In 1979, I purchased a new home, and then hired a contractor to install the hardscape, which would cost $25,000. The contractor came over with an agreement and I signed it. His foot was bandaged, and he was on crutches. I asked why. He said he was in a motorcycle accident, and his foot was crushed and would never function again. I began to tell him about the Lord, and explained that God could heal his foot if he believed.
He was not a Christian but I asked if he would come to church with me, and allow the pastor to pray for him. He agreed. We went and received prayer, and immediately his foot was healed. He was able to throw away his crutches! He was overjoyed, but he still wasn’t willing to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
Why would anyone reject Jesus after receiving an absolute miraculous healing?
It made no sense to me. I learned he was married, with a nice home, two children and owned his own business.
A few days later, he came by the house and left items, including a saw to start my job. He asked if I could pay him in full up front because he needed to buy some new tools to do my job. Being young and foolish, I paid him the entire $25,000 up front. Several weeks went by and he never showed up to start the work. I phoned him and he said, “Bill, you were a fool to pay me all the money up front. I am not coming back.” I said, “How can you do this? It’s stealing.” I told him I would report him to the authorities but he simply laughed. The police would do nothing. I thought I would keep his saw but he sent the police to my house and they took it. I said, “You can’t make him return my $25,000, but you can make me return a saw?” They said, “He showed us the bill of sale for the saw.” He gloated over this and laughed at me. My flesh wanted to beat him silly but God’s Word says, “If they take your coat, give them your cloak also,” (Luke 6:29). Well he took much more than my coat and cloak.
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I decided to hand deliver a letter to his house. He answered the door and I handed it to him. I demanded he return the money. He laughed in my face and tore up the letter. I said, “God healed your crippled foot. He is watching your actions right now.” He mocked the idea of God. He again laughed at me and said he would not return the money. Suddenly, the fear of God came over me. A holy reverence for God shook me to the core. I told him, “Please do not do this. I fear for your life. God will not let you get away with this.” He cursed at me and slammed the door in my face.
In the middle of the night the Lord awakened me to pray for his life to be spared. He impressed upon me that Psalm 109 was happening to him. Here is part of the Psalm:
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love, thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Let his days be few, and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow…Because he did not remember to show mercy, as he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, so let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones.
I prayed for him to live, as the Lord instructed. I found out later that on the night I handed him the letter, he got drunk, left a nightclub, crossed the street and was hit by a drunk driver. His body was dragged underneath the car but by a miracle he lived. I know it was because the Lord had me pray for his life to be spared. It was God’s mercy to keep him alive for him to repent and get saved. That is God’s long-suffering.
He became a cripple for the rest of his life. He lost his business, his wife left him and he couldn’t feed his children. God healed his foot, and yet he mocked God. Now his whole body was destroyed. I don’t know if he ever repented and received Jesus Christ or not.
Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
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This event created in me a greater reverence for the Lord God Almighty, a deeper commitment to obey Him, and awareness to take God’s word literally. Christians must develop a healthy fear of God so each will walk circumspect and live as a godly example to a lost and dying world.
Bill Wiese is the author of New York Times best-selling book, 23 Minutes In Hell, the story of his life-changing visit to hell in 1998. Bill has since authored six additional book titles, and continues to share his experience around the world. He and his wife Annette founded Soul Choice Ministries in late 2006 and have dedicated their lives to reaching the unsaved. For more information about Bill Wiese and Soul Choice Ministries please visit us at: https://soulchoiceministries.org/. You can find more of Bill’s teachings at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BillWieseTV.
