Continuation of the chapter 6
The Fruits of peace
2) The two baptisms
The individual Christian life is really structured on two bases, our openness of heart to God, and our public position. This differentiation of individual foundations may seem exaggerated to many sincere people, for whom the one cannot go without the other, but they are in fact quite distinct. The first can lead to the approval of God who then returns to the person the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the second leads to the baptism of water, in the desire for an authentication of commitment to God before men.
There is no order at these two stages, which are sometimes very far apart, so we will begin by turning our gaze towards the second one, better known in our Christian-majority France.
The baptism of water, or repentance, is certainly only a symbol of the Christian oath, but it nonetheless remains the fundamental commitment before God and men, to accept the "death" of his psychology carnal for a "resurrection" in the logic of Love of one's neighbor in Jesus Christ RESSUSCITE of the dead. (1 Peter 3-18/22) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.//
What will we say then of a baptism taken not as a commitment under oath, but received in the childhood without commitment of the person itself, as it is customary to do in certain Christian confessions?
It is undeniable that Jesus was baptized of water in adulthood, but how could he have acted differently, the institution having been brought by John the Baptist for the entry of Jesus into His earthly ministry? We will not enter into considerations of doctrine, even if these customs can lead to confusion between the presentation of the eighth day in the temple for circumcision as was the case of Jesus and His public position by His baptism in the adulthood. The adulthood of this commitment is all the more fundamental today, now that we know that the human brain reaches its adult state at about twenty-five years of age. If we wanted to consider the fundamental interest of the cycle of renewal of the spirit, as we talk again of it later, it would seem normal, so that the action to be a true renewal and not a simple construction, to wait until the cycle of construction is itself completed before to enter into a commitment of rewriting new functions.
We will say, however, that "the circumcision of heart" requested by Jesus to every disciple is an image identical to that of baptism, and we will look only at the importance of the meaning of baptism as we have just seen described by the Apostle Peter. It is indeed fundamental that every Christian is still conscious in adulthood, of all the meaning of it, whether he has been baptized as a child or as an adult. Conversely, if he considers that the commitment he has made through other people in unconscious conditions, is, or has not always been for him directly related to a true motivation, that he renews it in a fully conscious way this time.
The good conscience demanded by God through the Apostle Peter, lies in accepting the look of the Spirit upon ourselves, acknowledging unfair our carnal soul which deceives us when we argue that we are right through it. A baptism being a symbol, therefore, does not have to be taken a second time, if it was initially linked to its true meaning and if it remains a fundamental dimension in the heart of the person itself. What would we say if not of those who, baptized as adults, sometimes turn away a time of God to return to Him later? Should they receive a new time the baptism? Should we also receive a new time the baptism each time we sin as someone who would have been put out and who would only have this way to enter again?
God does not put out the one who comes to him with a sincere heart and repents of his faults, that is why it is equally fundamental for parents who have a young child baptized, not to take lightly the spiritual approach they engage in this human being in his name. These are not human precepts, for if it is possible to mock men with impunity, God is the witness of all things. If baptism is indeed the public commitment of man to accept the process of renewal of the soul as we have just defined it during these last two chapters, it becomes the public demand addressed by man to God to lead him into the works he has prepared in advance for this renewal. If the man does not keep his commitments, this does not concern God. He will keep His own, even if He must get across both of the child and parents through situations that men will be astonished without understanding.
The same goes for the one who engages lightly in this process considered banal for many. Banal because not physically visible, but considered by the majority of these as a correct intellectual approach to which it is generally good to give reason. This attitude leads most often to a carnal humanism whose human motives often flout the fundamental rules, and whose glory of the result returns to the carnal man and therefore to Satan rather than to God.
Others are even more foolish than the latter and think themselves clever to engage in the waters of baptism, driven by impure motives of any profit. What these unfortunate people do not know is how Satan is rubbing his hands of what they consider themselves cunning, for this ruse led Judas Iscariot to sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, before he went hang himself. The important thing is not to be baptized with water to please to a relative, to a friend or to be able to call oneself a Christian to obtain a multitude of advantages, but rather to do it in the fullest dimension true commitment. This is almost a matter of survival, because the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, is a double-edged sword, it releases the soul if it is used correctly, or destroys it by deceptive appearances in another attitude of heart. God accepts any sinner who repents, but in the expectation of this repentance let us not be surprised that Satan, the enemy of our souls, takes all the more his rights as a commitment has been made, even if it was only a sham commitment.
By the way, some may be surprised that I speak so often of Satan, because many believe in Jesus, but imagine that Satan is only a delusional imagination, to see for some quite funny. Those, there are not afraid of him because they do not believe in his existence, and are unaware of his power on any carnal spirituality, so of what awaits them. His art is actually to suggest that he does not exist or that they are only jokes to scare the old ladies. I am not afraid of him for myself, because I know that whoever is in me is superior to him, even if I also know how to respect him without giving him reason. So, Jesus told us about him in (John 8-42/45) Jesus said to them, If God were your father ye would have loved me, for I came forth from God and am come [from him]; for neither am I come of myself, but *he* has sent me.
Why do ye not know my speech? Because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of the devil, as [your] father, and ye desire to do the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks falsehood, he speaks of what is his own; for he is a liar and its father: and because I speak the truth, ye do not believe me.//
Those who really put God and His only son in the first place, do not have to be afraid of the devil, but those who do not have faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit should be particularly frightened because even they refuse to believe in Satan it is to him that they pay their tribute. If God gives free, it is never his case. He can give as coming from "heaven" since spiritual in the carnal spirit, while this is to better take back, to better steal. That is why he who lavishes or receives health benefits from the body through "supernatural gifts", must always experience if they glorify Jesus or any other. It must not for all that reject the divine healings that glorify God and not men, as I sometimes witnessed. However, one must remain vigilant to check whether donations increase the value of the men or women as possessors of this donations coming from themselves, to see a practice or prayers learned. If this is the case, be careful! The prince of this world knows how to give, but he knows better how to retake on the other side to better destroy.
There is one thing he does not like, however, is that man can be taught of God. Not the man receiving any intellectual teaching about God, that he controls it relatively well, but receiving from the Holy Spirit of God Himself new open-mindedness, which lead him into a life of victory against his carnal dimensions until then misunderstood.
This brings us directly back to the first foundation that we set aside at the beginning of this chapter, concerning the opening of heart to God, both the key to the baptism of the "Holy Spirit" this time and the multiplier of the deep desire to stand in the presence of God.
We have already approached this subject several times, and in particular in the first chapter. I was touched by the Grace of God for myself by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, just as I recognized the absolute necessity to follow the precepts taught by Jesus, whom I did not yet know how to differentiate from an extraterrestrial. We will not enlarge on my exceptional case, for God knows that there are many who have to persevere longer than me to receive from Jesus the precious dimension of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will therefore confine ourselves to more general circumstances, situated in period beforehand or post baptism of water, as described in (Acts 1-1/9): The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
And, being assembled together with them, [He] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.//
This power, this other baptism, is the dimension of which Jesus spoke, as to the "New Birth", when He addressed to Nicodemus the Pharisee 1, chief of the Jews, as we have read (see John 3-1/10).
1) Pharisee: Jewish party that emphasized respect for rites and ceremonies. The Pharisees define themselves as a movement of strict religious observance, bringing an oral interpretation of the Jewish law given by God to Moses for their benefit. They believed in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and the existence of angels and demons.
Until Jesus, only the forgiveness of sins, according to the rules imposed by God, were salutary for the repose of the soul. Since His advent, especially His resurrection, and His Ascension to God, He is preparing His reign with those who repent and renew themselves in Him. Each of those who ask Him this other baptism with a sincere heart, not to do the will of their flesh, but that of the Spirit of God, receive this power which is quoted elsewhere as the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. It is through the person of the Holy Spirit in our heart that God Father and Son come to dwell in us, who are becoming in that the temple of the Holy Spirit. As in return for our commitment and to confirm His approval to our sincerity of heart, Jesus then equips us with this "power" to face effectively the struggle we have to fight against this flesh, according to which we react.
This power was manifested for the apostles, ten days after the Ascension of Jesus to the Father, during Pentecost. It is accessible to anyone sincere toward God, recognizing Jesus publicly as Lord and Son of God, and ready to follow Him beyond all understanding. The apostles had been warned by Jesus that they were going one day receive this power without knowing what it was going be, unlike me at my baptism of the Holy Spirit who knew the day and knew it was going upset my life, but who did not know that it was going come from God to me.
He acts as he wishes with each one, knowing us better than ourselves. (Acts 2-1/13) And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthian, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.//
Those who would have observed me could have believed me also filled with sweet wine. Unlike the disciples, I did not allow myself to pronounce these words that I was not going to understand, not expecting myself to God. Words that later came back to me unceasingly, and that one day the Holy Spirit revealed to me. In another "language" I was saying "Glory to God".
Such experiences may seem unreliable to some, because sometimes demonized by people who are poorly taught or too obtuse to admit the phenomenon, influenced in this by the simulation of some people. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is, with some exceptions, accompanied by the spoken in an unknown tongue which, as the Apostle Paul says, allows one to edify oneself (1 Corinthians 14-2/4) For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.//
This dimension of the Holy Spirit therefore allows dialogue with the Spirit of God, without our carnal psychology perceiving the image, the dialogue being placed at the level of the subconscious. By this dimension of the spirit (ours) towards the Spirit (His), a pure dialogue, because devoid of bad images, can thus be established in a dimension that cannot be interpreted by our intellect. That is how I heard a brother in Christ one day pray to God in Russian. I was still speaking it a little bit at the time, but he, although he had never learned it, spoke much better than me without having about it the comprehension.
I do not mean that whoever wants to learn Russian, must convert. If it were so, everyone would probably want to receive this power, to "profit" it, while God wants to bless us far beyond a mere human profit. Any form of carnal interest or reasoning, however small, becomes a handicap to receive from God this miraculous blessing. God still manifests today in many miracles, and this baptism of the Holy Spirit is no doubt part of it. It is not expressed by great signs in the eyes of men, but it is perhaps greater than any other miracle, for it is accomplished in the secret of the heart. This is what Jesus called "The New Birth", since it is an initialization to rewrite our logic in another language, that of the Love of His neighbor.
By its functioning of equivalences of values, the flesh always seeks to be glorified, increased its standing near the others, by the adoption of precepts which it recognizes just by comparison of image. That is why he who receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit must not have preconceived ideas, on the way by which God wants to pass him, and simply rely on the Holy Spirit to let himself be led. We have already read it in the first chapter, "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the noise; but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is so with anyone who is born of the Spirit.”
It is then that the teachings and the passing time, a certain paradox will not fail to be established. If it is absolutely necessary to give reason to the rules established by God in order to be able to live them daily, it is not because we consciously give them reason that they are rewritten one hundred percent in this logic which has just been born, to the detriment of the old in the flesh. Nothing can indeed be inscribed in this new logic, without there being a victory over the old one in conditions of life of a value identical to those which had created our initial reactions. If we remain true and sincere, we can perceive in what logic our soul has been rewritten, only in spontaneous reactions of the everyday life, because our intellect being short-circuited in our brain, we are then subjected to the only transformation of the heart already performed, to lead us to the right behavior or not. If we fall back into error we will only have to repent, whether we have one year, ten years or fifty years of Christian life. It is better to run the risk of being rejected as improper by those around us, rather than losing our own TRUTH that God will know how to transform and rewrite in our spirit, if we remain SINCERE and FAITHFUL towards Him.
The one who does not act like this falls very quickly, if not, into a life of attitudes and not of personal experience. His soul, recognizing the rightfulness of what the Spirit of God teaches, then adopts in the flesh behaviors contrary to his own truth, feeling himself accused of not being correct by allowing certain errors of personal constructions to show through. This attitude is unfortunately frequent, in the one who receives the Holy Spirit and gives carnally reason to his new environment. He then adopts many new behaviors as good attitudes to which he would always have proved right, but these being managed by his old logic, only produce in him an appearance of holiness in conformity with what the human mind can conceive as being balanced even though it leads to extremism. He who has received the baptism of the Spirit must therefore remain entirely true, and ALWAYS retain his free will whatever his environment.
God wants to change every hidden part of the soul and not the external attitude by a uniformity defined by the man and an indoctrination of the spirit that Jesus was fighting on earth. He wants us to be able to use all the potential He has put in us, which is distorted by circumstances related to the logic of "human dressage" that Satan dominates. These deformations of which we spoke in the previous chapter, represented by this watercourse and the bridges that could span it with all the various explosions that could have caused so much and so much damage. With our agreement, God wants to make us participate in His Glory and to grow our faith in Him, to bring us into the works He has prepared in advance for us that are our future victories on each pitfalls prepared by the enemy of our souls in our mind. He does not want that we cover the crack of a bridge, with a lure that gives us an appearance of love for our only environment, as is a carnal self-protectionism that adopts external attitudes of love only for those who are like him. God wants to allow us to "deconstruct" stone by stone and in the order that only He knows, each carnal bridge that is difficult to use, from which our bad images emerge. It is also not just mistakes that everyone knows to recognize as error, such as theft, murder or any other bad feeling, but also those that we can sometimes consider the best such generosity or tolerance. If the generosity that we practice values us in our eyes for example or if our tolerance makes us accept sin as a human fatality that we must accept, but leads us to eternal damnation, then these good feelings are carnal and therefore demonic.
The will of God is to burn all that leaven that makes us "bursting" so easily with pride and temerity, until we sometimes feel that we are the only masters on earth. John the Baptist told us about Jesus (Matthew 3-11) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire://
