I grew up in a Christian home. My first spiritual experience was a nightmare at about the age of 4 or 5 years old. I dreamt that the Devil invaded my home and took me hostage. He had a choke hold around my neck with his left arm and wielded a sword in his right hand as we flew right through the roof and out onto an open field. I was so frightened that all I could do was cry out, “Jesus save me!” At that moment, the sky opened up and I saw an image of Jesus.
He said to me, “Bernardo I will save you and I will always be with you.” Just as He spoke these words the Devil let me go but not before using his sword to slash me from the base of my neck all the way down my back, I awoke screaming! The strange thing is, although now conscious my back was still burning with pain. I checked to see if there was a nail or something on the floor that would explain the reason for my back pain, I found nothing. From that moment on I was deathly afraid of the devil, demons, and the dark!

At age 12, I made a false confession of faith in Jesus, shortly after this I got involved in Eastern mysticism before it became to be known as New Age Thought. I put the Bible on the shelf and got involved in everything from hypnosis to “Ufology”(the study of UFOs). I had two main goals, to levitate and to have an out of body experience (astral projection). Furthermore, I discovered that drugs enhanced my personal meditations and other occult experiences. Unfortunately and unknowingly, I had opened the spiritual window to the dark entities of evil. At the same time my life was filled with vileness, violence, loneliness, and recklessness. I become a racist and a revolutionist. My heart was filled with hate and resentment against everyone and everything, especially any kind of authority. I also started hearing voices and developed what some would call multiple personalities. My life was a terrible mess!

Recall that one of my goals was to have an out of body experience, one night it happened but I did not seek or solicit it.I was lying awake in bed when all of a sudden I felt a cold presence at the end of my bed. This presence or entity grabbed me and begin to pull me up off the bed, it felt as though I was being pulled up by my shirt tie, the problem was, I wasn't wearing a shirt or tie and my body was still lying on the bed. I was so frightened that for the second time in my life I cried out, “Jesus save me!” Immediately, this thing released me and I fell back onto my bed into my body. You would think this experience would straighten me out, it did for about two days, and then I returned to my same wicked and evil ways.

One night after shooting pool at a bar I started a fight, which for me was business as usual. But on this night I was not to be victorious. In fact, I was beaten to one inch of my life by a very irate softball team that found my behavior a bit too arrogant and provocative. If it hadn't been for my girlfriend (now my wife ) who intervened pleading for mercy, more than likely, I would have been beaten to death. As my friends rode me to the hospital we debated about returning with a gun to seek revenge, which I declined to do. After the hospital put me back together again I was released and sent home. As I entered my one room downtown apartment I caught a glimpse of my sorely beaten and disfigured visage in my full-length door mirror. The next thing I knew my whole life seemed to flash before me in the mirror. I saw all the horrible sins of my past and present. I saw all the wicked things I did and how I had hurt others in the same way that I was hurt.I came under tremendous conviction, contrition, and humility. It was so powerful that it knocked me down to my knees in repentance. I cried out for the third time in my life, “Jesus save me!” No sooner had the words left my mouth that I felt as though something or someone within left me and fled my apartment. I knew that I was truly born again. The promise Jesus made to me in my dream came true to life. “Bernardo I will save you and I will always be with you.” **

**That was over 30 years ago!

Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him;
Isaiah 55:6-7
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me,
though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26

 

For more information on how you can know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour visit: www.milwaukeebiblechurch.org