Introducing Dave Campbell, New Christian author. His Guest Posts and books are now available Amazon

Dave Campbell lives near Seattle and is a seasoned minister.   He traveled for many years, singing and evangelizing in the Northwest.   He made several appearances on TBN’s local Praise the Lord as well as other television appearances in Alaska, Seattle and Vancouver areas.   When Dave stopped touring, he became a children’s pastor near Seattle and introduced many innovative techniques for bringing the Bible to life for young minds.   After a miraculous calling at a camp meeting he launched “Joy of Freedom” outreach ministry and pastored it for 9 years. The outreach is still ministering to the homeless, destitute and chemically dependent individuals, today.  

Among the many pastoral privileges, Dave spent many hours counseling people who had severe issues in their lives.   The experience he gained for practical life applications of Biblical principles has been invaluable.    Dave brings many things to the counseling table, including good common sense and a ground roots approach to difficult and sensitive challenges.

Contact Information:  info@davecampbellbooks.com  

Also, find Dave Paul Campbell on FaceBook

Twitter: @dacampbe

So, You’re Angry at God.  Now What?

Don’t you ever be mad at God, the preacher said!  Okay, yeah, God is perfect and Holy - so that’s logical, right?  But people won’t admit they’re angry!

I don’t think anyone really wants to be mad at God.  Most of us just don’t know what to do when the anger comes.  I’ve discovered some important keys in this arena.  They appear in my book, “The OTHER Jesus?” Let me share some of them.

Destination

Picture a guy who’s in a strange city.  He has a map but doesn’t know where he is.  So, how can he get where he wants to go?  He can’t!  The first step, then, is to say, “Hey, right or wrong, I am angry!  That’s a good start. 

Why Am I Angry?

Now I have to ask myself, why am I angry?  Did God do something terrible or are there other factors?

The Hidden Truth

I get angry at God when I think HE was the one who did something bad.  I can get angry when I think God’s personality is vengeful.  In short - when I see God as someone He is not.

Books/Media

So many things in this world paint God as mean spirited.  No wonder so many people shake their fist at Him.  Books we read; movies we watch and music we hear can all lead us to believe God is not on our side.

The Church?

Yep, those wonderful stained glass windows can be a negative influence.  People & Leaders in the church; Pictures hung in the entry way; statues and figures on the walls.  All these can show us a Jesus that is different than the real one.

Deceiver

Don’t ever discount Satan when it comes to degrading the image of God.  He will parade like an angel and strike confusion into the deepest part of your heart.  The God of the Bible is much different than Satan advertises.

Language

Language and culture are large barriers to understanding the God of the Bible.  We have good translations, but we still cannot see Jesus the same way the disciples did.  And, when we try to share the good news of Jesus, words are not adequate.

Bottom Line

We are always experiencing erosion of God’s image. Just like copying something many times results in degraded results, so our memory of God degrades with time.  To make good copies, we go back to the original.  To make sure we have the right image of God, we go back to the source; explore God’s Word and talk with Him, often.  It’s the only way!

The OTHER Jesus? Amazon Paperback

Make Me Happy – or ELSE!

Can people get bratty about their happiness?  I sure can.  I guess our western culture has helped enable a sense of entitlement.  A right to pursue happiness is even built into our country’s founding documents.  

Finding happiness is not nearly as easy as pursuing it, right?   And we all know when people pursue the wrong avenues, happiness is never found.  So what are the right avenues?  My second book, “Make Me Happy” explores the idea of happiness entitlement and all the main avenues - good and bad.

Let me share a little behind-the-cover insight into Make Me Happy:

Seems like we all try to find happiness in someone else:  the perfect mate; our idolized children; or even a best friend.  What puzzles me is – I’ve never seen anyone totally happy, all the time, no matter who they were with.   

Job, in the Bible seemed to have something different in his heart.  He lost his spouse, money and children, yet he was able to keep a certain level of self-worth throughout the whole ordeal.  He wasn’t ecstatic about what was happening but he refused to take his attention away from the one who made him deeply happy – God.  Quite a lesson.

Happiness is not automatically granted when we have a certain level of wealth or when we have a great mate.  So how does happiness come?  Ah, now that’s the right question!

No matter how happiness comes to a person, one question is important:  Is happiness worth pursuing?  I believe so.  Without any happiness, we despair and sometimes even give up on life.

One thing seems clear to me, in God’s Word: God’s primary concern is not our day to day happiness.  He does care about us and about how we feel, but there are higher priorities in his mind than our whimsical and fickle emotions.  When the larger, more important things are watched over, God knows there is a much better chance for happiness in our lives; our eternal lives, as well.

Satan, on the other hand, is concerned with our need for happiness.  He uses that need against us.  He tries to get us so focused on our own happiness that we destroy other people’s happiness.

There’s also a huge difference between happiness, joy, contentment and fulfillment.  Sometimes, when we say we’re unhappy, it’s because we are missing one of those other elements.  I think it’s important to see those differences.  It can save us from bad roads.

Happiness seems to come to us in measured amounts.  What many people miss is this:  Happiness can be planned.  I wonder why something that we want so much is left to chance.  If we want a future of happiness, perhaps planning for it is a better approach to life. 

Make Me Happy Amazon

Danger!  Unseen Things Can Hurt You!

“I’m not worried about things I can’t see. I’ll stay in the “real” world,” He said.  But, is that smart?  What if things we can’t see CAN hurt us?

My latest book, “The Veil” deals with these unseen things – good and evil.  We all need to know who is hiding things and what is behind those dense curtains.  Is everything hidden, evil?  Are masked things innocent?  When is it appropriate to pierce those veils or bring them down?  Let’s me share some ideas with you.

“The Veil” lays out many of those things that we cannot see.  Some things are not commonly known.  I think it’s important to observe this famous phrase: To be forewarned is to be forearmed.  Being aware of the hidden is vital to self-protection.

God keeps many things from human beings.  His reasons are pure and He veils things to protect us. Can we all see angels?  We know they do very good work and are always busy, but we are not supposed to see them or their operations.  God also, in his mercy, does not allow us to see all the evil activity around us.

Satan masks things also, but his intentions are anything but pure.  He schemes, deceives and hides things to destroy.  He tries to hide all that is truly good.  Demons work to alter the image of the pure in heart.

Mankind likes to hide things too.  I’ve seen people lie, plot and attempt to damage other humans – sometimes in the name of what they call good.  When it suits us, we all seem to cover up things we don’t want others to see.  Sometimes that act can be for a good cause and sometimes it can be just plain devious.

There are so many other things that are veiled: Truth, Beauty and Ugliness.  We don’t even know how to define truth and everyone thinks they know what real truth is.  God only knows what is true.  Beauty is masked, painted on and misrepresented in every culture.  Ugliness can be used to manipulate others as much as beauty – so it also is not always what it appears on the surface.

Money, Power?  These bring more confusion and misdirection that almost anything else.  More destruction has occurred from these sources than probably any other single source.  What a person really is, becomes terribly hidden once they are perceived as powerful or famous. 

Of course the ultimate veil is Death.  No one can clearly see behind that curtain.  God has designed this area to remain opaque.  It might be frustrating but this is one area we need to leave alone and trust our creator.

I could not discuss veils for long without mentioning my own deep struggle with unseen things.  I fought a terrible battle with evil forces that were not visual.  They were very real and it took 14 years of my life to overcome them.

The Veil Amazon

5 Ways to Deal with Your Anger (toward God)

Yes, I’ve been angry at God.  I haven’t met a person who hasn’t been – at one time or another.  Sad thing is – I’ve met few people who knew what to do with that anger – except bury it.

My book “The OTHER Jesus?” explores the sources of that anger.  It gives deep reasons why people end up hating God.  It also helps the reader see false images of God and come to a better, closer relationship with God.

The first step to understanding a “God-Hate” is to admit it.  You may want to leave that place of anger and go to a better place, yet have no idea how to get there.  Like a person with a map, you can’t get to your destination until you first figure out where you are, right now.

The second step is to realize that it’s probably not your fault.  So much guilt has been poured across the pulpit as well as across the pew, when it comes to being angry with God.  The truth is there are many outside sources that feed your anger.  Let’s explore some obvious ones.

The third step is seeing that our image of God is tainted by so many sources. From the time we are born, everyone wants to tell us and show us what God is like. Many of those sources are inaccurate and some are absolutely wrong.  Recognizing how deeply that has affected our relationship with God is vital to anger recovery.

The fourth step is to recognize that the church, books, music, movies and even languages can serve to form a false image of God. 

·         Churches can teach twisted views of God and display pictures that don’t look anything like the real Jesus. 

·         Books, music and movies can tell stories that are different than what the Bible says and can paint an image of Christ that is very different from His true character. 

·         Languages can be a barrier when it comes to concepts that the Bible’s writers were trying to convey.  Sometimes translations can be misleading.

The fifth step is to come face to face with an evil force called Satan that works constantly to damage God’s reputation.  Never underestimate the deception of the enemy and his ability to get you thinking badly toward a very good God.

Finally: If you are experiencing anger toward God, maybe “The OTHER Jesus?” can help you sort out your feelings and the sources of your anger.  Maybe you too can come to the place where you realize you have been serving the wrong Jesus – the one in your mind, rather than the one in the Bible.  It could permanently change your relationship with God.  It changed mine.