Looking Back: How God Paved the Way for Success and Turned Me from My Sinful Ways

By John E. Nikolic

How the Holy Spirit helped one man find victory over sin and joy in following Jesus.

John Nikolic traveled around the world, visiting some sixty-three countries. He would jog in each country upon arrival. He traveled and jogged in this fashion for twenty years and nine months without missing a day of running.

During John's early year

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Aug 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647731977

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Looking Back

How God Paved the Way for Success and Turned Me from My Sinful Ways

John Nikolic

Trilogy Christian Publishers

TUSTIN, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2020 by John Nikolic

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

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Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, Ca 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/ TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-64773-196-0

ISBN 978-1-64773-197-7

Contents

Dedication ix

Acknowledgements xiii

Foreword xv

Chapter One. The Early Years—Ages One-Fifteen 1

Chapter Two. The High School Years—

Bootlegging 13

Chapter Three. College Years Interspersed

with Work 25

Chapter Four. Move to New Orleans 47

Chapter Five. Career, Move to California—1966 51

Chapter Six. My Fourth Holy Spirit Prompting

at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) 67

Chapter Seven. Motorola 77

Chapter Eight. Atari 91

Chapter Nine. Intel 93

Chapter Ten. Back to Mississippi 99

Chapter Eleven. My Work and Life Since I’ve Been

Back in Pearl, MS 109

Chapter Twelve. International Travels and

Daily Jogging 125

Chapter Thirteen. My Social Activities Involving

Sports During These Years 165

Chapter Fourteen. All Things Jewish 171

Chapter Fifteen. My Sixth Prompting and Correction

From the Holy Spirit After I Returned to Pearl,

Mississippi 179

Chapter Sixteen. The Loss of My Mother—

Pearl M. Clinton 187

Chapter Seventeen. What I Learned From All This 209

Update: Living with the Threat of Coronavirus

(COVID-19) Pandemic 215

Appendix One. What Some People Ask Me About

My Mother, Pearl Clinton 225

Appendix Two. Mother (Pearl Clinton’s) Timeline 229

Appendix Three. Life as the Son of a Bootlegger 235

Appendix Four. John Nikolic’s Modeling

Composite 243

Appendix Five. Second Letter to President Trump

and Newspaper Editors 251

Appendix Six. Photos of John Nikolic at Various

Ages 259

Appendix Seven. John’s Automobiles 261

Appendix Eight. Pictures of Home and Deck 265

References 267

Dedication

Throughout this book and my life, there was one person who supported me all the way—my mother, Pearl M Clinton.

Mother was born on August 10, 1924, to the parents of Tera and Willie May, who lived principally in Baxterville, Mississippi.

Mother married John Charles Nikolic at a young age, near eighteen, and later divorced him and married Dewey Richard Clinton around 1957. She was always present in my life and eventually lived with me after Dewey died from a heart attack while driving in Pearl, Mississippi in 1997. Mother perpetually took care of and prepared meals for my brother and me.

Charles (born in 1943) and I had that typical sibling rivalry early on, but we have a seasoned relationship now, and my sister, Joyce (born in 1955) and I have always been very close and remain that way today.

Mother loved each of us equally. She also was such a great cook. She could cook the greatest variety of meals that I have ever seen anyone prepare, and she did it without ever having a recipe. I always thought that was the most amazing thing I had ever seen of someone who was a cook—no recipes!

All along the way, she guided me, instilled spiritual and daily living virtues in me, and without fail, was always there when things went wrong or even when they went badly. Though she passed on November 24, 2016, at 1:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day morning, she remains in my heart and mind daily. I dedicate this book to her and all the ways she helped me know how to abide in Christ. See appendix one for a memorial I wrote that was read during her funeral services. Also, see appendix two for Mother’s lifetime timeline.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people for their encouragement for writing this book and some for financial support:

THE HOLY SPIRIT

John and Katherine Brock

Glenn and Glenna Bryant

Henry Carter

Pearl May Clinton (Mother)

Norma Temple and Monday Bridge Club

Donald and Glenna Dennis

Pauline DiTomaso

Pat Douglas

Joyce and Steve Evans

Dexter Freeman

Maris Fletcher

Rev. Keith and Jana Grubbs

Rev. Steve Jackson

Rev. Steve Jackson

Erma Gay Jones

Paul and Debra Lee

Gerald and Theresa Lester

Stewart McClure

Mike and Barbara Merry

Charles and Nora Nikolic

Daniel and Libby Painter

Dot Pecoul

Irl Dean Rhodes

Jon and Jo Rudeen

Scott Schumacher

Robert Bob Seale

Allen and Omega Stephens

A special note to David Buck, who served as photographer for the many pictures taken, edited, and contained herein. Likewise, a very special note of thanks to Norma Temple for her countless hours spent while reviewing and editing this book and for the many coffees together and her prayers. All this support helped get me through writing this book.

Foreword

Grace and peace to you.

This book is a time capsule for future generations who read it to help them make decisions in their daily lives that might also help future generations make theirs. It’s my attempt to try and address the many situations I have faced, both good and bad. The book is written so you will have a very specific insight into my life and its definition of my relationship with, vision regarding, and calling in my life by Jesus Christ.

I have detailed herein key events and moments of my life, and I have reviewed the circumstances that led to all such events and show how God was at work in me for each one. There have been some concerns: no wife, no children—these may have diminished me, and not increased me as referenced in Jeremiah 29:6. This looking back is intended to, hopefully, follow what God declared to the Israelites when He advised them to look back at their past and know where they had been and from where they had come. I have tried to do the same in this writing. I specifically have tried to present some of the battles I won and lost and how I have fought thru to gain the victory where I had to overcome ongoing iniquities in my struggles to win. To overcome became my battle-cry.

You can think of my experiences as something like a multi-part miniseries, with each experience serving as a separate installment of my life. However, together they form a comprehensive and cohesive story. Phillips Brooks once said, Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer, except that which lies beyond the will of God (n.d.). I applied this test to most of the instances that arose.

In this manuscript, you will get to know me and explore the world in which I have lived. You will gain insight about me and come to understand my reasons for writing this book, which was and is essential to witness for my Lord Jesus Christ and hopefully to proselytize others into the faith.

I have pretty much lived my life by the personal motto of Don’t let an offense stop me from accepting an opportunity.

This book, I feel, reflects the personality of me. What’s inside this book is inside me. What makes this book relevant has to do with who I am, the time in which I have lived, my experiences, which shaped my life. Once you know my story, the greater the appreciation you can make for this book itself.

This book has a flow of events, but how each section fits into the timeline is not always apparent. I have used the technique of relaying my story while interweaving the content of my occasional nightly visions or promptings by the Holy Spirit that led to my various actions to pursue certain developments. This has resulted in presenting my story, on several separate occasions, in two layers:

1. I recount my experiences of having the various promptings by revealing specific promptings I received from the Holy Spirit, such as:

a. A prompting regarding an illegal radar—A speed trap.

b. A prompting for a band at Millsaps—Nikolic and the wooden nickels.

c. A prompting regarding Mr. Packard at Hewlett-Packard.

d. A prompting regarding a supplier problem at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).

e. A prompting regarding Mr. Galvin at Motorola.

f. A prompting while inter-acting with the Holy Spirit—Correction after return to Pearl, MS.

g. A prompting now in the works regarding President Donald Trump—A 20/20 vision for President Trump in 2020.

2. In each of these areas, I applied what I once heard Joyce Meyer say; there are three things to do if you want to know it was God pointing you in that direction:

a. First, if it’s from God, you will have a passion for it.

b. Second, it is always on your mind because God is giving you faith to do it.

c. Third, you will sacrifice anything and will do practically anything, which may make no sense to others or even to yourself.

To follow these enablers for understanding if it’s from God, you should then step out in faith and see what happens. God doesn’t reveal the whole plan at one time. It usually comes little by little. If it’s not from Him, you will know soon enough.

I mention all these things because, during my life, I have on six-seven occasions, while in bed, experienced the prompting of the Holy Spirit. This always came when I was seeking an answer to a prayer coupled with a problem or request I had submitted to God that evening. Each time, I received such a prompting, sometimes these were similar to a vision, I followed through, and a miraculous outcome occurred. I have documented a few of these mysterious instances in this book. This is because they each had such a major impact on my life, and each such instance made me ask incredulously, How could such great occurrences happen to a little boy from Pearl, Mississippi? I will reference these as promptings from the Holy Spirit herein.

At the end of this book and this stage in my life, I definitely prefer and relate to Hebrews 13:5 (KJV) …be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. My wish for my legacy is that people will say: He made his request via prayer to God through the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus. He listened for the response, he obeyed, and he left the consequences to God.

My life has consisted of many significant opportunities, of which I always tried to avail myself. I once read where Leonard Ravenhill said: The opportunity of a lifetime must be taken in the lifetime of the opportunity (n.d.). This became my motto.

My thanks to Brad Baxter at Park Place Baptist Church (PPBC) for his remarks in the PPBC forty days of Church-wide Prayer and Fasting for Church H.E.A.L.T.H. wherein he writes I am Looking back at the tangible display of God’s faithfulness in my life in my past in order that I may look ahead in faith.

I learned the same lessons cited in Jeremiah 31:19 (BSB) …after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth. After my youth, I came to read Colossians 3:1–14. (See what I experienced in the Sixth Prompting, chapter 14.)

I definitely experienced, after I was saved, continued bondage to certain sinful ways, yet Jesus protected me while I was still in this bondage. Thank God, my past is now behind me as I look back.

I specifically follow the edict of Psalm 9:1 as I wrote this book, which says, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvelous works (KJV). I have endeavored to do this. These deeds and experiences may serve as a meta-narrative, i.e., it is a comprehensive story that explains the life story of someone like me. It is the story of the ultimate redemption, where I was saved from sin and delivered from evil. This is the context of the story. Please also note that due to their number and their associated length, I have had to leave a number of situations, circumstances, events, friends, and family members out of this book. Perhaps, I will write a second book.

In this book, you are invited to view a newly commissioned portrait of myself. As you read, you will be able to see the drape covering the canvas fall to the floor, and suddenly an interesting character/figure, filled with life, reveals his