… First, the idea that there was a “strange religion” involved was the most distant from my mind.

… When I saw the book, I knew that David was in trouble.

The following story, which is told by David Scott Burns and his father, Rev. Larry Alan Burns Sr., an Assemblies of God minister, is a story of young man’s triumph, through Divine intervention, over the evil cult ridden world.  Through Biblical instructions by his Christian parents, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and His leadership and David’s willingness to allow the ‘drawing and nurturing power’ of the Holy Spirit, David came back to a full relationship with his Lord, Jesus Christ.

“747”

ROCK-IT TO HEAVEN

by

David Scott Burns

 Commentary by David’s father, Larry Alan Burns, Sr.

In 1985, when I was twelve, my mother and father bought two New American Standard Bibles and gave one to my older brother Larry and one to me.  It was not until 1994, when I turned 21 that I discovered how important their investment was for my Salvation. 

Daily, at the college where I attended, I had many people of various cultic religions come up to me and ask if they could share their faith with me.  Having been born into a solid Christian family, raised with good morals and the love of Jesus Christ, I was not even tempted into listening to what they had to say.

During that time, I was dating a girl who had attended the same Christian school from which I had graduated.  We had been seeing each other for about seven months when she told me she needed to tell me “something very important.”  She was very careful in telling me that she was afraid that it would affect things between us, but I assured her that nothing would… After all, I should be able to trust my Christian girlfriend…

I will back up now to a time before this “new revelation” of “something important” and tell you about something that started happening to me around the time that my girlfriend and I had first begun dating.

All through my relationship with this girl, I saw the number 747 everywhere.  I saw it on license plates, watches, clocks, digital bank signs and phone numbers as well as many other places.  I saw 747, literally, several hundred different times.  Once, while at a church Super Bowl Party, (I was not even watching the game, because I knew the Cowboys were going to win), I looked up at the television screen and the game time was stopped on 7:47.  Sometimes the number 747 would appear twice in one day and sometimes more.  However, I did not see it because I was looking for it either.  At first, I was surprised to see the number, but after the first couple of months, I just expected it.  I began to wonder if I was going to die in a 747-airplane crash.  I was especially concerned after I was given a free trip to Hawaii.  I checked the airplane flight to see what type of airplane it would be.  I was not ticketed to board a 747 nor was the flight number 747 either.  I was a little worried when the flight took off, but I knew that I needed to face my fear and find out what the mysterious number meant.  Nothing happened.

[Commentary] During this time, David began showing all of us every time he saw the number 747.  We would be driving down the street and he would see it everywhere.  In the morning he would wake up and see that the number on his clock reflected 7:47, but, not because the alarm was set for that time.  It became so frequent that I felt that he had infected me somehow.  I began seeing the number as well.  I would walk into my bedroom and the clock would reflect the number 7:47 or perhaps I would turn on the television and the number would be there for whatever reason.   I do not believe in numerology, but I began to feel that somehow God was trying to get David’s attention because it happened so often.  I figured that if God was trying to get his attention, then perhaps he was trying to get my attention on David and I should pray for him every time I saw the number as well. It was amazing how much I prayed for David during this time.  I found that I prayed more for David than I ever had in his life.  I know now that God used this particular symbol to bring David to my mind for prayer for the need that was coming to him.

…She pulled out a small green hardback book and handed it to me.  She said that she and her parents felt that I should know how they believed.  I did not understand.  She went on to tell me that within the contents of this book was the basis for all of her spiritual beliefs.  I thought she ‘was’ a “Christian.”  She went to a Christian school, had Bible class every day, Chapel once a week and verbally proclaimed herself to be a Christian.  I cared for her very much and because of my need to communicate with her, I decided to read the book and find out exactly what she believed.  I read the book three fourths of the way through. 

[Commentary] I can say one thing for sure, David was a very dependable child while growing up and even though we knew that he was easily distracted, we always trusted that he would listen to us whenever we had concerns or felt that he needed special encouragement for whatever reason.  However, David’s curiosity seemed to never be satisfied.

The book answered many curious questions that I had throughout my whole life, such as: why are we here?  Where are we going?  Who is God?  Why was that person born needing a wheelchair?  Why is it that my family is so blessed and other families do not seem to have the same love, which I have always known?  Why is that child in an abusive family when he or she did not deserve it?  Even with my Christian background, I found myself being drawn into the teachings of the little green book. My parents said that they noticed a change in me and it worried them.  My father asked me why I had been acting so different lately.  I told him that I did not think I was acting different. I remember him asking me if I was having problems with my girlfriend and I told him no.  He asked me if I had been talking to someone and my response was no.  Then he asked me, “Are you reading something; some kind of literature?” I reluctantly told him, “Yes, I had been reading a book.”  Then he asked me if he could see it and I said that, it was out in the truck.  He asked me if I would go get the book, but I really did not want to show it to him.  I wanted to finish it before he read it, but I decided to let him see it anyway.  You see, my girlfriend had told me that I was not to share it with anyone until I had read it completely for myself. This way I would not be “influenced” by anyone as to, “it’s” content.

 [Commentary] I will never forget the last two weeks leading up to David’s “new revelation.” David was always one who was easily challenged by one thing or another.  David’s mother and I would never have believed that David would be the one of our three children that we would have to be the most concerned about.  He seemed the least likely to stray from sound teaching. Like most young adults, David began to seek his own independence, but in spite of that, he always maintained a very respectful attitude to us as his parents.  David’s mother and I began noticing some differences in how he talked to us or how he acted whenever we would ask him a question.  He had always been very respectful to us and suddenly he was beginning to act moody and distant.

On the inevitable day of his “new revelation,” I had come to a firm decision after talking to David’s mom that I needed to talk to him and see if I could somehow break through the icy shell of indifference that was forming around David even though he did not realize that there was any thing particularly wrong or different.  We called David into the family room and I began to query him on why he was acting like someone we did not know. His response was, “There is nothing wrong with me at all and I am very happy.”

First, the idea that there was a “strange religion” involved was the most distant from my mind. The insidious nature of most cultic religions is to come in by stealth. Satan did not come harshly to Eve, but by a casual and unsuspecting demeanor.

I suspected that perhaps David was involved with his girlfriend in some sort of compromising way, so I asked him frankly if this was the problem and he immediately responded that this was not a problem area of his life.

I was extremely relieved, but still I was confused.

I asked him if there was a problem at school or was there someone giving him trouble or was there a difficulty that we should know about.

David assured us that there were actually no problems or difficulties going on in his life.

I have always depended on the Holy Spirit for guidance and inwardly I prayed that I would receive His guidance for the situation on hand.  I believe that the Holy Spirit gave me the inspiration to ask the next question.

I said, “David, have you been reading something?”  David looked at me with somewhat of an apprehensive look and said, “Well, I have been reading a book.”  I said, “What book?” “Can you show it to me?  He said that it was out in his pickup.  I asked if he would go get it and let me see it.

As he left the room to go get the book, I looked at my wife and then towards my mother-in-law and my oldest son, Larry Jr.  I searched their faces for some relief for what I felt, however, I realized that they were just as perplexed as I was.  At this point in his life, David was at the age in which he could walk away if he chose to because he was already past the age of being a minor (he was 21 years old) and my only real hold on him was to say that he was still living under my roof.

Soon, David returned carrying a little green book.

It was not until I returned to the house that I told him that it was something I thought he should read. I told him that it answered most, if not all of my questions of life.  As my father opened the cover, he had a sick look on his face.  As he flipped through the first couple of pages, it appeared that he had become very disturbed in his Spirit.  Later on, he told me that it made him sick to his stomach.

[Commentary] When I saw the book, I knew that David was in trouble.  The fear that grips a parent’s heart is unbelievably painful when there seems to be calamity or catastrophe about to overtake your child.  The incredulous feeling that something could possibly nullify all of my Christian parenting and the looming void that I felt was like I was in a surreal situation and soon I would wake up and it would not be true.

 I began to ask David if he knew the implications and the message and background of the book.

He became very defensive with me and said, “Daddy, I want you to read the book before we talk about it.”

I said, “David, I already know what the book is about and I know the message that it delivers.”

David became very agitated and said, “You cannot possibly know what it says because you have not even read it.”

I said, “David, I spent four years in Bible College and three years in Seminary and I took cultic literature and cultic religion classes and I have studied the very type of information that this book contains within it.”

David began pleading with me to read the book before passing any judgment on it.

Finally, I said, with a prayer on my lips, “David, I will read the book, but only if you read it with me.  I want to be free to cover each point that it addresses.”

It was close to midnight when we began to read the book together, along with his mom, grandmother and brother nearby.

Daddy told me he was going to read the book cover to cover with me, that night. I knew that it would take forever to read all of it in one night, and I was very frustrated, but we got through it.  My mother, brother, and grandmother sat around and listened as my father read aloud.  I knew he and my family would understand all that I was excited about, and they would become excited themselves; they weren’t.  The more he read of the book, the more everyone’s concern grew for me, only I was translating their concern as anger.  The book professed Reincarnation, Re-embodiment, Astral flight and many other forms of religious thought that are totally conflicting with the one and only Holy Bible of God.  When I had read the little book by myself, I did not see any of this.  I was blinded by the excitement of new discovery instead of looking at it objectively.  I began to question my whole upbringing.  Whether or not it was right or maybe there was something more to our existence.  I felt spiritually drained and I became double-minded, not knowing what to believe.

[Commentary] I spent all night reading the book, and talking to David and sharing scripture rebuttal.  Both David and I were exhausted from sitting there so long.  The rest of the family had fallen asleep sometime during the night and by the time we had finished reading the book and were tiring out from our conversation, it was about 6:00 in the morning.  David was still resisting and so finally I said, “David we need to get some sleep. But, I would like to go see someone later, perhaps a pastor of a church who could shed some further light on this subject.” David passively agreed.

I went to bed for a while and when I got up; I asked David if he would go with me to see a former pastor of ours. I felt that this established man of God could perhaps provide further evidence or proof to show David that he was involved with something undeniably wrong and perilous to his soul.

Frankly, I was very helpless and at a dead loss as to what to do or say, so I thought perhaps someone else could lend to the conversation and help make my point.  Sometime around noon, David and I went to a local church where we had previously attended.  My belief was that the pastor, because of his maturity and longevity in the ministry, would have all of the right answers and that it was going to be the eye opening counseling session that I needed to get David back on track

I was thoroughly frustrated and confused when I presented the book and the circumstances to the pastor. He looked back with a total blank look and gave a useless retort that went something like this: “Well, you need to be careful son whenever you read anything that is not the Bible and is not something that is based on the Bible…”

At once, I realized that this pastor, as much as I wanted him to and as much history that he had as a pastor, did not have anything concrete, constructive or profound spiritually to say nor did he have a clue as to how to address the situation. I was expecting to go there, have prayer, receive great instruction passed on to my son and see a miracle at work.  None of this happened. I told David to come on and we left.  I felt like I had just lost a huge spiritual battle.

Unfortunately, not all pastors are qualified or knowledgeable on every topic that concerns the church and I found this to be particularly true in this circumstance.

Next, I remembered Keith, a good Christian friend of mine.  He is very well versed on Biblical scriptures and has a good working knowledge of various cults.  Keith is a Christian with a love for Jesus and in my opinion was a very good choice for addressing the situation.  Keith began by asking David some very pointed questions about his belief in the Bible as well as his trust in his parents and others of the Christian faith.  I was very proud of him as he told David that the very nature of Christ was in direct opposition to the message behind the book.

Even though I had said all of the proper things and prayed with David, sometimes it just takes someone else saying the very same thing, especially when you are trying to deal with a son or daughter that you want to receive the message.

After a couple of hours of this counseling session, we then prayed with David and this meeting was over. I felt that all I could do now was to leave David in the hands of God. I was very relieved during this time that David had not become rebellious in his spirit, but was mature enough to listen, with a surprising amount of reverence, patience and respect to allow those who were ministering to him to do so uninterrupted.  In other circumstances the person might say, “I don’t want to hear what you have to say because I know what I believe.”  However, I believe that the Holy Spirit was ministering to David who wanted and needed answers.

I remember the day perfectly.  I got out bed, got ready and went to school.  I was so distracted in my thoughts that I was having a hard time concentrating on my schoolwork.  I was sitting outside on some picnic benches.  The sun was shining brightly and I had my sunglasses on, not just for sun protection, but my eyes were red from lack of sleep and they also felt like a security blanket to hide behind.  Across the food court was a girl who was associated with one of the Christian groups on campus.  She had always had good advice for me and I knew if she were to talk to me, I would find helpful words.  I prayed that she would come over and talk with me.  At that moment, I had no doubt that, she would come over and it was not but a minute later that she walked up and sat down.  She asked me how I was doing and I told her not very well.  I began to tell her my story.  When I finished, I told her that I did not know what to believe anymore.  She said, “I don’t know what the answer is, but I know that God will work things out for you”.  She said,” I have a scripture that might help you.”  My Bible was sitting on the table, so I turned to the scripture she gave me.

Jeremiah 29:8-13

8 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.”

9 “For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

10 For thus says the Lord, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”

11 “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

12 “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.”

13 “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

After reading these scripture verses, I looked at the top of the page and I could not believe my eyes, the page number was 747. 

I am not into numerology or any form of strange belief system.  I believe God uses many forms of communication to speak to us and this was the way that God was able to gain my attention.

I began to cry.

I finally knew what it meant.

Out of all the Bibles my parents could have picked out for me, they picked the one that God would use nine years later.  God was preparing me for what He knew I would go through.

I have renewed my relationship with Jesus Christ.

I have now shared this story with hundreds of people and many have said that it was for them also.

If you would like to know more of how God has worked in my life, please email me and ask.  I will be more than glad to talk to you and/or pray with you and share inspirational words of wisdom based on Gods Holy Word.

-David

Drakker747@yahoo.com

[Final Commentary] God has used various methods throughout history to gain the attention of people.

Belshazzar saw the “Finger of God.”  Jonah had his day with the “Great Fish.” Jesus spit in the dirt and then placed the wet earth on the blind man’s eyes and he was healed instantly.  In each story, a symbol is used to gain the attention of the believer as well as the non-believer. Through this story, we see that David Burns is given a symbol by which God was able to gain David’s attention and now God’s Grace has brought him back to salvation.

 In November 2002, David was married to a beautiful Christian girl by the name of Charity.  David went to Air Force Basic Training at Lackland, Texas and graduated in December 2002. In January 2003, David started Technical School to become an Aero Space Physiology technician.  On April 4, 2003, David was stationed with his beautiful wife Charity at Randolph Air Force Base, Universal City, Texas.  It is now 2011, and they are both very much in love with Jesus and with each other and now have three very beautiful children, a daughter, and two sons. 

One last thing, as a reminder of how God is still working in David’s life, the location that he has been assigned to is: Aerospace Physiology, building number 747.

Aerospace Physiology, Located in Bldg 747 across from the East Tower

Jeremiah 29:8-13

Including the Page number at the top, #747