I'm always worrying that Jesus won't forgive me, It's disturbing my sleep too

[Live for God]

I would appreciate it very much if you could help me out in my situation as I feel constant worry about it and also I feel stupid for what I did.

I'd like to begin by saying, Jesus forgives all sin if we ask forgiveness and repent, BUT He WILL NOT forgive anybody who takes the mark of the beast 666. any such person will go to hell, no exceptions whatsoever !!

I'm aware of the Biblical book of Revelation's and particularly about the mark of the beast during the End Times and great Tribulation. I know that the Antichrist will try and get as many people as possible to receive a mark (his mark, the mark of the beast) in/on the right hand or in/on the forehead that no man may buy or sell saith he had the mark which is the name or the number of his name 666. I understand anybody who accepts this mark will go to hell, no if's about it, they will go to hell 100% guaranteed.
I believe a lot of today's technology could be a stepping stone towards, be the forerunner of or be the actual mark in the future on the right hand or forehead used for buying and selling and mainly the purpose of the mark will be worshiping Satan.


What I would please like your your advice on is this.


I was at home just over a month ago and the UPC barcode on a cardboard retail packaging caught my attention, I felt the urge to rip the barcode from the box and held it for about 1 minute barcode side touching my forehead for a few seconds. I knew it was wrong when I was doing this stupid act and in my heart I knew I shouldn't have done it. I don't know if it was my own stupidity or a demonic influence leading me to do this, I'm not sure.
I have OCD and when I do things once I feel the tendency to have to do it again. so I did it again a couple more times with different items with UPC on them, held the barcode side touching my forehead for a few seconds.


I find it hard to relax now even a month later and having asked God's forgiveness many times, I keep waking up in the night, stressed out about it and I really wish I could turn back time so that I had never done it.

Last time I did it was just a little more than one month ago , I asked for forgiveness from Jesus and repented and will forever stay repented from it, I feel so stupid for doing it and I truly asked for forgiveness from Jesus.
The said act is something I want to know if Jesus has forgiven me of and is something I certainly want to forget and leave in the past but I need to be sure of God's forgiveness first.
Now though that I'm trying to move on and forget about it I just get the worry in my mind that Jesus may not forgive me for this. I'm not sure where the worry is coming from or if it is Satan putting doubt in my mind trying to make me think Jesus won't forgive me.
I just want to move on and strengthen my life with God but feel this worry is hindering my progress with Jesus.

Do you think this act is something Jesus forgives me from?


thanks and God Bless

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Admin Hat...

Moved here from formal debate proposals.

Mark
CF Admin

 

[kristina411]

It sounds like a lot of your fears stem from OCD. OCD is an anxiety disorder if you were unaware, and anxiety is what you are experiencing from one of your obsessive thoughts.

Have you seen anyone about your OCD? The reason I ask is that people with OCD often let it play out in religion and quite often can leave you always anxious. God wants us to feel peace with Him, love with Him. He does not want us in a constant anxious state over things we have done.
You repented, you have stopped the action. It is hard when you have OCD (did I mention I also have OCD?) now it is time to move on. What you explain was probably sinful, not because of the action itself but your heart during the action. Try to think of what compelled you to do it and see if you can work on that.

The one unforgivable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. I dont believe you are guilty of this so there for the other sins are forgivable. You did not take the mark of the beast, it is not tribulation yet (that I know of).
Be kind to yourself, you have to be able to accept His forgiveness. I know it is hard. I did some terrible things as a teenager about 10-12 years ago that I just couldn't let go of for years. Its time to move on, forgive yourself and move on so you can lose this anxiety.

 

[Inkfingers]

Do you think this act is something Jesus forgives me from?

Holding a barcode to your head is not taking the mark of the beast.

I don't know if you've ever seen the Hellraiser movies (this isn't a recommendation to do so!) but in there the demons come when people use a puzzle box to summon them.

At one point an autistic character who is obsessed with puzzles solves the puzzlebox and the demons are summoned....but called off by the head demon with the line "It is not hands that summon us, it is desire that does so"...and so they return (and leave the autistic kid in peace).

The mark is similar. It isn't "hands" that take it, its desire, worship, a worship of the beast. Simply holding up a barcode is not that. Nor even would being held down and having it forced into you (assuming its a chip or somesuch). It is when you desire to take it and you worship the beast. That is when you truly have it.

Don't fret over the barcode.

 

[FireDragon76]

Have you seen anyone about your OCD? The reason I ask is that people with OCD often let it play out in religion and quite often can leave you always anxious.

Bad religious advice and incorrect understanding of doctrines can also contribute to OCD. And in some cases people walk away from religion and find peace that way... so religion can definitely be an issue. A naturally anxious person often tries to rationalize their anxiety, and if they rationalize it with religion, badly, then that can make the anxiety worse. Suddenly they think their soul is in peril... of course that produces anxiety, it would in anybody.

I think its a case of a person who is naturally anxious mixed with bad religious ideas. Revelation is notorious for filling people with dread, but if a person keeps in mind that the book is highly figurative and not meant to be understood literally, that helps a great deal in avoiding the pitfalls most people make.

Saying Jesus forgives all sins then turning around making an exception for one thing is pretty illogical, not to mention it doesn't fit with the character of Jesus as presented in the Gospels. So the fear that your soul is in peril is unreal. Feeling anxious doesn't mean you are in trouble with God... if you can start to separate your feelings from reality that also helps a lot.

 

[com7fy8]

I think Revelation says the problem is if a person receives the mark and worships the beast. It is not only an outward mark-getting thing, but how in a person's heart the person is worshiping Satan's beast. It does not sound like you are committed to worshiping Satan and his beast

But if you have a misunderstanding . . . by thinking it can be so much about outward marking, possibly in such confusion you also can be confused about forgiveness.

Jesus says, "'And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.'" (Mark 11:25)

So, have you stayed up-to-date about forgiving others?? Do you forgive in caring prayer for ones you forgive??? If you have not been forgiving the way God wants, then possibly this is at least part of why you can get into problems about if you are forgiven about something.

God is mainly concerned about what we are doing, in our hearts. So . . . also . . . if your forgiving has been more of an action and not truly from your heart, then this could be part of your problem. You are possibly too involved in outward mark receiving and doing your forgiving as an act but not really from your heart of caring for the person (Matthew 18:35).

Any of us can be superficial, like this, in various ways. So, don't isolate yourself with some created problem that makes it seem like you are the only one who can be wrong and you are some special case; because "we are members of one another," Paul says in Romans 12:5 and Ephesians 4:25.

"Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." (Galatians 6:1)

So, yes we children of God have His ability to so help each other . . . to "restore" anyone out of "any" sin problem.

"Confess you trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16)

To me, Galatians 6:1 warns us that any of us can be taken down by whatever sin problem can take you down. We are all human, too, all not perfectly without sin like Jesus. So . . . in dealing with any person who is wrong somehow, I do well to prayerfully have the attitude that "it could be me."

And have compassion for any other person, even using my own sin failures and problems to help me to understand and feel for another person >

"He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness." (Hebrews 5:2)

So, you can use any sin problem of yours to help you feel for other people who have problems, and help them in prayer and example as you grow and gain God's correction (Hebrews 12:6-11) and healing in His love

 

[Emmy]

Dear Live for God. Jesus forgives us when we ask for forgiveness, but this may help you more. Imagine Jesus and lay your deeds or worries at His Feet.
Ask Jesus to take them away and thank Jesus, then do not think of your worries anymore. Every time those thoughts come back, refuse to pick them up. Think of other things, or pray. Keep doing this and you find that Jesus has taken them away. Jesus Loves you and has forgiven you long ago.
The Bible tells us to " Repent and be Born Again," give up all selfish thoughts and wishes, and start doing what Jesus tells us in Luke 10: 25-28: " Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. If you this,
YOU SHALL LIVE. I say this with love, Live for God. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[Quasicentennial]

Recognizing righteousness and healing as complete packages already delivered to you through the acceptance of Jesus Christ, requires faith, constantly and repeatedly, and negative circumstances definitely demand us to ask questions to receive answers through actions that give positive results later if not sooner. Jehovah's creation of Jesus wirh his supernatural resurrected mind will react but only if we ask of Thee for supernatural harvest of various circumstances where prayer is basically our seed questions or requests, and circumstantial positive results - supernatural harvests - may not occur in the order you expect them to be,
So that means that Jesus does not put a cap or delay on your circumstances, simply because he has so many Christians to deal with their circumstances - it's not a business that's on a short-term leasewith a limited
number of phone operators who have to respond to mutiple customer responses.
Jesus can do it all by himself on a supernatural level endlessly, to answer every Christian at the same time, even though not vocally over the phone but through different circumstances that show positive results over time.;'*';.

 

[znr]

Which Hellraiser movie should (I, ahem, avoid)?

Holding a barcode to your head is not taking the mark of the beast.

I don't know if you've ever seen the Hellraiser movies (this isn't a recommendation to do so!) but in there the demons come when people use a puzzle box to summon them.

At one point an autistic character who is obsessed with puzzles solves the puzzlebox and the demons are summoned....but called off by the head demon with the line "It is not hands that summon us, it is desire that does so"...and so they return (and leave the autistic kid in peace).

The mark is similar. It isn't "hands" that take it, its desire, worship, a worship of the beast. Simply holding up a barcode is not that. Nor even would being held down and having it forced into you (assuming its a chip or somesuch). It is when you desire to take it and you worship the beast. That is when you truly have it.

Don't fret over the barcode.

 

[Sketcher]

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." - John 6:37
"For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" - Romans 10:13

No exceptions.

 

[mytel]

Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He was raised three days later. He has done this already, this has already happened. For us, we must believe this truth in our hearts, through faith. So again through faith, we must believe that we have been forgiven. We also forgive others as we have been forgiven. You have said that you have repented of this act, so let it go, trust that God has forgiven you and let it go. I would say resist any thoughts that lead you to doubt this.

 

[lyndseyb]

I've been getting help from my Church with this issue.
I have OCD too and I often worry that Jesus won't forgive me. I keep wanting 'signs' to show I'm forgiven but the ladies at my Church who have been counselling me have told me it's not about that.
It's about choosing to believe in Jesus' power to forgive, even when all you can see is your own sin and you feel helpless.
To do this that had me rejecting/renouncing lies, for example 'I renounce the lie that I am commended/not forgiven' and proclaiming truths, eg 'I receive the truth that I have confessed my sins and God has forgiven me, that I am in Christ Jesus and therefore I am forgiven and not condemned'. etc.

I suggest you take hold of some positive scriptures that give you hope, and either write them out or memorise them so you can say them out loud when you're feeling scared.
eg 'the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.', “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” ,“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

I know it's hard to take hold of those truths when we (I say we because I struggle with fear of the unforgivable sin) feel like we've done something truly unforgivable but what's the alternative? Being stuck in a loop of repenting for the same thing over and over again and living in constant fear. I don't believe God wants that for anyone and he has said he will not turn away anyone who comes to him - no 'unless they have done something unforgivable' or any other conditions attached to that statement so why shouldn't that apply to you and me?

 

[DiscipleHeLovesToo]

i just posted this to a similar question about forgiveness, and it applies here too:

if you are concerned that you may have committed an 'unforgivable' sin, then you haven't - the unforgivable sin is to permanently and completely reject God; because you can never receive forgiveness if you don't believe you need it.

first of all, remember that Jesus paid the price for your sins 2000 or so years before you were born; so from His perspective, all your sins were future sins; even the sins you haven't committed yet. so to sting your wrist with a rubber band when you sin is to add something to the complete and total sacrifice that Jesus made to purchase your forgiveness - and it's either what Jesus did OR your own absolutely perfect performance that gives you right standing with God - not what He did PLUS what you do - so my advice is to stop punishing yourself when you sin, but instead receive your already-available-for-some-2000-years forgiveness and agree with God that Jesus paid the TOTAL price for ALL your sins; including the future sins you haven't even sinned yet, stepping boldly back into His throne room of undeserved favor (grace) toward you.

understand that having a bad thought is not sin; dwelling or meditating on that bad thought with intent is what is sinful. you can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop a bird from building a nest there.

go back and read the book of Romans; read it in several translations so that you can grasp the completeness of God's forgiveness and the futility of striving to be spiritually perfect (as in without sin) by your own strength and understanding; the Christian life is not a changed life where you get a second, third, fourth, etc. chance where God picks you up, dusts you off, points you in the right direction and says 'see if YOU can get it right this time' - the Christian life is an exchanged life where you strive instead to be led by God in every situation; where you die to your own will and allow Him to live through you, understanding that as a living sacrifice, there will be times when you crawl off the alter and follow your own reasoning rather than His and that when you do, you must immediately receive your already available forgiveness and believe by faith that God never held your sin against you because Jesus paid for t before you were even born...

it's not wrong thoughts and actions (sins) that send people to hell - all sins have been paid for; even the sins of people who will totally reject God - what sends people to hell is rejecting complete forgiveness as a free gift - and it doesn't matter whether someone is an all-out God hater or someone who thinks their own performance is good enough with a little help from what Jesus did - if you aren't totally trusting in Jesus' sacrifice for your sins to be counted righteous by God, if you don't believe that God sees you as righteous ONLY because of Jesus' sacrifice and NOT because of your own performance good or bad, then you don't fully believe God - and it is the sin of not believing God (unbelief) that ultimately causes people to reject Him and choose hell.

the more you are led by God, the less you will sin; as He will never lead you to sin. realize that you aren't smart enough to apply the multitude of God's laws correctly in any given situation (no one is - even Jesus was led by God instead of His own human mind); stop striving to 'stop that sinning' and start striving to be led by Him through fellowship, and as you become more aware of His unconditional love for you, you will perceive His leading more and more, and sin less - effortlessly

this should help:

The New You & The Holy Spirit - Andrew Wommack Ministries

Spirit Led Life | Faith Life Church - Branson, MO

Spirit Led Life 2 | Faith Life Church - Branson, MO

 

[RAnonUS19B]

Jesus died for our sins don't let the anxiety get the best of you i also struggle with it a lot but God has calmed it down pray to him for help and you will receive it if you believe it. Don't let satan take control of your life threw anxiety.