Have I grieved/quenched the Holy Spirit

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Apache1

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Hello

During the coronavirus lockdown I decided to convert to Christianity and since the churches were all closed I decided to self baptise

I was immediately “sifted” by Satan and subjected to all sorts of things in my head. I was a smoker previously and made me smoke even more

So have I grieved/quenched the Holy Spirit and if so what should I do? I recently quit smoking but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference
 

Matthias

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Hello

During the coronavirus lockdown I decided to convert to Christianity and since the churches were all closed I decided to self baptise

I was immediately “sifted” by Satan and subjected to all sorts of things in my head. I was a smoker previously and made me smoke even more

So have I grieved/quenched the Holy Spirit and if so what should I do? I recently quit smoking but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference

Smoking may be a poor decision in regard to a person’s health but it doesn’t necessarily grieve or quench the Holy Spirit. You appear to acknowledge this when you say that quitting smoking hasn’t made any difference.

Self-baptizing is an unusual practice. You commented that you did it when you decided to convert to Christianity [What did you convert from? What led you to the decision to convert? The biblical cause is represented in Acts 8:12] when churches were closed.

Not all churches were closed but may have been in your local area. Surely they are open now. I would recommend that you contact a church, discuss / review your decision with the pastor, and consider being baptized by someone other than yourself.
 

Apache1

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Well the important part of my post is I was spiritually attacked by Satan and received all sorts of messages in my head. I have been trying to ask Christians for an explanation but the ones I ask have reacted in an arrogant patronising manner which puts Jesus to shame.
 
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Matthias

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Well the important part of my post is I was spiritually attacked by Satan and received all sorts of messages in my head.

What happened to you isn’t unique. Satan attacks all Christians. He will attempt to discourage, distract and derail you with “all sorts of messages”. The Christian must guard himself or herself, as described by Paul in Ephesians 6:10-17. I encourage you to read those passages and take comfort from them. We haven’t been left defenseless. Put on the armor of God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

I have been trying to ask Christians for an explanation but the ones I ask have reacted in an arrogant patronising manner which puts Jesus to shame.

I’m very sorry that this has happened to you. Don’t let it discourage you. I don’t presume to know how you responded to their mistreatment but, if you haven’t already, please pray for them. It will help you and will be a good service to them.
 

Randy Kluth

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Hello

During the coronavirus lockdown I decided to convert to Christianity and since the churches were all closed I decided to self baptise

I was immediately “sifted” by Satan and subjected to all sorts of things in my head. I was a smoker previously and made me smoke even more

So have I grieved/quenched the Holy Spirit and if so what should I do? I recently quit smoking but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference
Guilt is sometimes real and based on our sins, and at other times it is psychological, based on the memory of what we conceive of as rebellion against God. The best way to stay free of guilt is to avoid things that even question whether you're being rebellious. But I don't think you can avoid all situations that make you uneasy.

Most issues like this simply fade with time. But sometimes, God seems to want us to stop relying on "spiritual experience," so that when things get dry, our roots begin to dig down deep. We develop fortitude when we are shaken by the winds of this world, which seem to threaten our walk with God and test our strength.

When we're younger Christians, things like smoking seem more serious than they really are. We aren't going to make these bodies survive old age no matter how healthy we live. So our object is not just to live long, but to keep ourselves fit so that we are mentally alert and happy.

If we go through real tough times, and perhaps are dying of cancer, what does it matter if we smoke? God is taking us home. But more often, we don't want to go home leaving that kind of testimony, as if we want others to just give up any time they have it tough. Some people want to live their lives standing strong even as they go through various tests.

Hey, when you go through difficult tests, you're not always going to feel like a champion. In my experience, I more often feel like a flop, even when I try real hard. God has a way of breaking us down. What matters most of all to Him is not your smoking, but your love for Him, and your obedience in matters of maintaining love for others. Keep that and you should be fine.
 
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quietthinker

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Here's a link worth checking ....I think it will be helpful Apache1
 

Apache1

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All I’m really after is did I quench/grieve the Holy Spirit or not

I mean, if I had the Holy Spirit and someone asked me the above, I would ask the Holy Spirit and give its response to that person instead of my personal opinion or YouTube videos
 
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Rita

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Hi Apache,
The early stages of being a Christian are quite challenging , I remember not being able to understand why I still got angry once I came to faith ( Kind of had the false reality that I would be so good ) It’s a journey and a development of a relationship between you and the Lord. Can I ask if you felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and then when you smoked more you felt that presence was not felt in the same way ………is that why you are concerned about quenching the Holy Spirit, and then when you stopped smoking that presence did not return ?
Rita
 

Apache1

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Well it’s more of a case of I was subjected to all sorts of messages from the other side in my head and since they stopped I have heard nothing despite my constant requests for an explanation/prayers

Some of the messages were things like

I was God/Jesus/Satan in human form

I blasphemed the Holy Spirit

Someone claiming to be Jesus told me to cut my legs off if I wanted to enter Heaven

Death threats from someone claiming to be God

Some sort of trial of my life with God as judge, Jesus as defence and Satan as prosecutor

There were a whole lot more but those are some of the main ones

You can ask the Holy Spirit if you do not believe me
 

quietthinker

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I wrote in the front of my Bible in my early walk when doubts assailed me... 'Be my feelings what they will, Jesus is my Saviour still'.
That knowledge was an anchor.
 

Randy Kluth

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Someone claiming to be Jesus told me to cut my legs off if I wanted to enter Heaven
This is one way you can gradually learn to *not* listen to these ideas coming from your own head, from your own fears about your unfaithfulness to God. God is *always love,* and would never seek to harm you. He may let evil people do harm to you, but He would *never* inspire you to do harm to yourself.

These voices are the product of an unbalanced chemistry of the brain, and also of a disturbed state of the spirit. If you try to keep your love for God, even when you don't always feel it, you will be able to overcome these false suggestions from your own mind. The more you ignore them, the more you will be free of them.

A wonderful movie about this, from the viewpoint of mental illness, is "A Beautiful Mind." The man was a brilliant mathematician, and even won a Nobel Prize, but had the weakened condition of his mind similar to what you're describing. It wasn't religious for him, though--it was just the state of his mind, being chemically unbalanced and spiritually troubled.

Voices haunted him, and he actually had hallucinations that he had to gradually reason were not logically there! Wonderful movie! I would recommend it if you would learn to ignore these tempting false suggestions from your mind, whether you want to say they're from Satan or not.

They may in fact be. The point is, if they aren't in the nature of God's love and goodness, and if it tries to stifle your freedom in Christ to make wise decisions for yourself, it isn't God! You should learn to listen to reason and be guided by God's love alone.
 

Apache1

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Why would my own mind all of a sudden go off the deep end and tell myself that Jesus said to cut my legs off

No, the correct interpretation is that someone was allowed to impersonate Jesus
 
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Rita

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Well it’s more of a case of I was subjected to all sorts of messages from the other side in my head and since they stopped I have heard nothing despite my constant requests for an explanation/prayers

Some of the messages were things like

I was God/Jesus/Satan in human form

I blasphemed the Holy Spirit

Someone claiming to be Jesus told me to cut my legs off if I wanted to enter Heaven

Death threats from someone claiming to be God

Some sort of trial of my life with God as judge, Jesus as defence and Satan as prosecutor

There were a whole lot more but those are some of the main ones

You can ask the Holy Spirit if you do not believe me
None of those messages would come from The Holy Spirit, they would have other sources, you say they have stopped……wouldn’t that be a good thing considering they were awful messages ! ?
 

Apache1

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None of those messages would come from The Holy Spirit, they would have other sources, you say they have stopped……wouldn’t that be a good thing considering they were awful messages ! ?

Well if it happened to you wouldn’t you want to know why it happened and what the point of it was?
 
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dev553344

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Hello

During the coronavirus lockdown I decided to convert to Christianity and since the churches were all closed I decided to self baptise

I was immediately “sifted” by Satan and subjected to all sorts of things in my head. I was a smoker previously and made me smoke even more

So have I grieved/quenched the Holy Spirit and if so what should I do? I recently quit smoking but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference
You probably shouldn't try ordinances on yourself like baptism. I would join a good church and be part of it. That should fix things.
 
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dev553344

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Why would my own mind all of a sudden go off the deep end and tell myself that Jesus said to cut my legs off

No, the correct interpretation is that someone was allowed to impersonate Jesus
Yes Satan likes to impersonate Jesus and God. You caught that which is good discernment. We can discern the Holy Spirit thru the fruits of the Holy Spirit:

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.