And the short distinguished looking
man looks at me and says, Kirt.
You've been living for 20 years.
Like a normal person.
And I'm going to snap you out of
this thing.
I set up and I said, Well can I
leave? And one of his big bodyguards
said "Sit down"
Growing up in a very Jewish
cultural environment it never
really felt to me that
God was a big part of anything.
It was much more social.
It was that you go to synagogue
because you're Jewish but
I don't ever remember God
being at the forefront of anything
other than simply going through the
liturgy the memorized portion of the
prayers.
That was just once again part of
having a Jewish identity.
I was a very committed athlete.
I started wrestling in seventh
grade.
And every year I got more
and more focused on the sport.
I would go to sleep at night and
I'd envisioned myself with my
hand raised.
Being the state champ.
And I got to the place where I
felt there was nobody that
I could not beat.
I felt like I was in control.
It was a great time in life.
But things changed.
Just like the that.
When I looked into the future as a
senior in high school now that
wrestling was over I realized
that the world was so
much bigger than I was,
certainly so much bigger
than the people that competed in my
weight class in wrestling.
I felt afraid.
I lost my identity I lost
my purpose.
I just got more and more lost
and more and more confused.
I spent as much time as possible
just sleeping to escape
the emotional turmoil that I was in.
I asked myself.
What can I do.
To give myself that feeling back
that I had when I was wrestling.
It was such a dark time for me
that I had a difficult time.
Remembering any of the good things
that are happening to me in life.
And I go to sleep one night.
It was 1978.
In the middle the night I was awoken
from my sleep.
Suddenly in color
Jesus appeared on the cross.
A ray of red light
from straight through the sky
beam down on his head.
God had just showed me
that Jesus was the way to him.
The vision lasted no more than two
seconds but I was aware
when it happened and I was so
excited because somehow
I knew that something
supernatural had just happened
to me.
I got up the next morning.
I started talking about it telling
everybody about it.
I started devouring the Word of God.
I was very naive as to what
I was about to face when I started
telling my Jewish family and friends
about this experience.
We drove to a hotel.
There was a short distinguished
looking man in a three piece suit
and then he had two guys next to
him. Both of them over six feet tall
probably at least 200 pounds.
And the short distinguished looking
man looks at me says Kirt
you've been living for 20 years.
Like a normal person.
And I'm going to snap you out of
this thing.
And I said.
I'm not programmed.
I just believe that Jesus is the
Messiah.
And he said, you've got nothing to
worry about.
I stood up I said Well can I leave?
And one of his big bodyguards said
sit down!
We went back to my home.
But one of the bodyguards was with
me. He slept in my bedroom that
night so that I couldn't escape.
And then the next morning he and I
drove to one of their rehabilitation
houses in California.
Wasn't too long after that
I walk in the home.
I see that there are some suitcases
standing right at the door.
And my dad points out the window to
the street to the parking lot area.
He says you see that police car out
there. We've probated you to the
psychiatric ward of Mount Sinai
Hospital in Cleveland Ohio.
Was locked up in the psychiatric
ward for two months.
It was one of the worst experiences
I've ever had in my life.
Every day I would wake up
and there was no place to go.
You couldn't get out.
You were locked in this ward it's a
terrible terrible experience.
After two months I was
released.
So as a Jewish person
I have been through a lot
because of my faith in Jesus.
But for me when I saw the
ray of red light in that vision come
down on Jesus' head, I knew it
was coming from God.
I'm so solid in my faith in
Jesus.
#1 because of the supernatural
experiences I've had.
Secondly because I see how the whole
Bible is a unified whole
and how it all fits together.
That going through experiences
like the ones that I just described
it never shook my faith.
I know.
That I know.
Sure there's been times that it's
like I feel, Oh God where are you?
I don't feel you.
There's been times that I've got
discouraged but I've never wavered
in my faith.
See when I built my life on
wrestling my life was built
from the outside in.
My life was dependent on something
disconnected from myself.
But when wrestling ended I fell
apart.
Now I'm building my life
on something that's from the inside
out.
Jesus said he had come to
give life and to give it more
abundantly.
That he is the way the truth and the
life I've been on this track now
for 40 years and I can't wait
to meet him face to face.
God has reward for everyone
that will choose to follow him.