Let me continue, please. Circumcision, sign of God’s covenant between people of Abraham and Himself, was performed on every male child who was eight days old (Genesis 17:12). Many see a direct parallel between circumcision and Christian baptism in scriptural passages such as Colossians 2:11-12. If baptism is “New Testament circumcision” there can definitely be no objection to “sealing” infant of a consecrated Christian family in Christ’s New Covenant.

Continuing. Moses led his people through Red Sea. This is seen as an Old Testament foreshadowing of Christian baptism. (See I Corinthians 10:1-4.) It is worthwhile to note that “all were baptized” through Moses’ leadership in crossing over Red Sea. He did not leave infants or children on shores of Egypt to become prey to angry armies of Pharaoh because they were not old enough to believe in promise of Old Covenant. But, rather, entrusted to arms of their parents’ faith, they were carried through “baptism of Moses.”

Continuing, please. The saving of Noah’s entire family by ark can also be seen as a prefigurement of a baptism which includes infants. All that needs to be said, as in case of Moses’ passing through Red Sea, is that entire family was on board ark. In this regard, why should infants be left out of ark of baptism?

Continuing. Larry Christenson, in his pamphlet “What About Baptism” quotes Edmund Schlink (author of The Doctrine of Baptism) as stating that rejection of infant baptism was based on secular philosophy of sixteenth century which assured man’s individuality, and was not result of a new scriptural inquiry: “Belief was seen in rationalistic and volitional terms, as an act of mind and will. ‘Because an infant cannot think or decide, it cannot have faith, and therefore should not be baptized.’ To this day, that is only argument raised against validity of infant baptism. One tosses off sentence as though it were self-evident truth: ‘A child can’t believe.’ But that ‘truth,’ upon examination, is neither self-evident, nor is it Biblical.”

Christenson goes on to say that faith is not merely a product or reason but revelation. It is a relationship of love and trust, a relationship which is not limited to mind. (Consider these scriptures: Psalm 22:9, Mark 9:42 and Luke 1:44.) Again, time does not afford me opportunity to quote early church fathers and their teachings regarding infant baptism. Suffice to say that almost all were in agreement that infant baptism was scriptural and should be carried out in church.

I believe that baptism of infant is significant to our covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ Son. I believe that infant baptism should be practiced in local church; however, I defer my personal belief to parents. If parents want their baby baptized, I will perform baptism with infant’s dedication. Again, issue is not to divide body who dissents but to cover babies with covenant before God. This can’t hurt but only help.

Keep faith. Stay course. Jesus is coming again soon.

Pastor T

Some people ask how could a loving God create such a horrible place of torment for people to end up in if they choose for whatever reason not to accept Him. I believe there is only one answer to that question.

I believe God has everything set up on a "all or nothing" principle. There is only maximum life or maximum death. If you choose God and Jesus, then you will end up with maximum life in new heaven and new earth. If you do not choose God and Jesus, then you will end up with maximum death - which is Lake of Fire and Brimstone. There is no middle ground or neutral areas! It's all or nothing. It's God or Devil. It's heaven or hell. It's maximum life or maximum death. It's really all black and white.

"... I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and length of your days ..." (Deuteronomy 30:19)

I don’t think God could make things any more clearer than way that He has it spelled out in that verse. That verse is about as black and white as you can possibly get. You’ll notice that God says nothing about any type of neutral areas or any type of middle ground. However, actual choice is up to each and every person. God will not force Himself or His ways on anyone. Each person has to freely choose God and His ways with their own free wills. If they don’t - for whatever reason - consequence will be maximum death in most horrible place imaginable.

The other thing to understand about why God would create such a horrible place is to just look at some of people who commit pure evil in this life. The serial killers, rapists, murderers, leaders of nations who enslave and torture their own people. Just look at nature of Satan himself and all horrors and evil he has caused throughout history of our earth. Some of these fallen angels and evil human beings deserve nothing less that maximum death, which really does line up with their evil natures and personalities.

The real sad part about all of this is why a certain percentage of angels and humans have chosen to live their lives on "dark side," and to allow themselves to deteriorate to lower levels of dark side where they themselves have now become pure evil - giving God no other alternative but to throw them into this lake of fire for rest of their eternal lives.

None of these angels and humans were born or created pure evil. They became pure evil over course of their lives and they freely chose to do so with their own free wills. To fully understand why these humans and fallen angels have chosen to live this life on dark side, when they also had a chance to choose God and "good side" of this life will probably always remain a mystery.

But for those who have chosen God and His ways - you will not have to go through Great White Throne Judgment. Your reward is going to be maximum life - and this reward is going to be new heaven and new earth. I will discuss what Bible has to say about this new paradise in next article.