Sid: I’m speaking to Gordon Robertson host of the 700 Club and it is amazing story. He was a backslidden state, he finds himself in India. He’s preaching before 15,000 people and he’s left there by the man that brought him there because the man told him he had a dream and he was supposed to stay. He gets woke up at 3:00 in the morning, he goes to a Hindu festival, he’s sees things he’s never seen in his life, he sees the Hindu’s sacrificing to demons. Would you say that some of these Hindu’s were actually being possessed before your very eyes Gordon?
Gordon: Yeah, the temple areas of India tend to have these matted hair residents around them that are literally crazy. And demon possession is the only word for it, you can see it in their eyes and they live off of food that is brought to the temple and it seems rarely if ever bathe. They start performing whirling dances at the height of the various sacrifices, complete with shrieks and howls and it’s a scene unless you see it you don’t believe it still happens in the modern day world. Traveling to India is like traveling back in time.
Sid: So you began to have a question formulate in your mind.
Gordon: Well I’m in the middle of this temple and I’m seeing this, I’m seeing idolatry. I saw an old woman bow down on her face stone calf, a stone cow and offer up incense in front of the calf’s nose and banana and flowers and some fragrant leaves for the stone cow to eat. Then I watch her get down on her knees and her face in the dust praying. And she wasn’t going through some kind of religious ritual she was earnestly praying to this stone cow. It was not what in the western world we call playing church or going through the rituals, she really meant it. I’ll never forget just getting this righteous anger with me, “Why are you doing this, don’t you know that you’re made in the image of God you should not bow down to this?” And then the Lord spoke to me clear as I’m speaking to you right now, no one has ever told her. It just dawned on me, here was a woman that looked like she was in her ’60’s she had lived her entire life without anyone telling her the good news that you can come to God directly. That God wants to have a relationship with you; that Jesus Christ died for your sins so that you can be pure in front of Him and He wants to come in and dwell with you.
Sid: Gordon when you see fat and I’m using that word the way it sounds. When you see fat Christian America and you see a woman like that sometimes you must say to yourself “What am I doing here?”
Gordon: Well when I came back to Manila, came back to America from Manila this whole experience in India caused me to quit being a lawyer and sell everything and move overseas. And when I first came back and my father asked me to come back and I thought it was high time I’d got to be obedient to my parents. And I came back kicking and screaming because yes, you do run into that in America but… you know I have really have pity on them because they just don’t know. If they only knew then they would behave differently.
Sid: Just briefly, in India you did have a visitation with Jesus, briefly describe it.
Gordon: Right after this incident with the old woman and this stone calf I felt led to go off on a rocky point. And I looked back over the crowd and it’s tough to explain in any kind of words or language that we know it but it’s like the eyes of my understanding were opened that I could see past what we call the material world and we think is so real; and I saw for the first time into the spiritual dimension and that is underlying everything. And there appeared to me white tongues of fire that went through everything. And they coalesce into a single point of white light. And white light is not an accurate word because it was brighter than anything that I have ever seen including the sun at noonday. And I knew instantly that I was standing in front of the Living God. And that He, for the first time in my life was allowing me to see things as they really were. And He could speak to me in audible words, He could also speak to my innermost being in a way that I’ve never experienced before or since where I could instantly know things, and I knew that everything about me was also instantly known. That there was a communication there that was occurring without words on a fundamental and deep basis. During this encounter I realized that all, what I consider time, in this eternal space that God lives in is really meaningless, that it’s all connected to Him. And I could see back into time and He gave me a vision of Jesus on the cross. And He spoke to me and He said “Gordon” and He called me by name. “Gordon if you were the only one to ever believe I still would have come just for you.” And the risen Lord standing right next to me showed Me Himself on the cross and it was like the two points in time came together and were one. And I could see Him hanging on that cross and He opened His eyes and He looked on me with love, a smile came to Him while He’s hanging on the cross and looking at me. This encounter in terms of physical time I’m not sure how long it lasted, I think about an hour but I’m not sure. He told me a lot of things about what He wanted to do with Asia and how He wanted to get the gospel of His resurrection out to Asia, and how He wanted to use me. And then He gave me the ability to see into the people who were there at this temple offering sacrifice to idols. You cannot describe the love that Jesus has for everyone.
Sid: But let me ask you this Gordon, you were in a backslidden state before this trip, at that point would you have given your life for Him when you had that revelation from Him?
Gordon: Well He knew all of that. He knew the vow that I took when I was 12, if you show me Your power I’ll serve You. He knew the prayers I gave, He knew that I’d given my heart and He knew that I turned my back and walked away, He knew all of that. But in an unbelievable way He forgave all that and it was almost like He didn’t want to remember it anymore.
Sid: I think that you were almost born again again at that time.
Gordon: Absolutely, absolutely. When He… the oceans and oceans and oceans of love that He poured out on me. Now how can you ever turn form that?
Sid: Now tie that very briefly with the dream that you had in 1994 please.
Gordon: Well I had this dramatic experience and went on a world wind preaching tour, there was no schedule, I’d preach to anybody that would listen and I’d seen Jesus and He’s alive and He’s real and it’s just not words in a book anymore but it transcends anything that you could possibly know. And after 3 weeks I’ve got a wife and a family and a young daughter and I’ve got to go home. I’ve got to explain to them what has happened to me and what’s going on. And I get back home and it was like the cares and concerns of the world start to invade, they want to choke out the word. And they want to sort of bring you back to reality and don’t you understand your responsibilities and you know I went back into the law firm to you know what it is I’m going to do. And time goes by and sort of like with each passing day what happened in India seems to be more and more remote. Then finally at the end of March 1994, the trip to India happened in February and about another 3 weeks after I got back I’m at home in bed and I had a dream. And in my dream it’s the end of days and it’s the last judgment and I’m standing once again in front of Jesus Christ and He once again loves me and it’s wonderful. I realized that there’s no more going back, there’s… it’s the end of days. Earth as we know it is gone and I hear a noise behind me and I turn around. And I’m up on a nice wonderful plateau and there’s this dark chasm and below the dark chasm is a rock peak that comes out of the darkness. And on that peak are all these Asian faces and it’s a whole line of people and every one of them comes up to the top of the peak and points a finger at me and says “If you would have come I would have believed.”
Sid: Woe, if that doesn’t do it. We’re out of time right now Mishpochah…
