How can I find God?

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Dear Pastor Andy, 

How Can I find God?

How do I really know He is there?

How do I know the bible could just be another book?

He promises me eternal life in John, but how do I know that it's real and that I won't just die and everything will go black and be another non-existent dead organism? I don't want to die and just be dead.

I have faith and love, but I have doubts right when my faith gets strong.

How do I know that I'm not just insane and only think I'm dealing with demonic activity?

Whenever I read the bible I pass out right away because of all the issues.

Why don't people believe in the devil and demons and their actions when Jesus performed exorcisms? And why don't people believe His every word when the book pretty much states to follow him?

In some books does it really change from Jehovah to Lord because of an edit from the original transcript?

There's a Holy Trinity, is there an unholy trinity?

My Reply:

When I accepted Jesus, I didn't really know what I was getting into. I just knew it had to be better than things were going. Also, I was searching for God, and John 14:6 tells us that the only way to God is through Jesus.  But when I accepted Him, I simply said, "I'm giving you a chance." Then repented for everything I'd done up until then and asked Jesus into my heart, me into His, etc. He'll speak to you in the Scriptures, and help you understand right from wrong, Him from not Him, Truth from not truth, etc. 

Let me see if I can help you with some of your other questions:

1. But you're right that there's an evil (demonic) that's out to create doubts in you. 
   Try this: when you're about to read scripture, pray first, asking Jesus to help you understand and believe what you're about to read. Then after reading it, pray again for understanding of what you just read.
   
   
2. Authenticity of the Bible: check out this link (don't get thrown off by the link's name). You can also check out anything by Lee Strobel or Josh McDowell to help you understand from where we got the Bible).
   
   
3. Also, find a Christian church and join a life group (small group) and/or Bible Study group to help you in your own studies.
   
   
4. People often don't believe in the demon thing because Satan has put other comforts into their lives that caused them to change their beliefs of such. This is a dangerous tactic of Satan's though. Can you imagine if our military in Iraq decided one day to not believe there's a war going on, and walk around unarmed? With nobody shooting the enemy, they'd get picked off for sure. Unfortunately, many Christians have fallen into this trap, and are no longer fighting and being picked off, spiritually.
   
   
5. Actually, the Bible totally says to follow Jesus. But though Bible's are so easy to come by, Bible illiteracy is very common among Christians. They believe the worldview about the Bible, and when they read something against what they've come to believe, they choose not to believe it. Another is reason is because for many, Truth has become Relative. For example, John 14:6 ("I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Nobody comes to the Father but through me.") Many Christians have friends, relatives, even spouses who don't know the Lord, or who've died without knowing Him. So they've chosen to believe that everybody will go to heaven because they don't want to believe their loved one won't make the cut. But Jesus said it right there in scripture.
   
   
6. Jehovah/Yaweh: In the Old Testament (OT), it's spelled with 4 letters, all consonants. Some pronounce it Jehovah. Personally, I understand more so how they got Yaweh from it.
   
   
7. Finally, there is no unholy trinity. Satan is by himself in that respect. His only helpers are the 1/3 of angels who sided with him and whom are now demons. And remember too, (John 1): darkness (evil) can't overcome the light (holy).

---Pastor Andy

Fate vs. Destiny

Question:

Do you believe everything is meant to happen?

Whether you're religious or not, do you believe that certain things in life will happen no matter what they are, and just your 'destiny' like in the final destination movie. Or what do you believe?

My Reply:

I believe everything happens for a reason, but not that everything's meant to happen.
The Lord has a plan, and what He plans will happen. Sometimes He lets us know what His will & plan are, sometimes not. I also think that our decision of an action depends on the outcome of the event. For example:

If you have a Bible, look up the book of Judges (start with chapter 20, verse 19): when the Israelites went to battle against their own brothers (the Benjaminites), they went up twice, and got knocked back both times. It wasn't until they all prayed, fasted, and put their focus' on the Lord that He gave them victory. 
So defeat was imminent until they finally all humbly went before the Lord. Had they done so in the beginning, it's possible that they wouldn't have experienced the losses.

---Pastor Andy

Calligraphy, courtesy of:

Fate

Destiny

Dream Question: About God Changing Things?

Question:
I don't remember everything, but it was about dawn when I woke up in my grandmother's house and saw some people walking around looking for stuff. I jumped up quickly and walked to them, seeing my mother, dad, and brother standing there.  When I asked what was wrong. My dad replied, "We can't find anyone." I asked, "What do you mean?" He replied to me that everyone was gone and that he thinks we're the only ones. I asked, "What do you mean, 'everyone's gone'?" My brother replied to my dad that he could neither find grandma nor grandpa, and that there was barely anyone around the area.  Suddenly, I didn't recognize my dad, and said, "Who are you?" He replied, "What are you talking about? I am your dad."  He tried to convince me of this, but I continued to deny it.  I looked at him and he just looked at me with a weird grin on his face.  Out of fear, I raced to the front door.  When I got outside, the sun was shining real bright, with this weird, orange, golden light, yet I was able to look up without being blinded.  When I again asked about what's going on, my dad replied that God changed everything..."He lowered the sun's frequency." Looking at my dad in disbelief, I asked again, "Where is everyone?" My dad replied that we're the only ones left.
My dream ended with me looking around, seeing an orange bright sun, then looking at my dad who was standing very still with a weird grin on his face.  What could this dream mean?

My Reply:

Often times, dreams may be inspired by something you watched on TV or read about recently. Although, they could also be messages from the Lord, spiritual attacks by demons, or what I call "fillers", which are dreams that mean nothing, but mostly just entertain you as you sleep.

Assuming it's a message from the Lord, some thoughts come to mind:

1. You were the only ones left: If this dream is from the Lord, then the only time you'd be alone in the house without your grandparents is if they're Godly, the rest of you aren't, and the dream portrays the rapture, when Christians meet Jesus in the clouds, and those who choose not to have anything to do with Jesus are left.  Although, if you're a friend of the Lord's also, then you may just be there as a spectator, and became first person when you sought clarification.
2. It was about dawn (sun going down): Jesus is the light, but there wasn't much light (in sync with #s 1 and 4).  
3. You couldn't recognize your dad, though he insisted he was:  This may portray somebody who is, does, or will try to portray himself as your father (authority figure, leader, somebody you trust, guide, etc.), and turns out to be the opposite (hence the weird grin). Your running outside from fear would represent your realization of this.
4. Lowering of the sun's frequency: Evil is revealed as darkness. If there was more darkness than light, then this could portray a great evil presence (or the coming of one).

But then, it also sounds as like a possible spiritual attack.  If this is the case, then:

1. Finding yourself alone creates anxiety, as it did in your dream.
2. If the rapture comes to mind, them the demon could be trying to get you to believe that you're not saved, thus questioning your salvation, faith, etc.
3. The person trying to convince you of being your dad could be the demon attacking you in your dream. They try to cause you to believe that what they're saying is true, yet there's a part of you that knows something's not right (they do this to me a lot, too). This would also explain the guy's "weird grin".
4. The orange sky and the guy saying that God changed something could also be connected with #2.

Either way, I'd suggest praying about it, asking the Lord for understanding.

---Pastor Andy