Hey Pastor John,
I’ve finished reading the section on Baptism in the new Iron Kingdom book. It is good.
In the Section on “The Essential Rite”, it was a new thought to me that the baptism of Apollos foreshadowed Christian Baptism. Neither of them is the same as the baptism of John. John the Baptist was a messenger sent to Israel. And his message was about the one coming after him who would baptize with the holy Ghost and fire. There would have been no point of him baptizing the Israelites in water if he did not tell them about their Messiah and his baptism of Spirit. (What would he be baptizing them to?) I have heard you teach many times about John the Baptist’s baptism including a message, which I understood, but somehow reading this section made that clearer, and that the water baptism that Christians practice is not the same.
And then you said, “Baptism in water became the essential rite of the Apostates’ religion, replacing the baptism of the Spirit as the means of new birth into the body of Christ.” Wow.
It stuck out to me how concerned the Apostates were with the preciseness of their ritual, more so than about Jesus or anything from him. The ritual replaced the baptism of the Spirit, like you said.
The Section on “Cyril’s Late Entry in the Contest” made me feel sad for people who might have gone through that ceremony, thinking it was doing something good for their souls, but it was empty.
Thank you for sending this.
Lyn