T e i l o o t ’ s Q u e s t i o x i
perfecting of the saints and the edi fying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-14), you will find tongues, heal ing and miracles omitted. BAPTISMAL REGENERATION Q . Is baptismal regeneration taught in the Bible? A. No, it is not. This is the belief held by a number of denominations that baptism is essential to salva tion; that baptism of itself has sav ing power; that without it faith alone is not sufficient to save one. The Word of God states plainly that “ Without shedding of blood is no re mission” (Heb. 9:22), not baptism with water. It was the death of Jesus Christ on the cross which purchased our salvation. “ Redeemed . . . with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:18-19) ; “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1 : 7 ) ; “ Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood” (Rev. 5 : 9 ) . Baptism is but.the outward sign of the inward regenerating work of God’s Spirit in our hearts when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Hundreds of verses in God’s Word show us how to be saved with out any mention of baptism at all: John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 16:31; Revelation 3:20, to name a few. Mark 16:16, so often used as supposed evidence of baptismal re generation, actually is one of the strongest arguments against that teaching. Note that while it states “ he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” it does not say “he that is not baptized shall be lost” but rather, “ he that believeth not shall be damned.” We are saved by faith in Christ, without works of any kind, even baptism. Baptism is a testimony to salvation and should be administered only to believers. As one reads through Acts, this was always the order in the early church: salvation, then baptism.
parts and reconstituting us in our glorified, resurrection bodies (see Psalms 139:13-16). I Corinthians 15 gives us much light on this subject. God’s people have died in all kinds of ways, burned to death, some at the stake for their faith; drowned; eaten of animals; blown to bits in jet planes — but the Lord can find them all. WHY DOES HE NOT KNOW? Q . Why does not Christ know the exact date of His second coming? Mark 13:22. A. He does now, but when he volun tarily humbled Himself in His in carnation, He limited Himself in this respect as well. He has now returned to the glory He had with the Father before the world was and will come at the time appointed. He did not relinquish His D eity but limited Himself as it pleased Him. PRAYER HANDKERCHIEVES Q. Do you believe in prayer handker- chieves for healing? A. No, I do not. I do not endorse anything of that nature which leads to a superstitious belief in such things. The miracles which Christ and the apostles performed first when Jesus was on earth and then in the first century after He ascended were meant to prove His deity, His equali ty in power and grace with the Fa ther. After the Bible was written and we had the infallible proofs written down for all of us, these miracles no longer were needed. No one in this age has ever possessed the heal ing gifts the apostles had. Their miracles were instantaneous, com plete and permanent cures. They even had power to raise the dead. These signs gave a testimony and proved the disciples to be genuine apostles (Acts 14:3). If you will read the list of sign gifts in I Corinthians 12:8-11 and compare them with the gifts “ for the
THE BURIAL OF MOSES Q . What was the dispute between Michael the a/rchangel and Satan over the body of Moses? This very strange event is recorded in Jude 9. A. We do not know for sure, but we do know who won, for Michael was God’s representative. Some believe it was that Satan wanted Moses’ body destroyed and that God wished to preserve it. There was a mystery about Moses’ death but Deuteronomy 34:5-6 states clearly that he was buried in the land of Moab by God Himself and that “no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” Un doubtedly if it could have been lo cated, it would have become one of the greatest shrines on the earth. Apparently this contention between the archangel and Satan occurred be fore the burial of Moses. Many Bible scholars are convinced that Moses is one of the two witnesses of Revela tion 11 (the other likely being Eli jah). Both of them appeared on the Mt. of Transfiguration. Elijah had been translated, so some have specu lated that God might have changed Moses into His resurrection body so that he could thus be seen on the Mt. of Transfiguration. We cannot be certain of these things. CREMATION Q . Is cremation mentioned in the Bi ble and should it be practiced by Christians ? A. It is not mentioned as such in the Scriptures. The Jews believed in burying the dead (Gen. 3:19) and we have inherited this custom. Cre mation was the general practice of the heathen world with the exception of the Egyptians who invented a fantastic system of embalming and preserving the body in mummified form. Burial seems more “ Christian” to most people. The body returns to dust in any case but the Lord has a record of each one so that at the resurrection of the body He will have no difficulty reassembling the
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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