John Sebesta:
CLASS OF 1969
Baldwin High SchoolClass of 1969
Pittsburgh, PA
John's Story
Although this is my testimony: God did it! It is really Jesus’s testimony. I got the benefit from what God did for me. It only gives me a chance to show how great our God is, transforming me through a span of 40 years (1974 ~ 2014).
I will begin with three events leading up to when I prayed to Jesus out of desperation. The first occurred at birth where I almost died. Although my Mother was able to keep me alive, I was left with a brain having almost zero comprehension. It was so low that my Dad considered having me committed. Fortunately, my mind did improve over time to an average level and I was accepted to enter College under probationary terms. In my junior year during a classroom discussion, I had a sudden health incident where my brain felt like it was vibrating inside my skull. I thought that my life would soon end, but the vibration stopped. It was only a couple of months later that I realized that my comprehension had greatly improved. When I furthered my studies by majoring in Computer Science, I graduated with a 3.9 out of 4.
The second incident occurred when I turned 21 and went to a party. I drank so much whiskey and beer, that I was terribly sick. Inside the bathroom, I prayed that this drunkenness would go away and a moment later, I felt heat go through my body slowly starting with my head and ending at my feet. I left the bathroom totally sobered.
The third incident occurred when I was working for a rental shop. I along with a driver had to deliver a bunch of party goods to a home in an upper class community. We drove up a winding driveway to the home. We dropped off the supplies and when we returned to the truck, it was not on the driveway. The driver said that the brakes must have let go causing a great concern in a wealthy neighborhood. As we walked down the winding driveway we did not see any damage. At the end, the truck was up on an embankment against a telephone pole, that would nearly have been impossible to occur on its own. There was no damage to the truck or the neighborhood.
From this moment on my thoughts were screaming: WHO HAS BEEN HELPING ME?
A few years went by and I found myself walking down the main street of Huntington, West Virginia looking at the shop windows around midnight of April 1974. Upon leaving a late church service, on a Saturday I came to the conclusion that I had no sense of direction or understanding of God. All I have heard through my life were the stories of the Bible, which I assumed were just nice stories and nothing more. Not knowing any of truth, I began praying out loud “that I wanted to know if there really was a God. If God is real, he would need to reveal himself, otherwise I may never truly believe in anything spiritual.” Looking up, I asked God “to give me concrete evidence that this Jesus Christ was real, so real that I would never backslide again!” Unknowingly, this prayer set off a chain of events.
In Fairmont West Virginia, I attended a non-denominational church. With the help of the parish, my understanding of the Bible grew as I read the New Testament beginning with the book of John. As a sinner I accepted that Jesus died, nailing my sins with himself on the cross, being buried and rising after 3 days making me a new creation in him. My sins were forgiven and I became a Born again Christian. This occurred sometime in 1977 and my life was forever changed but God was not done with me.
I decided to move to Napoleon Ohio and work at a manufacturing plant. As I settled into a small home, a man about 30 years of age, knocked at my front door. I welcomed him into my home. He followed me to the kitchen and asked me the following: “Are you a born again Christian? I quickly answered “Yes” and explained to him that I learned and accepted what Jesus had done for me a couple of years prior. Being satisfied with my answer, the man turned to the door and left. I never saw him again.
Within hours of the man’s visit, the mood of the home quickly changed. I started experiencing night mares so freighting that I would wake in the night totally sweaty and reaching for the bible to cleanse my thoughts of the fears I had just experienced. Then there were cold chills in the home and seeing things occurring in the home that could not be explained. An example was when my television would come on in the middle of night without me even touching it.
As the weeks pasted, my brother David, living nearby, came to my home one Sunday afternoon in the month of May 1980, and his first words were that my home smelled really bad. Both of us walked through the home and I kept telling him that I could not smell anything. I opened up the window in the kitchen and even the back door. David could not stand the smell much longer and quickly left. While contemplating what David had said, I got extremely tired and went to bed at about 7:00pm. Through the next few hours, I tossed and turned, finding myself at the other end of the bed about midnight. As I returned to my pillows, I noticed the full moon showing sufficient light through the drapes allowing me to see blankets that were thrown everywhere on the floor. They were much further away from the bed than I would have ever tossed them. As I dozed off to sleep again, I found myself awakened again at 3:00am that same morning. This time my body was locked in a position where I could not move and my eyes could not open fully. My arms were crossed over my chest. I felt something touch me hard on my leg as if someone was poking me with their finger, along with a strong blowing wind to my face. I soon realized that this was impossible and quite unnatural. I had just finished reading the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, and having Jesus on my mind; I quickly cried out saying the following: “God, get this out of my house in the name of Jeeeeesusss Chrissssssss!”
(Note: God came out fine, but I could barely get the name Jesus Christ out, but as I finally did, the supernatural being left my home. About a month after this occurrence, I re-read some of the scriptures regarding the name of Jesus where he clearly pointed out that only his name, and no other will get rid of demons. I was shocked. I read this before, but never did such a verse hit home as it did now.)
Realizing what I just experienced: I went to the living room walking around in circles. I was in the state of shock and did not want to go back to sleep. As I prayed to Jesus that day and the days that followed, the visions continued and intensified followed by having difficulties at work as well.
I kept thinking about all that was occurring both at home and work with the many nightmares and occurrences, which could not be explained. While walking towards my office at work and speaking quietly to myself, I had come to realize that if anyone would put a gun to my head, forcing me to deny the Lord Jesus, I would have to tell them to shoot. I had seen too much about Jesus, confirming that he is real and he is GOD! I had come to a place that I could never backslide and knew my faith was now greater than any mustard seed. I entered my office and sat down behind my desk. Within 5 minutes after sitting in my desk, a woman that looked quite familiar entered my office. She was the Quality Control lady that would often work my shift, or so I thought. Dressed in her white quality uniform, she turned in front of my desk showing no emotion. Looking directly at me, she said the following: “If I hold a gun to your head John, will you deny the name of our Lord Jesus”? I pushed back my chair towards the back wall and promptly said “No! You would need to shoot me”. I told her that “I know too much with all that has occurred at my home. I could never deny the Lord Jesus anymore!” After I made this comment, she quickly left. Moments later getting up from my desk and looking out through the windows of the office to the plant, I did not see the Quality Control person anywhere. I suddenly had a strong desire to find her. Does she even know what she said? I walked out of the office and went across the plant to see if I could locate her in the Quality Control office. When I arrived, I saw no one, nor did I see any quality control people that night. It was as if she had disappeared al...Expand for more
ong with all the other quality people that entire evening. Very strange.
A couple years later about 7:00 pm, I told my Dad of the many experiences that occurred in Napoleon Ohio, building up to the actual attack of the demons and yelling out “God get this out of my house in the name of Jesus Christ” and telling my Dad that I could not get the name Jesus Christ out clearly. I had to force it out! I remember seeing my Dad sitting down and nodding his head back and forth saying “No, this can’t be true, God is up in Heaven, and he is not down here!” Dad could not accept any of what I was saying. In his mind, it was just too much for him to understand or comprehend.
It was in the early part of July of 1993, Mother called and said that Dad was dying. I told her that I will make plans and should be arriving the following week. When Dad saw me, he really could not speak much but I knew he was glad that I was there. His appetite was gone and I knew that his death was imminent. Mom came to the bedroom and sat on the bed sharing her final comments. As I was sitting near the bed and staring into Dad’s eyes, while Mom was speaking, I could not help but notice my Dad’s expression. He had a very deep concern in his eyes, like he was about to face his own judgment very soon. I will never forget that look as long as I live. After a few more minutes, I decided to get up and leave, for the Catholic Priest had just entered the room to give the last rights. As I was very close to the door, something told me to look back at my Dad. My Dad’s focus was on me and not the priest. While lifting himself up in a sitting position on the bed with what little strength he had, said the following as loud and plain as he could: “John, Pray for me”! He then quickly fell back on his pillows. I was in shock of his comment. It was illogical and out of my Dad’s character. I was the misfit of the family, someone that he had no real respect and always treated me as a nobody. He even made it a point of saying that I would never be like my brothers and sisters, for I was a loser. But it was much more than that. He felt that the religion that I believed, having a personal relationship with the Lord, was too far out of his paradigm and Dad never accepted my story of what occurred in Napoleon Ohio, so what changed?
For many years, I often thought about what Dad had said while he was dying. It was not until the Sunday of February 20th 2012, (Almost 20 years after the death of my Dad), that I had learned why Dad said “John, pray for me!” At church, the bible verse Luke 10 verses 17 to 20 were discussed. Christ led his disciples among others to preach to the people and when they returned they were filled with joy that they had demons submit to them in the name of Jesus. When Jesus heard this, he replied “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Then he told his apostles not to be joyful in that the spirits submit to you but rejoice because your names are written in Heaven. Being that I experienced the same situation in Napoleon, Ohio, these verses hit home. Furthermore, it also explains the time when the quality control lady questioned whether I would deny Jesus and my response was never, sealing my fate. I am now certain that although they appeared as normal people, the quality control lady and the man that asked me of my born-again status, were both not of this world.
It seemed that knowing my status only made my life worse. My nightmares continued seeing things that left me in total fear. The worse came when I found myself floating in a total darkness, not moving. It was so black that I could not see anything. My mind immediately accepted this area as Hell. Although I was a Christian when this incident occurred, it blocked out my faith and I was residing in Hell as an unbeliever. I kept crying out with no tears that I should have known Jesus. I was saying this over and over experiencing unbelievable regret, until the vision ended and I awakened. It was then that I wished that these evil visons would end already.
A few months later I had a final nightmare that ended in seeing myself looking down into a circular room. It was as if my soul was suspended in air looking down into this room and I could to see my spirit. It was clothed in white standing in the center yelling out to demons, not in my sight, to leave me alone. This went on for just a few minutes and it was over. I recall that since that night, my nightmares have ended.
For many years I had questions concerning the high priest called Melchizedek in the bible, during the time of Abraham. Who was he? On January 1 2013 about 4:00AM, I had a vision of seeing Jesus sitting on a couch in a small room. He was dressed in a white robe with a red sash over his shoulder. I noticed that Jesus was not looking at me, but at the five sitting across from him. I went up to him and whispered in the Lord’s ear, saying are you Melchizedek?” He said “Yes”, and then I saw myself immediately at the feet of Jesus worshiping him. I also recall that it was out of my will when I was bowing down at his feet. It was as if I fell as a dead man, being promptly placed in a kneeling position before him, seeing his sandals and sensing his powerful authority radiating from his robe. God answered my questions regarding Melchizedek in the only way he could, through a vision. In Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hears my voice and opens the door I will come in to him and will sup with him”. Jesus obviously addressed my call and did sup with me that morning of January 1st. This was New Year’s Day!
As the months passed, I kept wondering did I really see Jesus or was it just a dream? Over a year later on 9/25/14: it was Rosh Hashanah (NOTE: This is the New Year for the Jewish Nation). That evening my Daughter, Lana, came into our home yelling out to me that it was Rosh Hashanah, New Years for the Jews. The Jewish children at her school were absent that day fore they were celebrating their holiday. That evening the family watched a television program explaining that Jesus was indeed Melchizedek. As the high priest of the Most High God he was Lord over all mankind. Therefore, when Jesus said that he will be dying “from the order of Melchizedek” he confirmed that he died as the high priest for both Gentiles and the Jewish nation. The most interesting fact is that Jesus said he was Melchizedek in my dream on the Gentile holiday of January 1st and later confirmed it on the Jewish New Years of September 25th. He not only proved that he was Melchizedek, but also proved that that I had seen him that New Year’s Day morning.
As I heard and read other testimonials of people that saw Jesus, many witnessed feeling love that was radiating from him. However, when I saw Jesus, this experience did not occur so I prayed about it. Within a couple of months after Rosh Hashanah, I was awakened by a strong force that my mind detected immediately as love. Although it only lasted a minute or two, I know that Jesus answered my prayer.
Many years ago a preacher once said that a person can cross over a threshold of faith and reach a spiritual height beyond normal. With all that occurred in my past ending with the vision of Jesus, my thoughts are almost entirely on the Lord. When I hear old Christian tunes or read sections of the bible, I cannot help from crying. The miraculous nature of the Bible is revealed through its word presenting the truth throughout its covers. Realizing that I could never backslide to unbelief again, the truth has set me free!
If you believe me or not, is not the issue. Christians do go to heaven and being born again, I know someday I will be going home. So the question to ask is the following: do you know where you are going when you die? Jesus is the one that gets you to heaven. He is the only way to eternal life. Please reach out to me if you have any doubts, questions or concerns. Open the Bible to Romans 10:9 : if you say with your mouth and believe with your heart that Jesus died, buried and rose again, you are saved. Sincerely: John A. Sebesta
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