I was at a church on a certain Sunday in 2018 and after teaching in the first service I was requested to sit in and give the teens company as they had nobody to facilitate them in the second service. The resident deputy Pastor called me just before the preaching began in the second service as I had planned to just sit down and listen to the preacher preach.
He called me from where I was sitting and took me to the teens class, in a tent, and requested that I keep them company (this was impromptu) as they had nobody to share the Word with them. I cannot tell you how delight I was as I LOVE to minister to young people and just listen to them (they always open up after a while of sharing with them) and also praying with them to become born again, to be filled with the Holy Spirit or receive deliverance from any power of darkness operating in their lives.
I found seven teenagers all between the ages of 13 to 17 and after the introductions I let loose. The Pastor had left and I told them immediately they could take off their masks now that the Pastor had left. They laughed and I told them that I am a person who likes to be REAL. I talk about sex, drugs etc. as it is and I don’t believe in the masks we Christians put on for Sunday and take them off as soon as we have left the church gate.
I asked how many of them were saved and they all verbally and individually replied that they were. I then gave them a story of how my teenage years were spent on religion, salvation, backsliding, wasting my high school and post-high school years in peer pressure, trying to be cool, minor use of drugs etc. By this time they were quiet and a bit surprised. And by the way, they were all signed up for Baptism in August of the same year.
After my testimony of how I got saved at home in Mombasa through a Christian TV programme (either on TBN, Daystar or Inspiration Network, I’m not sure which one) in the middle of my weekend plan to go out drinking and partying as I was used to at the time, I then asked them what they thought about baptism. I was shocked at their response. Well, not really as I have come to realise that Christians in Kenya generally have no idea really what the Bible says about their faith because they simply don’t read the Word of God.
They all stated (the setting was in conversation mode as I tried to engage them) that water baptism is salvation and that a person cannot be truly saved if they have not been baptised. I then told them how I was saved in end of August 2011 but I only got baptised in early April 2017 at the Indian ocean by a friend. I then asked them if I was saved in those six years pre my baptism (mind you, I had received the baptism of the Spirit in end of May 2012 and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance on Wednesday the 28th of November 2012 at about 5 p.m. lol) and they all replied that I was not saved until I had been baptised in water. Remember the order of things at Cornelius’ house in Acts 10:25-48. It was salvation first, then the Baptism in the Holy Spirit simultaneously and then water baptism afterwards.
I realise now what we have work to do as the church if our children cannot differentiate between salvation, water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I gave them the example of the thief who was crucified next to Jesus. Did he go to heaven? Yes? Why? He believed, simple. Was he baptised then? No. Salvation is a work of grace that can only be accessed through faith alone in the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to wash away sin and to grant us salvation. One can have a baptismal certificate and yet not have their name written in Heaven! – Revelation 3:1-6.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not discouraging water baptism. In fact, anybody who disobeys Jesus’ command to be baptised (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16) is directly disobeying God’s command and is being proud and will be judged by the Lord when they stand before Him. Water baptism is an outward sign of what has already happened on the inside. If one has not become truly born again (John 3:1-21; Romans 10:9-10), having their sins atoned for through Jesus Christ, then baptism would be an outward sign of what has not really happened on the inside. Many have been baptised, some even as infants, and use it (whether they have a certificate or not) as a license to prove their Christianity and think that they can live whatever life they want (Jude 1:4) and yet true faith is evidenced by our change from the inside out. As Paul Washer would say, “a hate for the sin we once loved and a love for the righteousness we once ignored” (Titus 2:11-14). I will not baptise anybody if they have not given their lives to the Lord truly and are not ready to be dead to the things of this world.
I realised none of them had a Bible and looked bored and uninterested when I had begun (how a born again Christian can be bored and uninterested in the things of God is beyond me) but now they were attentive and listening. It was no longer fun and jokes but serious business concerning the state of their souls. I then asked them by my definitions and explanation of salvation and baptism how many thought they were saved and all but one stated that they thought their salvation did not line up with to the scriptures.
Only one of them who was the youngest (13 years old) stated that she KNEW that she was a born again Christian. By this time even the shyest one among them had opened up and was talking (the only other girl present). I was then asked if it’s okay for one to have a girlfriend and I answered them by telling them that if the motive for a relationship was not marriage (clarification: as the intention at the back of the mind without necessarily communicating it) then it is built on a wrong foundation and will result in heartbreaks, soul ties, early and unwanted pregnancies or worse still abortion (murder of an baby) etc. and I urged the two girls present to preserve themselves because it’s usually the men who seduce them and destroy their lives but that’s not to say that young men should not be pure. I told five boys to preserve themselves and not to be ashamed to be called virgins as they are saving their souls and that of future generations in their loins (Exodus 20:5-6).
Needless to say (by the Grace of God) I led 6 out of 7 of them to the Lord in prayer and they accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord (I really do hope that they did not do it religiously but with honesty from the heart) and I then told them that they could sign now up for baptism. Their fruit should be examined though so that their testimony can confirm that they truly have received Jesus into their hearts. One will not be perfect immediately, obviously, but a true convert will have a desire for the things of God, will pray, read the Bible etc. and repent of sin each context being dealt with differently.
After the service, I communicated with the Pastor what I had witnessed and he told me they were having a challenge with the teens service but that they are organising something soon and I know that he was honest in his response and he did not know that 6 of the 7 teens who were to be baptised did not actually know what was happening to them.
Could it be that this is the case in other churches or even throughout the entire country or the world? It’s time for us to go back to the Biblical foundation of Christianity and preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ not of church association (these days we have more church members, financial support groups, gym members etc than intercessors) but of inward and outward change for the Christian through a personal encounter with God. This should be the case not just for the adults but for the youth, teens and yes, even the children at Sunday School.
I believe if we can follow this pattern that a person’s life can never be the same again. We will be making true disciples of Jesus Christ:
1. Salvation by Grace alone through Faith in Jesus (Acts 16:29-31)
2. Water Baptism (an outward sign of what has happened on the inside) – Acts 16:33-34
3. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7) – NOT A REQUIREMENT FOR SALVATION THOUGH BUT CLOTHES US WITH POWER TO WITNESS
4. Discipleship – growth in the reading of the Bible, Prayer, Worship, and Fellowship and Service (Matthew 28:20; Acts 6:4; James 1:21-22)
If you are not saved, that is, born-again please read this article here and accept Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Saviour and Love. He loves you too much. Please make this decision today, you will never regret it.
Ben-David Ministries 