Baptism

Thought for Today
Mar. 07

SEVEN LIES THAT THE CHILDREN OF GOD BELIEVE, PART THREE

As I was in prayer early Sunday morning, February 13, 2000, the Lord put it in my heart to write about the seven lies His people believe. I had no idea when I began to write what even the second lie would be, much less the third or fourth. I just knew they would come to me as I went along if it was indeed the Spirit of God that prompted me to begin writing. And they did. Here is the third of the seven principal lies that Christian ministers have persuaded God's children to believe.

Can you imagine anyone in God's family telling others that to be born again is not necessary? Yet, that is what many of God's children are doing when they testify or teach. How are they doing this? By teaching that men can be born again without receiving the baptism of the holy Ghost (with the evidence of speaking in tongues). The spiritual experience that is called the "New Birth" is the baptism of the holy Ghost (with the evidence of the Spirit's voice being heard). It was perfectly described by Jesus to the Jewish elder Nicodemus in John 3:7 when our Lord revealed to him the necessity of that experience.

Jesus revealed that same truth to (among many others) some poor country folk in eastern North Carolina in the early part of the twentieth century. One of them who for a while resisted the saints who testified of receiving that revelation was a preacher with the "Church of God" denomination, Benjamin Franklin Griffin. Everyone in that community knew him simply as "Brother Frank". I was blessed to come to know him in his latter years and to be in many home prayer meetings with him. He often spoke of the day when Jesus convinced him that the baptism of the holy Ghost was the New Birth, an experience that is absolutely essential for anyone who hopes to receive salvation.

"Brother John," he would say in his low, adamant voice as he solemnly shook his head, "It was enough to convince an infidel!" And then he would clap his hands together as an audible exclamation point. His story, as he and the saints who were involved in it often told me, is as follows:

After arguing again with certain saints who told him of the truth about the New Birth that the Spirit had taught them, Brother Frank left their home and walked across the field to his cabin to build a fire in his very humble abode in the wintry woods. There, he told me, he fasted and prayed concerning this matter. One afternoon shortly afterward, there appeared in the midst of the crackling flames of his blazing fireplace an open book. Across the pages of the book which stood in mid-air surrounded by flames were written these words:

I can see him telling it now. He would clap his hands together and say, "I mailed my license back to Cleveland [Tennessee] and took off walkin' down the road the next day to go preach!" And then, he would begin to praise God in the Spirit.

My dear friends, we can do nothing to change this simple truth: Jesus baptizes us into his body (1Cor. 12:13). There is no other way to enter the kingdom of God. Every other way that men try to do it is a dead end. Shouldn't we be thankful and happy to learn this?

That the baptism of the holy Ghost is not the New Birth is the Third Lie that God's children believe.

For more information, check our web site for tract #3, "Ye Must Be Born Again" and #66, "Baptism".