Divine Mission

DIVINE MISSION

Are not all angels ministering spirits to render service, sent on a commission for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation? [Heb 1:14]

As we were leaving the prison that Sunday morning after conducting a church service for the inmates there, I felt deeply impressed to have my brothers in the Lord pray for my visit to the Hospital to see my boss. He was not doing well, was on a respirator, and had been suffering from various health issues over the past several years. His god was money, and I was asking specifically that the Lord would arrange for me to be alone there with him, so I would be able to present the Gospel of salvation to him. I was at the Hospital quite often…I was his assistant, Assistant to the President…but the room was always filled with people! I needed to be alone with him…free of distractions! That was my prayer. The Lord had told me many years prior, while interceding for him, “Your boss will be saved” [that is a literal quote].

My spiritual journey to that hospital began 14 years earlier, when the Lord miraculously placed me as Comptroller in Arthur’s privately-held family-owned Corporation. At that time in February, 1984, I was unemployed…having lost my job as the result of a Corporate merger. The Lord was leading me to pursue employment by sending out letters to 100 Corporations rather than by competing with hundreds of applicants for listed job openings through employment agencies. Working at the library with the Million Dollar Directory of Corporations located in the greater New York area [I lived on Long Island], I began the tedious task of compiling names and addresses of businesses within commuting distance. I came to Arthur’s company, and when I saw it was located in Brooklyn, I skipped over it, saying to myself, “There is NO WAY I am going to work in Brooklyn!” At the end of that long, tiring day, I had been keeping track and thought I had my 100 names and addresses. I decided to count what I had written down…and to my dismay, I only had 99! A recount confirmed it. So I reluctantly added Arthur’s Company to the list just to have the 100 I had determined to have!

I received 3 offers for interviews…and after four interviews at one particular company, I was told I was the front runner, and that there would be one more interview…on the following Monday…to finalize an offer of employment to me. Friday morning I received a phone call from Arthur’s Company, and they were interested in interviewing me. The Lord prompted me to say OK…even though I was not about to work in Brooklyn. The interview went well, and after returning home I didn’t think any more about it…I knew I was the front runner in a company located in a much more appealing area, and that Monday I was scheduled for a final interview with them.

Saturday morning I received a phone call from the CEO of Arthur’s Company… and he was talking about how everything is set for me to come in Monday and to start work! No discussion, no details…just come on in, we have your desk ready for you! Well…I had a serious discussion with the Lord about this decision I needed to make…as I make a habit of doing with all my decisions… and the word He gave me was this: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Take this offer…because there is no actual offer made yet by the other company.” I said, “Well…OK, Lord; I will do that.”

There I was…working in Brooklyn, where I had said I would NEVER work! Even so, I knew it was the Lord Who had placed me there. The first few months were not the greatest. On a number of occasions, Arthur would instruct me to do something unethical that I had to respond to by saying, “As a Christian, I can’t do that.” He would get absolutely livid, and angrily tell me, “You won’t go to Hell because you do that!” I replied, “I know; but I still can’t do it.” After a while, my boss learned not to ask me to do those questionable things; he would ask someone else!

As time went on, I became CFO of the Company. Then one day my boss called me into his glass-enclosed office and went into a ballistic tirade against me for the next 20 minutes over something I had or hadn’t done [I can’t even remember what it was]…his face beet-red with anger. The entire office was witnessing this scene through the glass, as I sat there calmly listening to his onslaught [they told me later they couldn’t believe I was just sitting there so calmly listening to this!]. Finally, reaching the pinnacle of his livid ranting, he was determined to lay upon me what he considered to be the crowning insult: “Furthermore…you are only a clerk, not even a good clerk, and the only reason you are here…THE ONLY REASON…is because I trust you!!” Well…I was hardly able to contain myself; I could have done cartwheels! What he meant to be the crowning insult was for me the highest compliment a Christian could possibly receive! I didn’t realize it at the time…but that would prove to be the reason why he would listen to, and accept, what I had to say to him on his death-bed about the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus. He could trust me.

As the years rolled by, I became CEO of the Company as well, and Assistant to the President. I knew the Lord had Personally placed me in this Company, and so I prayed often for Arthur’s salvation. It was during one of those evenings while in prayer that the Lord assured me, “Your boss will be saved.” His god was money…and he had a very big god. And so the Spirit led me to pray specifically along these lines: Lord…in Your mercy, strip away from him everything he leans on for support, everything he counts on for support, until he has nothing left to turn to but to You. What good would it be if he were to go through the balance of his life with a sense of peace and comfort, a sense of well-being, and then, in the end, lose his soul? What good would it be even if he were to gain the whole world, but then lose his soul? That is exactly what the Lord did in answer to the manner of prayer the Spirit had led me to pray: In the same way, the Spirit also comes and helps us in our human weakness before God. I do not know what is necessary in the nature of the case that I ought to pray for, nor even how to offer it worthily as I ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes before God on my behalf… Rom 8:26. The Lord literally stripped away Arthur’s health, so that he continually had health issues, and was in and out of the hospital often over a period of years. This work of the Lord in answer to prayer was confirmed to me one day when Arthur lamented, “What good is all my money if I don’t have my health?” His great wealth was completely negated, rendered useless and of no value to him!

Finally, on Sunday February 8, 1998 as I left the prison, and my brothers had prayed for my visit, I was on my way to the hospital. I walked into Arthur’s room…and, for the first time, there were no visitors there! There was just 1 other person in the room…a nurse! Even better…I soon realized in conversation that she was a born-again believer! The Lord had wonderfully answered our prayer…I was alone with Arthur! I began to talk with him… praying in my heart for the Holy Spirit to open a door for me to present the Gospel of salvation, and patiently waiting. When He did open that door…I could sense the anointing of the Spirit upon me, just presenting the thoughts He gave me to present and speaking the words He gave me to speak concerning sin, repentance, and the Blood of Jesus. As I was speaking, in my mind I was commenting to the Lord, “Whoa, Lord; this is not me…this is You!” I asked Arthur, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Divine Son in the Triune God, the Lamb of God Who came into this world to become the One only, all-sufficient, atoning sacrifice that brings forgiveness for your sins and restores your relationship with God?” He acknowledged his belief, and his desire to follow me in prayer to confess his sins, ask for forgiveness, and make a solemn vow before God to give himself to be the bride of Christ, receiving Jesus the Christ into his life in divine marriage, promising to honor and obey Him as both Lord over his life and Savior of his soul. Arthur passed on to his eternal rest with the Lord just four days later…on Thursday, February 12th.

I don’t know whether in the depths of your heart you really believe there is a God in Heaven or not, but this I do know…my boss’ god was money, but the Lord neutralized his god and made it to be of no value. He placed me in Arthur’s Company, commissioned me and prepared me to be His ministering spirit, for the purpose that 14 years later I would be there to present the One True Living God to a soul whom the Lord foreknew would be inheriting salvation just four days before his death! [Read John 9:1-41] I proclaim to you Christ Jesus…the One Who existed from the beginning, from Eternity Past, Whom I have heard with the ears of my own inner being, and have seen with my own spiritual eyes. I have gazed upon Him and have spiritually touched Him with my own hands. He is the Word of Life. His Life is continually being revealed to me; I have seen it and testify to it, and I proclaim to you that He is the One Who is Eternal Life. He always existed with the Father, and is now continually being manifested afresh and anew to me. I proclaim to you what I have personally seen and heard in the depths of my soul, so that you also may enjoy this same fellowship together with us. The fellowship I continually enjoy is with the Father and with His Son, Christ Jesus. I am writing these things so that you also may fully share together with me in this fullness of joy. [1 John 1:1-4]. It is our birth-right as a child of the Most High God!