While attending a Christian college in the autumn of 1973, I experienced an spiritual anointing that felt like a ball of power prior to preaching a sermon on Christ's return. The story of how this anointing occurred is for your edification.

During the semester, I joined a group of weekend warriors called, "Reach Out." In groups of six, we traveled to small local churches conducting the equivalent of weekend revival services. The services consisted of special singing with preaching by two of us in each group.

This continued throughout the semester until the night of December 9, 1973. Linda, a member of the group, got up to sing, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready." She had only sung one full line of the song, when power descended on me. I felt a large ball of spiritual power about 8 to 10 inches in diameter come down upon my head and move slowly, consistently down into my chest. I was not expecting anything and had never had an experience of this nature. As the Spirit of the Lord descended, I jerked my right hand up to my face. Tears flowed from my eyes. I knew instantly I was under the mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit. I could only reply, "I am unworthy, O Lord."

I got up and preached about the second coming of Christ. I felt no different from any other night I'd preached except for the anointing that occurred before giving the sermon. The response in the service was grand. More than one-third of the people came forward at the invitation. The altar and the next three rows of pews filled with people praying their hearts out to the Lord!

The service ended with a testimonial session in which Linda's father stood up and gave the following testimony. He said, "I prayed for you this afternoon and you were anointed by the Holy Spirit." His words confirmed everything that had happened that evening. I had not talked with this man before the service. Praise God for guiding his children.

The foundation of my research rests upon that sermon. I have since invested many hours researching the truth of its message. I have found, running through the entire Bible, the truth of one basic concept about prophecy and the return of Jesus Christ: "Jewish control of Jerusalem is basic to the prophetic events of Christ's return."

More than thirteen years after the anointing by the Holy Spirit, on January 4, 1987, I received a second anointing that directed to publish my research.

I was at home visiting the local church when Pastor Chuck Nelson asked me to give a testimony. Since I didn't know what to say, I simply said it was nice to be at home, and oh by the way, I'd done a lot research and asked the pastor to pray for me about receiving guidance in writing a book. I sat down feeling totally stupid.

The pastor asked the congregation to stand for prayer. As he prayed about others' concerns, I felt nothing unusual. However, when the pastor began to pray about my receiving guidance to write a book, spiritual fire came across my chest. The fire of the Holy Spirit remained on my chest as long as the pastor prayed for me. The instant that the pastor's prayer went to another subject, the fire immediately stopped. I interpreted this spiritual experience as a call to write about my research.

Unlike many people who have sought after spiritual experiences, I did not seek them. They occurred because of my labor for the Lord, such as preaching a sermon or looking forward to the writing the research in book format. The Lord empowers and encourages me through these blessed meetings. I still pray for his guidance, that I may be the instrument of his choosing.