From: xxxxxxxxx
To: pastor vitale
Sent: Thu, 19 Feb 2004
Subject: Help please, a question for you
XXXXXXXX: I am very concerned about my own spirituality. I have been raised in a Christian protestant church my whole life. I have always been actively evolved in it. I have been desperately seeking Christ in my life. I no longer care about the things of this world. I am stuck between the world and God. I am about to graduate college and have been going to school to become a filmmaker. All I wanted though is to be like a true prophet and live day by day knowing the will of God as he speaks to me. He doesn't speak to me and I have been so lost lately about what to do that I don't think I can go on much longer. Everyone in the world has a different spin on the Bible and scripture. I think that if someone really knows God should he be working in their lives and performing miracles or at least some signs. Like the scriptures say?
[Pastor Vitale says:] yes
XXXXXXXX: Well I have been endlessly searching and decided to ask you. I have read a lot of the lessons on your webpage and I am totally confused most of the time reading them. Yet I figured since you seem to at least acknowledge that God speaks to you and you seem to have some truth to what you say ( as far as the stuff I am not confused about ) I believe your advice or assistance could be very beneficial since I am loosing my heart and mind to my endless and fruitless search for the truth in my life. I have never been baptized and I thought I should. You say that only someone with the virile seed can really baptize us.
[Pastor Vitale says:] The virile seed of Christ is required to baptize someone INTO CHRIST, which is a spiritual aspect of baptism.
There is only one baptism, but there are many aspects of that baptism, the first of which is water baptism. If you have not been water baptized, water baptism would be a good place to start.
XXXXXXXX: I don't know if my pastor has the virile seed. He preaches the gospel of the cross which is contrary to what you say is correct.
[Pastor Vitale says:] Your Pastor, who preaches the gospel of the cross, is fully qualified to baptize you in water.
XXXXXXXX: So who can baptize me?
[Pastor Vitale says:] An individual is baptized into Christ, which requires the virile seed, when when one is exposed to the Doctrine of Christ, through a teacher of God who has the virile seed. So, XXX, you are in the process of receiving the virile seed and being baptized into Christ, as you read the teachings on the Living Epistles web page.
XXXXXXXX: And will my water baptism give me some resolution to my turmoil?
[Pastor Vitale says:] Water baptism, the immersion of our physical body into physical water, is an act of faith and submission to God. Inner turmoil begins to be alleviated as we immerse our MIND in the Water of the spiritual understanding of the Word (the Doctrine of Christ), which is the baptism of our MIND into Christ. Deliverance from turmoil is an on-going process, as our MIND is continually and progressively immersed in the Doctrine of Christ.
Emotional and mental turmoil can be a sign of a high level of innate spirituality, that is, the spirituality that a man is born with, as opposed to the spirituality that is acquired and developed through a relationship with Christ.
If this is your condition, that you have been born with a high level of spirituality that is destabilizing you through emotional and spiritual turmoil, the answer to your problem is that Christ, the only spiritual male, should be formed in you. (See Spiritual Sexuality)
XXXXXXXX: I have been a believer since I was 5 years old so I am not new to the bible. I have studied much of it so endlessly that I find many contradictions that make me more confused to the point of doubts. I know that it is sinful for me to continue to pursue any careers with this world.
[Pastor Vitale says:] We all must pursue a secular career, unless the Lord provides another source of income for us. How else shall we have the means to live in this world? The Lord does not usually provide an income for a student of His Word. Material provision, usually, is only given to the teachers of the Word. I, myself, worked a full-time job for several years, while this ministry was being formed. That is, I worked two full-time jobs, one secular, and the other, the building of Living Epistles Ministries, for several years.
XXXXXXXX: So I have been searching and waiting for Jesus to intervene and give me some direction.
[Pastor Vitale says:] The Lord is moving on your behalf by directing you to the Doctrine of Christ, which you have been studying on the Living Epistles web site
XXXXXXXX: If he keeps holding out on me I don't know what else I can do ... perhaps I have sinned beyond redemption somehow or am just not good enough.
[Pastor Vitale says:] the Lord does not "hold out on us," He loves us, but it just seems, by our human reasoning, to take such a longtime for our spiritual life to get going.
XXXXXXXX: I have been praying for him to send me anyone who can help me find his kingdom and fill me with the promised peace.
[Pastor Vitale says:] His kingdom, is the mind of Christ. We experience the peace that is promised in the scripture when the Christ mind within us subjects the carnal mind (the source of all of our problems) that we were born with. For this to happen, the Christ mind must first be formed in us, and then grafted to us, which happens as we pursue and study the Doctrine of Christ.
The deliverance that you are asking for, is a process which takes time, but eventually fulfills the promises of the Scripture.
XXXXXXXX: If you can answer at all I will greatly appreciate it, sorry this is so long. I really am in DIRE need. I don't know what else TO DO. Thanks so much, May God bless you. I hope you can help me.
[Pastor Vitale says:] Take heart, XXXX, because the Lord has heard your cry, and will meet your need as you continue to pursue Him through the doctrine of Christ. You are a very blessed man.
May the Lord encourage you, strengthen you, and fully equip you for the battle against your carnal mind. May your victory be complete, that the Lord might be magnified and glorified in you.
God bless you.
Sheila R. Vitale,
Pastor, Teacher & Founder
Living Epistles Ministries
