Expert: Pastor Kimberly Lemler - 1/14/2008

Question
hi kimberly,
my name is anthony im 19 and ive just been wondering... my mother made me and my 2 little brothers go to sunday school and sit in her apostalic penacostile church(that cant be the right way to spell it.sorry) where they just yell and run and jump and just act crazy. not to be rude to anybody, but hey i was little it looked crazy to me. anyway what they believe is that you have to be baptized in jesus name after begging for forgivenss of sins, then you speak in tounges which is proof that you have the holy ghost so now you can go to heaven. this is the only church ive been to that say's that you have to speak in tounges to go to heaven. i went to a catholic church, but had a problem with tell a human my sins and asking him for forgivness. i dont know... my mothers church was always big on acts 2:38&39 ??? it says it right there to be bap.in jesus name. not the father the son and the holy spirit. so why do people still do it. thank you for all your help in advance
thanks again,
anthony

Answer
Hi Anthony,
Thanks for writing. Jesus said this; "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19)

 In Acts 2:38-39, Peter  calls upon his audience to change their opinion of and attitude toward Christ and to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ as a public acknowledgment that they had accepted Jesus as Messiah and Lord.  "Name" suggested nature or character; therefore, to be baptized "In the name of Jesus" is to confess Him to be all that His name denotes. Baptism in and of itself is NOT a means of forgiveness and salvation. For the early church, however, there was no separation between ritual and reality. Coming to Christ and being baptized were mutually inclusive.

 We do not have to beg for forgiveness of sins.    
   "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."—Ephesians 1:7.
 
 You do not have to be baptized in order to be saved. The only scripture that talks about this is Mark 16:16 and this is actually referring to being baptized into Christ. No mention of water baptism is mentioned in the scriptures below:

Jn.3:16 Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life
Jn.11:25,26 I am the resurrection and the life...whosoever believeth in Me shall never die
Acts 16:31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved
Rom.10:9,10 If thou shalt...believe in thine heart...thou shalt be saved
1Jn.5:1a Whosoever believeth Jesus is the Christ is born of God

 The baptism of the Holy Spirit is something separate from salvation, although it can occur at the same time. Most of the time it occurs after. The Holy Spirit draws us to Christ and we receive Him as our Lord and Saviour, but we must ask for the Holy Spirit to come and indwell us. The Holy Spirit is the power of God on this earth. The evidence that we do have the fullness of the Spirit is tongues. It is not a requirement that we speak with tongues in order to go to heaven. Nowhere in scripture does it say this.  We are however, commanded to speak in new tongues, because it is to our benefit. This is a huge topic and I recommend that you read the book called The Walk of the Spirit, The Walk of Power or download it (free) at http://www.daveroberson.org/

 There are churches where the power of God flows mightily and there are manifestations of the Spirit that may upset a few folks. Falling on the floor is not necessarily a bad thing...I have seen whole churches on the floor because of the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot put God in a box and that's what many churches want to do. I think we need to look carefully at all of the "wow" things He did all throughout the Bible.  There are times, however, where satan  will imitate the things of God and when we think it is God, it is actually satan. So that takes discernment (see 1 Cor. 12) in order to know the difference.

In the Catholic church, they say that the priest can forgive sins. This is a man-made rule and the Bible says that God is the one who forgives sins. We have to understand that the Catholic church is rooted in many, many man-made doctrines that flow against the Bible.

 It is a good thing to confess our sins to one another so that we may be healed (James 5:16) But we are not to go out and tell just anybody...we need to have fellowship with other true believers who can help us with our troubles. By getting your sins and problems off of your chest, it helps  to unburden the stress. When stress is kept inside, it causes MANY different diseases.

 The most important thing to do is to confess our  sins to God so that he can forgive us.  When He forgives our sins, they we are cleansed of all unrighteousness.

 Hope this helps, Anthony.

 In His Service,
 Pastor Kim