r/Baptist

Cheating and lying has caused me and the mother of my daughter to break up. I’ve recently been back church few weeks ago. And I’m getting baptized today and also entered therapy because I know this is not the lifestyle that the Lord had planned for me and I want to be a better man not for just myself but for my daughter and ex at this point. I’m struggling at times to keep my head straight cause from time to time she still let her raw emotions go that she hates me and wishes I was never the father of my daughter. How do I find the strength to not be deterred by these feelings she has expressed

I was recently introduced to the concept that you must have a spiritual awakening day to know you are saved. That you know the moment you are saved and it is burned into your mind. Otherwise how can you know you are saved, is what they say. Is there any legitimacy to this at all? I seem to be seeing this pop up more and more.

I have literally always believed in God and loved Jesus Christ as far back as I can remember and don't really remember a certain time when I was saved. I have a few moments where as I got older I pleaded for salvation and had a "lights on" moment in my Bible studies when things clicked but I'm not sure if that is really what they're talking about.

thanks for reading and for any comments.

I am looking for perspective or advice regarding a situation at an Independent Fundamental Baptist church in a college town in OK. Our church recently announced the cancellation of the upcoming annual Men’s Advance.

According to the leadership, this decision was made because the pastor has been involved in a long-term extra-marital affair with another person.

The atmosphere is incredibly heavy and confusing. Many in the congregation feel betrayed, as the pastor was highly respected and taught strict moral standards for almost 30 years here.

Some members want public accountability, while others are pushing for confidentiality/a quiet handling of the situation.

For those who have navigated church scandal or a pastor's moral failure, what steps did your church take to deal with this biblically? How does a community move forward when trust is broken at the leadership level?

This is not intended to be simple gossip, but to seek wisdom on how a community can ensure accountability and healing.

Please pray for my mother who's going through a bad phase of high blood pressure. It came out of no where and its weird for her age. She is very dizzy. She's insulin resistant. My dads health isn't good ethier at all. Please pray for them thank you.

I have been with God for years. I love him. In the last few years I have had a war against "ego". I selfish pursuit of my own "stuff" over God and other Christians.

I am in a place where I live as God's essence, and recognize that we all are that... even though we do our own thing mostly. But in the new stance I've adopted, I see that we are all connected and somehow have gotten hijacked by our "flesh" or body.

We become obsessed with becoming "someone" special, more xxx, or unique, important, powerful etc.... but it isn't a choice... It seems like it until we try to stop. This ego shit means that while it operates, we compare always, need to be above others, can't fully love, place ourselves above God, and a bunch of other things that are all evil.

So we have to basically remove anything from our identity that can't be proved or can be changed, then choose to expand who we are as individuals large enough to cover our families, community, strangers, all of creation... remove any labels, then recognize that outside of God, there was nothing... so he didn't create something away from him, he became this. Which also means that all of this is Him.

When you don't have the illusions and lies we use to pretend, we only have our basic kind of awareness, which is quiet, and the fact that God is directly generating that in himself.

We are all Him. Just don't have the information, history or a shared mind to know.... but

I live from this place. I can love you as me because you are Him with some lies attached. So am I. We can function on the same accord with the Holy Spirit and Jesus's example.

With that, I can love everyone as myself and God the same. As one. John 17... That might be why Jesus said all the commandments rest on these 2. There is no way I would ever in life, from THIS place, do anything to be harmful or destructive intentionally. Its like hurting your favorite ( you fill it in). Just is unimaginable.

We have become trapped by our brains somehow. It searches for "who" we are then locks all of our intentions in this ego selfish realm... Where all of our actions are rooted in being someone who is not one with God and everyone else. We are slaves until we get out of it.

For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ^(22) adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. ^(23) All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.

Then... what seems to be happening is demons.... they somehow cause an initial temptations... associated with some level of independent identity. Somewhere in that vein. Then if your heart gravitates and locks on it, you begin to take ownership over that as if it is an extension of you.... or is now part of your internal framework. You owning that thing also gives them the ability to "own" you and have access to you until you. So We are being exploited. It is some sort of nonverbal contract, that technically needs a yes, but hides terms and exploits a vulnerability, without teaching you the mechanics of how to reverse it.....A contract that is revokable in the beginning, but hard to do after. Using this mishap we have psychologically for their own benefit.

If you become 1 in shared Identity with God and everything, then there is no compare, no one needs to loose, no one is a threat, God can have His will without you fighting, you will forgive easily, stewardship becomes the mission, and you live without fear. You stop having to "be" someone, you don't need politics, you don't needd lies, the devil can be resisted and you naturally do the commandments. Lots of other benefits.

Free yourselves. I am free. I think this trap is heinous and the worst thing to ever happen for us. It victimized us long enough. Set the captives free!!!

" God empty me of me, and allow all my thoughts words and actions to be yours". "One day.... make sure we move totally as one. I love you. Very much. Express this to others effectively"

God bless you brothers, please forgive my extremely formal English, it is not my first language But I need your help please, I am 17 years old and since I was 13 I have been relentlessly battling blasphemous thoughts , Voices that put blasphemies into anything I hear, it doesn't matter if I'm watching a movie, listening to music in another language, or misunderstanding something someone said, I always hear them This has severely limited my life, to the point that I can't even listen to the sermons at my church because every 3 seconds blasphemous voices shout between each sentence. This prevents me from concentrating, or even trying to approach those songs or videos where I hear these thoughts again. So I am afraid, because I not only struggle with these thoughts, but I also have other battles against sin such as homosexuality and masturbation. These thoughts are involuntary, I abhor them with all my being and every day I only long to be free, never to have them again in my life. The breaking point was yesterday, when I fell into the sin of masturbation again, and while I was sinning I heard many blasphemous voices that I tried to ignore, as they tell me that I should simply ignore them.In the end I felt terrible remorse, not only for the sin I committed, but because I didn't stop despite hearing those horrible voices, and I truly fear for my salvation. I don't want to go to hell. I'm afraid I've blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. I felt so dirty and guilty that I couldn't even ask God for forgiveness because I was afraid He would reject me. I love God with all my heart. I don't want a life without Him. Without Him, my life has no meaning, literally. I just want to do His will and be happy in Him. I don't want a life without him, I don't want to go to hell. I try to calm down and think more clearly, I try to calm down, but there's such a deep unease inside me that nothing will go away, and you know what? I don't want to feel good. Not until my Lord confirms whether I have blasphemed or not, and I pray to God that I have not blasphemed; I do not want a life without God. I know many of you are much more mature in your faith and probably think I'm exaggerating or trying to get attention. This happened to me in the r/truechirstian subreddit. Please don't delete my post. I currently don't have anyone close to me who can provide support through prayer or spiritual guidance. My family is not Christian and my pastor tried to help me, but I couldn't be honest with her. I'm scared, please help me, I don't know what to do. Thank you for listening and may God bless you, brothers and sisters. Please pray for me.