Why Should I Get Baptised If I Can Just Say a Prayer?

Throughout history, starting with the Hebrews, God demanded that blood sacrifices were needed for the atonement of sin, i.e. anything they did that was against God’s Laws. The bigger the sin, the bigger the sacrifice.

Jesus was the last and once and for all time blood sacrifice.  His sacrifice took away all the sins of the world.  For those who accept Jesus as the Son of God receive, in return, the gift of salvation.  As you know, there are millions of people who have not and will not accept this free gift and that is their freewill right, but there is a price to pay called Hell.

Get baptised first, then start learning

Since we have all lied, stolen, used God’s name in vain, etc., and violated God’s law, which would have resulted in eternal punishment, but the Gospel or Good News is, God loves us and He doesn’t want us to be separated from Him by condemning ourselves to hell, therefore He sent His Son Jesus to take our punishment.

Getting baptised is not an initiation but rather an acknowledgement that we accept what we are, i.e. Sons and Daughters of the Most-High God. But also, because it is a response to Jesus dying on the cross to pay the ultimate price for our sin, and paving a way for you so that you and I can be forgiven of all the things we have done wrong, past, present, and future - and to help you find the true meaning of life.

Your Slate, Wiped Clean Forever!

It is essential every believer understands exactly what becoming a believer really means.  Let me give you some context.  For many people who have been baptised as adults or more accurately, those recognising they have sinned and understanding the expectation of repentance and not doing ‘whatever’ again, there is a significant and unrepayable exchange, i.e., Jesus’ death on the cross in exchange for your sins. 

The Crucifixion was a one-time event.  It does not need to happen again, which means, once you accept and acknowledge Jesus is Lord of your life and that He is the Son of God, you are to become baptised of water (John 3:3) and you will receive The Holy Spirit.  This is a promise and a fact!

Why is it Kept a Secret?

Here’s the problem; most churches don’t preach, tell, share, or evangelise about this.  Yes, they tell you about Jesus and His sacrifice, but many do not insist you get baptised, nor do they explain about the long-term impact of this acceptance and acknowledgement of being free from sin. My simple description is we become like Teflon, i.e., non-stick.  Sin cannot affect us anymore, satan cannot accuse us and so according to our baptism, he’s lost and cannot touch us because we belong to Jesus.

In my opinion the churches do this because they either don’t understand or believe it themselves, or it’s deliberate.  “Why would it be deliberate” I hear you ask.  Well, there are a few factors, firstly as I said, they don’t know, secondly, they want you to keep going to their church, so if you are made to think you need to be religious and attend each Sunday service and contribute to the collection or even tithe, then you are an asset to the church finances which goes to pay their salaries.  

And if they don’t get you on the religious attendance, they’ll get you on feeling guilt, shame, condemnation, and any other self-deprecating emotion to keep you in church as an ongoing sinner. 

There is a more sinister argument; the large, organised churches are satanic and are run by satan, therefore their objective is to keep people in religious bondage to ensure they, you, do not know or understand the freedom in Christ.

Your Sin is Finished (But not  apologies!)

I have to admit, I didn’t fully get this for the first few years of becoming a born-again believer and in fairness the Bible doesn’t make it easy, hence needing Bible teachers, but good ones are few and far between, especially as going to church doesn’t help!  However, If you read Colossians 2:13-23, the Apostle Paul explains that our sin has been nailed to the Cross.  Also, in 1 Corinthians 10:23, it says all things are permissible, but not all things are edifying.

You see, God has a plan that means we all have a choice and it's called free will. And we end up exercising that free will by either following God or not.

We can of course decline God's offer/invitation to get connected forever, however, we seriously must consider the consequences if we choose not to.

We were created for this; God wants us to be willing 'eternity long' family members and enter into a supernatural relationship that starts here and continues in heaven. The only way to heaven is through Jesus, which you can accept today, followed by getting baptised.  

What About ‘Slipping Up’

In the Bible, The Book of James chapter 5, he says ¹⁶ Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective,fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.  Don't fall into the trap some churches lay which is to confess your 'sins' to one another.  Trespasses are personal, sins are towards othes and inniquity is generational.  Confessing your trespasses keeps you accountable to a fellow believer.  You confess your sins to God and only Him.  Then repent, i.e. change your mind and don't do it again.

Paul says it more eloquently, if not a little confusingly in Romans chapter 7; ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 

So, even once we're baptised, it is possible to do things which are unedifying or unhelpful – but if we do something we shouldn’t have, Satan can no longer accuse or charge us with sin.  Our response is to repent quickly, and God is gracious enough to forgive us and not remember them as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). 

Whilst the accuser satan no longer has power over us because of sin and he cannot condemn us, however, if we do something that is not aligned with God’s purpose, we disconnect ourselves if we fail to repent and acknowledge what we have done wrong – and don’t do it again.  That is the expectation, i.e., to not sin.  Then it’s like riding a bike and falling off.   You get right back on the bike.

However, if one chooses to sin and having come to understand god’s forgiveness of sin and one sins deliberately without the intention of repentance.  This is called iniquity and is deliberate sin and therefore there is no more forgiveness for such sin - read Hebrews 10:26. 

Reject The Dark Side!

Before we are baptised, we belong to the world, a.k.a. satan!  And that is one of the reasons why people feel so against baptism; they think they're making their own minds up when in fact it's the enemy or satan whispering into their minds telling them not to do it!

When we decide to follow Jesus and accept what's being offered, there are a sequence of events as follows:

1. We believe in our hearts and say with our mouths that Jesus is Lord of our lives. This statement tells the 'world' that we now belong to Jesus.  We then must repent, to turn away from sin and to hate it, like God does!
2. The next part is very similar to when we get married, i.e. we make a covenant with our spouse and seal that covenant in public, by the exchanging of rings.  We are baptised to Jesus Christ (not to a church or an organisation, remember this!) and publicly seal our covenant to Him by being immersed in water. This also signifies that we have died to the world and are now reborn, risen again, as new creations in Jesus Christ.
3. Finally, we are baptised in The Holy Spirit. This is specified in the Bible as a promise.  This normally happens at the same time as the water baptism, but you will know when it does happen as it is quite amazing.   The promise from God is that He will give us His Holy Spirit who will live inside of us.  This is commonly demonstrated by speaking in tongues.  The Holy Spirit is that same power that rose Jesus from the dead and The Holy Spirit dwells inside of us - and when that happens, you'll know it and will never forget it for the rest of your life!

Once all the above has taken place, we can legitimately call ourselves born-again believers or Disciples of Jesus and this is when we are mostly compelled to start sharing and doing as Jesus did on this earth.

As I mentioned, before baptism we belong to the world.  When we make the commitment there will be all kinds of people and situations that will start occurring to stop you from going through with it. 

Once the big day comes around, I tell you, that will be a day you will never forget.  Next comes the "Test".  The world basically 'gets the needle' the dark side doesn't like to lose one of its own and so they try and attack us and get us to drop this whole Christianity 'thing'.

My Personal Journey

It wasn't until about eighteen months after I got baptised that I realised the significance and importance of what I had done.  And unlike I have mentioned above I had no one partnering with me or my wife and we had to find out for ourselves and yes, we did come up against the enemy in lots of ways. 

But once we actually realised our power, we nailed the enemy.  The realisation came after I read these notes by Rev Dr Chang.  I promise you, it's a great read.  Below is a transcript of ten sermons or talks Dr Chang did, so you can download and save it on your phone or tablet.

I initially thought because I had been baptised as a child that I was all sorted.  I was wrong and didn't properly understand.

After believing in my heart and saying with my mouth that "Jesus was Lord over my life", I thought that was enough and I was done. You know, ‘in the new club!’  But something was in the back of my mind that was compelling me to get baptised. When I told my parents (bearing in mind by this time I was forty-six!) they both said I didn't need to (FYI they were both Catholics)!

I went ahead anyway, we both did.  It was a great day, the Church laid on a great BBQ and everyone turned up.  So far so good.  The trouble was, we were not given any teaching or direction as to why we "had" to get baptised.  All the Churchy people accepted that it was really ‘nice’ that we were getting baptised, especially a husband and wife with four children.  But we didn't really understand.

Empowered with Supernatural Abilities

If you have read your Bible and listened to someone who will partner with you before, during and after your baptism, you will have been made aware of how God's kingdom works, how we figure in it and how we are expected to make his power manifest on earth and you will be equipped to give the enemy a kicking if it tries to mess with you.

You will also have the power and authority to heal the sick and cast out demons. But you need to understand; everything we do is a choice.  We choose to live holy lives!  However, what I have witnessed and experienced personally is that people are not as ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ as they would have us believe they are.  I believe it is because many people are not aware of the reality of being free from sin and therefore are forced to keep their faith hidden or tempered.  It’s real shame, but if you’ve read this far, you’re probably on the right track. 

Physical Response to a Spiritual Invitation

We now know that God directs us because without getting baptised in water and later being baptised by the Holy Spirit, only then can we call ourselves born-again believers as it specifically states in the Bible. It might come as a surprise to some people, but that's what it says, take a look at the following verses:

• Repent to God - (Romans 10:9)
• Baptised to Jesus, in Water - (John 3:3)
• Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as promised - (Romans 8:9)

Once we make a commitment to Jesus, we are demonstrating to satan that we belong to Jesus and that's final.  It doesn't stop satan trying to have a go though!  And don't I know it.  It took me nearly eighteen months to realise what was going on and none of the people I was connected with at Church were any the wiser!

You only have to see the low number of people getting baptised in churches these days, it's pretty poor show on behalf of the pastors and teachers.  Trust me; read the Bible, especially the New Testament and read for yourself about baptism.  It says in Acts 2:14, when they heard the word being preached 3,000 were baptised the same day. They didn’t have a 2,000-page printed Bible, but they were told the Good News, which was their sins were forgiven by accepting Jesus as God’s Son, the Messiah, and their Lord and Saviour.

Baptism is not something you decide whether you can be bothered to do it or not.  And don't listen to anyone who says otherwise.  Get baptised first and then start learning.

I was searching on-line and came across Rev Dr Chang.  He had delivered a number of sermons which I started reading at number six.  I then realised there were ten of them.  So, I started at the beginning.  By the end it was as if he was speaking directly to me, including the different circumstances I was, and had been in.

After I'd finished, I copied and paste all the sermons in to one document and saved it as a PDF.  It is well worth a read, trust me, I speak from experience.

It's probably the best teaching you could get about baptism – Enjoy – And then get baptised!!!! 😊