The Peace of God

[Steve Noel]

I shared this testimony on Facebook today. I thought I would also share it here. I was thinking about how most of the interactions between Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints center on the our beliefs. The discussions/debates are typically about doctrine / theology / biblical interpretation / church history, etc. These are very important, but they do not tell the whole story. I do not want you to get the impression that my walk with God is merely an intellectual endeavor. This will give you a glimpse into the experiential elements of my walk with God.

I came to Christ in November of 1996 at the age of 21. At that time I was often riddled with anxiety about life. My mind was continually occupied with worry. I did not know what it was like to have internal peace. After a morning church service one Sunday early in 1997 I went home and fell asleep. As I slept, I had a dream from the Lord.

In my dream I was in our church building at night. Nobody else was present. All the lights were off and the darkness was so thick that I could not see my hand right in front of my face. I sensed that there was danger in the darkness. Fear permeated my body and mind. I seemed to know that there were evil spirits throughout the room. I was paralyzed with fear. I could not see. I was straining to see or hear where the danger was at. In my dream I remember being afraid to take a single step lest I walk into a trap. I crouched to the ground trying not to make any noise. Fear was coursing through my body. All my muscles were tense. My heart was racing. That is when I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Trust me." As soon as these words came to me I closed my eyes and all the fear and tension left my body and mind. Immediately I had complete peace.

This exact dream was repeated two more times in succession. As soon as the peace permeated my body and mind the third time I awoke from the dream. It is not possible for me to adequately express the experiential contrasts in the dream. I went from fearful paralysis to perfect peace in an instant.

Several years later I came across a text in Isaiah that I have often meditated on. Isaiah writes,

Quote

"Who is among you that fears Yahweh, that obeys the voice of His servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of Yahweh and rely on his God." (50:10)

I have not lived under the tyranny of anxiety for a long time now. What a great privilege we have as children of God. We have access to the Father anytime, anywhere. All we have to do is lift our eyes and rest in His love and sovereignty. When we do, his peace fills our souls. There is nothing like walking with our great God!

Edited April 18, 2016 by Steve Noel

[Traveler]

Having traveled a great deal and conversed with many devout individuals of different religions - including many Christian sects, Hindu, Buddhists, Islam and Jewish - I see no difference between your claim and theirs.  In fact I have even talked to atheists that make much the same claim you have.   Atheists that claim only by leaving all religion and religious ideas, have they been able to overcome the tyranny and anxiety of fear.  Why do you think your religion is superior to that of others?

 

The Traveler

[Maureen]

1 hour ago, Traveler said:

Having traveled a great deal and conversed with many devout individuals of different religions - including many Christian sects, Hindu, Buddhists, Islam and Jewish - I see no difference between your claim and theirs.  In fact I have even talked to atheists that make much the same claim you have.   Atheists that claim only by leaving all religion and religious ideas, have they been able to overcome the tyranny and anxiety of fear.  Why do you think your religion is superior to that of others?

Traveler, Steve is not saying that his religion is superior to others. He is sharing an experience he had that testified to him that peace comes from God.

M.

[Steve Noel]

1 hour ago, Traveler said:

Having traveled a great deal and conversed with many devout individuals of different religions - including many Christian sects, Hindu, Buddhists, Islam and Jewish - I see no difference between your claim and theirs.  In fact I have even talked to atheists that make much the same claim you have.   Atheists that claim only by leaving all religion and religious ideas, have they been able to overcome the tyranny and anxiety of fear.  Why do you think your religion is superior to that of others?

 

The Traveler

This is a testimony of how God has worked in my life. You seem to be reading it as an argument. I did not share this to argue that my "religion is superior to that of others." It is a testimony, not an argument.

[Anddenex]

Thank you for sharing. It is wonderful how the Lord will speak to us on a personal level.

[Traveler]

12 hours ago, Steve Noel said:

This is a testimony of how God has worked in my life. You seem to be reading it as an argument. I did not share this to argue that my "religion is superior to that of others." It is a testimony, not an argument.

Perhaps it may seem that I wish to argue - but my question in essence is how do you know or think you know that your experience comes from G-d?  Why would G-d convince you that you no longer need to learn of him and seek out his disciples and his appointed congregations?  That you can testify of him and how he works among mankind - if your experience is different?  If it is not different why are you a traditional orthodox Christian? How have you come to think and believe that you are right? That an atheists also achieving a similar piece without G-d is wrong to think there really is not a G-d - that you have actually connected to the one and true living G-d?  Do you accept the possibility that there are other G-ds?  How is it that you know and testify that this one experience is from G-d and not something else?

You may think of this as my desire to argue or as an opportunity to extend your witness?  For me - it is not so much what a person claims to believe but why - what lies beneath the surface.  Why they think religion (G-d) is the answer or they have chosen a specific religion?

I am LDS because of what lies beneath the surface - I also continue to seek and to know more of G-d.  But I am concerned that many hear and follow "strange" voices that counterfeit to some degree the one true and living G-d.  So when someone claims to know G-d I try to determine what value, "truth" is in their claim - even those that are also LDS as well as those that deny G-d all to gather.  I would also be interested why you, Maureen and others see such questions primarily as a opportunity to argue?

 

The Traveler

[Steve Noel]

9 hours ago, Traveler said:

Perhaps it may seem that I wish to argue - but my question in essence is how do you know or think you know that your experience comes from G-d? 

I know that this experience was from God because of the context, the confirmation, and the fruit. 
 

Context: I spent the first 21 years of my life with no interest in God. I never prayed. I never worshiped. I never went to church. I never opened the Scriptures. In fact, I mocked those who did. I saw religion as a fantasy created to comfort emotionally unstable people. I worshiped pornography. My life revolved around sports teams. I worshiped video games. That all changed near the end of 1996. God used a professional boxer on TV to create in me a desire to know Him. For the first time in my life I began to read the Bible. As I read through the gospel of Matthew God deeply convicted me of my sinfulness. He convinced me that I was His enemy and deserved His wrath. This shook me to the core. It kept me up at night. I decided to visit a church near my home. During the Sunday school class the teacher mentioned the word repentance. I had never heard of this before. After class I asked what this meant. He explained repentance to me and led me in a prayer of repentance. That morning I poured out my heart to God, repented of my life of sin, put my faith in Christ's atonement for me, and gave my whole heart to Him. My entire life was transformed from that moment. It wasn't long after this that I had this dream. I was a newly transformed child of God. I had repented of my sins, put my faith in Him, and given him my heart. 

Confirmation: I know this experience was from God because my experience was confirmed by His Word. In my original post I shared what Isaiah says in 50:10. This is exactly the message of my dream. Of course, there are many, many more Scriptures that teach that God gives His peace to His children who trust in Him. 

Fruit: I know this experience was from God because the fruit it produced in my life. The Bible says that true peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5). This peace was produced in me by the Holy Spirit. It was a supernatural peace.

Quote

Why would G-d convince you that you no longer need to learn of him and seek out his disciples and his appointed congregations?  That you can testify of him and how he works among mankind - if your experience is different?  If it is not different why are you a traditional orthodox Christian?

I think this gets to the heart of your issue with my testimony. I am not a Latter-day Saint. Therefore, my testimony is suspect. I have relayed to you my true testimony of the gracious work of God in my life. I leave it to you to wrestle with why God has not led me to be a Latter-day Saint.

9 hours ago, Traveler said:

That an atheists also achieving a similar piece without G-d is wrong to think there really is not a G-d - that you have actually connected to the one and true living G-d?  Do you accept the possibility that there are other G-ds?

Whatever "peace" an atheist claims to have is not equivalent to what I've shared here. I am sharing a testimony of how God supernaturally taught me to trust in Him. 

9 hours ago, Traveler said:

I would also be interested why you, Maureen and others see such questions primarily as a opportunity to argue?

I don't think we are seeing your questions as an opportunity to argue. We are reading your questions as arguments against what I wrote. Sometimes this medium makes communication difficult, but it is hard not to read into the wording in these questions:

On 4/18/2016 at 7:49 PM, Traveler said:

Why do you think your religion is superior to that of others?

Quote

Why would G-d convince you that you no longer need to learn of him and seek out his disciples and his appointed congregations?

 

[Maureen]

Traveler, I didn't really see your post as an argument, I thought that maybe your reading comprehension was off and you were reading something in Steve's post that he didn't say. Maybe you're skeptical of his testimony because it doesn't mesh with what you believe on how God reveals himself to mankind. I don't know I'm just guessing. But your post almost hints that you might be slightly offended by Steve's testimony.

M.

[Traveler]

At this point I will make a observation.  This observation is very important.  There are a lot of "feel good" counterfeit replacements for those that think they have found G-d.  I will admit to bating this discussion somewhat.  But I have found in my life travels that many are closer to G-d than I am.  Surprisingly, sometimes even atheists.  I have learned that counterfeit replacements turn a person to self.  They become focused on their happiness, their salvation, their repentance, their enlightenment and so on.  But when someone is touched by G-d they are turned to love and care about others.  Their quest become the happiness, salvation, repentance, enlightenment and so on for others.

I find this caring and loving of others is a growing thing - like a planted seed that once the growth starts it will endure seasons - very difficult, cold and dark seasons.  Rather than the end of a quest to know of G-d (that which is good, right and true) it becomes only the beginning.  And as a final observation someone lead by G-d becomes unafraid to consider and appreciate the goodness and enlightenment in others.  Truth, weather spiritual (religious) or empirical (scientific) become their trusted friend and companion.  But like the apostles of Jesus when realizing that G-d will be betrayed - instead of pointing to others - asked of G-d from their heart - "L-rd is it I".

 

The Traveler

[tesuji]

Steve Noel, 

Thanks for sharing this. God is an awesome God indeed!

[Sunday21]

On April 18, 2016 at 3:56 PM, Steve Noel said:

I shared this testimony on Facebook today. I thought I would also share it here. I was thinking about how most of the interactions between Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints center on the our beliefs. The discussions/debates are typically about doctrine / theology / biblical interpretation / church history, etc. These are very important, but they do not tell the whole story. I do not want you to get the impression that my walk with God is merely an intellectual endeavor. This will give you a glimpse into the experiential elements of my walk with God.

I came to Christ in November of 1996 at the age of 21. At that time I was often riddled with anxiety about life. My mind was continually occupied with worry. I did not know what it was like to have internal peace. After a morning church service one Sunday early in 1997 I went home and fell asleep. As I slept, I had a dream from the Lord.

In my dream I was in our church building at night. Nobody else was present. All the lights were off and the darkness was so thick that I could not see my hand right in front of my face. I sensed that there was danger in the darkness. Fear permeated my body and mind. I seemed to know that there were evil spirits throughout the room. I was paralyzed with fear. I could not see. I was straining to see or hear where the danger was at. In my dream I remember being afraid to take a single step lest I walk into a trap. I crouched to the ground trying not to make any noise. Fear was coursing through my body. All my muscles were tense. My heart was racing. That is when I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Trust me." As soon as these words came to me I closed my eyes and all the fear and tension left my body and mind. Immediately I had complete peace.

This exact dream was repeated two more times in succession. As soon as the peace permeated my body and mind the third time I awoke from the dream. It is not possible for me to adequately express the experiential contrasts in the dream. I went from fearful paralysis to perfect peace in an instant.

Several years later I came across a text in Isaiah that I have often meditated on. Isaiah writes,

I have not lived under the tyranny of anxiety for a long time now. What a great privilege we have as children of God. We have access to the Father anytime, anywhere. All we have to do is lift our eyes and rest in His love and sovereignty. When we do, his peace fills our souls. There is nothing like walking with our great God!

Thank you for sharing your testimony! I am glad that you are in a good place. Bless you!