The Art Of Religion Book

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.