Spiritual Light

My Credentials for Writing Chapter Three:

Conversion and Baptism

For consecutive evenings in early 1978, after coming home from work, I was driven by the Spirit to study the Scriptures and to write. I do not remember what the subject was on the first night, but on the second night, I felt led to write on “The Smoke and the Glory”. It was an examination of the effect God’s glory had on men when it filled Moses’ tabernacle and again, later, when it filled Solomon’s temple. Then, on the third night, I felt impressed to research and write on the relationship of conversion with baptism. After being engaged for a couple of hours or so with my study, the Lord opened up my understanding, not merely about baptism and conversion but about Paul’s passionate view of the subject. What the Spirit showed me was that the perverse doctrine that Paul spent his entire life opposing is the very doctrine held most dear by many of God’s children now.

Paul earnestly warned the saints not to think that one must be in covenant with God before receiving the baptism of the holy Ghost, that one does not even belong to Christ until he is in possession of the holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9b). In spite of Paul’s mighty effort, however, the doctrine he hated is promoted as gospel now among the people of God.

Will we ever be free of it? Hopefully, what you read now will help you as you make your own life’s journey toward the “liberty of the sons of God.”