My Encounter With God

[jcb989]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

[Zathura]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

Interesting. Thanks for saving us

[Juliet]

So, you are an important part of God's plan. I remember that Howard W. Storm was shown a nuclear war and Jesus told him he was going to do everything in His power to not let this happen.

We are not here by chance. We did come here to heal and save the earth from the consequences and destruction of evil.

I believe your experience was good for you. But understand that it will trigger feelings of jealously in others who have yet to find their own importance to God.

When you receive from God, you have a gift that others do not have. So, you cannot expect others to value you the way God values you. But you can use the love you feel from God to learn to value others. That is the hard part of having spiritual experiences. You become the parent since you have the resources and those around you are children who don't have the resources of love that you have learned to find.

I am sorry you have been treated so badly from your family. Certainly you deserve to be accepted and treated with love.

[Zathura]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

My real answer is this.

I have no reason to doubt the feeling that came upon you , but I do know that many misunderstand the Spirit and the Power of the Holy Ghost. Many often have mere thoughts and ideas and attribute them to the power of the Holy Ghost. Even while in the midst of being full of the Spirit(truly full of the Spirit, not just warm fuzzies, you can have thoughts and ideas that aren't necessarily inspired or Revelation.

The whole point or the Gospel is to be spiritually reborn. Most members believe this happens upon confirmation . Unfortunately this is not true. For many, it will happen at a later time when they are sufficiently humble and contrite and call out to their God , or simply when God sees fit. He then visits you with the Baptism of Fire and Holy Ghost. Many describe is as a feeling of fire going from your head to your hands and toes and all through the inside and outside of your body. Others describe it as warm water.
When this occurs you immediately have a knowledge by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Savior. You do not know all things, however.if you push on, your life can contain more experiences like that. Further prayer and scriptures study will show you how to receive Revelation, what true Revelation feels like.

As a result of these powerful blessings , temptations increase. The Adversary puts more effort into stopping you. This could be anything. deception, something to lust after, something that will anger you. It is possible to fall. If you fall, repent and do what you did to get to your previous state in the first place. Then push onward seeking your God.

I believe there's a multitude of things that could have happened to you, but only you can ever truly know. I'll make a short list.

You received the Baptism of Fire and Holy Ghost but misunderstood thoughts and ideas you had later.

You had a strong experience with the Spirit, not quite the Baptism of fire, and misunderstood thoughts and ideas you had.

Maybe you had the baptism of fire and The adversary deceived you to prevent you from progressing further.

Maybe you didn't have the baptism of fire, but the Lord visited you with a greater measure of his spirit than ever before to show you that he approves of your current path, but the Adversary is trying to stop you short of receiving the baptism of fire and holy Ghost so that you won't be born of God

The Adversary has power, he can even appear as an angel of light.

Don't take this personally, but it might be a mental illness l(I personally doubt this). But I knew a guy on my mission who lived in a mental home and he literally thought he was Jesus for periods of time before snapping back to reality. A guy posts on this forum from time to time talking as if he is God, but a time or 2 he apologized and said he has a sickness and also was deceived by a friend .

In the end, only you can really find out my friend. I'm inclined to believe you truly did feel the Spirit in great measure but misunderstood the feelings and ideas you had as bring Revelation when it wasn't. I don't believe you are someone whose departure would effect the world in such a way.

[HeberC]

I don't doubt your experience. If we are doing what we came here to do, of course we can prevent horrible judgements to the world. Our higher selves are not limited by time or space. People profess knowing this or that is true, but when they are confronted by someone who has actually experienced that truth through revelation, they doubt it. After witnessing such lack of faith, it should reinforce the fact that Jesus is your best friend. That's ok... that's more than ok.

[gangbusters]

May I ask, since the experience you had after you read the book on Joseph Smith and presumably gained a testimony of him, have you acted on that? Have you returned to activity in the Church, etc.? Curious.

[thestock]

Nobody has reason to discount your experience. It is yours and for you alone. Perhaps sharing it with others, even family, should be discouraged because people, even highly religious people, are skeptical that anyone can have experiences that they themselves are not having or are not familiar with.

I have experienced similar things, even from my own family. I believe I have conversed with the Lord in the exact same way as you. What you take from those experiences/conversations will lead to incredible blessings in your life IF you do your part. Usually when it happens to me, I am told to do something very specific, and I am given an open-ended promise for what awaits me if I do them (never specifics....usually told that whatever righteous thing I desire will be given unto me). When I follow through, I have been blessed. Following through is surprisingly hard, even after having these experiences. Maybe that is why so many people discount them.

[Robin Hood]

My immediate thought is - what did you understand by "leave"?

[Alaris]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

I saw you left this comment on my blog, but I will answer you here. First, thanks for sharing as sharing such experiences is not easy. I see there is a slight variance in accounts, so I hope you don't mind if I post a little bit of that variance below:

Now at this point in my life I had zero biblical knowledge. And this made me think I was a savior like Jesus Christ.

May I ask what led you to this conclusion? Was it the fact the world would burn without you here? Did you receive any explanation as to why? Were you led to believe you were the only reason the world wouldn't burn or a part of a larger effort?

Another couple of questions:

Have those experiences stopped where you feel you are talking to God?

Have any of those experiences led to confirmations - For example, were you ever given a word or a scripture that you weren't familiar with that you were later able to verify? This may help rule out any lingering doubts of self-generated experiences, but that won't necessarily rule out evil spirits.

As for evil spirits - how does one know one is receiving revelations from God versus from the devil ala Hyrum Smith? There is both a logical test and a spiritual one. The logical test is are you receiving anything that directly conflicts with revelation, modern or otherwise. However, the flaw in that test is you are relying on your own understanding - either your understanding of A (existing) versus B (new) could be flawed.

Here are two more important spiritual tests. The first is Alma 32 regarding planting a seed. If you haven't read Alma 32 recently, or if you aren't super familiar with Alma 32, I suggest a deep dive here.

The second in Moroni 7. Evil spirits cannot lead you to Christ by their very nature.

Moroni 7:12 Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.
13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.
14 Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
18 And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.


In my humble opinion, God reveals things to us in a way that leaves room for doubt - otherwise we would not require faith. Stahura mentioned mental illness - is there any history of schizophrenia in your family or delusions of grandeur? Yet on the other hand just about every prophet was crazy by the world's standards - and God's people will always stand in stark contrast to the world and the standards by which the world judges people.

Study Alma 32 and compare to Moroni 7 - search diligently, pray diligently, study diligently and move forward in faith - does the seed take root and are there experiences that confirm by the Spirit the earlier experiences?

[jcb989]

My immediate thought is - what did you understand by "leave"?

I understood that the earth would literally be engulfed in flames. As far as how i would leave or where i would go i had no idea. I thought a space ship would zap me up or something

[jcb989]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

I saw you left this comment on my blog, but I will answer you here. First, thanks for sharing as sharing such experiences is not easy. I see there is a slight variance in accounts, so I hope you don't mind if I post a little bit of that variance below:

Now at this point in my life I had zero biblical knowledge. And this made me think I was a savior like Jesus Christ.

May I ask what led you to this conclusion? Was it the fact the world would burn without you here? Did you receive any explanation as to why? Were you led to believe you were the only reason the world wouldn't burn or a part of a larger effort?

Another couple of questions:

Have those experiences stopped where you feel you are talking to God?

Have any of those experiences led to confirmations - For example, were you ever given a word or a scripture that you weren't familiar with that you were later able to verify? This may help rule out any lingering doubts of self-generated experiences, but that won't necessarily rule out evil spirits.

As for evil spirits - how does one know one is receiving revelations from God versus from the devil ala Hyrum Smith? There is both a logical test and a spiritual one. The logical test is are you receiving anything that directly conflicts with revelation, modern or otherwise. However, the flaw in that test is you are relying on your own understanding - either your understanding of A (existing) versus B (new) could be flawed.

Here are two more important spiritual tests. The first is Alma 32 regarding planting a seed. If you haven't read Alma 32 recently, or if you aren't super familiar with Alma 32, I suggest a deep dive here.

The second in Moroni 7. Evil spirits cannot lead you to Christ by their very nature.

Moroni 7:12 Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.
13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.
14 Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
18 And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.


In my humble opinion, God reveals things to us in a way that leaves room for doubt - otherwise we would not require faith. Stahura mentioned mental illness - is there any history of schizophrenia in your family or delusions of grandeur? Yet on the other hand just about every prophet was crazy by the world's standards - and God's people will always stand in stark contrast to the world and the standards by which the world judges people.

Study Alma 32 and compare to Moroni 7 - search diligently, pray diligently, study diligently and move forward in faith - does the seed take root and are there experiences that confirm by the Spirit the earlier experiences?

I will review these things and get back to you. Thank you for the reply. I also loved reading your blog posts!

[Zathura]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

I saw you left this comment on my blog, but I will answer you here. First, thanks for sharing as sharing such experiences is not easy. I see there is a slight variance in accounts, so I hope you don't mind if I post a little bit of that variance below:

Now at this point in my life I had zero biblical knowledge. And this made me think I was a savior like Jesus Christ.

May I ask what led you to this conclusion? Was it the fact the world would burn without you here? Did you receive any explanation as to why? Were you led to believe you were the only reason the world wouldn't burn or a part of a larger effort?

Another couple of questions:

Have those experiences stopped where you feel you are talking to God?

Have any of those experiences led to confirmations - For example, were you ever given a word or a scripture that you weren't familiar with that you were later able to verify? This may help rule out any lingering doubts of self-generated experiences, but that won't necessarily rule out evil spirits.

As for evil spirits - how does one know one is receiving revelations from God versus from the devil ala Hyrum Smith? There is both a logical test and a spiritual one. The logical test is are you receiving anything that directly conflicts with revelation, modern or otherwise. However, the flaw in that test is you are relying on your own understanding - either your understanding of A (existing) versus B (new) could be flawed.

Here are two more important spiritual tests. The first is Alma 32 regarding planting a seed. If you haven't read Alma 32 recently, or if you aren't super familiar with Alma 32, I suggest a deep dive here.

The second in Moroni 7. Evil spirits cannot lead you to Christ by their very nature.

Moroni 7:12 Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.
13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.
14 Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
18 And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.


In my humble opinion, God reveals things to us in a way that leaves room for doubt - otherwise we would not require faith. Stahura mentioned mental illness - is there any history of schizophrenia in your family or delusions of grandeur? Yet on the other hand just about every prophet was crazy by the world's standards - and God's people will always stand in stark contrast to the world and the standards by which the world judges people.

Study Alma 32 and compare to Moroni 7 - search diligently, pray diligently, study diligently and move forward in faith - does the seed take root and are there experiences that confirm by the Spirit the earlier experiences?

I will review these things and get back to you. Thank you for the reply. I also loved reading your blog posts!

I'd suggest reading a book called "Following the light of Christ into his presence ". It's available in print and ebook.

I'll even send you a copy if you so desired .

[Robin Hood]

My immediate thought is - what did you understand by "leave"?

I understood that the earth would literally be engulfed in flames. As far as how i would leave or where i would go i had no idea. I thought a space ship would zap me up or something

I'm sorry mate, but from what you have said I really don't believe this was of God.
I'm not poo-pooing the whole experience, but the bit about leaving or burning the earth is complete nonsense and false doctrine. When I first read it I thought it was an attempt to entice you to commit suicide; Ipin which case it certainly was not of God.

[endlessQuestions]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

Well, as you’ve seen you’re going to get the whole range of responses on this forum.

In the end it’s important to know whether this came from God. In the end, only you can determine whether that is the case or not. Wish it wasn’t so, but it is...

[Jonesy]

Welcome, Joseph! And thank you!

[jcb989]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

I saw you left this comment on my blog, but I will answer you here. First, thanks for sharing as sharing such experiences is not easy. I see there is a slight variance in accounts, so I hope you don't mind if I post a little bit of that variance below:

Now at this point in my life I had zero biblical knowledge. And this made me think I was a savior like Jesus Christ.

May I ask what led you to this conclusion? Was it the fact the world would burn without you here? Did you receive any explanation as to why? Were you led to believe you were the only reason the world wouldn't burn or a part of a larger effort?

Another couple of questions:

Have those experiences stopped where you feel you are talking to God?

Have any of those experiences led to confirmations - For example, were you ever given a word or a scripture that you weren't familiar with that you were later able to verify? This may help rule out any lingering doubts of self-generated experiences, but that won't necessarily rule out evil spirits.

As for evil spirits - how does one know one is receiving revelations from God versus from the devil ala Hyrum Smith? There is both a logical test and a spiritual one. The logical test is are you receiving anything that directly conflicts with revelation, modern or otherwise. However, the flaw in that test is you are relying on your own understanding - either your understanding of A (existing) versus B (new) could be flawed.

Here are two more important spiritual tests. The first is Alma 32 regarding planting a seed. If you haven't read Alma 32 recently, or if you aren't super familiar with Alma 32, I suggest a deep dive here.

The second in Moroni 7. Evil spirits cannot lead you to Christ by their very nature.

Moroni 7:12 Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.
13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.
14 Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
18 And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.


In my humble opinion, God reveals things to us in a way that leaves room for doubt - otherwise we would not require faith. Stahura mentioned mental illness - is there any history of schizophrenia in your family or delusions of grandeur? Yet on the other hand just about every prophet was crazy by the world's standards - and God's people will always stand in stark contrast to the world and the standards by which the world judges people.

Study Alma 32 and compare to Moroni 7 - search diligently, pray diligently, study diligently and move forward in faith - does the seed take root and are there experiences that confirm by the Spirit the earlier experiences?

I will review these things and get back to you. Thank you for the reply. I also loved reading your blog posts!

I'd suggest reading a book called "Following the light of Christ into his presence ". It's available in print and ebook.

I'll even send you a copy if you so desired .

thank you. I will look into it

[jcb989]

Welcome, Joseph! And thank you!

Joseph?

[Rand]

I think this is up to you to do with it what God would have you do, or to misuse it.

Make sure the things you were taught in your interactions with God are congruent with what he has taught His prophets through time. If it is not consistent with their teachings, it is not of God.

Abraham was asked of God to sacrifice Isaac. It is what Abraham did with that command that made it of true power. I think God is giving you your test. What are you going to do with it? It is not so easy to become a savior. It is possible and a responsibility we have to become saviors on Mount Zion. But, it does not happen like that. You may be a prophet, but you are not a Prophet. A prophet is a witness of Jesus Christ. What you do with your knowledge and how you humble yourself and serve God with it will determine if it is good or bad. God tests us just as much if not more that Satan does.

You first felt the Spirit about Joseph and his call as a Prophet and the head of this dispensation of the fulness of times. As asked above, did you act on that knowledge? He wants His Kingdom built. He wants us to be a part of his Kingdom/famiy. But we must follow "the way". And "the way" has no short cuts. Let your experience be a springboard in serving that Way, but not an experience that teaches you that you are different than anyone else.

If it takes a miracle to get you on The Way, it will take a miracle to keep you on The Way. I hope you humble yourself, and give yourself to Him by acting in faith, humility and obedience to the path he has established by following The Way.

[I AM]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

-------------
for the most part, I for one believe you.
but you really didn't make this part - the most important part very clear - at least not to me.
"and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay.
I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay. "

I guess one could look at it as ( "if" you leave, the Earth will then be burned.
And ( if you stay, then the Earth will not burn.)

because I believe the Earth is going to burn, regardless of what ANYONE does, or could have done.
I think you were given the option to leave - before it burns,
and not by choosing to stay - you will somehow save the Earth from burning.
Could it be that "leave and let earth burn,"
mean that you could have left "before" the Earth burns ?

[marc]

I certainly believe your experience is genuine. It is evident that you do not understand what you experienced, but with time and personal study of scripture and continued prayer, you will come to understand your gift. It sounds to me like you were given the choice to tarry or to be taken and not have to experience the coming sorrows. Joseph Smith once asked God when the second coming was going to happen and he did not immediately understand the answer God gave to him and he was left to believe two possibilities. He never did live to see a certain age, so he didn't live long enough to see if Christ would return in glory.

[Jonesy]

Welcome, Joseph! And thank you!

Joseph?

I thought you were the one for a second there!

[XEmilyX]

What were the questions that you were asking in your car and what answers were you getting?
Because one time there was a spirit in my car pretending to be god and talked to me about things that seemed positive but it was really an evil spirit.
Satan also tries to imitate the holy ghost. One time he appeared to me pretending to be God and this rush of emotion came into my body and I thought it to be the spirit confirming it was God. But of course it wasn't.
He would say things like "you will change the world" and even told me that my sister would try to commit suicide and that happened days before she tried.
This doesn't sound like gods voice. I believe you're a special person and you're not crazy, but I believe this isn't his voice. At least what you have shared doesn't sound like it. Do you have the gift of discerning of spirits? If not this could be a lie.
I'm not trying to make you feel bad about it, but we have to be very careful about revelation. Because it's hard to discern without the gift of discernment or discerning of spirits.
Usually God doesn't talk to people with a voice, not that it doesn't happen, it's happened to me before, but talking to God back and forth in the car is a bit...well...it would raise my suspicions simply because someone tried pretending to be God with me before. And God is busy, he doesn't usually talk back and forth about your problems (not saying he doesn't listen) and usually his encounters with his voice really dont try to raise someones ego.
This is just usual stuff and not like there's not exceptions.
But did he tell you what to do to help the world? Other than staying? Usually there's some explanation.
Because if you just stayed that would make no sense, like if you didnt interact with people or follow the spirit, just staying in that sense would not do anything. Not that you're not important. But it would make no sense if you were a hermit in a forest and didnt talk to anyone else and the sole reason the earth isn't burning is because of you. If it has to do with righteousness, there are plenty of other people very righteous that have seen God that are out there.
So do you see what I'm talking about? Did he share anything more with you about what your mission is?

[jcb989]

I had a very intense spiritual experience that I have yet to understand. I also have yet to find someone who understands what I went through. I will try my best to provide as much detail about it as possible, so that you may understand how profound this was to me, and so that someone here may be able to give me some insight to it.

I was born in to a Latter Day Saint family in 1992 and baptized when i was of age. After my baptism we stopped attending church, and over time i became an atheist.

One night I was at my grandparents house in Salt Lake City at the end of 2012, and i noticed a book about Joseph Smith on the table. I asked my grandfather if i could take it home, and he happily obliged. I was curious to see what they believed (my grandparents) and read the book when i got back to my home.

As I was reading i was SO overcome by the spirit that i felt as though were on a hallucinogen. The world began to feel like a lovely dream. The feeling was so intense i began to believe i was a prophet. I began praying for hours on end every night, and would drive around all night and would speak to God, and I seemed to be receiving answers!

The peak of my experience is as follows:

I was sitting in my car watching the son rise, listening to the radio and speaking to god both verbally and mentally. He spoke to me, not verbally, but with that small quiet voice, and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay. I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay.

Now not one person I have spoken to believes God actually gave me this option, they mostly think i am crazy. But I cannot deny that this happened, and the feelings associated with it are SO intense that I know it was real and that it was coming from God who is love, and i was encircled by and enveloped in his love.

This was the beginning of my sorrows. I went home and told my family that "I think i just saved the world". They immediately flew into a frenzy of rage thinking i was on mushrooms and kicked me out of the house. Since then life has not been very good to me, but i have grown infinite amounts in my faith. I have quit telling people about this experience as i have been rejected by everyone i have told it to, but I thought I may as well give it another go and see if anyone can be of help to me.

Thanks for reading! Anxiously waiting to see what you all have to say. Any questions you may have, feel free to ask.

-------------
for the most part, I for one believe you.
but you really didn't make this part - the most important part very clear - at least not to me.
"and gave me two options, leave and let earth burn, or stay.
I wept at the thought of humanity being burned, and i chose to stay. "

I guess one could look at it as ( "if" you leave, the Earth will then be burned.
And ( if you stay, then the Earth will not burn.)

because I believe the Earth is going to burn, regardless of what ANYONE does, or could have done.
I think you were given the option to leave - before it burns,
and not by choosing to stay - you will somehow save the Earth from burning.
Could it be that "leave and let earth burn,"
mean that you could have left "before" the Earth burns ?

Yes that is possible! i have thought the same thing myself at times. Thank you for the response. Well thank you everyone for the responses they are very nice to read.

[jcb989]

Welcome, Joseph! And thank you!

Joseph?

I thought you were the one for a second there!

The one?? I'm not sure what you mean. Part of me thinks you're saying another incarnation of Joseph Smith but I really have no idea. Please elaborate!

[Alaris]

Welcome, Joseph! And thank you!

Joseph?

I thought you were the one for a second there!

The one?? I'm not sure what you mean. Part of me thinks you're saying another incarnation of Joseph Smith but I really have no idea. Please elaborate!

I can't speak for Jonesy, but I don't think he meant any offense here. Perhaps he was referring to this prophecy:

2 Nephi 3: 14 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise;
15 And his name shall be called after me (Joseph); and it shall be after the name of his father (also Joseph). And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.