By Titto Thomas

From the last post we saw that Baptism is an act of obedience that follows one’s conversion and symbolically portrays the washing away of sins. The Bible warrants that the new believer be immersed–not sprinkled. However, the church today slightly differs on their views of immersion in baptism. For those people who have met with the living God, every instruction that the Lord gives us is important, for in the Lord’s instruction there is life!

In the early New Testament church, Christians were persecuted for their faith. Now, the Christian way of life was not much different from the Jewish way, except for their inward faith in Jesus. But, there were two ordinances in the Christian faith that fiercely deviated and taunted the Jewish way of life. One was the breaking of bread and the other was baptism. Since the former was done in private, the main physical activity that stood out was baptism. If the believers of that time decided to skip this particular commandment, they could have saved themselves a lot of persecution. But we see from Scriptures that no one did! They had to call attention to the way that Christ had worked in them. They publicly chose to express their faith in Jesus. They took their stand for the faith and never compromised.

Why is it that we, the contemporary church, are compromising so much on the issue of baptism then? I have met believers who have been saved years ago and yet refuse to be baptized. Rejecting God’s instruction is not a laughing matter. We need to be serious with this issue. In this post I will try to answer a few misconceptions on baptism.

1. Baptism is not necessary for salvation – Baptism itself does not bring salvation, rather salvation inspires baptism. Acts 8:37 tells us Philip’s answer to the eunuch’s question on the condition for baptism. Notice that he tells the eunuch to believe first. James 2:17 tells that faith without actions is dead. Now, if you know of the need to be baptized and have not been baptized I have every reason to believe that you are either rebelling against God or you have never truly met with the Lord.

2. Infant baptism is not valid – The misconception that you can baptize small children who have not yet accepted Christ comes from the preconceived notion that baptism is some sort of ceremony. If you did not have a personal faith in Jesus, all you really had was a fancy bath. Also, if were true to the original Greek meaning of the word ‘baptizo’ (to dip), you would have possibly drowned as a baby.

3. Baptism is performed through immersion — In light of the definition of the word, to be baptized by sprinkling is oxymoronic. Baptism is a symbol of being dead to sin and being raised to life in Christ (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12). In Acts 19:3-5, Paul is appalled by the fact that some disciples were not baptized into Jesus. I wonder what he would say if were here today to see some of our practices!

It is not unscriptural to say that, if a Christian is not yet baptized, he/she hasn’t started a walk with God. Why do I say this? If you haven’t obeyed the first basic instruction, how can you move on in Him (Matt 25:21)? If you haven’t been baptized yet, I encourage you to obey this ordinance as soon as possible.

For reference: Matt 3:13-16; Acts 8:35-38; I Peter 3:21; Colossians 2:12; Romans 6:3-4

By Sidharth Mohandas

I believe the Lord is calling His people into greater dimensions of His Presence. The most dreadful place for us to be in is to cease to move from one dimension of glory to another. Scripture tells us that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for us. Wait! Don’t stop with that verse. The next verse of that passage goes on to say, BUT God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. Glory to God! God wants to take us into loops and loops of His revelation that we’d be awestruck by Him. He wants to take our eyes off ourselves, and wants it glued on Him! 

Oh, but the body of Christ has missed it! I’m gonna share with you a vision the Lord showed me that will explain to us where we are missing it.

The Lord caught me up into a vision while He was teaching me on the Spirit baptism. He showed me a cup and a bucket of water. He then dipped the cup into the bucket of water and He asked me, ‘What do you see?”. I said, “A cup dipped in a bucket of water”. He said, “You have seen correctly. This is the baptism in the Spirit”.

I asked Him what the evidence of the Spirit baptism would be and He said, “The first evident thing that happens when the cup was immersed was that it’s mouth started overflowing.” But He didn’t stop there. He dipped the cup deeper into the bucket to the bottom, and He said, “Many Christians stop with the overflowing of the mouth, but the purpose of the Spirit baptism is to take you down to the bottom to the ground of humility so that I can do My work through you without any hindrance.”

If you’re still looking for the answer, here it is: humility is our destiny, not speaking in tongues. That’s just the beginning of the big dip! I say again, the purpose of being soaked in Him is that you may be humble. And what does it mean to be humble? It means to get your eyes fixed on God than yourself!

By Sidharth Mohandas

One morning at around 4 o’clock , the Lord took me to the place in the Bible where His early disciples received something spectacular and supernatural that changed their whole lifestyle.

The passage the Lord took me to was found in the book of Acts. I started with chapter one and when I reached chapter 2 verse 4 where it said “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance”, I told the Lord, “Lord, I need this”, though I looked at this experience as something beyond me; as I had never witnessed anyone receive it. After this as I was scanning through the pages of the Mark’s gospel, I came across a verse, which caught my attention. Jesus said to His disciples, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours”(Mark11: 24).

The very same day, I was invited by my friend to attend a prayer meeting, which was held at his house. It was a Friday evening and I managed to go for this prayer meeting. They started with some songs, which I knew nothing of. After they sang the songs, a young boy stood up and started preaching. I was amazed at the authority with which he spoke. He spoke on salvation, water baptism and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. On hearing the ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ my heart leaped with joy, for the Lord had just led me to read about it that morning, and I had asked the Lord for it. The Holy Spirit brought the Scripture to my mind, “For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence”(Acts 1: 5)

When he came an end to preaching, he asked a question, “Who all want to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit?”. I didn’t wait another second, I raised my hand. The boy said, “Jesus is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, look to Him and praise Him, and He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit”. They entered into a time of praise and worship. Not knowing any of the songs they sang, I just opened my mouth and praised Him the way I knew to. I was filled with adoration for my Master. The boy kept saying, “Your heart is bubbling, don’t give up”.

While all this happened the thought that went through my mind was, “I don’t think I’m worthy to receive this experience.” Now the Holy Spirit brought another Scripture to my memory, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours”. Then I kept telling myself, “I believe I have received Him! I believe I have received Him!”. Just then an unusual power went through my body and I fell under the power of it. A lady behind me got hold of me and made me stand on my feet. The very moment I stood on my feet there gushed out of my belly a river, and my lips started stammering, and I started speaking in a language I had never learned. As I underwent this marvelous experience, my heart was crying, “Oh it’s real! It’s real!”. Later, as I read the Word of God, I found a scripture that described exactly what I experienced: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said rivers of living water will flow from within him”(John 7:38)