Sunday, May 25, 2008

Holy Spirit Baptism

Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

I came to my office this Sunday morning to read the following e-mail from my oldest brother Dave who is serving in the Army in Korea.

Sat through an adulteration of the Gospel and was feeling quite discouraged this morning.

Then God opened the door to spend the afternoon with the pastor. I was able to share what Scripture shows the true Gospel to be and I was able to really get to the core of his beliefs. Although he remained unchanged on his stance of Salvation, namely that free will plays a part, it clearly left him unsettled. His conclusion was "there is some truth in Calvinism"

That led to a discussion about my need for baptism. He agreed to baptize me in the evening service preceded by a lengthy testimony where I laid out the true Gospel mingled into my testimony. The pastor’s response "that was better than the message".

Praise be to God I was able to set an example to my family that was priceless. I came out of the water with a resounding "To God be the Glory" to which Andrew (4) and Walter (5) broke into applause! There really is such thing as the providence of God!

To God be the Glory!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, do Calvinists believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? Have you been Baptised in the Spirit? With evidence in toungues?

Anonymous said...

Calvinists are just like every other group in Christendom. There are those who do believe these sign gifts are active and for the church today: Google Sovereign Grace churchs.

There are those who believe that these sign gifts have ceased to varying degrees. Google John MacArthur.

Then there are probably those who go even further than these and of course those somewhere in between.

Google: John Piper

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is an interesting subject. The Scriptures indicate that this is done by Jesus. Luke 3:16 John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

I continue to study this subject and am not ready to render my opinion. I believe that experience does not determine the truth, the Bible does.

I know that I have never been baptized with fire in the literal sense. I have at times in my Christian life experienced a wonderful presence of God. More than at other times.

I have never spoken in tongues.

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