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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
disturbing baptism experience	faith	Saturday, May 30, 2009
Question: Hi, About 7 months ago I made a complete change in my lifestyle and I believe I accepted Christ. I quit a job that was separating me from God and stealing my life away. Long story short I met a man last week who attends a large church in my area led by a Word of Faith pastor you may have seen on TV. The man encouraged me to go and be water baptised and even said "the Devil might try to do something to stand in your way..." and lo and behold I got a migraine that day, I got nervous when they made the call to come up to the front of the church, I never did see the man I was supposed to meet. I wasn't sure if it was the devil or my gut preventing me from going through with it. Then I see the man who was supposed to meet me and he grabbed me by the arm, led me to the back room and asked them to still let me go through with the baptism. It felt like an assembly line. I even got reprimanded by a janitor at the church for using the wrong bathroom! I ignored it, went ahead and to be honest just didn't feel what I thought I would feel. Then to top it off, they led us to a room afterward, said some prayers and encouraged us to speak in tongues. I was the only one of about 10 people who wasn't able to and quite frankly it was scary. I've heard tongues before but this was creepy and I just wanted to get the heck out of there as fast as I could. I even began praying for protection in the event that something sinister was going on. My head was still throbbing by the way. As I go to leave, the man who had encouraged me to do all this tells me that I should be prepared for the devil to start attacking me and that he had made some preparations ...but that I would need to come back to his house that night for him to do something that would "cover" me. Needless to say I declined and ran to my car as fast as I could. In short, I really feel violated. What was supposed to be a special moment ended up feeling wierd, inauthentic, frightening, impersonal and I've been depressed for the past three days. I am left with the following questions: 1) Was this whole experience not of God and was my gut trying to protect me from a fake or demonic experience? OR 2)Was the devil using various mechanisms to try to prevent me from going through with it. None of it felt real or right to me. I did get very emotional when they submerged me in water, and I did begin praying as soon as things started to feel wierd, that God would see my sincere intentions and protect me from any part of it that was not of Him. I also asked for a sign or confirmation that I did the right thing. Would you believe I stopped in the grocery store on the way home and a couple was staring at me intently. I finally stared back and the man asked "Are you a Christian?" I replied yes and he said "Isn't it great that God loves us?" But now I am a bit confused as to what happened and if I need to get re-baptised. Thank you so much for your help.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Faith: I praise God that you have turned your life around and wish to find friendship with our Lord. I am sorry to hear that you were treated so badly. What you experienced is called "religious abuse." As you describe the events, these people were utterly out-of-line and not acting in accord with the Holy Spirit. I think your "gut", your spirit, was reacting properly to abuse. The devil, of course, can use such abusive people to serve his ends as it is true the devil doesn't want us to be baptized. Despite all this bad experience the questions are these: 1) Were you baptized with water touching your skin? (immersion in water certainly does this) 2) Was the baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? 3) And did you willingly want to be baptized; did you consent to the baptism? If all three of these criteria are true, then you are validly baptized and thus "born again", that is, born into the kingdom of God through the waters of baptism. That makes you a Christian. Presuming all three criteria were met, rejoice that you are now a Christian. But... I would find another church. And, I would stay away from "tongues-speaking" churches as their theology on this is flawed in my opinion. In addition, many of these pentecostal groups (though not all of them) tend to be rather abusive as you experienced here. We will certainly be in prayer for you as you behind your Christian life in love with our Lord Jesus Christ. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary P.S. If any one of those three criteria was not met then you were not validly baptized. For example, there are a few pentecostal-type churches that only baptize in the name of Jesus. That is NOT a valid baptism. In that case, find another church that does meet that criteria and ask for baptism there. For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

disturbing baptism experience

faith

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Question:

Hi,

About 7 months ago I made a complete change in my lifestyle and I believe I accepted Christ. I quit a job that was separating me from God and stealing my life away.

Long story short I met a man last week who attends a large church in my area led by a Word of Faith pastor you may have seen on TV.

The man encouraged me to go and be water baptised and even said "the Devil might try to do something to stand in your way..." and lo and behold I got a migraine that day, I got nervous when they made the call to come up to the front of the church, I never did see the man I was supposed to meet.

I wasn't sure if it was the devil or my gut preventing me from going through with it.

Then I see the man who was supposed to meet me and he grabbed me by the arm, led me to the back room and asked them to still let me go through with the baptism. It felt like an assembly line. I even got reprimanded by a janitor at the church for using the wrong bathroom!

I ignored it, went ahead and to be honest just didn't feel what I thought I would feel. Then to top it off, they led us to a room afterward, said some prayers and encouraged us to speak in tongues.

I was the only one of about 10 people who wasn't able to and quite frankly it was scary. I've heard tongues before but this was creepy and I just wanted to get the heck out of there as fast as I could. I even began praying for protection in the event that something sinister was going on. My head was still throbbing by the way.

As I go to leave, the man who had encouraged me to do all this tells me that I should be prepared for the devil to start attacking me and that he had made some preparations ...but that I would need to come back to his house that night for him to do something that would "cover" me. Needless to say I declined and ran to my car as fast as I could.

In short, I really feel violated. What was supposed to be a special moment ended up feeling wierd, inauthentic, frightening, impersonal and I've been depressed for the past three days.

I am left with the following questions:

1) Was this whole experience not of God and was my gut trying to protect me from a fake or demonic experience?

OR

2)Was the devil using various mechanisms to try to prevent me from going through with it.

None of it felt real or right to me. I did get very emotional when they submerged me in water, and I did begin praying as soon as things started to feel wierd, that God would see my sincere intentions and protect me from any part of it that was not of Him. I also asked for a sign or confirmation that I did the right thing. Would you believe I stopped in the grocery store on the way home and a couple was staring at me intently. I finally stared back and the man asked "Are you a Christian?" I replied yes and he said "Isn't it great that God loves us?" But now I am a bit confused as to what happened and if I need to get re-baptised. Thank you so much for your help.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Faith:

I praise God that you have turned your life around and wish to find friendship with our Lord. I am sorry to hear that you were treated so badly. What you experienced is called "religious abuse." As you describe the events, these people were utterly out-of-line and not acting in accord with the Holy Spirit.

I think your "gut", your spirit, was reacting properly to abuse. The devil, of course, can use such abusive people to serve his ends as it is true the devil doesn't want us to be baptized.

Despite all this bad experience the questions are these:

1) Were you baptized with water touching your skin? (immersion in water certainly does this)

2) Was the baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit?

3) And did you willingly want to be baptized; did you consent to the baptism?

If all three of these criteria are true, then you are validly baptized and thus "born again", that is, born into the kingdom of God through the waters of baptism. That makes you a Christian.

Presuming all three criteria were met, rejoice that you are now a Christian.

But...

I would find another church. And, I would stay away from "tongues-speaking" churches as their theology on this is flawed in my opinion. In addition, many of these pentecostal groups (though not all of them) tend to be rather abusive as you experienced here.

We will certainly be in prayer for you as you behind your Christian life in love with our Lord Jesus Christ.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

P.S. If any one of those three criteria was not met then you were not validly baptized. For example, there are a few pentecostal-type churches that only baptize in the name of Jesus. That is NOT a valid baptism. In that case, find another church that does meet that criteria and ask for baptism there.

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.