As you read through this, bear in mind that these events took place in 2003…

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Last August, New Beginning Assembly of God, Pastor Tom Fortini and his congregation of about 65 or so, were working hard in the inner city of Youngstown, Ohio. Located between a pornography shop and a gentlemen’s club on the city’s entertainment strip, it didn’t appear to be an ideal spot for a church feeling led to minister to inner-city families. But apparently, God had them there for a reason.

Today, just eight months later, New Beginning A/G has an incredible new home in the inner-city neighborhood. Valued at nearly $450,000, the church is also now fully furnished, complete with computers, copiers, pews, church van, choir robes, hymnals, Bibles, furniture, sound system, three pianos, an organ, a library–even an established daycare tenant that pays $1,500 a month rent.

And New Beginning A/G got it all – church, property, furnishings, supplies, everything – for free!

It all began three years ago, when Pastor Tom Fortini left his comfortable position in a suburban church and took over a failed inner-city ministry. According to Fortini, inner-city Youngstown is a tough area and one of the most poverty-stricken neighborhoods in the state. Drugs are plentiful and prostitution is not uncommon.

“We started with a core group of about 25 people from our mother church [Highway Tabernacle, Youngstown, Jay Alford, senior pastor],” said Fortini. They didn’t have much money, but according to Fortini, the congregation had one great asset: extraordinary faithfulness.

The building the congregation was meeting in was an old machine shop. “The roof had been recently repaired but not before a lot of water damage had been done to the interior–it was in terrible condition,” Fortini said. “We did a building fund pledge in order to refurbish the sanctuary–$15,000 was pledged, and every dime of it came in on time. I’ve been told by other pastors that 100 percent pledge fulfillment is rare.”

Over the next three years the church did a lot of renovations to the property. They were unsure whether God wanted the church to continue in its location or to move into the neighborhood. They began to pray. “We petitioned the Lord persistently,” said Fortini.

However, since they were unsure if God wanted them to move, they prayed, “Father, if you want us to move, we ask you to give us a building, just give it to us Lord, for if someone gives us a building, then we will know that it is You.”

Four blocks away, a Disciples of Christ (D/C) church was making its final preparations to disband its congregation. Several churches had been in contact with the D/C board for quite some time, expressing interest in the property.

Last August, Fortini and his congregation were notified about the “outside chance” of getting the property–that was if the church hadn’t already made its final decision.

“We walked into this Board of Trustees meeting–we didn’t know them–and you have to understand, they had been in dialogue with other churches for some time,” Fortini explained. “About 15 minutes into the meeting, it appeared as though they were talking like the building was already ours.

They gave us a tour of the grounds. We were there for hours. The board voted unanimously to give us the church and all its assets–and the congregation agreed!”

Although Fortini believes the ministries that New Beginning A/G are involved in–food pantry, clothing, busing ministry, working with the homeless, and others–met the desire the D/C wanted to see the church used for, he has a better explanation of why they received the incredible gift.

“The Lord just gave us favor–you could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in that room.”

Miraculous? Yes. But the story doesn’t end there–it gets better.

A couple weeks after the transfer was finalized, a member of the D/C Board of Trustees walked into Fortini’s office and handed him an envelope.

Inside was a check for $50,000. The next week, the trustee dropped off another envelope with a check for $40,000!

“She [the trustee] told us that the church had a savings account we were entitled to as part of the assets–we thought it was maybe three or four thousand dollars,” said Fortini, still in disbelief.

Apparently, the D/C church had a significant amount of money invested in CDs that they cashed in and presented to New Beginning A/G.

“I was hesitant to share this story, because I didn’t want to sound like I was bragging or putting a spotlight on our ministry,” said Fortini. “But if this story can be used to encourage ministers out there who are experiencing tough times, I want it to be told over and over. God is so great! He can do anything!”

–Dan Van Deen

I was still in a bit of a daze over the events that had taken place. I kept wondering, why in the world would Jesus show up – for me? And then, about 2 weeks later, He answered the question..

“Of course I came,” He said. ” Don’t you know that I died for you?”

Right between the eyes. Talk about being convicted.

It wasn’t long before I was led to commit the incidents surrounding my heart attack to paper. And to share the story with others.

And I wanted to share the story with that guy from Ohio that we had met at Bob Larson’s conference. What was his name? Oh yeah, Louis.

I did recall that he told us he had traveled to the meeting with another pastor from Ohio.

So I called Bob’s offices to get the name and phone number. They told me that yes, there were two pastors from Ohio that had attended the conference and gave me both names. But they only had the current phone number for one of them. Perhaps he could steer me to the other pastor.

That’s when I first called Tom. To find Louis.

As we talked, I told him a little about the incredible experience I had just come through and offered to e-mail him a copy. He accepted and then he briefly mentioned something about an angelic manifestation at his church and hinted at some other strange goings-on. I guess I really glossed over what he was saying. After all, I was telling him about my story.

About 6 weeks later, I was awakened one morning with an urge to call Tom. What was this all about? So naturally, I just ignored it. Over the space of the next couple of days, it changed from an urge to a compulsion.

So I called. And naturally, Tom wasn’t in. Could I leave a message?

The next day, Tom called me back.

And we talked for about 2 hours.

Tom asked why I had called. Did I need ministry, prayer? Since Tom’s ministry consisted of a lot of deliverance, he was pretty accustomed to calls coming in “out of the blue.”

No, I wasn’t calling about ministry. I explained that I thought we had met at Bob Larson’s conference. And I have absolutely no idea why we’re talking other than God put it in my heart to call you.

Tom and his church were under an incredible spiritual attack. As he talked, he kept asking me, “Do I sound crazy?” And I told him, no, I understand and I believe you. You see, I’ve been there myself.

Tom related how he had been experiencing a sense of isolation and being alone. Things had been revealed to him and he had felt that he was on his own. And I told him how I understood that, since I had been going through the same situation.

We began to talk often. I would call Tom weekly, unless there was an urging to call him more often.

About this time, I had come across Jack Hayford’s Cleansing Stream ministry for churches. After researching the program, I decided to approach our church to implement the program. After all, it was a pretty mild approach to dealing with spiritual warfare and should fit in even in our conservative church.

Our pastor expressed initial enthusiasm for the concept and then he referred me to the associate pastor responsible for pastoral care and the various ministries within the church.

My proposal fell on deaf ears.

As Tom and I continued to talk, he told me of incredible events that had taken place in his church.

He had taken over a failed inner-city ministry that was housed in a run-down ex-machine shop building. Located between a pornography shop and a strip club that was owned by the local mob, they were deep in the heart of the enemy’s territory.

In faith, the church had stood its ground and resisted the threats and occasional violence unleashed upon then by the strip club owners. Over time, the church had prevailed and both the strip club and the porn shop went out of business.

The church at this time was in real need for better facilities. The church membership began to pray that God would provide for them.

Tom also spoke of his deliverance ministry and the concerns that it had caused him. The church’s denomination was opposed to deliverance and this raised concerns that he might wind up losing his facility.

I asked him to tell me again the story of the angelic manifestation he had mentioned in our earlier conversation.

During a sermon, an angel had manifested and was seen by two of his associate pastors. Standing beside Tom as he was preaching. Majestic, it towered some fifteen feet above Tom, arms folded and looking down at Tom. Not exactly the portrait of one of Raphael’s smiling little cherubs we see represented so often.

He told me the incredible story of how one of his associate pastors had come across a woman in an internet chat room. How she was planning suicide and how his associate had managed to intervene and get her to talk with him by phone. When they finally met, she came to salvation.

She had been a member of a satanic cult. Initially, she claimed she had been granted powers that can only by imagined but the sheer misery of that existence had forced her to become suicidal.

When she first came to the church to meet with Tom, she said that there were angels visible to her. Tom asked her to talk with them and find out what they were doing. One of them told her that he had been seen before in the sanctuary and that they had been sent to protect the church.

Our conversations went on for several weeks. Finally, we had to make the trip to meet with Tom and his church.

400 miles. To the last place on earth we wanted to visit. We had to go.

As we finalized our plans for the trip, Tom told us that the woman who was the former cult member was making the trip to the church that weekend. She lived some three or four hours away and could only get there on an infrequent schedule.

On our way to Ohio, my wife and I continued to discuss why we were making the trip. We could come up with no logical answer other than we didn‘t have a choice. As we were driving, my wife said she was receiving a message that she was to give her necklace to this woman.

It was not an expensive necklace, but it was one with great meaning for her. A simple gold cross, purchased some fifteen years before. It had been her constant companion, a reminder of her salvation and a reminder of her refuge in times of crisis. And now, she had to give it away. To someone she had never met.

After checking in at our hotel, Tom and his wife, Linda, met us for dinner.

During dinner, Linda asked, more than once – “And you two have never met before?”

And we had to laugh. Nope. Didn’t have a clue as to what Tom looked like. I had initially thought that we had met at the Bob Larson conference. If, in fact, we had met, neither of us had even the vaguest recollection of the other.

My wife said, “It’s perfectly clear to me. This is a divine appointment, and that’s why we had to be here.”

Tom led us to his church that Sunday. Prior to going, he had told us how several of his core group were anxious to meet us. Tom had shared with them how we had been talking over the previous few months.

Before the Sunday service began, there was an hour set aside for prayer in the sanctuary. A time for personal and intercessory prayer.

About half way through the prayer time, the associate pastor came to the front of the sanctuary and was urgently whispering to Tom.

Tom announced that he wanted all of us at the front. The woman that was on her way had called on her cell phone. Members of the cult had followed her.

They had succeeded in blocking her from her exit.

Now she was lost. In a strange city, with these cult members after her. Tom asked for everyone to join in prayer.

As we stood in a small circle, you could sense a presence there with us. Encouraging, uniting us.

About ten minutes passed, and suddenly the tension was broken. She had arrived safely and with no incident. She relayed how she was hopelessly lost but was somehow directed to make this turn and that turn, and suddenly she was at the church.

As she walked down the center aisle of the sanctuary, there was a hush over the crowd. When she got about half way to the front, my wife walked up to her, took her necklace off and put it around her neck. And then she hugged her.

It was a simple act. Done with great love. The love of Christ. And it had cosmic implications beyond anything we could imagine.

Following the service, we all went out to lunch. Tom gave us some more insight as to how the church had come into possession of the gorgeous facility we had just visited.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”

On Saturday, July 2, 2005, we noticed that our next door neighbors were moving back into their house. They had rented it out for a few months, until the renter had gotten called to active military duty. Naturally, we offered to help them move back in.

We had just finished unloading the trailer, and I was out of breath…

Everyone was asking “Are you OK?” And I said, “Sure, I’m just out of shape.”

Returning home, the shortness of breath continued and started to worsen. After a few minutes of pacing around, I went into the dining room and put both arms on the back of one of the chairs and leaned forward.

Both arms ached and felt like I had strained a muscle. I began to experience a sensation that felt like my chest was being crushed and by now sweat was pouring off me. My wife was quite agitated and concerned. I told her that something was going on and maybe we should go to the hospital.

Things were pretty chaotic at this point. Our neighbors were there along with my wife and oldest son and everyone was talking at once. My son dialed 911.

My wife was insisting that I go lie down on the couch. By now my strength was almost totally gone. Both arms and legs were starting to tremble and it took all my strength to lift my head and stay conscious. I recall managing to whisper to her “Give me a few seconds.”

And I was left alone.

Presently, I went to the living room where I sat back on the couch. My son was still on the phone with the 911 dispatch, having been switched between different operators about 4 times. His irritation with the 911 system was pretty apparent.

In just a few minutes, we heard the sirens and a fire truck and an ambulance arrived.

The paramedic came in and asked a few questions and then connected the heart monitoring equipment. He ordered the stretcher brought in and I managed to get on it unassisted.

Loading me into the ambulance, one of the EMT’s started an IV. The paramedic looked at me and said, “From the indications I’m seeing, I think you are having a heart attack involving the anterior part of your heart. I’m not gonna mince words….that’s the worst kind. We’re heading to the closest hospital.”

En route to the hospital, he talked constantly, telling me to stay awake. He gave me a couple of baby aspirin to chew and swallow.

He stood up in the ambulance and grabbed the bag of fluid that fed the IV, and announced, “Your blood pressure’s no good. It’s 60 over 30. I’m gonna try to raise it.” With that, he began to squeeze the bag of fluid and force it through the IV.

A couple of minutes later, he said “Good…you’re up to 130 now.”

Arriving at the hospital, they rolled me into the ER and promptly started another IV in my other arm and did a chest x-ray.

The ER physician came in and said, “You’re in the middle of a heart attack. From what we can tell at this point, it’s really bad and we want you to know that we’re doing all we can.

“You need to have a heart catheterization and I recommend you go to Methodist since they do more than anyplace else.

“Right now we’re checking on the availability of the helicopter to take you there since it’s well over a 20 minute drive.”

Several minutes had elapsed since our arrival, so I was a little surprised to see the Paramedic who had been in the ambulance with me. He came over to me and said, “Something told me to stick around. We’ll get you to Methodist.”

As they loaded me back into the ambulance for the trip to Methodist Hospital, the ER physician offered these words of comfort to my wife,

“We’ve done all we can. It’s in God’s hands now.”

In the ambulance the Paramedic gave me a dose of morphine. He asked if that helped the pain and I told him no, it just made me feel like I could care less about the pain.

We got to Methodist in just under 11 minutes. En route, the Paramedic said, “They know we’re coming and they’ve notified the heart cath team. We don’t know if they’ll be ready or not, but if they are, you’ll go straight up to the cath lab.”

When we arrived at Methodist, they weren’t quite ready, so we spent a few minutes in the ER. Our pastor showed up and we were able to spend a few minutes in prayer.

As they rolled me into the elevator for the trip to the cath lab, my wife looked at me and said, “I’ll be waiting for you. I can feel God’s presence here with us.”

She told me sometime later, that as I was being wheeled into the dimly lit elevator she saw a bright light at the head of the stretcher. The nurses gave her a strange look, as if to say “Yeah, right.”

While I was in the cath lab, my wife encountered one of her customers in the hospital. He said he was lost and wondered what she was doing there. She explained to him the circumstances and let him know he wasn’t lost but that he was there to pray.

In the cath lab, the doctor introduced himself to me as Dr. Daniel. I later learned that he was the primary interventional cardiologist for the Methodist Care Group, and the lead researcher for the Indiana Vascular Institute of the Indiana Heart Center.

A few minutes into the procedure, all pain disappeared, the crushing sensation left and I could suddenly breathe again with no difficulty. Dr. Daniel had inserted a stent into one of my coronary arteries that had 100% blockage.

The next morning, Dr. Lee from the cardiology group came in and in broken English informed me “You very bad heart attack. You very lucky. You get here very fast.”

Four days later, I went home.

For most people, that’s pretty much the end of the story.

But there’s more to this story, a lot more.

Before I go into the details, I want to pose a few questions, just to keep things in perspective.

• First, why did the Paramedic hold his ambulance and crew?

• How is it we were able to make the 20 minute trip to Methodist Hospital in 11 minutes?

• How is it that the #1 cardiologist in the State of Indiana was “just” standing by for my arrival?

• How is it that one of my wife’s customers was “lost” and just happened to appear and offer up a prayer?

• During my follow-up visit to Dr. Daniel, I asked about the mortality rate for the particular blockage I had. His reply? “Very high. That’s the worst kind you can have. You shouldn’t be standing here today.”

Was all this due to some incredible coincidence? How about good luck (immeasurable good luck, that is)?

The real answer is ……neither of these.

For the real answer, we have to return to the scene I described before, in the dining room in my house.

The events that took place in the space of those few short moments were beyond anything that I could ever dream or imagine.

The word “incredible” comes to mind – but even that fails to do justice to what took place.

As I leaned forward on that chair, my strength had left me. The room was turning dark and I knew that I was about to collapse right then and there.

But something was nagging me. In the midst of the turmoil and chaos, something was eating at me and I needed a few seconds to try and discover what it was that was troubling me so.

It was as if there was some dense fog swirling in my head and that was keeping me from discovering what was nagging me. Something was telling me that I just had to know.

After whispering to my wife to give me a few seconds, she went into the other room and I was left alone. It was then that it started to become clear.

A voice -an impression really- was telling me “Bind the spirits.”

What?!?

Bind the spirits.

I couldn’t believe it.

What in the world did any of this have to do with spiritual matters?

Yet it persisted.

Bind the spirits.

So I began.

I said, “I bind these spirits of infirmity in the name of….”

Before I could finish the sentence, I was interrupted.

I was interrupted by the most horrible, hideous laughter that I had ever heard. It echoed through my head causing me to jerk my head backwards in an involuntary recoil. I was stunned, shocked beyond words.

I was paralyzed with fear and a sense of dread as the reality of what was taking place started to sink in.

I was face to face with an evil so dark, so powerful, it defied any measure of description. The laughter was grotesque. Deep. Guttural. Arrogant. It was gloating over my condition. And I could sense its delight in my knowing what was taking place.

All the lies, the deception of a lifetime were gone. It was if a veil had just been torn from my eyes.

I was totally helpless. I was in the grip of an evil that is beyond our limited comprehension. It had come for just one purpose – to kill me. And there was nothing I could do.

I was overcome by despair and the worst feeling of hopelessness I had ever known.

My knees buckled. With each blink of my eyes it became harder and harder to open them. Even as consciousness was leaving me and my mind was clouded by confusion, despair and hopelessness, a single, solitary thought emerged.

Call on Jesus.

My initial reaction was “Where did that come from?”

And then the voices……….. Are you crazy? You know that won’t do any good. How stupid are you? What’s the point?

And darkness swept over me, like a giant wave.

With the last of my strength, I forced the words from my mouth. Too weak to even make a sound, all I could do was form the words in a silent whisper – “My Lord Jesus.”

Instantly, I felt an arm around my shoulders.

Grabbing me. Lifting me up.

The cloud of confusion and despair disappeared. It was as though my mind had been emptied of any conscious thought  – except for a single voice.

The voice.

It reverberated in my head. The voice. Clearer than anything I had ever heard.

The voice.

It said, simply, “I’m here.”

I had to turn my head and look. I could see an arm, draped in a white robe. And a hand gripping my shoulder. And then I felt a hand touch my chest, filling me with a sensation of lightness and pure ecstasy.

Strength poured through me. The crushing sensation in my chest, which had been growing stronger by the second, started to subside. Suddenly I was fully awake and alert.

I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. I had an incredible sense of calm and peace, and I knew everything would be OK.

I was totally overcome by the presence still with me. And for that night, on into the next several days, I couldn’t even speak of it. It was fully two weeks, if not longer,  before I could start to talk about it.

While in the hospital, all I could do was respond to their questions and occasionally voice my readiness to go home. The sense of presence was just overwhelming, to the point that I must have been one poor conversationalist.

As I write this, it’s been a few months since these events took place.

Even now, I’m brought to tears and am overwhelmed with gratitude and humility when I consider what took place.

The Redeemer, The King of Kings, The Lord of Hosts, The Alpha and Omega, the Name Above All Names, The Ancient of Days, The Living Word, My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ……. rushed to my side.

Now you know.

This incredible series of events had nothing to do with coincidence. It had nothing to do with luck.

And it sure had nothing to do with me.

It had everything to do with God and the promises he makes to us.

Psalm 37: 40 says:

“And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: HE shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in HIM.”

Psalm 91 says:
Verse 11:

“For HE shall give HIS angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

Verse 14:

“Because he hath set his love upon ME, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known MY name.”

Verse 15:

“He shall call upon ME, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him.”

Psalm 18:17

“He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated and abhorred me, for they were too strong for me.”

Hebrews 4:12

“For the word of God is quick (alive), and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword……”

And especially, this passage from 2 Samuel 22:7

“In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and He did hear my voice…”

God’s word is alive, just as alive today as when Jesus walked the earth. His promises are just as faithful now as when the Word was first written.

And Jesus Christ truly is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit was present and leading me that night. As much as I might like to take the credit, I know that I would never have even thought on my own to “bind the spirits” or to call on Jesus. The glory is His and His alone.

It’s pretty obvious that God has a purpose in mind. We don’t really know what that is just yet, but we know it will be revealed in His time.

As I write this, I’m now back at work. I have the great good fortune of working side by side with my beloved wife.

We work in a car dealership, specializing in helping customers through bankruptcy. It is a real ministry for us and God continues to bless us in our work.

The vast majority of our customers are Christians. We know that they are sent to us as they constantly tell us, “Something told us, we need to come see you.”

Not all are there to buy cars – some are sent for us to help in other ways. And some are sent to bless us.

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And the enemy knew it…

Bob’s conference had taken place in May. Around the first of June, my wife received a phone call from a competing auto dealer offering her a job. She arranged a meeting and asked me to accompany her.

In the course of the meeting, she indicated that she wanted to work with me again and they agreed. A follow-up meeting was set for me to meet and go over the details of the offer. This meeting went well, and the deal was all but done.

We were scheduled to meet one last time to finalize everything.

I never made it to that meeting.