The Art Of Religion Book

Religion Vs. Relationship
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This is a true story about a 79 year old man’s personal walk with God, written over 8 years, from the aspect of an investigative reporter. A man who spent nearly 50 years of his life both inside and outside of the “corporate church,” freely ministering to hurting people. This book dives into the Biblical history of the personal relationship that God desires to have with mankind. A relationship which many people, unfortunately, keep turning into what Jesus (Yeshua) called the “traditions of man.”

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  • My Guadian Angel and I

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    “My Guardian Angel and I”

    This is another short version of a story taken from my Art of Religion book. About two years after the Angelic boat adventure story had taken place, another interesting event happened.

    I had always believed in Angels, especially Guardian Angels. I had spoken to my Guardian Angel many times by faith, but he had never answered me back. Cutting this story very short, let me say that I had an opportunity one day during Salmon Season, to spend my lunch hour fishing along a quiet, private and pristine beach.

    Unfortunately, the tide was wrong, the high tide had already peaked and the tide was now getting very low. What is called the “Bite,” normally happens on the incoming tide, when the bait-fish get swept close to shore, with the hungry salmon usually in hot pursuit.

    I could see a half dozen or so other fishermen from my vantage point, but nobody seemed to be getting any bites at all, including me. After over-fishing my allotted lunch break, I decided to make one more cast with my “buzz-bomb” lure. During the previous hour, I had been thinking about a story that my friend Pat Holloran had told me about when he had communicated with his Guardian Angel.

    As I prepared to make my last cast, I spoke out some questionable and not exactly polite words to my Angel. I told him, as my lure went flying into the surf, “If you are real, and you do have physical authority in situations like this, make a fish bite on my lure!”

    Almost instantly, I saw and heard two splashes when my lure hit the water. The first splash was my lure hitting the surf and the second splash was a 4 pound Salmon, hitting my lure. That is when a fisherman would usually cry out, “Fish on!” However, as my rod bent over and the fish started to run for deep water, I found myself speechless.

    My only intention at that point in time, was to do everything possible to safely reel that fish in. About the time that I was finally gaining control of landing the fish, my Angel communicated these words into my heart. “Never question my authority again!”

    To this day, I have never questioned his existence or his spiritual or physical authority. His words were not meanly spoken, but they definitely commanded and received my full attention and respect.

    Without speaking a word, I placed the fish inside a plastic garbage bag and headed for home. I quickly cleaned and refrigerated the fish, then headed out for my next afternoon appointment. I continued to process the details of that incident for the rest of that day. Needless to say, it became an exciting topic of conversation, while the salmon was cooking on the BBQ later that evening.

  • “How To Make Your Prayers More Powerful and Effective

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    “How To Make Your Prayers More Powerful and Effective”

    By Dennis Mitchell……6/7/26

    The word “Prayer” can be simply defined as “Communication between man and God.” The Bible is filled with Scriptures that encourage us to humble ourselves and pray. Accomplishing that is unfortunately a very difficult process for some people, even Christians.  

    I have heard it said that Fear of the Unknown, is one of the most common types of fear that everyone has to deal with. Fear of Failure usually tag-teams with the Fear of the Unknown. It takes courage to overcome fear. Courage can be defined as what it takes to move forward to accomplish your mission, despite your fear.

    Learning to trust that God will keep all of His Biblical promises, like hearing and answering our prayers that align with His Word, requires courage. It takes time, especially when first trying to establish a personal relationship with God, to learn how to trust Him. God’s ultimate goal is for his children to learn how to trust Him with their very human existence.   

    The courage that we need to begin a new experience (mission) will soon turn into experience. The positive experience gained through successful missions, eventually turns into confidence, or trust, which are different terms that describe “Faith.” Biblical Faith is the result of a process that starts with the courage to believe and ends with the confidence to trust.

    Faith is the key that opens a door into a whole new supernatural realm, that supersedes the parameters of this earthly realm that we now live in. Obtaining and maintaining a successful prayer life depends on us learning how to breach the boundaries of this earthly realm and reach out into the supernatural realm where God resides.  

    There is an old charismatic teaching about “Three Heavens,” that may have been based on Paul’s personal experience that he shared in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul refers to a spiritual adventure that God took him on, where he entered into a place that he called the “Third Heaven.”

    Paul was not sure if that experience was the result of a dream, vision, or out of body experience. What Paul did know, was that he was supernaturally translated into a new spiritual dimension that brought him into the Holy presence of God. In that supernatural realm, God personally revealed deep heavenly revelations to Paul. Some of them were such, that he was instructed to never speak about them. What an incredible way that was to start a new ministry endeavor!

    The gist of the old teaching that I mentioned, speaks about three separate heavenly realms. The “First Heaven” is the earthly realm, where we humans now live and the “Third Heaven” is the sacred “Heavenly Realm” where God lives.

    The “Second Heaven,” is described as a demonic realm, where a thick layer of evil darkness encapsulates the earth’s outer atmosphere. A realm filled with demons who try to hinder, distort, and stop, if possible, the prayers of man from being received and answered by God.  

    The Biblical example of that happening is in the Book of Daniel. In chapter 9, we read about Daniel praying about a very serious request, when he needed God’s Word to intervene. God heard Daniel’s prayer and immediately dispatched His Archangel Gabriel, to personally take His reply directly to Daniel.

    In Daniel 10, we read that although Gabriel immediately departed, he was abruptly detained from accomplishing his mission. Gabriel met and ended up becoming engaged in a battle with a very powerful demonic entity called the “Prince of Persia.” Many people teach that entity was Satan himself.

    It was an intense battle that lasted for 21 days, before Gabriel could finally prevail and break away to deliver God’s message to Daniel. During that 21-day delay, Daniel had the maturity to continually fast and pray until his prayer request was finally answered.

    The in-between spiritual realm where that angelic battle between Gabriel and the demonic Prince of Persia transpired, is believed to be the “Second Heaven.” Remembering that Biblical account should trigger us to be very diligent with our prayers. It seems interesting that the old Empire of Persia is now called Iran.

    The resurrection of Jesus, along with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, has greatly enhanced our ability to pray and have our prayers answered. The first three Biblical requirements for True Believing, modern day Christians, are “Salvation, Water Baptism, and Baptism in the Holy Spirit.” If you have not received those yet, then speak to your Pastor about it. If he does not understand or believe in their importance, then you might seek the advice of someone who does.  

    Maximizing our spiritual assets is central to maintaining a consistently effective prayer life. Crucially important intercessory prayer requests, like those we read about in the Book of Daniel, often need to be accompanied by the added personal sacrifice of fasting.

    Fasting weakens the power of our flesh and strengthens the power of our Spirit Man. Jesus regularly made time to go off alone, so that He could fast and pray. He taught His disciples the importance of doing the same.   

    Although prayer is considered to be basic communication between man and God, good prayers require more than just quoting memorized words, even Scripture.  Good prayer requests that really capture the attention of our Heavenly Father, must be birthed and delivered in a proper spiritual attitude.

    I believe the consensus of Biblical teaching admonishes us to enter into God’s Holy presence with a humble and contrite heart, coupled with childlike faith.

    I have heard a few people through the years who treated God wrongly as if He was a “Heavenly Prayer Dispensary,” who they expected to cater to their every whim. Those types of people are usually the first to get upset when any of their self-centered prayer requests fail to get answered in a timely fashion.

    Their definition of “timely” is according to the personal timeclock they just set, to satisfy their own demands for instant gratification. The Book of James gives us a great teaching outline that everyone should read and study, concerning the right and wrong ways to pray. That teaching also explains why some prayers never get answered.

    The chorus of one of my favorite worship songs is based on King David’s Psalm 116. The words go, “I love you Lord, because you hear my prayers and answer them. Because you bend down and listen, I will pray for as long as I live.”

    King David surely had his share of human imperfections to deal with, which I refer to in my book as the “weakness of our humanity.” Despite God once referring to David as a “bloody man,” God also called him the “apple of His eye.” The awesomeness of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness being able to bridge those two extremes, has always amazed and encouraged me.

    God was able to look past David’s outward sins after he repented, and peer directly into David’s heart to focus on the love and goodness that lived inside. David is credited with writing a good portion of the Book of Psalms (songs of worship, prayer and devotion). Most of David’s songs were first prayers, that he harmonized and then put to music.  

    The example of how much God loved David, despite his imperfections, has helped me many times when I was trying to approach God in prayer. Especially when I was dealing with a guilty conscience. Even moreso, during times that I had repented and asked God to forgive me, but I still could not forgive myself.

    My phrase, “the weakness of our humanity,” attempts to describe in a few words what Paul spoke about in Romans 7, and again in Galatians 5. Paul tried to teach us in his own wordy fashion, about the “war” going on inside of man, between our spirit and flesh.

    Our new, born again (regenerated) spirit man, now wants to serve God and always do what is right in His sight. Our (self-willed and lustful) “flesh,” however, (sometimes called our “old man” by Paul) refuses to die and constantly seeks after the lustful rewards of self-gratification.  

    Perhaps at times, we all become what could be called “wounded casualties” of that internal spiritual war that rages inside of us. As hard as we may continually try to do what is right, our spirit man is not always able to subdue the strong, hungry desires of our flesh. The result is that we occasionally do what we know is wrong, despite the fact that our spirit man (heart) is loudly crying out “NO!”

    The Bible says that only Jesus was ever considered to be humanly perfect. He alone was able to resist the evil temptation to sin. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed so hard against the temptation to sin, that He actually began to sweat great drops of blood while doing so.   

    Having to live with the weakness of our humanity, is the reason why entering into a “salvation based covenant” with our God is so important. God allows us to maintain fellowship with Him, despite our human imperfections, through the use of His amazing free gifts like grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

    In 2 Corinthians Chapter 12, Paul said that after his glory filled visitation with God in the Third Heaven, he had received what he called a “thorn in his flesh.” God had apparently approved that a demonic “messenger from Satan,” should be sent to buffet Paul. Paul seemed to imply that happened to keep him humble, and not allow him to be overcome with the sin of pride.

    Perhaps that was God’s way of preventing Paul from experiencing the danger of being able to reach a state of human perfection on his own accord. A state which only Jesus Himself was able to reach and maintain righteously. That “thorn” seemed to remain quite a hindrance for Paul at times.   

    Every person seems to have some sort of thorn in the flesh to deal with, an ongoing weakness that keeps us humbled and in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. That thorn might be a lack of true faith, pride, a memory from the past that continually haunts us, or a weakness to some particular sin that we cannot seem to shake loose from and turn over to God.

    I believe fear is a major factor that hinders the prayer life of many people. The fear of knowing that we have greatly displeased God in some fashion, can fill our conscience with doubt and worry. Those are the times that we must exercise faith, and believe that “yes,” God is able and willing to forgive us when we ask. We must believe that the Divine, supernatural love and forgiveness of God, supersedes all of our human weaknesses.                                                                                

    Proverbs 3:5 tells us, “Trust in the Lord with your whole heart and lean not onto

    your own understanding.” Leaning onto your own understanding negates your ability to trust and obey the Word of God. This creates the temptation to invent your own “good works,” based on your own personal goals and accomplishments.  

    There is a place for good works, (Ephesians 2:10) but if they are not first ordained by God they have no substantial value. Satan would love people to believe that good works are a means to Salvation, but that is a lie.

    In Matthew 7, we read where Jesus rebuked several church type people because they thought their good works would get them into Heaven. Jesus said, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!” The term iniquity refers to “moral distortion, perversity,” and other forms of “lawlessness.”

    Instead of following the teachings and instructions of God, they leaned onto their own understanding. They tried to cheat their way into Heaven by creating their own set of modified (corrupted and rebellious) rules and regulations, which kept them from entering into Heaven.   

    They tried to defend their good works by claiming their collection of unauthorized prayers and other religious, “churchianity” antics, brought miraculous results. Unfortunately, Jesus rebuked them anyway, knowing they had usurped His power and authority to accomplish their own good works.     

    The Bible is very adamant about the need to humble ourselves and approach God just the way that we are. He is the only one who can wash us clean of our sinfulness, and make us righteous in His sight, through the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

    Jesus died to bring us the free Gift of Redemption, which is based on us entering into a “Covenantal Marriage Relationship” with our Lord and Savior. That Covenant, which is based on the written Word of God, happens through earnest (faith-filled) trust and prayer.

    Trying to enter into heaven through our own good works, amounts to creating our own “Common Law” marriage vows. This creates a casual (lax/lawless) relationship that does not adhere to the holy standards of God’s Marriage Covenant.

    Satan would love for people to believe that good works alone, based on the teachings of false religions, and what Jesus called, “The Traditions of Man,” will get us into Heaven. Unfortunately, that lie leaves people standing outside the Pearly Gates crying.   

    One would think that as a person’s knowledge about prayer grows, their prayers should automatically become more powerful and productive. The Bible warns us however, that “knowledge alone,” has the tendency to puff up a person’s pride. Knowledge needs to be blended with experience, wisdom, and humility.    

    When Jesus ministered, He always made the time, when possible, to sit down and visit with groups of children. There is an unadulterated pureness in children who have not been corrupted by the world, that makes spending time with them inspiring, fun and refreshing.

    The raw honesty that children display, especially after they have learned to trust you, is humbling and makes you love them even more. Acquiring that same type of childlike trust and pure heartedness toward God, is why I believe, God was able to call Abraham His “friend.” It was also why Jesus was finally able to call His Disciples “friends,” also.   

    Becoming the “Friend of God,” is a goal that every True Believer should be working toward. I believe that becoming God’s friend, will put you in a better position to receive God’s answers to your prayers.  

  • How Deep Are The Roots Of Your Christian Values?

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    How Deep Are The Roots Of Your Christian Values?

    By Dennis Mitchell……5/25/26

    Two of the most sensitive personal topics, that should always be treated with great respect when writing or speaking about them, are politics and religion. Today, I would like to address the issue of how politics can affect our personal “Christian Values,” from the perspective of an unbiased investigative reporter.  

    A short time ago, I read a media report about a Michigan State Representative named Karen Whitsett. The article described her as a Black female Democrat and Christian who had announced earlier this year, that instead of running for re-election, she was going to resign her position and step away from politics.    

    Representative Whitsett went on to describe a deep moral dilemma that she had been wrestling with for some time. She stated that the main core issues that affected her decision, were based on the Democratic Party’s stance on supporting issues such as, “abortion, LGBTQ+, identity, and gender ideology.”  

    In a very repentant fashion, Representative Whitsett basically went on to say that she could no longer reconcile with Scripture, her continued support of those Democratic Party policies and ideologies. Then she added, “For me, it is impossible to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ while remaining a member of the Democratic Party as it exists today.”

    Representative Whitsett then responded with an interesting answer, after being asked if she would then become a Republican. She asserted that her choice to step away from politics, was to help “Instill her fidelity to Christian Truth, not partisan allegiance.” 

    Reading that article prompted me to remember an interesting phone call that I received several years ago, from an unknown female caller. The phone call began with an invitation to a free dinner, that would be followed by a dance.  The concept intrigued me enough to stay on the phone long enough to learn more details.

     It did not take long to discover that the dinner-dance event was being sponsored by the local Democratic Party in my hometown. Once I realized who was sponsoring the event, I respectfully declined her invitation. Unfortunately, my rejection of her invitation caused an immediate shift in attitude from the caller. Her personal vibes changed from being very friendly to acting somewhat irritated.  

    She asked me what possible reasons I could have for turning down a free invitation to what she considered a first-class event. I tried my best to explain my reasons of why I did not want to associate myself with the Democratic Party. Most of those reasons aligned with what Representative Whitsett had spoken of in her resignation speech.

    I ended my short dissertation by basically stating that as a Christian, I could not align myself with all of the ungodly policies and practices that the Democratic Party championed, because they did not agree with Biblical Christian values.

    The caller then announced that she was a Christian also, who did not agree with everything the Democrat Party stood for and practiced either. However, she added, “For the sake of political unity, I have learned to accept, tolerate and cope with those differences.”  

    She then began to spew out political rhetoric, in an effort to convince me that being a Democrat did not compromise a person’s Christian faith. As she did that, my heart began to grieve for her. I quietly cried out in my spirit for God to give me a word to share with her. Almost immediately, the word “Accomplice” came to mind.

    As she continued to speak, the Holy Spirit began to formulate a story for me to share with her. When it was my turn to speak again, the story began to unfold as I began to share it.  

    “What if you were 16 again,” I asked her, “And your best girlfriend called to invite you to go for a car ride with her and two handsome young boys that she had just met. She enticed you by talking about the fancy new convertible they were driving in and said they were on their way over to pick you up.

    When they arrived, you decided to go with them, because of the recommendation of your best friend. At first, you were having a blast with your new friends, who you really did not know, while riding around in the backseat of their fancy car with the top down.     

    The driver then pulls into a quiet convenience store along the highway and leaves the motor running. The handsome passenger who was riding shotgun, gets out of the car and goes into the store. Suddenly, you hear the sound of gunshots! Then you see the young man running back out of the store, carrying a pistol and a bag.  

    He leaps back into the car and yells go, go, go, to the driver! With tires now screeching, the driver goes racing up the highway. The handsome passenger shows the bag full of stolen cash to the driver, as the getaway car continued to speed away.

    Although you were not part of the planning of what turned into a deadly armed robbery situation, you were riding in the car when it happened. That now makes you an Accomplice to a Felonious Crime! Even if you are able to avoid arrest and prosecution, your reputation is now permanently tarnished.”

    The lady caller listened quietly to my story, but then began to spew out more political rhetoric. At that point, I interrupted her and said, “Thank you very much for your dinner invitation, but I still need to decline your offer and hang up now. I do hope that you will think and pray about the story that I just told you about being an accomplice, because it did come from God.” Then I politely hung up the phone and prayed for her.

    The roots of our Christian values, which is more commonly referred to as the issue of morality, is an underlying theme found throughout my book The Art of Religion. Having a sense of morality that aligns with Biblical values, is a prerequisite for establishing a lasting personal relationship with God.

    He does not demand constant, and absolute perfection from us every minute of the day. Neither, does He instantly judge and threaten us with a “fire-and-brimstone” punishment, every time that we fall short of His expectations. God does however, expect us to put our whole hearted effort into learning and following His ways to the best of our personal ability.

    There is a gray area in the lives of mortal men and women, which I call in my book “The weakness of our humanity.” That weakness directly links into a Biblical theology that most people call “Free Will.” It was not God’s intention to create “Clones of Himself,” but rather to give both His Angels and members of the Human Race, the ability to choose right from wrong.

    Obviously, sin entered into “God’s Perfect World” because of bad choices that both some of His Angels, as well as mankind, made. The Bible tells us in Romans 8:22, that as a result of those bad (rebellious to God’s ways) choices that are called sins, “All of creation is now groaning in pain,” anxiously waiting for the return visit of our Savior and King.

    Jesus (Yeshua) has promised that upon His return, He will “Restore all things back to the way they once were before the fall, of Angels and men.” On His return, Yeshua will also bring “Judgment to the enemies of God.”   

    Thankfully, God freely extends the Spirit of Grace and Mercy to us as a learning curve, which many people consider the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us in both the Old and New Testaments, “God writes His Word upon the hearts of His people (Children) whom He loves.”

    That action is what causes us to have a “Conscience,” which can basically be defined as a “God installed warning system in our heart,” that alerts us when we start to drift away from the teachings and instructions of our God. Our conscience brings us to the point of making a moral decision, that urges us to choose good over evil.

    When our gut is feeling sick and telling us “No,” it behooves us to listen and obey what path God is encouraging us to take. 

  • The Significance of Shavuot, the Christian Day of Pentecost

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    By Dennis Mitchell……5/21/26

    Shavuot (Sha-vu-oat) is one of God’s 7 specially appointed Feast Days that He personally declared in His Torah to be Holy unto Him. Traditionally, Shavuot was declared by God to become one of the 3 times per year that Hebrew men were required to come to the temple in Jerusalem and stand before their God to pay Him homage.

    After King Solomon built the first Temple in Jerusalem, Shavuot became one of 3 times per year (that also included Passover and Tabernacles) that Hebrew men were required to pilgrimage to Jerusalem and pay homage to their God at the Temple.

    Following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, they could no longer visit the temple, but the people would continue their annual pilgrimage to the Holy City of Jerusalem. Much of that holy pilgrimage on those special Feast Days still continues on even today, in the Old City of Jerusalem near the Temple Mount.

    There are 2 very specific days that Shavuot is designed to commemorate. The first being the day that God originally spoke to Moses and the Children of Israel from the top of Mt. Sinai. On this day, He originally declared His Covenant with His people and gave them the basic content of His Torah, which taught His people how to keep His Covenant. You can read that basic content in Exodus Chapters 20-31.

    Most Christians, however, typically dismiss those 11 important Chapters in Exodus, where God first spoke to our ancestors about His Torah. The word Torah in Hebrew basically means “God’s teachings and instructions.”

    Most people, especially Christians, relate God’s Torah to the word “Law,” referring to the “Law of Moses.” Unfortunately, some people go to the extreme and deem the Mosaic Law, in their own minds, as being something evil that they want to run away and hide from. I can assure you that nothing that God has ever declared to be Holy is evil.

    It seems very sad to me that anyone would think that way about the teachings and instructions of their Heavenly Father. Especially since Yeshua, Jesus Himself, lived His whole life, taught others to follow His ways, then died to fulfill the exact letter of the Mosaic Law, to fulfill His personal prophetic portion of His Father’s will for His life according to Torah.  

    Christianity, in its early stages of development during the days of Constantine, basically outlawed “all things Hebrew.” They basically tried to purge everything Jewish out of the new Roman Catholic Church. It was decided to only focus on the “10 Commandments” that God originally wrote with His finger on stone tablets. The 10 Commandments might be considered a summary or short version of the Torah, but obviously, a summary cannot possibly explain in any detail what God spent 11 chapters trying to teach us.   

    The early Church Fathers decided that most everything else in the Old Testament, except for a few select verses about the giving of “tithes and offerings,” was only for the Jews. As Christians, they only had to follow the New Testament teachings of Jesus and His Disciples, who were all Messianic (Jesus believing) Hebrews who kept the Torah that Jesus taught them.

    I spent many long months researching Scriptures for my Art of Religion book. What I discovered by starting in Genesis and working myself slowly forward, was that Jesus taught Torah from a Holy Spirit-inspired perspective. A perspective so amazing and enlightening, that some people called it “A new type of doctrine,” which some people interpreted as being Christianity. Actually, it was a divinely inspired interpretation of God’s Torah.

    The second Biblical and more popular use of Shavuot, happened on what Christians call the “Day of Pentecost,” that we read about in Acts Chapter 2. This was the same day that Jesus told His Disciples to tarry in prayer and fasting for in Jerusalem.

    Many people do not realize the significance of Shavuot, (Pentecost) as it relates to Hebrew teachings and traditions. On Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit fell on the Disciples of Jesus as tongues of fire and a mighty roaring wind, 3,000 people were “Saved, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, and then water baptized.”

    Traditional Hebrew teaching tells us that those 3,000 souls were meant to become a replacement, of sort, for the 3,000 “rabble rousers” who revolted against God and created an idol of a golden calf which they worshiped during the original event of Shavuot. All who rebelled were put to death for their blatant sin against God, while Moses was spending 40 days and nights with God upon the mountaintop.  

    Another name that is sometimes given to Shavuot, by certain Christians is called “Whitsunday,” which is interpreted as “White Sunday.” This traditional term started with the recognition of the 3,000 people baptized on the first day of Pentecost following Jesus’ resurrection. This inspired the Day of Pentecost to become a traditional church day to baptize people. The term “White Sunday” was a reference to all those who were later baptized wearing white baptismal gowns at these church events.   

    Today at Sundown, starts God’s official Hebrew calendar day of Shavuot that lasts for 24 hours. It is a day which is also considered to be a Sabbath day, which means that no work other than minimum requirements, are supposed to be done. A day when God’s people, His “True Believers,” should spend time showing Him the praise and honor that He deserves from us.

    We obviously cannot come before God in the Jerusalem Temple any longer, but we can certainly enter into our prayer closet, wherever that may be, and spend time with our Heavenly Father there.  It is my prayer that you will enjoy the time you devote to fellowship with your Heavenly Father.

  • “The Benefit of Becoming Mostly Dead”

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    By Dennis Mitchell     5/15/2026

    In my Art of Religion book, I wrote a story about a young visiting preacher named Eddie, who shared a profound revelation that I have never forgotten. The book version is longer, detail oriented and more fun to read, but here is the shorter Readers Digest version of Eddie’s revelation.

    Eddie walked up and quietly stood in front of our church one Sunday morning, many years ago. Slowly and methodically, he began slapping his hand against his chest, next to his hand-held microphone. That action created a sound that was meant to and did, represent the heartbeat of God. In less than a minute, the entire congregation was silently sitting on the edge of their chairs wondering what was happening. A baby in the back of the sanctuary even stopped crying.

    Then, while continuing his simulated heartbeat rhythm, Eddie stoically spoke out these amazing words. “Ya’ll think you can see me, don’t you, but you can’t!” Many mouths in the congregation now began to gape open, in anticipation of what words could possibly follow such a bodacious statement.

    Eddie continued by saying, “What you are looking at, is not me, it’s my earth-suit. I am a spirit being who lives inside of this earth-suit.” Eddie then began to smile as he finished his profound statement. “God has given me this earth-suit to use and live in temporarily during my stay here on earth. When my allotted time here on earth is finished, I will leave this earth-suit behind and go to live with my Heavenly Father.”

    If you are a reader who is a believer in God, then let that revelation sink in, because it will change your life. The Bible says, “There is an appointed time for a man (person) to be born and an appointed time for that person to die.” If we trust God and live by His rules and time schedule, nothing will cause us to die, until our “appointed time” arrives.

    I believe that the term “sting of death,” that we hear spoken about at funerals, directly ties into the “fear of death.” I also believe that God wants us to learn how to turn our “fear” into “trust” for Him, which negates that sting. If you have confidence in your Salvation Covenant, then going to heaven is a grand reward.

    This short story about Eddie, sets the scene for a recent encounter that brought me near to the edge of eternity. I was first transported to the ER a local hospital, and then 12 hours later admitted into a critical care hospital. The doctors agreed, that I was at the brink of “death,” that led to an 8-day hospital stay. Thankfully, it was not yet my time to die.

    Other than now being left with unwanted doctor and hospital bills to pay off, my hospital stay ended up becoming a surprise spiritual adventure. The personal interactions that God allowed me to experience with various hospital employees, was a fantastically fruitful experience.

    Despite the pain and discomfort that I was dealing with in my physical body at the time, every day brought new opportunities for me to share my faith. Those inspired opportunities led to what I call “God Moments.”

    Hearing my testimonial stories, encouraged numerous people to begin sharing their own personal “God moments” with me. In several cases, after they had finished, they admitted that they had never before shared those amazing testimonies with anyone else.

    Part of their reasoning for sharing them with me, I believe, was because they trusted that I would not mock or scoff at them. Many people carry around the memories of supernatural God experiences in their hearts. Sadly, not everyone feels the trust, freedom and confidence to share them with others.   

    I was given several opportunities to pray with hurting people during my stay, which always excites me when I am able to do so. It is amazing what opportunities will avail themselves, when we are bold enough to ask. I entered that hospital on a stretcher, carrying what felt like a tiny little candle. During my adventure that small candle grew in significance, into a spiritual bonfire.  

    There were both physical and spiritual benefits that I brought home from my hospital stay. A short time after arriving back home again, which included many hours of fervent prayers, I woke up one morning feeling pain free. More importantly, it felt like God had just given me a fresh “Restart” on life again!

    My life journey had led me to the precipice of reaching a “Mostly Dead” status. For a short while, the pain I was enduring led me to question whether I really wanted to keep living or die. I finally gave that decision over to God as I began to fall asleep briefly, on the ER stretcher.  Obviously, it was not yet my time to die.

    In retrospect, I have been giving much thought and prayer to that whole Mostly Dead experience. I have decided that perhaps, God occasionally takes people like me on those types of near-death adventures. Not to be mean, but to help us fully appreciate and be able to share with others, the joys of receiving His free “Covenantal Gift of Eternal Life,” when we ask.

    The good news witness to that, is despite going through all of the torment, pain and angst in my physical body, my spirit man remained just fine. Having the opportunity to let my light shine, as I ministered to different hospital workers, became an unforeseen blessing that I never expected.

  • Book Cover

    With Passover coming up the end of this week, I wanted to share a very personal and life changing story that happened to me one Passover Eve many decades ago. This is another shortened and condensed excerpt story taken from my new 342 page book called, The Art of Religion.

    “The Unexpected Visitor”   By Dennis Mitchell

    My first full time ministry position, was working as a counselor at a locally run Teen Ministry program. Our program was set up to operate like a small version of a Teen Challenge Program.

    I had spoken to Al, the program administrator, about the possibility of us putting on a Passover Seder for all of the students, staff members and volunteers who had helped us out during the previous year. Al said that he liked the idea, but would have to think and pray about it.

    A week or two later, Al approached me and said that, “Yes, we could sponsor the Passover Seder, but there was a special requirement necessary. Al said that he could purchase a year old lamb from a neighbor, if I was willing to take on the responsibility of butchering the live animal.”

    I was not overly thrilled about being in charge of the whole slaughtering process, but agreed to do it, if Al could find a volunteer to help me. He did find a young college student named Andy, who volunteered to help when nobody else would.

    My father had trained me when I was young to become a skillful fisherman and hunter. I had previously killed and processed several deer and there is not a huge difference between the two animals. My father had also taught me the value of life, which included not killing anything that I was not going to eat.

    Shooting a deer in the wild at a distance was one thing, but killing an innocent sheep while standing face to face with it, was another issue. That concept was making me feel uneasy, but I had already given my word to do it.

    What made it feel even harder, was that I believed the Holy Spirit was telling me to kill the lamb in what is referred to as a “Kosher Kill” method. Back in the days of Jesus, (Yeshua) the people took their live Passover Lambs to the Temple

    and the Temple Priests sacrificially killed the animals for the people. 

    Technically, the only data that I could find about a kosher type kill back then, referred to taking an extra sharp knife and quickly cutting both juggler veins of the animal from the inside of the neck outward. Then allowing the animal quietly bleed out. The Torah tells us “Do not eat/drink the blood of an animal, because the life of the animal is in its blood.”

    I must admit, slicing the juggler veins of an innocent lamb with a hand held knife, did seem very barbaric to me. I had never done anything like that before, or since that particular Passover.

    Man’s temptation, when facing an uncomfortable situation, is to grab the reins away from God and handle things our own way. Unfortunately, we sometimes forget that “God’s ways are higher (pre planned to be better) than our ways.”

    When Andy showed up that morning, I had already been busy cleaning and preparing a safe and sanitary workspace in the hay mow of Al’s old barn. I took some time to explain to Andy what we were about to do and then we said a prayer. Then I quickly stepped forward and proceeded with my kosher kill.

    Watching the blood of that innocent animal pump out onto the plastic covered floor boards, because of something that I had just done, suddenly made me feel terrible. The lamb had never once flinched, tried to escape, or made a sound. It just stood there silently, staring at Andy and me like it had already known and accepted its fate.

    My eyes quickly pooled up and tears started to leak down my cheeks like an overfull reservoir dam. Then I looked over at Andy to see how he was doing, he was practically undone. As soon as we made eye contact, he started to sob out loud. That caused me to lose it myself for several minutes. The supernatural reality of that experience became a defining moment that has not been forgotten.

    After several minutes I asked Andy if he was okay, his long awaited response was, “I never knew.” Then I asked him, “You never knew what Andy?” His response to that question caused both of us to lose it again for several more minutes. With dead serious resolve, Andy said “I never knew until just now, how much He really loves me.”  

    My perspective of watching the lamb physically die, stirred up emotions of guilt inside of me, for the part that I played in causing the lambs death. Andy however, was taken to a whole new spiritual level and given a supernatural gift which changed his life forever. In a matter of minutes, he was transformed from being a perpetual class clown, to a dedicated servant of God.

    Andy had been given a unique spiritual revelation that day. He was carried back in time to a previous Passover day, allowed to stand at the foot of the Cross, then shown first-hand exactly how much his Messiah did and still does love him. While I watched the neighbors lamb die, Andy watched the “True Lamb of God” die.

    Suddenly, the spiritual atmosphere in the top of Al’s barn changed dramatically. The lamb still laid dead on the floor before us, but the feelings of sadness and remorse that we had previously felt, suddenly morphed into “Feelings of joy unspeakable and full of Glory!” The glory of Yeshua began to fill the old barn and our young hearts. What a testimony Andy and I had to share later that evening!

  • Welcome to my “The Art of Religion” site!

    Welcome to my “The Art of Religion” site!

    Book Cover

    This is my journey about learning the difference between religion vs. relationship with God!

    You will find great information and insights and share the opportunity to have robust conversations about what I have shared from it! Here is my introduction:

    Why I wrote this book

    By: Dennis Mitchell

    This book began as a simple writing endeavor that grew into an 8-year writing adventure. My intention was to create a legacy that I could give to my children and grandchildren as an inheritance, that would help them to remember me after I am gone. Realizing how little I personally know about my parents and other departed family members, because I never really asked while I had the chance, inspired me to be very honest and transparent. My thought was, if I shared what I really believed in my heart and why, then my beloved family and friends would learn who I really am. Perhaps more importantly, who I have become. 

    When people sincerely choose to have a personal (covenantal) type of relationship with God and learn how to walk in His ways, He forgives their previous transgressions and changes them into who He wants them to become. Mankind, unfortunately, is not always able, willing, or as quick to forgive and forget the spotted history of another person, just because they repented.

    The New Testament word “Saint,” is often misused. It was never meant to depict a mortal manwho mystically rose up on their own accord, to the heavenly level of Godly perfection. The Bible says that only our Messiah Jesus has ever accomplished that. Rather, I believe, the term Saint refers to those “True Believers” in Messiah Jesus, who trusted Him enough to dedicate their lives to loving and serving Him, to the best of their ability. Learning how to live by His written standards, requires a lifelong commitment.

    If you believe that you are presently sitting on the “Pedestal of Perfection,” then reading this book will probably not benefit you. If, on the other hand, you believe that “All things are common to man,” then reading this book should become a tremendous blessing. I believe that if you take the book seriously, it could lead you into one of the greatest spiritual and emotional challenges and adventures, of your lifetime. Writing it certainly became that for me. 

    The book is based on my personal story about how God found, redeemed and changed my life forever. Many parts of this book will, I believe, relate to many of the reader’s own personalthoughts, beliefs, and experiences. Other parts of the book will present Biblical facts and principles that are very rarely spoken about during Sunday morning sermons. The book is designed to inspire readers to ponder and decide for themselves what they really believe is true. 

    A Prophetic friend of mine named Bob, recently read the book and called it a “Bridge.” A connecting link, that he believes can help to span the gap which the “Cares of this world” help to create between man and God. A steppingstone perhaps, that will lead us back down the path to where our “First Love” awaits.