Jim Rogers, a member at Palm Beach Lakes, and I recently had a study which he set up with individuals knocking doors near his home. One of the reasons for the study was that this man who Jim was talking to (let’s call him “Stephen”) volunteered they spend six months studying with potential members before they baptize them. “Stephen” agreed to study with Jim, just looking at the book of Acts to see what the Bible taught about this practice.
The study began with “Stephen” saying that the time was often as long as a year. He said that when one “accepted Christ” they began their study. Jim showed him that on the day of Pentecost those individuals heard just one sermon and that same day 3,000 were baptized. He also showed that people were daily becoming part of the church which began on that day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41, 47). No waiting.
The study then moved to looking at other conversions in Acts. In chapter eight, the Ethiopian hearing one sermon on Jesus stopped his chariot to be baptized. No waiting.
Later in the study, “Stephen” said that the purpose of baptism was to publicly let the world know of the commitment a believer had made. How could this be when the baptisms of Cornelius (Acts 10), the jailor at Philippi (Acts 16) and the apostle Paul (Acts 22) were done immediately after just one study session and were done in private places?
The procedure in the religious movement “Stephen” is part of is to take months and months indoctrinating those to be baptized. “Stephen” described the practice to Jim of the candidate appearing before church leaders (the number of leaders mentioned by “Stephen” was three), and there are nearly a hundred questions which must be answered correctly. If one does not answer them right, then the indoctrination continues.
“Stephen” struggled to deal with the fact that the Bible shows that baptism in Acts 2 was for the remission of sins of those who killed Jesus. Why would they wait? What if the early church had a pre-baptism procedure that lasted for months? At the end of the study, “Stephen” said that it is true that in the first century there never was a delay, but that simply was not the way his organization did it. He had no answer when we asked him by whose authority was this change made which jeopardized the eternal destiny of one seeking salvation?
I asked “Stephen” had he ever, even one time, told anyone to “Arise and be baptized to wash away your sins” (see Acts 22:16), and he said never. God’s plan is so simple—go preach, and he who believes and is baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:15-16).