The Falsehoods In The “holy Spirit Baptism” Doctrine (part Two)

True messengers of God are however not surprised, since none of the Clergy who present the salvation of God in this way is called, taught, anointed and sent by God to the salvation-seeker. There is no Clergy, anywhere, who is called by God, to lead mankind into the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

The fact is that, there is no personality or persona, in the entire so-called Clergy, which was part of or within the persona of the small group of disciplined disciples of Jesus Christ, to whom the mandate of the Great Commission was given. Dear reader, I pray you will strive to understand and accept this statement of fact.

Let me now bring out to you, dear reader, falsehoods that are being peddled by the Clergy, in their manner of presenting the salvation message of God to mankind. The first thing is that, no prayer can bring salvation to any sinner. Nowhere in God's Word are we taught about any prayer which, when offered in faith, will bring to the one who says it, God's salvation in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, such special prayers as the “Sinners' Prayer” and “Prayer for Salvation” can never bring the blessings of Christ's sacrifice to any salvation-seeker. No matter how loudly and with whatever high level of sincerity such prayers are made, no deliverance from the power and dominion of sin, and from the devil, can come to the salvation-seeker who is led (misled?) to say these special prayers.

The fact is that, one continues to remain in the power, dominion, and consequences of sin, and of the controller of sin (the devil), after the reciting of these special prayers, since the Word of God does not give us any mandate to recite them for our salvation.

The Word of God teaches that, expression of faith in repentance from sin and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, are what bring sinners into the Born Again experience and thus into the salvation of God.

The first entrants into the salvation of God, through the ministration of God's truths by Peter, an apostle, on the Day of Pentecost, were not led into it through, by, and of prayer: They entered by the power of repentance from sin and baptism (Acts 2: 38-41).

Peter, a sure, well-taught, knowledgeable, anointed, disciplined and dependable disciple of Jesus Christ, performed the first job ever, of leading salvation-seekers into the kingdom of God, on the Day of Pentecost.

While at this job, he dared not deviate from the instructions given to all soul-winners by the Master, in Matthew 28: 18-20 and Mark 16: 15-16. To do otherwise, by leading his listeners to pray any special prayer after him for them to enter God's kingdom, would lead him into doom. In fact, woes betide him if he did.

So why does the Clergy not do as Peter did, if they are indeed sent by God? The simple answer is that, the Clergy have no lot or part in the work of God for mankind's salvation and hence their ignorance about how to lead people into the kingdom of God.

As said earlier on, Peter would have attracted to himself woes, if he had tried to teach and to lead salvation-seekers who listened to him on the Day of Pentecost, to pray any special prayer in attempt to enter God's salvation, instead of leading them to repent of their sins and to accept to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

And as it was for the over three thousand repentant Diaspora Jews who listened to Peter on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem in 30 AD, so must it be for all seekers of God's salvation.

Genuine faith in, and true understanding of repentance from sin and baptism in (into) the name of Jesus Christ, will always enable one gain remission of sin, which in turn will qualify one to receive the free gift of God's Holy Spirit, to firmly indwell one's heart (Acts 2: 38-39; Luke 1: 77; 24: 46-48). There is no other way into God's salvation in Christ Jesus.

It is only the expression of genuine repentance from sin and faith in baptism that washes all of one's sins away (Acts 22: 15). All the sins that are imputed to one, by and from Adam of Eden, and also all those willfully committed by one's self, up to the point of one's baptism into Christ, are washed away by faith in the single act of baptism. And so it is only in this baptism that one can become sinless or sin-free. No sinless state is attained by anyone in the recitals of any special prayers.

As said earlier, it is only in baptism for remission of sin that one gets the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is only received in obedience to the instructions of God to repent and to be baptized, and not in any other known way, like in reciting special prayers in demand from God a gift promised by Him to His beloved and obedient ones.

So, where from all these teachings about people being cleansed from all their sins, because they recited some special prayers and that they are only thereafter, eligible for baptism so they can be joined to the Body of Christ?

Where do we also find in the Word of God, about salvation-seekers having their human vessels partially filled with the Holy Spirit, and to be topped-up to full capacity, at a later date and in a so-called higher spiritual experience the Clergy terms, a “Holy Spirit baptism”?

When genuine ministers of God, like Philip, an evangelist (Acts 8: 26-40), Ananias, a disciple of Damascus (Acts 9: 10-18), and Paul and Silas, apostles of Jesus Christ (Acts 16: 25-34), were sent on missions to lead people into God's salvation, just watch the wisdom and perfection with which they executed their assignments.

Marvel also at the ensuing spectacular results, and the visible blessings that accrued to those saved, immediately after the ministrations of God's salvation by these qualified and divinely certified workers of God's kingdom.

These four ministers of the New Testament salvation doctrine, and many others like them, always executed their assignments according to the instructions of the Master. Never did they deviate, in the minutest of ways, from the instructions of the Master, in carrying out their assignments.

They always led their listeners to repentance from their sins, and immediately after that, they led them to undergo the baptism of the Great Commission, by baptizing their repentant hearers in natural, living water. Never did any God-sent minister of the New Testament salvation message delay in administering baptism to their repentant hearers, overnight. Never!

Because it is baptism which saves (Mark 16: 15-16 and First Peter 3: 20-21), and not the recital of some special prayers, baptism carries with it a great sense of urgency and so must always be administered immediately a sinner shows repentance. This has been the apostolic faith and practice, as is evidenced from the New Testament teachings.

In fact, the evidence is overwhelming. Whether one was on a journey on the highway or it was midnight, everything was brought to a halt for the baptismal candidate to be baptized, to enable him make a clean break from sin's power, snare, dominion, and from the venom of the devil.

And how does all this compare with the practice of the Clergy today, who must teach their followers for periods of between four to fourteen Sunday-lessons on baptism, (after their supposed salvation, which is claimed to have been gained through the recitals of special prayers), before they are baptized?

The Master has instructed all his well-taught, loyal, dedicated and obedient disciples to lead salvation-seekers to repentance and baptism, and after which they must teach them to obey all things. Are the Clergy seeking to mess-up and overturn the instructions of the Master by teaching salvation-seekers in fourteen weeks, to obey all things, before they are baptized? That is the Clergy for you.

Never also, did any true and genuine ministers of God, ever conduct the rite of baptism in man-made tanks filled with water. And please, let us not limit the existence of man-made swimming pools to modernism.

In as much as hanging gardens in Babylon, pyramids in Egypt, and aqueducts in Rome, were constructed in pre-modern and pre-New Testament times, why would one think of the availability of swimming pools (for baptism?), as being only conceivable and peculiar to the lifestyles of people today? (--- the concluding part to this article is in Part Three: soon to be published).

Chris Bapuohyele is an author, a Bible expositor and an evangelist. His e-mail address is: [email protected]