Baptism

Did you know that there are no examples of infant baptism in the Bible?

Jesus was 30 years old when He was baptized, and He is the only person in history whom God the Father said, or could say, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." There is no one else who should expect to be spoken to by God in that manner because Christ is and was God's ONLY begotten son.  No one else can equal that exact position because Jesus was not merely a man, He was completely God at the same time.

We become children of God through our personal faith in Jesus Christ as the payment for our sins. We cannot become God's children by any act we have done to us--it is a change of position from darkness to light when we go from God's enemy to his child. We do not become God's children through baptism.

You see, there must be a payment for sin, and Christ paid it ONCE for ALL. This again is what the Bible says.

The greatest blasphemy told during some baptism services is that a person can inherit eternal life because of the act of baptism put upon them. This is wholly unbiblical, and it is a dangerous lie. Why do I say this? Am I against sincerity? Am I judgmental and nasty? No, friends. I love the Lord with my whole heart, and more than that, I love His truth and His word. And I love people.

There are many, vast droves even, of misinformed people going through the motions of what they've always been told, or what their family has always done, and it is not in alignment with the only trustworthy authority, God's word. It is our own responsibility to search out carefully what we believe. This requires letting go of fear and it means we need to be humble enough to possibly see where we've been mislead. This can be scary, but we have to realize that every person spends eternity in one of two places. 

These things matter because if a person grows up with a false sense of security that they are saved and they actually are not, they are in grave danger of never seeing what God actually says on the matter. The Holy Spirit does not go in to inanimate objects like water. He is not controlled by a mere mortal to go where the mortal says He will go. Saying it happens doesn't make it so; the Bible says that the Holy Spirit indwells believers. People need to be old enough to understand, even if it is the faith of a child, but they need to have a change of mind about their position in relation to God to be in a right relationship with Him.

You know what I've noticed from cults and false religions, they use sales techniques to guilt their members in to staying. When someone talks to you presupposing what will happen in the future to keep you in their 'group' it is a form of manipulation. Catholic leadership employs this technique mightily during the baptism service... "When you are confirmed you will receive this oil again." An oil, mind you, that oil has no power or holiness.

There is no such thing as an 'oil of salvation'--it is no where in the Bible and like so many false religions, it indirectly teaches that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was not sufficient to save us. This is blasphemy, people. Salvation, or being reconciled to God, comes one way, "For by grace you are saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8

Adding anything to what God has said is a sin (Prov 30:5-6; Deut 12:32; 1 Cor 4:6). We must be honest and straightforward if we are His representatives. It is unacceptable for any Christian to shrug off false religions that are prolific with a, 'Well, I really don't understand that religion", and then walk the fence on if it is true or a lie.

When we are reconciled to God, because of Christ's sacrifice, we receive the Holy Spirit IN FULL, not in part.  How can a Deacon or Priest tell someone that when they do 'such and such (ie confirmation) they will receive the fullness (the rest of) the Holy Spirit of God? We do not set the terms on these things. God is Sovereign and He says we are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. Sealed. see Eph 4:30

I will wrap up in a nutshell--you cannot fully adhere to the teachings of the Catholic church and be an actual Christian. If you are a Christian, you are not Catholic. You may have some Catholic ritualistic beliefs you are holding on to, but if you are a born again believer according to Scripture (not man's ideas, not what a pope or some bishop or deacon has arbitrarily said) you are not a Catholic because they hold to a works salvation and they must keep working in order to KEEP their salvation (ie must go to confession--any unconfessed sin, which means confessing to a priest, will keep you from being holy and thus you can't go to Heaven...so all the things said during a Catholic baptism when they tell a person they are now reconciled to God is actually not accurate.).

What does God say? If you care about really knowing what God has said and is still saying, so that you and those in your care will also know the truth, you must be in the Word of God. The difference of spending eternity in Heaven or Hell is depending on it. We are each accountable, fully, 100%, before God to be reconciled. Nothing anyone does for you will make a difference in your standing, besides their being a light of truth to you or praying which then motivates you to study the truth for yourself.

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Romans 3:23  "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 6:23  "The wages of sin is death but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 5:8,  "God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" Romans 10:13  "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord  will be saved."       Romans 10 : 8-10 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” Ephesians 1:13-14 tells how we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, so the Catholic teaching we can get varying parts of His Spirit is clearly false. Here is what it says: "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. -------------------------- Those who CALL on the name of the Lord will be saved, not those who do this or that or have this or that done to them. It is not my opinion, it is what God has said. 2 Cor 1:21-22 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. Eph 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ------------------------- There are no sacraments given in the Bible that are laid out which will save us, reconcile us, keep us with God. It is wrong to try and 'cover all your bases' and say, 'it doesn't hurt'. It does hurt to mix lies with truth. Baptism in Scripture is an outward symbol of our own personal death to ourselves, identifying with Christ's death and burial, and then we are raised up out of the water as we identify with being raised in newness of life.  ----------------------- Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus gives baptism as an ordinance to disciples--grown men. Romans 6:3-5 baptism as a sign of the saving truth of the Gospel, which is the Good News that Christ has paid the price, once and for all, for our sins. Jesus Himself showed that baptism is NOT NEEDED for salvation when he told the thief on the cross that "Today you will be with me in Paradise" Luke 23:39-43 (that thief was never baptized, let alone as an infant). In Gal 3:26 Baptizo is the Greek word which means to "immerse, submerge; to baptize or immerse in or wash with water in token purification from sin and from spiritual pollution." There are numerous passages in Scripture to show that baptism follows belief, and infants cannot do this. God is interested in our obedience to His Word. What He had included in Scripture is there for a reason.