I was born and raised in Red Deer, Alta. In 1969 I went to Ottawa to take a radio operators course. I was living for our Lord at that time, but I had started to fall away from our Lord later that summer. Ottawa was unbelievably hot and humid in the summers. A few of my fellow classmates started to go for a cold beer each day after our classes and asked me if I would like to join them. That was the beginning of my downfall. It wasn’t long before one beer led to two beers, then three and so on. By the time I had left Ottawa, I had fallen away from our Lord completely, much to Satan’s delight I suppose.
After completing the course, I was stationed in Mayo, Yukon. It seemed like every activity in the Yukon involved alcohol in one way or another. In Mayo, in those days, the Chateau Mayo Hotel, was the main center for almost all activities. So of course, alcohol was usually involved in everything that took place there. It is a well known fact that the Yukon has the highest consumption of alcohol per capita in all of Canada. It was so easy to fall into the habit of having a few drinks daily, and eventually almost becoming an alcoholic without even thinking of the consequences. It even seemed like when a person moved somewhere, the drinking habit would follow along side. Finally, one day which was April 10th, 2010, I poured myself a drink and looking at it, I asked myself when was the last day was when I didn’t have a drink. I couldn’t remember, so I poured every drop of alcohol in my home down the drain, which was 4 bottles. About 6-8 months later I found a small bottle of liquor in my freezer which also went down the drain.
I am sure that the Lord our God was definitely helping me to quit drinking, even though I hadn’t come back to Him yet. I had absolutely no withdrawal symptoms from quitting drinking.
And believe me, there were very few days when I didn’t have a drink. It was almost a year that I had quit drinking when my sister, Marion, who lived in Victoria, phoned me and told me her husband, Jim Gunzel, had passed away from pancreatic cancer. He had just retired from being a pastor with the Alliance Church about three months prior to his passing. Marion told me that Jim had gone into a coma about 9 days before he passed away. She said she would sit with him each day and read the Bible to him. On the day that he passed away she said all of a sudden Jim sat upright in bed with his arms wide open with a big smile on his face. She said he was speaking some foreign language that she couldn’t understand. We thought that perhaps it could have been Aramaic, which is what we think Jesus Christ spoke. Then Jim laid back down on the bed and was gone home to be with his Father in Heaven. It seemed like some angels had come to take him there. What a wonderful blessing that this was for Marion.
She took Jim’s passing very hard as she always depended on Jim for everything and now she was alone. But she knows that they’ll be together again when she joins him in Heaven. | went to Victoria to spend some time with Marion and to go to Jim’s service. At Jim’s celebration of life, something strange but very wonderful happened to me. It was like being bathed in a very warm and gentle breeze of fresh air. It only lasted for perhaps a half a minute, but was strong enough to feel what was happening.
I didn’t know what it was at the time, but after becoming a Christian, I soon figured out that it had to be the Blessed Holy Spirit coming upon me. I didn’t realize it yet but this was going to be the beginning of my life, living for our Blessed Lord Jesus.
I stayed with Marion for a week. One of my brothers was also there as well as another sister. When I returned home everything seemed to be as it was before I went to Victoria. I noticed a Bible was laying on my coffee table. I know my memory isn’t as good as it used to be, but I still don’t know where it came from. It was an old hard covered Bible, nothing like a study Bible, just the good old word of God. After reading it for a while, well, to say the least, it wasn’t long before I was on my knees praying for forgiveness of my sins, asking our Blessed Lord Jesus to come into my heart. Needless to say, my life has never been the same since then and never will be.
It is almost unbelievable how our God has so much forgiveness and tender love for those He has chosen to become His children. I was living for the Lord before moving to the Yukon, but as I said I turned away from Him and wasted so many years, leading such a terrible sinful life. But He never gave up on me as I did with Him. I couldn’t begin the tell of all the wonderful blessings that God has bestowed upon me even when I was still living a terrible sinful life. Saving me from certain death so many times.
I was charged by a grizzly bear, but managed to shoot him, without my glasses on. He skidded 18 feet and stopped about 4 or 5 feet from me. I think Someone else was aiming for me. I was supposed to be on an aircraft, working in the high Arctic, that crashed and all 32 passengers were killed. For some unknown reason, a week before that accident, I decided to go with a different oil company. I am thoroughly convinced that it was our Blessed Holy Spirit that changed my mind to go with a different company. Another time I was saved, which I am certainly not proud of, was when I was living in Dawson City. A friend and myself were so drunk, we were drinking overproof rum which is about 90 percent alcohol, as shooters. It was -55 degrees outside and I had to walk only 3 blocks or so to my home. I was so terribly drunk that I passed out in a back alley, but was, by the Grace of God, woken up by a dog licking my face. I managed to stand up, but couldn’t find my home.
I passed out again and was woken up again by the same dog licking my face. I stood up and looked between two houses and there was my home, just a short distance away. I wonder Who “sent that dog” to wake me not once but twice, keeping me from passing out and freezing to death. Another time, I had borrowed a 12 gauge shotgun to go hunting for some grouse.
When we returned home, I leaned the gun against a corner wall. As I bent over to take my boots off, the gun went off. I could feel the shot about a half inch from the side of my face. The gun had a faulty firing pin. The gun blew a hole the size of a dinner plate in the ceiling of my porch. There were so many other times where things had happened to me, whereby I shouldn’t be here. It is only by the wonderful Grace and Love of our Holy Father in Heaven, that I am still here. I pray that whatever His will for me is, that it shall be done, as His will is done on earth as well as in Heaven.
Getting back to the night when I had asked the Lord Jesus for forgiveness of my sins and asked Him to come into my heart and became a Christian, I had a dream about my sister, Diane, who had passed away a couple years previously, I also dreamed about Marion’s husband Jim. I had never seen Diane looking so beautiful. She became a Christian before she passed on. She looked so radiant. Her eyes were sparkling and it looked like rays of lights were emanating from her. She was so happy that I had also become a Christian. Jim was there as well and was so happy that he gave me a big bear hug, lifting me off the ground. My grandmother, who had passed on into Heaven about 50 years ago, was also there, sitting in her wheel chair as I had seen her so many times so long ago.
This night was to be the first time to receive an answer to a prayer. I used to get these terrifying headaches. I would get loud buzzing noises and bright flashing lights in my head. The buzzing noises would get louder and louder and the lights would flash faster and faster, until I thought my head was going to explode. I would finally come out of this terrifying ordeal soaked in sweat and with a terrible headache. So l thought, I’m a Christian now, so why not pray and ask our Lord Jesus if He would take these headaches away. So I got on my knees and prayed for relief from these headaches. When I went back to sleep, I had a dreamed that there was a long narrow path going up a very long steep hill. There was a man trying to climb this hill. While I was watching this, I heard a voice telling me “that my prayer would be answered.” What a wonderful blessing and I have never had a headache like that again. Talk about having a person’s faith being made stronger. There is nothing like an answered prayer and also by being “spoken to”, that builds a person’s faith up.
After thinking about this dream and being spoken to, I thought that it very well could have been me struggling on that path. I knew my new life as a Christian was going to be a very hard path to follow, because of the terrible sinful life that I had lived. Believe me, I have had many mountains to climb and many valleys to go through with my walk with our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ. But by the wonderful grace of God, by His speaking to me and by taking those terrible headaches away from me, He has given me so much faith and strength to help me carry on, no matter what the trial was going to be.
Later that year, around the end of July, I was housesitting a friend’s place about 40 miles north of Whitehorse. This was when I received a miracle from the Lord, in a different way, also in a way that was going to be carried out quite a number of times. Our Blessed Lord had chosen a way to answer my prayers, also a way of saving me, literally from death, but it also was His way of communicating with me. And this was by knocking on my bedroom windows. What a wonderful blessing this was. On one of the nights while housesitting my friend’s house, I had a terrible dream, which was filled with nothing but sin. Every possible sin a person could possibly imagine, was in that dream. I would wake up, but as soon as I went back to sleep, that dream would start again. So, l thought, being a Christian now, I should pray about this as well. So I got on my knees and prayed that our Lord Jesus would take that dream away from me.
When I went back to sleep, sure enough, that dream started again. But, this time, the very split second that dream started, there was a really loud knocking on one of the windows. I should mention here that I was sleeping in the sunroom which, was off the living room, and which all three outside walls were windows. The knocking was so loud that of course I was woken up, thereby not having to watch that dream. When I was wakened, I couldn’t help but think that our good Lord had something to do with waking me. I went back to sleep, and again the same thing happened. The dream started, but again the very split second it started, I was awoken again by a very loud knock on one of the windows. Now I was sure that my prayer was being answered. Then the same thing happened a third time. I knew that the sun room was too high on that side of the house, for a person would need a ladder at least 8 feet high, to be able to knock on one of the windows. There were a lot of trees on that side of the house but were too far away from the windows so that if it were windy, the trees still couldn’t hit the windows. So l went back to sleep, confident with a smile on my face that our Blessed Lord had indeed answered my prayer.
Roughly, for the next year, I would develop pneumonia at least once a month, sometimes twice. I have COPD, so I was very prone to becoming ill with pneumonia. It was during these episodes that our Blessed Lord would wake me up by knocking loudly on my bedroom window. He literally saved my life when I was so ill with pneumonia, by knocking on my window loud enough, so I would awake and could call an ambulance. One night Our wonderful Lord knocked and banged on my bedroom door so loud and so long, that I thought the door was going to come off its hinges. When I got up I was very delirious with double pneumonia. I was able to call an ambulance and was taken to the hospital. If our Blessed Lord hadn’t awakened me that night, I don’t think I would be here now.
One night I was awoken by a different kind of knocking, for lack of a better word. It sounded like someone had thrown a clump of grass with its roots and dirt still attached against my living room window. So I got up to see what was going on, and was blessed with a wonderful sight. You would have to see out my window to see and understand what I mean. Outside was lit up like there was a full moon. Everything had a silvery glow to it. I could see all the plants, small and large trees and also a narrow winding path. I immediately thought of the Garden of Gethsemane in the Bible where our precious Lord J e s u s would go to pray. The scene certainly gave me a sense of peace and rest, a wonderful feeling like I had never had before or since then.
On September 1st, 2014 I decided to go visit a long lost cousin in Alberta. We grew up very close to one another until around the age of 12. It seemed like after that, the only time we would run into each other was at someone’s funeral.
So we thought it would be a good idea if I would go and visit them for a couple weeks. Little did I know that those 2 weeks would have such a continuing influence on me, and still does each and every day. They lived in a small community east of Westlock, Alta. which is about 100 miles north of Edmonton. My cousin Ella was married to Jerry Austin, who was a retired pastor with the Church of the Nazarene.
I arrived there on Sept. 1st and we had a great first week together. Lots of catching up to do etc. On the night of Sept. 8th I woke up around 2 am coming out of some form of a seizure. Thad another seizure while I was getting dressed. I was able to wake Ella and Jerry up and Jerry rushed me to the hospital in Westlock, which was approximately 12 km west of Clyde, where Ella and Jerry lived. I had 3 more seizures on the way to the hospital.
Twelve days later, the doctor told me that I was a very fortunate man, as she almost lost me twice the first night that I was admitted to the hospital.
Dr. Bernard was her name and I do admit she was a very good doctor. But I disagree with her about being a very fortunate man. I do believe that it was by the grace, love and mercy of our Righteous Holy Father in Heaven that I was able to live. I had lost consciousness just as we arrived at the hospital. The first time that the doctor almost lost me was when we first arrived at the hospital. I was “watching” Jerry wheeling my body into the ER in a wheelchair. The second time she almost lost me was when the nurse was running as fast as she could, pushing my bed with my body in it back to the ER. She even stopped long enough to kick her shoes off so she would have better traction. And I was “following” her down the hallway back to the ER. So that was two “out of body experiences” which I had when she almost lost me.
I don’t remember anything else until the following night. I was woken up by a different doctor screaming at me to wake up and speak to him. His face was about an inch from mine. I tried to speak to him but everything was all garbled including, what I was trying to think. I couldn’t understand anything of what I was trying to say. The doctor left me and I could hear him talking to the nurse in the hallway. He had left the door to my room open about 10 or 12 inches. There was also a light above my bed which was turned down low. I overheard the doctor telling the nurse that I was having a stroke. It was then that I noticed another presence in my room. He was standing in a darker part of my room. I noticed that he was very, very tall and was very slender or thin. I don’t know why, but the fact that he was wearing a dark brown pinstriped suit, stayed in my memory. Perhaps to show us that there could be angels among us any time or even anywhere. This strange presence, for want of a better word, started to walk towards me. He came closer and closer to my bed. That is all I remembered until the following morning.
When I awoke the following morning, there was nothing wrong with me as far as any side effects from the stroke. I didn’t think about it at the time this was happening, but I did have a very wonderful feeling of peace and well being. I feel that the man who appeared in my room, was certainly “heaven sent” and that he had something to do with healing me from the stroke. There could be no other explanation for the healing that took place. I had developed double pneumonia and was still very ill from that, which took around 6 or 7 weeks to recover from. But I had no visible signs of the stroke.
I had a video phone call with a doctor from Edmonton, who was a heart and stroke specialist. He was very baffled as to why I had no side effects from the stroke. I did have one minor effect of the stroke. The valves in the arteries and veins in my left leg don’t function as they should, so I have to wear compression socks. I truly believe that the presence of that man in my room certainly had something to do with the healing from the stroke. I am thoroughly convinced that he was some sort of an angel sent to heal me. This raises so many questions as to why he healed me, let alone how it was done, etc. It was nothing short of a miraculous blessing. I was healed by the love, grace and mercy of God and probably for a purpose that at the time I didn’t understand. But now I feel that this had all taken place perhaps so that I could share this blessing with others, and that perhaps it would help other people’s faith continue to grow stronger. I had also been blessed with more blessings by our wonderful Blessed Holy Father in Heaven. He certainly does work in wonderful and mysterious ways.
The following Wednesday the doctor told me that she had made an appointment for the following Monday morning for a CT scan on my neck and brain to look for the blood clots which had caused the stroke. I was in a double room, and I had a roommate who was 89 years old and his name was Gordon Sisson.
So that night I decided to pull the curtains around my bed for privacy. I pulled the bedside table close to me so I could read the Bible and say my prayers before I went to sleep. When I started to say my prayers, I was lifted up into the spiritual world. There is nothing else I could call it and there was no other way to explain what had happened.
I was shown what was a simulation of the wall that separates Heaven from earth. It was made of bricks which were all green in color, but were all different shades of green and were like lights flashing off and on. Suddenly an angel emerged from that wall and came over to me and was looking intently at me as if trying to find out What was wrong. Then he moved his hand around the back of my neck and over the top of my head. I have never felt such love and peace in all my life, before or since then. From what and how I felt just being in the presence of that angel, it would be hard to comprehend all the love and peace one would feel in Heaven. I wanted to stay with that angel so badly. I didn’t want to come back to this world. But then a “voice” told me that “my Father’s will had to be done first”. I wasn’t allowed to stay with that angel. Just like that, this wonderful experience was over.
What a blessing this was. I couldn’t begin to explain the love and peace that was bestowed upon me by our Wonderful Holy Father. I was blessed with a very, very small taste of Heaven and I wanted to stay or be with that angel forevermore. But as that “voice” told me, “my Father’s will must be done first.” I tried to share what had happened, with my sister Marion on the phone, the following morning, but I couldn’t even begin to share it with her, or even be able to speak. I actually cried every day for five days. I couldn’t share what had happened with anyone until the fifth day after what had actually taken place.
A young lady by the name of Jessica Fox came and sat with me every afternoon for a couple hours. She was a pastor with the Church of the Nazarene. I cried so much each day that I wasn’t able to share what had happened with her either, until the fifth day, and then there were two of us in tears. I was very grateful for her daily visits. The day after this blessed experience had happened, my new roommate, Gorden, just stared at me as if in disbelief. He didn’t say anything but just kept staring at me. I often wonder what he heard or saw behind the curtain around my bed, that night, while everything was taking place. He was discharged the next day, so we didn’t get a chance to share anything about what had happened.
The doctor did a CT scan of my brain and neck, but could not find any blood clots. I believe that the angel had dissolved any clots that were there, thereby preventing any more strokes from happening. I am so thankful for what the Lord has done for me. God must have something planned in the future, for I was told that “His will must be done first”, when I wanted to stay with that angel. I am certainly looking forward to whatever it may be.
The following experience I had, happened in the first week of Jan. 2017. It was by way of a short dream, but even though it was short it had a lot of meaning to it. I dreamed that I was having a stroke and that I was paralyzed and couldn’t move, so I couldn’t reach the phone to call for help. Then suddenly there were two small kittens playing on my bed. I had a sense of fear of the kittens, probably because I couldn’t move to protect myself from them. Then two small children, around 5 or 6 years old, appeared and were dancing in circles together. I still wasn’t able to move or figure out what this dream was about. Then a verse came to my mind. In Mathew 18: 2-5 it says “And Jesus called a little child unto Him and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself a s this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.”
Then I saw a huge lion coming towards me. He looked magnificent and had the color of the purest gold. I started to feel afraid, but my fears were soon gone. I felt very calm and lifted up in the spirit. The lion came and laid down beside me and just kept looking at me. Then I heard a voice telling me that “this lion will be with you forever.” Then I woke up and the first thing that came to my mind was ” the Lion of Judah.”
It was sure quite the feeling to be lifted up in the spirit like that. Knowing our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ will be with me forever. I have been blessed so many times and in so many ways by our Triune Godhead. It is truly amazing, and of course I couldn’t begin to tell you how many times I have been blessed.
I hadn’t heard any knocking on my bedroom window for quite some time. But by the wonderful Grace of God, about three weeks ago I was woken up by some ever so soft tappings on the wall right above head. It seemed to me that our Righteous Holy Father was letting me know “He” was still with me and will be with me for evermore.
This was written back in 2018.
This past June, 2023 I had another amazing experience with that “wonderful Lion of Judah.” I was in the Whitehorse hospital with another round of pneumonia. I had a private room for the first 3 or 4 days of the 6 days that I was there. One afternoon I decided to try and listen to that “still small voice”, that I had often read about in scripture and other Christian reading material over the years. The door to my room was closed and it was very quiet. I prayed to the Lord about a project that had been on my mind for a couple years. I asked the Lord if I should go ahead with this project or not. As I was laying there, I kept my eyes closed and tried to concentrate on that prayer as much as possible. As I kept my concentration on my prayer, suddenly a scene of ancient scientific artifacts started passing before my eyes. These artifacts would probably been used to study the stars, etc. I should mention that all these artifacts were a wonderful golden color. Then it happened. I heard 7 or 8 very distinct knocks on my door. The knocks very spaced evenly apart and the sounds of those knocks were all even in the loudness. I knew it certainly wasn’t a nurse as they would normally tap on the door a couple of times and walk in.
This brought to my mind all the “knockings” on my bedroom window at home, that I was blessed with for various reasons. What a wonderful blessing that the Lord had blessed me with once again. So, yes, I took those knocks as a positive answer to my prayer about whether or not I should proceed with that project that was on my mind.
What had just taken place definitely proved that the “Lion of Judah “was still with me and as told to me, that “He” will always be with me. It was a period of about 5 years since I had any knocking on my window. It goes to prove that “He” is always with me, even though I hadn’t had any contact with Him in the way of knocking on my windows for so long. What a wonderful blessing He bestowed upon me once again.
It goes to show that one should never quit praying and never give up on waiting for answers to those prayers. I am truly so humble and grateful for all the prayers that has been answered by our Wonderful Lord. My faith in our God has never failed m e and now has been made even stronger than ever.
I thank our wonderful Triune Godhead for all the answered prayers and all the wonderful blessings that I have received in my life. I pray that I will be able to live for our wonderful Lord by sharing His word, love and blessings with those around me. I pray that by sharing this testimony with those around me that their faith in God would grow even stronger. Or by the Grace of God, perhaps this testimony would even help someone to come to believe in our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
I can never give our Righteous Holy Father in Heaven enough thanks for all that He has done for me, for all His wonderful love and blessings which He has bestowed upon me. I also thank our wonderful Blessed Holy Spirit for His everlasting Grace and guidance in my everyday life. And of course I will forevermore give thanks and love to our wonderful Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, for all His sacrifices, His sufferings and His wonderful love. It is such a wonderful blessing to know that” the Lion of Judah” will be with me forever.
I thank the Triune Godhead for its wonderful presence, forgiveness, love, grace and mercy now and forevermore. Amen