Can't find a church - need to get baptized

[Andreas89]

Edit: I have had a change of heart regarding the matters expressed in this OP and no longer hold the same position of condemnation on churches and their members based on hand signs, and their doctrines and practices. I will seek to upbuild and correct when necessary, but not condemn. Please read my post on page 4.

I am a believer that one needs to be baptized to be saved. I am not asking for a debate on this particular topic.

I also can't seem to find someone to baptize me. I know that there doesn't appear to be any directions as to who can baptize and who can't, besides the examples of who was doing the baptism in the Bible, and even then it doesn't seem to mention that only they were permitted to do so. 1 Corinthians 5:11 gives some directives on what type of so called brothers to not associate with, so if any so called brother had these attributes, I would not want them to be performing the baptism.

The churches I've been to I have noticed that they are falling away from scripture. I believe the "once saved always saved" doctrine is a false doctrine leading people to destruction, which is the doctrine taught in an independent fundamental baptist church I attended. Many churches have women speaking and singing in them, a violation of the command given in 1 Corinthians 14:34. I have also researched and come across the occult, and am familiar with the telltale hand signs that supposed freemasons, or other members of secretive organizations do. I might have read/seen somewhere that they believe these hand signs are casting spells on people, a form of witchcraft or some kind of magick. Of all the last 3 churches I've relatively recently attended, each pastor has performed at least 1 of these hand signs. Now I know I can't draw any definitive conclusions from this, without confirmation from them directly, especially since it is possible they are doing them naively and without knowing their significance. However, I am suspicious, and would not be surprised if a majority of churches have been infiltrated. Matthew 7:15, 2 Timothy 3:13 state that this type of infiltration will take place. Especially in combination with the fact that each pastor has been preaching things, that in my opinion, are completely unbiblical.

I thought about an Orthodox church, but I noticed they have a lot of images in their churches, which seems to be a violation of Exodus 20:4.

I'm really having a hard time finding a righteous Christian to baptize me. I thought about going in to the church again to speak to the people attending, and potentially find someone to baptize me, but if I suspect the pastors are intentionally deceiving (or are deceived themselves and resultantly deceiving) and potentially performing witchcraft, why would I want to even be a part of such a place? 1 Thessalonians 5:22

What do I do to find someone to baptize me? Do I put up a craigslit/kijiji ad? And in the same vein, where do I find Christian fellowship? I'm thinking in this day and age, and with my experience of the churches, I may have to resort to the internet for fellowship.

 

[thecolorsblend]

Speaking as a Catholic, my Church teaches that anybody can baptize you if they follow the proper formula. Nurses have probably baptized babies before so if you know one, odds are they can do it or point you to a nurse who can. It's not an uncommon practice. They'll know how to do it.

Speaking as a former-evangelical, I'm not aware of very many evangelical ecclesial communities that wouldn't baptize you if you asked them to. Search around. The ones near you don't have to be perfect. They just need to be willing to baptize you.

I can relate to wanting the job to "get done right". And you are right about baptism as the normative means for salvation. But you may be setting the bar a bit high. Your intent is what matters.

I'm sure things will work out for you.

 

[Kit Sigmon]

Another born again believer can baptize you.

 

[Blood Bought 1953]

I am a believer that one needs to be baptized to be saved. I am not asking for a debate on this particular topic.

I also can't seem to find someone to baptize me. I know that there doesn't appear to be any directions as to who can baptize and who can't, besides the examples of who was doing the baptism in the Bible, and even then it doesn't seem to mention that only they were permitted to do so. 1 Corinthians 5:11 gives some directives on what type of so called brothers to not associate with, so if any so called brother had these attributes, I would not want them to be performing the baptism.

The churches I've been to I have noticed that they are falling away from scripture. I believe the "once saved always saved" doctrine is a false doctrine leading people to destruction, which is the doctrine taught in an independent fundamental baptist church I attended. Many churches have women speaking and singing in them, a violation of the command given in 1 Corinthians 14:34. I have also researched and come across the occult, and am familiar with the telltale hand signs or so called "sigil magick" that supposed freemasons, or other members of secretive organizations do. From what I can gather, they believe these hand signs are casting spells on people, a form of witchcraft. Of all the last 3 churches I've attended, each pastor has performed at least 1 of these hand signs. Now I know I can't draw any definitive conclusions from this, without confirmation from them directly, especially since it is possible they are doing them naively and without knowing their significance. However, I am suspicious, and would not be surprised if a majority of churches have been infiltrated. Matthew 7:15, 2 Timothy 3:13 state that this type of infiltration will take place. Especially in combination with the fact that each pastor has been preaching things, that in my opinion, are completely unbiblical.

I thought about an Orthodox church, but I noticed they have a lot of images in their churches, which seems to be a violation of Exodus 20:4.

I'm really having a hard time finding a righteous Christian to baptize me. I thought about going in to the church again to speak to the people attending, and potentially find someone to baptize me, but if I suspect the pastors are intentionally deceiving (or are deceived themselves and resultantly deceiving) and potentially performing witchcraft, why would I want to even be a part of such a place? 1 Thessalonians 5:22

What do I do to find someone to baptize me? Do I put up a craigslit/kijiji ad? And in the same vein, where do I find Christian fellowship? I'm thinking in this day and age, and with my experience of the churches, I may have to resort to the internet for fellowship.

Andreas......this may not be the dilemma you imagine it is.....any BELIEVER can perform it.....the symbolism of baptism is more important than the one who performs it....God knows your heart.Check out Got questions .com. It may put your mind at ease.God bless

 

[archer75]

I am a believer that one needs to be baptized to be saved. I am not asking for a debate on this particular topic.

I also can't seem to find someone to baptize me. I know that there doesn't appear to be any directions as to who can baptize and who can't, besides the examples of who was doing the baptism in the Bible, and even then it doesn't seem to mention that only they were permitted to do so. 1 Corinthians 5:11 gives some directives on what type of so called brothers to not associate with, so if any so called brother had these attributes, I would not want them to be performing the baptism.

The churches I've been to I have noticed that they are falling away from scripture. I believe the "once saved always saved" doctrine is a false doctrine leading people to destruction, which is the doctrine taught in an independent fundamental baptist church I attended. Many churches have women speaking and singing in them, a violation of the command given in 1 Corinthians 14:34. I have also researched and come across the occult, and am familiar with the telltale hand signs or so called "sigil magick" that supposed freemasons, or other members of secretive organizations do. From what I can gather, they believe these hand signs are casting spells on people, a form of witchcraft. Of all the last 3 churches I've attended, each pastor has performed at least 1 of these hand signs. Now I know I can't draw any definitive conclusions from this, without confirmation from them directly, especially since it is possible they are doing them naively and without knowing their significance. However, I am suspicious, and would not be surprised if a majority of churches have been infiltrated. Matthew 7:15, 2 Timothy 3:13 state that this type of infiltration will take place. Especially in combination with the fact that each pastor has been preaching things, that in my opinion, are completely unbiblical.

I thought about an Orthodox church, but I noticed they have a lot of images in their churches, which seems to be a violation of Exodus 20:4.

I'm really having a hard time finding a righteous Christian to baptize me. I thought about going in to the church again to speak to the people attending, and potentially find someone to baptize me, but if I suspect the pastors are intentionally deceiving (or are deceived themselves and resultantly deceiving) and potentially performing witchcraft, why would I want to even be a part of such a place? 1 Thessalonians 5:22

What do I do to find someone to baptize me? Do I put up a craigslit/kijiji ad? And in the same vein, where do I find Christian fellowship? I'm thinking in this day and age, and with my experience of the churches, I may have to resort to the internet for fellowship.

The Orthodox can explain their images pretty well, if you want to ask.

 

[drjean]

I would think that believing you need a water baptism to be saved would be an urgent matter and the actual body of believers that do this for you wouldn't really matter. It's what YOU believe that seems to be important, right? I mean, you are asking thousands on here to give you advice when that POV is not the most 'popular' so-to-speak....

Find any church, join it and learn what you can from it, fellowship with the people (you fellowship here, yes, with all of us believers who believe differently...?) and then continue your search for that "perfect" church of like-minded.

There are definite directions as to water baptism in the Bible. It is an ordinance given to the local church body of believers. It was to make someone prove in public that they had accepted Christ for salvation. You see, there were many who were faking this fellowship only to turn the group over to Roman soldiers for punishment. Someone then would not pretend to be baptized for fear their own soldiers would turn THEM in! It is an act of showing that you have believed.

 

[Sketcher]

1 Corinthians 5:11 gives some directives on what type of so called brothers to not associate with, so if any so called brother had these attributes, I would not want them to be performing the baptism.

OK, so for the record:

"But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people."

You don't want to be baptized by someone who walks in those sins, understood.

Many churches have women speaking and singing in them, a violation of the command given in 1 Corinthians 14:34.

This verse does not apply to singing or reading announcements. It applies to teaching the Word of God, according to the way church was conducted back then. In other words, giving the sermon.

I have also researched and come across the occult, and am familiar with the telltale hand signs that supposed freemasons, or other members of secretive organizations do. I might have read/seen somewhere that they believe these hand signs are casting spells on people, a form of witchcraft or some kind of magick. Of all the last 3 churches I've relatively recently attended, each pastor has performed at least 1 of these hand signs. Now I know I can't draw any definitive conclusions from this, without confirmation from them directly, especially since it is possible they are doing them naively and without knowing their significance. However, I am suspicious, and would not be surprised if a majority of churches have been infiltrated. Matthew 7:15, 2 Timothy 3:13 state that this type of infiltration will take place.

So these people are guilty until proven innocent to you?

I thought about an Orthodox church, but I noticed they have a lot of images in their churches, which seems to be a violation of Exodus 20:4.

Exodus 20:4 is strictly against idol making. Not all images are idols, such as the cherubim on the Ark of God (Exodus 25:18-20) and the cherubim weaved into the Tabernacle (Exodus 26:1).

I'm really having a hard time finding a righteous Christian to baptize me. I thought about going in to the church again to speak to the people attending, and potentially find someone to baptize me, but if I suspect the pastors are intentionally deceiving (or are deceived themselves and resultantly deceiving) and potentially performing witchcraft, why would I want to even be a part of such a place? 1 Thessalonians 5:22

What do I do to find someone to baptize me? Do I put up a craigslit/kijiji ad? And in the same vein, where do I find Christian fellowship? I'm thinking in this day and age, and with my experience of the churches, I may have to resort to the internet for fellowship.

You're making it sound as though you are hyper-critical. If that is in fact the case, step one is to ease up, remembering Matthew 7:1-5. After all, you don't want to become a slanderer, and that is where a hyper-critical spirit leads people.

 

[Ancient of Days]

All you need is a lake and a child of God. Keep it simple...

 

[redleghunter]

I am a believer that one needs to be baptized to be saved. I am not asking for a debate on this particular topic.

I also can't seem to find someone to baptize me. I know that there doesn't appear to be any directions as to who can baptize and who can't, besides the examples of who was doing the baptism in the Bible, and even then it doesn't seem to mention that only they were permitted to do so. 1 Corinthians 5:11 gives some directives on what type of so called brothers to not associate with, so if any so called brother had these attributes, I would not want them to be performing the baptism.

The churches I've been to I have noticed that they are falling away from scripture. I believe the "once saved always saved" doctrine is a false doctrine leading people to destruction, which is the doctrine taught in an independent fundamental baptist church I attended. Many churches have women speaking and singing in them, a violation of the command given in 1 Corinthians 14:34. I have also researched and come across the occult, and am familiar with the telltale hand signs that supposed freemasons, or other members of secretive organizations do. I might have read/seen somewhere that they believe these hand signs are casting spells on people, a form of witchcraft or some kind of magick. Of all the last 3 churches I've relatively recently attended, each pastor has performed at least 1 of these hand signs. Now I know I can't draw any definitive conclusions from this, without confirmation from them directly, especially since it is possible they are doing them naively and without knowing their significance. However, I am suspicious, and would not be surprised if a majority of churches have been infiltrated. Matthew 7:15, 2 Timothy 3:13 state that this type of infiltration will take place. Especially in combination with the fact that each pastor has been preaching things, that in my opinion, are completely unbiblical.

I thought about an Orthodox church, but I noticed they have a lot of images in their churches, which seems to be a violation of Exodus 20:4.

I'm really having a hard time finding a righteous Christian to baptize me. I thought about going in to the church again to speak to the people attending, and potentially find someone to baptize me, but if I suspect the pastors are intentionally deceiving (or are deceived themselves and resultantly deceiving) and potentially performing witchcraft, why would I want to even be a part of such a place? 1 Thessalonians 5:22

What do I do to find someone to baptize me? Do I put up a craigslit/kijiji ad? And in the same vein, where do I find Christian fellowship? I'm thinking in this day and age, and with my experience of the churches, I may have to resort to the internet for fellowship.

You are looking for a church? If you want PM me. You can find out a lot by a basic search.

 

[thecolorsblend]

The Orthodox can explain their images pretty well, if you want to ask.

Probably. They can probably also explain that many of their images date back to the 1st and 2nd centuries.

 

[Aino]

I'm very traditional in a way that I think you shouldn't be baptized unless you also join a church at the same time. Being baptized also means you join the community of believers, but if you're not happy enough with any of the communities around you so you could join them in fellowship then I believe you shouldn't be baptized. I think you should get to know the communities more carefully before judging them so harshly... And maybe take a look at yourself and see whether there's some need for humbling yourself. You're setting the bar very high for everyone else around you, but not yourself.

Of course, the Bible doesn't prohibit any christian from baptizing another christian. However, there should always be a link to the church, the body of Christ, in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy spirit. Only in cases of emergency should one be baptized without joining a church, but generally not.

 

[FireDragon76]

Most churches want you to be a member to be baptized. In many churches, baptism is no longer a private rite. We do not think of it as being absolutely necessary for salvation, so you should take your time and approach this issue carefully in a way that honors God and his Church.

I have gone to many different churches in different denominations in my lifetime. None are perfect, none get it exactly right but there are Christians in all that I have been to. It's good to take the advice here and not be too harsh on churches that don't measure up to your interpretation of the Bible.

Do not make church seeking an overly intellectual matter. Pray to God for guidance, and look for a church where people are doing God's work and where you can see the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

 

[Thomas1987]

You can be baptised at home like in these water bucket challenges for charity on youtube .

But really you don't need it , if God could save you by water he would not need to send Christ to cross but would only send John Baptist to baptise right .

 

[Andreas89]

You're making it sound as though you are hyper-critical. If that is in fact the case, step one is to ease up, remembering Matthew 7:1-5. After all, you don't want to become a slanderer, and that is where a hyper-critical spirit leads people.

You have a good point, and I am concerned about this. I might have been passing judgement too harshly, in a way that might not be upbuilding. I am torn between not judging, and then being called to judge those on the inside 1 Corinthians 5:12. I really want to help people, but I don't want to backbite or slander either. There were perhaps better ways to go about this. I have a lot more reading and studying to do. Is a slanderer only one who falsely accuses?

Edit: I have also requested that this thread not be deleted, instead that any conflicts be resolved in the thread.

 

[Francis Drake]

In 1974, I got baptised in the sea by some friends. They dunked me under the water and simply said, "I baptise you in the name of Jesus" (or Father son and Holy Spirit)
I have baptised western Christians in swimming pools and have secretly baptised tribesmen in mountain rivers, hidden well away from their persecutors.

Forget the paraphernalia and rule book of church, just gather some friends and get it done ASAP.

 

[Tolworth John]

am familiar with the telltale hand signs that supposed freemasons, or other members of secretive organizations do. I might have read/seen somewhere that they believe these hand signs are casting spells on people, a form of witchcraft or some kind of magick. Of all the last 3 churches I've relatively recently attended, each pastor has performed at least 1 of these hand signs

Supposed, might have, somewhere.

You are building a big accusation on nothing.

May I suggest that you check out what your local churches believe and that you talk to the ministers about your concerns.

Your problem is not that you need someone to baptise you, but that you need a church to belong to.

Sort that out and the question of baptism will sort it self out.

 

[Andreas89]

Supposed, might have, somewhere.

You are building a big accusation on nothing.

May I suggest that you check out what your local churches believe and that you talk to the ministers about your concerns.

Your problem is not that you need someone to baptise you, but that you need a church to belong to.

Sort that out and the question of baptism will sort it self out.

Thank you for your input. I do feel that the way in which I approached the topic could be considered backbiting. If anyone else can chime in on what constitutes backbiting, or slander, I would appreciate it, as I definitely do not want to do that. The greek word katalalos, which is translated as slanderers at least in some translations comes from
kata and the base of laleo; talkative against, i.e. A slanderer -- backbiter. So it seems to simply denote one who talks against someone, a very broad term.
Furthermore, this topic seems to have stirred up division. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to speak on topics where there's a lot of different opinions.

 

[Tolworth John]

Furthermore, this topic seems to have stirred up division.

There are always different views on any forum.
One post a topic and reply to those who respond.

There are rules about offencive posts/replies.

I would suggest typing out your posting ideas in word and leaving them for a few hours and then reread them.
That gives you a chance to pick up anything that might be awkward.

 

[Andreas89]

Supposed, might have, somewhere.
You are building a big accusation on nothing.

May I suggest that you check out what your local churches believe and that you talk to the ministers about your concerns.

Your problem is not that you need someone to baptise you, but that you need a church to belong to.

Sort that out and the question of baptism will sort it self out.

The accusation that these pastors are performing hand signs is certainly not based on nothing. It is based on my understanding of the occult and the observation of my own eyes. The assertion, however, that they are doing them purposely and with occult/magick/witchcraft intent was never made. However, the suspicion of such increases with the variety and frequency of hand signs that they perform.

 

[Albion]

The accusation that pastors are performing occult hand signs is certainly not based on nothing. It is based on my understanding of the occult and the observation of my own eyes.

What does that "understanding" of the occult amount to?

The idea that ministers are making hand signs that are satanic or whatever during the worship service is certainly unprovable. But it does remind me of the websites that show secret occultish hand grips being given by various world leaders to each other. These consist, without exception, of extending the right hand and clasping the right hand of the other person with the fingers held together.