John the Baptist

[smooze]

"Many Jews regarded however as a sign from God that the Herodic groups were defeated: They thought that God punished Herod because of . Herod had executed him although he was a righteous man. John the Baptist had urged the Jews to live virtuously and to follow the righteous ways in their relationships with their neighbours. To obey God they had to be baptised. In this sense the baptism was pleasing to God. It is true that it meant only the purifying of the body and not reconciling of the soul; the soul had been sanctified for the sake of the righteous life. As people came from everywhere to him and they received encouragement from his speech, Herod started to fear the effect of that kind of influential man, whose advice everyone wanted to follow. John would cause a rebellion. That is why Herod thought that it would be better to ward off a threatening danger so that he would not have to regret his hesitation later when matters would have gone too far. A suspicious Herod arrested John and sent him to the castle of Makairos, which we have seen earlier, and there he was executed. However, the Jews were convinced that the reason for his death was that the armies of Herod had incurred the anger of God.”

 

[Jesus Is Real]

Nice first post~


And John will Preach once more and it will be 'The Everlasting Gospel' that says to "Fear God who made heaven and Earth."

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom all that God gives us and once we have it we are accountable to Him to do His Will: "Love your neighbor" and a New Commandment: "Lay down your life, die to your flesh nature (rage, anger, unforgiveness etc.), to love one another as Christ Loved us."

It all takes a death to 'self.'
A denying ourself to Worship God, and all this takes The True God in our lives to start it up - to come to us:
As God came to Adam.
To Noah.
To Abraham.
To Isaac.
And To Jacob.

For man coming to God is 'a false religion'.

Peace,
connie

 

[ric32bailey]

When John the Baptist baptized our Lord Jesus, He received the Holy Spirit in the form of dove, and the compliment of the Father, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am pleased."

I thought before that when I left the Roman Catholic Church and joined an Evangelical Church and baptized by my Pastor, I would also be endowed such blessings from God. I was very surprised when I read the following:

Act 19:1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

Act 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

Act 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
Am I correct to conclude that John the Baptist's baptism is simply "immersion in the 'letter' of the word", where water symbolizes the word of God in Eph. 5:26? And this is without the revelation of the Holy Spirit so a to know the message not only the the literal or "letter" of the word, but also the "spiritual" that God wants to convey?

I am relating this to the following:

1 Cor 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

1 Cor 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Now how many preachers today are not subject to the following rebuke for truth?
2 Cor 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

I thought of an example of the "letter" of word when Nicodemus a prominent teacher of the word simply took the "letter of the word."

Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

And also the Jews in the following:

Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Joh 2:20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

Am I correct with my observation?