Jesus Are You Real?

I really want to know…
Introduction:
I wish to remain anonymous. Certain people will know who I am, but the primary purpose of making this blog is to tell of my encounters with Jesus Christ in a way that makes Him real to others. Many people go through life without a relationship with Jesus. Most have never heard or thought of the very idea. Yet He is constantly there, beckoning for a relationship with all who seek Him. In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus tells us, ” Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
My first memory of a prayer being answered was told by my mother. As an 18-year old newlywed, she looked forward to having children. However, her first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. When she realized what had happened, she fell to her knees and said, “Lord, I don’t ever want this to happen again. You can give me as many children as you want…You can even send me a dozen! Only I don’t want to lose another one.” That prayer was answered. She had fourteen children and over 60 grandchildren and great grandchildren. All were alive at the time of her death at the age of 91.
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Angels Are Everywhere!
My mother told me about angels when I was very young. She explained that angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds in the fields and told them where to find Him. She also told me that I had a guardian angel and that I should thank him every day for his protection. I have…
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Saint Michael the Archangel, Protect Us!
Pray, “Saint Michael the Archangel defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into hell Satan an all the evil spirits who prowl about the world…
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Angels Among Us
In Hebrews 13:2 it says, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Suzanne and I started our family in an old “lumberjack” house built in 1881 with white pine and oak. It was a rambling house that consisted of add-on…
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Francis Meets the Good Shepherd
Francis and his wife Mary lived in a house around the corner, but their lot is larger and extended behind ours. Our back yard was small with the garage attached behind the house. This left little room for the growing boys to play. I built them a play structure with a sandbox at the bottom…
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Conversation with an Athiest
During the Covid lock-down, I began a campaign to have billboards with The Holy Face on a plain background, just to let people know that Jesus is still here. I recently received an email from “Your Friendly Neighborhood Atheist” who commented as follows: I’m not trying to disparage your faith, but a) you know the…
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Abandoned in the Womb
The debate about abortion is endless. More thoughtful people will often debate when a fetus becomes human. When you finish this story there will be no doubt. The Catholic Church teaches that you become fully human at the point of conception. Science has discovered that when a sperm fertilizes the egg, a flash of light…
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Shalom, Mr. Silver
Our family owned a truck farm. That is, we grew fruits and vegetables to sell at the Eastern Market in Detroit. After much trial and error, we concluded that raising and selling pickles offered the best return for our labors. I am the eldest of fourteen children, which provided the workers for our endeavor This…
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Demonology 101
It is difficult to write about my experiences with demons. Most people think they don’t exist, which is exactly what they want you to believe. It is much easier to capture their prey when their victim is unaware of their presence. The problem is that they have become more numerous and more flagrant in their…
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On Death And Dying
Four months before she died, mother called me, crying bitterly. “Tony, I’m all alone in the hospital. Could you come to be with me?” “Of course. Ill be there as soon as I can.” I booked the next available flight to St. Louis. My brother Pat met me at the airport. He revealed, “Mom is…
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Prayer of St. Augustine
Almighty Father, come into our hearts, and so fill us with Thy love that forsaking all evil desires, we may embrace Thee, our only good. Show us, O lord our God, what Thou are to us. Say to our souls, I am your salvation, speak so that we may hear. Our hearts are before Thee. …
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A Study In Righteousness
As we look at His Holy Face, we see the face of a man that was beaten, reviled, spit upon. His beard and moustache were plucked, His nose broken. His scalp was bleeding from the crown of thorns. And yet… ..His face is serene, calm, even regal. He did not complain, cry out…
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Jesus Are You Real?
This is the story of the beginning of my walk with Jesus. Some of it isn’t pretty, but it must be said. It was the fall of 1986. The Michigan weather was gorgeous, but I was destined to spend the day indoors. My wife and I were attending a “conference” on the Holy Spirit. The…
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Blessed Salt
Blessed salt is a sacramental. That is, an outward sign of an inward grace. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church that prepare us to receive the fruit of the sacraments and to sanctify different circumstances in our lives. Blessed salt may be used to bless…
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Divine Mercy Chaplet
Jesus called Sister Faustina Kowalska His “Secretary of Mercy.” She recorded many conversations with Jesus in her diary, “Divine Mercy In My Soul.” In her diary, she writes, “”At the hour of their death, I defend every soul that will say this Chaplet as I do my own glory. When this Chaplet is said by…
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The Healing Power of the Lord’s Prayer
I first knew Tom through his wife, Janice. She and I shared similar professional views, so we communicated by email and phone to discuss events in the investment world. Tom was always in the background. I knew that he was about 20 years older than Janice. He had a brilliant career in Phoenix, Arizona as…
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Our Guardian Angel
Our Guardian Angel On our family kitchen wall for all to see was a picture of two children crossing a broken down bridge over a raging torrent with an angel looking over, guiding and protecting them. The picture was so ubiquitous that we hardly ever noticed it. The belief in our guardian angels was so…
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Zygophyllum Dumosum
Zygophyllum Dumosum Bean Caper Plant “The physical location of the bouquet containing Zygophyllum dumosum appears on the body image’s upper chest (Figure 6, 10). Here, two young but well-developed succulent leaves are visualized. Each leaf has a terete petiole and a pair of flat leaflets (Figures 10 to 12). Such leaves, in the Near Eastern flora, are…
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The Storm
The Storm It was a beautiful June day on the farm. Strawberries were ripening. The tomatoes, melons and cucumbers were starting to show promise of a bountiful harvest. There was a lot of work to be done. I remember sweating as the humidity increased, but it was still early. The heat and humidity were…
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Gundelia Tournefortii
Gundelia Tournefortii Tumble Thistle Of the twenty-eight plants, twenty-seven grow within the close vicinity of Jerusalem, where four geographical areas containing different specific climates and flora can be found. (The twenty-eighth plant grows at the south end of the Dead Sea.) All twenty-eight would have been available in Jerusalem markets in a fresh state, and…
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Cistus Creticus
Cistus Creticus Rock Rose This assemblage of Z. dumosum and additional species such as Gundelia tournefortii, Cistus creticus, and Capparis aegyptia occurs in only one rather small spot on earth, this being the Judean mountains and the Judean Desert of Israel, in the vicinity of Jerusalem … The distributional areas of the most significant species are used here to determine the proposed place…
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Capparis Aegyptia
Capparis Aegyptia Egyptian Caper “Interestingly, one of the floral species on the Shroud that grows in Jerusalem and blooms in the Spring, Capparis aegyptia, provides further corroborating information of the events depicted on the Shroud. Damn, Baruch, and Whanger state: `Capparis aegyptia is also significant as an indicator for the time of the day when its flowering stems…
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Travertine Aragonite Limestone
Travertine Aragonite Limestone Jerusalem Stone “Aragonite as in Jerusalem … The study of the area of the feet has been particularly interesting. In the greatly enlarged photographs, taken by Vernon Miller in 1978, one can see that the cloth looks dirty in the region corresponding to one of the heels. There, on the threads, is an…
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Millie
Millie I first met Millie through my client, Matt . Matt had a 401(k) through me and I had made an appointment at his apartment to discuss his retirement options. Matt Introduced Millie, who was a perfect hostess. It turned out that Matt wanted to withdraw his retirement money to pay Millie’s medical bills. She…
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George is Healed
George is healed. My first encounter with a miraculous healing was with my brother, George. The story unfolds over a period of time, so I will narrate the first part from my perspective, then give our mother’s experience. To this day, George has no recollection of the healing. However, George has developed a spirituality of…
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Refined in Affliction
Refined in Affliction. This story begins when I called my mother to wish her a Happy Birthday. My mother, Laura was a woman of prayer and deep faith. The Lord often gave her dreams about things that no one could possibly have known. This was one of them. She said, “You know, Tony, I just…