About the Author

Douglas Tews was born and raised in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a child, he was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church. He came to a personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ while in college through Baptist friends and the ministry of the Navigators.

After transferring to a different college, he continued to forge friendships across denominational lines through Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. His life was then deeply impacted in the 1970’s through the ministry of a group of charismatic Catholics and Lutherans.

After graduating from college, the Lord opened doors for Doug to move to south Florida, where he was a member of the Wesleyan church for many years.

In late 2005, Doug’s work took him to the Isle of Wight in the UK where he lived for nearly ten years. It became apparent, the Lord was doing a significant work there, which Doug was pleased to be a part of. In 2015, the Lord engineered circumstances bringing him back to Florida, where he resides today.

Through the years, Doug’s relationship with God has been fully Christ centered, not denominationally centered. His eclectic Christian experience across denominational lines allows him to freely communicate and relate to Christians of all backgrounds.

Today, Doug enjoys speaking to people, exhorting them in the knowledge, God has far more for people to experience in Him than they ever imagined. His book is a living example of that.

The following is one of the earlier experiences, shortly after they began…

Jesus in Me!

I hear the waves. I’m back at the sea. This time I’m in the sand at the water’s edge. I can feel the gentle waves. The water is pleasant, not cold. It feels nice. I see imprints of my hands in the sand as I pull them in and out. As I pull them away, the water swirls over the imprints. As the waves pull back, the imprints are partially filled in. I place my hands into the sand again and feel the water running over them. I sense Jesus a few feet away. He’s wearing a long white robe. The water washes around his feet. He beckons to me with His hand. I take His hand and He lifts me up. He takes my hands. I can feel the strength in His hands. He’s just looking at me and smiling. He runs his thumbs over the back of my hands. This just continues.

After a bit, I finally say, “Lord, do you want to tell me something?”

He smiles and just keeps looking at me. His presence is pleasant and peaceful, like having your best friend with you... even better than that.

“I do love you, you know...” He pauses. “Just come and spend more time with me.”

His thumbs continue to massage across the backs of my hands. He’s smiling at me. I think He’s simply enjoying this moment. I kind of wonder what’s going on. “Don’t think every time we get together we have to have some “massive” experience... at least as the world thinks. I want more than anything to simply spend time with you. Just like this...” He continues to massage the backs of my hands with his thumbs.

“Now I must tell you something. You are so precious to me. I see you like a gem on this seashore. You’re beautiful, bright and polished. Don’t fear what others think. They don’t see you as I do. What I think is what really matters. Others must make their own decisions, but you have chosen the best thing, to simply stand here with me. I know what others think affects you, that’s natural. But keep your eyes focused on me. I will never reject you, only love you.”

Jesus seems to be getting brighter. He transfigures into a mass of light. “I am always with you. I will permeate your very being. Continue to draw close to me. I will fill you like you’ve never imagined or experienced. That’s all that matters—you and I together. And together we will walk the path I have chosen for you.” I’m on my knees again in the sand at the water’s edge. I stare at the imprints my hands make as the water washes in and out. I raise my hands and look at the moisture on my hands. It glistens in the light. It begins to glow and I see thin beams of light spreading out from the moisture glistening on my hand.

“That is Me within you... shining forth. I will wet those around you with My Spirit. They will be illumined. We will do this together.”

I continue to look at my hands with these beams of light coming out. They now shine forth even more. The beams are bigger in diameter and a bit brighter. Some of the beams strike me in the face and they are pleasantly warm.

“You will radiate my Love to others.”

“But Lord how I can do this? I’m so inadequate, still so bound up in my own problems.” But as I’m saying this I’m instantly reminded of Moses’ first conversation with God—and all the “problems” Moses thought he saw.

Yes, I know God will provide and mark the way. I just need to follow it.

I’m still looking at my hands with the beams coming out. Amazing. Jesus in me. Jesus in me...

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Reflections afterwards:

Regarding Jesus’ statement, “I know what others think affects you, that’s natural.” I found that remark interesting, because I’m not really influenced by what others think of me as much as it affects many other people. For example, I was generally not affected by peer pressure when I was young in school. I pretty much had a mind of my own. Nonetheless, nobody is completely immune to this sort of thing. As I meditate on this, I realize I do care what my closest friends think of me; I wouldn’t want them to misunderstand me or my true intentions. However, I think this is encouragement from the Lord, that even if my closest friends push me away, or misunderstand my intentions, He will never do that. First and foremost, what He thinks is really the most important.

The following is an example of a later experience. As time went on they often became more challenging, thought provoking and revealing...

Trusting in Jesus Casts Out All Fear

I’m standing with my hands in Jesus’s hands. He’s smiling. We’re in a strange place. The ground we are standing on is semi-transparent in many places. There’s a lot of red light emanating from below, shining up through the ground. Now it’s not just red, but red and yellow. And now it’s as if it’s being transformed, or revealed and becoming more like fire. It’s like we are standing over a huge area of fire…but we are standing well up in the air over it. I feel no heat however.

I have no sense of danger whatsoever. Rather of wonderment. Jesus is still looking at me, smiling. I’m now aware I have my white robe on. The raging fire below causes our robes to blow about a bit.

“What is this place Lord?”

He smiles and laughs a bit. “This is of your own making.”

“My own making? Do you mean I’m making all this up?”

“No, it’s real, but it can’t hurt you. I am refining you. You must relax and trust in me.”

“You must continue to trust me,” Jesus repeats.

“I do trust you Lord; I just place this [experience] in your hands,” I say bewildered.

I still see fire all around. It’s as if it’s burning up something…it’s almost raging, but I feel no heat and it’s not hurting me.

“Now I want you to do something,” Jesus says.

“Ok Lord, what is it?”

“I want you to lean over and look down into the fire.” I bend over and do so.

“What do see?” He asks.

“I see a lot of raging fire, Lord.”

“But is it hurting you?” He asks.

“No Lord.”

I continue to look down into the fire. I see what vaguely looks like a large face down in the fire.

“OK, Lord what is that?” I ask apprehensively. “What’s happening here?”

He replies, “This is the place of your fears.”

“My fears?” I ask incredulously.

“Yes. They look frightening, but are they actually hurting you?” Jesus asks.

“No, they are not.” I respond. I suddenly realize and sense, it’s because I’m holding Jesus hands.

“Lord, what was that…that looked like a face down in the fire?”

“That was your imagination…it was yet another fear.”

This is all very perplexing. “Ok Lord, what next? What are you showing me here?”

He’s still holding my hands smiling at me. This is all a very strange experience to be sure.

“I delayed bringing you here, because I knew it would test you. But you are trusting me…”

“Oh yes, Lord, I trust you!” I draw close to Jesus and cling to Him. The flames now seem to be larger, hemming us in all around. They look fearsome and make noise, but I am still completely unhurt…and feel absolutely no heat.

I continue to embrace Jesus in the inferno. I am reminded of the three Hebrews who were thrown into the fire, but were completely unhurt, as one “who looked like a son of God” was with them in the flames. I can now even hear crackling around us.

“So, what do you have to fear?” Jesus asks smiling.

“Wow, with You here, absolutely nothing,” I reply.

Jesus seems content to just let the inferno keep roaring around us…and just keeps smiling.

“Ok Lord. Is there any reason we need to stay here?”

“No there’s not,” He replies. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask.”

“So now what?” I enquire.

Jesus replies, “Just say, ‘Be gone.’”

I look out and say, “Be gone!”

Suddenly, the fire is gone. We’re still standing out in the open air over what appears to be a huge open pit. There’s charring from the fire everywhere. Carbon black, or charcoal seems everywhere around.

“So, did the fire hurt you?” Jesus asks.

“No Lord.” But I notice that everything around was burnt.

“Fear can indeed destroy, but not when you are with Me—there is no more fear.”

“But what happened Lord, when I said, ‘Be gone?’”

He replied “You made a choice. You chose to trust me in the midst of the confusion. Trusting me banishes all fear.”

“But what about all this blackness, Lord; the stuff that’s all burnt?”

“Fear can destroy all that’s around you. People fear. Nations fear. It is all subject to destruction. But you cannot be destroyed when you trust in Me. I will always protect you. Even when it appears to be a raging inferno around you, I will never let you go. You can always trust Me.”

I seem to be left with the image of me standing with Jesus, up in air over the burnt pit and burned surroundings. But I’m there, completely safe with Jesus.

“Can we leave this place, Lord?”

“Of course. But I don’t want you to forget this.”

I’m now back just sitting in my chair, but the memory is fresh and will certainly be pondered… ----------

Reflections later:

Initially this experience was a really strange one. It did not unfold very quickly and I was wondering if the Lord really wanted to say something, or not.

As the whole thing slowly unfolded, I was quite perplexed. The environment was very strange and the Lord didn’t seem to be volunteering any information. He seemed content to simply stand there holding my hands. It seemed as if I needed to pursue Him…ask questions, because the whole thing had me thoroughly mystified. At the beginning, I was wondering if I wasn’t just imagining all of it. However, as the Lord began to instruct me, I began to recognize a certain familiarity in my spirit and settled down.

The phrase, “This is of your own making,” refers back to an encounter I had last year: “A Frank Talk with Jesus — In an Unexpected Place.” I met Jesus in a very dark, windswept place. When I enquired what the place was, Jesus responded, “It is a place of your own making. It is not where I want you to be. I have come to deliver you from this place. We must dismantle the lies and treachery of the enemy. I will heal and deliver you.”

Through the deception of the enemy, we can believe lies and embrace misconceptions that effectively imprison us in a dark place. Last year, the Lord dealt with several such matters from my childhood I had completely forgotten about. Although I’ve experienced considerable healing through the years, the Lord is never satisfied until a vessel is completely cleaned out.

I think in recent times He’s reaching for the “bottom of the barrel” so to speak. That’s often where the oldest, yuckiest stuff resides. I don’t know if we’ll ever be 100% clean in this life, but a barrel that’s 98% clean is still far more useful than one that’s filled to the brim with toxic waste.

Furthermore, through deception, the enemy can sow fear into us. But that can only happen if we believe the deception. The enemy can infiltrate our thoughts with questions like:

“Does the Lord really love me?”

“Will the Lord really provide for me?”

“Will the Lord really protect me?”

This vision dealt with this head-on. The power of fear was destroying everything around me in a blazing fire. However, I was completely safe in the hands of Jesus. I couldn’t even feel the heat. Three times Jesus specifically asked if the fire was hurting me, and I responded no. Three additional times I noted myself the fire was not hurting me. The fact that the “fire of fear” couldn’t hurt me was repeatedly emphasized. And it was all because I was trusting in Jesus, just holding His hands.

Furthermore, it wasn’t even difficult. While holding His hands, it was all very easy. When He told me to speak to the fire, “Be gone!” so it was. Although destruction was evident around me, I was completely unharmed.

One final observation:

Jesus seemed to indicate the destruction I saw around me pertained to other people, even whole nations around me. However, when at the Lord’s command I spoke, “Be gone!” the fire that was consuming my surroundings went out. That would suggest that we, as God’s people, have the ability to speak peace into the most fearful of circumstances around us. We are to be dispensers of the peace and power of God!