What You Should Know About Water Baptism
Dedication
This book is dedicated to you, our readers. We sincerely hope that it will be one of the richest and most meaningful blessings that you have ever received.
In this book is contained one of the most controversial issues in Christianity today. You will find that our beloved brother, George L. Pike, brings to light a clearer understanding of what the Holy Scriptures intended concerning this subject, rather than what the intellectual veil of human reasoning teaches, which has blinded so many from the truth through the past ages and even until this day.
Please acknowledge that many illustrative statements within this discourse are not intended to represent verbatim quotations from the Holy Bible, but they are retained to preserve the anointing and the originality of its contents.
When you read this inspiring message with an open mind and heart, the Lord will definitely instill within you a more vivid understanding so that you may rejoice with the writer who exclaimed that it is joy unspeakable and full of glory.
In that the truth is being made known through the revelation of Jesus Christ, we greatly rejoice, and unite, as brothers and sisters in Christ, our individual ministries together as one great and marvelous work of God, through such avenues as television, radio, crusades, tent revivals, the printed page, missions, food, shelter, and clothing to the needy and homeless, plus many more, all on an international, as well as national, basis.
As long as there are souls to be won to the Lord, the needy to be cared for, and saints to be brought into perfection, this ministry will be reaching out in love, with the promised Word of God.
At present, this ministry is helping people in 70 different foreign languages, and is constantly receiving requests for more foreign language translations. The gospel is also being made available to the visually impaired by means of large print and by Braille.
We ask all of our readers to sincerely pray, especially for this work of faith, that it may continue to advance and preach the gospel to every creature.
To those that have contributed in prayer, labor, or in financial support, or by any other means, we would like for this publication to speak in behalf of Brother Pike and his wife, Sister Betty, and all of the staff at Little Bethlehem, and to convey our sincere “Thank you” to all of you.
These writings are published and distributed free of charged. For additional copies, write to the address in the front of this booklet, stating how many copies you can wisely use.
What You Should Know About Water Baptism
Jesus said, just before His departure, “Peter, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom.” Why did Peter get them? Why? After the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation, we find that the first seal was ready to be loosed. Here is a book: John having seen it, and there was the Ancient of Days, sitting on the throne.
The Bible teaches that this book was sealed with seven seals and that it could not be opened. No one could open it. There was a search made all through heaven, as if to say, “Michael, can you open the book?” “No!” “Gabriel, can you?” “No!” “Elijah, Abraham, Moses: can you open the book?” “No!” They kept on searching and looking, and the twenty-four elders that sat around the throne could not even open the book. Then, John began to weep. It looked like it was a hopeless thing everywhere. Under the earth, there was no man that was in the grave found worthy; and throughout the angelic world, no one was found worthy. No one in heaven nor in earth, angels or whatever, was found worthy to open the seals and look thereon. Then John said, “I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open the book.” It looked like it was hopeless, because God didn’t let John know that somebody was going to open the book. He allowed John to feel that the book could not be opened. Why was he crying about the book? That book was the book of redemption! If it could not be opened, then Brother Pike could not be saved, neither could you be saved, because the purchased possession, which God speaks of, concerning you and me, was contained within that book.
The Bible says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God by whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. So then, the Bible tells us that it is the seal of God which is upon us. You may say, “Brother Pike, what does that have to do with the book?” The Bible says ye are an epistle, known and read of all men. The Bible speaks of us as being the book of God. It also tells us that those seals were placed on the backside of the book. Why were they? It meant that it was a finished product in God. On this side of Calvary, God had fulfilled the law in Jesus Christ, sealing it with His own blood at Calvary, bringing in a new covenant for redemption. There it was: sealed at Calvary, and nobody could touch it.
Now, we are on this side of Calvary, in the church ages, looking back at the book that has been closed. Jesus, being the volume of the book, the Word made flesh, the law, folded up and laid away until the Lamb takes the book and looses the seals thereof. The seven seals on the backside of the book, being the seven spirits of God before His throne, depict the seven golden candlesticks as the seven church ages, or churches, that Christ spoke of. We refer to them as the great church ages because it was the hinder part of God that the Bible spake of concerning Moses; the seal of the book, whereas Moses said, “I want to see Your glory!” God more or less said, “Moses, you be glad if you get a glimpse of the hinder part. If you saw My glory, you’d disintegrate into nothing.” Think about that. Moses didn’t know what he had asked. Did you know that the Bible teaches that the great light of God is the coming of the Ancient of Days, after the one thousand year millennium, and that even the earth and the ocean will fade away, that all of the mountains will fade away and there will be nothing left, just by the appearance of the Ancient of Days.
Now, Moses had no idea what he had asked of God. God said, “Thou shalt see My back parts.” In other words, God said, “I’ll let you look upon that bodily part of Me that I made sin, that part that is predestinated to come into the world and die yonder at Calvary. I’ll let you look at that part, but Moses, no man can see My face and live.”
What did God mean, “Thou canst not see My face, for no man shall see Me and live?” Brothers and sisters, the mountains can’t even see His face and exist. Nobody can be in the presence of that great light but Jesus. The Bible says that God is the great light unto which no man can approach. Without Christ, you’d disintegrate if you came into the presence of God. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ alone, dwelling in that light, hath immortality. So then, Moses did not know what he was asking God.
Now, let’s consider again Revelation, chapter four, where John looks at the book and weeps. Jesus had finished the work and sealed the church. The book and everything was sealed up. All of the work of God was finished, and no man in heaven nor in earth could loose that seal. At the ending of those church ages, where the Bible shows the redemption coming in, every man will be given a chance, because God wants them to know that Jesus has the preeminence over all of us. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star. Everything is in Jesus. Hallelujah! So then, we see here how that God has given His Son the preeminence.
He says, in essence, to all of them, “Here’s the book! I hold it in My right hand. Abraham, if you can loose it, come and loose it. Moses, if you were so good, come and loose the book!” John said, “I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open the book.” About that time, one stepped up, as if to say, “Sir, I can handle the case.” The Ancient of Days, sitting there on the throne, probably held the book and just looked. The Bible teaches that the Son was worthy, and He went forth. God is the great light, unto which no man can approach, but the Lamb approached unto Him, took the book, and opened one of the seals. It was rolled up as an old scroll of that day. One was rolled up, then another was rolled up, and another and another. He loosed a seal and unrolled one. There, here comes the church ages sweeping in, sealed on the backside of that book; the seven spirits before God, the seven lamps, the seven candlesticks. There were those seven spirits before God that hold the mystery of all mankind, that hold life, that hold redemption, and nobody could loose them; but, there He loosed them. How did He do it? God said to Peter, through the mouth of His Son, Jesus, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom.” Then, Jesus hung at Calvary, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain.
What does it mean, the veil was rent in twain? The Bible teaches that between you and God there is a middle wall of partition. There is a keeping of the divine ordinances of God that no man has ever kept, that even Moses could not keep. There it stands: the middle wall of partition; but the Bible says that when Jesus went to Calvary, He rent the veil between you and God. He hung between heaven and earth, and the veil was rent in two. The Bible says that when they opened the sixth seal, the heavens departed as a scroll.
What was the veil? It was the iron curtain of death that is between God and humanity. Nobody had ever penetrated that great curtain. That’s why I made the statement that the Iron Curtain will be ripped wide open, because we are approaching the resurrection of the dead. Because we are doing this, then the curtain has to be rent and the dead must come forth. Russia, in types, is denoted as the dead and the cold. You might say, then, “How can that be, when you refer to them as a polar bear?” Have you ever heard about the bear going to sleep and sleeping all winter? He’s dead! He sleeps all winter and doesn’t eat. He just sleeps until the resurrection comes. The bear denotes the dead. That great curtain will be rent, and the dead will come forth; and brother, this is the exciting part about it (not to the natural minded, but to us that are spiritual): the Bible says that they’ll come forth in power (nuclear power), and shake the earth. We’ll come forth in spiritual power. Hallelujah!
So then, we see the great iron curtain about to be penetrated. We see it as God is about to rend the veil at Calvary. You say, “But Brother Pike, that was hundreds of years ago.” I know that, but we’re just now beginning to comprehend what Christ did. Note that, in the age of comprehension, God gives the types and shadows to let us know what’s happening, meaning that when something happens naturally, there is a spiritual thing that’s about to take place.
All right, let us look at Peter, having been given the keys to the kingdom. The Lord upbraided the Pharisees and the Scribes because they had taken away the key to knowledge. They are the ones who did it, and blinded the people to the true knowledge, which is the Word of God, but Jesus said that Peter had recognized Him as God. Jesus could have, more or less, said, “Peter, you didn’t say that I’m one God or two Gods or three Gods, but you know that I am God, and because you know this, I give to you the keys to the kingdom. You’ve unveiled the mystery! You’ve broken through the curtain, and I say also unto thee, that upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
When Jesus hung at Calvary and the veil was rent open, there it came to pass. Then John, just a few short years later, in 96 AD, being exiled on the little isle of Patmos, out in the Mediterranean Sea, began to see the revelation of Calvary. He said, “I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven.” The curtain rolled back. Four thousand years had rolled by, and never had there been a door opened in heaven. Now, in a few years, shortly after Calvary, John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and saw that door open, and Jesus, standing between heaven and earth.
That’s why the Bible tells us that when Jesus came down to earth, men pressed their way into the kingdom of God, and that we have the power to go into the kingdom of God. We can now press our way into it, because there is a door open in heaven. You and I can go into that door, but there’s no playing religion about it.
“Peter, I give unto thee the keys!” What is he going to do? He is going to open the door. What is the door? Jesus said, “I am the door! No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. I am the door of the sheep.” Jesus is the gate called beautiful. So then, Jesus said, “I am the door,” and in speaking to Peter, He said, “I give unto thee the keys to the kingdom (door).”
What is Peter going to do? He could have said, “I’m going to preach a sermon and tell these people to be baptized in the name of Jesus,” hallelujah! “and that there is salvation in none other name but the name Jesus; to repent of their sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, for there is salvation in none other name, and there is none other name given under heaven whereby man must be saved.” Now, the Bible says that there were added unto them (the church) about three thousand souls. So, Peter commanded them to come on down to the water hole. Hallelujah! Somebody would say, “Now, baptism just isn’t necessary!” Friend, baptism is a part of righteousness, for John the Baptist was told, “Thus is becometh us to fulfill all righteousness,” when he refused to baptize Jesus. I’ll say this: if Jesus took the time to go to the water hole, then the President’s got time to go to the water hole, the doctors and dentists and all of them have time to go to the water hole. Even senators, movie stars, and everybody else has time to go there if Jesus, the God of heaven and earth, took His time to go.
When Peter opened the door to the kingdom, three thousand people stepped through the door and were added to the church, because he had the keys to the kingdom. Not only did he open it to the people that are called the Jews, but also to the Gentile people. A lot of people like to bypass this and say, “Well, Brother Pike, that was to the Jews.” But Peter later stood up in a meeting and said, “Ye know how that God made a choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.” He opened the door to the kingdom of God down at Cornelius’ house. I say again, Peter opened the door to the Gentiles, just like he did to the Jews. There wasn’t any difference between them.
After seeing the vision on the house top, Peter went with those men down there at that home and preached a sermon to them, and the Bible teaches that while Peter preached, the Holy Ghost fell on them and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them the utterance. Now, a lot of people ask, “Brother Pike, were those people baptized in Jesus’ name?” No, they were not baptized until after they had received the Holy Ghost. Others would say, “Well, you can’t get the Holy Ghost unless you’ve been baptized in Jesus’ name!” That is not what the Bible teaches. You have got to go by what the Word says! It teaches that while Peter preached the gospel, by faith in God, the Holy Ghost fell on them and they received the Holy Ghost! Somebody would say, “Well, Brother Pike, it just fell on them.” Peter said, “Who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we.”
Let’s look again at the Scriptures. “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized?” There you are, right there! Now look at that! Somebody could say, “Wait a minute. Glory to God, I’ve got the Holy Ghost, and if I’ve got the Holy Ghost, do you mean to tell me that I’ve got to be baptized?” Yes. The Bible states thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Are we sons of God? Then it becometh us to fulfill the righteousness of God. Another person would say, “Brother Pike, do you believe that you can receive the Holy Ghost before you’re baptized in Jesus’ name?” I definitely do! “Well, that settles it,” somebody might say, “for if you receive the Holy Ghost before you are baptized in Jesus’ name, that proves you don’t need to be baptized, because you already have the Holy Ghost!” That’s not what the Word teaches. Friends, let me tell you something. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ,” but just because they were filled with the Holy Ghost, it didn’t change his formula nor his preaching. Why didn’t Peter just say, “You’ve got the Holy Ghost. That settles it!” No, he spake more like this: “Now look, you’re filled with the Holy Ghost, for God gave it to you. Be baptized in the name of Jesus now, as a testimony of them that are without, and with the purpose of fulfilling all righteousness.” The Bible teaches that they were baptized.
The Bible records that Philip, down in Samaria, was preaching the gospel, and healings were taking place. Now, here we go down the trail of divine healing. Somebody said, “Glory to God! I’m having miracles. I’ve got God, and I don’t have to worry about this Jesus’ name baptism.” But, the Bible teaches that they were down there, and great miracles were taking place. The people were rejoicing over what they had heard and seen by the demonstration of the gospel. Great things were taking place down there, and other apostles had come from Jerusalem to lay hands on the people. Why? So they could receive the infilling of the Holy Ghost. Miracles or no miracles, you need the Holy Ghost! Somebody would say, “Well now, what about this Jesus’ name?” The Bible teaches that they had already been baptized in Jesus’ name. Why was that? Because Philip was preaching two things. What was he preaching? He was preaching the baptism in the name of Jesus, and the kingdom of God. Why was he preaching both of them? Why didn’t he just preach the kingdom of God? Because you can’t get into a house without a door. He was telling about the kingdom of God and the door that had been opened, and how they could get into it, preaching that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Beloved friend, there is a door. What is the door? Jesus! Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Somebody would say, “Well, I called on the name of the Lord.” The Bible teaches, however, that Paul, who knew the law of the letter, was blameless as touching the law, and was one of the top religious men of his day, in deed and in spirit. In all that he knew, Paul was considered on top. When God got ready to save him, however, he was told to go to the street called Straight and there would be a holiness preacher waiting on him. So he went there, for God had made him blind. So he went, feeling his way, until he got over there, and Ananias, a holiness preacher, came up, perhaps shaking like a leaf. “Who are you?” he asked. “I’m Saul of Tarsus,” was the answer. “Oh, I’ve heard about you! My, the way you kill people!” Don’t you know Ananias was scared? Paul said, “I’ve heard from heaven, and there’s been a change.” Glory to God! Ananias could have said, “Well, what do you want over here?” Paul wanted to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Someone might have asked, “Aren’t you one of those Bible scholars, one who was chosen from your mother’s womb? Aren’t you one of those elect and predestinated, and you don’t have to be concerned with that? Don’t you know that you’re going to be a great apostle?” God told Paul to go over there and get that man to baptize him, for it shall come to pass that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then Paul was baptized, calling on the name of the Lord. Hallelujah! Amen! That’s what the Bible teaches. Praise God! There he was, calling on the name of the Lord. What was it? It was still the same formula, beloved friend, and it’s always been the same way. God never gave another way, for there is no other way.
I’ve said this before, that in the Old Testament, everybody that came into the army of Israel was baptized in the Red Sea. God made all of them go through the water before they became part of the army of Israel. But why unto Moses? The Bible says unto Moses. Why? The prophet liken unto Jesus. He was pointing ahead to when John the Baptist came out preaching the gospel. Hallelujah! Someone could have said, “What are you, John?” He might say, “I’m a Baptist! Repent of your sins and be baptized.” And they did. How many of you know that Baptist means baptizer? But friends, he didn’t do them like a lot of preachers today. He didn’t say that you’re Senator Jones, and you come on down here and we’ll baptize you because you have a title longer than anyone else. He said, “O generation of vipers! A crooked generation.” John may have spoken like this: “Who has been preaching the gospel to you? Who told you that I was over here?” They might have said, “Well, we heard about it.” Someone else said, “Oh, these little miniskirts and these pantsuits and these clothes stripped down in the front won’t hurt!” Can’t you hear John saying, “O generation of vipers! You get straightened out before you join the family of God!” Then John preached right on. Notice, I’m talking about a Baptist preacher, now. John pointed right on over and said, “Look, if you think this is strong preaching, well, I’m not even worthy to dust the feet of Him that’s really going to do the preaching. I’m just getting you tuned up, so that when He comes, you’ll know.”
Somebody said, “Now wait a minute, Brother Pike. Do you really believe Jesus preached stronger that John the Baptist?” You read it over there in the Old Testament. He said, “Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me, and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant.” It said that He’ll be like fuller’s soap, and He’ll purge you like fire. Who shall be able to stand in the day of His coming? John, in essence, said, “I’m just getting you tuned up. You wait until that preacher gets here.” “What are you doing baptizing, John?” they asked. He implied that he was baptizing unto repentance by saying, “Here comes the preacher. Believe on the name. It’s coming.” The Bible says, in the nineteenth chapter of Acts, that though they had been baptized according to John’s baptism, holiness came. That’s what the Bible teaches.
Paul was the apostle of the Gentile church. He said, “I am the apostle of the Gentiles; I magnify mine office.” Folks, Paul said, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? “They said, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.” Paul said, “Oh, you need another sermon preached to you.” Hallelujah! “I’m one of those Jesus name preachers, and you’ve been baptized by John, according to his baptism.” “Isn’t that good enough? That’s the way Jesus was baptized.” Paul said, “That was all right then, but now, brethren, be baptized in the name of Jesus.” Come on now! Although they had been baptized by the Baptist, they had to turn over a new leaf, because the days of holiness had come. Come on now! Praise God!
You say, “Brother Pike, do you mean to tell me that the Church of God, the Assemblies, and all of those Baptist folks are wrong?” All right, what is holiness? The Bible says that God is the Spirit of holiness. Well, what is God? In the beginning was God. Who was God? The Word. And what was the Word? The Bible says that the Word was made flesh. Who was the flesh? Jesus. And who was Jesus? The Spirit of holiness. Glory to God! The Holy Ghost preacher had come, preaching the infilling of the Holy Ghost, the way to God, the opening of the door. The door had been opened! The veil had been rent and here it was. They were getting ready to loose the seals on the backside of the book, and the Bible teaches that when Paul preached the sermon to them, they were rebaptized in the name of Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues. That’s why some of the Baptists today are speaking with tongues. Did you know there are Baptist Churches that are just now having a spiritual downpour, and people are being filled with the Holy Ghost? Those Baptist preachers are jumping up and down and speaking in tongues because they have learned about the Holy Ghost. Somebody might say, “Now Brother Pike, do you believe they received it without being baptized in Jesus’ name?” I sure do! And the first news you know, they’re going to be looking for Jesus name baptism too, because the Bible says that He (Holy Ghost) will guide you into all truth and righteousness. Now then, you say, “Brother Pike, if you received the Holy Ghost before you were baptized in Jesus’ name, don’t you believe that you’ve got the Holy Ghost whether you ever get baptized in Jesus’ name or not? And what are you going to do with all those people that receive the Holy Ghost and won’t be baptized in Jesus’ name?” We don’t have to do anything with those people because they didn’t get the Holy Ghost. People who tell you that they’ve got the Holy Ghost and won’t go on to be baptized in Jesus’ name don’t know anything about the Holy Ghost. Come on now! There is one Spirit, God’s Spirit, and the Bible says that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. What kind of Spirit is that? The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
So then, if a person has the real, godly, genuine Holy Ghost, what will that Holy Ghost do? It will cause him to go on into all truth and righteousness. And what is righteousness? It’s like one of our brothers, an Assembly of God preacher: when he received the Holy Ghost, it took him right on into baptism in Jesus’ name. Amen! I’ve seen Baptist preachers, Assembly of God preachers, and Church of God preachers do this. All kinds of preachers did it. Hallelujah! Our Brother Al Gonzales was a Catholic, but when he received the Holy Ghost, he was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Why? Let me tell you, when you receive the Holy Ghost, He will bring you out. Now, you might be a believer. I’m not disputing that, but you being a believer, Paul asked the question, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” Have you? You’re a believer, and that’s good, but have you received the Holy Ghost? The Bible didn’t say that you are His because you have believed. It said, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” You’re not His unless you have His Spirit. Remember, Jesus taught that many are called, but few are chosen. Now then, this means that people in the denominational church powers throughout the world, when they receive the Holy Ghost of God, they will be baptized in the name of Jesus. Now, if they won’t be baptized in the name of Jesus after coming to it, then they will be turned over to a reprobate mind and go with the charismatic way of life, avoiding the whole truth in God’s Word; whereas, many of the charismatic people will come to be baptized in Jesus’ name.
I’m talking about God’s Word. Hallelujah! It’s for everybody! Jesus said, What I say unto you I say unto all. It begins at Jerusalem, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. Somebody said, “I can’t understand why the end hasn’t come yet.” It’s because the kingdom gospel hasn’t arrived in the uttermost parts yet, but it’s going to! Every time God raises up one of these boys that want to compromise with all the trinitarian ways of life; when they get to thinking about money and how they won’t ever inherit that top place and have all that money, fame, and popularity, then they compromise and draw all the brethren in. But beloved friend, I don’t plan to do that. I believe in one gospel for you, one gospel for me, and one gospel for them. All in Jesus’ name!
Somebody said, “Are you a Jesus Only?” I’m only Jesus’! Hallelujah! Praise God! Somebody said, “Well, I want to dispute that with you.” All right, let’s take our text on the mountain. The Bible teaches that Peter, James and John went up on the mountain, and there stood Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Then Peter said, “Let us make here three tabernacles.” A voice from heaven spoke back, “We are going to build just one!” We believe in oneness! Forget about those other two tabernacles! Come on! We’re not trinity! God said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am pleased to dwell,” implying that we’ll build just one. Then Moses and Elijah went away, and there stood Jesus only.
So then, there is one gospel, and that is in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, nobody in the Old Testament was baptized any other way except in the Red Sea unto Moses, and then by John the Baptist unto Jesus. The baptism unto Moses was pointing to the prophet likened unto Moses, who was Jesus. Everything pointed to Jesus. Then you find, all through the New Testament, that nobody was ever baptized any other way but in the name of Jesus. It wasn’t until 325 AD that the Nicene Creed came in by the Roman Church, and then they started baptizing by using the titles Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Let me tell you something, and you listen real close. When the Lord spoke in Matthew, chapter 28, and said, “Go, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,” that this was Jesus doing the talking. Check it out. He had just resurrected from the dead. Judas had committed suicide, and there wasn’t anybody standing there but the eleven apostles, for the Bible tells us that just before His ascension, He appointed them a place where He would meet them. They stood there as Jesus said, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Why did He say that? It was because of the voice that said, “Hear ye Him.” Just one! Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” And the Bible tells us that Jesus straightway told them to go to Jerusalem and tarry until they were endued with power from on high. Those same eleven apostles went over a Sabbath’s day journey to Jerusalem and into the upper room. There they fasted and prayed until that mighty Holy Ghost appeared unto them as cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
We’ve got a revelational teaching available that tells us why it came in cloven tongues. Remember, in the Old Testament, the cloven tongue had to do with that which was clean. They could eat that which was cloven, for it was clean. Here came a cloven tongue of fire now. I want you to get this. Here they are, over near the upper room, where Brother Peter go so full of the Holy Ghost that he stood up in the midst of them, and there were devout men out of every nation under heaven, all of them being Jews. Medes, Parthians, Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, and others. All of these great people were there when Peter stood up and preached that great message. What kind of message did he preach? He said, “You must repent, for with wicked hands you’ve taken and crucified the Lord of glory, and I trust that you did it in ignorance.” Then they said, “What shall we do, Peter?” As if to say, “Peter, you’ve got the keys to the kingdom. Now, set us up a church!” The first church, not the second church. Now, we’re talking about the first church. And Peter said, in Acts 2:38-39, “Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you and to your children and all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Every person! Don’t you dare go to the judgment seat of the living God and stand before the angry God of heaven and earth without being baptized in the name of His beloved Son! Don’t you dare do it! No one can escape. He cut off the entire world and saved Noah before He would compromise one iota. Not one jot nor tittle will pass away, for all must be fulfilled. There is no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved. Why was it that Peter told those people to be baptized in Jesus’ name? Don’t you see that? Now look at it. These philosophers and great Bible scholars think that they have got it figured out because they have gone to school and college, and have butted heads for years, only to come out more ignorant than before they went in, all because they didn’t listen to the Spirit of God, when the Bible says to lean not to thine own understanding.
The Holy Scriptures were written of men, given by inspiration of God, and it must be interpreted the same way, because, while they split theological hairs over what is inspired and what is not inspired, people are dying and going to hell. Can’t you imagine some of the apostles saying, “Peter, what in the world are you doing? You know the Lord told us to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Peter, you know He told you that. I was standing there when He told you!” The Bible shows that they didn’t do that, but every one of them agreed with Peter. The Bible tells us that it was called the apostle’s doctrine. Paul said, “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” What foundation is that? Abraham spoke of seeking a city whose builder and maker is God. Paul refers back to when they looked for that city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. As they looked for those foundations, they found Peter, James, John, and the others. Jesus laid the foundation of that city, and you, as lively stones, must be built upon, so don’t you try to lay another foundation. That’s the only foundation of the church.
Someone would say, “Peter, why did you do that? Don’t you know that you’ve broken every commandment in the Bible? Don’t you know, Peter, that you’ve become a renegade, and you have violated the Word of the Almighty God? Jesus, the resurrected Christ, told you to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and you went out there and baptized three thousand people in the name of Jesus Christ.” Come on now, friends. Something is happening. Now, why would Peter do that? He did it because that was the revelation of what Jesus said in Matthew, chapter twenty-eight, and I declare today, as I’ve always declared, and I challenge anybody in the world, I don’t care if they’re doctors of divinity or whoever they are, to prove it any other way. In Matthew 28:19, when Jesus gave the commission to baptize, He was saying to baptize in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin, for that is the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Bible says that a child shall be born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and Jesus said that He came in His Father’s name, for He came in the name Jesus. He said, “I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” Jesus verified this, further on over there, when He said, “I’ve kept them in Thy name.” In essence, God was saying, “Son, because You’ve kept them in My name, I’ll give You another name that nobody knows, but to whom You will reveal it.” The Bible says that a Son shall be born, and He called His name Jesus. He came in the Father’s name. His name was called Jesus, and the Bible says that when the Holy Ghost comes, He will come in My name, the name Jesus. He said to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; not in the names plural, but in the name singular, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which is Jesus. Hallelujah! There is none other name given under heaven whereby men must be save. There is salvation in none other name. Peter and the other apostles either fulfilled Matthew 28:19 when they set up the first church, or else those words were never, at any time in the Bible, ever fulfilled, because there is no record where they ever did it any other way. If Peter and the apostles broke the commandment of Christ Jesus, then we had better throw the Bible away and forget about preaching the gospel, because we are all a bunch of reprobates.
Somebody might say, “What about these doctors of philosophy? I believe it their way.” How in the world could you do an ignorant thing like that? Paul said that he would not have you ignorant. Standing there in the face of Almighty God, you might as well put a razor to your throat, when the Word of God emphatically states that there is none other name but the name Jesus. Then, you compromise and hypocrite around, trying to get around the Word. The devil and his crowd don’t care how much you go to church or pay your tithes! All kinds of people do that. He doesn’t care how much you say, “Praise God! Praise the Lord! Praise everything!” It’s when you start talking about the name Jesus, that’s what the devil doesn’t want in the church. You check the church out and you’ll find that in nearly all of the denominational churches, the name Jesus is hardly ever mentioned. Why? It’s because the Bible teaches that devils are cast out in His name, and you can’t talk about the name of Jesus and have a house full of devils, for they will get on the run quick. That’s why they don’t stay around Little Bethlehem, because we believe in the name Jesus! Hallelujah! We praise and lift up His name, so people can find salvation. Jesus is the door that John saw in heaven, and He’s the only one that can loose those seals.
Either Peter fulfilled the words of God or they were never fulfilled. Peter didn’t break the Word of God! So, who are these people that go around telling you to be baptized another way? They are the daughters of the great whore that is spoken of in the book of Revelation. We see, as a proof of this, that by the establishing of the Nicene Creed, the Roman powers killed out the apostle’s doctrine. Go to your library and check it out. Baptism in the name of Jesus was not contrary to the apostle’s doctrine, but when the Roman Church set up the Nicene Creed, they discarded the apostle’s doctrine because they did not have a revelation from God. They killed all the apostles, and they didn’t have a true God preacher to tell them because the ones that were around, they wouldn’t believe. Now, this continued on through the Dark Ages. It is called the Dark Ages because God wouldn’t give any light on that, for it wasn’t the gospel and God withdrew from it. There was no light because there was no Jesus name, but in 1517, when Martin Luther broke out and started preaching the best he knew how, God began to honor it because he had set his bow to shoot straight at the name Jesus to bring it back into power. The Bible declares that God will restore the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm. I will restore, saith the Lord. And, He has gradually restored it from Martin Luther’s day, right on down, until He comes back over here and that baby has been born. He’s got a name, and I say call Him Jesus, because the Bible says that when He was born, they were to call Him Jesus. Are you that babe, which is bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh? Let’s lose our identity and call Him Jesus! The Bible speaks of those that are called by His name. If they call on Him, He’ll hear from heaven and heal their lands.
We see this church world, with these big denominational churches, and it’s become one big mess. God is never going to hear from heaven. If He says to fast, they say, “We have fasted and You’ve not heard us.” Friend, you can fast until your tongue hangs out. That’s not going to do it. You’ve got to call on the name of His lovely Son. Praise God! So then, the government is in a wrecked up condition. Motherhood’s gone. Fatherhood’s gone. Children are gone. They’ve turned into beatniks, hippies, and everything else! Everything’s gone! Only one thing was lasting, and that was the church, but now it’s gone. There’s nothing left anymore but the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is my wife? My body is no longer twain, but my own body, even my flesh, which is the mystery concerning the head and the membership of Christ in the church, which has one head and many members.
So then, it has to be Jesus name, for there is no other church. You might say, “Brother Pike, why did God allow that to happen the way it did?” It’s just like I’ve often said, so let me illustrate it like this. If you’re going to raise baby chicks, you’ve got to have some starter feed, or you’ll choke them to death on whole corn. You’ll also need a little fence around them. Spiritually speaking, you can call these fences Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or even Church of God or whatever you like. But friend, from those baby chicks that hatched, you’ll have to keep separating them as they grow, because when they are broiler size, they’ll trample the babies to death. And when you get some great big hens that can flap their wings, or some big rooster when his combs grow out, who can crow and strut about the barnyard, you’d better get them away from those babies, because they’re inclined to hurt them, not that they mean to. Praise God!
Somebody may say, “Now, why did you say that?” That’s why the Lord reproved Peter with that rooster. Amen! He reproved Balaam with a donkey, and even the donkey had more sense, spiritually, than Balaam. So then, we’ve got to remember one thing, folks, and that it’s God’s way or it’s no way at all. You can be stubborn and rebellious and say, “I’m this or I’m that. I believe this, and I’m going to be this way,” and as a result, you’ll die and go to hell because of what you’re going to do. Remember, on the day of judgment, Brother Pike will be standing there, looking at you, and you’ll hear these same words from God, because God never changes. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Somebody might say, “You just wait until we get there, Brother Pike, and we’ll see how sorry you are when God looks at me and then looks at you!” No, friend, there won’t be any days like that, for God is the Word, and He’ll never change. The Bible teaches that he that God sendeth shall speak God’s Word, and he that receiveth him that God hath sent receiveth Me, and he that rejects him that He sent rejects Me. Also, the Bible teaches that whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Remember now, remission of sin is in the name of Jesus, for we are instructed that remission shall be preached in His name.
So then, there is remission in none other name. Now, the Bible teaches that water is for the remission of sins because they were baptized using the name in which remission is found. The Bible says whomsoever’s sins you remit. So, you can put them all together and the preacher does the remitting. As My Father has sent Me, so send I you. Whomsoever’s sins you remit shall be remitted. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. You’re not going to do it any differently. In heaven, it’s going to be just the way it’s established on earth, for He said, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” It’s going to be the same. Therefore, the preacher does the remitting, the water is the means by which the remission comes, and remission is in the name of Jesus; not the titles Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but in the name Jesus, which is the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. When a man takes you into baptism and says, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” and brings you up, he has lied to you! He didn’t baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, because if he had baptized you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, he would have said, “I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,” and then brought you up out of the water.
So then, we see that all these people that are doing these things are the enemies of God. The Bible teaches us that it will be so close that it will deceive the very elect if it was possible. But friend, it’s not possible, for the righteous are going to see it, but the rest of the world won’t. Somebody said, “Brother Pike, do you mean that all of my friends and neighbors and preachers — “ Yes sir. Everyone, including your grandfather and grandmother, relatives, my friends, or anybody else, if they believe that way, all of them are wrong. The Bible teaches that God’s Word is right and to let every man be a liar. It’s for sure I’m not going to worry about my friends, neighbors, or anybody else and die and go to hell over someone because they won’t believe the truth. I’m going to take the Word of God, friends.
Now, if I’m beside myself, I’m beside myself for God. Paul said that this thing wasn’t done in a corner. I’m trying to reach your soul because I love you. Hundreds and thousands of people will read this message, but brethren, it’s got to be right and it’s got to be straight. In the day of judgment, I’ll have to answer to God, and I’ll go to hell if I add to or take away from the Word of God. This is the way the Word teaches it. I love you, but let your own blood be upon your own head if you won’t receive this, for I’ll be guiltless of your blood. The Bible teaches that if I see the sword coming and I don’t warn them, He’ll require their blood at my hand. I’ve warned you in the name of Jesus, and now the blood is off of my hands and it’s on your head, and if you don’t obey it, then on the day of judgment, I’ll be free from your blood. The Lord showed me in a vision one night that I had blood all over my hands, and I said, “My God, what is this?” He said to me, “Preach the gospel, or you’ll have blood on your hands.” He showed me to preach the gospel, and I’m preaching the gospel because I don’t want blood on my hands. So don’t add to it, or take away from it. Just tell it like it is. Hallelujah!
You say, “Brother Pike, why is it so plain now and it hasn’t been in times past?” This is because the child is being born, and it’s time to name Him. If you’re going to get married, you’ll have to take His name, and we are down at the end of the trail, and the Bible says that it shall come to pass, there’ll be light in the evening time. So this is the light of the evening time, and it’s beginning to shine now, and God requires something of every light or revelation as you get the precious Spirit of the living God. This is God’s Word. You wouldn’t deny that, would you? If this is God’s Word, and the Bible said that Jesus was the Word, then who was the Holy Ghost? He is the Spirit of Jesus. You might ask, “How do you know that?” I know because the Bible says that He’s the Spirit of truth. And what did God call truth? He said, “My words are truth.” Who is the Word but God?
It’s just like you took unprocessed metal or elements that are in the earth, without form, and you liken it unto the Father, because He has never been confined to any human thinking. Nobody had ever formed God in their mind. Now, let’s look at the unprocessed elements through the types and shadows. Pick them up, and what do we see? God took Himself, the unprocessed elements, and poured them into Jesus, the mold. Just as you build an automobile mold or any other kind of mold, He poured these elements into a human mold called Jesus. The fullness of God, Himself was poured into that mold Jesus, and the fire of God heated it up, and God became personified. Thirty-three years across the earth, He personified Himself in a mold called Jesus, which was the Son of God, and they saw Him and comprehended God in the mold of their mind. Seeing Him do good everywhere, they comprehended who He was, what He was, what kind of God He was, His characteristics, and what He does. This was all done in Christ.
Then, God hung the mold up at Calvary and split the mold open, just like you would any mold when you’ve finished molding an image. Then, out stepped the precious Holy Ghost of God, the quickening Spirit, the Christ, the last man Adam, and He’s here today. We don’t refer to Him today as a spirit in that way, because we refer to Him as the unpersonified Holy Spirit, but today, He’s a personification, which means a ghost. When you personify a spirit, it becomes a ghost. The King James Version renders Him as a ghost after Calvary, which means He is an image that came out of a human body. The mold was opened and out stepped the Holy Ghost. So then, who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? They are all the same God. Who is the one that projects Him? He is the one mold called the Son of God, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That means there’s no other human body of the Godhead, no other form for the Godhead, but that one.
Listen, folks. When you get to heaven, you remember this: you’re not going to see God sitting up there on one throne and Jesus sitting on another throne and the Holy Ghost sitting on another throne. You’re not going to see that in heaven. Some of you might say, “Give me Scripture for that!” All right, the Bible says, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne.” Notice, it didn’t say the throne beside His Father, not on the second throne, but in the throne with His Father, because Jesus said, “I and My Father are one.”
This means that Jesus Christ was a human body as the Son of God, and God is an eternal Spirit, and the only human image or personage that He hath is that of the Son of God’s image, and He dwells in that, looking at you through the blood of His Son. Jesus said, “If you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins.”
All right, so we see it. One God, the eternal Spirit, has gone through the process to manifest Himself to a human being, and having human beings as a kingdom, He must be a human being to rule over His kingdom. Therefore, the chief of human beings is proving Himself the champion of all things that He might draw the admiration as the king of all human beings, putting His Spirit, the precious personification, the spiritual Holy Ghost, in our heart so that we’ll reflect God. This means that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Word. If He is the Spirit of the Word, the Bible says that when the comforter (Holy Ghost) is come, He shall testify of Me. That’s what Jesus said, and that’s the Word.
The Spirit will testify of the Word. If you’ve got the Spirit in your heart, it will testify of His Word. If it doesn’t testify of the Word by having you baptized in Jesus’ name, by living a life of holiness, by covering up your nakedness, and by coming out of the world, then you don’t have His Spirit. The Word teaches if you don’t have His Spirit, then you’re not His. You must have the Spirit of the Word, for it is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth. The Bible teaches that when He, the Spirit of the Word, or truth, has come, He’ll testify of the Word in your heart, in deeds as well as in speech. God has predestinated us to conform to the image of His Son, the Word. The Bible teaches that if you’ve got the Son, you don’t have to worry about the Father. He that hath the Son hath the Father. You can’t get the Father and then get the Son, because the Father can’t come to you unless He comes through the Son. You must have the name of Jesus.
Friends, you might not believe this, but there’s one thing that God esteems above His name, and that is the Word, which is the Spirit of truth. Even some Jesus name people have gotten off into “Jesus Only” teachings, and many of them are so wrong and mixed up. You can say Jesus’ name all you want to and be baptized in Jesus’ name all you want to, but friends, if you don’t have the true Holy Ghost of God, which gives you charity and conforms you to real old-time holiness, you don’t have anything. You can be baptized in every watery pool in the country, but that doesn’t mean that you’ve received it. If you don’t have His Spirit, you are nothing.
Don’t you see how all of the religious world will go into one body? It’s because they’ve been deceived. You say, “Brother Pike, don’t you believe God is in those bodies?” He one time was, but now, He has passed through those bodies, like the life moves through a stalk of corn. That life moves right on up the stalk, and through the blades, until it reaches its maturity. Have you ever noticed that when the life comes up the stalk, and gets into the cob, and then into the grain which makes the ear of corn, that finally, the rest of the stalk dies. The life leaves it. You see, the life is leaving all of those denominational bodies. They’re dying now, and they’re withering up because it’s harvest time. All the life’s already come through there, for they have done their job. They’re becoming the cage of every unclean and hateful bird, and God’s rejecting them. Now, all of the good life and good people have been sifted out, leaving just a lot of formality and worldliness. They still think they have got God, but even the Jews believe they’ve had God all these years, and yet it’s obvious that God rejected them, because they’ve had nothing but problems. Are you also guilty of rejecting God’s Word? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today and be saved. May God bless you is my prayer.
By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.
Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.
Holiness Unto The Lord