a name of power that invokes reaction, not only in our own souls, but also in the spirits that surround us. Yet, there are many more titles that He goes by. I’d like to explore some of them here.
I have been a Christian since my birth. I have studied with most denominations including those that are considered cults. Among those are the Jehovah Witnesses, and the Mormons. My family’s denomination is Episcopalian. I was born in White Earth Minnesota, a 40 square mile Indian reservation. My family, on my mother’s side, the Rocks, were the priests for our local township, Pine Point (population 300). There, as a baby, in 1955, I was baptized using the formula in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. As a boy of eight years, I visited a Baptist church and was saved by accepting Jesus as my personal savior. Then as a teenager, I was baptized again in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of my sins. When I was a young adult, I received the gift Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues with the Pentecostals. I was a preacher and pastor in a Pentecostal denomination for fifteen years. I left my organization because of their perspective on grace. I became convinced that our legalism was taking from God’s glory as we established our own righteousness. I am saved by Grace through faith. I now pastor a nondenominational church. We are independent from organizations of men, but we are very dependent on God. I say this as a testimony of my sincerity in seeking the truth. Having covered the full gambit of denominations and their various beliefs, I feel compelled to speak on the subject of baptism. This question of baptism cuts to the very foundation of the Christian church and marks a division that is nearly two thousand years old.