16 November
Dear Phyllis,
Paul Almstead has got to be one of the most unusual men I have ever met. I have never met a man who is more extreme in both directions. I knew him for two years before he was saved. I didn't like him and thought a guy like this will never be saved. If God had a plan to save all humanity, he would absolutely be standing at the end of the line. He had been a correction officer for 20 years, at one point had been an undercover agent for the NYPD to penetrate the Mafia. He had worked in anti-terrorism, an investigative detective, and a number of other dangerous jobs. At one point he applied to go to Iraq to teach Iraq policemen but was red-line for being too violent. He was one rough dude. He was drunk most of his life and womanizing was as basic as changing his clothes.
How he got saved was as weird as it gets. His Thai wife was a devout Buddhist. She got saved in about 20 minutes when Scott's wife told her that Buddhism was of the devil. She practically clawed the eyes out of Paul saying, “You would have let me go to hell, because you went to the Wat (temple) with me.” A couple months later Paul came to see me one day asking what baptism was. I asked,”Why?”. “My wife wants to join the club”. I told him, “Forget it Paul. God has you in His cross hairs and there is no way you can get away.” I have never seen such a transformed guy. As bad as he was in one direction, he is even more so in the other. In anything he does Paul is an extremely intense individual. Things that formerly were a consuming passion with him are completely gone, and serving Jesus is the only thing on his plate now. Shortly after they were saved, Paul and Marisa were going to have a Christmas party for about 18 young people. Suddenly the guest list ballooned to 100. They bought 100 pieces of Chicken, and Paul ate two before the guests came. They were stunned when 200 people showed up. He knew that there were only 98 pieces of chicken in the pot and watched in amazement as 200 people got a large piece to eat. He comes over almost daily telling me of some once-in-every-25- years miracle that happened yesterday. Paul has an unusual intercessory prayer life, and is regularly seeing astounding miracles in lives ranging from Africa to India.
Two weeks ago he told me one that topped them all. His mother was a horrible person. He hadn't seen her in 25 years and had no idea where she lived – if she was still alive. He had been praying for her, along with his prayers for every one else in his family. Totally out of the blue he gets a letter from a lady he had never heard of asking if he knew a Phyllis Almstead. He said that, is my mothers name. “She lives close to me.” Unbelievable!!! Then he gets a letter from his daughter saying that she and her husband are getting transferred from California to the same small town in Florida. He had his daughter to visit her grandmother. Both are unsaved, but I had a crazy idea. “Let's see if we can get your unsaved daughter, Erica, to lead your mother to Christ.” Why not? Everything else is ridiculous. Last week I wrote a letter to Erica explaining how she could lead her grandmother to Christ. The letter is as follows:
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12 November 2014
Dear Erica,
My name is Bill Cook. I am a friend of your father. He has shared with me a little of the trauma you are dealing with reference to your grandmother. To put it simply, what you are dealing with is a very ugly spirit in your grandmother. The spirit is, of course, the person living inside her. Obviously the problem is not her body. When she is gone, and the person inside is gone, the body will be benign in a casket. There are various ways of altering that spirit.
Education is the lest effective. Information will not change a persons character. Knowledge of right and wrong does not give anyone the power to do it. Road signs will not slow traffic. A governor on a car will, but not a road sign. You can tell young people not to look at porno, but that won't stop them from doing it. There must be a change inside.
The best way to change a persons character is by what the Bible calls the new-birth (John 3:1-12; 1 Pet. 1:23). This is what happened to your father. I have known him for 5 or 6 years. At first I didn't like him. He was the type of man that would never be a Christian. For 56 years your dad's life consisted entirely of alcohol, women, and football. I was the most surprised turkey in town when your dad became a Christian. I was skeptical for several weeks. We'll see how this works out. It was hard to believe it was real. But, man howdy, it sure was. I have never seen such a transformation in a man. He hasn't touched a drop of alcohol in 4 years. And he is the most faithful, considerate husband you will ever meet anywhere. There is only one explanation for what happened to him. He is born-again of the Spirit of Christ.
The Bible says, “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). What happens at the new-birth is somewhat like what happens in a woman at conception. You have two separate seeds – one of the woman and the other of the man. At conception these two seeds come together to form a new life. The life that is formed is one, but originally they came from two separate people.
Jesus told His disciples that He was going back to heaven, but He would send His Spirit back to live in their hearts (John 14, 15, 16). This is exactly what happens to us. That happened to me 57 years ago, and I have been a radically different person than I was for my first 21 years. That is the simple explanation. In reality it is considerably more complicated than that, and it varies very much from person to person. If everyone on earth wanted to be born-again, and said yes to Jesus; and Jesus was ruling in every heart, this planet would be like heaven. The problem is that most people have their own agenda and don't want any interference. If there is anyway we (you, someone), could get the Spirit of Christ to come into your grandmothers heart, and take over, she would be the most wonderful person in the nursing home.
How we get the Spirit of Christ to come into a persons heart; here is the trick. To start with, that is impossible. Jesus is not an injection that we can stick in someones arm. He comes in in His Own time and way. We cannot tell Him what to do, or where to go. He is sovereign He will come into the willing heart, but He will not break the door down if someone doesn't want Him. Over the past 57 years I have seen hundreds of very strange cases. Your dad being one. My own salvation was an odd one.
There are several traditional ways of dealing with people. None of them are infallible, guaranteed to work every time. Sometimes we have people pray their own prayers, and sometimes we tell them what to say. But a verbal confession is usually quite important. If you could get your grandmother to say, “Lord Jesus, thank You for Your Blood that You shed for me and paid for my sins. I accept You as my savior. Please come into my heart and make me Your child, Amen”
If you can get you grandmother to audibly say those words, it would be interesting to see what might happen. It wouldn't hurt if she said them over and over until something happens in her heart.
.I won't promise anything. Your grandmother has a history of being pretty difficult. But if there is anything you could do to alter her spirit that would be the accomplishment of a life time. Give it a shot.
I would recommend that you read the Book of St. Mark (that is the 2nd book in the New Testament), before taking on your grandmother. And maybe pray to ask the Lord to help you before you try dealing with her. If you have any questions, please feel free to write me. Your dad and I are rooting for you.
bill cook
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I have never heard of anything like this. But Paul told me the night after he sent my letter to Erica they went to a special meeting at their church and heard the speaker tell how he had been a unsaved evangelist leading many people to Christ for four years before He himself got saved. If the Holy Spirit would use Erica to lead her grandmother to Christ, that would be a new one for me. If that would happen it would seem almost a given that Erica would soon be saved herself. Paul is seeing mind-boggling events daily. His entire family were as big a disaster zone as he was, but now the Kingdom of God seems to be prevailing.
Lord Jesus, let your Kingdom come and Your will be done. Amen
bill
So, what happened?
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