It's Supernatural

Sid:  This is the season; this is the moment that all of us that have known the Lord that have been in the Lord for so long that we’ve been praying for when the glorious congregation has come into being. But it will not come into being until each part has true Biblical intimacy with God.  And that’s why I’m so excited about my guest on the telephone; I’m speaking to him at his home in Dallas, Georgia. His name is Gary Oates; he’s an evangelist he was raised Southern Baptist; he was on staff with Campus Crusade; a pastor.  He’s now travelling the nations and it started in Brazil by just praying “God open my eyes,” and then he was given a test.  “Take your shoes off your on holy ground;” and he looked at the floor and it was in a tent meeting and it was filthy and he thought “I’m not going to do that; who knows what diseases,”  But then he said “God said it and I’m going to do it and when he did it.” His eyes were opened and the first time in his life he saw angels dancing with the dancers; he saw Heavenly choir and then he started moving up high into the sky and then he had a visitation of Jesus.  And Jesus came to him and what happened next Gary?

Gary:  Well, he was holding my hand and my left hand began to burn; it was just a little spot in the beginning but then the whole palm of my hand was on fire.  It was so hot I felt like it was just going to totally burn up; and right then he let go of me and my spirit came back into my body.  My body was still on the floor; I was standing there worshiping just like it was when my spirit left; but because my spirit had been in the presence of God like that when my spirit came back into my body, my body could not contain the presence of the Lord that was resident in my spirit. And I was thrown backward; I hit some chairs they scattered and I hit the concrete floor and nobody caught me; but it was like I landed on a bed of feathers and I lay there on the floor.  It was like I was nailed to the floor I couldn’t move.  I was down for about 45 minutes or an hour.

Sid: Well, what was going on with you at that time?

Gary: I was crying out God I don’t understand all of this but I want more of You.  I want to tell you I felt so little and so insignificant in the presence of the Almighty God that it was overwhelming to me.  And I lay there for the longest time just basking and reliving what had just happened; I tried to get up off the floor; I could barely move I was staggering around; I was drunk in the Spirit.  And some friends had to help me around; all I could do was just cry; they were asking me what happened, it was difficult even to talk about it.  In Ezekiel… I prayed and asked God to show me scriptural evidences of these very events that are happening and have happened to me. And God led me to Ezekiel chapter 8 verse 3 where Ezekiel was telling about the time that He was taken up into the presence of God.  And I got so excited when I read this because Ezekiel’s experience was very similar to mine.  Ezekiel said that “The Spirit of the Lord snatched him up between Earth and Heaven.” In other words he didn’t go all the way; his experience was like mine he didn’t go all the way to the throne room.  And so I thought “Boy I can’t wait until I die and go to Heaven and talk to Ezekiel about his experiences because they were so similar.”  So the next day we went to the meeting I got there early. One of me came in and one of the worship leaders came in and he laid hand on my shoulder and when he did the power of God hit me.  And I fell on the chair between the two of us just like a dead man I couldn’t move; and some of the men lifted me up; pulled the chair out of the way and they put me down on the floor because I looked so uncomfortable.  And right then I was again just crying out “God, I just want more of You, more of You in my life, more of Your presence.”  And as I was laying on the floor, I sensed the overwhelming presence of the God again.  And I opened my eyes to look up on the platform; I could see the worship team up there momentarily but then all of a sudden everything changed I was not there I saw a gold path with some gold steps leading to a gold platform.  And on top of that platform was another gold platform.  Everything was gold all around; there was like it had no beginning or end.  On the top of the platform was a large throne; I didn’t see anyone sitting on the throne but standing next to the throne to the right of it was Jesus.  And He was standing there holding a scepter in His hand and from the waist up the radiance and the glory of God was coming so powerfully from Him that it was difficult for me to endure it. And I honestly thought I was going to die; and in fact the thought cross my mind; you know maybe I have died and gone to Heaven it was…

Sid: Help me out I’ve never had this type of experience; I’ve heard of people that have said sometimes “God stop I can’t take it anymore;” I’m not sure I understand what you were going through.

Gary: Well, it’s like Isaiah in Isaiah Chapter 6 you know when he’s telling the Lord high and lifted up the robe of His train filled the temple.  And then He said “Woe is me; I’m ruined I’m undone; I’m wasted.” Well, I know what he felt like; even in Matthew Chapter 17 on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John the Bible says “Jesus was transformed, as He became… the glory of God coming from Him the brilliance, the awesomeness of God’s presence that Peter, James and John fell face down and were terrified. Even in the Book of Revelation Chapter 1 verse 17 you know John said that “When he saw Him;” when he saw the Lord He said “I fell at His feet like a dead man.”  That’s common thing to experience in the presence of God.

Sid: Hmm, what happened next?

Gary: Well, right after that it was very brief it ended and I came back into my body; I was on the floor and it was like I was writhing in agony on the floor.  My eyes were wide open; I was screaming but no sound was coming out of my mouth; I had a look of terror on my face.  And my wife saw me on the floor like that and she was really worried and she asked the men; do something, do something help him.  And so they turned around and they said he’s okay he’s okay.  Well, the reason that I had the look of terror on my face and agony was that I was so acutely aware of my sinfulness in the presence of such a holy God that it brought terror to me.

Sid: Now would you before that moment would you have said “I’m a pretty decent shape with God.”

Gary: Yes, I would I thought I was; I thought I was but in the presence of God it’s like everything is revealed and it was like to the deepest part of my being I was crying out in repentance like I’d never cried out before.  God cleanse me; God purify me and that was my cry.  And I laid on the floor again this time for probably it was almost 2 hours and I could barely get up again.  I had to have people pull me and help me to walk from the presence of God so strong upon me after all of that time as I was reliving those experiences of what God had done. It was the most incredible experience; I was just staggering around for days just weeping.  Anytime anybody would talk about the presence of God I would begin to experience that again in my life.  Randy Clark actually was beginning to preach at that moment and the presence of God was so strong on me and I went into the back and I was sitting there and I couldn’t even stay in the chair; I was vibrating in the chair.  Randy began to tell about a time that his mother had been taken up into the presence of God and again the power of God just came all over me; I couldn’t take it; and I was crying out to God again; I was saying “God I don’t understand this but I just want more of You; more of You; more of You.”  And then God opened my eyes and I saw a big angel standing next to Randy and the angel bent over and whispered in his ear and right then Randy came under such a strong anointing as he was preaching.  And as he began to wind down the angel bent over and whispered in his ear again and Randy started again under this strong anointing.  And it was like every word that came out of his mouth it was like God was speaking; every word carried weight; it just penetrated in my being.  God opened my eyes to hear His voice like I’d never hear it before.  It was so penetrating and again I was just shaking and vibrating in the chair.  My wife asked me “Are you okay, are you okay what happened to you, what happened to you?”  Well, I could barely talk I said “Yes, I’m okay but I’ll tell you later.”  I just needed time to process all of this and so Randy asked me… he sent word back that he wanted me to come up and minister with him at the end but I didn’t think I was going to be able to.

Sid: I would think from what you told me you were totally wasted.

Gary: I was totally wasted.

Sid: So how did you get up there?

Gary:  Well I prayed and asked God if this is you you’re going to have to give me the strength to be able to do it.  Well I felt strength coming into me but I need two men one on each side of me to help me down to the front.  As we walked down to the front the Spirit of God came on me again; I was shaking and vibrating violently as they put me in a chair.  Randy asked me to come up to tell about what had happened but he saw that I was in no condition to do that. So he asked the men to pick me up in the chair and bring me up on the platform.  And so they did; they set me there and he came over and he put the microphone in front of me and he said “Gary what happened?”  And I was so overcome I was shaking, I was bent over, my shoulders were on my knees, my hands were scrapping the floor; and I couldn’t speak. And so he looked down at my wife and he said “Kathy come up and tell us what happened. “ Well, when I told my wife actually what happened after I told her that she was totally blown away by what I had experienced but I told her please don’t tell anybody; I don’t want anybody to know about this until I really have time to process all of this.  And so she said “Okay I won’t tell anybody.”  Well Randy called her to come up in front of everybody to tell what had happened.  And so she took the microphone and then she remembered.  She came over to me and she said “Gary you told me not to tell anybody is it okay?”  Well, I was shaking by head was bobbing up and down and she took that as a yes.

Sid:  Oh no, we’re out of time we’ll pick up her on tomorrow’s broadcast.