Chapter 16: Myth—God Owns Solid Rock

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Myth—God Owns Solid Rock

Getting baptized by immersion was taking another step closer to the

God that I love. I had already been given His Spirit, now I made an official declaration of my faith. My message to all is that I belonged to God. Note that this baptism did not mean I was unsaved at the time. That too is the stuff of Christian mythology. No, for me it was “Take me deeper O Lord!”

Until you take the bowels of your own soul underwater with God in an adult baptism, you will never fully understand the spiritual significance of what it all means and what I am talking about.

“Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with

water? They have [already] received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” Acts 10:47-48 NIV

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” Romans 6:3 NIV

Instruction. Get baptized as an adult. It will take you closer to God

and you will never regret this declaration of your faith. Does this proclaim that you belong solely to Christ? No, it proclaims that you also belong to the Father [Yahweh] and that Christ [His human begotten Son] has brought you back to Him. You honor Christ by being baptized in his name unto God.

Pastor Paul Frederick and his wife Lois were transferring to a smaller church in Iowa in the early 1990’s. There existed some behind the scenes conflict within Nowthen Alliance, which I am not privy to. I believe it was

one of the reasons why Paul and Lois were moving on. Anytime a pastor change occurs, some people assess whether they want to continue attending the church. It is a sad fact, but true. My family was also reassessing church options. Just leaving a church can take on the same level of trauma that a

divorce presents to a family. Changing churches is a very serious family event not taken lightly. Fortunately, there are times when a switch is more easily made. A change of pastors is one of those times. I had felt drawn to the local Elk River Assembly of God Church. I was interested in exploring a

deeper level of worship; the kind that I was first introduced to at the Living Faith Center in Santa Barbara.