Hearing the Voices of God in the Midst of Life Tragedies

My plane arrived in New York in the early morning of March 1972 from Lagos, Nigeria after traveling for most of the night hours on Pan American Airliner. I met Kenny, another student from Nigeria on the plane going to the same University. We had to stay in Kennedy Airport till daybreak. We spent the rest of the waiting hours fascinated by the shops at the Kennedy Airport in New York.

I was very happy at my initially arrived in the Unites States. As a teenager, I was very fascinated by the country. I spent a few days in Chicago with another friend from home. In Chicago, I met a distant cousin of mine whom I saw after I woke up the first morning in the United States. There was no time for socialization because I only spent a couple of days in the Windy City. I stayed at the South-side of Chicago with very beautiful buildings as I saw them in 1972. Chicago always has a special place in my heart. It was the first city I entered into the United States. One Sunday afternoon, I boarded a train from Chicago, and headed to Macomb. This was my first time on a train. It was such a long trip from Chicago to Macomb. On the train I met this white guy who sat next to me. He was also going to the same college. He was so kind to me as I introduced myself as an international student from Nigeria. I met him later on the campus and in a French class. He was also a freshman like me. Today I could not remember his name. Kenny, my new friend I met on the plane already went ahead of me to Macomb. We were later reacquainted when we met again on the campus of the university. Interestingly, we both were assigned the same host family by the International Student’s Office. Little did I know that a time bomb was ticking in my life.

1972 was a very interesting time on the college campus. Students were smoking Marijuana; some were using other illicit drugs. Weekend parties were everywhere. The last week of the quarter was party everyday on the finals-week. I was very shocked when I witnessed some of the events happening especially the political ones. Far back home, criminals use Marijuana. This was the time of the Hypes with long hair, torn jeans with patches at the back, and free love. Some of these signs were the students’ defiance of the authority. At that time, I did not know what was going on. I was just a stranger in a strange land. Yes, I went through a cultural shock. I had to get over it very quickly. It was the time of demonstration against the Vietnam War on the campus across the nation with the slogan, "Don’t let Nixon waste your live in Vietnam." I also witnessed the election time between McGovern and Nixon on the campus. This was the time I was hearing many interesting music including, "I Take You There," by the Staple Singer and Mavis Staple, the lead singer. After Nixon won the election, we plunged into the Watergate scandal. This continued for a while. Every Friday evening on the campus of Western Illinois University, Black Students Union would have party in the Black House on Adams street across from Sherman Hall – the administration building. At other times the party would be at the Student Union Hall. There were a couple of bars in town where students of all races gathered for party. As small as the population of Macomb, we still had parties everywhere especially on the weekends. Many of the students on the campus were from Chicago area. I started to adjust to American life as fast as I could.

This was a good time for arriving in the United States. It was also a bad time for the events that were about to ravage my life. I was of the opinion I was only going to college for further education. However, I was unaware Christ had sent me on a mission with many assignments. Some of those assignments were going to be very painful. Before the assignment started, I was to be given the first phase of training about life. I was unaware about the tragic events that were about to take place. The joy of my arrival in the United States did not last for long, it eventually shattered.

I was still nursing the emotional wounds of my father’s death in 1970 shortly after I graduated from high school. He was only 60 years old. A few months after I arrived on the college campus, I received the first bad news that brought me to a very low point. My 10-month old son had died. My emotional wounds started to bleed again. I was hoping these wounds would heal, but there was no adequate time for healing. Three years later, at the time I was graduating, my younger brother died. The news was very disheartening indeed. I started to wonder about my mother’s state of mind at home. A few months later, my younger sister, the only female child of my mother, also died. I was totally paralyzed by emotional pain. I could not do anything except to send comforting letters to my beloved mother. Around that same time, my heart was broken again of the death of my most favorite Aunt Rosetta. She died of breast cancer. Only God knows why life tragedies come in groups. I have not been able to figure that part out.

A couple of years later, my marriage to my high school sweetheart had collapsed. This was another death inside my heart. I started to question myself. Will I ever love again? Will I ever be happy again? I remember when I was young as a choirboy far back home, I was very happy. But, around this time, life had brought me much sorrow. In the quietness of my heart, I continued to pray. While I was recovering from all these painful experiences, I was planning to go back home permanently to my people. I needed healing and my heart was bleeding very profusely. In 1977, I had to stop my education and I went back home to Nigeria. I stayed there for about a year doing graduate work at the University of Lagos Medical School. In 1978, I returned to the United Sates to continue my graduate work. I started to question God about all the unfortunate events in my life.

In the very early 1980s, I made a decision to go back home for the final time to settle down and forget about the United States. But, God had a different agenda. I was trapped as I discovered love again. I discovered Rita, a young nursing graduate who became my wife a couple of years later. This young lady would also be used by God to help reshape my life. I did not have time to enjoy the love I just discovered in my wife when another tragedy stuck. On one painful afternoon, I had called home in response to the message I had received earlier. This was one of the saddest days of my life as I was told that my beloved mother had passed away. I broke down and wept for days. I felt so guilty I was not at home to comfort her. Will my heart ever stop bleeding? I was running out of blood, and tears to shed. Within me, I started to question whether life itself is worth it. Another disaster struck the day I received a call from Moniyi, my niece that my immediate brother had disappeared in Lagos, and was never found. Again, for many years, my heart was subdued in sorrow and pain. Why me Lord, I asked?

These were the challenges I had to face as the initial phase of my training in the ministry to serve the Lord. This was just the beginning! My training started with a bleeding heart that never stop bleeding due to so many life tragedies that surrounded me in a short period of time. I was expecting an end to these tragedies as I continued to pray and talk to the Lord throughout my ordeal. As if these were not enough, more tragedies would strike.

At the time, I thought all my problems were over, then I face my first job disaster. In 1983, I lost my supervisory job based on a lie told by my manager. I was crushed. This one brought me to another lower point in my life. My struggle to survive continued. Yet in 1992, I faced another job disaster. She was an emotional manager who was sexually abused within her family. She was very angry against men. She told me this herself. She ventilated her anger against men. I was one of her targets. I was one of those people who had to pay for the sexual abuse she suffered. In 2005, I had to resign from another job over the national project I was working on. I was working on medical errors to save patients’ lives. I had already reported the progress of the project to the US. Congress, the White House, and the Department of Health and Human Services with positives responses. During this project to save lives, I faced with many challenges. I will discuss more about this later in the book. In this particular hospital, I was accused of working too hard on fixing medical errors. I was accused of finding too many errors in the system. I was asked to take those errors back. I was asked to commit a fraud by the CEO of the hospital. Instead, I refused and resigned. In a way, I was punished for working too hard to prevent people from dying needlessly. Following this resignation, there was a miracle. Jesus made another visit to me, and gave me some instructions. He also brought me joy, hope, and peace, even in the middle of my storms.

I was experiencing tragedy upon tragedies, but I was unaware that these were training processes to prepare me for the missions of God ahead. Subsequent to these events, Jesus took me out of town from my family and loved ones. He sent me to North Carolina, which was over one thousand miles away. Here, I encountered the most riveting spiritual experience in my life when Jesus brought me face to face with God the Father. The experience was so powerful; I thought I was going to die. That moment ignited another turning point in my spiritual journey as I ascended into a higher spiritual dimension to meet with God. Finally, God answered the question I had been asking about myself. Who am I? What am I doing here? These are the questions I have been asking for years. God the Father told me who I was, and for what purpose I came to this earth. I was in tears when this revelation became clearer to me. It caused me to tremble to the core of my soul.

Because of all these challenges I had to face in life, I spent many years in lamentation. Considering many sleepless nights, painful depression, and hurtful despair, I learn to trust in Jesus. Despite all the painful experiences, I always heard the voice of the Lord in the midst of each tragedy. I wrote this book as a testimony for Jesus who never abandoned me during difficult times.

As if all these were not enough, I faced the possibility of my own death more than seven times. But, Jesus stood on the way and prevented my untimely demise. In one of the scariest experiences, three bullets were fired aimed at my head. Jesus performed a miracle by capturing the bullets. Jesus stood between my head and the flying bullets as I was accidentally caught between gang cross fire in the city of St. Louis. Even the police officers at the crime scene were bewildered by the miracle they witnessed. How none of the three bullets did not hit my head was a riddle even the police officers were unable to solve.

Following this very scary event, the gates of heaven were opened before me. I started to hear the voice of God very loud and clear. Although I have been hearing this voice in the past, but not as loud. This time, I could hear a voice in me as if I was hearing a person talking to me. It was the beginning of a very powerful spiritual experience. In the midst of each crisis, even in the deep valley of painful sorrows, I always hear the voice of my Savior cheering me on. The special moments we shared, and the divine visions revealed instructed me to write this book as a testimony for the power of his greatness. No matter the challenges we face in life, we can trust everything in the hand of the Lord. Jesus will subsequently guide us to the healing ground. That healing ground is at the heart of God the Father. From here, I experience joy, peace and serenity. Despite the storms, the anchor (Jesus) still holds. Behind the cloud, the sun still shines. People will fail you. Even you will fail yourself. But, Christ will never fail you. Why was I chosen? That answer will come later in my journey with Jesus.

One day, I heard "the Voice" of the Lord saying to me, "I will send you as a prophet to the nations." I had no idea what this message meant at the time until mysterious events started happening around me. There were revelations about the present, and warnings about the future.

Make no mistake; this story is not about tragedies and how I learn to overcome. My story is how Jesus walked me along this journey as I cried out to God during my challenging moments in life. At the deepest depth of our pain and sorrow, God is closer to us than we think. Jesus is always speaking to us, the angels are always protecting us, and the Holy Spirit is always comforting us. I was a fatherless child growing up in a very hostile, painful, and dangerous world. God reveals himself to me as an Eternal Father. Christ reveals himself as my Savior and friend. The Holy Spirit reveals himself as a teacher and the divine spirit of God.

One of the major lessons I learned from all the bad things that happened to me was the reflection of the glory of God in difficult times. Meaning, what I learned during my ordeal became powerful tools to help other people. Whether this is God’s design, I cannot tell. Later, I started running into people who are being confronted with similar problems as mine. I learned to minister to these people based on what the Holy Spirit taught me about trusting in the Lord during the time of trouble. God tends to position us to serve him by serving others.

So, this book is about my journey with the Lord, his visitations to me, our conversations in the spirit, the lessons he taught me, encounters with God, the assignments he gave me, the places he took me, the revelations he granted me, the messages to those working in the ministry, and the warning signs about things to come. Although my journey with the Lord had many bumps on the road with bruises, the greatest joy is the love he shared and his faithfulness. I remained a testimony for Jesus.

My story reveals the nature of God unlike anybody has ever experienced before. It reveals the mighty hand of the Lord as he guides me through life when I choose to surrender to his will. Many secrets about the Lord’s relationship with man will be uncovered in this book. The highlights of my experience were not the revelations. I keep getting revelations all the time. The revelations were very important because they serve as prelude to every major event that happened to me on the mission field. The highlights were the events that followed the revelations in affirming the Lord’s messages to me. My closest encounter with God was the peak of my divine experience when he took me away from my family like he did Abraham. I experienced another side of God only a few had experienced in their lifetime. I strongly believed that the conversations I had with God, and the warnings he gave me, were all directed as a giant warning to the body of Christ on earth. My greatest appreciation to the Lord was what I experienced in the middle of my crisis. With God as my witness this day, in the middle of my life crisis, I always hear the voice of the Lord speaking directly to me. This is one of the major testimonies Jesus compels me to share with the world.

"I will certainly stand by you, for this shall be a warning that I have sent you," - Exodus 3:12.

Christ never abandons his own who serves him. The beauty of it all is to be hearing the voice of Jesus guiding and directing me to serve his purpose.

According to historical accounts in the Bible about Jesus, he lived and walked the face of this earth over 2000 years ago. Jesus died and resurrected three days later. He later ascended to heaven to the right hand of God the Father. My story is an Eye Witness Account for Jesus and the power of his grace. After 2000 years, I am a witness like the rest of the disciples about a risen Jesus. However, I am not alone. There are many people who have developed a closer relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. They shared the same joy. More than seven times Jesus appeared to me. To me, me, me! I could not believe these shocking experiences. What we discussed, and how he directed me to a giant encounter with God, remained my testimony for the Living God through Christ Our Savior. One of my biggest joys in life is to be talking to God and receiving responses like talking to people. I have always thought this was impossible despite my anointing. Anybody can talk to God, just by connecting to the spiritual realm of the Holiness of God through Jesus. People’s major problem is their quest to communicate God from the physical realm. That will not work. To communicate with God, a person has to ascend into the spiritual realm of God as guided by the Holy Spirit. It takes commitment and discipline to plug into the spiritual realm. This can be accomplished first, by daily devotion and prayers. Second, by daily meditation on the word of God. Third, by releasing all negative energies. Fourth, by fasting when directed by the Holy Spirit or when needed. Fifth, by making a life style changes in reflection of the teachings of Christ.

While I was still working on this book in late 2007, I started to hear how many books written by atheists were making headline news. I was not surprised because of the vision revealed to me at the end of the year 2006 about the future of the United States. The vision was not pretty. At this time, there was also an ongoing discussion in the media about Mother Theresa’s struggle with her faith in God. This is how I realized how lucky I was to have been given an opportunity to report news from my closer relationship with Jesus. There is no reason to lie. I had a struggle in the spirit as well. My struggle was not because the Lord was not talking to me. True, I had a period the Lord was not talking to me as much as I wanted. I would not call this a silent period either. My struggle was questioning the instructions I was given in the spirit. Sometimes, I was given a very difficult task. I imagined these to be difficult because I was looking at the task from human perspective. I did not want to do it as the spirit instructed me, especially because people might not believe me, or because of persecutions I was going to face. Sometimes, I would get angry because I did not want to do what the spirit asked me to do. At that time, I was wondering if I was making up the stories within me. The Lord later revealed to me that I was not the one making up the story, but the Holy Spirit within me remained my divine instructor.

In my journey with Christ, I learned when the Lord sends us on an assignment; he is never missing in action. I also learned from my experience in walking in the spirit that, sometimes our greatest source of pain is not the devil, nor the flesh, but from our on-going struggle against the will of God. Jesus echoed the same statement to Saul when he wrestled him down on the way to Damascus. Jesus told Saul, "It is hard for you to kick against the pricks," Acts 9:5. Jesus was telling Saul that it was a losing battle for him to fight against the will of God. The more he struggled against the will of God, the more pain he would suffer. Christians who suffer from depression during Christmas and holidays do so because of their refusal to accept the gift of joy given them by the Lord. Until we received, accept, acknowledge, and believe in the gift, we will not experience the fullness of the Lord’s joy. This is the more reason why many Christians remained in depression. They lack faith to receive the gifts of the good news in John 3:16.

Initially, I could not understand why Jesus was urging me to finish this book. I was of the opinion that the world might be getting ready to end, and Jesus was going to give people the last chance to believe in him. Perhaps, the reason for the urgency was to tell the story like no other story about my closer walk with Jesus, and how he was closely involved in my everyday life. I knew I could never have been the only one with this opportunity. I am sure there are many people out there given an access to the invisible world of the Holiness of God. This is the first time in life that a person will be a reporter from the physical world, and able to report news from the spiritual dimension as well. I am delighted to be reporting for Jesus from the spiritual dimension.

One of the major mysteries uncovered in this book (narrated in volume #2) is my experience at my closest encounter with God. I experienced the other side of God many people are unwilling to admit. But, this revelation carries a very powerful message to those serving in the ministry for Christ. The handwriting is on the wall for those willing to allow their desires instead of the Holy Spirit to drive them while working for the Lord. Jesus started his ministry, by echoing John the Baptist saying; "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand," St. Matthew 4:17.

John the Baptist added saying; "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire," St. Matthew 3:10.

Other ministers walking in the spirit of God have been sounding the alarm bells from the year 2007. I started seeing ominous signs at the end of 2006. The handwriting is on the wall. There are major tragedies to hit the US. I saw a very dark slow-moving cloud over the nation. Only God knows how these situations will manifest themselves. We may be seeing instant judgment of God from the pulpit. Ministers feeding their own desires in the house of God will be exposed, and others may start dropping dead. America as a nation needs to repent, or face a very painful future.

Moreover, this book will bring you closer to God through Jesus, and will change your life forever. This remains my testimony for Christ who has shared the love of his Father with me. The light we often experience in Jesus in the spirit is the reflection of his Father’s love through him. God is the light. The light is love. That love of God is reflected to us only through Christ. That is why Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." Jesus shares that light with us who believe in him, as the Son of the Living God.

I also learned from my various divine assignments that, at the most painful moment of life is the time we hear the voice of God the Loudest.

As I was writing my testimony for Jesus, I have written over 600 pages, and still writing. I decided to divide the accounts of my journey with Christ into three volumes. The first volume will end with the end of my first assignment. The second volume will start with my closet encounter with God as I experience the other side of the Holy Father. As you read each volume, be prepared for a very shocking spiritual experience of your life. The third volume will be devoted to the invisible world of God in the spiritual realm. My journey with Jesus continues as my conversation with him continues.

As I was putting a finishing touch on the first volume of this book, a giant miracle happened. I received another visitation from Jesus. He came to answer a very precious age-old question, "Who do people think I am?" Jesus responded because I had asked him to answer the question to prove to myself he had chosen me as a messenger to serve him. Over the years people have been asking the question about Jesus’ race, or ethnicity. Jesus answered that question himself on this miraculous visit in chapter 30 of this book. The answer Jesus gave through this unexpected visitation was a giant message to the whole world. The reader will however understand and be inspired by the book by reading from the beginning and following the sequence of events.

With God as my witness, the accounts in this book remained my testimony for Jesus, and the messages the Father wants to share with his children.

The book; Closer Walk With Thee by ‘Yinka Vidal is the documentary of my personal conversations with God. It includes over 105 testimonies, 25 visitations of Christ including, many divine conversations in the spirit.