Hi Mike,

I just finished your article on Strong Delusion. What an eye opener! I do have a question.

I started my journey in the scriptures about 3 years ago. I had just recently settled into thinking that you get baptized and begin following the 10 commandments, 7 Holy Days etc. with Christ LIVING IN YOU to help.

I did come to the understanding that it would be a tough journey. I did also see that we don’t go off to heaven or “hell” (as mainstream teaches it) when we die. I did also see the importance of the first resurrection.

I’ve been in agony for 3 years trying to find the right person to baptize me and now I find your website and these great articles that seem to say baptism is not needed. I haven’t seen that said bluntly yet so forgive me if it is on the site; I haven’t found it yet.

Do I understand that correctly? If God did in fact call me to be a “babe” 3 years ago, has it been possible for me to begin a REAL spiritual journey to maturity, with Christ living in me and all, WITHOUT getting baptized?

I think I’ve been stuck on the upside of ‘Jesus Christ and Him crucified’ without knowing I could advance. Maybe God’s plan was for you to tell me?

Please help!

M____

Hi M____,

Please let me help you put your mind at ease about who should baptize you. Here it your answer as to who and how:

Eph 5:25 (b)… Christ… loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Now you know why Paul tells us:

1Co 1:17 (a) For Christ sent me not to baptize [ in physical water], but to preach the gospel [ which is the “washing of water by the Word.”]:

No, Paul did not realize the uselessness of rituals at the very beginning of his ministry for Christ.

1Co 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

Just like Peter with the subject of circumcision and eating with uncircumcised Gentiles, it took Paul several years to realize the depth of this truth revealed by none other than our Lord Himself:

Mar 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

If this is true for being defiled, it is equally true for cleansing. There is nothing outside of a man that will cleanse him. An adulterous heart can wash its physical body all day long, and it is still a filthy heart. On the other hand, the word of God entering into that heart can burn out and cleanse and wash that heart clean even while standing in the middle of a physical desert. It is what is in our hearts which either cleanses or defiles us all.

There is no ritual and there is no effort on the part of man which can affect his heart. That is done through the sovereign work of God’s Holy Spirit. Christ really is the head of His church!

To answer your question directly, yes, you do indeed “understand that correctly.” No, you do not need to be physically baptized in physical water any more than you need to be physically circumcised. Both events spiritually are “made without hands.”

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [ is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [ is that] of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

You will find that this message will receive the same reception which Paul’s message of spiritual circumcision received. In other words it will be completely rejected as a heresy. But when God’s Spirit witnesses to the Truth of His Word, Babylon’s reaction will but encourage you to be faithful to His Words which tell us that just as circumcision is of the spirit in the heart, and that outward circumcision avails nothing inwardly, so also the very same principle applies to outward water baptism. The only baptism which truly cleanses us it what is done to the heart, by the Word of God, and not by water:

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

“Circumcision is of the heart in the spirit” and so also baptism “is of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter”.
And yes again, it was definitely no accident that you came to iswasandwillbe. com We are told that it was no accident:

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

I hope this gives you some peace of mind.

Mike