PART 5 MY SEARCH FOR THE ONE TRUE GOD

How can I get to know God in a personal way?

Chapter 10

Thy Kingdom Come

Six faiths remain, Judaism, Christianity (Born Again), Seventh Day Adventist, Church of Latter Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witness, and Islam; and one of them exhibits much evidence of God’s personal nature throughout their history.

To review, God revealed himself to Abram, who believed in Him; and from Abram’s descendants came the twelve tribes that would eventually be known as the Israelites who settled in the Promised Land. This people developed unrighteous patterns of disobedience to God’s instructions, and not only comingled with the inhabitants of the land but also began following their gods. As a result of such unfaithfulness, they were subjected to God’s wrath; severely disciplined by Him; and were eventually taken into captivity, becoming the subjects of other empires.

Throughout history, they’ve been looking for the Messiah, a king born of human parents and possessing normal physical attributes like other people, who would be sent into the world by their God to overthrow the oppressors and reign over the entire world. A potential Messiah arrived on the scene at one time, but he didn’t meet their specifications and was rejected. In 70 AD, Jerusalem was overthrown by the Roman Empire, its temple and court system were completely destroyed and its citizens scattered throughout the world.

In recent years, this people has migrated back to their homeland, becoming a nation once again, but are still waiting for the coming of their Messiah who will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, reinstitute the Mosaic Law; restore their court system; and establish a global government.

Another way of looking at it would be to say that this group is expecting the arrival of a Messiah who will become involved in their day to day lives. But, when he will arrive is anyone’s guess.

In my personal quest, I would not consider this religion because I don’t want to wait until an undisclosed future time to be able to have a one-to-one relationship with their Messiah. The religion that will now be eliminated from our consideration is Judaism.

 

Chapter 11

That I May Know Him

Five faiths are left�"Christianity (Born Again), Seventh Day Adventist, Church of Latter Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witness, and Islam.

In one of my earlier examples, I shared about how God’s presence enveloped me with a sense of peace and joy when I believed in Him. With that in mind, are there any remaining religions that provide a format or systemized way to follow God without advocating that He will come into their life literally, allowing them to experience his presence? Two of them fit this description.

The first faith advocates belief in one God who exists in three persons, and advocates belief in their founder’s writings and adherence to a set of rules for living a good life. After death, they believe the soul remains at rest until a final judgment at which all will receive an immortal body and a determination of who is allowed to enter heaven will occur. There is no mention of God coming into one’s life and impacting him/her with His presence now.

The next faith also believes in one God. Followers adhere to teachings their prophet verbally received over a 23-year time span from God via angelic messages. The requirements for believing, worshiping, charitable giving, fasting, and a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage are detailed in the preceding text. After physical death, the soul goes to a world known as “Barzakh’, the interval between death and resurrection. On the Day of Judgment, the soul will be given an immortal body and will be sent to Paradise if the tenets of this faith have been followed throughout life on earth. There is no mention of God coming into their life personally and impacting them with His presence on earth.

As a result, the two faiths that are no longer under considered in our quest for the one true personal God are Seventh Day Adventist and Islam.

Would you still like to be impacted with God’s presence in this lifetime? Please keep reading because you will soon encounter such an opportunity.

 

Chapter 12

Not By Human Merit

And then there were three: Christianity (Born Again), Church of Latter Day Saints, and Jehovah’s Witness. Could it be that all of these follow the one true personal God?

The last question to consider is, are there any remaining faiths that believe God will come into one’s life in a personal way if a format or system is followed? Two of them do, believing such a relationship is based on merit, or performance of the stated requirements.

Looking back on my personal examples, it was by belief in Him alone that I experienced his divine presence; unlike these two that claim human effort is necessary. By their logic, I would be back to square one�"the condition that prompted my original quest.

The followers of these faiths might believe that if I’d tried their format, God would have come into my life in a personal way. And yet, He did come into my life simply by believing�"I didn’t have to follow a prescribed set of rules.

Most of the religions we have looked at claim that God comes into their life in some way. Some believe it is a result of communion and others say it is through baptism, but if a member is asked if he/she has ever experienced God’s divine peace, love, and joy they will likely respond, “What, are you crazy?” Furthermore, if asked if they knew for sure that they would go to heaven after death, they would probably respond that no one could know this for sure.

To review, the first faith believes in multiple worlds with multiple Gods, and they adhere to the teachings of their founder and follow strict rules in order to gain admission to one of three levels of heaven�"very much merit/performance based.

 This other faith believes in only one God, but followers are also obligated to agree with the founder’s teachings. Additionally, they must fulfill three areas of specific requirements having to do with knowledge, righteous conduct, and loyalty to God’s earthly government (their church’s governing body) in order to eventually achieve a place either in heaven or on Paradise Earth.

For both of these groups, merit is still the means for gaining eternal life. The only difference is that one group receives God’s life force at water baptism, while the other group doesn’t receive him but must hope that they have done enough to grant favor from him in order to enter Paradise Earth. So, we now eliminate from our quest, the Church of Latter Day Saints and Jehovah’s Witness.

 

Chapter 13

Wait And Consider

As you’ve been reading, hopefully you’ve begun to understand what it was like for me when I was searching for God. I was involved with many of these faiths, whether as part of my quest or on staff for a particular faith.

I believe that God is all knowing, and when we cry out to him for help in our quest to find him, he will unveil himself in his time and in his way.

For those searching for this one true personal God who are not a member of any faith, you can skip this chapter and go directly to chapter 14. For members of faiths that are no longer a part of this quest, please consider what I have to say and the story that is to follow.

I will not claim that you won’t or can’t know God in a personal way as a member of your faith because I believe that God never stops searching us out for personal intimacy. However, I do believe that religion, which I define as a faith that encourages us to try to know God by means of our own power rather than through his power is ineffective. If God has come into your life, impacting you with his presence and giving you assurance of eternal life, then you have met the one true personal God. But if God has not come into your life, consider the next story.

A long quest for booty from the Spanish colonial era appears to be culminating in Chile with the announcement by a group of adventurers that they have found an estimated 600 barrels of gold coins and Incan jewels on the remote Pacific island.

"The biggest treasure in history has been located," said Fernando Uribe-Etxeverria, a lawyer for Wagner, the Chilean company leading the search. Mr Uribe-Etxeverria estimated the value of the buried treasure at US$10bn (£5.6bn).

…Chilean newspapers were filled with reports that the stash includes 10 papal rings and original gold statues from the Incan empire.

The hoard is supposedly buried 15 metres (50ft) deep on Robinson Crusoe Island, also known as the Juan Fernández Island, home to Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, the adventurer immortalized by Daniel Defoe as Robinson Crusoe. Selkirk was dumped on the island and lived alone for four years before being rescued. His exploits brought worldwide attention to the islands.

For centuries treasure hunters have scoured the island in search of booty which was reportedly buried there in 1715 by Spanish sailor Juan Esteban Ubilla y Echeverria. Using everything from old Spanish ship manifests to teams of islanders with shovels and picks, foreigners have made so many claims of discovering the lost treasure that islanders are usually skeptical of the proclamations.

This most recent announcement, however, deserves greater credence because of the equipment used by the treasure hunters: a mini robot that can scan 50 metres deep into the earth. The robot, dubbed "Arturito", was invented by Chileans and over the past year has grabbed headlines by breaking some of the country's biggest criminal mysteries.

The point is that the bounty has been sought after for centuries to no avail. Certainly, the treasure hunters were sincere in their attempts, but the treasure still eluded them; and not until a special robot was used was the treasure finally discovered. The attempt of many people to find the one true personal God is much like these treasure hunters, hoping that conventional means will bring success. But the correct tool that has been missing has now been identified�"just believe in Him.

Some might ask, “How do we know if the one true personal God that has been described is the truth?”

The only way you can know for sure is to meet him for yourself. But, just like the treasure hunters who know where the treasure is but still have to get it in order to enjoy its riches, once you know Who the Treasure is you have to make a decision to receive Him for yourself. Otherwise, it will do you no good.

 

Chapter 14

The End of the Journey to Find the One True Personal God

The faith that believes in the one true personal God is Christianity (Born Again). For those not affiliated with any of the aforementioned faiths, you are probably asking, “How can I get to know this one true personal God?” And the rest may be saying, “I know what this is all about, it’s about this guy named Jesus.”

Let’s quickly review:

• To the Catholics and Episcopalians, Jesus is God, a member of the Trinity along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and water baptism causes them to become a child of God.   
• To the Unitarians, there no distinct belief in God and all faiths get you to heaven.
• To the Buddhist, belief is not in in God but in oneself.
• To Christian Science, there are issues with earthly realities.
• To the Jews, there is only one God (Jehovah). Jesus is neither God nor their Messiah.
• To the Seventh Day Adventists, Jesus is God, a member of the Trinity along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit but getting to heaven is through adherence to a system of do’s and don’ts.
• To Islam, there is only one God (Allah) and no such thing as the Trinity.
• To the Church of Latter Day Saints, there is only one God, Elohim, and Jesus is his literal son.
• To the Jehovah Witnesses, there is only one God (Jehovah), while Jesus is considered to be an angel. 

We are left with Christianity (Born Again) in our quest. This faith believes:

• Jesus is God, a member of the Trinity along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

�"    The word Trinity is never specifically used in the Bible, however its principles are found by comparing and correlating all related biblical passages.

�"    This word means that one God exists as three persons, each of which are coeternal (without beginning or end) and coequal, having the same essence (nature) that is composed of the same attributes (qualities).

�"    In the Old Testament, sometimes the Hebrew word “Elohim” was used to refer to the existence of more than one person in the Godhead.

�"    At other times, the Hebrew word “JHWH” was used to refer to one member of the Godhead.

�"    Each person of the Trinity, though evidenced in the Old Testament, was not clearly recognizable. 

�"    In the New Testament, the idea of a Trinity is more clearly recognizable by the use of the words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with each person having distinct roles.

One more story for you to consider…

Though World War I had been raging for only four months, it was already proving to be one of the bloodiest wars in history. Soldiers on both sides were trapped in trenches, exposed to the cold and wet winter weather, covered in mud, and extremely careful of sniper shots. Machine guns had proven their worth in war, bringing new meaning to the word "slaughter."

In a place where bloodshed was nearly commonplace…, something surprising occurred on the front for Christmas in 1914. The men who lay shivering in the trenches embraced the Christmas spirit. In one of the truest acts of goodwill toward men, soldiers from both sides in the southern portion of the Ypres Salient set aside their weapons and hatred, if only temporarily, and met in No Man's Land.

This story exemplifies the idea that both sides wanted the same thing, peace and an end to the hostilities. Even though they were bitter enemies, when peace became the focus they were able to comingle with one another. In a similar sense inner peace is being offered here. But it’s not easy to drop our weapons of theology for just one second and meet in No Man’s Land, the place of peace, which goes against everything that we have been taught. However, if what is being offered is genuine, then we have truly found what we have been looking for all along. As the soldiers had to walk to the place of peace in order to enjoy it amidst apprehension and fear so you have to walk to this place for yourself. Are you willing?  

Where is this place you may ask? In this case, it’s not a place but a person.

 

It’s Time to Claim Your Treasure

If you want to meet God in a personal way then pray these words:

I acknowledge that I am a sinner, and I no longer want to engage in the mental, verbal and overt sins of my past. I need a new nature and I choose to believe in you, Jesus Christ. I confess that you are the Savior who pre-existed time as God; came to earth to take on human form and be born of a virgin; lived a sinless life in communion with the Father; died on the cross in payment for the sins of the world; rose again after 3 days, never to die again; and ascended to heaven where you are seated at the right hand of the Father. I ask that you will now redeem my life and send the promised Holy Spirit to dwell within me, bringing His fruit of love, joy and peace as evidence of His presence. Thank you Lord.

Your journey to find the one true personal God is over. By believing in one of the members of the Trinity, you have received the Holy Spirit into your life and you now have access to God the Father. This means that this personal-ness I have had with God throughout my life is now available to you, and your eternal destiny is guaranteed, so enjoy this one new God as long as you may live on this earth. Amen.

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