Getting baptized this Sunday

[Guest there]

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

Sanc Fantastic you went through so much and let the Lord led you. I read your post of what happened to you with your parents but before i could finish had to move from my computer and all that came to my heart was the verse you later quoted about math 8 I came back and continued to read and there it was i felt so happy to read you did go through with it.

Pray for your parents. Please also remember we are seen a individuals before the Lord He reads our hearts and He will lead you to all Truth.

The Lord Yeshua bless you and your husband and children. I feel so happy for you and am so greatful you shared it with us.

Praise the Lord

:hug: again

YSIC

Hellen

[nebula]

He said to me "how would you feel if your daughter decided that marriage wasn't something social and so decided that you didn't need to be there and got married without you?"

First of all - that is an awesome testimony!! :flowers:

Second - his question seems odd considering what you mentioned in your first post.

I was abused growing up and my mom was/is also abused mentally by my dad's persuasive arguments to take part in the emotionally-devastating-abuse in the last five years. Because of the abuse that we have suffered my mom could not come to my wedding or the birth of my child even though she was sitting at home doing nothing and 15 minutes away. She missed the first year of my child's life, she didn't get to see me graduate from college or buy my first home.

Err. . . is somebody missing something here?

:glasses:

[stevehut]

You're getting baptized just by signing up?

In the Bible, people got baptized spontaneously, in the moment, when they were individually ready. They didn't have to wait for a certain church schedule.

From what you've described, it looks like you are looking to be baptized because "it's the thing to do". I say give it some more thought, and forget the church schedule. If they are making you a slave to the calendar, I say it's a great disservice to you.

And you shouldn't have to wait around for the pastor to answer your questions. There should be any number of people in the church who could counsel you on this.

[Guest sanctification]

<< Why was it so important to your Dad to witness your Baptism considering that he is an agnostic? >>

My dad is person who is instigating the counterterrorism unit for the FBI in Washington D.C. Before he came there a little more than a year ago, there was no program, and he has almost singlehandedly taught them how to conduct intelligence for the defense of our country.

Since I was 12 to when I moved out my father stayed at home while my mom worked overtime being a nurse. There was something a kin to a cultic relationship between my father and my sister and my mom and I. He was mentally in control of all of us. He manipulated us because of the fact that he was, basically, a narcicist, meaning he is driven to use his relationships to pump up his sense of self-worth. As a result I was abused in clothing, food, bathing, and I never spent time with people my own age. I was not worthy. I was told that I was not capable of taking care of myself and that is why I wasn't given permission to move out. Dumb stuff like this.

I became a Christian and God's light and truth cleared the cobwebs for me mentally. But my father still charges me with not loving him through my choices to be myself, to do things for my own reasons instead of what he wants or advises. This has been the major source of my Christian confusion, because serving someone's needs can only go so far until you have crossed the line outside of God's will. But try explaining that to a narcicist.

My mom is a baby Christian and she needs fellowship from Christians and imput from the word of God so that the seeds that have been planted are not stolen by the birds of the air.... My mom says that he won't admit it but that deep inside he recognizes Jesus as his savior. However to anyone publically he says that he is pretty good at following the ten commandments and therefore he is going to heaven. He thinks that Jesus is not God, that He was just a good teacher with good advice.

I am not in a position to teach him. But a church is. And my dad used to watch religious sermons on tv for several years so I think he is searching but it must be a breakdown the walls thing.

Can you imagine the 50's husband type who is served by all members of the household, who barks and others obey, who is always served first for dinner, who puts down his wife in public, who abuses his children and does not apologize or admit it, hearing and seeing a people worship Jesus Christ? If my dad breaks down before God, that day will be nothing less miraculous as the Red Sea parting, I tell you.

Well, I hope that answers your questions.... I want him to see it because I have been asking him to come with me to church for five years, and he would never do it, but this time I am pretty sure he would come.

He is in such an influential position with his job in D.C. I just wonder what God has in store for his life beyond this.

[Guest sanctification]

<<<< He said to me "how would you feel if your daughter decided that marriage wasn't something social and so decided that you didn't need to be there and got married without you?" >>>>

<< Second - his question seems odd considering what you mentioned in your first post. >>

Basically the cult doctrine of my life was that there was nothing more important than "family." My obligation to my family was the most important to discharge. But by him saying "family" he really meant "his whims." He did not abuse me sexually. However he did physically. He even hit me when I was pregnant just three years ago because we were arguing about something, and I did not agree with him (I did very little speaking, you realize, and nothing disrespectful, it's just when I opened my mouth I was supposed to parrot back what he had tried to convince me about and I wouldn't do it.)

He would use anything in my life that I wanted as a means for me to prove that my alliegence was first for him (the family). When it came to seeing my only girlfriend once every six months, I was supposed to do some extracirricular chore and because I didn't do it to his satisfaction I was not worthy to go out for those three precious hours, at the last minute. When I wouldn't read his novels (he was a writer) and agree that he was making progress then I would get sent out into the backyard and told to dig holes in the summer sun for 12 hours without being allowed to eat and highly frowned upon when I turned on the hose to get a drink.

When my grandmother gave me a $2500 check when I was 20, he said it was the worst day of his life. Because I had the means to move out. I was never allowed to have a job. I was often kept home from school (he told me I wasn't good enough to go), I never had any friends that I spent time with more than twice a year, I was not allowed to talk on the phone, I was revoked of bathing priviledges, I wasn't allowed to participate in after-school events, and I was told that if I wanted to move onto campus when I was 20, then I was "abandoning the family" and that "I shouldn't come to his funeral" because he would disown me.

Growing up into this you don't see how it is wrong until after you get out for awhile.

You are right, he has contradicted himself over and over again proving that the family was worth everything yet it was not able to be there for me when it was my turn. He has the power over my mom to revoke her desire to be my mom relationally. He convinces her that I don't love her and I am not worthy to receive her company. My poor mom. He has made her so sad.

Wow. I forgot about more than half of this stuff, until I shared it again just now. I used to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and I used to be so angry at him, but God has cured me forever from these things. I have placed my father into the hands of a good, caring, and gracious God. I trust Him to glorify himself in my father's life.

[WayneB]

Can you imagine the 50's husband type who is served by all members of the household, who barks and others obey, who is always served first for dinner, who puts down his wife in public, who abuses his children and does not apologize or admit it, hearing and seeing a people worship Jesus Christ? If my dad breaks down before God, that day will be nothing less miraculous as the Red Sea parting, I tell you.

Yes, I can imagine the type...since it sounds a lot like I was before I came to Christ. Even after I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I still struggled with my old ways. Only through the love of a great wife and the work of the Holy Spirit was I able to change (I still struggle with it at times).

So, there is hope for a miracle. Pray, never cease praying and be a strong witness for Christ, something that I sense you have no problem with. Allow the Spirit to boldly use you when you share God's love with your father. I'll bet in time that he will respond. I did.

Bless you sister,

Wayne

postscript: One testimony that really made me think is "Softening a Crusty Heart" by LTC Don Coble. You can order it at Focus on the Family Click Here. I would buy it and give it to your Dad to listen to. Maybe he'll see a bit himself in it. I did.

[Guest sanctification]

Stevehut,

<< You're getting baptized just by signing up? >>

Yes, what do you think I ought to have done?

<< In the Bible, people got baptized spontaneously, in the moment, when they were individually ready. They didn't have to wait for a certain church schedule. >>

That's what I read too. I am not sure if it is right for a church to wait, so long as water is available.

<< From what you've described, it looks like you are looking to be baptized because "it's the thing to do". I say give it some more thought, >>

What gives you that impression? Is there something you can teach me about baptism that I missed?

<< And you shouldn't have to wait around for the pastor to answer your questions. There should be any number of people in the church who could counsel you on this. >>

Yeah, the problem is that I don't know too many people at this point. That is why I said in the beginning that I didn't have fellowship with a body and grately was blessed by anyone who would help me here on this topic.

BTW, your all's responses both before and after give me joy, knowing that the same thing God says to me is what He says to you in his word on this matter. Thank you so much for caring about me.

Sanc

[nebula]

Wow, Sanctification - you've been through a lot!

I can definantly see what the Lord means to do in you through this experience.

But I am also thinking that your father's intentions for waiting until he was there "too see it" was really so that he could manipulate you out of it. You know? I am thinking that if you were signed up for a time when the family was there, he would find a way to keep you from it.

You did right!

Remember, your #1 priority is to your Bridegroom Jesus and second to your human husband.

I feel for your mother, but she needs to find her place in her Lord, too, if she is ever to be free.

And not to go off topic, but it is scary to think that this is the kind of person who is investigating the counterterrorism unit. PRAY!!

Anyway, Sanctification, please don't let yourself be bound by guilt. You obeyed the voice of the Lord!

There's another Scripture about how we should not love even father, mother, brother and sister, husband or wife, or children more than the Lord.

Does that help?

[Guest sanctification]

Wayne,

I wonder if this is the story about a man who was upset at his son for no good reason and he hit him, and the son said to his dad "I love you daddy," and then he finally broke down and gave up? I heard it on Christian radio once.

Thank you, Wayne, because it is encouraging to hear that people like this can be saved; on the surface they seem so far from it.

[WayneB]

Wayne,

I wonder if this is the story about a man who was upset at his son for no good reason and he hit him, and the son said to his dad "I love you daddy," and then he finally broke down and gave up?  I heard it on Christian radio once.

Thank you, Wayne, because it is encouraging to hear that people like this can be saved; on the surface they seem so far from it.

Yup, that is him.

It is an awesome testimony...but there is so much more than what you mentioned. That was one of the things that broke him but not the only thing. I'd get two copies of the tape and keep one for myself if I was you. Don Coble mixes in humor but when he gets to the meat of his testimony, you can hear the anguish in his voice and the Spirit is strong.

Now let me encourage you with this thought. WHEN your Dad finally breaks down and turns his life over to the Lord, he will be a STRONG witness for the Lord. Sometimes God allows the Sauls of the world to go about their work so someday he can use them for His work, as He did with Paul.

Your Dad may be that person.

Bless you sister,

Wayne