The Encounter
A Door No One Can Shut
"Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut."
Revelation 3:8, ESV
"Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut."
Revelation 3:8, ESV
He answered at the stroke of noon, on the fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-three — Saint Savas Day, the feast of the name my mother gave me at my birth. A day when the veil between earth and heaven seemed to thin, when the divine stooped to touch a man in torment. This was not a dream. This was not imagination. What happened on that day was more real than anything I have experienced in my entire life.
The atmosphere of the room shifted. I could feel it in my bones. A presence flooded every corner — not visible at first, but undeniably real — a warmth, a weight of peace so heavy it pressed against my chest. The air itself seemed to thicken with holiness. Every hair on my body stood on end. It was as if an unseen hand had stirred the very fabric of reality around me, a divine call echoing Revelation 3:8.
Then a vision broke through the veil of the physical world. A figure of light, an angel, appeared before me. Her voice shook my foundation with divine authority. She declared, "The Lord desires your presence. He has a purpose to reveal to you." She extended her hand. Her touch was gentle. And instantly, my spirit broke free from my aching flesh. The pain vanished. The room vanished. I was no longer bound by earth's frailties. I was spirit, weightless, bathed in light. I could see my own body below me, lying still on the bed — but I was free, soaring upward through realms of light I had no words to describe.
"Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut."
Revelation 3:8 — ESV
I was lifted, carried beyond the confines of the earth, through layers of light and color that no human eye has ever seen and no human tongue can fully describe. The speed was beyond comprehension — galaxies blurred past like streetlights on a highway — yet I felt no fear, only the overwhelming sense of being exactly where I was meant to be.
Then I stood before a heavenly door. A threshold pulsing with a glow I cannot describe, as if forged from glory itself. The air thrummed with holiness, a power so immense it stirred awe and trembling in the depths of my being.
"Come on in," He spoke. His voice was warm thunder that resonated through every fiber of my spirit.
I stammered, "I don't think I'm supposed to be here, Lord. There's a mistake."
But He countered with tenderness, "No mistake. You're meant to be here. Come closer, I want to show you things I have done for ALL of you."
The authority in His voice left no room for doubt. This was the Creator of all things, speaking to me — a broken man — as a Father speaks to His child.
The more I trembled, the more His love surged over me like a tidal wave. It was profound, personal, reaching into my soul's depths, touching wounds I had carried for decades, whispering, "You are Mine, Logos. I have loved you with an everlasting love."
This love was unlike anything on earth — not conditional, not earned, not fragile. It embraced all humanity, yet in that moment, it was mine alone — a balm to every wound, a shield to every fear. I wept without shame, undone by a love I had searched for my entire life.
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7 — ESV
Before the Almighty, I was wrapped in a love so vast, so unconditional, it erased all pain — even the physical agony of my earthly injury vanished completely. I felt as a child again — small, vulnerable, yet utterly safe in a loving Father's arms. Every pretense I had ever built, every wall, every mask, dissolved in His presence. My heart bared before His boundless love and eternal purpose, and He declared, "This is exactly where you're supposed to be. You are Mine."
The Lord led me soaring through the heavens — His joy, love, and compassion radiating through my spirit in waves that surpassed any earthly feeling a thousandfold.
At our first stop, I saw a place teeming with all peoples — every nation, every tongue, every color of skin — gathered by His hand, their faces alight with indescribable joy as they waved. There was no division here, no hatred, no separation.
"I love ALL people, AND THEY ARE MINE." He proclaimed, His voice thundering with tender possession that shook the very foundations of heaven.
We entered a realm of living trees, pulsing with divine life, each a vibrant thread in God's tapestry. They mirrored the Tree of Life in Revelation 22:2. Their bark shimmered with a light that seemed to breathe. Leaves whispered praises in a tongue beyond human words — a language of pure worship. Roots intertwined in perfect harmony, drawing from Him the way rivers draw from the sea. Branches swayed by the Spirit's breath in a worshipful dance, each movement a praise to the Creator.
Then He unveiled creation's mechanics — the hidden workings of His universe that no scientist has ever glimpsed. He taught me to move mountains and shift waters with gestures, wielding the power of His word through faith alone. Tracing a line with my spirit-hand, a mountain trembled, rising and falling at command, its peaks bowing to the Creator through me. Waters parted and danced, rivers bending like ribbons, singing obedience to His design. I understood then that creation itself is alive, responsive to the voice of God and to those He empowers.
Returning to the start, a man stood beside Him, smiling with a love and compassion I had never seen on a human face. Instantly, I knew: This is Jesus, the Son of God. He said nothing at first. He only smiled, and His eyes reflected the love the Scripture names in John 15:9 — as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
The Lord spoke, asking, sharing. I confessed, trembling, "No one will believe me, Father. This was so real — how can I tell anyone?"
He replied gently, "I know, don't worry. I'll take care of it. Just go back and write what you've seen and received."
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me."
Isaiah 6:8 — ESV
He spoke of records of all — a divine ledger — and declared that earth will not be our home.
"We who are alive… will be caught up… to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."
I sensed that this might already be unfolding. I felt not as a burdened adult, but as a child, reborn in His presence. Yet He said, "You have to go back now."
I pleaded, "No, I'll hide in the corner. You'll never see me. Can I stay?"
He insisted, with firm tenderness, "You must go back."
I glanced at Jesus, standing where Scripture places Him — at the Father's side. And as I returned, Jesus spoke warmly, "See you later, cousin."
Instantly, I awoke in bed, tears streaming in awe and rebirth. I wept endlessly, and then I rose to write it all. The vision had lasted five hours. It felt eternal.
The message seared my soul. This was not only for me. God had shown me His boundless love, the heart of His creation, the heavenly throne, so that I would go and share it. I am called to witness — to show the broken and the lost that God's love awaits them. Glory to God in the highest, for He chose to reveal Himself to me, not because I deserved it, but because His mercy is without limit and His love without end. All praise and honor belong to Him alone.
What happened to me on December 5th, 2023 — the spirit leaving the body, the ascent, the door, the throne room, the presence of the Father, meeting Jesus face to face — is not without precedent. God has been taking men to His throne since the beginning. The record is vast, and it spans the whole biblical canon, the early church writings, and the ancient Jewish texts that predated Christ by centuries.
I did not know this when it happened to me. I only knew what I had experienced. But in the weeks and months that followed, as I searched the Scriptures with eyes that had been opened, I found my experience described again and again — by prophets, apostles, and seers who stood where I stood and saw what I saw. They used different words. They lived in different centuries. But the throne was the same. The God on it was the same. And the experience of being brought into His presence followed the same ancient pattern every time.
The apostle Paul described this exact experience in his second letter to the Corinthians. He wrote of a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. Paul could not tell whether his body went with him or whether his spirit traveled alone. He used the same language twice — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know — because the experience was so overwhelming that the boundary between flesh and spirit dissolved.
This is precisely what I experienced. I felt my spirit rise from my body on that bed. I could not tell you whether my body went with me or stayed behind. I only know that something left and something ascended — and when it arrived, the throne room of God was waiting.
Paul added one more detail that arrested me. He said he was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. Paul heard things in the throne room that he was forbidden to speak. I understand this now in a way I could not have understood before December 5th. There are things I saw and heard in that place that I have not written on this page — not because I have forgotten them, but because some revelations are given for the recipient alone.
"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows."
2 Corinthians 12:2 — ESV
In the Revelation given to the apostle John, the experience begins the same way mine did — with a door.
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
A door opened. A voice said come. And John was immediately in the Spirit, standing before the throne. No travel time. No journey through space. One moment on earth, the next moment in the throne room. That is exactly what I experienced. The door opened. The voice said, Come on in. And I was there.
John described what he saw around the throne — the rainbow, the lightning, the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, the sea of glass like crystal. I did not see every element John described, and he did not describe every element I saw. But we were in the same room.
"After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, 'Come up here.'"
Revelation 4:1 — ESV
Long before Paul and John, the prophet Ezekiel was taken. He described it in the opening of his book: the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. Ezekiel saw the throne — a figure like a man, surrounded by fire, seated on sapphire, radiating a glory he could only compare to a rainbow in the clouds. When the vision was given, Ezekiel was beside a river. The heavens opened above him and he was brought into the presence of the Almighty.
The prophet Isaiah had a similar experience. In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Isaiah did not just see the throne — he saw the seraphim above it, each with six wings, crying holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. The doorposts shook. The house filled with smoke. And Isaiah's response was the same as mine: he fell apart. Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips. When you stand before the throne, you do not feel worthy. You feel undone.
"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple."
Isaiah 6:1 — ESV
There is one account in the Torah that stops me every time I read it. In Exodus 24, Moses went up Mount Sinai — but not alone. He brought Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And the text says something staggering:
Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
Seventy-four men saw God. They saw what was under His feet — sapphire, clear as the sky itself. And the text marvels that He did not destroy them for looking. He did not lay his hand on them. They beheld God — and they ate and drank in His presence. They had a meal with the Creator. The throne room was not only a place of awe. It was a place of fellowship.
When I was brought before the Father, the overwhelming sensation — beyond the awe, beyond the fear, beyond the glory — was love. It was fellowship. He did not strike me down for looking. He invited me in.
"They saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank."
Exodus 24:10–11 — ESV
Two men in the Hebrew Scriptures were taken by God and did not come back.
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. That is all Genesis says. Three thousand years of commentary have tried to fill in what those ten words leave out. But the plain meaning is this: Enoch walked so closely with God that one day, God simply took him. He did not die. He was translated — transferred from one realm to another.
Elijah was taken in a chariot of fire and a whirlwind. Elisha watched from below as his master was carried upward and out of the physical world entirely. The mantle fell. The prophet was gone. God took him.
I was not taken permanently. I was brought into the throne room and then returned to my body on that bed. But the mechanism — the lifting, the separation from the physical, the arrival in the divine — follows the same pattern God used with Enoch and Elijah and Paul and John and Ezekiel and Isaiah. The method has not changed. The God behind it has not changed. Only the address has changed.
"And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him."
Genesis 5:24 — ESV
Beyond the biblical canon, the ancient writings describe the heavenly ascent with extraordinary detail.
The Ascension of Isaiah, a text dating to the second century and preserved in multiple ancient languages, describes the prophet Isaiah being taken through seven heavens. In each heaven, he sees a throne surrounded by worshiping angels. With every ascent, his appearance is transformed into greater glory. When he reaches the seventh heaven, he sees a figure whose glory surpassed that of all — and the angel guide says to him, worship this one. Isaiah sees the Father, the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit — and he joins the angels in worship.
The Apocalypse of Paul, preserved in the Nag Hammadi collection, describes Paul's journey through ten heavens. He is accompanied by the Holy Spirit, who appears to him as a small child and guides him through each level. In the seventh heaven, Paul encounters an old man on a throne brighter than the sun by seven times. Paul passes through by showing a sign given to him by God. In the eighth heaven, he meets the twelve apostles. In the tenth, he meets what the text calls his fellow spirits.
The Book of Enoch — not included in the Protestant canon but accepted by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church — describes Enoch's journey through the heavens in vivid detail. He sees the throne of God, the angels, the righteous dead, the tree of life, and the places prepared for the souls of the faithful. The second book of Enoch describes the third heaven as the location of Paradise itself — inconceivably pleasant — which aligns with Paul's statement that he was caught up to the third heaven, to Paradise.
These texts were written across centuries by men who did not know each other, in different languages, on different continents. And they all describe the same journey: the spirit ascending, the heavens opening, the throne waiting, and God — the same God — seated upon it.
"Since perfection of all is in the Father, it is necessary for the all to ascend to him."
Gospel of Truth — Nag Hammadi Library
Here is the pattern that holds across every account — from Genesis to Revelation, from the canonical prophets to the ancient seers:
The person is brought low. Ezekiel was in exile. Isaiah was in mourning. Paul had a thorn he could not remove. John was in prison on Patmos. Enoch lived in a world so wicked God was about to flood it. I had warred long years against principalities and powers of the unseen realm.
A door opens. Not a metaphorical door — a real boundary between realms is removed. The heavens open. The barrier thins. What is normally invisible becomes accessible.
The spirit is taken. Whether in the body or out of the body, the person ascends. They do not climb. They do not fly. They are caught up — the Greek word Paul uses is harpazo, which means seized, snatched, taken by force. God does not send an invitation and wait for an answer. He reaches down and takes.
The throne is revealed. Every account describes a throne. Light, fire, sapphire, rainbow, living creatures, elders, angels — the details vary, but the throne is always there. Because the throne is the point. Everything in heaven orbits it.
The person is changed. No one returns from the throne room the same. Ezekiel fell on his face. Isaiah was undone. Paul received a thorn to keep him humble. John wrote the Revelation. I woke up on a bed with tears streaming down my face and a fire in my chest that has not gone out since.
And then they are sent back. Not everyone — Enoch and Elijah stayed. But the ones who return are sent back with a commission. Isaiah: Go and tell this people. Ezekiel: Speak my words to them. Paul: My grace is sufficient. John: Write what you have seen. And me: Write it all down. Tell them what happened. Tell them I am real.
The pattern holds. It has always held. And I am a witness.
"Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it."
Habakkuk 2:2 — ESV
What followed was The Anointing.