Jaeson's Thoughts: A NEW BAPTISM MOVEMENT

A NEW BAPTISM MOVEMENT


Baptism at UCLA Jan Steps Pool ~ Supernatural on Campus Conference


Student being baptized by another Student ~ Myles & Megan


Students were getting baptized that night past midnight, with no change of clothes in the cold. This isn't radical, it's being obedient to Jesus command.

Dear Campus Church Leaders,

This is a word to every leader in our campus church planting movement. This is a word also to the Body of Christ. Tonight, I received a direct prophetic word from my older spiritual brother, Pastor Philip Mantofa that was confirmed twice by the Holy Spirit. The word was, "Jaeson, get ready for you will witness 100 new baptisms in your movement very soon. This will be the beginning of a baptism movement in your sphere of influence that will spark a movement of radical obedience to God's Great Commission to immediately baptize new converts to Christ. By obeying God's command to baptize new disciples, it will release a new wave of divine healing, miracles and great numbers of salvations in your movements on campus, but not only the campus, everywhere. Get ready, prepare for 100 and PROCLAIM it to all and make a contract with God to baptize 100 within this next year and He will honor it."

My heart is full of faith and expectancy. When Pastor Philip gave me this word, the presence of God came all over both of us, we knew the Holy Spirit was speaking clearly.

The other night, Pastor Philip showed a video of their last miracle crusade in the worst slum of Indonesia. Over 9,000 heard the Gospel and 500 were immediately baptized the same night in baptism coffins. On the video, the new converts were literally shaking, manifesting demons, some barfing out blood as they got near the baptism waters. The moment these new believers were baptized they were immediately set free from demonic oppression and made new born babes in Christ. As I watched this video I was deeply stirred, I said "God this is truly the book of Acts, the New Testament way of making disciples, Lord I don't just want salvations of souls, I want sound salvations that remain, Biblical conversions that shake hell and fill heaven with praise!"

For the past few days the Lord has burdened my heart to see the lost come to Christ like never before. But I will not be satisfied with only seeing new converts say a prayer of repentance unto salvation, No, they must fully obey God's command and be immediately baptized. One of the greatest travesties of the Church today is the doctrine that we are to wait until someone is ready to be baptized. This is a heresy and it must be exposed against Holy Scripture. Where do you find once in Scripture that someone is baptized the second, third or fourth day? Or even months later or years later? You can't find it, it is not in Scripture. Every person in the New Testament, who was converted to Christ after the day of Pentecost, was baptized (immersed) in water on the same day. Salvation and Water Baptism in the New Testament was synonymous, not separate. If you study Church history the early Jewish converts never separated water baptism with true repentance. For if you truly repented you would prove your repentance with water baptism. Faith without works is dead. Therefore, praying a prayer of salvation without being water baptized does not make Biblical sense. If you believe by faith, you must prove your faith by action. That action that God gave us as a command is "water baptism."

Does this mean that we are not saved if we are not water baptized? That question does not need to be answered because if there is nothing stopping us from being baptized, why are we not water baptized? This is God's command and do we question His own command? To not be baptized is simply an excuse to not trust in Christ finished work on the cross, but to trust in our own strength to somehow "be ready" to be saved. We can do nothing apart from Christ. We can never be more ready to be baptized now or later, if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, just as the Ethiopian Eunuch confessed in Acts 8:37, then nothing should stop us from being baptized in water. Now, did not the Ethiopian Eunuch when he believed on Christ say, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized them." Acts 8:35-38.


The problem in our Western Christianity today is that we still worship the tree of Knowledge when we were commanded to worship the tree of Life. Disobedience is once again the problem, for life springs from being radically obedience to God. We think we need to get more knowledge for everything before we can do anything for Christ. To say we need more knowledge, or to hide behind the theology that we need more knowledge in order to be more obedient is absurd. We are called to be obedient to Christ commands, period. No questions asked, His Word is final, it is clear and it is to be obeyed. We are not to worship more knowledge, we are to worship God by being obedient to His commands. Our Churches are weak because we have much knowledge and less obedience, much teaching and no application, much theory and again, no obedience. What God wants is obedience, not our excuses to not do what He commands us clearly to do.

Did not Peter preach to the crowd on the day of Pentecost, when they asked him what must we do to be saved? "Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." …"Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them." Acts 2:38-41 On that first day of the New Testament Church, 3,000 were convicted of sin, 3,000 repented, 3,000 were water baptized and therefore 3,000 were soundly saved. I don't think Peter held a 4 week baptism class to make sure they all knew for sure, for sure, that they knew what baptism meant in order to "be ready" to be baptized. No, Peter preached the Gospel, the crowd believed Jesus as Lord and in order to publicly display their commitment to Christ, to confirm their commitment was true, not just some emotion or adherence to another god, they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

There is a spiritual power and vital victory in water baptism that stamps ones salvation with finality. It is a public declaration not only to those on the earth, but to those in heavenly places. It is a cutting off, a burial of the old self and it is a resurrection, a birthing of the new self in Christ (Rom 6:2-9). Baptism is not just a physical act with symbolic significance. No, it is a spiritual act that destroys the works of the devil in one's life. It is God's stamp of approval upon a true believer.

To not baptize immediately is to directly disobey Jesus command to "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." "teaching them to obey all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always to the end of the age." Amen. Matt 28:18-20

Jesus does not call us to wait to be baptized. He commands us directly to be "baptizers." If we are not baptized in water we are directly disobeying Jesus command. Read the Great Commission for yourself and ask yourself if you are being obedient or disobedient to it. Then talk to me. No where does scripture say, you must be baptized by a pastor or professional clergy. No where in Scripture does it say you must have a formal baptism service. No where in Scripture does it say you must have a signed certificate verifying your baptism of some sort. No where does it say you must go through a baptism class to confirm your understanding of baptism. Instead, it is clear that every disciple of Jesus Christ is called to be baptized and to baptize others. Go, make disciples, baptize them and teach them all I have commanded you. Those are four commands and four action verbs from Christ Himself. Yet, we read through this Scripture as if it were only to be something memorized and not obeyed. This is a travesty! If you are a true disciple of Christ, one who studies him/herself to be approved, then be a student of God's Word and let Scripture be the final authority. Do not let the traditions, dogmas or doctrines of men that have deceived us for generations tell you what to think about water baptism, study the Scriptures diligently yourself and you will see clearly, scripturally and historically that water baptism is a command of Christ, that it is to be obeyed immediately and by faith. To not be baptized or to not baptize others because your church organization or para-church ministry says you can't because of so and so, again leads me to ask you this question, "Are you obeying man's tradition or Jesus command?"

I want to proclaim to every leader in our campus church planting movement across the nations that you are given authority by Christ to baptize new converts immediately and radically. We are to destroy the works of the Devil in this generation, and one of the most significant keys to see revival break out in this hour will be a return to the apostolic practice of immediate baptism. When this happens we will see true conversions, where every converts faith is proven by their obedience in baptism. In the early church, if you were not baptized those persecuting Christians would not kill you. But if you were baptized in the name of Christ you would receive persecution, and literally be killed for your faith. Why? What's the big deal about baptism? It is because if you are a true disciple who follows Jesus with all your heart, you will obey His first and most basic command that follows repentance, which is to be baptized. It proves your commitment to Christ. It is an automatic response, to a truly devout heart that belongs to Christ. "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me (John 14:21)."

When I get back home from my trip in Asia, I am buying 100 brand new Bibles. Because I am making a contract with God that in the next year I will witness 100 new baptisms through our campus church movement. Let this be so. I have full faith this will happen, because when I take God's Word seriously, and obey it faithfully, He will honor His Word, honor my faith and give souls to be baptized unto His name, for His glory.

Brothers and sisters, disciples of Jesus Christ, GO, MAKE DISCIPLES, BAPTIZE THEM, and TEACH THEM TO OBEY all Christ has commanded. Let us be radically committed to obeying God's Word and we will experience the blessing of doing so.

Campus Church Leaders: When you baptize someone immediately in the coming days, email or tell me ASAP because I want to keep track of the first 100 new converts who are baptized in this movement from this point on. I know when we hit 100, we will begin to see the hundreds, then the thousands radically return to the Lord on campuses, cities and nations in this divine hour of revival and awakening!

Also, attached is a systematic Bible Study on Water Baptism & also scriptures below for your study and reference.

Blessings,

Jaeson Ma

Baptism Scriptures:

Q: Why do we baptize (hint: obedience to Jesus):
Matthew 28:18-20
Mark 16:15-16

Q: When do we baptize (hint: immediately):
Acts 2:37-41
Acts 8:36-38
Acts 9:17-19
Acts 10:44-48
Acts 16:30-34

Q: What is the meaning of baptism (hint: the death of our old self and being
a new person in Christ):
Romans 6:1-4
Galatians 3:26-28
Colossians 2:6-15
1 Peter 3:18-22

Water%20Baptism.doc

posted by Jaeson Ma @ 11/29/2007 10:13:00 AM