Sid Roth - What Jesus Showed Me in Heaven Angered Me
My guest was taken to heaven and saw the tear room. He saw the stored up tears of many people like Moses, Elijah, Kathryn Kuhlman, even the tears of some that he knew did not even make it to Heaven. That's when he got the most shocking revelation.
Sid Roth: Now, Pastor Derrick Snodgrass had a praying mother. He was trained, get this, to fast, and pray, and read the Bible at seven. But at 17, God audibly told Derrick what the name of his church that he pastors today would be, and that it would attract the broken and the unchurched. That same year, he had a life changing encounter with the Holy Spirit. Derrick, tell me about that.
Derrick Snodgrass: Yeah. So Sid, growing up in my family it was normal for us to fast, it was normal for us to pray. And even though we weren't saved, my mom really just gave us that training. And it started off small, three or four hour hours a day, but then it grew to something even greater too.
Sid Roth: You call three or four hours a day small?
Derrick Snodgrass: Yeah, it was small for us. Yeah. Yeah.
Sid Roth: Okay.
Derrick Snodgrass: But eventually, it would grow into something to where she was really just planting that seed within us to when we truly had our own walk with God that would be a part of our pursuit of how to seek the Lord.
Sid Roth: At 16, you really got serious with the Lord. What happened?
Derrick Snodgrass: I got serious about the Lord, Sid, and I just asked God to fill me with the Holy Spirit, baptize me in the Holy Ghost. And so there was a revival coming to our church, and I went to the service completely focused that I wasn't going to get anything less than what God had for me. When I went to that service, we were at the altar and Pentecostal. We tarried- it's when you go to the altar and you just call on Jesus. And I began to envision Jesus dying on the cross. I began to envision His sacrifice for me. And I began to call on Jesus out of my heart. And I remember for the first time, Sid, I felt the power of what I know now as the Holy Spirit kind of pushing me back on the outside of me. And I didn't have language for it then, but I felt a supernatural power and presence on the outside and I felt myself going backwards. And all of a sudden, I felt that same presence go into me. Should have hurt but it didn't, It felt like I landed on a bag of feathers.
Sid Roth: That doesn't make sense in the natural.
Derrick Snodgrass: It makes no sense in the natural, but it's supernatural. And as I'm falling back, my tongue literally got loose and I started speaking in unknown tongues and in a language I had never been taught. I fell to the ground and I started rolling around on the floor like I was on fire. And God completely filled me with the Holy Spirit. And from that point to this day, I never looked back.
Sid Roth: And that power that's within him causes him to operate in his ministry and in his church in the miraculous. Tell us a few things that have gone on in the miraculous.
Derrick Snodgrass: Yeah. So a few things that have happened in our ministry; we've seen people get healed, we've seen people get delivered from drugs and addictions, we've seen vices broken off of people's life. There was a woman who came, she goes to our church, and she had a daughter who had a skin condition. So she brings her daughter out, they jump out of the car and they say, "Look at her"! And immediately, you would not have wanted to touch her because there was so much outbreak on her body from this skin disease. So, she shows me. She lifts up her shirt, I see her stomach, it's all over her stomach, all over her neck. And they say, "We're going to have to take her to the hospital. She's been like this for three days. She's not getting better. We've given her over the counter meds, prescriptions, nothing's working"! They say, "We just said we're going to bring her to the church first, so you could pray for her and believe God to heal her". You know, and Sid, in the flesh sometimes our flesh is weak, our spirit is willing. And when I saw her sickness, I was intimidated. And the thing I thought was, "Man, you should have took her to the hospital". You know! But then I envisioned the cross next to the sickness and I said, "The cross is bigger". And so, we all grabbed hands. I said, "Lets just believe God to give her new skin, fresh skin, to heal this sickness".
Sid Roth: Now, you hadn't taught, you hadn't given them-
Derrick Snodgrass: No service, no message, no prepping, no testimonies, we went straight forward. And I literally attacked the sickness and I began to rebuke that skin disease. And I didn't pray high hopeful wishing, "God, Please, would you," I commanded that skin disease to dry up in the Name of Jesus. And I said, "We just speak fresh skin over her body right now". And one of the other members in the circle screamed out and said, "Pastor Derrick, it's clearing up. It's clearing up". And she had completely fresh skin in 10 seconds, completely cleared up.
Sid Roth: Well, you know, the greatest miracles I understand are occurring in the pantry. What is the pantry?
Derrick Snodgrass: So our pantry is just a outreach ministry that we have. The Lord gave us this initiative to reach out to our community. We partner with the food bank in our city. And it was just a way for us to not be so preachy and just relate to the people on a practical level by meeting their natural need first. And by meeting their natural need, then it opens up the door for us to do ministry. So, it's really just a strategy. And so there was one day, one of the notables. I remember this woman came up to our pantry, we had never seen her before, and she had two leg brace casts on, one on each leg. She had two Walker sticks. She was limping to us. And she walks over and she says, "I just need food. I just need food". And so we were like, "We'd be glad to help you. We'd be glad to give you some food". And I said, "Ma'am, if it's okay with you, I would love to pray for you". I said, "What happened to your knees"? She was like, "Oh, oh, I just need a double knee replacement". And I was like, "Okay". I said, "Well, can I pray"? I said, "I believe Jesus wants to heal your knees". She was like, "Oh son, it's been like this for years". She was in her 60s. She's like, "It's been like this for years, I've just been putting off the surgery". I said, "Well, can I just pray for you"? So I got down on my knee, Sid, and I put both of my hands on her knees and in the Name of Jesus, I just commanded any abnormality in her knees to leave. I spoke to the tendons, the muscles, the joints. And I just said, "Brand new knees, in Jesus Name". So after I prayed for her and commanded the sickness to leave, I told her to test it out. And she said she didn't feel comfortable taking off the leg braces. And I told her she didn't have to, I said, "God can still heal you". So afterwards, I said, "When you get home, you may want to get on your bed, take your knee braces off and begin to test out your knees". Sid, the next week she came back to food pantry, no walker sticks, no knee braces, and she was completely ecstatic. She had a card, a thank you card, and she said, "I've never seen this happen in my life". She said, "Both of my knees were healed". And she began to squat and bend. And she came back a year later just to give us an update to say, "I'm still healed".
Sid Roth: God is real. But, you know, with everything Derrick said, it's absolutely almost impossible for me to believe that a few years ago he had a dry spell, miracles and salvations kind of squeaked to a close. You lost your spiritual hunger. You became desperate and cried out to God, "Reignite my hunger". Tell me about that experience.
Derrick Snodgrass: Yeah, Sid. So after a period of time, you know, I just became dry and still in my walk with the Lord. I felt like I was going through the motions. And I got to a place in my walk with God to where it was a breaking point and I said, "Lord, it has to be more than this". And I had reason within myself that if God didn't touch me and if I didn't see an outpouring of God's presence in my life, I was going to probably stop pastoring or probably stop doing ministry and just work a secular job and be happy.
Sid Roth: No. That would've been a tragedy.
Derrick Snodgrass: It would've been a tragedy. So literally, I began to pray. And that same teaching my mom instilled in us as young children, is on another level now. So I'm fasting now for weeks and weeks and weeks at a time, crying out to God, desperate for God, "Lord, please touch me. Please ignite my soul". And one night I was literally seeking the Lord and I just began to read the scriptures. And the scriptures went, Sid, from black and white, in the best way I can describe it, to full four color HD. It literally, it was like the scriptures became alive, they became real. And I began to see scriptures that I preached before in a completely different light. And all of these scriptures very much still pointed to the same thing, that God wasn't some out in the clouds ambiguous God but He was a personal God who was very near to me and who wanted to encounter me. And so I began to weep, I began to cry, and I began to shake, and I began to tremble. I closed my eyes and I just began to immediately repent, which was off-cuff because I didn't practice that, I didn't rehearse it. But when the presence of God came, it was like I saw God so clearly I just began to weep and say, "God, I'm so sorry. God, please forgive me. Please forgive me". And I didn't know why I did that until later I read Isaiah, when he saw God and the first thing he cried, "Woe is me"! And that it was literally, I had a woe is me moment because I saw my humanity and I saw all of my unrighteousness in the presence of a Holy God. And from that moment, God reignited my soul. He gave me a new passion, a new fire, a new fervor, and the spirit of brokenness came on me and stayed on me for three months.
Sid Roth: And then you started studying the Generals of the faith.
Derrick Snodgrass: Yes, sir. I started studying Generals of the faith, people who were heroes to the faith in this generation. And I saw how God used their ministry. I saw how God worked through them. And then supernaturally, I actually was turned onto this show called, "It's Supernatural"! I had never heard of it before, but literally the Holy Spirit just guided me to it. And I began to binge watch that for four to six hours a day, which ignited faith within me that my walk could even look like this.
Sid Roth: Well, you know, my heart's desire is, that's why we do this show, so that you will be able to do everything and greater works than the guests on my show. Then you started having encounters with God. Tell me about that.
Derrick Snodgrass: Yeah. Once I was exposed to how God was interacting and how people were encountering Jesus, I really began to release my faith for that. And I said, "Lord, if this is possible and if this is real, can you encounter me like that"? It was simple, but it was very sincere. And so I really began to expect that on a daily basis to where I would pray. And I would almost pray with one eye open because there was that much expectation, Jesus's going to walk through the wall. I will never forget, it was February 11th, 2018. And I had just gotten off of a 12 hour shift, I knew I had to preach for our church service the next day. I went to bed and I said, "I'm just going to get three hours of sleep and I'll be okay". And so I went to bed and the next thing I knew I had the sensation to get up and go to the bathroom. And I remember I literally swung around, put my feet on the floor. I was in our guest bedroom because I didn't want to disturb my wife. I started walking to the door and I extend my right hand and when I reach out my right hand to turn the knob, it was literally like a bomb went off. I flew in the air. Again, I flew in the air, I flew back and I hit the ground. And when I hit the ground, Sid, I literally was laying on my back. And I opened my eyes and the first thing I heard, literally, heaven had broken into my room. Literally, the atmosphere of heaven was there, the glory of God was in my room. I heard Angels singing. I heard string instruments. And the first thing I noticed was the peace of God that filled the room. This was a real, tangible peace that could be felt. You feel like you could hug it. And it was literally like the air molecules were charged with the peace of God. And so I sit up and I look to my door, to my right where I was about to open, and I see Jesus standing there but His back is to me. He has a white robe on. He has long Jewish gray hair and He has copper toned skin. And immediately I process that that's Jesus. And I knew His presence. I knew it was Him. And I'm just thinking, and so I call out and I say, "Jesus". And immediately, Sid, the first thing I noticed it didn't come out of my mouth it came out of my heart, in my head. And when I called out to Him, He turned around and He reached out His right hand to me and I reached His hand out and I said, "Thank you". And He looked at me and He said, "I love you". And I let go of His hand and He's about to turn around as if He's going to go through the door and I started almost getting anxious because I didn't want Him to leave. And I was completely cognizant. I thought it was as physical as what me and you are talking right here, but I didn't know if I was in my body or outside of my body, just like Paul says. And so literally, I get anxious and I say, "Jesus, don't leave". Again from my heart and from my head. And I actually sit up to grab His arm. And I grab His arm and I feel a body, I feel muscle tonation. And He turns around and He kind of smiles and He says, "I love you" a second time, more affirming, more convicting. And then He says, "I'll be back". And He proceeds to leave. And Sid, another thing that I got out of the encounter was the humility of Jesus, because, you know, when me and you are ready to leave, we're like ready to leave. And if somebody grabs us, we're going to be like, "Yo, let go of me"! But He has so much understanding and compassion and humility. And when I came out, I eventually re-went to the scripture that said, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly at heart". I felt the meekness of Jesus. I felt the lowliness. And when He proceeded to walk through the door, I appeared back in my bed, I never walked to it.
Sid Roth: What were the last words He said to you?
Derrick Snodgrass: The last words He said was, "I'll be back".
Sid Roth: Did that mean I'll be back to visit you or I'll be back to return to take over My Kingdom?
Derrick Snodgrass: I knew that He was saying He would be back to visit me and He came back.
Sid Roth: How would you like Jesus to visit you and then say, "And you know what, I like you. I'll be back". Anything God does with Derrick, He desires to do for you. Now, Derrick knows the door for you to have your own supernatural encounters with God, and I'm going to have him pray for you when we return.
Sid Roth: Derrick, what is the door so we can have our own encounters with God, so Jesus we'll say to you one day, and me, after He's visited us, "I'll be back".
Derrick Snodgrass: The door of encounters begins with relentless hunger.
Sid Roth: I like relentless.
Derrick Snodgrass: Yes, sir.
Sid Roth: Now, my favorite teaching that you have, you've actually done a CD on this there's no way we can cover it all, you know, in a few minutes. This teaching will impact you like nothing you've ever had. Derrick saw the Tear Room in heaven. Psalm 56:8, talks about exactly what you saw. What does that say?
Derrick Snodgrass: Yeah. It says that "God records our sorrows in His book and He bottles our tears". And so I just began to meditate on that Word. I just began to ponder that Word in my mind. And I went into an encounter and Jesus said that He wanted to show me the Tear Room in heaven. And Sid, I had never even heard of a Tear Room in heaven. I had never heard it. As much as I watched your show and as many people as I knew who had encounters, I had never heard of that.
Sid Roth: That's okay. I've never heard of it either.
Derrick Snodgrass: So I began to walk down this corridor with Jesus, it's an upscale, elegant room. And as we get into this Tear Room, I see innumerable tear bottles, all shapes, all sizes. They're crystal, they're clear. It was a really upscale room. And so once I got to the bottles, I went closer to them and I began to look. And I could literally hear the tears crying out, it was like they had cellular memory. Whatever caused the individual pain or to cry on earth, that was still there and I could still hear it. And so as I began to look closer at the tear bottles, I literally saw a visual timeline, the scenes from the individual's life that caused those tears to be there.
Sid Roth: Was there any one person's bottle of tears that we might know of that made a big impact on you?
Derrick Snodgrass: Oh, it was many peoples. I saw Moses, I saw Elijah's. I saw Kathryn Kuhlman's tear bottle. You know, I saw her bottles and so many others and Jesus was like, "Come on, come on. I got some more, I want to show you". I saw a contraption and I didn't really have language for it then, but it was like a portal passageway. And I saw Angels ascending and descending, coming in and out of it. And so me and Jesus looked down, He showed me what the process of collecting the tears looked like. When we looked down we saw universe, planet, stars, but then the same switch to a home. There was a single parent mom. And she had a lot of stress on her. She was going through a lot of pain. She didn't have finances or income. She had multiple children and one was very sick. I saw her praying and crying. And she was just weeping at a breaking point where she really wanted to give up. And so I see an Angel in her house, and the Angel is there to collect the tears. And the Angel is also there to give her strength and to empower her. And so it gets to the point where she takes a deep breath in and a deep breath out and she stops crying. And then Jesus says, "The Angel is strengthening her". And just that quick the Angel was back with a bottle of tears that he added to her bottle.
Sid Roth: And you saw tear bottles of people that you absolutely knew did not make it to heaven. Why do you think God kept them?
Derrick Snodgrass: Sid, as soon as I saw the bottles of what we would term as wicked or vile or evil men, my immediate reaction was I was offended. I was upset and I was offended because I didn't feel like those bottles should be there at all, especially in a room with people I revered. And so as soon as I looked at Jesus and I said, "What are these bottles doing here"? The first thing He said, as quick as I could ask it, He says, "The Father loves them all the same". And it stopped me dead in my tracks because I would've never thought of it that way. And Sid, what I really took out of that is this, even though a lot of times on earth we make bad decisions or a lot of times we do things that separate us from God, His love for His children and for humanity is unconditional, which means without conditions, is unchanging because God prepares for us as if we're all going to make it. Sometimes we just write people off and say, "Oh, they're messed up". But God doesn't view them that way. He's cheering for them. He's rooting for them. And He desires for them to be saved and to make it to heaven.
Sid Roth: That's you! Say this prayer out loud, mean it to the best of your ability. Are you ready to make Jesus really your Lord and not just your life insurance policy. Repeat this prayer after me, out loud: Dear God, I'm a sinner. I'm so sorry. I ask you Jesus to live inside of me. Be my Lord. Amen. Just one moment more. I want you to pray for the desperation and hunger to come upon everyone watching.
Derrick Snodgrass: Yeah. If you are watching this broadcast today, listen, God has located you, it's not an accident. And I just want you, wherever you are right now, to just begin to release faith and lift up your hands wherever you are. And I'm just going to begin to pray an impartation that desperation and hunger would arise. Spirit of the Living God, we just thank you right now for every viewer, all of those that are listening to this broadcast. I pray that spiritual hunger and awakening will fall on them right now in the Name of Jesus. Father, I thank You that they'll be more hungry for You and more desperate for You than they ever have been before. Father, I just speak to those individuals who feel like maybe it's over or they've seen their best days, that the rest of their days will be the best of their days, that their latter will be greater than their beginning. And I just speak the word that just as "Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man," those that are listening will encounter You and they'll grow in the same way. I thank you God for Your presence. I thank You for Your glory, that they will encounter the God of Glory, in Jesus' Name. Amen.