only ever showed that kind of fear at the vet’s office (she was the one that got spayed, we didn’t do it for our second one), and when there she did not have her hair stand up. The only other time I saw my first dog’s hair stand up was when she was growling at something once. I didn’t see anything outside the window, so I thought maybe it was behind a pet bed we had that was designed for cats (it had a little roof on it). I was about to move it when she snapped at me as if to bite me. When I pulled my hand away, surprised by her strong reaction (normally she never snapped at us), I peeked inside and saw there was a wolf spider on the underside of that pet bed’s roof! She had stopped me from putting my hand in there! Those things are like mini tarantulas! Anyway, back to the first house’s garage. My mom said she got a weird feeling in there too. I never did. But she learned from a neighbor that someone had died on our street corner (our house was by the corner next to some apartments) and she decided to put holy water in the garage. There was also a picture of the Virgen de Guadalupe drawn in pencil on the back of the garage door from the previous owners (whether anyone thinks that contributed in any way, I’m not Catholic anymore). Anyway, none of that made a difference to my dogs. They NEVER liked being in that garage and we never could explain why except that maybe it had something to do with that death nearby? Likely indicates demons again, but definitely strange.
Spared from Losing Consciousness: Two different times I almost fainted in public. The closest I came was the time when I hadn’t eaten anything before biking to church. I’d been fine up until we stood up again and then all of a sudden I felt sick like I was going to throw up, my vision turned to black and white instead of color, and my hearing got muffled so that the priest sounded far away. I only confirmed my suspicions after when I Googled symptoms of fainting, but I prayed not in the middle of church. I didn’t want to cause a scene or have anybody call an ambulance or anything and I thought just let me get to some water. I didn’t trust myself to speak, but it was time to shake hands with people and say “peace be with you.” I shook the person’s hand next to me and tried to smile before heading out of the pew and towards the back of the church where there had to be a water fountain. I drank it and shakily made it back to my seat as my vision and hearing went back to normal with nobody any the wiser. The other time it was due to heat and lack of food so I bought myself a churro and drank some water and was fine after. I’m not anorexic (nor bulimic), just didn’t always have time to eat back in college when I’d just wake up and go to class or to church.
Not a Pancake: Once I was driving and a trailer started to change into my lane. There was construction going on in the freeway at the time so there was no shoulder and just a middle concrete divider between lanes. I don’t know how in space or time this was possible, but the trailer did not squash my car. I somehow had enough space and time to honk and slow down to go behind the trailer while the trailer went back into their original lane. I could’ve been squashed in between the wall and the trailer, but somehow wasn’t. It all happened in a weird slow-motion and I can’t explain how there was enough space for both of us in that lane with no shoulder.
Close Call: Another time, my light was green and I slowly started forward only to have to hit the brakes when a crazy truck sped right in front of me through a red light. They were coming from my left, so if I’d been just a little bit ahead I would’ve gotten creamed on my side of the car. At the speed that truck was going, my little car didn’t stand a chance and I’d likely be hurt big-time if not dead. The truck didn’t even slow down and just sped on through as if nobody else was there and they hadn’t almost just hit me.
Near Break-In: One night, somebody tried to break into our house. Only my brother and I were home when there was this big thwack downstairs and then something that sounded like a bunch of buzzing bees. Someone had hit our sliding glass door with something and the sound was the glass cracking. It kept cracking, but luckily never completely shattered. I called the police, but of course by the time they got there to go look, nobody was there. Who would stick around?
Apparition: I have this memory from when I was 7 that some of you will think was a dream (believe me, I questioned this myself), but I think it’s an actual memory. Could I swear to you that it is? No, but my heart tells me it is. Once when I was 7, I was on the couch in my living room praying as I sometimes did. Only this time, I wondered if anyone was actually listening and so I prayed that if they were, then to show me. I wanted to see. I saw Jesus appear like he looked in the picture Bible I had, from the waist up, look at me and smile, and then fade away… I was stunned, and still remember my mom in the kitchen in the background as I sat there in awe. Let me just say that sometimes people have said they’ve seen Jesus in dreams, and I haven’t even seen that. This is my only experience ever seeing him. I also think that the pictures we see of him are probably not what he actually looks like, but he probably appeared in that way because that’s the image I was used to and expected. I don’t think a demon would want me praying to God if that’s what some of you might be thinking.
God Knows: Sometimes God orchestrates things. Like once, after feeling a bit left out, I prayed and turned on iTunes radio only to hear the song I’d heard at my first retreat “You Are Not Alone” and be reminded and encouraged. Or the time I wished I had another copy of the same exact Bible I had so I could fix the printing errors in it and I happened to find multiple copies of it to choose from (I examined them all to avoid the same printing errors). I had also been wanting a nicer copy with marked tabs and I found both that day. Though I always checked after, I haven’t seen any since and I don’t remember seeing any before that. And many a time when I’ve heard sermons or come across a Bible passage that directly speaks to what I was just thinking or experiencing. It’s not just “self-confirmation bias” or the “spotlight effect,” but exact matches of right place and right time.
Alive and Well: The following you may not consider miraculous, but things can always go south and these are times they did not and I am thankful that God watched over me. I was not kidnapped by a random guy in the park when I was a child because my dad got to us in time. I met a creepy pedophile once that thankfully did not stalk me even though he was asking creepy stalker questions hoping for another chance to see me or do something worse. I witnessed a shoplifting incident (actually two but I was in no immediate danger with the other) that almost turned into an altercation involving fists, if not worse like a gun (if he’d had one he probably would’ve taken it out) between the guy robbing the store and one of the store employees a couple of feet down from me in a tiny Payless shoe store. When I used to volunteer at the animal shelter, I was once yelled at by a lady under the influence of something (drugs and/or alcohol) from across the street and she thankfully didn’t come after me. Another time I witnessed a drug deal, again making like I was just minding my own business and nothing else came of it.
Dangerous Thugs: My uncle one night had to walk through the street alone with a bag full of money when a gang started following him. He prayed to make it home safely and said he didn’t act afraid and gave them the “eagle eye.” They would have attacked him if not for one of them falsely thinking he was a cop with a gun in his bag and had other cops waiting for him.
He Hears Our Thoughts: One time, I was helping to fundraise for the church youth group by selling some chocolates. I never liked people trying to push products on me, so I did not feel comfortable trying to get people to buy a chocolate. The others also seemed to be uncomfortable. One was trying to lead people over to us, but while I can’t speak for the others, I said nothing. I didn’t ask people to buy them. I just held them up and stood there looking hopeful. Well, I remember thinking, if I could even just sell one, I’d be happy. And right after I thought that, a man came up to me and asked, “How much for a chocolate?” I said, “a dollar,” and after thinking about it a bit he said, “Okay, I’ll take one.” And just like that, I had sold one and it totally was not me. I didn’t coax or even notice him; he came up to me out of the three of us. Maybe I was closest? We were standing together so I doubt that.
Discipline Rod: Speaking of God orchestrating positive things, he can also discipline. I won’t go into the details here (like Paul never described his “thorn in the flesh,” the sin is not important), but let’s just say one time I was doing something that I used to ask His forgiveness for and then somehow, after doing it so much, my attitude had changed and that day I was feeling good, smiled to myself and thought “wow, who would think that a Christian would be doing this?” and then bam! Right there, right after that thought, consequence! Totally convicted, outwardly and inwardly. I rightfully felt guilty and ashamed and no longer prideful of what I had been doing. God does discipline those He loves and while it might not be pleasant in the moment, we know it is for our good and the good of others. I was not thinking of anyone but myself in that moment, and I was wrong and sorry.
Angels Comfort and We Pray: God can sometimes give us supernatural insight through the Holy Spirit. One time, only once in my life, have I experienced this. I was sitting in church when I couldn’t shake the feeling that the lady next to me was weighted down by this black sadness around her, and yet I felt like there was a warmness behind that, covering her. Almost as if an angel were comforting and hugging her in her grief. Sounds crazy, but I prayed for her and whatever she was going through. I only later found out that this person had had someone close to her in the hospital at that time, but luckily they were then doing well.
Intercessory Prayer: Once I went to a workshop on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the speaker was sharing how one time they had been sleeping when they woke up in the middle of the night and had a strong urge to pray. Well, this person said God gave him the gift of intercessory prayer (if you have this gift, your prayers are supposed to be especially powerful for delivering and healing people). However, he said that sometimes God would put it on his heart to pray for people he’d never met and he said he was getting tired of not knowing if his prayers were even making a difference. He wanted to know who he was supposed to be praying for and why. Well, this time when he woke up with yet another urge to pray for a random person, he did pray but he also asked God to show him who he was praying for. This time was particularly intense for him because he felt called to pray for a couple of hours. Well, sometime after, he got a call that his friend had been in the hospital and almost didn’t make it, but at such and such time (forgive me if I don’t remember all the details) the doctors said he was past the point of danger. When he found out, he realized that this was the time he had been praying and the time he had felt it was okay to stop. He said after that he didn’t want to know who he prayed for anymore and just trusted God and prayed.
Sin Opens Doors: Evidence of demons and their influence exists too. Once, I was watching a movie that didn’t stand out to me as particularly sinful. I won’t mention its name as there are worse movies and many people love this one, but there are things about it that allow me to see now why this might happen, besides whatever else I was doing in my life at the time. Well, I was in my room watching on my laptop when I saw a spider on the wall opposite my bed. Then one was on the wall right by my bed and started to crawl behind my curtain which is directly above my bed so I couldn’t see it but couldn’t risk it going onto my bed with me on it. So I went to the bathroom to get some toilet paper to try to find and kill them, but when I got back I didn’t know where they were. Since I couldn’t find them, I decided to go downstairs. When I went to go throw away the toilet paper though, I saw another spider in our upstairs bathroom. I wondered if it was the same one I’d seen on one of my walls before, but that was too fast to be the same one. I went downstairs, only to be scared by a big cockroach I thought was another spider. And then just when I think I’m safe, I see 2 more spiders on the living room wall. This was too weird. And then, one started to crawl toward me, up the wall and onto the ceiling until it was almost over my head. I moved on the couch and when it started to make a web down to where I was sitting, I lost it. I think I had what must have been a panic attack because my vision changed, heart was racing, wasn’t breathing right. I tried calling out to my mom but nothing came out. I just started crying and for some reason it felt like the worst thing ever which could’ve been that “feeling you’re going to die” symptom of panic attacks. But it wasn’t from a lack of breathing, just fear. Totally strange, never had one before or after that, but it’s likely what it was. Anyway, by then I had moved from the couch where the spider had started descending and had moved onto the blue single lazy-boy sofa my dad has. I had awoken my mom, grandma, and brother who came out to see what was wrong. I couldn’t even tell them at first. My mom found some of the spiders and killed them, so I wasn’t hallucinating them. And then I ran into another one right in front of them when I went to blow my nose in the downstairs bathroom because by then I’d been shaken up and had been crying. I called my mom to come look and she came and stepped on it and I was like I told you they’re following me! I didn’t know what was going on at the time, but I now think a demon was behind it. The devil knows what scares us and he just laid it on. 1 or 2 is normal, but that many in such a short time span and going where I went is not normal. Demons can attack even so-called Christians when we open doors for them through our sins, which I had done without realizing it. God can let it happen to open our eyes so we stop sinning.
Angry Demons: Demons can also get angry once you actually start trying to obey God. After I was healed at that first retreat, I had a strange experience. One time I got upset over something small, but it was very weird because my rational mind knew this was something ridiculous to get so upset over. It was an overreaction and I was bombarded with negative thoughts, including more drastic ones that were definitely uncalled for, over something so small. It is the one and only time I remember thinking that it was like it wasn’t coming from me, but outside of me. Like this blackness that suddenly came around me. I believe this is what they refer to as a spiritual attack. Demons can influence our thoughts and feelings, but unless you get possessed, they can’t control us. I decided to pray and as quickly as it had descended upon me, it stopped. It may sound crazy, but it’s not unheard of. Other Christians have gotten similarly attacked when they first started walking with Christ, and some even after. God always triumphs, but they still try.
Nightmares: I used to read Goosebumps, Fear Street, ghost stories, urban legends, and watch horror films. Needless to say, I sometimes had nightmares. I used to like them because of the adrenaline rush and because if I figured out I was just dreaming, I could usually then do something crazy in the dream that was fun, drive or fly away in them, or blink myself awake. The blinking really worked. Well, once I had a nightmare where I couldn’t blink myself awake. No matter how much I tried, it was just not working. So I did something I never had before, and called on the name of Jesus in my dream, like “Jesus! Let me wake up, in the name of Jesus!” and I still kept blinking. And as I blinked myself awake, my half-asleep half-awake eyes seemed to see black demonic figures moving in the shadows and blending into what turned out to be my room’s furniture. Very weird experience, but again, sin opens portals so not that weird. While many nightmares are probably normal products of your imagination as your brain runs through the day’s events, some could be demonically influenced like this one seemed to be.
This blog: God put it on my heart years ago to start one, but I never have until now. I’ve always made excuses that I’m too busy and have tons of things to do, and being a bit of a perfectionist, that I was not ready. Well, finally, I made time and while I still wasn’t fully ready (there’s also the fear that goes along with putting yourself out there), I just went for it and I hope that this work in progress helps somebody and that it was worth it to even just one person out there. I just plant the seeds; God is the one who grows them, so I put everything into His hands.
WORD OF CAUTION
Counterfeit Miracles: There is also such a thing as false miracles. Besides the con artists that don’t actually perform miracles, there are also false prophets who work with demons. And while I had a good experience at my first retreat, one also has to be careful with events like that because not everyone is one of His workers. At one event, I witnessed people fall over when the man blew into the microphone. This was disorganized and not like what I had experienced before. Then he claimed people were sparkling due to the Virgin Mary being present and I couldn’t see anything. I later found stuff about the counterfeit Kundalini spirit which leads to weird jerky movements (kriyas), barking like dogs, acting “drunk” in the spirit which the real Holy Spirit would not do, and I saw things about “gold dust” and other superficial “miracles” that showed that demons can also do supernatural things and they like Satan can appear “as an angel of light” when they’re not. I also once almost went to see a Catholic mystic named Emma de Guzman who was invited to one of the churches I attended (I went to 3 in the area), but saw on YouTube that she did things like painfully pull a rose out of her chest and I couldn’t help but think that this was another deceived person. There are also Eucharistic miracles, but I reserve judgment on those. You shall know them by their fruits is all I will say. You can believe what you want, but there are many testimonies out there of people who came out of occultic or New Age practices after finding the truth and how those “spirits” showed their true colors afterward by turning on them. I used to be interested in the occult, witchcraft, astral projection, psychics, ESP, and so on before I knew how God felt about those things. Word of advice, look up the history and meaning of what you are into, what people were involved, and experiences on both sides (positive and negative) of others before you try or continue what you have chosen to do, to see whether anybody has had negative experiences because you may only have been shown the positives. They are not always worth it.
Back to YouTube: Apart from the powerful “cerebral palsy” healing, it is pretty hard to find what seem like genuine miracles out there but… There was a church that prayed in the Philippines for a tornado to go away and it did (which skeptics will think a coincidence).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDp8nHvCp1o
There was also a baby girl who acts like she saw Jesus (it could’ve been an angel as she could just be repeating the name she hears when they pray). She is so young that, if you know anything about child development and psychology, you will know that it would be pretty hard to fake as at that age they are focused on what’s in front of them and can’t even talk yet, let alone fully comprehend everything around them, and are therefore unable to act or lie yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttNbc58dyw