Sid: My guest by way of telephone is Joan and Bob Nast and I’m speaking to them at their home and office at Coconut Creek Florida. And we found that in 1980 Bob was convicted of counterfeiting; they were counterfeiting his group for over 6 million dollars. He could have gotten up to 60 years in prison. He just happens to see on television Hal Lindsey just happened to come on the air and talking about his book “The Late Great Planet Earth” and how to be saved. And the whole family said a prayer with Hal. Now they didn’t really understand what they were doing but then they go to the hearing to find out how many years he’s going to get. And the judge that he’s affectionately called (the federal judge) the hanging judge. All of a sudden he looks at Bob and says “I’m giving you 6 months.” Well that was a miracle an absolute miracle. So he goes off to prison for 6 months. His wife the mean time everyone around her is dying, her husband is in prison and she just to get away from it all gets into drugs, they have contacts with crime syndicate with the counterfeiting. I mean her life is a mess her 14 year old daughter comes in and says “Mom I’m running away from home and you’ll never see me again if you do not go to church.” Well Joan says to her daughter “Look I’ll do anything I’ll go to AA I’ll go anywhere. I just have a Catholic background that’s not for me.” Well she went into that church what happened Joan?
Joan: Well the music was playing and every hair on the back of my neck started standing up. I had never experienced even that feeling. People were touching me and saying hello and everybody was so friendly. And all I can do is remember that as I looked into everybody eyes I saw a peace that I’ve never seen. And I almost hated these people so what are they so happy about life stinks life is miserable but they’re happy. So I said to the people that I’m with “I’m not singing, I’m not praying, I’m not doing anything that these people are doing.” And they said “Don’t just listen.” But when I heard the pastor start speaking he started speaking about Jesus like he just had a cup of coffee with Him. He said speaking about Jesus like He was just there over the church. And I’m going who is this guy that he met Jesus already? And I was kind of a wise guy and I just couldn’t comprehend his relationship with Jesus the way that he spoke about Him. So all through the service my hands started raising up and going down, raising up and raising up and I was fighting against it. Finally at the end he said “Is there anybody here that needs Jesus.” And I thought “Huh I’ve tried drugs everything money can buy why not give it a shot that was my attitude.” So I raised my hand and of course I was the only one there was a couple of hundred people there at that time. And I went forward and he said “Do you know that God loves you?” And I had never heard those words said directly to me and I thought “He does.” I just did not feel loved by anybody so He says “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He was born of a Virgin Mary, that He suffered and died and was buried and that there is a Father, Son and a Holy Spirit.” I said “Of course I do I’m Catholic.” He said “You believe that He rose from the dead.” I said “Sure I don’t have a problem with any of that.” He said “Do you know that you can make it to heaven for eternity if you just ask God to forgive you of your sins?” And I said “Get out, get out!” And those were my words and he said “No true story.” And I said “What do I have to do?” He said “Just tell Him your sorry, just tell Him your sorry for your sins and you can have eternal life in heaven with the Father.” Well this sounded like magic, this sounded like news to my ears, this sounded like nothing I had ever heard and I started getting excited. I said “If I just pray that’s it.” He said “Say it and mean it from your heart and say it to God don’t say it to me.” I said “Okay,” and so he prayed with me and I said it to God.” And all of a sudden I felt arms around me, feeling the arms I did not know that it was the arms of Jesus I was feeling. And He delivered me from the spirit of fear instantly I was instantly delivered from cocaine and drugs and marijuana and every foul drug that I had been using. It left me in one instant and the desire in 21 years have never come back.
Sid: Now at the same time that this is going on that same moment Bob what was going on with you in prison?
Bob: Well I finally got situated in prison and you know all of the reality finally hit me and I was in my little bunk there and it was just night and it was about a quarter after nine. I just fell to my knees and I just felt so confused I just felt like I had just wrecked my life which I did do. And I fell on my knees and I said “God” I said… I used to go to Catholic School and I knew that there was a God and I believed in God only I never had a personal relationship with Him. And I fell on my knees I said “God and I started crying I said “You probably heard this a million times before from a jail house cell but I’m going to make a promise to you if you’ll protect my wife from committing suicide or getting hurt (because I thought this was going to happen.) I said “You just protect her if you just spare my children the embarrassment that I caused them for what I did Father.” I said “I would never do another wrong thing in my life again I will serve you for the rest of my life.” Well at that time I just started crying and I just lost it all and I remember I was just looking down and I remember it was a quarter after nine and God is so good because He had my wife in that church at a quarter after nine accepting Jesus as her personal Savior and He just turned our life around.
Sid: Speaking of a life turned around you’re a successful developer, your wife is successful in Real Estate you had a half million dollar home on intercostals waterway near Fort Lauderdale. You had a 31’ boat that slept 6 a lifestyle most folks would call successful, but all of this changed when a young boy 10 years old by the name of Brandon Smith came into your life. Tell me what happened?
Joan: Well we had been visiting hospitals in the area for many many years helping children praying with them making them laugh. And the more we spent time with them down at Joe DiMaggio Hospital in Hollywood, Florida we met this little boy Brandon who was dying of Leukemia. And the first thing that we experienced when we went into his room at night and saying hello to him was the mother and father and the depression upon them. And we said “Why don’t you two go for a cup of coffee and we’ll stay with Brandon.” And they would go for a walk and…
Sid: So Brandon was terminal leukemia?
Joan: Yes.
Sid: Okay go ahead.
Joan: So our heart went out to the parents and one night the father grabbed my husband and he said “Bob what am I doing wrong, what have I done to cause this for my son to get this disease and is dying?” And Bob said “Walter, he said bad things happen to good people this is not your fault there’s a devil out there and cancers from the pit of hell it has nothing to do with what you’ve done wrong you can’t blame yourself.” And we tried to comfort them and pray with them and we spent about 6 months going back and forth to the hospital. And we realized that all of the other children in the other room there was so many single parents and we found out that 80% of the parents that get a child attacked with a disease especially terminal the money goes, the job goes the house goes and eventually the husband goes because he cannot take the pressure and he blames himself. So as we experienced this time after time again with these wonderful people and unfortunately little Bandon went home to be with the Lord which another time we’ll tell you about what happened to this child. But anyway we said “You know what maybe we will have a place where these families can get a total break from the hospital where they can come out and get away from chemotherapy and all of the environment and laugh for a day. And maybe we can have volunteers take the little children away from their parents all day long and the parent can go for a walk sit down and have coffee do whatever just to get a break for the day. And that’s when the idea I guess was birthed in our heart about having a ranch for seriously ill children.
Sid: You actually had an open vision about the ranch which is now called “God’s Little Acres” tell me about that.
Joan: Well one day we were looking through the Real Estate being a typical realtor and I saw almost 5½ acres in Coconut Creek with a barn a number of barns and a house for sale. And all of a sudden I said “Bob Hun we’ve got to go look at this ranch.” Well at that time we had just lost a tremendous amount of money in the stock market. Work was okay and our bills were being paid but we had absolutely no money in the bank, nothing. So he said “Why do you want to go look for that for we don’t have any money?” And I said “No, I don’t know why we have to go.” So being the wonderful husband of 39 years this week that he is he agreed to come look at it. We came out to Coconut Creek and as we entered the driveway coming up to the Ranch it was probably the ugliest place I’ve ever seen at first. There was…everything was broken and run down the house was yucky we say Pepto-Bismol pink there was no landscaping everything was over grown. There was old tractors laying around, there was potholes coming up the driveway. I mean the place was horrible, but yet as we started entering up the driveway all of a sudden it was God dropped a screen out of heaven and I heard first I heard little children laughing. And I heard music, and then I saw what was so ugly become beautiful with a long porch with rocking chairs on it and people were rocking babies. And as I looked to the left and right I saw little wagons being pulled by little horses and I saw hay wagons being driven around with little children laughing. And all of the sudden this name came to me. Now the driveway is not 100 miles long it’s only you know maybe a 100 – 300 feet I don’t know.
Bob: 300.
Joan: Is it? And then by the time we got up there my husband is saying to me Joan what are you doing what is happening? And I went “Shh shh” and I couldn’t tell him but God was there with me and the Spirit of the Lord was upon me. That said as before this had not happened but by the time this was up the driveway there was a man in a Porsche talking to an elderly man we found out that was the owner. And as we got out I didn’t say anything to my husband.
Sid: Ah oh Mishpochah we’re out of time.
Tags: It's Supernatural, Sid Roth