Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
With a new look
Forgetting Those Old Things
The Believer Shall
I have been asked if a person needs to be baptized in the Holy Spirit (as a second transaction after accepting Jesus by confession) in order to get to heaven. Well, I could give you a direct answer but you might not believe me. So, I’ll let the Bible answer that question. You will be honest when you read the Bible, won’t you?
“‘Those who are honest in their faith in my word will take my name and drive them evil demons out of those who need it. They will also lay their hands on sick folk, it doesn’t matter what the sickness because it’s not from me or my Father; do this and the sick will recover, whether you see it or not. If there is a reason that you must pick up a snake—not just tempting the Lord because that’s sin—and the snake bites you it will not harm you because you belong to me/Us. The same goes for drinking anything deadly, or eating anything deadly, it won’t harm you. But, now this is crucial, you must wait for the baptism and the anointing in the Holy Spirit before you can do any of this; and you will also speak in new, unlearned, tongues. However, you will not be able to do any of these works until you are baptized in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you must wait in Jerusalem until you are baptized in the Holy Spirit,’” (From Mark 16:16-19 Steadfast in Honor).
Before I was baptized in the Holy Spirit I encountered people who were sick. And ya know what I did? Nothing, I might have told them to go to a doctor or to see the nurse if we were in school. Before I was baptized in the Holy Spirit I might have met some demon possessed people, I honestly don’t remember. I never even heard of tongues (the unlearnable tongues of the Holy Spirit). But the truly honest believer (honest about his believing in Jesus as Lord) will be known for doing these things, or by these things they will be known.
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I have never met anyone who called Jesus Lord but was not baptized in the Holy Spirit do any of this stuff. Ya see, Jesus did these things while He was on Earth in a human body. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38) and He is the pattern of our lives; only our substitute in death, but our pattern in life. According to John 14:12 Jesus wants those who are honest about believing in Him to do what He did, meaning to be His representatives to those in need.
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Now, who is Jesus coming back for in the rapture? I asked that question of a young Lutheran pastor many years ago and, ya know, he actually gave me the right answer and it was concise and not preachy. Jesus is coming back for Himself. That’s what a representative of Jesus is; He is Jesus to those in need. And that is who Jesus is coming back for.
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Now, how do you be a representative of Jesus? Jesus was baptized in water (Mark 1:9), He was also anointed [or baptized] in the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:10). Then Jesus went and laid hands on the sick (Mark 8:23), He drove out demons (Mark 1:34) (something we can do in His name), He spoke/prayed in other tongues (at the tomb of Lazarus, “Father, I thank you that you’ve already heard me”). There are other things that Jesus did, thing like teaching, preaching, helping but those three things, at least, don’t require the Holy Spirit baptism. But the things talked about in Mark 16 do, and those are things that Jesus did and the true believer (His representatives) will do.
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Now, I will ask you the main question: Do you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit in order to get to heaven? If you still think it’s not necessary, tell God.