Part I : Scroll down to Part II
Why should I teach my baby to walk or even to eat solid foods, IT IS JUST TOO DARN DANGEROUS! They could fall or choke to death. I prefer they just crawl their entire life and drink milk from bottles, it just so much safer for them! What if they learn to walk and then they fall or he/she climbs the monkey bars and then breaks his/her neck? What if I teach them to eat solid food and they choke to death or they end up with digestion issues?
We would want to lock up parents who thought like that. Put them in a mental institution or take their children from them! These parents would be completely illogical! But we take this very same mindset and bring it into our churches and we believe we are being logical. What am I talking about? Well, let’s dive in and find out.
The Holy Spirit brought this idea to me this recently. I was sitting in a church which puts a lot of importance into bringing in new people. To be fair, I do understand their stance on this. This church has lots of babies (new) believers and unchurched people coming into their sanctuary on a regular basis. I want to say this because I want to be fair to them, I do understand their mindset. However, there are way too many churches who coddle their congregations with this soft-sell approach who do not regularly have or are not courting new people the majority of the time. They only want to be seeker-friendly and they also want to play it safe by not offending the people who come or seem to be to spiritually weird.
First: Giving
As I said, If you use my analogy above about parents who will not teach their children to walk and eat solid food because of the dangers, then you would have to list them as unfit parents! But in the spiritual realm, we have too many leaders who practice such things when it comes to spiritual gifts and leading their people to be mature and strong Christians. For time sake, I only want to use two examples while expounding this idea. However, leaders with this over cautious mindset are across the board when it comes to spirituality in the church.
While sitting in church recently, the Holy Spirit brought this idea to my mind when the pastor said; “… we have boxes on the wall and if you would like to give they are there.” He went on to say; “we do not talk of money because it is too offensive for some.” So “give” if you are moved.
When we read in the New Testament about giving money, we do not read about giving a 10% tithe as in the Old Testament Malachi 3. Rather, I believe the Apostle Paul, while writing in the New Testament in 2 Cor. 9:7, wants us to be good and cheerful givers. I believe they teach giving in the same vein as the sowing of seeds. There is a lot of teaching on this but for sake of space, I will not go into depth on this. If we look at our finances from God’s perspective, we can see God looks at the money the same as a farmer looks at seeds. When a farmer gets seeds, he plants them and they yield a crop. What if after the crop is harvested, he eats all the food and the seeds from the harvest? Then the next year, they will not have any seed for a new crop. They will starve.
The universal principle found in the book of Genesis 8:22 of “seed, time, and harvest” is applied to almost every living thing on this planet. In the New Testament, it is also used to teach about money issues. Most people during the Biblical time period were an agriculturally minded society (we, for the most part, are a technology–minded society). They understood completely when Jesus and the writers of the Bible talked about seeds, time and harvest.
So when your preachers tell you that the baptism happen when you got saved! Do not believe it! When they say the book of Act is only a history book of the church and those things you read passed away with the Apostles. They have not. The book of Act was the birth of the Church age and in 2018 you are still living in the Church age and on Chapter 2018 of the Book of Acts.
I have been saved by the Blood of Christ, I have been baptized in water! And after 18 years of being saved (a born-again believer), a preacher shared what I am sharing with you and I got baptized in the Holy Spirit and I speak in tongues. I have seen the miraculous happen, people healed and delivered. I can hear the voice of the Lord like never before and I have felt His power flow through me. This because I was obedient to His Word which allowed me to lay hands on the sick and tormented.
My first 18 years as a youth pastor and a preacher in a Baptist Church, I have seen nothing happen! NOTHING EVER!
I will finish this off with a quote from my Pastor: