In the early 70’s I was the pastor of Southgate Baptist Church in Austin, Minnesota. Southgate was a Southern Baptist Pioneer Mission Church. We were not your normal run of the mill church. Some of us pastors made the trip down to San Antonio, Texas for a conference. Several well known ministers were the speakers.  Ronnie Dunn, Bertha Smith, Manly Beasley, Jack Taylor, and Leonard Ravenhill are a few that I remember.  During one of the morning sessions the Holy Spirit fell. There was not a dry eye in the place. My experience, being raised a Baptist, was that when Holy Spirit showed up at a meeting men and women repented. And repent we did. The altar was full. Pastors and their wives crying out to God.  But the clock told us that it was noon and the morning meeting was over and time to take lunch. The afternoon meeting would soon be upon us and so off to lunch we all went. The afternoon meeting began with the Gaithers singing, “There’s Something About That Name”.  Holy Spirit liked that song. He fell again. Off to the altar we all went again. I was sitting near the front and was out of my seat and shot to the front to get a good place near the crying rails. As I was having a good time in the Holy Spirit I noticed a lady next to me was having a hard time. This was the time that we Southern Baptists were debating whether or not a born again human could have demons. There was a lot of debate over this. I was on the side of “of course a Christian can have demons”. I had a ministry of deliverance and had seen firsthand God set believers free from demonic presences. So my heart went out to this lady in distress as I had discernment that her fight was with the enemy.  I began to pray for her without looking up. I began to realize that I was hearing someone taking authority over spirits and was doing so with a loud voice of authority.  And then I realized I was that person rebuking demons in the Name of Jesus.  I stopped. I was freaked out for sure. The whole place was stone quiet. Then a man stood up and yelled, “oh no you don’t, you are not going to get me” and began to run out of the building. He only got a few feet when freedom hit him and he fell out flat on his face. I did not hang around to see what else was going to happen. I just thought that maybe Jack Taylor, the pastor of the church we were holding our conference in, was going to run me out of town. I got up and hurried to the men’s room, ran into a stall and shut the door. I sat down on the closed lid and put my feet up on the door so no one would know I was there. I cried out to the Lord  “Help me. Help me, I am in real trouble here Lord”. Not too long after that I heard Father say to me, “Paul, would you like to intercede for the return of My Son in your lifetime?”

I was shocked.  Here I sat in real trouble and Father is asking me to intercede for the return of His Son, Jesus Christ, in my lifetime.  That means I would have to be alive when He would return.  I knew to pay attention to Father when He is being direct with me, so I gave Him my best educated christian answer.  “I know Lord that when You ask me to do something You will give me all that I need to finish the work.”  Not bad for off the top of my head.  I was feeling comfortable again.  But, Father said, “No Paul, you could fail or it would not be an intercession”. I thought, I considered, I answered.  “Yes, Father, I will”. I have been interceding (looking forward to and hastening the Day of the Lord – 2 Peter 3:12) for His return now for about 40 years.