Dear Pastor John,
There are many examples in the NT that a person received Holy Spirit baptism when the apostle laid hand on that person. I also saw it in some occasions on your online video. What is the necessity that somebody laid hand for somebody to receive Holy Spirit baptisms? Is not repentance the sole requirement for Spirit baptism?
nice greetings…
Surya
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Dear Surya,
Yes, that are correct. The only requirement to receive the baptism of Christ is repentance. However, God has his own reasons for doing things the way He does. For example, why did Jesus spit in one man’s eyes in order to heal him (Mk. 8)?
22. And he came to Bethsaida. Then they brought him a blind man, and they begged him to touch him.
23. And taking the blind man’s hand, he led him out of the village. And he spat into his eyes, and when he had laid his hands on him, he asked him if he could see anything.”
Jesus could have just spoken to the man’s eyes, but God wanted him to do this miracle in that particular way, for some unknown reason. It is good to want to understand the ways of God, and it is good to ask for answers. Be know that it is also the nature of our to want to “nail God down”, to figure Him out, and to turn His “new and living way” into a formula. Man had always tried to do that with God, and man has always failed. God is just God, and He does whatever He pleases to do, however He pleases to do it.
I do not presume to know why God does anything the way He chooses to do it, but I can see how, in some cases, God will send one of His ministers to lay hands on a person in order to show that person who His servant is. But, as I said, God has His own reasons in each case, and unless He reveals what His reasons are, we cannot know them.
What we can know, however, is that whoever desires God’s eternal Spirit of life is required to obey Him and that nobody ever receives the holy ghost baptism without obeying God (Acts 5:32). For sinners, to obey God means to repent of their sins. God requires repentance of everybody, everywhere (Acts 17:30) because “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.
Thank you for sending in your question. May God richly bless you and yours.
Pastor John
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Dear Pastor John,
thank you very much for the response. It is correct that human mind tend to
put His “new and living way” into a formula. I realize that as a scientist, I tend to formulate everything into a systematic theorem, which of course does not work for God cases.
Thank you for reminding…..
nice greetings from Indonesia
surya