"It was His death that was efficacious. . not His blood. . . Christ did not bleed to death. The shedding of blood had nothing to do with bleeding. . . it simply means death. . . Nothing in His human blood saves…It is not His blood that I love. . . it is Him. It is not His bleeding that saved me, but His dying."

John, in his book, The Truth War, make this accurate statement:

The war against truth is nothing new, of course. It began in the garden when the serpent said to the woman, “Has God indeed said . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1). A relentless battle has raged ever since between truth and falsehood, good and evil, light and dark­ness, assurance and doubt, belief and scepticism, righteousness and sin. It is a savage spiritual conflict that literally spans all of human history. But the ferocity and irrationality of this present onslaught seems quite unprecedented. ‘The Truth War,’ John MacArthur

The Bible says, Lev. 17:11, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."

John, God has not said what you are claiming.

All men have holes in their theology. Some of these holes make little difference to the overall integrity of an otherwise safe vessel. But, other holes are of such consequence that if they are not addressed harbor great and serious results.

John has more than a few leaking seals in his theology, that have gotten the attention of quite a number of people. I do not bother myself with these that I call noncritical controversies. But, when the integrity of a weight bearing seam or wall is discovered to be faulty and dangerous by those whose job it is to look for such things, a warning needs to be sounded, even though the problem has lain dormant for three decades. Regardless of how much dust this issue has gathered, it is still alive, and is just one more gaping hole allowing the Church to take on water.

To call into question the very foundation of our forgiveness by reducing that foundation, the blood of Jesus, to a mere symbol is serious heresy. He has not retracted this belief, and in my opinion, stands in a very precarious position as a teacher, as do his followers. Can we have faith in a symbol or a metaphor? If so, maybe there is a Santa Clause; I'm just being silly here. Is reducing the very thing that God requires to a metaphor equate to having faith in the blood of Jesus?

In times past this question may not have gotten the attention that it deserves, and only barely appears on the radar at this late hour, and then only by those who thirst for truth and not the acceptance of men. Today a few are beginning to examine the statements of all the self appointed leaders who profess great wisdom by way of their institutionalized learning. This particular individual even mocks those kitchen table theologians who do not render the proper respect to schooled doctors of religion, “There is a vast difference, by the way, between the whimsical ‘kitchen table’ interpretations of laymen, and the teaching of skilled men who work very hard to rightly divide the Word.” It is primarily by way of these “gifted” teachers that we have now a dissected Body of Christ. The Church has been torn into a thousand sects and every doctrine reduced to gossamer shavings, and now, at the end of the age, is faced with this great apostasy. The revelation of Scripture is not enough for these highly educated types, they must have their opinions too. It is my guess that it is at least as much the fault of academia as it is the ignorant layman, but scholarship always trumps the un-schooled layman, who must rely on mere “revelation.”  The pride of education doesn’t stop at the pulpit.

If the blood is as important as the Bible seems to make it, then to trivialize it may spell disaster worse than the Gulf oil spill; the consequences may be eternal.

I think his error is that he has confused the blood with the Cross and made them into a single thing; it is to combine forgiveness of sins with deliverance from sin, the atonement with sanctification, and propitiation and the purging of a guilty conscience with emancipation from the sin nature. The purpose of Christ’s death had a dual result. The blood of Jesus, the perfect blood of Jesus, was the atonement for our sins. It was that perfect blood, offered to God, of which, He was wholly and completely satisfied. It is this blood that is on the door post of our hearts, that when God sees the blood, He passes over. The blood was for God.

But, something else is needed. Although the blood of Jesus achieves the entrance into the throne room of God by faith in the power of the blood, and washes away all the sins, past and present, God still has to deal with His sinner children. The death of Christ accomplished two things. His death not only atoned for our sins through the shedding of blood, it provided us with the solution to deliver us from the power of sin in our present lives, our sinful nature. We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. We were born with a sin nature, and it is our nature to sin, we cannot not sin, unless and until we change our nature, but we will never be completely free from sin as long as we are clothed with this flesh. We have gotten forgiveness for our sins through the blood, but how can we get deliverance from our predisposition to want to sin? Rom. 3:25,26 "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. The cross is the answer. Rom. 5:9 "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" The blood was for God, but the Cross is for us, Rom 6:6,7 "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.." Jesus did not go just half way. His death satisfied God’s need for absolute justice, and it provided us with the tool to defeat Satan’s goal to keep us sinning.

So, do you see why the blood is more than just fluid and why it is important? The blood of bulls and goats would not do, it had to be the perfect, untainted blood of a sinless person, Jesus.

The “blood” was not just a metaphor for the death of Jesus, it had intrinsic value that no other fluid possessed, and it was that very fluid, flowing in the veins of Jesus, His life blood, that alone would be adequate to satisfy His Father and atone for the sins of the whole world. He not only opened the way into the presence of the Father through His blood, but He opened the way to freedom from sin through the Cross.

The big question at present is not, “how does the Cross help us to overcome the sin nature,” (that is a subject for another time), but rather, if we trivialize the blood of Jesus, that God has put such high value on, by the application of our scholarship, and reduce it to just the fluid in the veins of Jesus, of which the only value was to point to His death, can we still appropriate the efficacious qualities of what that blood accomplished? Can we reduce the blood from its atoning value, through the misapplication of words, and still claim to have faith in the blood of Christ? And again, will those who uphold this teacher in this belief and follow him share in the effects of his error?

If the blood is just a metaphor for something else, then maybe we shouldn’t trust anything we read in Scripture, and we should just join the liberal camp of creative, personal interpretations.

Any novice coming to the Bible for the first time, without a doubt, would conclude that “blood” plays an important part of our understanding of the Bible, and our relationship to God. Also, this same novice would not conclude that  “blood” and “death” were synonymous. It is only through critical analysis and scholarship that intelligent doctors of theology have come up with a new view, by way of there fallen ability to “reason” there way to a proper understanding of the mind of God. 1Corinthians 1:20, 2:13: “Where is the wise man (the philosopher)? Where is the scribe (the scholar)? Where is the investigator (the logician, the debater) of this present time and age? Has not God shown up the nonsense and the folly of this world's wisdom?”. . . “And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the [Holy] Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths with spiritual language [to those who possess the Holy Spirit].”

I do not question John MacArthur’s sincerity in wanting to deliver truth to those who follow him, but on this point of the blood of Jesus he is wrong, and it is a serious error. I have no personal axe to grind with JM, only that he has trivialized the very thing that effects our forgiveness, and I cannot be a part of that. It is the duty of the watchman to expose error wherever it presents itself, even if it comes from the camp of the watchman himself. We are to be seekers of truth, not followers of men.

The following response to my last post, by T Austin Sparks, Vision and Vocation, is just such a blessing.

There are so few who are hearing from the Lord these days, compared to the very large numbers who listen for words from men, to direct their way into eternity. We look for markers and road signs, and directions from fellow travelers, on our way to the Celestial City, and there are many who are leading away from that City, but not all. We call these markers, road signs, and directions “ministries;” those who are pointing the way. Most direct us onto the Broadway where life is easy, but a few point to the truth, to the narrow way, a way that demands that we focus on the destination, and not on the distractions.

Here is one that I am glad to know, who hears the Shepherd and is following.

_________________________________________________

Thank you for this message that has arrived in my email box. I had just posted what I have written below on someone elses blog. Then I finally read your email and it so encouraged me…it truly is the word for me today… so I thought I would post it again here. I have been greatly encouraged by your messages that have arrived in my email box but have not always commented. Thank you so much for them. Both yours and David Wilkerson’s remind me that it isn’t a time for me to be dwelling carelessly or to be holding the truth in unrighteousness….and that He tries the hearts of all men who say they love Him. …tries them?? Why does He try us when He already knows the thoughts and true motives of our hearts. BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO IS TRIED BY GOD’S JEALOUS LOVE…it is an act of our Father’s jealous love that every thought, every motive, every act and every idle word spoken, all that comes from the root of self be made known to ourselves by His Jealous Love so that we may nail this man of flesh, this man of sin who sits in the temple of God as though He is God, to the cross daily and hate him as much as God does.. .. No, we will not stand naked and ashamed on His Day, His great day that is so soon in coming. But we are not as those who walk in the dark that that day may come upon us unawares.

He is very determined to have a blameless and glorious bride. I remember that these many trials are really just His many graces to me.

I often say to Him. Father we both know that I do not love you and how I long to love you with your love and to love you fully. Only a dead man can love Jesus. There is nothing in us that we should desire Him. Isaiah was correct in saying so. There is nothing in our flesh that can possibly desire or even love Jesus. He is just too humble and too lowly for prideful men to love. It is vanity to even think we can love Him or serve Him with our love and our service. But He does say, ‘If you love me feed my sheep” And in many places in the gospels we are told that to love Him is to love one another, and then the greatest love is to be found in loving our enemies and even dying for them. It is to love those who hate us, revile us and persecute us for righteousness sake.

But how can we be made perfect in such an obedient love unless we willingly share in the fellowship of His sufferings and not as a victim but rather as a victor. It can only be done by sharing the same cup He drank from. We are not willingly surrendered men and women until we have had our agonising Gethsemane…and we really have cried to Him, “Father, please take this cup from me….it is just too painful, too devastating”….but then comes the true bride’s submission, “But Lord, not my will be done but yours”….after such a transaction His grace is made fully available to us to die just as it was to Jesus, and we are now born of His Spirit and are now victors….we now live a supernatural life..….what else can we do but surrender in submissive union with Him. …now an axe is finally taken to the root of self…..the fruit reveals the root….and this is the fruit ( fruit that is not of this world) His sheep feed from …..firmly grounded and rooted in Christ.

(Beginning Quote:)…” When the Cross has done its work there is liberation from all human limitations, and Christ breaks forth from the grave in a way which gives Him the mastery of the whole situation.
Those who have been identified with Him in His death are raised by Him to a life on a supernatural level, and through them He achieves such things as were before utterly impossible…”(End Quote)

Yes, I agree…make me a captive Lord, then shall I be free.

Blessings brother.

It is a perfectly obvious fact that wherever the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ has been most faithfully preached and presented – while bringing hope and new life to many – it has almost invariably been the cause of trouble.

Wherever it has gone it has aroused antagonism. As it was a stumbling-block to the Jews and an absurdity to the Greeks in the first days, so, ever since, it has been unacceptable, not only to the men of the world as such, but to the religious communities also. This we unhesitatingly affirm to be as true today as ever, in spite of the fact that it is the most popular symbol in the world. There is hardly a city in Christendom where the architecture, galleries of art, collections of literature and conservatoires of music and religious institutions do not declare to the world a certain regard and honour for this sacred sign.

This may be a tribute to something deeper but it is that deeper thing which is absolutely unacceptable to the greater part of Christendom and the world.

It is found necessary even in certain phases of some missionary enterprise today to eliminate from the text-books and hymn books the mention of the Cross lest it offend.

Much of the preaching and teaching in the Christian Church is either confined to the “Historic Jesus”, which presents a Crossless Christ, or gives a very modified meaning to His death. And yet it is surely necessary to get rid of the Bible before we can get rid of the fact that it unites in all its parts to declare that the Cross is God’s Way of salvation, God’s sufficient and God’s only way.

It is, further, surely very clear that the Cross has proved to be the means upon which God has made to rest the full weight of His mighty saving power. It was dominant in New Testament days. The recovery of, or re-emphasis upon some vital and essential phase of that Cross gave rise to such movements as are signified by the names of Luther, Moody, Finney, Jonathan Edwards, Whitfield, the Wesleys, Spurgeon and many other especially God-honoured men.

Now we ask why has the Cross always been such a maker of trouble and such a cause of offence? And why is it that it is today behind much of the upheaval even in many of our professedly evangelical institutions and denominations, Christian homes, local churches and individual Christian lives?

This we will seek to answer, but first let us discriminate. It is not the heroics of the Cross or the aesthetics that cause the trouble. Sacrifice, suffering, unselfish devotion, self-effacing service for the good of others, enduring the penalty of setting oneself against the evil current of the times, etc.; these are romantic elements and are seized upon as the themes by which multitudes are captured and captivated. It is the deeper meaning which the Bible gives to the Cross which causes the aggravation, this can be seen in one or two clearly defined applications.

1. The Cross condemns the world.

In His Cross Christ created a great divide between the old world and the new, a divide which cannot be bridged. Two distinctly different systems, scales of value, standards of judgment, sets of laws, prevail on the two sides of the Cross, the system of each is not only entirely different, but irreconcilable and forever antagonistic to the other.

The Cross demands an absolute distinctiveness of interests and objectives, relationships and resources. It draws the final distinction between the saved and the unsaved, between the living and the dead.

The apostle Paul said that by the Cross he had “been crucified to the world” and the world crucified to him. The Word of God emphatically declares that the age is evil and that “the whole world lieth in the wicked one” and that its ways, motives, purposes, ideas and imaginations are all the opposite of God’s and that it is utterly incapacitated from either receiving the revelation of the divine mind, growing of itself into the divine image, enjoying and appreciating real fellowship with God, or being entrusted with the privilege of co-operation with God.

These are alone the consciousness, capacities, relationships of the newly-born or regenerated soul. It is this verdict, condemnation, and demand of the Cross which is unacceptable and irritating to a very great number of professing Christians. Further, it is the presence of much that is called “worldliness” both in the individual Christian life and in the Church which absolutely neutralises their effectiveness in the realisation of the essential purposes of the Cross.

2. The Cross crucifies the flesh.

By it the Word of God declares that “our old man has been crucified with Christ” (Romans 6:6). “One died for all, therefore all died in Him, that they which live should henceforth live no longer unto themselves, but unto him” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). We have tried to bring some of the old creation life into the new creation and God won’t have it. The history of the fallen race was concluded so far as God was concerned at Calvary. From that time onward, God’s entire concern was the new creation, but alike our human capabilities as well as our infirmities; what we call our better side as our worse; our goodness and our badness have been included in that death. Henceforth we are called to live not on a human level but on a divine. Humanly we possess nothing which is acceptable to God.

It is always the assertion of some human element, some like or dislike, some fad or fancy, some ambition or some personal interest, which paralyses the real spiritual work of God. To regard not only our sins but ourselves as having been taken to the Cross by Christ is the only way by which those purposes of God can be wrought out through our lives. It is strange that while we ourselves are the bane of our own existence, the trouble of our own lives, we are so slow to accept our crucification with Christ, to have the Cross wrought out to our death in order that the life of Christ might be made manifest in us. Herein lies the offence of the Cross, not only for the worldling but also for the Christian.

3. The Cross casts out the devil.

Here we touch, perhaps, the deepest cause of the offence, for the world and the flesh are only the instruments and weapons by which the great hierarchy of Satan maintains its hold and its existence as the controlling force. Christ said as He approached the Cross, “Now is the prince of this world cast out” (John 12:31). Paul reflecting upon that Cross said that by it: “Christ stripped off principalities and powers, making a show of them openly, and triumphed over them” (Colossians 2:15).

It is perfectly natural, then, that the great hierarchy of evil should by every means and resource seek to make the Cross of none effect. By the “pale cast of thought” it will dilute the message of the Cross; by pushing in the world’s methods, its means, its spirit, it will sap the spiritual vitality of the Church; by stirring up the flesh, the self and the old Adam it will cause schism, strain and disintegration; or by making much of the human element in its artistic, aesthetic, heroic, humanitarian side, it will be blind to the need of regeneration. Reputation, popularity, bigness, the world standard of success, are all contrary to the spirit of Christ, but they are the toys with which the enemy engrosses the minds of many, even Christian ministers.

If, therefore, the Cross is preached in the full victory over and emancipation from the world, the flesh and the devil, it is to be expected that by hook or by crook the intelligent forces of evil will leave no stone unturned to stop it, and will stir up every cause of offence to lay to the account of the Cross.

In conclusion let us not forget that the enjoyment of the full life of God, the experience of victory, and executive co-operation with Him that sitteth upon the throne in the sure realisation that His eternal purposes are ours just in so far as we are one with the full and essential meaning of the Cross as set forth in the Word of God. “I have been crucified with Christ, henceforth… no longer I but Christ.” “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they counted not their lives dear unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).

What God Says About Water Baptism

A Fresh Look…

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• “Re-baptism”

It is unfortunate, yet undeniable, that the subject of water baptism has polarized and divided men for centuries. Unregenerate religious leaders and other “christians” have littered history with ungodly exploits in defense of their doctrines. Not uncommon are accounts of religious leaders and “scholars” physically seizing those that would dare to question whether or not infant baptism via sprinkling is allowable by God. After a mock “orthodoxy” trial, these well-respected church elders, preachers and authors literally drowned to the death the nonconformists in a river to demonstrate the superiority of their doctrine of sprinkling over immersion baptism.

As documented case history, the City Council of Zurich passed a legal decree in March, 1526. The edict commanded that those who immersed in water one that had confessed faith in Jesus Christ (rather than upholding the accepted church ordinance of the day: sprinkling all infants) were to be publicly executed by drowning. In a short span of time, the socially acceptable religious bodies of that day had murdered between four and five thousand men and women in this manner (p.269, Church History in Plain Language, Bruce L. Shelley).

While the atrocity of murder seems uncivilized and socially unacceptable in our day and time, our Master, Jesus Christ, said very clearly that the barriers and divisions and antagonism that mark the “christendom” of today is murder, as judged by the Heavenly Courts. This is true as absolutely as if we also literally murdered one-another by forcible drowning (Mt.5:21-24; 7:1-2; 12:7; Jas. 3:13-18; 1Jn.3:14-16; 4:20-21; Lk.10:29). That’s really frightening, isn’t it?

Is there an answer? Should we, or can we, allow the schisms that have characterized all of christian history to mar our unity and Fellowship with the Father and one another? Of course not. We have no desire, if we’re honest and discerning, to face Him with our current divisions. Should we then compromise the Word of God to the lowest common denominator of “truth” to accommodate everyone that seems sincere enough? God forbid! In so doing, we would allow others to lose their souls by our careless or cowardly approach to the Word of God. That Word will judge every man impartially on the Last Day, regardless of our sincerity (Jn.12:48; 1Tim.4:1-2, 16; Mt.7:21; 2Tim.4:3).

What then can we do? On the subject of baptism, or any other subject in God’s Word, we must in some respect view the subject from God’s perspective, as one “seated with Christ in Heavenly Realms” with “the mind of Christ.” The other alternative (seemingly the one exercised most frequently in history) is warring with words and an attorney’s logic. This eliminates any chance whatsoever that we will truly understand the Word of the Lord. (See Mt.11:25-27; 1Cor.1:25-30, 2:9-16.)

Always the Challenge

Though you may feel as if you already understand biblical “baptism in water,” in view of the fact that this subject is so important to Jesus, I would still plead with you to enter into the next few pages with a posture of true Wisdom: “Fear of the Lord.” Pretend (as I attempt to in looking into any subject in the Word of God) that you have never previously considered the idea and just want to know what Almighty God (rather than man) has said regarding this important subject of baptism. Pretend that you are on a desert island and have never seen a Bible before, or heard of the idea of “church.” Suddenly, the Creator of the Universe dropped a Book down to you and asked you to act on what He has to say about “baptism” in His Book. Will you do this, regardless of your previous position on the subject? Can you discipline your heart to do this, just one more time, no matter how well studied you may be? (If you can’t look inside your own heart and say “Yes, I will honestly look at, and prayerfully consider these thoughts from the Scriptures without the eyeglasses of a predetermined viewpoint on baptism, then it would be best not to go on at this point. The temptation to peruse casually, or to use the time evaluating the author, rather than letting the Word evaluate us, will always be with us in such situations. Only the truly “good and honest hearts” will approach challenges in the Word in the way our Father intends—with teachable hearts. What a battle for us all!)

Having gotten to this point, it is my desperate prayer that the divisions and complexities that the “doctrines of men” have created (it surely is not our Father’s fault!) can be in some measure diminished by God’s great grace and whatever Truth you may find in these pages. In the remainder of this discussion would you give me the privilege of being very frank and to the point? I will have to trust you that you will not ask me to walk a tightrope of diplomacy and Dale Carnegie (I’m not very good at that kind of thing anyway). I do promise that I’ll do my best to speak the Word of the Lord if you’ll read on. I must do it, however, without apology to the myriad of “teachings” in the religious world today. Our God is a person, and therefore does not hold two contradictory opinions on any subject whatsoever. It really does matter to our Father (as you read in the previously listed verses of Scripture) what we believe and what we do. Will you resolve, as I truly hope that I have, that you will not pass from this life having forfeited any of the riches that He has held out to you, His child?

We can choose to forfeit His Best, and even salvation itself, by ignorance of His Word. Loss will also be suffered whenever laziness, procrastination, or defensiveness hinder our pursuit of that which would honor the God that died for us. So many have disobeyed the Living God due to potential consequences in their families or workplace or church. Please look to Heaven with a clear conscience and say “Yes! I’ll follow You Jesus wherever you go, immediately, no matter what the cost!” Now, onward!

The Dilemma

In my experience in various parts of the religious world, it seems to me that some of us have overlooked the significance that the Word of God assigns to the subject of baptism. Why would a person with a good heart and a good understanding of the Word of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ overlook the heavy weight that God places on water Baptism every single time that He (God) mentions it? Usually it is because all of their lives most have been taught (wonderfully) that Salvation is by Faith and the Grace of God—and Baptism doesn’t seem to fit in to this picture anywhere.

It is said, “If it is a ‘work’ necessary to be saved that is added to the work of the cross—it is surely optional and superfluous, no matter how good a thing it might be.” While this is certainly true, without discernment, a delicate line can easily be crossed which leads down a path of denying Jesus by denying the immutability of His Word.

Others, meanwhile, in good conscience and an honest attempt to “speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent” have moved in a direction that has deeply grieved our God. This has endangered true Fellowship with Jesus as a living Person. This school has viewed baptism as part of a formula for Salvation. In the process (though the place of these issues in the Scriptures is immense), we have raised up a generation of church-goers that have never known a living intimacy and vital, tangible friendship with Jesus. Though certainly no one would verbalize it as such, Jesus, in this environment, isn’t the focal point of Salvation at all. He’s really, objectively speaking, not even a “sixth step” along with “hear, believe, repent, confess and be baptized.” He is, instead, thought to have taught us a recipe that would yield salvation if properly implemented, even down to the “magic words” that we say over the ceremony. If we pursue this course, Jesus died in order to leave us a formula for salvation and a rule book for living the “good christian life.”

Unfortunately, when this view is embraced, the only true hope for true, “abundant Life” as a “new creation,” with “rivers of living water gushing from his belly” and living in the “power of an indestructible life,” in true, deep fellowship with the Creator of time and eternity is lost because we have never met, really met, Jesus from Nazareth. Some have embraced only a historical idea and doctrine, rather than a living friend. What a tragedy!

The living and active Word of the living and active God of the Word must be our source of wisdom and guidance in order to harmonize (without compromise) the seeming complexities of trusting absolutely “justification by Faith” with many other verses that may seem to require adding something to our Faith. How are we to understand: “Unless you Repent, you will all perish,” and “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Is the verse “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” adding a “good work” (confessing literally and verbally with your mouth) to simple Faith as a basis of Justification by the Blood of Christ? (Rom.3:22-24, 10:9-10; Luke 13:3; Mk.16:16; Acts 2:38). Since “In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” was written before time and creation in the heart of the Eternal Godhead, it is well worth our while to penetrate deeply into every aspect of the Utterance of God recorded for us. Would you agree?

It seems reasonable that we should never relegate anything to a secondary place due to abuses perpetrated in the past. Right? What God says to us about any given subject we must hold precious and jealously guard. Make it your fervent quest to “let none of His Words fall to the ground” …for as we penetrate deeper into the Word of God, we penetrate deeper into Eternal Divinity. “…and the Word was God.”

Please do not, as you read this, make the mistake of letting the prejudices of the “empty traditions handed down by our forefathers” blind you to anything in His Word and Heart. There is so much that the Creator would desire us to comprehend more fully and respond to in Faith-filled obedience. Is that not the whole of the Christ-life, to walk in intimate fellowship with and obedience to “every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God?” (Jn.17:3-4; Jn.14:15-22; Deut.8:1-14; Mt.4:4). Please move on to the thoughts that follow with a “good and honest heart.” (This is the only “good soil” according to Jesus: Lk.6:43-49; 8:8-15.) Approach the Word, always, with instant “on earth as it is in Heaven” obedience if it is truly the Word of the Lord. Do not consider ramifications. Do not ponder the cost of walking in the Truth of God and then procrastinate or dilute the Truth or your response to appease mere men. It cannot be worth it, under any circumstances. Agreed?!

Jesus in His Fullness and ALL of His Word

A principle worth remembering is, as the writer of Psalm 119 said (by the authority and inspiration of God), “The sum of Thy Word is Truth” (RV, NAS, verse 160). What that means is simply this: We cannot take a verse of scripture that says what we’d like it to say and camp out on that passage as if it is not part of an integral whole. The Person of Jesus Christ is “Truth” (John 14:6; 1:1). Nothing less than the entire Word, and the entire Person of Jesus of Nazareth should be held out as “Truth” on any given subject. It was readily seen in Jesus’ day that the “experts in the Bible” did err, “not knowing the scriptures or the power of God.” They continually accused the Author and the Personification of Truth of being “unscriptural.” Take a step back in awe before you pigeon-hole baptism as some trite religious nicety for goopy zealots. Try to understand all that God has to say and all that Jesus did (and “is”) about any given subject!

EXAMPLE: Suppose that I said to you, “You must receive nutrition or you will absolutely die.” You would agree that the truth stands as beyond debate (particularly if God had made a sovereign statement to this affect). While this statement is absolute in terms of its accuracy, it does not eliminate the mandatory nature of other elements, such as air and water.

APPLICATION: “The sum of Thy Word is Truth.” It is therefore fair to say that we may not take a verse such as “If you confess with your mouth that ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom.10:9) and call that verse the way unto salvation. Why? Because Jesus, our Lord said, “Unless you REPENT you will all perish” (Lk.13:3, 14:33). Since no one can at the same time perish and be saved (remember that “the sum of Thy Word is Truth”), it is absolutely necessary to believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him a Name above every Name.

Clearly, it is also necessary to literally speak out loud with your lips that you hereby declare publicly that you acknowledge what the Father has done in Jesus: He is Lord of Heaven and earth. Henceforth He will also be recognized Lord of every nook and cranny, ambition, fear, vice and thought in your life also.

It is also clear (“the sum of the Word is Truth”) that repentance (the change of mind and implementation in a practical, observable way of the new direction you are now taking) is just as mandatory for salvation! The first passage is fully true, yet so is the second passage fully true. We need to fully embrace all Scripture, not accept some and push some to the “back burner” because we don’t completely understand how to harmonize the two ideas.

If other things, such as baptism, were given similar weight in the heart and Word of God, they would be no less valid because these other things are true. Would you agree with this much?

EXAMPLE: Because we know that it is true, “You must eat food or you will absolutely die,” that is not to say, “If you eat food you will absolutely live.”

APPLICATION: We have already seen that “If you confess with your lips, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Yet, who more than Satan believes that God raised Jesus from the dead? It is not enough to believe this only! “Even the demons believe—and tremble! You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” (Jas.2:19-26). Most that we say are “believers” don’t believe as much as the demons do. Few men that “go to church” have ever really “trembled” at the thought of approaching an all-powerful and Holy God. Most have been taught just to say a little prayer in order to go to Heaven. Since the demons believe enough to “tremble,” are they therefore saved? Of course not.

Let’s carry the analogy a step further. The confession with the lips that “Jesus is Lord” is apparently not a free ticket into salvation, in and of itself, either. Jesus Himself said, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in Your Name,and in Your Name drive out demons, and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers! You did not do the will of my Father.’” (Mt. 7:21-23). To say with your lips “Jesus is Lord” isn’t the end of the road, is it? And obviously they believed God raised Jesus from the dead—they even performed miracles and cast out demons in His Name! While the Word of God is inspired and therefore confession of “Jesus is Lord” with the lips is mandatory, it is obviously not sufficient in itself to guarantee salvation. “The sum of the Word is Truth.”

What IS Water Baptism, According to God?

With that as a backdrop, let’s look without prejudiced or preconceived ideas at what the Bible, the heart of God, is on Baptism. We mustn’t, of course, eliminate or minimize the other expressions of approaching God through faith in Christ alone, but understand God’s heart and penetrate into what HE means when He speaks of “faith”.

On the next page, you will find a listing of every single time that God used the word “baptism” in His Word. If you are serious in understanding what God has to say about this, I know that you’ll find it greatly rewarding and enlightening to look up each of the references our God has made to water baptism. Look at His Word about this subject in the teaching of Jesus and His Apostles, and in the Book of Acts (where God was gracious enough to give us living examples of men walking in this teaching). The two (the teaching and the example) correspond, as we might imagine that they would. If you wanted to know everything that an encyclopedia has to say about “Relativity,” you wouldn’t look under “skydiving.” Nor would you try to understand God’s view of money by looking at Jesus’ teaching about divorce. It is also safe to say that the best way to learn of the mind of your Creator on baptism is to read each of the times our God (Who wastes no words) presents to us His thoughts on the matter.

Please read each reference. Honestly write down (as a child, in simplicity, without straining to apply some high and lofty denominational doctrine to it!) the weight that the Father has assigned to “water baptism.” Now if you believe exactly that (which Jesus, and the men of God that knew Him, had to say about water baptism), and tell others exactly that—you are not far from the Kingdom. I wouldn’t dare teach anything about baptism that gives it less value than these passages, would you?

Baptize, Baptized, Baptizing, Baptism

Matthew 3:1, 3:6, 3:7, 3:13, 3:11, 3:14, 3:16, 11:1, 11:12, 14:2, 14:8, 16:14, 17:13, 20:22, 20:23, 21:25, 28:19

Mark 1:4, 1:5, 1:8, 1:9, 10:38, 10:39, 11:30, 16:16

Luke 3:3, 3:7, 3:12, 3:16, 3:21, 7:29, 7:30, 12:50, 20:4

John 1:25, 1:26, 1:28, 1:31, 1:33, 3:22, 3:23, 3:26, 4:1, 4:2, 10:40

Acts 1:5, 1:22, 2:38, 2:41, 8:12, 8:13, 8:16, 8:36, 8:38, 9:18, 10:37, 10:47, 10:48, 11:16, 13:24, 16:15, 16:33, 18:8, 18:25, 19:3, 19:4, 19:5, 22:16

Romans 6:3, 6:4

1Corinthians 1:13, 1:14, 1:15, 1:16, 1:17, 10:2, 12:13, 15:29

Galatians 3:27

Ephesians 4:5

Colossians 2:12

Hebrews 6:2

1 Peter 3:21

There is absolutely no possibility that one could read what the Bible has to say about it and conclude that it is simply a ritual or symbol to obey because “Jesus said so.” Nor is the significance of baptism limited to the example of Jesus Himself being immersed in water. It is not simply a way to “place membership” at a local church. It is not just a horizontal “outward act.” At least that is not the way Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, Luke, and the men we can trust saw it! All of the folks we read about in the Bible, under apostolic teaching, that saw the opportunity of being immersed in water did so immediately, even after midnight! There was nothing in any of them that wanted to debate the issue or wait until “Baptism Sunday!” They saw something that today’s religious world often has overlooked about God’s Heart in water baptism.

Is it a “command?” Jesus did, we all know, “say so.” Specifically, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved” and “Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all things I have commanded you” (Mk.16:16; Mt.28:18-20). And, you surely agree, that the reigning King of the Universe “said so” is more than sufficient cause for anyone who has not been immersed in water to respond to His command.

Shouldn’t we all eagerly pursue all that God has for us? Remember the Treasurer of the nation of Ethiopia who responded to the teaching about Jesus (Acts with, “Here is water, what hinders me from being baptized?!” Certainly 100% of those that really love Jesus will “keep His commands” (Jn.14:15) without rationalizing. If you are a devoted follower of Jesus, or are ready to become one, and are not in Christ’s ultimate Will and have not been immersed in water to this point, you can (and should) quickly find a Disciple to immerse you, even it is after midnight when you read this.

That would be a response made in “good company.” Recall the man who was the apostle Paul’s guard in the jail cell in Philippi. He gave his life to Christ and was immediately baptized (Acts 16:33)—at probably 1:00 AM, not the next month, or three years later! The men and woman that heard the teaching about Jesus, and the response that God called for, were all seemingly very convinced at the urgency of response to the Good News about Jesus. We must also, if we are responding to the same Jesus and the same Gospel that they heard.

Even beyond that, no one could honestly read only what the Word of God has to say about baptism (as if on a desert island without preconceived ideas) and conclude that it is simply a visible ritual to compliment the religious life, or to join a local church roll. If you have read the attached complete list of verses in context, you must be impressed as I was at the awesome weight that God attaches to “baptism”/”baptizein, baptisma” (“immersion” is the Greek word that God selected) every time He mentions it. At no time is the idea of baptism in water, immersion of a person who has given his life to Jesus Christ, ever referred to, or treated by anyone in the Bible, as an optional symbol. It mustn’t be done at one’s leisure (or skipped entirely), or be done by sprinkling.

(God could have used the words “ballo” or “rhantizo” if He had meant them to be baptized by “pouring” or “sprinkling.” One could say that baptizo and the associated words for “baptism” may include “pouring, until totally saturated” based on certain references related to the Holy Spirit “outpouring”—though certainly never would the word baptism mean “sprinkled.”)

I know, fellow pilgrims, that God is not a tyrant that is looking to smoke anyone who does not line up with every “jot and tittle.” Yet I also know how presumptuous it is of mere men such as you and I to trifle with the Eternal Word that “was with God and was God!” Agreed? And the blessings that we forfeit by not penetrating fully into His Will for us! I want everything that He wants for me. I crave to “apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Surely that is no less than we owe the God who gave His Son to die for us.

Additionally, you must not be “yoked” to, be a member of, a Christian group that would persist in denying or rationalizing away what our One Lord has clearly said about this or any other subject. Our lives must be joined only to those that really love Him enough to obey Him from the heart every time they learn something new, regardless of the consequences. There is no time to waste!

Consider these examples:

1. (Acts 2:36-41) A multitude were “cut to the heart” and asked what to do to be saved. Would you have a different answer than an apostle who was “filled with the Holy Spirit?” If someone asks me: “What must I do?” I dare say I am not going to answer as men often do today “Bow your heads and ask Jesus to come into your heart to be your personal Savior.” Nowhere in the Bible is the “Sinner’s prayer” (or sprinkling of an infant) given as the hope of salvation.

The majority of popular teaching makes Jesus out to be a wishy-washy “do me a favor” kind of “savior,” rather than the Infinite and Immortal Creator of the galaxies. If we really “see Him Who is invisible,” we bow our knee to Him, in reverence and sorrow that we were the cause of His death when He walked among us. And we “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” because He is a great and mighty King over all of the heavens and the earth.

To demonstrate that the popular view of “conversion” just mentioned cannot be correct, look at the multitude of conversions that occur in the New Testament church record. Not even one time is anyone asked to say a “sinner’s prayer” and invite Jesus into their heart. In light of that fact, how could we, even one more time, dare to answer the question “What must I do to be saved” with an answer like that? (Remember—you gave me the permission to be frank with you early on in this discussion. Don’t get upset now—just see if these things are true. Can you find even one example of “asking Jesus to come into one’s heart and be their personal Savior?”)

Personally, when asked what a person “must do to be saved” I’ve got to answer, at least within the conversation somewhere, like the inspired Apostle Peter did: “Repent and be immersed everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.” Why, Peter? “So that your sins may be forgiven.” No matter how you translate it, what a great reason to repent and be immersed!

Peter went on to warn them and plead with them to “save themselves” (vs. 40), and “those who accepted his message were immersed”—3,000 of them heard the message of Jesus and were baptized and added to the number of disciples (vs. 41). How would you or I be added to the number of disciples in some other manner? Let’s give Peter’s (therefore God’s) answer when someone asks us “What must I do to be saved?” It may not be popular with the denominations that teach something else, but no one can deny that it is the answer that the inspired, spirit-filled apostle gave when he was asked that question. Only if you go with that will you be on God’s ground.

2. (Acts 8:26-39). Philip, the evangelist, was told by an angel to go to the road to Gaza, a city near Egypt. He explained to a high-ranking official from Ethiopia “the Good News about Jesus” (vs. 35). The man’s immediate response to whatever Philip taught him about Jesus was “Look—here’s water. What hinders me from being immersed?” He ordered the chariot to stop. Both Philip and the man went down into the water and Philip immersed him (vs. 36-39).

It seems clear to me that whatever I teach as the “good news about Jesus” had better included something that inspires the one I’m teaching to say: “Look, here’s water. Why can’t I be baptized right now?!” Does your message about Jesus inspire that question? Please! It must!

3. (Mark 16:15-16, Matthew 28:18-20). The last words that a man speaks before he departs are always carefully chosen, aren’t they? The Son of God issued a command to make disciples of all nations, immerse them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and then teach them to obey all of the commands of God. These were amongst His last words before He left this earth to ascend back into Heaven. Ask Jesus why a person should be baptized, and He’ll answer this way every time, “He that believes and is baptized, immersed, shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).

He states at the end of that verse that believing on Him (“putting our full weight on Him,” in absolute trust) is the foundation. Baptism is just “getting wet” without our faith in Him.

How it must grieve the Father when even a single person is taught in such a way as to cause them to depend on a “formula.” Or to depend on a “church” that claims to have all the “biblical” answers. Oh, please! Turn to a living friend named Jesus that “was dead, and behold! is alive forever and ever!” What a heartache that must be to the Father that He gave the very life of His Son to purchase men back from a well-deserved and certain death, and some have the ignorance or audacity to make a doctrine out of a Person. The “Way of Salvation” is a PERSON, and a friendship with Him. There is no other salvation available! (Jn.17:3; 14:6; 7:39-40; 2Cor.13:14; 2Cor.3:16-18; Rom.10:13) There is no single issue in all of a man’s span of life in this realm that is more crucial to understand and stand upon with unwavering conviction. Our God can only be pleased with a People that approach Him solely on the basis of Jesus as their “all in all” and only access to His Glorious presence.

Even so! Our Lord Jesus did not stutter—He meant what He said. Man says: “He that believes and is saved shall be baptized.” Did you catch the order that man has worded this? Man says: “He that believes and is saved shall be baptized.”

Christ says it in a drastically different way. The Son of the Living God said: “He that believes and is baptized—that man has salvation.” Not “either/or” at some man’s discretion. I’m not going to trifle with God by re-arranging His words. I will “believe and be baptized” as the Lord taught.

If this is intimidating you, or making you angry or defensive, that is surely not my intention. I am trying to state everything in terms that are extremely clear, even if to the point of overstating something, in order that all of this cannot be overlooked or forgotten! We must together “abide in His Word” rather than the traditions of men. OK? All of His disciples “hear Him gladly” and “hang on every word that He says”—without compromise, or furious rifling through Bible pages to “prove” that Jesus didn’t mean what He said. Let’s just believe Him and obey Him together in peace.

You must see by now that though many do, unfortunately, rely on a form and “works” to justify themselves before the Father, whatever the scriptures say (about baptism in water, or anything else) is the Father’s application of the gift to us of His Son. It is not something “in addition” to His Beloved Son…it is His Son, the Word.

4. (1 Peter 3:21; Romans 6:3-5). The Apostle Peter, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes this bold, unthinkable statement: “Baptism saves you.” To say that it has nothing to do with salvation would put you in opposition to Peter and the Holy Scriptures—not a good position to try to defend on the judgment day. The question is not “whether or not,” but rather “how” it saves you.

Certainly we know that the blood that was poured out during the scourgings and ultimately on the cross is the only hope that any of us have. It is very obvious that some “good work” can never justify us before the Eternal God—only the death and resurrection of the Only Begotten Son. So how can Peter (by the Holy Spirit) make such radical statements as “Baptism saves you” and “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins” and “save yourselves?”

The correct way to handle the Word of God is not to pretend that Peter never said these things because, after all, we know that the atonement of Jesus is what saves us—period. Remember, it was Jesus who said: “He that believes and is baptized—that person shall be saved” (Mk.16:16). Jesus, through Peter, said “Repent and be baptized” and “baptism saves you” (Acts 2:38; 1Pet.3:21).

It says what it says—no man has the right to ignore it or try to alter it. God is intelligent enough to “get it right.” Therefore, our job is to understand “baptism saves you” in light of the work of Jesus—not pretend that it’s not there because of the atoning work of Jesus.

Let me say that again. God said what He meant and meant what He said. We know the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus “saves us”—not our “works.” That is an absolute. However, if God Himself said “Baptism saves you” and “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins” and “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved”—these things are also absolutes. Our job is not to “write these off” as “surely just not so.” Our job is to understand how these things are tied into the work of Jesus. “Understand them in light of the work of Jesus, not pretend that they’re not there because of the work of Jesus.” Do you see? “All scripture is God-breathed.”

Peter goes on to explain how baptism saves us (it is a fact from God that somehow it’s involved). Baptism is not washing away dirt from the physical body, it is not “getting wet,” taking a bath. It is the “crying out of a good conscience towards God”—repentance and faith in Jesus expressed physically. It “saves you” (Peter reaffirms in case we missed it), “it saves you by the resurrection of Jesus.” Aha! The link between this strange thing of “immersion in water” and Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul explains the connection between repentance, baptism and “the resurrection of Jesus” for us in Romans 6:3-5. Here the Holy Word says clearly that “If we’ve been united with Him in death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.” Sounds great. It is conditional, however, on being “united with Him in His death.” How does that happen, Paul? “We were, therefore, buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead we too may walk in newness of life.” The Word of God says clearly that we die to our sins (repentance), bury them, immerse them in baptism, and rise to walk in “newness of life.” Literally “born again—of water and the Spirit.” Literally “having our bodies washed with pure water,” “saved by the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Submitting ourselves that we may face Him having “washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” having “clothed ourselves with Christ in baptism” (John 3:5, Heb. 10:22, Titus 3:5, Rev. 7:13-14, Gal. 3:26-27).

Most would agree that there is no disagreement between the all-sufficiency of the blood of Jesus Christ and the necessity of confessing with your mouth “Jesus is Lord.” We agree it is simply an outward expression of our faith—that the Bible says is mandatory, or the Faith was not truly Faith. Likewise, there is no disagreement between the all-sufficiency of the blood of Jesus and the absolute necessity of “repenting of acts that lead to death.” Repentance is essential. Jesus said clearly: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” No man will go to heaven without repenting of his sins, changing his mind about what life is about. As Peter said, if you want to be saved, you must “repent and be baptized” (Heb. 6:1, Luke 13:3, Acts 17:30, Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19-23). Certainly repentance is nothing more and nothing less than an expression of our faith in Jesus, “placing our full weight on Jesus.” Repentance on our part is mandatory for our salvation and yet in no way minimizes what Jesus accomplished at Calvary. It is simply our expression of true faith.

Satan, “the father of lies,” would have you read all of these crystal clear teachings from Jesus Himself, as well as other words of the Holy Spirit, and push them out of your mind as “insignificant” or “legalism” or something worse. Before you fall prey to that, I beg you again to go back to the words of Almighty God and forget everything you’ve ever been taught in the religious world about baptism. In the fresh, exciting days of the New Church of the Book of Acts (a world unadulterated by various “kinds” of “christendom”), there is no record of any confusion about this at all! Let’s go back to that simplicity, please! What does God say it is for? Does God assign value to it other than a “simple act of obedience”? The only One who was immersed as a “simple act of obedience” (“to fulfill all righteousness”) was Jesus Christ. (Matthew 3:13-17). Surely even one verse would be sufficient to prompt a true Believer to act immediately to be immersed in water?

5. Again, as we have touched on previously, there was at no time an occasion in the Word of God where something other than immersion (such as sprinkling or pouring) was ever commanded or done as an example of “the method is unimportant,” as some teach today. And, in fact, there is an example of Paul reimmersing twelve men that had already been immersed, but with an incomplete Faith. (Acts 18:24, Acts 19:9). Think about it. Is it really worth rolling dice with your relationship with God to protect your pride?

6. Also, never was an infant immersed (baptized) in any instance in the Holy Word. There are no infants at all found amongst those baptized in the Scriptures, though many children were in the company of those that followed Jesus. Since the prerequisite (according to the Bible) for baptism is to believe and repent—an infant could not possibly have been Biblically baptized. And the examples in the book of Acts certainly do not show anything of the kind. If that is what Jesus and the apostles had taught (that infants were to be baptized) we would see long lines of children to be baptized forming in the book of Acts, the historical record. Rather, “Those who believed his message (about Jesus as the Savior and the Lord of Heaven and Earth) were immersed, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:41). As for the children, the truth is that Jesus said that “you must become like a little child” in order to go to heaven. The children are just fine (as can be demonstrated with a number of other scriptures) without a religious ritual that we might do on their behalf. Any infant that can be “cut to the heart,” repent, put their full weight on Jesus and “call on the name of the Lord” is a candidate for baptism.

7. Probably an example that will be helpful as you make your decision to risk that opposition of the religious world (it seems that Jesus had that problem too!) to be immersed in water, a helpful illustration, might be the conversion of the Apostle Paul.

In Acts 9:1-9 Saul/Paul saw Jesus Christ as a glorious light. He was blinded and cried out “Who are you, Lord?” The answer was: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Paul knew He was “Lord”—it seemed rather obvious at the time. He certainly believed Him to be the Son of God and obviously raised from the dead at this point. He fasted penitently without food or water for three full days. By anyone’s definition, of all people, Paul “believed” at this point. Paul recognized Him as the indisputable “Lord” and called Him so with his mouth. Surely he’s a Christian—because he believed in Jesus. Virtually no religious group around would consider a man with that kind of experience and faith as yet an “unbeliever.” True? Ask your “preacher.” Virtually none would consider any man with this testimony a non-Christian.

Later, in Acts 22:6-16, Paul is retelling the story of his conversion to a crowd of unbelievers. Paul says that God sent Ananias to him to tell him what he must do. Paul quotes Ananias (by the Holy Spirit’s words) as saying “Saul—what one are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized (immersed) washing away your sins, calling on His Name!” He was not yet a Christian! Note this carefully: A man can believe with all his heart that Jesus is risen from the dead. He can know for sure that Jesus is Lord. He can even fast and pray for his sins for three days—AND NOT BE A CHRISTIAN. Some of you may fall into that category…still a non-Christian, though you have had possibly years of christian experience.

Paul believed. He confessed the Lordship of the Risen One with his lips. And yet his sins were not washed away (according to God Himself). He was not a Christian—He was still in his sins, even though he had actually seen Jesus and called Him “Lord.” “Saul—what one are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized (immersed) washing away your sins, calling on His Name!” As Jesus Himself said: “Not all who confess with their mouth ‘Lord, Lord’ will go to heaven” (Matthew 7:21-23). Please drop all prejudice or defensiveness and reconsider! It surely can’t be worth being wrong, even for the sake of pride or family. The stakes are too high!

And now the key question of all of this:

At What Instant Is A Person Saved?

The primary reason that all of this seems to be so traumatic is that man has taken apart the act of making covenant with his God and disassembled it in a way that God never intended. Man has wrecked the simplicity of entering into a Marriage Covenant with Jesus Christ in such a way that only God’s Spirit can interpret and apply the Truths previously mentioned to the jumbled mess of a splintered christendom today, and show us what to do next.

The question of “when” a person actually “becomes” a Christian in a “technical” way is a question that reveals the misunderstanding of the one who asked it of the nature of Salvation itself. Being “born of God” will never be of “natural descent, of human decision, or of a husband’s will”—to our dismay and God’s Glory. “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything: what counts is a New Creation.” I mean to say (by inserting these verses here) that meeting the Person of Jesus Christ, having an encounter with a Resurrected Lord, and being therefore “translated from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of the Beloved Son” will never happen by knowing all of the technical verses about it. It is either an encounter with the Living Godhead, personally, and truly—or it is a counterfeit. The technicalities are not the issue. God has a habit of blowing up our great cerebral achievements anyway, historically speaking. (For example, Jn.7:45-52; Acts 2:13-16; 10:44-11:18; etc.)

A close friend of mine came in from out of state a few years ago to be married in her home town. In all of the excitement, she and her spouse-to-be had forgotten to get the blood tests and the marriage license. Now, the State has a “book” that spells out what it takes to be legitimately married, and they had taken some liberties due to this “oversight”. Because the sequence of the “book” had been violated, a big problem had resulted. At what point are they married? Is it at the moment the preacher says “I now pronounce you man and wife?” Well, maybe not, since there was no “authority invested in him by the State” to perform the ceremony without a license. The governor of the State would be positive that they were not married after the church ceremony. Well, though, doesn’t the heart, the intent, count for anything? Is it marriage when “a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife” as a “heart” issue, or is there a need to obey the laws of the land? The preacher, and the State, reached different conclusions. Or is it marriage when it is consummated in the act of the “two becoming one flesh?” What about the soldier boy that gets whisked away overseas before the two physically come together? In all fifty states an annulment (“a judicial declaration that no valid marriage ever existed between the two parties in question”) can be declared in situations where the marriage is never “consummated.” Were they ever married? At what instant are they married? Is it when the license is filled out that the marriage is truly a marriage? But wait! If the license isn’t mailed in a certain period of time, the marriage is invalid. Or is it? As you can see, all of the trauma of “at what instant is a person married” only even becomes a question when the “rule book” is violated. But, oh what a problem! Can you go on a $100.00/night honeymoon that has already been paid for, or not? Would you be in bed with someone who you are not married to, since no one with “authority invested in him” to perform the ceremony had yet joined them? What a trauma.

And likewise, AT WHAT INSTANT IS A PERSON SAVED? Only because of man’s ignoring God’s Ways has the question even come up! If we would instantly “at midnight” respond to the teaching about Jesus with “here’s water, what hinders me from being baptized?” we would never have to ask “at what instant,” in the midst of “calling on the Name of the Lord,” is the person saved. It is a ridiculous question and unnecessary if we respond (as the now-married couple wished they had) out of the Truth and harmony and Spirit of the Word of God. If man had not confused the whole issue by fooling with the making of a “covenant” with God (by separating the giving of one’s life to Jesus, from repentance, and from baptism by weeks or months or years) there would be no such questions about “at what instant is a person saved” ever raised. Again, we have created the dilemma by breaking the covenant-making experience into little pieces and separating them by time, as was absolutely never the teaching or the case in the Scriptures.

The illustration previously offered, “at exactly what instant is a couple married,” cannot be fully resolved. Nor can this more Eternal issue. Cry out to Him! Get on your knees and appeal to Him from a good and sincere heart to translate your life from the corruptible to the Eternal. Tell Jesus of your selfishness, your self-indulgence, your pride and ask Him for a new heart. Our response to His love for us is to offer all at once to Him, as a sonnet of our love and thanksgiving. Put the “Ring” of water baptism on as a seal of the Covenant. Let the Lord of Hosts baptize you in His Spirit.

In summary, we get ourselves in a fix the moment we elect to separate the Marriage consummation in a technical way, rather than simply plunging into the whole counsel and love and promises of God. If we elect to follow men’s denominational traditions instead of God’s Ways, from then on we must “pound a square peg into a round hole” in our attempt to answer questions on these subjects. Let’s simply respond as God has called us to respond. Let’s all have the honesty and guts and humility to swim upstream against what we’ve thought (or even taught) and tell others that are followers of Jesus or anxious to become so, the truth about WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT WATER BAPTISM. It is a very freeing alternative! And an urgent matter…

And of course it’s tough! Our battle is not with flesh and blood and merely “understanding” of Bible verses, but with principalities and powers, according to Paul. If God values anything, Satan will desperately try to soft-sell or pervert it! While in western India, some brothers and I discovered how true this is. There, to tell those in your village (or those in law enforcement) that you are a Christian will seldom have consequences. Yet to be baptized will result in being severely ostracized and often imprisoned.

Another man, once a Jewish atheist, and now a teacher of the Truth of God in Jesus Christ on several continents, adds his testimony to this. He also has seen what seems to be supernatural opposition to baptism in water that goes beyond logic. He has seen again and again those of his own Jewish heritage telling their families and their rabbi that they believe that Jesus, Y’shua, is the Messiah and that they have given their lives to Him. This, he says, is often met with “That’s nice.” But when they say they have been baptized in water, great and violent fury and disinheritance takes place almost inevitably. Frequently an actual funeral is held for the baptized Believer.

No doubt you too will suffer the retribution of Satan and prideful, fearful men as you respond to the Truths of God’s Word about baptism. It is a privilege. Count it all joy, and don’t shrink back, procrastinate, or compromise one tiny bit. If you follow Jesus in Truth, you will always leave all to do so (Luke 9:57-62, 14:33)!

A few beautiful pictures, before we part, might show us something of God’s heart in calling us to be immersed in water. In 1Corinthians, chapter 10, God gives us the picture of the baptism into the sea and the cloud (water and the Holy Spirit, John 3:5, Acts 2:38, Titus 3:5). This is representative of our victory over all of the enemies of God. The armies of bondage and (“Egyptian”) slavery to selfishness, lust and the world system gallop after us when we choose to give our lives to our Savior and Lord. These are DROWNED under the ocean of God’s grace, just as they were in the Red Sea.

This is water baptism’s purpose—to drown our enemies and God’s enemies, amazingly, both in type and in reality! If you can explain how the Lord’s Supper is both symbolic and supernatural at the same time (1Cor.11:29-30; 10:16-22; Jn.6:53), then you’ve got a shot at understanding this!

A similar picture is in Romans 6. Here, we have made a covenant with God to die to sin (repentance) and that sin is then buried under the water of baptism. We now rise to walk in newness of life. If we’ve been buried in baptism, we’ll rise in the same resurrection life that He rose into (vs. 5). Sounds good to me!

In 1 Peter 3, God paints for us the picture of all of the mountaintops of our sins being forever buried under the water of baptism. As surely as the wickedness of Noah’s day was totally immersed, our corruption in the “old man” is buried with Christ. Then, the dove brought back an olive branch representing a whole new world, a “new creation!” In Him, if we’re truly converted, we “Taste the Powers of the coming Age.” In Him, we receive a “downpayment guaranteeing our inheritance,” the Holy Spirit of Almighty God filling us with the Life of the Eternal Kingdom, and the Ages to come! (Read prayerfully Eph.1:13-14, 18-20; Rom.8:9-11; Acts 2:38-39; Jn.3:5,8; Ezek.36:24-27; Jer.31:31-34; Heb.6:5; Jn.17:22, 7:38-39). This is just simple, fundamental, undeniable, biblical christianity. What a joy! Thank your God for this opportunity!

In Galatians 3, Paul states that our Sonship, our Faith and Baptism are all inseparable. The picture is given by God that as we are baptized, we are “clothed” with God’s precious Son, Jesus. From this moment on, He sees only Jesus (as we’ve “hidden our life” in Him) when He looks down on us.

Now, if you have “ears to hear,” you have been given a very clear opportunity to see, understand and obey the Lord Jesus Christ on this matter of immersion in water. I don’t claim to understand everything about the subject of Baptism. Not at all. I can only pray, along with you and an army of others, that God will shed Light on this in the days to come that all of us might be fully equipped for battle with our only real enemy, the devil. I must say that if you have not yet been immersed in water, and you truly desire to fully walk with your Lord, you now have more than enough cause to lose a lot of sleep until you have prayerfully yielded yourself to all that God has held out for you.

Almost always, the battle is not waged against “what the Bible says about baptism,” per se. Here’s an observation that you can test against your own heart. Nearly always the one who refuses immersion in water is in one of two situations. Either they have never been shown God’s heart about it in the Word of God, or he or she has never truly repented of their fears and desires for the world’s goodies or men’s approval. Baptism itself is seldom the hangup.

Are you ready to “eagerly accept the good news about Jesus,” surrender your life to Him and cry out “Here’s water. What are we waiting for?” As the song goes, “I only want to see you there!” Let’s go all the Way, my friends and brothers.

2/22/2001

Baptism is generally looked at as a New Testament doctrine. Can we find baptism in the Old Testament as a general principle? Yes, and it is only right that we start there. Most of what is observable from the churches of today is that they start with the New Testament scriptures on baptism then try and contort the Old Testament to conform. The O.T. came first, and the characters in that former Book were no less familiar with baptism than are the characters of the latter Book. When we look for baptism in the O.T. we do not overtly recognize spiritual truth, but rather we look for the concrete and material display of that spiritual truth. New Testament baptism cannot be properly understood without also understanding Old Testament types and principles.

What are the deeper spiritual implications of baptism that are consistent with God’s character that flow throughout the entire Old and new Testaments? Is baptism just a N.T. ordinance to be practiced and obeyed like another “law”? If the O.T. and the N.T. are to be understood as a whole, or total complete thought of God, shouldn’t we desire to know how that thought of baptism plays out in the O.T.? Isn’t God’s counsel to us that we should see and understand the “whole” truth of Scripture as revealed in both Testaments? Some would say that “the devil is in the details,” but a better understanding would be that the Holy Spirit is revealing to us the details and leading us through deep waters.

Do we dare call those godly characters of the Old Testament “saints” unless we know for sure that they comprehended the principle of the “cross,” even though they could not define it in New Testament language, and if they did understand the principle of the “cross” will we deny that they must also have understood the principle of baptism, which is inseparably linked to the cross? To understand God’s mind in the spiritual application of the cross, in the O.T., is to understand the spiritual application of baptism also, because they are linked throughout the whole Bible. There is no cross without baptism. There is no baptism without the cross. There is no death without burial, and there is no burial without death. Both of these ingredients are necessary to produce the final product, which is “life.” The spiritual understanding of either the cross or baptism proceeds from the understanding of one or the other of these components.

If we say that we understand the principle of the cross, and are then simply baptized as a formality, rule, or church ordinance, then we do not yet understand properly, and have not fully understood the cross. To compact this knowledge into the Old Testament and New Testament statement that “the just shall live by faith” is to deliver the principle of the cross and baptism in capsulized form, or in seed form, and that seed is the seed that must “fall to the ground and die…” and being buried, produces much fruit.

So baptism is not just another discipline to be achieved as the correct practice of a Christian life, it is life itself; it is redemption; it is salvation, and it was understood as such by all the “saints” of old.

Now we need to look for this principle. There are several New Testament passages which point to specific Old Testament events, and explicitly call them “baptisms”.  So even if we try to start with the New Testament to study baptism, it just proceeds to point us back to the Old Testament.  The apostle Peter said that Noah’s flood was a type of baptism.  The apostle Paul said that the Israelites were actually baptized during the exodus from Egypt.  The apostle John and the author of Hebrews each recognized that the ceremonial purifications of the Old Testament were baptisms.  The idea of “baptism” was not remotely new to the New Testament church.  There had already been many baptisms in Israel’s history and practice, and so we must seek to understand these baptisms first, if we truly wish to understand the significance of baptism in the New Testament. Although Abraham is not mentioned explicitly with the term “baptism” he nonetheless understood the principle as well as any other.

Most people will use words such as :sprinkle, pouring, immersion, dipping, cleansing, christening, etc., when searching for related term for baptism. Terms that are more appropriate, and deal more with the meaning, rather than the sacrament, are: separation, through, in, death, cutting off, putting off, and, in Abraham’s case, circumcision “the cutting off of the foreskin” as the sign of the covenant in the flesh.

Genesis 17:1-2, 7, 9-11

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.  I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.’” “ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” “Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.’”

The command “Walk before me and be blameless” has a definite ethical emphasis. “Walk in front of” expresses the service or devotion of a faithful servant to his king. “Be blameless”  or “be perfect”  is the Hebrew adverb tānīm, “complete.” It refers to animals which are without blemish, and is also translated as such related adjectives as “full, whole, upright, perfect. It represents the divine standard for man’s attainment. In other words, God expects Abraham to live a righteous life before him, but how was Abraham to do this? Wasn’t this the same as demanding perfection? Isn’t this the same request of God that draws so many chuckles from Christians today, with the echoed response of “Nobody can be perfect”?

If we can learn to see the type or shadow of baptism in one of the ancient saints then we should be able to discover the element in the others also.

Looking at Abraham, where do we see his baptism? Was his baptism the circumcision of himself and company, no, that was only the sign of something Abraham already understood? The cutting away of the flesh symbolized his disassociation from everything called the “world.” His baptism was the actual separation and putting off of the flesh (not just circumcision) that was required by a life of “faith.” His baptism was the response of a clean conscience in his obedience and trust of God’s ability to perform and keep His promises. His baptism was all the trials that are incorporated into a walk of faith, including the separation from certain family members, and the offering up to God the very thing that he devoted to and loved the most. His baptism was to die daily to all of his own desires, and to go, and “be” an instrument and vessel of the will of God. His baptism was “death” to self, no different than that required of Christians today, no different.

That symbol of baptism, whether circumcision or water, means death. For all those who were circumcised in Abraham’s day and lived for the “good life now” their circumcision is counted as un-circumcision, just like those who are water baptized today as a mere sacrament are treated as un-baptized.

The principle of baptism and the principle of circumcision are identical, one is the putting away of the flesh, and the other is the putting away of the old man. The cutting away of the flesh of the heart (which circumcision represented), and the putting away of the old man (which baptism represents) produce the same result, DEATH and BURIAL. God’s promise includes a new heart beating in One new man, the Church, the Body of Christ.

Life in the Good Land is a promise of the here and now, but can only be had by a spiritual understanding of the principle of the cross and baptism. Only resurrected saints, who have died, cross over Jordan, and only a continual life of “faith” guarantees passage into Eternal Life.

Again, I will say that baptism does save us, but it is the understanding of baptism that is our salvation, not the water. The water is but the seal of the covenant between God and man, just like circumcision was in Abraham’s case. There is very little that modern christians understand “spiritually,” and “church” only makes the matter worse, in nearly all cases. Paul’s words should alarm us here; “your meetings do more harm than good.” We are living in the days of which Joel and Amos speak, and men search from shore to shore for food, but find only corn husks. This is also the day in which God says He “will pour out His Spirit on all flesh.” The life of faith is still required by God. We must not be tricked back into the flesh for the sake of “doctrine” or rules, or counsels, or man’s sake. We must follow the example of our Lord Jesus, and the example of our father Abraham.

Steve Blackwell

GEORGE H. WARNOCK

INTRODUCTION

We believe the hour has come when the saints should know and understand, at least in part, the meaning of Israel’s annual Feasts, for they constitute a very beautiful type and pattern for the Church. There is a time and a season for the proclamation of every Biblical truth, and when God’s hour of revelation has struck, the Spirit of God is gloriously present to remove the veil from God’s secrets and initiate His people into the mysteries of God. Such is the office work of the Holy Spirit, to lead and guide the saints into all truth, and to reveal the things which are to come. (Jn. 16:13). A consecrated and holy walk in the Spirit, therefore, is the only genuine basis we have for a proper understanding of the Scriptures. Without that consecration and that walk in the Spirit we might acquire a considerable understanding of theology, but it will be theology devoid of Truth. After all, theology is the study about God and about Truth; whereas Truth is a living, vital, powerful demonstration of the Spirit of God, pulsating with Divine life and power and wisdom and knowledge.

JESUS HIMSELF, THE TRUTH

When Jesus declared so emphatically, “I am the Truth,” He there and then completely demolished the idea the Truth has anything in common with creeds and doctrines and theories about God and spiritual things. And not only so, for if Christ is Truth, then Truth comes to us in garments of humility and meekness and will find little acceptance at the hands of the learned or the ecclesiastical. It is strange but true that those who lead the masses in the religious realm are those who cast the Truth aside when He knocks at their door and asks for admission. There is only one answer to this strange state of affairs, and it is this: Ecclesiastical success has developed into pride of heart, and with that pride has come that Laodicean spirit so prevalent in all evangelical circles today: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing…” (Rev. 3:17). Instead of hungering and thirsting after God and righteousness, we find on every hand the boastful claims of various sects as to how much Truth they have, and how much knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures. Perhaps it is needless to say that such boastful claims merely establish their Laodicean condition, and hinder them from taking their places as overcomers on the throne of Christ. The people of God have yet to learn that the Kingdom belongeth to those who are and have nothing, those who are poor in spirit, and such as hunger and thirst after righteousness. God exalteth the meek and lowly to inherit the throne of princes, and the lofty and noble He sendeth away with empty hands. May God help us each one, as His people, to humble ourselves and pray and seek His face–and above all things to recognize how little we have of Truth and Righteousness, that we might be prepared to receive bountiful spiritual blessings at the hand of Him who giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not.

GREAT THINGS AHEAD

Truly the Lord hath prepared great and mighty things for His people: things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man. (1Cor. 2:9). If God’s true children would only believe this one Scripture with all their hearts, how greatly it would help to release the riches of Heaven, and unlock the flood-gates of Glory! We know, of course, that Christians everywhere loudly profess to believe this, as well as the rest of the Bible; but in actuality they do not believe it. Yes, they will acknowledge that God has some great and mighty things prepared for us when we get to Heaven, but Paul declares in the following verse that these unseen, unheard-of, and unthought-of things are “revealed…by the Spirit,” and not by way of rapture or death. (vs. 10).

Let us, therefore, give all diligence to enter into the realm of the Spirit, which realm constitutes the real heritage of the saints. Truly the heritage is ours for the possessing. And if no man from the ascension of Christ until now has entered into it, it still does not make any difference. The fact remains, it is ours for conquest if we can believe for it and receive it. The universal Church has rejected the possibility of possessing it; that is true; but the history of the Church is by no means the pattern of spiritual attainment. Paul did not fully apprehend it either; that is true. But he beheld the glory of it, nevertheless, like Moses who stood on Mount Nebo and viewed the promised land. And furthermore, he pressed forward with all diligence by the Spirit “if by any means” he could apprehend it, and confessed that he had not done so. (Phil. 3:12,13).

Thank God, however, for the assurance that some are going to possess the land! God is not going to close this dispensation until some really enter in and possess their heritage in Christ Jesus. Paul declared, “Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein.” (Heb. 4:6). The first generation that came out of Egypt by Moses failed to enter in because of unbelief, and God decreed that they would die in the wilderness. However, He had already sworn that Abraham’s seed would possess the land, and therefore He raised up a new generation who should go in and possess what their fathers saw but refused to appropriate. And they did. God’s purposes cannot miscarry. He will have a people who shall believe their God and possess their possessions. The early generation of Spirit-filled people at the turn of the century took their journey from the blighting wilderness of denominationalism and encamped at their Kadesh-Barnea on the very doorstep of Canaan–but they too failed to enter in because of unbelief. Some saw the vision; the majority did not; and they perished in the wilderness. True, there were a few Calebs and Joshuas who rested in the promises of God and continued to look forward to better things–and God will certainly vindicate His word and His oath, and cause them to possess the land with the new generation that God is now raising up. But as a whole, the people whom God chose from amongst the denominations and called apart into a new fellowship in the Spirit and baptized with the Holy Ghost–they failed to enter into the land, denounced those who exhorted the people to do so–and turned back into the wilderness like their predecessors in Israel.

As surely, therefore, as God’s Word is true and His oath immutable–so surely is the Lord now raising up a new generation who shall be empowered to take the promised land of spiritual power and authority, and enter into the realm of the Spirit of God. “Some must enter therein…” If this new generation withdraws from the promises in the face of violent opposition, it too will perish in the wilderness, and God will wait for still another generation to take the land. Because, “some must enter therein…” His Word has declared it, and it must come to pass. We feel confident, however, that this time God’s people will not fail; that in this great hour God Himself will intervene in wonderful sovereignty on behalf of those who see the vision, and will take them through to complete and glorious victory. We cannot help but believe that this new generation will, by God’s Grace, cross over Jordan and possess the Kingdom prepared for the “little flock” from the foundation of the world. The powers of heaven are being shaken, according to the prophetic Word. Great and momentous spiritual battles are being fought and won in heavenly places. Spiritual hosts of wickedness are beginning to feel the impact of the saints who are pressing in by the Spirit and beginning to possess their possessions in “the heavenlies.” And above all, the saints of God are receiving gifts of the Spirit, the gifts are developing into ministries of the Spirit–and these ministries constitute God’s only method “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:12,13).

Thank God for that inborn confidence and assurance in the hearts of His people that the “hour has come” for the unveiling of the Sons of God; that the eternal purposes of God in the Church are about to be revealed; that we stand now on the brink of Jordan prepared and ready to follow the priests of the Lord and the ark of the covenant into a new experience in Christ; down into death and humiliation and abasement in Jordan, but up on the other side into life and victory and authority in Canaan. Let us constantly bear in mind the rules and principles of Christian warfare; namely, that we conquer by yielding, we receive by giving, we overcome by being defeated, and we live by dying. There is no other way except the way of the Cross. The Cross of Christ stands out on the horizons of time and eternity, not only as the means of pardon from sin and the gateway to Eternal Life–but as the one and only principle of Christian conduct. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matt. 16:24,25).

There has been a lot of discussion and debate on the blogs I have visited lately, and no little heat generated, on both sides of the issue of baptismal regeneration. But, one thing that is obviously missing is the spiritual perspective and meaning of baptism.

Baptism is one of those topics that men love to argue about, but never come to a settled agreement on. The career of men on the face of the earth dictates that he win, by argument, or by force a rational and true definition of what God means in His Holy Scriptures, and I cannot exclude myself. It matters not a tittle that that same Holy Scripture says that God cannot be known that way, the arguments persist. Men of the flesh do what men of the flesh do: they jostle for position and pummel their opponents, so that they can secure for themselves that cherished place of peace and rest, but it is only in their minds; it is a restless rest that robs them of their peace, as long as there is conflict. Men love puzzles and mysteries also, and to decode or piece together the mystery of Godliness is the ultimate prize.

Men have never tired of asking “what must I do to be saved?” and they cherish the idea that they have discovered just what it is they must do, more than they cherish God’s free gift. But, the question is nonetheless valid, and the answer is very much related to baptism. Does baptism save us? The Bible says so. Baptism does save us, but it is not sprinkling, dipping, or dunking. We must confess, if we think that there is something that we can add to the finished work of Christ, that we are in error. Our salvation has absolutely nothing to do with anything that we can think, do, or manufacture, by way of the flesh, and Scripture make this abundantly clear. If the Bible says that “baptism saves us” we must not jump to the conclusion, that we participate in any way, in the work that only Christ could do. We must then admit that there is yet another greater, deeper, application of God’s word that is yet unrevealed to us. The flesh, in any capacity, is useless as a means of achieving God’s pardon. Likewise, baptism contributes nothing in our ability to achieve holiness, or to attain understanding. If we do not confess and believe that we have no part in our salvation, then we are deceived, deluded, and damned. If we fail to grasp the spiritual significance of baptism, we have simply, FAILED, for the significance is that it does save us, if we can comprehend that significance. It is that sign that we have died. My father is dead, and if at times I want to believe that he still lives, I only have to return to the graveyard and look at the tombstone to be brought back to my senses. That stone reminds me of the day that my father died. He is dead, and I am dead, and my baptism in water stands as my reminder, that I am really dead to this world’s enticements, when I become disillusioned by that same world and flesh.

There is a principle here that is not just for the New Testament. That principle stands as a monument in the lives of all those who have experienced spiritual life, going all the way back to Able. Also, baptism means nothing apart from the “cross.” The principle of the cross and the principle of baptism are inseparably linked “in Christ” and understood only in His act on Calvary. All of Scripture, from beginning to end, is an exposition of these two principles, for living life in the “good land.” Without a spiritual understanding of these, there is no “new birth.” There is no supernatural life, there is no deliverance, there is no “taking the Land,” there is no answer to Jabaz’s prayer of expanded boundaries, there is no chapter eleven of the book of Hebrews, there is no killing of Goliath, and there is no Christian life. What I am trying to communicate is that there is no life without death, and there is no new life without resurrection, and there is neither without the separation or crisis distinguished by baptism, which is our burial or immersion into the death of Jesus. Does baptism save us? You bet, as does the cross, because they are of the same stuff, the same fabric, both cut from the same piece of Spiritual material. Death and burial, if they are real, cannot be separated. We may choose to hide the body of a loved one in some secret place, a closet, then have a memorial service and say many good things about the person and return home to adorn the dead body. How long can this go on undetected? It won’t be long before our lie becomes apparent. Dead bodies must be buried. “A seed of corn must fall to the ground and die, or it remains alone.” Death, real death, is the key that unlocks the door to the “good land.” It is finding ourselves, reckoning ourselves, dead with Christ, daily, continually, always dying to life in this world, and then submitting ourselves for burial, as it were, to all that this world has to offer. “There is nothing in this world that I desire,” Christ has become my all-in-all, He is the very breath of the new life I live. “Know you not that you have died with Christ. How can you then live anymore in this world?” Being baptized is being immersed in all that Christ is and means, and that is salvation, is it not? And if we are not baptized in Christ then we have not the life of Christ.

The Way of Freedom

“I have come to cast a fire on the earth; and I wish that it was already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I constrained until it shall be accomplished!” (Luke 12:49-50)

“But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38)

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3)

Here we have a few verses that are not normally considered in the discussion about baptism. I suppose the question is whether or not these verses are to be regarded when we discuss church order, liturgy, or rites. Many would say that there is no connection between what is being said here and the command to be baptized, like Acts 2:38 and others, but are they correct? Wouldn’t you agree that it is necessary to understand what Jesus and Paul and Peter are talking about before we move out into the water and turn something glorious into a mere church ordinance, form, or sacrament?

“I have come to cast fire upon the earth…,” was the result of Jesus’ resurrection, and is one of the purposes of His coming in the first place. What was that fire? It was that thing that turned the world upside down. It was the heat generated by the withdrawal of many from this world’s system of doing things. It was the nonconformity of born twice saints submersing themselves in the New Order of the Spirit, which caused the spontaneous combustion of such things that were found to consist of “wood, hay, and stubble.” It is the apparent differentiating of what is of this world, including its religious organizations, from what is of Christ. The blazing of the Spirit, in the people of God, through the parched fields of this planet cannot prevent combustion. The fire that Jesus cast on the earth spread rapidly, and burns to this very day, whenever the Spirit is released. When the Spirit of God comes in contact with the spirit of this world a fire is sure to erupt, and it is fair to say, that where there is no fire, there is no Spirit. The inability to cause a fire should be of grave concern to those who profess to be Christian. The Spirit filled Christian does not have to go looking for kindling, it is all around them, just like the darkness, it is everywhere, the light is simply “light.”

But, “the light” is related to these individuals in a special way, death and resurrection. In this last sentence is the answer to the baptism of which Jesus was constrained to perform. In the previous verses of Luke 12 Jesus is looking at this crowd of followers and no doubt grieves as He gives advise about not being greedy, and worrying about food, and clothing, and the cares of this life. Then He breaks out at verse 49 about His purpose of burning things down, division, and baptism. “What are you saying Lord, what are you talking about,” you can almost hear His followers saying. Those people were in a hopeless position, and Jesus knew it, and with the prospect of His Passion just up ahead He was distressed, and He longed to have it past. The solution that those followers needed was locked away in that cross. In that passion was the “freedom” they needed to be free to understand what He had just told them. His baptism, and their baptism loomed heavy on the horizon, and it meant death for them all, the only way to life.

“But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38)

This baptism of which He speaks is forever linked to the cross. It is the way, and the only way, but it divides and separates. It is a question of being delivered out of “the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:12,13). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,” (1 Cor. 15:50). It matters not how well we perform our ceremonies of baptism, or how much we improve the flesh, or how culturally relevant we become, it is still the flesh, and flesh is flesh. Are you beginning to understand what Jesus is saying? Water baptism means nothing apart from Spirit life. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal,” (John 12:24-25). We have our share in His cross, to “…fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:” (Colossians 1:24). Does this sound like freedom? I suspect that it does not to many, but this is the way of the cross, and of life, and of freedom.

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3)

There is so much more that could be said, but let me make some final points. Paul here is talking to all those who say that “baptism saves you.” Don’t you realize that it is about death, Christ’s death, and that we must make it our own. “Know ye not” that you have the curse of death on you, and that you will cross one threshold or the other, into life eternal, or into forever death? The tremendous power gained through Jesus’ baptism into death is equal to the immensity of the thing done on the cross. The effect of the cross in our lives should be commensurate with that.

Well, what have we finally come to in all of this, a better ceremony, a prettier certificate, a solemn event, or the understanding that we have to enter into a new understanding of the cross, the resurrection, and the burial of our Lord, Jesus? The cross is not just the preliminary event in our Christian life, “where we first saw the light;” that is but the threshold, the beginning. It is not here meant to deprive us of some worldly pleasures. It is not the thousand pound weight that crushes us. It is the way of freedom and life, no less than it was for Joshua, or Moses, or Paul, or Peter, or any of the saints of old, and we, as was our Lord, should be “constrained” till the freshness of this baptism is accomplished in us.

There is an old world and there is a new world, and in between the two there is a tomb. “I have been crucified with Christ,” but my burial is by consent. Our loved one may die and we may choose to believe that they are alive, and not bury them. It is only when we are convinced that they are, indeed, dead, that we commit them to the grave. My baptism confirms my death, and no memorial service will do, while I stash the body in the closet; our sins will find us out. We must die, and we must be buried. My baptism is my confirmation that I have been cut off from this world and a citizen of another world. Everything that is of the flesh, of this world, must die, all my talents and attributes, all my desires and longings, and all my selfishness and vanity, all my entertainment and gluttony, it is all of this flesh and world, and has been rejected by God, and must die. Only what is of faith and trust in Jesus will survive. Most new Christians come across the threshold pulling a wagon with all their flesh in tow. Their great desires to now use their talents to build something for God must be put on the altar along with their very “self,” then God will be heard to say that it is accepted, and the aroma sweet.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:5-7)

Steve Blackwell

]]> http://www.indywatchman.com/2009/02/15/baptism-a-spiritual-perspective/feed/ 7 http://www.indywatchman.com/2009/01/05/christian-hatred-getting-worse/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=christian-hatred-getting-worse http://www.indywatchman.com/2009/01/05/christian-hatred-getting-worse/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:50:27 +0000 indywatchman http://www.indywatchman.com/?p=293 Today I saw a bumper sticker that read “So Many Christians, So Few Lions.” I had pulled into a McDonald’s for lunch and happened to come along side a nice looking Mercedes automobile with this sticker on the bumper, so I pulled in beside it. I decided to wait for a few minutes to see if the driver would return. I wanted to ask him if he really felt that much hatred for Christians that he could actually kill them. After a little while I decided I could not wait any longer and went into the restaurant for lunch. I looked around at the crowd to see if I could pick out the person who had such disgust with followers of Jesus, but I was way off. As people left I kept looking over my shoulder to see who might own the car. I discounted the young people and the blue collar crowd, but saw several women and men who might fit the bill. A couple ladies left, but they didn’t own the car. Then a middle aged man, wearing what looked like a surgeons outfit, complete with a head scarf displaying some NFL logo, headed in that direction. I had not suspected him because the outfit he wore projected a different message, a message of trust and healing and care; boy was I fooled.

How many times have we put our trust in individuals who, if they knew we were Christians, would gladly feed us to the lions. Many today are proud of their anti-Christian associations and even promote their anger and hatred over the internet and with placards, and billboards, and bumper stickers, even in Indiana. Some day that hatred will reach a fever pitch, and Jews and Christians will become like varmints, to be destroyed. It may be hard to believe, but it is true, and it may be sooner than we think; are you ready!

Steve Blackwell

J. Hudson Taylor dared trust God with his whole life, and found Him to be true to His word at every step and trial.

Today we are without the role models of men like J. Hudson Taylor, and God knows we need them.

Steve Blackwell

Blessed Adversity

J. Hudson Taylor

❦

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”
—JOB 1:21

A ll of God’s dealings are full of blessing. He is good, and does good, good only, and continually. The believer who has taken the Lord as his Shepherd can assuredly say in the words of the psalmist, “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life” (Ps. 23:6). Hence we may be sure that days of adversity, as well as days of prosperity are full of blessing. The believer does not need to wait until he sees the reason of God’s afflictive dealings with him before he is satisfied; he knows that all things work together for good to them that love God (Rom. 8:28).

The history of Job should teach us many lessons of deep interest and profit. The veil is taken away from the unseen world, and we learn much of the power of our great adversary, but also of his powerlessness apart from the permission of God our Father.

Satan would very frequently harass the believer in times of sorrow and trial by leading him to think that God is angry with him. But our heavenly Father delights to trust a trustworthy child with trial. Take the case of Abraham: God so trusted him that He was not afraid to call upon His servant to offer up his well-beloved son. And in the case of Job, it was not Satan who challenged God about Job, but God who challenged the arch-enemy to find any flaw in Job’s character. In each case grace triumphed, and in each case patience and fidelity were rewarded.

The reply of Satan is noteworthy. He had considered God’s servant and evidently knew all about him. The arch-enemy had found all his own efforts ineffectual to harass and lead astray God’s beloved servant. He had found a hedge around Job, and about his servants, and about his house, and about all that he had on every side. How blessed to dwell so protected.

Is there no analogous spiritual blessing to be enjoyed now? Thank God there is. Every believer may be as safely kept and as fully blessed.

❦

Almighty God, help me to see that I dwell in the shadow of Your wings, and that I’m kept by Your power for a salvation that one day will be revealed for all to see. I praise You for the hedge of protection around my life. Keep me focused on You. Amen.

Blessings,

Steve Blackwell

—————————————————————————————————

I hesitate to share the thoughts I have about the book, “The Shack”, for many reasons. I know that I am a loser, a nobody, and I don’t claim to be some great Bible scholar. I don’t see myself better that those I may disagree with, but do see the need to share my heart. I hope by sharing it that I don’t offend anyone, or affect our relationship.  I feel like one of those mole things that sticks its head out of the hole at Chuck E. Cheese that you hit with the hammer.  I will stick my head out to get hit, if it can help others.   It seems few are willing to say anything negative anymore about almost anything “Christian” unless it is something they have already come out of.
Romans 14 teaches us not to “dialogue” about differences, but to let “each man be persuaded in his own mind.”  So it is not my heart to get you to my point of view or to win an argument, but to just remind us all to go back to the simplicity of the Scriptures.

Over the last 3 years as many are re-examining truth, and looking everywhere for it, there is an incredible openness to almost anything that is different from the norm. I too have gone this route in search for answers, only to find myself given to depression, confusion, and even more questions that don’t bring Christ-likeness in me and others. While on this search I read many different kinds of Christian books, and I found my life to be summed up with one word- DEFEAT!  Things that I had not struggled with for nearly 20 years crept back into my life, while I was devouring many “got to read” books.  As I look back at my years at Kent, I see many mistakes that were made, and much immaturity; however, after 3 years, and many rabbit trails later, I find myself in the last 7 months or so given to the Word of God anew.

As I have studied and sought the Father’s heart over the last 7 months, I cannot seem to get away from many of the truths that I believed in during the Kent days.  I am not talking about the outward, religious “Charity” influence, or imbalances on evangelism, but the simple gospel of “forsake all”,” fear God”, and “few there be that find it”.  To sum up what is being renewed in me, here are some things that I am seeing again, and am walking in:
1. Life is short, and we are going to have to stand before a Holy God and give an account for our lives.
2. Satan is real, and deception is everywhere. We must be careful because we could be lead astray and end up lost.
3. I see now, as clear as ever, that Satan has twisted the Gospel message of repentance AND Faith, to just Faith – a “Faith” that doesn’t call one to forsake all and turn from sin.
4. The message of “enduring unto the end” is waning more and more.
5. The truth of the Scriptures tells us to “continue in the faith“, and that we must “through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22); and,  if we don’t, we will be separated from the Father forever.  This is being diluted not only among my friends, but the majority of believers in this nation.
6. The fact that Jesus said, “Few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14) is rarely ever shared, and thus the view of what it means to know Jesus is being watered down.
7. I see an over-emphasis on “God is love”, to the point of only showing one side of the coin. And the “love” spoken about is a sugar daddy, enabling type of love.  This false representation is found in cute little sayings like, “God hates the sin, and loves the sinner”,  a saying that comes from Ghandi by the way.
8. I see lots of Psychology laced throughout many Christian writings which sounds true, but just isn’t founded in the Scriptures.
9. A love that doesn’t warn of judgment to come, in a way that produces the fear of God.
10. Separation from the world is ridiculed, and holiness and obedience are called legalism.
11. The message of victory over sin (in this life) is just not emphasized, and that failure to have victory over sin means “a certain fearful judgment to come.”
12.  The message of “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12” is absent, or has been replaced by unbiblical statements like, “God loves you unconditionally, no matter what you do… you can never be lost.”
13. The paradigm shifting message in “Ten shekels and a shirt” has been forgotten.

I’ve seen many Christians move toward modern-day, Neo-Christian thoughts.

Such as:  (my definitions)

Christian Post- Modernism- I.E. – We really can’t know with any certainty what the Bible means, but can only have our interpretations, which can be wrong.  Thus, we must re-examine everything from scratch and be willing to, if need be, not believe in the virgin birth  (for an example of this, see Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell)
Christian Universalism – Those in other religions can know Jesus without even understanding that they know Him. Souls can “know” God outside of Christ.

Ultimate Reconciliation (U.R.)- All men will eventually be with the Father, and the Lake of fire is not a place that torments men forever.

I hate to even say it in fear that some will say, “That’s just Jason being the old Jason.”  I hate to sound like some stuck- in- the- mud Baptist preacher. However, these are serious false teachings with major eternal implications.  Having watched my own brother (who is the one responsible for leading me to Christ) go through these doctrines on his road to totally denying the existence of Jesus and the Scriptures, I see the dangers of this more than ever. I have seen what it has produced in his life! These thought patterns are dangerous to the mind, and they are leading many sincere people down a path of questioning Scripture – in essence saying, “Hath God said?” while using human reasoning when interpreting Scripture and not the Holy Spirit.

As I have read many of the books being recommended over the last 3 years with an open mind, I have only seen negative fruit in myself and those who read them.  The Lord has been near me for a long season now, and it started with a renewed fear of God- something I NEVER RECEIVED FROM ANY OF THESE BOOKS. Yes, they are written well and make good points, but they only point out the problem, without offering real solutions. When they do give solutions, they are rooted in Psychology and human reasoning, not founded on the Word of God. These type of books tap into emotions; and, simple-minded believers, once in an emotional state, can be swallowed up by any teaching that comes at them.

Now in regards to the book The Shack.

I have spent 35 to 40 hours studying, researching, and watching many interviews with the author Paul Young.  May God have mercy on me if anything in this article is inaccurate, or in a spirit that is not from Jesus.  The research here is the best I can do with a wife, 4 kids, and a job.  If light comes to me that is different later on, I will gladly stick my foot in my mouth .  I will not judge Paul Young, his motives, or assume anything about him.

Please understand that I am not saying anything negative about the man who wrote this book, Paul Young.  He seems to be kind, humble, and in many ways a gifted man.

First I would like to commend Young for attempting to tackle the tough task of answering the many questions that we all have about human suffering. He also addresses many other good points on the New Covenant, religiosity, and other misrepresentations of God. The picture of the shack reminds me of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and how we hide behind the walls we build so as to not get hurt again.  It is a compelling story and gripping. Young was obviously burned by some false representation of Christianity, along with many of us, and his attempt to comfort the millions in this state is admirable. I especially like the over all theme of the book. Relationship over dead religion. The most redeemable part of the book is the emphasis of God being near, and one in whom you can have “face to face” fellowship with.  This is important in light of hundreds of years of a false God misrepresented to people from religious leaders.  Many of us have felt God afar off because of this, and this book does a good job showing His desire to have intimate relationship with us.  I admit that this could be helpful to those of us coming out of this “far off angry God” mindset.

Nevertheless I have concerns with the other side of God not being fairly represented in this book.  Most if not all of the encounters that people had with God in the scriptures included a great fear and trembling, and in almost every case the person fell on their face and worshiped God when they realized how powerful and Holy He was.  They said “woe is me” I’m unclean” “what would you have me to do?” or were so terrified and in awe that they didn’t say anything. Maybe this is the reason that the book is so received among the world.  Many don’t want to face God as the Judge. And just because “in the past” this judge side was over emphasized, to a fault of not presenting God as Love, doesn’t now mean we totally forsake it.  God is Love, and God is one to be feared.  Both need to be in the portrait we paint or we are in danger of falsely presenting to the world only one side of our Holy God.

A further example of this is Young’s blog on his website where he transcribes what seems to be a conversation with God since the book was written. It resemble to much a a therapy session with Dr. Phil than with a encounter with a Holy God.

I have some concerns with the book being vague in some areas.  I would like to make it clear that I understand the book is only fictional, and that many “heresy hunters” tear it apart with bad spirits by taking fictional parts of the book and misapplying them.  I don’t even have a great problem with much of the things that others are griping about; and, in some cases would agree with Young on things that he is being blasted about. The story is intriguing, interesting, and I can relate to much of it.

So just to make sure you know my heart much of the book was good.

However, you cannot write a book attempting to answer questions about suffering, God’s love, the new covenant, and many other topics, then include your theology, and then say that others can’t criticize it because “it’s not a theology book (Young).” – especially when the theology in the book can be interpreted as a paradigm shift away from the historic Christian Faith.

My biggest concern isn’t actually of the book itself, but the overall background of Paul Young’s beliefs, and the acceptance of the book by the world. It concerns me that the vagueness of the book has let so many read it, and not see the full Gospel.

While I can read it and not find fault with much, because I am able to look past stuff and give Young the benefit of the doubt, I fear that others from false religions can do the same.

This is a very important point. The editor admits that the book was written during a time when Paul Young was believing U.R. (Ultimate Reconciliation); but the editor and publisher then says that he has since shown Young differently.  Still, the overall content of the book was originated from someone seeing God from a U.R. perspective at the time it was written. Maybe this is why this book is making such a craze.  Millions have simply never viewed God from a U.R. perspective.  So they think it is some new, more pure understanding of the Father’s love.

Furthermore, on this point, suppose that an author wrote a book while believing that Jesus was only a man, but then changed beliefs later on. Then certain parts of that book were taken out, but the general view was left intact. Would the insights of a book written from his original perspective be accurate?

Just for clarification, I am not saying that Young is a dyed- in- the- wool U.R. AND I AM NOT SAYING THAT THE BOOK COMES RIGHT OUT AND TEACHES U.R.

But, he seems to get very close with his verbiage; for sure, he used to be to some extent.   Some will say, “So what is the problem with that?”  Well, I don’t have time in this email to share exhaustively, but it should raise grave concerns to anyone taking serious the entirety of Scripture.  So even if Young does not believe in U.R. any more (for sake of argument),  he surely doesn’t speak about the judgment side of the Father – hardly at all, and in some ways, he may even undermine it.  What I am trying to say is, anyone who reads any of the gospels for just a few chapters will see Jesus talking about  judgment, hell, condemnation,  the wrath of God, etc., in reference to those who do not walk in His Love.  I don’t think anyone will argue that The Shack, with its main character’s many conversations with God, only mentions hell even 1/100th as much as the Bible.

Suppose that 99% of the conversations involved God talking about hell with the main character.  Surely many would cry, “Imbalanced!” and, “Where is the other side, showing God’s love? “And, they would be right! It seems the new perceptions of God portrayed in this book flow from someone that doesn’t seem to warn of a literal Hell but 1% of the time (if that). So the question is, are any of Young’s new perceptions true? Jesus spoke more on this subject of hell that just about any other?   This U.R. view is a dangerous view, for it undermines the fear of God, which is “the Everlasting Gospel” (Rev 14). I fear for all of us in these last days, that we might swallow a false Gospel that takes away one whole side of God.

Remember, heresy is a “truth out of balance” or a strong opinion of one side of an issue.
I understand that many of us are coming out of legalism and a false understanding of who the Father is. We want to experience His true love; but, is this imbalance the solution! God is love, and because of that He spent much time in His Word warning us of the Judgment to come.

Here are some quotes from the book, with just a few obvious verses below each where I have concerns.  Remember, it is not the emotional stories in the book that are the problem; it is the vagueness, laced throughout it, that are concerning.  Again there are some good insights in the book, yet at key points in the conversations the vagueness enters in.

I do not seek to win an argument or desire to have a debate.   I do not judge anyone who finds the book a blessing.  I just want to be faithful to Jesus and share my concerns about the book.    If you don’t agree, let us endeavor to preserve our peace.

One last thing before I share some excerpts.  It is important to remember that there is a DANGER  in creating a God, “after our likeness” and then calling it Jesus.  We must look to His revealed Word, and derive from it how God is.  Many could care less about the scriptures so they recreate a god to fit there existing morality. My plea is to go back to the God of the scriptures. And then conform our lives to it, and not the other way around.

The following quotes from the book will be in purple.

______________________________________________________________

God: “I am neither male nor female, even though both genders are derived from my nature.”  Pg 93
Although God describes Himself from time to time in different pictures, I.E. “a hen” -  He never “appears” as a female!  God always comes to us as “a male”, and is always manifested to man in the masculine.  Maybe this female manifestation is why Oprah so likes this book?   Jesus came to declare that God was a father. (John 1:18)  Yet Paul Young states in an interview on YouTube that to only show God in the masculine would be “inadequate.” So, is Paul Young saying that Jesus’ declaration of God was inadequate?   Jesus never declared the motherhood, or the feminine side of God.  It is simply unscriptural to say that God is not masculine, but neutral!  This appears to just be a dissecting of some Greek words with a pre-conceived agenda.

This is very important because such a thought can warp our minds to think of God the Father, as a woman also.  Young goes on to set up a straw man argument on page 91-92 by stating that if God revealed Himself to Mack as a male, this would just be “reinforcing your stereotypes” Is it a stereotype to believe that God is masculine? And if so, is it a stereotype based on scripture?  YES!   Young’s statement isn’t fair;.  Now if some one’s stereotype is that God is far off, and is a mean dad who is only there to take away your fun, then yes, that stereotype needs taken away.  But, it is simply wrong to have a female manifested as the father. However I do not judge his heart in trying to show “Mack” a different perspective since Mack had problems with his father.  It is just concerning since others reading the book can put it into there false concepts about a feminine God.

At best it would have been wise to just have a male appear to Mack because it really wasn’t necessary.
I Corinthians 11:7 “For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.”

Hebrews 1:3a “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of His person,” This a statement describing the Incarnate Word, Jesus!

Man was made in the image of God the Father; then woman was made.  Let us not get away from the simplicity of scripture by getting caught up in translating some Hebrew word and running with it.  For a further explanation of this, read about the word Young uses at the bottom of this email.

This reminds me of Romans 1:23 “And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.”

I clearly understand that this book is just fiction; however, it wouldn’t be right for me to write a fictional book about 2 homosexuals, and say its ok to be gay!   Later, when someone says that’s wrong, I then say “its just fiction.”

C.S. Lewis says that “the whole universe is feminine before God. God gives and the universe receives. Even in sex, the male gives and the woman receives. What justification do we have to declare that the Biblical writers and 2000 years of church history are wrong in preferring the masculine image to the female image to represent God? Any religion that puts the feminine at the heart of the universe rather than the masculine would result in a religion very different from historic Christianity.” This is important. (See C.S. Lewis – ‘Priestesses in the Church’ in God in the Dock.

I also understand that other Christian books use allegory like Narnia.  However, there is a difference.  In Narnia, the book never says that Jesus is the lion, it is something you spiritualize out of the story, like Lord of the Rings, or even the Matrix.  But The Shack is really not an allegory, but a fictional story, trying to show what God is like.   Young claims he chose character aspects of God derived supposedly from scripture.  In the process, a major misrepresentation is espoused…I.E. that God is as feminine as He is masculine.  This is not found anywhere in scripture, only by breaking Hebrew root words down and interpreting them different from the majority of Hebrew experts.  Is this the way we want to get out theology now?  Breaking a Hebrew root word down, and somehow extrapolating from that that God is not masculine - especially when there are hundreds of verses that would say He is masculine!

As already mentioned above on Young’s blog he transcribes what seems to be a conversation with God since the book was written. He refers to God as he and she at different times in the talk.  So it seems that this is not just a fictional part of a book but the way a prays as well. Since this is not a section of a book, but a recent talk he seems to have had with God.

Nevertheless I was able to spit this bone out and keep reading and was blessed to some extent.

But as I read on I noticed…

God: “I don’t need to punish people for sin.  Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside.  It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.”  Pg 120

Though he takes no delight in it, is not God actively involved in the punishment of sin? Doesn’t he need to if we are not turning from our sins?
Hebrews 10:29
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Psalm 149:7
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people
Matthew 25:46
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

2 Thessalonians 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

2 Peter 2:9
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Again maybe this is why the book is being so well received.  Maybe we want to hear of a God that doesn’t punish us for our sins.

Mack: “Are there any who you are not especially fond of?”
In the context of this question from Mack, Papa answers that “every being ever created” “Nope, I haven’t been able to find any.  Guess that’s jes’ the way I is.”   Papa goes on to say in the context of every being that she is mad about “the mess my kids have made and in the mess they’re in. Pg 118/119

We are his creation, but only those who have received Jesus are born again, and become sons of God.  Remember Jesus called the religious of his day John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil,” and again 1 John 3:10 “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

So is it right to say that there are not any people in the world that God is “not fond of“?

Psalm 11:5
The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.
Psalm 5:5
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: you  hate all workers of iniquity.
Romans 9:13
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
______________________________________________________________

justice will never take place because of love.

Isaiah 61:8 “For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing.   I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Hosea 2:19

“I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice,
unfailing love and compassion.”
Psalm 9:17
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

Revelation 8:3

“Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

God listened to the prayers of the saints and then sent justice. The Justice, flowing from Gods love.”

Revelation 20:14

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”  Is this not Justice?

_______________________________________________________________

God: “I’m not a bully, not some self-centered demanding little Deity insisting on my own way.”  Pg 126

This is a unfair straw man statement.  And though I would never describe God as such, this statement is just wrong.

Just look at 1 of many verses where he demands from us, and if we don’t obey, there is punishment.

Psalm 2:12
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Matthew 21:44
And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

If God doesn’t demand His will be done then why did Satan get kicked out of heaven”

In Isaiah 14 Satan repeatedly said “I will” and was then thrust our of it.

Ultimately, our obedience must flow from our love for Him, but to say that he doesn’t insist on His own way is just disturbing.

_______________________________________________________________

God: “I’ve never taken control of your choices or forced you to do anything. To force my will on you,” Jesus replied, “is exactly what love does not do” we are submitted to you in the same way” Pg 145

What Verse would teach that God is submitted to us?

I realize that the book isn’t giving any scripture reference but should such a bold statement be founded in the scriptures.

_______________________________________________________________

God: “Son, this is not about shaming you.  I don’t do humiliation, or guilt, or condemnation.  They don’t produce one speck of wholeness or righteousness, and that is why they were nailed into Jesus on the cross.“  Pg 223

1 Timothy 1:5
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

What is the opposite of a good conscience?  A guilty conscience!  Is not guilt from God? Yes!  A reprobate mind feels no guilt because the conscience has been seared.

1 Timothy 1:19
Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

“I don’t do …condemnation” Pg 223

John 3:18

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

If I, as a believer walk after the flesh, there is condemnation.  But the God of this book “Papa” says
“I don’t do …condemnation” – is this not disturbing to say the least?

Here are more points that can be derived from the book, even though they may not always be word for word quotes.

The God portray in the shack is “Goodness” but has little“Severity”.  Therefore it is a misrepresentation of who He is.

Romans 11: 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”

“In Jesus I forgave all humans of their sin against me, but only some choose relationship.” p
Even though the scriptures teach that “All” can find forgiveness (its available), the forgiveness doesn’t come until there is repentance.

I realize that Mack is told to turn several times, yet it is usually a turn to that is emphasized, and not both a turn from and a turn to. 1 Thess 1:9 “you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true” God;

What I mean by this is that the scriptures list many specific sins for a reason, and not just inward ones.  This is import so that conviction comes, and the fear of God comes to the lost soul properly.

Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Forgiveness means that the person is released from there debt.  The debt is Eternal Separation from God.  This could be the U.R. coming out in the book again.  Has the Father released all men of the debt of sin, if so then all me will be saved (witch is what U.R. teaches.)

The portrait of Jesus is not balanced in this book.  Young seems to forget the other side of Jesus.

Revelation 2:21And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Does the Jesus in the “Shack” resemble at all the Jesus of the Bible portrait in Revelation 19: 12 “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 17And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 20And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.“

“Does that mean that “asked Mack” that all roads will lead to you?” “Not at all,” Smiled Jesus…most roads don’t lead anywhere”
Is this true? Do “most roads don’t lead anywhere”?

Matthew 7:13
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
take out cursing part

God is limited by His love and cannot practice justice.

The Bible declares that God’s love and His justice are two sides of the same coin, both equally part of the personality and the character of God. (Isaiah 61:8; Hosea 2:19).

There is not a hierarchical structure in the Godhead, just a circle of unity.        (p120-122)

1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.“
The Bible says that Jesus submitted to the will of the Father “in that He Feared”

(Heb5:7-9) 7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 -Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Jesus will deliver all things to the Father in the end.

1 Cor 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

“what happens if I change that ‘expectancy’ to an expectation- spoken or unspoken?  Suddenly, law has entered into our relationship.  You are now expected to perform in a ways that meets my expectations. Our living friendship rapidly deteriorates into a dead thing with rules and requirements….Honey, I’ve never placed an expectation on you or anyone else….because I have no expectation, you never disappoint me.”

This is where the psychology creeps in.  This sounds like a Therapy session on Dr. Phil.  What scriptures could possibly be used to teach this?

A simple meditation of Gods expectations found in scripture will yield dozens of verses that would go against this false teaching.  I understand that He will work these in us as we abide in Him, but to say that He doesn’t have any is wrong.

Romans 2:7 “To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:”
Romans 11: 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”

Does this verse not teach us that God express’ us to “Continue in his goodness”.  Is this not a expectation that has a negative consequence if not walked in?

“I’ve never placed an expectation on you or anyone else“  Is this next verse not a expectation?
Acts 17:30
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:

Revelation 2:11″He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”  Does He not call us to overcome by His power.  Is this not a expectation for His sons?

The Shack lacks a message of repentance. I realize that God attempt to deal with Mack on many issue in his life, but the message of repentance is so watered down, and unclear.  The sessions with God are not ended with morning, and whaling, and repentance, but with “Lets get some dinner,” or “go for a walk.” as if to change the subject. The conversations seem to promise forgiveness regardless of repentance.

Mack’s Father for example lives a wicked life, and as far as the reader knows he never repents, and yet is in heaven. In fact Papa even says that she has “covered” the evil in the world with her “goodness” (p125). These conversations seem to me to resemble a therapy session filled with  Psychology instead of a encounter with a Holy God.  Just compare the conversations in the Shack with the message of scripture.
Papa speaking of the Murderer that Killed Mack’s daughter says that “he too is my son, I want to redeem him.”
Again how can the killer be Gods son since there is no signs of the killer repenting?  Just a quick look a 1 John will show this to be major false teaching.

While these are interpretations of what the book says, these interpretations go along with what the Author seems to believe, or at the time of writing the book seemed to have believed (publishers website Universalism, and U.R.) although Young may not call himself by these labels now.  I may not like labels either, but if something smells, looks and feels like a cat, then its a cat. If someone agrees with all 5 points of Calvinism and disagrees with 5 points of Agrarianism, is it fair for me to say that he at best is Calvinistic? My point is I fear that the VAGUENESS OF SOME OF THE BOOKS TEACHINGS is having more of an effect on the readers of the book than realized.

One last thought.  If we are living in the “Last Days” where much deception is to be everywhere, are we to believe that a book that is #1 on the New York Times best seller list, and a book that is endorsed by a Christ denying Oprah Winfrey, and that millions of people are in a craze about is from God?  Is this some End Times revival?  Is Kathy Lee Gifford, and many others, seeing aspects of God that Wesley, Tozer, Hudson Taylor, Oswald Chambers, Watchmen Nee, and other Holy men of God just missed for 1900 years?

Or, is this just par for the course in these last days? Another stage in the line of many little changes that slowly pull us away from knowing the Jesus of the scriptures?

Again my concerns are not with the book as much as the overall direction of Christianity in the nation. The book just seems to go along with that direction, that may be why it is so well received.

I learned that Young is going to have a movie made from the book.  My prayer is that if they do this, they would just change the things listed above, then it could be a very good movie. If not, this will be another influence that pulls people further down the road of away from the truths of knowing the Real Jesus.

The over all spirit of “The Shack” does not resemble that of Gods message to His children for the last days.  In some ways it resembles “New Age” books like “Conversations with God“.  Maybe this is why it is selling so well.  But would it sell as many books if its message was similar to that of

2 Peter 3:9

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 15And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

These are my thoughts, and I just ask you to take them to Jesus and pray about them

Grace and Peace

Jason Robinson

P.S.

Breakdown of the word El Shaddai showing it does not teach a feminine side of God, but that it just shows that God will nuture us as a mother with a breast feeds here child.

El Shaddai

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El Shaddai (Hebrew: ×ל שה×^TM‎) is one of the Judaic names of God. See El (god) and Names of God in Judaism. It is normally translated “God Almighty who is all sufficient”.

The term probably means “God of the Mountain,” referring to the Mesopotamian divine mountain.^[1] The term was one of the patriarchal names for the tribal god of the Mesopotamians^[1] In Exodus 6:3, El Shaddai is identified with Yahweh.^[1] The term appears chiefly in the Torah. This could also refer to the Israelite camp’s stay at Mount Sinai where God was with Moses on the mountain.

Shaddai was a late Bronze Age Amorite city on the banks of the Euphrates river, in northern Syria. The site of its ruin-mound is called Tell eth-Thadyen: “Thadyen” being the modern Arabic rendering of the original West Semitic “Shaddai”. It has been conjectured that El Shaddai was therefore the “god of Shaddai” and associated in tradition with Abraham, and the inclusion of the Abraham stories into the Hebrew Bible may have brought the northern name with them (see Documentary hypothesis).

In the vision of Balaam recorded in the Book of Numbers 24:4 and 16, the vision comes from Shaddai along with El. In the fragmentary inscriptions at Deir Alla, though Shaddai is not, or not fully present,[6] shaddayin appear, less figurations of Shaddai.[7] These have been tentatively identified with the Åedim of Deuteronomy 34:17 and Psalm 106:37-38,[8] who are Canaanite deities.

According to Exodus 6:2, 3, Shaddai is the name by which God was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The name Shaddai (Hebrew: שַ××”Ö·Ö¼×^TM) is used as a name of God later in the Book of Job.

In the Septuagint and other early translations Shaddai was translated with words meaning “Almighty”. The root word “shadad” (שהה) means “to overpower” or “to destroy”. This would give Shaddai the meaning of “destroyer” as one of the aspects of God. Thus it is essentially an epithet. Harriet Lutzky has presented evidence that Shaddai was an attribute of a Semitic goddess, linking the epithet with Hebrew Å¡ad “breast” as “the one of the Breast”, as Asherah at Ugarit is “the one of the Womb”.[9]

Another theory is that Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic stem that appears in the Akkadian shadû (“mountain”) and shaddĒû or shaddû’a (“mountain-dweller”), one of the names of Amurru. This theory was popularized by W. F. Albright but was somewhat weakened when it was noticed that the doubling of the medial d is first documented only in the Neo-Assyrian period. However, the doubling in Hebrew might possibly be secondary. In this theory God is seen as inhabiting a mythical holy mountain, a concept not unknown in ancient West Asian mythology (see El), and also evident in the Syriac Christian writings of Ephrem the Syrian, who places Eden on an inaccessible mountaintop.

An alternative view proposed by Albright is that the name is connected to shadayim which means “breasts” in Hebrew. It may thus be connected to the notion of God’s fertility and blessings of the human race. In several instances it is connected with fruitfulness: “May God Almighty [El Shaddai] bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers…” (Gen. 28:3). “I am God Almighty [El Shaddai]: be fruitful and increase in number” (Gen. 35:11). “By the Almighty [El Shaddai] who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts [shadayim] and of the womb [racham]” (Gen. 49:25).

It is also given a Midrashic interpretation as an acronym standing for “Guardian of the Doors of Israel” (Hebrew: ש×וֹמֶר הְלָתוֹת ×^TMִשְׂרָ×ֶל). This acronym, which is commonly found as carvings or writings upon the mezuzah (a vessel which houses a scroll of parchment with Biblical text written on it) that is situated upon all the door frames in a home or establishment.

Still another view is that “El Shaddai” is comprised of the Hebrew relative pronoun She (Shin plus vowel segol), or, as in this case, as Sha (Shin plus vowel patach followed by a dagesh, cf. A Beginner’s Handbook to Biblical Hebrew, John Marks and Virgil Roger, Nashville:Abingdon, 1978 “Relative Pronoun, p.60, par.45) The noun containing the dagesh is the Hebrew word Dai meaning “enough,sufficient, sufficiency” (cf. Ben Yehudah’s Pocket English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English,New York, NY:Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster Inc.,1964,p.44). This is the same word used in the Passover Haggadah, Dayeinu, “It would have been sufficient.” The song entitled Dayeinu celebrates the various miracles God performed while extricating the Hebrews from Egyptian servitude. It is understood as such by The Stone Edition of the Chumash (Torah) published by the Orthodox Jewish publisher Art Scroll, editors Rabbi Nosson Scherman/Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications,Ltd. 2nd edition, 1994, cf. Exodus 6:3 commentary p.319. The Talmud explains it this way, but says that “Shaddai” stands for “Mi she’Amar Dai L’olamo” – “He who said ‘Enough’ to His world.” When God was creating the world, He stopped the process at a certain point, holding back creation from reaching its full completion, and thus the name embodies God’s power to stop creation.

It is often paraphrased in English translations as “Almighty” although this is an interpretive element. The name then refers to the pre-Mosaic patriarchal understanding of deity as “God who is sufficient.” God is sufficient, that is, to supply all of one’s needs, and therefore by derivation “almighty”. It may also be understood as an allusion to the singularity of deity “El” as opposed to “Elohim” plural being sufficient or enough for the early patriarchs of Judaism. To this was latter added the Mosaic conception of YHWH as God who is sufficient in Himself,thatis,a self-determined eternal Being qua Being, for whom limited descriptive names cannot apply. This may have been the probable intent of “eyeh asher eyeh” which is by extension applied to YHWH (a likely anagram for the three states of Being past, present and future conjoined with the conjunctive letter vav), cf. Exodus 3:13-15.