Oky. Many people don't understand the concept that Jesus is the Saviour of people who don't/didn't even know Him, by name.
In my eyes, this is fairly straightforward ... a being who exists can introduce themselves to whom they chose lol.
Ok. Biblically speaking a Son of God can be an Angel or a True Believer ( human ). Yes I'm very interested in reading your accounts. Maybe PM them to me if it's lengthy will be best.
Yeah I'm aware of some of the interpretations of what a "Son of God" is as it concerns the mentioning of them in the OT, etc (it would seem obvious that in the NT the mention of Sons of God refer to humans who have the opportunity to become like Jesus, etc).
I'm thinking that PM'ing what I typed out would take up a lot of PM's, I can fit more text in these message boxes. Here it goes:
Okay, here are some accounts, I'll try to include relevant details, although to include them all would take up a lot of text space. I'll include three examples, since they are all related anyways ...
Here's the first:
Around 2001 or 2002, I was knee deep in exploring what I believed to be "being lead by the Holy Spirit". I had a dramatic experience in 2000 where I believed I actually heard the voice of what I would identify as "God" (somewhat based on context at the time), had a vision, and received detailed information concerning the future and a person I did not know and had never met. I later had all of this verified when the event came to pass, in detail, etc and so forth. So that was a sort of "touchstone" experience, which I began to compare other experiences by. I had MANY since then
some fairly incredible and what some may consider miraculous
so anyways, all of that to say, that my attempts to be "lead by the Holy Spirit" involved experiencing and attempting to receive revelation from God about what to do in life, choices, events, etc, as compared with the other experiences where I saw them verified and believed they were valid, legitimate, etc.
So one night, a friend and I who did the same as me, were sitting around praying, wanting to be lead by the Holy Spirit in what to do with our evening. Pretty much simple as that. We sat and prayed, seeking direction, revelation, etc. Well, my friend (a girl) began to believe that the Spirit wanted us to go have a night time barbecue somewhere. That is to say, we were to go out into the night, find a barbecue pit, and cook a meal lol. It seemed simple, straightforward, etc. She also said she believed she was being shown that we were to go to the grocery store, and get further instruction once we got there. I asked her where she thought we were supposed to have the barbecue (because I didn't believe I was receiving any revelation from the Spirit concerning anything, only giving credence to the idea that she was) and she said that it would be left up to me. That I could decide, it didn't matter where I chose.
I began to think about where to have the barbecue/picnic, and a small lake in our city came to mind (White Rock Lake actually, in Dallas, TX, USA). It's a lake that has a few parks here and there, and I vaguely remembered one that had a small fishing dock that may have had some barbecue pits. The lake was fairly heavily patrolled though, as there was a jogging path that went around the lake, and once it got dark, they discouraged people from hanging out at the lake (to prevent crime and attacks, etc). But anyways, that lake came to mind, and told her that maybe after the store, we could go to that lake and try and find a park with a pit.
So we went to a local grocery store
it was already dark by this time (like 8 or 9 pm, and it was during one of the cooler seasons, like fall going into winter IIRC) and upon arriving at the grocery store, we prayed again about what to get food and supply wise. She believed the Spirit showed her we only needed to get the actual food and some plates, that "God will provide the rest"
now, we didn't have anything to start a fire with, no utensils, nothing. No charcoal, no fuel, no matches, no forks and knives, nothing. We literally just bought food and a small thing of plates.
After getting our food and plates, we headed over to the lake. I'm guessing we arrived between 9:30 and 10:00
well around the time the cops would start patrolling and we could get in trouble for being there that late. Nevertheless, we drove around, and I found what looked like what I had remembered
the small park with the dock. So we got out and walked around, looking for a barbecue pit. And sure enough we found one
not only did we find one, here is what we found:
There was a pit, with a full fire already going under the grill. Wood, flame, etc. And laying at the foot of the pit, were a set of brand new, unopened, still in package, utensils
complete with seasonings and even breath mints and napkins. Now, we weren't taken aback totally, but we definitely thought it was cool
awesome. If this was in fact "God providing", then that was cool. I mean, there was no one else anywhere at the Lake that we could even see. No one at the park, no one walking around, and there was this fully going fire. To anyone else, that would be dangerous
to us, it was perhaps "God providing". So we went to get our food, and begin cooking.
This is where it gets more interesting:
As we did so, a truck pulled up
a very noisy and loud truck
and the individual driving the truck got out, and clearly began to set up for some night fishing. I've fished my whole life, and I know what night fishing looks like lol. He got out a generator, to provide power for some lamps and lights he was going to setup to shine on the water, he got out some chairs and his gear, ran the cables from the generator over to the dock (which was like 40 yards out from the parking spot), etc. As we cooked, it took him almost the entire time to setup
he was loud, noisy, etc. I'm guessing it took him 20-25 minutes or so just to get setup. And he was the only person I remember seeing even active at the lake, showing up at our spot, etc.
When we got done cooking, we somehow had a lot of food leftover. I didn't realize how much. And there were enough utensils in the packages, that we could make a third plate if we wanted. So I decided to go offer this fisherman some food .. I mean, why not ? I had excess food, maybe he'd appreciate it ? I'm not saying I felt "lead" to do this, nothing like that. In fact, the entire nigh up to that point, I did not experience what I would identify as the Holy Spirit really one time
she, my friend did. I had not. Every choice I made was seemingly a random choice in my eyes.
So anyways, I got a third plate together, and brought it over to the guy.
As I approached, I could tell he was tall
he was an older looking black gentleman, with a graying beard, and he word an army like camo jacket, and he had a ball cap. As I approached, he remained sitting, and then I introduced myself and told him what we were doing (having a night picnic), that we had some extra food, and asked if he wanted any
he said he would, he was smiling, very polite. He stood up to grab the food, and shake my hand which was extended
I would guess maybe he was 6'5" or so ? So he was tall. And as he shook his hand, he said, "I'm Mike," and still smiling, thanked me, and sat back down.
And that was basically it
I smiled in return, told him to have a good night, and walked back.
As I got back, we finished eating, "Mike" was still there fishing and, I presume, eating
and we finished eating and decided to clean up our little mess and get going.
As we were doing so, we noticed what looked like a small beaver or something over near the shore off into the water. Looking back, I'm assuming it was probably a nutria (an animal native to the swamps of Louisiana which sometimes find their way into Dallas proper for some reason) but anyways we went over to check it out. We turned our backs on Mike, and watched the nutria/beaver thing for maybe a total of a minute.
When we turned back around, I noticed that Mike was gone. Not only was he gone
his truck was gone, all his gear, everything. As though he was never even there. I said to the girl with me, "Where did that go go ?" and she looked up, realized he was gone as well, and said, "I don't know
"
I pointed out that he had been there not just a minute before. And as I thought about it, I realized it took him somewhere between 20-30 minutes just to get set up. And he was loud and noisy. And now, here in less than a single minute, he had managed to pack all of his things together, and essentially vanish, without making a noise, drawing our attention to the generators or his loud truck, or anything ? Just simply do all of that in less than a minute ?
I began to ask out loud to my friend, "Who WAS that ?
." and before I could even finish asking the question, I experienced the Holy Spirit for the first time that night, and received what I refer to as a vision (when I say "vision", I'm not talking about in my mind or imagination, nor am I tailing about the types of visions that some claim to where their environment around them changes, etc
rather it's as though you're seeing it with what some refer to as "the mind's eye"
somewhere between your natural sight, and your ability to envision things mentally)
and I saw the name "MICHAEL" almost in shining, gold like marquee lights. And like a ton of bricks landing in my gut, the idea this was "Michael the archangel" just slammed into me and overwhelmed me.
At that, I was suddenly in one of those states of awe and wonder and goosebumps, etc
like a light was going off in my body that I had just put a piece of a puzzle together
and I said to my friend, "Was that Michael, as in, an "angel" ? The angel Michael mentioned in scriptures ?" and to my surprise, she said, "I don't' know. If you think that, it's because you may be getting that as a revelation or something, but not me. I don't know." In other words, she didn't believe the Spirit was showing her that specifically or even verifying it, only I was. So the entire night, she had believed she was experiencing the Spirit and receiving direction
where as I for once really wasn't. But then when I suddenly was, she was not lol.
I would see this "Mike" once again, one more time, approximately 11 years later (back in 2012 or 2013, I'm horrible with placing exact dates, sorry) and I'm going to point out some specific concerning how Mike was dressed and the nature in which he looked physically. That will be my second account here in a moment
but first, looking back on that first time, I can easily see where much of that story parallels scriptural accounts of individuals interacting with, and having food no less, with beings they would later realize are "angelic", etc either through revelation or the nature of the encounter itself. The fact that "Mike" disappeared in less than a minute, no trace of him even being there (we went to look for truck tracks and didn't see any, as the place where you part was dirt and gravel and kicked up dust into the air when you pulled in and out), combined with the context of the entire event ("God providing" fire, even salt, etc
the manner in which we believed we were "lead" there, etc)
even the idea that he was fishing
plus the manner in which I received the vision and what I consider revelation (as compared to previously verified experiences)
all seemed to add up to a conclusion that I could draw, in context, that this was the angel mentioned in scriptures named Michael.
Now, fast forward to event two I'll mention, which happened about 10 years later, involving this "Mike" again.