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In the Bible, some of the main characters often have a pastoral/spiritual guide to get Godly guidance or to get a better understanding of God's Will. King Saul --had--> Prophet Samuel King David --had--> Prophet Nathan King Hezekiah --had--> Prophet Isaiah Even some major evil characters had pastoral/spiritual guides King Ahab --had--> Prophet Elijah I suppose the following association is probably really really weak but if you consider John The Baptist's water baptizing Jesus Christ then Jesus Christ --probably had--> John The Baptist as a sort of guide if you take the water baptism into consideration but this is really a weak argument In any case, I don't want to kind of stray away from what my real question is going to be. When does a Christian person go directly to God Himself , and when does said person go to a pastoral/spiritual guide to get Godly guidance or to get a better understanding of God's Will ? One of the reasons that I ask said question is because (Mark 15:37-38) 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. 38 And the veil of the temple was Torn in two from top to bottom. Jesus Christ's death on The Cross allows us to approach God directly. Furthermore, I really do Not want to keep approaching pastoral/spiritual guides as if they were soothsayers/seers/fortune teller all the time. Therefore, When does a Christian person go directly to God Himself , and when does said person go to a pastoral/spiritual guide to get Godly guidance or to get a better understanding of God's Will ?

Hello all, I am here for advice. I have been dating my current boyfriend for about 16 months. We met a youth church event that his church was attending and my church was also attending. It all started great but then after he visited my church a few times things went a little downhill. My church is more conservative while his church is more "modern". My family wanted him to do the things and worship the way that is done at my church. He is not used to this and he doesn't necessarily agree. My family then began to disapprove and that's when the conflict started. I spoke to my family about how important he is to me and my feelings towards him but they have pretty much just shot me down. It makes me feel very sad because his family has been so kind to me and I was so welcomed at his church and they can't be welcoming to him. My boyfriend and I took a break to try and see if this was something that we both truly want. We have decided that we want to continue this relationship and grow but I am worried about my family. I don't want to go against them but I also dont feel like they are taking my feelings and relationships into consideration. They have told me to stop communicating with him because I am not allowed. I should also say that I am in my mid twenties and I don't agree that they should tell me who I am allowed to speak to who I am not. I need advice on how handle this situation with my parents and with my boyfriend.

Hi there! I am going to start off by giving a bit of a backstory, and please hear me out by reading all of this because I am in dire need right now. I grew up in a lovely home with Baptist parents who attended church every Sunday. However, I hit very traumatic times at about 7 years old, and now I am 16, going on 17, and my life is healing from the trauma of divorced parents, dealing with calling defax on my own mother for emotional, verbal, and sometimes physical abuse, hating my father for years due to my mother calling him unworthy every chance she got- only to find that my father did everything he could to make me realize he meant no harm, and all the mental issues which came with these life experiences. Shortly after turning 12, four years into my nearly 10-year real-life conflict, I found myself falling far from God. Although I had become fully saved according to the Baptist faith and believed with all my heart that God was my savior and my all at age 10, I fell far from Him only two years later. Two years later, at 12, and hardly 12 at that, I text my friend late one summer night. "I don't know that I believe in God anymore," I sent her, crying my eyes out because all I needed right then was someone to pull me back to God and say that I needed to hold on. I desperately needed someone to grab my ears and pull me up saying, "Hello!! Jesus is alive! He is alive! And He loves you more than you'll ever comprehend!" But, the reality was far from this. My friend responds less than a minute later. "I am an Atheist." My heart dropped at the message. But... strangely enough, it later was found with relief. I felt ACCEPTANCE for falling from Him! It sounds crazy because it is. I researched for a long time, mainly in the wrong places, and I found myself to identify as an Atheist. This lasted for years, all the way until a month or so ago to be frank. I am going to be 17 in July and going into the 12th grade next year, and I believe this all happened in the summer of going into 6th or 7th grade, which would have put me at 11 or 12. So for 5, possibly 6, years I have been very lost and falling blind of God. I fell into believing I was transgender, from female to male, to believing I was gay and dating a girl almost a full year. Many, many tragic things followed this initial start of trauma when my parents got a divorce at 7 years old. Now, having all that said... I still feel a strong incomplete pit in my life, this being my relationship with God. I still question my sexuality today. I believe that being abused for all those years led me to believe I was homosexual because beforehand, I never EVER questioned my sexuality. I was your typical "boy-crazy" little girl who would go to their mom after school and say, "Guess what mommy! [Enter name here] talked to me today! I was so nervous!" I can tell you confidently now that I know I am a beautiful, straight female who deserves just as much as everyone else. In my heart, I feel that. However, I hesitate to answer so confidently in person because it takes denying my past conflictions to find my true self deep within me that, yes, I am that person. For a long time I denied this person that I was because of the many times my mother would tell me that I wasn't her daughter, I wasn't what she wanted, and I was a mistake through and through. I believe truly, within my heart, that abuse can cause lifetime problems such as this. Abuse, especially that in childhood, does not just affect your personality, your social life, and your way of coping with life situations. Abuse affects your lifestyle, your beliefs, and all the critical things of yourself. I am stuck. My ex-best friend and I started talking recently. We grew up together and shortly after I went from a true Christian to Atheist, we fell apart from one another. In the past month, we found each other via social media and I have come to find, not to my surprise, that she is still very faithful and connected to God. Even when we were little and very close, I was inspired by her connection with God and trust in Him, despite our different beliefs. She was raised Apostolic Pentecostal. I was raised Baptist. However, now that we have reconnected, I have caught her up with everything that happened to me in the past years that we haven't talked. She amazes me still at her immaculate trust in God. She is now involved in leading many youth groups to teach the Bible to younger kids, as well as attending her own youth group herself. This makes me intrigued in her beliefs since I am currently not under any official belief besides that in which God does indeed exist. My mother is not much in the picture anymore, so I have free reign to explore all sorts of Christianity that I please without fear of being bashed or shunned for doing anything other than Baptism. I have been looking into Apostolic Pentecostal all day, trying to actually understand what the belief is all about compared to Baptism, since that is what I know best, and it makes so much more sense to me compared to what I grew up with. Is there anybody who is an Apostolic Pentecostal that could please help guide me and help me in understanding the beliefs? I am very intrigued by this way of praise and church-going. So please, if you read all of this, which I hope you did because it contributes so much to my reasoning behind this, and you are an Apostolic Pentecostal, please give me information on your beliefs and ways of praising and keeping faith. I am finding God again, and I do not plan on losing Him this time. Not again.

HOWEVER I'VE TRIED FIXING ME FOR YRS NOTHING OR NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO HELP ME RISE ABOVE GOING BACK TO A HORRIBLE LIFE THAT I YEARN FOR SO BAD, YET CONTINUE TO SLIP BACK IN TO SATANS SNEAR! I'M SICK OF IT. HE'S A LIAR AND HAS HURT ME TIME AND TIME AGAIN WHICH HAS LEAD TO THE MOST PRECIOUS THINGS TO ME IN THE WORLD GETTING HURT! I NOW FACE COURT THIS FRIDAY! THEY ARE WANTING TO TERMINATE MY RIGHTS. WHICH TO ME IS A VERY DISTRUCTIVE OUTCOME. I'VE GONE DOWN A WRONG PATH THEN WAS STUCK IN GUILT AFTER LETTING MY PRECIOUS DOWN, TRIED TO DO IT ALONE ,TO ALONEY SLIP DOWN AGAIN LATER.DUE TO ONLY GETTING TO SEE HIM SOMETIMES I GUESS DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND NOW HOW IVE GOTTEN THIS FAR INTO THIS DISTRUCTIVE PATTERN. I KNOW I WAS MEANT FOR MUCH MORE. (MORE) THAN THAT I KNOW THAT (THEY) (MY PRECIOUS) DESERVE MUCH MORE. AND THEY DERSERVE IT FROM ME AND THEIR FATHERS. I'M WILLING TO DO IT AND HAVE ATTEMPPTED OR MADE ATTEMPTS TO DO. SOME HOW WHICH COMING FROM A MOTHER (IF YOU CAN CALL ME THAT) DONT KNOW HOW IT COULD HAVE EVEN BEEN A THOUGHT TO DO ANYTHING BUT BE INRICHED IN (MY PRECIOUS)'S LIFE COME TO PASS EVEN IF HE WASN'T AT A HOME WITH HIM. HOWEVER I WAS STILL AND AM STILL BROKEN. (BUT WILLING) TO DO THE ONLY RIGHT THING WHICH IS TO REACH OUT TRY TO WIPE MY SELF OFF AND PRAY I CAN BE WHAT GOD CALLED ME TO BE OFCOURSE FOR ME BUT TO (MY PRECIOUS) AND GOD! (MY LORD) OUR LORD! I NEVER WANT TO FALL SHORT ANY DAY! MY INNER MOST WANT OUTTA LIFE IS TO BE WHO IM SUPPOSED TO OR MEANT TO BE FOR THEM TO REACH FOR CHRIST. NOT ONLY REACH HIM BUT HELP OTHERS ON THEIR PATH. ITS THEIR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO BE WITH ME AND THEIR DADS, AND YES IVE FALLEN AND SCARED TO DEATH IF IVE FALLEN SO MANY TIMES WHAT MAY BE DIFFERENT NOW. BUT I ALSO KNOW IF I CANT OR DONT GET TO BE MOMMY. I DONT KNOW IF I WILL MAKE ANOTHER DAY. THEY WILL MAKE IT IM SURE BUT ITS JUST NOT FAIR TO THEM. THEY ALREADY KNOW ME AS MOMMY AND WILL BE JUST AS BROKEN AS I. I GUESS I DON'T KNOW WHAT IM ASKING OUT OF THE SITE IN GENERAL I JUST KNOW THAT I HAVE HAD MY RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHRIST WHICH AT TIMES WAS SO ENCOMPASSING AND AND FULLFILLING THAT THERE IS SOMETHING OUT THERE BIGGER THAN US THAT HAS ALL POWER AND IS A GOD OF COMPLETION WILL FINISH WHAT HE STARTED. I JUST DONT KNOW HOW TO GET THERE AND STAY THERE SO IM ASKING FOR IDK MAYBE LADIES THAT KNOW AND SERVE THAT GOD TO PRAY MAYBE AND TEXT ME MAYBE AT A FURTHER MESSAGE THAT HAS INFO. AND GUIDE ME TO HEALING.

Hello, I desperately need some guidance and advice from a godly woman.