Lesson 3673

 (Lesson 3673)(01-25-22) Acts 16:29-40

    “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city. And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.”

    Today’s quote, as accepted by the vast majority of “Christians”, leaves some questions that I have not been able to reconcile with what many believe to be intended by the text.

    Confronting that problem, first let me say that I believe with all my being that the bible is the word of God and that it contains God’s plan for the eternal salvation of all mankind. And, it also contains all else that God requires of us. However, I also believe that parts of the bible text were altered and corrupted by Roman Catholicism. I concluded that knowing that they had almost total control of the text for hunreds of years and that their professed belief is totally contrary to what Jesus taught. 

    Having said that, I believe that is the reason that we must do our homework and “study to show (ourselves) approved” and that we must “rightly divide the word of truth”.

    Today’s quote tells us that, being freed of their bonds by an earthquake, Paul and Silas were taken, at night, from a prison to the home of their jailer. At his home they had their wounds cleansed, after which they baptized the jailer and his entire family. (Many would have us believe, those baptisms were in water.)  After the jailer and his family had been baptized Paul and Silas enjoyed a meal with them and were returned to the prison as if nothing had happened.

   After much thought and prayer, it is my opinion that the baptisms that took place at the home of the jailer, were baptisms of the Holy Ghost that occurred AFTER they had accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ.~