It's Supernatural

SID: Hello, Sid Roth your investigative reporter here with Gary and Kathy Oates. Gary and Kathy have pressed into the invisible world and can literally see angels and demons. But it wasn’t always that way. I want to find out how this happened and how this supernatural gift of seeing the invisible world operates. Gary you went to Brazil of all places and you were having a healing meeting and you heard God’s voice in a very clear fashion and you probably did a double take. What did He tell you?

GARY: Yes I did. He told me to take my shoes off because I was standing on holy ground. This was right in the middle of an awesome time of worship. The presence of God was so strong in the room it was incredible and my first reaction was no I don’t want to do that because it was a dirty, dusty, concrete floor. And I continued worshipping.

SID: Did you try and talk yourself out of the fact that maybe that wasn’t God?

GARY: Oh yeah, I thought that’s just… Yeah. So I continued worshipping and God spoke again and He said take your shoes off and I thought wait a minute, I think that’s God and I think I’d better do this. So right then I reached down and took my shoes off and thank God I did. Because I honestly believe that what followed would not have happened had I not taken my shoes off. You see, I believe that God tests us in the small things before He’s going to entrust greater things to us, and that was a real test of obedience to see if I would respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. And as a result of that, taking my shoes off and responding in obedience, God opened my eyes. As I continued worshipping, I was looking up on the stage, and the dancers were dancing and I saw three angels around the dancers, two of the dancers, and then three more around two others. Over to the side, a bunch of angels around each of the dancers, and I was just taken back with what I saw.

SID: Yeah but you had told me that you had, previous to that, been praying for God to open your eyes.

GARY: Yes I did.

SID: But now He did it and it was so shocking.

GARY: Yes, yes; the desire of my heart, when I went on this trip, because I was struggling. I’d been going through a difficult time. I didn’t feel like going to minister. I said “God, would you minister to me on this trip? I really need a touch from you.” And my prayer was that God would open my eyes, that I could begin to see things from His perspective, not just my own. And that He would open my eyes to see in the realm of the spirit and to see the ministry of angels.

SID: Well what in your opinion, because I don’t understand this, were the angels doing dancing? Were they dancing the same as the people were dancing, like the same dance steps?

GARY: No they weren’t, no they weren’t. They were dancing around two of the dancers

SID: Oh, I see. I see.

GARY: They were dancing around them and then above them a large group of worshipping angels. They were playing instruments and singing and dancing.

SID: What were they doing though? Why were they worshipping? What was being accomplished? I don’t understand.

GARY: Well I believe they were cooperating with what was happening in the natural realm with what God was doing in the realm of the spirit. See, the angels love worship. When we’re worshipping God like that the angels just come on strongly. The manifest presence of God increases dramatically. And so there was an agreement happening with what was happening in the heavenlies to right here on earth, just like the Lord’s prayer; “Thy kingdom come, Your will be done on earth just like it is in heaven” and so if we can see what God’s doing in the heavens and cooperate with that here on the earth, that’s what was happening.

SID: Isn’t that what Jesus prayed, “I only do what I see my heavenly Father doing,” “I only say what I hear Him saying”?

GARY: Yes, absolutely.

SID: What a wonderful way to live.

GARY: Yes it is, it’s awesome.

SID: Then you’ve go to have such faith behind anything that you say.

GARY: Exactly. See for years as a pastor, I struggled with that very issue because I didn’t know what God was doing. I was guessing at it, I was taking my best stab at it, and as God opened my eyes to begin to see in the realm of the spirit, when I could see what He was doing it dramatically changed the focus of ministry, dramatically. Where now I don’t have to guess at what He’s doing, I can see what He’s doing and I can cooperate with what He’s doing and the results have been phenomenal.

SID: So your eyes are open, you see these angels dancing; this is the prayer of your heart. What happened next?

GARY: Well I was thanking God for what He did though I didn’t fully understand everything and my hearts cry was God, I just want more of you, I want more of your presence. My hands were raised as I was worshipping Him, and then I felt myself getting taller and bigger and it was like I grew to 15 feet tall. And I was looking down over the congregation. I thought whoa, this is amazing. And right then I started going up, and I went all the way up into the top of the tent. Now this church met in a large tent that seated 3,000 people and I went all the way up into the top of the tent and I was looking down watching people worship. And to be honest with you, I got afraid. It was like there was a fear and a resistance there to what God was doing.

SID: There is a fear of the unknown isn’t there.

GARY: Oh absolutely, absolutely.

SID: And many of you even have a fear of the supernatural. Should we have a fear Gary, of the supernatural of God?

GARY: No we shouldn’t, but we do. Our flesh has difficulty dealing with things of the spirit oftentimes.

SID: So you were being caught up into the heavenlies and the fear kind of put you on a hold. I tell you what, let’s hold that thought. We’ll be right back after these words.