WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A NON-BELIEVER COMES TO FAITH?
When I Baptize
someone (infant, child or adult), the first thing I tell him/her, or
his/her sponsor and parents, is that this is a "New Birth"
(John 3: 5-6, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter1:23). The Baptismal fount is the
spiritual
womb that conceives us and delivers us into "the New Life in Christ”
(Cf. Romans 6:3-4; 5-15; Colossians 2: 11-12). The Gospel creates,
sustains
and grows the New Man within us as it comes to us through Baptism, the
Lords Supper and the spoken or written Word of God. In Luther’s
explanation
of Baptism we find the dual treatment applying to our “old Adam”
and “new man”. Part 4 of the Catechism asks, "What does
such baptizing with water indicate?"
The answer is: "It indicates that the old Adam in us should,
by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die
with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should
daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and
purity forever"
I have been in ministry for over 20 years; 13 of those years has been spent as an ordained pastor. For the last five years I have been a partner, worker, and church planter with POBLO-TX. These five years has been extraordinary. The Lord has taught me in a very personal and practical way from the teachings of the Bible and from the Catechism about Baptism. I would like to share a story to help you understand what I have learned.
Sunday, October 5th, 2008 - 3:00 p.m. The place is Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Dallas. An Iraqi Muslim family of six (3 children, 1 infant, and their parents) proclaimed and confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They were delivered through the spiritual womb, which is the Baptismal fount. Pastor Karim and I were privileged to Baptize them, and together with the whole congregation received them as children into the family of God.
The family arrived in the United States through a UN refugee program just 3 months before. Hazim and his family were in Turkey for one year waiting for their Visa. There he met a Christian missionary; this was his first impact with the Gospel. When the family arrived to the United States Hazim and his wife, Sarah, wanted to know more about the Christian faith. They were soon in contact with POBLO. Before their baptism Hazim and his wife Sarah had to go through an intensive six week Bible study learning about the Christian faith and baptism at the Arabic Church of All Nations in Dallas. In the following statement, Hazim describes his knowledge of Christian faith before meeting us:
“When
I arrived to America and to the city
of Dallas, the first one who adopted me was the People of the Book
Lutheran
Outreach. (There is another story to my arrival, specifically, to
Dallas,
but we don’t have time to say it.) My knowledge of Christianity was
very limited and elementary. The shepherds of this organization started
to teach me about Christian faith, and I am still in this process. I
learned that justification is by faith not by work. My search for God
is futile. My efforts to be a good man are hopeless and useless, for
we were justified, redeemed, and sanctified, not by deed, but by the
Work that has been accomplished on the Cross. I learned that my sins
are forgiven and that the real freedom is through faith in the work
and in the ultimate sacrifice that the Good Shepherd, Jesus, offered
on the Cross.”
On April of 2009, seven months after his Baptism, Hazim gave a small speech at the Annual POBLO-TX Banquet at Peace Lutheran Church in Hurst Texas. He expresses his Baptism as follow:
On October the 5th 2008, my family and I were Baptized. We became children to the Good Shepherd through the water of Baptism and the faith we professed. We became children to the Shepherd of heaven and earth; we were declared children to the Shepherd who left ninety nine sheep to look for the lost sheep and return it to the flock. I was reconciled with my past, and was reconciled with my earthly father when the water of Baptism overflowed me, and when I learned that my sins were forgiven through the Blood of the Good Shepherd. I deserved death according to Divine Law, but the love of God did not allow this to happen. He forgave me that day I believed, He washed me the day I was baptized, and declared me and my wife His dear children. Through the water of Baptism that is a spiritual flood I buried the Old Man with Christ and was raised as a new man. Yes! earthly water was poured on our heads, yet, it was a symbol and a means to receive the washing of our sins and the everlasting life. I felt that my heart was washed in the day of Baptism.
Hazim’s story does not end there. Spiritual warfare and enemy attacks had just begun. The old Adam who was just washed and drowned wanted to survive and the new Adam wanted to emerge and arise. After their Baptism I continued to disciple Hazim and his family. The enemy started to attack them through their Muslim friends and neighbors. Threats of harming and kidnapping the children were clearly heard on a daily basis; violence, verbal and non-verbal abuses were evident. Language and cultural barriers were and are still present; and the emotional and psychological pressure that comes with them, such as not being able to find a job, made things worse.
Being new believers, Hazim and his family did not understand spiritual warfare. When I saw the situation that they were now in, I started a special Bible study on spiritual warfare based on the sixth chapter of the Letter to the Ephesians and the temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The story and the struggle of this family has not ended; they still face many challenges. Hazim has taken a job that requires him work on Sundays. With four children, Sarah is finding it hard to come to church. Her emotional and psychological state is not stable; she refuses to leave the house and fellowship with the church. This is a clearly a satanic tactic that is meant to isolate these believers from the body of believers. Some nominal Iraqi Christians were not good witness to them, and sowed doubts in their hearts.
This is just a brief sketch of what is happening in the life of this family. This is a new front that the enemy has opened to suffocate and kill the new Adam. We in turn attack back.
To respond to the new front and challenges we started to have a prayer meeting and Bible study every Wednesday in their home. We are now teaching them through the Word of God the spiritual realities that they are now facing, reminding them that they were claimed as a legitimate son and daughter of God and to jog their memory that God bestowed His power and authority to all who proclaim Him (John 1: 12 - 13). Remembering our Baptism and proclaiming it has the power to silence the enemy.
Hazim ended the above mentioned speech last year by saying:
This speech is addressed to every person who does not know Christ. Yes! There is freedom, there is joy, and there is happiness when God declares you a dear child. At the same time, there will be ferocious war against you when Satan sees you washed by the water of Baptism and when he sees your righteous by the declaration of your faith, therefore I conclude with the verses from the Letter to the Romans:" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35-39).
In conclusion, I go back to the title of this article and my original question, “What happens when a non-believer comes to faith?” The answer to this question is clear. The analogy of the "baptismal fount" is like a "spiritual womb" it gives us an image that we can all understand. When a mother conceives and then delivers a child he is in need of nourishment and care. When a non-believer comes to faith and is born through faith and should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity.
I can see the
possibility of many more articles as we begin to apply this line of thought. As we, the body of Christ, disciple this and many other
families
we also grow and learn more and more. Please pray for us as we continue
to disciple and care for Hazim and Sarah and their family and for many
seekers who are looking and will find for the Truth.
Rev. Dr.
Abjar Bahkou
frabjar72@yahoo.com
Pastor of the Arabic Church of All Nations in Dallas
Professor of
Arabic Language and culture at Baylor University in Waco TX
The article below is from our recent eNews Letter from December 2009
Love for Jesus Can Bring Christians, Muslims Together
By Ibrahim Hooper
IMPORTANT NOTE: This commentary was very popular with readers nationwide when it was first distributed before Christmas several years ago. It is being offered again for those publications that were unable to publish it previously.
"Behold! The angels said: 'O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to God.'" Before searching for this quote in the New Testament, you might first ask your Muslim co-worker, friend or neighbor for a copy of the Quran, Islam's revealed text. The quote is from verse 45 of chapter 3 in the Quran.
It is well known, particularly in this holiday season, that Christians follow the teachings of Jesus. What is less well understood is that Muslims also love and revere Jesus as one of God's greatest messengers to mankind.
Other verses in the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the direct word of God, state that Jesus was strengthened with the "Holy Spirit" (2:87) and is a "sign for the whole world." (21:91) His virgin birth was confirmed when Mary is quoted as asking: "How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me?" (3:47) The Quran shows Jesus speaking from the cradle and, with God's permission, curing lepers and the blind. (5:110) God also states in the Quran: "We gave (Jesus) the Gospel (Injeel) and put compassion and mercy into the hearts of his followers." (57:27)
As forces of hate in this country and worldwide try to pull Muslims and Christians apart, we are in desperate need of a unifying force that can bridge the widening gap of interfaith misunderstanding and mistrust. That force could be the message of love, peace and forgiveness taught by Jesus and accepted by followers of both faiths.
Christians and Muslims would do well to consider another verse in the Quran reaffirming God's eternal message of spiritual unity: "Say ye: 'We believe in God and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves.'" (2:136)
The Prophet Muhammad himself sought to erase any distinctions between the message he taught and that taught by Jesus, who he called God's "spirit and word." Prophet Muhammad said: "Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one.
When Muslims mention the Prophet Muhammad, they always add the phrase "peace be upon him." Christians may be surprised to learn that the same phrase always follows a Muslim's mention of Jesus or that we believe Jesus will return to earth in the last days before the final judgment. Disrespect toward Jesus, as we have seen all too often in our society, is very offensive to Muslims.
Unfortunately, violent events and hate-filled rhetoric around the world provide ample opportunity for promoting religious hostility. And yes, Muslims and Christians do have some differing perspectives on Jesus' life and teachings. But his spiritual legacy offers an alternative opportunity for people of faith to recognize their shared religious heritage.
America's Muslim community stands ready to honor that legacy by building bridges of interfaith understanding and challenging those who would divide our nation along religious or ethnic lines.
We have more in common than we think . . . Ibrahim Hooper is National Communications Director for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties organization.
Please CLICK here for Pastor Karim's response to this article...