Too Many Baptisms

God is moving mysteriously in these last days regarding the subject of water baptism. Never before has He been so determined to bring truth to the forefront. If you look around, you'll see that the worldwide Church has two branches, has two modes of water baptism, and teaches two wildly different ways of getting to heaven—with one branch believing in a baptism of infants, that "baptism saves."

The other branch follows the instructions given in the New Testament that says, "…Repent, and be baptized into the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)

The confusion about baptism can be seen in a recent book written on the subject by their retired, well-known Lutheran pastor. His book attributes the Bible's many spiritual benefits of water baptism to infant baptism. He closed his book by saying that, although a baptism of infants “can’t be proved or disproved”[1] (it is not found in the Bible), he believes in it anyway![2]

Strange-but-true.

Another strange but true story later happened at the same church. A midwest pastor stood before his congregation and asked for thirty volunteers to fast and pray with him. He said the Lord had told him to study the book of Ezekiel and, although he did not know the reason, he proceeded to obey. However, as he opened his Bible to Ezekiel that morning his hands, the book—even the pulpit had shook. So he closed it.

A short time later seated in a plane he again tried to read Ezekiel but this time, not only did his Bible start shaking; but so did the plane and everything in it. Soon after, the pilot’s voice over the intercom apologized for the rough ride—everything had pointed to good flying weather. Remembering what happened before when he tried to read Ezekiel, the pastor said he quickly shut his Bible and the shaking stopped.

Being asked to read the book of Ezekiel seemed mysterious to him at the time, however it was not at all mysterious to me. My husband and I had been members of that same congregation a few years earlier. As I wrote a 12-Sunday school course for adults for the church, God had told me to read the Book of Ezekiel also. I discovered in the Book of Ezekiel the story of God removing His presence from Israel because of their Idolatry to the goddess religions.

The reason? Israel had corrupted the worship of Jehovah God with the pagan religions and practices of the surrounding nations. Which one? Their belief that "baptism saves!"

I was amazed. Not only did the Catholic church teach its 1.2 billion-members to believe in infant baptism but most of the Protestant churches that it spawned such as the Lutheran church, the Presbyterian church and the Episcopal or Reform churches did also. In fact, the belief that "baptism saves" is also found in the Morons, Mystery Religions, sun worship, astrology, and Hinduism -- LDS and Hindus even believe you can "save" people by baptizing them after they are dead!

From the modules I created for the class I was writing, I boiled down what I'd researched into seven letters tracing these goddess religion connections to infant baptism. At that time, what I had laid out was ignored but within weeks the accuracy of the research I had done was confirmed in a front-page article in a Minnesota newspaper. It looked like this.

In November of 1993, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that a Re-Imagining Conference was held by the regional Council of Churches.[3] You would think that reverence and prayer would be lifted to Jesus Christ but the article instead described them calling on a mystery goddess named Sophia.

This conference was underwritten by a $65,000 grant from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and sponsored by the St. Paul Area Council of Churches, the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, and the Minnesota Council of Churches. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) sent 313 people, including at least twenty staff from headquarters, while the Methodist Church sent personnel—declaring the conference to be part of their women’s spiritual renewal in the future.

Did you ever wonder why Martin Luther upholds “baptism saves” as a doctrinal statement rather than of salvation by faith alone—the statement he is so famous for? If you dig deeper, you find conflicting interests involved in his decision and a return to a heresy that the apostle Paul had warned would enter the Church after his death.

There are some who will question the right of a layperson to address the salvation practices of large and important denominations. While it is true that I am neither a nun nor a priest, I have to ask the more educated clergy of these denominations the inevitable question, Why hasn’t the controversy over infant baptism been made public from the pulpit? Why was it left for a little-known (but very curious) layperson to find out and make public?

My best guess is that you didn’t know either, clergy and laypeople have been duped. We need to join hands, repent, and get back on track.

[1]  Baptism God’s Activity of Grace (Minneapolis, MN: Kirk House Publishes, 2006.), 111.

[2]  Ibid., 110.

[3]  Kevin Horragan, “The Afterlife: Limbo Rocked,” Knight-Ridder News Service, January 10, 2006.