Baptism
and Testimonies of Healing
Paul Wong
Many Christians regard water
baptism as no more than a ritual or a formality. They also consider it as only an outward expression of an inward
grace; that it serves only as a witness to God, the angels, the devil, the
world and those who gather for the "ceremony" that the person who is
baptized has officially become a Christian.
In truth water baptism is much more than that.
On the Day of Pentecost many Jews
who came to Jerusalem heard the gospel message on the death, burial and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ "were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest
of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar
off, as many as the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:37-39). The apostle Peter said that baptism
in the name of Jesus Christ is "for the remission of sins." "Then those who gladly received his
word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to
them." (Acts. 2:41).
After his Damascus road encounter
with the Lord Jesus Christ, Saul (who later changed his name to Paul) was led
to the home of Ananias who preached to him: "The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should
know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of
what you have seen and heard. And now
why are you waiting? Arise and be
baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts
22:14-16). Again, we read that baptism is to wash away sins.
We all know that
water has no power to wash away sins, so where does the power come
from? That is a good question! To get the answer we have to go to the cross
of Calvary.
"But one of the soldiers pierced His side
with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his
testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may
believe." (Jn. 19:34-35)
The reason the
apostle John recorded this phenomenon is because it is a significant miracle
that combines the two important events in the life of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The blood points to His
crucifixion and the water points to His baptism. The apostle Paul wrote about the inter-relationship of the Lord's
death, water baptism and the remission of sin.
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin." (Rom. 6:1-8)
Water baptism is more than a
religious ceremony or just a witness that the person has become a
Christian. It is to be crucified with
Jesus Christ. It is the Christian’s
death, burial and resurrection with the Savior Jesus Christ. Baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ has the efficacy
of remitting sin. The apostle John
wrote: “To Him who loved us and washed us from our
sins in His own blood,” (Rev. 1:5). He had witnessed the miracle of the blood and the
water at the crucifixion, and wrote:
“This is He who came by water and blood – Jesus
Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is
truth.” (1 Jn. 5:6).
At the cross Jesus shed His blood
that came out from His side with the water.
We are baptized “not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness,
because the Spirit is truth.” “God also
bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts
of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?” (Heb. 2:4) “And they went out and preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying
signs. Amen.” (Mk. 16:20) There
are innumerable testimonies from eye-witness accounts concerning visions of the
blood in the water during the baptism.
Visions that occur in various countries all over the world serve to
confirm the word that is preached to be the truth.
Biblical Truth
about Miracles during the Baptism
There are two great miracles in the Old Testament time that prefigure water
baptism. The first one is the salvation
of Noah’s family in the ark during the Great Flood. . . . “when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls,
were saved through water. There is also
an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism (not the removal of the filth of
the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 3:20-21). The
second great miracle is the crossing of the Red Sea by the children of
Israel. “Moreover,
brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the
cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud
and in the sea.” (1 Cor. 10:1-2)
The healing of
Naaman's leprosy, accomplished by washing himself seven times in the Jordan
River according to Elisha's command, represented baptism for the remission of
sins. Some friends brought a paralytic
man to Jesus by lowering his bed from the housetop. “So
when He saw their faith, He said to him, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
(Lk. 5:18-20). The scribes
and Pharisees questioned Jesus’ authority on forgiving sins. Of course Jesus can forgive sins because He
is God manifested in the flesh. The
important point in this incident is that healing takes place when sins are
forgiven. Sins in a person are
invisible and intangible but they are real.
When Jesus pronounced the sins of a person are forgiven and he is
healed, it is a powerful testimony and demonstration of this truth. In this light when a sick person is healed
during the baptism it is the physical evidence that his sins have truly been
remitted.
Biblical Truth on
Infant Baptism
The Holy Bible
clearly teaches death is due to sin. “For the wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(Rom. 6:23). “Therefore, just as
through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death
spread to all men, because all sinned – (For until the law sin was in the
world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.) Nevertheless death reigned form Adam to Moses, even over those
who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who
is a type of Him who was to come.” (Rom. 5:12-14) The Bible also informs us
that infants have the original sin inherited from Adam.
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in
sin my mother conceived me.” (Psm. 51:5)
“The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go
astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.” (Psm. 58:3)
“Surely you did not hear, surely you did not
know; surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were
called a transgressor from the womb.” (Isa. 48:8)
It is an undeniable
truth that all infants have the original sin because they die like everyone
else. Some object to infant baptism
because the little ones cannot believe or repent of their sins. In things that infants cannot think for
themselves responsible parents will make decisions for them. Since baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ is
for salvation, remission of sins, and regeneration parents can and should make
decisions for their infants. God
commanded the Israelites to circumcise their male infants and not wait for them
to grow up and decide for themselves whether or not to be circumcised. All faithful and believing Israelite parents
circumcise their male infants on the eighth day after birth. In the New Testament baptism into the Lord
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins have replaced circumcision (Col.
2:11-13). Infant baptism is biblically
correct.
Regarding repentance
of sins we can only repent of the sins that we have personally committed. Infants have not consciously committed
personal sins therefore have no need of repentance. Moreover, no one can repent of the sins that are inherited from
Adam’s transgressions. Infants do have
the original sin that needs removal.
God’s solution to this problem is the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
that cleanses us from all sin through baptism into Him.
The apostle Peter’s
statement: “Repent,
and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts
2:38) is given to adults who have personal sins
therefore they need repentance. The
power of remission of sins is not vested in repentance but in the name of the
Jesus Christ and also in His Blood. “For the promise is to you and to your children,
and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts
2:39) The
promise of having remission of sins through baptism in the name of Jesus Christ
is given to adults as well as children.
“For the promise is to
you and to your children” has no condition of race, gender or age. Israelites circumcise their male infants
when they are eight days old (Lk. 2:21; Phil. 3:5). Baptism is called the “circumcision of Christ.” (Col. 2:11-12) The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea
with “our young and our
old; with our sons and our daughters” (Ex. 10:8-9). Crossing of the Red Sea typifies water
baptism (1 Cor. 10:1-2). The Early
Apostolic Church practiced household
baptism (Acts 16:15; 31-34; 1 Cor. 1:16).
It is correct to follow the Apostolic pattern in our present day
congregations.
Testimonies of
Miracles during the Baptism
The Lord Jesus Christ healed me during the Baptism
I am truly thankful
to our Lord Jesus Christ for having five generations of Christians in our
family. My maternal grandmother was the
first person to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. My parents raised us (three boys and five
girls) as a Christian family. My two
sons, daughter-in-law and grandson are also Christians. There is much blessings in having a large
Christian family.
When I was one year
old there was an epidemic of diphtheria in Ipoh, Malaysia and many children had
died from that disease. To us in our
day and age diphtheria may not seem to be a serious illness but it was deadly
in those days because the medical facilities in that country was lacking. I had reached a critical stage and could
hardly eat food or swallow liquid. At
that time my parents were not Christians and they had sought the best doctors
that were available. There was no cure
and it seemed like a hopeless situation as I was on the threshold of
death. My grandmother spoke to my
mother: “Why don’t you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and He can heal your
son.” My mother replied: “I do not know
Jesus Christ, but if He can heal my son then I will believe in Him.” My grandmother prayed for my healing and
also called several Indian Christians from the congregation to pray for
me.
Praise and thank our
Lord Jesus Christ who completely healed my sickness during my baptism. My mother, who saw the miracle of healing in
my life, and several relatives and friends believed in the Lord Jesus Christ
and were also baptized into Him.
A paralytic man was healed during the Baptism
My father, Zacchaeus
Wong, a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, often quoted the words of
Jesus: “Freely you have
received, freely give.” (Mt. 10:8) I
drove him around in his pastoral and evangelistic visitations and he was my
mentor. His self-supporting ministry
and fervency in working for the Lord Jesus Christ had been an inspiration to
me.
There was an old
paralytic man who was bedridden in an “Old Folks Home” (we call it
convalescence home in the United States).
My father had been preaching to him for almost six months. He was always lying on the bed. After he indicated belief in the Lord Jesus
Christ my father talked to him about baptism.
In Ipoh we used to hold baptism in the Kinta River. We had a problem of getting this old paralytic
man to the river. I talked to our
church members and we borrowed a lorry (we call it truck here in the
States). On the morning of the baptism
four young men (including me) drove the lorry to the Old Folks Home. We carried the man, placed him on a chair
and bound his body and feet to the chair.
We then placed him on the deck of the lorry and drove to the Kinta
River. My father first went to the
river to pray in the Spirit. When he
signaled us we brought the paralytic man still bound to the chair to the river
next to my father. I can still recall
my father baptizing him with head bowed in the forward mode in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. After the immersion
my father laid hands on his forehead and prayed for him to receive the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. We then carried the
man still bound to the chair to the tent for changing of clothes. We untied the cords and he stood up. After changing to dry clothes he walked out
of the tent by himself. He was completely
healed. Praise the Lord, HalleluYah!
Father and son healed during Baptism
Two sisters were very
fervent believers in the Lord Jesus Christ because they had experienced God’s
love and protection in their family. A
huge tree limb had collapsed during a heavy thunderstorm and had narrowly
missed their house. Their neighbors had heavy damages from the fallen trees. The elder sister was married to a
professional soldier who held the rank of a corporal in the Malaysian
army. They had a one-year old baby boy
who they loved very much. Corporal Chen
was an unbeliever who often made fun and rude remarks about his wife’s and
sister-in-law’s prayer in the Spirit and speaking in tongues. The two sisters have asked our congregation
in Ipoh to pray for Corporal Chen and the baby.
One day my father
received a phone call from one of the sisters to go immediately to their home
to pray for Corporal Chen and the baby.
Corporal Chen himself had personally requested us to pray for him,
something the two sisters had been praying for a long time. He had an acute stomach-ache and a very high
fever. The baby also had a very high
fever and there were boils all over his head.
It is ironical that Corporal Chen would request our ministers to go and
pray for him and the baby.
I drove my father to
their home. Other church members also
came. We entered the bedroom and saw
Corporal Chen lying on the bed groaning with pain. We also felt the baby’s forehead. It was burning hot with fever.
He had boils all over his head.
We taught Corporal Chen to repent of his sins, believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and praise Him by saying “HalleluYah.”
He did everything that we told him to do and not too long afterwards his
stomach-ache had lessened. My father
and I took the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to him. He was very receptive to the gospel. We preached salvation is in Jesus alone, the
atonement, the new birth of water and the Spirit, repentance, etc. Corporal Chen said he believed in the Gospel
and wanted to be baptized. He and his
wife also wanted their baby to be baptized.
The next morning was
a Saturday and I assisted my father to baptize Corporal Chen and the baby. After coming out of the water Corporal Chen
was completely healed. There was not
even a little bit of pain in his stomach and his fever was also gone. The baby’s fever was also gone. The whole family came to attend our Sabbath
morning service. Corporal Chen received
the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. He was very joyful. On Saturday evening we held a special
worship service and Corporal Chen sang spiritual songs. HalleluYah!
God opened the Door of Utterance through Signs and Wonders
Not too long after
Corporal Chen’s conversion to Christianity he was promoted to the rank of a
sergeant. He was transferred to an
army camp in Taiping which is about fifty miles north of Ipoh. The Chen family was very sad to leave the
Ipoh congregation, but I promised to visit them at least once a month. My wife and I and two other church members
would drive from Ipoh to Taiping on Saturday mornings to hold services in their
home which is in the middle of a row house.
There was a heathen temple on one side and an Indian Hindhu family
living on the other side of their home.
There were no Christian churches for miles around. The first Sabbath we visited them they had
some neighbors' children coming to attend the children’s class. The second Sabbath was also the same. When we arrived on the third Sabbath there
were about fifteen visitors. Their
neighbors also brought their children to our Sabbath service and the children’s
class. The Chen family asked their
neighbor Mrs. Ku to tell us how they came to attend our Sabbath service.
“And when they had prayed, the place where they
were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
Mrs. Ku was like a
priestess and caretaker of the heathen temple situated next to the Chen family home. She cleaned, prepared and arranged all the
idols on the altars and shelves in the temple.
One morning she found all the idols on the floor. She could not understand how they were
thrown all over the floor. She arranged
them back on the altars and shelves.
The following morning the same thing happened. The idols were on the floor again. She was puzzled and tried to find out the mystery of the fallen
idols. She stayed up all-night and
slept near the idols. At about seven
o’clock in the morning there was slight tremor like an earthquake. The altars and shelves would rattle and
shake and the idols would fall down on the floor of the temple. Mrs. Ku cleaned the idols and placed them
back on the altars and shelves. The
following morning at about seven o’clock the same thing happened. The earthquake would cause the altars and
shelves to shake and the idols would fall to the ground. Mrs. Ku was frightened that this thing
happened daily at seven in the morning.
What could be the cause? She
remembered that all these things happened only after the Chen family had moved next
door to the temple. Could the neighbors
have something to do with it? The following
morning as the earth was quaking she went out of the temple and walked over to
the Chen family home. She peeked inside
the Chen family home from the corner of their window. She saw the Chen family, three of them, kneeling down on the
floor and praying loudly in an unknown language. Could her neighbors be the cause of the seven o’clock
earthquake? Impossible! She returned to the temple to clean and
place the idols back on the altars and shelves. The following morning the earth shook again at about seven
o’clock. She quickly ran to look inside
her neighbor’s window again. She again
saw Sergeant Chen, his wife and sister-in-law kneeling down and praying out
loud in the unknown tongues. This time
Mrs. Ku waited for them to finish their prayer. She knocked on the door of the Chen family home and wanted to
know more about their faith. The Chen
family lost no time to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel of
salvation. Mrs. Ku told us that she
wanted to abandon her false religion and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord, HalleluYah. The good part
of this testimony is that God had given Sergeant Chen the Holy Spirit with the
evidence of speaking in tongues which he had despised before his conversion,
and also used his family to preach the gospel to heathens through signs and
wonders.
The Hindhu neighbor
also related his experience with the seven o’clock earthquake. He said he was so frightened that when the
earth shook for the first time he literally jumped out of the window and ran to
the Hindhu temple. This man did not
investigate the cause of the earthquake and so he missed the opportunity to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Cancer of the Spine healed during Baptism
Our family migrated
from Malaysia to the United States of America in 1970. Our first stop was San Francisco, then we
moved to Santa Monica where our home became the first House of Prayer in
Southern California. One of our young
church sisters who was studying in the university was also baby-sitting for an
American family in the San Fernando Valley.
She informed me about Mrs. Harris who had cancer of the spine. I went over to their home after work and
preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to her for several weeks. She was convinced of the truth and requested
to be baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ.
Her husband was upset and adamant about the baptism. He told me that she wore metal braces to
support her spine. He was much against
baptism in the sea that would be very dangerous for her. He threatened to sue me in court if his wife
was injured during the baptism. The
night before the baptism my wife and I prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ and we could hardly sleep.
On Saturday very
early in the morning I drove to the Harris home and carried Mrs. Harris to my
car. We drove to the beach in Santa
Monica where our small congregation had gathered for the baptism. All our members prayed to the Lord as I
accompanied Mrs. Harris and waded in the sea water. As she could not bend her body forward because of the metal
braces supporting her back I had to find a spot where the water level was below
her neck. I waited for a huge wave to
come and cover both of us. After the
complete immersion Mrs. Harris looked steadfastly up and stared at the
sky. When I told her to go back to the
shore for changing clothes she continued to look at the sky and said to me,
“Brother Paul, did you see up there?” I
looked up and saw nothing except the blue sky and some white fluffy clouds. She said, “It’s beautiful. I saw heaven opened. There are lots of angels, men and women in
white robes walking around.” After a while
we waded back to the shore. My wife and
a church sister helped her change clothes.
She walked out of the changing room by herself. Then she bend her body forward to touch her
toes and shouted, “Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m healed.”
We drove Sister Harris back to our home for the Sabbath morning service, Washing of Feet and Holy Communion. Our house was situated on a hill slope. We parked the car on the roadside and walked up twenty two (22) steps before reaching the entrance door. Sister Harris walked up the stairway with my wife and I holding her hands. During our Sabbath Service Sister Harris gave a testimony that God had healed her.
On Monday, two days after her baptism, her husband brought her to the hospital for her usual medical check-up. On Wednesday, two days later, she called me in the afternoon. She sounded very excited. She said her doctor had asked her to go back to the hospital for a medical assessment meeting. When she entered the doctor’s office she was told to sit down. The doctor wanted to ask her some questions. The doctor took out two x-ray photographs and placed them side by side. Pointing to the first photograph he said the x-ray was taken about ten days earlier. It showed clearly that Sister Harris was still having the cancer of the spine. The doctor then pointed to the second x-ray photograph that was taken on Monday, which was only two days earlier. He said that in the second x-ray photograph there was no trace of the cancer in the spine. He looked straight at Sister Harris and said, “I’m your doctor and I know that I did not heal you. This second x-ray photograph shows that you have been healed completely. I don’t understand. Did you go and see another doctor?” Sister Harris smiled and said, “Yes, I saw another doctor and He is the Greatest Physician in the world. His name is Jesus.”
Heart Disease healed during Baptism
After I got the job
as Planner for a U.S. government-funded organization our family moved to
Bakersfield, California in the middle of 1973.
Every Saturday we would drive to Los Angeles to attend the Sabbath
Service. Later some of our American
neighbors and friends started coming to our the Sabbath Services then we formed
a House of Prayer in our home. We had
Christians from various Christian denominations attending our Sabbath Services
that were blessed and joyful. One of
our regular visitors was a Messianic Jewish believer called Betty Foley. She worked for the Bakersfield Californian
daily newspaper. She used to eat at a
very popular Chinese restaurant called Yen Ching where she came to know the
owner’s father whose name is Chi-Shang Sha.
He was fifty six years old. Mr.
Sha was already a Christian in Korea and Betty Foley brought him to our Sabbath
Services. He told us that the main
purpose his daughter brought him to Bakersfield was for medical treatment of a
very serious heart disease in the Kern Medical Center. He said he had been experiencing chronic
chest pains. He could not even carry
five pounds with both hands. That
showed how physically weak he was.
Mr. Sha had been
attending the Sabbath Services in our home for about six months. He said that he had only been baptized with
sprinkling in Korea and asked me whether or not I could rebaptize him in the
full immersion mode. I explained to him
our forward mode of baptism with head bowed in the Living water that may be a
river, spring or sea. He looked at me
incredulously and shook his head. He
then asked, “Can you baptize me in warm water?” I told him that I have baptized people in the Kern River during
the Summer and the water is still cold.
Mr. Sha looked at me with a very sad face and said, “I have had this
heart sickness for many years and I have never taken a bath in cold water all
these years. I do not know what will
happen to me if I am baptized in the river.”
I testified to him that in China sometimes they have to knock a hole in
the frozen river in order to baptize people there. We have not heard a single report of anyone having died after the
baptism in the frozen river. Mr. Sha
thought for a while and said to me, “Can you baptize me on a sunny day at three
o’clock in the afternoon?” I asked him
why and he said “Hopefully the water will be warmer in the afternoon.” I told him that we normally baptize people
in the morning, drive back to our home for the Sabbath Service, Washing of Feet
and Holy Communion.” It took awhile to
convince Mr. Sha to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God he agreed.
It was a sunny
Saturday morning on October 14, 1978 when we drove to the Kern River Park on
the outskirts of Bakersfield, California.
When I first stepped into the river it was pretty cold. After the prayer in the Spirit I signaled
for my wife and Sister Alice McVay (church member) to bring Mr. Sha to the
river edge where I took him to a deeper place for the baptism. The baptism was administered without a
hitch. As I was accompanying Brother
Sha back to the river edge I asked him how he felt. He smiled to me and said, “I feel fine. In fact I feel very light. The water is not cold at all.” I am not at all surprised with his
remarks. Many people who have been
baptized describe the sensation of lightness or a heavy burden having been lifted
off their bodies. That is for sure,
their sins have all been washed away. I
could not describe the water as “not cold,” because to me it was cold. The Lord Jesus Christ must have given
Brother Sha’s body a special protective covering that insulates him from the
cold the moment he stepped into the baptismal water. Praise the Lord, HalleluYah!
One week later
Brother Sha testified that the Lord Jesus Christ had healed his heart
disease. He no longer has pain in his
chest anymore. He has also received the
Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues during one of our Sabbath
Services. His wife also started coming
to our Sabbath Services and she was also baptized in the Kern River.
Teenage girl’s ear infection and severe cold healed during Baptism
After attending a Bible
conference in Sao Paolo, Brazil and on my way back to Bakersfield, California I
made a one night stop in Dallas on January 13, 1980. From there I was driven to Jacksonville, Texas where I preached
to several relatives of Sister Lowen Lo.
There was a young teen-aged girl named Helen sitting quietly in the
corner and her nose was constantly sniffling.
She had been suffering from a very severe cold. I was told that she also had an ear
infection at that time. After the
service was over and all the other relatives had left, Helen asked me whether
or not I could baptize her before I returned to Bakersfield. I told Sister Lowen and Helen that it would
be very difficult because I had to catch my flight from the Dallas airport that
leaves at 8:45 a.m. in the morning. It
takes more than an hour to drive to the airport. Helen Lo looked very disappointed and I felt bad. I remembered my father said very often that
a responsible minister would not withhold or delay baptism to someone who
earnestly wanted to receive it. When
our Lord Jesus Christ delegated authority to the disciples by saying: “If you forgive the
sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained.” (Jn. 20:23) He was talking
about administering water baptism for the remission of sins. A minister has a very heavy responsibility
to perform the duties that the Lord Jesus Christ has assigned him.
I said to the folks
who were present the only possible way for Helen Lo to receive baptism is for
us to go out immediately (it was nearly midnight) to buy pure wheat flour and
fresh grapes for the Holy Communion and also to get up at 4:00 a.m. in the
morning to find a suitable place for baptism.
They all agreed to do that. We
hardly had three hours sleep. By the
time we reached Lake Jacksonville it was close to 5:00 a.m. That morning was January 14, 1980. The temperature at that early hour was near
freezing. It was dark and foggy on the
lake. I was groping and wading on
uncertain water trying to find a good spot for the baptism. Somebody had to hold a flashlight for
me. The water was very, very cold and I
had to move both my legs in the water up and down very rapidly to prevent them
from freezing. I was praying in the
Spirit and my teeth were chattering.
When Helen came into the water she was trembling. This girl had tremendous faith and
determination. Praise God, she immersed herself fully with head bowed in the
forward mode into the freezing water and came up quickly. It was a perfect immersion.
We rushed back to
Sister Lowen’s home and I administered Washing of Feet and Holy Communion. I did not have time for breakfast because we
had to rush to the Dallas airport. Two
days later back in Bakersfield, California I received a long distance phone
call from Sister Lowen in Jacksonville, Texas.
She said, “Deacon Wong, I have good news to tell you. You know my niece Helen whom you baptized in
Lake Jacksonville? Her ear infection
and severe cold have been completely healed after the baptism. Praise the
Lord, HalleluYah!”
Blind eye restored during Baptism
After attending the
Apostolic Faith Christian Fellowship World Convention in Louisville, Kentucky I
went to Toronto, Canada to visit my brothers and sisters. From Toronto I went to Detroit, Michigan and
stayed in an inexpensive hotel where I also conducted the Sabbath
services. The Mitchell family and their
friends came, so did Sister Evelina and her husband Andrew who was considering
baptism. That day was Sunday, June 1,
1997. During the morning service and in
the middle of my sermon Robert Chrite walked in with his wife and three
children. Throughout the day I was
preaching on the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation, touching on baptism. At about four o’clock in the afternoon as we
were having a break Robert Chrite talked to me. He said that he was touched by the message and asked me whether
or not he and his entire family could be baptized. I said to him, “Yes!”
We went to the
Bellaire River in Detroit. It was a
cool afternoon and they were having a boat race in the river. Andrew Yen was the first person to be
baptized. As soon as he came out of the
water hundreds of people who had come to watch the boat race clapped their
hands and cheered. This is the first
time that I have seen people cheering after a baptism. The next person to baptize was Robert
Chrite. The people also clapped their
hands and cheered when he emerged from the water. This cheering and clapping of hands were repeated after Robert’s
wife and children were baptized. I
walked to the shore to finish the baptismal service with prayer, hymn singing
and benediction. After the service we
all hugged each other. When I hugged
Robert he whispered in my ear, “Praise Jesus, I can see now! Thank you, Brother Paul.” I did not understand what he meant by that
remark.
We went back to the
hotel for Washing of Feet and Holy Communion.
Brother Robert Chrite testified how he came to the meeting. Robert is a steel welder. He was working at the top of a four-story
building when he obeyed the voice of God telling him to attend the service at
the hotel where I was preaching. That
was how he came with his family to our meeting.
Robert was involved
in an automobile accident three years earlier, and he lost the sight of his
right eye. He testified that when he
was immersed in the water he felt the palm of a hand that was much larger than
mine touched his back. He thought it
was the hand of Jesus Christ. As soon
as he came up out of the water he saw a very bright light that he described as
brighter than the sun, so he had to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes again he could see the sky, water and everything
around him. It did not take too long for
him to discover that his right eye had been restored to normalcy. He said that he could then see everything
even much clearer than anything he had ever seen before. Praise
the Lord, HalleluYah!
Our Lord Jesus
Christ once saw a man who was blind from birth. “And
He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated,
Sent). So he went and washed, and came
back seeing.” (Jn. 9:7)
Reactivated on March 31, 2008
This Article is the response of Paul Wong
to a Prayer Request in the ARK Forum on February 24, 2003
For comments please write first to: arkpw@sbcglobal.net
May God bless you.
Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the
President of ARK International.
His ministry also serves as an architectural service company in Houston.
The ARK Forum on the Internet is international and non-denominational.
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