Baptism - Tumblr Posts
Церковь морозным утром и ночью. Church on a frosty morning and night.
Поздравляю с Крещением Господним! В этот светлый праздник хочу пожелать вам всем крепкого здоровья, благополучия и душевного спокойствия. Пусть этот праздник смоет все печали и принесет в жизнь всё самое лучше.
Congratulations on the Baptism of the Lord! On this bright holiday, I want to wish you all good health, prosperity and peace of mind. May this holiday wash away all sorrows and bring the best to life.
HOLY GHOST BAPTISM & TONGUES SPEAKING
Baptism is no new concept in the circles if Christendom. It has been a big part of our religion…
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HOLY GHOST BAPTISM AND TONGUES SPEAKING cont.d.
A couple of weeks ago I shared a post on Holy Ghost Baptism and Tongues speaking. In that post,…
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Hi! Please pray for me as I am discerning to be baptized at my church (probably) this Sunday.
Yesterday morning during my Bible reading I reached Acts 8 on Philip's ministry where he met an Ethiopian man who was traveling and studying the Scriptures and then he taught him about Christ. They were on a chariot until they came to a body of water.
“Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.”
Acts 8:36-38 NKJV
Since these past weeks coming to church and being friends with my sisters (about a month since my conversion) I have felt wanting to be part of the church family officially. The topic of baptism has come up in conversation a few times that I initiated from my own interest and curiosity (they have never forced me and I never felt pressured by them), and they have been incredibly helpful in answering my questions and providing me with resources.
Last Wednesday when I was invited to my first home Bible study (which I had a wonderful time and many insights that I already wrote about in my drafts but not published yet), I also talked with two of them, whom I call sisters and friends, and they also helped comfort and encourage me about my feelings of anxiety of getting baptized and joining the church. It helped that many of the members were also previously Catholic in our country.
I had messaged one of them sharing what I had received and I said, "What's keeping me from being baptized? If I already believed with all my heart that Jesus is the Son of God and I want to serve him?"
Baptism is the first step of obedience following conversion and salvation. It is a profession of faith, and a rite of passage before I start my 'ministry' or begin serving the Lord. It would symbolize a new life for me as a believer, cleanse all my sins, and give me the Spirit.
I have heard and read in at least 3 separate instances this past week, "Delayed disobedience is really disobedience."
Christ is calling me.
Please pray for me.
The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11
Eli Kittim
The Two Witnesses are Anointed with Power
In Rev. 11:4, the two witnesses on earth are said to be “the two olive trees” of the Lord. This verse is based on the Old Testament:
“These are the two anointed ones who stand
by the Lord of the whole earth.”
— Zechariah 4:14
The term “Messiah” (Gk. Christos) is derived from the Hebrew word mashiach, which means “anointed one.” So, Zechariah 4:14 cannot be talking about anyone else except the Messiah. As I will demonstrate, these two anointed witnesses could be none other than Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. And these two are one! The Holy Spirit is often called the “Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19), the “Spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7), or “the Spirit of His Son” (Gal. 4:6). We know that the Messiah is the “anointed one” (Dan. 9:26). But the Holy Spirit is “anointed” as well (1 Jn 2:20, 27), and anoints Jesus with power (see Lk 4:18; Acts 10:38). The anointing takes place when Jesus and the Holy Spirit become one (during Jesus’ baptism)! It is Jesus’ rebirth, so to speak, when the Holy Spirit enters him and anoints him with power (Lk 3:22; cf. Acts 2:1-4)!
As for those thinkers who take issue with this view, claiming that the two witnesses are probably Enoch and Elijah who never died, there are three problems with their theory. First, regardless of whether a biblical character died or not, scripture makes it clear that you only live once (Heb. 9:27); there is no reincarnation. A reincarnation of Enoch or Elijah is therefore out of the question. Second, neither Enoch nor Elijah were the anointed Messiah. Third, both of these fictional characters are “types” who represent and foreshadow the Messiah. Notice the specific typology that is presented in Revelation 11 which typifies the two witnesses’ unique relation and connection to Jesus: the two witnesses are said to prophesy in the exact same place where Jesus supposedly lived, and they will die in the exact same city where Jesus allegedly died. I think you can guess the rest of the script: “But after … three … days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet” (Rev. 11:11). Just like Jesus, they’ll be miraculously raised from the dead after 3 days!
Moreover, Rev. 11:6 says that the two witnesses have tremendous authority (ἐξουσίαν) over heaven and earth to do as they please. However, only Jesus has that kind of authority. No one else! Jesus says: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt. 28:18):
Ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ
τῆς γῆς ·
Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are called Witnesses
What is more, the two witnesses’ assignment is to bear witness to the truth (μαρτυρίαν; Rev. 11:7). The two persons of the Godhead who bear witness (μαρτυρήσει) to the truth on earth are Jesus and the Holy Spirit (see Jn 15:26; 18:37; Rom. 8:16; Heb. 10:15 [Μαρτυρεῖ/bears witness]). Case in point. First John 5:6 mentions the witness of the Spirit——namely, that God comes in the flesh——using the symbols of “water and blood” which represent the divinity and humanity of Jesus, thus indicating that he’s both God and man:
“This man, Jesus the Messiah, is the one
who came by water and blood—not with
water only, but with water and with blood.
The Spirit is the one who verifies this,
because the Spirit is the truth.”
Then, 1 John 5:7-8 goes on to explain that “these three [witnesses] are one”:
“For there are three witnesses
[μαρτυροῦντες] — the Spirit, the water, and
the blood—and these three are one.”
— 1 John 5:7-8
And 1 Jn 5:9 tells us that the content of this prophetic witness (ἡ μαρτυρία τοῦ θεοῦ) concerns the coming of the Son of God in human form at some point in human history. The Greek verb ἐλθὼν (came) is not referring to the time of action, but rather to the Christological prophecy which is supposed to take place according to the scriptures (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3-4). So the testimony of the two witnesses of Revelation 11 is about the parousia, or the coming of Jesus to this earth! Interestingly enough, Rev. 1:5 calls Jesus “the faithful witness” (ὁ μάρτυς, ὁ πιστός). This is reiterated in Rev. 3:14 where Jesus is “the faithful and true witness.” Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are said to be God’s two witnesses, and these two are one! Since no one else except God can do these extraordinary miracles (e.g. fire-breathing, controlling the weather & the sea [cf. Mk 4:39], causing plagues; Rev. 11:5-6), and given that the language of the Greek New Testament is pointing to the authority, anointing, and witness of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, there can be little doubt as to who these two witnesses are.
First Comes Christ; Then Comes the Antichrist
The sequence of end-time events also reveals New Testament parallels and verbal agreements that are consistent with the notion that the Messiah will come first, followed by the antichrist. Notice the same sequence in Rev. 11:7:
“And when they have finished their witness,
the beast that comes up out of the abyss
will make war with them and overcome
them and kill them.”
This is essentially the same sequence that we find in 2 Thess. 2. The restrainer must first be taken out of the way before the lawless one can be revealed (2 Thess. 2:7-8). In other words, the restrainer must be removed before the antichrist can appear on the world stage. This same motif is repeated in Rev. 12:3-4 (italics mine):
“a great red dragon, with seven heads and
ten horns [representing the Antichrist and
the final world empire] … stood before the
woman who was about to give birth, so that
when she bore her child he might devour it.”
The way Rev. 12:5 is described, it’s as if it gives us Jesus’ birth, resurrection, and ascension, minus his death (which is alluded to in verse 4):
“She gave birth to a male child, one who is to
rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her
child was caught up to God and to his
throne.”
So, in Rev. 12, the male child is born first, and then the red dragon kills it. It’s the exact same sequence in Rev. 6. First comes the peaceful white horseman “holding a bow” (representing the covenant; see Gen. 9:13 LXX) and wearing the Stephanos crown, which is typically worn by victors in Christ (Jas. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 2:10; 4:4), and then comes the red horse which triggers World War III (Rev. 6:3). We find the exact same sequence in Rev. 11:7. First come the two witnesses, and then comes the beast out of the abyss to kill them. This is the antichrist who must come after Christ. It’s the exact same motif in 2 Thess. 2:7-8 in which the restrainer must be killed before the antichrist can appear.
So, there’s a running theme throughout the New Testament which repeats the same end-time sequence in all these narratives, namely, the idea that Christ comes first, followed by the Antichrist! Thus, Christ’s coming is imminent (it can happen at any time)! But how is all this possible if Christ already died two thousand years ago? It’s possible because the gospels are not historical documents that correspond to real historical events. They’re theological narratives that are largely based on the Old Testament. By contrast, the epistles, which are the more explicit and didactic portions of scripture, say that Christ will die “once for all” (Gk. ἅπαξ hapax) “at the end of the age” (Heb. 9:26b), a phrase which consistently refers to the end of the world (cf. Mt. 13:39-40, 49; 24:3; 28:20). Similarly, just as Heb. 1:2 says that the physical Son speaks to humanity in the “last days,” 1 Pet. 1:20 (NJB) demonstrates the eschatological timing of Christ’s *initial* appearance by saying that he will be “revealed at the final point of time.” In other words, Revelation 6:2, 11:3, 12:5, and 19:11 all refer to the first coming of Jesus at the end of days!
“my name is my body” - Bojan Louis
