Question:  I was wondering how some people can think that being baptized in the Holy Spirit happens when they are first saved when Acts chapter 8 states that the Samaritan believers did not receive the Holy Sprit until Peter and John came down and prayed for them.

            Steven

Answer:  Dear Steven,

            The Christian world is filled with folks who argue about the mode of baptism, the age at which it may or may not take place, the significance of baptism, the “conditions” for baptism, the baptismal “formula” that should be used, the “need” to be re-baptized if you join their church, the necessity of the baptism of water and the spirit, and the significance of both.

            PTM suggests that these issues blur, and at times obscure God’s grace, and the transformation, new life, rebirth, etc. that takes place when God takes someone from death to life (John 5).  It seems that Christians can get more excited about how great their doctrines, creeds, teachings and practices are – and why they re better and more “Bible-believing” than other, lesser Christians – while the glory, majesty, praise and worship that should be directed to God alone is sidetracked.

            It’s the old “majoring in the minors” mistake to which we are all prone.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht