Quandary of Two Books

By Clifford Goldstein

When I grew up in a secular Jewish home, the essence of my religious experience could be summed up by how we kept the holidays: They tried to kill us, they failed – let’s eat! Nevertheless, I was always a seeker for truth.

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In the fall of 1979, my seeking took me down the path of the occult and spiritualism. I even had a few experiences with astral travel. Not knowing the source of these experiences, only that they were real, I decided to start reading about them. Thus, I walked over to the library at the University of Florida to get a book on the occult and start delving deeper into it.

At that point, I was a hungry writer who needed a job. As I was walking to the library, I stopped at a health food store in order to ask for work. A man came out and, as soon as I said something about the supernatural, he blurted out, “What?” He dragged me into the store and locked the door. After I told him about my experiences, he tried to warn me about demonic influences. Well, he might as well have talked to me about Santa Claus as about the devil. Before I left, he handed me a book and said, “Please, read it.”

Thus, with his book in hand, I went over to the University of Florida library and found an occult book. Because I wasn’t in school, I could not check it out, so I sat down in the library, read the first chapter, and even practiced the first technique, all of which was very new to me. Then, I went and hid the book on the shelves so that I could be sure that no one would check it out before I was done reading it myself.

Anyway, here’s the rub: I was walking through the library with the two books. In one hand I had, for the first time in my life, this book on the occult; in the other, for the first time in my life, I had the book that the man in the health food store gave me. One book in one hand, one book in the other. Occult book in one hand, and what was in the other? The Great Controversy. At the time, I was clueless as to what was unfolding around me.

A few days later, after an amazing confrontation with the Lord, I gave my heart to Jesus and those occult experiences never came back. Soon afterward I read The Great Controversy, a life-changing experience. No question, the Lord arranged for this powerful, timely, and important book to come into my life. Yes, I was a seeker for truth, and I found so much of it there.

Join the global church in 2023 and 2024 in the mass promotion and distribution of The Great Controversy. Visit greatcontroversyproject[dot]com for more information or ask your pastor.

Clifford Goldstein, a prolific author, has served as editor of the Adult Bible Study Guide since 1999.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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