My Faith
Candidly, I never really "got it" and as a result there was a time I was very insecure about stating my faith. For clarification, I always have believed in God, I was just uncomfortable in expressing my beliefs publicly. Now, in retrospect, I would have to say that was all pretty silly.
| “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. ” - Matthew 10:33 |
Today, I am perfectly comfortable in boldly stating I am a God-fearing Christian man. I was born and raised in an Irish-Catholic family. My parents have incredible faith. My father was educated in Ireland and had a very deep Biblical understanding as he studied the Bible in three languages. They both clearly have a personal relationship with God/Jesus.
For some reason I just did not connect or "get it" in the same way as my parents did. Going to church on Sunday was boring, it just never really touched me. It seemed so impersonal and I felt as if I was only going through the motions.
Then in 2002, everything started to change:
| "God's ways are higher than our ways, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts.." - Isaiah 55:8-9 |
My ex-mother-in-law stated that I should go back to church as it would help my failing marriage. I was completely at peace with that statement and now today realize that was a direct word from God.
I started going to Fellowship Church in Grapevine Texas. I was amazed and remember thinking how cool and different it was as compared to a Catholic church. There. I attended church more in 5 years than I did in the previous 35 years as a Catholic. From the teachings via Pastor Ed Young, I found myself reading through the Bible cover to cover. This experience made me realize just how Biblically educated and knowledgeable my father was.
In 2007, my nephew came down Texas to visit for the summer. He too was born and raised Catholic. He was not happy about going to church during summer vacation, however, he had the same reaction I did over Fellowship Church. One day while driving down Southlake Blvd, he (Dennis) was acting up. I told him that if he did not stop we would go to church twice that weekend. He called my bluff and sure enough in addition to Fellowship Church we started attending Gateway Church in Southlake Texas.
It was at Gateway that I engaged even more. I started going to various Bible studies and men`s groups, In January 2008. I was having a discussion about hearing God while attending a home Bible study. A lady named Debbie Copeland suggested that I pray for God "to hit me in the head with a brick". Seemed pretty easy, so I did.
That prayer was answered on May 31st 2008!
The Holy Ghost Evangelist:
I met a man from Houston named Genaro Lopez while I was attending a Full Gospel Businessman’s Fellowship International meeting in Dallas. He too was born and raised Catholic. He too has an analytical engineering mind and education. He came up to this meeting for what was supposed to be a “training“ program. I specifically remember him saying that he was not really sure why he was there but for some reason he was supposed to be there in Dallas.
After some very interesting conversation he prayed and placed hands on me to minister the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. The most intense wave physically went through my entire body. All stress, aggravation, tension was gone in an instant. I experienced complete/perfect peace and joy. All I can say is it was the most incredible experience I ever had in my life. Everything changed in that instant. I now was able see a complete different view of the world. It led me to seek and pursue God in a way that most people don't even know is possible. God surely hit me in the head with a brick on that day as I asked Him to do.
Fellowship of the Sword:
A few months later, I attended Quest with Fellowship of the Sword. I experienced a weekend of God touching the innermost places of my heart. It seems I have been faced with far more challenging situations and yet I seem to be far more calm and at peace to such trials.
| "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials” - James 1:2 |
OK, so here is what I believe:
| “God created the Heavens and the Earth. -— Genesis 1:1 |
| "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." - John 3:16 |
Even considering how technical and engineering analytically orientated I am, I still do not accept the "Big Bang Theory" or any of the traditional evolution views and explanations. That is, I do not believe all that we have, the Heavens, Earth, and the Universe all happened by some random quantum physics event of two point charges colliding. It just does not make sense as at some point you must have faith in an uncreated being => GOD.
I can state this so boldly because in the english translations of the Bible we lose so much of what God says in His word. To truly understand you must go back and study God‘s word in the original Hebrew and Greek text. I have taken a bit of time to do this with a few Scriptures to reconcile Scripture and science for myself. With the help of the Accordance Bible software and Dakeʼs commentary I have been able to see how many Scriptures lose their meaning in the translation
Scripture and science are very much in agreement. Simply go back to the beginning and look at Genesis 1:1 -2 in both the English and Hebrew texts.
| Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. |
| Gen. 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. |
In the literal english, one would read this and assume that the two verses are directly connected. You cannot assume that "the beginning" was only 6,000 years ago. The amount of time between these verses is not clear and could potentially be millions or even billions for years.
If you are struggling with (or the public expression of) your faith like I was, try pursuing God more with your heart and not so much your mind. People will tell you "to stop using your mind". Which on the surface that sounds easy however that is rather hard to do if you have an analytical engineering mind like me. Consider this, instead of turning off your mind try putting your mind in a pass-thru mode, that is, allow all that comes in to flow through your mind (without analysis) and directly to your heart. Once your heart gets hold of it, let it decide if it requires any further analysis. This simple change in perspective will start to break down those obstacles you may have been wrestling with. This worked for me, and the more I did this the easier it became.
Today, I am pursuing intense discipleship whenever and where ever I can find it. The first one I completed was with Steve Foss Ministries which can be found at www.SteveFoss.com. This will really shake up your traditional view and bring clarity to such concepts of anointing and authority. Two key concepts to understand super-natural signs, miracles wonders and healings.
I am currently studying with the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. I am seeing incredible growth, revelation, and discernment after only 2 of the 14 modules. I personally have experienced healing from such discipleship. I look forward to working through more modules and writing more of this faith page.
Thank you and God Bless.
(to be continued....)
