What is John’s Baptism? Is it still being used today? If so, what effect does it have on believers? To answer those questions let us turn to chapter three of the Book of Matthew.

In chapter two we learned about Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary, Who had been raised in the city of Nazareth and, now 29 years of age, is unknown to the people of Judea. But not for long.  Someone was already heralding His soon-coming arrival on the scene. Beginning with chapter three we read, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the (King of the) kingdom of heaven is at hand.'” This was the man the Prophet Isaiah described as “… one crying out in the wilderness, saying: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.'” He was referring to his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth.

John was a hard, rugged man of the outdoors. He dressed and spoke with a frank, to-the-point rawness that the people had neither seen nor heard before. However, his message packed power, so much so that people from Jerusalem and from all over Judea and the surrounding region flocked to where he was baptizing in the Jordan River. Many, we are told, were being baptized by him. Among those coming to him for baptism was a contingent of Pharisees and Sadducees. John spoke to them as they arrived, telling them that baptism would do them no good because, following baptism, they would have to undergo a total change in character.  They would have to “… bring forth fruits (works) meet (suitable) for repentance.” They would have to turn away from the sins that had characterized their previous lives.  John knew that they would never make such a drastic change.

Then, as now,  “works of righteousness” were a necessary part of the Christian “walk” (lifestyle).  Baptism was (is) an early step in a life-long, God-controlled series of steps along the spiritual path that ends in Kingdom of God. This Biblically designated “walk” is the same today as it ever was and ever will be. That prescribed walk is as unchangeable as its Designer, Jesus Christ, Who is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8), who said about Himself, “I am the Lord, I change not.” It is written about Him that “In Him there is no shadow (hint) of turning (change)” (Jam. 1:17).

At this point we must understand some vital truths concerning baptism. First, before baptism must come true repentance of all past sins.  Such repentance requires that the supplicant not merely feel sorry for having committed them, he must determination to totally eliminate them from his present and future life.  Next must come a total reversal of his life’s “walk.”  This reversal of life entails the death of the old, sin-centered man. This must be followed by the creation of a new, holy, God-obeying man. The old man must be crucified as Christ was crucified (Rom. 6:6/ Eph. 4:22). A new, Christ-like man must take his place.  Nothing from one’s previous life is to be brought forward.  ALL THINGS must be made new. “If any man is in Christ he is a (totally) new creature (creation). Old things must pass away, behold all things must be made (totally) new” (2 Cor. 5:17).  When God says “all things” He means every aspect of one’s life–words, thoughts, acts, attitudes, motives, etc. EVERYTHING FROM ONE’S PREVIOUS LIFE MUST DIE.

John knew that the Pharisees and Sadducees had come under conviction and wanted him to baptize it away. He knew that their baptisms would not be followed by a change in character. He compared them to fruit trees, warning them that God would cut down every tree that did not produce good fruit (works of obedience) and cast them into the fire. God’s “… winnowing fork is in His hand,” with which He would separate the good from the evil and cast the evil into “unquenchable fire.” Religious business-as-usual would not enable them to make the cut. Such theological doctrines as the come-as-you-are-stay-as-you-are theology so popular within the “I’m just a sinner save by grace” crowd had no place within God’s spiritual family–not then, not now, not ever.  He is the Lord; He changes not.

Not so, says an ever-growing percentage of the Counterfeit Church. Popular opinion holds that God has changed in order to facilitate “inclusion” and to create more “love” toward those not in THE church (whichever cult the speaker is involved in).  Concerning sinners, modern parishioners are told to  “Love them into heaven.” NO! Love them into repentance and a total change of life.  If they refuse to repent and turn from their wickedness, we are to kick the dust off our feet and move on. Not so in modern Christendom.

Have you noticed that the homosexuals–the new darlings of the inclusion crowd–do not denounce their sin and turn from it when they get “saved?” It is the church, not the queers, that changes. As an act of “love” the church “includes” them within the church family. The church’s “salvation circle” grows ever larger to include ever more sinners who have no intention of ever changing.  But what about that pesky thing called the Holy Bible–the thorn in the church’s side–that condemns homosexuals?  What is a loving, inclusive church to do?  Of course, Satan always has the answer.  Because God condemns homosexuality in His Book of Truth, the church must, as one pastor said publicly, “… step outside the Bible” to determine what is right and wrong. This is the church’s approach relative to a variety of sins. Have you noticed that sin becomes righteousness when the right people, or a large number of people in the church practice it?  These are those about whom the Lord was speaking when He pronounced a “woe” on those who call good evil and evil good (Isa. 5:20). If the right people, or a large number of people in the church practice a particular God-condemned sin, God supposedly develops a change of heart and declares the act no longer a sin. What the church does not realize is that the “god” they are dealing with is in fact Satan.  Honest Bible students know that everyone within the Catholic/Protestant religious system worships and serves the Lord’s premier enemy.  Like Adam and Eve, they have made the Serpent of Eden their lord and master.  L.J.