IS THIS BAPTISM VALID?

IS THIS BAPTISM VALID?

Posted on December 12, 2016 Updated on November 23, 2016

  By Pastor Enoch Adeboye

Memorise: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16)

Read: Mark 16:15-17

Shortly before Jesus began His ministry, He went to river Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist. Immediately after this, the Heavens opened. One vital lesson for us today is that everyone who is truly born again and undertakes baptism by immersion according to Heaven’s specification could encounter Heaven. When you give your life to Christ, change occurs inside you.

One of the reasons for water baptism is to identify with the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. More importantly, water baptism is meant to openly demonstrate the change that has occurred internally. Once there is an inward change at new birth and this change is satisfactorily demonstrated publicly through water baptism, the recipient could have an encounter with Heaven.

However, to experience this, the convert must approach water baptism with faith and lots of expectation. If you do not expect the Heavens to open to you, even when you have been genuinely saved, it may not. Faith is key in every act of obedience to trigger the miracle.

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:16). Water baptism is a necessary experience every believer should have. Jesus had to be baptized by immersion because it was divinely required (Matthew 3:15 ). There is a divine order regulating water baptism.

First, you must have truly received Jesus Christ as Lord and personal saviour before being baptized. If you were water baptized before your salvation experience, you have reversed the order. That baptism is null and void. If you were baptized by merely sprinkling water on you, it is not recognized. If you were baptized as an infant, or you were an adult church goer but not truly saved, that baptism is invalid. The only recognized baptism is done by immersion after being born again.

You will also discover according to Mark 16:16 that it takes being born again and being baptized to be saved or to make it to Heaven. That means, if any part of the equation is missing, there may be no Heaven. Some believers have refused to submit to baptism by immersion because they thought it was not important. No, it is. You may not make it to Heaven if you are not baptized.

Similarly, if you are baptized but not saved, there is no Heaven for you. If your baptism is invalid, enrol in the believers’ or young converts’ class today and have one that is recognized by Heaven.

God has a purpose for commanding saved souls to be baptized. Water baptism is very important. Find time to do it if you have been born again.