Updated 28/12/2011
INFANT BAPTISM EXPOSED!
It's History and Harm
With full credit to an article by Dr. William Pettingill
Infant baptism is not a Scriptural doctrine. It is not found in the Bible. There is not one example in the Bible of one single baby being baptized. We will show that baby baptism is of pagan origin.
It is my purpose in this article to set forth my reasons for saying, as I often have said, that...
INFANT BAPTISM IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SENDING MORE PEOPLE TO HELL THAN ANY OTHER RELIGIOUS ERROR.
From my point of view, it is a dreadful thing to baptize a baby and let him grow up believing that by that baptism he has been saved and is on his way to heaven.
As we have said so many times, we believe all babies and children below the age of
accountability are protected by the Lord respecting their eternal soul. I do not
believe-
Little children certainly can come to Christ when they are old enough to understand that Jesus died for them and shed his blood to pay for their sins. If that child is old enough to realize that he cannot take his sin to heaven, and that he is lost and a sinner, than that child is old enough to be saved. What age is that? I do not know. It varies from child to child. Billy Graham and James Dobson claimed they were saved at 4 years of age. I was saved at age 6. It depends upon the religious training environment a child is raised in too.
In fact, we adults must become like 'little children' and have child-
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
This verse is not teaching, however, that little infants, just born, are come to
Christ by being baptized by a priest! As stated earlier, little children who die
in infancy are covered by the Blood of Christ and will go to heaven. They are thus
'covered' until they reach the age that they can understand the Gospel, and at that
point they must trust Christ on their own, of their own volition.
HISTORY OF INFANT BAPTISM
Infant baptism appeared in the Christian church history around the Second Century,
coming from the pagan influences of Baal Worship, as we will show later, but It came
about as a result of the doctrine of baptismal regeneration -
Consequently, as the teaching of baptismal regeneration started being propagated, it was natural for those holding to this doctrine to believe that everyone, should be baptized as soon as possible. Thus, baptism of infants still in the innocent state (and as yet unaccountable for their actions) came into vogue among many of the churches.
Once again I state: These two grievous errors baptismal regeneration and infant baptism
-
WHERE DID THIS INFANT BAPTISM COME FROM?
Once has to go back to Genesis 10 and 11 where we read of Noah's Great grandson, NIMROD, and his wife SEMIRAMUS, who started the great pagan BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION at the Tower of Babel.
This great pagan religion was later known as 'BAAL WORSHIP' in the Old Testament, simply another name for Nimrod. The great book, TWO BABYLONS by Alexander Hislop gives us a little background on this Babylon Mystery Religion of 'BAAL WORSHIP' started by Nimrod and Semiramus.
BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION
In this mysterious Babylonian Religious System, Nimrod and Semiramis, along with
their priests, were the only ones who understood 'The great mysteries of God' and
since it was the only true religion... all others were false... therefore, only the
Babylonian Priests could forgive and absolve sins...and administer salvation. Salvation
could be achieved thru various Sacraments performed during the person's life time.
These SACRAMENTS were so-
Now since the Babylonian Priest was the only one who could administer these 'sacraments', the person was 'bound' to the Babylonian system helplessly for life! The first essential sacrament Semiramis taught was Baptism by water. The fact that such "Baptism" was practiced 2000 years before it was even mentioned and practiced in Christianity is an established fact, and it can be traced right back to Babylon and Semiramis herself!
To commemorate this event, the Priests of Nimrod would 'baptize' new-
WHERE DID THIS BABY BAPTISM COME FROM?
Armitage's History (p73) explains the pagan civil law and social customs of that day. These pagans had no standard of morality as you and I have. Their marriage rites were not on the basis ours are. One man might be the husband of a hundred women, and he might be the father of several hundred children. The mother had no right at all to determine whether the child she bore was to live or not, that was left up to the FATHER. Just as the farmer would go down to the pigpen and pick out the pigs he wanted to keep and do away with the runts, so was the father the one who decided if the child was to be kept and allowed to live.
The mother could not even name the child if it was kept, the pagan priest did that. If the child was decided to be kept, the daddy would take it down to the pagan priest and the ceremony would be arranged. The Priest first must 'exorcise' evil spirits from the infant by anointing the baby's head with OIL. With the oil the priest puts the occult mark of Tammuz on the child's head by marking a "T" with the oil. (later to become the 'Sign of the Cross).
The Priest then put SALT and SPITTLE on the baby's tongue to preserve it from future
influence of evil spirits. "HOLY WATER" is now sprinkled or poured over the baby's
head, and the baby is said to be cleansed from any original sin and is now "born-
This was called 'Baal Worship' in the Old Testament, and God called it an abomination!
INFANT BAPTISM COMES TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
At around the 3rd Century, traces of the Babylon Mystery Religion, now known as Baal
Worship, infiltrates the Christian Church. Immediately, Bible Believing Christians
reject the idea of baptizing babies and Baptismal regeneration -
These Bible Believing Christians were labeled slanderously as 'ANABAPTISTS' because
they rejected this idea of baptizing babies as pagan and not Scriptural. They would
'RE-
These 'ANABAPTISTS' were persecuted greatly because of this issue!
EVERY BABY MUST BE BAPTIZED
When Emperor Constantine made 'Christianity' the official 'STATE RELIGION of Rome, one of the FIRST LAWS passed was the law decreeing infant baptism as the law of the land in 416 A.D. That simply meant that everybody within a certain age limit had to conform to it. When they passed that law in 416 that every baby in the Roman Empire had to be baptized at the hands of an authorized Roman priest... OR ELSE!
Those who disagreed with teaching and rejected it were soon slanderously called "ANABAPTISTS", and they were persecuted without mercy for not conforming. Historian J.M.Carroll declares, " For 30 miles on the road leading out of Rome were stakes with gory heads of ANAPTISTS...."
INFANT BAPTISM BECAME THE LAW OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Occasionally someone will say, "Don't you think infant baptism is beautiful to look
at?" A.A.Davis replies, "If you knew the history of that doctrine, where it came
from and the bloodshed that it brought into the world, you would never watch another
such service in your lifetime." (THE BAPTIST STORY, p67). He quotes historian J.M.
Carroll from his TRAIL OF BLOOD "no other doctrine that ever found its way into Christendom
has caused so much BLOODSHED in this world as the doctrine of INFANT BAPTISM."
Armitage's
History (p7l-
He continues, "Suppose you owned a section of land with an oil well on it; you had
a baby born into your home and you went to the priest to get the baby baptized. The
priest would say I want the title to that section of land. When the thing was over,
the priest would get the title to the land and the BABY would get a few drops of
water on its head. He says this is how the Mother Church of Rome come to own Czechoslovakia,
Mexico, etc.
One is reminded of Peter's Scripture,
"and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of YOU.."
(2 Peter 2:1-
We could spend pages here looking at the history books showing how the ANABAPTISTS (those who rejected infant baptism) were persecuted in ways almost too horrible to describe. Many were put in a special iron casket called the IRON MAIDEN, which had dozens of sharp spikes inside ... or the anabaptist preacher who, in the 4th century, was laid upon the ground and a horse was hooked to each of his arms and feet, and the signal given so the horses would pull the pastor into 4 quarters.....Why?
... because he believed it was wrong to baptize BABIES. (BAPTIST STORY, p109)
The author continued to tell about those anabaptists who had HOT WAX poured into their EARS... or those who had their tongues pulled out with hot pincers. The wives of the anabaptists had their bodies mutilated in terrible ways, as parts of their bodies were cut off....Pregnant women had their stomachs ripped open and the offspring cast to wild hogs as husbands were forced to watch. One anabaptist pastor was taken, his body CUT open, and ears of corn stuffed inside, and hungry dogs not fed for 4 days turned loose to devour the man's entrails and corn inside. (BAPTIST STORY, p110)
THE 'HOLY INQUISITION' RESULTED FROM THIS ISSUE OF BABY BAPTISM
No wonder the Book of Revelation declared in Revelation 17:6 that this great HARLOT false religion had become 'DRUNK with the BLOOD of the Saints'...Historian and Bible commentator Sir Robert Anderson estimated that thru out the middle ages OVER 40 MILLION people were murdered and martyred over this one doctrine of INFANT BAPTISM!
To illustrate this great number of those anabaptists slain, Anderson said if you
lined 40 million people in a line, four abreast and four feet apart, and they marched
by at normal marching pace, it would take 4 years and 4 months for this number of
people to march by!!!
ROME LAID DOWN THE LAW... INFANT BAPTISM ESSENTIAL!
The General Council of Trent, Seventh Session (1547) Canons on the Sacraments in
General:
(a) "If anyone, shall say that the sacraments of the New Law were not all
instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, or that there are more or fewer than seven,
namely baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony,
or that any one of these seven is not truly and intrinsically a sacrament -
(b) "If anyone shall say that the sacraments of the New
Law are not necessary for salvation but are superfluous, and that without them or
without the desire of them men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification,
though all are not necessary for every individual anathema sit. (let him be accursed!)"
(c)
"If anyone shall say that by the sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred
ex opere operato, but that faith alone in the divine promise is sufficient to obtain
grace -
THE BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION AT ROME
TAUGHT THAT EVEN LITTLE BABIES COULD NOT BE SAVED AND GO TO HEAVEN UNLESS THEY WERE
BAPTIZED...
The Priests of Rome taught-
“Infants, unless regenerated unto God thru the grace of BAPTISM, whether their parents be Christian or infidel, are born to eternal misery and perdition."
But what a horrible doctrine that was!!
And what a contrast with the doctrinal beliefs of the anabaptists who believed that all those dying in infancy, whether baptized or unbaptized, are saved!
Lorraine Boettner, in his ROMAN CATHOLICISM, p190, declared,
"The Romish doctrine was so horrible and so unacceptable to the public that it was found necessary to invent a third realm, the Limbus Infantum... later shortened to 'Limbo'...a place where unbaptized infants are sent, in which they are excluded from heaven but in which they suffer no positive PAIN. The Council of Trent and the Councils of Lyons and Florence declare positively that unbaptized infants are confined to this realm."
Boettner continues,
"The primary purpose of the Church of Rome in excluding unbaptized infants from heaven is to force parents to commit their children to her as soon as possible ... the pressure put on members of the Mother Church of Rome parents to see that their children are baptized EARLY is almost UNBELIEVABLE... ..a commitment which once she receives she never relinquishes." (P 191)
BABY BAPTISM THROUGH THE DARK AGES
Consequently, as the teaching of baptismal of the Dark Ages which endured for more
than twelve centuries -
During this time God had a remnant who remained faithful to Him; they never consented to the union of church and state, or to baptismal regeneration, or to infant baptism.
These people were called by various names, but probably could better be summed up
by their generic name, Anabaptists, meaning re-
NOW THIS IS STRANGE:
Protestant Churches of the Reformation Bring Baby Baptism with them!
The strange thing about these two diabolical doctrines of baptismal regeneration
and infant baptism is that the great reformers (Martin Luther, for one) brought with
them out of Rome these two dreaded errors -
John Calvin in France, as well as Oliver Cromwell in England and John Knox in Scotland, stuck to the union of church and state and infant baptism and used their power, when they had power, to seek to force others to conform to their own views.
As you can see, the doctrine of infant baptism has a long and bloody history, and it has been one of Satan's chief weapons to condemn untold millions to hell.
I WILL ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN IT FURTHER
Many, of course, will ask, "What does the above
have to do with us today?" A lot!
You see, the union of church and state continues today in most countries of the world.
In these state churches, pastors and leaders christen babies -
Having been taught all his life that this saved him, he naturally considers himself saved by the act of infant baptism.
The Roman Catholic Church still teaches baptismal regeneration and practices infant baptism. Its statement of doctrine says:
"The sacrament of baptism is administered on adults by the pouring of water and the pronouncement of the proper words, and cleanses from original sin."
The Reformed Church says:
"Children are baptized as heirs of the Kingdom of God and of His covenant. "
The Lutheran Church teaches that baptism, whether of infants or adults, is a means of regeneration.
Because of the following declaration, I believe the Episcopal Church teaches that salvation comes through infant baptism. In his confirmation, the catechist answers a question about his baptism in infancy by saying this:
"In my baptism I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of God." (This is printed in the prayer book and can be read by anyone interested enough to look for it.)
Most people who practice infant baptism believe the ceremony has something to do with the salvation of the child. These are traditions of men, and we can follow the commandments of God or follow after the traditions of men; it is up to us.
THE CLEAR BIBLE TEACHING OF SALVATION
I believe the Word of God is clear regarding the matter of salvation. Jesus said:
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God ... He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:18, 36).
Basically this tells us that there are two groups of people in the world today -
I believe this is the clear, unmistakable teaching and language of the Bible.
If you will notice, the Word of God never says simply believe and be saved; rather, it seeks always to identify the object of faith, which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
It is not enough just to believe; a person must believe "in Him."
The Philippian jailer asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" The Apostle Paul answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:30,31)
It was not enough simply to 'believe'; that belief, that trust, that dependence had to be 'in Him'.....
If a person is trusting in baptism for salvation, he cannot be trusting "in Him". Christ is not ONE way of salvation; He is the ONLY WAY of salvation.
There is no promise in the Word of God to those who believe partially in Christ.
In other words, we cannot trust in the Lord Jesus 90% and in baptism 10%...
We must trust Christ and what He did at Calvary 100% and nothing else.
My friend, just because you were baptized as a baby does NOT save you!
You must trust Christ alone.
SOURCE
Copyright © 2003 Petersburg Gospel Center. All Rights Reserved.
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