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When sharing the Gospel, how do we properly administer Salvation?

• First, we are to Preach the Gospel, preach Jesus, share the Gospel with men (Acts 8:5, 35, Rom 10:14-15, Rev 19:10).

• Second, the person must believe on the Gospel and then give evidence of his saving faith through confessing Jesus as Savior and Lord (Acts 8:13, 37, Rom 10:9-10, 13)

• Third, when they give us evidence of the saving faith they already have through confessing Jesus as Savior and Lord, then and only then do we baptize them in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19-20, Acts 8:12, 13, 38, 10:47-48).

• Finally, we are to then lay our hands on them and pray for them to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit for ministry outreach and release (Acts 1:8, 8:12-17, 19:6-7).

Since Peter, Paul and Philip would only baptize a candidate when they gave evidence of already having salvation through verbal confession, the teaching of infant baptism is also unscriptural and in error. A several week infant does not have reasoning capabilities. Even if in a church service he hears the Gospel, he is not able to understand it or receive it by faith. Finally, he cannot, as Paul says is necessary for salvation in Romans 10:9-10, confess with his mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in his heart God the Father raised Jesus physically from the dead. Peter and Philip and the book of Acts make it plain that water baptism is only for those who have already believed on the Gospel and made a public profession of this fact, but not for the purpose of being saved, but because of the salvation that they already have.

Infant baptism is centered in an incorrect interpretation about what the Bible means by predestination. This incorrect interpretation teaches that God has already determined those who will be saved and those who will be lost. Salvation has no bearing on whether a person believes on the Gospel or not, but only on God's predetermined choice of who He will save and who he will dam. Infant baptism is practiced to immediately introduce into the kingdom those who have already been chosen. I go into great detail about how the context of many of the passages used to support this wrong interpretation of Scripture does not support this heretical teaching in my Discipleship book titled Evangelism: The Time Is Now! in a Chapter titled "Evangelism? Or Predestination?"

What is the purpose of water baptism. Water Baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is our first opportunity to give physical witness to the World of our faith and salvation in Jesus and the meaning of that salvation. Paul tells us the meaning of water baptism in the Book of Romans:

"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." (Rom 6:3-5)

When we receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we receive the Holy Sprit and are made one spirit with Christ. What this means is that whatever is true for Jesus is now true for us. This is symbolically demonstrated in water baptism. When we receive Jesus, His death becomes our death for our sins. We die in Jesus and are buried with Him. This is symbolically demonstrated through our going under the water. But being made one spirit with Jesus means more than just His death and burial becoming our death and burial for our sins, it also means that we are raised in the likeness of Jesus’ physical resurrection to New life. It means we are a new creation as Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation⁷⁷; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." This is symbolically demonstrated in water baptism through our coming out of the water. We are declaring to the world that when we received Christ we died in Him, were buried with Him and that we shall also be raised from the dead, recreated anew, in the likeness of Jesus’ physical and spiritual resurrection. In light of this, Paul admonishes us in Colossians 3:1-4

"If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

I had been saved for a year before I had had an opportunity to be baptized in water. The reason being that I had been saved in circumstances which would not have allowed me to be baptized in water again, since they had baptized me as a new born infant. God first had to change my circumstances and church so that I could follow in obedience to Him through water baptism. A year after I was saved He moved me out of the circumstances I was in and led me to become a part of a church that taught salvation by faith and believers baptism.

When I did finally receive water baptism It came about in a strange way. I had been attending this church for some time. I had filled out a card expressing that I wanted to be baptized in water and was waiting to be contacted so I could be. Finally, one Sunday evening when I came to church, I arrived in the back of the church and over heard the pastor talking to some people about water baptism. I walked over and asked him if I was on the list he was holding. I don’t think I was, but he knew me that I was a professing born again Christian and so told me that yes I was and that I needed to go with the rest and get ready to be baptized.

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