I recently confirmed personally with Vincent that he has had another encounter, this time with an unnamed angel, on Thursday, December 23, 1993. Like the above, the following is an accurate record of exactly what happened and words exchanged.
Two Significant Prior Events. There are two events that have a bearing on this one. First, in July, 1993, Vincent had a dream. He saw himself standing at the door of a big room. He saw many candles, but not all of them were lit. He asked himself in the dream why the unlit candles. Then he heard a sad voice behind him saying, "If only all of them were lit." He turned around but didn't see anyone. A week later he had the exact same dream. Vincent shared the dreams in
his Bible study and said he hoped someday the Lord would show him the meaning of the dreams.
The December 23, 1993 Experience. Shortly after 11 p.m., December 23, 1993, Vincent was in his truck returning home from visiting a friend near Chattanooga. About four miles away from the friend's home, he saw a truck alongside the road with its hood up and with an old man, estimated at about age 75, standing in front of it. Vincent was always wary of stopping for strangers, and believed one must really be led of the Lord in order to do so. He felt he should stop. He walked up to the man and asked if anything was wrong, to which the man replied that he a dead battery. Vincent asked if he could help in any way. The man asked that Vincent go get his jumper cable out of the truck. Vincent was surprised that he said this, as if knowing that Vincent had a jumper cable, especially since he had only recently obtained one. Vincent himself had
forgotten that he had the cable, but when the old man told him about it he remembered. It was very dark and Vincent had to use his flashlight to see to connect his end of the cable. Then he turned around to discover that the man had already connected his end, even in the dark and with no flashlight. That seemed impossible, and startled Vincent.
Vincent said, "I need to do something first." The man looked at him and said, "I did it already." Vincent said, "Did what?" The man said, "I placed the bricks by your tires. That's what you want, isn't it?" The man had no way of knowing that Vincent had two bricks in his truck or that he wanted to block his tires with them because he didn't trust his hand brake and because the gear would have to be in neutral to start the other truck. Vincent checked and discovered that the man had placed the bricks behind the exact same tires that Vincent wanted. At this point, Vincent was convinced that this
was not a natural person. And after the experience in March, Vincent had decided that if the Lord ever gave him the privilege of another encounter with an angel, he had many questions he wanted to ask. But he had a sudden feeling come over him and some force caused his mouth to be kept shut. He was not able to say anything except to respond to whatever the old man wanted or said.
Vincent was now ready to start the truck, and the old man said, "Can we wait in your truck and have my truck charged up?" Vincent agreed and they sat in his truck. The old man spoke first and said, "Can we pray? God can work miracles -- even start a car with a coat hanger." (The previous incident with the coat hanger job was a car and not a truck!) At this, Vincent said to himself that this stranger must be an angel!
The old man prayed: "Oh most holy and powerful God in heaven, we know you are coming very, very soon. Help us now in your
own time and way. In Jesus' Name. Amen." Vincent said the man's voice was so powerful and assuring that it sent chills through him. After the prayer the man asked Vincent, "Do you believe the Lord is coming soon?" Vincent said yes. Then the man said, "He is coming very, very soon, and we need to be ready now and always." Then he said, "Can I use your Bible?" Vincent agreed, then without any word from Vincent the man reached into the glove compartment for the Bible, already knowing where it was located.
The man asked Vincent, "Do you read your Bible.?" Vincent replied that he tried to read it every day. The man said, "That's very good. It's unfortunate that many do not do that. Having Bible studies is like being in a big room with many candles that are lit." Vincent knew he had God's answer about his dreams six months earlier. The unlit candles meant many people were not spending time studying God's
Word! Now Vincent had absolutely no doubt that this was an angel.
It was very dark, but the man took Vincent's King James Bible and, without searching, flipped immediately to the exact page, to Matthew, chapter 24. Then Vincent shined the flashlight on the page as the man read verse 36: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." He then jumped down to verse 42: "Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."
Then again, as if knowing exactly where the page was, without searching he flipped to John, chapter 14, and read verses 1-3: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
Then again,
he amazingly flipped directly to Revelation 3, verse 11, and read: "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." With that, the man put the Bible back in the glove compartment. Vincent reflected that all three passages, and everything the man said, was about the Lord's return.
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Its time to get into the Word big time, for we could be going home next week.
Ola