I have seen Jesus five times. The first time was when I was sixteen years old. My paternal grandfather, whom I had just met, passed away. He was the pastor of a church in Oklahoma City, OK, and had a cerebral hemorrhage standing behind the pulpit.
I had also just met my biological father and was staying at his house for a few weeks. After my grandfather died, people visited my father’s house to express their condolences. Most of these people didn’t know I had just met both him and my grandfather. They assumed I had known them all my life. I felt terrible when they would try to comfort me.
When everyone had left, I was sitting in a chair and watching clouds moving to the right very fast. I noticed a small cloud mixed with larger clouds and couldn’t take my eyes off it. When it got in front of the house, it stopped dead still, and the large clouds kept rolling by. I found myself outside, kneeling in the street by the curb. My grandfather appeared on the cloud. I apologized to him for not telling everyone that I didn’t know him. He told me that he understood and then began telling me about my purpose in life.
He said my purpose in life was to help people. I asked how I was to do that, and he said I would find the way. As soon as he said this, I saw a person walking toward the small cloud, and my grandfather said, “This is Jesus. I have to go now.” Jesus was so brilliant I couldn’t keep my eyes on Him. I hung my head until He was gone. When Jesus reached the small cloud, it began to move with the large clouds again.
The second time I saw Jesus, I was twenty-two years old. I was at a camp meeting in the country. The altar call was given, and I told Jesus I wanted to go forward but couldn’t, and if He wanted me, He would have to come and get me. Immediately someone grabbed my left arm and led me to the alter. When the person let go of my arm, I looked and saw that it was Jesus who had led me to the altar. He walked around the altar and knelt in front of me. Two preachers knelt with us and kept talking to me, but I couldn’t understand a thing they were saying. The presence of Jesus was so great that their words seemed like light-years away. I was born again without uttering a word.
The third time I saw Jesus was during a prayer meeting. I was sitting on a stairway, and someone laid their hands on my shoulders and said, “I ordain you to preach my gospel.” I opened my eyes and saw that it was Jesus who had ordained me. He began walking up the stairs, and I turned back and reached out and touched the bottom of His robe. He stopped, looked back, and smiled at me. He then walked to the top of the stairs and disappeared.
The fourth time I saw Jesus was when an evangelist performed a revival at our home church. Jesus stood beside him as he preached one night. I was very impressed by this man and knew beyond a doubt that he walked with Jesus.
The fifth time I saw Jesus was during a prayer meeting in the loft of a barn. As we were all praying in silence, I stood up and started to say something, and my spirit was taken to heaven before I could finish a sentence. I stood there with Jesus on my left and Peter and John on my right. I felt someone’s presence coming up from behind and turned to look, and it was James. He walked up to Peter and John, and they began discussing something together.
Jesus began telling me some things about my call, and while He was speaking, Paul walked by in front of us from our right to our left. He looked straight at me as he walked by. I was struck with a deep feeling that he knew me. Among other things, Jesus told me I had been born before my time and that the knowledge I had received would be usable, but I had to wait until God completed a work in His people. This was in the 1980’s I believe. In 2017 the Lord said, “It is time.”
I have written this for the Lord, and not for myself.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 