The River That Flows From The Throne of God
In my previous article, “All Things Have Become New,” I mentioned that the Lord had placed on my heart to share some personal experiences I've had particularly in the early days of giving my heart to Jesus. Once again, the point is not to show how spiritual I am or to impress anyone. The point is to show if God can move in my life the way He did and has, He can move in anyone's life in the same manner. Perhaps not in the exact same manner, but at the very least in similar ways.
In March of 1976 I decided to start going to a church that several aunts, uncles and cousins of mine went to. The church was located in a town called Dix Hills in Long Island, New York. It was about a forty-five minute drive from where I lived in Merrick, Long Island, New York. When I went to the church my mother wanted to go also, so off we went.
The first Sunday that I went there, I felt glad to be back in a church. It was a traditional church as I remembered how church was when I was a little boy. By traditional I mean that during worship several hymns were song, offering was taken, announcements were given and the pastor gave his message. By using the word, traditional I'm not trying to be disparaging.
The people were friendly enough. The pastor seemed to be a sincere man. He somewhat resembled evangelist Billy Graham. I can't be the judge of whether that was intentional or not because I did not know the man.
I went to the church for three more weeks. Each week the if felt like there wasn't enough. That is the only way I could describe the feeling (for lack of a better way of putting it) at the time. Even with several of my relatives who attended the church, I felt like there was something missing.
By the fourth week, I actually found myself inside my heart saying, “There's got to be more to God than this.” It almost surprised me that I thought that. After all, as I mentioned earlier, this was the type of church I attended as a young boy, until I was about ten or eleven years old.
I want to be clear that I'm not trying to be disparaging here. I am just sharing what was going on in my heart at the time. I know numerous people from traditional churches who have been good friends. At any rate I stopped going to the church.
In late April, the fellow that God used to instrumentally in my salvation, Ed one day invited me to a church service at a place called Pinecrest, in Stony Brook, Long Island. At first I didn't want to go because I was working on a film project for one of my film classes. However, I eventually agreed to go.
As the day was approaching to go to the church, I kept asking Ed what was going to go on at the church. I was afraid that if they saw a new comer they would ask me to stand and have me tell who I am among other things. Although I was a film major in college, and had a desire to act, write and direct, I did not like being the center of attention. I didn't mind acting in front of people, but I was very uncomfortable with being the center of attention as me, particularly if I didn't know the person or people. Once I got to know a person or people, then I didn't mind. Ed would just tell me there would be singing, a few people might share a few things and someone would give a message. Somehow, I had the feeling Ed was holding out on me. I kept asking him from time to time what would go on at church, and he would just tell me the same thing.
Finally the night came. It was a Friday night. That night I met a lady named Helen who was about in her sixties. I also met another friend of Ed's named Amy, who was about mine and Ed's age.
Stony Brook was about an hour from where we left Ed's house in a town called Hicksville. When we arrived, we got out of Helen's car and approached the doors of the church. I could hear the music coming from the inside. It was not blasting loud but it was lively. When we got inside there were people on a platform playing guitars, drums, piano and a few of the brass instruments. The atmosphere was upbeat and alive. It was not just an emotional pump. It was very, very real. I never experienced anything, to that point, in my life. There was genuine joy on all the people's faces as they praised and worshiped the Lord. Before I knew it, I thought to myself, “Wow, this is how church oughta be!!”
I did not know any of the songs, as I had never heard songs like what they were playing before. I started clapping and stomping my feet to the rhythm of the music. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the shocked look on Ed's face. His eyes literally were bulging out and his chin hit the floor. I later found out that when I would ask Ed what was going on to go on in the church meeting, he down played it because he was somewhat afraid that once I got into the church I might run out thinking everyone was crazy. I was still rather rough around the edges.
The astounding thing was that under the direction of no one, simultaneously the music and the people got softer and more quite. The people were worshiping in a very quite way all together. There was a guy standing behind me praying in what sounded like Hebrew to me. I thought that because Long Island had a significant population of Jewish people. I thought to myself, “Oh no, don't tell me I have to learn Hebrew to be a Christian. I barely master the English language.” Other than that I had not felt so alive within myself in my entire life until that night.
The next day, I met Ed on our college campus and he brought Stephanie and Andrea whom I previously had met. They were visiting me as I was working on the post production of a film Ed and I had made together.
Ed asked me about what did I think about the church service the night before. I told him that I really enjoyed it. He then asked me what was I thinking when I heard the guy behind me praying the way that he did. I said to Ed, “I was thinking, do I have to learn Hebrew to be a Christian?” With that, Ed, Stephanie and Andrea burst out laughing. They weren't laughing at me, they just thought it was funny.
Andrea and Stephanie tried to explain why the guy was praying like that, but it was going right over my head. Ed could see that I was puzzled, so he said to the girls, “Maybe we'll talk about it another time.”
About a few weeks after that, Ed asked me if I wanted to go with him and some other friends to a place way out east on Long Island called Wading River. The Spring Semester was rapidly coming to an end, so it was crunch time for me to get the film completed. Once again I said I couldn't because of needing to work on the film. Ed just said to know that if I changed my mind to let him know because the invitation was open.
A few days later, when I went to bed for the night, I thought of Ed's invitation. I had the novel idea to pray about it. The Lord spoke to my heart and I needed a break from work at my job which was a movie rental business and from the work I was doing on my film project. He then spoke to my heart and said I would meet my wife that day.
On Saturday, May 8th 1976 I met three of my dearest friends. Frank, Deborah and Mary. Deborah and Mary were best friends. Three years later Deborah and I would be joined together as husband and wife. However, I was on the wrong track. I was actually attracted to Deborah's best friend, Mary at first.
As we drove from Hicksville to Wading River, which took about as long as it would take to go to Stony Brook, Frank and I hit it off because I was a film major and he also had a desire to act. Then, he asked me if I were baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit. He started to read out of Acts chapter 2. Frank did not get far because once again, what he was talking about went over my head. Ed then said to Frank, “We'll talk about it another time.”
When we got to Wading River we met another friend of Ed's named Mike. He lived near the shore of Wading River where there was a bay. We hung out at the bay visiting, talking. Eventually we wound up going to a Chinese restaurant. Everyone ordered something Chinese. At that time I did not like Chinese food so I had Fried Chicken (Now I love Chinese food).
While we were eating, Deborah was sitting next to me. Suddenly she looked up at me and said, “I feel like you're going to be a real blessing. I can tell.” Little did we know the significance of what she said.
Ed, Mary and Frank invited me to a home fellowship meeting for the following Sunday night. It was May 16th, the hosts were Bob and Sharon. They were in their early thirties and had two sons. They lived in Melville, Long Island New York. When you entered into their house through the front door, you had the living room, next was the dining room and then the kitchen. The entire house was shaped like the house I grew up in Merrick. The house was packed. The living and dining rooms were so packed it was practically standing room only.
After the singing of praise and worship songs from the Bible, an African-American man stood up. He and his wife brought their six children with them. They were from Brooklyn, New York. He asked if everyone would lay hands on his six children and pray for them to receive the baptism of the power of the Holy Spirit. When he had asked that, Frank and I were sitting on the floor at the back of the dining room, with our backs up against the wall. Frank looked at me and asked, “Do you want prayer for the baptism of the power of the Holy Spirit.” I looked and saw everyone in the house converge on the six children to pray for them. Everything in me desired to resist, but to my surprise a “Yes” squeaked out of my mouth. I couldn't believe I said that.
Frank and I arose from where we sat. We went to the center of the living room where everyone had was about to pray for the children of the African-American family. Frank indicated to everyone to include myself to be prayed for.
I bowed my head and closed my eyes. People laid their hands on me (as well as the children) and began to pray. No one coached me. No one tried to influence me to try to speak in tongues. They just prayed.
As we prayed I started to sway gently back and forth. I raised my head but my eyes were closed. I then had a vision of a gigantic white throne. A powerful, forceful river flowed from the seat of the throne. The river flowed onto me. It forced me to lean backwards. I felt some hands gently on me in case I leaned so far back that I would fall over. There was no pressure from anyone's hands. The only pressure I felt was from that river that was flowing from the throne. The force of it kept me bending back, back, back. Eventually, I began to pray in a heavenly language. I never did hard drugs that caused hallucinations. This vision was so real. I was simultaneously away of being in the living room and aware of standing before this magnificent white throne.
When the vision ended and the praying was finished, I was intoxicated with joy. It was like a happy drunk only pure and clean. I was laughing and hugging everyone in sight. I especially hugged Frank. Seeing how I was a good fifty pounds heavier than he, I nearly squeezed the life out of him. However, Frank was so happy for me, he didn't mind.
Three things happened to me that I did not know would happen. I did not know they were even in the Bible. First of all, I never heard the expression, “The river that flows from the throne of God,” to that point. Although I went to Sunday School as a little boy, that statement was never mentioned. We only heard stories from the Bible like David and Goliath, the flood, Jesus and His disciples. As I mentioned, I did not know it was even in the Bible. That description is in Revelation 22:1 which says, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
Secondly, I began to pray in a heavenly/spiritual language. I did not know this would be one of the results of being baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit. I also did not know this was spoke of in scripture. The references to this are in Acts 2:2-4, Acts 10:44-46, Acts 19:2-6.
Lastly, I was intoxicated with joy that I never felt before. The happy drunk. I did not know this would be a result of being baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit, and again, did not know it was in the Bible as well. This is found in Acts 2:13-17. If anyone is going to try and convince me this isn't real, they would be 47 years too late.
I do not think this coincidental I'm sharing this at this time. Revival is beginning to break out in our nation. Several Christian and even secular college campuses have been breaking out in revival since early February. It has been spreading ever since. Unfortunately there are many skeptics, mostly Christian teachers that have been saying that this is emotionalism or concerned about what is being done. Some are even saying this isn't what revival looks like or this is not of God.
All I know is that all of the testimonies have been that people, young people especially, are confessing sin, praying for one another, glorifying God for what He is doing in their lives, spending hours in prayer and worship and praise, sharing Scripture verses to edify one another. Sounds like revival to me. Sounds like it's of God to me. There are always skeptics.
I would caution these skeptics (the Christian ones, especially the known teachers) to be cautious with saying this isn't revival and cannot be of God. The reason being is that when Jesus came on the scene, He did things that the people of that time never saw done before. He spoke things about the Scriptures that had never been heard of before by the “experts” of His day. And when the church was birthed in the book of Acts, the Church did things that were never seen or heard of before, and it was all God.
Again, I share my experience not to show that I'm someone special or more spiritual than anyone else. I am who I am and what I am by the grace of God, not of my own doing. What God has done for me, He will do for anyone. We all have been given gifts from God that are not of ourselves. And those gifts are a privilege given to us to be used to bring glory and honor to our heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Amen.
Love and God bless, Pastor Paul.