ONE DOCTRINE

I write this with sadness because so many Christians have been taught the wrong catechism, even as I. On top of that, the Church has many rituals that transcend the simplicity of the gospels.

I have accused some pious people of belonging to a cult. I spoke too harshly. Many traditional Christian groups (denominations) all have differences in doctrine, and they all forget that there is one Lord, one faith, one hope, and one baptism. So, in effect, we all are somewhat cultish but not really of the occult. We all are mistaken on doctrine in some manner or form, including my own church. If I think that only we are doctrinally right, that makes our church arrogant and pompous. We all err, and that must be remembered. If I offend any one group, sometimes the truth is offensive.

Since there is no book of the Bible called, “The Gospel According to Herrin,” I submit that what I write herein is the truth as I understand it, according to the Bible as I understand it. With that said, check it all with scripture. I have endeavored to do that as well.

The problem is that we may understand the same words quite differently. Whether you know it or not, or even accept it, much protestant doctrine was debated and written by councils of the Catholic Church as even the “church fathers” understood things differently. When some offer the idea that only they do it right, according to the early church, I look for vipers, whirlwinds as fire, and such. The early church was the foundation of Catholicism, who by the way, the ardent believe that they are the one true Church (catholic: universal). Even some to this day believe that their body of Christ is the one true Church, and are as such, very “catholic” in doctrine.

I have heard some Baptists brag, “We baptized forty people today!” That is not a bad thing, but I was baptized three times: once by testing of my faith, another by sprinkling, and another by immersion. Respectively, I was then a smart sinner, a damp one, or a very wet sinner, if it was not for grace.

The saving grace in all three is that I trusted Jesus whether I was taught, sprinkled, or dipped. If I took my faith sincerely, then I was “baptized” prior to that by the Holy Ghost. In other words, I learned and sought baptism because I was in Christ already. When was my “birthday”? Whenever it was when I first believed (John 20:8). It was prior to catechism or any other action on my behalf. To tell you the truth, neither who baptized me were God, nor even a “Moses.” In other words, I got wet after I had fully absorbed the Living Water sometimes before!

My own close relative was baptized a sinner and remained a sinner after coming out of the water. Why so? She was not a Christian before she was dipped and came out just as much a sinner. She was looking for God but certainly never found Him in the water!

So, even Methodists and regular Baptists think too highly of water. Some even think that a minister baptized by one directly from John the Baptist must do the baptism (Landmark Baptists). That is very Moses-like for them. John would be their “Moses” figure, the merit of which would be discounted since Moses was at the Transfiguration.

So, in summary, I desire not to offend any individuals for their beliefs, but must do my best to reveal the “one doctrine” that should be the doctrine of every group. Here goes my probably vain attempt:

 

Speaking of Christ, Paul wrote, “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9). To be honest, the use of “Godhead” seems impersonal as if God is a structure of some sort, or even an idol. Paul even makes the same point, “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device” (Acts 17:29).

Indeed “Godhead” is a theological term translated from the Greek word, theios. The word theos means simply “god.” The added iota in the word theios makes it plural. Hence, the one true God is Gods as well; and from there comes the concept of the Holy Trinity — God in three persons. However, that causes most people confusion — that the One True God is a three-person God with three personalities.

God is neither three bodied nor a multiple personality; God is one Existence of three substances with stability all in dynamic equilibrium; in science, called “homeostasis” — homeo (similar to) stasis (equilibrium between the states or substances). The “Godhead” is the three substances of God that are similar, ostensibly only different in substances. The three substances of God are Mind, Matter, and Spirit; all are similar but different.

“The Great Commission” is to, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them (offspring of the Godhead) in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Mat 28:19). The Great Commission is teaching, not baptizing per se. It is persuading them to follow Jesus. That was always how Paul fulfilled his three journeys out into the world. Paul baptized only two or three in water, “For Christ sent me (Paul) not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect” (1 Cor 1:17). Albeit Paul did not baptize (hardly at all), his converts became Christians. That is how the early Church commenced and was the practice of true Christianity. That should be the same practice for originalists to this day!

Paul preached, or taught, just as the Great Commission required. Who baptized, then? The Name! Jesus, before He arose, said, “…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” (Acts 1:4-5).

Jesus delineated two types of baptism: (1) the baptism in water like John’s, and (2) baptism with the Holy Ghost. The baptism of John was preparation, or for “repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). The Holy Ghost is Living Water from the Lamb of God — Jesus, “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev 7:17). That recounts God providing “Living Waters” from the rock at Massah that overjoyed the Israelites who thirsted (Exod 17), and of course, the “Rock” is the Body of the Messiah.

Hence, in scripture, the word “baptize” is common to both water baptism and spiritual baptism. So, whenever baptism is mentioned in the Bible, the reader should ask which baptism is meant. Peter told the people, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). Right then a substitution was made. It seems that with Jesus gone, repentance came not from baptism in water but from the heart. Peter defined true “baptism” — the baptism of the Holy Ghost. No wonder Paul did not come to baptize in water, for that would usurp Jesus, whose “bodily shape,” of the Holy Ghost, would do the true baptism.

So how many baptisms are there? Scripture points to John’s for repentance, but most preachers water baptize after conversion from out of Christ to in Christ. What converts, water or the Holy Ghost? Water only destroys (in scripture) but Living Water revives.

In the days of Noah, water endeavored to perish all mankind. The physical Ark saved eight people. From what? The water. What saved mankind? Noah found grace. God had baptized him in Living Water. Who was on board with Noah? Pre-incarnate Jesus, or the Spirit of Jesus in bodily shape just as He appeared at His baptism in water and at His crucifixion.

God did not die but only His Body experienced death. He remained alive in Mind and Spirit. Jesus felt the Presence of His Father leave Him and those who were astute in the crowd, saw the Holy Ghost in the shape of the Body of Jesus leave Him.

The Body of Jesus was resurrected, and the “Comforter” sent back to Earth (Acts 3) to do what? Comfort those in strive, the very meaning of Massah where the Comforting Water came to remove their stress. It is no coincidence that Massah and Messiah are so closely related, not only in spelling, but meaning. Massah is the strife, and Messiah to Comfort those in strife.

Now back to Massah (Meribah) in the days of Moses. What was the Comfort? Of course, the water quenched their thirst, but God provided the water to quench their strife. It was not the water that was satisfying but the Mind of God that created the water and its Power to overcome the world.

Because Moses got the credit for the water is much like the preacher getting the credit for baptism when the offspring of God are dipped, sprinkled, or poured. The Living Water did the baptizing long before the water was ready. Moses was not the Messiah. The Messiah turned on the water. Moses made sure God would do so by striking it twice. The point made therein is that credit must be given to the One that provided the water. It is God who always does that, and as such one substance of the Godhead is Living Water.

In the Old Testament, in the case of Massah, the Father made the water come forth. His Mind split the rock just as at the crucifixion of Jesus. What was the Father doing when Jesus was sacrificed. He was again opening the earth, this time to take in Living Water as the Holy Ghost left Jesus, for Living Water to spring forth!

What function does the Holy Ghost serve? He persuades sinners to “offspring” or come out of the Living Waters after being immersed in the Comforter. In the absence of the Father and the Son, the Holy Ghost is the medium of baptism. Each Substance acts similarly just as homeostasis implies. Baptism of the Holy Ghost is as efficacious as the Father providing the water at Massah, and just as effective as Jesus baptizing. Jesus always baptized, not with water, but in Spirit. Out of His belly flowed the Living Waters. In His absence, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God in the bodily shape of Jesus is the One baptism.

To credit water for salvation is like crediting Moses. The mode of baptism is missed; it is not the water but the Provider. After the Church was made, whose substance was living souls made by mixing dry bones with Living Water, no longer was water necessary for baptism because the Living Water flowed freely, not just at the Jordan River, but anyplace the offspring of God would flow, like Jesus said it, “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said (as at the rock of Massah), out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).

That describes the Great Commission: to pass along the Living Waters. How to do that? By crediting its source — the Name (Jesus) from whose belly was the source; when He was pierced and when the Holy Ghost was poured out.

Jesus poured forth water and blood, but if it was not from Him, then it would mean nothing. In His absence, when the Holy Ghost baptizes, it represents the blood and water of Jesus because the Spirit, the Son, and the Father are One God whose actions are as One regardless of who does the officiating. Moses is not part of that Godhead as the Father rightfully reminded the Israelites when Moses was denied entry into the Promised Land.

So how many baptisms? One as practiced by John, a second practiced by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as one, or a third that is practiced now? I submit that there remains only one efficacious baptism, not the one by the preacher, acting the part of Moses, but the one done by God in three states — Father, Son, or Holy Ghost:

 

⁴ There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; ⁵ One Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Eph 4:4-6)

 

Paul therein confirmed that the Spirit is the Body of Christ with a supra-natural flesh. Hence, the Ghost of Jesus is as efficacious as the Flesh of the man, Jesus. As the Mind in the Godhead, the Father is the “One Hope” because He, as at Massah, offered the ultimate sacrifice. The “One Hope” is the Godhead that includes the Mind, Body, and Spirit of God.

That the Body, Spirit, and Hope are the One God is evident in that passage. Regardless of the form of God, there is only One Lord regardless of how He appears. Jesus is the One Person of God — the “One Lord.” Is is by faith in the One Lord that is the doctrine of Christians. Faith that His blood and water were sufficient — the “one baptism” required of all, “This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6).

Of course, that refers to the effective baptism of Jesus, not for repentance, but for the distribution of the Divine Impulse from his genes, as “one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water,” not only for “the propitiation of sins that are past” (Rom 3:25; genetic sins) but all sins: past, present, and future.

Admit it; there is only One Lord in three different substances, and One Faith, as that was always the  same faith in the Messiah (John 1:1-14).

So, how about baptism? Are there one, two, or even three? I submit that there remains one baptism and with John long dead, the “One Baptism” is the baptism with Living Waters, or baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Why then do preachers still baptize since even Paul did not and Peter acknowledged only the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It is a formality.

The Jews felt as if they must be dipped in water for the remission of sins and that was practiced wholesale in the “Molten Sea” in the Temple (1 Kings 7:23; 2 Chr 4:2). Jews had to have their water! As scripture says, Jews require a sign” (1 Cor 1:22). Jewish Christians felt the need as well.

Wikpedia says, “The water (of the Molten Sea) was originally supplied by the Gibeonites, but was afterwards brought by a conduit from Solomon's Pools.” God did not supply the water; the Gibeonites did, and later Solomon was the source of the water as they were his pools, even after he was long gone. Not only that, but the priests were baptized in that “Brazen Sea” for the remission of the sins of the Israelites. That it was brass, made the “Sea” the God just as the Serpent of Brass made it the God who Hezekiah had to destroy.

For all practical purposes, for many the “One Faith” has been distorted. Since water is soterial for so many in their false doctrine, then in effect their “god” is Poseidon — the God of water — and is one god of the pantheon of gods of the Greeks and Romans.

By crediting water baptism for salvation, that activity blasphemes the Holy Ghost of Jesus whose baptism is efficacious (Mat 12:31) and whose practice has created another doctrine — their own wherein only they are saved. The restoration movement in the hills of Kentucky created a new faith for only those who are baptized in their church. Alexander Campbell became their “Moses,” and Poseidon as the imaginary image of their “god.”

(picture credit: DeviantArt)