A Quest for Truth
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
This book is the story of my own spiritual journey. God inspired me to write this book through the mouthpieces of seven friends in the following chronological order: Debra Hand, Kim Heard, Debbie Davis, Lori Sullivan, David Kaseman, Rev. David Weber, and Alice Coker. Of these people, I owe the most to David Kaseman, for his mentorship and encouragement, and David Weber, for his encouragement and being the first to review the manuscript.
I didn’t know what I would write a book about when my friends began encouraging me several years ago. But through their encouragement and God’s inspiration, it began to crystalize in my brain that I should write a book on my quest for the Truth.
My goal is twofold: 1) to share with you my personal quest and what I have discovered, and 2) to encourage you to seek the Truth on your own volition. This book is for anyone who earnestly seeks the Truth.
My quest really began during my early 40s when a confluence of events unfolded that took the wind out of my sails. The death of a loved one, a 65 percent drop in income, an unsatisfactory part-time job to augment family income, and my wife working two jobs plus raising a family - all led to depression. However, out of the ashes of this depression came a burning desire to seek God. I was looking for comfort. I began reading the Bible for the first time, seeking answers. I attended my first Bible study class in September 1994, studying the book of Genesis. It was during this class that Diane Wells invited me to attend the Walk to Emmaus, a four-day Christian weekend. I was searching for something deeper spiritually.
In 1995, I attended the Walk to Emmaus where I met Jesus Christ for the first time. What followed in the next six months was a series of statistically remote circumstances that pointed inescapably to God’s will for me to join Kairos Prison Ministry, an interdenominational ministry for inmates in medium- and maximum-security prisons. In the spring of 1996 I voluntarily entered a maximum-security prison in
I began reading more and more faith-based books, many of which are referenced in this book. After considerable prayer, reading, and observing, I came to the conclusion that for me, Christianity most effectively expresses and encompasses God’s will for humanity. The question for each of my readers is: What spiritual path empowers you to see and to know God’s Truth?
We rely on ancestral traditions, the faith we were brought up in as a child. We study our own faith, seeking knowledge from religious leaders and reading holy books and other literature related to our faith (embedded theology). We pray to God, asking Him to help us know God more accurately. But I want to encourage you to go beyond relying on what you’ve been told in your formative years. I want to boldly challenge you to step beyond your comfort zone, wherever that step may lead you. My premise is that people, at some point in their lives, must come to grips with why they’re here on this earth. They must come to grips with what they perceive as the Truth. No one can do that for you. Eventually you must go it alone, an endeavor between you and God. Does it take courage to embark on your quest for the Truth? Absolutely! What you may discover could fly in the face of thousands of years of ancestral traditions, rituals, and commandments. But ultimately what is more important: to rely blindly on the faith of your upbringing (embedded theology) or a more deliberative theology in which you are truly guided by all four realms of knowledge: scripture, tradition, experience, and reason. It is up to you, and you only to find out. It is of paramount importance, the most critical quest you’ll ever make. Your eternal destiny depends on the results of your search, your decision, and ultimately your commitment to pursue the faith that you believe is the Truth, the faith that has the greatest probability of being the Truth. I can’t tell you what the Truth is for your life - nobody can.
Formats Book Details A Quest for Truth is the story of one man’s spiritual journey - from the ashes of depression to the lofty heights of a powerful, life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ in a maximum-security prison. From a depressing confluence of adverse events in Kincheloe’s early 40s was born an unquenchable desire to seek God. The quest led to a mountaintop weekend on the three-day Walk to Emmaus in which the author invited Christ into his heart for the first time. Nine months later Kincheloe found himself voluntarily entering a maximum-security prison, acting on a series of statistically remote circumstances that God had engineered to entice him into Kairos Prison Ministry. It was in prison that Kincheloe began watching miracles unfold, witnessing the unmatched power of Jesus Christ in transforming some of the most dangerous criminals in a 72-hour weekend. He watched in utter amazement as gang leaders reconciled to one another during the course of the weekend, who would have killed each other prior to the weekend had the circumstances been right. He witnessed God’s love overpowering Satan’s hate in some of the toughest, roughest, and meanest convicts. This is truly God’s miracle. The book contains many inspirational stories of some of the most hardened men imaginable becoming new creations in Christ. As time went on Kincheloe discovered other evidence pointing to the messiahship of Jesus Christ. This book documents his experiences in prison and other evidence that he has discovered that has influenced his quest. The book encourages you to embark on your own quest for the Truth. It is an individual proposition, between you and God. At some point you must come to grips with why you are here on this earth. It takes courage to think independently. What you discover may differ from what you believed in earlier in your life. Your spiritual quest for the Truth is the most important journey you will ever undertake. What the author has discovered may not hold true for you. The only way to find out, however, is to pursue the Truth on your own. Stephen C. Kincheloe is a lay minister in Kairos Prison Ministry. He is a valuation consultant in
About the Book
About the Author
