CHAPTER V
Baptismal Regeneration, The Great Pagan Idol, How It Came Into The Christian
Church
What Bible says about idols.-Why author left the
Lutheran church.-The same subtle hand that wrought the golden calf, Apis, wrought also the
idol of B. R.-Rome becomes the successor to Babylon.-Advent of "mother of
Harlots" brings spawn of hell into the Church.-Power of Deity attributed to B.
R.-True source of B. R. is Babylon.
What The Bible Says About Our Attitude Towards Idols.
The proper attitude for God's children to take
towards idols is clearly set forth in Scripture, for there we read, I Kings 15:12-13. Good
King Asa "removed all idols, also Maacah his mother he removed from being queen
because she had made an abominable image."
Judges 6:25ff. Gideon, when called of God to
break down idols obeyed- "Jehovah said unto him . . . throw down the altar of Baal
that thy father hath, and cut down the Ashcrah that is by it, and build an altar unto
Jehovah thy God upon this stronghold ... then Gideon took ten men and did as Jehovah had
spoken unto him."
Why The Author Left The Lutheran Church
Some sincere and well-meaning friends cannot
understand why I left the Lutheran church. They honestly feel that I should have remained
in the church and worked there. I want to assure all my Lutheran friends that my love for
them has not changed, but rather grown because of the separation. My reason for leaving
the church was that the constitutions of all Lutheran congregations require one to believe
in Baptismal Regeneration. They regard it as a basic doctrine, so no one can be a
consistent Lutheran and not believe in Baptismal Regeneration. If you know in your heart
that you do not believe so, then to be true to the constitution and your own heart, you
should at once do as God tells you. All Lutheran congregations are basically built on
Baptismal Regeneration. It is the central pillar of the church. Therein you are solemnly
declared, by the laying of the hands, to be born again; therein is heaven's door opened to
you; therein you are grafted into the body of Christ; therein your sins are forgiven;
therein you receive Life Eternal. This is what you are taught to believe. Naturally if you
do not believe it you should repudiate such teaching by leaving the organization that
stands for it.
After long and careful study I came to the
conclusion that there was no saving power in baptism. You will, therefore, understand that
I would have had to play the part of a hypocrite had I remained in the church. I would
have had to confess with my mouth what I did not believe in my heart. There was no choice.
No matter how hard the separation, or how great the cost, it had to be done. I wish to
assure the Lutheran people that my separation from them is only technical. At heart I love
them more than ever. The cost of the separation, which meant the loss of all things,
should prove my love.
God's Word convinced me beyond a shadow of a
doubt that Baptismal Regeneration was not a Bible teaching, but an idol. Thus there was no
course open to me but to deal with it as an idol.
Dare any man say that these men did not love
their people when they broke down their idols? Can any man say that they did not perform a
much needed labor at a great personal sacrifice? There is no other way open to those who
would follow God's command. Beyond dispute then, it is the duty of men in responsible
positions, not to fraternize with people's idols, but to break them down and throw them
away. Many honest people in the days of Gideon were not even aware that they were serving
idols, but when they saw Gideon break them down they woke up and left the idols.
What suffering it must have caused Moses to
order his own people slain because they served idols. "Put ye every man his sword
upon his thigh . . . and slay every man his brother and every man his companion, and every
man his neighbor . . . and there fell of the people that day about three thousand
men."
No man can accuse these men of not loving their
people. True it was not this wishy-washy thing we call love now-a-days, the principle
characteristic of which is to compromise with evil in order to keep peace. True love
involves stern sacrifice and not sickly compromise. True love means great suffering:
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends."
Any man who is called upon to break down idols
will soon find that he must lay down his life for his fellow-men. Yes, ere he realizes it,
he will find himself wading waist deep in blood and tears of human misery. He will
discover as never before that lie is fighting principalities and powers in heavenly
places. This drew both blood and tears from Jesus. Will it draw less from us?
Idol Business Is a Sordid Affair
So incensed did Moses become when he came down
from the Mount and saw the Golden Calf being worshipped, that he dashed the law tables
against the mountain side. What a pitiable spectacle the once great Aaron presents-he who
once stood as a man of God in the presence of Pharaoh and spoke words that made all Egypt
tremble. See him now as he sheepishly, with his guilty, compromising conscience stands
before Moses trying to explain-Exodus 32:24:
"And I said unto them, whosoever hath any
gold, let him break it off: so they gave it to me; and I cast it into the fire and there
came out this calf." "There CAME OUT THIS CALF! How pitiably shallow and
disgusting become the words of otherwise great men, when they seek to defend an idol. Had
not God just spoken to them forbidding them to worship idols? And as to setting up a
Golden Calf, no Scripture could be found for such a practice.
How did the Golden Calf come about you ask? It
just demonstrates the power of her whom the Holy Spirit has designated as "Babylon
the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abomination of the Earth." It is a well
known fact that Aaron's Golden Calf was modeled after the Egyptian god Osiris, who
according to ancient history, "was mystically represented under the form of a young
bull calf called Apis, from which the Golden Calf of Israel was borrowed. This Osiris came
in turn from babylon." (Hyslop, The Two Babylons, pp. 20).
If you wish to know where this Golden Calf came
from then go back to the Golden City of Babylon, founded by Nimrod, the grandson of Ham,
BC 2640. Located on the great river Euphrates, stood this imposing city of yore,
surrounded by immense rock walls, two-hundred feet high, and over ninety feet wide. In the
circuit of these immense walls were more than a hundred gates of polished brass with
brazen lintels and sideposts, each reflecting as they did the oriental sunshine, turning
the city into a blazing glory of golden light. Wherefore Babylon was known as the Golden
City.
The most remarkable edifice of this city was
the Tower of Bel, an immense structure consisting of eight towers, each seventy-five feet
high, superstructed upon the other. On the outside was a winding stairway to the summit,
where towering 660 feet into the air stood a Chapel wherein was found the golden image of
Bel, "forty-five feet high, costing $17,500,000, and the whole of the sacred utensils
were reckoned to be worth $200,000,000." At the base of this image, whose basement
stage was 600 feet each way, stood a shrine with golden tablets, images and altars. Truly
a magnificent place of worship.
If we trace back carefully we shall find that
the true source of Aaron's Golden Apis is the Golden Tower of Bel in Babylon, the home of
Black Magic, the fountain head and source of every false religion known to man. This is
the true source of Baptismal Regeneration and not the Bible.
When Aaron was asked to account for the Golden
Calf, he was at least honest enough to offer no explanation beyond the terse remark that
he put in gold and out came the calf. Since Christ alone had been the Saviour of men for
2,000 years before Baptismal Regeneration was heard of, naturally the advocates of this
doctrine were rather nonplused as to how to account for the sudden appearance of this new
wonderworker. Would that they had exercised the honesty of Aaron, and since they did not
wish to account for its true source, would that they had spared the Bible the humiliation
of being the mother of such a deceiver. Friends, the same subtle hand that wrought the
Golden Calf, wrought also the idol of Baptismal Regeneration, which today stands as a
deceptive idol, worshipped by millions.
The grief of heart experienced by Moses as he
saw his beloved people worship the Egyptian Apis is shared today by many a true servant of
God. I recall the guest who came into the king's banquet hall without the wedding garments
on. When questioned he was speechless. Speechless! Go into the average church where
Baptismal Regeneration is practiced and look into the hundreds of trusting faces. Ask them
to give an account of the hope they have of Eternal Life, and you will find that with the
exception of a few, they arc speechless. Go now to the average supper room where rich
sweetmeats are served, and often where the tobacco smoke is so thick that you can almost
cut it with a knife, and see what you will find: 2,000 in the supper-room, and less than a
dozen in the prayer room. Such results fill a true servant's heart with the hopeless
despair of Moses. Would that it might raise his indignation also, that the wrath of God
might suddenly fall on this Babylonian mess that has come into the churches.
How The Idol of Baptismal Regeneration Came Into the Church
Some have wondered how this idol with such a
background ever got a foothold in the church. It came about after this manner: Being a
system of water and works, it is an outgrowth and development, under the direction of
Satan, of the "law of works" which Satan wrought in man in the fall. Adam and
Eve revealed its presence in them when they sought to cover themselves with fig-leaves in
order to become acceptable to God. Next we see it in the "Way of Cain," who
rejected the blood way and set up a way of works of his own.
After the flood, Babylon was built. Here after
the flood gravitated the forces of evil, and there was organized, under the mighty Nimrod,
the "Babylonian Cult," a corrupt but powerful system of false religion, the two
characteristics of which were idolatry and works, as opposed to the grace of God in
Christ. A mystical brotherhood claiming to possess great wisdom and divine secrets, which
could be revealed to the initiate only. This initiation was, as Hyslop says, by baptism;
"In Babylon there the new birth was conferred by baptism." Tertullion adds that,
"regeneration and the pardon of all their perjuries" was assured the initiated.
When Babylon fell this Satanic system of works was moved to Pergamum as we read in Rev.
2:12-13: "Where Satan's throne is." From Pergamum it was moved to Rome:
"Julius Caesar was made Supreme Pontiff of the Babylonian Order. The first Roman
Emperor became the head of the 'Babylonian Priesthood' and Rome the successor of
Babylon." In the year 378 Rome and Babylon became one religious system when the head
of the "Babylonian Order" became ruler of the Roman Church. With the advent of
this "Mother of Harlots" in the church came also the progeny-and what a progeny!
Here they are. Look at this Jezebel family: What a spawn of hell:
Pagan festivals were given Christian names. The
Rosary, The Sign of the Cross. The Priesthood, Celibacy, Tonsure, Monks and Nuns. Next we
have the holy water, lights on the altar, worship of images, worship of the Virgin Mary,
of images and ringing of bells. Then came the canonicals of the clergy, with their robe,
grown, cassock, surplice, tunicle, dalmatica, scapulary, amice, pall, and pallium (the two
lambs that furnished the wool for the pallium were first brought to the St. Agnes basilica
at Rome and blessed. The parium is first worn by the Pope. Then laid for a whole night on
the tomb of St. Peter. It is then worn in turn by the patriarchs, primates and archbishops
as an indication that they are "Sharers in the plenitude of the episcopal
office"). Besides the above we have the mitre, cardinal's hat, triple crown, the
tiara itself, et cetera "ad infinitum ad nauseam."
As to offices and rites there are the pope,
pontiff, high priest, priest, sexton, sacristan, prior, monk, friar. As to rites: high
mass, low mass, dry mass, (mostly dry mass we think), impanation, extreme unction,
invocation of saints, canonization, maceration, penance, telling of beads, holy water,
aspersions, relics, rosary, beads, bells, books and candies. Ninety per cent of all this
high-sounding pomp is taken over bodily from the mystical priesthood of ancient Babylon.
Here we have the whole brood: Pagan Priesthood
with a mass designed to pay homage to the Babylonian Queen of Heaven. A priesthood bound
by a Chaldean law of celibacy designed to produce paragons of impurity not princes of
heaven, the answer to which is the questionable nunneries. A priesthood who "take
away the key of knowledge and lock up the Bible for the people." A priesthood
ordained to offer the unbloody sacrifice first offered by the pagan priests of Bacchus.
These are the teachers from whom we have received our teaching on Baptismal Regeneration.
What past masters in miracle and magic they
are. Though Melchizcdek a true type of our Lord as High Priest today, gave to the father
of faith, Abraham, bread and wine, given as a true type of what our High Priest Christ is
giving the true children of Abraham today-still Rome through her Black Magic changed the
simple elements of bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Christ.
See them, these collar-on-hind-part before
prophets, as they strut about like dumb asses among their images and idols sprinkling holy
water, muttering meaningless Te Deums amid the ringing of bells and bowing and bending.
What marvelous teachers Rome has. Her perversion of Scripture is well-known: When Jesus
says of the cup, "Drink ye all of it," the priests say, "we are the 'ye,'
and drink all the cup, so the people get none."
No one but such as are skilled in the mystical
witchcraft of this Babylonian priesthood could begin to understand the mystery of it all.
Here we have pope, and pontiff, priest and highpriest, going through their various
impanations and invocations. With books and bells, and candles as they perform their high
mass and dry mass, while the poor deluded people buck and bow and bend as they call, first
upon one saint and then upon another as they do their penance and tell their beads.
Now we would introduce you to the main
Cockalorum among this brood of Jezebel chickens. In the midst of all this Babylonian
splendor, and of the same parentage, stands this idol of Baptismal Regeneration. Alluring
and attractive to religious flesh are all these dispensers of Popish Ceremonial Chrism,
but to one alone of all this family it attributed the power which belongs to God alone,
e.g. the power to give Eternal Life. If there be any question about this then let the Book
of Concord speak:
- "The power, work, profit, fruit and end of baptism is to save."
- Openly and without any possibility of misunderstanding the matter, they have attributed
to baptism the following prerogatives which belong to God alone:
- It has power to work salvation.
- Its profit is salvation.
- Its fruit is salvation.
- Its end is salvation.
If this be true then baptism must be Deity
personified and be a fourth person in the Godhead. If this is not the last word in
blasphemy, then pray what is it? This blatant attributing of divine attributes and
prerogatives to this figment of human imagination could a more intentional indignity be
offered to God than this?
If Baptismal Regeneration be a fourth person he
too must have been present in the councils of God from eternity. If saving power is his,
then he too must have participated in the death, and resurrection of Christ. Can any
reputable scholar be found who even pretends to find such credentials for Baptismal
Regeneration in the Bible? No, the shamefacedness of Aaron must surely be the lot of him
who would seek to account Biblically for Baptismal Regeneration.
Now if we wish to know the true source of this
idol we shall find that the founders of the Babylonian Priesthood Semiramis and her
incestuous son and husband Nimrod just put their heads together and out came this
Babylonian Bull Calf.
Mothers, do you wish to worship at the altar of
this monstrous idol? Do you believe that he can protect your child better than the
precious blood of Christ? Then bring not your children to be baptized unto regeneration.
Preachers, who love the truth more than family,
self or system, do you want to be a party in bowing down to this figment of distempered
brains and attribute to him glory and honor which belong to God alone?
To all of you who in good faith received
baptism from this idol, do you any longer want to continue in this deception by remaining
in this false baptism, or will you rise in righteous indignation, and for the glory of
Jesus name - He who suffered and died for you - rise and smite to death this idol by a
real being joined to Him in the likeness of his death, burial and resurrection? It must be
evident that as long as you still remain in your baptism unto regeneration you are still
bearing testimony both to God and man for this idol. Rise and repudiate him by casting him
out of your heart, root, stem and branch, and God will bless you.
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