Opinion

“Then it is time?” asked Reliant as he sat on the house top overlooking Groundswell. Lights from the windows of buildings were illuminating the streets in almost romantic nostalgia. The stars twinkled above. It was a pleasant evening. “They have had two years now. The church is well planted, and we have kept hostile forces away from them.”

The figure in white sipped his Coke before he answered. “Yes,” he drawled “Now they are ready to grow more. And the others need to be brought into the fold.”

“Then you want me to pull back the hedge and let them in?” offered Reliant.

“Soon” the figure in white answered, “but not quite yet. There are still a few pieces to fall into place first. Let Smee in. He can’t harm them physically. And no one may touch their lives.”

“I will make it so” answered Reliant as he rose to obey.

“Micheal” Reliant commanded

“Sir?” answered the warrior.

“I will return shortly.” explained Reliant, “Keep an eye on things for me please.”

Michael responded “Sir, yes sir.” and Reliant left for Hell.

—

“When people entered into a covenant in Abraham’s day” Buck was teaching, and every ear was his. “it was what we would call a contract today. A blood covenant was the most serious. It was called a ‘blood’ covenant because both parties cut themselves so they bled, and they would agree something along the lines of ‘If I ever fail to look after your house and your best interests, I will forever become your slave.’ It was the most serious thing a person could swear. And God entered into a blood covenant with Abraham, which he and his descendants participated in through the cutting of circumcision. This covenant is why God told Abraham about his business in Sodom: Abraham’s nephew Lot was living in Sodom, and God could not destroy it without telling Abraham first.”

Very few people had ever taught with the impact with which Buck and Katrina taught. They were like twin tigers. Tonight Cat was watching the twins and Buck was teaching. The power of God was almost tactile in the room — you could feel it like a warm blanket on a cold day.

“The Apostle Paul writes that if two men enter into a contract, then a third man coming along later cannot just walk up and disannul that contract — it still stands. He says in that way that the law, which was given through Moses, cannot disannul the covenant God has with Abraham. We benefit from that contract if we believe as Abraham did, but under Christ we signify the contract with baptism, rather than cutting flesh in circumcision.”

—

Lucifer sat on his stone throne staring at Reliant. Demons closed behind him, but not too close — they had seen what happened to the guards who tried to stop him earlier.

“Reliant.” stated Lucifer, flatly.

“Lucifer.” stated Reliant, flatly, but somehow with superior inflection. Reliant enjoyed irritating Hell and in particular he enjoyed irritating Lucifer. A number of Reliant’s friends had been pulled into Lucifer’s rebellion and now faced an eternity in the lake of fire. Reliant had no love for Lucifer, an angel who had everything Heaven could offer except the very throne of God and that wasn’t enough for him: he had to try to take that too. He cared nothing for the angels that he talked into joining him — he used them knowing what what would happen to them afterwards. He simply didn’t care. But Reliant was a professional, doing a job. Vengence belongs to God.

“The mucker job has already been filled.” sighed Lucifer dismissively.

“Sad to hear that” replied Reliant “I had hoped no more angels would let themselves be tricked by you into spending eternity in the Lake.”

“Are you calling me accursed?” Lucifer smugly fumed.

“I call you nothing. Count your blessings that your poor minions haven’t yet decided to repay you for what you have done to them already. Forever is a long time to spend immobilized in unspeakable pain while your skin melts off your body and runs down your feet into the flames.”

Behind Reliant there was a low mumbling of voices. “Forever. He got us condemned. We owe him big time.”

Reliant smiled pleasantly at Lucifer.

—

“Still, the name of both parties must be on the contract:” Buck was continuing the lesson “the person being baptized and the name of the person covenanting with him. This is why the actual name of Jesus is used in baptism. ‘Father, son, and Holy Ghost’ are not actual names: if I sign a contract Father, Son, and Construction Worker then the contract is meaningless. If I sign the contract Buck Rogers it is binding on me to fulfill my commitment. Sins are remitted through baptism, and the power to remit sins is through Jesus Christ, so if the contract is not with Jesus, if the baptism is not in the actual name of Jesus, how can the sins be removed? They can’t, can they?”

Buck turned to Acts two, and eight, and nineteen, and then ten and showed each historical account where someone had been baptized, and pointed out that the words spoken always involved the actual name of Jesus. He also explained the triune baptismal formula did not come into common use until after the start of the fifth century AD — it was not how the original church that Jesus established baptized. It wasn’t on the Search of Truth home Bible study chart, but it was very timely and appropriate.

A mumble ran through the room, as about 20 people understood, and more importantly, they believed it. Two men in the front were obviously crying.

“Dear God” one of them whimpered “All these years I thought I was saved and I have been living on borrowed time! If I had died I would have still been under sin!”

“What can we do?” cried another. “I don’t want to die like this! Please tell us what to do!” The crowd agreed.

“Well” asked Buck “What did they do in the Bible?”

“They were baptized” mumbled the crowd. “They were baptized properly using the actual name Jesus so their sins were removed from them and they were saved.”

“Then what prevents you now?” asked Buck “We have robes you can wear, and our hot tub is clean and full of water. Why live any longer with sin on your lives? We can stop and baptize anyone now who wants to be baptized.