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72 years ago when I was 11 years old I had
my first vision of love. It came after a terrifying experience. Here is my story:
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KIDNAPPED or RANSOMED ?
by Pastor Ed Graves
I was only a child weak and cold,
Trapped deep in a mineshaft dark and old.
Battered and bruised, as I seemed to be,
I cried out to God, “Oh please help me”
And He did!
I found myself hurt and crying,
lying in some mud at the bottom of a terrible pit. I could not remember how I
had gotten down in that death hole or how long I had been there. But I did remember some terrifying words, “You can
never get out, so don’t try!” I felt hopeless and knew I could never
escape. The walls were straight and steep, and the pit seemed like a dark dungeon
and so deep it was impossible to climb out. I knew that no one could save me. I
felt all alone and lost forever!
Weak from crying I thought
about Jesus. “Oh, dear Jesus,” I sobbed, “Please help! No one else knows I’m here! Help me or I’ll
die.” I staggered to my feet, backed up against the slippery wall and looked up with great longing. With that pleading
prayer in my heart I gazed up at the tiny circle of light so far away.
Then something very strange
and wonderful happened. A glow of light began to come slowly down from above and with it what appeared to be leaves from trees
fluttering down into the pit. Spellbound, I watched hundreds of them come but
as they came closer I saw that they were not leaves of a tree but leaflets or booklets.
They lighted up the dark and then, like magic, starting at the bottom, one book rested upon another to form a perfect
circular stairway leading upward.
Jesus answered the prayer
of my longing heart. He provided a way out. Happily I began to climb the stairs. It was a long climb but my strength seemed
to grow as I went and the way became lighter and brighter. Finally I could feel the fresh air of freedom and then I noticed
that each step of the stairway was a blue book with shining silvery letters that read “Steps to Christ.”**
Suddenly, the brightly lighted
vision flashed out and it went black. It took a few moments to realize that I
wasn’t back in that terrible dark pit any longer and that I was in the comfort of my own bed. But the vivid dream seemed so real I could not go back to sleep.
After hearing my dream, mother
strode across the room, stretched up to a high shelf and removed a book, and there it was, the same book seen in the dream! It was a thin blue book with silver letters entitled, “Steps to Christ.” I had never seen it before except in the dream. I stood amazed with a strange
new feeling of awe and wonder.
Mother and daddy began to
read the book for family worship. They read only a few pages before I stopped
them, “Wait! Is that what it says? We have fallen into the pit?” My dream experience had flashed back so vividly that I became excited. ‘Where
does it say that?’ I demanded. Mother pointed to the lines as she read
again how impossible it is to escape from “the pit of sin.” As I
heard the words, “Impossible…to escape from the pit of sin,” I felt again the hopelessness of that dark pit! I thought how true
that book must be!
Later, I had another vivid
flashback as mother read about Jacob’s stairs up to heaven, and I knew how
thrilled and happy Jacob felt. Mother was so impressed by this experience that
she wrote to Grandpa and Grandma Stearns about it, and Grandpa wrote a personal letter to me saying that God was calling me
like He had Samuel of old and he hoped I would listen to God’s instructions. I
didn’t realize it then but I learned that my dream was really a vision of love from God. Now I know this book, “Steps
to Christ” is a message of love, worth more than silver or gold. It is
a gold mine of truth. It tells how all humans on planet earth were kidnapped and how Jesus is the ransom that sets
all sinners free. It gives you a vision of heaven. It will inspire you to be a better person. It will give
you hope and courage to climb the steps that lead to eternal life. Kidnapped or ransomed?
We must ask ourselves this question: "Am I still in the pit of sin, or have I been redeemed?" The choice is ours. The purpose
of this website is to focus on the greatest ransom ever paid.
When I was 17 years old I fell into a real pit. It was a
terrible automobile accident. The highway had been washed out. People said that no one could have been saved alive
out of the crash, but my employer friend and I both lived to tell the story of an angel protection miracle. ---To read
the story go to the link "Jesus lives 4 us."
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Here is an interesting sidelight about two
other17 year olds:
When Ellen White was a 17 year old Miss Harmon she had her
first vision. She saw a narrow pathway to Jesus and to heaven. She saw the beauties of heaven. That
vision along with hundreds since then have continued to give courage and hope to thousands of people all over the world.
When my mother, Mary Stearns, was 17 years old she
went along with 500 others to hear 78 year old Ellen White give the Loma Linda Mission dedication speech. Mother was
very impressed with the message and the voice "clear as a bell" that could be heard all over the outdoor gathering. (There
is much more to this family story.)
The dedication speech was on Sunday, April 15, 1906.
The next day "Sister White," as her friends called her, visited the campus and that night she had a vision of an earthquake.
She saw houses and buildings being shaken and destroyed by earthquake and fire. Tuesday she went by train to Glendale
and that night she had another similar vision. Then on Wednesday morning newsboys everywhere were shouting out the terrible
news of the destruction of San Francisco. All of this confirmed in my mother's mind that Ellen White was a
true prophet of God. The book "Steps to Christ" had just been published calling on people everywhere to repent of their
sins and to accept the wonderful love and mercy of God that is still extended to sinners everywhere. ---- Below are excerpts from the first chapter. Check
it out for yourself!
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Excerpts from "Steps to Christ"
--- God's Love for Man
Nature and revelation alike testify of God's love. Our Father in heaven is the source of life, of wisdom, and of joy. Look
at the wonderful and beautiful things of nature. Think of their marvelous adaptation to the needs and happiness, not only
of man, but of all living creatures. The sunshine and the rain, that gladden and refresh the earth, the hills and seas and
plains, all speak to us of the Creator's love. It is God who supplies the daily needs of all His creatures...
God made man perfectly holy and happy; and the fair earth, as it came from the Creator's hand, bore no blight of decay or
shadow of the curse. It is transgression of God's law--the law of love--that has brought woe and death. Yet even amid the
suffering that results from sin, God's love is revealed... The world, though fallen, is not all sorrow and misery. In nature
itself are messages of hope and comfort. There are flowers upon the thistles, and the thorns are covered with roses.
"God is love" is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass. The lovely
birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the
lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green -- all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God and
to His desire to make His children happy....
Though all these evidences have been given,
the enemy of good blinded the minds of men, so that they looked upon God with fear; they thought of Him as severe and unforgiving.
... It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God that Jesus came to live among men. ...
In describing His earthly mission, Jesus said, The Lord "hath anointed Me to preach the gospel
to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." Luke 4:18. This was His work. He went about doing good and healing all
that were oppressed by Satan. There were whole villages where there was not a moan of sickness in any house, for He had passed
through them and healed all their sick. His work gave evidence of His divine anointing. Love, mercy, and compassion were revealed
in every act of His life; His heart went out in tender sympathy to the children of men. He took man's nature, that He might
reach man's wants. The poorest and humblest were not afraid to approach Him. Even little children were attracted to Him. They
loved to climb upon His knees and gaze into the pensive face, benignant with love. ...
Jesus...
spoke the truth, but always in love. He denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity; but tears were in His voice as He uttered
His scathing rebukes... In all men He saw fallen souls whom it was His mission to save.
Such is the character of Christ as revealed in His life. This is the character of God. It is from the Father's heart that
the streams of divine compassion, manifest in Christ, flow out to the children of men. Jesus, the tender, pitying Saviour,
was God "manifest in the flesh." 1 Tim. 3:16.
It was to redeem us that Jesus lived and suffered
and died. He became "a Man of Sorrows," that we might be made partakers of everlasting joy. God permitted His beloved Son,
full of grace and truth, to come from a world of indescribable glory, to a world marred and blighted with sin, darkened with
the shadow of death and the curse. He permitted Him to leave the bosom of His love, the adoration of the angels, to suffer
shame, insult, humiliation, hatred, and death. "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5. Behold Him in the wilderness, in Gethsemane, upon the cross! The spotless Son of God took upon
Himself the burden of sin. He who had been one with God, felt in His soul the awful separation that sin makes between God
and man. This wrung from His lips the anguished cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Matthew 27:46. It was the
burden of sin, the sense of its terrible enormity, of its separation of the soul from God--it was this that broke the heart
of the Son of God. ...
None but the Son of God could accomplish
our redemption; for only He who was in the bosom of the Father could declare Him. Only He who knew the height and depth of
the love of God could make it manifest. Nothing less than the infinite sacrifice made by Christ in behalf of fallen man could
express the Father's love to lost humanity.
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten
Son." He gave Him not only to live among men, to bear their sins, and die their sacrifice. He gave Him to the fallen race.
Christ was to identify Himself with the interests and needs of humanity. He who was one with God has linked Himself with the
children of men by ties that are never to be broken. Jesus is "not ashamed to call them brethren" (Hebrews 2:11); He is our
Sacrifice, our Advocate, our Brother, bearing our human form before the Father's throne, and through eternal ages one with
the race He has redeemed--the Son of man. And all this that man might be uplifted from the ruin and degradation of sin that
he might reflect the love of God and share the joy of holiness.
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| Jacob's vision of heaven's ladder |
This is what Ellen White, who had many visions, wrote about Jacob and his vision:
--- "As he slept, a strange light broke upon his vision; and lo, from the plain on which he lay, vast shadowy stairs
seemed to lead upward to the very gates of heaven, and upon them angels of God were passing up and down; while from the glory
above, the divine voice was heard in a message of comfort and hope. Thus was made known to Jacob that which met the need and
longing of his soul--a Saviour. With joy and gratitude he saw revealed a way by which he, a sinner, could be restored to communion
with God. The mystic ladder of his dream represented Jesus, the only medium of communication between God and man." {Steps
to Christ. p.20}
I love that story of Jacob! It reminds me of my dream that taught me about
Jesus and the steps to heaven. And the book, "Steps to Christ" taught me that everyone in the world had been kidnapped and
our perfect planet had become a pit of sin. But Jesus came as the Ladder from heaven to save us from sin
and to pay the terrible bloody ransom that will allow God to destroy the Enemy Kidnappers and restore this earth to its original
paradise beauty. ----
Go
to our next page "Jesus paid 4 us" and read about the largest payment ever made as a ransom for one man.
But before you
go let me tell you that God is going to win, and here is a vision of the future He has for us: ---
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"There, when the veil that darkens
our vision shall be removed, and our eyes shall behold that world of beauty of which we now catch glimpses through the microscope;
when we look on the glories of the heavens, now scanned afar through the telescope; when, the blight of sin removed, the whole
earth shall appear in 'the beauty of the Lord our God,' what a field will be open to our study! There the student of science
may read the records of creation and discern no reminders of the law of evil. He may listen to the music of nature's voices
and detect no note of wailing or undertone of sorrow. ... {Ed 303.4}
There the Eden
life will be lived, the life in garden and field. "They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards,
and eat the fruit of them. ..Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Isaiah 65:21, 22. {Ed 303.5}
There will be open to the student, history
of infinite scope and of wealth inexpressible... {Ed 304.2}
There are no dark errors to cloud the intellect. Truth and knowledge, clear, strong, and perfect, have chased
every doubt away, and no gloom of doubt casts its baleful shadow upon its happy inhabitants. No voices of contention mar the
sweet and perfect peace of heaven. Its inhabitants know no sorrow, no grief, no tears. All is in perfect harmony, in perfect
order and perfect bliss. . . . {LDE 296.4}
. . . I saw a field
of tall grass, most glorious to behold; it was living green and had a reflection of silver and gold, as it waved proudly to
the glory of King Jesus. Then we entered a field full of all kinds of beasts--the lion, the lamb, the leopard, and the wolf,
all together in perfect union. We passed through the midst of them, and they followed on peaceably after. {LDE 288.2}
There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows
upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide-spreading
plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those
living streams, God's people, so long pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home.--GC 675 (1911). {LDE 288.1}
Go to next page -- Jesus paid 4 US
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